‘Ah, yes,’ said Arthur.‘I recall the name now. Recently elected, wasn’t he?’
‘Yes, and keen to make a name for himself.’William lowered his voice and leaned closer to his brother. ‘Franks and those others have drafted a certain document. I gather that they intend to petition the King to have you tried for treason.’
‘Good God, treason? The dogs. They’ll never make that stick.’
‘I hope not, Arthur. But in the present climate, who knows?’
The line of guests edged forward into the chamber and took up their places on either side of a broad red carpet leading up to a dais where an ornate chair awaited the King. When all were present, the royal chamberlain entered and rapped his staff loudly on the tiled floor to one side of the carpet.
‘My lords and gentlemen, pray silence for his majesty the King and his highness, Prince George!’
The chamberlain stepped gracefully to one side and bowed deeply as the King entered the chamber in a dark blue frock coat, laced with gold. He wore several jewelled stars on his breast. Behind him came the Prince, also in blue, but with less decoration. They walked serenely down the length of the carpet, stopping here and there to exchange a brief word with friends and familiars.As they came abreast of Arthur the King suddenly stopped and turned to him.
‘General Wellesley, is it not?’
‘Yes, sire.’ Arthur bowed.
‘We are pleased that you have attended the levee, Sir Arthur. We are even more pleased that you have proved to the world that the armies of France are not invincible. Your country is grateful to you.’ The King paused and smiled. ‘At least, your country should be grateful, and they will be in due course, I have no doubt.’
‘I thank your majesty.’
The King moved on.When he was out of earshot, Arthur muttered to his brother,‘It seems that at least one person approves of my actions.’
On the dais, the King coughed to clear his throat and addressed the chamber. ‘Before the morning’s entertainment begins I would like to take the chance to offer my profound thanks to the officers of the Navy and the army who are present here tonight. Our nation stands in an hour of great peril, and sometimes our people forget to show due deference and respect to those who risk their lives for their King and country. To which end I trust that those of us who are not in the services will join me in applauding our brave soldiers and sailors.’
He gently clapped his hands together and instantly the chamber was filled with the sound of applause. Arthur nodded his thanks to those on either side of him, as did the other guests who were in the services.
As the King folded his hands his guests quickly ceased their applause and the royal chamberlain nodded a signal to the small orchestra in the gallery.At once they struck up with a light piece of music and the guests slowly began to mill together, talking in an animated hubbub, as those who were to be presented to the King formed a loose queue to one side of the dais.
Arthur and William began to work their way through the guests, greeting old friends and acquaintances. Arthur was saddened by the coolness they met from many of those he had once counted as friends and political allies.
‘What did you expect?’ asked William. ‘Richard is still waiting to be cleared of the accusations made against him from his time in India.You are about to go before a court of inquiry whose report may damn your political and military careers for ever.Who would want to be associated with a family like that? Failure and shame are contagious.’
‘Sir Arthur! My dear fellow!’
The brothers looked round to see Castlereagh striding through the crowds towards them with a broad smile on his face. Arthur turned to William and cocked an eyebrow. It seems that we are not completely abandoned.’
‘Not yet,’William muttered sourly.
Castlereagh took their hands in turn and pumped them vigorously. ‘A bad business, this hue and cry over the Cintra treaty. But I am sure it will die away once the inquiry makes its report.’
‘I hope so,’ Arthur responded evenly.
‘Speaking of which,’ Castlereagh looked at Arthur with a mischievous twinkle in his eye, ‘there is someone I think I should introduce you to. Do come with me.’
He took Arthur’s arm and guided him through the crowd towards Charles Franks and his small entourage, who watched their approach with dismay.
Castlereagh waved his hand. ‘Charles! Good to see you here.There’s someone I would like you to meet.’ Arthur’s gaze met that of Charles Franks, and the men stared at each other frostily until Castlereagh continued in an ebullient tone, ‘I don’t think you have ever formally been introduced to Sir Arthur Wellesley, have you?’
‘No, I have not . . .’ Franks attempted to smile politely, but the tension between the dictates of good manners and the knowledge that he was hoping to petition the King to destroy Arthur tied the politician’s tongue.
‘Not what?’ Castlereagh prompted. ‘Not had the pleasure?’
‘Yes. That’s what I meant.’ Charles Franks smiled weakly.
‘Of course that’s what you meant. Now then, it is my pleasure to introduce you to Lieutenant-General Sir Arthur Wellesley, the hero of Vimeiro.’ He paused and repeated the words with heavy emphasis. ‘The hero of Vimeiro. Has a nice ring to it, wouldn’t you say?’
‘I suppose so,’ Franks replied uncomfortably, his eyes flickering towards Arthur. ‘I congratulate you on your victory, Sir Arthur. However, it is a shame that so signal an achievement should be followed by so shameful a sequel.’
‘That is a matter of opinion,’ Arthur replied flatly.
‘Yes. But I imagine you are just as keen to cast the blame on to Dalrymple and Burrard as they are to cast it on you.’
Arthur shook his head. ‘I keep my opinions to myself. On matters relating to events that took place in Portugal, I reserve my words for the inquiry, which is the proper arena for such comments, as I am sure you would agree?’
‘I suppose so, yes.’
Castlereagh clapped both men on the shoulder. ‘Good! That’s how these things should be done, eh?’
Charles Franks smiled weakly at the Foreign Secretary and then bowed his head. ‘It has been a pleasure to meet you, Sir Arthur, but my friends and I must leave early.We have another engagement, so I bid you good day.’
His friends looked at each other in surprise before they echoed their farewells and the little band made its way through the crowd towards the entrance to the audience chamber. As he watched them depart, Castlereagh muttered,‘So much for their petition. I don’t think it would have had much chance of support in Parliament. Still less now it is seen that his majesty evidently favours you.’
‘Quite.’ Arthur nodded, then turned to the minister. ‘However, I still have to go before the inquiry.’
‘Of course. But I am sure the panel will be persuaded that you cannot be held responsible for the Cintra treaty. Solely responsible, that is. Either all three generals will be condemned or none will.’ Castlereagh shook his hand again. ‘Good luck, Sir Arthur. And goodbye to you, William.’ He turned and strode away to work another section of the crowd.
‘Either all three condemned, or none,’ William echoed. ‘Was that supposed to be a few words of encouragement, do you think?’
Chapter 51
Arthur was wearing his best uniform when he presented himself before the members of the panel. Sir David Dundas had been appointed president of the inquiry and was assisted by six other generals, all of whom were now seated behind a long table at the end of the Great Hall. Several clerks and secretaries sat at small tables in the wings, organising documents and taking down details of what was said to provide an accurate record of the event. Arthur was shown into the hall and escorted to the single chair set before the inquiry panel. He bowed to each of the members and then took his seat. Dundas was an elderly general and one of the most senior in the army. His gaunt figure topped by a thin face, a long nose and white hair. Dundas had a reputation for being a strict disciplinaria
n and a stickler for rules and regulations.
‘Sir Arthur,’ he began formally,‘you have been called here to account for your actions in relation to the treaty signed at Cintra. Generals Dalrymple and Burrard have already given their evidence. You will answer all questions truthfully and to the best of your knowledge. Do you understand?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘Very well then. It is the understanding of this inquiry that you were in command of the army for the duration of the engagement at Vimeiro. Is that so?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘And yet General Burrard had reached the vicinity of the army the day before.’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘So, in your view, it would have been possible for Burrard to have assumed command of the army in time to fight the subsequent battle.’
‘It was certainly possible, sir, but not necessary.The army had already won an engagement at Roliça, and it seemed that the enemy was retreating towards Lisbon. Sir Harry arrived in the afternoon and made the decision not to assume command until the next day. There was no expectation of a battle, and had the French not tried to surprise us, Sir Harry would have assumed command of the army in good time.’
‘That may be so, General Wellesley, but let me ask you this. If you had been in Burrard’s place would you have delayed taking command of the army as the senior officer present?’
Arthur paused. There was no way to answer this truthfully that did not undermine Burrard’s position. He drew a sharp breath. ‘No sir, I would not have delayed taking command.’
‘And why is that?’
‘It is my conviction that the initiative should be seized in all things, sir. If not, then you make a gift of it to the enemy, as we discovered.’
‘Just so.’ Dundas nodded, and then looked down at his notes for a moment. ‘So, then, the French attempted to outflank your position.You changed your front to foil them, threw back their attacks and routed their assault columns.’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘Did you give the order to pursue the enemy?’
‘There was little opportunity to do that, sir.What few cavalrymen we had were unequal to the task.’
One of the other members of the panel, a stout officer with florid cheeks, leaned forward and addressed Arthur.‘But surely you could have ordered your infantry to make a pursuit, and denied the enemy any chance at rallying his formations?’
‘The order could have been given, sir. But it was not.’
‘Why not?’
‘General Burrard had reached the field in the course of the battle and was generous enough to permit me to retain command until the battle was over. Once the French had broken, I returned to my command position on the understanding that that was the point at which my authority was superseded.’
‘I see.’ Dundas nodded again. ‘Did you suggest to Burrard that he should attempt a pursuit?’
‘Yes, sir, I did.’
‘As we know, there was no such attempt. Did Burrard offer you any explanation as to why he did not order a pursuit?’
‘Yes, sir.’
There was a short pause before Dundas sighed. ‘Would you be kind enough to explain his reasoning to the inquiry?’
‘Sir Harry was of the opinion that we had insufficient intelligence about the enemy’s strength and his dispositions. Therefore it would be prudent to await the arrival of General Moore and his men in order to ensure that we had the advantage in numbers before continuing our advance.’
‘Did you agree with his opinion?’
‘No, sir, I did not.’
‘Why?’
‘We had beaten General Junot. The information I had from my Portuguese allies was that Junot’s army was the only enemy army between Vimeiro and Lisbon.Therefore it was my belief that we could have pursued him to destruction, before turning to liberate Lisbon.’
‘As it was, the enemy was allowed to escape.’
Arthur hesitated a moment. ‘Yes, sir.’
‘Do you feel you were responsible for their escape?’ Dundas asked in a very deliberate tone.
‘No, sir. I urged Sir Harry Burrard, and Sir Hew Dalrymple when he arrived to take command, to march at once against General Junot. If they had, the French would have been defeated, and there would have been no armistice, and no treaty of Cintra.’
‘And no inquiry,’ Dundas added with a faint smile. ‘Let us turn our attention to the armistice.You signed it.’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘Did you draft the agreement?’
‘No, sir. It was drafted by Sir Hew and the French representative, General Kellermann.’
‘So why did you put your name to it?’
‘I was ordered to, sir. By General Dalrymple. My signature is a mere form.’
‘I see. And did you agree with the terms of the armistice, as ratified at Cintra?’
Arthur swallowed nervously, but strained to keep his face calm, and his voice unflustered. ‘There is no simple answer, sir. The object of the campaign was to capture Lisbon and eject French forces from Portugal. The treaty achieved that with no loss of life. To that extent I approved of the treaty.’
‘However?’ Dundas prompted.
‘However, I contend that we should have accepted a few more casualties and pursued and destroyed Junot’s army, and thereby damaged wider French morale and inspired our allies. In addition, I think the terms agreed were over-generous to our enemy and have damaged the reputation of Britain. Having defeated Junot, it was absurd to permit his army to be returned to France, rather than be taken into captivity.’
Dundas narrowed his eyes. ‘You are a master of understatement, General Wellesley. However, I feel it only fair to inform you that Sir Hew Dalrymple is unequivocal in ascribing the blame for the treaty to you.’
Arthur felt a cold chill of anger grip his heart.‘I fail to see how I can be held to account for the treaty. If General Dalrymple refused to heed any of my advice in the conduct of the campaign, I am certainly not answerable for the consequences.’
Dundas looked away and conferred quietly with the other panel members, making a few more notes on the papers before him.At length he turned back to Arthur and continued questioning him on more precise details for the next hour, after which Arthur was permitted to leave.
For the next week other officers were called before the inquiry, and then the panel retired to consider the evidence and write their report.As Arthur waited, he made preparations to return to Dublin with Kitty and the children to resume his civilian duties at the castle, but he could not help considering his prospects.At best, he would be cleared of any blame, but he knew that the stigma of the Cintra treaty might stick to his name for many years to come, unless he had the chance to fight again and win a victory that would expunge his part in the armistice.At worst, he faced public censure and would be stripped of his post of Chief Secretary, with no hope of achieving high office at any future date.
Kitty and the boys went back to Dublin, but Arthur lingered in London, feeling he was in a peculiar state of limbo. His friends and acquaintances remained slightly at a distance, as if he had some kind of illness, and yet inside he felt certain that he would not be censured by Sir David Dundas and his colleagues.The fact that it had been a military inquiry, rather than a parliamentary one, was a considerable source of comfort in such politically partisan times.
The wait dragged by, and Arthur’s spirits settled lower and lower, until three days before Christmas. He was taking breakfast, alone, when he heard a loud knock at the front door. A moment later a footman opened the door. There was a short, muffled exchange, then footsteps pounded down the hall and the door to the dining room burst open. William stood on the threshold, breathing hard, eyes wide with excitement.
‘Good God,’ Arthur exclaimed. ‘What on earth is the matter with you?’
‘Just . . . come . . . from my club.’ William struggled to catch his breath, and swallowed before continuing.‘One of the others . . . brought news of the inquiry.They’ve
just published.’
Arthur froze, knife and fork poised over his lamb chops. ‘Well?’
‘They’ve approved the treaty . . . six votes to one. There’ll be no action taken against you or the others.’
Arthur nodded slowly. Inside he felt no joy or sense of vindication, only a sudden heavy weariness. It was over, then. Dundas and the others had decided to close ranks and protect their fellow generals, and the radical press and politicians would howl with protest that they had been denied their prey.
‘You’re in the clear,’ William continued. ‘You must show your face around London, and in Parliament. There’s a reputation to rebuild. So what do you intend to do?’
‘Do?’ Arthur replied calmly. ‘I intend to finish my breakfast. Then I shall complete my arrangements to re-join my wife and children in Dublin.’
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