accounts from Cadiz were bad;" that "no disposition to move either there or in the neighbourhood of Gibraltar was visible," and that “the cabinet were unwilling he should go far to the southward, whilst the spirit of exertion appeared to reside more to the northward." Again, the admiral, sir Charles Cotton, was informed that sir Arthur Wellesley was to co-operate with him in a descent at the mouth of the Tagus; but sir Arthur himself had no definite object.given for his own operations, although his instructions pointed to Portugal. Thus in fact no one officer, naval or military, knew exactly what his powers were, with the exception of admiral Purvis, who, being only second in command for his own service, was really authorized to control all the operations of the land forces, provided he directed them to that quarter which had been declared unfavourable for any operations at all! These inconsistent orders were calculated to create confusion and prevent all vigour of action, but more egregious conduct followed.

In recommending Portugal as the fittest field of action, the ministers were chiefly guided by the advice of the Asturian deputies. Yet, having received sir Hew Dalrymple's despatches to a late date, their own information must have been more recent and more extensive than any that they could obtain from those deputies, who had left Spain at the commencement of the insurrection, who were ill informed of what was passing in their own province, utterly ignorant of the state of any other part of the Peninsula, and under any circumstances incapable of judging rightly in such momentous affairs. But though sir Arthur Wellesley's instructions were vague and confined with respect to military operations, he was expressly told that the intention of the government, was to enable Portugal and Spain to throw off the French yoke, and ample directions were given to him as to his future political conduct in the Peninsula. He was informed how to demean himself in any disputes that might arise between the two insurgent nations, how to act with relation to the settlement of the supreme authority during the interregnum. He was directed to facilitate communications between the colonies and the mother country, and to offer his good offices to arrange any differences between them. The terms upon which Great Britain would acquiesce in any negotiation between Spain and France were imparted to him, and finally he was empowered to recommend the establishment of a paper system in the Peninsula, as a good mode of raising money, and attaching the holders of it to the national cause the Spaniards were not, however, sufficiently civilized to adopt this recommendation, and barbarously preferred gold to credit, at a time when no man's life, or faith, or wealth, or power, was worth a week's pur

chase.'

■ Parliamentary Papers; Lord Castlereagh to sir A. Wellesley, 30th June.

VOL. 1.

Sir Hew Dalrymple was also commanded to furnish sir Arthur with every information that might be of use in the operations, and when the tenour of these instructions, and the great Indian reputation enjoyed by sir Arthur Wellesley are considered, it is not possible to doubt that he was first chosen as the fittest man to conduct the armies of England at this important conjuncture. Yet scarcely had he sailed when he was superseded, not for a man whose fame and experience might have justified such a change, but by an extraordinary arrangement, which can hardly be attributed to mere vacillation of purpose, he was reduced to the fourth rank in that army, for the future governance of which, he had fifteen days before received the most extended instructions. Sir Hew Dalrymple was now appointed to the chief command, and sir John Moore, who had suddenly and unexpectedly returned from the Baltic, having by his firmness and address saved himself and his troops from the madness of the Swedish monarch, was, with marked disrespect, directed to place himself under the orders of sir Harry Burrard, and proceed to Portugal. Thus two men, comparatively unknown and unused to the command of armies, superseded the only generals in the British service whose talents and experience were indisputable. The secret springs of this proceeding are not so deep as to baffle investigation; but that task scarcely belongs to the general historian, who does enough. when he exposes the effects of envy, treachery, and base cunning, without tracing those vices home to their possessors.

Notwithstanding these changes in the command, the uncertainty of the minister's plans continued. The same day that sir Hew Dalrymple was appointed to be commander-in-chief, a despatch, containing the following project of campaign, was sent to sir Arthur Wellesley: "The motives which have induced the sending so large a force to that quarter (the coast of Portugal), are, 1st, to provide effectually for an attack upon the Tagus; and, 2dly, to have such an additional force disposable beyond what may be indispensably requisite for that operation, as may admit of a detachment being made to the southward, either with a view to secure Cadiz, if it should be threatened by the French force under general Dupont, or to co-operate with the Spanish troops in reducing that corps, if circumstances should favour such an operation, or any other that may be concerted. His Majesty is pleased to direct that the attack upon the Tagus should be considered as the first object to be attended to; and as the whole force, of which a statement is enclosed, when assembled, will amount to not less than thirty thousand, it is considered that both services may be provided for amply. The precise distribution, as between Portugal and Andalusia, both as to time and proportion of force, must depend upon circumstances, to be judged of on

1 Parl. Pap. Lord Castlereagh to sir H. Dalrymple, 28th June.

the spot; and should it be deemed advisable to fulfil the assurance which lieutenant-general sir Hew Dalrymple appears to have given to the supreme junta of Seville, under the authority of my despatch of (no date), that it was the intention of his Majesty to employ a corps of ten thousand men to co-operate with the Spaniards in that quarter; a corps of this magnitude may, I should hope, be detached without prejudice to the main operation against the Tagus and may be re-enforced, according to circumstances, after the Tagus has been secured. But if, previous to the arrival of the force under orders from England, Cadiz should be seriously threatened, it must rest with the senior officer of the Tagus, at his discretion to detach, upon receiving a requisition to that effect, such an amount of force as may place that important place out of the reach of immediate danger, even though it should for the time suspend operations against the Tagus."

The inconsistent folly of this despatch is apparent, but the occupation of Cadiz was a favourite project with the cabinet, which was not discouraged by Spencer's unsuccessful effort to gain admittance, nor by the representations of sir Hew Dalrymple, who had grounds to believe that the attempt would bring down the army under Castaños to oppose it by force. Neither did the minister consider that, in a political view, such a measure, pressed as a preliminary, would give a handle for misrepresentation, and that, in a military view, the burden of Cadiz would clog operations in Portugal. Adopting all projects, and weighing none, they displayed the most incredible confusion of ideas; for the plan of sending ten thousand men to Seville, was said to be in pursuance of a promise made by sir Hew Dalrymple to the junta, whereas the despatch of that general, quoted as authority for this promise of help, contained nothing of the kind, and was even written before any junta existed!

In England, at this period, personal enmity to Napoleon, and violent party prejudices, had so disturbed the judgments of men relative to that monarch, that any information speaking of strength or success for him, was regarded with suspicion even by the ministers, who, as commonly happens in such cases, becoming the dupes of their own practices, listened with complacency to all those tales of mutiny among his troops, disaffection of his generals, and insurrections in France, which the cunning or folly of their agents transmitted to them. Hence sprung such projects as the one above, the false calculations of which may be exposed by a short comparative statement. The whole English force was not much above thirty thousand men, distributed off Cadiz, off the coast of Portugal, on the eastern parts of England, and in the Channel. The French in Spain and Portugal were about a hundred and twenty thousand men, and they possessed all the Portuguese, and most of the Spanish

1 Parl. Pap. Lord Castlereagh to sir A. Wellesley, 15th July.

fortresses. The English army had no reserve, no fixed plan, and it was to be divided, and to act upon a double line of operations. The French had a strong reserve at Bayonne, and the grand French army of four hundred thousand veterans was untouched, and ready to succour the troops in the Peninsula if they required it.

Happily, this visionary plan was in no particular followed by the generals intrusted with the conduct of it. A variety of causes combined to prevent the execution. The catastrophe of Baylen marred the great combinations of the French emperor, fortune drew the scattered divisions of the English army together, and the decisive vigour of sir Arthur Wellesley sweeping away these cobweb projects, obtained all the success that the bad arrangements of the ministers would permit. In the next chapter, resuming the thread of the history, I shall relate the proceedings of the first British campaign in the Peninsula. But I judged it necessary to make an exposition of the previous preparations and plans of the cabinet, lest the reader's attention not being fully awakened to the difficulties cast in the way of the English generals by the incapacity of the government, should, with hasty censure, or niggard praise, do the former injustice; for, as a noble forest hides many noisome swamps and evil things, so the duke of Wellington's actions have covered the innumerable errors of the ministers.

CHAPTER IV.

Sir A. Wellesley quits his troops and proceeds to Coruña-Junta refuse assistance in men, but ask for and obtain money-Sir Arthur goes to Oporto; arranges a plan with the bishop; proceeds to the Tagus; rejoins his troops; joined by Spencer; disembarks at the Mondego; has an interview with general Freire de Andrada ; marches to Leiria— Portuguese insurrection weak-Junot's position and dispositions- Laborde marches to Alcobaça, Loison to Abrantes - General Freire separates from the British - Junot quits Lisbon with the reserve-Laborde takes post at Roriça-Action of Roriça-Laborde retreats to Montechique-Sir A. Wellesley marches to Vimiero-Junot concentrates his army at Torres Vedras.

A FEW days after sailing from Cork, sir Arthur Wellesley, quitting the fleet, repaired in a frigate to Coruña, where he arrived the 20th of July, and immediately held a conference with the Gallician junta, by whom he was informed of the battle of Rio Seco. The account was glossed over in the Spanish manner, and the issue of that contest had caused no change of policy, if policy that may be called, which was but a desire to obtain money and to avoid personal inconvenience. The aid of troops was rejected, but arms and gold were demanded, and while the conference went on, the last was supplied, for an English frigate entered the harbour with two hundred thousand pounds. The junta recommended that the British should be employed in the north of Portugal, promised to aid them by sending a Spanish division to Oporto, and supported their recommendation with an incorrect statement of the number of men, Spanish and Portuguese, who, they asserted, were in arms near that city. They gave also a still more inaccurate estimate of the forces under Junot, and in this manner persuaded sir Arthur not to land in their province : yet, at the moment they were rejecting the assistance of the British troops, the whole kingdom of Gallicia was lying at the mercy of marshal Bessières, and there were neither men nor means to impede the progress of his victorious army.

Mr. Charles Stuart, appointed envoy to the Gallician junta, had arrived with sir Arthur Wellesley at Coruña, and quickly penetrating the flimsy veil of Spanish enthusiasm, informed his government of the true state of

1 Sir A. Wellesley's Narrative; Court of Inquiry.