[177] The figures of the Portuguese historian, Accursio das Neves, reproduced in Arteche (ii. 35), seem indubitable, as they go into minute accounts of the regiments and fractions of regiments present. It seems clear that the allies had nothing like the 5,000 regular troops of which Foy speaks (iv. 267-8).
[178] This fine and not unpromising scheme deserves study (see Alison’s Life of Castlereagh, i. 199-202).
[179] I cannot quite credit the story that Toreño and Arteche repeat of Pitt’s dying prophecy, that ‘Napoleon could only be overthrown by a national war, and that such a war would probably begin in Spain.’
[180] Wellesley to Castlereagh, June 29, 1808 (Well. Suppl. Disp., vi. 87).
[181] For hints on this subject see the letter of W. Wellesley Pole, a kinsman of Sir Arthur, in Wellington Supplementary Dispatches (vi. 171). ‘The desire that has been manifested at Head Quarters for active command will render it natural for all that has passed to be seen through a false medium.... The object of Head Quarters, if it has any object at all, must be to keep down the officer for whom the army has the greatest enthusiasm, and to prevent him from being called by the voice of the nation to the head of the forces upon active service, rather than to crush old officers of known incapacity and want of following.... Dalrymple is a Guardsman; Burrard is a Guardsman; their connexions are closely united to Windsor and Whitehall, and for years have not only been in the most confidential situation about Head Quarters, but have imbibed all their military notions from thence;’ &c.
[182] Born in 1755, he was a favourite of the Duke of York, and had acted as his aide-de-camp. At this moment he held a command in the Home District.
[183] Castlereagh to Wellington (Well. Disp., iv. 8, 9).
[184] Wellesley to Castlereagh, from Corunna, July 21 (Well. Disp., vi. 23-5).
[185] Napier’s statement that Wellesley found the Supreme Junta in an extravagant and irrational frame of mind is by no means borne out by the dispatches which he sent off from Oporto on July 25. They rather represent the Portuguese as in a state of pronounced depression of spirits.
[186] Wellesley to Castlereagh, from Oporto, July 25 (Well. Disp., vi. 31).