154 
THE BRITISH ARMY ON THE CONTINENT OF EJROPE. 
least as good as those of the French in the Peninsula, at any rate we 
won. There is a splendid song about this : — 
Dost thou remember, soldier old and hoary, 
The days we fought and conquered side by side 
On fields of battle, famous now in story, 
Where Briton triumphed and where Britons died? 
Dost thou remember all our old campaigning 
O’er many a field of Portugal and Spain? 
Of our old comrades few are now remaining 
How many sleep upon the grassy plain ? 
Bememberest thou the bloody Albuera 
The deadly breach in Badajos’ walls, 
Vittoria, Salamanca, Talavera, 
Till honcesvalles echoed to our balls. 
Ha ! how we drove the Frenchmen all before us 
As foam is driven before the stormy breeze. 
We fought right on with conquering banners o’er us 
From Torres Vedras to the Pyrenees. 
1 There is a great deal more of it and such songs should be frequently 
sung’ at our festive commemorations, but my time is passing. 
After the lull which followed the peace of Amiens, 1802, we soon re¬ 
sumed our warlike enterprises. From 1803-1S05 we were in danger 
of an invasion and Napoleon saw that ho must soon cope with 
a coalition. Some of our modern anti-British theorists lay it down 
that Britain, since Agiucourt, never fought on the continent alone, 
only as a member of a coalition. But surely the same remark applies 
to Prussia till 1806, to Austria throughout, to old Franco as often as 
it could get an ally and to Napoleon himself. If allies fought for us, 
wo also fought for allies and we did much more for our allies than they 
ever did for us; and wo often paid the piper when they were bankrupt 
in financial as well as military credit. “Our armies wore part of com¬ 
posite forces/ 5 they say \ “ we made a fiddle-faddle about a Hessian 
horse and saddle 55 —but what about the old Prussian army? what 
about the old French army ? liow many Italians and Poles fought for 
Napoleon in the Peninsula ? how many myriads of others than French¬ 
men marched against the Muscovites and to their own doom under the 
eagles of the Emperor ? These gentlemen would have us believe 
that our rulers and generals have for ages been the laughing stock 
of Europe, whereas, in point of fact from a military point of view, 
we have for three centuries done very much better than any other 
European race. When these gentlemen arc tired of traducing their 
own people they forthwith burst into fine rhapsodies about some 
foreign leader—from our poor folk they turn to Napoleon. I yield no 
one in admiration for Napoleon, but his blunders and military errors 
transcended all ours put together What about his failure in Egypt, 
in Syria ? the retreat from Acre ? the capitulation of Alexandria ? the 
whole of the Peninsular war was a political and strategic error of the 
1 See Appendix (Vial quoted). 
