Lord Wellington has not yet returned; he must now exert his wits, to cure this mishap, which will not, in my opinion, put him in the best of humours.
The Pyrenees were to-day perfectly clear, and very striking. An immense snowy barrier almost entirely white, with scarcely any bare rock visible. They are not by any means so picturesque as the Alps. They form a large mass, without much variety of form and character; and have not that contrast of pointed, craggy, fancifully-shaped rocks, rounded lower hills covered with verdure, and fine forest scenery, which is seen in Switzerland.
Two of the medical officers and one of the 42nd of the sixth division, taken at Hagenau, have escaped and come into us, but plundered of everything. The French marched them seven or eight leagues a-day, nearly thirty miles; and the one I spoke to had been concealed four days after his escape with scarcely anything to eat, until he had an opportunity of joining our corps under General Hill.
Head-Quarters, Seisses, March 31st, 1814.—Our disappointment in crossing the river on the 28th has kept us here ever since: and the halt has given me employment, which has prevented my writing to you. As soon as we become quiet, I am set to work in order to prevent all arrears, and to let punishment follow the offence as fast as possible.
Our General has spent his mornings in riding all over the country to reconnoitre; and he dispatches all his other multitude of business at odd hours and times. The new plan was at last resolved upon, and last night the execution of it commenced. The divisions on this side Toulouse are pushed in close to the suburbs of St. Cyprien, near which the French have been for some days most busily at work, fortifying themselves to defend the bridge. Finding the river so wide below the junction with the Arrige at Portet, General Hill (with great difficulty owing to the rapidity of the Garonne, caused by the last two days’ continual rain) succeeded at last, in pursuance of his orders, in fixing his pontoons across that river above the junction with the Arrige; and having been nearly all night at work, began to cross about four o’clock this morning, and has sent word that he is over. A ridge of high land forms a sort of tongue between the two rivers. This he is to take post upon immediately, and march off a corps as rapidly as possible, about three leagues, to a bridge over the Arrige, which he is to surprise and preserve if possible, and defend, thus fixing himself securely between the two rivers, preparatory to further movements of the rest of the army. The Spaniards under Murillo crossed with General Hill. General Frere’s Spaniards move into the ground which General Hill leaves.
I was upon the church-tower early this morning, and saw the Spanish column moving all along the plain, headed by some of our heavy dragoons; the fog on the river prevented my seeing more. On descending, I found Lord Wellington and all his suite, just about to be off, when the arrival of an English mail to the 16th, stopped him. By this we have your very bad news from Holland, and many private letters accounting for the failure. All here are open-mouthed at the reported consequences; namely, that the reinforcements intended for Lord Wellington are going to Holland. This is worse than the defeat. Very little was ever expected here from that army from various causes; it was always considered as so many men quite thrown away, as regards the main cause. I thought them, latterly, worse than inefficient, after they had once given the Dutch an opportunity of arming, by clearing their country, for they have the effect of preventing exertion on the part of the Dutch. The moment they had cleared Holland they should, in my opinion, have been sent to us, and thus by a sense of pressing danger, ought to have roused the sleepy heavy Dutchmen to do something for themselves when once well in the scrape, getting only arms and artillery and stores from England.
By the exchange of prisoners, the officers so much wanted by the French, whom Lord Wellington has taken here, will get back again by these losses in Holland, another way in which that army has done more harm than good. It would have been better to leave our people prisoners than to release French regular officers at this moment, for their value in the newly-raised corps is immense, and considerably beyond that of ours to England. Besides the numbers in the town would have hastened its surrender, or compelled the governor to send them out without exchange.
This is, however, reasoning upon general principles, and not upon personal feelings as to the officers taken: I do think, however, that this exchange was permitting humanity to have more weight than policy. There seem to have been much blundering and confusion in the execution of our attack, and from what I can hear the plan was allowed to fail just when the difficulties were nearly all over. It is always to be regretted when our people are ordered to run their heads against stone walls and heavy guns, and that even here, for I think the French seem to understand that work best, and we lose more in one of these affairs than we do in gaining a great battle in the fair field, where the French cannot be brought now to stand against us. On this ground, I feel a little anxious, even as to Toulouse, supposing the French to remain firm, which is doubtful, and still more as to Bayonne.
Mr. C—— and a commissariat officer arrived here yesterday from Bordeaux: the accounts they bring are bad enough. The National Guard are disarmed; no arming of any consequence going on; no efficient English naval force has arrived; and the people, though they shout for the King at the opera, &c., are all in a terrible fright lest the French should return, since we have so small a force there; and, according to report, many repent of what they have done.
The Duke d’Angoulême does not appear to me to be made of stuff to gain a kingdom, though he would have kept one and been popular, from his amiable qualities. He has committed many blunders, I am told, and the white cockade gentry, like the emigrés of old, amuse themselves with inventing lies concerning Bonaparte and his armies, which the maire of Bordeaux publishes in a bulletin, which Bonaparte’s bulletins, lying as they are, effectually and satisfactorily contradict the next day.