III. CHAP. general obloquy from his opponents, and secret distrust from his friends, because he was in advance of the age in which his public career commenced, and time had not yet brought the irresistible logic of experience to support his views and confound the predictions of his rivals. 1809. 80. the general Lord Castle reagh at this time. He first originated the system of La Grande Guerre Causes of against France. Striking out alike from the policy of distrust of petty sugar-island conquests pursued by Mr Pitt, and the entire abandonment of Continental alliances recommended by Mr Fox and practised by Lord Grey, he assailed at once with the whole combined naval and military force of the country the vital and accessible points of the enemy's territory. The signal success with which this new system was attended in Portugal and at Copenhagen, where it discomfited the most cherished maritime projects of the French Emperor, were inadequate at the time to reconcile the nation to a change of system so entirely at variance with the previous policy of the country and the strongest recommendations of its ablest statesmen. Men were startled by the adoption of a warfare so different from any which Mr Fox had recommended, or Mr Pitt had practised; they could not get over the constant assertions of the Opposition, that it was in vain to attempt to contend with France on the Continent, and that the only way was to husband our resources for the defence of our own shores. The repeated defeats experienced in the former years of the war with small expeditions, appeared to give too much countenance to these ideas. In this state of general opinion, the sending 70,000 British troops at once to the Continent seemed little short of an act of insanity, which the retreat from Talavera and repulse at Walcheren must for ever condemn as fatal, if pursued, to the best interests of the country. They were ignorant of what time has since revealed, that both of these abortive expeditions were conceived on the justest principles, and on the verge of the most splendid success; that but for the tardiness of Lord Chatham, and disregard of Lord Castlereagh's 1809. instructions, the last would have led to the destruction of CHAP. half the remaining naval resources of the enemy; the first, but for the obstinacy of Cuesta, have brought the allied standards in triumph to Madrid. In a word, the new and resolute mode of warfare originally conceived by Lord Castlereagh and Sir Charles Stewart, and afterwards executed by Wellington, met with the same reception, when first introduced, that the discovery of Watt did from practical mechanics, and its application to sailing vessels from philosophers. There is nothing excites such animosity among men, as disturbing settled ideas; and the intensity of the feeling is in general exactly in proportion to the justness of the new ones. CHAPTER IV. SIR CHARLES STEWART, FROM HIS SERVICE WITH THE EXPE- CHAP. 1798. 1. Stewart's life from 1798. WHILE Lord Castlereagh was engaged in the arduous duties of Secretary for Ireland during the critical periods of the Rebellion and Union, and the still more important Resumé of cares of War Secretary during the Copenhagen expediSir Charles tion and the Peninsular and Walcheren campaigns, his brother, Sir Charles Stewart, was occupied in making himself master of those practical details connected with his profession, without the command of which the greatest military native genius will generally be found awanting in the hour of trial. The first important duty on foreign service in which he was engaged was with the expedition which was sent to Holland in 1797, to co-operate with the grand attack of the Allies on the French Republic, then directed by the feeble hands of the Directory during the absence of Buonaparte in Egypt. The regiment to which he was attached, the 18th Dragoons, was, when he joined it in January 1797, a mere skeleton; but under his active direction it rapidly improved in discipline and increased in numbers, and it was one of those selected for foreign service on this occasion. The service was one of the most important which had His services occurred since the commencement of the war. The BriHolland. tish force, to which a Russian one of still greater numerical amount was to be joined, was charged with the task IV. 1799. of delivering Holland from the thraldom of the French CHAP. Republicans, who had in the most shameful manner abused the rights of conquest, and rendered the whole inhabitants ripe for revolt. The campaign on which they entered was of unparalleled extent, for it stretched from the banks of the Po over the Alps, and down the whole course of the Rhine to the marshes of Holland. During the whole of the short but active campaign which followed, Sir Charles was incessantly on horseback, and with the outposts, which were almost entirely formed of the troopers of his regiment. In this arduous duty he was frequently under fire, and exposed to the greatest danger. In such a service it was scarcely possible he could long remain unhurt; and he narrowly escaped with his life during an affair of the outposts near Shogenbrugh on the 10th October in the same year. One musket-ball struck his head; and another, nearly at the same instant, came with great violence against his breast. The latter would in all probability have proved fatal, had it not fortunately been turned aside by the brass tube of the glass which hung round his neck. 3. Camp to the cretary of Ireland. He returned to England with the expedition, which had partially accomplished the objects for which it had been He is apsent out, as, independently of proving an important diver- Aide-desion to the Austrian forces in Germany, it brought away King, and the entire Dutch fleet at the Texel, consisting of eight sail Under Seof the line and several frigates. He was not again state for engaged in active service till the Peninsular war broke out; but in the interim both honours and important offices fell to his lot. On 25th September 1803 he was promoted to the rank of colonel, and soon after appointed aide-de-camp to the King, a situation of distinction, as a reward of merit, but not attended with active duties. Ere long, however, he was transferred to more important duties of an administrative kind. He was appointed Under Secretary of State for Ireland, an arduous and responsible situation, especially at that time, when the СНАР. IV. 1808. 4. tions in Portugal. island was still smarting under the wounds received, and agitated by the passions awakened, during the Rebellion of 1798, and the outbreak in Dublin in 1803. As his known firmness and resolution of character had procured for him in perilous times this important situation, so the mingled steadiness of his administration, and courtesy of his manners, secured to him during the whole time that he held it which was till the Peninsular war broke out in 1808-the respect and regard of all classes of the community. This period of his life was signalised by an event of great importance. During his residence at the Castle of Dublin he became intimate with the Earl of Darnley's family, and on the 8th August 1808 he was married to an elegant and accomplished lady, Lady Catherine Bligh, fourth daughter of that nobleman, by whom he had a son, who afterwards became the fourth Lord Londonderry. But more stirring times were approaching; and the First opera- trumpet of war, which sent forth a loud blast from the Spanish peninsula, called Colonel Stewart alike from his pacific duties and the endearments of home to more animating dangers in the field. No sooner had Government determined on sending out an expedition to Portugal than he relinquished his high situation in Ireland, and proceeded to that country with the force commanded by Sir John Moore, in which he had obtained the command of a brigade of hussars. The armament to which he was attached, which consisted of ten thousand men, was the second, in order of time, which sailed from the British shore, and proceeded to Mondego Bay, there to await orders from Sir Hew Dalrymple, who was the Commanderin-Chief. Adverse winds, however, rendered landing there impossible at that time; and as it was of the highest importance that the latter should be informed as soon as possible of the approach of so powerful a reinforcement, Sir John Moore looked anxiously round for an officer upon whose spirit and steadiness he could rely to carry the |