2º. General Blake’s dispositions, with the exception of his night-march from Nava to Orantia, will, if studied, afford useful lessons in an inverse sense. From the 24th of October to the 4th of November, he omitted no error that the circumstances rendered it possible to commit; and then, as if ashamed of the single judicious movement that occurred, he would not profit by it. Romana’s infantry being partly arrived, and the remainder in the vicinity of Nava, the whole Spanish army was, contrary to all reasonable expectation, concentrated; Blake had then above thirty thousand fighting men united in one mass, harassed, but not much discouraged, and the conde de Belvedere, with twelve thousand infantry, twelve hundred cavalry, and thirty pieces of artillery, was close to Burgos.
If Blake had been at all acquainted with the principles of his art, he would have taken advantage of Villatte’s retreat, to march by Espinosa, and Villarcayo, to the upper Ebro; from thence have gained Burgos; brought up the artillery from Reynosa; united Belvedere’s troops to his own; opened a communication with the English army; and in that position, with a plentiful country behind him, his retreat open, and his army provided with cavalry, he might have commenced a regular system of operations; but with incredible obstinacy and want of judgment, he determined to attack Bilbao again, and to renew the ridiculous attempt to surround the French army and unite with Palafox at the foot of the Pyrenees.
Such were the commanders, the armies, the rulers, upon whose exertions the British cabinet relied for the security of sir John Moore’s troops, during their double march from Lisbon and Coruña. It was in such a state of affairs that the English ministers, anticipating the speedy and complete destruction of the French forces in Spain, were sounding the trumpet for an immediate invasion of France! Of France, defended Lord W. Bentinck’s Correspondence. by a million of veteran soldiers, and governed by the mightiest genius of two thousand years! As if the vast military power of that warlike nation had suddenly become extinct; as if Baylen were a second [Appendix, No. 13], Sect. 8. Zama, and Hannibal flying to Adrumetum instead of passing the Iberus! But Napoleon, with an execution more rapid than other men’s thoughts, was already at Vittoria, and his hovering eagles cast a gloomy shadow over Spain.
BOOK IV.
CHAPTER I.
After the opening of the legislative sessions, the emperor quitted Paris, and repaired to Bayonne. He arrived there on the 3d of November. It was his intention that the presumption of the Spanish generals should be encouraged by a strict defensive system until the moment, when the blow he was prepared to strike, could fall with the greatest effect. The precipitate attack at Zornosa displeased him, and he was also dissatisfied with the subsequent measures of the king. S.
Journal of the king’s operations, MS. He thought that the safety of Mouton’s division would be compromised between the armies of Blake and the conde de Belvedere. To prevent any accident, he judged it necessary that Bessieres should advance with the whole of the second corps to Burgos; that marshal Victor should march by Amurio to Valmaceda; and that marshal Le-Febre should immediately renew his attack on that position, from the side of Bilbao. These dispositions were executed, and thus at the very moment when Blake was leading his harassed and starving troops back to Bilbao, two corps, amounting to fifty thousand men, were in full march to meet him, and a third had already turned his right flank, and was on his rear.
Captain Carrol’s Correspce.
The Spanish general advanced from Valmaceda on the 7th, and thinking that only fifteen hundred men were in Guenes, prepared to surround them. Two divisions making a circuit to the left, passed through Abellana and Sopoerte, with a view to gain the bridge of Sodupe, in the rear of Guenes, while two other divisions attacked that position in front; the remainder of the army followed at some distance. The advanced guard of the 4th corps was in Guenes, and after an action of two hours, the Spaniards were thrown into confusion; but the night saved them from a total rout. The same day, one of their flanking divisions was encountered and beaten near Sopoerte, and the retreat of the other being intercepted on the side of Abellana, it was forced to make for Portagalete General Leith’s Correspce. on the sea-coast, and from thence to St. Andero. Blake’s eyes being now opened a little to the peril of his situation, he resolved to retreat to Espinosa de los Monteros, a strong mountain position, two days’ march in the rear; intending to rest his troops there, and to draw supplies from the magazines at Reynosa. Retreating during the night to Valmaceda, he gained Nava on the 8th, and finally reached Espinosa on the 9th. The remainder of Romana’s infantry came up during this retreat, and the whole army was, with the exception of the division cut off at Abellana, concentrated in a strong position, which covered the intersection of the roads from St. Andero, Villarcayo, and Reynosa.
Napoleon, accompanied by the dukes of Dalmatia and Montebello, quitted Bayonne the morning of the 8th, and reached Vittoria in the evening. He was met by the civil and military chiefs at the gates of the town; but refusing to go to the house prepared for his reception, he jumped off his horse, entered the first small inn that he observed, and calling for his maps, and a report of the situation of the armies on both sides, proceeded to study the plan of his campaign.