HISTORY
OF THE
PENINSULAR WAR.

LONDON:
PRINTED BY THOMAS DAVISON, WHITEFRIARS.

HISTORY
OF THE
PENINSULAR WAR.

BY ROBERT SOUTHEY, ESQ. LL.D.
POET LAUREATE,

HONORARY MEMBER OF THE ROYAL SPANISH ACADEMY, OF THE
ROYAL SPANISH ACADEMY OF HISTORY, OF THE ROYAL
INSTITUTE OF THE NETHERLANDS, OF THE
CYMMRODORION, OF THE MASSACHUSETTS
HISTORICAL SOCIETY, ETC.

A NEW EDITION.

IN SIX VOLUMES.

VOL. I.

LONDON:
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE-STREET.
MDCCCXXVIII.

Ἱστορίας γὰρ ἐὰν ἀφέλῃ τις τὸ διὰ τί, καὶ πῶς, καὶ τίνος χάριν ἐπράχθη, καὶ τὸ πραχθὲν πότερα εὔλογον ἔσχε τὸ τέλος, τὸ καταλειπόμενον αὐτῆς ἀγώνισμα μὲν, μάθημα δὲ οὐ γίγνεται· καὶ παραυτίκα μὲν τέρπει, πρὸς δὲ τὸ μέλλον οὐδὲν ὠφελεῖ τὸ παράπαν.

Polybius, lib. iii. sect. 31.

TO
THE KING.

SIR,

It is with peculiar fitness, as well as pleasure, that I inscribe to your Majesty a History of the most glorious war recorded in the British annals.

When the Regency devolved into your hands, the fortunes of our allies were at the lowest ebb, and neither arts nor efforts were spared for making the spirit of this country sink with them. At that momentous crisis every thing depended, under Providence, upon your single determination; and to that determination Great Britain is beholden for its triumph, and Europe for its deliverance.

To your Majesty, therefore, this faithful History is offered, as a portion of the tribute due to a just, magnanimous, and splendid reign, and as a proof of individual respect and gratitude from

Your Majesty’s
Most dutiful subject and servant,
ROBERT SOUTHEY.

Eight years have now elapsed since the conclusion of that memorable war which began upon the coast of Portugal, and was brought to its triumphant close before the walls of Thoulouse. From the commencement of that contest I entertained the hope and intention of recording its events, being fully persuaded that, if this country should perform its duty as well as the Spaniards and Portugueze would discharge theirs, the issue would be as glorious as the cause was good. Having therefore early begun the history, and sedulously pursued it, it would have been easy for me to have brought it forth while the public, in the exultation of success, were eager for its details. But I was not so unmindful of what was due to them and to the subject; and I waited patiently till, in addition to the means of information which were within my reach, more materials should be supplied by the publications of persons who had been engaged in the war, and till time enough had been allowed for farther consideration and fuller knowledge to correct or confirm the views and opinions which I had formed upon the events as they occurred.

I would have waited longer if there had been any reasonable prospect that the history undertaken by order of the Spanish Government would have been completed. The single volume which has appeared is written with great ability; and if it had proceeded farther, I might have derived more advantage from it than from any, or all other publications upon the subject. But its progress has been interrupted by the revolution in Spain; and the aspects in that country are so dark, that there can be little hope of seeing it resumed.

A list of the printed documents which have been consulted in this work will be appended to the last volume. For the private sources of information which have been open to him, the author must content himself here with making a general acknowledgement. They are such as might entitle him to assert, that since the publication of Strada’s Decades, no history composed by one who was not an actor in it, has appeared with higher claims to authority.

There is a danger in attempting stories of prime importance, lest they should excite expectations which it is fatal to disappoint, and yet impossible to fulfil. Great talents have sunk, and lofty reputations have been wrecked in such attempts. I might well be apprehensive for my own fortune in the present undertaking, were it not for a belief, that in the variety of details which this narration contains, in the importance of its events, in its splendid examples of heroism and virtue, and, above all, in the moral interest that pervades it, the reader will find attractions which may compensate for any defects in the execution of so arduous a work.

Keswick, July 22, 1822.

The late war in the Peninsula will be memorable above all of modern times. It stands alone for the perfidiousness with which the French commenced it, and the atrocious system upon which they carried it on. The circumstances of the resistance are not less extraordinary than those of the aggression, whether we consider the total disorganization to which the kingdom of Spain was reduced; the inveterate abuses which had been entailed upon it by the imbecility, misrule, and dotage, of its old despotism; the inexperience, the weakness, and the errors, of the successive governments which grew out of the necessities of the times; or the unexampled patriotism and endurance of the people, which bore them through these complicated disadvantages. There are few portions of history from which lessons of such political importance are to be deduced; none which can more powerfully and permanently excite the sympathy of mankind, because of the mighty interests at stake. For this was no common war, of which a breach of treaty, an extension of frontier, a distant colony, or a disputed succession, serves as the cause or pretext: it was as direct a contest between the principles of good and evil as the elder Persians, or the Manicheans, imagined in their fables: it was for the life or death of national independence, national spirit, and of all those holy feelings which are comprehended in the love of our native land. Nor was it for the Peninsula alone that the war was waged: it was for England and for Europe; for literature and for liberty; for domestic morals and domestic happiness; for the vital welfare of the human race. Therefore I have thought that I could not better fulfil my duties to mankind, and especially to my own country, nor more fitly employ the leisure wherewith God has blessed me, nor endeavour in any worthier manner to transmit my name to future ages, than by composing, with all diligence, the faithful history of this momentous struggle. To this resolution I have been incited, as an Englishman, by the noble part which England has borne in these events; and as an individual, by the previous course of my studies, which, during the greater part of my life, have been so directed, that the annals and the literature of Spain and Portugal have become to me almost as familiar as our own. It is not strange, then, that having thus, as it were, intellectually naturalized myself in those countries, I should have watched them with the liveliest interest through their dreadful trial: and being thus prepared for the task, having some local knowledge of the scene of action, rich in accumulated materials, and possessing access to the best and highest sources of information, I undertake it cheerfully; fully assured that the principles herein to be inculcated and exemplified are established upon the best and surest foundation, and that nations can be secure and happy only in proportion as they adhere to them.