Peninsula, and the French. Government were relieved from the pressure of military operations on the Continent, they would incur all risks to land an army in his Majesty's dominions. Then indeed would commence an expensive contest; then would his Majesty's subjects discover what are the miseries of war, of which, by the blessing of God, they have hitherto had no knowledge; and the cultivation, the beauty, the prosperity of the country, and the virtue and happiness of its inhabitants would be destroyed, whatever might be the result of the military operations. God forbid that I should be a witness, much less an actor, in the scene."[1]
And in his memorable letter to Sir John Burgoyne in 1847, which Mr. Cobden labours to make appear to be the work of a man in his dotage—suffering from softening of the brain—though the words in it are very similar to those in the letter quoted above, and written near forty years before, the Duke says:—
"I am bordering on seventy-seven years, passed in honour. I hope that the Almighty may protect me from being the witness of the tragedy which I cannot persuade my contemporaries to take measures to avert."
- ↑ Gurwood's Selections from the Despatches of the Duke of Wellington, No. 515, p. 457.
