After that, the affair seemed to droop for a moment; but in the middle of July an English man of war suddenly appeared at Gibraltar, having on board prince Leopold of Sicily, and a complete court establishment of chamberlains with their keys, and ushers with their white wands. The duke of Orleans, who attended his brother-in-law the prince, made no secret of his intention to negotiate for the regency of Spain, and openly demanded that he should be received into Gibraltar. Sir Hew, foreseeing all the mischief of this proceeding, promptly refused to permit the prince, or any of his attendants, to land; and the captain of the ship, whose orders were merely to carry him to Gibraltar, refused to take him back to Sicily. To relieve his royal highness from this awkward situation, sir Hew consented to receive him as a guest, provided that he divested himself of his public character, and that the duke of Orleans departed instantly from the fortress.
Sir William Drummond, the British envoy at Palermo; Mr. Viale; and the duke of Orleans were the ostensible contrivers of this notable scheme, by which, if it had succeeded, a small party in a local junta would have appointed a regency for Spain, paved the way for altering the laws of succession in that country, established their own sway over the other juntas, and created interminable jealousy between England, Portugal, and Spain; but with whom the plan originated [Appendix, No. 8.] does not very clearly appear. Sir William Drummond’s representations induced sir Alexander Ball to provide the ship of war, nominally for the conveyance of the duke of Orleans, but in reality for prince Leopold, with whose intended voyage sir Alexander does not appear to have been made acquainted. That the prince should have desired to be regent of Spain was natural, but that he should have been conveyed to Gibraltar in a British ship of the line, when the English government disapproved of his pretensions, was really curious. Sir William Drummond could scarcely have proceeded such lengths in an affair of so great consequence, without secret instructions Ibid. from some member of his own government, yet lord Castlereagh expressed unqualified approbation of sir Hew’s decisive conduct upon the occasion! Did the ministers act at this period without any confidential communication with each other? or was lord Castlereagh’s policy secretly and designedly thwarted by one of his colleagues? But it is time to quit this digression and turn to
THE PROCEEDINGS IN PORTUGAL.
The bishop of Oporto being placed at the head of the insurrectional junta of that town, claimed the assistance of England. “We hope,” said he, “for an aid of three hundred thousand cruzado novas; of arms and accoutrements complete, and of cloth for forty thousand infantry and for eight thousand cavalry; three thousand barrels of cannon powder, some cargoes of salt fish, and other provisions, and an auxiliary body of six thousand men at least, including some cavalry.” This extravagant demand would lead to the supposition than an immense force had been assembled by the prelate, yet he could never at any time have put five thousand organized men in motion against the French, and had probably not even thought of any feasible or rational mode of employing the succours he demanded; but the times were favourable for extravagant demands, and his were not rejected by the English ministers, who sent agents to Oporto and other parts, with power to grant supplies. The improvident system adopted for Spain being thus extended to Portugal, produced precisely the same effects, that is, cavils, intrigues, waste, insubordination, and inordinate vanity and ambition among the ignorant upstart men of the day.
More than half a year had now elapsed since Napoleon first poured his forces into the Peninsula; every moment of that time was marked by some extraordinary event, and one month had passed since a general and terrible explosion, shaking the unsteady structure of diplomacy to pieces, had left a clear space for the shock of arms; yet the British cabinet was still Pary. Paps. unacquainted with the real state of public feeling in the Peninsula and with the Spanish character; and Ld. Castleh. to
S. A. Welly. 21st June, 1808. although possessing a disposable army, of at least eighty thousand excellent troops, was totally unsettled in its plans, and unprepared for any vigorous effort. Agents were indeed despatched to every accessible province; the public treasure was scattered with heedless profusion, and the din of preparation was heard in every department; but the bustle of confusion is easily mistaken for the activity of business; time removing the veil of official mystery covering those transactions, has exposed all their dull and meagre features; and it is now clear that the treasure was squandered without judgment, and the troops dispersed without meaning. Ten thousand exiled to Sweden proved the truth of Oxenstern’s address to his son; as many more idly kept in Sicily were degraded into the guards of a vicious court; Gibraltar was unnecessarily filled with fighting men; and general Spencer, with five thousand excellent soldiers, being doomed to wander between Ceuta, Lisbon, and Cadiz, was seeking, like the knight of La Mancha, for a foe to combat.
A considerable force remained in England; but it was not ready for service, when the minister resolved to send an expedition to the Peninsula, and nine thousand men collected at Cork by other hands and for other purposes, formed the only disposable army for immediate operations. The Grey and Grenville administration, so remarkable for unfortunate military enterprises, had assembled this handful of men with a view to permanent conquests in South America, upon what principle of policy it is not necessary to inquire, but such undoubtedly was the intention of that administration; perhaps in imitation of the Roman senate, who sent troops to Spain when Hannibal was at the gates of the city. The tory administration relinquished this scheme of conquest, and directed sir Arthur Wellesley to inform general Miranda, the military adventurer of the day, not only that he must cease to expect assistance, but that all attempts to separate the colonies of Spain from the parent state would be discouraged by the English government. Thus the troops assembled at Cork became available, and sir Arthur Wellesley being appointed to command them, sailed on the 12th of July, to commence that long and bloody contest in the Peninsula which he was destined to terminate in such a glorious manner.
Two small divisions were soon after ordered to assemble for embarkation at Ramsgate and Harwich, Parliamentary Papers, 1808. under the command of generals Anstruther and Acland, but a considerable time elapsed before they were ready to sail; and a singular uncertainty in the views of the ministers at this period subjected all the military operations to perpetual and mischievous changes. General Spencer, supposed to be at Gibraltar, was directed to repair to Cadiz, and wait for sir Arthur’s Ibid. orders; and the latter was permitted to sail under the Ld. Castleh. to S. A. Welly. 30th June. impression that Spencer was actually subject to his command; but other instructions empowered Spencer at his own discretion to commence operations in the Ibid. south, without reference to sir Arthur Wellesley’s Ld. Castleh. to gl. Spencr. 28th and 30th June. proceedings; and admiral Purvis, who, after lord Collingwood’s Do. to adl. Purvis, 28th June. arrival, had no separate command, was also authorised to undertake any enterprise in that quarter, and even to control the operations of sir Arthur Wellesley by calling for the aid of his troops, that general being enjoined to “pay all due obedience to any such requisition!” Yet sir Arthur himself was informed, that “the accounts from Cadiz were bad;” that “no disposition to move either there or in the neighbourhood of Gibraltar was visible,” and that “the cabinet were unwilling he should go far to the southward, whilst the spirit of exertion appeared to reside more to the northward.” Again the admiral, sir Charles Cotton, was informed that sir Arthur Wellesley was to co-operate with him in a descent at the mouth of the Tagus; but sir Arthur himself had no definite object given for his own operations, although his instructions pointed to Portugal, and thus in fact no one officer, naval or military, knew exactly what his powers were, with the exception of admiral Purvis, who, being only second in command for his own service, was really authorised to control all the operations of the land forces, provided he directed them to that quarter which had been declared unfavourable for any operations at all.
Pary. Paps.
Ld. Castleh.to S. A. Welly. 30th June, 1808.
In recommending Portugal as the fittest field of action, the ministers were chiefly guided by the advice of the Asturian deputies; although having received sir Hew Dalrymple’s despatches to a late date, their own information must have been more recent and more extensive than any that they could obtain from the deputies, who had left Spain at the commencement of the insurrection, and were ill informed of what was passing in their own province, utterly ignorant of the state of any other part of the Peninsula, and under any circumstances were incapable of judging rightly in such momentous affairs.
The inconsistent orders of the ministers were well calculated to introduce all manner of confusion, and to prevent all vigour of action, but more egregious conduct followed. In sir Arthur Wellesley’s instructions, although they were vague and undefined, as to immediate military operations, it was expressly stated that the intention of the government was to enable Portugal and Spain to throw off the French yoke, and ample directions were given to him as to his future political conduct in the Peninsula. He was informed how to demean himself in any disputes that might arise between the two insurrectional nations, how to act with relation to the settlement of the supreme authority during the interregnum; and directed to facilitate communications between the colonies and the mother country, and to offer his good offices to arrange any differences between them. The terms upon which Pary. Paps.
Ld. Castleh. to S. A. Welly. 30th June, 1808. Great Britain would acquiesce in any negotiation between Spain and France were stated, and finally he was empowered to recommend the establishment of a paper system in the Peninsula, as a good mode of raising money, and attaching the holders of it to the national cause. The Spaniards were not, however, sufficiently civilized to adopt this recommendation, and barbarously preferred gold to credit at a time when no man’s life, or faith, or wealth, or power, was worth a week’s purchase. Sir Hew Dalrymple was at this time also commanded to furnish sir Arthur with every information that might be of use to the latter in his operations.