Eight hundred yards beyond these hills a strong ridge, called the Mont Rave, run nearly parallel with the canal, its outer slope was exceedingly rugged and overlooked a marshy plain through which the Ers river flowed.
The south side of the town opened on a plain, but the suburb of St. Michel lying there, between the Garonne and the canal, furnished another advanced defence, and at some distance beyond, a range of heights called the Pech David commenced, trending up the Garonne in a direction nearly parallel to that river.
Such being the French general’s position, he calculated, that as lord Wellington could not force the passage by the suburb of St. Cyprien without an enormous sacrifice of men, he must seek to turn the flanks above or below Toulouse, and leave a sufficient force to blockade St. Cyprien under pain of having the French army issue on that side against his communications. If he passed the Garonne above its confluence with the Arriege, he would have to cross that river also, which could not be effected nearer than Cintegabelle, one march higher up. Then he must come down by the right of the Arriege, an operation not to be feared in a country which the recent rains had rendered impracticable for guns. If the allies passed the Garonne below the confluence of the Arriege, Soult judged that he could from the Pech David, and its continuation, overlook their movements, and that he should be in position to fall upon the head of their column while in the disorder of passing the river: if he failed in this he had still Toulouse and the heights of Mont Rave to retire upon, where he could fight again, his retreat being secure upon Montauban.
For these reasons the passage of the Garonne above Toulouse would lead to no decisive result and he did not fear it, but a passage below the city was a different matter. Lord Wellington could thus cut him off from Montauban and attack Toulouse from the northern and eastern quarters; and if the French then lost the battle they could only retreat by Carcassonne to form a junction with Suchet in Roussillon, where having their backs to the mountains and the allies between them and France they could not exist. Hence feeling certain the attack would finally be on that side, Soult lined the left bank of the Garonne with his cavalry as far as the confluence of the Tarn, and called up general Despeaux’s troops from Agen in the view of confining the allies to the space between the Tarn and the Garonne: for his first design was to attack them there rather than lose his communication with Montauban.
On the other hand lord Wellington whether from error from necessity or for the reasons I have before touched upon, having suffered the French army to gain three days’ march in the retreat from Tarbes, had now little choice of operations. He could not halt until the Andalusians and Del Parque’s troops should join him from the Bastan, without giving Soult all the time necessary to strengthen himself and organize his plan of defence, nor without appearing fearful and weak in the eyes of the French people, which would have been most dangerous. Still less could he wait for the fall of Bayonne. He had taken the offensive and could not resume the defensive with safety, the invasion of France once begun it was imperative to push it to a conclusion. Leading an army victorious and superior in numbers his business was to bring his adversary to battle as soon as possible, and as he could not force his way through St. Cyprien in face of the whole French army, nothing remained but to pass the Garonne above or below Toulouse.
It has been already shown that in a strategic view this passage should have been made below that town, but seeing that the south side of the city was the most open to attack, the English general resolved to cast his bridge at Portet, six miles above Toulouse, designing to throw his right wing suddenlyManuscript notes by the duke of Wellington. into the open country between the Garonne and the canal of Languedoc, while with his centre and left he assailed the suburb of St. Cyprien. With this object, at eight o’clock in the evening of the 27th, one of Hill’s brigades marched up from Muret, some men were ferried over and the bridge was commenced, the remainder of that general’s troops being to pass at midnight. But when the river was measured the width was found too great for the pontoons and there were no means of substituting trestles, wherefore this plan was abandoned. Had it been executed some considerable advantage would probablyFrench Official Correspondence, MSS. have been gained, since it does not appear that Soult knew of the attempt until two days later, and then only by his emissaries, not by his scouts.
Wellington thus baffled tried another scheme, he drove the enemy from the Touch river on the 28th, and collected the infantry of his left and centre about Portet, masking the movement with his cavalry. In the course of the operation a single squadron of the eighteenth hussars, under major Hughes, being inconsiderately pushed by colonel Vivian across the bridge of St. Martyn de la Touch, suddenly came uponMemoir by colonel Hughes, MSS. a whole regiment of French cavalry; the rashness of the act, as often happens in war, proved the safety of the British, for the enemy thinking that a strong support must be at hand discharged their carbines and retreated at a canter. Hughes followed, the speed of both sides increased, and as the nature of the road did not admit of any egress to the sides, this great body of French horsemen was pushed headlong by a few men under the batteries of St. Cyprien.
During these movements Hill’s troops were withdrawn to St. Roques, but in the night of the 30th a new bridge being laid near Pensaguel, two miles above the confluence of the Arriege, that general passed the Garonne with two divisions of infantry, Morillo’s Spaniards, Gardiner’s and Maxwell’s artillery, and Fane’s cavalry, in all thirteen thousand sabres and bayonets, eighteen guns, and a rocket brigade. The advanced guard moved with all expedition by the great road, having orders to seize the stone bridge of Cintegabelle, fifteen miles up the Arriege, and, on the march, to secure a ferry-boat known to be at Vinergue. The remainder of the troops followed, the intent being to pass the Arriege river hastily at Cintegabelle, and so come down the right bank to attack Toulouse on the south while lord Wellington assailed St. Cyprien. This march was to have been made privily in the night, but the bridge, though ordered for the evening of the 30th, was not finished until five o’clock in the morning of the 31st. Soult thus got notice of the enterprise in time to observe from the heights of Old Toulouse the strength of the column, and to ascertain that the great body of the army still remained in front of St. Cyprien. The marshy nature of the country on the right of the Arriege was known to him, and the suburbs of St. Michel and St. Etienne being now in a state to resist a partial attack, the matter appeared a feint to draw off a part of his army from Toulouse while St. Cyprien was assaulted, or the Garonne passed below the city. In this persuasion he keptOfficial Correspondence, MSS. his infantry in hand, and sent only his cavalry up the right bank of the Arriege to observe the march of the allies; but he directed general Lafitte, who had collected some regular horsemen and the national guards of the department, to hang upon their skirts and pretend to be the van of Suchet’s army. He was however somewhat disquieted, because the baggage, which to avoid encumbering the march had been sent up the Garonne to cross at Carbonne, being seen by his scouts, was reported to be a second column, increasing Hill’s force to eighteen thousand men.
While in this uncertainty he heard of the measurement of the river made at Portet on the night of the 27th, and that many guns were still collected there, wherefore, being ignorant of the cause why the bridge was not thrown, he concluded there was a design to cross there also when Hill should descend the Arriege. To meet this danger, he put fourOfficial Correspondence, MSS. divisions under Clauzel, with orders to fall upon the head of the allies if they should attempt the passage before Hill came down, resolving in the contrary case to fight in the suburbs of Toulouse and on the Mont-Rave, because the positions on the right of the Arriege were all favourable to the assailants. He was however soon relieved from anxiety. General Hill effected indeed the passage of the Arriege at Cintegabelle and sent his cavalry towards Villefranche and Nailloux, but his artillery were quite unable to move in the deep country there, and as success and safety alike depended on rapidity he returned during the night to Pinsaguel, recrossed the Garonne, and taking up his pontoons left only a flying bridge with a small guard of infantry and cavalry on the right bank. His retreat was followed by Lafitte’s horsemen who picked up a few stragglers and mules, but no other event occurred, and Soult remained well pleased that his adversary had thus lost three or four important days.
The French general was now sure the next attemptApril. would be below Toulouse, yet he changed his design of marching down the Garonne to fight between that river and the Tarn rather than lose his communications with Montauban. Having completed his works of defence for the city and the suburbs, and fortified all the bridges over the canal, he concluded not to abandon Toulouse under any circumstances, and therefore set his whole army and all the working population to entrench the Mont Rave, between the canal and the Ers river, thinking he might thus securely meet the shock of battle let it come on which side it would. Meanwhile the Garonne continued so full and rapid that lord Wellington was forced to remain inactive before St. Cyprien until the evening of the 3d; then the waters falling, the pontoons were carried in the night to Grenade, fifteen miles below Toulouse, where the bridge was at last thrown and thirty guns placed in battery on the left bank to protect it. The third fourth and sixth divisions of infantry and three brigades of cavalry, the whole under Beresford, immediately passed, and the cavalry being pushed out two leagues on the front and flanks captured a large herd of bullocks destined for the French army. But now the river again swelled so fast, that the light division and the Spaniards were unable to follow, the bridge got damaged and the pontoons were taken up.