WELLINGTON DUKE OF: (1769-1852)

WELLINGTON DUKE OF: (1769-1852)
WELLINGTON DUKE OF: (1769-1852) Anglo-Irish Field Marshal, the Victor of Waterloo, 1815. British Prime Minister 1828-30, 1834. An excellent, lengthy A.L.S., Wellington, eight pages, 4to, Elvas, 17th June 1811, to Sir Charles Stuart. Wellington acknowledges receipt of his correspondent’s three letters (‘as I have been forward with the troops for some days I have not been able to send you answers as regularly as I ought’), adding that he does not recall having written to Stuart on the subject of hay in Lower Beira, ‘If I should want any article of that description, and money is to be laid out in the previous collection of it for a magazine for the British army, I shall employ a British Commissary on the service, as I know from experience what a very good thing it is to give money to have a magazine collected for the British army by the Portuguese. We can scarcely keep them out of the magazines we collect for ourselves and we should scarcely get into one which they should collect for us’ and continuing to relay his views on the current state of affairs in frank terms, ‘If it was not a matter of most serious importance, which may go not only to the safety of the army, but to the fate of the whole cause, I should be highly diverted by the bustle occasioned at Lisbon by the danger of Elvas. All of a sudden the utmost activity prevails, and all means are set at work to relieve distress which ought never to have existed, if common precautions had been taken, or if any measures had been adopted to feed General Hamilton’s division, excepting to throw their consumption upon the magazines of the fortress. After all this bustle will produce nothing in time; and if I cannot get up a sufficient supply from our magazines, I shall be obliged to fight a battle to save this place against the whole force of Andalusia, Castille and the centre of Spain, with diminished force on my side. The enemy will be one fourth stronger than us in every arm, nearly double in cavalry, and we shall not have in the action 14000 Portuguese troops!! Under these circumstances I should, and shall, avoid a general action if I can; but I must put a countenance upon the state of affairs, and matters must be risked till provisions be placed in Elvas. The Portuguese Government may depend upon my bringing this subject under the distinct consideration of the Regent’s Ministers. I have long determined that I will have no discussion with them upon any subject; but I shall report the consequences of their conduct to my own Government, and leave to them to determine what shall be done. I conclude, however, that Lord Wellesley will think it necessary that our Regent should explain himself clearly to the Regent of Portugal on these subjects. I have no objection to agricultural cattle being purchased and distributed to the districts that require them, provided the money which is to purchase them is not to come out of the military chest…..I also beg that whatever is thus given in charity may be given on the ground of the wants of the several districts, and by no means in reference to the wants of the means of transport for the military operations. The Government have it in their power to collect those means of transport whenever we may require them, and ought to do their duty; and I do not think that the charity of the people of England ought to be laid out to aid in the operations of the war, or to save the Government the trouble of forcing those parts of the people who have not suffered to do their duty by their country. The quantity of 24 pound shot, we understand, that could be sent from Lisbon, was 480, which we fired in about two hours!!! I never heard there was any at Estremoz. This place, however, has 6000 mors shot than it had before we commenced operations against Badajoz; and although we destroyed sixteen miserable guns, it has four more pieces of ordnance, and these sent up are better than those they had. All it wants is provisions. The state of this place, however, and the means of keeping it hereafter, are subjects of very, very serious consideration, upon which I shall address Sir William Beresford….If we save it now, this Government will yet lose it, if they pay the usual attention to it’. Wellington concludes his letter with news of manoeuvres, ‘Soult has been very cautious in his movements, and has kept clear of us, and has gone to his right. I think he communicated with Regnier yesterday, not by Merida, but by Medellin, as Regnier also does not dash now. We raised the blockade and crossed the Guadiana this morning. Blake marches tomorrow to cross the Guadiana again at Mertola, and try something towards Seville’. A letter of outstanding content written at the height of the Peninsular War. Some light age wear and a few minor, small tears to some edges, otherwise VG

Charles Stuart (1779-1845) British diplomat, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Portugal and Brazil 1810-14. British Ambassador to France 1815-24, 1828-30 and British Ambassador to Russia 1841-44.

Sir John Hamilton (1755-1835) British Lieutenant-General who attached himself to Wellington’s British army on campaign in 1810.

Richard Wellesley (1760-1842) 1st Marquess Wellesley. Anglo-Irish politician and colonial administrator who served as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs 1809-12. Elder brother of the Duke of Wellington.

William Beresford (1768-1854) 1st Viscount Beresford. Anglo-Irish General who fought alongside Wellington in the Peninsular War.

Jean-de-Dieu Soult (1769-1851) 1st Duke of Dalmatia. French General, a Marshal of the Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. From 1808 Soult commanded the French forces during the Peninsular War and was ultimately driven out of Spain by the coalition forces under the command of the Duke of Wellington.

Joaquin Blake (1759-1827) Spanish General who served with distinction in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.