The author has feared to indulge any very sanguine hope of the final
success of the Spanish cause, particularly since the retreat of the
French from Madrid, and behind the Ebro, was turned to so little solid
advantage by the Spaniards. But that their efforts and their example in
a great degree have already crippled and distracted the power of France,
and afforded a considerable chance for the emancipation of Europe; that
the victories of Baylen and Talavera, the defence of Saragossa and
Gerona, have been of one great advantage (exclusively of any other) in
dissipating the spell of French invincibility, cannot be denied.
Undoubtedly Buonaparte will come out of the Spanish contest, even though
he should finally succeed in placing his brother on the throne, with
diminished reputation and more precarious power. It is singular that in
the succession war, a century ago, the French were obliged in like
manner to retire from Madrid behind the Ebro, and that the negligence of
the other party, in not dislodging them from that position, eventually
placed the French competitor on the throne of Spain. _See Carleton’s
Memoirs._ 1809.
It is now upwards of two years since this note was written, and it must
be confessed that the French cause is not now, to all appearance, in so
promising a condition as it was then. Hopes that the author once
considered as too sanguine, have been more than realized, and the final
deliverance of Spain from the atrocious usurpation of France, seems
every hour less improbable. 1812.