he was a member of that notoriously intriguing family, of which the
chief members were the Principal Souza, of the Council of Regency
at Lisbon, and the Chevalier Souza, Portuguese minister to the
Court of St. James's. Unacquainted with Portugal, our apologist
was evidently in ignorance of the fact that the name of Souza is
almost as common in that country as the name of Smith in this. He
may also have been misled by the fact that Principal Souza did not
neglect to make the utmost capital out of the affair, thereby
increasing the difficulties with which Lord Wellington was already
contending as a result of incompetence and deliberate malice on
the part both of the ministry at home and of the administration in
Lisbon.

Indeed, but for these factors it is unlikely that the affair could
ever have taken place at all. If there had been more energy on the
part of Mr. Perceval and the members of the Cabinet, if there had
been less bad faith and self-seeking on the part of the Opposition,
Lord Wellington's campaign would not have been starved as it was;
and if there had been less bad faith and self-seeking of an even
more stupid and flagrant kind on the part of the Portuguese Council
of Regency, the British Expeditionary Force would not have been
left without the stipulated supplies and otherwise hindered at
every step.

Lord Wellington might have experienced the mental agony of Sir John
Moore under similar circumstances fifteen months earlier. That he
did suffer, and was to suffer yet more, his correspondence shows.
But his iron will prevented that suffering from disturbing the
equanimity of his mind. The Council of Regency, in its concern to
court popularity with the aristocracy of Portugal, might balk his