The Sun.
London, England, 1840-05-26 00:00:00

EVENING EDITION,
COL. NA PIER'S HISTORY OF THE

WAR IN THE PENINSULA.

Press of matter has hitherto prevented us from pub-
1811ing any of the " Justificatory Notes" prefixed to the
811th and last volume of this standard work. These
notes refer chiefly to attacks made on it by Tory
Writers, some o f whom we think hardly deserved notice.
Colonel Napier in defending himself also defends some
rat his gallant brethren in arms, and among others the
e lamented Major Mackie, who, in the Memoir
addressed to Colonel Napier, successfully makes good
Ills claim to the honour of having been the first who
atu!ered Ciudad Rodrigo. This gallant officer, about
years afterwards received his majority. Dis-
gusted with the service,he sold out, and was appointed
to the situation of Governor in the unhealthy settle-
bent of the Gambia, where he died last August. Co-
lonel Napier pays a high compliment to his merits as a
lean and an offic'er, and he can well afford to give praise
O others. Few men have led such an adventurous
'lre, and few of the numerous officers who distinguished
themselves in the Peninsula could produce so many
Proofs of daring valour and enterprise ; and the men
Under his command shared his enthusiasm. It is a sin-
gular fact, that the regiment which he commanded,
"wanting to 800 men, followed him with the greatest
eunfitlence wherever he led the way, and that of these
800 men, not one left the scenes of action without
Mme honourable scar. The following extracts from the
totes will be read with interest :

JUSTIFICATORY NOTES.
Having in my former volumes printed several contro-
versial papers relating to this History, I now complete
them,
thus giving the reader all that I think necessary
113 offer in the way of answer to those who have assailed
11e. The Letter to Marshal Beresford and the continua-
tion of my Reply to the Quarterly Revi:'w have been
Published before, the first as a pamphlet, the second in
the London and Westminster Review. And the former
here reproduced, not with any design to provoke the
renewal of a controversy which has been at rest for some
years, but to complete the justification of a work which,
Written honestly and in good faith from excellent mate-
tlals, has cost me sixteen years of incessant labour. The
other papers being new shall be placed first in order and
must speak for themselves.

ALISON.
Some extracts from " Ali Eon's History of the French
Revolution," reflecting upon the conduct of Sir John
400 re, have been shown to me by a friend. In one of
tf,lll,em, I find, in reference to the magazines at Lugo, a
0 quotation from my own work, not from carelessness,
but This
to sustain a miserable censure of that great man.
j'hit requires no further notice, but the following speci-
men of disingenuous writing shall not pass with impunity.
Speaking of the prevalent opinion that England was
unable to succeed in military operations on the Continent,
)1,
Ir. Alison says :
" In Sir John Moore's case this universal and perhaps
unavoidable error was greatly enhanced by his connec-
t'°u with the opposition party, by whom the military
strength of England had been always underrated, the
431tem of continental operations uniformly decried, and
4,
Power and capacity of the French Emperor, great
they were, unworthily magnified."
Mr. Alison here proves himself to be one of those
rlellaies to Sir John Moore who draw upon their
agiaations for facts and upon their malice for con-
clusions.
Sir John Moore never had any connection with any
fpoliticall party, but during the short time he was in Par-
a Tent he voted with the Government. He may in
°lety have met with some of the leading men of oppo-
T'cu thus grossly assailed by Alison, yet it is doubtful
he ever conversed with any of them, unless perhaps
r. Wyndham, with whom, when the latter was Secre-
P' at War, he had a dispute upon a military subject.
He was however, the intimate friend of Mr. Pitt and of
'IN Pitt's family. It is untrue that Sir John Moore
entertained, or even leaned towards exaggerated
'nions of French prowess ; his experience and his
natural spirit and greatness of mind swayed him the
ether way. How indeed could the man who stormed
the forts of Fiorenza and the breach of Calvi in Corsica,
e who led the disembarkation at Aboukir Bay, the
advance to Alexandria on the 13th, and defended the
ruins of the camp of Caesar on the 21st of March, he
who had never been personally foiled in any military
exploit, feel otherwise tl an confident in arms ? Mr.
Alison may calumniate bat he cannot hurt Sir John
Moore.

SIR WALTER SCOTT.
In the last volume of Sir Walter Scott's life by Mr.
Lockhart, page 143, the following passage from Sir
Walter's diary occurs :
" He (Napier) has however given a bad sample of
aeenracy in the case of Lord Strangford, where his
DaiT3ted affirmation has been as pointedly repelled."
This peremptory decision is false in respect of gram-
ittar, of logic, and of fact.
„ °Fgrammar, because where, an adverb of place, has
Proper antecedent. Of logic, because a truth may
fd Deintedly repelled without ceasing to be a truth. Of
teqs because Lord Strangford did not repel but admit-
the essential parts of my affirmation, namely, that
a uad falsified the date and place of writing his dispatch,
d attributed to himself the chief merit of causing the
loyal emigration from Lisbon. Lord Strangford, in-
deed, published two pamphlets to prove that the merit
really attached to him, but the hollowness of his preten-
sions was exposed in my reply to his first pamphlet ; the
accuracy of my statement was supported by the testi-
tti°nY of disinterested persons, and moreover many
Writers, professing to know the facts, did, at the time, in
the newspapers, contradict Lord Strangford's state-
The chief point of his second pamphlet was the re-
iterated assertion that lie accompanied the Prince Re-
gent over the bar of Lisbon.
I To this I could have replied, . That I had seen a
tter', written at the time by Mr.l Smith, the naval of-
er commanding the boat which conveyed Lord Strang-
ford from Lisboa to the Prince's ship, and in that letter
it
was distinctly stated, that they did not reach that
~
Les Bel until after she had passed the bar. 2. That 1
vossessed letters from other persons present at the erni.
tf.ati°e, of the same tenor, and that between the writers
those letters and the writer of the Bruton-street dis-
patch, to decide which were the better testimony offered
A° difficulty.
,WhY did I not so reply ? For a reason twice before
Published, namely, that Mr. Justice Bailey had done it
141:* tne. Sir Walter takes no notice of the Judge's
,nos.swer, neither does Mr. Lockhart ; and yet it was the
Ti important point of the case. Let the reader judge.
arttihe Editor of The Sun newspaper, after quoting an
v icle from the Times upon the subject of my contro-
ersY With Lord Straagford, remarked, that his Lord-
tvouid hardly be believed upon his oath, certainly
",?on his honour, at the Old Bailey."t
Lord Strangford obtained a rule to show cause why a
erif'..lnal information should not be filed against the
t
kutor for a libel. The present Lord Brougham ap-
peared for the defence, and justified the offensive passage
2 references to Lord Strangford's own admissions in his
',traversy with me. The Judges, thinking the justifi-
.7ticn good, discharged the rule by the mouth of Lord
enterden.
Dur►ng the proceedings in Court the Attorney-Ge-
!nrai, on the part of Lord Strangford, referring to that
Nobleman's dispatch, which, though purporting to be
Written on the 29th November from H .M.S. Hibernia,
42'ff the Tagus, was really written the 29th of December,
la Bruton-street, said, " Everybody knew that in diplo-
alacy there were two copies prepared of all documents,
No. 1 for the Minister's inspection, No. 2 for the
PubliQ."T
Mr. Justice Bayley shook his head in disapprobation.
Attorney-General---,, Well, my Lord, it is the prac-
tice of these departments, and may be justified by ne-
cessity,"

'Alt:. Justice Bayley—" I like lionisly in all places,
Mr. Attorney."
And so do I, wherefore I recommend this pointe I re-
Peller to Mr. Lockhart when he publishes anotl e: edi-
tion of his father-in-law's life.

COLONEL GURWOOD.
ts,ln the eighth volume of the " Duke of Wellington's
the
'patehes," page 531, Colonel Gurwood has inserted
°llovving note :
„ ` Lieutenant Gurwood, fifty-second regiment, led the
forlorn hope" of the light division in the assault of
the lesser breach. He afterwards took the French
rveruor.General Barrie in the citadel ; and from the
The
of Lord Wellington on the breach by which he
Thentered, he received the sword of his prisoner.
t ne Permission accorded by the Duke of Wellington
compile this walk has doubtless been one of the
LBtlnguished consequences resulting from this service,
'LIN Lieutenant Gurwood feels pride as a soldier of
'rtune in here offering himself es an encouraging example
fo
° the subaltern in future wars."—" The detail
of the assault of Ciudad Rodrigo by the lesser
breach is of too little importance, except; to: those
vc ° served in it to become a matter of history. The
c."
°n'Pllcr however takes this opportunity of observing
that Colonel William Napier has been misinformed
l'esPeeting the conduct of the " forlorn hope," in the
tieetint given of it by him as it appears in the Appen-
-1) of the fourth volume of his History of the Panin-
sular War. A correct statement and proofs of it have
been since furnished to Colonel William Napier lor any
r 'lnure edition of his book which will render any further
notice of it here unnecessary."
MY account is not to be disposed of in this
manner;summary and this note, though put forth as it were
71th the weight of the Duke of Wellington's name, by
befog
inserted amongst his Despatches, shall have an
;answer.

Colonel Gurwood sent me what in the above note he
ears " a correct statement and proofs of it." I know
Protyi, and the correctness of Lis statement de-
vends on his own recollections, which the wound he re-
"ived in the head at this time seems to have rendered

• Vide Times, Morning Chronicle, Sun, &c., 1828,
t Vide Sun newspaper 28th Nov., 1828.
I Report in The Sun Newspaper.