[N.B.—It was not possible to trace or find this print, though every inquiry was made.]
Oyarzun, in Spain, at the Head-Quarters of General Graham, October 4th, 1813.—Once more again at liberty, as far as my rheumatic limbs will permit: the will, at least, is free, and I hope soon my arms and legs will be so likewise.
Lezaca, Head-Quarters, October 7th, 1813.—To-day I have a little leisure, as every one is engaged out, and a grand attack is to be made on the French position to drive them quite off that mountain, La Rhüne. It will be, I fear, tough work: I dare not go and peep again, even if I were well enough, so have taken up this paper. Baggage and all for the present remain here, only ready to load in case of necessity.
Lord Wellington had much difficulty in procuring my exchange, and has been very kind; indeed every one here has appeared very much interested in my return, and “my French value.” The Commissary-at-War was treated here like a prince, to procure me every favour, when he went back, by his representations. In short, if my pain goes off, I shall not regret my other losses, which amount to about 230l., but shall feel myself a very fortunate man upon the whole.
Monsieur Babedac, the banker at Bayonne, is most liberal and kind to all the English officers taken. I hear a hundred have had money from him; only five bills of 110l. in the whole have been sent back unpaid; this, I hope, Lord Wellington will pay, though the banker said, if distress occasioned it, he did not wish it. Nearly all my baggage is now collected safely, through the kindness of friends. I have been, as you may suppose, much questioned by Lord Wellington, &c., and many now seem to envy me the trip, as it has ended so well.
I will now fill up my former French letter a little more freely. On the morning following, the scene at the French head-quarters at St. Jean de Luz was very curious. First came rumbling back from the attack seven brigades, or about forty-two pieces of ordnance, with the ammunition-waggons, about a hundred, looking very gloomy, almost all drawn by mules, and generally in good condition. You will here observe how soon the French come about again. Then came the pontoon bridge, and, lastly, perpetual strings of cars, with the wounded; the poor country people shaking their heads and lamenting all this misery, all wishing for peace, and all saying that it was their Emperor who prevented it, from his unbounded ambition. This was the talk of the officers, and of all. They said the Allies, if successful, would rise in their demands; that Bonaparte was too proud to yield, and peace would only be further off than ever. This was the conversation, when they heard of the check in the North.
When the account of the first victory of the 25th came (which by-the-by was the first information received as to the quarrel with Austria), they were all in high spirits, and exclaimed—“Ah! le pauvre beau Père, il sera chassé,” and “Peace from the North will either give us peace here also, or enable us to drive you all back to Portugal with the reinforcements which we shall obtain.” Things changed afterwards, and three weeks after the bulletin of the 25th, &c., and only the day before the bad bulletin came out, a Te Deum had been ordered at Bayonne, and a hundred coups de canon for the first victory! The people almost laughed at this themselves, though very miserable.
At the inn at St. Jean de Luz, where I was billeted with a gens-d’arme at the door, we were allowed to dine with the officers, who were all returning starved from the lines to get a belly full. I here met with men of a superior description, Colonels of the Guards, Chief Medical Officers, Post-Masters, Commissaries, &c. They were civil, some of them gentleman-like and free in their conversation, much irritated at having been beaten by the Spaniards, which, with a tirade about numbers, they admitted to be the fact. Monsieur D’Arnot, a young man attached to General Clausel, and a young Dutch officer, gay, tall, and handsome, were the most attentive to us, and without any object, which most of the others had in view, to get a wife back, or a lost portmanteau, their letters, &c.
The people all told us that had we been quite prepared to advance into France at first, Bayonne was open, and without guns, dismantled; that we might have walked in and gone on to Bordeaux. I believe much of this, but not entirely, and our men were nearly as much harassed as the French. The French troops in the first confusion behaved very ill, and plundered the inhabitants, throwing away their arms, and absolutely flying. Marshal Soult’s orders on this subject were stronger even than Lord Wellington’s were here. The inhabitants generally said that they would remain quiet if the English came alone, and would leave the armies to settle it, for all they wanted was peace; but as they knew how the Portuguese and Spaniards had been treated, and what they might therefore expect in return, they must all fly if the Allies came with us.
Count Gazan is elderly, and I believe quite sick of his trade; he said he wanted peace, and to go to his villa at Nice for life after twenty years’ war. He gave me an invitation there. In general all the officers and men were attentive and civil; some looked sulky, but most noticed us by touching the cap, which is more than we do by them here. In a dispute which Captain S—— had with a stupid old fool, the Commandant de la Place at Bayonne, General Sol, the French officers present seeing that the General was in the wrong (as he afterwards admitted), all bowed to Captain S——, and the General’s own sentinel carried arms to him as he went out. This is flattering. The curiosity is very great about Lord Wellington, as one of the great men of the age.