Maxims and Opinions of Field-Marshal His Grace the Duke of Wellington, Selected From His Writings and Speeches During a Public Life of More Than Half a CenturyWellington, Arthur Wellesley, Duke of
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Maxims and Opinions of Field-Marshal His Grace the Duke of Wellington, Selected From His Writings and Speeches During a Public Life of More Than Half a Century
Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, Duke of
Great Britain -- Politics and government -- 19th century; Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, Duke of, 1769-1852
pledge my word,--between the summer of 1834 and the period at which the
exchange of prisoners was agreed upon in 1835,--that is, in the course
of a very few months,--the superiority had been gained by Don Carlos in
that part of the country, so far that he had forced the enemy to take up
a position on the other side of the Ebro, abandoning all their fortified
posts, except Pampeluna and one other; and, I must add, they had very
wisely abandoned them, because they found they could not march to their
relief through the country. Now, my lords, this is literally and truly a
fact; and it is a fact not to be forgotten, with respect to the present
contest in Spain. I say, then, that it was the business of this
government not to have interfered by force. We ought not to have done
so, according to the noble marquis's principle--that there ought to be
no interference between two hostile parties in a nation like Spain.
_June 19, 1838._
* * * * *
_The Legion a failure._
The noble viscount has told your lordships, certainly, that he sent out
an expedition; and the noble marquis has informed us that it has always
been the policy of this country to encourage such expeditions. Now,
without meaning to assert that the result of that expedition was a dire
catastrophe, I must be permitted to say that the legion has been, in my
opinion and conviction, a complete failure. It has cost the Spanish
government an enormous sum of money. Great expectations were raised
respecting it, not one of which has been fulfilled. When the legion went
to Spain, the Queen of Spain's army was in all the provinces, with the
exception of Biscay and Navarre. Her government was established in all
parts of Spain, excepting these places. Excepting them, all other places
might be said to be in a state of tranquillity. But it appears the Queen
of Spain could not carry on the war, unless she got ten thousand Isle of
Dogsmen--a legion from England, and another from France. If the Spanish
government had asked for officers, or for arms, or for money, or for
artillery, I should not have been surprised, as I know well the manner
in which the Spanish arsenals are supplied. But asking for 10,000 men
from England to destroy Don Carlos, who was shut up in the mountains,
was a matter really not to be seriously thought of. The object was not
to bring 10,000, or 15,000, or 20,000 men into action, but to bring the
red coats and the blue coats, the French and English troops, into the
contest; that was the object, and the view was, to produce a moral
effect. But the government ought to have known that that which gave them
the influence on the one side, was fatal to that influence on the other.
Thus was an end put to that moral influence which this country could,
and ought to have exerted, but which can only be effectually exercised
by strict adherence, throughout all her proceedings, to the plain
principles of justice. If this country enter into a treaty, let her
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