GENERAL H I S T O R Y. 



\:^7 



Alicant, but he was obliged again 

 to turn northwards. As . to the 

 eiege of Burgos, if its success was 

 important, and its failure was 

 through want of means, whose was 

 the fault ? Here was again ground 

 for inquiry. 



Tiieir lordships had been told 

 from the opposite side, that the ob- 

 ject of the campaign was, to com- 

 pel the French to evacuate the 

 south of Spain, and that this had 

 been effected ; but did it enter 

 into the object of ministers, that 

 in forcing them to evacuate the 

 south, we ourselves should be 

 obliged to evacuate the whole of 

 Spain ? Was it necessary for this 

 that our army should advance to 

 Burgos? The evacuation of the 

 south had been already effected, 

 ' and it must be with a view of 

 some ulterior operations that the 

 advance was made to Burgos. 

 Lord Wellington was first com- 

 pelled to withdraw from thence 

 through apprehension forthe safety 

 of sir R. Hill's corps ; and the 

 force opposed to him in front then 

 became so much superior, through 

 the junction of the French army 

 from the south, that the retreat of 

 I the whole allied army was rendered 

 j necessary, which, though not in- 

 ! glorious, terminated the campaign 

 ' in a manner highly detrimental to 

 the cause of Spain and Europe, 

 and the character of our arms. 



The Marquis then went to the 



next part of the question, which 



he said was merely practical, 



showing the actual force, which, in 



his opinion, would have averted all 



I these misfortunes, and which he 



stated as low as 12,000 infantry, 



and 3,000 cavalry ; and he would 



I inquire, first, was there a force in 



1 the country to that amount which 



could have been sent to lord Wel- 

 lington's assistance ? Secondly, 

 were there financial means for the 

 supply of specie i Of the detail 

 which followed we cannot pretend 

 to give a summary. It was con- 

 cluded with an animated appeal to 

 the feelings of the House, against 

 the defence which he supposed 

 ministers would make, that our 

 resources and means wereexhaust- 

 ed, and we had done all that we 

 could do. He then moved, "That 

 a committee be appointed to in- 

 quire into the circumstances and 

 result of the last campaign in the 

 peninsula of Spain." 



Earl Bathurst rose to reply to 

 the noble marquis. He began 

 with saying that lord Wellington 

 himself had voluntarily expressed 

 his satisfaction with the conduct 

 of administration during the last 

 campaign ; but he admitted that 

 this alone was not a sufficient rea- 

 son against the proposed inquiry. 

 He then went to an examination 

 of the arguments and assertions 

 of the marquis; and he first con- 

 tended that the campaign, instead 

 of being a disastrous one, had 

 poweriully aided the common 

 cause by the diversion it gave to 

 the French arms. He made re- 

 plies to the particular charges on 

 the ministry respecting the sup- 

 posed deficiency of force which pre- 

 vented the advance to Seville, the 

 want of co-operation by the force 

 from Sicily, the failure of the siege 

 of Burgos, &c. He affirmed that 

 d'uring the course of the year, very 

 nearly the number of troops for 

 which the marquis had expressed a 

 desire, had been sent to the Penin- 

 sula, and that, from the disturbed 

 state of this country, more could 

 not have been spared-; and he ad- 



