CHAPTER III.
Extremely perilous and disheartening was the1814. March. situation of the French general. His army was greatly reduced by his losses in battle and by the desertion of the conscripts, and three thousand stragglers, old soldiers who ought to have rejoined their eagles, were collected by different generals, into whose districts they had wandered, and employed to strengthen detached corps instead of being restored to the army. All his magazines were taken, discontent the natural offspring of misfortune prevailed amongst his officers, a powerful enemy was in front, no certain resources of men or money behind, and his efforts were ill-seconded by the civil authorities. The troops indignant at the people’s apathy behaved with so much violence and insolence, especially during the retreat from St. Sever, that Soult, who wanted officers very badly, proposed toSoult’s Official Correspondence, MSS. fill the vacancies from the national guards that he might have “men who would respect property.” On the other hand the people comparing the conduct of their own army with the discipline of the Anglo-Portuguese, and contrasting the requisitions necessarily imposed by their countrymen with the ready and copious disbursements in gold made by their enemies, for now one commissary preceded each division to order rations for the troops and another followed to arrange and pay on the spot, were become so absolutely averse to the French army that Soult writing to the minister of war thus expressed himself. “If the population of the departments of the Landes of Gers, and the Lower Pyrenees, were animated with a good spirit, this is the moment to make the enemy suffer by carrying off his convoys and prisoners, but they appear more disposed to favour the invaders than to second the army. It is scarcely possible to obtain a carriage for transport and I shall not be surprised to find in a short time these inhabitants taking arms against us.” Soult was however a man formed by nature and by experience to struggle against difficulties, always appearing greater when in a desperate condition than when more happily circumstanced. At Genoa under Massena, at Oporto, and in Andalusia, he had been inured to military distress, and probably for that reason the emperor selected him to sustain this dangerous contest in preference to others accounted more ready tacticians on a field of battle.
On the 3d and 4th he retreated by Plaissance and Madiran to Rabastens, Marciac, and Maubourget where he halted, covering Tarbes, for his design was to keep in mass and await the development of the allies’ plans. In this view he called in the detachments of cavalry and infantry which had been left on the side of Pau before the battle of Orthes, and hearing that Darricau was at Langon with a thousand men he ordered him to march by Agen and join the army immediately. He likewise put the national guards and gensd’armes in activity on the side of the Pyrenees, and directed the commanders of the military districts in his rear to keep their old soldiers, of which there were many scattered through the country, in readiness to aid the army.
While thus acting he received from the minister of war a note dictated by the emperor.
“Fortresses,” said Napoleon, “are nothing in themselves when the enemy having the command of the sea can collect as many shells and bullets and guns as he pleases to crush them. Leave therefore only a few troops in Bayonne, the way to prevent the siege is to keep the army close to the place. Resume the offensive, fall upon one or other of the enemy’s wings, and though you should have but twenty thousand men if you seize the proper moment and attack hardily you ought to gain some advantage. You have enough talent to understand my meaning.”
This note came fourteen days too late. But what if it had come before? Lord Wellington after winning the battle of St. Pierre the 13th of December was firmly established on the Adour above Bayonne, and able to interrupt the French convoys as they descended from the Port de Landes. It was evident then that when dry weather enabled the allies to move Soult must abandon Bayonne to defend the passage of the Gaves, or risk being turned and driven upon the Landes from whence it would be difficult for him to escape. Napoleon however desired him to leave only a few men in Bayonne, another division would thus have been added to his field army, and this diminution of the garrison would not have increased lord Wellington’s active forces, because the investment of Bayonne would still have required three separate corps: moreover until the bridge-head at Peyrehorade was abandoned to concentrate at Orthes, Bayonne was not rigorously speaking left to its own defence.
To the emperor’s observations Soult therefore replied, that several months before, he had told the minister of war Bayonne was incapable of sustaining fifteen days open trenches unless the entrenched camp was well occupied, and he had been by the minister authorised so to occupy it. Taking that as his base he had left a garrison of thirteen thousand five hundred men, and now that he knew the emperor’s wishes it was no longer in his power to withdraw them. With respect to keeping close to the place he had done so as long as he could without endangering the safety of the army; but lord Wellington’s operations had forced him to abandon it, and he had only changed his line of operations at St. Sever when he was being pushed back upon Bordeaux with little prospect of being able to pass the Garonne in time. He had for several months thought of establishing a pivot of support for his movements at Dax, in the design of still holding by Bayonne, and with that view had ordered the old works of the former place to be repaired and a camp to be fortified; but from poverty of means even the body of the place was not completed or armed at the moment when the battle of Orthes forced him to relinquish it. Moreover the insurgent levy of the Landes upon which he depended to man the works had failed, not more than two hundred men had come forward. Neither was he very confident of the advantage of such a position, because Wellington with superior numbers would probably have turned his left and forced him to retire precipitately towards Bordeaux by the desert of the greater Landes.
The emperor ordered him to take the offensive were it only with twenty thousand men. He would obey with this observation, that from the 14th of February to that moment he had had no power to take the initiatory movement, having been constantly attacked by infinitely superior numbers. He had defended himself as he could, but had not expected to succeed against the enormous disproportion of force. It being thus impossible, even though he sacrificed his last man in the attempt, to stop the enemy, he now sought to prolong the war as much as possible on the frontier, and by defending every position to keep the invaders in check and prevent them from attacking Bordeaux or Toulouse, save by detachments. He had taken his line of operations by the road of Tarbes, St. Gaudens, and Toulouse, that is to say, by the roots of the Pyrenees, calculating that if lord Wellington sent small detachments against Bordeaux or Toulouse, the generals commanding at those places would be able if the national guards would fight for their country to defend them.
If the enemy made large detachments, an attack in front while he was thus weakened would bring them back again. If he marched with his whole army upon Bordeaux he could be followed and forced to face about. If he attempted to march by Auch against Toulouse he might be stopped by an attack in flank. If he remained stationary he should be provoked by an advance to develop his objects. But if, as was to be expected, the French army was itself attacked it would defend its position vigorously, and then retreating by St. Gaudens draw the allies into a difficult mountain country, where the ground might be disputed step by step the war be kept still on the frontier and the passage of the Garonne be delayed. He had meditated deeply upon his task and could find no better mode. But his army was weakened by combats, still more by desertion; the conscripts went off so fast that of five battalions lately called up from Toulouse two-thirds were already gone without having seen an enemy.
Soult was mistaken as to the real force of the allies in the recent operations. In other respects he displayed clear views and great activity. He reorganized his army in six divisions, called in his detachments, urged the imperial commissioners and local authorities to hasten the levies and restore deserters, and he prepared a plan of action for the partizans which had been organized towards the mountains. Nevertheless his difficulties increased. The conscripts who did arrive were for the most part unarmed and he had none to spare. The imperial commissary Cornudet, and the prefect of the Gironde, quitted Bordeaux, and when general L’Huillier attempted to remove the military stores belonging to the army from Langon, Podensac, and Bordeaux, the inferior authorities opposed him. There was no money they said to pay the expense, but in truth Bordeaux was the focus of Bourbon conspiracy, and the mayor, count Lynch, was eager to betray his sovereign.
Nor was Wellington without embarrassments. The storms prevented him following up his victory while the French army was in confusion. Now it was reorganized on a new line and could retreat for many days in a direction parallel to the Pyrenees with strong defensive positions. Should he press it closely? His army weakened at every step would have to move between the mountains and the Garonne exposing its flanks and rear to the operations of any force which the French might be able to collect on those boundaries; that is to say all the power of France beyond the Garonne. It was essential to find some counterpoise, and to increase his field army. To establish a Bourbon party at Bordeaux was an obvious mode of attaining the first object. Should he then seize that city by a detachment? He must employ twelve thousand men and remain with twenty-six thousand to oppose Soult, who he erroneously believed was being joined by the ten thousand men which Suchet had sent to Lyons. The five regiments detached for their clothing had rejoined the army and all the reserves of cavalry and artillery were now called up, but the reinforcements from England and Portugal, amounting to twenty thousand men, upon which he had calculated were detained by the respective governments. Wherefore, driven by necessity he directed Freyre to join him by the Port de Landes with two divisions of the Gallician army, a measure which was instantly followed by innumerable complaints of outrages and excesses, although the Spaniards were entirely provided from the English military chest. Now also Clinton was ordered to send the British and Germans of the Anglo-Sicilian army to St. Jean de Luz. This done he determined to seize Bordeaux. Meanwhile he repaired the destroyed bridges, brought up one of Morillo’s brigades from Navarrens to the vicinity of Aire, sent Campbell’s Portuguese dragoons to Rocquefort, general Fane with two regiments of cavalry and a brigade of infantry to Pau, and pushed posts towards Tarbes and Vic Bigorre.
Soult, now fearing the general apathy and ill-will of the people would become fatal to him, endeavoured to arouse the energies of the people and the army by the following proclamation which has been unreasonably railed at by several English writers, for it was a judicious well-timed and powerful address.
“Soldiers, at the battle of Orthes you did your duty, the enemy’s losses surpassed yours, his blood moistened all the ground he gained. You may consider that feat of arms as an advantage. Other combats are at hand, no repose for us until his army, formed of such extraordinary elements, shall evacuate the French territory or be annihilated. Its numbers and progress may be great, but at hand are unexpected perils. Time will teach the enemy’s general that French honour is not to be outraged with impunity.
“Soldiers, he has had the indecency to provoke you and your countrymen to revolt and sedition, he speaks of peace but firebrands of discord follow him! He speaks of peace and excites the French to a civil war! Thanks be to him for making known his projects, our forces are thereby centupled; and he himself rallies round the imperial eagles all those who deceived by appearances believed our enemies would make a loyal war. No peace with the disloyal and perfidious nation! no peace with the English and their auxiliaries until they quit the French territory! they have dared to insult the national honour, the infamy to incite Frenchmen to become perjured towards the emperor. Revenge the offence in blood. To arms! Let this cry resound through the south of France, the Frenchman that hesitates abjures his country and belongs to her enemies.
“Yet a few days and those who believe in English delicacy and sincerity will learn to their cost that cunning promises are made to abate their courage and subjugate them. They will learn also that if the English pay to-day and are generous, they will to-morrow retake and with interest in contributions what they disburse. Let the pusillanimous beings who calculate the cost of saving their country remember that the English have in view to reduce Frenchmen to the same servitude as the Spaniards Portuguese and Sicilians who groan under their domination. Past history will recall to those unworthy Frenchmen who prefer momentary enjoyment to the safety of the great family, the English making Frenchmen kill Frenchmen at Quiberon; it will show them at the head of all conspiracies, all odious political intrigues plots and assassinations, aiming to overthrow all principles, to destroy all grand establishments of trade to satisfy their immeasurable ambition, their insatiable cupidity. Does there exist upon the face of the globe a point known to the English where they have not destroyed by seditions and violence all manufactures which could rival their own? Thus they will do to the French establishments if they prevail.
“Devote then to opprobrium and execration all Frenchmen who favour their insidious projects, aye! even those who are under his power if they seek not to hurt him. Devote to opprobrium and reject as Frenchmen those who think under specious pretexts to avoid serving their country; and those also who from corruption or indolence hide deserters instead of driving them back to their colours. With such men we have nothing in common, and history will pass their names with execrations to posterity. As to us soldiers our duty is clear. Honour and fidelity. This is our motto and we will fight to the last the enemies of our emperor and France. Respect persons and property. Grieve for those who have momentarily fallen under the enemy’s yoke, and hasten the moment of their deliverance. Be obedient and disciplined, and bear implacable hatred towards traitors and enemies of the French name! War to death against those who would divide us to destroy us; and to those cowards who desert the imperial eagles to range themselves under another banner. Remember always that fifteen ages of glory, triumphs innumerable, have illustrated our country. Contemplate the prodigious efforts of our great sovereign, his signal victories which immortalize the French name. Let us be worthy of him and we can then bequeath without a taint to our posterity the inheritance we hold from our fathers. Be in fine Frenchmen and die arms in hand sooner than survive dishonour.”
Let the time and the occasion of this proclamation be considered. Let it be remembered that no English writer orator or politician, had for many years used milder terms than robbers, murderers, atheists, and tyrant, when speaking of Frenchmen and their sovereign, that lord Wellington even at this time refused that sovereign his title of emperor, calling him Buonaparte; that on entering France he had published an order of the day accusing the French commanders of authorising and encouraging the cruelties of their soldiers in Spain; finally that for six years the Spanish Portuguese and English state papers were filled with most offensive ribald abuse of Napoleon his ministers and commanders. Let all this be remembered and the acrimony of Soult’s proclamation cannot be justly blamed, while the noble energy, the loyalty of the sentiments, the exciting passionate feeling of patriotism which pervades it must be admired. Was he, sprung from the ranks, a soldier of the republic, a general of the empire, after fighting thirty years under the tri-colour, to be tame and measured to squeamishness in his phrases when he saw his country invaded by foreigners, and a pretender to the throne stalking behind their bayonets beckoning his soldiers to desert their eagles, inviting his countrymen to betray their sovereign and dishonour their nation! Why the man was surrounded by traitors, and proud and scornful of danger was his spirit to strive so mightily against defeat and treason combined.
It has been said in condemnation of him that the English general did not encourage the Bourbon party. Is that true? Did it so appear to the French general? Had not the duke of Angoulême come to the English head-quarters with mystery, and following the invading army and protected by its arms assemble round him all the ancient partizans of his house, sending forth agents, scattering proclamations even in Soult’s camp, endeavouring to debauch his soldiers and to aid strangers to subjugate France. Soult not only knew this but was suffering under the effects. On every side he met with opposition and discontent from the civil authorities, his movements were made known to the enemy and his measures thwarted in all directions. At Bordeaux a party were calling aloud with open arms to the invaders. At Tarbes the fear of provoking an action near the town had caused the dispersion of the insurrectional levy organized by the imperial commissioner Caffarelli. At Pau the aristocracy had secretly assembled to offer homage to the duke of Angoulême, and there was a rumour that he was to be crowned at the castle of Henry IV. Was the French general to disregard these facts and symptoms because his opponent had avoided any public declaration in favour of the Bourbon family? Lord Wellington would have been the first to laugh at his simplicity if he had.
And what was the reason that the English general did not openly call upon the Bourbon partizans to raise the standard of revolt? Simply that Napoleon’s astounding genius had so baffled the banded sovereigns and their innumerable hordes that a peace seemed inevitable to avoid fatal disasters; and therefore lord Wellington, who had instructions from his government not to embarrassSecret instructions from Lord Bathurst, MSS. any negociation for peace by pledges to a Bourbon party, acting as an honest statesman and commander, would not excite men to their own ruin for a momentary advantage. But so far from discouraging treason to Napoleon on any other groundPublished Despatches. he avowed his anxious desire for it, and his readiness to encourage every enemy of that monarch. He had seen and consulted with La Roche Jacquelin, with de Mailhos and other vehement partizans for an immediate insurrection; and also with Viel Castel an agent of Bernadotte’s until he found him intriguing against the Bourbons. He advised the duke of Angoulême to form regular battalions, promised him arms and actually collected eighty thousand stand, to arm the insurgents. Finally he rebuked the timid policy of the English ministers who having such an opportunity of assailing Napoleon refrained from doing it. Before Soult’s proclamation appeared he thus wrote to lord Bathurst.
“I find the sentiment as we advance in the country still more strong against the Buonaparte dynasty and in favour of the Bourbons, but I am quite certain there will be no declaration on the part of the people if the allies do not in some manner declare themselves.” “I cannot discover the policy of not hitting one’s enemy as hard as one can and in the most vulnerable place. I am certain that he would not so act by us, he would certainly overturn the British authority in Ireland if it were in his power.”
Soult and Wellington acted and wrote, each in the manner most suitable to their situation, but it was not a little remarkable that Ireland should so readily occur to the latter as a parallel case.
It was in this state of affairs that the English general detached Beresford with twelve thousand men against Bordeaux, giving him instructions to occupy that city and acquire the Garonne as a port for the allies, but to make the French authorities declare whether they would or would not continue to exercise their functions under the conditions announced by proclamation. For hitherto lord Wellington had governed the country as he advanced in this public manner, thus nullifying the misrepresentations of political intriguers, obviating the dangers of false reports and rumours of his projects, making his justice and moderation known to the poorest peasant, and securing the French local authorities who continued to act under him from any false and unjust representation of their conduct to the imperial government if peace should be made with Napoleon. This expedition against Bordeaux however involved political as well as military interests. Beresford was instructed that there were many partizans of the Bourbons in that city who might propose to hoist the white standard and proclaim Louis the Eighteenth under protection of the troops. They were to be told that the British nation and its allies wished well to their cause, and while public tranquillity was maintained in the districts occupied by the troops there would be no hindrance to their political proceedings: they or any party opposed to Napoleon would receive assistance. Nevertheless, as the allied sovereigns were negociating with the French emperor, however well inclined the English general might be to support a party against the latter during war, he could give no help if peace were concluded, and this they must weigh well before they revolted. Beresford was therefore not to meddle with any declaration in favour of Louis the Eighteenth; but he was not to oppose it, and if revolt took place he was to supply the revolters with the arms and ammunition collected at Dax.
On the 8th Beresford marched towards Langon with the fourth and seventh divisions, Vivian’s horsemen, and some guns; he was joined on the road by some of Vandeleur’s cavalry from Bayonne, and he had orders to observe the enemy’s movements towards Agen, for it was still in Soult’s power by a forced march on that side to cross the Garonne and enter Bordeaux before him. La Roche Jacquelin preceded the troops and the duke of Angoulême followed closely, but his partizans in the city frightened at the danger of their enterprize now besought Beresford to delay his march. La Roche Jacquelin vehemently condemned their hesitation, and his influence supported by the consternation which the battle of Orthes had created amongst the Napoleonists decided the question in favour of revolt.
Long before this epoch, Soult, foreseeing that the probable course of the war would endanger Bordeaux, had given orders to place the forts in a state of defence, to arm the flotilla and to organize the national guards and the urban legions; he had urged these measures again when the imperial commissioner Cornudet first arrived, but according to the usual habits of civilians who have to meddle with military affairs every thing was promised and nothing done. Cornudet and the prefect quitted the city as early as the 4th, first burning with a silly affectation of vigour some ships of war upon the stocks; general L’Huillier, unable to oppose the allies, then destroyed the fort of Médoc on the left bank of the Garonne, disarmed some of the river batteries, and passing in the night of the 11th to the right bank occupied the fortress of Blaye, the Paté and other points. Meanwhile Beresford who reached Langon the 10th, left lord Dalhousie there with the bulk of the forces and advanced with eight hundred cavalry.
Entering Bordeaux the 12th, he met the municipality and a great body of Bourbonists, at the head of whom was the mayor count Lynch, decorated with the scarf of his office and the legion of honour, both conferred upon him, and probably at his own solicitation, by the sovereign he was then going to betray. After some formal discourse in which Beresford explicitly made known his instructions Lynch very justly tore the tricolor, the emblem of his country’s glory, from his own shoulders, the white flag was then displayed and the allies took peaceable possession of the city. The duke of Angoulême arrived on the same day and Louis the Eighteenth was formally proclaimed. This event, the act of a party, was not generally approved, and the mayor conscious of weakness immediately issued with the connivance of the duke of Angoulême a proclamation, in which he asserted, that “the British Portuguese and Spanish armies were united in the south, as the other nations were united in the north, solely to destroy Napoleon and replace him by a Bourbon king who was conducted thither by these generous allies, and only by accepting that king could the French appease the resentment of the Spaniards.” At the same time the duke of Angoulême, as if quite master of the country, appointed prefects and other authorities in districts beyond the limits of Bordeaux.
Both the duke and the mayor soon repented of their precipitancy. The English fleet which should have acted simultaneously with the troops had not arrived; the Regulus a French seventy-four with several inferior vessels of war were anchored below Blaye, and Beresford was recalled with the fourth division and Vivian’s cavalry. Lord Dalhousie remained with only the seventh division and three squadrons to oppose L’Huillier’s troops and other French corps which were now on the Garonne. He could not guard the river below Bordeaux, and some French troops recrossing again took possession of the fort of Grave near the mouth; a new army was forming under general Decaen beyond the Garonne, the Napoleonists recovering from their first stupor began to stir themselves, and a partizan officer coming down to St. Macaire on the 18th surprised fifty men which lord Dalhousie had sent across the Garonne from Langon to take possession of a French magazine. In the Landes the peasants forming bands burned the houses of the gentlemen who had joined the white standard, and in Bordeaux itself a counter-insurrection was preparing whenever Decaen should be ready to advance.
The prince frightened at these symptoms of reaction desired lord Dalhousie to bring his troops into Bordeaux to awe the Napoleonists, and meanwhile each party strove to outvie the other in idle rumours and falsehoods relating to the emperor. Victories and defeats were invented or exaggerated, Napoleon was dead from illness, had committed suicide, was poisoned, stabbed; and all these things were related as certain with most circumstantial details. Meanwhile Wellington, writing to the duke of Angoulême, denied the veracity of the mayor’s proclamation and expressed his trust that the prince was not a party to such a mendacious document. The latter however with some excuses about hurry and confusion avowed his participation in its publication, and defended the mayor’s conduct. He also forwarded a statement of the danger his party was exposed to and demanded aid of men and money, supporting his application by a note of council in which with more ingenuity than justice, it was argued, that as civil government could not be conducted without executive power, and as lord Wellington had suffered the duke of Angoulême to assume the civil government at Bordeaux without an adequate executive force, he was bound to supply the deficiency from his army, and even to furnish money until taxes could be levied under the protection of the soldiers.
The English general was not a man to bear with such sophistry in excuse for a breach of faith. Sorry he was he said to find that the principle by which he regulated his conduct towards the Bourbon party, though often stated, had made so little impression that the duke could not perceive how inconsistent it was with the mayor’s proclamation. Most cautious therefore must be his future conduct, seeing that as the chief of an army and the confidential agent of three independent nations, he could not permit his views to be misrepresented upon such an important question. He had occupied Bordeaux as a military point, but certain persons contrary to his advice and opinion thought proper to proclaim Louis the Eighteenth. Those persons made no exertions, subscribed not a shilling, raised not a soldier, yet because he would not extend the posts of his army beyond what was proper and convenient, merely to protect their families and property, exposed to danger, not on account of their exertions for they had made none, but on account of their premature declaration contrary to his advice, they took him to task in a document delivered to lord Dalhousie by the prince himself. The writer of that paper and all such persons however might be assured that nothing should make him swerve from what he thought his duty to the sovereigns who employed him, he would not risk even a company of infantry to save properties and families placed in a state of danger contrary to his advice. The duke had better then conduct his policy and compose his manifestos in such a manner as not to force a public contradiction of them. His royal highness was free to act as he pleased for himself, but he was not free to adduce the name and authority of the allied governments in support of his measures when they had not been consulted, nor of their general when he had been consulted but had given his opinion against those measures.
He had told him that if any great town or extensive district declared in favour of the Bourbons he would not interfere with the government of that town or district, and if there was a general declaration in favour of his house he would deliver the civil government of all the country overrun by the army into his hands, but the fact was that even at Bordeaux the movement in favour of the Bourbons was not unanimous. The spirit had not spread elsewhere, not even to La Vendée, nor in any part occupied by the army. The events contemplated had not therefore occurred, and it would be a great breach of duty towards the allied sovereigns and cruel to the inhabitants if he were to deliver them over to his royal highness prematurely or against their inclinations. He advised him therefore to withdraw his prefects and confine his government to Bordeaux. He could give him no money and after what had passed he was doubtful if he should afford him any countenance or protection. The argument of the note of council, affirming that he was bound to support the civil government of his royal highness, only rendered it more incumbent upon him to beware how he gave farther encouragement, or to speak plainly, permission to the Bourbonists to declare themselves. It was disagreeable to take any step which should publicly mark a want of good understanding between himself and the duke, but count Lynch had not treated him with common fairness or with truth, wherefore as he could not allow the character of the allied sovereigns or his own to be doubted, if his royal highness did not within ten days contradict the objectionable parts of the mayor’s proclamation he would do so himself.
Thus it appeared that with the French as with the Spaniards and Portuguese neither enthusiastic declarations nor actual insurrection offered any guarantee for sense truth or exertion; and most surely all generals and politicians of every country who trust to sudden popular commotions will find that noisy declamations, vehement demonstrations of feeling, idle rumours and boasting, the life-blood of such affairs, are essentially opposed to useful public exertions.
When Beresford marched to rejoin the army the line of occupation was too extensive for lord Dalhousie and lord Wellington ordered him to keep clear of the city and hold his troops together, observing that his own projected operations on the Upper Garonne would keep matters quiet on the lower part of that river. Nevertheless if the war had continued for a month that officer’s situation would have been critical. For when Napoleon knew that Bordeaux had fallen he sent Decaen byOfficial Reports and Correspondence of general Decaen upon the formation of the army of the Gironde, 1814, MSS. post to Libourne to form the “army of the Gironde.” For this object general Despeaux acting under Soult’s orders collected a body of gensd’armes custom-house officers and national guards on the Upper Garonne, between Agen and La Reolle, and it was one of his detachments that surprised lord Dalhousie’s men at St. Macaire on the 18th. A battery of eight guns was sent down from Narbonne, other batteries were despatched from Paris to arrive at Perigueux on the 11th of April, and three or four hundred cavalry coming from the side of Rochelle joined Le Huillier who with a thousand infantry was in position at St. André de Cubsac beyond the Dordogne. Behind these troops all the national guards custom-house officers and gensd’armes of five departments were ordered to assemble, and march to the Dordogne; but the formidable part of the intended army was a body of Suchet’s veterans, six thousand in number under general Beurman, who had been turned from the road of Lyons and directed upon Libourne.
Decaen entered Mucidan on the 1st of April but Beurman’s troops had not then reached Perigeaux, and lord Dalhousie’s cavalry were in Libourne between him and L’Huillier. The power of concentration was thus denied to the French and meanwhile admiral Penrose had secured the command of the Garonne. It appears lord WellingtonPublished despatches. thought this officer dilatory, but on the 27th he arrived with a seventy-four and two frigates, whereupon the Regulus, and other French vessels then at Royan, made sail up the river and were chased to the shoal of Talmont, but they escaped through the narrow channel on the north side and cast anchor under some batteries. Previous to this event Mr. Ogilvie a commissary, being on the river in a boatOfficial Report by Mr. Ogilvie, MSS. manned with Frenchmen, discovered the Requin sloop, half French half American, pierced for twenty-two guns, lying at anchor not far below Bordeaux, at the same time he saw a sailor leap hastily into a boat above him and row for the vessel. This man being taken proved to be the armourer of the Requin, he said there were not many men on board, and Mr. Ogilvie observing his alarm and judging that the crew would also be fearful, with ready resolution bore down upon the Requin, boarded, and took her without any opposition either from her crew or that of his own boat, although she had fourteen guns mounted and eleven men with two officers on board.
The naval co-operation being thus assured lord Dalhousie crossed the Garonne above the city, droveApril. the French posts beyond the Dordogne, pushed scouring parties to La Reolle and Marmande, and sending his cavalry over the Dordogne intercepted Decaen’s and La Huilhier’s communications; the former was thus forced to remain at Mucidan with two hundred and fifty gensd’armes awaiting the arrival of Beurman, and he found neither arms nor ammunition nor a willing spirit to enable him to organize the national guards.
The English horsemen repassed the Dordogne on the 2d of April, but on the 4th lord Dalhousie crossed it again lower down, near St. André de Cubzac, with about three thousand men, intending to march upon Blaye, but hearing that L’Huillier had halted at Etauliers he turned suddenly upon him. The French general formed his line on an open common occupying some woods in front with his detachments. Overmatched in infantry he had three hundred cavalry opposed to one weak squadron, and yet his troops would not stand the shock of the battle. The allied infantry cleared the woods in a moment, the artillery then opened upon the main body which retired in disorder, horsemen and infantry together, through Etauliers, leaving behind several scattered bodies upon whom the British cavalry galloped and made two or three hundred men and thirty officers prisoners.
If the six thousand old troops under Beurman had, according to Napoleon’s orders, arrived at this time in lord Dalhousie’s rear, his position would have been embarrassing but they were delayed on the road until the 10th. Meanwhile admiral Penrose, having on the 2d observed the French flotilla, consisting of fifteen armed vessels and gun-boats, coming down from Blaye to join the Regulus at Talmont sent the boats of his fleet to attack them, whereupon the French vessels run on shore and the crews aided by two hundred soldiers from Blaye lined the beach to protect them. Lieutenant Dunlop who commanded the English boats landing all his seamen and marines, beat these troops and carried off or destroyed the whole flotilla with a loss to himself of only six men wounded and missing. This operation completed and the action at Etauliers known, the admiral, now reinforced with a second ship of the line, resolved to attack the French squadron and the shore batteries, but in the night of the 6th the enemy set fire to their vessels. Captain Harris of the Belle Poule frigate then landed with six hundred seamen and marines and destroyed the batteries and forts on the right bank from Talmont to the Courbe point. Blaye still held out, but at Paris treason had done its work and Napoleon, the man of mightiest capacity known for good, was overthrown to make room for despots, who with minds enlarged only to cruelty avarice and dissoluteness, were at the very moment of triumph intent to defraud the people, by whose strength and suffering they had conquered, of the only reward they demanded, just government. The war was virtually over, but on the side of Toulouse, Bayonne, and Barcelona, the armies ignorant of this great event were still battling with unabated fury.