Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol 7.djvu/99

A IJETKOSPKGTIVE ENQUIRY. 55 Ralph Abercroiiiby's descent upon Egypt in the chap. face of a French army, the victory he won — '. won even wliilst mortally vi^ounded — at the battle of Alexandria, the successful operations under Hutchinson, — these exploits, although not counterbalanced by any reverse, were followed by an agreement with the enemy which made the whole enterprise of the invasion an example of wasted power. () Thus, again, in Calabria, after winning their brilliant little victory at Maida, our people showed so strange an absence of any further purpose or wish that they almost seemed guilty of having effected their landing and delivered the battle in fun. And, although the close of the period was illumined by several victories which made in some sort a beginning of the famous ' Peninsular war,' these yet be- longed, all in their character, as well as by actual date, to the barren time then expiring ; for Vimiera (to the rage of our people) was half undone by the Convention of Cintra ; (^) Corunna, with all its glory, was only a feat of defence by an army which had sought to attack ; the passage of the Douro was a wonder itself, yet not made to work other wonders ; and if Wellesley gave adornment to the next of his enterprises by winning the two days' battle of the 27th and 28th of July, this was all he proved able to do ; since, strategically, his Talavera cam- paign resulted in discomfiture — in discomfiture cruelly aggravated by administrative collapse. On the wliole, and considering the immense opportunities accruing to her in the course of