MARQUIS WELLESLEY RESIGNS OFFICE. OVERTURES OF PEACE. MURDER OF MR.
PERCEVAL. NEGOTIATIONS FOR FORMING A NEW ADMINISTRATION. SIR
ROWLAND HILL’S SUCCESS AT ALMARAZ. BATTLE OF SALAMANCA.
♦1812.♦
The year which had commenced thus auspiciously for the British arms
was distinguished also by important events both at home and on the
continent, ... events which materially affected the conduct and the
issue of ♦MARQUIS WELLESLEY RESIGNS OFFICE.♦ the war. Early in the
year Marquis Wellesley resigned the seals of his office: he could not
prevail upon his colleagues in the cabinet to place such means at
the disposal of Lord Wellington as might enable him to follow up his
advantages with every human certainty of complete success; and he was
impatient of continuing in a subordinate station to Mr. Perceval, whom
he seems to have estimated far below the standard of his worth. The
seals were put into the Earl of Liverpool’s hands till a successor
should be appointed. ♦RESTRICTIONS ON THE REGENCY EXPIRE. FEB. 13.♦
At this time the restrictions on the Regency were about to expire,
and the Prince addressed a letter to his brother the Duke of York,
saying how much it would gratify him if some of those persons with
whom the habits of his public life had been formed would strengthen
his hands and constitute a part of his government; and authorizing
him to communicate his wishes to Lord Grey, who would make them known
to Lord Grenville. “The national faith,” said the Prince, “has been
preserved inviolate towards our allies; and if character is strength,
as applied to a nation, the increased and increasing reputation of his
Majesty’s arms will show to the nations of the continent how much they
may still achieve when animated by a glorious spirit of resistance to
a foreign yoke. In the critical situation of the war in the Peninsula,
I shall be most anxious to avoid any measure which can lead my allies
to suppose that I mean to depart from the present system. Perseverance
alone can achieve the great object in question; and I cannot withhold
my approbation from those who have honourably distinguished themselves
in the support of it. I have no predilections to indulge, ... no
resentments to gratify, ... no objects to attain but such as are common
to the whole empire.”
♦COMMUNICATION FROM THE PRINCE TO THE LEADERS OF OPPOSITION.
JANUARY 7.♦
It was not likely that this communication to the two joint leaders of
the Opposition would bring them to act in concert with Mr. Perceval,
whom having tried and proved, the Prince would not now have abandoned.
Earl Grey had said in the debate on the address, “he should feel
unhappy if he departed from that House without declaring that he
retained all the opinions which he before held on subjects of great
magnitude, ... opinions confirmed by experience and the evidence of
facts, ... opinions which he should ever be ready to maintain and
defend, the system that had been adopted having been, in fact, the
source of almost all our present and impending calamities.” Lord
Grenville’s language on the same occasion had been to the same purport:
“The framers of the Prince Regent’s speech,” he said, “were the very
men who by their obstinate blindness had brought the country to the
brink of ruin, and who, in the midst of the distresses they themselves
had occasioned, still held the same flattering and fallacious language.
He would protest against a continuance of those measures which had
brought such calamities on the country, ... calamities so real and
momentous, that they must soon press themselves with irresistible force
on their lordships’ attention, whether or not they were willing to give
them the consideration they deserved. People might choose to close
their eyes, but the force of truth must dispel the wilful blindness;
they might choose to shut their ears, but the voice of a suffering
nation must sooner or later be heard. He still retained his objections
to every part of the system which he had so often condemned; he still
deprecated that wanton waste of money and of all the public resources,
when it was more necessary than ever to husband them with the most
provident care.”
♦REPLY OF LORDS GREY AND GRENVILLE.♦
The two lords framed their reply to the Duke of York’s communication
in conformity with these declared opinions: “No sacrifice,” they said,
“except those of honour and duty, could appear to us too great to be
made, for the purpose of healing the divisions of our country, and
uniting both its government and its people. All personal exclusion we
entirely disclaim; we rest on public measures; and it is on this ground
alone that we must express, without reserve, the impossibility of our
uniting with the present government. Our differences of opinion are
too many and too important to admit of such an union: ... they embrace
almost all the leading features of the present policy of the empire.”
Then touching upon the state of Ireland, “We are firmly persuaded,”
they said, “of the necessity of a total change in the present system of
government in that country.”
The great body of the nation dreaded at this time nothing so much as
any change in the ministry which would bring the despondents into
office; they therefore regarded this refusal of the Prince Regent’s
overture with the greatest satisfaction; but it gave offence to others
of that party, who looked upon themselves with some reason as having
been included in the overtures, and were of opinion that they ought to
have been consulted before such an answer was returned; there might
have been a distribution of loaves and fishes; and though the two lords
were not hungry, they were: ... this ♦MARCH.♦ the public learned from
their complaints. The seals of the foreign department were now accepted
by Lord Castlereagh, who while out of office, instead of entering into
opposition, had supported the measures of a cabinet whose general
course of policy he approved, and in whom the ministry, if they gained
little accession of strength in public opinion, obtained an active and
useful colleague, on whose intrepidity and honour and straightforward
integrity they could rely.
♦LORD BORINGDON’S MOTION.
MAR. 19.♦
Lord Boringdon, however, thought proper to move in the House of Lords
for an address to the Prince Regent, requesting that he would endeavour
to form a cabinet which might effectually call forth the resources
of the empire. “The motion was founded,” he said, “on his deep sense
of the alarming evils which threatened the safety of the nation, and
on the imperative necessity of obtaining an efficient administration
capable of averting them; ... for the darkest and most gloomy prospects
now surrounded us; dangers were pressing upon us on every side, and
at this same time the means of averting them were weakened.” The
Catholic question was largely introduced in the ensuing debate; a
party in Parliament using that question as a means for harassing
the administration, while men of worse intentions but far greater
foresight employed it as an engine by which they expected to separate
Ireland from England, eradicate the Protestant Church in one country,
and finally subvert the constitution of the other. But the public
looked with much more interest to the opinions concerning the war
expressed by those who, notwithstanding their late refusal of office,
were supposed to be expectant of it; and upon this point Earl Grey’s
sentiments seemed to have undergone some modification. “Certainly,”
he said, “he was not prepared to affirm that it was expedient to
recall our troops immediately home, but certainly he did not wish to
proceed in that expensive mode of warfare without having some military
authority as to the result of it. He ♦SPEECH OF EARL GREY.♦ thought,
and most decidedly, that a reduction of our expenditure was called
for by reflections of the most urgent and powerful kind, ... but if
any thing like a certainty of success could be shown in the schemes
that were devised, then all his hesitations would be removed, and he
should consider even the most extensive scale of foreign operations as
recommended by the principles of economy itself. He felt warmly the
justice of that cause which we were maintaining in the Peninsula. No
cause related in the annals of mankind ever rested more entirely on
sentiments of the most honourable feeling, or was more connected (if
circumstances were favourable) with principles of national advantage.
The spectacle exhibited was the most interesting that could engage
the sympathies or the attention of the world; and it was impossible
not to wish to afford assistance to the noble struggle of a free
people, against the most unparalleled treachery, the most atrocious
violence, that ever stained or degraded the ambition of despotic
power. But those principles upon which the prosecution of that war
could be defended must be reduced to a mere speculative theory, unless
supported by adequate exertions from the Spanish people and the Spanish
government. Without that necessary co-operation, all our efforts must
prove useless. The success of our arms during the last two years
had been called complete: he could coincide in no such declaration,
knowing, as every other man knew, that the defence of Portugal must
be impracticable after Spain should be entirely subdued. We had
unquestionably achieved much, and in the capture of Cuidad Rodrigo
he concurred in the admiration justly due to the great commander who
conducted that important enterprise. But when he looked to another
part of that kingdom, and saw Badajoz in possession of the enemy, ...
when he looked to Catalonia, Valencia, Murcia, ... he was at a loss to
discover what new prospects of success had dawned upon the Spaniards.
Those conquests opened to the enemy a free communication between all
their divisions, and they would soon be enabled by that circumstance
to bring the whole weight of their united forces against the British.
He did think, too, that ministers had been culpably negligent in not
having exerted in that quarter the means actually in their power, by
employing a considerable naval force for the purpose of lending our
allies more effectual succour. Such a system, if properly conducted,
would in all probability have enabled the Catalans to expel their
invaders. Where then were the symptoms of this boasted success? Lord
Wellington, at the head of 62,000 as effective men as were ever led
into the field, had been compelled to remain on the defensive! With a
force greater than that commanded by the Duke of Marlborough at the
most splendid era of our military history, Lord Wellington had found
himself limited to the pursuit of a defensive system!”
♦OVERTURE FROM THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT.♦
Lord Boringdon’s motion met with little support, and the tidings
of Lord Wellington’s success at Badajoz contributed to confirm the
confidence which the great majority of the public felt in the existing
administration. The fall of that fortress was so decisive a proof
of British enterprise and courage, that Buonaparte would not allow
it to be mentioned in the French newspapers; and under his vigilant
despotism the French people could know nothing more of public affairs
than he thought proper to communicate. At this time he was preparing
for an expedition upon a greater scale than any which he had before
undertaken, and to a greater distance than he had yet advanced in his
career of conquest. An overture for peace to the British Government,
upon grounds which he knew to be inadmissible, served now, as on
former occasions, for a prelude to this new drama of his ambition.
“His Majesty the Emperor,” the Duc de Bassano said in a ♦APRIL 17.♦
communication to Lord Castlereagh, “being constantly actuated by
sentiments friendly to moderation and peace, and moved by the awful
circumstances in which the world is at present placed, is pleased
again to make a solemn and sincere attempt for putting an end to the
miseries of war. Many changes have taken place in Europe during the
last ten years, which have been the necessary consequence of the war
between France and England, and many more changes will be effected by
the same cause. The particular character which the war has assumed
may add to the extent and duration of these results. Exclusive and
arbitrary principles cannot be combated but by an opposition without
measure or end; and the system of preservation and resistance must have
the same character of universality, perseverance, and vigour. This
might have been prevented if the peace of Amiens had been observed.”
Having referred then to the overtures which Buonaparte had made in the
years 1805, 1808 and 1810, the French minister proceeded thus: ...
“I will express myself, Sir, in a manner which your excellency will
find conformable to the sincerity of the step that I am authorized to
take; and nothing will better evince the sincerity and sublimity of it
than the precise terms of the language which I have been instructed to
use. What motives should induce me to envelope myself in formalities
suitable to weakness, which alone can find its interest in deceit?...
The affairs of the Peninsula and of the Two Sicilies are the points
of difference which appear least to admit of being adjusted.... I am
authorized to propose an arrangement of them on the following basis:
... The integrity of Spain shall be guaranteed. France shall renounce
all intention of extending her dominions beyond the Pyrenees. The
present dynasty shall be declared independent, and Spain shall be
governed by a national constitution of her Cortes. The independence
and integrity of Portugal shall also be guaranteed, and the house of
Braganza shall have the sovereign authority. The kingdom of Naples
shall remain in possession of the present monarch, and the kingdom
of Sicily shall be guaranteed to the present family of Sicily. As a
consequence of these stipulations, Spain, Portugal and Sicily shall be
evacuated by the French and English land and naval forces. With respect
to the other subjects of discussion, they may be negotiated upon this
basis, that each power shall retain that of which the other could not
deprive it by war. Such, Sir, are the grounds of conciliation offered
by his Majesty to his Royal Highness the Prince Regent. His Majesty,
the Emperor and King, in taking this step, does not look either to the
advantages or losses which this empire may derive from the war, if it
should be prolonged: he is influenced simply by considerations of the
interests of humanity, and the peace of his people. And if this fourth
attempt, like those which have preceded it, should not be attended
with success, France will at least have the consolation of thinking
that whatever blood may yet flow, will be justly imputable to England
alone.”
♦LORD CASTLEREAGH’S REPLY.♦
This overture was answered as it deserved; Lord Castlereagh was
instructed, before he entered into any explanations, to ascertain the
precise meaning attached by the French Government to its proposal
concerning the actual dynasty and government of Spain. “If,” said he,
“as His Royal Highness fears, the meaning of this proposition is, that
the royal authority of Spain and the government established by the
Cortes shall be recognised as residing in the brother of the head of
the French Government, and the Cortes formed under his authority, not
in the legitimate sovereign Ferdinand VII., and his heirs, and the
extraordinary assembly of the Cortes, now invested with the power of
the government in that kingdom, in his name and by his authority, I am
commanded frankly and explicitly to declare, that the obligations of
good faith do not permit His Royal Highness to receive a proposition
for peace founded on such a basis. But if the expressions apply to the
actual government of Spain, which exercises the sovereign authority in
the name of Ferdinand VII., upon an assurance of your Excellency to
that effect, the Prince Regent will feel himself disposed to enter into
a full explanation upon the basis which has been transmitted; it being
his most earnest wish to contribute, in concert with his allies, to
the repose of Europe; and to bring about a peace which may be at once
honourable not only for Great Britain and France, but also for those
states which are in amity with each of these powers. Having made known,
without reserve, the sentiments of the Prince Regent with respect to a
point on which it is necessary to have a full understanding previous
to any ulterior discussion, I shall adhere to the instructions of his
Royal Highness, by avoiding all superfluous comment and recriminations
on the accessary objects of your letter. I might, advantageously
for the justification of the conduct observed by Great Britain at
the different periods alluded to by your Excellency, refer to the
correspondence which then took place, and to the judgment which the
world has long since formed of it. As to the particular character the
war has unhappily assumed, and the arbitrary principles which your
Excellency conceives to have marked its progress, denying as I do,
that these evils are attributable to the British Government, I at the
same time can assure your Excellency, that it sincerely deplores their
existence, as uselessly aggravating the calamities of war; and that its
most anxious desire, whether at peace or at war with France, is to have
the relations of the two countries restored to the liberal principles
usually acted upon in former times.”
No answer was attempted to this unanswerable reply; and the signal
success of the British arms since the commencement of the year had so
far raised the public spirit, that no attempt was made in Parliament
to ground upon the failure of these overtures any accusation against
the ministers for wantonly prolonging the war. With a great majority
in both Houses, and a still greater in the nation, with the confidence
also of the Prince Regent, which was now no longer doubtful, the
administration seemed, for the first time since the king’s ♦MR.
PERCEVAL MURDERED. MAY 11.♦ malady, to be firmly established, when
Mr. Perceval was shot through the heart, in the lobby of the House of
Commons, by a madman. The murderer was a person who, having failed
in some mercantile speculations at Archangel, and having been thrown
into prison there, imagined himself wronged by the Russian Government,
and by the British Government, because it had not taken up his cause,
concerning which he had molested both governments, with repeated
and groundless memorials; for the business was entirely of a private
nature, in which they could not interfere. He made no attempt to
escape. “My name,” he said, “is Bellingham; it is a private injury;
it was a denial of justice on the part of government. I know what I
have done. They have driven me to despair by telling me at the public
offices that I might do my worst. I have obeyed them: I have been
watching more than a fortnight for a favourable opportunity; I have
done my worst, and I rejoice in the deed!” He had no personal enmity
to Mr. Perceval, with whom, as it happened, he had not at any time
communicated; and he would rather have had Lord Levison Gower for his
victim, who, having been ambassador in Russia, ought, according to his
opinion, to have interfered.
Bellingham was insane on the single point of his own imagined injuries;
but his insanity was of a kind which, for the sake of society, must not
be pleaded in bar of justice before an earthly tribunal. The murder
was committed on a Monday, and as the sessions had commenced at the
Old Bailey, he was brought to trial on the Friday, and executed on
the Monday following. On this occasion, it was seen to what a degree
seditious journalists, the most nefarious that ever were allowed
to make a free press their engine for mischief, had succeeded in
corrupting no small portion of the ignorant and deluded multitude. When
he was conveyed from the House of Commons to Newgate, in a carriage
♦CONDUCT OF THE POPULACE.♦ and under an escort, an attempt was made
to rescue him, and the soldiers were hooted. The mob which collected
next day in Palace-Yard uttered the most atrocious exclamations. Before
it was known that Bellingham was an object of commiseration as well
as horror, he was extolled in pot-houses as a friend to the people,
who had done them good service in killing a prime minister; exulting
anticipations were expressed that this was but the beginning, and that
more such examples would follow; healths were drunk to those members of
Parliament, whose language at various times (whatever their intentions
may have been) had been mischievous enough to bring upon them the
stigma of such popularity: and in certain manufacturing places public
rejoicings were made for the murder of a minister, who both in private
and in public life was absolutely without reproach. In public life
he was without fear also: this kingdom was never blest with a more
intrepid nor a more upright minister; he feared God, and therefore he
had no fear of man. There were persons who upon his elevation alluded
to the Knight of the Round Table, from whom his family derive their
descent, and said that Sir Perceval was not the man who could sit
in the “Siege Perilous.” That seat, however, he took, and filled it
worthily; and like his ancestor in the romance, he was qualified to do
this by the purity as well as by the strength of his character. A sense
of religious duty was the key-stone which crowned his virtues and his
talents, and kept them firm.
A grant of £50,000 for the twelve children of Mr. Perceval was voted
by Parliament, with a pension of £2000 to his widow, and to the eldest
son, whose reversion was subsequently commuted for one of those
sinecures, against which, if they were always thus properly bestowed,
no voice would be raised. The loss of the murdered minister was thus
repaired to his family, as far as it was reparable; but how was his
place in the ♦OVERTURES FROM THE MINISTRY TO M. WELLESLEY AND MR.
CANNING. MAY 17.♦ cabinet to be supplied? Overtures were made to Mr.
Canning and Marquis Wellesley, as persons who were understood to act
in unison, and who in their views of foreign policy differed in no
respect from the existing ministers. They were informed that the
Prince naturally looked to them, because he was desirous of continuing
his administration upon its present basis, and also of strengthening it
as much as possible by associating to it such persons in public life as
agreed most nearly and generally in the principles upon which public
affairs had been conducted. Lord Liverpool, by whom this communication
was made, stated that his colleagues wished him to be appointed First
Lord of the Treasury, and that their wish was known to the Prince, when
His Royal Highness charged him with this negotiation; he added also,
that Lord Castlereagh was to retain his office, and act as leader in
the House of Commons.
It is probable that Mr. Canning was offended at this latter intimation,
though he manifested no such displeasure: it is probable that he
thought himself disparaged when that part of the business of the
House of Commons for which he could not but be conscious that he
was pre-eminently qualified, was assigned to a person who was in
oratorical powers greatly his inferior. Marquis Wellesley may also be
supposed to have felt a kindred disappointment; he could number few
followers in Parliament, but he had other friends, who for some time
had been endeavouring with more zeal and activity than discretion,
to persuade the nation that he was the only statesman capable of
conducting the government at a crisis when the interests of all Europe
were at stake. But in this, though they appealed to his vigorous and
splendid administration in India, they altogether failed. No doubt
was entertained of his surpassing abilities, nor of his comprehensive
views, nor of the energy with which he was capable of acting upon them.
But that was wanting on which the British people in the healthy and
natural state of public feeling were accustomed to rely; he had to a
certain degree their admiration, but not their confidence. And while
his merits as an Indian governor were understood by those only who were
conversant with Indian affairs, the villanous calumnies with which he
had been assailed for his conduct in that distant country were more
widely known, and were moreover fresher in remembrance.
♦M. WELLESLEY’S REASONS FOR DECLINING THEM.♦
He gained no ground in public opinion by his conduct in the
negotiation. The difference upon the Roman Catholic question between
himself and the cabinet which he was invited to join, “was of the
utmost importance,” he said, “and would alone compel him to decline
the proposition.” But that question, though in its consequences more
mischievous than any by which these kingdoms have been agitated since
the Restoration, was of no pressing importance at that time, nor could
all the arts and efforts of those who promoted it induce the nation to
think it so. He asked also, whether all those persons designated by the
name of the opposition were to be excluded from the proposed scheme of
administration; “an inquiry which,” he said, “originated in his sincere
conviction (founded upon an attentive observation of the general
state of public opinion, and of the condition of the empire) that no
administration which should not comprise some of those persons, could
prove advantageous to the Prince Regent, conciliatory towards Ireland,
and equal to the conduct of the war, on a scale of sufficient extent.”
Marquis Wellesley must have been strangely deceived when he supposed
that public opinion supported him in this notion: and it is even more
remarkable that he should have expected those persons to co-operate
with him in his vigorous plans for prosecuting the war, knowing as he
did, that from the beginning they had considered it as hopeless, and
had not less repeatedly than confidently predicted its total failure.
Farther, the Marquis stated that the considerations which had induced
him to resign office had since acquired additional force, and would
constitute an insuperable obstacle to his acceptance of any station
in the present administration. He had withdrawn from Mr. Perceval’s
because his general opinions on various important questions had not
sufficient weight in that cabinet to justify him towards the public, or
towards his own character in continuing in office. “My objection,” said
he, “to remaining in that cabinet arose, in a great degree, from the
imperfect scale on which the efforts in the Peninsula were conducted.
It was always stated to me that it was impracticable to enlarge that
system. I thought it was perfectly practicable; and that it was neither
safe nor honest towards this country or the allies to continue the
present inadequate scheme. Since my resignation it has been found
practicable to make some extension; but it is still intimated, that my
views are more extensive than the resources of the country can enable
the government to reduce to practice. I, however, still entertain the
same views and opinions, without diminution or alteration; and I am
convinced that a considerable extension of the scale of our operations
in the Peninsula, and also an effectual correction of many branches
of our system in that quarter, are objects of indispensable necessity
and of easy attainment. With such a decided difference of opinion in
relation to the conduct and management of the war, my return into
a cabinet composed as the present is, would offer to me no better
prospect than the renewal of discussions which have hitherto proved
unavailing.”
♦MR. CANNING’S.♦
Mr. Canning rested his refusal of office solely upon the Catholic
question: “To accept it,” he said, “would be to lend himself to
the defeating of his own declared opinions on that most important
question; opinions which were as far as those of any man from being
favourable to precipitate an unqualified concession. But by entering
into the administration while all consideration of that question was
to be resisted, I should incur,” said he, “such a loss of personal
and public character as would disappoint the object which His Royal
Highness the Prince Regent has at heart, and must render my accession
to his government a new source of weakness rather than an addition
of strength.” Lord Liverpool had stated to Mr. Canning, that Lord
Castlereagh had from motives of delicacy absented himself from the
cabinet when the grounds on which the overture was to be made were
discussed; and that he would be no obstacle in the way of arrangement.
This was consistent with the manliness and generosity of Lord
Castlereagh’s character, and it was received in a corresponding spirit
by Mr. Canning. “After the expressions,” said he to Lord Liverpool,
“with which you were charged on the part of all your colleagues, I
should not be warranted in omitting to declare that no objection of a
personal sort should have prevented me from uniting with any or all
of them, if I could have done so with honour.... I cannot deny myself
the satisfaction of adding, that the manner of your communication
with us has entirely corresponded with the habits and sentiments of a
friendship of so many years; a friendship which our general concurrence
on many great political principles has strengthened, and which our
occasional differences have in no degree impaired.”
♦M. WELLESLEY’S STATEMENT.♦
If the failure of this overture disappointed the hopes which ministers
had reasonably entertained of strengthening themselves by the accession
of the two persons who were most in accord with them upon all points of
foreign policy, it had no tendency to widen their differences; but just
as it terminated, a statement of the causes which had induced Marquess
Wellesley to resign found its way into the newspapers through the
indiscretion of some of his friends. It spoke in no measured terms of
his late colleagues: in his judgment, it was said, the cabinet neither
possessed ability and knowledge to devise a good plan, nor temper and
discernment to adopt what was recommended to them: ... it said also
that Marquis Wellesley could not pay any deference to Mr. Perceval’s
judgment and attainments without injury to the public service: that if
his own opinions had been adopted, he might have been willing to have
served with him, but would never have consented to serve under him in
any circumstances: that he had offered to act under Earl Moira or Lord
Holland, and made no exception to any person as prime minister but Mr.
Perceval, whom he considered incompetent to fill that office, although
sufficiently qualified for inferior stations. The publication of this
statement would have been indiscreet at any time; but being published
a few days only after the murder of Mr. Perceval, it excited a strong
feeling of displeasure. Just at this juncture, Mr. Stuart Wortley
♦MR. STUART WORTLEY’S MOTION.♦ moved in the House of Commons, that an
address should be presented to the Prince, praying him to take measures
for forming a strong and efficient government. This ill-judged motion
was carried by a small majority; and the Prince in consequence sent for
Marquis Wellesley, and desired him to form a plan of an administration.
The Marquis requested Mr. Canning, as the channel which might be ♦MAY
23. M. WELLESLEY CHARGED TO FORM AN ADMINISTRATION.♦ most agreeable to
Lord Liverpool, to inquire whether he and all or any of his colleagues
would form part of a ministry constituted upon the principles of taking
the Catholic question into early consideration, with a view to its
final and satisfactory settlement, and of prosecuting the war in the
Peninsula with the best means of the country. There was the strongest
wish, it was added, to comprehend in the arrangement, without any
individual or party exclusion whatever, as many as possible of such
persons as might be able to agree in giving their public service to
the country upon these two principles. With regard to the distribution
of offices nothing was stipulated; every thing, therefore, was open to
be arranged ♦THE MINISTERS REFUSE TO ACT WITH HIM.♦ to the honour and
satisfaction of all parties. An immediate answer was returned by Lord
Liverpool, for himself and his colleagues, saying, that it was not
necessary for them to enter into any discussion of the two principles,
because they all felt themselves bound, particularly after what had
recently passed, to decline the proposal of becoming members of an
administration to be formed by Marquis Wellesley.
♦LORDS GREY AND GRENVILLE ALSO DECLINE.♦
Marquis Wellesley made a similar communication to Lords Grey and
Grenville, and through them to their friends, observing, that
he neither claimed nor desired for himself any place in the new
arrangement, looking upon himself merely as the instrument of executing
the Prince’s commands in this instance. Lords Grey and Grenville
professed in reply, that they felt it to be the duty of all public
men at such a moment; both by frank and conciliatory explanations of
principle, and by the total abandonment of every personal object, to
facilitate the means of giving effect to the late vote of the House of
Commons, and of averting the imminent and unparalleled dangers of the
country. They cordially agreed with him upon the Catholic question. As
to the second point, “No person,” they said, “feels more strongly than
we do the advantages which would result from a successful termination
of the present contest in Spain; but we are of opinion, that the
direction of military operations in an extensive war, and the more or
less vigorous prosecution of those operations, are questions not of
principle but of policy; to be regulated by circumstances in their
nature temporary and fluctuating, and in many cases known only to
persons in official stations; by the engagements of the country, the
prospect of ultimate success, the extent of the exertions necessary
for its attainment, and the means of supporting those efforts without
too great a pressure on the finances and internal prosperity of the
country. On such questions, therefore, no public men, either in or out
of office, can undertake for more than a deliberate and dispassionate
consideration, according to the circumstances of the case as it may
appear, and to such means of information as may then be within their
reach. But we cannot in sincerity conceal from Marquis Wellesley,
that in the present state of the finances we entertain the strongest
doubts of the practicability of an increase in any branch of the public
expenditure.” Lords Lansdowne and Holland concurred in this answer of
the two opposition leaders. Earl Moira’s reply was, “That a plan of
government on the basis proposed would have his most cordial wishes;
but that this declaration was not to imply any engagement on his part
to accept office.” In the subsequent correspondence, Marquis Wellesley
and Mr. Canning said respecting the Catholic question, that they did
not conceive any farther parliamentary proceeding to be necessary or
practicable that session, than such as might be sufficient to ensure,
either by compulsion upon a hostile administration, or by pledge from a
friendly one, the consideration of the question during the recess, with
a view to its being brought before Parliament by the recommendation of
the Crown early in the ensuing session.” Earl Grey replied to this,
“That he should very reluctantly abandon the hope of passing a bill
even during the present session for the repeal of the disabilities
whereof the Catholics complained; but if this could not be done, he
held it indispensable that the most distinct and authentic pledge
should be given of the intention both of the executive government and
of Parliament to take the matter up as one of the first measures of the
next.” Touching the conduct of the war, “It is impossible,” said he,
“to reduce a question of this nature to any fixed principle. Whatever
we can say with our present means of information must necessarily be
general and inconclusive. I can have no hesitation in subscribing to
the proposition, that if it shall be found expedient to continue the
exertions we are now making in the Peninsula, they should be conducted
in the manner best calculated to answer their end.”
♦M. WELLESLEY RECEIVES FULLER POWERS.
JUNE 1.♦
Here Marquis Wellesley’s commission ended: but the ministers considered
themselves as holding office only till their successors should be
appointed; and in a few days the Marquis received full authority to
form an administration on the two principles which he had laid down,
and he was specially instructed to communicate with Lords Grey and
Grenville. The Prince signified his pleasure that Marquis Wellesley
should conduct the formation of the administration in all its branches,
and should be first Commissioner of the Treasury; and that Earl Moira,
Lord Erskine, and Mr. Canning should be members of the cabinet. A
cabinet formed on an enlarged basis must be extended to the number
of twelve or thirteen members; and the Prince wished Lords Grey and
Grenville to recommend four persons if it consisted of twelve, five if
it should consist of thirteen; these persons to be selected by the two
lords without any exception or personal exclusion, and to be appointed
by His Royal Highness to such stations as might hereafter be arranged.
It was added, that entire liberty had been ♦THE TWO LORDS PERSIST IN
THEIR REPLY. JUNE 3.♦ granted to Marquis Wellesley to propose for
the Prince’s approbation the names of any persons then occupying
stations in His Royal Highness’s councils, or of any other persons.
In reply, the two lords repeated their declaration, that no sense of
the public distress and difficulty, no personal feelings of whatever
description, would have prevented them from accepting with dutiful
submission any situations in which they could have hoped to serve His
Royal Highness usefully and honourably; “But the present proposal,”
they said, “could not justify any such expectation. We are invited,”
they pursued, “not to discuss with your lordship, or with any other
public men, according to the usual practice in such cases, the various
and important considerations, both of measures and of arrangements,
which belong to the formation of a new government in all its branches;
but to recommend to His Royal Highness a number, limited by previous
stipulation, of persons willing to be included in a cabinet of which
the outlines are already definitively arranged. To this proposal we
could not accede without the sacrifice of the very object which the
House of Commons has recommended, ... the formation of a strong and
efficient administration.... It is to the principle of disunion and
jealousy that we object; ... to the supposed balance of contending
interests in a cabinet so measured out by preliminary stipulation. The
times imperiously require an administration united in principle and
strong in mutual reliance; possessing also the confidence of the Crown,
and assured of its support in those healing measures which the public
safety requires, and which are necessary to secure to the government
the opinion and affections of the people. No such hope is presented
to us by this project, which appears to us equally new in practice
and objectionable in principle. It tends, as we think, to establish
within the cabinet itself a system of counteraction inconsistent with
the prosecution of any uniform and beneficial course of policy. We
must therefore request permission to decline all participation in a
government constituted upon such principles, satisfied as we are that
the certain loss of character which must arise from it to ourselves
could be productive only of disunion and weakness in the administration
of the public interests.”
♦EARL MOIRA’S LETTER TO EARL GREY.♦
This called forth an explanatory letter to Earl Grey from Earl Moira,
who thought that the answer of the two lords conveyed an oblique
imputation upon him, as a party involved in the procedure. “You
represent the proposition,” said he, “as one calculated to found a
cabinet upon a principle of counteraction. When the most material of
the public ♦JUNE 3.♦ objects which were to be the immediate ground of
that cabinet’s exertion had been previously understood between the
parties, I own it is difficult for me to comprehend what principle of
counteraction could be introduced.... With regard to the indication
of certain individuals, I can assert, that it was a measure adopted
through the highest spirit of fairness to you and your friends. Mr.
Canning’s name was mentioned because Marquis Wellesley would have
declined office without him, and it was a frankness to apprize you of
it; and Lord Erskine’s and mine were stated with a view of showing,
that Marquis Wellesley, so far from having any jealousy to maintain
a preponderance in the cabinet, actually left a majority to those
who had been accustomed to concur upon most public questions; and he
specified Lord Erskine and myself, that you might see the number
submitted for your exclusive nomination was not narrowed by the
necessity of advertence to us. The choice of an additional member of
the cabinet left to you must prove how undistinguishable we consider
our interests and yours, when this was referred to your consideration
as a mere matter of convenience, the embarrassment of a numerous
cabinet being well known. The reference to members of the late cabinet,
or other persons, was always to be coupled with the established point,
that they were such as could concur in the principles laid down as
the foundation for the projected ministry; and the statement was
principally dictated by the wish to show that no system of exclusion
could interfere with the arrangements which the public service might
demand. On the selection of those persons, I aver, the opinions of you,
Lord Grenville, and the others whom you might bring forward as members
of the cabinet, were to operate as fully as our own; and this was to be
the case also with regard to subordinate offices. The expression that
this was left to be proposed by Marquis Wellesley was intended to prove
that His Royal Highness did not, even in the most indirect manner,
suggest any one of those individuals. It is really impossible that the
spirit of fairness can have been carried further than has been the
intention in this negotiation. I therefore lament most deeply that an
arrangement, so important for the interests of the country, should go
off upon points which I cannot but think wide of the substance of the
case.”
This frank and manly remonstrance produced no effect upon the
determination of the two lords. The objections stated in their joint
letter “could not,” they said, “be ♦JUNE 4.♦ altered by a private
explanation, which, though it might lessen some obvious objections to a
part of the detail, still left the general character of the proceeding
unchanged. They were, however, happy to receive it as an expression of
personal regard, and of that desire which they readily acknowledged
in Lord Wellesley and Moira, and which was reciprocal on their own
part, that no difference of opinion on the matter in question should
produce on either side any personal impression which might obstruct
the renewal of a conciliatory intercourse whenever a more favourable
opportunity ♦M. WELLESLEY RESIGNS HIS COMMISSION.♦ shall be afforded
for it.” Marquis Wellesley then thought it indispensably necessary
for his public and private honour to declare in parliament that he
had resigned the commission with which the Prince had charged him.
Something he lost in public opinion through the indiscretion of his
friends, which had rendered it impossible for his former colleagues
ever again cordially to unite with him; something on the other hand he
gained by the unavoidable comparison which was drawn between the fair
and explicit straight-forwardness of his overtures to the two lords,
and the captious manner in which they had been received.
♦NEGOTIATION WITH EARL MOIRA.
JUNE 5.♦
Earl Moira now, after conferring with the Duke of Bedford, addressed
a note to the two lords. “Venturing, as being honoured,” he said,
“with the Prince Regent’s confidence to indulge his anxiety that
an arrangement of the utmost importance to the country should not
go off on any misunderstanding, he entreated them to advert to his
explanatory letter, and desired an interview with them, if they thought
the disposition expressed in that letter were likely to lead to any
co-operation. Should the issue of the interview be according to his
hope, he would then solicit the Prince’s permission to address them
formally: the present mode he had adopted for the sake of precluding
all difficulties in the outset.” The two lords replied, “That they
were highly gratified by the kindness of the motive on which Earl
Moira acted; that personal communication with him would always be
acceptable and honourable to them, but they hoped he would be sensible
that no advantage was likely to result from pursuing this subject by
unauthorized discussion, and in a course different from the usual
practice. Motives of obvious delicacy,” they said, “must prevent their
taking any step toward determining the Prince to authorize Earl Moira
to address them personally. They should always receive with dutiful
submission His Royal Highness’s commands, in whatever manner and
through whatever channel he might be pleased to signify them; but they
could not venture to suggest to His Royal Highness, through any other
person, their opinions on points on which His Royal Highness was not
pleased to require their advice.”
Earl Moira reported this to the Prince, and being then provided with
the required formalities, he renewed his overture, but with diminished
hope. “Discouraged,” he said, “as he must be, he could not reconcile it
to himself to leave any effort untried, and he had therefore adopted
the principle of the two lords for an interview, though doubting
whether the desired conclusion could be so well advanced by it as by
the mode which he had suggested. He had now the Prince’s instructions
to take steps for the formation of a ministry, and was specially
authorized to address himself to Lords Grey and Grenville, with whom,
therefore, in company with Lord Erskine, he requested an interview.”
It was one characteristic of these remarkable negotiations, that
whatever passed in conversation between the parties was minuted, and
that publicity was given to those minutes and to all the notes which
were interchanged ... a mode of proceeding neither prudent in itself
nor as a precedent. At this meeting, what Earl Moira considered the
preliminary points were satisfactorily disposed of; the two lords, it
was declared, might pursue their own course of policy both with regard
to Ireland and to the United States of America, and the majority which
they were to have in the cabinet assured them the same preponderance
upon other questions. There was, however, another preliminary which
appeared to them of great importance, and which they thought it
necessary to bring forward immediately, lest farther inconvenient and
embarrassing delay might be produced, if this negotiation should be
broken off in a more advanced state: no restriction was laid on their
considering any points which they might deem useful for the Prince’s
service; they asked, therefore, whether this full liberty extended
to the consideration of new appointments to those great offices of
the household which have usually been included in the political
arrangements made on a change of administration; and they intimated
their opinion, that it would be necessary to act on the same principle
now. Earl Moira answered, “that the Prince had laid no restriction
upon him in that respect, and had never pointed in the most distant
manner at the protection of those officers from removal” but he
added, “that it would be impossible for him to concur in making the
exercise of this power positive and indispensable in the formation
of the administration, because he should deem it on public grounds
peculiarly objectionable.” To this Lords Grey and Grenville replied,
“That they also acted on public grounds alone, and with no other
feeling whatever than that which arose from the necessity of giving to
a new government that character of efficiency and stability, and those
marks of the constitutional support of the Crown, which were required
for enabling it to act usefully for the public service; and that on
these grounds it appeared indispensable that the connexion of the
great offices of the court with the political administration should be
clearly established in its first arrangement.” This decided difference
having been thus expressed on both sides, the conversation ended
here, with mutual declarations of regret: and here also, to the great
satisfaction of the public, ended all negotiations with the two leaders
of Opposition, at the very time when, but for their own marvellous
mismanagement, the government would have been delivered into their
hands.
♦THE OLD MINISTRY IS RE-ESTABLISHED.
JUNE 8.♦
On the second day after this decisive interview, Lord Liverpool
informed the House of Lords that the Prince had been pleased to
appoint him first Commissioner of the Treasury, and had authorized
him to complete the other arrangements of the administration. This
led to a conversation, in which Earl Moira stated what his views had
been in these transactions ... and declared his determination to
support the ministry, so far as they might act consistently with the
principles which had guided his political life. He had ♦M. WELLESLEY’S
EXPLANATION.♦ called upon Marquis Wellesley to explain what he meant by
asserting that dreadful personal animosities had manifested themselves
in the course of the negotiation. The Marquis replied, “That he had
used the words advisedly; and no better proof of the charge could be
required than the language of Lords Liverpool and Melville, one of whom
had expressly declined to be a member of any administration formed by
him, and the other had stated his objection as a matter of personal
feeling.” Lord Harrowby made answer to this: ... “On the very day,” he
said, “on which Mr. Stuart Wortley’s motion was carried, he and his
friends had agreed to form part of an administration of which Marquis
Wellesley was to have had the lead; but subsequent circumstances had
made them alter that determination. The statement in which the Marquis
accused his late colleagues of incapacity to conduct the government had
wounded them through the memory of him who had just fallen by the hand
of an assassin, whom they had considered as the life and soul of their
cabinet, and whom they in the highest degree respected and esteemed;
... a man of unimpeachable integrity, who never wanted defence in the
eyes of those who knew his value. That statement had produced feelings
in himself and his friends which rendered it impossible for them
cordially to unite with the Marquis in any administration. Marquis
Wellesley replied, “That what had been just said confirmed the truth of
his assertion, but he acquitted himself of any part in the publication
of the statement. As soon as his resignation was known, some of his
friends,” he said, “took down in writing his account of it in the
expressions which fell from him in the heat of conversation: though
they had often been solicited to publish this, they had uniformly
refused, and he himself was horror-struck when he saw it in the public
newspapers: for the statement,” he said, “was not his; it contained
expressions which he would not have used in a document intended for
the public eye, more especially at a moment when the country had just
lost a man of the most irreproachable character, of the most perfect
integrity, of the mildest heart, of the most amiable qualities, having,
indeed, been distinguished by every private virtue. But it was no
reproach to any man to be thought unfit for the supreme direction
of government; and though he looked upon the act which deprived Mr.
Perceval of his life as a stain on humanity, he never considered him,
when living, as a fit person to lead the councils of this great empire.
He admitted that he had never formally dissented in the cabinet from
the opinions of his colleagues, though he had frequently put them in
full possession of his own: he declared also, that there were many of
their measures which he highly approved, and that he would give them
his cordial support, as far as that could be done consistently with the
deliberate opinion which he had formed on the great points of national
policy: but he concluded by repeating, that they had opposed obstacles
to the establishment of an efficient administration, and that those
obstacles originated in personal feelings.”
There was no tendency in this speech to conciliate, but it was not
likely farther to displease those whom Marquis Wellesley had already
wounded, nor to wound ♦EARL GREY.♦ others. Earl Grey then rose to
make his explanation and his charges. “For himself,” he said, “no man
could be more anxious than he was, even as far as was consistent with
his honour, to outstretch a feeble but a ready hand to save a sinking
nation. But a strong suspicion had operated on his mind throughout
the recent negotiations, that he and his friends were either not to
be admitted into the cabinet at all, or, if admitted, to be bound
down in such a manner that the public should be secured against the
influence of the principles and measures to which, during their whole
parliamentary existence, they had been pledged.” Alluding then to
Marquis Wellesley and Earl Moira, he said, “that though in his late
intercourse with them he could discover nothing but an unceasing and
earnest desire to conciliate, and a laudable anxiety for the general
good, he nevertheless suspected that they themselves had been deceived,
and were not aware of the secret management of which they had been
made the instrument.” ♦EARL MOIRA’S REPLY.♦ Earl Moira replied with
becoming warmth to the imputation, solemnly declaring, “that he had
undertaken the negotiation without a single particle of reservation
in the authority with which he was intrusted; that he had stated to
Lords Grey and Grenville, beyond the possibility of misapprehension,
that his instructions were of the most liberal and unlimited nature,
and that the transaction from beginning to end had been conducted
with a severity of fairness, if he might use the expression, which
was perfectly unparalleled. I claim,” said he, “of the noble Earl a
statement of the particular circumstances to which he alludes, that I
may repel the assertion in as haughty a tone as he has ventured to make
it. My lords, I feel that I have not deserved this reproach: it is a
disgrace which I do not merit, and which I cannot bear. If he can bring
forward but the shadow of a proof that even unknowingly I submitted
to be made such an instrument, I shall bow my head to his reproof,
and to the degradation which must ensue. If he cannot, I shall repel
the imputation as proudly as it was made. There was never in the most
insignificant point the slightest reservation or hint of reservation:
the powers given to me were complete and ample; and whenever limited,
they were limited only by me from a sense of what was due to the
public. I now call upon the noble Earl more satisfactorily to explain
his meaning.” But Earl Grey contented himself with hinting that he
might find some future opportunity for a more distinct explanation; and
he let it appear that he himself was the person to whom the authority
for forming an administration ought, in his opinion, to have been
intrusted. Lord Grenville, with more judgment, avoided all offensive
topics in his speech; the points which Earl Grey and he had refused
to concede were, he averred, of material and fundamental importance,
and they never would consent to become members of a ministry founded
on a principle which, in their deliberate opinion, was calculated to
overthrow the practice of the constitution.
♦MR. STUART WORTLEY’S SECOND MOTION.♦
But it was in the House of Commons that it was made known with what
hasty imprudence the two lords had broken off their negotiation with
Earl Moira. Mr. Stuart Wortley, who ought to have learned from the
result of his former motion how bootless the repetition of such an
experiment must prove, moved for a second address to the Prince,
regretting that the first had not led to its expected consequences,
and expressing the anxiety of the House that the arrangements for
establishing an efficient administration should speedily be brought
to a close. But the House was not disposed a second time to entertain
such a motion. The temper in which Earl Moira’s overtures had been
rejected drew forth severe comments in the course of the debate; and
a statement which ♦LORD YARMOUTH’S STATEMENT.♦ Lord Yarmouth made
on the part of the household produced a strong impression both in
and out of Parliament. “With respect to the household,” he said for
himself and his friends, “that it was their intention to resign their
situations before the new administration should enter upon office.
This intention,” he affirmed, “was well known: they had taken every
means of stating it in quarters whence it was likely to reach the
interested parties, and in particular they had communicated it to one
who took an active part in the negotiation, and with whom all who
knew him confessed it was a happiness to spend their private hours.”
Mr. Sheridan, who was the person intended, confirmed this statement.
“They took every means short of resignation,” Lord Yarmouth continued,
“to show that they never wished to have any connexion with the noble
lords; and their intention originated in a wish to save the Prince from
the humiliation which he must have experienced at seeing them turned
out of office, ... a humiliation which could only serve to convey an
unfavourable impression against the government throughout the country.
He did not speak in the name of one or two, but of all the officers of
the household: they stated expressly to his Royal Highness that they
wished to resign, and not to be turned out; and all they requested was,
that they might know ten minutes before certain gentlemen received
the seals that such a circumstance was to take place: before God
he declared that this had been their intention, and that the only
principle by which they were actuated was to save the Prince from
humiliation; for they could not but consider the attempt at making this
change in the household a preliminary to entering upon the negotiation
as calculated to humiliate his Royal Highness in the eyes of the
country.”
The party who were in opposition seemed to think it preposterous that
the existing ministers should presume to hold their offices. “It was
monstrous,” Lord Milton said, “to see men who were held up repeatedly
to scorn and ridicule brave public opinion and return into power!”
♦LORD CASTLEREAGH’S SPEECH.♦ Lord Castlereagh defended himself and
his colleagues with considerable address, and ably performed the not
very difficult task of contrasting their conduct with that of their
assailants. “The proposed address,” he said, “contained no expressions
to which he could hesitate in becoming a party, neither should he to
the further expression of a hope that the Prince would avail himself
of any opportunity for strengthening the present administration: ...
but such an address was uncalled for by any message from the Crown: it
could lead to no practical result; its obvious import was to insinuate
that the administration was not likely to possess the confidence of
the country; and this insinuation was founded upon its structure,
not upon its conduct: he could not then think it possible that the
House would sanction it for no other purpose but to disqualify the
government from the arduous task in which it was engaged. The late
transactions would induce the House not again to push the principle
which they had so strongly asserted. A proceeding so sudden was not to
be found in English history as that which they had lately seen, when
the House decided, not against a ministry who had proved themselves
unworthy of confidence, but against an administration the formation of
which was but in progress. This precedent he hoped future Parliaments
would never follow; for those must be blind who could not see the
calamitous consequences which the occurrences of the last three weeks
were calculated to produce on our foreign and domestic relations. Three
or four distinct negotiations had failed, and the Crown was obliged to
call on the present cabinet to charge itself with the affairs of the
country. It was his consolation to think, that while on the one hand he
and his colleagues had never stood between the Crown and the people,
so on the other hand they had never shown a disposition to shrink
from the discharge of public duties, deterred as they otherwise might
be by the accumulated difficulties which the late transactions had
occasioned. For he could not help thinking that the course which had
been pursued was most injurious, and might be fatal to the interests
of the public. Never in former times had a negotiation between public
men been exhibited to the eyes of Parliament and the country at large,
and exposed to all the invidious comments which the malignity and the
ignorance of mankind might pass upon them. For his part, he could never
augur well of any negotiation in which two men could not approach
each other in a private room, although on public principles, without
coming armed with pen and ink, and prepared to let every thing they
might utter go forth immediately for the judgment of the public!
The consequences in this instance would, he trusted, have the effect
of preventing the recurrence of such scenes for the time to come....
It was a painful task for him to speak of the overtures from Marquis
Wellesley, though he disclaimed any thing like personal animosity to
him. The paper which had appeared he understood to have been published
without the noble Marquis’s consent; but after such a statement had
appeared, describing as it had described Mr. Perceval and those who
acted with him, he appealed to the House whether gentlemen situated as
his colleagues were could without degradation meet such an overture in
any other way than that in which it had been met? He entertained the
sincerest respect for Marquis Wellesley, with the highest admiration
for his accomplishments and his talents; and those feelings were
heightened by the consideration that he was the brother of the
greatest soldier this country had produced. For him, therefore, it was
peculiarly painful to be called on to decide on such an occasion; but
when one answer only could be given by his colleagues, thinking as he
did, though not included in it, that the description which had been
given of them was unjust, he must have abandoned every sense of duty
if he had not been anxious to repel the charge.” Having then touched
upon Earl Moira’s negotiation with the two lords, and observed that the
question concerning the household had been taken up in a tone which the
country would never countenance in those who approached the throne, he
concluded thus: ... “And now all I have to say for ministers is, that
they claim the constitutional support of Parliament till their actions
seem to speak them unworthy of it; and though the present government
may not possess within itself all those attributes which we have heard
given to broad and extended administrations, they have at least one
recommendation to public confidence (and it is not a small one), that
they have no disunion among themselves. We have no private ends to
answer; we are anxious to serve our country, to do our best, and to
submit our conduct to the judgment of Parliament.”
With these remarkable circumstances was that ministry formed,
under whose administration the French were beaten out of Spain,
and Buonaparte’s empire overthrown. For the second time since the
commencement of the war it had rested with the leaders of opposition
whether or not they should take the government into their own hands;
and for the second time, by an overweening opinion of their own
importance, and a most undue depreciation of those whom they expected
to displace, they disappointed their own hopes, and in an equal degree
the apprehensions of the nation. The sound part of the public, and they
were a large majority, regarded the result with as much satisfaction as
they had felt upon the recapture of Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz; they
looked upon it as tantamount to a great victory over the enemy, and the
enemy would indeed have seen in a contrary result the surest presage of
their own success; for what more could the French ministers desire than
that the British government should be conducted by men who from the
beginning of the war in ♦MAY.♦ Spain up to this crisis had pronounced
their own cause to be hopeless? That danger was no longer to be feared;
and although the cabinet had lost its ablest member in Mr. Perceval
... the only member who united in himself powerful ability with sound
judgment, and strength of character with strength of principle, and
who commanded in an equal degree the respect of his opponents and the
confidence of his friends, the opposition had lost more in the exposure
of their temper and the total frustration of their hopes, which was as
much the proper as the necessary consequence.
The only unfortunate circumstance in these transactions was, that
Marquis Wellesley should have been excluded, or rather should
have excluded himself, from a place in the ministry: whatever his
own expectations might have been, his friends had expected to see
him at its head; and had Lord Wellington been supplied with such
reinforcements as in that event might have been looked for, it was
believed in the army that in the course of the year he would have
driven the French out of Spain. The Spanish Government was at this
time ♦PECUNIARY ASSISTANCE TO THE SPANIARDS.♦ little satisfied with
Great Britain, because greater pecuniary assistance was not afforded
them from resources which they supposed to be infinite. It was indeed
the opinion of those whose opportunities of information enabled them
to form a just opinion upon the subject, that the Spaniards could
make no efficient exertion unless they were aided with two millions a
year in money and one in provisions, which might be procured at Cadiz
from America and from the Mediterranean by bills on England: but the
British Government consented only to give 600,000_l._ in the course of
the current year, with arms and clothing for 100,000 men; at length
it agreed that the money should be one million. The Spaniards did not
remember with how little wisdom and effect the large supplies which
they had hitherto received had been expended; and in England sufficient
allowance was not made for the peculiar difficulties in which Spain
was placed: and while the errors of its successive governments were
strongly perceived, sufficient credit was not given for the national
spirit which had displayed itself with such unexampled and invincible
endurance.
♦PROPOSAL CONCERNING SPANISH TROOPS.♦
Some persons there were who were of opinion that no sure progress could
be made towards the deliverance of Spain, unless a Spanish army were
created on whose operations Lord Wellington could calculate and rely.
But the opinion was abandoned upon farther knowledge of the Spaniards:
the officers, with some rare and noble exceptions, were too ignorant,
too idle, too prejudiced, and too proud, to receive instruction from
their allies; and British officers could not be introduced in any
useful number, for this would have offended the national pride. It was
suggested by Mr. Tupper, who in his station as consul at Valencia had
acted with great zeal and ability in the common cause, that the foreign
regiments in the Spanish service might be taken into English pay, and
officered by British officers. They still retained their foreign names,
and were under foreign officers, but were chiefly composed of Spanish
recruits: this, therefore, he argued, might be done without wounding
the pride of the Spaniards, offending their prejudices, or injuring
the interests of any class of men; whereas to place the Spanish army
under the same subordination as the Portugueze, though the people, and
especially the soldiers themselves, might like it, must be impossible,
so great would be the opposition of the officers and of all the
higher classes. This suggestion, for whatever reason, was either not
entertained, or not found practicable; and the only arrangement made at
this time was, that the Spaniards allowed 5000 men to be enlisted and
incorporated with the allies. Some hope, however, was entertained from
a diversion to be made on the eastern coast by a British force from
Sicily in conjunction with ♦PLAN OF A DIVERSION FROM SICILY.♦ a Spanish
division, which by General Whittingham’s recommendation had been formed
in Majorca, and trained there under his directions. This force it was
thought, if its operations were well planned and vigorously pursued,
might compel the French to withdraw from the southward; and engaged as
it was now evident that Buonaparte would be in his Russian war, the
deliverance of Spain might be hoped for as now not long to be delayed.
END OF VOL. V.
Printed by WILLIAM CLOWES and SONS, Stamford Street.
FOOTNOTES
[1] The importance which was at that time attached to it led the
Archbishop Pierre de Marca to remark _cujus momenti sit Dartosa in
bello Hispaniensi; quæ cum sita sit in trajectu Iberi, latam aperit
viam ad faciendam irruptionem in reliquas Hispaniarum regiones, unde
ex hujus urbis deditione ingens Maurorum Sarracenorumque metus_. Marca
Hispanica, 294.
[2] On the one side _La España reconocida a la intrepidez Britanica_,
on the other _Alianza eterna_.
[3] They gave four dollars for the measure of rice (for example), which
at Port Mahon would have produced only half a dollar.
[4] When this practice was discovered, and some of them searched
in consequence, a mortar was found in one of them. These boats had
forfeited all claim to indulgence, in the first year of the war, when
they boarded a British prize, and carried her in.
[5] _Se preciaba de buen tirador, y se divertia en esto._ Diario de
Tortosa.
[6] Major Von Staffe (340–2) dates this affair in November, instead of
the following month. If there could be any doubt between his authority
and that of Eroles’s dispatch, this circumstance would determine it.
[7] _No era imaginable frustrase mis calculos, atendida la
circumspeccion con que se formaron, la exactitud de los datos, y el
valor de la tropas; pero casualidades funestas, que no pueden entrar en
la prevision de un gefe superior, que fia una parte de sus esperanzas á
la suerte, y á manos subalternos, hicieron inutiles mis tareas._ Thus
he expresses himself in his official dispatch.
[8] The French officers, who went on board the frigate after this
affair to propose an exchange, walked along the main deck, where some
of the wounded were lying between the guns for the sake of the air, and
with a spirit perfectly worthy of the cause in which they were engaged,
and the character they had acquired in it, asked them insultingly when
they would be pleased to pay them another visit on shore!
[9] No account (as far as I can discover) of this disgraceful action
was published by the Spanish Government. There was no longer the same
magnanimity in relating its misfortunes as in the days of the Central
Junta.
[10] _Guerra de Moros contra estos infideles._
[11] _Escaramuzas, celadas, rebatos, ardides,--son nombres castellanos
de la antigua milicia, la mas necessaria en la guerra domestica._
[12] The Chaleco states this fact himself in the _Relacion de sus
Meritos_, which he published at the end of the war!
[13] Lord Blayney saw them there; victims of retaliation he calls them,
and says that the French General and his officers, who were conducting
him prisoner to Madrid, could not help expressing their detestation of
the barbarous manner in which the war was carried on.
[14] Thus this Merino is described as _el terror de la comarca; y
su caracter feroz está indicado en lo fiero de su semblante, y en
lo membrudo y velloso de su cuerpo. Este es el Cura decantado._ But
it should be added, that the man who is thus described spared his
prisoners, and conducted them to Alicant. The general appearance of the
guerrillas is described by a British officer as “horribly grotesque;
any thing of a jacket, any thing of a cap, any thing of a sword,
pistol, or carbine, and any thing of a horse.”
[15] _Sea la España toda otra Numancia o Sagunto; y veremos
desde el empireo, si estos impios espiritos fuertes se atreven a
pasearse tranquilos por la silenciosa morada da nuestros tremendos
manes._--Diario de las Cortes, T. 2. 172.
[16] An intercepted despatch from Berthier to Massena had informed him,
on the authority of the English newspapers, that the British army did
not amount to more than 23,000 men; that a reinforcement of 3000 had
reached Lisbon; and, therefore, he had little to apprehend from their
resistance; the Portugueze were about as many, and his force was fully
sufficient to ensure success.
[17] A small edition of Pindar, which he had brought from the north,
was in his pocket when he died. It is now in the possession of my
friend Mr. Locker.
[18] An officer whose journal is before me, and who entered Alcobaça
on the 7th, describes what were supposed to be the bodies of Pedro and
Ignez as having been well embalmed, and having each a great deal of
hair still attached to the head.
[19] A French orderly book was found near Batalha, in which it appeared
what number of men were daily ordered upon the service of destroying,
as far as they could, that beautiful edifice, one of the finest in
Europe.
[20] Marshal Victor, in his official account, affirmed, as positively
as falsely, that there were 22,000 men, among whom were at least 8000
of the best English troops; thus, according to the system of his
government, doubling the number of his opponents.
[21] The following epitaph upon Alburquerque, worthy of the author and
of the subject, is the composition of Mr. Frere:--
“Impiger, impavidus, spes maxima gentis Iberæ,
Mente rapax, acerque manu bellator, avita
Institui monumenta novis attollere factis;
Fortunâ comite, et virtute duce, omnia gessi;
Nullâ in re, nec spe, mea sors incœpta fefellit.
Gadibus auxilium tetuli, patriamque labentem
Sustentavi; hæc meta meis fuit ultima factis,
Quippe iras hominum meritis superare nequivi.
Hic procul a patriâ vitæ datus est mihi finis,
Sed non laudis item; gliscit nova fama sepulto,
Anglorum quod testantur proceres populusque,
Magno funus honore secuti, mœstitiâque
Unanimes. Æterna, pater, sint fœdera, faxis,
Quæ pepigi. Nec me nimium mea patria adempto
Indigeat, nec plus æquo desideret unquam.
Sint fortes alii ac felices, qui mea possint
Facta sequi, semperque benignis civibus uti.”
[22] This lady is known with her own hand and that of her waiting
woman, to have vaccinated above 12,000 persons. The Royal Academy of
Sciences at Lisbon presented her with a medal in acknowledgment and
commemoration of the services which, in public and private, she was
continualy rendering to humanity.
[23] The dispatch, however, like other falsehoods of the same kind,
carried with it its own confutation; for it stated that the allies made
no prisoners except two or three hundred wounded, who were left on the
field; but the same dispatch said, that the French kept the field for
two days, retaining the position they had won, ... how then could the
wounded who were left upon the field have fallen into the hands of the
allies? But throughout this war the remark made some three centuries
ago by the Flemish historian Meyer was verified, that _res suas Galli
non majore solent SCRIBERE fide, quam GERERE_.
[24] Diario de Manresa, April 20.
[25] _Voilà qui est militaire_ was the phrase in which Buonaparte
expressed his approbation.
[26] Sixty thousand bushels, from the woods at the foot of the western
mountains, were shipped in the year 1775.--SWINBURNE.
[27] This, which was suspected at the time, I happen to _know_.
[28] Contreras insinuates as much in his account of the siege. I
have heard it asserted as a thing believed by those who had the best
opportunity of forming a true opinion; but the assertion was not
supported by direct evidence, as in the case of Fort Olivo.
[29] There was a town called Bedouin in the department of Vaucluse,
which contained about 500 houses and some 2000 inhabitants: they had
a good trade in silk, and the place was flourishing. In the month of
May, 1794, the tree of liberty which had been planted without this
town was cut down during the night. Fearing in those dreadful times
the consequence of this act of individual indiscretion, the townsmen
themselves informed the deputy Maignet of it, an ex-priest, who was
then upon a Robespierrean mission in the department. This availed
nothing in their favour: he issued a decree proscribing not only
the people of Bedouin, but of the surrounding communes also, and
condemned the town to be burnt. An officer, by name Suchet, commanded
the battalion which accompanied Maignet’s commission to execute this
decree. Sixty fathers of families, after the mockery of a revolutionary
trial, were put to death, those who were spared being placed at the
foot of the scaffold during the execution. Suchet then gave the word
for setting fire to the town, and it was burnt to the ground. The
church was the only building which was not destroyed by the flames,
and that was demolished by means of gunpowder. Such of the inhabitants
as had fled were hunted out in their retreats by the soldiers of the
detachment, and shot like wild beasts. The answer of Robespierre’s
Committee of Public Safety to the report of this transaction was, _Le
Comité est satisfaite de la conduite de Maignet_.
_Prud’homme, Hist. des Erreurs, des Fautes, et des Crimes commis
pendant la Revolution Française, t. 2. 170–176._
I know not whether the Suchet of Tarragona was the Suchet of Bedouin.
If he was not, then has France produced two monsters of the name
instead of one.
[30] One of the first acts of the provisional government upon the
overthrow of this tyrant, was to give orders for the liberation of
those injured Catalans, and their removal to Spain; considering, they
said, that the violence committed upon men, whose only offence was that
of having fought in defence of their country, outraged humanity, and
the laws which were consecrated by the nations of Europe.
[31] _Por Urbano se debe entender en mi concepto_, said Sr. Aner in the
debates upon this subject, _aquel que se halle armado para conservar
la tranquilidad de los pueblos, y quando mas para La defensa interior
de una provincia, sin tener que salir jamas de ella_. Diario de las
Cortes. T. 4. p. 103.
[32]
_La carne es yerva, la yerva agua,
Los hombres mugeres, las mugeres nada._
[33] “Colonel,” said one of the 87th, the regiment which took the eagle
at Barrosa, “Colonel, I only want to _taich_ ’em what it is to attack
the _Aiglers_.”
[34] One of those friends obtained leave to go to England at the
beginning of the winter. Upon rejoining the army after the capture
of the place, he expressed his sorrow to Lord Wellington that his
request should have been granted at a time when an enterprise of such
importance was contemplated. Lord Wellington replied to this effect:
“Perhaps, ... you did me better service by your absence, than you could
have rendered had you been on the spot. Have you never said that your
presence was required at home for your own family affairs, and that it
was your intention to ask leave as soon as the campaign was over and
nothing more was to be done? And do you suppose that Marmont had not
heard this, and known of your departure?”
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Transcriber’s Notes
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