♦Arrangement with M. Suchet.♦
Marshal Suchet received them in that city. His instructions from the minister at war were, that he should send Ferdinand to Barcelona, and cause all the places which the French still possessed in Spain to be delivered up, taking, however, securities and precautions for the return of the garrisons to their own country. Hence the Marshal concluded that there was not such entire confidence placed in this prince as might otherwise have been inferred from the manner of his liberation. Both parties, however, were desirous of smoothing all difficulties, which may always best be done by fair dealing; and this was now the interest of both. San Carlos gave Suchet a full account of the temper of the Cortes, and their determination to control the King, or to resist him, if he should be found refractory; and he expressed his belief that the Generals, whether they were influenced by their fear or their opinions, would not acknowledge his authority until they received orders from Madrid. Ferdinand’s desire was to proceed without delay, and not to enter Barcelona, but go on to Valencia; and he promised to expedite as much as he could the deliverance of the garrisons in exchange for the places which they occupied. The Marshal frankly stated the difficulty wherein he was placed by his instructions, these being to conduct the King to Barcelona, and take securities for the deliverance of the garrisons; he had written to Paris, he said, for farther explanations, and till these should arrive, it was agreed that the Infante, Don Carlos, should remain at Perpignan, and that the King should pass the frontier without delay. Accordingly, on the 22nd, Ferdinand re-entered his own country. The rain had so swoln the streams, that he was detained two days at Figueras; during this delay, the Marshal addressed a note to him, requesting that the treatment of the French prisoners might be improved, and pressing for the deliverance of the garrisons. An assurance was given that there should be an immediate alteration in the condition of the prisoners, and a promise was given respecting the garrisons, to which Ferdinand affixed his signature. This answer was returned from Figueras, where he was still in the hands of the French; but, that it might appear more evidently his own free act and deed, he dated it from Gerona. Upon receiving this, Suchet immediately dispatched orders for letting the Infante, Don Carlos, proceed from Perpignan; thus he conferred an obligation, by releasing a hostage whom it would have been useless to detain; all questions concerning the fortresses and garrisons being, as by a tacit understanding, waived on both sides, there being a third party, without whose consent the garrison of Barcelona could not be dismissed; for Sir H. Clinton was then with the Anglo-Sicilian army blockading that city. A little before this time, instructions had been received by that General to embark one portion of his troops, including the Calabrians, ♦Suchet, 2. 375–8.♦ for the coast of Italy, there to be employed in an expedition under Lord William Bentinck; and with the remainder to march, by way of Zaragoza and Pamplona, into France, there to reinforce Lord Wellington. Sir Henry took upon himself the responsibility of not obeying these instructions: and his conduct in so doing was fully approved by Lord Wellington; for, if that army had been withdrawn, the Spaniards in Catalonia could not have prevented Suchet from collecting and bringing off the whole of his remaining garrisons.
As soon as the waters permitted, Ferdinand proceeded towards Gerona. General Copons had been apprized of his coming. Marshal Suchet escorted him to the Fluvia,
♦March 24.Ferdinand writes from Gerona to the Regency.♦ The French troops were drawn up in a semicircle on one side of the river, the Spaniards on the other; and, having crossed it amid salutes of artillery, and the joyful sound of martial music, and the acclamations of the surrounding inhabitants, who had flocked thither from all sides, Ferdinand found himself then indeed free, ... in his own country, among his own people, and a King. There was no difficulty about his reception; his retinue consisted only of Spaniards, among whom there were none to whom any exception could be taken, if Copons had been disposed to offer it. The General delivered into his hands the Regency’s letter, and the documents which accompanied it; and when Ferdinand came the same day to Gerona, he acknowledged them in a letter to the Regency announcing his arrival, saying that he should make himself acquainted with the contents of their papers; meantime he assured them that his greatest wish was to give them proofs of his satisfaction, and of his lively desire to do every thing which might conduce to the happiness of his subjects. It was a comfort indeed for him, he said, to see himself in his own country, in the midst of a nation and an army to whom he was beholden for a fidelity as constant as it was generous.
♦Ferdinand goes to Zaragoza.♦
The Cortes had regulated Ferdinand’s route; and as it was understood that he would proceed by the line prescribed for him, which was straight by way of Valencia, the Governors of Barcelona, Tortosa, and Murviedro, received instructions to commit no hostilities when he should pass. But Ferdinand was in no haste to proceed; he needed time for consideration, and for such rest as the critical position in which he now found himself would allow: he halted, therefore, a few days at Gerona. On the 30th, he passed through the blockading army in front of Barcelona, the enemy firing a salute, the allies receiving him with all honours, and the people with every possible manifestation of joy. It was believed that he was proceeding to Valencia; but, altering his intention on the way, he made for Zaragoza, meaning to remain there till he should have determined how to act.
♦Soult resumes the offensive.♦
This restoration Buonaparte regarded at this time with indifference; but there was nothing which he dreaded so much as the progress of that feeling which had manifested itself at Bourdeaux; for peace, upon some terms, he thought himself always sure of obtaining, as long as the allies forbore to take up the cause of the Bourbons. Soult saw how likely it was that this feeling should spread from the Gironde to the Loire, and had resolved upon carrying the war back toward the Pyrenees, more with the view of occupying the English force at a distance from those parts in which he knew that the existing tyranny was borne with most impatience, than for the sake of the succours which he could draw from Catalonia. Not being acquainted with the success of Marshal Beresford’s movement upon Bourdeaux, he expected thus to frustrate it, and that Lord Wellington would find it necessary to recall all the detachments which he had sent in that direction. He had, indeed, written to the Minister at War, saying he did not think the British General would dare to weaken himself by sending a force against that city. With this intention, he resumed the offensive; and, having sent most of his encumbrances to Toulouse, moved ♦Suchet, t. 2. Pièces Justif, pp. 530–2.♦ by Lembege to Conchez and Viella, on the right flank of the allies, drove in Sir Rowland’s piquets, and made a demonstration as if intending to ♦March 13.♦ attack him with his whole force. Sir Rowland, upon this, took a position behind the Gros Lees, extending ♦He retreats upon Tarbes.♦ from Aire to Garlin, on the road to Pau. Lord Wellington quickly moved two divisions to his support, and prepared to concentrate the army in the neighbourhood of Aire. Marshal Soult did not then feel himself strong enough to venture upon an attack, and not finding his situation secure, retired in the night toward Lembege, keeping his advanced posts toward Conchez; and on the 15th, he halted his main body in position near Burosse, covered by a strong rear-guard at Mascarras; but, on the approach of a single brigade, they retired upon Vic Bigorre, not offering to maintain their ground, though in a country peculiarly defensible. The various detachments which Lord Wellington had sent out, and the reserves of cavalry and artillery from Spain, did not join him till the 17th. On the morrow the army marched; the right by Conchez, ♦Colonel Jones’s Account, 2. 262.♦ the centre by Castelnau, the left by Plaisance; and Sir Rowland drove in the enemy’s outposts upon Lembege. The French retired in the night, but held a strong rear-guard in front of Vic Bigorre, posted in the vineyards that encircle that town, and extend for several miles around it. There they made a stand, with a show of resolution which was not supported; for Sir Thomas Picton, with the 3rd division and Major-General Bock’s Portugueze brigade, attacked them there, dislodged, and drove them through the vineyards and through the town. The allied army then assembled at Vic Bigorre and Rabastens, and the enemy retired during the night upon Tarbes.
♦Further retreat to Toulouse.♦
Buonaparte had rested in this city on his way to Bayonne in 1808, when the treachery which he had plotted for the usurpation of Spain was about to be consummated: a monument had been erected here in commemoration of this imperial visit; and now that journey had in consequence brought thither a victorious enemy’s army. So different, too, were the feelings of the inhabitants toward him from what they had been, that when Soult sent General Maransin thither before him to raise a levy en masse throughout the department, they refused to take arms. Here, on the morning of the 20th, the French were found, having the advanced posts of their left in the town, their right upon the heights near the windmill of Oleac, and their centre and left retired, the latter upon the heights near Angor. The allies marched in two columns from Vic Bigorre and Rabastens; and Lord Wellington directed Sir Henry Clinton, with the 6th division, to turn and attack their right, through the village of Dour, while Sir Rowland attacked the town by the high road. Sir Henry’s movement was completely successful: Baron Alten, also, with the light division, drove the enemy from the heights above Orleix: and when Sir Rowland had moved through the town and disposed his columns for the attack, they retired in all directions. The troops ascended the position which had been thus relinquished, thinking to pursue their advantage; but having gained the summit, they unexpectedly discovered a large portion of Soult’s army, formed on a parallel height of great strength, and the body which had retreated before them, about 15,000 in number, ascending to join their comrades. This new position could not be attacked without incurring severe loss; and to preserve the advantages which had been obtained, it was necessary that the corps from Rabastens should move further forward. But before this arrangement could be completed, the evening closed, and Marshal Soult, once more taking advantage of night to cover his movements, retired toward Toulouse. There are two roads from Tarbes to that city, by S. Gaudens, and by Auch; Soult retreated by the first, but having collected his troops at St. Gaudens, crossed the country from thence to Auch. He had previously sent off all his remaining encumbrances; and marching with all possible celerity, that he might profit at Toulouse by the time which he gained upon his pursuers, and destroying the bridges as he went, he entered that city on the 24th, having suffered no other loss during the pursuit than that of some prisoners, taken by General Fane in an attack upon his rear-guard at St. Gaudens on the 22nd.