the allies, as well as for those of the
English army. If I yield, God help me, for nobody will support me." This
sorrowful language was too true, for so utterly corrupt was the English
administration, that in order to save themselves from public odium, they
would have ruined him. A distinguished reviewer of one of the memoirs of
his grace thus comments upon the treatment which he received:--"From the
inadequate supplies of money sent to him from his government, he had to
create a paper-money of his own, and to increase his supplies by opening
a trade in corn with America. When he complained of the attention which
the home government paid to the criticism of some of his officers, they
replied that these officers were better generals than he; they compelled
him to send back the transports on which, in the event of a defeat, the
safety of his army depended; and on one occasion Lord Liverpool gave
instructions to an officer of engineers at Lisbon of which Wellington
knew nothing, and which began with these words, which were also news to
him:--'As it is probable that the army will embark in September, &c.'"
So much was the duke dependant on his own resources that, being unable
to prevent the departure of some of his generals, he was often obliged
to discharge himself, on the same clay, the duties of general of
cavalry, leader of the advanced guard, and commander of two or three
columns of infantry. His want of material was such that at the siege of
Badajoz he had to employ guns cast in the reign of Philip II., and, for
lack of mortars, he had to mount his howitzers upon wooden blocks;
while at Burgos he was obliged to suspend the attack till a convoy of
ammunition should come up, which had been expected for six weeks. He
was even obliged to complain of his army. "We are an excellent army on
parade," he said, "an excellent one to fight, but take my word for it,
defeat or success would dissolve us." The discipline was by no means
perfect. After the battle of Vittoria the soldiers obtained among them
by way of booty about a million sterling; many regiments disbanded
themselves, and some three weeks afterwards the commander-in-chief had
to announce that there were still 12,500 marauders among the mountains
absent from duty.

Notwithstanding every impediment which the lazy, conceited, and
impracticable character of the Spaniards, the want of civil organization
in Portugal, and the ignorance and incapacity of his own government
c