Part 17

The theatre of war was gradually increasing, and, in 1808, Sir Arthur received orders to embark for Corunna and oppose the victorious armies of France, now assembled under chiefs whose fame resounded through the whole of Europe; for Spain had been invaded, and England sought to measure her strength in the field with that of Napoleon. The fleet was directed towards Oporto, and Sir Arthur effected his landing in Portugal in the face of the brave regiments of the great army, at the time when Junot was assuming a regal position at Lisbon: the monarchy of the house of Braganza appeared at this period like a brilliant ring, which was successively fitted on the finger of all the adventurous chiefs, despatched as a sort of disgrace to Portugal by Napoleon. General Junot compromised the army by his want of capacity and his vain pretensions, and the 21st of August was marked by the battle of Vimiera, where the attack was commenced by the French. The complete destitution of the army rendered a treaty necessary, and by the miserable capitulation, called the Convention of Cintra, it was agreed that the French should evacuate Portugal and return into France with their arms and baggage. Sir Arthur did not sign this convention, and the real author of it, Sir Hew Dalrymple, being violently attacked by the opposition, Sir Arthur quitted the army to be present at the debates, and at the trial of Sir Hew by a court-martial. The Convention of Cintra has been greatly blamed by Lord Byron in his poem of "Childe Harold." Dalrymple was deprived of his command, and he was succeeded by Sir Arthur Wellesley, who landed at Lisbon on the 22d of August, 1809. By the direction of Napoleon, the most bitter ridicule was cast upon him in the _Moniteur_; those wretched declamations against his adversaries were a weak and contemptible trait in the emperor's character, shewing a spirit of littleness in the midst of all his great qualities. The following is the article he dictated in Paris, with a mixture of folly and presumption:--

"We are very well pleased Lord Wellington should command the armies, for, with the disposition he evinces, he will meet with great catastrophes.... Sir John Moore and Lord Wellington shew no symptoms of the provident forethought which is so essential a quality in warlike operations, which leads people to do nothing but what they can maintain, and to undertake nothing but what offers a probability of success: Lord Wellington has not shewn more talent than the cabinet of St. James's. To attempt to support Spain against France, and to enter into a struggle with France upon the Continent, is to form an enterprise which will cost dear to those who have attempted it, and occasion them nothing but disasters."

It must certainly be admitted, that Sir Arthur had no longer to contend with an inexperienced general like Junot, the command of the army of Portugal having been conferred upon Marshal Soult, an old soldier, who would not fail to display the perfect knowledge of military tactics which had raised him to the highest rank in his profession. The uncertain battle of Talavera de la Reyna was celebrated in England as a most decisive victory; great enthusiasm was excited, and, in spite of the speeches of the opposition, a vote of thanks to the English general was passed by both houses of parliament, and a pension of 2000_l._ per annum was settled upon him; he was also raised to the peerage by the title of Viscount Wellington of Talavera. The junta of Cadiz, which had hitherto opposed him from motives of pride and national feeling, now offered him the rank and allowances of captain-general of the Spanish army; but Lord Wellington declined accepting any thing but a present of a few horses of the Andalusian breed, which the Spaniards, in the name of Ferdinand VII., offered him for his stud. The conduct of the commander of the British armies on this occasion was quite in keeping with the English character; he considered a few fine horses, of a noble breed, as his most distinguished trophy. The rapid march of Marshals Soult and Ney from Salamanca into Estramadura compelled him to retreat as quickly as he had advanced; he therefore crossed the Tagus, and took up a strong position to defend the passage at Almarez and the lower part of the river. He was now destined to encounter the two most remarkable lieutenants of Napoleon; for Massena, in his turn, had entered Portugal, and commenced operations by the sieges of Almeida and Ciudad Rodrigo.

The Duke of Wellington, in his old age, takes pleasure in talking over the campaign of Portugal at Apsley House, because he there offered a powerful resistance to the French army, displayed the most consummate strategic skill, and was opposed to the most renowned marshals of the empire; first Soult and Massena, and afterwards Marmont, who, though skilful in his arrangements, was always unfortunate, and Ney, the boldest and most adventurous of them all. The Duke of Wellington has caused drawings to be made of the celebrated lines of Torres Vedras, whose plan he traced himself, and had executed with a rapidity and perseverance that appear almost to belong to fabulous times. They were intended to protect Lisbon, and extended from the sea to the Tagus, at the point where the river, being about six miles broad, defended them as completely as the sea itself. They were constructed with so much secrecy, that Marmont was struck with amazement at the sight of them; and the English system of tactics, which consists in taking up a fortified position, was displayed on this occasion in all its glory. The brave Massena passed nearly six months before these lines,--this magnificent military work, roaming like a chafed lion desirous of engaging with his enemy around these masses of granite, and the waters of the great river, almost as vast as the sea. The old general of the Italian campaign expected reinforcements from France, but he received no assistance either in men or provisions--a circumstance which must have rendered his retreat to the frontiers of Spain very difficult to accomplish. The Duke of Wellington always does justice to the skill of Marshals Soult and Massena; and, in speaking of them in present times, he acknowledges them both to have been men of great military capacity. The English general again received the thanks of both houses of parliament on this occasion; an additional subsidy was voted him, and the title of Marquis of Torres Vedras was conferred upon him, to perpetuate the memory of the military resistance that had saved Portugal.

At this period the English government lavished marks of gratitude upon its generals, in order to excite them to fresh acts of self-devotion; and England already discerned in the Duke of Wellington a man capable of coping with the power of Napoleon. An attempt had been at first made to institute a comparison between Admiral Nelson and the Emperor, and after his death at Trafalgar the Duke of Wellington succeeded him in public estimation; such, at least, was the opinion expressed and acted upon by the British parliament.

The English army were guilty of many faults, from the time of the blockade of Almeida up to the siege of Badajos; and the battle of Fuentes d'Onoro was a severe lesson for their commander. The juntas were not favourably disposed towards England, in spite of which Lord Wellington had organised the Portuguese army, and placed it on a firm military footing; and every thing at Lisbon was already under the influence of England, which furnished provisions, artillery, clothing, and arms. The Tagus was now occupied by a formidable English fleet, and from this time forth the cabinet of London gradually extended its influence in the Peninsula; in fact, Lisbon was actually in a state of vassalage, and commercial relations contributed their share towards strengthening the military bonds which war had imposed with such mighty power.

Lord Wellington passed the Tagus to prevent supplies of provisions and ammunition being thrown into Ciudad Rodrigo, which was now the central point of the military operations; and the city was carried by storm after a siege of ten days.[33] Fortune had ceased to smile on Napoleon; Massena had been recalled, and Marshal Soult shortly after him, leaving Marmont, who was always unfortunate; while the Duke of Wellington, on the contrary, had just succeeded in overcoming the repugnance of the regency of Cadiz, by whom, after the taking of Badajos,[34] he was created a grandee of Spain of the first class, Duke of Ciudad Rodrigo, and commander-in-chief of the Spanish army. The English parliament also voted him an additional pension of 2000_l._ per annum.

[33] 20th January, 1812.

[34] 7th April, 1812.

Badajos was taken by storm some months after the fall of Ciudad Rodrigo, and our eagles veiled their heads before the British armies. His flanks being secured, Lord Wellington crossed the Tagus and entered Castile; his means were very superior to those of his antagonists; besides which the generals did not agree in opinion, and the court was totally devoid of energy: Napoleon was not there to interpose his will, which bore down all opposition. The battle of Salamanca,[35] which decided the fate of Spain, took place shortly after. Lord Wellington hastened on, with forced marches, towards Valladolid, and turning suddenly to the right he made a bold movement towards Madrid, while Joseph Buonaparte retreated to Burgos. I cannot imagine what induced Napoleon to send Marshal Jourdan as a military guide to his brother, for he was the most inferior of all his captains, and the Emperor had greatly ridiculed his first revolutionary successes. Lord Wellington again received the thanks of parliament on this occasion, the Prince Regent conferred upon him the title of marquis, and the House of Commons voted him the sum of 100,000_l_.

[35] 24th July, 1812.

It is necessary to enter into these details to understand the source of the political fortune of the Duke of Wellington. We here see that all his rank, his honours, even his income, are derived from the field of battle. The rewards granted by parliament were profuse, because it was of the highest importance to create a military existence capable of opposing the wonderful fortunes of Napoleon. At this time, Marshal Soult, who had raised the siege of Cadiz and abandoned Andalusia, made so well-arranged a movement in concert with the main body of General Souham's army, that Lord Wellington's line of communication was compromised; he was compelled to make a precipitate retreat, and Marshal Soult resumed a glorious offensive position.

The English general having here forgotten the prudent system he usually observed, for two days his whole army was exposed to the enemy, and it is evident, from this circumstance, that the Duke of Wellington's talent for defensive measures was greater than for an active military campaign.[36] He never appeared to understand how to observe an exact medium between the well-considered temerity, which seizes upon a fault for the chance it affords of success, and the prudence which foresees all the chances that may occur, even in a bad position.

[36] Witness Assaye, Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajos, Vittoria, &c.--_Editor._

In order to complete the deliverance of the Peninsula, Lord Wellington in January 1813, repaired to Cadiz, to communicate in person with the regency; by this step all doubts were dispelled, and the Spanish army, after being better organised, was placed under his immediate command. He was tenaciously regardful of his title of generalissimo, and explained his plan for the campaign at the head of the combined army of England, Spain, and Portugal, as far as Vittoria, where the battle took place which was so fatal to our arms in the Peninsula, and where every thing was taken by the English, even to the treasure of Joseph Buonaparte. The utter incapacity of Marshal Jourdain, and the avidity of some of the French generals, were among the principal causes of this misfortune; and the efforts made to save the treasure occasioned the destruction of the army. All the family of Napoleon, by whom he was surrounded, being incapable of comprehending his glory, only served to endanger his fortune; and when the day of misfortune has arrived, what power can arrest the torrent? The battle of Vittoria procured for Lord Wellington the elevated rank of field-marshal, so rarely conferred in England; and it opened the road of the Pyrenees to the Coalition. It was when approaching Pampeluna and St. Sebastian, that the English general unfolded his plan of carrying the war into France. Soult had again taken the command of the French troops on the Bidassoa; for Napoleon had found it necessary to despatch from the field of Bautzen, a marshal of skill and ability to the point most threatened with danger, and the army in Spain was in a state of utter confusion. Lord Wellington extended his line to Bayonne, after having carried the position of Nivelle: it was certainly a wonderful war, full of strategy! Marshal Soult displayed great skill in the manner in which he manœuvred before a superior force, which only advanced when prudence permitted; and thus the two armies remained for nearly two months, watching each other's motions, but prevented by the severity of the season, and the dreadful state of the roads, from proceeding any farther. Soult made an attempt to imitate the lines of Torres Vedras on the frontiers of France, and erected formidable intrenchments near Bayonne; but Lord Wellington, without attacking them in front, turned them by the right, and thus compelled his antagonist to abandon them.

The name of France inspired even the Allies with so much respect, that they could not avoid a feeling of hesitation as to entering her territories. When, however, we look back upon the early ages of the French monarchy, we find that English troops had more than once distinguished themselves on the plains of Gascony; and the exploits of the Black Prince are interwoven with the feudal history of Guienne. The Emperor's orders to Marshal Soult were to retreat very slowly, and to endeavour as far as possible to avert the progress of the English, Spanish, and Portuguese troops, by constant skirmishes. He had himself entered into a treaty with Ferdinand VII., in the hope of separating by this means the Spanish army from the Anglo-Portuguese force under Lord Wellington.

Matters were, however, too far advanced to admit of the realisation of these political plans, for the Pyrenees were already passed. After the battle of Orthes the French army was unable to maintain the road to Bourdeaux, and Lord Wellington, in concert with Marshal Beresford, was obliged to give a decided opinion concerning the inclination in favour of the Bourbons, which began to manifest itself in the southern provinces. On this occasion he assumed a political position for the first time; until now he had been merely a general officer, exhibiting some degree of dexterity in his negotiations with the junta of Cadiz, but the events of 1814 were evidently assuming a decisive character fraught with great importance. Would he be justified in giving a political impulse in favour of the restoration of Louis XVIII., and what were the orders of his government on this subject when the Allies were engaged in negotiation at Chaumont? Lord Wellington permitted the full and energetic manifestation of the public feeling; and Marshal Beresford made no objections to the white flag being hoisted. The empire was gradually declining from the northern to the southern extremity of the kingdom; and letters were received from Lord Castlereagh, informing the chief of the English armies of the events that had taken place in Paris. The battle of Toulouse was fought a few days afterwards, a melancholy and useless sacrifice of human life,--for it was incapable of arresting the progress of the coalesced armies; in fact, all was now over, the restoration was completed, and Louis XVIII. in the act of re-entering his capital. The English remained in possession of Toulouse, and the peace of 1814 was concluded by all the allied powers.

Lord Wellington took no part in this treaty, for he was then possessed of no political influence, his life being entirely military; and Lord Castlereagh, then at the head of the cabinet, was not inclined to yield his ministerial influence to any one. When, however, the congress was assembled at Vienna, the Duke of Wellington, who had been received with the utmost enthusiasm in England, attended this meeting of crowned heads, to exhibit the grandeur of his country, and recall to mind the services he had rendered to the common cause. The talent he had displayed in the Peninsular war, and the perseverance he had exhibited during that long struggle, had cast a halo round his person, and greatly excited the public curiosity concerning him. He was at that time forty-five years of age, cold and reserved in his manners, but attaching some value to the attention shewn him by some of the ladies at Vienna; an immense number of entertainments were given to him, and it is well known that no city in Europe offers so many resources for those inclined to pleasure and dissipation.

In the midst of all these amusements the congress was startled by the fall of the thunderbolt,--news was received of the landing of Napoleon in the gulf of Juan! It was necessary immediate recourse should be had to military measures, and without a moment's hesitation the direction of the operations was entrusted to the Duke of Wellington, as the person most capable of opposing Napoleon; besides which, as Great Britain gave the impulse to the European league, it was necessary to give her a pledge of their sincerity, and the title of generalissimo, conferred upon the Duke, was undoubtedly due to him, in consideration of the subsidies which the English parliament were about to vote for the advantage of Europe. After a hurried journey to England, Wellington returned with all speed to the Low Countries, to decide in concert with Field-marshal Blucher upon the plan of his campaign; and when opposed to the powerful army of Napoleon, he followed the same system he had been accustomed to pursue in Spain; that is to say, he assumed a defensive attitude, in a well-chosen position. His military reputation had commenced with the lines of Torres Vedras, and was destined to reach its zenith at Waterloo;--thus shewing that the whole of a man's destiny is sometimes comprehended between two ideas.

I shall not enter here into military details, but content myself with observing that the battle of Waterloo was a perfect type of the system pursued by two men whose military capacities were entirely dissimilar--the Emperor and the Duke of Wellington. Napoleon was impetuous, actually sublime, when advancing to attack his enemy; but disordered and devoid of reflection in a retreat. The Duke, on the contrary, was timid, watchful, and undecided during an active campaign, to such a degree that he endangered the safety of his troops whenever he attempted a bold movement; but he was at the same time cool and collected, and accustomed to avail himself of every advantage when acting on the defensive. The attack made by Buonaparte at Waterloo recalled the battles of Wagram and Austerlitz, while the Duke of Wellington again saw the lines of Torres Vedras in the intrenched position of Mont St. Jean.

The influence of the Duke of Wellington naturally increased after this great battle; he was advancing at the head of a victorious army, and though Blucher did not actually fill a subordinate situation, yet the Duke, from his being covered with the glory of Waterloo, could not fail to exercise a considerable influence over the mind of the Prussian generalissimo. At last, when they approached Paris, all the revolutionary party, with Fouché at their head, came to meet the Duke, considering him as the supreme arbiter, whose word was to decide upon the fate of France. Fouché opened an active negotiation with him for the occupation of France; and the noble Duke, in a conversation with Louis XVIII., recommended the ministry of Talleyrand and Fouché, as the only one capable of bringing about an union between royalty and the liberty obtained by the revolution. Was the Duke mistaken? or was he duped? Whichever may have been the case, the coalition fell to pieces almost immediately, and the powerful and long-continued ascendency of Lord Castlereagh and the English government was replaced by the personal influence of the Emperor Alexander. Talleyrand was succeeded by the Duke de Richelieu.

By the treaty concluded in the month of November 1815, it had been stipulated that an army of occupation should remain in France; and it was placed under the command of the Duke of Wellington, without making any distinction among the contingents furnished by the different powers. He was also appointed inspector of the fortresses in the Low Countries, which were erected as advanced posts against France, and with the money levied upon her. The generalissimo resided in Paris, where he saw a good deal of Louis XVIII.; and his English principles were in perfect agreement with a system of moderation and freedom. He possessed an honest and upright heart, and a habit of judging with ease and simplicity of the state of events; and we must do him the justice to say, that when on various occasions he was constituted arbiter of the claims of the Allies, he almost invariably gave his opinion in favour of our unfortunate country. Even when he was consulted, more than once, upon the possibility of diminishing the army of occupation, he declared that the state of the public mind in France would permit this relief to be granted, which the suffering condition of the country rendered imperatively necessary. At this period, when the Duke of Wellington was engaged in rendering us most essential service, the Buonapartist spirit armed a fanatic against his life, and a pistol was fired actually into his carriage. The Duke escaped unhurt; and I deeply regret that Napoleon, in his will written at St. Helena, should have degraded himself to such a degree as to award a recompense to the miscreant who had thus attacked his former military adversary. Conduct like this communicates a stain which cannot be effaced even from the most renowned characters in history.

After the departure of the army of occupation, and the signing of the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, the Duke of Wellington quitted Paris; his military career was at an end, and his political life may be said to have just begun: having been raised to a seat in the House of Peers,[37] with the rank of duke, in the enjoyment of an immense fortune, and decorated with the stars of every order of knighthood in Europe, he could hardly fail of possessing a considerable degree of influence. But the order of things was now changed in England: during the long wars against the French Revolution and Empire, the English had shewn extreme energy, and had made great and very judicious use of their powerful means, thus enabling the Tories to overcome all the difficulties presented by their situation; they were successful because they were strongly opposed to all revolutionary principles, and firmly resolved to carry out the war. The people had then no time to think of internal dissensions, they were breathlessly engaged in incessantly recurring struggles, and always hoping for victory; but now that the war was at an end, passions were reawakened, and Lord Castlereagh saw his power gradually declining, while that of the Whigs and Radicals was progressively increasing.

[37] He had long had a seat in the House of Peers, but the mistake is very natural for a foreigner.--_Editor._