1831.] 



Domestic and Foreign. 



455 



thing but quackery.. He seems to think 

 him a kind of architectural milliner 

 possessing about as much title to dis- 

 tinction as a maker of artificial flowers. 



Chambers could write better than 

 build and not much of that ; though 

 Somerset-house is a splendid pile of 

 building. 



History of the War in the Peninsula, 

 $c., fram 1807*0 1814, by Col. Napier, 



Vol. Ill We have before expressed 



our sense of Colonel Napier's qualifica- 

 tions for accomplishing the task which 

 he is zealously and inuefatigably prose- 

 cuting. As a soldier, and one who was 

 himself engaged in the service he de- 

 scribes, he comes with advantages which 

 no mere layman can possess, whatever 

 be his industry or intelligence ; and he 

 has too much confidence, by natural 

 temperament, in his own decisions to 

 withhold any of them, whether bearing 

 upon military or political points. His 

 admiration of Napoleon and Wellington 

 knows no bounds ; while for the minis- 

 ters at home, who blindly pursued their 

 own views, and carelessly thwarted their 

 commander, his contempt is supreme. 

 The conduct of the French troops, 

 Colonel Napier traces as much in detail 

 as that of the British and their allies 

 and so, acceptably enough, supplies what 

 is lamentably defective in all other his- 

 tories of the war. For the general reader 

 who is not, of course, as somebody 

 said with some humour, " particular" 

 the military details are too oppressive to 

 get through ; but for martial folks they 

 have their charm and their good ; for it 

 must be as useful to study the blunders 

 of the enemy, as the victories of their 

 own chief. Most of those blunders may 

 be tracked to the disunion and jealousy 

 of Napoleon's officers, and the want of 

 his own controlling presence. 



The third volume is occupied chiefly 

 with the campaigns of 1810 preceded 

 by some details of the former year, in 

 Catalonia and the South, to bring up 

 arrears. After the battle of Talavera 

 where the second volume terminated 

 Lord Wellington took up a position on 

 the Guadiana, and maintained it till, 

 provoked by the want of cordial co- 

 operation on the part of the Spaniards, 

 he resolved to abandon the country, and 

 confine himself, for a time, to the de- 

 fence of Portugal. While thus en- 

 camped along the river, the troops pe- 

 rished by thousands, from what was 

 called the Guadiana fever ; and censures 

 upon the commander have been pretty 

 generally cast, for thus exposing them, 

 apparently, for no adequate purpose. 

 Colonel Napier insists that it was by 

 maintaining this position, and not by the 

 battle of Talavera, that he saved Anda- 

 lusia ; and the proof is, that the moment 



he quitted it for the valley of the Mom 

 dego, the French advanced. 



The detail of Massena's invasion of 

 Portugal- -of Wellington's retreat within 

 his own lines (of Torres Vedras) and of 

 Massena's final abandonment of Portu- 

 gal, bring up the narrative of the war to 

 the miserable battle of Albuera, which 

 Colonel Napier characterizes, without 

 scruple, as one that adds nothing to the 

 laurels of the commander. Alive, as 

 Beresford still is, some men would have 

 yielded a little to the restraining hand 

 of common delicacy ; but Colonel Na- 

 pier piques himself upon obeying higher 

 impulses. 



Colonel Napier's remarks upon the 

 Guerilla system are admirable. We 

 quote a scrap : 



It is true that if a whole nation will but 'per- 

 severe in such a system, it must in time destroy 

 the most numerous armies. But no people will 

 thus persevere ; the aged, the sick, the timid, the 

 helpless, are all hinderers of the bold and robust. 

 There will also be a difficulty to procure arms ; 

 for it is not on every occasion that so rich and 

 powerful a people as the English will be found in 

 alliance with insurrection ; and when the invaders 

 follow up their victories by a prudent conduct as 

 was the case with Suchet, and some others of the 

 French generals the result is certain. The de- 

 sire of ease, natural to mankind, prevails against 

 the suggestions of honour; and although the op- 

 portunity of covering personal ambition with the 

 garb of patriotism may cause many attempts to 

 throw off the yoke, the bulk of the invaded people 

 will gradually become submissive and tranquil. 

 It is a fact that, notwithstanding the violent 

 measures resorted to by the Partida chiefs to fill 

 their ranks, deserters from the French, and even 

 from the British, formed one-third of their bands. 



To raise a whole people against an invader may 

 be easy ; but to direct the energy thus aroused, 

 is a gigantic task, and, if misdirected, the result 

 will be more injurious than advantageous. That 

 it was misdirected in Spain, was the opinion of 

 many able men of all sides; and to represent it 

 otherwise, is to make history give false less.onsto 

 posterity. Portugal was thrown completely into 

 the hands of Lord Wellington ; but that great 

 man, instead of following the example of the Su- 

 preme Junta, and encouraging independent, bands, 

 enforced military organization upon totally dif- 

 ferent principles. The people were, indeed, called 

 upon and obliged to resist the enemy ; but it was 

 under a regular system, by which all classes were 

 kept within just bounds, and the whole physical 

 and moral power of the nation rendered subser- 

 vient to the plan of the g?neral-in-chief. To art 

 differently is to confess weakness : it is to say that 

 the government, being unequal to the direction of 

 affairs, permits anarchy. 



His estimate of the Spaniards, with 

 his defence of that estimate, is spirited 

 and decisive : 



I have been charged with incompetence to un- 

 derstand, and, most unjustly, with a desire to 

 underrate the Spanish resistance ; but it is the 

 province of history to record foolish as well as 

 glorious deeds, that posterity may profit from all ; 



