BOOK III. CHAPTER I. I. 1808. THE convention of Cintra being followed by the CHAP. establishment of a regency at Lisbon, the plans of the bishop and junta of Oporto were disconcerted, and Portugal was restored to a state of comparative tranquillity; for the Portuguese people being of a simple character, when they found their country relieved from the presence of a French army, readily acknowledged the benefit derived from the convention, and refused to listen to the pernicious counsels of the factious prelate and his mischievous coadjutors. Thus terminated what may be called the convulsive struggle of the Peninsular war. Up to that period a remarkable similarity of feeling and mode of acting betrayed the common origin of the Spanish and Portuguese people. A wild impatience of foreign aggression, extravagant pride, vain boasting, and a passionate reckless resentment, were common to both nations; but there the likeness ceased, and the finer marks of national character which had been impressed upon them by their different positions in the political world, became distinctly visible. Spain, holding from time immemorial a high rank among the great powers, and more often an oppressor than oppressed, haughtily rejected all advice. Unconscious of her actual weakness and ignorance, and III. 1808. BOOK remembering only her former dignity, she ridiculously assumed an attitude which would scarcely have suited her in the days of Charles V.; while Portugal, always fearing the ambition of a powerful neighbour, and relying for safety as much upon her alliances as upon her own intrinsic strength, was from habit inclined to prudent calculation, and readily submitted to the direction of England. The turbulence of the first led to defeat and disaster; the docility and patience of the second were productive of the most beneficial results. The difference between these nations was, however, not immediately perceptible, and at the period of the convention the Portuguese were despised, while a splendid triumph was anticipated for the Spaniards. It was affirmed and believed, that from every quarter enthusiastic multitudes of the latter were pressing forward to complete the destruction of a baffled and dispirited enemy; the vigour, the courage, the unmatched spring of Spanish patriotism, was in every man's mouth, and Napoleon's power and energy seemed weak in opposition. Few persons doubted the truth of such tales, and yet nothing could be more unsound, more eminently fallacious, than the generally-entertained opinion of French weakness and of Spanish strength. The resources of the former were unbounded, almost untouched; those of the latter were too slender even to support the weight of victory. In Spain the whole structure of society was shaken to pieces by the violence of an effort which merely awakened the slumbering strength of France: foresight, promptitude, arrangement, marked the proceedings of Napoleon; but with the Spaniards the counsels of prudence were punished as treason; and personal interests, every where springing up with incredible force, wrestled against the public good. At a distance, the insurrection appeared of towering proportions and mighty strength; but in truth it was a fantastic object, stained with blood, and tottering from weakness, and the helping hand of England alone was stretched forth for its support; all other assistance was denied, for the continental powers, although nourishing secret hopes of profit from the struggle, with calculating policy, turned coldly from the patriots' cause. The English cabinet was indeed sanguine, and resolute to act; but the ministers while anticipating success in a preposterous manner, displayed little industry and less judgment in their preparations for the struggle; nor does it appear that the real freedom of the Peninsula was much considered in their councils. They contemplated this astonishing insurrection, as a mere military opening through which Napoleon might be assailed, and they neglected, or rather feared, to look towards the great moral consequences of such a stupendous event, consequences which were in truth above their reach of policy. They were neither able nor willing to seize such a singularly propitious occasion for conferring a benefit upon mankind. It is however certain, that this opportunity for restoring the civil strength of a long degraded people, by a direct recurrence to first principles, was such as had seldom been granted to a sinking nation. Enthusiasm was aroused without the withering curse of faction; and the multitude were ready to follow whoever chose to lead. The weight of ancient authority was, by a violent external shock, thrown off. The ruling power fell from the hands of the few, and was caught by the many, without the latter having thereby incurred the odium of rebellion, or excited the malice III. 1808. BOOK of mortified grandeur. There was nothing to deter the cautious, for there was nothing to pull down. The foundation of the social structure was laid bare, and all the materials were at hand for building a rare and noble monument of human genius and virtue. The architect alone was wanting. No anxiety to ameliorate the moral or physical condition of the people in the Peninsula was evinced by the ruling men of England, and if any existed amongst those of Spain, it evaporated in puerile abstract speculations. Napoleon indeed offered the blessing of regeneration in exchange for submission, but in that revolting form accompanied by the evils of war, it was rejected; and amidst the clamorous pursuit of national independence, the independence of man was trampled under foot. The mass of the Spanish nation, blinded by personal hatred, thought only of revenge. The leaders, arrogant and incapable, neither sought nor wished for any higher motive of action: without unity of design, devoid of arrangement, their policy was mean and personal, their military efforts were abortive, and a rude unscientific warfare disclosed at once the barbarous violence of Spanish character, and the utter decay of Spanish institutions. After Joseph's retreat from Madrid, the insurrection of Spain may be said to have ceased; from that period it became a war between France and the Peninsula; the fate of the latter was intrusted to organised bodies of men, and as the first excitement subsided, and danger seemed to recede, all the meaner passions resumed their empire; but the transactions of that memorable period which intervened between the battles of Baylen and Coruña were exceedingly confused, and the history of them must necessarily partake somewhat of that confusion. I. 1808. The establishment of a central supreme junta, CHAP. the caprices of the Spanish generals, and their interminable disputes, the proceedings of the French army before the arrival of the emperor, the operations of the grand army after his arrival, and the campaign of the British auxiliary force, form so many distinct actions, connected it is true by one great catastrophe, yet each attended by a number of minor circumstances of no great historical importance taken separately, but when combined, showing the extent and complicated nature of the disease which destroyed the energy of Spain. For the advantage of clearness therefore, it will be necessary to sacrifice chronological order; and as frequent reference must be made to the proceedings of a class of men whose interference had a decided, and in many cases a very disastrous influence upon the affairs of that period, I shall first give a brief account of the English agents, under which denomination both civil and military men were employed, but the distinction was rather nominal than real; for, generally speaking, each person assumed the right of acting in both capacities. The envoy, Mr. Charles Stuart, was the chief of the civil agents; the persons subordinate to him were, Mr. Hunter, Mr. Duff, and others, consuls and vice-consuls. Mr. Stuart sailed with sir A. Wellesley, and was left at Coruña when that officer touched there, previous to the operations in Portugal. Mr. Hunter was stationed at Gihon in the Asturias. Mr. Duff proceeded to Cadiz, and the others in like manner were employed at different ports. They were all empowered to distribute money, arms, and succours of clothing and ammunition: but the want VOL. I. T |