Watermark: W D & Co/ 1819
MS: Department of Rare Books, Special Collections and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester, Robert Southey Papers A.S727. ALS; 4p.
Unpublished.
Note on correspondent: Identified by content. This follows on from the discussion of
work on the History of the Peninsular War in Robert Southey to Bartholomew Frere, 27 January 1822, Letter 3787.
You will probably know, before this reaches you, that I replied without delay to Sir Hew Dalrymples letter,
(1)
Dalrymple had offered Southey documents to help with his History of the Peninsular War (1823–1832).
& that I left that part of it to which you allude unnoticed, – because in truth I know not how to notice it. There had been a great sin of omission on my part, for while I felt the want of documents respecting the first movements in the South of Spain, it never occurred to me that Sir Hew was, of all persons, the one who must possess the most:
(2)
Dalrymple was Acting Governor of Gibraltar 1806–1808 and thus well-placed to inform Southey of events in southern Spain.
if it had, the temper of his correspondence with me had been such, that I should have pxxx <been> gratified to have shown him in what manner I had felt it, by directly applying to him. This was a great fault, & of a very unusual kind with me, who xx whatever subject I am pursuing, expend much time in what most persons might deem superogatory labour. – His papers are very interesting, & I shall derive the greatest advantage from them.
I knew the French had behaved with extreme inhumanity at Medellin, but did not know that their orders were to give no quarter: – a fact which shows Victor to have been as bad as the other Generals of that school.
(3)
The Battle of Medellín on 28 March 1809 was a crushing victory for French forces over a Spanish Army and marked the beginning of the French conquest of southern Spain. The French soldiers committed a catalogue of war crimes, including refusing quarter to Spanish troops who surrendered and murdering all prisoners. The French commander was Marshal Claude Victor-Perrin (1764–1841).
Till now I thought he had been less deeply dyed. – You will see some dreadful instances of French barbarity in the sheets which have missed you; – & you will not wonder that I who have spent half my life over Portugueze books & papers, & speak bad Portugueze in my dreams (dreaming as often of Lisbon & Cintra as I do of being at school,) should have felt at first like a Portugueze about the Convention of Cintra,
(4)
The Convention of Cintra (1808) allowed the defeated French Army to leave Portugal with its arms and baggage. In the Edinburgh Annual Register, for 1808, 1.1 (1810), 365–378, Southey had declared the Convention to be ‘scandalous’ (366).
for saving from condign punishment some of the greatest malefactors that ever disgraced the profession of arms. – Of all the grievous errors which we have witnessed in our portentous days, the worst has been that of allowing Buonapartes Generals an amnesty for their crimes; – I allude here, of course, to what has been done in France.
(5)
The Treaty of Paris (1814), which marked the defeat and abdication of Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821; Emperor of the French 1804–1814, 1815), had declared a general amnesty for all acts undertaken during the wars between France and other European countries. After Napoleon returned to power and was defeated again in 1815, this amnesty was not included in the second Treaty of Paris (1815). However, the French government issued an amnesty to all but a few of Napoleon’s adherents on 24 July 1815.
What I have said of Cabarrus
(6)
François Cabarrus (1752–1810), French-born financier and Minister of Finance 1808–1810 under the French-backed government of Spain. Southey described Cabarrus’s initial commitment to resisting the French invasion and his later acceptance of the Ministry of Finance in History of the Peninsular War, 3 vols (London, 1823–1832), I, pp. 293–294 and 335.
is upon the authority of Jovellanos,
(7)
Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos (1744–1811), Spanish lawyer, statesman and writer on agricultural, social and political reform.
– & therefore, I think, must be right: for judging of Jovellanos from his writings, he seems to be a man perfectly without reproach or stain or moral weakness; – worthy of an altar, if men were canonized for civil excellence. Tell me some thing concerning the Seville Junta who overthrew the Central Junta,
(8)
Following French successes in southern Spain, the Supreme Central Junta that governed those parts of Spain still not occupied by France, fled from Seville to Cadiz in January 1810. It was replaced in Seville by a new body that declared itself to be the supreme authority. However, within a few days, the leading members of this junta also fled in the face of advancing French forces.
– Saavedra
(9)
Francisco Saavedra de Sangronis (1746–1819), Spanish colonial administrator and government minister. He had been head of the initial local junta set up in Seville in 1808 and was a member of the Council of Regency February–October 1810.
? & P. Gil?
(10)
Manuel Gil (d. 1814), Spanish clergyman and writer, who had also been employed on various government commissions. He was the leading spirit in the first local junta set up in Seville in 1808.
these are men of whom I can learn nothing, tho they are spoken of as remarkable persons. What were Infantados
(11)
Pedro de Alcántara Álvarez de Toledo, 13th Duke of the Infantado (1768–1841), Spanish grandee who vigorously opposed the French invasion of 1808. He commanded various armies, headed a mission to Britain in 1811–1812 and was President of the Regency Council June–December 1812.
talents? I have his account of his military command, when he succeeded to the wreck of Castaños’s army.
(12)
General Francisco Javier Castanos, 1st Duke of Bailén (1758–1852), and victor at the Battle of Bailén, 16–19 July 1808. He was relieved of his command in December 1808 and the Duke of the Infantado incorporated Castanos’s troops into a new Army of the Centre.
How far had he been concerned in the strange intrigue of the Escurial?
(13)
El Escorial is a Spanish palace outside Madrid. It was the site of a conspiracy in 1807 in which followers of Ferdinand VII (1784–1834; King of Spain 1808, 1813–1833) attempted to ensure he would not be blocked from succeeding his father, Charles IV (1748–1819; King of Spain 1788–1808). The conspirators, including the Duke of the Infantado, were put on trial. Although the trial collapsed, they were still sent into internal exile.
– Romana
(14)
Pedro Caro y Sureda, 3rd Marquis of La Romana (1761–1811), Spanish general. He commanded the Army of the North and ensured its evacuation to Spain in 1808, where he was one of the more successful Spanish commanders.
? – Sir H. Bunbury told me that Romana thought discipline of little or no use to his troops. This cannot have been quite as I suppose this means that nothing more than that no importa,
(15)
‘it does not matter’.
which as Gen: Whittingham
(16)
Lieutenant General Sir Samuel Ford Whittingham (1772–1841; DNB), British soldier who served with Spanish forces in the Peninsular War 1808–1813.
well instances was the salvation of Spain. I suppose he would have said, in the present state of things I must take my men as they are, & do what I can with them.
Vanegas? – Might not he have moved upon Madrid at the time of the battle of Talavera.
(17)
Francisco Javier Venegas (1754–1838), Spanish general. He failed to prevent the French IV Corps joining with the main Army at the Battle of Talavera 27–28 July 1809 and did not take up a brief opportunity to occupy Madrid.
It seems to me that Cuesta
(18)
Gregorio Garcia de la Questa (1741–1811), general who commanded Spanish forces at the Battle of Talavera. He withdrew after this inconclusive battle; Venegas did not and was defeated at Almonacid on 11 August 1809.
was not to blame for retiring when he did, – but Vanegas for not advancing. Xxx The D. del Parque?
(19)
Vicente Maria Cañas y Portocarrero, 7th Duke del Parque (1755–1824), Spanish general, who won minor battles at Tamames on 18 October 1809 and El Carpio on 23 November 1809. However, del Parque’s Army was heavily defeated at Alba de Tormes on 26 November 1809.
He won the only battle after that of Baylen, which the Spaniards gained.
I have an account of poor Mina’s history,
(20)
Martin Francisco Javier Mina y Larrea (1789–1817), Spanish guerilla leader. He fled Spain after taking part in a failed coup in 1814 against the absolutist government and following time in England sailed to Mexico to take part in the revolution in that country. He was executed on 11 November 1817. Southey had met Mina in London in late November 1815.
which came from himself when he was in England. I dined with him & a party of the then exiles, – tremendous fellows they were, breathing blood & vengeance, – all except Mina, whose manners were remarkably mild & winning. Do you know the real history of the Empeciñado,
(21)
Juan Martin Diez (1775–1825), Spanish guerrilla leader, who was known by the soubriquet, ‘El Empecinado’; this was often translated into English as ‘the Undaunted’. However, Diez was from the village of Castrillo de Duero, whose inhabitants were often termed ‘empecinados’, after the many nearby streams filled with stagnant, black mud (‘pecina’), so this may have been the real origin of his nickname.
– & the origin of that name? – Ballasteros?
(22)
Francisco Ballasteros (1770–1832), Spanish general. He was an extreme nationalist and a liberal who mutinied against the decision to appoint Wellington supreme commander of Spanish forces in 1812.
that man must have had considerable talents for the kind of war in which he was engaged. There was a man who made an heroic defence at Astorga, – Santocildes
(23)
José María Santocildes (1771–1847), Spanish general, who in 1810 commanded the defence of Astorga in Leon.
I think was his name. – More talent as xxx well as more exertion was shown by the Catalans than the people of any other province. Eroles & Manso
(24)
Joaquin Ibáñez Cuevas y de Valonga, Baron de Eroles (1784–1825) and José Manso y Solá (1785–1863), guerilla commanders in Catalonia who later joined the Spanish army.
I have heard spoken of in the highest terms.
The moment I saw a print of Ferdinand I gave up all hope of him. The baboonery of Carlos 3d’s face
(25)
Charles III (1716–1788; King of Spain 1759–1788) and grandfather of Ferdinand VII.
(as you have it in Nicolas Antonio)
(26)
Nicolas Antonio (1617–1684), Bibliotheca Hispana sive Hispanorum (1672), a bibliography of Spanish literature. Southey possessed a four-volume edition of 1783–1788, no. 3309 in the sale catalogue of his library. A print of Charles III was one of the frontispieces to the first volume.
was human compared to his forehead & chin. His conduct I thought proceeded from fear & feebleness; – he was imbecil, capricious & unfeeling. But if he could have paid his troops & means had not been wanting to oil the wheels, the machine of government might have gone on yet a while.
(27)
Ferdinand VII had been forced to restore the liberal Constitution of 1812 by an army revolt in 1820.
Xxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx The Revolutionary Government has the same difficulty. The French found resources by plundering their neighbours, – Spain cannot do this, – & whence the revenues of the Sp. Gov. are to be drawn when the plunder of the Church is gone, I know not. If it comes to a civil war, the majority will I think be rather for old despotism than for the revolution, – but it will be a war of banditti over the whole country, interminable & hopeless.
Thank Gen: Whittingham for me; – the more of such recollections he can oblige me with, the more of the life of history shall I be able to infuse into a book, which I hope will xx not be without its use in the world. – If I mistake not, he & I are fellow-townsmen,
(28)
Whittingham and Southey were both from Bristol.
& might find many common recollections – hooks & eyes for acquaintanceship, – were x we to meet.
farewell my dear Sir & believe me yours faithfully
Robert Southey.
