Wellesley, at least, was free from blame as regarded recent transactions
in the Peninsula. That the government thought so also, and had at last
learned to appreciate the value of an officer whom they had so recently
trammelled, was evidenced by the appointment of Sir Arthur, on the 2nd
of April, to the command of the army in Portugal.

Towards the close of the previous year, complaint had been made, in the
House of Commons, of Sir Arthur holding the office of secretary for
Ireland while in the Peninsula. On the 14th of April, he resigned that
office, and on the 22nd, he arrived at Lisbon and assumed the command of
an army, disproportioned, indeed, to the service expected of it, and
still more to that which they afterwards achieved, but strong in its
confidence in a general who had never made a false step, or suffered a
defeat.

On the 12th of May, he carried Oporto by a _coup de main_. So complete
was the surprise, that Sir Arthur and his staff sat down to the dinner
which had been prepared for the French commander.

On the 28th July following, the battle of Talavera was fought, after
which (on the 26th August), Sir Arthur was raised to the peerage by the
titles of Baron Douro of Wellesley and Viscount Wellington of Talavera.
In the February following, he received the thanks of parliament for
Talavera, and a pension of £2000 per annum was voted to him and his two
next heirs male.

So inferior was the numerical force of his army to that of the enemy
that Lord Wellington found his operations must for some time be confined
to the defence of Portugal; and he, therefore, gave orders for the
fortification of the lines of Torres Vedras, by which the capital of the