History of the war in the Peninsula and in the south of France from the year 1807 to the year 1814, vol. 6

by William Francis Patrick Napier

It has been said in condemnation of him that the English general did not encourage the Bourbon party. Is that true? Did it so appear to the French general? Had not the duke of Angoulême come to the English head-quarters with mystery, and following the invading army and protected by its arms assemble round him all the ancient partizans of his house, sending forth agents, scattering proclamations even in Soult’s camp, endeavouring to debauch his soldiers and to aid strangers to subjugate France. Soult not only knew this but was suffering under the effects. On every side he met with opposition and discontent from the civil authorities, his movements were made known to the enemy and his measures thwarted in all directions. At Bordeaux a party were calling aloud with open arms to the invaders. At Tarbes the fear of provoking an action near the town had caused the dispersion of the insurrectional levy organized by the imperial commissioner Caffarelli. At Pau the aristocracy had secretly assembled to offer homage to the duke of Angoulême, and there was a rumour that he was to be crowned at the castle of Henry IV. Was the French general to disregard these facts and symptoms because his opponent had avoided any public declaration in favour of the Bourbon family? Lord Wellington would have been the first to laugh at his simplicity if he had.

And what was the reason that the English general did not openly call upon the Bourbon partizans to raise the standard of revolt? Simply that Napoleon’s astounding genius had so baffled the banded sovereigns and their innumerable hordes that a peace seemed inevitable to avoid fatal disasters; and therefore lord Wellington, who had instructions from his government not to embarrassSecret instructions from Lord Bathurst, MSS. any negociation for peace by pledges to a Bourbon party, acting as an honest statesman and commander, would not excite men to their own ruin for a momentary advantage. But so far from discouraging treason to Napoleon on any other groundPublished Despatches. he avowed his anxious desire for it, and his readiness to encourage every enemy of that monarch. He had seen and consulted with La Roche Jacquelin, with de Mailhos and other vehement partizans for an immediate insurrection; and also with Viel Castel an agent of Bernadotte’s until he found him intriguing against the Bourbons. He advised the duke of Angoulême to form regular battalions, promised him arms and actually collected eighty thousand stand, to arm the insurgents. Finally he rebuked the timid policy of the English ministers who having such an opportunity of assailing Napoleon refrained from doing it. Before Soult’s proclamation appeared he thus wrote to lord Bathurst.

“I find the sentiment as we advance in the country still more strong against the Buonaparte dynasty and in favour of the Bourbons, but I am quite certain there will be no declaration on the part of the people if the allies do not in some manner declare themselves.” “I cannot discover the policy of not hitting one’s enemy as hard as one can and in the most vulnerable place. I am certain that he would not so act by us, he would certainly overturn the British authority in Ireland if it were in his power.”

Soult and Wellington acted and wrote, each in the manner most suitable to their situation, but it was not a little remarkable that Ireland should so readily occur to the latter as a parallel case.

It was in this state of affairs that the English general detached Beresford with twelve thousand men against Bordeaux, giving him instructions to occupy that city and acquire the Garonne as a port for the allies, but to make the French authorities declare whether they would or would not continue to exercise their functions under the conditions announced by proclamation. For hitherto lord Wellington had governed the country as he advanced in this public manner, thus nullifying the misrepresentations of political intriguers, obviating the dangers of false reports and rumours of his projects, making his justice and moderation known to the poorest peasant, and securing the French local authorities who continued to act under him from any false and unjust representation of their conduct to the imperial government if peace should be made with Napoleon. This expedition against Bordeaux however involved political as well as military interests. Beresford was instructed that there were many partizans of the Bourbons in that city who might propose to hoist the white standard and proclaim Louis the Eighteenth under protection of the troops. They were to be told that the British nation and its allies wished well to their cause, and while public tranquillity was maintained in the districts occupied by the troops there would be no hindrance to their political proceedings: they or any party opposed to Napoleon would receive assistance. Nevertheless, as the allied sovereigns were negociating with the French emperor, however well inclined the English general might be to support a party against the latter during war, he could give no help if peace were concluded, and this they must weigh well before they revolted. Beresford was therefore not to meddle with any declaration in favour of Louis the Eighteenth; but he was not to oppose it, and if revolt took place he was to supply the revolters with the arms and ammunition collected at Dax.

On the 8th Beresford marched towards Langon with the fourth and seventh divisions, Vivian’s horsemen, and some guns; he was joined on the road by some of Vandeleur’s cavalry from Bayonne, and he had orders to observe the enemy’s movements towards Agen, for it was still in Soult’s power by a forced march on that side to cross the Garonne and enter Bordeaux before him. La Roche Jacquelin preceded the troops and the duke of Angoulême followed closely, but his partizans in the city frightened at the danger of their enterprize now besought Beresford to delay his march. La Roche Jacquelin vehemently condemned their hesitation, and his influence supported by the consternation which the battle of Orthes had created amongst the Napoleonists decided the question in favour of revolt.

Long before this epoch, Soult, foreseeing that the probable course of the war would endanger Bordeaux, had given orders to place the forts in a state of defence, to arm the flotilla and to organize the national guards and the urban legions; he had urged these measures again when the imperial commissioner Cornudet first arrived, but according to the usual habits of civilians who have to meddle with military affairs every thing was promised and nothing done. Cornudet and the prefect quitted the city as early as the 4th, first burning with a silly affectation of vigour some ships of war upon the stocks; general L’Huillier, unable to oppose the allies, then destroyed the fort of Médoc on the left bank of the Garonne, disarmed some of the river batteries, and passing in the night of the 11th to the right bank occupied the fortress of Blaye, the Paté and other points. Meanwhile Beresford who reached Langon the 10th, left lord Dalhousie there with the bulk of the forces and advanced with eight hundred cavalry.

Entering Bordeaux the 12th, he met the municipality and a great body of Bourbonists, at the head of whom was the mayor count Lynch, decorated with the scarf of his office and the legion of honour, both conferred upon him, and probably at his own solicitation, by the sovereign he was then going to betray. After some formal discourse in which Beresford explicitly made known his instructions Lynch very justly tore the tricolor, the emblem of his country’s glory, from his own shoulders, the white flag was then displayed and the allies took peaceable possession of the city. The duke of Angoulême arrived on the same day and Louis the Eighteenth was formally proclaimed. This event, the act of a party, was not generally approved, and the mayor conscious of weakness immediately issued with the connivance of the duke of Angoulême a proclamation, in which he asserted, that “the British Portuguese and Spanish armies were united in the south, as the other nations were united in the north, solely to destroy Napoleon and replace him by a Bourbon king who was conducted thither by these generous allies, and only by accepting that king could the French appease the resentment of the Spaniards.” At the same time the duke of Angoulême, as if quite master of the country, appointed prefects and other authorities in districts beyond the limits of Bordeaux.

Both the duke and the mayor soon repented of their precipitancy. The English fleet which should have acted simultaneously with the troops had not arrived; the Regulus a French seventy-four with several inferior vessels of war were anchored below Blaye, and Beresford was recalled with the fourth division and Vivian’s cavalry. Lord Dalhousie remained with only the seventh division and three squadrons to oppose L’Huillier’s troops and other French corps which were now on the Garonne. He could not guard the river below Bordeaux, and some French troops recrossing again took possession of the fort of Grave near the mouth; a new army was forming under general Decaen beyond the Garonne, the Napoleonists recovering from their first stupor began to stir themselves, and a partizan officer coming down to St. Macaire on the 18th surprised fifty men which lord Dalhousie had sent across the Garonne from Langon to take possession of a French magazine. In the Landes the peasants forming bands burned the houses of the gentlemen who had joined the white standard, and in Bordeaux itself a counter-insurrection was preparing whenever Decaen should be ready to advance.