Battle of the Tagus

The Battle of the Tagus was a naval engagement that took place on 11 July 1831 at the mouth of the Tagus river, in Portugal. A French fleet attacked and subdued Portuguese fortifications at the entrance of the Tagus, with the aim to strong-arm the government of Miguel I into recognising the newly established Kingdom of the French. The damage to the forts defending access to the Tagus and the arrival of French warships at Lisbon forced the Portuguese to cave in and comply with French demands.

Background

The accession of King Miguel I to the throne of Portugal and abolition of the Constitutional Charter had put the country under the rule of an absolutist monarch. Liberals challenged his rule, and the struggle of the Liberal Wars ensued. The government of Miguel I was hostile to France, and became even more so when the popular insurrection of the July Revolution deposed the absolutist Bourbon king Charles X, and established a constitutional monarchy in which Louis-Philippe had become "King of the French". Miguel refused to recognise the Monarchy of July,House of Commons papers, p. 307 while neither the French nor the British government recognised his.

In early 1831, a French citizen, Edmond Potentin Bonhomme was sentenced to public flogging, a fine and exile for allegedly profaning a church,House of Commons papers, p. 299 a claim that French officials dismissed as "they had good reason to believe that many of the statements it comprehends, have no other foundation than the bigotry and malevolence of the Portuguese priesthood". Several other French citizen were similarly detained in what the French government judged to be arbitrary manners.

The French consul in Lisbon, Cassas, was tasked to present a diplomatic demarche to the Portuguese government, but he was rebuffed as not having the diplomatic credentials of an ambassador.House of Commons papers, p. 288 Viscount d'Asseca requested a mediation of the British Foreign minister, Viscount Palmerston,House of Commons papers, p. 296 who advised the Portuguese to comply with French demands.House of Commons papers, p. 298 A squadron under Captain de Rabaudy, comprising the 60-gun frigate ''Melpomène'' and the 20-gun brig ''Endymion'', under Nonay, was sent to the mouth of the Tagus river to show the flag and give weight to the demands of the French consul. They arrived on 16 March 1831. Upon her departure from Brest, ''Melpomène'' ran aground on Basse Beuzec, and had to double back, leaving '' Endymion'' to continue her route. When ''Melpomène'' finally arrived on 16 May 1831, '' Endymion'' was already returning to France, with the consul aboard.Troude, ''op. cit.'', p.271 Rabaudy stated the purpose of his mission to Portuguese authorities and delivered the French ultimatum, demanding:
# the release of the two imprisoned Frenchmen and the annulation of their sentence
# an indemnity in their favour
# destitution of the judges responsible
# indemnities for a number of other Frenchmen
# that Frenchmen be only arrested with the consent of a French judge, as was their privilege at the time.
These demands had to be met 48 hours after reception.

Portuguese authorities played for time. In consequence, Rabaudy's ''Melpomène'' started blockading Lisbon by preying upon shipping leaving and entering the Tagus, though their crew were immediately freed and sent ashore.House of Commons papers, p. 309 ''Melpomène'' was soon reinforced by a squadron under Captain Charmasson, of the 52-gun ''Sirène'', escorted by the 18-gun corvettes ''Diligente'' and ''Églé'', and the 20-gun brig ''Hussard''. While some of the ships cruised off the mouth of the Tagus, the others were detached to Azores to hunt for a Portuguese Miguelist division that blockaded the Liberal controlled Terceira Island; on 3 June, these ships captured the 24-gun corvette ''Urania'' and the 6-gun fluyt ''Oreste'',House of Commons papers, p. 312 but they failed to locate the rest of the Miguelist forces, and thus returned to the mouth of Tagus.

In spite of the French blockade and their undermining of its war effort against Liberals, the Portuguese government refused to meet French demands, and the treatment of the French prisoners even deteriorated. The French therefore decided to escalate the matter, and Henri de Rigny, French Minister of the Navy, appointed rear-Admiral Baron Albin Roussin to a 6-sail of the line squadron. Roussin was a veteran of the Mauritius campaign of 1809–1811, and had been honoured for his conduct at the Battle of Grand Port.Troude, ''op. cit.'', p.272

Battle

The mission of Rear-admiral Roussin was to sail to Tagus, with his flag on the 90-gun ''Suffren'', and give the Portuguese authorities an ultimatum that demanded, in addition to that already given by Rabaudy, that the chief of the Portuguese police be dismissed; that all court sentences against French citizens be annulled; and that indemnities be paid to compensate for the costs induced by the expedition. The ultimatum expired 48 hours from reception, at which point the French forces would force the entrance of the Tagus, sail to Lisbon and bombard the city. Departed from Brest, the squadron arrived off the Tagus on 25 June, and stayed there waiting for the division inbound from Toulon, under Rear-admiral Hugon.

On 31, the Portuguese government mobilised the warship on the Tage, though only two frigates and smaller warships could be marshaled at once; the strongest asset on Tage, the 74-gun ''Dom João VI'', needed over a month of work worth of repairs, and the 52-gun frigate ''Amazona'' could not be readied before twenty days. This left only the 54-gun ''Diana''
and the 44-gun ''Pérola'', with the 26-gun ''Dom João I'' and ''Lealdade'', to oppose the much stronger French squadron.House of Commons papers, p. 287 In addition, all the ships that the Portuguese could muster were much under-handed. The condition deteriorated on 1 July when ''Suffren'' and ''Melpomène'' chased the ''Lord Wellington'', a Portuguese merchantman inbound from Bahia; ''Lord Wellington'' fled under Fort Santo António to benefit from its protection. When the French ship approached, the fort opened fire, and a gunnery exchange broke out while the ships' boats were launched and captured the merchantman.House of Commons papers, p. 311 The French bombardment silenced the fort, killing five or six soldiers, and severely wounding thirty.

On 6, Hugon's squadron arrived from Toulon. Being forced to inaction by unfavourable winds, Roussin attempted a last diplomatic demarche and on 10, he sent the 18-gun brig ''Dragon'', under Commander Théodore Deloffre,The House of Commons papers, p. 313, erroneously spell his name as "Theodore Delaffre"Roche, p. 156 to present a last ultimatum; ''Dragon'' also carried letters for the ships of the Tagus and for foreign diplomatic missions in Lisbon, and was under strict orders not to remain at anchor more than 24 hours.House of Commons papers, p. 313 The new ultimatum comprised the same condition as the first, but added that the Portuguese government should compensate France for the price of the naval expedition, and threatened of a "de facto war".House of Commons papers, p. 330 ''Dragon'' returned to the French fleet the next day with a refusal,Troude, ''op. cit.'', p.273 though Santarem attempted to surrender his French prisoners to the British as a token concession.House of Commons papers, p. 315 Captain Vincent Moulac, of ''Algésiras'', advised that the fleet attempt to force the entrance of the river and sail upstream to Lisbon.Levot, ''op. cit.'', p.465

On 11, the winds had turned, and a North-North-West wind allowed for the expedition upstream. The French squadron manoeuvred to form a line of battle, and at 13:30, it sailed into the Southern pass. The French squadron sailed one by one in front of the forts, delivering broadsides at distances varying from 100 to 1000 metres, and reached Paço de Arcos in good order and with no serious damage. Roussin signaled his ships to sail on, but the two lead ships, ''Marengo'' and ''Algésiras'', failed to spot the signals and dropped their anchor, as was initially planned to repair damage sustained during the forcing of the pass; seeing that the flagship ''Suffren'' sailed before them without stopping, they promptly put to sail and took a place in the French line, but this mistake put ''Suffren'' at the front of the line.Troude, ''op. cit.'', p.274

Around 16:00, ''Suffren'' opened fire on the Belém Tower at a distance of 100 metres, soon followed by the rest of the squadron, and anchored in front of the Belém Palace while the other ships and frigates sailed on to the anchored Portuguese fleet. When the lead ship, ''Pallas'', opened fire on the Portuguese squadron, all its ships struck,Troude, ''op. cit.'', p.275 without firing a shot.House of Commons papers, p. 316

By 17:00, the entire French squadron was anchored before the docks of Lisbon, and Roussin sent his chief of staff, Lieutenant commander Charles Ollivier, to present the French ultimatum once again with a 2-hour delay. The Portuguese government attempted once again to turn its prisoners over to British officials, but the offer was once again refused.House of Commons papers, p. 317 The Portuguese government caved in, and a treaty was signed on 14 July on ''Suffren'' by Castello Branco and Roussin, with its dispositions published in the ''Lisbon Gazette'' on 15,House of Commons papers, p. 318–320 and the sums of money begin paid in cash by the 23. With the ultimatum accepted by the Portuguese, Roussin sent most of the squadron to sea, staying in front of Lisbon with only ''Suffren'', ''Pallas'' and ''Melpomène''; the 58-gun frigate ''Guerrière'', under Captain Kerdrain, rejoined him on 29.

Squadrons

Key
*A † symbol indicates that the officer was killed during the action or subsequently died of wounds received.
*The ships are ordered in the sequence in which they formed up for battle.

Aftermath

The treaty of 14 July specified that the French would return the ships captured before the attack on the Tagus, including the warships ''Orestes'' and ''Urania'' and the merchantmen with their cargo.House of Commons papers, p. 320House of Commons papers, p. 335 After a council of war on ''Trident'', the French decided to also return the captured 74-gun ''Dom João VI'' as, being neither armed nor manned during the action, she did not belong to an opposing force.

Nothing was said, however, of the fleet captured at Lisbon itself. The Portuguese government protested,House of Commons papers, p. 339 and Roussin proposed that the ships be re-purchased for 1.5 million cruzados,House of Commons papers, p. 348 or to return half the captured ships, in exchange for the release of 400 political prisoners. When this offer was rejected, the ships in question were incorporated in the French fleet.

The French squadron of Toulon departed on 25;House of Commons papers, p. 340 the prizes ''Diana'', ''Amazone'', ''Don João I'' and ''Don Pedro'' departed with on 12 with a brig, and the next day ''Perola'', ''Lealdade'', ''Saint Sebastian'' and ''Memoria'' followed.House of Commons papers, p. 349 The rest of the fleet eventually departed for Brest on 14 August, where it arrived on 4 September, leaving only ''Melpomène'' and ''Églé''.

In recognition for the deed, Roussin was promoted to Vice-admiral.

The Miguelists would suffer a crushing defeat at the hands of the Liberals at the Battle of Cape St. Vincent two years later, ending the reign of Miguel I.

Notes and references

Notes

References

Bibliography

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Tagus, Battle of the
Conflicts in 1831
Naval battles involving France
Naval battles involving Portugal
Naval battles of the Liberal Wars
1833 in Portugal
July 1831 events