History of the war in the Peninsula and in the south of France from the year 1807 to the year 1814, vol. 5

by William Francis Patrick Napier

It has been shown how obstinately the regency opposed Wellington’s plans of financial reform, how they disputed and complained upon every circumstance, whether serious or trivial on which a complaint could be founded; for thinking Portugal no longer in danger they were tired of their British allies, and had no desire to aid nor indeed any wish to see Spain delivered from her difficulties. They designed therefore to harass the English general, hoping either to drive him away altogether, or to force him, and, through him, his government, to grant them loans or new subsidies. But Wellington knew that Portugal could, and he was resolved it should find resources within itself, wherefore, after the battle of Salamanca, when they demanded a fresh subsidy he would not listen to them; and when they adopted that scheme which I have already exposed, of feeding, or rather starving their troops, through the medium of a treaty with the Spanish government, he checked the shameful and absurd plan, by applying a part of the money in the chest of aids intended for the civil service to the relief of the Portuguese troops. Yet the regency did not entirely fail in their object inasmuch as many persons dependent upon the subsidy were thus deprived of their payments, and their complaints hurt the British credit, and reduced the British influence with the people whose faithful attachment to the alliance no intrigues had hitherto been able to shake.

Into every branch of government, however minute, the regency now infused their own captious and discontented spirit. They complained falsely that general Campbell had insulted the nation by turning some Portuguese residents publicly out of Gibraltar in company with Jews and Moors; they refused the wheat which was delivered to them by lord Wellington in lieu of their subsidy, saying it was not fit for food notwithstanding that the English troops were then living upon parcels of the same grain, that their own troops were glad to get it, and that no other was to be had. When a wooden jetty was to be thrown in the Tagus for the convenience of landing stores, they supported one Caldas, a rich proprietor, in his refusal to permit the trees, wanted for the purpose, to be felled, alledging the rights of property, although he was to be paid largely, and although they had themselves then, and always, disregarded the rights of property, especially when poor men were concerned, seizing upon whatever was required either for the public service, or for the support of their own irregularities, without any payment at all and in shameful violation both of law and humanity.

The commercial treaty, and the proceedings of the Oporto wine company, an oppressive corporation unfair in all its dealings, irresponsible, established in violation of that treaty, and supported without regard either to the interests of the prince regent or his British allies, furnished them with continual subjects for disputes, and nothing was too absurd or too gross for their interference. Under the management of Mr. Stuart who had vigorously enforced Wellington’s plans, their paper money had obtained a reasonable and encreasing circulation, and their custom-house resources had encreased, the expenses of their navy and of their arsenal had in some degree been reduced; and it was made evident that an extensive and vigorous application of the same principles would enable them to overcome all their financial difficulties; but there were too many personal interests, too much shameful profit made under the abuses to permit such a reform. The naval establishment instead of being entirely transferred, as Wellington desired, to the Brazils, was continued in the Tagus, and with it the arsenal as its natural appendage. The infamous Junta de Viveres had been suppressed by the prince regent, yet the government under the false pretext of paying its debts still disbursed above ten thousand pounds a month in salaries to men whose offices had been formally abolished.

About this time also the opening of the Spanish ports in those provinces from whence the enemy had been driven, deprived Lisbon of a monopoly of trade enjoyed for the last three years, and the regency observing the consequent diminution of revenue, with inexpressible effrontery insisted that the grain, imported by Wellington, by which their army and their nation had been saved from famine, and by which their own subsidy had been provided, should enter the public warehouses under specific regulations and pay duty for so doing. So tenaciously did they hold to this point that Wellington was forced to menace a formal appeal to the English cabinet, for he knew that the subordinate officers of the government, knavish in the extreme, would have sold the secrets of the army magazines to the speculators; and the latter, in whose hands the furnishing of the army would under the new plan of the English ministers be placed, being thus accurately instructed of its resources would have regulated their supplies with great nicety so as to have famished the soldiers, and paralyzed the operations at the greatest possible expense.

But the supply of the army under any system was now becoming extremely precarious, for besides the activity of the American privateers English ships of war used, at times, to capture the vessels secretly employed in bringing provision under licenses from Mr. Stuart and Mr. Forster. Nay the captain of a Scotch merchant vessel engaged in the same trade and having no letter of marque, had the piratical insolence to seize in the very mouth of the Tagus, and under the Portuguese batteries, an American vessel sailing under a license from Mr. Forster, and to carry her into Greenock, thus violating at once the license of the English minister, the independence of Portugal, and the general law of nations. Alarm immediately spread far and wide amongst the American traders, the indignation of the Portuguese government was strongly and justly excited, and the matter became extremely embarrassing, because no measure of punishment could be inflicted without exposing the secret of a system which had been the principal support of the army. However the Congress soon passed an act forbidding neutrals to ship flour in the American ports, and this blow, chiefly aimed at the Portuguese ships, following upon the non-importation act, and being combined with the illegal violence of the English vessels, nearly dried up this source of supply, and threw the army principally upon the Brazil trade, which by the negligence of the Admiralty was, as I have before noticed, exposed to the enterprize of the United States’ privateers.

During Wellington’s absence in Spain the military administration of Portugal was necessarily in the hands of the regency and all the ancient abuses were fast reviving. The army in the field received no succours, the field-artillery had entirely disappeared, the cavalry was in the worst condition, the infantry was reduced in numbers, the equipments of those who remained were scarcely fit for service, and the spirit of the men had waned from enthusiasm to despondency. There was no money in the military chest, no recruits in the dépôts, and the transport service was neglected altogether. Beresford’s severity had failed to check desertion, because want, the parent of crimes, had proved too strong for fear; the country swarmed with robbers, and as no fault civil or military was punished by the regency, every where knaves triumphed over the welfare of the nation.

Meanwhile all persons whose indolence or timidity led them to fly from the active defence of their country to the Brazils, were there received and cherished as martyrs to their personal affections for the prince; they were lauded for their opposition to the regency, and were called victims to the injustice of Beresford, and to the encroachments of the English officers. This mischief was accompanied by another of greater moment, for the prince continually permitted officers possessing family interest to retire from active service retaining their pay and rank, thus offering a premium for bad men to enter the army with the intent of quitting it in this disgraceful manner. Multitudes did so, promotion became rapid, the nobility whose influence over the poor classes was very great, and might have been beneficially employed in keeping up the zeal of the men, disappeared rapidly from the regiments, and the foul stream of knaves and cowards thus continually pouring through the military ranks destroyed all cohesion and tainted every thing as it passed.

Interests of the same nature, prevailing with the regency, polluted the civil administration. The rich and powerful inhabitants, especially those of the great cities, were suffered to evade the taxes and to disobey the regulations for drawing forth the resources of the country in the military service; and during Wellington’s absence in Spain, the English under-commissaries, and that retinue of villains which invariably gather on the rear of armies, being in some measure freed from the immediate dread of his vigilance and vigour, violated all the regulations in the most daring manner. The poor husbandmen were cruelly oppressed, their farming animals were constantly carried off to supply food for the army, and agriculture was thus stricken at the root; the breed of horned cattle and of horses had rapidly and alarmingly decreased, and butcher’s meat was scarcely to be procured even for the troops who remained in Portugal.

These irregularities, joined to the gross misconduct of the military detachments and convoys of sick men, on all the lines of communication, not only produced great irritation in the country but offered the means for malevolent and factious persons to assail the character and intentions of the English general; every where writings and stories were circulated against the troops, the real outrages were exaggerated, others were invented and the drift of all was to render Wellington, and the English, odious to the nation at large. Nor was this scheme confined to Portugal alone, agents were also busy to the same purpose in London, and when the enthusiasm, which Wellington’s presence at Lisbon had created amongst the people, was known at Cadiz, the press there teemed with abuse. Divers agents of the democratic party in Spain came to Lisbon to aid the Portuguese malcontents, writings were circulated accusing Wellington of an intention to subjugate the Peninsula for his own ambitious views, and, as consistency is never regarded on such occasions, it was diligently insinuated that he encouraged the excesses of his troops out of personal hatred to the Portuguese people; the old baseness of sending virulent anonymous letters to the English general was also revived. In fine the republican spirit was extending beyond the bounds of Spain, and the Portuguese regency, terrified at its approach, appealed to Mr. Stuart for the assistance of England to check its formidable progress. Neither were they wanting to themselves. They forbade the Portuguese newspapers to admit any observations on the political events in Spain, they checked the introduction of Spanish democratic publications, they ordered their diplomatists at Cadiz to encourage writings of an opposite tendency, and to support the election of deputies who were known for their love of despotism. This last measure was however baffled by the motion of Arguelles, already mentioned, which rendered the old Cortez permanent; and Mr. Stuart, judging the time unfavourable, advised the Portuguese government to reserve the exertion of its power against the democrats, until the military success which the state of the continent, and the weakness of the French troops in Spain, promised, should enable the victors to put down such doctrines with effect; advice which was not unmeaning as I shall have occasion hereafter to show.