Major Nicoll’s Diary, and Official Report. Captain Frazer’s Diary, &c.
First, the threat of murdering the prisoners should have been dismissed from General Whitelocke’s mind at once. With his powers of retaliating after any such atrocity,—being, as he was, in possession of part of the town,—the threat was an empty one; and between civilized communities most unlikely of execution, even if the control of the General had been weak. But, as a matter of fact, General Linières’ power and popularity among the inhabitants at the time were very great;—a rumour of his having fallen during the day produced a profound depression, which made the reaction of joy the more intense when it was found that he was uninjured. That such a crime against humanity would have been allowed by one who was admitted by all to be chivalrous in the extreme, is utterly improbable; and the use of the threat merely showed that he found it necessary to make use of every argument, real and unreal, to secure his purpose;—that his position was not sufficiently strong to dictate terms to an enemy, even in the first hour of his discomfiture;—and, possibly, that he measured the man with whom he had to deal, and acted accordingly.
Secondly, the very eagerness of General Linières to let the troops go, and his ready permission to let them take all the guns, &c., which they had captured, should have suggested to General Whitelocke that these were not the characteristics of a General confident in his own strength, and in his enemy’s inferiority.
And, thirdly, were the inhabitants so bitterly hostile to the English, as General Whitelocke assumed? Doubtless they were not likely to evince much amiability while having to fight for their lives and homes; but, had a different mode of attack been adopted—blockade with a threatened bombardment, followed by the occupation in force of one or two commanding points—would it not have been possible so to foster English trade with the inhabitants as to ensure a thoroughly friendly feeling? This was evidently believed by those whose written opinions are extant—opinions formed in the city, and after careful inquiry. They said that had the Bishop been strictly watched, and warned that he would be sent to Europe, should he be detected in any political conspiracy, or countenancing any irregularity;—had all the Spanish officers and regular troops been sent to England immediately, and all the arms and ammunition of the inhabitants removed;—had the chief public officers been removed, but no injury done to the private inhabitants, and had honesty and uprightness been displayed in the English administration, the country might have been easily retained as a very useful appendage to Great Britain. The presence of an English army would have raised the price of nearly every commodity, and at the same time the system of ready-money payment would have benefited the local trade, and would have given the stock-owners a very strong interest in the presence of the English. The people of all ranks in Buenos Ayres were fond of copying English fashions in dress and furniture, and the facilities for comparing these would have been favourable to the invaders. The people born in the country, who were despised by the Spaniards, would have been raised to a degree of consideration unknown to them previously; and it would have been politic to place many of them in the situations of which the Castilians had been deprived. As for the Indians, the gain to them would have been immense, for their skins would have met with a ready sale at an increased price. Commercial intercourse between England and Buenos Ayres once established, every vessel that sailed between their ports would have spun another thread in the web which bound them together, until what at first might have been a mere commercial alliance, would have ended in a firm friendship and union.
All these possibilities were frustrated by the ignorance of a General. His landing so far from the city was one great blunder: his sub-division of his army, leaving part at Reduccion and part at Colonia, was another: his dispensing with siege artillery was a fatal error; and his crowning folly was the employment of a trained soldiery in street fighting, thus depriving them of the opportunity of exercising the qualities which a disciplined army possesses, and compelling them to meet an enemy under the very circumstances which that enemy would himself have chosen. General Whitelocke had sufficient troops to prevent the entry of supplies into the city if he had chosen;—or he might have entered Buenos Ayres two days before, when there was nothing but the wildest confusion within;—or he might have confined the attack to the side of the Ritoro, and approached the Citadel by regular parallels, using the streets to a great extent for that purpose, and ending by an assault which would have certainly been successful.
But he took the very course which was certain to be fatal; and the army he commanded, after performing useless prodigies of valour, had to succumb to terms which were openly talked of at Monte Video, while the army was awaiting embarkation for England, as disgraceful.
And with this irritating consciousness of failure, there came among the troops, when at Monte Video, not a little demoralization. Crime was general; desertions frequent; insubordination not unknown; and capital punishment was resorted to to enforce discipline. It is with pride that the Artilleryman learns from Captain Frazer’s letters, that not a single desertion occurred from the ranks of the Royal Artillery.
The possible consequences of a General’s incapacity ought to stir every officer to a determination to master his profession. The thought that his ignorance may some day be the cause of unnecessary slaughter, or may neutralise the bravest efforts of his men, and tarnish his country’s honour, ought to make a man afraid of being found wanting when called upon. In the success of a great General, the officer who loves his profession traces means and maxims which he himself may study; and in the failures of an incapable commander, he searches for blunders which he may avoid. The study of both will be found useful to the man who may some day have to lead others, and would fain lead them to victory.
The last letter written by Captain Frazer from Monte Video was one imploring that he and his troop might be attached to any portion of the army which might be on active service. He seemed eager to drown the recollection of failure in the excitement of successes under some more able leader. And, as this history will show, he was not disappointed. The time was near when England was to draw the sword on behalf of suffering Spain, nor to sheathe it again until the invader had been driven from Spanish soil, albeit at a terrible cost to herself of life and treasure. But with all their attendant sufferings and cost, those were days to gloat over; now, alas! is it not too often found that—
Rossetti.