2156. Robert Southey to Grosvenor Charles Bedford, 9 October 1812
2156. Robert Southey to Grosvenor Charles Bedford, 9 October 1812 *
My dear Grosvenor
Thank you for your news, – its substance tho not in the Bulletin form, is in the Courier, [1] – but I am afraid that Bulletin & all will not quite justify three chears, – like Ld W.s entrance into Madrid. [2] The great battle is manifestly the battle of Mojaisk, [3] – tho the circumstances are xxxxxxx <much> at variance with the French accounts, unhappily xx Buonaparte dates from Mojaisk, – so that he has evidently not been beaten back. Nevertheless I am satisfied that he has little to boast, & that he may say with Pyrrhus [4] another such victory will be his ruin: the Russians must ultimately be victorious, if they are neither betrayed not frightened into a peace; till they are victorious, I confess myself apprehensive of such a result.
Certes, & Certissime, [5] Grosvenor, there is nothing which I should like better than to write the history of the Peninsular war, [6] – so in whatever you may say to Gifford upon the subject, my disposition to the subject must be taken into the account.
The first proof of the Register is on my table. [7] John Ballantyne is a thorough shuffler. I asked him to make his arrangements so that my drafts might be payable in London instead of Edinburgh: & this he said should be done; – yet he did not at the same time tell me where I was to draw upon him, & delays writing I suspect for the purpose of procrastinating my bills. Not that the man is or can be embarrassed, – but that every delay is so much interest saved. Meantime he has about 110£ of mine in his hands, & while he is shuffling I am in want of money. Can you lend me thirty pounds, till I get this fellows address? As soon as it comes I will draw upon him to the full & send you the draft. And most assuredly if he attempts to play me any trick I will have done with him at the end of the volume.
Did you receive the Common-Place-Book? [8] – Your note was duly delivered to Sally Crosthwaite [9] by the hands of Dr Bell.
Downmans [10] price is ten guineas. He is gone to Newcastle, & did not talk of going to London, – otherwise he could xxx of course have no objection to copying from a picture.
Concerning Marquis Wellington. I suspect some want of conduct in Clinton [11] who was <left> at Cuellar when Lord W. went to Madrid, & who let the French advance to Astorga, & bring off their garrison from Toro & Zamora. – We are clumsy at sieges & do that by lavishing brave blood which ought to be done by sciences: generals who act thus, ought to when they storm a place to put the garrison to the sword. Every Frenchman who might have been thus sacrificed at C Rodrigo would have saved five English at Badajoz. [12] It seems to me that 2500 men would not have been left by the French at Burgos, unless Massena [13] meant to make an effort to relieve them: if so there will be another battle, & sans doubt another victory, – at less expence probably than the Fort itself will cost our xxxxxxx bungling engineers. An second victory would enable Lord W. to push on part of his army to Vitoria & seize the stores; the Spaniards might <then> blockade Pamplona, & be these things as they may, I think he will; as soon as he has crippled Massena, march upon Zaragoza, [14] – where I think I would give one of my eyes to see his entrance with the other.
I should dearly like to write the history of this war, & to make it as compleat as views, portraits, plans & human industry could make it. What fine materials the Countess would procure concerning Zaragoza! [15] But this is a dream & the sooner I wake from it the better. You may <be> sure his Majesty’s Historiographer [16] will deal by Lord Wellington as he has dealt by Nelson, [17] & disgrace our military hero as he has done our naval one by a clumsy compilation.
God bless you
RS.
Keswick. Oct 9. 1812.
I am sorry that Canning stands for Liverpool. [18] A contest with Brougham seems to be letting himself down. [19] What respectability can he derive from being Member for Liverpool, or what weight in the House? If he sat for Old Sarum he would be Canning still, & Middlesex, Westminster or Yorkshire [20] could make him nothing more!
Notes
* Address: To/ G. C. Bedford Esqr./ Exchequer/
Westminster.
Stamped: KESWICK/ 298
Postmark: E/ 12 OC 12/ 1812
Endorsement: 9 Octr 1812
MS: Bodleian Library, MS
Eng. Lett. c. 24. ALS; 4p.
Unpublished. BACK
[1] The battle of Borodino, or Mojaisk, was reported in the Courier, 7 October 1812. The issue of the newspaper, probably that for 8 or 9 October 1812, that dealt with Wellington’s entry into Madrid does not survive. BACK
[3] The battle of Mojaisk, also known as the battle of Borodino, 7 September 1812, saw massive casualties on both sides. Although it was a French tactical victory, in the longer-term Napoleon’s failure to destroy the Russian army marked a turning point in his campaign in Russia. BACK
[4] King Pyrrhus of Epirus (319/318–272 BC), whose army suffered massive casualties in defeating the Romans in the battle of Heraclea, 280 BC. Hence, the phrase, a pyrrhic victory. BACK
[8] Southey might have lent Bedford one of his own common place books; or he could be returning one of Bedford’s own books; see Robert Southey to Grosvenor Charles Bedford, 29 September 1812, Letter 2152. BACK
[9] Peter Crosthwaite (1735–1808), was a retired naval commander, publisher of maps and inventor of the aeolian harp. In the 1780s he established the first museum in Keswick. Its treasures included a set of musical stones, a stuffed albatross and a pig with no legs. By 1811 the Museum was run by his son Daniel (c. 1776–1847), a portrait painter. Sally Crosthwaite might be his sister, Sarah Crosthwaite (1771–1817). BACK
[10] John Downman (1750–1824; DNB), who in autumn 1812 painted two portraits of Southey (one commissioned by Murray) and one of Edith. BACK
[15] The Countess of Bureta, María de la Consolación Azlor y Villavicencio (1775–1814), a Spanish aristocrat who took an active role in the two sieges of Zaragoza in 1808–1809. BACK
[16] James Stanier Clarke (c. 1765–1834; DNB), who earlier in 1812 had been appointed Historiographer Royal, a post Southey had coveted. BACK
[17] James Stanier Clarke and John McArthur (1755–1840; DNB), The Life of Admiral Lord Nelson, K.B. from his Lordship’s Manuscripts (1809). BACK
