1º. Lord William Bentinck committed errors, yet he has been censured without discrimination. “He advanced rashly.” “He was undecided.” “He exposed his advanced guard without support.” Such were the opinions expressed at the time. Their justness may be disputed. His first object was to retain all the French force in Catalonia; his second, to profit from Suchet’s weakness if he detached largely. He could do neither by remaining inactive on the barren hills behind Hospitalet, because the Spaniards would have dispersed for want of provisions and the siege of Tortoza was found to be impracticable. It was therefore the part of a bold and skilful general to menace his enemy, if he could be sure of retreating again without danger or dishonour. The position at Villa Franca fulfilled this condition. It was strong in itself and offensive; sir Edward Pellew’s fleet was in movement to create diversions in Upper Catalonia, and all the emissaries and Spanish correspondents concurred in declaring, though falsely, that the French general had detached twelve thousand men.
It is indeed one of the tests of a sagacious general to detect false intelligence, yet the greatest are at times deceived, and all must act, if they act at all, upon what appears at the time to be true. Lord William’s advance was founded on erroneous data, but his position in front of Villa Franca was well chosen. It enabled him to feed Whittingham’s division in the fertile country about Reus and Valls, and there were short and easy communications from Villa Franca to the sea-coast. The army could only be seriously assailed on two lines. In front, by the main road, which though broad was from Molino del Rey to the heights of Ordal one continued defile. On the left by San Sardurni, a road still more rugged and difficult than the other. And the Catalans were launched on this side as their natural line of operations, because, without losing their hold of the mountains they protected the left of the allies, menacing at the same time the right of the enemy and his communications with Lerida. Half a march to the rear would bring the army to Vendrills, beyond which the enemy could not follow without getting under the fire of the ships; neither could he forestall this movement by a march through the Liebra and Cristina defiles, because the Catalans falling back on Whittingham’s division could hold him in check.
2º. Ordal and San Sadurni were the keys of the position. The last was well secured, the first not so, and there was the real error of lord William Bentinck. It was none however to push an advanced guard of three thousand five hundred men, with cavalry and artillery, to a distance of ten miles for a few hours. He had a right to expect the commander of such a force would maintain his post until supported, or at least retreat without disaster. An officer of capacity would have done so. But whoever relies upon the capacity of sir Frederick Adam either in peace or war will be disappointed.
In 1810 lord Wellington detached general Robert Craufurd with two or three thousand men to a much greater distance, not for one night but for many weeks. And that excellent officer, though close to Massena’s immense army the very cavalry of which was double his whole numbers; though he had the long line of the Agueda a fordable river to guard; though he was in an open country and continually skirmishing, never lost so much as a patrole and always remained master of his movements for his combat on the Coa was a studied and wilful error. It was no fault therefore to push colonel Adam’s detachment to Ordal, but it was a fault that lord William, having determined to follow with his whole force, should have delayed doing so for one night, or that delaying he did not send some supporting troops forward. It was a fault not to do so because there was good reason to do so, and to delay was to tempt fortune. There was good reason to do so as well to profit of the advantage of the position as to support Adam. Had lord William Bentinck been at hand with his main body when the attack on Ordal commenced, the head of Suchet’s force which was kept at bay for three hours by a detachment so ill commanded would have been driven into the ravine behind, and the victorious allies would still have had time to march against Decaen by the road along which colonel Cary endeavoured to join Manso. In fine, Suchet’s dispositions were vicious in principle and ought not to have succeeded. He operated on two distinct lines having no cross communications, and before an enemy in possession of a central position with good communications.
3º. It was another fault that lord William Bentinck disregarded the Spanish woman’s report to colonel Reeves; his observations made in front of the bridge of Ordal on the evening of the 12th accorded indeed with the reports of his own emissaries, but the safe side should always be the rule of precaution. He also, although on the spot, overlooked the unmilitary dispositions of colonel Adam on the heights of Ordal. The summit could not be defended against superior numbers with a small corps, and that officer had nevertheless extended the Calabrese so far on the left that they could take no share in the action, and yet could not retreat without great difficulty. A commander who understood his business, would have blocked up the bridge in front of the heights, and defended it by a strong detachment, supporting that detachment by others placed in succession on the heights behind, but keeping his main body always in hand, ready either to fall on the head of the enemy’s column of attack, or to rally the advanced detachments and retreat in order. There were plenty of trees and stones to block the bridge, its own parapet would have supplied materials, and the ravine was so deep and rugged, that the enemy could not have crossed it on the flanks in the dark.
It is no defence to say colonel Adam only took his ground in the evening after a march; that he expected the main body up the next morning and that lord William assured him he was safe from attack. Every officer is responsible for the security of his own troops, and the precautions prescribed by the rules of war should never be dispensed with or delayed at an outpost. Now it does not appear that colonel Adam ever placed an infantry picquet on the bridge, or sent a cavalry patrole beyond it; and I have been informed by a French soldier, one of a party sent to explore the position, that they reached the crest of the heights without opposition and returned safely, whereupon Mesclop’s brigade instantly crossed the bridge and attacked.
4º. Ordal might be called a surprize with respect to the general-in-chief, yet the troops engaged were not surprised; they were beaten and dispersed because colonel Adam was unskilful. The French general’s victory was complete; but he has in his Memoirs exaggerated his difficulties and the importance of his success, his private report to the emperor was more accurate. The Memoirs state that the English grenadiers defended certain works which commanded the ascent of the main road, and in the accompanying atlas a perspective view of well-conditioned redoubts with colours flying, is given. The reader is thus led to imagine these were regular forts of a fresh construction defended by select troops; but in the private report they are correctly designated as ancient retrenchments,[Appendix, No. 5.] being in fact the ruins of some old Spanish field-works and of no more advantage to the allies than any natural inequality of ground. Again in the Memoirs the attack of the French cavalry near Villa Franca is represented as quite successful; but the private report only says the rear was harassed by repeated charges, which is true, and moreover those charges were vigorously repulsed. The whole French loss was about three hundred men, that of the allies, heavy at Ordal, was lightened by escape of prisoners during the night and ultimately did not exceed a thousand men including Spaniards.
CHAPTER III.
Turning from the war in Catalonia to the operations1813. June. in Navarre and Guipuscoa, we shall find lord Wellington’s indomitable energy overcoming every difficulty. It has been already shown how, changing his first views, he disposed the Anglo-Portuguese divisions to cover the siege of San Sebastian and the blockade of Pampeluna, at the same time attacking with the Spanish divisions Santona on the coast, and the castles of Daroca, Morella, Zaragoza, and the forts of Pancorbo in the interior. These operations required many men, but the early fall of Pancorbo enabled O’Donnel’s reserve to blockade Pampeluna, and Don Carlos D’España’s division, four thousand strong, which had remained at Miranda del Castanar to improve its organization when lord Wellington advanced to the Ebro, was approaching to reinforce him.