Thank you for visiting SNEWPapers!
Sign up free
Foreign News
October 27, 1808
Alexandria Daily Gazette, Commercial & Political
Alexandria, Virginia
What is this article about?
On August 30, 1808, in Lisbon, British Lt. Col. Murray and French Gen. Kellermann signed a definitive convention, ratified by the Duke of Abrantes, for the French army's evacuation of Portugal. Troops to depart with arms, artillery, and baggage via British transport to French ports, with forts surrendered to British forces.
Merged-components note: This is a continuation of the article on the definitive convention for the evacuation of Portugal, spanning pages 2 and 3 with sequential reading order.
Clippings
1 of 2
OCR Quality
75%
Good
Full Text
LATEST FOREIGN NEWS.
(VIA NEW-YORK.)
DEFINITIVE CONVENTION,
For the Evacuation of Portugal by the French army.
The generals commanding in chief the British and French armies in Portugal, having determined to negotiate and conclude a treaty for the evacuation of Portugal by the French troops, on the basis of the agreement entered into on the 22d instant for a suspension of hostilities, have appointed the undersigned officers to negotiate the same in their names, viz. On the part of the gen. in chief of the British army, lieutenant colonel Murray, quarter master general, and on the part of the gen. in chief of the French army, Monsieur Kellermann, general of division, to whom they have given authority to negotiate and conclude a convention to that effect, subject to their ratification respectively, and to that of the admiral commanding the British fleet at the entrance of the Tagus.
These two officers, after exchanging their full powers, have agreed upon the articles which follow:
Art. 1. All the places and forts in the kingdom of Portugal, occupied by French troops, shall be delivered up to the British army in the state in which they are at the period of the signature of the present convention.
2. The French troops shall evacuate Portugal with their arms and baggage; they shall not be considered as prisoners of war, and, on their arrival in France, they shall be at liberty to serve.
3. The English government shall furnish the means of conveyance for the French army, which shall be disembarked in any of the ports of France between Rochefort and L'Orient inclusively.
4. The French army shall carry with it all its artillery of French calibre, with the horses belonging to it, and the tumbrils, supplied with 60 rounds per gun. All other artillery, arms and ammunition, as also the military and naval arsenals, shall be given up to the British army and navy, in the state in which they may be at the period of the ratification of the convention.
5. The French army shall carry with it all its equipments, and all that is comprehended under the name of property of the army; that is to say, its military chest, and carriages attached to the field commissariat and field hospitals, or shall be allowed to dispose of such part of the same on its account, as the commander in chief may judge it unnecessary to embark. In like manner all individuals of the army shall be at liberty to sell to the purchasers.
Deserters of all ranks as well as the cavalry is to embark and other officers that cannot be embarked.
That at the disposal the means of conveyance however the understor for her are very limited some British additional comnander conva ances the number may be procured horses in the to be port of embark of I by the troops shall ot exceed coo and ceed number 200 embarked At all by events the every staff shall facility ne be given to the French army to dispose the horses belonging to it which cannot embarked.
In order to facilitate the embarkation it shall take place in three divisions, the first of which will be principally composed of the garrisons of the places, of the cavalry the artillery, the sick, and the equipmend the army.
The first division shall embark within seven days of the date of the ratification, or sooner, if possible.
The garrison of Elvas, and its forts, the forts of Peniche and Palmela, to be embarked at Lisbon. That of Almeida at Oporto or the nearest harbor.
They will be accompanied on their march by British commissaries charged with providing for their subsistence and accommodation.
9. All the sick and wounded who cannot be embarked with the troops are entrusted to the British army.
They are to be taken care of while they remain in this country at the expense of the British Government, under the condition of the same being reimbursed by France when the evacuation is effected. The English government will provide for their return France, which shall take place in detachments of 150 or 200 at a time. A sufficient number of French medical officers shall be left behind to attend them.
10. As soon as the vessels employed to carry the army to France, shall have disembarked it in the harbors specified, or in any other of the ports of France to which stress of weather may drive them, every facility shall be given them to return to England without delay, and security against capture until their arrival in a friendly port.
11. The French army shall be concentrated in Lisbon, and within a distance of 2 leagues from it. The English army will approach within three leagues of the capital, and will be so placed as to leave about one league between the two armies.
12. The fort St. Julien, the Bugio and Cascais shall be occupied by the British troops on the ratification of the convention Lisbon and its citadel, together with the forts and batteries as far as the Lazaretto of Trasuria on one side, and Fort St. Joseph on the other, inclusively, shall be given up on the embarkation of the second division, as shall also the harbor and all armed vessels in it of every description, with their rigging, sails, stores and ammunition.- The fortresses of Elvas, Almeida, Peniche and Palmela shall be given up to us as soon as the British troops can arrive to occupy them. In the mean time the General in chief of the British army will give notice of the present convention to the garrison of those places, as also the troops before them, in order to put a stop to all further hostilities.
13. Commissioners shall be named on both sides, to regulate and accelerate the arrangements agreed upon.
14. Should there arise doubts as to the meaning of any article, it will be explained favorably to the French army.
15. From the date of the ratification of the present convention, all arrears of contributions, requisitions or claims whatever, of the French government, against subjects of Portugal, or any other individuals residing in this country, founded on the occupation of Portugal by the French troops in the month of December, 1807, which may not have been paid up, are cancelled, and all sequestrations laid upon their property, moveable or immoveable, are removed and the free disposal of the same is restored to the proper owners.
16. All subjects of France, or of the powers in friendship or alliance with France, domiciliated in Portugal, or accidentally in country shall be protected Their property of every kind, moveable and immoveable, shall be respected and they shal army or to remain in Portugal. In either with the liberty of retaining or of disposing property guaranteed to them thereof into France, or any other country, of it, and passing the produce sale where they may fix their residence, the space of one year being allowed them for that purpose.
It is fully understood that shipping is excepted from this arrangement, only, ho and that none of the stipulations above as regards leaving the port mentioned can be made the pretext of any commercial speculation.
Held accountable for his political conduct. Natives of Portugal shall be rendered by the French army; and all those during the period of the occupation of this province have continued in the exercise of their functions under the French government, are in their employments, or who have accepted situations as commanders, they shall sustain no injury placed under the protection of the British. They are at their option to be obedient or not to their persons or property, it not having the French government; they are also at liberty to avail themselves of the stipulations of the 6th article. Spaniards to restore subjects, either military or civil, who engages to obtain of the British up to the commander in chief the British ships in the port of Lisbon, shall be. 18. The Spanish troops detained on service, as may have been detained in Spain without being taken in battle, or in consequence of military operations, but on occasion of the occurrences of the 29th of May, and the days immediately following. 19. There shall be an immediate exchange established for all ranks of prisoners made in Portugal, since the present hostilities. 20. Hostages of the rank of field officers shall be mutually furnished on the part of the British army and navy, and on that of the French army for the reciprocal guarantee of the present convention. The officer of the British army shall be restored on the completion of the articles which concern the army; and the officer of the navy on the debarkation of the French troops in their own country. The like is to take place on the part of the French army. 21. It shall be allowed to the general in chief of the French army to send an officer to France with intelligence of the present convention. A vessel will be furnished by the British admiral to convey him to Bordeaux or Rochefort. 22. The British admiral will be invited to accommodate his excellency the commander in chief, and the other principal officers of the French army, on board of ships of war. Done and concluded at Lisbon, this 30th day of August, 1808. (Signed) GEORGE MURRAY. Quartermaster General. KELLERMANN, Le General de Division. We the duke of Abrantes, gen. in chief the French army. have ratified, and do ratify, the present definitive convention, in all its articles, to be executed according to its form and tenor. (Signed) The duke of ABRANTES. Head quarters at Lisbon, the 30th August, 1808. ADDITIONAL ARTICLES to the convention of the 30th of August, 1808. Art. 1. The individuals in the civil employment of the army made prisoners, either by the British troops, or by the Portuguese, in any part of Portugal, will be restored, as is customary without exchange. 2. The French army shall be subsisted from its own magazines up to the day of evacuation. The garrisons up to the day of the evacuation of the fortresses. The remainder of the magazines shall be delivered over in the usual form to the British paymaster, which charges itself with the subsistence of the men and horses of the army from the above mentioned periods, till their arrival in France, under the condition of their being reimbursed by the French government for the excess of the expense beyond the estimation to be made by both parties of the value of the magazines delivered to the British army. The provisions on hand and the ships of war, in possession of the French army, will be taken on account by British government, in like manner with the magazines in the fortresses. 3. The general commanding the British troops will take the necessary measures for establishing the free circulation of the means of subsistence between the country and the capital. Done and concluded at Lisbon, this 30th day of August, 1808. (Signed) GEORGE MURRAY, Quarter-master gen. KELLERMANN, Le gen. de division. We, the duke of Abrantes, gen. in chief the French army have ratified and do the additional articles to the convention to be executed according to their form and tenor. The duke of ABRANTES. A true copy. DALRYMPLE
(VIA NEW-YORK.)
DEFINITIVE CONVENTION,
For the Evacuation of Portugal by the French army.
The generals commanding in chief the British and French armies in Portugal, having determined to negotiate and conclude a treaty for the evacuation of Portugal by the French troops, on the basis of the agreement entered into on the 22d instant for a suspension of hostilities, have appointed the undersigned officers to negotiate the same in their names, viz. On the part of the gen. in chief of the British army, lieutenant colonel Murray, quarter master general, and on the part of the gen. in chief of the French army, Monsieur Kellermann, general of division, to whom they have given authority to negotiate and conclude a convention to that effect, subject to their ratification respectively, and to that of the admiral commanding the British fleet at the entrance of the Tagus.
These two officers, after exchanging their full powers, have agreed upon the articles which follow:
Art. 1. All the places and forts in the kingdom of Portugal, occupied by French troops, shall be delivered up to the British army in the state in which they are at the period of the signature of the present convention.
2. The French troops shall evacuate Portugal with their arms and baggage; they shall not be considered as prisoners of war, and, on their arrival in France, they shall be at liberty to serve.
3. The English government shall furnish the means of conveyance for the French army, which shall be disembarked in any of the ports of France between Rochefort and L'Orient inclusively.
4. The French army shall carry with it all its artillery of French calibre, with the horses belonging to it, and the tumbrils, supplied with 60 rounds per gun. All other artillery, arms and ammunition, as also the military and naval arsenals, shall be given up to the British army and navy, in the state in which they may be at the period of the ratification of the convention.
5. The French army shall carry with it all its equipments, and all that is comprehended under the name of property of the army; that is to say, its military chest, and carriages attached to the field commissariat and field hospitals, or shall be allowed to dispose of such part of the same on its account, as the commander in chief may judge it unnecessary to embark. In like manner all individuals of the army shall be at liberty to sell to the purchasers.
Deserters of all ranks as well as the cavalry is to embark and other officers that cannot be embarked.
That at the disposal the means of conveyance however the understor for her are very limited some British additional comnander conva ances the number may be procured horses in the to be port of embark of I by the troops shall ot exceed coo and ceed number 200 embarked At all by events the every staff shall facility ne be given to the French army to dispose the horses belonging to it which cannot embarked.
In order to facilitate the embarkation it shall take place in three divisions, the first of which will be principally composed of the garrisons of the places, of the cavalry the artillery, the sick, and the equipmend the army.
The first division shall embark within seven days of the date of the ratification, or sooner, if possible.
The garrison of Elvas, and its forts, the forts of Peniche and Palmela, to be embarked at Lisbon. That of Almeida at Oporto or the nearest harbor.
They will be accompanied on their march by British commissaries charged with providing for their subsistence and accommodation.
9. All the sick and wounded who cannot be embarked with the troops are entrusted to the British army.
They are to be taken care of while they remain in this country at the expense of the British Government, under the condition of the same being reimbursed by France when the evacuation is effected. The English government will provide for their return France, which shall take place in detachments of 150 or 200 at a time. A sufficient number of French medical officers shall be left behind to attend them.
10. As soon as the vessels employed to carry the army to France, shall have disembarked it in the harbors specified, or in any other of the ports of France to which stress of weather may drive them, every facility shall be given them to return to England without delay, and security against capture until their arrival in a friendly port.
11. The French army shall be concentrated in Lisbon, and within a distance of 2 leagues from it. The English army will approach within three leagues of the capital, and will be so placed as to leave about one league between the two armies.
12. The fort St. Julien, the Bugio and Cascais shall be occupied by the British troops on the ratification of the convention Lisbon and its citadel, together with the forts and batteries as far as the Lazaretto of Trasuria on one side, and Fort St. Joseph on the other, inclusively, shall be given up on the embarkation of the second division, as shall also the harbor and all armed vessels in it of every description, with their rigging, sails, stores and ammunition.- The fortresses of Elvas, Almeida, Peniche and Palmela shall be given up to us as soon as the British troops can arrive to occupy them. In the mean time the General in chief of the British army will give notice of the present convention to the garrison of those places, as also the troops before them, in order to put a stop to all further hostilities.
13. Commissioners shall be named on both sides, to regulate and accelerate the arrangements agreed upon.
14. Should there arise doubts as to the meaning of any article, it will be explained favorably to the French army.
15. From the date of the ratification of the present convention, all arrears of contributions, requisitions or claims whatever, of the French government, against subjects of Portugal, or any other individuals residing in this country, founded on the occupation of Portugal by the French troops in the month of December, 1807, which may not have been paid up, are cancelled, and all sequestrations laid upon their property, moveable or immoveable, are removed and the free disposal of the same is restored to the proper owners.
16. All subjects of France, or of the powers in friendship or alliance with France, domiciliated in Portugal, or accidentally in country shall be protected Their property of every kind, moveable and immoveable, shall be respected and they shal army or to remain in Portugal. In either with the liberty of retaining or of disposing property guaranteed to them thereof into France, or any other country, of it, and passing the produce sale where they may fix their residence, the space of one year being allowed them for that purpose.
It is fully understood that shipping is excepted from this arrangement, only, ho and that none of the stipulations above as regards leaving the port mentioned can be made the pretext of any commercial speculation.
Held accountable for his political conduct. Natives of Portugal shall be rendered by the French army; and all those during the period of the occupation of this province have continued in the exercise of their functions under the French government, are in their employments, or who have accepted situations as commanders, they shall sustain no injury placed under the protection of the British. They are at their option to be obedient or not to their persons or property, it not having the French government; they are also at liberty to avail themselves of the stipulations of the 6th article. Spaniards to restore subjects, either military or civil, who engages to obtain of the British up to the commander in chief the British ships in the port of Lisbon, shall be. 18. The Spanish troops detained on service, as may have been detained in Spain without being taken in battle, or in consequence of military operations, but on occasion of the occurrences of the 29th of May, and the days immediately following. 19. There shall be an immediate exchange established for all ranks of prisoners made in Portugal, since the present hostilities. 20. Hostages of the rank of field officers shall be mutually furnished on the part of the British army and navy, and on that of the French army for the reciprocal guarantee of the present convention. The officer of the British army shall be restored on the completion of the articles which concern the army; and the officer of the navy on the debarkation of the French troops in their own country. The like is to take place on the part of the French army. 21. It shall be allowed to the general in chief of the French army to send an officer to France with intelligence of the present convention. A vessel will be furnished by the British admiral to convey him to Bordeaux or Rochefort. 22. The British admiral will be invited to accommodate his excellency the commander in chief, and the other principal officers of the French army, on board of ships of war. Done and concluded at Lisbon, this 30th day of August, 1808. (Signed) GEORGE MURRAY. Quartermaster General. KELLERMANN, Le General de Division. We the duke of Abrantes, gen. in chief the French army. have ratified, and do ratify, the present definitive convention, in all its articles, to be executed according to its form and tenor. (Signed) The duke of ABRANTES. Head quarters at Lisbon, the 30th August, 1808. ADDITIONAL ARTICLES to the convention of the 30th of August, 1808. Art. 1. The individuals in the civil employment of the army made prisoners, either by the British troops, or by the Portuguese, in any part of Portugal, will be restored, as is customary without exchange. 2. The French army shall be subsisted from its own magazines up to the day of evacuation. The garrisons up to the day of the evacuation of the fortresses. The remainder of the magazines shall be delivered over in the usual form to the British paymaster, which charges itself with the subsistence of the men and horses of the army from the above mentioned periods, till their arrival in France, under the condition of their being reimbursed by the French government for the excess of the expense beyond the estimation to be made by both parties of the value of the magazines delivered to the British army. The provisions on hand and the ships of war, in possession of the French army, will be taken on account by British government, in like manner with the magazines in the fortresses. 3. The general commanding the British troops will take the necessary measures for establishing the free circulation of the means of subsistence between the country and the capital. Done and concluded at Lisbon, this 30th day of August, 1808. (Signed) GEORGE MURRAY, Quarter-master gen. KELLERMANN, Le gen. de division. We, the duke of Abrantes, gen. in chief the French army have ratified and do the additional articles to the convention to be executed according to their form and tenor. The duke of ABRANTES. A true copy. DALRYMPLE
What sub-type of article is it?
Diplomatic
War Report
What keywords are associated?
Portugal Evacuation
French Army
British French Convention
Lisbon 1808
Peninsular War
Troop Transport
Fort Surrender
What entities or persons were involved?
Lieutenant Colonel Murray
Monsieur Kellermann
Duke Of Abrantes
George Murray
British Admiral
Where did it happen?
Lisbon, Portugal
Foreign News Details
Primary Location
Lisbon, Portugal
Event Date
30th Day Of August, 1808
Key Persons
Lieutenant Colonel Murray
Monsieur Kellermann
Duke Of Abrantes
George Murray
British Admiral
Outcome
french troops to evacuate portugal with arms, baggage, and artillery; forts and arsenals surrendered to british; sick and wounded cared for by british with reimbursement; cancellation of french claims on portuguese subjects; protection for french subjects in portugal.
Event Details
British and French commanders negotiated and signed a 22-article convention for the orderly evacuation of French forces from Portugal following a suspension of hostilities on August 22, 1808. French army to be transported to French ports between Rochefort and L'Orient; embarkation in three divisions from Lisbon and other ports; mutual guarantees, prisoner exchanges, and protections outlined. Ratified by Duke of Abrantes. Additional articles cover civil employees, subsistence, and circulation of goods.