In Luján, Beresford and the officers with him were initially at liberty to exercise. They hunted, fished and played cricket; and at first were allowed to correspond.64 Beresford was attended from time to time by Captain Saturnino Rodriguez de Peña, military secretary to de Liniers. De Peña was an opponent of Spanish dominion and he seems to have formed the opinion that Beresford supported the objectives of those who sought independence.65
The promised relief force of some 2,000 under Colonel Backhouse arrived in the Rio de la Plata from the Cape of Good Hope towards the end of September. Meeting up with Popham’s fleet, Backhouse learnt of Beresford’s defeat and capture. After an abortive attempt to capture Montevideo, a small force was landed and captured Maldonado, a then modest town on the left bank of the Rio de la Plata, together with a number of surrounding gun batteries. Maldonado then became the British shore base. Meanwhile British strategy, unaware until 25 January 1807 of Beresford’s surrender, was being directed not just to the maintenance of the conquest of Buenos Aires, but with a view to taking control of Chile. Further reinforcements arrived from England in December with Rear Admiral Sir Charles Stirling, who relieved Popham of his command. Popham returned to England to face trial for his unauthorised campaign.
The main British relief force under Brigadier General Sir Samuel Auchmuty arrived off Montevideo in early January 1807. On 3 February, Auchmuty captured Montevideo. The reaction of the chief magistrate of Buenos Aires was to order the seizure of Beresford’s papers. Judge Juan Bazo y Berry and another procurator fiscal, Dr Pedro Andrés García, with a military escort were sent to Luján for this purpose and despite Beresford’s protests his papers were taken from his ADC, Robert Arbuthnot.66 It was also decided to move Beresford and the other officers further away from the coast to Catamarca in the interior.67 Colonel Pack was clear in his report that García was reminded that the British officers did not regard themselves as on parole due to the Spanish breach of the terms of surrender.68
These developments galvanised de Peña, who was in charge of bringing supplies and money to the detained officers. In possession of a free pass from de Liniers for that purpose, he and a colleague rode to Luján, arriving on 16 February to find that Beresford and the other officers had left under armed escort that very day for Catamarca.69 De Peña and his colleague, in an act of daring, pursued and caught up with the escort party near the Estancia Grande of the Bethlemite Fathers at Arrecifes claiming to have orders to bring Beresford to Buenos Aires. De Peña apparently informed Beresford that he would be taken to Montevideo and that de Peña and his colleagues were undertaking this rescue for the good of the country. However, a difficulty arose in that Beresford refused to leave without Pack, so both were taken back to Buenos Aires by de Peña. There they were hidden by de Peña and his two colleagues, messrs Padilla and Francisco Gonzalez, for three days in the home of Gonzalez before being smuggled offshore in a small boat on 21 February.70 On 22 February 1807 they were transferred to HMS Charwell in the estuary of the Rio de la Plata and they made good their escape to Montevideo.71
Auchmuty’s forces had captured Montevideo three weeks prior to Beresford’s arrival there. When Beresford arrived, Auchmuty was preparing to attempt the recapture of Buenos Aires. He proposed that Beresford should take command of the forces designated for the attempt, in accordance with his own orders to place his force under Beresford’s command. Beresford refused this offer on the grounds that he wished to go to England to acquaint the government fully concerning the situation in the country (i.e. the Rio de la Plata). In this respect he may have wished to express views regarding the potential for Argentinian independence and possible British support for such a move, given the suggestion he had expressed sympathy for such a move to de Peña.72 He also suggested that given the disgrace which had occurred he doubted whether he could really assume command; though it is not clear whether this remark was a reference to military defeat or the rows about the terms of surrender.
A Court of Inquiry held in Montevideo determined that neither Beresford nor Pack had broken their parole, but perhaps Beresford still felt honour-bound not to resume the fight personally.73 Pack corroborated Beresford’s evidence regarding the conditions under which they had surrendered and stated that he was present on 13 August when de Liniers dispatched a Spanish officer to Popham to request transports be furnished to execute the terms of the treaty. Insofar as they were able to controvert the evidence of the surrender document, the Spanish advanced an argument that Beresford had raised the Spanish flag over the fort at Buenos Aires prior to the signing the document and had thrown down his sword, both considered as evidence of unconditional surrender. However, it was pointed out that the Spanish flag had been raised at the specific request of de Liniers’ ADC in order to stop the exchanges of fire which were continuing, and in fact Captain Patrick rather than Beresford had thrown down his sword in disgust.74 Beresford conceded he had given his parole not to escape but maintained he was not bound by his word given the failure of the Spanish to return him and his troops to England and the subsequent placing of an armed guard on him and his fellow officers. Having been cleared of any improper conduct, Beresford sailed from the Rio de la Plata on the Diomede on 26 March, reaching Ireland on 22 May 1807. Pack remained with the army in Montevideo and only returned home following its defeat in the summer of 1807.75
Interestingly, Beresford wrote from Montevideo to Martín de Álzaga (then Mayor of Buenos Aires) to try and secure the release of the British prisoners in compliance with the terms of the capitulation in August 1806, declaring in that correspondence that he intended to take no further part in the campaign: ‘but in spite of all that has happened to me I feel interested for the people of Buenos Aires’ and if they heard from him again he wrote ‘it will be from my striving to do what I consider will make them prosperous and happy’.76
Beresford’s departure meant General Whitelocke ultimately came to be placed in charge of the army that attempted but failed to recapture Buenos Aires in the summer of 1807. His abject capitulation at the head of a force of over 9,000 – including 350 horse – led to a complete surrender of the British forces in the region, including the abandonment of Montevideo. This was one of Britian’s most humiliating defeats in the Napoleonic wars and on returning home Whitelocke was court martialled and subsequently cashiered. Lieutenant Colonel Pack was amongst the British troops who were repatriated to Britain under the terms of the 1807 surrender. Those who came back included the remaining officers and many of the men who had served as part of Beresford’s force.
Not all chose to return, however, and in particular a number of soldiers who appear to have been of predominantly Irish and Scots origin decided to stay on in South America. It is noticeable that many of those who determined to remain were members of Pack’s 71st Highland Regiment which had a large Irish cohort, probably recruited when that regiment was based in Ireland. They forfeited their share of the prize money, not just from the ‘treasure’ of Buenos Aires but from vessels taken off the coast during the time of the British occupation.77
The officers and men who sailed back with the British regiments, or in the case of those who had died in service their dependents, were paid dividends from this prize money, in some cases many years later; allocation of funds depending on rank. Popham became involved in litigation with some of his own captains over his share of prize money and the court (Mansfield J) found he was not entitled to a commanding officer’s share as he was not a commodore with a captain serving under him.78 Similarly, he engaged with Baird and Beresford in litigation in which he was ultimately unsuccessful.
Rather touchingly, on his return to England Beresford obtained from the British government pensions for de Peña, Padilla and Gonzalez, as well as for the boatman who had helped him escape, Antonio Luiz de Lima. De Peña and Padilla resided in Rio de Janeiro following their having rendered assistance to the British officers, de Lima eventually settled in London on his pension of £300 per annum.
Baird and Popham seem to have envisaged military conquest of the Rio de la Plata Viceroyalty, or a portion of it, rather than just a type of privateering venture. On that basis the size of the force sent there showed a distinct lack of realism.