wns on the eastern coast in Catalonia and Valencia
were captured by the French, but the French masses remained inactive.
The manner in which this campaign had been conducted by the British
army received all due applause in England: the thanks of parliament were
voted to officers and men, and Sir Arthur Wellesley was created Viscount
Wellington of Talavera. By this time Viscount Wellington had placed
his army in cantonments on the line of the Guadiana, in order to cover
Portugal from Soult, whose cantonments, as before mentioned, were in
Estramadura and Leon. While thus stationed, he heard in November of the
defeat of the Spanish troops under General Areizga at Ocana, and of the
Duque del Parque at Alba de Tonnes. These events caused Lord Wellington
much mortification; and feeling convinced that he could no longer
afford assistance to Spain, he marched from the lines of Guadiana into
Portugal, in order to defend it against the enemy. Here he laid the
foundation of those measures which finally carried him triumphant
through the Peninsula. The Spanish junta exclaimed loudly against him
for deserting their cause; but it was evident that if neither Soult nor
any other French forces had threatened the Portuguese frontier, it would
have been impossible for him to have tried another advance into Spain.
It was only by drawing on his magazines in Portugal, which were chiefly
filled by England, that he could preserve his troops from starvation,
and it was impossible for him to co-operate with undisciplined Spanish
troops, and proud, obstinate, and incapable Spanish generals. It was in
vain that his brother, the Marquis Wellesley, who resided with the
junta at Seville as British envoy, laboured to convince the Spanish
authorities of the fatal consequences which, must arise from their
wretched military system: the dons were all wiser than the marquis, and
not satisfied with neglecting his advice, they cast reproaches on his
brother. There was a want of vigour and capacity in the members of
the junta, and in the Spanish military, and this being coupled with an
overweening confidence in their own powers, it was clear that no British
force could successfully co-operate with them. In the event of another
British army acting again in Spain it would be necessary, as Lord
Wellington observed in one of his dispatches to his brother, that
the chief command of the Spanish forces should be vested in the
commander-in-chief of the English.