BRITISH MILITARY COMMANDERS.
THE second volume of Mr. GLEIG'S Military Biography contains the conclusion of the life of MARLBOROUGH and the lives of PETER- BOROUGH and WOLFE. We have already recorded our approba- tion of the first volume of this work; the execution of which is continued with the same talent with which it was begun. Mr. GLEIG has the art of minutely possessing himself with his ma- terials, and then of rendering his narrative with much spirit and force. Our only objection to him is the gross illiberality of his po- litical principles. His hatred of all popular rights, and his abject worship of power in Tory hands, warp his opinions both of men and facts, and indeed throw over all his works a glare of bigotry and absolutism, which harmonizes ill with the complexion of the work in which he is writing. This is a fault more pardonable in a military than a political biography ; but the acts of generals, more particularly English generals, are necessarily so interwoven with political principles, that we cannot but consider the spirit of these biographies as decidedly mischievous. The axiom, as Mr. GLEIG calls it absurdly enough, which, as he says, he has "hazarded," (hazard an axiom !) that "a man's talents as a general are for the most part commensurate with his abilities as a diplomatist," is, we presume, an axiom invented in honour of Mr. GLEIG'S patron, the Duke of WELLINGTON: it is so monstrous a proposition—not an axiom—that we could scarcely imagine it seriously entertained by any one, much less by a man of Mr. GLEIG's discernment. It is only one, however, of the numerous instances in which we perceive his intellect overshadowed by prejudices of some standing. He might just as well maintain, that the better general the better bi- shop—or the better surgeon the better tailor. Lord PETERBOROUGH was a general of that peculiar description of talent, than which none other is more popular. Almost with- out means, he did wonders, by the force of ingenuity. Lord Coca- BANE in the Navy is hisonly parallel. In ancient warfare, we may mention PHOCION; perhaps in the more modern, DUGUESCLIN; in later times, General Mt LLEir- approaches to him, in his well- concerted operations in South America against the Spanish forces. The extract which follows is creditable to the narrator, and to the subject: it is a renewal of that lease of fame which PETERBOROUGH took from all time during his exploits in Spain—the theatre of more than one English General's glory. Of his mode.of action, and means of dissimulation, the following passages will give a sufficient specimen, and let the reader into the nature of • an early John Bull's operations in the Peninsula. It is unlucky that we cannot extend our extracts to the description of his practices upon the brave Irish Mahoni,—a beautiful illustration of the English interpretation of good faith.
Brave as he was, even to rashness, Peterborough never entertained the idea of risking, his handful of troops, however trustworthy, in action against an enemyso superior. He determined, on the contrary, to effect by stratagem, what he pos- sessed not the means'of attempting by open force; and, with this view, broke up his little corps into detachments, each of which he placed under the commaud ot an officer in whom he believed that he could repose implicit confidence. These were severally instructed to march by the most unfrequented mountain paths; to permit no straggling nor marauding on any account whatever ; and to reunite at Traguera, a walled town distant abut six leagues from the enemy's. camp. The detachments executed the orders given them with equal prompti- tude and secrecy. They ;rained Traguera without exciting the smallest alarm; and, the gates being closed Peterborough ,henceforward took care that an op-. portunity of betraying his designs to the enemy should not be afforded. -
Having thus drawn his corps within a single march of Las Torres, Peterbo- rough's next object was to create a persuasion in the mind of his adversary, that a very superior three was preparing to attack him. For this purpose he em- ployed two Spaniards ; one a trusty spy, and as such in his own confidence— the other an ordinary peasant, himself deceived, and, therefore, incapable of be- traying the secrets o'f his employer. These persons were directed to convey to Colonel Jones a letter, so expressed as that it should seem to have been written after all dread of &flue had passed away. The letter in question informed Jones, that Peterborough had arrived at Traguera; and that, by means of water carriage, he had brought up a force equal, if not superior, to that tithe besiegers. It entered into details so minute as to carry with them an air of perfect reality ; and above all, it stated that, though 'every precaution had been taken to insure its safe delivery, its &fling into the enemy's hands would " do little pre- judice, since they shall see and feel the troops as soon almost as they can receive
intelligence, should it be betrayed to them. With this letter the Spaniards set out over night ; the spy being fully warned of the course which it behoved diem to follow. Every thing fell out as Peterborough could have wished. The men separated in the darkness : the spy who was first taken reported to his captors that another countrynian, the hearer of a letter, lay concealed somewhere not tar off; and the peasant being found, and Ids statements rigidly corresponding with the written account, Las Torres became convinced that Ins own situation was critical. Nor was much leisure alli,r(led him to consider of the course which it would be
cious to pursue. Peterborough, who had marched from Traguera within an hour from the departure of the messenger, showed himself, as the dawn broke, in several columns upon the high grounds above the camp ; and as the hills were well feathered with coppices and underwood, an exaggerated opinion of his strength was, without difficulty, excited. Las Torres believed all that he had heard. Ile caused his tcnts to be struck, his stores abandoned or destroyed, and Iris heavy artillery spiked ; after which he retreated, with the utmost precipita- tion, along the road to Valencia. Immediately the British troops marched into San Mateo, amid the loudest acclamations of its gallant but hard-pressed gar- rison.
Among the various qualities required in forming the character of an active military commander, not the least important, perhaps, is the possession of a. hardy and robust constitution : with this, Nature had, in a striking degree, gifted Peterborough; thr, though slight of form, and delicately fair in his com- plexion, there was no extent of fatigue or privation which he seemed unable to endure. Night and day he was in the saddle; scarce a patrol, however weak, sallied forth from head-quarters, which he did not accompany either in part or throughout ; and hence there was not a service performed, of the slightest im- portance, which he was not personally present to control. With such a leader at their head, we cannot be surprised to learn that every private trooper became a hero. There was not a man in his little corps, indeed, who did not feel that upon himself, in a great degree, depended the success or failure of the enterprise; and hence there was not a man whose energies, both of mind and body, were not, from first to last, exerted to their utmost stretch. It is not surprising that men so acted upon by what may be termed the best spirit of chivalry, should have performed prodigies both of valour and discretion.
Notes, a walled town of some note, stands upon the main road, about three days' march from Valencia, and four leagues, or something more, from Villa Real. In the latter place, remarkable for its attachment to the house of Austria, the retreating army had committed great excesses ; and they halted with the de- sign of resting a day in the former, as being not less attached to the Bourbon cause than Villa Real was to its opposite. Peterborough followed them step by step, with his accustomed alacrity, though not without the requisite caution. He saw them through Villa Real ; appeared suddenly before Nules; and in- duced them, by demonstrations of an immediate attack, to evacuate the place. They had scarcely done so, leaving one thousand armed citizens with strict orders to hold the town to the last extremity, ere he rode boldly up to the gate. A shower of musket balls saluted him and his escort, of Which they took no no- tice; but peremptorily required that a priest, or the chief magistrate, should come forth without delay, and answer to a summons which the English General desired to convey. It would have been strange, had the panic, which drove six thousand regular troops before it, failed to affect the citizens of a town like Nules : a priest went forth as required; he listened with deep humility to the demands of Peterborough; and, in five minutes afterwards, the town gates were opened. Immediately two hundred horses were seized, as if for the purpose of remounting an equal number of troopers, whom length of service and hard fare had denuded of thew chargers; and the authorities being sworn to allegiance, and the burgher guard disarmed, Peterborough, with his handful of adventurers, turned off M. another direction. They fell back as fir as Castillon de la Plana, where the troops from Venaroz, which he had previously ordered to advance, were directed to jom him.
It seems next to impossible to account for the facility with which this extraor- dinary man contrived to spread, wherever he went, the most exaggerated notions of his force. At Castillon, whither almost the whole of his cavalry were drawn in, not less than at Nules, an opinion universally prevailed, that the troops which men beheld among them constituted the mere body-guard of the general ; and that his army was following up the enemy in numbers so overwhelming, that no attempt could be made to offer battle. One inevitable result of a mistake so fortunate, was to confirm not the faithful only, but the wavering in their loyalty; while the really disaffected were glad to conceal their sentiments under a show of more than common devotion to the cause of Charles. Peterborough caused a notice to be made public, that he stood in need of eight hundred horses for the King's service : in a single day they were brought to his quarters, and offered for sale at a very moderate price; and as he really did require them for purposes of his own, ha bought them up in the name of his Sovereign Queen .Anne of
lg the use to which he turned them less characteristic of the man than the mode adopted in purveying for them. Colonel Pierce's regiment no sooner reached Oroyesa, a place about four leagues from Castillon, than he 'hastened out to meet them ; and in a moment converted a battalion of veteran 'infantry into a corps of well-mounted and wen-equipped cavalry. The saddles ' and accoutrements he had previously ordered round by sea. they were all 'landed about a couple of days previous to the arrival, of the men ; and now, in . the short space of an hour, under circumstances bordering upon the romantic, the transmutation was fully effected. He had drawn up the horses, saddled and accoutred, under the shelter of a hill, while he should pass the inen under re- view on the opposite side. When the review closed, be merely asked the com- mander haw he should like to see his gallant followers mounted on excellent horses ; and both officers and men declaring that they desired nothing more earnestly, he commanded them to march forward to a given point. There the chargers, caparisoned and loaded with the requisite appointments, burst upon their view ; and the astonished corps all at once found itself in a new position,
in which it continued ever after to perform good service. 4 " " We have spoken in general terms of the appearance of Peterborough's little parties, sometimes on the flanks, sometimes in the rear of the enemy, as they retreated ; as well as of the effect produced by the bold front which they presented, and the gallant and reckless manner in which they manceuvered. It was not, however, by sheer audacity alone, that Peterborough contrived to impress his adversaries with an extravagant idea of his strength. The following anecdote given by Dr. Friend, the chronicler of exploits with which he was perfectly conversant, will serve to illustrate, in some degree, the nature, of Peterborough's tactics :—" He sent at once," says the Doctor, "twenty spies forward into the country from San Mateo, knowing the route the enemy must take ; appointing them the places from whence, and the time when, they should bring in to the general the pretended intelligence. It were too tedious to relate all the several pretences -and directions, though my Lord has them all in writing-. The spies, upon the second day's march of the enemy, were very successful, and obliged the army to a march in the night. The Spaniards employed by my Lord informed the Conde de las Torres of a Considerable three that was upon his left, and some- what before him ; which, as they told him, certainly designed to take some passes, which might prevent his entering upon the plains which lead to Valencia ; and that there were English troops among them. This the Spanish general thinking impossible. the spy offered to give any two or three officers he pleased -to appoint, the satisfaction of aiming what he affirmed. Upon this, two officers in the country habit went along with Min to a place, where, pretending to alight and refresh themselves, they were seized by ten English dragoons that were posted there on purpose, and had marched in the mountains all night with 'the spies. The Spaniards thus surprised and seized, the spy pretended the guard was drunk ; and the officers seeing a couple of dragoons lying along in that con- -dition, slipped into the stable, and took three of the dragoons' horses with their accoutrements. This was enough to confirm the intelligence, and to gain credit 'to the spy; officers of this country never failing to magnify their dangers and escapes."
In perfect agreement with this system of acting, were the operations of those flying parties which Peterborough kept out, in order to hinder the enemy from arriving at a knowledge of the truth, and so turning round upon his cavalry at Castillon, ere he should have rejoined it from Venaroz. Day and night patrols scoured the country, penetrating as fin as the Spanish pickets; while, occa- sionally, a dragoon or two would suffer themselves to be led in, as if taken in the act of marauding, by the peasants. On such occasions, however, both captors and captives were well instructed in the part which it behoved them to play : they equally reported that Peterborough's troops swarmed in all the towns along the road ; and that lie only waited the arrival of a train of heavy artillery, in order to bring things to the issue of a battle. Thus were six thousand or seven thousand men kept completely at bay by a handful of unsupported cavalry ; and the energies of their commander—not under any circumstances, perhaps, re- inarkably acute—overborne and paralysed by a system of false intelligence.
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