1830.] 



Domestic and Foreign. 



reign in favour of ths Austrian succession. 

 To analyze any of these little morsels our 

 space forbids, and, if it did not, to do so 

 would be useless, for the peculiarity and the 

 charm are all in the development of inci- 

 dent and tone of sentiment the events have 

 scarcely suffered a modification, and could 

 only be fairly exhibited by a specimen. Ge- 

 nerally, they shew judgment in the selec- 

 tion, tact in pitching upon the point of in- 

 terest, taste in the details, and felicity in the 

 execution. The language and we allude 

 to so inferior a consideration, because the 

 writer, as every body knows, is a foreigner 

 as to dry correctness and propriety is un- 

 exceptionable, but shews still a want of ease, 

 but that chiefly from the absence of the 

 commoner idioms. It is this, more than 

 the subjects, which throws a sameness over 

 the whole, and finally wearies. The book 

 is an excellent one to put into the hands of 

 young people if consecutive reading from 

 beginning to end be not inflicted upon them. 



Annals of the Peninsular Campaigns, 

 from 1808 to 1814, by the Author of 



Cyril Thornton, 3 vols. I2mo. ; 1829 



Deprecating all ideas of competition with 

 the professional learning of Colonels Na- 

 pier and Jones, as becomes a subaltern 

 and nameless officer, or with the voluminous 

 compilations of the universal Southey, the 

 author of Cyril Thornton, we may confi- 

 dently announce, has produced a work which 

 surpasses them both in interest and execu- 

 tion in tact of selection, and distinctness 

 of narrative. Of Southey's performance, 

 we say nothing for it will ever be the least 

 read ; while of Napier, it is doing him no 

 wrong to say, he writes too exclusively for 

 the profession, and suffers his general poli- 

 tics too often to sway his judgment ; and, in 

 his anxiety to compliment, or in his opinion, 

 perhaps, to appreciate duly French officers, 

 occasionally passes the line of sober impar- 

 tiality. Cyril Thornton, too for we know 

 neither his name nor " addition" has his 

 prejudices, and, equally anxious to display 

 the superiorities of the British, sometimes 

 forgets to give the enemy their due. Still 

 we give him due credit for intention to tell 

 the full truth ; but it must be said, and can- 

 not be denied, he has looked more to the 

 obvious causes which secured victory to the 

 one English chief, than to those which 

 equally ensured defeat to the numerous and 

 unconnected commanders of the French 

 forces. But for one account, his surpasses 

 any other one, and, besides, has the great 

 advantage of coming altogether, and at once 

 completing the story. The form of annals, 

 too, gives him more of freedom, enforces 

 less the bonds of connexion, and calls for 

 less research into causes, political and pro- 

 fessional, but none of these are neglected ; 

 and he is even prodigal of his criticisms, 

 though he furnishes sound and satisfactory 

 reasons for most of them. 



No historian of the war has placed the 



previous conduct of Spain in so conspicuous 

 and just a light. Napoleon was not without 

 his provocations ; nor was Charles or Fer- 

 dinand so innocent or inoffensive as they 

 are commonly and carelessly represented. 

 Godoy's fears, the consequences of his own 

 usurping, so early as 1806, and the period 

 of the battle of Jena^ intrigued with Russia 

 and Portugal, and apparently with England, 

 for a combined invasion ot France, while 

 professedly at peace and in alliance with 

 France; and, in the following year, thii 

 same Spain concurred with this same France 

 in a proposal for the seizure and partition of 

 Portugal. 



We English, again, may thank ourselves 

 for the general distrust with which our as- 

 sistance was at first and long accepted by 

 the Spaniards : it was impossible they could 

 forget, what Cyril Thornton rightly calls, 

 the base seizure and robbery of their trea- 

 sure-ships in 1804, before the declaration of 

 war an act of positive and brazen piracy. 



Notwithstanding the Colonel's superior 

 rank, Cyril keeps a sharp eye on Napier, 

 and, detecting his bias, often exposes it 

 shrewdly and successfully. Colonel Napier 

 admires Murat prodigiously ; and speaking 

 of the executions consequent on the horrible 

 2d of May, at Madrid, ascribes them, on 

 the authority of French writers, not to Mu- 

 rat, but to Grouchy, who continued, he 

 says, the work of slaughter on his own re- 

 sponsibility, and in direct disobedience to 

 Murat's orders. " This statement," ob- 

 serves Cyril, " would have been entitled to 

 credit, had we learned from the same autho- 

 rity that Grouchy's delinquency had been 

 followed by censure or disgrace." 



General Foy, who of course will not be 

 suspected of exaggerating the atrocities of 

 his countrymen, describes Dupont's wanton 

 cruelty at Cordova in terms of horror, and 

 winds up with these words : " Dreadful 

 scenes ! (the devastations of the city) for 

 which no excuse was to be found in the loss 

 sustained by the victors, since the attack of 

 the city had not cost them ten men, and the 

 success of the day only thirty killed, and 

 eighty wounded." What says Colonel Na- 

 pier ? " As the inhabitants took no part in 

 the contest, and received the French without 

 any signs of aversion, the toivn was pro- 

 tected from pillage." " It is only neces- 

 sary to add," observes Cyril, " that the 

 Colonel gives no authority for -his state-, 

 ment." 



The author dwells with admiration on 

 the defence of the Zaragozans, and quotes 

 Foy's testimony to their heroism. " After 

 this," says he, " it is almost painful to 

 quote Colonel Napier." " It is manifest," 

 Colonel Napier asserts, " that Zaragoza 

 owed her safety to accident, and that the 

 desperate resistance of the inhabitants was 

 more the result of chance than of any pecu- 

 liar virtue." " Chance /*' exclaims Cyril^ 

 with some reason " such is the melancholy 

 situation to which a writer, so talented ai 



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