Brigadier-general Decken, a German, having been first destined for Spain, was countermanded at sea, and directed to Oporto, where he arrived on the 17th of August, and immediately commenced that curious intrigue which has been already mentioned in the campaign of Vimiero.
When sir John Moore assumed the command of the army, he sent colonel Graham to reside at the Spanish head-quarters on the Ebro, and directed lord William Bentinck to remain at Madrid to forward the arrangements for commencing the campaign. Lord William found in Mr. Stuart an able coadjutor, and in the letters of these two gentlemen, and the correspondence of major Coxe, then at Seville, is to be found the history of the evils which at this period afflicted unhappy Spain, and ruined her noble cause.
The power of distributing supplies, and the independent nature of their appointments, gave to those military agents immediately employed by the minister an extraordinary influence, and it was very injudiciously exercised. They forgot the real objects of their mission, and in many cases took a leading part in affairs with which it was not politic in them to have meddled at all.
Colonel Doyle having left captain Kennedy at Coruña, and placed captain Carrol at the head-quarters of Blake’s army, repaired in person to Madrid, where he was received with marked attention, and obtained the rank of a general officer in the Spanish service for himself, and that of lieutenant-colonel for captains Carrol and Kennedy. From colonel Doyle’s letters it appears that he had a large share in conducting many important measures, such as the arrangement of a general plan of operations, and the Sir John Moore’s Correspondence. MSS. formation of a central and supreme government. He seems to have attached himself principally to the duke of Infantado, a young man of moderate capacity, but with a strong predilection for those petty intrigues which constituted the policy of the Spanish court. Captain Whittingham gained the confidence of general Castaños to such a degree that he was employed by him to inspect the different Spanish corps Whittingham’s Letters. MS. on the Ebro early in September, and to report upon their state of efficiency previous to entering upon the execution of the plan laid down for the campaign. Notwithstanding the favourable position in which these officers stood, it does not appear that either of them obtained any clear idea of the relative strength of the contending forces, and their opinions, invariably and even extravagantly sanguine, were never borne out by the result.
The Spaniards were not slow to perceive the advantages of encouraging the vanity of inexperienced men who had the control of enormous supplies; but Mr. Stuart’s Letters. MS. Lord W. Bentinck’s Letters. MS. while all outward demonstrations of respect and confidence were by them lavished upon subordinate functionaries, and especially upon those who had accepted of rank in their service, the most strenuous exertions of lord William Bentinck and Mr. Stuart [Appendix, No. 13.] section 6. were insufficient to procure the adoption of a single beneficial measure, or even to establish the ordinary intercourse of official business.
The leading Spaniards wished to obtain a medium through which to create a false impression of the state of affairs, and thus to secure supplies and succours from England without being fettered in the application of them. The subordinate agents answered this purpose, and satisfied with their docility, the generals were far from encouraging the residence of more than one British agent at their head-quarters. Captain Birch, an intelligent engineer officer, writing from Blake’s camp, says, “General Broderick Sir John Moore’s Correspondence. MS. is expected here; but I have understood that the appearance of a British general at these head-quarters to accompany the army might give jealousy. General Blake is not communicative, but captain Carrol appears to be on the best footing with him and his officers, and captain Carrol tells me that he informs him of more than he does any of his generals.”
The object was perfectly accomplished; nothing could be more widely different than Spanish affairs, judged of by the tenor of the military agent’s reports, and Spanish affairs when brought to the test of battle. The fault did not attach so much to the agents as to the ministers who selected them. It was difficult for inexperienced men to avoid the snare. Living with the chiefs of armies actually in the field, being in habits of daily intercourse with them, holding rank in the same service, and dependent upon their politeness for every convenience, the agent was in a manner forced to see as the general saw, and to report as he wished. A simple spy would have been far more efficacious!
Sir John Moore, perceiving the evil tendency of such a system, recalled all those officers who were under his immediate control, and strongly recommended to ministers that only one channel of communication should exist between the Spanish authorities and the British army. He was convinced of the necessity of this measure, by observing, that each of the military agents considered the events passing under his own peculiar cognizance as the only occurrences of importance. Some of those officers even treated sir Hew Dalrymple and himself as persons commanding auxiliary bodies of men which might be moved, divided, and applied at the requisition of every inferior agent, and the forces of the British empire, a mere accessory aid, placed at their own disposal. Thus general Leith says: “Whatever may be the plan of operations, and whatever the result, Sir John Moore’s Papers. MSS. I beg leave, in the strongest manner, to recommend to your consideration the great advantage of ordering all the disposable force of horse or car artillery, and light infantry, mounted on horses or mules of the country, without a moment’s delay to move on Palencia, where the column or columns will receive such intelligence as may enable them to give the most effectual co-operation.”
Captain Whittingham, at the same period, after mentioning the wish of general Castaños that some British cavalry should join him, says, “I cannot quit this subject without once more repeating, that the efforts of the cavalry will decide the fate of the campaign.” And again: “Should it be possible for your excellency to send one thousand or fifteen hundred horse, the advantages that would result are incalculable.” While one of these pressing recommendations came from Oviedo, the other from Tudela, colonel Doyle, writing from Madrid, thus expresses himself: “Certain it is, that if your army were here, the French would evacuate Spain before you got within a week’s march of them; indeed, even the light cavalry and two thousand light troops sent on cars, to keep up with the cavalry, to show our friends the nature of outpost duty, would, I think, decide the question.”—“A respectable corps of British troops, landed in Catalonia, would so impose, that I have no doubt of the good effects.”