All the military men in the vicinity were here with Lord Wellington, including General Frere, the Spanish General. The ground-rockets, intended against cavalry, did not seem to answer very well. They certainly made a most tremendous noise, and were formidable spitfires; no cavalry could stand if they came near them, but in that seemed the difficulty, for none went within half a mile of the intended object, and the direction seemed extremely uncertain. The ground was very bad, and on a flat, or along a road, where they would ricochet or bound along straight they might do very well, but in the present experiment they went bang into the ground, sometimes within two hundred yards, and sometimes one way and sometimes another. Some of them, instead of going fourteen hundred yards, as intended, were off in a hundred, and some pieces of the shell came back even amongst us spectators, one very near Dr. N—— and me, whilst we were standing on one side, out of the way as we thought. The fire, however, seemed very strong, as one got into a green hedge, and set it in a blaze directly; the furze and heath were on fire, and only put out by the rain. Those which were let off at an elevation supposed for burning towns, &c., were much more successful, and some went very near the spot, compared with others; that is, I think they would have hit Bayonne, for instance, somewhere or other, and no doubt have set fire to the town; but the part of the town you could not very well choose, for their power seemed very different, and the wind at times carried them three hundred or four hundred yards away from the direction intended.
Upon the whole I do not think they were much admired, though in certain cases they might be useful, especially when the enemy are in a mountainous track, like at the battle of Pamplona, and near us. Where guns could not be got up without great difficulty, these rockets could be carried by hand, or on mules, and being let off near, would have tremendous effect even upon infantry when in column. General ——, who is very wise and knowing in the secret views and springs of everything (or at least would be thought so), says that all that fuse of the Crown Prince and Sir Charles Stewart, as to the effect of the rockets in the North, was to please the Prince Regent in England, the great patron of the rockets.
The stranded ship was, I hear, driven out of the harbour of Sacoa by the gale. This is quite extraordinary, for the vessels are there quite shut up. The place is, however, too full by far, for no transport likes to move again when once safe there. The packet lost in the harbour of Passages last week shows you the sort of gales and seas we have here.
This morning, a French picquet of about thirty men were marched off from hence, prisoners; they were surprised by us two nights ago. We got close, and when challenged, an old Highlander called out “deserter,” so the sentinel did not fire, and our men got in among them and carried off the picquet. I am not very glad of this, for I fear it will lead the French to try and return the compliment, and make the outpost duty much more dangerous and troublesome than it has been. If it only leads to their shooting our next deserter, so much the better. Deserters continue to come in and tell strange stories. They say that Marshal Soult has issued orders, that whenever a foreigner is to be on outpost duty, all his necessaries, knapsack, &c., are to be taken from him, and he is besides to be watched and placed with others. They even say that a German posted on sentry has his shoes taken away from him. This, barring exaggeration, no doubt is nearly true.
It is reported that last week three hundred young conscripts belonging to one regiment were employed to carry bread to the brigade, and that when near one of the French sentinels, they were challenged by him, but from not understanding matters, they made no answer, and advanced; upon which he fired at them, when the whole three hundred threw down their bread and ran into camp, crying, that the enemy were coming.
But the best story of all, if true, was told by the mayor of Biaritz, who states that he understands three French divisions are under orders to proceed direct to Lyons, whether to meet Schwartzenburg or on account of disturbances does not seem clear, even if the story be true.
Friday, January 21st.—In spite of the wet yesterday, Lord Wellington having heard of the surprised picquet, set off to the front to inquire about it, or, as he said last night, to know if it was worth while to surprise it again, as it has been renewed by the French; but he thought not, and was back here to dinner, and in the evening at a ball at the mayoralty. This ball was an attempt to ascertain how far anything of the sort would answer. The mayor was to manage it, and ask all the ladies, and a list of the officers to be asked was given to him, and tickets sent out, and he was to provide the best entertainment he could for a dollar-a-head from the gentlemen only, which will be collected accordingly. It went off, however, but ill, and will not in my opinion be renewed. There were about a dozen or fifteen elderly women, French, who have remained here, and who seemed of the better order, but who came in our country town fashion, with the cloak, the woman servant, and the large lantern, only many of them brought the maid in with them to sit behind and look on. Then there were about sixteen or eighteen younger ladies, French, but who seemed to be nearly all the tradesmen’s families in the place, none of the better sort, but from behind the counter in the morning. They were, however, well dressed, and danced tolerably for French—for English very finely. About half a dozen old Frenchmen, some respectable; and about eight young beaux of the place, who had escaped the conscription, and who had remained here, made up the French party. There were six English ladies altogether, but who, excepting one, declined dancing French dances or waltzes, and there was nothing else but one country dance, which went off ill. I have no doubt the French either thought them excessively fine, or that they could not dance. There might be quite as much of the latter as the former. Then to complete the assembly, came about two hundred officers, all in their best, and forming a very smart squeeze. What would your fine ladies in London have not given for such a display of gentlemen? All the field officers of six battalions of the Guards, and about fifty other guards’ officers, and all the head-quarters’ staff, generals, aides-de-camp, were there.
I think Cobbett would have admitted that, with so many fine young men there, the whole Peninsula squad could not be quite so despicable in the eyes of the English fair. Three sets of cotillions were formed, and some waltzes, but the whole went off but indifferently. A Frenchman of about forty or fifty, one of the police of the town, volunteered a hornpipe, which was tolerably good. About 12 or 1 o’clock a long table was opened for the ladies, covered with pastry of different shapes: no meat—the wine, claret. At half-past one I came away, leaving the dancers rather beginning to romp. This will not do, because the belles are not good enough to please in a sober way, and if liberties are taken they would be offended, or at least their male relations would be for them. Lord Wellington was soon off, and whilst there seemed to be principally occupied with little military arrangements. He, however, seemed pleased with the thing, and asked me as I passed, if I thought Gazan ever had a better ball? I only said, “I am sure there never were so many gentlemen in the mayor’s house before.” Better dancing, however, there may have been.
Still rain, without ceasing. I have been skipping with one of my mule ropes, instead of my walk to-day with my umbrella. I got to the wrecked ship yesterday. The best account seems to be that she pulled up the post to which she was fastened in Sacoa harbour, and drifted out; the captain was on shore; the missing are three men and a woman, and they are supposed to be lost, and it is believed that the men were in the rigging trying to make things right, when the mast broke. The Guards were set to work as fatigue-parties at low water, and the cargo removed on shore, consisting of hay and biscuit, not much damaged by the wreck. The hay, however, of which one truss fell to my share, was previously almost mouldy with wet, perhaps a little taste of salt may give it a relish, and any how it is as good as coarse straw and furze, and better than nothing, which is my mules’ long forage at present. The muleteer is so popular, the Portuguese give him so much drink to make him dance and amuse them, that he is very ill with it, and lying below with a blister and emetic; and the mules therefore get no grass, as I cannot turn them out; and straw I cannot afford them.
Another ingenious trick has just been told me of the French here. They advanced towards Murillo’s Spaniards,—the latter fired at them; they sent in to say they were very much surprised, for they understood they were at peace with the Spaniards now, as a treaty was signed. Murillo sent back for answer, that he knew of no peace, and that, if the Cortes or Regency had signed such a peace, still he should continue to do as the English did, and fire at the French until orders came to him to the contrary, and that regularly through the Duke of Ciudad Rodrigo. This is all as it should be, but the trick is a curious one.