CANNING, George (1770-1827). Prime Minister 1827.
Fine Autograph Letter Signed to Field Marshal Lord (William Carr) Beresford (1768-1854), headed 'Private & Confidential', 2 page 4to, Necessidades [Lisbon], 18 April 1815. An important letter from the envoy to Lisbon to the head of the army there, discussing the question of Portuguese troops being sent to join Wellington's army.

 Written at a crucial time during Napoleon's Hundred Days and the sessions of the Congress of Vienna, depicting a certain naiveté or ignorance on the part of the Portuguese as to the true state of affairs in northern Europe.

'I return the D. of W's Letter: of which I presume you have no objection to my keeping a Copy, to put up (for my own satisfaction) with the Memorandum which I have taken of its contents. This memorandum, - not the Letter - I read to Dn: Miguel this morning. ...
 'D.Ml. seemed to take it for granted that you had mentioned to me their application to you for your military opnion as to the footing on which their army ought to be placed ... I told him - as is the truth, that I made the communication to him of the intelligence from Vienna - without authority or instructions - in order that they might have the advantage of knowing the D. of W's opinions at the very outset of their deliberations.'
 'He appeared to be startled at the notion of Flanders - the more, as he had been led by a letter from Sir Charles Stuart to expect some considerable effort in the South of France. That Letter, I presume, must have been written when it was supposed that Bourdeaux [sic] still held out for the Bourbons, & that the D. of Angouleme was marching upon Lyons.'

No communication from Wellington to Beresford is recorded in the Dispatches of Field Marshal the Duke of Wellington (1838) in the weeks immediately preceding the present letter.
[No: 24238]