The suddenness, as well as the completeness, of the destruction caused by the snows of Russia, had shattered the emperor’s military and political system, and the broken parts of the former, scattered widely, were useless until he could again bind them together. To effect this he rushed with a raw army into the midst of Germany, for his hope was to obtain by celerity a rallying point for his veterans, who having survived the Russian winter and the succeeding pestilence were widely dispersed. His first effort was successful, but without good cavalry victory cannot be pushed far, and the practised horsemen of France had nearly disappeared; their successors badly mounted and less skilful were too few and too weak, and thus extraordinary exertion was required from soldiers, whose youth and inexperience rendered them unfit even for the ordinary hardships of war.
The measure of value for Wellington’s campaign is thus attained, for if Joseph had opposed him with only moderate ability and had avoided a great battle, not less than fifty thousand veterans could have been drawn off to reinforce and give stability to the young soldiers in Germany. On the side of Spain those veterans were indeed still numerous, but the spirit of the French people behind them almost worn out by victory, was now abashed by defeat, and even the military men who had acquired grandeur and riches beyond their hopes, were with few exceptions averse to further toil. Napoleon’s astonishing firmness of mind was understood by few in high stations, shared by fewer; and many were the traitors to him and to France and to the glories of both. However his power was still enormous, and wherever he led in person his brave and faithful soldiers, fighting with the true instinct of patriotism, conquered. Where he was not their iron hardihood abated.
Marshal Soult was one of the few men whose indefatigable energy rendered them worthy lieutenants of the emperor; and with singular zeal, vigour and ability he now served. His troops, nominally above one hundred thousand men ninety-seven thousand being present under arms with eighty-six pieces of artillery, were not all available for field operations. The garrisons of Pampeluna, San Sebastian, Santona, and Bayonne, together with the foreign battalions, absorbed seventeen thousand; and most of the latter had orders to regain their own countries with a view to form the new levies. The permanent “army of Spain” furnished therefore only seventy-seven thousand five hundred men present under arms, seven thousand of which were cavalry, and its condition was not satisfactory. The people on the frontier were flying from the allies, the military administration was disorganized, and the recent disasters had discouraged the soldiers and deteriorated their discipline. Under these circumstances Soult was desirous of some delay to secure his base and restore order ere he attempted to regain the offensive, but his instructions on that point were imperative.
Napoleon’s system was perfectly adapted for great efforts, civil or military; but so rapid had been lord Wellington’s advance from Portugal, so decisive his operations that the resources of France were in a certain degree paralyzed, and the army still reeled and rocked from the blows it had received. Bayonne, a fortress of no great strength in itself, had been entirely neglected, and the arming and provisioning that and other places was indispensible. The restoration of an entrenched camp originally traced by Vauban to cover Bayonne followed, and the enforcement of discipline, the removal of the immense train of Spanish families, civil administrators, and other wasteful followers of Joseph’s court, the arrangement of a general system for supply of money and provisions, aided by judicious efforts to stimulate the civil authorities and excite the national spirit, were amongst the first indications that a great commander was in the field. The soldiers’ confidence soon revived and some leading merchants of Bayonne zealously seconded the general; but the people of the south were generally more inclined to avoid the burthen of defending their country than to answer appeals to their patriotism.
On the 14th Soult examined the line of military positions, and ordered Reille, who then occupied the passes of Vera and Echallar, to prepare pontoons for throwing two bridges over the Bidassoa at Biriatou. That general as we have seen was driven from those passes the next day, but he prepared his bridges; and such was Soult’s activity that on the 16th all the combinations for a gigantic offensive movement were digested, the means of executing it rapidly advancing, and orders were issued for the preliminary dispositions.
At this time the French army was divided into three corps of battle, and a reserve. Clauzel commanding the left wing was at St. Jean Pied de Port and in communication, by the French frontier, with general Paris at Jaca. Drouet, count D’Erlon,Soult’s Official Correspondence, MSS. commanding the centre, occupied the heights near Espelette and Ainhoa, with an advanced guard behind Urdax. General Reille commanding the right wing was in position on the mountains overlooking Vera from the side of France. The reserve under Villatte, comprising a separate body of light horsemen and the foreign battalions, guarded the banks of the Bidassoa from the mouth upwards to Irun, at which place the stone bridge was destroyed. The division of heavy cavalry under Trielhard, and that of light cavalry under Pierre Soult, the Marshal’s brother, were on the banks of the Nive and the Adour.
The counter-disposition of the allies was as follows.
Byng’s brigade of British infantry, detached from the second division and reinforced by Morillo’s Spaniards, was on the extreme right. These troops had early in June driven the French from the village of Valcarlos in the valley of that name, and had foraged the French territory, but finding no good permanent position, retreated again to the rocks in front of the passes of Roncesvalles and Ibañeta.
On the left of Byng, Campbell’s brigade detached from Hamilton’s Portuguese division, was posted in the Alduides and supported by general Cole, who was with the fourth division at Viscayret in the valley of Urroz.
On the left of Campbell general Hill defended the Bastan with the remainder of the second division, and with Hamilton’s Portuguese, now commanded by Sylveira, Conde D’Amarante. Picton, with the third division, was stationed at Olague as a reserve to those troops and to Cole.