Now the evacuation of Portugal was not the prime object, but the manner in which that event was to be brought about; this ought to have been deemed first both in order and importance;--the French were to be subdued, their ferocious warfare and heinous policy to be confounded; and in this way, and no other, was the deliverance of that country to be accomplished.

It was not for the soil, or for the cities and forts, that Portugal was valued, but for the human feeling which was there; for the rights of human nature which might be there conspicuously asserted; for a triumph over injustice and oppression there to be achieved, which could neither be concealed nor disguised, and which should penetrate the darkest corner of the dark Continent of Europe by its splendour.

We combated for victory in the empire of reason, for strongholds in the imagination.
Lisbon and Portugal, as city and soil, were chiefly prized by us as a _language_; but our Generals mistook the counters of the game for the stake played for.

The nation required that the French should surrender at discretion;--grant that the victory of Vimiera had excited some unreasonable impatience--we were not so overweening as to demand that the enemy should surrender within a given time, but that they should surrender.

Every thing, short of this, was felt to be below the duties of the occasion; not only no service, but a grievous injury.