The army of Italy was powerfully reinforced, and placed under the command of prince Eugene, who was assisted by marshal Massena. Murat also, who had succeeded Joseph in the kingdom of Naples, was directed to assemble a Neapolitan army on the shores of Calabria, and to threaten Sicily. In short, no measures that prudence could suggest were neglected by this wonderful man, to whom the time required by Austria for the mere preparation of a campaign seemed sufficient for the subjection of the whole Peninsula.
The session of the legislative body was opened on the 24th of October; the emperor, in his speech from the throne, after giving a concise sketch of the political situation of Europe, touched upon Spain. “In a few days I go,” said he, “to put myself at the head of my armies, and, with the aid of God, to crown the king of Spain in Madrid, and to plant my eagles on the towers of Lisbon,” and then departing from Paris he repaired to Bayonne; but the labours of his ministers continued; their speeches and reports, more elaborately explicit than usual, exposed the vast resources of France, and were well calculated to impress upon the minds of men the danger of provoking the enmity of such a powerful nation. From those documents Exposé de l’Empire, 1808. it appeared that the expenses of the year, (including the interest of the national debt), being between twenty-nine and thirty millions sterling, were completely covered by the existing taxes, drawn from a metallic currency, and that no fresh burthens would be laid upon the nation. Numerous public works were in progress, internal trade, and that commerce which was carried on by land, were flourishing, and nearly one million of men were in arms!
The readiness with which Mr. Canning broke off the negotiation of Erfurth, and defied this stupendous power, would lead to the supposition that on the side of Spain at least he was prepared to encounter it with some chance of success; but no trace of a matured plan is to be found in the instructions to the generals commanding in Portugal previous to the 25th of September, nor was the project then adopted one which discovered any adequate knowledge of the force of the enemy, or of the state of affairs. Indeed the conduct of the cabinet relative to the Peninsula was scarcely superior to that of the central junta itself. Several vague projects, or rather speculations, were communicated to the generals in Portugal, but in none of them was the strength of the enemy alluded to, in none was there a settled plan of operations visible. It was evident that the prodigious activity of the emperor was not taken into consideration, and that a strange delusion relative to his power, or to his intentions existed among the English ministers.
Ld. Castles. Despatch.
Pary. Paps.
It was the 6th of October before a despatch, containing the first determinate plan of campaign, arrived at Lisbon. Thirty thousand infantry and five thousand cavalry were to be employed in the north of Spain; of these numbers ten thousand were to be embarked at the English ports, and the remainder were to be composed of regiments, drafted from the army then in Portugal. Lieutenant-general sir John Moore was appointed to command the whole, and he was authorised (at his own discretion) to effect a junction by a voyage round the coast, or by a march through the interior. He chose the latter, 1º. because a voyage at that season of the year would have been tedious and precarious; 2º. because the intention of sir Hew Dalrymple had been to enter Spain by Almeida, and the few arrangements which that general had power to make were made with a view to such a march; and 3º. because he was informed that the province of Gallicia was scarcely able to equip the force coming from England, under the command of lieutenant-general sir David Baird. Sir John Moore was directed to take the field with the troops under his own immediate command without delay; and he was to fix upon some place either in Gallicia or on the borders of Leon for concentrating the whole army. The specific plan of operations was to be concerted afterwards with the Spanish generals.
This was a light and idle proceeding, promising no good result, for the Ebro was to be the theatre of war. The head of the great French host coming from Germany was already in the passes of the Pyrenees, and the local difficulties impeding the English general’s progress were abundant, and of a nature to render that which was ill begun, end worse, and that which was well arranged, fail. To be first in the field is a great and decided advantage; but here the plan of operations was not even arranged, when the enemy’s first blows were descending.
Sir John Moore had, indeed, much to execute, and with little help. First, he was to organize an army of raw soldiers; then, in a poor and unsettled country, just relieved from the pressure of a harsh and griping enemy, he was to procure the transport necessary for Sir John Moore’s Papers. his stores, ammunition, and even for the conveyance of the officers’ baggage. Assisted by an experienced staff, such obstacles do not very much impede a good general; but here, few, if any, of the officers, except the commander-in-chief, had served a campaign; and every branch of the administration, civil and military, was composed of new men, very zealous and willing, but ignorant of a service, where no energy can prevent the effects of inexperience from being severely [Appendix, No. 13], sections 1st and 3d. felt. The roads through Portugal were very bad; the rainy season, so baleful to an army, was upon the point of setting in; time pressed sorely, it was essential to be quick, but gold, that turns the wheels of war, was wanting; and this, at all times a great evil, was the more grievously felt at the moment, inasmuch as the Portuguese, accustomed to fraud on the part of their own government, and to forced contributions by the French, could not readily be persuaded that an army of foreigners, paying with promises alone, might be trusted; nor was this natural suspicion allayed by observing, that while the general and his troops were thus kept without money, all the subordinate agents dispersed throughout the country were amply supplied. Sir David Baird, who, with his portion of troops, was to land at Coruña, and to equip in a country already exhausted by Blake’s army, was likewise encompassed with difficulties. From Coruña [Appendix, No. 13], section 1st. to the nearest point where he could effect a junction with the forces marching from Lisbon was two hundred miles, and he also was without money.
No general-in-chief was appointed to command the Spanish armies; nor was sir John Moore referred by the English ministers to any person with whom he could communicate at all, much less concert a plan [Appendix, No. 13], section 4th. of operations for the allied forces. He was unacquainted with the views of the Spanish government, he was uninformed of the numbers, composition, or situation of the troops with which he was to act, as well as those with whom he was to contend, and 25,000l. in his military chest, and his own genius, constituted his resources for a campaign, which would probably lead the army far from the coast, and from all its means of supply. He was first to unite the scattered portions of his forces by a winter march of three hundred miles; another three hundred were to be passed before he reached the Ebro; then he was to concert a plan of operations with generals acting each independent of the other; their corps reaching from the northern sea-coast to Zaragoza; themselves jealous and quarrelsome, their men insubordinate, differing in customs, discipline, language, and religion from the English, and despising all foreigners; and this was to be accomplished in time to defeat an enemy who was already in the field, accustomed to great movements, and conducted by the most rapid and decided of men. It must be acknowledged that the ministers’ views were equally vast and inconsiderate, and their miscalculations are the more remarkable, as there was not wanting a man in the highest military situation to condemn their plan at the time, and to propose a better.
The duke of York, in a formal minute drawn up for the information of the government, observed, that the Spanish armies being unconnected, and occupying a great extent of ground, were weak. That the French being concentrated, and certain of reinforcements, were strong. That there could be no question of the relative value of Spanish and French troops, and that, consequently, the allies might be beaten before the British could arrive at the scene of action; the latter would then unaided have to meet the French army; hence it was essential to provide a sufficient number of troops to meet such an emergency; that number he judged should not be less [Appendix, No. 24.] than sixty thousand men, and by a detailed statement, he proved that such a number could have been furnished without detriment to any other service.
At this period, also, the effects of that incredible folly and weakness which marked all the proceedings of the central junta, were felt throughout Spain. In any other country the conduct of the government would have been attributed to insanity. So apathetic with respect to the enemy as to be contemptible; so active in pursuit of self-interest as to become hateful. The junta was occupied in devising how to render itself at once despotic and popular; how to excite enthusiasm and check freedom of expression; how to enjoy the luxury of power without its labour; how to acquire great reputation without trouble; how Mr. Stuart’s letters. MS. to be indolent and victorious at the same moment. Fear prevented it from removing to Madrid after every preparation had been made for a public entrance into that capital. The members passed decrees, repressing the liberty of the press on the ground of the deceptions practised upon the public; but themselves never hesitated to deceive the British agents, the generals, the government, and their own countrymen, by the most flagitious falsehoods upon every subject, whether of greater or less importance. They hedged their own dignity round, with ridiculous and misplaced forms opposed to the vital principle of an insurrectional government; they devoted their attention to abstract speculations, recalled the exiled Jesuits, and inundated the country with long and laboured state papers, but left the pressing business of [Appendix, No. 13], section 6th. the moment to shift for itself. Every application on the part of lord William Bentinck and Mr. Stuart, even for an order to expedite a common courier, was met by difficulties and delays, and it was necessary to have recourse to the most painful solicitations to obtain the slightest attention; nor did that mode always succeed.