Lord Wellington, as soon as he heard of Soult’s retreat, had put his army in motion toward the Beira frontier. He established his head-quarters at Fuente Guinaldo; the troops were cantoned between the Agueda and the Coa; and though the magazines at Celorico had been destroyed, those beyond the Douro sufficed for their supply. Here, therefore, they rested awhile to recruit their strength. Their means of transport were employed in provisioning Badajoz, and Lord Wellington prepared to follow up the brilliant successes of the campaign.

CHAPTER XLI.

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.”