The General Orders Gurwood took with him to the West Indies Wellington's
General Orders and Regulations evidently with the aim of producing a shortened edition. Wellington issued his Orders daily to the army and his clarity and attention to detail contributed enormously to the efficiency of operations. They covered all aspects of military life from the issue and maintenance of equipment to the care of horses and baggage animals, from men's rations to forage for animals, from the weight to be carried to the distances to be marched. In the end they amounted to seven printed volumes. Gurwood removed the many entries relating to courts martial and then re-ordered the rest under headings listed in alphabetical order, the whole being reduced to one volume. The Duke gave his permission for publication and the book appeared in September 1832. His friend
Charles Arbuthnot reported that the Duke was so delighted with reading his old orders that he did nothing else all day but read them aloud. The first edition of 1000 copies sold so well that a second edition was soon in preparation. Much of the work on the General Orders was done in Portsmouth where Gurwood was posted in 1830 as Major of Brigade in the South West District. Finette and Adele, who had been living in Paris, were at last able to join him, and Fanny (as Finette was known in England) must now have been widowed because she and Gurwood were married at St Martins in the Fields on 18 November 1834. In early April 1835 the Duke, as Foreign Secretary, sent
Lord Eliot on a mission to Spain and asked Gurwood to accompany him. The two men were chosen for their fluent French and Spanish and for their understanding of the country and its politics. The
First Carlist War had broken out in 1833 on the death of Ferdinand VII and the British Government, which did not take sides, was horrified by the
summary execution of prisoners by both armies. The mission managed to make contact with both sides including with Tomas di Zamalcarregui, the Basque general on the Carlist faction with which Gurwood was more in political sympathy. They secured a signed Convention on the fair treatment of prisoners and the wounded but, sadly, this lasted only a few months. Gurwood and Fanny had a second daughter in July 1835. She was called Zumala Mary Emily in memory of the Carlist general who had died in June. Gurwood again pressed for promotion, no doubt needing a bigger income to meet family responsibilities. When he was unsuccessful he considered leaving the service but decided to continue with the posting in Portsmouth.
The Indian Dispatches Gurwood had been thinking about editing the Duke's
Dispatches for some time and spelt out his idea at breakfast at Stratfield Saye in January 1832 when the conversation turned on Sir William Napier's
History of the War in the Peninsula. The Duke made no reply but Gurwood prepared a paper which was presented to the Duke in January 1833. This proposed that the whole of the Dispatches 'from Ahmednuggur and Assaye to Waterloo and Paris' should be arranged in chronological order. Some material relating to the Indian campaigns would be added to explain 'the vast importance of the victories and successes of General Wellesley', but the 'dispatches from the Peninsula, require no such explanatory introduction.' The Duke replied on 13 January that he had not the smallest objection to what Gurwood proposed to do. If Gurwood would come over on any day in the next two weeks he would be delighted to see him. Gurwood started work straight away and by the autumn was in regular correspondence with the Duke who was clearly much enthused by the project. The Duke was determined that history should not be rewritten, and told Gurwood to compile the work only from public documents and not to make any corrections. The work quickly became much bigger than Gurwood had envisaged; in addition to the official dispatches it now included the many letters exchanged between the Duke to fellow officers and subordinates. Finding the papers was not an easy matter. Some came easily to hand in bound letter books but much was in loose documents not easily located in the Duke's houses. The Duke entered willingly into the search, in August 1834 spending 'three days in a diligent search for the papers you require.' Gurwood wrote round to known recipients of the Duke's letters asking if they had copies, and also found references within documents which prompted further searches. 'The work grows with its growth' he wrote to the Duke. In these circumstances it was extremely difficult for Gurwood to maintain control over the contents of the volumes, in particular maintaining the objective of arranging the papers in date order. Much relevant matter was found too late, as in July 1834 when the Duke sent Gurwood packets of letters that should have gone into Volume I which was already in print. The Duke was involved at every stage of the publishing process reading all the documents, and approving printer's sheets and final proofs. The question of names and material to be omitted came up very early over the statement by Sir
Jasper Nicolls that Wellesley had hanged 10 -15 men, the Duke feeling that this would shock readers 'in these times of impunity for thieves and vagabonds.' Omissions continued to be an issue throughout with Gurwood making suggestions, and the Duke himself initiating deletions, in April 1834 for example striking out 'some words referring to the jealousies between Baird and me' on the grounds that 'Long before he died he and I were on he very best terms.' Gurwood marked up possible omissions for the Duke's consideration but it was the Duke who had the final approval of all inclusions and omissions. Volume I came out in May 1834.
Lord Mahon dined at Apsley House on 18 May and reported that the Duke was much amused at reading it: 'the energy and activity are quite as great then as afterwards. I don't think that I could write better now, after all my experience.' Volumes II and III came out in March 1835. Volume III was a supplementary volume containing papers that had come to light since the first two were prepared. Indeed, there was so much new material that Gurwood considered producing a second edition with the documents in their correct date order and running to a fourth volume. The booksellers were pressing for a reprint as the first edition was sold out. He decided in the end to issue three new volumes with all the papers, including much new material, placed in date order. His explanatory notes were excised, and the contents consisted only of letters written
by the Duke with a few letters written
to the Duke retained as (sometimes lengthy) footnotes. Volumes I - 3 of the New Edition were published in 1837.
The Peninsula Dispatches '' by
Andrew Morton, 1840 Gurwood moved straight on to editing the papers relating to the Peninsula War and there was no suggestion this time that the papers should be only those in the public domain. Progress was slowed at first by the Duke's political commitments and by Gurwood's mission to Spain. There was a further serious consideration: the Duke was concerned about the consequences of publishing material relating to such recent events and to persons still living. When he returned corrected pages to Gurwood on 30 July 1835 he commented that they were as interesting as those about India but doubted the expediency of publishing them. He had cut out some parts and needed to look again at others otherwise he would 'certainly be involved in a Controversy with Nations as well as Individuals which will not be an agreeable pastime in my old age.' He was in addition confronted with the issue of the
Convention of Cintra where he had known that he 'was the object of party violence, that the wish and intention of the Party at that time was to have a victim and that I was the Person fixed upon.' Gurwood replied on 1 August engaging directly with the Duke's concerns. He wrote that it was because the dispatches related to such important events as well as to the Duke's character and fame that the exact truth should be told: 'posterity' would otherwise be led into error 'by the imagination of historians.' As to the truths that might give offence to nations or individuals, they could 'with a diligent exercise of caution, under your Grace's guidance, be omitted as the general will supply ample authority.' No-one felt a stronger desire than he did to 'place the monument of truth before the world' but he would always regret 'occasioning any trouble or uneasiness to your Grace in so doing.' He suggested three possibilities: to continue publication under the Duke's direction; to continue printing and to deposit the whole with the Duke for private consumption; to discontinue the project altogether. Gurwood knew that he was being extremely presumptuous in writing this letter. The Duke seems not to have sent a written reply but it is a sign of his respect for Gurwood's abilities that the first option was followed and the project continued. Volume IV (the first of those on the Peninsula War) was published at the end of 1835 and John Murray, the publisher, told Gurwood that there was already much interest in the next volume. As with the Indian volumes there were problems in locating papers and there was a particular problem with the year from December 1809 for which the Duke's papers had been lost in a shipwreck in the Tagus. Gurwood made strenuous and prolonged efforts to obtain papers from a wide range of the Duke's correspondents writing, often several times, to individuals or their descendants. He made a number of searches in official collections including the Inspector General's office at the Ordnance and the Commander in Chief's Office, and he wrote to Lisbon to ask for a search for the Duke's letters to Admiral Berkeley which were believed to be in the Portuguese War Office. Some people were very keen to see references to themselves in print but others were unhappy about it.
Lord Clarendon said that he wished to be helpful but had been hurt by his depiction in Napier's
History. The Duke assured him that there would be nothing that did not redound to his credit, and that they could rely on Gurwood not to publish 'any thing affecting any individual or events public which should not be published'. Lord Clarendon was not the only one to smart under Napier's strictures and to worry about further damage to their reputations. Gurwood told Duke in May 1836 that 'almost every person who has assisted me in the compilation has made, or suggested, stipulations.' The Duke himself continued to be concerned about the inclusion of material, in December 1835 arguing for the omission of two letters that he had written in August 1809 to
Lord Wellesley and
Lord Castlereagh saying that the indiscipline and ineffectiveness of the Spanish army had resulted in his withdrawing from co-operation with it. Both letters were 'very good and true as Gospel, but I fear I shall never be forgiven the publication of them.' Gurwood replied to the Duke that he feared to decide where the Duke had doubts but said that the letters would be a great loss to history and would entail the omission of others of a like tenor. He took the liberity to refer the letters back to the Duke for reconsideration; the letters appear in Volume 5. The Duke and Gurwood worked extremely well together, both of them demonstrating the efficiency and determination that the Duke famously described as his rule to 'do the business of the day in the day.' The volumes were produced at great speed and despite being very busy the Duke turned the material round quickly sometimes apologising for not being more prompt. Every entry had to be examined and approved by him both several times through to proof and print stage, with his being the final word. This involved Gurwood in much laborious copying out especially because Duke wanted to be assured at all times that the papers, whether with Gurwood or at Clowes the printers, were secure so that his emendations did not get into the public domain. As was customary at this time it was Gurwood who was solely financially responsible for all the expenses of publication. Clowes, the printers, kept accounts of their expenses which included advertising, stock control and distribution, and remitted any profits to Gurwood. In May 1838 the Duke sent Gurwood a draft for £500 to cover the cost of the free copies that Gurwood had given to his friends and relations. Gurwood declined the offer though he admitted that he had yet to gain by the publication. In December 1838 however he was able to tell the Duke that the expenses had been met from the sales. For the next three years Clowes remitted substantial sums to Gurwood. On the publication of Volume 12 in November 1838 Gurwood wrote to the Duke that when he began the work he had not been aware of its 'magnitude and importance' and he expressed his thanks for 'the confidence reposed in me by your Grace in permitting me to undertake the Compilation'. The Duke replied congratulating Gurwood on bringing 'before the Publick a Work which must be useful to Statesmen and Soldiers as containing the details of important Political and Military operations of many years duration.'
Further publications The
Dispatches were from the beginning a great success not just with those in politics and the military but also with general readers. There were however complaints that, at a guinea (£1 1s) for each unbound volume, they were too expensive. There was also some feeling that the work was too long. Gurwood therefore set out immediately to produce a one volume
Selections which was published in April 1841. A French translation was published in Brussels in 1843. Gurwood was never one of the Duke's secretaries, but he did undertake some private work for him in 1841 and 1842 on problems that had arisen with the estates given to the Duke by the Spanish Government, and with the annual subvention that the Portuguese Government had granted in lieu of an estate. Gurwood was also busy in the summer of 1842 helping
Lord Francis Egerton with an article for the
Quarterly Review. This was ostensibly a review of a life of
Marshall Blucher but the larger part was concerned with criticisms of the Duke's disposition of the Allied troops at Waterloo made in
Sir Archibald Alison's
History of Europe. On reading a draft of the article the Duke, who had for many years resisted pressure to write his own account, sat down immediately and wrote a short memorandum with the aim of making Alison out to be 'a damned rascally Frenchman.' In September 1842 after reading a translation of
Clausewitz'a
Campaign of 1815 he wrote a second, longer Memorandum. He sent it to Gurwood saying that it needed revision and Gurwood made a number of editorial suggestions. However the Duke made it very clear that it was not to be published. A second edition of the
Dispatches was planned. The aim at first to reduce the length but new papers were continuing to come in and there was every prospect that it would be enlarged rather than abridged. The Duke's approval at every stage was still required and progress was slowed following his two strokes in November 1839 and February 1840. Gurwood undertook his usual careful and precise work on the publication with a toll on his own health. The second edition ran to eight volumes, the first three on India coming out in 1844 and the next four in late 1844 and 1845. Volume VIII was published in 1847 after Gurwood's death. There was a continuing problem with pirate publications and, in order to enable Gurwood to bring a court case, in March 1845 the Duke assigned Gurwood sole copyright. == Later life ==