History of the Peninsular War, Volume 5 (of 6)Southey, Robert
History
History of the Peninsular War, Volume 5 (of 6)
Southey, Robert
Peninsular War, 1807-1814
General Tarleton also delivered it as his opinion, that we had lost the
whole of the peninsula, except the spot between Cartaxo and Lisbon;
that the Portugueze troops had never been of any actual service; that
we could not maintain ourselves in the country, for the fatal truth
must at length be told; and that when our army was to get out of it, he
was afraid it would be ♦LORD GRENVILLE.♦ found a difficult matter. Lord
Grenville, in the Upper House, spoke to the same purport, affirming
that the British army in Portugal did not possess more of the country
than the ground which it actually occupied, and that while we were
vainly draining our own resources, and hazarding our best means, we did
not essentially contribute to help Portugal, or to save it. It was, he
added, because he had the cause of Spain and Portugal sincerely and
warmly at heart, that he felt anxious we should pause in this wild and
mad career of thoughtless prodigality, look our own situation in the
face, and learn the necessity of economising our resources, that we
might be able, at a period more favourable than the present, to lend
to the cause of the nations of the Peninsula, or to that of any other
country similarly situated, that support and those exertions which,
when made under all the circumstances of our present situation, must be
found not only wholly unavailing to our allies, but highly injurious to
ourselves.
Two days after these opinions were delivered, the telegraph announced
the news of Massena’s retreat.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
CADIZ. BATTLE OF BARROSA. DEATH OF ALBURQUERQUE.
♦1811.♦
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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