er of the British forces in
the Peninsula. The Marquess arrived in Cadiz on the 4th of July, four
days after the battle of Talavera.

The first year of the Spanish campaign was, in one sense of the word,
disastrous. Sir Arthur Wellesley, after fighting the desperate battle of
Talavera, was forced to retire into Portugal, through the neglect of the
Spanish government to supply his troops with the means of subsistence.
They were actually starved out of the field. The Spanish armies had now
been utterly broken; the great expedition of Walcheren had terminated in
the capture of a fishing town, and the loss of some thousand men by the
marsh fever. At this period, Spain seemed utterly helpless; Austria had
been forced into peace; Russia was on the closest terms of alliance with
France; and in England the two cabinet ministers, Lord Castlereagh and
Mr Canning, had fought a duel with each other. The cabinet was now
broken up, and reconstructed, the three secretaries of state being, the
Marquess of Wellesley for foreign affairs, Lord Liverpool for the
colonies, and the Hon. R. Ryder for the home department; Mr Perceval,
first lord of the treasury and prime minister.

In the year 1810, on the invasion of Portugal by Marshal Massena at the
head of eighty thousand men, while Wellington had but thirty thousand,
the declaimers of Opposition had produced so depressing an effect on
public opinion, that a cabinet despatch actually left it to the decision
of the British general, then Lord Wellington, whether the army should
remain or return to England! On that occasion, the British general
returned the following gallant and decisive answer:--"From what I have
seen of the objects of the French government, and the sacrifices they
make to accomplish them, I have no doubt, that if the British army were
for any reason withdrawn from the Peninsula, and the French government
were relieved from the pressure of military operations on the Continent,
they would incur all risks to land an army in his Majesty's dominions.
Then, indeed, would commence an expensive contest, then would his
Majesty's subjects discover what are the miseries of war, of which, by
the blessing of God, they have hitherto had no knowledge; and the
cultivation, the beauty, and the prosperity of the country, and the
virtue and happiness of its inhabitants, would be destroyed, whatever
might be the results of military operations. God forbid that I should be
a witness, much less