HISTORY OF EUROPE. 



57 



lesley being sent to undertake a 

 system of operations on the coast 

 of Portugal, General Burrard sent 

 to supersede him, and General 

 Dalrymple to supersede General 

 Burrard, with a design to send 

 another general to supersede Ge- 

 neral Dalrymple, it was entertain- 

 ing to see Lord C. recommending 

 it to persons so superseding each 

 other, to act together in harmo- 

 ny! 



When it was resolved to de- 

 prive Sir A. Weliesley of the chief 

 command, and to send to Portu- 

 gal the force under Sir J. Moore, 

 the unprofitable employment of 

 which, in another quarter, was 

 imiversally allowed, even by mi- 

 nisters themselves, not to have 

 been chargeable upon him, it 

 might have been supposed that 

 this gallant and most able officer, 

 was the most likely to be Sir A. 

 Wellesley's successor. But no ; 

 such a successor was not thought 

 of by the noble lord. On the 

 contrary, it seemed to have been 

 studiously provided, that in all the 

 various changes, Sir J. Moore 

 should not have even a temporary 

 command. He who throughout 

 his life had displayed so much skill 

 and valour — so much zeal and pa- 

 triotism ; who had conducted his 

 army with such distinguished judg- 

 ment as well as intrepidity, through 

 a long, a fatiguing, and perilous 

 march ; who would have saved 

 that army from all disaster, had 

 his views been duly seconded, was 

 not considered by lord C. as de- 

 serving of any attention : for on 

 the very day that Sir H. Dalrym- 

 ple was appointed to the command 

 in chief, orders were sent out that 

 Sir J. Moore should be superseded 

 by Sir H. Burrard: to whom, he 



was convinced, a more unwelcome 

 appointment could not have been 

 given. — To Sir Harry Burrard, all 

 the defects in the state of the army, 

 which Lord Petty had mentioned, 

 were immediately obvious. He 

 saw the want of cavalry and artil- 

 lery, and also the insufficiency of 

 the country to afford provisions: 

 and these were the grounds on 

 which that officer rested the jus- 

 tification of his subsequent con- 

 duct. 



Sir H. Burrard's reign, how- 

 ever, was but short ; for, on the 

 22nd of August, another com- 

 mander in chief appeared. The 

 north wind brought Sir H. Bur- 

 rard : the south Sir H. Dalrymple; 

 and scarcely had Sir Harry's sun 

 risen, when Sir Harry's sun was 

 set for ever. Here Lord Petty 

 thought it but justice to call the 

 attention of the house to the very 

 peculiar situation in which Sir H. 

 Dalrymple was placed. He had 

 just taken the command of an 

 army which he had never before 

 seen, and landed in a country 

 with which he was not acquainted: 

 and was committed on a system of 

 operations on which he had never 

 been consulted. The delicacy of 

 Sir Hew's situation was described 

 by himself in terms peculiarly ap- 

 propriate, when he stated, " that 

 all the responsibility was vested in 

 him, and all the direction in 

 others." One general directed the 

 expedition— another general con- 

 cluded it — and a third directed the 

 consequences that were to flow 

 from it. 



There was one reason, how- 

 ever, which induced all the gene- 

 rals to act as they did ; which was, 

 that no other object had been 

 communicated to them than that 



of 



