8 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1810. 



and enthusiastic voice of the coun- 

 try. The case of Spain afiForded 

 ihe best opportunity of terminat- 

 ing the war with glory. The en- 

 thusiasnj existing in that country 

 could not be doubted : for nothing 

 but entiiusiasm could have kept 

 armies together after so many de- 

 feats and disasters. And how had 

 our pledge to Spain been fulfilled? 

 Ministers sent an army to Portu- 

 gal, with instructions to deliver 

 that country, and to consider 

 Spain onl3f as a secondary object. 

 Sir Arthur Wellesley's army, how- 

 ever, did advance into Spain, and 

 gained a victory : but, although 

 the stronger and the victorious 

 army, it immediately retreated. 

 And two great Spanish armies, 

 Jeft to themselves, had been suc- 

 cessively cut to pieces, while a 

 British army remained idle and in- 

 active in their vicinity. Either 

 the instructions of that gallant 

 general, sir Arthur Wellesley, had 

 been erroneous, or he wanted 

 means to carry his victorious army 

 forward. After such scenes of 

 calamity, their lordships would 

 disgrace themselves, if they did 

 not adopt the course recommend- 

 ed by the noble lord who moved 

 the amendment. 



Lord Sidmouth could not but 

 acknowledge that there was much 

 to regret, and perhaps to repre- 

 hend, in the expedition to Spain, 

 and especially in that to Walche- 

 ren. He wished an earl)^ day to 

 be fixed for going into the inquiry 

 proposed, and he wished the in- 

 quiry to be full and vigorous. But 



he was not for prejudging the con- 

 duct of his majesty's government, 

 which would be the case, if the 

 amendment of his friend, lord 

 Grenville, were adopted without 

 any alteration. 



Lord Mulgrave also reprobated 

 condemnation without inquiry. 

 With regard to the conduct of the 

 war, he could safely declare that 

 no one was to blame : neither the 

 ministers who planned the mea- 

 sures, nor the officers chosen to 

 execute them. 



Earl Grey, in answer to certain 

 sarcasms that had been made by 

 the earl of Harrowby, on the 

 late administration, said, he was 

 fully satisfied that the conduct 

 of those with whom he had the 

 honour to act at the period alluded 

 to, was best calculated to promote? 

 the interest and welfare of the 

 country, viz. to husband* the re- 

 sources of the state, in order that, 

 at a time when they should be 

 most wanted, they might be ade- 

 quately and advantageously em- 

 ployed for the public security. But 

 this was not the question now be- 

 fore their lordships. The question 

 was, whether liis majesty's minis- 

 ters, having determined on war, 

 and a system of offensive warfare, 

 had pursued this scheme of their 

 vigorous policy by the best means. 

 Were the objects attainable, and 

 if attainable, were the}' material 

 to the final result of the conflict, 

 in which we were engaged? When 

 he held the seals of the foreign 

 department, an expedition to the 

 Scheldlhadbeenfrequentlypressed 



• This argument of husbanding our resources was much insisted on, and, indeed, 

 the great sheet ancho in question of foreign relations, of the lords Grey and 

 Grenville. Money may be saved, but military spirit, skill, and valour, the main 

 bulwark of a state, are promoted, not by husbanding, but by exercising them. 



