The political sagacity and military skill of Wellington not only maintained his position in the face of overwhelming difficulties, but speedily took the offensive. The co-operation of (Lord) Beresford, who was placed over the Portuguese army, organized by the genius of Wellington, and led by British officers, must not be overlooked. Massena was forced to retreat from Portugal; and as he passed the border-line of the two Peninsular countries, Wellington followed victorious and menacing, having achieved what at first appeared utterly vain to attempt. The battle of Fuentes de Onoro ensued, the French were forced to evacuate the fortress of Almeida, and then followed a long career of victory to the British arms, which was uninterrupted till our triumphant entry into Toulouse, and the news of Napoléon’s abdication.
The allusion in this Canto to the Basque Guerrillas needs a word of explanation. The Chapelgorris and Chapelchurris are distinguishing names of the Basque mountain peasantry, derived from the colour of their caps. Chacolin is the thin, sour wine of the district. During the late Carlist war, a considerable degree of romantic interest attached to these peasantry for the keenness of their partisan admixture in the strife. One of the most famous events in the Carlist struggle was the siege of Bilbao, which was raised by the Cristino General Cordova, and where the most famous of modern Guerrilleros, Zumalacarregui, received his death-wound. Had this most energetic of the Carlist Generals lived, the war might have had a very different termination. It was he, who, on the wretchedly unprovided state of his men as to arms being remarked to him, pointing to the muskets in the Cristino battalions, said, “There are their arms!” and contrived to arm them very respectably by stripping the Cristinos in repeated brilliant surprises. The circumstances of this rude but powerful hero’s death are recorded in the Cristino song:
Ya vienen Chapelchurris
Con corneta y clarin,
Para entrar en Bilbao
A beber chacolin.
Mal chacolin tuvieron,
Y dia tan fatal,
Que con la borrachera
Se murió el general!