GENERAL HISTORY. 



[139 



the confidence reposed in me by 

 his 3Iiijesty's ministers, and by the 

 commander in chief, by th« gra- 

 cious favour of his rojal highness 

 the Prince Regent, and by the re- 

 liance which 1 had on the support 

 of my gallant friends, the general 

 officers of the army, and on the 

 bravery of the officers and troops, 

 to carry on the operations in such 

 a manner as to acquire for me 

 those marks of the approbation of 

 this House, for which I have now 

 the honour to make my humble 

 acknowledgments. Sir, it is im- 

 possible for me to express the gra- 

 titude which I feel ; I can only 

 assure the House, that I shall al- 

 ways be ready to serve his Majesty 

 in any capacity in which my ser- 

 vices can be deemed useful, with 

 the same zeal for my country 

 which has already acquired for me 

 the approbation of this House." 



This speech was received with 

 loud cheers, at the end of which 

 the Speaker, who had sat covered 

 during its delivery, rose, and thus 

 addressed his Grace : 



" My Lord, — Since last 1 had 

 the honour of addressing you from 

 this place, a series of eventful 

 years has elapsed ; but none with- 

 out some mark and note of your 

 rising glory. 



" The military triumphs which 

 your valour has achieved, upon 

 the banks of the Douro and the 

 Tagus, of the Ebro and the Ga- 

 ronne, have called forth the spon- 

 taneous shouts of admiring nations. 

 Those triumphs it is needless on 

 this day to recount. Their names 

 have been written by your con- 

 quering sword in the annals of 

 Europe, and we shall hand them 

 down with exultation to our chil- 

 dren's children. 



•* It is not, however, the giandeur 



of military success which has alone 

 fixed our admiration, or command- 

 ed our applause ; it has been that 

 generous and lofty spirit which in- 

 spired your troops with unbounded 

 confidence, and taught them to 

 know that the day of battle was 

 always a day of victory ; that 

 moral courage and enduring forti- 

 tude, which, in perilous times, 

 when gloom and doubt had beset 

 ordinary minds, stood nevertheless 

 unshaken ; and that ascendancy of 

 character, which, uniting the ener- 

 gies of jealous and rival nations, 

 enabled you to wield at will the 

 fate and fortunes of mighty em- 

 pires. 



" For the repeated thanks and 

 grants bestowed upon you by this 

 House, in gratitude for your many 

 and eminent services, you have 

 thought fit this day to offer us 

 your acknowledgments ; but this 

 nation well knows that it is still 

 largely your debtor. It owes to 

 you the proud satisfaction, that 

 amidst the constellation of illus- 

 trious warriors who have recently 

 visited our country, we could pre- 

 sent to them a leader of our own, 

 to whom ail, by common accla- 

 mation, conceded the pre-emi- 

 nence ; and when the will of hea- 

 ven, and the common destinies of 

 our nature, shall have swept away 

 the present generation,, you will 

 have left your great name an im- 

 perishable monument, exciting 

 others to like deeds of glory, — 

 and serving at once to adorn, de- 

 fend, and perpetuate the existence 

 of this country amougst the ruling 

 nations of the earth. 



" It now remains only, that we 

 congratulate your Grace upon 

 the high and important mission 

 on which you are about to pro- 

 ceed, and we doubt not that the 



