CHAP. if he had been otherwise inclined, the majority of the Cabinet would not have supported him.* XII. 1823. 65. Mr Can Marcellus. The peculiar position of Mr Canning at this period Portrait of has never been so well described as by one who knew ning, by M. him intimately, and had become, as it were, the depositary of his inmost thoughts. "Let us not deceive ourselves," said M. Marcellus, "in regard to Mr Canning. Still undecided, he as yet is in suspense between the monarchical opinions, which have made his former renown, and the popular favour which has recently borne him forward to power; but as he attends, above all, to the echo of public opinion, and spreads his sails before the wind which blows, it is easy to foresee to which side he will incline. An élève of Pitt, Tory down to 1 M. Mar- this time, he will become half a Whig, and will adopt cellus to M. the democratic principles if they appear to be in the briand, Lon- ascendant. His secret inclinations lead him to the aristodon, Jan. cracy, and even the high opposition society; he is feared rather than beloved by the king; but the people are with him. The people, dazzled by his talents, have put de Chateau 20, 1823; Marcellus, 120. "J'apprends à l'instant, et de très-bonne source, qu'avant-hier, dans un conseil secret des Ministres, M. Canning a prétendu qu'on ne pouvait lutter contre l'opinion générale, et que cette opinion demandait impérieusement de secourir l'Espagne. M. Peel a déclaré, alors, que l'honneur de l'Angleterre, l'intérêt de ses institutions et de son commerce étaient de maintenir une stricte neutralité; et il a terminé en disant que si une conduite opposée à celle que l'Angleterre avait toujours suivie envers la Révolution, venait à être adoptée, il devait à sa conscience, de se retirer du ministère aussitôt. Ce jeune ministre l'a emporté. La grande majorité du conseil s'est réunie à lui, et M. Canning a décidé au nombre."-M. MARCELLUS, Chargé d'Affaires à Londres, à M. de CHATEAUBRIAND, 28 Février 1823; MARCELLUS, 152. Notwithstanding the divergence on political subjects of their opinions, which the opposite sides they espoused on the Spanish question much augmented, Mr Canning and M. de Chateaubriand had the highest admiration for each other, and mutually lamented the circumstances which had drawn them out of the peaceful domain of literature to the stormy and fleeting arena of politics. The inmost thoughts of the former were revealed in the following conversation at this period with M. Marcellus, for whom he had a very high regard. "C'est donc à cette petite poussière de la tombe que vont aboutir inévitablement nos inutiles efforts. Qu'ai-je gagné à tant de combats? De nombreux ennemis, et mille calomnies. Tantôt retenu par le défaut d'intelligence de mes partisans, toujours gêné par le déplaisir du Roi, je ne puis rien exécuter, rien essayer même de ce qu'une voix interne et solennelle semble me dicter. Je le disais récemment dans ma tristesse ; je me him where he is; and the people will support him there CHAP. as long as he obeys their wishes." XII. 1823. 66. as to the the war. Mr Canning at this period was decidedly of opinion that the Peninsular war, if once commenced, would be of His opinion very long duration-as long, possibly, as that with revolu- probable tionary France. "When I speak," said he, " of the duration of dangers of war to France, do not suppose I undervalue her resources or power. She is as brave and strong as she ever was before; she is now the richest, the most abounding in resources, of all the states in Europe. Hers are all the sinews of war, if there be the disposition to employ them. You have a million of soldiers, you say, at your call: I doubt it not; and it is double the number, or thereabouts, that Buonaparte buried in Spain. You consider un premier succès au moins comme certain.' I dispute it not. I grant you a French army at Madrid; but I venture to ask, What then, if the King of Spain and the Cortes are by that time where they infallibly will be in the Isle of Leon? I see plenty of war, if you once get into it; but I do not see a legitimate beginprends quelquefois pour un oiseau des hauteurs qui, loin de voler sur les hauteurs et sur les précipices des montagnes, ne vole que sur des marais, et rase à peine le sol. Je me consume sans fruit dans des discussions intestines, et je mourrai dans un accès de découragement, comme mon prédécesseur et mon malheureux ennemi Lord Castlereagh. Combien de fois n'ai-je pas été tenté de fuir loin des hommes, l'ombre même du pouvoir, et de me réfugier dans le sein des lettres, qui ont nourri mon enfance, seul abri véritablement inaccessible aux mensonges de la destinée. La littérature est pour moi plus qu'une consolation, c'est une espérance et un asile. Je l'ai en outre toujours considérée comme la franc-maçonnerie des gens bien élevés. C'est à ce signe qu'en tout pays la bonne compagnie se distingue et se reconnaît. Ne vaudrait-il pas mieux pour M. de Châteaubriand et pour moi, que nous n'eussions jamais, ni l'un ni l'autre, approché de nos lèvres la coupe empoisonnée de ce pouvoir qui nous enivre, et nous donne des vertiges? La littérature nous eût rapprochés encore, mais cette fois sans arrière-pensée, et sans amertume, car il est comme moi l'amant des lettres, et bien mieux que moi il protége de ses préceptes. Combien de fois n'ai-je pas voulu abandonner le monde politique si turbulent, la société des hommes si méchants, pour me vouer tout entier à la retraite et à mes livres, seuls amis qui ne se trompent jamais. 'Oh God! oh God! How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable -MARCELLUS, Politique de la Restauration, 25, 26. XII. 1823. CHAP. ning to it, nor an intelligible object. You would disdain to get into such a war through the side door of an accidental military incursion. You would enter in front, with the cause of war on your banners: and what is that cause? It is vengeance for the past, and security for the future, a war for the modification of a political constitution, for two Chambers, for the extension of legal rights. That passes my comprehension. You are about ning to Cha- to enter, and you believe the war will be short: I believe teaubriand, otherwise, and I am bordering on old age. In 1793, 1823; Con- Mr Pitt, with the patriot's heart, the prophet's mind,' rone, i. 453; declared to me that the war then declared against a great people in a state of revolution would be short; and that war outlived Mr Pitt." 1 1 Mr Can Jan. 21, grès de Vé Marcellus, 17. 67. George IV. and the Duke of Wellington ject. These anticipations were not peculiar to Mr Canning Views of at that time; they were shared by probably nine-tenths of the educated classes, and probably ninety-nine hundredths of the entire inhabitants of Great Britain. Yet on the sub- were there not awanting those in the most elevated rank who were not carried away by the general delusion, and anticipated very nearly, as it turned out, the real march of events. "Do not allow yourself," said George IV. to M. Marcellus, "to be dazzled by our representative system, which is represented as so perfect. If it has its advantages, it has also its inconveniences; and I have never forgot what a king and a man of talent said to me: Your English constitution is good only to encourage adventurers, and discourage honest men.' For the happiness of the world, we should not wish any other people to adopt our institutions. That which succeeds admirably with us would have very different success elsewhere. Every country does not bear the same fruits, nor the same minerals beneath its surface. It is the same with nations, their temperament, and character. Reflect on this, my dear Marcellus: my conviction on the subject is unalterable; I wish you to know that you have the king on your side. It is my part to "" XII. 1823. be so; and when my Ministers become Radicals, I may CHAP. be excused if, on my side, I become an ultra-Royalist.' The Duke of Wellington, at the same period, thus expressed himself at the Foreign Office, when the chance of a parliamentary majority on the question of war was under discussion with Lord Liverpool and Mr Canning: "I am not so au fait of parliamentary majorities as my colleagues, but I know Spain better than them. Advance without delay, without hesitation, and you will succeed. There is no majority, believe me, to be compared to cannon and a good army." With these words he took his hat and went out. "The words," said Lord Liverpool, “of a man of war, but not of a statesman." "The Duke of Wellington," rejoined Mr Canning, "thinks himself always on the field of battle; and yet he has himself put a period to the bloody era of conquest. He understands nothing of constitutional dominations, which are yet the only ones which now have any chance of dura- 33, 37, 41. tion."1* 1 Marcellus, of the The war which divided in this manner the opinions of 68. the most eminent men and the strongest heads of Europe, Difficulties at length began in good earnest. The Duke d'Angou- French at lême, as already noticed, left Paris for the army on 15th March. At the very threshold, however, of his paign. * At this juncture the following highly interesting conversation took place between Mr Canning and M. Marcellus :—“ À quoi bon," disait M. Canning, “soutenir un principe qui prête tant à la discussion, et sur lequel vous voyez que nous sommes enfin, vous et moi, si peu d'accord? Un Bourbon va au secours d'un Bourbon ! Vous réveillez ainsi en nous mille souvenirs d'inimitié, l'invasion de Louis XIV. en Espagne, l'inabilité de nos efforts pour éloigner sa puissante dynastie du trône de Madrid. Jugez-en quand un roi donne au peuple les institutions dont le peuple a besoin, quel a été le procédé de l'Angleterre ? Elle expulsa ce roi, et mit à sa place un roi d'une famille alliée sans doute, mais qui se trouve ainsi non plus ; un fils de la royauté confiant dans les droits de ses ancêtres, mais le fils des institutions nationales, tirant tous ses droits de cette seule origine. Puisque Ferdinand, comme Jacques II., résiste aux volontés de sa nation, appliquons la méthode anglaise à l'Espagne. Qu'en résulte-t-il ? L'expulsion de Ferdinand. Écoutez-moi; cet exemple peut s'étendre jusqu'à vous. Vous n'ignorez pas qu'un désordre du dogme de légitimité presque pareille à la nôtre se leve et coude en France en ce moment. Vous savez quel progrès elle fait dans le parti d'une opposition prétendue modérée. La tête à couronner est là."-MARCELLUS, 19, 20. the entrance of the cam XII. 1823. CHAP. career, an unexpected difficulty presented itself. Inexperienced for the most part in actual warfare, from the peace of eight years which had now continued, the commissaries and civil functionaries attached to the French army were in a great measure ignorant of the vast scale on which, when a hundred thousand men are to be put in motion, supplies of every sort must be furnished. Considerable magazines of corn had been formed at Bayonne and other places on the frontier; but, by a strange oversight, nothing had been done to provide forage for the horses, and the means of transport were wholly awanting. A hundred millions of francs (£4,000,000) had been placed at the disposal of the general-in-chief for the purchase of provisions on the march to Madrid-for Napoleon's system of making war maintain war was no more to be thought of--but no correspondence had been opened with the persons along the route who were to furnish the supplies. In these circumstances, it seemed impossible for the troops to move forward; and so great was the alarm produced in. Paris by the reports transmitted by the Duke d'Angoulême when he reached headquarters, that Government took the most vigorous measures to apply a remedy to the evil. The Minister of War (Victor) was directed, by an ordonnance of 23d March, to proceed immediately to the army, invested with ample powers, and the title of Major-general; all the soldiers who had obtained leave of absence down to the 31st December 1822 were recalled to their standards; and a law was brought forward by the interim war-minister vi. 139, 140; (Count Digeon) to authorise the king to call out, in the 199, 200; course of the present year, the conscripts pertaining to the year 1823, who, by the existing law, would not be required before the spring of 1824.1 1 Ann. Hist. Lam. vii. Cap. vii. 152, 154. These measures, however, though calculated to provide for the future, had no influence on the present; they would neither feed the starving horses, nor drag along the derous guns and baggage-waggons. In this extremity, the pon |