50 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1809. 



25th, brought into the House of 

 Commons by Lord Castlereagh, who 

 raade a motion for the thanks of the 

 house to Sir A. Wellesley, and the of- 

 ficers and men under his command, 

 for the brilhant victory they had 

 achieved at the battle of Vimiera. 

 In the course of ilkistrating the 

 merit of Sir A. W. his lordship ap- 

 plied to the battle of Vimiera the 

 epithet " Immortal." — All the mi- 

 litary merit of this campaign was 

 exclusively Sir A. Wellesley 's; 

 to whom military experience had 

 ensured that success which ever 

 accompanied his brilliant career.— 

 No one was less disposed than him- 

 self to hurt the feelings of Sir H. 

 Burrard, than whom he did not 

 believe there was a more gallant 

 officer, or one of a more enlarged 

 soul, in the British empire. But 

 it would, in his opinion, be doing 

 an injury to that gallant and meri- 

 torious officer to mix him in the 

 vote of thanks moved for. 



Lord Folkstonc, disagreeable as 

 the task was, dissented from the 

 motion. It appeared from official 

 dispatches that the French array 

 amounted only to 12 or 14',000 

 men ; while the British armv 

 amounted to from M to 16,000 

 men, besides 1,200 Portuguese 

 troops. It appeared also, that 

 the court of inquiry could not 

 blame Sir H. Burrard for object- 

 ing to the advance of our forces. 

 The immediate consequences of 

 that objection were the armistice 

 and convention ; to the necessity 

 of agreeing to which our generals 

 would not have b?en reduced, if 

 Sir A. W. had waited only one 

 day, for the re-inforcement under 

 Sir J. Moore, and not have been 

 in such haste to bring on the bat- 

 tles of Roleia and Vimiera. Nei- 



ther the victory of Vimiera, nor 

 the armistice and convention, 

 which it involved, deserved the 

 thanks of the House. — Another 

 objection in his mind, was, that 

 no mention was made in the vote 

 proposed, of the name of Sir H. 

 Burrard, to whom he thought great 

 praise was due for the part he had 

 acted. From all these circumstan- 

 ces he objected to a vote of thanks 

 for the battle of Vimiera : as he 

 did not think it of so brilliant a 

 description as to be entitled to a 

 vote of thanks ; as it fell short of 

 any good consequences; and as 

 the whole of the expedition had 

 ended in a manner disgraceful to 

 the country. — Mr. Lambe admit- 

 ed the merit of Sir A. W. but 

 there had been a difference of opi- 

 nion between him and Sir H. Bur- 

 rard at the close of the day, with 

 regard to the advance of the army. 

 On the merits of that question the 

 house was not called on to decide. 

 If he voted for the motion, it must 

 be with a clear understanding that 

 this point was left as before, and 

 that, by his vote, he did not impute 

 or insinuate any blame against Sir 

 H. Burrard. — Mr. Whitbread said, 

 that the only way to prevent this, 

 was, to introduce the name of Sir 

 Harry, which might be done with- 

 out any injury whatever to Sir A. 

 Wellesley. If a commander was 

 responsible for what he committed 

 to an inferior officer, why should 

 he be deprived of the praise ? Sir 

 A. came and took bis orders from 

 Sir H. Burrard, before, during, and 

 after the battle. Sir H. considered 

 the plan of Sir A. Wellesley, 

 and held himself responsible for it. 

 The house could not refuse its 

 thanks to Sir H. Burrard, without 

 doing a gross injustice to that 



officer. 



