On the 22nd, the Regency of Spain gave the Marquis of Wellington the
estate of the Soto de Roma, in Granada, "in the name of the Spanish
nation, in testimony of its sincere gratitude."
On the 28th of July, the French, under Marshal Soult, having re-entered
Spain, the battle of Sovauren was fought; and on the 8th of September,
St. Sebastian fell. On the 7th of October, the passage of the Bidassoa
was effected; and on the 10th of November, the whole of the army
descended into France. Other battles ensued; and on the 10th of April,
1814, was fought the final battle of Toulouse, which ended the war.
On the 3rd of May, the illustrious commander was advanced in the
peerage by the titles of Marquis of Douro and Duke of Wellington; and,
soon after, a grant of £400,000 was voted him by parliament. He arrived
in England on the 23rd of June, and on the next day proceeded to
Portsmouth to the Prince Regent, who was there with the allied monarchs.
A few days afterwards, a scene took place in the House of Lords--when
for the first time the Duke took his seat there--enough to make a
nation's heart beat with gratitude, pride, and exultation. It is thus
described:
"On the 28th of June, shortly after 3 o'clock, the Lord Chancellor
having taken his seat, the Duke of Wellington was introduced, supported
by the Dukes of Richmond and Beaufort, in military uniform, and in their
ducal robes. Being arrived in the body of the House, the Duke made the
usual obeisance to the Lord Chancellor, and shewed his patent and right
of summons: these noblemen then approached the table, where his Grace's
various patents, as baron and viscount, earl, marquis, and lastly as
duke, were each read by the clerks. The oaths were then administered,
and the Test Rolls were signed by him. He then, accompanied by his noble
supporters, took his seat on the dukes' bench, and saluted the house in
the usual manner, by rising, taking off his hat, and bowing
respectfully. The Lord Chancellor then rose, and, pursuant to their
lordships' orders, addressed his Grace:--
"My Lord Duke of Wellington,--I have received the commands of this
house, which I am persuaded has witnessed with infinite satisfaction
your Grace's personal introduction to this august assembly, to return
your grace the thanks and acknowledgments of this house, for your great
and eminent services to your king and country."
"In the execution of these commands, I cannot forbear to call the
especial attention of all who hear me to a fact in your Grace's life,
singular, I believe, in the history of the country, and infinitely
honourable to your Grace, that you have manifested, upon your first
entrance into this house, your right, under various grants, to all the
dignities in the peerage of this realm which the crown can confer. These
dignities have been conferred at various periods, but in the short
compass of little more than four years, for great public services,
occurring in rapid succession, claiming the favour of the crown,
influenced by its sense of justice to your grace and the country; and on
no one occasion in which the crown has thus rewarded your merits have
the Houses of Parliament been inattentive to your demands upon the
gratitude of the country. Upon all such occasions, they have offered to
your Grace their acknowledgments and thanks, the highest honours they
could bestow."
"I decline all attempts to state your Grace's eminent merits in your
military character; to represent those brilliant actions, those
illustrious achievements, which have attached immortality to the name of
Wellington, and which have given to this country a degree of glory
unexampled in the annals of this kingdom. In thus acting, I believe I
best consult the feelings which evince your Grace's title to the
character of a truly great and illustrious man."
"My duty to this house cannot but make me most anxious not to fall
short of the expectation which the house may have formed as to the
execution of what may have been committed to me on this great occasion;
but the most anxious consideration which I have given to the nature of
that duty has convinced me that I cannot more effectually do justice to
the judgment of the house, than by referring your Grace to the terms and
language in which the house has so repeatedly expressed its own sense of
the distinguished and consummate wisdom and judgment, the skill and
ability, the prompt energy, the indefatigable exertion, perseverance,
the fortitude and the valour, by which the victories of Vimeiro,
Talavera, Salamanca and Vittoria were achieved; by which the sieges of
Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz were gloriously terminated; by which the
deliverance of Portugal was effectuated; by which the ever memorable
establishment of the allied armies on the frontiers of France was
accomplished; armies pushing forward, in the glory of victory at Orthes,
to the occupation of Bordeaux. These achievements, in their immediate
consequence infinitely beneficial to the common cause, have, in their
final results, secured the peace, prosperity, and glory of this country;
whilst your Grace's example has animated to great exertions the other
nations of Europe, exertions rescuing them from tyranny, and restoring
them to independence, by which there has been ultimately established
among the nations of Europe that balance of power which, giving
sufficient strength to every nation, provides that no nation shall be
too strong. I presume not to trespass upon the house by representing the
personal satisfaction which I have derived from being the honoured
instrument of conveying to your Grace the acknowledgments and thanks of
this house upon every occasion upon which they have been offered to your
Grace, or by endeavouring to represent the infinite gratification which
I enjoy in thus offering, on behalf of the house, on this day, to your
Grace in person, those acknowledgments and those thanks. Your Grace is
now called to aid hereafter, by your wisdom and judgment, the great
council of that nation, to the peace, prosperity, and glory of which
your Grace has already so essentially contributed; and to tender your
Grace, now taking your seat in this house, in obedience to its commands,
the thanks of the house in the words of its resolution--That the thanks
of this house be given to Field-marshal the Duke of Wellington, on his
return from his command abroad, for his eminent and unremitting services
to his majesty and the public."