BOOK XXII.
CHAPTER I.
After the combat of Echallar Soult adopted a permanent1813. August. position and reorganized his army. The left wing under D’Erlon occupied the hills of Ainhoa, with an advanced guard on the heights overlooking Urdax and Zuguramurdi. The centre under Clauzel was in advance of Sarre guarding the issues from Vera and Echallar, his right resting on the greatest of the Rhune mountains. The right wing under Reille composed of Maucune’s and La Martinière’sSoult’s Official Report, MSS. divisions extended along the Lower Bidassoa to the sea; Villatte’s reserve was encamped behind the Nivelle near Serres, and Reille’s third division, under Foy, covered in conjunction with the national guards, St. Jean Pied de Port and the roads leading into France on that side. The cavalry for the convenience of forage were quartered, one division between the Nive and the Nivelle rivers, the other as far back as Dax.
Lord Wellington occupied his old positions from the pass of Roncesvalles to the mouth of the Bidassoa, but the disposition of his troops was different. Sir Rowland Hill, reinforced by Morillo, held the Roncesvalles and Alduides throwing up field-works at the former. The third and sixth divisions were in the Bastan guarding the Puerto de Maya, and the seventh division, reinforced by O’Donnel’s army of reserve, occupied the passes at Echallar and Zugaramurdi. The light division was posted on the Santa Barbara heights having picquets in the town of Vera; their left rested on the Bidassoa, their right on the Ivantelly rock, round which a bridle communication with Echallar was now made by the labour of the soldiers. Longa’s troops were beyond the Bidassoa on the left of the light division; the fourth division was in reserve behind him, near Lesaca; the fourth Spanish army, now commanded by general Freyre, prolonged the line from the left of Longa to the sea; it crossed the royal causeway occupied Irun and Fontarabia and guarded the Jaizquibel mountain. The first division was in reserve behind these Spaniards; the fifth division was destined to resume the siege of San Sebastian; the blockade of Pampeluna was maintained by Carlos D’España’s troops.
This disposition, made with increased means, was more powerful for defence than the former occupation of the same ground. A strong corps under a single command was well entrenched at Roncesvalles; and in the Bastan two British divisions admonished by Stewart’s error were more than sufficient to defend the Puerto de Maya. The Echallar mountains were with the aid of O’Donnel’s Spaniards equally secure, and the reserve instead of occupying San Estevan was posted near Lesaca in support of the left, now become the most important part of the line.
The castles of Zaragoza and Daroca had fallen, the Empecinado was directed upon Alcanitz and he maintained the communication between the Catalan army, and Mina. The latter now joined by Duran was gathering near Jaca from whence his line of retreat was by Sanguessa upon Pampeluna; in this position he menaced general Paris, who marched after a slight engagement on the 11th into France, leaving eight hundred men in the town and castle. At this time lord William Bentinck having crossed the Ebro was investing Taragona, and thus the allies, acting on the offensive, were in direct military communication from the Mediteranean to the Bay of Biscay, while Suchet though holding the fortresses could only communicate with Soult through France.
This last-named marshal, being strongly posted, did not much expect a front attack, but the augmentation of the allies on the side of Roncesvalles and Maya gave him uneasiness, lest they should force him to abandon his position by operating along the Nive river. To meet this danger general Paris took post at Oleron in second line to Foy, and the fortresses of St. Jean Pied de Port and Navareins were put in a state of defence as pivots of operation on that side, while Bayonne served a like purpose on the other flank of the army. But with great diligence the French general fortified his line from the mouth of the Bidassoa to the rocks of Mondarain and the Nive.
Lord Wellington, whose reasons for not invading France at this period have been already noticed, and who had now little to fear from any renewal of the French operations against his right wing, turned his whole attention to the reduction of San Sebastian. In this object he was however crossed in a manner to prove that the English ministers were the very counterparts of the Spanish and Portuguese statesmen. Lord Melville was at the head of the board of admiralty; under his rule the navy of England for the first time met with disasters in battle, and his neglect of the general’s demands for maritime aid went nigh to fasten the like misfortunes upon the army. This neglect combined with the cabinet scheme of employing lord Wellington in Germany, would seem to prove that experience had taught the English ministers nothing as to the nature of the Peninsular war, or that elated with the array of sovereigns against Napoleon they were now careless of a cause so mixed up with democracy. Still it would be incredible that lord Melville, a man of ordinary capacity, should have been suffered to retard the great designs and endanger the final success of a general, whose sure judgement and extraordinary merit were authenticated by exploits unparalleled in English warfare, if lord Wellington’s correspondence and that of Mr. Stuart did not establish the following facts.
1º. Desertion from the enemy was stopped, chiefly because the Admiralty, of which lord Melville was the head, refused to let the ships of war carry deserters or prisoners to England; they were thus heaped up by hundreds at Lisbon and maltreated by the Portuguese government, which checked all desire in the French troops to come over.