February 16th.—No news from the right; no one returned yet; the reports are, that the French do not stand, but retire before us. In the mean time things are going on well here. The weather is fine again, the sea quiet, the river has quite cleared his course, and to-day the navigation is open. The fort at the mouth of the Adour sent a few shots against the Lyra brig when cruising yesterday to inspect; but no harm done. Every one is busy.
Poor —— does not seem to draw well with Lord Wellington. The latter received him so queerly at the last interview, that —— says he shall do all he can to execute what he is ordered, and be quiet. Lord Wellington never consulted him, and has never even told him exactly where the grand bridge which he is preparing is to be; and the consequence is, the width of the river has not been precisely ascertained at the place intended, where the engineers have instruments which would do it in a minute, if they were ordered. Without orders they cannot, as it would require a guard of three hundred or four hundred men to go near enough, and that can only be with orders. But then, were I ——, I should ask for the guard and do it, propose it first, or try and get it quietly from the Adjutant-general without troubling Lord Wellington, and let him find the thing done. —— seems to be too much of the English official school; has too much regard to forms and regular orders. All this entre nous. Elphinstone of the Engineers tells me he wrote for a plan of Bayonne four months since, and has only received a very miserable one, of scarcely any use.
The grand bridge is to be formed of the largest vessels now in the harbour—about fifty of them. Pontoons would never do. They are to be about 25 feet or 27 feet apart, and cable bridges between to communicate with planks, each vessel carrying its own materials to plank, &c. This is a grand plan, but rather arduous. I hope it may answer, as it will be an event in military matters, crossing a great river at the mouth below the fortified town, and that in the hands of the enemy on both sides of the river.
February 17th, Thursday.—Still fine weather, and no one returned, and no news from Lord Wellington. I had a report here through the emigrés, and son Altesse Royale, as he is now called, that the Allies are within a league of Paris. “Quelle mauvaises nouvelles! ils m’ont dit.” Their alarm at the reported Congress at Chatillon sur Seine, and Lord Castlereagh, has to-day of course a little subsided in consequence. A peace with Bonaparte would ruin them for ever. If Paris now declares itself, on the other hand it will spread, and the whole business, in my opinion, be at an end in their favour. If not, it is clear that their party is very small, and their interests forgotten.
The 18th, Friday.—Still Lord Wellington not returned; but we had some news of what has been done on the right. The French retired skirmishing, but would never stand to let us charge. They were obliged to remain longer than they wished to cover some guns which they carried off; and also, the evening before last, they intended to take up their ground for the night in a position which Lord Wellington thought it would suit him to drive them from. By doing this late in the day they were obliged to resist more than they probably otherwise would, if they had expected it, and been prepared for the retreat. We have taken about ten or twelve officers prisoners, and about two hundred men. Some say that we might have had as many thousands, could we have been two hours sooner. These things are always, however, said. Supposing that we had been two hours sooner, the French would have been just where they were; and it is forgotten that if we had moved sooner, they might probably just have done the same thing. We have ourselves sustained some loss, and that in a greater proportion of officers than men. I am told, about a hundred and twenty men. General Pringle is shot in the breast,—an awkward place, but they hope not badly, considering the situation. General Byng’s aide-de-camp, Captain Clitherow, is killed, and, I believe, Lieutenant Moore, of the Artillery. Aides-de-camp and Brigade-Majors have suffered much of late; Lord Wellington’s are uncommonly fortunate. I have heard also that Lieutenant-colonel Bruce is wounded, a Bevan (Major or Colonel in the Portuguese service), and some subalterns of the two brigades of General Byng and General Pringle, the only two engaged.
By the last accounts Lord Wellington’s head-quarters were at Garris, near St. Palais, and the French are driven across the Bidouge, a river that runs into the Adour below the Gaves, and near Grammont’s place, Guiche, of which he is duke. The French have only picquets on our side the first Gave—the Gave d’Oleron, when they are driven across. I think Lord Wellington will return here to-morrow to inspect the grand bridge and the operations on this side, which are the most ticklish. Elphinstone would have his bridge ready to-morrow night if the materials get round in time from Passages, and provided one vessel is got out from our river here, for one could not be moved over the bar yesterday, from its having the guns on board, which are to be dropped into the Adour, to assist in moving the vessels of the bridge. By taking out the guns this difficulty may be got over, but the wind is not fair from Passages. This is the worst part of the business, for though the elements alone may be to blame, still Lord Wellington, if his plans are thwarted, will be in a rage with ——. He banishes the terms difficulty, impossibility, and responsibility from his vocabulary.
The moment he has done on the right, he wants to be ready here, as he knows that so long as he remains there, the attention of the French is drawn that way, and the same when he shall return here. We have now no troops here. The guards have moved into Bidart, and we have now permanently occupied Biaritz in front of Bayonne; General Vandeleur sleeps there, and all his horses are unsaddled. The light division have crossed the Nive. The fifth moved a little more to their right, to occupy part of the ground of the light near Arbonne and Arrauntz, towards Ustaritz; and the third division, under General Picton, have gone up to St. Jean Pied de Port, but hitherto without opposition. The Adjutant-general, when he went himself over to the hospital stations of Fontarabia and Passages, routed out about fourteen hundred convalescents, and malingerers, and they passed through here for their regiments yesterday, for every man is wanted now. Unluckily, no reinforcements have arrived from England; why we cannot say, for the wind is fair, and the papers say they sailed a month since, and the regiments have had notice of their intended arrival. The artillery also expect five hundred horses, which would now be an inestimable treasure, as many are going and getting weak. There are also about six thousand Portuguese ready to join in Portugal, but who remain for want of transport, as I am told: this is unlucky, as they were well-seasoned recruits.
It is curious that even latterly, ever since we left the mountains, almost all our advanced troops—the advanced line—have been Portuguese; they not only stop our deserters, but go off very much less themselves. From the terrible loss of oxen, we are all now, officers and all in this neighbourhood, living upon salt rations, sea-beef and pork. Luckily for me, however, we can now buy a little fresh meat. I am very much vexed with myself for not having desired you to send me out a good map of France, for I have only the department on this side the Adour, and the whole seat of the war is now France. I should like to have got the abridged or reduced Casini, which is used here, and liked, a map about five or six feet by four or five, and Stockdale’s vicinity of Bayonne, taken from Casini’s large one. These two would have been a treasure, now that we are likely to move; and I conclude Stockdale will go on publishing some more of Casini to follow us up.
We have begun to establish a recruiting-party at head-quarters, to select out of the French deserters good subjects for the Chasseurs Britanniques, &c. I hope it will answer, but I have my doubts. In the mean time, I shall have to play the part of a magistrate, and swear them all in. The news from Bayonne to-day is, that a courier arrived yesterday express from Paris in sixty hours; of course he brought something very important. The story in Bayonne is, that the negotiation and Congress is broken up already, and this is now considered most excellent news here, excepting by a few soldiers of fortune, and real lovers of their trade, who think it would flourish much better after a peace with Bonaparte than with the Bourbons. What a contrast between the Moniteur a year and a half since about Moscow, &c., and the late ones about the works round Paris, and the room left—eighteen inches—for the piétons only to pass, &c., and the immense zeal and activity: Dejà on voit les embrassures pour quatres canons. You will have seen all this, however, and have been as much amused, no doubt, as we have been.
I have just seen Major D——, who is returned from the right. He says that we have been well received in general, and found a tolerable supply of everything in the new country we have been in. If the inhabitants will but stay, they will find a good market for everything; instead of losing the produce for nothing; and stragglers, single plunderers, dare not commit depredations on the houses in that case. The people here are in despair at the expected entrance of the Spaniards. We have now shops in abundance, and a good market, and can, with plenty of money, procure most things; and now we are on the point of being off.