Saturday.—Our regular mail has not yet arrived; so your papers up to the 11th have been in most constant request; for, though there was one here up to the 13th, there was no regular set to the 11th. The snow has ended in torrents of cold rain again; the roads, almost more impassable, if that be possible, than they were before, of course impede all movement, even if intended. Nothing but a rising or commotions, would tempt us out, and that must be without cannon in a great measure, and dependant for provisions principally on the country, as our transport diminishes daily in the army, from the death of mules, or desertion of muleteers.
The life of the subaltern officers just now is very arduous and unpleasant; winter quarters they certainly have, but that is all; four or five in a room, comforts very few, a great deal of duty with forage parties, and going to Passages for corn, bread, &c., and always in the wet, and up to the knees in mud. Matters, however, must, in my opinion, end soon.
We have French papers to the 20th, and by them find the Allies at Langres, Dijon, and Lyons; we are told that they are well received. Upon this it must very much turn at last. The news from the French camp and from Bayonne is of peace. Our mayor has had a letter from his confidential friend at Bayonne. The basis was at last agreed upon on both sides, and a congress to take place at Basle. This may be fabricated, for the purpose of keeping the country and army here quiet until the event be really so. The French must now or never get rid of Bonaparte, if they wish it. It is not very flattering to the Bourbons, that even the repeated sufferings and disasters the nation has endured from Bonaparte scarcely seem to be able to rouse up the least attachment to them; and that even the last necessity seems hardly to make the people willing to run any risks for the old royal family. Yet I am almost sure the feeling would rapidly spread, from the sort of despair now prevailing as to la pauvre France, if a good beginning could be but once made.
You must remember the article of capitulation as to the Commissaire de Guerre and his family, the brother’s wife, and two daughters, &c., at St. Sebastian. They have never yet returned to France, and are now here. The exchange of the Commissaire could never be arranged; and the ladies, though offered to return without him, would not do so, expecting that he would every day be able to accompany them. Lord Wellington let them remain at Passages, until the matter was finally settled; and there they have been all the time in the same house with one of our Commissaries, Mr. M——. And now, when they were all to go back, the latter has declared himself the admirer professed of the youngest girl, and they are after all halted here at St. Jean de Luz until he can marry her, and then the rest of the party pass into the French lines. I met them at dinner yesterday; they are a pleasant family. The girl pleasing and rather pretty, and in the English style; the mother a clever woman; the other girl not pretty, but odd, and, I think, clever.
Our new Admiral is arrived, having left England on the 21st. All our mails are thus forestalled, as we have still only mail papers and letters to the 5th. We are told that there is no news in particular, but that all is warlike. Our story here is, however, of a still later date, and may possibly still be true. The only other news we have is from Catalonia; and that, it is to be feared, is bad. You will, however, get it before you have this, I conclude, from the Gazette. General Donkin told me his letters stated that we had made an attack on Moulins del Rey on the Lobregat, near Barcelona; that the Spaniards were to cross the river and turn the French: that they were too slow and too late, and so the whole plan failed; but that we suffered but little, and that the loss was nearly all Spanish, who lost two colonels killed. I do not believe that all Spain would drive Suchet or his army out, except by time, and wear and tear—never by force. The Government, however, have behaved well, I believe, as to the late French attempts through Ferdinand, and through our English hero—Palafox.
I am sorry not to be able still to admire the latter. It is mortifying to strike out the name of one of the few Spanish heroes which this five years’ war has produced. I am now, however, satisfied that the Spanish insurrection, and all its good consequences, was owing to the thorough ignorance and want of calculation, and of information and judgment of the Spaniards. If they had had more common sense, and knowledge of the true state of things, even their zeal and patriotism (which I admit were considerable) would never have induced them to adopt a course so devoid of all prospect of a favourable result, and which every thinking, impartial, able man must have pronounced a desperate mad scheme. We owe it principally, I am sure, to their excessive pride and ignorance, their good opinion, yet want of knowledge of themselves. And this accounts for the most able men at first all going the wrong way.
Sunday, 30th, Post-day.—Nothing but wind and rain, wind and rain for ever, and no more news. Some of the deserters say that the French head-quarters are removed to my old place, Mont de Marsan; but I should think that this can scarcely be yet. The new Admiral dined at head-quarters yesterday, but I understand, has brought little news. One ship under his orders, it is feared, has been lost already, as we have a report of a sloop of war, The Holly, lost at Passages, and several of the crew with it. This is certainly a terrible coast. There is now a vessel riding in the bay here, very uneasy, and cannot enter; and one was as nearly as possible lost yesterday morning close to Sacoa; the surf broke over her. The exertions of the French pilots were astonishing.
Sunday, later, 5 o’clock, 30th.—We have two French officers come out here from England to seek a better fate by a little intrigo, I suppose. One is a Basque of this country on half-pay from our service, and the other, a Monsieur La Fitte, I believe a clever man, and a La Vendée hero.
CHAPTER XXI.
Army Supplies—Offending Villages—Symptoms of Work—Arrival of the Duke D’Angoulême—The Bridge across the Adour—Wellington and his Chief Engineer—His Activity.