History of the war in the Peninsula and in the south of France from the year 1807 to the year 1814, vol. 6

by William Francis Patrick Napier

CHAPTER II.

The French general’s various conjectures embraced1814. February. every project but the true one of the English general. The latter did indeed design to keep him in check upon the rivers, not to obtain an opportunity of assaulting the camp of Bayonne but to throw his stupendous bridge over the Adour; yet were his combinations so made that failing in that he could still pursue his operations on the Gaves. When therefore he had established his offensive line strongly beyond the Soissons and the Bidouze, and knew that his pontoon train was well advanced towards Garris, he on the 19th returned rapidly to St. Jean de Luz. Everything there depending on man was ready, but the weather was boisterous with snow for two days, and Wellington, fearful of letting Soult strengthen himself on the Gave of Oleron, returned on the 21st to Garris, having decided to press his operations on that side in person and leave to sir John Hope and admiral Penrose the charge of effecting

THE PASSAGE OF THE ADOUR.

The heights of Anglet had been occupied since the 15th by the guards and Germans, small parties were cautiously pushed towards the river through the pine-forest called the wood of Bayonne, and the fifth division, now commanded by general Colville, occupied Bussussary and the bridge of Urdains. On the 21st Colville relieved the sixth division in the blockade of Mousseroles on the right of the Nive. To replace these troops at Bussussary, Freyre’s Spaniards passed the Bidassoa, but the Andalusians and Del Parque’s troops and the heavy British and Portuguese cavalry were still retained within the frontiers of Spain. Sir John Hope had therefore only two British and two Spanish divisions, three independent brigades of Anglo-PortugueseOriginal Morning States, MSS. infantry and Vandeleur’s brigade of cavalry, furnishing altogether about twenty-eight thousand men and officers with twenty pieces of artillery. There were however two regiments which had been sent to the rear sick and several others expected from England destined to join him.

In the night of the 22d the first division, six eighteen pounders, and the rocket battery, were cautiously filed from the causeway near Anglet towards the Adour, but the road was deep and heavy and one of the guns falling into a ditch delayed the march. Nevertheless at daybreak the whole reached some sand-downs which extendedPlan 7. behind the pine-forest to the river. The French picquets were then driven into the entrenched camp at Beyris, the pontoon train and the field-artillery were brought down to the Adour opposite to the village of Boucaut, and the eighteen-pounders were placed in battery on the bank. The light troops meanwhile closed to the edge of the marsh which covered the right of the French camp, and Carlos España’s division taking post on the heights of Anglet, in concert with the independent brigades, which were at Arcangues and the bridge of Urdains, attracted the enemy’s attention by false attacks which were prolonged beyond the Nive by the fifth division.

It was intended that the arrival of the gun-boats and chasse-marées at the mouth of the Adour should have been simultaneous with that of the troops, but the wind having continued contrary none were to be seen, and sir John Hope whose firmness no untoward event could ever shake resolved to attempt the passage with the army alone. The French flotilla opened its fire on his columns about nine o’clock, his artillery and rockets retorted upon the French gun-boats and the sloop of war so fiercely, that three of the former were destroyed and the sloop so hardly handled that about one o’clock the whole took refuge higher up the river. Meanwhile sixty men of the guards were rowed in a pontoon across the mouth of the river in the face of a French picquet, which, seemingly bewildered, retired without firing. A raft was then formed with the remainder of the pontoons and a hawser being stretched across, six hundred of the guards and the sixtieth regiment, with a part of the rocket battery, the whole under colonel Stopford, passed, yet slowly, and at slack water only, for the tide run strongly and the waters were wide.

During this operation general Thouvenot deceived by spies and prisoners thought that the light division was with Hope as well as the first division, and that fifteen thousand men were embarked atThouvenot’s Official Report St. Jean de Luz to land between Cape Breton and the Adour. Wherefore fearing to endanger his garrison by sending a strong force to any distance down the river, when he heard Stopford’s detachment was on the right bank, he detached only two battalions under general Macomble to ascertain the state of affairs, for the pine-forest and a great bending of the river prevented him from obtaining any view from Bayonne. Macomble made a show of attacking Stopford, but the latter, flanked by the field-artillery from the left bank, received him with a discharge of rockets, projectiles which like the elephants in ancient warfare often turn upon their own side. This time however, amenable to their directors they smote the French column and it fled, amazed, and with a loss of thirty wounded. It is nevertheless obvious that if Thouvenot had kept strong guards, with a field-battery, on the right bank of the Adour, sir John Hope could not have passed over the troops in pontoons, nor could any vessels have crossed the bar; no resource save that of disembarking troops between the river and Cape Breton would then have remained. This error was fatal to the French. The British continued to pass all night, and until twelve o’clock on the 24th, when the flotilla was seen under a press of sail making with a strong breeze for the mouth of the river.

To enter the Adour is from the flatness of the coast never an easy task, it was now most difficult, because the high winds of the preceding days had raised a great sea and the enemy had removed one of the guiding flag-staves by which the navigation was ordinarily directed. In front of the flotilla came the boats of the men-of-war, and ahead of all, the naval captain, O’Reilly, run his craft, a chosen Spanish vessel, into the midst of the breakers, which rolling in a frightful manner over the bar dashed her on to the beach. That brave officer stretched senseless on the shore would have perished with his crew but for the ready succour of the soldiers, however a few only were drowned and the remainder with an intrepid spirit launched their boat again to aid the passage of the troops which was still going on. O’Reilly was followed and successfully by lieutenant Debenham in a six-oared cutter, but the tide was falling, wherefore the remainder of the boats, the impossibility of passing until high water being evident drew off, and a pilot was landed to direct the line of navigation by concerted signals.

When the water rose again the crews were promised rewards in proportion to their successful daring and the whole flotilla approached in close order, but with it came black clouds and a driving gale which covered the whole line of coast with a rough tumbling sea, dashing and foaming without an interval of dark water to mark the entrance of the river. The men-of-war’s boats first drew near this terrible line of surge and Mr. Bloye of the Lyra, having the chief pilot with him, heroically led into it, but in an instant his barge was engulphed and he and all with him were drowned. The Lyra’s boat thus swallowed up the following vessels swerved in their course, and shooting up to the right and left kept hovering undecided on the edge of the tormented waters. Suddenly lieutenant Cheyne of the Woodlark pulled ahead, and striking the right line, with courage and fortune combined safely passed the bar. The wind then lulled, the waves as if conquered abated somewhat of their rage, and the chasse-marées, manned with Spanish seamen but having an engineer officer with a party of sappers in each who compelled them to follow the men-of-war’s boats, came plunging one after another through the huge breakers and reached the point designed for the bridge. Thus was achieved this perilous and glorious exploit, but captain Elliot of the Martial with his launch and crew and three transports’ boats, perished close to the shore in despite of the most violent efforts made by the troops to save them; three other vessels cast on the beach lost part of their crews; and one large chasse-marée, full of men, after passing the line of surf safely was overtaken by a swift bellying wave which breaking on her deck dashed her to pieces.

The whole of the first division and Bradford’s Portuguese, in all eight thousand men, being now on the right bank took post on the sand-hills for the night. The next morning, sweeping in a half circle round the citadel and its entrenchments, they placed their left on the Adour above the fortress, and their right on the same river below the place; for the water here made such a bend in their favour that their front was little more than two miles wide, and for the most part covered by a marshy ravine. This nice operation was effected without opposition because the entrenched camps, menaced by the troops on the other side of the Adour, were so enormous that Thouvenot’s force was scarcely sufficient to maintain them. Meanwhile the bridge was constructed, about three miles below Bayonne, at a place where the river was contracted to eight hundred feet by strong retaining walls, built with the view of sweeping away the bar by increasing the force of the current. The plan of the bridge and boom were the conception of colonel Sturgeon and major Todd, but the execution was confided entirely to the latter, who, with a mind less brilliant than Sturgeon’s but more indefatigable, very ably and usefully served his country throughout this war.

Twenty-six of the chasse-marées moored head and stern at distances of forty feet, reckoning from centre to centre, were bound together with ropes, two thick cables were then carried loosely across their decks, and the ends being cast over the walls on each bank were strained and fastened in various modes to the sands. They were sufficiently slack to meet the spring-tides which rose fourteen feet, and planks were laid upon them without any supporting beams. The boom, moored with anchors above and below, was a double line of masts connected with chains and cables, so as to form a succession of squares, in the design that if a vessel broke through the outside, it should by the shock turn round in the square and become entangled with the floating wrecks of the line through which it had broken. Gun-boats, with aiding batteries on the banks, were then stationed to protect the boom, and to keep off fire-vessels, many row-boats were furnished with grappling irons. The whole was by the united labour of seamen and soldiers finished on the 26th. And contrary to the general opinion on such matters, major Todd assured the Author of this History that he found the soldiers, with minds quickened by the wider range and variety of knowledge attendant on their service, more ready of resource and their efforts, combined by a more regular discipline, of more avail, with less loss of time, than the irregular activity of the seamen.

The agitation of the water in the river from the force of the tides was generally so great that to maintain a pontoon bridge on it was impossible. A knowledge of this had rendered the French officers too careless of watch and defence, and this year the shifting sands had given the course of the Adour such a slanting direction towards the west that it run for some distance almost parallel to the shore; the outer bank thus acting as a breakwater lessened the agitation within and enabled the large two-masted boats employed, to ride safely and support the heaviest artillery and carriages. Nevertheless this fortune, the errors of the enemy, the matchless skill and daring of the British seamen, and the discipline and intrepidity of the British soldiers, all combined by the genius of Wellington, were necessary to the success of this stupendous undertaking which must always rank amongst the prodigies of war.

When the bridge was finished sir John Hope resolved to contract his line of investment round the citadel. This was a serious affair. The position of the French outside that fort was exceedingly strong, for the flanks were protected by ravines the sides of which were covered with fortified villas; and in the centre a ridge, along which the great roads from Bordeaux and Peyrehorade led into Bayonne, was occupied by the village and church of St. Etienne, both situated on rising points of ground strongly entrenched and under the fire of the citadel guns. The allies advanced in three converging columns covered by skirmishers. Their wings easily attained the edges of the ravines at either side, resting their flanks on the Adour above and below the town, at about nine hundred yards from the enemy’s works. But a severe action took place in the centre. The assailing body composed of Germans and a brigade of guards was divided into three parts which should have attacked simultaneously, the guards on the left, the light battalions of Germans on the right, and their heavy infantry in the centre. The flanks were retarded by some accident and the centre first attacked the heights of St. Etienne. The French guns immediately opened from the citadel and the skirmishing fire became heavy, but the Germans stormed church and village, forced the entrenched line of houses, and took a gun, which however they could not carry off under the close fire from the citadel. The wings then gained their positions and the action ceased for a time, but the people of Bayonne were in such consternation that Thouvenot to re-assure them sallied at the head of the troops. He charged the Germans twice and fought well but was wounded and finally lost his gun and the position of St. Etienne. There is no return of the allies’ loss, it could not have been less than five hundred men and officers of which four hundred were Germans, and the latter were dissatisfied that their conduct was unnoticed in the despatch: an omission somewhat remarkable because their conduct was by sir John Hope always spoken of with great commendation.

The new position thus gained was defended by ravines on each flank, and the centre being close to the enemy’s works on the ridge of St. Etienne was entrenched. Preparations for besieging the citadel were then commenced under the direction of the German colonel Hartmann, a code of signals was established, and infinite pains taken to protect the bridge and to secure a unity of action between the three investing bodies. The communications however required complicated arrangements, for the ground on the right bank of the river being low was overflowed every tide, and would have occasioned great difficulty but for the retaining wall which being four feet thick was made use of as a carriage road.

While these events were in progress at Bayonne lord Wellington pushed his operations on the Gaves with great vigour. On the 21st he returned as we have seen to Garris, the pontoons had already reached that place and on the 23d they were carried beyond the Gave de Mauleon. During his absence the sixth and light divisions had come up, and thus six divisions of infantry and two brigades of cavalry were concentrated beyond that river on the Gave d’Oleron, between Sauveterre and Navarrens. Beresford meanwhile held the line of the Bidouze down to its confluence with the Adour,French Official Correspondence, MSS. and apparently to distract the enemy threw a battalion over the latter river near Urt, and collected boats as if to form a bridge there. In the evening he recalled this detachment, yet continued the appearance of preparations for a bridge until late in the 23d, when he moved forward and drove Foy’s posts from the works at Oeyergave and Hastingues, on the lower parts of the Oleron Gave, into the entrenchments of the bridge-head at Peyrehorade. The allies lost fifty men, principally Portuguese, but Soult’s right and centre were thus held in check, for Beresford having the fourth and seventh divisions and Vivian’s cavalry was strong enough for Foy at Peyrehorade and Taupin at the Bastide of Beam. The rest of the French army was distributed at Orthes and Sauveterre, feeling towards Navarrens, and on the 24th Wellington put his troops in motion to pass the Gave d’Oleron.

During the previous days his movements and the arrival of his reinforcements had again deceived the French general, who seems to have known nothing of the presence of the light division, and imagined the first division was at Came on the 22d as well as the fourth and seventh divisions. However his dispositions remained the same, he did not expect to hold the Gave and looked to a final concentration at Orthes.

On the 24th Morillo reinforced with a strong detachment of cavalry moved to the Laussette, a small river running in front of Navarrens, where rough ground concealed his real force, while his scouters beat back the French outposts, and a battalion marching higher up menaced the fords of the Gave at Doguen, with a view to draw the attention of the garrison of Navarrens from the ford of Ville Nave. This ford about three miles below Doguen was the point where lord Wellington designed really to pass, and a great concentric movement was now in progress towards it. Le Cor’s Portuguese division marched from Gestas, the light division from Aroue crossing the Soissons at Nabas; the second division, three batteries of artillery, the pontoons, and four regiments of cavalry moved from other points. Favoured by the hilly nature of the country the columns were well concealed from the enemy, and at the same time the sixth division advanced towards the fords of Montfort about three miles below that of Ville Nave. A battalion of the second division was sent to menace the ford of Barraute below Monfort, while the third division, reinforced with a brigade of hussars and the batteries of the second division, marched by Osserain and Arriveriette against the bridge-head of Sauveterre, with orders to make a feint of forcing a passage there. The bulk of the light cavalry remained in reserve under Cotton, but Vivian’s hussars coming up from Beresford’s right, threatened all the fords between Picton’s left and the Bastide of Beam; and below this Bastide some detachments were directed upon the fords of Sindos Castagnhede and Hauterive. During this movement Beresford keeping Foy in check at Peyrehorade with the seventh division, sent the fourth towards Sordes and Leren above the confluence of the Gaves to seek a fit place to throw a bridge. Thus the whole of the French front was menaced on a line of twenty-five miles, but the great force was above Sauveterre.

The first operations were not happily executed. The columns directed on the side of Sindos missed the fords. Picton opened a cannonade against the bridge-head of Sauveterre and made four companies of Keane’s brigade and some cavalry pass the Gave in the vicinity of the bridge; they were immediately assailed by a French regiment and driven across the river again with a loss of ninety men and officers, of whom some were drowned and thirty were made prisoners, whereupon the cavalry returned to the left bank and the cannonade ceased. Nevertheless the diversion was complete and the general operations were successful. Soult on the first alarm drew Harispe from Sauveterre and placed him on the road to Orthes at Monstrueig, where a range of hills running parallel to the Gave of Oleron separates it from that of Pau; thus only a division of infantry and Berton’s cavalry remained under Villatte at Sauveterre, and that general, notwithstanding his success against the four companies, alarmed by the vigour of Picton’s demonstrations, abandoned his works on the left bank and destroyed the bridge. Meanwhile the sixth division passed without opposition at Montfort above Sauveterre, and at the same time the great body of the other troops coming down upon the ford of Villenave met only with a small cavalry picquet and crossed with no more loss than two men drowned: a happy circumstance for the waters were deep and rapid, the cold intense, and the ford so narrow that the passage was not completed before dark. To have forced it in face of an enemy would have been exceedingly difficult and dangerous, and it is remarkable that Soult who was with Harispe, only five miles from Montfort and about seven from Villenave, should not have sent that general down to oppose the passage. The heads of the allies’ columns immediately pushed forward to the range of hills before spoken of, the right being established near Loubeing, the left towards Sauveterre, from whence Villatte and Berton had been withdrawn by Clauzel, who commanding at this part seems to have kept a bad watch when Clinton passed at Montfort.

The French divisions now took a position to give time for Taupin to retire from the lower parts of the Gave of Oleron, towards the bridge of Berenx on the Gave of Pau, for both he and Foy had received orders to march upon Orthes and break down all the bridges as they passed. When the night fell Soult sent Harispe’s division also over the bridge of Orthes and D’Erlon was already established in that town, but general Clauzel remained until the morning at Orion to cover the movement. Meanwhile Pierre Soult, posted beyond Navarrens with his cavalry and two battalions of infantry to watch the road to Pau, was pressed by Morillo, and being cut off from the army by the passage of the allies at Villenave was forced to retreat by Monein.

On the 25th at daylight, lord Wellington with some cavalry and guns pushed Clauzel’s rear-guard from Magret into the suburb of Orthes, which covered the bridge of that place on the left bank. He also cannonaded the French troops beyond the river, and the Portuguese of the light division, skirmishing with the French in the houses to prevent the destruction of the bridge, lost twenty-five men.

The second sixth and light divisions, Hamilton’s Portuguese, five regiments of cavalry, and three batteries were now massed in front of Orthes; the third division and a brigade of cavalry was in front of the broken bridge of Berenx about five miles lower down the Gave; the fourth and seventh divisions with Vivian’s cavalry were in front of Peyrehorade, from whence Foy retired by the great Bayonne road to Orthes. Affairs being in this state Morillo was directed to invest Navarrens. And as Mina’s battalions were no sure guarantee against the combined efforts of the garrison of St. Jean Pied de Port and the warlike inhabitants of Baygorry, five British regiments, which had gone to the rear for clothing and were now coming up separately, were ordered to halt at St. Palais in observation, relieving each other in succession as they arrived at that place.

On the morning of the 26th, Beresford, finding that Foy had abandoned the French works at Peyrehorade, passed the Gave, partly by a pontoon bridge partly by a ford, where the current ran so strong that a column of the seventh division was like to have been carried away bodily. He had previously detached the eighteenth hussars to find another ford higher up, and this being effected under the guidance of a miller, the hussars gained the high road about half-way between Peyrehorade and Orthes, and drove some French cavalry through Puyoo and Ramous. The French rallying upon their reservesMemoir by colonel Hughes, eighteenth hussars, MSS. turned and beat back the foremost of the pursuers, but they would not await the shock of the main body now reinforced by Vivian’s brigade and commanded by Beresford in person. In this affair major Sewell, an officer of the staff, who had frequently distinguished himself by his personal prowess, happening to be without a sword, pulled a large stake from a hedge and with that weapon overthrew two hussars in succession, and only relinquished the combat when a third had cut his club in twain.

Beresford now threw out a detachment to Habas on his left to intercept the enemy’s communication with Dax, and lord Wellington immediately ordered lord Edward Somerset’s cavalry and the third division to cross the Gave by fords below the broken bridge of Berenx. Then directing Beresford to take a position for the night on some heights near the village of Baïghts he proceeded to throw a pontoon bridge at Berenx, and thus after a circuitous march of more than fifty miles with his right wing he again united it with his centre and secured a direct communication with Hope.

During the 25th and 26th he had carefully examined Soult’s position. The bridge of Orthes could not be easily forced. That ancient and beautiful structure consisted of several irregular arches, with a high tower in the centre the gateway of which was built up by the French, the principal arch in front of the tower was mined, and the houses on both sides contributed to the defence. The river above and below was deep and full of tall pointed rocks, but above the town the water spreading wide with flat banks presented the means of crossing. Lord Wellington’s first design was to pass there with Hill’s troops and the light division, but when he heard that Beresford had crossed the Gave he suddenly changed his design, and as we have seen passed the third division over and threw his bridge at Berenx. This operation was covered by Beresford, while Soult’s attention was diverted by the continual skirmish at the suburbs of Orthes, by the appearance of Hill’s columns above, and by Wellington’s taking cognizance of the position near the bridge so openly as to draw a cannonade.

The English general did not expect Soult would, when he found Beresford and Picton were over the Gave, await a battle, and his emissaries reported that the French army was already in retreat, a circumstance to be borne in mind because the next day’s operation required success to justify it. Hope’s happy passage of the Adour being now known that officer was instructed to establish a line of communication to the port of Lannes, where a permanent bridge was to be formed with boats brought up from Urt. A direct line of intercourse was thus secured with the army at Bayonne. But lord Wellington felt that he was pushing his operations beyond his strength if Suchet should send reinforcements to Soult; wherefore he called up Freyre’s Spaniards, ordering that general to cross the Adour below Bayonne, with two of his divisions and a brigade of Portuguese nine-pounders, and join him by the port of Lannes. O’Donnel’s Andalusians and the prince of Anglona’s troops were also directed to be in readiness to enter France.

These orders were given with the greatest reluctance.

The feeble resistance made by the French in the difficult country already passed, left him without much uneasiness as to the power of Soult’s army in the field, but his disquietude was extreme about the danger of an insurgent warfare. “Maintain the strictest discipline, without that we are lost,” was his expression to general Freyre, and he issued a proclamation authorizing the people of the districts he had overrun to arm themselves for the preservation of order under the direction of their mayors. He invited them to arrest all straggling soldiers and followers of the army, and all plunderers and evil-doers and convey them to head-quarters with proof of their crimes, promising to punish the culpable and to pay for all damages. At the same time he confirmed all the local authorities who chose to retain their offices, on the sole condition of having no political or military intercourse with the countries still possessed by the French army. Nor was his proclamation a dead letter, for in the night of the 25th the inhabitants of a village, situated near the road leading from Sauveterre to Orthes, shot one English soldier dead and wounded a second who had come with others to plunder. Lord Wellington caused the wounded man to be hung as an example, and he also forced an English colonel to quit the army for suffering his soldiers to destroy the municipal archives of a small town.

Soult had no thought of retreating. His previous retrograde movements had been effected with order, his army was concentrated with its front to the Gave, and every bridge, except the noble structure at Orthes the ancient masonry of which resisted his mines, had been destroyed. One regiment ofOfficial Report, MSS. cavalry was detached on the right to watch the fords as far as Peyrehorade, three others with two battalions of infantry under Pierre Soult watched those between Orthes and Pau, and a body of horsemenMemoir by general Berton, MSS. and gensd’armes covered the latter town from Morillo’s incursions. Two regiments of cavalry remained with the army, and the French general’s intention was to fall upon the head of the first column which should cross the Gave. But the negligenceCanevas de faits par general Reille et colonel de la Chasse, MS. of the officer stationed at Puyoo, who had suffered Vivian’s hussars, as we have seen, to pass on the 26th without opposition and without making any report of the event, enabled Beresford to make his movement in safety when otherwise he would have been assailed by at least two-thirds of the French army. It was not until three o’clock in the evening that Soult received intelligence of his march, and his columns were then close to Baïghts on the right flank of the French army, his scouters were on the Dax road in its rear, and at the same time the sixth and light divisions were seen descending by different roads from the heights beyond the river pointing towards Berenx.

In this crisis the French marshal hesitated whether to fall upon Beresford and Picton while the latter was still passing the river, or take a defensive position, but finally judging that he had not time to form his columns of attack he decided upon the latter. Wherefore under cover of a skirmish, sustainedSoult’s Official Report, MSS. near Baïghts by a battalion of infantry which coming from the bridge of Berenx was joined by the light cavalry from Puyoo, he hastily threw D’Erlon’s and Reille’s divisions on a new line across the road from Peyrehorade. The right extended to the heights of San Boës along which run the road from Orthes to Dax, and this line was prolonged by Clauzel’s troops to Castetarbe a village close to the Gave. Having thus opposed a temporary front to Beresford he made his dispositions to receive battle the next morning, bringing Villatte’s infantry and Pierre Soult’s cavalry from the other side of Orthes through that town, and it was this movement that led lord Wellington’s emissaries to report that the army was retiring.

Soult’s new line was on a ridge of hills partly wooded partly naked.

In the centre was an open rounded hill from whence long narrow tongues were pushed out, on the French left towards the high road of Peyrehorade, on their right by St. Boës towards the high church of Baïghts, the whole presenting a concave to the allies.

The front was generally covered by a deep and marshy ravine broken by two short tongues of land which jutted out from the principal hill.

The road from Orthes to Dax passed behind the front to the village of St. Boës and thence along the ridge forming the right flank.

Behind the centre a succession of undulating bare heathy hills trended for several miles to the rear, but behind the right the country was low and deep.

The town of Orthes, receding from the river up the slope of a steep hill and terminating with an ancient tower, was behind the left wing.

General Reille, having Taupin’s, Roguet’s, and Paris’s divisions under him, commanded on the right, and occupied all the ground from the village of St. Boës to the centre of the position.

Count D’Erlon, commanding Foy’s and D’Armagnac’s divisions, was on the left of Reille. He placed the first along a ridge extending towards the road of Peyrehorade, the second in reserve. In rear of this last Villatte’s division and the cavalry wereSoult’s Official Report, MSS. posted above the village of Rontun, that is to say, on the open hills behind the main position. In this situation with the right overlooking the low country beyond St. Boës, and the left extended towards Orthes this division furnished a reserve to both D’Erlon and Reille.

Harispe, whose troops as well as Villatte’s were under Clauzel, occupied Orthes and the bridge, having a regiment near the ford of Souars above the town. Thus the French army extended from St. Boës to Orthes, but the great mass was disposed towards the centre. Twelve guns were attached to general Harispe’s troops, twelve were upon the round hill in the centre, sweeping in their range the ground beyond St. Boës, and sixteen were in reserve on the Dax road.

The 27th at day-break the sixth and light divisions, having passed the Gave near Berenx by the pontoon bridge thrown in the night, wound up a narrow way between high rocks to the great road of Peyrehorade. The third division and lord Edward Somerset’s cavalry were already established there in columns of march with skirmishers pushed forwards to the edge of the wooded height occupied by D’Erlon’s left, and Beresford with the fourth and seventh divisions and Vivian’s cavalry had meanwhile gained the ridge of St. Boës and approached the Dax road beyond. Hill remained with the second British, and Le Cor’s Portuguese divisions menacing the bridge of Orthes and the ford of Souars. Between Beresford and Picton, a distance of a mile and a half, there were no troops; but about half-way, exactly in front of the French centre, was a Roman camp crowning an isolated peering hill of singular appearance and nearly as lofty as the centre of Soult’s position.

On this camp, now covered with vineyards, but then open and grassy with a few trees, lord Wellington, after viewing the country on Beresford’s left, stopped for an hour or more to examine the enemy’s disposition for battle. During this time the two divisions were coming up from the river, but so hemmed in by rocks that only a few men could march abreast, and their point of union with the third division was little more than cannon-shot from the enemy’s position. The moment was critical, Picton did not conceal his disquietude, but Wellington undisturbed as the deep sea continued his observations without seeming to notice the dangerous position of his troops. When they had reached the main road he reinforced Picton with the sixth, and drew the light division by cross roads behind the Roman camp, thus connecting his wings and forming a central reserve. From this point bye-ways led, on the left to the high church of Baïghts and the Dax road, on the right to the Peyrehorade road; and two others led straight across the marsh to the French position.

This marsh, the open hill about which Soult’s guns and reserves were principally gathered, the form and nature of the ridges on the flanks, all combined to forbid an attack in front, and the flanks were scarcely more promising. The extremity of the French left sunk indeed to a gentle undulation in crossing the Peyrehorade road, yet it would have been useless to push troops on that line towards Orthes, between D’Erlon and Caste Tarbe, for the town was strongly occupied by Harispe and was there covered by an ancient wall and the bed of a torrent. It was equally difficult to turn the St. Boës flank because of the low marshy country into which the troops must have descended beyond the Dax road; and the brows of the hills trending backwards from the centre of the French position would have enabled Soult to oppose a new and formidable front at right angles to his actual position. The whole of the allied army must therefore have made a circuitous flank movement within gun-shot and through a most difficult country, or Beresford’s left must have been dangerously extended and the whole line weakened. Nor could the movement be hidden, because the hills although only moderately high were abrupt on that side, affording a full view of the low country, and Soult’s cavalry detachments were in observation on every brow.

It only remained to assail the French flanks along the ridges, making the principal efforts on the side of St. Boës, with intent if successful to overlap the French right beyond, and seize the road of St. Sever while Hill passed the Gave at Souars and cut off the road to Pau, thus enclosing the beaten army in Orthes. This was however no slight affair. On Picton’s side it was easy to obtain a footing on the flank ridge near the high road, but beyond that the ground rose rapidly and the French were gathered thickly with a narrow front and plenty of guns. On Beresford’s side they could only be assailed along the summit of the St. Boës ridge, advancing from the high church of Baïghts and the Dax road. But the village of St. Boës was strongly occupied, the ground immediately behind it was strangled to a narrow pass by the ravine, and the French reserve of sixteen guns, placed on the Dax road, behind the hill in the centre of Soult’s line, and well covered from counter-fire, was in readiness to crush the head of any column which should emerge from the gorge of St. Boës.

BATTLE OF ORTHES.

During the whole morning a slight skirmish with now and then a cannon-shot had been going on with the third division on the right, and the French cavalry at times pushed parties forward on each flank, but at nine o’clock Wellington commenced the real attack. The third and sixth divisions won without difficulty the lower part of the ridges opposed to them, and endeavoured to extend their left along the French front with a sharp fire of musquetry; but the main battle was on the other flank. There general Cole, keeping Anson’s brigade of the fourth division in reserve, assailed St. Boës with Ross’s British brigade and Vasconcellos’ Portuguese; his object was to get on to the open ground beyond it, but fierce and slaughtering was the struggle. Five times breaking through the scattered houses did Ross carry his battle into the wider space beyond; yet ever as the troops issued forth the French guns from the open hill smote them in front, and the reserved battery on the Dax road swept through them with grape from flank to flank. And then Taupin’s supporting masses rushed forwards with a wasting fire, and lapping the flanks with skirmishers, which poured along the ravines on either hand, forced the shattered columns back into the village. It was in vain that with desperate valour the allies time after time broke through the narrow way and struggled to spread a front beyond, Ross fell dangerously wounded, and Taupin, whose troops were clustered thickly and well supported defied their utmost efforts. Nor was Soult less happy on the other side. The nature of the ground would not permit the third and sixth divisions to engage many men at once, so that no progress was made; and one small detachment which Picton extended to his left, having made an attempt to gain the smaller tongue jutting out from the central hill, was suddenly charged, as it neared the summit, by Foy, and driven down again in confusion, losing several prisoners.

When the combat had thus continued with unabated fury on the side of St. Boës for about three hours, lord Wellington sent a caçadore regiment of the light division from the Roman camp to protect the right flank of Ross’s brigade against the French skirmishers; but this was of no avail, for Vasconcellos’ Portuguese, unable to sustain the violence of the enemy any longer, gave way in disorder, and the French pouring on, the British troops retreated through St. Boës with difficulty. As this happened at the moment when the detachment on Picton’s left was repulsed, victory seemed to declare for the French, and Soult, conspicuous on his commanding open hill, the knot of all his combinations, seeing his enemies thus broken and thrown backwards on each side put all his reserves in movement to complete the success. It is said that in the exultation of the moment he smote his thigh exclaiming, “At last I have him.” Whether this be so or not it was no vain-glorious speech, for the moment was most dangerous. There was however a small black cloud rising just beneath him, unheeded at first amidst the thundering din and tumult that now shook the field of battle, but which soon burst with irresistible violence. Wellington seeing that St. Boës was inexpugnable had suddenly changed his plan of battle. Supporting Ross with Anson’s brigade which had not hitherto been engaged, he backed both with the seventh division and Vivian’s cavalry now forming one heavy body towards the Dax road. Then he ordered the third and sixth divisions to be thrown in mass upon Foy’s left flank, and at the same time sent the fifty-second regiment down from the Roman camp with instructions to cross the marsh in front, to mount the French ridge beyond, and to assail the flank and rear of the troops engaged with the fourth division at St. Boës.

Colonel Colborne, so often distinguished in this war, immediately led the fifty-second down and crossed the marsh under fire, the men sinking at every step above the knees, in some places to the middle, but still pressing forwards with that stern resolution and order to be expected from the veterans of the light division, soldiers who had never yet met their match in the field. They soon obtained footing on firm land and ascended the heights in line at the moment that Taupin was pushing vigorously through St. Boës, Foy and D’Armagnac, hitherto more than masters of their positions, being at the same time seriously assailed on the other flank by the third and sixth divisions. With a mighty shout and a rolling fire the fifty-second soldiers dashed forwards between Foy and Taupin, beating down a French battalion in their course and throwing everything before them into disorder. General Bechaud was killed in Taupin’s division, Foy was dangerously wounded, and his troops, discouraged by his fall and by this sudden burst from a quarter where no enemy was expected, for the march of the fifty-second had been hardly perceived save by the skirmishers, got into confusion, and the disorder spreading to Reille’s wingSoult’s Official Reports, MSS. he also was forced to fall back and take a new position to restore his line of battle. The narrow pass behind St. Boës was thus opened, and Wellington seizing the critical moment thrust the fourth and seventh divisions, Vivian’s cavalry, and two batteries of artillery through, and spread a front beyond.

The victory was thus secured. For the third and sixth divisions had now won D’Armagnac’s position and established a battery of guns on a knoll, from whence their shot ploughed through the French masses from one flank to another. Suddenly a squadron of French chasseurs came at a hard gallop down the main road of Orthes to charge these guns, and sweeping to their right they rode over some of the sixth division which had advanced too far; but pushing this charge too madly got into a hollow lane and were nearly all destroyed. The third and seventh divisions then continued to advance and the wings of the army were united. The French general rallied all his forces on the open hills beyond the Dax road, and with Taupin’s, Roguet’s, Paris’, and D’Armagnac’s divisions made strong battle to cover the reformation of Foy’s disordered troops, but his foes were not all in front. This part of the battle was fought with only two-thirds of the allied army. Hill who had remained with twelve thousand combatants, cavalry and infantry, before the bridge of Orthes, received orders, when Wellington changed his plan of attack, to force the passage of the Gave, partly in the view of preventing Harispe from falling upon the flank of the sixth division, partly in the hope of a successful issue to the attempt: and so it happened. Hill though unable to force the bridge, forded the river above at Souars, and driving back the troops posted there seized the heights above, cut off the French from the road to Pau, and turned the town of Orthes. He thus menaced Soult’s only line of retreat by Salespice, on the road to St. Sever, at the very moment when the fifty-second having opened the defile of St. Boës the junction of the allies’ wings was effected on the French position.

Clauzel immediately ordered Harispe to abandon Orthes and close towards Villatte on the heights above Rontun, leaving however some conscript battalions on a rising point beyond the road of St. Sever called the “Motte de Turenne.” Meanwhile in person he endeavoured to keep general Hill in check by the menacing action of two cavalry regiments and a brigade of infantry; but Soult arrived at the moment and seeing that the loss of Souars had rendered his whole position untenable, gave orders for a general retreat.

This was a perilous matter. The heathy hills upon which he was now fighting, although for a short distance they furnished a succession of parallel positions favourable enough for defence, soon resolved themselves into a low ridge running to the rear on a line parallel with the road to St. Sever; and on the opposite side of that road about cannon-shot distance was a corresponding ridge along which general Hill, judging by the firing how matters went, was now rapidly advancing. Five miles distant was the Luy de Bearn, and four miles beyond that the Luy de France, two rivers deep and with difficult banks. Behind these the Lutz, the Gabas, and the Adour, crossed the line, and though once beyond the wooden bridge of Sault de Navailles on the Luy de Bearn, these streams would necessarily cover the retreat, to carry off by one road and one bridge a defeated army still closely engaged in front seemed impossible. Nevertheless Soult did so. For Paris sustained the fight on his right until Foy and Taupin’s troops rallied, and when the impetuous assault of the fifty-second and the rush of the fourth and seventh divisions drove Paris back, D’Armagnac interposed to cover him until the union of the allies’ wings was completed, then both retired, being covered in turn by Villatte. In this manner the French yielded, step by step and without confusion, the allies advancing with an incessant deafening musketry and cannonade, yet losing many men especially on the right where the third division were very strongly opposed. However as the danger of being cut off at Salespice by Hill became more imminent the retrograde movements were more hurried and confused; Hill seeing this, quickened his pace until at last both sides began to run violently, and so many men broke from the French ranks making across the fields towards the fords, and such a rush was necessarily made by the rest to gain the bridge of Sault de Navailles, that the whole country was covered with scattered bands. Sir Stapleton Cotton then breaking with lord Edward Somerset’s hussars through a small covering body opposed to him by Harispe sabred two or three hundred men, and the seventh hussars cut off about two thousand who threw down their arms in an enclosed field; yet some confusion or mismanagement occurring the greatest part recovering their weapons escaped, and the pursuit ceased at the Luy of Bearn.

The French army appeared to be entirely dispersed, but it was more disordered in appearance than reality, for Soult passed the Luy of Bearn and destroyed the bridge with the loss of only six guns and less than four thousand men killed wounded and prisoners. Many thousands of conscripts however threw away their arms, and we shall find one month afterwards the stragglers still amounting to three thousand. Nor would the passage of the river have been effected so happily if lord Wellington had not been struck by a musket-ball just above the thigh, which caused him to ride with difficulty, whereby the vigour and unity of the pursuit was necessarily abated. The loss of the allies was two thousand three hundred, of which fifty with three officers were taken, but among the wounded were lord Wellington, general Walker, general Ross, and the duke of Richmond, then lord March. He had served on lord Wellington’s personal staff during the whole war without a hurt, but being made a captain in the fifty-second, like a good soldier joined his regiment the night before the battle. He was shot through the chest a few hours afterwards, thus learning by experience, the difference between the labours and dangers of staff and regimental officers, which are generally in the inverse ratio to their promotions.

General Berton, stationed between Pau and OrthesMemoir by general Berton, MSS. during the battle, had been cut off by Hill’s movement, yet skirting that general’s march he retreated by Mant and Samadet with his cavalry, picking up two battalions of conscripts on the road. Meanwhile Soult having no position to rally upon, continued his retreat in the night to St. Sever, breaking down all the bridges behind him. Lord Wellington pursued at daylight in three columns, the right by Lacadée and St. Medard to Samadet, the centre by the main road, the left by St. Cricq. At St. Sever he hoped to find the enemy still in confusion, but he was too late; the French were across the river, the bridge was broken, and the army halted. The result of the battle was however soon made known far and wide, and Darricau who with a few hundred soldiers was endeavouring to form an insurgent levy at Dax, the works of which were incomplete and still unarmed, immediately destroyed part of the stores, the rest had been removed to Mont Marsan, and retreated through the Landes to Langon on the Garonne.

From St. Sever which offered no position Soult turned short to the right and moved upon Barcelona higher up the Adour; but he left D’Erlon with two divisions of infantry some cavalry and four guns at Caceres on the right bank, and sent Clauzel to occupy Aire on the other side of the river. He thus abandoned his magazines at Mont Marsan and left open the direct road to Bordeaux, but holding Caceres with his right he commanded another road by Rocquefort to that city, while his left being at Aire protected the magazines and artillery parc at that place and covered the road to Pau. Meanwhile the main body at Barcelona equally supported Clauzel and D’Erlon, and covered the great roads leading to Agen and Toulouse on the Garonne, and to the mountains by Tarbes.

In this situation it was difficult to judge what line of operations he meant to adopt. Wellington however passed the Adour about one o’clock, partly by the repaired bridge of St. Sever partly by a deep ford below, and immediately detached Beresford with the light division and Vivian’s cavalry to seize the magazines at Mont Marsan; at the same time he pushed the head of a column towards Caceres where a cannonade and charge of cavalry had place, and a few men and officers were hurt on both sides. The next day Hill’s corps marching from Samadet reached the Adour between St. Sever and Aire, and D’Erlon was again assailed on the right bank and driven back skirmishing to Barcelona. This event proved that Soult had abandoned Bordeaux, but the English general could not push the pursuit more vigorously, because every bridge was broken and a violent storm on the evening of the 1st had filled the smaller rivers and torrents, carried away the pontoon bridges, and cut off all communication between the troops and the supplies.

The bulk of the army was now necessarily haltedMarch. on the right bank of the Adour until the bridges could be repaired, but Hill who was on the left bank marched to seize the magazines at Aire. Moving in two columns from St. Savin and St. Gillies on the 2d, he reached his destination about three o’clock with two divisions of infantry a brigade of cavalry and a battery of horse-artillery; he expected no serious opposition, but general Clauzel had arrived a few hours before and was in order of battle covering the town with Villatte’s and Harispe’s divisions and some guns. The French occupied a steep ridge in front of Aire, high and wooded on the right where it overlooked the river, but merging on the left into a wide table-land over which the great road led to Pau. The position was strong for battle yet it could be readily outflanked on the left by the table-land, and was an uneasy one for retreat on the right where the ridge was narrow, the ravine behind steep and rugged with a mill-stream at the bottom between it and the town. A branch of the Adour also flowing behind Aire cut it off from Barcelona, while behind the left wing was the greater Lees a river with steep banks and only one bridge.

COMBAT OF AIRE.

General Hill arriving about two o’clock attacked without hesitation. General Stewart with two British brigades fell on the French right, a Portuguese brigade assailed their centre, and the other brigades followed in columns of march. The action was however very sudden, the Portuguese were pushed forward in a slovenly manner by general Da Costa, a man of no ability, and the French under Harispe met them on the flat summit of the height with so rough a charge that they gave way in flight. The rear of the allies’ column being still in march the battle was like to be lost, but general Stewart having by this time won the heights on the French right, where Villatte, fearing to be enclosed made but a feeble resistance, immediately detached general Barnes with the fiftieth and ninety-second regiments to the aid of the Portuguese. The vehement charge of these troops turned the stream of battle, the French were broken in turn and thrown back on their reserves, yet they rallied and renewed the action with great courage, fighting obstinately until General Byng’s British brigade came up, when Harispe was driven towards the river Lees, and Villate quite through the town of Aire into the space between the two branches of the Adour behind.

General Reille who was at Barcelona when the action began, brought up Roguet’s division to support Villatte, the combat was thus continued until night at that point, meanwhile Harispe crossed the Lees and broke the bridge, but the French lost many men. Two generals, Dauture and Gasquet, were wounded, a colonel of engineers was killed, a hundred prisoners were taken, many of Harispe’s conscripts threw away their arms and fled to their homes, and the magazines fell into the conqueror’s hands. The loss of the British troops was one hundred and fifty, general Barnes was wounded and colonel Hood killed. The loss of the Portuguese was never officially stated, yet it could not have been less than that of the British, and the vigour of the action proved that the French courage was very little abated by the battle of Orthes. Soult immediately retreated up the Adour by both banks towards Maubourget and Marciac, and he was not followed for new combinations were now opened to the generals on both sides.

OBSERVATIONS.

1º. On the 14th of February the passage of the Gaves was commenced, by Hill’s attack on Harispe at Hellette. On the 2d of March the first series of operations was terminated by the combat at Aire. In these sixteen days lord Wellington traversed with his right wing eighty miles, passed five large and several small rivers, forced the enemy to abandon two fortified bridge-heads and many minor works, gained one great battle and two combats, captured six guns and about a thousand prisoners, seized the magazines at Dax, Mont Marsan, and Aire, forced Soult to abandon Bayonne and cut him off from Bordeaux. And in this time he also threw his stupendous bridge below Bayonne and closely invested that fortress after a sharp and bloody action. Success in war like charity in religion covers a multitude of sins; but success often belongs to fortune as much as skill, and the combinations of Wellington, profound and sagacious, might in this manner be confounded with the lucky operations of the allies on the other side of France, where the presumption and the vacillation of ignorance alternately predominated.

2º. Soult attributed the loss of his positions to the superior forces of the allies. Is this well-founded? The French general’s numbers cannot be determined exactly, but after all his losses in December, after the detachments made by the emperor’s order in January, and after completing the garrison of Bayonne to fourteen thousand men, he informed theOfficial Correspondence, MSS. minister of war that thirty thousand infantry, three thousand cavalry and forty pieces of artillery were in line. This did not include the conscripts of the new levy, all youths indeed and hastily sent to the army by battalions as they could be armed, but brave and about eight thousand of them might have joined before the battle of Orthes. Wherefore deducting the detachments of cavalry and infantry under Berton on the side of Pau, and under Daricau on the side of Dax, it may be said that forty thousand combatants of all arms were engaged in that action. Thirty-five thousand were very excellent soldiers, for the conscripts of the old levy who joined before the battle of the Nivelle were stout men; their vigorous fighting at Garris and Aire proved it, for of them was Harispe’s division composed.

Now lord Wellington commenced his operations with the second third fourth and seventh British divisions, the independent Portuguese division under Le Cor, Morillo’s Spaniards, forty-eight pieces of artillery, and only four brigades of light cavalry, for Vandaleur’s brigade remained with Hope and all the heavy cavalry and the Portuguese were left in Spain. Following the morning states of the army, this would furnish, exclusive of Morillo’s Spaniards, something more than forty thousand fighting men and officers of all arms, of which four thousand were horsemen. But five regiments of infantry, and amongst them two of the strongest British regiments of the light division, were absent to receive their clothing; deduct these and we have about thirty-seven thousand Anglo-Portuguese combatants. It is true that Mina’s battalions and Morillo’s aided in the commencement of the operations, but the first immediately invested St. Jean Pied de Port and the latter invested Navarrens. Lord Wellington was therefore in the battle superior by a thousand horsemen and eight guns, but Soult outnumbered him in infantry by four or five thousand, conscripts it is true, yet useful. Why then was the passage of the Gaves so feebly disputed? Because the French general remained entirely on the defensive in positions too extended for his numbers.

3º. Offensive operations must be the basis of a good defensive system. Let Soult’s operations be tried by this rule. On the 12th he knew that the allies were in motion for some great operation and he judged rightly that it was to drive him from the Gaves. From the 14th to the 18th his left was continually assailed by very superior numbers, but during part of that time Beresford could only oppose to his right and centre, the fourth and a portion of the seventh divisions with some cavalry; and those not in a body and at once but parcelled and extended, for it was not until the 16th that the fourth seventh and light divisions were so closed towards the Bidouze as to act in one mass. On the 15th lord Wellington admitted that his troops were too extended, Villatte’s, Taupin’s, and Foy’s divisions, were never menaced until the 18th, and there was nothing to prevent D’Erlon’s divisions which only crossed the Adour on the 17th from being on the Bidouze the 15th. Soult might therefore by rapid and well-digested combinations have united four divisions of infantry and a brigade of cavalry to attack Beresford on the 15th or 16th between the Nive and the Adour. If successful the defeated troops, pushed back upon the sixth division, must have fought for life with the rivers on their flanks, Soult in front, and the garrison of Bayonne issuing from the works of Mousseroles on their rear. If unsuccessful the French retreat behind the Gave of Oleron could not have been prevented.

It is however to be pleaded that Soult was not exactly informed of the numbers and situation of his opponents. He thought Beresford had the firstSoult’s Official Reports, MSS. division also on the Lower Bidouze; he knew that Wellington had large reserves to employ, and, that general’s design of passing the Adour below Bayonne being unknown to him, he naturally supposed they would be used to support the operations on the Gaves: he therefore remained on the defensive. It might possibly also have been difficult to bring D’Erlon’s division across the Adour by the Port de Lannes before the 17th, because the regular bridge had been carried away and the communications interrupted a few days before by the floods. In fine there are many matters of detail in war known only to a general-in-chief which forbid the best combinations, and this it is that makes the art so difficult and uncertain. Great captains worship Fortune.

On the 24th the passage of the Gave d’Oleron was effected. Soult then recognised his error and concentrated his troops at Orthes to retake the offensive. It was a fine movement and effected with ability, but he suffered another favourable opportunity of giving a counter-blow to escape him. The infantry under Villatte, Harispe, and Paris, supported by a brigade of cavalry, were about Sauveterre, that is to say, four miles from Montfort and only seven from Villenave, where the principal passage was effected, where the ford was deep, the stream rapid, and the left bank although favourable for the passage not entirely commanding the right bank. How then did it happen that the operation was effected without opposition? Amongst the allies it was rumoured at the time that Soult complained of the negligence of a general who had orders to march against the passing troops. The position of Harispe’s division at Monstrueig, forming a reserve at equal distances from Sauveterre and Villenave, would seem to have been adopted with that view, but I find no confirmation of the report in Soult’s correspondence, and it is certain he thought Picton’s demonstrations at Sauveterre was a real attack.

4º. The position adopted by the French general at Orthes was excellent for offence. It was not so for defence, when Beresford and Picton had crossed the Gave below in force. Lord Wellington could then throw his whole army on that side, and secure his communication with Hope, after which outflanking the right of the French he could seize the defile of Sault de Navailles, cut them off from their magazines at Dax, Mont Marsan and Aire, and force them to retreat by the Pau road leaving open the way to Bordeaux. To await this attack was therefore an error, but Soult’s originalOfficial Correspondence, MSS. design was to assail the head of the first column which should come near him and Beresford’s approach to Baïghts on the 26th furnished the opportunity. It is true that the French light cavalry gave intelligence of that general’s march too late and marred the combination, but there was still time to fall on the head of the column while the third division was in the act of passing the river and entangled in the narrow way leading from the ford toNotes by general Reille and colonel De la Chasse, MSS. the Peyrehorade road: it is said the French marshal appeared disposed to do this at first, but finally took a defensive position in which to receive battle.

However when the morning came he neglected another opportunity. For two hours the third division and the hussars remained close to him, covering the march of the sixth and light divisions through the narrow ways leading from the bridge of Berenx up to the main road; the infantry had no defined position, the cavalry had no room to extend, and there were no troops between them and Beresford who was then in march by the heights of Baïghts to the Dax road. If the French general had pushed a column across the marsh to seize the Roman camp he would have separated the wings of the allies; then pouring down the Peyrehorade road with Foy’s, D’Armagnac’s and Villatte’s divisions he would probably have overwhelmed the third division before the other two could have extricated themselves from the defiles. Picton therefore had grounds for uneasiness.

With a subtle skill did Soult take his ground of battle at Orthes, fiercely and strongly did he fight, and wonderfully did he effect his retreat across the Luy of Bearn, but twice in twenty-four hours he had neglected those happy occasions which in war take birth and flight at the same instant; and as the value of his position, essentially an offensive one, was thereby lost, a slowness to strike may be objected to his generalship. Yet there is no commander, unless a Hannibal or a Napoleon surpassing the human proportions, but will abate something of his confidence and hesitate after repeated defeats, Soult in this campaign as in many others proved himself a hardy captain full of resources.

5º. Lord Wellington with a vastness of conception and a capacity for arrangement and combination equal to his opponent, possessed in a high degree that daring promptness of action, that faculty of inspiration for suddenly deciding the fate of whole campaigns with which Napoleon was endowed beyond all mankind. It is this which especially constitutes military genius. For so vast so complicated are the combinations of war, so easily and by such slight causes are they affected, that the best generals do but grope in the dark, and they acknowledge the humiliating truth. By the number and extent of their fine dispositions then, and not by their errors, the merit of commanders is to be measured.

In this campaign lord Wellington designed to penetrate France, not with a hasty incursion but solidly, to force Soult over the Garonne, and if possible in the direction of Bordeaux, because it was the direct line, because the citizens were inimical to the emperor, and the town, lying on the left bank of the river, could not be defended; because a junction with Suchet would thus be prevented. Finally if by operating against Soult’s left he could throw the French army into the Landes, where his own superior cavalry could act, it would probably be destroyed.

To operate against Soult’s left in the direction of Pau was the most obvious method of preventing a junction with Suchet, and rendering the positions which the French general had fortified on the Gaves useless. But the investment of Bayonne required a large force, which was yet weak against an outer attack because separated in three parts by the rivers; hence if lord Wellington had made a wide movement on Pau, Soult might have placed the Adour between him and the main army and then fallen upon Hope’s troops on the right side of that river. The English general was thus reduced to act upon a more contracted line, and to cross all the Gaves. To effect this he collected his principal mass on his right by the help of the great road leading to St. Jean Pied de Port, then by rapid marches and reiterated attacks he forced the passage of the rivers above the points which Soult had fortified for defence, and so turned that general’s left with the view of finally cutting him off from Suchet and driving him into the wilderness of the Landes. During these marches he left Beresford on the lower parts of the rivers to occupy the enemy’s attention and cover the troops blockading Mousseroles. Meanwhile by the collection of boats at Urt and other demonstrations indicating a design of throwing a bridge over the Adour above Bayonne, he diverted attention from the point chosen below the fortress for that operation, and at the same time provided the means of throwing another bridge at the Port de Lannes to secure the communication with Hope by the right bank whenever Soult should be forced to abandon the Gaves. These were fine combinations.

I have shown that Beresford’s corps was so weak at first that Soult might have struck a counter-blow. Lord Wellington admitted the error. Writing on the 15th he says, “If the enemy stand upon the Bidouze I am not so strong as I ought to be,” and he ordered up the fourth and light divisions; but this excepted, his movements were conformable to the principles of war. He chose the best strategic line of operations, his main attack was made with heavy masses against the enemy’s weakest points, and in execution he was prompt and daring. His conduct was conformable also to his peculiar situation. He had two distinct operations in hand, namely to throw his bridge below Bayonne and to force the Gaves. He had the numbers required to obtain these objects but dared not use them lest he should put the Spanish troops into contact with the French people; yet he could not entirely dispense with them; wherefore bringing Freyre up to Bayonne, Morillo to Navarrens, and Mina to St. Jean Pied de Port, he seemed to put his whole army in motion, thus gaining the appearance of military strength with as little political danger as possible. Nevertheless so terrible had the Spaniards already made themselves by their cruel lawless habits that their mere return across the frontier threw the whole country into consternation.

6º. When in front of Orthes it would at first sight appear as if lord Wellington had changed his plan of driving the enemy upon the Landes, but it was not so. He did not expect a battle on the 27th. This is proved by his letter to sir John Hope in which he tells that general that he anticipated no difficulty in passing the Gave of Pau, that on the evening of the 26th the enemy were retiring, and that he designed to visit the position at Bayonne. To pass the Gave in the quickest and surest manner, to re-establish the direct communications with Hope and to unite with Beresford, were his immediate objects; if he finally worked by his left it was a sudden act and extraneous to the general design, which was certainly to operate with Hill’s corps and the light division by the right.

It was after passing the Gave at Berenx on the morning of the 27th lord Wellington first discovered Soult’s intention to fight, and that consequently he was himself in a false position. Had he shewn any hesitation, any uneasiness, had he endeavoured to take a defensive position with either Beresford’s or Picton’s troops, he would inevitably have drawn the attention of the enemy to his dangerous situation. Instead of this, judging that Soult would not on the instant change from the defensive to the offensive, he confidently pushed Picton’s skirmishers forward as if to assail the left of the French position, and put Beresford in movement against their right, and this with all the coolness imaginable. The success was complete. Soult who supposed the allies stronger than they really were, naturally imagined the wings would not be so bold unless well supported in the centre where the Roman camp could hide a multitude. He therefore held fast to his position until the movement was more developed, and in two hours the sixth and light divisions were up and the battle commenced. It was well fought on both sides but the crisis was decided by the fifty-second, and when that regiment was put in movement only a single Portuguese battalion was in reserve behind the Roman camp: upon such nice combinations of time and place does the fate of battles turn.

7º. Soult certainly committed an error in receiving battle at Orthes, and it has been said that lord Wellington’s wound at the most critical period of the retreat alone saved the hostile army. Nevertheless the clear manner in which the French general carried his troops away, his prompt judgement, shown in the sudden change of his line of retreat at St. Sever, the resolute manner in which he halted and showed front again at Caceres, Barcelonne, and Aire, were all proofs of no common ability. It was Wellington’s aim to drive the French on to the Landes, Soult’s to avoid this, he therefore shifted from the Bordeaux line to that of Toulouse, not in confusion but with the resolution of a man ready to dispute every foot of ground. The loss of the magazines at Mont Marsan was no faultSoult’s Official Correspondence, MSS. of his; he had given orders for transporting them towards the Toulouse side fifteen days before, but the matter depending upon the civil authorities was neglected. He was blamed by some of his officers for fighting at Aire, yet it was necessary to cover the magazines there, and essential to his design of keeping up the courage of the soldiers under the adverse circumstances which he anticipated. And here the palm of generalship remained with him, for certainly the battle of Orthes was less decisive than it should have been. I speak not of the pursuit to Sault de Navailles, nor of the next day’s march upon St. Sever, but of Hill’s march on the right. That general halted near Samade the 28th, reached St. Savin on the Adour the 1st and fought the battle of Aire on the evening of the 2d of March. But from Samadet to Aire is not longer than from Samadet to St. Savin where he was on the 1st. He could therefore, if his orders had prescribed it so, have seized Aire on the 1st before Clauzel arrived, and thus spared the obstinate combat at that place. It may also be observed that his attack did not receive a right direction. It should have been towards the French left, because they were more weakly posted there, and the ridge held by their right was so difficult to retire from, that no troops would stay on it if any progress was made on the left. This was however an accident of war, general Hill had no time to examine the ground, his orders were to attack, and to fall without hesitation upon a retiring enemy after such a defeat as Orthes was undoubtedly the right thing to do; but it cannot be said that lord Wellington pushed the pursuit with vigour. Notwithstanding the storm on the evening of the 1st he could have reinforced Hill and should not have given the French army time to recover from their recent defeat. “The secret of war,” says Napoleon, “is to march twelve leagues, fight a battle and march twelve more in pursuit.”