60 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1809. 



control. If the equipment of the 

 expedition was not to be censured, 

 the result of the military opera- 

 tions was such, as at any other 

 time would have satisfied the feel- 

 ings of the country. It had ex- 

 pelled 25,000 men from Portugal* ; 

 put the Russian fleet into our pos- 

 session, and released, from a tedi- 

 ous and hazardous blockade, a Bri- 

 tish squadron of nine sail of the 

 line. His lordship concluded with 

 moving the previous question up- 

 on the first Resolution, declaring 

 that he would take the sense of 

 the house on the second. 



General Tarleton, in the course 

 of a speech against both the Con- 

 vention of Cintra, and the con- 

 duct of ministers in the manage- 

 ment of the expedition in various 

 respects, made the following im- 

 portant observation ; ministers said, 

 that it would have been doing in- 

 justice to many officers in the ar- 

 my, to have continued Sir Arthur 

 Wellesley in the command. But 

 when they had once appointed 

 him to conduct an operation, they 

 ought to have allowed him to fi- 

 nish it, as the immortal Chatham 

 had done with regard to the im- 

 mortal General Wolfe. But Sir 

 Arthur had been told, that a suc- 

 cessor would soon be appointed, 

 and thus his honourable ambition 

 was roused to do something before 

 he was superseded,! and this, per- 

 haps, induced him to proceed ra- 

 ther rashly. He would not pur- 

 sue this topic further now, as the 

 conduct of this gallant officer had 

 been approved, but he thought he 

 could convince the honourable offi- 

 cer himself, that there was some- 



thing rash in the action of the I7tli 

 of August, and something wrong 

 in that of the 21st. 



Sir A. Wellesley explained his 

 views and motives of action 

 throughout the expedition. He 

 had given it as his opinion, and it 

 was still his opinion, that the ope- 

 rations in favour of Spain, could 

 not be carried on with any chance 

 of success, otherwise than in con- 

 junction with the people and pub- 

 lic authorities of that country ; 

 and, therefore, it was necessary 

 before the commencement of the 

 campaign, to come to a right un- 

 derstanding with the Juntas. When 

 he communicated on the subject 

 with the Juntas of Gallicia and 

 Asturias, it was conceived that the 

 best service that could be done to 

 the cause of Spain, by the British 

 troops, would be the expulsion of 

 the French from Portugal. The 

 British army, if in possession of 

 Portugal, might be a link between 

 the northern and southern armies 

 of Spain, which had then no point 

 of union. In answer to what had 

 fallen from General Tarleton, Sir 

 A. Wellesley, after assuring the 

 honourable general that he would 

 much rather follow his example in 

 the field than his advice in the se- 

 nate, said, that when he landed 

 in Portugal, he had the choice of 

 two lines of march, and, for ob- 

 vious reasons, had chosen that 

 along the coast. Besides the 

 troops which he had under his 

 command at the time, he had rea- 

 son to expect re-inforcements un- 

 der General Ackland, Sir H. Bur- 

 rard, and Sir J. Moore. But he 

 was so well satisfied of the effici- 

 ency 



■ To Spain. 



t Vide Vol. L. (1808) HisT. Europe, p. 225. 



