[583] There is an undertone of gloom in most of Bentinck’s very capable letters, which contrasts sharply with the very optimistic views expressed by Doyle and most of the other military agents. On Oct. 2 he ‘feels the danger forcibly’ of the want of a single commander for the Spanish armies. On Sept. 30 he remarks that ‘the Spanish troops consider themselves invincible, but that the Spanish Government ought not to be deluded by the same opinion.’ On Nov. 14 ‘he must not disguise that he thinks very unfavourably of the affairs of Spain: the Spaniards have not the means to repel the danger that threatens’: most of his letters are in more or less the same strain.
[584] Except with Castaños, from whom some sensible but rather vague advice was procured.
[585] e.g. in his letter of Nov. 19 Moore speaks of the town of Salamanca as doing its best for him: the clergy were exerting themselves, and a convent of nuns had promised him £5,000. In his Journal he has a testimonial to the fidelity with which the people of Tordesillas protected an English officer from a raiding party of French cavalry. There are some similar notes in British memoirs: e.g. ‘T.S.’ of the 71st expresses much gratitude for the kindness of the people of Peñaranda, who, when Hope’s division arrived in a drenched and frozen condition, rolled out barrels of spirits into the streets and gave every man a good dram before the regiments marched on. Some towns, e.g. Zamora and Alba de Tormes, behaved well in opposing (though without any hope of success) the French, when they did appear.
[586] As to the conduct of the Spaniards I think that the best commentary on it is that of Leith Hay (i. 80-1), who was riding all over Castile and Leon in these unhappy weeks. ‘Thus terminated a journey of about 900 miles, in which a considerable portion of the country had been traversed, under circumstances which enabled me to ascertain the sincere feeling of the people. It is but justice to say that I met with but one sentiment as to the war: that I was everywhere treated with kindness. I mention this as a creditable circumstance to the inhabitants of the Peninsula, and in contradiction to the statements often recorded, unjustly in my opinion, as to the want of faith, supineness, and perfidy of the Spanish people.... Their conduct was throughout distinguished by good faith, if it was at the same time rendered apparently equivocal from characteristic negligence, want of energy, and the deficiency of that moral power that can alone be derived from free institutions and an enlightened aristocracy.’
[587] Moore to Castlereagh from Salamanca, Nov. 24.
[588] Ibid., Dec. 8.
[589] Moore to Castlereagh from Salamanca, Nov. 24.
[590] Moore to Frere from Salamanca, Nov. 27.
[591] The notes and diaries of this ancient member of my own College have been of enormous use to me for side-lights on Spanish politics during 1808. His summary of his great ride from Caparrosa in Navarre to Corunna, between November 21 and December 2, is perhaps worth quoting. ‘From Caparrosa to Madrid and from Madrid to Salamanca, with the dispatches for Sir John Moore, containing the defeat of the army commanded by General Castaños, I rode post. I stayed the night at Salamanca, and at two o’clock on the following day (Nov. 29) I set out for Astorga with dispatches for Sir D. Baird, and with Sir J. Moore’s dispatches for England. I was detained only six hours at Astorga, and after riding two days and two nights on end arrived at Corunna the evening of Dec. 2. The post-horses at every relay in Spain were at this time so overworked that the journey was tiresome and painful. I had ridden 790 miles from Caparrosa to Corunna in eleven days (Nov. 21 to Dec. 2). I had a night’s rest at Agreda, Cetina, and Salamanca, and two at Madrid.’ Deducting two days in Madrid, the ride was really one of 790 miles in nine days.
[592] Moore to Hope from Salamanca, Nov. 28.