Salopian Journal The Duke of Wellington's dispatches Massena's Retreat 1811

WELLESLEY, Arthur, 1st Duke of Wellington (1769-1852). Salopian Journal. Wednesday, April 10, 1811. With Wellington's dispatches reporting the retreat of Massena. Shrewsbury: printed by William Eddowes, Corn-Market, 1811.

Folio newspaper, 510 x 380 mm, four pages. Old folds, with small areas of loss at the central fold; a previous owner's pencil cross beside the Wellington report. Red newspaper duty stamp to the upper right corner of the first page. Very good.

Vol. XVIII, No. 898. A detailed report headed "Retreat of Massena" occupies approximately two columns, reproducing extracts from Wellington's dispatches to the Earl of Liverpool, dated Villa Seca, 14 March, and Louzao, 16 March 1811, as published in the London Gazette Extraordinary of 7 April. Wellington describes the French withdrawal from Santarem and the Allied pursuit. His account includes commendations of British and Portuguese troops and casualty returns, followed by a report from Lisbon on the continuing retreat.

Marshal Andre Massena, one of Napoleon's leading commanders, had invaded Portugal in 1810 with orders to capture Lisbon and expel Wellington's army. His advance was halted by the Lines of Torres Vedras, the extensive fortifications constructed to protect the capital. Unable to breach these defences, and with his army suffering severely from shortages of food and supplies, Massena began his retreat in March 1811. These dispatches report Wellington's pursuit during the collapse of the French invasion. Published in Shrewsbury for readers across Shropshire and the neighbouring counties of England and Wales, the issue also contains local notices, auction advertisements, commercial announcements including a rather boastful article by a J Smith of all the rats and mice he has destroyed.