Earl of Wellington message

[snopes]

Comment: Is the Earl of Wellington message (below) to the British foreign
Office real?

-------------------------

Message from Sir Arthur Wellesley, Earl of Wellington, to the British
Foreign Office in London, written in Spain, August 1812

Gentlemen,

Whilst marching from Portugal to a position, which commands the approach
to Madrid and the French forces, my officers have been diligently
complying with your requests, which have been sent by H.M. ship from
London to Lisbon and thence by dispatch to our headquarters.

We have enumerated our saddles, bridles, tents and tent poles, and all
manner of sundry items for which His Majesty's Government holds me
accountable. I have dispatched reports on the character, wit, and spleen
of every officer. Each item and every farthing has been accounted for,
with two regrettable exceptions for which I beg your indulgence.
Unfortunately the sum of one shilling and nine pence remains unaccounted
for in one infantry battalion's petty cash and there has been a hideous
confusion as the number of jars of raspberry jam issued to one cavalry
regiment during a sandstorm in western Spain. This reprehensible
carelessness may be related to the pressure of circumstance, since we are
war with France, a fact which may come as a bit of a surprise to you
gentlemen in Whitehall.

This brings me to my present purpose, which is to request elucidation of
my instructions from His Majesty's Government so that I may better
understand why I am dragging an army over these barren plains. I construe
that perforce it must be one of two alternative duties, as given below. I
shall pursue either one with the best of my ability, but I cannot do both:

1. To train an army of uniformed British clerks in Spain for the benefit
of the accountants and copy-boys in London or perchance.

2. To see to it that the forces of Napoleon are driven out of Spain.

Your most obedient servant,

Wellington

[Koshka]

Well, the title is correct -- he was made Earl of Wellington on Feb. 28, 1812 according to his Wiki article (my books aren't available for confirmation, sorry!). But this would have been at most one month after the battle of Salamanca (http://www.napoleonguide.com/battle_salamanca.htm), would he have had time for this sort of nonsense?

The bit about the raspberry jam has me skeptical, though. My recollection is that Wellington had trouble getting eough supplies from Britain, at least during the earlier part of the Peninsular War. When the need was for military supplies, food, or money to buy food from the Spanish, shipping easily-broken jam jars seems like a waste. (And why choose a sandstorm as the perfect time to issue rations?)

[Stoneage Dinosaur]

According to historian Andrew Roberts, during the Peninsular campaign Wellington wrote many letters:

He also wrote very angry letters to the War Office if they held up his supplies, and lots of very angry letters to the prime minister Lord Liverpool whenever there was any criticism of what he was doing in the Peninsular War.

The August 1812 letter appears on many humour websites, as well as this Great letters from history page. Unfortunately, despite showing copies of two of the other letters, they don't have the Wellington one.

[Jay Tea]

Originally Posted by Koshka

The bit about the raspberry jam has me skeptical, though.

Me too. It would more likely have been quince than raspberry

Here is an archive of Wellington's dispatches, no sign of the above letter but interesting nonetheless - if the above is a fake it's certainly written in his style.

[Andrew of Ware]

I have found several sites that mention the letter, but only one (so far) from any kind of academic source. From a website of the University of Cambridge...

Tailpiece containing Wellington's message

Stangely it comes from the Department of Materials, Science and Metallurgy website.

This website also quotes the letter but admits that it has no provenance for it.

[BluesScale]

As it happens, I was at his house last night for the rather oddly named "Marvellous" festival. Sadly, no-one was holding a seance so I couldn't check.

My father has also asked me to check the validity of it since he wants to use it in his book.

Blues