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TheConvention of Cintra (orSintra) was an agreement signed on 30 August 1808, during thePeninsular War. By the agreement, the defeatedFrench were allowed to evacuate their troops fromPortugal without further conflict.[1] The convention was signed at thePalace of Queluz, inQueluz,Cintra,Estremadura.
TheFrench forces, underJean-Andoche Junot, were defeatedat Vimeiro by the Anglo-Portuguese forces, commanded by SirArthur Wellesley[2] on 21 August and found themselves almost cut off from retreat. However, at that moment, Wellesley was superseded by the arrival of SirHarry Burrard and then the next day by SirHew Dalrymple. Both were cautious men and had seen little recent fighting; rather than push the French, they were satisfied to open negotiations. Wellesley had sought to take control of theTorres Vedras area's high ground and cut the French retreat with his unused reserve, but he was ordered to hold. Talks between Dalrymple andFrançois Kellerman led to the signing of the convention.
Dalrymple allowed terms for the French similar to those a garrison might receive for surrendering a fortress: 20,900 French troops were evacuated from Portugal toRochefort with all their equipment and personal property by theRoyal Navy. Junot arrived there on 11 October. Avoiding all Spanish entanglements and getting free transport meant that the French would travel loaded, instead of lightly like a defeated garrison marching to its own lines.
The convention was seen as a disgrace by many in theUnited Kingdom,[3] who felt that a complete defeat of Junot had been transformed into a French escape, and Dalrymple had also ignored the Royal Navy's concern about a blockadedRussian squadron inLisbon. The squadron was allowed to sail to Portsmouth and eventually to return to Russia although Britain and Russiawere at war.
Wellesley wanted to fight, but he signed the preliminary armistice under orders. Dalrymple's reports were written to centre any criticism on Wellesley, who still held a ministerial post in the government. Wellesley was subsequently recalled from Portugal, together with Burrard and Dalrymple, to face an official inquiry. The inquiry was held in the Great Hall at theRoyal Hospital Chelsea from 14 November to 27 December 1808. Wellesley defended himself by saying that there was no reason to oppose Junot's terms of surrender, as they were technically lawful.[4] All three men were cleared, but while Wellesley soon returned to active duty in Portugal, Burrard and Dalrymple were quietly pushed into retirement and never saw active service again. SirJohn Moore, commenting on the inquiry, expressed the popular sentiment: "Sir Hew Dalrymple was confused and incapable beyond any man I ever saw head an army. The whole of his conduct then and since has proved him to be a very foolish man".
Lord Byron lamented the convention in hisChilde Harold's Pilgrimage:
And ever since that martial synod met,
Britannia sickens, Cintra! at thy name;
And folks in office at the mention fret,
And fain would blush, if blush they could, for shame.
How will posterity the deed proclaim!
Will not our own and fellow-nations sneer,
To view these champions cheated of their fame,
By foes in fight o'erthrown, yet victors here,
Where Scorn her finger points, through many a coming year?
--Canto I, XXVI
The future BritishPoet LaureateWilliam Wordsworth wrote a pamphlet,The Convention of Cintra, in 1808. He also wrote a passionate sonnet, "Composed while the author was engaged in writing a tract", that laments the bondage felt by "suffering Spain" although the Convention concerned only Portugal. The poem was included in hisSonnets Dedicated to Liberty.[5] Delays in publication meant that journalistic and satirical features of Wordsworth's prose have been overlooked.[6][7]