“We want a Nelson in
the army. Poor Sir John Moore was too
cautious a man. He waited in distrust of the Spaniards, to see what course the
war would take, instead of being on the spot, to make it take the course he
wished. When Hope was at the passes of the
Guadarrama mountain, he and the rest of the army should have been at
Samosierra, the other key to Madrid. There would have been reinforcements sent,
if he had not positively written to have empty transports; and the men were,
therefore, disembarked. Had there been twenty thousand fresh troops at Corunna,
to have met the French, what a victory should we have obtained; when even with
the wreck of an army, foot-sore, broken-hearted, and half starved, we defeated
them so completely at the last! One thing results from this action,—the
fear of invasion must be at rest for ever. We can beat the French under every
possible disadvantage, and
| Ætat. 35. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 211 |
“Ministers are jarring with each other. It is Canning who stands up for Spain; and I learn from Walter Scott, that they will stand by the Spaniards to the last, cost what it may. But they paralyse one another, and the rest of the Cabinet—by meeting him half way, doing half what he proposes—utterly undoes everything. Still if we had a few such men as Cochrane in the army—men who would have the same faith in British bottom by land as we have at sea; that faith would redeem us. To be upon the defensive in the field is ruin. Men never can win a battle unless they are determined to win it, and expect to win it; and that cannot be the case when they wait to be attacked. 100,000 men in Spain would overthrow and destroy Bonaparte; but we send them in batches to be cut up. We squander the strength of the country, we waste the blood of the country, we sacrifice the honour of the country, and bring upon ourselves a disgrace, which Bonaparte, were he ten times more powerful than he is, could never inflict upon us, were there but true wisdom and right courage in our rulers.
“But though Bonaparte may take the country, he cannot keep it. He would not have done what he has, if the Spaniards had proclaimed a republic; for which, you may remember, I pointed out the peculiar fitness which their separate states afforded.
“The new review is to be called the Quarterly, and will, I suppose soon start. I
fancy W. Scott has
| 212 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 35. |
“Holding that my face will ‘carry off a drab,’ I have a new coat of that complexion just come home from Johnny Cockbains, the king of the tailors.
“God bless you!
