1808.] THE SPANISH JUNTAS ASK AID FROM ENGLAND. 499 were established in many districts. The supreme junta of Seville proclaimed Ferdinand VII., and declared war against France. The new king came to Bayonne, and proposed a Constitution to a junta there assembled of submissive nobles. The people flew to arms. 66 66 The British nation was not slow to manifest its deep sympathy with the Spanish patriots. Two deputies from Austurias had left Gijon in an open boat, and were picked up at sea by one of our frigates. 'They were received with open arms," says Malmesbury. The veteran diplomatist wanted some grander envoys to arrive than an Asturian hidalgo and an Asturian attorney. Canning would not listen," he says. Canning wanted no better assurance of the spirit of the people than those chosen by the people could afford him. On the 15th of June, Sheridan, in the House of Commons, made a speech which electrified the country. He was convinced that there never existed so happy an opportunity for Great Britain to strike a bold stroke for the rescue of the world. He would do nothing by driblets. If a co-operation with Spain were expedient it should be an effectual co-operation. "Bonaparte has hitherto run a most victorious race. Hitherto he has had to contend against princes without dignity and ministers without wisdom. He has fought against countries in which the people have been indifferent as to his success. He has yet to learn what it is to fight against a country in which the people are animated with one spirit to resist him.”* Sheridan moved for papers, which Canning said would be inconvenient to produce; but Canning's answer left no doubt as to the intentions of the cabinet: "There exists the strongest disposition on the part of the British government to afford every practicable aid in a contest so magnanimous. In endeavouring to afford this aid it will never occur to us to consider that a state of war exists between Spain and Great Britain." There were a few expressions of doubt and despondency in Parliament; but it was impossible to resist what Wilberforce described as the universal feeling. "Every Briton joined in enthusiastic prayers to the great Ruler of events, to bless with its merited success the struggles of a gallant people, in behalf of everything dear to the Christian, the citizen, and the man."+ When the Parliament was prorogued on the 4th of July, the government was pledged by the royal Speech to "make every exertion for the support of the Spanish cause.' On that day an Order in Council announced that hostilities against Spain had ceased. There had been great promptitude in the action of the British government. On the 14th of June, sir Arthur Wellesley had received from the duke of York his appointment to the command of a detachment of the army, " to be employed upon a particular service;" and, on the 30th of June were sent his full instructions from lord Castlereagh for the employment of a body of troops, to afford "to the Spanish and Portuguese nations every possible aid in throwing off the yoke of France." He was told in these instructions that "his majesty is graciously pleased to confide to you the fullest discretion to act according to circumstances for the benefit of his service." And yet sir Arthur Wellesley's "fullest discretion" was left at the absolute command of two superior officers. He sailed from Cork for Corunna on the 12th of July. On the * "Hansard," vol. xi. col. 889. Ibid., vol. xi. col. 1145. "Despatches," vol. iv. p. 160. 500 SIR ARTHUR WELLESLEY SENT WITH TROOPS TO PORTUGAL. [1803. 15th, lord Castlereagh writes to him that the command of the troops is entrusted to sir Hew Dalrymple, and to sir Harry Burrard as second in command. Nevertheless, lord Castlereagh points out to sir Hew Dalrymple the great hero of the Mahratta war as " an officer of whom it is desirable for you, on all accounts, to make the most prominent use which the rules of the service will permit."* The "rules of the service" subjected the man who had given the best evidence of his great military genius to the command of two generals, whose exploits were better known in the private records of the Horse Guards than in the annals of their country. Sir Arthur Wellesley's division comprised nine thousand men. Another corps, under sir John Moore, which had just arrived from the Baltic, numbered eleven thousand men. These two detachments were to co-operate. But their united efforts were to be directed by sir Hew Dalrymple and sir Harry Burrard. Moore had shown in Egypt of what metal he was made. When he waited on lord Castlereagh to receive his instructions, he was apprised that he was to go to Portugal, where he would find sir Arthur Wellesley; but that, if sir Hew Dalrymple had not arrived from Gibraltar, the operation would be undertaken by sir Harry Burrard. "It was thus indirectly notified to sir John Moore, that, after commanding in chief in Sicily and Sweden, he was now to be placed subordinate to two officers, the first of whom had never served in the field as a general."+ Moore expressed his feelings in somewhat strong terms. He had not to endure the bitter mortification which Wellesley experienced, when, in the moment of victory, he was compelled to leave his triumph incomplete, at the bidding of "an ordinary general in opposition to a great captain."‡ "The character of the Spaniard," writes lord Malmesbury, “is to let everything be done for him, if he finds any one disposed to do it, and never to act till obliged to do so."§ Before any thing was done for the Spaniard by England, he was obliged to act, and in many things he acted well. There were great difficulties in his acting at all. The provincial juntas, who directed the course of hostilities to the French, were independent bodies, acting each for its own province; not having a federal unity which would be content to place those executive powers which were in a temporary desuetude under some authority competent to represent the monarchy, which, as the Spaniards expressed its condition, was in a state of widowhood. England had abundantly provided arms, ammunition, and pay for large native armies. But there was no one governing power to direct their employment in masses against the enemy, who would seek to overwhelm them by the magnitude of his forces. Still, in the early stages of the contest, the Spaniards well employed the means which they possessed. In June, the French general Dupont had marched from Madrid to Andalusia; given Cordova up to pillage; and committed atrocities which roused the people to fury. The Spanish general Castanos, with an army sent against Dupont by the Junta of Seville, won the battle of Baylen, and compelled the French to surrender at discretion on the 21st of July. Aragon was defended by its people under "Despatches," vol. iv. p. 31. "Life of Sir John Moore," vol. ii. p. 104. 1808.] SUCCESSES OF THE SPANIARDS-ZARAGOZA. 501 the command of Palafox. The siege of Zaragoza, the capital of the province, was commenced by the French on the 15th of June. They carried some of the outer works, but on forcing their way into the city were encountered with a heroism such as the conscripts of Napoleon had rarely beheld in the standing armies of the continental monarchies. The exploits of Augustina, the amazon of Zaragoza, inspired as much courage into the besieged as Joan of Arc had inspired at the siege of Orleans. The trenches were open for forty-nine days. The city was bombarded for twenty-one days. But nothing could shake the courage of its defenders. The French raised the siege on the 4th of August. A fortnight before this termination, Napoleon had written to the new king Joseph, who was beginning to despond, "Do not doubt for an instant that everything will end sooner and more happily than you think."* He adds-" All goes well at Zaragoza." On the 24th of July, Joseph is still more alarmed. He writes to Napoleon, " Your glory will be shipwrecked in Spain. My tomb will be a monument of your want of power to support me." The confident emperor replies: "To die is not your business, but to live and conquer; which you are doing and shall do. I shall find in Spain the pillars of Hercules, but not the limits of my power."+ On the 9th of August he gives him the comfortable assurance that before the autumn Spain "Correspondence with King Joseph," vol. i. p. 333. + Ibid., p. 339. 502 VICTORY OF WELLESLEY AT VIMIERO. [1908. will be inundated with troops. "The English are of little importance. They have never more than a quarter of the troops that they profess to have. Lord Wellesley has not four thousand men, and, besides, I believe that they are directed towards Portugal." * On the 1st of August, sir Arthur Wellesley was on shipboard, off the Mondego river. He was landing his troops at Figuiera, a difficult task on an iron coast. He had heard, from the letter of lord Castlereagh, of general! officers, senior to him, being sent out, and sir Hew Dalrymple to take the command. To the duke of Richmond he writes, "I hope that I shall have beat Junot before any of them shall arrive, and then they will do as they please with me." On the 7th, major-general Spencer's corps joined the army. With ten thousand British and five thousand Portuguese, sir Arthur Wellesley then prepared to march towards Lisbon. On the 17th he defeated at Roliça the French under Laborde. The numbers of the enemy were much smaller than our numbers, but Laborde had the advantage of position. Sir Arthur the next day writes to the duke of Richmond: "The action was a most desperate one between the troops engaged. I never saw such fighting as in the pass by the 29th and 9th, or in the three attacks made by the French in the mountains. These were in their best style."‡ On the 20th he was at Vimiero, having been joined by general Anstruther and general Acland with their corps. He had now an army of seventeen thousand men. Junot had joined Laborde and Loison at Torres Vedras, and their united force was about fourteen thousand men, of whom sixteen hundred were cavalry. Early in the morning of the 21st, the French attacked the British in their position. Sir Harry Burrard had arrived on the night of the 20th. "He did not land," sir Arthur writes to his friend, the duke of Richmond, “and as I am the most fortnnate of men, Junot attacked us yesterday morning [the 21st] with his whole force, and we completely defeated him."§ The principal attack on the British was on the centre and left; the sea being in their rear, and the French still pursuing their favourite delusion of driving the English into the ocean over which they tyrannized. The attack was repulsed. Kellermann then attacked with the French reserve, and he also was driven back. "Broken by these rough shocks, the French, to whom defeat was amazement, retired in confused masses." || Junot's left wing and centre were discomfited. The road of Torres Vedras, the shortest road to Lisbon, was uncovered. The French general, Brennier, was taken prisoner, and having asked a question with reference to the reserve being engaged, which implied that the attacks had all been in vain, "the English general, judging the French power exhausted, and the moment come for rendering victory decisive, with the genius of a great captain, resolved to make it not only decisive on the field, but of the fate of Portugal." When the action was nearly over, sir Harry Burrard had landed. There was a powerful force in hand for further operations. Not more than one half of the British army had been engaged. Ferguson's division was close upon the retreating force of Solignac when Burrard commanded him to halt. Sir Arthur designed to push on to Torres Vedras, 1808.] CONVENTION OF CINTRA. 503 which if he had reached before Junot, he would have cut him off from Lisbon. When Ferguson was interrupted, Solignac joined Junot, who regained his position at Torres Vedras. The great project of the British general "was stifled as soon as conceived." Sir Arthur's superior officer "could not comprehend such a stroke of war." In a private letter, he pours out his griefs. "The French got a terrible beating on the 21st. They did not lose less, I believe, than four thousand men, and they would have been entirely destroyed, if sir H. Burrard had not prevented me from pursuing them. Indeed, since the arrival of the great generals, we appear to have been palsied, and everything has gone on wrong."* The great generals! Seldom, indeed, was this equably minded man stirred into even a mild expression of contempt. He had, however, more to endure. He had to bear his share of public indignation at the Convention of Cintra for the evacuation of Portugal by the French. An indefinite suspension of hostilities was agreed upon, with a view to this evacuation. On the 23rd of August, sir Arthur Wellesley wrote to lord Castlereagh: "Although my name is affixed to this instrument, I beg that you will not believe that I negotiated it, that I approve of it, or that I had any hand in wording it." He thought it right to allow the French to evacuate Portugal, "as soon, and at as little cost of honour as we can." Sir John Moore had arrived with his corps on the 21st, and his troops were nearly all landed when hostilities were suspended. They were ordered to re-embark. Had sir Arthur's plan of operations been persevered in, and Moore's troops had not been re-embarked, we should have been in a situation, he says, " to have refused the French any capitulation, excepting on the terms of their laying down their arms." No wonder that the people of England were indignant that twenty-six thousand soldiers should have been landed in France, at the expense of the English government. They should have bestowed their indignation upon those who deserved it. Sir Arthur Wellesley arrived in London at the beginning of October. On the 5th of September, he had written to lord Castlereagh, "It is quite impossible for me to continue any longer with this army; and I wish, therefore, that you would allow me to return home and resume the duties of my office." Dalrymple, Burrard, and Wellesley were all recalled home. Sir John Moore remained at Lisbon, having been appointed to command the army. Sir Arthur rejoices to find that he was placed under the command of Moore, "than which nothing," he says, 'can be more satisfactory to me. I will go to Corunna immediately, where I hope to find you." But a Court of Inquiry was ordered on the subject of "the late transactions in Portugal; and Wellesley was detained to be examined. He had to bear much before the publicity of these proceedings was to set him right in public opinion. He was accused, he heard, of every crime of which a man can be guilty, excepting cowardice. "I have not read one word that has been written on either side; and I have refused to publish, and don't mean to authorize the publication, of a single line in my defence." § The Inquiry took place in November; and it ended in a formal disapprobation of the armistice and convention, on the part of the king, being communicated to sir Hew Dalrymple. "Supplementary Despatches," vol. vi. p. 127. "Supplementary Despatches," vol. vi. p. 151. +Ibid., p. 122. |