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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/75413-0.txt b/75413-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..31fc874 --- /dev/null +++ b/75413-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,18507 @@ + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75413 *** + + + + + + Transcriber’s Note + Italic text displayed as: _italic_ + + + + + THE + + PRIVATE JOURNAL + + OF + + JUDGE-ADVOCATE LARPENT, + + ATTACHED TO THE HEAD-QUARTERS OF + + LORD WELLINGTON DURING THE PENINSULAR WAR, + + FROM 1812 TO ITS CLOSE. + + EDITED + + BY SIR GEORGE LARPENT, BART. + + _THIRD EDITION._ + + LONDON: + RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET, + Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty. + + MDCCCLIV. + + _The Author and Publisher reserve to themselves the right of + Translating this Work._ + + + + +LONDON: W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS. + + + + +PREFACE + +TO THE SECOND EDITION. + + +It has been very gratifying to me to witness the flattering manner +in which this Journal has been received by the Public, and, with one +exception, by the several writers who have noticed it. + +As my own part in the Work is so small, the risk I ran in publishing it +was small in proportion; but I confess that I did feel anxious not to +damage the fair fame of my late brother. + +The exception to which I allude is that of the Reviewer in the +“Athenæum,” a paper which (having been a subscriber to it for many +years) I hold in high estimation. + +The writer must pardon me for observing (whilst fully admitting his +right to state his conscientious opinion of the work itself), that the +sneers at Mr. Larpent’s having been Fifth Wrangler, and at his _slow_ +progress at the Bar, are strangely misplaced. Surely a person attached +to literature cannot seriously deprecate academic honours, or deny +their _primâ facie_ evidence of ability. And as for the _slow_ progress +in the laborious pursuit of the law, the Reviewer must have been +aware that such has been the fortune of many eminent Lawyers who have +afterwards risen to the highest honours of the profession. Legal or +political connexions, or a fortunate opportunity of displaying latent +talents, are in truth the chief causes of rapid success at the Bar. +None of these did my brother possess or obtain. + +Is it not, therefore, somewhat severe to argue from this admission +of mine, that he was a person not above mediocrity, and to represent +him as merely a respectable sort of second-rate plodding official? +The writer in the “Athenæum” may have had peculiar opportunities of +judging, and it is not for me to contest the opinion he may have +thus formed, but it certainly was not the opinion of my brother’s +contemporaries. The observations of the writer in the “Athenæum” +involve also charges of more importance than his remarks upon my +brother’s abilities— + +“We see,” he says, “in the sweeping and unqualified charges against the +soldiers of England, Scotland, and Ireland, the censorious habits of +one who filled the post of Judge-Advocate General, and the passage,” he +adds, “comes with bad grace from one who narrates his own discomforts +_ad nauseam_.” + +I had allowed every passage to stand which expressed the opinion of +the Author upon public matters, nor did I expunge those complaints of +personal inconveniences which a man, for the first time placed in my +brother’s situation, naturally feels, and as naturally describes in his +letters to his family. + +It has been too much the fashion to garble such Journals to suit the +public taste; but my aim was to give the truth, and the whole truth, of +all that my brother witnessed and described in his Journal. + +This rather uncommon fidelity is, I believe, one of the chief merits of +the work, and one of the chief causes of its success. + +If my brother, in commenting upon the want of selfcontrol and +irregular habits and propensities of the British soldiery (defects +which the Duke’s own Despatches, his proclamation upon the retreat from +Burgos, and the uniform testimony of the writers upon the Peninsular +War unfortunately confirm), had omitted to notice their many redeeming +qualities, he might have been partly open to the rebuke of the writer +alluded to; but throughout his narrative Mr. Larpent bears the +strongest testimony to the undaunted courage, the immoveable steadiness +of the British soldiers under the severest fire, and the perfect +reliance the Duke always placed upon the bravery of his army. + +The truth is, that the conscription in France forced into the ranks of +its army a more intelligent and more intellectual class of persons than +those who volunteered into our service. + +Thus the moral conduct of the French soldier was perhaps more correct; +but the stubborn courage, the _pluck_, if I may use such an expression, +of the British soldier, guided by officers taken from the _élite_ of +our gentry, and almost fastidiously alive to the sense of honour and of +duty, enabled them in the Peninsula, at Waterloo, and wherever British +troops have been called into action, to maintain a decided superiority +over their opponents. + +It has been remarked, that I have never mentioned the lady to whom +these Letters were addressed. + +She was my much honoured and loved mother; but I deprived myself of the +pleasure of noticing her many excellent qualities, lest it should be +thought that, in praising her, I sought to confer credit upon myself, +or to gratify my own vanity. + +She was the daughter of Sir James Porter, in his day a distinguished +diplomatist, successively employed in the Netherlands and Germany, +and for many years ambassador to the Ottoman Porte. She married my +father when my brother was very young, and became a second mother +to him. There never was the slightest distinction between him and +her own children, and had we not been told that we were by different +mothers, we should never have known the fact from her conduct. That she +possessed my brother’s warmest affections, these letters would have +abundantly shown, had I not thought it better to omit many passages, +which, however gratifying to her to whom they were addressed, could be +of no interest to the public. + + GEORGE LARPENT. + + LONDON, JUNE, 1853. + + + + +PREFACE + +TO THE FIRST EDITION. + + +The Letters now laid before the Public were addressed by my brother to +Mrs. Larpent, his step-mother, and my mother. + +They came into my possession as Executor to my mother, and being also +the sole Executor to my brother, I consider myself at liberty to use my +own discretion in publishing them. With the exception of some matters +exclusively private, and connected with family affairs, the letters are +published as they were written, and not one word has been added. + +Until the lamented death of the Duke of Wellington I did not feel +myself justified in making these letters public. Not that they contain +anything in the slightest degree derogating from the exalted estimate +so universally entertained of the character of that great man; for, on +the contrary, they tend to confirm the unanimous opinion entertained of +his admirable qualities; but motives of delicacy forbad my offering to +the world, during his Grace’s lifetime, the many personal anecdotes and +opinions with which they abound. + +The reader will naturally expect to know who and what the Author was, +and give credit accordingly to the statements and observations in his +Letters. + +Francis Seymour Larpent was the eldest son of John Larpent, Esq., +of East Sheen, Surrey, by his first wife, Frances, daughter of +Maximilian Western, Esq., of Cokethorpe Park, Oxfordshire. His father, +from his earliest youth, was employed in the public service. In +1763 he was Secretary to the Duke of Bedford at the Peace of Paris, +and subsequently Secretary to the first Marquess of Hertford, when +Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. For many years he was in the office of the +Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and at his death in 1824, at a +very advanced age, held the appointments of Secretary to the Lord Privy +Seal, and of Examiner of all Theatrical Entertainments. + +Francis Seymour was born in 1776. He was educated at Cheam School, +under the Rev. W. Gilpin, well known and esteemed as a scholar and +man of letters. From school he went to St. John’s College, Cambridge, +where he distinguished himself, and took his degree as Fifth Wrangler, +and was elected Fellow of that College. After studying the law under +an eminent special pleader, Mr. Bayley, he was called to the Bar, and +went the Western Circuit. Here he formed friendships with several +eminent persons, among others with Lord Gifford, the Right Hon. C. +Manners Sutton, afterwards Lord Canterbury, Mr. W. Adam, son of Lord +Commissioner Adam, and the lamented Francis Horner—friendships which +were extinguished only by death. His success upon the Circuit was slow, +but his character as an able man and a sound lawyer stood high. + +In 1812 he was tempted by the Right Hon. C. Manners Sutton, then +Judge-Advocate General, to leave his profession, and to accept the +situation of Judge-Advocate General to the armies in Spain under the +command of the late Duke of Wellington, to remain at head-quarters with +his Grace, and to manage the Courts-martial throughout the army. + +At the close of the war in 1814, Mr. Larpent returned home with the +last detachment of the British army from Bordeaux. + +Upon his arrival in England he was appointed Judge-Advocate at +Gibraltar; and a new Charter of Justice for that dependency having +been framed, various civil, admiralty, and judicial duties were +annexed to the appointment of Judge-Advocate. Whilst the new Charter +was preparing, Mr. Larpent was appointed to carry on the proceedings +of the Court-martial on General Sir John Murray, at Winchester; and +was subsequently joined with Mr. King, on behalf of the Government +of the United States of America, in the inquiry into the unfortunate +transactions which had taken place in the prison at Dartmoor. + +These several proceedings having been satisfactorily terminated, Mr. +Larpent in the spring of 1815 was, at the recommendation of Lord +Commissioner Adam, selected by His Royal Highness the Prince Regent +to undertake the delicate and confidential duty of inquiring into +the allegations of improper conduct abroad, on the part of the then +Princess of Wales, afterwards Queen Caroline. This confidential mission +was accepted by Mr. Larpent, upon the express condition that his +appointment should emanate directly from the Administration, and that +his duties (to use his own words) “should consist not in acting a spy +upon the actions of Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales, but in +examining and sifting the facts of the case, as stated and discovered +by others.” + +On this understanding, and after interviews with Lords Liverpool, +Castlereagh, and Bathurst, and also with the approval of Lord Chief +Justice Ellenborough, Mr. Larpent proceeded ostensibly to his +appointment at Gibraltar, but really overland by Vienna, to see +and consult with Count Munster, to whom he was accredited by the +British Government “as its regularly-authorized, though secret and +confidential, agent.” + +However strong might be his own persuasion of the worse than improper +conduct of the Princess, he felt the extreme difficulty of obtaining +respectable parties to come forward with such evidence as would satisfy +an English Court of Justice; and he never hesitated to represent the +danger of taking public proceedings against her. Having conducted +his mission with such prudence and discretion that its object was +never known except to his employers, he proceeded to Gibraltar, and +there executed his arduous civil and judicial duties to the entire +satisfaction of the Governor, Sir George Don, and of the Secretary of +State for the Colonies. + +In 1820, upon leaving Gibraltar, he was again employed by the +Government professionally in Italy upon matters connected with the +unfortunate trial of Queen Caroline; and he communicated direct with +the late Lord Gifford, upon whom, as Attorney-General, the management +of the proceedings against Her Majesty officially devolved. + +In 1821 Mr. Larpent was appointed by Lord Liverpool, one of the +Commissioners of the Board of Audit of the Public Accounts. In 1824 he +was transferred to the Board of Customs; and, in 1826, was appointed +to the situation of Chairman of the Audit Board, in which he remained +until his retirement, in 1843, from ill health. + +He enjoyed his release from active official duties only about two +years, dying in May, 1845. He was twice married; first, to Catharine, +daughter of the late Frederick Reeves, Esq., of the East India +Company’s Civil Service; and, secondly, to Charlotte, daughter to +George Arnold Arnold, Esq., of Halsted Park, Kent, who survived him, +but he left no issue by either. + +The favourable opinion entertained of Mr. Larpent’s public services +will be evident from the following testimonials which he received when +he applied to Her Majesty’s Government for his retirement, viz.:— + + (Copy.) No. 1. + + _Treasury Chambers, + 23rd March, 1843._ + + SIR, + + I am commanded by the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Treasury + to acquaint you that, the First Lord of the Treasury having + communicated to the Board your wish to retire from the Board of Audit, + their Lordships have been pleased to accede thereto, and will give + directions for placing you on a retired allowance of 900_l._ per + annum, to be paid to you in the same manner as the retired allowances + of the Audit Office are paid. + + In thus acceding to your wishes, my Lords desire me to state, that + they feel themselves called upon to express the high sense which they + entertain of the integrity, zeal, and ability with which you have + discharged the duties of the important situations which you have + successively filled, and the deep regret which they feel for the cause + which now compels you to retire from the Chair of the Board of Audit. + + I am, Sir, + Your most obedient Servant, + (Signed) G. CLERK. + + _To F. S. Larpent, Esq._ + + (Extract.) No. 2. + + _Downing Street, + March 3rd, 1843._ + + MY DEAR SIR, + + I have learnt with great regret that we are about to lose your + services in the Audit Board, over which you have so long presided, + with equal advantage to the public and satisfaction to the Treasury. + I only hope that you will reap in the improvement of your health a + benefit equal to that which your retirement will deprive you of. + + (Signed) HENRY GOULBURN. + + _To F. S. Larpent, Esq._ + + (Copy.) No. 3. + + _London, February 28th, 1843._ + + F. M. the Duke of Wellington presents his compliments to Mr. Larpent, + and has received his letter, and sends him a copy of a letter he has + received from Sir Robert Peel. The Duke regrets much to learn that the + state of Mr. Larpent’s health compels him to resign the office which + he holds. If referred to, he will state his opinion of the services + performed by him, while under his command. + + _To F. S. Larpent, Esq._ + + _Enclosure in the above Letter._ + + (Copy.) + + _Whitehall, February 27th, 1843._ + + MY DEAR DUKE OF WELLINGTON, + + I return the enclosed letter addressed to you by Mr. Larpent. + + I am sorry to hear that the state of Mr. Larpent’s health induced him + to contemplate his retirement from the public service. + + (Signed) ROBERT PEEL. + + _To the Duke of Wellington_, + _&c._ _&c._ + + (Copy.) No. 4. + + _Whitehall, March 3rd, 1843._ + + DEAR SIR, + + From my high sense of your public services, I have heard with very + sincere regret, on public as well as on private grounds, that the + state of your health compels you to contemplate the immediate + retirement from the important appointment which you hold, the duties + of which you have discharged with great ability and integrity, and + with unremitting zeal. + + I have been so incessantly occupied by important public business, that + I have been unable, since the receipt of your letter, to confer with + the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the subject to which the enclosure + in your letter refers, but I will do so without delay, and with every + desire to take as favourable a view of it as the state of the law and + the usage in similar cases may permit, + + I have the honour to be, + Dear Sir, + Your obedient and faithful Servant, + (Signed) ROBERT PEEL. + + _To F. S. Larpent, Esq._ + + (Extract.) No. 5. + + _March 22nd, 1845._ + + _60, Lower Belgrade Street._ + + I shall feel it due to Mr. Larpent to say at what rate I placed his + services. + + Never public servant deserved better his hard-earned retirement by + honest, zealous, and able services. + + (Signed) F. BARING. + + * * * * * + +I rejoice in having the opportunity afforded me by the publication of +these Letters, of recording the public services of an affectionate +brother, and of indulging in the remembrance of the many private +virtues which were conspicuous in his upright and honourable career. + +I have thought it objectionable to alter the language of the narrative, +although aware of the many inaccuracies in letters written in the hurry +of a campaign (a mode of life foreign to the writer’s habits), and not +intended for publication. + +I therefore determined to leave the Letters as I found them, thinking +that the simplicity of the style and the minute details threw over the +Journal a charm of truth and reality which a more studied composition +would not have possessed. I have a confident reliance that my brother +has related nothing that he did not himself believe to be true, for +he was a man of scrupulous veracity, and one not given hastily to +record what he had not at the time sufficient warranty to believe to be +correct. + +The Journal carries the reader, as it were, behind the scenes in the +great drama of War. The sufferings of individuals, the hardships +endured in a campaign, are scarcely ever recorded by the historian—they +are lost in the blaze of glory which surrounds such narratives. In +this Journal not only will be seen the miseries which are endured in +the attainment of military glory by the soldier, but the still greater +miseries of the unfortunate people whose country is the scene of +military operations. + +Such vivid paintings as are here exhibited must, it is to be hoped, +make the most reckless politician and the most ambitious soldier aware +of the deep responsibility incurred by all who encourage the passion +for military glory, except when war becomes absolutely necessary for +the defence of our country, its liberties, and institutions, and for +the preservation of the independence of Europe. + +It was for these objects that the two great wars in which the Duke of +Wellington was so pre-eminent were carried on, and the results—the +recovery of their national independence by Spain and Portugal, and a +peace of thirty-eight years’ duration—fully warranted the sacrifices +made by Great Britain, exalted her national character, and justified +her admiration of the Commander, who, under Providence, was the great +instrument of her success. + + GEORGE LARPENT. + + LONDON, DECEMBER, 1852. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + + CHAPTER I. + + Departure from England—Exercises on Ship-board—Off the Coast—Arrival + at Lisbon—Residence there—Journey to head-quarters + commenced—Abrantes—General features of the march—Salamanca 1 + + + CHAPTER II. + + Arrival at head-quarters—Ciudad Rodrigo—The Retreat—Its + disasters—Capture of General Paget—Personal Anecdotes—Scarcity of + Provisions—Courts-martial in the army—Business of a + Judge-Advocate—Wellington 21 + + + CHAPTER III. + + Arrival of the Gazette—More Courts-martial—The Mad + Commissary—Intentions of Lord Wellington—Social + Amusements—Sporting—Wellington’s fox-hounds—His stud—A dinner at + the Commander-in-Chief’s—Number of Courts-martial—Anecdotes of + Wellington 37 + + + CHAPTER IV. + + More Courts-martial—Bal Masqué—Anecdotes of Wellington—Songs in + his praise—Spanish banditti—Excesses of the Army—Carnival—More + Anecdotes of the Duke—The staff—Grand entertainment at + head-quarters—Wellington’s opinion of affairs at home—Murder of an + officer—General Craufurd 54 + + + CHAPTER V. + + News of the French—Castilian costume—Equipment of the army—Melancholy + Court-martial case—Wellington in the battle of Fuentes + d’Onore—The chances of war—Anecdotes of Wellington—His opinions + of the war—The new Mutiny Act—Wellington on “Vetus”—General + Murray—Advance of the French 87 + + + CHAPTER VI. + + Newspaper complaints—Wellington’s comments—Review of the + Portuguese—Gatherings at head-quarters—Reviews—Recommencement of + the march—The route 106 + + + CHAPTER VII. + + The march commenced—Scenes on the road—Villa Dalla—Toro—Castro + Monte—Palencia—Prospects of a general action—Skirmishing—Massa 121 + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + March continued—Quintana—Anecdote of Wellington—Morillas—Vittoria—The + battle—Its results—Plunder—Kindness to the enemy—Madame + de Gazan—The hospital—Sufferings of the wounded—Estimated + loss 150 + + + CHAPTER IX. + + Pamplona—Pursuit of Clausel—Wellington on the march—Prospects of + more Fighting—Effects of the war—The French position turned—Anecdote + of Wellington—Ernani—St. Sebastian—Wellington’s movements 166 + + + CHAPTER X. + + Movements of the army—Wellington on the Portuguese—His personal + habits—St. Sebastian—The siege—Miseries of war—Wounded officers—The + Prince of Orange—Vestiges of the retreat—English papers—False + accounts of the campaign—Incidents of the war 195 + + + CHAPTER XI. + + Rejoicings for the victory—Sufferings of Cole’s division—Complaints + of the French—Statements of a French prisoner—Decay of + Spain—Characteristics of Wellington—His opinion of + Bonaparte—Prospects of a renewal of the attack—Exchange of + Prisoners—Wellington’s Spanish estate—His opinion of + Picton—Disposition of the army 220 + + + CHAPTER XII. + + Reported renewal of operations against St. Sebastian—Effects of the + war on Spain and Portugal—Wellington’s account of recent + proceedings—Courts-martial—Prisoners shot—Discussions on war between + Wellington and a French deserter—The siege resumed—Work of the heavy + batteries—Trial of General O’Halloran—Volunteers for the storming + parties 238 + + + CHAPTER XIII. + + The Author taken prisoner—Kind treatment by the French General—Life + of a prisoner—Release—Details of the Author’s captivity—Curious + scene at General Pakenham’s—A Basque squire 250 + + + CHAPTER XIV. + + Picturesque quarters—Spanish reverses—A strange adventure—Spanish + jealousy—Distribution of the army—A pleasant companion—News + from the North—Morale of the French army—The artillery 276 + + + CHAPTER XV. + + Fall of Pamplona—Deterioration of the army—Duke of York’s + orders—Orders of merit—Church service—Capture of French + redoubts—March of the army—Incidents of foreign service—Frequency + of desertion—Wellington and the lawyers 289 + + + CHAPTER XVI. + + News from France—Lord Fitzroy Somerset—Departure of the Prince of + Orange—Exchange of prisoners—Proximity of the two armies—Wellington’s + cooks—Warlike movements—French attack—The Guards—Deserters—More + fighting 308 + + + CHAPTER XVII. + + French attack—Plan of desertion—Excesses of the French—A Basque + witness—Sir John Hope—Movements of the army—Sale of + effects—Wellington’s simplicity of character—A French emigré—Return + of Soult to Bayonne 323 + + + CHAPTER XVIII. + + Reports from France—More desertion—Anecdote of General + Stewart—Wellington and his casualty returns—The courtesies of + war—Scarcity of transports—Wellington and the trial-papers—Sir + G. Collier 339 + + + CHAPTER XIX. + + Rumours of war—The rival dinner tables—“Slender Billy”—Bonaparte’s + trickery—Spanish violence—Wellington with the hounds—French + and English aspects—The outsides of the nations 352 + + + CHAPTER XX. + + State of feeling in France—Rocket practice—The Prince Regent’s + hobby—The Mayor’s ball—The flag-of-truce 362 + + + CHAPTER XXI. + + Army supplies—Offending villages—Symptoms of work—Arrival of the + Duke d’Angoulême—The bridge across the Adour—Wellington and + his Chief Engineer—His activity 377 + + + CHAPTER XXII. + + Movements of the army—Narrow escape of Wellington—Anecdote of + Wellington at Rodrigo—Novel scaling ladders—Sir Alexander + Dickson—Wellington’s vanity—Operations resumed—Spanish officers—The + passage of the Adour—The road to Bayonne—Death of Captain Pitts 400 + + + CHAPTER XXIII. + + Passage of the river—Start for Orthes—Effect of the battle—Feelings + of the French—Wellington wounded—St. Sever—Church and + School—Aire—Wellington on the conduct of the Allies—Indurating + effects of War 417 + + + CHAPTER XXIV. + + Reports from the seat of war—The Duke d’Angoulême—The German + cavalry—Misconduct of the Spaniards—Attacks on our grazing + parties—Movement of head-quarters—Death of Colonel Sturgeon—Visit to + the hospital—New quarters—Skirmishes—Wellington and the mayor 436 + + + CHAPTER XXV. + + Difficulties of the march—Failure of the bridge of boats—The + Garonne—Excesses of Murillo’s corps—Bad news—Exchange of + prisoners—Arrival before Toulouse—A prisoner of war—Anecdote of + Wellington 452 + + + CHAPTER XXVI. + + Uncertain intelligence—Capture of Toulouse—Wellington at the + theatre—The “Liberator”—Ball at the Prefecture—The feelings of the + French—Soult and Suchet—Ball at the Capitole 478 + + + CHAPTER XXVII. + + Toulouse—Its churches—Protestant service—Libraries—Reception of the + Duke d’Angoulême—The French Generals—Popularity of Wellington 501 + + + CHAPTER XXVIII. + + Toulouse—Mr. Macarthy’s Library—The Marquess of Buckingham—General + Hope—Wellington’s dukedom—The theatre—A romantic + story—Feeling towards the English—The Duke on the Russian + cavalry 523 + + + CHAPTER XXIX. + + Preparations for departure—Bordeaux—Imposition on the + English—Greetings from the Women—Mausoleum of Louis XVI. 541 + + + CHAPTER XXX. + + The opera-house—The cathedral—The synagogue—A Jewish wedding—Strange + show-house—Wellington and King Ferdinand 553 + + + CHAPTER XXXI. + + Country Fêtes—Brawls with the French—The Duke + d’Angoulême—Mademoiselle Georges—The Actress and the Emperor—French + acting and French audiences—Presentation of a sword to Lord + Dalhousie—Georges’ benefit—Departure 566 + + + APPENDIX 579 + + + + +PRIVATE JOURNAL, + +&c. &c. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + Departure from England—Exercises on Ship-board—Off the + Coast—Arrival at Lisbon—Residence there—Journey to Head-quarters + commenced—Abrantes—General features of the March—Salamanca. + + + H. M. S. _Vautour_, off Mondego Bay, + Sept. 14, 1812. Monday. + + MY DEAR M——, + +It was very fortunate that I kept to my post at the George Inn, at +Portsmouth; for at seven in the morning of Saturday the 5th I was +called from my bed by the Admiral, who told me that, in consequence +of the news from Madrid, he had received orders to send a ship of war +after the _Pylades_, to endeavour to prevent her landing the money +she had carried out to Oporto, and to direct her captain to take it +on to Lisbon. He told me that, if I could get ready and on board +immediately, I might accompany him. Accordingly, soon after nine +o’clock I was on board His Majesty’s ship the _Vauteur_, or _Vautour_, +or _Vulture_, a fast-sailing brig of sixteen guns—fourteen carronades, +twenty-four pounders, and two long nines; the only remaining trophy +in our Navy of the glorious expedition to the Scheldt! The Captain, a +most open-hearted, friendly man, by name Lawless, is a native of the +south of Ireland. The vessel is an excellent sailer, and the whole +in good order, with a fine crew of a hundred and five men; but the +accommodations are very small, as all is made for use, and nothing for +convenience or ornament. The Captain’s cabin, about ten feet by twelve, +he shared with me. One of us hung up a cot on each side at night, and +we lived there when these cots were removed in the daytime; there was +no opening but the hatches at top, no windows at all. I had, however, +what was most material, a most friendly, kind reception, and shared +every comfort the Captain was possessed of. This consisted of a joint +daily, generally fresh, good wine and brandy, vegetables, and, up to +this day, good bread, great attention, and a thorough welcome. + +_Friday the 11th._—At eleven o’clock precisely, as our timepieces and +observations had indicated, we sighted Spain; and had the additional +amusement of good charts, and maps, and telescopes, to examine the +coasts, besides assisting in the observations on deck, and watching all +that was going on. The scene was one of constant activity during the +voyage, not a moment’s idleness; the sails were mended; the masts were +repaired; the deck was caulked, and made water-tight for the winter; +the winter rigging was made ready; the sides of the ship painted. All +this, besides the usual routine duty of the ship, was done whenever +there was smooth water. One fine calm evening the Captain amused me +with a sham-fight, and put the men through their exercises; first at +one set of the guns, then at the other; marines and all were at work. +He showed me also the effect of a long shot and a grape shot from the +carronades in the water. These occupations, with a little reading and +writing, preparatory to my land journey, filled up the days until dark, +when we took to our cots. We first made the land off Cape Adrian, half +way between Cape Ortegal and Cape Finisterre, and got in close to the +Sisarga Island, about one o’clock on Friday the 11th. We then coasted +close in shore all the way to Cape Finisterre, which we reached at +dark: the shore is very bold and fine, but with a barren aspect, and +the appearance of an inhospitable and almost uninhabited land. The +high tracts towards Corunna, and perhaps about Ferrol, were only just +visible at first; but from Sisarga to Finisterre we saw them about as +plainly as we should have done on shore. + +_Saturday 12th._—This morning we found ourselves close off Cape +Saliers, having passed Vigo Bay in the night. Thence we slowly crept +along shore all that day in sight of the country, buildings, &c., until +we arrived at dark within about twelve miles of Oporto, off Villa de +Condé. The country is very beautiful and picturesque, nearly as bold +as the former, but very much built over, dotted with many villages +and detached houses, and verdant with much wood; all externally very +loveable and delightful. Monte Santa Tecla, at the entrance of Minho, +is an imposing object, and the whole coast interesting, especially +from Viana to Oporto, and most of all about Villa de Condé and Oporto. +Condé is a handsome-looking town, well situated, with several large +good-looking houses, and an aqueduct, reaching nearly three miles I +should think, parallel to the shore, through two villages to the hills. +The hills were well wooded, and many houses, villas, &c., covered their +sides: whether the aqueduct was still in use we could not discover; but +I saw no breaks in it as I viewed it through the glass. We made signals +to the pilots to come out from Oporto on Saturday evening, but were too +far off to be observed; and from the fear of an accident, though within +ten miles, were obliged to stand off all night, and try to keep our +place. + +_Sunday the 13th._—Still abreast of Condé, and having no wind, the +whole day getting near to Oporto. Several fishermen came on board from +the boats around. They all agreed that the _Pylades_ had not been at +Oporto—tidings which delighted the Captain; but upon the Consul’s boat +coming off at a signal, when we got near the bar in the evening, we +found that the _Pylades_ had been off the bar three nights before, just +the time she sailed before us at Portsmouth, and had landed General +Oswald, the medical men, and the money at nine o’clock at night, +and had gone on; and that the money was on its way to the army. We, +therefore, put right about again, and got about ten miles from the bar +of Oporto, which we had heard roaring many miles off, before dark. Last +night we were again becalmed, and at twelve to-day (the 14th) we were +only in Mondego Bay, near the spot where the _Apollo_, and forty of her +convoy, were lost in 1804. Here we met a wind right a-head, and have +been beating out ever since. At three it shifted a little, and we are +now returning, and hope to clear Mondego Point and get in sight of the +Burlingas before dark to-night. From about ten miles below Oporto, near +Aveiro, to the Mondego highlands, the coast is flat, and we have only +seen in Mondego Bay sand-hills and a few huts, and have only heard the +surf roaring at a distance of nearly ten miles. We are now about fifty +miles from the Burlingas and about ninety from Lisbon, and hope to be +there to-morrow. + +Our officers are, the Captain, Lawless; first lieutenant, Soper; the +second lieutenant, a fine, stout Irishman, who has amused me much, by +recounting the escapes of his past life. + +_Tuesday 15th, 12 o’clock._—Still about twenty miles from Mondego +Point. Marshal Beresford, who is lying at Oporto badly wounded, sent +out to ask for a passage to Lisbon on board our vessel; and it was +arranged that we were to fire two guns if we could accommodate him: +but the Captain was not able to do so in his small cabin, even if we +had both given up our berths, which we would cheerfully have done. It +was fortunate, however, he did not come on board, as he would have +passed three miserable nights if he had made trial of our scanty +accommodation. + +_Lisbon, September 17th._—Two more nights out becalmed—one, off Mondego +Bay; and another, off the rock of Lisbon. We got in here this morning +at seven o’clock, and have been all the morning running about the +town. The view at the entrance into the harbour is very beautiful. We +anchored at dusk off Cascaes Fort last night. The General, Peacock, has +given me quarters at the Marquis d’Abrantes’, and to-day I dine with +the General. It is said that there is a great mortality in the army; +the officers sickly, and a great want of money. + +_Lisbon, September 20th, 1812._—I have now been three days in this +town, which resembles the description of certain ladies whom I have +a right to suppose to be within your knowledge, for I think they are +described in the Bible, and in other good books which you study—all +outside show, except in the state apartments of a few individuals, +which are certainly very magnificent. Streets very offensive, palaces +by the side of ruins, and sometimes even the palaces in a state of +partial decay, though in other parts stately and magnificent in their +architectural proportions. Everywhere there is an aspect of extreme +poverty side by side with some showy indications of wealth; and it +is evident that among the lower classes impostors are as plentiful +as mosquitos. The heat is extreme—worse than I found it at Paris in +August 1802. The evenings, however, are cool, and near the water +the breezes are refreshing. They congratulate me, indeed, on the +comparative mildness of the season, which is favourable for my journey +to head-quarters, which are at Dulmas, in advance of Valladolid. + +On landing, I proceeded immediately to General Peacock, the commanding +officer, who received me with great civility, and I dined with him that +day. As to forwarding me to the army, it appears all that he can do is +to give me a route, which will procure me at different stations (though +at times two or three days distant from each other), rations for bread +and forage, as there are depôts at intervals of from one to three days’ +journey all the way. I shall have to purchase two mules and two horses. +The price of horses is high; on an average, two hundred and twenty +dollars each. Captain C——, of the staff here, has offered to go to the +fair with me on Tuesday to buy cattle and all other necessaries for my +journey. There is no route except by Ciudad Rodrigo, and, therefore, +though it is said that head-quarters may be at Madrid before my +arrival, I shall be compelled to go that way. Baron Quintilla was not +in town. The Envoy asked me to dinner immediately to his country-house +at Benefica, and was extremely civil to me, remarking that mine was +not a common letter of introduction. He asked me again yesterday, but +being unwell, I declined the flattering invitation. He also offered to +carry me in his suite to a bull-fight, twelve miles off; but as this +would detain me from Sunday to Tuesday, and interfere with my whole +plan, I am obliged reluctantly to forego the amusement. I am not here +for my pleasure. When I arrived at the Envoy’s he was absent, and I had +a _tête-à-tête_ with General Abadia, who is here on his way to Cadiz, +where he is to take a high official position. He appeared a clever man, +but I understand his loyalty to Ferdinand is doubtful, for a letter +addressed to him by his wife, who is with the French, inquiring when he +would fulfil his promise of joining their party, has been intercepted. + +This may be all a trick, but there is something suspicious about it. He +blamed us very much, charging us with having made two great blunders, +in not seizing Santona, by troops from England, and securing that river +communication and post to land all our men in, instead of Lisbon; and +also in not allowing the Sicilian expedition to seize Tortosa, and +maintain a post on that river, the most important and most annoying to +Soult. He spoke in high terms of Lord Wellington, but seemed to think +that the fate of Europe depends upon the conduct of Russia in this +conjuncture. + +The idea seems now to be, that Soult, Suchet, and Joseph have formed +a junction. They have above sixty thousand effective men; and it is +added, that the French now have their old position on the Ebro always +in their power. General Carrier was brought in here a prisoner on +Thursday, from Salamanca: he had five wounds, which are nearly healed, +but he thought he should lose a finger. He came in to the General +whilst I dined there. He seemed to be out of spirits, but said that +Marmont was nearly well, and would resume his command. The French, I +hear, are intrenched near Burgos. + +I have obtained quarters at the _casa_ of the Marquesa d’Abrantes, a +good situation, and a lieutenant-colonel’s quarters. Her husband is a +prisoner in France. I have a separate door, which leads away to four +small rooms to the street; bare walls, painted with military trophies, +and the whole kept as quarters. In these I have two tables, a dozen +chairs, a bedstead, a mattress, a worked flounced quilt, some fine +sheets, but, of course, no blankets. At first we had nothing else; +but I have now got a silver basin and ewer, some knives and forks, +and a supply of water. These apartments might easily be made very +comfortable. The state rooms of this house, looking over about an acre +of garden (which is open to the public), are very handsome. As the +marquesa lost her mother last week, about twenty cabriolets a-day have +brought visitors to pay respects, &c., and about a hundred and fifty +beggars to receive their alms. By the way, the English have caused +everything here to become very dear. The churches are gaudy, and in +some respects not a little ridiculous, but still, to my mind, nothing +like so trumpery, absurd, and indeed indecorous in every respect as +those in Flanders, and in some parts of Switzerland and Piedmont. The +Roman Catholics here certainly have the appearance of devotion, and +seem more in earnest, much more so than in France, and more so than in +any country I have seen. + +_Lisbon, September 23rd, 1812._—I was at the fair, in the heat of the +sun, all yesterday, and have bought two small mules, one small horse, +and have agreed for another, a small pony, to carry me. The fair has +knocked me up as well as my man Henry. I have been all this day with +Captain C——, almost my only friend here, at market, bargaining for +travelling necessaries. Commissary P—— will lend me one public mule; +so now I hope I am equipped as far as that goes. The General offers +to send me with the next treasure, which goes nobody knows when; but +refuses me two soldiers to go with me, though it is said that it is +really dangerous to go without them. + +_Lisbon, September 26th, 1812, Saturday._—Though in a constant fever +from fleas and mosquitos, we should have started yesterday with some +treasure, but my servant Henry could not stir, and my Portuguese +servant took himself off at eight in the morning. I have now got a +German deserter as servant instead of the Portuguese; and trust he will +not carry on the old game, and desert with my baggage. He is said to +speak a little English and Portuguese, and know the country well. + +_Sunday._—For one day more I have postponed my journey, intending to +start with some treasure and two officers on Tuesday. The Opera-house +here is a dull, heavy building, about the size of the Haymarket +Opera-house; but the dancing more like Sadler’s Wells than the Opera +in England: great activity and force in the buffo style like comic +masks—this appears to be the favourite style here. Macbeth was turned +into a pantomine; the death and dagger scene very fine, but the whole +effect marred by the mummery of fantastic dancing and skipping witches. +I have not had time to see any thing except Lisbon, and the aqueduct: +the latter work certainly fine, but not of an attractive shape. Round +arches would have had a better effect, and the piers want evenness and +regularity; nevertheless it is a work worthy of the Romans. I contrived +to-day to go to Belem church, a very fine specimen of arabesque, the +best thing I have seen here; in style it is between the Saxon and +Antique, with a little Gothic intermixed, the ornaments beautiful and +in high preservation. + +_Abrantes, October 6th, 1812._—A day’s halt here enables me to write to +you. I left Lisbon on the 30th September, by two o’clock, with my sick +party, and thence eight miles to Saccavem in about three hours. The +road to Saccavem and nearly to Villa Franca is fine; and, except that +there are no trees besides olive-trees, which appear like apple-trees +at a distance, and no verdure, the river and country are picturesque. + +On the second night we reached Villa Franca, sixteen miles; the third +night, Agembiga twelve; the fourth, Santarem sixteen. The positions +and accounts in our gazettes made this route interesting, but the road +itself is dull and sandy. Suppose a few olive-trees and firs on Bagshot +Heath, and you have the scene. Saccavem and Santarem are both fine +positions for appearance, and the latter for defence. All the towns are +half in ruins, as well as almost all the single houses on the road to +this place. On the fifth day we reached Galegao, sixteen miles; on the +sixth, Punhete, twelve miles; on the seventh, Abrantes, eight miles. +I am now eighty-eight miles from Lisbon. From Galegao to Abrantes +the road runs near the river, the verdure increases, there are a few +chestnut, oranges, and larger firs, and in the spring the scenery must +be very picturesque. Abrantes, on a commanding eminence, is in a very +fine situation, and looks over much fine country. Finding my sick men +unequal to the fatigue, I applied to the officer of the treasure, and +got a soldier, a fine active Tyrolese, who does more work in an hour +than my poor creatures in a day. He cleans down the animals, waters +them, loads, &c., and as I carry his baggage for him, and give him +rather better fare, he seems to be very well pleased with the post. He +leads a mule on the road, walking at his ease: by this means I now get +off about six o’clock every morning. + +The treasure-party, finding the heat made the men ill, now start at +five o’clock; still I am much better than I was when I started, and +when on the march I go quicker than the treasure, as I have easy loads. +Henry leads the first mule on horseback, the soldier walking by the +side to keep everything right, whilst I bring up the rear myself, +always on the watch, and thus have but few accidents. One of my mules +is a nice fat round fellow, who eats so much they cannot keep the +baggage from rolling off him without holding it on; another mule had a +troublesome propensity of lying down with the baggage. My Tyrolese only +speaks German, French, and a little Portuguese. + +So many of the men of another treasure-party were ill, that they +halted, and then went on with us; this crowded the road and made it +more uncomfortable. Here at Abrantes we separate—they go to General +Hill. On arriving at a place, the first thing is to hunt for the _Juge +de Fores_, to procure quarters, but if there is an English commandant, +he must first be beaten up for an order, then the quarters are to be +found; sometimes those allotted are full; then another billet must be +obtained: sometimes the stables are full of kicking mules, and other +stables must be found elsewhere. At length we unload, all in one room +with four walls, a table, and a chair. Then at every third place we +have to go to the Commissary to draw rations, straw, and barley for the +animals to eat—spirits, meat, and bread for ourselves, and wood for +firing. These must sometimes be fetched from half a mile to a mile and +a half off, and be procured from roguish Portuguese under-commissaries. +Sometimes great pieces of green wood are allotted to us, which will +not burn, and we have nothing to cut it with. This, which we often +leave as not worth carriage, costs Government a large sum: a third of +the quantity, if good, would serve better. As the wood and straw we +cannot manage to take with us, we carry on barley, and buy a little +straw, or Sadran corn straw, which is the best when fresh. At first the +Portuguese were very civil at quarters, but we are now too numerous, +and many behave ill from disgust and weariness. They are now very +backward to supply anything, even when they have it, which often is +not the case. They provide a room, a lamp, water, a basin, a towel by +night, a table, a chair, and something to lie upon; some furnish very +decent beds. + +Two days ago the scene changed, and it has since rained almost +incessantly. We got wet yesterday, halted to-day, and to-morrow I +probably shall start, to be soaked to the very bones. My mode of living +may interest you. I rise, then, at half-past four, take some bread, +spirits and water, and a raw egg when I can get one, or sometimes a +few grapes. When we stop to water, I eat some bread and cheese, a dear +luxury on the road, a very little country wine and water, and now and +then coffee or chocolate. In the evening, a stew (when we can get it) +comes as a treat, and then we lie down on the floor at eight o’clock in +hope of sleep—a hope more frequently fulfilled than it was at Lisbon. +Stores are all now at double price, and will soon not be procurable at +any cost. + +The Commissary says we shall have six hours’ walk in the rain instead +of the sun now; and after two or three days we shall find only deserted +ruins where the French came, and we after them, last year. I hope this +is exaggeration. Windows in this great town are not to be seen even +in Colonels’ quarters, or in the best shops. This is an active, busy +place—thoroughly military. The vintage was going on as we proceeded on +the road, and we had abundance of grapes. The poor soldiers, having +three days’ rations served out at once, consume all the drink on the +first day, sell the meat to save carriage and the trouble of cooking +it, and live upon bread and grapes and water, till their next supply +comes to hand. At Santarem and here, hospitals are established as well +as at Lisbon; many fine-looking fellows, reduced to skeletons, are in +them. I have a new route to-morrow round about: first day, Garvao; +second, Nisa; third, Villa Velha; fourth, Cernados; fifth, Castello +Branco: sixteen miles, twenty miles, twelve miles, eight, and eighty. + +_Sunday, Castello Branco, October 11th, 1812._—Here am I thus far +safe on my pilgrimage, and tolerably well considering all things, +for I seldom get above two or three hours’ sleep, and many nights +none at all, from noises, fleas, gnats, mosquitos, bad accommodation, +and anxiety. From Abrantes I got safely to Garvao, which is finely +situated, and the walk to it wildly beautiful. The next day I warned my +people to rise by half-past four; we loaded in the dark, but started by +daylight, and got in before the treasure to Niga. A good mattress and +clean sheets, &c., on the floor, without fleas, are genuine luxuries. +For the first time in Portugal I got six hours’ sleep. In the same +manner I started again from Niga by five o’clock, and got through two +treasure days’ journey in one to Cernados. Understanding that at Villa +Velha there were only desolate ruins, scarcely supplying a dry cover, +by starting again early yesterday from Cernados (which consists only of +one house, half of it a ruin, with a nest of ruined cottages round it), +I reached this place by ten yesterday, and thus had all the remainder +of the day to rest, and this in addition (Sunday), for the treasure +arrived only to-day. + +I have thus avoided the common piggery of being all in one house at +Cernados, and a bad night at Villa Velha. By calculating distances and +time also, I have kept my men and myself dry. As the rains generally +come on hitherto after twelve in the day, and in the night, we have +only been caught in two English showers. It rained all the time we +were at Abrantes, from twelve on the day we arrived, entirely through +the following day, to about an hour before we started. All the rest +of the day was fine, rain again all the evening—the same at Niga, and +the same here also. And such rain! it would saturate anything in ten +minutes. As it is now cooler, I walk half the way, which also saves my +pony. I have here assigned to me the quarters of the Generals who pass +through. These consist of the ruin of a fine house for quarters, and a +large room with four great windows without glass, and four doors in it; +gold frames around without their looking-glasses in them, fine chairs +without bottoms, &c., &c. The house belongs to the _Illustrissimo +Signor Barao_. I have a mattress on the floor with fleas innumerable. +I have my route, and here it is: first day, Eschalas de Cimo; second, +San Miguel; third, Menoa; fourth, Sabugal; fifth, perhaps a halt; +sixth, Aldea da Ponte; seventh, Sturno; eighth, Ciudad Rodrigo. We are +to carry provisions for four days with us, then provide for three, +and start to-morrow or next day as the treasure mules are able; then +go on to Fuentes de Castelegos, Forgadilla, Calçade de Don Diego, +Salamanca. Few of these places are in Faden’s map. Nothing can be had +on the road, it is said, not even dry stabling or a dry room; and much +wet is expected. The place is finely situated on the east side of a +hill which is crowned by an old Moorish castle and walls, and a modern +monastery in ruins! It is one of the best towns we have seen, and there +are the ruins of some good houses; provisions and necessaries are to be +bought here, but at a high price. There is part of the fine episcopal +palace (where a Portuguese General is quartered), with a garden in +tolerable order, a good church, and several picturesque-looking ruined +monasteries, with crosses at every step. I have taken a few sketches +where we stop on the road, though too much occupied with business to +think much of the picturesque. Niga is also picturesque. + +My adventures are all much alike. The only variety is an arrival wet +through to the skin. No one can say where we shall go to at last. I +suppose I must now proceed to Salamanca, and then something must be +determined upon. Things do not go on well at Burgos, I fear; there is +much delay, more than was expected. Lord Wellington is, it is said, not +satisfied. At Cernados a cobbler was the _Juge de Fores_, and gave us +our billets. On the walls was an excellent likeness in chalk of Lord +George Lennox, done by the shadow, I suppose from the lamp which is +allowed us. I hear of sickness everywhere; much at head-quarters. The +general orders have many more on the list of absent from sickness, than +on that of arrivals at the army. Soult is very strong. General Hill, I +believe, is still at Toledo. + +Near the mountains on the other side of the Tagus is an old castle or +two, and some pleasant glimpses of fine valleys, and the deep banks +of the river which is hidden from the view. The sandy commons like +Bagshot, over which the road passes, are more bold, the hills higher, +and covered almost entirely with the gum cistus, which has a sweet +scent, but, being out of bloom in that state, is not so pleasing as our +heaths with their various colours. There is a little heath like the +Devonshire heath, and some parts of the road rather like Dartmoor. Near +Niga are seen the mountains about Elvas, and in the line to Badajoz, +and the Spanish mountains of Estremadura, The country proved to me the +merit of some of Rubens’ Spanish views, which are, like his Flemish +pictures, most correct in the character of the scenery. From Niga, +after proceeding a league, you wind down a wild Devonshire or Welsh +sort of road; first cross a small river, then the Tagus again, almost +down steps—not so bad as some wild parts of Ireland, to be sure, though +very bad for the loaded mules. Here is very little oak, underwood, some +fir, but chiefly and perpetually the gum cistus, which grows to about +four feet high. Villa Velha is a village in ruins, finely situated on +the side of a hill looking over the river. It is now nearly deserted. +The soldiers with baggage pitched a tent below the office in the +cellar. From the hills above the river, before we crossed the Tagus, we +saw Castello Branco standing high on the hill, and the Moorish ruins. +Cernados is like a Welsh village of the worst sort: rocks for streets, +ruined stone houses inhabited in part, and used for quarters. Their few +architectural large buildings alone constitute the difference between +these and the worst Welsh or Irish villages. From Cernados to this +place we again crossed a country like a large Bagshot Heath, but by a +very tolerable good road; adieu. + +P.S.—The Captain has just sent me word we must start to-morrow instead +of the day after; he says that the treasure is not safe without the +serjeants. Our detachments are all foreigners; many are drunk, and have +quarrelled with the inhabitants! + +_Salamanca, October, 1812._—The first day after leaving Castello +Branco, we reached Eschalo de Cimo, a pretty, and once a thriving +village, with a good church, not so much destroyed as damaged; one +handsome large house in the vicinity belonging to the Squiress, Donna +Joanna, the best rooms in which were gutted and used as quarters, the +rest inhabited by two or three families of the better kind, with some +smart misses among them. The other houses mostly in ruins, but still +some of them occupied. In this place bread was not to be bought, nor +even an onion! but we fared well, in good rooms, with good fires. On +our road thither we kept Castello Branco in sight nearly all the way; +we also saw the distant mountains in Spain and Portugal. The road was +over a sort of Dartmoor, stones, rock, sand, with fern oak a foot +high, and abundance of apples. The second day we reached San Miguel de +Cima. The same sort of village as Eschalo de Cimo, one good house for +quarters, the rest small, and generally, like the church, in ruins; +but the inhabitants were fast returning to it. Here we obtained bread, +onions, and some hay. The appearance on entering the village, with the +trees about it, very pleasant. The third day’s route was to Memoa, five +long leagues. At first a good road and picturesque country, with a very +fine view of Monsanto, with its town and castle on the right, and of +the other hills grouped with it in the distance. Pennamacor, which is +almost destroyed, we left on our right, about a mile, with its castle, +standing boldly on the side of a hill, with rock and wood around it, +and a rich-looking valley below. This is a fine situation, backed, as +we left it, by Monsanto. We also passed Pedrigoa, a large village, +nearly destroyed and deserted, and at last, after passing over a hill +by a horrible road, through an oak copse, where we had nearly lost our +way, we arrived at the heap of ruins called Memoa. This was the worst +place we had stopped at all the way. There was only one room in the +town, that only water-tight, and there were no stables. I took the +driest corner in a large common room, because there was a stable under +it. + +I could see and hear everything in the stables, for the floor was +still less tight than the roof. The leg of a chair or a table, in +spite of all possible care, went two or three times through it. I got +a little hay, and slept behind a great chest, in my blanket. Three of +the natives were in the room at night. The fourth day we had three +leagues of fine road, though bad travelling, through a hilly wood of +arbutuses in bearing, and Portugal laurels in flower, heath in bloom, +a plant like the lignum vitæ, and broom. This day’s route brought us +to Sabugal, where there is generally a halt, but this our captain +declined. Sabugal stands on a hill, very finely situated, but commanded +by other hills; the way is over a bridge and river, and with a winding +road up to it. The situation is not unlike that of Ludlow; the town +very inferior in size and beauty, but picturesque. The castle itself +with its square Moorish towers, more so than Ludlow. The town is all +in ruins; not even a weather-tight room in it. I got a large sort +of barn, open in the roof in several places, with no doors, and two +large windows, without even shutters, and four others half closed. On +our road thither from Memoa we found half the body of a man, nearly a +skeleton, but with flesh and nails on the toes. It was lying on the +road, as if to scare travellers. + +The market-place at Sabugal is, I think, very pretty, and everything +in it very cheap: this, indeed, was the cheapest place through which +we had passed. The fifth day we reached Aldea da Ponte, the last +Portuguese village. The road was interesting, as we passed near Fuente +Guinaldos, so long head-quarters, and Alfayetes, also head-quarters. +We passed just under Alfayetes, and saw Lord Wellington’s house on +the side of the hill, with the old castle. This place is now in +ruins, like the rest. We then passed over the plain where our cavalry +distinguished themselves in a sharp affair with the French. Aldea da +Ponte is much cleaner than the other villages. + +Here we saw more pots, pans, basins, &c., than usual; these the people +desired us to make use of instead of hiding them from us, as was +generally done in Portugal. On the sixth day, we came, after a short +league, to a small village on the side of a hill, the first in Spain, +then on to two or three more, and in less than six leagues we reached +Ciudad Rodrigo. This town stands on a rise, in an undulating sort +of rough Salisbury Plain. It is two-thirds in ruins, but the public +buildings appear to have suffered comparatively little, and might, +most of them, be restored. The entrance to the town is striking. We +got an indifferent quarter in the suburbs, immediately opposite the +place where the light battalions entered. The main breach was round +the corner of our abode. The Spaniards had nearly restored these two +breaches, but from ill luck or neglect both had entirely given way, +and there must still be some months’ work before they can undo and +clear enough away to begin to rebuild again. Everything was scarce in +the town, and the people imposing and uncivil. On the seventh day we +proceeded to Brondillo, where we were obliged to stop, as there were +only two houses in Castel Legos, to which the route sent us. This was +by far our worst day’s journey; the distance was seven leagues, that +is, twenty-eight miles. It took us to accomplish this from six in the +morning to past three, of which time it rained eight hours and a half, +nearly all that time like a bad English thunder-shower of ten minutes’ +duration. No coats could keep out the wet, and it was accompanied by +a strong, cold November wind, for the weather for the last week has +been as cold as an English November. We all suffered, and I have been +chilly and aguish ever since. We then, for the first time, entered a +Spanish cabin; and oh! how superior to those of Portugal! of Ireland! +of Scotland! and if I did not consider these cottages as farms and +not as cottages, I should say of England too! All neat and clean; with +pots, dishes, boilers in abundance. + +The people are proud, but if treated with civility, courteous and +kind, though they are turned away from their own firesides by us +and the Portuguese three or four nights in the seven. They made us +a great fire, and did all they could for us. The women seem chatty +and merry—the men, the handsomest and best-grown, with the finest +countenances I ever saw, except perhaps in Switzerland. We met with +the same sort of treatment and kindness at the next village. The house +belonged to the priest, with whom, through the medium of some mongrel +Latin and Spanish, I managed to converse a little. These quarters are +some of the best I have had since leaving Lisbon; at Togadillo, where +the route sent us, there was only one good house. + +At Robedila, a place out of the road, where we got by accident, finding +we had passed Togadillo without knowing it, all was comfort again. +This place the French occupied for some time with ten thousand men. +We arrived yesterday at Salamanca. After the first five leagues from +Ciudad Rodrigo, which were as rough as Dartmoor, we have passed through +a country like the neighbourhood of Salisbury Plain, only that the +villages were much more numerous, though several only of three or four +houses, now nearly all repaired. Not a single large, or, I believe, +two-storied house, from Ciudad Rodrigo to this place. Much of the +country now quite a fine green, but a very large part in cultivation. +The land looked good; about midway it consisted of, for five or six +leagues, clay, and knee-deep: in some places a light soil, or reddish +sand; with water up to the mules’ bellies, from the heavy rain, though +it had ceased twenty-four hours. The people have plenty of bread and +straw, but there are no shops in the villages. They only sell to oblige +each his own lodger for the night. Bread was threepence a pound—it had +been fourpence. All along this country, from St. Martin de Rio hither, +are abundance of acorns, almost as good as chestnuts; quite sweet. +The muleteers and men halt to eat them. This also gives good fires +everywhere. Horses and bones are strewed more or less along the whole +way from Lisbon. In one place, about seven leagues from Salamanca, were +thirteen heads arranged in a row, as stepping-blocks for passengers +through the water. I believe there was a little cavalry brush there. +Salamanca stands well, but in a sort of Salisbury Plain. The colleges +are destroyed, but the church is most beautiful, and the entrances much +finer than those of our cathedrals—the figures and heads very fine +indeed. + +The altered Roman bridge is striking. The town is so full, principally +of sick, that I have got bad quarters, half a mile out of the town; my +direction l’Ultima Casa. + +_Later, same day._—I have been again looking at the town. The great +church is very fine, and not damaged, but there are many miserable +ruins of noble colleges, some gutted, some nearly razed. The public +library has a fair supply of books, but too exclusively of sacred, or +rather ecclesiastical literature; there are, however, good classics, +French, and modern learned works, mathematics, and others: it is about +two-thirds of the size of Trinity College, Cambridge. I hope to proceed +the day after to-morrow, to Valladolid, which it is proposed to reach +in seven days. There are good shops here, and articles not dear. It is +curious to see the same effect of ages and of tastes as in England. +Below and behind the great altar of the church was some old English, +or, as we should say, Saxon architecture, that is, a rude imitation of +Greek. Then came a florid sample of Gothic, not in the best taste, but +beautifully ornamented, with screens, &c., in the style of King Charles +and King William; forced Grecian again, of two centuries back. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + Arrival at Head-quarters—Ciudad Rodrigo—The Retreat—Its + Disasters—Capture of General Paget—Personal Anecdotes—Scarcity + of Provisions—Courts-martial in the Army—Business of a + Judge-Advocate—Wellington. + + + Head-quarters, Rueda, Nov. 5, 1812. + + MY DEAR M——, + +At last I have arrived safely at head-quarters, as they have been kind +enough to come half-way to meet me. From Salamanca, we proceeded on +the first day to Alba de Tormes, a town in a fine situation on the +Tormes, with the remains of a castle of various dates, extensive and +picturesque; part of it, particularly the entrance staircase, very +richly ornamented. The whole was striking, and the vicinity of the town +was interesting, for here it was that the French so completely beat the +unhappy Spaniards, and put them to death by thousands, almost in cold +blood. We saw where General del Parques’ cavalry were posted, and the +positions of the French. On our road near Salamanca we also observed at +a distance, on the other side of the river, the hills where the battle +of Salamanca was fought; and our route lay in that of the pursuit +through Alba, then on to Peneranda, another good old town, and so, +through villages, to Arevalo, where we arrived in four days, tracing +men’s bones and bits of soldiers’ dress, as well as horse bones and +carcasses, on the route thither. + +This country resembles Salisbury Plain, in open cultivation of +corn, and is covered very thick with neat villages, with a general +appearance of comfort. Arevalo is a large place in ruins. There are +many remains of fine richly-wooded brickwork, convents, churches, +many good houses, and the town standing very finely on a hill, nearly +surrounded by the river, which runs in a deep hollow round it, with +four or five substantial and rather picturesque bridges. Our route was +by Valladolid, where we should have been in three days, and which I +regret much not to have seen, for I hear it is second only to Madrid, +and very little damaged. Had I proceeded on the route I should have +reached Valladolid the day before the French entered it. Hearing that +the army was rapidly retiring, the road became unsafe. No one knew +where head-quarters were to be; the treasure, and my mules with it, +were consequently halted, and instructions were written for. For four +days we remained at Arevalo. The treasure party were then ordered to +Olmedo to deliver their cargo, and head-quarters were here at Rueda. +I proceeded with them to Olmedo, rather a handsome and a large town, +where I was housed in the good quarters which had been occupied by the +Prince of Orange. When I arrived here, my beasts were kept standing +loaded in the streets, and all of us without anything to eat until +past six, before I could get a quarter. The people were civil, but +I had to go to the Quarter-Master-general, Adjutant-general, to the +billet-manager, to the Military Secretary, &c. One said, “go here;” +another, “go there;” a third sent a serjeant to inquire, and then +thought no more about it. + +At last I procured an indifferent quarter vacated by a Commissary, only +a shed, and holes through the floor into the cellar below. My animals, +therefore, stood all night in the entrance of the passage. + +This morning, 5th, I heard of a Spanish aide-de-camp of Castanos’, who +is here, and who had three small stables close to me. I found him in +bed at nine o’clock, but he could speak French, and I persuaded him +to give me one of the stables for my four animals. Thus we are better +off to-day, and, as a favour, I have got them something to eat. I was +introduced to Lord Wellington this morning, and delivered my letters. +He was very courteous. We conversed for half an hour, and I am to dine +with him at six to-day, in full uniform. He is to send me fifty cases +against officers, to examine, in order to ascertain whether any can +be made out on evidence, which is the great difficulty. There is a +caricature here of Johnny Newcome, who makes it out till sent to the +rear rolled up in a blanket in an ox-car, creeping on at the rate of +two miles an hour to Lisbon. We are in hourly expectation of moving. +The bridges are repaired, and the French within three leagues, and able +to cross if they choose. General Hill is expected here to-day. His +forces are at Arevalo. Soult is in Madrid; whether they push on further +is to be seen. + +Few reinforcements have arrived; eighteen thousand Spaniards (such +as they are) are with us. The lower classes of the people are a very +fine race in person, talents, and feelings, and vastly superior to the +Portuguese. It is very provoking that rank and prejudice render this +of no avail. The inhabitants of the town seem half French. About six +hundred French crossed over to us last night, but retired again. The +cavalry were off in the middle of the night from head-quarters. I was +alarmed for a moment, but all seems quiet this morning. The last five +days have been very fine; cold dewy mornings, but clear sunny days, +damp cold evenings, but for the time of the year here very fine. There +are very queer-looking military figures here, some English, a few +Portuguese, many more Spanish. The whole scene presents an odd medley. + +_Ciudad Rodrigo, November 19, 1812._—To continue my diary from Rueda. +Two days afterwards, the 7th, an order to march at four in the morning +came, as soon as Hill’s army was within reach. I then first saw what +it was to put seventy thousand men in motion, about ten thousand +public, and a greater number of private mules, horses, &c. At five we +started, and about two that day I reached head-quarters. Torricello +by four o’clock. At five next morning started again for Petueja. Here +the head-quarters had only thirty houses for one hundred and fifty +officers. Lord Wellington and the Prince of Orange had only one room +each. I was ordered a league in advance, where I found Castanos, who +had come in for better quarters. He sent me on another half-league, but +when a mile on the road he passed me, as he had heard that the next +was the best quarter. So I returned, and at three o’clock got a little +hole and a stable. About five came in about three thousand Spanish +troops. Half my house was down in a moment for firing, and nearly all +the owner’s property, pans, dishes, straw, &c., stolen. I secured mine, +which was attacked, by swallowing a mouthful and packing up and keeping +guard. The remainder of the house was also saved; and, by the help of +a Spanish officer, who took a fancy to the kitchen fire, the house +was cleared with fist and foot. My animals were not safe, as my man +heard one soldier say he would have one before morning. I saved them +by putting them in a row in the passage close to me, where they stood +for the night. Fires all round us; noises of all kinds; people breaking +in. There were only about six civilians, English, in the village. At +five next day off again, and at daylight joined the general train on +the road to Salamanca. It was easily found, for it extended five or six +miles. + +The day before we again started three cases were laid before me on +which to draw charges. Upon these I was to report to Lord Wellington +next day. I drew them up, but he was too busy to receive them. When I +went home and sent for a paper, the answer was, “All packed up;” and +it seemed that I ought to be so too, as our position was turned, and +we were all ordered to be loaded and ready to start. After much hurry, +I was ready soon after twelve. My beasts stood loaded at the door till +seven in the evening; then came orders to unload, but to be loaded by +four next morning, and to start for a hill a league off, and there wait +for orders. There was only one long bridge to pass the whole army, and +it was near seven before we were all over. + +It rained hard. We stood on the hill loaded and waiting for orders +till one o’clock. Nearly the whole of our army was in sight round +us, cooking their dinners in the rain, in their new position. The +French were all around, about a league off, their fires visible in +the woods, and the heads of their columns visible with a glass. They +would not attack us, as they might, but manœuvred to turn our right +wing. Had there been a battle we should have had a fine view of the +beginning at least. At one o’clock we saw our whole army break up and +put itself in motion; and orders came to us to march and keep with the +second column. This we did, marching in the rain, in a fine confusion, +till five o’clock, when Lord Wellington halted at a miserable place +for head-quarters, and the men bivouacked on the swampy ground. I +was ordered on a league further. Darkness soon came on, and the rain +descended in torrents. Misdirected by some Spanish muleteers, I lost my +way, and did not reach any village for three leagues, and not till nine +at night, wet and starved, as the Salamanca people, in our confusion, +stole my bread, &c. + +I was the only English officer there, and got the best quarter at the +parish priest’s, the best house there. Here I procured a loaf of bread, +fire, and a bed, which were no small comforts. I got, however, but +little sleep, not knowing how to proceed next day, and being aware +that the French were close at hand. By my map I found that I was in the +nearest road to Ciudad Rodrigo, and, taking a retreat to be the object, +I determined to wait till eight or nine o’clock next day, and observe +whether any one passed. By that time half the army was on the road +through the village, and Sir Edward Paget took my quarter for the last +night’s rest he had before he was taken prisoner. I then had a short +march in the rain again this day to Aldea Quella and to Boleado. In two +hours’ time I got a quarter through Colonel Campbell’s influence; and +because the stables would not hold a large horse, all the mules, half +the servants, all the soldiers, and most of the officers, were out in +the wet. Three Spanish officers burst into my quarters at night, and +the people were hammering at the door every moment for straw, shelter, +&c., sick and all sorts. In spite of my vigilance, either the Spanish +officers or the people of the house stole my pistols out of my room, +and finished by purloining the bread and rum of my men. Honesty is not +a Spanish virtue. We all of us lose things daily. At two next day we +loaded, and at three started for this place, twenty miles, four hours +before daylight. Luckily we had some moon. I stuck to Lord Wellington’s +carriage and baggage, thinking the people in charge of them would be +best informed, though my own inquiries elicited other intelligence than +theirs. + +I was told the rivers that way were not passable, and we found the +whole road almost under water for miles, ankle, and even knee deep, +and three rivers to pass. Many mules were upset or stuck fast, and +much baggage damaged or lost. I had only one load overset, and that +at the edge, and we saved all, and not much damage done. By daylight +there was a general halt; no one knew the ford or the road. At last we +passed the river a mile above; but then, finding the French had been +in the village three miles off the last night, we all turned off by a +by-road six miles round, and at last arrived here at Ciudad Rodrigo, +miserably cold, with animals knocked up, sore backs, &c., about two +o’clock. In the confusion here, at last I got a bad quarter in the same +house with Colonel Gordon, Lord Wellington’s aide-de-camp. But I have +a place for my animals, and hundreds have no room for animals, or even +for themselves. We halt to-day, whether for a longer time I know not. +The army is mostly passing the river to-day. We lost many men in the +retreat, but a very little money is missing. The sick are numerous. +Two officers have died of fatigue on the road, in which dead mules are +to be met with in plenty, and some men. To-day we are relating our +adventures. We get but little barley for our horses, no hay or straw. +The cavalry have been without it for some days; but this is considered +a very orderly retreat. Sir Edward Paget accidentally fell into the +enemy’s hands near his own division, within six hundred yards of it, +between that and another. The French are said to have ninety thousand +men, with nine thousand cavalry. They pressed hard until yesterday; +they then relaxed when they might have done us most mischief. The +roads and weather, I suppose, and the want of food and forage, impeded +them. I hope they will now leave us quiet. I am very sorry for Sir +Edward Paget on the public account and on my own, as I found him most +friendly, civil, and good-natured. This capture is also a triumph to +the French. + +_Malliarda de Sorda, November 26th, 1812._—We are now in our winter +quarters, and fill all the villages and places for twenty miles round +on the Portugal side of Ciudad Rodrigo, the works of which are still +quite out of repair where our trenches were made, as the Spanish new +work has all fallen in. Wellington’s head-quarters are at Frenada, an +old station; the doctors are all at Castello Bom; and the other civil +departments, in which I am included, all at this place, Malliarda +de Sorda. We are distant four miles of most infamous rocky road from +Frenada, and eight from Castello Bom. This I fear must shut me off from +nearly all society, as it would be paying most dear for a dinner at +Frenada or Castello Bom, to return in the dark, along roads compared +with which those of Ireland or Cornwall are bowling-greens. We are in +three wretched villages, in a country like Dartmoor, but more wood +near, all rocks around, and stone-wall enclosures, and rocky roads; +then woods, with open wastes for twenty miles round. I have a room +opening to the street, without ceiling, only open loose pantiles, with +holes to let out the smoke of a fireplace without a chimney; a window +tinned up by last year’s occupier, except four small panes, two of +which are broken; there is a hole in the floor to look through at my +five animals and three servants, who all sleep on the straw below me. + +The weather for the last three days has been a complete English +December, cutting easterly winds; and on the 23rd I will vouch for +ice three-quarters of an inch thick. All the Sierras are white with +snow. I found Lord Wellington’s secretaries sitting with candles at +twelve o’clock in the day, in order to stop their holes and windows +with curtains, and burning charcoal fires. We have had every variety +of weather here in six weeks: I never remember it colder in England +for the time of the year. Here are no books, no women but ladies of a +certain description; and as to living, you would be surprised what good +living is here, except at Lord Wellington’s table, and about two more, +and even at those no port wine, only thin claret, and the country wines +and brandy. + +At Ciudad Rodrigo there was starvation: no corn, no hay, no straw, +no bread, no rum, for three days, only beef and biscuit; at last we +got some mouldy biscuit for the animals, which I mixed with carrot, +cabbage, and potatoes; everything was devoured. Tea, 22_s._ and 25_s._ +a pound; butter, 4_s._; bread, 1_s._ 6_d._ a pound, above 6_s._ the +loaf; no wine or brandy; gin, 12_s._ the bottle; straw, a dollar for a +small bundle, and all sold in a scramble. The truth was, the troops, +poor fellows! came through the town quite starving; during the retreat +supplies had been mismanaged—regiments were three and four days without +rations, and numbers died of absolute starvation, besides the sick. +Lord Wellington is, I hear, very angry. Till I saw B—’s mess, &c., I +had no notion of the loss in this retreat, and the great suffering +of the men and horses. From what I hear, not merely were about one +thousand made prisoners, but five or six thousand put for some time +_hors de combat_, by sickness, starvation, and want of horses, &c. The +cavalry were too weak to act, mainly from want of food. A great many +animals were killed. A treasure-party had a narrow escape: the French +were in sight while they were loading, and much baggage was lost. Lord +Dalhousie lost almost all; five horses and thirteen loaded mules, +with his name at full length upon his baggage—another French triumph! +Colonel Delancey lost three horses, taken at Salamanca; and the men +suffered shockingly from the wet. The whole was so unlucky; as had the +three days’ rain begun at Salamanca, in all probability the French +would not have crossed the Tormes and turned our position, and we might +still have been there; and had they come three days later, we should +have saved our three or four thousand sick. We should, moreover, have +had good roads and dry nights, no floods and torrents to wade through +by day, nor swamps to sleep on by night; in fact, we should only have +lost drunken stragglers. The distress at Madrid, after all the joy and +gaiety, was dreadful. When we left the town sixty thousand poor were +contending for the remains of our stores—the worst objects had the +preference given them. King Joseph’s Palace was left by him entirely +furnished; and as Lord Wellington made a point that he should find it +again the same, nothing was touched by our army. + +_The 26th._—To-day is a cheerful, frosty, Christmas-day, and within an +English farm-house the whole would do very well: but I go, like others, +to bed at seven o’clock, to keep myself warm. General Castanos and his +troops are gone back to Gallicia, which is one grievance removed at +least. Ballasteros is in disgrace at Ceuta, for disobedience. I fear, +upon the whole, the Spanish cause has suffered much by our advance to +Madrid and Burgos. The people find we cannot support them, and will be +very shy in future; and the misery of the peasantry and townspeople +all the time is extreme. There are few deceptions in England like that +about the life in Spain. + +_Frenada, Head-Quarters, December 8th, 1812._—I will now tell you +one day’s adventure and how I came here. Two days after writing from +Malliarda de Sorda, where I was lonely and heard nothing, I determined +to walk over to see how things went on here, and put my papers into my +pocket in case I should be able to see Lord Wellington. On my arrival +I met the Quarter-Master who managed quarters: he told me he had kept +a miserable hole for me, if I chose to move; it was much worse than +even my old one, but I instantly said “YES.” The next person I met was +Lord Wellington, and I asked him when he wished to see me, and whether +he had any objection to my moving here? He said I might take my choice +and take the best of the bad. He then asked whether I had my papers +about me? I said, “All.” “Come up,” said he then; and in ten minutes he +looked over my papers, which consisted of four sets of charges against +officers. These were all settled with a few judicious alterations, in +which I entirely agreed. I then came out and wrote them fair in the +Adjutant-general’s office, and two were sent off to Lisbon that day. + +On my way home I found a Portuguese half drunk, killing his wife. +He had bruised her, and laid her head open with a large stone; this +occurred on the open road. As I was not in full strength from the +effects of a recent accident, I could only gently interfere, and the +brute persisted in his cruelty. A servant then came by on horseback who +struck him with a good stout stick; but the fellow turned on him, and +hit him with a great stone on the head. Thereupon two dragoons, who saw +the whole affair, came up, and were going to cut the Portuguese down, +when I begged them only to use the backs of their sabres, which they +did sharply, and brought him into the village. + +I have dined again with Lord Wellington, and at Castello Bom with Dr. +Macgregor, whence I walked home with Colonel Colin Campbell at ten at +night with a lantern, over rocks and streams. I have also seen Lord +Wellington again, twice, about charges; but I understand I am not to +go over to some Courts-martial which he has just fixed to take place +in ten days, at two divisions, about forty miles from hence, but to +stay here. He is shortly, as general report says, going to Cadiz +or somewhere. At Lord Wellington’s we had a curious conversation, +about himself, Canning and his speeches, and Vetus’s letters in the +_Times_.[1] He joined in and indeed led the conversation, as if talking +of persons and things he was not connected with, but seemed not +satisfied with the Ministry, though he did not favour the opposition. +He said he took in the _Courier_ to know what government meant to do, +&c., and as a decent paper to show General Castanos. + +It has not lately been very cold; indeed, we had four or five charming +days, but the rain has now begun again; but want of all books and +society is the worst. The little conversation here beyond the topics of +the day is of a review a year old, or a pamphlet. The dress here is a +cap made of velvet, cloth, and fur, with a peak over the eyes (that is +a foraging cap); the handsomest are all of fur, dark or grey fur, the +former the best, with a broad gold band and tassel on the top. With +this is worn a dress great coat, or plain, with military buttons, grey +pantaloons; this is the costume for dinners. Morning dress—overalls, +boots, and white or more generally fancy waistcoats; in winter blue +and black velvet, or cloth, with fancy buttons of gold, and narrow +stripes of gold as an edging. There are four suttlers here, who sell +everything, and we are, all things considered, well supplied. We have +one little Exeter-Change shop, but all very dear; pepper and mustard +dear, a small sauce bottle 7_s._, tea three dollars a pound, cheese +4_s._ a pound, porter 5_s._ a bottle, gin and brandy 7_s._ 6_d._, +port wine 6_s._ 6_d._, milk 1_s._ a quart, salt-butter 3_s._ a pound, +sugar 1_s._ 8_d._, pork (no other meat) 1_s._ 8_d._ a pound, oil 5_s._ +a quart. These are the prices here at _head-quarters_. Remember that +distinction; not the national prices. + +_Head-Quarters, Frenada, December 31st, 1812._—For the last month I +have really been too busy to write. During the last week, before Lord +Wellington went away, he kept me hard at work, and left directions +to endeavour to get rid of all the cases pending for Courts-martial. +About thirty-two cases were made over to me, some of nearly two years’ +standing. We have now a Court sitting at Lisbon, one in the second +division at Coria, one in the seventh at Govea, and another here which +I attend myself four miles off at Fuentes d’Onore. I have sent six to +Lisbon, five to the seventh division, five to the second, and intended +taking seven myself to Fuentes d’Onore; the rest have in some way been +arranged. Hitherto we have made little progress from the sickness, +which keeps back witnesses. I have only myself tried one, and hope to +finish to-morrow. One charge is of that of a mad Commissary, whose +trial was put off last week, on account of his being raving. He wrote +to the Adjutant-general a mad letter, amongst other things telling him +that he had ten thousand men, that he might drive all head-quarters to +“Nebuchadnezzar’s fiery furnace, where,” he added, “Lord Wellington and +you may sit at the head of the table.” I served him myself with his +notice of trial; he appeared very wild, and I have great doubts how he +will behave. + +I have had long instructions to write to the three other +Judge-Advocates and summonses for witnesses to send to every regiment +and to the Commandants about here, and that over and over again. As +fast as one prisoner or witness got well, another became sick, and +half the cases are now pending in this way. Then comes a long case to +abstract for Lord Wellington; then an opinion for the Adjutant-general +by return of post. For these three weeks I have been writing nearly +seven hours a day, circulating copies of the charges to prisoners, to +the Courts, and to the prosecutors, and much of my labour is thrown +away by the sickness of the prisoners and witnesses. I have nine here +in the Provost’s hands for trial, and five are in the hospital—one +just dead. There is one comfort, the reflection that such a press of +business is never likely to recur. The _Gazette_ and newspapers you +sent me afforded me considerable amusement and comfort. Since Lord +Wellington has been absent, Colonel Colin Campbell remains to do the +honours and invite at the great house. I spent Christmas-day there, and +have dined several times. Besides a good dinner and the best society, I +there hear the latest news and get honour. The party is now very small. + +After ten days of horrible damp, cold, rainy weather, we have now a +thoroughly good genuine English frost, with an east wind, quite like an +old friend in England; but the sun has some power, so that it is like +our frosts in February rather than Christmas. We see here very few of +the officers. Just before Lord Wellington went he was angry at all the +applications for leave of absence, observing, “A pretty army I have +here! They all want to go home: but no more shall go except the sick.” +As the sick are now fast recovering, I may mention what I did not like +to do a month ago, that the returns of the sick were then between +nineteen and twenty thousand! You would have no idea of this. I have +dined here with Major and Mrs. Scobell, the only lady here. I have also +dined with Lord Aylmer, the acting Adjutant-general here, who is very +civil. The Commissary, Mr. H——, keeps a good table, and often asks me. +Dr. H—— is our doctor now at head-quarters—a sensible man. Lord March +has lent me two volumes of Goldsmith’s works. + +Castanos’ army went back in an orderly manner. Our Commissary reports +well of them, and of the country, where, he says (that is, in the Tras +os Montes), there is an abundance of bread, poultry, turkeys, &c., +and of many things we have no notion of here. They have procured two +turkeys at head-quarters this Christmas, and have had mince-meat in +tins by the post from Lisbon. + +We send to the woods for firing, and bring it home on the mules, and +send out from four to six leagues, that is, from sixteen to twenty-four +miles, for hay or straw. Ten pounds of straw a-day is the allowance for +the animals, but I fear it will not hold out, as the villages are now +nearly all emptied. We shall soon have to get little bundles of dry +grass, which are already brought to our splendid market for sale. The +Lamego wine is the only wine which I can drink with comfort,—it is a +sort of port. The Sierra di Francia is the next best,—a much lighter +wine, from the Sierras towards Madrid, from hence between thirty and +forty miles off. + +Lord Wellington, whom I saw every day for the last three or four days +before he went, I like much in business affairs. He is very ready, and +decisive, and civil, though some complain a little of him at times, +and are much afraid of him. Going up with my charges and papers for +instructions, I feel something like a boy going to school. I expect to +have a long report to make on his return. + +I hear a good account of Ballasteros’s army: that it is better +equipped than that of Castanos’. I wish it had done more. The French +are supposed still to have about a hundred and eighty thousand men +in the Peninsula. I do not believe their force in this neighbourhood +has increased or diminished. Some have receded to Vittoria, but have +been traced by the spies (of whom we have one constantly at Burgos) no +further, nor have many supplies of men to any amount been discovered, I +believe. We have some difficulty in getting fed; bread in the markets +is about 9_d._ a pound; barley for the horses very scarce: we often go +without for two days. A commissary-agent is now in Salamanca buying +bread. The villages between Rodrigo and Salamanca, described in my +journey, are, it is said, quite destroyed. We did much, the French the +rest. Pork is the only thing abundant, about 1_s._ 6_d._ per pound, +very rich but too fat, and the fat not firm; the flesh sweeter and +richer than that of our pork, from the acorns on which the swine feed, +and which are like chestnuts. + +I was a little nervous at the first Court-martial, but it went off +pretty well, and I got the whole over and brought away eight sides of +notes in three hours. To-morrow I take my fair copy to be signed, &c. +In my way to this Court-martial, Henry and I were puzzled by a river +which seemed to be over our necks,—a deep hole off a rock. At last I +made out a way zigzag, only about three feet deep; there was no one +near or on either side; I should have had a swim, I am told, as people +are sometimes drowned there. A ducking the first time of my appearance +in public would have been awkward. + +Two cases have just been brought in to me; they are for shooting +natives, one an alcalde. Adieu. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] It was generally supposed that these celebrated letters, often +compared to those of Junius, were written by Lord Wellesley. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + Arrival of the Gazette—More Courts-martial—The Mad + Commissary—Intentions of Lord Wellington—Social + Amusements—Sporting—Wellington’s Fox-hounds—His Stud—A Dinner at the + Commander-in-Chief’s—Number of Courts-martial—Anecdotes of Wellington. + + + Head-quarters, Frenada, Jan. 3, 1813. + + MY DEAR M——, + +In hopes of giving you letters every week, I must seize every odd +half-hour to write in, and you must not be nice as to my writing, &c., +as my hand is quite tired of the regular official style, and my fingers +cold, for we still have fine, clear, frosty weather; but in the middle +of the day it is very pleasant. + +Pray thank John very much for his parcel of newspapers, and especially +for that of the 17th December, with the _Gazette_, &c., and the +glorious news. I was the only person here with a paper of the 17th. +Head-quarters had only that of the evening of the 16th with the +_Gazette_; and though this was, in fact, much the same, this was an +event—and I sent mine up to Colonel Campbell, by his desire, for his +dinner-party at head-quarters. It has been in constant request ever +since. + +All the Guerilla party reports here state, that a body of French +cavalry has left Spain for France, for some purpose. They say that from +three to four thousand men are gone; this agrees with your story; but +our Portuguese Quarter-Master, from his spies, reports otherwise. The +forces in this neighbourhood are now but small; about four hundred +men in Salamanca, which, by-the-by, has been much plundered; and the +English dollars, which they extorted from the hungry troops by their +high prices, pretty well squeezed out of them. At Segovia there are +only one thousand men, more at Valladolid, and a force at Madrid, and +thus dispersed about; but as to their being starved, their country is +much better, I believe, than ours; and as I have already told you, our +Commissary goes to Salamanca for bread. The light division near this +place, and troop of Horse Artillery, have had scarcely any corn for +their horses for the three last weeks, and the cavalry will not be fit +to act much before April and May. + +Yesterday a great event occurred here—the arrival of a Guerilla chief, +who was formerly a sort of smuggler or robber. This man, whose name, +I believe, is Sumeil, attacked a French party, carrying despatches +from King Joseph to France, at a village near Valladolid, at twelve +o’clock at night. He came in upon the French by surprise, and the plan +succeeded. The despatches were seized, some of them on the person of +the courier, but the most material in a secret place in the pummel of a +saddle. A little spring in the buckle of the brass ornament discovered +a keyhole, and in the saddle was the pocket to conceal the papers. +They are principally in cipher, but some have been made out, and are, +I understand, important. I have heard the contents of only one letter +from King Joseph to the family in France, full of complaints of want of +money and much distress; he states that he cannot get a dollar. From +eighty to a hundred prisoners were taken by the party. These prisoners +were French, and two English officers were released. The French were +much irritated, and sent eleven squadrons of cavalry after the Guerilla +chief, but he got off with most of his prisoners, booty, despatches, +and party. Only one or two of the officers, and a few of the Guerilla +privates, have yet arrived here, but more, with the prisoners, are +expected shortly. Sumeil expects to be made a General for this. He was +at first very shy of suffering the aide-de-camp and Colonel Campbell +to look at his despatches, desiring to show them to Lord Wellington +in person; nor could he consent to give up the most important, until +General O’Lalor, who was at Ciudad Rodrigo, was sent for, and explained +matters to him. I was to have met them at head-quarters at dinner the +day of their arrival, but they were busily engaged at cards when sent +for; and said they were tired, and declined going out to dinner. I was +very sorry for this, as it would have been curious to see their manners +at a formal dinner. + +I have sent out my mules and Portuguese to forage. They now are obliged +to go so far for it that they cannot get home by night, and soon, I +fear, must stay out some days. I must get another horse; Colonel C—— +has a handsome Spanish horse to sell, strong, showy, and, considering +the price of horses here, not very dear, two hundred and fifty dollars; +it is a sort of a Rubens, sleek, black, manège horse, with a fine, +thick, curved, sleek, black neck. + +I take my morning walk daily, from eight till nine, to secure some +exercise, whilst Henry lights my fire and gets breakfast ready. Instead +of the gravel walk at Sheen or in Lincoln’s Inn gardens, it is a stroll +over the rocks, down towards the Coa river, which is almost two miles +from hence, and in parts is wild and picturesque; large masses of +rock, rounded by the weather, stunted trees, stone-wall enclosures, a +succession of ravines, and ruined fortified villages on the hills at a +distance; for Castello Bom, Castello Mendas, Castello Rodrigues, and +Almeyda, which, as well as Guarda, are in sight from the rocky hill, +half a mile from hence. Behind the whole, the sierras of Portugal and +Spain, now generally covered with snow. By these means, and with a +hasty ride or walk now and then in the middle of the day, my health +is certainly better. The work, except on account of health, I have no +sort of objection to: I only lament the delay in the proceedings, on +account of the sickness of the prisoners and witnesses. However, I may +have been of some use in law lecturing, and helping the other Deputy +Judge-Advocates; and no trouble has been spared by me in facilitating +matters. + +If the news from Russia be good to the extent supposed, it is thought +here that the French will withdraw from hence this spring, at least +behind the Ebro. This, however, I much doubt; though it seems agreed +that, at any rate, we are not in a state to follow, without very great +disadvantage, and almost destruction to our cavalry. + +_January the 4th._—There are strong reports, as I have said, that the +French are retiring; but General O’Lalor, whom I have just seen, tells +me his accounts are otherwise, and that no French have left, or are +leaving Spain; on the contrary, he assured me that the intercepted +letters from Soult state that the contest will, in the next campaign, +be between the Douro and the Tagus. D’Aranda de Duero is therefore +to be fortified, and made a good depôt, until the Emperor can send +reinforcements enough to enable them to enter Portugal. The French +head-quarters are at Madrid, nor does it appear that there is any +intention at present to give it up, though the Spaniards thought +otherwise from some letters of Soult, who ordered some of his men, +detachments of his corps, and letters, to be sent to him from Valencia, +but this seems to be only to complete his own corps. General O’Lalor +told me that a muleteer of Paget’s had just arrived from Bayonne, +with a pass, which he showed me, for him to return to Portugal as Sir +Edward Paget’s muleteer. This man says the French on the frontiers were +told that our retreat was a rout, our loss immense, and that sixteen +thousand prisoners had been taken, who were said to be on the road; he +added that many were fools enough to go several leagues to see them, +and found they were about two thousand five hundred; they also reported +that the Commander-in-Chief, Lord Paget, was taken.[2] + +We are trying to send French gazettes of the Russian business to the +French army, to give some of them a better notion of affairs in that +quarter, as it seems the armies hear little or nothing from France, and +at long intervals. + +_January the 6th._—I am just setting out for Fuentes to try my mad +Commissary, and from the fear of not having time before post on my +return, I must now close my letter. + +_Head-Quarters, Frenada, January 16th, 1813._—I was so much occupied +last week that I could not find time to give you one of my usual +scrawls before the post-day. The business of the mad Commissary’s was +finished in two long days last week, but I have had a long job in +copying it fair, as he put in a half-mad defence of five sheets in +folio. He is now off for Lisbon. I have bought Colonel C——’s horse for +two hundred and fifty dollars. + +Our last accounts from Lord Wellington are Cadiz, the 8th. He was +going to Lisbon on the 9th or 10th. He has taken the command of the +Spaniards; and is expected here on the 23rd. Lord Fitzroy Somerset +seems much pleased with Cadiz; I do not know whether Lord Wellington +is. The Prince of Orange is not yet returned from Oporto. He has been +very much fêted and entertained; there is dancing every night, and he +is much pleased. Lord March is just returned from thence; Colonel G—— +from Seville; so we all begin to reassemble here. I have just been +making out on a large sheet the states of the Courts-martial for Lord +Wellington. They are thirty-one in number, which are now going on, just +finished, or which are to proceed when witnesses can be collected. At +present my place is no sinecure. + +The French, they say, have been for some time in motion here, but I +believe only to forage, &c.; their last movements are southward of +Madrid and towards Seville again, but this is thought to be either a +feint or to be for the sake of supplies. + +Doctor M’Gregor has been a tour to visit the sick; of whom I am sorry +to say many have died; more than I was aware of. He has been as far as +Oporto. + +I have gone on very smoothly with my Courts-martial. General V—— is the +President, and has been very civil. They are all light infantry, and +have been very attentive, orderly, and obedient. + +_January 17th._—The house which I now occupy belongs to the Portuguese +lad who is in my service, and who is about eighteen. It is a droll +circumstance to live in the house of your own servant, who receives six +dollars a month, and is a tolerable groom. These reverses are here very +frequent in the fortunes of this class of people. He owns three houses +here, such as they are—stone barns; and his family had sheep, goats, +and land. + +There is plenty of game about, and we now get woodcocks frequently, +shot by the officers, very good hares, better, I think, than in +England, a few good snipes and plovers, and a very few partridges; the +latter are very wild. We have had, off and on, frost for this month and +more, and some very fine days, others like a London November fog, a +little snow, and now and then a day’s rain; but in eight hours again, +from a sudden change of wind, all dry and frost. The sun, when out, +makes the mid-day very pleasant; and though the winds are very cold, +and produce very hard ground and thick ice for the time in a very short +period, yet the ice does not continue, as in England, and accumulate. +It never gets much thicker than it is in one night with a cold wind, +and in the daytime the ground is soft; the cold, therefore, though for +a time very sharp, certainly cannot be near so intense in reality as in +England. We go to bed sometimes with the ground entirely wet at eleven +o’clock, and at six in the morning find there has been a very hard +frost, which is then going off again. + +The population here is very considerably thinned, and there is much +less land in cultivation than formerly; the people remaining have +generally lost their flocks and their animals for agriculture. Few +have now means of ploughing and manuring. The vineyards are generally +in a very neglected state also; not manured or in any way attended to, +and eaten close down by our hungry animals. Yet the labour required is +so moderate, and the light soil seems so productive, that the country +might very soon recover itself; but we take the oxen over the whole +country, buy up, and eat up everything. Out of our reach, in the Tras +os Montes, are plenty of poultry, sheep, turkeys, &c. The Portuguese, +naturally lazy, never repair the damages of war, never rebuild, clean +out, or set to work to bring things round. They despair, and only just +work to supply our market with onions, 4_d._ each; eggs, 3_d._ each; +potatoes alone rather cheap at 2_d._ the pound; pork, 1_s._ 6_d._ the +pound, and good. The Spaniards, on the contrary, begin, very soon +after the armies go, to restore; they put on their tiles, rebuild +their walls, and especially whitewash the inside of their houses; +they collect their cooking-vessels, and get to work on their farms. +The peasantry recover themselves much more and much faster than the +Portuguese, but yet they have not in any one place suffered so much and +so often as this part of Portugal has; and in this town they are pretty +much as lazy as the other. + +_The 20th._—A very interesting case of a poor deserter whom we tried +yesterday at Fuentes, I must copy out fair to carry over to the general +president for his signature to-morrow. The deserter, poor fellow! +deserted for love to the Spaniards, with a Spanish girl from the +neighbourhood of Madrid whom he had brought away with him. She had been +most honest and faithful in very trying scenes during the retreat. On +being ordered to send her off by his Captain, he appeared to have had +no intention of going over to the French. I was not aware of the merit +of his story till I copied the whole out fairly. It was translated in +broken bits, by a not very skilful interpreter. Three deserters came in +here yesterday; they are Flemings. They report that part of the French +cavalry are gone to France, and that all the cars round Salamanca have +been put in requisition to carry off the sick from the hospital there. +But this does not prove much, as it would at any rate be an unsafe +place, and out of their line of defence next campaign. They state that +the sick have been very numerous, and Salamanca well plundered. + +I have been one morning over to Almeyda to breakfast with the governor +and see the town. At breakfast I met a sawny Spanish signora, with a +crying, poor-looking child: she breakfasted on beefsteaks, onions, +partridges, and wine, and did nothing all day. Almeyda is twelve miles +off. I rode thither on my new horse. He is just such a horse as you +would admire, prancing, showy, sleek, like a Flemish picture of a +horse, rather clumsy and heavy; but he went well and quietly. Almeyda +is in ruins; a mere heap of rubbish! The works are being repaired, and +much is already done; but there is yet a great deal to do, and the +workmen, though well watched, seem very lazy. There are very good shops +among the ruins for the materials of all articles of wearing apparel; +these from Oporto, and not dear; cloth and baize of all sorts, linen, +stockings, but not a cup and saucer to be had, or a drinking-glass. +Most of the new work at Almeyda is at present only earth—slanting so +that you might run up in a storm, I think; but the masonry is going on, +and it would cost some men to storm it, if we defend it. At present +there is only a Portuguese garrison. + +_Head-Quarters, Frenada, January 23rd, 1813._—I do not quite feel as +I did in England, nor can I make out that others do either. There +is a languor and laziness which seem in some degree catching from +the natives, as they have it in such perfection. We have had almost +constant frost or cold, fog and sleet, but in general clear cold days +ever since Christmas. It seems that we are likely to have some snow, +which hitherto we have only on the sierras and hills (where it lies +almost constantly), except a very few storms of snow which melted as +it fell; and then rain in February; then some warm days in March and +in April, with very cold mornings and nights, and some very cold days +again, even so late as in May at times. By-the-by, our English post +from all the different parts of the army, to each other, and to Lisbon, +is now in general in very good order, which saves me much trouble in +my extensive correspondence relative to the Courts-martial. I have +now also got through the great worry of the number of cases which +came upon me at once, and, though fully employed, business comes more +regularly. I have persevered in being civil and useful as far as I +could to every one, never objecting to anything, answering all queries, +and taking everything upon myself. I endeavour to model the whole as +it was arranged in England, before the Adjutant-general’s offices did +two-thirds of the business of Judge-Advocate. As I have no clerk, +and am not allowed a soldier, this at times presses me hard, but the +greatest stress is now over, though new cases come in regularly. I +yesterday sent in one against a Lieutenant-colonel, with six charges +and thirty-seven witnesses. I have another Commissary just come in +here as a prisoner, for purposely burning down a house, a mischievous +freak, when drunk. + +I now dine out about three or four times in the week, generally once or +twice at head-quarters—and occasionally with Major and Mrs. Scobell, +who give very pleasant little dinners, and tender meat, and a loo +party afterwards. He is a clever man, in the Quarter-Master-general’s +department, and has the command of the corps of guides, and the +arrangement of the English post through the country. + +The report current now is, that next campaign is to be in camp, and not +in towns and villages, as Lord Wellington wants to keep the army more +together than he can do in quarters; and unless he goes into camp, the +other Generals also leave their divisions and come into the towns. At +any rate, it will not be as it was last year, when the men went into +camp in February and March, as, from general rumour, the army will not +be in a state to move much before the end of April; nearly one-third +are still sick, and this state of things mends now but slowly; this I +observe from the general daily state of the whole army made for Lord +Wellington, which is kept most perfectly. The horses will not be ready +till they have had a month’s green food in March and April; straw, bad +hay, and a little Indian corn do not suit them for very active service. + +I want a neat lantern sent out, to go out after dark in these horrible +villages, where if you go only a hundred yards in the dark you step +from a rock half up your legs in mud. + +There is a shocking set of servants at head-quarters; idle, drunken +English servants and soldiers, almost all bad, and the Portuguese are +every day running off with something or other from their masters and +others. There has been no chaplain here for these last eight or nine +months, or any notice taken in any manner of Sunday! It used to be, +I hear, a very regular and imposing thing to attend divine service +performed out of doors with hats off, but the people must now think +we have no religion at all, as almost every public business goes on +nearly the same as on ordinary days. The English soldiers, however, +keep it as a holiday, though the Portuguese will many of them work, +particularly after three o’clock. We have had a glee or two with the +aides-de-camp of the Prince of Orange and some others. There is also +a Spanish Commissary who sings and plays the guitar very well. I wish +my violoncello were more portable, and, with a flute or two, we should +have a little music now and then here, in the evenings. They have asked +me to send for a collection of glees. + +People here are all very sore about the Americans and our taken +frigates. I think we deserve it a little. Our contempt for our old +descendants and half brothers has always rather disgusted me, and with +some English is carried so far as not to be bearable. This reverse may +set matters right. The Americans have faults enough; we should allow +them their merits. Our sailors all thought the Americans would not dare +to look them in the face. I think the army rather rejoice, and laugh +aside at all this falling on the navy, as they bullied so much before. +I will not write to you of northern or English news, for it would be +absurd; you would, if I did, receive comments and observations on +what was nearly forgotten, or entirely altered, by the time my letter +reached you. I keep this paper under my business heap, and take it out +and scribble when anything occurs. Lord Wellington is to arrive to-day; +and I must get up my lesson for to-morrow, so adieu! + +_Tuesday._—Lord Wellington arrived last night at six o’clock. I saw him +with the rest who happened to be in the market-place when he came. He +was looking well. + +There is a great quantity of game around us, and the sportsmen supply +their tables. It is not mere sport here, but more like the case of +Robinson Crusoe, a matter of necessity. Nearly all our luxuries are +thus obtained. Commissary H——, two days since, went across the Coa +for about five hours, and brought home five hares, four couple of +cocks, three snipes, one partridge, and a rabbit. All these animals +are remarkably good here, except the partridges, which are nothing +in comparison to ours, and I think not so good as the French. Lord +Wellington, except presents now and then, buys up all we can get—gives +8_s._ for a hare, and so on. Turkeys are only to be had thirty miles +off: the price, which has been 25_s._, is now 14_s._ Powder and shot +are very scarce, only a little to be had now and then at Almeyda. +This you will think at the head-quarters of sixty thousand men rather +strange, but the same stuff which kills men will not bring down birds. +We have three odd sorts of packs of hounds here, and the men hunt +desperately: firstly, Lord Wellington’s, or, as he is called here, the +Peer’s; these are fox-hounds, about sixteen couple; they have only +killed one fox this year, and that was what is called mobbed. These +hounds, for want of a huntsman, straggle about and run very ill, and +the foxes run off to their holes in the rocks on the Coa. Captain +W—— goes out, stops the holes over-night, halloos, and rides away +violently. The ground is a light gravel and rock all over the country. +From a hard rock sometimes the horse gets up to his belly in wet +gravelly sand; thus we have many horses lamed, and some bad falls. The +next set of hounds are numerous,—greyhounds. The Commissary-general, +Sir R. Kennedy, is a great man in this way, and several others. And +thirdly, the Capitan Mor here, that is the principal man of the place, +has an old poacher in his establishment, with a dozen terriers, +mongrels, and ferrets, and he goes out with the officers to get +rabbits. Lord Wellington has a good stud of about eight hunters; he +rides hard, and only wants a good gallop, but I understand knows +nothing of the sport, though very fond of it in his own way. There will +soon, I hear, be good trout-fishing in the Coa and in the streams in +the ravines near it. + +_Wednesday, January 27th._—It has happened just as I expected; I have +no time to add more, for I have three new cases to draw charges in, +and most troublesome ones too: one of four fellows, old commissariat +clerks I suppose turned off, who have been about the country living +by their wits, extorting provisions, forage, &c., from the Spaniards, +by frauds, false passports, &c., under pretence of acting for the +English and Portuguese Commissariat. There are thirty-seven enclosures +sent to me, papers taken upon them, all in Spanish, in general badly +written, and no translation. The case, it is to be feared, will never +be proved. I have got General O’Lalor to help me in this case. In +short, my hands are full again; and my report of the old stories +not made out. We occupy from Coria, Guinaldo, Vizeu, Covilhaon, +and even almost to Coimbra; hospitals at Celerico, Vizu, Coimbra a +few, Abrantes, and Santarem. I fear my Court-martial will be moved +farther off. Some additional attached Spaniards are to have their +head-quarters at Fuentes d’Onore to be about his Excellency, now that +he takes the command of the whole generals, &c., and General Vandeleur +and the famous Caçadores are to move from thence in consequence; the +arrangements, however, are not yet completed. + +_Head-Quarters, Frenada, February 2nd, 1813._—Lord Wellington is +returned in high spirits and great good-humour with every one; and, in +spite of the number of deaths here, which are very formidable (between +four and five hundred every week for the last six), declares that he +shall take the field this year with nearly forty thousand British, +and, on the whole, with a hundred and fifty thousand of one sort or +other. + +General Vandeleur is to go to Fuente Guinaldo, and the Courts-martial +will in future be there. It is about twenty-four miles off. I must +sleep out always, and shall thus lose one or two days’ post; this will +be inconvenient to me, and just now to the service, but it cannot +be avoided. The General is very good-humoured, and we are very good +friends; he has offered me a quarter, and a dinner, if I will bring my +bed. At present our weather is colder than ever, but generally clear +frost; the wind is excessively sharp. The ice yesterday on the road +would bear my horse; and the thermometer, at seven in the evening, was +four degrees below the freezing point; at night sometimes it is much +colder. + +Two packets have just arrived; the last brought Lord Wellington the +last good news from Wilna. I have dined once at head-quarters since +Lord Wellington’s return, with Sumeil the Guerilla chief, looking +like a dirty German private dragoon, in a smart new cavalry jacket, +on one side of me, and Dr. Curtis, the Catholic head of the Salamanca +college (who has been sent off from Salamanca very lately), opposite +to me. The Spanish General O’Lalor treated Sumeil like a child, told +him what to do and eat; but he had, I conclude, dined long before, for +he ate little or nothing. Dr. Curtis seemed to be a clever, sensible, +gentleman-like priest. He said the French knew immediately of Lord +Wellington’s absence, but were not clear about it, and very anxious in +their inquiries to ascertain the fact. General Hill’s corps, who did +not share in the early siege of Rodrigo last year in January, nor the +wet bad work at Badajoz, are by far the most healthy part of the army, +and, next to them, the light division here. The fifth and seventh, +near Lamego, are the worst, and the Guards (the new comers) very +bad. General Hill has only about fourteen hundred in the hospital, +and about seven thousand fit for service. I suppose we shall have an +active campaign next year, if the whole be not put an end to by peace, +which is not improbable, if the Allies are not too unreasonable in +consequence of their successes. If Austria will join in dictating the +terms with Russia, Prussia, and Great Britain, they should be very +good for Europe; but if the devil Bonaparte be driven hard, he will +rouse himself, appeal to the vanity of the French, and recoil upon +us stronger than ever. The Gil Blas set of swindlers who went about +Spain with false papers and passes, raising the wind under pretence of +getting supplies for the British and Portuguese commissariat service +(one was a German, two Spaniards, and the fourth a Portuguese), I much +fear it will not be easy to convict. + +_February the 3rd._—You must excuse my writing, for it is done at all +odd moments, as a relaxation from all my formal letters of business, +which require a good deal of method and order in a small compass not to +get into scrapes, such as sending witnesses to wrong places, &c. As I +have Courts sitting here at Fuente Guinaldo in the light division; at +Lamego, in the fifth; at Maimento, in the seventh; at Alter de Chaon; +at Coria, in the second division; at Maimento de Biera, in the third; +and at Lisbon; letters coming at all hours of the day about each, a +witness wanted here, a difficulty arising there, and so on; I can only +get on by keeping a book, in which I instantly put down the exact state +of everything, and keep copies of all my letters till the business is +over; and I make it a rule, if possible, to answer every letter by +return of post, as the only way not to get in arrear. I am very glad +that I persuaded my Court at Fuentes d’Onore to have patience, and let +me take down all the long love story I told you of, of the deserter +Prang Neigabauer. It was quite a pretty story. Lord Wellington +pardoned him, from the good character of his regiment, and that which +the Colonel gave him. The Prince of Orange is returned, and we are all +here again assembled in this magnificent town! + +_5 o’clock._—I have been sent for twice to-day by Lord Wellington, +besides twice last night, and have so much on my hands about Spaniards, +Portuguese, and English, that I cannot add more. + +_Head-Quarters, Frenada, February 7th, 1813._—There never were known +so many Courts-martial in this army as at the present moment, and as I +have the whole direction of them all, I really scarcely know where to +turn, and my fingers are quite fatigued, as well as my brains, with the +arrangements and difficulties as to witnesses, &c. I sent out seventeen +letters yesterday, and to-day I have one case of thirteen prisoners +who have been committing every sort of outrage on their march here. +Lord Wellington is now much more easy with me, and seems to trust to me +more. Yesterday I was pleased when he said, “If your friends knew what +was going on here, they would think you had no sinecure. And how do you +suppose I was plagued when I had to do it nearly all myself?” + +He seemed to feel relieved, and of course I could not but feel +gratified. I can assure you, however, that we have none of us much idle +time. Dr. M’Gregor has seven hundred medical men to look after. The +Quarter-Master-general, all the arrangement of the troops, clothing, +&c. The Adjutant-general, daily returns of the whole, constantly +checked by an eye which finds out even a wrong casting-up of numbers in +the totals. Lord Wellington reads and looks into everything. He hunts +almost every other day, and then makes up for it by great diligence and +instant decision on the intermediate days. He works until about four +o’clock, and then, for an hour or two, parades with any one whom he +wants to talk to, up and down the little square of Frenada (amidst all +the chattering Portuguese) in his grey great coat. + +General Alava, whom I have seen lately much more about Spanish +business, is a very gentleman-like, and appears to me to be a clever +man. + +We have had constant frost hitherto; but I fear the rain is going now +to begin. Some of the days lately have been delightful, like the frosty +days in England at times at the end of February, with a fine clear warm +sun in the daytime. + +I have just heard of five German deserters, brought in to the Provost +here; and shall, I suppose, have to try them. They were taken on the +other side of Rodrigo by the Spaniards; they are just come out to us +from England. Don Julian’s cavalry are very useful in this way, and +very active. The Cortes want to encourage farming in the country, and +will give land to any wounded soldiers of the allied armies, English as +well as natives, on condition of building and living on the spot. + +General Wimpfen, one of the Chief’s new Spanish staff, is arrived, and +will be stationed with us. + +At Ciudad Rodrigo they are going to set up a Spanish newspaper, which +is to come out once in a week: I mean to take it in. My new black +horse goes on hitherto very well; I like him much; but use him little. +Whenever I can, I get a gallop and a trot for an hour on the common +just close by, and return home to write again. + +Excuse this stupid letter. I am very tired and must to bed. + +On Thursday, the 11th, I go to Fuente Guinaldo, and shall probably +sleep there, at General Vandeleur’s. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[2] Meaning Lieut.-General Sir Edward Paget, second in command, who was +taken prisoner in the retreat. Lord Paget, afterwards Earl of Uxbridge, +now Marquis of Anglesea, was not in the Peninsula at this time. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + More Courts-martial—Bal Masqué—Anecdotes of Wellington—Songs in + his praise—Spanish Banditti—Excesses of the Army—Carnival—More + Anecdotes of the Duke—The Staff—Grand Entertainment at + Head-quarters—Wellington’s opinion on Affairs at Home—Murder of an + Officer—General Craufurd. + + + Frenada, February 12, 1813. + 8 o’clock, Friday night. + + MY DEAR M——, + +On my return from Fuente Guinaldo I found instructions for two new +Courts-martial in Lord Wellington’s rough pencil notes,—a broad scroll +in pencil in one corner, “Refer all this to the Judge Advocate,” +meaning me to draw charges, &c. I must now tell you of my expedition +to Fuente Guinaldo. We were to have tried the Commissary for burning +a house down, but by my advice he offered to pay all the damage done +to General Alava, the Spanish agent here, and in consequence to be +forgiven if it was paid in time. This was the best for the Spaniards, +the owners, and a tolerably sharp punishment for a man whose only +lawful pay is 7_s._ 6_d._ a-day, the damage being near fifteen hundred +dollars. The night before the trial he had not raised the money. I +went to Lord Wellington to know what I should do, as the witnesses +were all ready. He told me to give him till Monday next, and have all +the witnesses rationed and kept till that time at Guinaldo. Suspecting +that this would be my instruction, I had got another case ready for the +Court there. + +About seven o’clock, after a crust of bread and a glass of rum and +milk for breakfast, off we went, Henry and I, for Fuente Guinaldo, and +at the same time I sent one of my Portuguese men with my mattress and +blankets, coverings, corn and hay for my horses, to meet us there, +Henry carrying my papers, Mutiny Act, testaments, and all writing +implements, &c., for my Court-martial. The morning threatened much, +as the frost is just broken up; but we got there dry and in time, and +I found my way without any blunder, which, as the road was entirely +across open downs, or through woods without inhabitants, and full of +cross tracks, was some merit; I had, however, applied to Captain Wood, +the hunter, who knows all the country well, for instructions. + +We arrived at Guinaldo in two hours, finished a case and tried a man +for shooting a Portuguese, acquitted him of murder, but found him +guilty of very disorderly conduct, and sentenced him to receive eight +hundred lashes. I then walked round the town, looked into the church, +and came back; wrote the whole out fair on six sides of folio paper; +dined with the president at six, had a hospitable reception; and in +the evening went to a sort of frolicsome masked ball, given extra on +account of the Courts-martial. As the General went, I accompanied him. +There were all the _equivoque belles_ of Guinaldo, and all the light +infantry officers, many in disguise and masquerade; some as females, +and one as a Spanish farmer, the regular dress. We were all struck with +the becoming appearance and picturesque style of the costume. One or +two of the ladies were dressed as officers, and so on. The ball went +on very well for some time, but the two ladies who were the leading +beauties of the evening quarrelled, and the harmony was disturbed. At +ten I went home, and left the party half tipsy and rather riotous, so +that it was time for Generals and Judges to retire. The Court-room was +my quarter. This morning before breakfast I read over my fair copy +of the evidence, &c., with the General. He signed it, gave me some +breakfast, and I set off home, on a very threatening day which was as +good as it promised; my cloak, however, kept me nearly dry. + +Fuente Guinaldo is nearer the Sierra de Gutta, and several degrees +colder than we are here at Frenada, though we are many, many degrees +colder than Lisbon. The Spanish staff are now all arrived, but scarcely +a Spaniard amongst them—all foreigners. General Wimpfen, a Swiss; +General O’Donoghue, Irish; and so of others. They all dined two days +ago at Lord Wellington’s. + +Tell John, in answer to his inquiry, that with regard to the campaign +and the siege of Burgos, it is a question much argued and discussed. +Some say we should never have lost time by going to Madrid, and that +was the mistake; some that if we had taken Burgos, as we should +have done but for the very bad weather, all would have gone right. +General O’Lalor, however, told me he thought that would have made no +difference, but that if the French chose to give up the South, and +unite against us ninety thousand strong, we must have been off just the +same even though Burgos had been taken. + +My quarter at Fuente Guinaldo, having no window, is rather cool, but +being in Spain, is clean. The church is a fine building, and the town +not quite broken up; I suppose we shall move there next. To-night is a +play-night in the gay light division at Galegos, and Lord Wellington +was to have gone there, but the perpetual rain will probably prevent +him. He meant to ride there, a distance of ten miles, at night. Had it +been very fine I might have been almost tempted to take my mattress +round that way, and go once to the theatre, which all say is very +tolerable in regard to acting, scenery, &c., the whole carried on +by the light division in a chapel at Galegos. I was not a little +surprised to see common country dances very tolerably performed last +night at Guinaldo, and even Sir Roger de Coverley. + +Two or three days ago I was somewhat puzzled, when, upon my pointing +out the sentence of a Court-martial as illegal, Lord Wellington said, +“Well, do write a letter for me to the president, and I will sign it, +and it shall be sent back for revision.” I did not know his style, but +my letter was fortunately approved of. I had yesterday a visit from +Colonel ——, of the Engineers, begging for a favourable report upon the +case of a complaint against a Captain of artillery; I suppose people +think I have some weight in Lord Wellington’s decisions, but that is +by no means the case. He thinks and acts quite for himself; _with_ me, +if he thinks I am right, but not otherwise. I have not, however, found +what Captain —— told me I should find, that Lord Wellington immediately +determines against anything that is suggested to him. On the contrary, +I think he is reasonable enough, only often a little hasty in ordering +trials, when an acquittal must be the consequence. This, in my opinion, +does harm, as I would have the law punish almost always when it is put +in force. + +_Wednesday, 17th._—I have heard no news at all: still strong reports +that the French cavalry are partly gone from hence to France; but +I cannot ascertain that they are actually removed beyond Vittoria, +and that may be only for forage, as our cavalry are wide apart and +dispersed. The first division, under General Bock, is at and below +Coimbra, near the sea, where I have just fixed a Court-martial to try +a set of men of the 9th and 87th for most outrageous conduct on the +march to join the army. Lord Wellington has had the whole complaints +against this party along the road written out, to send home, with an +official copy of his letter, as he finds that an account of the matter +has travelled home, and is quoted as a specimen of the conduct of our +army on the march. The first division of cavalry is, on the other hand, +at Alter de Chaon, towards Castello Branco, and is all much dispersed; +General Hill, with the second division, Coria; sixth division, Cea; +fifth, Lamego; third, Maimento de Beira; seventh, Maimento; light, +Fuente Guinaldo. These are the head-quarters of the troops. Marshal +Beresford is better, and his wound nearly healed; he talks of soon +joining; his head-quarters will be Villa Formosa. I now see Lord +Wellington almost daily on business; he one day fell into a passion +about the Courts-martial for not doing their duty, by acquitting and +recommending to mercy, &c., and also about officers commanding parties +not being attentive. He has always been civil to me, though at times +quick and hasty in business. I nearly got into a scrape by saying a +good word for Captain ——, merely from his good character, as I did not +personally know him. However, Lord Wellington so far acquiesced, that +he said I need not draw the charge as yet; but he should send him word +that if the village in question were not satisfied for their forage and +bullocks in a week, he should either have him tried or sent home. + +I have just got a letter of reprimand to send out, according to a +written memorandum from Lord Wellington; a little slap at a deputy of +mine, and greater at the Court-martial, with directions how they should +act. Adieu. + +_Monday Evening, Head-Quarters, Frenada, February 22nd, 1813._—On +getting up in the morning yesterday, I said to myself for the first +time these two months, “Well, I do think I have no business to-day, and +will write to M——.” In two hours’ time, however, before I had finished +my breakfast, and read one of Vetus’s letters, in came three new cases, +and old General O’Lalor to tell me he had sent me a case to try at +Guinaldo—a man charged with shooting a Spanish girl through the door, +because she would not give him some chestnuts! The wanton outrages of +our people are quite extraordinary. There are four poor fellows to be +hung this week in the second division; one for desertion, and three +for a burglary near Coria about a fortnight since. For the sake of +immediate example I hastened the case, by giving full instructions to +the Deputy Judge-Advocate there. The men were tried immediately, and +three are to be hung to-morrow. The Commissary charged with burning the +house was at last let off for a large sum of money. I was very glad +when it was settled, for I had more trouble about it than if he had +been tried and hung ten times over. An overwhelming heap of Spanish +proceedings has just reached me about the man for shooting the poor +girl; and yet I have very little doubt, when the Court meets, I shall +have much difficulty in proving that the man shot her, and that she is +dead. I go over for that purpose the day after to-morrow. + +During the last two or three days the weather has been delightful—quite +a mild south-west breeze, with a clear sun; but this was, I heard, +too unusual to last. I like “Vetus” much, and agree with him in most +things; but his style is not by a good deal to be compared with Junius. +In parts there are considerable blunders, and often confusion and want +of clearness; but there are some curious stolen cuts, if facts. I have +just heard from General O’Lalor that we have been attacked at Bejar +by a party of French, and have beaten them back. It was the second +division, General Hill’s corps, who were concerned, and I believe +the 50th regiment principally. I am told no great loss, but know no +particulars. You will hear more of it from the papers than I can tell +you. It is still said that we are to encamp and bivouac this next +campaign. We are now consuming our last stock of hay—two great stacks, +which have been saved by Lord Wellington’s orders at Almeyda. After +that we must buy reaping-hooks, and try to cut grass before the green +corn forage comes in; and though I can see a plain difference already +in the colour of the hills, and the young green corn and spring grass +are here and there making a show, there is very little to be got to eat +yet in that way. + +We have still many sick, and the doctors do not take better care of +themselves than of their patients, for no less than five medical men +have died at Ciudad Rodrigo since we have been in quarters here. The +French have got all about the part of the country near General Hill, +near Nava, Morguende, Mentrida, &c., and are moving; but I do not +expect anything important for some time. Some say the French will begin +this campaign; and I rather hope they may. The 10th Dragoons have +arrived, I hear from every one, in the highest style and in excellent +order. This is very good news. + +We have three Spanish songs in honour of Wellington, one rather gone by +now: “The Retreat of Marmont,” “Ahe Marmont, onde vai, Marmont,” a very +pretty air; the other was composed at Cadiz lately when Lord Wellington +was there. I suppose you have them in England. Moretti of Cadiz is the +composer. One of them is good, and the other very well. Lord Wellington +sits and hears his own praises in Spanish with considerable coolness, +and calls for it himself at times. + +_February 23rd, Tuesday Morning._—Just a few lines more, and but a +few, as I have just been with Lord Wellington, and, having got rid of +one batch of papers, have returned with another. I hear the affair at +Bejar, or Banos, in the sierras north of Placencia, was not much. We +had six taken and a few wounded. It is supposed to have been a French +party for provisions and plunder, as they wander about for these +purposes, and to have been no serious movement. Our men got a position +first, which the French tried to get, at Bejar. We had no cavalry, or +an attempt might have succeeded to turn the French party; but without +this assistance the 56th drove back the French, and saved Bejar and +that country. The 71st were also there, and concerned. + +Lord March is just returned from a flag-of-truce excursion to the +French. He fell in with their pickets half a league from Ledesma, +where the French seemed in force. They were very civil. He dined with +a General Goutier, or some such name, and stayed about four or five +hours. Their men and cavalry looked well, and clothing very fair; +accoutrements, &c., bad and slovenly; horses in good condition; but +he concludes that he saw the best, for he found they knew of his +approach five leagues off. They kept away all the Spaniards, who were +getting round him, and were particularly violent against the canaille, +the Guerillas. The latter were close upon the French. He passed them +very near the town. They abused Sumeil; said he would rob even the +English, and would not believe he dined at Lord Wellington’s table. +They hoped to see the English in a month, they said. His five hussars +and his trumpeter were surrounded by eighty men in a trice, and all +communication cut off, and a thousand questions asked of course, but +little given in answer. The French officer and escort of five dragoons, +who escorted Lord March on his departure, would not go above half a +league, for fear of the Guerillas, and was half inclined to accept Lord +March’s offer to let his trumpeter and some men see him back, with a +party of the Guerillas; but at last he said he had a good horse, and +galloped back. I do not know what Lord March went about; some say on +Sir Edward Paget’s affairs. + +_Guinaldo, February 24th, 1813._—From the blunder of General O——, here +I am, after a wet ride, with no Court-martial to-day, and nothing to +do. The consequence is, I must stay to-morrow also, when I really hope +to get this business over, for I have plenty to do at home. Marshal +Marmont had the quarter I occupy when he was here, as well as Lord +Wellington. The former shut the whole up, and used candles all day. The +latter got on as well as he could in the dark, and used the General’s +bedroom, which is rather a better room, as his dining-room. The owner +was once a man rich in flocks, herds, and lands and houses, and has +another good house at Ciudad Rodrigo. At present I take it his worldly +goods are not sufficient to make him think too much of this world. +Between Pago and Coria there are banditti and robbers; and two or three +murders have been committed there by armed men, Spaniards, I believe, +and Portuguese, five or six together. What a state this poor country is +in! + +_Frenada, March 1st._—Several of these banditti I hear are deserters +from our army, and Lord Wellington has sent out after them. On the +Thursday I tried the man at Guinaldo for murdering a poor Spanish girl. +We had some difficulty in coming to an understanding. The witnesses +were all Spaniards, principally the relations of the deceased; the +only interpreter was Portuguese; the prisoner a German, but he spoke +bad French. At last, as I had looked into all the Spanish proceedings, +we got on, as most of the Court understood Spanish as well as the +interpreter, and nearly all understood French. The prisoner’s defence +was in French. I then read it in English to the Court as he went on, +and took it down. He had a very narrow escape for his life; I thought +it murder, and the Court were long in doubt; at last they only found +him guilty of a most disorderly outrage and killing the poor girl, and +gave him a thousand lashes. + +I wrote it fair, got it signed, dined again with the General, and +came over here on a beautiful day. We have now again fine clear, +frosty mornings, beautiful, but really almost too warm days and too +cold evenings. I wish this would last; and yet it is trying to the +constitution, for there must, I think, be thirty degrees difference +between the temperature at three and at six o’clock. + +On my return here I found that no less than nine Courts-martial +had arrived and plenty of newspapers. One Court-martial had met +thirty-eight days, and another sixteen: thus I had plenty to read +and report upon. I saw Lord Wellington, in consequence, two days +running, for nearly two hours, as I thought four of the cases ought +to go back for revision, and one only to be confirmed, as it was half +illegal—eight hundred lashes and transportation for life—which latter +is not a legal sentence for mutiny. In truth, the men should have been +shot. + +The Courts will not do their duty: Lord Wellington was quite angry. +He swore, and said that his whole table was covered with details of +robbery and mutiny, and complaints from all quarters, in all languages, +and that he should be nothing but a General of Courts-martial. He has +given some broad hints to the Courts in general orders. I sent out +three new cases yesterday, and have about fifteen deserters just in +hand now—in general Poles from the second King’s German Legion light +infantry battalion. + +I made it a rule, whenever possible, to clear off everything as I go, +and answer every letter by return of post, which is the only way; and +I am glad to see my pile of papers done with now larger than that in +hand. Whilst I was with Lord Wellington, the Commissariat returns came +in, and were very confused. That added to his ill-humour; but he was +very civil to me, and gets more easy, as I do with him. He sent orders +for fifteen thousand complete black accoutrements to be sent round +to Corunna, so I hope the Gallician army is to be increased; some of +their regiments got home much more entire than any of ours during the +retreat, but upon the whole they diminished very much by desertion when +they first got away from home. + +The people of Guinaldo, whilst I was there, were almost mad—nothing but +dancing and noise in all quarters. They told me it was a particular +day, when the women were to rule the Dios de Madre; but it seems to me +they are always in this gay state. The people agree there very well +with the English, particularly with the 52nd, which is now there, a +fine light battalion, seven hundred strong, and in high order. The +ladies go about, and tie strings to the coats of the officers, and even +of the General; dance about, sup, and drink with them, and are all +alive both with them and the men. + +The 52nd and 43rd lost part of their baggage in the retreat, and one +on the Court-martial told me an anecdote as to his baggage. A French +officer and a few men overtook his bâtman with the canteens, &c. +“Where’s the key?” he said; “come, quick! break it open; out with the +tea and sugar, I have had none these three months:” and in this manner +he took all worth having, the best horse and mule, and left the bâtman +frightened to death. + +There is one regiment of the Caçadores that is the constant +astonishment of the English. Badly paid, no new clothes for the last +two years, almost in rags this winter, and yet scarcely a man has been +sick. I wish this was the case with them all. Our men are getting their +clothes much better than last year, but still many are sick. Of two +hundred men, a reinforcement to the 43rd light regiment Walcheren men, +ninety have died; and the Guards have suffered terribly, but still all +are in spirits; though the verses I enclose to you (and which are +printed at the Adjutant-general’s portable press, used for printing the +army orders, &c.) give a very fair description of the life in Portugal. + +I have taken a ride to Malliarda de Sorda, and found the Deputy +Paymaster-General H—— very unwell, with an attack of fever. One +must not think of these things: that is the best way, I believe, if +possible. Sir W. Erskine, who threw himself out of the window here in a +delirium, came to his senses after his fall, and said he never thought +he could have been guilty of such an act, and that he did not intend +it. This was very melancholy; but I am told he had been two years +confined, and that he should not have been here as chief officer of the +cavalry—it was too great a risk. + +We have a report here of a revolution in France; but I do not credit it +yet, though not unlikely. It seems to me Bonaparte is a man to run that +hazard by his conscription and immense levies, and that there will be +either a revolution, or he will soon be again formidable; and much is +yet to be done. I hope we shall make a good end of it here this year. + +_Wednesday._—I dined yesterday at head-quarters, and sat next to Baron +Wimpfen, the new Quarter-Master-general attached to Lord Wellington. +He is a very gentleman-like man, and talks French well. We had much +conversation together, in which Lord Wellington, who sat next to the +General, often took part. He gave us the whole history of the battle of +Fuentes d’Onore, which was fought some time since near here, in which +the French were three to one, and in which Lord Wellington said he +committed a fault, by extending his right too much to Poço de Velho; +and that, if the French had taken advantage of it, there might have +been bad consequences, but that they permitted him to recover himself +and change his front before their face. + +Another new comer at dinner yesterday was a Monsieur Saudri, an agent +for the Portuguese, a sort of interpreter. He gave an account of the +state of the Portuguese provinces. Some are recovering fast, it seems, +Coimbra particularly, but many are still in great distress. + +Yesterday was the last day of a sort of carnival here. We had fools, +and pantaloons, and straw bulls, &c., and masks walking about the +streets—much noise but no great magnificence. I saw poor pantaloon +fall in earnest when throwing his sword after a soldier, and he could +scarcely get up again. + +A general order has just been issued for all the officers to apply for +tents for the next campaign. I must do the same, I suppose, and try +that sort of life, which in dry weather may be well enough, but bad +work if as it was last year, when the little bed-legs sunk in mud up to +the mattress, and the blankets got quite muddy! + +_Head-Quarters, Frenada, March 6th, 1813._—A man arrived here two +days ago from Madrid in five days, for payment of a Commissariat bill +due to him. He states that the French are in small force at Madrid, +and that Joseph was packing up. But I believe this is only because +he individually is going away; for I understand that the French are +still in force below Madrid, and that the only notion entertained as +genuine here as to their troops going homewards is that ten men picked +from each squadron and battalion, or as some say from each company, +are to be sent home to make good the Imperial Guards. I do not think +myself they will withdraw at all now. They keep the country to support +themselves till we are ready to move, and then I think they will +collect and risk an early action with us, as their difficulty is to +keep together long. If they beat us, they will remain as they were, +and I think that is all, unless we are quite routed; if we beat them, +then they will go behind the Ebro. The conjecture is, as far as I can +understand from the probabilities, a late opening of the campaign on +account of the Spaniards not being ready, and then an early action when +it does begin. + +Some say that the Spaniards will not be ready to move before the +harvest in July, or not much before. The French have nearly ninety +thousand men in their extended positions, with their right on and +near the Douro and the left on or along the Tagus. We shall have, +when we begin, about forty-four or forty-five thousand British, about +twenty or twenty-two thousand Portuguese, and how many Spaniards no +one can tell, or what they will do. So do not expect to hear of a +march to France—to the Ebro, or very possibly up to Burgos again. +The opportunity for effecting this must be by obliging the French to +assemble, and then by rousing up all the Guerillas to starve them. +Having heard Lord Wellington give his account of the battle of Fuentes +d’Onore to General Wimpfen, the Spanish Inspector-General, I rode there +yesterday with Lord Aylmer (who was present in the action) over the +whole field of battle, saw all the field-works, the positions of the +different divisions, and the plan of the whole. I perfectly understood +Lord Wellington’s blunder, and the risk he had run, and could form a +very good notion of the strength of the position, and the nature of it +as protected by the ravines of the Coa, &c. Lord Aylmer gave me two +striking instances of Lord Wellington’s coolness: one when, as he was +pursuing the French, in a fog in the morning, he found a division of +our men under Sir William Erskine much exposed in advance, and nearly +separated from the rest of the army, and the French in a village within +a mile of where he was standing, he could see nothing; but, on some +prisoners being brought in, and asked what French division and how +many men were in the village, they, to the dismay of every one except +Wellington, stated that the whole French army were there; all he said +was, quite coolly, “Oh! they are all there, are they? Well, we must +mind a little what we are about then.” Another time, soon after the +battle of Fuentes d’Onore, and when we were waiting in our position +near them to risk an attack, in order to protect the siege of Almeyda, +early one morning Lord Aylmer came suddenly in to him whilst he was +shaving, to tell him that “the French were all off, and the last +cavalry mounting to be gone;” the consequence of which movement was to +relieve him entirely, to give him Almeyda, and preserve Portugal. He +merely took the razor off for one moment, and said, “Ay, I thought they +meant to be off; very well;” and then another shave just as before, +without another word till he was dressed. I find, however, it is said +he magnifies the French now and then—sees double as to the number of +blue uniforms, and cannot see all the scarlet; but I believe most men +in his situation do this more or less. I must now proceed to summon +some witnesses: so, for the present, adieu. + +_Monday, 4 o’clock._—You ask me what my house is like, and what Frenada +is? Frenada is a village much in decay, very dirty; in the streets +are immense masses of stones, and holes, and dung all about, houses +like a farm kitchen, with this difference that there are the stables +underneath. My last lodging was like a part of a Welsh farm-house, +boarded off at one end from the common room, with a hole through the +wall and one pane of glass let in. I am now in a distinct building +like a granary, with the stables below, in an English farm-yard, in +which are my animals of all sorts, servants and all. The kitchen is a +miserable shed, not water-tight, where the woman of the house and three +children live quite separate. The building I occupy has one opening +with a wooden door besides the entrance-door, and the end, about eight +feet wide by sixteen long, was boarded off by an officer last year. In +this I sleep, eat, drink, write, &c., and live altogether, as it has a +fireplace in the corner built by the same officer. The fireplace is +so contrived, however, as to let more smoke into the room than up the +chimney, and of course my eyes suffer, and all I have looks yellow and +smells of smoke. + +It is said that Lord Wellington and the Court here are to go to +Ciudad Rodrigo, to a fête, to install the new Knight of the Bath, +General Cole. I shall not go unless especially invited, and I have +enough to do here, for except, probably, the Adjutant-general, the +Quarter-Master-general, and perhaps the Commissary-general, I have more +correspondents than any one here. + +I take it in the army that the officers in the lower branches of the +staff are sharp-set, hungry, and anxious to get on, and make the most +of everything, and have a view even in their civilities. I have tried +not to notice much that I could not help seeing, and which gave me a +moderate opinion of the profession, which has not the independence +to be seen in all the most respectable at the bar. There is much +obsequious, time-serving conduct to any one who is in office, or is +thought to have a word to say to his lordship. + +Lord Wellington gets angry about the Courts-martial, the difficulty as +to getting witnesses, the inconvenience, and then at last the great +lenity of the Courts. “How can you expect,” he remarked to me, “a Court +to find an officer guilty of neglect of duty, when it is composed of +members who are all more or less guilty of the same?” He does not +like the tribunal. We have, however, hung six men within this month, +broken several officers (at least their cases are gone home with that +sentence), and flogged about sixteen or eighteen (pretty well, this), +and we are still at work. I have now twenty-two cases left on hand, +about thirty-six tried, about two or three new cases every week, yet +I hope we are getting on better now. I am glad to be made of such +importance as you say I am in England; my reputation increases here a +little, several Courts-martial having been sent back for revision: for +this I get in a degree the credit, and in some instances justly. I am +thought a formidable person to whom it is as well to be civil, and who +can often be of service to others. + +The Princess of Wales’s letter is good; and I think, and have always +thought, that if she could once dare inquiry, her case would be +unanswerable, and the Prince in a complete dilemma. We have heard here +that Brougham wrote the Princess’s letter: is there such a story in +England? + +_Wednesday, 10th March._—No more news, and no more mails, and no more +time. I am to be asked, it is said, to Rodrigo to the fête there +on Saturday. Lord Wellington wants to be very magnificent in his +own city, and has said that he wished to give a supper to a hundred +and fifty, but is told that it is quite out of the question, as the +town and head-quarters would not supply dishes and plates, &c. There +is, however, to be a small dinner first before the ball. But this +arrangement may be a little disturbed by an event I have this moment +heard from General O’Lalor. A Spanish dragoon is come in, with news +that the French are moving in the Sierra di Francia; their object, +I think likely enough, to rout us up before we are ready. I know no +more; General O’Lalor went to Lord Wellington to tell him the news. +N.B.—Orders have just come in to prepare charges against nine Polish +deserters. + +_Head-Quarters, Frenada, March 15th, 1813, 9 o’clock at night._—As +to Sir Isaac Heard’s coming over here to invest the Marquis with the +Garter, doubtless the old Garter king would like it; and at this time +of the year, while quiet here, and neither hot nor wet, no mosquitoes, +and without baggage, he might do it tolerably well. If you travel +without baggage, as Lord Wellington did when he went to Cadiz, with +good horses, you get on thirty, forty, and even fifty miles in a +day; avoid all the bad places, only stop in towns, get the best +accommodation, and only rest where there are English Commissaries, &c. +Lord Wellington came from Lisbon here in five days, with relays of +horses; the last day he rode fifty miles between breakfast and dinner. + +The movements of the French I mentioned in my last came to little or +nothing—it was a mere alarm. + +I have had a long letter from Sutton in answer to several queries. He +agrees with me in every point which I have had to decide; and I am +particularly glad to be right in the great one on which Lord Wellington +differed with me, and directed me to send home his reasons. Still Lord +Wellington is hardly satisfied, but desires me to wait till I hear +officially from Sutton about it. + +The day before yesterday we had a hard day’s work in the shape of +gaiety and amusement. Lord Wellington desired to invest General Cole +with the Order of the Bath, in a suitable manner; and as he had never +done anything at Ciudad Rodrigo, of which he is Duke, he determined +upon this opportunity to give a grand fête in the midst of the ruins—a +grand dinner, ball, and supper. All heads of departments, generals, +public authorities, Spaniards and English, were invited to dinner, +to the amount of sixty-five. In the evening, ladies about forty, +and men about a hundred and fifty, came to a ball and supper. The +dinner and supper were half cooked at Frenada, and carried over in +military waggons and on mules. All the plate at head-quarters was put +in requisition, and there was enough to afford a change of silver at +dinner. Plenty of claret, champagne, and Lamego, _i. e._, port, was +sent over. A caravan of glass and crockery arrived from the governor +of Almeyda, and from a shop just opened there. Almeyda is twenty-five +miles from Rodrigo. The whole went off very well, except that it was +excessively cold, as a few balls during the siege had knocked in +several yards of the roof of the ball-room, and it was a hard frost at +the time. + +Lord Wellington was the most active man of the party—he prides himself +on this; but yet I hear from those about him that he is a little broken +down by it. He stayed on business at Frenada until half-past three, +and then rode full seventeen miles to Rodrigo in two hours to dinner, +dressed in all his orders, &c., was in high glee, danced, stayed +supper, and at half-past three in the morning went back to Frenada by +moonlight, and arrived here before daybreak at six; so that by twelve +he was ready again for business, and I saw him amongst others upon a +Court-martial on my return at two the next day. Campbell and General +O’Lalor managed the fête. I made cards for every place at dinner, with +corresponding ones for each person, with his name, table, and number +of his plate, and so there was no bowing and scraping, or pushing for +the first table. We got quarters in the ruins. Stables there were none +scarcely, and we took over hay and barley for the horses for the night, +and our beds to lie down for an hour or two. Several ladies, refugees +from Salamanca, were there, and the band of the 52nd. + +The house at which the entertainment was given was the best in the +town, with some very good rooms; but it had suffered a little by the +siege, and had, moreover; only bare walls. Luckily, however, the +General O’Lalor discovered that the Intendente of the Palace of St. +Ildefonso had brought away the hangings of five or six of the best +rooms to save them from the French, and had deposited them at Rodrigo. +These were obtained, and the bare walls of the ball-room were hung +all over with yellow damask satin with a silver border, with openings +at each end in festoons, like a tent, and looked very well. The other +supper-rooms were hung with crimson satin and gold from the same +palace, and in tolerable condition. + +The whole was laid out so as to astonish the inhabitants, and the +defects were concealed almost entirely. Near one hole in the floor a +man was placed to take care that no one got a leg in, and a mat was put +over the whole. The ladies were not very handsome, but two or three +good-looking, and several very lady-like in their manners. + +I was most pleased with the bolero and fandango dances, which were +executed by two Spanish ladies, Chanoinesses as they were called, +nieces of two Chanoines, and two Spaniards, one of whom danced very +well. The best was the old fellow who was sent for to play on his +ornamented paper square tambourine, or rather flat drum, who sang the +airs and accompanied himself with great humour, and afterwards gave us +a dance in the true style. The enthusiasm of the Spaniards was also +amusing, and their eager applause. All the other dances were English +country dances, which the ladies execute very well and exactly like +ours, except that they waltz the poussets, and generally, therefore, +dance waltz tunes, and have that figure. They are also a little more +twisted about and handled than our fair ones would like at first; but +upon the whole, perhaps our country dances are improved by the change. +We had much drinking and toasts given on both sides, at the expense of +the French: “Ferdinand the Seventh,” “The next campaign,” “Death to +all Frenchmen,” &c. In short, several Spaniards as well as English got +very drunk by five o’clock in the morning, and they chaired the Prince +of Orange, General Vandeleur, whom they let fall, and several others, +as soon as the ladies were gone, and there was nothing else to do. The +Spaniards at first began with “vivas,” but soon learnt “hip, hip, hip, +hurra!” + +With great care a few silver spoons and knives and forks only were +missing, and it is said one plate. Henry tells me the servants saw one +Spanish officer with a turkey’s leg sticking out of his pocket; but, +like our aldermen, they are given to pocket even at Madrid, and have +some excuse, for they are paid little, and find everything very dear. +Probably a turkey had not been seen there for months: they were, I +believe, all brought from thirty or forty miles down the Douro, near +Lamego. Besides the Spanish military authorities, there were some +civilians of rank, as the Marquis d’Espeja and a few others. Colonel +Gordon was the only officer who would return with Lord Wellington; +and though he has the best horses here next to those of the chief, he +borrowed another horse which had come over earlier, to ride back upon +with Lord Wellington, and left his own, which he had ridden on in the +morning with his lordship, to come back later in the day. + +The repairs of the walls of Ciudad Rodrigo are going on better, and +they are now nearly cleared of rubbish, so as to be ready to begin to +rebuild the new work, which all fell down last autumn. I sat at the +grand dinner directly opposite to E——, who introduced himself to me +afterwards in the ball-room. Colonel Fisher, of the Artillery, was +next, a very pleasant man, a great artist, connoisseur, traveller, +&c. Except at a grand fête, and the few great men who come to +head-quarters, or when crossing a division on the march, which we +always avoid if possible, we seldom see any regimental officers. + +_Tuesday Night (16th)._—We have flogged and hung people into better +order here, I think, but have now got into a little squabble with +the Portuguese Government, who will become bold by success. By the +Portuguese law a magistrate is only to give evidence in writing by +deposition, which our Courts, if it be a fact in his own knowledge, +and where he is wanted as a witness, ought not to receive. I fear the +Bill proposed at home will be unpopular, and yet inefficient in a great +measure. + +The Guards, who joined nearly when I did, have suffered most of all +by the campaign. They came out a noble battalion of fine men, twelve +hundred strong; four hundred are dead, and not above five hundred are +now fit for duty. This is very shocking. + +The division on Grattan’s motion in the House is stronger than I +expected it would be after all the outcry on the subject. I had a +long conversation while walking up and down the market-place with +Lord Wellington here, a few days since, upon that and the Indian +question. He has, from what he saw in Ireland, taken up a strong +notion that independence is what the Irish really aim at, and he is, +therefore, for giving no more, but proceeding upon King William’s +plan to keep them down by main force, for he thinks that they have +too much power already, and will only use more to obtain more, and +at length separation. He said he thought his brother and Canning had +just taken up the Catholic question when the tide of popularity was +turning against it. I hope this is not so; and though I agree with him +that the party for separation is strong, his plan would drive them to +extremities, and is now too late; the only chance is, to get the higher +orders of Roman Catholics and the priests, if possible, by pay or +otherwise, and by looking for pay and patronage, to be dependent on the +Crown and on England more than they are, and at the same time not to be +a degraded class. + +Did I tell you the size of Frenada, about which you asked? It is about +as large as Ashted, without the three gentlemen’s houses in it. Lord +Wellington’s house is, however, better known than the inn there (the +Leg of Mutton and Cauliflower), and more ornamented, though it does not +contain more room or as much comfort. This is as good a description as +I can give you, only that all the houses are more roomy than in our +villages—more like barns—for the straw, corn, and all are left under +the same roof. + +As Sutton only answers my letters indirectly, and not officially upon +the point on which we differed, Lord Wellington says he will not act +until he has an official answer. He does not like to be wrong, and yet +I am very glad he is so. + +_Head-Quarters, Frenada, March 19th, 1813._—The day before yesterday +we had a most extraordinary arrival here in General Murray, the +Quarter-Master-general of the army. He left Plymouth late on the 10th +instant, and was here at Frenada on the 18th, in the morning, in about +seven days and a half. He got to Oporto from Plymouth in less than five +days, and here in three, travelling post on horses, ponies, mules, and +anything he could get: he brought London papers of the 8th. His baggage +went round by Lisbon. He was to have come out with General Graham and +General Stewart, but was sent off here express with despatches in a +sloop of war. No one knows what the important news is which made it +advisable to send out a Quarter-Master-general as a messenger. + +I hear of no movement yet in the army, and as part of the cavalry are +down below Coimbra, and part still below Abrantes, near Cabeça de Vide, +Aunde Chad, and Monforte, it will be necessary to give some notice of +anything like a serious movement in good time. Perhaps head-quarters +may move to Guinaldo in a month—I think not sooner, for there is no +grass there yet, and the cold is not gone, nor the rain come, though +the sky has threatened much for the last day or two. I have now to +send above thirty miles for bad hay or straw for my animals, and that +I hear is nearly exhausted. We have been obliged to send fifteen miles +for some time past, which is hard work for the poor mules during what +should be their resting-time. + +You ask about our religious duties. There are four or five or more +clergymen in Portugal, but no one now at head-quarters. The clergyman +stationed there went away ill about a twelvemonth since, I hear. + +_Sunday, 21st._—The remains of the battalion of Guards which lost +so many men, and was so sickly, is going down towards the coast and +towards Coimbra, to recruit with sea-air. + +I must now away to answer letters. I have only read four of the +newspapers out of the last fifteen; you may therefore conclude how much +I am employed. I get through one at breakfast-time, and when at home +two of an evening; nor have I yet read half through one review. Lord +Wellington is as bad; he borrowed my “Vetus” nearly three weeks since, +and has not read it. + +_Wednesday, 4 o’clock, Post-day._—Having got all my proceedings written +out fair by half-past six yesterday, I dined with the General. Early +again this morning I breakfasted with him; compared the two, got the +fair one signed; picked you up botanical specimens of the flowers in +the fields in my ride back, and here I am. + +Since Rodrigo has been taken, the inhabitants about Guinaldo feel +more confidence, and more land is this year in cultivation. They are +tempted also by the high price of everything; and near Guinaldo I saw +a new enclosure going on, and trees being grubbed up to a considerable +extent. The old lady where General Vandeleur is quartered, is doing +this to an extent of several thousand acres. To give you a proof of the +lightness of their ploughs, I met a man walking off a mile or two to +work from Guinaldo with a complete plough on his shoulder, the whole +plough fit for use, iron share, &c.; he was walking three or four miles +an hour, quite upright. I hear that the inhabitants of Bejar, rather an +opulent Spanish town, and where there is a cloth trade, have been so +well satisfied with the 50th regiment for having driven away the French +and saved their town, that they have given them all round a pair of +pantaloons each, and several days’ double rations of spirits, and some +other presents. The place is now strengthened considerably as a post, +it is said, for the French seem to be making some stir, though no one +seems to know what they mean to be about. + +_Head-Quarters, Frenada, March 27th, 1813. Saturday._—The statement of +Courts-martial, which I shall present to Lord Wellington to-morrow, +satisfies me that we are mending, and that we have not tried fifty +cases, hung eight, transported eight or ten, flogged about sixty +severely, and broke several officers—for nothing. I have now only +eighteen left in hand, and three of these very old cases. We had one +very melancholy piece of business here last week: a young corporal, +Mac Morran, a Scotchman in the 42nd, was reprimanded mildly by his +officer, Lieutenant Dickenson, for neglect of duty; he answered rather +impertinently, and was then told to consider himself a prisoner, and to +follow. Having walked a few yards, Lieutenant Dickenson looked round, +and the corporal, having (no one knows how) loaded his musket, levelled +it at him, and shot him dead through the heart. The corporal has been +tried, and is to be hung to-morrow. They were both under twenty years +of age, I hear, and the most promising young men in their respective +stations. The officer was a man of mild, humane character. The corporal +made no defence: it seemed an excess of Scotch pride. It is altogether +a very painful business. + +We have still very cold north-east winds, and to-day a little fall of +sleet, hail, and stormy, windy, black sky. Lord Wellington is gone +hunting, which gives me a little time. + +I hear the French are moving; two divisions of Soult’s army are said +to be retiring behind the Douro, near Valladolid: and I am told they +are engaged in fortifying all the fords and bridges near the Douro, +at Toro, Tordesillas, Aranda de Douro, &c. Probably they will make +a grand stand on that river; where, from what I saw, they have great +advantages, for the banks on our side are low and flat, and on their +side, towards France (the right bank) high and commanding, and the +position on that side also strong. It is thought the slight movement in +advance of one of our divisions, the fourth, from St. Jean de Piscara, +merely for convenience of supplies and change of air, caused this +movement on the part of the French, who only stay down about Toledo, +probably, for food. + +Accounts have just come in from one of our look-out officers, who live +close to the French, and act as spies, and have correspondence with +them—a Captain ——, who was here a fortnight since. He says that the +French are all moving, and apparently towards the other side of the +Douro. Joseph has left Madrid. His informers state that the French are +going at once behind the Ebro; but he himself thinks not, as they would +not willingly give up the fine country between the Douro and Ebro for +nothing, and have fortified, report says, the passes. So we stand. +Conjectures are made, that our advance will not be the same as last +year, through Salamanca, as we have no great depôt being made yet this +way at Rodrigo, and should have to force these passes on the Douro; +whereas some depôts are being formed in Portugal near the Douro, more +in the north of Portugal; and we could in that direction cross the +Douro without opposition, turn all these French works on that river, +and join the Spanish army in Gallicia, but the roads in that case will +be much worse. I hope we may go that road, and thus see a new country, +and in part, I believe, a fine one. There is one fine pass in the +Agava, only five leagues hence, at Barba del Puerto, which I have never +yet had time to visit, but shall do so, if possible, after the rain, +provided we remain here. + +Lord Wellington, in conversation the other day, told me that some +Spaniards of rank had talked to him about educating their children at a +Roman Catholic school in England, if there were such. I knew of one or +two good girls’ schools, but could not remember any good Roman Catholic +boys’ school. + +We have a most furious Portuguese lady now here, the wife of a hidalgo +of Portugal, whose daughter was run away with by an English officer. +Lord Wellington told her that he would give him up to the laws of +Portugal; but as he has now married her, Lord Wellington says he will +not interfere at all. The woman swears that she will get the priest who +married them transported for life by their law, as well as the officer, +and has moreover declared she will kill the daughter if she meets her! + +As to Mr. R——, concerning whom you inquire, I know nothing about him: +we have a _ci-devant_ major of that name just arrived here. He is +full of travellers’ stories; has been long a prisoner in France: had +a prefect’s wife for his _chère amie_; escaped with wonderful risks; +joined the Guerillas, got to the coast, and off, I believe, to Cadiz. I +am told that he is to be an officer in a new horse-police staff corps +about to be established. + +_30th March, Tuesday, 4 o’clock._—I have presented four Courts-martial +to Lord Wellington, and sent one back for revision as illegal, and +confirmed three, two against one man—together, two thousand lashes. +This is absurd, he will bear six or seven hundred, and there it will +end. The sentence, however, is legal, which it was not before, when +transportation was the punishment. Lord Wellington now addresses me +with the familiar “How are you?” So we go on more easily, and I made a +sort of proposal to him to insert a passage in general orders now, to +be read to the men every day until we march, to let them know that a +new police corps was established to catch them, and to tell them that +seven officers would be sufficient now to hang them, and that Courts +would be held always ready in every division. He said he would think +about it, and thought it would be of use. + +Dr. M’Gregor told me yesterday, that his sick-list was improving daily, +and that if Lord Wellington would give him another month he thought +he should bring the greater part into the field. King Joseph, I have +just heard, arrived at Valladolid from Madrid on the 23rd instant; Lord +Fitzroy Somerset just read it out of a Spanish private letter. + +_Head-Quarters, Frenada, Sunday, April 4th, 1813._—You will observe +that I do know when Sunday comes, although that is certainly nearly +all. We, however, have a church and a bell, which goes on tolling for +hours in a most unattractive manner. We have a church, too, which is +made use of for various purposes, civil as well as ecclesiastical; +for instance, one night about one hundred and fifty Spaniards and +their mules, officers and all, slept in it. The building is large, +considering the size of the village, the floor covered with straw like +a stable, but the end where the altar is, is all gold and glitter up to +the ceiling. The decorations must originally have been very expensive, +for, besides the great expenditure of gold-leaf and foil, and carving, +all the ceiling, which is coved and circular, and divided into squares, +has a picture of a saint, or a father, a founder, a hermit, or some +great divinity hero, in every square. Masses, the funeral service, +weddings, and christenings, are also performed there. I just look in +now and then, for it is awkward to stand there, when all are on their +knees on the floor. There is also a little chapel belonging to the +owner of Lord Wellington’s house; which is fitted up by Colonel G—— for +his quarters. He has hung it with red baize, fitted up the altar as +his dressing-table, put up an iron stove, and made it one of the best +quarters here. + +Lord Wellington looks forward very coolly to another winter here. He +said yesterday he should have twenty-five couples of fox-hounds next +season. The other day the Commissary-general told him that we had eaten +nearly all the oxen in the country, that the cultivation of the lands +in Portugal could not go on for want of them, and that he scarcely knew +where to turn for a supply of beef, as there was this year no reserve +store near Lisbon. Lord Wellington said, “Well, then, we must now set +about eating all the sheep, and when they are gone I suppose we must +go.” And General M—— added, “Historians will say that the British +army came and carried on war in Spain and Portugal until they had +eaten all the beef and mutton in the country, and were then compelled +to withdraw.” Without joking, I fear our Commissariat may have great +difficulties next year. Talking on this subject, I must add that the +Portuguese agent here, a sly, money-making man, who has realized about +25,000_l._ during the war, said the news was so good, that he now +hoped to get a peace, and that the Portuguese would get rid of the +“beefs,” meaning the English. Communication as to necessary articles +and others is so difficult with Lisbon, that one of Lord Wellington’s +aides-de-camp has been six months getting two bridles up, and C. +Campbell four months in getting up a great coat. + +Lord Wellington yesterday, talking of his soldiers and English notions, +observed that his men were now all so round-shouldered and slouching in +their gait, that he was sure, if his regiment here was in its present +state to pass in review at Wimbledon Common, the whole would be sent +to drill immediately, and declared quite unfit for service. Indeed, he +added, that the men had now got into such a way of doing everything in +the easiest manner, that he was often quite ashamed of the sentries +before his own quarter. He did not mention this by way of complaint, +but as showing how ideas here and at home differed. He also laughed +at our notions in England about the supply of the army, saying that +some corporate body or society in England had once made him an offer of +twenty bullocks for the army, which would last head-quarters only about +a week. General M—— said it must have been a mistake—the offer must +have been for his table only; not for the army. + +Orders, it is said, are gone round for the Alicant army to be +re-embarked and landed in the rear of Suchet, to compel him to quit +Valencia if possible; this will be the first step I conclude. You say +you are all looking to us, and want us to move. Our black clouds have +all rolled away, and to-day we have again a clear north wind and hot +sun, and not a blade of grass growing; without the latter we cannot +stir. If the rains will but come soon and bring grass, we may, perhaps, +move in the first week of May, but not before: that is, no important +move can take place. Our cavalry, though down below Coimbra, are very +much distressed for food, and complaints come up without number from +the Portuguese that our people will feed their horses with the young +corn, which is now great waste; but what is to be done? When we have +finished the oxen we may go, as Lord Wellington says, to the sheep, but +what are horses to do when hay is all gone, and straw, and there is +no grass come? How little you know in England about the real state of +things here, and the requisites for moving in a campaign! You forget +our ten or fifteen thousand animals for baggage and for food, besides +the cavalry and artillery, &c. The Portuguese agent here repeats that +another campaign in Portugal will be impossible, for there will be +neither animals to eat, nor for transport, unless we bring all with us. +I hope, however, not to pass another winter at Frenada; but so hoped +those who were here last year. + +Did I ever mention to you Lord Wellington’s saying how anxious the +Prince Regent was that he should correspond with him, and how much +hurt he was that he had never done so. “But,” observed Lord Wellington, +“I wrote to his ministers, and that was enough. What had I to do with +him? However, his late favour was a reason for my writing, and I have +had a most gracious answer, evidently courting further correspondence;” +but which he intimated he should not comply with. + +I understand the famous Guerillas are much more dreaded by their own +countrymen in the north of Spain than the French, and I fear with some +reason, as they are (many of them, at least) very much like banditti. +The French, however, suffered so much by them, that they have adopted +the same plan, and have their counter Guerillas; some with French +officers to conduct them, and some headed by Guerilla chiefs, who have +quarrelled and separated from their companions in the good cause. I was +sorry to hear this. The French continue moving about, and their force +towards the Tagus diminishes. + +You have my news as I hear it: we are now getting ready ammunition, +&c., to the front, to prepare for an advance when possible; so, +perhaps, we may pass Rodrigo, and cross the Douro to the left of +Salamanca, if the French stand on that river, as we have now this year +pontoons, which we had not last year. We have also a new and more +portable battering-train, come out from England, which has arrived as +far as Abrantes, where it only waits for means of transport to come +on here. That which we had here last year, I am told, was excessively +clumsy. + +_April 7th._—I have heard a number of anecdotes of General Craufurd. +All admit that he was very clever and knowing in his profession, and +led on his division on the day of his death in the most gallant style; +but Lord Wellington never knew what he would do. He constantly acted +in his own way, contrary to orders: and as he commanded the advanced +division, at times perplexed Lord Wellington considerably, who never +could be sure where he was. On one occasion, near Guinaldo, he +remained across a river by himself; that is, with his own division +only, nearly a whole day after he was called in by Lord Wellington. He +said he knew that he could defend his position. Lord Wellington, when +he came back, only said, “I am glad to see you safe, Craufurd.” To +which the latter replied, “Oh, I was in no danger, I assure you.” “But +I was, from your conduct,” said Lord Wellington. Upon which Craufurd +observed, “He is d—— crusty to-day.” + +Marmont, when he saw Craufurd filing off next morning, could not +believe it: “_Diable! voilà Craufurd! ma foi, j’aurais pu deviner +cela._” Another time, Lord Wellington said, “Craufurd, you are going +into a delicate situation; what orders do you wish for? I will write +what you think best.” Craufurd told him his own plan and went away. +Whilst Lord Wellington was writing them out, and acting accordingly, +Craufurd sent him word that he had done something else. On another +occasion, Lord Wellington sent to him to say he should inspect his +division, and came accordingly. Craufurd never attended until it was +half over, and then said that Lord Wellington was before his time; yet +he was very strict with his own division, and would be very exactly +obeyed. His division all complained of this, and many officers talked +of who should call him out, on one or two occasions, for this. Yet +he was so much valued, and the whole division had such confidence in +him, that, when he joined them again just before the attack to take +the command in the engagement in which he died, the whole division set +up a loud shout, so as to frighten a small party of French who were +near, who did not know what was the matter, and they ran away. Lord +Wellington knew his merits and humoured him. It was surprising what he +bore from him at times. + +Lord Wellington celebrated the day of the storming of Badajoz with a +grand dinner yesterday; only those present at that event were invited. +Lord Aylmer had a rival dinner-party, at which was General Murray, &c., +where I dined also. If the good news brings peace, what will become of +your humble servant and many others here? “Othello’s occupation’s gone!” + +General Murray is apparently very clever and clearheaded. In my +opinion, he comes next to Lord Wellington, as far as I have seen. +We are all full of the news, for a paper of the 22nd has arrived at +Oporto several days later than the mail. We now know about Hamburg and +Cuxhaven, Berlin, &c. I fear that the French will be driven together +into one large body, and may then be more than a match for any one army +opposed to them, but they will be considerably cowed and disheartened. +When will the Dutch be roused to do anything? Now or never is their +time! + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + News of the French—Castilian Costume—Equipment of the Army—Melancholy + Court-martial Case—Wellington in the Battle of Fuentes d’Onore—The + Chances of War—Anecdotes of Wellington—His Opinions of the War—The New + Mutiny Act—Wellington on “Vetus”—General Murray—Advance of the French. + + + Head-quarters, Frenada, April 12, 1813. + + MY DEAR M——, + +From what I hear, if we could only get grass, Lord Wellington would +move about the second week in May. There is no immediate prospect of +this, as you will perceive, when I tell you that the Military Secretary +has sent all his horses nearly a hundred miles off for grass. + +The news here is, that some more of the French, about twenty men +from every regiment, are ordered home. Some, but I believe no great +number hitherto, are actually gone: and about three or four thousand +conscripts are supposed to have arrived in Spain to fill up the +vacancies of the old soldiers removed. Head-quarters will not now +probably move until we march; and, from report, we shall not go to +Guinaldo, but stay here quietly until the army is drawn up around us, +ready to move. + +The clergy, both here and in Spain, are in general, I understand, +fortunately of the same opinion as to the Pope’s signing the Concordat, +as you say the emigrants are; that he did it from compulsion, or that a +different instrument was substituted for his signature. It was feared +that artful plan would have assisted Bonaparte in Spain. + +I hear the same accounts of the state of commerce at Lisbon as George +sends from London. Old Colonel Arentschild here says, “She (meaning +England) will make enough in Germany, by trade, to enable her, in the +first six months, to carry on the war for two years, if necessary.” +I fear the news in the papers concerning the Prince of Orange was +rather premature. He states, that he has hitherto had no offer except +from the Continent, nor heard anything from the newspaper. It will +prove a prophecy, I hope, instead of a fact. He seems a very amiable, +deserving youth, is liked by every one, and has had the greatest of +all advantages for a young prince, that of being educated in a great +measure with persons who have behaved to him as if he were their equal. +So, indeed, he is treated now; except that he has a little more respect +paid to him, which I believe is really felt, for he lives nearly on +terms of equality with Lord Fitzroy Somerset, Lord March, Colonel G——, +&c., and is quite one of the set, and is little or no restraint to +any one. I met him, two days ago, scrambling down on the banks of the +Coa, three miles off, by himself on foot. He must just now have some +interesting subjects for contemplation, and I have no doubt some very +flattering visions pass through his brain. + +I am looking so much better than when I arrived at head-quarters, that +Lord Wellington and several others think I am an exception to the +general rule, and that the climate here agrees with me. Lord Wellington +says he has had so many ill and dead since he has been here, that he +does not like to think of it; many, like General Hulse, &c., whose loss +he feels in every way. He says now, he is always ready to let every one +go home when first he complains, and is disposed to tell every one who +looks ill to be off. + +I have just seen some very handsome specimens of the Castilian dresses, +male and female, of the higher classes of rich peasantry, made I +believe, by a tailor from Salamanca. The three female dresses Lord +Wellington means to give to his nieces for masquerades; they are +covered with work—embroidery, lace, and gold; he gives two thousand +dollars for them. The man’s dress was for Lord March, and is certainly +most becoming to almost every one. + +I must now go and consider the new intended Bill to punish our +offenders here, which Lord Beresford has sent for Lord Wellington +to consult him upon it, and he has sent it to me—the draught of the +intended Act I mean; and as every one makes some observation, I must +make a few also. So, for the present, adieu. + +I never told you that some of our military great boys here got very +tipsy on the commemoration of the fall of Badajoz, and went to a poor +_Juge de Fores_, that is a Portugal law magistrate, who was on a visit, +and poured a bottle of blacking partly in his mouth, and partly over +him, at twelve at night; and then made him dress, and go and help break +poor C——’s only pane of glass, and upset his bed, as he had retired. +Soldiers, lawyers, and all, I see, are boys at times alike. + +_April 13th._—Much too hot for hunting I should think; but all the +sportsmen are out. Lord Wellington has not got good horses to be idle; +he works them well. Besides all the hunting, &c., the day before +yesterday, after doing business until twelve o’clock, off he went by +himself, without saying a word to any one, across to Ciudad Rodrigo, +seventeen miles off, inspected all the works, and was back again here +in five hours and a half to dinner. He says that they are now going on +very well there, and seems to be a little anxious about his own town. I +suspect when we do move that we shall get on fast, for Lord Wellington +will like to pass the Douro before the French know his plans. + +_Wednesday, April 14th, Post-day._—This will be but a stupid packet, +as I have no news or events here to communicate. General Castanos +arrived here yesterday in a great lumbering carriage, with eight mules +and ropes from Cadiz, on his way to his division. He called here for +instructions. + +We have had in my own line another murder: a private grenadier of the +Buffs shot his officer, on their private parade at Placencia, in the +second division, from the window of his quarter, just opposite to that +of the officer, and just as he came out to the men, who were all there. +The officer was Lieutenant Annesley. The grenadier wounded a sergeant +at the same time, and was instantly secured. No quarrel or disagreement +was known, but he said that he was satisfied he had killed his enemy, +and the day before, when another man committed suicide, he said, “What +a fool, not to kill his enemy first, if he had one!” The officer is +well spoken of. The conduct of the grenadier resembles madness more +than anything else, yet they say he was not mad; I have just sent out a +charge against him, and an order for his trial. + +Our own army is now quite clothed, I believe. I fear that the +Portuguese are only in the middle of theirs, and will not have finished +these three weeks. You have no notion what there is to be done before +an army like ours is fit to move in such a country as this. We have +been three months getting up these clothes from Lisbon for our men; the +tents have not yet arrived for head-quarters, and some say that only +the army are to use them. I suppose, however, that we must carry them. + +Lord Tweeddale continues here as an amateur, and will probably advance +with us. When we march I may not be able to write so often, as our time +will be much occupied, and pen and ink will not be always at hand. +An order has just now come out to pay everything up to the 24th of +December, that the officers may have a little money to prepare for the +march. + +_Head-Quarters, Frenada, April 17th, 1813._—The corn looks very ill +about this place, very thin, very yellow, and indeed positively very +bad crops. Whether this is, however, also only comparatively bad as +to other years I cannot say; it would appear to be so to some extent. +The soil is here very poor, and I suspect the harvest is never very +abundant. Several parts of Spain have this year suffered much from the +want of rain, and the very early heat of the weather; Estremadura in +particular: where the sun has been very powerful, everything has been +burnt up. My authority for this is General O’Donoghue. + +In my own department I have another rather melancholy story. Mr. M——, +a clerk in the commissariat department, had been guilty of fraud and +embezzlement of stores (some pork, rice, and milk), to no great amount, +as far as I could prove under 20_l._; but it was sold out of the store +at Galigas, in a neighbouring village. By Lord Wellington’s orders I +made out a charge against M——, and sent it to him at Coimbra, with an +order from the Commissary for him to attend under close arrest at Cea +to take his trial, as the witnesses were near Galigas. Soon after the +receipt of this letter and order he shot himself, and has thus put an +end to the whole business. He was well connected in England, it is +said, has respectable friends, and was in a good situation there. A +woman with whom he lived here, I believe, was the cause of the whole. +When he turned her off she stirred up the witnesses against him, and +was the cause of its being made known to Sir R. Kennedy, and by his +means to Lord Wellington, when of course a prosecution was inevitable. +By the Mutiny Act he was liable to transportation for life, fine, +imprisonment, or pillory: and he could not stand the disgrace. He +partly admitted the charge, but pleaded sickness and distress. It was +unfortunate that the discovery fell on such a subject, for it was, I +believe, the first falling off from general good conduct. + +I have now got a Court-martial in the fourth division, the only one +which has been hitherto free, to sit near Escalpaon, and to try three +fellows for going out at night and stealing seven sheep, keeping sentry +as a guard over the two shepherds, whilst they skinned the sheep and +divided the meat; two other men, of better characters, were with them, +and they are therefore to be admitted as witnesses against the three. +The Court at Coimbra has suffered the two worst fellows to escape +almost with twelve hundred lashes; they ought to have been hung, for +they are desperate fellows, both Irishmen. They have been most mutinous +and insolent whilst under trial, and one of them, a few days since, +said he did not know whether he was to be hung or flogged this time, +but if the latter, he would take care next time that there should be no +witnesses to tell of what he had done. + +Lord Wellington said at dinner the day before yesterday, “We must move +by the end of the first week in May, that’s positive.” And then spoke +sharply to Colonel F—— of the artillery, because the artillery was +not arrived. The Colonel coolly replied, “My lord, I do not think the +artillery have been, or will be, the cause of your lordship staying at +Frenada. Transport is the great difficulty—animals are so scarce. The +Portuguese make much money, but are afraid of spending it, or getting +or breeding animals for fear of their being seized or embargoed.” An +engineer has been appointed and sent to each division, and a messenger +or Spanish courier (who arrived three days since in four days from +Cadiz post), was last night sent post round through Seville to Alicant. +Something, therefore, is in agitation, and all this looks like +preparation for moving. He expected to arrive at Alicant in eight days +at furthest, if not in seven. + +Lord Wellington the other day was again talking of the battle of +Fuentes d’Onore. He said that he was obliged to ride hard to escape, +and thought at one time, as he was on a slow horse, that he should have +been taken. The whole of head-quarters, general and all, he added, +English dragoons and French dragoons, were all galloping away together +across the plain, and he more than once saw a French dragoon in a green +coat within twenty yards of him. One Frenchman got quite past them all, +and they could not knock him off his horse. At last they caught his +bridle and stopped him. + +_21st April._—We sup early (as you call your late dinners) here, +and are as smart as you are in England in that respect. At present +half-past seven is the hour. We cannot change this hour till Lord +Wellington does, for business is now going on till six. We also beat +the most fashionable in London in one respect, for we have no female +society at all here. There is one lady here, Mrs. S——, and that is +all the English we see, once in a week perhaps; and then the men +preponderate so that the tone of the society is quite male. There +is one Portuguese lady, niece to the Capitan Mor here, or principal +resident inhabitant: but she is ugly, and said to be perfumed too +strongly with oily salt fish. She is no favourite, and is very little +noticed. Her little uncle hunts with Lord Wellington on a little +country pony, and does wonders in that way; he seems an active little +Portuguese. + +Lieutenant-Colonel W——, in the Adjutant-general’s Department here, +who was ill when I joined, has now returned. He has had some curious +adventures in this country. He once fell in, accompanied by two +dragoons, with a small party of French, close to their main body, who +were attending some baggage. He, his men consenting, attacked the +French, beat them off, plundered their baggage, and brought off the +best mule. The latter he kept himself, and has it here now, and the +two soldiers took the money, &c. On another occasion, he was riding +quietly with Captain D——, of the same department, on the advance from +the lines at Torres Vedras on the retreat of Massena. They were quietly +jogging on, and were about to enter a place intended to be English +head-quarters that day. When close to it, they found the French were +still there in force, and saw three French dragoons close upon them, +who, however, did not see them. They resolved to attack by surprise. +They knocked two off from their horses, and attacked the third; he got +away and they pursued him. In the mean time the other two set off. +It ended, however, in W—— and D—— securing one dragoon horse, and +some other booty, with which they got safely away. Soon after this +Lieutenant-Colonel W—— was himself taken prisoner at Sabugal, when +the French advanced during the siege of Badajoz. He was then mounted +on this very dragoon horse, which he had kept as booty; the horse was +known by the French when he was carried in. He was asked how he came +by the horse? He said he bought it of a soldier; and as the three +Frenchmen had reported that they had been attacked by a “dozen men +in buckram,” and had said nothing of two officers, it all went off +well, and he kept their secret and his own. He refused to give his +parole, and was therefore ill fed, and kept prisoner with privates, and +treated like the rest, except that they let him ride Dragon, as he had +christened his horse. + +Near Salamanca, a Spanish friend to whom he had been kind came to offer +his services to him: “Only get me a new pair of very sharp rowels to +my spurs,” said he, “that is all I want.” This was done, and on the +next day, the party, a whole French column of infantry, marched on at +daybreak about seven. Just near the end of the wood, near Salamanca, +in a wide open part of the road, he observed that most of the French +horsemen were dismounted; so turning about, he used his new rowels +strongly, got the start of them in some way, and was off. He galloped +till he heard no one behind him. At first there was a shout of “_Le +Mayo, le Mayo_,” and some pursued; he then crossed another road where +another French party was, got round by the mountains, reached, I think, +Tamones by eleven that night, and to Fuentes d’Onore next day safely. +The French had fed their horses in the fields at night on grass, and +were soon blown. He had refused to suffer his horse to leave him, and +gave him only a little bran, yet though his horse was a slow one too, +he thus got safely off. He has since sold the horse. Lord Wellington +asked him “Why?” He said, “Because, my lord, I was very near being +taken again on him when with your lordship at the battle of Fuentes +d’Onore, and that would be awkward, as the horse is known by the +French.” He seems an odd character. + +The Commissaries all live here exceedingly well, the Lord knows how out +of their pay; and that ought to be nearly their only advantage. + +_Frenada, Head-Quarters, April 24, 1813._—Four Generals have +arrived—Graham, Fane, Picton, and Oswald: Sir Stapleton Cotton, who +has received orders to command the whole cavalry, has, however, not +yet arrived, and is much wanted; but Graham and Picton are very good +officers. + +Lord Wellington, a few days since, said that he hoped the Spaniards +were in many respects getting on much better; that there was a numerous +body now well clothed at least, and armed and tolerably disciplined; +that he was always ordering the drills to go on with spirit, and +by perseverance he thought they were much improving; that he never +interfered with the mode, but asked what their military rules and laws +were, and then said, “Well, that is very good; now mind and see that +they are put in force, and, remember, it is not I but your law orders +this; I have only to see your laws executed, which are very good, and +they must be obeyed.” He said, the Staff here seemed well satisfied. + +The artillery is what Lord Wellington rails at most. They cannot get +on so well as he thinks they ought, or at least as he wants them to +do. I do not mean in particular at this moment, but generally. The +officers commanding this part of the army are rather heavy and slow, +or, as Lord Wellington said himself one day of a late commander, “I +took care to let him feel that I thought him very stupid.” “That must +have been,” General Murray said privately, “by telling him so in plain +terms, I have no doubt.” Colonel F——, who commanded the artillery at +the battle of Salamanca, and who is very well spoken of by every one, +but at times, I believe, is slow, was once with Lord Wellington at an +audience when things went wrong, and Lord Wellington got irate, who +told him pretty nearly that his friend concerning whom he was inquiring +“might go to h—.” Colonel F—— came muttering out, “I’ll go, Sir, to the +Quarter-Master-general for a route,” which Lord Wellington heard, and +laughed at well. + +General Murray says that on hunting-days he could get almost anything +done, for Lord Wellington stands whip in hand ready to start, and soon +despatches all business. Some of the Generals, Lord Wellington observed +one day, used to come and hunt and then get on business, and get him to +answer things in a hasty way, which he did not intend, but which they +acted upon. “Oh, d—— them,” said he, “I won’t speak to them again when +we are hunting.” Colonel F——’s friend on his route to his destination +would have found plenty of fuel but less green forage than we have here. + +By all accounts the first day after we were in Badajoz, the scene was +very shocking in every way. Nothing but dead and wounded on all sides, +and drunkenness and plunder in all directions. Even Lord Wellington, +when in the street with his staff, was followed by drunken soldiers, +continually firing feux-de-joie over his head with ball-cartridges, and +never thinking where the balls went. + +The Portuguese Government have got bolder, and have tried some of our +people by their laws, when caught in the act, and have sent two or +three of them to the coast of Africa. If this were generally known, +it would do more good, I believe, than our flogging. Lord Wellington +said formerly, that their government always declined trying our people +themselves, but now they generally accepted the offer when made. +Lieutenant K——, of the Guards, who was tried and acquitted last week of +ordering a sentry to fire and killing a native, was very much alarmed +lest the Portuguese should try him, as it was at first agreed. It was a +hasty act on his part, but there was a slight riot, and I think in law +he was properly acquitted, for he was struck with a stone by some one +in the mob which was collected. + +My cases are now rather increasing again, I think, and will probably +continue until we march. I have had two very blackguard officers to +try in the Royal Drivers’ corps. Sheep-stealing has now succeeded to +pig-shooting, as pork is out of season. The horses are now like mad +when turned out, and are scampering all over the country. + +I had a long conversation with Lord Wellington yesterday. After +discussing our business up and down the market-place, he said that +“the want of rain began to be very alarming; but that as soon as the +pontoons arrived he would be off. The heavy artillery have started two +or three days since from Castello Branco, and will be here by the 31st. +The pontoons are stuck somewhere on the road.” He discussed the war +here, and in the North, with me: observing that, “a country ought to +think well before it undertook to do what Spain did; that, certainly, +Spain and Portugal were the fittest places to try the experiment of a +battle for the mere soil, because in general there was nothing else in +the country much worth fighting for, or which could be much damaged.” + +“As, for instance,” he added, “what is this village worth? burn it, +and a few hundreds would make it as good as ever with a little labour; +but now,” he continued, “he believed that a great portion of the +Spaniards began to be very anxious to bring the business to a close; +they had rather that we should beat out the French and be off, but, +next to that, they had sooner the French beat us out, and had quiet +possession, than that such a war as that of the last three years +should be continued.” He said “he thought the Cortes were going on +ill; that they were unpopular, knew it, and did not know how to set +about becoming otherwise; that he disapproved of their meddling with +the royal feudal tithes, or church property, and particularly with the +elections of the next assembly, with which he thought they had nothing +to do. They have declared the elections of one district all void, from +some informality, and as the new elections have run much upon priests, +they have been trying to make these void, as being within the clause +concerning placemen in their constitution—‘that no placeman was to be +elected for his own district.’ However,” he continued, “in the present +state of things all the real and urgent business, and what is now the +most material, namely, all relating to the army and the war, is done +here, at Frenada, and let them squabble at Cadiz; if they will leave us +alone, I don’t care. Portugal is for some time quite safe and out of +the scrape, and if things go on well I think Spain will be out of the +scrape also.” “But,” he added, “he should be almost sorry to see such +a war as this has been carried on all over Germany, where there is so +much to destroy, and to be lost.” + +In spite of the poverty of the country and the difficulty as to +obtaining bullocks, we have somehow or other collected one thousand +here to begin the campaign with: I hear one hundred and fifty fine ones +for the artillery. + +_April 26th._—I am kept going to the last minute. A number of new cases +are come in, and I am very busy again; the more so, as the time is so +short, and so uncertain when all my Courts are to break up. I cannot +get below a dozen cases in hand, for new ones arise faster than I try +the old ones. + +I have just heard from Coimbra, that one Court-martial is broken up by +a division of cavalry moving down to Oporto. I do not quite understand +this, but conclude that they will pass the river somewhere below, +and so march through the Tras os Montes, and join us again on the +other side of the Douro, and have a good untouched country to advance +through—otherwise this does not look like a march. No one knows, +however, and probably I know as much as the Adjutant-General. I must +now write to Lord Wellington; this movement at Coimbra has disturbed +two of my Coimbra cases very much. + +The new Mutiny Act has been sent out to me. There are several changes, +one I see which I suggested; but the business is very much bungled. +The Mutiny Act and Articles of War are now at variance, as the latter +have not been altered with the former. By the first, an officer may be +tried here by a Court of seven members; by the articles, there must be +thirteen. + +Some of the fifth division have, I hear, moved across the Douro at +Lamego. This confirms the opinion I have given above, especially as +D’Urban’s Portuguese cavalry are all north of the Mondego, and have +been some time there. This will disturb another of my Courts. Lord +Wellington says, that the witnesses must follow and try and catch the +Court; but I am no hunter, and shall try to remove the case to another +place. I dine with Lord Wellington. + +_Head-Quarters, Frenada, Saturday May 1st, 1813._—This last week I +have again been very busy, and shall remain so, no doubt, until we +move. This will probably be in a week or so, for our wings are in +motion. The cavalry round by Oporto, as I mentioned before, and some +Portuguese infantry, under Colonel Hamilton, are advancing to Alcantara +from near Portalegre and Eloss. We shall soon be drawing together, but +head-quarters, I have very little doubt, will be the last to move. +We have just got the “_Spanish Gazette_,” of Seville, with Elio’s +letter, stating the victory gained by General Murray near Alicant, +and his driving Suchet back with loss, through Bejar and Villana to +Fuente Higuera. I conclude you will have heard this in England before +this reaches you. We have no English account, but Lord Wellington +seems to consider it very good news. He came running into the Military +Secretary’s room, where I was yesterday, to communicate this, saying, +“Murray has beat Suchet, Fitzroy.” I always expected the fighting would +begin in that quarter this campaign. We got also yesterday from Lisbon +the almost incredible good news that Austria had agreed to join the +Allies with eighty thousand men in Germany, and one hundred thousand +in Italy, and that Davoust and Grenier had been again defeated. Lord +Wellington seems rather to give credit to all this. Poor Bony will go +mad if it should prove all to be true. + +A few days since at dinner at Lord Wellington’s, he got upon the +subject of “Vetus.” He said, “He thought he knew the author, and that +he had been in India—not Mackintosh, as reported here.” He then went on +to say, “he did not think much of Vetus’s letters:[3] that many of his +facts as to this country were quite without foundation; that neither +Vetus, nor the O. P.’s, nor Lord Wellesley, knew anything about the +war here, and what could or could not be done; that he fully believed +Government had done all they could; that the men who did come could +not have been here sooner, and perhaps had better have come still +later; that more cavalry he could not have employed, had he had them at +Lisbon, for want of transport for food; that when he advanced formerly +to Talavera, he left several thousand men at Lisbon, because he could +not supply them had they been with the army; that even now he could not +have brought up the Hussar brigade into the field, unless by draughting +home the three regiments whose men he lately had sent back, and thus +setting at liberty their transport; that the Guards, Life and Blues, +he knew of some time since, and sent five months ago to Estremadura to +collect mules for their supply; that every two dragoons employed a mule +to feed the men and horses, and that all this difficulty in the detail +was quite unknown at home. In short, he said, Lord Wellesley knew +nothing about the matter, and he had no reason to be dissatisfied with +Government at home.” All this made several of us stare. I am told that +Lord Wellington was very angry with Lord Wellesley for his resignation, +and hardly spoke to any one for some days after he had heard the fact. +Lord Paget has just sent up here two of the Hussars, a corporal and +a private, to wait as orderlies on my lord the peer; two very fine +fellows. This was done out of compliment. They will only be ruined at +head-quarters, which is a terrible place for soldiers and servants; +over-pay, great idleness, and every third house a vine-house. + +I have just read Mrs. M. A. Clark and the Messrs. Fitzgerald’s, &c., +which Lord Fitzroy Somerset sent me by desire of Lord Wellington. It is +a curious production, and very ingenious as I understand it, merely as +a punishment on the Chancellor of the Exchequer for not letting her +profit by the Treasury, and, at the same time, a strong inducement to +all others in her favour, held over their heads _in terrorem_, not to +be guilty of equal ingratitude; that is, not to neglect making up her +deficiencies in cash when a hint has been given them of the necessity. + +_May 2nd._—Lord Wellington, I hear is to go to-day to General Cole’s +division, the fourth, near the Figuiera, above Castello Rodrigo, and +near Eschalo. He sends his hounds over the six leagues to-day: they +hunt there to-morrow. On Tuesday he is to review the fourth division, +and return here to dinner at Frenada afterwards. Lord Wellington said, +some days since, he would move on the 5th of May: some of the army +may, and will, I have no doubt; but I do not think _we_ shall before +the 10th. Ho one knows, however; and I dare say no one will know until +the day before, when all will be in a bustle. I hope we shall not set +out in this weather, however, which continues constant cold, rain, and +wind. By watching sharp, I can generally get an hour’s ride dry; but it +will be rather dismal work to start on a long march in this wet, and +it would, from the state of the roads, knock up the mules too much at +first, when I take it they will have far enough to go. + +If the news from Austria be true, and General Murray has really beaten +Suchet in an English and not merely in a Spanish fashion, the French, +when they hear we have crossed the Douro, will probably go at once +behind the Ebro, carrying all they can with them that is moveable and +worth carriage. At present, however, their plan seems to be, to try to +make a stand on the Douro first. They are evidently receding gradually +from Madrid. + +_Later._—I have just heard that part of my gossip of head-quarters is +not correct. Lord Wellington has got a cold, and has determined not to +go to General Cole to-day, though the weather has now cleared up. + +_May 3rd, Monday._—Lord Wellington is rather worse to-day, I hear, and +does not leave Frenada. I hope his review will be quite put off. He +has, I believe, only a bad cold. We have still no further news from +Alicant: at Cadiz they had only seen the same account that we have. Mr. +Wellesley says that the people were in high spirits about it there, +though I suspect that some of the Spaniards did not behave well. The +allied loss is reported to be nine hundred, that of the French at two +thousand. If we could kill off at this rate, and make the Spaniards +bear a fair share, this would do very well. I have since heard from +Colonel C—— that it is supposed Elio’s troops behaved ill, and threw +away their arms. Elio’s corps had received orders not to fight, but to +unite with General Murray: he was just about to do so, and part of his +corps was on his left, but too far distant, and gave way when attacked. +The orders were, for all the corps, Elio’s, Del Parque’s, &c., to unite +with General Murray without a battle. General Murray will scarcely be +able to do much (if he has beat Suchet) with his small force, if he +cannot trust the Spaniards. I hope, however, Whittingham’s corps has +behaved well. + +_May 4th, Tuesday._—Lord Wellington has just got eight of the Prince +Regent’s grey stallions up from Lisbon to draw his carriage on the +march: they are small, but showy, little, prancing, round-carcassed +animals. They have the same mark as is on my black horse from Machacha; +but mine beats them in beauty. To-day they were tried, and not having +been for some time, or ever, in harness, or not liking the country so +well as Lisbon, they would not for a long time go at all. One reared +up and fell backwards twice, clean over, and one got astride the pole. +They got on better, however, at last, and did not break the carriage +as I expected. Lord Wellington’s six old large mules would do the work +much better, though they are not so showy for Spain. + +I saw Lord Wellington to-day, he said he was much better; but has +apparently a heavy, bad cold. + +_May 5th._—Here we are, still mum, as I expected; and the reason for +it is now said to be that the pontoons are not yet arrived. They left +Castello Branco May the 1st only, and, it is said, cannot reach this +place before the 9th. Monday the 10th is now talked of; I think, +however, it may be still Thursday next, the day after the post-day +again, before we stir; most people say, however, Tuesday the 11th; much +may depend on news. Of course, Lord Wellington must be very anxious to +know the true state of the North of Europe before we start; and the +present strong south-west gales are much against our hearing soon; he +also wishes to know the exact effect of the fight at Alicant. I dined +yesterday at head-quarters, and Lord F. Somerset told me that they had +more irregular accounts of the latter business, and that they became +less and less satisfactory. It was understood that the Spaniards, when +first attacked alone, were charged and quite cut up by the French—_muy +mal tratado_, is the Spanish private account; and one whole regiment, +I am told, surrendered. Three regiments are considered to be _mis hors +de combat_. Our army, it appears, did certainly afterwards at last +beat back a French partial attack with loss; but our vanguard had been +beaten back before, and the loss in our army, English and Sicilians, +without Spaniards, was nine hundred. This will not do; still it is to +be hoped that Whittingham’s people behaved better. + +Lord Wellington dined at table again yesterday, and was much better. +I sat next to him on one side and the Prince of Orange on the other, +as there happened to be no other grandees there; and we had much +conversation. This has happened two or three times lately, when I +have been there, and there are few besides his own establishment +present. He always calls the two who are on his right and left, and +Campbell settles the rest. Lord F. Somerset sent me yesterday a little +pamphlet of Lord Wellington’s, containing the account of the Russian +retreat—rather a catchpenny, I think; and, though not exceeding the +Russian gazettes in the number of French prisoners, adding several +rather incredible details, such as the French crawling into the fires +like gnats into a candle, without being sensible of their danger, &c. + +The French, who had quitted Toledo altogether, have again advanced, +and occupied it with much the same force as before, to the great +discomfiture of the junta there, who thought the “_Esclaves_” (as they +call them in the account of the Alicant battle) were gone for good and +for ever. To-day Lord Wellington keeps the anniversary of the battle of +Fuentes d’Onore, and all present at that battle are to dine with him. + +_5th (Later)._—Since writing the above, I have received a case of a +deserter from the Isla de Leon. Two years since he deserted to the +French, and persuaded others to go with him. As no time is now to be +lost, I have drawn the charge and sent the whole off to Lamego for +trial directly. My only Court which has as yet moved, or had orders to +move, is that at Coimbra, who are cavalry, and are now at Oporto. I +have sent Mr. Commissary D——, from Coimbra, there to be tried, for a +breach of orders; and a number of witnesses are all gone with him on +both sides to Oporto: I only hope they may not, by any sudden order, +have all their march for nothing. We have now, since Christmas, tried +eighty cases, and there are still ten in hand, besides about thirty +which have come to nothing. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[3] If the letters of Vetus were written, as was supposed, by Lord +Wellesley, it is quite clear that Lord Wellington was ignorant of the +fact.—ED. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + Newspaper Complaints—Wellington’s Comments—Review of the + Portuguese—Gatherings at Head-quarters—Reviews—Recommencement of the + March—The Route. + + + Head-quarters, Frenada, + May 8, 1813. + + MY DEAR M——, + +I have first to thank you for your letter and paper of the 21st, which +was most acceptable, as it happened to be, once more, the only paper +of that date at head-quarters, and of course the only one which had +the accounts from the French papers of Bonaparte’s having left Paris, +and of the state of their armies, &c. Finding this to be the case I +hastened to read it, and laid it, with three Courts-martial, before +Lord Wellington; more particularly, among other things, pointing +out to him a malicious letter against him, from Lisbon, stating the +discontent of the cavalry officers at having their horses turned over +to the Germans, and at its being done by a German officer, &c., and +the disgrace at being sent home dismounted. He read it through, and +at every sentence of that part relating to the general state of the +cavalry, he went on, with a laugh, “a lie!”—“a lie!”—“a lie!” except as +to Lieutenant-colonel Sherlock’s being vexed at the regiment being sent +home. “That’s very true—all the rest is a lie!” + +I think we are still likely to be here for some days. The pontoons are +only expected to arrive in this neighbourhood to-morrow, and I have +then heard it whispered that we shall not stir until they are on the +banks of the river, or indeed till they are fixed ready. The brigade +of heavy artillery, namely, six eighteen-pounders, were encamped +about two miles from hence on Thursday, and I went over to see them. +The difficulty of transport may be conceived when I tell you that +there were above a hundred and sixty of the strongest oxen employed +in getting these six pieces, with the appurtenances, along the road, +besides spare animals. + +The next day the whole proceeded to Almeyda; this, and what I hear +about the pontoons, makes me conceive that a part of the army at +least will cross the Douro immediately, somewhere in the vicinity of +Eschalona; but of course I can only conjecture, and am very much in +the dark on the subject. The troops still remain at Lamego, Vizeu, +Cea, Coria, Maimento, &c.; the cavalry only round by Oporto, and some +of General Hill’s, have moved yet. The Hussar brigade are now all up +near us, and the Household troops all in the road on this and the other +side of Sabugal. Some of the Blues have been here; they are in fine +order. I saw some horses as fat as in England; I hear, however, a much +worse account of the Life-Guard horses. Colonel H., of the Blues, says +that he does not see why his horses should not continue to be in as +good condition as they are now, and look as well through the campaign; +the other soldiers here, however, say, “Wait for a little duty and +starvation, and then talk; you have done nothing but come up in the +best time of the year, in the grass season.” + +I dined yesterday at head-quarters, to meet General Graham. He is a +very fine old man, but does not indeed look quite fit for this country +work; every one seems to think and say the same, and also that he is +broken since he was here. It is really to be regretted that such a fine +old man should be exposed as he must be. General Picton was also there, +and seemed in full vigour. All the great guns come here to pay their +respects to head-quarters. Lord Wellington is quite well again; was +out hunting on Thursday, and, being kept in by rain all yesterday, is +making up for it to-day by persisting in his expedition to the fourth +division. He was to set out at seven this morning for the review of +General Cole’s division, on a plain beyond Castel Rodrigues, about +twenty-eight miles from hence, was to be on the ground about ten, +and was to return to dinner to-day by four or five o’clock. This is +something like vigour, and yet I think he overdoes it a little; he has, +however, a notion that it is exercise which makes head-quarters more +healthy than the rest of the army generally is, and that the hounds are +one great cause of this. + +_Monday, May 10th._—The weather is, since yesterday, clearing up +again, and is just now perfection—a mild sun, moist ground, and fine, +genial, south-west wind: it will soon turn now to heat. I inquire +daily about the pontoons, upon which our movement depends, and have +now ascertained that they only left Castello Branco three days since, +and that a commissariat clerk went yesterday to meet them with fresh +animals at Sabugal. They cannot be here, it is clear, before the 13th +and 14th, and so says General Picton, who passed the men on the road. +If they are then to move on to be fixed, we cannot well stir before the +16th or 17th, and that seems the general opinion here now, though Lord +Wellington appears to be impatient about it. + +I have now to tell you of a piece of gaiety of mine yesterday. I went +to leave a Court-martial with Lord Wellington about twelve o’clock; +saw him, and found that he was at two o’clock to set out for another +review of the Spanish cavalry of the Conde de Penne Villemur, who have +often been mentioned, and were of use in General Hill’s surprise, &c. I +had much curiosity to see these gentlemen, and finding, after calling +upon the Adjutant-general, that I had only one summons to send out, I +agreed with Lord Aylmer to go with him to this review, ran home, wrote, +sent off my summons, dressed, &c., got my black horse equipped in his +best also, and at one we set off for Huero, near which the cavalry were +ordered to assemble, on the Agueda. It was about twelve or thirteen +miles distant, and we got there, riding gently, soon after three, +having gone about two miles round, under the guidance of Colonel B——, +close to the Quinta de Agueda, a pretty farm and gentleman’s house (so +esteemed here), in a wild, park-like scene in the wood. I knew the road +well, for it was nearly my way to Guinaldo, but I had no objection to +see this Quinta, so took merit for my modesty, but only undertook to be +guide home. The meadows were quite green, the woods all coming out in +leaf, and the thorn in blossom. + +At about a mile from this place we fell in with Lord Wellington and his +aides-de-camp, who had got over, in about an hour and twenty minutes, +by my road. The party then consisted of Lord Wellington, Lord F. +Somerset, Colonel C. Campbell, the Prince of Orange, his aide-de-camp, +Lord Aylmer, Colonel B——, and myself; and I assure you the black went +neighing about in high spirits, looking very sleek and respectable. On +the ground we were met by the Spanish generals O’Donnell and O’Lalor, +and found the cavalry drawn up in front of the river in open order, +about seven hundred in all. The first and best regiment was that of +Algarve, the second was that of Estremadura, and then came on the +left a single squadron of partizans, to be the regiment de Gallicia. +The two first regiments were tolerably clothed, and some of the men +fine-looking fellows, all very fierce in appearance, with their dark +faces and black beards, &c. The arms, though not uniform, good enough; +the greater part with our cavalry broadsword and carbine, but many +with our sailors’ long straight boarding-sword, and no bad weapon +either—I should think the best of the two. The helmets—black and +steel, or rather bright iron—were serviceable, and seemed to have seen +no little service; many, however, were black and brass, belonging to +other regiments, of Saguntum, &c.; the belts generally white, at least +those of the Algarve regiment, many black in the other. The horses, in +general, very small, and some scarcely fit for duty, but for the most +part apparently well fed, and in very-fair condition; out of the two +one very tolerable set might have been chosen, as good, I understand, +as many French regiments have been when here. + +The left squadron of Portuguese were queer-looking gentlemen, in +dirty brown, blue, and green jackets of all hues and ages; one fellow +among them was quite a monster in size, and excited much notice. +Lord Wellington quite burst out into a laugh as he passed. After his +lordship and his suite had passed in front and in the rear of the +whole, as in England, they passed him in troops and saluted. The +officers then appeared the worst—they were awkward louts; some did not +salute at all, some in a most clumsy manner; but perhaps this was not +a custom with them, as they had inquired what was usual with us. They +were, many of them, however, round-shouldered, dirty, ill-looking men. +Lord Wellington desired them to form once into close column, and then +to deploy again, and as there was more room across the river, desired +it might be done there. We galloped across, and then the scene of the +cavalry passing the ford was very picturesque, as the day was very fine +and the mountains and country in great beauty. This was between Huero +and Castilegos. They manœuvred thus much very tolerably, that is, the +regiment, for the squad of partizans remained behind practising the +broadsword. The ground on which the regiments were reviewed was quite a +bog. + +About five o’clock off went Lord Wellington in a gallop across the +country home to dinner. We all followed close for about a league, +and then, to save our animals, not having fifteen as he has, Lord F. +Somerset, Lord Aylmer, General Oswald, and myself went quietly on, and +got here about a quarter after seven, I for one much pleased with my +trip. The Conde P. Villemur did not command, and, as I understand, has +retired in disgust altogether, because there is a commander-in-chief +appointed in the cavalry, and he wished to be appointed if there was +to be one, or at least not to have any one over him. He was always, it +is said, a person who had a will of his own, and did not like to obey +orders. These jealousies and quarrels are much to be regretted. The +officer who commanded was Monte Major. His aide-de-camp told me that +a number of their men were on duty, and that their real numbers were +above one thousand. + +The review of the fourth division was, I believe, much more +satisfactory to Lord Wellington, as everything was in high +order—Portuguese and all, about six thousand five hundred; but having +so often seen a good English review, I was much more gratified with +these Spanish gentlemen. The Life-Guards, &c., are to be inspected +to-morrow. + +The messenger who was sent off on the 17th to Alicant has returned +to-day, and has been round by Cadiz in his return. He makes our loss +less—only about three hundred, I hear from the official statement—and +that of the French greater: and I was very glad to hear that +Whittingham’s men had behaved well, and that General Murray was well +satisfied with them. The messenger rode from Cadiz here in three days. + +We have here to-day all the grandees—Marshal Beresford, General Alava, +Don Julian, General Graham; the latter has been to the review above +sixteen miles distant, to see the Household Brigade. They mustered +eight hundred and twenty-nine rank and file in the field, that is, +Blues and Life-Guards together, and seven hundred and fifty-one horses, +and performed very well. The horses of the Blues much the best, some +of the Life-Guards’ rather skeletonish. I still fear General Graham is +too old for this work; at least he must not act as he did at Barossa. +Before the battle, I am told, he stood up to his middle in the water +for an hour or more, encouraging the troops to get on, English and +Spanish; and jumped off his horse on purpose for the example. It is +added, some of the men said, “Come, old corporal, do go and take care +of yourself, and get out of our way.” + +Lord Wellington was to-day in his full Colonel’s dress uniform of the +Blues, and looked very well in it. + +_Wednesday, 12th, Post-day. Head-Quarters, Frenada._—Still here, +and very probably we shall be so for some days. There are symptoms, +however, of a move soon, such as the packing of Lord Wellington’s +claret, &c. The pontoons are expected the day after to-morrow. The +twenty-four-pounders are on their march through Gallicia from Corunna. +The eighteen-pounders have passed on by Almeyda from hence. The cavalry +near the coast, whom I caught for a Court-martial at Oporto sending +every witness from Coimbra, have now in part, I understand, passed +Braga. I sent a case yesterday to Lamego, but fear it will be too +late, and must be tried on the march: there are so many little delays, +however, that I may yet be in time. The difficulties now increase. +Lord Wellington and Colonel F—— of the artillery do not agree. Lord +Wellington complains much of the heads of that department. He sent +B—— home some time since, and I now hear F—— is to go to England, and +for the present at least Lieut.-colonel D—— is to have the command. +F—— is much of a gentleman, I think; draws, it is said, very well, +&c., but has a bad memory, is nervous, and raises difficulties, which +I suspect Lord Wellington does not encourage, but expects things to +be done if possible. I am now told that General Pakenham is to act as +Adjutant-general to the army, and supersede Lord Aylmer, the deputy +Adjutant-general, but who has acted hitherto as principal. Every one +speaks most highly of Pakenham. + +_Head-Quarters, Frenada, May 15th, 1813. Saturday._—The first division +of the Guards and Germans left Vizeu for Lamego three days since. The +fifth division have left Lamego, and are marching through the Tras os +Montes. The seventh division have left Maimento, I believe, on the same +route. The sixth have also left Cea. + +When the French, who are still at Salamanca, Arevalo, Avila, Madrid, +&c., hear that we have thus crossed the Douro and turned their +position, they must either assemble and give battle, which I think +they will not do, or they must at once go beyond the Ebro, and then +I suppose we shall attack Burgos, and cross after them. However it +be, I expect a good long march in the outset. The army, however, on +the whole, is in good condition, and never has had so long a repose, +or been so regularly clothed. The sick are reduced to nearly seven +thousand, and will probably be never much less. A very bad report has +been made of the pontoons: they changed the oxen for horses, and these +treated them roughly. The day before yesterday so bad a report was +made of them, that yesterday, when they reached Sabugal, off went Lord +Wellington about twenty-six miles to look at them with his own eyes. I +hear he is glad to know the worst, but that is bad. They are made too +slight, were old and had new bottoms made for them, but now the sides +are very much shaken and decayed. Exaggerated reports have reached us +that the tin covering is knocked in holes, and that the wood of the +sides may be pinched out by the touch in some places. Lord Wellington +may now, however, act accordingly, knowing the worst. They will not +pass this way, it is said, but across by Galegos, a different road +from that taken by the heavy guns, the eighteen-pounders. I now think, +therefore, that the heavy guns will cross towards Lamego by the bridge, +and that the pontoons will be fixed, if at all, further north up the +river. We shall probably cross at Zamora, but cannot tell: it is said +the bridge is not destroyed there. + +On Monday Lord Wellington will review the light division in our +front under General Anson—the 43rd, 52nd, 95th, and the Caçadores +Portuguese,—a very fine body of men. To-morrow he is to fix his tent +in the Praga of Frenada, and will give a dinner to Marshal Beresford, +the 16th being the anniversary of the battle of Albuera. To this I am +asked, though not a military man, and certainly not present on that +fortunate occasion. The town is so full that some encamp; and Captain +M——, who is just arrived here, sleeps and dresses in the ante-room of +the Adjutant-general’s office, where the printing-press is all day at +work, and leaves him a fine perfume of printing-ink at night, besides +the full smell from the stables below, through the open floor, which he +enjoys almost as much as I do myself here in my quarters. The numbers +at head-quarters are so increased that I fear we shall find it very +difficult to get quarters when on the march. We have now Lord William +Russell and Lord John here, the former on Lord Wellington’s staff, the +latter, I believe, as an amateur. We have also Lord March’s brother +in the dragoons, and last, but not least, I can assure you, Captain +Fitzclarence, an immense young man: he is in the Adjutant-general’s +department. + +The first division from Vizeu are, it is said, to be at Braganza about +the 17th. Great part of the army will be there by the 22nd, and by the +same day the second division, under General Hill, from Coria, will be +within seven leagues of Salamanca; yet the 52nd, who to-day are at +Nava da Ver in order to attend the review of the light division at +Espeja, are to return to Guinaldo. + +I have just fallen in with a dozen of the Life Guards, with their brass +helmets, &c. I think before they have lived to October they will have +a very philosophical idea of a vacuum—one pound of bony, lean beef +will occupy but a little of their long stomachs. I suspect our good +allies, the Spaniards, will think that we have sent them a regiment of +Don Quixotes, and the horses from present appearances may in a little +time make no bad Rosinantes. Five or six of these tall, six feet high +men were mounted on mules going to Almedia, to get iron; I pitied them +to-day as they were bargaining for a bit of dear cheese and some dried +chestnuts in the market. They have some spirit, however, and will not +enter the staff mounted corps, a new thing, considering it to be a sort +of police, and declaring that they would rather be police at home as +before than here, if they are to be police at all. This corps of staff +horse is to be two hundred, and to be composed of volunteers from all +regiments. Officers do not hitherto take to it, but very good-looking +men have volunteered in general; none from the hussars, I hear. + +_Monday Evening, 17th._—The dinner yesterday went off famously, very +well managed in the tent, and very comfortable. Lord Wellington was +supported by Marshal Beresford and General Sir Lowry Cole on one +side, and by General Castanos and Sir T. Graham on the other; and +then all the staff of the three Generals, Wimpfen, O’Lalor, Alava, +&c., with the aides-de-camp; the Portuguese Quarter-Master-general, +and other staff, Lord Aylmer, Lord F. Somerset, Marquis of Worcester, +Lord March, and all the heads of departments. Almost all were with +stars, medals, Portuguese orders, or something distinguishing. If I +were in the American General Harrison’s army, perhaps I might get an +honourable mention, like his good friend Charles Walker, the Judge +Advocate-general, who was of such use in the corps of spies. Then +we had Mr. Joe Kelly, of the Life Guards a famous singer, whom I +recognised as having heard at Shrewsbury races, and he gave us some +good songs; and we “hip! hip! hipped!” &c., to the grandees. I was much +entertained at the etiquette observed between the Marshal and General +Castanos, who should go into the tent first: at last they went in side +by side, as other great men have before determined that knotty point. +Castanos seems very easy and good-humoured, and willing to give way, +and even to have a little fun, but he is very old. All the fashionables +were at the review this morning near Espeja, and a very fine sight it +was. Between five and six thousand of the _élite_ of ours, and of the +Portuguese troops; the line near three-quarters of a mile long, two +deep, and they marched in line near half a mile over rough and smooth, +and then changed their front three times, and at last passed in review +admirably. The German hussars, commanded by Colonel Arentsfchild, +were on the right, in excellent style, and beyond them a brigade +of artillery: the day was beautiful, and the scene upon the whole +very striking. Lord Wellington is indefatigable. He goes six leagues +to-morrow another way to Friexada, to review the English hussars, the +10th, &c. He looks, I think, a little fagged and anxious. + +_Guinaldo, May 18th._—On my arrival here at eleven o’clock to attend +the Court-martial, I found the President, General Vandeleur, had +stayed with Lord Wellington to go over to the review, and had sent +an order for the Court to assemble to-morrow, the 19th, instead of +to-day, of which he had forgotten to give me any notice. If we march +on Thursday I shall be at my wit’s end, and it is so provoking to lose +a whole day thus, just at such a moment. He is so hospitable, civil, +and good-humoured, that, though very much inconvenienced, I cannot be +angry. + +The fourth division march from Escuao to-day. The light will, I +suppose, move with us. The second division are now moving along the +Sierras de Francia, the mountains in sight of us here. This air must be +aguish; five of the officers and a great number of the men of the 52nd, +though such fine-looking fellows, are attacked by the ague when doing +no work, and in fine weather. At Frenada most of the sickness was among +the natives. + +Lord Wellington, at the review yesterday, was on one of his new +purchases from General L. C. Stewart. He gave four hundred guineas +for the two, and for this two hundred and fifty—a gentleman who has +gained some plates in England, and has a name. It is a very pretty +animal, but is as troublesome in regard to neighing as my black. +They were answering each other all the morning. Indeed this neighing +gives quite a character to a Spanish review—it is heard more than the +trumpets. I met in my way here about twenty Spanish grenadiers, who, I +understand, were part of a treasure escort. They were very fine men, +and were well clothed. Individually they greatly surpass the Portuguese +in appearance: tall, straight, well-limbed, and with good young +countenances. As to their discipline, or how they will stand, I cannot +say; but such men can only want good officers to do anything. In the +review yesterday, besides the two regiments of Caçadores Portuguese, +there was the 17th of the line Portuguese: they really marched and went +through the evolutions very nearly as well as our own men. The men, +however, are naturally mean, shabby men in general, like the pictures +of the Queen’s family at Frogmore, which you must remember. The +officers look much better than those of the Spaniards, and seem most of +them to know more of their duty. The Spanish men, as men, independent +of discipline, are wonderfully superior to the Portuguese; and yet we +have seen, from want of that knowledge of acting in a mass, and total +mistrust of their leaders, how inferior they have hitherto been. + +The Portuguese people, though they do not talk so well as the +Spaniards, or look so well, have shown much more practical spirit. +When the French passed through the Spanish towns or villages, the +alcalde went to meet them, the people remained quiet, submitted to +the exactions, and the French in general treated them tolerably well +in consequence, for they thus got food and forage. In the Portuguese +villages, on the contrary, when the French last entered Portugal, +almost every inhabitant sacrificed his house and property, and fled, +according to orders; and thus it was that the French were so plagued +and puzzled for food, and provoked to destroy the houses as they did. + +_May 19th, Six o’clock, evening, Head-Quarters, Frenada._—Just returned +from Guinaldo in time for the post. My Court met at twelve. We tried +the man by one o’clock. I wrote the proceedings fair, got them signed, +and here I am, very hungry, and find that every one has dined, for Lord +Wellington began to-day to dine at three o’clock, instead of eight. We +do not march to-morrow, perhaps not till Saturday. + +_Frenada, May 21st, 1813, Friday._—At last, to-morrow morning we all +break up for the march. I go, as a civil department, by the route +enclosed; I shall, therefore, see nothing of the greater part of +head-quarters for a fortnight. Dr. M’Gregor goes my way; but who else +I know not. Indeed Dr. M’Gregor wishes to go to Oporto, and perhaps I +may have the whole road nearly to myself. I am told that the road is +pleasant; at least it is new all beyond Almeida. The light division +is to march to-day. The second are not far from Tamames by this time. +Tamames is, I believe, the military head-quarters on the second day’s +march, the 23rd. The fourth division passed the Douro, I believe, +yesterday; the others have already done so, and in two or three days +the main body of the army will be at Braganza, Outeiro, and Miranda de +Duero; and the light and second divisions and head-quarters on this +side of the Douro. + +Some of Hamilton’s Portuguese in the second division are so ill +supplied, that Lord Wellington has, it is said, threatened the Marshal +to send them in the rear if they be not better clothed and fed. He says +he would rather be without two or three battalions, than have them +in such a state as these are. Indeed, he seems either not quite to +trust the Portuguese, or they cannot be supplied; for he leaves a full +battalion, I hear, at Abrantes, and one or two elsewhere, saying he has +Portuguese enough in proportion. He seems in good spirits, but looks +worn and anxious. The pontoons have crossed the Douro, so now I do not +know where they are to be laid down, unless to let the second and light +divisions and head-quarters pass over, whenever necessary, or to bring +over the others, if the French should collect. + +The French have hitherto always judged of the situation of the main +body of the army by that of head-quarters: they were thus twice taken +in last year. Before the siege of Badajoz, Lord Wellington had moved +away nearly the whole of the army before he stirred, and the whole of +the head-quarters were not protected against two thousand men. This +deceived the French then, and I hope will now, but they are on the +alert; at Salamanca constantly on the _qui vive_, and ready for a +run, &c. The Commissary here has already trusted a man with money to +go and collect forage, &c., at Salamanca, before the French are gone. +Everything is now alive. General Graham, I believe, commands at Miranda +de Duero, or at least will very soon. General Picton has the ague, and +is too ill to take the command of this division yet, but remains with +it. I thought him looking very well; but there is something in this +climate which does not suit the English at all, even when quiet and +living well. The natives have their annual ague fit, and seem to think +it a part of their existence: they are rather unhappy when it does not +come as usual. Lord Wellington’s cars with the heavy baggage are off. + +_Frenada, May 20th, 1813._—Route for the head-quarters of the army. + +The military department will move on the 22nd instant to Ciudad Rodrigo. + + _The Civil Department._ + + May 22nd. Almeida. Depôt of provisions. + ” 23rd. Pinhel. + ” 24th. Cotimos. + ” 25th. Villa Nova de Foscoa. + ” 26th. Torre de Moncorvo. Depôt of provisions. + ” 27th. Halt. + ” 28th. Tornas and Lagouça. + ” 29th. Villa Dalla. + ” 30th. Sendim. + ” 31st. Miranda de Duero. Depôt, &c. + + G. MURRAY, Q. M. G. + + _To the Commandant of + Head-Quarters._ + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + The March commenced—Scenes on the Road—Villa Dalla—Toro—Castro + Monte—Palencia—Prospects of a General Action—Skirmishing—Massa. + + + Head-quarters, Civil Department, + Torre de Moncorvo, May 27, 1813. + + MY DEAR M——, + +We here halt a-day; on the 22nd, about twelve, I arrived at +Almeida—that heap of ruins—and turned out, by the authority of the +Governor, two Portuguese officers, to get one miserable room as my +quarters. Colonel Le Mesurier, the late governor, was too ambitious +a man to remain inactive, shut up in Almeida during a campaign. He +therefore applied for a brigade in the Portuguese service, and, +though he could not obtain it, gave up his government to command a +regiment. I met him at the gate on his way to Miranda de Duero to +join his division. The new Portuguese governor was just moving, but +as he had not yet got into the present government-house he gave us +up all the great stable, which was very good, and he was in every +respect very civil and willing to do the most for us. In my way +here we had no particular adventures. By the aid of the Spaniard in +loading we have much less trouble, and I have always ridden on, and +got a quarter before the baggage arrived. My only companions were the +Paymaster-general, Hunter, and Mr. Whitter, and nine other clerks +with him, and the military chest, &c., and two or three commissariat +parties. The weather has been uniformly fine, and at times very hot. +We have daily been roused at five o’clock, and off at six, but have +nevertheless suffered from the heat, at times very much, before we +arrived at our station. + +On the 23rd we left Almeida and descended to the Coa and passed it by +a very picturesque bridge, rendered more so from one stone arch having +been blown up, and repaired with wood in a rough style. After a mile +of steep ascent, we reached a lofty, rough, level common, in a wild, +uncultivated country, like Dartmoor; with the Sierra d’Estrella on +one side, still partly tipped with snow, and the ridge of hills and +Castello Rodrigo on the other. We passed Valverde,—a complete ruin +now—a village without one roof remaining! I was sorry to hear that +we had begun the destruction of it, and that the Portuguese soldiers +afterwards left very little remaining for the French to do. The next +village, Periero, was pleasingly situated, and we then soon got down +by a river, and observed Pinhel with its old Moorish tower, fort, and +walls, and a bishop’s palace, and a convent adjoining, a league before +us, on the brow of a hill. At Pinhel we were all fixed by the _Juez de +Fores_ in the bishop’s palace, and had a choice of large empty rooms +in this now uninhabited but lately handsome house. It was all tight, +and Mr. Hunter having a table by means of baggage, and tubs for seats, +we fared very well. The stables are magnificent, good ones for thirty +horses, and inferior for sixty horses more. + +At Almeida there was no green forage to be had; we bought small +bundles of grass at about a shilling each in the grass-market for +our animals. At Pinhel we however got an order for green barley from +the Juge, twenty-eight pounds each animal for the day, and they all +fared so luxuriously that my black gentleman was the next day very +troublesome. In the bishop’s palace at Pinhel, the rooms formed a very +handsome suite round a square court in the centre; the hangings, &c., +all removed, but the ceilings ornamented; the rooms well shaped, with +a tolerable garden adjoining; but the house standing exactly like the +Castle Inn at Marlborough, by the road side, at the end of the town. +The water is very bad, a nuisance from which we are, it seems, to +suffer much throughout the summer in Spain. Last year our men were +at times obliged to hold their noses when they drank. At the convent +adjoining the palace, which has been much damaged but not destroyed, +one or two monks still remained, and I met one as I wandered over the +building. He was very civil. The palace is now appropriated as barracks +for officers or troops as they pass. The bishop lives at another, at +Santa Euphemie, a league beyond Pinhel. + +The castle is like all the Moorish castles I have seen here, with the +square smooth towers of well-cut hard stone, as sharp now almost as +when first built. In the castle lying about are four curious specimens +of old cannon, two ribbed, made of beaten iron bars and braced +together; one of them appeared to be hollow at both ends, and solid in +the middle. The other two a sort of mortar, something in the shape of +a very old-fashioned, clumsy earthenware jug, with a sort of handle to +raise and fix it for use. + +At the convent was a small aqueduct of stone pillars across the garden, +to conduct a little stream of water to the monks’ habitations; the +stream was so small in the pipe that you could scarcely see it run at +all, but it was good, and ran constantly all the year, which, as the +only good water was a mile off in the river, was very valuable. + +On the 24th, our party, consisting of the ten paymasters, three +commissaries, and myself, with about fifteen dragoons, and thirty or +forty horses, and about thirty or forty baggage animals, assembled at +five in the morning in the palace-court and marched onwards. + +In less than a league we passed a very pretty village, called, I +believe, Valbom, and in another short league came to Euphemia, another +village, with rather a large but imperfect house where the bishop +resides now; and I believe he was there sitting in his shady colonnade. +In a short time we descended again and crossed the Lamego; here we all +dismounted, and let the animals graze on the banks, whilst we got some +bread and cheese. Half a league further on we turned up out of our +road to Cotimos, our destination for the night. It was a bad village, +but with a few houses formerly good and still tight. Mr. Hunter, Mr. +Whitter, and I, were in a fidalgo’s house, and tolerably comfortable, +though there was only an old woman there, but we had chairs and tables. +We made a great cup with the country wine, brandy, lemons, &c., and +were very well off for a dinner by the purchase of a leveret, eggs and +bacon, and mutton broth. + +On the 25th left Cotimos; and about a league beyond we came to a +much better village, with two or three very good houses, of imposing +appearance. This was directly in our road, and would have been a better +division of the distance. After another league of excellent road we +passed Marialva, half a league on our left, a village, with another +Moorish castle. After another half league we came to the entrance of +a long winding descent of a mile and a half, which brought us into a +pretty vale, with another Moorish castle on the hill on our left; and +there we again ate and the animals grazed in the meadows near a little +stream. Thence we had a league and a half of excessively steep hill +to ascend until we got on the high level where stands Villa Nova de +Foscoa; this ascent at near one o’clock was tremendously hot work, and +very difficult for the baggage. + +We here began to get into the army train. About twenty hospital waggons +were encamped on the hill near the town, and two troops of the waggon +train; and near them were about eighty ox-cars with bales of cloth done +up in a sort of sacks to fill with straw for hospital beds, &c. We here +got good quarters and tolerable fare. + +On the 26th, leaving Villa Nova, we began immediately to descend a +winding road to the Douro; this was very fine, one of the best things I +had seen here. + +I was off as soon after sunrise as possible to pass the ferry before +the military chest. I got down to the bank and found about eighty cars +drawn up to pass with ammunition, boards, planks, and beams, for the +repair of bridges, &c. Two at a time crossed in one boat; and there +was another for mules, &c. I stopped some Portuguese; and having +waited an hour for the baggage, who had loitered on the road when I +left them, we at last got on board this platform as close as we could +stick.—Mr. Hunter, and six other gentlemen, about a dozen servants, +seven stallions, three mares, and six loaded baggage mules. After some +kicking and confusion, we landed safely, and after a league of ascent +arrived at Torre de Moncorvo. Both banks of the river were covered on +the sides of the road with parties of artillery or baggage grazing, +&c.; some bivouacking, and others in camp. The scene was interesting, +except that I regretted the obligation of cutting so much of the corn +for green forage just as it was becoming ripe. + +Here we found the same scene in all the environs; parties picketed and +bivouacking, and more artillery drivers; quarters very moderate; but +shops very decent; the town not destroyed, for the French have never +been here. + +The great number of troops which have been quartered here on the march +has cleared most of the shops, and injured many of the buildings; even +here we cannot buy anything except honey, sugar, bacon, bread, and +cheese. The convent of Franciscans above the town is nearly entire, and +has two tolerable pictures—the altarpiece, and one in the refectory, +by Romano, the monks said, and from the style it may be so. There are +some houses here with the furniture remaining; that of the Capitan +Mor (the head inhabitant, and a colonel of militia) has painted coved +ceilings, and apricot-coloured silk hangings, with old-fashioned wooden +chairs and sofas, with bottoms to match the hangings. The church also +is handsome. The town is surrounded by hills like Bath, and yet we +ascended to it three miles from the Douro. I saw also something like +a female to-day, a smart, pretty Lisbon miss going to church—quite a +curiosity; and so, I believe, the inhabitants think. My old patrona (or +landlady) here came to tell me to look out of the window, as “The Lady” +was going by. + +_Head-Quarters, Civil Department, Villa Dalla, May 29th, 1813._—On the +27th, the night before I marched from Torre de Moncorvo, we had some +heavy rain, which cooled the air, laid the dust, and made our journey +onwards much more agreeable. + +On the 28th, the road to Lagouça was very rough and hilly, and the +distance four long leagues. The country is fine; the distance very +like parts of Somersetshire and Devonshire in its general features, +but the valleys are less rich, and there are some large pine-woods on +the hills. About half way we passed Carvacies, a large village; and +at the end of four leagues, Tornas, a poor place, where we had the +option of stopping, but preferred Lagouça. A part of the staff corps +were encamped near the pine-wood, with several cars and materials for +bridges. They are, I understand, about to lay down a bridge somewhere +on the Douro, very near that part, as a safe retreat in case of +accidents. + +At Lagouça I got a tolerable quarter, and bed, at the padre’s. House +dirty only. I found books which he could not understand, and I believe +never looked at. There was the ‘Recopilacion of the Spanish Laws,’ a +book of authority in Spain. He asked me if it was mine—the authority +I acted from; had I known how to carry it I would have bargained with +him for it. There was also a Horace, Bourdaloue’s Sermons in Spanish, +and a few other sermons. He gave me some wine, and was very civil; and +honestly sent after me something that I left behind. + +Within a mile of Lagouça, but out of the main road, you look down on +the Douro, which runs down in a deep rocky chasm, very fine and wild, +with a very picturesque convent, which was once Mas Bonito, half way +down on the Spanish side of the river, and the Spanish town of Miesa +above. The French had long been at these places, and had much injured +the convent; but had never got over, as there is only one little bark; +and the brave Portuguese had a sort of battery. The scene was very fine. + +To-day (the 29th) I started again after breakfast (but before six +o’clock, being always called at four) for this place. The road was in +general good, though rather hilly and in parts boggy. We passed to +the left of Brosa; to the right of Majaduero, and near two or three +other villages. The country is finer, and still more approaching +Somersetshire. I have here, at Villa Dalla, got a decent quarter in a +great farm-house, where there are five or six beds about my room, which +has, however, only a door, no window or ceiling. In winter I should +have been starved; it is now well enough. I got a table and chairs, +and have bought one small fowl for a dollar, and two little chickens, +nearly as big as pigeons, all bone, for half a dollar. We get eggs, +and sometimes milk; and though this country has never seen the French, +the houses do not seem quite in a state of English repair. The whole +road is covered with marks of the encampments of troops, &c. The back +of the village Lagouça was just like a drawing of an Otaheite village, +and not much better, with bad thatch instead of tile, the general roof. +The villages, however, are numerous, and much more populous than in the +other parts of Portugal I have seen, and rather cleaner, being nearer +Spain. There was bread from Zamora in the market at Lagouça regularly +for sale. + +_Miranda de Duero, May 30th._—I came on here to-day a very long +journey, meaning to have two days’ rest, but found Lord Wellington’s +head-quarters had passed through here this morning; that his lordship +left Salamanca yesterday, and was to be six leagues off in advance, +near the Esla, to-day, the 30th. The French absolutely ran away, near +Salamanca, and a small party were taken. Spanish head-quarters here +to-day, and all in confusion. + +_Head-Quarters, Toro, June 3rd, 1813._—A day’s halt will enable me to +give you a few lines to let you know how we go on. The day I sent my +last from Miranda de Duero (May 30th), I learnt that head-quarters +were to be that day and the next at Carbajales, near the Esla, to +superintend one great object of the movement, the passage of the Esla, +a formidable river in a military point of view. Fearing to be left +behind, though without orders, I determined to march again the next +morning (31st), at four, six long leagues to Carbajales. I tried to +find the nearest road, the longest being round by Constantia, and, +though the best, I did not wish to go above a league out of my way. My +directions were to pass Yal d’Aguia, Aldea Nova, Fonfrio, and Vermilho. +I got right to near Fonfrio and then, through a wrong direction given +me by a little miss who sent me by mistake for Carvajosa, I found +myself two leagues out of my way at Pino, and had to cross straight +over the country for Vermilho. The consequence was that I arrived +late and tired at Carbajales, where head-quarters still remained, and +at last got a very bad quarter there, but a good stable, which General +Graham had just left. + +In the evening of the 30th I went down part of the way to see the ferry +over the Douro at Miranda. The scenery was very fine, and very like +that at Lagouça; the river very deep and narrow, running violently +through a chasm of rocks not unlike Chedder cliffs in Somersetshire; +and the little ferry-boat almost invisible from above the road down and +up above three miles, though the real distance across seems not above +a quarter of a mile. Lord Wellington and a part of the staff only came +over there. Heavy baggage, printing-press, &c., were left with the +light division near Salamanca. + +In my way to Carbajales, the road I kept near the Douro towards Aldea +Nova was very picturesque, but bad. For the rest of the way the road +became better, but the country was ugly, like Bagshot Heath, only +with several villages—and the mountains in Gallicia, still tipped +with snow, on our left, or nearly behind us. The morning of the day I +got to Carbajales (the 31st), the pontoon bridge was placed, and made +passable on the Esla, in less than three hours. The Hussars passed a +bad ford of above four feet water and bad bottom early in the day to +protect this operation, and two divisions of the army passed before +night and encamped. Lord Aylmer, who had forded in the morning to go +over and look about him, found the bridge ready, and the troops passing +as he returned. These were the pontoons which had travelled up from +Lisbon, and had been the cause of so much anxiety. About nine of them +were used, and the river about the width of the Thames at Windsor. This +being the state of things, the orders were to have all head-quarters’ +baggage down at the water-side by six, and to get them over before the +other troops should arrive and the guns. As I had got into a quarter +with Spaniards, and they were lazy, I had some trouble to get mine +off, but succeeded at last, and afterwards rode with Lord Aylmer. + +We soon fell into the train of head-quarters’ baggage, the whole of the +eighteen-pounders with their ammunition, &c., and one hundred and sixty +oxen and their spare horses; and also the whole of the fourth division +of the army—a train of three miles length in the whole. The scene +presented by the winding down the hill to the bridge, and the order +with which everything was managed, and the winding up the opposite +bank, was very interesting. We passed about eight o’clock, baggage and +all, and the guns and two more divisions of the army were safely over +before five o’clock in the evening, with baggage, &c. We then had about +three more leagues of a Bagshot Heath road, sand and pines, until we +suddenly came in sight of Zamora and the Douro. The latter is here +about as wide as the Thames at Kew Bridge, rather wider—more perhaps +as it is at Fulham. It winds along a large plain on the south side +under the ridge of higher ground to the north, on which, boldly and +well-placed, stands Zamora with its Moorish church. + +The town pleased me much. It is nearly the size of Salamanca, and +having been much less destroyed, is, at present quite as good a town: +the convents alone have suffered and been gutted. Some of the French +had not left the place until the very morning our troops entered; the +greater part, however, went off the night before. The castle was rather +strong, and would, if defended, have delayed us two or three days, +but the garrison would have been sacrificed. It was fitted up very +regularly in the inside by the French for troops, places appropriated +for everything, with the names inscribed. There was also a large +foundling hospital, and a general hospital for the poor. In the former +were only about ten or twelve babies, and about sixteen children, for +they had now scarcely any funds. Nearly opposite was the general +hospital, with much space and good wards, but not above six or eight +sick, partly from the same reasons, and partly because the French had +only left the people the use of one small ward, and the room of the +intendant, and occupied the rest with their sick and wounded. They had +also now in this last retreat carried off all the linen, &c., and only +left bedsteads and bedding. They had not, however, done any wanton +mischief in Zamora when they left it this time. + +The bridge is handsome, but in our retreat last year we blew up the +centre arch out of about a dozen; it had been repaired since with wood. +This the French had burnt, on the 30th, but by to-day it is repaired +and passable. The people received us very cordially, scattered roses +over our heads, cried _viva_, &c., and hung all their counterpanes and +the hangings of their rooms out of the windows. The lady at my quarters +embraced me, and was very kind, but—she was old. There was another like +a plump Englishwoman, to whom I passed on the compliment. + +The people entertained Lord Wellington and the staff with a concert, +lemonade, and ices, &c. The former did not admire the time lost in +singing psalms to him, as he said. I met him in the evening, in his +Spanish uniform, riding down to the bridge to give directions. In the +morning he was on one side of the pontoon bridge, and Marshal Beresford +on the other. I almost knocked myself up running about to see Zamora, +for we were to march again next morning. I could not attend a little +dance given by Lord Wellington in the evening, and except for the iced +lemonade should have been in a fever. A thunder-storm in the evening +cooled the air, and a good bed made me ready again to march for this +place (Toro), five long leagues, the next morning, June 2nd. The French +having left Toro on the 1st of June, it became an object to take +possession, and open a communication with the light division, and the +second from Salamanca. + +The road was admirable; a flat sandy level, by the river nearly all the +way, until we came to the ascent on which the town of Toro is placed, +standing still more boldly over the river than Zamora. The only village +we passed, and that a poor one, was Fresno; but we saw several on our +left, and across the river in the flat on our right. + +Toro is very old, surrounded by ruined mud walls, and though it covers +much ground has not many good houses, and is not to be compared to +Zamora; there is, however, a market, with a little mutton and beef, +and vegetables, pork, eggs, &c. The Moorish church here is much +smaller than at Zamora, though that is not very large; there are a few +tolerable pictures in both. The castle here is stronger than the one at +Zamora, and appears almost new: it stands on the hill above the bridge, +and is rather formidable. The two centre arches of this bridge had been +blown up by us, repaired by the French with wood, burnt again by them +now, and is now being repaired again by us. + +We passed, two miles from hence, the sixth division and the seventh, +taking up their encamping ground on a fine meadow by the river side, +near a small wood. It was a very lively scene, the men marching with +music, and as regular, without any disorder or loiterers, as if going +to a review; the whole in high order. Yesterday evening the light +division arrived from a place within three leagues of Salamanca, a +march of nearly eight leagues, and encamped in a meadow near the water +side, close to the bridge and ford opposite this town: they only left +six men behind in their march. This morning the horse, the baggage, and +the artillery, have all come over, passing by the ford; and though it +is both wide and deep, I believe without accident, except wet baggage. +The infantry crossed by ladders across the breach in the bridge—that +is, down one side, then up the other—one by one. They encamp at Morales +to-day. This was also a very interesting and animating scene from the +hill, which is a humble imitation of Richmond Hill in point of beauty. + +The Hussars have commenced famously; they brought into Zamora an +officer of the 16th (French), and about thirty prisoners, whom +they dashed at, and knocked over in fine style, with little loss. +The officer came in here prisoner on horseback, which offended the +Spaniards, who were disposed to insult the prisoners, whom they dared +not fight, and who had been with them now nearly four years or more. + +Yesterday the Hussars again came up with the 16th French cavalry and +some others; the latter had only a small bridge to pass which would +only carry four abreast. Two squadrons of the 10th formed and charged; +the French stood at first well, but were broken, and then formed again. +The 10th formed, charged again, and again broke the French; the latter +then still made another effort, but at last ran for the bridge. The +10th killed a few, and brought about a hundred and ninety prisoners in +here; no horses were taken. Twelve or fifteen men badly wounded were +left about two miles off, where it happened. Several of those who came +in here were much cut and wounded, covered with blood, wounds neither +washed nor dressed; but they were fine-looking men; their horses thin, +and smaller than ours. Another officer was taken, to whom I spoke. +He said he had advised that they should not remain on this side the +bridge, but his superior officer ordered otherwise, and afterwards ran +away when attacked. We lost a Captain, who was taken prisoner, and a +Lieutenant killed, both of the 10th; and about five or six men killed +and wounded. The Captain passed some way over the bridge, where the +French had artillery and infantry in force, and they came down and cut +him off. + +The French had yesterday, I hear, nearly ten thousand men about five +miles off, and nearly thirty-eight thousand or more in the vicinity of +Valladolid. This made us halt to-day. The second division are still +between this and Salamanca, but are expected. The whole are now within +eight leagues of this, I believe; most of the divisions very close. The +Spaniards are near Benevente: Don Julian’s cavalry, between this and +Salamanca, have sent in about thirty prisoners and two officers here +to-day, who were marauding, I suppose. The French told the people here +that they were only moving to make room for other troops. + +The Portuguese troops are generally in very high order, as well as +ours, quite as well clothed, and hitherto well in health, though they +bivouac when ours encamp, their Government not furnishing them with +tents. Yesterday was a pleasant cool day for a long march. I met Lord +Wellington again last night, walking about in his grey great coat +alone. We have a hundred pieces of field artillery with us, besides the +eighteen-pounders. + +A French commissariat party were caught in a wine-house on the 1st of +June; one was brought in prisoner, and nine were killed in the house, +as they would not surrender. + +Lord Wellington reviewed the sixth and seventh divisions near Morales +to-day. They did not perform well, and the poor aides-de-camp were +galloped all over the country in consequence: the Portuguese were +stupid. + +_Head-Quarters, Castro Monte, June 5th, 1813._—On the 3rd, we started +for La Mota, three long leagues of good road. I was late, for my +careless fellows had allowed one of the mule-saddles to be stolen in +the night, and we were a long time getting off in consequence, and +vainly endeavouring to replace the loss; but upon the whole, when I +hear of all the sore backs, lost animals, &c., around me, I am lucky. I +looked at the two hundred French cavalry horses which were sold, with a +view to purchase one, but they were all half-starved, and the service +having seized upon the best hundred and fifty for Government, the +remainder, which were sold by auction, were most miserable. + +The road from Toro was full of animation: it was one train of baggage +and soldiers the whole way, three leagues, as we are now in the midst +of the division. La Mota is a very good, large farming village, +in a productive corn country, and the quarters were very good in +consequence, the inhabitants being comfortable; the French, however, +who had left it the day before, had carried off all the bread and +fowls, &c. My landlord, Don Fernando Granado, was very gracious to +me. Lord Wellington was in a large and elegant palace of the Duke of +Berwick and Alva, and, in order to celebrate the King’s birthday, had +the band playing, &c. + +At five this morning we marched for this place, three long leagues +again only. It is a miserable hole; with only eighty houses of all +sorts, and we require a hundred billets. Several are doubled up, +several are encamped, which, as we have now a thunder-storm and rain, +is not very agreeable. I have an humble quarter, with mules and all +close. + +We had a hot but cheerful ride to-day, as we were in the midst of the +march. I first passed the Household Brigade; the Blues look very well, +the Life Guards fair enough; then the third division, then the fourth, +the seventh; I saw also the light division; five are within a league of +this. The second crossed the Douro yesterday, and are to-day about a +league on our right, under General Hill. I saw Picton with his, looking +tolerably well. The French left Madrid the 20th or 28th of May, +finally, and have by forced marches joined their army near here. The +French were off again yesterday from Valladolid and Tordesillas, and +were to be to-day at Duennas; it is thought they may stand at Palencia, +or near there; I suspect not, however, though we all wish they would, +and fight whilst our men are in health and spirits. I have just heard +that their right is at Placencia. + +To-morrow we move for Amputia, a good town, it is said, five leagues +off. On our road to-day, about half way, we passed one of the +finest convents in Spain—La Espina—in ruins; situation good, domain +considerable; a large building, handsome, as far as it remains, but +the walls only are standing. Adieu: I shall finish and send this off +to-morrow. + +_Amputia, 2 o’clock, 6th June._—I arrived here at ten, having left +Castro Monte at half-past five, and seen my baggage off, after +breakfast; of course I was up soon after three. The road was by a +bye-way over the common, but tolerably good, and covered with troops +and baggage the whole way, for the third, fourth, and light divisions +of infantry, with their baggage and artillery, head-quarters, the +Household Brigade, and the Hussars were all on our route, and passed in +their way; they are now in this neighbourhood. + +We passed Villa Alba de Alcor, three leagues further; an old ruined +village rather, with a castle and walls all around, but nothing +particular; after that Villa Real, a little village, and then here. +This is a large old-fashioned town, with the houses in the streets +projecting, and standing on wooden pillars, so as to form covered +footways, a tolerably large church, and a castle nearly perfect, +where our police corps and the cavalry are quartered. The people are +apparently more cordial and zealous. I have been over the church, spire +and all, and castle, and have taken two sketches, for the rain has +made it rather cool and pleasant to-day. The country round this town +onwards, towards Sahagun, Placencia, &c., is a dead flat, covered with +villages and towns, but no trees. Another large castle on a hill, half +a league off, and on the whole rather striking. + +The French left Palencia the day before yesterday, and are off again +in advance, with a good start. Report says they have also left Burgos +town, not the castle; they are seventy thousand strong, but think us, +we hear, too much for them, and are consequently retiring to strong +positions. By very long marches we might perhaps press them, and take +some prisoners, and part of the cattle and provisions they are carrying +off; but this might put our army out of the high order and condition it +is now in, and Lord Wellington does not seem to think this worth while +for such an object. So the Hussars and Household are both kept quiet +in this neighbourhood, and not sent in pursuit; indeed they could do +little without strong support. + +_Head-Quarters, Amusea, June 9th, 1813._—Another halt to-day enables me +to proceed with my journal. The night I sent my last from Amputia, our +orders were to have all the baggage ready to start, at the end of the +town, by five o’clock on the following morning; and that I should fall +in, and proceed on the road towards Palencia, in the rear of the column +of the third division, but at the head of the baggage of all the light, +third, and fourth divisions. This was because the French had shown +twelve squadrons of cavalry at Palencia; and Colonel Waters who went +on there that day, could not enter, so that it was not certain that it +should be safe to give out in orders, “head-quarters, Palencia.” The +cavalry had marched early; and as they entered one end of Palencia at +about six in the morning, the last of the French were off at the other. + +I passed the third and fourth divisions, went through Paradilla, and +entered Palencia with the light division. On getting my billet, I +wandered about to see all that was to be seen before my baggage came. +The city is old and curious, in size much about the same as Zamora. +Lord Wellington passed us on the road soon after six, and went on +through Palencia, some way, to reconnoitre. + +We passed through a good open corn country until about a league beyond +Paradilla, and then descended a long hill, with a deep clay soil, into +the green and rich valley in which Palencia stands. The city appears +to great advantage surrounded with meadows, and some trees, but mostly +young ones. The Carrion is a respectable river, and we passed the canal +near it, about half a mile from the city, where a very considerable +paper manufactory remains unfinished; and the French having taken down +windows, mill-wheels, &c., for firing and shelter in their huts for +their bivouacs there the day before, the work will, I take it, be for +some time interrupted. + +The bridges into Palencia were handsome and entire. The streets are +rather narrow, and the main one, the “Calle Mayor,” about a good +half-mile long, contains about three hundred houses, all old-fashioned, +and standing upon stone tall pillars over the footway, on each side, +with the shops under, like Covent Garden. The houses are in the old +style, like Exeter, or Chester, and Geneva; the streets badly paved, +with a most offensive gutter in the middle; the whole dirty. The +bishop’s palace is a large, plain, neat stone edifice, quite modern, of +1799, being built round a square, complete only on one side and a half +however, the rest being bare walls. + +The cathedral is Gothic and very handsome, the arches lofty and rich; +but the custom all over Spain of having the choir in the centre, with +very high double screens, deprives you altogether of the fine main +aisle, so magnificent in our churches. This spoils the effect, though +the screens and sides of the choir in the centre were most richly +wrought, with Gothic masonry, like some of our monuments of Henry +VIIth’s time. The side-aisles above are left open, and as there is a +range of chapels the whole way down each side, and at the end, filled +with gildings, saints, and pictures, the whole striking. There were +also a few good pictures. + +I afterwards went to the top of the spire, to survey the town, +villages, and roads around. On my return, I was sorry to find orders to +march again for this place, Amusea, next morning. + +The town was all hung with counterpanes on our arrival, which made it +look gay, and the people cheered us much. The general cry, however, is +everywhere, “_Viva Espana!_” though there is scarcely a Spaniard to be +seen in our line of march. Now and then, however, we hear, “_Vivan los +Ingleses!_” and “_Los Portugueses!_” or “_Las tres naciones aliadas!_” +The Portuguese are in the highest order, the men really look at least +equal to ours, better than some; the officers are well dressed and gay, +and have the advantage of language; the infantry and the Caçadores +in particular. The whole army marches very fresh hitherto, but the +Portuguese in particular: they come in even to the last mile singing +along the road. The cavalry are not nearly so good, and, I suppose, are +not much to be trusted. From what passed last year near this place, +when they turned short round and ran away, they are called the Vamuses, +for they ran off with a general cry of “Vamus!” Their infantry are +termed Valorosas, from their having hugged and cheered each other early +in the war, when they had for the first time behaved well and beat off +the French, each patting the other on the heart, and saying, “_Mucha +valorosa!—Mucha valorosa!_” + +I hope the latter will support their name; and indeed they are disposed +to do so, for we have put so much beef into both men and officers, +that they are quite different animals, and will not submit at all to +what they used to do, even from the English. + +Our horses finished the half-eaten meal of the French, and I believe +that has been all they have left behind for us hitherto; not a store of +any kind, sick man, or anything else, has been discovered at Valladolid +or anywhere; they must have been well-prepared for this plan. + +The young avenues of trees round the town suffered a little by the +French bivouac; and our men laid waste many a field of wheat in their +march and for forage. The former is particularly wrong, being quite +unnecessary, and merely to save perhaps a few hundred yards, or to get +before others a little. I was glad to see General Picton stop a party, +and about to punish them on the spot. The taking the wheat for forage +is also very bad, for the commissaries regularly buy a field at each +place, and allow us to take each our proportion, cutting the whole +fairly and properly; whereas the fellows who go and steal, cut patches +all about, and tread down more than they cut. + +King Joseph left Torquemados, three leagues on the right, the day +before yesterday, and it is said, peeped in again afterwards. The last +French troops left it yesterday at five in the morning, and I believe +General Hill’s head-quarters were there afterwards from Duennas. +Castanos and his Spaniards are on our left all the way; they came by +Benevente across the Esla and so towards Carrion. Their head-quarters +were yesterday, I believe, at Villoldo, on our left. The Life-Guards +and Blues looked well on their entrance into Palencia, and on their +march yesterday the former, however, seem dull and out of spirits, +and have some sore backs among their horses. The Blues seem much more +up to the thing, but they are neither of them very fit for general +service here. Lord Wellington saves them up for some grand coup, houses +them when he can, and takes care of them. To be sure, if many of the +French cavalry are like some specimens we have seen, particularly two +deserters yesterday, who were on ponies I could almost jump over, one +of our Householders must upset them like an elephant, if they come +fairly in contact. + +A French officer, a deserter (the third officer), came in two days +since, with a pretty woman, daughter of a General, with him; he calls +her his wife. Another starved scullion came here yesterday, and says he +is an officer, and has some papers, but I think he stole them. He is a +little dirty beast, in rags and without uniform. The cavalry who have +been taken and deserters are quite new-clothed, and the men very fine; +the last who has come in is a Fleming, and had they not persuaded him +to enter our corps of guides, I should have taken him as a groom, and +bought his pony. + +Tamarra, a village a league from this, was deserted by the inhabitants, +with their provisions; the French, in consequence, made an example +of it, and it is as bad as the Portuguese villages now, almost a +heap of ruins. Indeed, all the houses and villages on the high road +to Torquemada have suffered terribly, and the villages generally are +now becoming worse, more dirty, and _à la Portuguese_. I hear this is +now the case all round Burgos, and till we get across the Ebro, if we +are destined to do this. We are eleven leagues now from Burgos. The +weather has been cool and excellent for the march this last week, and +rain often in the night; it has now rained the last sixteen hours, +and I hope will be fine again for the march to-morrow. I dined with +Lord Wellington yesterday, for the first time on the march, and gave +him your Roman Catholic book, with the lists of their schools and +establishments in England. He looks well, but anxious, as you may +suppose just now, for a false step may be fatal. All prospers hitherto. +The eighteen-pounders are near, the twenty-fours still at Corunna, +and if wanted will, I suppose, go round by sea to St. Andero. For the +present, adieu. + +_June 11th, Head-Quarters, Castrogores._—The church at Amusea is +large and handsome: a room 150 feet by 50, and 70 feet high, without +a pillar, and the whole end one mass of gilding. Yesterday morning, +after the violent rains of our halting day, we started at five on a +fine day, the roads in a terrible state, for Mergan de Fernamental, +head-quarters, on the 10th, five long leagues. Our way was near the +noble canal, and through Pino (one league), a large village. From +thence another league through Fromista, a larger place; then another +league to Requena: then another to Lantidillo, where we crossed the +Pisuerga over a large bridge, left entire; and then after another long +league, Mergan de Fernamental. + +The country was flat, and rich in corn, meadows, &c., nearly all the +way, but low and boggy, and a hard march for men and baggage, &c.; +mine started at five, and did not arrive till about two. There were +villages thickly set all around us, and all with large churches. The +latter, compared with ours, are very much superior, considering the +size of the places: all possess a considerable church of rather curious +construction, and all somewhat different, though in general appearance +alike. The church at Mergan was particularly handsome, and more like +our Saxon at Gloucester and Tewkesbury. It had some decent pictures, so +indeed have several of the quarters, though perhaps not very valuable. +Many are to be bought very cheap, and I should have purchased some, had +I known how to carry them home. + +At Mergan we were in the right road for Reynosa and St. Andero, and the +first division were two leagues in advance the same way. I conjectured +we were going to open a communication with St. Andero, and to cross +the Ebro as soon as the French from Burgos, and thus turn them. There +seems now, however, to be a change of plan, as to-day we are come three +leagues here, nearly in the right road again for Burgos, which we had +before left on our right. Here we have fallen in with General Hill’s +division, who are now within half a league of this place. We are thus +all now quite close together, and report says that the French have +united their army of the north to the rest, and are now between this +and Burgos eighty thousand strong, about four leagues distant. + +They thus seem to make a stand here, and we are, probably, assembled +in case they should persist, but many think it is still only a plan to +make us assemble and draw up, to see what we have, and also to give +time for their baggage and plunder, oxen, &c., to withdraw without +loss: time will show. The sooner the battle comes for us the better, I +think: and so do most, but it will be more tremendous, probably, than +any hitherto fought in Spain. The numbers now approach those of the +great continental armies on both sides, and we are at least equal, if +you reckon all that are well dressed and ought to fight on our side; as +to the Spaniards, hitherto we must put a query to that. Don Julian’s +cavalry have sent in about forty or fifty infantry stragglers of the +French, and have killed a dozen or more,—about fifty or sixty in all; +several with bad pike or lance wounds. + +Mergan is a very dirty old town, but this town, Castrogores, though +larger, and the quarters better, is in that respect much worse; the +streets so offensive, that you must hold your nose in passing through +them, and everything about the place filthy. We passed the German +hussars in quarters half a league off on our way here, and crossed the +line of march of the light and fourth divisions, meeting General Hill’s +army on our arrival here. + +The scene is now very animated. This place is above a mile long, round +the bottom of an insulated hill, with a castle at the top of it, which +looks over a rich country for some way to a ridge of hills which bound +the whole, about a league off; trees, however (except just round a few +quintas or villas, and about the several ruins of the old monasteries), +are very scarce; corn most luxuriant, but not much forwarder than with +us in England. Weather, hitherto, scarcely at all too hot, and that +only for a few hours; at times very cold. Lord Wellington has gone +through again on in front. + +_Castrogores, June 12th._—As we halt here to-day, instead of marching +to Eglesia, as was intended, I determined to finish this, and seal +up to-day for Lisbon. Colonel A——, of the German hussars, told me +that he saw about two or three thousand French cavalry the day before +yesterday, but they filed off as we came in sight. Colonel Waters went +on yesterday to within a league of Burgos. He only saw about fifteen +thousand French in a valley near there, near Quinta della Duennas. They +were about to march, and the reports are that they are off again, and +the whole of the second division of General Hill’s army have advanced +hence this morning. They began at daylight, and about eight o’clock +the Spaniards began to file by, just below my house. This was General +Murillo’s corps: I went down to look at them. There were about ten +regiments, I think, but most of them small ones. The men looked very +well, though a great many were quite boys. They were singing, joking, +and in good spirits: the artillery with them in good order, the draft +mules quite fat. The clothing and equipments of some very good, though +unequal to ours, or to the Portuguese; others moderate only. They wore +a sort of flannel jacket and trousers not at all alike, and some were +ragged, here and there a man barefoot,—very few; all with good caps, in +the French style, and the officers more respectable than usual, and +generally mounted; some very fierce-looking pioneers, fine grenadiers, +and all with good English town muskets in good order, brighter than +our own, being, most probably, nearly new: in short, the whole was +respectable. If they will but fight as well as they look, it will do. +Doyle’s regiment was one of the best; but the very best, I think, was +the Regimento del Unione. + +General Alava, the Spanish great man at head-quarters, is in high +spirits, thinks all going on well, and is beginning to ask one or two +to dine with him at his mansion near Vittoria, where his estates lie. +He only begs that he may have a guard to preserve his green forage +from our soldiers. The Spaniards are astonished at our baggage. The +French carry very little, as they make the people at the quarters +furnish everything they want, which is not so much as we require. We +carry everything with us. An English captain, therefore, has (plunder +excepted) almost as much baggage as a French colonel. Barley is +already scarce, and not to be bought, though we pay in guineas. Bread +is also scarce, as well as beef. I hope soon to hear through St. +Andero, but the French have Castro and Santona. We still have reports +that the works at Burgos are being destroyed; it may be so, if the +French resolve to go to the Ebro, for the garrison will otherwise be +sacrificed. We have only six eighteen-pounders, about the same as last +year; the twenty-fours are at Corunna. This will not do for the siege +well, and I hope that will not be necessary. For the last thirty miles +and more the style of the houses has changed. They are generally now +mud or cob walls, like those in Devonshire, whitewashed, but not in the +best repair, or else they are unburnt brick, or dried mud bricks with +mud plaster. + +_Miserable Head-Quarters at Massa, June 14th, 1813._—The regular +English post-day was yesterday, but I had not time to write then, and +as it is ten to one but that this will be in time for the same packet, +though you will have, I hope, a long letter by the same mail, yet, +wishing to give you the latest news from hence, and to let you know the +events which have occurred, I write again. + +At four o’clock on the 12th, as I told you, Lord Wellington had not +returned from the front when my last letter was sent off. He came back +at seven o’clock; he and his horse and his comrades well tired. The +enemy were found about fifteen thousand strong, two leagues south-west +nearly of Burgos, with cavalry and artillery. We had up the hussars +(heavy), and General Fane’s brigades of cavalry. Manœuvring went on a +considerable time with skill. Our infantry could not get up in force +in time, or much would have been done. We had a gun, however, close to +a French column, and killed a few. We also took an officer and about +ninety men prisoners, some desperately wounded, and one gun. A charge +of cavalry was ordered, but the French moved off. + +There seems to be considerable confusion at times in the intermixture +of the French and English. The light divisions were at hand; the +second near with the Spaniards, but not up. The Prince of Orange +galloped about well, with orders; he knocked up his horse, and was in +some danger. Lord March met a French dragoon, took him till he came +close for an English soldier, turned short round, was struck at by +the Frenchman, and his horse slightly hit below the ear: in short, +something material was very nearly happening. + +The next day (the 13th) we had orders to march to Villa Diego, where +head-quarters were yesterday; a dirty place, but quarters tolerable. +The country between is rich and good, and covered with villages. We +passed, among others, Ormillos, Villa Sandine at a distance, and +Sasamon, in perfect ruin; the whole place, church and all, both of +considerable extent and size, having been burnt by Romana and his army +for some real or supposed treason. The destruction was certainly well +performed; the punishment severe, and very impartially inflicted. The +next place we came to, which had been a very neat village, was nearly +in the same state, from the same cause. Villa Diego was nearly six or +seven leagues from Burgos. Lord Wellington, &c., went round that way, +to see how matters went on. They could not find any French, and at last +ascertained that the works, castle, &c., of Burgos, had been all blown +up and destroyed by five o’clock yesterday morning. This news caused no +little joy to every one, and most particularly to those who expected +to have to knock their heads against the place. Many good lives have +thus been saved. This news met us about four o’clock yesterday, and in +consequence to-day we had a long march to this place, Massa, on our way +to the Ebro. + +We shall probably nearly all get across about the same time; I think +French and all. Some of the Spanish army of Gallicia pass to-day up +towards Reynosa. The first division do the same to-day or to-morrow. We +met one cavalry brigade on their road to cross at St. Martine to-day. +General Murray told me that we should probably cross to-morrow; but +I find we are here five leagues from a bridge or ford. The first two +leagues here to-day were through a productive country like Wiltshire; +round smooth chalk hills, well-watered meadows, and rich pasture +valleys, with abundance of grass: draining and better farming, with +cleanliness, were all requisite. We then entered a rough, wild country, +with rocks, &c. We nearly all lost our way, including General Murray, +the Quarter-Master-general, with whom I was riding, Lord Wellington +himself, and nearly all the baggage! We were near a place called +Brulla, ought to have passed Cuirculo, near Urbel de Castro, whereas +we got through a rugged pass in the rock, came down to a picturesque +village, called La Piedra (so called, probably, from the rocks around +it), and there we fell in with the fifth division. At last, after +passing another little space called Fresnoy, and leaving Urbel de +Castro, in a valley on our right, with a curious small castle on a +pointed hill close to it (from whence the name), we arrived at this +wretched place. The houses in this place would not in any way hold half +of us; so the Spaniards have been sent back to Fresnoy, the artillery, +commissaries, paymasters, and doctors to Vilalda, or some such place, a +league off. + +I was forgotten, but have, from there being one spare quarter, got a +wretched dirty hole here: it is the worst of dirty cottages. My baggage +is all in the entrance. I have no place but a dirty passage to put up +my bed in; I have a table and chair, but am surrounded by baskets, +hampers, tubs, boxes, sheepskins, dirt, &c. Cobwebs and dirt are +dropping upon me continually. Most have encamped. Lord Wellington and +Marshal Beresford are walking up and down the street, and the Military +Secretary is writing under a wall, upon his knees, whilst his servants +are pitching his tent. In a little field where General Alava is about +to encamp, there were just now the Military Secretary, Colonel Scovell, +the Commander of the Police Corps, Fitzclarence, General Alava, the +Spanish Aide-de-camp, Colonel Waters, the Prince of Orange, and your +humble servant, all lying upon the ground together, round a cold ham +and bread, some brandy, and a bottle of champagne. And no bad fare +either you will say. The Prince and Lord Fitzroy, like two boys, were +playing together all the time. + +The people in this part of the country are as bad, if not worse than +in Portugal. There is nothing but filth and laziness. They are not +good-looking either. They live in dirty mud houses, and fleas are so +abundant that I cannot sleep from their annoyance. I suppose we shall +cross near Puente Arences, or Rampalaise, to-morrow, or next day at the +latest. The French have left about ninety sick or wounded at Burgos, +and the bedding of the hospitals, about eight hundred beds. No cannon, +&c. We are already short of forage or corn for the horses; bread +scarce, as well as spirits, and the country we enter produces little or +nothing. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + March continued—Quintana—Anecdote of Wellington—Morillas—Vittoria—The + Battle—Its Results—Plunder—Kindness to the Enemy—Madame de Gazan—The + Hospital—Sufferings of the Wounded—Estimated Loss. + + + Head-quarters, Berberena, + June 18, 1813. + + MY DEAR M——, + +My last left me at Massa, on the other side of the Douro, in a +miserable quarter. On the following morning (the 15th) we marched +for Quintana, on the same side. For about four leagues we proceeded +through a rough hilly country, barren, but at times picturesque. We +passed troops all the way, and at last came to a tremendous long hill +which led us down to Quintana, near the banks of the Ebro. Troops were +descending the hill, infantry, cavalry, and artillery, from eight or +nine o’clock until past four; and at last the baggage, which was kept +waiting on the banks around the road-side, moved on; the scene was very +striking. The artillery was much shaken; some guns were lowered by +hand, with the wheels locked, without horses, and all very gently; four +wheels gave way, and the 18-pounders had to go round by St. Martine. + +The valley in which Quintana and six or seven other small villages +were placed, and through which the Ebro passed, was very rich and +beautiful, surrounded with rocky heights and covered with corn, +beans, fruit, vines, trees, &c., and the villages externally very +picturesque. Internally, however, they were most wretched, and my +quarter was misery itself. The people had not seen the French in the +valley for two years, until about ten days before we were there, when +they had been through to collect contributions, and to seize part of a +magazine formed there by Longa. The head-quarters’ house was, however, +good, and near it was a large but unfinished and unoccupied college, +for young persons of both sexes, founded about twenty years ago by +the owner of the head-quarters’ house, by the desire of his deceased +wife, for the education of children of the valley. The great man of +the valley, however, was the owner of the Adjutant-general’s quarter, +and only a Procureur there—a poor abode. I think he was called the +Marquis de Villa Alta. There was a small castle, and the whole scenery, +particularly along the banks of the river, was very delightful. I +longed for a tent, for I could not live in my house in the daytime from +the smoke, and could not sleep in the night from the fleas. The light +division and the fourth were encamped in the meadows across the river, +and added, by their fires and tents, much to the interest of the scene; +the cavalry and artillery passed through the valley. The river runs in +this part about as wide as the Severn above Shrewsbury—less than the +Thames at Maidenhead. + +The next day (the 16th) we crossed the river, and proceeded with the +troops between the lofty rocky banks of the river, above the valley, +on a road cut close to the water, and winding alongside the river for +about a league and more, most beautifully! in some respects like the +Wye, the cliffs almost like Cheddar, and wooded to the water’s edge. +The constant line of cavalry and infantry, whenever the eye caught the +winding road, was very picturesque. In two places were the remains of +walls across the road made by Longa or the French—I do not know which. + +The road afterwards turned from the river, and through a fine country +brought us to Medina de Pomar, leaving Villa Cayo on our left. Medina +de Pomar, our next head-quarters, was a straggling dirty town, and the +accommodation very moderate indeed. I got a tolerable clean room for +myself at the apothecary’s, but my stable was down a cellar with dark +stairs, and I could scarcely get my animals in or out. The alcalde was +not civil, nor did the people appear glad to see us. The town was very +full, for the Spanish Generals Mendizabel and Longa (the _ci-devant_ +Guerilla chief) were quartered there on our arrival, and did not seem +disposed to move for us. + +I saw Longa in the street; rather a stout man, well dressed in a +sort of hussar uniform, and looking civilized enough. I was in hopes +of meeting him at Lord Wellington’s, where I dined that day, but he +did not stay. The party of cavalry attending him were all uniformly +dressed, and seemed to me to be more regular than most of the Spanish +regulars. They wore scarlet jackets, and appeared not unlike some +of our volunteer yeomanry cavalry, but they had quite an air of +consequence which was amazing. Longa has left thirty of them and two +officers at head-quarters, as part of the corps of guides, to assist in +keeping up the communications of the army, in which way I have no doubt +they will be very useful. + +Lord Wellington was at Medina in a large nunnery where there were +twenty-five ladies, who came and played at bo-peep with us in the +chapel, which was a handsome building. The altar was very rich, and +in the centre was a piece of clock-work of small moveable figures +describing the crucifixion. + +On that day General Jeron arrived, the General of the Gallician Spanish +army acting with us, and he dined there. Castanos, the former General, +is now a sort of General of two armies, and amuses himself by parading +through all the towns and places in the rear of the army, Burgos last: +I suppose he is employed somehow in this way. Jeron is a man about +thirty-six, I should think, and looks very much like a gentleman and a +man of talent; he is very well spoken of, and considered as one of the +best of the Spanish leaders. Through Corunna we have news to the 6th of +June. Talking during dinner of the late accounts from Bonaparte, and of +the sentimental story about Duroc, which Lord Wellington was laughing +at, General Jeron said, “If there was such a place as hell, he thought +Bonaparte quite right, and that he and Duroc would most certainly meet +again there.” + +Yesterday, the 17th, we started again (having had no halts) for +Quincoces, five long leagues almost, towards Vittoria, but to the left: +there our head-quarters were yesterday, in that and the neighbouring +villages. The troops I think were pushed on in this way, from an +account received from Longa and others, that the French rear was still +at Pencorbo, and part even at Briviesca, on the other side of the +Ebro. Longa gave great hopes of doing something. We have, however, our +difficulties from this. We get no corn for the horses, and bread is +very scarce; stores gone for the present, for we outrun our supplies, +and there is very little to be bought. We have bought some and baked +it, to supply us as we go, but some divisions have been for one or +two days entirely without, and others on short allowance. We hope now +soon to get into a better country, towards Vittoria, but Longa and the +French have cleared everything about this country. + +Longa, when we came to Quincoces, was ordered on to Orduna, having +had all he could from this place. On taking leave he collected all +their oxen for the plough, ninety in number, all they had left, and +drove them off. The people received us with tears and lamentations, +and with no small fear, not knowing what we should require next. My +patron seemed quite stupified and melancholy. We told this to General +Alava, and he galloped off with two dragoons after Longa’s people and +the oxen, overtook them, and compelled them to restore them to the +owners, to their no small satisfaction. At last we found eight hundred +pounds of bread, that is, flour; half a day’s rations for head-quarters +only. We bought it, paid for it with guineas, and baked it—_voilà la +différence!_ But this cannot last or be general; the divisions cannot +do this. + +We last night heard that the French were over the river Ebro, and as +near Vittoria as we were. However, we advanced in hopes of something +arising, and head-quarters were ordered to be at this place, Berberena, +and the neighbouring villages. It was intended that Marshal Beresford +should have been at a village half a league in front of this place, but +when we arrived near here, about nine o’clock, we found two divisions +of the 1st and 5th halted here until further orders. We heard a +cannonading in the front, at this village, and found that the French +were making some stand in a narrow pass near it, and in the village. +Beresford was put into a village to the rear of us, and an order soon +came out for all baggage to proceed to that village for security. Mine +was unloaded; but as I saw the French just before us, only about a mile +off or little more, I made my people all load again and stand ready +to be off, whilst I went with my glass to the end of the village, to +a rising ground, to witness the skirmishing, and to be ready to act +accordingly. + +A brisk cannonade was going on, a few shells were thrown, and a light +infantry attack. The French I saw very plainly in the churchyard and +village on the hill beyond. They advanced under a ridge in the ground +and some bushes, where they stood above an hour and more, when I saw +our men and the Portuguese advance gradually and drive them back. The +cannon advanced also, and the French by degrees went out of sight +round the hill, our guns and soldiers after them. Very few I believe +were killed on either side; but our light division I find went round +by Espeja, and, falling in with another division early in the day, +routed them so completely, that two battalions dispersed, and the +light division got a quantity of mules and baggage, with a good deal +of money; some privates got two or three hundred pounds. About three +hundred prisoners were taken, and some of the runaways are still coming +in. One French battalion fled towards Frias, and some Spaniards are +sent off after them. + +_Morillas, Head-Quarters, June 20th._—Our orders yesterday morning (the +19th) were to set out at eight o’clock through Osma, where a little +affair took place the day before, and so on to Escorta, following the +fourth division. We did this, and I was riding with the doctors just +before that division on towards Escorta, when we were told that the +French were only two miles in advance, and that there was nothing +between us. Upon this we turned out of the road into a field of vetches +for the horses, and let the fourth division go by, and have the honour +of preceding us, as we did not quite think the French would run away +at the sight of us civilians. When this division came well up we went +on, passed through Escorta to another village half a league beyond, +and then, by the advice of an officer, who told us they were going to +attack the French, who were strong at this place, Morillas, and that +the passage of the river was to be forced, we ascended a high hill on +our right, which commanded the whole scene of action, and there with +our glasses we could distinctly see everything. + +As soon as the light division had got almost round the hill on our +right, from the direction nearly of the Frias road, in order to be +ready to advance and turn the French position, the fourth division +advanced to the village here, and the skirmishing began from the +houses and a chapel on the river. In about half an hour our men +entered the village, and we got about three field-pieces into play +close to it. We then saw the French, who were in considerable force on +the other side, and formed into a crescent on a hill near, begin to +move off, at first gently, but soon in quick time, and a part of our +division was very soon formed beyond the village over the river. The +skirmishing thus went on all the way up the road and hill beyond to +another village half a league further on the hill, where the French +were drawn up in greater force. When our men got up, however, the enemy +went off pretty quickly, and were last night in great force, some say +fifty thousand, in a plain about a league and a half from this, and +about half way to Vittoria. + +The pass here was very defensible, and not easily turned; but the +resistance was very slight, and few fell on either side. I suppose +the French were afraid of bringing on a general action by further +resistance. They had not any artillery with them near here, I conclude, +from the fear of losing their guns, as just through and near the +village the road is so bad and narrow, that our baggage, without any +resistance, did not pass through to the two divisions beyond until dark +at eight o’clock, our head-quarter baggage having all followed on here. + +Lord Wellington walked into a house and made it head-quarters. I have +a sort of barn here. We have had wet and cold weather for these three +days; I can scarcely keep myself warm to write, though with my cap on +and double waistcoats. This is considered extraordinary here for the +20th of June, though the climate is always much colder and more subject +to wet than in the more southern parts of Spain. + +There is a large plain near Vittoria, and then all beyond is hilly +to France. An officer of the 95th was killed on the 18th, and about +seventy men wounded, I hear. Yesterday an officer of the Fusileers was +wounded badly in this village, and lies in a house here: in another +house a very spirited Portuguese (Caçadores) serjeant is also lying +wounded. + +_3 o’clock._—The French remain in the valley, but it is thought will be +off to-night. + +_Vittoria, June 23rd, 1813._—My last was of the 20th from Morillas, and +on the 21st I arrived here after a scene never to be forgotten. Our +baggage was that morning ordered to remain ready to load until further +orders. The French were very strongly posted at about a league and a +half distance, directly across the road to Vittoria, about sixty or +seventy thousand strong, and extending about a league; their centre +supported by a wood and a small river, their left by strong wooded +hills, and their right on another hill not so strong. The attack was +ordered in the manner you have seen before this in the “_Gazette_.” +General Graham was to turn the French right flank; General Hill their +left. I mounted my horse about nine to see the result, leaving Henry +and everything behind, with directions to do exactly the same as Lord +Wellington’s servants. I got, with Dr. M’Gregor and a few others, on +a hill about a mile from the French, which commanded nearly the whole +scene. At about half-past ten the firing began very briskly on the +hills on the French left. The different ridges were well contested; but +our people constantly, though gradually, gained ground, and advanced +along the top ridge to turn the French. The cavalry were nearly all +close under us to be ready, some in the rear, and one division of +infantry also. General Pakenham’s division was not up at all—it was +four leagues in the rear. + +By the ground gained on the French left, and soon after from General +Picton having got up quite on the ridge of the hills there with his +division, a steep and difficult ascent, the centre were enabled to +advance a little also, and much skirmishing began there near a little +village before us, which was for some time contested. At length, some +guns being brought to bear there, and one also half way up the hill, +the village was passed by our people, and we saw them lying sheltered +under a hill beyond, nearly opposite the wood at the French centre. A +smart contest then ensued. The cannon and a few men from the hill and +village fired into the wood, and a constant firing was kept up from the +wood on our men; the main contest being still, however, on the hills on +the French left. By this time, about one, we on our hill all advanced +to another nearer, to observe more distinctly with our glasses. Soon +after this, General Graham’s attack began on the French right, and +a very brisk cannonade was then kept up right and left. The French +line on the hill on the right and left (for we saw the whole of their +line) began to give way a little, and to put itself in motion, and +the plot then thickened. Still we gained ground, and some of our men +also got close to the wood, and, lying down, kept up a smart fire. The +cannonading lasted two or three hours, the English constantly gaining +ground. Our party moved a second time to a third hill within the +original French picquets, and in front of our cavalry. At last we saw +our line forming gradually under shelter of the rising ground, within +half a mile of the French line and guns. They then advanced, and the +cavalry began to move up—some say rather late, as Lord Wellington was +not there to give the orders. + +We then left our hill and advanced with the Household Brigade +constantly as they moved. We now began to see the effects of the guns. +Dead and wounded men and horses, some in the most horrible condition, +were scattered all along the way we passed. These were principally +cannon-shot wounds, and were on that account the more horrible. It was +almost incredible that some could live in the state we saw them. From +my black feather I was taken by some for a doctor, and appealed to in +the most piteous voice and affecting manner, so that I immediately took +out my feather, not to be supposed so unfeeling as to pass on without +taking any notice of these poor creatures. Our hospital spring-waggons +were following, and men with frames to lift up and carry off those +near the roads. Some in the fields about crawled by degrees into the +villages; but hundreds have lain without food or having their wounds +dressed until now, two days afterwards. Parties are sent all over the +contested ground to find them, though the peasants are continually +bringing in the wounded. + +On the hill in the centre of the French position, at a village where +we first came in full sight of Vittoria, and about two miles distance, +the contest was very sharp, and the three first guns were taken, with +several tumbrils, and there the first charge of cavalry took place. +The sufferers there were principally Portuguese of the 11th and 21st +regiments, and we had all along seen more of our people wounded than +the French. We now found swords, muskets, knapsacks, &c., in all +directions. The stragglers and followers were stripping and plundering, +and a scramble ensued for the corn, &c., which was in the tumbrils with +the ammunition. The Hussars in their charges suffered much. The Life +Guards I kept close to all the way to Vittoria, and to that time they +were not engaged. + +We could hear the whistle of the cannon-shot, and saw the ground +torn up where they struck. Tumbrils and guns were now found upset or +deserted at every half-mile; and when we got near Vittoria the road was +absolutely choked up with them, so that our artillery was some time +stopped. Some of the Life Guards were placed at the gates and in the +streets here, to keep soldiers, &c., out, and to preserve order as far +as possible; and we rode into Vittoria amidst the cries, hurras, and +_vivas_ of the mob, which consisted chiefly of women. We looked into +the stores and found little left, and then passed through the town, +at the further side of which we stopped at a very curious scene. The +French so little expected the result, that all their carriages were +caught, and stopped at this place—three of King Joseph’s, those of the +Generals, &c.; the Paymaster and his chest, the _Casa real_, hundreds +of tumbrils, the wives of the Generals, all flying in confusion; +several carriages upset, the horses and mules removed from them, the +women still in their carriages, and the Spaniards (a few soldiers, but +principally the common people) beginning to break open and plunder +everything, assisted by a few of our soldiers. Upon the whole, our +people got but little of the plunder, except by seizing and selling a +few mules. The seats of the carriages were broken with great stones +and ransacked, and gold, silver, and plate were found in several in +abundance. I took a case of maps, part of Lopez’ provincial set, and a +horse-cloth, which I bought of a Portuguese soldier as a memorial, but +would not meddle with the rest. Maps, books, &c., were thrown aside; +brandy, &c., drank. + +In the midst of this, a lady in great distress, well dressed and +elegant, with her carriage in the ditch, and she herself standing +by, appealed to me, and, asking me if I could speak French, said she +was the Countess de Gazan, wife of the French General, and that she +wished to get back to the town, and, if possible, save her horses, +mules, and carriage, and those of King Joseph, which were by. With the +assistance of two hussars, after above an hour, I at last accomplished +this in a great measure; that is, I got the lady, her woman, the +carriage, and four out of six of the animals, to the house of a friend +whom she pointed out to me, and also a few loose things out of the +carriage. The other two animals and the three trunks of clothes had +been plundered before I arrived. I also put King Joseph’s carriage and +horses in their way to the square of the town; I then went and tried to +find out amongst the prisoners a little boy of two years old, a son of +the General, whom some French gens-d’armes had taken from the carriage +to carry off, and who had not since been seen, and whom the mother +thought was taken prisoner. I could not find him anywhere; but I met +Lord Wellington returning to the Palace at ten at night to his quarters +there; and as Madame de Gazan was most anxious that he should know she +was taken, I told him, and also about her boy. He desired me to say +that he could not then see her, but that she might rely on his doing +what he could to find the child, and that she should be immediately at +liberty to join her husband. This I went and told her. I also found an +English aide-de-camp of General Hill, who had been released only the +day before, having been prisoner, and to whom she had been very kind +when he was with the French, and who had, on taking leave, promised, if +the fate of war should make a change in their relative situations, to +return her attentions. + +My return and message made her more easy: I fear, from what I have +since heard, that her boy was killed between two carriages; but still +hope he may have escaped. The confusion lasted all night, and indeed, +has continued until now. The event was also so little expected on our +part, that for a long time there were no guards for the prisoners, and +many escaped in consequence, and several are still wandering about the +country. + +The next day (22nd) the head-quarters followed the French to +Salvatierra; but I was advised by Colonel Campbell and others to stay +quietly here, and proceed afterwards. I did so, but already repent, +for no place is so certain of news, and so secure, as head-quarters, +though the accommodation is often most wretched. I have been over the +hospital, and the scene which I there witnessed was most terrible; +seventeen or eighteen hundred men, without legs or arms, &c., or +with dreadful wounds, and having had nothing to eat for two or three +days, the misery extreme, and not nearly hands sufficient to dress or +take care of the men—English, Portuguese, Spaniards, and French all +together, though the Spaniards and Portuguese had at first no provision +at all for their people. Half the wounded have been scattered round the +villages in the neighbourhood; and there are still many to come in, +who arrive hourly, and are lying in all the passages and spare places +around the hospital. A Commissary is just established. + +Six hospital waggons are just now setting out for another load of these +poor wounded fellows! + +I do not know what now to do as to proceeding to join head-quarters; +for, to our great surprise, last night Lord March was sent over here +to tell the Commandant, who was just appointed, that it was discovered +that from ten to twelve thousand French, supposed to come from Bilboa, +were in our rear, and might be in here soon; that a division of men +(I believe General Pakenham’s) was left for our protection, but that +every man here capable of bearing arms must be kept in readiness, and +every one must be ready to leave this place at an hour’s notice. I +now, therefore, do not know what to do exactly, and wish myself at +head-quarters. The pay-chest, with about a hundred or a hundred and +twenty thousand dollars of French prize money in addition, is still +here, and several of the doctors. + +In the blue coach was a box of gold in different shapes, which a +servant of King Joseph stayed behind to give up to Lord Wellington, +and which report says he has given to his own personal staff. But +everything was in confusion; even the ammunition waggons were left +unguarded, and were broken open to be ransacked, and we have had +accidental or intentional explosions almost every hour since. One +tumbril with twenty shells was set fire to by the foolish Spaniards +yesterday, and several persons were hurt in consequence. Every one +is taking and wasting the musket cartridges, notwithstanding Lord +Wellington is really in want of some. All, however, are now busy in +trying to remedy this confusion. + +I hear that nearly one hundred and forty pieces of artillery have +been now taken in different states and places between Morillas and +Salvatierra. The French, however, have comparatively lost fewer men +than we did; the Portuguese more than their proportion; the Spaniards, +several. Some corps behaved well, though General Picton said some liked +best to fire away and make a noise at a distance. + +I fear that few prisoners are taken—as far as I can learn about a +thousand; and I suppose they had a thousand killed and wounded, having +done us much mischief with their tremendous artillery firing. Their +line would not stand at all when Graham advanced to turn them, but they +were off so quick that our men opposed to them could not get up to +them. Had they waited for a fair attack, the prisoners would probably +have been numerous. As it is, the French still have numbers, and, +though the equipments of the army are gone, they may, if they can fall +back on supplies, be again formidable. Report also says that Suchet is +moving fast to join them. Last night, when our head-quarters were at +Salvatierra, the rear of the French was three leagues in advance; they +are off so quick, the weather is so bad and wet, that I fear we shall +have many sick in the pursuit. The result of the whole is, however, +the most glorious possible, whatever may be the consequence; never was +there for the time an army of sixty or seventy thousand men, as we say, +more completely routed and put to flight. Several French Generals are +killed, wounded, or prisoners; in officers of rank the French have +suffered much. + +It is so very difficult to be at all certain as to our own loss, +unless one is in the secret, that I shall say nothing but that General +Colville, who had a slight knock in the arm, is the only officer +wounded of whom I have heard. The 18th Hussars suffered much. I must +now see the Commandant, and settle whether to move or not. The reports +when not at head-quarters puzzle one very much. A dragoon (Spanish) +rode into the town yesterday, and came up to me in the square to ask +for the mayor of the town, to tell him that six thousand French were +only two leagues off. I took him to General Pakenham, whose division +had just arrived. He carried the man off to see what he knew, and said, +if true, he would have a dash at them. I suppose this was in part true, +from what passed afterwards about the French in our rear; the division +of men is still, however, close to us. + +Suchet was endeavouring to join the other French army, and was, as the +prisoners say, in the neighbourhood of Logrono for that purpose, so +that he will soon be with the others. Tarragona we hear is taken, and +I conclude Murray is after Suchet. I have had much conversation with +the Commissary-general of the army of Portugal, a talkative perfect +Frenchman. He has lost everything, and has neither money nor a change +of linen, but he seems tolerably happy. He says he had orders to pay +out of the Treasury when the fire had commenced, which was madness, +and he described the confusion of the fight most eloquently and most +truly I am sure. Joseph had sent off a caravan of valuable pictures +only the day before, and various kinds of baggage, and a heavy train of +artillery. Some of this will, I think, be caught in the confusion, but +the pictures probably destroyed. + +Head-quarters are to-day at Echarva Aramaz, and I mean to get as +near that place to-morrow as I can, or even there, if I can get my +baggage over the nine leagues in the bad state of the roads, for it +has rained constantly these ten hours. Lord Wellington has not given +the box of treasure to his private staff. It has not yet been opened, +but is here. Colonel Campbell, who is just come into the town on +business, says that the French have committed great ravages on their +route from this place, destroying property, committing every excess. +A girl at Lord Wellington’s quarters at Salvatierra accuses even King +Joseph of an attempt at violence; but I do not believe it. Some very +strange things were found in the baggage. I was sorry to find that, +except stragglers and more baggage, we have got little more by our +pursuit. There are tumbrils I am told to the amount of five hundred, +and carriages and carts as many. King Joseph had neither a knife and +fork nor a clean shirt with him last night. The loss to the French must +be very considerable, though our gain is not nearly so great, from the +destruction of many, and the quantity of things taken, to us of little +use. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + Pamplona—Pursuit of Clausel—Wellington on the March—Prospects of more + Fighting—Effects of the War—The French Position turned—Anecdote of + Wellington—Ernani—St. Sebastian—Wellington’s Movements. + + + Head-quarters, half a league from + Pamplona. + + MY DEAR M——, + +I have repented staying two days at Vittoria. The consequence has been +that I fell in with all the fagged division of the army, and found +every hole full of troops, and nothing to eat or drink. The roads +were poached up knee-deep with clay, and I have almost knocked up +both myself and my animals. Yesterday I had no dinner, and to-day no +breakfast, and the first day I was twelve hours on the road going six +leagues to a place two leagues beyond Salvatierra; from thence I got in +thirteen hours more to Orunzun, eight leagues. There my baggage did not +arrive in time, and I went to bed without dinner and without anything +except the comforts of a Spanish cottage. + +I set out this morning for head-quarters. Now we start fair again; +to-morrow we march. Pamplona is invested, but I fear that we have +little means for a very regular siege; and accounts state that Clausel +is, with fifteen thousand men, on his road from Logrono, endeavouring +to escape towards Suchet. It is hoped that we may intercept him, or at +least his guns; and so we march, though the army is terribly fagged, +and the animals also. General Graham is at Tolosa; Mina at Tudela to +assist against Clausel. From Vittoria to this place we have constantly +passed at first stripped and unburied dead, then baggage and animals +without number, but the French have got off to France, and march away +like monkeys, scrambling over everything, consequently there are few +prisoners. Lord Wellington is in the highest spirits. King Joseph was +within two hundred yards of our dragoons, and had a narrow escape. A +few more cannon have been taken. + +It is one continued pass, or valley, all the way from Vittoria to this +place; the road infamous, villages every mile, but much damaged by the +French, and the people, from affluence, reduced to misery and distress. +Oh war! war! little do you know of it in England. At Orunzun the French +had spent much in a blockhouse and fort; they withdrew the garrison for +the battle, and the peasants destroyed it immediately. + +_One league from Sanguessa, Head-Quarters, Casseda, June 29th, +1813._—Thus far we have arrived in pursuit of Clausel and his division, +who were at Logrono, on their way to join King Joseph. Had the battle +been delayed two days longer, we should have had these fifteen thousand +men, in addition, to contend with; for by that time they would have +joined the king’s army. As it was, they were in some degree cut off +and separated from their friends, and might have been in some danger; +for had it not been for the information of some treacherous alcalde (I +believe), these men would have proceeded towards Pamplona, and would +then have fallen completely into our net. As it is, hearing of our +approach, and having the start, there is no chance of doing anything +with them, I think; they have full opportunity of joining Suchet, and +nothing material in their way, though Mina may harass them much. Our +army, by this pursuit, already is terribly harassed and out of sorts. + +In marching, our men have no chance at all with the French. The latter +beat them hollow; principally, I believe, owing to their being a more +intelligent set of beings, seeing consequences more, and feeling them. +This makes them sober and orderly whenever it becomes material, and +on a pinch their exertions and individual activity are astonishing. +Our men get sulky and desperate, drink excessively, and become daily +more weak and unable to proceed, principally from their own conduct. +They eat voraciously when opportunity offers, after having had short +fare. This brings on fluxes, &c. In every respect, except courage, +they are very inferior soldiers to the French and Germans. When the +two divisions, the fourth and light, passed through Taffalla the day +before yesterday, the more soldierlike appearance and conduct of the +foreigners, though in person naturally inferior, was very mortifying. +Lord Wellington feels it much, and is much hurt.[4] + +The 23rd and 11th Portuguese regiments, who behaved in the field on +the 23rd as well as any British did or could do, are on the march, +though smaller animals, most superior. They were cheerful, orderly, and +steady. The English troops were fagged, half tipsy, weak, disorderly, +and unsoldierlike; and yet the Portuguese suffer greater real +hardships, for they have no tents, and only bivouac, and have a worse +commissariat. + +I think we shall to-morrow retrace our steps to Pamplona, and give +over this pursuit. Lord Wellington, I think, sees it will not do. +We had a very long march the day before yesterday to Taffalla. The +road was, however, very good on the Canuria Real from Pamplona to +Tudela. Thinking that the French were making to Tudela, we proceeded +that way by this forced march. The country was very fine. About two +leagues from Pamplona was a handsome, plain, elegant aqueduct, of one +hundred arches, light and simple. We passed several villages, and, +near Taffalla, a quantity of well-managed orchards and garden-ground; +the consequence was, fruit and vegetables cheap and good, plenty of +cherries about 1_d._ a-pound, pears and plums, &c.; onions, beans, +peas, lettuce, pork, cheap; in short, a most plentiful Spanish market. + +Taffalla is a good town, and the people civil and hospitable. They +had never seen us before, and gave us a welcome. I should have liked +another day there, for both my men and animals were knocked up, and +wanted it. The next day, however, we proceeded by a mountain-road over +a little sierra to this place (Casseda), changing our direction of +march, though the object was the same. Last night, I believe, it was +found that the French had much the start of us, and had crossed the +Ebro. In short, I presume from this, and from the very harassed and bad +state of the men to-day, we halted here; and I suspect to-morrow we +shall return. + +Lord Wellington himself seemed knocked up yesterday; he ate little or +nothing, looking anxious, and slept nearly all the time of sitting +after dinner. I think he was not quite well, and anxious, no doubt. +Lord March was sent off to General Graham, at Tolosa; he returned +yesterday, and reports that General Graham had entered Tolosa, +which might have been well defended. He blew open the gates with +a nine-pounder, and so got in. General Foy, however, had taken a +position beyond, with eighteen thousand men, in such a strong country, +that Graham dared not attack him, and Lord March thought the loss would +be great if we did, unless we could turn it by a circuitous march. He +said the country was in that direction full of positions; in short +there is much yet to do. + +Tarragona is, I believe, not taken at last. General Murray re-embarked +when Suchet’s army came that way. This, as a plan to free Valencia, +has, I believe, answered, and Elio, &c., have advanced. Longa’s people +have behaved well in another affair since the battle. The day after +to-morrow I expect to be either in sight of Pamplona again, or to be on +the way towards the Tolosa road; but time will show. + +From this place, which is a large village on a hill, we have a full +view of a long range of the Pyrenees, which I have been spying at with +a good glass. They are fine mountains, but much less so, I think, than +the Alps. I see much snow on them, but no glaciers. The shapes are more +picturesque, but less astonishing and sublime. We are, however, far +off, and perhaps I do not do justice to these hoary gentlemen. There is +no snow summit so far as I can see, only great lodgments of snow. + +_Huarte, July 2nd, in front of Pamplona._—As expected, we yesterday set +out on our way back here, a short cut over the sierra, to Monreal—the +day before yesterday sending the guns, &c., round by Taffalla, and +from Monreal here yesterday. This is a wild road, and yet not very +picturesque. About this place we have a fine plain, in which Pamplona +stands. The town is invested, but I believe that is all, and no steps +have yet been taken for the siege; the place is strong, and we have as +yet no guns for the purpose. We yesterday found the suburbs burning, +the work of the French, and more women sent away from the town. The +town looks handsome, but somehow has disappointed me. A French party +also still holds out at Pancorvo; the worst of all, however, is the +bad news from General Murray. It is said that he went off in such a +hurry when he heard of Suchet’s approach, that, without waiting to +know his exact danger, or where Suchet was, he embarked, leaving all +his battering artillery, or as some say twenty pieces, with all the +ammunition, &c., belonging to them, in a perfect state for the use +of the French; and this when, in fact, he had four days to remove +it in, and when the Admiral offered to undertake to bring it off. I +am glad, however, to hear that Lord William Bentinck has arrived to +take the command. The odds are, however, that the Spaniards will get +a beating under Elio before our men join them again; it is now said +that Suchet left five thousand men at Valencia also. In short, in this +game of chess we are playing, there is almost always some bad move to +counteract Lord Wellington’s good ones. + +It is now said that we are not to wait here for the siege, but to move +towards Bayonne, and the King’s army, which is said to have taken up +a position on the frontiers. We expect to move towards Roncesvalles +to-morrow; but this is not settled. In my opinion we should have done +this immediately, without going after Clausel; but no doubt Lord +Wellington knew best what to do. We have to-day cold rainy weather +again, bad for men in camp. This place, Huarte, is rather a large +village with tolerable market. Villa Alba, half a mile off, where +some troops are posted, seems better still. We are about two miles +from Pamplona, across a little stream, now from the rains become a +respectable river. The great distress at present is for horseshoes, and +to-morrow I expect a mountain march. + +It is now stated that we took fourteen hundred prisoners altogether in +this late battle, not wounded, eleven hundred wounded, and about seven +hundred and fifty were found dead; the prisoners reckon their own loss +at eleven thousand. However, as they say, thousands ran away over the +mountain, and left the army altogether, this must be exaggeration. If +the armistice produces a Russian and Prussian peace, and we are left +here to Bonaparte’s sole attention and undivided care, I fear we may +again see the neighbourhood of Portugal before six months are passed, +notwithstanding the late most glorious victory. + +_Head-Quarters, Ostiz, July 3rd (Civil Department at Boutain)._—Here +we are now within five leagues and less of France, and on our way, at +least, towards Bayonne. General Hill is, I believe, to be to-day at +Estevan, and we have some men in France, at St. Jean Pied de Port. +General Foy’s (French) eighteen thousand have left their position +beyond Tolosa, having given the great convoy three days more time to +be off. This convoy had the pictures, immense service of plate of the +King, three hundred pieces of heavy artillery, &c.: I think we might +have caught it had we known how things were going on. They have now +retreated to France, and I believe Graham after them. All cars and +wheel carriages remain at Orcayen, near Pamplona; I guess, therefore, +we shall soon be back again, and perhaps proceed against Suchet, if he +joins Clausel at Saragossa, as his orders, from intercepted letters, +were supposed to be. Your proverb, however, _vedremo co’l tempo_, +applies here, as well as everywhere. Dr. M’Gregor is very much engaged, +and if this wet weather continues will, I think, be more so. I am so +cold now that I am writing with my coat buttoned up, and my hat on, +and we have constant showers. For about three hours the day before +yesterday it was excessively hot. So we go on! As yet we have seen +nothing very beautiful on this road, but it may mend. I am hungry, +tired, and worried, and must send this off to Ostiz: so adieu. + +Lord Aylmer has now a brigade, and has joined it as Major-general. +General Pakenham is the Adjutant-general. Three thousand of our men +wounded at Vittoria. + +_Head-Quarters, Lans, July 5th, 1813 (Civil Department, the Spaniards +and Artillery at Arriez)._—We were yesterday ordered to proceed to +Lans, but not very early, as the French were in the neighbourhood. It +rained all the way, and was very cold and uncomfortable, and what added +much to the unpleasantness of the journey, was the horrible road and +the loss of my horse’s shoes. The first league of this _camina real_ +was a narrow lane of large loose stones, nearly the size of my head, +with all the interstices filled with good Brentford slop, half a foot +deep; baggage constantly stopped the way. About half way, however, I +bribed a Spanish farrier to put me on three Spanish shoes, until the +heads of the nails half an inch square, upon six of which heads in each +shoe the horses walk, as the shoe never touches a stone; these skaits +are, however, much better than nothing. Having stopped an hour in the +rain for this, I proceeded, and at Lans found an order to go on half +a league on the left. We are almost all here, or close by, except the +Adjutant-general’s and Quarter-Master-general’s departments, and except +Marshal Beresford. The latter was to have been in my house, but did not +like it, and found a place at Lans. The quarter being vacant, I popped +into a large rambling black place, with long tables and benches, like +your servants’ hall, great stables, &c., all under one roof. + +The villages are nearly all alike in general shape and +accommodation;—scarcely any cottages but farm-houses, and I suppose the +great tables and benches they all contain have been in better times +used for the workmen to dine. This has been the character of all the +villages for the last ten or twelve miles, and they lie very thick, +four in sight here, and probably ten within a league. The hills around +are all covered with wood; the valley almost knee deep with grass for +hay, and abounding in corn; the walks further on towards the mountains +very pleasant; fine oaks and rocks, &c.; the climate very cold for +England in July, and wet; the verdure like that of Ireland; plenty of +sheep on the mountains, but little to be had here except milk. At Lans +there was pork at a penny a pound, and French brandy. + +To-day we halt here, for the French are disposed to stand a little +further. Our cavalry moved last night to Almandos, two leagues on,—the +14th, and some Germans, and General Hill’s head-quarters, to Berrueta, +whence the French retired. The reports now are that General Hill sent +word last night that the French were strongly posted a little farther +on, and that the peasants said they were eight thousand; but though +he could not see so many, he did not much like the position. Lord +Wellington sent him word that he would be there by ten o’clock this +morning, and he is gone with most of the military staff. We have heard +firing very plainly, but know not where it is. This is famous ground +for sharp-shooting, as you cannot see in general a hundred yards before +you. General Byng, with some British and Spanish, is gone along the +Roncesvalles road, toward St. Jean Pied de Port, and Graham proceeds +by the great road. Some stores are ordered round to land at Deva; I +conclude we shall only secure the passes, and that we shall not enter +France. Ground is broken up before Pamplona, but I think only for +form sake; very few men at work. Only the six eighteen-pounders are +at hand. An artillery serjeant I hear deserted from Pamplona two days +since, and is supposed to have given important information. General +Wimpfen tells me that the French have some works at Elisondo, which is, +I suppose, the place General Hill is stopped by, and that they seem +disposed to make a little stand there. I wish Suchet would either come +up by Saragossa and fight near Pamplona, and thus save us that long +trip, or that he would be off at once, like the rest; the latter is, +however, I fear, more to be wished than expected. With Clausel, he will +have probably, including garrisons, about forty thousand men. If after +all a peace should be made, leaving out England and the Peninsula, we +must even now still be off, and I only hope it will be settled before +the autumn bad weather; another rainy retreat from this part will never +do. I think we may at least stand towards the Astrinos and Gallicia, +and not go back to Frenada, for Bonaparte, with all his energy and +activity, can scarcely be ready to follow us in force this autumn. + +My old witch of a patrona came in just now, into the place where I am, +and moving the heavy bed, disappeared down a trap-door under it to +get up a little clean linen from her hiding-place, where she conceals +things from the French. She also produced a guerilla soldier’s shirt, +which he had left to be washed, and called for to-day. She was very +much frightened at us yesterday, as all here are, but is more sociable +to-day. + +We have turned about three hundred mules and horses into the meadows +here, and have cut down two or three fields for the feeding at night, +instead of the green oats or barley, for that is scarce here. How would +you like all this in England? The peas and beans also are pretty well +pillaged by our soldiers, and frequently the cattle get in besides. I +do not pity the Spaniards for this; but as they are obstinate, they +will not pick and sell to us officers who ask them, consequently the +soldiers and our muleteers pick for themselves gratis. I do not think +the crops here are so forward as in England; we are, therefore, luckily +for the horses, just in the grass season. If we go back to the barren, +brown, southern plains, it will be rather a disagreeable change. We +shall then, however, probably, get corn for the horses, which now is +very scarce. For the present, adieu. + +If the French do not move, probably we may halt here to-morrow again; +but I doubt we shall proceed. Twelve Portuguese field-pieces were +following us up this horrible road; the French got two guns by the same +road to Pamplona last year. For the last fortnight we have found the +people of Navarre very stupid, and their language unintelligible. They +do not understand good Castilian, but have a lingo of their own, very +barbarous; the little Spanish I have picked up is here, therefore, of +no use, and I am nearly reduced to the state of the deaf and dumb, to +have recourse to signs and acting. + +_Head-Quarters, Irurita, July 7th._—From Lans and Arriez we proceeded +on the 6th to Berrueta, through Almandos, across a part of the +Pyrenees. The first league was through a fine oak wood, and very hilly; +the next there was more hill, and, if possible, worse roads, and in +particular a very long descent. The hills were, however, green and +wooded to the summits, rounded, and not wild or savage, in short it was +hilly scenery and not mountain—this is the Lower Pyrenees. From one +part on the Lans road, the sea, I am told, was visible. Some Portuguese +artillery followed us all the way, and have arrived safely. + +We then reached Almandos, which contained a few very large houses +for head-quarters; there the artillery, engineers, and Spaniards of +head-quarters remained, and we descended a zigzag hill, and then +ascended to Berrueta. I there got a very bad quarter, but staid, +in order to be at the head-quarter village, to inquire into some +complaints of public money taken by a Commissary at Vittoria. On the +night of the 5th I was sent for at nine at night from Arriez to Lans by +Lord Wellington about this business. It is a most horrible road even +in the day time, and in my way back alone, I lost myself on a boggy +common, and did not arrive until nearly one o’clock, having for about +an hour and a half splattered about in a bed of wet clay, up to the +horse’s knees at times, and having some notion of wolves, &c. This made +me anxious to be at the head-quarters village, where I dined with Lord +Wellington, and examined the Commissary in General Pakenham’s presence. + +Berrueta was a small French post against the Guerillas, and the ground +was strong; the church and about four houses, and a wall near were cut +with loop-holes for musketry, and a little round bastion built in front +with a double row of loop-holes commanding the roads, and a little +tiled roof for one sentry at the top. The house had a rough eagle in +black drawn upon it, and the inscription “Place Napoleon.” The little +street or alley within the enclosure was called Rue Impériale. In spite +of this the French, about three thousand strong, had the day before +been driven from this ground and position by about five hundred of +the second division, and had left us in possession, allowing General +Hill to go on to this place, Irurita, a good league further, where we +have now the head-quarters. General Hill has proceeded this morning to +try and drive the French from a position about two leagues and a half +further on near the French frontier at Maya, where they have made a +semblance at least, with about eight thousand men, as if they meant to +defend the pass there. + +The road from Berrueta to Irurita was over one long hill of a league, +but good enough, and then brought us down to this place at one +extremity of the valley of Bastan. This valley is a very rich tract, +surrounded by cultivated hills, well built and peopled, and terminated +on the other extremity by the pass of Maya. + +General Hill has moved on his head-quarters from hence to Elisondo, +full a half league further, near the centre of the valley; and if the +French give way, is to proceed further. Lord Wellington and all his +suite are gone on forwards to watch the event. This place contains +a number of large houses, but is in general dirty and bad in the +interior. Lord Wellington’s house, and that of Marshal Beresford, and +a few others about here, are in the French style, with glass windows +in folding doors, and French blinds, &c., and they are clean and +comfortable; at Elisondo, there is more of this, I hear. This valley +has a sort of nobility of its own, and most of the numerous good houses +belong to an inferior nobility. They almost all sport arms, and most +the chequers. I understand this valley is also famous for the number +of men of talent who have at different times issued from it. There is +also trade in the valley, and commercial connexions even with Cadiz. +These second-rate nobles have had the sense not quite to despise that +mode of getting money, and thereby all other comforts. The effects of +the war and of the times are, however, equally manifest here, but on a +higher scale than in the ruined cottage, or the farmer stripped of his +cattle and corn. Lord Wellington’s patron, whose house is now opposite +and very handsome, was a native of this place, and went as a merchant +to South America: he was engaged there in trade twenty-six years, and +then returned to enjoy himself, like our Scotch Indians, in his native +place. He, however, foolishly bought no land, and continues engaged +in trade by means of an agent at Cadiz, and another at Vera Cruz, +living here on the profits. One rich vessel we took from him before +the declaration of war; this shook him a little: since that his Vera +Cruz agent turned gambler and failed. We have taken another vessel of +his since, and he thus was reduced nearly to his moveables. To supply +French contributions, and to find the _à quoi vivre_ for himself and +two sons, he has sold all his plate, &c., and jewels. He has now only +some tolerable bedding in twelve bedrooms, and straw chairs and deal +tables. The little man, however, told all this to General O’Lalor in my +presence with much good humour, and did not seem very unhappy. He was +very anxious to please Lord Wellington in his quarter. + +Here we see the miseries of the contest in another shape. The old mad +Marquis d’Almeida left this to-day to go on with General Hill, very +anxious to beat the French in their own territory, and give them back +their own again. He has attached himself to General Hill’s corps all +along. + +I believe King Joseph’s gallantry in trying to seduce a young girl +at Salvatierra, the night of the battle of Vittoria, was mentioned +in a former letter by me. In this valley he performed a most noble +feat: after the dinner given him by his patron and the neighbours, +he permitted or ordered his servants to sweep off and carry away all +the utensils, table-cloths, spoons, &c. The Padré at Arriez, our last +place, told General Wimpfen that he had there carried off the sheets. +This is a noble exit; and all his suite were without a change of linen. + +The papers taken at Vittoria make it appear that nearly a million of +property was taken after the battle—250,000_l._ in gold. Only about +one hundred and twenty thousand dollars have been paid into the chest. +Much was certainly plundered by the natives and soldiers: the latter +were offering nine dollars for a guinea, for the sake of carriage. +Lord Wellington, however, has his suspicions of pillage by the civil +departments; has heard various stories, also, of money taken on the +road back from Vittoria. I do not know what may come of this: I have +made out but little satisfactory as yet. One gentleman, however, whom +I examined yesterday intended to keep two thousand dollars. At the +same time, the understanding that this was all fair seems to be pretty +general. + +Captain Brown was knocked off his horse by a sabre cut on the head and +taken prisoner, but as he had his sword left, he cut down his guard, +who was pricking him with his sword, and ran into our dragoons and +escaped, changing his own horse for a French one in the confusion. + +Lieutenant-Colonel May had a musket-ball in his belly. It passed +through his double sash, his waistcoat, and pantaloons, and then, by +striking the button of his drawers, was so deadened as only to give him +a swelling the size of an egg, and he has been long with us again. I +dined with him at Arriez the day before yesterday. + +In the skirmish on the 5th, at Berrueta, we had about twenty wounded. +The Spanish peasantry are a fine, stout, tall, well-made race of +mountaineers, and behaved that day with spirit. Several would act with +their firearms with our light troops, and brought in two prisoners; and +one set would go on with a picket of six of our cavalry, and when told +by Major Brotherton that they were acting foolishly, as he could not +protect or support them if the French cavalry turned on him, they said +they could run as fast as those French horses, and would not be caught +so. The rulers here have also been forward in offering supplies, a good +part of which, I believe, they were ordered to have collected by the +French, and by which collection we have profited. + +More Portuguese troops and artillery are now passing this way. I +believe no English artillery has come this road. The Portuguese guns +are not so wide in the wheels, having been made for their own roads, +and are therefore more adapted to this. + +_Irurita, Head-Quarters, July 9th._—Still here. The day before +yesterday, the 7th, the French showed fifteen thousand men in the Maya +pass, two leagues and a-half in front, a line of nearly two miles. +It took much time to climb the hills to turn this position. About +four, we got possession of a hill which had that effect; the French +saw their error, tried three times to recover it, drove back our men a +little, but it would not do; they just now will not stand against us. A +battalion of Caçadores behaved well, and drove them back once. A close +column of theirs was opposed on the hill by two columns of ours, the +39th; our fellows, when near, shouted and came down to the charge, and +the French were quickly off. It was dark, however, before the pass was +abandoned, and past eleven before Lord Wellington and his staff got +home to dinner, as he lost his way for some time in the fog, despising +guides, &c. Yesterday the French, in part, came back to a little +village near the pass, and stood some time against our light infantry; +but the third shot of our two guns which were brought to bear, sent +them scampering off. They little think that we have some eighteen +field-pieces in this valley. + +Yesterday Lord Wellington came in early, and left the French in another +pass in the last Spanish village. They were, I hear, to be driven +out to-day unless they retired. They had yesterday, however, nearly +succeeded in surprising some of our men. They appeared in rear of +our advanced troops, through a pass on our right, which communicates +with the Roncesvalles pass to St. Jean Pied de Port, drove in a small +picket, and came, about fifty of them, down very nearly to a village +in which we had much baggage. The peasants said they had five hundred +men there: they however went back again, and one of our serjeants, +by himself, caught one of the stragglers when the others were gone. +Just then there was only a small body of cavalry between their party +and our baggage, and even between them and our head-quarters here. +This was soon looked to, and a Caçadore regiment ordered into the +neighbouring village. The peasants here continue to behave with great +spirit and activity, and want to enter France to take some revenge. +They had been told by the French that we were ten times worse in regard +to plundering, &c., than themselves, and so the French are told now. +The French respect their own people, and do not treat them like the +Spaniards. In Spain a French encampment was covered with all the doors, +window-shutters, beams, trees, &c., of the Spanish villages near; in +France, though in rain, they are now seen without any such shelter on +the bare ground. + +The French peasants in these parts, I hear, are as fine men as the +Spaniards here, and formidable. If we enter France, we must not wander +and ride about as we do here, nor let our baggage cover leagues +in extent. It is said that they disposed of four of our soldiers, +Portuguese I believe, whom they caught stealing cherries. I do not +think head-quarters will enter France, here at least, but enter down +towards the sea: this is, however, only my speculation. General Byng +sent an invitation yesterday to dine with him in France. The Spanish +troops are in France in part also. + +The day before yesterday Lord Wellington ordered young Fitzclarence to +go and bring up two Portuguese companies to attack. He went. It was +close by; but he was highly pleased with the order. When he had given +his instructions, he saw a cherry-tree, and went up to break a bough +off, and eat the cherries. When Lord Wellington lost his way the other +night in the fog (returning to head-quarters), Fitzclarence told Lord +Wellington he was sure the road was so-and-so, as they had passed the +place where he found the two Portuguese companies. “How do you know +that?” quoth Lord Wellington. “By that cherry-tree, which I was up in +just afterwards,” was the answer. It amused Lord Wellington much; and +yesterday he called to him, with a very grave face, and desired him to +go and get some of the cherries, as if it were an important order. I +believe we only lost about seventy men killed and wounded, Portuguese +and all included, on the 7th. + +I misinformed you some time since about General Jeron, the Commander of +the Gallician army. I understand he was not named at the suggestion of +Wellington; there are two opinions about him. + +We have had stories against several of the civil departments in regard +to the plunder. One or two I have saved from suspicion by an immediate +inquiry and explanation, which I stated to Lord Wellington directly. +It is always best to know the whole openly at once, as ten suffer +in reputation from reports for one really guilty. One Commissary, I +believe, will have leave to resign. + +Yesterday the chimney of the house of Lord Wellington’s patron was on +fire, from the dressing of Lord Wellington’s dinner. I was much afraid +that it would spread and complete the poor man’s ruin, by destroying +nearly all he had left. It was with difficulty at last put out, when +the fire-bell had collected all the town buckets full of water, and +a wet blanket had been pushed down the chimney, which, being half +wood, made the event very uncertain. I was really glad when it was put +out. Lord Wellington was out in the rain with his hat off, and a silk +handkerchief over his head, giving directions, as well as your humble +servant. + +P.S.—_Head-Quarters, Zobieta, July 10th._—We arrived here this morning, +in the direction I expected, about four leagues from Irurita, on the +road to St. Sebastian, through a very pretty wooded valley all the way, +the road good, and by the river side, with villages every two miles. +We passed St. Estevan, the largest place, and perhaps the only one +you will find in any map, except Lopez’ provincial ones. Some of the +other villages were large, containing some thirty or forty good large +farm-houses, and some mansions. The light division was dispersed on +the road, and in one village I found George Belson and his artillery. I +do not, however, expect to hear any more of him for some time, as he is +not likely to follow us any farther, from what I am told of the road. + +To-morrow head-quarters move eight or nine leagues of mountain track +road through Gaygueta to Ernani, in parts it is said scarcely passable +for a mule; so at least Colonel Ponsonby reports, who came last night +from Ernani. In consequence of this account, civil departments and +baggage are, if they choose, to stop at Gaygueta, which is half way. At +Ernani we are on the high road to Bayonne from Vittoria. Something is +now, I believe, going on at St. Sebastian. I understand a convent near +it was to be attempted to-day or to-morrow, preparatory to the grand +attempt. The heavy guns are, I believe, landed, and are, it is said, at +Deba for this siege. The garrison is two thousand strong, about sixteen +hundred of their own, and four hundred from another fort near, now +blown up. Santona is left with a strong garrison, and well supplied, +and would be a more difficult affair, from what I learn. Pancorvo was +taken by O’Donnell and the Spaniards: they took an outwork by storm, +and the men then surrendered. + +Pamplona is more closely invested by means of some redoubts, and I +believe nothing more will be done there. These redoubts will be of +use, if this undertaking is left to the Spaniards. Though we have thus +to-day gone away from France, I conclude we, or rather some of the +army, are to be within France soon, as Lord Wellington has published +some long and good general orders on the subject of well treating the +people, &c., and not copying the French in Portugal and Spain, as we +are at war with Bonaparte, and not with the inhabitants, and that +_recevos_ are to be given for supplies, &c. Still I think we shall +only keep on the frontiers. Clausel, it would appear from the Spanish +authorities, has, since we left him, made off for France by the great +Tacca pass in Arragon, instead of joining Suchet, as I supposed, and +Suchet was at Tortosa when last heard of. Zobieta is but a miserable +place, and the people quite unintelligible. We shall soon be in Biscay +again. + +_Head-Quarters, Ernani, July 16th, 1813._—My last was from Zobieta, a +little village in the lower Pyrenees. Our next day was a tremendous +journey to this place. I started at six o’clock in the morning, and we +immediately began to ascend near the bed of the stream, which ran by +Zobieta towards its source, in order to cross the mountain at the back +of the town, which divides that valley from the one in which the river +is situated, which runs down by this place to St. Sebastian. + +In less than half a mile the road became choked with baggage. There was +only one path winding zigzag up the hill, and every mule whose load +got more on one side, or out of order, discomposed and stopped the +string. I had one mule lightly loaded, and my man, foolishly eager to +get forwards, led it up straight from one path to the cross one above, +instead of following the track. He got on safely, but this tempted +three of Colonel Dundas’s mules to do the same. Just as I passed below, +the hinder one fell backwards, with a heavy load, and the whole three +being tied together, he pulled both the others down upon him, and they +all lay in a heap at my feet kicking in the path. With some difficulty +I got an ass out of the way in time, and scrambled upon foot, leading +my horse to get away, that I might not be pushed down the side of the +hill; by this means I also gained ground, and by continuing on foot for +about two miles of the steepest ascent, I got up tolerably quick. Two +of General Murray’s mules rolled into the river below. + +We then continued to the highest point of the mountain, whence we were +told Bayonne was visible. When we arrived the fog was so thick that +we could not see a yard, and we went on two leagues more in this mist +through the clouds, along the top and side of the hill, until we got +over Gaygueta. Then we had a very bad descent of about two miles to +that place. Near the town we passed General Longa and his suite going +to meet Lord Wellington, and we found the town full of his troops all +drawn up to receive the English General. They looked very well, fine +men, tolerably well dressed and equipped; about five thousand in the +whole. One grenadier company looked very fierce and military. + +I here found every quarter occupied, and could hear of none; after +waiting an hour, I determined to proceed. After an ascent of about half +a league again, very steep, we went along the top of a hill for another +half league to Eranos; here I found another thousand of Longa’s troops, +and all the houses occupied. I therefore went to a shop where they sold +bread and wine, and we got a large loaf and some wine, which, with the +help of the horses, for whose sake I principally stopped to procure +this feed, we soon finished, and then proceeded refreshed. + +Whilst I was thus employed Lord Wellington and his staff passed. I was +sorry to hear Longa had missed him, and that he was much mortified +at this, especially as his men scarcely knew Lord Wellington and his +party, and he had almost passed before they irregularly presented +arms to him. The one thousand men at Eranos were more fortunate, for +at a hazard I told them, when they inquired, that he would pass in +about twenty minutes, and he actually passed within the half hour. I +followed in Lord Wellington’s train to this place, Ernani, over a road +still worse than the last, a mere water-channel, with irregular broken +steps and slippery clay; most of our horses got more or less on their +haunches. The road ran up and down on the side of a thick wooded hill +on the banks of the river, near which we saw two or three works for +iron, in which this country abounds. + +We arrived safely, about four o’clock; very little baggage got in that +night. All mine came in by seven o’clock, except one mule load and +man, who stuck, knocked up, at a house two miles back. I bought some +eggs and bacon and went to bed. About eight, next day, my stragglers +arrived, the mules strained in the shoulder and scarcely able to move. +Dr. M’Gregor had two mules killed down the mountain, and many have +suffered as well as myself. + +The next morning after my arrival at Ernani, I walked off to see what +was going on at St. Sebastian. Not knowing how long we might be here, +my horses being tired, and having no shoes, I made this survey on +foot. The road is a wide _camina real_, a rough sort of pavement, but +a good road. About half a league distant I saw the fort or citadel of +St. Sebastian, and the smoke of the guns, the noise of which I had +heard before. I proceeded on by our heavy guns, which were near on the +road side, passed about four thousand Spanish troops of the Gallician +army drawn up to receive Lord Wellington, and then our reserve park +of artillery, with some small works around. Here I began to hear the +distant whistle of the balls, which occasionally got near the road. +At about a league from Ernani, just at the brow of the descent to St. +Sebastian, and about half a mile from the latter, a barrier of tubs +of earth was placed across the road and sentries posted, our advanced +sentry being at a turn of the road a hundred yards forwards. I went +to the left to take a sketch, and soon heard a musket-ball whistle by +me, which I took at first for a rocket behind me. I thought this an +accident, but soon came a second, and a third. I then concluded that +I was the object, and leaving my sketch rather in a hasty unfinished +state, I returned behind the barrels as the last shot came into a bush +close to me. + +Our trenches were open about fifty yards to the right, against a +convent on the side of the hill, which was full of French, and from +which almost all the musket-shots proceeded. I determined just to peep +into them before I went off, and having been cautioned how to proceed, +I looked in: but having had one more shot whistle close to me, and +passed a bloody hole where a shell had just fallen, which had carried +away a man’s arm, I walked home, to dine at Lord Wellington’s at three +o’clock. At dinner I met Castanos, Jeron, Alava, Mendizabel, and a +number of inferior officers, amongst them the Major who had been left +as a Captain to defend Villa Alba de Tormes, when we retreated last +year, and who held out the time he was ordered to remain, and brought +off two hundred out of three hundred of his men to Frenada. For this +he was made a Major, I believe, at Lord Wellington’s request. General +Alava also introduced an officer who came to present to Lord Wellington +King Joseph’s sword—his dress sword set in steel and diamonds, and very +handsome. Where taken from, or whence obtained, I did not learn. Lord +Wellington just looked at it as he took his seat at dinner, and telling +his man to put it by safely somewhere, fell to at the soup and said no +more. + +On the following day the alarm was spread that we were all to go back +to the mountains the next day by the same road. At last, however, +orders came out that Lord Wellington was going, and that only his +immediate staff, and those who could be very useful, were to attend +him. Even General Murray, the Quarter-Master-general, the life and +soul of the army next to Lord Wellington, staid here, not being quite +well. He appears to me decidedly the second man; and it is thought that +without him, and perhaps Kennedy, the Commissary-in-Chief, we could +never have done what we have; even Lord Wellington would be, in some +degree, fettered and disabled by a bad Quarter-Master-general and a bad +Commissary-general. + +Not to lose a day, Lord Wellington, the first day he was here, rode +all about St. Sebastian to examine it in all directions, &c., and was +provoked at the Spaniards parading for him, when his object was to +be unobserved. The second day he went to Irun, on the frontiers, on +the Bidassoa, to see how things were going on there. The day before +yesterday, having waited till eight o’clock (morning), just to receive +the “_Gazette_,” with his battle despatches and his appointment of +Field Marshal, away he went, nine leagues over the mountains, for St. +Estevan. He is going to see more of the mountain passes that way, and +says that he shall be back the fourth day, if possible, though many +think it impossible. + +We have heard of Lord Wellington eating some trout at Gaygueta at +twelve, and arriving at St. Estevan at five, the day he left this. +All baggage nearly is left here. The day he went I was occupied all +day, by his desire, in examining some gentlemen on a report which had +got about concerning some of the captured money, which report Lord +Wellington had been caught by, and had suspicions. I hope I have sent +a very satisfactory explanation. To me it is so, at least. I sent it +off by express the same night to General Pakenham, who is with Lord +Wellington on his tour. One idle day, since I have been here, I went +to see Passages, about five miles distant, but an infamous road. There +are two towns of that name, the Spanish and French, as they are called; +one on each side of a narrow deep stream, or inlet from the sea, which +forms rather a picturesque basin within. I should have thought more of +it had I not seen Exmouth, Dartmouth, and some other western English +scenery of the same land first, which I think superior. The towns +were built with the same kind of narrow alleys, only fit for a horse +to pass through; these standing up the side of the hills. They were, +however, a better description of houses, and four stories high, with +balconies. The scene was more enlivened than usual by our transports, +by the landing of biscuit, rum, shot, ammunition, the twenty-four +pounders from Sir George Collier’s ship, and other great guns, with +their apparatus, for the siege; two Portuguese regiments at work, and +about three hundred mules, besides the oxen, &c., for the guns: gabions +and fascines were making in every direction by the Portuguese. The road +was so narrow and slippery in one place, that my horse, as I led him, +nearly slipped into the sea. + +Yesterday, having a few hours again to spare, I went round to look at +St. Sebastian by the right, where I witnessed a sharp conflict, and +saw more than I had done before, with much less risk. I was out of the +way of the musketry, and only had one cannon-shot, which went over the +intended mark from the town, and, whistling along, dashed into the +water just under me. It was nearly spent, as I heard it, I think, long +enough to have got out of the way had it come up higher. If it clears +up to-day, I mean to go to the lighthouse, on the left of the town, or +the cliff, where it is said the view is very fine, and where, with a +glass, you see much and in safety. + +There was almost as much firing yesterday as in a battle, cannon-shot +and musketry, particularly on the French part, and many shells; and we +made a feint to obtain the convent with only a few men, yet I hear that +only four were killed on our side, and about ten wounded. + +The convent is almost in ruins, but we have in vain tried to burn it +with hot shot, and the French continue to pepper from it. A shell of +ours fell amongst their men in a redoubt in rear of the convent, and +they ran. I believe this led to our attempt, but it was soon found that +they were strong just behind, and several men still in the convent; and +three new parties were pushed along the causeway from the town—about +two hundred and fifty men—to strengthen the convent party. Ours, +therefore, were off very quickly, not being supported. One shell of +ours fell just into one of the three new parties, and killed one man +and dispersed the rest. Several wounded French were seen carried back +over the causeway and bridge. The number of cannon in the town is very +considerable; and though our works proceed fast, the town is considered +formidable. + +I have heard more stories of King Joseph from the Paymaster of his +head-quarters, Mr. Frayre, who was taken. He said that the King was in +the town until our dragoons were close upon it. He then rode quietly +along, through the train of carriages and baggage, with Jourdan and +his guard in a walk, in order not to give any alarm, until he was out +of the bustle. He then changed his coat for a nankeen jacket, and +away they all went, galloping off for Salvatierra, on the road to +Pamplona. In the first village, a mile or two from Vittoria, there are +two turnings, and he was heard to call out, “_Par où faut-il aller?_” +“_Tout droit, tout droit_,” said Jourdan, and away they went again as +hard as they could go. Of the twenty-seven Generals who met in the +house at Salvatierra, a great proportion were slightly wounded, and +their greetings at seeing each other alive were very loud and sincere. +Joseph’s servant had a sort of saddle-bag with him for the King, and +that was all their baggage. + +I hear that there are two millions of dollars on the road. Just now we +are without anything in our military chest to pay for our daily food +and expenses, which are very great. Corn for our horses, we got none. +Bread is not dear here, or scarce, as yet. Bullocks, I hear, we have +bought enough for nearly forty days for the army, in this part of the +country, mostly from the mountains. Nine hundred head have been bought +within these ten days. + +_Head-Quarters, Lezaca, July 18th, 1813._—On the 16th I went up to +the lighthouse in the evening. I met Baron Constans coming down. +The French did him the honour of a cannon-shot, a proof they were +touchy. I proceeded within half musket-shot, but at a trot, and they +left me quiet. I stayed an hour on the hill; view beautiful, evening +clear, scene very interesting. I saw all the French sentries, troops, +inhabitants, &c., in the town, and on the island near, in the convent, +redoubt, &c. I could see our advanced sentinels and pickets, and those +of the French near the convent, within sixty yards of each other in +some places, behind ruins, &c. I could also see a long extent of French +coast, and many other objects. The ruined convent, and the French +sticking to it in several parts and firing, was, however, the most +curious and novel. + +I came down at seven and rode home quietly by nine in the dark; when, +lo! I found an order for head-quarters, baggage, &c., to join Lord +Wellington at this place on the mountains, on the frontiers, six +leagues of bad road distant. + +I was off, however, by eight yesterday morning, baggage and all. The +first two leagues were by the high French road, the _camina real_, +through Astigarraja and Oyarzun. At the end of the last town we turned +from the great road, which is a broad, well-laid road, and has been +very good, though now broken up a little, and very rough. We then went +along a paved mountain road, up a valley for half a league, and then +began climbing a mountain path over two long hills until we got into +this valley, and to this place. There is a great sameness in the +scenery—round hills, wooded in part below and a stream—nothing very +fine. About a league from hence we saw the camp of the 95th regiment, +on a hill above Vera, which is lower down in this valley, and near the +immediate frontier division. We also saw the seventh division camp near +and the French cantonment bivouac on the opposite hill; for a short +time they kept half Bera or Vera; now we have the whole. + +We halt here at Lezaca to-day; the Commissariat baggage is ordered a +league and a half in the rear in case of an attack. I believe when +reinforcements arrive we shall make one. I was sorry to leave St. +Sebastian, for an attack was to be made that morning. We heard and +saw a violent firing throughout all our route, and I last night heard +that the convent had been taken by our men, and some ruins below, &c., +and that the new battery had been opened. The French stood firm when +the Portuguese advanced, who behaved very well, but when the English +regiment which had been ordered up to assist was seen advancing, the +sight of the red coats made the French soldiers run, and the French +officers were seen in vain beating and pelting them to make them stand. +The causeway (as I had seen) below was cut by the French in two places. +This stopped our men for a time, and the French attempted to return, +but did not succeed; thus matters stood last night. Some of the first +division returned from Oyarzun yesterday to help, and we met them on +the road. The French surprised about one hundred of the Spaniards in +this place a few days since. The noble inhabitants of Saragossa have +contrived to open one of their gates, when the French were in the town, +and to let in Mina and his men. The Spaniards now have the town. I +believe the French still stick to a fortified part, and have destroyed +the bridge; this comes from the English Captain who is with Mina, and +employed in procuring intelligence. A flag of truce was sent in to +the French, carried by Colonel Gordon, this morning—“_Pourquoi?_” “_Je +ne’en sais rien._” Lezaca is rather a good village, and has a running +stream in it, which might be more used. It was plundered by the French, +and now contains nothing, no bread even, only some straw; and we have +now been seven days without corn for the poor horses; even grass is +here very scarce: we want the course of the Bidassoa to keep up our +communications with Irun, &c. The French now interrupt this—the river +runs in part through France. + +Soult, the great Soult, the Marshal, is said to have arrived, and taken +the command against the allies: so say the country people, &c. To-day +it is very hot. A report is circulated that the French have attacked +us. So adieu for the present. + +_July 19th, Lezaca._—No fresh news. I am going to ride up a hill, a +league off, to the seventh division camp, from whence Bayonne and much +of France is visible. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[4] Mr. Larpent’s opinion on the moral deficiency of the English +soldier has astonished many; but it should be remembered that he was a +non-combatant, and his professional practice as Judge-Advocate-general +brought him more in contact with the _delinquents_ than with the real +steady soldiers of the army. Let any reader who inclines to think +that the French can outmarch the more robust English, remember the +advance of the light division to Talavera under General R. Craufurd, +so justly eulogized in Napier’s History. An English soldier becomes +sulky, careless, and insubordinate in a _retreat_; but let a battle be +announced, and spirit and discipline reappear together. Witness the +conduct of Sir John Moore’s army, when he offered battle at Lugo, and +afterwards when he was attacked at Corunna.—ED. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + Movements of the Army—Wellington on the Portuguese—His Personal + Habits—St. Sebastian—The Siege—Miseries of War—Wounded Officers—The + Prince of Orange—Vestiges of the Retreat—English Papers—False Accounts + of the Campaign—Incidents of the War. + + + Head-quarters, Lezaca, + July 21, 1813. + + MY DEAR M——, + +Here we are still, deluged with rain almost incessantly, accompanied at +times with violent storms of wind, hail, and thunder. This is terrible +for the troops in camp, and for every one more or less, and indeed for +everything except the Indian corn, which thrives here most luxuriantly +in consequence of this perpetual wet. I took a ride (the 19th) up to +the hill above the seventh division as I intended; it was a league +and a half, the latter part very steep. The French were in sight all +along the hills on the other side of Bera, all around one ridge, but +quite quiet. When at the summit I saw the sea-coast around Bayonne +(though not the town itself), and the low country in France, for +probably thirty miles inland, with the enclosed fields and villages. +It was a very fine prospect; I was only sorry to see that the French +had apparently so much more productive a country immediately in their +rear than we had. They must now, however, be supplied at the expense of +old France. We are but ill off here for everything just now, until our +supplies come regularly to this coast. + +Passages is to be the depôt and landing-place, I hear, for our +infantry, and Bilboa for cavalry. Major-general Lord Aylmer is to-day +setting off to take a command at Passages; he expects nearly four +thousand men there very soon. We still hear the battering guns of St. +Sebastian continually roaring at a distance; I fear we may lose many +men in this siege. Good luck, however, may do something for us, and +the French seem everywhere dispirited; sickness, at present, if this +weather lasts, will be our most destructive foe. + +Suchet, I hear, left a garrison at Murviedro, when he crossed the Ebro. +They seem to have intended to give us some tough work until they were +ready to return; I hope here, at least, that will not be so easy. Both +sides are now strongly posted, and the assailant must have the worst of +it. Soult is said to have refused to take the command of the army here +unless the pay of the troops was more regular. Talking of this, Lord +Wellington paid the highest compliment to Bonaparte, by saying, that if +he came himself, he should, as he always did, reckon his presence equal +to a reinforcement of forty thousand men, for that it would give a turn +to everything. + +Lord Wellington, talking of the Portuguese, said that it was +extraordinary just now, to observe their conduct; that no troops could +behave better; that they never had now a notion of turning; and that +nothing could equal their forwardness now, and willing, ready tempers. +I am sorry to say that some of our foreign corps do not go on as well. +Of the Brunswick corps, ten went off from picquet two nights since to +the French, and fourteen from the camp, and others have gone off also; +and some have been surprised, so that I believe they are ordered to be +sent more to the rear, and cannot be trusted. I do not wonder at it, as +Government have taken men from the French prisons, who were only taken +last year, and who, no doubt, only enlisted on purpose to desert the +first opportunity. + +_Lezaca, July 22nd._—To-day Lord Wellington celebrates the battle of +Salamanca by a great dinner. His victories and successes will soon ruin +him in wine and eating, and if he goes on as he has, he had better keep +open house at once every day, and his calendar of feasts will be as +full as the Romish one with red letter days. This morning the guns have +been thundering salvoes. + +I think the breach at St. Sebastian must be ready soon. I only hope +that we shall not lose many of our fine fellows. Pamplona is invested +more closely—that is all that is attempted. Two sallies have been +repulsed; there are about fifteen thousand Spaniards there. I was sorry +to hear that bread was, very lately, in the town at the same price as +when we were first there, and that a low Spanish price; this does not +look much like starving the garrison out. For a regular siege we have +no means, and the place is formidable from the very circumstance that +makes it look otherwise—the citadel is all flat, there is nothing to +fire at, and no ground to approach it by. The scenery all about this +lower Pyrenees and coast, is like the north coast of Devonshire and +Somersetshire, a little enlarged as you get inland, and so increasing +in size, but the same character remaining for a considerable extent, +only that the valleys become deeper, and the hills higher. There is +nothing, however, so striking here as the passage of the Ebro, and the +valley near where we crossed it. + +Major D—— has still got his prize here taken on the field of battle, +namely, a Spanish girl, a pony, the wardrobe, monkey, &c., the property +of one of King Joseph’s aides-de-camp. I am still kept at work. We +yesterday tried two men for plundering Lord Aylmer’s tent in the night +whilst he slept. + +Out of 500,000_l._ sterling, the supposed plunder at Vittoria, only +about 30,000_l._ has found its way to the treasury, or military chest. +Lord Wellington seems to think the best of Mina, Longa, and the +Empecinado; amongst the Spaniards there is much to be done yet, to +make them like our vagabonds or the Portuguese, in regard to fighting; +for plundering and the “_savoir vivre_” here without money or rations, +they beat us both already; we cannot improve them. + +Castanos, the other day at dinner, asked Lord Wellington how Madame +Gazan had been treated, as she was accustomed to have a considerable +number of lovers? Lord Wellington looked rather drolly at me, and said, +she had been treated, he believed, very properly and respectfully. +Castanos said, “_Elle en serait bien fachée_.” + +Last week some of the light division had rations of wheat in the +grain instead of bread. One fellow, who was sulky, said, he supposed +he should have “long forage” next, that is, straw. Another more good +humouredly said, he was as strong as a horse now since yesterday? +How so? “Why, they have given me a good feed of corn you see, so how +could it be otherwise.” We had one very ingenious device by two of our +fellows last week; they were employed to take care of two thousand +dollars prize, for the benefit of the regiment, and to carry it on a +mule or ass given to them for that purpose. General Cole passed this +donkey on a bridge, and being irritated from the obstruction caused by +the baggage, &c., swore he would upset the whole over the bridge if +they were not off. When he had passed, one said, “That will just do, +let’s divide the money, and say the General upset it in the river.” +This was done, and the report made; something, however, was overheard, +and this led to an inquiry, when one of them admitted that this was the +case, and that a serjeant shared and proposed the plan. I said that +they could only be flogged for this. Lord Wellington therefore said +they might as well be tried in their regiment, for three hundred lashes +was as good as a thousand, and that to publish these things was only to +put similar ideas into other people’s heads. + +_Lezaca, Head-Quarters, July 23rd._—Lord Wellington and all his party +went off at eight this morning for St. Sebastian to see how things are +going on. He intends returning to dinner, a late one, though they all +have fresh horses on the road. It is feared that his hints have not +been attended to, and that the breach has been made too soon before +all other things were ready, so that the place of danger is discovered +to the enemy in time, perhaps, to enable the French, who are ever +quick and ready on these occasions, to let in some sea, and make a wet +ditch behind, or to throw up new works, &c. The breach may thus, as +at Badajoz, become the worst place of the whole to attack. It is to +be hoped that this is only a false alarm; but things do not appear to +go on well, unless Lord Wellington or General Murray are on the spot. +Lord Wellington is not so easily roused from his bed as he used to be. +This is the only change in him; and it is said that he has been in +part encouraged to this by having such confidence in General Murray. I +understand he was always naturally fond of his pillow. He had rather +ride like an express for ten or fifteen leagues, than be early and take +time to his work. Upon the whole this may fatigue him less, as being a +less time on horseback. + +_Head-Quarters, Lezaca, July 25th, 1813._—We have now been some time +stationary in these mountains, and I am at work again, and have little +time, and less to write about. We have been in hourly and nervous +expectation of news of the storming of St. Sebastian. It was first to +have taken place the day before yesterday, but we were not quite ready; +then at five yesterday morning; but either from our shells firing a +house near the breach, and the French encouraging the flames to spread, +or from their originally setting fire to that part of the town, there +was such a considerable fire all around the breach, that it was thought +too hot to attempt the storming. It was then, by Lord Wellington’s +order, I believe, fixed for this morning, and he has been as usual very +anxious about the event. + +He was very fidgety yesterday, when I went to him about two poor +fellows who are to be hung for robbing Lord Aylmer’s tent; and to-day +he came out to the churchyard, where we were listening, about eight +o’clock, to judge from the noise of the guns whether our batteries had +ceased, and what the firing was. He has been once over himself, but +appeared to wish to leave it to Graham, and not directly to interfere. +At eleven this morning, however, Colonel Burgh came over with an +account of our attempt having failed; that our party (consisting of +English, too, and I believe of the 9th and 38th) went up to the breach, +then turned, and ran away. This will terribly discourage our men who +have to go next, and encourage the enemy. Lord Wellington has ordered +his horse, and is going over immediately. + +Nothing can be done, however, before the evening or to-morrow morning, +as the attack must take place within two hours before or after low +water, in order to pass the sands for the breach. I am told the latter +is wide and easy, and we cannot tell what possessed our men on this +occasion. The object, St. Sebastian, is most important for the army; +first, to enable us to keep our ground here, as an _appui_ to the left +flank, and secondly, as a safe place for stores, sick and wounded, +where, in case of retreat, they may be all left to be brought off at +leisure by sea, and also as a refuge for Guerillas, &c. A few things +are now beginning to be brought to us in these wild inhospitable +regions, but still they are sent from Lisbon by land, with the six +weeks’ carriage on a mule to pay for. If some one would speculate to +Passages direct, it would fully answer, for Irish butter is 4_s._ 6_d._ +a pound; sugar, 4_s._; ham, 3_s._; tea, 20_s._, the same as that sold +at Lisbon for 8_s._: and so on. + +To-day I am going about three miles up the Bidassoa river to a posada, +in which the artillery of Colonel Ross’s troops are quartered, to dine +with them. Part of the way to their present quarters from St. Estevan +they had to cut their road with spades and pickaxes for the guns; but +there they now are safe. + +I am sorry to say several of our men (English) desert as well as the +foreigners. I have just heard that the cause of their failure at +St. Sebastian this morning was partly the same as that of Badajoz +formerly—a deep ditch behind the breach, and nothing to fill it up +with, if indeed that were possible; but it is said to have been very +deep. Our men looked, came back, got for shelter under the wall, and +were then ordered back, and they ran a little. This is a much better +account of the business. The attack was also too soon, so that the +tide prevented one attack from being attempted, and it is feared that +our artillery even fired from that cause on the attackers. The French +certainly understand sieges better, I think, than we do. + +_Head-Quarters, Berrio Planca, in front of Pamplona, half a league, +July 31st, 1813._—To my great surprise, here I am again, and now tell +you how and why. + +_Head-Quarters, again at Lezaca, near Bera, in the Mountains, August +3rd, 1813._—I had just taken up this paper, and headed it as above, to +begin my history, when a turn of good fortune, arising from the courage +of our army from the superior manœuvres of our General, have in eight +days brought head-quarters back to our old place, whence the first +sheet of this letter was dated. I have been too much occupied in this +interval almost to sit down, much more to write; but I will endeavour +to detail the important events I have witnessed in them in the best +order my recollection will permit. + +On the 25th July I went over to dine with the artillery. About seven +I mounted to return home, Colonel Ross, Captains Jenkinson and Belson +riding with me. On our way we met a messenger. I asked him to whom he +was going? He said to Colonel Ross. The Colonel was thereupon called +back. It turned out to be an order to march that night, and rather +to the rear. There had been a distant firing all day, on the right +wing near Maya. Lord Wellington was over at St. Sebastian. Belson was +sent to General Alten with orders by Colonel Ross. Jenkinson galloped +back to order the troops to get ready. Colonel Ross begged me to tell +General Murray he would endeavour to reach Sambillo that night; and +giving a receipt for the letter, was off. On my return I found Lord +Wellington still absent, and reports flying about, but no orders. I +soon found, however, that matters were not going on well, and ordered +everything to be ready for the march next morning. Lord Wellington +returned to dinner at eight, and found the following account of matters +on our right just arrived to greet him on his return from the failure +of St. Sebastian. + +The French had collected a force both at the pass of Roncesvalles +against General Cole, and at the pass of Maya against General Hill. In +the morning of the 25th they pushed a strong reconnoissance against +General Stewart, commanding Hills advance brigade near Maya, made a +show, but gave way again. This report we had heard, and thought all +was over. About three, however, the French advanced against Cole and +Hill. About twenty-two thousand against Cole’s force, about sixteen +thousand against General Stewart’s brigade; the force of the latter are +scattered on the hills round the pass. The French came up in one close +body, and gradually ascended the hill. Our people fired on them the +whole time, and the destruction was very considerable. Still, however, +they gained ground. Twice were they charged by a single regiment of +ours, and the head of the column gave a little, but the press of +numbers urged them on, and as our force was only about three thousand +men, and that acting only by small bodies of regiments or companies, +the French drove all before them after a most gallant but fatal +resistance, before a sufficient reinforcement could be brought up. Four +Portuguese guns were abandoned. Our loss in killed and wounded you +will see in the “_Gazette_.” It is said to be twelve hundred British, +almost all in three or four regiments—principally the 50th, 92nd, +74th, and 28th. In the 92nd, I am told, there was no officer except +the Quarter-Master in a state to march off the men at parade. Colonel +Belson (28th) had only four officers left besides himself on duty, as +he had been thinned at Vittoria. To add to this disaster, General Cole +thought he was not justified in opposing the superior force against +him, and gave way in the pass of Roncesvalles. This left an opening for +the enemy to get in the rear of General Hill in the valley of Bastan at +Elisondo. Of course, therefore, he was obliged to fall back also, and +the result was that Lord Wellington on his return found his right wing +forced, and his position completely turned. Retreat, and that a rapid +one, became necessary, in order to take a new position, and to fall +back on the divisions near Pamplona. + +After I was in bed on the night of the 25th the order came to march, as +I expected. Lord Wellington was off early straight across to the second +division. The light divisions fell back from our front; the seventh +also toward St. Estevan towards the second; the artillery proceeded to +St. Estevan by Sambillo. Head-quarters were sent over the mountains by +Yanga and Aranor to a little village called Eligarraga, just as you +descend into the valley of St. Estevan, there to wait for orders. + +We had a wild and tedious road of four leagues, up and down the +mountains like Blue Beard’s procession, in which we should now all be +adepts. A road ran round the bottom through Sambillo, but probably it +was not thought safe, and that it might interfere with the artillery, +as it was narrow the whole way, and nothing could pass. + +About two o’clock on the 26th we reached Eligarraga, and there found +Major Canning sitting by the wayside to order on everything three long +leagues further through Estevan, and then after keeping the road along +the valley about a league beyond towards the pass into the Bastan +Valley, near Trinita and Elisondo, we were to turn at Oronoz through +a pass on the right, which brought us into the rear of the valley +of Bastan, and into the rear of General Hill’s division, to a place +called Almendoz, on the road to Pamplona from Elisondo, General Hill’s +head-quarters being half a league in our present rear as we retreated, +at our old head-quarters, Berrueta. In the meantime the seventh and +light divisions got down into the valley of St. Estevan that night. + +At Almendoz we found the effects of the battle at Maya. The wounded +had just reached that place, and there those who had not been dressed, +had their wounds examined, and all were urged on to the rear over a +mountain pass to Lanz as fast as possible. The village of Almendoz +was very small; the wounded lying about in all directions, till cars +and mules could help them on. It was near seven o’clock, and we had +nothing to eat since seven in the morning; quarters very bad of course, +and the inhabitants all in the greatest distress, beginning to pack +up, to desert their houses, as the people in the valley of Bastan, at +Elisondo, &c., had done already, the French having got possession. +A retreat is a most distressing scene even at the best, and when +conducted with perfect order as this was. + +About nine o’clock that night orders came to march at daylight for +Ulague, a place about half-way between Lanz and Ostiz. After a five +o’clock breakfast, away we went for the mountains again. The road was +choked with baggage, and artillery, and fugitives, amongst others, +fourteen or fifteen nuns in their dresses, who were reduced by fatigue +to beg some rum of us as we passed, which unfortunately we had not with +us. We got on by scrambling along the paths near the road, and arrived +about twelve. On the 27th we arrived at Lanz. We there found General +Murray and several officers, all looking very serious and gloomy, and +orders given for everything to be turned off that road to the right, +and not to go to Ulague, as Cole had been pressed. The firing was very +sharp, and the French were urging on to that road, besides which, by +taking to the right we got towards the _camino real_, from Pamplona to +Tolosa, and could have made for General Graham’s if necessary. We were +turned through Arayes (where I had been on the advance, and by the road +where I had lost myself before in the night), on through a rich valley +and several villages to Lissago, or Lisasso. + +Here (the 27th) we were placed very snugly, only about two leagues and +a-half from the Tolosa road, about three from Pamplona, and in the +midst of the divisions. General Cole, with the fourth division, had +fallen back on Pamplona to some hills near Villa Alba, or Villalba: +there he joined the third division, General Picton’s, and some +Spaniards. General Hill fell back to Lanz. From Berrueta, the seventh +division got a short way over the mountains, from St. Estevan to near +Lisasso, our head-quarters, and thus got near the sixth. The light +division fell back more towards Goigueta, or Ernani, to communicate +with Graham and protect the Tolosa road, and thus we stood all night. + +The scene at Lisasso was dreadful! All the wounded from Lanz had just +arrived there, in cars, on mules, crawling on crutches, and hobbling +along: all those with wounds in their hands and arms, &c., walking. +Finding that they had orders to stop there, all our quarters, except +Lord Wellington’s, and about four more houses, were given up, and we +all dispersed to the villages round. You may conceive the scene, both +on the road and in the village. I thought one of my horses had lost his +shoes on the road, and desired my servant to ascertain this. A soldier +walking along, apparently one of the best, said that I had not; that +he was still, as a farrier, able to see that, though he thought he +should be some months before he could put another shoe on, as he had +been shot through the back. I went with Colonel and Mrs. Scovell to +a little village half-way up the hill towards Pamplona; and Colonel +Scovell and I climbed up to the top of the hill to listen and look +about until nearly six o’clock, when we expected our baggage. The +curé of the village and three peasants went up with us. We could see +beyond Pamplona, and beyond the firing, but could not perceive the +place itself for the smoke. By five o’clock, however, we all agreed +that it slackened, and receded a little; we therefore descended, got a +beefsteak, and waited ready for orders. + +About six that evening the wounded were ordered to move on towards +Irunzun, on the Vittoria and Tolosa roads; but we remained quiet. +About seven, a furious thunder-storm came on, and caught all our poor +wounded men on their march: they could not get on to Irunzun, but got +to Berrio Planca, near Pamplona. Two officers, one sick and one wounded +in a house half a mile from us, heard of this order, left their beds, +packed up, and were proceeding; but came first to us to inquire. We +told them that head-quarters were not to move. They then went back to +bed, keeping a guide in the house all night, to start in case of alarm. +At nine came an order to march to Orcayen, near Pamplona, the next +morning. Thus passed the 27th. + +At five o’clock on the 28th I began to load to proceed to Orcayen, +when Mr. Hook, who takes quarters, came back and left word that we +were to go to Irunzun instead; but the sergeant, by mistake, told us +he would call again when he had made more inquiry. In consequence of +this Mrs. Scovell and I staid until past ten before we marched. Then, +finding every one gone, and the baggage of General Hill’s division +arrived at Lisasso, we started over the mountain. For the first league +we were quite right; but afterwards, in a wood, got too much to the +right, and entered a wrong valley: as it was all safe, however, to +blunder on that side, and the country was picturesque, we proceeded on +that road, and by this means got through to Oscoz, and came into the +high Pamplona road to Tolosa, about three-quarters of a league from +Irunzun towards Tolosa, instead of half a league on the Pamplona side +of Irunzun, which would have been the nearest; it was not a league +round, and very picturesque. We were, therefore, not sorry for the +mistake. At Irunzun, however, came a difficulty; it was quite crowded +with wounded; and of head-quarters we could hear nothing, nor of our +baggage. + +Leaving my servant to bring on the baggage if it came, we proceeded +forwards towards Pamplona, near where we heard head-quarters +were—somewhere at least that way. At Berrio Planca, a place on the +_camino real_, we found all our baggage and the nominal head-quarters, +Every one, however, was absent, and the place full of wounded, the +effects of the preceding day. I got a room in the Prince of Orange’s +quarter, as he had sent for his bed away that night; but Henry had all +my keys. About eight I found Henry and went to bed. + +The next morning, the 29th, I heard that we had the most severe work +on the 28th; that the French attacked our position on a hill six or +seven times, which I believe our troops had only occupied a few hours +before the French came up near Oricain or Orquin. These attacks were +very desperate: and I understand that such a fire for a short time was +scarcely ever known, for four French corps all bore upon one point, +and General Pakenham told me that he scarcely dared show any of his +men. These attacks were, however, all unsuccessful, and we kept our +ground. The French were generally driven down with the bayonet, having +been suffered to come close, and then received with a volley, a cheer, +and a charge. I hear that some of our officers were once very much +alarmed for the result. The French remained close and steady, and one +regiment (I believe the 40th) went at them rather loose and straggling. +However, at the cheer at the last moment the French broke and ran. +The Portuguese behaved in general most inimitably, the 4th, 10th, and +12th regiments in particular. The 10th did, indeed, once give way, but +rallied; and the 4th charged twice, I think, on the 27th June, in good +English style. + +Our loss was very severe; that of the French, of course, much more +so; but as their cavalry carry off the wounded to the rear, and they +have an hospital corps also for that purpose, no one knows their +losses; their prisoners and deserters say nearly five thousand, Lord +Wellington’s staff were never so roughly handled. The Prince of Orange, +who was sent to thank one regiment by Lord Wellington, was very much +exposed while executing this order. His horse was shot under him, +and he was grazed in the sash. It was near this place that General +Cole’s aide-de-camp had been killed, and also Brigade-Major A——, +one of my Deputy Judge-Advocates. He was trying to rally a Spanish +battalion which was quite broken. The Adjutant-general Pakenham had his +coat-sleeve much torn by a ball. Colonel Waters, A.A.G.C., was shot in +the head, through the hat, on the temple, but somehow was little hurt. +It is thought that the ball glanced under the hat, against the head, +and passed out through the hat. He was out again the next day. Lord +Wellington was near at the time, and told him that his head must be +like a rock. + +Lord Wellington said, I hear, that he had never seen the French behave +better. He staid and dined at Picton’s on the 28th, and few returned to +head-quarters. All the 29th was quiet; both sides employed in burying +the dead and getting off the wounded. On the 29th also the staff and +light canteens alone remained at Villalba with General Cole; and I +was left with scarcely anything except wounded men and baggage. All +the stores were ordered to be unloaded, and all spare mules of the +head-quarters and of the second and seventh divisions likewise. Two +troops of Portuguese cavalry were employed from daylight to dark, in +addition to cars and hospital waggons, in carrying off the wounded to +Irunzun, to be out of the way in case of attack, and on the road to the +great hospital at Vittoria. + +I made myself of some use in assisting the arrangement, and as there +were not hands to move the men from their mules, to get their rations, +&c., and then remount them to proceed, I asked an artillery officer +close by, to lend some of his men to assist, which he did directly, +and everything went on as quick again. I was sure they would not stand +upon form on such an occasion, and the men were standing about waiting +for orders; they only regretted that they did not know it sooner, for +they would have given men all day. The scene was a busy one. I suppose +nearly twelve hundred went through in this way; they were provided +with rations for two days to get on to Echani, mounted and sent off, +their ammunition having in the meantime been taken from them to be +better used, for that was getting scarce more than once. Some had two, +some one ball still in them. Besides this, Colonel Campbell, of the +Portuguese service, who had been wounded, was lying in my ante-room +all day. He was shot through the shinbone, a painful wound. He could +not get into my room, which of course I offered, but he preferred the +cool passage. I was at breakfast when he arrived. I gave him tea, and +some newspapers to try and read himself to sleep. A friend was with +him, a Campbell, who shared my bouillie; he ate as good a dinner as I +did, but objected to a second bottle, upon which I discovered he was +also wounded in the side, and feared that the end of his rib was broken. + +The next morning, the 30th, we were all in suspense, as Lord Wellington +had determined on a general attack. The firing began at daylight. +At nine o’clock I determined to go and see what was going on, and +mounting my black, proceeded up for the hills, where the sixth and +seventh divisions were, on the opposite side of the valley from our +grand position, where we had been attacked the day before. I met many +wounded, crawling back all the way, and on the top found only the +pickets left in the camp of the morning, and that the seventh division +had just driven the French from the adjoining hill, and were after them +up the valley on the other side. I went on to the point of the hill and +saw the battle still raging strong, just opposite on the hills below, +on the other side of the valley opposite our position. The French +still steady and firing very briskly all round the side of one hill +and in the village below us, and our people creeping on by degrees +under ridges towards the village and the hill, and also advancing +round the back of the hill. We had two mortars and a gun also upon our +position-hill constantly at work, playing upon the French, and we saw +the shells continually fall and burst close to the French line, whilst +the wounded were carried off to the rear. + +This went on for some time, above an hour after I came up, and we +had men in reserve all round. I then saw our men in the village, and +immediately under the French, and appearing at top also. The French +gave way, but went on firing all over the hill. In half-an-hour, I +heard the loud huzzas of our soldiers, and saw no French left except +on the next hills, where they seemed very numerous and strong, but in +confusion. The first huzzas were I believe for a body of about eighteen +hundred prisoners, who were caught, being headed every way. There +was soon a shout on our side close by our positions. It proved to be +Marshal Beresford and Lord Wellington proceeding down to the village to +water their horses and proceed on. I should have wished to have pushed +on also, but I knew head-quarters would move, and had told my people I +should return, and not to stir until they saw me. I therefore went back +to Berrio Planca, found as I expected all loaded and on the move to go +towards Orquin; got a mouthful of mouldy bread in the market, and went +back again close to our position at Orquin. There we got orders to halt +loaded, until orders came to proceed to Ostiz. We took off our bridles, +turned the horses into a field of Indian corn, where the French camp +had been four hours before, and where their dead of the 28th had been +buried. We waited thus, hearing a distant firing, until near dark. The +reason of this halt, as I learned from General O’Donnell, who passed, +was that D’Erlon had attacked General Hill in the morning, and that he +had been rather too much in advance, and was in some degree obliged to +give way; that he had now taken a new position, and expected the second +attack without alarm, as he was to be supported. + +About four or five thousand Spaniards moved by us whilst we halted and +went up that way. I conclude that this was part of the support alluded +to. General Hill was attacked again, and I understand beat Count +D’Erlon (Drouet) back with great loss. When this had put all matters +straight again, on that side, at least, we were to proceed. At last +came orders to advance to Lanz, and we moved again. We drew up first, +however, on one side to allow eighteen hundred prisoners to march to +the rear,—a very pleasant sight. I spoke to several, and found all +of the 17th regiment, who were numerous, to be Italians, principally +Genoese. They said that they hated the French, but were forced to fight +in Spain against their inclinations. All the prisoners seemed quite +tired of Spain, and were as anxious as most of our people never to see +it again. They said that Soult was more in the rear, and did not intend +to fight that day, which was true, I believe, for he waited for General +D’Erlon to get up from St. Estevan towards Lanz. General Monceau, I +believe, commanded. + +We were again a second time stopped under some trees, for Lord +Wellington had ordered the French to be moved from their position +beyond Ostiz, and driven to the vicinity of Lanz; the baggage was +halted till the result was known. In the villages and on the road, +which was strewed with pouches, empty knapsacks, and broken muskets, we +passed several bodies all stripped, and in some places could scarcely +avoid treading on them, by the horse stepping over a leg or an arm. +In one place on the road was a half-buried Frenchman, which the horse +had again laid bare. The doctors determined to halt, and encamp under +some trees; and if my baggage had been near me to stop it, I should +have bivouacked with them, having no tent. As it was, I proceeded, got +a wretched quarter at Ostiz with Colonel Waters and seven countrymen, +just come from the mountains, at about nine o’clock, got a beefsteak at +eleven, and to bed at half-past twelve. + +The next day, 31st, orders came to proceed to Lanz, and wait further +instructions. There we arrived about ten o’clock, and I turned my +horses into the forage remaining in the French camp of the night +before, and got some collected for the mules. Thus we remained loaded +until four o’clock without orders. Lord Wellington then sent on for +fresh horses and his light canteens, and of our own accord we unloaded +to relieve the animals, but for a long time durst not unpack. At last, +General Murray came in, and ordered some dinner; but telling us that he +had no authority to direct others to do the same. We were all to go to +our old quarters; but, not liking in this state of things to go over +to Arriez, my old place, where I had lost myself in the night, I got a +room at Haines’s, and some dinner, hung my baggage cover up for a door, +and went to sleep on the table to avoid the fleas. + +The next day, 1st of August, about six o’clock, orders were issued to +advance to Berrueta, and there to remain, waiting orders again. We +returned over this mountain thus the third time, and got to Berrueta +about one o’clock. I called at Almendoz in passing, to remind the +patrona of the house that I had told her we should beat the French, +near Pamplona, and be back in a week. I was so in five days, and found +her more miserable than before, having been plundered by the French. +I gave the green Indian corn the French had left to my horse, and +wished her good-bye. About two o’clock, we heard that we had driven the +French off the hills above St. Estevan, and also through the town, and +head-quarters were to move on to St. Estevan directly. We did so, and +got there by five o’clock; the French having been driven out between +twelve and one. We saw about a dozen French, just killed, close to St. +Estevan. So we go on, you see. + +The French being driven in, about two leagues towards Lezaca and +Echalar, Longa and the Spaniards, and the light division, made a long +march back that day, the 1st of August, towards their own ground above +Lezaca, going more round, however, towards Echalar. By this, the +95th fell in with the French at the bridge, where the road to Lezaca +turns off from that to Echalar, headed them, killed and wounded about +a hundred, and, without discovering it, before dark, drove much of +their baggage up the valley round again towards St. Estevan. By this +movement, the French being then headed at the Lezaca valley, went the +Echalar pass and road instead, and in confusion; and the baggage walked +into the fourth division just as they advanced next morning. + +Yesterday, the 2nd of August, our orders were to proceed again to +Lezaca. We started, and got into all the baggage of head-quarters +(three divisions) eight miles extent of loaded mules in a string. There +was a halt of about four hours, and no one could move. This continued +until we got near where the baggage had been caught, which was the +cause of the stoppage. After fighting by all the baggage, and leading +my horse along some very dangerous places, where, if he had slipped, +he must have fallen down to the river (and four to five mules actually +did so), I got to the scene of the captured baggage, and then went +quietly on. For nearly two miles there were scattered along the road, +papers, old rugs, blankets, pack-saddles, old bridles, girths, private +letters, lint, bandages, one or two hundred empty and broken boxes; +quantities of intrenching tools, rags, French clothes, dead mules, +dead soldiers and peasants, farriers’ tools, officers’ boots, linen, +&c. There were also the boxes of M. Le General Baron de St. Pol, and +several private officers’ baggage; the principal thing taken seemed to +be the _ambulance du 2ème division_; that is, the field hospital of the +second division. There were still more things worth picking up, and +some soldiers digging up three live mules out of an old limekiln near +the road-side. This caused stoppages and confusion. + +Just beyond the bridge of Yanza the French were crawling off, who were +wounded by the 95th the night before, and we twice met small parties of +prisoners going to the rear, abused not a little by the plundered and +exasperated villagers. The prisoners told me that the country people +about these mountains were “_diablement méchant_,” and treated them +very ill. The truth was, however, that the French began this treatment; +for though they had behaved well in advancing, they had plundered and +destroyed considerably in their retreat, and much wantonly. I told them +they ought never to have come and entered Spain, to which they replied, +“We never wished to do so; it is not our fault.” + +About three o’clock, I went round to see what was going on, but my +horse was tired, and I was not able to get up, to see the French driven +from the hill above Echalar, and also from the hill occupied by the +light division. In short, all our old position, and a little more, was +gained last night. + +In our advance again, we also saw some of the effects of our own +retreat. In one place was an ammunition-waggon, with six dead mules, +which had all rolled down the mountain together. I ascertained that it +was English by sending a muleteer down for some papers in the waggon, +which turned out to be our printed blank artillery returns. I also saw +four other wheels and parts of carriages, and it is said that we lost +a howitzer. Colonel Ross’s troop suffered the most in this way. The +French seemed to have made this advance as a desperate push to relieve +Pamplona and St. Sebastian. The garrisons of both sallied; that of +Pamplona was driven back directly, as I hear: that of St. Sebastian (as +we are told) surprised us in the trenches napping, as the heavy guns +were all embarked for security, and nothing going on, and carried off +three companies of Portuguese. This, it is to be hoped, is exaggerated. +Near Elisondo, I hear, we took thirty cars of bread and brandy, and +some baggage also—a day’s bread for two divisions; and many are now +fighting without it on both sides. There is no delivery of bread +to-day, even for head-quarters; corn for the horses we have had none +this week. + +Head-quarters have stray papers to the 19th, which I am reading whilst +the fighting is going on. One great amusement in these papers, to +me at least, is the excess of lies, the impudence, the abundance of +them, and then the blunders, and ignorance of what is going on. You +will be surprised at the contents of this, when you get the _Gazette_ +account, as you will probably long before you receive this. I told you +that the beaten army would return in a month: whether they will muster +again this year, and attack, depends, in my opinion, upon the fall of +Pamplona and St. Sebastian, and the northern war. Pamplona is starving; +at least it is without meat; but I still doubt, except that this sudden +effort proves it to be in danger. It is merely more closely invested by +small gun redoubts—no battering gun has ever been near it, at present +only about six thousand Spaniards watch it, and I think if they choose +they might be off, only much harassed by our cavalry. + +The charges made by the Life Guards were the most ludicrous. They were +never near the enemy, until beyond Vittoria, as I was before them, and +was almost run down twice by their anxiety along the road, galloping +away without occasion. I leaped a ditch once to avoid them, not wishing +to blow my horse as theirs were, at a time when we were on one side +of Vittoria and the French on the other. They were afterwards ordered +on, but never came up with the enemy. They could do nothing in such a +country, with six-foot ditches round the enclosures. Very few of the +Spaniards have behaved well this time. They have been generally in the +rear; one regiment stood fire well on the 28th, but some ran, and in +general I hear they have done little. Longa’s people tolerably here. +There has been sharp work on the whole. I should put down the allied +losses at six or seven thousand, and the French nearly at eighteen +thousand, provisions and all, that is somehow put _hors de combat_. If +the Spaniards will not fight, we can scarcely stand even this advantage +long; we shall be ruined by our victories. The French under D’Erlon +behaved very well to Colonel Fenwick, who was left wounded; no one was +allowed to go to his house as a quarter, and every attention was paid +both to him and the surgeon left with him. The latter became so popular +that the French liked to be dressed by him, better than by their own +surgeons. + +_August 3rd, six o’clock, evening._—The great men are all come in; and +I am told nothing has been done more to-day. The last push over the +hills, and out of their position has not been made yet. So at least +says General O’Lalor. I suspect the Prince of Orange will carry home +these despatches, and I think it but fair now, that he should go and +see his intended as a conquering hero. He certainly promises very well. +An old man just returned home, is thrashing out his wheat over my head, +and has been thus employed all the morning, giving me his dust as well +as his noise. + +_Later, nine o’clock, evening._—Nothing has been done to-day; the +French remain in their strong ground above Bera, a league and a +half from this. It was found, I believe, necessary to turn it in a +regular manner to avoid great loss; for though one brigade of red +coats yesterday turned two French divisions off one high hill, we can +scarcely expect this to be always the case. I think, therefore, we +shall remain here some days at least. I have just heard an anecdote +of General Picton. General Cole on the 17th ordered General Byng to +retire from a post on a hill which afterwards formed a part of our +good position on the 28th. Byng sent to Picton to say what his orders +were, and added that though very important, he felt he was not strong +enough to justify his keeping it. Picton said to Byng’s aide-de-camp, +“No, by G—, he shall not give up the hill; I will bring my division +up to support him; but no, your horse is done up, I’ll go myself and +tell him;” and he ordered the division to follow. This saved that +hill. Another time, General Cole was by orders leaving a hill, when he +received fresh orders to occupy it. His men found a few stragglers on +the top, and the French main division half way up; but they gave them +such a volley and warm reception, that they soon turned back and were +off. + +We were very nearly destroying some of the French cavalry, and taking +two divisions. Two circumstances prevented this. The night we were +at Berrueta two of our men straggled, and got taken, and they told +the French where head-quarters were. This made them conclude we were +strongly posted close by, and they decamped at night instead of the +morning, as they had intended. Thus several hours were gained. The next +was, that our light division got their orders seven hours later than +was expected. Had they been that time sooner up, they would have headed +the French division on their road to Echalar, as well as to Lezaca, and +from strong ground might have been able to drive them back upon the +other divisions, and have surrounded them. Their cavalry also would +have been caught on this narrow winding road down by the river, where +the baggage was destroyed, with a path in the wood just on the opposite +side, from whence our men might at least have picked off the horses if +the men chose to run away. This was just missed, however, from these +causes, and remains one of the _ifs_ and _ands_; it is very provoking, +for that would have completely crippled them for this year. + +A Spanish priest told me to-day that all the priests, nuns, &c., in +Spain, were constantly putting up prayers for Lord Wellington, thinking +almost everything depended upon him individually, as I believe most +people here really think. They were sorry he was so often exposed as he +is to fire. + +_Lezaca, August 4th, 1813._—Nothing is to be done, I believe, to-day. +Everything _in statu quo_; the Prince goes to-night or to-morrow +morning with despatches to England, and I shall send this with them. + +P.S. It feels, as you may suppose, very strange, after the whirl about +to Pamplona, and all the scenes I have witnessed, to be again quietly +drawing charges at Lezaca. I have just heard that the French have +increased their force much in our front above Bera on the hills, but I +think nothing more will be done immediately on our part or on theirs. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + Rejoicings for the Victory—Sufferings of Cole’s Division—Complaints + of the French—Statements of a French Prisoner—Decay of + Spain—Characteristics of Wellington—His Opinion of Bonaparte—Prospects + of a renewal of the Attack—Exchange of Prisoners—Wellington’s Spanish + Estate—His opinion of Picton—Disposition of the Army. + + + Head-quarters, Lezaca, + August 7, 1813. + + MY DEAR M——, + +Here we are still, quiet, and _in statu quo ante_ our last run to +Pamplona. I have sent you a long account of all this business with the +Prince of Orange’s despatches. + +Our cavalry have been moving up, both to St. Estevan, and towards +Irun. From the former place, however, for want of forage they begin to +retire again. Much are left still round Pamplona, where there is only +a Spanish infantry force to watch and invest. They have tried in vain +to burn the corn just under the walls of the town, for this partly +supplies the garrison. Marshal Beresford is gone for a week to the +sea side, for bathing; I conclude, therefore, that nothing is to be +immediately undertaken to turn the French out of the remaining hills +near this place. I should like to have them clear out in the plains +below, for I expect in about three weeks to have them plaguing us +again. Something is still in agitation for this purpose, but for the +present delayed. We fired, at St. Sebastian, a salute of twenty-one +guns for our late victory. The garrison regularly returned two for +every gun fired. They are very well supplied, it is said, and are +very impudent. I fear that all our former breaches will now be quite +useless, as they are, probably, before this, made the strongest points. +Saragossa, or Zaragoza (the fort) has surrendered to Mina with about +forty guns, and, it is said, nearly five hundred men; this will be +good, if Suchet intends to come that way towards us. I think he is now +retreating a little, and perhaps this late business may make him go +back quicker. + +Lord Wellington was on his bed yesterday, and could scarcely rise from +the lumbago; but was in good humour and good spirits. His position +near Sorauren and Oricain, or Orquin, was a near-run thing (this was +where the last two battles were fought). General Cole was there with +the fourth division. In the course of his retreat, Lord Wellington +was falling back on him with his staff, saw the importance of the +position and galloped over the bridge, and up to General Cole, to +form his division, and take up the position at first sight. Pamplona +must otherwise have been relieved. The French were so close upon Lord +Wellington, that a part of his staff rather behind could not follow him +over the bridge, but were cut off by the French, and obliged to find +their way round. This position was afterwards strengthened by the third +(Picton’s) division, and the Spaniards, and this at least saved the +communication with Pamplona. I hope we should in any case have beaten +the French at last, but it must have been further back certainly, and +probably on the Tolosa road. General Cole’s division has had, on the +whole, nearly nine days’ constant fighting and marching. It is terribly +cut up in consequence. + +The French vow vengeance against the Spaniards. An officer, prisoner +here, told me yesterday, that the Spaniards had always complained +of the French, and often with reason; but if they came again as he +expected, the French were resolved to show them the difference, and +let them have some reason to complain of them in earnest. He said, that +France had lost nearly four hundred thousand men in Spain, in the war, +and much more than half from sickness and unfair means, assassination, +and treachery. He said there was not a family in France which had not +put on mourning for this Spanish war, and yet scarcely any of the +Spaniards had fought them like men. He said the notion the French had +was that in the general peace which was expected, England and France +would make arrangements to divide the best part of Spain between them, +and that we should keep Cadiz, Carthagena, and all the useful maritime +parts, and leave them to the Ebro. He smiled much at my disowning any +such honest and honourable intentions on our part. He told me that the +French armies had suffered more in their _morale_ here in the last +campaign, than by their Russian losses, for every Frenchman laid the +latter disasters entirely to climate, and was satisfied he still could +conquer a Russian as formerly; but here, the troops were fairly beaten, +and in general would not stand. Only two brigades, he said, behaved +really well at Vittoria, and Jourdan was sent to Paris under arrest for +his conduct. As to the money, baggage, &c., they behaved much better on +the 18th of July. + +He also told me that not even an English or Spanish officer, in the +best of times, had ever been so well treated as the French were when +they first came here. He appeared not at all to feel how much worse +this made their conduct appear since. This was drawn out by my telling +him that Bonaparte had contrived now to make the French detested, +almost by every nation in Europe, and that power was all he had to rely +upon. The part Bernadotte had taken the French officers seem not to +have known, so much are they kept in the dark about every thing. The +Frenchman also said, that had it not been for the jealousies of the +Guerillas, they might, by acting in concert (which they never would +do), have sometimes almost annihilated whole French divisions, and that +the French could scarcely have kept their ground some time since; but +by local and individual jealousies the finest opportunities were lost. +He considered that the good or bad behaviour of an army all depended +on their having pay and food; or, on the contrary, the want of both; +and I believe so much: that he rightly considered that the French +discipline was the best when they had both, but that not being here +ever the case, plunder was the consequence. “But why come here at all?” +quoth I. “_L’Empereur le veut_,” was the answer, “and we as soldiers +have only to obey.” “Try and enter France,” said he, “and you will soon +see how the people feel, and whether your stories of a readiness to +revolt, and dissatisfaction are true. So far from it, that there has +been considerable zeal shown every where in replacing the Emperor’s +Russian losses.” The French think there must be war, and therefore +the further from home the better. We have heard before you, by French +papers, of the extension of the armistice in the North. This is bad for +the campaign here. + +The English reviewers and others may say what they please as to Spain +not having been on the decline during the last century. It has at +least stood still when almost every other country in Europe made rapid +advances in everything. In Spain and Portugal, no town is now, or has +been lately, on the increase; but several have manifestly diminished. +The decay of houses is seldom made good, even on the same ground, by +new ones; I do not recollect to have observed, in the whole country, +four new houses building, notwithstanding the thousands destroyed of +late; nor does this seem owing to the events of the last five years and +the present times, for you see no houses commenced before that time, +and left unfinished, at least extremely few. In France, almost every +large place had its new town as in England, only in a less degree, +and evident marks of new buildings, &c., stopped by the Revolution. +In Spain there are no appearances of new towns at all, nor of parts +of towns, or scarcely even of houses, or unfinished buildings stopped +by the present confusion—some in Vittoria, from French excitement I +believe, but nothing to speak of. The churches are every where on a +large and expensive scale; a few modern, but in general they are old. +The Spanish towns have nearly all the appearance of what we should take +to be decayed manufacturing towns. The inhabitants appear to have been +asleep as to the rest of the world, and not to have made any progress +whilst others made great advances. This is a sort of decline. There +can have been little demand for manufactures, for the same few chairs +and tables seem to have been in use these fifty or hundred years. +Whitewashing and new placing the tiles seem the only repairs of the +houses. + +Yet, I think many districts seem to have been uncommonly happy and +comfortable before this war—large tight houses, abundance of food, good +clothes, cleanly habits, a general equality of rank; no rich among them +at all; no very poor; and no manufactures. Almost every man could make +what he wanted for his farm, and a shoemaker, a tailor, and a farrier, +were nearly the only tradesmen, except farmers, in work. Occasional +pedlars supplied the other wants of a people who had but few. Such +must have been the independent, happy state of many large districts +away from the influence of the corruptions of the large towns, where +all the idle, lazy, pauper nobility lived: they were alike free from +the effects of the misgovernment and oppressive conduct of their +rulers. Other districts certainly were very different, and more like +the dirty and ill-provided Portuguese. In Portugal, the higher classes +seem, I think, to have been generally better off, and to have enjoyed +themselves more in their quintas, or villas, and the poor to have been +worse off. There are none of the districts in Portugal such as I have +described in Spain. + +I have just met General Cole, who commanded the fourth division; he is +quite knocked up. He says that his division alone have one hundred and +four officers killed and wounded. + +_Lezaca, 8th August._—Yesterday I rode up to the hill at the point +of our position above Bera, from whence you see Bayonne. I stood on +the top until it was nearly dark, and returned down the mountains by +moonlight. The French fires were very numerous, and were burning all +over the sides of a tremendous hill, which they still occupy opposite +to our position. I passed the boundary stone, and got half-a-mile +into France, to the highest summit of the rock, where the outlying +picket is. I saw the French relieve their pickets, heard their drums +as plainly as ours, saw the men at work at a redoubt to oppose us if +we should advance, and, lastly, saw five thousand Spaniards come up to +occupy the ground in the place of our light division, &c., who were +ordered to go elsewhere. These were O’Donnell’s regiments; they were +thin in numbers. A brigade, nominally three thousand, mustered eighteen +hundred, but were well-dressed and good-looking men. I only hope they +will fight—at least that they do not steal as adroitly as Longa’s +people. We have had the latter near this place, and nothing is safe at +all from their fingers—from a horse or mule down to a bit of biscuit. +In my letter from Vittoria, I told you that the French as an army +had escaped, and that we should hear of them again in a month. So it +proved; and so I think it will be probably again, unless the two places +surrender to us in a few weeks. + +This small, dirty place, Lezaca, is a curious scene of bustle just +now; crowded with Spanish fugitives—the head-quarters no small body, +with all our stragglers and those of Longa’s, who are more numerous +(he having a quarter here now, and looking like an English butcher in +a handsome hussar dress), with abundance of Spanish and Portuguese +officers (for both troops are near), as well as with English, with +wounded and prisoners passing, with mules and muleteers innumerable, +besides all the country people who come here to turn all they have +got into money. Noises of all sorts; thrashing all going on in the +rooms up stairs; the corn then made into bread and sold in one corner; +“_aguardente_” being cried all about; lemonade (that is, dirty water +and dark-brown sugar) the same; here a large pig being killed in the +street, with its usual music on such occasions; another near it with +a straw fire singeing it, and then a number of women cutting up and +selling pieces of other pigs killed a few hours before. Suttlers and +natives with their Don Quixote wineskins all about, large pigskins, +and small ditto, and middling ditto, all pouring out wine to our +half-boozy, weary soldiers; bad apples and pears, gourds for soup, sour +plums, &c., all offered for sale at the same moment. Perpetual quarrels +take place about payment for these things between the soldiers of the +three allied nations and the avaricious and unreasonable civilian +natives; mostly, however, between Spaniards and Spaniards. The animals +eating green Indian corn almost against every house here and in the +churchyard, which contains four tents, from the want of stables and of +quarters. Not the least curious or noisy in this confusion, are about +fifteen men and women with fresh butter 4_s._ the pound, who are come +from near St. Andero and beyond it—a stout race dressed in a curious, +peculiar manner, who contrive to bring butter on their heads in baskets +for above a fortnight together, and sell it at last in a state that I +am very glad to eat it for breakfast for ten days after it arrives. It +forms a sort of very mild cream cheese, in fact. + +_Head-Quarters, Lezaca, August 9th._—You ask me if Lord Wellington has +recollected —— with regard? He seems to have had a great opinion of +him, but scarcely has ever mentioned him to me. In truth, I think Lord +Wellington has an active, busy mind, always looking to the future, and +is so used to lose a useful man, that as soon as gone he seldom thinks +more of him. He would be always, no doubt, ready to serve any one who +had been about him, or the friend of a deceased friend, but he seems +not to think much about you when once out of the way. He has too much +of everything and everybody always in his way, to think much of the +absent. He said the other day, that he had great advantages now over +every other General. He could do what others dare not attempt; and he +got the confidence of all the three allied powers, so that what he +said or ordered was, right or wrong, always thought right. “And it is +the same,” said he, “with the troops. When I come myself, the soldiers +think what they have to do the most important, since I am there, and +that all will depend on their exertions. Of course, these are increased +in proportion, and they will do for me what perhaps no one else can +make them do.” He said, “he had several of the advantages possessed by +Bonaparte, in regard to his freedom of action and power of risking, +without being constantly called to account: Bonaparte was quite free +from all inquiry, and that he himself was in fact very much so. The +other advantages which Bonaparte possessed, and of which he made so +much use,” Lord Wellington said, “was his full latitude of lying; +_that_, if so disposed,” he said, “he could not do.” + +You ask about my health—I think this hole in the mountains unwholesome: +the place is so full, and without drainage; the air heavy and +oppressive; it is like Devonshire, warm moisture constantly. I long to +be on the mountains, to get air and braced up. It has rained nearly all +the last twenty-four hours. + +_August 10th._—I have just seen Lord Wellington, about some more than +usually important business: he is better, but not well. He has given me +an immense bundle of English and Spanish papers to peruse and examine. +The enclosed plan may help you a little to understand the _Gazette_, +and my letter; remember it is only my hasty personal sketch in pen and +ink, on no scale, and taken from no regular document. + +_11th, Post-day._—I worked very hard all yesterday, and could not +get through Lord Wellington’s papers. I am still at work at the last +part of them: a Spanish narrative of all the Spanish operations of +a Spanish army for a month, by their General Copons. It consists of +sixty-four sides of foolscap in a Spanish hand. There is nothing new. +Lord Wellington will give a dinner to-morrow, in honour of the Prince +Regent’s birthday, to all the heads of departments, to which I am +invited. There are reports of the French moving already, but I believe +all lies as yet. Do not be too sanguine about Suchet. He may retire, +but will hardly be forced out of the country, for there are forty +thousand French on that side of Spain. The Spanish Government have +given Lord Wellington a handsome royal estate near Granada; he told me +this yesterday. + +_Head-Quarters, Lezaca, August 13th, 1813._—Here I am, and very busy +still, and with no events to communicate. All is now quiet for the +present, as at Frenada, though this cannot last long. Having the paper +by me, however, I determined to place this letter upon the stocks, +against the next post-day. + +Yesterday I dined at Lord Wellington’s, with a party of thirty-six, +to keep the Prince Regent’s birthday. Eight mules had arrived in the +morning with prog and wines from Bilboa, and we had therefore a good +feast, and some very good claret of Majoribanks and Paxton. The party +was very dull, though many grandees were present—Castanos, O’Donnell, +the General of the army of the reserve (the best Spaniards I have seen, +and now on the hill above us, with something like a Commissariat, &c.), +their aides-de-camp, &c., Generals Cole, Anson, Murray, Pakenham, +&c. Two bands were in attendance those of the Fusiliers and the 7th. +Fuento, the Spanish Commissary, gave us “God save the King,” and Lord +Wellington’s favourite, “Ah Marmont, onde va Marmont?” but it was very +hot and stupid; every one here, in fact, is fagged, and half done up. +Lord Wellington could scarcely rise when he sat down, or sit down when +he rose, from lumbago, and was in great pain, but is much better; all +around him looked pale and worn. I think, however, we shall be up to +another brush again soon. + +We are soon about to begin again at St. Sebastian; but it is to be +feared that it will be hard and bloody work, unless some piece of good +luck should arise in our favour. + +_Later._—I have just been to Lord Wellington, with the result of my +labours, which have amused him much, and which he thinks I cannot be +correct in, as to facts; or if so, the whole, he concurs with me, is +most extraordinary. He has now got the papers and my statement to +examine. It is not, in my opinion, the Spanish General who was to +blame; I must not explain more at present; he seemed pleased, and asked +me to dinner again to-day. We have a stray paper to the 4th, which +has set us all agog; but I have only heard the news concerning Lord +Aberdeen, and it does not seem quite certain that there is to be an +ambassador from England to the Congress. The French nation, or rather +the news through France, is I hear all for peace, and the Rhine and the +Pyrenees are to be the boundaries, Jerome King of Holland, and Joseph +King of Italy; this is only French rumour. + +I am told that Soult says he will be here the day after to-morrow, the +15th, and has two bridges ready near Irun, to come on our left; he +would only come there, for I think we should be able to do something. +We are well up for an attack there; four hours would put the divisions +here on that flank, Spaniards, &c. + +_The 14th._—We had last night a little firing, but I believe it was +only the Spaniards. The latter and the French fire at each other +at every opportunity, and when neighbours, are never at peace. Our +sentries and the French, on the contrary, are within one hundred yards +of each other, and are relieved regularly without the least molestation +on either side. This is the way. Unless an attack is to be made, what +is gained by killing a poor sentry? Our new brigade is not yet at +Passages, although expected for this fortnight. Some reinforcements +have, however, come up, and the brigade of Guards, which were left +behind, have, by easy marches from Oporto, now joined us—about fifteen +hundred out of the three thousand who came out at that unlucky time +last year. The French have also reinforcements, and must in honour +do something if the two places hold out. The French gentleman who +came over to us near Pamplona fourteen days since, dined at Lord +Wellington’s yesterday, and talked away. He seems clever, and, like +every Frenchman, professed to know everything—the secret history of +everybody and of every event. He calls Bonaparte _un tigre_, &c. I +cannot say that I like him much, and would not trust him; but I am not +much afraid of Lord Wellington doing so. Lord Wellington told him the +following fact, concerning the exchange of prisoners in this country. +He said that Massena once agreed to exchange three hussar officers and +one hundred and twenty men, rank for rank, and when he had got his +own three officers and the men, sent back only twenty soldiers, and +the rest countrymen and Portuguese militiamen, and three officers of +militia scarcely embodied. Lord Wellington vowed never to trust his +honour again, and in every proposal always excepts Massena. Indeed +he said he was so little inclined now from experience to trust any +of them, that a short time since, when an exchange was proposed, he +said, “Yes; but first name the officers and men you offer, and their +regiments, ages, &c., and then I will treat, but I will not have +Spanish peasants for French soldiers.” To this they sent no answer. + +Lord Wellington also tells them, that until our travellers, civilians, +&c., who were detained are released, he can never listen to +non-combatant pleas. All must be exchanged; but he is very liberal. He +also said Soult once complained that six of our officers had escaped +from their guard near Oporto, on that retreat, and had committed a +breach of honour; but that he (Lord Wellington) having inquired into +it, found they were placed in confinement under a guard, and their +parole not relied upon, and that they had got the better of their +guard. Lord Wellington, therefore, told the Marshal that the parole +being abandoned by the imprisonment, the point of honour was gone; and +that there were two ways of prisoners and their guards separating, and +that he believed the guard had run away from their prisoners, not the +prisoners from their guard. To this also he had no answer. + +Lord Wellington also talked of Grant’s case, who lately got away from +Paris. Lord Wellington had advised him not to give his parole in Spain, +and had provided persons to rescue him in several places on the march +to France. They offered this to Grant in consequence, but the offer +was from honour declined, as the parole had been given and acted upon. +The moment he was in France the French placed him under a guard, and +at Bayonne he got away from them and went to Paris, remained there +nine months, and got to England at last. Lord Wellington yesterday +was excessively stiff and sore, but in high spirits. He seems to have +a notion that the Continent will make a peace, and leave us and the +Spaniards in the lurch, and I believe this prevents any very forward +movements here on his part, for the French would then soon come down +upon us with decidedly superior numbers; and if we had quite passed +these mountains a hasty retreat back through them would not be a very +easy or agreeable manœuvre. + +I rode last night to Bera or Vera, where our outposts are in the +valley. The French pickets are in two houses on the hills opposite, a +few hundred yards up. Several of the houses about there are destroyed, +gutted, and burnt, and most of them deserted. It was only a month ago a +pretty little town. Longa had also, since we were here last, burnt two +neat farms on the road, and knocked off the parapet of the bridge, and +dug a trench across it, for the purpose of annoying the French. We have +headed nearly all the green Indian corn in this valley for the horses; +it is cut short off, half way, leaving the fruit below; and this is +said not to do much harm to the corn. But then we cannot eat our cake +and have it also. There will be no dry forage for the animals in autumn +and winter. The little wheat straw about these valleys is nearly all +eaten already, and much of the wheat and Indian corn itself has been +either destroyed or taken by the irregularity of the thousand muleteers +around us, in spite of their being occasionally flogged when caught in +doing so. The inhabitants will, I fear, be half starved in the winter, +unless they migrate, which many will, no doubt, and we must be supplied +from other parts if we stay near here. Spain in general will, however, +have been released from the supply of, nominally, two hundred thousand +French; and as we drove them away before harvest time, most of this +will be in the market somewhere, except what has been destroyed on +our immediate line of march. Much has been of course trodden down, and +from the want of forage and corn our horses have been obliged to take +the ripe wheat and eat it—straw, grain, and all—to serve both purposes. +This is dangerous food, and if drink is given carelessly, often kills +the animal; but otherwise it answers well. + +We understand here that it was not until three days after the news of +the battle of Vittoria arrived that any one durst inform Bonaparte of +it. This last battle will very probably be almost entirely concealed +from him. As we are now both _in statu quo_ as to place, this may +perhaps be managed: though the enemy are about fifteen thousand +men minus to what they were before the attack at Maya began. From +intercepted letters we find that, in reports even to each other, the +French lie considerably, or at least misrepresent, for the good of the +service, and this will present a good opportunity, as Bonaparte is so +far off. + +In this little town, or rather village, there are about twelve priests +at least, walking about in their shovel hats. These hats would astonish +the most orthodox bishop’s chaplain in England, and our coalheaver’s +hat is nothing to them. The only fine cloth in the shops here is black, +you may guess for whose use. + +The estate which the Spanish Government has given to the Marquis of +Wellington is, I understand, a very desirable one; and the best proof +that it is so, is that it was one which the Prince of Peace had given +to himself, and doubtless he chose the best he could find. It is +nominally thirty thousand dollars a-year, a castle, I understand, and +about a league from Granada, in a fine country.[5] Lord Wellington +seems very much pleased with it. He says that he hopes the house is a +good one, as he should not like to have to build, and that he hears +there is hunting, coursing, fishing, and everything near it. There +was a fine wood, but I fear the Prince of Peace cut most of that +down. General O’Lalor, who is in a bad state of health, is to have +the government of Granada, and will superintend this estate for Lord +Wellington. The latter had got the papers concerning it before him when +I called a few days since, and said, “This relates to the estate they +have given me.” + +_The 15th._—I have been very ill all night and this morning, but am +now rather better, and the doctor tells me I am saved a fever by this +bilious attack. We are all most anxious for news from the North, for +all must depend in the end upon that, at least in a great measure. +Next to General Frost, I think, our General has done the most for the +common cause. General Villa Alba, the Spanish Inspector of Cavalry, +dined at head-quarters to-day. He is a queer-looking creature, anything +but a General in appearance, and much less a cavalry officer. I know, +however, nothing of his real character. We now feel the effects of our +work through these valleys; for we cannot ride a few miles without the +alternate smells of dead horses, dead mules, and dead men. Bonaparte’s +birthday has passed over very quietly, except a tremendous triple salvo +of all the St. Sebastian’s guns and mortars upon our poor fellows in +the trenches at daylight. The garrison are amazingly pert, from their +success hitherto; but we have some hopes they will soon want water. +Adieu. + +_The 16th._—Much the same to-day, the attack continuing all night. +Cannot think what it is in this country that affects us. The +thermometer has never in the shade, in my room, been beyond 72° in this +part of Spain. General Sir T. Picton is attacked again with a violent +bowel complaint, and is fallen to the rear. He would be a great loss, +for he is one of the best here. Lord Wellington, the other day, said, +“Why, even General Picton did so-and-so the other day,” as if surprised +that he should not have acted quite right. + +Our soldiers are quite unaccountable; all is going on right, and they +are just now quiet and well fed, yet desertion, and even of British, +to the enemy, was scarcely ever more frequent. It was not surprising +that one hundred and forty of the Chasseurs Britanniques went off when +we were falling back to Pamplona, and, as they thought, probably to +Portugal; but that the English soldier should desert, is astonishing +and unaccountable. Three went off from pickets together the other +night, towards the French, and were all caught, and are to be tried. +Several must be hung for this. Two new regiments have at last arrived. +I wish the French would come fairly on now, if at all, but every one +talks of a general peace. Adieu. + +_The 17th._—We have this day a strong French report that peace is +signed, and that the Pyrenees are to be the boundary of France on this +side. Nothing said about England; but even at this rate, we must be off +if this prove true. The news you told me of the fifty thousand men, +under Soult, you will have seen was tolerably correct; it was intended +he should have been here sooner, to prevent the mischief which happened +at Vittoria. As soon as the report came that we were threatening to +cross the Ebro he was sent off, but he did not allow sufficiently +for Lord Wellington’s rapid movements, and was a little too late. It +is clear, from many circumstances, as Lord Wellington says, that he +intended to drive us back to the Ebro this last push, and that his +measures were all taken accordingly; his cavalry, which he brought with +him, and which, as regards the country as far as Pamplona, would have +been useless, has suffered much from the roads, want of shoes, &c., and +had no employment except that of carrying off the wounded. + +Our army is now nearly as follows: first and fifth divisions, Oyarzun +and St. Sebastian, under Graham; Jeron, with his Spaniards of Gallicia, +in their front at Irun; Longa between them and this place, with his +diminished Guerillas; here the fourth division and the light division +in front, and the Spaniards of O’Donnell the reserve next, on the right +of the others, in front; then the seventh division above Echalar, &c.: +then the third and sixth in Maya and Roncesvalles Pass, with Spaniards +I believe also, and General Hill’s second division behind them in +the valley of Bastan, Elisondo, &c.; six thousand Spaniards watching +Pamplona, and our cavalry about there principally or in the rear of +Graham. + +_The 18th, still Lezaca._—O’Donnell is unwell, from the wound in his +leg, from which thirty splinters have been extracted: he is going to +the baths. He is the Conde de Bispal, commanding the army of Reserve. +Jeron is to take his command now, and give up the Gallicians; our men, +however, I am glad to learn, are in general considered as very healthy: +General Cole told me that his division was particularly so, after all +their fatigues. The army have Lord Wellington to thank principally, +even for this. Last year the mules per company allowed by Government +were employed in carrying the heavy iron camp-kettles, and our men had +no tents; though they were allowed them, they could not be carried. +This year Lord Wellington had light tin kettles made, one for every +six men, for the mess, to be carried by one of the men, each having a +small cooking machine of tin besides. This plan sets the mules free and +disposable, and thus three tents have been carried for every company, +and allowing for absentees, guards, officers’ servants, sentries, &c.; +this now nearly houses or covers all our men, and contributes much to +the health of the army. It was entirely an arrangement of his own. +The Portuguese are still without tents, as are the French and the +Spaniards. + +The French, however, are very expert at making wood huts, with fern +for the top and for the bedding, tolerably comfortable except in heavy +rains. So are now the Portuguese indeed, and many of them (as well as +our men who happen not to have tent room) join two together, and giving +up their blankets for sleeping on, make a good tent of them, which +holds two very well, and only consists of their two muskets and two +blankets; and now, since we have obtained so much plunder, generally +a good sack or piece of carpet at the rough weather side. Orders were +given before we marched from Granada, by Lord Wellington, to have all +blankets looped and strengthened at the corners, for this purpose, all +ready, as an excellent defence from the sun, even better than a tent, +for it is cooler, and a very tolerable one from rain. + +I am to dine with General Cole, who is quartered here. My people in +this house are up all night, making a noise, and baking for Longa, and +all day the children are shaking the dirt from above down upon me. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[5] It is situated in the Val de Soto. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + Reported renewal of Operations against St. Sebastian—Effects of + the War on Spain and Portugal—Wellington’s Account of recent + Proceedings—Courts-martial—Prisoners Shot—Discussions on War between + Wellington and a French Deserter—The Siege resumed—Work of the + Heavy Batteries—Trial of General O’Halloran—Volunteers for the + Storming-parties. + + + Head-quarters, Lezaca, + August 21, 1813. + + MY DEAR M——, + +Several of our Vittoria sick and wounded now begin to return and join +their regiments. Major Freemantle came back just in time for dinner +yesterday, and amused us with an account of all your madness in England +about the battle of Vittoria. + +General Cole, with whom I told you I was going to dine, lives very +comfortably. To do this, even in his way, he has now travelling with +him about ten or twelve goats for milk, a cow, and about thirty-six +sheep at least, with a shepherd, who always march, feed on the road +side, on the mountains, &c., and encamp with him. When you think of +this, that wine and everything is to be carried about, from salt and +pepper and tea-cups to saucepans, boilers, dishes, chairs, and tables, +on mules, you may guess the trouble and expense of a good establishment +here. + +I mentioned to you the iron-works all about this country, and their +simple construction; they make, however, I believe, excellent iron. For +this purpose they mix the ore of this country, which is too brittle, +with the ore they fetch from near Bilboa, which is rather too ductile +and soft, and of the two form an excellent compound, which used to +supply much of the southern part of France. + +Our great guns are, I am told, to begin pounding to-day at St. +Sebastian again, but I have not heard them yet. The old breach will not +do at all; it is, we are told, mined and filled with little intended +explosions. A seventy-four and some frigates are now near. I wish they +would let the sailors try the sea side when we storm. I think they +would get in somehow at once into the castle. + +_August the 23rd._—I have now a fresh set of Courts in every division +again, as my last are broken up. One Deputy Judge-Advocate sent me, out +of curiosity, a history of his Court-casualties, &c., nine members out +of fifteen, and the Judge-Advocate, killed or severely wounded, since +the 22nd of May, two prosecutors and three witnesses, all officers. We +are trying to clear as we go, and to prevent all arrears, and we hang +away to prevent desertion. I am told that the French do the same and +still more, but their people will go home to the rear; this is more +natural. We are told that ten men from each company are gone by orders +to the rear also—some foolishly say to quell riots, for which purpose +ten old men would be the most useless possible; but the most plausible +account is, to drill new conscripts. Some deserters say they are sent +even to Italy for this; I believe just now that they are not prepared +to move, and will be content to remain quiet. We have alternate +accounts, of course, of war and peace. To-day two women (one French, +the other Spanish,) of the French prisoners from Vittoria, came in here +on their way to join the French. Lord Wellington, however, has stopped +them, and says he will have no more sent over until the French release +about three hundred mothers and wives, &c., of the Guerillas, who were +carried off by them as hostages for the return home of the Guerilla +relations, so they cry and think this very sad to be put upon the same +footing as such creatures. One of the ladies asked the Adjutant-general +whether she had better write to her friends openly, to propose an +exchange, or in cipher? Upon which he thought a cipher lady should not +remain here, at least long. We now give some flour to Longa’s people +for bread, and try to make regulars of them. + +It is very terrible that our people, muleteers, soldiers, &c., do more +mischief by far than the French, except when the latter do it by way +of punishment and revenge; at ordinary times their discipline is much +better than ours. The heads of the Indian corn are now nearly all eaten +off about here by the cattle, and cut by the soldiers to roast, as well +as the leaves for our animals. The Spaniards, however, in some degree +have their revenge; we bring a quantity of money into the country in +spite of our bad pay, and this they fleece us out of in high style. +They sell everything like Jews, and are naturally exorbitant, greedy, +and avaricious; this seems the general character. So we go on! They +cheat our men as much as they can, and our men get all they can gratis; +upon the whole, however, if we remain stationary, we benefit the +country. + +Lord Wellington yesterday said it was stated in his letters from +Lisbon, that Portugal was miserable without us. No money, no markets, +nothing doing. I believe he was half joking with the Portuguese agent +here; but he really meant that we were much missed there. The muleteers +with us are the worst. Their terms were, a dollar a-day each mule, +and one for a man for every three mules, and rations. They have gone +on four years, and more; they are now, I believe, sixteen months in +arrears in their pay, having just got one month lately. If paid up +they would make fortunes, and have no pretence to behave ill. As it +is, they steal, plunder, turn out their mules in the corn, &c., and +from one of the most orderly classes in Spain, are become the least so. +There are about ten thousand of the mules in this state, and I suppose +four thousand muleteers. Their pay is almost more than the army; and +when is it to be paid or how? there lies the rub. + +The people say that we have brought the plague of flies, and I really +believe we have increased the swarms by the number of dead carcasses, +and various kinds of filth caused by the density of the population at +present. We do not bury so regularly as the French, either our offal or +dead animals, or anything; the Spaniards not at all, unless we do it +for them. To give you a notion of the flies, they eat up all my wafers, +if left open, and spot my letters all over if left one day on the table. + +Nothing can look better than the condition of the Portuguese troops. +They are cleaner than our men; or look so, at least. They are better +clothed now by far, for they have taken the best care of their clothes; +they are much gayer, and have an air, and a _je ne sais quoi_, +particularly the Caçadores both the officers and private men, quite new +in a Portuguese. It is curious to observe the effects of good direction +and example, how soon it tells. The French seem to do the same with +Italians, and with every one; or rather have done so, for I hope this +may not cease in part at least. + +_Head-Quarters, Lezaca, 24th._—Having been writing nearly all day +yesterday, I took an evening stroll, and then went and sat down on the +churchyard parapet wall. In ten minutes who should come there but Lord +Wellington, alone. After one turn he came and sat on the wall with me, +and talked for more than half an hour. Amongst other things I said, +I hoped that you in England would hear Soult’s account of the Maya +business first, as you then would be alarmed, and value the latter +account by the Prince of Orange as it deserved. + +He said, “Why, at one time it was rather alarming, certainly, and it +was a close-run thing. When I came to the bridge of Sorauren, I saw the +French on the hills, on one side, and it was clear that we could make a +stand on the other hills in our position on the 28th; but I found that +we could not keep Sorauren, for it was exposed to their fire and not +to ours. I determined to take the position, but was obliged to write +my orders accordingly at Sorauren, to be sent back instantly, for had +they not been dispatched back directly by the way I had come, I must +have sent four leagues round in a quarter of an hour later. I stopped, +therefore, to write accordingly, people saying to me all the time, ‘The +French are coming! The French are coming!’ I looked pretty sharp after +them, however, every now and then, until I had completed my orders, and +then set off, and I saw them just near one end of the village as I went +out at the other end; and then we took our ground.” + +I then observed that the only time I felt a little uneasy was, when we +were stopped at Lanz, and sent across to Lisasso, for all faces seemed +very long, and the removal of the wounded was very much pressed. This +led him to explain more; and he said: “Had I been as regularly informed +of how matters stood on the 26th and 27th as I was of what had passed +on the 25th, that need not have happened; but General Cole never told +me exactly how far he found it necessary to give way, or let me know +by what a superior force he was pressed, and that he intended giving +way, or my arrangements would have been quite different; and the French +might have been stopped sooner than they were. In truth, I suspected +that all Soult’s plan was merely by manœuvres to get me out of the +hills, and to relieve one or both of the besieged places, as things +should turn up and succeed for him; and I expected him to turn short +round towards St. Sebastian accordingly. I had then no notion that with +an army so lately beaten he had serious thoughts, as I am now sure he +had, of driving us behind the Ebro. The consequence was that the second +division halted a day and a half at Trinita and Berrueta, on the 26th, +and till three on the 27th; and the seventh division only took a short +march to St. Estevan, as I was unwilling to lose a bit more of the +mountains than was absolutely necessary, from the probable loss of men +in recovering such ground. On the night before we marched, or at three +in the morning of the 26th, I knew all that had passed on the first +attack, and acted accordingly. Had I been as well informed, and had +everything been communicated to me as punctually on the next evening, +the march of several divisions would have been different. I should and +could have pressed them more on the 27th; there would not have been +the risk and apparent alarm as to head-quarters, &c.; and we should +probably have stopped the French sooner. As it is, however, and as I +had men who could fight, as the English did when they recovered the +hill which had been lost, it has all ended very well.” + +We then got upon the expedition on the other side of the Peninsula; and +he explained some of the reasons for his instructions there. He was +rather stiff with the lumbago; but in high spirits. He said that the +Spanish Generals thought the reason the French beat them was, that they +had no good cavalry; and that whenever they had our cavalry with them, +they wanted to fight. This was what he was anxious to prevent, “For,” +said he “our cavalry never gained a battle yet. When the infantry +have beaten the French, then the cavalry, if they can act, make the +whole complete, and do wonders; but they never yet beat the French +themselves.” + +Talking on this subject another day, Lord Wellington and all the +officers present seemed to agree that a cavalry regiment did not +know what real infantry fire was. They talk of a sharp carbine fire, +which kills ten or twenty horses and half as many men; but they could +not exist ten minutes in a fire to which our infantry battalions +are at times exposed; they would be annihilated if they did not go +threes about very quick indeed. Even in the infantry at times it was +said, that in less than half an hour every mounted officer would be +dismounted, from his own or his horse’s wounds, and perhaps not six men +in a company out of sixty, would remain. + +_Head-Quarters, Lezaca, August 25th._—We are as quiet here as at +Frenada. Desertion is terrible. I think, however, Lord Wellington must +stop it. We have only as yet tried five out of sixteen sent for trial: +they are all sentenced to death, and all shot! This will, I think, at +least have a good effect on our new reinforcements. One of our officers +did an odd thing to stop it; and it answered, or has done so hitherto; +he called his men together and, addressing them, said, “I want no men +who wish to go to the French, and if any now will say they wish to go, +I promise to send them in with a flag of truce.” No one stirred, nor +has any one stirred since; but as to the legality of this plan there +may be a query? + +Our great guns have now just begun pounding again at St. Sebastian; +we are to demolish everything this time; but still I fear we shall +scarcely get in easily at last. + +As to Pamplona, the reports are, that they are now on half-rations, +and have enough at that rate to last till the 15th of next month. It +is provoking how much they have picked up. They have tried to send out +another batch of inhabitants, but these have been sent in again to help +eat; a hard fate to be made a mere tool for starvation! and I conclude +they will not have the best commons even Pamplona can afford. + +_Head-Quarters, Lezaca, August 28th, 1813._—Here we are still quiet, +and very busy; and Courts-martial all at work. In these hills, however, +our Provosts are not the most secure; and common precautions will not +do against men who know they are probably to be shot in a day or two. +A Court was adjourned till yesterday morning, for a witness for the +prisoner, and in the night he was off. Another man under sentence of +death, near Maya, and three other deserters just taken as they were +going over to the French, were put foolishly under the care of a man +and a lad armed to convoy them a little way. They rose on them, took +away their arms, and went over with them to the French post. I am sorry +to say, however, that we have still enough to hang. + +The French deserter, the talkative Lieutenant-Colonel, is here again, +and has one great merit—he induces Lord Wellington to talk and discuss +his old battles, &c., when this man was on the other side. Thus from +the two I pick up a little of the cause of things. Yesterday the +conversation turned upon the retreat of the last year. The Frenchman +said that all their officers blamed Soult for his conduct after +crossing the Tormes; that he was in fact nearer Rodrigo than our army, +and might and ought to have cut us off, if he had pushed on. Lord +Wellington observed, “I fully expected to find him on the high road: +and I ordered nothing at all that way in consequence on the first day; +afterwards, when I found he was not there, I took to it.” The French +officer replied, “From the rain and hazy weather, and bad roads, +Soult was puzzled and afraid—he did not in the least know the English +plans. He heard of some troops, and did not know whether they were a +rear-guard or the main army, and so on; but when he found your lordship +making a stand collected at St. Munos, he said, ‘_Ah que j’avois +tort_.’” He then tried to pump Lord Wellington, and said, “If he had +cut you off, perhaps you would have recrossed the Tormes, and made +for the Benevente road? but you would have suffered much.” Upon which +Lord Wellington observed, “No, I certainly should have done no such +thing: that would have been ruin. But if you must know what I should +have done, I should have done that which many thought I ought to have +done as it was—I should have fought, and trusted to the bravery of my +troops to get me out of the scrape.” The Frenchman then said, “No one +ought to have blamed you for not doing that, unless it were absolutely +necessary, for the French were twenty thousand stronger than you were, +and their cavalry was then very numerous, and in the highest order.” + +These conversations give a value to the Frenchman which he does not +otherwise possess, though a clever man. I found Lord Wellington the day +before yesterday busy with all the Spanish staff and General Murray, +with a dozen great Spanish drawings and plans of the mountains about +them; they were comparing our several labours together. The Spanish +staff draughtsmen have a good character. I should like to have been +called in, but I was only waiting an audience at the other end of the +room. + +Yesterday, Lord Wellington went off on horseback over the mountains, +for Irun; he then went on to St. Sebastian, and was not back here till +nearly nine at night. They are pounding away at that fortress from +fifty-one pieces of ordnance, mortars and all; but nothing is done yet. + +_The 29th._—No news yet. Still battering away at St. Sebastian. We +had a ridiculous event here yesterday: an enraged bull—belonging, +I believe, to the Commissariat—broke into the quarters of the +Commissary-general, Sir Robert Kennedy, and contriving to get to the +room of the clerks, put all to flight, one this way, the other that, in +the greatest alarm. All were dispersed in an instant. After upsetting +a few things, the bull retreated into the garden, and jumped over the +wall, without doing any serious mischief. The joke was, that the owner +had contrived this, on account of nonpayment of his demand. + +Our fifty-one battering pieces have now been at work three days, and +have laid open one end of the entire wall of the town of St. Sebastian, +and to-morrow is talked of for the assault. Two days since the garrison +made another sortie, and carried off a few men; and, upon the whole, +I think people are not quite satisfied with the conduct of the fifth +division, who are employed. Ever since our retreat and the former +sortie, they seem to have had in some measure a sort of panic. We have +had a general Court-martial on Major O’Halloran, for neglect on that +occasion as field-officer in the trenches; but he is acquitted on the +ground that the orders he gave were correct, but that he was disobeyed. +The facts on the trial were these:— + +A sortie was expected all the night, and peculiar precautions were +taken accordingly; every fifth man sentry, &c., by order of the +General. All was quiet until an hour after daybreak and more; then a +Captain Canvers, of the Portuguese service, who has since shot himself, +seems to have suffered the sentries to enter the trenches, and rest on +their arms for security, without orders, or rather against orders. At +a little after six out came the French, and another Portuguese captain +seems to have misunderstood his orders, and did not suffer his sentries +to fire instantly, thinking that he had no orders to this effect; he +was made prisoner. In short, the consequence was, that about fifty +French were in an instant in the trenches, when half-a-dozen of our +people fired and fell back. The Portuguese were mostly in a panic, and +they were nearly six hundred out of seven hundred then employed. They +did once attempt to get up the bank and form, but the sandy ground +gave way, and in they went again. This increased the confusion, and +no exertions of our or their officers could rally the men, until they +had been quite driven out of the trenches, and pursued to the little +village in ruins under the convent. There Major O’Halloran rallied +them, and, with a fresh English working-party just arrived, drove the +French back again to the town, but in the meantime many prisoners were +made. + +Lord Wellington himself, I think, is not pleased with the fifth +division; and, as some proof of this, has ordered three hundred of the +first division, one hundred and fifty of the light, one hundred and +fifty of the fourth, and, I believe, one hundred and fifty of the third +(of each of which one-third are to be of the Portuguese regiments), +to march to-day to assist in forming the storming-party to-morrow. +This is a cut at the fifth; and these men are all volunteers, and the +orders are to send men who, by their cool courage and good conduct, +will be likely to succeed. In a measure the success of this will depend +on these qualities. The fifth division ought now to volunteer, trying +first alone, I think. + +There was nothing but confusion in the two divisions here last +night, (the light and fourth,) from the eagerness of the officers to +volunteer, and the difficulty of determining who were to be refused and +who allowed to go and run their heads into a hole in the wall, full +of fire and danger! Major Napier was here quite in misery, because, +though he had volunteered first, Lieutenant-colonel Hunt of the 52nd, +his superior officer, insisted on his right to go. The latter said that +Napier had been in the breach at Badajoz, and he had a fair claim to go +now. So it is among the subalterns; ten have volunteered where two are +to be accepted. Hunt, being Lieutenant-colonel, has nothing but honour +to look to; as to promotion, he is past that. The men say that they +don’t know what they are to do, but they are ready to go anywhere. + +I fear we shall find the French have run a ditch across and a new +second wall behind those we have destroyed, and that we may have tough +work yet. The shells, however, which are sent every ten minutes into +the castle, and shake the dust out of its roof in a fine style, must +make the place rather too warm to hold just now; and I heartily wish it +would induce them to give in before all the bloodshed begins. They fire +now but very little. Lord Wellington and every one is gone over to St. +Sebastian to-day; and having nothing to do, I have made up my mind to +be off also. + +_August 30th._—I was on the point of setting out when I heard that the +storming was put off a day; as the French are in motion, and making +pretence at least to relieve St. Sebastian, and as the fourth division +marched accordingly this morning, and head-quarters may, therefore, +suddenly be off, I determined to be quiet here, especially as I do not +feel quite well. Lord Wellington came home at nine o’clock, and was off +again before eight this morning. We remain here much in the dark, of +course, when he is away. General Murray stays here to protect us with +the light division in our front. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + The Author taken Prisoner—Kind Treatment by the French General—Life of + a Prisoner—Release—Details of the Author’s Captivity—Curious Scene at + General Pakenham’s—A Basque Squire. + + + Bayonne, September 5, 1813. + + MY DEAR M——, + +When you told me, some time since, that you expected to hear from me +from this place, I never expected to have realized in this way your +prediction. But as the French all tell me with a shrug, “_c’est le sort +de la guerre, Monsieur_,” I must submit to as great a piece of ill +luck as generally falls to a poor man, “_dans le meilleur des mondes +possibles_.” + +On the evening of the 30th August I was, as I mentioned to you in my +last, stopped from going over to see the storming of St. Sebastian the +next morning by the general report that the French were in motion; +that an attack was expected on our line at daylight, to relieve that +place if possible, and that therefore head-quarters would probably +move. So it turned out; at six we heard that the French had all crossed +the Bidassoa, and were moving on. The baggage was all ordered half a +league up the mountain Yangi, there to wait orders either to proceed +further for security if we were pressed, or to return if we repulsed +the attack. At seven, Lord Wellington, &c., were off. By nine the town +was nearly cleared, and every one in motion. + +Nothing can be more stupid than thus waiting a whole day standing with +the mules and baggage, to hear the result, without a creature to talk +to, and knowing nothing that is passing. One of the officers advised me +to go up the hill just above Lezaca, to observe a little what was doing +near, assuring me that it was quite safe. Just afterwards Major Canning +returned from Lord Wellington with orders, and said he would show us +the way to the hill and then go on. I mounted, and set out with Mr. +Henry, having sent off my baggage. Mr. Booth, the principal Commissary +of Accounts, Mr. Jesse, his assistant, and Captain Hook, the officer +who takes all the quarters for every one at head-quarters, determined +to join the party. When we had got a little way Major Canning remarked +that by going up the first hill we should see sooner what was doing, +and could then return to Lezaca, or stay and proceed as was found +advisable, and that we should be thus sure of not being cut off from +Yangi. This we accordingly did. When half up the hill we observed two +battalions resting under arms quietly on the top and having examined +them some time with our glasses, thought that they were Spanish; but +not being certain (for they are so alike as scarcely to be known at +fifty yards distance), we thought it advisable to keep to our left, +towards the rear of some of our own red-coats, whom we saw engaged with +the French in a wood further on. We did this, and then waited to see +whether those two battalions advanced and fired or not, to enable us to +be sure, by their fire, to which party they belonged. As they remained +at rest, we could not determine this point; and as there was much fern +and wood, and we were only about a short half mile off, we determined, +for fear of a surprise, to go back, and follow up the mountain Major +Canning’s road, where we saw our own red-coats. We did this, and just +before we ascended, ascertained that our people were still there; we +trusted firmly to their not giving ground, as the French were already +much advanced, and this road was the common communication of all our +army through Lezaca to Oyarzun and San Sebastian. + +About half-way up the hill, or mountain, is a wood, from whence we +got a peep at the two battalions. We saw them moving towards the +English position, but not firing, and Captain Hook remarked that there +were several red-coats amongst them, so they must be friends; but +that, however, about a hundred yards further on we should be able to +ascertain, and if it were not so we must return. + +At the end of the hundred yards the woods ceased, and the two roads +up the mountain joined, when to our great astonishment, just as we +came one way to the place of junction, two French battalions came up +the other, and we found ourselves within twenty yards of each other; +Mr. Jesse was still nearer. I heard a cry of _qui vive_, which put an +end to all doubt as to who they were; and after a sort of short pause +and drawback in the head of the French column, thinking, I believe, +that they were the head of an allied column, several moved towards us, +and two levelled at us. Mr. Jesse, the nearest of us, dismounted, and +surrendered instantly. The other two jumped off their horses, and, +as the side of the mountain was very steep, and no one could well +ride after them, they ran down, and the French having incumbrances, +I believe they escaped. I now think that was the best plan I could +have adopted. At the moment, however, as I was in the road, and nearer +to the French than they were, I determined to turn about, and try my +horse down the road again the way we came, thinking it a great chance +that the only two who levelled, and seemed ready to fire, would hit +me. They never fired, but some pursued, and one or two officers on +horseback. I galloped down, however, nearly a mile, at the risk of my +neck. The road then got steeper, and I looked round to see if any one +was nearly up behind me. I pulled up a little, as I found they had not +reached my servant, who was above a hundred yards behind me; but, on +turning round again to proceed, I saw, in the narrow part of the road +just before me, where the descent was steep both ways, one up and one +down, six Frenchmen; two in the road, two on each side, all ready with +their pieces up to their shoulders. Upon this I pulled up and we had a +parley. On my pulling up, and addressing them in French, they seemed in +doubt, and spoke some bad French. I then looked about me, to see what +chance remained, but seeing that they all levelled again, and cried out +“_prisonnier_,” the risk was then too great for the remotest chance of +escape, so I dismounted, and they instantly took down their pieces, +and ran up. In a moment, my two horses, and cloak, pistols, sword, +telescope, handkerchief, were all gone. + +Having received some money just before, and fearing some theft from +my Portuguese servants, I had about fifteen doubloons about me, as +being the most secure place. One-half they found instantly, and were +so pleased that they scarcely searched more, except to take my knife, +comb, &c. I then told them that I was no General, having heard a cry +before from the battalion of “_voilà le Général_;” that I was only a +civil officer, a non-combatant; but that I had some more money, and if +they would then, when they had got everything from me, release me, I +would tell them where it was, and give it to them. This I did, thinking +as they had got so much booty, they would perhaps wish to keep it +secret, not to be called upon to refund any part, and that therefore +they would not be sorry to say that I had escaped, and let me go that I +might not have to tell the story. + +They promised to do this, so I produced the rest, and at the same time +contrived to give my watch a twist up above my waistcoat, that when +they felt for it, they found nothing, and by this means I contrived to +save that. + +The other speculation did not answer so well, for I believe they still +took me for a General. They would not release me, and I was carried +into the battalion, and then to General D’Armagnac (I believe), who was +behind their attacking troops. They were leading me into the fire of +our own people, when an officer ordered them up on one side. I said it +would be very hard to get me killed by our own fire, and that they had +better let me run across, and shoot at me themselves. Upon the whole +they all behaved very civilly, and without any violence. I there met +Mr. Jesse. I told our story to General D’Armagnac. He said we were very +unlucky, and seemed good-humoured, ordering the captors to give me back +two doubloons. After telling his aide-de-camp to take us to General +Clausel, who commanded in chief there, and then to the rear, he said he +would apply to get us exchanged (as that was now the fashion, and not +to release civilians gratis) for two civil officers, friends of his, in +England: and then lending me one of his horses to ride back upon, took +leave of us. The soldiers told me that he had bought my horse for a +trifle, and thus ended the fate of poor Blackey! + +The whole was the work of half an hour. Whilst we were in the wood, our +people had just given way across this road to superior numbers, and +had thus left us exposed to this misfortune in a place where every one +had passed in safety all the morning, and so again from an hour later +all the evening. A little sooner, or a little later, we should not +have been caught above a league within our lines of the morning. Such, +however, was our fate! + +We were then taken to General Clausel, and were instantly ordered +back to his former head-quarters. There was then a great outcry for +ammunition, which delayed the French some time, and, as they said, +saved our last position on this hill. I found that they did not, +however, know the country well, and tried to pump me as to what was +beyond, both as to men and mountains, &c. I always pleaded ignorance +as a civilian. They had contrived to get four small two-pounder field +mountain-pieces up this difficult ascent, and kept them constantly in +use, asking me why we, who were so ingenious, did not adopt the same +practice? I said they had taught us the art of war, and I believe +they had found their scholars had made very rapid progress, so that +if these guns were really worth the labour, I had no doubt we should +soon have some, but that such things were not to be found ready-made +in the mountains, therefore they must wait a little. I soon gave up my +horse to a wounded man, as they abounded on the road, and we descended +and crossed the Bidassoa by the ford below the bridge, as I found our +light division were still maintaining their ground near the bridge at +Bera (or Vera,) and had kept the other side of the valley all the time +secure. + +A tremendous storm then began. We took shelter till five o’clock in a +hovel, but at last proceeded, the storm continuing, up the mountain of +La Rhüne, to the French position, and head-quarters—those of General +Clausel. Mons. d’Arnot, an officer belonging to the latter, was +extremely kind to us. He said our best prospects were not to stay and +sleep in the hovel, where we should be starved and crowded by wounded, +&c., but to go with him to the General’s hut on the top, where, if +anything was to be had, we should have it. He also lent me a horse part +of the way up again. We passed the French position to the entrenched +camp, where amongst a variety of huts of boughs, earth, &c., were three +rather better than the rest, consisting of a few feather-edged boards +at top, and earth and fern on the sides and bottom. These were for +Generals Clausel, Taupin, and D’Armagnac, for the attendants, &c. There +were only two places where it had not rained in considerably, and we +were wet through, without a change. + +The General’s canteens were unpacked, and the aide-de-camp said, “If +he returns, you will have some dinner, if not, we have some bread.” +That and sour wine was all our fare for the night, and we laid down in +our wet clothes on the ground. They first gave us up General Clausel’s +dry inner chamber, but on a notice coming that he was returning, we +were removed to the attendants’ hut. There I passed a sleepless night, +our party being the two aides-de-camp, a colonel, a major, five of the +gens-d’armes, or police corps, Henry, the General’s cook, a friend, two +or three attendants, and about four wounded men who staggered in, and +lay in the middle. The horses were all tied to the boards, out in the +storm all night, and making a noise against our heads. The wounded were +groaning; then came an oath from an officer against them as cowards, +and asking how that noise made them any better? At last came a poor +creature with a violent colic; this last filled us as close as we could +lie, and constant quarrels ensued between those near the doors, or +those who came every minute for shelter from the storm and rain, and to +get help for their wounds. The lightning gave us a glimpse of the scene +every five minutes. Now and then an observation escaped as to the rain +swelling the Bidassoa, &c. + +At three o’clock the firing began again close to us; at four the drum +beat to arms, and at six we got a little cold meat and bread and +wine, after the General’s breakfast, and about seven we were marched +towards St. Jean de Luz with a party of prisoners and deserters. +Amongst them were several of the Chasseurs Britanniques, who, with +their red jackets, had, by deserting to the enemy, and then advancing +with them, contributed to our being surprised and taken. We stopped +half an hour in the wood below, and got a little brandy from the post +of the gens-d’armes in the rear, and arrived at St. Jean de Luz about +one o’clock,—three leagues. This was Marshal Soult’s head-quarters. +Thither we went, and merely saw him in a crowd. We were then taken to +Count Gazan, and then to the Commandant of the Police, &c. We were +quartered at an inn with some gens-d’armes in the outer room; got +some supper at seven at General Gazan’s, to whom I mentioned what had +passed at Victoria; was allowed to write to head-quarters to let them +know where we were, and to ask for money, clothes, &c., if we were not +exchanged, and we were allowed to stay till next day to wait for an +answer. + +No answer came. It was intended to give us horses to carry us to +Bayonne the next evening, but all were engaged in carrying away wounded +men, including some troops of cavalry, so we marched on foot about +three o’clock, five under a guard. We were delayed by the bad walking +of some deserters, and were then again caught the last half league in a +most furious thunder-storm, which soaked us through in five minutes. At +nine, we reached this place, three long leagues, and were taken to the +Nouveau Fort. The Marechal-de-logis gave us a bed between us, on the +ground, in a room with two midshipmen and a sick and wounded officer of +the 34th; and having got some bread and cheese, we went to bed, with a +dry shirt which he lent us. I have ever since had rheumatism. We occupy +a round tower here, and our soldier-prisoners are in the court below; +the Spaniards are above, and some sailors in confinement, as their +dress would enable them to escape. The two midshipmen were exchanged +the next day. From Mr. Babou, the banker, a most liberal and generous +man, we have got money, and therefore now go on well. How officers +manage who have no money I cannot guess. Only three of the numbers the +banker has given money to have had their bills protested, and he says +that if it is poverty he shall never complain, otherwise he should +wish to be paid. If I get back I have undertaken to speak to Lord +Wellington on the subject. + +_13th September, Mont de Marsan._—On the 8th I received a most kind +letter from Lord Wellington in his own handwriting, as to an old +friend, telling me that he authorized me to tell the Duke of Dalmatia +he would send back for me any one named by him, to be given in +exchange.[6] I had just before received a notice to set out next day +for Verdun. I went with a gens-d’armes instantly to the General of +Division, Baron d’Huilliers, and to the Commandant-general Sol. To +them I told my story, and showed my letter. They advised me to send +my letter to the Duke of Dalmatia, and engaged to detain me until the +answer came back. I also asked to write to the Duke myself. The other +officers, who had already been to Moulins (where General Paget is), +wrote also for leave to go to a nearer depôt than Verdun, on account of +the expense they had been put to; they were of the 34th regiment, and +they also were allowed to wait the answer. The other five officers of +the 60th were dispatched with a _feuille de route_ for Verdun. On the +9th, about seven o’clock, I went to the play with two Dutch officers +of the 130th regiment, one of whom was with me when at La Rhüne in the +camp, and had been all along very civil, and had called upon us and +volunteered going with us to the theatre. I did this in order to pass +the anxious time away till the answer to my letter came. The play I did +not much enjoy, as you may suppose, though our two gens-d’armes were +very well behaved, and went into a box opposite, leaving us with the +officers. + +At nine o’clock came an account that my letter was arrived. I ran home +and eagerly opened it. I found it was a very civil answer from Count +Gazan, full of good wishes, &c., but stating Marshal Soult had never +had any proposal made to him for my exchange by our General, or that +it would be done instantly; again assuring me that if any such should +arrive I should be instantly sent back, and that in the mean time +orders should be given that none of us should for the present cross the +Garonne. + +The next morning (the 10th) came an order to be at Mont de Marsan in +four days, about seventy miles off, the chief town of the department +of Landes, and there to wait orders. We also got a letter to give to +the commandant there, to halt the others there, or to bring them back +if they had passed that depôt. I prepared a letter to Lord Wellington, +encouraged by his letter to me (I had before only written to the +Adjutant-general), and stated to him how matters stood, thanking him +for his kindness. This I enclosed in one to Count Gazan, in French, and +begged him, as a last favour, to forward it by a flag of truce through +the lines to Lord Wellington. I then hastily bought a few necessaries, +and engaged with the other five officers to be conveyed to this place +(Mont de Marsan) in a large coach with six mules, Henry in the +driver’s tilt-cart in front. When I went home to pay our gens-d’arme, +he was most unreasonable and broke his agreement; we would not pay him, +so he locked us in. I said I had the General’s orders to march at one +o’clock, and called upon him at his peril to release us, and to go with +us to settle the matter. He would not, but released us, and would then +take nothing. I then went off to General Sol, and told my story. He +sent for the man in a hurry, but as he did not come instantly, asked +what we proposed to give. I told him. He said if we were willing to +pay that sum (which was according to our agreement), “Very well, leave +it here, and you may set out; had you left it to me I should not have +made you pay nearly so much.” Accordingly at two o’clock we started, +and got, in four hours and a half, over four leagues of the country, +or sixteen miles, to a small village on the river side, where we dined +and slept. Our route was through Dax, but we had leave, as that was +knee-deep in sand, to pass by Orthes. + +Next morning (the 11th) at four o’clock, we proceeded to Orthes to +breakfast, and got there, six leagues, by eleven o’clock. There we sat +down to a _déjeuner à la fourchette_. We then, at one, started again, +and before six got to Hugemont, where we dined again, and slept four +leagues further. + +On the 12th, at seven, we set out for this place, through the heavy +sand in some places, and over a ruinous bridge; we did not arrive +until twelve. All along the road we found everything in a state of +the greatest activity for the supplies of the army—everything in +requisition. I longed to have some of the Spaniards with me, to teach +them what was to be done in this way. The love of coffee is much +diminished, and the lower classes are excluded from it by the high +price of that and of sugar. Other things are cheap, and we got our +dinner, beds, and all for five francs a-head each night. Our mules +were very fine, and each had a name, which we soon learnt, by the +constant dialogues of the old driver and his boy, one of the two latter +always running by the mule’s side, as there were no reins to the other +four in front. + +We met with every attention and civility here, were in time to stop +the other five officers, and we are now all in officers’ billets, the +same as the French officers themselves, and have received for our days +of march the same as they do on the march,—a captain three francs, a +colonel five, a lieutenant two and a half, &c. I am at the house of the +principal engineer (from Paris) of some works going on here, Monsieur +de Beaudre. Great improvements are nearly completed in this little +departmental capital: a new wide stone bridge of easy access, instead +of an old narrow Gothic one, and an open space cleared around it; a +new Prefect’s palace, with departmental offices, &c. A new chapel, new +official houses, and much private repairs, are in progress: this is +very unlike Spain. I breakfast alone in my billet on my tea, which I +have discovered here, as the others have only meat and wine. I dine +with the rest—and to please them, but against my will—at six; we have +a good cheap dinner at four francs each. The poor officers do not know +what to do with themselves. I immediately applied to my patron for +books, and he gave me the range of several. After a play or two of +Racine’s, and a few of the _Contes Moraux_, I have attacked La Harpe’s +_Cours de Littérature_ at the Lycée, and am as yet well pleased; I walk +as much as my rheumatism permits. Thus goes time; but I suffer much—I +feel as if I had been broken on the wheel. + +Poor Henry is more bewildered than ever, but flatters himself that he +shall soon learn French. If he could copy the activity around him, he +would be wonderfully improved. We are here full of the _Moniteur’s_ +victories, and the little check the French appear to have sustained +latterly under Vandamme, in Bohemia. + +Before I go to bed I get my cup of coffee, a small one indeed, for my +ten sous, at the café, read the news, and then retire home. This place +is very full, from the wounded being in part here; from the exertions +making as to supplies, for we have two hundred cars here in a day; from +some artillery drivers being here, and from the constant passage of +everything to and from the army. The Commandant has been particularly +obliging. We have a mile round the town to walk in, and are never +troubled by any one. + +_20th September, Mont de Marsan._—Alas, poor Seymour!—[Hiatus.] + +On the 21st, at Mont de Marsan, arrived my mules, pony, and baggage: +no letter. I gave up all prospect of exchange, and was stupidly ill +and tranquil. The lady where I was quartered, was very attentive and +good-natured, and I had begun my literary course, and had made up my +mind to my fate. On the 22nd, however, at nine, came an order for us +all to set out at eleven for Bayonne again. We did so, had some little +misfortunes, overturns, &c., but got to the Chateau Vieux, at Bayonne, +on the 25th September, and had the honour of being confined in the same +room where Palafox had been for three months, and all the great Spanish +prisoners—the Duke of Gravina, Prince of Castel Franco, &c. We staid +there, seven of us, until the 1st, in anxious suspense—the room too +noisy for reading, and I too ill for it, so we played whist, and killed +time in that way quietly. At five o’clock on the 1st, when at dinner, +came an order for Mr. Jesse and myself only to set out at six for St. +Jean de Luz, in the dark. We got a coach at six, the only vehicle to be +had; and I packed all my baggage, and mounting Henry and my Portuguese +on the mules, we arrived all at eleven at night, at the Police at +St. Jean de Luz. We were sent to an inn for the night, then the next +morning (the 2nd) taken to Count de Gazan, at ten. I found him very +civil, had much conversation with him for an hour, breakfasted with +him, and at twelve we were all packed off with an escort for Endaye, to +be sent over here. + +The gens-d’armes took us first to Count Reille, whose quarters were +half a league on from St. Jean de Luz. He sent us on to General +Maucale, who was half a league further. He gave us a fresh escort, and +sent us round the end of the lines, down to the water side at Endaye. +All very civil in every way. At Endaye, about four, we were with some +danger sent across, mules and all, in a little flat-bottomed boat to +Fontarabia to the Spanish outpost. There also much civility, but much +delay. At five we got to Irun with a Spanish escort, were taken to +General Frere, found him at dinner—very civil. I then went to General +Stopford; he was at dinner. No quarters to be had, so I sent my baggage +on here, but got some dinner. At eight, came on in the rain here: found +General Graham; very kind. He gave me a bed in his quarters, and some +tea. Breakfasted here this morning; baggage gone to Lezaca; I am to go +there in half an hour. I have grown very thin, and am in very crazy +condition, but must get patched up at head-quarters, and go to work +again. This last month has been like a dream. I hear there has been +much difficulty about my exchange; but it is now over, I am happy to +say, and Lord Wellington has been very kind. I hope to do something for +my fellow prisoners when I see him. + +Count Gazan asked me to get for him the following print or caricature +to complete a collection he has. Will you do your best to find it, and +send it out if possible. The Count’s description:— + +“Une caricature qui a paru il y a douze ou quinze ans à Londres, au +sujet d’un voyage que fit dans cette capitale Le Grand Rabbin Juif +d’Hollande, dans l’intention de reformer la manière de vivre des Juifs +de Londres dans ce temps là.” + +[N.B.—It was not possible to trace or find this print, though every +inquiry was made.] + +_Oyarzun, in Spain, at the Head-Quarters of General Graham, October +4th, 1813._—Once more again at liberty, as far as my rheumatic limbs +will permit: the will, at least, is free, and I hope soon my arms and +legs will be so likewise. + +_Lezaca, Head-Quarters, October 7th, 1813._—To-day I have a little +leisure, as every one is engaged out, and a grand attack is to be made +on the French position to drive them quite off that mountain, La Rhüne. +It will be, I fear, tough work: I dare not go and peep again, even if I +were well enough, so have taken up this paper. Baggage and all for the +present remain here, only ready to load in case of necessity. + +Lord Wellington had much difficulty in procuring my exchange, and has +been very kind; indeed every one here has appeared very much interested +in my return, and “my French value.” The Commissary-at-War was treated +here like a prince, to procure me every favour, when he went back, by +his representations. In short, if my pain goes off, I shall not regret +my other losses, which amount to about 230_l._, but shall feel myself a +very fortunate man upon the whole. + +Monsieur Babedac, the banker at Bayonne, is most liberal and kind +to all the English officers taken. I hear a hundred have had money +from him; only five bills of 110_l._ in the whole have been sent back +unpaid; this, I hope, Lord Wellington will pay, though the banker said, +if distress occasioned it, he did not wish it. Nearly all my baggage is +now collected safely, through the kindness of friends. I have been, as +you may suppose, much questioned by Lord Wellington, &c., and many now +seem to envy me the trip, as it has ended so well. + +I will now fill up my former French letter a little more freely. +On the morning following, the scene at the French head-quarters at +St. Jean de Luz was very curious. First came rumbling back from the +attack seven brigades, or about forty-two pieces of ordnance, with +the ammunition-waggons, about a hundred, looking very gloomy, almost +all drawn by mules, and generally in good condition. You will here +observe how soon the French come about again. Then came the pontoon +bridge, and, lastly, perpetual strings of cars, with the wounded; the +poor country people shaking their heads and lamenting all this misery, +all wishing for peace, and all saying that it was their Emperor who +prevented it, from his unbounded ambition. This was the talk of the +officers, and of all. They said the Allies, if successful, would rise +in their demands; that Bonaparte was too proud to yield, and peace +would only be further off than ever. This was the conversation, when +they heard of the check in the North. + +When the account of the first victory of the 25th came (which by-the-by +was the first information received as to the quarrel with Austria), +they were all in high spirits, and exclaimed—“_Ah! le pauvre beau +Père, il sera chassé_,” and “Peace from the North will either give us +peace here also, or enable us to drive you all back to Portugal with +the reinforcements which we shall obtain.” Things changed afterwards, +and three weeks after the bulletin of the 25th, &c., and only the day +before the bad bulletin came out, a _Te Deum_ had been ordered at +Bayonne, and a hundred _coups de canon_ for the first victory! The +people almost laughed at this themselves, though very miserable. + +At the inn at St. Jean de Luz, where I was billeted with a gens-d’arme +at the door, we were allowed to dine with the officers, who were all +returning starved from the lines to get a belly full. I here met with +men of a superior description, Colonels of the Guards, Chief Medical +Officers, Post-Masters, Commissaries, &c. They were civil, some of them +gentleman-like and free in their conversation, much irritated at having +been beaten by the Spaniards, which, with a tirade about numbers, they +admitted to be the fact. Monsieur D’Arnot, a young man attached to +General Clausel, and a young Dutch officer, gay, tall, and handsome, +were the most attentive to us, and without any object, which most of +the others had in view, to get a wife back, or a lost portmanteau, +their letters, &c. + +The people all told us that had we been quite prepared to advance into +France at first, Bayonne was open, and without guns, dismantled; that +we might have walked in and gone on to Bordeaux. I believe much of +this, but not entirely, and our men were nearly as much harassed as the +French. The French troops in the first confusion behaved very ill, and +plundered the inhabitants, throwing away their arms, and absolutely +flying. Marshal Soult’s orders on this subject were stronger even than +Lord Wellington’s were here. The inhabitants generally said that they +would remain quiet if the English came alone, and would leave the +armies to settle it, for all they wanted was peace; but as they knew +how the Portuguese and Spaniards had been treated, and what they might +therefore expect in return, they must all fly if the Allies came with +us. + +Count Gazan is elderly, and I believe quite sick of his trade; he said +he wanted peace, and to go to his villa at Nice for life after twenty +years’ war. He gave me an invitation there. In general all the officers +and men were attentive and civil; some looked sulky, but most noticed +us by touching the cap, which is more than we do by them here. In a +dispute which Captain S—— had with a stupid old fool, the _Commandant +de la Place_ at Bayonne, General Sol, the French officers present +seeing that the General was in the wrong (as he afterwards admitted), +all bowed to Captain S——, and the General’s own sentinel carried arms +to him as he went out. This is flattering. The curiosity is very great +about Lord Wellington, as one of the great men of the age. + +From the questions put to me when taken, about the grand position, +and on the way to St. Sebastian, I am sure that the French had a very +imperfect notion of the exact state of that part of the mountains. My +being a civilian was my excuse for giving them no information. Their +loss in getting back again would have been greatly increased, had +they got on to the next hill. As it was, from the river swelling, and +the men not being able to cross the ford at which I passed, but being +obliged to go round by Vera bridge, which was under our fire, the loss +was very severe. Had I not been put across early I should have had that +fire to pass through with them. + +The country all the way to Bordeaux is barren and unproductive; mostly +sandy heath with vines, and a few meadows near the stream. I saw no +corn, only the Indian corn, and that much less luxuriant than here, +and with very little head of green for forage. The consequence is, +the French provisions and forage come from an immense distance, and +the supplies are very difficult to procure; the exertions, however, +are in proportion, and very unlike those in Spain of the Spaniards. +Everything, for two hundred miles and more round, is in requisition, +all the corn taken, and only _bons_ given in return; wine the same; hay +the same; every merchant’s car in the town, and all the country cars +with oxen at work for the public. The districts off the roads send in +to the depôts on the high roads; and from thence the corn, &c., is +forwarded to the army, to the depôts at Bayonne, &c. The hay for the +staff horses and cavalry comes, as Gazan told me himself, one hundred +leagues, that is, nearly three or four hundred miles, from above +Toulouse, &c., partly by water, but much by land. The people now feel +for the first time what it is to supply their own army in their own +country, and the grievance is no small one. + +The army have had a half month’s pay; twenty months are due. The +prospect of payment of the _bons_ for the supplies is very remote +indeed, and yet though they all grumble they act with zeal and spirit, +and I still think, with the feelings of Frenchmen, would all unite +against invasion. In spite of all this, things in general are still +comparatively cheap; dear to Frenchmen, as they say exorbitant—to us +reasonable, except colonial produce: bread about 4 sous a pound, or +2_d._ English; and good meat about 8_d._ English retailed; vegetables +and fruit very cheap; wine equally so; oats and hay tolerably cheap; +even as I fed my animals (three) at the inns for the day for about 12 +or 14 livres travelling, three feeds of corn—small ones, to each—about +6 livres, or, as I generally gave them, 8 livres. Hay about 6 or 7 +livres and good—cheaper when I bought the articles at Mont de Marsan. A +good dinner at the inns, with a bottle of light wine, about 5_s._ each. +This sometimes also covered the beds where we slept. Tea only to be had +by ounces at a time as medicine; coffee, very dear; sugar (brown), from +4_s._ 6_d._ to 6_s._; white sugar, 7_s._ the pound. + +The consequence has been, in a great measure, to put an end to the +great use of coffee: it is now a luxury for the rich, and even they +generally breakfast _à la fourchette_, and drink little of it. Of +_Syrope de raisin_, I bought a basin-full for about 9_d._ This is a +sort of vinous treacle, and gives a taste to tea as if it were taken +from a dirty wine-glass. The _betterave_ sugar was to be had sometimes +at Bayonne, but I did not meet with any. On some bad sugar being +brought to him one day, a French Lieutenant-Colonel, by way of abuse, +called it _betterave_, and said, it was only from some small sticks +being in it, as really he had seen _betterave_ sugar as good as any +other: they still, however, give 6_s._ a-pound for brown island sugar. + +The Chateau-Neuf, at Bayonne, was just like an English sponging-house. +With money we were very well off. The man, however, cheated us; we +quarrelled; I got redress from the General; and on my return got into +the Chateau-Vieux instead, an old English castle, where we were in the +same room where Palafox had been; the Commandant, a gentleman-like +man—his wife a troublesome skinflint. The Commandant at Mont de Marsan +was uncommonly liberal to us all, so were the people there; equally +so, my patron and patrona; the civil engineer, Baron d’Huilliers, +who first commanded at Bayonne, was also civil, but more distant. He +is now gone to Bordeaux, and General Thevenot, the late Commandant +at Vittoria, has succeeded him. Their reports were, that Soult was +going to the North to replace Berthier, who was sick, and Suchet was +to succeed in command here. Count Gazan, however, did not admit this, +but never positively denied it. It was also said, that the Etat Major +would remove to Bordeaux for the winter-quarters. Perhaps the events of +to-day may hasten this. The firing is brisk all this time. We met three +cavalry regiments on the retreat towards Pau and Toulouse for forage; +the horses in fair order, but generally very inferior to ours in size; +the men very fine, which was so much the worse for the animals that +had to carry them. At one place, near Lain, the depôt of forage was +empty. I met a man running hard with orders, the Major’s messenger; he +was charged to inform the few neighbouring parishes, that unless they +furnished and provided ready at the depôt so many rations of forage +for three days for two squadrons of cavalry who were about to pass by +twelve next day, all fit to move on immediately, the squadrons would be +halted there that day to help themselves in the vicinity. + +Small horses and mules were very cheap, as the forage rations were +stopped to the subaltern officers in France, and they all consequently +wanted to sell, and many of the country-people from the requisition +wanted also to sell. Bayonne was declared in a state of siege for the +purposes of police. One order of the police posted up in the Café +Wagram at Bayonne directed, that no politics were to be discussed under +pain of arrest. Out of the town, in the suburbs of St. Esprit, was a +magnificent hotel, quite in the English style; there our party stopped, +but were marched off to the Chateau. The activity exhibited by the +French Commandant about Bayonne has been very great; one hundred and +twenty guns have now been mounted, of one sort or another, instead of +about three. This number has been collected all round the country, and +new works are rising round the place every day. The young conscripts of +the usual levy were being drilled; they were fine young lads of about +seventeen or eighteen; too young for Spain, but who in a short time +would make excellent soldiers. At first they appeared dull and a little +unhappy; but in a few days they became gay like the rest. + +The newly-raised thirty thousand for the twenty-four departments for +Spain were not yet out, but are to be out this week. I understood they +will be better men, being taken from the old lists of those who had +previously escaped, some of them twenty-five years old. This grievance +is very great, but the conscripts seem to forget it themselves, and +the old parents can do nothing. It will tell, however, some time or +other, I think; and I hope soon. My patrona told me that her sister’s +husband had been drawn five years since, got off on payment of two +thousand francs, and two francs per day since; he is now married, has +two children, and is still liable to be called upon again. A wish for +peace follows the relation of all these stories. + +On the whole I was well treated, and it appears to me that in general +the treatment of prisoners by the French is very good. Officers are +allowed fifty francs a-month to live upon, and on marching, the same +_indemnité_ as the French; 5_s._ a Colonel and Major, 3_s._ a Captain, +and 2_s._ 6_d._ a subaltern. Our being able to obtain money makes all +the difference almost between our treatment and that of the Spanish +officers, whom they dare not trust on their parole, so many having +broken it. The worst treatment I experienced was being marched on +foot from St. Jean de Luz to Bayonne, with our own deserters, after +having been promised a horse, and kept back until we were caught in a +thunder-storm, because these fellows could not or would not march. The +soldiers are like themselves to the last; when marched as prisoners, +they jumped over the fences to get apples. The French guard stared, but +permitted it to be done. + +_October 7th, three o’clock._—The officers passing from the front tell +me that all is going on well—that the French have given way almost +everywhere, though they still hang to the high rocks on La Rhüne, near +where I slept on the 31st. They say that the Spaniards have behaved +well, but that the 52nd and second battalion of the 95th have suffered, +while forcing the position through which I was marched in that +thunder-storm. We have no orders to move here at present. The reports +confirm the news that I brought in to Lord Wellington, that Soult has +gone, and that Suchet commands. I know nothing accurately now, however, +as I must not go and peep again for myself. + +To return to France, and my dream there (for such it has appeared), I +must give you a notion of a French placeman in a little way, not like +our great sinecurists. My running friend, who carried the message about +the forage, accompanied me side-by-side for a league. The people wished +him joy of his prosperity; I asked him why? He said, “They think that +I am making a fortune, having a place in the hospital; and what do you +suppose it is?—I am the hospital-sexton; I bury all the dead, four +or five in the twenty-four hours, and all at night, digging half the +night. And for what?—for eighteen sous (or ninepence English) a day. +This is not the way to make a fortune, you will allow. My companion +makes a better thing of it: he is always tipsy, and leaves me to dig, +but he always sings as he goes to the grave. The people who know his +voice say, ‘There goes poor silly John!’ and give him a sous.” + +Now for a trait of a gens-d’arme—a private in the ranks. We went to +the play at Bayonne with a gens-d’arme, and our friend, the Dutch +officer. On going down to the coffee-room, my companion, Mr. Jesse, +meaning to be generous, but not understanding the method of treating +a revolutionary gens-d’arme, told him to get anything he wished to +drink as we did. Upon which he flew into a rage, said he had drank with +his colonels, majors, captains, and had never been sent out to drink +like a servant before. Our Dutchman was obliged to explain to him, in +order to pacify him, the difference in our service between officers +and privates; said it was once so in France and in Holland, but that +the prejudice was removed there now, though it remained in England. He +then desired him to sit down and drink with us. With difficulty he was +persuaded to do so, and we all knocked our glasses together, and so it +ended amicably. I did not expect this. The military retain, however, +the only remnant of the equality of the Revolution. + +The two midshipmen in prison with us amused us much. By mistake, they +were at first put in prison with their men for two days on bread and +water. Afterwards they were lodged in the same room in which I was. +We were five in all at first. They slept in the same bed, and were as +often alternately with their heads where the feet of the others were as +on the pillow. In the open letter they sent to Sir G. Collier, about +their exchange, through the French, they suggested the advisability +of bringing in two gun-boats close to St. Jean de Luz, in order to +prevent communication with St. Sebastian, and further, advised a little +bombardment, &c. The sailors, as they were marched, proposed to the +midshipmen to upset the heavy gens-d’armes by their great jack-boots; +said they would never be able to right themselves again, and that they, +the sailors, might get off. The officers, however, told them that it +would not do; so they were quiet. + +_October 8th, 1813, Lezaca._—The result of yesterday’s operations was, +that the French was driven from all the mountainous parts of their +position above Endaye, opposite Fontarabia, and so along, opposite +Irun, to above Bera. I do not know that we have lost above five hundred +men in this part. The French did not fight well, and were not above +twelve or fourteen thousand here. What has passed higher up I know not. +It is said that the sixth division, near Maya, have lost men. I believe +Lord Wellington very prudently stopped short, in this part, near +Orogne, on the road to St. Jean de Luz, not knowing exactly the result +near Maya and Roncesvalles. + +It is thought that the French must be in greater strength there, since +they are so weak here. Report says, however, that men have been sent +northwards. Our sixty pieces of artillery were all carried across the +Bidassoa last night, and are established on the main road. We have not +lost many officers. About three hundred prisoners were brought in here, +with eight officers, about ten o’clock this morning. How lucky it was +that my exchange took place before this, or it would have been at least +deferred, or I should have been sent back to the rear. + +General Graham has just called on me. He is on his way to England +to-morrow; he had called to see Lord Wellington. He was very civil, and +assures me that my new mare is a good purchase; and so it ought to be +for four hundred dollars. Major Stanhope sold her some time since for a +hundred guineas, to take it back at the same if he returned. He did so. +General Cole gave him a hundred guineas when he was ordered away again; +this looks well. + +_Evening._—The French still cling with three companies to a rock in the +midst of La Rhüne mountain, about half a mile from my resting-place, +now six weeks ago. The Spaniards cannot drive them out. Little has been +attempted or done to-day. + +The day before yesterday, a curious scene occurred at General +Pakenham’s. A French militia Captain had been taken among the rocks—a +_ci-devant_ regular officer retired, and now apparently an active, +useful man, in organizing the Basque peasantry. He had some regulars +with him, and peasants without uniform. Lord Wellington had succeeded +in frightening him by threatening to hang him for invading Spain with +peasants. He seemed a country mountain squire, and rather simple, +though probably useful. He let fall much against Bonaparte, and told +us many truths. He was told that I had just come from beyond Bayonne, +and made me confirm it by many facts. He was surprised and puzzled, +but believed I had been there as a spy, and never guessed the truth. +Another officer, who knew about eight words of Basque, was passed off +as a proficient in that dialect. The poor militia officer stared, but +swallowed everything as easily as his dinner. His own account of the +chase of him by the Portuguese, the rocks he climbed whilst they fired, +given in the most animated style, was very entertaining. I was almost +sorry this unlucky Basque squire was to leave us next morning for +Passages, to learn a little English farming. He confessed that if he +had been a single man, and had not left a wife and servants with six of +the 6th Light Regiment boarding in his house, he should in these times +have been rather glad than otherwise to get away to England, to avoid +the present troubles. What he wished for most, however, was to return +on parole, as he could then be at home quietly, with an excuse to +enable him to refuse to take any part in what was doing. The arming of +the country being what Lord Wellington wished to prevent, he could not, +of course, favour this man. + +_9th October, five o’clock._—The French have given up the rock on La +Rhüne in the night, and have to-day been beaten out of two or three +redoubts; but there has been but little else done, and some say we +shall now be quiet again until Pamplona falls. To-morrow, head-quarters +move to Bera, only half a league. It is a large ruined village. A +letter has been intercepted from Pamplona, stating that the 25th of +this month will be the very latest they can hold out; but we have heard +this already very often. It draws nearer the truth, certainly, every +time. Plunder has begun, and disorder in the French villages, and Lord +Wellington is exceedingly angry. He says, that if officers will not +obey orders, and take care that those under them do so also, they must +go home, for he will not command them here; many of our officers seem +to think that they have nothing to do but to fight. + +This place, Lezaca, is grown very unwholesome, like an old +poultry-yard, and the deaths of the inhabitants are very numerous. So, +I think, there is no reason to regret the change. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[6] + + Head-quarters, September 4, 1813. + + DEAR SIR, + +I was very much concerned to hear of your misfortune, which, however, +I don’t doubt will have been alleviated by the Comte Gazan as far as +may have been in his power, as soon as he will have known that to your +humanity in the first instance he owed the safety of his wife. + +In former wars a person in your situation would have been considered +a non-combatant, and would have been immediately released; but in +this war, which, on account of the violence of enmity in which it +is conducted, it is to be hoped will be the last for some time at +least, everybody taken is considered a prisoner of war, and none are +released without exchange. There are several persons now in my power +in the same situation with yourself in that respect, that is to say, +non-combatants, according to the known and anciently practised rules +of war; among others, there is the Secretary of the Governor of St. +Sebastian, and I authorize you to tell the Duke of Dalmatia or the +Count Gazan that I will send back any person in exchange for you that +they will point out. + +I send you, with this letter, the sum of two hundred dollars, of which +I request you to acknowledge the receipt, and that you will let me know +whether I can do anything else for you. + + Ever yours, most faithfully, + + WELLINGTON. + + _F. Seymour Larpent, Esq._ + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + Picturesque Quarters—Spanish Reverses—A Strange Adventurer—Spanish + Jealousy—Distribution of the Army—A Pleasant Companion—News from the + North—Morale of the French Army—The Artillery. + + + Head-quarters, Bera or Vera, + Oct. 15, 1813. + + MY DEAR M——, + +I have now a quarter with a most rural exterior, and a balcony all +along the upper story, hung with vines. The picturesque and the +comfortable, however, are not always combined, for the room is dirty, +and though small has four windows, with only large wooden shutters, and +no fireplace. + +It will be but a cold winter residence, and I fear even less +comfortable in fact than my Frenada habitation. The ground-floor is the +stable, the centre devoted to me and to the family, the upper story a +great drying-room. The style of the house is, however, pretty. + +Several of the best houses are destroyed, nearly all are gutted +of furniture, chairs, tables, &c., and many deprived of doors and +shutters, for the French camp. The wounded occupy some of the best +houses, and in addition to Lord Wellington’s staff, head-quarters, and +Marshal Beresford’s, who has returned from Lisbon, we have General +Cole’s staff here, and General Alten’s. This place was for two months +a sort of neutral ground between the two armies, so you may guess +that it is a little deranged. It has been populous, and contained a +considerable number of spacious houses, though not magnificent; yet +the room which Lord Wellington occupies is, upon the whole, better than +almost any he has had since he was in Madrid. It is well proportioned, +has clean walls, and is sufficiently capacious to admit comfortably +twenty-five or thirty persons to dinner. Of course he has furnished it +himself, for there are only bare walls. The largest house in the place, +and the best in point of situation, on a pretty knoll above the town, +was made what is called a strong house of, and a regiment of Portuguese +are now in it. The squire, I fear, has not gained by this arrangement. + +The Spaniards were disturbed early yesterday morning about two miles +from this, surprised, and driven from a redoubt, with some loss in +prisoners and wounded. I believe, however, that they behaved well +afterwards; but a Spanish regiment gave way. That queer playhouse hero, +Downie, who was there as a volunteer, rallied them, and conducted them +well, but had his horse wounded. He once more exhibited on the Pyrenees +the sword of Pizarro, which had so narrow an escape when he was made +prisoner in the south. You may remember that he threw it back to his +friends across a broken bridge, when he was wounded and cut off by +the French. He is, I believe, very brave, and seems to take with the +Spaniards, though with us he can scarcely speak without exciting a +smile, or even more. He was first a Commissary in the light division. + +The day before this little surprise, the English officers at General +Cole’s were remarking, that it was only surprising that the Spaniards +kept the redoubt and their post; for the officers were never seen +there with the men to keep them on the alert, and the men were cooking +without arms within twenty yards of the French sentries, quite +unconcerned. I hope this little surprise may save us from a greater; +but I expect some night that the French will make a night attack upon +the Spaniards, though that is contrary to their usual method, which is +generally to march two hours before daylight, and begin the attack at +break of day. + +_15th, later._—I have just met Downie, and he says Lord Wellington +has admitted that the French were too strong for the Spaniards, and +that he had given them a fort to defend too much in advance in the +French position. The result, however, is that the French have kept the +redoubt, and are at work on it already, and have recovered every house +in the suburbs of Zera, or Sara, of which the Spaniards at one time had +nearly one half. Many say that this is properly a part of the French +position, and does not signify at all. Lord Wellington seems to have a +bad cold to-day. + +Every one appears to have had some adventures the night I was taken +prisoner. General Pakenham’s horse and Captain Eckersley’s fell down +from a bank into the river below, and it was so dark that they and two +others thought it best to remain there in the trees till daylight, +and not stir though it rained. Lord Wellington and all his staff lost +their way, and were five hours exploring two leagues home in the rain +and dark, and did not arrive until ten at night after various perils. +It was a tremendous night. Mr. Heaphy, the artist, who is now here, +was nearly being involved in my scrape, and it is said he has, in +consequence of these risks, added ten guineas to the price of his +likenesses, and made them fifty guineas instead of forty guineas. This +is too much for a little water-colour whole length; but he has, I hear, +now taken twenty-six, and some excessively like. + +Some of our houses begin to improve much, as many of the inhabitants, +who must be somewhat used to these events, are returning now with all +their doors and shutters, which they had themselves carried off and +concealed. Canning’s quarter is suddenly by this means transformed into +a comfortable sort of residence. + +_Head-Quarters, Vera, October 16th._—Here I am still sticking to my +post, though in constant pain, and at times bent enough to act the old +woman, like Mrs. Sparks. The doctor still says I must, first or last, +go to the hot-baths at Sestona, but I fight off as long as possible. +Things must mend soon. The ration beef is like shoe-leather; mutton +I can scarcely ever get; fowls are 9_s._ each, and are all snapped +up before my man can resolve to give that price for them. Pork, ham, +sausages, salt-fish and bacon alone abound. + +Every one seems to think that we shall make no other movement until +Pamplona falls, which, as usual, is daily expected. The French, in the +meantime, are in busy preparation, burrowing and throwing up works, +like moles, on every rising ground near them. It does not appear to me +that they ever really intended to defend this mountain La Rhüne; they +were in some degree surprised, as I told you; they had a notion that +we had sent two divisions to Catalonia. They will now probably fight +harder for each acre of ground, unless completely turned by numbers, +and a decided flank movement from Roncesvalles. + +From the reports which are current, the whole of which I dare not +mention, it is to be feared that the Spanish Government and Lord +Wellington have not gone on well together lately, in spite of outward +appearances. The moment any General acts cordially with us, and a +measure goes on well, some reason is found for his removal. This +ridiculous Spanish jealousy would be endurable if they supported it by +exertions of their own, so as to enable us to leave them to themselves; +but we are now feeding and clothing their half-starved men in the +front, and they are doing very little in the rear to supply those +they have, or to increase their numbers. In short, five years’ misery +has not yet scourged them into reasonable beings, and turned romance +heroes into common-sense soldiers and practical politicians. The men, +however, seem now to fight well whenever they are well led. + +_October 17th, Sunday, Post-day._—General Graham has acted wisely in +going home just now, his age considered. I told Lord Wellington that +the French officers said that he (Lord Wellington) ought to die now, +for he never would have such another year, and fortune would prove +fickle. He laughed, but did not seem disposed to acquiesce in this. He +is better. + +I have just got four bundles of English hay, about a hundred pounds +weight each, which are to last me for ten days. My next forage must be +picked up on the hills, or bought in the market in the shape of baskets +of coarse river grass. + +_Head-Quarters, Vera, October 21st, 1813, Thursday._—The week is +already half elapsed, and Sunday, the post day, draws near, leaving +me with nothing to say. I am like the Spanish country people, who +without waiting to hear a question always begin “_nada, nada, nada_,” +or “_nothing, nothing, nothing_.” They generally add to us “_Francese +roben_” and “_rompas todas_,” and as the French told me, said to them +“_Anglesi rompen_” and “_roben todas_,” but always to every one “_nada +nada_.” + +I have this last week ridden out for half an hour every day before +breakfast, and an hour or two before dinner; and thus exercise myself +and my horses in the meadows about here, which are now of course all +open, and when it has dried up a little after the rain, make a good +riding-school. + +The only news here just now is, that Marshal Beresford is to have a +separate command of a _corps d’armée_, not to act separately, but to +complete our system, which will be—General Hill, right column; General +Sir J. Hope, left column, which Graham had; Marshal Beresford the right +centre-column; and Lord Wellington the left centre: each consisting of +different divisions and bodies of the allies. + +The French to-day are collecting upon the rising ground near La Rhüne, +and our people, thinking that this looked like a threat of doing +something, are all on the alert, but I hear no firing. This is another +anxious moment, for the fall of Pamplona is daily expected, and the +garrison threaten to blow it up, which will make some desperate work. + +Lieutenant-colonel Elphinstone arrived here some time since with +Marshal Beresford, from Lisbon. He is now in quarters within a hundred +yards of me, across a little stream; my nearest neighbour indeed, +except Colonel Ellicombe, in that direction. He is here without his +horses, and without much baggage, or many comforts; he is therefore, +like myself, buying. His own horses only arrived as far as Ciudad +Rodrigo. He has made up his mind to stay till the war is over. + +The French, in addition to a few conscripts, who have joined, have +called out all the militia in the neighbouring departments. This is +a new scene, but I have still great doubts of the policy of entering +France at all. The French now suffer severely, and grumble against +their own government. Invasion may stir up the strong vanity of a +Frenchman, and make him forget his grievances, in order to revenge +himself on those who insult his native soil. Five or six subaltern +officers have come over here to us; I believe owing to some Spanish +connexions generally, or disgust and personal disappointment; and two +inhabitants of the village on this side of St. Jean de Luz, Oragne, +came over here to avoid serving in the militia, which is now being +assembled. + +_12 o’clock, Friday, 22nd._—Nothing was done yesterday. It was all a +false alarm in the front. The French, however, say that we shall be +astonished with some extraordinary news in less than three days! Some +say they mean from the North, some from Pamplona. If they are bold +enough in the latter to dash out in the night against Don Carlos and +his Spaniards, I think they would, with the loss of about one-third of +their men, fight their way to Jaca, where they have a garrison, and +escape. They would of course come out with provisions only, leave mines +prepared to add to the confusion, sally out in all directions, and then +push on in a body. Don Carlos with all his vigilance would not, in my +opinion, be a match for them. He has sent word to the governor that he +holds his head answerable for the safety of the works of the town, and +two Frenchmen liable to death for every Spanish inhabitant starved. + +_Saturday, 23rd._—As I have dined alone every day since Sunday last, +when I went to Lord Wellington’s, I pick up no news. Your July +‘Edinburgh Review’ is wonderfully fallen off; in parts very tame, and +more like a poor imitation of the old ‘Edinburgh Review;’ and yet some +of the articles are curious. + +We begin to feel the effects of this dangerous coast now. Vessels can +even now hardly lie in safety, though shut up in the close harbour of +Passages, and the last packet was close in on Sunday last, on the same +day on which Major Hare fought his way in, in the _Landrail_, and was +not able to land the mail until yesterday. Major Hare brought papers +to the 9th, but scarcely any news. He was closely examined by Lord +Wellington when he arrived at dinner-time. He had got up his lesson so +badly, that he could answer nothing clearly as to dates, but always +ended by a reference to the papers. + +It is known that Bonaparte was at Dresden up to the 5th instant, and +that nothing was done. This some call bad, some good news. On the +whole, I think the latter. Colonel Gordon states that Bonaparte used +our position here, as a strong argument with the Emperor of Austria to +join him in force, stating nothing could restore matters here but an +entire new army of a hundred and fifty thousand men, who had not known +the English, and that he should be invaded unless supported by his +father-in-law. This is a queer argument to one who, I suspect, was only +hesitating through fear of his son-in-law’s strength being too much for +the Allies, and would tell the wrong way. He also states, that Lord +Wellington’s true account of Vittoria did harm in Germany, being much +under the notions they had entertained of it. + +_Head-Quarters, Vera, October 24 1813._—Post-day. We remain _in statu +quo_. I see the papers have made rather a pretty history of my capture, +treating me as an old gentleman (as just now they well may), and that +my younger friends got off. In fact, however, the youngest of the +party, Jesse, was the first who was taken. There will soon be some +dispute here among the artillery and engineers on the subject of rank +and brevet rank. + +_Head-Quarters, Bera, or Vera, October 31st, 1813._—I have been so +worried this week with business and other things that I have not been +able to write until the very post-day, so this will be short and hasty. +The weather has been trying, one day very cold, and I hoped we were to +have clear frost, which, in spite of my open room, is, in my opinion, +better than wet. The thermometer got down to 36°, close to where I +was shaving, three mornings since; but it soon turned to wet—raw, +constant, violent cold wet; north-west wind, and rain in repeated +stormy torrents. In camp our poor soldiers have had their tents torn, +and almost washed away; then we have had hail followed by snow. Colonel +Belson has written to me very feelingly, from the mountains, but seems +well. + +Another drawback as to writing has been this. Three brigades of +artillery were moved along La Rhüne mountain, three nights since by +night. As they went close to the French pickets, to get from our left +to Endage, towards the centre, in our front, they have as yet only +reached this vicinity, and have halted here. Amongst them was Colonel +Ross’s light troops, and Captain Jenkinson, and young ——; the latter +came to me here, very miserable, wet, &c. To save him camp I took +him in. Here he has been three days, and with my establishment this +saves me some trouble. Besides which, one cannot get on well with +business with a chum always at hand, in a small room, night and day. +He is pretty well, and I conclude will remain at this place until +we move—at least until the army moves, which every one expects as +soon as the French will give us up Pamplona. This is _en train_ I +conclude. A proposal came out to Don Carlos some days since, but a most +unreasonable one; namely, to allow them all to go to France, with arms +and baggage, and to be on parole for one year not to serve against us. +This was refused. They made a great parade of giving our officers white +bread and champagne, and Burgundy, &c., at the interview. So much for +humbug. They said, “See how _forts_ we are.” To which we said, “Let us +see how your men are.” Every day’s delay now is very provoking. I hope +they will soon surrender. + +I wish it were possible to get my chum another quarter, for I work in +general at breakfast, at dinner, and in the evening, and a companion +is a great inconvenience, though he is very considerate. Pray tell +his family, the Colonel, &c., how he is. Captain Jenkinson would not +go into a house, but pitched his tent in the wet, and went to bed +dinnerless, at four o’clock, from fatigue. He is, however, well now. +The work of getting guns along over a clay-road, up a mountain, in the +dark, without being allowed to use lights, is no trifling undertaking. + +The news from the North is very good, especially the accession of the +Bavarians to the Allies; which, from the papers I doubted, but which +Colonel Gordon says his brother mentions as fact; Lord Wellington +tells me, also, that Government at home believe it to be correct. The +private letters from the Austrian head-quarters which have reached +here, do not say much in favour of the Swedish Prince, and seem to +think he has much of French humbug in him—_c’est à voir_. It is also +said that he saves the Swedes, and is always in the rear, surrounded +with guards and twenty sentinels. They speak well of the Russian +troops, and very ill of the French lads now opposed to them. You will +rejoice to hear that we are to have divine service here to-day in +the square with some troops. This will not do for me, standing out +bareheaded for an hour in the damp; I must remain a heathen a little +longer, I fear. Mr. B——, the clergyman who has lately arrived at +head-quarters, seemed to be a pleasant gentleman-like man; I have, +however, only met him twice. + +_Two o’clock, Sunday._—Still nothing decisive from Pamplona. To-day’s +post brings accounts of no communication for two days, but that the +garrison desert twenty a-day, and say that the place is almost in a +state of mutiny against the General. To-day the weather has a little +cleared up, but our artillery horses are living upon dried fern and +corn—no hay, no straw, and very little coarse grass; every one in a +fidget to move from hence. Unless we can so maul this French army as to +have them at our mercy, and then go where we please, and stop where we +please, out of our own moderation, I think we shall not have any quiet +winter-quarters this year. As long as anything like an army remains, +the French must be doing something to molest us, unless we molest +them; and then the great nation can never submit to let our allied +army quietly take up their winter-quarters in the French territory—at +least I think not. Several of their conscripts have joined them, and +they make a parade of drilling them within sight and hearing of our +outposts, even in marching without arms, &c. Their deserters say +they have about fifty-five thousand men; it is supposed with their +conscripts this is rather under the mark. They are throwing up works in +all directions all over the country, and making breast-works, redoubts, +&c. A breast-work, half round a hill, appears to be turned up in a few +nights. + +It must be allowed that they are industrious at least, but the _morale_ +of the old soldiers is shaken very much. It is even said that the young +ones fight the best of the two. This agrees with the story that we +hear from the North: that before the Austrian ambassador left Paris, +a letter from Marshal Soult had arrived, stating, that unless he had +fifty thousand new men, who had never met the British, he would not +answer for the South of France. + +I see your papers make Endage a fortified place—it is a great heap +of ruins; never strong, only once a fortified village. It was nearly +destroyed about the year 1790 by the Spaniards, and has never recovered +itself. In return, Fontarabia, once really rather a strongly-fortified +town, was soon afterwards blown up by the French, and the works are for +the most part still in ruins. The town has not suffered much, for this +was only a military operation. Of all the ruins we have made amongst +us in Spain, even including Badajoz, and Rodrigo, and Almeida, it is +said St. Sebastian is the most complete. It was a large, handsome, and +thriving town four months since: one side of one street alone remains +entire! every street is barricaded and blockaded! Rubbish up to the +one pair of stairs windows, and walls half down, make it dangerous in +wind to walk anywhere. Beside this, the large wooden balconies, hanging +about by a few beams at the two pair of stairs windows, threaten every +moment to fall, even where the walls are sound. Some repairs are +being carried on, however, in a few buildings; at least preparations +are being made, by clearing, and the works are in progress towards a +state of defence. Most officers think the destruction so great that +it can scarcely ever be a good town again—that is, as a town; as a +fortified place, with much labour, it may. The French garrison were so +disheartened in the castle, that they could not be made to do more, I +understand from the engineers, for it was still tenable for some time +longer when it surrendered. When the town was first taken, and our men +were all drunk about the place, committing every disorder, the Governor +was doubting about a sortie to recover it; thinking, however, that we +must have fresh men near at hand, in case of such an accident, kept +sober and together, he gave up the idea. Many say, that if he had done +so, such was the disorganized state of our men, that it would have +succeeded. His own men were very much weakened and dispirited. + +Most of the light division tents in front here have been declared +unserviceable from rents, &c. The men are still returned healthy, to +the astonishment of all, even the doctors, who say the consequences of +this must soon appear. Wine is dearer, which is a good thing, and I +believe our men bear this cold wet weather better than heat. + +Tell John his two newspapers of the 20th have been in great request. I +believe only Dr. M’Gregor had one besides Lord Wellington. They have +been much read, and I have now enclosed one to Colonel Belson, which +will probably be the only one in his division. It happened to contain +almost all the news of the last week. + +Lieutenant-colonel Elphinstone is still here. I understand that he +got a queer answer from Lord Wellington when at Lisbon, which brought +him here in such a hurry. When he became senior officer of the corps +here, he wrote up for instructions from Lisbon, and to ask what Lord +Wellington wished him to do, and where he was to go as Chief Engineer +in the Peninsula? The answer was, that as Chief Engineer in the +Peninsula he would best know where his proper place was. Up he came by +sea in a week, in consequence. + +A man to thrive here must have his wits about him, and not see or +feel difficulties, or start them, to go on smoothly. People wonder +at Lieutenant-colonel Dickson, Portuguese service, and only (barring +brevet rank) a captain of artillery in our service, commanding, as he +has done now ever since Frenada, all the artillery of both nations, +English and Portuguese. He has four seniors out here, but all young +comparatively also, who have submitted hitherto. E—— says it should be +a General’s command to be done properly, with proper officers under +him; others say the old artillery officers have rather changed their +sex, and are somewhat of old women. + +Lord Wellington seems to favour the latter opinion a little. I conclude +that he finds it answer in practice. As an instance of this, it may +be stated that in the pursuit after the battle of Vittoria in the bad +roads, Lord Wellington saw a column of French making a stand as if +to halt for the night. “Now, Dickson,” said he, “if we had but some +artillery up.” “They are close by, my Lord.” And in ten minutes, from a +hill on the right, Lieutenant-colonel Rose’s light division guns began +bang—bang—bang! and away went the French two leagues further off. I +fear if there had been a General, that we should have had, instead of +this, a report of the bad state of the roads, and the impossibility of +moving guns. In fact, this same brigade of guns, with their mounted +men, took the last French mortar near Pamplona, and Lord Wellington +passed whilst they were putting it to rights to proceed. They had +killed two of the horses in it the day before. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + Fall of Pamplona—Deterioration of the Army—Duke of York’s + Orders—Orders of Merit—Church Service—Capture of French + Redoubts—March of the Army—Incidents of Foreign Service—Frequency of + Desertion—Wellington and the Lawyers. + + + Head-quarters, Vera, Nov. 5, 1813. + + MY DEAR M——, + +Here we are still, but rather nearer a move than when I wrote last. +Between business and my chum ——, who is still here with me, I could +never spare a moment to write. Even now, at three o’clock, I have been +five or six hours at work. + +The weather has improved, however, these last two days, and now tends +to frost. Anything is better than the incessant wet we have here, up +to that part of the army at Roncesvalles; perpetual torrents from the +north-west, almost night and day, so that the roads have been nearly +impassable. At Roncesvalles they have had snow in the valley fourteen +inches deep. So close as in the valley of Baztan, at Elisondo, it has +been as rainy as here. We have now cold, thick, November, London, foggy +mornings, until nearly eleven o’clock forenoon, and then a clear fine +day, but not yet absolute frost. Thermometer about 36° or 37°. Meadows +all swampy. On the whole, however, the snow gentlemen have had much the +best of it, though a little uneasy as to their supplies just now, from +the fear of snow stoppages. + +Pamplona has at last fallen, as you will have learnt by the last mail, +for I believe Lord Wellington kept the packet on purpose back two days. +The garrison, four thousand two hundred, it is said, are to embark +to-day at Passages if possible, at least as soon as they can be got +ready. Don Carlos made them submit to his terms, as we hear, _in toto_. +They were even compelled to give up the Juramentudas, besides the +fortification artillery. Report says fifty-seven field guns have been +found there. This shows us the danger we escaped by Lord Wellington’s +presence of mind, and the bravery of our men on the 28th of July last. +Had the French got a league further, they would have found this fine +field train all ready, and a reinforcement of near five thousand men +in the garrison. No one can tell how this might have changed matters. +We have still eighteen guns here, with the horses living on leaves, +fern, and corn, but ready to play upon a new star-work the French are +every day making more of, on a hill close to La Rhüne, which they still +occupy near Sarré. I think these guns will surprise them a little. At +present, I conclude, from general report, that we are only waiting for +the rains to run down and the roads to dry a little; and if the weather +of these last two days continue, every one says that we shall soon make +a push on. + +Our men have had a miserable time of it lately; and when uncomfortable +and idle, I am sorry to say, they always make work for me. We hear of +daily losses, plunder, &c., and the Spaniards perform their part well +in this respect. General O’Lalor yesterday found his secretary had +run away, down towards Madrid, with nearly two thousand dollars, for +he trusted him with everything. Last time I dined at head-quarters +Lord Wellington got into a long conversation with me for nearly two +hours about the poor-laws, and the assize of bread, about the Catholic +question, the state of Ireland, &c., just as if he had nothing else +upon his mind. In many points we agreed very well, particularly as +to what would be necessary to be done in Ireland—if anything; but +he thinks nothing should be done at all. He is still alarmed at the +separation spirit which he thinks exists there, and the remains of a +Jacobin feeling in the lower classes in England. + +_6th November._—Poor —— must pass an uncomfortable time with me here, +and yet I suffer much more from having him, and he is little aware how +inconvenient he is to me. + +To-day, 6th November, I received three letters from England. I see +there is a magnificent order of the Duke of York about parcels to +the army, up to a ton weight, being forwarded to officers by the +Commissariat. A few parcels would make the Commissary stare a little, +when, with nearly twelve thousand mules, we can scarcely be supplied +with bread and corn, and not with forage. You seem to know so little +about the real state of things here in England, that I think the +General, who came half way up from Lisbon to review, and then gave it +up, should be employed to explain the difficulties in the duties of +office. The Commissary-general says that it will take him an entire new +office, which he must write home for, to keep the accounts which this +new plan will require. + +Our troops at Roncesvalles have been terribly off; some of the guns +are buried in the snow there; some Spaniards, as well as English, +have perished by the cold, and one picket was obliged to be dug out. +I hear that they are now moving away, and that an attack by that pass +must be abandoned; but we shall soon know for certain if this dry +weather lasts. Our great men were all in the front, peeping to-day into +France from the mountains which surround this hollow. Our army-post +to one division, with the dragoon carrying it, was caught two days +since,—picked up, probably, as I was; he had got a little out of his +way, somehow. I hope no letters of importance were caught; but it was +provoking. The French, it is said, sent back one letter to General +Oswald, opened, and said that the rest were all immaterial; however, +they did not return them. The aide-de-camp of the late governor of +Pamplona has been here for the last two days, Monsieur Pomade, a +gentleman-like man; he says when the Vittoria army arrived at Pamplona +on June the 24th, the garrison was three thousand strong, and the +place provisioned for one hundred days complete, but that that army, +_en passant_, gave them a thousand more effective men and five hundred +sick. This caused them to give in sooner than they otherwise should. He +says that they never expected their present fate, but that they knew +nothing, and never had any communication whatever with France or Soult; +that they sent out several times, but never got any one in. This is +more than we can say at St. Sebastian, and does Don Carlos some credit. + +The new crosses for the victories are very handsome—the medals so +so—and the former will look strange with a whole row of clasps, which +I suppose Lord Wellington must have now, for he has already two, up +to Salamanca, in addition to the cross. I think the thing is either +too general, or not enough so—a selection of distinguished men, of all +ranks, would be better than a general distribution to all of certain +ranks and situations. It now shows little more than that a man had a +certain rank in such a battle, and not that he performed anything more +than his neighbours. A selection might have descended with advantage +even to the privates. Of course many grumble, and are disappointed that +others have more marks and clasps than they have; that, however, would +always be the case. + +_Sunday, the 6th._—Post-day for ordinary men—to-morrow for Lord +Wellington; so I proceed. For the first time these fourteen months I +have to-day been to a military church; I found that the service was +in-doors, and ventured, but was much reproached by my doctor. We were +in the newly-repaired large public town room, which has just been made +water and wind tight, as well as all the rooms round about it, for an +hospital, and will soon, it is to be feared, be filled with wounded. +So we go on clearing away one set of hobblers, and destroying houses +on both sides, then repairing and cleaning for the new set we are +about to make; and then clearing off again, and so on! This town is +just now clear of all the old wounded; and the large room was washed, +Dr. M’Gregor told me (though I should not have discovered it), for +those soon expected. I believe he wished not a little that we had gone +somewhere else to pray, and not made a dirt in his department. The +service was short, plainly read, but tolerably well; the sermon homely +and familiar, but good for the troops, I think, and very fair and +useful to any one. Lord Wellington was there, with his attendants, a +few officers, and our new staff corps. + +On my return home, lo, and behold! I found —— very alert, waiting for +breakfast, as he had orders to march on to the front in half an hour, +and in less than that time, before breakfast was over, I saw Lord +Wellington and his suite all off on horseback to the front, to peep +again. It is not likely, however, anything can be done until to-morrow +at soonest, and it will be stiff work if the French do their duty as +they ought. + +I now suspect that the packet will be kept until the result of what +is about to be done is known, unless there is another ship ready. My +letter must, however, go to-day; but I will try and send a line off, if +possible, by the same conveyance as the despatches. As I must not go +and peep, for fear of being picked up again and carried off further +next time, my communications will be dull and uninteresting now. A move +was becoming very necessary, for sickness had just commenced, and in +the mountains on the right horses were dying fast. If we can but beat +them well, we have a chance of some quiet quarter. Merely beating them +back, in my opinion, will not do for us; and if the French defend their +new works with as much steadiness as they have shown activity in making +them, you will have a long _Gazette_. We all think that their _morale_ +is much shaken, and that the old soldiers will not stand now; if so, +the young ones will not hold out long, though it was observed that they +fought best on late occasions. + +——, the last thing before he left, was at me again, about procuring his +brother to be made a Captain in the Navy by Lord Wellington’s interest, +though it might be thought I had sufficiently put him aside the first +time, as I have no humbug in these matters. It now became necessary +to refuse him in direct terms, assuring him that Lord Wellington had +continually said to me, “I never interfere with the Navy, when I can +help it, in any way; I let them have all their rights, that I may keep +all mine; and as I do not wish them to meddle with me, I never meddle +with them.” I should never have thought of asking Lord Wellington for +anything now except upon public grounds, such as repaying the Bayonne +banker, &c., as it is not my doctrine that because a man has done you +one favour you are, therefore, to ask him to do you another. + +_Twelve o’clock._—Six more guns are now rumbling by through this place +to go up the pass. B——’s have been off some time; six more will, I +hear, be soon up, and these eighteen are all to be collected to play +upon the French new work, where they had yesterday got about twelve +together. It is feared that we must begin from the ground at too great +a distance, thirteen hundred yards, but I hope closer quarters will be +come to soon, for in my opinion the French succeed best at cannonading +and sharp-shooting, and we at the hand-to-hand work. + +_Two o’clock._—The mail is said to go as usual, so I must close +directly, but I have no doubt the packet will be kept, as every one +says publicly that the attack is to take place to-morrow morning. +General Cole has just told me to go up to the top of La Rhüne, where I +must be safe, and must see everything. I shall not go, however, unless +I find all the quiet steady ones do the same, for though you may see +all, and if knowing, may be down again in time, yet mistakes may be +made by the unknowing, and I shall remain quietly here. + +_Head-Quarters, Vera, November 9th, 1813._—I have this moment received +your packet of the 26th ult., with all the kind enclosures from aunts, +cousins, &c. The attack never took place on Monday the 8th, as I told +you in my last; the roads, from the wet, being so bad that I believe +the army could not be collected in time. To-morrow, however, is now +said to be the day, as the two last days have continued fine and mild, +the wind south, and the thermometer up at 52° again. It now looks +like rain, but is fine, and holds up as yet, with a wind south and +south-west; whilst all the rain came with a cold north-west wind. It +will not do, therefore, to make use of English weather-wisdom here. + +Your English mail is thought nothing of. A _Gazette_ of the 25th had +got here first, and forestalled it; and we have to-day much greater +news from the French side, which is believed by every one here, and by +the French army as we are told; namely, that Bonaparte is beaten back +to the Rhine, with the loss of three divisions cut off by blowing up a +bridge too soon, &c.; one General taken, and one drowned, &c. This puts +our party in spirits for to-morrow, and will, I hope, damp the French +if believed by them, as the deserters report it to be. + +The Portuguese are most anxious to enter France, and are in high +spirits; the grave ones, however, expect a great number of broken +heads, unless the French turn tail shamefully. You ask me about Baron +de Trenqueléon, and whether I thought of him whilst I was a prisoner. +I certainly did at Mont de Marsan, and found that I was within thirty +miles of him; and an emigrant there advised me to apply to go over to +see him, but I thought it might do us both harm, and, therefore, never +said a word upon the subject to any one. Major D—— had serious thoughts +of going as my servant with the baggage to look about; but it would +have been a dangerous experiment. + +_The 10th November._—I dined with Lord Wellington last night, and staid +there till near ten. He was all gaiety and spirits; and only said on +leaving the room, “Remember! at four in the morning.” Monsieur Pomade, +the aide-de-camp to the governor of Pamplona, was there, and I sat +next to him and had some conversation with him. He had been told that +operations were going on, and that that was the reason he could not be +sent in yet to the French. To show what he expected to be the result, +he told me (when I begged him to tell the banker at Bayonne that all +his letters had been sent safely) that except from necessity and orders +he should avoid Bayonne, as he was not ready yet to be shut up again in +another town. + +To-day every one was in motion here two hours before daylight; and +part of the cavalry passed through here at five o’clock. I got up, and +had all packed ready by daylight, and found that every one was gone +to see the glorious attack—even the doctors and the two parsons: so I +determined to venture up to the top of La Rhüne in the way General Cole +recommended. The day was beautiful. I passed the camp of the latter in +my way up, and should have heard there of any check. I then pursued +my way, and staid on the top from about eight until two, hearing and +seeing fire and smoke all the way along the hills from St. Jean de +Luz to near St. Jean Pied de Port. The whole was visible at once; and +I could see the men even with the naked eye, by the glitter of their +arms, for a considerable way. The French redoubts crowned the tops of +all their positions with deep ditches; and they had full shelter in +woods and houses; but our men slowly beat them on and on, from place +to place, forcing their way until all the right of the position seemed +ours. Two redoubts on the hill below me I saw abandoned shamefully, +when our men got round them. A large star fort on the top took more +time. The men from the others tried to make for it, but failed; though +mostly got off on our side. Those in the fort I left surrounded by our +men, who ran up in four or five directions to within about fifty yards +or less, firing as they ran; and then bobbed all down for shelter until +all were ready. They lay in this way nearly an hour. When satisfied +that the men shut up must be prisoners (as I hear they were) I returned +home. + +On the ridge of hills all along the right, the rows of huts set on +fire added not a little to the scene. By whom they were burnt I know +not. The cannon roared away in the mountains. On the hill, amongst +others, I met Lord E. Somerset, the Cavalry General, gone up to look +out, with Colonel Vivian and Mr. Heaphy. He was there before me, when +the fighting was nearer, and declares that he saw one English soldier +bayonet two French officers who attacked him when advanced from the +others—first one and then the other. I hope that our loss has not been +severe, considering what the position was. + +I believe we were to have moved to Sarré; but General Giron has taken +seventy houses there for his staff; and the rest are full of wounded. +From what I have heard, our officers think themselves well out of the +scrape. The left of our army towards St. Jean de Luz was refused;—that +is, the French were not pressed there much, in hopes of forming the +right so rapidly as to cut off a good lot on the left. That will not +probably be the case, but that they must move off to-night to a new +position, and not having such another line of works, the French must +stand to-morrow if attacked openly on the hills, or run for it. I have +seen no one yet, so only give you my own views, which may be probably +very wide of the _Gazette_. It was a terrible fag for my new mare, and +at top cool, and no room to walk about: I have in consequence a new +fidget, in her refusing her food. The troops will devour all the forage +in front, and I do not know how we shall get on at all. Adieu. + +_Head-Quarters, St. Fé, November 12th, 1813._—At seven, yesterday +morning, we received orders to march; all the baggage to assemble at +Sarré, and wait there for orders. We did so; and on our way crossed +the first French redoubts and positions, and began to see our wounded +and the stripped dead lying about as usual. So starved and weak were +many of the animals, and so clayey and deep the roads, that the scene +had almost the appearance of a retreat, except that we passed all the +wounded and prisoners going to the rear, instead of marching with them. +The Spanish oxen were so starved, and thin, and weak, that during the +first league I counted probably about eleven lying down to die, whilst +every now and then a sergeant with his pike, or a soldier gave them +a stab, half out of humanity, and half to see the effect, and from a +sort of love of mischief. Then there were ten or fifteen poor women +belonging to the baggage of the division lamenting over their dying +donkeys and mules, whilst others were brutally beating some to death, +because they would not go farther. In every direction baggage was +falling off, and the whole formed a glorious scene of confusion. Near +Sarré I was caught in a violent storm, but got to a house for shelter +before I was wet, and there stood in the doorway of a deserted house, +with three dead bodies on the ground close by me; one certainly that of +an officer, from his clean skin, neatly-shaven beard and whiskers, and +from every remnant of his dress having been worth stealing. The other +two were Spaniards. + +The Spaniards behaved tolerably in the field, but not like the fourth +and the light division. In plundering and mischief, however, they +excelled them. I found them, on passing, breaking and plundering one +of the best houses in Sarré. Our own people are grown expert hands at +this, and Lord Wellington threatens hanging, and, I believe, has hung +a few, but in vain. The people in general have fled, and the Spaniards +come in to carry off pots, pans, dishes, chairs, tables, &c., to +refurnish their own houses. At Sarré, I found the civil departments +were to stop there, and the military to come on to this place. My +baggage had gone by in part before I knew this; and besides that, +nowhere could a house be found by me. The Spaniards were in possession, +and firing, plunder, and confusion, were all around; I determined, +therefore, to come on here, and take my chance. + +You will advise me to keep well in the rear for safety; but the +most knowing ones (in which opinion I agree) consider the rear as +the most unsafe place of any. All the vagabonds, plunderers, and +rascals—followers of the army—stick to the rear, and look about to do +mischief as soon as all the troops are passed. Besides which, it is not +clear here that the peasants, who all fly, may not return, and knock a +few on the head, though at present they seem terrified and excessively +alarmed. I found no quarters for me here; but at a little village +close by, where there were only the Commissary-general and a few of +his department, I took possession of a deserted house, which had been +ransacked, and cleaned it out a little in one place. Finding abundance +of food left for my horses for two or three nights, I thought myself +well off, though I was somewhat alarmed at having possession of the +last inhabited house on that road, lest any straggling attack should be +made, or the owners should come back in the night. There was, however, +no alternative. All the immediately useful part of my baggage was +behind, and never arrived at all, having been turned out of the road +by a Spanish division. Unluckily my neighbours were nearly in the same +state. Sir Robert Kennedy had barely enough for his own eating, and +went to bed leaving his servants to do the best they could. + +H—— had nothing, his baggage not having arrived. Mr. H——n had one +half-loaf, and that served us all. Mr. M——, the storekeeper, had got +some mutton for Lord Wellington to-day, and he spared us a little bit +each; so I got one mutton chop, which was very lucky. + +Between four and five, Henry went to inquire about marching, and, +finding no orders, we remained quiet. About seven or eight, he found +my two stray mules, and I got a loaf of bread and some potted butter +out of my stock, and made my contribution to the party, which was very +acceptable. I have since been down to head-quarters to know what is +going on; but can learn nothing except that we are ready now to cross +the Nive, and are prepared for that step; particulars I can hear none, +for only the clergyman, the doctors, and a straggling civilian, with +the provost guard, are to be seen. + +I returned, therefore, to my deserted, desolate home. In my way I found +one of the owners of a house here who had been shot through the thigh +by a Portuguese; I got him to an hospital to be dressed, in the church, +where French, English, and all were lying to wait their turn, with now +and then a dead man. As soon as they are dressed, they are packed off +to the rear on mules, &c. So we go on! + +The famous French bulletin has now been seen. Some say Bonaparte is +at Paris, and some think that he will come here. Others have a notion +that the people beyond Bayonne are ready to join us, if we proceed +on. I fear, however, the runaways will not encourage this much with +their exasperated stories of our conduct in their villages. To-day is +a very fine day again, and will, I hope, assist our operations much. +It is said that when our officers went up to the men in the star fort, +to call upon them to surrender, the Colonel commanding said, like the +governor of Pamplona, “Yes, on the terms of parole, not to serve for a +year and a day.” “No, no,” says the Englishman; “_prisonnier_.” “_Eh +bien, donc je ne me rends pas_,” says the Frenchman. “But you must +and shall, or you will all be murdered,” says the Englishman, and +then turned away. Upon which the Colonel very sulkily returned and +consented; and when his soldiers began to rejoice, and to quiz the _ré +papé_, and say, dancing about, that it was time it should all end, he +was most indignantly sulky, and has remained so ever since, complaining +of being sent off to England as a prisoner. + +I have now under my window a characteristic scene. A short Portuguese +lad, bloated out with ration beef, with an old French helmet on, a +great red grenadier’s feather, and an old French uniform jacket and +pantaloons, with a dragoon broadsword, cutting down cabbages and apples +in the garden for his brother Portuguese, who has his apron ready to +receive them, whilst a dirty, brown, snuff-coloured Spaniard is looking +about on the other side with an old French musket trying to shoot +something eatable. + +The mixture of the silence of a deserted village with the occasional +riotous noise of muleteers and stragglers, Portuguese and Spaniards, +as well as a few swearing English, is striking; but to a person not +actively engaged in what is going on, by which all minor considerations +vanish in the dangers and anxiety of the scene, there is a sameness of +misery and starvation, of wounds and of death, which, when the novelty +of the scene is over, becomes very unpleasant, especially without any +rational companion to talk to on what is passing. This appears to be +the house of a curé, for there are the remains of many comforts, and of +some books, chiefly religious, some crosses, &c. + +I just now met a man who spoke English tolerably, and French well, but +would address me in Spanish, to say the people were plundering all the +flour at the only mill in the place which was at work, and he requested +a guard and wanted the Commandant. I luckily noticed by his feather +the Superintendent of the provost guard entering a house opposite, and +procured him a guard directly. So that one can be of some use without +meddling much. + +I have just now had a Spaniard at my door to inquire how he could +get back safe to Spain, as he had wandered here alone, and dared not +return, and had nothing to eat. I have sent him off with a small bit of +bread and a shilling, and advised him to go and remain near the provost +guard, and keep with the first escort of prisoners which sets out for +Spain. + +Nearly all the houses about me are empty, and I do not much like my +situation, but it is just now like that of a wife—for better, for +worse; so I must submit. I do not think we have a hundred men within +three miles, and not one soldier within half a mile, only commissaries +and young doctors, and a stray shot is fired every three or four +minutes. My own muleteers I have just stopped. + +_November 13th._—Here I am still in my solitary abode. It has rained +all night, and the roads are running watercourses, which will, it +is to be feared, impede our progress. All, it is said, however, is +going on well. I have not seen a creature, or been out; only sent to +the Commissary-general, my neighbour, to ascertain whether we are not +to march, lest I should be left behind here. Several of the elderly +owners of houses have returned, but mine has not. Lord Wellington +has ordered what forage can be regularly used, and collected, to be +paid for punctually, and I understand has determined to send back at +least a part of the Spaniards, on account of their abominable conduct, +Longa’s people in particular. I am not surprised at it, but it spoils +all our plans. We were admitted quietly into St. Jean de Luz, and the +inhabitants remained there. The mayor offered to exert himself to +get what he could collected, to supply the troops regularly; and Sir +John Hope flogged the two first men he caught taking some wine—this +instantly; so I hope that town will be preserved. + +We can never do well, if we go on driving all the population before +us. The few old people left here, and who are coming in, speak only +Basconee and a little Gascon, and no French. There is no making them +understand anything. + +To-day would have been dreadful in the mountains, so we have at least +that reflection to comfort ourselves with. I send enclosed Lord +Wellington’s letter to me and Count Gazan’s. Pray keep the former, as I +shall always value it. + +_4 o’clock, afternoon, November 13th._—It has been raining so +incessantly ever since morning, that I have not stirred from my hole, +and have, therefore, seen no one. I understand that all the grandees +were to have gone to the front at five this morning, but from the state +of the weather, they have all stopped at home—not for the fear of a +wetting themselves, but most likely from the impossibility of getting +through the country, and across rivers, when in such a state. It is +only wonderful how our men got on, as they did up the hills on the +12th. It was as much as I could do with my horse singly on a slippery +clay, either so hard that a horse could not stand on it, or so deep +that he was up to his knees, between the hard places. We are now, +however, nearly out of the Pyrenees, and I hope the roads will mend, +but from what I saw of the high road, this is doubtful. + +_November 14th._—Still here at St. Fé, so the place is called in an +excellent old French map. Still rain, and nothing new, except that the +French have been well frightened, and mean, we are told, to quit the +new position they have taken, with their left on Bayonne, as soon as it +is attacked; that is, as soon I conclude as the roads will permit us to +move. The communications here are almost as bad as in Spain, and from +hence to St. Jean de Luz almost impassable. The Marquis of Worcester, I +have just heard, goes to-day in an hour. + +_Head-Quarters, St. Jean de Luz, November 24th, 1813._—Having a little +leisure, I begin my weekly journal. The weather continues beautiful, +and I generally get my hour’s walk, and my hour’s ride daily. A brig +from Dartmouth sold off an immense stock of good English moulds +yesterday, in the morning, at 2_s._ 6_d._ a pound, by order from +head-quarters, and about five tons of potatoes, besides quantities of +porter, ale, beef, cheese, &c. The scramble of officers on board to see +and buy would have astonished you not a little. We have also some good +white wine. + +Since our move from the mountains our men are all behaving much better: +they were becoming very bad; and desertion, even from the English to +the French, was frequent. The temptation of the old gentleman in the +high mountains was too much for the men. It has now almost ceased. +I hope, therefore, when we are a little quiet, and my arrears are +cleared off, that I shall have much less to do. The reports here now +are that Bonaparte’s aide-de-camp is at Bayonne, and that he himself is +expected. If so we may probably have some work to do here again, unless +he has been obliged merely to show himself here to convince his army +that he is still alive and well. + +We had a little affair yesterday. Some of the light division were +ordered to drive in the French pickets in one place where they were too +forward, and our men being too zealous, pushed too far. In trying to +prevent this, a fine officer of the 43rd was taken, and a lieutenant +badly wounded, and some men lost. The only annoyance I suffer at +present in my quarters arises from the multiplicity of inhabitants, +namely, three old women, seven children, three dogs, two cats, and a +fair allowance of fleas, whom this late fine weather has revived. We +have lately had an arrival at Passages of a hundred and fifty oxen +from Ireland for the army, and are promised the same supply weekly. +This will do something; but our consumption is, I believe, about a +thousand a week. Our forage in this nook of France is as bare as in +the neighbouring parts of Spain; every field is eaten close down, and +all straw of corn and maize consumed. I sent twelve miles for straw +yesterday, and the mules have returned to-day empty. I mean now to try +bruised furze, to mix with their Indian corn, so as to hold out until +some more hay shall reach us from England. + +_November 25th._—I have just heard that about two thousand of the +inhabitants returned here last night, but Soult would not suffer them +to carry much with them. + +_November 26th._—There was no time for more yesterday, and to-day I +have nothing to add. I have still not heard anything from you later +than the 3rd, but we have papers here to the 13th. I cannot understand +how this has occurred. Through France we have news still later, and +have heard of the surrender of Davoust’s corps at Hamburg, on terms of +not serving for a year and a day. It is to be hoped that the terms may +be kept. I had a droll _malheur_ again to-day. Riding my pony into the +sea, into about six inches water, to wash his legs, a wave came, the +sand gave way, and he sunk up to his middle, so that my legs were up +to the calf in sand. I jumped off, and went over his head to run out, +fearing that he could not rise. We thus both got safely out. The poor +pony much more frightened than I was. + +I conclude that everything goes on well, for Lord Wellington and his +gentlemen were out to-day with the hounds. He told me that I kept him +up reading Courts-martial until twelve o’clock at night or one in the +morning; and this every night. I hope, however, that this will not +last long. The Prince of Orange has got a complaint in his eyes, but +I believe only a cold, and he seems better. Nearly all our great men +except Lord Wellington have been ill. + +Send me some law news, and good, for Lord Wellington expects me to +tell him who all the new judges are to be, &c., and is very fond +of discussing legal subjects. At first I was generally right in my +speculations: but I have now no means of knowing how things are going +on unless you keep up my credit; it must not be, however, by loose +reports. + +I have a poor young Commissary, B——, under charges, who has, I think, +been very ill used by a Spanish alcalde. I fought his battle with Lord +Wellington to-day to get him released from arrest. He is very well +spoken of, and said to support his two sisters. Can he be a brother of +the Miss B——’s whom you know? I detected the Spanish General F—— in +a little bit of a fib on this subject. His excuse for not answering +my letter for eight days was, that it had been delayed in the post. I +complained, and his receipt for the letter was produced the day after +it was sent—this on the back of the cover. + +_Sunday, November 29th._—Still no news, and no accounts from England. +We are all anxiety. I have just returned from church at the drum-head, +on the sands by the sea. Two brigades of guards present in their best, +and white trousers, &c., and Lord Wellington and his staff here. It was +rather cold work. The weather is beginning to change again, I fear, for +rain, just as the roads were becoming passable. You have no conception +how soon fifteen thousand sharp-footed heavy-laden mules in rain, cut +up a road in this country, even when at first tolerably good. We have +been amused with Cobbett’s attributing all Bonaparte’s misfortunes +to his being grafted into the old stock. If he can now manage well +he may, I think, still get his little king Pepin graft to thrive in +France, and beat Mr. Knight and our gardeners. The true cause of all +is, however, that the _morale_ of the people of Europe is changed. It +was France, army and people, against mere armies and bad governments, +whilst all the people in Europe were indifferent at the least. This is +now reversed; and it is now a mere French army against every people and +army; and Frenchmen at least quite indifferent. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + News from France—Lord Fitzroy Somerset—Departure of the Prince of + Orange—Exchange of Prisoners—Proximity of the two Armies—Wellington’s + Cooks—Warlike Movements—French Attack—The Guards—-Deserters—More + Fighting. + + + Head-quarters, St. Jean de Luz, + December 2, 1813. + + MY DEAR M——, + +At last we have got a mail from England. Your papers give us little +public news, that is, news to us, for you have no late accounts from +the Allies, and French papers we always get sooner this way. Thus we +have long known of Bonaparte’s arrival at Paris, which you only just +now communicate to us. Lord Wellington has, I understand, news of a +rising in Holland; and this has been confirmed by our reports through +the French, who, in conversation with Dashwood yesterday, when he went +in with a flag-of-truce, and a parcel of women, seemed to admit it. We +had had this as a report before the arrival of the packet, and Major +Dashwood therefore tried to pump them on the subject. We have also had +a report here that Admiral Young had taken the Texel fleet; but as no +news of this sort has reached us from you, we fear from dates that this +must be all false. + +This is only a Passages report from some straggling ships, not French +news. The deserters who come in also from Bayonne, and the returned +inhabitants, all state that the Italian regiments here have been +removed to the rear; at least all Italian officers have given up their +lodgings and have packed up. I think now that they will scarcely +rely much upon the Dutch either, and there were some line men and +several good officers of that nation here. I told you that the only two +officers who were disinterested, and most uniformly civil to us whilst +we were prisoners, were two Dutchmen of the 130th regiment. + +The Burgundy side of France (Switzerland being with us) is certainly +as unguarded as this frontier, except by a naturally strong country in +places. Strasburg, almost the only strong place except our old friends +Huningen and Kehl, is far removed, and the latter may probably be left +on one side, but for all this the French Italian army must be well +disposed of first. + +If Lord Charles Somerset deserves promotion as well as our Military +Secretary here, the grumbling you mention against his appointment must +be unfounded. The latter gets through a great amount of business with +little assistance, and always quite in public, almost in a common +coffee or lounging room, in the midst of talking, noise, joking, and +confusion. The Prince of Orange left us yesterday. As he used to be +one of the above loungers, this put me in mind of him. He has had a +complaint in his eyes, and could not embark before yesterday, when he +did so with a fair wind. His arrival, however, and all news about him +will precede this. The French, yesterday, when told that he was going +off for England, said, “Oh they supposed that it was in consequence of +what had happened in Holland.” In short, the French seem still (as when +I was in France and now even more so) willing to listen to all bad news +against Bonaparte, and do not make the least of it at all. All exchange +of officers here has now, I fear, at last been broken off, and angry +letters have passed. How fortunate I was! I will send in your French +Captain Le Fevre’s letter concerning his exchange, if an opportunity +should offer soon, and it is permitted. + +_Friday, December 3rd._—I find Lord Wellington’s news about a Dutch +insurrection came to him by a telegraphic note from Mr. Croker, dated +the 20th ult. This is a grand point. Next for Italy, and then we shall +do; and after twenty-three years of murder, we have a reasonable chance +of being able to give the military word when things go wrong,—“As you +were.” + +The Prince of Orange, from all appearances here, where the sea has been +tremendous, must have had a most famous passage; but I should think +a quick one, as the wind has been fair. We have a notion that he has +been chased by four French frigates which have escaped from some French +port. I yesterday gave a grand dinner at the French café here; the +dinner was abundant, and from the paucity of materials the variety was +surprising. Ten dishes for the first course, two removes for the soups; +ten for the second course, rotis and sweets together; ten for dessert; +and we were ten in company, and two excuses—dinner for twelve. Some +dishes were admirable, particularly all the patisseries. The champaign +excellent; Madeira and sherry very fair; port and claret very moderate. +I am now paying the bill, and the _tout ensemble_ is forty dollars. + +I spoke to Lord Wellington this morning about the French Captain’s +letter you sent to me. He laughed and said, “Yes, when you can, you may +send it; but the whole matter is now at an end, and your companions are +all sent to the rear, as Bonaparte has refused to let the exchanges +take place, unless three French go for one British, one Spaniard, +and one Portuguese. The old squabble in Mackenzie’s negotiation, and +though very flattering to us as English, very unpleasant to our poor +prisoners.” + +We have a most tremendous sea here—now worse than ever. The waves +at high-water break every time almost over an old wall about twenty +feet high on the beach, and come over the stone walk; they roar most +furiously, and are beyond anything I have seen. A Paymaster here +declares that he saw a brig go down, and disappear instantly, about +nine or ten o’clock yesterday, near Andaye. We shall be long, I fear, +before we hear again from you in England. I do not think that any ships +will venture near us now, certainly not to Passages or here. + +_Post-day, Sunday, 5th December._—The storms have now subsided, and +the sea has become calmer; but the mischief already known has been +considerable. The vessel which I mentioned was seen to sink got at last +into the Bidassoa; but four transports, it is said, have been lost in +Passages harbour, together with several lives. One vessel drove into +a house and knocked it down; most of the shipping there is damaged, +and many of the boats have been crushed between them. An English +merchant-vessel, it is reported, also went down at the entrance of +Bayonne. The air is now colder, almost frosty, with a dry wind; the +mountains all covered with snow; I only hope this may last. No more +news from you, and we are here in a very odd state—I mean that our +armies are. A few years back the British were uneasy, in Spain, when a +French army patrolled within thirty miles of them. Now we have all got +quietly into quarters—are nearly all housed; and three-fourths of us go +to sleep tranquilly every night, while our front is within sixty yards +of the French. + +Colonel S—— tells me that he went to breakfast with Colonel H——, the +Assistant Adjutant-general of the sixth division, at Ustaritz, and +there they were in a house with their breakfast-table within about +fifty yards of the French sentry, and within about two hundred of the +whole French picket, who, by one volley, might have broken all their +cups and saucers, if not their heads. The other day a Portuguese +brigade had a field-day close to the river in the meadows, and all +the French came down to look at them, and I have no doubt, from the +general report, to admire and approve; whilst, on the other hand, in +the meadows on the French side, the French conscripts are brought down +to be drilled; sometimes five or six squads are seen at once, and any +of the serjeants might be knocked on the head all the time by our +sentries; but this is now all well understood, and we thus quietly +bully or bravado each other. + +Another party of inhabitants have come in here—women and children; +the men Soult detains. We shall thus add to our female stock, and to +the seven hundred Portuguese women and four hundred Spanish, who are +already in this place and the environs as suttlers, _vivanderas_, +washerwomen, &c. In short, here we are in quiet winter-quarters, for +a time at least, with head-quarters within seven miles of the French, +and yet we are all so at our ease, even in France, that the baggage +animals of head-quarters are gone now beyond Tolosa, forty miles and +more to the rear, for straw to feed the horses. Lord Wellington told me +yesterday there was no forage left here; and I suppose so large an army +never staid so long in these mountains. But yet, if a spring campaign +comes, no doubt we shall, somehow or other, find all our animals +forthcoming, and in a state for service. + +The Irish oxen sent out for the Commissariat have proved very good, +excellent in comparison, and are served out as a _bonne bouche_—a +pound or two with five or six of the country beef. In short, we have +occasionally, of late, had the London alderman’s cry of more fat. +Without joking, Lord Wellington’s table is now very good in every +respect; and I think his aides-de-camp will be ill with excess, who +have this daily fare (unless there is a move), especially if the roads +remain too bad for exercise. Lord Wellington has now three cooks, and +an English and Spanish chief share the command, and, by dividing the +days, vie with each other. + +More rain, more rain! I am sorry to say. I have just seen Lord +Wellington; he is much annoyed. A poor Commissary under charges has +fallen sick. I reported that he was at Passages, too ill to move to +be tried, and that I have two certificates of medical men of the +necessity of his going to England. Lord Wellington told me to tell the +Adjutant-general not to let him get away; and that if he remained too +ill to move, we must try him at Passages. It was for violent conduct to +another Commissary. + +_Head-Quarters, St. Jean de Luz, December 8th, 1813._—A packet is just +arrived, and I have letters from you of the 22nd ult. and papers to the +same date. Letters and papers are, however, here by the same vessel to +the 25th. A most remarkable and astonishing paper! + +I hope this fine weather will give us some hay from England, for I have +now nothing for forage but furze and bran by way of substitute. + +By this packet came a long letter from ——; they want me to ask for +Captain ——’s promotion. It is my determination not to ask favours, +even if I supposed it would be of any use. One promising young officer +has, I trust, been saved by me, by inducing him to make, and another +to accept, an apology, and Lord Wellington to agree to this. He would, +otherwise, most probably on trial have been broken. My letter ordering +the Court to meet was taken by the French. This gave time, and opened +a long correspondence, which has given me much trouble; this, however, +I shall not regret, if it ends well. I must now go and prepare charges +against a German doctor for to-morrow, and against two Portuguese for a +highway robbery. So adieu. + +_Thursday, 9th._—All peaceable business has ceased; and here I am in +an enemy’s town quite at ease. All the troops advanced about four this +morning, and we have here only a provost guard of about forty men, a +few straggling guards, and the muleteers, servants and civilians. The +French dared not to have remained so in any town in Spain, much less in +Portugal. + +I went out to my morning’s walk on the beach. I had it to myself +nearly, and heard a sharp firing of both guns, and particularly +musketry, sounding quite close to me. Our present object is, I believe, +merely to move up our right, for we are much pinched in our present +position. We are now with our right at Itoasso, Espellette, and Cambo, +on the Nive; our centre at Ustaritz and St. Fé; and our left by Bidart, +Ahetze, and Arbonne, all on the Spanish or south side of the Nive. Our +object now is to move up the right, nearly or quite to the Adour, most +probably, only making a feint at Biaritz and Anglet, near Bayonne, on +the left, unless good fortune puts more in our power. We shall then be +more at ease, cover more ground, and open a little country on the right +for our cavalry to get quarters and accommodation, at least that part +which is still with us in front. This, it is believed, is all that is +intended at present. + +Should the report of the French mayor here prove correct, or the +deputy major rather, for the chief is off, namely, that there is an +insurrection at Bordeaux, and that the Allies are within fifty leagues +of Paris, it may soon be _autre chose_; but at present we are only, as +I hear, taking elbow-room for winter-quarters, and putting ourselves in +a position to start when advisable. We shall also see how the French +are disposed to fight, and judge a little what forces are gone to +the rear. How angry it made me to observe the nonsensical reports in +England of our being not only in Bayonne, but in Bordeaux, and this +given out formally at the playhouse! To exaggerate just now is so +unnecessary, so unreasonable, and so injurious to those who do so much! + +_Three o’clock._—The firing has continued more or less the whole day, +but has now become more distant, and the great guns near Bayonne are +heard occasionally. As yet, however, no news, except from a wounded +guardsman, just come in, shot in the hand, who says that the Guards +are advancing and the French retreating,—I conclude into their lines +opposite Bayonne. A fleet of twelve sail, or perhaps fifteen, in sight. +Hurrah! for hay and money, we all say! The army is only paid up to May, +and the staff to April. It rained much in the night, which was against +our movements, but has nearly held up since, though it has just dropped +all day. + +_Friday, the 10th._—Lord Wellington did not return last night, nor the +Adjutant-general and grandees. I hear but little except that we crossed +the Nive well on the right, but did not make much progress in the +course of the day. On our left we did rather more than I expected, and, +it is said, pushed on to within a mile of Bayonne, with some loss; so +we rested last night, and we have had constant showers, very heavy at +times, ever since. This is very much against our arrangements. + +_Four o’clock._—Here I have remained quiet all day, but in a fidget, +for from eleven o’clock there has been continual firing in our front; +and, as might be expected, though within six or seven miles of us, we +have had all sorts of reports, some rather alarming—to me at least, for +I believe Lord Wellington is on the other side of the Nive, with our +right, and I have not the same confidence in any one else, especially +as only a part of our army is on this side the river. The communication +is troublesome, and the French have evidently made a push here to-day +in force, whilst our brigades are all separated. The Guards came back +here last night to their positions and quarters, and the 5th division +to Bidart and its environs. Some Caçadores were surprised, and some +were made prisoners, and the French showed themselves in force in this +line, and have pushed us back to our old ground before the troops could +be collected again. + +At two o’clock the firing was so loud, and so near in appearance, that +I began to look to my baggage, especially as an order came from the +Guards here to turn out again and advance. I have, however, just seen +the Commissary-general, Sir R. Kennedy, and he says there is no danger, +for he left the French checked by our works on our old position, and +met four brigades on the road advancing to assist. He was, however, a +little surprised himself at the end of his ride, to see what was going +on, for a fire suddenly began across the road where he was looking, +near our cavalry, and when he turned about, our guns began across the +other way, and he was obliged to get away. One never can be quite +secure in these attacks. + +I am told that a note was taken from the French General Gautier to +the Duke of Dalmatia, which was sent to tell him that a deserter had +come in from us at two o’clock, and told him of the intended attack +yesterday, and complaining much of desertion on his side. It is very +provoking, that our men should betray us in this manner; but it seems +to have been of no consequence. + +_St. Jean de Luz, Head-Quarters, December 11th, 1813._—From report +to-day, there were some slight grounds for my uneasiness yesterday. The +French made a bold push with nearly four divisions on the high road. +We had only one division, or only part of one, at hand ready. Some +Portuguese in advance were surprised, and lost prisoners and baggage. +The French regained all that they had lost the day before. At about +two o’clock they made a push at our position. A Portuguese brigade +suffered very much, and it is said dispersed. An English brigade also +is reported to have been unlike the rest of late: that is all I can +say. Lord Wellington had heard the firing and received intelligence of +the attack; he came across the river Nive instantly, and halted the +sixth division on this side, which was going over by former orders to +act on the other, on the right. The fourth was ordered up to support +the light division. Wellington himself was foremost in trying to rally +the Portuguese. Both he and his staff were much exposed, and had not +often, I hear, been in a warmer fire. + +The French were induced to attack our redoubts and position by their +successes and numbers. Our reinforcements came up; they were repulsed, +driven back with loss, and the ground which we had already gained and +lost once, was nearly all in our possession again last night, at the +close of day. They talk of a thousand wounded, probably more, on our +part. We have taken some prisoners, and many wounded French; at one +time, however, a whole regiment of Portuguese, and some English also, +were nearly being made prisoners. The Guards, or as they are called +here, “the gentlemen’s sons,” were too late, as they had so far to +march. They will never learn their trade of being killed properly, if +they are thus nursed up in the rear. Their great grievance at present +is the order about horses and mules, limiting the numbers to the old +regulations, on account of forage, and allowing subaltern officers only +their one animal, so that if they ride, they cannot carry anything. If +they carry baggage, they must walk; and then when they come into their +quarters, and their real duty towards the men commences, they are unfit +for anything. The regulation is therefore severe, and most think that +it is unnecessarily so. + +On the other hand, the present establishment of the Guards is +absolutely ridiculous. Every subaltern officer has his two or three +horses, and his three or four mules, as much as any staff-officer ought +to have. He carries his bed out to the guard-house, or picket, and +has his canteen fit to give a dinner and every luxury, whereas one set +of canteens per company would, in my opinion, be a liberal allowance. +Their General has given them six weeks to comply with this order, but +somehow or other they will contrive, probably, to evade it, or they +will be the most miserable animals in existence. Whilst they were in +camp, they left one officer with the men in camp, and the rest got +into houses, whilst in many instances at that time even the Generals +in other divisions commanding brigades, were out under canvas (then +in the mountains), or at most in huts. Both men and officers are only +fit for our old style of expedition,—a landing, a short march, and a +good fight, and then a lounge home again. The men were yesterday all +sorefooted with their march, but at church last Sunday, in their white +linen pantaloons, they looked in high order; and the appearance of +the men, the care of their dress, their discipline and general good +conduct, is admirable, when in quiet quarters here. + +I met young ——, an ensign in the Guards, yesterday, a son of Lord +——. He is a very gentleman-like stripling of nineteen, talks of just +remembering Sir John Moore’s death, as the beginning of his political +knowledge, and something about General Castanos, and the first Spanish +publication of Cevallos, but is quite in a wilderness when you talk +of the old state of Europe before the French Revolution. He now +principally talks of the table, and who gives best wines and dinners, +and found fault with General ——’s, which I must say appeared to me most +luxurious, and reminded me of fine dinners in London. + +_Ten o’clock._—Hurrah! hurrah! I have just been called out to see three +small battalions of deserters pass by with drums beating, and colours +flying, with their arms and everything in the highest condition, and +clothing nearly new. Two battalions of the regiment De Nassau, and one +of the regiment De Frankfort, in the whole twelve hundred men. This +is a grand consequence of our push, and must alarm the French not a +little. I should not be surprised now if we advance soon, whatever +might have been our former plans. Lord Wellington was out again in the +front this morning, up at three and out in the dark. He returns to +dinner to-day, and has invited the German Colonels and the Majors, six +of them, to dinner, to which he means to return. He has also desired +that they may now have their breakfasts, the whole remain in quarters +here for the night, and proceed to-morrow for Passages, I presume, +though it is several miles off, as the Spaniards occupy all the places +between, except Irun, which is voted unwholesome and feverish. Irun +will scarcely give a quarter to an English officer, and not to our +detachments coming up to join, who have to march through here always; +so I conclude that they would not do more for the Germans who have once +served with the French. The only drawback to these good tidings is the +thought of the poor wounded, crawling in, on foot, or on cars, and on +mules, crying with the pain of the motion. It is now quite fine, and I +must take my promenade by the sea; so, for the present, adieu. + +_Later, the 11th._—Major D—— has found a friend in the Colonel of the +regiment which came over, and who has told him how it happened and +was managed. An officer from the North had found the way to him (the +Colonel) all through France, with an order from his real sovereign to +go over to us, and come and join him. He communicated his plan to no +one but the Major (one Major). They waited their opportunity, and when +it arose last night, he called the officers together, told them his +order and his resolution, and proposed it to them, but said he should +force no one; it must be voluntary. All agreed—and the men were too +happy to join in the plan. One officer was sent to give us notice and +clear the way, and to prevent any resistance or confusion. He was also +to make terms that they were not to be compelled to serve, &c. The +officer, however, did not like going back, and before any message was +sent, over they all came. On their arrival here to-day, just out of +the town, they halted, and put on their best clothes to pass through +in parade order, and very well they looked I assure you. They say that +there are many Spanish, and two good regiments of cavalry who would +probably come over if a pardon were held out to them, and that there +are a number of Dutch all ready to do the same thing, but they are +principally officers, and are not in a body. They are tumultuous and +troublesome, and only wait the proper occasion. + +The Colonel, K——, has written to Marshal Soult, telling him why he came +over; that he was ordered so to do, and after reminding him that so +long as they were French, and he with the French, he had done his duty. +In return, he requests (rather an impudent request) that the women and +the baggage, or at least the baggage soldiers and servants, may be +allowed to join the regiments. He also asks that his band, which he +says was excellent, as it was his hobby-horse, and which was of course +left behind, may be allowed to join the rest. Of this, however, he has +no hopes, for his band was always a subject of considerable jealousy to +the French before he left them, and he is sure they will keep it now +for themselves. + +I also hear that our staff officers were obliged to exert themselves +very much in consequence of the dispersion of the Portuguese, and the +reluctance of some of our own forces. Colonel Delancey took one colour, +and rode on before the regiments to carry them on. General Hope was +much exposed, and got two blows; one on the shin, and one on his side, +but of no consequence. General Pakenham had a horse shot under him—his +best charger. General Robinson is shot through the body; a bad wound. +Two of General Sir S. Cotton’s officers, his aide-de-camps, who were +there as amateurs, suffered. One coming home was shot in the thigh. +Many others had narrow escapes, and Lord Wellington remained exposed, +untouched! This is really wonderful. + +To-day again there was some fighting, but only on our left, a sort +of trial of the French strength. We lost, I hear, however, several +men, particularly of the 9th. On the whole, with wounded and sick, +we shall be much reduced by this week’s work, and I still think can +scarcely advance safely any further, unless you send men here instead +of to Holland, or unless we can get a good corps of Spaniards to join +us under officers who will keep them in order. O’Donnell, the Condé +D’Obisbal, is come up again, and will do, for he will hang his men +until he gets order and obedience. Lord Wellington has also got his +full powers renewed by the Spaniards, and may now perhaps try them once +more, if tempted to advance after what has happened. + +_Sunday, 12th December, 3 o’clock._—Every one has gone out again, but +nothing expected to be done to-day. The French attacked us after sunset +last night in force, in hopes, probably, of catching us napping again, +and getting more baggage, but it did not succeed. The Germans are kept +here to-day. My first letter, up to the 11th, I have sealed and sent, +and keep this open in case of more news, for which I must hunt, and +then come in and finish this, and after dinner divide my prize maps of +this canton, and of the whole seat of the northern war—French maps of +this year; great prizes. For the present, adieu. + +_Five o’clock._—More fighting again to-day. The French columns +appeared, and we threw some shells amongst them. This brought on a +quarrel, and we skirmished sharply for a long time; the Guards were +principally concerned; the Adjutant killed, Lieutenant-colonel, and a +Captain. I hear of no advantage gained on either side—mere fighting. +Our entrenching tools are sent for, so I suppose we are going to make +ourselves snug to remain quiet. + +_Six o’clock._—No more news, and no more fighting, but I have just +heard that Lieutenant-colonel D—— W—— is shot in the head, and some +say killed; some contradict it altogether. I had told Miss W that he +was well, in a letter just gone to the post. The Paymaster-general and +several amateurs got suddenly into fire without intending it the other +day. It is better now to stay at home, for one fight is much like any +other, and I have now seen some of the best which are likely to happen. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + French Attack—Plan of Desertion—Excesses of the French—A + Basque Witness—Sir John Hope—Movements of the Army—Sale of + Effects—Wellington’s Simplicity of Character—A French Emigré—Return of + Soult to Bayonne. + + + Head-quarters, St. Jean de Luz, + December 14, 1813. + + MY DEAR M——, + +As every one is still in the front, and I have now but a few letters to +write on business, I shall proceed in writing to you, and, if possible, +send this by the delayed packet. Yesterday morning, the French were, I +believe, to have been attacked again in our front, in order to drive +them back into Bayonne. In the morning, however, they were off, and had +disappeared from the disputed ground, and only appeared in the Bayonne +works. This made us suspect an attack from them on General Hill, who +was on our right, with only some Portuguese, and his two divisions on +the other side of the Nive. Reinforcements were ordered accordingly, +and all the grandees and amateurs went that way. So it turned out; the +French came in large masses and attacked us there, just as we were +moving about in our position. + +At first they drove the Portuguese brigade there back from a knoll. +They rallied, however, returned, and recovered it. By that time the +rest of the two divisions were up ready, and the French came on in more +force. The attack now became general along the line, and the French +were beaten back on all sides with very considerable loss, and without +the reinforcements, which were not in time. I know no particulars at +all, for Lord Wellington did not return last night to this place; +but some who did, say that the French were very thick, as they came +forward in such masses, and some of their own disheartened prisoners +talk of four thousand men and more as their loss. These daily desperate +attacks, first on their right and then on their left, and the accounts +given by the German Nassau officers, make me suspect very much that +Soult will after this be off altogether further to the rear after +having obeyed his order, by a desperate attempt to drive us back into +Spain again. I hear that he wrote to Lord Wellington before these five +days’ fighting, to say that we must positively quit France, and that, +to save bloodshed, he wished Lord Wellington would retire of his own +accord. I did not learn this, however, from the very best authority. + +The day before yesterday I met at dinner the Major of the Nassau +regiment, a very pleasant gentleman-like man, aide-de-camp to the +Prince, and the very officer who brought the secret verbal orders to +the Colonel K—— to take the steps he has done. The Major arrived six +weeks ago, but they never found the opportunity until now. Similar +orders are gone to another battalion with Marshal Suchet, and to a +corps of Nassau cavalry there, and we have sent word to our army on +that side to endeavour to let them know that these three battalions +have succeeded. The whole was very near failing even this time: he gave +us all the particulars. + +The French towards evening thought things were not going on quite +well, and ordered up all the reserves. Amongst the rest were three +battalions, and that of Baden, which lately had been kept much in the +rear. When they were all retiring towards their quarters again at +dusk, General Villette (Colonel Downie’s old enemy), who commanded the +reserve, was obliged to retire to the rear being wounded. He left +orders with a stupid old General who succeeded him in command. The +Colonel of the Nassau regiment was directed by the old man to retire +along the great road. He represented the numbers going that way and +the delay, and proposed a side road. The old man said, “Well, you will +do your best.” The Colonel then thought all would do, and was about +to march off, when up came the 34th regiment, all French, and their +commanding officer said, “_Monsieur le Colonel, j’ai mes ordres de vous +suivre sur votre route_.” This was most perplexing. The Colonel then +made an imaginary obstacle at the head of the column, and desired the +men to file one by one slowly. This tired the patience of the French, +who had been out all day. The Colonel then proposed his plan to the +officer commanding the Baden regiment. To which he replied, that he had +received no orders from his Sovereign, and, after hesitating a little, +declined. Colonel K—— then ordered him to take another road, and told +the French, as they must divide to get home at all, they had better +follow the Baden regiment. The French 34th did so; and the others soon +began to incline towards the English, firing away, however, but in +the air, to deceive any who might be observing them. They soon found +themselves near enough to send in the officer first, and the regiment +followed in spite of some shots from our people. The astonishment of +many, who not being in the secret, found themselves within the English +picket, and fancied they were all about to be made prisoners, was very +considerable; and their joy was as great when they were told the true +state of things. + +The Major told us that they had seen constant service in Spain, that +their Sovereign’s contingent for Spain was about two thousand men, +but that the French kept it up whenever they could to nearly three +thousand, and more at times. He was at Talavera, and the bugle of one +of the battalions which sounded as they left, and marched through, was +English, and I understand was taken from us at the battle of Talavera. +He confessed the horrors committed in Spain was “_Nous autres_” (as he +was constantly expressing himself), forgetting that he was no longer +French, and then correcting himself, said, “_par les Français_.” He +said that it was a practice when the orders were issued to plunder and +burn places which had been deserted by their inhabitants, to make a +great fire near the place so as to make the inhabitants think a battle +was about to begin, and lead them to retire to some spot near, out of +the way of the fire, but never intending to desert their homes. The +troops then voted it a deserted town, and begun first to pillage, then +to burn. He described the French army as being now about fifty-five +thousand men, after this affair, of which, however, only about +twenty-two or twenty-three thousands were soldiers, that is veterans; +the rest raw recruits and conscripts, of which Bayonne was full; and +there you might now see, he said, even the blind and the lame compelled +to come forward and serve. + +He said they were ill supplied with everything, and had no forage +at all; that one great store of biscuit was spoilt in the church +at Bayonne; and that the roads in the rear were so bad that hardly +any supplies could arrive but by the river—at least not without the +greatest difficulty and labour; that the Dax and Tartas roads were +infamous, and the one I went by, Peyrorade and Orthes, very bad. +Allowance must be made, I think, in regard to these accounts. + +Soult was enraged with the inhabitants for wishing to return home +within our lines, and was much provoked at our not having behaved much +worse in this country. I have also understood from officers who went +with flags-of-truce, that the French are excessively angry with their +women for all desiring to come here to us. The Mayor of Biaritz, I +believe, is denounced, having given us assistance, and ordered to be +seized as soon as discovered. The French were two or three days since +in one attack actually in his garden, but could never get into his +house. Of course he had removed many of his goods, and was on the +alert. He has had a picket always in his house, and been very liberal. +Near that house our guns and the French were within three hundred yards +of each other, but neither could get at the opponent on account of the +formation of the ground. There was a small wood in the neighbourhood, +which was a strong point. Lord Wellington, &c., have just returned. I +must go and pick up news. + +_Head-Quarters, St. Jean de Luz, December 15th, 1813, Wednesday._—We +are now all returned to our civil business again, and I have just been +to the Adjutant-general and Lord Wellington, as usual, to congratulate +them on their safety, at the same time to make my reports, and receive +fresh instructions. + +All the reports confirm the account that the French got a severe +beating on our right the day before yesterday, and that our loss was +not that day so severe in comparison with the other affair on our +left. Our present position is close round the French and Bayonne, in +a semicircle from the sea to the Adour. The advanced posts being from +the front of Biaritz and Anglet, on the sea on our left, and so through +Arcamgues, Arrauntz, on the Nive, the centre, where our boat-bridge is, +and then through Monguerre, Petit, and Vieux, to La Home, on the Adour, +on our extreme right. Some alarm us by a report that head-quarters +are to be moved in consequence to Ustaritz, as being on the Nive, and +more central, and near the bridges. We all, however, hope otherwise. +Some Spaniards are come on now also, and more cavalry are ordered up. +Our abode here has quite spoiled us for the wretched places we must +crowd into at Ustaritz, down in a muddy hole, with the roads almost +impassable around it. + +Unless you have a good map, you will find but few of the places +mentioned by me, and yet I have omitted two or three in the circle. + +[The places were all found in old maps by Robert, a French geographer.] + +I must go to work to draw charges, so adieu. + +There is a most eloquent French, or, rather, Basque witness here, who +has been robbed, and whom I am keeping here to give evidence. He pays +me daily visits, and acts over the scene in question, and several +others, in very high style. The Basques are as proud as our Welsh of +their antiquity, and when asked if they are French say, “_Oh, que non +Basque_.” He tried to insinuate himself into my favour, by reminding me +that this country was once all English, and that the inhabitants had +still the memory of that, and favourable feelings accordingly. + +Sir John Hope was, including his dress, touched in seven places, +besides a shot in his horse, and through his large hat. The skin wound, +though slight, is the only wound that gives him pain. Lord Wellington +blames him for exposing himself; with what face I know not. + +_Head-Quarters, St. Jean de Luz, December 16th, 1813._—Though you will +have heard from me by the detained mail, which went yesterday, you will +expect something by the next, so I begin my work in time; concluding +that it will go Sunday as usual again. I have just heard that the +packet which went from hence the 22nd, with our letters to the 21st of +November, was found deserted at sea, and letters, &c., supposed to be +taken, or most likely sunk. I sent you two long letters by that packet, +with a plan of my house here, and sketch of it, and the largest +proportion of prize Spanish maps, taken at Vittoria; begging you to +keep them, and those that come after, safely. It was in that letter +that I told you of my narrow escape at St. Fé from being shot through +the head by a dragoon whilst I was writing. The ball went between my +pen and my nose, and where my head had been two seconds before: one +cheek was spattered by the door splinters, and the other by the wall +plaster where the ball struck. + +We have just got a most alarming report, as far as comfort is +concerned, namely, that we are to move to a little dirty village, +called Arrauntz, on the Nive, worse almost than Frenada, with the +exception of one good house, where roads are impassable—almost up to +the knees in mud. I believe this was certainly determined, but Colonel +Campbell told me just now he believed the order was deferred; I hope so +most sincerely, for we are here rather in a state of civilization and +comfort. + +I dined yesterday at head-quarters, and who should I meet but Count +de Gazan’s _ci-devant_ aide-de-camp, a fine gentleman-like young +man, with whom I dined at Count Gazan’s house at that time, Lord +Wellington’s now. He was then very civil to us. We dined yesterday in +his _ci-devant_ apartment. He was about to join Marshal Victor in the +north, as his aide-de-camp, when I last saw him; but being promoted to +a chef-de-battalion, this induced him to stop and take the command. It +answers to our Lieutenant-colonel; and he commanded a battalion against +General Hill in the last attack. Finding his men running away too fast, +he kept in the rear to encourage them, and give them confidence; stayed +there too long, and, in a word, was caught and taken prisoner. He is a +tall, stout, good-looking man of twenty-eight, and speaks English well, +having been in England some time before for education. + +I gave him a good breakfast this morning before he set out for +Passages, got him a letter to the principal Commissary at Passages, and +handed him my father’s direction at Somerset House; desiring him to +let him know where he is ultimately quartered in England, and whether +my father could serve him in any way in London. So be prepared for a +letter some time hence from my French acquaintance. He is a staunch +Frenchman in everything, but I do not like him the worse for that, or +for avowing it openly. + +He told me that we were not quite so secure in Holland, and that we +were not near a peace, but had much yet to do to obtain such a one as +we required, for Bonaparte was ambitious and unreasonable, and we were +unreasonable also. In some respects I agree, and only hope the Allies +will continue moderate. I offered him money, but he said he had lost +nothing, and did not require it, and declined any assistance. He said, +at the moment he was vexed that our men did not plunder him, as he knew +his own people would have done so by us. He seems a shrewd fellow, and +was therefore ordered off directly from hence.[7] + +Lord Wellington looks thin, but was in high spirits yesterday. We have +more artillery and ammunition passing up to-day to the front, and, +I hear, they are making works to strengthen our position, and to be +prepared against any other desperate attack. This may be only Lord +Wellington’s usual prudence, as it does not look like a move further in +advance. Other circumstances, however, do rather look like a movement +forwards, and the strengthening this position may be either for the +present security, or for a position to retire to in case of accidents, +as we have now two rivers in our rear; or, which may be most likely, +for both. The fact is, we have above twelve hundred men digging away, +and artillery is going up. + +My French witness here tells me a friend has just arrived from Bayonne, +who informs him, that whilst the movements were going on some days +since, Marshal Soult told the leading people of Bayonne, that all who +intended to move their valuables to the rear should do so by water +immediately, if at all, as circumstances might soon make it impossible +for them to do so by water, and the road would be entirely required by +the military in certain events. This does not look like much confidence. + +_Friday, December 17th, three o’clock, and Sunday, December 19th, +Post-day._—A report of more work on the right, and we fancy we have +heard much firing. Lord Wellington is gone off. If matters have not +gone on well, or the horses get tired, we shall have a move yet, I +fear very soon; but hope otherwise most sincerely, that is, if it be +a move of head-quarters only. A forward movement of the army will be +another matter, as it will prove to me Lord Wellington thinks something +is to be done by it. Our cavalry is moving up fast. This looks like a +movement. It spreads out by Cambo on our right. I am also assured by +a French officer here in our service in the Quarter-Master-general’s +department, that the French cavalry are fast filing to the rear, and +have already passed Mont de Marsan, my former abode; and that many of +the old soldiers are from necessity sent back to Bordeaux to compel +some refractory conscripts there to move, for they are a little wilful. +He also told me that the loss of the French (desertion included) in the +late affairs last week, was, in the whole, about thirteen thousand men. +He is, however, a sanguine man; remember that. We are also said to have +taken two or three boats on the Adour, above Bordeaux. + +_Head-Quarters, St. Jean de Luz, five o’clock, Sunday, December +19th, 1813._—I have just come from the sea-side, where we can now +scarcely stand for the wind, and are, on the high walk, quite wet with +the spray. A violent gale of some hours has caused this, and I have +been watching a vessel off here for a long time which has been in +considerable danger, but is at last safe in Sacoa harbour. She was most +uneasy at sea, made signals of distress, and the pilot-boats ventured +out, and by their help and working hard with the capstan on an anchor +carried out, she has at last worked her way in. + +I met yesterday at dinner Colonel Barnard, who was lately shot through +the body. Colonel Rooke is dead. I feared it must be so, from what was +told me yesterday. He could not eat anything, grew rapidly weaker, and +the suppuration formed a mass clear through his body from one orifice +of the wound to the other, and not properly round the ball so as to +facilitate the extraction of it. Lieutenant-colonel West is well. I saw +him to-day: he was not touched. The report of his being killed arose +from his having sent a horse to the rear—I believe to walk. At the sale +of the late Captain Watson’s effects, I bought a very tolerable saddle, +with holsters, about half worn, for eighteen dollars, which is here +considered cheap. I bid 15_s._ for a curry-comb and brush, bad, but of +English make, and in England worth about 3_s._ or 4_s._—it went for a +guinea! I also bid for a Suffolk punch horse as high as two hundred +dollars, but Major Daring outbid me, though it was certainly very dear. +Captain Watson was of the Guards. + +A party of Bayonne sailors have just arrived here I am told, who have +come over to us. Bayonne envies this place now. If we stay, and have +money, things will come in here soon from the French, for the geese +they bring in sell for four dollars instead of 4_s._ before we came, +and so with other things; we have also got some good French cattle to +eat. + +_Head-Quarters, St. Jean de Luz, December 21st, 1813._—The furious +stormy weather continues, with almost continual rain, attended +yesterday by a most violent clap of thunder; such repeated gusts of +wind I scarcely ever witnessed. The inhabitants say, that it will last +so long as we have the wind from the sea. At the same time it is not +at all cold, and I have no fire except when I have been caught in the +wet, and am very damp. This happens if you stir for five hundred yards, +as the rain comes with a gust in a few seconds. The thermometer in +my room, without a fire, has been constantly almost above temperate, +and at times above sixty. We are at present all quiet again here, and +invitations are flying about for Christmas dinners on Saturday next. + +Marshal Soult is angry with the inhabitants for being friends with us. +He is now circulating proclamations on our right, exhorting the people +to form Guerilla corps and to turn brigands. If we continue to behave +well, he will not easily persuade them to do this. The Spaniards who +demand rations and contributions against orders, and are not so orderly +as they might be (the few that are in France, that is), may perhaps +provoke them to arms, but I hope not. We now go about the roads here as +safely as in Spain; the only marauders indeed are the followers of our +own army and runaway Spaniards and muleteers. Our own army is behaving +particularly well, and now give me a little leisure occasionally. + +To my great joy to-day, and still more, I suspect, to that of my +horses, I have got a good truss of English hay—140 lbs. weight. This is +a treasure. But to balance good and evil, the Commissary has given us +no corn during the last three days. So we go on! Many of the cavalry +horses get neither, so we must submit. + +In spite of the rough weather, we yesterday got a packet and English +mail, and I received a letter from you of the 6th and 7th December, and +papers from the 4th to the 7th. You confirm our accounts of the loss +of the mail of the 21st November, and of two letters of mine to you. I +only hope they are sunk, though I recollect nothing particular in them. + +I have no doubt —— plays the great man very well, and puts on all the +dignity of a Jack in office. He likes the thing, and has a turn for +humbug, of which there is so much all over the world in every line, +and which is often of such infinite use to those who can adopt it. I +think it very tiresome, and only rejoice that it is not the fashion +here at head-quarters. From Lord Wellington downwards, there is mighty +little. Every one works hard, and does his business. The substance +and not the form is attended to; in dress, and many other respects, I +think almost too little so. The maxim, however, of our Chief is, “Let +every one do his duty well, and never let me hear of any difficulties +about anything;” and that is all he cares about. I suppose one should +fall by degrees into a love of representation, and keeping one’s self +up in the world, as it is called (by those who have not much else to +float them), by habit and practice. I must say, hitherto, I continue to +think it far best to be able to do what you please, as you please, and +when you please, provided that nothing is ever done which in the least +approaches to a shabby or ungentleman-like action—so that the opinion +of those whose opinion is worth having is secured. The sort of incense +which is often obtained from the silly majority through exterior humbug +is not worth the price at which it is purchased. My vanity takes a +different turn, and I pique myself upon other things. + +I attended another sale yesterday of Colonel Martyn’s effects. It was +quite ridiculous to observe the price at which some old things sold. +Two second-hand nightcaps, which cost about 1_s._ 6_d._ each new in +England, fetched 13_s._ This results partly from distress, partly from +fun in the bidders. Old towels 5_s._ each; blankets 25_s._ I always +feel hurt at seeing all an officer’s stock sold in this way, even +to his ragged shirts and stockings, tooth-brushes, &c.; everything +ransacked. This was very near being my case, also, when I was taken +prisoner. Mr. Jesse’s stock was sold, and he is not a little distressed +in consequence. I have received a note from Lieutenant-colonel E—— to +dine with him on Christmas-day, and have accepted, though probably +I shall lose a great party at Lord Wellington’s by so doing, for he +generally asks heads of departments on those days. I own, however, +that I prefer his smaller parties, when fewer grandees are there, and +Lord Wellington talks more and we drink less. A great party is almost +always stupid, unless there is good singing or good speechifying; and I +have now seen all the lions likely to be there. By-the-by, our Spanish +lions carry their heads wonderfully erect now, and are prouder than any +peacocks; or rather, I might say, they are now true Spaniards. + +Yesterday I dined at Lord Wellington’s, and had another adventure. I +recognised an emigré friend at Mont de Marsan, of whom I had been, +during my stay there, very shy, fearful lest a malicious report should +get about that I was intriguing with the royalists. I reminded him of +his questions, &c., and of his speaking to me several times, and I now +explained myself and conduct. He was much surprised at seeing me in my +red coat, but immediately recollected me, and said I had given him then +all the information he wanted. My answers were short, but all true, +certainly. He has brought some congratulations to the Comte de Grammont +from the persons now on his _ci-devant_ estates, and their wishes for +old times and old landlords. He had got some money here, and is, I +suppose, to go to work somehow for the good cause. He is very sanguine; +but though I like and respect the _emigrés_, I always mistrust their +view of things. + +A foolish Portuguese, who was sentenced to be shot, escaped three +days ago, and was off; but like a fool, he boasted in Spain of his +performances, was in consequence retaken, and to-day is to be hung. + +_December 26th, Post-day._—Another of my French friends came in from +Bayonne yesterday—the principal banker at Bayonne, who gave me money +for my bill; was so friendly to us all and to me in particular, and +for whom I loaded my pockets so quietly with so many letters, above +a hundred in number. He has ostensibly come to receive the 110_l._ +still due to him from five of our officers, and which Lord Wellington +intended to send him on my representation: but he has also obtained +leave from Soult to supply us with claret, &c., and is partly come +about that. The French, I conclude, are compelled to try this method +of making a little money; and Marshal Soult being, no doubt, ill-paid, +will go halves in the profit. I suspect my friend, however, may have +further views also, as he is a Spanish and English merchant as well as +banker, and of course a decided enemy to Berlin and burning decrees, +and to war in general, which is now nearly synonymous with being an +enemy to Bonaparte. Lord Wellington sent him to the Commissary-general +to talk matters over. + +We have been all quiet here this week, except a little cavalry skirmish +on our right. The French cavalry, I hear, had driven in some of Don +Murillo’s Spaniards, with Hill, in that quarter, and two squadrons of +our 18th Hussars were ordered to drive the French back. This they did, +as they were ordered, without loss, but as usual would do more, and +pushing hastily on fell in with the French infantry support, which is +generally near at hand to the cavalry advance, got a volley or two, and +lost a captain and several men in consequence. + +Our people will suppose that the French lurk about the country without +system or order as they do; whereas, however cowed and beaten they may +be, the system, order, and habitual rules, remain. + +Some more of Don Carlos d’Espagne’s troops filed up from Irun +yesterday, and turning off about a mile short of this place, went +through Ascain towards our right—about five thousand in the whole. +Several of Murillo’s people are put under arrest by Lord Wellington +for misconduct. They complain that the men get sick in consequence, to +which he replies, “Then behave better, and that will not be the case.” + +Some of our artillerymen have by accident burnt one of the best of the +few remaining houses at St. Sebastian, worth twenty thousand dollars +the Spaniards say, and about to be let for six hundred dollars a-year. +This will be quite convincing to the Conciso at Cadiz, and perhaps to +the regency, that we burnt the town on purpose, and are now finishing +our job. It is unlucky to give this handle to these most unconquerably +jealous Spaniards, and already the engineers and few English at St. +Sebastian are most unpopular. The weather is now much improved, and +has turned to frost for the first time this month, which improves our +roads, our spirits, and our prospects. The sea, however, has been for +these last two days tremendous, and washed over the stone bulwark +where we walk, and has cut off our supply of corn these three days +from Passages. I was yesterday caught there when walking with General +Pakenham and General Murray: the Quarter-Master-general ran one way, +the Adjutant-general and I another; the former escaped, and so did the +latter and I, though the foam and surf burst upright, close to us, +above our heads, and then washed our legs midway up; but the force was +broken, and we were not moved, only wetted. The natives and many of our +officers think this roaring ocean predicts more bad weather here again, +but I hope it only proves a storm some two hundred miles off in the +main ocean, as I have always observed there is little connexion here +between our land-storms and the state of the sea, which seems to be +moved by other causes, of which probably one is the agitation caused by +the flood spring-tides. + +_Monday._—Marshal Soult has returned again to Bayonne. Lord Wellington, +&c., are all out with the hounds. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[7] He made no application to Mr. Larpent’s family, nor did he call at +Somerset House. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + + Reports from France—More Desertion—Anecdote of General + Stewart—Wellington and his Casualty Returns—The Courtesies of + War—Scarcity of Transports—Wellington and the Trial-Papers—Sir G. + Collier. + + + Head-quarters, St. Jean de Luz, + January 1, 1814. + + MY DEAR M——, + +Many happy new years to you and all your party! We are now quite quiet +here, and have no news to communicate. We have repeatedly received +reports of the arrival of an English mail, but it never comes. This +may, however, arise from our having had three of the vessels at once on +this side of the water. + +You will be surprised to hear that I had an old French woman, and a +young Spanish girl to breakfast with me this morning, on their way +through to Bayonne, from Bilboa. I had made arrangements for six mules, +and an ox-car to carry their baggage, but they mistook the tide in +their directions, and the baggage is only just arrived, so that they +cannot go until to-morrow. They are the wife and mother of a Monsieur +Dabedrille, at Bayonne, _ci-devant_ principal _Directeur de l’Octroi de +Bilboa_, who fled so quickly after the battle of Vittoria, that he left +all his baggage and females behind him. He was very civil to Colonel +Fitzgerald, who had undertaken to obtain for him the restoration of his +wife; and as the Colonel was not exchanged, I undertook it, got Lord +Wellington’s leave, and here they are, so far on their way safe. Not +having just now much business, I have had time to attend a little to +these good ladies, and they are really very pleasant and well-bred, but +just now the worse for having been six days on board a Spanish coaster +(of Bilboa), to get here. + +We have just now got beautiful weather, clear frosty mornings—that is, +white frost, the ground just crisp, a little fog early, and a cool +breeze from the Pyrenees, from the south-east, and a bright sun during +the day. + +The only news we have here is a report of the defeat of Davoust, +through the French, and an account which General Wimpfen has just given +me of the Austrians having taken possession of Switzerland. The French +here are hard at work, drilling conscripts, who arrive in considerable +numbers, and turning up the ground as usual in all directions. I +suppose we shall also, as usual, wait until they have nearly done their +task, and by that time, when the ground is dry, turn them out of their +laborious defences. It is quite extraordinary how all their former +position was covered with the effects of their labour. + +The inhabitants continue to come in here to us every day, and now by +degrees we get cattle, &c., from them. Desertion from the French has +also been common, five or six men a-day, and many French, not Germans, +young lads, sick of their work. I now hear that the Swiss have declared +against France; that is one step more gained, if true. An officer, who +was prisoner at Bayonne, on the 13th, the day of General Hill’s affair +on the right, states, that the French were most sanguine that morning +at Bayonne; they said that two of our divisions were caught in a trap, +and that they would, General and all, be taken prisoners. They were +quite in spirits, but towards evening, when the officer inquired where +our General was, he could get no one to answer him, or talk on the +subject. All were sulky. Report says also that Soult is gone again, +and farther back; some say that he has been sent for to Paris. + +One of the hay vessels, bringing hay to us, in order to plague us, had +got into Bayonne, and the French officers at the outposts taunt us, by +saying that they find English hay very good. This is very provoking, +for in consequence of this we have now nothing again to give our +animals. + +_Sunday, Post-day._—I understand that there is no packet as yet at +Passages, to go with the letters. I have, after three hours’ trouble, +packed off my party this morning; four great trunks, two old women, and +one young one, in an ox-car; and four more large trunks, and a quantity +of bedding, and _et ceteras_ of all kinds, on four mules; and one lady +and a man-servant, on horseback. My old French woman, now she is safe +out of Spain, does nothing but abuse the Spaniards, their language, +their manners, their country, and, above all, their stupidity in +society. + +I must now return to the work of drawing charges, which must be done +immediately. I hope there is not another task for me now passing my +window, for there is an uproar, and seven Spanish prisoners going along +bound to the provost guard. + +We have now established a sort of little telegraph of signals to the +right and in front, to acquaint Lord Wellington immediately should +anything be going forward. + +P.S.—I don’t think you heard a little anecdote of General Stewart, who +is brave, and consequently always gets his aide-de-camp, &c., into some +bad blows, if he does not get one himself. The people about him on the +13th were all touched, and he was nearly alone. An officer of the name +of Egerton went up to him, and whilst there a shell burst between them. +“A shell! sir: very animating!” said Stewart, and then kept Egerton +there talking on. + +_Head-Quarters, St. Jean de Luz, January 4th, 1814._—Here we are still +without any news from your side of the water, and of course most +anxious. On this side we seem, however, to be preparing something for +you to talk about; at least, appearances look like another battle. The +day before yesterday (Sunday) all was quiet, and on Monday (yesterday) +Lord Wellington ordered out his hounds, and went off early himself. In +the middle of the day, however, the signal was made that the French +were in motion; Lord March and Gordon went off to Lord Wellington, and +he did not return last night. To-day the troops have all been on the +alert, for the French are said to be still moving on our right, and +in fact rather on our rear. The Guards were off early from hence to +replace the light division, who went to the right, and all seems moving +in that direction. No firing has, however, been heard; and I understand +nothing has been done to-day. I went as far as Guethary, and up to the +church-tower, whence the view is very extensive, but saw nothing in +particular. The last report was, that the French still advanced on our +right. If they persist in this, it is my opinion that we must have a +fight, and a sharp one probably, on that side to-morrow, but as the +staff are all out, I know nothing certain. + +Two or three days since we took a little island in the Adour, almost +without loss, which will enable us to molest the navigation more +effectually than we have hitherto done, though already it is rather +impeded, even at night, and almost totally by day. A contest about the +island was rather expected, but not this bold move of the French in our +rear. If they persist and fail, I think with the two Gaves in their +rear, we may, perhaps, make them suffer severely for their enterprise. +Marshal Soult’s supposed absence looks now rather like a _ruse de +guerre_. + +We have Spaniards on our right, and in the valley of Bastan, who +perhaps may now come in again for a little fighting; and it is to +be hoped they may, for if the French work constantly on the British +and Portuguese, and you continue to send men to Holland, we shall by +degrees get too weak for our situation. + +Lord Wellington at dinner on Sunday directed some jokes at Major D——, +who makes out the returns, because he wanted to make a grand total of +wounded, &c., after the late five days’ fighting. He laughed, and said +that all might go wrong from this innovation, but he was determined he +would have no more grand totals until he got another Vittoria without +more loss; that the loss was always great enough in all conscience, +without displaying it in this ostentatious manner, and that he would +not have every drummer and every officer, &c., killed or wounded in +the five days, all added up in one grand total, but that at least +the croakers should have the trouble themselves of adding up all the +different losses, and making it out for themselves. + +The weather is just now delightful, and we have had as yet nothing +which can properly be called winter. During the last ten days the sea +has been quite smooth, and we have not even had a white frost. The +people say they think that the first bad season is over now, and we +shall not have much more bad weather until near March: I only hope this +will prove correct. + +A French carriage and a car were waiting at the French outposts to +receive my ladies, and they all got in safe. This was managed by +sending in a message the day before. A certain communication with +Bayonne is also now open; for yesterday we had an arrival of French +watches, rings, trinkets, and silk dresses. We carry on war in a +very civilized manner, especially if a little anecdote related to me +yesterday be correct. One of our officers, it seems, I believe Major +Q——, was riding a troublesome horse close to the French pickets, +and partly from the violence of his horse, and partly from his own +inadvertence, he got close to a French sentinel. The latter called out +several times that he was French, and ordered him off, and at last +presented his bayonet. The horse still plunging on, and the officer +apparently not understanding the man, the French sentry turned the +horse the other way by the bridle, and sent him back without offering +any harm to either beast or rider, though he might have killed or taken +both. + +This morning we had another instance on our side. A French officer’s +wife came in from Bayonne to follow her husband, a prisoner in England. +We had a boat in from Sacoa to take her upon the beach, to carry her +round by sea to Passages, and an order from Lord Wellington waiting for +her there, for a passage to England as expeditiously as circumstances +would permit. + +_Wednesday, 5th January._—No one came back last night, and St. Jean de +Luz is almost deserted; scarcely a red coat to be seen. The ladies are +in some alarm, and only some inquiring doctors and commissaries are to +be seen about the streets. I have in the mean time such an accumulation +of business for Lord Wellington that I shall be almost fearful of +seeing him—five Courts-martial, one of about ninety pages, another +eighty. He always complains, and yet I think he likes to read these +cases, and know himself exactly all that is going on. I have just been +out to pick up news, but in vain, and have been driven back by a slight +shower. Money has been so short here that I could only tempt them to +give me some doubloons immediately by accepting a part of my pay on +England in another Treasury Bill. + +_Friday, January 7th._—Lord Wellington is not yet returned here, and we +are, therefore, still deserted; but nothing has been done. The French +have been manœuvring for these three days on our right flank, but in +vain, as our General was ready for them. Yesterday, however, he was +nearly bringing them to blows. A part of their force remained on our +side of the Adour, between the Nive and the Bidocque. This was too near +our position, and they were to have been driven across, but prudently +went away in good time of their own accord, consequently nothing was +done, and I think nothing will be done just now. + +The French head-quarters here are at (I believe) Peyrehorade, a town +on the Gave, of some little river commerce. In our present suspense we +were at last amused yesterday by the arrival of two mails, and I have +got letters, papers, &c. + +You kill men for me faster than I do in reality, and that is enough. I +am only aware of forty-one having been shot or hung since my arrival +in the country; and that is quite enough too, you will say, almost as +many as you hang in all England in a year. You were quite right about +the lost letter from me; it contained a full description of St. Jean +de Luz, and of my horrible muddy journey from St. Fé to this civilized +place, with a sketch of my house and its vicinity, &c., a ground plot +of my quarter, which, if time and room permit, I will repeat. And as +you do not congratulate me on my escape from being shot, I suppose that +story was there also. + +_Later._—As Lord Wellington is still away, I continue to scribble to +you. This place has been a very flourishing town, and of considerable +trade, but is much in decay; this partly before the late wars, from the +bar having increased, so that only small vessels can get in now, and +the evil still increases. At low water the river only ripples over the +bar of sand, scarcely a foot deep, and at times the river is choked up +by the sand, so that it cannot make its way out, and floods the town. +This happened twice last year, but has not recurred this year, though +at times the bed of the river has been quite changed, and the water +nearly stopped. + +Sacoa is a very safe harbour; for small vessels drawing under ten +feet, quite safe. They lie there high and dry, according to the tide. +The houses of the former merchants are rather magnificent, though some +are in ruins, and their number, for the size of the town, considerable. +It has been called a sort of little Paris for the Basques. Near the +sea the water has been, and is, gaining on the town and bay. There are +many ruins; one is part of an old convent, now beyond the sea-wall, +and almost in the sea, and some say a whole street has been washed +away. The great sea-wall made by Bonaparte, six hundred yards long, was +constructed to save the town, and makes a good dry walk. + +Sibour is also a very large village, or small town, of inferior houses, +where at present two brigades of Guards are, and two other regiments +of Lord Aylmer’s brigade, besides some staff cavalry, &c. Most of the +better houses have French papers from Paris, and it looks very well. +The whole wall forms one landscape, like tapestry—sea-ports from Vernet +or Claude, &c.; some in colours, some in bistre or an imitation of +Indian ink, some Chinese, but in better perspective. The brown and +black are very pretty. Most of the walls are papered. The lower parts +of the houses are all a sort of warehouse (where they are not shops); +this serves us for stabling, but they are flagged, which having no +straw is noisy, and they smell much also. Almost all the men of a +better sort went away from St. Jean de Luz; several women, for the most +part old, stayed, and many have since returned; but no society, or +anything of that sort, is as yet set on foot here. The deputy mayor, +who stayed, sold all the wine he could appropriate, his own, and all +unclaimed, as well as other things, and is, I believe, making money +of us very fast. The town is now all a market or fair, and full of +Spaniards and Portuguese, as well as French and Bascos, all pillaging +poor John Bull, by selling turkeys for 25_s._ and 30_s._, and fowls for +12_s._ and 14_s._ + +The people from Bilboa have been most active. Little has arrived from +England or Lisbon as yet, which is extraordinary; but the danger of the +coast is, probably, the cause. During the bad weather ten vessels of +ours found their way into Bayonne, one with fifty-two Irish bullocks, +by which we lost part of the best beef we ever get, and one with +seven hundred trusses of hay, others with biscuit, &c. This is very +provoking. The Bayonne mayor showed us the post-list of the whole taken +in each ship. How we shall get on with our animals I know not, for they +tell me that they hear from England, in the Commissariat, there is but +little hay on the sea for us, from want of transport, and there is no +straw to be got at all now within thirteen leagues, or about forty +miles, from hence. I am, however, advised to send for it; and if this +movement shall come to nothing, will do so to-morrow. + +It is fortunate that we are so near the sea, and have some advantage +as to transport in the river Nivelle also, for our transport is much +diminished by desertion of the muleteers from want of pay. The army is +more numerous than when at Frenada and in Portugal, and our transport +is now less. Were we to wander into France (as you suppose), away from +the coast, we should find it difficult to live at all. The boats of +this place are famous, and the men stayed here, or have escaped here, +and are all in our pay now, and thus things are brought round from +Passages here by sea, and then up to the division by the river as far +as Ustaritz, where they are then distributed to the mules of each +division. Even with this help the army cannot be supplied with rum, +except by buying it very dear on the spot of the suttlers, for nearly +all our remaining mules are required for bread and a little corn for +the staff. The meat supplies itself in a way—that is, about two-thirds +only of the flesh which leaves Valencia, &c., in Spain, arriving here, +falls under the butcher’s knife, besides the number which die on +the road; and yet all that can be stopped, when fagged or lame, are +distributed at the stations on the way. The suttlers, by the great +profit they make, can pay the muleteers as high as two dollars a-day +for each mule to carry up their produce, making us pay for it in the +end. This evil increases, for our muleteers, who only have one dollar +a-day for each mule (and enough in all conscience), are tempted to +desert and get into the service of the suttlers, who thus supply the +men with rum only at a dear rate, when we cannot do it. The pay of our +muleteers is now over-due twenty-one months for each mule: they have, +therefore, their own way, and are under no control at all. Nothing but +a sort of _esprit de corps_, and the fear of losing all claim to the +debt, makes them keep with us at all; and we must submit to their fraud +and carelessness, for we have no remedy. + +As an instance of this, it may be mentioned that one brigade of mules, +which had twenty-four thousand pounds of barley given to them to bring +here, five leagues from Passages, only delivered eighteen thousand, and +almost openly admitted that they had taken the rest, which I suppose +they had sold to raise money. We could only set off the value against +their debt, for fear of losing them without getting others. There was +a grand consultation the other day, at which Lord Wellington, the +Commissary-general and his people, General Alava the Spanish General, +and most of the principal Spanish Capistras, or directors of the mules +and owners, were present, to settle what could be done. They resolved +to make the arrears all a debt, to acknowledge it, and then begin a +sort of new score. This is in imitation of the Portuguese; only they +do not pay the debt at all, but wipe off the arrears. One month’s pay +was also given by bills on the Treasury at a great discount, still +this was something to go on with, and we have not Marshal Beresford’s +absolute power to control these Spaniards, as he does the Portuguese. +Somehow, however, you see we get on. + +_Head-Quarters, St. Jean de Luz, Sunday, January 9th, post-day +again._—As to length, at least, you shall have no reason to complain +this mail, though I am at work again at business; for on Friday night +all our warriors returned home to their respective quarters, and the +Commander-in-Chief to his papers. The latter had so increased upon him +in his five days’ absence, that he was quite overwhelmed; and when I +went in with a great bundle to add to them, he put his hands before his +eyes and said, “Put them on that table; and do not say anything about +them now, or let me look at them at all.” + +This week’s manœuvring has not this time ended in smoke, but without +smoke, as nearly as possible, for our men could not get within a long +shot of the French, without following them beyond what our present +plans would admit. They remained a short time on our side of the river +Arrun, as it is called, in Casini’s great map, and Gambouri, in my part +of the French National Atlas, a small river which runs by La Bastide +and falls into the Adour, near Urt, a place half-way between Bayonne +and where the Gaves fall into the Adour. + +We collected on the heights above Bastide, and made the signal by +a little mountain gun to advance. The French made use of the same +signal to commence their retreat across the river, and scarcely a shot +was fired. La Bastide, which is on this side of the river, we never +entered: but remaining satisfied with that line, the matter ended +there. A change of weather, to rain of no trifling kind, will probably, +I think, oblige both parties to be quiet for some little time again, +until sun and air return to us without wet, and dry roads enable the +troops to move a little this difficult country. It is at present very +hard work to get on, even in the best roads, and across the country, +which is much intersected with streams and rivers, and has only clayey +poached roads, and strong fences of hedge and ditch; it is almost +impassable. Lord Wellington, I believe, always went back to his brother +Marshal, Beresford, at Ustaritz, to which place he sent for some +English hay for his horses. The Adjutant-general’s department remained +mostly at Hasparren, which is, it is said, a very pretty small town in +a rich cultivated valley of meadows, where they fell in with a small +stock of excellent hay, not quite eaten by our cavalry, who are in that +part of the country. + +All the people at head-quarters have come back safe and sound; but with +horses a little knocked up, and rather stiff with riding about twelve +or even fourteen hours a-day. Most of them, however, look the better +for the exercise. The most fagged of all I saw was our naval hero, Sir +G. Collier, with his lame leg. He had ridden everywhere after Lord +Wellington in hopes of seeing a fight, and coming in, I suppose, for +another knock on shore, but all in vain. He says, that the French never +will stand when he comes, and nothing is ever done. He is about to +leave this station. + +And now for a little account of the Spaniards, in order to show you how +they plague Lord Wellington. We have undertaken to assist and direct, +with our engineers, in putting St. Sebastian into some order, and into +a state of defence. The actual working-party are, however, nearly all +Spanish. These have nearly all deserted, and little or nothing is going +on but quarrels between our people and the Spaniards in authority, who +thwart them. At first Lord Wellington thought that we were to blame, +and seemed angry; but he told Col. E—— at last, “If they go on so, d—— +them, they may finish the work for themselves; but go over and see +about it, and make a report to me.” + +_Later._—Another English mail arrived, and another letter from you +of the 27th and 28th, with papers to the 27th, &c. The great news +which yours contained as to Lord Castlereagh we had heard through the +French outpost five days since; but the report only stated that he +had actually landed at Morlaix, on his way to Manheim, to the general +Congress, for a peace. This was believed before your account came, as +it agreed with the general tenor of the late English news; at least I +thought so, for one. Whether it will end in a peace, however, is very +doubtful, especially if Bonaparte finds that in consequence of this +negotiation he keeps all quiet in France, and the conscription goes on +without resistance, and his armies in March next will be formidable. If +he can once assume an imposing position, it is doubtful in my opinion +whether he will come into the terms of the Allies. _Mais c’est à voir_, +and he has much to do to put himself in such a position. + +Many of the French conscripts here join almost without any uniforms +or necessaries for a soldier, yet every deserter who comes in has +everything nearly new, and is better provided for than any of our men, +except the few who have just had their new clothing, &c., of which the +Guards, who, by the by, returned here last night to their old quarters, +form part. Just now the Italians begin to desert the French, and say it +is in consequence of their having heard that their division, which was +marched to the rear some short time since, was all disarmed and treated +as prisoners of war. This may not be fact; but the effect is that many +Italians come over to us. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + + Rumours of War—The Rival Dinner-Tables—“Slender Billy”—Bonaparte’s + Trickery—Spanish Violence—Wellington with the Hounds—French and + English Aspects; the Outsides of the Nations. + + + Head-quarters, St. Jean de Luz, + January 11, 1814. + + MY DEAR M——, + +Fine weather is now returned, and no doubt before we have been quiet +another week, should it last, we shall be stirred up a little by the +French. At present, all our usual avocations are proceeding, and all is +quiet. + +The only event in my own establishment which has occurred is my taking +into my service a Spanish lad, in addition to my other servants, but +it will end in my getting rid of an idle Portuguese, who does nothing. +I found the lad begging and in misery, by the sea-side, and asked his +history. He told me he was without father and mother, and came from +a village two leagues beyond Madrid; that he had been under-stable +servant to a French Commandant, who had gone wounded from Bayonne to +the rear, towards Paris, and had turned him off. He therefore came back +here, towards Spain. At first I only gave him food, and then, that I +might not have to try him, took him to General Alava, who promised to +send him to General Frere, to make a drummer of him. The next morning +he called upon me before he started, and, being prepossessed by his +looks, I have taken him on trial. He seems active and useful; and I +hope will not return my charity by robbing me, of which there is some +risk. + +A party of our suttling merchants here behaved ill the other night, +by insulting a sick officer; the worst among them escaped. One is +now in confinement, and I have sent in his charge. They are all in a +terrible fright of military law. Most probably he will not be tried if +he makes an apology; but it has answered Lord Wellington’s intention +by convincing these men that there is law here, and that they are +followers of the army and liable to that law. + +On the neutral ground, on the great road to Bayonne, between our +picquets and the French, in front of Biaritz, there are at present, +in one of the houses unoccupied by either party, three young damsels +alone. They are rather pretty and interesting, and all say very modest. +For a time General Stopford, I believe, out of gallantry, put a +safeguard there, but it was considered out of our position, and there +was some quizzing. So the damsels are left quiet and alone again. They +come daily into our lines, to bring milk, &c., and some flirtation goes +on; but there they are safe. This is creditable to both sides. + +I am told that the people at Hasparren, when the French approached the +place last week, and it was thought might occupy it, were manifestly +alarmed and dissatisfied, and wished us to stay. This might be from the +fear of a conflict there, or from the benefits now derived from us, +when the first irruption and mischief are over. Fowls are still, near +there, to be had for 2_s._ each, and turkeys from 7_s._ to 9_s._; but +this will not last, as people here have given, and others now ask, as +much as 12_s._ for fowls, and 30_s._ for turkeys, or even more. General +Cole, as we advanced, bought nine geese, at a dollar each; and this was +grand pay, and not from fear. Here they are 25_s._ each. + +_Later._—How uncertain everything is with us! Marshal Beresford’s +aide-de-camp is just come in to Lord Wellington, and there is some +stir on our right again. Lord Wellington and several others are off +in that direction, and I am told the former stays out all night; this +looks as if something was suspected. I dine to-day at head-quarters, +and am to go as usual, though the chief is away. He asked me yesterday, +but I told him that General Hill had asked me three days before, and +expected me. “Very well,” said he, “but I advise you to come to me, +nevertheless, as you will get a much better dinner, for General Hill +gives the worst dinners going.” To General Hill’s, however, I went; and +though plain fare, compared to Lord Wellington’s, whose table is just +now very good, and much improved, I got a very good dinner. + +If any dependence could be placed on appearances, I should say nothing +important was going on to-day; for I saw Lord Wellington after he had +seen the aide-de-camp, and he read a long letter quietly through, +seeming quite at his ease; but he takes all that arises so coolly that +this proves nothing. A sudden change again to rain will, in my opinion, +damp the plans of the French, if they had any, as well as give all +those gone off to the right a miserable ride, as it seems well set in +for the day. Wind and wet seem here to be winter. + +What a change has arisen for our young Prince of Orange who was here! +I only hope he will not be spoilt by success and prosperity. In a +little time, after all, it would not surprise me to hear of his looking +back to the time he spent here at head-quarters as the pleasantest +part of his life. Slender Billy was his nickname with those who were +intimate with him, and he knew it; for one day, at dinner, Lord Fitzroy +Somerset, not knowing that he was present, said, “Where is Slender +Billy to-day?” Upon which the Prince put his head forward, and called +out, “Here I am, Fitzroy; what do you want?” + +_January 12th._—Lord Wellington and his party came back to dinner +yesterday. The cause of the bustle was as follows. We had in our +possession a mill which belonged rather to the French position than to +ours; they attacked it, and, after some brisk firing, it was abandoned +to them, and then all was quiet again. This news passed Lord Wellington +on the road, but missed him, or he would not have gone on as far as he +did. Ustaritz is about fifteen good miles from hence, and the road in +parts almost up to a horse’s belly. Lord Wellington rode there in the +rain in two hours and ten minutes, and back in two hours and a half, up +and down hills and through the clay: this proves a horse. + +The next piece of news you will, probably, hear first: but if you +should not, you have to learn that the cunning Bonaparte has been +making a treaty with King Fernando VII. privately about a peace with +Spain, and that he has sent it to the Cortes for their approval, and +has appointed an ambassador for that purpose to Madrid. The gubernador, +or preceptor and major domo of King Ferdinand, is either at Madrid or +on his way thither. Spain, and Madrid in particular, is said to be in +much agitation. The Cortes are to meet the 15th of January. This is a +very artful plan to create jealousies between us, if not to procure +a partial peace. We shall see now of what the Regency and Cortes are +made. They have in professions bullied much, and resolved never to +treat at all whilst a Frenchman remained in Spain. How they will act up +to their resolution is now to be seen. + +_Friday, January 14th._—We have now French papers up to the 3rd from +Paris, and have got Bonaparte’s valedictory address, on setting out +for the army in France, to fight on old French territory. This, I +think, if the Allies persist, must end the business soon, for if he +is well beaten, there must certainly be a rising in France; and if he +beats the Allies, we shall in my opinion have a peace, except that he +seems determined, even now, not to give up Holland, and that we must +at all events retain, if possible. The crisis is, however, apparently +approaching, and that rapidly. + +We remain here in _statu quo_. French desertion is diminishing, and +seems for the moment quiet. The only event of interest has been the +folly of two Portuguese officers near the Adour. They had had a long +parley with the French, were, it is said, drinking together, but +were somehow persuaded by their French new acquaintance to pass over +the river for a dance, or wine, or some reason of that sort, under a +promise of being allowed to return safe. They went, however, and have +never got back. Lord Wellington has written to Gazan, reminding him +of his having sent back six French soldiers, who were taken by the +Portuguese in the heat of the campaign, owing to a similar promise or +understanding, not having been known to them as made to the French. +Lord Wellington claims the two Portuguese in the same way, as being +taken by a breach of faith in the French officers. If this be not +acceded to, he then requests that the two officers may be put for some +time into close confinement or arrest, which, he says, they deserve, +and might probably meet here if restored. As yet no answer is arrived. + +A French dragoon of the 21st chasseurs, a deserter, came in yesterday, +giving a curious account of his reason for deserting. He says he had +been fourteen years in the French service, and was now a corporal; +that his own captain’s nephew had lately joined as a private in his +troop, and that he, the corporal, had to place this man on duty; that +he was not tractable or obedient, and that he was obliged to strike him +with the flat of his sword; that the nephew told the uncle, and, when +they returned, the captain, as soon as he met the deserter, gave him a +severe blow in the face with his fist; and that, in consequence, he +immediately got on his horse, and came off to us. He is a fine-looking +soldier: and, though he has sold his horse for a hundred dollars, says, +that he now repents much what he was induced to do in the heat of the +moment; but it is now too late—the deed is done, and he must persevere. + +I forgot to tell you, in my last, of an act of Spanish violence at +Vittoria, which has caused a strong sensation in the English army, +especially at Vittoria. The Honourable Captain G——, of the 94th, was +quartered there, and had had some intrigue with a girl. He at first +took her home to his quarter. Her friends had recourse to the police. +The armed police came, and were in the house to take the girl: Captain +G—— resisted, and the police were fairly turned out again by him and +his servant. When out of the house, they are said to have formed, as +it were, and then to have fired in through the door in cool blood, +and with no particular object as to taking Captain G——. The latter +was shot, and died almost immediately. Had this happened during the +conflict, it might have been correct enough, though rather harsh and +unnecessary in an armed police against an individual for comparatively +a trifling offence; but as the story is told, it is quite inexcusable, +and seems to have been merely an act of spite and vexation, at having +suffered themselves to be repulsed by the captain. It was revenge for +having exposed their cowardice. + +The fox-hounds were out yesterday, and killed a fox; but had not a +very good run. Lord Wellington wore the Salisbury hunt-coat, sky-blue +and black cape. The Spanish General Frere accompanied him, and as +formerly he was a general of cavalry, and the fox soon took to earth, I +understand Frere kept up, but all his staff were distanced. + +I feel now quite at ease about my animals, for I have collected straw +and hay, and furze enough for about eight days, which is with us +looking very forward, as much so as is prudent. My Spanish boy, after +being here a day or two, told me he would rather set out and try to +find his way to Madrid, so I dismissed him, lest he should take a horse +or mule to expedite him on his journey. + +We cannot prevent the Spanish boats from still getting down the Adour +to Bayonne, though it is not quite so easy as it was to navigate the +river. If all remains quiet, Lord Wellington talks of giving a ball +here on the 18th of January, the Queen’s birthday, but nothing can +be settled long beforehand. The English ladies will be few, and all +married women. We have still only four of the legitimate kind. The +mayor of the town says that a number of the ladies who frequented the +balls before we came, and of whom I found a list in my quarter, are +still here, and will be forthcoming if called upon. + +I find my French “seat of war” a most useful acquisition, as it now +contains the whole war, except our own, and that I have in the map of +this department, which is on a superior scale. + +From four to six o’clock our promenade on the wall is quite gay, for +all the great men of business, including Lord Wellington himself, +generally appear there at that time, and the Guards also, though the +exertion of walking, to which we men of business are accustomed to take +at a true twopenny postman’s long trot, is too great for them; yet they +are formed about in knots and groups, sitting on the wall, or gently +lounging on it, and add to the gaiety of the scene. We soon perceive +when their turn of duty at the outposts takes them away to the front +for a week. + +As a proof of the supine and inactive state of the Spanish government, +bread and corn are so cheap and abundant this year in the Castiles, +that they are quite without demand, and it even answers to bring +Spanish bread up here to sell, above fifty, and, I believe, a hundred +miles; and yet the Spanish nation, relieved from the French army +and our own, cannot supply the few men we have in front with us, in +France and on the frontier, with money or anything. To prevent their +plundering, we now not only have clothed Don Carlos’s soldiers, near +Hasparren, but have given them a month’s pay, and provided them with +rations of biscuits from England. With such a nation, and such a +population, the state of the Spanish army, and the supplies, which get, +I think, worse instead of better, is most provokingly disgraceful to +their government and leading men. + +I have been much struck with the change in the appearance of this +town, when French head-quarters were here, and now that it has become +the head-quarters of the English. It shows the difference between the +two nations. When I was last there, all was gay and glittering, full +of chattering officers in their best uniforms, with gold lace and +ornaments, and prancing country steeds with housings and trappings +of all kinds. The shops were crowded with sky-blue and scarlet caps +embroidered with silver and gold, and pantaloons the same, smart +cloaks, trinkets, &c. The road was covered with long cars, bringing in +supplies drawn by mules gaily ornamented, and with bells, and waggoners +with blue frocks, and long smacking whips, whilst the quay was nearly +deserted, only a few boats to be seen which had just returned from an +unsuccessful attempt to send in shot and shells to St. Sebastian; the +sailors idle, and scarcely the appearance of a port visible. Bread and +vegetables were abundant; other eatables, not so. + +Now we have, on the contrary, a different scene; not a piece of +finery is to be seen, no gay caps, no pantaloons, no ornaments. The +officers all in their morning great coats; Lord Wellington in his +plain blue coat, and round hat, or perhaps in his sky-blue Salisbury +hunting dress. The streets, full of Spanish mules, with supplies, and +muleteers, &c., all running against you, and splashing you as you walk; +every shop crowded with eatables—wines, sauces, pickles, hams, tongues, +butter, and sardines. The quay is now always a busy scene, covered with +some rum casks, and flour casks, and suttler stores; the sailors all +in our pay, at work constantly and making fortunes; the pilots in full +hourly employment, bringing in vessels here or at Sacoa. The latter is +full of masts and sails from Passages, Bilboa, Lisbon, or the West of +England. The prices are still enormous, and of course, the activity is +the result. The French peasants are always on the road between this +place and Bayonne, bringing in poultry, and smuggling out sugar in +sacks on their heads. + +The Basques must have been a very happy race twenty years since, +for though generally a poor country, there is plenty of their +usual food—Indian corn, and excellent meadows by the rivers, which +are numerous. Fish is easily procured—the houses are spacious and +comfortable, and the children seem numerous, well-grown, intelligent, +and healthy. The men are tall, straight, and active; the women, stout +and useful, and rather good-looking. Nor was any great deficiency +of young men observable; the proportions seemed much the same as in +England, though certainly there are not so many tall idle fellows about +as in Ireland. The town, however, had evident marks of a tendency to +retrograde and decay. + +_Later, the 16th._—By the last French papers (which we now have to the +8th, and which bring us the good news from Genoa), I find the accounts +of Bonaparte setting out to put himself at the head of a hundred and +eighty thousand men near Dijon or Maçon, is at least premature, for he +is still reviewing at Paris. We have stories of disturbances arising +out of the conscription, but nothing certain seems known about them. +The French, a few days since, surprised a few of our forage mules near +Lahoupon; I believe only eight. Lahoupon is a place which neither party +is fixed in, but both patrole through occasionally. + +P.S.—Notwithstanding Cobbett says, we men from the Peninsula must never +think of marrying English women, we may at least be anxious about our +friends; for we are not, I conclude, worn out for friendship, as well +as for love. Tell me all you can, as usual, about every one in your +world. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + + State of Feeling in France—Rocket-Practice—The Prince Regent’s + Hobby—The Mayor’s Ball—The Flag-of-Truce. + + + Head Quarters, St. Jean de Luz, + January 18th, 1814. + + MY DEAR M——, + +After two or three days’ continual rain, we have at last a clear +beautiful day; thermometer in my room at 63°. + +In the midst of a terrible storm the day before yesterday a little +cockle shell of a sloop arrived in the open bay here, with the Count +de Grammont on board and Colonel Abercrombie, with despatches and a +paper of the 10th. This told us the principal news. We have thus heard +that the Danes are with us; ideas of peace thrown aside, and the Allies +across the Rhine. This is popular news here; for almost all are against +a peace with Bonaparte, partly from public feelings that such a peace +would be injurious to England and the world, partly the fact that any +peace would not be desirable to our military men, especially to those +on the staff, whose splendour would be much shorn by it. The civilians +and regimental officers, who are not on the eve of a step, are alone +inclined to a peace; to many it will be ruinous. + +We again hear of refractory conscripts, and men refusing to march, in +the right of the department de Landes and elsewhere, and I believe +it in some degree. But this alone will not do without a more general +feeling and even then scarcely, unless a portion of the army takes a +part and declares its views against the common enemy Bonaparte, whom +all Europe are now hunting like a mad dog. + +The Count de Grammont has made a most expeditious trip. He had had +communications with the persons on his former property here, and I +suppose his visit home was connected with this, to know what line to +pursue, &c. The feelings of this part of France seem, as yet, to be +still the same: all desire peace, and for that purpose are eager to +get rid of Bonaparte; but there is no feeling manifested towards the +Bourbons, not hitherto, at least; and I really believe the military +men, and even many civilians, would rather have Bonaparte if they could +be sure of a peace with him. He has done much for them, and on a great +scale. The Code Napoleon has been a great work, and from what I hear +is much liked. Instead of being governed, and oppressed in fact, by +the rich, as they were before, they are now governed by the law, and +that a good law; and as the mayor here and several others say, well +administered, when the state was not concerned. The only defect seemed +to be that the magistrates having been latterly ill-paid, a temptation +to corruption on their part existed; and this was a change from +anarchy, and therefore the more felt, as then the strongest (I mean +in means and territory) was everything and the poor man nothing. In +short, the only really great grievance felt at this distance from the +court of the tyrant seems to have been the horrid conscription and its +tremendous increase of late, and the want of commerce. Nor would the +French feel either of these so much as any other nation in Europe. The +first she would not feel so much, on account of the natural tendency of +the inhabitants to a military life and habits; the last, from the great +internal resources of France in other respects, making loss of commerce +of much less importance to her than to almost any other power which +had been accustomed to enjoy them. I do not mean less than Austria, +which has been so generally shut out from commerce to any extent, but +compared with England, Holland, or Sweden. + +_Thursday, 20th._—Another change again in the weather. Yesterday it +was quite a fine, sunny, warm day, till one or two o’clock, like our +May, and we were all out, witnessing some experiments made with the +rockets, about two miles off, when a storm gathered, and soon the rain +and wind came, and has continued to this time. The night has been very +boisterous, and one of our Commissariat transports has been on shore +in the bay here, stranded, and it is feared that five or six lives are +lost: all hands are now at work moving the stores—corn and hay. + +All the military men in the vicinity were here with Lord Wellington, +including General Frere, the Spanish General. The ground-rockets, +intended against cavalry, did not seem to answer very well. They +certainly made a most tremendous noise, and were formidable spitfires; +no cavalry could stand if they came near them, but in that seemed the +difficulty, for none went within half a mile of the intended object, +and the direction seemed extremely uncertain. The ground was very bad, +and on a flat, or along a road, where they would ricochet or bound +along straight they might do very well, but in the present experiment +they went bang into the ground, sometimes within two hundred yards, and +sometimes one way and sometimes another. Some of them, instead of going +fourteen hundred yards, as intended, were off in a hundred, and some +pieces of the shell came back even amongst us spectators, one very near +Dr. N—— and me, whilst we were standing on one side, out of the way as +we thought. The fire, however, seemed very strong, as one got into a +green hedge, and set it in a blaze directly; the furze and heath were +on fire, and only put out by the rain. Those which were let off at an +elevation supposed for burning towns, &c., were much more successful, +and some went very near the spot, compared with others; that is, I +think they would have hit Bayonne, for instance, somewhere or other, +and no doubt have set fire to the town; but the part of the town you +could not very well choose, for their power seemed very different, and +the wind at times carried them three hundred or four hundred yards away +from the direction intended. + +Upon the whole I do not think they were much admired, though in +certain cases they might be useful, especially when the enemy are in a +mountainous track, like at the battle of Pamplona, and near us. Where +guns could not be got up without great difficulty, these rockets could +be carried by hand, or on mules, and being let off near, would have +tremendous effect even upon infantry when in column. General ——, who +is very wise and knowing in the secret views and springs of everything +(or at least would be thought so), says that all that fuse of the Crown +Prince and Sir Charles Stewart, as to the effect of the rockets in the +North, was to please the Prince Regent in England, the great patron of +the rockets. + +The stranded ship was, I hear, driven out of the harbour of Sacoa by +the gale. This is quite extraordinary, for the vessels are there quite +shut up. The place is, however, too full by far, for no transport likes +to move again when once safe there. The packet lost in the harbour of +Passages last week shows you the sort of gales and seas we have here. + +This morning, a French picquet of about thirty men were marched off +from hence, prisoners; they were surprised by us two nights ago. We got +close, and when challenged, an old Highlander called out “deserter,” so +the sentinel did not fire, and our men got in among them and carried +off the picquet. I am not very glad of this, for I fear it will lead +the French to try and return the compliment, and make the outpost duty +much more dangerous and troublesome than it has been. If it only leads +to their shooting our next deserter, so much the better. Deserters +continue to come in and tell strange stories. They say that Marshal +Soult has issued orders, that whenever a foreigner is to be on outpost +duty, all his necessaries, knapsack, &c., are to be taken from him, +and he is besides to be watched and placed with others. They even say +that a German posted on sentry has his shoes taken away from him. This, +barring exaggeration, no doubt is nearly true. + +It is reported that last week three hundred young conscripts belonging +to one regiment were employed to carry bread to the brigade, and that +when near one of the French sentinels, they were challenged by him, but +from not understanding matters, they made no answer, and advanced; upon +which he fired at them, when the whole three hundred threw down their +bread and ran into camp, crying, that the enemy were coming. + +But the best story of all, if true, was told by the mayor of Biaritz, +who states that he understands three French divisions are under orders +to proceed direct to Lyons, whether to meet Schwartzenburg or on +account of disturbances does not seem clear, even if the story be true. + +_Friday, January 21st._—In spite of the wet yesterday, Lord Wellington +having heard of the surprised picquet, set off to the front to inquire +about it, or, as he said last night, to know if it was worth while to +surprise it again, as it has been renewed by the French; but he thought +not, and was back here to dinner, and in the evening at a ball at the +mayoralty. This ball was an attempt to ascertain how far anything +of the sort would answer. The mayor was to manage it, and ask all +the ladies, and a list of the officers to be asked was given to him, +and tickets sent out, and he was to provide the best entertainment +he could for a dollar-a-head from the gentlemen only, which will be +collected accordingly. It went off, however, but ill, and will not in +my opinion be renewed. There were about a dozen or fifteen elderly +women, French, who have remained here, and who seemed of the better +order, but who came in our country town fashion, with the cloak, the +woman servant, and the large lantern, only many of them brought the +maid in with them to sit behind and look on. Then there were about +sixteen or eighteen younger ladies, French, but who seemed to be nearly +all the tradesmen’s families in the place, none of the better sort, +but from behind the counter in the morning. They were, however, well +dressed, and danced tolerably for French—for English very finely. About +half a dozen old Frenchmen, some respectable; and about eight young +beaux of the place, who had escaped the conscription, and who had +remained here, made up the French party. There were six English ladies +altogether, but who, excepting one, declined dancing French dances or +waltzes, and there was nothing else but one country dance, which went +off ill. I have no doubt the French either thought them excessively +fine, or that they could not dance. There might be quite as much of the +latter as the former. Then to complete the assembly, came about two +hundred officers, all in their best, and forming a very smart squeeze. +What would your fine ladies in London have not given for such a display +of gentlemen? All the field officers of six battalions of the Guards, +and about fifty other guards’ officers, and all the head-quarters’ +staff, generals, aides-de-camp, were there. + +I think Cobbett would have admitted that, with so many fine young men +there, the whole Peninsula squad could not be quite so despicable in +the eyes of the English fair. Three sets of cotillions were formed, and +some waltzes, but the whole went off but indifferently. A Frenchman +of about forty or fifty, one of the police of the town, volunteered a +hornpipe, which was tolerably good. About 12 or 1 o’clock a long table +was opened for the ladies, covered with pastry of different shapes: +no meat—the wine, claret. At half-past one I came away, leaving the +dancers rather beginning to romp. This will not do, because the belles +are not good enough to please in a sober way, and if liberties are +taken they would be offended, or at least their male relations would be +for them. Lord Wellington was soon off, and whilst there seemed to be +principally occupied with little military arrangements. He, however, +seemed pleased with the thing, and asked me as I passed, if I thought +Gazan ever had a better ball? I only said, “I am sure there never +were so many gentlemen in the mayor’s house before.” Better dancing, +however, there may have been. + +Still rain, without ceasing. I have been skipping with one of my mule +ropes, instead of my walk to-day with my umbrella. I got to the wrecked +ship yesterday. The best account seems to be that she pulled up the +post to which she was fastened in Sacoa harbour, and drifted out; the +captain was on shore; the missing are three men and a woman, and they +are supposed to be lost, and it is believed that the men were in the +rigging trying to make things right, when the mast broke. The Guards +were set to work as fatigue-parties at low water, and the cargo removed +on shore, consisting of hay and biscuit, not much damaged by the wreck. +The hay, however, of which one truss fell to my share, was previously +almost mouldy with wet, perhaps a little taste of salt may give it a +relish, and any how it is as good as coarse straw and furze, and better +than nothing, which is my mules’ long forage at present. The muleteer +is so popular, the Portuguese give him so much drink to make him dance +and amuse them, that he is very ill with it, and lying below with a +blister and emetic; and the mules therefore get no grass, as I cannot +turn them out; and straw I cannot afford them. + +Another ingenious trick has just been told me of the French here. They +advanced towards Murillo’s Spaniards,—the latter fired at them; they +sent in to say they were very much surprised, for they understood they +were at peace with the Spaniards now, as a treaty was signed. Murillo +sent back for answer, that he knew of no peace, and that, if the Cortes +or Regency had signed such a peace, still he should continue to do as +the English did, and fire at the French until orders came to him to the +contrary, and that regularly through the Duke of Ciudad Rodrigo. This +is all as it should be, but the trick is a curious one. + +_Saturday, 22nd._—The weather is now more like winter than it has yet +been. At St. Jean de Luz we have a raw, cold air, no sun, a damp fog. +La Rhüne and all the hills round are covered with snow; nothing but a +little sleet has fallen here. + +_Sunday, Post-day._—A fine day, but really like winter; the coldest we +have had, and a north-east wind, which will, I think, before it arrived +here, have frozen you all up stiff in England and in Holland. We were +all yesterday surprised by the news that the French picquets were all +withdrawn near Bayonne on our front on this side, and that we might +proceed close in to the works round Bayonne. What this exactly means +we none of us know; Lord Wellington, however, was over immediately, to +have a peep into the town on that side. Careless about himself, he got +so close, that I understand there were some French in a house within +about forty yards of him; nor did he move until he thought a French +frigate lying in the harbour seemed to be making preparations to fire +at the party. I mentioned to you it was on the 10th of December, in +front here, that he got quite in the midst of the broken Portuguese, +where there were cross fires on all sides, and was fearful on moving +off quickly back, even though he wanted to go and order up fresh +troops, lest the bad example might increase the disorder, and throw +the men in greater confusion; so he went leisurely back, until out of +sight, and then cantered off to the unbroken part of the column. + +We have more reports of insurrections in France, and the French have +been circulating the story, that the preliminaries of peace (a general +peace) are already signed, and have sent the report in here. I suspect +that it is all a trick, for all shifts and schemes are now resorted +to; amongst others, Bonaparte has sent back Palafox to Spain—it is +concluded, to intrigue, for he is well known now, and the Cortes +have, I am told, refused to receive him or take any notice of him. +The promotion of O’Donoghue as Lieutenant-general, and his quitting +the situation of War Minister in consequence, is considered a sort of +triumph on our part, for he was suspected of being inimical to Lord +Wellington and the British interests. Of his successor, Moreno, I know +nothing, except that he has generally been of the War Council, and in +civil-military employments, and has not seen much service. + +_Head-Quarters, St. Jean de Luz, January 26th, 1814._—I have now +another letter to thank you for, of the date of the 11th instant, and +papers to the same period, for which my best thanks are also due. These +arrived by the sloop of war, with Colonel Bunbury, and are particularly +acceptable, for (except Lord Wellington), no one has letters by the +packet, or papers later than the 5th. Colonel Bunbury brought one of +the 13th for Lord Wellington. In some degree, however, all your papers +now lose their interest, for we have a sort of information through +Paris very much quicker, and though not very much to be depended +upon, and not very full or accurate, yet it gives us, making all due +allowances, a tolerable insight into what is passing. We have thus now +papers of the 17th from Paris, from which it appears the Allies have +been at Besançon, Dijon, and even Langres, whilst your accounts only +carry them to the frontiers of Switzerland. + +The deficiency of my Spanish maps does not signify, for I merely sent +them home as a sort of memorial of Vittoria. All I had were only about +the tenth part of Lopez, and nearly one-half of what I had are gone to +the bottom in the little Catherine, in which I sent two parcels. + +General G—— was always famous here for hospitality and very large +parties. The only objection to them was the too great crowd at dinner. +From what I saw, however, I liked him extremely. There was a wide +distance between him and Lord Wellington in material points for a +Commander-in-Chief, though I believe he was more popular with those +under him, and particularly with his staff. + +You need never apologize for forwarding a letter by any officer sent +out express in a ship of war, and direct to head-quarters, for that is +the best of all conveyances when available. They are sure to use the +greatest expedition, and to have the best sailing-vessel. An officer +coming out with convoy in a transport to join his regiment is quite +_une autre chose_, and to be as much avoided. + +We have for the last three days had a touch of your late weather, and +have had snow on the ground to the sea’s edge every night fresh, and +remaining all day on the ground. It is still not very cold in reality, +and indeed less so than could be wished, for if colder, we should feel +it less. This seems paradoxical, but the truth is, that the ground here +is not hard, and the snow, when trodden upon in the streets, melts, and +forms a most chilling mud, and there is a cold evaporation going on +worse than a hard frost. It is here every day like the first beginning +of a cold thaw. + +Yesterday one of my deputies, passing through here, dined with me. He +is a very gentleman-like, quiet, and most diligent character, and I +only hope my mention of him, in particular to General Pakenham, the +Adjutant-general, coupled with that of Colonel Royals, whose Adjutant +he has been, may do him some service. He has been down at Coimbra, +and elsewhere. His name is Arden, and he is a lieutenant in the 61st. +He was last from St. Andero, and told me a curious story about a late +flag-of-truce there. + +Much of our clothing was, you may have heard, carried to Santona, +near there, as a prize. Many of our men were, consequently, in +absolute tatters. Lord Wellington proposed to Soult to buy it at a +valuation, and let the Governor of Santona have the money to pay his +garrison. Soult agreed, and gave an order, with a pass. Mr. Drake, the +Commissary, was ordered to go into Santona, in consequence, with a +flag to treat. Instead of one trumpeter, five persons improperly went +with him. The French officer on the post came out, told him he did +not understand a flag-of-truce with five persons, and the Spaniards +drawn up so near, that he might suspect treachery, and must do his +duty, though Soult’s orders and pass might be all regular. In short, +said he, “I return in, and in one minute I fire a gun at you; so make +the best of your way off.” Though the party offered to be taken in as +prisoners, the Frenchman went in; so off they ran, and just as they +turned the corner of a house, a twenty-four pounder was after them. +The Governor was angry with the officer. A new flag with one person +advanced: Drake was admitted, but was blinded for nearly a league; and +yet the person near him and another, let in afterwards, were permitted +to see all. When the mission was understood, and the party discovered +to be civilians, the Governor was very polite. He gave them good wine, +but bad bread and meat, which the power of fancy made Drake think +was horseflesh. He then said that the shoes, gaiters, pantaloons, and +some of the caps, his men then wore, so that as to those the mission +was too late; but the jackets they were welcome to purchase, with some +other things, and a bargain was soon made. The Governor then said, +“I know your road home is infamous to St. Andero—you shall return in +our privateer row-barge.” This they did in a very short time, and the +finale was a formal complaint from the Spanish authorities at St. +Andero, against Drake, for having dared to let a French row-boat enter +St. Andero without their leave and their pass. When in the town all the +children, &c., crowded round Drake and his party to see an Englishman. +This made the Governor very angry, and he had them dispersed, asking +them “what there was to look at in an Englishman?” at which they +shouted under his nose—“_Viva los Ingleses! Viva! Viva!_” I wish the +higher class of Spaniards were as staunch as the peasantry and rabble. + +_Saturday._—Our regular mail has not yet arrived; so your papers up +to the 11th have been in most constant request; for, though there +was one here up to the 13th, there was no regular set to the 11th. +The snow has ended in torrents of cold rain again; the roads, almost +more impassable, if that be possible, than they were before, of +course impede all movement, even if intended. Nothing but a rising or +commotions, would tempt us out, and that must be without cannon in a +great measure, and dependant for provisions principally on the country, +as our transport diminishes daily in the army, from the death of mules, +or desertion of muleteers. + +The life of the subaltern officers just now is very arduous and +unpleasant; winter quarters they certainly have, but that is all; four +or five in a room, comforts very few, a great deal of duty with forage +parties, and going to Passages for corn, bread, &c., and always in the +wet, and up to the knees in mud. Matters, however, must, in my opinion, +end soon. + +We have French papers to the 20th, and by them find the Allies at +Langres, Dijon, and Lyons; we are told that they are well received. +Upon this it must very much turn at last. The news from the French +camp and from Bayonne is of peace. Our mayor has had a letter from +his confidential friend at Bayonne. The basis was at last agreed +upon on both sides, and a congress to take place at Basle. This may +be fabricated, for the purpose of keeping the country and army here +quiet until the event be really so. The French must now or never get +rid of Bonaparte, if they wish it. It is not very flattering to the +Bourbons, that even the repeated sufferings and disasters the nation +has endured from Bonaparte scarcely seem to be able to rouse up the +least attachment to them; and that even the last necessity seems hardly +to make the people willing to run any risks for the old royal family. +Yet I am almost sure the feeling would rapidly spread, from the sort of +despair now prevailing as to _la pauvre France_, if a good beginning +could be but once made. + +You must remember the article of capitulation as to the _Commissaire +de Guerre_ and his family, the brother’s wife, and two daughters, &c., +at St. Sebastian. They have never yet returned to France, and are now +here. The exchange of the _Commissaire_ could never be arranged; and +the ladies, though offered to return without him, would not do so, +expecting that he would every day be able to accompany them. Lord +Wellington let them remain at Passages, until the matter was finally +settled; and there they have been all the time in the same house with +one of our Commissaries, Mr. M——. And now, when they were all to go +back, the latter has declared himself the admirer professed of the +youngest girl, and they are after all halted here at St. Jean de Luz +until he can marry her, and then the rest of the party pass into the +French lines. I met them at dinner yesterday; they are a pleasant +family. The girl pleasing and rather pretty, and in the English style; +the mother a clever woman; the other girl not pretty, but odd, and, I +think, clever. + +Our new Admiral is arrived, having left England on the 21st. All our +mails are thus forestalled, as we have still only mail papers and +letters to the 5th. We are told that there is no news in particular, +but that all is warlike. Our story here is, however, of a still later +date, and may possibly still be true. The only other news we have +is from Catalonia; and that, it is to be feared, is bad. You will, +however, get it before you have this, I conclude, from the _Gazette_. +General Donkin told me his letters stated that we had made an attack +on Moulins del Rey on the Lobregat, near Barcelona; that the Spaniards +were to cross the river and turn the French: that they were too slow +and too late, and so the whole plan failed; but that we suffered but +little, and that the loss was nearly all Spanish, who lost two colonels +killed. I do not believe that all Spain would drive Suchet or his army +out, except by time, and wear and tear—never by force. The Government, +however, have behaved well, I believe, as to the late French attempts +through Ferdinand, and through our English hero—Palafox. + +I am sorry not to be able still to admire the latter. It is mortifying +to strike out the name of one of the few Spanish heroes which this five +years’ war has produced. I am now, however, satisfied that the Spanish +insurrection, and all its good consequences, was owing to the thorough +ignorance and want of calculation, and of information and judgment of +the Spaniards. If they had had more common sense, and knowledge of the +true state of things, even their zeal and patriotism (which I admit +were considerable) would never have induced them to adopt a course +so devoid of all prospect of a favourable result, and which every +thinking, impartial, able man must have pronounced a desperate mad +scheme. We owe it principally, I am sure, to their excessive pride and +ignorance, their good opinion, yet want of knowledge of themselves. And +this accounts for the most able men at first all going the wrong way. + +_Sunday, 30th, Post-day._—Nothing but wind and rain, wind and rain +for ever, and no more news. Some of the deserters say that the French +head-quarters are removed to my old place, Mont de Marsan; but I +should think that this can scarcely be yet. The new Admiral dined at +head-quarters yesterday, but I understand, has brought little news. +One ship under his orders, it is feared, has been lost already, as we +have a report of a sloop of war, _The Holly_, lost at Passages, and +several of the crew with it. This is certainly a terrible coast. There +is now a vessel riding in the bay here, very uneasy, and cannot enter; +and one was as nearly as possible lost yesterday morning close to +Sacoa; the surf broke over her. The exertions of the French pilots were +astonishing. + +_Sunday, later, 5 o’clock, 30th._—We have two French officers come +out here from England to seek a better fate by a little _intrigo_, I +suppose. One is a Basque of this country on half-pay from our service, +and the other, a Monsieur La Fitte, I believe a clever man, and a La +Vendée hero. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + + Army Supplies—Offending Villages—Symptoms of Work—Arrival of the Duke + D’Angoulême—The Bridge across the Adour—Wellington and his Chief + Engineer—His Activity. + + + Head-quarters, St. Jean de Luz, + February 2, 1814. + + MY DEAR M—— + +Here we remain absolutely tied by the leg by the horrible state of the +roads, and weather, and without any regular news from England. Nothing +but reports on the side of France which would encourage us to proceed; +and, on the sea-side, of heavy gales, and lost vessels. I am just now +driven in by a furious hailstorm, and yet the weather is mild, and has +been till this moment pleasant enough. We have two ships in the little +bay here; one full of hay, which has been four days nearly within +three hundred yards of the shore, and in hourly danger of drifting +on the beach—yet we have not been able, in spite of our distress, to +get out a truss; and the other a brig transport, empty, and driven in +here by stress of weather. A frigate was also off here all yesterday, +apparently labouring much, and fearful of the coast. We certainly have +undertaken a bold thing in wintering in such a place, but it was a +choice of difficulties. + +If we had money we should do well, but that is as scarce as anything +else. Plenty of supplies would come in from the right from the French, +had we cash to give in return. As it is, in consequence of the little +ready money we gave at first, a great quantity of cattle, food, &c., +has been obtained, but now we are reduced to Treasury Bills, and that +cannot last, and the loss is very great. Even the muleteers get a past +payment now in those bills, and the consequence is that a person may +buy them with dollars at the rate of 7_s._ 4_d._, and, I believe, 7_s._ +6_d._ a dollar. The army is also six months, and the staff seven months +in arrear of their pay. + +We have, however, I believe, plenty of bread and biscuit, and meal for +a month with the army and corn at Passages in abundance. The short +transport from thence is almost too much for us, and the supply is by +no means general to the animals, whilst long forage is quite a rarity. +The destruction in the oxen is frightful in the rear. Our great depôt +is as far back as Palencia, and even there, in store, the cattle die +very fast, and the moment they march they fall away to nothing and die +by fifties. Our Commissary-general almost despairs of getting more up, +although he has made depôts of bran and straw, &c., on the road, to try +and obviate the total want of food. It is now in contemplation to ship +cattle from St. Andero, where there is a store; but then we have rather +a scarcity of naval transports also. Cattle would come in as fast as we +wished from twenty leagues to our right, could we but pay for it. As it +is, I am almost inclined to think that we shall, as a choice of evils, +be obliged, in spite of the roads, to move towards our right in quest +of food. + +Two of the villages in that direction have justly incurred Lord +Wellington’s displeasure by plundering and seizing our forage parties, +of which we have lately lost several. One or two were taken by the +peasants of those two villages, and Lord Wellington has issued a +proclamation addressed to them and that country, reminding them that +he told them to remain at home, and be quiet, and to take no part, +and that if they did so he would protect them; but that he would not +have this treachery in return. If they did not like this proposal, +well and good, then let them quit their _foyers_ and leave their +villages, and take the consequence, and he should be prepared to +meet them as enemies; but they must make this election. The curé +of one of these villages was carried off as a hostage for their +good behaviour in future. We have strong reports of commotions and +internal dissatisfactions in France, and that Bonaparte is reduced to +concentrate his army round Paris. If this be true Lord Wellington must +be half mad about the roads. I find he is gone out to-day to look about +him. Two nine-pounders have just drawn up opposite my windows with +eight horses each, and the men have left their guns under the charge of +the Provost guard. I suppose they are on the march. I must inquire what +this means. + +_February 3rd._—The artillery is said to mean nothing; but still I +think if we get fine weather for a week we shall have a start. In +confirmation of what I have written above, as to the loss of cattle, +I will give you two instances: three hundred and sixty head of +convalescent bullocks, which had been left at Vittoria to get into +order, were marched for the army; sixty only have arrived thus far, +all the rest have been left at stations between, or been given to the +different alcaldes, and receipts taken for them—a new mode lately +adopted. Five hundred of another lot of fresh bullocks, collected at +Palencia, were marched all this way, three hundred only have reached +Vittoria, and all the bad road and scarcity of food is yet to come. +This is really quite alarming. + +_February 3rd, later._—I find the guns mean nothing; they are only +going on to the front to replace two now there, which are to come +back to refit. Still, however, if we could but get fine weather, I +think we should make a stir. Bets were going on as to a peace, or our +being at Bayonne and across the Adour in six weeks; and symptoms of a +move shortly are perceptible. The rain, however, continues. Colonel +Bunbury made one attempt to go to the right of our army the day before +yesterday, but only got half way, and is unwell in consequence. He is +to leave this either in Lord Wellington’s carriage, or to go round by +water to Passages. The sea is, however, quiet, and now only torments +our anxious curiosity by throwing up parts of wrecks and bodies. A +ship-cable, with the G.R., was found at Bidart, and three men and a +woman. Some say that the latter had silk stockings on. One body cast up +here was half eaten, and I saw a backbone only yesterday. The bodies of +the mules float in and out every tide. + +As a proof of the state of forage here, and of the manner in which we +are imposed upon, five shillings were yesterday demanded for a sack of +chopped furze from the surrounding hills, and thus sold in the market. +Straw fetches two shillings for a small handful, of which a horse would +eat two or three in a day. + +I have just seen a Spanish Captain who was taken prisoner little more +than three months since. He has been to Maçon on the Saone since, +where the Allies now are, about six hundred miles from this, having +been first plundered of his great coat and pantaloons. He was about +thirty-five days getting there on foot all the way, staid there forty +days, and then was about thirty-six days more returning here, also on +foot, having been exchanged. He says the notion is that we have the +Duke d’Angoulême here, and that very many wish it to be so. This is +like my finding many persuaded that we had the Duke de Berri with our +army when I was a prisoner. I suspect, however, we shall in part verify +this notion now, as I just hear one of the best quarters in the town is +to be cleared immediately for an unknown great man, now at Passages, +and just arrived from England. At first they even talked of moving the +Adjutant-general, Pakenham, to make room for him. This mystery will, +however, soon be cleared up. Rain, which is never pleasant, was never +so disagreeable as now. The fate of France may depend upon it. + +The owner of my house is a well-bred woman, who lives in a great house +opposite. She lives in one corner of it, whilst General Wimpfen and his +staff, and Colonel M——, his wife, and three children, occupy all the +best part. She has, she told me, thirteen houses round here, five are +burnt, and two coming down, and yet she seems resigned and satisfied +that we have really behaved very well; that it is the fate of war, and +owing to the ill fortune of having property in a frontier country near +armies, and is quite inevitable. She only exclaims, “_Oh la pauvre +France!_” This is a novel language to the French of late. + +_4th, Friday._—Still rain, rain, rain, all night. All yesterday, all +the night before, and still continuing. Oh! that we had your frost +instead; all things would have been very different. + +The great man just arrived, and now here, turns out to be the Duke +d’Angoulême, and Count Damas is come out with him, but till the plot +thickens the Duke is _incog._ + +Our pontoons from the Bidassoa are now passing over the St. Jean de +Luz bridge. This looks like something, and we have to-day at last a +dry day, or at least a half day, for I must not be too sure yet. The +wind is getting round to the north a little, or north-east, and if that +remains it will do, especially as it is full moon; though I have not +much more faith in the moon, in respect of weather than Lord Wellington +has, who says it is nonsense. In addition to all your news, we have +French news of a battle at St. Dizier, near Chalons, and that the +Allies have been beaten. It is to be feared that it is not all to go so +smoothly as hitherto, unless a rising takes place. + +All odd strangers who come to head-quarters here have been long +called tigers. Of course we now have “The Royal Tiger.” This is a +head-quarters’ joke for you. We have had for some time here a Madame +de ——, the wife of the Commandant of ——, come to make arrangements +beforehand, and here she certainly has been making many little +arrangements not much to the advantage of her husband, and not quite +consistent with conjugal fidelity. When the Commandant arrived +yesterday at last, she immediately began to blame him for his +unnecessary delay, and insinuated that another lady was the cause. This +is very hard upon a poor old man, but I suppose the lady thought it +right to take the initiative. + +The publication of the Leipsig letters, which George mentions, of +Murray’s, will be very curious, but I think it is not right to let +these be published. Similar letters were taken in Spain more than +once, and police reports. The old letters which were too late (those I +mean from you) were from the Secretary of State’s office, not from the +Judge-Advocate’s office. They were probably mislaid at the former. + +_Sunday, Post-day._—A bright sun and a smiling sky, with a smooth bay +covered with ships, quite a Vernet. I have just returned from the +church service on the beach, in a square of about two thousand five +hundred guards, and all the staff here present. As I returned I picked +up your letter of the 26th, and papers at the post-office. I have just +got some business come in, for desertion has commenced again now that +we are quiet and idle. A corporal and twelve men all went off together +a few nights since, all foreigners, and I believe French. Our people at +home are very careless in selecting soldiers to enlist into our corps +from the prisons. What can be better for a Frenchman in a prison-ship +than to receive 4_l._, new clothes, arms, &c., and then to be sent into +his own country, and put in a situation to join his comrades, with +only the difficulty of watching a good occasion. In yesterday’s return, +however, nine men have deserted, mostly English. Your English news is +all good as far as it goes, and if this weather will but hold a little, +you will hear of more glory and more broken heads here. In addition to +the pontoons which have passed up, scaling-ladders have gone through +here. If we could but cross the mouth of the Adour below Bayonne, +and get at the citadel at once by scaling and storm, there would be +something like a blow, and the town would be at our mercy immediately. + +We have some gentlemen here, but very few, who begin to find the work +too warm for them. I have been saved two cases of this sort, very +awkward ones, by resignations, and have been consulted on two others +by General Cole, very suspicious ones, but not so clear as the other +two who are let off thus, to save the reputation of the regiments. An +officer should think a little before he engages in service, such as we +have had here the last few years. + +More business, so I must put an end to this quickly. I have not seen +the Royal Tiger, but am to dine at head-quarters to-day, and hope he +may be there. The French ladies are staunch Bonapartists. They say we +shall have another Quiberon business, and that the Allies are coming +into France the same old road as twenty years since, and will return by +it. + +I have been so pressed to change my old mare, which was in high +condition, that, to oblige Major D—— of the Guards, I have done so, +and taken “Mother Goose” (a pet name of General Hulse’s formerly) in +exchange, and fifteen guineas to boot. Mother Goose is a very good +mare, but never would stand fire. She is not so large or showy as my +old lady, but I like her much. She was valued at eighty-five guineas, +and has always sold for that. I put mine at a hundred guineas. I gave +more—four hundred dollars; as dollars cannot be had under 7_s._, and +the exchange is still higher on the muleteer Treasury bills. These, +however, I should not think it right to deal in. + +_Head-Quarters, St. Jean de Luz, Thursday, February 10th, 1814._—Thus +far the week has passed without my having commenced my usual Journal to +you; for I have had a return of business, and also several gentlemen to +swear, and certificates and affidavits to make out, to enable friends +to take out administration in England to deceased officers’ estates. We +have also again had two fine days, and I have been able to get a ride +or two in consequence. On Sunday, at head-quarters, I met the Royal +Tiger at dinner—the Duke d’Angoulême and Monsieur Damas. + +Before dinner I got into conversation with the Duke, without knowing +who he was, for they were both dressed alike in a fancy uniform, +very like our navy Captain’s undress, a plain blue coat, with two +gold epaulettes. He seemed much pleased with his prospects, and very +sanguine as to the result. The day was fine; he was sure the weather +would last a month. I said that the natives told me we should have +rain, and no settled weather until March was half over. He was sure +I had been misinformed; the fact was, however, that it rained half +that very night and the whole of the next day. Every day he expected +to proceed to France, and saw all difficulties vanish. “_Les pauvres +conscripts de Bayonne fondaient comme la neige; ils étoient presque +tous à l’hôpital_,” and so on. + +That we shall make a dash soon, unless peace prevents it, I fully +believe from all I see and hear, and an embargo which has been laid on +all small vessels in the river here confirms this. We have also to-day +an order for twelve days’ hay at Passages, for which we are to send to +the ships ourselves, as Government have just now sent us out a good +lot of English hay, and if we march it must be all left behind, for we +have no means of carrying it with us. At least the animals will thus +all start with a belly full, which is something, and to many a novelty. + +I do not think much of the little Duke; his figure and manners are by +no means imposing, and his talents appear not very great. He seems +affable and good-tempered, and though not seemingly a being to make +a kingdom for himself, he may do very well to govern one when well +established. Lord Wellington was in his manner droll towards them. As +they went out, we drew up on each side, and Lord Wellington put them +first; they bowed and scraped right and left so oddly, and so actively, +that he followed with a face much nearer a grin than a smile. + +They were at church on Sunday, but I cannot learn with any effect; +hitherto we cannot judge, for this small corner dare not speak +out their minds, if they were in his favour. We hear of a strong +disposition at Bordeaux and in Brittany. I have as yet seen only apathy +and indifference, but I still expect a burst if the war should last. + +I must now go to Lord Wellington about a poor old Doctor, who has been +charged with having a soldier servant. I expect a jobation for what I +shall state in his favour, for this is a very heinous offence in the +eyes of Lord Wellington. + +_Same day, later._—Lord Wellington, as I supposed, insisted on the +Doctor’s being tried, but was good-humoured, though just going out +with the hounds, when in general he does not like interruption. This +particular Doctor had a right to a servant of his own regiment, but +he had one of another. I suggested that he had never joined his own +regiment since he was appointed, and could not, therefore, have one +of that corps. “Then he should have gone without,” was the answer, +and as for the Doctor’s good character, that went for nothing. Lord +Wellington never attends to individual hardships, but to the general +good, and as many abuses go on at depôts in the rear, every time he +discovers an instance he is inexorable in trying to punish, especially +when he finds it out himself, as he did this in another trial of the +same poor Doctor, by some of the evidence. The Doctor, foolish man, +desired it might be put on the minutes that he would ask such a witness +no question, as he had been his servant at the time, and was so still. + +I have just heard an anecdote which shows strongly the Spanish +character, and also why Lord Wellington likes Colonel Dickson as his +chief artillery officer. On the 9th of November last the order was +given for the troops to march to the attack at four the next morning. +This was when we were at Vera. Every one had known for weeks that +this was to take place the earliest moment it was possible; and that +the fall of Pamplona and better weather were the only reasons of the +army being in such a position as we then were, perched up on the +sides of all the mountains so late in the year, with the prospect of +snow daily. At nine that night General Frere, the Spanish General, +who is considered to be one of their best, sent word that the Spanish +army under his command was without any ammunition, and could not get +any up in time. At ten o’clock Dickson was sent for, just as he was +going to bed. Instead of saying nothing could be done, or making any +difficulties, he proposed giving the Spaniards immediately the reserve +ammunition of the nearest English division, and said that he would send +out orders instantly, and undertake to get the English reserve replaced +in time, and this was done. + +Poor E—— got a very loud discourse all the way home from church +last Sunday. The oxen of the pontoon train were all dying, and in +cross roads were useless, for they could not move singly except +with difficulty, much less draw a pontoon of two tons weight. It +had been reported in consequence that three troops of artillery +must be dismounted to draw the pontoon. Lord Wellington was vexed +excessively. “Where are the pontoon horses?” “None were ever sent out +from England; never had anything but oxen, and five hundred have died +since we left Frenada.” This answer still did not satisfy him. He +must, notwithstanding, have known it from the returns which he sees, +but still he seemed, though he could not tell why, to think poor E—— +blameable. The latter said that he had no orders to send to England for +horses, and no one seemed to think they would be necessary, and he had +never had them. + +_Friday, 11th._—I went last night to our third ball, in hopes of seeing +the Duke d’Angoulême there, and to observe how he was received. He did +not attend. All our other great men were there—Lord Wellington and all +the French, as yet very few in numbers. The owner of General Cole’s +quarters near Ustaritz, I believe named Larrique, was there. He had +come over to pay his respects to the Bourbons. He was always royally +disposed, and had been once imprisoned for this inclination. I am told +several others have been to the Duke to pay their respects merely, but +this is all they dared do as yet. They assure him the landholders and +peasantry further on only wait our advance, and the absence of the +French army, to rise and declare for the Bourbons. If they do not take +this line soon, and that decidedly, peace may make it too late, and +frustrate all these petty plans of counter-revolution in the bud. The +Duke seems quite ignorant of the people here, and of the country, and +those Basques I have talked to do not seem to know much more of him. +The few squires left may, however, give the tone to the rest. + +I hear that we have quite ruined Bayonne market by our higher prices, +&c., and things are not only dear there, but not to be had, for no +one will there give the price we do for such luxuries, as poultry, +vegetables, &c., certainly are; and therefore they are brought here. + +_Saturday, 12th._—The news now is, that Soult and about three thousand +infantry, and one thousand eight hundred cavalry, are gone off to the +rear, and it seems to be believed; for it has come through so many +channels to us. Another report is, that seven of the thirty tyrants +(senators) have gone over to the Allies, to pay their respects to the +Bourbons; this is not in such credit as the other story. In short, we +have what the military men call “shaves” (I suppose barbers’ stories) +every day and every hour. The best fact I can tell you is, that we +have had three days’ fine weather now together, and this last is +absolutely warm, I only fear too warm to last; thermometer in my room, +window open, and no fire, 58° in the sun. I rode a league out and back +yesterday almost without a splash. The mule roads across the country, +though improved, are, however, still very bad; three more such days +will, nevertheless, do wonders, and about that time I hope we shall be +ready. + +All the carpenters, &c., are ordered from the Guards to the front. The +Rocket Brigade also went up last night; and ships are ordered round +from Passages. Dr. Macgregor, who was there yesterday, tells me that he +thinks it will be three days before they will have procured ropes and +all they require with them. This smiling sun makes every one cheerful, +though it prognosticates many broken heads. + +The only thing, it appears to me, the Guards look blue about, is the +prospect of an aquatic expedition. Our sick, though nothing compared to +last year, have increased this last month. To show you how much depends +on seasoning them, two regiments, the 84th, and, I think, the 62nd, who +came out two months since, and have scarcely had any work, but arrived +after all the bad quarters in the mountains, and have not marched +forty miles and been generally housed, are absolutely unfit for the +field. One has four hundred and more sick out of six hundred. They are +obliged, in consequence, to be sent in a body, as regiments, to Vera, +one of the hospital stations. They are, I believe, two battalions, and +mostly young lads or elderly men, neither of which class of soldiers +can stand this work at all. Some of our old regiments have scarcely +a man in the hospital, except the wounded, and it is astonishing how +well some of the Portuguese regiments stand it, who are more exposed +than our men. The last month’s rest, and the new clothes, which most +regiments have now received, will revive the army amazingly; some who +are still without their clothes are, to be sure, absolutely in rags, or +like the king of the beggars. + +_Head-Quarters, St. Jean de Luz, Sunday the 13th, Post-day, 5 +o’clock._—Our “shave” of to-day is a Congress. Yesterday the Allies +were at Paris. I am sorry to say the sea has risen, and the wind +changed, and the weather threatens again. All are hard at work, +however, at the bridges, &c. It will be a ticklish thing to cross at +the mouth of the Adour. + +_Head-Quarters, St. Jean de Luz, February 15th, 1814._—The plot now +thickens a little. Lord Wellington was off at three in the morning +yesterday for Hasparren, for two or three days, to superintend a +movement which is to take place: first, on our right, to drive the +French divisions of General Foy and Harispe across the Gave d’Oleron, +and prevent their molesting our right flank, whilst the passage of the +Adour is attempted on the left. The accounts this morning are, that +the troops assembled for this purpose yesterday, but that no affair +has hitherto taken place. General Pakenham was yesterday at Passages +to see to the shipping there, and clear out the hospital; and to-day +he has gone over to the right, to report to Lord Wellington and to +assist there. All is in motion: two bridges are preparing, one, as +I supposed, below Bayonne, and another above; the former will be +accompanied by an aquatic expedition. + +With regard to this grand bridge, a most provoking occurrence has taken +place. An embargo was laid on about twenty-four vessels in the St. Jean +de Luz river to form this bridge, and to assist in the conveyance of +troops, &c. Old Ocean, however, did not approve; and as he is not under +Lord Wellington’s orders, and seems, like the Spaniards, to like to +thwart Lord Wellington a little, he (Old Ocean) threw up the day before +yesterday such a mound of shingle at the mouth of the river, that he +has most effectually embargoed the whole shipping, and made a dry +bank, a hundred feet wide, quite firm across the entrance, which all +yesterday was used as a road backwards and forwards from Sibour to this +place. From the present state of the tides there was no prospect of an +opening in the natural way for a week and more, until the springs; so +to-day a fatigue party of the Guards are at work digging and shovelling. + +In my early walk this morning I found them at it, with a young engineer +officer, doing it, it struck me, very ill. I could not help meddling; +however, I had no weight, until an old Frenchman came, sent by the +mayor, to whom I advised them to apply; and then, as the young engineer +did not understand French, I acted as interpreter. The old man’s plan +and mine agreed, and so I carried my point. It is hoped we shall be +able to dig a way through by this evening, and to-morrow to let the +shipping out. It has never happened before since we have been here, +though very often the river is nearly dry. + +One brig of war has arrived and the _Gleaner_ ketch, and Lieutenant +Douglas is on shore here superintending the fastening together of a +quantity of masts, &c., to form a boom, I believe, across the Adour—I +suppose to prevent anything floating down from destroying the bridge. +I heard yesterday, what one can scarcely believe, that the naval +officer asked leave to survey the mouth of the Adour, but that Lord +Wellington told him to go to the engineers, and they would give him +plans and soundings, &c.: that he went to E—— accordingly, and found he +had none at all; and Toffini’s coast stops short at Passages! + +It is surely very odd, now that we have been in front of Bayonne for +three months, that no plans should have been sent out, without being +asked for, from England. I since have heard from E—— that he did write, +and has nothing in consequence but a little printed plan of Bayonne, +and no soundings, &c. I trust still that Lord Wellington will poke out +his way across. Our outposts’ reports to-day are that the Cossacks are +close to Paris, and Fontainebleau pillaged by them. I am sorry for +that, as that palace escaped the Revolution almost entirely. The truth +of the whole story may well be questioned. + +_February 16th._—No news from the right; no one returned yet; the +reports are, that the French do not stand, but retire before us. In the +mean time things are going on well here. The weather is fine again, +the sea quiet, the river has quite cleared his course, and to-day the +navigation is open. The fort at the mouth of the Adour sent a few shots +against the _Lyra_ brig when cruising yesterday to inspect; but no harm +done. Every one is busy. + +Poor —— does not seem to draw well with Lord Wellington. The latter +received him so queerly at the last interview, that —— says he shall do +all he can to execute what he is ordered, and be quiet. Lord Wellington +never consulted him, and has never even told him exactly where the +grand bridge which he is preparing is to be; and the consequence is, +the width of the river has not been precisely ascertained at the place +intended, where the engineers have instruments which would do it in a +minute, if they were ordered. Without orders they cannot, as it would +require a guard of three hundred or four hundred men to go near enough, +and that can only be with orders. But then, were I ——, I should ask for +the guard and do it, propose it first, or try and get it quietly from +the Adjutant-general without troubling Lord Wellington, and let him +find the thing done. —— seems to be too much of the English official +school; has too much regard to forms and regular orders. All this +_entre nous_. Elphinstone of the Engineers tells me he wrote for a plan +of Bayonne four months since, and has only received a very miserable +one, of scarcely any use. + +The grand bridge is to be formed of the largest vessels now in the +harbour—about fifty of them. Pontoons would never do. They are to +be about 25 feet or 27 feet apart, and cable bridges between to +communicate with planks, each vessel carrying its own materials to +plank, &c. This is a grand plan, but rather arduous. I hope it may +answer, as it will be an event in military matters, crossing a great +river at the mouth below the fortified town, and that in the hands of +the enemy on both sides of the river. + +_February 17th, Thursday._—Still fine weather, and no one returned, +and no news from Lord Wellington. I had a report here through the +emigrés, and _son Altesse Royale_, as he is now called, that the +Allies are within a league of Paris. “_Quelle mauvaises nouvelles! ils +m’ont dit._” Their alarm at the reported Congress at Chatillon sur +Seine, and Lord Castlereagh, has to-day of course a little subsided in +consequence. A peace with Bonaparte would ruin them for ever. If Paris +now declares itself, on the other hand it will spread, and the whole +business, in my opinion, be at an end in their favour. If not, it is +clear that their party is very small, and their interests forgotten. + +_The 18th, Friday._—Still Lord Wellington not returned; but we had +some news of what has been done on the right. The French retired +skirmishing, but would never stand to let us charge. They were obliged +to remain longer than they wished to cover some guns which they carried +off; and also, the evening before last, they intended to take up their +ground for the night in a position which Lord Wellington thought it +would suit him to drive them from. By doing this late in the day they +were obliged to resist more than they probably otherwise would, if +they had expected it, and been prepared for the retreat. We have taken +about ten or twelve officers prisoners, and about two hundred men. Some +say that we might have had as many thousands, could we have been two +hours sooner. These things are always, however, said. Supposing that +we had been two hours sooner, the French would have been just where +they were; and it is forgotten that if we had moved sooner, they might +probably just have done the same thing. We have ourselves sustained +some loss, and that in a greater proportion of officers than men. I +am told, about a hundred and twenty men. General Pringle is shot in +the breast,—an awkward place, but they hope not badly, considering the +situation. General Byng’s aide-de-camp, Captain Clitherow, is killed, +and, I believe, Lieutenant Moore, of the Artillery. Aides-de-camp +and Brigade-Majors have suffered much of late; Lord Wellington’s are +uncommonly fortunate. I have heard also that Lieutenant-colonel Bruce +is wounded, a Bevan (Major or Colonel in the Portuguese service), +and some subalterns of the two brigades of General Byng and General +Pringle, the only two engaged. + +By the last accounts Lord Wellington’s head-quarters were at Garris, +near St. Palais, and the French are driven across the Bidouge, a +river that runs into the Adour below the Gaves, and near Grammont’s +place, Guiche, of which he is duke. The French have only picquets +on our side the first Gave—the Gave d’Oleron, when they are driven +across. I think Lord Wellington will return here to-morrow to inspect +the grand bridge and the operations on this side, which are the most +ticklish. Elphinstone would have his bridge ready to-morrow night if +the materials get round in time from Passages, and provided one vessel +is got out from our river here, for one could not be moved over the +bar yesterday, from its having the guns on board, which are to be +dropped into the Adour, to assist in moving the vessels of the bridge. +By taking out the guns this difficulty may be got over, but the wind +is not fair from Passages. This is the worst part of the business, +for though the elements alone may be to blame, still Lord Wellington, +if his plans are thwarted, will be in a rage with ——. He banishes the +terms difficulty, impossibility, and responsibility from his vocabulary. + +The moment he has done on the right, he wants to be ready here, as he +knows that so long as he remains there, the attention of the French is +drawn that way, and the same when he shall return here. We have now +no troops here. The guards have moved into Bidart, and we have now +permanently occupied Biaritz in front of Bayonne; General Vandeleur +sleeps there, and all his horses are unsaddled. The light division +have crossed the Nive. The fifth moved a little more to their right, +to occupy part of the ground of the light near Arbonne and Arrauntz, +towards Ustaritz; and the third division, under General Picton, have +gone up to St. Jean Pied de Port, but hitherto without opposition. +The Adjutant-general, when he went himself over to the hospital +stations of Fontarabia and Passages, routed out about fourteen hundred +convalescents, and malingerers, and they passed through here for +their regiments yesterday, for every man is wanted now. Unluckily, no +reinforcements have arrived from England; why we cannot say, for the +wind is fair, and the papers say they sailed a month since, and the +regiments have had notice of their intended arrival. The artillery +also expect five hundred horses, which would now be an inestimable +treasure, as many are going and getting weak. There are also about six +thousand Portuguese ready to join in Portugal, but who remain for want +of transport, as I am told: this is unlucky, as they were well-seasoned +recruits. + +It is curious that even latterly, ever since we left the mountains, +almost all our advanced troops—the advanced line—have been Portuguese; +they not only stop our deserters, but go off very much less themselves. +From the terrible loss of oxen, we are all now, officers and all in +this neighbourhood, living upon salt rations, sea-beef and pork. +Luckily for me, however, we can now buy a little fresh meat. I am very +much vexed with myself for not having desired you to send me out a good +map of France, for I have only the department on this side the Adour, +and the whole seat of the war is now France. I should like to have got +the abridged or reduced Casini, which is used here, and liked, a map +about five or six feet by four or five, and Stockdale’s vicinity of +Bayonne, taken from Casini’s large one. These two would have been a +treasure, now that we are likely to move; and I conclude Stockdale will +go on publishing some more of Casini to follow us up. + +We have begun to establish a recruiting-party at head-quarters, to +select out of the French deserters good subjects for the _Chasseurs +Britanniques_, &c. I hope it will answer, but I have my doubts. In the +mean time, I shall have to play the part of a magistrate, and swear +them all in. The news from Bayonne to-day is, that a courier arrived +yesterday express from Paris in sixty hours; of course he brought +something very important. The story in Bayonne is, that the negotiation +and Congress is broken up already, and this is now considered most +excellent news here, excepting by a few soldiers of fortune, and real +lovers of their trade, who think it would flourish much better after a +peace with Bonaparte than with the Bourbons. What a contrast between +the _Moniteur_ a year and a half since about Moscow, &c., and the late +ones about the works round Paris, and the room left—eighteen inches—for +the _piétons_ only to pass, &c., and the immense zeal and activity: +_Dejà on voit les embrassures pour quatres canons_. You will have seen +all this, however, and have been as much amused, no doubt, as we have +been. + +I have just seen Major D——, who is returned from the right. He says +that we have been well received in general, and found a tolerable +supply of everything in the new country we have been in. If the +inhabitants will but stay, they will find a good market for everything; +instead of losing the produce for nothing; and stragglers, single +plunderers, dare not commit depredations on the houses in that case. +The people here are in despair at the expected entrance of the +Spaniards. We have now shops in abundance, and a good market, and can, +with plenty of money, procure most things; and now we are on the point +of being off. + +_18th February, later._—I have just been with Elphinstone, and seen all +his drawings and plans for the grand bridge. They seem very good, and +the whole will be ready by Sunday morning, provided the naval gentleman +can carry his vessels in; but he thinks that will not do on account of +the tides before Wednesday. Six or seven small boats are to be carried +from here on carriages; these are to be launched, and are to tow across +the first party on rafts, which are made by some platforms placed on +the pontoons. This first party I would rather not accompany. To show +you how little Lord Wellington listens to objections, and how he rather +likes to cut up the routine work, I may mention that Elphinstone told +him the quantity of plank necessary would take time, and make a delay. +“No,” says he, “there are all your platforms of your batteries which +have been sent out in case of a siege. Cut them all up.” “Then when we +proceed with the siege what is to be done?” quoth Elphinstone. “Oh, +work your guns in the sand until you can make new ones out of the +pine-wood near Bayonne.” So all the English battering platforms have +been cut up accordingly. + +At Elphinstone’s I met the Admiral, who came round to-day to assist, +and some small vessels have arrived with him. We have now Sacoa choked +full, and quite a flotilla in the open bay, with a wind right on shore +into the bay. I only hope it will not take to blowing hard in this +direction whilst our operations are going on. The battering train and +siege apparatus have also arrived at Passages from St. Andero. This has +been done quite snug; even Elphinstone did not know of their coming +until here they were. + +Letters have come in from the right; all has gone on well there. The +French are driven quite across the Gave de Mauleon or Soiron, as it +is called in my map, a little river which is the left branch of the +Gave d’Oleron, and runs into the Gave d’Oleron below Oleron town. The +Adjutant-general writes, that the French have given up all that at +present was wanted in that direction. Adieu! + +_Saturday the 19th._—To-day we have a French bulletin sent in to us of +a victory over the forces of the Allies, the Russian army destroyed, +and the French in pursuit—baggage, cannon, all taken. This is awkward +when we expected daily to hear of the Allies in Paris, and it will +have a bad effect on the cause in France, even if it is only a slight +check to the allied armies. The French here have their proclamations +printed, and _fleurs-de-lis_ are being made. Lord Wellington says that +they must wait until he is more advanced before they begin to circulate +them. He is expected back to-day. The weather has been very cold +again, and sleet or snow has just begun to fall. I have also to-day to +acknowledge a letter from you of the 8th, and papers from the 2nd to +the 8th inclusive. + +I am just interrupted by a noise at the Provost guard opposite, and +the arrival of about a hundred and eighty French prisoners escorted +by a party of the 57th regiment, who might with great advantage +change clothes with the French. The latter are in general very well +clothed, and very fine young men, a few older soldiers amongst them +in particular. The young conscripts look rather pale and sickly. Our +57th men are absolutely in rags and tatters, here and there five or +six inches of bare thigh or arm are visible through the patches; some +have had only linen pantaloons all winter through. They all get their +new clothing to-morrow at Sacoa; the whole regiment comes down here for +that purpose, and then nearly the whole will have had their clothing +this year, all but one or two regiments. + +_Later, 4 o’clock._—Lord Wellington is just returned from the right, +and so eager is he when anything is in hand, that I saw him going round +by the Admiral’s and Colonel Elphinstone’s before he went home on +horseback, after a tolerably long ride too. The Admiral he carried off +with him. + +_20th February, Post-day._—The first thing I saw this morning in my +walk on the wall was Lord Wellington looking at the sea at half-past +seven. The wind was strong, right into the bay, and not a ship could +stir. He soon saw the Admiral come out also to look, and carried him +off home. I saw Lord Wellington about some Courts-martial just now, +and expected to be rather snubbed; but he was in high good humour, +and I was, of course, as short as possible. The moment is, however, +ticklish. Had the gale this morning increased, none of the ships in +the bay, in my opinion, could have stood it. It was right into the bay +against them, and they were anchored within two hundred, three hundred, +or four hundred yards of the shore. The slip of an anchor or breaking +of a cable would have been destruction, and we have now a wreck on +each side of the bay, which is ominous and terrific to strangers and +new-comers. + +_Later._—Lord Wellington is already beginning to provide against the +failure of his bridge plan from winds and tides, and I understand +will not wait above a day or two on this account. Arrangements are in +consequence being formed to make the main movement still by the right +altogether, and to come round on Bayonne in case the bridge scheme will +not very speedily answer. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + + Movements of the Army—-Narrow Escape of Wellington—Anecdote + of Wellington at Rodrigo—Novel Scaling Ladders—Sir Alexander + Dickson—Wellington’s Vanity—Operations resumed—Spanish Officers—The + Passage of the Adour—The Road to Bayonne—Death of Captain Pitts. + + + Head-quarters, St. Jean de Luz, + Tuesday, February 22, 1814. + + MY DEAR M——, + +As the movements going on give me now a little more leisure, and it +is impossible to say how soon my opportunities of writing may be +arrested by a march, I begin my weekly despatch early this week. Lord +Wellington, when he returned from driving the French across the Gave, +found his expedition here could not leave port owing to bad wind and +tide, though all was ready. He therefore instantly set about new +arrangements, so as to be independent in a great measure of the result +of this grand bridge. + +All the divisions of the army consequently moved towards the right +yesterday, except the Guards and the rest of the first division, which +remain in our front backed by a corps of Spaniards at Guethary and +Bidart, in advance of St. Jean de Luz, through which place, however, +they did not march. To superintend this movement Lord Wellington was +off again yesterday for Garris, near to St. Palais, with most of the +head-quarters’ staff, Adjutant-general Pakenham remaining here on +account of a slight illness. + +The last move left us in front of the Gave, the French still strong in +Sauveterre and on a ridge of hills and strong ground running between +the two Gaves d’Oleron and Pau. The plan is now, it is concluded, to +drive them across both Gaves, and then make good our way round to the +other side of the Adour and the citadel of Bayonne. In the meantime, +as the plan here is still expected to take effect to-morrow morning +early, we are all alive; the little bay full of shipping and small +ships of war, which cruise backward and forwards, or anchor there, with +carpenters, sappers, soldiers, &c., on board, and all the flotilla +ready in Sacoa, and the Admiral superintending. + +Head-quarters are come home delighted with the country on the Gaves, +and with their reception. The people in many instances come in numbers +to meet our troops instead of offering resistance. The prisoners also +many of them say they are ready to serve _son Altesse Royale_, but this +is rather too soon to begin, it is thought, for this may be only to +escape and return to their old army. + +One young man, who was of the country, ran into his father’s house +as they were marching by, and all the family were found around him. +He was separated and marched off; but the story has been told at +head-quarters, and General Pakenham has sent for the man back (who was +on his way to Passages), and means to send him home to his friends. + +I was talking to General Pakenham yesterday about forming a French +royalist corps out of the prisoners and deserters. It must be done +very cautiously of course at first, but it would in my opinion have a +good effect and soon increase. At present the idea that all deserters +must be sent away from their own country to England deters many from +deserting, who would otherwise be willing. This object would also do +away with the disgraceful ideas naturally attached to desertion in a +soldier’s mind. + +Reports say that Lord Wellington had a narrow escape with his staff, +whilst reconnoitring on the right in the late move. He is said to have +been going up a hill when a French cavalry regiment was coming up +on the other side. The engineer officer was going round and saw the +regiment; upon which he galloped back to give information, but before +he could reach Lord Wellington they were just close to the top of the +hill, and Colonel Gordon, who was in the advance, saw some of the +French videttes close. He gave the alarm, but they all had a gallop for +it, pursued by some of the dragoons. + +Though the English horses were most of them well tired, they were soon +out of reach of the French, and all escaped. Lord Wellington relies +almost too confidently on the fleetness and excellence of his animals, +when we consider what the loss would be if he were caught; he is, +however, now rather more cautious. + +A few days since I heard an anecdote about the siege of Rodrigo, which +shows the man. Scarcely any one knew what was to be done; the great +preparations were all made in Almeida, and most supposed, as I believe +the French did, that everything which arrived was for the purpose of +defence there, not of attack elsewhere. On a sudden the army was in +front of Rodrigo. A new advanced work was discovered, which had to +be taken before any progress could be made in the siege. To save men +and time, an instant attack was resolved upon. Scaling-ladders were +necessary; the engineers were applied to; they had none with them, for +they were quite ignorant of the plans—an inconvenience which has often +arisen in different departments from Lord Wellington’s great secrecy, +though the general result, assisted by his genius, has been so good. +The scaling could not take place without ladders; Lord Wellington was +informed of this. “Well,” says he, “you have brought up your ammunition +and stores, never mind the waggons, cut them all up directly, they +will make excellent ladders—there you see, each side piece is already +cut.” This was done, and by the help of these novel ladders, the work +was scaled forthwith. + +At Badajoz, he found so little to be had in the regular way for a +siege, from want of transport, and so many difficulties in consequence +from the regular bred artillery generals, that he became principal +engineer himself, making use of Colonel Dickson, the acting man, +as his instrument. These sieges procured Dickson his majority and +lieutenant-colonelcy; and though only a Captain in the Royal Regiment +of Artillery, he now conducts the whole of that department here, +because he makes no difficulties. + +In one instance Lord Wellington is not like Frederick the Great. He +is remarkably neat, and most particular in his dress, considering his +situation. He is well made, knows it, and is willing to set off to the +best what nature has bestowed. In short, like every great man present +or past, almost without exception, he is vain. He cuts the skirts of +his own coats shorter, to make them look smarter: and only a short time +since, on going to him on business, I found him discussing the cut of +his half-boots, and suggesting alterations to his servant. The vanity +of great men shows itself in different ways, but in my opinion always +exists in some shape or other. + +_February 22nd, 5 o’clock._—The flotilla has just got out of Sacoa Bay +preparatory to the operations to-morrow. A beautiful sight! Six or +seven ships of war, and fifty other vessels—everyone alive! Forty form +the bridge. I hope it may succeed, but many doubt it. + +P.S. Lord Wellington is moving on the Gaves with seven divisions. The +cable bridge is in the boats, and the engineers on board. The affair is +to begin by driving in the picquets, when five hundred men are then to +be sent over on the rafts, the guns of the French battery spiked, the +French corvette burnt, and then the bridge is to be thrown across! + +_February 24th, 1814._—I rose at half-past four, to go over and see +the crossing of the Adour yesterday, and the formation of the bridge. +At daylight I discovered that the whole flotilla had been dispersed by +the gale of the night before, and no part was near the mouth of the +Adour. Several officers returned in consequence, declaring that nothing +could be done. Thinking otherwise myself, and that this movement would +somehow take place, being connected with Lord Wellington’s movement on +our right on the Gaves, I went on, and found all the Spaniards on the +road in front of Bayonne, but doing nothing. All was quiet for a very +long time. About twelve o’clock, however, they were ordered to move on +and make a feint, and an attack was made by our great guns and rockets +at the same time, on the French armed corvette and gun-boats, to +destroy the latter, and at the same time to draw off the attention of +the French from the mouth of the river below Anglet, where we intended +to cross on the rafts. + +The Spaniards were not much opposed, and went on boldly enough, as far +as was intended, and had a few wounded. The sharp-shooting, however, +was very slack. The fifth division at the same time, made a show on +their side, between the Nive and the Adour, but not with any serious +intention. I then went into an empty house with Dr. Macgregor and some +others, to make a fire and get some breakfast, which they had brought +with them; and adding our several stocks together, we fared very well. +We then made our way through Anglet, and across the sands, and through +a pine-wood, to the river’s mouth. A brigade of Guards, another of the +King’s German Legion, the Light Battalion (most excellent men), and a +Rocket Brigade, were there all ready to pass, but from the immense +difficulties which had been met with in the transport of the boats and +pontoons over land, only two of the light companies were over about one +o’clock, when I arrived, and a temporary suspension of the passage of +men had been ordered by General Hope. + +The order, however, had just come again to pass over as fast as +possible, and before I left the spot (about three o’clock) three rafts, +formed each upon three pontoons, and carrying each about fifty or +fifty-five men, were at work ferrying across on a cable, and the six +small boats were also plying, so that about five hundred men were then +nearly over, and they were going at the rate of two hundred, or two +hundred and fifty per hour. I left the rocket men, each with one rocket +ready in his hand, and three on his back in a case, with three poles on +his shoulder, just going to cross. + +Elphinstone had been quite in despair; the pontoon car sunk so much +in the sand, that at last thirty horses would not move them, and for +the last five hundred yards they were conveyed on the shoulders of the +guardsmen; twenty-six men to a pontoon. At length all his difficulties +were thus overcome, and the non-arrival of the bridge, of which we +could see nothing, was not his fault, but that of the weather. + +I helped the engineering again a little, by joining the party who were +endeavouring to find the best place to which to fix cables against +high-water—as I discovered the last tide-mark in the sands, and thus +found a landing-place and post, clearly above high-water mark; for the +springs were past, and of course every succeeding tide would rise to +a less height. We then proceeded along the river towards our battery +on the bank, which was firing at the corvette, &c. When we had gone a +little way through the pine-wood, we found all the roads almost stopped +by trees cut down by the French, and the road we took near the bank, +which was clear, carried us opposite a smaller French corvette and +three gun-boats, which had just placed themselves in the river. At +first we thought them a part of our intended bridge, but soon found it +otherwise, and that we should be fired at, for our small party on the +other side the river had not advanced, and all the opposite bank and +village, as well as the boats, were still in possession of the French. +We therefore turned, and at last made our way through to the battery. +There we learnt that the guns and rockets had sunk one gun-boat, and +frightened away the rest and the corvette, which had all been hauled up +close to the bridge under Bayonne, where we saw them. + +I could not understand that the rockets had done more than cause some +alarm, though twelve had been fired at once at the shipping, and from +no great distance. Only one, or at most two, had fairly struck, and +nothing had been burnt. The heavy guns had struck the corvette, but +could not do much damage before she was off, and just at first the +corvette and battery on the French side seem to have had the best of +it. Count Damas, who was there with the Duke d’Angoulême, looking on, +told me that the artillery had knocked off the colours of the corvette +whilst he was there, and that one of the light Germans had jumped into +the water, had fetched out the colours, and had presented them to the +commanding artillery officer. Others say that these colours were on the +gun-boat. The French were so alarmed at the rockets, that the vessel, +when struck, was abandoned. + +Close to our guns we found the other brigade of Guards, &c., making an +immense fire with the fir-trees, which had been cut down on all sides, +for the day, though fine, was very cold. Dr. Macgregor, one or two +others, as well as myself, went up a little sand-hill near, just to +look round, when a twenty-four pound shot from Bayonne came close to +us point blank. The horses turned right round, and the Doctor losing +his hat, I thought at first that he had been struck. Of course we soon +beat a retreat, and found we were in a spot where this was the usual +reception, and a position of which the French were jealous. + +Just as I came away, a little before five, I saw a column of French, +apparently about seven hundred, going very quickly through the wood on +the opposite bank from the citadel towards our men, who had passed to +attack them. I knew that we had nearly a battalion across, about seven +hundred men, and did not feel much alarm with regard to the event. I +pitied the men more for the cold night they were likely to pass on the +bare sands, without baggage, &c. This morning I have heard an attack +was made just afterwards, but that some of the rocket skirmishers were +put in advance with the other skirmishers on our side, and the French +were so alarmed that, though much superior, they would not advance, and +our men beat them off. + +The flotilla was this morning collected near the mouth of the Adour, +and, I suppose, before this the bridge is begun. At any rate we could +have passed across as many men as we wished before this. No one has +returned to-day to this moment, and as I had business, and one of my +horses was a little sore in the back, I staid at home. My grey pony +started before six yesterday morning, and I was not at home till past +seven at night, having ridden above thirty miles. + +Some of the Spanish regiments were very fine men, and well equipped +in every respect, much better than some of our poor fellows; but the +officers looked very bad indeed; and when the men advanced, they were +led on by their officers with cloaks on, folded over their mouths, +looking as miserable as possible. + +The men also, like the French, always march with their great coats on +over everything, so that our good new clothes were all concealed by +their own old threadbare overcoats. On the other hand, none of our +men had their coats on, cold as it was, and everyone was alive and in +activity. I stood next to Don Carlos d’Espagne, and heard him receive +his directions and information as to what parts we occupied and what +the French, &c. General Hope (though not well, and too soon, I believe) +came on to take the command, of which the division were very glad. + +I fear the Spaniards, though better than they were, and though only the +best were in advance, will soon begin to do mischief. As I returned +here I saw all their stragglers about the houses near the road, and +telling every one that in Spain _Francesi roban e rompen todos todos_. +They soon soil our new clothing, and go about with dirty and scowling +discontented faces, like some of our good countrymen in Ireland. The +industry of the French on the sand-banks had been very great in the +cultivation of the vine. The south-east side of the very bank on which +the sea beat on the north-west, a pure white sand, was divided with +square reed enclosures, and covered with vines. The Anglet wine (which, +as a very light wine, is in repute), I believe, is there produced. Many +of the inhabitants at Anglet and the neighbourhood, remained, and, in +general, seemed glad the movement was over. One old woman, in a house +that was near the river’s mouth, said she was most happy to see us, +as she had been for the last two months in complete misery, not being +allowed to speak to any strangers by the French, nor even allowed to +go to Bayonne to buy a few sous-worth of snuff. I suppose they feared +the spread of information, for this was close to the spot intended for +our bridge, of which I understand, and have no doubt, they had a very +clear knowledge. Two persons of the better class have come in here by +sea from Bordeaux, round by Passages, to pay their respects, and give +information to _son Altesse Royale_. Colonel La Fitte told me that they +were as anxious there for Lord Wellington as the Jews were for the +Messiah, so sanguine are the emigrés. + +_February 26th._—All accounts now agree that the French have from +ten thousand to above eleven thousand in the town and citadel, three +thousand in the latter, the rest in the town and lines. Another show +was made against our people the morning after they crossed, but no +attack. Considering that the French had eleven thousand men, that it +was eight or nine hours before we had above five or six hundred men +across, this passage of the Adour and our establishment on the right +bank is most disgraceful to their troops, or to their General, and +proportionally creditable to ours. In the evening of the 24th our +flotilla crossed the bar and got into the Adour over a most tremendous +surf. Several accidents ensued in consequence, and many lives were +lost; some say as many as forty in the whole, of all nations. I believe +about fifteen English sailors were lost. None but the English sailors +would have dared to enter at such a time. Five boats were upset, most +of them very near it, and one brig, with stores, aground, as well as +one small ship of war, a gun-vessel I believe. Some of the flotilla +never got in at all. The place fixed for the bridge was not so wide as +was expected and prepared for, so sufficient boats are ready, and last +night all but about three were moored in their berths ready, and, in my +opinion, the bridge would be passable to-day. + +The loss of the French in the gun-boats and corvettes was greater than +we supposed, for the inhabitants inform us that a Captain of cannoniers +was killed, and several men, and the Captain of the corvette lost his +arm. The rockets also did mischief on shore: one man who is now in +here, had both legs carried off by a rocket. I have been since told, +the French lay down on their faces, and then ran away from them. An +order has been issued in Bayonne for all persons who have not and +cannot procure six months’ provisions to quit the town, and numbers +were coming this way along the road yesterday. I went out that way +on purpose to meet them, and talk to them. They all agreed in the +number of men, about eleven thousand, but said that a great part were +conscripts and weakly. + +This I concluded to be the case, as all those unequal to an active +campaign would be naturally left in the walls for quiet garrison duty. +The alarm had been terrible in the town, where an attack was expected +two days since. Every householder was ordered to have an immense tub +filled with water, ready at his door, &c. Count Reille has gone to +the rear, some said ill, and Thouvenot commanded again, and most said +that Marshal Soult was gone to Paris, some to Mount Marsan, and that +Count Gazan commanded. A Frenchman, who came yesterday, told Monsieur +d’Arcangues, an inhabitant here, that he had just passed through La +Vendée, and that that country was in arms again; that he had himself +seen several armed parties, amounting some of them to seven or eight +hundred men. This will at least stop the conscription a little. + +I communicated this good news to _son Altesse Royale_, and at the same +time made him a little _cadeau_, by begging that he would permit me to +send him King Joseph’s saddle-cloth, which I had picked up at Vittoria, +but had never used, as being rather too splendid (blue with a very +broad gold border). He was very civil, and in return lent me a paper +of the 11th, which he had just got out with his baggage from England, +a second edition of the _Courier_, containing in the corner a notice +of the arrival of the message through France from Lord Castlereagh, +a piece of news which alarmed him not a little, though our French +accounts still say that the negotiations are broken off, and the +Allies close to Paris. + +General Harispe had raised about three thousand or three thousand +eight hundred of his countrymen, the Basques, a fine race of people, +but since our late move most of them have run home, and his corps, +the maire here told me yesterday, is reduced to about five hundred. +Our officers remain delighted with their reception on the right. They +all say that every one talks with horror of making war in an enemy’s +country; but they can declare from experience that they never wish +again to make war in a friendly one, if this is to be the manner of +making war in an enemy’s. Nothing has been done on the right of any +consequence yet, merely preparations in case this bridge had failed; if +so, I think we should now have Lord Wellington back here directly from +Garris, where he has been, and the move will at last take place. + +I have just got my mules back from Passages, with six days’ hay, and +am now ready, though my Guardsman tailor has carried half my new +clothes with him across the Adour, and I never expect to see them +more, and have a Frenchman at work. Considering your lost box and all +contingencies, my last suit will probably stand me in about 35_l._ +sterling! + +The ride along the high road to Bayonne yesterday was interesting. The +refugees from the town, several of them very pretty Basques, were all +coming this way, laden with the little baggage they could carry off; +our artillery all moving up the contrary way; as well as the Spanish +troops; and hundreds of Basques, men and women, with great loads on +their heads (like our Welsh fruit-women going to Covent-Garden), only +their baskets were full of bread, biscuits, &c., and all in requisition +for the Spaniards. The bât animals and baggage parties of the Spaniards +are not a little amusing, and their led chargers with their tails +buckled up, and in swaddling clothes, with dirty magnificent housings, +dancing about half-starved, with their heads in the air. Every fifty +yards a dead bullock or horse, but chiefly the former, and every two +hundred, an ox dying, and a Spanish muleteer or straggler waiting until +the bullock driver abandoned him, to turn him up, and cut his heart +out, before he was dead, but when in a state too weak to resist. The +heart alone seemed to be worth the trouble, as nothing else could be +cut off from the bones, and bone and all did not pay the cutting up and +carriage. + +The destruction and present price of cattle are tremendous, and I hear +we have been obliged to give the Spaniards some of our best Irish +cattle, as we had no other at hand. The only meat they seemed to have +with them was a number of ox cars with sides of Spanish bacon; this, +and sardines, seemed to form their supply. The men, however, are very +fine men, and in my opinion, were they well commanded, would make +excellent troops. Nevertheless, I was by no means sorry to find that +we had still an English brigade of about twelve or fifteen hundred men +(Lord Aylmer’s) between us and the eleven thousand French at Bayonne, +for I am sure five thousand French would force their way through the +fifteen thousand Spaniards if they chose to try, though we should in +the end prevent their return. At any rate we should have early notice, +and alarm from the runaways. The French beat our men at that, for we +cannot catch them, and the Spaniards would not be easily caught by the +French. + +We had a most anxious scene here two nights since. Just as our vessels +got into the Adour, a suttling brig, Dutch-built, and very strong, to +save pilotage fees, tried to get into this river without the pilot +boats. The boats towing missed the mouth, were both swamped, and the +men in most imminent danger, as well as the vessel, which was driven +in without guidance, aground for an hour, but saved, and at last all +lives were saved, or at least all but one. When the boat was filled, +another wave drove it against the ship, and three caught hold of the +ship-chains and got in; the fourth was knocked about in the water +between the ship, the boat, and the wall, but at last got his chin on +the sinking boat, came up the harbour so, was hauled in and saved. In +my morning walk on the sea wall, I found another ship on shore, a large +brig with a valuable cargo, a private speculation. This will be the +third wreck, but considering how many vessels have been here, and how +they have been all exposed, and half of them absolutely at the mercy of +any north or north-west squalls, we have been most fortunate. + +_Later._—In my ride to-day I met about thirty or forty wounded men of +the Buffs and 39th, second division; but this is the consequence of +the last move, I believe, as they told me they were wounded at or near +Cambo. We have reports of an affair, but here nothing is yet known. We +are becoming, instead of being like head-quarters, the centre of all +good information, a mere hospital station in the rear, and famous as +usual for ill-founded reports, which the medical men probably invent +from _ennui_ on these occasions. A large brig has arrived from Bordeaux +with wine, but, in my opinion, almost too late for the speculation. + +_Sunday, 27th February, Post-day._—In my walk this morning I saw +another boat swamped, trying to get out of the river over the bar. It +was actually worked by the surf into this position, with the stern +stuck into the sand of the bar, and fairly went over, with the five +men. For some time all five were visible, two swimming, and three +clinging to the keel of the wreck, which was bottom uppermost. Another +boat, which had intended to follow this one out, was fortunately close +at hand, just out of the reach of the surf, and by this means the +two swimmers were saved by giving them a rope’s end, and also one of +the three from the wreck, as it floated inwards. There was a struggle +between the three, when a wave came, and two appeared no more. The +relations of the two men witnessed their loss, as well as myself, for +we were standing on the edge of the wall within ten yards of the men, +but unable to help them. The distress you may conceive. We become in +some degree hardened by seeing death so continually, and in so many +forms, as we do here. + +I have also this morning met with five English seamen, part of the +crew of one of our provision ships, which were lost some months since +on this coast. The master and four men, being from St. Andero, and the +French having heard of the fever there at that time, they were put +under quarantine on the coast, about forty miles on the other side of +Bayonne. Afterwards they escaped, and lived among the inhabitants, who, +they say, treated them well, as the master had money. At last, hearing +from the French that we had crossed the Adour, they made through the +woods this way, and fell in with our cavalry about three leagues on +the other side of Bayonne, General Vandeleur being on that side of the +Adour, with two regiments. They mention that they saw on the road going +to Dax a number of the wounded French from Bayonne, and also troops +retiring that way, they were told, to the amount of fifteen thousand, +but the number must have been considerably exaggerated. + +The servant of Captain Pitts, of the Engineers, came in yesterday with +an account of his master’s death. Captain Pitts was one of General +Cole’s staff, and a most spirited, zealous, skilful, and promising +young man. He was killed on the right a few days since, when our +men had driven the French over the Gave d’Oleron. He went down to +reconnoitre, and take a sketch of the banks, and make observations +with a view to the formation of a bridge. His servant says that he had +finished, and was looking round just before he came off, when a ball +struck him on the head. General Cole’s staff have been very unfortunate +this last year, and indeed the loss of officers in his whole division +has been very considerable. I used to think that it sometimes affected +his spirits, though it never induced him to endeavour to diminish it, +for he always was and would be foremost in danger. + +Count Damas has just informed me, that Lord Wellington has now crossed +both the Gaves, and is near Orthes; but we have no authentic news from +him. All accounts agree that General Picton was wounded in the affair +on crossing the Gave; but, it is said, not badly. + +I picked up this morning a Spanish paper, and on making it out, +found that it was a letter from a Spanish officer in camp, near +Bayonne, telling some friend in the rear that Murillo and Mina had +beat the French across the Gave, and were in pursuit along with two +English divisions, having taken forty guns, &c., and adding that the +inhabitants were _muy malos_, but that we treated them as well as +Spaniards, and that they, the Spaniards, were ordered to do the same, +but that we should see, &c. + +_Head-Quarters, St. Jean de Luz, February 28th, 1814._—Lieut.-Colonel +C—— has now returned here, and we have at length some authentic +accounts of what has passed. Lord Wellington was at Orthes, where +he left him, intending to stay there a short time to arrange +communications with General Hope’s column, &c. Our men forded the Gave +de Pau, and drove the enemy from Orthes. As they made some stand in +that town, it was a little _rompé’d_, as we call it. General Picton +was not wounded, and our loss has been inconsiderable upon the whole. +Colonel C—— returned by my old road through Peyrehorade, Ramons, and +across the Adour, at Port de Lanne, and so to Bayonne, and then across +the new bridge here. He found the first division driving the French +from the heights above the citadel of Bayonne, close into the town last +night. This was done, but with some loss and much firing. Those hills +are important, for in some measure they command the citadel. To-morrow +we march to join head-quarters. I believe we shall not pass the new +bridge, as a Spanish army crosses that way, and will occupy it all day, +and the road also; in addition to which, we have hitherto only cavalry +patroles along that road, and the French have halted a force at Dax, +or Acts, or Ax (in the different maps). I understand that we are to +go by Ustaritz, Hasparren, Garris, Sauveterre, and Orthes. This is a +roundabout bad road, but will be a new country to me. The weather most +luckily continues fine hitherto. + +Our accounts from the interior are, that Toulouse and Bordeaux are +both ready to hoist the white flag, and only wait for our sanction and +declaration. This point of etiquette may spoil all. I think we should +declare our readiness to support them the moment they declare publicly +their readiness to take that part. This is a critical moment. Many are +alarmed at Schwartzenburg’s not having made more progress; he seems +to have hung back, for his army was stronger than Blucher’s, and was +forwarded six weeks since, and yet we only hear of Blucher being near +Paris. I must now prepare to “_romper de march_” as Jack Portugoose +calls it. So adieu. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + + Passage of the River—Start for Orthes—Effect of the Battle—Feelings + of the French—Wellington wounded—St. Sever—Church and + School—Aire—Wellington on the Conduct of the Allies—Indurating effects + of War. + + + Head-quarters, St. Sever, + March 5th, 1814. + + MY DEAR M——, + +Here I am with head-quarters, and within two leagues of my old quarter, +Mont de Marsan. We have had a most unpleasant, and, for the baggage +animals, a most laborious journey, from the terrible state of the +weather—hail-storms, rain-storms, with violent south-westerly winds +almost all the time. By warm clothing and good living I have escaped +with only one day’s return of rheumatism, which has now gone off, and I +feel in very tolerable repair. + +On the 1st of March we left St. Jean de Luz, and passed the grand +bridge below Bayonne, in sight of, and I really believe within gunshot +of the walls. We all filed over in safety, and then along the sea-wall +for half a mile, with water on both sides, to Boucaut. I was surprised +that the animals were not more alarmed. + +The bridge answered perfectly; it consisted of thirty-six two-masted +vessels, with anchors across all the way at the head and stern of +each; a strong beam across the centre of each, between the masts, to +which the cables were fastened, to form the road, so that each formed +a separate bridge, and the destruction of one cable only affected one +space. The boards were then fixed on these cables, and were interlaced +all the way by small cords, through notches in the boards; and thus we +went safely along between the masts, in a road about twelve or fourteen +feet wide, differing, however, from a common bridge, for the arches +between the boats (from the stretching of the cables) formed concaves +instead of convex arches, some of them descending nearly to the water’s +edge. It answered, however, perfectly, and will continue to do so, +unless the Spaniards suffer the Trench to come and destroy it. Of this +I have my doubts. The crews were living in their vessels at the head +and stern, cooking away and going on as usual. Five or six gun-boats +were moored about it, then came the boom and boats ready to tow ashore +any fireship. + +At Boucaut we found Sir John Hope and his staff, so we were ordered to +the next village on the road. Our managing Quarter-Master clumsily went +to a bad village of a dozen houses, out of the road, when there was a +very good one on the right road, only a few miles further on. Several +of us had no houses, and were told we must find them for ourselves. +After waiting for some time until my baggage came, I determined to go +on the right road until I found a quarter vacant, trusting with full +confidence to the good disposition of the inhabitants, which is most +excellent towards the English. After looking into five, I found a +vacant one a mile and a-half off, no officer within half a mile, and no +English troops within two miles, and none at all towards the interior +of France on that road. The people expected some one, and a bed was +ready, and a hearty welcome I received. + +In my way I went round by the picquet, within about eight hundred yards +of Bayonne citadel, where my tailor was on fatigue-duty in the works, +and I thus recovered my clothes. As I was just going to bed at eight +o’clock, a violent cannonading and sharp musketry commenced sounding +close by us. I did not think it prudent to go to bed until it ceased, +for we were within about a mile and a-half of a garrison of eleven +thousand men; but suspecting what was the case, that it was only our +people driving the French out of a field-work on the hill, and hemming +them in closer to the citadel, I was little alarmed. + +My host and his family were great royalists in their professions, as +they had for the last six months been more than usually oppressed by +the French. He had a house and ten acres of land; the house probably +worth about 10_l._ a-year in England. The rent of his land was one-half +the produce of corn and maize; the taxes on his house had been already +that year sixty francs, and his contributions fifteen bushels of maize +and, I think, ten of corn. He said that no one could live if this +continued, and that all the young men were carried off. He had one +quarter to pay still, but expecting us every day, he put it off from +time to time, though much threatened, and now thought himself safe. + +From thence we started early for Peyrehorade, rather a large place, +nearly as large as Kingston-upon-Thames. It was a market-day, and the +people of the country crowded in as usual. They all stared at us, most +saluted us; all were civil, and we got our quarters with much more +facility, and met with ten times the civility we had ever done in +Spain. I never witnessed a single quarrel, though the town was crowded +as it is during an election with you, and we had only about twenty +dragoons to protect all the twelve hundred animals and baggage of +head-quarters. + +My host was particularly civil, and gave me a very good apartment and +an excellent dinner—some roast beef _à l’Anglaise_, a duck, and a fowl. +The whole family dined with us, wife, mother, and two daughters. The +eldest son, who had been intended for an attorney, had been taken as +a conscript, and was wounded at Leipsic—since that time they had not +heard of him. I comforted them by suggesting that he must have been +left at Mayence. The next son was sixteen, and at school at St. Sever; +next year it became his turn to take his chance as a conscript. You may +well conceive that we were considered as welcome guests; independently +of the expectation of having coffee and sugar cheap for grandmamma, and +English linens, muslins, &c., for the two ugly misses. + +On the 3rd of March we started again for Orthes, the scene of the +famous battle, of which you will have heard before you receive this +letter, and of which we received several imperfect accounts as we went +along. The reception all along the road, and at Orthes, was the same as +at Peyrehorade. Dr. M—— and Major G—— just stopped in the stable of a +château for shelter, when the owner came out and took them in, and gave +them cold turkey and champaign. At Orthes I got an excellent quarter +at the house of the _Juge de Paix_, who was very hospitable as usual; +and as the weather was so excessively bad, and my Portuguese almost +dead with their walk of twenty miles in the rain and mud, I stopped the +night there, notwithstanding the head-quarters were regularly eight +miles further at Soult. I knew the latter was a miserable place, which +was another inducement with me to remain. + +At Orthes I found about two thousand wounded, one thousand English, +and the others French and Portuguese; the latter had behaved well, as +usual. I found the Adjutant-general, Pakenham, confined to his bed, ill +at the inn, but, at nine at night, and this morning, very much better. +The hospitals are all established, and in full activity. Lord March was +shot in the chest, but the surgeon hoped he would do well, and thought +so; he could not, however, find the ball, but had reason to think it +had not passed the lungs. Colonel Brook’s brother (a schoolfellow of +George’s) was shot through the lungs, and there is little hope of him. + +The affair at Orthes was quite unexpected; as they had suffered our +army to pass all the rivers, no one expected this desperate stand, for +such I am told it was, the French having seldom fought better. They +stood some time after they had ceased to fire, and it is therefore +concluded that they had had no ammunition left; and even after our +cavalry (who behaved well) was in the midst of them cutting away. At +last they gave way, and then fled quickly. Their loss no one knows, as +the wounded got off to the villages round; but all say that their army +is actually reduced above eight thousand men, as the conscripts are +all running home as fast as they can. Above twenty had come back to +Peyrehorade; and one gentleman-like young man I met at my quarter there +was a convalescent conscript, and such he said he should now always +remain, unless affairs took another turn again. + +Our state here is most curious; all riding about singly, entering any +house we please, and well received everywhere, the baggage straggling +all over the country; every one declaring that one man had caused +all their misery for the last three years. The Bourbons are almost +forgotten; and few, even of the better sort of people, know who the +Duke d’Angoulême is. All want peace, and, therefore, wish him well. The +French people are just now humbled to a most astonishing degree—I could +scarcely have believed it possible. + +I went about talking to the people, and explaining a little who our +“royal tiger” is, and why he came as he did. At Flagenan I found the +_maire_ and townspeople waiting to pay their respects to him in form. +This was bolder than at most places; and I was sorry to mortify them +by telling them he had already passed. At Peyrehorade, when the French +army went by, every place was shut up; when we came, every place and +all the shops were opened. + +Their horror of the Spaniards is, however, very great. Still the people +would take no active part; they remained quiet, hoping for peace. At +Orthes Marshal Soult ordered the inhabitants to arm and assist; and +the action was so close, on a formidable position on the hills above +the town, that several balls fell into the houses; but instead, the +inhabitants all shut themselves up, and there waited the event. He +vowed vengeance, and declared that the town should be pillaged in +consequence. Of course they wished us success, as you may well conceive. + +In many places the French have done much injury to the inhabitants +as they went off, burning mills, bridges, forage, and the suburbs of +Navarens, on military accounts, but plundering also very considerably +on private accounts. The people now fear that we are too weak, and +begin to tremble. + +It is a trying time for them. The schoolmaster here has rubbed out his +_Collége Impériale_. This may be his ruin if matters change again. +At Mont de Marsan, as I expected, we have found immense stores. This +place, St. Sever, is larger than Orthes or Peyrehorade, and is said to +have had much _émigré_ and _ancienne noblesse_. The reception, however, +as to quarters, has not been quite so good as hitherto, more from +alarm, probably than anything else. + +Lord Wellington and General Alava were close together when struck, and +both on the hip, but on different sides, and neither seriously injured, +as the surgeon told me who dressed them. Lord Wellington’s was a bad +bruise, and the skin was broken. I fear that his riding so much since +has made it rather of more consequence; but hope the two days’ halt +here will put him in the right way again, as all our prospects here +would vanish with that man. + +From this vicinity the French took the road to Toulouse, and, you will +observe, made another stand near Aire. The Portuguese, I am sorry to +say, ran at that place; and we were at first repulsed, but General +Barnes’s brigade came up, and set all to rights, by driving the French +on again, and taking some prisoners. Our way here has been in some +degree difficult and dangerous, from the flooded rivers and broken-down +bridges, which have been hitherto only slightly repaired, so as to be +just passable. At the Adour, it is reported that we have here actually +been delayed two days. At Port de Lanne, we passed it on two large +rafts, and two ferry-boats, with some risk: my boat was nearly over, +from two spirited horses being on board; and my little mule, with his +panniers on, jumped into the water. This put my linen and sugar, &c., +in a pretty mess, as you may suppose, and drowned the live fowls on his +back. At Peyrehorade I also lost a mule, and was obliged, consequently, +to overload the rest. + +At this place I last night recovered my mule, and lost nothing on +the road, except the drowned fowls, which can now be replaced here. +The history of all the mishaps on a march is curious. I dined at the +ferry-house, and did not go away till all my own nine animals were +clear over. Some persons have never heard of their baggage since, and +are now here without it: it will turn up soon, no doubt, at least in +great part. + +My old host at Mont de Marsan has sent to inquire after me. One feels +now quite strange in an enemy’s country, meeting deserters around on +the road, gens-d’armes, the same conscripts going home, and a stout +peasantry with great Irish bludgeons, all very civil and friendly; +and Lord Wellington, by proclamation, ordering the _maires_ to form +an armed police, and protect their own districts themselves from +stragglers, muleteers, &c. + +I always expected that Soult would retire towards Toulouse, to fall +back on Suchet, and either hang on our flank, if we should go on to +Bordeaux, or draw us from the sea and our supplies if we follow him up. +We can push on to Bordeaux and the river, in my opinion, and then sweep +on before us towards Toulouse. Time will show Lord Wellington’s plans, +which no one can do more than guess at. In the end I was right as to +his crossing the Gaves in force. + +I have just met with the Baron de Barthe. He tells me that all prospers +with the royal cause, and that the French provinces of Poitou, Guienne, +Brittany, &c., are all in open insurrection, and the white flag +flying. P——’s account of the state of France on his side coincides, +as you must observe, almost precisely with mine, as far as I have yet +seen. The people are all at market here to-day, just as if nothing +were the matter, and we were not here. Hitherto there is only hatred +in many of the lower classes and a few of the higher to Bonaparte; +but no effort for the Bourbons, and much alarm in the purchasers of +national property. The _ancienne noblesse_ is beginning to talk and +to stir a little, and the _nouveaux riches_ are by some laughed at. +Public opinion begins to dare to vent itself, and the minds of the +people at large are, I think, veering fast. Many think us too weak at +present. It is said that we move to-morrow to Aire, on the Toulouse +road; but nothing is fixed. I went to inquire after Lord Wellington +to-day; he was busy writing, and said he was better, and looked well +enough. The Duke d’Angoulême has sent to Mont de Marsan as his agent a +_professeur_, who was despised there, and this has given offence. The +truth is that he does not know where as yet to find men of weight and +talent. + +_St. Sever, March 6th, 1814._—The mail is to be dispatched to-day, +so I add a few lines, as we halt here again to-day, and probably +to-morrow, owing to the flooded state of the river, and the enemy +having destroyed the bridges in their retreat to Auch, where we are +told they now are. Marshal Soult, it is said, finding that the Italians +also are now beginning to desert since Murat’s new alliances, has +ordered all Italian soldiers to be disarmed. Another story current, but +not so much to be relied on, is, that Bonaparte has been badly wounded, +and desired General Macdonald to put him out of his misery; and that +the latter took him at his word, and shot him. + +The Duke d’Angoulême was at high mass again to-day, at which some +hundreds of the new levy attended, my hosts tell me, known by their +short cropped heads. Our situation here is so different from what it +was in Spain, that it is quite droll. I have a general invitation from +my host whilst I stay. To-day I go to Lord Wellington’s. + +_Later on the 7th._—We stay to-day, as the bridges are not repaired +and the floods have not quite subsided. I walked down to the bridge +with Lord Wellington yesterday, and observed him limp a little, and he +said he was in rather more pain than usual, but that it was nothing. At +dinner yesterday, he said he was laughing at General Alava having had a +knock, and telling him it was all nonsense, and that he was not hurt, +when he received this blow, and a worse one, in the same place himself. +Alava said it was to punish him for laughing at him. At dinner we had +the new Swedish tiger, the Prince’s aide-de-camp, who had been here a +few days, covered with gold. His pantaloons are most _magnifique_. He +seemed a good-tempered man, but I did not think very much of him. + +Two of the Bordeaux people were also there, who are to return to-day, +and General Frere’s aide-de-camp from Peyrehorade, as he is marching +up that way by Orthes. The people in office at Pau sent to say that +they were ready to declare for the King, and Count Damas boldly enough +went over there to see the state of things. He has come back safe, and +reports them ready, but that they cannot take any public step until +we are in force there. Amongst other opinions and feelings here, we, +the English, have our partisans. Many say they should like an English +Government, and Lord Wellington told me, laughing, he believed we had +almost as many friends and partisans as the Bourbons. Peace certainly +is by far the most popular project of all. I am excessively hurried +with business to-day, and must prepare to see Lord Wellington. + +_Head-Quarters, Aire, March 11th, 1814._—By a sudden order we moved +from St. Sever to this place yesterday, so far on our road to Toulouse, +and the scene of the battle a few days since, when the Algarve brigade +(all Portuguese) took to their heels, and the English brigade of +General Barnes behaved so well. + +We are now playing a bolder game than usual. The French, as I +suspected, took the Toulouse road from St. Sever, and have a column in +our front on the road to Auch, I believe, and another near or towards +Tarbes. This leaves Bordeaux open. To take advantage of this, we have +also divided two divisions under Marshal Beresford; the seventh and +the fourth are gone to Bordeaux, and must be by this time close to the +town, which is said to be ripe to join us, and declare for the King, +The Duke d’Angoulême is gone that way. + +In front here we have Sir Rowland Hill’s corps, the second and sixth +divisions, and also the third and light divisions; and General Frere’s +Spanish army of twelve thousand men, to be fed by us, is on its road +up, and to be, it is understood, at St. Sever to-day; and to support +this main movement against Soult, who is said to be near Auch. In the +meantime, General Hope remains with the first division, including all +the Guards and German Legion (the choice men and in high order, and +undiminished by service nearly), together with the fifth division and +General Don Carlos d’Espagne’s Spanish brigade, and, it is believed, +also Lord Aylmer’s British one, to blockade and take Bayonne. It +is most unfortunate that so large a force should be required for +that object; but we dare not trust, I conclude, the bridge and our +communications to the Spaniards’ keeping. + +Great preparations are making against Bayonne, and the garrison have +been driven in very close to the citadel; but no steps have been +hitherto taken for the actual siege by regular approaches or batteries. +Our army is thus very much divided just now, and the communications +would be difficult, except that the country is with us. All the French +posting establishment has remained, and nearly everything goes on as +usual. The people quietly suffer us to take our own measures, and +offer no opposition, though not openly declaring or helping us. It is +remarkable that we go about as if in England, and yet no mischief has +been done either to officers, men, or baggage. If the country people +had been like the Spaniards, and against us, what we are now doing +would have been out of the question. Half our army, by straggling +about, would have been knocked on the head. We have, fortunately, just +now plenty of money, and pay for everything; and the English are in the +highest repute. + +In general, also, we have behaved well. There are, however, many +instances to the contrary; and many more, I am sorry to say, amongst +the Portuguese. When the Spaniards come, I am afraid things will be +much worse. The mischief done by, and injury arising from, the passing +through a country of the very best disciplined army is considerable. +The people feel that, and are ready in general to submit to much, +especially as the French army has been so much worse than ours, and +does not pay for anything, whilst, on the other hand, we enable many to +make almost little fortunes against quiet times; and Lord Wellington +begins upon a plan, which I hope he will have funds to continue, of +paying for all damage done when fairly stated. Some most exaggerated +and unreasonable demands have been made to him in consequence. Guineas +are already spread all over this province, and pass most readily. + +I am at an apothecary’s here, who was, I am sorry to say, robbed by our +men just after the attack. Lord Hill offered to send him the money, +nearly 15_l._ and a watch; but he declined taking it. + +Lord Wellington has a cold, but rode here yesterday in his white cloak, +in a terribly cold day, with the snow directly in his face; for we have +now got another little winter here, which is unusual. + +At the latter place there was a large church which was built by the +English. In general, it is exactly in the style we call Saxon, or Old +English, circular arches and Saxon ornaments. I suspect, however, it +must have been built just as the Gothic style was coming into fashion, +as the side aisle arches and part of the body of the church were +Pointed or Gothic; and this did not appear to have been, like some +of ours, a subsequent alteration. A handsome small old Corinthian +façade was inserted within the large Saxon heavy arch, which formed +the original entrance of the front of the church. In the town was a +very good school, called _Le Collége Impérial_. About ninety-two boys +were then in the school, who all remained, and were very civil to our +officers whenever we went there. The boys seemed to wish us well; and +they do not usually conceal their real opinions. The establishment +was in an old Benedictine abbey, and was exceedingly good. The lower +cloisters and the great church, gutted at the Revolution, formed +excellent play-places; and all the great corridors above were half +enclosed by small wooden rooms for the boys, each having one to himself +about eight feet by five, holding his bed, his chair, table, and box; +and, by being all open at the top to the gallery, they were airy and +yet retired and private. The expense of this school is about 400 +francs, or 20_l._ a-year. For this, Latin, writing, French, geography, +music, dancing, and a little mathematics were taught. Some boys could +read Livy, Tacitus, and Cicero. The dinner and other arrangements are +cleanly and good. Napoleon gave them the building. The funds were all +private, no foundation, lands, or allowances from Government. + +The road from St. Sever here was through a rich flat bottom near the +Adour, with a high bank all the way on the south side, with several +chateaux. We crossed the Adour to come here at Sever, over our +newly-made bridge; came along the great road on the north bank, and +recrossed again at a ferry at this place, this for the fourth time +since we left St. Jean de Luz. The country seems well cultivated, and +not unlike parts of the Bath road, in Berkshire—a flat corn country, +with wooded, rising grounds and villas at some distance, which +formed the valley. We passed Grenade, rather a large village, about +eight miles from St. Sever, and a large chateau about six miles off, +belonging to the Marquis de St. Maurice, the chateau deriving its name +from him. We also passed a small village, about four miles further on, +called Cageres; and four miles more brought us here. The bridge at +Barcelonne is about a mile and a half higher up, over the Adour, and +has not been destroyed by the French; they only broke one arch of wood, +which we have repaired. We were to have crossed there to get hither, +but I came almost the first, found a ferry just re-established, and +came over; most followed the same way. + +Aire is not so large a town as St. Sever or Orthes; it is about the +size of Epsom. It is close to the river, is old and dirty, and half +deserted. Several good houses gutted, or, at least, without furniture; +and the ruins of a very large modern-built bishop’s palace, destroyed +during the Revolution, when this place suffered much. At Upper Aire, +which stands well on a hill half a mile above this, is a celebrated +school or college, or rather two united. It was first formed about +sixty or eighty years since, a handsome building erected for the +purpose, and well contrived—in plan much like that at St. Sever. It +was in great repute before the Revolution, but was then destroyed, and +almost completely gutted. Within the last ten years, the professors +and clergy have by degrees, by charities, charity sermons, and +great exertions, nearly restored the whole again without Government +assistance; and, before this late attack, above two hundred boys were +there. In one building there are above a hundred boys, all destined +for the church; in another, above a hundred for lay employments. An +old church built by the English, but much altered, and in a much later +style than that at St. Sever, stands between the schools, is used by +them as a church, and unites the two establishments. The whole has +a good broad play-terrace on the brow of the hill above the river. +Education here is cheaper than at St. Sever, though there are no +Government funds at either. The yearly cost is about three hundred or +three hundred and fifty francs. I rather think clothing was, however, +included in the estimate at St. Sever, and that would make the two +much alike. The studies are the same. It puts me in mind of Maynooth +College, near Dublin, and seemed what our colleges were three or four +centuries ago. + +My patron or host at St. Sever is a sort of small landholder and +noble, with his house in town and villa two miles off, which dated, +as he took care to tell me, 130 years, as the builder’s mark and +his ancestor’s name proved, and therefore, “_C’est clair, mais ce +n’est rien pour moi, c’est bien vrai maintenant, que ma famille est +supérieure à celle de M. le Maire de notre ville_,” &c. M. le Maire +had made most of his money by dabbling with national property during +the Revolution, and succeeded better than many others here. “But,” +continued my host, “as I have always been considered one of the +noblesse, I have suffered accordingly; _mais n’importe_—I am grown a +philosopher. I never can see such times as Robespierre’s again; so +I see English, Spanish, Portuguese, and all with indifference, and +remain quiet. At the same time I am now English (he always said _nous +autres_, which often puzzled me), and I wish the cause well, and +would contribute much to its success.” He seemed surprised that this +contribution of maize for our horses was all paid for instantly, and +that in gold, and at a fair good price, even though M. le Maire, who +managed it (no one knew for what), detained eleven sous out of every +eighty from all to whom he made payments. M. La Borde de Menos was my +host’s name. He was very civil, and I dined with his family—his wife, +two daughters, and a son—whenever I was not engaged, which happened +only twice, at Lord Wellington’s. He also gave my men wine, &c.; in +short, I believe he rejoiced much at the change he had experienced in +having me instead of a whole company of officers, men and all, which he +had one day when we first came. + +In return for his treatment, I bought toys for the lad; gave some tea +to Madame in case of sickness, and a pretty cadeau to Mademoiselle. In +a word, we parted excellent friends. The many stories he told me of +what had passed in Robespierre’s time were curious. M. La Borde was +obliged to act with the Representant, and attend all meetings, to be +only pillaged and abused by every one, and to bow and say, “Thank you +all,” with his hat in his hand; and this was to prevent their having +an excuse for guillotining him, as thirty of the principal people were +put to death in the small town of St. Sever. The living alone and +staying away was of itself a heinous offence, and every requisition of +a cart for a day’s use was called for _sous peine de mort_. That was +the form of all demands. A ball was given by the Representant. Every +one was obliged to go or be suspected. Madame went. She had a valuable +gold watch-chain; but not daring to show it, she went with a cut steel +one. The Representant said, “_Mais où est donc votre chaine d’or? Le +publique en a besoin._” She was obliged to swear it had been stolen, +and to hide it ever afterwards. The Representant seemed incredulous, +and the risk of this fraud was great, but it answered. Monsieur was not +so lucky; he had a valuable ring, and attended one of the meetings with +it on. The Representant said, “_Tu F—— Noble, donnez moi ta bague, ce +n’est pas pour des gens comme toi; le publique en a besoin._” He took +it off and gave it up, and some months after saw it on the finger of +one of the Representant’s relations. + +I have now a will to draw up in case of accident, for Sir N. P——, +bart., to secure 10,000_l._ to each of his younger children. He is here +with his regiment; so adieu. + +Lord Wellington abuses the Allies for having been beaten when they +had the game in their hands; and says, one ran his head against the +Marne, and the other against the Seine, and the whole was ill-managed. +We have the further news of a French column having made its way from +Lyons to near Geneva again; but a report still later, that the Allies, +under Blucher, got into Bonaparte’s rear. These checks are, even if +they end in nothing, of the greatest use to him. They deter people +from declaring their opinions; may make every difference in that way +here and at Bordeaux; and I should not be surprised if they encouraged +Marshal Soult to make another stand near here, on this side the +Garonne, which I do not think he would otherwise have done. + +I am told that he is in a position at present from Tarbes to Plaisance, +on a ridge of hills, and that the country is full of positions. My +news is from M. D——, the husband of my young Spanish Bilboa lady, who +came to me to-day. They have left Bayonne from fear, and are waiting +the events of the war at Pau, whence he came over here—and like a true +placeman, thinking matters were about to change, he insinuated to me +that he should like an appointment under the new order of things—under +the direction of the Bourbons or the English. + +He also wanted a passport for his little wife’s brother to go back +to Bilboa, from General Alava. This I have obtained for him; but on +condition that the civil authorities are written to, and the brother +examined on his arrival, as to his conduct, &c. M. D—— was Colonel +F——’s friend and not mine; and to confess the truth, I had no great +opinion of him, but thought he was only attentive to Colonel F—— +to serve his own purposes, and seemed to be rather an intriguing +gentleman. It is, however, quite my principle that every one should be +allowed to go home, and go about his business; and I am sure that Spain +will profit by the residence of any one who has lived at all with the +French, and acquired some notions of what mankind are capable of, and +of human exertion. + +In my walks to-day, I met a poor gentleman who told me we had taken all +his forage, and that his oxen were starving, and that he must sell +them; he was going to a contractor for that purpose. I advised him to +go to our Commissary Haines, to whom I took him, for I thought each +would gain by a bargain direct. His oxen are to be inspected to-morrow. +During our conversation, he told me that he was the brother-in-law of +Dulau, the French bookseller in Soho Square, and that the latter had no +nearer relation, but that he could never hear of him, or write to him. +I undertook to send his letter. If such a letter is enclosed to you, +therefore, you will know all about it, and my poor man may get a legacy +or something by it, from the great Mr. Dulau, for such he must be. + +_Saturday, March 12th._—We remain here to-day, and shall do so probably +for a few days, unless the French move off. We seem to be moving up. +A brigade of artillery and some troops were yesterday taking the +direction to Pau, to secure that town, I conclude, as we have now only +artillery there, and also, perhaps, to turn the left of the French +position at Tarbes. Lord Wellington is better; his hounds go out +to-day, and I should not be surprised at his being out with them. As a +proof how savage war makes every one, even an English soldier, I may +tell you that poor H——’s body was stript by the English soldiers of his +own division, to which he was acting as Adjutant-general, and almost +before his body was cold. I believe two or three men have been flogged +for this. By degrees we all get hardened to anything. + +I find the same sort of custom here as to letting land, as is to be +found near Bayonne. The landlord puts a peasant into a little farm, +furnishes it, pays the taxes, and finds the necessary cattle, beasts, +and horses, for the cultivation of the land; in return, he receives +the full half of the clear produce as rent, but in kind, and very +little money is seen. Before we came, bread was three sous the pound, +which would be about sixpence three-farthings the quartern loaf. A +goose has been five francs of late, but that is dear. Fowls are now +only half-a-crown or three shillings each, and very good even to the +English. If we remain long in a place, we soon cause the prices to +rise. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + + Reports from the Seat of War—The Duke d’Angoulême—The German + Cavalry—Misconduct of the Spaniards—Attacks on our Grazing + Parties—Movement of Head-Quarters—Death of Colonel Sturgeon—Visit to + the Hospital—New Quarters—Skirmishes—Wellington and the Mayor. + + + Head-quarters, Aire, + March 16, 1814. + + MY DEAR M——, + +Here we remain still, and probably shall do so for a few days, for the +French Marshal not only keeps his position near Conchez, across our +road to Tarbes and Toulouse, but does not seem disposed to go beyond +demonstrations, and cannot muster courage to attack us, and we, I +believe, are not quite prepared to attack him. The glorious reception +Marshal Beresford met with at Bordeaux, and the spirited and decided +conduct of the _maire_, &c., there, you will have heard by the last +mail, for the news came after my letter, but before Lord Wellington’s +bag was dispatched. We have all sorts of reports from the vicinity of +Paris, about the battle at Meaux, of a large French corps having gone +over to Bernadotte. There are reports from Bordeaux, but all uncertain; +I think, however, that the _maire_ must have had some good intelligence +to induce him to take the line he has done, which must be his ruin, and +that of all his friends, if we make peace at last with Bonaparte. + +The Duke d’Angoulême, at first, it is said, declined a burgher +guard, and preferred an English one. This will not do: he must show +confidence and spirit, and rely upon his French friends, and give no +offence by partialities for the English. This was bad advice in some +one about him, for I understand he personally has always wished to take +a decided line, and risk his personal safety for the cause. + +We hear the Royalist party are beginning _à la lanterne_ again, but I +hope this is not true. The inhabitants of Bordeaux must arm and protect +themselves. We shall leave but a small force there. The river and their +own people must be their chief reliance. Lord Wellington has sent for +the fourth division from Marshal Beresford to help here. Canning went +off at four o’clock on the 14th, with these orders (as I understand); +he was sent from Gartin by Lord Wellington, eleven miles from this in +front, and was here in an hour. Whilst he was dressing and getting a +fresh horse, I got him his money from the Paymaster, and he was off, +remounted for Roquefort, twenty miles; and thence he was to post the +other seventy miles all night to Bordeaux. He was heard of at Langon, +about three or four in the morning, so that by nine o’clock on the +15th he would be in Bordeaux; and as the fourth division, which was at +Langon, would march that day, in about two days more they will be here. +All our 18-pounders and some other reinforcements will arrive, and then +Soult must be off, or I hope get another beating. + +The heavy German Cavalry (for by its name they wish to be known, for it +carries credit with it), went through here two days since in admirable +order, the horses in particular, but the latter are altogether too +slight for the men, who are all large, bony, heavy men, of a certain +age, and experienced heroes. It will not be easy by a royal order, and +light jacket and caps, to transform these gentlemen into light Germans, +nor do the corps like it at all. Ponsonby’s heavy brigade is also close +by, fresh from Spain, like the Germans, and in the same excellent +condition. Nearly ten thousand Spaniards, very fine-looking men, and in +good discipline, are also two miles from this, at or near Barcelona. +Hitherto they have behaved in general much better than was expected on +the march; but we feed them, as they have no transport. If they will +but fight a little in return, and take their share of loss, we should +do famously. + +Murillo’s Spaniards, I am sorry to say, have begun very ill in our +front. The day before yesterday, Soult made an advance against them; +when they were ordered to fall back a little to a rivulet, and there +defend themselves. Once with their backs turned, however, away they +went, and never stopped until the Buffs were ordered up to stop the +French, who, the moment they saw the red coats coming on, were off home +again very quickly, but not quite so rapidly as the Spaniards had run +from them. + +The Portuguese cavalry had a little affair, and behaved well. The 14th +Dragoons had also an affair the day before yesterday. Half a squadron +under Captain Babington were ordered by Colonel Harvey to drive off +a French half squadron, and then halt until he came up. They upset +the French, saw another whole squadron beyond, were tempted to go on +by their first success, and succeeded in a great measure again, but +Captain Babington was taken. The wounded French dragoons of the 5th +regiment, brought in here prisoners, are all very fine men, and the +whole regiment are said to be the same sort of men. They came in much +cut about the head and hands. + +The forage animals of head-quarters were yesterday very nearly getting +into a terrible scrape—about two hundred and fifty animals, and two of +mine in the number. They foolishly went in front of our picquets, or +nearly so, though regularly under commissariat directions. Whilst they +were loading at a farm, one peasant slipped away, and it is concluded +told some French dragoons near what was going on, whilst the other in +the house gave some of the party wine. There were four artillerymen +unarmed in the house, and about six Portuguese, one of whom was mine, +when a French officer of cavalry, with his sword drawn, came to the +window, told them all to come out, and that they were prisoners. When +they came out, seeing that he was alone and his party three or four +hundred yards off, they mounted their mules, and nearly all got off, +with the loss of, it is said, only one man and two or three mules. +Some fellows galloped all the way here without their loads or cords, +and at first spread an alarm that all were taken. They arrived home in +the course of the day, and my Portuguese brought home a load of good +hay and two deserted ropes in triumph. It is thought that the party +should have brought off the officer prisoner, but most are satisfied +with having got their own property back again. He cut one of the +artillerymen on the finger, who put up his arm to save himself. + +Another party of muleteers with stores from Mont de Marsan to Bordeaux, +with supplies for the seventh division, to which they belonged, were +attacked three days since on their road near Roquefort, quite in our +rear and on our communications, by some French partizans, a sort of +guerillas called _La Bande_. These now, it is said, are employed by +Soult: they were formerly a set of _douaniers_, or smuggler catchers. +Several mules were killed and wounded, and, I believe, some muleteers +killed, and some of the money taken. It is to be feared that the +Spanish muleteers will begin to be alarmed at this. We have cavalry, +however, on the road, and they will now be more on the look out in +future. + +This place is now much crowded. Three new Generals came in yesterday +and to-day,—Sir Stapleton Cotton to-day, with, about a hundred animals +belonging to himself and his staff. I was turned out of my stable in +consequence, though but a very bad one, and my animals are now in a +back kitchen turned into a stable. At Barcelona the Spaniards turned +out the cavalry with much less ceremony. It is said that a company, +with a Captain at their head, gallantly charged Captain S——’s horses +and bâtmen (General C——’s aide-de-camp), and were very successful. One +little blood-horse kicked about, broke loose, and made a good defence, +without injuring himself; but another horse, not so quick in his +retreat, received two slight bayonet wounds, and a slight cut with a +sabre, and the Spaniards carried the day, behaving like heroes! + +Our people are all moved in consequence, and I hope that these +_valorosos_ and blood-thirsty gentlemen will soon be allowed to contend +with a more glorious enemy, and will behave with equal spirit when the +opportunity shall arrive. + +The Swedish (Bernadotte’s) aide-de-camp is, it seems, to campaign with +us; he is buying horses, &c., and preparing for the field. He is a +great talker, and, I understand, of this country. From his conversation +he seems to have served against us under Massena in Portugal, but how +he is what he is I do not exactly understand. + +The weather is still very cold. Lord Wellington would not even +condescend to-day to go and look at the French. He only sent Colonel +Gordon to go on to Gartin, and report. + +_Head-Quarters, 17th March, Aire._—About three o’clock yesterday we +learnt that the French were off, and filed through Conchez, apparently +on the way to Tarbes. I think they will not venture to go too near the +mountains, but must make for Toulouse. If not, our fourth division, +which, it is said, will be here to-night, will make us strong enough, +I hope, to push a column through Auch straight to Toulouse, while the +rest follow Soult, and we should then be at Toulouse first. I conclude +he will turn that way from Tarbes. General Hill moved a little after +the French yesterday to keep them in sight. The rest of the army will, +in my opinion, get in motion to-day or to-morrow, and head-quarters +move on very soon afterwards. About fifty prisoners were sent in here +last night, mostly dragoons. + +We are all alive again with regard to the Allies, and the stories from +Bordeaux are most animating. In addition to this, we move after Soult +to-morrow. Head-quarters to be at Viella, nearly three leagues in +advance, towards Auch. I fear we shall, as part of head-quarters, see +neither Toulouse nor Bordeaux; for if my generalship correspond with +Lord Wellington’s, Soult will in my opinion cross the Garonne, and our +right will go to Toulouse, and we, as part of head-quarters, shall +pass the river by some bridge to be laid down below near Agen,—more +towards the centre of our movements. The scene at Bordeaux I much +regret to have lost. We already hear of disturbances at Toulouse, and +even reports of Louis XVIII. being proclaimed at Paris. From the want +of a popular Bourbon cry at Bordeaux, I hear they have set up “Henri +IV.,” and “Gode sav de King.” The weather to-day is delightful: I only +hope it will last. We are told that Suchet has offered to withdraw all +his garrisons from Spain into France, and give up the towns in their +present state; this has been referred, it is said, to Lord Wellington, +and by him refused, as only releasing so many men for present use, who +must sooner or later, if we persevere, be prisoners. This is quite +right no doubt for the common cause. + +_Viella, 18th._—I have just time to add a few lines at this place, +which is about nine miles from Aire, on the road to Tarbes, and our +head-quarters to-day. It is a small scattered village, so much so that +I am at a farm at least two miles or more from the main village, and +nearly by myself at the last house in the commune. I have, however, +a doctor and a commissary within a quarter of a mile, and as we are +fortunately well received, and welcomed everywhere, it does not +signify. I feel quite at ease. + +We had a tiresome march here, for the third division, the sixth, and +the heavy Germans with the baggage of all three, the whole of the +pontoon train, the artillery of the two divisions, head-quarter’s +baggage, and eight thousand Spaniards all went the same road, over our +newly-made bridge across the Leis, a small stream which falls into the +Adour, near Barcelonne. The French, in destroying this bridge, had not +blown up or burnt the main centre pier, so that about twenty-five elm +trees, about twenty-five feet long, and bundles of fascines, about +twelve feet long, placed crosswise, and then covered with dirt, in two +days’ time made us a famous bridge. + +Some time hence, when the fascines get rotten, some luckless car or +horseman will no doubt go through into the water, which is deep, and +about twenty feet below. The high roads are excellent, and the country, +though not a rich soil, very pretty and loveable. Almost every drain +under the road, or a small arch for streams to pass under, had been +broken down; some left so from neglect of late, some I believe just +made on purpose to delay us: faggots, and a little mould, with a few +small trees at bottom, soon made a passage, but created delays. + +_19th, 7 o’clock._—To-day we move to Maubourguet, nearly in the Tarbes +road. This looks as if Soult was making for Tarbes, and not Toulouse. +I can scarcely believe this. If he places his rear on the mountains, +he gives up Toulouse, and the richest country; and if beaten when up +there, will, in my opinion, escape with difficulty. He may expect some +reinforcements from Suchet that way, but still must go to Toulouse. + +We, however, have now a chance of seeing the latter, whereas I thought +we should have crossed nearer Agen, lower down the river. + +My patron here is very friendly. The French plundered him terribly, +and all his neighbours. They call them brigands, and dread them +more than our army. My man let five Portuguese dragoons through his +premises, and, he says, saved them. He is of a class of men that +existed in former days in England; the owner and cultivator of eighty +acres of land, partly corn, partly wood, partly vineyards, and partly +meadow—thus he has all within himself. He has a wife and four children, +two women servants, two pair of oxen, of which he has been obliged to +sell one pair to pay the French contributions. He has two labourers, +both deserters, for keeping whom he knows he is liable to a fine of +from five hundred to three thousand francs, and to be confined five +years, but he can get no other servants, and of course these are +faithful. + +His land, he says, is worth about 50_s._ an acre. It requires much +labour, but when left alone he says is good enough to make them very +happy. In spite of all that he has suffered, and his earnest desire for +peace, he is certainly no friend to the Bourbons. He curses Bonaparte +for his ambition, has a tolerably just notion of all his losses in the +North, and in Spain, from the soldiers; but still, would rather, in my +opinion, have Bonaparte and peace than the Bourbons. I can never get +him to say a word, good or bad, as to the latter. At the same time, +like all the rest of the French, he would just now submit to anything +for peace. All have the highest respect for Lord Wellington, which they +say they learn from the French army, high and low. + +_Maubourguet, 5 o’clock._—We left Viella at nine, and after a tiresome +ride through baggage the whole way, arrived here about four o’clock, +though it is only about fifteen miles. The bridges were all broken +down, and nearly every gutter across the road, but this only caused +delays, and was quite ineffectual. The troops and artillery waggons all +found some way round or through. When about twelve miles on our road, +we found the last three miles quite choked with all the baggage of +head-quarters and the troops. At first I conceived the delay arose in a +broken bridge being repaired, and was patient; but a sharp firing and +cannonade soon commenced in front of Maubourguet, near Vic, and then, +guessing that it was an intentional halt, I made my way through it +here, and found every one in front, and a sharp firing about four miles +in advance, near Vic Bigorre. + +I met also a party of the fine German cavalry wounded going to the +rear; they had had an affair the day before yesterday in advance of +Madiran, half way between that place and this, and with two squadrons +instantly upset four squadrons of French chasseurs, took many horses, +and cut up many men, but the French ran too fast to leave any +prisoners. This tempted the Germans to attack yesterday a very superior +force, it is said three times their number—three French regiments; and +I hear they suffered much. + +In the first affair they had about four killed and eighteen wounded. +We were at first without orders as to staying here and unpacking, but +a report soon reached us that the French would not stand, and were +off. So we all unpacked quietly before the firing ceased, and prepared +for dinner in this town, where five hundred French cavalry had passed +the night, and had only departed about eight in the morning, with the +curses of the inhabitants. Our Portuguese were principally engaged, it +is said, yesterday, and without much loss. The sixth division entered +Vic last night. + +_Maubourguet, 7 o’clock, 20th, Sunday._—No orders last night. Lord +Wellington very late home; but I have just learned that we are to move +to-day to Tarbes, taking it for granted that the French will be out to +make room for us. This is very strange, and so is the confidence of our +men. When we halted yesterday the bâtmen were saying, when within three +miles of this place, the head-quarters, “We must only wait a little +till the troops have cleared our quarters for us and made room.” + +I now cannot understand Soult’s plans. He seems to be making for the +mountains, and to have suffered us in some measure to cut him off from +Toulouse. Colonel Canning arrived last night from Bordeaux with an +account of a grand defeat of Bonaparte, and that he had fallen back on +Orleans. This I expected if he were not killed, as I concluded he would +try and unite with the Lyons army and Soult’s, and make one more stand +in the heart of the kingdom. If this be true, Lord Wellington must be +careful as to passing the Garonne; Soult’s junction, nevertheless, +will at any rate be doubtful. Our men are in the highest spirits, and +driving all before them; weather fine. + +_Tournay, March 21st._—At nine left Maubourguet; about four miles +further I stopped at Vic Bigorre, to see poor Colonel Sturgeon’s +body. He was a very clever man and officer, and particularly skilful +as a bridge engineer, and in all languages. He went too close to the +skirmishers, to reconnoitre, and was shot in the head just under the +eye. I also went over the hospital, to assist Dr. M’Gregor in giving +directions to the French as to arrangements, to talk to and satisfy +some wounded French officers, and to get bedding, straw, and help from +the _maire_ by requisition instantly. We had about two hundred wounded +there of all nations, many Portuguese, one of whom was undergoing +the operation of amputation of his leg and thigh, very high up, and +seemed in great agony. The French surgeon thought that Dr. M’Gregor was +finding fault, and stopped, and turned to us to explain. I understand +he was doing it in a clumsy way, but Dr. M’Gregor begged me to praise +him highly, or he would be alarmed and do it still worse. Close to +Vic, by the road-side, were about a dozen bodies of men killed by +cannon-shot, and terribly mauled. + +Having loaded a mule with oats from a French store at Vic, I proceeded +towards Tournay. The road was crammed, and some sharp skirmishing going +on about three miles beyond the town, which had commenced on the Vic +side. The French only left the town about nine o’clock, and tried to +blow up the bridge, but were stopped by two or three gun-shots. They +stood their ground tolerably, on a very strong ridge of hills, until +night, and remained _en bivouac_ on them last night. At three this +morning they were off; and here we are after them again, about nine +miles on the road to Toulouse, at this place, Tournay, which was last +night Marshal Soult’s head-quarters. + +Tarbes is a good town and contains a number of good houses. From the +houses being large, and having yards and gardens, and from there being +one or two large open spaces or squares, it covers a good deal of +ground, but does not count, I understand, above ten or eleven thousand +inhabitants. The people received us in general very well, but were +quite passive, taking no part in any way. They had been kept quite in +ignorance of all that was going on in the north, and at Bordeaux in +particular—at least a great part of them. I explained, and harangued +all I could in order to set them right. My own patron was, it struck +me, a strong Bonapartist, and I took some pains to plague him a little +accordingly. We have had no sort of interruption to-day, except from +the multitudes passing, which form a continued stream, from five in the +morning, along a wide road, until about four or five in the day. The +fine weather has unfortunately turned to rain, but I hope will return +to us again. + +You will see by the map that Soult has taken to the Toulouse road at +last. He is at Mont St. Jean to-day, it is said; and that, as usual, +when inclined to run, the French beat our people in marching, and we +cannot cut him off. He has run some risks by going this roundabout +road; and had we been strong enough to have pushed along the Auch road +also, we should have puzzled him a little. We shall now, most probably, +drive him gradually to the Garonne. It is likely, in my opinion, that +he will make another stand. I have been turned out of my stable, and +had much trouble with the _maire_, so have only time to seal up. + +P.S. The country, from Maubourguet to Vic, Tarbes, and part of the +way here, was all a flat, of rich country, like the country between +Bridgewater and across into Somersetshire; except that half the meadows +at least were vineyards and orchards in one, and interlaced very +prettily; the fruit-trees kept small, about ten feet high, and the +vines trained off at about six, and all intertwined and furled together +with withy-bands. This was famous cover, as no musquet-ball could pass +far through the trees; a few common shot had destroyed the quincunx +regularity in many places. The water meadows were very beautiful, +and the system seemed to be understood and well managed; the streams +beautifully clear. The background of this large flat was all the way to +the Haute Pyrenees covered with snow; but the higher Pic du Midi was +never visible, always in the clouds; the lower one was. The Alps are +far superior, as far as I can judge. Adieu. + +_Nine o’clock at night, Isle en Dodon, March 24th, 1814._—Our post +and movements are now so uncertain and sudden, that I know not when +or how to write to you, and fear that my last was sent too late, and +may probably be sent with this, by which means all the zest of late +news from the army will be lost. I have just heard, by accident, that +a mail will go to-night, and have only time to scribble a few hasty +lines immediately after dinner. My last finished at Tournay; thence +we proceeded the next day to Galan, a poor village, and rather a wild +mountain road, the short cut to Toulouse. Our second division and +cavalry followed the enemy along the high road by Lannernezon, Mont St. +Jean, and St. Gaudens. One corps of their army went also through Galan. +The _maire_ of the latter was a fine old man of eighty-two, and a good +friend. + +I was at a miserable half-furnished house, and my baggage being stopped +by the Spanish troops, it did not arrive until seven o’clock; luckily +it came in time for me to dress, in order to dine with Lord Wellington, +a mile off, in the rain. The _maire_ had been an hour in the room with +Lord Wellington before he found him out, talking by the fire in his +quarter, until at last Lord Wellington, having let him go on some time, +asked him to dinner. This staggered him, and led to an explanation. The +_maire_ said, that the night before he had had Generals Clausel and +Harispe, and that they only ordered a dinner to be prepared, and did +not ask him to eat part of his own, or thank him, or take the least +notice of him. He could not, therefore, believe that Lord Wellington +was the enemy’s General, after having been so treated, as he said, +“like a dog,” by his friends. + +My own patron was a half-starved apothecary without medicines or +drugs. He offered to dress a fowl for me, but was very willing instead +to sell me one for twice its value, for dinner the next day. + +_23rd._—We moved again to Boulognes, about sixteen miles, rather a long +march, and in part bad road, though in general the roads all over this +part of France are very much superior to ours in England; compared with +our best roads, they are very superior to any in the distant counties, +and to many of our main and best roads, even in the neighbourhood of +London. The light, third, fourth, and sixth divisions of cavalry, and +about eight thousand Spaniards, all move with this column, and we +reach of course by mid-day, when all is in motion, with the artillery +and baggage, about ten miles. The second division and cavalry follow +the French. At St. Gaudens the 13th Dragoons came up with the French +rear cavalry, formed just outside the town, charged, broke them, drove +them pell-mell through the town on their reverse beyond it. There they +re-formed; the 13th charged again; then the French ran, with the 13th +after them, for two miles. The result is said to be a hundred and +twenty prisoners and horses, besides killed. + +From Boulognes we to-day marched to this place—Isle en Dodon. The +majority of the people here seem to be friends of Bonaparte, and the +assistant _maire_ in particular, with whom I had much conversation; for +he gave Doctor Hume and me a joint billet at the empty house where he +gave out the billets, and no stable at all. As I was obliged to have +him in the room so long, I determined to work him a little for treating +us so ill. + +The _maire_ of Boulognes ran away at first. At night he came back +and went to Lord Wellington, who showed him his proclamations and +regulations, &c. The _maire_ said he had taken the oath to Bonaparte, +and would not act. “Very well,” said Lord Wellington, “then the +people must choose another; but now you have taken your line, I must +take mine, and send you over the Garonne into the French lines.” He +gave orders accordingly, to Colonel S——. The _maire_ ran away, and +could not be found. Colonel S—— took up the father, to march him off +until the son appeared. This brought him out; he remonstrated with +Lord Wellington, said he was one of the first men of the country, and +should be ruined by this. Lord Wellington said, “He should have thought +of that sooner, and he must go;” and to this place he came to-day a +prisoner. + +We have just received orders to march to Samatan to-morrow. All here +have a notion that Suchet’s forces join Soult near here; that is, have +done so, or are to do so; but we are a little in the dark, and the +ignorance of the French about everything is astonishing: they seem +quite stupified. But Bonaparte has many friends still, and the reports +in the French papers, though upon the whole good, are not decisive. +The armistice seems to have gone off from the arrangements about +Italy. We are living, like the rest of the armies and the French, by +requisitions; but we hitherto pay in money, which others do not. We +consume everything, however, like locusts. + +Lord Wellington popped between Colonel G—— and me as we were discussing +the allied battles this morning, and suddenly took a part, to my great +astonishment, in our conversation. + +On leaving Tarbes a party of civilians went round by Bagnières to see +the baths, the rooms, &c., a sort of Spa, about twelve miles round, +and where no troops had been; not an Englishman there, but they were +told they would be well received, and so they were indeed. The _maire_ +addressed them; the people were in crowds, so that it required force +to enable them to pass. The National Guard turned out and presented +arms to them: it was like Lord Wellington’s entry into Zamora, they +say, such an outcry! such a display! A ball was proposed, but as there +was a French garrison about six miles off, and no allied troops near, +the party declined staying, and went off highly pleased with their +excursion. This is very odd, for on the road we go, all is stupefaction +and indifference. I should have enjoyed this, but am obliged to be very +prudent now, after my late escape. Adieu again. + +The schoolmaster, or _prêtre_, at Boulognes had written a long poem +entitled “_Mon Rêve_,” a prophecy nearly of everything which has taken +place, and containing much in honour of Lord Wellington. He said he had +long had it concealed, and volunteered spouting it out to us, to his +own great satisfaction, and it really was not bad. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + + Difficulties of the March—Failure of the Bridge of Boats—The + Garonne—Excesses of Murillo’s Corps—Bad News—Exchange of + Prisoners—Arrival before Toulouse—A Prisoner of War—Anecdote of + Wellington. + + + Head-quarters, Samatan, + March 25, 1814. + + MY DEAR M——, + +At eight this morning, we left L’Isle en Dodon for this place, about +eight miles nearer to Toulouse, from which we (the head-quarters) are +now only distant about twenty-six miles. Our troops at St. Lys, and St. +Foy, and that vicinity, are within eleven miles; our right is still a +little more in the rear on the St. Gaudens’ road, near Martres, under +General Hill. + +I have just met with a corn-factor who left Toulouse this morning. +He says that Marshal Soult arrived there with about eight thousand +men last night. The same number were expected to-day, and a force +of twelve thousand men from Suchet’s army was expected to join, or +rather, the twelve thousand men were to be principally a reinforcement +of conscripts, collected by the Imperial Commissioner Caffarelli. A +small bridge, called St. Antoine, near St. Martin, about a mile from +Toulouse, was destroyed on the road from Isle Jourdain to Toulouse, and +some works were being formed, and an appearance of defence was being +made near to St. Martin, at a place where three roads branch off, a +mile from Toulouse, and called La Pate d’Ore. The narrator, though no +judge, thought the works could not be completed in time, and that if we +pressed on we should pass them without much difficulty. The bridge, he +said also, was mined; it is a very noble bridge, but it was reported +that there was a ford passable so near, that it was thought the mine +would not be made use of. + +The news from Paris had ceased for some days, and this gave rise to +many stories of Paris having been taken, &c. I am lodged here with some +very civil good people, and who, in my opinion, really wish us well, +and are very different from the _maire adjoint_ at the last place, +who seemed a good Bonapartist, as are many of the people at L’Isle en +Dodon. About six miles from that place, and ten from this, we passed +through a very good old-fashioned town, larger than this, called +Lombez, where the people, in spite of having had a division of troops +quartered in their houses and in the church, seemed to wish us very +well. + +The country in this neighbourhood is a wide flat near the river, with a +gently rising boundary of hill and good corn land, the soil heavy, and +the roads very deep in consequence. I always expected my horses’ shoes +to be sucked off every ten minutes by the strong clay. + +The _maire_ of Boulognes continues his route with us, looking very +forlorn, and with three staff corps men round him, our gens-d’armes. +He began to repent to-day, and offered to act as _maire_, but Lord +Wellington said it was too late. He then wrote to his wife, saying, “He +was a martyr to his principles,” &c., when his offer had been refused. +So much for the principles of this good friend of Napoleon! Had his +offer been accepted, he would have gone on as _maire_. His friend +Bonaparte was, however, I really and truly think, never greater than he +has been in his adversity during the last three months. The manner in +which he has fought against all his difficulties is very astonishing, +and it would not surprise me now if he succeeded in fighting himself +into a tolerable peace. His boldness in finding fault with his +generals, &c., and having them disgraced and tried at this moment, is +very striking. In short, I am almost inclined to believe that his own +spirit, the bad conduct of the Cossacks, and the wavering policy of +some of our Allies, will enable him to keep his place amongst the list +of sovereigns, though never to triumph over them all, as he intended, +and very nearly managed to do. + +There are several good chateaux near here I am told: one of these is +occupied by Major M——, in our service, who was a prisoner of war, and +thought it the best way to pass his captivity in double chains, or +rather to cast off one chain by taking another, and by marrying an +heiress, enjoy himself whilst here. I understand that he has served as +_maire_ of the place; General Pakenham and Colonel Campbell know him. + +The army is now almost entirely fed on the country, and the rations +paid for in bills or ready money. Our transports, such as they were, +are quite outrun by our continual marches and distance from the depôts. +We do not even resort to our grand prize-magazine at Mont de Marsan. We +are also boldly isolated in the country, with scarcely five hundred men +the whole way between this and Bayonne; and between this and Tarbes I +believe none at all. Were not the general disposition of the people so +good, at least so submissive, the stragglers and parties joining the +army would be all destroyed; as it is, we have had few accidents. An +affair is expected in a day or two near Toulouse, but this is doubtful. +In the meantime King Ferdinand must be in Spain, as he long since +passed through Toulouse on his way there. + +_9 o’clock at night._—Later accounts from the front say that the French +are leaving Toulouse, but I think they will make a show of resistance +at least. Lord Wellington said at dinner to-day he feared that they +would blow up the bridge, but that he had his pontoons with him, and +by showing the enemy that he could pass either above or below the +bridge, he would try to save it. To-morrow will determine much, as +head-quarters move four leagues to St. Lys, within about three leagues +of Toulouse, and the troops are to move down into the plain in which +the town stands. This is hard work for the men and baggage-animals, as +the roads are excessively deep, and it is said will be worse to-morrow +than to-day. We pass through St. Foy. We cannot learn where Marshal +Suchet is; Lord Wellington does not know. He received despatches by a +courier from Catalonia after dinner to-day, dated the 16th of March. +It was not known there for certain that he had quitted Catalonia; +several here say positively that he is gone towards Lyons. The post +goes to-morrow early. You probably get two or three of my letters +together, for we have now no regular post-day, and I am often quartered +at a distance. I do not know when the mail leaves head-quarters, and by +wishing to send you the last news, I may miss the post altogether. + +_Head-Quarters, St. Lys, March 27th, 1814._—To-day, Sunday, we make a +halt here, which most of the army is very much in need of. This is in +order to enable Lord Wellington to make arrangements and reconnoitre, +&c. Four divisions are in our front, and General Hill on our right. +Nothing has been done to-day but the driving in of some French picquets +on this side of a little stream about two leagues from hence, and +half-way to Toulouse, and we are now placed on that stream. There +seemed to be but little firing. I saw it from the top of the tower of +the church here, but it was soon over. From the same place the view +all around was very extensive and magnificent; Toulouse was plainly +visible, and much of the country beyond, together with a number of +villages, chateaux, &c., in the large plain through which the Garonne +takes its circular course from the Pyrenees. The snowy summits of the +latter closed the prospect with their heads in the clouds. + +Having had some trouble to mount to this gallery round the church, by +means of the bells and their scaffolding, for there was no ladder, I +was up there for two hours with my glass, in a tolerably clear and +fine day. Of the importance of the latter you have no idea. Yesterday +was entirely rainy, and our road was, perhaps, as bad as any we have +ever passed with artillery, and that is saying much. The troops were +splashed up to their caps, and hundreds were walking barefoot in the +clay up to the calves of their legs for about five miles, whilst the +best of the road was that like to Hounslow in the worst season after +a thaw. Lord Wellington said, the French, after consultation, had +determined that this road was not passable for their artillery, but by +means of lighter carriages and better horses, five brigades of our guns +have got over this difficulty. + +To give you a notion of it, I may mention that Lord Wellington’s +barouche was three hours stuck fast in it at one place; one hind wheel +up to the axle, the other in the air. No one was in it except General +Alava, who was unwell. I left them endeavouring to move it by means +of four artillery horses, in addition to his own six mules, but in +vain; six oxen in addition at last got it clear. Lord Wellington is +gone to-day round by Plaisance to the right, to General Hill on the +St. Gaudens’ road, as that division is now approaching near us. I am +always afraid of some accident in these parties in an enemy’s country, +for there is generally no escort—only a few officers and two or three +orderlies at the most. + +In a Toulouse paper of the 22nd, which I saw yesterday, I was amused +with observing, among other articles—“Bordeaux, 12th March. By +accounts from this place troops without number are pouring through to +join the grand army under the Duke of Dalmatia. The disposition of the +people is excellent.” Then again, “March 15th. The prefect is taking +measures for a number of improvements in the different communes.” These +lies and frauds are curious. We also notice, that in publishing Soult’s +proclamations in the Paris papers, in which he calls Lord Wellington +the commander of brigands, the introductory part relating to the battle +of Orthes is omitted altogether. It does not appear that any battle has +taken place at all. We hope the silence as to Schwartzenburg means as +much, and that the truth will be a set-off to any check given to St. +Priest. + +Bonaparte’s movements to Rheims and Chalons we cannot here comprehend. +Many of the people here talk such bad French that I am often taken for +a Frenchman, and my patron here told me that I need not be afraid to +own it, for he was a Royalist, and always had been so. His simplicity +yesterday provoked me excessively. I gave him some of my old silver +spoons to take care of. Thinking all soldiers and followers of an army +virtuous and honest, he left the spoons, with a loaf, in his kitchen, +and left his door open, to let every one in who chose. On my return, +his loaf and my spoons were gone. This vexed me excessively, but +redress was in vain. + +_Seisses, 28th March._—At daybreak this morning head-quarters moved +to this place, most of us, in my opinion, fully expecting to be in +Toulouse before night. We arrived here, within a league of the Garonne, +by eight o’clock, when, to our great mortification, the part of the +second division which had left this village at ten last night was just +returning here again after daylight, owing to the bridge of boats +having been too short, and the troops therefore unable to pass the +river. + +This is most vexatious, for the immediate passage of the Garonne +without a halt, and triumphant entry into Toulouse would have been an +exploit worthy of our General. With five more pontoons the whole would +have been effected, and, most probably, with little loss. In front of +Toulouse the enemy had been left quiet, and pressed but little; the +grand movement was to have been on the right to the banks of the river +near Portet. Just below where the Arrige and the Garonne unite, a +league above Toulouse, the bridge was to have been laid in the night, +and half the army over or ready to pass by daylight. The width of the +river was supposed to be about one hundred and forty yards, or four +hundred and fifty feet, the stream strong; for this we were prepared. +The boats were in the river, the cables, I believe, fixed, and every +precaution taken for secrecy, when the discovery was made that five +more pontoons would be necessary, as the river was twenty yards, or +about eighty feet wider. The boats were all withdrawn, and the troops +all in their way to head-quarters again before daylight; but it was a +_grand coup manqué_. Apparently there must have been great inadvertence +somewhere, though it may have been that no measurement was allowed, or +even close observations, for fear of exciting suspicion. + +I think it will be a triumph to E——, though I am sure he will not +feel it as such. He told Lord Wellington at St. Jean de Luz that, in +consequence of some order of his, the pontoon train would be rendered +imperfect, and that if the army met with a wide river it would be +stopped. Thus it has happened, and Lord Wellington, though in general +so much a gainer by his decision and resources in getting rid of +difficulties, has for once suffered for not attending to the counsel of +his more steady and regularly-bred scientific advisers. + +As the troops were not yet ordered out of the town, and were in +possession of the houses, we remained for some hours with our baggage +standing loaded, until our billets were settled. Most part of this time +I spent in surveying the immense plain covered with farms, villas, +villages, towns, and chateaux, in the neighbourhood of Toulouse, as +well as the town itself. The number of apparently splendid mansions +was considerable, some belonging to merchants of Toulouse; some to +the old nobles who had not emigrated; some to the _nouveaux riches_ +of the Revolution and Bonaparte. The latter were much abused, the +_fournisseurs_ of the army, the intendents or tax-gatherers, &c. I +believe there was much fraud in the management of the collection of +contributions; and of late, particularly, much more was collected under +the pretence of the necessities of the army, and to provision Bayonne, +than ever reached its destination; and being but ill paid regularly, +the managers took the liberty of paying themselves well irregularly. + +Murillo’s corps has plundered again of late, and was guilty of some +excesses last night. One man was caught in the fact, stealing wine, and +brought forward. Lord Wellington had him shot in the most impressive +manner this morning, before all the corps, after a solemn admonition, +and much parade. The man, it is said, appeared absolutely dead from +fear before a musquet was fired. He was unluckily one of the least +culpable, for he had only taken away a bottle of wine by force; but he +was caught in the fact, and suffered for the sake of example—as the +least guilty in reality often do, from the most guilty being also the +most knowing. + +Lord Wellington has not yet returned; he must now exert his wits, to +cure this mishap, which will not, in my opinion, put him in the best of +humours. + +The Pyrenees were to-day perfectly clear, and very striking. An immense +snowy barrier almost entirely white, with scarcely any bare rock +visible. They are not by any means so picturesque as the Alps. They +form a large mass, without much variety of form and character; and have +not that contrast of pointed, craggy, fancifully-shaped rocks, rounded +lower hills covered with verdure, and fine forest scenery, which is +seen in Switzerland. + +Two of the medical officers and one of the 42nd of the sixth division, +taken at Hagenau, have escaped and come into us, but plundered of +everything. The French marched them seven or eight leagues a-day, +nearly thirty miles; and the one I spoke to had been concealed four +days after his escape with scarcely anything to eat, until he had an +opportunity of joining our corps under General Hill. + +_Head-Quarters, Seisses, March 31st, 1814._—Our disappointment in +crossing the river on the 28th has kept us here ever since: and the +halt has given me employment, which has prevented my writing to you. +As soon as we become quiet, I am set to work in order to prevent all +arrears, and to let punishment follow the offence as fast as possible. + +Our General has spent his mornings in riding all over the country to +reconnoitre; and he dispatches all his other multitude of business +at odd hours and times. The new plan was at last resolved upon, and +last night the execution of it commenced. The divisions on this side +Toulouse are pushed in close to the suburbs of St. Cyprien, near which +the French have been for some days most busily at work, fortifying +themselves to defend the bridge. Finding the river so wide below the +junction with the Arrige at Portet, General Hill (with great difficulty +owing to the rapidity of the Garonne, caused by the last two days’ +continual rain) succeeded at last, in pursuance of his orders, in +fixing his pontoons across that river above the junction with the +Arrige; and having been nearly all night at work, began to cross about +four o’clock this morning, and has sent word that he is over. A ridge +of high land forms a sort of tongue between the two rivers. This he +is to take post upon immediately, and march off a corps as rapidly as +possible, about three leagues, to a bridge over the Arrige, which he is +to surprise and preserve if possible, and defend, thus fixing himself +securely between the two rivers, preparatory to further movements of +the rest of the army. The Spaniards under Murillo crossed with General +Hill. General Frere’s Spaniards move into the ground which General Hill +leaves. + +I was upon the church-tower early this morning, and saw the Spanish +column moving all along the plain, headed by some of our heavy +dragoons; the fog on the river prevented my seeing more. On descending, +I found Lord Wellington and all his suite, just about to be off, when +the arrival of an English mail to the 16th, stopped him. By this +we have your very bad news from Holland, and many private letters +accounting for the failure. All here are open-mouthed at the reported +consequences; namely, that the reinforcements intended for Lord +Wellington are going to Holland. This is worse than the defeat. Very +little was ever expected here from that army from various causes; it +was always considered as so many men quite thrown away, as regards the +main cause. I thought them, latterly, worse than inefficient, after +they had once given the Dutch an opportunity of arming, by clearing +their country, for they have the effect of preventing exertion on the +part of the Dutch. The moment they had cleared Holland they should, +in my opinion, have been sent to us, and thus by a sense of pressing +danger, ought to have roused the sleepy heavy Dutchmen to do something +for themselves when once well in the scrape, getting only arms and +artillery and stores from England. + +By the exchange of prisoners, the officers so much wanted by the +French, whom Lord Wellington has taken here, will get back again by +these losses in Holland, another way in which that army has done more +harm than good. It would have been better to leave our people prisoners +than to release French regular officers at this moment, for their value +in the newly-raised corps is immense, and considerably beyond that of +ours to England. Besides the numbers in the town would have hastened +its surrender, or compelled the governor to send them out without +exchange. + +This is, however, reasoning upon general principles, and not upon +personal feelings as to the officers taken: I do think, however, that +this exchange was permitting humanity to have more weight than policy. +There seem to have been much blundering and confusion in the execution +of our attack, and from what I can hear the plan was allowed to fail +just when the difficulties were nearly all over. It is always to be +regretted when our people are ordered to run their heads against stone +walls and heavy guns, and that even here, for I think the French seem +to understand that work best, and we lose more in one of these affairs +than we do in gaining a great battle in the fair field, where the +French cannot be brought now to stand against us. On this ground, I +feel a little anxious, even as to Toulouse, supposing the French to +remain firm, which is doubtful, and still more as to Bayonne. + +Mr. C—— and a commissariat officer arrived here yesterday from +Bordeaux: the accounts they bring are bad enough. The National Guard +are disarmed; no arming of any consequence going on; no efficient +English naval force has arrived; and the people, though they shout +for the King at the opera, &c., are all in a terrible fright lest +the French should return, since we have so small a force there; and, +according to report, many repent of what they have done. + +The Duke d’Angoulême does not appear to me to be made of stuff to gain +a kingdom, though he would have kept one and been popular, from his +amiable qualities. He has committed many blunders, I am told, and the +white cockade gentry, like the _emigrés_ of old, amuse themselves with +inventing lies concerning Bonaparte and his armies, which the _maire_ +of Bordeaux publishes in a bulletin, which Bonaparte’s bulletins, lying +as they are, effectually and satisfactorily contradict the next day. + +The _maire_ is becoming daily more unpopular. We have an account +of Augereau having been defeated—which I hope rests upon better +foundations; as well as private accounts from Paris of the great +reduction of Bonaparte’s forces by his various rapid marches, continual +fighting, and desertion. Almost the only town in this country, +excepting Bordeaux, which has been active in the Royal cause is +Bagnières, which has proclaimed the king; no troops of either army have +passed that way. + +The rest of the population in our rear are in general quietly waiting +the event, and are now with a very few exceptions only on our side, +because they think they see an end to the war quicker that way. But I +am sure, from personal observation, that let Bonaparte be successful a +little, and Lord Wellington be compelled to retreat, and let them only +see the same prospect of peace by Bonaparte’s means, and three-fourths +of the population would all be against us again. + +The sulky _maires_, and other public functionaries, now all submission, +would then become active enemies, and all the _pensionnaires_ and +_douaniers_ and national landholders who are now really frightened to +death, would be roused into activity. This is a picture, however, which +I hope never to see realized; and if Toulouse and Lyons can be induced +to enter into a common cause with Bordeaux, the events will, it is to +be hoped, be far different. Had I the Duke d’Angoulême’s stake to play +for, I should somehow have raised a force before this at Bordeaux, and +should certainly have been over here post to enter Toulouse, and have +paraded through Pau, Tarbes, &c., in the way, and tried to do something. + +The only great hit he has hitherto made is to get the new prefect of +the department des Landes to publish and circulate his proclamations, +and sign them: this certainly is a beginning, and it is said that +some have found their way into Toulouse. The _maire_ of Galan, who +was really in my opinion a Royalist, pointing to his head, asked +me, speaking of the Duke d’Angoulême, whether “_il y voit quelque +chose là?_” of which he seemed to have doubts. The lower, and older +population in the villages certainly, though knowing nothing of the +Bourbons, have a sort of vague wish for old times again, and therefore +were friendly. The middling classes are not by any means so favourably +disposed. + +You have no conception of my obligation to you for sending the +newspapers so regularly, and getting them forwarded in Lord +Wellington’s bag. On the march in our present state, by this means +I have my letters and papers sometimes almost a week before any one +else; for the public bag has been lately obliged to come up, for want +of transport, in a bullock-car, with one weak soldier of the guides as +a guard. When we are stationary I sometimes suffer by this plan, for +single papers are got a-day or two later than my letter, but now I am a +great gainer, and my newspapers are in the greatest request. + +_Head-Quarters, Seisses, April 1st, 1814._—Here we are still in front +of “the great big town where the French are,” as the Irishmen call +Toulouse. The French yesterday moved about four divisions out of +Toulouse after General Hill’s movement, and in the evening went back +again into the town. This I believe made Lord Wellington suspect that +Soult intended to try an attack upon the columns of the British who +remained in front of the town on this side, and he would have wished, +in my opinion, for nothing better, as we had a rising ground commanding +the roads where they must make their debouches, and cannon ready +placed to give them a warm reception instantly. In consequence of this +expectation, Lord Wellington and his staff were off early to the front; +about eleven o’clock, finding all quiet, they returned, and we remained +_in statu quo_ for the day. + +I never expected that anything would be done if it depended on the +French, for their game seems to be merely to endeavour to keep us on +this side of the river, and to leave us to get over the difficulties +as we can, and not to run any hazards by molesting us, or giving us +even a fair chance by an attack on their posts. It is said that after +all it is found that General Hill’s road would lead us so much round, +and that the roads round that way to Toulouse would be so bad, that +the plan mentioned in my letter under date of the 31st is abandoned; +that in consequence General Hill will be ordered to return across the +river to-night, and that the pontoons will be taken up afterwards, and +an attempt made to place them lower down the river at last, and below +Toulouse, which, if it succeeds, will place us at once upon the main +good road to Bordeaux. Time will show whether this information of mine +is correct. If this plan be practicable, it will be far better than +the other. In truth the Garonne is a formidable barrier just now, when +there are no fords. + +The disappointment of not having Graham’s army here is very great, much +worse so if the reinforcements intended for us should go that way. So +much did Lord Dalhousie with his weak divisions at Bordeaux expect +General Graham’s army, that I am told he has twice sent to the coast +in expectation of their arrival, together with a naval expedition, on +a report of some distant sails being seen. This last _Gazette_ is a +woeful contrast! The importance of that ten thousand men at Bordeaux +is immense, and all agree that the country northwards would be ready +to come forward and join us if we were stronger and dared advance. +The weak state of our force at Bordeaux alarms them all, and keeps +everything back; a naval force to co-operate and to assist against the +castle of Blaye, was also expected to be ready the moment the news +of our arrival at Bordeaux was received, as it must have been such a +probable event. As it is Lord Dalhousie was about to make some attempt, +I understand, to take a position across the Garonne, between the +Dordogne and the Garonne. + +I have just been told another piece of news—unpleasant if it be true. +It is said that the Duke d’Angoulême’s new _Préfet des Landes_ ordered +the _maire_ of St. Sever to proclaim Louis XVIII., and that the old +maire, a prudent sly fellow, who has made much money in the Revolution, +declined to do so unless by Lord Wellington’s orders, and wrote to +Lord Wellington to know if he was obliged to do what he was desired. +It is said that Lord Wellington replied “No,” and suspended the new +préfet for giving the order. This is a most awkward state of things; +each town, each _maire_, is allowed thus to take this strong step if +they please, but there is to be no influence used, so that all prudent +people naturally enough will remain quiet and do nothing, and the +desperately zealous alone will act; yet so long as the conferences +remain in existence, this cannot be otherwise. + +Some more Spaniards are ordered up whom we are to feed also; how far +they will come I know not. The siege of Bayonne is, it is understood, +at last determined upon in earnest; as yet only preparation of +fascines, &c., have been made. I am told now, that the horses of the +brigades of artillery of General Hope’s column, are sent down to +Renteria to bring up the heavy battery train and siege stores. The +Guards begin to talk of more “bloody work,” but I sincerely hope not +another Bergen-op-Zoom! That left column once released, would set us +quite at ease here. Just now, our necessarily-divided army cannot be +so efficient as from its numbers compared with the French it might be +presumed to be. + +For fear of being too late for the post, I shall now seal up my three +letters in one packet and send it off. + +In appearance, the size of Toulouse is very considerable, particularly +its length. It seems much larger than Bristol; whether really so or not +we have not just now conveniently the means of ascertaining. + +All who come from Bordeaux are in ecstasies with the place and the life +there. It seems everything a bachelor officer with a little money could +wish for—everything to be had, and everything (except maps now) very +cheap. + +_Head-Quarters, Grenade, April 5th, 1814._—In pursuance of the change +of plans as to the passage of this formidable river, the Garonne, in +the face of thirty thousand men, under the command of Marshal Soult, we +very suddenly moved on Sunday morning, the 3rd, to Colomiers, a poor +dirty village on the high road from Auch to Toulouse. The pontoons had +been previously moved in the night from the neighbourhood of Carbonne, +where they had been previously fixed, and where General Hill had passed +over to the vicinity of Grenade. On the night of the 4th, about eight +or nine o’clock, the whole army, excepting General Hill’s columns, were +put in motion towards Grenade, the pontoons were launched in the river, +the bridge successfully formed during the night, and about ten thousand +men passed over without resistance by daybreak. It rained furiously +almost all the night, and a failure was in consequence much apprehended +by many, from the increased rapidity and breadth of the current of the +river. Hitherto all has gone on well. General Hill’s corps remained in +front of the suburbs and bridge of St. Cyprien near Toulouse. + +Lord Wellington and his staff were all off about two or three o’clock +in the morning, or rather night, for the river side near the bridge, +and passed over early in the morning. Lord Wellington reconnoitred +yesterday on the right bank to within about five or six miles of +Toulouse, and did not return here until after dark. Civil departments +and baggage were ordered to move across the country to Corn Barieu, a +poor dirty place on the cross-road to Grenade, at daylight, and there +to remain loaded till further orders. It was only four miles of bad +road, and we were there about half-past six. I conclude we were kept +at that point so that we might be secure, and away from the high road +out of Toulouse, in case of accidents, and at the same time ready to go +into Toulouse, in case the French should abandon the town and bridge on +hearing of our passage of the river; whilst, on the other hand, if they +remained fast, we were ready to come on here. + +The poor mules remained loaded until near two o’clock before they +were ordered on, and afterwards fell in with such columns of baggage, +cavalry, and troops, particularly Spaniards, all converging to the +bridge, that they did not arrive here until about seven or eight +o’clock at night, having had to pass a deep cross country, by a clayey +unformed road, in places sinking up to the middle, for the night’s +rain and quantity of animals passing had quite cut it up. I left the +printing-press and Mr. S——’s carriage fast in the mud, and many a load +upset; at last I believe all arrived safe. + +Whilst we were waiting in suspense, as I dare not again go much to the +front, Dr. M’Gregor and several other civilians and I passed our time +pleasantly enough. There was a chateau on a hill close to us, which +commanded all the country, and particularly Toulouse. To that we bent +our steps, and finding a young lad, son of the owner, in the house, +we got our horses into the stable, bought corn for them, and from +the Doctor’s canteen made a good breakfast, and then posted ourselves +with our glasses to see what was going on. Had there been any fight +we should have commanded the whole scene beautifully. As it was, we +only traced our columns of baggage, Spaniards, and cavalry across the +country, in two lines of about six or seven miles’ length, all moving +gradually to the bridge. We also saw some large fires in Toulouse, but +have not yet learnt whether they were anything in particular. About +half-past one we set out again, and fought our way through mud and clay +and baggage and Spaniards for about ten miles; and I am now again in +a civilized home, but with rather a forward tradesman, who gave me a +roast fowl for supper, but took his place and had his full share with +me. It is odd enough that a man of his description, in a large good +house, stables, and three or four horses, should boast, as he does, +that he can talk French, and that his daughter of eight years old has +learnt to talk French, and can speak and understand it a little when +she chooses. Their patois I can scarcely make out, certainly, not so +well as Spanish or Portuguese. + +The country is all very rich and populous, and covered with villages +and chateaux. The former are generally in evident decay; the latter are +large and showy on the outside, but for the most part old, dirty, out +of repair, and nearly unfurnished inside, with none of the comforts +even of a cit’s villa, and still less of a great man’s house in +England. At the same time one cannot but feel how much of what we in +England think necessaries are mere superfluity. One cause of their +present appearance in part may be, that the owners generally live +from seven to ten months in the year in the great towns, Toulouse in +particular, and only spend September and October in their chateaux to +see to the harvests, so that they, somewhat like the Portuguese lords, +when they do come, bring nearly all their furniture and comforts with +them. By this means, luckily, we have not done these chateaux much +damage. The young man whom we found in the chateau near Corn Barieu, +had been sent out just before we arrived, to see what was going on, and +to protect the place. He had not been able to hold any communication +with his friends in Toulouse since, and I dare say, as I told him, they +were in a terrible fright, and thought the Spaniards had roasted and +eaten him up. + +It unfortunately rained again all last night. This has swelled the +river, and alarmed us a little, for there are at times such floods +here that our bridge would not stand them, and we are now half on each +side. This was also very unlucky for the troops, many of whom must have +bivouacked without their tents and baggage. I have hitherto heard of no +ill consequences, and it is thought that the French must either come +out and fight us immediately, or be off and leave us at our ease for +a short time to try and refit and get shoes for our poor barefooted +soldiers. In the meantime we are here with no other orders than to +be ready packed to march at ten o’clock, but not loaded. It is now +half-past ten, and I have been quietly writing this, and four letters +on business, since breakfast. + +When last at Seisses I met at Lord Wellington’s Major M——, of the 53rd, +the _ci-devant_ prisoner and French squire, whom I mentioned before in +my letters. He was at Toulouse when we came by his former house, and he +took the opportunity of our pontoon bridge at Carbonne to come over to +us, for to go out he was compelled. + +I do not quite understand his own story, so as to make his conduct +correct. He was always on a sort of parole in Languedoc and Gascony. +On our coming near Toulouse he was told that he must retire towards +Montpelier. He asked delay on the plea of health, got a day, and +was then ordered to move post by Carcassonne. He went two stages, +then turned to the right, came over to us, and now rides about, a +strange figure, in a new handsome 53rd uniform, and a great French +cocked hat, with his English loop and button. He is, moreover, a round +broken-backed country-squire volunteer sort of gentleman, on a high +white tumble-down French nag. He was of course full of information and +conversation, but I rather doubted the accuracy of the former. + +He told us that Bonaparte was making for Metz, giving up Paris; and +that he intended to relieve his garrisons in that direction even +as far as Wesel, and then to try and bring the war to the frontier +again. This would be giving up nearly all France, and putting himself +between the Crown Prince at Liege and the Allies near Paris; whereas, +if compelled to leave Paris, his line, in my opinion, must be to fall +back towards Lyons, and to endeavour to unite in that direction with +Augereau, and even with Soult, who will very likely fall back that way +also. If Bonaparte were to go to Metz, Lord Wellington said he thought +then the Allies, on entering Paris, would probably let the King be +proclaimed, and that he should not then despair of seeing Bonaparte +a grand Guerilla chief on a large scale, fighting about for his +existence, which he had never expected to happen in his lifetime. Major +M—— also said that Soult’s plan was, if obliged to give up Toulouse, +to go towards the Black Mountains, and retreat by way of Carcassonne, +making his stand there in a country where our superior cavalry could +not act. If he does this, I think half his men will desert, and the +remainder be in jeopardy, unless Suchet brings him more assistance than +is thought possible. Suchet is said to be withdrawing everything, and +to be mustering all he can. Oh that we had your English reinforcements, +and General Graham’s army! for our own real English army dwindles +away very fast in this active service, and ten thousand men may make +all the difference in regard to the event. The 53rd regiment and the +eighteen-pounders are, I hear, hutted at Tarbes, to try to reduce +a small garrison at Lourdes. The Householders are also arrived, I +believe, as far as Tarbes. + +On the 23rd of March, Caffarelli sent his orders to all the communes +round Toulouse, for a considerable distance (about fifty communes), +to send men to work at the fortifications in front of Toulouse. The +numbers to be sent by requisition were very considerable; but we have +rather disturbed the march of the larger half. He also called upon all +the inhabitants to arm, and to make the town a second Saragoza. + +Major M—— says he was told that there was not the same motive. I +understand they have been obliged to arm by compulsion, but it is +supposed will do nothing. Some old French officers also came to Soult +to offer to raise Guerillas corps in our rear. Major M—— said that +their offers were to be accepted; but, except a few for plunder, I +do not think, as yet, they will find many followers. Lord Wellington +makes the _maires_ responsible for any disturbances in the rear, and +threatens garrisons, as on the French plan, _garnissaires_, in case of +a breach of order. To execute this duty the _maires_ are allowed to arm +guards in their communes. All the communes around here were to have +_garnissaires_, in case the workmen did not arrive—that is, soldiers to +keep in their houses gratis. + +_One o’clock, same day._—Here we are still; and I hope shall not move +to-day, unless to go into Toulouse, for there is a report that the +French are moving off now, and that we have taken two cars of money. +This I will not vouch for. What is more certain is, that our pontoon +bridge is on its legs again by land, and moving towards Toulouse, to be +laid down nearer the town, to make our communications shorter between +the two parts of our army, on the right and left bank. This, it is +to be feared, may draw head-quarters into some little dirty village +near the bridge; and I should like to enjoy the tolerable clean brick +room which I have to myself, and a little stable with some hay for my +horses, for one day, if it suits our plans. + +At first I was surprised at Major M——’s boldness, and, as it appeared +to me, folly, in going about in his uniform, in a way to do no good +to anybody, and possible harm to himself. I have now heard that he +has been divorced from his lady, and of course by the French law from +his _château_ and _terre_ also, and that now he has nothing whatever +to lose. He may as well make a merit of his love of England and the +Bourbons. His daughter, about sixteen, is married, and the property +goes with her. A party of five dragoons took yesterday a messenger from +Montauban to Soult. It was known by eleven o’clock at Montauban that we +had cut off the communications on the main road. The messenger was sent +round a bye-road but was caught. His despatches were, it is reported, +principally complaints that the people would not arm for the fight, +and were not very material. I pitied the man. He was a respectable man +of business in Montauban; but being told that unless he became a civic +soldier he must be a regular, he put on his sword “by compulsion,” was +sent to carry these letters, and thus fell into our hands. He says +that it will be his ruin to send him to England as a prisoner; and I +hope, though he is threatened with this, that Lord Wellington will +soon release him. This is to be hoped, for I believe his story to be +true, for the Préfet of Montauban is reported to be a most furious +Bonapartist, and that he compels the people to take up arms in the +cause, and even threatens their lives if they do not. All here profess +great friendship for us, and I believe, at present, are sincere. + +_Six o’clock._—About two o’clock I saw Lord Wellington come in, and the +real news was, that all was quiet on both sides the river, but that +the floods had carried away or sunk one pontoon, and that the bridge +was impassable. It was just on the point of being moved higher when +this happened. Just now, it is not safe to place it anywhere. We have +only three divisions and three brigades of artillery across, and two +or three, it is believed, of cavalry. The Spaniards are not over, as +I supposed, but were to have gone over this morning. Unless Soult is +an arrant coward, he must now attack these men, and it is to be feared +that we shall have sharp work. A position, however, may be taken near +the river, so as to enable our artillery on this side to assist. The +river has fallen above a foot since morning, as it has hitherto been +fine to-day, but I am sorry to say it has now begun to rain again, and +it looks very much like another bad night. Rain upon the present river +would be tremendous. A quarter of an hour after Lord Wellington came +home from Toulouse, I met him going off again to cross the river; it is +to be concluded, therefore, that something important had happened. + +_6th of April, 9 o’clock at night. Head-Quarters at Grenade._—My +principal occupation to-day, when not engaged by business, has been to +watch the river. It continued to fall many hours after the last rain +had ceased, and began to rise at ten to-day, about fifteen hours after +the last rain commenced, and five after it ceased; at this rate it will +continue to rise until six or eight to-night, and then fall again; and +if the weather relent a little, to-morrow, probably, our bridge will be +restored. + +Marshal Soult has left our three divisions quite quiet on the other +side. If he knows their numbers this is playing the game of a coward. +At present he seems to think of nothing but fortifying Toulouse with +ditches and works, and his men are hard at work. This makes the delay +very unfortunate for us. It has, indeed, been so on every account, for +we have to-day received accounts which appear to be believed, that +twelve hundred French cavalry, cuirassiers, from Suchet’s army, joined +yesterday; and that he is endeavouring to gain time; and the elements +seem to favour his obtaining it. + +The only two events here to-day have been, first, the arrival of the +pontoon which was lost and floated away. Lieutenant Reid, of the +Engineers, galloped to Verdun, two leagues down the river, offered a +reward of _cent francs_, or five pounds, to any inhabitants who would +get boats and stop the pontoon and bring it ashore: the deserter +was thus secured, and to-day brought back in triumph by a party of +soldiers. The other arrival astonished us all. A troop of the Royal +Horse Guards Blue arrived with drawn swords and a Captain’s guard +escorting a carriage. Some said that it was the Duke d’Angoulême, some +one great person, some another. One officer asked the Captain if it +was King Ferdinand? This was a hoax. At last it was discovered to be a +_maire_ of a small commune near Tarbes, and his wife. The _maire_ is +supposed to have been endeavouring to favour a guerilla system, and +exciting the people to arm. He was in consequence ordered to be sent to +head-quarters. The Blues were in high condition; and Lord Wellington, +when he was told of the French cuirassiers, said, “Well, then, we must +have the Householders for these gentlemen, and see what they can make +of them.” + +I must tell you two little anecdotes about the pontoon bridge. The +French were very jealous of any attempt of the kind, and had cavalry +videttes, &c., all along their banks of the river. The engineer wished +to measure the breadth of the river at the spot intended; and for this +purpose got into conversation with the French vidette a long time, but +had no opportunity. At last he pretended that the calls of nature +were imperative. The Frenchman, out of decency, withdrew. The engineer +popped out his sextant, took the angle, &c., and was off. + +Lord Wellington himself, with two other officers went to the spot also +to reconnoitre with his own eyes. Concealing his General’s hat with an +oil-skin, he got into conversation with the French vidette, dismounted, +got down to the water-side, looked all about him, saw all he wished, +and came away. This was, in my opinion, risking too much; but no French +soldier would have any idea of the commander of the Allied Forces going +about thus with two attendants. Lord Wellington was yesterday over +alone on foot, and went on upon a horse of General Cole’s, as horses +could not pass. Even General P—— was a little uneasy, and sent about +eight o’clock to know if he had come back safe. He returned about seven +o’clock, when it was dusk. To-day he has a great dinner in honour of +Badajoz. + +_7th April, Grenade._—We have at last a fine clear day, and warm. The +river is falling rapidly. By this evening probably our bridge may be +re-established, and to-morrow I conclude that we shall pass more troops +and advance against Toulouse and the French marshal, who is digging and +working away as usual. The French made several attempts to destroy our +bridge before the floods did the business for them. They sent us down +all their dead horses, several trees, &c., and a large old boat, which +struck a pontoon, and went down itself instead of the pontoon. They +sent down also a sort of armed log stuck round with swords, and rolling +round and round in the stream as it went along, like a great fish, in +hopes that the swords would strike and cut the cable which holds the +boats. + +Major M—— has just told me that he has had news from the interior of +another defeat of Bonaparte at Arcis-sur-Aube, and of his having lost +one hundred guns, &c., and being then manœuvring in the rear of the +Allies. This seems probable. He has also an account of the departments +in the west of France having all sent in to the Duke d’Angoulême at +Bordeaux for orders; this is also probable, and that the Royalists gain +ground fast. His accounts add in the postscript,—“The Allies entered +Paris April 1st.” This ought to be, I think, from former accounts, +and I hope it is so. The last _Moniteur_ we have of the 30th talks +of Bonaparte’s return to Paris to cover the city. How he could then +get there seems the difficulty. Lord Wellington also had yesterday a +private letter from the interior, in which it is said, “_un événement +bien imprévu est arrivé à Paris_,” and no comment. He guesses it to be +the flight of the Empress. You see what confused accounts we get of all +late events! + +_7th (6 o’clock.)_—In addition to the above we have now news that the +Bourbons have been proclaimed at Paris, and that in the name of the +Emperor of Austria the house of Napoleon has been declared to cease +to reign. I must now seal up, for Lord Wellington has written his +English letters to-day, Thursday, although Saturday is the usual day. +In addition to this, I think, from many symptoms, that we shall move +to-morrow. + +P.S.—The _maire_ brought in with such a magnificent escort, is now +quietly walking about here with his wife and no guard. The bridge is to +be fixed nearly in the same place again to-night. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + + Uncertain Intelligence—Capture of Toulouse—Wellington at the + Theatre—The “Liberator”—Ball at the Prefecture—The Feelings of the + French—Soult and Suchet—Ball at the Capitole. + + + Head-quarters, Grenade, + April 10, 1814, 1 o’clock. + + MY DEAR M——, + +Here we are still, away from all that is going on, but expecting every +moment an order to enter Toulouse. The day before yesterday the bridge +was re-established (the 8th), and by one o’clock the Spaniards had all +passed over. The order then came for a brigade of Portuguese artillery +to do the same. They were passing when I went there, soon after one +o’clock; and just as a gun was quitting the last boat to ascend the +bank, down went the boat; the gun, however, run off safe, but two of +the Portuguese pontoon-train sailors got a ducking, which was all the +mischief except a delay of about two hours to fish up the pontoon, drag +it on shore, turn it upside down, to clear out the water, and then +launch it again, and refit the board. + +By four o’clock I left the remainder of the guns going over. The +head-quarters of Lord Wellington remained at St. Jouy that night, and +last night Lord Wellington has only pushed the troops on a little, +to reconnoitre, and in the evening the 18th Hussars, under Colonel +Vivian, had a brilliant affair. They charged the French cavalry on +the high-road, broke them, sabred several, and took about seventy +prisoners, with the loss of a few officers wounded, and, it is +believed, only about six or eight men. Unluckily, Colonel Vivian +received a ball in the arm, which, it is feared, will render amputation +necessary. Yesterday (the 9th), the bridge was taken up very early, +and ordered to be immediately fixed about four miles nearer the town +of Toulouse, at a little place called Assaic. The light divisions +were close to that point, on this side of the river, as a security in +case of any attack on the second division, near St. Cyprien and the +bridge of Toulouse. They were ordered to cross the river as soon as our +pontoons were ready, and a movement was intended, and ordered yesterday. + +From some difficulties, or bad management, the bridge of boats was not +ready until nearly three o’clock, when it was thought too late. Lord +Wellington was more vexed, and in a greater state of anger, than he +usually is when things go wrong, even without any good cause. He said +that his whole plans for the day were frustrated and nothing could be +done; and the light divisions were counter-ordered to remain where they +were on this side the river, and head-quarters remained at St. Jouy. + +The French, it appeared, while still keeping a force to defend the +bridge of Toulouse, had before this taken a strong position on the +hills beyond the town, and had made there some strong works, upon +which they were constantly busy. The last two days and nights their +main body rested on the hills, bivouacking in this position, and in an +uncomfortable state, hourly expecting an attack. This morning about +seven it commenced: the firing was heavy for about two hours, until +nine, and has continued partially since. As I dare not cross the river +and go to the front, I went with my glass to the highest look-out here, +and saw the French redoubt very plainly, firing away briskly: since +that all has been silent here, and free from smoke. The stories of the +people here are that, with the loss of six thousand men, we have taken +the redoubt and thirty-six pieces of ordnance. + +The former, from the direction of the fire, it is certain, is a +lie, and perhaps the latter. As, however, we have now some sort of +official news that the Allies are in Paris, and the Imperial Court at +Orleans, and as there is no account of Bonaparte, the French here will +probably not fight much; and if beaten, it is certain that many, nay +thousands, will run home, and the army be much diminished. I suspect +that Bonaparte will try to unite his corps and all the remains of corps +near Paris, and Augereau’s from Lyons, and Marshal Soult’s and Suchet’s +from Provence, towards Montpelier; but it is to be hoped that even +regiments, and perhaps Marshals, will begin to desert, when it is found +that Paris is taken, and the royal party proclaimed and gaining ground. + +We certainly are in a very odd state just now in France. Our military +chest, Paymaster, Doctors, Commissaries, &c., and nearly all our +money, are in this place, which is altogether without troops; only +about a dozen staff corps men, and about ten of the paymaster’s +ordinary marching guard. The whole army is nearly four leagues in +front, and our only protection is the good-will of the people, and +the river. Yet we are told that there are French troops at Montauban, +about four leagues off, and nothing between us except the river. All +feel, notwithstanding, quite secure, and have no anxiety but to enter +Toulouse. + +In the mean time Lord Dalhousie with a part of the seventh division +has crossed, not only the Gironde, but the Dordogne, and we are told, +is to take Fort Blaze by storm: I suppose his whole force is not above +three thousand five hundred men. Bayonne has not yet been seriously +attacked, nor do we hear of any very great distress in the town, which +is surprising, considering the length of the blockade. + +In the attack to-day, it is said that the third and sixth divisions +were to form the right of the attack on the river, the fourth the +centre, and the light and large body of Spaniards to make the flank +movement on the left, to get on the hills and turn the French position, +whilst the cavalry advance also in that direction, to be ready to take +advantage of the enemy’s retreat. + +_Five o’clock, same day._—No one returned, and no news: and yet no +firing heard, and no orders. I fear that the resistance has been +greater than was expected, and begin to be fidgety and uneasy. The +reports are now, that eight thousand English wounded, and fighting +in the streets now going on. If such complete ignorance of the truth +exists within ten miles of what is passing, you may judge how false +reports circulate: we receive contradictory rumours every hour. All +we know for certain is, that two hours ago Lord Wellington’s baggage +remained at St. Jouy without orders; I despair, therefore, of seeing +Toulouse to-day. + +_Grenade, April 11th, 8 o’clock, morning._—The firing continued all day +yesterday, and until past eight at night, and began again at four this +morning, and has continued to this time, but has now lessened. Several +of our civilians returned home here last night. I understand our loss +is very considerable. We drove the enemy from all the heights, but +with difficulty. The Spaniards failed in the attack of a redoubt, were +put to the rout completely, and, it is reported, would have lost their +guns, which the French were within two or three hundred yards of, had +not the Portuguese stepped in to their support, and enabled them to +rally again. + +This is really too bad—my friend says the ground was covered with dead +Spaniards, and that he saw but few French; this is generally the result +of alarm and flight. The redoubt was taken, but not by the Spaniards, +it is said; the fire close to Lord Wellington was most severe. Near +the town the French fought very hard in the houses, particularly at +some houses near the lock of the canal close to the river. We each +occupied some of the houses, and fired continually; the French houses +were loop-holed, and they had the best. We were obliged to bring guns, +&c.; and, unfortunately, the most successful shell fell into one +of our own houses, and burnt out our own people. Among the killed, +&c., I hear, is Colonel Coghlan of the 61st, an excellent officer, +Lieutenant-colonel Forbes, Captain Gordon, 10th Hussars. Colonel +Fitzclarence is wounded in the thigh: he charged with his troops two +French squadrons, he says, up a hill, beat them, but on the top was +received by infantry: the first shot carried away part of his sword, +the second hit him on the thigh, and they fell back. We were close to +the town and to the bridge last night on all sides, and had moved our +bridge up within two miles of the town. The French have barricaded the +houses and streets, fixed swivels on the tops, lined the roofs with +men, &c., and seem determined to defend the town with desperation. An +officer deserted yesterday, and says he will serve no longer under a +man who acts like a madman, as Soult now does, in defending a town like +Toulouse in such a manner.—It is madness. + +Four Spanish officers came in here yesterday, who had escaped from +Italy through Switzerland, and had walked here. They seemed in great +distress. We had no Commissary here: I therefore gave them eight +pounds of bread and a dozen eggs, got them a quarter for the night, +and advised them to stay here until this morning, and then proceed to +head-quarters. One had served in Colonel Roche’s corps in Catalonia, +and spoke English tolerably. Our delay here, and in taking the town, +has alarmed the people very much. All who have relations and friends in +Toulouse are terribly frightened. The officer who deserted says that +many will do the same as soon as the business is over, and occasions +arise. Captain O. K——, the French-English officer from Toulouse, who +came over to the Duke d’Angoulême at St. Jean de Luz, arrived here +yesterday from Bordeaux. He says, that things are going on well, +especially since the news from Paris; that the Duke has now eighteen +hundred men formed; and that French officers come in every day with +fleur-de-lys embroidered on their Napoleon uniforms, and thus tender +their services. O. K—— was here on his road to Aurillac, to Auvergne, +&c., where, he says, a party is formed and ready to rise. He must take +care of his head, for he goes about talking very imprudently. + +_Head-Quarters, Toulouse, April 13th, 1814, Section 3, No. 676._—To +give you any notion of what we have all felt from the changes which +the last thirty-six hours have produced, you must go back to my first +sheet, and you will feel more as I did, by reading in succession what +has occurred than by anything I can now write. I was about to destroy +the first sheet, as much of it is now not worth the trouble of reading; +but thought it would give you a better idea of the feelings, from day +to day, of the army. + +An order came for civil departments to march, to cross the pontoons, +and to proceed on the high road to Toulouse to a church only three +miles from the town, and there halt and wait for orders. We were off in +ecstasies, expecting all to dine in Toulouse, and that the French were +off, and our men after them. Judge of our vexation, when, on arriving +at the church, we were all turned back off the road, to a miserable +village of about ten houses, called St. Albains; and were there to +find quarters for the night, in places just quitted by the plundering +Spaniards, and left nearly in the state in which the French left the +houses in Spain as they passed. + +When we arrived, we found many of the Spaniards still in possession, +and four of us disarmed and seized three of them in the act of +plundering. The people were screaming in every direction, the houses +abandoned, and the inhabitants just beginning to return to witness the +mischief done. Everything had been ransacked—all the closets, &c., +broken open; the rags and remnants on the floor, mixed with hundreds of +egg-shells, and the feathers of the plundered fowls, &c. Much linen was +carried off, the sheets and heavy articles in the yard; the tables were +covered with broken dishes, bottles, bones, and twine; and the cellars +with the wine-casks running. In about two hours we got possession of +the quarters, and got the inhabitants in to clean them, and by five +o’clock had divided the places among us. My whole baggage lost its +road, and did not arrive at all—five mules and a horse loaded. + +You may conceive the disappointment and the vexation we experienced. +Dr. M’Gregor said that our loss was terrible! He was just returned +from collecting all the wounded in villages, and, by Lord Wellington’s +desire, was hurrying every one possible instantly to the rear. They +were passing all night in cars. The Spaniards were moaning and crying +most desperately, and were to reach Fenoullet that night, Sole +Jourdain the next, and then to be sent on further if necessary. The +accommodations were very bad. The accounts from the town were that +the French were continuing to barricade every house and loophole, and +arming to defend themselves to the last. + +The army was said to be now much weakened; the Spaniards could not +be depended upon; the reinforcements were not come up from England, +and a story was going about and believed by many who ought to have +known better, that we were out of ammunition, and could not use our +artillery. You may conceive that I went (without my baggage and +comforts), with this news, sorrowfully to bed, ordering my servant to +be off at five in the morning in search of my stragglers. + +On the 12th, at 6 o’clock, I was up and wandering about alone, +listening to an occasional heavy gun, seeing wounded men pass, and +waiting for the return of my man. About eight I saw Henry returning +alone, and was expecting more bad news, when he told me that the French +were off, that we were to march for Toulouse directly, and that my +baggage was all safe at a house a league off on the road; and that, +therefore, he had ordered them to pack and be off with the rest. +Think of our sensations on hearing of this welcome change! The last +twenty-four hours had been among the most critical of the war, and +now all was safe and right again. I found out the clergyman, Mr. B——, +got a razor and a cup of tea, whilst my horse was getting ready, and +was then off, to go round by head-quarters and to enter Toulouse with +Lord Wellington. About eleven I arrived at the fortified entrance, and +found, instead of the enemy behind the new works, the _maire_ of the +town, almost all the officers of the _garde urbaine_, a considerable +number of national guard officers, deserters, &c., and about two +hundred smart but awkward men of the city guard, and a band of music, +all with the white cockade, and a great crowd of citizens besides, all +waiting with anxiety to receive Lord Wellington, and carry him in form +to the mayoralty. Unluckily, from some mismanagement and mistake, he +went in at another entrance, and passed on, almost unknown. Hearing +this, I went to the mayoralty with General Packington’s aide-de-camp, +and found it was so; and, therefore, we went back to inform the mayor +officially, and to beg he would return to the _maison commune_. He +did so, though an immense crowd entered the mayoralty in form, and an +introduction then took place, and Lord Wellington showed himself at +the window, amidst the shouts and waving handkerchiefs and hats of +every one. + +The procession then went with Lord Wellington to his quarters, the +Prefêt’s palace, amidst the applause of the inhabitants all the way. +Nothing could be more gratifying than his reception, and that, indeed, +of all the English; the most respectable inhabitants, many of them, not +only anxiously showing us the way to our billets, but offering their +homes without any billets, or receiving us with a sincere welcome as +soon as the paper was delivered. Lord Wellington announced a ball in +the evening at the Prefecture, and left Marshal Beresford with three +divisions and cavalry to follow Marshal Soult for the day. + +We thought nothing could make us happier, when at five o’clock in +came Colonel Ponsonby from Bordeaux with the Paris news, which you +know. He told us that the official accounts would arrive in an hour or +two. Ponsonby came through Montauban: the French officer commanding +there taking his word, and letting him pass. I had been, at Colonel +Campbell’s request, examining General St. Hilaire and his servant. St. +Hilaire was found, under suspicious circumstances, in the town, and was +just put under arrest, and Campbell luckily asked me to dine with Lord +Wellington, which I should have been very sorry to have missed. + +Just as we were sitting down to dinner, about forty of us, General +Frere, and several Spaniards, General Picton, and Baron Alten, the +principal French, &c., in came Cooke with the despatches. The whole was +out directly, champagne went round, and after dinner Lord Wellington +gave “Louis XVIII.,” which was very cordially received with three times +three, and white cockades were ordered for us to wear at the theatre +in the evening. In the interim, however, General Alava got up, and +with great warmth gave Lord Wellington’s health, as the _Liberador +del’ Espagna_! Every one jumped up, and there was a sort of general +exclamation from all the foreigners—French, Spanish, Portuguese, +Germans, and all—_El Liberador d’Espagna! Liberador de Portugal! Le +Liberateur de la France! Le Liberateur de l’Europe!_ And this was +followed, not by a regular three times three, but a cheering all in +confusion for nearly ten minutes! Lord Wellington bowed, confused, and +immediately called for coffee. He must have been not a little gratified +with what had passed. + +We then all went to the play. The public were quite in the dark as +to what had just arrived, but Lord Wellington was received in the +stage-box (where he sat, supported by Generals Picton, Frere, and +Alava, &c., and also the _maire_) with no little applause, I assure +you. At the door the people would scarcely take the money from us; +and in the opposite stage-box the French left the box themselves, and +made room for us. We had the white cockades on the breast. The English +officers in the house stared, and did not know what to make of it. +Some thought it a foolish, giddy trick. In about ten minutes Lord +Wellington turned his hat outwards to the front of the box: it was +seen, and a shout ensued immediately. The play was “_Richard, oh mon +Roi_,” which was fixed upon really before the news came. The “_Henri +IV._” was played, and then the new French constitution was read aloud +from one of the boxes. The people most anxious, and in general pleased; +in some things not. I think most of it very good, if the French can +enjoy anything so like our own constitution, for such it is, under +other names; but this is doubtful. The article worst received was that +leaving all the sales of emigrant lands to stand good; and it does +appear to me that, when, by means of paper, an estate had been bought +for the price of a team of horses, an equitable arrangement would +have been better, to be settled by Government Commissioners. This +was followed by “God save the King,” which was received with great +applause. + +When the play was over, we adjourned to the ball at Lord Wellington’s. +The only drawback was our meeting on the way the cars of the wounded +in the streets, now moving to the excellent hospitals here. This on +consideration was also a satisfaction, for many lives will be saved by +the wounded being brought here, instead of being sent to rear. You will +now guess what we felt, and what a species of trance we were in. + +Here we are halted, whilst the news is sent on to Soult, with whom +Marshal Beresford could not come up. The arrival of the news was at the +moment we should have selected, except for the loss of life. For Lord +Wellington’s character, however, even that was good, and eight hours +sooner it would have been said that the late battle was no victory on +our part, and that we should never have entered Toulouse, nor would the +real sentiments of the town have been known. + +On inquiry, I find that the French loss has been great. General Taupin, +one of my friends on La Rhüne, killed; General D’Armagnac, who took +me, wounded; Harispe wounded, and here a prisoner; two other Generals +wounded, &c. Our loss fell principally, you will see, on the sixth +division, and the Scotch Brigade in particular, and on the Spaniards. +With regard to the latter, it is said that, upon the whole, the men for +a long time behaved well, and that if General Frere had been as skilful +as brave, and the officers better, they probably would have succeeded +in their object, which certainly happened to be the most arduous duty +of the day. They arrived on a sort of smooth glacis below the French +works, under a fire admitted to be more severe than almost any since +Albuera. Decision and skill and rapidity were then required. The men +were kept too long in this fire—they broke—and then ran like sheep. One +French regiment, it is said, drove more than four thousand of them, and +in such a manner that they almost upset a Caçadore Portuguese regiment +by main force. Three companies of the latter stood firm, beat back +the Spaniards with their firelocks, laughed at them, enjoyed it, and +completely checked the French. The redoubt was afterwards taken by our +men, with great loss, as you will see. General Frere was in despair; +he exerted himself to the utmost to rally his men; at last, by his +exertions, assisted by Lord Wellington in person, one or two Spanish +companies were formed, and became steady. Upon this the rest soon +followed, and formed up also. The Spaniards had then a less arduous +post assigned them; all went on well again, and I believe they behaved +fairly enough. Their loss is considerable. + +This morning the whole conversation of the officers turns upon half-pay +and starvation. With some, want of preferment; with others, promotion; +and with those who have promotion, a determination to enjoy themselves +now that all is over, and their dangers and sufferings past. As to my +own prospects, they are so completely in the air, that my being never +much of an architect for building in that element, I go quietly on with +my work, and trust to the future. + +I shall defer any account of this place, &c., for fear of being too +late for the despatches, and now say adieu. + +Pray forward the enclosed two letters, which are from Madame de Baudré, +my hostess at Mont de Marsan, who desired me to take care of them, and +enclosed them in a letter of great professions of kindness for me, only +exceeded by the most romantic ones for the Bourbons, and stating the +great losses her family and connexions have lately sustained. + +_Head-Quarters, Toulouse, April 15th, 1814._—Here we are quietly +waiting the result of the communication of the late news to Marshal +Soult, &c. Cooke has come back from his head-quarters. The Marshal +hesitates a little at present. He objects that he has no authentic +documents from Bonaparte or the authorities whom he represents, and +seems to have some doubts of the extent of the late news—or pretends +to have. In short, as yet he takes no decided line, but it is said has +applied for an armistice, probably wishing to gain time, to consult +Suchet, &c., and learn more of the state of things. + +Colonel Gordon was sent to him yesterday by Lord Wellington with +a flag-of-truce; and it is understood that a positive answer and +determination was required, and the armistice refused. Lord Wellington +and all the officers yesterday attended Colonel Coghlan’s funeral in +the morning, at the Temple, and went from thence in procession to the +Protestant burial-ground out of the town. + +In the evening Lord Wellington gave another more magnificent ball at +the Prefecture. It was too crowded to dance much, or well, but went +off with great glee and general satisfaction. The ladies were very +prettily dressed, in general, with the exception of a few of the high +ugly bonnets, and there were several very pleasing-looking girls, and +good dancers; but I do not think that in general the women are handsome +here. I met with one very good-humoured chatty lady, about eighteen +probably, who said she had only left her “Maman,” with whom she had +always lived near Carcassonne, one month, and that, in that time she +had witnessed many strange things:—the ravages of the French army, +the passage of our army over the Garonne, a great battle (which was +all visible quite plainly from the churches here, and even from the +houses), the preparations for a siege, the retreat of the French, our +triumphal entry, the change of the national government, and her own +marriage. + +Captain Tovey, of the 20th, taken at Orthes, has escaped, and came in +here yesterday. He would not give his parole, and made several attempts +to be off. In consequence he was hardly treated, but is now safe. He +met with every assistance from the French inhabitants; and at the +last house he was in, the owner made him leave his peasant’s dress, +and equipped him in a new suit, boots and all, French cut, to pass our +lines, and go to head-quarters in. The villages through which he passed +were proclaiming the King; and he was told that Soult’s house, near +Carcassonne, had been destroyed by the mob. + +The French here discover the same volatile character as ever. _Vive le +Roi!_ is shouted as vigorously as _Vive l’Empereur!_ was, I am told, a +few years since, when Bonaparte made his then really popular entry, and +gave his fêtes here, of which the most fulsome _procès verbal_ still +exists, signed by a maire-adjoint of the same name as the one who now +signs the King’s proclamation, and I believe he is the same man—Lameluc. + +The inhabitants are all at work as usual, and very active. +Fleurs-de-lys are now upon the skirts of the coats instead of eagles, +and last night on the theatre dropscene. The busts of Bonaparte are +smashed. The Capitolium ornaments are all undergoing a change. All +the N.’s and B.’s, &c., are effaced; and the workmen are now busily +employed working round the cornice of the great staircase at the +Capitol, changing all the alternate ornaments of a handsome cornice, +every other one having been a _bee_. The English are everything, and in +general estimation. To return the compliment of our wearing their white +cockade on our black one, they now wear a black one on their white. +The Spaniards are considered much as the Cossacks. The Capitolium is a +very fine building, and as the splendid velvet and gold canopy, and the +throne of Bonaparte at one end, had no decided emblems except that of +authority generally, it has, after some doubts, been allowed to remain, +and is not destroyed. We are to have a grand ball there, it is said, +given on Sunday, by the inhabitants, if approved of, and we stay. + +The theatre is about the size of the Haymarket Theatre; in width rather +larger, but much deeper, and something in the improved shape of Covent +Garden. The actors are tolerable. It is, however, inferior to the +Bordeaux Theatre, and certainly to that of Lyons. + +The stone bridge over the Garonne, of seven arches, is very solid and +substantial, wide, and upon the whole a splendid work, but not very +graceful in its architecture. It is like Kew bridge in general shape, +but in much heavier and substantial proportions. + +Several improvements have been some time since commenced in the city, +but most of them are now at a stand, and have been so for some time. +The cathedral of St. Etienne is an unfinished Gothic building, the +great aisle being wanting to the new building. Instead of this, a large +sort of Westminster Hall, of more ancient date, joins the cathedral on +one side. This was originally intended to be pulled down or altered. + +There is some good tapestry and fine painted glass, which have escaped +here, as in several other churches, the revolutionary destruction. + +The streets here are like the old parts of Paris, in general narrow, +with a gutter in the middle; and the houses very good, but high shops +below, and three stories of good rooms above. Several handsome hotels, +with their great gates and small gardens. I am in a dirty place, but +tolerably well off. The people are civil; I have good stabling, and one +comfortable room, now it is cleaned. + +C—— gives rather a strange account of our Allies, but seems to think +from their numbers, and the general feeling, that the business has at +last been well-blundered through. There is a good story told of an +incident which happened at the interview with Soult the other day. +The substance of the news somehow got wind, and the army, whilst the +Marshal was closeted with C——, gave a loud shout. The aide-de-camp +went to inquire the cause, and returned saying, “_Ce n’est qu’un +lièvre, Monseigneur_.” You ought to know that nothing causes a louder +shout amongst troops than a hare crossing them. General M—— said the +aide-de-camp should have been asked whether it was a Leipzig hare? If +Soult does not declare himself, his army will, I think, desert him. I +have now only just received a letter from you, of the 22nd March, and +papers. + +The French works at the entrance of the town, by the bridge (_tête de +pont_), were very strong, and cost much in labour and materials, for no +use. They were formed by close piles of timber like the caissons for +the foundation of a bridge, filled up with earth, and the tops lined by +barrels of earth, with a ditch and guns, &c., placed, and the walls of +the buildings round all loop-holed. + +I rode all over the positions of the battle yesterday, on the hills, +and examined all the forts and the monuments of French industry and +British courage. They were most formidable places to approach, for the +hills formed a regular smooth glacis from the works at the top to the +valley below, and half way down were long low heaps of sod, or turf, +made up to protect the advanced sharp-shooters, who were lying safe on +the ground, protected behind them, though the barrier was not above two +feet high. A church and a house loop-holed, formed the sort of citadel +to two of the forts or redoubts for musquetry, with the guns around +the outside. The ditches were not so deep, nor the works so complete +as those near Vera, where the French had more time, nor were the roads +or mountains so difficult to ascend; but there was less shelter to +approach, from the greater smoothness of the ground. Almost the only +chance of safety was following some hollow roads, and a ride or two on +the hills. + +_16th (4 o’clock)._—I have just heard that the mail goes in half an +hour. There is, therefore, little time to add to this. Colonel G—— is +come back: Soult very civil, but high and proud in his manner, not yet +satisfied, and so circumstanced, does not yet join the royal cause; the +consequence is, I hear, that the troops move to-morrow morning, and I +fear we shall do the same then or soon after. This is very provoking, +for the general result seems clear, and all bloodshed now useless. I +suspect the truth of the hare story, as it is said that Soult’s army +is still ignorant of what has happened, at least, nearly so. Pains +are now being taken to circulate the proclamations, news, &c., in all +directions round him, that the troops may learn the real state of +things. I have to-day received the parcel from you, letter to 29th, and +newspapers. Many thanks. + +The museum here contains but a bad second-rate set of pictures. About a +hundred have been carried away during the month of March, no one knows +where; but I presume they were the best of those which were portable +from their size. + +There has been some difference of opinion, and confusion, we hear, at +Montauban about royalty. Bayonne, it is to be feared, will abide by +Soult, and do nothing yet. + +_Head-Quarters, Toulouse, April 18th, 1814, 5 o’clock._—The troops +moved as I told you yesterday, and the order was actually out for +head-quarters to move to-day, when Count Gazan came in yesterday, about +mid-day, to announce Marshal Soult’s submission, I believe, to the new +order of things, and to arrange cantonments, &c., for the two armies. +He was closeted with General Murray a long time, and arrangements were +made. He returned this morning to have the articles ratified, and +to-night Lord G. Lennox has orders to be in readiness to go to England +through Paris with the news. This last fact you will, perhaps, have +heard, and probably before you get this. + +We had yesterday a grand _Te Deum_, a most strange noisy military +and religious ceremony attended with all the drums and military band; +French civic soldiers, with their hats on, hallooing, shouting, +singing, organs, &c., an immense crowd, and great cordiality. +Unluckily, Gazan passed the door as the crowd was coming out; he was +hooted, and saluted with “_A bas Soult!_” &c. This was a pity, but +these changeable gentlemen are all in extremes. The troops are all +going into cantonments immediately, and we shall for some time, I +conclude, be quiet. + +The bad news from Bayonne is very unlucky. General Hope is, I hear, not +dangerously wounded; and his aide-de-camp is gone to Bayonne to comfort +him in his confinement, which I trust will now be soon over. The affair +seems to have been a surprise in a great measure, and the chief loss +was in regaining the church, &c., of St. Etienne, which had been easily +lost at first. Lord Dalhousie, on the other hand, seems to have gone on +well alone, across the Dordogne. + +The arsenal is here on a very large scale, and would have been a very +great acquisition, were the war to have gone on. The French carried +away almost everything but materials, of which there is abundance of +wheel carriages, &c., and all the forges, &c., in order. + +_Head-Quarters, Toulouse, April 23rd, 1814._—Our life has now fallen +into the old routine way again, and not only without daily events and +little incidents to excite the mind, as has hitherto been the case, +but also with the additional flatness and indifference, which cannot +but be felt so immediately after a succession of such occurrences as +have taken place within the last month. You will now have only the +tittle-tattle of a country town (a French town certainly, and therefore +somewhat novel), with which you must be satisfied. When Count Gazan +came over here, to settle the terms of the armistice and line of +demarcation, &c., with Generals Murray and Wimpfen, he was so much +engaged that I could not see him, as I wished to do, and he went very +suddenly back again. The terms you will see in the papers. + +When all the Spanish garrisons are collected in France, this southern +French army will again be respectable. Our troops are all moving into +their cantonments along the Garonne on the left bank, except a few on +this right bank, within the department of the Haute Garonne, which +remains nearly all ours for the present. We have had a variety of +strangers—the two Sir Charles Stewarts the first place. The Lisbon +minister only stopped here one day on his way to Holland; the other Sir +Charles, from Paris, came, as it is whispered here, to signify a wish +on the part of the Allies that Lord Wellington would be the English +commissioner at the general Congress. If so, and this seems very +probable, I think he does well to refuse, for he cannot stand higher +than he does. Were he to go, the other diplomatists would be surprised +at his method of getting through business. We should certainly have a +general peace many weeks sooner, if not months, than we are likely to +have otherwise. + +I was walking with C—— in Lord Wellington’s garden about eight o’clock +in the morning, three days since, when we saw a queer-looking figure +approach, of whom we could make out nothing from the complete mixture +of undress and magnificence—a pair of not clean overalls on, a common +short pelisse, and a foraging cap, but the whole breast covered with +stars and little crosses, and swords and orders of all sorts. + +I was not a little surprised at being introduced to Sir Charles +Stewart. He had arrived at two in the morning and had gone to bed, +without sending word to Lord Wellington, depending upon finding him at +home at eight o’clock, when to his mortification he found that Lord +Wellington had been since five in the morning out hunting; and when +Sir Charles asked where he could go to meet him, the best information +he could get was, that it was in a forest somewhere about eighteen +miles distant, but no one knew exactly where, for the only persons who +knew, about four in number, were out with him. Patience, therefore, was +his only remedy; and instead of being off again in two hours as he said +he had intended, he was obliged to stay long enough to give us a few +anecdotes from the Allies. Two of Marshal Suchet’s aides-de-camp, and +two or three French colonels from his army and that of Soult, have also +been here. + +With one of Suchet’s aides-de-camp I had much conversation. He is a +gentleman-like young man. He told me that Suchet was at Perpignan +when he heard of Soult’s affair here; but that he then thought it +prudent to hasten to Narbonne, and there he was when the news from +Paris arrived. Had the war gone on, therefore, we should evidently +have had a dance, as I expected, to the Mediterranean, on the road to +Montpelier, after these united marshals, and should have required your +utmost exertions and reinforcements from England; as it is, all is +well. Suchet’s aide-de-camp said that he found very different feelings +towards Soult in this country from what there were towards his master +in the districts where he had commanded, and that he feared Soult had +conducted himself very badly. The two marshals are, I understand, very +jealous of each other. I asked him if Suchet had the least notion or +expectation previously of what has happened. He said, “No: who could +expect such a change in the minds of every one, and such a revolution +in seven days’ time?” Then he laughed, and said, “At present we were +_à la mode_;” and as I met him at the grand ball at the Capitole here +again, he said, “There, you have nothing to do now but to make the most +of your advantages, and amuse yourselves: all the beauties have now +declared for you.” + +I rather pitied him, when at that meeting a number of pert apprentices, +with immense white cockades on, and some still with Napoleon buttons +and smart civic uniforms, were continually coming up to him, and +reaching about up to his chin, asking him, pertly, “Oh! are you Soult’s +aide-de-camp, or Suchet’s? Well, how do you like what is going on?” +fellows, that a month ago would have almost cleaned his shoes had they +been asked. Some of them even thought he was English, and in bad patois +French, complimented him on the progress he had made in the French +language. His military pride was much put to the trial, and he could +hardly smother his feelings. He then asked me to show him his new King, +of whom there was an old picture hung up, as he said it was now time +to make acquaintance with his new sovereign, as well as with this new +state of society. + +The grand ball given by the town at the Capitole on Thursday went off +well, except that it was just such a crowd as an Easter Monday ball at +the Mansion House. The rooms were very handsome, and the five hundred +English, Spanish, and Portuguese officers added not a little to the +effect of the scene. Nearly the whole were generals, aide-de-camps, +staff-officers, or at least field-officers, and every order and +ornament of every nation was worn. Lord Wellington was most splendid. +The amusement commenced by leading him into the Salle de Trone +_ci-devant_ Bonaparte, where, over the vacant chair in the centre, was +the picture of King Louis XVIII., and on each side that of the Duke +d’Angoulême, and one of Lord Wellington himself—the latter a hasty +caricature likeness taken by a painter here at the play from memory. He +was then entertained with a short concert, principally consisting of La +Chasse d’Henri IV., and “God save the King,” sung by the public singers +from a gallery, amidst the clouds—goddesses and cupids painted above +them. + +I had got Mr. K——, the famous English officer singer, to go with me +to the leader of the band, and to give him the catch-club harmony of +“God save the King,” and we wrote them down full instructions, and all +the words for the song, solo, trio, chorus, &c., the words spelt also +according to the French pronunciation, while the musician caught by the +ear and scribbled down all the parts, one by one, from K——’s singing. +It was an interesting scene. They had a rehearsal, and Mr. K—— gave the +_prima donna_ a few private lessons, and the whole in consequence went +off really surprisingly well. The supper-tables were filled by about +four sets successively, the English having the preference, sentinels +letting us in, and keeping out the French until the last. This went on +until there was not even bread and water remaining. + +The press, now, is at work here, printing Cevallo’s old history of +the conduct of the French in Spain, and a variety of things, which +to the natives are news. There seems to be a disposition to buy the +books and read; nothing, however, will make the French what Cobbett +calls us, “a thinking people.” They seem to be as frivolous as ever. +The next thing wished for here, and at Bordeaux, is to get rid of this +new constitution, and have the Bourbons as before; at least the party +is strong for this line, and, unless something decisive is done soon, +and the old military dispersed about, and gens-d’armes, I think they +will even yet have a squabble about several things among themselves, +which makes me wish that we should be off as soon as possible, and +have nothing to do with them. As soon as all the foreign garrisons are +withdrawn, and the line of the French empire settled, the faster we +withdraw from within it the better. I always expected the royal cause +would gain ground as it has, when once fairly tried. It was the only +source of peace, and that was what all wanted, on any terms. Of course +the acceptance of the Bourbons made it all easy; but I believe all the +southern departments would gladly have been English, to secure peace, +and get sugar, sell their wines, and get rid of conscriptions and +acquisitions. + +Lord Wellington gives another grand ball at the _ci-devant_ Prefecture, +now Palais Royale, on Monday next. On Tuesday, he resigns his place +there to the Duke d’Angoulême, and as there is an old adage about two +kings of Brentford, I suspect he will soon afterwards take a trip +somewhere else, at least for a time. I doubt, however, his leaving the +armies altogether, while they remain in force, and the French marshals +likewise. + +Bordeaux must be very proud of the example they have given to France. +They must take especial care to conceal their subsequent alarms, and +half-repentance of what they have done. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +Toulouse—Its Churches—Protestant Service—Libraries—Reception of the +Duke d’Angoulême—The French Generals—Popularity of Wellington. + + + Head-quarters, Toulouse, + April 27, 1814. + + MY DEAR M——, + +Though I have nothing now to amuse you with, but the result of my +morning walks and inquiries in this town, I shall proceed as usual, +more with a wish to preserve my own crude observations, than hoping to +interest you much by the perusal. + +My last was finished on Saturday. On Sunday, about half-past eleven, I +attended the service at the Protestant chapel, established under the +sanction and patronage of Bonaparte, as a sort of church-wardenish +gold-lettered record informed me. The service began with a prayer +by the clerk; he then gave out a psalm, more noisy than musical, +and without the accompaniment of the organ. I was astonished that +such a small congregation could make so much noise and discord. One +greasy-headed, methodistical-looking man, near me, continued in an +unceasing roar, bearing much more resemblance to a well-known noise +with which our mules so frequently indulge us, than any known harmony. +A short prayer, and a long chapter from the New Testament, with the +Commentary, as printed in the book, was then delivered from the pulpit +or reading-desk (for there was but one) by a clergyman, who then +entered. Another psalm ensued. The organ then played to introduce a +young preacher, who took the reader’s place, and gave us a prayer and +the Ten Commandments, and another psalm, partly to the organ; but +before half a stave was finished, the organist found that his notes and +the vocal ones were so different, that he ceased playing, and though +he made two or three attempts at a single note afterwards, he found it +would not do, and gave it up. + +The young preacher then read a text from the Bible, and gave us a +very good extempore discourse about half-an-hour long. The subject +was the vanity of this world, and the danger of temptation and evil +communication. The language and delivery were clear and distinct; there +was no rant, but much propriety of manner. A psalm followed, and the +organ was not so much distanced; then the Lord’s Prayer and Belief, and +a prayer for all descriptions of persons and denominations, like that +of our own Church praying for dignitaries, &c. And then another psalm, +at last, in tolerable harmony, but very noisy. A blessing concluded the +whole. + +At first there were only about forty-five persons; some half-dozen old +gentlemen were in the seats near the altar. These had backs. About +twenty-five women were in the right-hand seats; and about fifteen +men in the left. The side-seats were chairs placed in rows, and all +fastened to each other. In the course of the service, the numbers +increased to about sixty or seventy. The congregation appeared to be +nearly all of the middling class of tradesmen; only about three of our +poor men took their allotted seats, quite at the back. As no one ever +knelt down, there was no occasion for either room or cushions for that +purpose. The men sat with their hats occasionally on and off, and legs +crossed, at their ease, in the style of the House of Commons; but were +attentive to the sermon. The three poor men all fell asleep, snoring +so loud that a sort of beadle was obliged to awaken them. I was not +much surprised on the whole, comparing this scene with that in the +Roman Catholic churches, that the proselytes amongst the highest and +lowest classes were not not numerous. This service suits neither. It +is most adapted to an independent tradesman, who thinks a little for +himself, and can see the errors of the Catholics, and likes the economy +of the chapel. It might be accident, but I saw scarcely any white +cockades,—only one or two of the elder, and I suppose richer, members +of the community wear them in their hats. + +On Monday I looked into nearly all the churches, present and +_ci-devant_, of Toulouse. The cathedral of St. Etienne I have already +mentioned. The next in size and consequence is St. Saturnin, or more +commonly called St. Surnin. This is a curious building, in the dark +heavy Saxon style (reminding one of the early attempts at Grecian +revival, and the introduction of the Gothic), all circular except the +angular main pillars of the centre of the cross, which were heavy +octagons; the roof circular, and upper windows double circles. Except +the pillars, nearly the whole is made of the flat tile or brick, +which is curious. It was built in the present form about the year +1160 to 1190. There are monuments of the Earls of Toulouse, &c., of +founders, and in a dark vaulted chapel under the grand altar are relics +innumerable—of the thorns in the crown placed on the head of Christ; +the heads of Barnabas, of Simon, and of Jude; parts of their bodies +also; parts of Peter; besides bishops, &c.; the body and figure of +Thomas Aquinas; and an English saint, a king, whose name I could not +make out. We heard much of the riches with which all these relics were +formerly surrounded. It is said that the revolutionists carried off +four hundredweight of gold, besides silver. All the most valuable part, +however, as the good Catholics are bound to think, were fortunately +spared, and still remain in excellent preservation, and tolerably fine +with gilding. + +The general effect of the building is gloomy and superstitious, and a +strange unpleasant smell, which some say proceeds from large vaults +underneath, which are filled with bodies which do not corrupt, makes +one glad to get out of the building as soon as curiosity is satisfied. +They do not bury their dead in the church now, and the vaults I +mentioned are walled up. In the remaining churches now in use there +is little worthy of notice, but there are two very large _ci-devant_ +convent churches. That of the Jacobins is worthy of notice; one long +building only, like King’s College Chapel (not a cross), and with one +lofty row of circular pillars all down the centre. This forms as it +were two equal main aisles, and no side aisles. On the sides are rows +of chapels and a large cloister. Almost the whole is in brick, except +the centre pillars. It is now regularly fitted up as cavalry barrack +stables; and they are excellent, easily containing in the whole, I +should think, about seven hundred horses. There is an octagon building +adjoining, with a slender pillar, fitted up the same. Near this is +another large, long, similar building, formerly a chapel, but without +the centre pillars, and the scale of course somewhat smaller. This +is the forage store for the cavalry barrack. We have them now both +in use, as the French had. I must now go in my best to meet the Duke +d’Angoulême. + +_Friday, the 26th._—About two o’clock on Wednesday the most interesting +scene commenced since that of the first day of our entrance, and a +more splendid one still. Lord Wellington, surrounded by about three +hundred horsemen, composed of general officers, aides-de-camp, and +staff officers of all descriptions, and of the four nations, Spanish, +English, French and Portuguese, went out to meet the Duke d’Angoulême, +all in their best uniforms, on their best chargers, and covered with +white cockades. The only French general of the opposing army who came +in time for this was Clausel, and he was for some time side by side +with Lord Wellington. When we had gone about six miles, and arrived at +a sort of triumphal arch on a hill, the Duke appeared, escorted by a +guard of our heavy dragoons and a double French guard of honour from +Bordeaux and Toulouse. We drew up on each side, after the interview +with Lord Wellington, to let them pass, and then all joined in the +procession to the town. + +The sides of the road were crowded with carriages and people, and the +enthusiasm of the lower classes, and of the women in particular, was +excessive. The Duke and Lord Wellington, after being joined by more +guards of honour and more suite, as we approached the town, entered the +street over the grand bridge, amidst the shouts and acclamations of a +multitude crowding every window. The scene reminded me of the London +streets at Lord Nelson’s funeral. From the _tête de pont_, which still +in part exists, over the bridge, up to the cathedral through all the +principal streets, was a double line of English troops, between which +the procession passed. Several of the regiments had got their clothing, +and they looked admirably, especially the Scotch 91st. + +A sort of moveable _garde urbaine de l’infanterie_ on each side kept +also with us all the way. White flags, exhibiting French ingenuity +to the utmost, were hanging from every window. Sheets, table-cloths, +towels, &c., covered with green paper fleurs-de-lys formed excellent +standards, and paper flags were innumerable. The women, and some of the +old men, were quite mad with joy, and screamed, _Vive le Roi et vivent +les Anglois!_ till they were stopped by absolute exhaustion, or some by +tears of joy. Every house was hung with laurel mixed with the white, +and the lower story covered entirely with old tapestry, old carpets, or +sheets, and paper fleurs-de-lys. In the morning this made the streets +look something like Brokers’-alley certainly, but the effect, when +mixed with the rest of the scene, was not bad. + +After passing under another triumphal arch of table-cloths, laurel, +fleurs-de-lys, &c., we reached the cathedral, and a _Te Deum_ +succeeded. This was much like the last, only rather more in order, and +the public bodies were more numerous and in their costume. The ten +Judges and the President, in their red robes, like our aldermen, with +small black-and-gold caps. The Judges de Premier Instance, in black +Master-of-Arts gowns, with sky-blue sashes; the Avocats in black gowns +alone; the professors of sciences and arts in their crimson-coloured +Master-of-Arts gowns, and those of belles-lettres in orange; the +Archbishop and clergy in full costume. The music was not very striking, +but many of the old people cried with joy. + +About six o’clock the Duke dined with Lord Wellington, and went to +the play in the evening, where the acclamations were renewed with +fresh vigour; the women in the streets caught hold of his coat to kiss +it. Yesterday the Duke had a _grande messe_, and then a full-dress +drawing-room—this in the morning. In the evening the great rooms of the +Capitolium were opened again for music and dancing. The Duke came in +there too soon, when scarcely five hundred people were arrived, but in +another hour the crowd was immense. The dresses of the women were very +splendid, and the variety of orders and uniforms made the scene very +gay. General Villette was there, as well as Clausel, and a number of +French officers. The Duke was just the same as at St. Jean de Luz, and +remembered all his old acquaintance there, myself among the rest. + +He not only gave me a gracious nod during the first procession, +but surprised me by coming round behind the chairs of the ladies, +where I was standing, in the music-room, and gave me his hand, and +reminded me of King Joseph’s saddle-cloth, which I had given the +Duke, and which was on his horse, as I observed, when he entered +the town. His affability and good-nature are striking; but he must +acquire more dignity and self-possession, as his figure is against +him in appearance, and he seems shy; in short he must learn the trade +of kingcraft, like any other, and a quiet rational man is just now +the best king the French can have. The great rock to avoid is the +probability of being misled by indiscreet emigrants. + +I was, it must be confessed, rather at a loss what to say to the Duke, +but when he talked of the saddle-cloth, I replied, that “Its only +merit, which was as a trophy, now was at an end, as the family of +the Bonapartes had ceased to be objects to triumph over.” This, and +a lame congratulation on what had happened, completed my speech; as, +however, it was as new to me to address royalty as it was to him to +act it, I hope if occasion offers I may improve by practice as well as +his Highness. One circumstance amused me much in all this scene: the +good city of Toulouse covered its streets with sand, and made the air +resound with cries, and every house had two paper lanterns in every +window at night; and they were, in general, I am convinced, sincere in +this, although one might have been induced to think otherwise from the +acts of the authorities and public offices. A set of _garde urbaine_ +officers (the new gens-d’armes) ran all the way at the head of the +procession, prompting the cries, and setting them going all the way +we went; and the illuminations were, by special order of the mayor, +from the Bureau d’Illuminations, as usual in the time of Bonaparte’s +system. My intended observation is this—the city loyalty vented itself +in cries, in _Te Deums_, in music, and in farthing candles, and +dancing, shouting, draperies, &c., but the Royal Duke was placed in +the Palais Royale (_ci-devant_ Prefecture), and no provision made for +his table or for his establishment or Bordeaux guard of honour, and our +head-quarters’ Commissary was called upon to feed the animals, &c., of +the guard and followers, and Lord Wellington to entertain the Prince +and invite the principal citizens to meet him. + +The old notion of the sign of the Four Alls—“John Bull pays for all,” +seems to be as well known here as elsewhere in the world. There seems +no principle now-a-days more generally diffused or adopted more readily +in every quarter. Our rations are all procured, you must be aware, by +requisitions, through the mayors of the country, &c., to be provided by +the districts, and you would naturally think the same authority could +provide for all French deserters, and for the Royal troops of guards +and establishment; but then who would pay for all these requisitions? +All we have is paid for; and it is _bien plus commode_ to come to our +store ready collected than to form one for these purposes. + +An odd incident occurred to me just before the procession on Wednesday. +I was at Lord Wellington’s new hotel, the great inn, the Hotel de +France, endeavouring to find his room, to leave a Court-martial, when +I stumbled on my friend the Dutch aide-de-camp of General Clausel, +who told me he was looking for one of our Marshal’s aides-de-camp in +waiting to introduce his General, who was behind him, and who, on my +turning round, recognized me, as he and his division took me prisoner. +To their great surprise, I told them that there was no chance of +finding an aide-de-camp, but perhaps we might find a serjeant, and +I was on the search. It so happened that there was no one but an +ignorant sentinel. In trying a door or two, we all blundered upon +Lord Wellington, who came himself to the door; so I introduced the +astonished Clausel, and walked off. + +My Dutch friend told me that Soult and Suchet would have had about six +aides-de-camp, &c., in the first room, and a general officer in waiting +in the second. I own that I think our great man goes to the opposite +extreme; but he does not like being watched and plagued. Just after +the state _levée_ yesterday, I saw him cross the crowded square in his +blue coat and round hat, almost unnoticed and unknown even to the very +people who half an hour before had been cheering him. In one angle of +Lord Wellington’s hotel lives Madam C——, a Spanish beauty, married into +a French family of rank, who are the proprietors of the hotel, but who +have been obliged to let nearly the whole, reserving this angle. I do +not mean to be scandalous; but this, perhaps, may have decided the +choice of the house. + +Lord Wellington to-day had intelligence that Marshal Suchet was on his +way here, and has been with his staff about a dozen miles to meet him +in form. The French Marshal, from some confusion, did not appear, and +Lord Wellington would wait no longer, but returned alone. In our grand +procession to meet the royal Duke on Wednesday a ridiculous accident +happened. A French post carriage with three horses abreast ran away, +and came full drive down upon us, the Frenchmen all bawling, the horses +pulling all ways, and clearing all before them. Our three hundred +warriors were all broken in an instant, and dispersed over the ditches, +and in all directions, until at last one unfortunate horseman ran foul +of the French horses, and the whole came down together. Fortunately +nobody was materially hurt. + +_Saturday, Post-day._—As I returned home last night by the Palais Royal +from dinner, I found every one going, without regular invitation, into +the Palais Royal to the Prince, who held a _soirée_; so I entered +likewise, and found him surrounded by dancing as usual, and by Marshals +and Generals only to be outdone at Paris. Suchet had arrived with his +staff. Colonel Canning, who was left behind for him, brought him in +about two hours after Lord Wellington returned. General Lamarque and +several other officers came with him, two Generals, as aides-de-camp, +besides Colonels, &c. The Marshal himself was a strange figure. His +head and cheeks and chin all overgrown with hair, like a wild man of +the woods: and his dress more splendid than the drum-major of one of +our Guards’ bands on a birthday. + +The contrast had a singular effect. The uniform was blue, but almost +concealed, and could have stood alone with gold embroidery. Every seam, +edge, and button, before and behind, above and below, was _galloné_ +with a sort of oak-leaf pattern about three inches wide, and on his +breast were two gold and silver stars, as large as our Garter star, and +several small orders of different kinds. He would have been rather a +good-looking man if dressed in a more moderate style. Lord Wellington +and several of his Generals, being in their plain uniforms, made the +French General’s extravagance the more striking. + +Soult’s aide-de-camp also came in, and a guard was ready, and an hotel +for him, but he did not appear. Generals Lamarque, Clausel, Villette, +and three or four more, and a number of embroidered _Payeurs_ and +_Commissaires Généraux_, _Préfêts_, &c., increased the general glitter; +but nothing looked better than our scarlet. The Prince and Suchet had +much conversation, and seemed more easy and gay than I had seen the +former before with any of his new friends. + +Scarcely any Frenchman has worn the Spanish or Portuguese cockade; and +amidst all the cries you never hear a _viva_ for either Spaniards or +Portuguese. They are in consequence very angry and sulky, and I think +a little jealous of us. This you may well imagine, when you learn that +they all along consider that _they_ have accomplished all that has +happened, and that we have assisted a little certainly, but that they +could have done without us. Except those about Lord Wellington, who +do it more out of compliment to him, the Spaniards in general, and a +great number of the Portuguese, will not in consequence wear the white +cockade. + +I see no harm in this, for as we fought a whole century to prevent +the two kingdoms of France and Spain from being both under the +Bourbons, it is quite as well now that it happens to be our interest +to fight for the contrary doctrine, that there should be as little +cordiality between them as possible. A Spanish soldier was told the +other day in the street to cry “_Vive le Roi! Vivent les Bourbons!_” +He made no answer. The request was repeated, and he was asked why +he made a difficulty. He was still silent at first, but then rapped +out a favourite Spanish oath, then “_Viva Fernando VII.! Viva Lord +Wellington!_ Los Espanoles care for nothing more;” and nothing more +would he say. + +It is remarkable enough, but the fact is that Lord Wellington is very +popular with the common Spanish soldiers, I am told, and with the +country people; but with the generality of officers, regimental in +particular, and with the highest classes in Spain, it is rather the +reverse. + +It is curious now to see Lord Wellington play the second fiddle, having +been so long established leader. It will serve to break him in by +degrees for England and peace. He carries it off very well. Most of +our Lieutenant-generals are gone to Paris, or going, and many other +officers. I suppose it will be best for me to remain with the army to +the last, or at least as long as Lord Wellington remains, and then go +straight to London and report my arrival. + +At the Capitolium on Thursday, young B——, with whom I was talking, as +we were very hot and tired, persuaded me to sit down with him on the +bottom step of the vacant throne. The Prince and all the grandees were +then in another room, but we were soon routed up by the _garde urbaine_ +sentinel, to the mortification and vexation of my young honourable +companion at not being allowed at Toulouse what he was entitled to in +the House of Lords in England. He is well; and dancing away cotillions, +waltzes, &c. + +_Later._—We have just had an arrival, and Lord Wellington quits this +place for Paris immediately: I hope, however, that he will return +shortly, as he now intends to do. We all here said that matters would +never be well arranged at Paris without him, and that he would go at +last. + +_Head-Quarters, Toulouse, May 2nd, 1814._—Having thanked you for your +letter of the 12th of April, and papers to the same date, I must +proceed on my old subject, Toulouse, and its sights and curiosities, +regretting on your account, as well as my own, that they are not more +interesting. + +The great cannon-foundry here was formerly one of the most prominent, +but it has now ceased to work for nearly three or four years. How or +why this could happen, when military works and manufactures seemed +alone to flourish in France during that period, I cannot say. The fact +is, everything remains in a state as if the workmen were only all gone +away to dinner, but in silent desolation, like a scene in Herculaneum, +or Southey’s town under water. Unfinished moulds, guns, &c., and tools +are lying about in all directions. To show how much the whole has been +neglected, even _Egalité_ has been suffered to remain on one entrance +pillar, _Liberté_ on the other, and the word _Impérial_ in the middle. +The fleur-de-lys will, I suppose, find its way there soon by some +accident. + +Suchet now commands both armies here. He told the Duke d’Angoulême that +he had sixteen thousand men of his own army at his service. This hero, +to whom the day of the month, yesterday (May-day), reminded me of a +much nearer resemblance than the drum-major, has left us, and is off to +his troops. + +There are two public libraries here, in which I have spent the better +part of a morning each, one containing about thirty thousand volumes, +the other about twenty-five thousand. The former has too large a +proportion of ecclesiastical learning; but they both contain some good +editions of classics and good historians, annals, &c., particularly +the smaller library. They are old episcopal and private foundations, +and have neither gained nor lost much by the Revolution, which is +rather extraordinary. There seems to have been no very valuable early +editions or manuscripts—nothing very much worth plundering; and they +say they were too conscientious to take advantage of the times, and +enrich themselves by plunder. The arrangement of the books is not bad. +Firstly, good polyglot and other Bibles of all kinds; then commentaries +on sacred history, &c.; then history in general; then laws of nations, +&c.; then laws in general, essays, &c.; then French voyages, arts, +sciences, classics, and belles lettres. There is an atlas of the Grand +Canal and its vicinity on an immense scale, which might have been +important had we proceeded, though I think no other stand would have +been made until after we had gone beyond the limits of the canal, and +after a junction of Soult with Suchet at Narbonne. Amongst the books +pointed out as of the most interest, were Racine’s Greek editions of +Euripides and Æschylus, containing his name and several notes in his +own handwriting,—a remarkably neat hand. The editions were Stephens’ +and Stanley’s. The notes were either short free translations of +passages and sentiments, or memoranda to call attention to particular +passages for future use and application, or they were short remarks of +approbation or disapprobation of scenes, passages, &c. I copied out +nearly the whole, not being very long, and I now enclose them. Will +you oblige me by putting them into my Euripides or somewhere, to be +preserved. + +Several of the private houses here of the merchants and nobles are on +a very large scale, and contain very spacious suites of rooms round +the court-yard. The architecture is, in general, very moderate. Most +of the mansions have only the merit of extent; and one or two which +have an attempt at more are in bad taste. The one most remarkable is +particularly so. It has an immense heavy stone cornice, out of all +proportion, and the capitals of all the pillars are a species of false +Corinthian, or rather, Composite, with the upper ornaments, spread +eagles, in most barbarous taste, and in the place of the most beautiful +part of the true pillars of the Composite order. + +Toulouse appears to have been for a very considerable time nearly +stationary in size. There is not, as in some of our country towns, and +in some of those in France, the new town as well as the old. The old +brick walls, with occasional towers, remain entire almost all round, +and still form nearly the city boundary, for there is scarcely any +suburbs without the walls. At several of the entrances within there +seems to have been some vacant spaces, and in two or three places an +ornamental sort of crescent or square has been commenced,—one lately, +but the others before the Revolution. They are all unfinished. In +general, however, all within the city walls is covered with building of +some sort or another. + +The splendid façade of the Capitolium was raised before the Revolution. +Henry IV. commenced the work, it is said, and his statue remains there. +A very small beginning has been made towards stone façades on one of +the other sides of the Grande Place of the Capital, but in general the +old shabby buildings still remain, and seem likely to do so, for some +time to come. + +_May 3rd._—Our Prince is gone to review his new army under Suchet, and +leaves us quiet. Every day carries off some of our higher officers, +and we all expect to move the instant Lord Wellington returns, if not +before. To-morrow, if possible, I go with a party and passport to +see the great basin de Feriol, the main feeder of the Grand Canal. +It is the sight of this country, and therefore, though expecting to +be disappointed, I have agreed to join Dr. Macgregor and a party +to-morrow, and return the next day. It is near Revel, about thirty-two +miles off. + +I yesterday attended the Court of Appeal here for the four departments +around—Aude, Tarn, Lot and Garonne, and Arriège. There were ten judges +present: there exist, and may be present, as many as sixteen, and a +quorum of seven is necessary to form a Court. There were, besides the +_Procureur-Général_ and _Advocat-Général_, about twenty-five barristers +in gowns, nearly like ours, but with bonnets instead of wigs. They +were dirty, and mostly old, and looked precisely like a set of +provincial barristers in England. The same habits make the manners and +appearance so similar in nations nearly equally civilized, that, until +the language betrayed the difference, I could have fancied myself in +England again. + +The subject in dispute was half an acre of vineyard, and it turned on +the construction of a confused legacy in a will of an old gentleman. +The eagerness with which the contest was maintained reminded me of a +Court of Quarter Sessions in England,—all talking at once, and with +abundance of noise and action, especially just as the ten judges, like +our juries, had laid their heads together to consider, and whilst _le +Procureur-Général_ was summing up the law and argument previously to +the Court. Either the lawyers and judges must be starving, or the +judicial establishment must be very expensive in France now. + +There are, besides this Court, others of _Première Instance_ in each +department, and in four departments you have more judges than in +England. Unless some changes are made, the French, in my opinion, +will find their whole government, which is calculated for a larger +empire, in every way much too expensive. This will prevent any great +reduction of ordinary taxation. The King and his court to be paid; the +senate; all the marshals and grand dignitaries, the prefêts, &c. Each +department now has a salary to pay its prefêt nearly as large as that +of an intendant of a whole province before the Revolution. The King +will find abundance of patronage, if this goes on; but a great part of +the national income will be consumed in the management and support of +the different species of rulers. One advantage in this, it is to be +hoped, will be to keep France more quiet in future, as I have otherwise +little faith in the present temper of this changeable race. + +_May 7, 1814. Post-day._—At five o’clock on Wednesday morning I went +to Dr. Macgregor’s to breakfast, preparatory to our expedition to St. +Feriol, having obtained our leave and a passport for that purpose. Our +party consisted of Dr. H——, Colonel G——, and P——, General H——, and Mr. +J——, and Mrs. J——. On account of the latter, who was in an interesting +condition, we set out on the canal road towards Castelnaudary, that she +might go in the boat. We rode along the towing-path very pleasantly for +about twenty miles. Finding that Castelnaudary would be so much out of +the way, we then left the canal and rode across through Villefranche +and St. Felix to Revel, about twenty-two miles further. This water +scheme delayed us much, so that we did not reach Revel until seven or +eight at night, and it also lengthened our ride considerably. + +The ordinary dinner at twelve, at the lock-house, was however, +entertaining, and partly made up for this; but, in truth, ladies should +learn on these occasions, when in such a state, to stay at home. We +expected a _malheur_ every hour, she was so fatigued. + +On Thursday morning, after breakfast, we went three miles to Sorège, +to see the great college or school establishment there, which is about +three miles from Revel. It was formerly attached to a convent, and +a sort of Government military establishment. At the Revolution the +buildings were sold, and the present director and his brother, who +was one of the professors of the old establishment, bought the whole, +and undertook to continue, and, as they say, to improve the plan as a +private specution. There are now about three hundred boys, from eight +to nineteen, or even twenty-one years old. On the present arrangement, +four hundred and forty is the limit. The number, it is said, once +amounted to nearly six or seven hundred. There are now about thirty +Protestant boys. The rest are Catholics. Most of the Spanish boys, once +very numerous, left the school during the late war. This peace, it is +supposed, will bring them back, even in greater numbers. English boys +are also expected to come again, as formerly. + +The building is very spacious, and is prettily situated, under the +side of a mountainous tract of country, at the head of a valley. The +accommodation is very ample, and the order and arrangement very great; +though, in my opinion, it is less cleanly than the college at Aire. The +studies are more varied; and the whole is complete in itself; for there +is a priest, a doctor, an Italian professor of mineralogy, anatomy, +a riding-master, and teachers of all kinds. The regular studies for +all the boys are French, Latin, a little Greek, mathematics to some +extent, dancing, swimming, drawing from models and casts, perspective, +drawing from anatomical study, fortification, &c.; and for the upper +boys, riding—for which purpose about sixteen horses are at the disposal +of the riding-master. In addition to this, every boy has his own +bedstead of iron; and all the two upper classes of the three into +which the whole school is divided have separate places to sleep in. +Every boy, at a certain time, either follows in his studies the choice +of his parents, or his own inclination, and may learn Italian, German, +English, Spanish, or any musical instrument; even the pianoforte. The +drawing-school is hung round with the approved productions of the boys, +and is spacious, and so is the riding-school. There is also a theatre, +regularly fitted up, in which the boys recite, and act plays and +perform concerts; asking the neighbours to come and form an audience. +The establishment also contains a small botanical garden, a tolerable +collection of mineralogy, and a piece of water for the purpose of +swimming. The boys were all in uniform, and looked healthy and well. As +they come from all quarters, it is usual to leave them there all the +year round, and this is rather expected and desired. They come clothed +at first, but afterwards everything is found them, and the parents +have nothing to do but to pay _mille francs_, about 45_l._ or 50_l._, +annually, and no bills or extras of any kind are ever sent or charged, +whatever may be learnt by the boys: this is rather dearer than at Aire +or St. Sever, I believe, but not much, when all circumstances are +considered. + +We found the schoolmasters consequential and prosy, as they usually +are with us. The Italian, who was more particularly so, was formerly +the professor who managed the Grand Duke of Tuscany’s collection. This +education would, I think, suit many an orphan or natural son destined +for the English army, and with small means. He would join his regiment +at eighteen, with much more useful knowledge than could be obtained for +the same money in England, as to languages, &c., and much information +useful to a military man. He would also come away, with at least one +or two accomplishments probably, by which he might amuse himself in +country-quarters, and be kept out of mischief. It might also answer +for mercantile men, merchants, clerks, &c., though, perhaps, some of +these pursuits would only make them idle. Most of the boys are destined +for merchants or soldiers, I understood. For other professions, +probably, we have as good, or better, and as cheap an education in +Yorkshire, and other places in England. This sort of education accounts +for the general distribution of a certain extent of acquirement which +we see amongst the French officers, and for the advantages they possess +as to the power of self-amusement. When prisoners of war, they have a +smattering of drawing, dancing, singing, music, acting, &c. + +We then went to the basin of St. Feriol. On our way I rode up a valley +to see some foundries of copper, which were much talked of; only one +of a number was at work, as times were so bad. I found the copper was +Swedish, and only worked there on account of the facilities of wood and +water to work the bellows and anvil. The work in which the men were +then engaged, was making saucepans and pots, and stewing-pans for the +Toulouse ships, and on a very small scale. I always like to ascertain +that there is nothing to see when a sight is talked of. We went then +over the hill to the basin. + +The extent of this basin rather surprised me; but though it was almost +exactly what I expected to find it, I was very glad to have seen it. +The shape of the ground, and course of the stream, were particularly +fortunate and well adapted to the plan, and the great dam or dyke, +which pens back the water, so as to form a small lake, in depth, near +the wall, from fifty to sixty feet, is a noble work. It consists of +three main walls, well _terrassed_ or puddled between each, and with +two large arched vaults, one quite at the bottom, covering the natural +bed of the river; the other higher up, and leading to the _robinets_ +or great cocks, which let out the water as required. The river coming +down the valley fills the basin, not being able to find its vent, and +therefore spreading over the ground, and filling all the hollows up +to the dam wall, which is about sixty feet high. The banks, except +the natural dam, are the natural shape of the ground, and there is +no excavation at all. When full, the water as required is let out by +a hatch, and so runs by into the stream, which conducts it, after +about ten miles circuit, to the highest point of the canal, whence +the locks descend both ways to Toulouse, and to the Mediterranean. +It then supplies both. When the basin is low, the next opening is a +sort of hatch or floodgate, lower down in the wall; when lower still, +the water is let off by three great _robinets_ or cocks at the end of +the _voute_, about thirty feet or so below the surface. When these +are opened, the rushing of the water makes a tremendous noise, at a +distance like that of thunder. When it is required to empty or clean +the basin, the river is turned off, and the contents of the basin empty +themselves in the original bed of the stream: the contents of the basin +are, in my opinion, six millions of tons of water. There is another +smaller basin, about ten miles higher up, in the mountains, and another +near the canal, whence the stream enters it. + +The whole seems well managed. The canal itself is kept in great order, +like our New River, the banks trimmed, &c.; and in width it exceeds +even our Royal Canal in Ireland, probably by several yards. + +With much delay and difficulty, we got Mrs. J—— through these sights, +after much unnecessary alarm and fright in the vaults. We returned +about five to dinner at Revel, where we slept again yesterday. We had +a hot ride home through Caraman and Lentar, about thirty-two miles. +The country round the canal and in the bottoms is rich and fertile, +but it contains little wood. It is like some of our Somersetshire +and Dorsetshire valleys, but more covered with villas and chateaux, +and villages. The road back, by Caraman, is through a much poorer +country, but also like the higher bad parts of Somersetshire, and that +neighbourhood—such as near Chard and the hills round Bath. + +The villages seem in a state of decay, and the inhabitants poor, but +the country upon the whole is in much better condition, in point of +cultivation and appearance, than one could suppose after what has +passed in the last twenty years. In one or two out-of-the-way places +we were stared at, and followed like monsters or sights, but were +everywhere well received by the people. At Sorège some French cavalry +was quartered; but they were nearly all gone to the grand review before +the Duke d’Angoulême. I should like to have been there also; but we +understood it would not be liked, and that the Duke was to go without +English altogether: this was quite right. I am told that the review +went off well, and that Soult himself set a good example. + +It is strange to think of our carrying off Bonaparte in a frigate; and +his conversation with Augereau is curious after the address of the +latter to his men. King Joseph is gone off and escaped; but no one need +be much afraid of him now. + +The style of nearly all the French chateaux is similar; all front and +appearance. + +On my return yesterday I dined with Mr. B—— and his French hosts, for I +scarcely know whose dinner it was; I believe a joint effort. The wines +were the patron’s, and very good. He is a man of fortune, a Monsieur de +T——, and speaks English tolerably. The wife is a pleasing woman, and +rather good-looking and young. They were very civil, and she sang and +played in the evening very fairly. At least she had much execution and +dash, if not feeling, in her playing. Like most of our young female +players, she left out all the andantes and slow passages. + +The furniture of the two or three rooms in which she lived was very +splendid. Handsome carpets were alone wanting to make her own room in +particular an elegant fine lady’s drawing-room in England. In some +respects, particularly as to the gilding, there was both more show and +taste than generally are seen with us. The pianoforte was particularly +handsome; it was by Erard of Paris, and, though only a small one, cost +a hundred louis d’or. The whole content of her room cost, it is said, a +thousand louis d’or. + +In the variety and materials of the ladies’ dresses here, there seems +to be also a very considerable degree of luxury—more perhaps than with +us. + +We are now very dull, and as the Prince is still absent, do not +even hear the “_Vive le Roi!_” or “_Vivent les Bourbons!_” &c., as +usual. I was much amused yesterday at seeing pasted up at a country +inn, a halfpenny print of the royal Duke d’Angoulême in his best, on +horseback, and surrounded by a copy of most loyal verses singing his +praises and those of the Bourbons, and the English, in the measure, and +going to the music of the famous Marseillais hymn; in short, a sort of +parody of that song, beginning “_Allons enfans de la Garonne_,” &c. +What changes! + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + + Toulouse—Mr. Macarthy’s Library—The Marquess of Buckingham—General + Hope—Wellington’s Dukedom—The Theatre—A Romantic Story—Feeling towards + the English—The Duke on the Russian Cavalry. + + + Head-Quarters, Toulouse, + May 11, 1814. + + MY DEAR M——. + +The very small number of sights which this town affords being +exhausted, and Lord Wellington being still absent, we are in truth +more dull than we should be in a country town in England. The only +interesting subject of conversation now is, who goes to America, and +who does not? Some of the regiments move to-day towards Bordeaux from +hence for the purpose of embarking upon this new expedition, which I +should think would all end in a mere demonstration. Lord Wellington is +expected here to-morrow, and we shall then know what is to happen; and +head-quarters will, I conclude, move immediately. + +I have heard nothing since my last, and seen but one thing worth +mentioning, and that is, Mr. Macarthy’s library, which the old father +and grandfather have been sixty years collecting, and which is now to +be sold on the father’s death for the benefit of the widow and nine +children. This is the library for which the Duke of Devonshire offered +25,000_l._ sterling as it stands; but the bargain was never closed, as +he wished the whole to be embarked at the risk of the owner, and they +wanted to have the money for it as it stands here, to be moved by the +purchaser. The owner now talks of sending it to Paris, and having a +public sale there by auction, thinking that emperors and kings will +then bid against the Duke of Devonshire, Earl Spencer, and others of +our book-loving nobles. + +It contains a considerable number of fine copies of “Principes +editiones,” filling one side of a large room all upon vellum. There is +also Cardinal Ximenes’ polyglot edition of the Bible; his own copy—the +only one on vellum; and a number of valuable books and some fine MSS. +Amongst the rest is the first printed edition of the Psalms in 1457, of +which we are told the only other perfect copy is in our king’s (George +the Third’s) library; that Lord Spencer had only an imperfect copy, +and that twelve thousand francs had been already offered for this one +volume! So the world goes! This sum would furnish a handsome set of +all the best French authors, and amusement for life; but many, you +find, prefer a single black-letter volume, which one must go to school +again to learn to read, and which, indeed, looks like a child’s great +black-letter spelling book, or the books among the giant friends of +Gulliver. A single page as a specimen would be as good to me as the +whole, and thus five hundred curiosos would be gratified for a few +guineas a-head; or a lottery would be still better—fifty pages for the +highest prize, and a few lines for every one; no blanks! There would be +another advantage in this, that it would be employment for some worthy +collector for half his life to reassemble all the parts and put the +book together again. + +The Marquess of Buckingham has been here, and is now going to Tarbes +and Barege, and then returns to see our great man. We hear the latter +was at the review at Paris in his blue coat and round hat. This is +quite like him, and upon a good principle; the marshals, the public +functionaries, the kings and the emperors, would have outdone anything +he could have put on except this. + +I am sorry not to have returned from Revel through Castelnaudary. Some +of the officers did so, and by that means fell in with a division of +the French army. The French officers were very civil, but told the same +story—“If the Emperor had not deserted us, we never would have deserted +him; and the men are of the same opinion; but as it was, there was +nothing else to be done.” Colonels B—— and C—— went over to the second +review at Montauban, where the Duke d’Angoulême reviewed Count Reille’s +corps—two divisions. If I had known this had been permitted, I should +have been very curious to be of the party. The men, it is said, were +well equipped and in high order. The officers in general looked very +shabby and unlike gentlemen. + +Suchet was smiling and in high good humour, and very fine as he was +here. Soult was only to be distinguished by a most enormous hat, and by +a surly look, which is described as unpleasantly penetrating, and more +bespeaking talent than amiability. He took little notice of the English +officers, but the aides-de-camp and staff officers, both belonging to +Soult and to the other Generals, did so when they learnt who they were, +and appeared very earnest in their attentions and civilities. They went +there in a carriage, but were splendidly mounted immediately; Colonel +—— on Count Erlar’s led and caparisoned charger. + +_Thursday, 12th._—Lord Wellington not having yet returned, and of +course nothing positive being known as to our destination, we have only +those passing reports which the military men call “shaves.” + +General Hope is, I fear, likely to suffer long from his wounds. He has +astonished the Generals at Bayonne by making three of them presents +each of an English horse out of his stud. It is an odd circumstance, +but I believe true, that the sort of notice we had of an intended +sortie by the enemy at Bayonne, which was given by a deserter just +before it took place, only did us mischief. The out-picquets were +doubled, and as no picquets could stand the rush of four or five +thousand men, we only lost so many more prisoners by this. The men were +alarmed with the expectation of such an attack. The only fault spoken +of in this business was the abandonment of the church of St. Etienne, +which might and ought to have been maintained. The fifth division were +but just on duty there, and scarcely knew their posts. General Hay met +the men running back from it, and was stopping and leading them on +again, telling them he would show them how to defend the church, when +he was killed. Some of the muskets of our men were found there, broken +by the French, and thrown away unfired. An English officer, with about +twenty men, maintained himself in a house near the church the whole +time, though it was much less defensible than the church. + +Our position there, close under the works, it is said, was liable to +such a sortie every night, and some well-informed persons wonder it +did not take place sooner. General Hope’s eager courage led him into a +situation where, I am told, no one could under ordinary circumstances +remain the shortest time without almost a certainty of destruction. +Even as it was, it is said that a party of Guards ought to have carried +him off, as at first only four Frenchmen were near him when his horse +fell, and the Guards then were close by. The French had made the +outworks of the citadel very strong; they must have been stormed first, +which would have cost us about twelve or fifteen thousand men. It +would then have taken sixteen days to establish batteries on the crest +of the glacis, the only possible way of breaching the citadel. The +garrison, who are now excessively bold, and who have demanded rations +for nineteen thousand two hundred men, say they should have even then +stood a storming twice—in the citadel, and again in the town at last. + +Making all due allowance for this gasconading, it is quite as well to +have been saved the necessity of taking Bayonne. It would have taken +all our transports about sixteen days to bring up materials for four +days’ open trenches from Passages by land, and we must then, for the +remainder of the time, have trusted to the uncertainty of the water +communication. The object of the French sortie was supposed to be the +destruction of our three stores of fascines and gabions, &c., which +we had been six weeks and more cutting, collecting, and forming, and +for which purpose we had stripped the environs for near five miles +round the town. In that respect we were quite prepared for the whole +siege, and it is remarkable enough that we remained nearly all that +time sufficiently near the French works to form the first parallel, +and that without making works to protect ourselves, because doing so +would only have drawn down a fire which no works could have enabled us +to live under, and there was nothing to be done but to remain as quiet +as possible until the siege began. Had we withdrawn at all, the French +having seen the importance of the ground, which we got as it were +almost by accident, would have made it necessary to begin the siege +by the storming of the works they would soon have made there. Thus we +were obliged to keep what we had got, unless resolved to turn the whole +into blockade. The French engineers admire our bridge very much, and +say it will figure in military history; but their officers in general +in Bayonne have hitherto been very sulky, and we are yet by no means +friends. Very little accommodation is afforded us in any way. + +We are infinitely obliged to Bonaparte for having lost his head, and +blundered as he did latterly, and suffered the Allies to enter Paris, +and put an end to the war. Had he succeeded at Paris, or had Soult +and Suchet united succeeded against us here, near the shores of the +Mediterranean, where our next conflict would have been, you would have +found, when a retreat became necessary, and that the French saw that +way out of their difficulties, instead of a return to royalty, that +we should have had the other party, and that a strong one, uppermost, +and a cry the other way, with parties in our rear. Thinking, as we do, +the French army, and a great part of the French nation, quite as much +responsible and to blame as Bonaparte, for a considerable portion of +the misery caused by France (for to effect this they were his willing +agents so long as it was out of France, and only deserted him when he +was in distress, and because his good fortune had left him, and by +no means from principle)—thinking this, their excess of loyalty only +disgusts us. Of course we are glad to promote it, but must despise the +majority of the Bourbon shouters—a few honourable individuals, and a +small party, of course, excepted. + +_Friday, 13th May._—Lord Wellington not yet returned, and the late very +warm weather turned to a steady rain. The Paris papers of the 8th, +received this morning, make Lord Wellington ambassador in France, and a +Duke. + +I was last night at the play to see _La Reine de Golconde_, an +opera, with some pretty music. I mention this merely on account of +a curious circumstance attending it. A French General, according to +the story, fights for the deposed Queen and restores her. The troops +of this French General and liberator were a part of the grenadier +company of our Scotch _sans culottes_ here in their own costume; and +as they marched past, commanded and headed by the French General in +the full costume of a general officer of Bonaparte’s army, the house +immediately applauded the English heroes. The sensations of the French +officers present must have been strange, and not very agreeable. These +Scotchmen are considered by all the inhabitants (particularly of the +town) as having had the principal share in their defeats in sight of +the town. The mutes, bearers, and others in the procession were all +English soldiers. + +We have had no disturbances or quarrels here, and our officers seem all +to have behaved with considerable propriety; in short, the inhabitants +dread our departure, and the return of their own people. They say that +all order ceases, and all security, the moment our side of the line of +demarcation is passed. One furious old gentleman at the _café_ this +morning said publicly, that he thought the only regret was, that the +war had not lasted three months longer, to destroy the remainder of +the French brigands; and that as for Soult, he should have been sent +in here, that the women might cut pieces out of his flesh with their +scissors, and that he might afterwards have been executed publicly for +his conduct to this city. + +_Saturday, Post-day._—Lord Wellington returned in the middle of the +night, and, having had a cold, that and the effects of his journey make +him look rather thin. He has been so taken up with business that I only +saw him for a moment. Report says that he leaves us again in a day or +two. I shall, if possible, ask leave, on our arrival at Bordeaux, to be +independent, and find my own way home: yet I believe it would be best +to go home with the army. + +_Head-Quarters, Toulouse, May 21, 1814._—Immediately after my last, +Lord Wellington left us for Madrid. Nearly every one has quitted the +army; I mean the great men, generals, &c. We are reduced to a few quiet +parties and have no events to observe upon, and see no strangers to +write about; everything is tame and stupid and the weather growing hot +makes us languid and idle. + +Lord Wellington, on his return here, was absolutely overwhelmed with +business, and every department was at work in a sort of confusion and +hurry that has never happened before. + +On Sunday, the Duke gave a splendid ball and supper at the Prefêt’s +or Palais Royal, where everything went off much as usual. The ladies +dressed well, and danced admirably; and the supper was not a matter of +mere form with them. Their early dinners, and their greater exertion in +dancing, make them certainly more voracious than our fair ones. + +On Monday, the Marquess of Buckingham returned, and was introduced +to his new cousin of Wellington. The latter seemed, I understand, +not a little surprised at being embraced and saluted on the cheek by +his new relative. He had not been in the habit of receiving those +embraces _à la mode Française_, and, I take it, prefers very much the +kind attentions of the fair ones here, with whom he is an universal +favourite. + +On Monday the Marquess of Buckingham dined with him, as well as a large +party of French and English. I was of the number, and we all went to a +concert of very moderate music in the evening at the Capitolium. The +Duke at eight the next morning was off for Madrid. He intends to rejoin +us at Bordeaux, and then to return through Paris, and to be in London +about the 10th of June. This is a great deal too much, and I think +almost impossible. These exertions make him look thin and rather worn; +but he was very gay, and in excellent spirits whilst here. + +The American party was all settled by him finally, and is all on +the road to Bordeaux, or now there. It will be of about nine or ten +thousand men, I should think, and strong in artillery. Our faithful +six 18-pounders, which have marched all the way from Lisbon since this +day twelvemonth! on roads which never have, I think, or will see such +animals again, were embarked yesterday on the Garonne, for Bordeaux, to +be of the party; and their little grand-children, the mountain guns, +go also. At first the expedition was by no means popular, but is now +tolerably so, and the staff appointments have been of course much in +request. Lord Fitzroy Somerset, who is the great manager of all this, +and prime minister, has been very busy, and we have all the intrigues +of a little court in miniature. Those who have been long here on the +staff, and with high brevet rank, will feel much a return to their +regimental duty and rank, and still more if their fate be half-pay? I +hear of nothing except all this, and the schemes to get provided for. +The regimental officers are those who like this new expedition the +least. + +On seeing the Duke of Wellington the last time, I said, I concluded he +would wish me to go down to Bordeaux with the army. He answered, “Oh, +yes, you had better.” We are already almost without Generals. We shall +remain here, it is said, some days yet. The orders, however, are all +given for our movement as soon after we receive official news of the +garrison of Figueras having marched for France as possible. In the mean +time all wounded, &c., are moving now. The cavalry also are to set out +on their way overland to England as soon as the French Government have +finally agreed to that arrangement. I should not at all dislike to +march with this party. The Portuguese troops remain with the British +until the Commissaries can part entirely with the mule transport. They +then separate, taking all the mules and muleteers with them attached +to different regiments for rations, &c., and set out through Spain for +Portugal, a good three months’ trip, the weather growing warmer and +warmer all the way, to the great enjoyment, I conclude, of the natives. +At Almeida the muleteers have been promised to be paid all their +arrears. + +The British from hence are to encamp near Bordeaux, ready to be off as +transports arrive. The Spaniards move out of France the first of all, +at the signal of Figueras, to the joy of all parties. The Guards and +troops at Bayonne are likely to be the last, for they are to remain +until all stores, wounded, &c., are clear out of the Adour and St. Jean +de Luz, &c. The people here will be very sorry to lose us, partly from +the loss of the money spent here, and partly from their dread of those +who will succeed us—their own countrymen. + +I understand General Clausel was the only one of the French here who +admitted the truth that they were fairly beaten into taking their +King. The others feel it, but will not own it, and are very sulky in +consequence; and in general not civil to our officers. Some of the +French gens-d’armes are expected on Monday in this town to do duty, I +believe, to levy taxes, &c. It is to be hoped that this will not lead +to quarrels with our men. + +The continuance of the _Droits réunis_ is very unpopular, and, in my +opinion, the effervescence of loyalty is somewhat subsiding already. +We all expect disturbances also in Spain. I hope the Duke will resign +his command, and have nothing to do with either party. It is said even +the armies are divided, and ours here (Frere’s) is for the Cortes. +What with Spain, Ireland, Norway, America, and perhaps the interior of +France, the world will after all, it is feared, not be in that state of +profound peace which was generally expected. + +Yesterday and to-day I have received letters from you of the 3rd and +10th of May, and papers to the latter date, which contain precisely the +same news as those from London through Paris. There seems to be nothing +very important either way. + +I have just got the papers relating to a most extraordinary story of a +murder at Lisbon. It is a most complete novel, and would be incredibly +romantic as such. A Commissary named R—— had an English girl (a lady) +who lived with him. Another Commissary named S——, his friend, had long +been living in the same house with him. After a time Mr. R—— conceived +that Mr. S—— was undermining the affections of the lady. He taxes her +with it, she confesses, and says she has promised to live with S——, +but swears nothing improper had ever passed. Mr. R—— persuades her to +give up this scheme, stating how dishonourably S—— had betrayed him, +his friend. He then tells this friend his discovery, and upbraids him. +S—— says that the lady has been faithless to R——, and is the betrayer. +R——, in despair, is going to quit the house, the lady, and the whole +connexion; but he previously repeats to her what Mr. S—— told him. +She solemnly denies it, and then goes out with S——. I should have +mentioned that the three had just before this conversation ridden out +together without speaking, and sat together at dinner without speaking +or eating. The explanation between R—— and the lady then took place, +immediately after which S—— and the lady went out of the house. Three +pistol-shots are heard. R—— goes into the garden, finds his mistress +shot dead. S—— ran by him into the house apparently wounded, his +handkerchief to his head. He forced his way to a table-drawer, took out +a razor, and cut his throat quite across. He still survived both wounds +when the account came away, and deliberately confesses in writing +that by the lady’s desire, by their joint consent and agreement, he +was to kill both; her first, and then himself. This he endeavoured to +accomplish, but in vain as to himself. Mr. R—— declines telling who the +lady is, except in a court of justice, in order to prevent unnecessary +pain to her friends in England. + +I have been asked, “What is to be done?” and whether, if the delinquent +is mad, I thought that he must be tried for the murder? It surely was +very unfortunate that the poor man had not been left in the hands of +the Portuguese surgeons and doctors, who pronounced him a dead man, and +his wounds incurable. The skill of an English surgeon has unluckily +enabled this unhappy being to stand the chance of either being hung or +confined for life as a madman for the rest of his days. + +_The 22nd, Post-day._—I send you, being dull myself, a part of a +_Gazette de France_, which paper I take in regularly. Some part of the +_Franc parleur_ is well done. The same feelings exist here in the army. +Were I a French officer I should feel in the same way. + +We have now rain, and the weather cooler again: hitherto it has not +been ever very unpleasantly hot, though at times above our summer heat, +and with rain and without sun at 69°. + +You ask me in your last letter about religion and manners here? The +former seems again much what it was before the Revolution. The churches +are in general well attended, but principally (as the case is all over +the world, I believe,) by your sex in particular of all ages, by the +very old of both sexes, who go there to make their peace; and the very +young who are taken there by their older friends and relations. With +regard to manners, the old French memoirs would still, I think, apply +very tolerably to the description of their present state, except that +the same things are done and said with rather more coarseness perhaps +now than in old times. + +Our cavalry have not moved yet, as the approval of the French +Government has not arrived. They are intended to move in two columns, +one up the Paris road, nearly through Cahors, &c.; the other more to +the left, through Angoulême, Poictiers, and to unite at a town on the +Seine. + +_Head-Quarters, Toulouse, May 27th, 1814._—My new friends and +acquaintance fall off daily around me, and our party at head-quarters +is continually on the decline. + +I am not a little amused with the Toulouse paper of yesterday. We, +the English, have been for these last six weeks praised to the skies, +and treated as, and called the deliverers of Toulouse city and its +inhabitants. Soult’s troops are now expected in here in a few days, +and the gens-d’armes have actually arrived. The Toulouse _Gazette_, +therefore, exhorts the inhabitants to receive with open arms and to +feast, and entertain those brave troops, whose courage and noble +conduct they witnessed on the hills, above this city, when fighting for +the defence of the inhabitants. They also assure the public, that the +statement in an early number of the _Gazette_, that Marshal Soult owed +the safety of his retreat to the clemency of Lord Wellington, under +whose guns the French troops filed off, was all an error and mistake +(as it certainly was), and that the retreat was in fact as secure as +the defence of the heights was noble and courageous. Had we had but +about five thousand more men up, to cross the canal at once, this might +have been another story. The _Gazette_ should have waited until we were +off. + +I dined yesterday with a Monsieur Castellan, a gentleman of very good +fortune, and who, I understand, has a good house, pictures, library, +&c., at Paris, and lands in Normandy and elsewhere. He was formerly, +at the commencement of the Revolution, Attorney-general to the +Parliament of Toulouse, and on that account desired to be introduced +to me, and gave us an excellent dinner. In 1781, he was a man who +figured much here, and also in the English papers, on account of his +early resistance to the orders of the Court, and being imprisoned in +consequence. He was followed by all the inhabitants to his prison, and +released in a short time by the triumph of his own party. He seems to +be a good constitutionalist. + +He mentioned several curious facts of Bonaparte’s tyranny, such as his +putting persons to death without trial, and without inquiry. Two of +these persons he knew in particular. They were chiefs of La Vendée. +When all the hopes of that party were gone, terms were offered to these +two men. One came in to sign them, when he was instantly shot. The +other, in consequence, remained concealed three years in Normandy. At +last he was told privately, that if he would retire from the country +quietly, a passport should be given to him. He agreed, received his +pass, and made for the coast; but when he arrived near the sea-side two +gens-d’armes shot him. + +This made a noise; the Juge de Paix began a _procès verbal_, and the +Préfet was active in endeavouring to apprehend the soldiers. The Judge +and Préfet were not in the secret. Suddenly a senator came from Paris. +The Préfet was suspended from his office, and the Juge de Paix enjoined +at his peril not to stir a step in the business. Monsieur Castellan’s +servant acted as clerk in the _procès verbal_ which had commenced, and +the murder took place close to his estate in Normandy. He therefore, he +said, knew the facts. + +Another story, for the truth of which he vouched, and which from +the circumstances appeared to be true, shows a little the state of +Napoleon’s court and their morals. A young cousin of Monsieur de +Castellan was the Emperor’s page—a very good-looking boy. At the +carnival he was dressed as a girl at the play, and one of the grand +chamberlains fell in love with him. The page continued the disguise and +the joke every night during the carnival, and was courted and fêted +with presents by the lover. At last the discovery was made, and the +mortified chamberlain stopped the boy’s promotion in consequence, under +the pretence that the page was ordered not to go to the play. + +I wished very much to have had time during my visit to Monsieur +Castellan to look over a very curious collection of original letters +which he had in portfolios, and of which I looked at one or two only. +The most valuable were of the Valois family, and were numerous and +confidential, coming to M. Castellan through a great-uncle, and derived +from an ambassador of the family in Spain. There were several from +Catherine de Medicis, mostly about the marriage of her daughters with +the Spanish royal family, and which (as she had good occasion to do) +she always finished by desiring might be burnt as soon as read. + +The eldest daughter was first sent, being intended for the son, Don +Carlos, but Philip the Second took a fancy to her, and though the son +was in love, married her. An intrigue was suspected with the son, +as the daughter was also in love with Don Carlos; the finale was, +as history records and romance writers have improved upon, that Don +Carlos and the lady suffered death. After this, and knowing, as she +must have done, the cause, or at least the reports of all suspected, +Catherine writes, saying that she must forget the mother in the Queen, +and proposes to make up a match between King Philip and her youngest +daughter. The writer desires the person addressed to get at the King’s +mistress and his confessor, and to secure them both as friends to her +plans. The remaining letters were those of eminent men, some from +Rousseau, Voltaire, &c., and appeared to contain nothing particularly +interesting. + +A few days since I think I half made a convert of a fat silversmith’s +lady here, of whom I was purchasing some articles. She asked me if we +had a religion in England at all like theirs. I said, “Yes; very like.” +“But,” said she (and that weighed very much with her), “you do not use +these great silver cups, &c., in your country?” To this I replied, +“Indeed we do, and want them much larger than you do in France, for +with us we let every one taste that pleases of the wine, and you only +let the priests.” This rather staggered her, when the sale of the cups +and sacramental plate came into her head. + +_May 28th, Saturday, Post-day._—Our cavalry have at last got leave +to pass through France, and will commence their route on the 1st of +June. It is probable that we shall move soon after. I have this moment +received a packet from you, with papers and enclosures to the 16th, +and having your letter now before me, will go through it in answer. +The alarms you mention about the quarrels between the Allies, and +the French, and the army, and the National Guards, seem to have been +principally of English invention. We have heard little of this matter +here, though I have no doubt that the French officers and soldiers are +vexed and mortified, and as the Irish say sometimes, they would easily +“pick a quarrel” just now, when they meet with any occasion. There is +the same feeling here, only hitherto scarcely any officers of the army +have arrived. + +I witnessed last Sunday a quarrel between a gend’arme and a +garde-urbaine, about cutting off some acacia blossoms in the public +walk. The latter was disarmed at last, after a scuffle and fight, in +which, from the noise and confusion, you would have supposed several +limbs and lives would have been lost (as would have been the case in +half the time in England), but in which in reality no one seemed to +come out the worse. The gend’arme, however, was very neatly beaten at +last, as two of the garde-urbaine overtook him again, and whilst one +tried to wrest the conquered sword back again, the other cut the belt +of the gend’arme, by which his own sword fell, and in recovering that +he lost the trophy, with which the two lads made off in triumph. + +An officer of the French regular army who was here by accident a few +days since, saw the caricature of Bonaparte in a window, the face +made up of “_victimes_,” with the cobwebs, &c., introduced, which I +conclude you have seen. He entered the shop in a rage, and desired the +shopman to take it from the window, threatening to cut him down if he +refused. It has not appeared in the window since, and the man when now +asked for the print by an Englishman or Royalist, says, “They are all +sold.” + +The Duke of Wellington’s misfortune from the Cossack charge I have +not heard of here. He came back most highly admiring and praising the +Russian cavalry as in appearance the best in Europe, and saying there +was scarcely a private horse in the regiment he saw for which a short +time ago we should not willingly have given a hundred and fifty or +two hundred guineas in Spain. The draught and artillery horses, also, +though very small, and unlike those of the cavalry, he thought had +great appearance of hardiness and activity. Some of your other stories +concerning us here are really, in my opinion, mere inventions. + +By-the-by, what inventions and scandal we shall have now to fill the +newspapers and afford conversation for all our idlers! As soon as peace +is signed, they will have little else but that to live upon; whilst the +politician must pore over all the debates of the multiplied popular +assemblies in modern Europe, which will all be aping our House of +Commons. + +Our clergy here were ten days ago praying for rain, and they have not +sued in vain, for we have had it for this week in showers only, and in +the English fashion, not like our mountain and St. Jean de Luz rain. +We have also had tremendous storms of wind, which were not prayed +for; and more than that, a bit of an earthquake, felt principally at +Pau and in that vicinity, but, it is said, by some perceived here. It +is not surprising that old Mother Earth should just at first shake +a little at all that has passed lately; but I hope she will take it +quietly, and be as peaceably inclined as her inhabitants now are. +The recovery of the balance of Europe will be a fine subject for an +essay. This superiority over the ancient associated states of Greece, +which when once upset never could right themselves again, is a matter +of considerable triumph for the moderns, and promises to check for +some time another age of barbarism. I should say that one great cause +of this has been the more general diffusion of knowledge amongst the +middling classes. Public opinion and more fixed principles of the +advantages of independence, have got the better at last of a system of +universal tyranny of the most ingenious and complicated nature, and +extending to every individual, and every hole and corner within its +clutches. I must now seal up for the post. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + + Preparations for Departure—Bordeaux—Imposition on the + English—Greetings from the Women—Mausoleum of Louis XVI. + + + Wednesday, June 1, 1814. + Toulouse. + + MY DEAR M——, + +Here we are still, but on the point of moving. The orders are actually +out, and our route fixed. We start on Saturday, the 4th of June, I +suspect on purpose to avoid festivities on that day. On the 10th we +hope to be at Bordeaux: 4th, Isle en Jourdain; 5th, Auch; 6th, Condom; +7th, halt; 8th, Castel Jelous; 9th, Langon; 10th, Bordeaux. This will +be sharp work for loaded mules, and warm for us all, for the weather is +now clearing up, and promises to be hot again. + +I am tired of Toulouse, and not sorry to leave it, though the +inhabitants continue to be civil and friendly. So indeed they ought +to be, as they have made no little money out of us, and have been +continually entertained by balls, &c. Since the Duke has been away +we have had three balls given by the Adjutant-general, General Byng, +and by the aides-de-camp. At last I was, by accident, introduced to +a Madame de Vaudreuil. She was it turns out, wife to the son of the +old admiral, our _emigré_ Marquis in England, and your cousin. I was +then introduced to the husband, and we had some conversation on family +matters. He mentioned his nephew, the aide-de-camp in Ireland, and +inquired much after the Hochepieds, &c. To-morrow I am to breakfast +with them, and you shall hear more. He is a little man, but high, and +in repute here. + +No events of any consequence have occurred. The only thing at all +worth mentioning which I can recollect is a trait of the conduct of +the French lower officers of Soult’s army. Two of the officers of the +43rd British rode towards Montauban a few days since, out of their own +limits, without a passport. This, though foolish just now, was a venial +offence, and committed by many French, who come in here within our line +of demarcation. On a bridge near the town our two gentlemen were met by +about eight or ten, not gentlemen, but officers of the French garrison +there. The latter immediately attacked the two British officers rudely, +told them that they ought to know better their own limits, and added +at last that if they intended to come again, they advised them to come +with their coats off, sleeves turned up, and swords drawn. One man +actually went so far as to come behind one of our officers to knock his +hat off, that he might get out the white cockade; in short, the two +Englishmen were obliged to yield and return back. + +An apology was, it is said, sent in to our General, from the commanding +officer at Montauban, stating that he was sorry for what had happened, +and hoping we would consider it as the act of some _mauvais sujets_ +in the lower commissioned ranks of the army, and not the act of, or +sanctioned by, the garrison in general. I believe, however, that it is +intended still to make some remonstrance on the subject. + +Dr. Macgregor has returned here, delighted with his trip to Montpelier, +Avignon, Nismes, Valence, &c. He was received most cordially +everywhere, and at some places quite enthusiastically. Almost at every +place, he fell in with fêtes and entertainments in consequence of the +late changes, and the whole country was covered with conscripts and +deserters going home: he thinks he must have seen from ten to fifteen +thousand. Everywhere, he found much jealousy between the military, the +national guards, and the civilians, as is the case here. There were +several quarrels in consequence. At the playhouse at Montpelier the +applause was so violent at a new popular piece called “The Conscript,” +that a French General, who was there with his suite, conceived it a +marked insult to himself and rose to leave the house, but was persuaded +to remain. + +The Society of Medicine at Montpelier made the Doctor a member, with +such fine speeches, that even though he only half understood them, they +raised his blushes. + +_Friday, June 3rd._—In the midst of the bustle and confusion of my +preparations for the march of to-morrow, I received this day your +letter and papers to the 24th of May. I had just been reading in +to-day’s French paper London news of the same date, so that, even this +late mail, of only nine or ten days from London, brought us nothing +new politically from England. The details, however, and private news +are always interesting. I shall have more occasion for them as I am +going the road on this (the Toulouse) side of the Garonne, instead +of our military route, and shall be nearly, if not quite, alone, +for almost every other person who goes this way intends to travel +post, or ride faster than would suit me this warm weather. This road +is said to be by far the most picturesque, rich, and amusing; and, +having a passport ready, I mean to start at five to-morrow. My route +is through Grisolles, Castel Sarazin, Monteil, Moissac, Agen, Port +St. Marie (where I shall try and see our _emigré_ friend, the Baron +de Trenqueléon), Tomeirs, Reolle; then, if necessary, cross the river +to Langon, but if not, keep the right bank, opposite Bordeaux. I have +sent my baggage and Henry on in the line of march, and only take a +Portuguese _ci-devant_ servant to the Prince of Orange, and now mine, +on a pony, with a small valise, and intend to trust to the inns for +everything. Thus I shall avoid troops, and nearly all places through +which they have passed. + +The last detachment of cavalry will leave this to-morrow, to start +to Grisolles and Montauban on Sunday. The Hussars in advance leave +Montauban to-day. The last infantry will move from hence on Sunday; and +the whole infantry from hence will be assembled at Bordeaux (excepting +what may be embarked) by the 17th of June. The last Portuguese will +pass Bayonne about the 23rd; and then the Guards and troops there will +be at liberty to move—not before. The Spaniards are nearly all out of +the country already! + +Sir W. W. Wynne has been here these last five or six days, to succeed +the Marquess of Buckingham; they are specimens of what are considered +our greatest peers and commoners. The people here stare at them, and +look strange. The inhabitants are seriously sorry for our departure, +I really believe. We had a sort of farewell party at the Duke’s house +yesterday, given by Colonel C. Campbell, of all the great men here: +we dined, then went to the play, and then to the ball. Some of our +Generals are so pleased that they talk seriously of returning here +after peace is signed, and they have laid by their laurels in England. +Having so many things to do, I must now end this, and leave it to go by +the post, for I shall be away from head-quarters, and the regular post, +perhaps, next mail. Do not be surprised if you do not hear again very +soon. On my arrival at Bordeaux I shall endeavour to write immediately, +and let you know my plans. + +_Head-Quarters, Bordeaux, June 13th, 1814._—On Saturday (11th), I sent +you a few hasty lines, I will now try and fill up the interval from +Toulouse here, with an account of my proceedings during that time. + +After a tremendous thunder-storm, at six in the morning of the 4th +of June, I started along the rich plain in which Toulouse stands, and +proceeded through Grisolles, and a number of small places, to Castle +Sarazin; but not liking the appearance of the latter, I went on to +Moissac, which is just across the Tarn, at which place the plain +ceases, and the road becomes hilly. + +The distance was about forty-five miles to Moissac; the country all +rich and fertile, but much too bare of wood, and the road is tiresome +from its uniformly level character. The river ran the whole way, about +half a mile from the road, and the opposite bank being high, bounded +the view on that side, and formed a picturesque object, though not the +most profitable, for the soil seemed less rich. The flat lands must be +subject to great losses and damage from floods, as there is no fall for +the sudden torrents which descend. The corn in many places had suffered +much this year. + +At Grisolles, I passed the last of the cavalry (the Blues) on their +way home. The Life Guards entered Montauban with laurels. The Préfet +immediately told the commanding officer, that he understood his men +were come into the town in a triumphant manner, and seemed much vexed, +until reminded that it was the 4th of June, when he became civil, +and admitted the validity of the reason. On stopping at the village +of Fignan, to give my horses some corn, I was very glad to find the +inhabitants regretting the departure of the Portuguese regiment which +had been quartered there, as they had behaved so well. They told me +the people cried when they crossed the water, and the next day so many +soldiers came back to take another farewell of their new friends, that +the officers were compelled to place a guard to prevent it. + +The Tarn at Moissac was wide, and the current very strong. The passage +by the ferry, a troublesome one, backwards and forwards, through +the remains of the ruined buttresses of an old bridge. On landing I +asked for the Commandant or French General. There had been unpleasant +altercations of late near that place and neighbourhood. The officer +of whom I inquired pointed to General Key, the late governor of St. +Sebastian, who happened to be near. I announced myself to him, and was +received civilly by him, and then immediately went to the inn. + +The only sights noticeable in the town are a great water-mill in the +river, with about twenty-four pair of mill-stones, and a number of +establishments for purifying wheat and preparing flour. These last +were on a large scale, but without machinery of any ingenuity, and one +steam-engine would have saved them nearly all their labour, which was +great. The country round is famous as a corn country, and Moissac was +once a great place of export for flour and wheat by the canal, &c., of +Toulouse, to Montpelier, and by the Tarn and Garonne to Bordeaux, and +thence to the French islands and foreign settlements. The inhabitants +wished much to begin dealing with the English; but I told them that our +Parliament was about to prevent that taking place. + +There is a curious old church at Moissac with many carved grotesque +figures at the entrance. The style is nearly the old English, but in +some places, the early Gothic. The accommodation at the inns is very +good; but the joke of Milord Anglois has commenced, and is increasing +fast. We were all _mon Commandant_ and _mon Général_; and paid +accordingly. + +The next day, on leaving Moissac, I ascended a long hill, and continued +on rich high ground above the river, in a country of cultivated, +undulating scenery, with more wood, somewhat resembling Devonshire or +Somersetshire, with the exception of the want of hedges. This continued +about seven miles, when I came down again, having a fine view of the +river, and continued my way along the banks over a rich flat through +several villages and small towns to Agen, about thirty-four miles from +Moissac. The valley was here much narrower and varied than that at +Toulouse, bounded on both sides by gentle hills, cultivated and rich, +as well as apparently populous, along the whole way. The French troops +were in cantonments in every village, and in general looked very sulky. +A few touched their caps to me, as I was in my scarlet uniform; but +most looked sulky and took no notice. I was, however, never insulted. +The cries of the children all the way, and often of the country-women, +and sometimes of the men, of _vivent les Anglois!_ certainly did not +contribute to put their soldiers and officers in better humour. If so +disposed, I could easily, as the Irish say, “have picked a quarrel.” + +At Agen all was gaiety and bustle. It was the Sunday before their +great fair; and all was preparing for that, as well as for the service +which was to take place in the great church the next day for Louis +XVI., the Queen, &c. I immediately went to the Commandant of the town. +He was civil, but the numerous officers looked very much disposed to +be impertinent, if occasion should offer. The eager curiosity of the +townspeople to see the English, and to be civil, was very pleasing; +every one seemed anxious to show some attention. Here I fell in with +Dr. M—— and Mr. and Mrs. J——, and after dining together, we went to the +play. + +It was a little narrow theatre, but almost new, and very clean and +neat. The performances were not despicable. There was a good-looking +singer, with no bad voice, from Bordeaux. In the character she acted +much happened to be said of her innocence and inexperience. From the +constant joking this gave rise to in the audience, and from some very +prominent feature in her person, I conclude that she had lately been +under the necessity of retiring from Bordeaux, from some little _faux +pas_. And this, I was told afterwards, was the case. + +Agen is an old and rather shabby town of about ten or eleven thousand +inhabitants; but the walks and country around it are picturesque. +The next morning I staid until after the ceremony had commenced in +the church, and peeped in, to see what was going on, and whether the +military attended. Many of the latter did so, with crape round their +arms. I was immediately admitted without a ticket; and the old priests, +several of whom had been _émigrés_, and spoke a little English, were +very civil to me. About twenty milliners had made really a very elegant +linen and crape mausoleum for the occasion, nearly twenty feet high. +Four fluted pillars, one at each corner, were made of fine white linen, +the festoons round the base were of black and white crape, urns on the +pillars, and other ornaments of the same. About a hundred and fifty +wax candles were arranged up the steps on every side of the tomb, and +above it were lilies springing fresh from the centre, and the crown, in +elegant crape, suspended above the whole. + +About ten o’clock I started again to find out the Baron de Trenqueléon +at Port St. Marie, which was about twelve miles from Agen. On inquiry +at the inn, I found a friend of his son’s who had left him only a few +hours before. I, therefore, determined to cross the river again, in +order to pay him a visit, and to stay there the night. Trenqueléon +Chateau is about five miles from Port St. Marie, on the road thence to +Nerac, on the side of the hills which enclose the valley in which the +Garonne descends. It is old-fashioned, in the style of the Tuileries, +and apparently large. In reality, it does not contain much room, but is +a comfortable place. + +Except two higher wings, it is, in fact, only a ground-floor house. +The rooms are lofty, spacious, and decently furnished for a French +house in the country. There is a great square garden in front, like a +wilderness full of weeds, with a square plantation and straight walks. +The roads run about two hundred yards from it on one side, and a small +river navigable for boats on the other, which runs into the Garonne +about four miles below. This would be convenient to export the produce, +if there were a market, which of late had been the case. + +I found the old Baron feeble, without the use of his limbs, in a +great chair penned in like a child. He was surrounded by a large +party—his wife, his son, and his son’s wife, daughter to the _maire_ +of Agen; an old lady, whom I took for the Baron’s sister; and five +young ladies, who called him “Papa.” One of these was in weeds, and +one about twenty-five or thirty; the rest young. One was a fresh, +ruddy, English-looking girl. All were most attentive and civil. The +old Baron made me repeatedly kiss him, and cried several times as he +conversed with me. He remembered all our friends in England during +his emigration. He was very anxious to know all I could tell him of +my brothers. He asked much after your sister and brother, and the +T—— family. His table was bad, but there was quantity, and a hearty +welcome. I was put into his uncle’s room, our old friend the Bishop +of Montpelier. His family seemed attentive to him, and, except at +meal times, seemed to live around him, some at work, some reading +the papers to him, and some sitting ready to talk, and with no other +occupation. The poor girls must lead a very dull life in the Chateau de +Trenqueléon, for from the state of the Baron’s health they do not go +out to balls or amusements even at Agen. + +On the following morning I left Trenqueléon about twelve o’clock, and +crossed the river again at a ferry near Aiguillon, which is a pretty +town, small, but well situated. I got on to Tomeins that night. The +country continues to be the same rich valley the whole way, and is +very populous. Tomeins is a small ill-built town of perhaps about five +thousand inhabitants. There is nothing of interest in it, except a fine +sort of Richmond-terrace view from the public walk overhanging the +river. The women struck us as very pretty, and they were peculiarly +eager about “_les Anglois_” one or two calling out in English, as we +passed near the windows where they were, “How you do? how you do?” +&c., and then running away to hide themselves. And this came from +well-dressed girls in good houses. + +On the 8th I proceeded through Marmande de la Reolle, to breakfast; and +then crossing the river again near Langon, I intended to stop at the +pretty village of Barsac, about five miles on this side Langon, where +the good wine of that name comes from. Finding all this part full of +our sixth division, just arrived, I was obliged to push on to Ceron, a +mere post stage and a poor inn. + +On the 9th I proceeded to this place (Bordeaux), and arrived by one +o’clock, when my order to proceed to Tarragona (for the trial of Sir J. +Murray) was put into my hands. I found every one in the same hurry and +confusion as when the Duke paid us his last visit at Toulouse. + +The country continued nearly the same until we got some way beyond +Barsac; we then began to skirt the Landes, and had only sand and firs, +a sort of Bagshot Heath, but still broken by frequent villages and +chateaux, which are very numerous around Bordeaux. + +During my journey I always stopped at some small inn for a feed of corn +in the course of the way, and also during rain, which was frequent and +heavy. I gave the chance passengers their wine to make them talk. A +drunken Frenchman seemed much like an English one, and was sometimes +very entertaining; but the feeling of the soldiers was the most +curious. At one place I found two discharged soldiers going home on +leave; they said that they had been betrayed by their Generals, &c., +and that the game was up, so they had applied for their discharges, +for they would not fight for the King. They had served seven or eight +years, and now intended to be quiet, though their wounds would not have +prevented their fighting for the Emperor. One had lost a finger only, +the other had received a knock in the leg, which rather made him halt a +little; they had both above sixteen months’ pay due to them, but said +that they concluded, of course, the King would never pay the Emperor’s +debts, and they were satisfied to be discharged without pensions. They +said that nine-tenths of the soldiers of the army would have remained +firm to the Emperor if their Generals had been faithful, and had agreed +in opinion with them; “_mais n’importe—c’est fini_.” + +The Trenqueléon party told me, they were for some time in great +uneasiness, for we had no troops near them on the left bank of the +river, and on the right bank only came down to the river Lot. Thus Agen +was the centre of the formation of partisan corps who were to cross the +river near them, and scour the country to annoy us. + +In three or four instances they succeeded in this; and the Commissioner +was issuing most violent orders to compel all persons to form their +corps immediately (these if caught by us would be hung), and to teach +the women also, to entice our soldiers into their houses by wine, +&c., to make them prisoners and kill them, and even to instruct their +children to cut the back sinews of the horses in the stables at night, +saying they must do as the Spaniards did by them in Spain. + +The Baron’s family said they had different feelings, but would have +been compelled to do much of this had matters gone on. They also talked +with much horror of the state of terror in which they had been kept by +Bonaparte’s agents. One deputy Préfet some time since alarmed them by +quietly telling some of their neighbours (who told them again) that +they were in a terrible scrape, and had been detected corresponding +with the English. They went instantly to the Préfet to know what this +meant, and found it was one of my father’s letters about the Bishop of +Montpelier’s affairs, which had been stopped by the police. My father +was the Bishop’s executor in England. The Préfet afterwards told him +to be easy—“_ce n’étoit rien_.” The Baron seems to have been a popular +character in the neighbourhood. + +_12th, later._—A mail goes to-day, and I have a pile of papers a foot +high to arrange by to-morrow. The Duke goes away and leaves the army +the day after, Wednesday the 14th, consequently all is a bustle of +business, balls, dinners, operas, plays, all proceeding at once. My +next will give you an account of this handsome town. I am in quarters +at Monsieur Emerigon’s, a barrister now at Paris, but daily expected +to return. The Duke has written strongly home to put off this intended +Court-martial at Tarragona; all here detest it, and grumble. The worst +is, that we are to remain here in suspense until an answer arrives. + +I am writing without my coat, and so are all the Duke’s Secretaries, +&c., on account of the heat. The thermometer shut up in my writing-desk +is at 76°. The sun most ardent when out. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + + The Opera-house—The Cathedral—The Synagogue—A Jewish Wedding—Strange + Show-house—Wellington and King Ferdinand. + + + Head-quarters, Bordeaux, + June 16, 1814. + + MY DEAR M——, + +As I have no news to communicate, you must be satisfied with the best +account of Bordeaux which the excessive heat permits me to give you. +The Duke is gone for good, and we are left here in a state of dull, and +almost feverish uncertainty. Time slips away fast, however, and my fate +will soon be decided. + +Before breakfast I take an hour’s ride to look about the town and +suburbs, and make my observations. The restaurateurs are so hot that I +prefer my own society and a mutton-chop with abundance of vegetables +and fruit, and my bottle of claret or Sauterne, to the incessant +dinners going on in public. My wine I get from the housekeeper of my +landlord, Monsieur Emerigon, the counsellor, as she in his absence +sells his produce for him—his wine, namely Sauterne Emerigon, which is +really very good, his pigeons, his ortolans, his poultry, his cherries, +his vegetables, &c. As he has not yet returned from Paris, I have +also taken possession of his _salle à manger_, and drawing-room, in +addition to my bedroom. I only now want to get into his library. He is +a royalist, and one of the commissioners sent from Bordeaux to Paris. + +Bordeaux is a very handsome town, and very superior to Toulouse—as a +city indeed there is no comparison; still in my opinion there was more +_ton_ and fashion at Toulouse. The prosperity of the place was arrested +by the Revolution, when it was in a state of splendid commercial +prosperity, rapidly increasing in magnificence. Toulouse, on the +contrary, I take it, was even then on the decline. Another advantage +Bordeaux has, in addition to its having been laid out, like Bath, +with modern improvement as to the width of the streets, namely, the +convenience of stone quarries close at hand, instead of bricks to form +the buildings, and this with water carriage. It has besides a stone +somewhat similar to Portland stone, a complete Bath stone cut by the +saw and adze like that at Bath; and of course these advantages have not +been neglected by Frenchmen. + +The Garonne is a noble river, not very much wider than the Thames at +London Bridge, but it appears deeper, and of more importance; the tide +occasionally reaches up as high as the neighbourhood of Langon. The +quays probably extend nearly two miles, and in general are well-built +and handsome, and the river just now full of shipping. The quays are +inferior to those at Lyons, and the few half-rotten ships on the stocks +in the spacious yard, show strongly the urgent necessity of what the +people did on the late occasion. + +The Grand Theatre is a very handsome building, with a colonnade of +twelve pillars in front. The whole height of the building, with its +connexions of taverns, Exeter Change, &c., runs back to the river. In +its front is a square, with two handsome streets branching off right +and left. One has the double row of trees, in the foreign fashion, +in the centre, with paved carriage-roads outside, and is spacious, +ornamental, and useful. At the end of this is the other Theatre, de +la Gaieté, and that leads into a sort of wide avenue street planted +all the way, and nearly a mile long. On one side again of this is +the _ci-devant_ Champ de Mars, or Jardin Publique, a spacious public +planted walk. The town contains several other planted wide streets, and +a handsome Palais-Royal, _ci-devant_ Du Préfet. There is not any one +very handsome square, and upon the whole Brussels is to be preferred; +and it is a town probably nearly of the same size. + +The Opera House is handsome in the inside, but dirty, and not well +contrived so as to hold the greatest numbers. It consists of twelve +large Corinthian pillars, which occupy much of the room; and all +the upper boxes are like baskets projecting between them, and only +two deep. The shape of the house is a flat horseshoe, and well +proportioned. The singing tolerably good; and the dancing by no means +despicable. Except perhaps one or two of our best, it is better than at +our London theatres. The dresses are rich and expensive. The reception +of our Duke was very gracious; and it was not a little curious to +hear “God save the King” sung constantly with “_Vive Henri IV.!_” +_A l’Anglois, à l’Anglois!_ was also a popular cry, and produced a +hornpipe tune, always attended with great acclamation, but what the +connexion was I cannot say. Some impudent sailors always called out +for “Rule Britannia,” but French _politesse_ could not go so far. Two +Americans would not pull off their hats one night to “God save the +King,” and were shouldered out of the house in consequence. + +The upper boxes are entirely filled with very smartly dressed ladies +of a certain class, whose wardrobes have improved during the last two +months, I have no doubt, as much as that of the similar class of ladies +at Toulouse,—and the last was very visible. The Theatre de la Gaieté +is a sort of Sadler’s Wells, neither more elegant, nor more chaste. +The rope dancing is decidedly good. There is also a Musée here, as +well as at Toulouse, but much inferior. There are not half a dozen +original pictures of any tolerable master. The antique inscriptions +are very uninteresting, to me at least, and there were no antiques +affording pleasure to an artist or amateur. The collection of birds, +serpents, butterflies, minerals, &c., are tolerable, but only of the +second order. The library also appeared smaller and inferior to that at +Toulouse, but there were many more readers, which surprised me. + +There is also a deaf and dumb establishment here similar to that at +Paris, and a very civil and apparently very intelligent master. I +stayed there two hours, to have a regular lesson of the principles +of the education illustrated by the female pupils, who were the most +forward. There were about seventy scholars, mainly supported by the +Government. The pupils were not quite so skilful as those at Paris, +but it is always an interesting exhibition. To find out what we were, +the teacher ingeniously made a pupil ask us what nation we were of, +and of what profession, and as all the deaf and dumb pupils rejoiced +in the answer, and seemed much pleased, I determined to keep up our +good character, and gave the damsels a Napoleon, for which I got much +dumb-show thanks in return. + +The cathedral, or principal church, of St. André, is a good Gothic +building of about the second class, built by “_vos Messieurs les +Anglais_,” as we are instantly told. It is in one respect unfinished; +for both the north and south fronts are intended to have each two light +Gothic spires on the towers, whereas only one pair is built—the other +has been but just commenced. The pair that exist were some little +time since out of repair, and a part had fallen down. Bonaparte saw +this, and graciously said they must be put in order directly. The +Bourdelois were grateful, thinking he intended to have it done, but he +only ordered it, and a tax on the commune at the same time, to pay for +it. In the same way, as he came from Lyons to Bordeaux, he found the +road bad, and much out of repair: this he also ordered to be repaired +immediately; but an _impôt_ all along the communes on the road, beyond +the expense of the repairs, followed likewise as immediately. The +Préfet’s palace he also ordered to be put in complete order, and it was +just finished in time to receive the Duke d’Angoulême, which was not +quite according to the wishes and intentions of the said Bonaparte. + +The Exchange at Bordeaux is a well-contrived handsome building, and the +square in the centre, roofed in with sky-lights, to form a convenient +place for the different walks. The cloisters round are full of shops, +jewellery, maps, &c. + +_June 28th._—I have just returned from the synagogue, where I have been +these two hours. There are nearly two thousand Jews at Bordeaux. “It +is no wonder the Christians are well fleeced,” as my French companion +observed, “when there are two thousand persons in the town who impose +it upon themselves as a duty, and cheat for religion’s sake.” The +chapel is a new building, the style of architecture not good, being +a sort of imitation of Saxon, or rather of no particular order, but +the shape of the temple is excellent, the proportions good, and the +whole imposing. A colonnade formed by pillars runs all round, with a +gallery above for the women, who are separated from the men. The altar +at the end, with the ark of the covenant and the books of Moses, &c. +The branch in the centre; round this the reading-desks, with the rows +of lights for the priests, &c. The upper gallery is arched over like +Covent Garden, with a circular roof. + +The Jews were very civil. The singing was tolerably good; the singing +boys, about twenty in number, in white surplices and sky-blue silk +sashes and scarfs, and bonnets, had a good effect, mixed with the +old priests in their hoods. The ceremony of producing the books of +Moses and returning them to the ark was the most imposing in point +of solemnity, and was attended by music; but what to me was the most +striking, was when at a certain period in the service called the +Benediction, every parent found immediately his son or grandson, or the +children their parents. In short, after a few moments’ bustle, you saw +every one, whatever his age, imposing his hooded head and hands on his +own offspring, and every generation thus at the same instant receiving +the benediction from his own parent respectively. This was really an +imposing scene. + +The most truly Jewish part followed, for by solemn proclamation +every sacred office, namely, the opening of the ark, the drawing the +curtains, carrying the books, putting on the ornaments, reading out +of them when produced, the right of assisting in every part of the +ceremonies, was regularly put up to auction, and sold to the highest +bidder. The biddings were from one franc to three and five, and even +at times up to forty and fifty. As I was informed, these profits were +given to the poor. There was a little spoilt Jew child, about six years +old, for whom its papa had, I conclude, bought the privilege of placing +the silver ornaments on the tops of the wooden rollers of the vellum +Pentateuch, and the little creature seemed much pleased and excessively +proud of his office. On Wednesday next there is to be a wedding, and if +not engaged, it is my intention to be present. + +The coffee-houses here, before we came, were very good, and are not +very dear. They are now so hot and crowded, and in such confusion that +I prefer my dinner solo. Being in a great measure fixed by _la carte_ +as to prices, I believe we are less imposed upon at the restaurateurs +than anywhere else. + +I rode out one day about four miles on the old Bayonne road, to see +a house and garden much talked of here, belonging to a Mons. R——, the +Portuguese Consul, a queer old man, who goes about in a scarlet uniform +like that of our former English Generals, and with a white-feathered +General’s hat. The grounds and gardens are large, and in the first +style of a Paddington tea-garden, with a mixture of Hawkstone nonsense +and Walsh Porter’s sham villages, &c. The house is nothing remarkable, +consisting of a number of rooms by no means good; not a single good +picture, only some bad indecent ones and very free prints. The most +ludicrous part was a regular inscription of “Library” over a door which +led to a little closet with one small set of book-shelves, containing a +dozen or two of great almanacs, and a few odd volumes of all sorts of +books, the whole in number about a hundred. + +On the landing-place on the stairs is a negro, carved in wood, holding +a bottle and glass. The flower-garden—which is in the old style, is +tolerable. There are no good statues, but plenty of cut trees in all +shapes, temples, &c., the whole being an endeavour to make poor Nature +as little likely to know herself as possible. There were trees with +the stems in frames and the tops pointed. In the cut promenades in +the woods were tombs and wooden painted figures, of all sorts and +descriptions. There were dogs in their houses, the prodigal son feeding +swine, a mad lady half naked in a cage, &c. In another part of the +garden was a labyrinth, and a windmill with a wooden man looking out of +one window and a woman out of the other, and below these a wooden cow +and some sheep, goats, deer of the same material, grazing. + +Strangers are admitted to survey this place on any day. The doors were +opened to about a dozen of us, and we were turned loose, without any +showman, into the house and grounds, and ranged about where we pleased. +On Sunday every one is admitted, and it is said there is much company. +The walks are cool, and it is not surprising that they are frequented. +The whole is one mode out of many of obtaining notoriety. An ingenious +way for preserving the flowers is by an inscription insinuating that +every flower is a transformed female. This would not, I fear, succeed +in England. The poor ladies would have many a pinch and squeeze, and +lose many a limb, if Kensington Gardens were full of such flowers, and +had no other protector. + +_Sunday, 19th._—The embarkation of the troops is now going on with +more spirit. The fourth division are, I believe, all on board, if +not sailed, and everything is by degrees moving down towards the +camp at Blanquefort, and the place of embarkation, Pouillac, about +thirty-five miles below this. From the state of uncertainty in which +I remain I shall be one of the last, if I go at all, that is, whether +our Tarragona Court-martial is put an end to. All accounts which have +reached me agree with P——’s. I have thought all along that, with the +help and assistance of Bonaparte himself, who was our best ally, +almost the whole of what has happened has arisen, as it were, from the +peculiar state of the nations of Europe, and from a natural course of +events directed by Providence, and with which the Allies had nothing to +do, except not to prevent it by their blunders or quarrels. + +We have various letters from Toulouse, to officers of the army, full of +regret for the loss of their English friends, and by no means satisfied +with the exchange for their own countrymen. The army is vexed at this, +and matters are worse, as they do nothing but grumble and quarrel in +consequence. The reception of the French troops when they entered, it +is said, was very flat and provoking. D’Armagnac, who was supposed to +have saved the town by advising Soult to be off, was sent in first, +with two thousand five hundred men, and he and his officers bowed and +were very anxious to court a cordial greeting; but the dull silence +was scarcely broken, and the French officers could not contain their +vexation and abuse in consequence. There was, I believe, more sincerity +in the professions of the Toulousians towards us, as far as the +majority was concerned, than is usual with Frenchmen, or than we could +reasonably have expected from them. + +On the other hand, the accounts from the cavalry, of their treatment in +their march through France, is very different from ours at Toulouse:—in +this they all agree. The officers, trusting to French hospitality, have +left their own beds behind, and having had to bivouac almost as much +as in Spain, they have had a bad time of it. Several letters have come +from Mr. H——, who went with the column through Angoulême and Poictiers. +He has written from both these places. He says, “The inhabitants +profess openly that, as we chose to march through France, they will +try and make us repent of it. They scarcely give any quarters, send +the men leagues about out of the road, and only let the Commissary buy +his provisions on the road. At Angoulême, a town which might quarter +ten thousand men without inconvenience for a short time, they would +only suffer a few officers and the General in the town, and most +of those were quartered at inns. The General and one servant got a +billet at a private house, but he was to pay if he took more in with +him. The incivility is general; the doors were all shut against us. +The playhouse at Angoulême was empty the night it was known that our +officers would be there. Nothing to be had without paying.” This is the +same spirit of vexation as that in the army—a conviction that they have +been beaten, and that this march is a sort of proof and token of it. + +_Head-Quarters, Bordeaux, June 26th, 1814._—My life has been every day +the same—a ride early, at work at home all the middle of the day, a +dinner generally solo, and another walk or ride in the evening, or, as +the weather has become cooler again, sometimes the play. + +I have spoken to Colonel M—— about your friends who think of a removal +to the south of France, he having many connexions at Toulouse. He is +decidedly of opinion that that should be the place of abode, for a +family of ladies especially; I am rather disposed to be of the same +opinion. Pau, however, which I have not seen, is much recommended. +Supposing they fix on Toulouse, Colonel M—— says, of course, that +the house which they will require for comfort must be large, giving +them four rooms with _lits de maître_, and four beds for _filles de +chambres_, and about four other servants, and three good sitting rooms, +&c. He thinks such a house may be had for about eighteen hundred francs +a-year, that is, about 75_l._ a-year. I can assure them, that in point +of economy, all must depend upon their arrangements being made by some +French friends, and not by an English one. In house-rent, in wine, +in everything, an inhabitant will get articles at one-third of the +price demanded of the English. The French have no ideas of honesty or +moderation towards the English, and not much towards any one in matters +of trade. The extortion, and even the downright frauds committed, +especially on travellers, are quite disgraceful, and every tradesman +assists his neighbour in getting a job, and fleecing the _milords_. +I believe they are like the Jews, and have, from continual practice, +arrived at the same conclusion as the others from religion, namely, +that they are performing a duty when they cheat an Englishman. + +There are two Protestant chapels here, and one excellent preacher, in +the style of a London chapel preacher, only extempore; I heard one very +eloquent French sermon delivered by him, with great propriety. The +service, the singing, and other parts of the duty, are but moderately +performed. + +The courts of justice are much the same as at Toulouse, and about nine +or ten judges generally attend. I was unfortunately obliged to leave +Toulouse before their criminal sessions with a jury commenced, and on +my arrival here they were over. This takes place only once in three +months, unless something extraordinary or a great press of business +occurs. I attended a case of misdemeanor, a bad assault, in the +criminal court, but that was an appeal only, and being of the class of +_petits delits_, there never is a jury—but a president and five judges. +The same number presides when there is a jury, in more penal trials; +and in certain cases when the jury are divided, as for instance seven +against five, then the judges are called in to vote as jurymen, and the +proportion of votes required by law calculated on the whole numbers. +There was much unnecessary delay and argument in the case I heard. It +was like one of our worst-managed cases of motions for a new trial +on account of deficiency of evidence, which are always of the most +tiresome class. + +_Post-day, June 27th._—I have been to the Jew’s wedding. The ceremony +consists principally of singing and drinking, and blessings in Hebrew. +There must be something Jewish, however, as usual, and that is +concerning the ring, which, as soon as it is produced, is shown round +to all the rabbies near, and some elders, &c., and to the sponsors, to +be sure it is really gold, or otherwise the marriage is void, and the +true old clothesman-like way in which they all spied at the ring was +very amusing. Nearly the last ceremony is the bridegroom’s smashing a +wine-glass in a plate on the floor, with an idea that he and his spouse +are then as difficult to separate as it would be to reunite the glass. +The gentleman showed gallantry by exerting all his force, and looking +most fiercely as he broke the glass. + +I understand that the Duke of Wellington came back from Madrid with a +much better impression of King Ferdinand than when he went, thinking +that he showed talent, firmness, and character. The manner in which he +received the Duke may have somewhat disposed him to this favourable +judgment. I understand the King immediately treated the Duke as a +grandee of Spain, by shaking hands with him, and putting his hat on, +and that the king declared almost the only two acts of the Cortes, +which he approved of _in toto_, were those which made the Duke +commander of all the Spanish armies, and gave him the estate in the +South. + +We have had news from our cavalry from the vicinity of Paris, from +Chartres; all the officers have deserted their regiments to see +Paris—that present wonder of wonders! They have occasionally lately +been better treated, that is, whenever they met with a Royalist patron +at their quarters. H—— says there seems to be two parties everywhere, +and it is a sort of lottery which they fall into the hands of; that, +when he wrote last from Chartres he had been “stuffed to death,” made +to eat three or four meals a-day, and to attend a party given on +purpose for him every evening: this, I conclude, was all a _douce_ +violence. + +Still no news as to our Tarragona plan. My patron, Monsieur Emerigon, +says, that at Paris the Emperor of Russia individually was the most +popular, except perhaps the English and our Duke; that the Russian +troops were not in such favour; the King of Prussia so-so. Blucher and +his troops better, but the Emperor of Austria the worst of all; and +every one must have observed the marked difference of his reception +from that of the other sovereigns. + +I am to-day turned out of my room, which is the dining-room, as my +patron gives a dinner, to which he has asked me. I must not therefore +complain. + +We have been paid up a good deal of money at this place, where the +quantity of gold and silver we have circulated is quite incredible. +Every one talks of it, and the piles and piles of empty money-boxes +of all sorts, and from all quarters, fully prove it. At present we +have immense quantities of French money, Napoleons and Louis, gold +and silver, from Paris, whilst, on the other hand, I am told that the +French are here buying up our guineas and Portuguese gold, to turn them +into Louis, as they have begun a new coinage both here and at Paris. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + + Country Fêtes—Brawls with the French—The Duke d’Angoulême—Mademoiselle + Georges—The Actress and the Emperor—French Acting and French + Audiences—Presentation of a Sword to Lord Dalhousie—Georges’ + Benefit—Departure. + + + Head-quarters, Bordeaux, July 4, 1814, + Post-day. + + MY DEAR M——, + +We have still had no instruction how to proceed, and are waiting the +determination in England. In the mean time I am being gradually stewed, +for the heat has again commenced, and is in full operation. My life +is quite retired and monotonous, and affords no incidents. The only +variety that has arisen is, that yesterday I dined at three o’clock +with my patron’s sister, a West Indian elderly single lady, and a +female party. I was the only beau, the brother was engaged; and in the +evening I rode over about three miles to Briges, a village, where they +were keeping an annual fête. + +The crowd of country-people dancing and singing was very considerable, +and the road was covered with the lower class, going and returning. The +difference between this and our country fêtes seems to be, that there +was nothing to buy or sell, and but little eating and drinking going +on, the principal occupation being dancing and talking, laughing, and +parading about. It seems impossible to make such a people as the French +very unhappy in any way, however bad their government, except by the +conscription. + +Those who are satisfied with salads, sour wine, dancing, and other +amusements entirety depending upon themselves and the meeting of the +two sexes, can only be disappointed and deprived of their happiness +by the removal of one sex altogether. Leave them alone, and they have +nearly all they wish. John Bull, on the contrary, wants many things +more to put him into the same state of joy and satisfaction. + +Several of Marshal Soult’s officers have got into Bordeaux of late; +disputes and quarrels have been the consequence, but hitherto they +have been of no great moment. Every opportunity of seeking a row was +eagerly laid hold of by the French—a jostle on the stairs at the +theatre was sufficient. Lord Dalhousie, who is in command here now, has +been obliged to forbid any officer going to the Theatre de la Gaieté +where this was most likely to arise, and to order off every officer +not on duty here to camp. We have here now only the Guards and staff +officers. The inhabitants are all with us, particularly a set of very +fine-looking young men, but a little hot-headed, who compose the Duke +d’Angoulême’s guard of honour. They have been also insulted, and a few +days since paraded with bludgeons to see if this would be repeated +either against themselves or the English, and they determined to resist +either on the spot. No great harm has yet happened. As far as I can +learn, there have been about three fights, but none fatal. + +A young Tyrolean, in the pay-office department, having been insulted, +watched and followed the offender home. He then went for his sword, +which we never wear (but the French always do), returned, and insisted +upon instant satisfaction. Upon this the Frenchman’s zeal began to +cool, but it was too late; the Tyrolean insisted upon his going out +into a backyard and fighting directly. He cut him across the face, +and was just about running his sword into his body, when a friend +interfered, and stopped him, saying that “he had done enough.” + +Another Frenchman has been horsewhipped by an English officer, who, +when insulted, returned with his sword and whip, and offered the +Frenchman his choice, and as the latter persisted in asking for time, +he chose for him and gave him the whip. All this makes Lord Dalhousie +anxious to get the troops off, and as I hear Lord Keith has promised +plenty of transports, in answer to his pressing letters on the subject, +we expect to be all away in ten days’ time, and some immediately. There +are nearly eighteen thousand men still in France, including the fifth +division at Bayonne, where, by-the-by, the disposition on the part of +the French to be uncivil, sulky, and quarrelsome has been much greater. +On the contrary, the generals and superior officers are very civil, +particularly Marshal Suchet, to the few English officers remaining at +Toulouse, and General Villette, who is here, is also very civil. + +_Later._—A ship is just arrived in sixty-four hours from Plymouth, +telling us that fifteen sail of the line, and as many frigates are +close at hand, but no news of our destination. + +_Head-Quarters, Bordeaux, July 10th, 1814._—I have now received two +letters and packets of papers from you by the last mail, including +those up to the 28th June. The same mail brought orders for all the +members of the Court-martial appointed for Tarragona to proceed direct +for England, and there report themselves to the Adjutant-general. +Upon this I asked Lord Dalhousie (our present chief) what I was to +do? and was by him desired to remain here to the last and move with +the head-quarters, who remain here till the troops move. This must, +I think, take place in about a week or ten days, unless you cease to +send shipping from England. We shall in three days’ time have only a +brigade of Guards remaining for the city duty. The rest who will not +be already embarked will be at Pouillac in readiness. + +We have now got our small share of Royalty also at Bordeaux, as the +Duke d’Angoulême has arrived again, and means to stay a few days +before he goes to join Madame la Duchesse at the Baths at Vichy. He +looks worn, and less calculated than ever for public show, but still +apparently as amiable as before. The Duc de G——, though still, I +believe, in our 10th Hussars, came in with him, as his aide-de-camp. +The Duc de G—— is come back much disgusted with Paris, and even almost +with France and Frenchmen. He says that Paris is a dirty place, +without society and manners, and that he has met with no one to whose +word or whose honour he would fairly trust: that all seemed to be a +system of deception and falsehood, and that unless things mend, and +alter considerably, he should feel almost disposed, in case of any +unfortunate quarrel with England, to renounce France, rejoin his +regiment, and become an Englishman. This, I conclude, is the depression +of first feelings, which, in the case of emigrants, must be very strong +just now. Matters have not quite proceeded to their tastes, and they +must every hour meet with that which must inevitably disgust them. + +We have now also at Bordeaux the celebrated Mademoiselle Georges, the +actress from Paris, and Mons. Joami, also from the metropolis. In +spite of the heat, I have been three times to hear them in Voltaire’s +plays, _Merope_, _Phedre_, and _l’Orphelin de la Chine_. The man has +neither much figure nor countenance, and I should place him only as a +second-rate performer, though still very superior to the ordinary set +here in that line. In fact there are no tragic performers here at all; +and the inferiority, beneath mediocrity, with which every other part is +sustained, takes off the interest with which these tragedies would be +otherwise attended. + +Mdlle. Georges herself is also in many parts deficient, both in good +taste and in true nature. She is of a large figure, but now fallen to +pieces; and I am rather surprised that the _ci-devant_ Emperor should +have fancied her anywhere except during his Moscow campaign. The story, +however, goes here, that at one of their interviews, Bonaparte was +taken ill, and in her confusion and ignorance Mdlle. Georges rang the +Empress’s bell instead of that for the attendants, and that on the +arrival of Maria Louise there was of course a scene. + +Mdlle. Georges’ voice is good, and her countenance would by many be +considered fine. In some parts of her acting I think she is strikingly +great, but generally forced and extravagant. She runs into extremes +from crying to laughing, and from low ghost-like intonations to loud +vulgar screams. Upon the whole, one comes away fatigued from one of +these representations, and not much pleased or affected. And what +convinces me that it really is inferiority in the drama or in the +actress, and not merely the difference of style and manner, or national +feeling as to composition and taste, which causes this, is, that +the French part of the audience never seem affected like an English +audience under the influence of really fine acting. You never hear the +generally suppressed sobs, or see the eyes full of tears all round the +house as with us at an English tragedy, when, for example, Mrs. Siddons +plays, and every one goes away with a serious impression. In the French +auditors you only hear bursts of “_Très beau, très beau! superbe! +magnifique!_” &c., always applied to some extravagant and sudden change +of tone or manner; and now, at this present moment, if there happens to +be a royal sentiment which can be applied, it is encored like a song. +No one seems carried away by feelings which he cannot command; but the +applause is given as it would be to a mountebank for a clever trick. +The distressed heroine or empress spits in her pocket-handkerchief, or +on the stage in the true French style, and certainly not in a manner +to excite admiration or interest, or to impress the spectators very +strongly with ideas of her dignity and elegance. + +The first night the Duke d’Angoulême was at the play (on his arrival +here this time), we had verses and songs in his honour, and “_Vive +Henry IV.!_” without end. At last came for once, “God save the King,” +which was received very differently from what it was even when I first +came here; coolly and civilly enough, except by a few; and I believe we +have a few sincere friends here. + +As Paris gave a sword to General Sacken, Bordeaux is to give one to +Lord Dalhousie; and I really think the town has (as they certainly +ought to have) some feelings of gratitude towards him for his attention +to everything which can be of service to the city, and in successful +efforts to preserve order, and prevent any mischief being done to the +inhabitants. This sword will be a curious heir-loom in the Dalhousie +family, given to their ancestor by the French civil authorities of +Bordeaux. + +As a trait of the natural French feelings of vanity, I may tell you, +that my loyal patron Mons. Emerigon said, not only should we have been +all originally prevented from entering France, had the people been of +one mind with the Emperor and the army, but that all along a single +word of complaint from Louis XVIII. of the conduct of the allied troops +would have been a signal for their entire destruction at any period +since. + +I am now told that the fifth division, from Bayonne are also on their +march hither to embark. This will probably cause some little more +delay; but I think in ten days we must be on board ship. + +_Head-Quarters, Bordeaux, July 15th, 1814._—Our final departure from +hence appears, at last, to be gradually approaching. The numbers of the +English diminish daily; and though we have for this month past been +talking of the “next week,” I begin to think that another week will +really and truly see us off, and the French army again in possession of +Bordeaux. + +The tradesmen of the town will miss us greatly. They have made a +famous time of it these last three months, for the army has in that +time received six months’ pay, and most of it has found its way into +the pockets of the keepers of the restaurateurs, the hotels, &c. +Bordeaux has had its full share of the spoils of the _milords_. Nor +have the inhabitants suffered anything by the army, except the little +inconvenience of giving up a room or two in general as quarters for +the officers, who partly made up even for this by giving their hosts +tickets for the play, taking boxes for the ladies, &c., and making them +presents every now and then. The only persons who have suffered by us +at all in the neighbourhood, are those who have small gardens near +the camp. They certainly have had their vegetables and fruit gathered +gratis, and have generally not even had their share. This evil is, +however, exaggerated, and much of it which really exists, has been done +by the French peasantry and country servants, who, if a soldier takes +six cabbages, immediately take a dozen more themselves, sell them in +the camp, and swear to the owners that the soldiers are the culprits. + +Those who have vineyards as well as gardens, have also their full +revenge in the price of their wines, which were immediately doubled, by +the arrival of the troops, and the latter in fact pay dearly for their +vegetables, though they get a good part for nothing. It is fortunate +for the inhabitants that we shall be off before the grapes begin to +ripen, and for our own soldiers likewise. Surrounded by vineyards, the +temptations would be irresistible, and the means of offence almost +boundless; so that the loss to the cultivators of them principal +harvest, and the injury to the soldiers, would be very considerable. + +I have bought a violoncello to amuse myself this warm weather, and as +my host, M. Emerigon, plays the violin in very excellent style, we have +frequently music of an evening before he goes to his consultations. + +We most of us, nevertheless, begin to find Bordeaux dull,—I do +in particular. My occupation has nearly ceased, except as to +swearing the paymasters, &c., to their accounts, and now and then a +Court-martial,—not enough to give me full employment. The constant +expectation of moving, the uncertainty when I may be wanted, and the +natural indolence arising from the heat, prevent me from voluntarily +engaging in any regular study or pursuit, and even prevent my making +any excursions beyond a league or two on my pony. Shut up in this +town, which, though airy, as to the general breadth of the streets and +openings, is still in fact hot and low, and built in a country like +that round Woolwich or Deptford, I get thin and languid, and shall be +glad to be braced by the sea-air and the cooler climate of England. + +_Saturday, 1st._—As yet we have had no packets this week, and being +beyond the usual time, this makes us believe the reports which have +been some days in circulation, that you mean to send no more packets +from England. I have still hopes. + +I must tell you a trait completely French, of one of the noble guard of +honour of the Duke d’Angoulême at Bordeaux. I had met him twice in the +family with whom I live: on one of these occasions, at dinner. He dined +here yesterday, and whilst the rest of the party were taking their +coffee, I went to my room to dress, as I dined at Lord Dalhousie’s. +This guardsman slipped up stairs after me. He came bowing into my +room, whilst I was in my shirt, and without any excuse or apology, +immediately began to tell me he had a little favour to ask, and hoped +that I would oblige him, and say nothing of it in the family, for he +would not ask them, and was anxious they should not know anything about +it; and at last said, “Could I just let him have five guineas or so, +for which he would give me a bit of paper.” In short, he added that +he was rather deficient in cash, and I should oblige him infinitely +by the loan, which should be paid when he could. As I fully expected +an application to ask some favour of Lord Dalhousie or the Duke of +Wellington, or something very disagreeable, I felt rather relieved by +the explanation in full. As he was quite a young man, had just got a +commission in the new regiment to be raised in Martinique, and was, I +concluded, of good character, from his connexion with M. Emerigon and +his family, who are held in great esteem, I counted him out his five +guineas (all the time in my shirt), and he went away very happy, saying +that he would go below and leave me a bit of paper, though I told him +there was pen and ink in my room. The paper said that he would send +Mr. —— six guineas to England (a guinea more than I had given him) as +soon as he could. It was signed—_P. de V. De R——, De La Martinique_, +leaving my name a blank, and not inquiring where he should send, so as +to reserve, I presume, enough to satisfy his conscience in not repaying +the money, that he should never know where to send it. His bit of paper +only confirmed me in my notion that I was doing an act of charity, and +not turning Jew or money-lender. + +The guard of honour are to-day dismissed, by order of the higher powers +from Paris. In truth, there are quite troops enough in France, without +adding the expense of these gentlemen, with their white feathers a +yard long, who would be of no use except to quarrel with the regular +troops. Only four years since Bonaparte, when at Bordeaux, was attended +everywhere by a guard of honour of the same description. Volunteers +were his only body-guard. + +The Prefêt of Bordeaux last night gave a fête to the Duke d’Angoulême. +I went with M. Emerigon. The Duke came a few minutes after eight +o’clock in his carriage and six, dressed, I believe, in the uniform of +a Field-Marshal, with the _cordon-bleu_, &c. He was received by the +Prefêt, attended by Generals Villette, Blagnac, Clement de la Ronciere, +&c., &c., and a number of old and new nobility, all in their best; and +having been, as it were, proclaimed to the company by the Prefêt, the +Duke went about most graciously, talking to every one as usual. + +About ten supper was announced, for the Duke has very early habits; +and in about half an hour afterwards he came to the window to see very +pretty fireworks, which were let off in the main street, surrounded +by thousands of people below, and at all the windows. It was a gay +and attractive scene. Soon after eleven the Duke went home, for he +rises at five, and works hard at business, on petitions, &c., and at +four o’clock to-morrow morning is to start for Bayonne. He had been +at two reviews in the course of yesterday, and had both times been in +tolerably severe storms. I fancy he must now and then wish himself +quiet again, as he has been for the last twenty years. I am almost +sure I should. The new barons and nobility seem to make very good +courtiers. Indeed, the duties are all the same; it is only a change in +the cry and the idol, the same worship exists as before. The Prefêt, +Monsieur le Baron de V——, while the fireworks were going on, observed +to all around him (loud enough on purpose for the Duke to hear)—how +fortunate he was to have thought of the fireworks; that the idea had +come into his head, as he observed that every one would see Monseigneur +so well at the window, whilst the fireworks were going off; and then +how plainly we can read the inscriptions—O yes, observe _Vive le Duc +d’Angoulême! Vivent les Bourbons!_ and the fleurs-de-lys—how well they +look in the midst of the fire! He felt quite happy that he had thought +of all this to gratify the people, as it necessarily must do.—Now the +inscriptions were close to us, and in letters a foot long. And note +besides, that this Baron was one of the functionaries who ran away from +Bordeaux, when the Duke came here on the 12th of March, and who would +probably not now hold his situation, if my patron and some others had +not persuaded him to return in good time, and continue in his office to +wait the result. The Duke must see through this, and be disgusted. + +The women here are not as well dressed as at Toulouse—not so stylish. +They do not show so much blood and fashion. I believe, however, among +the higher orders, that there is much more morality, and that there +is a greater difference in reality, as well as in outward appearance, +between the ladies in the dress-boxes, and those in the tier above, +than there was at Toulouse. + +Shortly after eleven o’clock the few English who were present at the +fête, had nearly all gone home, being chiefly Generals and their +aides-de-camp. I came away, leaving the company waltzing and dancing +away with less spirit and skill than at Toulouse. + +I met with some very liberal Catholics here; for instance, a gentleman +said yesterday, before me, that if all the pieces of the true Cross +were collected, they would, when put together, make a cross half a +mile long. A lady in company said to a friend (also before me), that +she did not much trouble the father confessor, and indeed that it was +what she liked the least of any part of her duty. She added that their +religion depended on faith, hope, and charity, and that she understood +(addressing me), ours did so too, but that theirs required a good deal +of hope. Madame Emerigon, with whom I live, has returned home highly +delighted with Paris, but abuses the inhabitants, who, she says, think +only of making money, taking in strangers, provincials and foreigners, +and amusing themselves day and night. + +She is a French creole from one of the islands. A little mulatto girl, +about fourteen, always stands behind her chair, laughing at all her +mistress says. The hairdresser is generally seated in one corner of the +room, half the dinner-time, joining in the conversation, and sometimes +adorning Madame, whilst we are taking our wine, and during this time an +idle Paris lad, of the girl’s age, whom Madame seems to have fancied +because he speaks such good French, and not the Patois, is running +about, bustling, but in reality doing little or nothing from morning +till night. Three other female servants, and a nephew of the family, +complete the party on this side of the house, or rather wing. + +In an opposite wing, are, first in the upper part, two respectable old +ladies, and their servants; below them _au-premier_, is an old West +Indian gentleman and his two sons, both _ci-devant_ of the Imperial +guard of honour, from Bordeaux, and his two daughters, with servants, +&c. None of these are very elegant, nor, as far as I can judge from +one visit, very well bred. They amused me the whole time with talking +of the superiority of the French troops, and how the Imperial guards +in particular could beat all the Allies if not more than two to one, +as they always had done, to which I only said that I believed the +Imperial Guards had been all withdrawn from the army of Spain, at +least I supposed so, and that I had had, therefore, no opportunity +of judging. One Miss also asked what the English lived upon? as she +understood we ate no bread. Upon which a French visitor, to save me the +trouble of explanation, informed her that we principally lived upon +_des potates_ (which is now the word here for potatoes) and _betraves_, +with which accurate information she seemed quite satisfied. This sort +of conversation, and a few songs quite in the French style, which I do +not at all admire, though one of the demoiselles had a good voice, have +not tempted me to pay another visit. + +The other night I went to the benefit of Madame Georges. She acted +Semiramis, in Voltaire’s play, and with considerable success, +particularly when she let Nature have its way. She also acted in the +sentimental farce of _La Belle Fermière_, and really well, if she had +but omitted a miserable song, accompanied by an old violin or two +behind the scenes, all out of tune. The orchestra, as well as every +part of the house, was full—almost every passage crammed near the +openings to the boxes. The play began at seven o’clock, and the company +were all ready by four, and I saw many well-dressed women going to +the play at two and three o’clock, as a box cannot be engaged without +paying almost double price. The Duke was very well received, and as +there was luckily no band, we escaped about five-and-twenty _Vive Henry +IV.!_ which we should otherwise have had. + +Mr. Wilberforce should exert himself in getting little essays written +in French, on the Slave Trade, circulated in France, in some degree at +least to enlighten the people. At present, even the more intelligent +and better sort of men seem only to consider the English as playing +the part of Don Quixote in this business, and consider the whole as a +sort of romantic affectation of humanity; whilst many others insinuate +motives not quite so honourable, by stating that, having well supplied +our own islands with slaves, we wish to give up all the other colonies, +with a diminished black population, and in bad condition, and then +to prevent their ever recovering themselves. This is to be done by +the abolition of the Slave Trade; whilst our own islands, in full +prosperity, will be ready to reap the benefit of the distress of their +rivals. + +_July 18th._—I have now only time to seal up and to tell you that the +returns of embarkations are just arrived from Pouillac, by which it +appears that all the troops are now actually on board, except the +two brigades of Guards, one of which entered Pouillac to-day to be +prepared, and the other is still here. At present no more shipping is +ready, though more are expected; some say we shall be moving about +to-morrow week, some this day fortnight; but I believe no one knows +anything of the matter. + + * * * * * + +From the following entry in the Diary kept by Mrs. Larpent, it appears +that Mr. F. S. Larpent arrived at his father’s house, at East Sheen, on +the 8th August, 1814. + +_8th August, 1814._—“In the evening came Seymour, looking younger than +when he went away, and in excellent health, after having been absent +two years, all but a fortnight. We thanked God sincerely for this great +mercy and happiness.” + + + + +APPENDIX. + + +[Although the annexed letter does not come chronologically within the +scope of Mr. Larpent’s Journal, as there is an anticipatory notice, +towards the close of the second volume, of Sir John Murray’s trial, it +may not inappropriately be inserted here.] + + Paris, January 19th, 1815. + + MY DEAR SIR, + + In regard to Sir John Murray’s trial, I intended to prove the charges + framed by my directions against him, in consequence of the orders of + Government, by the production of my Instructions and his Reports, all + of which are in the Government Offices. + + Sir John Murray contends that one paragraph of my Instructions + directed him not to risk an action. I think he has mistaken my meaning + in that paragraph; but whether he has or not, that paragraph did not + recall the other Instructions for his conduct. + + The object of that paragraph was to prevent the Spanish Generals Elio + and the Duque del Parque, from taking advantage of Sir John Murray’s + absence, and the temporary command which they had of the cavalry + belonging to Sir John Murray’s and Whittingham’s corps, to attack the + French. There existed a prevailing opinion among the Spanish officers + that their failures were to be attributed to the want of good cavalry; + and this paragraph of the Instructions was drawn with the view of + preventing those officers from attempting to fight a general action + when circumstances should have placed a small body of good cavalry at + their disposal, more particularly as all the manœuvres ordered by the + Instructions had in view to prevent the necessity of a general action. + + I have not by me the Instructions, but, as well as I recollect, this + meaning of the paragraph is obvious; and it will be particularly + observed that it comes in after the directions for the formation of + the Corps Romain in Bohemia with the Duque del Parque and General + Elio. I think, as I before stated, that this paragraph has nothing to + say to the question of Sir John Murray’s guilt or innocence of the two + charges, though it has to that brought against him by the Admiral. + + The Court has, of course, a right to judge of my meaning by the words + in which it is conveyed, in whatever manner I may now explain it or + you may explain it for me, as the obvious meaning of those words was + to be the guide of Sir John Murray’s conduct. I must add also, that + whatever care I may have taken, it is not improbable that in drawing + an Instruction for the operations of so many corps, all with separate + Commanders-in-Chief, I may not in every instance have made use of the + language which should convey the meaning I had in my mind. + + There is nothing else that occurs to me; but I shall be glad to hear + from you occasionally during the trial, and receive a copy of the + evidence when it can be got. + + Believe me, + Ever yours, most faithfully, + WELLINGTON. + + _To F. S. Larpent, Esq._ + _&c. &c._ + + +LONDON: W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS. + + + + + Transcriber’s Notes + + pg 65 Changed: that is the best way, I believe, if posible + to: that is the best way, I believe, if possible + + pg 102 Changed: not to neglect making up her deficiences + to: not to neglect making up her deficiencies + + pg 125 Changed: the obligation of cuting so much of the corn + to: the obligation of cutting so much of the corn + + pg 137 Changed: too much for them, end are consequently retiring + to: too much for them, and are consequently retiring + + pg 144 Changed: round the botton of an insulated hill + to: round the bottom of an insulated hill + + pg 159 Changed: und and there the first charge of cavalry took place + to: und and there the first charge of cavalry took place + + pg 208 Changed: prisoners aad deserters say nearly five thousand + to: prisoners and deserters say nearly five thousand + + pg 308 Changed: given up their lodgings and and have packed up + to: given up their lodgings and have packed up + + pg 330 Changed: He is a stanch Frenchman + to: He is a staunch Frenchman + + pg 457 Changed: and thence he was was to post the other + to: and thence he was to post the other + + pg 458 Changed: every precaution taken for secresy + to: every precaution taken for secrecy + + pg 471 Changed: probably let the King he proclaimed + to: probably let the King be proclaimed + + pg 482 Changed: stay here until this mornimg + to: stay here until this morning + + pg 493 Changed: who were lyng safe on the ground + to: who were lying safe on the ground + + pg 520 Changed: like our New River, the bands trimmed + to: like our New River, the banks trimmed + + New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the + public domain. + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75413 *** diff --git a/75413-h/75413-h.htm b/75413-h/75413-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a2eadfc --- /dev/null +++ b/75413-h/75413-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,23330 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> +<head> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + <title> + The Private Journal of Judge-Advocate Larpent | Project Gutenberg + </title> + <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover"> + <style> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; 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font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; word-spacing: .3em;} + + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75413 ***</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 85%"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="Cover"> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h1> +<span class="fs70">THE</span><br> +<br> +<span class="fs90">PRIVATE JOURNAL</span><br> +<br> +<span class="fs70">OF</span><br> +<br> +JUDGE-ADVOCATE LARPENT,</h1> +<br> +<p class="center no-indent fs80 wsp">ATTACHED TO THE HEAD-QUARTERS OF</p> +<br> +<p class="center no-indent wsp">LORD WELLINGTON DURING THE PENINSULAR WAR,</p> +<br> +<p class="center no-indent fs80 wsp">FROM 1812 TO ITS CLOSE.</p> +<br> +<br> +<p class="center no-indent fs80">EDITED</p> + +<p class="center no-indent wsp"><span class="smcap">By</span> SIR GEORGE LARPENT, <span class="smcap">Bart.</span></p> +<br> +<br> + +<p class="center no-indent fs90 wsp"><em>THIRD EDITION.</em></p> +<br> + +<p class="center no-indent wsp">LONDON:<br> +RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET,<br> +<span class="fs80 bold">Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty.</span></p> + +<p class="center no-indent fs80">MDCCCLIV.</p> + +<hr class="r25"> + +<p class="center no-indent fs70"><em>The Author and Publisher reserve to themselves the right of Translating this Work.</em> +</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_iii">[Pg iii]</span></p> +<p class="center no-indent fs70 wsp">LONDON: W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS.</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="PREFACE">PREFACE<br> +<span class="fs70">TO THE SECOND EDITION.</span></h2> +</div> + +<hr class="r5"> + +<p class="no-indent">It has been very gratifying to me to witness the flattering +manner in which this Journal has been received by +the Public, and, with one exception, by the several +writers who have noticed it.</p> + +<p>As my own part in the Work is so small, the risk I +ran in publishing it was small in proportion; but I +confess that I did feel anxious not to damage the fair +fame of my late brother.</p> + +<p>The exception to which I allude is that of the Reviewer +in the “Athenæum,” a paper which (having +been a subscriber to it for many years) I hold in high +estimation.</p> + +<p>The writer must pardon me for observing (whilst fully +admitting his right to state his conscientious opinion of +the work itself), that the sneers at Mr. Larpent’s having +been Fifth Wrangler, and at his <em>slow</em> progress at the +Bar, are strangely misplaced. Surely a person attached +to literature cannot seriously deprecate academic honours, +or deny their <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">primâ facie</i> evidence of ability. And as +for the <em>slow</em> progress in the laborious pursuit of the law, +the Reviewer must have been aware that such has been +the fortune of many eminent Lawyers who have afterwards<span class="pagenum" id="Page_iv">[Pg iv]</span> +risen to the highest honours of the profession. +Legal or political connexions, or a fortunate opportunity +of displaying latent talents, are in truth the chief causes +of rapid success at the Bar. None of these did my +brother possess or obtain.</p> + +<p>Is it not, therefore, somewhat severe to argue from +this admission of mine, that he was a person not above +mediocrity, and to represent him as merely a respectable +sort of second-rate plodding official? The writer in the +“Athenæum” may have had peculiar opportunities of +judging, and it is not for me to contest the opinion +he may have thus formed, but it certainly was not the +opinion of my brother’s contemporaries. The observations +of the writer in the “Athenæum” involve also +charges of more importance than his remarks upon my +brother’s abilities—</p> + +<p>“We see,” he says, “in the sweeping and unqualified +charges against the soldiers of England, Scotland, and +Ireland, the censorious habits of one who filled the post +of Judge-Advocate General, and the passage,” he adds, +“comes with bad grace from one who narrates his own +discomforts <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">ad nauseam</i>.”</p> + +<p>I had allowed every passage to stand which expressed +the opinion of the Author upon public matters, nor did I +expunge those complaints of personal inconveniences +which a man, for the first time placed in my brother’s +situation, naturally feels, and as naturally describes in +his letters to his family.</p> + +<p>It has been too much the fashion to garble such +Journals to suit the public taste; but my aim was to +give the truth, and the whole truth, of all that my +brother witnessed and described in his Journal.</p> + +<p>This rather uncommon fidelity is, I believe, one of the +chief merits of the work, and one of the chief causes of +its success.</p> + +<p>If my brother, in commenting upon the want of selfcontrol<span class="pagenum" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</span> +and irregular habits and propensities of the +British soldiery (defects which the Duke’s own Despatches, +his proclamation upon the retreat from Burgos, +and the uniform testimony of the writers upon the +Peninsular War unfortunately confirm), had omitted to +notice their many redeeming qualities, he might have +been partly open to the rebuke of the writer alluded to; +but throughout his narrative Mr. Larpent bears the +strongest testimony to the undaunted courage, the immoveable +steadiness of the British soldiers under the +severest fire, and the perfect reliance the Duke always +placed upon the bravery of his army.</p> + +<p>The truth is, that the conscription in France forced +into the ranks of its army a more intelligent and more +intellectual class of persons than those who volunteered +into our service.</p> + +<p>Thus the moral conduct of the French soldier was +perhaps more correct; but the stubborn courage, the +<em>pluck</em>, if I may use such an expression, of the British +soldier, guided by officers taken from the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">élite</i> of our +gentry, and almost fastidiously alive to the sense of +honour and of duty, enabled them in the Peninsula, at +Waterloo, and wherever British troops have been called +into action, to maintain a decided superiority over their +opponents.</p> + +<p>It has been remarked, that I have never mentioned +the lady to whom these Letters were addressed.</p> + +<p>She was my much honoured and loved mother; but I +deprived myself of the pleasure of noticing her many +excellent qualities, lest it should be thought that, in +praising her, I sought to confer credit upon myself, or to +gratify my own vanity.</p> + +<p>She was the daughter of Sir James Porter, in his day +a distinguished diplomatist, successively employed in the +Netherlands and Germany, and for many years ambassador +to the Ottoman Porte. She married my father<span class="pagenum" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</span> +when my brother was very young, and became a second +mother to him. There never was the slightest distinction +between him and her own children, and had we not +been told that we were by different mothers, we should +never have known the fact from her conduct. That she +possessed my brother’s warmest affections, these letters +would have abundantly shown, had I not thought it +better to omit many passages, which, however gratifying +to her to whom they were addressed, could be of no +interest to the public.</p> + +<p class="right"> +<span class="smcap" style="padding-right: 1em">George Larpent.</span><br> +</p> + +<p class="fs80"><span class="smcap">London, June, 1853.</span></p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="PREFACEa">PREFACE<br> +<span class="fs70">TO THE FIRST EDITION.</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class="no-indent">The Letters now laid before the Public were addressed +by my brother to Mrs. Larpent, his step-mother, and my +mother.</p> + +<p>They came into my possession as Executor to my +mother, and being also the sole Executor to my brother, +I consider myself at liberty to use my own discretion in +publishing them. With the exception of some matters +exclusively private, and connected with family affairs, +the letters are published as they were written, and not +one word has been added.</p> + +<p>Until the lamented death of the Duke of Wellington I +did not feel myself justified in making these letters public. +Not that they contain anything in the slightest degree +derogating from the exalted estimate so universally +entertained of the character of that great man; for, on +the contrary, they tend to confirm the unanimous opinion +entertained of his admirable qualities; but motives of +delicacy forbad my offering to the world, during his +Grace’s lifetime, the many personal anecdotes and opinions +with which they abound.</p> + +<p>The reader will naturally expect to know who and +what the Author was, and give credit accordingly to the +statements and observations in his Letters.</p> + +<p>Francis Seymour Larpent was the eldest son of John<span class="pagenum" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</span> +Larpent, Esq., of East Sheen, Surrey, by his first wife, +Frances, daughter of Maximilian Western, Esq., of Cokethorpe +Park, Oxfordshire. His father, from his earliest +youth, was employed in the public service. In 1763 he +was Secretary to the Duke of Bedford at the Peace of +Paris, and subsequently Secretary to the first Marquess +of Hertford, when Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. For many +years he was in the office of the Secretary of State for +Foreign Affairs, and at his death in 1824, at a very +advanced age, held the appointments of Secretary to the +Lord Privy Seal, and of Examiner of all Theatrical +Entertainments.</p> + +<p>Francis Seymour was born in 1776. He was educated +at Cheam School, under the Rev. W. Gilpin, well known +and esteemed as a scholar and man of letters. From +school he went to St. John’s College, Cambridge, where +he distinguished himself, and took his degree as Fifth +Wrangler, and was elected Fellow of that College. +After studying the law under an eminent special pleader, +Mr. Bayley, he was called to the Bar, and went the +Western Circuit. Here he formed friendships with +several eminent persons, among others with Lord Gifford, +the Right Hon. C. Manners Sutton, afterwards Lord +Canterbury, Mr. W. Adam, son of Lord Commissioner +Adam, and the lamented Francis Horner—friendships +which were extinguished only by death. His success +upon the Circuit was slow, but his character as an able +man and a sound lawyer stood high.</p> + +<p>In 1812 he was tempted by the Right Hon. C. Manners +Sutton, then Judge-Advocate General, to leave his profession, +and to accept the situation of Judge-Advocate +General to the armies in Spain under the command of +the late Duke of Wellington, to remain at head-quarters +with his Grace, and to manage the Courts-martial +throughout the army.</p> + +<p>At the close of the war in 1814, Mr. Larpent returned<span class="pagenum" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</span> +home with the last detachment of the British army from +Bordeaux.</p> + +<p>Upon his arrival in England he was appointed Judge-Advocate +at Gibraltar; and a new Charter of Justice for +that dependency having been framed, various civil, +admiralty, and judicial duties were annexed to the appointment +of Judge-Advocate. Whilst the new Charter +was preparing, Mr. Larpent was appointed to carry on +the proceedings of the Court-martial on General Sir John +Murray, at Winchester; and was subsequently joined +with Mr. King, on behalf of the Government of the +United States of America, in the inquiry into the unfortunate +transactions which had taken place in the prison +at Dartmoor.</p> + +<p>These several proceedings having been satisfactorily +terminated, Mr. Larpent in the spring of 1815 was, at +the recommendation of Lord Commissioner Adam, selected +by His Royal Highness the Prince Regent to undertake +the delicate and confidential duty of inquiring into the +allegations of improper conduct abroad, on the part of +the then Princess of Wales, afterwards Queen Caroline. +This confidential mission was accepted by Mr. Larpent, +upon the express condition that his appointment should +emanate directly from the Administration, and that his +duties (to use his own words) “should consist not in acting +a spy upon the actions of Her Royal Highness the +Princess of Wales, but in examining and sifting the facts +of the case, as stated and discovered by others.”</p> + +<p>On this understanding, and after interviews with Lords +Liverpool, Castlereagh, and Bathurst, and also with the +approval of Lord Chief Justice Ellenborough, Mr. Larpent +proceeded ostensibly to his appointment at Gibraltar, +but really overland by Vienna, to see and consult with +Count Munster, to whom he was accredited by the +British Government “as its regularly-authorized, though +secret and confidential, agent.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_x">[Pg x]</span></p> + +<p>However strong might be his own persuasion of the +worse than improper conduct of the Princess, he felt the +extreme difficulty of obtaining respectable parties to +come forward with such evidence as would satisfy an +English Court of Justice; and he never hesitated to +represent the danger of taking public proceedings against +her. Having conducted his mission with such prudence +and discretion that its object was never known except to +his employers, he proceeded to Gibraltar, and there executed +his arduous civil and judicial duties to the entire +satisfaction of the Governor, Sir George Don, and of the +Secretary of State for the Colonies.</p> + +<p>In 1820, upon leaving Gibraltar, he was again employed +by the Government professionally in Italy upon +matters connected with the unfortunate trial of Queen +Caroline; and he communicated direct with the late Lord +Gifford, upon whom, as Attorney-General, the management +of the proceedings against Her Majesty officially +devolved.</p> + +<p>In 1821 Mr. Larpent was appointed by Lord Liverpool, +one of the Commissioners of the Board of Audit of the +Public Accounts. In 1824 he was transferred to the +Board of Customs; and, in 1826, was appointed to the +situation of Chairman of the Audit Board, in which he +remained until his retirement, in 1843, from ill health.</p> + +<p>He enjoyed his release from active official duties only +about two years, dying in May, 1845. He was twice +married; first, to Catharine, daughter of the late +Frederick Reeves, Esq., of the East India Company’s +Civil Service; and, secondly, to Charlotte, daughter to +George Arnold Arnold, Esq., of Halsted Park, Kent, +who survived him, but he left no issue by either.</p> + +<p>The favourable opinion entertained of Mr. Larpent’s +public services will be evident from the following testimonials +which he received when he applied to Her +Majesty’s Government for his retirement, viz.:—</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xi">[Pg xi]</span></p> +<br> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p> +(Copy.) <span style="padding-left: 5em">No. 1.</span></p> +<p class="right"> +<span style="padding-right: 1em"><em>Treasury Chambers,</em></span><br> +<em>23rd March, 1843.</em></p> + +<p class="no-indent"><span class="smcap">Sir</span>,</p> + +<p><span style="padding-left: 2em">I</span> am commanded by the Lords Commissioners of +Her Majesty’s Treasury to acquaint you that, the First +Lord of the Treasury having communicated to the Board +your wish to retire from the Board of Audit, their Lordships +have been pleased to accede thereto, and will give +directions for placing you on a retired allowance of 900<em>l.</em> +per annum, to be paid to you in the same manner as the +retired allowances of the Audit Office are paid.</p> + +<p>In thus acceding to your wishes, my Lords desire me +to state, that they feel themselves called upon to express +the high sense which they entertain of the integrity, zeal, +and ability with which you have discharged the duties of +the important situations which you have successively +filled, and the deep regret which they feel for the cause +which now compels you to retire from the Chair of the +Board of Audit.</p> + +<p class="right"> +<span style="padding-right: 5em">I am, Sir,</span><br> +<span style="padding-right: 1em">Your most obedient Servant,</span><br> +(Signed) <span class="smcap" style="padding-left: 2em">G. Clerk.</span></p> + +<p class="fs80"><em>To F. S. Larpent, Esq.</em></p> +</div> +<br> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p> +(Extract.) <span style="padding-left: 5em">No. 2.</span></p> + +<p class="right"> +<span style="padding-right: 1em"><em>Downing Street,</em></span><br> +<em>March 3rd, 1843.</em></p> + +<p class="fs80 no-indent"><span class="smcap">My dear Sir,</span></p> + +<p><span style="padding-left: 2em">I</span> have learnt with great regret that we are about +to lose your services in the Audit Board, over which +you have so long presided, with equal advantage to the +public and satisfaction to the Treasury. I only hope that +you will reap in the improvement of your health a benefit +equal to that which your retirement will deprive you of.</p> + +<p class="right"> +(Signed) <span class="smcap" style="padding-right: 1em">Henry Goulburn.</span></p> + +<p class="fs80"> +<em>To F. S. Larpent, Esq.</em><br> +</p> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xii">[Pg xii]</span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p> +(Copy.) <span style="padding-left: 5em">No. 3.</span></p> +<p class="right fs80" style="padding-right: 1em"> +<em>London, February 28th, 1843.</em></p> + +<p><span style="padding-left: 2em">F. M.</span> the Duke of Wellington presents his compliments +to Mr. Larpent, and has received his letter, and +sends him a copy of a letter he has received from Sir +Robert Peel. The Duke regrets much to learn that the +state of Mr. Larpent’s health compels him to resign the +office which he holds. If referred to, he will state his +opinion of the services performed by him, while under +his command.</p> + +<p class="fs80"><em>To F. S. Larpent, Esq.</em></p> +</div> +<br> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="fs80"><span style="padding-left: 4em"><em>Enclosure in the above Letter.</em></span></p> + +<p>(Copy.)</p> + +<p class="right fs80"> +<span style="padding-right: 1em"><em>Whitehall, February 27th, 1843.</em></span></p> + +<p class="no-indent"> +<span class="smcap">My dear Duke of Wellington</span>,<br> +</p> + +<p><span style="padding-left: 2em">I</span> return the enclosed letter addressed to you by +Mr. Larpent.</p> + +<p>I am sorry to hear that the state of Mr. Larpent’s +health induced him to contemplate his retirement from +the public service.</p> + +<p class="right"> +(Signed) <span class="smcap" style="padding-left: 2em">Robert Peel.</span></p> + +<p class="fs80"> +<em>To the Duke of Wellington</em>,<br> +<span style="padding-left: 4em"><em>&c.</em> <span style="padding-left: 2em"><em>&c.</em></span></span></p> +</div> +<br> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p> +(Copy.) <span style="padding-left: 5em">No. 4.</span></p> +<p class="right fs80"> +<span style="padding-right: 1em"><em>Whitehall, March 3rd, 1843.</em></span></p> +<p class="no-indent"> +<span class="smcap">Dear Sir</span>,<br> +</p> + +<p><span style="padding-left: 2em">From</span> my high sense of your public services, +I have heard with very sincere regret, on public as well +as on private grounds, that the state of your health +compels you to contemplate the immediate retirement +from the important appointment which you hold, the +duties of which you have discharged with great ability +and integrity, and with unremitting zeal.</p> + +<p>I have been so incessantly occupied by important +public business, that I have been unable, since the receipt +of your letter, to confer with the Chancellor of the Exchequer<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xiii">[Pg xiii]</span> +on the subject to which the enclosure in your +letter refers, but I will do so without delay, and with every +desire to take as favourable a view of it as the state of +the law and the usage in similar cases may permit,</p> + +<p class="right"> +<span style="padding-right: 3em">I have the honour to be,</span><br> +<span style="padding-right: 5em">Dear Sir,</span><br> +<span style="padding-right: 2em">Your obedient and faithful Servant,</span><br> +(Signed) <span class="smcap" style="padding-left: 2em">Robert Peel</span>.</p> +<p class="fs80 no-indent"> +<em>To F. S. Larpent, Esq.</em><br> +</p> +</div> +<br> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p> +(Extract.) <span style="padding-left: 5em">No. 5.</span></p> +<p class="right fs80"> +<span style="padding-right: 2em"><em>March 22nd, 1845.</em></span><br> +<em>60, Lower Belgrade Street.</em><br> +</p> + +<p><span style="padding-left: 2em">I</span> shall feel it due to Mr. Larpent to say at what +rate I placed his services.</p> + +<p>Never public servant deserved better his hard-earned +retirement by honest, zealous, and able services.</p> + +<p class="right"> +(Signed) <span class="smcap" style="padding-left: 2em">F. Baring</span>.<br> +</p> +</div> +<br> + +<hr class="r25"> +<br> + +<p>I rejoice in having the opportunity afforded me by the +publication of these Letters, of recording the public +services of an affectionate brother, and of indulging in +the remembrance of the many private virtues which were +conspicuous in his upright and honourable career.</p> + +<p>I have thought it objectionable to alter the language +of the narrative, although aware of the many inaccuracies +in letters written in the hurry of a campaign (a mode of +life foreign to the writer’s habits), and not intended for +publication.</p> + +<p>I therefore determined to leave the Letters as I found +them, thinking that the simplicity of the style and the +minute details threw over the Journal a charm of truth +and reality which a more studied composition would not +have possessed. I have a confident reliance that my +brother has related nothing that he did not himself<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xiv">[Pg xiv]</span> +believe to be true, for he was a man of scrupulous +veracity, and one not given hastily to record what he +had not at the time sufficient warranty to believe to be +correct.</p> + +<p>The Journal carries the reader, as it were, behind the +scenes in the great drama of War. The sufferings of +individuals, the hardships endured in a campaign, are +scarcely ever recorded by the historian—they are lost in +the blaze of glory which surrounds such narratives. In +this Journal not only will be seen the miseries which are +endured in the attainment of military glory by the +soldier, but the still greater miseries of the unfortunate +people whose country is the scene of military operations.</p> + +<p>Such vivid paintings as are here exhibited must, it is +to be hoped, make the most reckless politician and the +most ambitious soldier aware of the deep responsibility +incurred by all who encourage the passion for military +glory, except when war becomes absolutely necessary +for the defence of our country, its liberties, and institutions, +and for the preservation of the independence of +Europe.</p> + +<p>It was for these objects that the two great wars in +which the Duke of Wellington was so pre-eminent were +carried on, and the results—the recovery of their national +independence by Spain and Portugal, and a peace of +thirty-eight years’ duration—fully warranted the sacrifices +made by Great Britain, exalted her national +character, and justified her admiration of the Commander, +who, under Providence, was the great instrument of her +success.</p> + +<p class="right"> +<span class="smcap" style="padding-right: 1em">George Larpent.</span><br> +</p> + +<p class="fs80"><span class="smcap">London, December, 1852.</span></p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xv">[Pg xv]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak bold" id="CONTENTS">CONTENTS.</h2> +</div> +<br> + +<hr class="r25"> +<br> + +<table class="autotable"> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdr fs70">PAGE</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc" colspan="2">CHAPTER I.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Departure from England—Exercises on Ship-board—Off the Coast—Arrival at Lisbon—Residence there—Journey to head-quarters commenced—Abrantes—General features of the march—Salamanca</td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><br>CHAPTER II.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Arrival at head-quarters—Ciudad Rodrigo—The Retreat—Its disasters—Capture of General Paget—Personal Anecdotes—Scarcity of Provisions—Courts-martial in the army—Business of a Judge-Advocate—Wellington</td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_21">21</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><br>CHAPTER III.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Arrival of the Gazette—More Courts-martial—The Mad Commissary—Intentions of Lord Wellington—Social Amusements—Sporting—Wellington’s fox-hounds—His stud—A dinner at the Commander-in-Chief’s—Number of Courts-martial—Anecdotes of Wellington</td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_37">37</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><br>CHAPTER IV.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">More Courts-martial—Bal Masqué—Anecdotes of Wellington—Songs in his praise—Spanish banditti—Excesses of the Army—Carnival—More Anecdotes of the Duke—The staff—Grand entertainment at head-quarters—Wellington’s opinion of affairs at home—Murder of an officer—General Craufurd</td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_54">54</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xvi">[Pg xvi]</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><br>CHAPTER V.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">News of the French—Castilian costume—Equipment of the army—Melancholy Court-martial case—Wellington in the battle of Fuentes d’Onore—The chances of war—Anecdotes of Wellington—His opinions of the war—The new Mutiny Act—Wellington on “Vetus”—General Murray—Advance of the French</td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_87">87</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><br>CHAPTER VI.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Newspaper complaints—Wellington’s comments—Review of the Portuguese—Gatherings at head-quarters—Reviews—Recommencement of the march—The route</td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_106">106</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><br>CHAPTER VII.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">The march commenced—Scenes on the road—Villa Dalla—Toro—Castro Monte—Palencia—Prospects of a general action—Skirmishing—Massa</td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_121">121</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><br>CHAPTER VIII.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">March continued—Quintana—Anecdote of Wellington—Morillas—Vittoria—The battle—Its results—Plunder—Kindness to the enemy—Madame de Gazan—The hospital—Sufferings of the wounded—Estimated loss</td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_150">150</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><br>CHAPTER IX.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Pamplona—Pursuit of Clausel—Wellington on the march—Prospects of more Fighting—Effects of the war—The French position turned—Anecdote of Wellington—Ernani—St. Sebastian—Wellington’s movements</td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_166">166</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><br>CHAPTER X.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Movements of the army—Wellington on the Portuguese—His personal habits—St. Sebastian—The siege—Miseries of war—Wounded officers—The Prince of Orange—Vestiges of the retreat—English papers—False accounts of the campaign—Incidents of the war</td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_195">195</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xvii">[Pg xvii]</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><br>CHAPTER XI.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Rejoicings for the victory—Sufferings of Cole’s division—Complaints of the French—Statements of a French prisoner—Decay of Spain—Characteristics of Wellington—His opinion of Bonaparte—Prospects of a renewal of the attack—Exchange of Prisoners—Wellington’s Spanish estate—His opinion of Picton—Disposition of the army</td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_220">220</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><br>CHAPTER XII.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Reported renewal of operations against St. Sebastian—Effects of the war on Spain and Portugal—Wellington’s account of recent proceedings—Courts-martial—Prisoners shot—Discussions on war between Wellington and a French deserter—The siege resumed—Work of the heavy batteries—Trial of General O’Halloran—Volunteers for the storming parties</td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_238">238</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><br>CHAPTER XIII.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">The Author taken prisoner—Kind treatment by the French General—Life of a prisoner—Release—Details of the Author’s captivity—Curious scene at General Pakenham’s—A Basque squire</td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_250">250</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><br>CHAPTER XIV.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Picturesque quarters—Spanish reverses—A strange adventure—Spanish jealousy—Distribution of the army—A pleasant companion—News from the North—Morale of the French army—The artillery</td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_276">276</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><br>CHAPTER XV.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Fall of Pamplona—Deterioration of the army—Duke of York’s orders—Orders of merit—Church service—Capture of French redoubts—March of the army—Incidents of foreign service—Frequency of desertion—Wellington and the lawyers</td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_289">289</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><br>CHAPTER XVI.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">News from France—Lord Fitzroy Somerset—Departure of the Prince of Orange—Exchange of prisoners—Proximity of the two armies—Wellington’s cooks—Warlike movements—French attack—The Guards—Deserters—More fighting</td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_308">308</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xviii">[Pg xviii]</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><br>CHAPTER XVII.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">French attack—Plan of desertion—Excesses of the French—A Basque witness—Sir John Hope—Movements of the army—Sale of effects—Wellington’s simplicity of character—A French emigré—Return of Soult to Bayonne</td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_323">323</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><br>CHAPTER XVIII.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Reports from France—More desertion—Anecdote of General Stewart—Wellington and his casualty returns—The courtesies of war—Scarcity of transports—Wellington and the trial-papers—Sir G. Collier</td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_339">339</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><br>CHAPTER XIX.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Rumours of war—The rival dinner tables—“Slender Billy”—Bonaparte’s trickery—Spanish violence—Wellington with the hounds—French and English aspects—The outsides of the nations</td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_352">352</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><br>CHAPTER XX.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">State of feeling in France—Rocket practice—The Prince Regent’s hobby—The Mayor’s ball—The flag-of-truce</td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_362">362</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><br>CHAPTER XXI.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Army supplies—Offending villages—Symptoms of work—Arrival of the Duke d’Angoulême—The bridge across the Adour—Wellington and his Chief Engineer—His activity</td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_377">377</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><br>CHAPTER XXII.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Movements of the army—Narrow escape of Wellington—Anecdote of Wellington at Rodrigo—Novel scaling ladders—Sir Alexander Dickson—Wellington’s vanity—Operations resumed—Spanish officers—The passage of the Adour—The road to Bayonne—Death of Captain Pitts</td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_400">400</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xix">[Pg xix]</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><br>CHAPTER XXIII.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Passage of the river—Start for Orthes—Effect of the battle—Feelings of the French—Wellington wounded—St. Sever—Church and School—Aire—Wellington on the conduct of the Allies—Indurating effects of War</td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_417">417</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><br>CHAPTER XXIV.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Reports from the seat of war—The Duke d’Angoulême—The German cavalry—Misconduct of the Spaniards—Attacks on our grazing parties—Movement of head-quarters—Death of Colonel Sturgeon—Visit to the hospital—New quarters—Skirmishes—Wellington and the mayor</td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_436">436</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><br>CHAPTER XXV.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Difficulties of the march—Failure of the bridge of boats—The Garonne—Excesses of Murillo’s corps—Bad news—Exchange of prisoners—Arrival before Toulouse—A prisoner of war—Anecdote of Wellington</td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_452">452</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><br>CHAPTER XXVI.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Uncertain intelligence—Capture of Toulouse—Wellington at the theatre—The “Liberator”—Ball at the Prefecture—The feelings of the French—Soult and Suchet—Ball at the Capitole</td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_478">478</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><br>CHAPTER XXVII.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Toulouse—Its churches—Protestant service—Libraries—Reception of the Duke d’Angoulême—The French Generals—Popularity of Wellington</td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_501">501</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><br>CHAPTER XXVIII.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Toulouse—Mr. Macarthy’s Library—The Marquess of Buckingham—General Hope—Wellington’s dukedom—The theatre—A romantic story—Feeling towards the English—The Duke on the Russian cavalry</td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_523">523</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xx">[Pg xx]</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><br>CHAPTER XXIX.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Preparations for departure—Bordeaux—Imposition on the English—Greetings from the Women—Mausoleum of Louis XVI.</td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_541">541</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><br>CHAPTER XXX.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">The opera-house—The cathedral—The synagogue—A Jewish wedding—Strange show-house—Wellington and King Ferdinand</td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_553">553</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><br>CHAPTER XXXI.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Country Fêtes—Brawls with the French—The Duke d’Angoulême—Mademoiselle Georges—The Actress and the Emperor—French acting and French audiences—Presentation of a sword to Lord Dalhousie—Georges’ benefit—Departure</td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_566">566</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><br><hr class="r25"><span class="smcap">Appendix</span></td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#APPENDIX">579</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</span></p> + +<p class="fs150 center no-indent bold">PRIVATE JOURNAL,<br> +<span class="fs70">&c. &c.</span></p> +</div> + +<hr class="r25"> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="fs80" style="margin-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em;">Departure from England—Exercises on Ship-board—Off the Coast—Arrival +at Lisbon—Residence there—Journey to Head-quarters commenced—Abrantes—General +features of the March—Salamanca.</p> + +<p class="right fs80"> +H. M. S. <em>Vautour</em>, off Mondego Bay,<br> +<span style="padding-right: 2em">Sept. 14, 1812. Monday.</span></p> +</div> + + +<p class="no-indent"> +<span class="smcap">My dear M——</span>, +</p> + +<p><span style="padding-left: 2em">It</span> was very fortunate that I kept to my post at +the George Inn, at Portsmouth; for at seven in the +morning of Saturday the 5th I was called from my bed +by the Admiral, who told me that, in consequence of +the news from Madrid, he had received orders to send +a ship of war after the <em>Pylades</em>, to endeavour to prevent +her landing the money she had carried out to Oporto, +and to direct her captain to take it on to Lisbon. He +told me that, if I could get ready and on board immediately, +I might accompany him. Accordingly, soon +after nine o’clock I was on board His Majesty’s ship +the <em>Vauteur</em>, or <em>Vautour</em>, or <em>Vulture</em>, a fast-sailing brig +of sixteen guns—fourteen carronades, twenty-four +pounders, and two long nines; the only remaining trophy +in our Navy of the glorious expedition to the Scheldt! +The Captain, a most open-hearted, friendly man, by name<span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</span> +Lawless, is a native of the south of Ireland. The vessel +is an excellent sailer, and the whole in good order, with +a fine crew of a hundred and five men; but the accommodations +are very small, as all is made for use, and +nothing for convenience or ornament. The Captain’s +cabin, about ten feet by twelve, he shared with me. +One of us hung up a cot on each side at night, and +we lived there when these cots were removed in the daytime; +there was no opening but the hatches at top, no +windows at all. I had, however, what was most material, +a most friendly, kind reception, and shared every comfort +the Captain was possessed of. This consisted of a joint +daily, generally fresh, good wine and brandy, vegetables, +and, up to this day, good bread, great attention, and a +thorough welcome.</p> + +<p><em>Friday the 11th.</em>—At eleven o’clock precisely, as our +timepieces and observations had indicated, we sighted +Spain; and had the additional amusement of good charts, +and maps, and telescopes, to examine the coasts, besides +assisting in the observations on deck, and watching all +that was going on. The scene was one of constant +activity during the voyage, not a moment’s idleness; the +sails were mended; the masts were repaired; the deck +was caulked, and made water-tight for the winter; the +winter rigging was made ready; the sides of the ship +painted. All this, besides the usual routine duty of the +ship, was done whenever there was smooth water. One +fine calm evening the Captain amused me with a sham-fight, +and put the men through their exercises; first at +one set of the guns, then at the other; marines and all +were at work. He showed me also the effect of a long +shot and a grape shot from the carronades in the water. +These occupations, with a little reading and writing, +preparatory to my land journey, filled up the days until +dark, when we took to our cots. We first made the land +off Cape Adrian, half way between Cape Ortegal and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</span> +Cape Finisterre, and got in close to the Sisarga Island, +about one o’clock on Friday the 11th. We then coasted +close in shore all the way to Cape Finisterre, which we +reached at dark: the shore is very bold and fine, but +with a barren aspect, and the appearance of an inhospitable +and almost uninhabited land. The high tracts +towards Corunna, and perhaps about Ferrol, were only +just visible at first; but from Sisarga to Finisterre we +saw them about as plainly as we should have done on +shore.</p> + +<p><em>Saturday 12th.</em>—This morning we found ourselves close +off Cape Saliers, having passed Vigo Bay in the night. +Thence we slowly crept along shore all that day in sight +of the country, buildings, &c., until we arrived at dark +within about twelve miles of Oporto, off Villa de Condé. +The country is very beautiful and picturesque, nearly as +bold as the former, but very much built over, dotted +with many villages and detached houses, and verdant +with much wood; all externally very loveable and delightful. +Monte Santa Tecla, at the entrance of Minho, +is an imposing object, and the whole coast interesting, +especially from Viana to Oporto, and most of all about +Villa de Condé and Oporto. Condé is a handsome-looking +town, well situated, with several large good-looking +houses, and an aqueduct, reaching nearly three +miles I should think, parallel to the shore, through two +villages to the hills. The hills were well wooded, and +many houses, villas, &c., covered their sides: whether +the aqueduct was still in use we could not discover; but +I saw no breaks in it as I viewed it through the glass. +We made signals to the pilots to come out from Oporto +on Saturday evening, but were too far off to be observed; +and from the fear of an accident, though within ten +miles, were obliged to stand off all night, and try to keep +our place.</p> + +<p><em>Sunday the 13th.</em>—Still abreast of Condé, and having<span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</span> +no wind, the whole day getting near to Oporto. Several +fishermen came on board from the boats around. They +all agreed that the <em>Pylades</em> had not been at Oporto—tidings +which delighted the Captain; but upon the +Consul’s boat coming off at a signal, when we got near +the bar in the evening, we found that the <em>Pylades</em> had +been off the bar three nights before, just the time she +sailed before us at Portsmouth, and had landed General +Oswald, the medical men, and the money at nine o’clock +at night, and had gone on; and that the money was on +its way to the army. We, therefore, put right about +again, and got about ten miles from the bar of Oporto, +which we had heard roaring many miles off, before dark. +Last night we were again becalmed, and at twelve to-day +(the 14th) we were only in Mondego Bay, near the spot +where the <em>Apollo</em>, and forty of her convoy, were lost in +1804. Here we met a wind right a-head, and have been +beating out ever since. At three it shifted a little, and +we are now returning, and hope to clear Mondego Point +and get in sight of the Burlingas before dark to-night. +From about ten miles below Oporto, near Aveiro, to the +Mondego highlands, the coast is flat, and we have only +seen in Mondego Bay sand-hills and a few huts, and +have only heard the surf roaring at a distance of nearly +ten miles. We are now about fifty miles from the Burlingas +and about ninety from Lisbon, and hope to be +there to-morrow.</p> + +<p>Our officers are, the Captain, Lawless; first lieutenant, +Soper; the second lieutenant, a fine, stout Irishman, who +has amused me much, by recounting the escapes of his +past life.</p> + +<p><em>Tuesday 15th, 12 o’clock.</em>—Still about twenty miles +from Mondego Point. Marshal Beresford, who is lying +at Oporto badly wounded, sent out to ask for a passage +to Lisbon on board our vessel; and it was arranged that +we were to fire two guns if we could accommodate him:<span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</span> +but the Captain was not able to do so in his small cabin, +even if we had both given up our berths, which we +would cheerfully have done. It was fortunate, however, +he did not come on board, as he would have passed three +miserable nights if he had made trial of our scanty accommodation.</p> + +<p><em>Lisbon, September 17th.</em>—Two more nights out becalmed—one, +off Mondego Bay; and another, off the +rock of Lisbon. We got in here this morning at seven +o’clock, and have been all the morning running about +the town. The view at the entrance into the harbour is +very beautiful. We anchored at dusk off Cascaes Fort +last night. The General, Peacock, has given me quarters +at the Marquis d’Abrantes’, and to-day I dine with the +General. It is said that there is a great mortality in the +army; the officers sickly, and a great want of money.</p> + +<p><em>Lisbon, September 20th, 1812.</em>—I have now been three +days in this town, which resembles the description of +certain ladies whom I have a right to suppose to be +within your knowledge, for I think they are described in +the Bible, and in other good books which you study—all +outside show, except in the state apartments of a few individuals, +which are certainly very magnificent. Streets +very offensive, palaces by the side of ruins, and sometimes +even the palaces in a state of partial decay, though +in other parts stately and magnificent in their architectural +proportions. Everywhere there is an aspect of +extreme poverty side by side with some showy indications +of wealth; and it is evident that among the lower +classes impostors are as plentiful as mosquitos. The +heat is extreme—worse than I found it at Paris in +August 1802. The evenings, however, are cool, and +near the water the breezes are refreshing. They congratulate +me, indeed, on the comparative mildness of the +season, which is favourable for my journey to head-quarters, +which are at Dulmas, in advance of Valladolid.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</span></p> + +<p>On landing, I proceeded immediately to General +Peacock, the commanding officer, who received me with +great civility, and I dined with him that day. As to +forwarding me to the army, it appears all that he can do +is to give me a route, which will procure me at different +stations (though at times two or three days distant from +each other), rations for bread and forage, as there are +depôts at intervals of from one to three days’ journey all +the way. I shall have to purchase two mules and two +horses. The price of horses is high; on an average, two +hundred and twenty dollars each. Captain C——, of the +staff here, has offered to go to the fair with me on +Tuesday to buy cattle and all other necessaries for my +journey. There is no route except by Ciudad Rodrigo, +and, therefore, though it is said that head-quarters may +be at Madrid before my arrival, I shall be compelled to go +that way. Baron Quintilla was not in town. The Envoy +asked me to dinner immediately to his country-house at +Benefica, and was extremely civil to me, remarking that +mine was not a common letter of introduction. He asked +me again yesterday, but being unwell, I declined the +flattering invitation. He also offered to carry me in his +suite to a bull-fight, twelve miles off; but as this would +detain me from Sunday to Tuesday, and interfere with +my whole plan, I am obliged reluctantly to forego the +amusement. I am not here for my pleasure. When I +arrived at the Envoy’s he was absent, and I had a +<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">tête-à-tête</i> with General Abadia, who is here on his way +to Cadiz, where he is to take a high official position. +He appeared a clever man, but I understand his loyalty to +Ferdinand is doubtful, for a letter addressed to him by +his wife, who is with the French, inquiring when he +would fulfil his promise of joining their party, has been +intercepted.</p> + +<p>This may be all a trick, but there is something suspicious +about it. He blamed us very much, charging us<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</span> +with having made two great blunders, in not seizing +Santona, by troops from England, and securing that river +communication and post to land all our men in, instead +of Lisbon; and also in not allowing the Sicilian expedition +to seize Tortosa, and maintain a post on that river, +the most important and most annoying to Soult. He +spoke in high terms of Lord Wellington, but seemed to +think that the fate of Europe depends upon the conduct +of Russia in this conjuncture.</p> + +<p>The idea seems now to be, that Soult, Suchet, and +Joseph have formed a junction. They have above sixty +thousand effective men; and it is added, that the French +now have their old position on the Ebro always in their +power. General Carrier was brought in here a prisoner +on Thursday, from Salamanca: he had five wounds, +which are nearly healed, but he thought he should lose a +finger. He came in to the General whilst I dined there. +He seemed to be out of spirits, but said that Marmont +was nearly well, and would resume his command. The +French, I hear, are intrenched near Burgos.</p> + +<p>I have obtained quarters at the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">casa</i> of the Marquesa +d’Abrantes, a good situation, and a lieutenant-colonel’s +quarters. Her husband is a prisoner in France. I have +a separate door, which leads away to four small rooms +to the street; bare walls, painted with military trophies, +and the whole kept as quarters. In these I have two +tables, a dozen chairs, a bedstead, a mattress, a worked +flounced quilt, some fine sheets, but, of course, no blankets. +At first we had nothing else; but I have now got a silver +basin and ewer, some knives and forks, and a supply of +water. These apartments might easily be made very +comfortable. The state rooms of this house, looking +over about an acre of garden (which is open to the +public), are very handsome. As the marquesa lost her +mother last week, about twenty cabriolets a-day have +brought visitors to pay respects, &c., and about a hundred<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</span> +and fifty beggars to receive their alms. By the way, the +English have caused everything here to become very +dear. The churches are gaudy, and in some respects not +a little ridiculous, but still, to my mind, nothing like so +trumpery, absurd, and indeed indecorous in every respect +as those in Flanders, and in some parts of Switzerland +and Piedmont. The Roman Catholics here certainly +have the appearance of devotion, and seem more in +earnest, much more so than in France, and more so than +in any country I have seen.</p> + +<p><em>Lisbon, September 23rd, 1812.</em>—I was at the fair, in +the heat of the sun, all yesterday, and have bought two +small mules, one small horse, and have agreed for +another, a small pony, to carry me. The fair has +knocked me up as well as my man Henry. I have been +all this day with Captain C——, almost my only friend +here, at market, bargaining for travelling necessaries. +Commissary P—— will lend me one public mule; so now +I hope I am equipped as far as that goes. The General +offers to send me with the next treasure, which goes +nobody knows when; but refuses me two soldiers to go +with me, though it is said that it is really dangerous to +go without them.</p> + +<p><em>Lisbon, September 26th, 1812, Saturday.</em>—Though in +a constant fever from fleas and mosquitos, we should have +started yesterday with some treasure, but my servant +Henry could not stir, and my Portuguese servant took +himself off at eight in the morning. I have now got a +German deserter as servant instead of the Portuguese; +and trust he will not carry on the old game, and desert +with my baggage. He is said to speak a little English +and Portuguese, and know the country well.</p> + +<p><em>Sunday.</em>—For one day more I have postponed my +journey, intending to start with some treasure and two +officers on Tuesday. The Opera-house here is a dull, +heavy building, about the size of the Haymarket Opera-house;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</span> +but the dancing more like Sadler’s Wells than +the Opera in England: great activity and force in the +buffo style like comic masks—this appears to be the +favourite style here. Macbeth was turned into a pantomine; +the death and dagger scene very fine, but the +whole effect marred by the mummery of fantastic dancing +and skipping witches. I have not had time to see any +thing except Lisbon, and the aqueduct: the latter work +certainly fine, but not of an attractive shape. Round +arches would have had a better effect, and the piers want +evenness and regularity; nevertheless it is a work worthy +of the Romans. I contrived to-day to go to Belem +church, a very fine specimen of arabesque, the best thing +I have seen here; in style it is between the Saxon and +Antique, with a little Gothic intermixed, the ornaments +beautiful and in high preservation.</p> + +<p><em>Abrantes, October 6th, 1812.</em>—A day’s halt here enables +me to write to you. I left Lisbon on the 30th +September, by two o’clock, with my sick party, and +thence eight miles to Saccavem in about three hours. +The road to Saccavem and nearly to Villa Franca is fine; +and, except that there are no trees besides olive-trees, +which appear like apple-trees at a distance, and no verdure, +the river and country are picturesque.</p> + +<p>On the second night we reached Villa Franca, sixteen +miles; the third night, Agembiga twelve; the fourth, +Santarem sixteen. The positions and accounts in our +gazettes made this route interesting, but the road itself +is dull and sandy. Suppose a few olive-trees and firs on +Bagshot Heath, and you have the scene. Saccavem and +Santarem are both fine positions for appearance, and the +latter for defence. All the towns are half in ruins, as +well as almost all the single houses on the road to this +place. On the fifth day we reached Galegao, sixteen +miles; on the sixth, Punhete, twelve miles; on the +seventh, Abrantes, eight miles. I am now eighty-eight<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</span> +miles from Lisbon. From Galegao to Abrantes the road +runs near the river, the verdure increases, there are a few +chestnut, oranges, and larger firs, and in the spring the +scenery must be very picturesque. Abrantes, on a commanding +eminence, is in a very fine situation, and looks +over much fine country. Finding my sick men unequal +to the fatigue, I applied to the officer of the treasure, and +got a soldier, a fine active Tyrolese, who does more work +in an hour than my poor creatures in a day. He cleans +down the animals, waters them, loads, &c., and as I carry +his baggage for him, and give him rather better fare, he +seems to be very well pleased with the post. He leads a +mule on the road, walking at his ease: by this means I +now get off about six o’clock every morning.</p> + +<p>The treasure-party, finding the heat made the men ill, +now start at five o’clock; still I am much better than I +was when I started, and when on the march I go quicker +than the treasure, as I have easy loads. Henry leads the +first mule on horseback, the soldier walking by the side +to keep everything right, whilst I bring up the rear +myself, always on the watch, and thus have but few +accidents. One of my mules is a nice fat round fellow, +who eats so much they cannot keep the baggage from +rolling off him without holding it on; another mule had +a troublesome propensity of lying down with the baggage. +My Tyrolese only speaks German, French, and a little +Portuguese.</p> + +<p>So many of the men of another treasure-party were ill, +that they halted, and then went on with us; this +crowded the road and made it more uncomfortable. +Here at Abrantes we separate—they go to General Hill. +On arriving at a place, the first thing is to hunt for the +<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Juge de Fores</i>, to procure quarters, but if there is an +English commandant, he must first be beaten up for an +order, then the quarters are to be found; sometimes those +allotted are full; then another billet must be obtained:<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</span> +sometimes the stables are full of kicking mules, and +other stables must be found elsewhere. At length +we unload, all in one room with four walls, a table, and +a chair. Then at every third place we have to go to the +Commissary to draw rations, straw, and barley for +the animals to eat—spirits, meat, and bread for ourselves, +and wood for firing. These must sometimes be fetched +from half a mile to a mile and a half off, and be procured +from roguish Portuguese under-commissaries. Sometimes +great pieces of green wood are allotted to us, which +will not burn, and we have nothing to cut it with. +This, which we often leave as not worth carriage, costs +Government a large sum: a third of the quantity, if +good, would serve better. As the wood and straw +we cannot manage to take with us, we carry on barley, +and buy a little straw, or Sadran corn straw, which is the +best when fresh. At first the Portuguese were very civil +at quarters, but we are now too numerous, and many +behave ill from disgust and weariness. They are now +very backward to supply anything, even when they have +it, which often is not the case. They provide a room, a +lamp, water, a basin, a towel by night, a table, a chair, +and something to lie upon; some furnish very decent beds.</p> + +<p>Two days ago the scene changed, and it has since +rained almost incessantly. We got wet yesterday, halted +to-day, and to-morrow I probably shall start, to be +soaked to the very bones. My mode of living may +interest you. I rise, then, at half-past four, take some +bread, spirits and water, and a raw egg when I can +get one, or sometimes a few grapes. When we stop to +water, I eat some bread and cheese, a dear luxury on the +road, a very little country wine and water, and now and +then coffee or chocolate. In the evening, a stew (when +we can get it) comes as a treat, and then we lie down on +the floor at eight o’clock in hope of sleep—a hope more +frequently fulfilled than it was at Lisbon. Stores are all<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</span> +now at double price, and will soon not be procurable at +any cost.</p> + +<p>The Commissary says we shall have six hours’ walk +in the rain instead of the sun now; and after two or +three days we shall find only deserted ruins where the +French came, and we after them, last year. I hope +this is exaggeration. Windows in this great town are +not to be seen even in Colonels’ quarters, or in the best +shops. This is an active, busy place—thoroughly +military. The vintage was going on as we proceeded on +the road, and we had abundance of grapes. The poor +soldiers, having three days’ rations served out at +once, consume all the drink on the first day, sell the +meat to save carriage and the trouble of cooking it, +and live upon bread and grapes and water, till their next +supply comes to hand. At Santarem and here, hospitals +are established as well as at Lisbon; many fine-looking +fellows, reduced to skeletons, are in them. I have a new +route to-morrow round about: first day, Garvao; second, +Nisa; third, Villa Velha; fourth, Cernados; fifth, Castello +Branco: sixteen miles, twenty miles, twelve miles, +eight, and eighty.</p> + +<p><em>Sunday, Castello Branco, October 11th, 1812.</em>—Here +am I thus far safe on my pilgrimage, and tolerably well +considering all things, for I seldom get above two or +three hours’ sleep, and many nights none at all, from +noises, fleas, gnats, mosquitos, bad accommodation, and +anxiety. From Abrantes I got safely to Garvao, which +is finely situated, and the walk to it wildly beautiful. +The next day I warned my people to rise by half-past +four; we loaded in the dark, but started by daylight, +and got in before the treasure to Niga. A good mattress +and clean sheets, &c., on the floor, without fleas, are +genuine luxuries. For the first time in Portugal I got +six hours’ sleep. In the same manner I started again +from Niga by five o’clock, and got through two treasure<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</span> +days’ journey in one to Cernados. Understanding that +at Villa Velha there were only desolate ruins, scarcely +supplying a dry cover, by starting again early yesterday +from Cernados (which consists only of one house, half of +it a ruin, with a nest of ruined cottages round it), I +reached this place by ten yesterday, and thus had all the +remainder of the day to rest, and this in addition (Sunday), +for the treasure arrived only to-day.</p> + +<p>I have thus avoided the common piggery of being all +in one house at Cernados, and a bad night at Villa Velha. +By calculating distances and time also, I have kept my +men and myself dry. As the rains generally come on +hitherto after twelve in the day, and in the night, we +have only been caught in two English showers. It +rained all the time we were at Abrantes, from twelve on +the day we arrived, entirely through the following day, +to about an hour before we started. All the rest of the +day was fine, rain again all the evening—the same at +Niga, and the same here also. And such rain! it would +saturate anything in ten minutes. As it is now cooler, I +walk half the way, which also saves my pony. I have +here assigned to me the quarters of the Generals who +pass through. These consist of the ruin of a fine house +for quarters, and a large room with four great windows +without glass, and four doors in it; gold frames around +without their looking-glasses in them, fine chairs without +bottoms, &c., &c. The house belongs to the <i lang="es" xml:lang="es">Illustrissimo +Signor Barao</i>. I have a mattress on the floor with fleas +innumerable. I have my route, and here it is: first +day, Eschalas de Cimo; second, San Miguel; third, +Menoa; fourth, Sabugal; fifth, perhaps a halt; sixth, +Aldea da Ponte; seventh, Sturno; eighth, Ciudad Rodrigo. +We are to carry provisions for four days with us, +then provide for three, and start to-morrow or next day +as the treasure mules are able; then go on to Fuentes de +Castelegos, Forgadilla, Calçade de Don Diego, Salamanca.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</span> +Few of these places are in Faden’s map. Nothing can +be had on the road, it is said, not even dry stabling or a +dry room; and much wet is expected. The place is +finely situated on the east side of a hill which is crowned +by an old Moorish castle and walls, and a modern monastery +in ruins! It is one of the best towns we have seen, +and there are the ruins of some good houses; provisions +and necessaries are to be bought here, but at a high price. +There is part of the fine episcopal palace (where a Portuguese +General is quartered), with a garden in tolerable +order, a good church, and several picturesque-looking +ruined monasteries, with crosses at every step. I have +taken a few sketches where we stop on the road, though +too much occupied with business to think much of the +picturesque. Niga is also picturesque.</p> + +<p>My adventures are all much alike. The only variety +is an arrival wet through to the skin. No one can say +where we shall go to at last. I suppose I must now proceed +to Salamanca, and then something must be determined +upon. Things do not go on well at Burgos, I +fear; there is much delay, more than was expected. +Lord Wellington is, it is said, not satisfied. At Cernados +a cobbler was the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Juge de Fores</i>, and gave us our billets. +On the walls was an excellent likeness in chalk of Lord +George Lennox, done by the shadow, I suppose from the +lamp which is allowed us. I hear of sickness everywhere; +much at head-quarters. The general orders have +many more on the list of absent from sickness, than on +that of arrivals at the army. Soult is very strong. +General Hill, I believe, is still at Toledo.</p> + +<p>Near the mountains on the other side of the Tagus is +an old castle or two, and some pleasant glimpses of fine +valleys, and the deep banks of the river which is hidden +from the view. The sandy commons like Bagshot, +over which the road passes, are more bold, the hills +higher, and covered almost entirely with the gum cistus,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</span> +which has a sweet scent, but, being out of bloom in that +state, is not so pleasing as our heaths with their various +colours. There is a little heath like the Devonshire +heath, and some parts of the road rather like Dartmoor. +Near Niga are seen the mountains about Elvas, and in +the line to Badajoz, and the Spanish mountains of Estremadura, +The country proved to me the merit of some +of Rubens’ Spanish views, which are, like his Flemish +pictures, most correct in the character of the scenery. +From Niga, after proceeding a league, you wind down a +wild Devonshire or Welsh sort of road; first cross a small +river, then the Tagus again, almost down steps—not so +bad as some wild parts of Ireland, to be sure, though very +bad for the loaded mules. Here is very little oak, underwood, +some fir, but chiefly and perpetually the gum +cistus, which grows to about four feet high. Villa Velha +is a village in ruins, finely situated on the side of a hill +looking over the river. It is now nearly deserted. +The soldiers with baggage pitched a tent below the office +in the cellar. From the hills above the river, before we +crossed the Tagus, we saw Castello Branco standing high +on the hill, and the Moorish ruins. Cernados is like a +Welsh village of the worst sort: rocks for streets, ruined +stone houses inhabited in part, and used for quarters. +Their few architectural large buildings alone constitute +the difference between these and the worst Welsh or Irish +villages. From Cernados to this place we again crossed +a country like a large Bagshot Heath, but by a very +tolerable good road; adieu.</p> + +<p>P.S.—The Captain has just sent me word we must +start to-morrow instead of the day after; he says that +the treasure is not safe without the serjeants. Our detachments +are all foreigners; many are drunk, and have +quarrelled with the inhabitants!</p> + +<p><em>Salamanca, October, 1812.</em>—The first day after leaving +Castello Branco, we reached Eschalo de Cimo, a pretty,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</span> +and once a thriving village, with a good church, not so +much destroyed as damaged; one handsome large house +in the vicinity belonging to the Squiress, Donna Joanna, +the best rooms in which were gutted and used as quarters, +the rest inhabited by two or three families of the better +kind, with some smart misses among them. The other +houses mostly in ruins, but still some of them occupied. +In this place bread was not to be bought, nor even an +onion! but we fared well, in good rooms, with good fires. +On our road thither we kept Castello Branco in sight +nearly all the way; we also saw the distant mountains +in Spain and Portugal. The road was over a sort of +Dartmoor, stones, rock, sand, with fern oak a foot high, +and abundance of apples. The second day we reached +San Miguel de Cima. The same sort of village as Eschalo +de Cimo, one good house for quarters, the rest small, and +generally, like the church, in ruins; but the inhabitants +were fast returning to it. Here we obtained bread, +onions, and some hay. The appearance on entering the +village, with the trees about it, very pleasant. The +third day’s route was to Memoa, five long leagues. At +first a good road and picturesque country, with a very +fine view of Monsanto, with its town and castle on the +right, and of the other hills grouped with it in the +distance. Pennamacor, which is almost destroyed, we +left on our right, about a mile, with its castle, standing +boldly on the side of a hill, with rock and wood around +it, and a rich-looking valley below. This is a fine situation, +backed, as we left it, by Monsanto. We also passed +Pedrigoa, a large village, nearly destroyed and deserted, +and at last, after passing over a hill by a horrible road, +through an oak copse, where we had nearly lost our way, +we arrived at the heap of ruins called Memoa. This was +the worst place we had stopped at all the way. There +was only one room in the town, that only water-tight, +and there were no stables. I took the driest corner<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</span> +in a large common room, because there was a stable +under it.</p> + +<p>I could see and hear everything in the stables, for the +floor was still less tight than the roof. The leg of a +chair or a table, in spite of all possible care, went two or +three times through it. I got a little hay, and slept +behind a great chest, in my blanket. Three of the natives +were in the room at night. The fourth day we had three +leagues of fine road, though bad travelling, through a +hilly wood of arbutuses in bearing, and Portugal laurels +in flower, heath in bloom, a plant like the lignum vitæ, +and broom. This day’s route brought us to Sabugal, +where there is generally a halt, but this our captain declined. +Sabugal stands on a hill, very finely situated, +but commanded by other hills; the way is over a bridge +and river, and with a winding road up to it. The situation +is not unlike that of Ludlow; the town very inferior +in size and beauty, but picturesque. The castle itself +with its square Moorish towers, more so than Ludlow. +The town is all in ruins; not even a weather-tight room +in it. I got a large sort of barn, open in the roof in +several places, with no doors, and two large windows, +without even shutters, and four others half closed. On +our road thither from Memoa we found half the body of +a man, nearly a skeleton, but with flesh and nails on the +toes. It was lying on the road, as if to scare travellers.</p> + +<p>The market-place at Sabugal is, I think, very pretty, +and everything in it very cheap: this, indeed, was the +cheapest place through which we had passed. The fifth +day we reached Aldea da Ponte, the last Portuguese +village. The road was interesting, as we passed near +Fuente Guinaldos, so long head-quarters, and Alfayetes, +also head-quarters. We passed just under Alfayetes, and +saw Lord Wellington’s house on the side of the hill, with +the old castle. This place is now in ruins, like the rest. +We then passed over the plain where our cavalry distinguished<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</span> +themselves in a sharp affair with the French. +Aldea da Ponte is much cleaner than the other villages.</p> + +<p>Here we saw more pots, pans, basins, &c., than usual; +these the people desired us to make use of instead of +hiding them from us, as was generally done in Portugal. +On the sixth day, we came, after a short league, to a small +village on the side of a hill, the first in Spain, then on to +two or three more, and in less than six leagues we reached +Ciudad Rodrigo. This town stands on a rise, in an undulating +sort of rough Salisbury Plain. It is two-thirds +in ruins, but the public buildings appear to have suffered +comparatively little, and might, most of them, be restored. +The entrance to the town is striking. We got an indifferent +quarter in the suburbs, immediately opposite the +place where the light battalions entered. The main +breach was round the corner of our abode. The Spaniards +had nearly restored these two breaches, but from ill luck +or neglect both had entirely given way, and there must +still be some months’ work before they can undo and +clear enough away to begin to rebuild again. Everything +was scarce in the town, and the people imposing and +uncivil. On the seventh day we proceeded to Brondillo, +where we were obliged to stop, as there were only two +houses in Castel Legos, to which the route sent us. This +was by far our worst day’s journey; the distance was +seven leagues, that is, twenty-eight miles. It took us to +accomplish this from six in the morning to past three, +of which time it rained eight hours and a half, nearly +all that time like a bad English thunder-shower of ten +minutes’ duration. No coats could keep out the wet, +and it was accompanied by a strong, cold November wind, +for the weather for the last week has been as cold as an +English November. We all suffered, and I have been +chilly and aguish ever since. We then, for the first time, +entered a Spanish cabin; and oh! how superior to those +of Portugal! of Ireland! of Scotland! and if I did not<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</span> +consider these cottages as farms and not as cottages, I +should say of England too! All neat and clean; with +pots, dishes, boilers in abundance.</p> + +<p>The people are proud, but if treated with civility, +courteous and kind, though they are turned away from +their own firesides by us and the Portuguese three or +four nights in the seven. They made us a great fire, and +did all they could for us. The women seem chatty and +merry—the men, the handsomest and best-grown, with +the finest countenances I ever saw, except perhaps in +Switzerland. We met with the same sort of treatment +and kindness at the next village. The house belonged to +the priest, with whom, through the medium of some +mongrel Latin and Spanish, I managed to converse a +little. These quarters are some of the best I have had +since leaving Lisbon; at Togadillo, where the route sent +us, there was only one good house.</p> + +<p>At Robedila, a place out of the road, where we got by +accident, finding we had passed Togadillo without knowing +it, all was comfort again. This place the French occupied +for some time with ten thousand men. We arrived +yesterday at Salamanca. After the first five leagues from +Ciudad Rodrigo, which were as rough as Dartmoor, we +have passed through a country like the neighbourhood of +Salisbury Plain, only that the villages were much more +numerous, though several only of three or four houses, +now nearly all repaired. Not a single large, or, I believe, +two-storied house, from Ciudad Rodrigo to this place. +Much of the country now quite a fine green, but a very +large part in cultivation. The land looked good; about +midway it consisted of, for five or six leagues, clay, and +knee-deep: in some places a light soil, or reddish sand; +with water up to the mules’ bellies, from the heavy rain, +though it had ceased twenty-four hours. The people +have plenty of bread and straw, but there are no shops in +the villages. They only sell to oblige each his own lodger<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</span> +for the night. Bread was threepence a pound—it had +been fourpence. All along this country, from St. Martin +de Rio hither, are abundance of acorns, almost as good as +chestnuts; quite sweet. The muleteers and men halt to +eat them. This also gives good fires everywhere. Horses +and bones are strewed more or less along the whole way +from Lisbon. In one place, about seven leagues from +Salamanca, were thirteen heads arranged in a row, as +stepping-blocks for passengers through the water. I +believe there was a little cavalry brush there. Salamanca +stands well, but in a sort of Salisbury Plain. The colleges +are destroyed, but the church is most beautiful, and +the entrances much finer than those of our cathedrals—the +figures and heads very fine indeed.</p> + +<p>The altered Roman bridge is striking. The town is +so full, principally of sick, that I have got bad quarters, +half a mile out of the town; my direction l’Ultima Casa.</p> + +<p><em>Later, same day.</em>—I have been again looking at the +town. The great church is very fine, and not damaged, +but there are many miserable ruins of noble colleges, +some gutted, some nearly razed. The public library has +a fair supply of books, but too exclusively of sacred, +or rather ecclesiastical literature; there are, however, +good classics, French, and modern learned works, mathematics, +and others: it is about two-thirds of the size +of Trinity College, Cambridge. I hope to proceed the +day after to-morrow, to Valladolid, which it is proposed +to reach in seven days. There are good shops here, and +articles not dear. It is curious to see the same effect +of ages and of tastes as in England. Below and behind +the great altar of the church was some old English, or, +as we should say, Saxon architecture, that is, a rude imitation +of Greek. Then came a florid sample of Gothic, +not in the best taste, but beautifully ornamented, with +screens, &c., in the style of King Charles and King William; +forced Grecian again, of two centuries back.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</h2> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="fs80" style="margin-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em;">Arrival at Head-quarters—Ciudad Rodrigo—The Retreat—Its Disasters—Capture +of General Paget—Personal Anecdotes—Scarcity of Provisions—Courts-martial +in the Army—Business of a Judge-Advocate—Wellington.</p> + +<p class="right fs80"> +Head-quarters, Rueda, Nov. 5, 1812.</p> +</div> + + +<p class="no-indent"> +<span class="smcap">My dear M——</span>, +</p> + +<p><span style="padding-left: 2em">At</span> last I have arrived safely at head-quarters, as +they have been kind enough to come half-way to meet +me. From Salamanca, we proceeded on the first day +to Alba de Tormes, a town in a fine situation on the +Tormes, with the remains of a castle of various dates, +extensive and picturesque; part of it, particularly the +entrance staircase, very richly ornamented. The whole +was striking, and the vicinity of the town was interesting, +for here it was that the French so completely +beat the unhappy Spaniards, and put them to death by +thousands, almost in cold blood. We saw where General +del Parques’ cavalry were posted, and the positions +of the French. On our road near Salamanca we also +observed at a distance, on the other side of the river, +the hills where the battle of Salamanca was fought; and +our route lay in that of the pursuit through Alba, then +on to Peneranda, another good old town, and so, through +villages, to Arevalo, where we arrived in four days, +tracing men’s bones and bits of soldiers’ dress, as well as +horse bones and carcasses, on the route thither.</p> + +<p>This country resembles Salisbury Plain, in open cultivation +of corn, and is covered very thick with neat<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</span> +villages, with a general appearance of comfort. Arevalo +is a large place in ruins. There are many remains of +fine richly-wooded brickwork, convents, churches, many +good houses, and the town standing very finely on a hill, +nearly surrounded by the river, which runs in a deep +hollow round it, with four or five substantial and rather +picturesque bridges. Our route was by Valladolid, +where we should have been in three days, and which I +regret much not to have seen, for I hear it is second only +to Madrid, and very little damaged. Had I proceeded +on the route I should have reached Valladolid the day +before the French entered it. Hearing that the army +was rapidly retiring, the road became unsafe. No one +knew where head-quarters were to be; the treasure, and +my mules with it, were consequently halted, and instructions +were written for. For four days we remained at +Arevalo. The treasure party were then ordered to +Olmedo to deliver their cargo, and head-quarters were +here at Rueda. I proceeded with them to Olmedo, +rather a handsome and a large town, where I was housed +in the good quarters which had been occupied by the +Prince of Orange. When I arrived here, my beasts +were kept standing loaded in the streets, and all of us +without anything to eat until past six, before I could +get a quarter. The people were civil, but I had to go +to the Quarter-Master-general, Adjutant-general, to the +billet-manager, to the Military Secretary, &c. One said, +“go here;” another, “go there;” a third sent a serjeant +to inquire, and then thought no more about it.</p> + +<p>At last I procured an indifferent quarter vacated by a +Commissary, only a shed, and holes through the floor +into the cellar below. My animals, therefore, stood all +night in the entrance of the passage.</p> + +<p>This morning, 5th, I heard of a Spanish aide-de-camp +of Castanos’, who is here, and who had three small +stables close to me. I found him in bed at nine o’clock,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</span> +but he could speak French, and I persuaded him to +give me one of the stables for my four animals. Thus +we are better off to-day, and, as a favour, I have got +them something to eat. I was introduced to Lord +Wellington this morning, and delivered my letters. He +was very courteous. We conversed for half an hour, +and I am to dine with him at six to-day, in full uniform. +He is to send me fifty cases against officers, to examine, +in order to ascertain whether any can be made out on +evidence, which is the great difficulty. There is a +caricature here of Johnny Newcome, who makes it out +till sent to the rear rolled up in a blanket in an ox-car, +creeping on at the rate of two miles an hour to Lisbon. +We are in hourly expectation of moving. The bridges +are repaired, and the French within three leagues, and +able to cross if they choose. General Hill is expected +here to-day. His forces are at Arevalo. Soult is in +Madrid; whether they push on further is to be seen.</p> + +<p>Few reinforcements have arrived; eighteen thousand +Spaniards (such as they are) are with us. The lower +classes of the people are a very fine race in person, +talents, and feelings, and vastly superior to the Portuguese. +It is very provoking that rank and prejudice +render this of no avail. The inhabitants of the town +seem half French. About six hundred French crossed +over to us last night, but retired again. The cavalry +were off in the middle of the night from head-quarters. +I was alarmed for a moment, but all seems quiet this +morning. The last five days have been very fine; cold +dewy mornings, but clear sunny days, damp cold evenings, +but for the time of the year here very fine. There +are very queer-looking military figures here, some +English, a few Portuguese, many more Spanish. The +whole scene presents an odd medley.</p> + +<p><em>Ciudad Rodrigo, November 19, 1812.</em>—To continue +my diary from Rueda. Two days afterwards, the 7th,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</span> +an order to march at four in the morning came, as soon +as Hill’s army was within reach. I then first saw what it +was to put seventy thousand men in motion, about ten +thousand public, and a greater number of private mules, +horses, &c. At five we started, and about two that day +I reached head-quarters. Torricello by four o’clock. +At five next morning started again for Petueja. Here +the head-quarters had only thirty houses for one hundred +and fifty officers. Lord Wellington and the Prince +of Orange had only one room each. I was ordered a +league in advance, where I found Castanos, who had +come in for better quarters. He sent me on another +half-league, but when a mile on the road he passed me, +as he had heard that the next was the best quarter. So +I returned, and at three o’clock got a little hole and a +stable. About five came in about three thousand +Spanish troops. Half my house was down in a moment +for firing, and nearly all the owner’s property, pans, +dishes, straw, &c., stolen. I secured mine, which was +attacked, by swallowing a mouthful and packing up and +keeping guard. The remainder of the house was also +saved; and, by the help of a Spanish officer, who took a +fancy to the kitchen fire, the house was cleared with fist +and foot. My animals were not safe, as my man heard +one soldier say he would have one before morning. I +saved them by putting them in a row in the passage +close to me, where they stood for the night. Fires all +round us; noises of all kinds; people breaking in. +There were only about six civilians, English, in the +village. At five next day off again, and at daylight +joined the general train on the road to Salamanca. It +was easily found, for it extended five or six miles.</p> + +<p>The day before we again started three cases were laid +before me on which to draw charges. Upon these I was +to report to Lord Wellington next day. I drew them +up, but he was too busy to receive them. When I went<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</span> +home and sent for a paper, the answer was, “All packed +up;” and it seemed that I ought to be so too, as our +position was turned, and we were all ordered to be loaded +and ready to start. After much hurry, I was ready soon +after twelve. My beasts stood loaded at the door till +seven in the evening; then came orders to unload, but +to be loaded by four next morning, and to start for a hill +a league off, and there wait for orders. There was only +one long bridge to pass the whole army, and it was near +seven before we were all over.</p> + +<p>It rained hard. We stood on the hill loaded and waiting +for orders till one o’clock. Nearly the whole of our +army was in sight round us, cooking their dinners in +the rain, in their new position. The French were all +around, about a league off, their fires visible in the woods, +and the heads of their columns visible with a glass. +They would not attack us, as they might, but manœuvred +to turn our right wing. Had there been a +battle we should have had a fine view of the beginning +at least. At one o’clock we saw our whole army break up +and put itself in motion; and orders came to us to march +and keep with the second column. This we did, marching +in the rain, in a fine confusion, till five o’clock, when +Lord Wellington halted at a miserable place for head-quarters, +and the men bivouacked on the swampy ground. +I was ordered on a league further. Darkness soon came +on, and the rain descended in torrents. Misdirected by +some Spanish muleteers, I lost my way, and did not +reach any village for three leagues, and not till nine at +night, wet and starved, as the Salamanca people, in our +confusion, stole my bread, &c.</p> + +<p>I was the only English officer there, and got the best +quarter at the parish priest’s, the best house there. +Here I procured a loaf of bread, fire, and a bed, which +were no small comforts. I got, however, but little sleep, +not knowing how to proceed next day, and being aware<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</span> +that the French were close at hand. By my map I +found that I was in the nearest road to Ciudad Rodrigo, +and, taking a retreat to be the object, I determined to +wait till eight or nine o’clock next day, and observe +whether any one passed. By that time half the army +was on the road through the village, and Sir Edward +Paget took my quarter for the last night’s rest he had +before he was taken prisoner. I then had a short march +in the rain again this day to Aldea Quella and to Boleado. +In two hours’ time I got a quarter through Colonel +Campbell’s influence; and because the stables would not +hold a large horse, all the mules, half the servants, all +the soldiers, and most of the officers, were out in the wet. +Three Spanish officers burst into my quarters at night, +and the people were hammering at the door every moment +for straw, shelter, &c., sick and all sorts. In spite +of my vigilance, either the Spanish officers or the people +of the house stole my pistols out of my room, and finished +by purloining the bread and rum of my men. Honesty +is not a Spanish virtue. We all of us lose things daily. +At two next day we loaded, and at three started for this +place, twenty miles, four hours before daylight. Luckily +we had some moon. I stuck to Lord Wellington’s carriage +and baggage, thinking the people in charge of them +would be best informed, though my own inquiries elicited +other intelligence than theirs.</p> + +<p>I was told the rivers that way were not passable, and +we found the whole road almost under water for miles, +ankle, and even knee deep, and three rivers to pass. +Many mules were upset or stuck fast, and much baggage +damaged or lost. I had only one load overset, and that +at the edge, and we saved all, and not much damage +done. By daylight there was a general halt; no one +knew the ford or the road. At last we passed the river +a mile above; but then, finding the French had been in +the village three miles off the last night, we all turned<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</span> +off by a by-road six miles round, and at last arrived here +at Ciudad Rodrigo, miserably cold, with animals knocked +up, sore backs, &c., about two o’clock. In the confusion +here, at last I got a bad quarter in the same house with +Colonel Gordon, Lord Wellington’s aide-de-camp. But +I have a place for my animals, and hundreds have no +room for animals, or even for themselves. We halt to-day, +whether for a longer time I know not. The army +is mostly passing the river to-day. We lost many men +in the retreat, but a very little money is missing. The +sick are numerous. Two officers have died of fatigue on +the road, in which dead mules are to be met with in +plenty, and some men. To-day we are relating our adventures. +We get but little barley for our horses, no +hay or straw. The cavalry have been without it for +some days; but this is considered a very orderly retreat. +Sir Edward Paget accidentally fell into the enemy’s +hands near his own division, within six hundred yards of +it, between that and another. The French are said to +have ninety thousand men, with nine thousand cavalry. +They pressed hard until yesterday; they then relaxed +when they might have done us most mischief. The +roads and weather, I suppose, and the want of food and +forage, impeded them. I hope they will now leave us +quiet. I am very sorry for Sir Edward Paget on the +public account and on my own, as I found him most +friendly, civil, and good-natured. This capture is also a +triumph to the French.</p> + +<p><em>Malliarda de Sorda, November 26th, 1812.</em>—We are +now in our winter quarters, and fill all the villages and +places for twenty miles round on the Portugal side of +Ciudad Rodrigo, the works of which are still quite out of +repair where our trenches were made, as the Spanish new +work has all fallen in. Wellington’s head-quarters are +at Frenada, an old station; the doctors are all at Castello +Bom; and the other civil departments, in which I am<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</span> +included, all at this place, Malliarda de Sorda. We are +distant four miles of most infamous rocky road from +Frenada, and eight from Castello Bom. This I fear +must shut me off from nearly all society, as it would be +paying most dear for a dinner at Frenada or Castello +Bom, to return in the dark, along roads compared with +which those of Ireland or Cornwall are bowling-greens. +We are in three wretched villages, in a country like Dartmoor, +but more wood near, all rocks around, and stone-wall +enclosures, and rocky roads; then woods, with open +wastes for twenty miles round. I have a room opening +to the street, without ceiling, only open loose pantiles, +with holes to let out the smoke of a fireplace without a +chimney; a window tinned up by last year’s occupier, +except four small panes, two of which are broken; there +is a hole in the floor to look through at my five animals +and three servants, who all sleep on the straw below me.</p> + +<p>The weather for the last three days has been a complete +English December, cutting easterly winds; and on +the 23rd I will vouch for ice three-quarters of an inch +thick. All the Sierras are white with snow. I found +Lord Wellington’s secretaries sitting with candles at +twelve o’clock in the day, in order to stop their holes and +windows with curtains, and burning charcoal fires. We +have had every variety of weather here in six weeks: I +never remember it colder in England for the time of the +year. Here are no books, no women but ladies of a certain +description; and as to living, you would be surprised +what good living is here, except at Lord Wellington’s +table, and about two more, and even at those no port +wine, only thin claret, and the country wines and brandy.</p> + +<p>At Ciudad Rodrigo there was starvation: no corn, no +hay, no straw, no bread, no rum, for three days, only +beef and biscuit; at last we got some mouldy biscuit for +the animals, which I mixed with carrot, cabbage, and +potatoes; everything was devoured. Tea, 22<em>s.</em> and 25<em>s.</em><span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</span> +a pound; butter, 4<em>s.</em>; bread, 1<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em> a pound, above 6<em>s.</em> +the loaf; no wine or brandy; gin, 12<em>s.</em> the bottle; straw, +a dollar for a small bundle, and all sold in a scramble. +The truth was, the troops, poor fellows! came through +the town quite starving; during the retreat supplies had +been mismanaged—regiments were three and four days +without rations, and numbers died of absolute starvation, +besides the sick. Lord Wellington is, I hear, very angry. +Till I saw B—’s mess, &c., I had no notion of the loss +in this retreat, and the great suffering of the men and +horses. From what I hear, not merely were about one +thousand made prisoners, but five or six thousand put +for some time <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">hors de combat</i>, by sickness, starvation, and +want of horses, &c. The cavalry were too weak to act, +mainly from want of food. A great many animals were +killed. A treasure-party had a narrow escape: the +French were in sight while they were loading, and much +baggage was lost. Lord Dalhousie lost almost all; five +horses and thirteen loaded mules, with his name at full +length upon his baggage—another French triumph! +Colonel Delancey lost three horses, taken at Salamanca; +and the men suffered shockingly from the wet. The +whole was so unlucky; as had the three days’ rain begun +at Salamanca, in all probability the French would not +have crossed the Tormes and turned our position, and we +might still have been there; and had they come three +days later, we should have saved our three or four thousand +sick. We should, moreover, have had good roads +and dry nights, no floods and torrents to wade through +by day, nor swamps to sleep on by night; in fact, we +should only have lost drunken stragglers. The distress +at Madrid, after all the joy and gaiety, was dreadful. +When we left the town sixty thousand poor were contending +for the remains of our stores—the worst objects +had the preference given them. King Joseph’s Palace +was left by him entirely furnished; and as Lord Wellington<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</span> +made a point that he should find it again the same, +nothing was touched by our army.</p> + +<p><em>The 26th.</em>—To-day is a cheerful, frosty, Christmas-day, +and within an English farm-house the whole would do +very well: but I go, like others, to bed at seven o’clock, +to keep myself warm. General Castanos and his troops +are gone back to Gallicia, which is one grievance removed +at least. Ballasteros is in disgrace at Ceuta, for disobedience. +I fear, upon the whole, the Spanish cause +has suffered much by our advance to Madrid and Burgos. +The people find we cannot support them, and will be +very shy in future; and the misery of the peasantry and +townspeople all the time is extreme. There are few +deceptions in England like that about the life in Spain.</p> + +<p><em>Frenada, Head-Quarters, December 8th, 1812.</em>—I will +now tell you one day’s adventure and how I came here. +Two days after writing from Malliarda de Sorda, where I +was lonely and heard nothing, I determined to walk over +to see how things went on here, and put my papers into +my pocket in case I should be able to see Lord Wellington. +On my arrival I met the Quarter-Master who +managed quarters: he told me he had kept a miserable +hole for me, if I chose to move; it was much worse than +even my old one, but I instantly said “<span class="smcap">Yes</span>.” The next +person I met was Lord Wellington, and I asked him +when he wished to see me, and whether he had any +objection to my moving here? He said I might take my +choice and take the best of the bad. He then asked +whether I had my papers about me? I said, “All.” +“Come up,” said he then; and in ten minutes he looked +over my papers, which consisted of four sets of charges +against officers. These were all settled with a few +judicious alterations, in which I entirely agreed. I then +came out and wrote them fair in the Adjutant-general’s +office, and two were sent off to Lisbon that day.</p> + +<p>On my way home I found a Portuguese half drunk,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</span> +killing his wife. He had bruised her, and laid her head +open with a large stone; this occurred on the open road. +As I was not in full strength from the effects of a recent +accident, I could only gently interfere, and the brute +persisted in his cruelty. A servant then came by on +horseback who struck him with a good stout stick; but +the fellow turned on him, and hit him with a great stone +on the head. Thereupon two dragoons, who saw the +whole affair, came up, and were going to cut the Portuguese +down, when I begged them only to use the backs +of their sabres, which they did sharply, and brought him +into the village.</p> + +<p>I have dined again with Lord Wellington, and at +Castello Bom with Dr. Macgregor, whence I walked +home with Colonel Colin Campbell at ten at night with +a lantern, over rocks and streams. I have also seen +Lord Wellington again, twice, about charges; but I +understand I am not to go over to some Courts-martial +which he has just fixed to take place in ten days, at two +divisions, about forty miles from hence, but to stay here. +He is shortly, as general report says, going to Cadiz or +somewhere. At Lord Wellington’s we had a curious +conversation, about himself, Canning and his speeches, +and Vetus’s letters in the <cite>Times</cite>.<a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> He joined in and +indeed led the conversation, as if talking of persons and +things he was not connected with, but seemed not satisfied +with the Ministry, though he did not favour the +opposition. He said he took in the <cite>Courier</cite> to know +what government meant to do, &c., and as a decent paper +to show General Castanos.</p> + +<p>It has not lately been very cold; indeed, we had four +or five charming days, but the rain has now begun again; +but want of all books and society is the worst. The +little conversation here beyond the topics of the day is of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</span> +a review a year old, or a pamphlet. The dress here is a +cap made of velvet, cloth, and fur, with a peak over the +eyes (that is a foraging cap); the handsomest are all of +fur, dark or grey fur, the former the best, with a broad +gold band and tassel on the top. With this is worn a +dress great coat, or plain, with military buttons, grey +pantaloons; this is the costume for dinners. Morning +dress—overalls, boots, and white or more generally fancy +waistcoats; in winter blue and black velvet, or cloth, +with fancy buttons of gold, and narrow stripes of gold as +an edging. There are four suttlers here, who sell everything, +and we are, all things considered, well supplied. +We have one little Exeter-Change shop, but all very dear; +pepper and mustard dear, a small sauce bottle 7<em>s.</em>, tea +three dollars a pound, cheese 4<em>s.</em> a pound, porter 5<em>s.</em> a +bottle, gin and brandy 7<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em>, port wine 6<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em>, milk 1<em>s.</em> +a quart, salt-butter 3<em>s.</em> a pound, sugar 1<em>s.</em> 8<em>d.</em>, pork (no +other meat) 1<em>s.</em> 8<em>d.</em> a pound, oil 5<em>s.</em> a quart. These are +the prices here at <em>head-quarters</em>. Remember that distinction; +not the national prices.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, Frenada, December 31st, 1812.</em>—For +the last month I have really been too busy to write. During +the last week, before Lord Wellington went away, he +kept me hard at work, and left directions to endeavour +to get rid of all the cases pending for Courts-martial. +About thirty-two cases were made over to me, some of +nearly two years’ standing. We have now a Court +sitting at Lisbon, one in the second division at Coria, +one in the seventh at Govea, and another here which I +attend myself four miles off at Fuentes d’Onore. I have +sent six to Lisbon, five to the seventh division, five to +the second, and intended taking seven myself to Fuentes +d’Onore; the rest have in some way been arranged. +Hitherto we have made little progress from the sickness, +which keeps back witnesses. I have only myself tried +one, and hope to finish to-morrow. One charge is of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</span> +that of a mad Commissary, whose trial was put off last +week, on account of his being raving. He wrote to the +Adjutant-general a mad letter, amongst other things +telling him that he had ten thousand men, that he +might drive all head-quarters to “Nebuchadnezzar’s +fiery furnace, where,” he added, “Lord Wellington and +you may sit at the head of the table.” I served him +myself with his notice of trial; he appeared very wild, +and I have great doubts how he will behave.</p> + +<p>I have had long instructions to write to the three +other Judge-Advocates and summonses for witnesses +to send to every regiment and to the Commandants +about here, and that over and over again. As fast as +one prisoner or witness got well, another became sick, +and half the cases are now pending in this way. Then +comes a long case to abstract for Lord Wellington; +then an opinion for the Adjutant-general by return of +post. For these three weeks I have been writing nearly +seven hours a day, circulating copies of the charges to +prisoners, to the Courts, and to the prosecutors, and +much of my labour is thrown away by the sickness of +the prisoners and witnesses. I have nine here in the +Provost’s hands for trial, and five are in the hospital—one +just dead. There is one comfort, the reflection that +such a press of business is never likely to recur. The +<cite>Gazette</cite> and newspapers you sent me afforded me considerable +amusement and comfort. Since Lord Wellington +has been absent, Colonel Colin Campbell remains +to do the honours and invite at the great house. I +spent Christmas-day there, and have dined several times. +Besides a good dinner and the best society, I there hear +the latest news and get honour. The party is now very +small.</p> + +<p>After ten days of horrible damp, cold, rainy weather, +we have now a thoroughly good genuine English frost, +with an east wind, quite like an old friend in England;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</span> +but the sun has some power, so that it is like our frosts +in February rather than Christmas. We see here very +few of the officers. Just before Lord Wellington went +he was angry at all the applications for leave of absence, +observing, “A pretty army I have here! They all want +to go home: but no more shall go except the sick.” As +the sick are now fast recovering, I may mention what I +did not like to do a month ago, that the returns of the +sick were then between nineteen and twenty thousand! +You would have no idea of this. I have dined here +with Major and Mrs. Scobell, the only lady here. I +have also dined with Lord Aylmer, the acting Adjutant-general +here, who is very civil. The Commissary, Mr. +H——, keeps a good table, and often asks me. Dr. +H—— is our doctor now at head-quarters—a sensible +man. Lord March has lent me two volumes of Goldsmith’s +works.</p> + +<p>Castanos’ army went back in an orderly manner. +Our Commissary reports well of them, and of the +country, where, he says (that is, in the Tras os Montes), +there is an abundance of bread, poultry, turkeys, &c., +and of many things we have no notion of here. They +have procured two turkeys at head-quarters this Christmas, +and have had mince-meat in tins by the post from +Lisbon.</p> + +<p>We send to the woods for firing, and bring it home +on the mules, and send out from four to six leagues, +that is, from sixteen to twenty-four miles, for hay or +straw. Ten pounds of straw a-day is the allowance for +the animals, but I fear it will not hold out, as the +villages are now nearly all emptied. We shall soon +have to get little bundles of dry grass, which are already +brought to our splendid market for sale. The Lamego +wine is the only wine which I can drink with comfort,—it +is a sort of port. The Sierra di Francia is the +next best,—a much lighter wine, from the Sierras<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</span> +towards Madrid, from hence between thirty and forty +miles off.</p> + +<p>Lord Wellington, whom I saw every day for the last +three or four days before he went, I like much in +business affairs. He is very ready, and decisive, and +civil, though some complain a little of him at times, and +are much afraid of him. Going up with my charges +and papers for instructions, I feel something like a boy +going to school. I expect to have a long report to make +on his return.</p> + +<p>I hear a good account of Ballasteros’s army: that it is +better equipped than that of Castanos’. I wish it had +done more. The French are supposed still to have +about a hundred and eighty thousand men in the Peninsula. +I do not believe their force in this neighbourhood +has increased or diminished. Some have receded to +Vittoria, but have been traced by the spies (of whom we +have one constantly at Burgos) no further, nor have +many supplies of men to any amount been discovered, +I believe. We have some difficulty in getting fed; +bread in the markets is about 9<em>d.</em> a pound; barley for +the horses very scarce: we often go without for two +days. A commissary-agent is now in Salamanca buying +bread. The villages between Rodrigo and Salamanca, +described in my journey, are, it is said, quite destroyed. +We did much, the French the rest. Pork is the only +thing abundant, about 1<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em> per pound, very rich but +too fat, and the fat not firm; the flesh sweeter and +richer than that of our pork, from the acorns on which +the swine feed, and which are like chestnuts.</p> + +<p>I was a little nervous at the first Court-martial, but it +went off pretty well, and I got the whole over and +brought away eight sides of notes in three hours. To-morrow +I take my fair copy to be signed, &c. In my +way to this Court-martial, Henry and I were puzzled by +a river which seemed to be over our necks,—a deep hole<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</span> +off a rock. At last I made out a way zigzag, only about +three feet deep; there was no one near or on either side; +I should have had a swim, I am told, as people are sometimes +drowned there. A ducking the first time of my +appearance in public would have been awkward.</p> + +<p>Two cases have just been brought in to me; they are +for shooting natives, one an alcalde. Adieu.</p> +<br> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="label">[1]</a> It was generally supposed that these celebrated letters, often compared +to those of Junius, were written by Lord Wellesley.</p> + +</div> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</span></p> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</h2> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="fs80" style="margin-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em;">Arrival of the Gazette—More Courts-martial—The Mad Commissary—Intentions +of Lord Wellington—Social Amusements—Sporting—Wellington’s +Fox-hounds—His Stud—A Dinner at the Commander-in-Chief’s—Number +of Courts-martial—Anecdotes of Wellington.</p> + +<p class="right fs80"> +Head-quarters, Frenada, Jan. 3, 1813.</p> +</div> + + +<p class="no-indent"> +<span class="smcap">My dear M——</span>, +</p> + +<p><span style="padding-left: 2em">In</span> hopes of giving you letters every week, I must +seize every odd half-hour to write in, and you must not +be nice as to my writing, &c., as my hand is quite tired +of the regular official style, and my fingers cold, for we +still have fine, clear, frosty weather; but in the middle +of the day it is very pleasant.</p> + +<p>Pray thank John very much for his parcel of newspapers, +and especially for that of the 17th December, +with the <cite>Gazette</cite>, &c., and the glorious news. I was the +only person here with a paper of the 17th. Head-quarters +had only that of the evening of the 16th with +the <cite>Gazette</cite>; and though this was, in fact, much the same, +this was an event—and I sent mine up to Colonel +Campbell, by his desire, for his dinner-party at head-quarters. +It has been in constant request ever since.</p> + +<p>All the Guerilla party reports here state, that a body +of French cavalry has left Spain for France, for some +purpose. They say that from three to four thousand +men are gone; this agrees with your story; but our +Portuguese Quarter-Master, from his spies, reports otherwise. +The forces in this neighbourhood are now but<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</span> +small; about four hundred men in Salamanca, which, +by-the-by, has been much plundered; and the English +dollars, which they extorted from the hungry troops by +their high prices, pretty well squeezed out of them. At +Segovia there are only one thousand men, more at Valladolid, +and a force at Madrid, and thus dispersed about; +but as to their being starved, their country is much +better, I believe, than ours; and as I have already told +you, our Commissary goes to Salamanca for bread. The +light division near this place, and troop of Horse Artillery, +have had scarcely any corn for their horses for the +three last weeks, and the cavalry will not be fit to act +much before April and May.</p> + +<p>Yesterday a great event occurred here—the arrival of +a Guerilla chief, who was formerly a sort of smuggler or +robber. This man, whose name, I believe, is Sumeil, +attacked a French party, carrying despatches from King +Joseph to France, at a village near Valladolid, at twelve +o’clock at night. He came in upon the French by surprise, +and the plan succeeded. The despatches were seized, +some of them on the person of the courier, but the most +material in a secret place in the pummel of a saddle. A +little spring in the buckle of the brass ornament discovered +a keyhole, and in the saddle was the pocket to +conceal the papers. They are principally in cipher, but +some have been made out, and are, I understand, +important. I have heard the contents of only one letter +from King Joseph to the family in France, full of complaints +of want of money and much distress; he states +that he cannot get a dollar. From eighty to a hundred +prisoners were taken by the party. These prisoners were +French, and two English officers were released. The +French were much irritated, and sent eleven squadrons +of cavalry after the Guerilla chief, but he got off with +most of his prisoners, booty, despatches, and party. +Only one or two of the officers, and a few of the Guerilla<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</span> +privates, have yet arrived here, but more, with the +prisoners, are expected shortly. Sumeil expects to be +made a General for this. He was at first very shy of +suffering the aide-de-camp and Colonel Campbell to look +at his despatches, desiring to show them to Lord Wellington +in person; nor could he consent to give up the +most important, until General O’Lalor, who was at +Ciudad Rodrigo, was sent for, and explained matters to +him. I was to have met them at head-quarters at dinner +the day of their arrival, but they were busily engaged at +cards when sent for; and said they were tired, and +declined going out to dinner. I was very sorry for this, +as it would have been curious to see their manners at a +formal dinner.</p> + +<p>I have sent out my mules and Portuguese to forage. +They now are obliged to go so far for it that they cannot +get home by night, and soon, I fear, must stay out some +days. I must get another horse; Colonel C—— has a +handsome Spanish horse to sell, strong, showy, and, considering +the price of horses here, not very dear, two +hundred and fifty dollars; it is a sort of a Rubens, sleek, +black, manège horse, with a fine, thick, curved, sleek, +black neck.</p> + +<p>I take my morning walk daily, from eight till nine, to +secure some exercise, whilst Henry lights my fire and gets +breakfast ready. Instead of the gravel walk at Sheen or +in Lincoln’s Inn gardens, it is a stroll over the rocks, +down towards the Coa river, which is almost two miles +from hence, and in parts is wild and picturesque; large +masses of rock, rounded by the weather, stunted trees, +stone-wall enclosures, a succession of ravines, and ruined +fortified villages on the hills at a distance; for Castello +Bom, Castello Mendas, Castello Rodrigues, and Almeyda, +which, as well as Guarda, are in sight from the rocky hill, +half a mile from hence. Behind the whole, the sierras of +Portugal and Spain, now generally covered with snow.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</span> +By these means, and with a hasty ride or walk now and +then in the middle of the day, my health is certainly +better. The work, except on account of health, I have +no sort of objection to: I only lament the delay in the +proceedings, on account of the sickness of the prisoners +and witnesses. However, I may have been of some use +in law lecturing, and helping the other Deputy Judge-Advocates; +and no trouble has been spared by me in +facilitating matters.</p> + +<p>If the news from Russia be good to the extent supposed, +it is thought here that the French will withdraw from +hence this spring, at least behind the Ebro. This, however, +I much doubt; though it seems agreed that, at any +rate, we are not in a state to follow, without very great +disadvantage, and almost destruction to our cavalry.</p> + +<p><em>January the 4th.</em>—There are strong reports, as I have +said, that the French are retiring; but General O’Lalor, +whom I have just seen, tells me his accounts are otherwise, +and that no French have left, or are leaving Spain; on +the contrary, he assured me that the intercepted letters +from Soult state that the contest will, in the next campaign, +be between the Douro and the Tagus. D’Aranda de +Duero is therefore to be fortified, and made a good depôt, +until the Emperor can send reinforcements enough to +enable them to enter Portugal. The French head-quarters +are at Madrid, nor does it appear that there is +any intention at present to give it up, though the Spaniards +thought otherwise from some letters of Soult, who +ordered some of his men, detachments of his corps, and +letters, to be sent to him from Valencia, but this seems +to be only to complete his own corps. General O’Lalor +told me that a muleteer of Paget’s had just arrived from +Bayonne, with a pass, which he showed me, for him to +return to Portugal as Sir Edward Paget’s muleteer. This +man says the French on the frontiers were told that our +retreat was a rout, our loss immense, and that sixteen<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</span> +thousand prisoners had been taken, who were said to be +on the road; he added that many were fools enough to +go several leagues to see them, and found they were +about two thousand five hundred; they also reported +that the Commander-in-Chief, Lord Paget, was taken.<a id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p> + +<p>We are trying to send French gazettes of the Russian +business to the French army, to give some of them a +better notion of affairs in that quarter, as it seems the +armies hear little or nothing from France, and at long +intervals.</p> + +<p><em>January the 6th.</em>—I am just setting out for Fuentes to +try my mad Commissary, and from the fear of not +having time before post on my return, I must now close +my letter.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, Frenada, January 16th, 1813.</em>—I was +so much occupied last week that I could not find time to +give you one of my usual scrawls before the post-day. +The business of the mad Commissary’s was finished in +two long days last week, but I have had a long job in +copying it fair, as he put in a half-mad defence of five +sheets in folio. He is now off for Lisbon. I have bought +Colonel C——’s horse for two hundred and fifty dollars.</p> + +<p>Our last accounts from Lord Wellington are Cadiz, +the 8th. He was going to Lisbon on the 9th or 10th. He +has taken the command of the Spaniards; and is expected +here on the 23rd. Lord Fitzroy Somerset seems +much pleased with Cadiz; I do not know whether Lord +Wellington is. The Prince of Orange is not yet returned +from Oporto. He has been very much fêted and entertained; +there is dancing every night, and he is much +pleased. Lord March is just returned from thence; +Colonel G—— from Seville; so we all begin to reassemble +here. I have just been making out on a large sheet the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</span> +states of the Courts-martial for Lord Wellington. They +are thirty-one in number, which are now going on, just +finished, or which are to proceed when witnesses can be +collected. At present my place is no sinecure.</p> + +<p>The French, they say, have been for some time in +motion here, but I believe only to forage, &c.; their last +movements are southward of Madrid and towards Seville +again, but this is thought to be either a feint or to be for +the sake of supplies.</p> + +<p>Doctor M’Gregor has been a tour to visit the sick; of +whom I am sorry to say many have died; more than I +was aware of. He has been as far as Oporto.</p> + +<p>I have gone on very smoothly with my Courts-martial. +General V—— is the President, and has been very civil. +They are all light infantry, and have been very attentive, +orderly, and obedient.</p> + +<p><em>January 17th.</em>—The house which I now occupy belongs +to the Portuguese lad who is in my service, and who is +about eighteen. It is a droll circumstance to live in the +house of your own servant, who receives six dollars a +month, and is a tolerable groom. These reverses are here +very frequent in the fortunes of this class of people. He +owns three houses here, such as they are—stone barns; +and his family had sheep, goats, and land.</p> + +<p>There is plenty of game about, and we now get woodcocks +frequently, shot by the officers, very good hares, +better, I think, than in England, a few good snipes and +plovers, and a very few partridges; the latter are very +wild. We have had, off and on, frost for this month and +more, and some very fine days, others like a London +November fog, a little snow, and now and then a day’s +rain; but in eight hours again, from a sudden change of +wind, all dry and frost. The sun, when out, makes the +mid-day very pleasant; and though the winds are very +cold, and produce very hard ground and thick ice for the +time in a very short period, yet the ice does not continue,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</span> +as in England, and accumulate. It never gets much +thicker than it is in one night with a cold wind, and in +the daytime the ground is soft; the cold, therefore, +though for a time very sharp, certainly cannot be near so +intense in reality as in England. We go to bed sometimes +with the ground entirely wet at eleven o’clock, and +at six in the morning find there has been a very hard +frost, which is then going off again.</p> + +<p>The population here is very considerably thinned, and +there is much less land in cultivation than formerly; the +people remaining have generally lost their flocks and their +animals for agriculture. Few have now means of ploughing +and manuring. The vineyards are generally in a +very neglected state also; not manured or in any way +attended to, and eaten close down by our hungry animals. +Yet the labour required is so moderate, and the light soil +seems so productive, that the country might very soon +recover itself; but we take the oxen over the whole +country, buy up, and eat up everything. Out of our reach, +in the Tras os Montes, are plenty of poultry, sheep, +turkeys, &c. The Portuguese, naturally lazy, never +repair the damages of war, never rebuild, clean out, or set +to work to bring things round. They despair, and only +just work to supply our market with onions, 4<em>d.</em> each; +eggs, 3<em>d.</em> each; potatoes alone rather cheap at 2<em>d.</em> the +pound; pork, 1<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em> the pound, and good. The +Spaniards, on the contrary, begin, very soon after the +armies go, to restore; they put on their tiles, rebuild +their walls, and especially whitewash the inside of their +houses; they collect their cooking-vessels, and get to work +on their farms. The peasantry recover themselves much +more and much faster than the Portuguese, but yet they +have not in any one place suffered so much and so often +as this part of Portugal has; and in this town they are +pretty much as lazy as the other.</p> + +<p><em>The 20th.</em>—A very interesting case of a poor deserter<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</span> +whom we tried yesterday at Fuentes, I must copy out +fair to carry over to the general president for his signature +to-morrow. The deserter, poor fellow! deserted for +love to the Spaniards, with a Spanish girl from the +neighbourhood of Madrid whom he had brought away +with him. She had been most honest and faithful in +very trying scenes during the retreat. On being ordered +to send her off by his Captain, he appeared to have had +no intention of going over to the French. I was not +aware of the merit of his story till I copied the whole out +fairly. It was translated in broken bits, by a not very +skilful interpreter. Three deserters came in here yesterday; +they are Flemings. They report that part of the +French cavalry are gone to France, and that all the cars +round Salamanca have been put in requisition to carry off +the sick from the hospital there. But this does not prove +much, as it would at any rate be an unsafe place, and out +of their line of defence next campaign. They state that +the sick have been very numerous, and Salamanca well +plundered.</p> + +<p>I have been one morning over to Almeyda to breakfast +with the governor and see the town. At breakfast +I met a sawny Spanish signora, with a crying, poor-looking +child: she breakfasted on beefsteaks, onions, partridges, +and wine, and did nothing all day. Almeyda is +twelve miles off. I rode thither on my new horse. He +is just such a horse as you would admire, prancing, +showy, sleek, like a Flemish picture of a horse, rather +clumsy and heavy; but he went well and quietly. Almeyda +is in ruins; a mere heap of rubbish! The works +are being repaired, and much is already done; but there +is yet a great deal to do, and the workmen, though well +watched, seem very lazy. There are very good shops +among the ruins for the materials of all articles of wearing +apparel; these from Oporto, and not dear; cloth and +baize of all sorts, linen, stockings, but not a cup and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</span> +saucer to be had, or a drinking-glass. Most of the new +work at Almeyda is at present only earth—slanting so +that you might run up in a storm, I think; but the +masonry is going on, and it would cost some men to storm +it, if we defend it. At present there is only a Portuguese +garrison.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, Frenada, January 23rd, 1813.</em>—I do +not quite feel as I did in England, nor can I make out +that others do either. There is a languor and laziness +which seem in some degree catching from the natives, as +they have it in such perfection. We have had almost +constant frost or cold, fog and sleet, but in general clear +cold days ever since Christmas. It seems that we are +likely to have some snow, which hitherto we have +only on the sierras and hills (where it lies almost constantly), +except a very few storms of snow which melted +as it fell; and then rain in February; then some warm +days in March and in April, with very cold mornings and +nights, and some very cold days again, even so late as in +May at times. By-the-by, our English post from all +the different parts of the army, to each other, and to Lisbon, +is now in general in very good order, which saves +me much trouble in my extensive correspondence relative +to the Courts-martial. I have now also got through the +great worry of the number of cases which came upon me +at once, and, though fully employed, business comes +more regularly. I have persevered in being civil and useful +as far as I could to every one, never objecting to anything, +answering all queries, and taking everything upon +myself. I endeavour to model the whole as it was +arranged in England, before the Adjutant-general’s offices +did two-thirds of the business of Judge-Advocate. As I +have no clerk, and am not allowed a soldier, this at times +presses me hard, but the greatest stress is now over, +though new cases come in regularly. I yesterday sent in +one against a Lieutenant-colonel, with six charges and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</span> +thirty-seven witnesses. I have another Commissary just +come in here as a prisoner, for purposely burning down a +house, a mischievous freak, when drunk.</p> + +<p>I now dine out about three or four times in the week, +generally once or twice at head-quarters—and occasionally +with Major and Mrs. Scobell, who give very pleasant +little dinners, and tender meat, and a loo party afterwards. +He is a clever man, in the Quarter-Master-general’s +department, and has the command of the corps +of guides, and the arrangement of the English post +through the country.</p> + +<p>The report current now is, that next campaign is to +be in camp, and not in towns and villages, as Lord Wellington +wants to keep the army more together than he +can do in quarters; and unless he goes into camp, the +other Generals also leave their divisions and come into +the towns. At any rate, it will not be as it was last +year, when the men went into camp in February and +March, as, from general rumour, the army will not be in +a state to move much before the end of April; nearly +one-third are still sick, and this state of things mends +now but slowly; this I observe from the general daily +state of the whole army made for Lord Wellington, which +is kept most perfectly. The horses will not be ready till +they have had a month’s green food in March and April; +straw, bad hay, and a little Indian corn do not suit them +for very active service.</p> + +<p>I want a neat lantern sent out, to go out after dark in +these horrible villages, where if you go only a hundred +yards in the dark you step from a rock half up your legs +in mud.</p> + +<p>There is a shocking set of servants at head-quarters; +idle, drunken English servants and soldiers, almost all +bad, and the Portuguese are every day running off with +something or other from their masters and others. +There has been no chaplain here for these last eight or<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</span> +nine months, or any notice taken in any manner of +Sunday! It used to be, I hear, a very regular and +imposing thing to attend divine service performed out of +doors with hats off, but the people must now think we +have no religion at all, as almost every public business +goes on nearly the same as on ordinary days. The +English soldiers, however, keep it as a holiday, though +the Portuguese will many of them work, particularly +after three o’clock. We have had a glee or two with the +aides-de-camp of the Prince of Orange and some others. +There is also a Spanish Commissary who sings and plays +the guitar very well. I wish my violoncello were more +portable, and, with a flute or two, we should have a little +music now and then here, in the evenings. They have +asked me to send for a collection of glees.</p> + +<p>People here are all very sore about the Americans and +our taken frigates. I think we deserve it a little. Our +contempt for our old descendants and half brothers has +always rather disgusted me, and with some English is +carried so far as not to be bearable. This reverse may +set matters right. The Americans have faults enough; +we should allow them their merits. Our sailors all +thought the Americans would not dare to look them in +the face. I think the army rather rejoice, and laugh +aside at all this falling on the navy, as they bullied so +much before. I will not write to you of northern or +English news, for it would be absurd; you would, if I +did, receive comments and observations on what was +nearly forgotten, or entirely altered, by the time my +letter reached you. I keep this paper under my business +heap, and take it out and scribble when anything occurs. +Lord Wellington is to arrive to-day; and I must get up +my lesson for to-morrow, so adieu!</p> + +<p><em>Tuesday.</em>—Lord Wellington arrived last night at six +o’clock. I saw him with the rest who happened to be +in the market-place when he came. He was looking well.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</span></p> + +<p>There is a great quantity of game around us, and the +sportsmen supply their tables. It is not mere sport here, +but more like the case of Robinson Crusoe, a matter of +necessity. Nearly all our luxuries are thus obtained. +Commissary H——, two days since, went across the Coa +for about five hours, and brought home five hares, four +couple of cocks, three snipes, one partridge, and a rabbit. +All these animals are remarkably good here, except the +partridges, which are nothing in comparison to ours, and +I think not so good as the French. Lord Wellington, +except presents now and then, buys up all we can get—gives +8<em>s.</em> for a hare, and so on. Turkeys are only to +be had thirty miles off: the price, which has been 25<em>s.</em>, +is now 14<em>s.</em> Powder and shot are very scarce, only a +little to be had now and then at Almeyda. This you +will think at the head-quarters of sixty thousand men +rather strange, but the same stuff which kills men +will not bring down birds. We have three odd sorts of +packs of hounds here, and the men hunt desperately: +firstly, Lord Wellington’s, or, as he is called here, the +Peer’s; these are fox-hounds, about sixteen couple; they +have only killed one fox this year, and that was what is +called mobbed. These hounds, for want of a huntsman, +straggle about and run very ill, and the foxes run off to +their holes in the rocks on the Coa. Captain W—— +goes out, stops the holes over-night, halloos, and rides +away violently. The ground is a light gravel and rock +all over the country. From a hard rock sometimes the +horse gets up to his belly in wet gravelly sand; thus we +have many horses lamed, and some bad falls. The next +set of hounds are numerous,—greyhounds. The Commissary-general, +Sir R. Kennedy, is a great man in this +way, and several others. And thirdly, the Capitan +Mor here, that is the principal man of the place, has an +old poacher in his establishment, with a dozen terriers, +mongrels, and ferrets, and he goes out with the officers<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</span> +to get rabbits. Lord Wellington has a good stud of +about eight hunters; he rides hard, and only wants a +good gallop, but I understand knows nothing of the +sport, though very fond of it in his own way. There +will soon, I hear, be good trout-fishing in the Coa and in +the streams in the ravines near it.</p> + +<p><em>Wednesday, January 27th.</em>—It has happened just as I +expected; I have no time to add more, for I have three +new cases to draw charges in, and most troublesome ones +too: one of four fellows, old commissariat clerks I +suppose turned off, who have been about the country +living by their wits, extorting provisions, forage, &c., +from the Spaniards, by frauds, false passports, &c., under +pretence of acting for the English and Portuguese Commissariat. +There are thirty-seven enclosures sent to me, +papers taken upon them, all in Spanish, in general badly +written, and no translation. The case, it is to be feared, +will never be proved. I have got General O’Lalor to +help me in this case. In short, my hands are full again; +and my report of the old stories not made out. We +occupy from Coria, Guinaldo, Vizeu, Covilhaon, and +even almost to Coimbra; hospitals at Celerico, Vizu, +Coimbra a few, Abrantes, and Santarem. I fear my +Court-martial will be moved farther off. Some additional +attached Spaniards are to have their head-quarters +at Fuentes d’Onore to be about his Excellency, now that +he takes the command of the whole generals, &c., and +General Vandeleur and the famous Caçadores are to +move from thence in consequence; the arrangements, +however, are not yet completed.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, Frenada, February 2nd, 1813.</em>—Lord +Wellington is returned in high spirits and great good-humour +with every one; and, in spite of the number of +deaths here, which are very formidable (between four and +five hundred every week for the last six), declares that +he shall take the field this year with nearly forty thousand<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</span> +British, and, on the whole, with a hundred and fifty +thousand of one sort or other.</p> + +<p>General Vandeleur is to go to Fuente Guinaldo, and +the Courts-martial will in future be there. It is about +twenty-four miles off. I must sleep out always, and +shall thus lose one or two days’ post; this will be inconvenient +to me, and just now to the service, but it cannot +be avoided. The General is very good-humoured, and +we are very good friends; he has offered me a quarter, +and a dinner, if I will bring my bed. At present our +weather is colder than ever, but generally clear frost; +the wind is excessively sharp. The ice yesterday on the +road would bear my horse; and the thermometer, at +seven in the evening, was four degrees below the freezing +point; at night sometimes it is much colder.</p> + +<p>Two packets have just arrived; the last brought Lord +Wellington the last good news from Wilna. I have +dined once at head-quarters since Lord Wellington’s +return, with Sumeil the Guerilla chief, looking like a +dirty German private dragoon, in a smart new cavalry +jacket, on one side of me, and Dr. Curtis, the Catholic +head of the Salamanca college (who has been sent off +from Salamanca very lately), opposite to me. The +Spanish General O’Lalor treated Sumeil like a child, +told him what to do and eat; but he had, I conclude, +dined long before, for he ate little or nothing. Dr. +Curtis seemed to be a clever, sensible, gentleman-like +priest. He said the French knew immediately of Lord +Wellington’s absence, but were not clear about it, and +very anxious in their inquiries to ascertain the fact. +General Hill’s corps, who did not share in the early +siege of Rodrigo last year in January, nor the wet bad +work at Badajoz, are by far the most healthy part of the +army, and, next to them, the light division here. The +fifth and seventh, near Lamego, are the worst, and the +Guards (the new comers) very bad. General Hill has<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</span> +only about fourteen hundred in the hospital, and about +seven thousand fit for service. I suppose we shall have +an active campaign next year, if the whole be not put an +end to by peace, which is not improbable, if the Allies +are not too unreasonable in consequence of their successes. +If Austria will join in dictating the terms with +Russia, Prussia, and Great Britain, they should be very +good for Europe; but if the devil Bonaparte be driven +hard, he will rouse himself, appeal to the vanity of the +French, and recoil upon us stronger than ever. The Gil +Blas set of swindlers who went about Spain with false +papers and passes, raising the wind under pretence of +getting supplies for the British and Portuguese commissariat +service (one was a German, two Spaniards, and +the fourth a Portuguese), I much fear it will not be easy +to convict.</p> + +<p><em>February the 3rd.</em>—You must excuse my writing, for +it is done at all odd moments, as a relaxation from all +my formal letters of business, which require a good deal +of method and order in a small compass not to get into +scrapes, such as sending witnesses to wrong places, &c. +As I have Courts sitting here at Fuente Guinaldo in the +light division; at Lamego, in the fifth; at Maimento, +in the seventh; at Alter de Chaon; at Coria, in the +second division; at Maimento de Biera, in the third; +and at Lisbon; letters coming at all hours of the day +about each, a witness wanted here, a difficulty arising +there, and so on; I can only get on by keeping a book, +in which I instantly put down the exact state of everything, +and keep copies of all my letters till the business +is over; and I make it a rule, if possible, to answer +every letter by return of post, as the only way not to +get in arrear. I am very glad that I persuaded my +Court at Fuentes d’Onore to have patience, and let me +take down all the long love story I told you of, of the +deserter Prang Neigabauer. It was quite a pretty<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</span> +story. Lord Wellington pardoned him, from the good +character of his regiment, and that which the Colonel +gave him. The Prince of Orange is returned, and we +are all here again assembled in this magnificent town!</p> + +<p><em>5 o’clock.</em>—I have been sent for twice to-day by Lord +Wellington, besides twice last night, and have so much +on my hands about Spaniards, Portuguese, and English, +that I cannot add more.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, Frenada, February 7th, 1813.</em>—There +never were known so many Courts-martial in this army +as at the present moment, and as I have the whole +direction of them all, I really scarcely know where to +turn, and my fingers are quite fatigued, as well as my +brains, with the arrangements and difficulties as to +witnesses, &c. I sent out seventeen letters yesterday, +and to-day I have one case of thirteen prisoners who +have been committing every sort of outrage on their +march here. Lord Wellington is now much more easy +with me, and seems to trust to me more. Yesterday I +was pleased when he said, “If your friends knew what +was going on here, they would think you had no sinecure. +And how do you suppose I was plagued when I had to +do it nearly all myself?”</p> + +<p>He seemed to feel relieved, and of course I could not +but feel gratified. I can assure you, however, that we +have none of us much idle time. Dr. M’Gregor has +seven hundred medical men to look after. The Quarter-Master-general, +all the arrangement of the troops, +clothing, &c. The Adjutant-general, daily returns of +the whole, constantly checked by an eye which finds out +even a wrong casting-up of numbers in the totals. Lord +Wellington reads and looks into everything. He hunts +almost every other day, and then makes up for it by great +diligence and instant decision on the intermediate days. +He works until about four o’clock, and then, for an hour +or two, parades with any one whom he wants to talk to,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</span> +up and down the little square of Frenada (amidst all the +chattering Portuguese) in his grey great coat.</p> + +<p>General Alava, whom I have seen lately much more +about Spanish business, is a very gentleman-like, and +appears to me to be a clever man.</p> + +<p>We have had constant frost hitherto; but I fear the +rain is going now to begin. Some of the days lately +have been delightful, like the frosty days in England at +times at the end of February, with a fine clear warm sun +in the daytime.</p> + +<p>I have just heard of five German deserters, brought in +to the Provost here; and shall, I suppose, have to try +them. They were taken on the other side of Rodrigo +by the Spaniards; they are just come out to us from +England. Don Julian’s cavalry are very useful in this +way, and very active. The Cortes want to encourage +farming in the country, and will give land to any +wounded soldiers of the allied armies, English as well as +natives, on condition of building and living on the spot.</p> + +<p>General Wimpfen, one of the Chief’s new Spanish +staff, is arrived, and will be stationed with us.</p> + +<p>At Ciudad Rodrigo they are going to set up a Spanish +newspaper, which is to come out once in a week: I mean +to take it in. My new black horse goes on hitherto very +well; I like him much; but use him little. Whenever +I can, I get a gallop and a trot for an hour on the +common just close by, and return home to write again.</p> + +<p>Excuse this stupid letter. I am very tired and must +to bed.</p> + +<p>On Thursday, the 11th, I go to Fuente Guinaldo, and +shall probably sleep there, at General Vandeleur’s.</p> +<br> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2" class="label">[2]</a> Meaning Lieut.-General Sir Edward Paget, second in command, who +was taken prisoner in the retreat. Lord Paget, afterwards Earl of Uxbridge, +now Marquis of Anglesea, was not in the Peninsula at this time.</p> + +</div> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</span></p> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</h2> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="fs80" style="margin-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em;">More Courts-martial—Bal Masqué—Anecdotes of Wellington—Songs in +his praise—Spanish Banditti—Excesses of the Army—Carnival—More +Anecdotes of the Duke—The Staff—Grand Entertainment at Head-quarters—Wellington’s +opinion on Affairs at Home—Murder of an +Officer—General Craufurd.</p> + +<p class="right fs80"> +Frenada, February 12, 1813.<br> +<span style="padding-right: 1em">8 o’clock, Friday night.</span></p> +</div> + + +<p class="no-indent"> +<span class="smcap">My dear M——</span>, +</p> + +<p><span style="padding-left: 2em">On</span> my return from Fuente Guinaldo I found instructions +for two new Courts-martial in Lord Wellington’s +rough pencil notes,—a broad scroll in pencil in one +corner, “Refer all this to the Judge Advocate,” meaning +me to draw charges, &c. I must now tell you of my +expedition to Fuente Guinaldo. We were to have tried +the Commissary for burning a house down, but by my +advice he offered to pay all the damage done to General +Alava, the Spanish agent here, and in consequence to be +forgiven if it was paid in time. This was the best for +the Spaniards, the owners, and a tolerably sharp punishment +for a man whose only lawful pay is 7<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em> a-day, +the damage being near fifteen hundred dollars. The +night before the trial he had not raised the money. I +went to Lord Wellington to know what I should do, as +the witnesses were all ready. He told me to give him +till Monday next, and have all the witnesses rationed and +kept till that time at Guinaldo. Suspecting that this +would be my instruction, I had got another case ready +for the Court there.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</span></p> + +<p>About seven o’clock, after a crust of bread and a glass +of rum and milk for breakfast, off we went, Henry and +I, for Fuente Guinaldo, and at the same time I sent one +of my Portuguese men with my mattress and blankets, +coverings, corn and hay for my horses, to meet us there, +Henry carrying my papers, Mutiny Act, testaments, and +all writing implements, &c., for my Court-martial. The +morning threatened much, as the frost is just broken up; +but we got there dry and in time, and I found my way +without any blunder, which, as the road was entirely +across open downs, or through woods without inhabitants, +and full of cross tracks, was some merit; I had, however, +applied to Captain Wood, the hunter, who knows all the +country well, for instructions.</p> + +<p>We arrived at Guinaldo in two hours, finished a case +and tried a man for shooting a Portuguese, acquitted him +of murder, but found him guilty of very disorderly +conduct, and sentenced him to receive eight hundred +lashes. I then walked round the town, looked into the +church, and came back; wrote the whole out fair on six +sides of folio paper; dined with the president at six, had +a hospitable reception; and in the evening went to a sort +of frolicsome masked ball, given extra on account of the +Courts-martial. As the General went, I accompanied +him. There were all the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">equivoque belles</i> of Guinaldo, +and all the light infantry officers, many in disguise and +masquerade; some as females, and one as a Spanish +farmer, the regular dress. We were all struck with the +becoming appearance and picturesque style of the +costume. One or two of the ladies were dressed as +officers, and so on. The ball went on very well for some +time, but the two ladies who were the leading beauties of +the evening quarrelled, and the harmony was disturbed. +At ten I went home, and left the party half tipsy and +rather riotous, so that it was time for Generals and Judges +to retire. The Court-room was my quarter. This<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</span> +morning before breakfast I read over my fair copy of the +evidence, &c., with the General. He signed it, gave me +some breakfast, and I set off home, on a very threatening +day which was as good as it promised; my cloak, however, +kept me nearly dry.</p> + +<p>Fuente Guinaldo is nearer the Sierra de Gutta, and +several degrees colder than we are here at Frenada, though +we are many, many degrees colder than Lisbon. The +Spanish staff are now all arrived, but scarcely a Spaniard +amongst them—all foreigners. General Wimpfen, a +Swiss; General O’Donoghue, Irish; and so of others. +They all dined two days ago at Lord Wellington’s.</p> + +<p>Tell John, in answer to his inquiry, that with regard +to the campaign and the siege of Burgos, it is a question +much argued and discussed. Some say we should never +have lost time by going to Madrid, and that was the +mistake; some that if we had taken Burgos, as we +should have done but for the very bad weather, all would +have gone right. General O’Lalor, however, told me he +thought that would have made no difference, but that if +the French chose to give up the South, and unite against +us ninety thousand strong, we must have been off just +the same even though Burgos had been taken.</p> + +<p>My quarter at Fuente Guinaldo, having no window, +is rather cool, but being in Spain, is clean. The church +is a fine building, and the town not quite broken up; +I suppose we shall move there next. To-night is a +play-night in the gay light division at Galegos, and +Lord Wellington was to have gone there, but the perpetual +rain will probably prevent him. He meant to +ride there, a distance of ten miles, at night. Had it +been very fine I might have been almost tempted to +take my mattress round that way, and go once to the +theatre, which all say is very tolerable in regard to +acting, scenery, &c., the whole carried on by the light +division in a chapel at Galegos. I was not a little<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</span> +surprised to see common country dances very tolerably +performed last night at Guinaldo, and even Sir Roger de +Coverley.</p> + +<p>Two or three days ago I was somewhat puzzled, +when, upon my pointing out the sentence of a Court-martial +as illegal, Lord Wellington said, “Well, do +write a letter for me to the president, and I will sign +it, and it shall be sent back for revision.” I did not +know his style, but my letter was fortunately approved +of. I had yesterday a visit from Colonel ——, of the +Engineers, begging for a favourable report upon the +case of a complaint against a Captain of artillery; I +suppose people think I have some weight in Lord +Wellington’s decisions, but that is by no means the +case. He thinks and acts quite for himself; <em>with</em> me, +if he thinks I am right, but not otherwise. I have not, +however, found what Captain —— told me I should +find, that Lord Wellington immediately determines +against anything that is suggested to him. On the +contrary, I think he is reasonable enough, only often +a little hasty in ordering trials, when an acquittal must +be the consequence. This, in my opinion, does harm, as +I would have the law punish almost always when it is +put in force.</p> + +<p><em>Wednesday, 17th.</em>—I have heard no news at all: still +strong reports that the French cavalry are partly gone +from hence to France; but I cannot ascertain that they +are actually removed beyond Vittoria, and that may be +only for forage, as our cavalry are wide apart and dispersed. +The first division, under General Bock, is at +and below Coimbra, near the sea, where I have just +fixed a Court-martial to try a set of men of the 9th and +87th for most outrageous conduct on the march to join +the army. Lord Wellington has had the whole complaints +against this party along the road written out, to +send home, with an official copy of his letter, as he finds<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</span> +that an account of the matter has travelled home, and is +quoted as a specimen of the conduct of our army on the +march. The first division of cavalry is, on the other +hand, at Alter de Chaon, towards Castello Branco, and is +all much dispersed; General Hill, with the second division, +Coria; sixth division, Cea; fifth, Lamego; third, +Maimento de Beira; seventh, Maimento; light, Fuente +Guinaldo. These are the head-quarters of the troops. +Marshal Beresford is better, and his wound nearly +healed; he talks of soon joining; his head-quarters will +be Villa Formosa. I now see Lord Wellington almost +daily on business; he one day fell into a passion about +the Courts-martial for not doing their duty, by acquitting +and recommending to mercy, &c., and also about +officers commanding parties not being attentive. He +has always been civil to me, though at times quick and +hasty in business. I nearly got into a scrape by saying +a good word for Captain ——, merely from his good +character, as I did not personally know him. However, +Lord Wellington so far acquiesced, that he said I +need not draw the charge as yet; but he should send +him word that if the village in question were not satisfied +for their forage and bullocks in a week, he should +either have him tried or sent home.</p> + +<p>I have just got a letter of reprimand to send out, +according to a written memorandum from Lord Wellington; +a little slap at a deputy of mine, and greater at +the Court-martial, with directions how they should act. +Adieu.</p> + +<p><em>Monday Evening, Head-Quarters, Frenada, February +22nd, 1813.</em>—On getting up in the morning yesterday, +I said to myself for the first time these two months, +“Well, I do think I have no business to-day, and will +write to M——.” In two hours’ time, however, before +I had finished my breakfast, and read one of Vetus’s +letters, in came three new cases, and old General O’Lalor<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</span> +to tell me he had sent me a case to try at Guinaldo—a +man charged with shooting a Spanish girl through the +door, because she would not give him some chestnuts! +The wanton outrages of our people are quite extraordinary. +There are four poor fellows to be hung this +week in the second division; one for desertion, and three +for a burglary near Coria about a fortnight since. For +the sake of immediate example I hastened the case, by +giving full instructions to the Deputy Judge-Advocate +there. The men were tried immediately, and three are +to be hung to-morrow. The Commissary charged with +burning the house was at last let off for a large sum +of money. I was very glad when it was settled, for +I had more trouble about it than if he had been tried +and hung ten times over. An overwhelming heap of +Spanish proceedings has just reached me about the man +for shooting the poor girl; and yet I have very little +doubt, when the Court meets, I shall have much +difficulty in proving that the man shot her, and that +she is dead. I go over for that purpose the day after +to-morrow.</p> + +<p>During the last two or three days the weather has +been delightful—quite a mild south-west breeze, with +a clear sun; but this was, I heard, too unusual to last. +I like “Vetus” much, and agree with him in most +things; but his style is not by a good deal to be compared +with Junius. In parts there are considerable +blunders, and often confusion and want of clearness; +but there are some curious stolen cuts, if facts. I have +just heard from General O’Lalor that we have been +attacked at Bejar by a party of French, and have beaten +them back. It was the second division, General Hill’s +corps, who were concerned, and I believe the 50th +regiment principally. I am told no great loss, but +know no particulars. You will hear more of it from +the papers than I can tell you. It is still said that we<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</span> +are to encamp and bivouac this next campaign. We +are now consuming our last stock of hay—two great +stacks, which have been saved by Lord Wellington’s +orders at Almeyda. After that we must buy reaping-hooks, +and try to cut grass before the green corn forage +comes in; and though I can see a plain difference already +in the colour of the hills, and the young green corn and +spring grass are here and there making a show, there is +very little to be got to eat yet in that way.</p> + +<p>We have still many sick, and the doctors do not take +better care of themselves than of their patients, for no +less than five medical men have died at Ciudad Rodrigo +since we have been in quarters here. The French have +got all about the part of the country near General Hill, +near Nava, Morguende, Mentrida, &c., and are moving; +but I do not expect anything important for some time. +Some say the French will begin this campaign; and +I rather hope they may. The 10th Dragoons have +arrived, I hear from every one, in the highest style and +in excellent order. This is very good news.</p> + +<p>We have three Spanish songs in honour of Wellington, +one rather gone by now: “The Retreat of Marmont,” +“Ahe Marmont, onde vai, Marmont,” a very pretty air; +the other was composed at Cadiz lately when Lord +Wellington was there. I suppose you have them in +England. Moretti of Cadiz is the composer. One of +them is good, and the other very well. Lord Wellington +sits and hears his own praises in Spanish with considerable +coolness, and calls for it himself at times.</p> + +<p><em>February 23rd, Tuesday Morning.</em>—Just a few lines +more, and but a few, as I have just been with Lord +Wellington, and, having got rid of one batch of papers, +have returned with another. I hear the affair at Bejar, +or Banos, in the sierras north of Placencia, was not much. +We had six taken and a few wounded. It is supposed to +have been a French party for provisions and plunder, as<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</span> +they wander about for these purposes, and to have been +no serious movement. Our men got a position first, +which the French tried to get, at Bejar. We had no +cavalry, or an attempt might have succeeded to turn the +French party; but without this assistance the 56th drove +back the French, and saved Bejar and that country. The +71st were also there, and concerned.</p> + +<p>Lord March is just returned from a flag-of-truce +excursion to the French. He fell in with their pickets +half a league from Ledesma, where the French seemed +in force. They were very civil. He dined with a +General Goutier, or some such name, and stayed about +four or five hours. Their men and cavalry looked well, +and clothing very fair; accoutrements, &c., bad and +slovenly; horses in good condition; but he concludes +that he saw the best, for he found they knew of his +approach five leagues off. They kept away all the +Spaniards, who were getting round him, and were particularly +violent against the canaille, the Guerillas. The +latter were close upon the French. He passed them +very near the town. They abused Sumeil; said he +would rob even the English, and would not believe he +dined at Lord Wellington’s table. They hoped to see +the English in a month, they said. His five hussars and +his trumpeter were surrounded by eighty men in a trice, +and all communication cut off, and a thousand questions +asked of course, but little given in answer. The French +officer and escort of five dragoons, who escorted Lord +March on his departure, would not go above half a +league, for fear of the Guerillas, and was half inclined to +accept Lord March’s offer to let his trumpeter and some +men see him back, with a party of the Guerillas; but at +last he said he had a good horse, and galloped back. I +do not know what Lord March went about; some say +on Sir Edward Paget’s affairs.</p> + +<p><em>Guinaldo, February 24th, 1813.</em>—From the blunder<span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</span> +of General O——, here I am, after a wet ride, with no +Court-martial to-day, and nothing to do. The consequence +is, I must stay to-morrow also, when I really +hope to get this business over, for I have plenty to do at +home. Marshal Marmont had the quarter I occupy +when he was here, as well as Lord Wellington. The +former shut the whole up, and used candles all day. +The latter got on as well as he could in the dark, and +used the General’s bedroom, which is rather a better +room, as his dining-room. The owner was once a man +rich in flocks, herds, and lands and houses, and has +another good house at Ciudad Rodrigo. At present I +take it his worldly goods are not sufficient to make him +think too much of this world. Between Pago and Coria +there are banditti and robbers; and two or three murders +have been committed there by armed men, Spaniards, +I believe, and Portuguese, five or six together. What a +state this poor country is in!</p> + +<p><em>Frenada, March 1st.</em>—Several of these banditti I hear +are deserters from our army, and Lord Wellington has +sent out after them. On the Thursday I tried the man +at Guinaldo for murdering a poor Spanish girl. We +had some difficulty in coming to an understanding. The +witnesses were all Spaniards, principally the relations of +the deceased; the only interpreter was Portuguese; the +prisoner a German, but he spoke bad French. At last, +as I had looked into all the Spanish proceedings, we got +on, as most of the Court understood Spanish as well as +the interpreter, and nearly all understood French. The +prisoner’s defence was in French. I then read it in +English to the Court as he went on, and took it down. +He had a very narrow escape for his life; I thought it +murder, and the Court were long in doubt; at last they +only found him guilty of a most disorderly outrage and +killing the poor girl, and gave him a thousand lashes.</p> + +<p>I wrote it fair, got it signed, dined again with the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</span> +General, and came over here on a beautiful day. We +have now again fine clear, frosty mornings, beautiful, +but really almost too warm days and too cold evenings. +I wish this would last; and yet it is trying to the constitution, +for there must, I think, be thirty degrees +difference between the temperature at three and at six +o’clock.</p> + +<p>On my return here I found that no less than nine +Courts-martial had arrived and plenty of newspapers. +One Court-martial had met thirty-eight days, and +another sixteen: thus I had plenty to read and report +upon. I saw Lord Wellington, in consequence, two +days running, for nearly two hours, as I thought four of +the cases ought to go back for revision, and one only +to be confirmed, as it was half illegal—eight hundred +lashes and transportation for life—which latter is not a +legal sentence for mutiny. In truth, the men should +have been shot.</p> + +<p>The Courts will not do their duty: Lord Wellington +was quite angry. He swore, and said that his whole +table was covered with details of robbery and mutiny, +and complaints from all quarters, in all languages, and +that he should be nothing but a General of Courts-martial. +He has given some broad hints to the Courts in +general orders. I sent out three new cases yesterday, and +have about fifteen deserters just in hand now—in general +Poles from the second King’s German Legion light +infantry battalion.</p> + +<p>I made it a rule, whenever possible, to clear off everything +as I go, and answer every letter by return of post, +which is the only way; and I am glad to see my pile of +papers done with now larger than that in hand. Whilst +I was with Lord Wellington, the Commissariat returns +came in, and were very confused. That added to his +ill-humour; but he was very civil to me, and gets more +easy, as I do with him. He sent orders for fifteen<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</span> +thousand complete black accoutrements to be sent round +to Corunna, so I hope the Gallician army is to be +increased; some of their regiments got home much more +entire than any of ours during the retreat, but upon the +whole they diminished very much by desertion when +they first got away from home.</p> + +<p>The people of Guinaldo, whilst I was there, were +almost mad—nothing but dancing and noise in all +quarters. They told me it was a particular day, when +the women were to rule the Dios de Madre; but it +seems to me they are always in this gay state. The +people agree there very well with the English, particularly +with the 52nd, which is now there, a fine light +battalion, seven hundred strong, and in high order. +The ladies go about, and tie strings to the coats of the +officers, and even of the General; dance about, sup, and +drink with them, and are all alive both with them and +the men.</p> + +<p>The 52nd and 43rd lost part of their baggage in the +retreat, and one on the Court-martial told me an anecdote +as to his baggage. A French officer and a few men overtook +his bâtman with the canteens, &c. “Where’s the +key?” he said; “come, quick! break it open; out with the +tea and sugar, I have had none these three months:” and +in this manner he took all worth having, the best horse +and mule, and left the bâtman frightened to death.</p> + +<p>There is one regiment of the Caçadores that is the +constant astonishment of the English. Badly paid, no +new clothes for the last two years, almost in rags this +winter, and yet scarcely a man has been sick. I wish +this was the case with them all. Our men are getting +their clothes much better than last year, but still many +are sick. Of two hundred men, a reinforcement to the +43rd light regiment Walcheren men, ninety have died; +and the Guards have suffered terribly, but still all are in +spirits; though the verses I enclose to you (and which<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</span> +are printed at the Adjutant-general’s portable press, used +for printing the army orders, &c.) give a very fair description +of the life in Portugal.</p> + +<p>I have taken a ride to Malliarda de Sorda, and found +the Deputy Paymaster-General H—— very unwell, with +an attack of fever. One must not think of these things: +that is the best way, I believe, if possible. Sir W. Erskine, +who threw himself out of the window here in a delirium, +came to his senses after his fall, and said he never thought +he could have been guilty of such an act, and that he did +not intend it. This was very melancholy; but I am told +he had been two years confined, and that he should not +have been here as chief officer of the cavalry—it was too +great a risk.</p> + +<p>We have a report here of a revolution in France; but +I do not credit it yet, though not unlikely. It seems to +me Bonaparte is a man to run that hazard by his conscription +and immense levies, and that there will be either +a revolution, or he will soon be again formidable; and +much is yet to be done. I hope we shall make a good +end of it here this year.</p> + +<p><em>Wednesday.</em>—I dined yesterday at head-quarters, and +sat next to Baron Wimpfen, the new Quarter-Master-general +attached to Lord Wellington. He is a very gentleman-like +man, and talks French well. We had much +conversation together, in which Lord Wellington, who +sat next to the General, often took part. He gave us the +whole history of the battle of Fuentes d’Onore, which +was fought some time since near here, in which the +French were three to one, and in which Lord Wellington +said he committed a fault, by extending his right too +much to Poço de Velho; and that, if the French had +taken advantage of it, there might have been bad consequences, +but that they permitted him to recover himself +and change his front before their face.</p> + +<p>Another new comer at dinner yesterday was a Monsieur<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</span> +Saudri, an agent for the Portuguese, a sort of interpreter. +He gave an account of the state of the Portuguese +provinces. Some are recovering fast, it seems, +Coimbra particularly, but many are still in great distress.</p> + +<p>Yesterday was the last day of a sort of carnival here. +We had fools, and pantaloons, and straw bulls, &c., and +masks walking about the streets—much noise but no +great magnificence. I saw poor pantaloon fall in earnest +when throwing his sword after a soldier, and he could +scarcely get up again.</p> + +<p>A general order has just been issued for all the officers +to apply for tents for the next campaign. I must do the +same, I suppose, and try that sort of life, which in dry +weather may be well enough, but bad work if as it was +last year, when the little bed-legs sunk in mud up to the +mattress, and the blankets got quite muddy!</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, Frenada, March 6th, 1813.</em>—A man +arrived here two days ago from Madrid in five days, for +payment of a Commissariat bill due to him. He states +that the French are in small force at Madrid, and that +Joseph was packing up. But I believe this is only +because he individually is going away; for I understand +that the French are still in force below Madrid, and that +the only notion entertained as genuine here as to their +troops going homewards is that ten men picked from +each squadron and battalion, or as some say from each +company, are to be sent home to make good the Imperial +Guards. I do not think myself they will withdraw at all +now. They keep the country to support themselves till +we are ready to move, and then I think they will collect +and risk an early action with us, as their difficulty is to +keep together long. If they beat us, they will remain as +they were, and I think that is all, unless we are quite +routed; if we beat them, then they will go behind the +Ebro. The conjecture is, as far as I can understand from +the probabilities, a late opening of the campaign on<span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</span> +account of the Spaniards not being ready, and then an +early action when it does begin.</p> + +<p>Some say that the Spaniards will not be ready to move +before the harvest in July, or not much before. The +French have nearly ninety thousand men in their extended +positions, with their right on and near the Douro +and the left on or along the Tagus. We shall have, +when we begin, about forty-four or forty-five thousand +British, about twenty or twenty-two thousand Portuguese, +and how many Spaniards no one can tell, or what +they will do. So do not expect to hear of a march to +France—to the Ebro, or very possibly up to Burgos +again. The opportunity for effecting this must be by +obliging the French to assemble, and then by rousing +up all the Guerillas to starve them. Having heard +Lord Wellington give his account of the battle of +Fuentes d’Onore to General Wimpfen, the Spanish +Inspector-General, I rode there yesterday with Lord +Aylmer (who was present in the action) over the whole +field of battle, saw all the field-works, the positions of +the different divisions, and the plan of the whole. I +perfectly understood Lord Wellington’s blunder, and the +risk he had run, and could form a very good notion of +the strength of the position, and the nature of it as protected +by the ravines of the Coa, &c. Lord Aylmer gave +me two striking instances of Lord Wellington’s coolness: +one when, as he was pursuing the French, in a fog in +the morning, he found a division of our men under Sir +William Erskine much exposed in advance, and nearly +separated from the rest of the army, and the French in a +village within a mile of where he was standing, he could +see nothing; but, on some prisoners being brought in, +and asked what French division and how many men were +in the village, they, to the dismay of every one except +Wellington, stated that the whole French army were +there; all he said was, quite coolly, “Oh! they are all<span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</span> +there, are they? Well, we must mind a little what we +are about then.” Another time, soon after the battle of +Fuentes d’Onore, and when we were waiting in our position +near them to risk an attack, in order to protect the +siege of Almeyda, early one morning Lord Aylmer came +suddenly in to him whilst he was shaving, to tell him +that “the French were all off, and the last cavalry +mounting to be gone;” the consequence of which movement +was to relieve him entirely, to give him Almeyda, +and preserve Portugal. He merely took the razor off for +one moment, and said, “Ay, I thought they meant to be +off; very well;” and then another shave just as before, +without another word till he was dressed. I find, however, +it is said he magnifies the French now and then—sees +double as to the number of blue uniforms, and cannot +see all the scarlet; but I believe most men in his situation +do this more or less. I must now proceed to summon +some witnesses: so, for the present, adieu.</p> + +<p><em>Monday, 4 o’clock.</em>—You ask me what my house is +like, and what Frenada is? Frenada is a village much in +decay, very dirty; in the streets are immense masses of +stones, and holes, and dung all about, houses like a farm +kitchen, with this difference that there are the stables +underneath. My last lodging was like a part of a Welsh +farm-house, boarded off at one end from the common +room, with a hole through the wall and one pane of glass +let in. I am now in a distinct building like a granary, +with the stables below, in an English farm-yard, in +which are my animals of all sorts, servants and all. The +kitchen is a miserable shed, not water-tight, where the +woman of the house and three children live quite separate. +The building I occupy has one opening with a wooden +door besides the entrance-door, and the end, about eight +feet wide by sixteen long, was boarded off by an officer +last year. In this I sleep, eat, drink, write, &c., and live +altogether, as it has a fireplace in the corner built by the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</span> +same officer. The fireplace is so contrived, however, as +to let more smoke into the room than up the chimney, +and of course my eyes suffer, and all I have looks yellow +and smells of smoke.</p> + +<p>It is said that Lord Wellington and the Court here +are to go to Ciudad Rodrigo, to a fête, to install the new +Knight of the Bath, General Cole. I shall not go unless +especially invited, and I have enough to do here, for except, +probably, the Adjutant-general, the Quarter-Master-general, +and perhaps the Commissary-general, I have +more correspondents than any one here.</p> + +<p>I take it in the army that the officers in the lower +branches of the staff are sharp-set, hungry, and anxious to +get on, and make the most of everything, and have a +view even in their civilities. I have tried not to notice +much that I could not help seeing, and which gave me a +moderate opinion of the profession, which has not the independence +to be seen in all the most respectable at the +bar. There is much obsequious, time-serving conduct to +any one who is in office, or is thought to have a word to +say to his lordship.</p> + +<p>Lord Wellington gets angry about the Courts-martial, +the difficulty as to getting witnesses, the inconvenience, +and then at last the great lenity of the Courts. “How +can you expect,” he remarked to me, “a Court to find an +officer guilty of neglect of duty, when it is composed of +members who are all more or less guilty of the same?” +He does not like the tribunal. We have, however, hung +six men within this month, broken several officers (at +least their cases are gone home with that sentence), and +flogged about sixteen or eighteen (pretty well, this), and +we are still at work. I have now twenty-two cases left +on hand, about thirty-six tried, about two or three new +cases every week, yet I hope we are getting on better +now. I am glad to be made of such importance as you +say I am in England; my reputation increases here a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</span> +little, several Courts-martial having been sent back for +revision: for this I get in a degree the credit, and in +some instances justly. I am thought a formidable person +to whom it is as well to be civil, and who can often be of +service to others.</p> + +<p>The Princess of Wales’s letter is good; and I think, +and have always thought, that if she could once dare +inquiry, her case would be unanswerable, and the Prince +in a complete dilemma. We have heard here that +Brougham wrote the Princess’s letter: is there such a +story in England?</p> + +<p><em>Wednesday, 10th March.</em>—No more news, and no +more mails, and no more time. I am to be asked, it is +said, to Rodrigo to the fête there on Saturday. Lord +Wellington wants to be very magnificent in his own city, +and has said that he wished to give a supper to a hundred +and fifty, but is told that it is quite out of the question, as +the town and head-quarters would not supply dishes and +plates, &c. There is, however, to be a small dinner first +before the ball. But this arrangement may be a little +disturbed by an event I have this moment heard from +General O’Lalor. A Spanish dragoon is come in, with +news that the French are moving in the Sierra di Francia; +their object, I think likely enough, to rout us up before +we are ready. I know no more; General O’Lalor went +to Lord Wellington to tell him the news. N.B.—Orders +have just come in to prepare charges against nine Polish +deserters.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, Frenada, March 15th, 1813, 9 o’clock +at night.</em>—As to Sir Isaac Heard’s coming over here to +invest the Marquis with the Garter, doubtless the old +Garter king would like it; and at this time of the year, +while quiet here, and neither hot nor wet, no mosquitoes, +and without baggage, he might do it tolerably well. If +you travel without baggage, as Lord Wellington did +when he went to Cadiz, with good horses, you get on<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</span> +thirty, forty, and even fifty miles in a day; avoid all the +bad places, only stop in towns, get the best accommodation, +and only rest where there are English Commissaries, +&c. Lord Wellington came from Lisbon here in +five days, with relays of horses; the last day he rode +fifty miles between breakfast and dinner.</p> + +<p>The movements of the French I mentioned in my last +came to little or nothing—it was a mere alarm.</p> + +<p>I have had a long letter from Sutton in answer to +several queries. He agrees with me in every point which +I have had to decide; and I am particularly glad to be +right in the great one on which Lord Wellington differed +with me, and directed me to send home his reasons. +Still Lord Wellington is hardly satisfied, but desires me +to wait till I hear officially from Sutton about it.</p> + +<p>The day before yesterday we had a hard day’s work +in the shape of gaiety and amusement. Lord Wellington +desired to invest General Cole with the Order of the +Bath, in a suitable manner; and as he had never done +anything at Ciudad Rodrigo, of which he is Duke, he +determined upon this opportunity to give a grand fête +in the midst of the ruins—a grand dinner, ball, and +supper. All heads of departments, generals, public +authorities, Spaniards and English, were invited to +dinner, to the amount of sixty-five. In the evening, +ladies about forty, and men about a hundred and fifty, +came to a ball and supper. The dinner and supper were +half cooked at Frenada, and carried over in military +waggons and on mules. All the plate at head-quarters +was put in requisition, and there was enough to afford a +change of silver at dinner. Plenty of claret, champagne, +and Lamego, <em>i. e.</em>, port, was sent over. A caravan of +glass and crockery arrived from the governor of Almeyda, +and from a shop just opened there. Almeyda is twenty-five +miles from Rodrigo. The whole went off very well, +except that it was excessively cold, as a few balls during<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</span> +the siege had knocked in several yards of the roof of the +ball-room, and it was a hard frost at the time.</p> + +<p>Lord Wellington was the most active man of the +party—he prides himself on this; but yet I hear from +those about him that he is a little broken down by it. +He stayed on business at Frenada until half-past three, +and then rode full seventeen miles to Rodrigo in two +hours to dinner, dressed in all his orders, &c., was in +high glee, danced, stayed supper, and at half-past three +in the morning went back to Frenada by moonlight, and +arrived here before daybreak at six; so that by twelve +he was ready again for business, and I saw him amongst +others upon a Court-martial on my return at two the next +day. Campbell and General O’Lalor managed the fête. +I made cards for every place at dinner, with corresponding +ones for each person, with his name, table, and number +of his plate, and so there was no bowing and scraping, +or pushing for the first table. We got quarters in the +ruins. Stables there were none scarcely, and we took +over hay and barley for the horses for the night, and our +beds to lie down for an hour or two. Several ladies, refugees +from Salamanca, were there, and the band of the +52nd.</p> + +<p>The house at which the entertainment was given was +the best in the town, with some very good rooms; but +it had suffered a little by the siege, and had, moreover; +only bare walls. Luckily, however, the General O’Lalor +discovered that the Intendente of the Palace of St. Ildefonso +had brought away the hangings of five or six of +the best rooms to save them from the French, and had +deposited them at Rodrigo. These were obtained, and +the bare walls of the ball-room were hung all over with +yellow damask satin with a silver border, with openings +at each end in festoons, like a tent, and looked very well. +The other supper-rooms were hung with crimson satin +and gold from the same palace, and in tolerable condition.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</span></p> + +<p>The whole was laid out so as to astonish the inhabitants, +and the defects were concealed almost entirely. +Near one hole in the floor a man was placed to take care +that no one got a leg in, and a mat was put over the +whole. The ladies were not very handsome, but two +or three good-looking, and several very lady-like in their +manners.</p> + +<p>I was most pleased with the bolero and fandango +dances, which were executed by two Spanish ladies, Chanoinesses +as they were called, nieces of two Chanoines, +and two Spaniards, one of whom danced very well. The +best was the old fellow who was sent for to play on his +ornamented paper square tambourine, or rather flat drum, +who sang the airs and accompanied himself with great +humour, and afterwards gave us a dance in the true +style. The enthusiasm of the Spaniards was also amusing, +and their eager applause. All the other dances were +English country dances, which the ladies execute very +well and exactly like ours, except that they waltz the +poussets, and generally, therefore, dance waltz tunes, +and have that figure. They are also a little more twisted +about and handled than our fair ones would like at first; +but upon the whole, perhaps our country dances are improved +by the change. We had much drinking and +toasts given on both sides, at the expense of the French: +“Ferdinand the Seventh,” “The next campaign,” “Death +to all Frenchmen,” &c. In short, several Spaniards as +well as English got very drunk by five o’clock in the +morning, and they chaired the Prince of Orange, General +Vandeleur, whom they let fall, and several others, as +soon as the ladies were gone, and there was nothing else +to do. The Spaniards at first began with “vivas,” but +soon learnt “hip, hip, hip, hurra!”</p> + +<p>With great care a few silver spoons and knives and +forks only were missing, and it is said one plate. +Henry tells me the servants saw one Spanish officer<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</span> +with a turkey’s leg sticking out of his pocket; but, like +our aldermen, they are given to pocket even at Madrid, +and have some excuse, for they are paid little, and find +everything very dear. Probably a turkey had not been +seen there for months: they were, I believe, all brought +from thirty or forty miles down the Douro, near Lamego. +Besides the Spanish military authorities, there +were some civilians of rank, as the Marquis d’Espeja +and a few others. Colonel Gordon was the only officer +who would return with Lord Wellington; and though +he has the best horses here next to those of the chief, +he borrowed another horse which had come over earlier, +to ride back upon with Lord Wellington, and left his +own, which he had ridden on in the morning with his +lordship, to come back later in the day.</p> + +<p>The repairs of the walls of Ciudad Rodrigo are going +on better, and they are now nearly cleared of rubbish, +so as to be ready to begin to rebuild the new work, +which all fell down last autumn. I sat at the grand +dinner directly opposite to E——, who introduced himself +to me afterwards in the ball-room. Colonel Fisher, +of the Artillery, was next, a very pleasant man, a great +artist, connoisseur, traveller, &c. Except at a grand fête, +and the few great men who come to head-quarters, or +when crossing a division on the march, which we always +avoid if possible, we seldom see any regimental officers.</p> + +<p><em>Tuesday Night (16th).</em>—We have flogged and hung +people into better order here, I think, but have now +got into a little squabble with the Portuguese Government, +who will become bold by success. By the Portuguese +law a magistrate is only to give evidence in +writing by deposition, which our Courts, if it be a fact in +his own knowledge, and where he is wanted as a witness, +ought not to receive. I fear the Bill proposed at home +will be unpopular, and yet inefficient in a great measure.</p> + +<p>The Guards, who joined nearly when I did, have suffered<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</span> +most of all by the campaign. They came out a +noble battalion of fine men, twelve hundred strong; +four hundred are dead, and not above five hundred are +now fit for duty. This is very shocking.</p> + +<p>The division on Grattan’s motion in the House is +stronger than I expected it would be after all the outcry +on the subject. I had a long conversation while walking +up and down the market-place with Lord Wellington +here, a few days since, upon that and the Indian +question. He has, from what he saw in Ireland, taken +up a strong notion that independence is what the Irish +really aim at, and he is, therefore, for giving no more, +but proceeding upon King William’s plan to keep them +down by main force, for he thinks that they have too +much power already, and will only use more to obtain +more, and at length separation. He said he thought +his brother and Canning had just taken up the Catholic +question when the tide of popularity was turning against +it. I hope this is not so; and though I agree with him +that the party for separation is strong, his plan would +drive them to extremities, and is now too late; the only +chance is, to get the higher orders of Roman Catholics +and the priests, if possible, by pay or otherwise, and by +looking for pay and patronage, to be dependent on the +Crown and on England more than they are, and at the +same time not to be a degraded class.</p> + +<p>Did I tell you the size of Frenada, about which you +asked? It is about as large as Ashted, without the +three gentlemen’s houses in it. Lord Wellington’s +house is, however, better known than the inn there +(the Leg of Mutton and Cauliflower), and more ornamented, +though it does not contain more room or as +much comfort. This is as good a description as I can +give you, only that all the houses are more roomy than +in our villages—more like barns—for the straw, corn, +and all are left under the same roof.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</span></p> + +<p>As Sutton only answers my letters indirectly, and not +officially upon the point on which we differed, Lord +Wellington says he will not act until he has an official +answer. He does not like to be wrong, and yet I am +very glad he is so.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, Frenada, March 19th, 1813.</em>—The +day before yesterday we had a most extraordinary +arrival here in General Murray, the Quarter-Master-general +of the army. He left Plymouth late on the +10th instant, and was here at Frenada on the 18th, +in the morning, in about seven days and a half. He +got to Oporto from Plymouth in less than five days, +and here in three, travelling post on horses, ponies, +mules, and anything he could get: he brought London +papers of the 8th. His baggage went round by Lisbon. +He was to have come out with General Graham and +General Stewart, but was sent off here express with +despatches in a sloop of war. No one knows what the +important news is which made it advisable to send out a +Quarter-Master-general as a messenger.</p> + +<p>I hear of no movement yet in the army, and as part +of the cavalry are down below Coimbra, and part still +below Abrantes, near Cabeça de Vide, Aunde Chad, and +Monforte, it will be necessary to give some notice of +anything like a serious movement in good time. Perhaps +head-quarters may move to Guinaldo in a month—I +think not sooner, for there is no grass there yet, and +the cold is not gone, nor the rain come, though the sky +has threatened much for the last day or two. I have +now to send above thirty miles for bad hay or straw for +my animals, and that I hear is nearly exhausted. We +have been obliged to send fifteen miles for some time +past, which is hard work for the poor mules during what +should be their resting-time.</p> + +<p>You ask about our religious duties. There are four or +five or more clergymen in Portugal, but no one now at<span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</span> +head-quarters. The clergyman stationed there went away +ill about a twelvemonth since, I hear.</p> + +<p><em>Sunday, 21st.</em>—The remains of the battalion of Guards +which lost so many men, and was so sickly, is going +down towards the coast and towards Coimbra, to recruit +with sea-air.</p> + +<p>I must now away to answer letters. I have only read +four of the newspapers out of the last fifteen; you may +therefore conclude how much I am employed. I get +through one at breakfast-time, and when at home two of +an evening; nor have I yet read half through one review. +Lord Wellington is as bad; he borrowed my “Vetus” +nearly three weeks since, and has not read it.</p> + +<p><em>Wednesday, 4 o’clock, Post-day.</em>—Having got all my +proceedings written out fair by half-past six yesterday, I +dined with the General. Early again this morning I +breakfasted with him; compared the two, got the fair +one signed; picked you up botanical specimens of the +flowers in the fields in my ride back, and here I am.</p> + +<p>Since Rodrigo has been taken, the inhabitants about +Guinaldo feel more confidence, and more land is this year +in cultivation. They are tempted also by the high price +of everything; and near Guinaldo I saw a new enclosure +going on, and trees being grubbed up to a considerable +extent. The old lady where General Vandeleur is quartered, +is doing this to an extent of several thousand acres. +To give you a proof of the lightness of their ploughs, I +met a man walking off a mile or two to work from +Guinaldo with a complete plough on his shoulder, the +whole plough fit for use, iron share, &c.; he was walking +three or four miles an hour, quite upright. I hear that +the inhabitants of Bejar, rather an opulent Spanish town, +and where there is a cloth trade, have been so well +satisfied with the 50th regiment for having driven away +the French and saved their town, that they have given +them all round a pair of pantaloons each, and several<span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</span> +days’ double rations of spirits, and some other presents. +The place is now strengthened considerably as a post, it is +said, for the French seem to be making some stir, though +no one seems to know what they mean to be about.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, Frenada, March 27th, 1813. Saturday.</em>—The +statement of Courts-martial, which I shall +present to Lord Wellington to-morrow, satisfies me that +we are mending, and that we have not tried fifty cases, +hung eight, transported eight or ten, flogged about sixty +severely, and broke several officers—for nothing. I have +now only eighteen left in hand, and three of these very +old cases. We had one very melancholy piece of business +here last week: a young corporal, Mac Morran, a Scotchman +in the 42nd, was reprimanded mildly by his officer, +Lieutenant Dickenson, for neglect of duty; he answered +rather impertinently, and was then told to consider himself +a prisoner, and to follow. Having walked a few +yards, Lieutenant Dickenson looked round, and the corporal, +having (no one knows how) loaded his musket, +levelled it at him, and shot him dead through the heart. +The corporal has been tried, and is to be hung to-morrow. +They were both under twenty years of age, I hear, and +the most promising young men in their respective +stations. The officer was a man of mild, humane character. +The corporal made no defence: it seemed an +excess of Scotch pride. It is altogether a very painful +business.</p> + +<p>We have still very cold north-east winds, and to-day a +little fall of sleet, hail, and stormy, windy, black sky. +Lord Wellington is gone hunting, which gives me a little +time.</p> + +<p>I hear the French are moving; two divisions of +Soult’s army are said to be retiring behind the Douro, +near Valladolid: and I am told they are engaged in +fortifying all the fords and bridges near the Douro, at +Toro, Tordesillas, Aranda de Douro, &c. Probably they<span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</span> +will make a grand stand on that river; where, from what +I saw, they have great advantages, for the banks on our +side are low and flat, and on their side, towards France +(the right bank) high and commanding, and the position +on that side also strong. It is thought the slight movement +in advance of one of our divisions, the fourth, from +St. Jean de Piscara, merely for convenience of supplies +and change of air, caused this movement on the part of +the French, who only stay down about Toledo, probably, +for food.</p> + +<p>Accounts have just come in from one of our look-out +officers, who live close to the French, and act as spies, +and have correspondence with them—a Captain ——, +who was here a fortnight since. He says that the +French are all moving, and apparently towards the other +side of the Douro. Joseph has left Madrid. His +informers state that the French are going at once behind +the Ebro; but he himself thinks not, as they would not +willingly give up the fine country between the Douro +and Ebro for nothing, and have fortified, report says, the +passes. So we stand. Conjectures are made, that our +advance will not be the same as last year, through Salamanca, +as we have no great depôt being made yet this +way at Rodrigo, and should have to force these passes on +the Douro; whereas some depôts are being formed in +Portugal near the Douro, more in the north of Portugal; +and we could in that direction cross the Douro without +opposition, turn all these French works on that river, and +join the Spanish army in Gallicia, but the roads in that +case will be much worse. I hope we may go that road, +and thus see a new country, and in part, I believe, a fine +one. There is one fine pass in the Agava, only five +leagues hence, at Barba del Puerto, which I have never +yet had time to visit, but shall do so, if possible, after the +rain, provided we remain here.</p> + +<p>Lord Wellington, in conversation the other day, told<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</span> +me that some Spaniards of rank had talked to him about +educating their children at a Roman Catholic school in +England, if there were such. I knew of one or two good +girls’ schools, but could not remember any good Roman +Catholic boys’ school.</p> + +<p>We have a most furious Portuguese lady now here, +the wife of a hidalgo of Portugal, whose daughter was +run away with by an English officer. Lord Wellington +told her that he would give him up to the laws of Portugal; +but as he has now married her, Lord Wellington +says he will not interfere at all. The woman swears that +she will get the priest who married them transported for +life by their law, as well as the officer, and has moreover +declared she will kill the daughter if she meets her!</p> + +<p>As to Mr. R——, concerning whom you inquire, I +know nothing about him: we have a <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">ci-devant</i> major of +that name just arrived here. He is full of travellers’ +stories; has been long a prisoner in France: had a prefect’s +wife for his <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">chère amie</i>; escaped with wonderful +risks; joined the Guerillas, got to the coast, and off, I +believe, to Cadiz. I am told that he is to be an officer +in a new horse-police staff corps about to be established.</p> + +<p><em>30th March, Tuesday, 4 o’clock.</em>—I have presented four +Courts-martial to Lord Wellington, and sent one back +for revision as illegal, and confirmed three, two against +one man—together, two thousand lashes. This is absurd, +he will bear six or seven hundred, and there it will end. +The sentence, however, is legal, which it was not before, +when transportation was the punishment. Lord Wellington +now addresses me with the familiar “How are +you?” So we go on more easily, and I made a sort of +proposal to him to insert a passage in general orders now, +to be read to the men every day until we march, to let +them know that a new police corps was established to +catch them, and to tell them that seven officers would be<span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</span> +sufficient now to hang them, and that Courts would be +held always ready in every division. He said he would +think about it, and thought it would be of use.</p> + +<p>Dr. M’Gregor told me yesterday, that his sick-list was +improving daily, and that if Lord Wellington would give +him another month he thought he should bring the +greater part into the field. King Joseph, I have just +heard, arrived at Valladolid from Madrid on the 23rd +instant; Lord Fitzroy Somerset just read it out of a +Spanish private letter.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, Frenada, Sunday, April 4th, 1813.</em>—You +will observe that I do know when Sunday comes, +although that is certainly nearly all. We, however, have +a church and a bell, which goes on tolling for hours in a +most unattractive manner. We have a church, too, +which is made use of for various purposes, civil as well as +ecclesiastical; for instance, one night about one hundred +and fifty Spaniards and their mules, officers and all, slept +in it. The building is large, considering the size of the +village, the floor covered with straw like a stable, but the +end where the altar is, is all gold and glitter up to the +ceiling. The decorations must originally have been very +expensive, for, besides the great expenditure of gold-leaf +and foil, and carving, all the ceiling, which is coved and +circular, and divided into squares, has a picture of a saint, +or a father, a founder, a hermit, or some great divinity +hero, in every square. Masses, the funeral service, weddings, +and christenings, are also performed there. I just +look in now and then, for it is awkward to stand there, +when all are on their knees on the floor. There is also a +little chapel belonging to the owner of Lord Wellington’s +house; which is fitted up by Colonel G—— for his quarters. +He has hung it with red baize, fitted up the altar +as his dressing-table, put up an iron stove, and made it +one of the best quarters here.</p> + +<p>Lord Wellington looks forward very coolly to another<span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</span> +winter here. He said yesterday he should have twenty-five +couples of fox-hounds next season. The other day +the Commissary-general told him that we had eaten +nearly all the oxen in the country, that the cultivation of +the lands in Portugal could not go on for want of them, +and that he scarcely knew where to turn for a supply of +beef, as there was this year no reserve store near Lisbon. +Lord Wellington said, “Well, then, we must now set +about eating all the sheep, and when they are gone I +suppose we must go.” And General M—— added, +“Historians will say that the British army came and +carried on war in Spain and Portugal until they had +eaten all the beef and mutton in the country, and were +then compelled to withdraw.” Without joking, I fear +our Commissariat may have great difficulties next year. +Talking on this subject, I must add that the Portuguese +agent here, a sly, money-making man, who has realized +about 25,000<em>l.</em> during the war, said the news was so +good, that he now hoped to get a peace, and that the +Portuguese would get rid of the “beefs,” meaning the +English. Communication as to necessary articles and +others is so difficult with Lisbon, that one of Lord Wellington’s +aides-de-camp has been six months getting two +bridles up, and C. Campbell four months in getting up a +great coat.</p> + +<p>Lord Wellington yesterday, talking of his soldiers and +English notions, observed that his men were now all so +round-shouldered and slouching in their gait, that he +was sure, if his regiment here was in its present state +to pass in review at Wimbledon Common, the whole +would be sent to drill immediately, and declared quite +unfit for service. Indeed, he added, that the men had +now got into such a way of doing everything in the +easiest manner, that he was often quite ashamed of the +sentries before his own quarter. He did not mention +this by way of complaint, but as showing how ideas here<span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</span> +and at home differed. He also laughed at our notions in +England about the supply of the army, saying that some +corporate body or society in England had once made him +an offer of twenty bullocks for the army, which would +last head-quarters only about a week. General M—— +said it must have been a mistake—the offer must have +been for his table only; not for the army.</p> + +<p>Orders, it is said, are gone round for the Alicant army +to be re-embarked and landed in the rear of Suchet, to +compel him to quit Valencia if possible; this will be the +first step I conclude. You say you are all looking to us, +and want us to move. Our black clouds have all rolled +away, and to-day we have again a clear north wind and +hot sun, and not a blade of grass growing; without the +latter we cannot stir. If the rains will but come soon +and bring grass, we may, perhaps, move in the first week +of May, but not before: that is, no important move can +take place. Our cavalry, though down below Coimbra, +are very much distressed for food, and complaints come +up without number from the Portuguese that our people +will feed their horses with the young corn, which is now +great waste; but what is to be done? When we have +finished the oxen we may go, as Lord Wellington says, +to the sheep, but what are horses to do when hay is all +gone, and straw, and there is no grass come? How little +you know in England about the real state of things here, +and the requisites for moving in a campaign! You +forget our ten or fifteen thousand animals for baggage +and for food, besides the cavalry and artillery, &c. The +Portuguese agent here repeats that another campaign in +Portugal will be impossible, for there will be neither +animals to eat, nor for transport, unless we bring all with +us. I hope, however, not to pass another winter at Frenada; +but so hoped those who were here last year.</p> + +<p>Did I ever mention to you Lord Wellington’s saying +how anxious the Prince Regent was that he should correspond<span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</span> +with him, and how much hurt he was that he had +never done so. “But,” observed Lord Wellington, “I +wrote to his ministers, and that was enough. What had +I to do with him? However, his late favour was a reason +for my writing, and I have had a most gracious answer, +evidently courting further correspondence;” but which he +intimated he should not comply with.</p> + +<p>I understand the famous Guerillas are much more +dreaded by their own countrymen in the north of Spain +than the French, and I fear with some reason, as they are +(many of them, at least) very much like banditti. The +French, however, suffered so much by them, that they +have adopted the same plan, and have their counter +Guerillas; some with French officers to conduct them, +and some headed by Guerilla chiefs, who have quarrelled +and separated from their companions in the good cause. +I was sorry to hear this. The French continue moving +about, and their force towards the Tagus diminishes.</p> + +<p>You have my news as I hear it: we are now getting +ready ammunition, &c., to the front, to prepare for an +advance when possible; so, perhaps, we may pass Rodrigo, +and cross the Douro to the left of Salamanca, if the French +stand on that river, as we have now this year pontoons, +which we had not last year. We have also a new and +more portable battering-train, come out from England, +which has arrived as far as Abrantes, where it only waits +for means of transport to come on here. That which we +had here last year, I am told, was excessively clumsy.</p> + +<p><em>April 7th.</em>—I have heard a number of anecdotes of +General Craufurd. All admit that he was very clever +and knowing in his profession, and led on his division on +the day of his death in the most gallant style; but Lord +Wellington never knew what he would do. He constantly +acted in his own way, contrary to orders: and as he commanded +the advanced division, at times perplexed Lord +Wellington considerably, who never could be sure where<span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</span> +he was. On one occasion, near Guinaldo, he remained +across a river by himself; that is, with his own division +only, nearly a whole day after he was called in by Lord +Wellington. He said he knew that he could defend his +position. Lord Wellington, when he came back, only +said, “I am glad to see you safe, Craufurd.” To which +the latter replied, “Oh, I was in no danger, I assure you.” +“But I was, from your conduct,” said Lord Wellington. +Upon which Craufurd observed, “He is d—— crusty +to-day.”</p> + +<p>Marmont, when he saw Craufurd filing off next morning, +could not believe it: “<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Diable! voilà Craufurd! ma foi, +j’aurais pu deviner cela.</i>” Another time, Lord Wellington +said, “Craufurd, you are going into a delicate +situation; what orders do you wish for? I will write +what you think best.” Craufurd told him his own plan +and went away. Whilst Lord Wellington was writing +them out, and acting accordingly, Craufurd sent him word +that he had done something else. On another occasion, +Lord Wellington sent to him to say he should inspect his +division, and came accordingly. Craufurd never attended +until it was half over, and then said that Lord Wellington +was before his time; yet he was very strict with his own +division, and would be very exactly obeyed. His division +all complained of this, and many officers talked of who +should call him out, on one or two occasions, for this. +Yet he was so much valued, and the whole division had +such confidence in him, that, when he joined them again +just before the attack to take the command in the +engagement in which he died, the whole division set up +a loud shout, so as to frighten a small party of French +who were near, who did not know what was the matter, +and they ran away. Lord Wellington knew his merits +and humoured him. It was surprising what he bore from +him at times.</p> + +<p>Lord Wellington celebrated the day of the storming of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</span> +Badajoz with a grand dinner yesterday; only those +present at that event were invited. Lord Aylmer had a +rival dinner-party, at which was General Murray, &c., +where I dined also. If the good news brings peace, what +will become of your humble servant and many others +here? “Othello’s occupation’s gone!”</p> + +<p>General Murray is apparently very clever and clearheaded. +In my opinion, he comes next to Lord Wellington, +as far as I have seen. We are all full of the news, +for a paper of the 22nd has arrived at Oporto several +days later than the mail. We now know about Hamburg +and Cuxhaven, Berlin, &c. I fear that the French +will be driven together into one large body, and may then +be more than a match for any one army opposed to them, +but they will be considerably cowed and disheartened. +When will the Dutch be roused to do anything? Now +or never is their time!</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</h2> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="fs80" style="margin-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em;">News of the French—Castilian Costume—Equipment of the Army—Melancholy +Court-martial Case—Wellington in the Battle of Fuentes +d’Onore—The Chances of War—Anecdotes of Wellington—His Opinions +of the War—The New Mutiny Act—Wellington on “Vetus”—General +Murray—Advance of the French.</p> + +<p class="right fs80"> +Head-quarters, Frenada, April 12, 1813.</p> +</div> + + +<p class="no-indent"> +<span class="smcap">My dear M——</span>, +</p> + +<p><span style="padding-left: 2em">From</span> what I hear, if we could only get grass, +Lord Wellington would move about the second week in +May. There is no immediate prospect of this, as you will +perceive, when I tell you that the Military Secretary has +sent all his horses nearly a hundred miles off for grass.</p> + +<p>The news here is, that some more of the French, about +twenty men from every regiment, are ordered home. +Some, but I believe no great number hitherto, are actually +gone: and about three or four thousand conscripts are +supposed to have arrived in Spain to fill up the vacancies +of the old soldiers removed. Head-quarters will not now +probably move until we march; and, from report, we +shall not go to Guinaldo, but stay here quietly until the +army is drawn up around us, ready to move.</p> + +<p>The clergy, both here and in Spain, are in general, I +understand, fortunately of the same opinion as to the +Pope’s signing the Concordat, as you say the emigrants +are; that he did it from compulsion, or that a different +instrument was substituted for his signature. It was +feared that artful plan would have assisted Bonaparte +in Spain.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</span></p> + +<p>I hear the same accounts of the state of commerce at +Lisbon as George sends from London. Old Colonel +Arentschild here says, “She (meaning England) will +make enough in Germany, by trade, to enable her, in the +first six months, to carry on the war for two years, if +necessary.” I fear the news in the papers concerning +the Prince of Orange was rather premature. He states, +that he has hitherto had no offer except from the Continent, +nor heard anything from the newspaper. It will +prove a prophecy, I hope, instead of a fact. He seems a +very amiable, deserving youth, is liked by every one, and +has had the greatest of all advantages for a young prince, +that of being educated in a great measure with persons +who have behaved to him as if he were their equal. So, +indeed, he is treated now; except that he has a little +more respect paid to him, which I believe is really felt, +for he lives nearly on terms of equality with Lord Fitzroy +Somerset, Lord March, Colonel G——, &c., and is quite +one of the set, and is little or no restraint to any one. I +met him, two days ago, scrambling down on the banks of +the Coa, three miles off, by himself on foot. He must +just now have some interesting subjects for contemplation, +and I have no doubt some very flattering visions +pass through his brain.</p> + +<p>I am looking so much better than when I arrived at +head-quarters, that Lord Wellington and several others +think I am an exception to the general rule, and that the +climate here agrees with me. Lord Wellington says he +has had so many ill and dead since he has been here, that +he does not like to think of it; many, like General Hulse, +&c., whose loss he feels in every way. He says now, he +is always ready to let every one go home when first he +complains, and is disposed to tell every one who looks ill +to be off.</p> + +<p>I have just seen some very handsome specimens of the +Castilian dresses, male and female, of the higher classes<span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</span> +of rich peasantry, made I believe, by a tailor from Salamanca. +The three female dresses Lord Wellington means +to give to his nieces for masquerades; they are covered +with work—embroidery, lace, and gold; he gives two +thousand dollars for them. The man’s dress was for +Lord March, and is certainly most becoming to almost +every one.</p> + +<p>I must now go and consider the new intended Bill to +punish our offenders here, which Lord Beresford has sent +for Lord Wellington to consult him upon it, and he has +sent it to me—the draught of the intended Act I mean; +and as every one makes some observation, I must make +a few also. So, for the present, adieu.</p> + +<p>I never told you that some of our military great boys +here got very tipsy on the commemoration of the fall of +Badajoz, and went to a poor <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Juge de Fores</i>, that is a +Portugal law magistrate, who was on a visit, and poured +a bottle of blacking partly in his mouth, and partly over +him, at twelve at night; and then made him dress, and +go and help break poor C——’s only pane of glass, and +upset his bed, as he had retired. Soldiers, lawyers, and +all, I see, are boys at times alike.</p> + +<p><em>April 13th.</em>—Much too hot for hunting I should +think; but all the sportsmen are out. Lord Wellington +has not got good horses to be idle; he works them well. +Besides all the hunting, &c., the day before yesterday, +after doing business until twelve o’clock, off he went by +himself, without saying a word to any one, across to +Ciudad Rodrigo, seventeen miles off, inspected all the +works, and was back again here in five hours and a half +to dinner. He says that they are now going on very +well there, and seems to be a little anxious about his own +town. I suspect when we do move that we shall get on +fast, for Lord Wellington will like to pass the Douro +before the French know his plans.</p> + +<p><em>Wednesday, April 14th, Post-day.</em>—This will be but a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</span> +stupid packet, as I have no news or events here to communicate. +General Castanos arrived here yesterday in a +great lumbering carriage, with eight mules and ropes +from Cadiz, on his way to his division. He called here +for instructions.</p> + +<p>We have had in my own line another murder: a +private grenadier of the Buffs shot his officer, on their +private parade at Placencia, in the second division, from +the window of his quarter, just opposite to that of the +officer, and just as he came out to the men, who were all +there. The officer was Lieutenant Annesley. The +grenadier wounded a sergeant at the same time, and was +instantly secured. No quarrel or disagreement was +known, but he said that he was satisfied he had killed +his enemy, and the day before, when another man committed +suicide, he said, “What a fool, not to kill his +enemy first, if he had one!” The officer is well spoken +of. The conduct of the grenadier resembles madness +more than anything else, yet they say he was not mad; +I have just sent out a charge against him, and an order +for his trial.</p> + +<p>Our own army is now quite clothed, I believe. I fear +that the Portuguese are only in the middle of theirs, and +will not have finished these three weeks. You have no +notion what there is to be done before an army like +ours is fit to move in such a country as this. We have +been three months getting up these clothes from Lisbon +for our men; the tents have not yet arrived for +head-quarters, and some say that only the army are +to use them. I suppose, however, that we must carry +them.</p> + +<p>Lord Tweeddale continues here as an amateur, and +will probably advance with us. When we march I may +not be able to write so often, as our time will be much +occupied, and pen and ink will not be always at hand. +An order has just now come out to pay everything up to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</span> +the 24th of December, that the officers may have a little +money to prepare for the march.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, Frenada, April 17th, 1813.</em>—The corn +looks very ill about this place, very thin, very yellow, +and indeed positively very bad crops. Whether this is, +however, also only comparatively bad as to other years I +cannot say; it would appear to be so to some extent. +The soil is here very poor, and I suspect the harvest is +never very abundant. Several parts of Spain have this +year suffered much from the want of rain, and the very +early heat of the weather; Estremadura in particular: +where the sun has been very powerful, everything has +been burnt up. My authority for this is General +O’Donoghue.</p> + +<p>In my own department I have another rather melancholy +story. Mr. M——, a clerk in the commissariat +department, had been guilty of fraud and embezzlement of +stores (some pork, rice, and milk), to no great amount, as +far as I could prove under 20<em>l.</em>; but it was sold out of the +store at Galigas, in a neighbouring village. By Lord +Wellington’s orders I made out a charge against M——, +and sent it to him at Coimbra, with an order from the +Commissary for him to attend under close arrest at Cea +to take his trial, as the witnesses were near Galigas. +Soon after the receipt of this letter and order he shot himself, +and has thus put an end to the whole business. He +was well connected in England, it is said, has respectable +friends, and was in a good situation there. A woman +with whom he lived here, I believe, was the cause of the +whole. When he turned her off she stirred up the witnesses +against him, and was the cause of its being made +known to Sir R. Kennedy, and by his means to Lord +Wellington, when of course a prosecution was inevitable. +By the Mutiny Act he was liable to transportation for +life, fine, imprisonment, or pillory: and he could not stand +the disgrace. He partly admitted the charge, but pleaded<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</span> +sickness and distress. It was unfortunate that the discovery +fell on such a subject, for it was, I believe, the first +falling off from general good conduct.</p> + +<p>I have now got a Court-martial in the fourth division, +the only one which has been hitherto free, to sit near +Escalpaon, and to try three fellows for going out at night +and stealing seven sheep, keeping sentry as a guard over +the two shepherds, whilst they skinned the sheep and +divided the meat; two other men, of better characters, +were with them, and they are therefore to be admitted as +witnesses against the three. The Court at Coimbra has +suffered the two worst fellows to escape almost with twelve +hundred lashes; they ought to have been hung, for they +are desperate fellows, both Irishmen. They have been +most mutinous and insolent whilst under trial, and one of +them, a few days since, said he did not know whether he +was to be hung or flogged this time, but if the latter, he +would take care next time that there should be no witnesses +to tell of what he had done.</p> + +<p>Lord Wellington said at dinner the day before yesterday, +“We must move by the end of the first week in +May, that’s positive.” And then spoke sharply to +Colonel F—— of the artillery, because the artillery was +not arrived. The Colonel coolly replied, “My lord, I do +not think the artillery have been, or will be, the cause of +your lordship staying at Frenada. Transport is the great +difficulty—animals are so scarce. The Portuguese make +much money, but are afraid of spending it, or getting or +breeding animals for fear of their being seized or embargoed.” +An engineer has been appointed and sent to each +division, and a messenger or Spanish courier (who arrived +three days since in four days from Cadiz post), was last +night sent post round through Seville to Alicant. Something, +therefore, is in agitation, and all this looks like +preparation for moving. He expected to arrive at Alicant +in eight days at furthest, if not in seven.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</span></p> + +<p>Lord Wellington the other day was again talking of +the battle of Fuentes d’Onore. He said that he was +obliged to ride hard to escape, and thought at one time, as +he was on a slow horse, that he should have been taken. +The whole of head-quarters, general and all, he added, +English dragoons and French dragoons, were all galloping +away together across the plain, and he more than once +saw a French dragoon in a green coat within twenty +yards of him. One Frenchman got quite past them all, +and they could not knock him off his horse. At last they +caught his bridle and stopped him.</p> + +<p><em>21st April.</em>—We sup early (as you call your late +dinners) here, and are as smart as you are in England in +that respect. At present half-past seven is the hour. +We cannot change this hour till Lord Wellington does, +for business is now going on till six. We also beat the +most fashionable in London in one respect, for we have no +female society at all here. There is one lady here, Mrs. +S——, and that is all the English we see, once in a week +perhaps; and then the men preponderate so that the tone +of the society is quite male. There is one Portuguese +lady, niece to the Capitan Mor here, or principal resident +inhabitant: but she is ugly, and said to be perfumed too +strongly with oily salt fish. She is no favourite, and is +very little noticed. Her little uncle hunts with Lord +Wellington on a little country pony, and does wonders +in that way; he seems an active little Portuguese.</p> + +<p>Lieutenant-Colonel W——, in the Adjutant-general’s +Department here, who was ill when I joined, has now +returned. He has had some curious adventures in this +country. He once fell in, accompanied by two dragoons, +with a small party of French, close to their main body, +who were attending some baggage. He, his men consenting, +attacked the French, beat them off, plundered +their baggage, and brought off the best mule. The +latter he kept himself, and has it here now, and the two<span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</span> +soldiers took the money, &c. On another occasion, he was +riding quietly with Captain D——, of the same department, +on the advance from the lines at Torres Vedras on +the retreat of Massena. They were quietly jogging on, +and were about to enter a place intended to be English +head-quarters that day. When close to it, they found the +French were still there in force, and saw three French +dragoons close upon them, who, however, did not see +them. They resolved to attack by surprise. They +knocked two off from their horses, and attacked the third; +he got away and they pursued him. In the mean time +the other two set off. It ended, however, in W—— and +D—— securing one dragoon horse, and some other booty, +with which they got safely away. Soon after this Lieutenant-Colonel +W—— was himself taken prisoner at +Sabugal, when the French advanced during the siege of +Badajoz. He was then mounted on this very dragoon +horse, which he had kept as booty; the horse was known +by the French when he was carried in. He was asked +how he came by the horse? He said he bought it of a +soldier; and as the three Frenchmen had reported that +they had been attacked by a “dozen men in buckram,” +and had said nothing of two officers, it all went off well, +and he kept their secret and his own. He refused to give +his parole, and was therefore ill fed, and kept prisoner +with privates, and treated like the rest, except that they +let him ride Dragon, as he had christened his horse.</p> + +<p>Near Salamanca, a Spanish friend to whom he had +been kind came to offer his services to him: “Only get +me a new pair of very sharp rowels to my spurs,” said +he, “that is all I want.” This was done, and on the +next day, the party, a whole French column of infantry, +marched on at daybreak about seven. Just near the end +of the wood, near Salamanca, in a wide open part of the +road, he observed that most of the French horsemen were +dismounted; so turning about, he used his new rowels<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</span> +strongly, got the start of them in some way, and was off. +He galloped till he heard no one behind him. At first +there was a shout of “<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Le Mayo, le Mayo</i>,” and some pursued; +he then crossed another road where another +French party was, got round by the mountains, reached, +I think, Tamones by eleven that night, and to Fuentes +d’Onore next day safely. The French had fed their +horses in the fields at night on grass, and were soon +blown. He had refused to suffer his horse to leave him, +and gave him only a little bran, yet though his horse +was a slow one too, he thus got safely off. He has since +sold the horse. Lord Wellington asked him “Why?” +He said, “Because, my lord, I was very near being taken +again on him when with your lordship at the battle of +Fuentes d’Onore, and that would be awkward, as the +horse is known by the French.” He seems an odd +character.</p> + +<p>The Commissaries all live here exceedingly well, the +Lord knows how out of their pay; and that ought to be +nearly their only advantage.</p> + +<p><em>Frenada, Head-Quarters, April 24, 1813.</em>—Four +Generals have arrived—Graham, Fane, Picton, and +Oswald: Sir Stapleton Cotton, who has received orders +to command the whole cavalry, has, however, not yet +arrived, and is much wanted; but Graham and Picton +are very good officers.</p> + +<p>Lord Wellington, a few days since, said that he +hoped the Spaniards were in many respects getting on +much better; that there was a numerous body now well +clothed at least, and armed and tolerably disciplined; +that he was always ordering the drills to go on with +spirit, and by perseverance he thought they were much +improving; that he never interfered with the mode, but +asked what their military rules and laws were, and then +said, “Well, that is very good; now mind and see that +they are put in force, and, remember, it is not I but your<span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</span> +law orders this; I have only to see your laws executed, +which are very good, and they must be obeyed.” He +said, the Staff here seemed well satisfied.</p> + +<p>The artillery is what Lord Wellington rails at most. +They cannot get on so well as he thinks they ought, or +at least as he wants them to do. I do not mean in +particular at this moment, but generally. The officers +commanding this part of the army are rather heavy and +slow, or, as Lord Wellington said himself one day of a +late commander, “I took care to let him feel that I +thought him very stupid.” “That must have been,” +General Murray said privately, “by telling him so in +plain terms, I have no doubt.” Colonel F——, who +commanded the artillery at the battle of Salamanca, and +who is very well spoken of by every one, but at times, I +believe, is slow, was once with Lord Wellington at an +audience when things went wrong, and Lord Wellington +got irate, who told him pretty nearly that his friend +concerning whom he was inquiring “might go to h—.” +Colonel F—— came muttering out, “I’ll go, Sir, to the +Quarter-Master-general for a route,” which Lord Wellington +heard, and laughed at well.</p> + +<p>General Murray says that on hunting-days he could +get almost anything done, for Lord Wellington stands +whip in hand ready to start, and soon despatches all +business. Some of the Generals, Lord Wellington +observed one day, used to come and hunt and then get +on business, and get him to answer things in a hasty way, +which he did not intend, but which they acted upon. +“Oh, d—— them,” said he, “I won’t speak to them +again when we are hunting.” Colonel F——’s friend +on his route to his destination would have found plenty +of fuel but less green forage than we have here.</p> + +<p>By all accounts the first day after we were in Badajoz, +the scene was very shocking in every way. +Nothing but dead and wounded on all sides, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</span> +drunkenness and plunder in all directions. Even Lord +Wellington, when in the street with his staff, was followed +by drunken soldiers, continually firing feux-de-joie +over his head with ball-cartridges, and never thinking +where the balls went.</p> + +<p>The Portuguese Government have got bolder, and +have tried some of our people by their laws, when caught +in the act, and have sent two or three of them to the +coast of Africa. If this were generally known, it would +do more good, I believe, than our flogging. Lord +Wellington said formerly, that their government always +declined trying our people themselves, but now they +generally accepted the offer when made. Lieutenant +K——, of the Guards, who was tried and acquitted last +week of ordering a sentry to fire and killing a native, was +very much alarmed lest the Portuguese should try him, +as it was at first agreed. It was a hasty act on his part, +but there was a slight riot, and I think in law he was +properly acquitted, for he was struck with a stone by +some one in the mob which was collected.</p> + +<p>My cases are now rather increasing again, I think, and +will probably continue until we march. I have had two +very blackguard officers to try in the Royal Drivers’ corps. +Sheep-stealing has now succeeded to pig-shooting, as pork +is out of season. The horses are now like mad when +turned out, and are scampering all over the country.</p> + +<p>I had a long conversation with Lord Wellington yesterday. +After discussing our business up and down the +market-place, he said that “the want of rain began to be +very alarming; but that as soon as the pontoons arrived +he would be off. The heavy artillery have started two or +three days since from Castello Branco, and will be here +by the 31st. The pontoons are stuck somewhere on the +road.” He discussed the war here, and in the North, +with me: observing that, “a country ought to think well +before it undertook to do what Spain did; that, certainly,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</span> +Spain and Portugal were the fittest places to try the +experiment of a battle for the mere soil, because in general +there was nothing else in the country much worth +fighting for, or which could be much damaged.”</p> + +<p>“As, for instance,” he added, “what is this village +worth? burn it, and a few hundreds would make it as +good as ever with a little labour; but now,” he continued, +“he believed that a great portion of the Spaniards began +to be very anxious to bring the business to a close; they +had rather that we should beat out the French and be off, +but, next to that, they had sooner the French beat us out, +and had quiet possession, than that such a war as that of +the last three years should be continued.” He said “he +thought the Cortes were going on ill; that they were +unpopular, knew it, and did not know how to set about +becoming otherwise; that he disapproved of their meddling +with the royal feudal tithes, or church property, and +particularly with the elections of the next assembly, with +which he thought they had nothing to do. They have +declared the elections of one district all void, from some +informality, and as the new elections have run much upon +priests, they have been trying to make these void, as +being within the clause concerning placemen in their +constitution—‘that no placeman was to be elected for his +own district.’ However,” he continued, “in the present +state of things all the real and urgent business, and what +is now the most material, namely, all relating to the army +and the war, is done here, at Frenada, and let them +squabble at Cadiz; if they will leave us alone, I don’t +care. Portugal is for some time quite safe and out of the +scrape, and if things go on well I think Spain will be out +of the scrape also.” “But,” he added, “he should be +almost sorry to see such a war as this has been carried on +all over Germany, where there is so much to destroy, and +to be lost.”</p> + +<p>In spite of the poverty of the country and the difficulty<span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</span> +as to obtaining bullocks, we have somehow or other +collected one thousand here to begin the campaign with: +I hear one hundred and fifty fine ones for the artillery.</p> + +<p><em>April 26th.</em>—I am kept going to the last minute. A +number of new cases are come in, and I am very busy +again; the more so, as the time is so short, and so uncertain +when all my Courts are to break up. I cannot get +below a dozen cases in hand, for new ones arise faster +than I try the old ones.</p> + +<p>I have just heard from Coimbra, that one Court-martial +is broken up by a division of cavalry moving down to +Oporto. I do not quite understand this, but conclude +that they will pass the river somewhere below, and so +march through the Tras os Montes, and join us again on +the other side of the Douro, and have a good untouched +country to advance through—otherwise this does not look +like a march. No one knows, however, and probably I +know as much as the Adjutant-General. I must now +write to Lord Wellington; this movement at Coimbra +has disturbed two of my Coimbra cases very much.</p> + +<p>The new Mutiny Act has been sent out to me. There +are several changes, one I see which I suggested; but the +business is very much bungled. The Mutiny Act and +Articles of War are now at variance, as the latter have +not been altered with the former. By the first, an officer +may be tried here by a Court of seven members; by +the articles, there must be thirteen.</p> + +<p>Some of the fifth division have, I hear, moved across the +Douro at Lamego. This confirms the opinion I have +given above, especially as D’Urban’s Portuguese cavalry +are all north of the Mondego, and have been some time +there. This will disturb another of my Courts. Lord +Wellington says, that the witnesses must follow and try +and catch the Court; but I am no hunter, and shall try +to remove the case to another place. I dine with Lord +Wellington.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</span></p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, Frenada, Saturday May 1st, 1813.</em>—This +last week I have again been very busy, and shall +remain so, no doubt, until we move. This will probably +be in a week or so, for our wings are in motion. The +cavalry round by Oporto, as I mentioned before, and some +Portuguese infantry, under Colonel Hamilton, are advancing +to Alcantara from near Portalegre and Eloss. +We shall soon be drawing together, but head-quarters, I +have very little doubt, will be the last to move. We have +just got the “<cite>Spanish Gazette</cite>,” of Seville, with Elio’s +letter, stating the victory gained by General Murray near +Alicant, and his driving Suchet back with loss, through +Bejar and Villana to Fuente Higuera. I conclude you +will have heard this in England before this reaches you. +We have no English account, but Lord Wellington seems +to consider it very good news. He came running into the +Military Secretary’s room, where I was yesterday, to +communicate this, saying, “Murray has beat Suchet, +Fitzroy.” I always expected the fighting would begin in +that quarter this campaign. We got also yesterday from +Lisbon the almost incredible good news that Austria had +agreed to join the Allies with eighty thousand men in +Germany, and one hundred thousand in Italy, and that +Davoust and Grenier had been again defeated. Lord +Wellington seems rather to give credit to all this. Poor +Bony will go mad if it should prove all to be true.</p> + +<p>A few days since at dinner at Lord Wellington’s, he +got upon the subject of “Vetus.” He said, “He thought +he knew the author, and that he had been in India—not +Mackintosh, as reported here.” He then went on to +say, “he did not think much of Vetus’s letters:<a id="FNanchor_3" href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> that +many of his facts as to this country were quite without +foundation; that neither Vetus, nor the O. P.’s, nor<span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</span> +Lord Wellesley, knew anything about the war here, and +what could or could not be done; that he fully believed +Government had done all they could; that the men who +did come could not have been here sooner, and perhaps +had better have come still later; that more cavalry he +could not have employed, had he had them at Lisbon, +for want of transport for food; that when he advanced +formerly to Talavera, he left several thousand men at +Lisbon, because he could not supply them had they been +with the army; that even now he could not have brought +up the Hussar brigade into the field, unless by draughting +home the three regiments whose men he lately had +sent back, and thus setting at liberty their transport; +that the Guards, Life and Blues, he knew of some time +since, and sent five months ago to Estremadura to collect +mules for their supply; that every two dragoons employed +a mule to feed the men and horses, and that all +this difficulty in the detail was quite unknown at home. +In short, he said, Lord Wellesley knew nothing about +the matter, and he had no reason to be dissatisfied with +Government at home.” All this made several of us +stare. I am told that Lord Wellington was very angry +with Lord Wellesley for his resignation, and hardly +spoke to any one for some days after he had heard the +fact. Lord Paget has just sent up here two of the +Hussars, a corporal and a private, to wait as orderlies on +my lord the peer; two very fine fellows. This was done +out of compliment. They will only be ruined at head-quarters, +which is a terrible place for soldiers and servants; +over-pay, great idleness, and every third house a +vine-house.</p> + +<p>I have just read Mrs. M. A. Clark and the Messrs. +Fitzgerald’s, &c., which Lord Fitzroy Somerset sent me +by desire of Lord Wellington. It is a curious production, +and very ingenious as I understand it, merely as a +punishment on the Chancellor of the Exchequer for not<span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</span> +letting her profit by the Treasury, and, at the same time, +a strong inducement to all others in her favour, held over +their heads <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">in terrorem</i>, not to be guilty of equal ingratitude; +that is, not to neglect making up her deficiencies in +cash when a hint has been given them of the necessity.</p> + +<p><em>May 2nd.</em>—Lord Wellington, I hear is to go to-day to +General Cole’s division, the fourth, near the Figuiera, +above Castello Rodrigo, and near Eschalo. He sends +his hounds over the six leagues to-day: they hunt there +to-morrow. On Tuesday he is to review the fourth division, +and return here to dinner at Frenada afterwards. +Lord Wellington said, some days since, he would move +on the 5th of May: some of the army may, and will, I +have no doubt; but I do not think <em>we</em> shall before the +10th. Ho one knows, however; and I dare say no one +will know until the day before, when all will be in a +bustle. I hope we shall not set out in this weather, +however, which continues constant cold, rain, and wind. +By watching sharp, I can generally get an hour’s ride +dry; but it will be rather dismal work to start on a long +march in this wet, and it would, from the state of the +roads, knock up the mules too much at first, when I take +it they will have far enough to go.</p> + +<p>If the news from Austria be true, and General Murray +has really beaten Suchet in an English and not merely +in a Spanish fashion, the French, when they hear we +have crossed the Douro, will probably go at once behind +the Ebro, carrying all they can with them that is moveable +and worth carriage. At present, however, their +plan seems to be, to try to make a stand on the Douro +first. They are evidently receding gradually from Madrid.</p> + +<p><em>Later.</em>—I have just heard that part of my gossip of +head-quarters is not correct. Lord Wellington has got +a cold, and has determined not to go to General Cole to-day, +though the weather has now cleared up.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</span></p> + +<p><em>May 3rd, Monday.</em>—Lord Wellington is rather worse +to-day, I hear, and does not leave Frenada. I hope his +review will be quite put off. He has, I believe, only a +bad cold. We have still no further news from Alicant: +at Cadiz they had only seen the same account that we +have. Mr. Wellesley says that the people were in high +spirits about it there, though I suspect that some of the +Spaniards did not behave well. The allied loss is reported +to be nine hundred, that of the French at two thousand. +If we could kill off at this rate, and make the Spaniards +bear a fair share, this would do very well. I have since +heard from Colonel C—— that it is supposed Elio’s +troops behaved ill, and threw away their arms. Elio’s +corps had received orders not to fight, but to unite with +General Murray: he was just about to do so, and part of +his corps was on his left, but too far distant, and gave +way when attacked. The orders were, for all the corps, +Elio’s, Del Parque’s, &c., to unite with General Murray +without a battle. General Murray will scarcely be able +to do much (if he has beat Suchet) with his small force, +if he cannot trust the Spaniards. I hope, however, +Whittingham’s corps has behaved well.</p> + +<p><em>May 4th, Tuesday.</em>—Lord Wellington has just got +eight of the Prince Regent’s grey stallions up from +Lisbon to draw his carriage on the march: they are +small, but showy, little, prancing, round-carcassed animals. +They have the same mark as is on my black +horse from Machacha; but mine beats them in beauty. +To-day they were tried, and not having been for some +time, or ever, in harness, or not liking the country so +well as Lisbon, they would not for a long time go at all. +One reared up and fell backwards twice, clean over, and +one got astride the pole. They got on better, however, +at last, and did not break the carriage as I expected. +Lord Wellington’s six old large mules would do the +work much better, though they are not so showy for +Spain.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</span></p> + +<p>I saw Lord Wellington to-day, he said he was much +better; but has apparently a heavy, bad cold.</p> + +<p><em>May 5th.</em>—Here we are, still mum, as I expected; +and the reason for it is now said to be that the pontoons +are not yet arrived. They left Castello Branco May the +1st only, and, it is said, cannot reach this place before the +9th. Monday the 10th is now talked of; I think, however, +it may be still Thursday next, the day after the +post-day again, before we stir; most people say, however, +Tuesday the 11th; much may depend on news. Of +course, Lord Wellington must be very anxious to know +the true state of the North of Europe before we start; +and the present strong south-west gales are much against +our hearing soon; he also wishes to know the exact effect +of the fight at Alicant. I dined yesterday at head-quarters, +and Lord F. Somerset told me that they had +more irregular accounts of the latter business, and that +they became less and less satisfactory. It was understood +that the Spaniards, when first attacked alone, were charged +and quite cut up by the French—<i lang="es" xml:lang="es">muy mal tratado</i>, is the +Spanish private account; and one whole regiment, I am +told, surrendered. Three regiments are considered to be +<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">mis hors de combat</i>. Our army, it appears, did certainly +afterwards at last beat back a French partial attack with +loss; but our vanguard had been beaten back before, and +the loss in our army, English and Sicilians, without +Spaniards, was nine hundred. This will not do; still +it is to be hoped that Whittingham’s people behaved +better.</p> + +<p>Lord Wellington dined at table again yesterday, and +was much better. I sat next to him on one side and the +Prince of Orange on the other, as there happened to be +no other grandees there; and we had much conversation. +This has happened two or three times lately, when I have +been there, and there are few besides his own establishment +present. He always calls the two who are on his +right and left, and Campbell settles the rest. Lord F.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</span> +Somerset sent me yesterday a little pamphlet of Lord +Wellington’s, containing the account of the Russian +retreat—rather a catchpenny, I think; and, though not +exceeding the Russian gazettes in the number of French +prisoners, adding several rather incredible details, such +as the French crawling into the fires like gnats into a +candle, without being sensible of their danger, &c.</p> + +<p>The French, who had quitted Toledo altogether, have +again advanced, and occupied it with much the same +force as before, to the great discomfiture of the junta +there, who thought the “<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Esclaves</i>” (as they call them in +the account of the Alicant battle) were gone for good and +for ever. To-day Lord Wellington keeps the anniversary +of the battle of Fuentes d’Onore, and all present at that +battle are to dine with him.</p> + +<p><em>5th (Later).</em>—Since writing the above, I have received +a case of a deserter from the Isla de Leon. Two years +since he deserted to the French, and persuaded others to +go with him. As no time is now to be lost, I have +drawn the charge and sent the whole off to Lamego for +trial directly. My only Court which has as yet moved, +or had orders to move, is that at Coimbra, who are +cavalry, and are now at Oporto. I have sent Mr. Commissary +D——, from Coimbra, there to be tried, for a +breach of orders; and a number of witnesses are all gone +with him on both sides to Oporto: I only hope they may +not, by any sudden order, have all their march for +nothing. We have now, since Christmas, tried eighty +cases, and there are still ten in hand, besides about +thirty which have come to nothing.</p> +<br> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_3" href="#FNanchor_3" class="label">[3]</a> If the letters of Vetus were written, as was supposed, by Lord +Wellesley, it is quite clear that Lord Wellington was ignorant of the +fact.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +</div> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</span></p> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</h2> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="fs80" style="margin-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em;">Newspaper Complaints—Wellington’s Comments—Review of the Portuguese—Gatherings +at Head-quarters—Reviews—Recommencement of +the March—The Route.</p> + +<p class="right fs80"> +Head-quarters, Frenada,<br> +<span style="padding-right: 2em">May 8, 1813.</span></p> +</div> + + +<p class="no-indent"> +<span class="smcap">My dear M——</span>, +</p> + +<p><span style="padding-left: 2em">I</span> have first to thank you for your letter and +paper of the 21st, which was most acceptable, as it happened +to be, once more, the only paper of that date at +head-quarters, and of course the only one which had the +accounts from the French papers of Bonaparte’s having +left Paris, and of the state of their armies, &c. Finding +this to be the case I hastened to read it, and laid it, with +three Courts-martial, before Lord Wellington; more particularly, +among other things, pointing out to him a +malicious letter against him, from Lisbon, stating the +discontent of the cavalry officers at having their horses +turned over to the Germans, and at its being done by a +German officer, &c., and the disgrace at being sent home +dismounted. He read it through, and at every sentence +of that part relating to the general state of the cavalry, +he went on, with a laugh, “a lie!”—“a lie!”—“a lie!” +except as to Lieutenant-colonel Sherlock’s being vexed at +the regiment being sent home. “That’s very true—all +the rest is a lie!”</p> + +<p>I think we are still likely to be here for some days. +The pontoons are only expected to arrive in this neighbourhood +to-morrow, and I have then heard it whispered +that we shall not stir until they are on the banks of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</span> +river, or indeed till they are fixed ready. The brigade of +heavy artillery, namely, six eighteen-pounders, were encamped +about two miles from hence on Thursday, and I +went over to see them. The difficulty of transport may +be conceived when I tell you that there were above a +hundred and sixty of the strongest oxen employed in +getting these six pieces, with the appurtenances, along +the road, besides spare animals.</p> + +<p>The next day the whole proceeded to Almeyda; this, +and what I hear about the pontoons, makes me conceive +that a part of the army at least will cross the Douro +immediately, somewhere in the vicinity of Eschalona; but +of course I can only conjecture, and am very much in the +dark on the subject. The troops still remain at Lamego, +Vizeu, Cea, Coria, Maimento, &c.; the cavalry only round +by Oporto, and some of General Hill’s, have moved yet. +The Hussar brigade are now all up near us, and the +Household troops all in the road on this and the other +side of Sabugal. Some of the Blues have been here; they +are in fine order. I saw some horses as fat as in England; +I hear, however, a much worse account of the Life-Guard +horses. Colonel H., of the Blues, says that he does +not see why his horses should not continue to be in as +good condition as they are now, and look as well through +the campaign; the other soldiers here, however, say, +“Wait for a little duty and starvation, and then talk; +you have done nothing but come up in the best time of +the year, in the grass season.”</p> + +<p>I dined yesterday at head-quarters, to meet General +Graham. He is a very fine old man, but does not indeed +look quite fit for this country work; every one seems to +think and say the same, and also that he is broken since +he was here. It is really to be regretted that such a fine +old man should be exposed as he must be. General +Picton was also there, and seemed in full vigour. All +the great guns come here to pay their respects to head-quarters.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</span> +Lord Wellington is quite well again; was out +hunting on Thursday, and, being kept in by rain all +yesterday, is making up for it to-day by persisting in his +expedition to the fourth division. He was to set out +at seven this morning for the review of General Cole’s +division, on a plain beyond Castel Rodrigues, about +twenty-eight miles from hence, was to be on the ground +about ten, and was to return to dinner to-day by four or +five o’clock. This is something like vigour, and yet I +think he overdoes it a little; he has, however, a notion +that it is exercise which makes head-quarters more healthy +than the rest of the army generally is, and that the +hounds are one great cause of this.</p> + +<p><em>Monday, May 10th.</em>—The weather is, since yesterday, +clearing up again, and is just now perfection—a mild sun, +moist ground, and fine, genial, south-west wind: it will +soon turn now to heat. I inquire daily about the +pontoons, upon which our movement depends, and have +now ascertained that they only left Castello Branco three +days since, and that a commissariat clerk went yesterday +to meet them with fresh animals at Sabugal. They +cannot be here, it is clear, before the 13th and 14th, and +so says General Picton, who passed the men on the road. +If they are then to move on to be fixed, we cannot well +stir before the 16th or 17th, and that seems the general +opinion here now, though Lord Wellington appears to be +impatient about it.</p> + +<p>I have now to tell you of a piece of gaiety of mine +yesterday. I went to leave a Court-martial with Lord +Wellington about twelve o’clock; saw him, and found +that he was at two o’clock to set out for another review +of the Spanish cavalry of the Conde de Penne Villemur, +who have often been mentioned, and were of use in General +Hill’s surprise, &c. I had much curiosity to see these +gentlemen, and finding, after calling upon the Adjutant-general, +that I had only one summons to send out, I<span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</span> +agreed with Lord Aylmer to go with him to this review, +ran home, wrote, sent off my summons, dressed, &c., got +my black horse equipped in his best also, and at one we +set off for Huero, near which the cavalry were ordered to +assemble, on the Agueda. It was about twelve or thirteen +miles distant, and we got there, riding gently, soon +after three, having gone about two miles round, under +the guidance of Colonel B——, close to the Quinta de +Agueda, a pretty farm and gentleman’s house (so esteemed +here), in a wild, park-like scene in the wood. I knew the +road well, for it was nearly my way to Guinaldo, but I +had no objection to see this Quinta, so took merit for my +modesty, but only undertook to be guide home. The +meadows were quite green, the woods all coming out in +leaf, and the thorn in blossom.</p> + +<p>At about a mile from this place we fell in with Lord +Wellington and his aides-de-camp, who had got over, in +about an hour and twenty minutes, by my road. The +party then consisted of Lord Wellington, Lord F. +Somerset, Colonel C. Campbell, the Prince of Orange, his +aide-de-camp, Lord Aylmer, Colonel B——, and myself; +and I assure you the black went neighing about in high +spirits, looking very sleek and respectable. On the +ground we were met by the Spanish generals O’Donnell +and O’Lalor, and found the cavalry drawn up in front of +the river in open order, about seven hundred in all. The +first and best regiment was that of Algarve, the second +was that of Estremadura, and then came on the left a +single squadron of partizans, to be the regiment de +Gallicia. The two first regiments were tolerably clothed, +and some of the men fine-looking fellows, all very fierce +in appearance, with their dark faces and black beards, &c. +The arms, though not uniform, good enough; the greater +part with our cavalry broadsword and carbine, but many +with our sailors’ long straight boarding-sword, and no +bad weapon either—I should think the best of the two.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</span> +The helmets—black and steel, or rather bright iron—were +serviceable, and seemed to have seen no little +service; many, however, were black and brass, belonging +to other regiments, of Saguntum, &c.; the belts generally +white, at least those of the Algarve regiment, many black +in the other. The horses, in general, very small, and +some scarcely fit for duty, but for the most part apparently +well fed, and in very-fair condition; out of the two +one very tolerable set might have been chosen, as good, I +understand, as many French regiments have been when +here.</p> + +<p>The left squadron of Portuguese were queer-looking +gentlemen, in dirty brown, blue, and green jackets of all +hues and ages; one fellow among them was quite a +monster in size, and excited much notice. Lord Wellington +quite burst out into a laugh as he passed. After +his lordship and his suite had passed in front and in the +rear of the whole, as in England, they passed him in +troops and saluted. The officers then appeared the +worst—they were awkward louts; some did not salute +at all, some in a most clumsy manner; but perhaps this +was not a custom with them, as they had inquired what +was usual with us. They were, many of them, however, +round-shouldered, dirty, ill-looking men. Lord +Wellington desired them to form once into close column, +and then to deploy again, and as there was more room +across the river, desired it might be done there. We galloped +across, and then the scene of the cavalry passing +the ford was very picturesque, as the day was very fine +and the mountains and country in great beauty. This +was between Huero and Castilegos. They manœuvred +thus much very tolerably, that is, the regiment, for the +squad of partizans remained behind practising the broadsword. +The ground on which the regiments were reviewed +was quite a bog.</p> + +<p>About five o’clock off went Lord Wellington in a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</span> +gallop across the country home to dinner. We all followed +close for about a league, and then, to save our animals, +not having fifteen as he has, Lord F. Somerset, Lord +Aylmer, General Oswald, and myself went quietly on, +and got here about a quarter after seven, I for one much +pleased with my trip. The Conde P. Villemur did not +command, and, as I understand, has retired in disgust +altogether, because there is a commander-in-chief appointed +in the cavalry, and he wished to be appointed if +there was to be one, or at least not to have any one over +him. He was always, it is said, a person who had a will +of his own, and did not like to obey orders. These jealousies +and quarrels are much to be regretted. The +officer who commanded was Monte Major. His aide-de-camp +told me that a number of their men were on +duty, and that their real numbers were above one thousand.</p> + +<p>The review of the fourth division was, I believe, much +more satisfactory to Lord Wellington, as everything was +in high order—Portuguese and all, about six thousand +five hundred; but having so often seen a good English +review, I was much more gratified with these Spanish +gentlemen. The Life-Guards, &c., are to be inspected +to-morrow.</p> + +<p>The messenger who was sent off on the 17th to Alicant +has returned to-day, and has been round by Cadiz +in his return. He makes our loss less—only about three +hundred, I hear from the official statement—and that of +the French greater: and I was very glad to hear that +Whittingham’s men had behaved well, and that General +Murray was well satisfied with them. The messenger +rode from Cadiz here in three days.</p> + +<p>We have here to-day all the grandees—Marshal Beresford, +General Alava, Don Julian, General Graham; the +latter has been to the review above sixteen miles distant, +to see the Household Brigade. They mustered eight<span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</span> +hundred and twenty-nine rank and file in the field, that +is, Blues and Life-Guards together, and seven hundred +and fifty-one horses, and performed very well. The +horses of the Blues much the best, some of the Life-Guards’ +rather skeletonish. I still fear General Graham +is too old for this work; at least he must not act as he did +at Barossa. Before the battle, I am told, he stood up to +his middle in the water for an hour or more, encouraging +the troops to get on, English and Spanish; and jumped +off his horse on purpose for the example. It is added, +some of the men said, “Come, old corporal, do go and +take care of yourself, and get out of our way.”</p> + +<p>Lord Wellington was to-day in his full Colonel’s dress +uniform of the Blues, and looked very well in it.</p> + +<p><em>Wednesday, 12th, Post-day. Head-Quarters, Frenada.</em>—Still +here, and very probably we shall be so for some +days. There are symptoms, however, of a move soon, +such as the packing of Lord Wellington’s claret, &c. +The pontoons are expected the day after to-morrow. +The twenty-four-pounders are on their march through +Gallicia from Corunna. The eighteen-pounders have +passed on by Almeyda from hence. The cavalry near +the coast, whom I caught for a Court-martial at Oporto +sending every witness from Coimbra, have now in part, I +understand, passed Braga. I sent a case yesterday to +Lamego, but fear it will be too late, and must be tried +on the march: there are so many little delays, however, +that I may yet be in time. The difficulties now increase. +Lord Wellington and Colonel F—— of the artillery do +not agree. Lord Wellington complains much of the +heads of that department. He sent B—— home some +time since, and I now hear F—— is to go to England, +and for the present at least Lieut.-colonel D—— is to +have the command. F—— is much of a gentleman, I +think; draws, it is said, very well, &c., but has a bad +memory, is nervous, and raises difficulties, which I suspect<span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</span> +Lord Wellington does not encourage, but expects +things to be done if possible. I am now told that +General Pakenham is to act as Adjutant-general to the +army, and supersede Lord Aylmer, the deputy Adjutant-general, +but who has acted hitherto as principal. Every +one speaks most highly of Pakenham.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, Frenada, May 15th, 1813. Saturday.</em>—The +first division of the Guards and Germans left +Vizeu for Lamego three days since. The fifth division +have left Lamego, and are marching through the Tras os +Montes. The seventh division have left Maimento, I +believe, on the same route. The sixth have also left Cea.</p> + +<p>When the French, who are still at Salamanca, Arevalo, +Avila, Madrid, &c., hear that we have thus crossed the +Douro and turned their position, they must either assemble +and give battle, which I think they will not do, or they +must at once go beyond the Ebro, and then I suppose we +shall attack Burgos, and cross after them. However it +be, I expect a good long march in the outset. The +army, however, on the whole, is in good condition, and +never has had so long a repose, or been so regularly +clothed. The sick are reduced to nearly seven thousand, +and will probably be never much less. A very bad report +has been made of the pontoons: they changed the oxen +for horses, and these treated them roughly. The day +before yesterday so bad a report was made of them, that +yesterday, when they reached Sabugal, off went Lord +Wellington about twenty-six miles to look at them with +his own eyes. I hear he is glad to know the worst, +but that is bad. They are made too slight, were old and +had new bottoms made for them, but now the sides are +very much shaken and decayed. Exaggerated reports +have reached us that the tin covering is knocked in +holes, and that the wood of the sides may be pinched out +by the touch in some places. Lord Wellington may now, +however, act accordingly, knowing the worst. They will<span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</span> +not pass this way, it is said, but across by Galegos, a +different road from that taken by the heavy guns, the +eighteen-pounders. I now think, therefore, that the +heavy guns will cross towards Lamego by the bridge, and +that the pontoons will be fixed, if at all, further north up +the river. We shall probably cross at Zamora, but cannot +tell: it is said the bridge is not destroyed there.</p> + +<p>On Monday Lord Wellington will review the light +division in our front under General Anson—the 43rd, +52nd, 95th, and the Caçadores Portuguese,—a very fine +body of men. To-morrow he is to fix his tent in the +Praga of Frenada, and will give a dinner to Marshal +Beresford, the 16th being the anniversary of the battle of +Albuera. To this I am asked, though not a military man, +and certainly not present on that fortunate occasion. The +town is so full that some encamp; and Captain M——, +who is just arrived here, sleeps and dresses in the ante-room +of the Adjutant-general’s office, where the printing-press +is all day at work, and leaves him a fine perfume of +printing-ink at night, besides the full smell from the +stables below, through the open floor, which he enjoys +almost as much as I do myself here in my quarters. +The numbers at head-quarters are so increased that I +fear we shall find it very difficult to get quarters when +on the march. We have now Lord William Russell +and Lord John here, the former on Lord Wellington’s +staff, the latter, I believe, as an amateur. We have +also Lord March’s brother in the dragoons, and last, +but not least, I can assure you, Captain Fitzclarence, an +immense young man: he is in the Adjutant-general’s +department.</p> + +<p>The first division from Vizeu are, it is said, to be +at Braganza about the 17th. Great part of the army +will be there by the 22nd, and by the same day the +second division, under General Hill, from Coria, will be +within seven leagues of Salamanca; yet the 52nd, who<span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</span> +to-day are at Nava da Ver in order to attend the review +of the light division at Espeja, are to return to +Guinaldo.</p> + +<p>I have just fallen in with a dozen of the Life Guards, +with their brass helmets, &c. I think before they have +lived to October they will have a very philosophical idea +of a vacuum—one pound of bony, lean beef will occupy +but a little of their long stomachs. I suspect our +good allies, the Spaniards, will think that we have sent +them a regiment of Don Quixotes, and the horses from +present appearances may in a little time make no bad +Rosinantes. Five or six of these tall, six feet high men +were mounted on mules going to Almedia, to get iron; I +pitied them to-day as they were bargaining for a bit of +dear cheese and some dried chestnuts in the market. +They have some spirit, however, and will not enter the +staff mounted corps, a new thing, considering it to be a +sort of police, and declaring that they would rather be +police at home as before than here, if they are to be police +at all. This corps of staff horse is to be two hundred, +and to be composed of volunteers from all regiments. +Officers do not hitherto take to it, but very good-looking +men have volunteered in general; none from the hussars, +I hear.</p> + +<p><em>Monday Evening, 17th.</em>—The dinner yesterday went +off famously, very well managed in the tent, and very +comfortable. Lord Wellington was supported by Marshal +Beresford and General Sir Lowry Cole on one side, and +by General Castanos and Sir T. Graham on the other; +and then all the staff of the three Generals, Wimpfen, +O’Lalor, Alava, &c., with the aides-de-camp; the Portuguese +Quarter-Master-general, and other staff, Lord +Aylmer, Lord F. Somerset, Marquis of Worcester, Lord +March, and all the heads of departments. Almost all +were with stars, medals, Portuguese orders, or something +distinguishing. If I were in the American General<span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</span> +Harrison’s army, perhaps I might get an honourable +mention, like his good friend Charles Walker, the Judge +Advocate-general, who was of such use in the corps of +spies. Then we had Mr. Joe Kelly, of the Life Guards +a famous singer, whom I recognised as having heard at +Shrewsbury races, and he gave us some good songs; and +we “hip! hip! hipped!” &c., to the grandees. I was +much entertained at the etiquette observed between the +Marshal and General Castanos, who should go into the +tent first: at last they went in side by side, as other great +men have before determined that knotty point. Castanos +seems very easy and good-humoured, and willing to give +way, and even to have a little fun, but he is very old. +All the fashionables were at the review this morning near +Espeja, and a very fine sight it was. Between five and +six thousand of the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">élite</i> of ours, and of the Portuguese +troops; the line near three-quarters of a mile long, two +deep, and they marched in line near half a mile over +rough and smooth, and then changed their front three +times, and at last passed in review admirably. The +German hussars, commanded by Colonel Arentsfchild, +were on the right, in excellent style, and beyond them a +brigade of artillery: the day was beautiful, and the scene +upon the whole very striking. Lord Wellington is indefatigable. +He goes six leagues to-morrow another way +to Friexada, to review the English hussars, the 10th, &c. +He looks, I think, a little fagged and anxious.</p> + +<p><em>Guinaldo, May 18th.</em>—On my arrival here at eleven +o’clock to attend the Court-martial, I found the President, +General Vandeleur, had stayed with Lord Wellington to +go over to the review, and had sent an order for the +Court to assemble to-morrow, the 19th, instead of to-day, +of which he had forgotten to give me any notice. If we +march on Thursday I shall be at my wit’s end, and it is +so provoking to lose a whole day thus, just at such a +moment. He is so hospitable, civil, and good-humoured,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</span> +that, though very much inconvenienced, I cannot be +angry.</p> + +<p>The fourth division march from Escuao to-day. The +light will, I suppose, move with us. The second division +are now moving along the Sierras de Francia, the mountains +in sight of us here. This air must be aguish; five +of the officers and a great number of the men of the +52nd, though such fine-looking fellows, are attacked by +the ague when doing no work, and in fine weather. At +Frenada most of the sickness was among the natives.</p> + +<p>Lord Wellington, at the review yesterday, was on one +of his new purchases from General L. C. Stewart. He +gave four hundred guineas for the two, and for this two +hundred and fifty—a gentleman who has gained some +plates in England, and has a name. It is a very pretty +animal, but is as troublesome in regard to neighing as my +black. They were answering each other all the morning. +Indeed this neighing gives quite a character to a Spanish +review—it is heard more than the trumpets. I met in +my way here about twenty Spanish grenadiers, who, I +understand, were part of a treasure escort. They were +very fine men, and were well clothed. Individually they +greatly surpass the Portuguese in appearance: tall, +straight, well-limbed, and with good young countenances. +As to their discipline, or how they will stand, I cannot +say; but such men can only want good officers to do +anything. In the review yesterday, besides the two +regiments of Caçadores Portuguese, there was the 17th +of the line Portuguese: they really marched and went +through the evolutions very nearly as well as our own +men. The men, however, are naturally mean, shabby +men in general, like the pictures of the Queen’s family at +Frogmore, which you must remember. The officers look +much better than those of the Spaniards, and seem most +of them to know more of their duty. The Spanish men, +as men, independent of discipline, are wonderfully superior<span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</span> +to the Portuguese; and yet we have seen, from want +of that knowledge of acting in a mass, and total mistrust +of their leaders, how inferior they have hitherto been.</p> + +<p>The Portuguese people, though they do not talk so +well as the Spaniards, or look so well, have shown much +more practical spirit. When the French passed through +the Spanish towns or villages, the alcalde went to meet +them, the people remained quiet, submitted to the exactions, +and the French in general treated them tolerably +well in consequence, for they thus got food and forage. +In the Portuguese villages, on the contrary, when the +French last entered Portugal, almost every inhabitant +sacrificed his house and property, and fled, according to +orders; and thus it was that the French were so plagued +and puzzled for food, and provoked to destroy the houses +as they did.</p> + +<p><em>May 19th, Six o’clock, evening, Head-Quarters, Frenada.</em>—Just +returned from Guinaldo in time for the post. My +Court met at twelve. We tried the man by one o’clock. +I wrote the proceedings fair, got them signed, and here I +am, very hungry, and find that every one has dined, for +Lord Wellington began to-day to dine at three o’clock, +instead of eight. We do not march to-morrow, perhaps +not till Saturday.</p> + +<p><em>Frenada, May 21st, 1813, Friday.</em>—At last, to-morrow +morning we all break up for the march. I go, as a civil +department, by the route enclosed; I shall, therefore, see +nothing of the greater part of head-quarters for a fortnight. +Dr. M’Gregor goes my way; but who else I +know not. Indeed Dr. M’Gregor wishes to go to Oporto, +and perhaps I may have the whole road nearly to myself. +I am told that the road is pleasant; at least it is new all +beyond Almeida. The light division is to march to-day. +The second are not far from Tamames by this time. +Tamames is, I believe, the military head-quarters on the +second day’s march, the 23rd. The fourth division<span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</span> +passed the Douro, I believe, yesterday; the others have +already done so, and in two or three days the main body +of the army will be at Braganza, Outeiro, and Miranda de +Duero; and the light and second divisions and head-quarters +on this side of the Douro.</p> + +<p>Some of Hamilton’s Portuguese in the second division +are so ill supplied, that Lord Wellington has, it is said, +threatened the Marshal to send them in the rear if they +be not better clothed and fed. He says he would rather +be without two or three battalions, than have them in +such a state as these are. Indeed, he seems either not +quite to trust the Portuguese, or they cannot be supplied; +for he leaves a full battalion, I hear, at Abrantes, and one +or two elsewhere, saying he has Portuguese enough in +proportion. He seems in good spirits, but looks worn +and anxious. The pontoons have crossed the Douro, so +now I do not know where they are to be laid down, +unless to let the second and light divisions and head-quarters +pass over, whenever necessary, or to bring over +the others, if the French should collect.</p> + +<p>The French have hitherto always judged of the situation +of the main body of the army by that of head-quarters: +they were thus twice taken in last year. +Before the siege of Badajoz, Lord Wellington had moved +away nearly the whole of the army before he stirred, and +the whole of the head-quarters were not protected against +two thousand men. This deceived the French then, and +I hope will now, but they are on the alert; at Salamanca +constantly on the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">qui vive</i>, and ready for a run, &c. The +Commissary here has already trusted a man with money +to go and collect forage, &c., at Salamanca, before the +French are gone. Everything is now alive. General +Graham, I believe, commands at Miranda de Duero, or +at least will very soon. General Picton has the ague, +and is too ill to take the command of this division yet, +but remains with it. I thought him looking very well;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</span> +but there is something in this climate which does not +suit the English at all, even when quiet and living well. +The natives have their annual ague fit, and seem to think +it a part of their existence: they are rather unhappy +when it does not come as usual. Lord Wellington’s cars +with the heavy baggage are off.</p> + +<p><em>Frenada, May 20th, 1813.</em>—Route for the head-quarters +of the army.</p> + +<p>The military department will move on the 22nd instant +to Ciudad Rodrigo.</p> +<br> + +<p class="center no-indent"> +<em>The Civil Department.</em></p> + +<table class="autotable"> +<tr> +<td class="tdc">May</td> +<td class="tdlx">22nd.</td> +<td class="tdlx">Almeida.</td> +<td class="tdlx">Depôt of provisions.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc">”</td> +<td class="tdlx">23rd.</td> +<td class="tdlx">Pinhel.</td> +<td class="tdl"></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc">”</td> +<td class="tdlx">24th.</td> +<td class="tdlx">Cotimos.</td> +<td class="tdl"></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc">”</td> +<td class="tdlx">25th.</td> +<td class="tdlx">Villa Nova de Foscoa.</td> +<td class="tdl"></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc">”</td> +<td class="tdlx">26th.</td> +<td class="tdlx">Torre de Moncorvo.</td> +<td class="tdlx">Depôt of provisions.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc">”</td> +<td class="tdlx">27th.</td> +<td class="tdlx">Halt.</td> +<td class="tdl"></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc">”</td> +<td class="tdlx">28th.</td> +<td class="tdlx">Tornas and Lagouça.</td> +<td class="tdl"></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc">”</td> +<td class="tdlx">29th.</td> +<td class="tdlx">Villa Dalla.</td> +<td class="tdl"></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc">”</td> +<td class="tdlx">30th.</td> +<td class="tdlx">Sendim.</td> +<td class="tdl"></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc">”</td> +<td class="tdlx">31st.</td> +<td class="tdlx">Miranda de Duero.</td> +<td class="tdlx">Depôt, &c.</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">G. Murray</span>, Q. M. G.</p> + +<p class="no-indent fs80"> +<em>To the Commandant of<br> +<span style="padding-left: 4em">Head-Quarters.</span></em><br> +</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.</h2> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="fs80" style="margin-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em;">The March commenced—Scenes on the Road—Villa Dalla—Toro—Castro +Monte—Palencia—Prospects of a General Action—Skirmishing—Massa.</p> + +<p class="right fs80"> +<span style="padding-right: 2em">Head-quarters, Civil Department,</span><br> +Torre de Moncorvo, May 27, 1813.</p> +</div> + +<p class="no-indent"> +<span class="smcap">My dear M——</span>, +</p> + +<p><span style="padding-left: 2em">We</span> here halt a-day; on the 22nd, about twelve, I +arrived at Almeida—that heap of ruins—and turned out, +by the authority of the Governor, two Portuguese officers, +to get one miserable room as my quarters. Colonel Le +Mesurier, the late governor, was too ambitious a man to +remain inactive, shut up in Almeida during a campaign. +He therefore applied for a brigade in the Portuguese service, +and, though he could not obtain it, gave up his +government to command a regiment. I met him at the +gate on his way to Miranda de Duero to join his division. +The new Portuguese governor was just moving, but as he +had not yet got into the present government-house he +gave us up all the great stable, which was very good, and +he was in every respect very civil and willing to do the +most for us. In my way here we had no particular +adventures. By the aid of the Spaniard in loading we +have much less trouble, and I have always ridden on, and +got a quarter before the baggage arrived. My only companions +were the Paymaster-general, Hunter, and Mr. +Whitter, and nine other clerks with him, and the military +chest, &c., and two or three commissariat parties. The +weather has been uniformly fine, and at times very hot.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</span> +We have daily been roused at five o’clock, and off at six, +but have nevertheless suffered from the heat, at times +very much, before we arrived at our station.</p> + +<p>On the 23rd we left Almeida and descended to the Coa +and passed it by a very picturesque bridge, rendered more +so from one stone arch having been blown up, and +repaired with wood in a rough style. After a mile of +steep ascent, we reached a lofty, rough, level common, in +a wild, uncultivated country, like Dartmoor; with the +Sierra d’Estrella on one side, still partly tipped with snow, +and the ridge of hills and Castello Rodrigo on the other. +We passed Valverde,—a complete ruin now—a village +without one roof remaining! I was sorry to hear that +we had begun the destruction of it, and that the Portuguese +soldiers afterwards left very little remaining for the +French to do. The next village, Periero, was pleasingly +situated, and we then soon got down by a river, and +observed Pinhel with its old Moorish tower, fort, and +walls, and a bishop’s palace, and a convent adjoining, a +league before us, on the brow of a hill. At Pinhel we +were all fixed by the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Juez de Fores</i> in the bishop’s palace, +and had a choice of large empty rooms in this now uninhabited +but lately handsome house. It was all tight, and +Mr. Hunter having a table by means of baggage, and +tubs for seats, we fared very well. The stables are magnificent, +good ones for thirty horses, and inferior for sixty +horses more.</p> + +<p>At Almeida there was no green forage to be had; we +bought small bundles of grass at about a shilling each in +the grass-market for our animals. At Pinhel we however +got an order for green barley from the Juge, twenty-eight +pounds each animal for the day, and they all fared so +luxuriously that my black gentleman was the next day +very troublesome. In the bishop’s palace at Pinhel, the +rooms formed a very handsome suite round a square court +in the centre; the hangings, &c., all removed, but the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</span> +ceilings ornamented; the rooms well shaped, with a tolerable +garden adjoining; but the house standing exactly +like the Castle Inn at Marlborough, by the road side, at +the end of the town. The water is very bad, a nuisance +from which we are, it seems, to suffer much throughout +the summer in Spain. Last year our men were at times +obliged to hold their noses when they drank. At the +convent adjoining the palace, which has been much +damaged but not destroyed, one or two monks still +remained, and I met one as I wandered over the building. +He was very civil. The palace is now appropriated as +barracks for officers or troops as they pass. The bishop +lives at another, at Santa Euphemie, a league beyond +Pinhel.</p> + +<p>The castle is like all the Moorish castles I have seen +here, with the square smooth towers of well-cut hard +stone, as sharp now almost as when first built. In the +castle lying about are four curious specimens of old +cannon, two ribbed, made of beaten iron bars and braced +together; one of them appeared to be hollow at both +ends, and solid in the middle. The other two a sort of +mortar, something in the shape of a very old-fashioned, +clumsy earthenware jug, with a sort of handle to raise and +fix it for use.</p> + +<p>At the convent was a small aqueduct of stone pillars +across the garden, to conduct a little stream of water to +the monks’ habitations; the stream was so small in the +pipe that you could scarcely see it run at all, but it was +good, and ran constantly all the year, which, as the +only good water was a mile off in the river, was very +valuable.</p> + +<p>On the 24th, our party, consisting of the ten paymasters, +three commissaries, and myself, with about +fifteen dragoons, and thirty or forty horses, and about +thirty or forty baggage animals, assembled at five in the +morning in the palace-court and marched onwards.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</span></p> + +<p>In less than a league we passed a very pretty village, +called, I believe, Valbom, and in another short league +came to Euphemia, another village, with rather a large +but imperfect house where the bishop resides now; and I +believe he was there sitting in his shady colonnade. In +a short time we descended again and crossed the Lamego; +here we all dismounted, and let the animals graze on the +banks, whilst we got some bread and cheese. Half a +league further on we turned up out of our road to +Cotimos, our destination for the night. It was a bad +village, but with a few houses formerly good and still +tight. Mr. Hunter, Mr. Whitter, and I, were in a +fidalgo’s house, and tolerably comfortable, though there +was only an old woman there, but we had chairs and +tables. We made a great cup with the country wine, +brandy, lemons, &c., and were very well off for a dinner +by the purchase of a leveret, eggs and bacon, and mutton +broth.</p> + +<p>On the 25th left Cotimos; and about a league beyond +we came to a much better village, with two or three +very good houses, of imposing appearance. This was +directly in our road, and would have been a better division +of the distance. After another league of excellent +road we passed Marialva, half a league on our left, a village, +with another Moorish castle. After another half +league we came to the entrance of a long winding descent +of a mile and a half, which brought us into a pretty vale, +with another Moorish castle on the hill on our left; and +there we again ate and the animals grazed in the meadows +near a little stream. Thence we had a league and a half +of excessively steep hill to ascend until we got on the +high level where stands Villa Nova de Foscoa; this +ascent at near one o’clock was tremendously hot work, and +very difficult for the baggage.</p> + +<p>We here began to get into the army train. About +twenty hospital waggons were encamped on the hill<span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</span> +near the town, and two troops of the waggon train; and +near them were about eighty ox-cars with bales of cloth +done up in a sort of sacks to fill with straw for hospital +beds, &c. We here got good quarters and tolerable +fare.</p> + +<p>On the 26th, leaving Villa Nova, we began immediately +to descend a winding road to the Douro; this was very +fine, one of the best things I had seen here.</p> + +<p>I was off as soon after sunrise as possible to pass the +ferry before the military chest. I got down to the bank +and found about eighty cars drawn up to pass with ammunition, +boards, planks, and beams, for the repair of bridges, +&c. Two at a time crossed in one boat; and there was +another for mules, &c. I stopped some Portuguese; and +having waited an hour for the baggage, who had loitered +on the road when I left them, we at last got on board +this platform as close as we could stick.—Mr. Hunter, +and six other gentlemen, about a dozen servants, seven +stallions, three mares, and six loaded baggage mules. +After some kicking and confusion, we landed safely, and +after a league of ascent arrived at Torre de Moncorvo. +Both banks of the river were covered on the sides of the +road with parties of artillery or baggage grazing, &c.; +some bivouacking, and others in camp. The scene was +interesting, except that I regretted the obligation of cutting +so much of the corn for green forage just as it was +becoming ripe.</p> + +<p>Here we found the same scene in all the environs; +parties picketed and bivouacking, and more artillery +drivers; quarters very moderate; but shops very decent; +the town not destroyed, for the French have never been +here.</p> + +<p>The great number of troops which have been quartered +here on the march has cleared most of the shops, and +injured many of the buildings; even here we cannot +buy anything except honey, sugar, bacon, bread, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</span> +cheese. The convent of Franciscans above the town is +nearly entire, and has two tolerable pictures—the altarpiece, +and one in the refectory, by Romano, the monks +said, and from the style it may be so. There are some +houses here with the furniture remaining; that of the +Capitan Mor (the head inhabitant, and a colonel of +militia) has painted coved ceilings, and apricot-coloured +silk hangings, with old-fashioned wooden chairs and +sofas, with bottoms to match the hangings. The church +also is handsome. The town is surrounded by hills like +Bath, and yet we ascended to it three miles from the +Douro. I saw also something like a female to-day, a +smart, pretty Lisbon miss going to church—quite a +curiosity; and so, I believe, the inhabitants think. My +old patrona (or landlady) here came to tell me to look out +of the window, as “The Lady” was going by.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, Civil Department, Villa Dalla, May +29th, 1813.</em>—On the 27th, the night before I marched +from Torre de Moncorvo, we had some heavy rain, which +cooled the air, laid the dust, and made our journey +onwards much more agreeable.</p> + +<p>On the 28th, the road to Lagouça was very rough +and hilly, and the distance four long leagues. The +country is fine; the distance very like parts of Somersetshire +and Devonshire in its general features, but the +valleys are less rich, and there are some large pine-woods +on the hills. About half way we passed Carvacies, a +large village; and at the end of four leagues, Tornas, a +poor place, where we had the option of stopping, but +preferred Lagouça. A part of the staff corps were encamped +near the pine-wood, with several cars and materials +for bridges. They are, I understand, about to lay +down a bridge somewhere on the Douro, very near that +part, as a safe retreat in case of accidents.</p> + +<p>At Lagouça I got a tolerable quarter, and bed, at the +padre’s. House dirty only. I found books which he<span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</span> +could not understand, and I believe never looked at. +There was the ‘Recopilacion of the Spanish Laws,’ a +book of authority in Spain. He asked me if it was +mine—the authority I acted from; had I known how to +carry it I would have bargained with him for it. There +was also a Horace, Bourdaloue’s Sermons in Spanish, +and a few other sermons. He gave me some wine, and +was very civil; and honestly sent after me something +that I left behind.</p> + +<p>Within a mile of Lagouça, but out of the main road, +you look down on the Douro, which runs down in a +deep rocky chasm, very fine and wild, with a very picturesque +convent, which was once Mas Bonito, half way +down on the Spanish side of the river, and the Spanish +town of Miesa above. The French had long been at +these places, and had much injured the convent; but +had never got over, as there is only one little bark; and +the brave Portuguese had a sort of battery. The scene +was very fine.</p> + +<p>To-day (the 29th) I started again after breakfast (but +before six o’clock, being always called at four) for this +place. The road was in general good, though rather +hilly and in parts boggy. We passed to the left of +Brosa; to the right of Majaduero, and near two or three +other villages. The country is finer, and still more +approaching Somersetshire. I have here, at Villa Dalla, +got a decent quarter in a great farm-house, where there +are five or six beds about my room, which has, however, +only a door, no window or ceiling. In winter I should +have been starved; it is now well enough. I got a table +and chairs, and have bought one small fowl for a dollar, +and two little chickens, nearly as big as pigeons, all +bone, for half a dollar. We get eggs, and sometimes +milk; and though this country has never seen the +French, the houses do not seem quite in a state of +English repair. The whole road is covered with marks<span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</span> +of the encampments of troops, &c. The back of the village +Lagouça was just like a drawing of an Otaheite +village, and not much better, with bad thatch instead of +tile, the general roof. The villages, however, are numerous, +and much more populous than in the other parts of +Portugal I have seen, and rather cleaner, being nearer +Spain. There was bread from Zamora in the market at +Lagouça regularly for sale.</p> + +<p><em>Miranda de Duero, May 30th.</em>—I came on here to-day +a very long journey, meaning to have two days’ rest, +but found Lord Wellington’s head-quarters had passed +through here this morning; that his lordship left Salamanca +yesterday, and was to be six leagues off in advance, +near the Esla, to-day, the 30th. The French +absolutely ran away, near Salamanca, and a small party +were taken. Spanish head-quarters here to-day, and all +in confusion.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, Toro, June 3rd, 1813.</em>—A day’s halt +will enable me to give you a few lines to let you know +how we go on. The day I sent my last from Miranda +de Duero (May 30th), I learnt that head-quarters were +to be that day and the next at Carbajales, near the Esla, +to superintend one great object of the movement, the +passage of the Esla, a formidable river in a military +point of view. Fearing to be left behind, though without +orders, I determined to march again the next morning +(31st), at four, six long leagues to Carbajales. I +tried to find the nearest road, the longest being round +by Constantia, and, though the best, I did not wish to +go above a league out of my way. My directions were +to pass Yal d’Aguia, Aldea Nova, Fonfrio, and Vermilho. +I got right to near Fonfrio and then, through a +wrong direction given me by a little miss who sent me +by mistake for Carvajosa, I found myself two leagues out +of my way at Pino, and had to cross straight over the +country for Vermilho. The consequence was that I<span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</span> +arrived late and tired at Carbajales, where head-quarters +still remained, and at last got a very bad quarter there, +but a good stable, which General Graham had just left.</p> + +<p>In the evening of the 30th I went down part of the +way to see the ferry over the Douro at Miranda. The +scenery was very fine, and very like that at Lagouça; +the river very deep and narrow, running violently +through a chasm of rocks not unlike Chedder cliffs in +Somersetshire; and the little ferry-boat almost invisible +from above the road down and up above three miles, +though the real distance across seems not above a quarter +of a mile. Lord Wellington and a part of the staff only +came over there. Heavy baggage, printing-press, &c., +were left with the light division near Salamanca.</p> + +<p>In my way to Carbajales, the road I kept near the +Douro towards Aldea Nova was very picturesque, but +bad. For the rest of the way the road became better, +but the country was ugly, like Bagshot Heath, only with +several villages—and the mountains in Gallicia, still +tipped with snow, on our left, or nearly behind us. The +morning of the day I got to Carbajales (the 31st), the +pontoon bridge was placed, and made passable on the +Esla, in less than three hours. The Hussars passed a +bad ford of above four feet water and bad bottom early +in the day to protect this operation, and two divisions of +the army passed before night and encamped. Lord +Aylmer, who had forded in the morning to go over and +look about him, found the bridge ready, and the troops +passing as he returned. These were the pontoons which +had travelled up from Lisbon, and had been the cause of +so much anxiety. About nine of them were used, and +the river about the width of the Thames at Windsor. +This being the state of things, the orders were to have +all head-quarters’ baggage down at the water-side by six, +and to get them over before the other troops should +arrive and the guns. As I had got into a quarter with<span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</span> +Spaniards, and they were lazy, I had some trouble to get +mine off, but succeeded at last, and afterwards rode with +Lord Aylmer.</p> + +<p>We soon fell into the train of head-quarters’ baggage, +the whole of the eighteen-pounders with their ammunition, +&c., and one hundred and sixty oxen and their +spare horses; and also the whole of the fourth division +of the army—a train of three miles length in the whole. +The scene presented by the winding down the hill to the +bridge, and the order with which everything was managed, +and the winding up the opposite bank, was very interesting. +We passed about eight o’clock, baggage and all, +and the guns and two more divisions of the army were +safely over before five o’clock in the evening, with baggage, +&c. We then had about three more leagues of a +Bagshot Heath road, sand and pines, until we suddenly +came in sight of Zamora and the Douro. The latter is +here about as wide as the Thames at Kew Bridge, rather +wider—more perhaps as it is at Fulham. It winds along +a large plain on the south side under the ridge of higher +ground to the north, on which, boldly and well-placed, +stands Zamora with its Moorish church.</p> + +<p>The town pleased me much. It is nearly the size of +Salamanca, and having been much less destroyed, is, at +present quite as good a town: the convents alone have +suffered and been gutted. Some of the French had not +left the place until the very morning our troops entered; +the greater part, however, went off the night before. The +castle was rather strong, and would, if defended, have +delayed us two or three days, but the garrison would +have been sacrificed. It was fitted up very regularly in +the inside by the French for troops, places appropriated +for everything, with the names inscribed. There was +also a large foundling hospital, and a general hospital for +the poor. In the former were only about ten or twelve +babies, and about sixteen children, for they had now<span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</span> +scarcely any funds. Nearly opposite was the general +hospital, with much space and good wards, but not above +six or eight sick, partly from the same reasons, and partly +because the French had only left the people the use of +one small ward, and the room of the intendant, and +occupied the rest with their sick and wounded. They +had also now in this last retreat carried off all the linen, +&c., and only left bedsteads and bedding. They had not, +however, done any wanton mischief in Zamora when they +left it this time.</p> + +<p>The bridge is handsome, but in our retreat last year +we blew up the centre arch out of about a dozen; it had +been repaired since with wood. This the French had +burnt, on the 30th, but by to-day it is repaired and passable. +The people received us very cordially, scattered +roses over our heads, cried <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">viva</i>, &c., and hung all their +counterpanes and the hangings of their rooms out of the +windows. The lady at my quarters embraced me, and was +very kind, but—she was old. There was another like +a plump Englishwoman, to whom I passed on the +compliment.</p> + +<p>The people entertained Lord Wellington and the staff +with a concert, lemonade, and ices, &c. The former did +not admire the time lost in singing psalms to him, as he +said. I met him in the evening, in his Spanish uniform, +riding down to the bridge to give directions. In the +morning he was on one side of the pontoon bridge, and +Marshal Beresford on the other. I almost knocked +myself up running about to see Zamora, for we were to +march again next morning. I could not attend a little +dance given by Lord Wellington in the evening, and +except for the iced lemonade should have been in a fever. +A thunder-storm in the evening cooled the air, and a +good bed made me ready again to march for this place +(Toro), five long leagues, the next morning, June 2nd. +The French having left Toro on the 1st of June, it<span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</span> +became an object to take possession, and open a communication +with the light division, and the second from +Salamanca.</p> + +<p>The road was admirable; a flat sandy level, by the +river nearly all the way, until we came to the ascent on +which the town of Toro is placed, standing still more +boldly over the river than Zamora. The only village +we passed, and that a poor one, was Fresno; but we +saw several on our left, and across the river in the flat on +our right.</p> + +<p>Toro is very old, surrounded by ruined mud walls, and +though it covers much ground has not many good houses, +and is not to be compared to Zamora; there is, however, +a market, with a little mutton and beef, and vegetables, +pork, eggs, &c. The Moorish church here is much +smaller than at Zamora, though that is not very large; +there are a few tolerable pictures in both. The castle here +is stronger than the one at Zamora, and appears almost +new: it stands on the hill above the bridge, and is +rather formidable. The two centre arches of this bridge +had been blown up by us, repaired by the French with +wood, burnt again by them now, and is now being repaired +again by us.</p> + +<p>We passed, two miles from hence, the sixth division +and the seventh, taking up their encamping ground on a +fine meadow by the river side, near a small wood. It +was a very lively scene, the men marching with music, +and as regular, without any disorder or loiterers, as if +going to a review; the whole in high order. Yesterday +evening the light division arrived from a place within +three leagues of Salamanca, a march of nearly eight +leagues, and encamped in a meadow near the water side, +close to the bridge and ford opposite this town: they +only left six men behind in their march. This morning +the horse, the baggage, and the artillery, have all come +over, passing by the ford; and though it is both wide<span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</span> +and deep, I believe without accident, except wet baggage. +The infantry crossed by ladders across the breach in the +bridge—that is, down one side, then up the other—one +by one. They encamp at Morales to-day. This was +also a very interesting and animating scene from the hill, +which is a humble imitation of Richmond Hill in point +of beauty.</p> + +<p>The Hussars have commenced famously; they brought +into Zamora an officer of the 16th (French), and about +thirty prisoners, whom they dashed at, and knocked over +in fine style, with little loss. The officer came in here +prisoner on horseback, which offended the Spaniards, who +were disposed to insult the prisoners, whom they dared +not fight, and who had been with them now nearly four +years or more.</p> + +<p>Yesterday the Hussars again came up with the 16th +French cavalry and some others; the latter had only a +small bridge to pass which would only carry four abreast. +Two squadrons of the 10th formed and charged; the +French stood at first well, but were broken, and then +formed again. The 10th formed, charged again, and +again broke the French; the latter then still made +another effort, but at last ran for the bridge. The 10th +killed a few, and brought about a hundred and ninety +prisoners in here; no horses were taken. Twelve or +fifteen men badly wounded were left about two miles off, +where it happened. Several of those who came in here +were much cut and wounded, covered with blood, wounds +neither washed nor dressed; but they were fine-looking +men; their horses thin, and smaller than ours. Another +officer was taken, to whom I spoke. He said he had +advised that they should not remain on this side the +bridge, but his superior officer ordered otherwise, and +afterwards ran away when attacked. We lost a Captain, +who was taken prisoner, and a Lieutenant killed, both of +the 10th; and about five or six men killed and wounded.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</span> +The Captain passed some way over the bridge, where the +French had artillery and infantry in force, and they came +down and cut him off.</p> + +<p>The French had yesterday, I hear, nearly ten thousand +men about five miles off, and nearly thirty-eight thousand +or more in the vicinity of Valladolid. This made us halt +to-day. The second division are still between this and +Salamanca, but are expected. The whole are now within +eight leagues of this, I believe; most of the divisions +very close. The Spaniards are near Benevente: Don +Julian’s cavalry, between this and Salamanca, have sent +in about thirty prisoners and two officers here to-day, +who were marauding, I suppose. The French told the +people here that they were only moving to make room +for other troops.</p> + +<p>The Portuguese troops are generally in very high +order, as well as ours, quite as well clothed, and hitherto +well in health, though they bivouac when ours encamp, +their Government not furnishing them with tents. Yesterday +was a pleasant cool day for a long march. I met +Lord Wellington again last night, walking about in his +grey great coat alone. We have a hundred pieces of +field artillery with us, besides the eighteen-pounders.</p> + +<p>A French commissariat party were caught in a wine-house +on the 1st of June; one was brought in prisoner, +and nine were killed in the house, as they would not +surrender.</p> + +<p>Lord Wellington reviewed the sixth and seventh divisions +near Morales to-day. They did not perform well, +and the poor aides-de-camp were galloped all over the +country in consequence: the Portuguese were stupid.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, Castro Monte, June 5th, 1813.</em>—On +the 3rd, we started for La Mota, three long leagues of +good road. I was late, for my careless fellows had +allowed one of the mule-saddles to be stolen in the night, +and we were a long time getting off in consequence, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</span> +vainly endeavouring to replace the loss; but upon the +whole, when I hear of all the sore backs, lost animals, +&c., around me, I am lucky. I looked at the two hundred +French cavalry horses which were sold, with a view +to purchase one, but they were all half-starved, and the +service having seized upon the best hundred and fifty +for Government, the remainder, which were sold by +auction, were most miserable.</p> + +<p>The road from Toro was full of animation: it was one +train of baggage and soldiers the whole way, three +leagues, as we are now in the midst of the division. La +Mota is a very good, large farming village, in a productive +corn country, and the quarters were very good in consequence, +the inhabitants being comfortable; the French, +however, who had left it the day before, had carried off +all the bread and fowls, &c. My landlord, Don Fernando +Granado, was very gracious to me. Lord Wellington +was in a large and elegant palace of the Duke of +Berwick and Alva, and, in order to celebrate the King’s +birthday, had the band playing, &c.</p> + +<p>At five this morning we marched for this place, three +long leagues again only. It is a miserable hole; with +only eighty houses of all sorts, and we require a hundred +billets. Several are doubled up, several are encamped, +which, as we have now a thunder-storm and rain, is not +very agreeable. I have an humble quarter, with mules +and all close.</p> + +<p>We had a hot but cheerful ride to-day, as we were in +the midst of the march. I first passed the Household +Brigade; the Blues look very well, the Life Guards fair +enough; then the third division, then the fourth, the +seventh; I saw also the light division; five are within a +league of this. The second crossed the Douro yesterday, +and are to-day about a league on our right, under +General Hill. I saw Picton with his, looking tolerably +well. The French left Madrid the 20th or 28th of May,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</span> +finally, and have by forced marches joined their army +near here. The French were off again yesterday from +Valladolid and Tordesillas, and were to be to-day at +Duennas; it is thought they may stand at Palencia, or +near there; I suspect not, however, though we all wish +they would, and fight whilst our men are in health and +spirits. I have just heard that their right is at Placencia.</p> + +<p>To-morrow we move for Amputia, a good town, it is +said, five leagues off. On our road to-day, about half +way, we passed one of the finest convents in Spain—La +Espina—in ruins; situation good, domain considerable; a +large building, handsome, as far as it remains, but the +walls only are standing. Adieu: I shall finish and send +this off to-morrow.</p> + +<p><em>Amputia, 2 o’clock, 6th June.</em>—I arrived here at ten, +having left Castro Monte at half-past five, and seen my +baggage off, after breakfast; of course I was up soon +after three. The road was by a bye-way over the +common, but tolerably good, and covered with troops +and baggage the whole way, for the third, fourth, and +light divisions of infantry, with their baggage and +artillery, head-quarters, the Household Brigade, and the +Hussars were all on our route, and passed in their way; +they are now in this neighbourhood.</p> + +<p>We passed Villa Alba de Alcor, three leagues further; +an old ruined village rather, with a castle and walls all +around, but nothing particular; after that Villa Real, +a little village, and then here. This is a large old-fashioned +town, with the houses in the streets projecting, +and standing on wooden pillars, so as to form covered +footways, a tolerably large church, and a castle nearly +perfect, where our police corps and the cavalry are +quartered. The people are apparently more cordial and +zealous. I have been over the church, spire and all, and +castle, and have taken two sketches, for the rain has<span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</span> +made it rather cool and pleasant to-day. The country +round this town onwards, towards Sahagun, Placencia, +&c., is a dead flat, covered with villages and towns, but +no trees. Another large castle on a hill, half a league +off, and on the whole rather striking.</p> + +<p>The French left Palencia the day before yesterday, and +are off again in advance, with a good start. Report +says they have also left Burgos town, not the castle; +they are seventy thousand strong, but think us, we hear, +too much for them, and are consequently retiring to +strong positions. By very long marches we might +perhaps press them, and take some prisoners, and part of +the cattle and provisions they are carrying off; but this +might put our army out of the high order and condition +it is now in, and Lord Wellington does not seem to +think this worth while for such an object. So the +Hussars and Household are both kept quiet in this +neighbourhood, and not sent in pursuit; indeed they +could do little without strong support.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, Amusea, June 9th, 1813.</em>—Another +halt to-day enables me to proceed with my journal. +The night I sent my last from Amputia, our orders were +to have all the baggage ready to start, at the end of the +town, by five o’clock on the following morning; and that +I should fall in, and proceed on the road towards Palencia, +in the rear of the column of the third division, but at +the head of the baggage of all the light, third, and +fourth divisions. This was because the French had +shown twelve squadrons of cavalry at Palencia; and +Colonel Waters who went on there that day, could not +enter, so that it was not certain that it should be safe to +give out in orders, “head-quarters, Palencia.” The +cavalry had marched early; and as they entered one end +of Palencia at about six in the morning, the last of the +French were off at the other.</p> + +<p>I passed the third and fourth divisions, went through<span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</span> +Paradilla, and entered Palencia with the light division. +On getting my billet, I wandered about to see all that +was to be seen before my baggage came. The city is +old and curious, in size much about the same as Zamora. +Lord Wellington passed us on the road soon after six, +and went on through Palencia, some way, to reconnoitre.</p> + +<p>We passed through a good open corn country until +about a league beyond Paradilla, and then descended a +long hill, with a deep clay soil, into the green and rich +valley in which Palencia stands. The city appears to +great advantage surrounded with meadows, and some +trees, but mostly young ones. The Carrion is a respectable +river, and we passed the canal near it, about half a +mile from the city, where a very considerable paper +manufactory remains unfinished; and the French having +taken down windows, mill-wheels, &c., for firing and +shelter in their huts for their bivouacs there the day +before, the work will, I take it, be for some time interrupted.</p> + +<p>The bridges into Palencia were handsome and entire. +The streets are rather narrow, and the main one, the +“Calle Mayor,” about a good half-mile long, contains +about three hundred houses, all old-fashioned, and standing +upon stone tall pillars over the footway, on each +side, with the shops under, like Covent Garden. The +houses are in the old style, like Exeter, or Chester, and +Geneva; the streets badly paved, with a most offensive +gutter in the middle; the whole dirty. The bishop’s +palace is a large, plain, neat stone edifice, quite modern, +of 1799, being built round a square, complete only on +one side and a half however, the rest being bare walls.</p> + +<p>The cathedral is Gothic and very handsome, the arches +lofty and rich; but the custom all over Spain of having +the choir in the centre, with very high double screens, +deprives you altogether of the fine main aisle, so magnificent +in our churches. This spoils the effect, though the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</span> +screens and sides of the choir in the centre were most +richly wrought, with Gothic masonry, like some of our +monuments of Henry VIIth’s time. The side-aisles +above are left open, and as there is a range of chapels +the whole way down each side, and at the end, filled +with gildings, saints, and pictures, the whole striking. +There were also a few good pictures.</p> + +<p>I afterwards went to the top of the spire, to survey +the town, villages, and roads around. On my return, +I was sorry to find orders to march again for this place, +Amusea, next morning.</p> + +<p>The town was all hung with counterpanes on our +arrival, which made it look gay, and the people cheered +us much. The general cry, however, is everywhere, +“<i lang="es" xml:lang="es">Viva Espana!</i>” though there is scarcely a Spaniard to +be seen in our line of march. Now and then, however, +we hear, “<i lang="es" xml:lang="es">Vivan los Ingleses!</i>” and “<i lang="es" xml:lang="es">Los Portugueses!</i>” +or “<i lang="es" xml:lang="es">Las tres naciones aliadas!</i>” The Portuguese are in +the highest order, the men really look at least equal to +ours, better than some; the officers are well dressed and +gay, and have the advantage of language; the infantry +and the Caçadores in particular. The whole army +marches very fresh hitherto, but the Portuguese in +particular: they come in even to the last mile singing +along the road. The cavalry are not nearly so good, +and, I suppose, are not much to be trusted. From +what passed last year near this place, when they +turned short round and ran away, they are called the +Vamuses, for they ran off with a general cry of +“Vamus!” Their infantry are termed Valorosas, +from their having hugged and cheered each other early +in the war, when they had for the first time behaved +well and beat off the French, each patting the other +on the heart, and saying, “<i lang="es" xml:lang="es">Mucha valorosa!—Mucha +valorosa!</i>”</p> + +<p>I hope the latter will support their name; and indeed +they are disposed to do so, for we have put so much beef<span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</span> +into both men and officers, that they are quite different +animals, and will not submit at all to what they used to +do, even from the English.</p> + +<p>Our horses finished the half-eaten meal of the French, +and I believe that has been all they have left behind +for us hitherto; not a store of any kind, sick man, or +anything else, has been discovered at Valladolid or anywhere; +they must have been well-prepared for this plan.</p> + +<p>The young avenues of trees round the town suffered +a little by the French bivouac; and our men laid waste +many a field of wheat in their march and for forage. +The former is particularly wrong, being quite unnecessary, +and merely to save perhaps a few hundred yards, +or to get before others a little. I was glad to see +General Picton stop a party, and about to punish them +on the spot. The taking the wheat for forage is also +very bad, for the commissaries regularly buy a field at +each place, and allow us to take each our proportion, +cutting the whole fairly and properly; whereas the +fellows who go and steal, cut patches all about, and +tread down more than they cut.</p> + +<p>King Joseph left Torquemados, three leagues on the +right, the day before yesterday, and it is said, peeped +in again afterwards. The last French troops left it +yesterday at five in the morning, and I believe General +Hill’s head-quarters were there afterwards from Duennas. +Castanos and his Spaniards are on our left all the way; +they came by Benevente across the Esla and so towards +Carrion. Their head-quarters were yesterday, I believe, +at Villoldo, on our left. The Life-Guards and Blues +looked well on their entrance into Palencia, and on their +march yesterday the former, however, seem dull and +out of spirits, and have some sore backs among their +horses. The Blues seem much more up to the thing, but +they are neither of them very fit for general service here. +Lord Wellington saves them up for some grand coup, +houses them when he can, and takes care of them. To<span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</span> +be sure, if many of the French cavalry are like some +specimens we have seen, particularly two deserters +yesterday, who were on ponies I could almost jump over, +one of our Householders must upset them like an elephant, +if they come fairly in contact.</p> + +<p>A French officer, a deserter (the third officer), came +in two days since, with a pretty woman, daughter of +a General, with him; he calls her his wife. Another +starved scullion came here yesterday, and says he is an +officer, and has some papers, but I think he stole them. +He is a little dirty beast, in rags and without uniform. +The cavalry who have been taken and deserters are quite +new-clothed, and the men very fine; the last who has +come in is a Fleming, and had they not persuaded him +to enter our corps of guides, I should have taken him as +a groom, and bought his pony.</p> + +<p>Tamarra, a village a league from this, was deserted +by the inhabitants, with their provisions; the French, in +consequence, made an example of it, and it is as bad as +the Portuguese villages now, almost a heap of ruins. +Indeed, all the houses and villages on the high road to +Torquemada have suffered terribly, and the villages +generally are now becoming worse, more dirty, and <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">à la +Portuguese</i>. I hear this is now the case all round +Burgos, and till we get across the Ebro, if we are +destined to do this. We are eleven leagues now from +Burgos. The weather has been cool and excellent for +the march this last week, and rain often in the night; it +has now rained the last sixteen hours, and I hope will be +fine again for the march to-morrow. I dined with Lord +Wellington yesterday, for the first time on the march, +and gave him your Roman Catholic book, with the lists +of their schools and establishments in England. He +looks well, but anxious, as you may suppose just now, +for a false step may be fatal. All prospers hitherto. +The eighteen-pounders are near, the twenty-fours still at<span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</span> +Corunna, and if wanted will, I suppose, go round by sea +to St. Andero. For the present, adieu.</p> + +<p><em>June 11th, Head-Quarters, Castrogores.</em>—The church +at Amusea is large and handsome: a room 150 feet by +50, and 70 feet high, without a pillar, and the whole +end one mass of gilding. Yesterday morning, after the +violent rains of our halting day, we started at five on a +fine day, the roads in a terrible state, for Mergan de +Fernamental, head-quarters, on the 10th, five long +leagues. Our way was near the noble canal, and through +Pino (one league), a large village. From thence another +league through Fromista, a larger place; then another +league to Requena: then another to Lantidillo, where +we crossed the Pisuerga over a large bridge, left entire; +and then after another long league, Mergan de Fernamental.</p> + +<p>The country was flat, and rich in corn, meadows, &c., +nearly all the way, but low and boggy, and a hard march +for men and baggage, &c.; mine started at five, and did +not arrive till about two. There were villages thickly +set all around us, and all with large churches. The +latter, compared with ours, are very much superior, considering +the size of the places: all possess a considerable +church of rather curious construction, and all somewhat +different, though in general appearance alike. The +church at Mergan was particularly handsome, and more +like our Saxon at Gloucester and Tewkesbury. It had +some decent pictures, so indeed have several of the +quarters, though perhaps not very valuable. Many are +to be bought very cheap, and I should have purchased +some, had I known how to carry them home.</p> + +<p>At Mergan we were in the right road for Reynosa +and St. Andero, and the first division were two leagues +in advance the same way. I conjectured we were going +to open a communication with St. Andero, and to cross +the Ebro as soon as the French from Burgos, and thus<span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</span> +turn them. There seems now, however, to be a change +of plan, as to-day we are come three leagues here, +nearly in the right road again for Burgos, which we had +before left on our right. Here we have fallen in with +General Hill’s division, who are now within half a league +of this place. We are thus all now quite close together, +and report says that the French have united their army +of the north to the rest, and are now between this and +Burgos eighty thousand strong, about four leagues +distant.</p> + +<p>They thus seem to make a stand here, and we are, +probably, assembled in case they should persist, but +many think it is still only a plan to make us assemble +and draw up, to see what we have, and also to give time +for their baggage and plunder, oxen, &c., to withdraw +without loss: time will show. The sooner the battle +comes for us the better, I think: and so do most, but it +will be more tremendous, probably, than any hitherto +fought in Spain. The numbers now approach those of +the great continental armies on both sides, and we are at +least equal, if you reckon all that are well dressed and +ought to fight on our side; as to the Spaniards, hitherto +we must put a query to that. Don Julian’s cavalry +have sent in about forty or fifty infantry stragglers of +the French, and have killed a dozen or more,—about +fifty or sixty in all; several with bad pike or lance +wounds.</p> + +<p>Mergan is a very dirty old town, but this town, +Castrogores, though larger, and the quarters better, is in +that respect much worse; the streets so offensive, that +you must hold your nose in passing through them, and +everything about the place filthy. We passed the +German hussars in quarters half a league off on our way +here, and crossed the line of march of the light and +fourth divisions, meeting General Hill’s army on our +arrival here.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</span></p> + +<p>The scene is now very animated. This place is above +a mile long, round the bottom of an insulated hill, with +a castle at the top of it, which looks over a rich country +for some way to a ridge of hills which bound the whole, +about a league off; trees, however (except just round a +few quintas or villas, and about the several ruins of the +old monasteries), are very scarce; corn most luxuriant, +but not much forwarder than with us in England. +Weather, hitherto, scarcely at all too hot, and that only +for a few hours; at times very cold. Lord Wellington +has gone through again on in front.</p> + +<p><em>Castrogores, June 12th.</em>—As we halt here to-day, instead +of marching to Eglesia, as was intended, I determined +to finish this, and seal up to-day for Lisbon. Colonel +A——, of the German hussars, told me that he saw +about two or three thousand French cavalry the day +before yesterday, but they filed off as we came in sight. +Colonel Waters went on yesterday to within a league of +Burgos. He only saw about fifteen thousand French in +a valley near there, near Quinta della Duennas. They +were about to march, and the reports are that they are +off again, and the whole of the second division of General +Hill’s army have advanced hence this morning. They +began at daylight, and about eight o’clock the Spaniards +began to file by, just below my house. This was General +Murillo’s corps: I went down to look at them. There +were about ten regiments, I think, but most of them +small ones. The men looked very well, though a great +many were quite boys. They were singing, joking, and +in good spirits: the artillery with them in good order, +the draft mules quite fat. The clothing and equipments +of some very good, though unequal to ours, or to the +Portuguese; others moderate only. They wore a sort of +flannel jacket and trousers not at all alike, and some +were ragged, here and there a man barefoot,—very few; +all with good caps, in the French style, and the officers<span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</span> +more respectable than usual, and generally mounted; +some very fierce-looking pioneers, fine grenadiers, and all +with good English town muskets in good order, brighter +than our own, being, most probably, nearly new: in +short, the whole was respectable. If they will but +fight as well as they look, it will do. Doyle’s regiment +was one of the best; but the very best, I think, was the +Regimento del Unione.</p> + +<p>General Alava, the Spanish great man at head-quarters, +is in high spirits, thinks all going on well, and is beginning +to ask one or two to dine with him at his mansion +near Vittoria, where his estates lie. He only begs that +he may have a guard to preserve his green forage from +our soldiers. The Spaniards are astonished at our baggage. +The French carry very little, as they make the +people at the quarters furnish everything they want, +which is not so much as we require. We carry everything +with us. An English captain, therefore, has +(plunder excepted) almost as much baggage as a French +colonel. Barley is already scarce, and not to be bought, +though we pay in guineas. Bread is also scarce, as well +as beef. I hope soon to hear through St. Andero, but +the French have Castro and Santona. We still have +reports that the works at Burgos are being destroyed; it +may be so, if the French resolve to go to the Ebro, for +the garrison will otherwise be sacrificed. We have only +six eighteen-pounders, about the same as last year; the +twenty-fours are at Corunna. This will not do for the +siege well, and I hope that will not be necessary. For +the last thirty miles and more the style of the houses has +changed. They are generally now mud or cob walls, +like those in Devonshire, whitewashed, but not in the +best repair, or else they are unburnt brick, or dried mud +bricks with mud plaster.</p> + +<p><em>Miserable Head-Quarters at Massa, June 14th, 1813.</em>—The +regular English post-day was yesterday, but I had<span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</span> +not time to write then, and as it is ten to one but that +this will be in time for the same packet, though you will +have, I hope, a long letter by the same mail, yet, wishing +to give you the latest news from hence, and to let you +know the events which have occurred, I write again.</p> + +<p>At four o’clock on the 12th, as I told you, Lord Wellington +had not returned from the front when my last +letter was sent off. He came back at seven o’clock; he +and his horse and his comrades well tired. The enemy +were found about fifteen thousand strong, two leagues +south-west nearly of Burgos, with cavalry and artillery. +We had up the hussars (heavy), and General Fane’s +brigades of cavalry. Manœuvring went on a considerable +time with skill. Our infantry could not get up in force +in time, or much would have been done. We had a gun, +however, close to a French column, and killed a few. We +also took an officer and about ninety men prisoners, some +desperately wounded, and one gun. A charge of cavalry +was ordered, but the French moved off.</p> + +<p>There seems to be considerable confusion at times in +the intermixture of the French and English. The light +divisions were at hand; the second near with the Spaniards, +but not up. The Prince of Orange galloped about well, +with orders; he knocked up his horse, and was in some +danger. Lord March met a French dragoon, took him +till he came close for an English soldier, turned short +round, was struck at by the Frenchman, and his horse +slightly hit below the ear: in short, something material +was very nearly happening.</p> + +<p>The next day (the 13th) we had orders to march to +Villa Diego, where head-quarters were yesterday; a dirty +place, but quarters tolerable. The country between is +rich and good, and covered with villages. We passed, +among others, Ormillos, Villa Sandine at a distance, and +Sasamon, in perfect ruin; the whole place, church and +all, both of considerable extent and size, having been<span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</span> +burnt by Romana and his army for some real or supposed +treason. The destruction was certainly well performed; +the punishment severe, and very impartially inflicted. +The next place we came to, which had been a very neat +village, was nearly in the same state, from the same +cause. Villa Diego was nearly six or seven leagues from +Burgos. Lord Wellington, &c., went round that way, +to see how matters went on. They could not find any +French, and at last ascertained that the works, castle, +&c., of Burgos, had been all blown up and destroyed by +five o’clock yesterday morning. This news caused no +little joy to every one, and most particularly to those +who expected to have to knock their heads against the +place. Many good lives have thus been saved. This +news met us about four o’clock yesterday, and in consequence +to-day we had a long march to this place, Massa, +on our way to the Ebro.</p> + +<p>We shall probably nearly all get across about the same +time; I think French and all. Some of the Spanish army +of Gallicia pass to-day up towards Reynosa. The first +division do the same to-day or to-morrow. We met one +cavalry brigade on their road to cross at St. Martine to-day. +General Murray told me that we should probably cross +to-morrow; but I find we are here five leagues from a +bridge or ford. The first two leagues here to-day were +through a productive country like Wiltshire; round +smooth chalk hills, well-watered meadows, and rich +pasture valleys, with abundance of grass: draining and +better farming, with cleanliness, were all requisite. We +then entered a rough, wild country, with rocks, &c. We +nearly all lost our way, including General Murray, the +Quarter-Master-general, with whom I was riding, Lord +Wellington himself, and nearly all the baggage! We +were near a place called Brulla, ought to have passed +Cuirculo, near Urbel de Castro, whereas we got through<span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</span> +a rugged pass in the rock, came down to a picturesque +village, called La Piedra (so called, probably, from the +rocks around it), and there we fell in with the fifth +division. At last, after passing another little space called +Fresnoy, and leaving Urbel de Castro, in a valley on our +right, with a curious small castle on a pointed hill close +to it (from whence the name), we arrived at this wretched +place. The houses in this place would not in any way +hold half of us; so the Spaniards have been sent back to +Fresnoy, the artillery, commissaries, paymasters, and +doctors to Vilalda, or some such place, a league off.</p> + +<p>I was forgotten, but have, from there being one spare +quarter, got a wretched dirty hole here: it is the worst +of dirty cottages. My baggage is all in the entrance. I +have no place but a dirty passage to put up my bed in; +I have a table and chair, but am surrounded by baskets, +hampers, tubs, boxes, sheepskins, dirt, &c. Cobwebs and +dirt are dropping upon me continually. Most have encamped. +Lord Wellington and Marshal Beresford are +walking up and down the street, and the Military Secretary +is writing under a wall, upon his knees, whilst his servants +are pitching his tent. In a little field where General +Alava is about to encamp, there were just now the Military +Secretary, Colonel Scovell, the Commander of the Police +Corps, Fitzclarence, General Alava, the Spanish Aide-de-camp, +Colonel Waters, the Prince of Orange, and your +humble servant, all lying upon the ground together, +round a cold ham and bread, some brandy, and a bottle +of champagne. And no bad fare either you will say. +The Prince and Lord Fitzroy, like two boys, were playing +together all the time.</p> + +<p>The people in this part of the country are as bad, if +not worse than in Portugal. There is nothing but filth +and laziness. They are not good-looking either. They +live in dirty mud houses, and fleas are so abundant that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</span> +I cannot sleep from their annoyance. I suppose we shall +cross near Puente Arences, or Rampalaise, to-morrow, or +next day at the latest. The French have left about ninety +sick or wounded at Burgos, and the bedding of the hospitals, +about eight hundred beds. No cannon, &c. We +are already short of forage or corn for the horses; bread +scarce, as well as spirits, and the country we enter produces +little or nothing.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.</h2> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="fs80" style="margin-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em;">March continued—Quintana—Anecdote of Wellington—Morillas—Vittoria—The +Battle—Its Results—Plunder—Kindness to the Enemy—Madame +de Gazan—The Hospital—Sufferings of the Wounded—Estimated Loss.</p> + +<p class="right fs80"> +Head-quarters, Berberena,<br> +<span style="padding-right: 2em">June 18, 1813.</span></p> +</div> + +<p class="no-indent"> +<span class="smcap">My dear M——</span>, +</p> + +<p><span style="padding-left: 2em">My</span> last left me at Massa, on the other side of the +Douro, in a miserable quarter. On the following morning +(the 15th) we marched for Quintana, on the same +side. For about four leagues we proceeded through a +rough hilly country, barren, but at times picturesque. +We passed troops all the way, and at last came to a +tremendous long hill which led us down to Quintana, +near the banks of the Ebro. Troops were descending +the hill, infantry, cavalry, and artillery, from eight or +nine o’clock until past four; and at last the baggage, +which was kept waiting on the banks around the road-side, +moved on; the scene was very striking. The +artillery was much shaken; some guns were lowered by +hand, with the wheels locked, without horses, and all +very gently; four wheels gave way, and the 18-pounders +had to go round by St. Martine.</p> + +<p>The valley in which Quintana and six or seven other +small villages were placed, and through which the Ebro +passed, was very rich and beautiful, surrounded with +rocky heights and covered with corn, beans, fruit, vines, +trees, &c., and the villages externally very picturesque. +Internally, however, they were most wretched, and my<span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</span> +quarter was misery itself. The people had not seen the +French in the valley for two years, until about ten days +before we were there, when they had been through to +collect contributions, and to seize part of a magazine +formed there by Longa. The head-quarters’ house was, +however, good, and near it was a large but unfinished +and unoccupied college, for young persons of both sexes, +founded about twenty years ago by the owner of the +head-quarters’ house, by the desire of his deceased wife, +for the education of children of the valley. The great +man of the valley, however, was the owner of the Adjutant-general’s +quarter, and only a Procureur there—a +poor abode. I think he was called the Marquis de Villa +Alta. There was a small castle, and the whole scenery, +particularly along the banks of the river, was very delightful. +I longed for a tent, for I could not live in my +house in the daytime from the smoke, and could not +sleep in the night from the fleas. The light division and +the fourth were encamped in the meadows across the +river, and added, by their fires and tents, much to the +interest of the scene; the cavalry and artillery passed +through the valley. The river runs in this part about as +wide as the Severn above Shrewsbury—less than the +Thames at Maidenhead.</p> + +<p>The next day (the 16th) we crossed the river, and proceeded +with the troops between the lofty rocky banks of +the river, above the valley, on a road cut close to the +water, and winding alongside the river for about a league +and more, most beautifully! in some respects like the +Wye, the cliffs almost like Cheddar, and wooded to the +water’s edge. The constant line of cavalry and infantry, +whenever the eye caught the winding road, was very picturesque. +In two places were the remains of walls across +the road made by Longa or the French—I do not know +which.</p> + +<p>The road afterwards turned from the river, and through<span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</span> +a fine country brought us to Medina de Pomar, leaving +Villa Cayo on our left. Medina de Pomar, our next head-quarters, +was a straggling dirty town, and the accommodation +very moderate indeed. I got a tolerable clean +room for myself at the apothecary’s, but my stable was +down a cellar with dark stairs, and I could scarcely get +my animals in or out. The alcalde was not civil, nor did +the people appear glad to see us. The town was very +full, for the Spanish Generals Mendizabel and Longa +(the <i lang="es" xml:lang="es">ci-devant</i> Guerilla chief) were quartered there on our +arrival, and did not seem disposed to move for us.</p> + +<p>I saw Longa in the street; rather a stout man, well +dressed in a sort of hussar uniform, and looking civilized +enough. I was in hopes of meeting him at Lord Wellington’s, +where I dined that day, but he did not stay. +The party of cavalry attending him were all uniformly +dressed, and seemed to me to be more regular than most +of the Spanish regulars. They wore scarlet jackets, and +appeared not unlike some of our volunteer yeomanry +cavalry, but they had quite an air of consequence which +was amazing. Longa has left thirty of them and two +officers at head-quarters, as part of the corps of guides, +to assist in keeping up the communications of the army, +in which way I have no doubt they will be very useful.</p> + +<p>Lord Wellington was at Medina in a large nunnery +where there were twenty-five ladies, who came and played +at bo-peep with us in the chapel, which was a handsome +building. The altar was very rich, and in the centre +was a piece of clock-work of small moveable figures describing +the crucifixion.</p> + +<p>On that day General Jeron arrived, the General of the +Gallician Spanish army acting with us, and he dined +there. Castanos, the former General, is now a sort of +General of two armies, and amuses himself by parading +through all the towns and places in the rear of the army, +Burgos last: I suppose he is employed somehow in this<span class="pagenum" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</span> +way. Jeron is a man about thirty-six, I should think, +and looks very much like a gentleman and a man of +talent; he is very well spoken of, and considered as one +of the best of the Spanish leaders. Through Corunna +we have news to the 6th of June. Talking during dinner +of the late accounts from Bonaparte, and of the sentimental +story about Duroc, which Lord Wellington was +laughing at, General Jeron said, “If there was such a +place as hell, he thought Bonaparte quite right, and that +he and Duroc would most certainly meet again there.”</p> + +<p>Yesterday, the 17th, we started again (having had no +halts) for Quincoces, five long leagues almost, towards +Vittoria, but to the left: there our head-quarters were +yesterday, in that and the neighbouring villages. The +troops I think were pushed on in this way, from an account +received from Longa and others, that the French +rear was still at Pencorbo, and part even at Briviesca, on +the other side of the Ebro. Longa gave great hopes of +doing something. We have, however, our difficulties +from this. We get no corn for the horses, and bread is +very scarce; stores gone for the present, for we outrun +our supplies, and there is very little to be bought. We +have bought some and baked it, to supply us as we go, +but some divisions have been for one or two days entirely +without, and others on short allowance. We hope now +soon to get into a better country, towards Vittoria, but +Longa and the French have cleared everything about this +country.</p> + +<p>Longa, when we came to Quincoces, was ordered on to +Orduna, having had all he could from this place. On +taking leave he collected all their oxen for the plough, +ninety in number, all they had left, and drove them off. +The people received us with tears and lamentations, and +with no small fear, not knowing what we should require +next. My patron seemed quite stupified and melancholy. +We told this to General Alava, and he galloped off with<span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</span> +two dragoons after Longa’s people and the oxen, overtook +them, and compelled them to restore them to the +owners, to their no small satisfaction. At last we found +eight hundred pounds of bread, that is, flour; half a day’s +rations for head-quarters only. We bought it, paid for +it with guineas, and baked it—<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">voilà la différence!</i> But +this cannot last or be general; the divisions cannot do +this.</p> + +<p>We last night heard that the French were over the +river Ebro, and as near Vittoria as we were. However, +we advanced in hopes of something arising, and head-quarters +were ordered to be at this place, Berberena, and +the neighbouring villages. It was intended that Marshal +Beresford should have been at a village half a league in +front of this place, but when we arrived near here, about +nine o’clock, we found two divisions of the 1st and 5th +halted here until further orders. We heard a cannonading +in the front, at this village, and found that the +French were making some stand in a narrow pass near it, +and in the village. Beresford was put into a village to +the rear of us, and an order soon came out for all baggage +to proceed to that village for security. Mine was +unloaded; but as I saw the French just before us, only +about a mile off or little more, I made my people all load +again and stand ready to be off, whilst I went with my +glass to the end of the village, to a rising ground, to +witness the skirmishing, and to be ready to act accordingly.</p> + +<p>A brisk cannonade was going on, a few shells were +thrown, and a light infantry attack. The French I saw +very plainly in the churchyard and village on the hill +beyond. They advanced under a ridge in the ground +and some bushes, where they stood above an hour and +more, when I saw our men and the Portuguese advance +gradually and drive them back. The cannon advanced +also, and the French by degrees went out of sight round<span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</span> +the hill, our guns and soldiers after them. Very few I +believe were killed on either side; but our light division +I find went round by Espeja, and, falling in with another +division early in the day, routed them so completely, +that two battalions dispersed, and the light division got +a quantity of mules and baggage, with a good deal of +money; some privates got two or three hundred pounds. +About three hundred prisoners were taken, and some of +the runaways are still coming in. One French battalion +fled towards Frias, and some Spaniards are sent off after +them.</p> + +<p><em>Morillas, Head-Quarters, June 20th.</em>—Our orders yesterday +morning (the 19th) were to set out at eight o’clock +through Osma, where a little affair took place the day +before, and so on to Escorta, following the fourth division. +We did this, and I was riding with the doctors +just before that division on towards Escorta, when we +were told that the French were only two miles in advance, +and that there was nothing between us. Upon +this we turned out of the road into a field of vetches for +the horses, and let the fourth division go by, and have +the honour of preceding us, as we did not quite think +the French would run away at the sight of us civilians. +When this division came well up we went on, passed +through Escorta to another village half a league beyond, +and then, by the advice of an officer, who told us they +were going to attack the French, who were strong at +this place, Morillas, and that the passage of the river +was to be forced, we ascended a high hill on our right, +which commanded the whole scene of action, and there +with our glasses we could distinctly see everything.</p> + +<p>As soon as the light division had got almost round +the hill on our right, from the direction nearly of the +Frias road, in order to be ready to advance and turn the +French position, the fourth division advanced to the +village here, and the skirmishing began from the houses<span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</span> +and a chapel on the river. In about half an hour our +men entered the village, and we got about three field-pieces +into play close to it. We then saw the French, +who were in considerable force on the other side, and +formed into a crescent on a hill near, begin to move off, +at first gently, but soon in quick time, and a part of our +division was very soon formed beyond the village over +the river. The skirmishing thus went on all the way +up the road and hill beyond to another village half a +league further on the hill, where the French were drawn +up in greater force. When our men got up, however, +the enemy went off pretty quickly, and were last night +in great force, some say fifty thousand, in a plain about +a league and a half from this, and about half way to +Vittoria.</p> + +<p>The pass here was very defensible, and not easily +turned; but the resistance was very slight, and few fell +on either side. I suppose the French were afraid of +bringing on a general action by further resistance. They +had not any artillery with them near here, I conclude, +from the fear of losing their guns, as just through and +near the village the road is so bad and narrow, that our +baggage, without any resistance, did not pass through to +the two divisions beyond until dark at eight o’clock, our +head-quarter baggage having all followed on here.</p> + +<p>Lord Wellington walked into a house and made it +head-quarters. I have a sort of barn here. We have +had wet and cold weather for these three days; I can +scarcely keep myself warm to write, though with my cap +on and double waistcoats. This is considered extraordinary +here for the 20th of June, though the climate is +always much colder and more subject to wet than in the +more southern parts of Spain.</p> + +<p>There is a large plain near Vittoria, and then all beyond +is hilly to France. An officer of the 95th was +killed on the 18th, and about seventy men wounded, I<span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</span> +hear. Yesterday an officer of the Fusileers was wounded +badly in this village, and lies in a house here: in another +house a very spirited Portuguese (Caçadores) serjeant is +also lying wounded.</p> + +<p><em>3 o’clock.</em>—The French remain in the valley, but it is +thought will be off to-night.</p> + +<p><em>Vittoria, June 23rd, 1813.</em>—My last was of the 20th +from Morillas, and on the 21st I arrived here after a +scene never to be forgotten. Our baggage was that +morning ordered to remain ready to load until further +orders. The French were very strongly posted at about +a league and a half distance, directly across the road to +Vittoria, about sixty or seventy thousand strong, and +extending about a league; their centre supported by a +wood and a small river, their left by strong wooded hills, +and their right on another hill not so strong. The +attack was ordered in the manner you have seen before +this in the “<cite>Gazette</cite>.” General Graham was to turn +the French right flank; General Hill their left. I +mounted my horse about nine to see the result, leaving +Henry and everything behind, with directions to do +exactly the same as Lord Wellington’s servants. I got, +with Dr. M’Gregor and a few others, on a hill about a +mile from the French, which commanded nearly the +whole scene. At about half-past ten the firing began +very briskly on the hills on the French left. The different +ridges were well contested; but our people constantly, +though gradually, gained ground, and advanced +along the top ridge to turn the French. The cavalry +were nearly all close under us to be ready, some in the +rear, and one division of infantry also. General Pakenham’s +division was not up at all—it was four leagues in +the rear.</p> + +<p>By the ground gained on the French left, and soon +after from General Picton having got up quite on the +ridge of the hills there with his division, a steep and difficult<span class="pagenum" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</span> +ascent, the centre were enabled to advance a little +also, and much skirmishing began there near a little +village before us, which was for some time contested. +At length, some guns being brought to bear there, and +one also half way up the hill, the village was passed by +our people, and we saw them lying sheltered under a hill +beyond, nearly opposite the wood at the French centre. +A smart contest then ensued. The cannon and a few +men from the hill and village fired into the wood, and a +constant firing was kept up from the wood on our men; +the main contest being still, however, on the hills on the +French left. By this time, about one, we on our hill all +advanced to another nearer, to observe more distinctly +with our glasses. Soon after this, General Graham’s +attack began on the French right, and a very brisk cannonade +was then kept up right and left. The French +line on the hill on the right and left (for we saw the +whole of their line) began to give way a little, and to put +itself in motion, and the plot then thickened. Still we +gained ground, and some of our men also got close to the +wood, and, lying down, kept up a smart fire. The cannonading +lasted two or three hours, the English constantly +gaining ground. Our party moved a second time +to a third hill within the original French picquets, and +in front of our cavalry. At last we saw our line forming +gradually under shelter of the rising ground, within half +a mile of the French line and guns. They then advanced, +and the cavalry began to move up—some say +rather late, as Lord Wellington was not there to give +the orders.</p> + +<p>We then left our hill and advanced with the Household +Brigade constantly as they moved. We now began +to see the effects of the guns. Dead and wounded men +and horses, some in the most horrible condition, were +scattered all along the way we passed. These were principally +cannon-shot wounds, and were on that account<span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</span> +the more horrible. It was almost incredible that some +could live in the state we saw them. From my black +feather I was taken by some for a doctor, and appealed +to in the most piteous voice and affecting manner, so +that I immediately took out my feather, not to be supposed +so unfeeling as to pass on without taking any +notice of these poor creatures. Our hospital spring-waggons +were following, and men with frames to lift up +and carry off those near the roads. Some in the fields +about crawled by degrees into the villages; but hundreds +have lain without food or having their wounds dressed +until now, two days afterwards. Parties are sent all +over the contested ground to find them, though the peasants +are continually bringing in the wounded.</p> + +<p>On the hill in the centre of the French position, at a +village where we first came in full sight of Vittoria, and +about two miles distance, the contest was very sharp, +and the three first guns were taken, with several tumbrils, +and there the first charge of cavalry took place. +The sufferers there were principally Portuguese of the +11th and 21st regiments, and we had all along seen +more of our people wounded than the French. We now +found swords, muskets, knapsacks, &c., in all directions. +The stragglers and followers were stripping and plundering, +and a scramble ensued for the corn, &c., which was +in the tumbrils with the ammunition. The Hussars in +their charges suffered much. The Life Guards I kept +close to all the way to Vittoria, and to that time they +were not engaged.</p> + +<p>We could hear the whistle of the cannon-shot, and +saw the ground torn up where they struck. Tumbrils +and guns were now found upset or deserted at every +half-mile; and when we got near Vittoria the road was +absolutely choked up with them, so that our artillery was +some time stopped. Some of the Life Guards were +placed at the gates and in the streets here, to keep soldiers,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</span> +&c., out, and to preserve order as far as possible; +and we rode into Vittoria amidst the cries, hurras, and +<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">vivas</i> of the mob, which consisted chiefly of women. We +looked into the stores and found little left, and then +passed through the town, at the further side of which we +stopped at a very curious scene. The French so little +expected the result, that all their carriages were caught, +and stopped at this place—three of King Joseph’s, those +of the Generals, &c.; the Paymaster and his chest, the +<i lang="es" xml:lang="es">Casa real</i>, hundreds of tumbrils, the wives of the Generals, +all flying in confusion; several carriages upset, the horses +and mules removed from them, the women still in their +carriages, and the Spaniards (a few soldiers, but principally +the common people) beginning to break open and +plunder everything, assisted by a few of our soldiers. +Upon the whole, our people got but little of the plunder, +except by seizing and selling a few mules. The seats of +the carriages were broken with great stones and ransacked, +and gold, silver, and plate were found in several +in abundance. I took a case of maps, part of Lopez’ provincial +set, and a horse-cloth, which I bought of a Portuguese +soldier as a memorial, but would not meddle with +the rest. Maps, books, &c., were thrown aside; brandy, +&c., drank.</p> + +<p>In the midst of this, a lady in great distress, well +dressed and elegant, with her carriage in the ditch, and +she herself standing by, appealed to me, and, asking me +if I could speak French, said she was the Countess de +Gazan, wife of the French General, and that she wished +to get back to the town, and, if possible, save her horses, +mules, and carriage, and those of King Joseph, which +were by. With the assistance of two hussars, after above +an hour, I at last accomplished this in a great measure; +that is, I got the lady, her woman, the carriage, and four +out of six of the animals, to the house of a friend whom +she pointed out to me, and also a few loose things out of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</span> +the carriage. The other two animals and the three +trunks of clothes had been plundered before I arrived. I +also put King Joseph’s carriage and horses in their way +to the square of the town; I then went and tried to find +out amongst the prisoners a little boy of two years old, a +son of the General, whom some French gens-d’armes had +taken from the carriage to carry off, and who had not +since been seen, and whom the mother thought was taken +prisoner. I could not find him anywhere; but I met +Lord Wellington returning to the Palace at ten at night +to his quarters there; and as Madame de Gazan was most +anxious that he should know she was taken, I told him, +and also about her boy. He desired me to say that he +could not then see her, but that she might rely on his +doing what he could to find the child, and that she should +be immediately at liberty to join her husband. This I +went and told her. I also found an English aide-de-camp +of General Hill, who had been released only the day +before, having been prisoner, and to whom she had been +very kind when he was with the French, and who had, +on taking leave, promised, if the fate of war should make +a change in their relative situations, to return her attentions.</p> + +<p>My return and message made her more easy: I fear, +from what I have since heard, that her boy was killed +between two carriages; but still hope he may have escaped. +The confusion lasted all night, and indeed, has +continued until now. The event was also so little expected +on our part, that for a long time there were no +guards for the prisoners, and many escaped in consequence, +and several are still wandering about the country.</p> + +<p>The next day (22nd) the head-quarters followed the +French to Salvatierra; but I was advised by Colonel +Campbell and others to stay quietly here, and proceed +afterwards. I did so, but already repent, for no place is +so certain of news, and so secure, as head-quarters, though<span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</span> +the accommodation is often most wretched. I have been +over the hospital, and the scene which I there witnessed +was most terrible; seventeen or eighteen hundred men, +without legs or arms, &c., or with dreadful wounds, and +having had nothing to eat for two or three days, the +misery extreme, and not nearly hands sufficient to dress +or take care of the men—English, Portuguese, Spaniards, +and French all together, though the Spaniards and Portuguese +had at first no provision at all for their people. +Half the wounded have been scattered round the villages +in the neighbourhood; and there are still many to come +in, who arrive hourly, and are lying in all the passages +and spare places around the hospital. A Commissary is +just established.</p> + +<p>Six hospital waggons are just now setting out for +another load of these poor wounded fellows!</p> + +<p>I do not know what now to do as to proceeding to join +head-quarters; for, to our great surprise, last night Lord +March was sent over here to tell the Commandant, who +was just appointed, that it was discovered that from ten +to twelve thousand French, supposed to come from +Bilboa, were in our rear, and might be in here soon; +that a division of men (I believe General Pakenham’s) +was left for our protection, but that every man here capable +of bearing arms must be kept in readiness, and every +one must be ready to leave this place at an hour’s notice. +I now, therefore, do not know what to do exactly, and +wish myself at head-quarters. The pay-chest, with about +a hundred or a hundred and twenty thousand dollars of +French prize money in addition, is still here, and several +of the doctors.</p> + +<p>In the blue coach was a box of gold in different shapes, +which a servant of King Joseph stayed behind to give up +to Lord Wellington, and which report says he has given +to his own personal staff. But everything was in confusion; +even the ammunition waggons were left unguarded,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</span> +and were broken open to be ransacked, and we have had +accidental or intentional explosions almost every hour +since. One tumbril with twenty shells was set fire to by +the foolish Spaniards yesterday, and several persons were +hurt in consequence. Every one is taking and wasting +the musket cartridges, notwithstanding Lord Wellington +is really in want of some. All, however, are now busy in +trying to remedy this confusion.</p> + +<p>I hear that nearly one hundred and forty pieces of +artillery have been now taken in different states and +places between Morillas and Salvatierra. The French, +however, have comparatively lost fewer men than we did; +the Portuguese more than their proportion; the Spaniards, +several. Some corps behaved well, though General +Picton said some liked best to fire away and make a noise +at a distance.</p> + +<p>I fear that few prisoners are taken—as far as I can +learn about a thousand; and I suppose they had a thousand +killed and wounded, having done us much mischief +with their tremendous artillery firing. Their line would +not stand at all when Graham advanced to turn them, but +they were off so quick that our men opposed to them +could not get up to them. Had they waited for a fair +attack, the prisoners would probably have been numerous. +As it is, the French still have numbers, and, though the +equipments of the army are gone, they may, if they can +fall back on supplies, be again formidable. Report also +says that Suchet is moving fast to join them. Last +night, when our head-quarters were at Salvatierra, the +rear of the French was three leagues in advance; they +are off so quick, the weather is so bad and wet, that I +fear we shall have many sick in the pursuit. The result +of the whole is, however, the most glorious possible, whatever +may be the consequence; never was there for the +time an army of sixty or seventy thousand men, as we +say, more completely routed and put to flight. Several<span class="pagenum" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</span> +French Generals are killed, wounded, or prisoners; in +officers of rank the French have suffered much.</p> + +<p>It is so very difficult to be at all certain as to our own +loss, unless one is in the secret, that I shall say nothing +but that General Colville, who had a slight knock in the +arm, is the only officer wounded of whom I have heard. +The 18th Hussars suffered much. I must now see the +Commandant, and settle whether to move or not. The +reports when not at head-quarters puzzle one very much. +A dragoon (Spanish) rode into the town yesterday, and +came up to me in the square to ask for the mayor of the +town, to tell him that six thousand French were only two +leagues off. I took him to General Pakenham, whose +division had just arrived. He carried the man off to see +what he knew, and said, if true, he would have a dash at +them. I suppose this was in part true, from what passed +afterwards about the French in our rear; the division of +men is still, however, close to us.</p> + +<p>Suchet was endeavouring to join the other French +army, and was, as the prisoners say, in the neighbourhood +of Logrono for that purpose, so that he will soon be with +the others. Tarragona we hear is taken, and I conclude +Murray is after Suchet. I have had much conversation +with the Commissary-general of the army of Portugal, +a talkative perfect Frenchman. He has lost everything, +and has neither money nor a change of linen, but he +seems tolerably happy. He says he had orders to pay +out of the Treasury when the fire had commenced, which +was madness, and he described the confusion of the fight +most eloquently and most truly I am sure. Joseph had +sent off a caravan of valuable pictures only the day +before, and various kinds of baggage, and a heavy train +of artillery. Some of this will, I think, be caught in +the confusion, but the pictures probably destroyed.</p> + +<p>Head-quarters are to-day at Echarva Aramaz, and I +mean to get as near that place to-morrow as I can, or<span class="pagenum" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</span> +even there, if I can get my baggage over the nine +leagues in the bad state of the roads, for it has rained +constantly these ten hours. Lord Wellington has not +given the box of treasure to his private staff. It has not +yet been opened, but is here. Colonel Campbell, who is +just come into the town on business, says that the French +have committed great ravages on their route from this +place, destroying property, committing every excess. A +girl at Lord Wellington’s quarters at Salvatierra accuses +even King Joseph of an attempt at violence; but I do +not believe it. Some very strange things were found in +the baggage. I was sorry to find that, except stragglers +and more baggage, we have got little more by our pursuit. +There are tumbrils I am told to the amount of five +hundred, and carriages and carts as many. King Joseph +had neither a knife and fork nor a clean shirt with him +last night. The loss to the French must be very considerable, +though our gain is not nearly so great, from the +destruction of many, and the quantity of things taken, to +us of little use.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.</h2> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="fs80" style="margin-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em;">Pamplona—Pursuit of Clausel—Wellington on the March—Prospects of +more Fighting—Effects of the War—The French Position turned—Anecdote +of Wellington—Ernani—St. Sebastian—Wellington’s Movements.</p> + +<p class="right fs80"> +Head-quarters, half a league from<br> +<span style="padding-right: 2em">Pamplona.</span></p> +</div> + +<p class="no-indent"> +<span class="smcap">My dear M——</span>, +</p> + +<p><span style="padding-left: 2em">I</span> have repented staying two days at Vittoria. The +consequence has been that I fell in with all the fagged +division of the army, and found every hole full of troops, +and nothing to eat or drink. The roads were poached up +knee-deep with clay, and I have almost knocked up both +myself and my animals. Yesterday I had no dinner, +and to-day no breakfast, and the first day I was twelve +hours on the road going six leagues to a place two +leagues beyond Salvatierra; from thence I got in +thirteen hours more to Orunzun, eight leagues. There +my baggage did not arrive in time, and I went to bed +without dinner and without anything except the comforts +of a Spanish cottage.</p> + +<p>I set out this morning for head-quarters. Now we +start fair again; to-morrow we march. Pamplona is +invested, but I fear that we have little means for a very +regular siege; and accounts state that Clausel is, with +fifteen thousand men, on his road from Logrono, endeavouring +to escape towards Suchet. It is hoped that we +may intercept him, or at least his guns; and so we +march, though the army is terribly fagged, and the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</span> +animals also. General Graham is at Tolosa; Mina at +Tudela to assist against Clausel. From Vittoria to this +place we have constantly passed at first stripped and +unburied dead, then baggage and animals without number, +but the French have got off to France, and march away +like monkeys, scrambling over everything, consequently +there are few prisoners. Lord Wellington is in the +highest spirits. King Joseph was within two hundred +yards of our dragoons, and had a narrow escape. A few +more cannon have been taken.</p> + +<p>It is one continued pass, or valley, all the way from +Vittoria to this place; the road infamous, villages every +mile, but much damaged by the French, and the people, +from affluence, reduced to misery and distress. Oh war! +war! little do you know of it in England. At Orunzun +the French had spent much in a blockhouse and fort; +they withdrew the garrison for the battle, and the +peasants destroyed it immediately.</p> + +<p><em>One league from Sanguessa, Head-Quarters, Casseda, +June 29th, 1813.</em>—Thus far we have arrived in pursuit of +Clausel and his division, who were at Logrono, on their +way to join King Joseph. Had the battle been delayed +two days longer, we should have had these fifteen thousand +men, in addition, to contend with; for by that time they +would have joined the king’s army. As it was, they were +in some degree cut off and separated from their friends, +and might have been in some danger; for had it not +been for the information of some treacherous alcalde +(I believe), these men would have proceeded towards +Pamplona, and would then have fallen completely into +our net. As it is, hearing of our approach, and having +the start, there is no chance of doing anything with +them, I think; they have full opportunity of joining +Suchet, and nothing material in their way, though Mina +may harass them much. Our army, by this pursuit, +already is terribly harassed and out of sorts.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</span></p> + +<p>In marching, our men have no chance at all with the +French. The latter beat them hollow; principally, I +believe, owing to their being a more intelligent set of +beings, seeing consequences more, and feeling them. +This makes them sober and orderly whenever it becomes +material, and on a pinch their exertions and individual +activity are astonishing. Our men get sulky and desperate, +drink excessively, and become daily more weak and +unable to proceed, principally from their own conduct. +They eat voraciously when opportunity offers, after having +had short fare. This brings on fluxes, &c. In every +respect, except courage, they are very inferior soldiers to +the French and Germans. When the two divisions, the +fourth and light, passed through Taffalla the day before +yesterday, the more soldierlike appearance and conduct of +the foreigners, though in person naturally inferior, was +very mortifying. Lord Wellington feels it much, and is +much hurt.<a id="FNanchor_4" href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p> + +<p>The 23rd and 11th Portuguese regiments, who behaved +in the field on the 23rd as well as any British did +or could do, are on the march, though smaller animals, +most superior. They were cheerful, orderly, and steady. +The English troops were fagged, half tipsy, weak, disorderly, +and unsoldierlike; and yet the Portuguese suffer +greater real hardships, for they have no tents, and only +bivouac, and have a worse commissariat.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</span></p> + +<p>I think we shall to-morrow retrace our steps to Pamplona, +and give over this pursuit. Lord Wellington, +I think, sees it will not do. We had a very long march +the day before yesterday to Taffalla. The road was, +however, very good on the Canuria Real from Pamplona +to Tudela. Thinking that the French were making to +Tudela, we proceeded that way by this forced march. +The country was very fine. About two leagues from +Pamplona was a handsome, plain, elegant aqueduct, of one +hundred arches, light and simple. We passed several +villages, and, near Taffalla, a quantity of well-managed +orchards and garden-ground; the consequence was, fruit +and vegetables cheap and good, plenty of cherries about +1<em>d.</em> a-pound, pears and plums, &c.; onions, beans, peas, +lettuce, pork, cheap; in short, a most plentiful Spanish +market.</p> + +<p>Taffalla is a good town, and the people civil and +hospitable. They had never seen us before, and gave us +a welcome. I should have liked another day there, for +both my men and animals were knocked up, and wanted +it. The next day, however, we proceeded by a mountain-road +over a little sierra to this place (Casseda), changing +our direction of march, though the object was the same. +Last night, I believe, it was found that the French had +much the start of us, and had crossed the Ebro. In +short, I presume from this, and from the very harassed +and bad state of the men to-day, we halted here; and I +suspect to-morrow we shall return.</p> + +<p>Lord Wellington himself seemed knocked up yesterday; +he ate little or nothing, looking anxious, and slept +nearly all the time of sitting after dinner. I think he +was not quite well, and anxious, no doubt. Lord March +was sent off to General Graham, at Tolosa; he returned +yesterday, and reports that General Graham had entered +Tolosa, which might have been well defended. He blew +open the gates with a nine-pounder, and so got in.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</span> +General Foy, however, had taken a position beyond, with +eighteen thousand men, in such a strong country, that +Graham dared not attack him, and Lord March thought +the loss would be great if we did, unless we could turn it +by a circuitous march. He said the country was in that +direction full of positions; in short there is much yet +to do.</p> + +<p>Tarragona is, I believe, not taken at last. General +Murray re-embarked when Suchet’s army came that way. +This, as a plan to free Valencia, has, I believe, answered, +and Elio, &c., have advanced. Longa’s people have +behaved well in another affair since the battle. The day +after to-morrow I expect to be either in sight of Pamplona +again, or to be on the way towards the Tolosa +road; but time will show.</p> + +<p>From this place, which is a large village on a hill, we +have a full view of a long range of the Pyrenees, which +I have been spying at with a good glass. They are fine +mountains, but much less so, I think, than the Alps. I +see much snow on them, but no glaciers. The shapes +are more picturesque, but less astonishing and sublime. +We are, however, far off, and perhaps I do not do justice +to these hoary gentlemen. There is no snow summit so +far as I can see, only great lodgments of snow.</p> + +<p><em>Huarte, July 2nd, in front of Pamplona.</em>—As expected, +we yesterday set out on our way back here, a +short cut over the sierra, to Monreal—the day before +yesterday sending the guns, &c., round by Taffalla, and +from Monreal here yesterday. This is a wild road, and +yet not very picturesque. About this place we have a +fine plain, in which Pamplona stands. The town is +invested, but I believe that is all, and no steps have yet +been taken for the siege; the place is strong, and we +have as yet no guns for the purpose. We yesterday +found the suburbs burning, the work of the French, and +more women sent away from the town. The town looks<span class="pagenum" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</span> +handsome, but somehow has disappointed me. A French +party also still holds out at Pancorvo; the worst of all, +however, is the bad news from General Murray. It is +said that he went off in such a hurry when he heard of +Suchet’s approach, that, without waiting to know his +exact danger, or where Suchet was, he embarked, leaving +all his battering artillery, or as some say twenty pieces, +with all the ammunition, &c., belonging to them, in a +perfect state for the use of the French; and this when, +in fact, he had four days to remove it in, and when the +Admiral offered to undertake to bring it off. I am glad, +however, to hear that Lord William Bentinck has arrived +to take the command. The odds are, however, that the +Spaniards will get a beating under Elio before our men +join them again; it is now said that Suchet left five +thousand men at Valencia also. In short, in this game +of chess we are playing, there is almost always some bad +move to counteract Lord Wellington’s good ones.</p> + +<p>It is now said that we are not to wait here for the +siege, but to move towards Bayonne, and the King’s +army, which is said to have taken up a position on the +frontiers. We expect to move towards Roncesvalles to-morrow; +but this is not settled. In my opinion we +should have done this immediately, without going after +Clausel; but no doubt Lord Wellington knew best what +to do. We have to-day cold rainy weather again, bad +for men in camp. This place, Huarte, is rather a large +village with tolerable market. Villa Alba, half a mile +off, where some troops are posted, seems better still. +We are about two miles from Pamplona, across a little +stream, now from the rains become a respectable river. +The great distress at present is for horseshoes, and to-morrow +I expect a mountain march.</p> + +<p>It is now stated that we took fourteen hundred prisoners +altogether in this late battle, not wounded, eleven +hundred wounded, and about seven hundred and fifty<span class="pagenum" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</span> +were found dead; the prisoners reckon their own loss at +eleven thousand. However, as they say, thousands ran +away over the mountain, and left the army altogether, +this must be exaggeration. If the armistice produces a +Russian and Prussian peace, and we are left here to +Bonaparte’s sole attention and undivided care, I fear we +may again see the neighbourhood of Portugal before six +months are passed, notwithstanding the late most glorious +victory.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, Ostiz, July 3rd (Civil Department at +Boutain).</em>—Here we are now within five leagues and less +of France, and on our way, at least, towards Bayonne. +General Hill is, I believe, to be to-day at Estevan, and +we have some men in France, at St. Jean Pied de Port. +General Foy’s (French) eighteen thousand have left their +position beyond Tolosa, having given the great convoy +three days more time to be off. This convoy had the +pictures, immense service of plate of the King, three +hundred pieces of heavy artillery, &c.: I think we might +have caught it had we known how things were going on. +They have now retreated to France, and I believe Graham +after them. All cars and wheel carriages remain at +Orcayen, near Pamplona; I guess, therefore, we shall +soon be back again, and perhaps proceed against Suchet, +if he joins Clausel at Saragossa, as his orders, from intercepted +letters, were supposed to be. Your proverb, +however, <i lang="es" xml:lang="es">vedremo co’l tempo</i>, applies here, as well as everywhere. +Dr. M’Gregor is very much engaged, and if this +wet weather continues will, I think, be more so. I am +so cold now that I am writing with my coat buttoned +up, and my hat on, and we have constant showers. For +about three hours the day before yesterday it was excessively +hot. So we go on! As yet we have seen nothing +very beautiful on this road, but it may mend. I am +hungry, tired, and worried, and must send this off to +Ostiz: so adieu.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</span></p> + +<p>Lord Aylmer has now a brigade, and has joined it as +Major-general. General Pakenham is the Adjutant-general. +Three thousand of our men wounded at Vittoria.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, Lans, July 5th, 1813 (Civil Department, +the Spaniards and Artillery at Arriez).</em>—We were +yesterday ordered to proceed to Lans, but not very early, +as the French were in the neighbourhood. It rained all +the way, and was very cold and uncomfortable, and what +added much to the unpleasantness of the journey, was +the horrible road and the loss of my horse’s shoes. The +first league of this <i lang="es" xml:lang="es">camina real</i> was a narrow lane of large +loose stones, nearly the size of my head, with all the +interstices filled with good Brentford slop, half a foot +deep; baggage constantly stopped the way. About half +way, however, I bribed a Spanish farrier to put me on +three Spanish shoes, until the heads of the nails half an +inch square, upon six of which heads in each shoe the +horses walk, as the shoe never touches a stone; these +skaits are, however, much better than nothing. Having +stopped an hour in the rain for this, I proceeded, and at +Lans found an order to go on half a league on the left. +We are almost all here, or close by, except the Adjutant-general’s +and Quarter-Master-general’s departments, and +except Marshal Beresford. The latter was to have been +in my house, but did not like it, and found a place at +Lans. The quarter being vacant, I popped into a large +rambling black place, with long tables and benches, like +your servants’ hall, great stables, &c., all under one roof.</p> + +<p>The villages are nearly all alike in general shape and +accommodation;—scarcely any cottages but farm-houses, +and I suppose the great tables and benches they all +contain have been in better times used for the workmen +to dine. This has been the character of all the villages +for the last ten or twelve miles, and they lie very thick, +four in sight here, and probably ten within a league. +The hills around are all covered with wood; the valley<span class="pagenum" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</span> +almost knee deep with grass for hay, and abounding in +corn; the walks further on towards the mountains very +pleasant; fine oaks and rocks, &c.; the climate very cold +for England in July, and wet; the verdure like that of +Ireland; plenty of sheep on the mountains, but little to +be had here except milk. At Lans there was pork at a +penny a pound, and French brandy.</p> + +<p>To-day we halt here, for the French are disposed to +stand a little further. Our cavalry moved last night +to Almandos, two leagues on,—the 14th, and some +Germans, and General Hill’s head-quarters, to Berrueta, +whence the French retired. The reports now are that +General Hill sent word last night that the French were +strongly posted a little farther on, and that the peasants +said they were eight thousand; but though he could not +see so many, he did not much like the position. Lord +Wellington sent him word that he would be there by +ten o’clock this morning, and he is gone with most of +the military staff. We have heard firing very plainly, +but know not where it is. This is famous ground for +sharp-shooting, as you cannot see in general a hundred +yards before you. General Byng, with some British +and Spanish, is gone along the Roncesvalles road, +toward St. Jean Pied de Port, and Graham proceeds +by the great road. Some stores are ordered round to +land at Deva; I conclude we shall only secure the +passes, and that we shall not enter France. Ground +is broken up before Pamplona, but I think only for form +sake; very few men at work. Only the six eighteen-pounders +are at hand. An artillery serjeant I hear +deserted from Pamplona two days since, and is supposed +to have given important information. General Wimpfen +tells me that the French have some works at Elisondo, +which is, I suppose, the place General Hill is stopped +by, and that they seem disposed to make a little stand +there. I wish Suchet would either come up by Saragossa<span class="pagenum" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</span> +and fight near Pamplona, and thus save us that +long trip, or that he would be off at once, like the rest; +the latter is, however, I fear, more to be wished than +expected. With Clausel, he will have probably, including +garrisons, about forty thousand men. If after +all a peace should be made, leaving out England and +the Peninsula, we must even now still be off, and I only +hope it will be settled before the autumn bad weather; +another rainy retreat from this part will never do. I +think we may at least stand towards the Astrinos and +Gallicia, and not go back to Frenada, for Bonaparte, +with all his energy and activity, can scarcely be ready to +follow us in force this autumn.</p> + +<p>My old witch of a patrona came in just now, into +the place where I am, and moving the heavy bed, disappeared +down a trap-door under it to get up a little +clean linen from her hiding-place, where she conceals +things from the French. She also produced a guerilla +soldier’s shirt, which he had left to be washed, and +called for to-day. She was very much frightened +at us yesterday, as all here are, but is more sociable +to-day.</p> + +<p>We have turned about three hundred mules and +horses into the meadows here, and have cut down two +or three fields for the feeding at night, instead of the +green oats or barley, for that is scarce here. How +would you like all this in England? The peas and +beans also are pretty well pillaged by our soldiers, and +frequently the cattle get in besides. I do not pity the +Spaniards for this; but as they are obstinate, they will +not pick and sell to us officers who ask them, consequently +the soldiers and our muleteers pick for themselves +gratis. I do not think the crops here are so forward as +in England; we are, therefore, luckily for the horses, just +in the grass season. If we go back to the barren, brown, +southern plains, it will be rather a disagreeable change.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</span> +We shall then, however, probably, get corn for the horses, +which now is very scarce. For the present, adieu.</p> + +<p>If the French do not move, probably we may halt +here to-morrow again; but I doubt we shall proceed. +Twelve Portuguese field-pieces were following us up +this horrible road; the French got two guns by the +same road to Pamplona last year. For the last fortnight +we have found the people of Navarre very stupid, +and their language unintelligible. They do not understand +good Castilian, but have a lingo of their own, very +barbarous; the little Spanish I have picked up is here, +therefore, of no use, and I am nearly reduced to the +state of the deaf and dumb, to have recourse to signs +and acting.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, Irurita, July 7th.</em>—From Lans and +Arriez we proceeded on the 6th to Berrueta, through +Almandos, across a part of the Pyrenees. The first +league was through a fine oak wood, and very hilly; +the next there was more hill, and, if possible, worse +roads, and in particular a very long descent. The hills +were, however, green and wooded to the summits, +rounded, and not wild or savage, in short it was hilly +scenery and not mountain—this is the Lower Pyrenees. +From one part on the Lans road, the sea, I am told, was +visible. Some Portuguese artillery followed us all the +way, and have arrived safely.</p> + +<p>We then reached Almandos, which contained a few +very large houses for head-quarters; there the artillery, +engineers, and Spaniards of head-quarters remained, and +we descended a zigzag hill, and then ascended to Berrueta. +I there got a very bad quarter, but staid, in order to be +at the head-quarter village, to inquire into some complaints +of public money taken by a Commissary at +Vittoria. On the night of the 5th I was sent for at +nine at night from Arriez to Lans by Lord Wellington +about this business. It is a most horrible road even in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</span> +the day time, and in my way back alone, I lost myself +on a boggy common, and did not arrive until nearly one +o’clock, having for about an hour and a half splattered +about in a bed of wet clay, up to the horse’s knees at +times, and having some notion of wolves, &c. This made +me anxious to be at the head-quarters village, where I +dined with Lord Wellington, and examined the Commissary +in General Pakenham’s presence.</p> + +<p>Berrueta was a small French post against the Guerillas, +and the ground was strong; the church and about four +houses, and a wall near were cut with loop-holes for +musketry, and a little round bastion built in front with a +double row of loop-holes commanding the roads, and +a little tiled roof for one sentry at the top. The house +had a rough eagle in black drawn upon it, and the inscription +“Place Napoleon.” The little street or alley +within the enclosure was called Rue Impériale. In +spite of this the French, about three thousand strong, +had the day before been driven from this ground and +position by about five hundred of the second division, +and had left us in possession, allowing General Hill +to go on to this place, Irurita, a good league further, +where we have now the head-quarters. General Hill +has proceeded this morning to try and drive the French +from a position about two leagues and a half further on +near the French frontier at Maya, where they have +made a semblance at least, with about eight thousand +men, as if they meant to defend the pass there.</p> + +<p>The road from Berrueta to Irurita was over one long +hill of a league, but good enough, and then brought us +down to this place at one extremity of the valley of +Bastan. This valley is a very rich tract, surrounded by +cultivated hills, well built and peopled, and terminated +on the other extremity by the pass of Maya.</p> + +<p>General Hill has moved on his head-quarters from +hence to Elisondo, full a half league further, near the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</span> +centre of the valley; and if the French give way, is +to proceed further. Lord Wellington and all his suite +are gone on forwards to watch the event. This place +contains a number of large houses, but is in general +dirty and bad in the interior. Lord Wellington’s house, +and that of Marshal Beresford, and a few others about +here, are in the French style, with glass windows in +folding doors, and French blinds, &c., and they are clean +and comfortable; at Elisondo, there is more of this, +I hear. This valley has a sort of nobility of its own, +and most of the numerous good houses belong to an +inferior nobility. They almost all sport arms, and most +the chequers. I understand this valley is also famous +for the number of men of talent who have at different +times issued from it. There is also trade in the valley, +and commercial connexions even with Cadiz. These +second-rate nobles have had the sense not quite to +despise that mode of getting money, and thereby all +other comforts. The effects of the war and of the times +are, however, equally manifest here, but on a higher +scale than in the ruined cottage, or the farmer stripped +of his cattle and corn. Lord Wellington’s patron, whose +house is now opposite and very handsome, was a native +of this place, and went as a merchant to South America: +he was engaged there in trade twenty-six years, and +then returned to enjoy himself, like our Scotch Indians, +in his native place. He, however, foolishly bought no +land, and continues engaged in trade by means of an agent +at Cadiz, and another at Vera Cruz, living here on the +profits. One rich vessel we took from him before the +declaration of war; this shook him a little: since that +his Vera Cruz agent turned gambler and failed. We +have taken another vessel of his since, and he thus was +reduced nearly to his moveables. To supply French +contributions, and to find the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">à quoi vivre</i> for himself +and two sons, he has sold all his plate, &c., and jewels.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</span> +He has now only some tolerable bedding in twelve bedrooms, +and straw chairs and deal tables. The little +man, however, told all this to General O’Lalor in my +presence with much good humour, and did not seem +very unhappy. He was very anxious to please Lord +Wellington in his quarter.</p> + +<p>Here we see the miseries of the contest in another +shape. The old mad Marquis d’Almeida left this to-day +to go on with General Hill, very anxious to beat the +French in their own territory, and give them back their +own again. He has attached himself to General Hill’s +corps all along.</p> + +<p>I believe King Joseph’s gallantry in trying to seduce +a young girl at Salvatierra, the night of the battle of +Vittoria, was mentioned in a former letter by me. In +this valley he performed a most noble feat: after the +dinner given him by his patron and the neighbours, he +permitted or ordered his servants to sweep off and carry +away all the utensils, table-cloths, spoons, &c. The +Padré at Arriez, our last place, told General Wimpfen +that he had there carried off the sheets. This is +a noble exit; and all his suite were without a change of +linen.</p> + +<p>The papers taken at Vittoria make it appear that +nearly a million of property was taken after the battle—250,000<em>l.</em> +in gold. Only about one hundred and +twenty thousand dollars have been paid into the chest. +Much was certainly plundered by the natives and +soldiers: the latter were offering nine dollars for a +guinea, for the sake of carriage. Lord Wellington, +however, has his suspicions of pillage by the civil departments; +has heard various stories, also, of money +taken on the road back from Vittoria. I do not know +what may come of this: I have made out but little +satisfactory as yet. One gentleman, however, whom I +examined yesterday intended to keep two thousand<span class="pagenum" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</span> +dollars. At the same time, the understanding that this +was all fair seems to be pretty general.</p> + +<p>Captain Brown was knocked off his horse by a sabre +cut on the head and taken prisoner, but as he had his +sword left, he cut down his guard, who was pricking him +with his sword, and ran into our dragoons and escaped, +changing his own horse for a French one in the confusion.</p> + +<p>Lieutenant-Colonel May had a musket-ball in his belly. +It passed through his double sash, his waistcoat, and +pantaloons, and then, by striking the button of his +drawers, was so deadened as only to give him a swelling +the size of an egg, and he has been long with us again. +I dined with him at Arriez the day before yesterday.</p> + +<p>In the skirmish on the 5th, at Berrueta, we had about +twenty wounded. The Spanish peasantry are a fine, +stout, tall, well-made race of mountaineers, and behaved +that day with spirit. Several would act with their firearms +with our light troops, and brought in two prisoners; +and one set would go on with a picket of six of our +cavalry, and when told by Major Brotherton that they +were acting foolishly, as he could not protect or support +them if the French cavalry turned on him, they said +they could run as fast as those French horses, and +would not be caught so. The rulers here have also +been forward in offering supplies, a good part of which, +I believe, they were ordered to have collected by the +French, and by which collection we have profited.</p> + +<p>More Portuguese troops and artillery are now passing +this way. I believe no English artillery has come this +road. The Portuguese guns are not so wide in the +wheels, having been made for their own roads, and are +therefore more adapted to this.</p> + +<p><em>Irurita, Head-Quarters, July 9th.</em>—Still here. The +day before yesterday, the 7th, the French showed fifteen +thousand men in the Maya pass, two leagues and a-half +in front, a line of nearly two miles. It took much time<span class="pagenum" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</span> +to climb the hills to turn this position. About four, we +got possession of a hill which had that effect; the French +saw their error, tried three times to recover it, drove +back our men a little, but it would not do; they just +now will not stand against us. A battalion of Caçadores +behaved well, and drove them back once. A close column +of theirs was opposed on the hill by two columns of ours, +the 39th; our fellows, when near, shouted and came +down to the charge, and the French were quickly off. +It was dark, however, before the pass was abandoned, +and past eleven before Lord Wellington and his staff +got home to dinner, as he lost his way for some time +in the fog, despising guides, &c. Yesterday the French, +in part, came back to a little village near the pass, and +stood some time against our light infantry; but the +third shot of our two guns which were brought to bear, +sent them scampering off. They little think that we +have some eighteen field-pieces in this valley.</p> + +<p>Yesterday Lord Wellington came in early, and left +the French in another pass in the last Spanish village. +They were, I hear, to be driven out to-day unless they +retired. They had yesterday, however, nearly succeeded +in surprising some of our men. They appeared in rear +of our advanced troops, through a pass on our right, +which communicates with the Roncesvalles pass to St. +Jean Pied de Port, drove in a small picket, and came, +about fifty of them, down very nearly to a village in +which we had much baggage. The peasants said they +had five hundred men there: they however went back +again, and one of our serjeants, by himself, caught one +of the stragglers when the others were gone. Just then +there was only a small body of cavalry between their +party and our baggage, and even between them and our +head-quarters here. This was soon looked to, and a +Caçadore regiment ordered into the neighbouring village. +The peasants here continue to behave with great spirit<span class="pagenum" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</span> +and activity, and want to enter France to take some revenge. +They had been told by the French that we were +ten times worse in regard to plundering, &c., than themselves, +and so the French are told now. The French +respect their own people, and do not treat them like the +Spaniards. In Spain a French encampment was covered +with all the doors, window-shutters, beams, trees, &c., of +the Spanish villages near; in France, though in rain, they +are now seen without any such shelter on the bare ground.</p> + +<p>The French peasants in these parts, I hear, are as fine +men as the Spaniards here, and formidable. If we enter +France, we must not wander and ride about as we do +here, nor let our baggage cover leagues in extent. It is +said that they disposed of four of our soldiers, Portuguese +I believe, whom they caught stealing cherries. I do not +think head-quarters will enter France, here at least, but +enter down towards the sea: this is, however, only my +speculation. General Byng sent an invitation yesterday +to dine with him in France. The Spanish troops are in +France in part also.</p> + +<p>The day before yesterday Lord Wellington ordered +young Fitzclarence to go and bring up two Portuguese +companies to attack. He went. It was close by; but +he was highly pleased with the order. When he had +given his instructions, he saw a cherry-tree, and went up +to break a bough off, and eat the cherries. When Lord +Wellington lost his way the other night in the fog +(returning to head-quarters), Fitzclarence told Lord +Wellington he was sure the road was so-and-so, as +they had passed the place where he found the two Portuguese +companies. “How do you know that?” quoth +Lord Wellington. “By that cherry-tree, which I was +up in just afterwards,” was the answer. It amused +Lord Wellington much; and yesterday he called to him, +with a very grave face, and desired him to go and get +some of the cherries, as if it were an important order. I<span class="pagenum" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</span> +believe we only lost about seventy men killed and +wounded, Portuguese and all included, on the 7th.</p> + +<p>I misinformed you some time since about General +Jeron, the Commander of the Gallician army. I understand +he was not named at the suggestion of Wellington; +there are two opinions about him.</p> + +<p>We have had stories against several of the civil departments +in regard to the plunder. One or two I have +saved from suspicion by an immediate inquiry and explanation, +which I stated to Lord Wellington directly. +It is always best to know the whole openly at once, +as ten suffer in reputation from reports for one really +guilty. One Commissary, I believe, will have leave to +resign.</p> + +<p>Yesterday the chimney of the house of Lord Wellington’s +patron was on fire, from the dressing of Lord +Wellington’s dinner. I was much afraid that it would +spread and complete the poor man’s ruin, by destroying +nearly all he had left. It was with difficulty at last put +out, when the fire-bell had collected all the town buckets +full of water, and a wet blanket had been pushed down +the chimney, which, being half wood, made the event +very uncertain. I was really glad when it was put out. +Lord Wellington was out in the rain with his hat off, +and a silk handkerchief over his head, giving directions, +as well as your humble servant.</p> + +<p>P.S.—<em>Head-Quarters, Zobieta, July 10th.</em>—We arrived +here this morning, in the direction I expected, about four +leagues from Irurita, on the road to St. Sebastian, through +a very pretty wooded valley all the way, the road +good, and by the river side, with villages every two +miles. We passed St. Estevan, the largest place, and +perhaps the only one you will find in any map, except +Lopez’ provincial ones. Some of the other villages were +large, containing some thirty or forty good large farm-houses, +and some mansions. The light division was dispersed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</span> +on the road, and in one village I found George +Belson and his artillery. I do not, however, expect to +hear any more of him for some time, as he is not likely +to follow us any farther, from what I am told of the +road.</p> + +<p>To-morrow head-quarters move eight or nine leagues +of mountain track road through Gaygueta to Ernani, in +parts it is said scarcely passable for a mule; so at least +Colonel Ponsonby reports, who came last night from +Ernani. In consequence of this account, civil departments +and baggage are, if they choose, to stop at Gaygueta, +which is half way. At Ernani we are on the +high road to Bayonne from Vittoria. Something is +now, I believe, going on at St. Sebastian. I understand a +convent near it was to be attempted to-day or to-morrow, +preparatory to the grand attempt. The heavy guns are, +I believe, landed, and are, it is said, at Deba for this +siege. The garrison is two thousand strong, about sixteen +hundred of their own, and four hundred from another +fort near, now blown up. Santona is left with a strong +garrison, and well supplied, and would be a more difficult +affair, from what I learn. Pancorvo was taken by +O’Donnell and the Spaniards: they took an outwork by +storm, and the men then surrendered.</p> + +<p>Pamplona is more closely invested by means of some +redoubts, and I believe nothing more will be done there. +These redoubts will be of use, if this undertaking is left +to the Spaniards. Though we have thus to-day gone +away from France, I conclude we, or rather some of the +army, are to be within France soon, as Lord Wellington +has published some long and good general orders on the +subject of well treating the people, &c., and not copying +the French in Portugal and Spain, as we are at war with +Bonaparte, and not with the inhabitants, and that <i lang="es" xml:lang="es">recevos</i> +are to be given for supplies, &c. Still I think we shall +only keep on the frontiers. Clausel, it would appear from<span class="pagenum" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</span> +the Spanish authorities, has, since we left him, made off +for France by the great Tacca pass in Arragon, instead +of joining Suchet, as I supposed, and Suchet was at Tortosa +when last heard of. Zobieta is but a miserable place, +and the people quite unintelligible. We shall soon be in +Biscay again.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, Ernani, July 16th, 1813.</em>—My last +was from Zobieta, a little village in the lower Pyrenees. +Our next day was a tremendous journey to this place. +I started at six o’clock in the morning, and we immediately +began to ascend near the bed of the stream, which +ran by Zobieta towards its source, in order to cross the +mountain at the back of the town, which divides that +valley from the one in which the river is situated, which +runs down by this place to St. Sebastian.</p> + +<p>In less than half a mile the road became choked with +baggage. There was only one path winding zigzag up +the hill, and every mule whose load got more on one side, +or out of order, discomposed and stopped the string. I +had one mule lightly loaded, and my man, foolishly eager +to get forwards, led it up straight from one path to the +cross one above, instead of following the track. He got +on safely, but this tempted three of Colonel Dundas’s +mules to do the same. Just as I passed below, the hinder +one fell backwards, with a heavy load, and the whole +three being tied together, he pulled both the others down +upon him, and they all lay in a heap at my feet kicking +in the path. With some difficulty I got an ass out of +the way in time, and scrambled upon foot, leading my +horse to get away, that I might not be pushed down the +side of the hill; by this means I also gained ground, and +by continuing on foot for about two miles of the steepest +ascent, I got up tolerably quick. Two of General Murray’s +mules rolled into the river below.</p> + +<p>We then continued to the highest point of the mountain, +whence we were told Bayonne was visible. When<span class="pagenum" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</span> +we arrived the fog was so thick that we could not see a +yard, and we went on two leagues more in this mist +through the clouds, along the top and side of the hill, +until we got over Gaygueta. Then we had a very bad +descent of about two miles to that place. Near the +town we passed General Longa and his suite going to +meet Lord Wellington, and we found the town full of +his troops all drawn up to receive the English General. +They looked very well, fine men, tolerably well dressed +and equipped; about five thousand in the whole. One +grenadier company looked very fierce and military.</p> + +<p>I here found every quarter occupied, and could hear of +none; after waiting an hour, I determined to proceed. +After an ascent of about half a league again, very steep, +we went along the top of a hill for another half league +to Eranos; here I found another thousand of Longa’s +troops, and all the houses occupied. I therefore went +to a shop where they sold bread and wine, and we got a +large loaf and some wine, which, with the help of the +horses, for whose sake I principally stopped to procure +this feed, we soon finished, and then proceeded refreshed.</p> + +<p>Whilst I was thus employed Lord Wellington and his +staff passed. I was sorry to hear Longa had missed +him, and that he was much mortified at this, especially +as his men scarcely knew Lord Wellington and his party, +and he had almost passed before they irregularly presented +arms to him. The one thousand men at Eranos +were more fortunate, for at a hazard I told them, when +they inquired, that he would pass in about twenty +minutes, and he actually passed within the half hour. +I followed in Lord Wellington’s train to this place, +Ernani, over a road still worse than the last, a mere +water-channel, with irregular broken steps and slippery +clay; most of our horses got more or less on their +haunches. The road ran up and down on the side of a +thick wooded hill on the banks of the river, near which<span class="pagenum" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</span> +we saw two or three works for iron, in which this country +abounds.</p> + +<p>We arrived safely, about four o’clock; very little +baggage got in that night. All mine came in by seven +o’clock, except one mule load and man, who stuck, +knocked up, at a house two miles back. I bought some +eggs and bacon and went to bed. About eight, next day, +my stragglers arrived, the mules strained in the shoulder +and scarcely able to move. Dr. M’Gregor had two mules +killed down the mountain, and many have suffered as well +as myself.</p> + +<p>The next morning after my arrival at Ernani, I walked +off to see what was going on at St. Sebastian. Not +knowing how long we might be here, my horses being +tired, and having no shoes, I made this survey on foot. +The road is a wide <i lang="es" xml:lang="es">camina real</i>, a rough sort of pavement, +but a good road. About half a league distant I saw the +fort or citadel of St. Sebastian, and the smoke of the +guns, the noise of which I had heard before. I proceeded +on by our heavy guns, which were near on the +road side, passed about four thousand Spanish troops of +the Gallician army drawn up to receive Lord Wellington, +and then our reserve park of artillery, with some small +works around. Here I began to hear the distant whistle +of the balls, which occasionally got near the road. At +about a league from Ernani, just at the brow of the +descent to St. Sebastian, and about half a mile from the +latter, a barrier of tubs of earth was placed across the +road and sentries posted, our advanced sentry being at a +turn of the road a hundred yards forwards. I went to +the left to take a sketch, and soon heard a musket-ball +whistle by me, which I took at first for a rocket behind +me. I thought this an accident, but soon came a second, +and a third. I then concluded that I was the object, and +leaving my sketch rather in a hasty unfinished state, I<span class="pagenum" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</span> +returned behind the barrels as the last shot came into a +bush close to me.</p> + +<p>Our trenches were open about fifty yards to the right, +against a convent on the side of the hill, which was full +of French, and from which almost all the musket-shots +proceeded. I determined just to peep into them before +I went off, and having been cautioned how to proceed, +I looked in: but having had one more shot whistle close +to me, and passed a bloody hole where a shell had just +fallen, which had carried away a man’s arm, I walked +home, to dine at Lord Wellington’s at three o’clock. +At dinner I met Castanos, Jeron, Alava, Mendizabel, +and a number of inferior officers, amongst them the +Major who had been left as a Captain to defend Villa +Alba de Tormes, when we retreated last year, and who +held out the time he was ordered to remain, and brought +off two hundred out of three hundred of his men to Frenada. +For this he was made a Major, I believe, at Lord +Wellington’s request. General Alava also introduced an +officer who came to present to Lord Wellington King +Joseph’s sword—his dress sword set in steel and diamonds, +and very handsome. Where taken from, or +whence obtained, I did not learn. Lord Wellington +just looked at it as he took his seat at dinner, and telling +his man to put it by safely somewhere, fell to at the +soup and said no more.</p> + +<p>On the following day the alarm was spread that we +were all to go back to the mountains the next day by +the same road. At last, however, orders came out that +Lord Wellington was going, and that only his immediate +staff, and those who could be very useful, were to attend +him. Even General Murray, the Quarter-Master-general, +the life and soul of the army next to Lord Wellington, +staid here, not being quite well. He appears to me +decidedly the second man; and it is thought that without<span class="pagenum" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</span> +him, and perhaps Kennedy, the Commissary-in-Chief, +we could never have done what we have; even +Lord Wellington would be, in some degree, fettered and +disabled by a bad Quarter-Master-general and a bad +Commissary-general.</p> + +<p>Not to lose a day, Lord Wellington, the first day he +was here, rode all about St. Sebastian to examine it in all +directions, &c., and was provoked at the Spaniards parading +for him, when his object was to be unobserved. +The second day he went to Irun, on the frontiers, on the +Bidassoa, to see how things were going on there. The +day before yesterday, having waited till eight o’clock +(morning), just to receive the “<cite>Gazette</cite>,” with his battle +despatches and his appointment of Field Marshal, away +he went, nine leagues over the mountains, for St. Estevan. +He is going to see more of the mountain passes that way, +and says that he shall be back the fourth day, if possible, +though many think it impossible.</p> + +<p>We have heard of Lord Wellington eating some trout +at Gaygueta at twelve, and arriving at St. Estevan at +five, the day he left this. All baggage nearly is left +here. The day he went I was occupied all day, by his +desire, in examining some gentlemen on a report which +had got about concerning some of the captured money, +which report Lord Wellington had been caught by, and +had suspicions. I hope I have sent a very satisfactory +explanation. To me it is so, at least. I sent it off by +express the same night to General Pakenham, who is +with Lord Wellington on his tour. One idle day, since +I have been here, I went to see Passages, about five +miles distant, but an infamous road. There are two +towns of that name, the Spanish and French, as they are +called; one on each side of a narrow deep stream, or +inlet from the sea, which forms rather a picturesque basin +within. I should have thought more of it had I not +seen Exmouth, Dartmouth, and some other western<span class="pagenum" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</span> +English scenery of the same land first, which I think +superior. The towns were built with the same kind of +narrow alleys, only fit for a horse to pass through; these +standing up the side of the hills. They were, however, +a better description of houses, and four stories high, with +balconies. The scene was more enlivened than usual by +our transports, by the landing of biscuit, rum, shot, ammunition, +the twenty-four pounders from Sir George +Collier’s ship, and other great guns, with their apparatus, +for the siege; two Portuguese regiments at work, and +about three hundred mules, besides the oxen, &c., for the +guns: gabions and fascines were making in every direction +by the Portuguese. The road was so narrow and +slippery in one place, that my horse, as I led him, nearly +slipped into the sea.</p> + +<p>Yesterday, having a few hours again to spare, I went +round to look at St. Sebastian by the right, where I witnessed +a sharp conflict, and saw more than I had done +before, with much less risk. I was out of the way of +the musketry, and only had one cannon-shot, which +went over the intended mark from the town, and, +whistling along, dashed into the water just under me. +It was nearly spent, as I heard it, I think, long enough +to have got out of the way had it come up higher. If +it clears up to-day, I mean to go to the lighthouse, on +the left of the town, or the cliff, where it is said the view +is very fine, and where, with a glass, you see much and +in safety.</p> + +<p>There was almost as much firing yesterday as in a +battle, cannon-shot and musketry, particularly on the +French part, and many shells; and we made a feint to +obtain the convent with only a few men, yet I hear +that only four were killed on our side, and about ten +wounded.</p> + +<p>The convent is almost in ruins, but we have in vain +tried to burn it with hot shot, and the French continue<span class="pagenum" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</span> +to pepper from it. A shell of ours fell amongst their +men in a redoubt in rear of the convent, and they ran. +I believe this led to our attempt, but it was soon found +that they were strong just behind, and several men still +in the convent; and three new parties were pushed +along the causeway from the town—about two hundred +and fifty men—to strengthen the convent party. Ours, +therefore, were off very quickly, not being supported. +One shell of ours fell just into one of the three new +parties, and killed one man and dispersed the rest. +Several wounded French were seen carried back over the +causeway and bridge. The number of cannon in the +town is very considerable; and though our works proceed +fast, the town is considered formidable.</p> + +<p>I have heard more stories of King Joseph from the +Paymaster of his head-quarters, Mr. Frayre, who was +taken. He said that the King was in the town until our +dragoons were close upon it. He then rode quietly +along, through the train of carriages and baggage, with +Jourdan and his guard in a walk, in order not to give +any alarm, until he was out of the bustle. He then +changed his coat for a nankeen jacket, and away they all +went, galloping off for Salvatierra, on the road to Pamplona. +In the first village, a mile or two from Vittoria, +there are two turnings, and he was heard to call out, +“<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Par où faut-il aller?</i>” “<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Tout droit, tout droit</i>,” said +Jourdan, and away they went again as hard as they +could go. Of the twenty-seven Generals who met in the +house at Salvatierra, a great proportion were slightly +wounded, and their greetings at seeing each other alive +were very loud and sincere. Joseph’s servant had a sort +of saddle-bag with him for the King, and that was all +their baggage.</p> + +<p>I hear that there are two millions of dollars on the +road. Just now we are without anything in our military +chest to pay for our daily food and expenses, which<span class="pagenum" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</span> +are very great. Corn for our horses, we got none. +Bread is not dear here, or scarce, as yet. Bullocks, I +hear, we have bought enough for nearly forty days for +the army, in this part of the country, mostly from the +mountains. Nine hundred head have been bought within +these ten days.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, Lezaca, July 18th, 1813.</em>—On the +16th I went up to the lighthouse in the evening. I met +Baron Constans coming down. The French did him the +honour of a cannon-shot, a proof they were touchy. I +proceeded within half musket-shot, but at a trot, and +they left me quiet. I stayed an hour on the hill; view +beautiful, evening clear, scene very interesting. I saw +all the French sentries, troops, inhabitants, &c., in the +town, and on the island near, in the convent, redoubt, +&c. I could see our advanced sentinels and pickets, +and those of the French near the convent, within sixty +yards of each other in some places, behind ruins, &c. I +could also see a long extent of French coast, and many +other objects. The ruined convent, and the French +sticking to it in several parts and firing, was, however, the +most curious and novel.</p> + +<p>I came down at seven and rode home quietly by nine +in the dark; when, lo! I found an order for head-quarters, +baggage, &c., to join Lord Wellington at this +place on the mountains, on the frontiers, six leagues of +bad road distant.</p> + +<p>I was off, however, by eight yesterday morning, baggage +and all. The first two leagues were by the high +French road, the <i lang="es" xml:lang="es">camina real</i>, through Astigarraja and +Oyarzun. At the end of the last town we turned from +the great road, which is a broad, well-laid road, and has +been very good, though now broken up a little, and very +rough. We then went along a paved mountain road, up +a valley for half a league, and then began climbing a +mountain path over two long hills until we got into this<span class="pagenum" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</span> +valley, and to this place. There is a great sameness in +the scenery—round hills, wooded in part below and a +stream—nothing very fine. About a league from hence +we saw the camp of the 95th regiment, on a hill above +Vera, which is lower down in this valley, and near the +immediate frontier division. We also saw the seventh +division camp near and the French cantonment bivouac +on the opposite hill; for a short time they kept half Bera +or Vera; now we have the whole.</p> + +<p>We halt here at Lezaca to-day; the Commissariat +baggage is ordered a league and a half in the rear in case +of an attack. I believe when reinforcements arrive we +shall make one. I was sorry to leave St. Sebastian, for +an attack was to be made that morning. We heard and +saw a violent firing throughout all our route, and I last +night heard that the convent had been taken by our men, +and some ruins below, &c., and that the new battery had +been opened. The French stood firm when the Portuguese +advanced, who behaved very well, but when the +English regiment which had been ordered up to assist +was seen advancing, the sight of the red coats made the +French soldiers run, and the French officers were seen in +vain beating and pelting them to make them stand. +The causeway (as I had seen) below was cut by the French +in two places. This stopped our men for a time, and the +French attempted to return, but did not succeed; thus +matters stood last night. Some of the first division +returned from Oyarzun yesterday to help, and we met +them on the road. The French surprised about one +hundred of the Spaniards in this place a few days since. +The noble inhabitants of Saragossa have contrived to open +one of their gates, when the French were in the town, +and to let in Mina and his men. The Spaniards now +have the town. I believe the French still stick to a +fortified part, and have destroyed the bridge; this comes +from the English Captain who is with Mina, and employed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</span> +in procuring intelligence. A flag of truce was sent in +to the French, carried by Colonel Gordon, this morning—“<i lang="es" xml:lang="es">Pourquoi?</i>” +“<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Je ne’en sais rien.</i>” Lezaca is rather a +good village, and has a running stream in it, which might +be more used. It was plundered by the French, and now +contains nothing, no bread even, only some straw; and +we have now been seven days without corn for the poor +horses; even grass is here very scarce: we want the +course of the Bidassoa to keep up our communications +with Irun, &c. The French now interrupt this—the +river runs in part through France.</p> + +<p>Soult, the great Soult, the Marshal, is said to have +arrived, and taken the command against the allies: so +say the country people, &c. To-day it is very hot. A +report is circulated that the French have attacked us. +So adieu for the present.</p> + +<p><em>July 19th, Lezaca.</em>—No fresh news. I am going to +ride up a hill, a league off, to the seventh division camp, +from whence Bayonne and much of France is visible.</p> +<br> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_4" href="#FNanchor_4" class="label">[4]</a> Mr. Larpent’s opinion on the moral deficiency of the English soldier +has astonished many; but it should be remembered that he was a non-combatant, +and his professional practice as Judge-Advocate-general +brought him more in contact with the <em>delinquents</em> than with the real +steady soldiers of the army. Let any reader who inclines to think that +the French can outmarch the more robust English, remember the advance +of the light division to Talavera under General R. Craufurd, so justly +eulogized in Napier’s History. An English soldier becomes sulky, careless, +and insubordinate in a <em>retreat</em>; but let a battle be announced, and spirit +and discipline reappear together. Witness the conduct of Sir John Moore’s +army, when he offered battle at Lugo, and afterwards when he was attacked +at Corunna.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> + +</div> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</span></p> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X.</h2> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="fs80" style="margin-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em;">Movements of the Army—Wellington on the Portuguese—His Personal +Habits—St. Sebastian—The Siege—Miseries of War—Wounded Officers—The +Prince of Orange—Vestiges of the Retreat—English Papers—False +Accounts of the Campaign—Incidents of the War.</p> + +<p class="right fs80"> +Head-quarters, Lezaca,<br> +<span style="padding-right: 2em">July 21, 1813.</span></p> +</div> + +<p class="no-indent"> +<span class="smcap">My dear M——</span>, +</p> + +<p><span style="padding-left: 2em">Here</span> we are still, deluged with rain almost +incessantly, accompanied at times with violent storms +of wind, hail, and thunder. This is terrible for the +troops in camp, and for every one more or less, and +indeed for everything except the Indian corn, which +thrives here most luxuriantly in consequence of this +perpetual wet. I took a ride (the 19th) up to the hill +above the seventh division as I intended; it was a league +and a half, the latter part very steep. The French were +in sight all along the hills on the other side of Bera, all +around one ridge, but quite quiet. When at the summit +I saw the sea-coast around Bayonne (though not the +town itself), and the low country in France, for probably +thirty miles inland, with the enclosed fields and villages. +It was a very fine prospect; I was only sorry to see that +the French had apparently so much more productive a +country immediately in their rear than we had. They +must now, however, be supplied at the expense of old +France. We are but ill off here for everything just now, +until our supplies come regularly to this coast.</p> + +<p>Passages is to be the depôt and landing-place, I hear,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</span> +for our infantry, and Bilboa for cavalry. Major-general +Lord Aylmer is to-day setting off to take a command at +Passages; he expects nearly four thousand men there +very soon. We still hear the battering guns of St. +Sebastian continually roaring at a distance; I fear we +may lose many men in this siege. Good luck, however, +may do something for us, and the French seem everywhere +dispirited; sickness, at present, if this weather +lasts, will be our most destructive foe.</p> + +<p>Suchet, I hear, left a garrison at Murviedro, when he +crossed the Ebro. They seem to have intended to give +us some tough work until they were ready to return; I +hope here, at least, that will not be so easy. Both sides +are now strongly posted, and the assailant must have the +worst of it. Soult is said to have refused to take the +command of the army here unless the pay of the troops +was more regular. Talking of this, Lord Wellington +paid the highest compliment to Bonaparte, by saying, +that if he came himself, he should, as he always did, +reckon his presence equal to a reinforcement of forty +thousand men, for that it would give a turn to everything.</p> + +<p>Lord Wellington, talking of the Portuguese, said +that it was extraordinary just now, to observe their +conduct; that no troops could behave better; that they +never had now a notion of turning; and that nothing +could equal their forwardness now, and willing, ready tempers. +I am sorry to say that some of our foreign corps do +not go on as well. Of the Brunswick corps, ten went off +from picquet two nights since to the French, and fourteen +from the camp, and others have gone off also; and some +have been surprised, so that I believe they are ordered to +be sent more to the rear, and cannot be trusted. I do +not wonder at it, as Government have taken men from +the French prisons, who were only taken last year, and +who, no doubt, only enlisted on purpose to desert the +first opportunity.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</span></p> + +<p><em>Lezaca, July 22nd.</em>—To-day Lord Wellington celebrates +the battle of Salamanca by a great dinner. His +victories and successes will soon ruin him in wine and +eating, and if he goes on as he has, he had better keep +open house at once every day, and his calendar of feasts +will be as full as the Romish one with red letter days. +This morning the guns have been thundering salvoes.</p> + +<p>I think the breach at St. Sebastian must be ready +soon. I only hope that we shall not lose many of our +fine fellows. Pamplona is invested more closely—that is +all that is attempted. Two sallies have been repulsed; +there are about fifteen thousand Spaniards there. I was +sorry to hear that bread was, very lately, in the town at +the same price as when we were first there, and that a +low Spanish price; this does not look much like starving +the garrison out. For a regular siege we have no means, +and the place is formidable from the very circumstance +that makes it look otherwise—the citadel is all flat, there +is nothing to fire at, and no ground to approach it by. +The scenery all about this lower Pyrenees and coast, is +like the north coast of Devonshire and Somersetshire, a +little enlarged as you get inland, and so increasing in size, +but the same character remaining for a considerable extent, +only that the valleys become deeper, and the hills higher. +There is nothing, however, so striking here as the passage +of the Ebro, and the valley near where we crossed it.</p> + +<p>Major D—— has still got his prize here taken on the +field of battle, namely, a Spanish girl, a pony, the +wardrobe, monkey, &c., the property of one of King +Joseph’s aides-de-camp. I am still kept at work. We +yesterday tried two men for plundering Lord Aylmer’s +tent in the night whilst he slept.</p> + +<p>Out of 500,000<em>l.</em> sterling, the supposed plunder at +Vittoria, only about 30,000<em>l.</em> has found its way to the +treasury, or military chest. Lord Wellington seems to +think the best of Mina, Longa, and the Empecinado;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</span> +amongst the Spaniards there is much to be done yet, +to make them like our vagabonds or the Portuguese, in +regard to fighting; for plundering and the “<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">savoir vivre</i>” +here without money or rations, they beat us both already; +we cannot improve them.</p> + +<p>Castanos, the other day at dinner, asked Lord Wellington +how Madame Gazan had been treated, as she was +accustomed to have a considerable number of lovers? +Lord Wellington looked rather drolly at me, and said, +she had been treated, he believed, very properly and +respectfully. Castanos said, “<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Elle en serait bien fachée</i>.”</p> + +<p>Last week some of the light division had rations of +wheat in the grain instead of bread. One fellow, who +was sulky, said, he supposed he should have “long +forage” next, that is, straw. Another more good +humouredly said, he was as strong as a horse now since +yesterday? How so? “Why, they have given me a +good feed of corn you see, so how could it be otherwise.” +We had one very ingenious device by two of our fellows +last week; they were employed to take care of two thousand +dollars prize, for the benefit of the regiment, and to +carry it on a mule or ass given to them for that purpose. +General Cole passed this donkey on a bridge, and being +irritated from the obstruction caused by the baggage, &c., +swore he would upset the whole over the bridge if they +were not off. When he had passed, one said, “That will +just do, let’s divide the money, and say the General upset +it in the river.” This was done, and the report made; +something, however, was overheard, and this led to an +inquiry, when one of them admitted that this was the +case, and that a serjeant shared and proposed the plan. I +said that they could only be flogged for this. Lord +Wellington therefore said they might as well be tried in +their regiment, for three hundred lashes was as good as a +thousand, and that to publish these things was only to +put similar ideas into other people’s heads.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</span></p> + +<p><em>Lezaca, Head-Quarters, July 23rd.</em>—Lord Wellington +and all his party went off at eight this morning for +St. Sebastian to see how things are going on. He +intends returning to dinner, a late one, though they all +have fresh horses on the road. It is feared that his hints +have not been attended to, and that the breach has been +made too soon before all other things were ready, so that +the place of danger is discovered to the enemy in time, +perhaps, to enable the French, who are ever quick and +ready on these occasions, to let in some sea, and make a +wet ditch behind, or to throw up new works, &c. The +breach may thus, as at Badajoz, become the worst place +of the whole to attack. It is to be hoped that this is +only a false alarm; but things do not appear to go on +well, unless Lord Wellington or General Murray are on +the spot. Lord Wellington is not so easily roused from +his bed as he used to be. This is the only change in +him; and it is said that he has been in part encouraged +to this by having such confidence in General Murray. I +understand he was always naturally fond of his pillow. +He had rather ride like an express for ten or fifteen +leagues, than be early and take time to his work. Upon +the whole this may fatigue him less, as being a less time +on horseback.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, Lezaca, July 25th, 1813.</em>—We have +now been some time stationary in these mountains, and I +am at work again, and have little time, and less to write +about. We have been in hourly and nervous expectation +of news of the storming of St. Sebastian. It was first to +have taken place the day before yesterday, but we were not +quite ready; then at five yesterday morning; but either +from our shells firing a house near the breach, and the +French encouraging the flames to spread, or from their +originally setting fire to that part of the town, there was +such a considerable fire all around the breach, that it was +thought too hot to attempt the storming. It was then,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</span> +by Lord Wellington’s order, I believe, fixed for this +morning, and he has been as usual very anxious about the +event.</p> + +<p>He was very fidgety yesterday, when I went to him +about two poor fellows who are to be hung for robbing +Lord Aylmer’s tent; and to-day he came out to the +churchyard, where we were listening, about eight o’clock, +to judge from the noise of the guns whether our batteries +had ceased, and what the firing was. He has been once +over himself, but appeared to wish to leave it to Graham, +and not directly to interfere. At eleven this morning, +however, Colonel Burgh came over with an account of +our attempt having failed; that our party (consisting of +English, too, and I believe of the 9th and 38th) went up +to the breach, then turned, and ran away. This will +terribly discourage our men who have to go next, and +encourage the enemy. Lord Wellington has ordered his +horse, and is going over immediately.</p> + +<p>Nothing can be done, however, before the evening or +to-morrow morning, as the attack must take place within +two hours before or after low water, in order to pass the +sands for the breach. I am told the latter is wide and +easy, and we cannot tell what possessed our men on this +occasion. The object, St. Sebastian, is most important +for the army; first, to enable us to keep our ground here, +as an <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">appui</i> to the left flank, and secondly, as a safe place +for stores, sick and wounded, where, in case of retreat, +they may be all left to be brought off at leisure by sea, +and also as a refuge for Guerillas, &c. A few things are +now beginning to be brought to us in these wild inhospitable +regions, but still they are sent from Lisbon by +land, with the six weeks’ carriage on a mule to pay for. +If some one would speculate to Passages direct, it would +fully answer, for Irish butter is 4<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em> a pound; sugar, 4<em>s.</em>; +ham, 3<em>s.</em>; tea, 20<em>s.</em>, the same as that sold at Lisbon for +8<em>s.</em>: and so on.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</span></p> + +<p>To-day I am going about three miles up the Bidassoa +river to a posada, in which the artillery of Colonel Ross’s +troops are quartered, to dine with them. Part of the way +to their present quarters from St. Estevan they had to +cut their road with spades and pickaxes for the guns; but +there they now are safe.</p> + +<p>I am sorry to say several of our men (English) desert +as well as the foreigners. I have just heard that the +cause of their failure at St. Sebastian this morning was +partly the same as that of Badajoz formerly—a deep ditch +behind the breach, and nothing to fill it up with, if indeed +that were possible; but it is said to have been very deep. +Our men looked, came back, got for shelter under the wall, +and were then ordered back, and they ran a little. This +is a much better account of the business. The attack +was also too soon, so that the tide prevented one attack +from being attempted, and it is feared that our artillery +even fired from that cause on the attackers. The French +certainly understand sieges better, I think, than we do.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, Berrio Planca, in front of Pamplona, +half a league, July 31st, 1813.</em>—To my great surprise, +here I am again, and now tell you how and why.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, again at Lezaca, near Bera, in the +Mountains, August 3rd, 1813.</em>—I had just taken up this +paper, and headed it as above, to begin my history, when +a turn of good fortune, arising from the courage of our +army from the superior manœuvres of our General, have +in eight days brought head-quarters back to our old +place, whence the first sheet of this letter was dated. I +have been too much occupied in this interval almost to +sit down, much more to write; but I will endeavour to +detail the important events I have witnessed in them in +the best order my recollection will permit.</p> + +<p>On the 25th July I went over to dine with the artillery. +About seven I mounted to return home, Colonel +Ross, Captains Jenkinson and Belson riding with me.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</span> +On our way we met a messenger. I asked him to +whom he was going? He said to Colonel Ross. The +Colonel was thereupon called back. It turned out to be +an order to march that night, and rather to the rear. +There had been a distant firing all day, on the right +wing near Maya. Lord Wellington was over at St. +Sebastian. Belson was sent to General Alten with orders +by Colonel Ross. Jenkinson galloped back to order the +troops to get ready. Colonel Ross begged me to tell +General Murray he would endeavour to reach Sambillo +that night; and giving a receipt for the letter, was off. +On my return I found Lord Wellington still absent, and +reports flying about, but no orders. I soon found, however, +that matters were not going on well, and ordered +everything to be ready for the march next morning. +Lord Wellington returned to dinner at eight, and found +the following account of matters on our right just arrived +to greet him on his return from the failure of St. +Sebastian.</p> + +<p>The French had collected a force both at the pass of +Roncesvalles against General Cole, and at the pass of +Maya against General Hill. In the morning of the +25th they pushed a strong reconnoissance against General +Stewart, commanding Hills advance brigade near +Maya, made a show, but gave way again. This report +we had heard, and thought all was over. About three, +however, the French advanced against Cole and Hill. +About twenty-two thousand against Cole’s force, about +sixteen thousand against General Stewart’s brigade; the +force of the latter are scattered on the hills round the +pass. The French came up in one close body, and +gradually ascended the hill. Our people fired on them +the whole time, and the destruction was very considerable. +Still, however, they gained ground. Twice +were they charged by a single regiment of ours, and the +head of the column gave a little, but the press of numbers<span class="pagenum" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</span> +urged them on, and as our force was only about three +thousand men, and that acting only by small bodies of +regiments or companies, the French drove all before them +after a most gallant but fatal resistance, before a sufficient +reinforcement could be brought up. Four Portuguese +guns were abandoned. Our loss in killed and +wounded you will see in the “<cite>Gazette</cite>.” It is said to be +twelve hundred British, almost all in three or four regiments—principally +the 50th, 92nd, 74th, and 28th. In +the 92nd, I am told, there was no officer except the +Quarter-Master in a state to march off the men at parade. +Colonel Belson (28th) had only four officers left besides +himself on duty, as he had been thinned at Vittoria. To +add to this disaster, General Cole thought he was not +justified in opposing the superior force against him, and +gave way in the pass of Roncesvalles. This left an +opening for the enemy to get in the rear of General +Hill in the valley of Bastan at Elisondo. Of course, +therefore, he was obliged to fall back also, and the result +was that Lord Wellington on his return found his right +wing forced, and his position completely turned. Retreat, +and that a rapid one, became necessary, in order to take +a new position, and to fall back on the divisions near +Pamplona.</p> + +<p>After I was in bed on the night of the 25th the order +came to march, as I expected. Lord Wellington was off +early straight across to the second division. The light +divisions fell back from our front; the seventh also +toward St. Estevan towards the second; the artillery +proceeded to St. Estevan by Sambillo. Head-quarters +were sent over the mountains by Yanga and Aranor to a +little village called Eligarraga, just as you descend into +the valley of St. Estevan, there to wait for orders.</p> + +<p>We had a wild and tedious road of four leagues, up +and down the mountains like Blue Beard’s procession, in +which we should now all be adepts. A road ran round<span class="pagenum" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</span> +the bottom through Sambillo, but probably it was not +thought safe, and that it might interfere with the artillery, +as it was narrow the whole way, and nothing could +pass.</p> + +<p>About two o’clock on the 26th we reached Eligarraga, +and there found Major Canning sitting by the wayside +to order on everything three long leagues further +through Estevan, and then after keeping the road along +the valley about a league beyond towards the pass into +the Bastan Valley, near Trinita and Elisondo, we were +to turn at Oronoz through a pass on the right, which +brought us into the rear of the valley of Bastan, and into +the rear of General Hill’s division, to a place called +Almendoz, on the road to Pamplona from Elisondo, +General Hill’s head-quarters being half a league in our +present rear as we retreated, at our old head-quarters, +Berrueta. In the meantime the seventh and light divisions +got down into the valley of St. Estevan that night.</p> + +<p>At Almendoz we found the effects of the battle at +Maya. The wounded had just reached that place, and +there those who had not been dressed, had their wounds +examined, and all were urged on to the rear over a +mountain pass to Lanz as fast as possible. The village +of Almendoz was very small; the wounded lying about +in all directions, till cars and mules could help them on. +It was near seven o’clock, and we had nothing to eat +since seven in the morning; quarters very bad of course, +and the inhabitants all in the greatest distress, beginning +to pack up, to desert their houses, as the people in the +valley of Bastan, at Elisondo, &c., had done already, the +French having got possession. A retreat is a most distressing +scene even at the best, and when conducted with +perfect order as this was.</p> + +<p>About nine o’clock that night orders came to march at +daylight for Ulague, a place about half-way between +Lanz and Ostiz. After a five o’clock breakfast, away we<span class="pagenum" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</span> +went for the mountains again. The road was choked +with baggage, and artillery, and fugitives, amongst others, +fourteen or fifteen nuns in their dresses, who were reduced +by fatigue to beg some rum of us as we passed, +which unfortunately we had not with us. We got on +by scrambling along the paths near the road, and arrived +about twelve. On the 27th we arrived at Lanz. We +there found General Murray and several officers, all looking +very serious and gloomy, and orders given for everything +to be turned off that road to the right, and not to +go to Ulague, as Cole had been pressed. The firing was +very sharp, and the French were urging on to that road, +besides which, by taking to the right we got towards the +<i lang="es" xml:lang="es">camino real</i>, from Pamplona to Tolosa, and could have +made for General Graham’s if necessary. We were +turned through Arayes (where I had been on the advance, +and by the road where I had lost myself before in the +night), on through a rich valley and several villages to +Lissago, or Lisasso.</p> + +<p>Here (the 27th) we were placed very snugly, only about +two leagues and a-half from the Tolosa road, about three +from Pamplona, and in the midst of the divisions. +General Cole, with the fourth division, had fallen back on +Pamplona to some hills near Villa Alba, or Villalba: +there he joined the third division, General Picton’s, and +some Spaniards. General Hill fell back to Lanz. From +Berrueta, the seventh division got a short way over the +mountains, from St. Estevan to near Lisasso, our head-quarters, +and thus got near the sixth. The light division +fell back more towards Goigueta, or Ernani, to communicate +with Graham and protect the Tolosa road, and +thus we stood all night.</p> + +<p>The scene at Lisasso was dreadful! All the wounded +from Lanz had just arrived there, in cars, on mules, +crawling on crutches, and hobbling along: all those with +wounds in their hands and arms, &c., walking. Finding<span class="pagenum" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</span> +that they had orders to stop there, all our quarters, except +Lord Wellington’s, and about four more houses, +were given up, and we all dispersed to the villages round. +You may conceive the scene, both on the road and in the +village. I thought one of my horses had lost his shoes +on the road, and desired my servant to ascertain this. A +soldier walking along, apparently one of the best, said +that I had not; that he was still, as a farrier, able to see +that, though he thought he should be some months before +he could put another shoe on, as he had been shot through +the back. I went with Colonel and Mrs. Scovell to a +little village half-way up the hill towards Pamplona; and +Colonel Scovell and I climbed up to the top of the hill +to listen and look about until nearly six o’clock, when +we expected our baggage. The curé of the village and +three peasants went up with us. We could see beyond +Pamplona, and beyond the firing, but could not perceive +the place itself for the smoke. By five o’clock, however, +we all agreed that it slackened, and receded a little; we +therefore descended, got a beefsteak, and waited ready for +orders.</p> + +<p>About six that evening the wounded were ordered to +move on towards Irunzun, on the Vittoria and Tolosa +roads; but we remained quiet. About seven, a furious +thunder-storm came on, and caught all our poor wounded +men on their march: they could not get on to Irunzun, +but got to Berrio Planca, near Pamplona. Two officers, +one sick and one wounded in a house half a mile from us, +heard of this order, left their beds, packed up, and were +proceeding; but came first to us to inquire. We told +them that head-quarters were not to move. They then +went back to bed, keeping a guide in the house all night, +to start in case of alarm. At nine came an order to +march to Orcayen, near Pamplona, the next morning. +Thus passed the 27th.</p> + +<p>At five o’clock on the 28th I began to load to proceed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</span> +to Orcayen, when Mr. Hook, who takes quarters, came +back and left word that we were to go to Irunzun instead; +but the sergeant, by mistake, told us he would call again +when he had made more inquiry. In consequence of +this Mrs. Scovell and I staid until past ten before we +marched. Then, finding every one gone, and the +baggage of General Hill’s division arrived at Lisasso, we +started over the mountain. For the first league we were +quite right; but afterwards, in a wood, got too much to +the right, and entered a wrong valley: as it was all safe, +however, to blunder on that side, and the country was +picturesque, we proceeded on that road, and by this means +got through to Oscoz, and came into the high Pamplona +road to Tolosa, about three-quarters of a league from +Irunzun towards Tolosa, instead of half a league on the +Pamplona side of Irunzun, which would have been the +nearest; it was not a league round, and very picturesque. +We were, therefore, not sorry for the mistake. At +Irunzun, however, came a difficulty; it was quite crowded +with wounded; and of head-quarters we could hear +nothing, nor of our baggage.</p> + +<p>Leaving my servant to bring on the baggage if it +came, we proceeded forwards towards Pamplona, near +where we heard head-quarters were—somewhere at least +that way. At Berrio Planca, a place on the <i lang="es" xml:lang="es">camino real</i>, +we found all our baggage and the nominal head-quarters, +Every one, however, was absent, and the place full of +wounded, the effects of the preceding day. I got a room +in the Prince of Orange’s quarter, as he had sent for his +bed away that night; but Henry had all my keys. +About eight I found Henry and went to bed.</p> + +<p>The next morning, the 29th, I heard that we had the +most severe work on the 28th; that the French attacked +our position on a hill six or seven times, which I believe +our troops had only occupied a few hours before the +French came up near Oricain or Orquin. These attacks<span class="pagenum" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</span> +were very desperate: and I understand that such a fire +for a short time was scarcely ever known, for four French +corps all bore upon one point, and General Pakenham +told me that he scarcely dared show any of his men. +These attacks were, however, all unsuccessful, and we +kept our ground. The French were generally driven +down with the bayonet, having been suffered to come +close, and then received with a volley, a cheer, and a +charge. I hear that some of our officers were once very +much alarmed for the result. The French remained +close and steady, and one regiment (I believe the 40th) +went at them rather loose and straggling. However, at +the cheer at the last moment the French broke and ran. +The Portuguese behaved in general most inimitably, the +4th, 10th, and 12th regiments in particular. The 10th +did, indeed, once give way, but rallied; and the 4th +charged twice, I think, on the 27th June, in good +English style.</p> + +<p>Our loss was very severe; that of the French, of +course, much more so; but as their cavalry carry off the +wounded to the rear, and they have an hospital corps +also for that purpose, no one knows their losses; their +prisoners and deserters say nearly five thousand, Lord +Wellington’s staff were never so roughly handled. The +Prince of Orange, who was sent to thank one regiment +by Lord Wellington, was very much exposed while executing +this order. His horse was shot under him, and +he was grazed in the sash. It was near this place that +General Cole’s aide-de-camp had been killed, and also Brigade-Major +A——, one of my Deputy Judge-Advocates. +He was trying to rally a Spanish battalion which was quite +broken. The Adjutant-general Pakenham had his coat-sleeve +much torn by a ball. Colonel Waters, A.A.G.C., +was shot in the head, through the hat, on the temple, but +somehow was little hurt. It is thought that the ball +glanced under the hat, against the head, and passed out<span class="pagenum" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</span> +through the hat. He was out again the next day. Lord +Wellington was near at the time, and told him that his +head must be like a rock.</p> + +<p>Lord Wellington said, I hear, that he had never seen +the French behave better. He staid and dined at Picton’s +on the 28th, and few returned to head-quarters. All the +29th was quiet; both sides employed in burying the +dead and getting off the wounded. On the 29th also the +staff and light canteens alone remained at Villalba with +General Cole; and I was left with scarcely anything +except wounded men and baggage. All the stores +were ordered to be unloaded, and all spare mules of the +head-quarters and of the second and seventh divisions +likewise. Two troops of Portuguese cavalry were employed +from daylight to dark, in addition to cars and +hospital waggons, in carrying off the wounded to Irunzun, +to be out of the way in case of attack, and on the road to +the great hospital at Vittoria.</p> + +<p>I made myself of some use in assisting the arrangement, +and as there were not hands to move the men from +their mules, to get their rations, &c., and then remount +them to proceed, I asked an artillery officer close by, to +lend some of his men to assist, which he did directly, and +everything went on as quick again. I was sure they +would not stand upon form on such an occasion, and the +men were standing about waiting for orders; they only +regretted that they did not know it sooner, for they +would have given men all day. The scene was a busy +one. I suppose nearly twelve hundred went through in +this way; they were provided with rations for two days +to get on to Echani, mounted and sent off, their ammunition +having in the meantime been taken from them to +be better used, for that was getting scarce more than +once. Some had two, some one ball still in them. Besides +this, Colonel Campbell, of the Portuguese service, +who had been wounded, was lying in my ante-room all<span class="pagenum" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</span> +day. He was shot through the shinbone, a painful +wound. He could not get into my room, which of course +I offered, but he preferred the cool passage. I was at +breakfast when he arrived. I gave him tea, and some +newspapers to try and read himself to sleep. A friend +was with him, a Campbell, who shared my bouillie; he +ate as good a dinner as I did, but objected to a second +bottle, upon which I discovered he was also wounded in +the side, and feared that the end of his rib was broken.</p> + +<p>The next morning, the 30th, we were all in suspense, +as Lord Wellington had determined on a general attack. +The firing began at daylight. At nine o’clock I determined +to go and see what was going on, and mounting +my black, proceeded up for the hills, where the sixth and +seventh divisions were, on the opposite side of the valley +from our grand position, where we had been attacked the +day before. I met many wounded, crawling back all the +way, and on the top found only the pickets left in the +camp of the morning, and that the seventh division had +just driven the French from the adjoining hill, and were +after them up the valley on the other side. I went on to +the point of the hill and saw the battle still raging +strong, just opposite on the hills below, on the other side +of the valley opposite our position. The French still +steady and firing very briskly all round the side of one +hill and in the village below us, and our people creeping +on by degrees under ridges towards the village and the +hill, and also advancing round the back of the hill. We +had two mortars and a gun also upon our position-hill +constantly at work, playing upon the French, and we saw +the shells continually fall and burst close to the French +line, whilst the wounded were carried off to the rear.</p> + +<p>This went on for some time, above an hour after I +came up, and we had men in reserve all round. I then +saw our men in the village, and immediately under the +French, and appearing at top also. The French gave<span class="pagenum" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</span> +way, but went on firing all over the hill. In half-an-hour, +I heard the loud huzzas of our soldiers, and saw no +French left except on the next hills, where they seemed +very numerous and strong, but in confusion. The first +huzzas were I believe for a body of about eighteen hundred +prisoners, who were caught, being headed every way. +There was soon a shout on our side close by our positions. +It proved to be Marshal Beresford and Lord Wellington +proceeding down to the village to water their horses and +proceed on. I should have wished to have pushed on +also, but I knew head-quarters would move, and had told +my people I should return, and not to stir until they saw +me. I therefore went back to Berrio Planca, found as I +expected all loaded and on the move to go towards +Orquin; got a mouthful of mouldy bread in the market, +and went back again close to our position at Orquin. +There we got orders to halt loaded, until orders came to +proceed to Ostiz. We took off our bridles, turned the +horses into a field of Indian corn, where the French camp +had been four hours before, and where their dead of the +28th had been buried. We waited thus, hearing a distant +firing, until near dark. The reason of this halt, as I +learned from General O’Donnell, who passed, was that +D’Erlon had attacked General Hill in the morning, and +that he had been rather too much in advance, and was in +some degree obliged to give way; that he had now taken +a new position, and expected the second attack without +alarm, as he was to be supported.</p> + +<p>About four or five thousand Spaniards moved by us +whilst we halted and went up that way. I conclude that +this was part of the support alluded to. General Hill +was attacked again, and I understand beat Count D’Erlon +(Drouet) back with great loss. When this had put all +matters straight again, on that side, at least, we were to +proceed. At last came orders to advance to Lanz, and +we moved again. We drew up first, however, on one<span class="pagenum" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</span> +side to allow eighteen hundred prisoners to march to the +rear,—a very pleasant sight. I spoke to several, and +found all of the 17th regiment, who were numerous, to +be Italians, principally Genoese. They said that they +hated the French, but were forced to fight in Spain +against their inclinations. All the prisoners seemed quite +tired of Spain, and were as anxious as most of our people +never to see it again. They said that Soult was more in +the rear, and did not intend to fight that day, which was +true, I believe, for he waited for General D’Erlon to get +up from St. Estevan towards Lanz. General Monceau, I +believe, commanded.</p> + +<p>We were again a second time stopped under some trees, +for Lord Wellington had ordered the French to be moved +from their position beyond Ostiz, and driven to the +vicinity of Lanz; the baggage was halted till the result +was known. In the villages and on the road, which was +strewed with pouches, empty knapsacks, and broken +muskets, we passed several bodies all stripped, and in +some places could scarcely avoid treading on them, by the +horse stepping over a leg or an arm. In one place on +the road was a half-buried Frenchman, which the horse +had again laid bare. The doctors determined to halt, and +encamp under some trees; and if my baggage had been +near me to stop it, I should have bivouacked with them, +having no tent. As it was, I proceeded, got a wretched +quarter at Ostiz with Colonel Waters and seven countrymen, +just come from the mountains, at about nine o’clock, +got a beefsteak at eleven, and to bed at half-past twelve.</p> + +<p>The next day, 31st, orders came to proceed to Lanz, +and wait further instructions. There we arrived about +ten o’clock, and I turned my horses into the forage +remaining in the French camp of the night before, and +got some collected for the mules. Thus we remained +loaded until four o’clock without orders. Lord Wellington +then sent on for fresh horses and his light canteens,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</span> +and of our own accord we unloaded to relieve the +animals, but for a long time durst not unpack. At last, +General Murray came in, and ordered some dinner; but +telling us that he had no authority to direct others to do +the same. We were all to go to our old quarters; but, +not liking in this state of things to go over to Arriez, my +old place, where I had lost myself in the night, I got a +room at Haines’s, and some dinner, hung my baggage +cover up for a door, and went to sleep on the table to +avoid the fleas.</p> + +<p>The next day, 1st of August, about six o’clock, orders +were issued to advance to Berrueta, and there to remain, +waiting orders again. We returned over this mountain +thus the third time, and got to Berrueta about one +o’clock. I called at Almendoz in passing, to remind the +patrona of the house that I had told her we should beat +the French, near Pamplona, and be back in a week. I +was so in five days, and found her more miserable than +before, having been plundered by the French. I gave +the green Indian corn the French had left to my horse, +and wished her good-bye. About two o’clock, we heard +that we had driven the French off the hills above St. +Estevan, and also through the town, and head-quarters +were to move on to St. Estevan directly. We did so, +and got there by five o’clock; the French having been +driven out between twelve and one. We saw about a +dozen French, just killed, close to St. Estevan. So we +go on, you see.</p> + +<p>The French being driven in, about two leagues towards +Lezaca and Echalar, Longa and the Spaniards, and the +light division, made a long march back that day, the 1st +of August, towards their own ground above Lezaca, going +more round, however, towards Echalar. By this, the +95th fell in with the French at the bridge, where the +road to Lezaca turns off from that to Echalar, headed +them, killed and wounded about a hundred, and, without<span class="pagenum" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</span> +discovering it, before dark, drove much of their baggage +up the valley round again towards St. Estevan. By this +movement, the French being then headed at the Lezaca +valley, went the Echalar pass and road instead, and in +confusion; and the baggage walked into the fourth division +just as they advanced next morning.</p> + +<p>Yesterday, the 2nd of August, our orders were to proceed +again to Lezaca. We started, and got into all the +baggage of head-quarters (three divisions) eight miles +extent of loaded mules in a string. There was a halt of +about four hours, and no one could move. This continued +until we got near where the baggage had been +caught, which was the cause of the stoppage. After +fighting by all the baggage, and leading my horse along +some very dangerous places, where, if he had slipped, +he must have fallen down to the river (and four to five +mules actually did so), I got to the scene of the captured +baggage, and then went quietly on. For nearly two miles +there were scattered along the road, papers, old rugs, +blankets, pack-saddles, old bridles, girths, private letters, +lint, bandages, one or two hundred empty and broken +boxes; quantities of intrenching tools, rags, French clothes, +dead mules, dead soldiers and peasants, farriers’ tools, +officers’ boots, linen, &c. There were also the boxes of +M. Le General Baron de St. Pol, and several private +officers’ baggage; the principal thing taken seemed to be +the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">ambulance du 2ème division</i>; that is, the field hospital +of the second division. There were still more things +worth picking up, and some soldiers digging up three +live mules out of an old limekiln near the road-side. +This caused stoppages and confusion.</p> + +<p>Just beyond the bridge of Yanza the French were +crawling off, who were wounded by the 95th the night +before, and we twice met small parties of prisoners going +to the rear, abused not a little by the plundered and +exasperated villagers. The prisoners told me that the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</span> +country people about these mountains were “<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">diablement +méchant</i>,” and treated them very ill. The truth was, +however, that the French began this treatment; for +though they had behaved well in advancing, they had +plundered and destroyed considerably in their retreat, and +much wantonly. I told them they ought never to have +come and entered Spain, to which they replied, “We +never wished to do so; it is not our fault.”</p> + +<p>About three o’clock, I went round to see what was +going on, but my horse was tired, and I was not able to +get up, to see the French driven from the hill above +Echalar, and also from the hill occupied by the light +division. In short, all our old position, and a little more, +was gained last night.</p> + +<p>In our advance again, we also saw some of the effects +of our own retreat. In one place was an ammunition-waggon, +with six dead mules, which had all rolled down the +mountain together. I ascertained that it was English +by sending a muleteer down for some papers in the +waggon, which turned out to be our printed blank artillery +returns. I also saw four other wheels and parts of +carriages, and it is said that we lost a howitzer. Colonel +Ross’s troop suffered the most in this way. The French +seemed to have made this advance as a desperate push to +relieve Pamplona and St. Sebastian. The garrisons of +both sallied; that of Pamplona was driven back directly, +as I hear: that of St. Sebastian (as we are told) surprised +us in the trenches napping, as the heavy guns were all +embarked for security, and nothing going on, and carried +off three companies of Portuguese. This, it is to be +hoped, is exaggerated. Near Elisondo, I hear, we took +thirty cars of bread and brandy, and some baggage also—a +day’s bread for two divisions; and many are now +fighting without it on both sides. There is no delivery +of bread to-day, even for head-quarters; corn for the +horses we have had none this week.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</span></p> + +<p>Head-quarters have stray papers to the 19th, which I +am reading whilst the fighting is going on. One great +amusement in these papers, to me at least, is the excess +of lies, the impudence, the abundance of them, and then +the blunders, and ignorance of what is going on. You +will be surprised at the contents of this, when you get the +<cite>Gazette</cite> account, as you will probably long before you +receive this. I told you that the beaten army would +return in a month: whether they will muster again this +year, and attack, depends, in my opinion, upon the fall of +Pamplona and St. Sebastian, and the northern war. +Pamplona is starving; at least it is without meat; but I +still doubt, except that this sudden effort proves it to be +in danger. It is merely more closely invested by small +gun redoubts—no battering gun has ever been near it, at +present only about six thousand Spaniards watch it, and +I think if they choose they might be off, only much +harassed by our cavalry.</p> + +<p>The charges made by the Life Guards were the most +ludicrous. They were never near the enemy, until +beyond Vittoria, as I was before them, and was almost +run down twice by their anxiety along the road, galloping +away without occasion. I leaped a ditch once to avoid +them, not wishing to blow my horse as theirs were, at a +time when we were on one side of Vittoria and the French +on the other. They were afterwards ordered on, but +never came up with the enemy. They could do nothing +in such a country, with six-foot ditches round the +enclosures. Very few of the Spaniards have behaved well +this time. They have been generally in the rear; one +regiment stood fire well on the 28th, but some ran, and +in general I hear they have done little. Longa’s people +tolerably here. There has been sharp work on the +whole. I should put down the allied losses at six or +seven thousand, and the French nearly at eighteen thousand, +provisions and all, that is somehow put <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">hors de<span class="pagenum" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</span> +combat</i>. If the Spaniards will not fight, we can scarcely +stand even this advantage long; we shall be ruined by our +victories. The French under D’Erlon behaved very well +to Colonel Fenwick, who was left wounded; no one was +allowed to go to his house as a quarter, and every +attention was paid both to him and the surgeon left with +him. The latter became so popular that the French +liked to be dressed by him, better than by their own +surgeons.</p> + +<p><em>August 3rd, six o’clock, evening.</em>—The great men are +all come in; and I am told nothing has been done more +to-day. The last push over the hills, and out of their +position has not been made yet. So at least says General +O’Lalor. I suspect the Prince of Orange will carry home +these despatches, and I think it but fair now, that he +should go and see his intended as a conquering hero. He +certainly promises very well. An old man just returned +home, is thrashing out his wheat over my head, and has +been thus employed all the morning, giving me his dust +as well as his noise.</p> + +<p><em>Later, nine o’clock, evening.</em>—Nothing has been done +to-day; the French remain in their strong ground above +Bera, a league and a half from this. It was found, I believe, +necessary to turn it in a regular manner to avoid great +loss; for though one brigade of red coats yesterday turned +two French divisions off one high hill, we can scarcely +expect this to be always the case. I think, therefore, we +shall remain here some days at least. I have just heard +an anecdote of General Picton. General Cole on the +17th ordered General Byng to retire from a post on a hill +which afterwards formed a part of our good position on +the 28th. Byng sent to Picton to say what his orders +were, and added that though very important, he felt he +was not strong enough to justify his keeping it. Picton +said to Byng’s aide-de-camp, “No, by G—, he shall not +give up the hill; I will bring my division up to support<span class="pagenum" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</span> +him; but no, your horse is done up, I’ll go myself and +tell him;” and he ordered the division to follow. This +saved that hill. Another time, General Cole was by orders +leaving a hill, when he received fresh orders to occupy it. +His men found a few stragglers on the top, and the French +main division half way up; but they gave them such a +volley and warm reception, that they soon turned back +and were off.</p> + +<p>We were very nearly destroying some of the French +cavalry, and taking two divisions. Two circumstances prevented +this. The night we were at Berrueta two of our men +straggled, and got taken, and they told the French where +head-quarters were. This made them conclude we were +strongly posted close by, and they decamped at night instead +of the morning, as they had intended. Thus several +hours were gained. The next was, that our light division +got their orders seven hours later than was expected. Had +they been that time sooner up, they would have headed +the French division on their road to Echalar, as well as to +Lezaca, and from strong ground might have been able to +drive them back upon the other divisions, and have surrounded +them. Their cavalry also would have been +caught on this narrow winding road down by the river, +where the baggage was destroyed, with a path in the wood +just on the opposite side, from whence our men might at +least have picked off the horses if the men chose to run +away. This was just missed, however, from these causes, +and remains one of the <em>ifs</em> and <em>ands</em>; it is very provoking, +for that would have completely crippled them for +this year.</p> + +<p>A Spanish priest told me to-day that all the priests, +nuns, &c., in Spain, were constantly putting up prayers +for Lord Wellington, thinking almost everything depended +upon him individually, as I believe most people +here really think. They were sorry he was so often +exposed as he is to fire.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</span></p> + +<p><em>Lezaca, August 4th, 1813.</em>—Nothing is to be done, I +believe, to-day. Everything <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">in statu quo</i>; the Prince +goes to-night or to-morrow morning with despatches to +England, and I shall send this with them.</p> + +<p>P.S. It feels, as you may suppose, very strange, after +the whirl about to Pamplona, and all the scenes I have +witnessed, to be again quietly drawing charges at Lezaca. +I have just heard that the French have increased their +force much in our front above Bera on the hills, but I +think nothing more will be done immediately on our part +or on theirs.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI.</h2> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="fs80" style="margin-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em;">Rejoicings for the Victory—Sufferings of Cole’s Division—Complaints of +the French—Statements of a French Prisoner—Decay of Spain—Characteristics +of Wellington—His Opinion of Bonaparte—Prospects of a +renewal of the Attack—Exchange of Prisoners—Wellington’s Spanish +Estate—His opinion of Picton—Disposition of the Army.</p> + +<p class="right fs80"> +Head-quarters, Lezaca,<br> +<span style="padding-right: 2em">August 7, 1813.</span></p> +</div> + +<p class="no-indent"> +<span class="smcap">My dear M——</span>, +</p> + +<p><span style="padding-left: 2em">Here</span> we are still, quiet, and <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">in statu quo ante</i> our +last run to Pamplona. I have sent you a long account +of all this business with the Prince of Orange’s despatches.</p> + +<p>Our cavalry have been moving up, both to St. Estevan, +and towards Irun. From the former place, however, for +want of forage they begin to retire again. Much are left +still round Pamplona, where there is only a Spanish +infantry force to watch and invest. They have tried in +vain to burn the corn just under the walls of the town, +for this partly supplies the garrison. Marshal Beresford +is gone for a week to the sea side, for bathing; I +conclude, therefore, that nothing is to be immediately +undertaken to turn the French out of the remaining hills +near this place. I should like to have them clear out in +the plains below, for I expect in about three weeks to +have them plaguing us again. Something is still in +agitation for this purpose, but for the present delayed. +We fired, at St. Sebastian, a salute of twenty-one guns +for our late victory. The garrison regularly returned two<span class="pagenum" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</span> +for every gun fired. They are very well supplied, it is +said, and are very impudent. I fear that all our former +breaches will now be quite useless, as they are, probably, +before this, made the strongest points. Saragossa, or +Zaragoza (the fort) has surrendered to Mina with about +forty guns, and, it is said, nearly five hundred men; this +will be good, if Suchet intends to come that way towards +us. I think he is now retreating a little, and perhaps +this late business may make him go back quicker.</p> + +<p>Lord Wellington was on his bed yesterday, and could +scarcely rise from the lumbago; but was in good humour +and good spirits. His position near Sorauren and +Oricain, or Orquin, was a near-run thing (this was where +the last two battles were fought). General Cole was +there with the fourth division. In the course of his +retreat, Lord Wellington was falling back on him with +his staff, saw the importance of the position and galloped +over the bridge, and up to General Cole, to form his +division, and take up the position at first sight. Pamplona +must otherwise have been relieved. The French +were so close upon Lord Wellington, that a part of his +staff rather behind could not follow him over the bridge, +but were cut off by the French, and obliged to find their +way round. This position was afterwards strengthened +by the third (Picton’s) division, and the Spaniards, and +this at least saved the communication with Pamplona. I +hope we should in any case have beaten the French at +last, but it must have been further back certainly, and +probably on the Tolosa road. General Cole’s division has +had, on the whole, nearly nine days’ constant fighting and +marching. It is terribly cut up in consequence.</p> + +<p>The French vow vengeance against the Spaniards. +An officer, prisoner here, told me yesterday, that the +Spaniards had always complained of the French, and +often with reason; but if they came again as he expected, +the French were resolved to show them the difference,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</span> +and let them have some reason to complain of them in +earnest. He said, that France had lost nearly four +hundred thousand men in Spain, in the war, and much +more than half from sickness and unfair means, assassination, +and treachery. He said there was not a family in +France which had not put on mourning for this Spanish +war, and yet scarcely any of the Spaniards had fought +them like men. He said the notion the French had was +that in the general peace which was expected, England +and France would make arrangements to divide the best +part of Spain between them, and that we should keep +Cadiz, Carthagena, and all the useful maritime parts, and +leave them to the Ebro. He smiled much at my disowning +any such honest and honourable intentions on +our part. He told me that the French armies had +suffered more in their <em>morale</em> here in the last campaign, +than by their Russian losses, for every Frenchman laid +the latter disasters entirely to climate, and was satisfied +he still could conquer a Russian as formerly; but here, +the troops were fairly beaten, and in general would not +stand. Only two brigades, he said, behaved really well at +Vittoria, and Jourdan was sent to Paris under arrest for +his conduct. As to the money, baggage, &c., they +behaved much better on the 18th of July.</p> + +<p>He also told me that not even an English or Spanish +officer, in the best of times, had ever been so well treated +as the French were when they first came here. He +appeared not at all to feel how much worse this made +their conduct appear since. This was drawn out by my +telling him that Bonaparte had contrived now to make +the French detested, almost by every nation in Europe, +and that power was all he had to rely upon. The part +Bernadotte had taken the French officers seem not to +have known, so much are they kept in the dark about +every thing. The Frenchman also said, that had it not +been for the jealousies of the Guerillas, they might, by<span class="pagenum" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</span> +acting in concert (which they never would do), have +sometimes almost annihilated whole French divisions, +and that the French could scarcely have kept their +ground some time since; but by local and individual +jealousies the finest opportunities were lost. He considered +that the good or bad behaviour of an army all +depended on their having pay and food; or, on the contrary, +the want of both; and I believe so much: that he +rightly considered that the French discipline was the +best when they had both, but that not being here ever +the case, plunder was the consequence. “But why come +here at all?” quoth I. “<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">L’Empereur le veut</i>,” was the +answer, “and we as soldiers have only to obey.” “Try +and enter France,” said he, “and you will soon see how +the people feel, and whether your stories of a readiness +to revolt, and dissatisfaction are true. So far from it, +that there has been considerable zeal shown every where +in replacing the Emperor’s Russian losses.” The French +think there must be war, and therefore the further from +home the better. We have heard before you, by French +papers, of the extension of the armistice in the North. +This is bad for the campaign here.</p> + +<p>The English reviewers and others may say what they +please as to Spain not having been on the decline during +the last century. It has at least stood still when almost +every other country in Europe made rapid advances in +everything. In Spain and Portugal, no town is now, or +has been lately, on the increase; but several have manifestly +diminished. The decay of houses is seldom made +good, even on the same ground, by new ones; I do not +recollect to have observed, in the whole country, four +new houses building, notwithstanding the thousands +destroyed of late; nor does this seem owing to the events +of the last five years and the present times, for you see +no houses commenced before that time, and left unfinished, +at least extremely few. In France, almost<span class="pagenum" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</span> +every large place had its new town as in England, only +in a less degree, and evident marks of new buildings, &c., +stopped by the Revolution. In Spain there are no +appearances of new towns at all, nor of parts of towns, +or scarcely even of houses, or unfinished buildings +stopped by the present confusion—some in Vittoria, from +French excitement I believe, but nothing to speak of. +The churches are every where on a large and expensive +scale; a few modern, but in general they are old. The +Spanish towns have nearly all the appearance of what we +should take to be decayed manufacturing towns. The +inhabitants appear to have been asleep as to the rest of +the world, and not to have made any progress whilst +others made great advances. This is a sort of decline. +There can have been little demand for manufactures, for +the same few chairs and tables seem to have been in use +these fifty or hundred years. Whitewashing and new +placing the tiles seem the only repairs of the houses.</p> + +<p>Yet, I think many districts seem to have been uncommonly +happy and comfortable before this war—large +tight houses, abundance of food, good clothes, +cleanly habits, a general equality of rank; no rich among +them at all; no very poor; and no manufactures. Almost +every man could make what he wanted for his farm, and +a shoemaker, a tailor, and a farrier, were nearly the only +tradesmen, except farmers, in work. Occasional pedlars +supplied the other wants of a people who had but few. +Such must have been the independent, happy state of +many large districts away from the influence of the corruptions +of the large towns, where all the idle, lazy, +pauper nobility lived: they were alike free from the +effects of the misgovernment and oppressive conduct of +their rulers. Other districts certainly were very different, +and more like the dirty and ill-provided Portuguese. +In Portugal, the higher classes seem, I think, +to have been generally better off, and to have enjoyed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</span> +themselves more in their quintas, or villas, and the poor +to have been worse off. There are none of the districts +in Portugal such as I have described in Spain.</p> + +<p>I have just met General Cole, who commanded the +fourth division; he is quite knocked up. He says that +his division alone have one hundred and four officers +killed and wounded.</p> + +<p><em>Lezaca, 8th August.</em>—Yesterday I rode up to the hill +at the point of our position above Bera, from whence you +see Bayonne. I stood on the top until it was nearly +dark, and returned down the mountains by moonlight. +The French fires were very numerous, and were burning +all over the sides of a tremendous hill, which they still +occupy opposite to our position. I passed the boundary +stone, and got half-a-mile into France, to the highest +summit of the rock, where the outlying picket is. I saw +the French relieve their pickets, heard their drums as +plainly as ours, saw the men at work at a redoubt to +oppose us if we should advance, and, lastly, saw five +thousand Spaniards come up to occupy the ground in +the place of our light division, &c., who were ordered to +go elsewhere. These were O’Donnell’s regiments; they +were thin in numbers. A brigade, nominally three +thousand, mustered eighteen hundred, but were well-dressed +and good-looking men. I only hope they will +fight—at least that they do not steal as adroitly as +Longa’s people. We have had the latter near this place, +and nothing is safe at all from their fingers—from a +horse or mule down to a bit of biscuit. In my letter +from Vittoria, I told you that the French as an army +had escaped, and that we should hear of them again in a +month. So it proved; and so I think it will be probably +again, unless the two places surrender to us in a +few weeks.</p> + +<p>This small, dirty place, Lezaca, is a curious scene of +bustle just now; crowded with Spanish fugitives—the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</span> +head-quarters no small body, with all our stragglers and +those of Longa’s, who are more numerous (he having a +quarter here now, and looking like an English butcher in +a handsome hussar dress), with abundance of Spanish and +Portuguese officers (for both troops are near), as well as +with English, with wounded and prisoners passing, with +mules and muleteers innumerable, besides all the country +people who come here to turn all they have got into +money. Noises of all sorts; thrashing all going on in +the rooms up stairs; the corn then made into bread and +sold in one corner; “<i lang="es" xml:lang="es">aguardente</i>” being cried all about; +lemonade (that is, dirty water and dark-brown sugar) the +same; here a large pig being killed in the street, with its +usual music on such occasions; another near it with a +straw fire singeing it, and then a number of women cutting +up and selling pieces of other pigs killed a few hours +before. Suttlers and natives with their Don Quixote +wineskins all about, large pigskins, and small ditto, and +middling ditto, all pouring out wine to our half-boozy, +weary soldiers; bad apples and pears, gourds for soup, +sour plums, &c., all offered for sale at the same moment. +Perpetual quarrels take place about payment for these +things between the soldiers of the three allied nations and +the avaricious and unreasonable civilian natives; mostly, +however, between Spaniards and Spaniards. The animals +eating green Indian corn almost against every house here +and in the churchyard, which contains four tents, from +the want of stables and of quarters. Not the least curious +or noisy in this confusion, are about fifteen men and +women with fresh butter 4<em>s.</em> the pound, who are come +from near St. Andero and beyond it—a stout race dressed +in a curious, peculiar manner, who contrive to bring +butter on their heads in baskets for above a fortnight +together, and sell it at last in a state that I am very glad +to eat it for breakfast for ten days after it arrives. It +forms a sort of very mild cream cheese, in fact.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</span></p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, Lezaca, August 9th.</em>—You ask me if +Lord Wellington has recollected —— with regard? He +seems to have had a great opinion of him, but scarcely +has ever mentioned him to me. In truth, I think Lord +Wellington has an active, busy mind, always looking to +the future, and is so used to lose a useful man, that as +soon as gone he seldom thinks more of him. He would +be always, no doubt, ready to serve any one who had +been about him, or the friend of a deceased friend, but he +seems not to think much about you when once out of the +way. He has too much of everything and everybody +always in his way, to think much of the absent. He said +the other day, that he had great advantages now over +every other General. He could do what others dare not +attempt; and he got the confidence of all the three allied +powers, so that what he said or ordered was, right or +wrong, always thought right. “And it is the same,” +said he, “with the troops. When I come myself, the +soldiers think what they have to do the most important, +since I am there, and that all will depend on their exertions. +Of course, these are increased in proportion, and +they will do for me what perhaps no one else can make +them do.” He said, “he had several of the advantages +possessed by Bonaparte, in regard to his freedom of action +and power of risking, without being constantly called to +account: Bonaparte was quite free from all inquiry, and +that he himself was in fact very much so. The other advantages +which Bonaparte possessed, and of which he made +so much use,” Lord Wellington said, “was his full latitude +of lying; <em>that</em>, if so disposed,” he said, “he could not do.”</p> + +<p>You ask about my health—I think this hole in the +mountains unwholesome: the place is so full, and without +drainage; the air heavy and oppressive; it is like Devonshire, +warm moisture constantly. I long to be on the +mountains, to get air and braced up. It has rained nearly +all the last twenty-four hours.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</span></p> + +<p><em>August 10th.</em>—I have just seen Lord Wellington, +about some more than usually important business: he is +better, but not well. He has given me an immense +bundle of English and Spanish papers to peruse and +examine. The enclosed plan may help you a little to +understand the <cite>Gazette</cite>, and my letter; remember it is +only my hasty personal sketch in pen and ink, on no +scale, and taken from no regular document.</p> + +<p><em>11th, Post-day.</em>—I worked very hard all yesterday, and +could not get through Lord Wellington’s papers. I am +still at work at the last part of them: a Spanish narrative +of all the Spanish operations of a Spanish army for a +month, by their General Copons. It consists of sixty-four +sides of foolscap in a Spanish hand. There is +nothing new. Lord Wellington will give a dinner to-morrow, +in honour of the Prince Regent’s birthday, to all +the heads of departments, to which I am invited. There +are reports of the French moving already, but I believe +all lies as yet. Do not be too sanguine about Suchet. +He may retire, but will hardly be forced out of the +country, for there are forty thousand French on that side +of Spain. The Spanish Government have given Lord +Wellington a handsome royal estate near Granada; he +told me this yesterday.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, Lezaca, August 13th, 1813.</em>—Here I am, +and very busy still, and with no events to communicate. +All is now quiet for the present, as at Frenada, though +this cannot last long. Having the paper by me, however, +I determined to place this letter upon the stocks, +against the next post-day.</p> + +<p>Yesterday I dined at Lord Wellington’s, with a party +of thirty-six, to keep the Prince Regent’s birthday. +Eight mules had arrived in the morning with prog and +wines from Bilboa, and we had therefore a good feast, +and some very good claret of Majoribanks and Paxton. +The party was very dull, though many grandees were<span class="pagenum" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</span> +present—Castanos, O’Donnell, the General of the army +of the reserve (the best Spaniards I have seen, and now +on the hill above us, with something like a Commissariat, +&c.), their aides-de-camp, &c., Generals Cole, Anson, +Murray, Pakenham, &c. Two bands were in attendance +those of the Fusiliers and the 7th. Fuento, the Spanish +Commissary, gave us “God save the King,” and Lord +Wellington’s favourite, “Ah Marmont, onde va Marmont?” +but it was very hot and stupid; every one +here, in fact, is fagged, and half done up. Lord Wellington +could scarcely rise when he sat down, or sit +down when he rose, from lumbago, and was in great +pain, but is much better; all around him looked pale +and worn. I think, however, we shall be up to another +brush again soon.</p> + +<p>We are soon about to begin again at St. Sebastian; +but it is to be feared that it will be hard and bloody +work, unless some piece of good luck should arise in our +favour.</p> + +<p><em>Later.</em>—I have just been to Lord Wellington, with +the result of my labours, which have amused him much, +and which he thinks I cannot be correct in, as to facts; +or if so, the whole, he concurs with me, is most extraordinary. +He has now got the papers and my statement +to examine. It is not, in my opinion, the Spanish +General who was to blame; I must not explain more at +present; he seemed pleased, and asked me to dinner +again to-day. We have a stray paper to the 4th, which +has set us all agog; but I have only heard the news +concerning Lord Aberdeen, and it does not seem quite +certain that there is to be an ambassador from England +to the Congress. The French nation, or rather the +news through France, is I hear all for peace, and the +Rhine and the Pyrenees are to be the boundaries, Jerome +King of Holland, and Joseph King of Italy; this is +only French rumour.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</span></p> + +<p>I am told that Soult says he will be here the day after +to-morrow, the 15th, and has two bridges ready near +Irun, to come on our left; he would only come there, +for I think we should be able to do something. We are +well up for an attack there; four hours would put the +divisions here on that flank, Spaniards, &c.</p> + +<p><em>The 14th.</em>—We had last night a little firing, but I +believe it was only the Spaniards. The latter and the +French fire at each other at every opportunity, and when +neighbours, are never at peace. Our sentries and the +French, on the contrary, are within one hundred yards +of each other, and are relieved regularly without the +least molestation on either side. This is the way. Unless +an attack is to be made, what is gained by killing a +poor sentry? Our new brigade is not yet at Passages, +although expected for this fortnight. Some reinforcements +have, however, come up, and the brigade of +Guards, which were left behind, have, by easy marches +from Oporto, now joined us—about fifteen hundred out +of the three thousand who came out at that unlucky +time last year. The French have also reinforcements, +and must in honour do something if the two places hold +out. The French gentleman who came over to us near +Pamplona fourteen days since, dined at Lord Wellington’s +yesterday, and talked away. He seems clever, and, +like every Frenchman, professed to know everything—the +secret history of everybody and of every event. He +calls Bonaparte <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">un tigre</i>, &c. I cannot say that I like +him much, and would not trust him; but I am not +much afraid of Lord Wellington doing so. Lord Wellington +told him the following fact, concerning the +exchange of prisoners in this country. He said that +Massena once agreed to exchange three hussar officers +and one hundred and twenty men, rank for rank, and +when he had got his own three officers and the men, +sent back only twenty soldiers, and the rest countrymen<span class="pagenum" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</span> +and Portuguese militiamen, and three officers of militia +scarcely embodied. Lord Wellington vowed never to +trust his honour again, and in every proposal always +excepts Massena. Indeed he said he was so little inclined +now from experience to trust any of them, that a short +time since, when an exchange was proposed, he said, +“Yes; but first name the officers and men you offer, and +their regiments, ages, &c., and then I will treat, but I +will not have Spanish peasants for French soldiers.” To +this they sent no answer.</p> + +<p>Lord Wellington also tells them, that until our +travellers, civilians, &c., who were detained are released, +he can never listen to non-combatant pleas. All must +be exchanged; but he is very liberal. He also said +Soult once complained that six of our officers had escaped +from their guard near Oporto, on that retreat, and had +committed a breach of honour; but that he (Lord Wellington) +having inquired into it, found they were placed +in confinement under a guard, and their parole not +relied upon, and that they had got the better of their +guard. Lord Wellington, therefore, told the Marshal +that the parole being abandoned by the imprisonment, +the point of honour was gone; and that there were two +ways of prisoners and their guards separating, and that +he believed the guard had run away from their prisoners, +not the prisoners from their guard. To this also he had +no answer.</p> + +<p>Lord Wellington also talked of Grant’s case, who +lately got away from Paris. Lord Wellington had +advised him not to give his parole in Spain, and had +provided persons to rescue him in several places on the +march to France. They offered this to Grant in consequence, +but the offer was from honour declined, as the +parole had been given and acted upon. The moment he +was in France the French placed him under a guard, +and at Bayonne he got away from them and went to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</span> +Paris, remained there nine months, and got to England +at last. Lord Wellington yesterday was excessively +stiff and sore, but in high spirits. He seems to have a +notion that the Continent will make a peace, and leave +us and the Spaniards in the lurch, and I believe this +prevents any very forward movements here on his part, +for the French would then soon come down upon us +with decidedly superior numbers; and if we had quite +passed these mountains a hasty retreat back through +them would not be a very easy or agreeable manœuvre.</p> + +<p>I rode last night to Bera or Vera, where our outposts +are in the valley. The French pickets are in two houses +on the hills opposite, a few hundred yards up. Several +of the houses about there are destroyed, gutted, and +burnt, and most of them deserted. It was only a month +ago a pretty little town. Longa had also, since we were +here last, burnt two neat farms on the road, and knocked +off the parapet of the bridge, and dug a trench across it, +for the purpose of annoying the French. We have +headed nearly all the green Indian corn in this valley for +the horses; it is cut short off, half way, leaving the fruit +below; and this is said not to do much harm to the corn. +But then we cannot eat our cake and have it also. +There will be no dry forage for the animals in autumn +and winter. The little wheat straw about these valleys +is nearly all eaten already, and much of the wheat and +Indian corn itself has been either destroyed or taken by +the irregularity of the thousand muleteers around us, in +spite of their being occasionally flogged when caught in +doing so. The inhabitants will, I fear, be half starved +in the winter, unless they migrate, which many will, no +doubt, and we must be supplied from other parts if we +stay near here. Spain in general will, however, have +been released from the supply of, nominally, two hundred +thousand French; and as we drove them away before +harvest time, most of this will be in the market somewhere,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</span> +except what has been destroyed on our immediate +line of march. Much has been of course trodden down, +and from the want of forage and corn our horses have +been obliged to take the ripe wheat and eat it—straw, +grain, and all—to serve both purposes. This is dangerous +food, and if drink is given carelessly, often kills the +animal; but otherwise it answers well.</p> + +<p>We understand here that it was not until three days +after the news of the battle of Vittoria arrived that any +one durst inform Bonaparte of it. This last battle will +very probably be almost entirely concealed from him. +As we are now both <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">in statu quo</i> as to place, this may +perhaps be managed: though the enemy are about fifteen +thousand men minus to what they were before the attack +at Maya began. From intercepted letters we find that, +in reports even to each other, the French lie considerably, +or at least misrepresent, for the good of the service, and +this will present a good opportunity, as Bonaparte is so +far off.</p> + +<p>In this little town, or rather village, there are about +twelve priests at least, walking about in their shovel hats. +These hats would astonish the most orthodox bishop’s +chaplain in England, and our coalheaver’s hat is nothing +to them. The only fine cloth in the shops here is black, +you may guess for whose use.</p> + +<p>The estate which the Spanish Government has given +to the Marquis of Wellington is, I understand, a very +desirable one; and the best proof that it is so, is that it +was one which the Prince of Peace had given to himself, +and doubtless he chose the best he could find. It is nominally +thirty thousand dollars a-year, a castle, I understand, +and about a league from Granada, in a fine country.<a id="FNanchor_5" href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> +Lord Wellington seems very much pleased with it. He +says that he hopes the house is a good one, as he should<span class="pagenum" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</span> +not like to have to build, and that he hears there is +hunting, coursing, fishing, and everything near it. There +was a fine wood, but I fear the Prince of Peace cut most +of that down. General O’Lalor, who is in a bad state of +health, is to have the government of Granada, and will +superintend this estate for Lord Wellington. The latter +had got the papers concerning it before him when I called +a few days since, and said, “This relates to the estate +they have given me.”</p> + +<p><em>The 15th.</em>—I have been very ill all night and this +morning, but am now rather better, and the doctor tells +me I am saved a fever by this bilious attack. We are +all most anxious for news from the North, for all must +depend in the end upon that, at least in a great measure. +Next to General Frost, I think, our General has done +the most for the common cause. General Villa Alba, the +Spanish Inspector of Cavalry, dined at head-quarters to-day. +He is a queer-looking creature, anything but a +General in appearance, and much less a cavalry officer. +I know, however, nothing of his real character. We +now feel the effects of our work through these valleys; +for we cannot ride a few miles without the alternate +smells of dead horses, dead mules, and dead men. Bonaparte’s +birthday has passed over very quietly, except a +tremendous triple salvo of all the St. Sebastian’s guns and +mortars upon our poor fellows in the trenches at daylight. +The garrison are amazingly pert, from their success +hitherto; but we have some hopes they will soon want +water. Adieu.</p> + +<p><em>The 16th.</em>—Much the same to-day, the attack continuing +all night. Cannot think what it is in this +country that affects us. The thermometer has never in +the shade, in my room, been beyond 72° in this part of +Spain. General Sir T. Picton is attacked again with a +violent bowel complaint, and is fallen to the rear. He +would be a great loss, for he is one of the best here.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</span> +Lord Wellington, the other day, said, “Why, even +General Picton did so-and-so the other day,” as if surprised +that he should not have acted quite right.</p> + +<p>Our soldiers are quite unaccountable; all is going on +right, and they are just now quiet and well fed, yet +desertion, and even of British, to the enemy, was scarcely +ever more frequent. It was not surprising that one hundred +and forty of the Chasseurs Britanniques went off +when we were falling back to Pamplona, and, as they +thought, probably to Portugal; but that the English +soldier should desert, is astonishing and unaccountable. +Three went off from pickets together the other night, +towards the French, and were all caught, and are to be +tried. Several must be hung for this. Two new regiments +have at last arrived. I wish the French would +come fairly on now, if at all, but every one talks of a +general peace. Adieu.</p> + +<p><em>The 17th.</em>—We have this day a strong French report +that peace is signed, and that the Pyrenees are to be the +boundary of France on this side. Nothing said about +England; but even at this rate, we must be off if this +prove true. The news you told me of the fifty thousand +men, under Soult, you will have seen was tolerably correct; +it was intended he should have been here sooner, to +prevent the mischief which happened at Vittoria. As +soon as the report came that we were threatening to cross +the Ebro he was sent off, but he did not allow sufficiently +for Lord Wellington’s rapid movements, and was a little +too late. It is clear, from many circumstances, as Lord +Wellington says, that he intended to drive us back to the +Ebro this last push, and that his measures were all taken +accordingly; his cavalry, which he brought with him, +and which, as regards the country as far as Pamplona, +would have been useless, has suffered much from the +roads, want of shoes, &c., and had no employment except +that of carrying off the wounded.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</span></p> + +<p>Our army is now nearly as follows: first and fifth divisions, +Oyarzun and St. Sebastian, under Graham; Jeron, +with his Spaniards of Gallicia, in their front at Irun; +Longa between them and this place, with his diminished +Guerillas; here the fourth division and the light division +in front, and the Spaniards of O’Donnell the reserve next, +on the right of the others, in front; then the seventh +division above Echalar, &c.: then the third and sixth in +Maya and Roncesvalles Pass, with Spaniards I believe +also, and General Hill’s second division behind them in +the valley of Bastan, Elisondo, &c.; six thousand Spaniards +watching Pamplona, and our cavalry about there +principally or in the rear of Graham.</p> + +<p><em>The 18th, still Lezaca.</em>—O’Donnell is unwell, from the +wound in his leg, from which thirty splinters have been +extracted: he is going to the baths. He is the Conde de +Bispal, commanding the army of Reserve. Jeron is to +take his command now, and give up the Gallicians; our +men, however, I am glad to learn, are in general considered +as very healthy: General Cole told me that his +division was particularly so, after all their fatigues. The +army have Lord Wellington to thank principally, even +for this. Last year the mules per company allowed by +Government were employed in carrying the heavy iron +camp-kettles, and our men had no tents; though they +were allowed them, they could not be carried. This year +Lord Wellington had light tin kettles made, one for every +six men, for the mess, to be carried by one of the men, +each having a small cooking machine of tin besides. This +plan sets the mules free and disposable, and thus three +tents have been carried for every company, and allowing +for absentees, guards, officers’ servants, sentries, &c.; this +now nearly houses or covers all our men, and contributes +much to the health of the army. It was entirely an +arrangement of his own. The Portuguese are still without +tents, as are the French and the Spaniards.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</span></p> + +<p>The French, however, are very expert at making wood +huts, with fern for the top and for the bedding, tolerably +comfortable except in heavy rains. So are now the Portuguese +indeed, and many of them (as well as our men +who happen not to have tent room) join two together, +and giving up their blankets for sleeping on, make a good +tent of them, which holds two very well, and only consists +of their two muskets and two blankets; and now, +since we have obtained so much plunder, generally a good +sack or piece of carpet at the rough weather side. Orders +were given before we marched from Granada, by Lord +Wellington, to have all blankets looped and strengthened +at the corners, for this purpose, all ready, as an excellent +defence from the sun, even better than a tent, for it is +cooler, and a very tolerable one from rain.</p> + +<p>I am to dine with General Cole, who is quartered here. +My people in this house are up all night, making a noise, +and baking for Longa, and all day the children are +shaking the dirt from above down upon me.</p> +<br> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_5" href="#FNanchor_5" class="label">[5]</a> It is situated in the Val de Soto.</p> + +</div> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</span></p> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII.</h2> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="fs80" style="margin-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em;">Reported renewal of Operations against St. Sebastian—Effects of the War +on Spain and Portugal—Wellington’s Account of recent Proceedings—Courts-martial—Prisoners +Shot—Discussions on War between Wellington +and a French Deserter—The Siege resumed—Work of the +Heavy Batteries—Trial of General O’Halloran—Volunteers for the +Storming-parties.</p> + +<p class="right fs80"> +Head-quarters, Lezaca,<br> +<span style="padding-right: 1em">August 21, 1813.</span></p> +</div> + +<p class="no-indent"> +<span class="smcap">My dear M——</span>, +</p> + +<p><span style="padding-left: 2em">Several</span> of our Vittoria sick and wounded now +begin to return and join their regiments. Major Freemantle +came back just in time for dinner yesterday, and +amused us with an account of all your madness in +England about the battle of Vittoria.</p> + +<p>General Cole, with whom I told you I was going to +dine, lives very comfortably. To do this, even in his +way, he has now travelling with him about ten or twelve +goats for milk, a cow, and about thirty-six sheep at least, +with a shepherd, who always march, feed on the road +side, on the mountains, &c., and encamp with him. +When you think of this, that wine and everything is to +be carried about, from salt and pepper and tea-cups to +saucepans, boilers, dishes, chairs, and tables, on mules, +you may guess the trouble and expense of a good establishment +here.</p> + +<p>I mentioned to you the iron-works all about this +country, and their simple construction; they make, however, +I believe, excellent iron. For this purpose they<span class="pagenum" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</span> +mix the ore of this country, which is too brittle, with the +ore they fetch from near Bilboa, which is rather too +ductile and soft, and of the two form an excellent compound, +which used to supply much of the southern part +of France.</p> + +<p>Our great guns are, I am told, to begin pounding +to-day at St. Sebastian again, but I have not heard them +yet. The old breach will not do at all; it is, we are told, +mined and filled with little intended explosions. A +seventy-four and some frigates are now near. I wish +they would let the sailors try the sea side when we +storm. I think they would get in somehow at once into +the castle.</p> + +<p><em>August the 23rd.</em>—I have now a fresh set of Courts in +every division again, as my last are broken up. One +Deputy Judge-Advocate sent me, out of curiosity, a +history of his Court-casualties, &c., nine members out of +fifteen, and the Judge-Advocate, killed or severely +wounded, since the 22nd of May, two prosecutors and +three witnesses, all officers. We are trying to clear as +we go, and to prevent all arrears, and we hang away to +prevent desertion. I am told that the French do the +same and still more, but their people will go home to the +rear; this is more natural. We are told that ten men +from each company are gone by orders to the rear also—some +foolishly say to quell riots, for which purpose ten +old men would be the most useless possible; but the +most plausible account is, to drill new conscripts. Some +deserters say they are sent even to Italy for this; I +believe just now that they are not prepared to move, and +will be content to remain quiet. We have alternate +accounts, of course, of war and peace. To-day two +women (one French, the other Spanish,) of the French +prisoners from Vittoria, came in here on their way to join +the French. Lord Wellington, however, has stopped +them, and says he will have no more sent over until the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</span> +French release about three hundred mothers and wives, +&c., of the Guerillas, who were carried off by them as +hostages for the return home of the Guerilla relations, so +they cry and think this very sad to be put upon the same +footing as such creatures. One of the ladies asked the +Adjutant-general whether she had better write to her +friends openly, to propose an exchange, or in cipher? +Upon which he thought a cipher lady should not remain +here, at least long. We now give some flour to Longa’s +people for bread, and try to make regulars of them.</p> + +<p>It is very terrible that our people, muleteers, soldiers, +&c., do more mischief by far than the French, except +when the latter do it by way of punishment and revenge; +at ordinary times their discipline is much better than +ours. The heads of the Indian corn are now nearly all +eaten off about here by the cattle, and cut by the soldiers +to roast, as well as the leaves for our animals. The +Spaniards, however, in some degree have their revenge; +we bring a quantity of money into the country in spite +of our bad pay, and this they fleece us out of in high +style. They sell everything like Jews, and are naturally +exorbitant, greedy, and avaricious; this seems the general +character. So we go on! They cheat our men as much +as they can, and our men get all they can gratis; upon +the whole, however, if we remain stationary, we benefit +the country.</p> + +<p>Lord Wellington yesterday said it was stated in his +letters from Lisbon, that Portugal was miserable without +us. No money, no markets, nothing doing. I believe +he was half joking with the Portuguese agent here; but +he really meant that we were much missed there. The +muleteers with us are the worst. Their terms were, a +dollar a-day each mule, and one for a man for every three +mules, and rations. They have gone on four years, and +more; they are now, I believe, sixteen months in arrears +in their pay, having just got one month lately. If paid<span class="pagenum" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</span> +up they would make fortunes, and have no pretence to +behave ill. As it is, they steal, plunder, turn out their +mules in the corn, &c., and from one of the most orderly +classes in Spain, are become the least so. There are +about ten thousand of the mules in this state, and I suppose +four thousand muleteers. Their pay is almost more +than the army; and when is it to be paid or how? there +lies the rub.</p> + +<p>The people say that we have brought the plague of +flies, and I really believe we have increased the swarms +by the number of dead carcasses, and various kinds of +filth caused by the density of the population at present. +We do not bury so regularly as the French, either our +offal or dead animals, or anything; the Spaniards not at +all, unless we do it for them. To give you a notion of +the flies, they eat up all my wafers, if left open, and spot +my letters all over if left one day on the table.</p> + +<p>Nothing can look better than the condition of the +Portuguese troops. They are cleaner than our men; or +look so, at least. They are better clothed now by far, +for they have taken the best care of their clothes; they +are much gayer, and have an air, and a <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">je ne sais quoi</i>, +particularly the Caçadores both the officers and private +men, quite new in a Portuguese. It is curious to observe +the effects of good direction and example, how soon it +tells. The French seem to do the same with Italians, +and with every one; or rather have done so, for I hope +this may not cease in part at least.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, Lezaca, 24th.</em>—Having been writing +nearly all day yesterday, I took an evening stroll, and +then went and sat down on the churchyard parapet wall. +In ten minutes who should come there but Lord Wellington, +alone. After one turn he came and sat on the +wall with me, and talked for more than half an hour. +Amongst other things I said, I hoped that you in England +would hear Soult’s account of the Maya business<span class="pagenum" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</span> +first, as you then would be alarmed, and value the latter +account by the Prince of Orange as it deserved.</p> + +<p>He said, “Why, at one time it was rather alarming, +certainly, and it was a close-run thing. When I came to +the bridge of Sorauren, I saw the French on the hills, on +one side, and it was clear that we could make a stand on +the other hills in our position on the 28th; but I found +that we could not keep Sorauren, for it was exposed to +their fire and not to ours. I determined to take the +position, but was obliged to write my orders accordingly +at Sorauren, to be sent back instantly, for had they not +been dispatched back directly by the way I had come, I +must have sent four leagues round in a quarter of an +hour later. I stopped, therefore, to write accordingly, +people saying to me all the time, ‘The French are +coming! The French are coming!’ I looked pretty +sharp after them, however, every now and then, until I +had completed my orders, and then set off, and I saw +them just near one end of the village as I went out at the +other end; and then we took our ground.”</p> + +<p>I then observed that the only time I felt a little uneasy +was, when we were stopped at Lanz, and sent across to +Lisasso, for all faces seemed very long, and the removal +of the wounded was very much pressed. This led him to +explain more; and he said: “Had I been as regularly +informed of how matters stood on the 26th and 27th as I +was of what had passed on the 25th, that need not have +happened; but General Cole never told me exactly how +far he found it necessary to give way, or let me know by +what a superior force he was pressed, and that he intended +giving way, or my arrangements would have been quite +different; and the French might have been stopped +sooner than they were. In truth, I suspected that all +Soult’s plan was merely by manœuvres to get me out of +the hills, and to relieve one or both of the besieged +places, as things should turn up and succeed for him;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</span> +and I expected him to turn short round towards St. +Sebastian accordingly. I had then no notion that with +an army so lately beaten he had serious thoughts, as I +am now sure he had, of driving us behind the Ebro. The +consequence was that the second division halted a day and +a half at Trinita and Berrueta, on the 26th, and till three +on the 27th; and the seventh division only took a short +march to St. Estevan, as I was unwilling to lose a bit +more of the mountains than was absolutely necessary, +from the probable loss of men in recovering such ground. +On the night before we marched, or at three in the morning +of the 26th, I knew all that had passed on the first +attack, and acted accordingly. Had I been as well +informed, and had everything been communicated to me +as punctually on the next evening, the march of several +divisions would have been different. I should and could +have pressed them more on the 27th; there would not +have been the risk and apparent alarm as to head-quarters, +&c.; and we should probably have stopped the +French sooner. As it is, however, and as I had men +who could fight, as the English did when they recovered +the hill which had been lost, it has all ended very well.”</p> + +<p>We then got upon the expedition on the other side of +the Peninsula; and he explained some of the reasons for +his instructions there. He was rather stiff with the +lumbago; but in high spirits. He said that the Spanish +Generals thought the reason the French beat them was, +that they had no good cavalry; and that whenever they +had our cavalry with them, they wanted to fight. This +was what he was anxious to prevent, “For,” said he +“our cavalry never gained a battle yet. When the +infantry have beaten the French, then the cavalry, if +they can act, make the whole complete, and do wonders; +but they never yet beat the French themselves.”</p> + +<p>Talking on this subject another day, Lord Wellington +and all the officers present seemed to agree that a cavalry<span class="pagenum" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</span> +regiment did not know what real infantry fire was. +They talk of a sharp carbine fire, which kills ten or +twenty horses and half as many men; but they could +not exist ten minutes in a fire to which our infantry +battalions are at times exposed; they would be annihilated +if they did not go threes about very quick indeed. +Even in the infantry at times it was said, that in less +than half an hour every mounted officer would be dismounted, +from his own or his horse’s wounds, and +perhaps not six men in a company out of sixty, would +remain.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, Lezaca, August 25th.</em>—We are as +quiet here as at Frenada. Desertion is terrible. I think, +however, Lord Wellington must stop it. We have only +as yet tried five out of sixteen sent for trial: they are all +sentenced to death, and all shot! This will, I think, at +least have a good effect on our new reinforcements. One +of our officers did an odd thing to stop it; and it +answered, or has done so hitherto; he called his men +together and, addressing them, said, “I want no men +who wish to go to the French, and if any now will +say they wish to go, I promise to send them in with a +flag of truce.” No one stirred, nor has any one stirred +since; but as to the legality of this plan there may be a +query?</p> + +<p>Our great guns have now just begun pounding again at +St. Sebastian; we are to demolish everything this time; +but still I fear we shall scarcely get in easily at last.</p> + +<p>As to Pamplona, the reports are, that they are now on +half-rations, and have enough at that rate to last till the +15th of next month. It is provoking how much they +have picked up. They have tried to send out another +batch of inhabitants, but these have been sent in again +to help eat; a hard fate to be made a mere tool for starvation! +and I conclude they will not have the best commons +even Pamplona can afford.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</span></p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, Lezaca, August 28th, 1813.</em>—Here we +are still quiet, and very busy; and Courts-martial all at +work. In these hills, however, our Provosts are not the +most secure; and common precautions will not do against +men who know they are probably to be shot in a day or +two. A Court was adjourned till yesterday morning, for +a witness for the prisoner, and in the night he was off. +Another man under sentence of death, near Maya, and +three other deserters just taken as they were going over +to the French, were put foolishly under the care of a man +and a lad armed to convoy them a little way. They rose +on them, took away their arms, and went over with them +to the French post. I am sorry to say, however, that we +have still enough to hang.</p> + +<p>The French deserter, the talkative Lieutenant-Colonel, +is here again, and has one great merit—he induces Lord +Wellington to talk and discuss his old battles, &c., when +this man was on the other side. Thus from the two +I pick up a little of the cause of things. Yesterday the +conversation turned upon the retreat of the last year. +The Frenchman said that all their officers blamed Soult +for his conduct after crossing the Tormes; that he was +in fact nearer Rodrigo than our army, and might and +ought to have cut us off, if he had pushed on. Lord +Wellington observed, “I fully expected to find him on +the high road: and I ordered nothing at all that way in +consequence on the first day; afterwards, when I found +he was not there, I took to it.” The French officer +replied, “From the rain and hazy weather, and bad +roads, Soult was puzzled and afraid—he did not in the +least know the English plans. He heard of some troops, +and did not know whether they were a rear-guard or the +main army, and so on; but when he found your lordship +making a stand collected at St. Munos, he said, ‘<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Ah que +j’avois tort</i>.’” He then tried to pump Lord Wellington, +and said, “If he had cut you off, perhaps you would<span class="pagenum" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</span> +have recrossed the Tormes, and made for the Benevente +road? but you would have suffered much.” Upon which +Lord Wellington observed, “No, I certainly should have +done no such thing: that would have been ruin. But if +you must know what I should have done, I should have +done that which many thought I ought to have done as +it was—I should have fought, and trusted to the bravery +of my troops to get me out of the scrape.” The Frenchman +then said, “No one ought to have blamed you for +not doing that, unless it were absolutely necessary, for +the French were twenty thousand stronger than you +were, and their cavalry was then very numerous, and in +the highest order.”</p> + +<p>These conversations give a value to the Frenchman +which he does not otherwise possess, though a clever +man. I found Lord Wellington the day before yesterday +busy with all the Spanish staff and General Murray, +with a dozen great Spanish drawings and plans of the +mountains about them; they were comparing our several +labours together. The Spanish staff draughtsmen have +a good character. I should like to have been called in, +but I was only waiting an audience at the other end of +the room.</p> + +<p>Yesterday, Lord Wellington went off on horseback +over the mountains, for Irun; he then went on to St. +Sebastian, and was not back here till nearly nine at +night. They are pounding away at that fortress from +fifty-one pieces of ordnance, mortars and all; but nothing +is done yet.</p> + +<p><em>The 29th.</em>—No news yet. Still battering away at St. +Sebastian. We had a ridiculous event here yesterday: +an enraged bull—belonging, I believe, to the Commissariat—broke +into the quarters of the Commissary-general, +Sir Robert Kennedy, and contriving to get to the +room of the clerks, put all to flight, one this way, the +other that, in the greatest alarm. All were dispersed in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</span> +an instant. After upsetting a few things, the bull retreated +into the garden, and jumped over the wall, without +doing any serious mischief. The joke was, that the +owner had contrived this, on account of nonpayment of +his demand.</p> + +<p>Our fifty-one battering pieces have now been at work +three days, and have laid open one end of the entire wall +of the town of St. Sebastian, and to-morrow is talked of +for the assault. Two days since the garrison made another +sortie, and carried off a few men; and, upon the +whole, I think people are not quite satisfied with the +conduct of the fifth division, who are employed. Ever +since our retreat and the former sortie, they seem to +have had in some measure a sort of panic. We have had +a general Court-martial on Major O’Halloran, for neglect +on that occasion as field-officer in the trenches; but he +is acquitted on the ground that the orders he gave were +correct, but that he was disobeyed. The facts on the +trial were these:—</p> + +<p>A sortie was expected all the night, and peculiar precautions +were taken accordingly; every fifth man sentry, +&c., by order of the General. All was quiet until an +hour after daybreak and more; then a Captain Canvers, +of the Portuguese service, who has since shot himself, +seems to have suffered the sentries to enter the trenches, +and rest on their arms for security, without orders, or +rather against orders. At a little after six out came the +French, and another Portuguese captain seems to have +misunderstood his orders, and did not suffer his sentries +to fire instantly, thinking that he had no orders to this +effect; he was made prisoner. In short, the consequence +was, that about fifty French were in an instant in the +trenches, when half-a-dozen of our people fired and fell back. +The Portuguese were mostly in a panic, and they were +nearly six hundred out of seven hundred then employed. +They did once attempt to get up the bank and form, but<span class="pagenum" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</span> +the sandy ground gave way, and in they went again. +This increased the confusion, and no exertions of our or +their officers could rally the men, until they had been +quite driven out of the trenches, and pursued to the little +village in ruins under the convent. There Major O’Halloran +rallied them, and, with a fresh English working-party +just arrived, drove the French back again to the +town, but in the meantime many prisoners were made.</p> + +<p>Lord Wellington himself, I think, is not pleased with +the fifth division; and, as some proof of this, has ordered +three hundred of the first division, one hundred and fifty +of the light, one hundred and fifty of the fourth, and, I +believe, one hundred and fifty of the third (of each +of which one-third are to be of the Portuguese regiments), +to march to-day to assist in forming the storming-party +to-morrow. This is a cut at the fifth; and these +men are all volunteers, and the orders are to send men +who, by their cool courage and good conduct, will be +likely to succeed. In a measure the success of this will +depend on these qualities. The fifth division ought now +to volunteer, trying first alone, I think.</p> + +<p>There was nothing but confusion in the two divisions +here last night, (the light and fourth,) from the eagerness +of the officers to volunteer, and the difficulty of determining +who were to be refused and who allowed to go +and run their heads into a hole in the wall, full of fire +and danger! Major Napier was here quite in misery, +because, though he had volunteered first, Lieutenant-colonel +Hunt of the 52nd, his superior officer, insisted on +his right to go. The latter said that Napier had been in +the breach at Badajoz, and he had a fair claim to go now. +So it is among the subalterns; ten have volunteered +where two are to be accepted. Hunt, being Lieutenant-colonel, +has nothing but honour to look to; as to promotion, +he is past that. The men say that they don’t know +what they are to do, but they are ready to go anywhere.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</span></p> + +<p>I fear we shall find the French have run a ditch across +and a new second wall behind those we have destroyed, +and that we may have tough work yet. The shells, +however, which are sent every ten minutes into the +castle, and shake the dust out of its roof in a fine style, +must make the place rather too warm to hold just now; +and I heartily wish it would induce them to give in +before all the bloodshed begins. They fire now but very +little. Lord Wellington and every one is gone over to +St. Sebastian to-day; and having nothing to do, I have +made up my mind to be off also.</p> + +<p><em>August 30th.</em>—I was on the point of setting out when +I heard that the storming was put off a day; as the +French are in motion, and making pretence at least to +relieve St. Sebastian, and as the fourth division marched +accordingly this morning, and head-quarters may, therefore, +suddenly be off, I determined to be quiet here, +especially as I do not feel quite well. Lord Wellington +came home at nine o’clock, and was off again before eight +this morning. We remain here much in the dark, of +course, when he is away. General Murray stays here to +protect us with the light division in our front.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII.</h2> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="fs80" style="margin-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em;">The Author taken Prisoner—Kind Treatment by the French General—Life +of a Prisoner—Release—Details of the Author’s Captivity—Curious +Scene at General Pakenham’s—A Basque Squire.</p> + +<p class="right fs80"> +Bayonne, September 5, 1813.</p> +</div> + +<p class="no-indent"> +<span class="smcap">My dear M——</span>, +</p> + +<p><span style="padding-left: 2em">When</span> you told me, some time since, that you +expected to hear from me from this place, I never expected +to have realized in this way your prediction. But as the +French all tell me with a shrug, “<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">c’est le sort de la +guerre, Monsieur</i>,” I must submit to as great a piece of +ill luck as generally falls to a poor man, “<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">dans le meilleur +des mondes possibles</i>.”</p> + +<p>On the evening of the 30th August I was, as I mentioned +to you in my last, stopped from going over to see +the storming of St. Sebastian the next morning by the +general report that the French were in motion; that an +attack was expected on our line at daylight, to relieve +that place if possible, and that therefore head-quarters +would probably move. So it turned out; at six we +heard that the French had all crossed the Bidassoa, and +were moving on. The baggage was all ordered half a +league up the mountain Yangi, there to wait orders either +to proceed further for security if we were pressed, or to +return if we repulsed the attack. At seven, Lord Wellington, +&c., were off. By nine the town was nearly +cleared, and every one in motion.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</span></p> + +<p>Nothing can be more stupid than thus waiting a whole +day standing with the mules and baggage, to hear the +result, without a creature to talk to, and knowing +nothing that is passing. One of the officers advised me +to go up the hill just above Lezaca, to observe a little +what was doing near, assuring me that it was quite safe. +Just afterwards Major Canning returned from Lord Wellington +with orders, and said he would show us the way +to the hill and then go on. I mounted, and set out with +Mr. Henry, having sent off my baggage. Mr. Booth, +the principal Commissary of Accounts, Mr. Jesse, his +assistant, and Captain Hook, the officer who takes all the +quarters for every one at head-quarters, determined to join +the party. When we had got a little way Major Canning +remarked that by going up the first hill we should +see sooner what was doing, and could then return to +Lezaca, or stay and proceed as was found advisable, and +that we should be thus sure of not being cut off from +Yangi. This we accordingly did. When half up the +hill we observed two battalions resting under arms quietly +on the top and having examined them some time with our +glasses, thought that they were Spanish; but not being +certain (for they are so alike as scarcely to be known at +fifty yards distance), we thought it advisable to keep to +our left, towards the rear of some of our own red-coats, +whom we saw engaged with the French in a wood further +on. We did this, and then waited to see whether those +two battalions advanced and fired or not, to enable us to +be sure, by their fire, to which party they belonged. As +they remained at rest, we could not determine this point; +and as there was much fern and wood, and we were only +about a short half mile off, we determined, for fear of a +surprise, to go back, and follow up the mountain Major +Canning’s road, where we saw our own red-coats. We +did this, and just before we ascended, ascertained that our +people were still there; we trusted firmly to their not<span class="pagenum" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</span> +giving ground, as the French were already much advanced, +and this road was the common communication of all our +army through Lezaca to Oyarzun and San Sebastian.</p> + +<p>About half-way up the hill, or mountain, is a wood, +from whence we got a peep at the two battalions. We +saw them moving towards the English position, but not +firing, and Captain Hook remarked that there were several +red-coats amongst them, so they must be friends; but +that, however, about a hundred yards further on we should +be able to ascertain, and if it were not so we must return.</p> + +<p>At the end of the hundred yards the woods ceased, +and the two roads up the mountain joined, when to our +great astonishment, just as we came one way to the place +of junction, two French battalions came up the other, and +we found ourselves within twenty yards of each other; +Mr. Jesse was still nearer. I heard a cry of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">qui vive</i>, +which put an end to all doubt as to who they were; and +after a sort of short pause and drawback in the head of +the French column, thinking, I believe, that they were +the head of an allied column, several moved towards us, +and two levelled at us. Mr. Jesse, the nearest of us, dismounted, +and surrendered instantly. The other two +jumped off their horses, and, as the side of the mountain +was very steep, and no one could well ride after them, +they ran down, and the French having incumbrances, +I believe they escaped. I now think that was the best +plan I could have adopted. At the moment, however, as +I was in the road, and nearer to the French than they +were, I determined to turn about, and try my horse down +the road again the way we came, thinking it a great +chance that the only two who levelled, and seemed ready +to fire, would hit me. They never fired, but some pursued, +and one or two officers on horseback. I galloped +down, however, nearly a mile, at the risk of my neck. +The road then got steeper, and I looked round to see if +any one was nearly up behind me. I pulled up a little,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</span> +as I found they had not reached my servant, who was +above a hundred yards behind me; but, on turning +round again to proceed, I saw, in the narrow part of the +road just before me, where the descent was steep both +ways, one up and one down, six Frenchmen; two in the +road, two on each side, all ready with their pieces up to +their shoulders. Upon this I pulled up and we had a +parley. On my pulling up, and addressing them in +French, they seemed in doubt, and spoke some bad +French. I then looked about me, to see what chance +remained, but seeing that they all levelled again, and +cried out “<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">prisonnier</i>,” the risk was then too great for the +remotest chance of escape, so I dismounted, and they +instantly took down their pieces, and ran up. In a +moment, my two horses, and cloak, pistols, sword, telescope, +handkerchief, were all gone.</p> + +<p>Having received some money just before, and fearing +some theft from my Portuguese servants, I had about +fifteen doubloons about me, as being the most secure +place. One-half they found instantly, and were so +pleased that they scarcely searched more, except to take +my knife, comb, &c. I then told them that I was no +General, having heard a cry before from the battalion of +“<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">voilà le Général</i>;” that I was only a civil officer, a non-combatant; +but that I had some more money, and if +they would then, when they had got everything from me, +release me, I would tell them where it was, and give it to +them. This I did, thinking as they had got so much +booty, they would perhaps wish to keep it secret, not to +be called upon to refund any part, and that therefore +they would not be sorry to say that I had escaped, and +let me go that I might not have to tell the story.</p> + +<p>They promised to do this, so I produced the rest, and +at the same time contrived to give my watch a twist up +above my waistcoat, that when they felt for it, they found +nothing, and by this means I contrived to save that.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</span></p> + +<p>The other speculation did not answer so well, for I believe +they still took me for a General. They would not +release me, and I was carried into the battalion, and then +to General D’Armagnac (I believe), who was behind their +attacking troops. They were leading me into the fire of +our own people, when an officer ordered them up on one +side. I said it would be very hard to get me killed by +our own fire, and that they had better let me run across, +and shoot at me themselves. Upon the whole they all +behaved very civilly, and without any violence. I there +met Mr. Jesse. I told our story to General D’Armagnac. +He said we were very unlucky, and seemed good-humoured, +ordering the captors to give me back two doubloons. +After telling his aide-de-camp to take us to General +Clausel, who commanded in chief there, and then to the +rear, he said he would apply to get us exchanged (as that +was now the fashion, and not to release civilians gratis) +for two civil officers, friends of his, in England: and then +lending me one of his horses to ride back upon, took leave +of us. The soldiers told me that he had bought my +horse for a trifle, and thus ended the fate of poor Blackey!</p> + +<p>The whole was the work of half an hour. Whilst we +were in the wood, our people had just given way across +this road to superior numbers, and had thus left us exposed +to this misfortune in a place where every one had +passed in safety all the morning, and so again from an +hour later all the evening. A little sooner, or a little +later, we should not have been caught above a league +within our lines of the morning. Such, however, was +our fate!</p> + +<p>We were then taken to General Clausel, and were instantly +ordered back to his former head-quarters. There +was then a great outcry for ammunition, which delayed +the French some time, and, as they said, saved our last +position on this hill. I found that they did not, however, +know the country well, and tried to pump me as to what<span class="pagenum" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</span> +was beyond, both as to men and mountains, &c. I +always pleaded ignorance as a civilian. They had contrived +to get four small two-pounder field mountain-pieces +up this difficult ascent, and kept them constantly in use, +asking me why we, who were so ingenious, did not adopt +the same practice? I said they had taught us the art of +war, and I believe they had found their scholars had made +very rapid progress, so that if these guns were really +worth the labour, I had no doubt we should soon have +some, but that such things were not to be found ready-made +in the mountains, therefore they must wait a little. +I soon gave up my horse to a wounded man, as they +abounded on the road, and we descended and crossed the +Bidassoa by the ford below the bridge, as I found our +light division were still maintaining their ground near +the bridge at Bera (or Vera,) and had kept the other side +of the valley all the time secure.</p> + +<p>A tremendous storm then began. We took shelter +till five o’clock in a hovel, but at last proceeded, the +storm continuing, up the mountain of La Rhüne, to the +French position, and head-quarters—those of General +Clausel. Mons. d’Arnot, an officer belonging to the +latter, was extremely kind to us. He said our best prospects +were not to stay and sleep in the hovel, where we +should be starved and crowded by wounded, &c., but to +go with him to the General’s hut on the top, where, if +anything was to be had, we should have it. He also lent +me a horse part of the way up again. We passed the +French position to the entrenched camp, where amongst +a variety of huts of boughs, earth, &c., were three rather +better than the rest, consisting of a few feather-edged +boards at top, and earth and fern on the sides and bottom. +These were for Generals Clausel, Taupin, and D’Armagnac, +for the attendants, &c. There were only two places where +it had not rained in considerably, and we were wet +through, without a change.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</span></p> + +<p>The General’s canteens were unpacked, and the aide-de-camp +said, “If he returns, you will have some dinner, +if not, we have some bread.” That and sour wine was +all our fare for the night, and we laid down in our wet +clothes on the ground. They first gave us up General +Clausel’s dry inner chamber, but on a notice coming that +he was returning, we were removed to the attendants’ +hut. There I passed a sleepless night, our party being +the two aides-de-camp, a colonel, a major, five of the +gens-d’armes, or police corps, Henry, the General’s cook, +a friend, two or three attendants, and about four wounded +men who staggered in, and lay in the middle. The +horses were all tied to the boards, out in the storm all +night, and making a noise against our heads. The +wounded were groaning; then came an oath from an +officer against them as cowards, and asking how that +noise made them any better? At last came a poor creature +with a violent colic; this last filled us as close as we +could lie, and constant quarrels ensued between those +near the doors, or those who came every minute for +shelter from the storm and rain, and to get help for their +wounds. The lightning gave us a glimpse of the scene +every five minutes. Now and then an observation +escaped as to the rain swelling the Bidassoa, &c.</p> + +<p>At three o’clock the firing began again close to us; +at four the drum beat to arms, and at six we got a little +cold meat and bread and wine, after the General’s breakfast, +and about seven we were marched towards St. Jean +de Luz with a party of prisoners and deserters. Amongst +them were several of the Chasseurs Britanniques, who, +with their red jackets, had, by deserting to the enemy, +and then advancing with them, contributed to our being +surprised and taken. We stopped half an hour in the +wood below, and got a little brandy from the post of the +gens-d’armes in the rear, and arrived at St. Jean de Luz +about one o’clock,—three leagues. This was Marshal<span class="pagenum" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</span> +Soult’s head-quarters. Thither we went, and merely saw +him in a crowd. We were then taken to Count Gazan, +and then to the Commandant of the Police, &c. We +were quartered at an inn with some gens-d’armes in +the outer room; got some supper at seven at General +Gazan’s, to whom I mentioned what had passed at Victoria; +was allowed to write to head-quarters to let them +know where we were, and to ask for money, clothes, &c., +if we were not exchanged, and we were allowed to stay +till next day to wait for an answer.</p> + +<p>No answer came. It was intended to give us horses +to carry us to Bayonne the next evening, but all were +engaged in carrying away wounded men, including some +troops of cavalry, so we marched on foot about three +o’clock, five under a guard. We were delayed by the bad +walking of some deserters, and were then again caught +the last half league in a most furious thunder-storm, +which soaked us through in five minutes. At nine, we +reached this place, three long leagues, and were taken to +the Nouveau Fort. The Marechal-de-logis gave us a bed +between us, on the ground, in a room with two midshipmen +and a sick and wounded officer of the 34th; and +having got some bread and cheese, we went to bed, with +a dry shirt which he lent us. I have ever since had +rheumatism. We occupy a round tower here, and our +soldier-prisoners are in the court below; the Spaniards +are above, and some sailors in confinement, as their dress +would enable them to escape. The two midshipmen were +exchanged the next day. From Mr. Babou, the banker, +a most liberal and generous man, we have got money, and +therefore now go on well. How officers manage who +have no money I cannot guess. Only three of the numbers +the banker has given money to have had their bills +protested, and he says that if it is poverty he shall never +complain, otherwise he should wish to be paid. If I get<span class="pagenum" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</span> +back I have undertaken to speak to Lord Wellington on +the subject.</p> + +<p><em>13th September, Mont de Marsan.</em>—On the 8th I +received a most kind letter from Lord Wellington in his +own handwriting, as to an old friend, telling me that he +authorized me to tell the Duke of Dalmatia he would send +back for me any one named by him, to be given in +exchange.<a id="FNanchor_6" href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> I had just before received a notice to set out +next day for Verdun. I went with a gens-d’armes instantly +to the General of Division, Baron d’Huilliers, and to the +Commandant-general Sol. To them I told my story, +and showed my letter. They advised me to send my +letter to the Duke of Dalmatia, and engaged to detain me +until the answer came back. I also asked to write to the +Duke myself. The other officers, who had already been +to Moulins (where General Paget is), wrote also for leave +to go to a nearer depôt than Verdun, on account of the +expense they had been put to; they were of the 34th<span class="pagenum" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</span> +regiment, and they also were allowed to wait the answer. +The other five officers of the 60th were dispatched with +a <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">feuille de route</i> for Verdun. On the 9th, about seven +o’clock, I went to the play with two Dutch officers of the +130th regiment, one of whom was with me when at La +Rhüne in the camp, and had been all along very civil, +and had called upon us and volunteered going with us to +the theatre. I did this in order to pass the anxious time +away till the answer to my letter came. The play I did +not much enjoy, as you may suppose, though our two +gens-d’armes were very well behaved, and went into a box +opposite, leaving us with the officers.</p> + +<p>At nine o’clock came an account that my letter was +arrived. I ran home and eagerly opened it. I found it +was a very civil answer from Count Gazan, full of good +wishes, &c., but stating Marshal Soult had never had +any proposal made to him for my exchange by our +General, or that it would be done instantly; again assuring +me that if any such should arrive I should be +instantly sent back, and that in the mean time orders +should be given that none of us should for the present +cross the Garonne.</p> + +<p>The next morning (the 10th) came an order to be at +Mont de Marsan in four days, about seventy miles off, +the chief town of the department of Landes, and there to +wait orders. We also got a letter to give to the commandant +there, to halt the others there, or to bring them +back if they had passed that depôt. I prepared a letter +to Lord Wellington, encouraged by his letter to me (I +had before only written to the Adjutant-general), and +stated to him how matters stood, thanking him for his +kindness. This I enclosed in one to Count Gazan, in +French, and begged him, as a last favour, to forward it +by a flag of truce through the lines to Lord Wellington. +I then hastily bought a few necessaries, and engaged with +the other five officers to be conveyed to this place (Mont<span class="pagenum" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</span> +de Marsan) in a large coach with six mules, Henry in +the driver’s tilt-cart in front. When I went home to +pay our gens-d’arme, he was most unreasonable and broke +his agreement; we would not pay him, so he locked us +in. I said I had the General’s orders to march at one +o’clock, and called upon him at his peril to release us, and +to go with us to settle the matter. He would not, but +released us, and would then take nothing. I then went +off to General Sol, and told my story. He sent for the +man in a hurry, but as he did not come instantly, asked +what we proposed to give. I told him. He said if we +were willing to pay that sum (which was according to our +agreement), “Very well, leave it here, and you may set +out; had you left it to me I should not have made you +pay nearly so much.” Accordingly at two o’clock we +started, and got, in four hours and a half, over four +leagues of the country, or sixteen miles, to a small village +on the river side, where we dined and slept. Our route +was through Dax, but we had leave, as that was knee-deep +in sand, to pass by Orthes.</p> + +<p>Next morning (the 11th) at four o’clock, we proceeded +to Orthes to breakfast, and got there, six leagues, by +eleven o’clock. There we sat down to a <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">déjeuner à la +fourchette</i>. We then, at one, started again, and before six +got to Hugemont, where we dined again, and slept four +leagues further.</p> + +<p>On the 12th, at seven, we set out for this place, through +the heavy sand in some places, and over a ruinous +bridge; we did not arrive until twelve. All along the +road we found everything in a state of the greatest activity +for the supplies of the army—everything in requisition. +I longed to have some of the Spaniards with me, +to teach them what was to be done in this way. The +love of coffee is much diminished, and the lower classes +are excluded from it by the high price of that and of +sugar. Other things are cheap, and we got our dinner,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</span> +beds, and all for five francs a-head each night. Our +mules were very fine, and each had a name, which we +soon learnt, by the constant dialogues of the old driver +and his boy, one of the two latter always running by the +mule’s side, as there were no reins to the other four in +front.</p> + +<p>We met with every attention and civility here, were +in time to stop the other five officers, and we are now +all in officers’ billets, the same as the French officers +themselves, and have received for our days of march the +same as they do on the march,—a captain three francs, a +colonel five, a lieutenant two and a half, &c. I am at the +house of the principal engineer (from Paris) of some +works going on here, Monsieur de Beaudre. Great improvements +are nearly completed in this little departmental +capital: a new wide stone bridge of easy access, +instead of an old narrow Gothic one, and an open space +cleared around it; a new Prefect’s palace, with departmental +offices, &c. A new chapel, new official houses, and +much private repairs, are in progress: this is very unlike +Spain. I breakfast alone in my billet on my tea, which +I have discovered here, as the others have only meat and +wine. I dine with the rest—and to please them, but +against my will—at six; we have a good cheap dinner +at four francs each. The poor officers do not know what +to do with themselves. I immediately applied to my +patron for books, and he gave me the range of several. +After a play or two of Racine’s, and a few of the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Contes +Moraux</i>, I have attacked La Harpe’s <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Cours de Littérature</i> +at the Lycée, and am as yet well pleased; I walk as +much as my rheumatism permits. Thus goes time; but +I suffer much—I feel as if I had been broken on the +wheel.</p> + +<p>Poor Henry is more bewildered than ever, but flatters +himself that he shall soon learn French. If he could +copy the activity around him, he would be wonderfully<span class="pagenum" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</span> +improved. We are here full of the <em>Moniteur’s</em> victories, +and the little check the French appear to have sustained +latterly under Vandamme, in Bohemia.</p> + +<p>Before I go to bed I get my cup of coffee, a small one +indeed, for my ten sous, at the café, read the news, and +then retire home. This place is very full, from the +wounded being in part here; from the exertions making as +to supplies, for we have two hundred cars here in a day; +from some artillery drivers being here, and from the constant +passage of everything to and from the army. The +Commandant has been particularly obliging. We have a +mile round the town to walk in, and are never troubled +by any one.</p> + +<p><em>20th September, Mont de Marsan.</em>—Alas, poor Seymour!—[Hiatus.]</p> + +<p>On the 21st, at Mont de Marsan, arrived my mules, +pony, and baggage: no letter. I gave up all prospect +of exchange, and was stupidly ill and tranquil. The lady +where I was quartered, was very attentive and good-natured, +and I had begun my literary course, and had +made up my mind to my fate. On the 22nd, however, +at nine, came an order for us all to set out at eleven for +Bayonne again. We did so, had some little misfortunes, +overturns, &c., but got to the Chateau Vieux, at Bayonne, +on the 25th September, and had the honour of being confined +in the same room where Palafox had been for three +months, and all the great Spanish prisoners—the Duke +of Gravina, Prince of Castel Franco, &c. We staid there, +seven of us, until the 1st, in anxious suspense—the room +too noisy for reading, and I too ill for it, so we played +whist, and killed time in that way quietly. At five +o’clock on the 1st, when at dinner, came an order for +Mr. Jesse and myself only to set out at six for St. Jean +de Luz, in the dark. We got a coach at six, the only +vehicle to be had; and I packed all my baggage, and +mounting Henry and my Portuguese on the mules, we<span class="pagenum" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</span> +arrived all at eleven at night, at the Police at St. Jean +de Luz. We were sent to an inn for the night, then the +next morning (the 2nd) taken to Count de Gazan, at ten. +I found him very civil, had much conversation with him +for an hour, breakfasted with him, and at twelve we were +all packed off with an escort for Endaye, to be sent over +here.</p> + +<p>The gens-d’armes took us first to Count Reille, whose +quarters were half a league on from St. Jean de Luz. +He sent us on to General Maucale, who was half a league +further. He gave us a fresh escort, and sent us round +the end of the lines, down to the water side at Endaye. +All very civil in every way. At Endaye, about four, we +were with some danger sent across, mules and all, in a +little flat-bottomed boat to Fontarabia to the Spanish outpost. +There also much civility, but much delay. At +five we got to Irun with a Spanish escort, were taken to +General Frere, found him at dinner—very civil. I then +went to General Stopford; he was at dinner. No +quarters to be had, so I sent my baggage on here, but got +some dinner. At eight, came on in the rain here: found +General Graham; very kind. He gave me a bed in his +quarters, and some tea. Breakfasted here this morning; +baggage gone to Lezaca; I am to go there in half an +hour. I have grown very thin, and am in very crazy +condition, but must get patched up at head-quarters, +and go to work again. This last month has been like +a dream. I hear there has been much difficulty about +my exchange; but it is now over, I am happy to +say, and Lord Wellington has been very kind. I +hope to do something for my fellow prisoners when I +see him.</p> + +<p>Count Gazan asked me to get for him the following +print or caricature to complete a collection he has. Will +you do your best to find it, and send it out if possible. +The Count’s description:—</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</span></p> + +<p>“Une caricature qui a paru il y a douze ou quinze ans +à Londres, au sujet d’un voyage que fit dans cette capitale +Le Grand Rabbin Juif d’Hollande, dans l’intention +de reformer la manière de vivre des Juifs de Londres +dans ce temps là.”</p> + +<p>[N.B.—It was not possible to trace or find this print, +though every inquiry was made.]</p> + +<p><em>Oyarzun, in Spain, at the Head-Quarters of General +Graham, October 4th, 1813.</em>—Once more again at liberty, +as far as my rheumatic limbs will permit: the will, at +least, is free, and I hope soon my arms and legs will be so +likewise.</p> + +<p><em>Lezaca, Head-Quarters, October 7th, 1813.</em>—To-day +I have a little leisure, as every one is engaged out, and a +grand attack is to be made on the French position to +drive them quite off that mountain, La Rhüne. It will +be, I fear, tough work: I dare not go and peep again, +even if I were well enough, so have taken up this paper. +Baggage and all for the present remain here, only ready +to load in case of necessity.</p> + +<p>Lord Wellington had much difficulty in procuring my +exchange, and has been very kind; indeed every one +here has appeared very much interested in my return, +and “my French value.” The Commissary-at-War was +treated here like a prince, to procure me every favour, +when he went back, by his representations. In short, +if my pain goes off, I shall not regret my other losses, +which amount to about 230<em>l.</em>, but shall feel myself a +very fortunate man upon the whole.</p> + +<p>Monsieur Babedac, the banker at Bayonne, is most +liberal and kind to all the English officers taken. I hear +a hundred have had money from him; only five bills of +110<em>l.</em> in the whole have been sent back unpaid; this, I +hope, Lord Wellington will pay, though the banker said, +if distress occasioned it, he did not wish it. Nearly all +my baggage is now collected safely, through the kindness<span class="pagenum" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</span> +of friends. I have been, as you may suppose, much +questioned by Lord Wellington, &c., and many now +seem to envy me the trip, as it has ended so well.</p> + +<p>I will now fill up my former French letter a little +more freely. On the morning following, the scene at +the French head-quarters at St. Jean de Luz was very +curious. First came rumbling back from the attack +seven brigades, or about forty-two pieces of ordnance, +with the ammunition-waggons, about a hundred, looking +very gloomy, almost all drawn by mules, and generally +in good condition. You will here observe how +soon the French come about again. Then came the +pontoon bridge, and, lastly, perpetual strings of cars, +with the wounded; the poor country people shaking +their heads and lamenting all this misery, all wishing +for peace, and all saying that it was their Emperor who +prevented it, from his unbounded ambition. This was +the talk of the officers, and of all. They said the Allies, +if successful, would rise in their demands; that Bonaparte +was too proud to yield, and peace would only be +further off than ever. This was the conversation, when +they heard of the check in the North.</p> + +<p>When the account of the first victory of the 25th +came (which by-the-by was the first information received +as to the quarrel with Austria), they were all in high +spirits, and exclaimed—“<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Ah! le pauvre beau Père, il +sera chassé</i>,” and “Peace from the North will either give +us peace here also, or enable us to drive you all back to +Portugal with the reinforcements which we shall obtain.” +Things changed afterwards, and three weeks after the +bulletin of the 25th, &c., and only the day before the +bad bulletin came out, a <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Te Deum</i> had been ordered at +Bayonne, and a hundred <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">coups de canon</i> for the first +victory! The people almost laughed at this themselves, +though very miserable.</p> + +<p>At the inn at St. Jean de Luz, where I was billeted<span class="pagenum" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</span> +with a gens-d’arme at the door, we were allowed to dine +with the officers, who were all returning starved from the +lines to get a belly full. I here met with men of a +superior description, Colonels of the Guards, Chief Medical +Officers, Post-Masters, Commissaries, &c. They +were civil, some of them gentleman-like and free in their +conversation, much irritated at having been beaten by +the Spaniards, which, with a tirade about numbers, they +admitted to be the fact. Monsieur D’Arnot, a young +man attached to General Clausel, and a young Dutch +officer, gay, tall, and handsome, were the most attentive +to us, and without any object, which most of the others +had in view, to get a wife back, or a lost portmanteau, +their letters, &c.</p> + +<p>The people all told us that had we been quite prepared +to advance into France at first, Bayonne was open, and +without guns, dismantled; that we might have walked +in and gone on to Bordeaux. I believe much of this, +but not entirely, and our men were nearly as much +harassed as the French. The French troops in the first +confusion behaved very ill, and plundered the inhabitants, +throwing away their arms, and absolutely flying. Marshal +Soult’s orders on this subject were stronger even +than Lord Wellington’s were here. The inhabitants +generally said that they would remain quiet if the English +came alone, and would leave the armies to settle it, +for all they wanted was peace; but as they knew how +the Portuguese and Spaniards had been treated, and what +they might therefore expect in return, they must all fly +if the Allies came with us.</p> + +<p>Count Gazan is elderly, and I believe quite sick of his +trade; he said he wanted peace, and to go to his villa at +Nice for life after twenty years’ war. He gave me an +invitation there. In general all the officers and men +were attentive and civil; some looked sulky, but most +noticed us by touching the cap, which is more than we<span class="pagenum" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</span> +do by them here. In a dispute which Captain S—— +had with a stupid old fool, the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Commandant de la Place</i> +at Bayonne, General Sol, the French officers present +seeing that the General was in the wrong (as he afterwards +admitted), all bowed to Captain S——, and the +General’s own sentinel carried arms to him as he went +out. This is flattering. The curiosity is very great +about Lord Wellington, as one of the great men of the +age.</p> + +<p>From the questions put to me when taken, about the +grand position, and on the way to St. Sebastian, I am +sure that the French had a very imperfect notion of the +exact state of that part of the mountains. My being +a civilian was my excuse for giving them no information. +Their loss in getting back again would have been greatly +increased, had they got on to the next hill. As it was, +from the river swelling, and the men not being able +to cross the ford at which I passed, but being obliged to +go round by Vera bridge, which was under our fire, the +loss was very severe. Had I not been put across early I +should have had that fire to pass through with them.</p> + +<p>The country all the way to Bordeaux is barren and +unproductive; mostly sandy heath with vines, and a few +meadows near the stream. I saw no corn, only the +Indian corn, and that much less luxuriant than here, and +with very little head of green for forage. The consequence +is, the French provisions and forage come from +an immense distance, and the supplies are very difficult +to procure; the exertions, however, are in proportion, +and very unlike those in Spain of the Spaniards. Everything, +for two hundred miles and more round, is in +requisition, all the corn taken, and only <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">bons</i> given in +return; wine the same; hay the same; every merchant’s +car in the town, and all the country cars with oxen at +work for the public. The districts off the roads send in +to the depôts on the high roads; and from thence the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</span> +corn, &c., is forwarded to the army, to the depôts at +Bayonne, &c. The hay for the staff horses and cavalry +comes, as Gazan told me himself, one hundred leagues, +that is, nearly three or four hundred miles, from above +Toulouse, &c., partly by water, but much by land. The +people now feel for the first time what it is to supply +their own army in their own country, and the grievance +is no small one.</p> + +<p>The army have had a half month’s pay; twenty +months are due. The prospect of payment of the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">bons</i> +for the supplies is very remote indeed, and yet though +they all grumble they act with zeal and spirit, and I still +think, with the feelings of Frenchmen, would all unite +against invasion. In spite of all this, things in general +are still comparatively cheap; dear to Frenchmen, as +they say exorbitant—to us reasonable, except colonial +produce: bread about 4 sous a pound, or 2<em>d.</em> English; +and good meat about 8<em>d.</em> English retailed; vegetables +and fruit very cheap; wine equally so; oats and hay +tolerably cheap; even as I fed my animals (three) at the +inns for the day for about 12 or 14 livres travelling, +three feeds of corn—small ones, to each—about 6 livres, +or, as I generally gave them, 8 livres. Hay about 6 or 7 +livres and good—cheaper when I bought the articles at +Mont de Marsan. A good dinner at the inns, with a +bottle of light wine, about 5<em>s.</em> each. This sometimes also +covered the beds where we slept. Tea only to be had by +ounces at a time as medicine; coffee, very dear; sugar +(brown), from 4<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em> to 6<em>s.</em>; white sugar, 7<em>s.</em> the pound.</p> + +<p>The consequence has been, in a great measure, to put +an end to the great use of coffee: it is now a luxury for +the rich, and even they generally breakfast <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">à la fourchette</i>, +and drink little of it. Of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Syrope de raisin</i>, I bought a +basin-full for about 9<em>d.</em> This is a sort of vinous treacle, +and gives a taste to tea as if it were taken from a dirty +wine-glass. The <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">betterave</i> sugar was to be had sometimes<span class="pagenum" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</span> +at Bayonne, but I did not meet with any. On +some bad sugar being brought to him one day, a French +Lieutenant-Colonel, by way of abuse, called it <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">betterave</i>, +and said, it was only from some small sticks being in it, +as really he had seen <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">betterave</i> sugar as good as any +other: they still, however, give 6<em>s.</em> a-pound for brown +island sugar.</p> + +<p>The Chateau-Neuf, at Bayonne, was just like an +English sponging-house. With money we were very +well off. The man, however, cheated us; we quarrelled; +I got redress from the General; and on my return got +into the Chateau-Vieux instead, an old English castle, +where we were in the same room where Palafox had been; +the Commandant, a gentleman-like man—his wife a +troublesome skinflint. The Commandant at Mont de +Marsan was uncommonly liberal to us all, so were the +people there; equally so, my patron and patrona; the +civil engineer, Baron d’Huilliers, who first commanded +at Bayonne, was also civil, but more distant. He is now +gone to Bordeaux, and General Thevenot, the late Commandant +at Vittoria, has succeeded him. Their reports +were, that Soult was going to the North to replace +Berthier, who was sick, and Suchet was to succeed in +command here. Count Gazan, however, did not admit +this, but never positively denied it. It was also said, +that the Etat Major would remove to Bordeaux for the +winter-quarters. Perhaps the events of to-day may +hasten this. The firing is brisk all this time. We met +three cavalry regiments on the retreat towards Pau and +Toulouse for forage; the horses in fair order, but generally +very inferior to ours in size; the men very fine, +which was so much the worse for the animals that had +to carry them. At one place, near Lain, the depôt of +forage was empty. I met a man running hard with +orders, the Major’s messenger; he was charged to inform +the few neighbouring parishes, that unless they furnished<span class="pagenum" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</span> +and provided ready at the depôt so many rations of forage +for three days for two squadrons of cavalry who were +about to pass by twelve next day, all fit to move on +immediately, the squadrons would be halted there that +day to help themselves in the vicinity.</p> + +<p>Small horses and mules were very cheap, as the forage +rations were stopped to the subaltern officers in France, +and they all consequently wanted to sell, and many of +the country-people from the requisition wanted also to +sell. Bayonne was declared in a state of siege for the +purposes of police. One order of the police posted up +in the Café Wagram at Bayonne directed, that no +politics were to be discussed under pain of arrest. Out +of the town, in the suburbs of St. Esprit, was a magnificent +hotel, quite in the English style; there our +party stopped, but were marched off to the Chateau. +The activity exhibited by the French Commandant +about Bayonne has been very great; one hundred and +twenty guns have now been mounted, of one sort or +another, instead of about three. This number has been +collected all round the country, and new works are rising +round the place every day. The young conscripts of +the usual levy were being drilled; they were fine young +lads of about seventeen or eighteen; too young for Spain, +but who in a short time would make excellent soldiers. +At first they appeared dull and a little unhappy; but in +a few days they became gay like the rest.</p> + +<p>The newly-raised thirty thousand for the twenty-four +departments for Spain were not yet out, but are to be +out this week. I understood they will be better men, +being taken from the old lists of those who had previously +escaped, some of them twenty-five years old. +This grievance is very great, but the conscripts seem +to forget it themselves, and the old parents can do +nothing. It will tell, however, some time or other, I +think; and I hope soon. My patrona told me that her<span class="pagenum" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</span> +sister’s husband had been drawn five years since, got off +on payment of two thousand francs, and two francs per +day since; he is now married, has two children, and is +still liable to be called upon again. A wish for peace +follows the relation of all these stories.</p> + +<p>On the whole I was well treated, and it appears to +me that in general the treatment of prisoners by the +French is very good. Officers are allowed fifty francs +a-month to live upon, and on marching, the same <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">indemnité</i> +as the French; 5<em>s.</em> a Colonel and Major, 3<em>s.</em> a +Captain, and 2<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em> a subaltern. Our being able to +obtain money makes all the difference almost between +our treatment and that of the Spanish officers, whom +they dare not trust on their parole, so many having +broken it. The worst treatment I experienced was +being marched on foot from St. Jean de Luz to Bayonne, +with our own deserters, after having been promised a +horse, and kept back until we were caught in a thunder-storm, +because these fellows could not or would not +march. The soldiers are like themselves to the last; +when marched as prisoners, they jumped over the fences +to get apples. The French guard stared, but permitted +it to be done.</p> + +<p><em>October 7th, three o’clock.</em>—The officers passing from +the front tell me that all is going on well—that the +French have given way almost everywhere, though they +still hang to the high rocks on La Rhüne, near where +I slept on the 31st. They say that the Spaniards have +behaved well, but that the 52nd and second battalion of +the 95th have suffered, while forcing the position through +which I was marched in that thunder-storm. We have +no orders to move here at present. The reports confirm +the news that I brought in to Lord Wellington, that +Soult has gone, and that Suchet commands. I know +nothing accurately now, however, as I must not go and +peep again for myself.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</span></p> + +<p>To return to France, and my dream there (for such it +has appeared), I must give you a notion of a French +placeman in a little way, not like our great sinecurists. +My running friend, who carried the message about the +forage, accompanied me side-by-side for a league. The +people wished him joy of his prosperity; I asked him +why? He said, “They think that I am making a fortune, +having a place in the hospital; and what do you +suppose it is?—I am the hospital-sexton; I bury all the +dead, four or five in the twenty-four hours, and all at +night, digging half the night. And for what?—for +eighteen sous (or ninepence English) a day. This is +not the way to make a fortune, you will allow. My +companion makes a better thing of it: he is always +tipsy, and leaves me to dig, but he always sings as +he goes to the grave. The people who know his voice +say, ‘There goes poor silly John!’ and give him a +sous.”</p> + +<p>Now for a trait of a gens-d’arme—a private in the +ranks. We went to the play at Bayonne with a gens-d’arme, +and our friend, the Dutch officer. On going +down to the coffee-room, my companion, Mr. Jesse, +meaning to be generous, but not understanding the +method of treating a revolutionary gens-d’arme, told +him to get anything he wished to drink as we did. +Upon which he flew into a rage, said he had drank +with his colonels, majors, captains, and had never been +sent out to drink like a servant before. Our Dutchman +was obliged to explain to him, in order to pacify him, +the difference in our service between officers and privates; +said it was once so in France and in Holland, but +that the prejudice was removed there now, though it +remained in England. He then desired him to sit +down and drink with us. With difficulty he was persuaded +to do so, and we all knocked our glasses together, +and so it ended amicably. I did not expect this. The<span class="pagenum" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</span> +military retain, however, the only remnant of the +equality of the Revolution.</p> + +<p>The two midshipmen in prison with us amused us +much. By mistake, they were at first put in prison with +their men for two days on bread and water. Afterwards +they were lodged in the same room in which I was. We +were five in all at first. They slept in the same bed, and +were as often alternately with their heads where the feet +of the others were as on the pillow. In the open letter +they sent to Sir G. Collier, about their exchange, through +the French, they suggested the advisability of bringing +in two gun-boats close to St. Jean de Luz, in order to +prevent communication with St. Sebastian, and further, +advised a little bombardment, &c. The sailors, as they +were marched, proposed to the midshipmen to upset the +heavy gens-d’armes by their great jack-boots; said they +would never be able to right themselves again, and that +they, the sailors, might get off. The officers, however, +told them that it would not do; so they were quiet.</p> + +<p><em>October 8th, 1813, Lezaca.</em>—The result of yesterday’s +operations was, that the French was driven from all the +mountainous parts of their position above Endaye, opposite +Fontarabia, and so along, opposite Irun, to above +Bera. I do not know that we have lost above five hundred +men in this part. The French did not fight well, +and were not above twelve or fourteen thousand here. +What has passed higher up I know not. It is said that +the sixth division, near Maya, have lost men. I believe +Lord Wellington very prudently stopped short, in this +part, near Orogne, on the road to St. Jean de Luz, not +knowing exactly the result near Maya and Roncesvalles.</p> + +<p>It is thought that the French must be in greater +strength there, since they are so weak here. Report says, +however, that men have been sent northwards. Our sixty +pieces of artillery were all carried across the Bidassoa last +night, and are established on the main road. We have<span class="pagenum" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</span> +not lost many officers. About three hundred prisoners +were brought in here, with eight officers, about ten o’clock +this morning. How lucky it was that my exchange took +place before this, or it would have been at least deferred, +or I should have been sent back to the rear.</p> + +<p>General Graham has just called on me. He is on his +way to England to-morrow; he had called to see Lord +Wellington. He was very civil, and assures me that my +new mare is a good purchase; and so it ought to be for +four hundred dollars. Major Stanhope sold her some +time since for a hundred guineas, to take it back at the +same if he returned. He did so. General Cole gave him +a hundred guineas when he was ordered away again; +this looks well.</p> + +<p><em>Evening.</em>—The French still cling with three companies +to a rock in the midst of La Rhüne mountain, about half +a mile from my resting-place, now six weeks ago. The +Spaniards cannot drive them out. Little has been attempted +or done to-day.</p> + +<p>The day before yesterday, a curious scene occurred at +General Pakenham’s. A French militia Captain had +been taken among the rocks—a <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">ci-devant</i> regular officer +retired, and now apparently an active, useful man, in +organizing the Basque peasantry. He had some regulars +with him, and peasants without uniform. Lord +Wellington had succeeded in frightening him by threatening +to hang him for invading Spain with peasants. +He seemed a country mountain squire, and rather simple, +though probably useful. He let fall much against Bonaparte, +and told us many truths. He was told that I had +just come from beyond Bayonne, and made me confirm it +by many facts. He was surprised and puzzled, but believed +I had been there as a spy, and never guessed the +truth. Another officer, who knew about eight words of +Basque, was passed off as a proficient in that dialect. +The poor militia officer stared, but swallowed everything<span class="pagenum" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</span> +as easily as his dinner. His own account of the chase of +him by the Portuguese, the rocks he climbed whilst they +fired, given in the most animated style, was very entertaining. +I was almost sorry this unlucky Basque squire +was to leave us next morning for Passages, to learn a +little English farming. He confessed that if he had been +a single man, and had not left a wife and servants with +six of the 6th Light Regiment boarding in his house, he +should in these times have been rather glad than otherwise +to get away to England, to avoid the present troubles. +What he wished for most, however, was to return on +parole, as he could then be at home quietly, with an excuse +to enable him to refuse to take any part in what was +doing. The arming of the country being what Lord +Wellington wished to prevent, he could not, of course, +favour this man.</p> + +<p><em>9th October, five o’clock.</em>—The French have given up the +rock on La Rhüne in the night, and have to-day been +beaten out of two or three redoubts; but there has been but +little else done, and some say we shall now be quiet again +until Pamplona falls. To-morrow, head-quarters move +to Bera, only half a league. It is a large ruined village. +A letter has been intercepted from Pamplona, stating +that the 25th of this month will be the very latest they +can hold out; but we have heard this already very often. +It draws nearer the truth, certainly, every time. Plunder +has begun, and disorder in the French villages, and Lord +Wellington is exceedingly angry. He says, that if +officers will not obey orders, and take care that those +under them do so also, they must go home, for he will +not command them here; many of our officers seem to +think that they have nothing to do but to fight.</p> + +<p>This place, Lezaca, is grown very unwholesome, like +an old poultry-yard, and the deaths of the inhabitants are +very numerous. So, I think, there is no reason to regret +the change.</p> +<br> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_6" href="#FNanchor_6" class="label">[6]</a></p> + +<p class="right"> +Head-quarters, September 4, 1813.</p> + +<p class="no-indent"><span class="smcap">Dear Sir</span>,<br> +</p> + +<p><span style="padding-left: 2em">I</span> was very much concerned to hear of your misfortune, which, however, +I don’t doubt will have been alleviated by the Comte Gazan as far as +may have been in his power, as soon as he will have known that to your +humanity in the first instance he owed the safety of his wife.</p> + +<p>In former wars a person in your situation would have been considered a +non-combatant, and would have been immediately released; but in this +war, which, on account of the violence of enmity in which it is conducted, +it is to be hoped will be the last for some time at least, everybody taken is +considered a prisoner of war, and none are released without exchange. +There are several persons now in my power in the same situation with +yourself in that respect, that is to say, non-combatants, according to the +known and anciently practised rules of war; among others, there is the +Secretary of the Governor of St. Sebastian, and I authorize you to tell the +Duke of Dalmatia or the Count Gazan that I will send back any person in +exchange for you that they will point out.</p> + +<p>I send you, with this letter, the sum of two hundred dollars, of which I +request you to acknowledge the receipt, and that you will let me know +whether I can do anything else for you.</p> + +<p class="right"> +<span style="padding-right: 2em">Ever yours, most faithfully,</span><br> +<span class="smcap">Wellington</span>.</p> + +<p><em>F. Seymour Larpent, Esq.</em><br> +</p> + +</div> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</span></p> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV.</h2> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="fs80" style="margin-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em;">Picturesque Quarters—Spanish Reverses—A Strange Adventurer—Spanish +Jealousy—Distribution of the Army—A Pleasant Companion—News +from the North—Morale of the French Army—The Artillery.</p> + +<p class="right fs80"> +Head-quarters, Bera or Vera,<br> +<span style="padding-right: 2em">Oct. 15, 1813.</span></p> +</div> + +<p class="no-indent"> +<span class="smcap">My dear M——</span>, +</p> + +<p><span style="padding-left: 2em">I</span> have now a quarter with a most rural exterior, +and a balcony all along the upper story, hung with vines. +The picturesque and the comfortable, however, are not +always combined, for the room is dirty, and though small +has four windows, with only large wooden shutters, and +no fireplace.</p> + +<p>It will be but a cold winter residence, and I fear even +less comfortable in fact than my Frenada habitation. +The ground-floor is the stable, the centre devoted to me +and to the family, the upper story a great drying-room. +The style of the house is, however, pretty.</p> + +<p>Several of the best houses are destroyed, nearly all are +gutted of furniture, chairs, tables, &c., and many deprived +of doors and shutters, for the French camp. The +wounded occupy some of the best houses, and in addition +to Lord Wellington’s staff, head-quarters, and Marshal +Beresford’s, who has returned from Lisbon, we have +General Cole’s staff here, and General Alten’s. This +place was for two months a sort of neutral ground +between the two armies, so you may guess that it is a +little deranged. It has been populous, and contained a +considerable number of spacious houses, though not<span class="pagenum" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</span> +magnificent; yet the room which Lord Wellington +occupies is, upon the whole, better than almost any he +has had since he was in Madrid. It is well proportioned, +has clean walls, and is sufficiently capacious to admit +comfortably twenty-five or thirty persons to dinner. Of +course he has furnished it himself, for there are only +bare walls. The largest house in the place, and the best +in point of situation, on a pretty knoll above the town, +was made what is called a strong house of, and a regiment +of Portuguese are now in it. The squire, I fear, has not +gained by this arrangement.</p> + +<p>The Spaniards were disturbed early yesterday morning +about two miles from this, surprised, and driven from a +redoubt, with some loss in prisoners and wounded. I +believe, however, that they behaved well afterwards; +but a Spanish regiment gave way. That queer playhouse +hero, Downie, who was there as a volunteer, rallied them, +and conducted them well, but had his horse wounded. +He once more exhibited on the Pyrenees the sword of +Pizarro, which had so narrow an escape when he was +made prisoner in the south. You may remember that +he threw it back to his friends across a broken bridge, +when he was wounded and cut off by the French. He +is, I believe, very brave, and seems to take with the +Spaniards, though with us he can scarcely speak without +exciting a smile, or even more. He was first a Commissary +in the light division.</p> + +<p>The day before this little surprise, the English officers +at General Cole’s were remarking, that it was only surprising +that the Spaniards kept the redoubt and their +post; for the officers were never seen there with the men +to keep them on the alert, and the men were cooking +without arms within twenty yards of the French sentries, +quite unconcerned. I hope this little surprise may save +us from a greater; but I expect some night that the +French will make a night attack upon the Spaniards,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</span> +though that is contrary to their usual method, which is +generally to march two hours before daylight, and begin +the attack at break of day.</p> + +<p><em>15th, later.</em>—I have just met Downie, and he says Lord +Wellington has admitted that the French were too strong +for the Spaniards, and that he had given them a fort to +defend too much in advance in the French position. +The result, however, is that the French have kept the +redoubt, and are at work on it already, and have recovered +every house in the suburbs of Zera, or Sara, of +which the Spaniards at one time had nearly one half. +Many say that this is properly a part of the French +position, and does not signify at all. Lord Wellington +seems to have a bad cold to-day.</p> + +<p>Every one appears to have had some adventures the +night I was taken prisoner. General Pakenham’s horse +and Captain Eckersley’s fell down from a bank into the +river below, and it was so dark that they and two others +thought it best to remain there in the trees till daylight, +and not stir though it rained. Lord Wellington and all +his staff lost their way, and were five hours exploring +two leagues home in the rain and dark, and did not +arrive until ten at night after various perils. It was a +tremendous night. Mr. Heaphy, the artist, who is now +here, was nearly being involved in my scrape, and it is +said he has, in consequence of these risks, added ten +guineas to the price of his likenesses, and made them +fifty guineas instead of forty guineas. This is too much +for a little water-colour whole length; but he has, I hear, +now taken twenty-six, and some excessively like.</p> + +<p>Some of our houses begin to improve much, as many +of the inhabitants, who must be somewhat used to these +events, are returning now with all their doors and +shutters, which they had themselves carried off and concealed. +Canning’s quarter is suddenly by this means +transformed into a comfortable sort of residence.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</span></p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, Vera, October 16th.</em>—Here I am still +sticking to my post, though in constant pain, and at +times bent enough to act the old woman, like Mrs. Sparks. +The doctor still says I must, first or last, go to the hot-baths +at Sestona, but I fight off as long as possible. +Things must mend soon. The ration beef is like shoe-leather; +mutton I can scarcely ever get; fowls are 9<em>s.</em> +each, and are all snapped up before my man can resolve +to give that price for them. Pork, ham, sausages, salt-fish +and bacon alone abound.</p> + +<p>Every one seems to think that we shall make no other +movement until Pamplona falls, which, as usual, is daily +expected. The French, in the meantime, are in busy +preparation, burrowing and throwing up works, like +moles, on every rising ground near them. It does not +appear to me that they ever really intended to defend +this mountain La Rhüne; they were in some degree +surprised, as I told you; they had a notion that we had +sent two divisions to Catalonia. They will now probably +fight harder for each acre of ground, unless completely +turned by numbers, and a decided flank movement from +Roncesvalles.</p> + +<p>From the reports which are current, the whole of which +I dare not mention, it is to be feared that the Spanish +Government and Lord Wellington have not gone on well +together lately, in spite of outward appearances. The +moment any General acts cordially with us, and a measure +goes on well, some reason is found for his removal. +This ridiculous Spanish jealousy would be endurable if +they supported it by exertions of their own, so as to +enable us to leave them to themselves; but we are now +feeding and clothing their half-starved men in the front, +and they are doing very little in the rear to supply those +they have, or to increase their numbers. In short, five +years’ misery has not yet scourged them into reasonable +beings, and turned romance heroes into common-sense<span class="pagenum" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</span> +soldiers and practical politicians. The men, however, +seem now to fight well whenever they are well led.</p> + +<p><em>October 17th, Sunday, Post-day.</em>—General Graham has +acted wisely in going home just now, his age considered. +I told Lord Wellington that the French officers said that +he (Lord Wellington) ought to die now, for he never +would have such another year, and fortune would prove +fickle. He laughed, but did not seem disposed to +acquiesce in this. He is better.</p> + +<p>I have just got four bundles of English hay, about a +hundred pounds weight each, which are to last me for +ten days. My next forage must be picked up on the +hills, or bought in the market in the shape of baskets of +coarse river grass.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, Vera, October 21st, 1813, Thursday.</em>—The +week is already half elapsed, and Sunday, the post day, +draws near, leaving me with nothing to say. I +am like the Spanish country people, who without waiting +to hear a question always begin “<i lang="es" xml:lang="es">nada, nada, +nada</i>,” or “<em>nothing, nothing, nothing</em>.” They generally +add to us “<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Francese roben</i>” and “<i lang="es" xml:lang="es">rompas todas</i>,” and +as the French told me, said to them “<i lang="es" xml:lang="es">Anglesi rompen</i>” +and “<i lang="es" xml:lang="es">roben todas</i>,” but always to every one “<i lang="es" xml:lang="es">nada +nada</i>.”</p> + +<p>I have this last week ridden out for half an hour every +day before breakfast, and an hour or two before dinner; +and thus exercise myself and my horses in the meadows +about here, which are now of course all open, and when +it has dried up a little after the rain, make a good +riding-school.</p> + +<p>The only news here just now is, that Marshal Beresford +is to have a separate command of a <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">corps d’armée</i>, +not to act separately, but to complete our system, which +will be—General Hill, right column; General Sir J. +Hope, left column, which Graham had; Marshal Beresford +the right centre-column; and Lord Wellington the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</span> +left centre: each consisting of different divisions and +bodies of the allies.</p> + +<p>The French to-day are collecting upon the rising +ground near La Rhüne, and our people, thinking that +this looked like a threat of doing something, are all on +the alert, but I hear no firing. This is another anxious +moment, for the fall of Pamplona is daily expected, and +the garrison threaten to blow it up, which will make +some desperate work.</p> + +<p>Lieutenant-colonel Elphinstone arrived here some time +since with Marshal Beresford, from Lisbon. He is now +in quarters within a hundred yards of me, across a little +stream; my nearest neighbour indeed, except Colonel +Ellicombe, in that direction. He is here without his +horses, and without much baggage, or many comforts; +he is therefore, like myself, buying. His own horses only +arrived as far as Ciudad Rodrigo. He has made up his +mind to stay till the war is over.</p> + +<p>The French, in addition to a few conscripts, who have +joined, have called out all the militia in the neighbouring +departments. This is a new scene, but I have still +great doubts of the policy of entering France at all. +The French now suffer severely, and grumble against +their own government. Invasion may stir up the strong +vanity of a Frenchman, and make him forget his +grievances, in order to revenge himself on those who insult +his native soil. Five or six subaltern officers have come +over here to us; I believe owing to some Spanish connexions +generally, or disgust and personal disappointment; +and two inhabitants of the village on this side of +St. Jean de Luz, Oragne, came over here to avoid serving +in the militia, which is now being assembled.</p> + +<p><em>12 o’clock, Friday, 22nd.</em>—Nothing was done yesterday. +It was all a false alarm in the front. The French, +however, say that we shall be astonished with some extraordinary +news in less than three days! Some say they<span class="pagenum" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</span> +mean from the North, some from Pamplona. If they +are bold enough in the latter to dash out in the night +against Don Carlos and his Spaniards, I think they +would, with the loss of about one-third of their men, +fight their way to Jaca, where they have a garrison, and +escape. They would of course come out with provisions +only, leave mines prepared to add to the confusion, sally +out in all directions, and then push on in a body. Don +Carlos with all his vigilance would not, in my opinion, +be a match for them. He has sent word to the governor +that he holds his head answerable for the safety of the +works of the town, and two Frenchmen liable to death +for every Spanish inhabitant starved.</p> + +<p><em>Saturday, 23rd.</em>—As I have dined alone every day since +Sunday last, when I went to Lord Wellington’s, I pick +up no news. Your July ‘Edinburgh Review’ is wonderfully +fallen off; in parts very tame, and more like a poor +imitation of the old ‘Edinburgh Review;’ and yet some +of the articles are curious.</p> + +<p>We begin to feel the effects of this dangerous coast +now. Vessels can even now hardly lie in safety, though +shut up in the close harbour of Passages, and the last +packet was close in on Sunday last, on the same day on +which Major Hare fought his way in, in the <em>Landrail</em>, +and was not able to land the mail until yesterday. +Major Hare brought papers to the 9th, but scarcely any +news. He was closely examined by Lord Wellington +when he arrived at dinner-time. He had got up his +lesson so badly, that he could answer nothing clearly as +to dates, but always ended by a reference to the papers.</p> + +<p>It is known that Bonaparte was at Dresden up to the +5th instant, and that nothing was done. This some call +bad, some good news. On the whole, I think the latter. +Colonel Gordon states that Bonaparte used our position +here, as a strong argument with the Emperor of Austria +to join him in force, stating nothing could restore matters<span class="pagenum" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</span> +here but an entire new army of a hundred and fifty +thousand men, who had not known the English, and that +he should be invaded unless supported by his father-in-law. +This is a queer argument to one who, I suspect, +was only hesitating through fear of his son-in-law’s +strength being too much for the Allies, and would tell +the wrong way. He also states, that Lord Wellington’s +true account of Vittoria did harm in Germany, being +much under the notions they had entertained of it.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, Vera, October 24 1813.</em>—Post-day. +We remain <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">in statu quo</i>. I see the papers have made +rather a pretty history of my capture, treating me as an +old gentleman (as just now they well may), and that my +younger friends got off. In fact, however, the youngest +of the party, Jesse, was the first who was taken. There +will soon be some dispute here among the artillery and +engineers on the subject of rank and brevet rank.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, Bera, or Vera, October 31st, 1813.</em>—I +have been so worried this week with business and other +things that I have not been able to write until the very +post-day, so this will be short and hasty. The weather +has been trying, one day very cold, and I hoped we were +to have clear frost, which, in spite of my open room, is, +in my opinion, better than wet. The thermometer got +down to 36°, close to where I was shaving, three mornings +since; but it soon turned to wet—raw, constant, +violent cold wet; north-west wind, and rain in repeated +stormy torrents. In camp our poor soldiers have had +their tents torn, and almost washed away; then we have +had hail followed by snow. Colonel Belson has written +to me very feelingly, from the mountains, but seems +well.</p> + +<p>Another drawback as to writing has been this. Three +brigades of artillery were moved along La Rhüne mountain, +three nights since by night. As they went close to +the French pickets, to get from our left to Endage, towards<span class="pagenum" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</span> +the centre, in our front, they have as yet only +reached this vicinity, and have halted here. Amongst +them was Colonel Ross’s light troops, and Captain Jenkinson, +and young ——; the latter came to me here, +very miserable, wet, &c. To save him camp I took him +in. Here he has been three days, and with my establishment +this saves me some trouble. Besides which, one +cannot get on well with business with a chum always +at hand, in a small room, night and day. He is pretty +well, and I conclude will remain at this place until we +move—at least until the army moves, which every one +expects as soon as the French will give us up Pamplona. +This is <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">en train</i> I conclude. A proposal came out to Don +Carlos some days since, but a most unreasonable one; +namely, to allow them all to go to France, with arms and +baggage, and to be on parole for one year not to serve +against us. This was refused. They made a great +parade of giving our officers white bread and champagne, +and Burgundy, &c., at the interview. So much for +humbug. They said, “See how <em>forts</em> we are.” To +which we said, “Let us see how your men are.” Every +day’s delay now is very provoking. I hope they will +soon surrender.</p> + +<p>I wish it were possible to get my chum another quarter, +for I work in general at breakfast, at dinner, and in +the evening, and a companion is a great inconvenience, +though he is very considerate. Pray tell his family, the +Colonel, &c., how he is. Captain Jenkinson would not +go into a house, but pitched his tent in the wet, and +went to bed dinnerless, at four o’clock, from fatigue. He +is, however, well now. The work of getting guns along +over a clay-road, up a mountain, in the dark, without +being allowed to use lights, is no trifling undertaking.</p> + +<p>The news from the North is very good, especially the +accession of the Bavarians to the Allies; which, from +the papers I doubted, but which Colonel Gordon says his<span class="pagenum" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</span> +brother mentions as fact; Lord Wellington tells me, +also, that Government at home believe it to be correct. +The private letters from the Austrian head-quarters +which have reached here, do not say much in favour of +the Swedish Prince, and seem to think he has much of +French humbug in him—<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">c’est à voir</i>. It is also said that +he saves the Swedes, and is always in the rear, surrounded +with guards and twenty sentinels. They speak well of +the Russian troops, and very ill of the French lads now +opposed to them. You will rejoice to hear that we are +to have divine service here to-day in the square with +some troops. This will not do for me, standing out bareheaded +for an hour in the damp; I must remain a heathen +a little longer, I fear. Mr. B——, the clergyman +who has lately arrived at head-quarters, seemed to be a +pleasant gentleman-like man; I have, however, only met +him twice.</p> + +<p><em>Two o’clock, Sunday.</em>—Still nothing decisive from Pamplona. +To-day’s post brings accounts of no communication +for two days, but that the garrison desert twenty +a-day, and say that the place is almost in a state of mutiny +against the General. To-day the weather has a +little cleared up, but our artillery horses are living upon +dried fern and corn—no hay, no straw, and very little +coarse grass; every one in a fidget to move from hence. +Unless we can so maul this French army as to have them +at our mercy, and then go where we please, and stop +where we please, out of our own moderation, I think we +shall not have any quiet winter-quarters this year. As +long as anything like an army remains, the French must +be doing something to molest us, unless we molest them; +and then the great nation can never submit to let our +allied army quietly take up their winter-quarters in the +French territory—at least I think not. Several of their +conscripts have joined them, and they make a parade of +drilling them within sight and hearing of our outposts,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</span> +even in marching without arms, &c. Their deserters +say they have about fifty-five thousand men; it is supposed +with their conscripts this is rather under the mark. +They are throwing up works in all directions all over the +country, and making breast-works, redoubts, &c. A +breast-work, half round a hill, appears to be turned up in +a few nights.</p> + +<p>It must be allowed that they are industrious at least, +but the <em>morale</em> of the old soldiers is shaken very much. +It is even said that the young ones fight the best of the +two. This agrees with the story that we hear from the +North: that before the Austrian ambassador left Paris, a +letter from Marshal Soult had arrived, stating, that unless +he had fifty thousand new men, who had never +met the British, he would not answer for the South of +France.</p> + +<p>I see your papers make Endage a fortified place—it is +a great heap of ruins; never strong, only once a fortified +village. It was nearly destroyed about the year 1790 by +the Spaniards, and has never recovered itself. In return, +Fontarabia, once really rather a strongly-fortified town, +was soon afterwards blown up by the French, and the +works are for the most part still in ruins. The town has +not suffered much, for this was only a military operation. +Of all the ruins we have made amongst us in Spain, even +including Badajoz, and Rodrigo, and Almeida, it is said +St. Sebastian is the most complete. It was a large, +handsome, and thriving town four months since: one +side of one street alone remains entire! every street is +barricaded and blockaded! Rubbish up to the one pair of +stairs windows, and walls half down, make it dangerous +in wind to walk anywhere. Beside this, the large +wooden balconies, hanging about by a few beams at the +two pair of stairs windows, threaten every moment to +fall, even where the walls are sound. Some repairs are +being carried on, however, in a few buildings; at least<span class="pagenum" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</span> +preparations are being made, by clearing, and the works +are in progress towards a state of defence. Most officers +think the destruction so great that it can scarcely ever +be a good town again—that is, as a town; as a fortified +place, with much labour, it may. The French garrison +were so disheartened in the castle, that they could not +be made to do more, I understand from the engineers, +for it was still tenable for some time longer when it surrendered. +When the town was first taken, and our men +were all drunk about the place, committing every disorder, +the Governor was doubting about a sortie to recover +it; thinking, however, that we must have fresh men near +at hand, in case of such an accident, kept sober and together, +he gave up the idea. Many say, that if he had +done so, such was the disorganized state of our men, that +it would have succeeded. His own men were very much +weakened and dispirited.</p> + +<p>Most of the light division tents in front here have +been declared unserviceable from rents, &c. The men +are still returned healthy, to the astonishment of all, +even the doctors, who say the consequences of this must +soon appear. Wine is dearer, which is a good thing, and +I believe our men bear this cold wet weather better than +heat.</p> + +<p>Tell John his two newspapers of the 20th have been +in great request. I believe only Dr. M’Gregor had one +besides Lord Wellington. They have been much read, +and I have now enclosed one to Colonel Belson, which +will probably be the only one in his division. It happened +to contain almost all the news of the last week.</p> + +<p>Lieutenant-colonel Elphinstone is still here. I understand +that he got a queer answer from Lord Wellington +when at Lisbon, which brought him here in such a hurry. +When he became senior officer of the corps here, he +wrote up for instructions from Lisbon, and to ask what +Lord Wellington wished him to do, and where he was to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</span> +go as Chief Engineer in the Peninsula? The answer +was, that as Chief Engineer in the Peninsula he would +best know where his proper place was. Up he came by +sea in a week, in consequence.</p> + +<p>A man to thrive here must have his wits about him, +and not see or feel difficulties, or start them, to go on +smoothly. People wonder at Lieutenant-colonel Dickson, +Portuguese service, and only (barring brevet rank) a captain +of artillery in our service, commanding, as he has +done now ever since Frenada, all the artillery of both +nations, English and Portuguese. He has four seniors +out here, but all young comparatively also, who have +submitted hitherto. E—— says it should be a General’s +command to be done properly, with proper officers under +him; others say the old artillery officers have rather +changed their sex, and are somewhat of old women.</p> + +<p>Lord Wellington seems to favour the latter opinion a +little. I conclude that he finds it answer in practice. +As an instance of this, it may be stated that in the pursuit +after the battle of Vittoria in the bad roads, Lord +Wellington saw a column of French making a stand as +if to halt for the night. “Now, Dickson,” said he, “if +we had but some artillery up.” “They are close by, my +Lord.” And in ten minutes, from a hill on the right, +Lieutenant-colonel Rose’s light division guns began bang—bang—bang! +and away went the French two leagues +further off. I fear if there had been a General, that we +should have had, instead of this, a report of the bad state +of the roads, and the impossibility of moving guns. In +fact, this same brigade of guns, with their mounted men, +took the last French mortar near Pamplona, and Lord +Wellington passed whilst they were putting it to rights +to proceed. They had killed two of the horses in it the +day before.</p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV.</h2> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="fs80" style="margin-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em;">Fall of Pamplona—Deterioration of the Army—Duke of York’s Orders—Orders +of Merit—Church Service—Capture of French Redoubts—March +of the Army—Incidents of Foreign Service—Frequency of Desertion—Wellington +and the Lawyers.</p> + +<p class="right fs80"> +Head-quarters, Vera, Nov. 5, 1813.</p> +</div> + +<p class="no-indent"> +<span class="smcap">My dear M——</span>, +</p> + +<p><span style="padding-left: 2em">Here</span> we are still, but rather nearer a move than +when I wrote last. Between business and my chum +——, who is still here with me, I could never spare a +moment to write. Even now, at three o’clock, I have +been five or six hours at work.</p> + +<p>The weather has improved, however, these last two +days, and now tends to frost. Anything is better than +the incessant wet we have here, up to that part of the +army at Roncesvalles; perpetual torrents from the north-west, +almost night and day, so that the roads have been +nearly impassable. At Roncesvalles they have had snow +in the valley fourteen inches deep. So close as in the +valley of Baztan, at Elisondo, it has been as rainy as +here. We have now cold, thick, November, London, +foggy mornings, until nearly eleven o’clock forenoon, +and then a clear fine day, but not yet absolute frost. +Thermometer about 36° or 37°. Meadows all swampy. +On the whole, however, the snow gentlemen have had +much the best of it, though a little uneasy as to their +supplies just now, from the fear of snow stoppages.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</span></p> + +<p>Pamplona has at last fallen, as you will have learnt by +the last mail, for I believe Lord Wellington kept the +packet on purpose back two days. The garrison, four +thousand two hundred, it is said, are to embark to-day at +Passages if possible, at least as soon as they can be got +ready. Don Carlos made them submit to his terms, as +we hear, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">in toto</i>. They were even compelled to give up +the Juramentudas, besides the fortification artillery. Report +says fifty-seven field guns have been found there. +This shows us the danger we escaped by Lord Wellington’s +presence of mind, and the bravery of our men on +the 28th of July last. Had the French got a league +further, they would have found this fine field train all +ready, and a reinforcement of near five thousand men in +the garrison. No one can tell how this might have +changed matters. We have still eighteen guns here, +with the horses living on leaves, fern, and corn, but +ready to play upon a new star-work the French are every +day making more of, on a hill close to La Rhüne, which +they still occupy near Sarré. I think these guns will +surprise them a little. At present, I conclude, from +general report, that we are only waiting for the rains to +run down and the roads to dry a little; and if the +weather of these last two days continue, every one says +that we shall soon make a push on.</p> + +<p>Our men have had a miserable time of it lately; and +when uncomfortable and idle, I am sorry to say, they +always make work for me. We hear of daily losses, +plunder, &c., and the Spaniards perform their part well +in this respect. General O’Lalor yesterday found his +secretary had run away, down towards Madrid, with +nearly two thousand dollars, for he trusted him with +everything. Last time I dined at head-quarters Lord +Wellington got into a long conversation with me for +nearly two hours about the poor-laws, and the assize of +bread, about the Catholic question, the state of Ireland,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</span> +&c., just as if he had nothing else upon his mind. In +many points we agreed very well, particularly as to what +would be necessary to be done in Ireland—if anything; +but he thinks nothing should be done at all. He is still +alarmed at the separation spirit which he thinks exists +there, and the remains of a Jacobin feeling in the lower +classes in England.</p> + +<p><em>6th November.</em>—Poor —— must pass an uncomfortable +time with me here, and yet I suffer much more from +having him, and he is little aware how inconvenient he +is to me.</p> + +<p>To-day, 6th November, I received three letters from +England. I see there is a magnificent order of the Duke +of York about parcels to the army, up to a ton weight, +being forwarded to officers by the Commissariat. A few +parcels would make the Commissary stare a little, when, +with nearly twelve thousand mules, we can scarcely be +supplied with bread and corn, and not with forage. You +seem to know so little about the real state of things here +in England, that I think the General, who came half +way up from Lisbon to review, and then gave it up, +should be employed to explain the difficulties in the +duties of office. The Commissary-general says that it +will take him an entire new office, which he must write +home for, to keep the accounts which this new plan will +require.</p> + +<p>Our troops at Roncesvalles have been terribly off; +some of the guns are buried in the snow there; some +Spaniards, as well as English, have perished by the cold, +and one picket was obliged to be dug out. I hear that +they are now moving away, and that an attack by that +pass must be abandoned; but we shall soon know for +certain if this dry weather lasts. Our great men were all +in the front, peeping to-day into France from the mountains +which surround this hollow. Our army-post to +one division, with the dragoon carrying it, was caught<span class="pagenum" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</span> +two days since,—picked up, probably, as I was; he had +got a little out of his way, somehow. I hope no letters +of importance were caught; but it was provoking. The +French, it is said, sent back one letter to General Oswald, +opened, and said that the rest were all immaterial; however, +they did not return them. The aide-de-camp of the +late governor of Pamplona has been here for the last two +days, Monsieur Pomade, a gentleman-like man; he says +when the Vittoria army arrived at Pamplona on June +the 24th, the garrison was three thousand strong, and +the place provisioned for one hundred days complete, but +that that army, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">en passant</i>, gave them a thousand more +effective men and five hundred sick. This caused them +to give in sooner than they otherwise should. He says +that they never expected their present fate, but that they +knew nothing, and never had any communication whatever +with France or Soult; that they sent out several +times, but never got any one in. This is more than we +can say at St. Sebastian, and does Don Carlos some +credit.</p> + +<p>The new crosses for the victories are very handsome—the +medals so so—and the former will look strange with +a whole row of clasps, which I suppose Lord Wellington +must have now, for he has already two, up to Salamanca, +in addition to the cross. I think the thing is either too +general, or not enough so—a selection of distinguished +men, of all ranks, would be better than a general distribution +to all of certain ranks and situations. It now +shows little more than that a man had a certain rank in +such a battle, and not that he performed anything more +than his neighbours. A selection might have descended +with advantage even to the privates. Of course many +grumble, and are disappointed that others have more +marks and clasps than they have; that, however, would +always be the case.</p> + +<p><em>Sunday, the 6th.</em>—Post-day for ordinary men—to-morrow<span class="pagenum" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</span> +for Lord Wellington; so I proceed. For the +first time these fourteen months I have to-day been to a +military church; I found that the service was in-doors, +and ventured, but was much reproached by my doctor. +We were in the newly-repaired large public town room, +which has just been made water and wind tight, as well +as all the rooms round about it, for an hospital, and will +soon, it is to be feared, be filled with wounded. So we +go on clearing away one set of hobblers, and destroying +houses on both sides, then repairing and cleaning for the +new set we are about to make; and then clearing off +again, and so on! This town is just now clear of all the +old wounded; and the large room was washed, Dr. +M’Gregor told me (though I should not have discovered +it), for those soon expected. I believe he wished not a +little that we had gone somewhere else to pray, and not +made a dirt in his department. The service was short, +plainly read, but tolerably well; the sermon homely and +familiar, but good for the troops, I think, and very fair +and useful to any one. Lord Wellington was there, +with his attendants, a few officers, and our new staff +corps.</p> + +<p>On my return home, lo, and behold! I found —— +very alert, waiting for breakfast, as he had orders to +march on to the front in half an hour, and in less than +that time, before breakfast was over, I saw Lord Wellington +and his suite all off on horseback to the front, to +peep again. It is not likely, however, anything can be +done until to-morrow at soonest, and it will be stiff work +if the French do their duty as they ought.</p> + +<p>I now suspect that the packet will be kept until the +result of what is about to be done is known, unless there +is another ship ready. My letter must, however, go +to-day; but I will try and send a line off, if possible, by +the same conveyance as the despatches. As I must not +go and peep, for fear of being picked up again and carried<span class="pagenum" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</span> +off further next time, my communications will be +dull and uninteresting now. A move was becoming +very necessary, for sickness had just commenced, and in +the mountains on the right horses were dying fast. If +we can but beat them well, we have a chance of some +quiet quarter. Merely beating them back, in my opinion, +will not do for us; and if the French defend their +new works with as much steadiness as they have shown +activity in making them, you will have a long <cite>Gazette</cite>. +We all think that their <em>morale</em> is much shaken, and that +the old soldiers will not stand now; if so, the young +ones will not hold out long, though it was observed that +they fought best on late occasions.</p> + +<p>——, the last thing before he left, was at me again, +about procuring his brother to be made a Captain in the +Navy by Lord Wellington’s interest, though it might be +thought I had sufficiently put him aside the first time, +as I have no humbug in these matters. It now became +necessary to refuse him in direct terms, assuring him +that Lord Wellington had continually said to me, “I +never interfere with the Navy, when I can help it, in +any way; I let them have all their rights, that I may +keep all mine; and as I do not wish them to meddle +with me, I never meddle with them.” I should never +have thought of asking Lord Wellington for anything +now except upon public grounds, such as repaying the +Bayonne banker, &c., as it is not my doctrine that because +a man has done you one favour you are, therefore, +to ask him to do you another.</p> + +<p><em>Twelve o’clock.</em>—Six more guns are now rumbling by +through this place to go up the pass. B——’s have +been off some time; six more will, I hear, be soon up, +and these eighteen are all to be collected to play upon +the French new work, where they had yesterday got +about twelve together. It is feared that we must begin +from the ground at too great a distance, thirteen hundred<span class="pagenum" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</span> +yards, but I hope closer quarters will be come to soon, +for in my opinion the French succeed best at cannonading +and sharp-shooting, and we at the hand-to-hand work.</p> + +<p><em>Two o’clock.</em>—The mail is said to go as usual, so I +must close directly, but I have no doubt the packet will +be kept, as every one says publicly that the attack is to +take place to-morrow morning. General Cole has just +told me to go up to the top of La Rhüne, where I must +be safe, and must see everything. I shall not go, however, +unless I find all the quiet steady ones do the same, +for though you may see all, and if knowing, may be +down again in time, yet mistakes may be made by the +unknowing, and I shall remain quietly here.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, Vera, November 9th, 1813.</em>—I have +this moment received your packet of the 26th ult., with +all the kind enclosures from aunts, cousins, &c. The +attack never took place on Monday the 8th, as I told you +in my last; the roads, from the wet, being so bad that I +believe the army could not be collected in time. To-morrow, +however, is now said to be the day, as the two +last days have continued fine and mild, the wind south, +and the thermometer up at 52° again. It now looks +like rain, but is fine, and holds up as yet, with a wind +south and south-west; whilst all the rain came with a +cold north-west wind. It will not do, therefore, to make +use of English weather-wisdom here.</p> + +<p>Your English mail is thought nothing of. A <cite>Gazette</cite> +of the 25th had got here first, and forestalled it; and +we have to-day much greater news from the French side, +which is believed by every one here, and by the French +army as we are told; namely, that Bonaparte is beaten +back to the Rhine, with the loss of three divisions cut +off by blowing up a bridge too soon, &c.; one General +taken, and one drowned, &c. This puts our party in +spirits for to-morrow, and will, I hope, damp the French +if believed by them, as the deserters report it to be.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</span></p> + +<p>The Portuguese are most anxious to enter France, +and are in high spirits; the grave ones, however, expect +a great number of broken heads, unless the French turn +tail shamefully. You ask me about Baron de Trenqueléon, +and whether I thought of him whilst I was a +prisoner. I certainly did at Mont de Marsan, and found +that I was within thirty miles of him; and an emigrant +there advised me to apply to go over to see him, but I +thought it might do us both harm, and, therefore, never +said a word upon the subject to any one. Major D—— +had serious thoughts of going as my servant with the +baggage to look about; but it would have been a +dangerous experiment.</p> + +<p><em>The 10th November.</em>—I dined with Lord Wellington +last night, and staid there till near ten. He was all +gaiety and spirits; and only said on leaving the room, +“Remember! at four in the morning.” Monsieur +Pomade, the aide-de-camp to the governor of Pamplona, +was there, and I sat next to him and had some conversation +with him. He had been told that operations +were going on, and that that was the reason he could +not be sent in yet to the French. To show what he +expected to be the result, he told me (when I begged him +to tell the banker at Bayonne that all his letters had +been sent safely) that except from necessity and orders +he should avoid Bayonne, as he was not ready yet to be +shut up again in another town.</p> + +<p>To-day every one was in motion here two hours before +daylight; and part of the cavalry passed through here +at five o’clock. I got up, and had all packed ready by +daylight, and found that every one was gone to see the +glorious attack—even the doctors and the two parsons: +so I determined to venture up to the top of La Rhüne in +the way General Cole recommended. The day was +beautiful. I passed the camp of the latter in my way +up, and should have heard there of any check. I then<span class="pagenum" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</span> +pursued my way, and staid on the top from about eight +until two, hearing and seeing fire and smoke all the way +along the hills from St. Jean de Luz to near St. Jean +Pied de Port. The whole was visible at once; and I +could see the men even with the naked eye, by the glitter +of their arms, for a considerable way. The French +redoubts crowned the tops of all their positions with +deep ditches; and they had full shelter in woods and +houses; but our men slowly beat them on and on, from +place to place, forcing their way until all the right of the +position seemed ours. Two redoubts on the hill below +me I saw abandoned shamefully, when our men got +round them. A large star fort on the top took more +time. The men from the others tried to make for it, but +failed; though mostly got off on our side. Those in the +fort I left surrounded by our men, who ran up in four +or five directions to within about fifty yards or less, +firing as they ran; and then bobbed all down for shelter +until all were ready. They lay in this way nearly an +hour. When satisfied that the men shut up must be +prisoners (as I hear they were) I returned home.</p> + +<p>On the ridge of hills all along the right, the rows of +huts set on fire added not a little to the scene. By +whom they were burnt I know not. The cannon roared +away in the mountains. On the hill, amongst others, I +met Lord E. Somerset, the Cavalry General, gone up to +look out, with Colonel Vivian and Mr. Heaphy. He +was there before me, when the fighting was nearer, and +declares that he saw one English soldier bayonet two +French officers who attacked him when advanced from +the others—first one and then the other. I hope that +our loss has not been severe, considering what the +position was.</p> + +<p>I believe we were to have moved to Sarré; but +General Giron has taken seventy houses there for his +staff; and the rest are full of wounded. From what I<span class="pagenum" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</span> +have heard, our officers think themselves well out of the +scrape. The left of our army towards St. Jean de Luz +was refused;—that is, the French were not pressed there +much, in hopes of forming the right so rapidly as to cut +off a good lot on the left. That will not probably be the +case, but that they must move off to-night to a new +position, and not having such another line of works, the +French must stand to-morrow if attacked openly on the +hills, or run for it. I have seen no one yet, so only give +you my own views, which may be probably very wide of +the <cite>Gazette</cite>. It was a terrible fag for my new mare, +and at top cool, and no room to walk about: I have in +consequence a new fidget, in her refusing her food. The +troops will devour all the forage in front, and I do not +know how we shall get on at all. Adieu.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, St. Fé, November 12th, 1813.</em>—At +seven, yesterday morning, we received orders to march; +all the baggage to assemble at Sarré, and wait there for +orders. We did so; and on our way crossed the first +French redoubts and positions, and began to see our +wounded and the stripped dead lying about as usual. +So starved and weak were many of the animals, and so +clayey and deep the roads, that the scene had almost the +appearance of a retreat, except that we passed all the +wounded and prisoners going to the rear, instead of +marching with them. The Spanish oxen were so starved, +and thin, and weak, that during the first league I counted +probably about eleven lying down to die, whilst every now +and then a sergeant with his pike, or a soldier gave them +a stab, half out of humanity, and half to see the effect, +and from a sort of love of mischief. Then there were +ten or fifteen poor women belonging to the baggage +of the division lamenting over their dying donkeys and +mules, whilst others were brutally beating some to +death, because they would not go farther. In every +direction baggage was falling off, and the whole formed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</span> +a glorious scene of confusion. Near Sarré I was caught +in a violent storm, but got to a house for shelter before +I was wet, and there stood in the doorway of a deserted +house, with three dead bodies on the ground close by +me; one certainly that of an officer, from his clean +skin, neatly-shaven beard and whiskers, and from every +remnant of his dress having been worth stealing. The +other two were Spaniards.</p> + +<p>The Spaniards behaved tolerably in the field, but not +like the fourth and the light division. In plundering +and mischief, however, they excelled them. I found +them, on passing, breaking and plundering one of the +best houses in Sarré. Our own people are grown +expert hands at this, and Lord Wellington threatens +hanging, and, I believe, has hung a few, but in vain. +The people in general have fled, and the Spaniards come +in to carry off pots, pans, dishes, chairs, tables, &c., to +refurnish their own houses. At Sarré, I found the civil +departments were to stop there, and the military to come +on to this place. My baggage had gone by in part +before I knew this; and besides that, nowhere could a +house be found by me. The Spaniards were in possession, +and firing, plunder, and confusion, were all around; +I determined, therefore, to come on here, and take my +chance.</p> + +<p>You will advise me to keep well in the rear for safety; +but the most knowing ones (in which opinion I agree) +consider the rear as the most unsafe place of any. All +the vagabonds, plunderers, and rascals—followers of the +army—stick to the rear, and look about to do mischief +as soon as all the troops are passed. Besides which, it +is not clear here that the peasants, who all fly, may not +return, and knock a few on the head, though at present +they seem terrified and excessively alarmed. I found no +quarters for me here; but at a little village close by, +where there were only the Commissary-general and a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</span> +few of his department, I took possession of a deserted +house, which had been ransacked, and cleaned it out a +little in one place. Finding abundance of food left for +my horses for two or three nights, I thought myself well +off, though I was somewhat alarmed at having possession +of the last inhabited house on that road, lest any +straggling attack should be made, or the owners should +come back in the night. There was, however, no +alternative. All the immediately useful part of my +baggage was behind, and never arrived at all, having +been turned out of the road by a Spanish division. +Unluckily my neighbours were nearly in the same state. +Sir Robert Kennedy had barely enough for his own +eating, and went to bed leaving his servants to do the +best they could.</p> + +<p>H—— had nothing, his baggage not having arrived. +Mr. H——n had one half-loaf, and that served us all. +Mr. M——, the storekeeper, had got some mutton for +Lord Wellington to-day, and he spared us a little bit +each; so I got one mutton chop, which was very lucky.</p> + +<p>Between four and five, Henry went to inquire about +marching, and, finding no orders, we remained quiet. +About seven or eight, he found my two stray mules, and +I got a loaf of bread and some potted butter out of my +stock, and made my contribution to the party, which +was very acceptable. I have since been down to head-quarters +to know what is going on; but can learn +nothing except that we are ready now to cross the Nive, +and are prepared for that step; particulars I can hear none, +for only the clergyman, the doctors, and a straggling +civilian, with the provost guard, are to be seen.</p> + +<p>I returned, therefore, to my deserted, desolate home. +In my way I found one of the owners of a house here +who had been shot through the thigh by a Portuguese; +I got him to an hospital to be dressed, in the church, +where French, English, and all were lying to wait their<span class="pagenum" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</span> +turn, with now and then a dead man. As soon as they +are dressed, they are packed off to the rear on mules, &c. +So we go on!</p> + +<p>The famous French bulletin has now been seen. Some +say Bonaparte is at Paris, and some think that he will +come here. Others have a notion that the people beyond +Bayonne are ready to join us, if we proceed on. I fear, +however, the runaways will not encourage this much with +their exasperated stories of our conduct in their villages. +To-day is a very fine day again, and will, I hope, assist +our operations much. It is said that when our officers +went up to the men in the star fort, to call upon them to +surrender, the Colonel commanding said, like the governor +of Pamplona, “Yes, on the terms of parole, not to serve +for a year and a day.” “No, no,” says the Englishman; +“<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">prisonnier</i>.” “<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Eh bien, donc je ne me rends pas</i>,” says +the Frenchman. “But you must and shall, or you +will all be murdered,” says the Englishman, and then +turned away. Upon which the Colonel very sulkily +returned and consented; and when his soldiers began to +rejoice, and to quiz the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">ré papé</i>, and say, dancing about, +that it was time it should all end, he was most indignantly +sulky, and has remained so ever since, complaining of +being sent off to England as a prisoner.</p> + +<p>I have now under my window a characteristic scene. +A short Portuguese lad, bloated out with ration beef, +with an old French helmet on, a great red grenadier’s +feather, and an old French uniform jacket and pantaloons, +with a dragoon broadsword, cutting down cabbages and +apples in the garden for his brother Portuguese, who +has his apron ready to receive them, whilst a dirty, +brown, snuff-coloured Spaniard is looking about on the +other side with an old French musket trying to shoot +something eatable.</p> + +<p>The mixture of the silence of a deserted village with +the occasional riotous noise of muleteers and stragglers,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</span> +Portuguese and Spaniards, as well as a few swearing +English, is striking; but to a person not actively +engaged in what is going on, by which all minor considerations +vanish in the dangers and anxiety of the scene, +there is a sameness of misery and starvation, of wounds +and of death, which, when the novelty of the scene is +over, becomes very unpleasant, especially without any +rational companion to talk to on what is passing. This +appears to be the house of a curé, for there are the +remains of many comforts, and of some books, chiefly +religious, some crosses, &c.</p> + +<p>I just now met a man who spoke English tolerably, +and French well, but would address me in Spanish, to say +the people were plundering all the flour at the only mill +in the place which was at work, and he requested a +guard and wanted the Commandant. I luckily noticed +by his feather the Superintendent of the provost guard +entering a house opposite, and procured him a guard +directly. So that one can be of some use without meddling +much.</p> + +<p>I have just now had a Spaniard at my door to inquire +how he could get back safe to Spain, as he had wandered +here alone, and dared not return, and had nothing to eat. +I have sent him off with a small bit of bread and a +shilling, and advised him to go and remain near the +provost guard, and keep with the first escort of prisoners +which sets out for Spain.</p> + +<p>Nearly all the houses about me are empty, and I do +not much like my situation, but it is just now like that +of a wife—for better, for worse; so I must submit. I +do not think we have a hundred men within three miles, +and not one soldier within half a mile, only commissaries +and young doctors, and a stray shot is fired every three +or four minutes. My own muleteers I have just stopped.</p> + +<p><em>November 13th.</em>—Here I am still in my solitary abode. +It has rained all night, and the roads are running watercourses,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</span> +which will, it is to be feared, impede our progress. +All, it is said, however, is going on well. I have not +seen a creature, or been out; only sent to the Commissary-general, +my neighbour, to ascertain whether we are not +to march, lest I should be left behind here. Several of +the elderly owners of houses have returned, but mine has +not. Lord Wellington has ordered what forage can be +regularly used, and collected, to be paid for punctually, +and I understand has determined to send back at least a +part of the Spaniards, on account of their abominable +conduct, Longa’s people in particular. I am not surprised +at it, but it spoils all our plans. We were admitted +quietly into St. Jean de Luz, and the inhabitants +remained there. The mayor offered to exert himself to +get what he could collected, to supply the troops +regularly; and Sir John Hope flogged the two first men +he caught taking some wine—this instantly; so I hope +that town will be preserved.</p> + +<p>We can never do well, if we go on driving all the +population before us. The few old people left here, and +who are coming in, speak only Basconee and a little +Gascon, and no French. There is no making them +understand anything.</p> + +<p>To-day would have been dreadful in the mountains, so +we have at least that reflection to comfort ourselves with. +I send enclosed Lord Wellington’s letter to me and +Count Gazan’s. Pray keep the former, as I shall always +value it.</p> + +<p><em>4 o’clock, afternoon, November 13th.</em>—It has been +raining so incessantly ever since morning, that I have +not stirred from my hole, and have, therefore, seen no +one. I understand that all the grandees were to have +gone to the front at five this morning, but from the +state of the weather, they have all stopped at home—not +for the fear of a wetting themselves, but most likely +from the impossibility of getting through the country,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</span> +and across rivers, when in such a state. It is only wonderful +how our men got on, as they did up the hills on +the 12th. It was as much as I could do with my horse +singly on a slippery clay, either so hard that a horse +could not stand on it, or so deep that he was up to his +knees, between the hard places. We are now, however, +nearly out of the Pyrenees, and I hope the roads will +mend, but from what I saw of the high road, this is +doubtful.</p> + +<p><em>November 14th.</em>—Still here at St. Fé, so the place is +called in an excellent old French map. Still rain, and +nothing new, except that the French have been well +frightened, and mean, we are told, to quit the new +position they have taken, with their left on Bayonne, as +soon as it is attacked; that is, as soon I conclude as the +roads will permit us to move. The communications here +are almost as bad as in Spain, and from hence to St. Jean +de Luz almost impassable. The Marquis of Worcester, +I have just heard, goes to-day in an hour.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, St. Jean de Luz, November 24th, 1813.</em>—Having +a little leisure, I begin my weekly journal. +The weather continues beautiful, and I generally get my +hour’s walk, and my hour’s ride daily. A brig from +Dartmouth sold off an immense stock of good English +moulds yesterday, in the morning, at 2<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em> a pound, by +order from head-quarters, and about five tons of potatoes, +besides quantities of porter, ale, beef, cheese, &c. The +scramble of officers on board to see and buy would have +astonished you not a little. We have also some good +white wine.</p> + +<p>Since our move from the mountains our men are all +behaving much better: they were becoming very bad; +and desertion, even from the English to the French, was +frequent. The temptation of the old gentleman in the +high mountains was too much for the men. It has now +almost ceased. I hope, therefore, when we are a little<span class="pagenum" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</span> +quiet, and my arrears are cleared off, that I shall have +much less to do. The reports here now are that +Bonaparte’s aide-de-camp is at Bayonne, and that he +himself is expected. If so we may probably have some +work to do here again, unless he has been obliged merely +to show himself here to convince his army that he is +still alive and well.</p> + +<p>We had a little affair yesterday. Some of the light +division were ordered to drive in the French pickets in +one place where they were too forward, and our men +being too zealous, pushed too far. In trying to prevent +this, a fine officer of the 43rd was taken, and a lieutenant +badly wounded, and some men lost. The only annoyance +I suffer at present in my quarters arises from the multiplicity +of inhabitants, namely, three old women, seven +children, three dogs, two cats, and a fair allowance of +fleas, whom this late fine weather has revived. We have +lately had an arrival at Passages of a hundred and fifty +oxen from Ireland for the army, and are promised the +same supply weekly. This will do something; but our +consumption is, I believe, about a thousand a week. Our +forage in this nook of France is as bare as in the neighbouring +parts of Spain; every field is eaten close down, +and all straw of corn and maize consumed. I sent twelve +miles for straw yesterday, and the mules have returned +to-day empty. I mean now to try bruised furze, to mix +with their Indian corn, so as to hold out until some more +hay shall reach us from England.</p> + +<p><em>November 25th.</em>—I have just heard that about two +thousand of the inhabitants returned here last night, but +Soult would not suffer them to carry much with them.</p> + +<p><em>November 26th.</em>—There was no time for more yesterday, +and to-day I have nothing to add. I have still not +heard anything from you later than the 3rd, but we have +papers here to the 13th. I cannot understand how this +has occurred. Through France we have news still later,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</span> +and have heard of the surrender of Davoust’s corps at +Hamburg, on terms of not serving for a year and a day. +It is to be hoped that the terms may be kept. I had a +droll <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">malheur</i> again to-day. Riding my pony into the +sea, into about six inches water, to wash his legs, a wave +came, the sand gave way, and he sunk up to his middle, +so that my legs were up to the calf in sand. I jumped +off, and went over his head to run out, fearing that he +could not rise. We thus both got safely out. The poor +pony much more frightened than I was.</p> + +<p>I conclude that everything goes on well, for Lord +Wellington and his gentlemen were out to-day with the +hounds. He told me that I kept him up reading Courts-martial +until twelve o’clock at night or one in the +morning; and this every night. I hope, however, that +this will not last long. The Prince of Orange has got a +complaint in his eyes, but I believe only a cold, and he +seems better. Nearly all our great men except Lord +Wellington have been ill.</p> + +<p>Send me some law news, and good, for Lord Wellington +expects me to tell him who all the new judges are to be, +&c., and is very fond of discussing legal subjects. At +first I was generally right in my speculations: but I +have now no means of knowing how things are going on +unless you keep up my credit; it must not be, however, +by loose reports.</p> + +<p>I have a poor young Commissary, B——, under +charges, who has, I think, been very ill used by a Spanish +alcalde. I fought his battle with Lord Wellington +to-day to get him released from arrest. He is very well +spoken of, and said to support his two sisters. Can he +be a brother of the Miss B——’s whom you know? +I detected the Spanish General F—— in a little bit of a +fib on this subject. His excuse for not answering my +letter for eight days was, that it had been delayed in the +post. I complained, and his receipt for the letter was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</span> +produced the day after it was sent—this on the back of +the cover.</p> + +<p><em>Sunday, November 29th.</em>—Still no news, and no accounts +from England. We are all anxiety. I have just +returned from church at the drum-head, on the sands by +the sea. Two brigades of guards present in their best, +and white trousers, &c., and Lord Wellington and his +staff here. It was rather cold work. The weather is +beginning to change again, I fear, for rain, just as the +roads were becoming passable. You have no conception +how soon fifteen thousand sharp-footed heavy-laden mules +in rain, cut up a road in this country, even when at first +tolerably good. We have been amused with Cobbett’s +attributing all Bonaparte’s misfortunes to his being +grafted into the old stock. If he can now manage well +he may, I think, still get his little king Pepin graft to +thrive in France, and beat Mr. Knight and our gardeners. +The true cause of all is, however, that the +<em>morale</em> of the people of Europe is changed. It was +France, army and people, against mere armies and bad +governments, whilst all the people in Europe were indifferent +at the least. This is now reversed; and it is +now a mere French army against every people and army; +and Frenchmen at least quite indifferent.</p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI.</h2> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="fs80" style="margin-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em;">News from France—Lord Fitzroy Somerset—Departure of the Prince of +Orange—Exchange of Prisoners—Proximity of the two Armies—Wellington’s +Cooks—Warlike Movements—French Attack—The Guards—-Deserters—More +Fighting.</p> + +<p class="right fs80"> +Head-quarters, St. Jean de Luz,<br> +<span style="padding-right: 2em">December 2, 1813.</span></p> +</div> + +<p class="no-indent"> +<span class="smcap">My dear M——</span>, +</p> + +<p><span style="padding-left: 2em">At</span> last we have got a mail from England. Your +papers give us little public news, that is, news to us, for +you have no late accounts from the Allies, and French +papers we always get sooner this way. Thus we have +long known of Bonaparte’s arrival at Paris, which you +only just now communicate to us. Lord Wellington has, +I understand, news of a rising in Holland; and this has +been confirmed by our reports through the French, who, +in conversation with Dashwood yesterday, when he went +in with a flag-of-truce, and a parcel of women, seemed to +admit it. We had had this as a report before the arrival +of the packet, and Major Dashwood therefore tried to +pump them on the subject. We have also had a report +here that Admiral Young had taken the Texel fleet; but +as no news of this sort has reached us from you, we fear +from dates that this must be all false.</p> + +<p>This is only a Passages report from some straggling +ships, not French news. The deserters who come in also +from Bayonne, and the returned inhabitants, all state +that the Italian regiments here have been removed to the +rear; at least all Italian officers have given up their +lodgings and have packed up. I think now that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</span> +they will scarcely rely much upon the Dutch either, and +there were some line men and several good officers of +that nation here. I told you that the only two officers +who were disinterested, and most uniformly civil to us +whilst we were prisoners, were two Dutchmen of the +130th regiment.</p> + +<p>The Burgundy side of France (Switzerland being with +us) is certainly as unguarded as this frontier, except by a +naturally strong country in places. Strasburg, almost +the only strong place except our old friends Huningen +and Kehl, is far removed, and the latter may probably be +left on one side, but for all this the French Italian army +must be well disposed of first.</p> + +<p>If Lord Charles Somerset deserves promotion as well as +our Military Secretary here, the grumbling you mention +against his appointment must be unfounded. The latter +gets through a great amount of business with little assistance, +and always quite in public, almost in a common +coffee or lounging room, in the midst of talking, noise, +joking, and confusion. The Prince of Orange left us +yesterday. As he used to be one of the above loungers, +this put me in mind of him. He has had a complaint in +his eyes, and could not embark before yesterday, when he +did so with a fair wind. His arrival, however, and all +news about him will precede this. The French, yesterday, +when told that he was going off for England, said, +“Oh they supposed that it was in consequence of what +had happened in Holland.” In short, the French seem +still (as when I was in France and now even more so) +willing to listen to all bad news against Bonaparte, and +do not make the least of it at all. All exchange of +officers here has now, I fear, at last been broken off, and +angry letters have passed. How fortunate I was! I will +send in your French Captain Le Fevre’s letter concerning +his exchange, if an opportunity should offer soon, and it +is permitted.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</span></p> + +<p><em>Friday, December 3rd.</em>—I find Lord Wellington’s +news about a Dutch insurrection came to him by a telegraphic +note from Mr. Croker, dated the 20th ult. This +is a grand point. Next for Italy, and then we shall do; +and after twenty-three years of murder, we have a reasonable +chance of being able to give the military word when +things go wrong,—“As you were.”</p> + +<p>The Prince of Orange, from all appearances here, where +the sea has been tremendous, must have had a most +famous passage; but I should think a quick one, as the +wind has been fair. We have a notion that he has been +chased by four French frigates which have escaped from +some French port. I yesterday gave a grand dinner at +the French café here; the dinner was abundant, and from +the paucity of materials the variety was surprising. Ten +dishes for the first course, two removes for the soups; ten +for the second course, rotis and sweets together; ten for +dessert; and we were ten in company, and two excuses—dinner +for twelve. Some dishes were admirable, +particularly all the patisseries. The champaign excellent; +Madeira and sherry very fair; port and claret very moderate. +I am now paying the bill, and the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">tout ensemble</i> is +forty dollars.</p> + +<p>I spoke to Lord Wellington this morning about the +French Captain’s letter you sent to me. He laughed and +said, “Yes, when you can, you may send it; but the +whole matter is now at an end, and your companions are +all sent to the rear, as Bonaparte has refused to let the +exchanges take place, unless three French go for one +British, one Spaniard, and one Portuguese. The old +squabble in Mackenzie’s negotiation, and though very +flattering to us as English, very unpleasant to our poor +prisoners.”</p> + +<p>We have a most tremendous sea here—now worse +than ever. The waves at high-water break every time +almost over an old wall about twenty feet high on the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</span> +beach, and come over the stone walk; they roar most +furiously, and are beyond anything I have seen. A Paymaster +here declares that he saw a brig go down, and disappear +instantly, about nine or ten o’clock yesterday, +near Andaye. We shall be long, I fear, before we hear +again from you in England. I do not think that any +ships will venture near us now, certainly not to Passages +or here.</p> + +<p><em>Post-day, Sunday, 5th December.</em>—The storms have now +subsided, and the sea has become calmer; but the mischief +already known has been considerable. The vessel +which I mentioned was seen to sink got at last into the +Bidassoa; but four transports, it is said, have been lost +in Passages harbour, together with several lives. One +vessel drove into a house and knocked it down; most of +the shipping there is damaged, and many of the boats +have been crushed between them. An English merchant-vessel, +it is reported, also went down at the entrance of +Bayonne. The air is now colder, almost frosty, with a +dry wind; the mountains all covered with snow; I only +hope this may last. No more news from you, and we are +here in a very odd state—I mean that our armies are. +A few years back the British were uneasy, in Spain, when +a French army patrolled within thirty miles of them. +Now we have all got quietly into quarters—are nearly all +housed; and three-fourths of us go to sleep tranquilly +every night, while our front is within sixty yards of the +French.</p> + +<p>Colonel S—— tells me that he went to breakfast with +Colonel H——, the Assistant Adjutant-general of the +sixth division, at Ustaritz, and there they were in a house +with their breakfast-table within about fifty yards of the +French sentry, and within about two hundred of the +whole French picket, who, by one volley, might have +broken all their cups and saucers, if not their heads.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</span> +The other day a Portuguese brigade had a field-day close +to the river in the meadows, and all the French came +down to look at them, and I have no doubt, from the +general report, to admire and approve; whilst, on the +other hand, in the meadows on the French side, the +French conscripts are brought down to be drilled; sometimes +five or six squads are seen at once, and any of the +serjeants might be knocked on the head all the time by +our sentries; but this is now all well understood, and we +thus quietly bully or bravado each other.</p> + +<p>Another party of inhabitants have come in here—women +and children; the men Soult detains. We shall +thus add to our female stock, and to the seven hundred +Portuguese women and four hundred Spanish, who are +already in this place and the environs as suttlers, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">vivanderas</i>, +washerwomen, &c. In short, here we are in quiet +winter-quarters, for a time at least, with head-quarters +within seven miles of the French, and yet we are all so at +our ease, even in France, that the baggage animals of +head-quarters are gone now beyond Tolosa, forty miles +and more to the rear, for straw to feed the horses. Lord +Wellington told me yesterday there was no forage left +here; and I suppose so large an army never staid so long +in these mountains. But yet, if a spring campaign comes, +no doubt we shall, somehow or other, find all our animals +forthcoming, and in a state for service.</p> + +<p>The Irish oxen sent out for the Commissariat have +proved very good, excellent in comparison, and are served +out as a <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">bonne bouche</i>—a pound or two with five or six +of the country beef. In short, we have occasionally, of +late, had the London alderman’s cry of more fat. Without +joking, Lord Wellington’s table is now very good in +every respect; and I think his aides-de-camp will be ill +with excess, who have this daily fare (unless there is a +move), especially if the roads remain too bad for exercise.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</span> +Lord Wellington has now three cooks, and an English +and Spanish chief share the command, and, by dividing +the days, vie with each other.</p> + +<p>More rain, more rain! I am sorry to say. I have just +seen Lord Wellington; he is much annoyed. A poor +Commissary under charges has fallen sick. I reported +that he was at Passages, too ill to move to be tried, and +that I have two certificates of medical men of the necessity +of his going to England. Lord Wellington told me +to tell the Adjutant-general not to let him get away; and +that if he remained too ill to move, we must try him at +Passages. It was for violent conduct to another Commissary.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, St. Jean de Luz, December 8th, 1813.</em>—A +packet is just arrived, and I have letters from you of +the 22nd ult. and papers to the same date. Letters and +papers are, however, here by the same vessel to the 25th. +A most remarkable and astonishing paper!</p> + +<p>I hope this fine weather will give us some hay from +England, for I have now nothing for forage but furze and +bran by way of substitute.</p> + +<p>By this packet came a long letter from ——; they +want me to ask for Captain ——’s promotion. It is my +determination not to ask favours, even if I supposed it +would be of any use. One promising young officer has, +I trust, been saved by me, by inducing him to make, and +another to accept, an apology, and Lord Wellington to +agree to this. He would, otherwise, most probably on +trial have been broken. My letter ordering the Court to +meet was taken by the French. This gave time, and +opened a long correspondence, which has given me much +trouble; this, however, I shall not regret, if it ends well. +I must now go and prepare charges against a German +doctor for to-morrow, and against two Portuguese for a +highway robbery. So adieu.</p> + +<p><em>Thursday, 9th.</em>—All peaceable business has ceased;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</span> +and here I am in an enemy’s town quite at ease. All +the troops advanced about four this morning, and we +have here only a provost guard of about forty men, a few +straggling guards, and the muleteers, servants and civilians. +The French dared not to have remained so in any +town in Spain, much less in Portugal.</p> + +<p>I went out to my morning’s walk on the beach. I +had it to myself nearly, and heard a sharp firing of +both guns, and particularly musketry, sounding quite +close to me. Our present object is, I believe, merely to +move up our right, for we are much pinched in our +present position. We are now with our right at Itoasso, +Espellette, and Cambo, on the Nive; our centre at +Ustaritz and St. Fé; and our left by Bidart, Ahetze, and +Arbonne, all on the Spanish or south side of the Nive. +Our object now is to move up the right, nearly or quite +to the Adour, most probably, only making a feint at +Biaritz and Anglet, near Bayonne, on the left, unless +good fortune puts more in our power. We shall then be +more at ease, cover more ground, and open a little +country on the right for our cavalry to get quarters and +accommodation, at least that part which is still with us +in front. This, it is believed, is all that is intended at +present.</p> + +<p>Should the report of the French mayor here prove +correct, or the deputy major rather, for the chief is off, +namely, that there is an insurrection at Bordeaux, and +that the Allies are within fifty leagues of Paris, it may +soon be <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">autre chose</i>; but at present we are only, as I hear, +taking elbow-room for winter-quarters, and putting ourselves +in a position to start when advisable. We shall +also see how the French are disposed to fight, and judge +a little what forces are gone to the rear. How angry it +made me to observe the nonsensical reports in England +of our being not only in Bayonne, but in Bordeaux, and +this given out formally at the playhouse! To exaggerate<span class="pagenum" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</span> +just now is so unnecessary, so unreasonable, and so +injurious to those who do so much!</p> + +<p><em>Three o’clock.</em>—The firing has continued more or less +the whole day, but has now become more distant, and +the great guns near Bayonne are heard occasionally. As +yet, however, no news, except from a wounded guardsman, +just come in, shot in the hand, who says that the +Guards are advancing and the French retreating,—I +conclude into their lines opposite Bayonne. A fleet of +twelve sail, or perhaps fifteen, in sight. Hurrah! for +hay and money, we all say! The army is only paid up +to May, and the staff to April. It rained much in the +night, which was against our movements, but has nearly +held up since, though it has just dropped all day.</p> + +<p><em>Friday, the 10th.</em>—Lord Wellington did not return +last night, nor the Adjutant-general and grandees. I +hear but little except that we crossed the Nive well on +the right, but did not make much progress in the course +of the day. On our left we did rather more than I +expected, and, it is said, pushed on to within a mile of +Bayonne, with some loss; so we rested last night, and +we have had constant showers, very heavy at times, ever +since. This is very much against our arrangements.</p> + +<p><em>Four o’clock.</em>—Here I have remained quiet all day, +but in a fidget, for from eleven o’clock there has been +continual firing in our front; and, as might be expected, +though within six or seven miles of us, we have had all +sorts of reports, some rather alarming—to me at least, +for I believe Lord Wellington is on the other side of the +Nive, with our right, and I have not the same confidence +in any one else, especially as only a part of our army is +on this side the river. The communication is troublesome, +and the French have evidently made a push here +to-day in force, whilst our brigades are all separated. +The Guards came back here last night to their positions +and quarters, and the 5th division to Bidart and its<span class="pagenum" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</span> +environs. Some Caçadores were surprised, and some +were made prisoners, and the French showed themselves +in force in this line, and have pushed us back to our old +ground before the troops could be collected again.</p> + +<p>At two o’clock the firing was so loud, and so near in +appearance, that I began to look to my baggage, especially +as an order came from the Guards here to turn out +again and advance. I have, however, just seen the +Commissary-general, Sir R. Kennedy, and he says there +is no danger, for he left the French checked by our +works on our old position, and met four brigades on the +road advancing to assist. He was, however, a little surprised +himself at the end of his ride, to see what was +going on, for a fire suddenly began across the road where +he was looking, near our cavalry, and when he turned +about, our guns began across the other way, and he was +obliged to get away. One never can be quite secure in +these attacks.</p> + +<p>I am told that a note was taken from the French +General Gautier to the Duke of Dalmatia, which was +sent to tell him that a deserter had come in from us at two +o’clock, and told him of the intended attack yesterday, +and complaining much of desertion on his side. It is +very provoking, that our men should betray us in this +manner; but it seems to have been of no consequence.</p> + +<p><em>St. Jean de Luz, Head-Quarters, December 11th, 1813.</em>—From +report to-day, there were some slight grounds +for my uneasiness yesterday. The French made a bold +push with nearly four divisions on the high road. We +had only one division, or only part of one, at hand ready. +Some Portuguese in advance were surprised, and lost +prisoners and baggage. The French regained all that +they had lost the day before. At about two o’clock they +made a push at our position. A Portuguese brigade +suffered very much, and it is said dispersed. An English +brigade also is reported to have been unlike the rest of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</span> +late: that is all I can say. Lord Wellington had heard +the firing and received intelligence of the attack; he +came across the river Nive instantly, and halted the +sixth division on this side, which was going over by +former orders to act on the other, on the right. The +fourth was ordered up to support the light division. +Wellington himself was foremost in trying to rally the +Portuguese. Both he and his staff were much exposed, +and had not often, I hear, been in a warmer fire.</p> + +<p>The French were induced to attack our redoubts and +position by their successes and numbers. Our reinforcements +came up; they were repulsed, driven back with +loss, and the ground which we had already gained and +lost once, was nearly all in our possession again last +night, at the close of day. They talk of a thousand +wounded, probably more, on our part. We have taken +some prisoners, and many wounded French; at one time, +however, a whole regiment of Portuguese, and some +English also, were nearly being made prisoners. The +Guards, or as they are called here, “the gentlemen’s +sons,” were too late, as they had so far to march. They +will never learn their trade of being killed properly, if +they are thus nursed up in the rear. Their great +grievance at present is the order about horses and mules, +limiting the numbers to the old regulations, on account +of forage, and allowing subaltern officers only their one +animal, so that if they ride, they cannot carry anything. +If they carry baggage, they must walk; and then when +they come into their quarters, and their real duty +towards the men commences, they are unfit for anything. +The regulation is therefore severe, and most think that it +is unnecessarily so.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, the present establishment of the +Guards is absolutely ridiculous. Every subaltern officer +has his two or three horses, and his three or four mules, +as much as any staff-officer ought to have. He carries<span class="pagenum" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</span> +his bed out to the guard-house, or picket, and has his +canteen fit to give a dinner and every luxury, whereas +one set of canteens per company would, in my opinion, +be a liberal allowance. Their General has given them +six weeks to comply with this order, but somehow or +other they will contrive, probably, to evade it, or they +will be the most miserable animals in existence. Whilst +they were in camp, they left one officer with the men in +camp, and the rest got into houses, whilst in many +instances at that time even the Generals in other divisions +commanding brigades, were out under canvas (then +in the mountains), or at most in huts. Both men and +officers are only fit for our old style of expedition,—a +landing, a short march, and a good fight, and then a +lounge home again. The men were yesterday all sorefooted +with their march, but at church last Sunday, in +their white linen pantaloons, they looked in high order; +and the appearance of the men, the care of their dress, +their discipline and general good conduct, is admirable, +when in quiet quarters here.</p> + +<p>I met young ——, an ensign in the Guards, yesterday, +a son of Lord ——. He is a very gentleman-like +stripling of nineteen, talks of just remembering Sir John +Moore’s death, as the beginning of his political knowledge, +and something about General Castanos, and the +first Spanish publication of Cevallos, but is quite in a +wilderness when you talk of the old state of Europe +before the French Revolution. He now principally talks +of the table, and who gives best wines and dinners, and +found fault with General ——’s, which I must say +appeared to me most luxurious, and reminded me of fine +dinners in London.</p> + +<p><em>Ten o’clock.</em>—Hurrah! hurrah! I have just been +called out to see three small battalions of deserters pass +by with drums beating, and colours flying, with their +arms and everything in the highest condition, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</span> +clothing nearly new. Two battalions of the regiment +De Nassau, and one of the regiment De Frankfort, in +the whole twelve hundred men. This is a grand consequence +of our push, and must alarm the French not a +little. I should not be surprised now if we advance +soon, whatever might have been our former plans. +Lord Wellington was out again in the front this morning, +up at three and out in the dark. He returns to +dinner to-day, and has invited the German Colonels and +the Majors, six of them, to dinner, to which he means to +return. He has also desired that they may now have +their breakfasts, the whole remain in quarters here for +the night, and proceed to-morrow for Passages, I presume, +though it is several miles off, as the Spaniards +occupy all the places between, except Irun, which is +voted unwholesome and feverish. Irun will scarcely +give a quarter to an English officer, and not to our +detachments coming up to join, who have to march +through here always; so I conclude that they would not +do more for the Germans who have once served with the +French. The only drawback to these good tidings is the +thought of the poor wounded, crawling in, on foot, or on +cars, and on mules, crying with the pain of the motion. +It is now quite fine, and I must take my promenade by +the sea; so, for the present, adieu.</p> + +<p><em>Later, the 11th.</em>—Major D—— has found a friend in +the Colonel of the regiment which came over, and who +has told him how it happened and was managed. An +officer from the North had found the way to him (the +Colonel) all through France, with an order from his real +sovereign to go over to us, and come and join him. He +communicated his plan to no one but the Major (one +Major). They waited their opportunity, and when it +arose last night, he called the officers together, told them +his order and his resolution, and proposed it to them, but +said he should force no one; it must be voluntary. All<span class="pagenum" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</span> +agreed—and the men were too happy to join in the plan. +One officer was sent to give us notice and clear the way, +and to prevent any resistance or confusion. He was also +to make terms that they were not to be compelled to +serve, &c. The officer, however, did not like going back, +and before any message was sent, over they all came. On +their arrival here to-day, just out of the town, they halted, +and put on their best clothes to pass through in parade +order, and very well they looked I assure you. They +say that there are many Spanish, and two good regiments +of cavalry who would probably come over if a pardon +were held out to them, and that there are a number of +Dutch all ready to do the same thing, but they are principally +officers, and are not in a body. They are tumultuous +and troublesome, and only wait the proper occasion.</p> + +<p>The Colonel, K——, has written to Marshal Soult, +telling him why he came over; that he was ordered so to +do, and after reminding him that so long as they were +French, and he with the French, he had done his duty. +In return, he requests (rather an impudent request) that +the women and the baggage, or at least the baggage +soldiers and servants, may be allowed to join the regiments. +He also asks that his band, which he says was excellent, +as it was his hobby-horse, and which was of course left +behind, may be allowed to join the rest. Of this, however, +he has no hopes, for his band was always a subject of +considerable jealousy to the French before he left them, +and he is sure they will keep it now for themselves.</p> + +<p>I also hear that our staff officers were obliged to exert +themselves very much in consequence of the dispersion of +the Portuguese, and the reluctance of some of our own +forces. Colonel Delancey took one colour, and rode on +before the regiments to carry them on. General Hope +was much exposed, and got two blows; one on the shin, +and one on his side, but of no consequence. General +Pakenham had a horse shot under him—his best charger.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</span> +General Robinson is shot through the body; a bad wound. +Two of General Sir S. Cotton’s officers, his aide-de-camps, +who were there as amateurs, suffered. One coming home +was shot in the thigh. Many others had narrow escapes, +and Lord Wellington remained exposed, untouched! +This is really wonderful.</p> + +<p>To-day again there was some fighting, but only on our +left, a sort of trial of the French strength. We lost, I +hear, however, several men, particularly of the 9th. On +the whole, with wounded and sick, we shall be much +reduced by this week’s work, and I still think can scarcely +advance safely any further, unless you send men here instead +of to Holland, or unless we can get a good corps of +Spaniards to join us under officers who will keep them in +order. O’Donnell, the Condé D’Obisbal, is come up again, +and will do, for he will hang his men until he gets order +and obedience. Lord Wellington has also got his full +powers renewed by the Spaniards, and may now perhaps +try them once more, if tempted to advance after what has +happened.</p> + +<p><em>Sunday, 12th December, 3 o’clock.</em>—Every one has +gone out again, but nothing expected to be done to-day. +The French attacked us after sunset last night in force, +in hopes, probably, of catching us napping again, and +getting more baggage, but it did not succeed. The +Germans are kept here to-day. My first letter, up to the +11th, I have sealed and sent, and keep this open in case +of more news, for which I must hunt, and then come in +and finish this, and after dinner divide my prize maps of +this canton, and of the whole seat of the northern war—French +maps of this year; great prizes. For the present, +adieu.</p> + +<p><em>Five o’clock.</em>—More fighting again to-day. The French +columns appeared, and we threw some shells amongst +them. This brought on a quarrel, and we skirmished +sharply for a long time; the Guards were principally<span class="pagenum" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</span> +concerned; the Adjutant killed, Lieutenant-colonel, and a +Captain. I hear of no advantage gained on either side—mere +fighting. Our entrenching tools are sent for, so +I suppose we are going to make ourselves snug to remain +quiet.</p> + +<p><em>Six o’clock.</em>—No more news, and no more fighting, but +I have just heard that Lieutenant-colonel D—— W—— +is shot in the head, and some say killed; some contradict +it altogether. I had told Miss W that he was well, +in a letter just gone to the post. The Paymaster-general +and several amateurs got suddenly into fire without intending +it the other day. It is better now to stay at +home, for one fight is much like any other, and I have +now seen some of the best which are likely to happen.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII.</h2> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="fs80" style="margin-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em;">French Attack—Plan of Desertion—Excesses of the French—A Basque +Witness—Sir John Hope—Movements of the Army—Sale of Effects—Wellington’s +Simplicity of Character—A French Emigré—Return of +Soult to Bayonne.</p> + +<p class="right fs80"> +Head-quarters, St. Jean de Luz,<br> +<span style="padding-right: 2em">December 14, 1813.</span></p> +</div> + +<p class="no-indent"><span class="smcap">My dear M——</span>, +</p> + +<p><span style="padding-left: 2em">As</span> every one is still in the front, and I have now +but a few letters to write on business, I shall proceed in +writing to you, and, if possible, send this by the delayed +packet. Yesterday morning, the French were, I believe, +to have been attacked again in our front, in order to drive +them back into Bayonne. In the morning, however, they +were off, and had disappeared from the disputed ground, +and only appeared in the Bayonne works. This made us +suspect an attack from them on General Hill, who was +on our right, with only some Portuguese, and his two +divisions on the other side of the Nive. Reinforcements +were ordered accordingly, and all the grandees and amateurs +went that way. So it turned out; the French came +in large masses and attacked us there, just as we were +moving about in our position.</p> + +<p>At first they drove the Portuguese brigade there back +from a knoll. They rallied, however, returned, and recovered +it. By that time the rest of the two divisions +were up ready, and the French came on in more force. +The attack now became general along the line, and the +French were beaten back on all sides with very considerable<span class="pagenum" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</span> +loss, and without the reinforcements, which were not +in time. I know no particulars at all, for Lord Wellington +did not return last night to this place; but some +who did, say that the French were very thick, as they +came forward in such masses, and some of their own disheartened +prisoners talk of four thousand men and more +as their loss. These daily desperate attacks, first on their +right and then on their left, and the accounts given by +the German Nassau officers, make me suspect very much +that Soult will after this be off altogether further to the +rear after having obeyed his order, by a desperate attempt +to drive us back into Spain again. I hear that he wrote +to Lord Wellington before these five days’ fighting, to say +that we must positively quit France, and that, to save +bloodshed, he wished Lord Wellington would retire of +his own accord. I did not learn this, however, from the +very best authority.</p> + +<p>The day before yesterday I met at dinner the Major of +the Nassau regiment, a very pleasant gentleman-like man, +aide-de-camp to the Prince, and the very officer who +brought the secret verbal orders to the Colonel K—— +to take the steps he has done. The Major arrived six +weeks ago, but they never found the opportunity until +now. Similar orders are gone to another battalion with +Marshal Suchet, and to a corps of Nassau cavalry there, +and we have sent word to our army on that side to endeavour +to let them know that these three battalions +have succeeded. The whole was very near failing even +this time: he gave us all the particulars.</p> + +<p>The French towards evening thought things were not +going on quite well, and ordered up all the reserves. +Amongst the rest were three battalions, and that of +Baden, which lately had been kept much in the rear. +When they were all retiring towards their quarters again +at dusk, General Villette (Colonel Downie’s old enemy), +who commanded the reserve, was obliged to retire to the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</span> +rear being wounded. He left orders with a stupid old +General who succeeded him in command. The Colonel +of the Nassau regiment was directed by the old man to +retire along the great road. He represented the numbers +going that way and the delay, and proposed a side road. +The old man said, “Well, you will do your best.” The +Colonel then thought all would do, and was about to +march off, when up came the 34th regiment, all French, +and their commanding officer said, “<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Monsieur le Colonel, +j’ai mes ordres de vous suivre sur votre route</i>.” This was +most perplexing. The Colonel then made an imaginary +obstacle at the head of the column, and desired the men +to file one by one slowly. This tired the patience of the +French, who had been out all day. The Colonel then +proposed his plan to the officer commanding the Baden +regiment. To which he replied, that he had received no +orders from his Sovereign, and, after hesitating a little, +declined. Colonel K—— then ordered him to take +another road, and told the French, as they must divide +to get home at all, they had better follow the Baden regiment. +The French 34th did so; and the others soon +began to incline towards the English, firing away, however, +but in the air, to deceive any who might be observing +them. They soon found themselves near enough +to send in the officer first, and the regiment followed in +spite of some shots from our people. The astonishment +of many, who not being in the secret, found themselves +within the English picket, and fancied they were all +about to be made prisoners, was very considerable; and +their joy was as great when they were told the true state +of things.</p> + +<p>The Major told us that they had seen constant service +in Spain, that their Sovereign’s contingent for Spain was +about two thousand men, but that the French kept it up +whenever they could to nearly three thousand, and more +at times. He was at Talavera, and the bugle of one of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</span> +the battalions which sounded as they left, and marched +through, was English, and I understand was taken from +us at the battle of Talavera. He confessed the horrors +committed in Spain was “<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Nous autres</i>” (as he was constantly +expressing himself), forgetting that he was no +longer French, and then correcting himself, said, “<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">par +les Français</i>.” He said that it was a practice when the +orders were issued to plunder and burn places which had +been deserted by their inhabitants, to make a great fire +near the place so as to make the inhabitants think a battle +was about to begin, and lead them to retire to some spot +near, out of the way of the fire, but never intending to +desert their homes. The troops then voted it a deserted +town, and begun first to pillage, then to burn. He described +the French army as being now about fifty-five +thousand men, after this affair, of which, however, only +about twenty-two or twenty-three thousands were soldiers, +that is veterans; the rest raw recruits and conscripts, of +which Bayonne was full; and there you might now see, +he said, even the blind and the lame compelled to come +forward and serve.</p> + +<p>He said they were ill supplied with everything, and +had no forage at all; that one great store of biscuit +was spoilt in the church at Bayonne; and that the roads +in the rear were so bad that hardly any supplies could +arrive but by the river—at least not without the +greatest difficulty and labour; that the Dax and Tartas +roads were infamous, and the one I went by, Peyrorade +and Orthes, very bad. Allowance must be made, I +think, in regard to these accounts.</p> + +<p>Soult was enraged with the inhabitants for wishing +to return home within our lines, and was much provoked +at our not having behaved much worse in this +country. I have also understood from officers who +went with flags-of-truce, that the French are excessively +angry with their women for all desiring to come here<span class="pagenum" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</span> +to us. The Mayor of Biaritz, I believe, is denounced, +having given us assistance, and ordered to be seized +as soon as discovered. The French were two or three +days since in one attack actually in his garden, but +could never get into his house. Of course he had removed +many of his goods, and was on the alert. He +has had a picket always in his house, and been very +liberal. Near that house our guns and the French +were within three hundred yards of each other, but +neither could get at the opponent on account of the +formation of the ground. There was a small wood in +the neighbourhood, which was a strong point. Lord +Wellington, &c., have just returned. I must go and +pick up news.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, St. Jean de Luz, December 15th, 1813, +Wednesday.</em>—We are now all returned to our civil +business again, and I have just been to the Adjutant-general +and Lord Wellington, as usual, to congratulate +them on their safety, at the same time to make my +reports, and receive fresh instructions.</p> + +<p>All the reports confirm the account that the French +got a severe beating on our right the day before yesterday, +and that our loss was not that day so severe in +comparison with the other affair on our left. Our +present position is close round the French and Bayonne, +in a semicircle from the sea to the Adour. The advanced +posts being from the front of Biaritz and Anglet, +on the sea on our left, and so through Arcamgues, +Arrauntz, on the Nive, the centre, where our boat-bridge +is, and then through Monguerre, Petit, and +Vieux, to La Home, on the Adour, on our extreme +right. Some alarm us by a report that head-quarters +are to be moved in consequence to Ustaritz, as being on +the Nive, and more central, and near the bridges. We +all, however, hope otherwise. Some Spaniards are come +on now also, and more cavalry are ordered up. Our<span class="pagenum" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</span> +abode here has quite spoiled us for the wretched places +we must crowd into at Ustaritz, down in a muddy hole, +with the roads almost impassable around it.</p> + +<p>Unless you have a good map, you will find but few of +the places mentioned by me, and yet I have omitted two +or three in the circle.</p> + +<p>[The places were all found in old maps by Robert, +a French geographer.]</p> + +<p>I must go to work to draw charges, so adieu.</p> + +<p>There is a most eloquent French, or, rather, Basque +witness here, who has been robbed, and whom I am +keeping here to give evidence. He pays me daily visits, +and acts over the scene in question, and several others, +in very high style. The Basques are as proud as our +Welsh of their antiquity, and when asked if they are +French say, “<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Oh, que non Basque</i>.” He tried to insinuate +himself into my favour, by reminding me that +this country was once all English, and that the inhabitants +had still the memory of that, and favourable +feelings accordingly.</p> + +<p>Sir John Hope was, including his dress, touched in +seven places, besides a shot in his horse, and through +his large hat. The skin wound, though slight, is +the only wound that gives him pain. Lord Wellington +blames him for exposing himself; with what face I +know not.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, St. Jean de Luz, December 16th, 1813.</em>—Though +you will have heard from me by the detained +mail, which went yesterday, you will expect something +by the next, so I begin my work in time; concluding +that it will go Sunday as usual again. I have just +heard that the packet which went from hence the 22nd, +with our letters to the 21st of November, was found +deserted at sea, and letters, &c., supposed to be taken, or +most likely sunk. I sent you two long letters by that +packet, with a plan of my house here, and sketch of it,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</span> +and the largest proportion of prize Spanish maps, taken +at Vittoria; begging you to keep them, and those that +come after, safely. It was in that letter that I told +you of my narrow escape at St. Fé from being shot +through the head by a dragoon whilst I was writing. +The ball went between my pen and my nose, and +where my head had been two seconds before: one cheek +was spattered by the door splinters, and the other by +the wall plaster where the ball struck.</p> + +<p>We have just got a most alarming report, as far as +comfort is concerned, namely, that we are to move to +a little dirty village, called Arrauntz, on the Nive, +worse almost than Frenada, with the exception of one +good house, where roads are impassable—almost up to +the knees in mud. I believe this was certainly determined, +but Colonel Campbell told me just now he +believed the order was deferred; I hope so most sincerely, +for we are here rather in a state of civilization +and comfort.</p> + +<p>I dined yesterday at head-quarters, and who should +I meet but Count de Gazan’s <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">ci-devant</i> aide-de-camp, +a fine gentleman-like young man, with whom I dined +at Count Gazan’s house at that time, Lord Wellington’s +now. He was then very civil to us. We dined yesterday +in his <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">ci-devant</i> apartment. He was about to +join Marshal Victor in the north, as his aide-de-camp, +when I last saw him; but being promoted to a chef-de-battalion, +this induced him to stop and take the +command. It answers to our Lieutenant-colonel; and +he commanded a battalion against General Hill in the +last attack. Finding his men running away too fast, +he kept in the rear to encourage them, and give them +confidence; stayed there too long, and, in a word, was +caught and taken prisoner. He is a tall, stout, good-looking +man of twenty-eight, and speaks English well, +having been in England some time before for education.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</span></p> + +<p>I gave him a good breakfast this morning before he +set out for Passages, got him a letter to the principal +Commissary at Passages, and handed him my father’s +direction at Somerset House; desiring him to let him +know where he is ultimately quartered in England, and +whether my father could serve him in any way in London. +So be prepared for a letter some time hence from +my French acquaintance. He is a staunch Frenchman +in everything, but I do not like him the worse for that, +or for avowing it openly.</p> + +<p>He told me that we were not quite so secure in Holland, +and that we were not near a peace, but had much +yet to do to obtain such a one as we required, for +Bonaparte was ambitious and unreasonable, and we were +unreasonable also. In some respects I agree, and only +hope the Allies will continue moderate. I offered him +money, but he said he had lost nothing, and did not +require it, and declined any assistance. He said, at the +moment he was vexed that our men did not plunder him, +as he knew his own people would have done so by us. +He seems a shrewd fellow, and was therefore ordered off +directly from hence.<a id="FNanchor_7" href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p> + +<p>Lord Wellington looks thin, but was in high spirits +yesterday. We have more artillery and ammunition +passing up to-day to the front, and, I hear, they are +making works to strengthen our position, and to be +prepared against any other desperate attack. This may +be only Lord Wellington’s usual prudence, as it does +not look like a move further in advance. Other circumstances, +however, do rather look like a movement +forwards, and the strengthening this position may be +either for the present security, or for a position to retire +to in case of accidents, as we have now two rivers in our +rear; or, which may be most likely, for both. The fact<span class="pagenum" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</span> +is, we have above twelve hundred men digging away, +and artillery is going up.</p> + +<p>My French witness here tells me a friend has just +arrived from Bayonne, who informs him, that whilst +the movements were going on some days since, Marshal +Soult told the leading people of Bayonne, that all who +intended to move their valuables to the rear should do +so by water immediately, if at all, as circumstances +might soon make it impossible for them to do so by +water, and the road would be entirely required by the +military in certain events. This does not look like much +confidence.</p> + +<p><em>Friday, December 17th, three o’clock, and Sunday, December +19th, Post-day.</em>—A report of more work on the +right, and we fancy we have heard much firing. Lord +Wellington is gone off. If matters have not gone on +well, or the horses get tired, we shall have a move yet, I +fear very soon; but hope otherwise most sincerely, that +is, if it be a move of head-quarters only. A forward +movement of the army will be another matter, as it will +prove to me Lord Wellington thinks something is to be +done by it. Our cavalry is moving up fast. This looks +like a movement. It spreads out by Cambo on our +right. I am also assured by a French officer here in our +service in the Quarter-Master-general’s department, that +the French cavalry are fast filing to the rear, and have +already passed Mont de Marsan, my former abode; and +that many of the old soldiers are from necessity sent +back to Bordeaux to compel some refractory conscripts +there to move, for they are a little wilful. He also told +me that the loss of the French (desertion included) in the +late affairs last week, was, in the whole, about thirteen +thousand men. He is, however, a sanguine man; remember +that. We are also said to have taken two or +three boats on the Adour, above Bordeaux.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, St. Jean de Luz, five o’clock, Sunday,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</span> +December 19th, 1813.</em>—I have just come from the sea-side, +where we can now scarcely stand for the wind, and +are, on the high walk, quite wet with the spray. A +violent gale of some hours has caused this, and I have +been watching a vessel off here for a long time which has +been in considerable danger, but is at last safe in Sacoa +harbour. She was most uneasy at sea, made signals of +distress, and the pilot-boats ventured out, and by their +help and working hard with the capstan on an anchor +carried out, she has at last worked her way in.</p> + +<p>I met yesterday at dinner Colonel Barnard, who was +lately shot through the body. Colonel Rooke is dead. +I feared it must be so, from what was told me yesterday. +He could not eat anything, grew rapidly weaker, and +the suppuration formed a mass clear through his body +from one orifice of the wound to the other, and not +properly round the ball so as to facilitate the extraction +of it. Lieutenant-colonel West is well. I saw him +to-day: he was not touched. The report of his being +killed arose from his having sent a horse to the rear—I +believe to walk. At the sale of the late Captain Watson’s +effects, I bought a very tolerable saddle, with +holsters, about half worn, for eighteen dollars, which is +here considered cheap. I bid 15<em>s.</em> for a curry-comb and +brush, bad, but of English make, and in England worth +about 3<em>s.</em> or 4<em>s.</em>—it went for a guinea! I also bid for a +Suffolk punch horse as high as two hundred dollars, but +Major Daring outbid me, though it was certainly very +dear. Captain Watson was of the Guards.</p> + +<p>A party of Bayonne sailors have just arrived here I +am told, who have come over to us. Bayonne envies +this place now. If we stay, and have money, things will +come in here soon from the French, for the geese they +bring in sell for four dollars instead of 4<em>s.</em> before we came, +and so with other things; we have also got some good +French cattle to eat.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</span></p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, St. Jean de Luz, December 21st, 1813.</em>—The +furious stormy weather continues, with almost +continual rain, attended yesterday by a most violent clap +of thunder; such repeated gusts of wind I scarcely ever +witnessed. The inhabitants say, that it will last so long +as we have the wind from the sea. At the same time +it is not at all cold, and I have no fire except when I +have been caught in the wet, and am very damp. +This happens if you stir for five hundred yards, as +the rain comes with a gust in a few seconds. The +thermometer in my room, without a fire, has been +constantly almost above temperate, and at times above +sixty. We are at present all quiet again here, and invitations +are flying about for Christmas dinners on Saturday +next.</p> + +<p>Marshal Soult is angry with the inhabitants for being +friends with us. He is now circulating proclamations +on our right, exhorting the people to form Guerilla corps +and to turn brigands. If we continue to behave well, +he will not easily persuade them to do this. The +Spaniards who demand rations and contributions against +orders, and are not so orderly as they might be (the few +that are in France, that is), may perhaps provoke them +to arms, but I hope not. We now go about the roads +here as safely as in Spain; the only marauders indeed +are the followers of our own army and runaway +Spaniards and muleteers. Our own army is behaving +particularly well, and now give me a little leisure occasionally.</p> + +<p>To my great joy to-day, and still more, I suspect, to +that of my horses, I have got a good truss of English +hay—140 lbs. weight. This is a treasure. But to +balance good and evil, the Commissary has given us no +corn during the last three days. So we go on! Many +of the cavalry horses get neither, so we must submit.</p> + +<p>In spite of the rough weather, we yesterday got a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</span> +packet and English mail, and I received a letter from you +of the 6th and 7th December, and papers from the 4th to +the 7th. You confirm our accounts of the loss of the +mail of the 21st November, and of two letters of mine to +you. I only hope they are sunk, though I recollect +nothing particular in them.</p> + +<p>I have no doubt —— plays the great man very well, +and puts on all the dignity of a Jack in office. He likes +the thing, and has a turn for humbug, of which there is +so much all over the world in every line, and which +is often of such infinite use to those who can adopt it. I +think it very tiresome, and only rejoice that it is not the +fashion here at head-quarters. From Lord Wellington +downwards, there is mighty little. Every one works +hard, and does his business. The substance and not the +form is attended to; in dress, and many other respects, I +think almost too little so. The maxim, however, of our +Chief is, “Let every one do his duty well, and never let +me hear of any difficulties about anything;” and that is +all he cares about. I suppose one should fall by degrees +into a love of representation, and keeping one’s self up +in the world, as it is called (by those who have not +much else to float them), by habit and practice. I must +say, hitherto, I continue to think it far best to be able to +do what you please, as you please, and when you please, +provided that nothing is ever done which in the least +approaches to a shabby or ungentleman-like action—so +that the opinion of those whose opinion is worth having +is secured. The sort of incense which is often obtained +from the silly majority through exterior humbug is not +worth the price at which it is purchased. My vanity +takes a different turn, and I pique myself upon other +things.</p> + +<p>I attended another sale yesterday of Colonel Martyn’s +effects. It was quite ridiculous to observe the price at +which some old things sold. Two second-hand nightcaps,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</span> +which cost about 1<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em> each new in England, +fetched 13<em>s.</em> This results partly from distress, partly +from fun in the bidders. Old towels 5<em>s.</em> each; blankets +25<em>s.</em> I always feel hurt at seeing all an officer’s stock +sold in this way, even to his ragged shirts and stockings, +tooth-brushes, &c.; everything ransacked. This was +very near being my case, also, when I was taken prisoner. +Mr. Jesse’s stock was sold, and he is not a little +distressed in consequence. I have received a note from +Lieutenant-colonel E—— to dine with him on Christmas-day, +and have accepted, though probably I shall lose +a great party at Lord Wellington’s by so doing, for he +generally asks heads of departments on those days. I +own, however, that I prefer his smaller parties, when +fewer grandees are there, and Lord Wellington talks +more and we drink less. A great party is almost always +stupid, unless there is good singing or good speechifying; +and I have now seen all the lions likely to be there. +By-the-by, our Spanish lions carry their heads wonderfully +erect now, and are prouder than any peacocks; or +rather, I might say, they are now true Spaniards.</p> + +<p>Yesterday I dined at Lord Wellington’s, and had +another adventure. I recognised an emigré friend at +Mont de Marsan, of whom I had been, during my stay +there, very shy, fearful lest a malicious report should get +about that I was intriguing with the royalists. I reminded +him of his questions, &c., and of his speaking to +me several times, and I now explained myself and conduct. +He was much surprised at seeing me in my red +coat, but immediately recollected me, and said I had +given him then all the information he wanted. My +answers were short, but all true, certainly. He has +brought some congratulations to the Comte de Grammont +from the persons now on his <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">ci-devant</i> estates, and +their wishes for old times and old landlords. He had<span class="pagenum" id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</span> +got some money here, and is, I suppose, to go to work +somehow for the good cause. He is very sanguine; but +though I like and respect the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">emigrés</i>, I always mistrust +their view of things.</p> + +<p>A foolish Portuguese, who was sentenced to be shot, +escaped three days ago, and was off; but like a fool, he +boasted in Spain of his performances, was in consequence +retaken, and to-day is to be hung.</p> + +<p><em>December 26th, Post-day.</em>—Another of my French +friends came in from Bayonne yesterday—the principal +banker at Bayonne, who gave me money for my bill; +was so friendly to us all and to me in particular, and for +whom I loaded my pockets so quietly with so many +letters, above a hundred in number. He has ostensibly +come to receive the 110<em>l.</em> still due to him from five of +our officers, and which Lord Wellington intended to send +him on my representation: but he has also obtained leave +from Soult to supply us with claret, &c., and is partly +come about that. The French, I conclude, are compelled +to try this method of making a little money; and Marshal +Soult being, no doubt, ill-paid, will go halves in the +profit. I suspect my friend, however, may have further +views also, as he is a Spanish and English merchant as +well as banker, and of course a decided enemy to Berlin +and burning decrees, and to war in general, which is now +nearly synonymous with being an enemy to Bonaparte. +Lord Wellington sent him to the Commissary-general +to talk matters over.</p> + +<p>We have been all quiet here this week, except a little +cavalry skirmish on our right. The French cavalry, I +hear, had driven in some of Don Murillo’s Spaniards, +with Hill, in that quarter, and two squadrons of our +18th Hussars were ordered to drive the French back. +This they did, as they were ordered, without loss, but as +usual would do more, and pushing hastily on fell in with<span class="pagenum" id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</span> +the French infantry support, which is generally near at +hand to the cavalry advance, got a volley or two, and +lost a captain and several men in consequence.</p> + +<p>Our people will suppose that the French lurk about +the country without system or order as they do; whereas, +however cowed and beaten they may be, the system, +order, and habitual rules, remain.</p> + +<p>Some more of Don Carlos d’Espagne’s troops filed up +from Irun yesterday, and turning off about a mile short +of this place, went through Ascain towards our right—about +five thousand in the whole. Several of Murillo’s +people are put under arrest by Lord Wellington for +misconduct. They complain that the men get sick in +consequence, to which he replies, “Then behave better, +and that will not be the case.”</p> + +<p>Some of our artillerymen have by accident burnt one +of the best of the few remaining houses at St. Sebastian, +worth twenty thousand dollars the Spaniards say, and +about to be let for six hundred dollars a-year. This will +be quite convincing to the Conciso at Cadiz, and perhaps +to the regency, that we burnt the town on purpose, and +are now finishing our job. It is unlucky to give this +handle to these most unconquerably jealous Spaniards, +and already the engineers and few English at St. Sebastian +are most unpopular. The weather is now much +improved, and has turned to frost for the first time this +month, which improves our roads, our spirits, and our +prospects. The sea, however, has been for these last two +days tremendous, and washed over the stone bulwark +where we walk, and has cut off our supply of corn these +three days from Passages. I was yesterday caught there +when walking with General Pakenham and General +Murray: the Quarter-Master-general ran one way, the +Adjutant-general and I another; the former escaped, +and so did the latter and I, though the foam and surf +burst upright, close to us, above our heads, and then<span class="pagenum" id="Page_338">[Pg 338]</span> +washed our legs midway up; but the force was broken, +and we were not moved, only wetted. The natives and +many of our officers think this roaring ocean predicts +more bad weather here again, but I hope it only proves +a storm some two hundred miles off in the main ocean, +as I have always observed there is little connexion here +between our land-storms and the state of the sea, which +seems to be moved by other causes, of which probably +one is the agitation caused by the flood spring-tides.</p> + +<p><em>Monday.</em>—Marshal Soult has returned again to Bayonne. +Lord Wellington, &c., are all out with the +hounds.</p> +<br> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_7" href="#FNanchor_7" class="label">[7]</a> He made no application to Mr. Larpent’s family, nor did he call at +Somerset House.</p> + +</div> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_339">[Pg 339]</span></p> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII.</h2> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="fs80" style="margin-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em;">Reports from France—More Desertion—Anecdote of General Stewart—Wellington +and his Casualty Returns—The Courtesies of War—Scarcity +of Transports—Wellington and the Trial-Papers—Sir G. Collier.</p> + +<p class="right fs80"> +Head-quarters, St. Jean de Luz,<br> +<span style="padding-right: 2em">January 1, 1814.</span></p> +</div> + +<p class="no-indent"><span class="smcap">My dear M——</span>, +</p> + +<p><span style="padding-left: 2em">Many</span> happy new years to you and all your +party! We are now quite quiet here, and have no news +to communicate. We have repeatedly received reports +of the arrival of an English mail, but it never comes. +This may, however, arise from our having had three of +the vessels at once on this side of the water.</p> + +<p>You will be surprised to hear that I had an old French +woman, and a young Spanish girl to breakfast with me +this morning, on their way through to Bayonne, from +Bilboa. I had made arrangements for six mules, and an +ox-car to carry their baggage, but they mistook the tide +in their directions, and the baggage is only just arrived, +so that they cannot go until to-morrow. They are the +wife and mother of a Monsieur Dabedrille, at Bayonne, +<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">ci-devant</i> principal <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Directeur de l’Octroi de Bilboa</i>, who +fled so quickly after the battle of Vittoria, that he left +all his baggage and females behind him. He was very +civil to Colonel Fitzgerald, who had undertaken to +obtain for him the restoration of his wife; and as the +Colonel was not exchanged, I undertook it, got Lord +Wellington’s leave, and here they are, so far on their<span class="pagenum" id="Page_340">[Pg 340]</span> +way safe. Not having just now much business, I have +had time to attend a little to these good ladies, and they +are really very pleasant and well-bred, but just now the +worse for having been six days on board a Spanish +coaster (of Bilboa), to get here.</p> + +<p>We have just now got beautiful weather, clear frosty +mornings—that is, white frost, the ground just crisp, a +little fog early, and a cool breeze from the Pyrenees, +from the south-east, and a bright sun during the day.</p> + +<p>The only news we have here is a report of the defeat +of Davoust, through the French, and an account which +General Wimpfen has just given me of the Austrians +having taken possession of Switzerland. The French +here are hard at work, drilling conscripts, who arrive in +considerable numbers, and turning up the ground as +usual in all directions. I suppose we shall also, as usual, +wait until they have nearly done their task, and by that +time, when the ground is dry, turn them out of their +laborious defences. It is quite extraordinary how all +their former position was covered with the effects of +their labour.</p> + +<p>The inhabitants continue to come in here to us every +day, and now by degrees we get cattle, &c., from them. +Desertion from the French has also been common, five +or six men a-day, and many French, not Germans, young +lads, sick of their work. I now hear that the Swiss have +declared against France; that is one step more gained, +if true. An officer, who was prisoner at Bayonne, on the +13th, the day of General Hill’s affair on the right, states, +that the French were most sanguine that morning at +Bayonne; they said that two of our divisions were +caught in a trap, and that they would, General and all, +be taken prisoners. They were quite in spirits, but +towards evening, when the officer inquired where our +General was, he could get no one to answer him, or talk +on the subject. All were sulky. Report says also that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_341">[Pg 341]</span> +Soult is gone again, and farther back; some say that he +has been sent for to Paris.</p> + +<p>One of the hay vessels, bringing hay to us, in order to +plague us, had got into Bayonne, and the French officers +at the outposts taunt us, by saying that they find +English hay very good. This is very provoking, for in +consequence of this we have now nothing again to give +our animals.</p> + +<p><em>Sunday, Post-day.</em>—I understand that there is no +packet as yet at Passages, to go with the letters. I +have, after three hours’ trouble, packed off my party this +morning; four great trunks, two old women, and one +young one, in an ox-car; and four more large trunks, +and a quantity of bedding, and <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">et ceteras</i> of all kinds, on +four mules; and one lady and a man-servant, on horseback. +My old French woman, now she is safe out of +Spain, does nothing but abuse the Spaniards, their language, +their manners, their country, and, above all, their +stupidity in society.</p> + +<p>I must now return to the work of drawing charges, +which must be done immediately. I hope there is not +another task for me now passing my window, for there is +an uproar, and seven Spanish prisoners going along +bound to the provost guard.</p> + +<p>We have now established a sort of little telegraph of +signals to the right and in front, to acquaint Lord Wellington +immediately should anything be going forward.</p> + +<p>P.S.—I don’t think you heard a little anecdote of +General Stewart, who is brave, and consequently always +gets his aide-de-camp, &c., into some bad blows, if he +does not get one himself. The people about him on the +13th were all touched, and he was nearly alone. An +officer of the name of Egerton went up to him, and +whilst there a shell burst between them. “A shell! sir: +very animating!” said Stewart, and then kept Egerton +there talking on.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_342">[Pg 342]</span></p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, St. Jean de Luz, January 4th, 1814.</em>—Here +we are still without any news from your side of the +water, and of course most anxious. On this side we +seem, however, to be preparing something for you to +talk about; at least, appearances look like another battle. +The day before yesterday (Sunday) all was quiet, and on +Monday (yesterday) Lord Wellington ordered out his +hounds, and went off early himself. In the middle of +the day, however, the signal was made that the French +were in motion; Lord March and Gordon went off to +Lord Wellington, and he did not return last night. To-day +the troops have all been on the alert, for the French +are said to be still moving on our right, and in fact +rather on our rear. The Guards were off early from +hence to replace the light division, who went to the +right, and all seems moving in that direction. No firing +has, however, been heard; and I understand nothing has +been done to-day. I went as far as Guethary, and up to +the church-tower, whence the view is very extensive, but +saw nothing in particular. The last report was, that the +French still advanced on our right. If they persist in +this, it is my opinion that we must have a fight, and a +sharp one probably, on that side to-morrow, but as the +staff are all out, I know nothing certain.</p> + +<p>Two or three days since we took a little island in the +Adour, almost without loss, which will enable us to +molest the navigation more effectually than we have +hitherto done, though already it is rather impeded, even +at night, and almost totally by day. A contest about +the island was rather expected, but not this bold move of +the French in our rear. If they persist and fail, I think +with the two Gaves in their rear, we may, perhaps, make +them suffer severely for their enterprise. Marshal Soult’s +supposed absence looks now rather like a <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">ruse de guerre</i>.</p> + +<p>We have Spaniards on our right, and in the valley of +Bastan, who perhaps may now come in again for a little<span class="pagenum" id="Page_343">[Pg 343]</span> +fighting; and it is to be hoped they may, for if the +French work constantly on the British and Portuguese, +and you continue to send men to Holland, we shall by +degrees get too weak for our situation.</p> + +<p>Lord Wellington at dinner on Sunday directed some +jokes at Major D——, who makes out the returns, +because he wanted to make a grand total of wounded, &c., +after the late five days’ fighting. He laughed, and said +that all might go wrong from this innovation, but he was +determined he would have no more grand totals until he +got another Vittoria without more loss; that the loss +was always great enough in all conscience, without displaying +it in this ostentatious manner, and that he +would not have every drummer and every officer, &c., +killed or wounded in the five days, all added up in one +grand total, but that at least the croakers should have +the trouble themselves of adding up all the different losses, +and making it out for themselves.</p> + +<p>The weather is just now delightful, and we have had +as yet nothing which can properly be called winter. +During the last ten days the sea has been quite smooth, +and we have not even had a white frost. The people +say they think that the first bad season is over now, and +we shall not have much more bad weather until near +March: I only hope this will prove correct.</p> + +<p>A French carriage and a car were waiting at the +French outposts to receive my ladies, and they all got in +safe. This was managed by sending in a message the +day before. A certain communication with Bayonne is +also now open; for yesterday we had an arrival of +French watches, rings, trinkets, and silk dresses. We +carry on war in a very civilized manner, especially if a +little anecdote related to me yesterday be correct. One +of our officers, it seems, I believe Major Q——, was +riding a troublesome horse close to the French pickets, +and partly from the violence of his horse, and partly<span class="pagenum" id="Page_344">[Pg 344]</span> +from his own inadvertence, he got close to a French +sentinel. The latter called out several times that he was +French, and ordered him off, and at last presented his +bayonet. The horse still plunging on, and the officer +apparently not understanding the man, the French +sentry turned the horse the other way by the bridle, and +sent him back without offering any harm to either beast +or rider, though he might have killed or taken both.</p> + +<p>This morning we had another instance on our side. +A French officer’s wife came in from Bayonne to follow +her husband, a prisoner in England. We had a boat in +from Sacoa to take her upon the beach, to carry her round +by sea to Passages, and an order from Lord Wellington +waiting for her there, for a passage to England as expeditiously +as circumstances would permit.</p> + +<p><em>Wednesday, 5th January.</em>—No one came back last +night, and St. Jean de Luz is almost deserted; scarcely a +red coat to be seen. The ladies are in some alarm, and +only some inquiring doctors and commissaries are to be +seen about the streets. I have in the mean time such an +accumulation of business for Lord Wellington that I +shall be almost fearful of seeing him—five Courts-martial, +one of about ninety pages, another eighty. He always +complains, and yet I think he likes to read these cases, +and know himself exactly all that is going on. I have +just been out to pick up news, but in vain, and have +been driven back by a slight shower. Money has been +so short here that I could only tempt them to give me +some doubloons immediately by accepting a part of my +pay on England in another Treasury Bill.</p> + +<p><em>Friday, January 7th.</em>—Lord Wellington is not yet +returned here, and we are, therefore, still deserted; but +nothing has been done. The French have been manœuvring +for these three days on our right flank, but in vain, +as our General was ready for them. Yesterday, however, +he was nearly bringing them to blows. A part of their<span class="pagenum" id="Page_345">[Pg 345]</span> +force remained on our side of the Adour, between the +Nive and the Bidocque. This was too near our position, +and they were to have been driven across, but prudently +went away in good time of their own accord, consequently +nothing was done, and I think nothing will be done just +now.</p> + +<p>The French head-quarters here are at (I believe) +Peyrehorade, a town on the Gave, of some little river +commerce. In our present suspense we were at last +amused yesterday by the arrival of two mails, and I have +got letters, papers, &c.</p> + +<p>You kill men for me faster than I do in reality, and +that is enough. I am only aware of forty-one having +been shot or hung since my arrival in the country; and +that is quite enough too, you will say, almost as many as +you hang in all England in a year. You were quite +right about the lost letter from me; it contained a full +description of St. Jean de Luz, and of my horrible muddy +journey from St. Fé to this civilized place, with a sketch +of my house and its vicinity, &c., a ground plot of my +quarter, which, if time and room permit, I will repeat. +And as you do not congratulate me on my escape from +being shot, I suppose that story was there also.</p> + +<p><em>Later.</em>—As Lord Wellington is still away, I continue +to scribble to you. This place has been a very flourishing +town, and of considerable trade, but is much in decay; +this partly before the late wars, from the bar having +increased, so that only small vessels can get in now, and +the evil still increases. At low water the river only +ripples over the bar of sand, scarcely a foot deep, and at +times the river is choked up by the sand, so that it +cannot make its way out, and floods the town. This +happened twice last year, but has not recurred this year, +though at times the bed of the river has been quite +changed, and the water nearly stopped.</p> + +<p>Sacoa is a very safe harbour; for small vessels drawing<span class="pagenum" id="Page_346">[Pg 346]</span> +under ten feet, quite safe. They lie there high and dry, +according to the tide. The houses of the former merchants +are rather magnificent, though some are in ruins, +and their number, for the size of the town, considerable. +It has been called a sort of little Paris for the Basques. +Near the sea the water has been, and is, gaining on the +town and bay. There are many ruins; one is part of an +old convent, now beyond the sea-wall, and almost in the +sea, and some say a whole street has been washed away. +The great sea-wall made by Bonaparte, six hundred +yards long, was constructed to save the town, and makes +a good dry walk.</p> + +<p>Sibour is also a very large village, or small town, of +inferior houses, where at present two brigades of Guards +are, and two other regiments of Lord Aylmer’s brigade, +besides some staff cavalry, &c. Most of the better +houses have French papers from Paris, and it looks very +well. The whole wall forms one landscape, like tapestry—sea-ports +from Vernet or Claude, &c.; some in colours, +some in bistre or an imitation of Indian ink, some Chinese, +but in better perspective. The brown and black +are very pretty. Most of the walls are papered. The +lower parts of the houses are all a sort of warehouse +(where they are not shops); this serves us for stabling, +but they are flagged, which having no straw is noisy, and +they smell much also. Almost all the men of a better +sort went away from St. Jean de Luz; several women, +for the most part old, stayed, and many have since +returned; but no society, or anything of that sort, is as +yet set on foot here. The deputy mayor, who stayed, sold +all the wine he could appropriate, his own, and all unclaimed, +as well as other things, and is, I believe, making +money of us very fast. The town is now all a market +or fair, and full of Spaniards and Portuguese, as well as +French and Bascos, all pillaging poor John Bull, by selling +turkeys for 25<em>s.</em> and 30<em>s.</em>, and fowls for 12<em>s.</em> and 14<em>s.</em></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_347">[Pg 347]</span></p> + +<p>The people from Bilboa have been most active. Little +has arrived from England or Lisbon as yet, which is +extraordinary; but the danger of the coast is, probably, +the cause. During the bad weather ten vessels of ours +found their way into Bayonne, one with fifty-two Irish +bullocks, by which we lost part of the best beef we ever +get, and one with seven hundred trusses of hay, others +with biscuit, &c. This is very provoking. The Bayonne +mayor showed us the post-list of the whole taken in each +ship. How we shall get on with our animals I know +not, for they tell me that they hear from England, in the +Commissariat, there is but little hay on the sea for us, +from want of transport, and there is no straw to be got +at all now within thirteen leagues, or about forty miles, +from hence. I am, however, advised to send for it; and +if this movement shall come to nothing, will do so to-morrow.</p> + +<p>It is fortunate that we are so near the sea, and have +some advantage as to transport in the river Nivelle also, +for our transport is much diminished by desertion of the +muleteers from want of pay. The army is more numerous +than when at Frenada and in Portugal, and our +transport is now less. Were we to wander into France +(as you suppose), away from the coast, we should find it +difficult to live at all. The boats of this place are famous, +and the men stayed here, or have escaped here, and are +all in our pay now, and thus things are brought round +from Passages here by sea, and then up to the division +by the river as far as Ustaritz, where they are then distributed +to the mules of each division. Even with this +help the army cannot be supplied with rum, except by +buying it very dear on the spot of the suttlers, for nearly +all our remaining mules are required for bread and a +little corn for the staff. The meat supplies itself in a +way—that is, about two-thirds only of the flesh which +leaves Valencia, &c., in Spain, arriving here, falls under<span class="pagenum" id="Page_348">[Pg 348]</span> +the butcher’s knife, besides the number which die on the +road; and yet all that can be stopped, when fagged or +lame, are distributed at the stations on the way. The +suttlers, by the great profit they make, can pay the +muleteers as high as two dollars a-day for each mule to +carry up their produce, making us pay for it in the end. +This evil increases, for our muleteers, who only have one +dollar a-day for each mule (and enough in all conscience), +are tempted to desert and get into the service of the +suttlers, who thus supply the men with rum only at a +dear rate, when we cannot do it. The pay of our muleteers +is now over-due twenty-one months for each mule: +they have, therefore, their own way, and are under no +control at all. Nothing but a sort of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">esprit de corps</i>, and +the fear of losing all claim to the debt, makes them keep +with us at all; and we must submit to their fraud and +carelessness, for we have no remedy.</p> + +<p>As an instance of this, it may be mentioned that one +brigade of mules, which had twenty-four thousand pounds +of barley given to them to bring here, five leagues from +Passages, only delivered eighteen thousand, and almost +openly admitted that they had taken the rest, which I +suppose they had sold to raise money. We could only +set off the value against their debt, for fear of losing +them without getting others. There was a grand consultation +the other day, at which Lord Wellington, the +Commissary-general and his people, General Alava the +Spanish General, and most of the principal Spanish +Capistras, or directors of the mules and owners, were +present, to settle what could be done. They resolved to +make the arrears all a debt, to acknowledge it, and then +begin a sort of new score. This is in imitation of the +Portuguese; only they do not pay the debt at all, but +wipe off the arrears. One month’s pay was also given +by bills on the Treasury at a great discount, still this<span class="pagenum" id="Page_349">[Pg 349]</span> +was something to go on with, and we have not Marshal +Beresford’s absolute power to control these Spaniards, +as he does the Portuguese. Somehow, however, you see +we get on.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, St. Jean de Luz, Sunday, January +9th, post-day again.</em>—As to length, at least, you shall +have no reason to complain this mail, though I am at +work again at business; for on Friday night all our +warriors returned home to their respective quarters, and +the Commander-in-Chief to his papers. The latter had +so increased upon him in his five days’ absence, that he +was quite overwhelmed; and when I went in with a +great bundle to add to them, he put his hands before his +eyes and said, “Put them on that table; and do not say +anything about them now, or let me look at them at all.”</p> + +<p>This week’s manœuvring has not this time ended in +smoke, but without smoke, as nearly as possible, for our +men could not get within a long shot of the French, +without following them beyond what our present plans +would admit. They remained a short time on our side +of the river Arrun, as it is called, in Casini’s great map, +and Gambouri, in my part of the French National Atlas, +a small river which runs by La Bastide and falls into the +Adour, near Urt, a place half-way between Bayonne and +where the Gaves fall into the Adour.</p> + +<p>We collected on the heights above Bastide, and made +the signal by a little mountain gun to advance. The +French made use of the same signal to commence their +retreat across the river, and scarcely a shot was fired. +La Bastide, which is on this side of the river, we never +entered: but remaining satisfied with that line, the +matter ended there. A change of weather, to rain of no +trifling kind, will probably, I think, oblige both parties +to be quiet for some little time again, until sun and air +return to us without wet, and dry roads enable the troops +to move a little this difficult country. It is at present<span class="pagenum" id="Page_350">[Pg 350]</span> +very hard work to get on, even in the best roads, and +across the country, which is much intersected with +streams and rivers, and has only clayey poached roads, +and strong fences of hedge and ditch; it is almost impassable. +Lord Wellington, I believe, always went back +to his brother Marshal, Beresford, at Ustaritz, to which +place he sent for some English hay for his horses. The +Adjutant-general’s department remained mostly at Hasparren, +which is, it is said, a very pretty small town in a +rich cultivated valley of meadows, where they fell in with +a small stock of excellent hay, not quite eaten by our +cavalry, who are in that part of the country.</p> + +<p>All the people at head-quarters have come back safe +and sound; but with horses a little knocked up, and +rather stiff with riding about twelve or even fourteen +hours a-day. Most of them, however, look the +better for the exercise. The most fagged of all I saw +was our naval hero, Sir G. Collier, with his lame leg. +He had ridden everywhere after Lord Wellington in +hopes of seeing a fight, and coming in, I suppose, for +another knock on shore, but all in vain. He says, that +the French never will stand when he comes, and nothing +is ever done. He is about to leave this station.</p> + +<p>And now for a little account of the Spaniards, in order +to show you how they plague Lord Wellington. We +have undertaken to assist and direct, with our engineers, +in putting St. Sebastian into some order, and into a state +of defence. The actual working-party are, however, +nearly all Spanish. These have nearly all deserted, and +little or nothing is going on but quarrels between our +people and the Spaniards in authority, who thwart them. +At first Lord Wellington thought that we were to blame, +and seemed angry; but he told Col. E—— at last, “If +they go on so, d—— them, they may finish the work +for themselves; but go over and see about it, and make a +report to me.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_351">[Pg 351]</span></p> + +<p><em>Later.</em>—Another English mail arrived, and another +letter from you of the 27th and 28th, with papers to the +27th, &c. The great news which yours contained as to +Lord Castlereagh we had heard through the French outpost +five days since; but the report only stated that he +had actually landed at Morlaix, on his way to Manheim, +to the general Congress, for a peace. This was believed +before your account came, as it agreed with the general +tenor of the late English news; at least I thought so, for +one. Whether it will end in a peace, however, is very +doubtful, especially if Bonaparte finds that in consequence +of this negotiation he keeps all quiet in France, and the +conscription goes on without resistance, and his armies +in March next will be formidable. If he can once assume +an imposing position, it is doubtful in my opinion +whether he will come into the terms of the Allies. <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Mais +c’est à voir</i>, and he has much to do to put himself in such +a position.</p> + +<p>Many of the French conscripts here join almost without +any uniforms or necessaries for a soldier, yet every +deserter who comes in has everything nearly new, and is +better provided for than any of our men, except the few +who have just had their new clothing, &c., of which the +Guards, who, by the by, returned here last night to their +old quarters, form part. Just now the Italians begin to +desert the French, and say it is in consequence of their +having heard that their division, which was marched to +the rear some short time since, was all disarmed and +treated as prisoners of war. This may not be fact; but +the effect is that many Italians come over to us.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_352">[Pg 352]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX.</h2> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="fs80" style="margin-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em;">Rumours of War—The Rival Dinner-Tables—“Slender Billy”—Bonaparte’s +Trickery—Spanish Violence—Wellington with the Hounds—French and +English Aspects; the Outsides of the Nations.</p> + +<p class="right fs80"> +Head-quarters, St. Jean de Luz,<br> +<span style="padding-right: 2em">January 11, 1814.</span></p> +</div> + +<p class="no-indent"><span class="smcap">My dear M——</span>, +</p> + +<p><span style="padding-left: 2em">Fine</span> weather is now returned, and no doubt +before we have been quiet another week, should it last, +we shall be stirred up a little by the French. At +present, all our usual avocations are proceeding, and all +is quiet.</p> + +<p>The only event in my own establishment which has +occurred is my taking into my service a Spanish lad, in +addition to my other servants, but it will end in my +getting rid of an idle Portuguese, who does nothing. I +found the lad begging and in misery, by the sea-side, and +asked his history. He told me he was without father +and mother, and came from a village two leagues beyond +Madrid; that he had been under-stable servant to a +French Commandant, who had gone wounded from +Bayonne to the rear, towards Paris, and had turned +him off. He therefore came back here, towards Spain. +At first I only gave him food, and then, that I might +not have to try him, took him to General Alava, who +promised to send him to General Frere, to make a drummer +of him. The next morning he called upon me before +he started, and, being prepossessed by his looks, I have<span class="pagenum" id="Page_353">[Pg 353]</span> +taken him on trial. He seems active and useful; and I +hope will not return my charity by robbing me, of which +there is some risk.</p> + +<p>A party of our suttling merchants here behaved ill the +other night, by insulting a sick officer; the worst among +them escaped. One is now in confinement, and I have +sent in his charge. They are all in a terrible fright of +military law. Most probably he will not be tried if he +makes an apology; but it has answered Lord Wellington’s +intention by convincing these men that there is +law here, and that they are followers of the army and +liable to that law.</p> + +<p>On the neutral ground, on the great road to Bayonne, +between our picquets and the French, in front of Biaritz, +there are at present, in one of the houses unoccupied by +either party, three young damsels alone. They are +rather pretty and interesting, and all say very modest. +For a time General Stopford, I believe, out of gallantry, +put a safeguard there, but it was considered out of our +position, and there was some quizzing. So the damsels +are left quiet and alone again. They come daily into our +lines, to bring milk, &c., and some flirtation goes on; but +there they are safe. This is creditable to both sides.</p> + +<p>I am told that the people at Hasparren, when the +French approached the place last week, and it was thought +might occupy it, were manifestly alarmed and dissatisfied, +and wished us to stay. This might be from the fear of a +conflict there, or from the benefits now derived from us, +when the first irruption and mischief are over. Fowls +are still, near there, to be had for 2<em>s.</em> each, and turkeys +from 7<em>s.</em> to 9<em>s.</em>; but this will not last, as people here have +given, and others now ask, as much as 12<em>s.</em> for fowls, and +30<em>s.</em> for turkeys, or even more. General Cole, as we advanced, +bought nine geese, at a dollar each; and this was +grand pay, and not from fear. Here they are 25<em>s.</em> each.</p> + +<p><em>Later.</em>—How uncertain everything is with us! Marshal<span class="pagenum" id="Page_354">[Pg 354]</span> +Beresford’s aide-de-camp is just come in to Lord +Wellington, and there is some stir on our right again. +Lord Wellington and several others are off in that direction, +and I am told the former stays out all night; this +looks as if something was suspected. I dine to-day at +head-quarters, and am to go as usual, though the chief is +away. He asked me yesterday, but I told him that +General Hill had asked me three days before, and expected +me. “Very well,” said he, “but I advise you to +come to me, nevertheless, as you will get a much better +dinner, for General Hill gives the worst dinners going.” +To General Hill’s, however, I went; and though plain +fare, compared to Lord Wellington’s, whose table is just +now very good, and much improved, I got a very good +dinner.</p> + +<p>If any dependence could be placed on appearances, I +should say nothing important was going on to-day; for I +saw Lord Wellington after he had seen the aide-de-camp, +and he read a long letter quietly through, seeming quite +at his ease; but he takes all that arises so coolly that this +proves nothing. A sudden change again to rain will, in +my opinion, damp the plans of the French, if they had +any, as well as give all those gone off to the right a +miserable ride, as it seems well set in for the day. Wind +and wet seem here to be winter.</p> + +<p>What a change has arisen for our young Prince of +Orange who was here! I only hope he will not be spoilt +by success and prosperity. In a little time, after all, it +would not surprise me to hear of his looking back to the +time he spent here at head-quarters as the pleasantest +part of his life. Slender Billy was his nickname with +those who were intimate with him, and he knew it; for +one day, at dinner, Lord Fitzroy Somerset, not knowing +that he was present, said, “Where is Slender Billy to-day?” +Upon which the Prince put his head forward, +and called out, “Here I am, Fitzroy; what do you want?”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_355">[Pg 355]</span></p> + +<p><em>January 12th.</em>—Lord Wellington and his party came +back to dinner yesterday. The cause of the bustle was as +follows. We had in our possession a mill which belonged +rather to the French position than to ours; they attacked +it, and, after some brisk firing, it was abandoned to them, +and then all was quiet again. This news passed Lord +Wellington on the road, but missed him, or he would not +have gone on as far as he did. Ustaritz is about fifteen +good miles from hence, and the road in parts almost up +to a horse’s belly. Lord Wellington rode there in the +rain in two hours and ten minutes, and back in two hours +and a half, up and down hills and through the clay: this +proves a horse.</p> + +<p>The next piece of news you will, probably, hear first: +but if you should not, you have to learn that the cunning +Bonaparte has been making a treaty with King Fernando +VII. privately about a peace with Spain, and that he has +sent it to the Cortes for their approval, and has appointed +an ambassador for that purpose to Madrid. The gubernador, +or preceptor and major domo of King Ferdinand, +is either at Madrid or on his way thither. Spain, and +Madrid in particular, is said to be in much agitation. +The Cortes are to meet the 15th of January. This is a +very artful plan to create jealousies between us, if not to +procure a partial peace. We shall see now of what the +Regency and Cortes are made. They have in professions +bullied much, and resolved never to treat at all whilst a +Frenchman remained in Spain. How they will act up to +their resolution is now to be seen.</p> + +<p><em>Friday, January 14th.</em>—We have now French papers +up to the 3rd from Paris, and have got Bonaparte’s valedictory +address, on setting out for the army in France, to +fight on old French territory. This, I think, if the Allies +persist, must end the business soon, for if he is well +beaten, there must certainly be a rising in France; and +if he beats the Allies, we shall in my opinion have a peace,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_356">[Pg 356]</span> +except that he seems determined, even now, not to give +up Holland, and that we must at all events retain, if possible. +The crisis is, however, apparently approaching, +and that rapidly.</p> + +<p>We remain here in <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">statu quo</i>. French desertion is diminishing, +and seems for the moment quiet. The only +event of interest has been the folly of two Portuguese +officers near the Adour. They had had a long parley +with the French, were, it is said, drinking together, but +were somehow persuaded by their French new acquaintance +to pass over the river for a dance, or wine, or some +reason of that sort, under a promise of being allowed to +return safe. They went, however, and have never got +back. Lord Wellington has written to Gazan, reminding +him of his having sent back six French soldiers, who +were taken by the Portuguese in the heat of the campaign, +owing to a similar promise or understanding, not +having been known to them as made to the French. +Lord Wellington claims the two Portuguese in the same +way, as being taken by a breach of faith in the French +officers. If this be not acceded to, he then requests that +the two officers may be put for some time into close confinement +or arrest, which, he says, they deserve, and +might probably meet here if restored. As yet no answer +is arrived.</p> + +<p>A French dragoon of the 21st chasseurs, a deserter, +came in yesterday, giving a curious account of his reason +for deserting. He says he had been fourteen years in +the French service, and was now a corporal; that his +own captain’s nephew had lately joined as a private in +his troop, and that he, the corporal, had to place this +man on duty; that he was not tractable or obedient, and +that he was obliged to strike him with the flat of his +sword; that the nephew told the uncle, and, when they +returned, the captain, as soon as he met the deserter, +gave him a severe blow in the face with his fist; and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_357">[Pg 357]</span> +that, in consequence, he immediately got on his horse, +and came off to us. He is a fine-looking soldier: and, +though he has sold his horse for a hundred dollars, says, +that he now repents much what he was induced to do in +the heat of the moment; but it is now too late—the +deed is done, and he must persevere.</p> + +<p>I forgot to tell you, in my last, of an act of Spanish +violence at Vittoria, which has caused a strong sensation +in the English army, especially at Vittoria. The Honourable +Captain G——, of the 94th, was quartered +there, and had had some intrigue with a girl. He at +first took her home to his quarter. Her friends had +recourse to the police. The armed police came, and were +in the house to take the girl: Captain G—— resisted, +and the police were fairly turned out again by him and +his servant. When out of the house, they are said to +have formed, as it were, and then to have fired in through +the door in cool blood, and with no particular object as +to taking Captain G——. The latter was shot, and +died almost immediately. Had this happened during +the conflict, it might have been correct enough, though +rather harsh and unnecessary in an armed police against +an individual for comparatively a trifling offence; but as +the story is told, it is quite inexcusable, and seems to +have been merely an act of spite and vexation, at having +suffered themselves to be repulsed by the captain. It +was revenge for having exposed their cowardice.</p> + +<p>The fox-hounds were out yesterday, and killed a fox; +but had not a very good run. Lord Wellington wore +the Salisbury hunt-coat, sky-blue and black cape. The +Spanish General Frere accompanied him, and as formerly +he was a general of cavalry, and the fox soon took to +earth, I understand Frere kept up, but all his staff +were distanced.</p> + +<p>I feel now quite at ease about my animals, for I have +collected straw and hay, and furze enough for about<span class="pagenum" id="Page_358">[Pg 358]</span> +eight days, which is with us looking very forward, as +much so as is prudent. My Spanish boy, after being +here a day or two, told me he would rather set out and +try to find his way to Madrid, so I dismissed him, lest +he should take a horse or mule to expedite him on his +journey.</p> + +<p>We cannot prevent the Spanish boats from still getting +down the Adour to Bayonne, though it is not quite so +easy as it was to navigate the river. If all remains +quiet, Lord Wellington talks of giving a ball here on +the 18th of January, the Queen’s birthday, but nothing +can be settled long beforehand. The English ladies will +be few, and all married women. We have still only four +of the legitimate kind. The mayor of the town says +that a number of the ladies who frequented the balls +before we came, and of whom I found a list in my quarter, +are still here, and will be forthcoming if called upon.</p> + +<p>I find my French “seat of war” a most useful acquisition, +as it now contains the whole war, except our own, +and that I have in the map of this department, which is +on a superior scale.</p> + +<p>From four to six o’clock our promenade on the wall is +quite gay, for all the great men of business, including +Lord Wellington himself, generally appear there at that +time, and the Guards also, though the exertion of +walking, to which we men of business are accustomed to +take at a true twopenny postman’s long trot, is too great +for them; yet they are formed about in knots and +groups, sitting on the wall, or gently lounging on it, and +add to the gaiety of the scene. We soon perceive when +their turn of duty at the outposts takes them away to the +front for a week.</p> + +<p>As a proof of the supine and inactive state of the +Spanish government, bread and corn are so cheap and +abundant this year in the Castiles, that they are quite +without demand, and it even answers to bring Spanish<span class="pagenum" id="Page_359">[Pg 359]</span> +bread up here to sell, above fifty, and, I believe, a +hundred miles; and yet the Spanish nation, relieved from +the French army and our own, cannot supply the few +men we have in front with us, in France and on the +frontier, with money or anything. To prevent their +plundering, we now not only have clothed Don Carlos’s +soldiers, near Hasparren, but have given them a month’s +pay, and provided them with rations of biscuits from +England. With such a nation, and such a population, +the state of the Spanish army, and the supplies, which +get, I think, worse instead of better, is most provokingly +disgraceful to their government and leading men.</p> + +<p>I have been much struck with the change in the +appearance of this town, when French head-quarters +were here, and now that it has become the head-quarters +of the English. It shows the difference between +the two nations. When I was last there, all was gay +and glittering, full of chattering officers in their best +uniforms, with gold lace and ornaments, and prancing +country steeds with housings and trappings of all kinds. +The shops were crowded with sky-blue and scarlet caps +embroidered with silver and gold, and pantaloons the +same, smart cloaks, trinkets, &c. The road was covered +with long cars, bringing in supplies drawn by mules +gaily ornamented, and with bells, and waggoners with +blue frocks, and long smacking whips, whilst the quay +was nearly deserted, only a few boats to be seen which +had just returned from an unsuccessful attempt to send +in shot and shells to St. Sebastian; the sailors idle, and +scarcely the appearance of a port visible. Bread and +vegetables were abundant; other eatables, not so.</p> + +<p>Now we have, on the contrary, a different scene; not +a piece of finery is to be seen, no gay caps, no pantaloons, +no ornaments. The officers all in their morning great +coats; Lord Wellington in his plain blue coat, and round +hat, or perhaps in his sky-blue Salisbury hunting dress.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_360">[Pg 360]</span> +The streets, full of Spanish mules, with supplies, and +muleteers, &c., all running against you, and splashing +you as you walk; every shop crowded with eatables—wines, +sauces, pickles, hams, tongues, butter, and sardines. +The quay is now always a busy scene, covered with some +rum casks, and flour casks, and suttler stores; the sailors +all in our pay, at work constantly and making fortunes; +the pilots in full hourly employment, bringing in vessels +here or at Sacoa. The latter is full of masts and sails +from Passages, Bilboa, Lisbon, or the West of England. +The prices are still enormous, and of course, the activity +is the result. The French peasants are always on the +road between this place and Bayonne, bringing in poultry, +and smuggling out sugar in sacks on their heads.</p> + +<p>The Basques must have been a very happy race +twenty years since, for though generally a poor country, +there is plenty of their usual food—Indian corn, and +excellent meadows by the rivers, which are numerous. +Fish is easily procured—the houses are spacious and comfortable, +and the children seem numerous, well-grown, +intelligent, and healthy. The men are tall, straight, and +active; the women, stout and useful, and rather good-looking. +Nor was any great deficiency of young men +observable; the proportions seemed much the same as in +England, though certainly there are not so many tall idle +fellows about as in Ireland. The town, however, had +evident marks of a tendency to retrograde and decay.</p> + +<p><em>Later, the 16th.</em>—By the last French papers (which +we now have to the 8th, and which bring us the good +news from Genoa), I find the accounts of Bonaparte +setting out to put himself at the head of a hundred and +eighty thousand men near Dijon or Maçon, is at least +premature, for he is still reviewing at Paris. We have +stories of disturbances arising out of the conscription, but +nothing certain seems known about them. The French, +a few days since, surprised a few of our forage mules near<span class="pagenum" id="Page_361">[Pg 361]</span> +Lahoupon; I believe only eight. Lahoupon is a place +which neither party is fixed in, but both patrole through +occasionally.</p> + +<p>P.S.—Notwithstanding Cobbett says, we men from +the Peninsula must never think of marrying English +women, we may at least be anxious about our friends; +for we are not, I conclude, worn out for friendship, as +well as for love. Tell me all you can, as usual, about +every one in your world.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_362">[Pg 362]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XX">CHAPTER XX.</h2> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="fs80" style="margin-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em;">State of Feeling in France—Rocket-Practice—The Prince Regent’s Hobby—The +Mayor’s Ball—The Flag-of-Truce.</p> + +<p class="right fs80"> +Head Quarters, St. Jean de Luz,<br> +<span style="padding-right: 2em">January 18th, 1814.</span></p> +</div> + +<p class="no-indent"><span class="smcap">My dear M——</span>, +</p> + +<p><span style="padding-left: 2em">After</span> two or three days’ continual rain, we have +at last a clear beautiful day; thermometer in my room +at 63°.</p> + +<p>In the midst of a terrible storm the day before +yesterday a little cockle shell of a sloop arrived in the +open bay here, with the Count de Grammont on board +and Colonel Abercrombie, with despatches and a paper of +the 10th. This told us the principal news. We have +thus heard that the Danes are with us; ideas of peace +thrown aside, and the Allies across the Rhine. This is +popular news here; for almost all are against a peace with +Bonaparte, partly from public feelings that such a peace +would be injurious to England and the world, partly the +fact that any peace would not be desirable to our military +men, especially to those on the staff, whose splendour +would be much shorn by it. The civilians and regimental +officers, who are not on the eve of a step, are alone +inclined to a peace; to many it will be ruinous.</p> + +<p>We again hear of refractory conscripts, and men +refusing to march, in the right of the department de +Landes and elsewhere, and I believe it in some degree. +But this alone will not do without a more general feeling<span class="pagenum" id="Page_363">[Pg 363]</span> +and even then scarcely, unless a portion of the army +takes a part and declares its views against the common +enemy Bonaparte, whom all Europe are now hunting like +a mad dog.</p> + +<p>The Count de Grammont has made a most expeditious +trip. He had had communications with the persons on +his former property here, and I suppose his visit home +was connected with this, to know what line to pursue, +&c. The feelings of this part of France seem, as yet, to +be still the same: all desire peace, and for that purpose +are eager to get rid of Bonaparte; but there is no feeling +manifested towards the Bourbons, not hitherto, at least; +and I really believe the military men, and even many +civilians, would rather have Bonaparte if they could be +sure of a peace with him. He has done much for them, +and on a great scale. The Code Napoleon has been a +great work, and from what I hear is much liked. Instead +of being governed, and oppressed in fact, by the rich, as +they were before, they are now governed by the law, and +that a good law; and as the mayor here and several +others say, well administered, when the state was not +concerned. The only defect seemed to be that the +magistrates having been latterly ill-paid, a temptation to +corruption on their part existed; and this was a change +from anarchy, and therefore the more felt, as then the +strongest (I mean in means and territory) was everything +and the poor man nothing. In short, the only really +great grievance felt at this distance from the court of the +tyrant seems to have been the horrid conscription and its +tremendous increase of late, and the want of commerce. +Nor would the French feel either of these so much as +any other nation in Europe. The first she would not +feel so much, on account of the natural tendency of the +inhabitants to a military life and habits; the last, from +the great internal resources of France in other respects, +making loss of commerce of much less importance to her<span class="pagenum" id="Page_364">[Pg 364]</span> +than to almost any other power which had been accustomed +to enjoy them. I do not mean less than +Austria, which has been so generally shut out from commerce +to any extent, but compared with England, Holland, +or Sweden.</p> + +<p><em>Thursday, 20th.</em>—Another change again in the weather. +Yesterday it was quite a fine, sunny, warm day, till one +or two o’clock, like our May, and we were all out, +witnessing some experiments made with the rockets, +about two miles off, when a storm gathered, and soon +the rain and wind came, and has continued to this time. +The night has been very boisterous, and one of our +Commissariat transports has been on shore in the bay +here, stranded, and it is feared that five or six lives are +lost: all hands are now at work moving the stores—corn +and hay.</p> + +<p>All the military men in the vicinity were here with +Lord Wellington, including General Frere, the Spanish +General. The ground-rockets, intended against cavalry, +did not seem to answer very well. They certainly made +a most tremendous noise, and were formidable spitfires; +no cavalry could stand if they came near them, but in +that seemed the difficulty, for none went within half a +mile of the intended object, and the direction seemed +extremely uncertain. The ground was very bad, and on +a flat, or along a road, where they would ricochet or +bound along straight they might do very well, but in the +present experiment they went bang into the ground, +sometimes within two hundred yards, and sometimes one +way and sometimes another. Some of them, instead of +going fourteen hundred yards, as intended, were off in a +hundred, and some pieces of the shell came back even +amongst us spectators, one very near Dr. N—— and me, +whilst we were standing on one side, out of the way as +we thought. The fire, however, seemed very strong, as +one got into a green hedge, and set it in a blaze directly;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_365">[Pg 365]</span> +the furze and heath were on fire, and only put out by the +rain. Those which were let off at an elevation supposed +for burning towns, &c., were much more successful, and +some went very near the spot, compared with others; +that is, I think they would have hit Bayonne, for +instance, somewhere or other, and no doubt have set +fire to the town; but the part of the town you could not +very well choose, for their power seemed very different, +and the wind at times carried them three hundred or +four hundred yards away from the direction intended.</p> + +<p>Upon the whole I do not think they were much admired, +though in certain cases they might be useful, +especially when the enemy are in a mountainous track, +like at the battle of Pamplona, and near us. Where +guns could not be got up without great difficulty, these +rockets could be carried by hand, or on mules, and being +let off near, would have tremendous effect even upon +infantry when in column. General ——, who is very +wise and knowing in the secret views and springs of +everything (or at least would be thought so), says that +all that fuse of the Crown Prince and Sir Charles Stewart, +as to the effect of the rockets in the North, was to please +the Prince Regent in England, the great patron of the +rockets.</p> + +<p>The stranded ship was, I hear, driven out of the harbour +of Sacoa by the gale. This is quite extraordinary, +for the vessels are there quite shut up. The place is, +however, too full by far, for no transport likes to move +again when once safe there. The packet lost in the harbour +of Passages last week shows you the sort of gales +and seas we have here.</p> + +<p>This morning, a French picquet of about thirty men +were marched off from hence, prisoners; they were surprised +by us two nights ago. We got close, and when +challenged, an old Highlander called out “deserter,” so +the sentinel did not fire, and our men got in among them +and carried off the picquet. I am not very glad of this,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_366">[Pg 366]</span> +for I fear it will lead the French to try and return the +compliment, and make the outpost duty much more dangerous +and troublesome than it has been. If it only leads +to their shooting our next deserter, so much the better. +Deserters continue to come in and tell strange stories. +They say that Marshal Soult has issued orders, that +whenever a foreigner is to be on outpost duty, all his +necessaries, knapsack, &c., are to be taken from him, and +he is besides to be watched and placed with others. They +even say that a German posted on sentry has his shoes +taken away from him. This, barring exaggeration, no +doubt is nearly true.</p> + +<p>It is reported that last week three hundred young conscripts +belonging to one regiment were employed to carry +bread to the brigade, and that when near one of the +French sentinels, they were challenged by him, but from +not understanding matters, they made no answer, and +advanced; upon which he fired at them, when the whole +three hundred threw down their bread and ran into +camp, crying, that the enemy were coming.</p> + +<p>But the best story of all, if true, was told by the +mayor of Biaritz, who states that he understands three +French divisions are under orders to proceed direct to +Lyons, whether to meet Schwartzenburg or on account +of disturbances does not seem clear, even if the story be +true.</p> + +<p><em>Friday, January 21st.</em>—In spite of the wet yesterday, +Lord Wellington having heard of the surprised picquet, +set off to the front to inquire about it, or, as he said last +night, to know if it was worth while to surprise it again, +as it has been renewed by the French; but he thought +not, and was back here to dinner, and in the evening at +a ball at the mayoralty. This ball was an attempt to +ascertain how far anything of the sort would answer. +The mayor was to manage it, and ask all the ladies, and +a list of the officers to be asked was given to him, and +tickets sent out, and he was to provide the best entertainment<span class="pagenum" id="Page_367">[Pg 367]</span> +he could for a dollar-a-head from the gentlemen +only, which will be collected accordingly. It went off, +however, but ill, and will not in my opinion be renewed. +There were about a dozen or fifteen elderly women, +French, who have remained here, and who seemed of the +better order, but who came in our country town fashion, +with the cloak, the woman servant, and the large lantern, +only many of them brought the maid in with them +to sit behind and look on. Then there were about sixteen +or eighteen younger ladies, French, but who seemed +to be nearly all the tradesmen’s families in the place, +none of the better sort, but from behind the counter in +the morning. They were, however, well dressed, and +danced tolerably for French—for English very finely. +About half a dozen old Frenchmen, some respectable; +and about eight young beaux of the place, who had +escaped the conscription, and who had remained here, +made up the French party. There were six English +ladies altogether, but who, excepting one, declined dancing +French dances or waltzes, and there was nothing +else but one country dance, which went off ill. I have +no doubt the French either thought them excessively +fine, or that they could not dance. There might be +quite as much of the latter as the former. Then to complete +the assembly, came about two hundred officers, all +in their best, and forming a very smart squeeze. What +would your fine ladies in London have not given for such +a display of gentlemen? All the field officers of six +battalions of the Guards, and about fifty other guards’ +officers, and all the head-quarters’ staff, generals, aides-de-camp, +were there.</p> + +<p>I think Cobbett would have admitted that, with so +many fine young men there, the whole Peninsula squad +could not be quite so despicable in the eyes of the +English fair. Three sets of cotillions were formed, and +some waltzes, but the whole went off but indifferently.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_368">[Pg 368]</span> +A Frenchman of about forty or fifty, one of the police of +the town, volunteered a hornpipe, which was tolerably +good. About 12 or 1 o’clock a long table was opened +for the ladies, covered with pastry of different shapes: no +meat—the wine, claret. At half-past one I came away, +leaving the dancers rather beginning to romp. This will +not do, because the belles are not good enough to please +in a sober way, and if liberties are taken they would be +offended, or at least their male relations would be for +them. Lord Wellington was soon off, and whilst there +seemed to be principally occupied with little military +arrangements. He, however, seemed pleased with the +thing, and asked me as I passed, if I thought Gazan ever +had a better ball? I only said, “I am sure there never +were so many gentlemen in the mayor’s house before.” +Better dancing, however, there may have been.</p> + +<p>Still rain, without ceasing. I have been skipping with +one of my mule ropes, instead of my walk to-day with my +umbrella. I got to the wrecked ship yesterday. The +best account seems to be that she pulled up the post to +which she was fastened in Sacoa harbour, and drifted out; +the captain was on shore; the missing are three men and +a woman, and they are supposed to be lost, and it is believed +that the men were in the rigging trying to make +things right, when the mast broke. The Guards were +set to work as fatigue-parties at low water, and the cargo +removed on shore, consisting of hay and biscuit, not much +damaged by the wreck. The hay, however, of which one +truss fell to my share, was previously almost mouldy +with wet, perhaps a little taste of salt may give it a +relish, and any how it is as good as coarse straw and +furze, and better than nothing, which is my mules’ long +forage at present. The muleteer is so popular, the +Portuguese give him so much drink to make him dance +and amuse them, that he is very ill with it, and lying +below with a blister and emetic; and the mules therefore<span class="pagenum" id="Page_369">[Pg 369]</span> +get no grass, as I cannot turn them out; and straw +I cannot afford them.</p> + +<p>Another ingenious trick has just been told me of the +French here. They advanced towards Murillo’s Spaniards,—the +latter fired at them; they sent in to say +they were very much surprised, for they understood they +were at peace with the Spaniards now, as a treaty was +signed. Murillo sent back for answer, that he knew of +no peace, and that, if the Cortes or Regency had signed +such a peace, still he should continue to do as the English +did, and fire at the French until orders came to him to +the contrary, and that regularly through the Duke of +Ciudad Rodrigo. This is all as it should be, but the +trick is a curious one.</p> + +<p><em>Saturday, 22nd.</em>—The weather is now more like winter +than it has yet been. At St. Jean de Luz we have a +raw, cold air, no sun, a damp fog. La Rhüne and all +the hills round are covered with snow; nothing but a +little sleet has fallen here.</p> + +<p><em>Sunday, Post-day.</em>—A fine day, but really like winter; +the coldest we have had, and a north-east wind, which +will, I think, before it arrived here, have frozen you all +up stiff in England and in Holland. We were all +yesterday surprised by the news that the French picquets +were all withdrawn near Bayonne on our front on this +side, and that we might proceed close in to the works +round Bayonne. What this exactly means we none of +us know; Lord Wellington, however, was over immediately, +to have a peep into the town on that side. +Careless about himself, he got so close, that I understand +there were some French in a house within about forty +yards of him; nor did he move until he thought a French +frigate lying in the harbour seemed to be making preparations +to fire at the party. I mentioned to you it +was on the 10th of December, in front here, that he got +quite in the midst of the broken Portuguese, where there<span class="pagenum" id="Page_370">[Pg 370]</span> +were cross fires on all sides, and was fearful on moving +off quickly back, even though he wanted to go and order +up fresh troops, lest the bad example might increase the +disorder, and throw the men in greater confusion; so he +went leisurely back, until out of sight, and then cantered +off to the unbroken part of the column.</p> + +<p>We have more reports of insurrections in France, and +the French have been circulating the story, that the +preliminaries of peace (a general peace) are already signed, +and have sent the report in here. I suspect that it is all +a trick, for all shifts and schemes are now resorted to; +amongst others, Bonaparte has sent back Palafox to +Spain—it is concluded, to intrigue, for he is well known +now, and the Cortes have, I am told, refused to receive +him or take any notice of him. The promotion of +O’Donoghue as Lieutenant-general, and his quitting the +situation of War Minister in consequence, is considered +a sort of triumph on our part, for he was suspected of +being inimical to Lord Wellington and the British +interests. Of his successor, Moreno, I know nothing, +except that he has generally been of the War Council, +and in civil-military employments, and has not seen much +service.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, St. Jean de Luz, January 26th, 1814.</em>—I +have now another letter to thank you for, of the date of +the 11th instant, and papers to the same period, for +which my best thanks are also due. These arrived by +the sloop of war, with Colonel Bunbury, and are particularly +acceptable, for (except Lord Wellington), no one has +letters by the packet, or papers later than the 5th. +Colonel Bunbury brought one of the 13th for Lord +Wellington. In some degree, however, all your papers +now lose their interest, for we have a sort of information +through Paris very much quicker, and though not very +much to be depended upon, and not very full or accurate, +yet it gives us, making all due allowances, a tolerable<span class="pagenum" id="Page_371">[Pg 371]</span> +insight into what is passing. We have thus now papers +of the 17th from Paris, from which it appears the Allies +have been at Besançon, Dijon, and even Langres, whilst +your accounts only carry them to the frontiers of Switzerland.</p> + +<p>The deficiency of my Spanish maps does not signify, +for I merely sent them home as a sort of memorial of +Vittoria. All I had were only about the tenth part of +Lopez, and nearly one-half of what I had are gone to the +bottom in the little Catherine, in which I sent two +parcels.</p> + +<p>General G—— was always famous here for hospitality +and very large parties. The only objection to them was +the too great crowd at dinner. From what I saw, however, +I liked him extremely. There was a wide distance +between him and Lord Wellington in material points for +a Commander-in-Chief, though I believe he was more popular +with those under him, and particularly with his staff.</p> + +<p>You need never apologize for forwarding a letter by +any officer sent out express in a ship of war, and direct to +head-quarters, for that is the best of all conveyances when +available. They are sure to use the greatest expedition, +and to have the best sailing-vessel. An officer coming +out with convoy in a transport to join his regiment is +quite <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">une autre chose</i>, and to be as much avoided.</p> + +<p>We have for the last three days had a touch of your +late weather, and have had snow on the ground to the +sea’s edge every night fresh, and remaining all day on +the ground. It is still not very cold in reality, and +indeed less so than could be wished, for if colder, we +should feel it less. This seems paradoxical, but the truth +is, that the ground here is not hard, and the snow, when +trodden upon in the streets, melts, and forms a most +chilling mud, and there is a cold evaporation going on +worse than a hard frost. It is here every day like the +first beginning of a cold thaw.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_372">[Pg 372]</span></p> + +<p>Yesterday one of my deputies, passing through here, +dined with me. He is a very gentleman-like, quiet, and +most diligent character, and I only hope my mention +of him, in particular to General Pakenham, the Adjutant-general, +coupled with that of Colonel Royals, whose +Adjutant he has been, may do him some service. He +has been down at Coimbra, and elsewhere. His name is +Arden, and he is a lieutenant in the 61st. He was last +from St. Andero, and told me a curious story about a +late flag-of-truce there.</p> + +<p>Much of our clothing was, you may have heard, carried +to Santona, near there, as a prize. Many of our men +were, consequently, in absolute tatters. Lord Wellington +proposed to Soult to buy it at a valuation, and let the +Governor of Santona have the money to pay his garrison. +Soult agreed, and gave an order, with a pass. Mr. Drake, +the Commissary, was ordered to go into Santona, in consequence, +with a flag to treat. Instead of one trumpeter, +five persons improperly went with him. The French +officer on the post came out, told him he did not understand +a flag-of-truce with five persons, and the Spaniards +drawn up so near, that he might suspect treachery, and +must do his duty, though Soult’s orders and pass might +be all regular. In short, said he, “I return in, and in +one minute I fire a gun at you; so make the best of +your way off.” Though the party offered to be taken in +as prisoners, the Frenchman went in; so off they ran, +and just as they turned the corner of a house, a twenty-four +pounder was after them. The Governor was angry +with the officer. A new flag with one person advanced: +Drake was admitted, but was blinded for nearly a league; +and yet the person near him and another, let in afterwards, +were permitted to see all. When the mission was +understood, and the party discovered to be civilians, the +Governor was very polite. He gave them good wine, +but bad bread and meat, which the power of fancy made<span class="pagenum" id="Page_373">[Pg 373]</span> +Drake think was horseflesh. He then said that the +shoes, gaiters, pantaloons, and some of the caps, his men +then wore, so that as to those the mission was too late; +but the jackets they were welcome to purchase, with some +other things, and a bargain was soon made. The Governor +then said, “I know your road home is infamous +to St. Andero—you shall return in our privateer row-barge.” +This they did in a very short time, and the +finale was a formal complaint from the Spanish authorities +at St. Andero, against Drake, for having dared to +let a French row-boat enter St. Andero without their +leave and their pass. When in the town all the children, +&c., crowded round Drake and his party to see an Englishman. +This made the Governor very angry, and he +had them dispersed, asking them “what there was to +look at in an Englishman?” at which they shouted under +his nose—“<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Viva los Ingleses! Viva! Viva!</i>” I wish +the higher class of Spaniards were as staunch as the +peasantry and rabble.</p> + +<p><em>Saturday.</em>—Our regular mail has not yet arrived; so +your papers up to the 11th have been in most constant +request; for, though there was one here up to the 13th, +there was no regular set to the 11th. The snow has +ended in torrents of cold rain again; the roads, almost +more impassable, if that be possible, than they were before, +of course impede all movement, even if intended. Nothing +but a rising or commotions, would tempt us out, +and that must be without cannon in a great measure, and +dependant for provisions principally on the country, as +our transport diminishes daily in the army, from the +death of mules, or desertion of muleteers.</p> + +<p>The life of the subaltern officers just now is very +arduous and unpleasant; winter quarters they certainly +have, but that is all; four or five in a room, comforts +very few, a great deal of duty with forage parties, and +going to Passages for corn, bread, &c., and always in the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_374">[Pg 374]</span> +wet, and up to the knees in mud. Matters, however, +must, in my opinion, end soon.</p> + +<p>We have French papers to the 20th, and by them find +the Allies at Langres, Dijon, and Lyons; we are told +that they are well received. Upon this it must very +much turn at last. The news from the French camp and +from Bayonne is of peace. Our mayor has had a letter +from his confidential friend at Bayonne. The basis was +at last agreed upon on both sides, and a congress to take +place at Basle. This may be fabricated, for the purpose +of keeping the country and army here quiet until the +event be really so. The French must now or never get +rid of Bonaparte, if they wish it. It is not very flattering +to the Bourbons, that even the repeated sufferings and +disasters the nation has endured from Bonaparte scarcely +seem to be able to rouse up the least attachment to +them; and that even the last necessity seems hardly to +make the people willing to run any risks for the old +royal family. Yet I am almost sure the feeling would +rapidly spread, from the sort of despair now prevailing as +to <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">la pauvre France</i>, if a good beginning could be but +once made.</p> + +<p>You must remember the article of capitulation as to +the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Commissaire de Guerre</i> and his family, the brother’s +wife, and two daughters, &c., at St. Sebastian. They +have never yet returned to France, and are now here. +The exchange of the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Commissaire</i> could never be arranged; +and the ladies, though offered to return without +him, would not do so, expecting that he would every day +be able to accompany them. Lord Wellington let them +remain at Passages, until the matter was finally settled; +and there they have been all the time in the same house +with one of our Commissaries, Mr. M——. And now, +when they were all to go back, the latter has declared +himself the admirer professed of the youngest girl, and +they are after all halted here at St. Jean de Luz until he<span class="pagenum" id="Page_375">[Pg 375]</span> +can marry her, and then the rest of the party pass into +the French lines. I met them at dinner yesterday; +they are a pleasant family. The girl pleasing and rather +pretty, and in the English style; the mother a clever +woman; the other girl not pretty, but odd, and, I think, +clever.</p> + +<p>Our new Admiral is arrived, having left England on +the 21st. All our mails are thus forestalled, as we have +still only mail papers and letters to the 5th. We are +told that there is no news in particular, but that all +is warlike. Our story here is, however, of a still later +date, and may possibly still be true. The only other +news we have is from Catalonia; and that, it is to +be feared, is bad. You will, however, get it before you +have this, I conclude, from the <cite>Gazette</cite>. General Donkin +told me his letters stated that we had made an attack on +Moulins del Rey on the Lobregat, near Barcelona; that +the Spaniards were to cross the river and turn the +French: that they were too slow and too late, and so the +whole plan failed; but that we suffered but little, and +that the loss was nearly all Spanish, who lost two colonels +killed. I do not believe that all Spain would drive +Suchet or his army out, except by time, and wear and +tear—never by force. The Government, however, have +behaved well, I believe, as to the late French attempts +through Ferdinand, and through our English hero—Palafox.</p> + +<p>I am sorry not to be able still to admire the latter. +It is mortifying to strike out the name of one of the few +Spanish heroes which this five years’ war has produced. +I am now, however, satisfied that the Spanish insurrection, +and all its good consequences, was owing to the +thorough ignorance and want of calculation, and of +information and judgment of the Spaniards. If they +had had more common sense, and knowledge of the true +state of things, even their zeal and patriotism (which I<span class="pagenum" id="Page_376">[Pg 376]</span> +admit were considerable) would never have induced them +to adopt a course so devoid of all prospect of a favourable +result, and which every thinking, impartial, able man +must have pronounced a desperate mad scheme. We owe +it principally, I am sure, to their excessive pride and +ignorance, their good opinion, yet want of knowledge of +themselves. And this accounts for the most able men at +first all going the wrong way.</p> + +<p><em>Sunday, 30th, Post-day.</em>—Nothing but wind and rain, +wind and rain for ever, and no more news. Some of the +deserters say that the French head-quarters are removed +to my old place, Mont de Marsan; but I should think +that this can scarcely be yet. The new Admiral dined +at head-quarters yesterday, but I understand, has brought +little news. One ship under his orders, it is feared, has +been lost already, as we have a report of a sloop of war, +<em>The Holly</em>, lost at Passages, and several of the crew with +it. This is certainly a terrible coast. There is now a +vessel riding in the bay here, very uneasy, and cannot +enter; and one was as nearly as possible lost yesterday +morning close to Sacoa; the surf broke over her. The +exertions of the French pilots were astonishing.</p> + +<p><em>Sunday, later, 5 o’clock, 30th.</em>—We have two French +officers come out here from England to seek a better fate +by a little <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">intrigo</i>, I suppose. One is a Basque of this +country on half-pay from our service, and the other, +a Monsieur La Fitte, I believe a clever man, and a La +Vendée hero.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_377">[Pg 377]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXI">CHAPTER XXI.</h2> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="fs80" style="margin-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em;">Army Supplies—Offending Villages—Symptoms of Work—Arrival of the +Duke D’Angoulême—The Bridge across the Adour—Wellington and his +Chief Engineer—His Activity.</p> + +<p class="right fs80"> +Head-quarters, St. Jean de Luz,<br> +<span style="padding-right: 2em">February 2, 1814.</span></p> +</div> + +<p class="no-indent"><span class="smcap">My dear M——</span> +</p> + +<p><span style="padding-left: 2em">Here</span> we remain absolutely tied by the leg by the +horrible state of the roads, and weather, and without +any regular news from England. Nothing but reports +on the side of France which would encourage us to proceed; +and, on the sea-side, of heavy gales, and lost +vessels. I am just now driven in by a furious hailstorm, +and yet the weather is mild, and has been till this moment +pleasant enough. We have two ships in the little +bay here; one full of hay, which has been four days +nearly within three hundred yards of the shore, and in +hourly danger of drifting on the beach—yet we have not +been able, in spite of our distress, to get out a truss; and +the other a brig transport, empty, and driven in here by +stress of weather. A frigate was also off here all yesterday, +apparently labouring much, and fearful of the coast. +We certainly have undertaken a bold thing in wintering +in such a place, but it was a choice of difficulties.</p> + +<p>If we had money we should do well, but that is as +scarce as anything else. Plenty of supplies would come +in from the right from the French, had we cash to give +in return. As it is, in consequence of the little ready +money we gave at first, a great quantity of cattle, food,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_378">[Pg 378]</span> +&c., has been obtained, but now we are reduced to Treasury +Bills, and that cannot last, and the loss is very great. +Even the muleteers get a past payment now in those +bills, and the consequence is that a person may buy them +with dollars at the rate of 7<em>s.</em> 4<em>d.</em>, and, I believe, 7<em>s.</em> 6<em>d.</em> +a dollar. The army is also six months, and the staff +seven months in arrear of their pay.</p> + +<p>We have, however, I believe, plenty of bread and biscuit, +and meal for a month with the army and corn at +Passages in abundance. The short transport from thence +is almost too much for us, and the supply is by no means +general to the animals, whilst long forage is quite a rarity. +The destruction in the oxen is frightful in the rear. Our +great depôt is as far back as Palencia, and even there, in +store, the cattle die very fast, and the moment they march +they fall away to nothing and die by fifties. Our Commissary-general +almost despairs of getting more up, +although he has made depôts of bran and straw, &c., on +the road, to try and obviate the total want of food. It is +now in contemplation to ship cattle from St. Andero, +where there is a store; but then we have rather a scarcity +of naval transports also. Cattle would come in as fast as +we wished from twenty leagues to our right, could we but +pay for it. As it is, I am almost inclined to think that +we shall, as a choice of evils, be obliged, in spite of the +roads, to move towards our right in quest of food.</p> + +<p>Two of the villages in that direction have justly incurred +Lord Wellington’s displeasure by plundering and +seizing our forage parties, of which we have lately lost +several. One or two were taken by the peasants of those +two villages, and Lord Wellington has issued a proclamation +addressed to them and that country, reminding +them that he told them to remain at home, and be quiet, +and to take no part, and that if they did so he would +protect them; but that he would not have this treachery +in return. If they did not like this proposal, well and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_379">[Pg 379]</span> +good, then let them quit their <em>foyers</em> and leave their villages, +and take the consequence, and he should be prepared +to meet them as enemies; but they must make +this election. The curé of one of these villages was carried +off as a hostage for their good behaviour in future. +We have strong reports of commotions and internal +dissatisfactions in France, and that Bonaparte is reduced +to concentrate his army round Paris. If this be true +Lord Wellington must be half mad about the roads. I +find he is gone out to-day to look about him. Two nine-pounders +have just drawn up opposite my windows with +eight horses each, and the men have left their guns under +the charge of the Provost guard. I suppose they are on +the march. I must inquire what this means.</p> + +<p><em>February 3rd.</em>—The artillery is said to mean nothing; +but still I think if we get fine weather for a week we +shall have a start. In confirmation of what I have +written above, as to the loss of cattle, I will give you two +instances: three hundred and sixty head of convalescent +bullocks, which had been left at Vittoria to get into order, +were marched for the army; sixty only have arrived thus +far, all the rest have been left at stations between, or been +given to the different alcaldes, and receipts taken for them—a +new mode lately adopted. Five hundred of another +lot of fresh bullocks, collected at Palencia, were marched +all this way, three hundred only have reached Vittoria, +and all the bad road and scarcity of food is yet to come. +This is really quite alarming.</p> + +<p><em>February 3rd, later.</em>—I find the guns mean nothing; +they are only going on to the front to replace two now +there, which are to come back to refit. Still, however, if +we could but get fine weather, I think we should make a +stir. Bets were going on as to a peace, or our being at +Bayonne and across the Adour in six weeks; and symptoms +of a move shortly are perceptible. The rain, however, +continues. Colonel Bunbury made one attempt to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_380">[Pg 380]</span> +go to the right of our army the day before yesterday, but +only got half way, and is unwell in consequence. He is +to leave this either in Lord Wellington’s carriage, or to +go round by water to Passages. The sea is, however, +quiet, and now only torments our anxious curiosity by +throwing up parts of wrecks and bodies. A ship-cable, +with the G.R., was found at Bidart, and three men and a +woman. Some say that the latter had silk stockings on. +One body cast up here was half eaten, and I saw a backbone +only yesterday. The bodies of the mules float in +and out every tide.</p> + +<p>As a proof of the state of forage here, and of the +manner in which we are imposed upon, five shillings were +yesterday demanded for a sack of chopped furze from the +surrounding hills, and thus sold in the market. Straw +fetches two shillings for a small handful, of which a horse +would eat two or three in a day.</p> + +<p>I have just seen a Spanish Captain who was taken +prisoner little more than three months since. He has +been to Maçon on the Saone since, where the Allies now +are, about six hundred miles from this, having been first +plundered of his great coat and pantaloons. He was +about thirty-five days getting there on foot all the way, +staid there forty days, and then was about thirty-six days +more returning here, also on foot, having been exchanged. +He says the notion is that we have the Duke d’Angoulême +here, and that very many wish it to be so. This +is like my finding many persuaded that we had the Duke +de Berri with our army when I was a prisoner. I suspect, +however, we shall in part verify this notion now, as +I just hear one of the best quarters in the town is to be +cleared immediately for an unknown great man, now at +Passages, and just arrived from England. At first they +even talked of moving the Adjutant-general, Pakenham, +to make room for him. This mystery will, however, +soon be cleared up. Rain, which is never pleasant, was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_381">[Pg 381]</span> +never so disagreeable as now. The fate of France may +depend upon it.</p> + +<p>The owner of my house is a well-bred woman, who +lives in a great house opposite. She lives in one corner +of it, whilst General Wimpfen and his staff, and Colonel +M——, his wife, and three children, occupy all the best +part. She has, she told me, thirteen houses round here, +five are burnt, and two coming down, and yet she seems +resigned and satisfied that we have really behaved very +well; that it is the fate of war, and owing to the ill +fortune of having property in a frontier country near +armies, and is quite inevitable. She only exclaims, “<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Oh +la pauvre France!</i>” This is a novel language to the +French of late.</p> + +<p><em>4th, Friday.</em>—Still rain, rain, rain, all night. All yesterday, +all the night before, and still continuing. Oh! +that we had your frost instead; all things would have +been very different.</p> + +<p>The great man just arrived, and now here, turns +out to be the Duke d’Angoulême, and Count Damas is +come out with him, but till the plot thickens the Duke is +<em>incog.</em></p> + +<p>Our pontoons from the Bidassoa are now passing over +the St. Jean de Luz bridge. This looks like something, +and we have to-day at last a dry day, or at least a half +day, for I must not be too sure yet. The wind is getting +round to the north a little, or north-east, and if that remains +it will do, especially as it is full moon; though I +have not much more faith in the moon, in respect of +weather than Lord Wellington has, who says it is nonsense. +In addition to all your news, we have French +news of a battle at St. Dizier, near Chalons, and that the +Allies have been beaten. It is to be feared that it is not +all to go so smoothly as hitherto, unless a rising takes +place.</p> + +<p>All odd strangers who come to head-quarters here have<span class="pagenum" id="Page_382">[Pg 382]</span> +been long called tigers. Of course we now have “The +Royal Tiger.” This is a head-quarters’ joke for you. +We have had for some time here a Madame de ——, +the wife of the Commandant of ——, come to make +arrangements beforehand, and here she certainly has been +making many little arrangements not much to the advantage +of her husband, and not quite consistent with +conjugal fidelity. When the Commandant arrived yesterday +at last, she immediately began to blame him for +his unnecessary delay, and insinuated that another lady +was the cause. This is very hard upon a poor old man, +but I suppose the lady thought it right to take the +initiative.</p> + +<p>The publication of the Leipsig letters, which George +mentions, of Murray’s, will be very curious, but I think +it is not right to let these be published. Similar letters +were taken in Spain more than once, and police reports. +The old letters which were too late (those I mean from +you) were from the Secretary of State’s office, not from +the Judge-Advocate’s office. They were probably mislaid +at the former.</p> + +<p><em>Sunday, Post-day.</em>—A bright sun and a smiling sky, +with a smooth bay covered with ships, quite a Vernet. +I have just returned from the church service on the +beach, in a square of about two thousand five hundred +guards, and all the staff here present. As I returned I +picked up your letter of the 26th, and papers at the post-office. +I have just got some business come in, for desertion +has commenced again now that we are quiet and +idle. A corporal and twelve men all went off together +a few nights since, all foreigners, and I believe French. +Our people at home are very careless in selecting soldiers +to enlist into our corps from the prisons. What can be +better for a Frenchman in a prison-ship than to receive +4<em>l.</em>, new clothes, arms, &c., and then to be sent into his +own country, and put in a situation to join his comrades,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_383">[Pg 383]</span> +with only the difficulty of watching a good occasion. In +yesterday’s return, however, nine men have deserted, +mostly English. Your English news is all good as far as +it goes, and if this weather will but hold a little, you will +hear of more glory and more broken heads here. In addition +to the pontoons which have passed up, scaling-ladders +have gone through here. If we could but cross +the mouth of the Adour below Bayonne, and get at the +citadel at once by scaling and storm, there would be +something like a blow, and the town would be at our +mercy immediately.</p> + +<p>We have some gentlemen here, but very few, who +begin to find the work too warm for them. I have been +saved two cases of this sort, very awkward ones, by resignations, +and have been consulted on two others by +General Cole, very suspicious ones, but not so clear as the +other two who are let off thus, to save the reputation of +the regiments. An officer should think a little before he +engages in service, such as we have had here the last few +years.</p> + +<p>More business, so I must put an end to this quickly. +I have not seen the Royal Tiger, but am to dine at head-quarters +to-day, and hope he may be there. The French +ladies are staunch Bonapartists. They say we shall have +another Quiberon business, and that the Allies are coming +into France the same old road as twenty years since, and +will return by it.</p> + +<p>I have been so pressed to change my old mare, which +was in high condition, that, to oblige Major D—— of +the Guards, I have done so, and taken “Mother Goose” +(a pet name of General Hulse’s formerly) in exchange, +and fifteen guineas to boot. Mother Goose is a very +good mare, but never would stand fire. She is not so +large or showy as my old lady, but I like her much. She +was valued at eighty-five guineas, and has always sold for +that. I put mine at a hundred guineas. I gave more—four<span class="pagenum" id="Page_384">[Pg 384]</span> +hundred dollars; as dollars cannot be had under 7<em>s.</em>, +and the exchange is still higher on the muleteer Treasury +bills. These, however, I should not think it right to +deal in.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, St. Jean de Luz, Thursday, February +10th, 1814.</em>—Thus far the week has passed without my +having commenced my usual Journal to you; for I have +had a return of business, and also several gentlemen to +swear, and certificates and affidavits to make out, to +enable friends to take out administration in England to +deceased officers’ estates. We have also again had two +fine days, and I have been able to get a ride or two in +consequence. On Sunday, at head-quarters, I met the +Royal Tiger at dinner—the Duke d’Angoulême and +Monsieur Damas.</p> + +<p>Before dinner I got into conversation with the Duke, +without knowing who he was, for they were both dressed +alike in a fancy uniform, very like our navy Captain’s +undress, a plain blue coat, with two gold epaulettes. He +seemed much pleased with his prospects, and very sanguine +as to the result. The day was fine; he was sure +the weather would last a month. I said that the natives +told me we should have rain, and no settled weather +until March was half over. He was sure I had been +misinformed; the fact was, however, that it rained half +that very night and the whole of the next day. Every day +he expected to proceed to France, and saw all difficulties +vanish. “<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Les pauvres conscripts de Bayonne fondaient +comme la neige; ils étoient presque tous à l’hôpital</i>,” and +so on.</p> + +<p>That we shall make a dash soon, unless peace prevents +it, I fully believe from all I see and hear, and an embargo +which has been laid on all small vessels in the river here +confirms this. We have also to-day an order for twelve +days’ hay at Passages, for which we are to send to the +ships ourselves, as Government have just now sent us out<span class="pagenum" id="Page_385">[Pg 385]</span> +a good lot of English hay, and if we march it must be all +left behind, for we have no means of carrying it with us. +At least the animals will thus all start with a belly full, +which is something, and to many a novelty.</p> + +<p>I do not think much of the little Duke; his figure and +manners are by no means imposing, and his talents appear +not very great. He seems affable and good-tempered, +and though not seemingly a being to make a kingdom for +himself, he may do very well to govern one when well +established. Lord Wellington was in his manner droll +towards them. As they went out, we drew up on each +side, and Lord Wellington put them first; they bowed +and scraped right and left so oddly, and so actively, +that he followed with a face much nearer a grin than +a smile.</p> + +<p>They were at church on Sunday, but I cannot learn +with any effect; hitherto we cannot judge, for this small +corner dare not speak out their minds, if they were in his +favour. We hear of a strong disposition at Bordeaux and +in Brittany. I have as yet seen only apathy and indifference, +but I still expect a burst if the war should last.</p> + +<p>I must now go to Lord Wellington about a poor old +Doctor, who has been charged with having a soldier +servant. I expect a jobation for what I shall state in his +favour, for this is a very heinous offence in the eyes of +Lord Wellington.</p> + +<p><em>Same day, later.</em>—Lord Wellington, as I supposed, +insisted on the Doctor’s being tried, but was good-humoured, +though just going out with the hounds, when +in general he does not like interruption. This particular +Doctor had a right to a servant of his own regiment, but +he had one of another. I suggested that he had never +joined his own regiment since he was appointed, and +could not, therefore, have one of that corps. “Then he +should have gone without,” was the answer, and as for +the Doctor’s good character, that went for nothing. Lord<span class="pagenum" id="Page_386">[Pg 386]</span> +Wellington never attends to individual hardships, but to +the general good, and as many abuses go on at depôts in +the rear, every time he discovers an instance he is inexorable +in trying to punish, especially when he finds it out +himself, as he did this in another trial of the same poor +Doctor, by some of the evidence. The Doctor, foolish +man, desired it might be put on the minutes that he +would ask such a witness no question, as he had been his +servant at the time, and was so still.</p> + +<p>I have just heard an anecdote which shows strongly +the Spanish character, and also why Lord Wellington +likes Colonel Dickson as his chief artillery officer. On +the 9th of November last the order was given for the +troops to march to the attack at four the next morning. +This was when we were at Vera. Every one had known +for weeks that this was to take place the earliest moment +it was possible; and that the fall of Pamplona and better +weather were the only reasons of the army being in such +a position as we then were, perched up on the sides of all +the mountains so late in the year, with the prospect of +snow daily. At nine that night General Frere, the +Spanish General, who is considered to be one of their best, +sent word that the Spanish army under his command was +without any ammunition, and could not get any up in +time. At ten o’clock Dickson was sent for, just as he +was going to bed. Instead of saying nothing could be +done, or making any difficulties, he proposed giving the +Spaniards immediately the reserve ammunition of the +nearest English division, and said that he would send out +orders instantly, and undertake to get the English reserve +replaced in time, and this was done.</p> + +<p>Poor E—— got a very loud discourse all the way +home from church last Sunday. The oxen of the pontoon +train were all dying, and in cross roads were useless, for +they could not move singly except with difficulty, much +less draw a pontoon of two tons weight. It had been<span class="pagenum" id="Page_387">[Pg 387]</span> +reported in consequence that three troops of artillery +must be dismounted to draw the pontoon. Lord Wellington +was vexed excessively. “Where are the pontoon +horses?” “None were ever sent out from England; +never had anything but oxen, and five hundred have died +since we left Frenada.” This answer still did not satisfy +him. He must, notwithstanding, have known it from +the returns which he sees, but still he seemed, though he +could not tell why, to think poor E—— blameable. The +latter said that he had no orders to send to England for +horses, and no one seemed to think they would be necessary, +and he had never had them.</p> + +<p><em>Friday, 11th.</em>—I went last night to our third ball, in +hopes of seeing the Duke d’Angoulême there, and to observe +how he was received. He did not attend. All our +other great men were there—Lord Wellington and all +the French, as yet very few in numbers. The owner of +General Cole’s quarters near Ustaritz, I believe named +Larrique, was there. He had come over to pay his respects +to the Bourbons. He was always royally disposed, +and had been once imprisoned for this inclination. I am +told several others have been to the Duke to pay their +respects merely, but this is all they dared do as yet. +They assure him the landholders and peasantry further +on only wait our advance, and the absence of the French +army, to rise and declare for the Bourbons. If they do +not take this line soon, and that decidedly, peace may +make it too late, and frustrate all these petty plans of +counter-revolution in the bud. The Duke seems quite +ignorant of the people here, and of the country, and those +Basques I have talked to do not seem to know much +more of him. The few squires left may, however, give +the tone to the rest.</p> + +<p>I hear that we have quite ruined Bayonne market by +our higher prices, &c., and things are not only dear there, +but not to be had, for no one will there give the price we<span class="pagenum" id="Page_388">[Pg 388]</span> +do for such luxuries, as poultry, vegetables, &c., certainly +are; and therefore they are brought here.</p> + +<p><em>Saturday, 12th.</em>—The news now is, that Soult and +about three thousand infantry, and one thousand eight +hundred cavalry, are gone off to the rear, and it seems to +be believed; for it has come through so many channels +to us. Another report is, that seven of the thirty tyrants +(senators) have gone over to the Allies, to pay their respects +to the Bourbons; this is not in such credit as the +other story. In short, we have what the military men +call “shaves” (I suppose barbers’ stories) every day and +every hour. The best fact I can tell you is, that we have +had three days’ fine weather now together, and this last is +absolutely warm, I only fear too warm to last; thermometer +in my room, window open, and no fire, 58° in the +sun. I rode a league out and back yesterday almost +without a splash. The mule roads across the country, +though improved, are, however, still very bad; three +more such days will, nevertheless, do wonders, and about +that time I hope we shall be ready.</p> + +<p>All the carpenters, &c., are ordered from the Guards to +the front. The Rocket Brigade also went up last night; +and ships are ordered round from Passages. Dr. Macgregor, +who was there yesterday, tells me that he thinks +it will be three days before they will have procured ropes +and all they require with them. This smiling sun +makes every one cheerful, though it prognosticates many +broken heads.</p> + +<p>The only thing, it appears to me, the Guards look blue +about, is the prospect of an aquatic expedition. Our +sick, though nothing compared to last year, have increased +this last month. To show you how much depends on +seasoning them, two regiments, the 84th, and, I think, +the 62nd, who came out two months since, and have +scarcely had any work, but arrived after all the bad +quarters in the mountains, and have not marched forty<span class="pagenum" id="Page_389">[Pg 389]</span> +miles and been generally housed, are absolutely unfit for +the field. One has four hundred and more sick out of +six hundred. They are obliged, in consequence, to be +sent in a body, as regiments, to Vera, one of the hospital +stations. They are, I believe, two battalions, and mostly +young lads or elderly men, neither of which class of soldiers +can stand this work at all. Some of our old regiments +have scarcely a man in the hospital, except the +wounded, and it is astonishing how well some of the +Portuguese regiments stand it, who are more exposed +than our men. The last month’s rest, and the new +clothes, which most regiments have now received, will +revive the army amazingly; some who are still without +their clothes are, to be sure, absolutely in rags, or like +the king of the beggars.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, St. Jean de Luz, Sunday the 13th, +Post-day, 5 o’clock.</em>—Our “shave” of to-day is a Congress. +Yesterday the Allies were at Paris. I am sorry to say +the sea has risen, and the wind changed, and the weather +threatens again. All are hard at work, however, at the +bridges, &c. It will be a ticklish thing to cross at the +mouth of the Adour.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, St. Jean de Luz, February 15th, 1814.</em>—The +plot now thickens a little. Lord Wellington was +off at three in the morning yesterday for Hasparren, for +two or three days, to superintend a movement which is +to take place: first, on our right, to drive the French +divisions of General Foy and Harispe across the Gave +d’Oleron, and prevent their molesting our right flank, +whilst the passage of the Adour is attempted on the left. +The accounts this morning are, that the troops assembled +for this purpose yesterday, but that no affair has hitherto +taken place. General Pakenham was yesterday at Passages +to see to the shipping there, and clear out the +hospital; and to-day he has gone over to the right, to +report to Lord Wellington and to assist there. All is in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_390">[Pg 390]</span> +motion: two bridges are preparing, one, as I supposed, +below Bayonne, and another above; the former will be +accompanied by an aquatic expedition.</p> + +<p>With regard to this grand bridge, a most provoking +occurrence has taken place. An embargo was laid on +about twenty-four vessels in the St. Jean de Luz river +to form this bridge, and to assist in the conveyance of +troops, &c. Old Ocean, however, did not approve; and +as he is not under Lord Wellington’s orders, and seems, +like the Spaniards, to like to thwart Lord Wellington a +little, he (Old Ocean) threw up the day before yesterday +such a mound of shingle at the mouth of the river, that +he has most effectually embargoed the whole shipping, +and made a dry bank, a hundred feet wide, quite firm +across the entrance, which all yesterday was used as a +road backwards and forwards from Sibour to this place. +From the present state of the tides there was no prospect +of an opening in the natural way for a week and more, +until the springs; so to-day a fatigue party of the Guards +are at work digging and shovelling.</p> + +<p>In my early walk this morning I found them at it, +with a young engineer officer, doing it, it struck me, +very ill. I could not help meddling; however, I had no +weight, until an old Frenchman came, sent by the mayor, +to whom I advised them to apply; and then, as the +young engineer did not understand French, I acted as +interpreter. The old man’s plan and mine agreed, and +so I carried my point. It is hoped we shall be able to +dig a way through by this evening, and to-morrow to let +the shipping out. It has never happened before since +we have been here, though very often the river is nearly +dry.</p> + +<p>One brig of war has arrived and the <em>Gleaner</em> ketch, +and Lieutenant Douglas is on shore here superintending +the fastening together of a quantity of masts, &c., to +form a boom, I believe, across the Adour—I suppose to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_391">[Pg 391]</span> +prevent anything floating down from destroying the +bridge. I heard yesterday, what one can scarcely believe, +that the naval officer asked leave to survey the mouth of +the Adour, but that Lord Wellington told him to go to +the engineers, and they would give him plans and soundings, +&c.: that he went to E—— accordingly, and found +he had none at all; and Toffini’s coast stops short at +Passages!</p> + +<p>It is surely very odd, now that we have been in front +of Bayonne for three months, that no plans should have +been sent out, without being asked for, from England. +I since have heard from E—— that he did write, and +has nothing in consequence but a little printed plan of +Bayonne, and no soundings, &c. I trust still that Lord +Wellington will poke out his way across. Our outposts’ +reports to-day are that the Cossacks are close to Paris, +and Fontainebleau pillaged by them. I am sorry for +that, as that palace escaped the Revolution almost entirely. +The truth of the whole story may well be questioned.</p> + +<p><em>February 16th.</em>—No news from the right; no one returned +yet; the reports are, that the French do not +stand, but retire before us. In the mean time things +are going on well here. The weather is fine again, the +sea quiet, the river has quite cleared his course, and to-day +the navigation is open. The fort at the mouth of +the Adour sent a few shots against the <em>Lyra</em> brig when +cruising yesterday to inspect; but no harm done. Every +one is busy.</p> + +<p>Poor —— does not seem to draw well with Lord +Wellington. The latter received him so queerly at the +last interview, that —— says he shall do all he can to +execute what he is ordered, and be quiet. Lord Wellington +never consulted him, and has never even told +him exactly where the grand bridge which he is preparing +is to be; and the consequence is, the width of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_392">[Pg 392]</span> +the river has not been precisely ascertained at the place +intended, where the engineers have instruments which +would do it in a minute, if they were ordered. Without +orders they cannot, as it would require a guard of three +hundred or four hundred men to go near enough, and +that can only be with orders. But then, were I ——, I +should ask for the guard and do it, propose it first, or +try and get it quietly from the Adjutant-general without +troubling Lord Wellington, and let him find the thing +done. —— seems to be too much of the English official +school; has too much regard to forms and regular orders. +All this <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">entre nous</i>. Elphinstone of the Engineers tells +me he wrote for a plan of Bayonne four months since, +and has only received a very miserable one, of scarcely +any use.</p> + +<p>The grand bridge is to be formed of the largest vessels +now in the harbour—about fifty of them. Pontoons +would never do. They are to be about 25 feet or 27 feet +apart, and cable bridges between to communicate with +planks, each vessel carrying its own materials to plank, +&c. This is a grand plan, but rather arduous. I hope +it may answer, as it will be an event in military matters, +crossing a great river at the mouth below the fortified +town, and that in the hands of the enemy on both sides +of the river.</p> + +<p><em>February 17th, Thursday.</em>—Still fine weather, and no +one returned, and no news from Lord Wellington. I +had a report here through the emigrés, and <em>son Altesse +Royale</em>, as he is now called, that the Allies are within a +league of Paris. “<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Quelle mauvaises nouvelles! ils m’ont +dit.</i>” Their alarm at the reported Congress at Chatillon +sur Seine, and Lord Castlereagh, has to-day of course a +little subsided in consequence. A peace with Bonaparte +would ruin them for ever. If Paris now declares itself, +on the other hand it will spread, and the whole business, +in my opinion, be at an end in their favour. If not, it<span class="pagenum" id="Page_393">[Pg 393]</span> +is clear that their party is very small, and their interests +forgotten.</p> + +<p><em>The 18th, Friday.</em>—Still Lord Wellington not returned; +but we had some news of what has been done +on the right. The French retired skirmishing, but +would never stand to let us charge. They were obliged +to remain longer than they wished to cover some guns +which they carried off; and also, the evening before last, +they intended to take up their ground for the night in a +position which Lord Wellington thought it would suit +him to drive them from. By doing this late in the day +they were obliged to resist more than they probably +otherwise would, if they had expected it, and been prepared +for the retreat. We have taken about ten or +twelve officers prisoners, and about two hundred men. +Some say that we might have had as many thousands, +could we have been two hours sooner. These things are +always, however, said. Supposing that we had been two +hours sooner, the French would have been just where +they were; and it is forgotten that if we had moved +sooner, they might probably just have done the same +thing. We have ourselves sustained some loss, and that +in a greater proportion of officers than men. I am told, +about a hundred and twenty men. General Pringle is +shot in the breast,—an awkward place, but they hope +not badly, considering the situation. General Byng’s +aide-de-camp, Captain Clitherow, is killed, and, I believe, +Lieutenant Moore, of the Artillery. Aides-de-camp and +Brigade-Majors have suffered much of late; Lord Wellington’s +are uncommonly fortunate. I have heard also +that Lieutenant-colonel Bruce is wounded, a Bevan +(Major or Colonel in the Portuguese service), and some +subalterns of the two brigades of General Byng and +General Pringle, the only two engaged.</p> + +<p>By the last accounts Lord Wellington’s head-quarters +were at Garris, near St. Palais, and the French are driven<span class="pagenum" id="Page_394">[Pg 394]</span> +across the Bidouge, a river that runs into the Adour +below the Gaves, and near Grammont’s place, Guiche, of +which he is duke. The French have only picquets on +our side the first Gave—the Gave d’Oleron, when they +are driven across. I think Lord Wellington will return +here to-morrow to inspect the grand bridge and the operations +on this side, which are the most ticklish. Elphinstone +would have his bridge ready to-morrow night +if the materials get round in time from Passages, and +provided one vessel is got out from our river here, for +one could not be moved over the bar yesterday, from its +having the guns on board, which are to be dropped into +the Adour, to assist in moving the vessels of the bridge. +By taking out the guns this difficulty may be got over, +but the wind is not fair from Passages. This is the +worst part of the business, for though the elements alone +may be to blame, still Lord Wellington, if his plans are +thwarted, will be in a rage with ——. He banishes the +terms difficulty, impossibility, and responsibility from his +vocabulary.</p> + +<p>The moment he has done on the right, he wants to be +ready here, as he knows that so long as he remains there, +the attention of the French is drawn that way, and the +same when he shall return here. We have now no +troops here. The guards have moved into Bidart, and +we have now permanently occupied Biaritz in front of +Bayonne; General Vandeleur sleeps there, and all his +horses are unsaddled. The light division have crossed +the Nive. The fifth moved a little more to their right, +to occupy part of the ground of the light near Arbonne +and Arrauntz, towards Ustaritz; and the third division, +under General Picton, have gone up to St. Jean Pied de +Port, but hitherto without opposition. The Adjutant-general, +when he went himself over to the hospital stations +of Fontarabia and Passages, routed out about fourteen +hundred convalescents, and malingerers, and they<span class="pagenum" id="Page_395">[Pg 395]</span> +passed through here for their regiments yesterday, for +every man is wanted now. Unluckily, no reinforcements +have arrived from England; why we cannot say, for the +wind is fair, and the papers say they sailed a month +since, and the regiments have had notice of their intended +arrival. The artillery also expect five hundred +horses, which would now be an inestimable treasure, as +many are going and getting weak. There are also about +six thousand Portuguese ready to join in Portugal, but +who remain for want of transport, as I am told: this is +unlucky, as they were well-seasoned recruits.</p> + +<p>It is curious that even latterly, ever since we left the +mountains, almost all our advanced troops—the advanced +line—have been Portuguese; they not only stop our deserters, +but go off very much less themselves. From the +terrible loss of oxen, we are all now, officers and all in +this neighbourhood, living upon salt rations, sea-beef +and pork. Luckily for me, however, we can now buy a +little fresh meat. I am very much vexed with myself +for not having desired you to send me out a good map +of France, for I have only the department on this side +the Adour, and the whole seat of the war is now France. +I should like to have got the abridged or reduced Casini, +which is used here, and liked, a map about five or six +feet by four or five, and Stockdale’s vicinity of Bayonne, +taken from Casini’s large one. These two would have +been a treasure, now that we are likely to move; and I +conclude Stockdale will go on publishing some more of +Casini to follow us up.</p> + +<p>We have begun to establish a recruiting-party at head-quarters, +to select out of the French deserters good subjects +for the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Chasseurs Britanniques</i>, &c. I hope it will +answer, but I have my doubts. In the mean time, I +shall have to play the part of a magistrate, and swear +them all in. The news from Bayonne to-day is, that a +courier arrived yesterday express from Paris in sixty<span class="pagenum" id="Page_396">[Pg 396]</span> +hours; of course he brought something very important. +The story in Bayonne is, that the negotiation and Congress +is broken up already, and this is now considered +most excellent news here, excepting by a few soldiers of +fortune, and real lovers of their trade, who think it would +flourish much better after a peace with Bonaparte than +with the Bourbons. What a contrast between the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Moniteur</i> +a year and a half since about Moscow, &c., and the +late ones about the works round Paris, and the room left—eighteen +inches—for the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">piétons</i> only to pass, &c., and +the immense zeal and activity: <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Dejà on voit les embrassures +pour quatres canons</i>. You will have seen all this, however, +and have been as much amused, no doubt, as we +have been.</p> + +<p>I have just seen Major D——, who is returned from +the right. He says that we have been well received in +general, and found a tolerable supply of everything in +the new country we have been in. If the inhabitants +will but stay, they will find a good market for everything; +instead of losing the produce for nothing; and stragglers, +single plunderers, dare not commit depredations on the +houses in that case. The people here are in despair at +the expected entrance of the Spaniards. We have now +shops in abundance, and a good market, and can, with +plenty of money, procure most things; and now we are +on the point of being off.</p> + +<p><em>18th February, later.</em>—I have just been with Elphinstone, +and seen all his drawings and plans for the grand +bridge. They seem very good, and the whole will be +ready by Sunday morning, provided the naval gentleman +can carry his vessels in; but he thinks that will not do +on account of the tides before Wednesday. Six or seven +small boats are to be carried from here on carriages; +these are to be launched, and are to tow across the first +party on rafts, which are made by some platforms placed +on the pontoons. This first party I would rather not<span class="pagenum" id="Page_397">[Pg 397]</span> +accompany. To show you how little Lord Wellington +listens to objections, and how he rather likes to cut up +the routine work, I may mention that Elphinstone told +him the quantity of plank necessary would take time, and +make a delay. “No,” says he, “there are all your platforms +of your batteries which have been sent out in case +of a siege. Cut them all up.” “Then when we proceed +with the siege what is to be done?” quoth Elphinstone. +“Oh, work your guns in the sand until you can make +new ones out of the pine-wood near Bayonne.” So all +the English battering platforms have been cut up accordingly.</p> + +<p>At Elphinstone’s I met the Admiral, who came round +to-day to assist, and some small vessels have arrived with +him. We have now Sacoa choked full, and quite a flotilla +in the open bay, with a wind right on shore into the bay. +I only hope it will not take to blowing hard in this direction +whilst our operations are going on. The battering +train and siege apparatus have also arrived at Passages +from St. Andero. This has been done quite snug; even +Elphinstone did not know of their coming until here they +were.</p> + +<p>Letters have come in from the right; all has gone on +well there. The French are driven quite across the Gave +de Mauleon or Soiron, as it is called in my map, a little +river which is the left branch of the Gave d’Oleron, and +runs into the Gave d’Oleron below Oleron town. The +Adjutant-general writes, that the French have given up +all that at present was wanted in that direction. Adieu!</p> + +<p><em>Saturday the 19th.</em>—To-day we have a French bulletin +sent in to us of a victory over the forces of the Allies, the +Russian army destroyed, and the French in pursuit—baggage, +cannon, all taken. This is awkward when we +expected daily to hear of the Allies in Paris, and it will +have a bad effect on the cause in France, even if it is only +a slight check to the allied armies. The French here<span class="pagenum" id="Page_398">[Pg 398]</span> +have their proclamations printed, and <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">fleurs-de-lis</i> are +being made. Lord Wellington says that they must wait +until he is more advanced before they begin to circulate +them. He is expected back to-day. The weather has +been very cold again, and sleet or snow has just begun to +fall. I have also to-day to acknowledge a letter from you +of the 8th, and papers from the 2nd to the 8th inclusive.</p> + +<p>I am just interrupted by a noise at the Provost guard +opposite, and the arrival of about a hundred and eighty +French prisoners escorted by a party of the 57th regiment, +who might with great advantage change clothes with the +French. The latter are in general very well clothed, and +very fine young men, a few older soldiers amongst them +in particular. The young conscripts look rather pale and +sickly. Our 57th men are absolutely in rags and tatters, +here and there five or six inches of bare thigh or arm are +visible through the patches; some have had only linen +pantaloons all winter through. They all get their new +clothing to-morrow at Sacoa; the whole regiment comes +down here for that purpose, and then nearly the whole +will have had their clothing this year, all but one or two +regiments.</p> + +<p><em>Later, 4 o’clock.</em>—Lord Wellington is just returned +from the right, and so eager is he when anything is in +hand, that I saw him going round by the Admiral’s and +Colonel Elphinstone’s before he went home on horseback, +after a tolerably long ride too. The Admiral he carried +off with him.</p> + +<p><em>20th February, Post-day.</em>—The first thing I saw this +morning in my walk on the wall was Lord Wellington +looking at the sea at half-past seven. The wind was +strong, right into the bay, and not a ship could stir. He +soon saw the Admiral come out also to look, and carried +him off home. I saw Lord Wellington about some +Courts-martial just now, and expected to be rather snubbed; +but he was in high good humour, and I was, of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_399">[Pg 399]</span> +course, as short as possible. The moment is, however, +ticklish. Had the gale this morning increased, none of +the ships in the bay, in my opinion, could have stood it. +It was right into the bay against them, and they were +anchored within two hundred, three hundred, or four +hundred yards of the shore. The slip of an anchor or +breaking of a cable would have been destruction, and we +have now a wreck on each side of the bay, which is +ominous and terrific to strangers and new-comers.</p> + +<p><em>Later.</em>—Lord Wellington is already beginning to +provide against the failure of his bridge plan from winds +and tides, and I understand will not wait above a day or +two on this account. Arrangements are in consequence +being formed to make the main movement still by the +right altogether, and to come round on Bayonne in case +the bridge scheme will not very speedily answer.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_400">[Pg 400]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXII">CHAPTER XXII.</h2> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="fs80" style="margin-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em;">Movements of the Army—-Narrow Escape of Wellington—Anecdote of +Wellington at Rodrigo—Novel Scaling Ladders—Sir Alexander Dickson—Wellington’s +Vanity—Operations resumed—Spanish Officers—The +Passage of the Adour—The Road to Bayonne—Death of Captain Pitts.</p> + +<p class="right fs80"> +Head-quarters, St. Jean de Luz,<br> +<span style="padding-right: 1em">Tuesday, February 22, 1814.</span></p> +</div> + +<p class="no-indent"><span class="smcap">My dear M——</span>, +</p> + +<p><span style="padding-left: 2em">As</span> the movements going on give me now a little +more leisure, and it is impossible to say how soon my +opportunities of writing may be arrested by a march, I +begin my weekly despatch early this week. Lord Wellington, +when he returned from driving the French across +the Gave, found his expedition here could not leave port +owing to bad wind and tide, though all was ready. He +therefore instantly set about new arrangements, so as to +be independent in a great measure of the result of this +grand bridge.</p> + +<p>All the divisions of the army consequently moved +towards the right yesterday, except the Guards and the +rest of the first division, which remain in our front backed +by a corps of Spaniards at Guethary and Bidart, in +advance of St. Jean de Luz, through which place, however, +they did not march. To superintend this movement +Lord Wellington was off again yesterday for Garris, +near to St. Palais, with most of the head-quarters’ staff, +Adjutant-general Pakenham remaining here on account +of a slight illness.</p> + +<p>The last move left us in front of the Gave, the French<span class="pagenum" id="Page_401">[Pg 401]</span> +still strong in Sauveterre and on a ridge of hills and +strong ground running between the two Gaves d’Oleron +and Pau. The plan is now, it is concluded, to drive them +across both Gaves, and then make good our way round to +the other side of the Adour and the citadel of Bayonne. +In the meantime, as the plan here is still expected to take +effect to-morrow morning early, we are all alive; the little +bay full of shipping and small ships of war, which cruise +backward and forwards, or anchor there, with carpenters, +sappers, soldiers, &c., on board, and all the flotilla ready +in Sacoa, and the Admiral superintending.</p> + +<p>Head-quarters are come home delighted with the +country on the Gaves, and with their reception. The +people in many instances come in numbers to meet our +troops instead of offering resistance. The prisoners also +many of them say they are ready to serve <em>son Altesse +Royale</em>, but this is rather too soon to begin, it is thought, +for this may be only to escape and return to their old +army.</p> + +<p>One young man, who was of the country, ran into his +father’s house as they were marching by, and all the +family were found around him. He was separated and +marched off; but the story has been told at head-quarters, +and General Pakenham has sent for the man back (who +was on his way to Passages), and means to send him +home to his friends.</p> + +<p>I was talking to General Pakenham yesterday about +forming a French royalist corps out of the prisoners and +deserters. It must be done very cautiously of course at +first, but it would in my opinion have a good effect and +soon increase. At present the idea that all deserters +must be sent away from their own country to England +deters many from deserting, who would otherwise be +willing. This object would also do away with the disgraceful +ideas naturally attached to desertion in a soldier’s +mind.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_402">[Pg 402]</span></p> + +<p>Reports say that Lord Wellington had a narrow escape +with his staff, whilst reconnoitring on the right in the +late move. He is said to have been going up a hill when +a French cavalry regiment was coming up on the other +side. The engineer officer was going round and saw the +regiment; upon which he galloped back to give information, +but before he could reach Lord Wellington they +were just close to the top of the hill, and Colonel Gordon, +who was in the advance, saw some of the French videttes +close. He gave the alarm, but they all had a gallop for +it, pursued by some of the dragoons.</p> + +<p>Though the English horses were most of them well +tired, they were soon out of reach of the French, and all +escaped. Lord Wellington relies almost too confidently +on the fleetness and excellence of his animals, when we +consider what the loss would be if he were caught; he is, +however, now rather more cautious.</p> + +<p>A few days since I heard an anecdote about the siege +of Rodrigo, which shows the man. Scarcely any one +knew what was to be done; the great preparations were +all made in Almeida, and most supposed, as I believe the +French did, that everything which arrived was for the +purpose of defence there, not of attack elsewhere. On a +sudden the army was in front of Rodrigo. A new +advanced work was discovered, which had to be taken +before any progress could be made in the siege. To save +men and time, an instant attack was resolved upon. +Scaling-ladders were necessary; the engineers were +applied to; they had none with them, for they were +quite ignorant of the plans—an inconvenience which has +often arisen in different departments from Lord Wellington’s +great secrecy, though the general result, assisted +by his genius, has been so good. The scaling could +not take place without ladders; Lord Wellington was +informed of this. “Well,” says he, “you have brought +up your ammunition and stores, never mind the waggons,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_403">[Pg 403]</span> +cut them all up directly, they will make excellent ladders—there +you see, each side piece is already cut.” This +was done, and by the help of these novel ladders, the +work was scaled forthwith.</p> + +<p>At Badajoz, he found so little to be had in the regular +way for a siege, from want of transport, and so many +difficulties in consequence from the regular bred artillery +generals, that he became principal engineer himself, +making use of Colonel Dickson, the acting man, as his +instrument. These sieges procured Dickson his majority +and lieutenant-colonelcy; and though only a Captain in +the Royal Regiment of Artillery, he now conducts the +whole of that department here, because he makes no +difficulties.</p> + +<p>In one instance Lord Wellington is not like Frederick +the Great. He is remarkably neat, and most particular +in his dress, considering his situation. He is well made, +knows it, and is willing to set off to the best what +nature has bestowed. In short, like every great man +present or past, almost without exception, he is vain. +He cuts the skirts of his own coats shorter, to make +them look smarter: and only a short time since, on +going to him on business, I found him discussing the +cut of his half-boots, and suggesting alterations to his +servant. The vanity of great men shows itself in +different ways, but in my opinion always exists in some +shape or other.</p> + +<p><em>February 22nd, 5 o’clock.</em>—The flotilla has just got out +of Sacoa Bay preparatory to the operations to-morrow. +A beautiful sight! Six or seven ships of war, and fifty +other vessels—everyone alive! Forty form the bridge. +I hope it may succeed, but many doubt it.</p> + +<p>P.S. Lord Wellington is moving on the Gaves with +seven divisions. The cable bridge is in the boats, and the +engineers on board. The affair is to begin by driving in +the picquets, when five hundred men are then to be sent<span class="pagenum" id="Page_404">[Pg 404]</span> +over on the rafts, the guns of the French battery spiked, +the French corvette burnt, and then the bridge is to be +thrown across!</p> + +<p><em>February 24th, 1814.</em>—I rose at half-past four, to go +over and see the crossing of the Adour yesterday, and +the formation of the bridge. At daylight I discovered +that the whole flotilla had been dispersed by the gale of +the night before, and no part was near the mouth of the +Adour. Several officers returned in consequence, declaring +that nothing could be done. Thinking otherwise myself, +and that this movement would somehow take place, being +connected with Lord Wellington’s movement on our +right on the Gaves, I went on, and found all the +Spaniards on the road in front of Bayonne, but doing +nothing. All was quiet for a very long time. About +twelve o’clock, however, they were ordered to move on +and make a feint, and an attack was made by our great +guns and rockets at the same time, on the French armed +corvette and gun-boats, to destroy the latter, and at the +same time to draw off the attention of the French from +the mouth of the river below Anglet, where we intended +to cross on the rafts.</p> + +<p>The Spaniards were not much opposed, and went on +boldly enough, as far as was intended, and had a few +wounded. The sharp-shooting, however, was very slack. +The fifth division at the same time, made a show on +their side, between the Nive and the Adour, but not +with any serious intention. I then went into an empty +house with Dr. Macgregor and some others, to make a +fire and get some breakfast, which they had brought +with them; and adding our several stocks together, we +fared very well. We then made our way through +Anglet, and across the sands, and through a pine-wood, +to the river’s mouth. A brigade of Guards, another of +the King’s German Legion, the Light Battalion (most +excellent men), and a Rocket Brigade, were there all<span class="pagenum" id="Page_405">[Pg 405]</span> +ready to pass, but from the immense difficulties which +had been met with in the transport of the boats and +pontoons over land, only two of the light companies +were over about one o’clock, when I arrived, and a temporary +suspension of the passage of men had been ordered +by General Hope.</p> + +<p>The order, however, had just come again to pass over +as fast as possible, and before I left the spot (about three +o’clock) three rafts, formed each upon three pontoons, and +carrying each about fifty or fifty-five men, were at work +ferrying across on a cable, and the six small boats were +also plying, so that about five hundred men were then +nearly over, and they were going at the rate of two +hundred, or two hundred and fifty per hour. I left the +rocket men, each with one rocket ready in his hand, and +three on his back in a case, with three poles on his +shoulder, just going to cross.</p> + +<p>Elphinstone had been quite in despair; the pontoon +car sunk so much in the sand, that at last thirty horses +would not move them, and for the last five hundred yards +they were conveyed on the shoulders of the guardsmen; +twenty-six men to a pontoon. At length all his difficulties +were thus overcome, and the non-arrival of the +bridge, of which we could see nothing, was not his fault, +but that of the weather.</p> + +<p>I helped the engineering again a little, by joining the +party who were endeavouring to find the best place to +which to fix cables against high-water—as I discovered +the last tide-mark in the sands, and thus found a landing-place +and post, clearly above high-water mark; for the +springs were past, and of course every succeeding tide +would rise to a less height. We then proceeded along +the river towards our battery on the bank, which was +firing at the corvette, &c. When we had gone a little +way through the pine-wood, we found all the roads +almost stopped by trees cut down by the French, and the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_406">[Pg 406]</span> +road we took near the bank, which was clear, carried us +opposite a smaller French corvette and three gun-boats, +which had just placed themselves in the river. At first +we thought them a part of our intended bridge, but soon +found it otherwise, and that we should be fired at, for +our small party on the other side the river had not +advanced, and all the opposite bank and village, as well +as the boats, were still in possession of the French. We +therefore turned, and at last made our way through to +the battery. There we learnt that the guns and rockets +had sunk one gun-boat, and frightened away the rest +and the corvette, which had all been hauled up close to +the bridge under Bayonne, where we saw them.</p> + +<p>I could not understand that the rockets had done +more than cause some alarm, though twelve had been +fired at once at the shipping, and from no great distance. +Only one, or at most two, had fairly struck, and nothing +had been burnt. The heavy guns had struck the corvette, +but could not do much damage before she was off, and +just at first the corvette and battery on the French side +seem to have had the best of it. Count Damas, who +was there with the Duke d’Angoulême, looking on, told +me that the artillery had knocked off the colours of the +corvette whilst he was there, and that one of the light +Germans had jumped into the water, had fetched out the +colours, and had presented them to the commanding +artillery officer. Others say that these colours were on +the gun-boat. The French were so alarmed at the +rockets, that the vessel, when struck, was abandoned.</p> + +<p>Close to our guns we found the other brigade of +Guards, &c., making an immense fire with the fir-trees, +which had been cut down on all sides, for the day, +though fine, was very cold. Dr. Macgregor, one or two +others, as well as myself, went up a little sand-hill near, +just to look round, when a twenty-four pound shot from +Bayonne came close to us point blank. The horses<span class="pagenum" id="Page_407">[Pg 407]</span> +turned right round, and the Doctor losing his hat, I +thought at first that he had been struck. Of course we +soon beat a retreat, and found we were in a spot where +this was the usual reception, and a position of which the +French were jealous.</p> + +<p>Just as I came away, a little before five, I saw a +column of French, apparently about seven hundred, +going very quickly through the wood on the opposite +bank from the citadel towards our men, who had passed +to attack them. I knew that we had nearly a battalion +across, about seven hundred men, and did not feel much +alarm with regard to the event. I pitied the men more +for the cold night they were likely to pass on the bare +sands, without baggage, &c. This morning I have heard +an attack was made just afterwards, but that some of the +rocket skirmishers were put in advance with the other +skirmishers on our side, and the French were so alarmed +that, though much superior, they would not advance, +and our men beat them off.</p> + +<p>The flotilla was this morning collected near the mouth +of the Adour, and, I suppose, before this the bridge is +begun. At any rate we could have passed across as +many men as we wished before this. No one has +returned to-day to this moment, and as I had business, +and one of my horses was a little sore in the back, I +staid at home. My grey pony started before six yesterday +morning, and I was not at home till past seven at +night, having ridden above thirty miles.</p> + +<p>Some of the Spanish regiments were very fine men, +and well equipped in every respect, much better than +some of our poor fellows; but the officers looked very +bad indeed; and when the men advanced, they were +led on by their officers with cloaks on, folded over their +mouths, looking as miserable as possible.</p> + +<p>The men also, like the French, always march with +their great coats on over everything, so that our good<span class="pagenum" id="Page_408">[Pg 408]</span> +new clothes were all concealed by their own old threadbare +overcoats. On the other hand, none of our men +had their coats on, cold as it was, and everyone was +alive and in activity. I stood next to Don Carlos +d’Espagne, and heard him receive his directions and +information as to what parts we occupied and what the +French, &c. General Hope (though not well, and too +soon, I believe) came on to take the command, of which +the division were very glad.</p> + +<p>I fear the Spaniards, though better than they were, +and though only the best were in advance, will soon +begin to do mischief. As I returned here I saw all +their stragglers about the houses near the road, and +telling every one that in Spain <i lang="es" xml:lang="es">Francesi roban e rompen +todos todos</i>. They soon soil our new clothing, and go +about with dirty and scowling discontented faces, like +some of our good countrymen in Ireland. The industry +of the French on the sand-banks had been very great in +the cultivation of the vine. The south-east side of the +very bank on which the sea beat on the north-west, a +pure white sand, was divided with square reed enclosures, +and covered with vines. The Anglet wine (which, as a +very light wine, is in repute), I believe, is there produced. +Many of the inhabitants at Anglet and the +neighbourhood, remained, and, in general, seemed glad +the movement was over. One old woman, in a house +that was near the river’s mouth, said she was most +happy to see us, as she had been for the last two months +in complete misery, not being allowed to speak to any +strangers by the French, nor even allowed to go to +Bayonne to buy a few sous-worth of snuff. I suppose +they feared the spread of information, for this was close +to the spot intended for our bridge, of which I understand, +and have no doubt, they had a very clear knowledge. +Two persons of the better class have come in +here by sea from Bordeaux, round by Passages, to pay<span class="pagenum" id="Page_409">[Pg 409]</span> +their respects, and give information to <em>son Altesse Royale</em>. +Colonel La Fitte told me that they were as anxious there +for Lord Wellington as the Jews were for the Messiah, +so sanguine are the emigrés.</p> + +<p><em>February 26th.</em>—All accounts now agree that the +French have from ten thousand to above eleven thousand +in the town and citadel, three thousand in the latter, +the rest in the town and lines. Another show was made +against our people the morning after they crossed, but no +attack. Considering that the French had eleven thousand +men, that it was eight or nine hours before we had +above five or six hundred men across, this passage of the +Adour and our establishment on the right bank is most +disgraceful to their troops, or to their General, and proportionally +creditable to ours. In the evening of the +24th our flotilla crossed the bar and got into the Adour +over a most tremendous surf. Several accidents ensued +in consequence, and many lives were lost; some say as +many as forty in the whole, of all nations. I believe +about fifteen English sailors were lost. None but the +English sailors would have dared to enter at such a time. +Five boats were upset, most of them very near it, and one +brig, with stores, aground, as well as one small ship of +war, a gun-vessel I believe. Some of the flotilla never +got in at all. The place fixed for the bridge was not so +wide as was expected and prepared for, so sufficient boats +are ready, and last night all but about three were moored +in their berths ready, and, in my opinion, the bridge +would be passable to-day.</p> + +<p>The loss of the French in the gun-boats and corvettes +was greater than we supposed, for the inhabitants inform +us that a Captain of cannoniers was killed, and several men, +and the Captain of the corvette lost his arm. The +rockets also did mischief on shore: one man who is now +in here, had both legs carried off by a rocket. I have +been since told, the French lay down on their faces, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_410">[Pg 410]</span> +then ran away from them. An order has been issued in +Bayonne for all persons who have not and cannot procure +six months’ provisions to quit the town, and numbers +were coming this way along the road yesterday. I went +out that way on purpose to meet them, and talk to them. +They all agreed in the number of men, about eleven +thousand, but said that a great part were conscripts and +weakly.</p> + +<p>This I concluded to be the case, as all those unequal +to an active campaign would be naturally left in the walls +for quiet garrison duty. The alarm had been terrible +in the town, where an attack was expected two days +since. Every householder was ordered to have an +immense tub filled with water, ready at his door, &c. +Count Reille has gone to the rear, some said ill, and +Thouvenot commanded again, and most said that Marshal +Soult was gone to Paris, some to Mount Marsan, and +that Count Gazan commanded. A Frenchman, who +came yesterday, told Monsieur d’Arcangues, an inhabitant +here, that he had just passed through La Vendée, and +that that country was in arms again; that he had himself +seen several armed parties, amounting some of them to +seven or eight hundred men. This will at least stop the +conscription a little.</p> + +<p>I communicated this good news to <em>son Altesse Royale</em>, +and at the same time made him a little <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">cadeau</i>, by +begging that he would permit me to send him King +Joseph’s saddle-cloth, which I had picked up at Vittoria, +but had never used, as being rather too splendid (blue +with a very broad gold border). He was very civil, and +in return lent me a paper of the 11th, which he had +just got out with his baggage from England, a second +edition of the <cite>Courier</cite>, containing in the corner a notice +of the arrival of the message through France from Lord +Castlereagh, a piece of news which alarmed him not a +little, though our French accounts still say that the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_411">[Pg 411]</span> +negotiations are broken off, and the Allies close to +Paris.</p> + +<p>General Harispe had raised about three thousand or +three thousand eight hundred of his countrymen, the +Basques, a fine race of people, but since our late move +most of them have run home, and his corps, the maire +here told me yesterday, is reduced to about five hundred. +Our officers remain delighted with their reception on the +right. They all say that every one talks with horror of +making war in an enemy’s country; but they can declare +from experience that they never wish again to make war +in a friendly one, if this is to be the manner of making +war in an enemy’s. Nothing has been done on the +right of any consequence yet, merely preparations in +case this bridge had failed; if so, I think we should +now have Lord Wellington back here directly from +Garris, where he has been, and the move will at last take +place.</p> + +<p>I have just got my mules back from Passages, with +six days’ hay, and am now ready, though my Guardsman +tailor has carried half my new clothes with him across +the Adour, and I never expect to see them more, and +have a Frenchman at work. Considering your lost box +and all contingencies, my last suit will probably stand +me in about 35<em>l.</em> sterling!</p> + +<p>The ride along the high road to Bayonne yesterday +was interesting. The refugees from the town, several +of them very pretty Basques, were all coming this way, +laden with the little baggage they could carry off; our +artillery all moving up the contrary way; as well as the +Spanish troops; and hundreds of Basques, men and +women, with great loads on their heads (like our Welsh +fruit-women going to Covent-Garden), only their baskets +were full of bread, biscuits, &c., and all in requisition for +the Spaniards. The bât animals and baggage parties of +the Spaniards are not a little amusing, and their led<span class="pagenum" id="Page_412">[Pg 412]</span> +chargers with their tails buckled up, and in swaddling +clothes, with dirty magnificent housings, dancing about +half-starved, with their heads in the air. Every fifty +yards a dead bullock or horse, but chiefly the former, +and every two hundred, an ox dying, and a Spanish +muleteer or straggler waiting until the bullock driver +abandoned him, to turn him up, and cut his heart out, +before he was dead, but when in a state too weak to +resist. The heart alone seemed to be worth the trouble, +as nothing else could be cut off from the bones, and bone +and all did not pay the cutting up and carriage.</p> + +<p>The destruction and present price of cattle are tremendous, +and I hear we have been obliged to give the +Spaniards some of our best Irish cattle, as we had no +other at hand. The only meat they seemed to have +with them was a number of ox cars with sides of Spanish +bacon; this, and sardines, seemed to form their supply. +The men, however, are very fine men, and in my opinion, +were they well commanded, would make excellent troops. +Nevertheless, I was by no means sorry to find that we +had still an English brigade of about twelve or fifteen +hundred men (Lord Aylmer’s) between us and the eleven +thousand French at Bayonne, for I am sure five thousand +French would force their way through the fifteen thousand +Spaniards if they chose to try, though we should +in the end prevent their return. At any rate we should +have early notice, and alarm from the runaways. The +French beat our men at that, for we cannot catch them, +and the Spaniards would not be easily caught by the +French.</p> + +<p>We had a most anxious scene here two nights since. +Just as our vessels got into the Adour, a suttling brig, +Dutch-built, and very strong, to save pilotage fees, tried +to get into this river without the pilot boats. The boats +towing missed the mouth, were both swamped, and the +men in most imminent danger, as well as the vessel,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_413">[Pg 413]</span> +which was driven in without guidance, aground for an +hour, but saved, and at last all lives were saved, or at +least all but one. When the boat was filled, another +wave drove it against the ship, and three caught hold of +the ship-chains and got in; the fourth was knocked +about in the water between the ship, the boat, and the +wall, but at last got his chin on the sinking boat, came +up the harbour so, was hauled in and saved. In my +morning walk on the sea wall, I found another ship on +shore, a large brig with a valuable cargo, a private speculation. +This will be the third wreck, but considering +how many vessels have been here, and how they have +been all exposed, and half of them absolutely at the +mercy of any north or north-west squalls, we have been +most fortunate.</p> + +<p><em>Later.</em>—In my ride to-day I met about thirty or forty +wounded men of the Buffs and 39th, second division; +but this is the consequence of the last move, I believe, as +they told me they were wounded at or near Cambo. We +have reports of an affair, but here nothing is yet known. +We are becoming, instead of being like head-quarters, +the centre of all good information, a mere hospital station +in the rear, and famous as usual for ill-founded reports, +which the medical men probably invent from <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">ennui</i> on +these occasions. A large brig has arrived from Bordeaux +with wine, but, in my opinion, almost too late for the +speculation.</p> + +<p><em>Sunday, 27th February, Post-day.</em>—In my walk this +morning I saw another boat swamped, trying to get out +of the river over the bar. It was actually worked by +the surf into this position, with the stern stuck into the +sand of the bar, and fairly went over, with the five men. +For some time all five were visible, two swimming, and +three clinging to the keel of the wreck, which was +bottom uppermost. Another boat, which had intended +to follow this one out, was fortunately close at hand, just<span class="pagenum" id="Page_414">[Pg 414]</span> +out of the reach of the surf, and by this means the two +swimmers were saved by giving them a rope’s end, +and also one of the three from the wreck, as it floated +inwards. There was a struggle between the three, when +a wave came, and two appeared no more. The relations +of the two men witnessed their loss, as well as myself, +for we were standing on the edge of the wall within ten +yards of the men, but unable to help them. The distress +you may conceive. We become in some degree hardened +by seeing death so continually, and in so many +forms, as we do here.</p> + +<p>I have also this morning met with five English seamen, +part of the crew of one of our provision ships, which +were lost some months since on this coast. The master +and four men, being from St. Andero, and the French +having heard of the fever there at that time, they were +put under quarantine on the coast, about forty miles on +the other side of Bayonne. Afterwards they escaped, +and lived among the inhabitants, who, they say, treated +them well, as the master had money. At last, hearing +from the French that we had crossed the Adour, they +made through the woods this way, and fell in with our +cavalry about three leagues on the other side of Bayonne, +General Vandeleur being on that side of the Adour, with +two regiments. They mention that they saw on the +road going to Dax a number of the wounded French from +Bayonne, and also troops retiring that way, they were +told, to the amount of fifteen thousand, but the number +must have been considerably exaggerated.</p> + +<p>The servant of Captain Pitts, of the Engineers, came +in yesterday with an account of his master’s death. +Captain Pitts was one of General Cole’s staff, and a most +spirited, zealous, skilful, and promising young man. He +was killed on the right a few days since, when our men +had driven the French over the Gave d’Oleron. He +went down to reconnoitre, and take a sketch of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_415">[Pg 415]</span> +banks, and make observations with a view to the formation +of a bridge. His servant says that he had finished, +and was looking round just before he came off, when a +ball struck him on the head. General Cole’s staff have +been very unfortunate this last year, and indeed the loss +of officers in his whole division has been very considerable. +I used to think that it sometimes affected +his spirits, though it never induced him to endeavour to +diminish it, for he always was and would be foremost in +danger.</p> + +<p>Count Damas has just informed me, that Lord Wellington +has now crossed both the Gaves, and is near +Orthes; but we have no authentic news from him. All +accounts agree that General Picton was wounded in the +affair on crossing the Gave; but, it is said, not badly.</p> + +<p>I picked up this morning a Spanish paper, and on +making it out, found that it was a letter from a Spanish +officer in camp, near Bayonne, telling some friend in the +rear that Murillo and Mina had beat the French across +the Gave, and were in pursuit along with two English +divisions, having taken forty guns, &c., and adding that +the inhabitants were <i lang="es" xml:lang="es">muy malos</i>, but that we treated +them as well as Spaniards, and that they, the Spaniards, +were ordered to do the same, but that we should see, &c.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, St. Jean de Luz, February 28th, 1814.</em>—Lieut.-Colonel +C—— has now returned here, and we +have at length some authentic accounts of what has +passed. Lord Wellington was at Orthes, where he left +him, intending to stay there a short time to arrange communications +with General Hope’s column, &c. Our men +forded the Gave de Pau, and drove the enemy from Orthes. +As they made some stand in that town, it was a little +<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">rompé’d</i>, as we call it. General Picton was not wounded, +and our loss has been inconsiderable upon the whole. +Colonel C—— returned by my old road through Peyrehorade, +Ramons, and across the Adour, at Port de Lanne,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_416">[Pg 416]</span> +and so to Bayonne, and then across the new bridge here. +He found the first division driving the French from the +heights above the citadel of Bayonne, close into the town +last night. This was done, but with some loss and much +firing. Those hills are important, for in some measure +they command the citadel. To-morrow we march to join +head-quarters. I believe we shall not pass the new bridge, +as a Spanish army crosses that way, and will occupy it +all day, and the road also; in addition to which, we have +hitherto only cavalry patroles along that road, and the +French have halted a force at Dax, or Acts, or Ax (in +the different maps). I understand that we are to go by +Ustaritz, Hasparren, Garris, Sauveterre, and Orthes. +This is a roundabout bad road, but will be a new country +to me. The weather most luckily continues fine hitherto.</p> + +<p>Our accounts from the interior are, that Toulouse and +Bordeaux are both ready to hoist the white flag, and only +wait for our sanction and declaration. This point of +etiquette may spoil all. I think we should declare our +readiness to support them the moment they declare publicly +their readiness to take that part. This is a critical +moment. Many are alarmed at Schwartzenburg’s not +having made more progress; he seems to have hung +back, for his army was stronger than Blucher’s, and was +forwarded six weeks since, and yet we only hear of Blucher +being near Paris. I must now prepare to “<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">romper de +march</i>” as Jack Portugoose calls it. So adieu.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_417">[Pg 417]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXIII">CHAPTER XXIII.</h2> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="fs80" style="margin-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em;">Passage of the River—Start for Orthes—Effect of the Battle—Feelings of +the French—Wellington wounded—St. Sever—Church and School—Aire—Wellington +on the Conduct of the Allies—Indurating effects of +War.</p> + +<p class="right fs80"> +Head-quarters, St. Sever,<br> +<span style="padding-right: 2em">March 5th, 1814.</span></p> +</div> + +<p class="no-indent"><span class="smcap">My dear M——</span>, +</p> + +<p><span style="padding-left: 2em">Here</span> I am with head-quarters, and within two +leagues of my old quarter, Mont de Marsan. We have +had a most unpleasant, and, for the baggage animals, a +most laborious journey, from the terrible state of the +weather—hail-storms, rain-storms, with violent south-westerly +winds almost all the time. By warm clothing +and good living I have escaped with only one day’s return +of rheumatism, which has now gone off, and I feel in very +tolerable repair.</p> + +<p>On the 1st of March we left St. Jean de Luz, and +passed the grand bridge below Bayonne, in sight of, and +I really believe within gunshot of the walls. We all +filed over in safety, and then along the sea-wall for half +a mile, with water on both sides, to Boucaut. I was +surprised that the animals were not more alarmed.</p> + +<p>The bridge answered perfectly; it consisted of thirty-six +two-masted vessels, with anchors across all the way +at the head and stern of each; a strong beam across the +centre of each, between the masts, to which the cables +were fastened, to form the road, so that each formed a +separate bridge, and the destruction of one cable only<span class="pagenum" id="Page_418">[Pg 418]</span> +affected one space. The boards were then fixed on these +cables, and were interlaced all the way by small cords, +through notches in the boards; and thus we went safely +along between the masts, in a road about twelve or +fourteen feet wide, differing, however, from a common +bridge, for the arches between the boats (from the +stretching of the cables) formed concaves instead of +convex arches, some of them descending nearly to the +water’s edge. It answered, however, perfectly, and will +continue to do so, unless the Spaniards suffer the Trench +to come and destroy it. Of this I have my doubts. The +crews were living in their vessels at the head and stern, +cooking away and going on as usual. Five or six gun-boats +were moored about it, then came the boom and +boats ready to tow ashore any fireship.</p> + +<p>At Boucaut we found Sir John Hope and his staff, so +we were ordered to the next village on the road. Our +managing Quarter-Master clumsily went to a bad village +of a dozen houses, out of the road, when there was a very +good one on the right road, only a few miles further on. +Several of us had no houses, and were told we must find +them for ourselves. After waiting for some time until +my baggage came, I determined to go on the right road +until I found a quarter vacant, trusting with full confidence +to the good disposition of the inhabitants, which +is most excellent towards the English. After looking +into five, I found a vacant one a mile and a-half off, no +officer within half a mile, and no English troops within +two miles, and none at all towards the interior of France +on that road. The people expected some one, and a bed +was ready, and a hearty welcome I received.</p> + +<p>In my way I went round by the picquet, within about +eight hundred yards of Bayonne citadel, where my tailor +was on fatigue-duty in the works, and I thus recovered +my clothes. As I was just going to bed at eight o’clock, +a violent cannonading and sharp musketry commenced<span class="pagenum" id="Page_419">[Pg 419]</span> +sounding close by us. I did not think it prudent to go +to bed until it ceased, for we were within about a mile +and a-half of a garrison of eleven thousand men; but +suspecting what was the case, that it was only our people +driving the French out of a field-work on the hill, and +hemming them in closer to the citadel, I was little +alarmed.</p> + +<p>My host and his family were great royalists in their +professions, as they had for the last six months been more +than usually oppressed by the French. He had a house +and ten acres of land; the house probably worth about +10<em>l.</em> a-year in England. The rent of his land was one-half +the produce of corn and maize; the taxes on his +house had been already that year sixty francs, and his +contributions fifteen bushels of maize and, I think, ten of +corn. He said that no one could live if this continued, +and that all the young men were carried off. He had +one quarter to pay still, but expecting us every day, he +put it off from time to time, though much threatened, +and now thought himself safe.</p> + +<p>From thence we started early for Peyrehorade, rather +a large place, nearly as large as Kingston-upon-Thames. +It was a market-day, and the people of the country +crowded in as usual. They all stared at us, most saluted +us; all were civil, and we got our quarters with much +more facility, and met with ten times the civility we had +ever done in Spain. I never witnessed a single quarrel, +though the town was crowded as it is during an election +with you, and we had only about twenty dragoons to +protect all the twelve hundred animals and baggage of +head-quarters.</p> + +<p>My host was particularly civil, and gave me a very +good apartment and an excellent dinner—some roast beef +<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">à l’Anglaise</i>, a duck, and a fowl. The whole family dined +with us, wife, mother, and two daughters. The eldest<span class="pagenum" id="Page_420">[Pg 420]</span> +son, who had been intended for an attorney, had been +taken as a conscript, and was wounded at Leipsic—since +that time they had not heard of him. I comforted them +by suggesting that he must have been left at Mayence. +The next son was sixteen, and at school at St. Sever; +next year it became his turn to take his chance as a conscript. +You may well conceive that we were considered +as welcome guests; independently of the expectation of +having coffee and sugar cheap for grandmamma, and +English linens, muslins, &c., for the two ugly misses.</p> + +<p>On the 3rd of March we started again for Orthes, the +scene of the famous battle, of which you will have heard +before you receive this letter, and of which we received +several imperfect accounts as we went along. The reception +all along the road, and at Orthes, was the same as at +Peyrehorade. Dr. M—— and Major G—— just stopped +in the stable of a château for shelter, when the owner +came out and took them in, and gave them cold turkey +and champaign. At Orthes I got an excellent quarter +at the house of the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Juge de Paix</i>, who was very hospitable +as usual; and as the weather was so excessively bad, +and my Portuguese almost dead with their walk of twenty +miles in the rain and mud, I stopped the night there, notwithstanding +the head-quarters were regularly eight miles +further at Soult. I knew the latter was a miserable place, +which was another inducement with me to remain.</p> + +<p>At Orthes I found about two thousand wounded, one +thousand English, and the others French and Portuguese; +the latter had behaved well, as usual. I found the Adjutant-general, +Pakenham, confined to his bed, ill at the +inn, but, at nine at night, and this morning, very much +better. The hospitals are all established, and in full +activity. Lord March was shot in the chest, but the +surgeon hoped he would do well, and thought so; he +could not, however, find the ball, but had reason to think<span class="pagenum" id="Page_421">[Pg 421]</span> +it had not passed the lungs. Colonel Brook’s brother +(a schoolfellow of George’s) was shot through the lungs, +and there is little hope of him.</p> + +<p>The affair at Orthes was quite unexpected; as they +had suffered our army to pass all the rivers, no one expected +this desperate stand, for such I am told it was, +the French having seldom fought better. They stood +some time after they had ceased to fire, and it is therefore +concluded that they had had no ammunition left; +and even after our cavalry (who behaved well) was in the +midst of them cutting away. At last they gave way, +and then fled quickly. Their loss no one knows, as the +wounded got off to the villages round; but all say that +their army is actually reduced above eight thousand men, +as the conscripts are all running home as fast as they can. +Above twenty had come back to Peyrehorade; and one +gentleman-like young man I met at my quarter there was +a convalescent conscript, and such he said he should now +always remain, unless affairs took another turn again.</p> + +<p>Our state here is most curious; all riding about +singly, entering any house we please, and well received +everywhere, the baggage straggling all over the country; +every one declaring that one man had caused all their +misery for the last three years. The Bourbons are almost +forgotten; and few, even of the better sort of people, +know who the Duke d’Angoulême is. All want peace, +and, therefore, wish him well. The French people are +just now humbled to a most astonishing degree—I could +scarcely have believed it possible.</p> + +<p>I went about talking to the people, and explaining a +little who our “royal tiger” is, and why he came as he +did. At Flagenan I found the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">maire</i> and townspeople +waiting to pay their respects to him in form. This was +bolder than at most places; and I was sorry to mortify +them by telling them he had already passed. At Peyrehorade, +when the French army went by, every place<span class="pagenum" id="Page_422">[Pg 422]</span> +was shut up; when we came, every place and all the +shops were opened.</p> + +<p>Their horror of the Spaniards is, however, very great. +Still the people would take no active part; they remained +quiet, hoping for peace. At Orthes Marshal Soult ordered +the inhabitants to arm and assist; and the action +was so close, on a formidable position on the hills above +the town, that several balls fell into the houses; but +instead, the inhabitants all shut themselves up, and there +waited the event. He vowed vengeance, and declared +that the town should be pillaged in consequence. Of +course they wished us success, as you may well conceive.</p> + +<p>In many places the French have done much injury to +the inhabitants as they went off, burning mills, bridges, +forage, and the suburbs of Navarens, on military accounts, +but plundering also very considerably on private +accounts. The people now fear that we are too weak, +and begin to tremble.</p> + +<p>It is a trying time for them. The schoolmaster here +has rubbed out his <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Collége Impériale</i>. This may be his +ruin if matters change again. At Mont de Marsan, as I +expected, we have found immense stores. This place, +St. Sever, is larger than Orthes or Peyrehorade, and is +said to have had much <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">émigré</i> and <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">ancienne noblesse</i>. +The reception, however, as to quarters, has not been +quite so good as hitherto, more from alarm, probably +than anything else.</p> + +<p>Lord Wellington and General Alava were close together +when struck, and both on the hip, but on different +sides, and neither seriously injured, as the surgeon told +me who dressed them. Lord Wellington’s was a bad +bruise, and the skin was broken. I fear that his riding +so much since has made it rather of more consequence; +but hope the two days’ halt here will put him in the +right way again, as all our prospects here would vanish +with that man.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_423">[Pg 423]</span></p> + +<p>From this vicinity the French took the road to +Toulouse, and, you will observe, made another stand +near Aire. The Portuguese, I am sorry to say, ran at +that place; and we were at first repulsed, but General +Barnes’s brigade came up, and set all to rights, by +driving the French on again, and taking some prisoners. +Our way here has been in some degree difficult and +dangerous, from the flooded rivers and broken-down +bridges, which have been hitherto only slightly repaired, +so as to be just passable. At the Adour, it is reported +that we have here actually been delayed two days. At +Port de Lanne, we passed it on two large rafts, and +two ferry-boats, with some risk: my boat was nearly +over, from two spirited horses being on board; and +my little mule, with his panniers on, jumped into +the water. This put my linen and sugar, &c., in a +pretty mess, as you may suppose, and drowned the +live fowls on his back. At Peyrehorade I also lost +a mule, and was obliged, consequently, to overload the +rest.</p> + +<p>At this place I last night recovered my mule, and +lost nothing on the road, except the drowned fowls, +which can now be replaced here. The history of all +the mishaps on a march is curious. I dined at the +ferry-house, and did not go away till all my own nine +animals were clear over. Some persons have never +heard of their baggage since, and are now here without +it: it will turn up soon, no doubt, at least in great +part.</p> + +<p>My old host at Mont de Marsan has sent to inquire +after me. One feels now quite strange in an enemy’s +country, meeting deserters around on the road, gens-d’armes, +the same conscripts going home, and a stout +peasantry with great Irish bludgeons, all very civil +and friendly; and Lord Wellington, by proclamation, +ordering the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">maires</i> to form an armed police, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_424">[Pg 424]</span> +protect their own districts themselves from stragglers, +muleteers, &c.</p> + +<p>I always expected that Soult would retire towards +Toulouse, to fall back on Suchet, and either hang on +our flank, if we should go on to Bordeaux, or draw us +from the sea and our supplies if we follow him up. We +can push on to Bordeaux and the river, in my opinion, +and then sweep on before us towards Toulouse. Time +will show Lord Wellington’s plans, which no one can do +more than guess at. In the end I was right as to his +crossing the Gaves in force.</p> + +<p>I have just met with the Baron de Barthe. He tells +me that all prospers with the royal cause, and that the +French provinces of Poitou, Guienne, Brittany, &c., +are all in open insurrection, and the white flag flying. +P——’s account of the state of France on his side coincides, +as you must observe, almost precisely with mine, +as far as I have yet seen. The people are all at market +here to-day, just as if nothing were the matter, and we +were not here. Hitherto there is only hatred in many +of the lower classes and a few of the higher to Bonaparte; +but no effort for the Bourbons, and much alarm in the +purchasers of national property. The <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">ancienne noblesse</i> +is beginning to talk and to stir a little, and the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">nouveaux +riches</i> are by some laughed at. Public opinion begins +to dare to vent itself, and the minds of the people at +large are, I think, veering fast. Many think us too +weak at present. It is said that we move to-morrow +to Aire, on the Toulouse road; but nothing is fixed. I +went to inquire after Lord Wellington to-day; he was +busy writing, and said he was better, and looked well +enough. The Duke d’Angoulême has sent to Mont de +Marsan as his agent a <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">professeur</i>, who was despised there, +and this has given offence. The truth is that he does +not know where as yet to find men of weight and talent.</p> + +<p><em>St. Sever, March 6th, 1814.</em>—The mail is to be dispatched<span class="pagenum" id="Page_425">[Pg 425]</span> +to-day, so I add a few lines, as we halt here +again to-day, and probably to-morrow, owing to the +flooded state of the river, and the enemy having destroyed +the bridges in their retreat to Auch, where we are told +they now are. Marshal Soult, it is said, finding that the +Italians also are now beginning to desert since Murat’s +new alliances, has ordered all Italian soldiers to be disarmed. +Another story current, but not so much to be +relied on, is, that Bonaparte has been badly wounded, +and desired General Macdonald to put him out of his +misery; and that the latter took him at his word, and +shot him.</p> + +<p>The Duke d’Angoulême was at high mass again to-day, +at which some hundreds of the new levy attended, my +hosts tell me, known by their short cropped heads. Our +situation here is so different from what it was in Spain, +that it is quite droll. I have a general invitation from +my host whilst I stay. To-day I go to Lord Wellington’s.</p> + +<p><em>Later on the 7th.</em>—We stay to-day, as the bridges are +not repaired and the floods have not quite subsided. I +walked down to the bridge with Lord Wellington yesterday, +and observed him limp a little, and he said he +was in rather more pain than usual, but that it was +nothing. At dinner yesterday, he said he was laughing +at General Alava having had a knock, and telling him +it was all nonsense, and that he was not hurt, when he +received this blow, and a worse one, in the same place +himself. Alava said it was to punish him for laughing +at him. At dinner we had the new Swedish tiger, the +Prince’s aide-de-camp, who had been here a few days, +covered with gold. His pantaloons are most <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">magnifique</i>. +He seemed a good-tempered man, but I did not think +very much of him.</p> + +<p>Two of the Bordeaux people were also there, who are +to return to-day, and General Frere’s aide-de-camp from<span class="pagenum" id="Page_426">[Pg 426]</span> +Peyrehorade, as he is marching up that way by Orthes. +The people in office at Pau sent to say that they were +ready to declare for the King, and Count Damas boldly +enough went over there to see the state of things. He +has come back safe, and reports them ready, but that +they cannot take any public step until we are in force +there. Amongst other opinions and feelings here, we, +the English, have our partisans. Many say they should +like an English Government, and Lord Wellington told +me, laughing, he believed we had almost as many friends +and partisans as the Bourbons. Peace certainly is by +far the most popular project of all. I am excessively +hurried with business to-day, and must prepare to see +Lord Wellington.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, Aire, March 11th, 1814.</em>—By a sudden +order we moved from St. Sever to this place yesterday, +so far on our road to Toulouse, and the scene of the battle +a few days since, when the Algarve brigade (all Portuguese) +took to their heels, and the English brigade of +General Barnes behaved so well.</p> + +<p>We are now playing a bolder game than usual. The +French, as I suspected, took the Toulouse road from St. +Sever, and have a column in our front on the road to +Auch, I believe, and another near or towards Tarbes. +This leaves Bordeaux open. To take advantage of this, +we have also divided two divisions under Marshal Beresford; +the seventh and the fourth are gone to Bordeaux, +and must be by this time close to the town, which is +said to be ripe to join us, and declare for the King, The +Duke d’Angoulême is gone that way.</p> + +<p>In front here we have Sir Rowland Hill’s corps, the +second and sixth divisions, and also the third and light +divisions; and General Frere’s Spanish army of twelve +thousand men, to be fed by us, is on its road up, and +to be, it is understood, at St. Sever to-day; and to support +this main movement against Soult, who is said to be<span class="pagenum" id="Page_427">[Pg 427]</span> +near Auch. In the meantime, General Hope remains +with the first division, including all the Guards and +German Legion (the choice men and in high order, and +undiminished by service nearly), together with the fifth +division and General Don Carlos d’Espagne’s Spanish +brigade, and, it is believed, also Lord Aylmer’s British +one, to blockade and take Bayonne. It is most unfortunate +that so large a force should be required for +that object; but we dare not trust, I conclude, the +bridge and our communications to the Spaniards’ keeping.</p> + +<p>Great preparations are making against Bayonne, and +the garrison have been driven in very close to the citadel; +but no steps have been hitherto taken for the actual siege +by regular approaches or batteries. Our army is thus +very much divided just now, and the communications +would be difficult, except that the country is with us. +All the French posting establishment has remained, and +nearly everything goes on as usual. The people quietly +suffer us to take our own measures, and offer no opposition, +though not openly declaring or helping us. It +is remarkable that we go about as if in England, and +yet no mischief has been done either to officers, men, or +baggage. If the country people had been like the +Spaniards, and against us, what we are now doing would +have been out of the question. Half our army, by straggling +about, would have been knocked on the head. We +have, fortunately, just now plenty of money, and pay +for everything; and the English are in the highest +repute.</p> + +<p>In general, also, we have behaved well. There are, +however, many instances to the contrary; and many +more, I am sorry to say, amongst the Portuguese. When +the Spaniards come, I am afraid things will be much +worse. The mischief done by, and injury arising from, +the passing through a country of the very best disciplined<span class="pagenum" id="Page_428">[Pg 428]</span> +army is considerable. The people feel that, and are +ready in general to submit to much, especially as the +French army has been so much worse than ours, and +does not pay for anything, whilst, on the other hand, we +enable many to make almost little fortunes against quiet +times; and Lord Wellington begins upon a plan, which +I hope he will have funds to continue, of paying for all +damage done when fairly stated. Some most exaggerated +and unreasonable demands have been made to him in consequence. +Guineas are already spread all over this +province, and pass most readily.</p> + +<p>I am at an apothecary’s here, who was, I am sorry to +say, robbed by our men just after the attack. Lord Hill +offered to send him the money, nearly 15<em>l.</em> and a watch; +but he declined taking it.</p> + +<p>Lord Wellington has a cold, but rode here yesterday in +his white cloak, in a terribly cold day, with the snow +directly in his face; for we have now got another little +winter here, which is unusual.</p> + +<p>At the latter place there was a large church which was +built by the English. In general, it is exactly in the +style we call Saxon, or Old English, circular arches and +Saxon ornaments. I suspect, however, it must have been +built just as the Gothic style was coming into fashion, as +the side aisle arches and part of the body of the church +were Pointed or Gothic; and this did not appear to have +been, like some of ours, a subsequent alteration. A +handsome small old Corinthian façade was inserted +within the large Saxon heavy arch, which formed the +original entrance of the front of the church. In the +town was a very good school, called <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Le Collége Impérial</i>. +About ninety-two boys were then in the school, who all +remained, and were very civil to our officers whenever +we went there. The boys seemed to wish us well; and +they do not usually conceal their real opinions. The +establishment was in an old Benedictine abbey, and was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_429">[Pg 429]</span> +exceedingly good. The lower cloisters and the great +church, gutted at the Revolution, formed excellent play-places; +and all the great corridors above were half enclosed +by small wooden rooms for the boys, each having +one to himself about eight feet by five, holding his bed, +his chair, table, and box; and, by being all open at the +top to the gallery, they were airy and yet retired and +private. The expense of this school is about 400 francs, +or 20<em>l.</em> a-year. For this, Latin, writing, French, geography, +music, dancing, and a little mathematics were +taught. Some boys could read Livy, Tacitus, and +Cicero. The dinner and other arrangements are cleanly +and good. Napoleon gave them the building. The +funds were all private, no foundation, lands, or allowances +from Government.</p> + +<p>The road from St. Sever here was through a rich flat +bottom near the Adour, with a high bank all the way on +the south side, with several chateaux. We crossed the +Adour to come here at Sever, over our newly-made +bridge; came along the great road on the north bank, +and recrossed again at a ferry at this place, this for the +fourth time since we left St. Jean de Luz. The country +seems well cultivated, and not unlike parts of the Bath +road, in Berkshire—a flat corn country, with wooded, +rising grounds and villas at some distance, which formed +the valley. We passed Grenade, rather a large village, +about eight miles from St. Sever, and a large chateau +about six miles off, belonging to the Marquis de St. +Maurice, the chateau deriving its name from him. We +also passed a small village, about four miles further on, +called Cageres; and four miles more brought us here. +The bridge at Barcelonne is about a mile and a half +higher up, over the Adour, and has not been destroyed +by the French; they only broke one arch of wood, which +we have repaired. We were to have crossed there to +get hither, but I came almost the first, found a ferry<span class="pagenum" id="Page_430">[Pg 430]</span> +just re-established, and came over; most followed the +same way.</p> + +<p>Aire is not so large a town as St. Sever or Orthes; it +is about the size of Epsom. It is close to the river, is +old and dirty, and half deserted. Several good houses +gutted, or, at least, without furniture; and the ruins of a +very large modern-built bishop’s palace, destroyed during +the Revolution, when this place suffered much. At +Upper Aire, which stands well on a hill half a mile +above this, is a celebrated school or college, or rather two +united. It was first formed about sixty or eighty years +since, a handsome building erected for the purpose, and +well contrived—in plan much like that at St. Sever. It +was in great repute before the Revolution, but was then +destroyed, and almost completely gutted. Within the +last ten years, the professors and clergy have by degrees, +by charities, charity sermons, and great exertions, nearly +restored the whole again without Government assistance; +and, before this late attack, above two hundred boys +were there. In one building there are above a hundred +boys, all destined for the church; in another, above a +hundred for lay employments. An old church built by +the English, but much altered, and in a much later +style than that at St. Sever, stands between the schools, +is used by them as a church, and unites the two establishments. +The whole has a good broad play-terrace on +the brow of the hill above the river. Education here is +cheaper than at St. Sever, though there are no Government +funds at either. The yearly cost is about three +hundred or three hundred and fifty francs. I rather +think clothing was, however, included in the estimate at +St. Sever, and that would make the two much alike. The +studies are the same. It puts me in mind of Maynooth +College, near Dublin, and seemed what our colleges were +three or four centuries ago.</p> + +<p>My patron or host at St. Sever is a sort of small landholder<span class="pagenum" id="Page_431">[Pg 431]</span> +and noble, with his house in town and villa two +miles off, which dated, as he took care to tell me, 130 +years, as the builder’s mark and his ancestor’s name +proved, and therefore, “<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">C’est clair, mais ce n’est rien +pour moi, c’est bien vrai maintenant, que ma famille est +supérieure à celle de M. le Maire de notre ville</i>,” &c. M. le +Maire had made most of his money by dabbling with +national property during the Revolution, and succeeded +better than many others here. “But,” continued my +host, “as I have always been considered one of the +noblesse, I have suffered accordingly; <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">mais n’importe</i>—I +am grown a philosopher. I never can see such times as +Robespierre’s again; so I see English, Spanish, Portuguese, +and all with indifference, and remain quiet. At +the same time I am now English (he always said <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">nous +autres</i>, which often puzzled me), and I wish the cause +well, and would contribute much to its success.” He +seemed surprised that this contribution of maize for our +horses was all paid for instantly, and that in gold, and at +a fair good price, even though M. le Maire, who managed +it (no one knew for what), detained eleven sous out of +every eighty from all to whom he made payments. +M. La Borde de Menos was my host’s name. He was +very civil, and I dined with his family—his wife, two +daughters, and a son—whenever I was not engaged, +which happened only twice, at Lord Wellington’s. He +also gave my men wine, &c.; in short, I believe he +rejoiced much at the change he had experienced in +having me instead of a whole company of officers, men +and all, which he had one day when we first came.</p> + +<p>In return for his treatment, I bought toys for the lad; +gave some tea to Madame in case of sickness, and a pretty +cadeau to Mademoiselle. In a word, we parted excellent +friends. The many stories he told me of what had +passed in Robespierre’s time were curious. M. La Borde<span class="pagenum" id="Page_432">[Pg 432]</span> +was obliged to act with the Representant, and attend all +meetings, to be only pillaged and abused by every one, +and to bow and say, “Thank you all,” with his hat in +his hand; and this was to prevent their having an excuse +for guillotining him, as thirty of the principal people +were put to death in the small town of St. Sever. The +living alone and staying away was of itself a heinous +offence, and every requisition of a cart for a day’s use was +called for <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">sous peine de mort</i>. That was the form of all +demands. A ball was given by the Representant. +Every one was obliged to go or be suspected. Madame +went. She had a valuable gold watch-chain; but not +daring to show it, she went with a cut steel one. The +Representant said, “<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Mais où est donc votre chaine d’or? +Le publique en a besoin.</i>” She was obliged to swear it +had been stolen, and to hide it ever afterwards. The +Representant seemed incredulous, and the risk of this +fraud was great, but it answered. Monsieur was not so +lucky; he had a valuable ring, and attended one of the +meetings with it on. The Representant said, “<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Tu +F—— Noble, donnez moi ta bague, ce n’est pas pour des +gens comme toi; le publique en a besoin.</i>” He took it off +and gave it up, and some months after saw it on the +finger of one of the Representant’s relations.</p> + +<p>I have now a will to draw up in case of accident, +for Sir N. P——, bart., to secure 10,000<em>l.</em> to each of his +younger children. He is here with his regiment; so +adieu.</p> + +<p>Lord Wellington abuses the Allies for having been +beaten when they had the game in their hands; and +says, one ran his head against the Marne, and the other +against the Seine, and the whole was ill-managed. We +have the further news of a French column having made +its way from Lyons to near Geneva again; but a report +still later, that the Allies, under Blucher, got into Bonaparte’s<span class="pagenum" id="Page_433">[Pg 433]</span> +rear. These checks are, even if they end in +nothing, of the greatest use to him. They deter people +from declaring their opinions; may make every difference +in that way here and at Bordeaux; and I should +not be surprised if they encouraged Marshal Soult to +make another stand near here, on this side the Garonne, +which I do not think he would otherwise have done.</p> + +<p>I am told that he is in a position at present from +Tarbes to Plaisance, on a ridge of hills, and that the +country is full of positions. My news is from M. D——, +the husband of my young Spanish Bilboa lady, who came +to me to-day. They have left Bayonne from fear, and +are waiting the events of the war at Pau, whence he +came over here—and like a true placeman, thinking +matters were about to change, he insinuated to me that +he should like an appointment under the new order of +things—under the direction of the Bourbons or the +English.</p> + +<p>He also wanted a passport for his little wife’s brother +to go back to Bilboa, from General Alava. This I have +obtained for him; but on condition that the civil authorities +are written to, and the brother examined on his +arrival, as to his conduct, &c. M. D—— was Colonel +F——’s friend and not mine; and to confess the truth, I +had no great opinion of him, but thought he was only +attentive to Colonel F—— to serve his own purposes, +and seemed to be rather an intriguing gentleman. It is, +however, quite my principle that every one should be +allowed to go home, and go about his business; and I am +sure that Spain will profit by the residence of any one +who has lived at all with the French, and acquired some +notions of what mankind are capable of, and of human +exertion.</p> + +<p>In my walks to-day, I met a poor gentleman who told +me we had taken all his forage, and that his oxen were<span class="pagenum" id="Page_434">[Pg 434]</span> +starving, and that he must sell them; he was going to a +contractor for that purpose. I advised him to go to our +Commissary Haines, to whom I took him, for I thought +each would gain by a bargain direct. His oxen are to +be inspected to-morrow. During our conversation, he +told me that he was the brother-in-law of Dulau, the +French bookseller in Soho Square, and that the latter had +no nearer relation, but that he could never hear of him, +or write to him. I undertook to send his letter. If such +a letter is enclosed to you, therefore, you will know all +about it, and my poor man may get a legacy or something +by it, from the great Mr. Dulau, for such he +must be.</p> + +<p><em>Saturday, March 12th.</em>—We remain here to-day, and +shall do so probably for a few days, unless the French +move off. We seem to be moving up. A brigade of +artillery and some troops were yesterday taking the +direction to Pau, to secure that town, I conclude, as we +have now only artillery there, and also, perhaps, to turn +the left of the French position at Tarbes. Lord Wellington +is better; his hounds go out to-day, and I should +not be surprised at his being out with them. As a proof +how savage war makes every one, even an English soldier, +I may tell you that poor H——’s body was stript +by the English soldiers of his own division, to which he +was acting as Adjutant-general, and almost before his +body was cold. I believe two or three men have been +flogged for this. By degrees we all get hardened to anything.</p> + +<p>I find the same sort of custom here as to letting land, +as is to be found near Bayonne. The landlord puts a +peasant into a little farm, furnishes it, pays the taxes, and +finds the necessary cattle, beasts, and horses, for the cultivation +of the land; in return, he receives the full half +of the clear produce as rent, but in kind, and very little<span class="pagenum" id="Page_435">[Pg 435]</span> +money is seen. Before we came, bread was three sous +the pound, which would be about sixpence three-farthings +the quartern loaf. A goose has been five francs of late, +but that is dear. Fowls are now only half-a-crown or +three shillings each, and very good even to the English. +If we remain long in a place, we soon cause the prices +to rise.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_436">[Pg 436]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXIV">CHAPTER XXIV.</h2> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="fs80" style="margin-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em;">Reports from the Seat of War—The Duke d’Angoulême—The German +Cavalry—Misconduct of the Spaniards—Attacks on our Grazing Parties—Movement +of Head-Quarters—Death of Colonel Sturgeon—Visit to +the Hospital—New Quarters—Skirmishes—Wellington and the Mayor.</p> + +<p class="right fs80"> +Head-quarters, Aire,<br> +<span style="padding-right: 1em">March 16, 1814.</span></p> +</div> + +<p class="no-indent"><span class="smcap">My dear M——</span>, +</p> + +<p><span style="padding-left: 2em">Here</span> we remain still, and probably shall do so +for a few days, for the French Marshal not only keeps +his position near Conchez, across our road to Tarbes and +Toulouse, but does not seem disposed to go beyond +demonstrations, and cannot muster courage to attack us, +and we, I believe, are not quite prepared to attack him. +The glorious reception Marshal Beresford met with at +Bordeaux, and the spirited and decided conduct of the +<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">maire</i>, &c., there, you will have heard by the last mail, +for the news came after my letter, but before Lord Wellington’s +bag was dispatched. We have all sorts of +reports from the vicinity of Paris, about the battle at +Meaux, of a large French corps having gone over to Bernadotte. +There are reports from Bordeaux, but all +uncertain; I think, however, that the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">maire</i> must have +had some good intelligence to induce him to take the line +he has done, which must be his ruin, and that of all his +friends, if we make peace at last with Bonaparte.</p> + +<p>The Duke d’Angoulême, at first, it is said, declined a +burgher guard, and preferred an English one. This will<span class="pagenum" id="Page_437">[Pg 437]</span> +not do: he must show confidence and spirit, and rely +upon his French friends, and give no offence by partialities +for the English. This was bad advice in some +one about him, for I understand he personally has always +wished to take a decided line, and risk his personal safety +for the cause.</p> + +<p>We hear the Royalist party are beginning <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">à la lanterne</i> +again, but I hope this is not true. The inhabitants of +Bordeaux must arm and protect themselves. We shall +leave but a small force there. The river and their own +people must be their chief reliance. Lord Wellington +has sent for the fourth division from Marshal Beresford +to help here. Canning went off at four o’clock on the +14th, with these orders (as I understand); he was sent +from Gartin by Lord Wellington, eleven miles from this +in front, and was here in an hour. Whilst he was dressing +and getting a fresh horse, I got him his money from +the Paymaster, and he was off, remounted for Roquefort, +twenty miles; and thence he was to post the other +seventy miles all night to Bordeaux. He was heard of +at Langon, about three or four in the morning, so that by +nine o’clock on the 15th he would be in Bordeaux; and +as the fourth division, which was at Langon, would +march that day, in about two days more they will be +here. All our 18-pounders and some other reinforcements +will arrive, and then Soult must be off, or I hope +get another beating.</p> + +<p>The heavy German Cavalry (for by its name they wish +to be known, for it carries credit with it), went through +here two days since in admirable order, the horses in particular, +but the latter are altogether too slight for the +men, who are all large, bony, heavy men, of a certain age, +and experienced heroes. It will not be easy by a royal +order, and light jacket and caps, to transform these gentlemen +into light Germans, nor do the corps like it at all. +Ponsonby’s heavy brigade is also close by, fresh from<span class="pagenum" id="Page_438">[Pg 438]</span> +Spain, like the Germans, and in the same excellent condition. +Nearly ten thousand Spaniards, very fine-looking +men, and in good discipline, are also two miles from this, +at or near Barcelona. Hitherto they have behaved in +general much better than was expected on the march; +but we feed them, as they have no transport. If they +will but fight a little in return, and take their share of +loss, we should do famously.</p> + +<p>Murillo’s Spaniards, I am sorry to say, have begun +very ill in our front. The day before yesterday, Soult +made an advance against them; when they were ordered +to fall back a little to a rivulet, and there defend themselves. +Once with their backs turned, however, away +they went, and never stopped until the Buffs were +ordered up to stop the French, who, the moment they +saw the red coats coming on, were off home again very +quickly, but not quite so rapidly as the Spaniards had run +from them.</p> + +<p>The Portuguese cavalry had a little affair, and behaved +well. The 14th Dragoons had also an affair the day +before yesterday. Half a squadron under Captain +Babington were ordered by Colonel Harvey to drive off +a French half squadron, and then halt until he came up. +They upset the French, saw another whole squadron +beyond, were tempted to go on by their first success, and +succeeded in a great measure again, but Captain Babington +was taken. The wounded French dragoons of the +5th regiment, brought in here prisoners, are all very fine +men, and the whole regiment are said to be the same sort +of men. They came in much cut about the head and +hands.</p> + +<p>The forage animals of head-quarters were yesterday +very nearly getting into a terrible scrape—about two +hundred and fifty animals, and two of mine in the number. +They foolishly went in front of our picquets, or +nearly so, though regularly under commissariat directions.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_439">[Pg 439]</span> +Whilst they were loading at a farm, one peasant slipped +away, and it is concluded told some French dragoons +near what was going on, whilst the other in the house +gave some of the party wine. There were four artillerymen +unarmed in the house, and about six Portuguese, +one of whom was mine, when a French officer of cavalry, +with his sword drawn, came to the window, told them +all to come out, and that they were prisoners. When +they came out, seeing that he was alone and his party +three or four hundred yards off, they mounted their +mules, and nearly all got off, with the loss of, it is said, +only one man and two or three mules. Some fellows +galloped all the way here without their loads or cords, +and at first spread an alarm that all were taken. They +arrived home in the course of the day, and my Portuguese +brought home a load of good hay and two deserted +ropes in triumph. It is thought that the party +should have brought off the officer prisoner, but most are +satisfied with having got their own property back again. +He cut one of the artillerymen on the finger, who put +up his arm to save himself.</p> + +<p>Another party of muleteers with stores from Mont +de Marsan to Bordeaux, with supplies for the seventh +division, to which they belonged, were attacked three +days since on their road near Roquefort, quite in our +rear and on our communications, by some French partizans, +a sort of guerillas called <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">La Bande</i>. These now, +it is said, are employed by Soult: they were formerly a +set of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">douaniers</i>, or smuggler catchers. Several mules +were killed and wounded, and, I believe, some muleteers +killed, and some of the money taken. It is to be feared +that the Spanish muleteers will begin to be alarmed at +this. We have cavalry, however, on the road, and they +will now be more on the look out in future.</p> + +<p>This place is now much crowded. Three new Generals +came in yesterday and to-day,—Sir Stapleton<span class="pagenum" id="Page_440">[Pg 440]</span> +Cotton to-day, with, about a hundred animals belonging +to himself and his staff. I was turned out of my stable +in consequence, though but a very bad one, and my +animals are now in a back kitchen turned into a stable. +At Barcelona the Spaniards turned out the cavalry with +much less ceremony. It is said that a company, with a +Captain at their head, gallantly charged Captain S——’s +horses and bâtmen (General C——’s aide-de-camp), and +were very successful. One little blood-horse kicked +about, broke loose, and made a good defence, without +injuring himself; but another horse, not so quick in his +retreat, received two slight bayonet wounds, and a slight +cut with a sabre, and the Spaniards carried the day, behaving +like heroes!</p> + +<p>Our people are all moved in consequence, and I hope +that these <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">valorosos</i> and blood-thirsty gentlemen will +soon be allowed to contend with a more glorious enemy, +and will behave with equal spirit when the opportunity +shall arrive.</p> + +<p>The Swedish (Bernadotte’s) aide-de-camp is, it seems, +to campaign with us; he is buying horses, &c., and +preparing for the field. He is a great talker, and, I +understand, of this country. From his conversation +he seems to have served against us under Massena in +Portugal, but how he is what he is I do not exactly +understand.</p> + +<p>The weather is still very cold. Lord Wellington +would not even condescend to-day to go and look at +the French. He only sent Colonel Gordon to go on to +Gartin, and report.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, 17th March, Aire.</em>—About three +o’clock yesterday we learnt that the French were off, +and filed through Conchez, apparently on the way to +Tarbes. I think they will not venture to go too near +the mountains, but must make for Toulouse. If not, +our fourth division, which, it is said, will be here to-night,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_441">[Pg 441]</span> +will make us strong enough, I hope, to push a +column through Auch straight to Toulouse, while the +rest follow Soult, and we should then be at Toulouse +first. I conclude he will turn that way from Tarbes. +General Hill moved a little after the French yesterday +to keep them in sight. The rest of the army will, in +my opinion, get in motion to-day or to-morrow, and +head-quarters move on very soon afterwards. About +fifty prisoners were sent in here last night, mostly +dragoons.</p> + +<p>We are all alive again with regard to the Allies, and +the stories from Bordeaux are most animating. In +addition to this, we move after Soult to-morrow. Head-quarters +to be at Viella, nearly three leagues in advance, +towards Auch. I fear we shall, as part of head-quarters, +see neither Toulouse nor Bordeaux; for if my generalship +correspond with Lord Wellington’s, Soult will in +my opinion cross the Garonne, and our right will go +to Toulouse, and we, as part of head-quarters, shall pass +the river by some bridge to be laid down below near +Agen,—more towards the centre of our movements. +The scene at Bordeaux I much regret to have lost. We +already hear of disturbances at Toulouse, and even +reports of Louis XVIII. being proclaimed at Paris. +From the want of a popular Bourbon cry at Bordeaux, +I hear they have set up “Henri IV.,” and “Gode sav de +King.” The weather to-day is delightful: I only hope +it will last. We are told that Suchet has offered to +withdraw all his garrisons from Spain into France, and +give up the towns in their present state; this has been +referred, it is said, to Lord Wellington, and by him +refused, as only releasing so many men for present use, +who must sooner or later, if we persevere, be prisoners. +This is quite right no doubt for the common cause.</p> + +<p><em>Viella, 18th.</em>—I have just time to add a few lines +at this place, which is about nine miles from Aire, on<span class="pagenum" id="Page_442">[Pg 442]</span> +the road to Tarbes, and our head-quarters to-day. It +is a small scattered village, so much so that I am at a +farm at least two miles or more from the main village, +and nearly by myself at the last house in the commune. +I have, however, a doctor and a commissary within a +quarter of a mile, and as we are fortunately well received, +and welcomed everywhere, it does not signify. I +feel quite at ease.</p> + +<p>We had a tiresome march here, for the third division, +the sixth, and the heavy Germans with the baggage +of all three, the whole of the pontoon train, the artillery +of the two divisions, head-quarter’s baggage, and eight +thousand Spaniards all went the same road, over our +newly-made bridge across the Leis, a small stream which +falls into the Adour, near Barcelonne. The French, in +destroying this bridge, had not blown up or burnt the +main centre pier, so that about twenty-five elm trees, +about twenty-five feet long, and bundles of fascines, +about twelve feet long, placed crosswise, and then +covered with dirt, in two days’ time made us a famous +bridge.</p> + +<p>Some time hence, when the fascines get rotten, some +luckless car or horseman will no doubt go through into +the water, which is deep, and about twenty feet below. +The high roads are excellent, and the country, though +not a rich soil, very pretty and loveable. Almost every +drain under the road, or a small arch for streams to pass +under, had been broken down; some left so from neglect +of late, some I believe just made on purpose to delay us: +faggots, and a little mould, with a few small trees at +bottom, soon made a passage, but created delays.</p> + +<p><em>19th, 7 o’clock.</em>—To-day we move to Maubourguet, +nearly in the Tarbes road. This looks as if Soult was +making for Tarbes, and not Toulouse. I can scarcely +believe this. If he places his rear on the mountains, +he gives up Toulouse, and the richest country; and if<span class="pagenum" id="Page_443">[Pg 443]</span> +beaten when up there, will, in my opinion, escape with +difficulty. He may expect some reinforcements from +Suchet that way, but still must go to Toulouse.</p> + +<p>We, however, have now a chance of seeing the latter, +whereas I thought we should have crossed nearer Agen, +lower down the river.</p> + +<p>My patron here is very friendly. The French plundered +him terribly, and all his neighbours. They call +them brigands, and dread them more than our army. +My man let five Portuguese dragoons through his premises, +and, he says, saved them. He is of a class of +men that existed in former days in England; the owner +and cultivator of eighty acres of land, partly corn, +partly wood, partly vineyards, and partly meadow—thus +he has all within himself. He has a wife and four +children, two women servants, two pair of oxen, of which +he has been obliged to sell one pair to pay the French +contributions. He has two labourers, both deserters, +for keeping whom he knows he is liable to a fine of +from five hundred to three thousand francs, and to be +confined five years, but he can get no other servants, and +of course these are faithful.</p> + +<p>His land, he says, is worth about 50<em>s.</em> an acre. It +requires much labour, but when left alone he says is +good enough to make them very happy. In spite of +all that he has suffered, and his earnest desire for peace, +he is certainly no friend to the Bourbons. He curses +Bonaparte for his ambition, has a tolerably just notion +of all his losses in the North, and in Spain, from the +soldiers; but still, would rather, in my opinion, have +Bonaparte and peace than the Bourbons. I can never +get him to say a word, good or bad, as to the latter. +At the same time, like all the rest of the French, he +would just now submit to anything for peace. All have +the highest respect for Lord Wellington, which they say +they learn from the French army, high and low.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_444">[Pg 444]</span></p> + +<p><em>Maubourguet, 5 o’clock.</em>—We left Viella at nine, and +after a tiresome ride through baggage the whole way, +arrived here about four o’clock, though it is only about +fifteen miles. The bridges were all broken down, and +nearly every gutter across the road, but this only caused +delays, and was quite ineffectual. The troops and +artillery waggons all found some way round or through. +When about twelve miles on our road, we found the +last three miles quite choked with all the baggage of +head-quarters and the troops. At first I conceived the +delay arose in a broken bridge being repaired, and was +patient; but a sharp firing and cannonade soon commenced +in front of Maubourguet, near Vic, and then, +guessing that it was an intentional halt, I made my +way through it here, and found every one in front, +and a sharp firing about four miles in advance, near +Vic Bigorre.</p> + +<p>I met also a party of the fine German cavalry wounded +going to the rear; they had had an affair the day before +yesterday in advance of Madiran, half way between that +place and this, and with two squadrons instantly upset +four squadrons of French chasseurs, took many horses, +and cut up many men, but the French ran too fast to +leave any prisoners. This tempted the Germans to +attack yesterday a very superior force, it is said three +times their number—three French regiments; and I +hear they suffered much.</p> + +<p>In the first affair they had about four killed and +eighteen wounded. We were at first without orders +as to staying here and unpacking, but a report soon +reached us that the French would not stand, and were +off. So we all unpacked quietly before the firing ceased, +and prepared for dinner in this town, where five hundred +French cavalry had passed the night, and had only +departed about eight in the morning, with the curses +of the inhabitants. Our Portuguese were principally<span class="pagenum" id="Page_445">[Pg 445]</span> +engaged, it is said, yesterday, and without much loss. +The sixth division entered Vic last night.</p> + +<p><em>Maubourguet, 7 o’clock, 20th, Sunday.</em>—No orders last +night. Lord Wellington very late home; but I have +just learned that we are to move to-day to Tarbes, +taking it for granted that the French will be out to +make room for us. This is very strange, and so is the +confidence of our men. When we halted yesterday +the bâtmen were saying, when within three miles of +this place, the head-quarters, “We must only wait a +little till the troops have cleared our quarters for us and +made room.”</p> + +<p>I now cannot understand Soult’s plans. He seems +to be making for the mountains, and to have suffered +us in some measure to cut him off from Toulouse. +Colonel Canning arrived last night from Bordeaux with +an account of a grand defeat of Bonaparte, and that he +had fallen back on Orleans. This I expected if he were +not killed, as I concluded he would try and unite with +the Lyons army and Soult’s, and make one more stand +in the heart of the kingdom. If this be true, Lord +Wellington must be careful as to passing the Garonne; +Soult’s junction, nevertheless, will at any rate be doubtful. +Our men are in the highest spirits, and driving all +before them; weather fine.</p> + +<p><em>Tournay, March 21st.</em>—At nine left Maubourguet; +about four miles further I stopped at Vic Bigorre, to see +poor Colonel Sturgeon’s body. He was a very clever +man and officer, and particularly skilful as a bridge +engineer, and in all languages. He went too close to +the skirmishers, to reconnoitre, and was shot in the +head just under the eye. I also went over the hospital, +to assist Dr. M’Gregor in giving directions to the French +as to arrangements, to talk to and satisfy some wounded +French officers, and to get bedding, straw, and help from +the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">maire</i> by requisition instantly. We had about two<span class="pagenum" id="Page_446">[Pg 446]</span> +hundred wounded there of all nations, many Portuguese, +one of whom was undergoing the operation of amputation +of his leg and thigh, very high up, and seemed in +great agony. The French surgeon thought that Dr. +M’Gregor was finding fault, and stopped, and turned +to us to explain. I understand he was doing it in +a clumsy way, but Dr. M’Gregor begged me to praise +him highly, or he would be alarmed and do it still +worse. Close to Vic, by the road-side, were about a +dozen bodies of men killed by cannon-shot, and terribly +mauled.</p> + +<p>Having loaded a mule with oats from a French store +at Vic, I proceeded towards Tournay. The road was +crammed, and some sharp skirmishing going on about +three miles beyond the town, which had commenced +on the Vic side. The French only left the town about +nine o’clock, and tried to blow up the bridge, but were +stopped by two or three gun-shots. They stood their +ground tolerably, on a very strong ridge of hills, until +night, and remained <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">en bivouac</i> on them last night. At +three this morning they were off; and here we are after +them again, about nine miles on the road to Toulouse, +at this place, Tournay, which was last night Marshal +Soult’s head-quarters.</p> + +<p>Tarbes is a good town and contains a number of good +houses. From the houses being large, and having yards +and gardens, and from there being one or two large open +spaces or squares, it covers a good deal of ground, but +does not count, I understand, above ten or eleven thousand +inhabitants. The people received us in general very +well, but were quite passive, taking no part in any way. +They had been kept quite in ignorance of all that was +going on in the north, and at Bordeaux in particular—at +least a great part of them. I explained, and +harangued all I could in order to set them right. My +own patron was, it struck me, a strong Bonapartist,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_447">[Pg 447]</span> +and I took some pains to plague him a little accordingly. +We have had no sort of interruption to-day, +except from the multitudes passing, which form a continued +stream, from five in the morning, along a wide +road, until about four or five in the day. The fine +weather has unfortunately turned to rain, but I hope will +return to us again.</p> + +<p>You will see by the map that Soult has taken to the +Toulouse road at last. He is at Mont St. Jean to-day, +it is said; and that, as usual, when inclined to run, the +French beat our people in marching, and we cannot cut +him off. He has run some risks by going this roundabout +road; and had we been strong enough to have +pushed along the Auch road also, we should have puzzled +him a little. We shall now, most probably, drive him +gradually to the Garonne. It is likely, in my opinion, +that he will make another stand. I have been turned +out of my stable, and had much trouble with the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">maire</i>, +so have only time to seal up.</p> + +<p>P.S. The country, from Maubourguet to Vic, Tarbes, +and part of the way here, was all a flat, of rich country, +like the country between Bridgewater and across into +Somersetshire; except that half the meadows at least +were vineyards and orchards in one, and interlaced very +prettily; the fruit-trees kept small, about ten feet high, +and the vines trained off at about six, and all intertwined +and furled together with withy-bands. This was famous +cover, as no musquet-ball could pass far through the +trees; a few common shot had destroyed the quincunx +regularity in many places. The water meadows were +very beautiful, and the system seemed to be understood +and well managed; the streams beautifully clear. The +background of this large flat was all the way to the +Haute Pyrenees covered with snow; but the higher Pic +du Midi was never visible, always in the clouds; the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_448">[Pg 448]</span> +lower one was. The Alps are far superior, as far as I +can judge. Adieu.</p> + +<p><em>Nine o’clock at night, Isle en Dodon, March 24th, +1814.</em>—Our post and movements are now so uncertain +and sudden, that I know not when or how to write to +you, and fear that my last was sent too late, and may +probably be sent with this, by which means all the zest +of late news from the army will be lost. I have just +heard, by accident, that a mail will go to-night, and have +only time to scribble a few hasty lines immediately after +dinner. My last finished at Tournay; thence we proceeded +the next day to Galan, a poor village, and rather +a wild mountain road, the short cut to Toulouse. Our +second division and cavalry followed the enemy along the +high road by Lannernezon, Mont St. Jean, and St. Gaudens. +One corps of their army went also through Galan. +The <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">maire</i> of the latter was a fine old man of eighty-two, +and a good friend.</p> + +<p>I was at a miserable half-furnished house, and my +baggage being stopped by the Spanish troops, it did +not arrive until seven o’clock; luckily it came in time +for me to dress, in order to dine with Lord Wellington, +a mile off, in the rain. The <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">maire</i> had been an hour in +the room with Lord Wellington before he found him +out, talking by the fire in his quarter, until at last Lord +Wellington, having let him go on some time, asked him +to dinner. This staggered him, and led to an explanation. +The <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">maire</i> said, that the night before he had had +Generals Clausel and Harispe, and that they only ordered +a dinner to be prepared, and did not ask him to eat part +of his own, or thank him, or take the least notice of him. +He could not, therefore, believe that Lord Wellington +was the enemy’s General, after having been so treated, as +he said, “like a dog,” by his friends.</p> + +<p>My own patron was a half-starved apothecary without<span class="pagenum" id="Page_449">[Pg 449]</span> +medicines or drugs. He offered to dress a fowl for me, +but was very willing instead to sell me one for twice its +value, for dinner the next day.</p> + +<p><em>23rd.</em>—We moved again to Boulognes, about sixteen +miles, rather a long march, and in part bad road, though +in general the roads all over this part of France are very +much superior to ours in England; compared with our +best roads, they are very superior to any in the distant +counties, and to many of our main and best roads, even +in the neighbourhood of London. The light, third, +fourth, and sixth divisions of cavalry, and about eight +thousand Spaniards, all move with this column, and we +reach of course by mid-day, when all is in motion, with +the artillery and baggage, about ten miles. The second +division and cavalry follow the French. At St. Gaudens +the 13th Dragoons came up with the French rear cavalry, +formed just outside the town, charged, broke them, drove +them pell-mell through the town on their reverse beyond +it. There they re-formed; the 13th charged again; then +the French ran, with the 13th after them, for two miles. +The result is said to be a hundred and twenty prisoners +and horses, besides killed.</p> + +<p>From Boulognes we to-day marched to this place—Isle +en Dodon. The majority of the people here seem +to be friends of Bonaparte, and the assistant <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">maire</i> in +particular, with whom I had much conversation; for he +gave Doctor Hume and me a joint billet at the empty +house where he gave out the billets, and no stable +at all. As I was obliged to have him in the room +so long, I determined to work him a little for treating +us so ill.</p> + +<p>The <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">maire</i> of Boulognes ran away at first. At night +he came back and went to Lord Wellington, who showed +him his proclamations and regulations, &c. The <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">maire</i> +said he had taken the oath to Bonaparte, and would not +act. “Very well,” said Lord Wellington, “then the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_450">[Pg 450]</span> +people must choose another; but now you have taken +your line, I must take mine, and send you over the Garonne +into the French lines.” He gave orders accordingly, +to Colonel S——. The <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">maire</i> ran away, and could +not be found. Colonel S—— took up the father, to +march him off until the son appeared. This brought +him out; he remonstrated with Lord Wellington, said he +was one of the first men of the country, and should be +ruined by this. Lord Wellington said, “He should have +thought of that sooner, and he must go;” and to this +place he came to-day a prisoner.</p> + +<p>We have just received orders to march to Samatan to-morrow. +All here have a notion that Suchet’s forces +join Soult near here; that is, have done so, or are to do +so; but we are a little in the dark, and the ignorance of +the French about everything is astonishing: they seem +quite stupified. But Bonaparte has many friends still, +and the reports in the French papers, though upon the +whole good, are not decisive. The armistice seems to +have gone off from the arrangements about Italy. We +are living, like the rest of the armies and the French, +by requisitions; but we hitherto pay in money, which +others do not. We consume everything, however, like +locusts.</p> + +<p>Lord Wellington popped between Colonel G—— and +me as we were discussing the allied battles this morning, +and suddenly took a part, to my great astonishment, in +our conversation.</p> + +<p>On leaving Tarbes a party of civilians went round by +Bagnières to see the baths, the rooms, &c., a sort of Spa, +about twelve miles round, and where no troops had been; +not an Englishman there, but they were told they would +be well received, and so they were indeed. The <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">maire</i> +addressed them; the people were in crowds, so that it +required force to enable them to pass. The National +Guard turned out and presented arms to them: it was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_451">[Pg 451]</span> +like Lord Wellington’s entry into Zamora, they say, such +an outcry! such a display! A ball was proposed, but as +there was a French garrison about six miles off, and no +allied troops near, the party declined staying, and went +off highly pleased with their excursion. This is very +odd, for on the road we go, all is stupefaction and indifference. +I should have enjoyed this, but am obliged +to be very prudent now, after my late escape. Adieu +again.</p> + +<p>The schoolmaster, or <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">prêtre</i>, at Boulognes had written +a long poem entitled “<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Mon Rêve</i>,” a prophecy nearly of +everything which has taken place, and containing +much in honour of Lord Wellington. He said he had +long had it concealed, and volunteered spouting it +out to us, to his own great satisfaction, and it really +was not bad.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_452">[Pg 452]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXV">CHAPTER XXV.</h2> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="fs80" style="margin-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em;">Difficulties of the March—Failure of the Bridge of Boats—The Garonne—Excesses +of Murillo’s Corps—Bad News—Exchange of Prisoners—Arrival +before Toulouse—A Prisoner of War—Anecdote of Wellington.</p> + +<p class="right fs80"> +Head-quarters, Samatan,<br> +<span style="padding-right: 2em">March 25, 1814.</span></p> +</div> + +<p class="no-indent"><span class="smcap">My dear M——</span>, +</p> + +<p><span style="padding-left: 2em">At</span> eight this morning, we left L’Isle en Dodon +for this place, about eight miles nearer to Toulouse, from +which we (the head-quarters) are now only distant about +twenty-six miles. Our troops at St. Lys, and St. Foy, +and that vicinity, are within eleven miles; our right is +still a little more in the rear on the St. Gaudens’ road, +near Martres, under General Hill.</p> + +<p>I have just met with a corn-factor who left Toulouse +this morning. He says that Marshal Soult arrived +there with about eight thousand men last night. The +same number were expected to-day, and a force of twelve +thousand men from Suchet’s army was expected to join, +or rather, the twelve thousand men were to be principally +a reinforcement of conscripts, collected by the Imperial +Commissioner Caffarelli. A small bridge, called St. +Antoine, near St. Martin, about a mile from Toulouse, +was destroyed on the road from Isle Jourdain to Toulouse, +and some works were being formed, and an appearance +of defence was being made near to St. Martin, +at a place where three roads branch off, a mile from +Toulouse, and called La Pate d’Ore. The narrator,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_453">[Pg 453]</span> +though no judge, thought the works could not be +completed in time, and that if we pressed on we +should pass them without much difficulty. The bridge, +he said also, was mined; it is a very noble bridge, +but it was reported that there was a ford passable so +near, that it was thought the mine would not be made +use of.</p> + +<p>The news from Paris had ceased for some days, and +this gave rise to many stories of Paris having been taken, +&c. I am lodged here with some very civil good people, +and who, in my opinion, really wish us well, and are +very different from the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">maire adjoint</i> at the last place, +who seemed a good Bonapartist, as are many of the +people at L’Isle en Dodon. About six miles from that +place, and ten from this, we passed through a very good +old-fashioned town, larger than this, called Lombez, where +the people, in spite of having had a division of troops +quartered in their houses and in the church, seemed to +wish us very well.</p> + +<p>The country in this neighbourhood is a wide flat near +the river, with a gently rising boundary of hill and good +corn land, the soil heavy, and the roads very deep in consequence. +I always expected my horses’ shoes to be +sucked off every ten minutes by the strong clay.</p> + +<p>The <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">maire</i> of Boulognes continues his route with us, +looking very forlorn, and with three staff corps men +round him, our gens-d’armes. He began to repent to-day, +and offered to act as <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">maire</i>, but Lord Wellington +said it was too late. He then wrote to his wife, saying, +“He was a martyr to his principles,” &c., when his offer +had been refused. So much for the principles of this +good friend of Napoleon! Had his offer been accepted, +he would have gone on as <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">maire</i>. His friend Bonaparte +was, however, I really and truly think, never greater than +he has been in his adversity during the last three months. +The manner in which he has fought against all his difficulties<span class="pagenum" id="Page_454">[Pg 454]</span> +is very astonishing, and it would not surprise +me now if he succeeded in fighting himself into a +tolerable peace. His boldness in finding fault with +his generals, &c., and having them disgraced and tried +at this moment, is very striking. In short, I am +almost inclined to believe that his own spirit, the +bad conduct of the Cossacks, and the wavering policy of +some of our Allies, will enable him to keep his place +amongst the list of sovereigns, though never to triumph +over them all, as he intended, and very nearly managed +to do.</p> + +<p>There are several good chateaux near here I am told: +one of these is occupied by Major M——, in our service, +who was a prisoner of war, and thought it the best way +to pass his captivity in double chains, or rather to cast +off one chain by taking another, and by marrying an +heiress, enjoy himself whilst here. I understand that +he has served as <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">maire</i> of the place; General Pakenham +and Colonel Campbell know him.</p> + +<p>The army is now almost entirely fed on the country, +and the rations paid for in bills or ready money. Our +transports, such as they were, are quite outrun by our +continual marches and distance from the depôts. We do +not even resort to our grand prize-magazine at Mont de +Marsan. We are also boldly isolated in the country, +with scarcely five hundred men the whole way between +this and Bayonne; and between this and Tarbes I believe +none at all. Were not the general disposition of +the people so good, at least so submissive, the stragglers +and parties joining the army would be all destroyed; as +it is, we have had few accidents. An affair is expected +in a day or two near Toulouse, but this is doubtful. In +the meantime King Ferdinand must be in Spain, as he +long since passed through Toulouse on his way there.</p> + +<p><em>9 o’clock at night.</em>—Later accounts from the front say +that the French are leaving Toulouse, but I think they<span class="pagenum" id="Page_455">[Pg 455]</span> +will make a show of resistance at least. Lord Wellington +said at dinner to-day he feared that they would +blow up the bridge, but that he had his pontoons with +him, and by showing the enemy that he could pass +either above or below the bridge, he would try to save it. +To-morrow will determine much, as head-quarters move +four leagues to St. Lys, within about three leagues of +Toulouse, and the troops are to move down into the +plain in which the town stands. This is hard work for +the men and baggage-animals, as the roads are excessively +deep, and it is said will be worse to-morrow than +to-day. We pass through St. Foy. We cannot learn +where Marshal Suchet is; Lord Wellington does not +know. He received despatches by a courier from Catalonia +after dinner to-day, dated the 16th of March. It +was not known there for certain that he had quitted +Catalonia; several here say positively that he is gone +towards Lyons. The post goes to-morrow early. You +probably get two or three of my letters together, for we +have now no regular post-day, and I am often quartered +at a distance. I do not know when the mail leaves head-quarters, +and by wishing to send you the last news, I +may miss the post altogether.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, St. Lys, March 27th, 1814.</em>—To-day, +Sunday, we make a halt here, which most of the army +is very much in need of. This is in order to enable +Lord Wellington to make arrangements and reconnoitre, +&c. Four divisions are in our front, and General Hill on +our right. Nothing has been done to-day but the driving +in of some French picquets on this side of a little +stream about two leagues from hence, and half-way to +Toulouse, and we are now placed on that stream. There +seemed to be but little firing. I saw it from the top of +the tower of the church here, but it was soon over. +From the same place the view all around was very extensive +and magnificent; Toulouse was plainly visible,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_456">[Pg 456]</span> +and much of the country beyond, together with a number +of villages, chateaux, &c., in the large plain through which +the Garonne takes its circular course from the Pyrenees. +The snowy summits of the latter closed the prospect with +their heads in the clouds.</p> + +<p>Having had some trouble to mount to this gallery +round the church, by means of the bells and their scaffolding, +for there was no ladder, I was up there for two +hours with my glass, in a tolerably clear and fine day. +Of the importance of the latter you have no idea. Yesterday +was entirely rainy, and our road was, perhaps, as +bad as any we have ever passed with artillery, and that is +saying much. The troops were splashed up to their +caps, and hundreds were walking barefoot in the clay up +to the calves of their legs for about five miles, whilst the +best of the road was that like to Hounslow in the worst +season after a thaw. Lord Wellington said, the French, +after consultation, had determined that this road was not +passable for their artillery, but by means of lighter carriages +and better horses, five brigades of our guns have +got over this difficulty.</p> + +<p>To give you a notion of it, I may mention that Lord +Wellington’s barouche was three hours stuck fast in it +at one place; one hind wheel up to the axle, the other +in the air. No one was in it except General Alava, who +was unwell. I left them endeavouring to move it by +means of four artillery horses, in addition to his own six +mules, but in vain; six oxen in addition at last got it +clear. Lord Wellington is gone to-day round by Plaisance +to the right, to General Hill on the St. Gaudens’ +road, as that division is now approaching near us. I am +always afraid of some accident in these parties in an +enemy’s country, for there is generally no escort—only a +few officers and two or three orderlies at the most.</p> + +<p>In a Toulouse paper of the 22nd, which I saw yesterday, +I was amused with observing, among other articles—“Bordeaux,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_457">[Pg 457]</span> +12th March. By accounts from +this place troops without number are pouring through +to join the grand army under the Duke of Dalmatia. +The disposition of the people is excellent.” Then again, +“March 15th. The prefect is taking measures for a +number of improvements in the different communes.” +These lies and frauds are curious. We also notice, +that in publishing Soult’s proclamations in the Paris +papers, in which he calls Lord Wellington the commander +of brigands, the introductory part relating to +the battle of Orthes is omitted altogether. It does not +appear that any battle has taken place at all. We hope +the silence as to Schwartzenburg means as much, and +that the truth will be a set-off to any check given to St. +Priest.</p> + +<p>Bonaparte’s movements to Rheims and Chalons we +cannot here comprehend. Many of the people here +talk such bad French that I am often taken for a +Frenchman, and my patron here told me that I need +not be afraid to own it, for he was a Royalist, and always +had been so. His simplicity yesterday provoked me +excessively. I gave him some of my old silver spoons +to take care of. Thinking all soldiers and followers of +an army virtuous and honest, he left the spoons, with a +loaf, in his kitchen, and left his door open, to let every one +in who chose. On my return, his loaf and my spoons were +gone. This vexed me excessively, but redress was in vain.</p> + +<p><em>Seisses, 28th March.</em>—At daybreak this morning head-quarters +moved to this place, most of us, in my opinion, +fully expecting to be in Toulouse before night. We +arrived here, within a league of the Garonne, by eight +o’clock, when, to our great mortification, the part of the +second division which had left this village at ten last +night was just returning here again after daylight, owing +to the bridge of boats having been too short, and the +troops therefore unable to pass the river.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_458">[Pg 458]</span></p> + +<p>This is most vexatious, for the immediate passage of +the Garonne without a halt, and triumphant entry into +Toulouse would have been an exploit worthy of our +General. With five more pontoons the whole would +have been effected, and, most probably, with little loss. +In front of Toulouse the enemy had been left quiet, and +pressed but little; the grand movement was to have been +on the right to the banks of the river near Portet. Just +below where the Arrige and the Garonne unite, a league +above Toulouse, the bridge was to have been laid in the +night, and half the army over or ready to pass by daylight. +The width of the river was supposed to be about +one hundred and forty yards, or four hundred and fifty +feet, the stream strong; for this we were prepared. The +boats were in the river, the cables, I believe, fixed, and +every precaution taken for secrecy, when the discovery +was made that five more pontoons would be necessary, +as the river was twenty yards, or about eighty feet wider. +The boats were all withdrawn, and the troops all in +their way to head-quarters again before daylight; but +it was a <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">grand coup manqué</i>. Apparently there must +have been great inadvertence somewhere, though it may +have been that no measurement was allowed, or even +close observations, for fear of exciting suspicion.</p> + +<p>I think it will be a triumph to E——, though I am +sure he will not feel it as such. He told Lord Wellington +at St. Jean de Luz that, in consequence of some +order of his, the pontoon train would be rendered imperfect, +and that if the army met with a wide river it would +be stopped. Thus it has happened, and Lord Wellington, +though in general so much a gainer by his +decision and resources in getting rid of difficulties, has +for once suffered for not attending to the counsel of his +more steady and regularly-bred scientific advisers.</p> + +<p>As the troops were not yet ordered out of the town, +and were in possession of the houses, we remained for<span class="pagenum" id="Page_459">[Pg 459]</span> +some hours with our baggage standing loaded, until our +billets were settled. Most part of this time I spent in +surveying the immense plain covered with farms, villas, +villages, towns, and chateaux, in the neighbourhood of +Toulouse, as well as the town itself. The number of +apparently splendid mansions was considerable, some +belonging to merchants of Toulouse; some to the old +nobles who had not emigrated; some to the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">nouveaux +riches</i> of the Revolution and Bonaparte. The latter were +much abused, the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">fournisseurs</i> of the army, the intendents +or tax-gatherers, &c. I believe there was much +fraud in the management of the collection of contributions; +and of late, particularly, much more was collected +under the pretence of the necessities of the army, and to +provision Bayonne, than ever reached its destination; +and being but ill paid regularly, the managers took the +liberty of paying themselves well irregularly.</p> + +<p>Murillo’s corps has plundered again of late, and was +guilty of some excesses last night. One man was caught +in the fact, stealing wine, and brought forward. Lord +Wellington had him shot in the most impressive manner +this morning, before all the corps, after a solemn admonition, +and much parade. The man, it is said, appeared +absolutely dead from fear before a musquet was fired. +He was unluckily one of the least culpable, for he had +only taken away a bottle of wine by force; but he was +caught in the fact, and suffered for the sake of example—as +the least guilty in reality often do, from the most +guilty being also the most knowing.</p> + +<p>Lord Wellington has not yet returned; he must now +exert his wits, to cure this mishap, which will not, in my +opinion, put him in the best of humours.</p> + +<p>The Pyrenees were to-day perfectly clear, and very +striking. An immense snowy barrier almost entirely +white, with scarcely any bare rock visible. They are +not by any means so picturesque as the Alps. They<span class="pagenum" id="Page_460">[Pg 460]</span> +form a large mass, without much variety of form and +character; and have not that contrast of pointed, craggy, +fancifully-shaped rocks, rounded lower hills covered +with verdure, and fine forest scenery, which is seen in +Switzerland.</p> + +<p>Two of the medical officers and one of the 42nd of the +sixth division, taken at Hagenau, have escaped and come +into us, but plundered of everything. The French +marched them seven or eight leagues a-day, nearly thirty +miles; and the one I spoke to had been concealed four +days after his escape with scarcely anything to eat, until +he had an opportunity of joining our corps under General +Hill.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, Seisses, March 31st, 1814.</em>—Our disappointment +in crossing the river on the 28th has kept us +here ever since: and the halt has given me employment, +which has prevented my writing to you. As soon as we +become quiet, I am set to work in order to prevent all +arrears, and to let punishment follow the offence as fast +as possible.</p> + +<p>Our General has spent his mornings in riding all over +the country to reconnoitre; and he dispatches all his +other multitude of business at odd hours and times. +The new plan was at last resolved upon, and last night +the execution of it commenced. The divisions on this +side Toulouse are pushed in close to the suburbs of St. +Cyprien, near which the French have been for some days +most busily at work, fortifying themselves to defend the +bridge. Finding the river so wide below the junction +with the Arrige at Portet, General Hill (with great difficulty +owing to the rapidity of the Garonne, caused by +the last two days’ continual rain) succeeded at last, in +pursuance of his orders, in fixing his pontoons across that +river above the junction with the Arrige; and having +been nearly all night at work, began to cross about four +o’clock this morning, and has sent word that he is over.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_461">[Pg 461]</span> +A ridge of high land forms a sort of tongue between the +two rivers. This he is to take post upon immediately, +and march off a corps as rapidly as possible, about three +leagues, to a bridge over the Arrige, which he is to surprise +and preserve if possible, and defend, thus fixing +himself securely between the two rivers, preparatory to +further movements of the rest of the army. The Spaniards +under Murillo crossed with General Hill. +General Frere’s Spaniards move into the ground which +General Hill leaves.</p> + +<p>I was upon the church-tower early this morning, and +saw the Spanish column moving all along the plain, +headed by some of our heavy dragoons; the fog on the +river prevented my seeing more. On descending, I +found Lord Wellington and all his suite, just about to +be off, when the arrival of an English mail to the 16th, +stopped him. By this we have your very bad news from +Holland, and many private letters accounting for the +failure. All here are open-mouthed at the reported consequences; +namely, that the reinforcements intended for +Lord Wellington are going to Holland. This is worse +than the defeat. Very little was ever expected here +from that army from various causes; it was always considered +as so many men quite thrown away, as regards +the main cause. I thought them, latterly, worse than +inefficient, after they had once given the Dutch an opportunity +of arming, by clearing their country, for they +have the effect of preventing exertion on the part of the +Dutch. The moment they had cleared Holland they +should, in my opinion, have been sent to us, and thus by +a sense of pressing danger, ought to have roused the +sleepy heavy Dutchmen to do something for themselves +when once well in the scrape, getting only arms and +artillery and stores from England.</p> + +<p>By the exchange of prisoners, the officers so much +wanted by the French, whom Lord Wellington has taken<span class="pagenum" id="Page_462">[Pg 462]</span> +here, will get back again by these losses in Holland, +another way in which that army has done more harm +than good. It would have been better to leave our +people prisoners than to release French regular officers at +this moment, for their value in the newly-raised corps is +immense, and considerably beyond that of ours to +England. Besides the numbers in the town would have +hastened its surrender, or compelled the governor to send +them out without exchange.</p> + +<p>This is, however, reasoning upon general principles, +and not upon personal feelings as to the officers taken: +I do think, however, that this exchange was permitting +humanity to have more weight than policy. There seem +to have been much blundering and confusion in the execution +of our attack, and from what I can hear the plan +was allowed to fail just when the difficulties were nearly +all over. It is always to be regretted when our people +are ordered to run their heads against stone walls and +heavy guns, and that even here, for I think the French +seem to understand that work best, and we lose more in +one of these affairs than we do in gaining a great battle +in the fair field, where the French cannot be brought now +to stand against us. On this ground, I feel a little +anxious, even as to Toulouse, supposing the French to +remain firm, which is doubtful, and still more as to +Bayonne.</p> + +<p>Mr. C—— and a commissariat officer arrived here +yesterday from Bordeaux: the accounts they bring are +bad enough. The National Guard are disarmed; no +arming of any consequence going on; no efficient +English naval force has arrived; and the people, though +they shout for the King at the opera, &c., are all in a +terrible fright lest the French should return, since we +have so small a force there; and, according to report, +many repent of what they have done.</p> + +<p>The Duke d’Angoulême does not appear to me to be<span class="pagenum" id="Page_463">[Pg 463]</span> +made of stuff to gain a kingdom, though he would have +kept one and been popular, from his amiable qualities. +He has committed many blunders, I am told, and the +white cockade gentry, like the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">emigrés</i> of old, amuse +themselves with inventing lies concerning Bonaparte +and his armies, which the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">maire</i> of Bordeaux publishes +in a bulletin, which Bonaparte’s bulletins, lying as they +are, effectually and satisfactorily contradict the next day.</p> + +<p>The <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">maire</i> is becoming daily more unpopular. We +have an account of Augereau having been defeated—which +I hope rests upon better foundations; as well as +private accounts from Paris of the great reduction of +Bonaparte’s forces by his various rapid marches, continual +fighting, and desertion. Almost the only town in +this country, excepting Bordeaux, which has been active +in the Royal cause is Bagnières, which has proclaimed +the king; no troops of either army have passed that +way.</p> + +<p>The rest of the population in our rear are in general +quietly waiting the event, and are now with a very few +exceptions only on our side, because they think they see +an end to the war quicker that way. But I am sure, +from personal observation, that let Bonaparte be successful +a little, and Lord Wellington be compelled to +retreat, and let them only see the same prospect of peace +by Bonaparte’s means, and three-fourths of the population +would all be against us again.</p> + +<p>The sulky <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">maires</i>, and other public functionaries, now +all submission, would then become active enemies, and +all the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">pensionnaires</i> and <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">douaniers</i> and national landholders +who are now really frightened to death, would be +roused into activity. This is a picture, however, which +I hope never to see realized; and if Toulouse and Lyons +can be induced to enter into a common cause with Bordeaux, +the events will, it is to be hoped, be far different. +Had I the Duke d’Angoulême’s stake to play for, I<span class="pagenum" id="Page_464">[Pg 464]</span> +should somehow have raised a force before this at Bordeaux, +and should certainly have been over here post to +enter Toulouse, and have paraded through Pau, Tarbes, +&c., in the way, and tried to do something.</p> + +<p>The only great hit he has hitherto made is to get the +new prefect of the department des Landes to publish and +circulate his proclamations, and sign them: this certainly +is a beginning, and it is said that some have +found their way into Toulouse. The <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">maire</i> of Galan, +who was really in my opinion a Royalist, pointing to his +head, asked me, speaking of the Duke d’Angoulême, +whether “<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">il y voit quelque chose là?</i>” of which he seemed +to have doubts. The lower, and older population in the +villages certainly, though knowing nothing of the Bourbons, +have a sort of vague wish for old times again, and +therefore were friendly. The middling classes are not +by any means so favourably disposed.</p> + +<p>You have no conception of my obligation to you for +sending the newspapers so regularly, and getting them +forwarded in Lord Wellington’s bag. On the march in +our present state, by this means I have my letters and +papers sometimes almost a week before any one else; for +the public bag has been lately obliged to come up, for +want of transport, in a bullock-car, with one weak soldier +of the guides as a guard. When we are stationary I +sometimes suffer by this plan, for single papers are got +a-day or two later than my letter, but now I am a great +gainer, and my newspapers are in the greatest request.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, Seisses, April 1st, 1814.</em>—Here we are +still in front of “the great big town where the French +are,” as the Irishmen call Toulouse. The French +yesterday moved about four divisions out of Toulouse +after General Hill’s movement, and in the evening went +back again into the town. This I believe made Lord +Wellington suspect that Soult intended to try an attack +upon the columns of the British who remained in front<span class="pagenum" id="Page_465">[Pg 465]</span> +of the town on this side, and he would have wished, in +my opinion, for nothing better, as we had a rising +ground commanding the roads where they must make +their debouches, and cannon ready placed to give them a +warm reception instantly. In consequence of this expectation, +Lord Wellington and his staff were off early to +the front; about eleven o’clock, finding all quiet, they +returned, and we remained <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">in statu quo</i> for the day.</p> + +<p>I never expected that anything would be done if it +depended on the French, for their game seems to be +merely to endeavour to keep us on this side of the river, +and to leave us to get over the difficulties as we can, and +not to run any hazards by molesting us, or giving us +even a fair chance by an attack on their posts. It is said +that after all it is found that General Hill’s road would +lead us so much round, and that the roads round that +way to Toulouse would be so bad, that the plan mentioned +in my letter under date of the 31st is abandoned; +that in consequence General Hill will be ordered to +return across the river to-night, and that the pontoons +will be taken up afterwards, and an attempt made to +place them lower down the river at last, and below +Toulouse, which, if it succeeds, will place us at once upon +the main good road to Bordeaux. Time will show +whether this information of mine is correct. If this plan +be practicable, it will be far better than the other. In +truth the Garonne is a formidable barrier just now, when +there are no fords.</p> + +<p>The disappointment of not having Graham’s army +here is very great, much worse so if the reinforcements +intended for us should go that way. So much did Lord +Dalhousie with his weak divisions at Bordeaux expect +General Graham’s army, that I am told he has twice sent +to the coast in expectation of their arrival, together with +a naval expedition, on a report of some distant sails +being seen. This last <cite>Gazette</cite> is a woeful contrast!<span class="pagenum" id="Page_466">[Pg 466]</span> +The importance of that ten thousand men at Bordeaux +is immense, and all agree that the country northwards +would be ready to come forward and join us if we were +stronger and dared advance. The weak state of our +force at Bordeaux alarms them all, and keeps everything +back; a naval force to co-operate and to assist against +the castle of Blaye, was also expected to be ready the +moment the news of our arrival at Bordeaux was +received, as it must have been such a probable event. +As it is Lord Dalhousie was about to make some attempt, +I understand, to take a position across the Garonne, +between the Dordogne and the Garonne.</p> + +<p>I have just been told another piece of news—unpleasant +if it be true. It is said that the Duke d’Angoulême’s +new <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Préfet des Landes</i> ordered the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">maire</i> of St. Sever to +proclaim Louis XVIII., and that the old maire, a prudent +sly fellow, who has made much money in the Revolution, +declined to do so unless by Lord Wellington’s orders, +and wrote to Lord Wellington to know if he was obliged +to do what he was desired. It is said that Lord Wellington +replied “No,” and suspended the new préfet for +giving the order. This is a most awkward state of +things; each town, each <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">maire</i>, is allowed thus to take +this strong step if they please, but there is to be no influence +used, so that all prudent people naturally enough +will remain quiet and do nothing, and the desperately +zealous alone will act; yet so long as the conferences +remain in existence, this cannot be otherwise.</p> + +<p>Some more Spaniards are ordered up whom we are to +feed also; how far they will come I know not. The siege +of Bayonne is, it is understood, at last determined upon +in earnest; as yet only preparation of fascines, &c., have +been made. I am told now, that the horses of the brigades +of artillery of General Hope’s column, are sent +down to Renteria to bring up the heavy battery train and +siege stores. The Guards begin to talk of more “bloody<span class="pagenum" id="Page_467">[Pg 467]</span> +work,” but I sincerely hope not another Bergen-op-Zoom! +That left column once released, would set us quite at ease +here. Just now, our necessarily-divided army cannot be +so efficient as from its numbers compared with the French +it might be presumed to be.</p> + +<p>For fear of being too late for the post, I shall now seal +up my three letters in one packet and send it off.</p> + +<p>In appearance, the size of Toulouse is very considerable, +particularly its length. It seems much larger than +Bristol; whether really so or not we have not just now +conveniently the means of ascertaining.</p> + +<p>All who come from Bordeaux are in ecstasies with the +place and the life there. It seems everything a bachelor +officer with a little money could wish for—everything to +be had, and everything (except maps now) very cheap.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, Grenade, April 5th, 1814.</em>—In pursuance +of the change of plans as to the passage of this +formidable river, the Garonne, in the face of thirty thousand +men, under the command of Marshal Soult, we very +suddenly moved on Sunday morning, the 3rd, to Colomiers, +a poor dirty village on the high road from Auch +to Toulouse. The pontoons had been previously moved +in the night from the neighbourhood of Carbonne, where +they had been previously fixed, and where General Hill +had passed over to the vicinity of Grenade. On the night +of the 4th, about eight or nine o’clock, the whole army, +excepting General Hill’s columns, were put in motion +towards Grenade, the pontoons were launched in the +river, the bridge successfully formed during the night, +and about ten thousand men passed over without resistance +by daybreak. It rained furiously almost all the +night, and a failure was in consequence much apprehended +by many, from the increased rapidity and breadth +of the current of the river. Hitherto all has gone on +well. General Hill’s corps remained in front of the +suburbs and bridge of St. Cyprien near Toulouse.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_468">[Pg 468]</span></p> + +<p>Lord Wellington and his staff were all off about two +or three o’clock in the morning, or rather night, for the +river side near the bridge, and passed over early in the +morning. Lord Wellington reconnoitred yesterday on +the right bank to within about five or six miles of +Toulouse, and did not return here until after dark. Civil +departments and baggage were ordered to move across +the country to Corn Barieu, a poor dirty place on the +cross-road to Grenade, at daylight, and there to remain +loaded till further orders. It was only four miles of bad +road, and we were there about half-past six. I conclude +we were kept at that point so that we might be secure, +and away from the high road out of Toulouse, in case of +accidents, and at the same time ready to go into Toulouse, +in case the French should abandon the town and bridge +on hearing of our passage of the river; whilst, on the +other hand, if they remained fast, we were ready to come +on here.</p> + +<p>The poor mules remained loaded until near two o’clock +before they were ordered on, and afterwards fell in with +such columns of baggage, cavalry, and troops, particularly +Spaniards, all converging to the bridge, that they did not +arrive here until about seven or eight o’clock at night, +having had to pass a deep cross country, by a clayey unformed +road, in places sinking up to the middle, for the +night’s rain and quantity of animals passing had quite +cut it up. I left the printing-press and Mr. S——’s +carriage fast in the mud, and many a load upset; at last +I believe all arrived safe.</p> + +<p>Whilst we were waiting in suspense, as I dare not +again go much to the front, Dr. M’Gregor and several +other civilians and I passed our time pleasantly enough. +There was a chateau on a hill close to us, which commanded +all the country, and particularly Toulouse. To +that we bent our steps, and finding a young lad, son of +the owner, in the house, we got our horses into the stable,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_469">[Pg 469]</span> +bought corn for them, and from the Doctor’s canteen +made a good breakfast, and then posted ourselves with +our glasses to see what was going on. Had there been +any fight we should have commanded the whole scene +beautifully. As it was, we only traced our columns of +baggage, Spaniards, and cavalry across the country, in +two lines of about six or seven miles’ length, all moving +gradually to the bridge. We also saw some large fires in +Toulouse, but have not yet learnt whether they were +anything in particular. About half-past one we set out +again, and fought our way through mud and clay and +baggage and Spaniards for about ten miles; and I am +now again in a civilized home, but with rather a forward +tradesman, who gave me a roast fowl for supper, but took +his place and had his full share with me. It is odd +enough that a man of his description, in a large good +house, stables, and three or four horses, should boast, as +he does, that he can talk French, and that his daughter +of eight years old has learnt to talk French, and can +speak and understand it a little when she chooses. Their +patois I can scarcely make out, certainly, not so well as +Spanish or Portuguese.</p> + +<p>The country is all very rich and populous, and covered +with villages and chateaux. The former are generally +in evident decay; the latter are large and showy on the +outside, but for the most part old, dirty, out of repair, +and nearly unfurnished inside, with none of the comforts +even of a cit’s villa, and still less of a great man’s house +in England. At the same time one cannot but feel how +much of what we in England think necessaries are mere +superfluity. One cause of their present appearance in +part may be, that the owners generally live from seven to +ten months in the year in the great towns, Toulouse in +particular, and only spend September and October in their +chateaux to see to the harvests, so that they, somewhat +like the Portuguese lords, when they do come, bring<span class="pagenum" id="Page_470">[Pg 470]</span> +nearly all their furniture and comforts with them. By +this means, luckily, we have not done these chateaux +much damage. The young man whom we found in the +chateau near Corn Barieu, had been sent out just before +we arrived, to see what was going on, and to protect the +place. He had not been able to hold any communication +with his friends in Toulouse since, and I dare say, as I +told him, they were in a terrible fright, and thought the +Spaniards had roasted and eaten him up.</p> + +<p>It unfortunately rained again all last night. This has +swelled the river, and alarmed us a little, for there are at +times such floods here that our bridge would not stand +them, and we are now half on each side. This was also +very unlucky for the troops, many of whom must have +bivouacked without their tents and baggage. I have +hitherto heard of no ill consequences, and it is thought +that the French must either come out and fight us immediately, +or be off and leave us at our ease for a short time +to try and refit and get shoes for our poor barefooted +soldiers. In the meantime we are here with no other +orders than to be ready packed to march at ten o’clock, +but not loaded. It is now half-past ten, and I have been +quietly writing this, and four letters on business, since +breakfast.</p> + +<p>When last at Seisses I met at Lord Wellington’s +Major M——, of the 53rd, the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">ci-devant</i> prisoner and +French squire, whom I mentioned before in my letters. +He was at Toulouse when we came by his former house, +and he took the opportunity of our pontoon bridge at +Carbonne to come over to us, for to go out he was compelled.</p> + +<p>I do not quite understand his own story, so as to make +his conduct correct. He was always on a sort of parole +in Languedoc and Gascony. On our coming near Toulouse +he was told that he must retire towards Montpelier. +He asked delay on the plea of health, got a day, and was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_471">[Pg 471]</span> +then ordered to move post by Carcassonne. He went two +stages, then turned to the right, came over to us, and now +rides about, a strange figure, in a new handsome 53rd +uniform, and a great French cocked hat, with his English +loop and button. He is, moreover, a round broken-backed +country-squire volunteer sort of gentleman, on a +high white tumble-down French nag. He was of course +full of information and conversation, but I rather doubted +the accuracy of the former.</p> + +<p>He told us that Bonaparte was making for Metz, giving +up Paris; and that he intended to relieve his garrisons in +that direction even as far as Wesel, and then to try and +bring the war to the frontier again. This would be +giving up nearly all France, and putting himself between +the Crown Prince at Liege and the Allies near Paris; +whereas, if compelled to leave Paris, his line, in my +opinion, must be to fall back towards Lyons, and to endeavour +to unite in that direction with Augereau, and +even with Soult, who will very likely fall back that way +also. If Bonaparte were to go to Metz, Lord Wellington +said he thought then the Allies, on entering Paris, would +probably let the King be proclaimed, and that he should +not then despair of seeing Bonaparte a grand Guerilla +chief on a large scale, fighting about for his existence, +which he had never expected to happen in his lifetime. +Major M—— also said that Soult’s plan was, if obliged +to give up Toulouse, to go towards the Black Mountains, +and retreat by way of Carcassonne, making his stand +there in a country where our superior cavalry could not +act. If he does this, I think half his men will desert, +and the remainder be in jeopardy, unless Suchet brings +him more assistance than is thought possible. Suchet is +said to be withdrawing everything, and to be mustering +all he can. Oh that we had your English reinforcements, +and General Graham’s army! for our own real English +army dwindles away very fast in this active service, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_472">[Pg 472]</span> +ten thousand men may make all the difference in regard +to the event. The 53rd regiment and the eighteen-pounders +are, I hear, hutted at Tarbes, to try to reduce a +small garrison at Lourdes. The Householders are also +arrived, I believe, as far as Tarbes.</p> + +<p>On the 23rd of March, Caffarelli sent his orders to all +the communes round Toulouse, for a considerable distance +(about fifty communes), to send men to work at the fortifications +in front of Toulouse. The numbers to be sent +by requisition were very considerable; but we have rather +disturbed the march of the larger half. He also called +upon all the inhabitants to arm, and to make the town a +second Saragoza.</p> + +<p>Major M—— says he was told that there was not the +same motive. I understand they have been obliged to +arm by compulsion, but it is supposed will do nothing. +Some old French officers also came to Soult to offer to +raise Guerillas corps in our rear. Major M—— said that +their offers were to be accepted; but, except a few for +plunder, I do not think, as yet, they will find many followers. +Lord Wellington makes the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">maires</i> responsible +for any disturbances in the rear, and threatens garrisons, +as on the French plan, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">garnissaires</i>, in case of a breach of +order. To execute this duty the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">maires</i> are allowed to +arm guards in their communes. All the communes +around here were to have <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">garnissaires</i>, in case the workmen +did not arrive—that is, soldiers to keep in their +houses gratis.</p> + +<p><em>One o’clock, same day.</em>—Here we are still; and I hope +shall not move to-day, unless to go into Toulouse, for +there is a report that the French are moving off now, and +that we have taken two cars of money. This I will not +vouch for. What is more certain is, that our pontoon +bridge is on its legs again by land, and moving towards +Toulouse, to be laid down nearer the town, to make our +communications shorter between the two parts of our<span class="pagenum" id="Page_473">[Pg 473]</span> +army, on the right and left bank. This, it is to be +feared, may draw head-quarters into some little dirty village +near the bridge; and I should like to enjoy the +tolerable clean brick room which I have to myself, and a +little stable with some hay for my horses, for one day, if +it suits our plans.</p> + +<p>At first I was surprised at Major M——’s boldness, +and, as it appeared to me, folly, in going about in his +uniform, in a way to do no good to anybody, and possible +harm to himself. I have now heard that he has been +divorced from his lady, and of course by the French +law from his <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">château</i> and <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">terre</i> also, and that now he has +nothing whatever to lose. He may as well make a merit +of his love of England and the Bourbons. His daughter, +about sixteen, is married, and the property goes with her. +A party of five dragoons took yesterday a messenger +from Montauban to Soult. It was known by eleven +o’clock at Montauban that we had cut off the communications +on the main road. The messenger was sent round +a bye-road but was caught. His despatches were, it is +reported, principally complaints that the people would +not arm for the fight, and were not very material. I +pitied the man. He was a respectable man of business +in Montauban; but being told that unless he became a +civic soldier he must be a regular, he put on his sword +“by compulsion,” was sent to carry these letters, and +thus fell into our hands. He says that it will be his ruin +to send him to England as a prisoner; and I hope, +though he is threatened with this, that Lord Wellington +will soon release him. This is to be hoped, for I believe +his story to be true, for the Préfet of Montauban is reported +to be a most furious Bonapartist, and that he +compels the people to take up arms in the cause, and +even threatens their lives if they do not. All here profess +great friendship for us, and I believe, at present, are +sincere.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_474">[Pg 474]</span></p> + +<p><em>Six o’clock.</em>—About two o’clock I saw Lord Wellington +come in, and the real news was, that all was quiet on +both sides the river, but that the floods had carried away +or sunk one pontoon, and that the bridge was impassable. +It was just on the point of being moved higher when +this happened. Just now, it is not safe to place it anywhere. +We have only three divisions and three brigades +of artillery across, and two or three, it is believed, of cavalry. +The Spaniards are not over, as I supposed, but +were to have gone over this morning. Unless Soult is +an arrant coward, he must now attack these men, and it is +to be feared that we shall have sharp work. A position, +however, may be taken near the river, so as to enable our +artillery on this side to assist. The river has fallen above +a foot since morning, as it has hitherto been fine to-day, +but I am sorry to say it has now begun to rain again, +and it looks very much like another bad night. Rain +upon the present river would be tremendous. A quarter +of an hour after Lord Wellington came home from Toulouse, +I met him going off again to cross the river; it is +to be concluded, therefore, that something important had +happened.</p> + +<p><em>6th of April, 9 o’clock at night. Head-Quarters at +Grenade.</em>—My principal occupation to-day, when not +engaged by business, has been to watch the river. It +continued to fall many hours after the last rain had +ceased, and began to rise at ten to-day, about fifteen +hours after the last rain commenced, and five after it +ceased; at this rate it will continue to rise until six or +eight to-night, and then fall again; and if the weather +relent a little, to-morrow, probably, our bridge will be +restored.</p> + +<p>Marshal Soult has left our three divisions quite quiet +on the other side. If he knows their numbers this is +playing the game of a coward. At present he seems to +think of nothing but fortifying Toulouse with ditches<span class="pagenum" id="Page_475">[Pg 475]</span> +and works, and his men are hard at work. This makes +the delay very unfortunate for us. It has, indeed, been +so on every account, for we have to-day received accounts +which appear to be believed, that twelve hundred French +cavalry, cuirassiers, from Suchet’s army, joined yesterday; +and that he is endeavouring to gain time; and the elements +seem to favour his obtaining it.</p> + +<p>The only two events here to-day have been, first, the +arrival of the pontoon which was lost and floated away. +Lieutenant Reid, of the Engineers, galloped to Verdun, +two leagues down the river, offered a reward of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">cent francs</i>, +or five pounds, to any inhabitants who would get boats +and stop the pontoon and bring it ashore: the deserter +was thus secured, and to-day brought back in triumph by +a party of soldiers. The other arrival astonished us all. +A troop of the Royal Horse Guards Blue arrived with +drawn swords and a Captain’s guard escorting a carriage. +Some said that it was the Duke d’Angoulême, some one +great person, some another. One officer asked the Captain +if it was King Ferdinand? This was a hoax. At +last it was discovered to be a <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">maire</i> of a small commune +near Tarbes, and his wife. The <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">maire</i> is supposed to +have been endeavouring to favour a guerilla system, and +exciting the people to arm. He was in consequence ordered +to be sent to head-quarters. The Blues were in +high condition; and Lord Wellington, when he was told +of the French cuirassiers, said, “Well, then, we must +have the Householders for these gentlemen, and see what +they can make of them.”</p> + +<p>I must tell you two little anecdotes about the pontoon +bridge. The French were very jealous of any attempt of +the kind, and had cavalry videttes, &c., all along their +banks of the river. The engineer wished to measure the +breadth of the river at the spot intended; and for this +purpose got into conversation with the French vidette a +long time, but had no opportunity. At last he pretended<span class="pagenum" id="Page_476">[Pg 476]</span> +that the calls of nature were imperative. The Frenchman, +out of decency, withdrew. The engineer popped +out his sextant, took the angle, &c., and was off.</p> + +<p>Lord Wellington himself, with two other officers went +to the spot also to reconnoitre with his own eyes. Concealing +his General’s hat with an oil-skin, he got into +conversation with the French vidette, dismounted, got +down to the water-side, looked all about him, saw all he +wished, and came away. This was, in my opinion, risking +too much; but no French soldier would have any +idea of the commander of the Allied Forces going about +thus with two attendants. Lord Wellington was yesterday +over alone on foot, and went on upon a horse of +General Cole’s, as horses could not pass. Even General +P—— was a little uneasy, and sent about eight o’clock +to know if he had come back safe. He returned about +seven o’clock, when it was dusk. To-day he has a great +dinner in honour of Badajoz.</p> + +<p><em>7th April, Grenade.</em>—We have at last a fine clear day, +and warm. The river is falling rapidly. By this evening +probably our bridge may be re-established, and to-morrow +I conclude that we shall pass more troops and +advance against Toulouse and the French marshal, who +is digging and working away as usual. The French +made several attempts to destroy our bridge before the +floods did the business for them. They sent us down all +their dead horses, several trees, &c., and a large old boat, +which struck a pontoon, and went down itself instead of +the pontoon. They sent down also a sort of armed log +stuck round with swords, and rolling round and round in +the stream as it went along, like a great fish, in hopes +that the swords would strike and cut the cable which +holds the boats.</p> + +<p>Major M—— has just told me that he has had news +from the interior of another defeat of Bonaparte at Arcis-sur-Aube, +and of his having lost one hundred guns, &c.,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_477">[Pg 477]</span> +and being then manœuvring in the rear of the Allies. +This seems probable. He has also an account of the departments +in the west of France having all sent in to the +Duke d’Angoulême at Bordeaux for orders; this is also +probable, and that the Royalists gain ground fast. His +accounts add in the postscript,—“The Allies entered +Paris April 1st.” This ought to be, I think, from former +accounts, and I hope it is so. The last <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Moniteur</i> we have +of the 30th talks of Bonaparte’s return to Paris to cover +the city. How he could then get there seems the difficulty. +Lord Wellington also had yesterday a private +letter from the interior, in which it is said, “<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">un événement +bien imprévu est arrivé à Paris</i>,” and no comment. He +guesses it to be the flight of the Empress. You see +what confused accounts we get of all late events!</p> + +<p><em>7th (6 o’clock.)</em>—In addition to the above we have now +news that the Bourbons have been proclaimed at Paris, +and that in the name of the Emperor of Austria the +house of Napoleon has been declared to cease to reign. +I must now seal up, for Lord Wellington has written his +English letters to-day, Thursday, although Saturday is +the usual day. In addition to this, I think, from many +symptoms, that we shall move to-morrow.</p> + +<p>P.S.—The <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">maire</i> brought in with such a magnificent +escort, is now quietly walking about here with his wife +and no guard. The bridge is to be fixed nearly in the +same place again to-night.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_478">[Pg 478]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXVI">CHAPTER XXVI.</h2> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="fs80" style="margin-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em;">Uncertain Intelligence—Capture of Toulouse—Wellington at the Theatre—The +“Liberator”—Ball at the Prefecture—The Feelings of the French—Soult +and Suchet—Ball at the Capitole.</p> + +<p class="right fs80"> +<span style="padding-right: 2em">Head-quarters, Grenade,</span><br> +April 10, 1814, 1 o’clock.</p> +</div> + +<p class="no-indent"><span class="smcap">My dear M——</span>, +</p> + +<p><span style="padding-left: 2em">Here</span> we are still, away from all that is going on, +but expecting every moment an order to enter Toulouse. +The day before yesterday the bridge was re-established +(the 8th), and by one o’clock the Spaniards had all passed +over. The order then came for a brigade of Portuguese +artillery to do the same. They were passing when I +went there, soon after one o’clock; and just as a gun was +quitting the last boat to ascend the bank, down went the +boat; the gun, however, run off safe, but two of the +Portuguese pontoon-train sailors got a ducking, which +was all the mischief except a delay of about two hours to +fish up the pontoon, drag it on shore, turn it upside +down, to clear out the water, and then launch it again, +and refit the board.</p> + +<p>By four o’clock I left the remainder of the guns going +over. The head-quarters of Lord Wellington remained +at St. Jouy that night, and last night Lord Wellington +has only pushed the troops on a little, to reconnoitre, and +in the evening the 18th Hussars, under Colonel Vivian, +had a brilliant affair. They charged the French cavalry +on the high-road, broke them, sabred several, and took<span class="pagenum" id="Page_479">[Pg 479]</span> +about seventy prisoners, with the loss of a few officers +wounded, and, it is believed, only about six or eight men. +Unluckily, Colonel Vivian received a ball in the arm, +which, it is feared, will render amputation necessary. +Yesterday (the 9th), the bridge was taken up very early, +and ordered to be immediately fixed about four miles +nearer the town of Toulouse, at a little place called +Assaic. The light divisions were close to that point, on +this side of the river, as a security in case of any attack +on the second division, near St. Cyprien and the bridge +of Toulouse. They were ordered to cross the river as +soon as our pontoons were ready, and a movement was +intended, and ordered yesterday.</p> + +<p>From some difficulties, or bad management, the bridge +of boats was not ready until nearly three o’clock, when it +was thought too late. Lord Wellington was more vexed, +and in a greater state of anger, than he usually is when +things go wrong, even without any good cause. He said +that his whole plans for the day were frustrated and +nothing could be done; and the light divisions were +counter-ordered to remain where they were on this side +the river, and head-quarters remained at St. Jouy.</p> + +<p>The French, it appeared, while still keeping a force to +defend the bridge of Toulouse, had before this taken a +strong position on the hills beyond the town, and had +made there some strong works, upon which they were +constantly busy. The last two days and nights their +main body rested on the hills, bivouacking in this +position, and in an uncomfortable state, hourly expecting +an attack. This morning about seven it commenced: +the firing was heavy for about two hours, until nine, and +has continued partially since. As I dare not cross the +river and go to the front, I went with my glass to the +highest look-out here, and saw the French redoubt very +plainly, firing away briskly: since that all has been +silent here, and free from smoke. The stories of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_480">[Pg 480]</span> +people here are that, with the loss of six thousand men, we +have taken the redoubt and thirty-six pieces of ordnance.</p> + +<p>The former, from the direction of the fire, it is certain, +is a lie, and perhaps the latter. As, however, we have +now some sort of official news that the Allies are in Paris, +and the Imperial Court at Orleans, and as there is no +account of Bonaparte, the French here will probably not +fight much; and if beaten, it is certain that many, nay +thousands, will run home, and the army be much diminished. +I suspect that Bonaparte will try to unite his +corps and all the remains of corps near Paris, and Augereau’s +from Lyons, and Marshal Soult’s and Suchet’s +from Provence, towards Montpelier; but it is to be +hoped that even regiments, and perhaps Marshals, will +begin to desert, when it is found that Paris is taken, and +the royal party proclaimed and gaining ground.</p> + +<p>We certainly are in a very odd state just now in +France. Our military chest, Paymaster, Doctors, Commissaries, +&c., and nearly all our money, are in this place, +which is altogether without troops; only about a dozen +staff corps men, and about ten of the paymaster’s ordinary +marching guard. The whole army is nearly four leagues +in front, and our only protection is the good-will of the +people, and the river. Yet we are told that there are +French troops at Montauban, about four leagues off, and +nothing between us except the river. All feel, notwithstanding, +quite secure, and have no anxiety but to enter +Toulouse.</p> + +<p>In the mean time Lord Dalhousie with a part of the +seventh division has crossed, not only the Gironde, but +the Dordogne, and we are told, is to take Fort Blaze +by storm: I suppose his whole force is not above three +thousand five hundred men. Bayonne has not yet been +seriously attacked, nor do we hear of any very great +distress in the town, which is surprising, considering the +length of the blockade.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_481">[Pg 481]</span></p> + +<p>In the attack to-day, it is said that the third and +sixth divisions were to form the right of the attack on +the river, the fourth the centre, and the light and large +body of Spaniards to make the flank movement on the +left, to get on the hills and turn the French position, +whilst the cavalry advance also in that direction, to be +ready to take advantage of the enemy’s retreat.</p> + +<p><em>Five o’clock, same day.</em>—No one returned, and no +news: and yet no firing heard, and no orders. I fear +that the resistance has been greater than was expected, +and begin to be fidgety and uneasy. The reports are +now, that eight thousand English wounded, and fighting +in the streets now going on. If such complete ignorance +of the truth exists within ten miles of what is passing, +you may judge how false reports circulate: we receive +contradictory rumours every hour. All we know for +certain is, that two hours ago Lord Wellington’s baggage +remained at St. Jouy without orders; I despair, +therefore, of seeing Toulouse to-day.</p> + +<p><em>Grenade, April 11th, 8 o’clock, morning.</em>—The firing +continued all day yesterday, and until past eight at +night, and began again at four this morning, and has +continued to this time, but has now lessened. Several +of our civilians returned home here last night. I understand +our loss is very considerable. We drove the enemy +from all the heights, but with difficulty. The Spaniards +failed in the attack of a redoubt, were put to the rout +completely, and, it is reported, would have lost their guns, +which the French were within two or three hundred +yards of, had not the Portuguese stepped in to their +support, and enabled them to rally again.</p> + +<p>This is really too bad—my friend says the ground was +covered with dead Spaniards, and that he saw but few +French; this is generally the result of alarm and flight. +The redoubt was taken, but not by the Spaniards, it is +said; the fire close to Lord Wellington was most severe.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_482">[Pg 482]</span> +Near the town the French fought very hard in the +houses, particularly at some houses near the lock of the +canal close to the river. We each occupied some of the +houses, and fired continually; the French houses were +loop-holed, and they had the best. We were obliged to +bring guns, &c.; and, unfortunately, the most successful +shell fell into one of our own houses, and burnt out our +own people. Among the killed, &c., I hear, is Colonel +Coghlan of the 61st, an excellent officer, Lieutenant-colonel +Forbes, Captain Gordon, 10th Hussars. Colonel +Fitzclarence is wounded in the thigh: he charged with +his troops two French squadrons, he says, up a hill, beat +them, but on the top was received by infantry: the first +shot carried away part of his sword, the second hit him +on the thigh, and they fell back. We were close to the +town and to the bridge last night on all sides, and had +moved our bridge up within two miles of the town. The +French have barricaded the houses and streets, fixed +swivels on the tops, lined the roofs with men, &c., and +seem determined to defend the town with desperation. +An officer deserted yesterday, and says he will serve no +longer under a man who acts like a madman, as Soult +now does, in defending a town like Toulouse in such a +manner.—It is madness.</p> + +<p>Four Spanish officers came in here yesterday, who had +escaped from Italy through Switzerland, and had walked +here. They seemed in great distress. We had no Commissary +here: I therefore gave them eight pounds of +bread and a dozen eggs, got them a quarter for the night, +and advised them to stay here until this morning, and +then proceed to head-quarters. One had served in +Colonel Roche’s corps in Catalonia, and spoke English +tolerably. Our delay here, and in taking the town, has +alarmed the people very much. All who have relations +and friends in Toulouse are terribly frightened. The +officer who deserted says that many will do the same as<span class="pagenum" id="Page_483">[Pg 483]</span> +soon as the business is over, and occasions arise. Captain +O. K——, the French-English officer from Toulouse, +who came over to the Duke d’Angoulême at St. Jean de +Luz, arrived here yesterday from Bordeaux. He says, +that things are going on well, especially since the news +from Paris; that the Duke has now eighteen hundred +men formed; and that French officers come in every +day with fleur-de-lys embroidered on their Napoleon +uniforms, and thus tender their services. O. K—— was +here on his road to Aurillac, to Auvergne, &c., where, he +says, a party is formed and ready to rise. He must take +care of his head, for he goes about talking very imprudently.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, Toulouse, April 13th, 1814, Section 3, +No. 676.</em>—To give you any notion of what we have all +felt from the changes which the last thirty-six hours have +produced, you must go back to my first sheet, and you +will feel more as I did, by reading in succession what has +occurred than by anything I can now write. I was +about to destroy the first sheet, as much of it is now not +worth the trouble of reading; but thought it would give +you a better idea of the feelings, from day to day, of the +army.</p> + +<p>An order came for civil departments to march, to cross +the pontoons, and to proceed on the high road to Toulouse +to a church only three miles from the town, and +there halt and wait for orders. We were off in ecstasies, +expecting all to dine in Toulouse, and that the French +were off, and our men after them. Judge of our vexation, +when, on arriving at the church, we were all turned +back off the road, to a miserable village of about ten +houses, called St. Albains; and were there to find +quarters for the night, in places just quitted by the plundering +Spaniards, and left nearly in the state in which +the French left the houses in Spain as they passed.</p> + +<p>When we arrived, we found many of the Spaniards<span class="pagenum" id="Page_484">[Pg 484]</span> +still in possession, and four of us disarmed and seized +three of them in the act of plundering. The people were +screaming in every direction, the houses abandoned, and +the inhabitants just beginning to return to witness the +mischief done. Everything had been ransacked—all the +closets, &c., broken open; the rags and remnants on the +floor, mixed with hundreds of egg-shells, and the feathers +of the plundered fowls, &c. Much linen was +carried off, the sheets and heavy articles in the yard; the +tables were covered with broken dishes, bottles, bones, +and twine; and the cellars with the wine-casks running. +In about two hours we got possession of the quarters, +and got the inhabitants in to clean them, and by five +o’clock had divided the places among us. My whole +baggage lost its road, and did not arrive at all—five mules +and a horse loaded.</p> + +<p>You may conceive the disappointment and the vexation +we experienced. Dr. M’Gregor said that our loss was +terrible! He was just returned from collecting all the +wounded in villages, and, by Lord Wellington’s desire, +was hurrying every one possible instantly to the rear. +They were passing all night in cars. The Spaniards +were moaning and crying most desperately, and were to +reach Fenoullet that night, Sole Jourdain the next, and +then to be sent on further if necessary. The accommodations +were very bad. The accounts from the town +were that the French were continuing to barricade every +house and loophole, and arming to defend themselves to +the last.</p> + +<p>The army was said to be now much weakened; the +Spaniards could not be depended upon; the reinforcements +were not come up from England, and a story was +going about and believed by many who ought to have +known better, that we were out of ammunition, and +could not use our artillery. You may conceive that I +went (without my baggage and comforts), with this news,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_485">[Pg 485]</span> +sorrowfully to bed, ordering my servant to be off at five +in the morning in search of my stragglers.</p> + +<p>On the 12th, at 6 o’clock, I was up and wandering +about alone, listening to an occasional heavy gun, seeing +wounded men pass, and waiting for the return of my +man. About eight I saw Henry returning alone, and +was expecting more bad news, when he told me that the +French were off, that we were to march for Toulouse +directly, and that my baggage was all safe at a house a +league off on the road; and that, therefore, he had +ordered them to pack and be off with the rest. Think +of our sensations on hearing of this welcome change! +The last twenty-four hours had been among the most +critical of the war, and now all was safe and right again. +I found out the clergyman, Mr. B——, got a razor and +a cup of tea, whilst my horse was getting ready, and +was then off, to go round by head-quarters and to enter +Toulouse with Lord Wellington. About eleven I arrived +at the fortified entrance, and found, instead of the +enemy behind the new works, the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">maire</i> of the town, +almost all the officers of the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">garde urbaine</i>, a considerable +number of national guard officers, deserters, &c., and +about two hundred smart but awkward men of the city +guard, and a band of music, all with the white cockade, +and a great crowd of citizens besides, all waiting with +anxiety to receive Lord Wellington, and carry him in +form to the mayoralty. Unluckily, from some mismanagement +and mistake, he went in at another entrance, +and passed on, almost unknown. Hearing this, I went +to the mayoralty with General Packington’s aide-de-camp, +and found it was so; and, therefore, we went back +to inform the mayor officially, and to beg he would +return to the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">maison commune</i>. He did so, though an +immense crowd entered the mayoralty in form, and an +introduction then took place, and Lord Wellington showed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_486">[Pg 486]</span> +himself at the window, amidst the shouts and waving +handkerchiefs and hats of every one.</p> + +<p>The procession then went with Lord Wellington to +his quarters, the Prefêt’s palace, amidst the applause of +the inhabitants all the way. Nothing could be more +gratifying than his reception, and that, indeed, of all the +English; the most respectable inhabitants, many of them, +not only anxiously showing us the way to our billets, but +offering their homes without any billets, or receiving us +with a sincere welcome as soon as the paper was delivered. +Lord Wellington announced a ball in the evening at the +Prefecture, and left Marshal Beresford with three divisions +and cavalry to follow Marshal Soult for the day.</p> + +<p>We thought nothing could make us happier, when at +five o’clock in came Colonel Ponsonby from Bordeaux +with the Paris news, which you know. He told us that +the official accounts would arrive in an hour or two. +Ponsonby came through Montauban: the French officer +commanding there taking his word, and letting him pass. +I had been, at Colonel Campbell’s request, examining +General St. Hilaire and his servant. St. Hilaire was +found, under suspicious circumstances, in the town, and +was just put under arrest, and Campbell luckily asked me +to dine with Lord Wellington, which I should have been +very sorry to have missed.</p> + +<p>Just as we were sitting down to dinner, about forty of +us, General Frere, and several Spaniards, General Picton, +and Baron Alten, the principal French, &c., in came +Cooke with the despatches. The whole was out directly, +champagne went round, and after dinner Lord Wellington +gave “Louis XVIII.,” which was very cordially received +with three times three, and white cockades were ordered +for us to wear at the theatre in the evening. In the +interim, however, General Alava got up, and with great +warmth gave Lord Wellington’s health, as the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Liberador +del’ Espagna</i>! Every one jumped up, and there was a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_487">[Pg 487]</span> +sort of general exclamation from all the foreigners—French, +Spanish, Portuguese, Germans, and all—<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">El +Liberador d’Espagna! Liberador de Portugal! Le +Liberateur de la France! Le Liberateur de l’Europe!</i> +And this was followed, not by a regular three times +three, but a cheering all in confusion for nearly ten +minutes! Lord Wellington bowed, confused, and immediately +called for coffee. He must have been not a little +gratified with what had passed.</p> + +<p>We then all went to the play. The public were quite +in the dark as to what had just arrived, but Lord Wellington +was received in the stage-box (where he sat, +supported by Generals Picton, Frere, and Alava, &c., and +also the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">maire</i>) with no little applause, I assure you. At +the door the people would scarcely take the money from +us; and in the opposite stage-box the French left the box +themselves, and made room for us. We had the white +cockades on the breast. The English officers in the house +stared, and did not know what to make of it. Some +thought it a foolish, giddy trick. In about ten minutes +Lord Wellington turned his hat outwards to the front of +the box: it was seen, and a shout ensued immediately. +The play was “<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Richard, oh mon Roi</i>,” which was fixed +upon really before the news came. The “<em>Henri IV.</em>” +was played, and then the new French constitution was +read aloud from one of the boxes. The people most +anxious, and in general pleased; in some things not. I +think most of it very good, if the French can enjoy anything +so like our own constitution, for such it is, under +other names; but this is doubtful. The article worst +received was that leaving all the sales of emigrant lands +to stand good; and it does appear to me that, when, by +means of paper, an estate had been bought for the price +of a team of horses, an equitable arrangement would have +been better, to be settled by Government Commissioners. +This was followed by “God save the King,” which was +received with great applause.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_488">[Pg 488]</span></p> + +<p>When the play was over, we adjourned to the ball at +Lord Wellington’s. The only drawback was our meeting +on the way the cars of the wounded in the streets, +now moving to the excellent hospitals here. This on +consideration was also a satisfaction, for many lives will +be saved by the wounded being brought here, instead of +being sent to rear. You will now guess what we felt, +and what a species of trance we were in.</p> + +<p>Here we are halted, whilst the news is sent on to +Soult, with whom Marshal Beresford could not come up. +The arrival of the news was at the moment we should +have selected, except for the loss of life. For Lord Wellington’s +character, however, even that was good, and +eight hours sooner it would have been said that the late +battle was no victory on our part, and that we should +never have entered Toulouse, nor would the real sentiments +of the town have been known.</p> + +<p>On inquiry, I find that the French loss has been +great. General Taupin, one of my friends on La Rhüne, +killed; General D’Armagnac, who took me, wounded; +Harispe wounded, and here a prisoner; two other +Generals wounded, &c. Our loss fell principally, you will +see, on the sixth division, and the Scotch Brigade in particular, +and on the Spaniards. With regard to the latter, +it is said that, upon the whole, the men for a long time +behaved well, and that if General Frere had been as +skilful as brave, and the officers better, they probably +would have succeeded in their object, which certainly +happened to be the most arduous duty of the day. They +arrived on a sort of smooth glacis below the French +works, under a fire admitted to be more severe than +almost any since Albuera. Decision and skill and +rapidity were then required. The men were kept too +long in this fire—they broke—and then ran like sheep. +One French regiment, it is said, drove more than four +thousand of them, and in such a manner that they almost +upset a Caçadore Portuguese regiment by main force.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_489">[Pg 489]</span> +Three companies of the latter stood firm, beat back the +Spaniards with their firelocks, laughed at them, enjoyed +it, and completely checked the French. The redoubt was +afterwards taken by our men, with great loss, as you will +see. General Frere was in despair; he exerted himself to +the utmost to rally his men; at last, by his exertions, +assisted by Lord Wellington in person, one or two +Spanish companies were formed, and became steady. +Upon this the rest soon followed, and formed up also. +The Spaniards had then a less arduous post assigned +them; all went on well again, and I believe they behaved +fairly enough. Their loss is considerable.</p> + +<p>This morning the whole conversation of the officers +turns upon half-pay and starvation. With some, want of +preferment; with others, promotion; and with those +who have promotion, a determination to enjoy themselves +now that all is over, and their dangers and sufferings +past. As to my own prospects, they are so completely in +the air, that my being never much of an architect for +building in that element, I go quietly on with my work, +and trust to the future.</p> + +<p>I shall defer any account of this place, &c., for fear of +being too late for the despatches, and now say adieu.</p> + +<p>Pray forward the enclosed two letters, which are from +Madame de Baudré, my hostess at Mont de Marsan, who +desired me to take care of them, and enclosed them in a +letter of great professions of kindness for me, only +exceeded by the most romantic ones for the Bourbons, +and stating the great losses her family and connexions +have lately sustained.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, Toulouse, April 15th, 1814.</em>—Here we +are quietly waiting the result of the communication of +the late news to Marshal Soult, &c. Cooke has come +back from his head-quarters. The Marshal hesitates a +little at present. He objects that he has no authentic +documents from Bonaparte or the authorities whom he<span class="pagenum" id="Page_490">[Pg 490]</span> +represents, and seems to have some doubts of the extent +of the late news—or pretends to have. In short, as yet +he takes no decided line, but it is said has applied for an +armistice, probably wishing to gain time, to consult +Suchet, &c., and learn more of the state of things.</p> + +<p>Colonel Gordon was sent to him yesterday by Lord +Wellington with a flag-of-truce; and it is understood +that a positive answer and determination was required, +and the armistice refused. Lord Wellington and all the +officers yesterday attended Colonel Coghlan’s funeral in +the morning, at the Temple, and went from thence in +procession to the Protestant burial-ground out of the +town.</p> + +<p>In the evening Lord Wellington gave another more +magnificent ball at the Prefecture. It was too crowded +to dance much, or well, but went off with great glee and +general satisfaction. The ladies were very prettily +dressed, in general, with the exception of a few of the +high ugly bonnets, and there were several very pleasing-looking +girls, and good dancers; but I do not think that +in general the women are handsome here. I met with +one very good-humoured chatty lady, about eighteen +probably, who said she had only left her “Maman,” with +whom she had always lived near Carcassonne, one month, +and that, in that time she had witnessed many strange +things:—the ravages of the French army, the passage of +our army over the Garonne, a great battle (which was all +visible quite plainly from the churches here, and even +from the houses), the preparations for a siege, the retreat +of the French, our triumphal entry, the change of the +national government, and her own marriage.</p> + +<p>Captain Tovey, of the 20th, taken at Orthes, has +escaped, and came in here yesterday. He would not give +his parole, and made several attempts to be off. In consequence +he was hardly treated, but is now safe. He +met with every assistance from the French inhabitants;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_491">[Pg 491]</span> +and at the last house he was in, the owner made him +leave his peasant’s dress, and equipped him in a new suit, +boots and all, French cut, to pass our lines, and go to +head-quarters in. The villages through which he passed +were proclaiming the King; and he was told that +Soult’s house, near Carcassonne, had been destroyed by +the mob.</p> + +<p>The French here discover the same volatile character +as ever. <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Vive le Roi!</i> is shouted as vigorously as <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Vive +l’Empereur!</i> was, I am told, a few years since, when +Bonaparte made his then really popular entry, and gave +his fêtes here, of which the most fulsome <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">procès verbal</i> +still exists, signed by a maire-adjoint of the same name as +the one who now signs the King’s proclamation, and I +believe he is the same man—Lameluc.</p> + +<p>The inhabitants are all at work as usual, and very +active. Fleurs-de-lys are now upon the skirts of the coats +instead of eagles, and last night on the theatre dropscene. +The busts of Bonaparte are smashed. The Capitolium +ornaments are all undergoing a change. All the +N.’s and B.’s, &c., are effaced; and the workmen are now +busily employed working round the cornice of the great +staircase at the Capitol, changing all the alternate ornaments +of a handsome cornice, every other one having +been a <em>bee</em>. The English are everything, and in general +estimation. To return the compliment of our wearing +their white cockade on our black one, they now wear a +black one on their white. The Spaniards are considered +much as the Cossacks. The Capitolium is a very fine +building, and as the splendid velvet and gold canopy, and +the throne of Bonaparte at one end, had no decided +emblems except that of authority generally, it has, after +some doubts, been allowed to remain, and is not destroyed. +We are to have a grand ball there, it is said, +given on Sunday, by the inhabitants, if approved of, and +we stay.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_492">[Pg 492]</span></p> + +<p>The theatre is about the size of the Haymarket Theatre; +in width rather larger, but much deeper, and +something in the improved shape of Covent Garden. +The actors are tolerable. It is, however, inferior to the +Bordeaux Theatre, and certainly to that of Lyons.</p> + +<p>The stone bridge over the Garonne, of seven arches, is +very solid and substantial, wide, and upon the whole a +splendid work, but not very graceful in its architecture. +It is like Kew bridge in general shape, but in much +heavier and substantial proportions.</p> + +<p>Several improvements have been some time since commenced +in the city, but most of them are now at a stand, +and have been so for some time. The cathedral of St. +Etienne is an unfinished Gothic building, the great aisle +being wanting to the new building. Instead of this, a +large sort of Westminster Hall, of more ancient date, +joins the cathedral on one side. This was originally +intended to be pulled down or altered.</p> + +<p>There is some good tapestry and fine painted glass, +which have escaped here, as in several other churches, +the revolutionary destruction.</p> + +<p>The streets here are like the old parts of Paris, in +general narrow, with a gutter in the middle; and the +houses very good, but high shops below, and three stories +of good rooms above. Several handsome hotels, with +their great gates and small gardens. I am in a dirty +place, but tolerably well off. The people are civil; I +have good stabling, and one comfortable room, now it is +cleaned.</p> + +<p>C—— gives rather a strange account of our Allies, +but seems to think from their numbers, and the general +feeling, that the business has at last been well-blundered +through. There is a good story told of an incident +which happened at the interview with Soult the other +day. The substance of the news somehow got wind, and +the army, whilst the Marshal was closeted with C——,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_493">[Pg 493]</span> +gave a loud shout. The aide-de-camp went to inquire +the cause, and returned saying, “<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Ce n’est qu’un lièvre, +Monseigneur</i>.” You ought to know that nothing causes +a louder shout amongst troops than a hare crossing them. +General M—— said the aide-de-camp should have been +asked whether it was a Leipzig hare? If Soult does not +declare himself, his army will, I think, desert him. I +have now only just received a letter from you, of the +22nd March, and papers.</p> + +<p>The French works at the entrance of the town, by the +bridge (<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">tête de pont</i>), were very strong, and cost much in +labour and materials, for no use. They were formed by +close piles of timber like the caissons for the foundation +of a bridge, filled up with earth, and the tops lined by +barrels of earth, with a ditch and guns, &c., placed, and +the walls of the buildings round all loop-holed.</p> + +<p>I rode all over the positions of the battle yesterday, on +the hills, and examined all the forts and the monuments +of French industry and British courage. They were +most formidable places to approach, for the hills formed +a regular smooth glacis from the works at the top to the +valley below, and half way down were long low heaps of +sod, or turf, made up to protect the advanced sharp-shooters, +who were lying safe on the ground, protected +behind them, though the barrier was not above two feet +high. A church and a house loop-holed, formed the sort +of citadel to two of the forts or redoubts for musquetry, +with the guns around the outside. The ditches were not +so deep, nor the works so complete as those near Vera, +where the French had more time, nor were the roads or +mountains so difficult to ascend; but there was less +shelter to approach, from the greater smoothness of the +ground. Almost the only chance of safety was following +some hollow roads, and a ride or two on the hills.</p> + +<p><em>16th (4 o’clock).</em>—I have just heard that the mail goes +in half an hour. There is, therefore, little time to add to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_494">[Pg 494]</span> +this. Colonel G—— is come back: Soult very civil, but +high and proud in his manner, not yet satisfied, and so +circumstanced, does not yet join the royal cause; the +consequence is, I hear, that the troops move to-morrow +morning, and I fear we shall do the same then or soon +after. This is very provoking, for the general result +seems clear, and all bloodshed now useless. I suspect +the truth of the hare story, as it is said that Soult’s army +is still ignorant of what has happened, at least, nearly so. +Pains are now being taken to circulate the proclamations, +news, &c., in all directions round him, that the troops +may learn the real state of things. I have to-day +received the parcel from you, letter to 29th, and newspapers. +Many thanks.</p> + +<p>The museum here contains but a bad second-rate set +of pictures. About a hundred have been carried away +during the month of March, no one knows where; but I +presume they were the best of those which were portable +from their size.</p> + +<p>There has been some difference of opinion, and confusion, +we hear, at Montauban about royalty. Bayonne, it +is to be feared, will abide by Soult, and do nothing yet.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, Toulouse, April 18th, 1814, 5 o’clock.</em>—The +troops moved as I told you yesterday, and the order +was actually out for head-quarters to move to-day, when +Count Gazan came in yesterday, about mid-day, to announce +Marshal Soult’s submission, I believe, to the new +order of things, and to arrange cantonments, &c., for the +two armies. He was closeted with General Murray a +long time, and arrangements were made. He returned +this morning to have the articles ratified, and to-night +Lord G. Lennox has orders to be in readiness to go to +England through Paris with the news. This last fact +you will, perhaps, have heard, and probably before you +get this.</p> + +<p>We had yesterday a grand <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Te Deum</i>, a most strange<span class="pagenum" id="Page_495">[Pg 495]</span> +noisy military and religious ceremony attended with all +the drums and military band; French civic soldiers, with +their hats on, hallooing, shouting, singing, organs, &c., +an immense crowd, and great cordiality. Unluckily, +Gazan passed the door as the crowd was coming out; he +was hooted, and saluted with “<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">A bas Soult!</i>” &c. This +was a pity, but these changeable gentlemen are all in +extremes. The troops are all going into cantonments +immediately, and we shall for some time, I conclude, be +quiet.</p> + +<p>The bad news from Bayonne is very unlucky. General +Hope is, I hear, not dangerously wounded; and his aide-de-camp +is gone to Bayonne to comfort him in his confinement, +which I trust will now be soon over. The +affair seems to have been a surprise in a great measure, +and the chief loss was in regaining the church, &c., of St. +Etienne, which had been easily lost at first. Lord Dalhousie, +on the other hand, seems to have gone on well +alone, across the Dordogne.</p> + +<p>The arsenal is here on a very large scale, and would +have been a very great acquisition, were the war to have +gone on. The French carried away almost everything +but materials, of which there is abundance of wheel +carriages, &c., and all the forges, &c., in order.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, Toulouse, April 23rd, 1814.</em>—Our life +has now fallen into the old routine way again, and not +only without daily events and little incidents to excite +the mind, as has hitherto been the case, but also with +the additional flatness and indifference, which cannot but +be felt so immediately after a succession of such occurrences +as have taken place within the last month. You +will now have only the tittle-tattle of a country town (a +French town certainly, and therefore somewhat novel), +with which you must be satisfied. When Count Gazan +came over here, to settle the terms of the armistice and +line of demarcation, &c., with Generals Murray and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_496">[Pg 496]</span> +Wimpfen, he was so much engaged that I could not see +him, as I wished to do, and he went very suddenly back +again. The terms you will see in the papers.</p> + +<p>When all the Spanish garrisons are collected in France, +this southern French army will again be respectable. +Our troops are all moving into their cantonments along +the Garonne on the left bank, except a few on this right +bank, within the department of the Haute Garonne, +which remains nearly all ours for the present. We have +had a variety of strangers—the two Sir Charles Stewarts +the first place. The Lisbon minister only stopped here +one day on his way to Holland; the other Sir Charles, +from Paris, came, as it is whispered here, to signify a +wish on the part of the Allies that Lord Wellington +would be the English commissioner at the general Congress. +If so, and this seems very probable, I think he +does well to refuse, for he cannot stand higher than he +does. Were he to go, the other diplomatists would be +surprised at his method of getting through business. +We should certainly have a general peace many weeks +sooner, if not months, than we are likely to have otherwise.</p> + +<p>I was walking with C—— in Lord Wellington’s +garden about eight o’clock in the morning, three days +since, when we saw a queer-looking figure approach, of +whom we could make out nothing from the complete +mixture of undress and magnificence—a pair of not clean +overalls on, a common short pelisse, and a foraging cap, +but the whole breast covered with stars and little crosses, +and swords and orders of all sorts.</p> + +<p>I was not a little surprised at being introduced to Sir +Charles Stewart. He had arrived at two in the morning +and had gone to bed, without sending word to Lord +Wellington, depending upon finding him at home at +eight o’clock, when to his mortification he found that +Lord Wellington had been since five in the morning out<span class="pagenum" id="Page_497">[Pg 497]</span> +hunting; and when Sir Charles asked where he could go +to meet him, the best information he could get was, that +it was in a forest somewhere about eighteen miles distant, +but no one knew exactly where, for the only persons +who knew, about four in number, were out with him. +Patience, therefore, was his only remedy; and instead of +being off again in two hours as he said he had intended, +he was obliged to stay long enough to give us a few +anecdotes from the Allies. Two of Marshal Suchet’s +aides-de-camp, and two or three French colonels from his +army and that of Soult, have also been here.</p> + +<p>With one of Suchet’s aides-de-camp I had much conversation. +He is a gentleman-like young man. He told +me that Suchet was at Perpignan when he heard of +Soult’s affair here; but that he then thought it prudent +to hasten to Narbonne, and there he was when the news +from Paris arrived. Had the war gone on, therefore, we +should evidently have had a dance, as I expected, to the +Mediterranean, on the road to Montpelier, after these +united marshals, and should have required your utmost +exertions and reinforcements from England; as it is, all +is well. Suchet’s aide-de-camp said that he found very +different feelings towards Soult in this country from what +there were towards his master in the districts where he +had commanded, and that he feared Soult had conducted +himself very badly. The two marshals are, I understand, +very jealous of each other. I asked him if Suchet had +the least notion or expectation previously of what has +happened. He said, “No: who could expect such a +change in the minds of every one, and such a revolution +in seven days’ time?” Then he laughed, and said, “At +present we were <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">à la mode</i>;” and as I met him at the +grand ball at the Capitole here again, he said, “There, +you have nothing to do now but to make the most of +your advantages, and amuse yourselves: all the beauties +have now declared for you.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_498">[Pg 498]</span></p> + +<p>I rather pitied him, when at that meeting a number of +pert apprentices, with immense white cockades on, and +some still with Napoleon buttons and smart civic +uniforms, were continually coming up to him, and reaching +about up to his chin, asking him, pertly, “Oh! are +you Soult’s aide-de-camp, or Suchet’s? Well, how do +you like what is going on?” fellows, that a month ago +would have almost cleaned his shoes had they been asked. +Some of them even thought he was English, and in bad +patois French, complimented him on the progress he had +made in the French language. His military pride was +much put to the trial, and he could hardly smother his +feelings. He then asked me to show him his new King, +of whom there was an old picture hung up, as he said it +was now time to make acquaintance with his new sovereign, +as well as with this new state of society.</p> + +<p>The grand ball given by the town at the Capitole on +Thursday went off well, except that it was just such a +crowd as an Easter Monday ball at the Mansion House. +The rooms were very handsome, and the five hundred +English, Spanish, and Portuguese officers added not a +little to the effect of the scene. Nearly the whole were +generals, aide-de-camps, staff-officers, or at least field-officers, +and every order and ornament of every nation was +worn. Lord Wellington was most splendid. The amusement +commenced by leading him into the Salle de Trone +<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">ci-devant</i> Bonaparte, where, over the vacant chair in the +centre, was the picture of King Louis XVIII., and on +each side that of the Duke d’Angoulême, and one of Lord +Wellington himself—the latter a hasty caricature likeness +taken by a painter here at the play from memory. He +was then entertained with a short concert, principally +consisting of La Chasse d’Henri IV., and “God save the +King,” sung by the public singers from a gallery, amidst +the clouds—goddesses and cupids painted above them.</p> + +<p>I had got Mr. K——, the famous English officer<span class="pagenum" id="Page_499">[Pg 499]</span> +singer, to go with me to the leader of the band, and to +give him the catch-club harmony of “God save the King,” +and we wrote them down full instructions, and all the +words for the song, solo, trio, chorus, &c., the words spelt +also according to the French pronunciation, while the +musician caught by the ear and scribbled down all the +parts, one by one, from K——’s singing. It was an +interesting scene. They had a rehearsal, and Mr. K—— +gave the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">prima donna</i> a few private lessons, and the +whole in consequence went off really surprisingly well. +The supper-tables were filled by about four sets successively, +the English having the preference, sentinels +letting us in, and keeping out the French until the last. +This went on until there was not even bread and water +remaining.</p> + +<p>The press, now, is at work here, printing Cevallo’s +old history of the conduct of the French in Spain, and a +variety of things, which to the natives are news. There +seems to be a disposition to buy the books and read; +nothing, however, will make the French what Cobbett +calls us, “a thinking people.” They seem to be as +frivolous as ever. The next thing wished for here, and +at Bordeaux, is to get rid of this new constitution, and +have the Bourbons as before; at least the party is strong +for this line, and, unless something decisive is done soon, +and the old military dispersed about, and gens-d’armes, +I think they will even yet have a squabble about several +things among themselves, which makes me wish that we +should be off as soon as possible, and have nothing to do +with them. As soon as all the foreign garrisons are +withdrawn, and the line of the French empire settled, the +faster we withdraw from within it the better. I always +expected the royal cause would gain ground as it has, when +once fairly tried. It was the only source of peace, and +that was what all wanted, on any terms. Of course +the acceptance of the Bourbons made it all easy; but I<span class="pagenum" id="Page_500">[Pg 500]</span> +believe all the southern departments would gladly have +been English, to secure peace, and get sugar, sell their +wines, and get rid of conscriptions and acquisitions.</p> + +<p>Lord Wellington gives another grand ball at the +<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">ci-devant</i> Prefecture, now Palais Royale, on Monday next. +On Tuesday, he resigns his place there to the Duke +d’Angoulême, and as there is an old adage about two +kings of Brentford, I suspect he will soon afterwards take +a trip somewhere else, at least for a time. I doubt, +however, his leaving the armies altogether, while they +remain in force, and the French marshals likewise.</p> + +<p>Bordeaux must be very proud of the example they +have given to France. They must take especial care to +conceal their subsequent alarms, and half-repentance of +what they have done.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_501">[Pg 501]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXVII">CHAPTER XXVII.</h2> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="fs80" style="margin-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em;">Toulouse—Its Churches—Protestant Service—Libraries—Reception of the +Duke d’Angoulême—The French Generals—Popularity of Wellington.</p> + +<p class="right fs80"> +Head-quarters, Toulouse,<br> +<span style="padding-right: 2em">April 27, 1814.</span></p> +</div> + +<p class="no-indent"><span class="smcap">My dear M——</span>, +</p> + +<p><span style="padding-left: 2em">Though</span> I have nothing now to amuse you with, +but the result of my morning walks and inquiries in this +town, I shall proceed as usual, more with a wish to +preserve my own crude observations, than hoping to +interest you much by the perusal.</p> + +<p>My last was finished on Saturday. On Sunday, about +half-past eleven, I attended the service at the Protestant +chapel, established under the sanction and patronage of +Bonaparte, as a sort of church-wardenish gold-lettered +record informed me. The service began with a prayer by +the clerk; he then gave out a psalm, more noisy than +musical, and without the accompaniment of the organ. I +was astonished that such a small congregation could +make so much noise and discord. One greasy-headed, +methodistical-looking man, near me, continued in an +unceasing roar, bearing much more resemblance to a +well-known noise with which our mules so frequently +indulge us, than any known harmony. A short prayer, +and a long chapter from the New Testament, with the +Commentary, as printed in the book, was then delivered +from the pulpit or reading-desk (for there was but one)<span class="pagenum" id="Page_502">[Pg 502]</span> +by a clergyman, who then entered. Another psalm +ensued. The organ then played to introduce a young +preacher, who took the reader’s place, and gave us a +prayer and the Ten Commandments, and another psalm, +partly to the organ; but before half a stave was finished, +the organist found that his notes and the vocal ones were +so different, that he ceased playing, and though he made +two or three attempts at a single note afterwards, he +found it would not do, and gave it up.</p> + +<p>The young preacher then read a text from the Bible, +and gave us a very good extempore discourse about half-an-hour +long. The subject was the vanity of this world, +and the danger of temptation and evil communication. +The language and delivery were clear and distinct; there +was no rant, but much propriety of manner. A psalm +followed, and the organ was not so much distanced; +then the Lord’s Prayer and Belief, and a prayer for all +descriptions of persons and denominations, like that of +our own Church praying for dignitaries, &c. And then +another psalm, at last, in tolerable harmony, but very +noisy. A blessing concluded the whole.</p> + +<p>At first there were only about forty-five persons; +some half-dozen old gentlemen were in the seats near +the altar. These had backs. About twenty-five women +were in the right-hand seats; and about fifteen men in +the left. The side-seats were chairs placed in rows, and +all fastened to each other. In the course of the service, +the numbers increased to about sixty or seventy. The +congregation appeared to be nearly all of the middling +class of tradesmen; only about three of our poor men +took their allotted seats, quite at the back. As no one +ever knelt down, there was no occasion for either room +or cushions for that purpose. The men sat with their +hats occasionally on and off, and legs crossed, at their +ease, in the style of the House of Commons; but were +attentive to the sermon. The three poor men all fell<span class="pagenum" id="Page_503">[Pg 503]</span> +asleep, snoring so loud that a sort of beadle was obliged +to awaken them. I was not much surprised on the +whole, comparing this scene with that in the Roman +Catholic churches, that the proselytes amongst the +highest and lowest classes were not not numerous. This +service suits neither. It is most adapted to an independent +tradesman, who thinks a little for himself, and +can see the errors of the Catholics, and likes the economy +of the chapel. It might be accident, but I saw scarcely +any white cockades,—only one or two of the elder, and +I suppose richer, members of the community wear them +in their hats.</p> + +<p>On Monday I looked into nearly all the churches, +present and <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">ci-devant</i>, of Toulouse. The cathedral of St. +Etienne I have already mentioned. The next in size and +consequence is St. Saturnin, or more commonly called St. +Surnin. This is a curious building, in the dark heavy +Saxon style (reminding one of the early attempts at +Grecian revival, and the introduction of the Gothic), +all circular except the angular main pillars of the centre +of the cross, which were heavy octagons; the roof circular, +and upper windows double circles. Except the +pillars, nearly the whole is made of the flat tile or brick, +which is curious. It was built in the present form about +the year 1160 to 1190. There are monuments of the +Earls of Toulouse, &c., of founders, and in a dark vaulted +chapel under the grand altar are relics innumerable—of +the thorns in the crown placed on the head of Christ; +the heads of Barnabas, of Simon, and of Jude; parts +of their bodies also; parts of Peter; besides bishops, &c.; +the body and figure of Thomas Aquinas; and an English +saint, a king, whose name I could not make out. We +heard much of the riches with which all these relics were +formerly surrounded. It is said that the revolutionists +carried off four hundredweight of gold, besides silver. All +the most valuable part, however, as the good Catholics<span class="pagenum" id="Page_504">[Pg 504]</span> +are bound to think, were fortunately spared, and still +remain in excellent preservation, and tolerably fine with +gilding.</p> + +<p>The general effect of the building is gloomy and superstitious, +and a strange unpleasant smell, which some say +proceeds from large vaults underneath, which are filled +with bodies which do not corrupt, makes one glad to +get out of the building as soon as curiosity is satisfied. +They do not bury their dead in the church now, and the +vaults I mentioned are walled up. In the remaining +churches now in use there is little worthy of notice, but +there are two very large <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">ci-devant</i> convent churches. +That of the Jacobins is worthy of notice; one long +building only, like King’s College Chapel (not a cross), +and with one lofty row of circular pillars all down the +centre. This forms as it were two equal main aisles, and +no side aisles. On the sides are rows of chapels and +a large cloister. Almost the whole is in brick, except +the centre pillars. It is now regularly fitted up as +cavalry barrack stables; and they are excellent, easily +containing in the whole, I should think, about seven +hundred horses. There is an octagon building adjoining, +with a slender pillar, fitted up the same. Near this is +another large, long, similar building, formerly a chapel, +but without the centre pillars, and the scale of course +somewhat smaller. This is the forage store for the +cavalry barrack. We have them now both in use, as the +French had. I must now go in my best to meet the +Duke d’Angoulême.</p> + +<p><em>Friday, the 26th.</em>—About two o’clock on Wednesday +the most interesting scene commenced since that of the +first day of our entrance, and a more splendid one still. +Lord Wellington, surrounded by about three hundred +horsemen, composed of general officers, aides-de-camp, +and staff officers of all descriptions, and of the four +nations, Spanish, English, French and Portuguese, went<span class="pagenum" id="Page_505">[Pg 505]</span> +out to meet the Duke d’Angoulême, all in their best +uniforms, on their best chargers, and covered with white +cockades. The only French general of the opposing +army who came in time for this was Clausel, and he was +for some time side by side with Lord Wellington. When +we had gone about six miles, and arrived at a sort of +triumphal arch on a hill, the Duke appeared, escorted by +a guard of our heavy dragoons and a double French +guard of honour from Bordeaux and Toulouse. We +drew up on each side, after the interview with Lord +Wellington, to let them pass, and then all joined in the +procession to the town.</p> + +<p>The sides of the road were crowded with carriages and +people, and the enthusiasm of the lower classes, and of +the women in particular, was excessive. The Duke and +Lord Wellington, after being joined by more guards of +honour and more suite, as we approached the town, +entered the street over the grand bridge, amidst the +shouts and acclamations of a multitude crowding every +window. The scene reminded me of the London streets +at Lord Nelson’s funeral. From the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">tête de pont</i>, which +still in part exists, over the bridge, up to the cathedral +through all the principal streets, was a double line of +English troops, between which the procession passed. +Several of the regiments had got their clothing, and they +looked admirably, especially the Scotch 91st.</p> + +<p>A sort of moveable <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">garde urbaine de l’infanterie</i> on each +side kept also with us all the way. White flags, exhibiting +French ingenuity to the utmost, were hanging +from every window. Sheets, table-cloths, towels, &c., +covered with green paper fleurs-de-lys formed excellent +standards, and paper flags were innumerable. The +women, and some of the old men, were quite mad with +joy, and screamed, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Vive le Roi et vivent les Anglois!</i> till +they were stopped by absolute exhaustion, or some by +tears of joy. Every house was hung with laurel mixed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_506">[Pg 506]</span> +with the white, and the lower story covered entirely with +old tapestry, old carpets, or sheets, and paper fleurs-de-lys. +In the morning this made the streets look something +like Brokers’-alley certainly, but the effect, when mixed +with the rest of the scene, was not bad.</p> + +<p>After passing under another triumphal arch of table-cloths, +laurel, fleurs-de-lys, &c., we reached the cathedral, +and a <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Te Deum</i> succeeded. This was much like the last, +only rather more in order, and the public bodies were +more numerous and in their costume. The ten Judges +and the President, in their red robes, like our aldermen, +with small black-and-gold caps. The Judges de Premier +Instance, in black Master-of-Arts gowns, with sky-blue +sashes; the Avocats in black gowns alone; the professors +of sciences and arts in their crimson-coloured Master-of-Arts +gowns, and those of belles-lettres in orange; the +Archbishop and clergy in full costume. The music was +not very striking, but many of the old people cried with +joy.</p> + +<p>About six o’clock the Duke dined with Lord Wellington, +and went to the play in the evening, where the acclamations +were renewed with fresh vigour; the women in the +streets caught hold of his coat to kiss it. Yesterday the +Duke had a <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">grande messe</i>, and then a full-dress drawing-room—this +in the morning. In the evening the great +rooms of the Capitolium were opened again for music and +dancing. The Duke came in there too soon, when +scarcely five hundred people were arrived, but in another +hour the crowd was immense. The dresses of the women +were very splendid, and the variety of orders and uniforms +made the scene very gay. General Villette was +there, as well as Clausel, and a number of French officers. +The Duke was just the same as at St. Jean de Luz, and +remembered all his old acquaintance there, myself among +the rest.</p> + +<p>He not only gave me a gracious nod during the first<span class="pagenum" id="Page_507">[Pg 507]</span> +procession, but surprised me by coming round behind the +chairs of the ladies, where I was standing, in the music-room, +and gave me his hand, and reminded me of King +Joseph’s saddle-cloth, which I had given the Duke, and +which was on his horse, as I observed, when he entered +the town. His affability and good-nature are striking; +but he must acquire more dignity and self-possession, as +his figure is against him in appearance, and he seems +shy; in short he must learn the trade of kingcraft, like +any other, and a quiet rational man is just now the best +king the French can have. The great rock to avoid is +the probability of being misled by indiscreet emigrants.</p> + +<p>I was, it must be confessed, rather at a loss what to +say to the Duke, but when he talked of the saddle-cloth, +I replied, that “Its only merit, which was as a trophy, +now was at an end, as the family of the Bonapartes had +ceased to be objects to triumph over.” This, and a lame +congratulation on what had happened, completed my +speech; as, however, it was as new to me to address +royalty as it was to him to act it, I hope if occasion +offers I may improve by practice as well as his Highness. +One circumstance amused me much in all this scene: the +good city of Toulouse covered its streets with sand, and +made the air resound with cries, and every house had two +paper lanterns in every window at night; and they were, +in general, I am convinced, sincere in this, although one +might have been induced to think otherwise from the +acts of the authorities and public offices. A set of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">garde +urbaine</i> officers (the new gens-d’armes) ran all the way at +the head of the procession, prompting the cries, and +setting them going all the way we went; and the illuminations +were, by special order of the mayor, from the +Bureau d’Illuminations, as usual in the time of Bonaparte’s +system. My intended observation is this—the city +loyalty vented itself in cries, in <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Te Deums</i>, in music, and +in farthing candles, and dancing, shouting, draperies, &c.,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_508">[Pg 508]</span> +but the Royal Duke was placed in the Palais Royale +(<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">ci-devant</i> Prefecture), and no provision made for his +table or for his establishment or Bordeaux guard of +honour, and our head-quarters’ Commissary was called +upon to feed the animals, &c., of the guard and followers, +and Lord Wellington to entertain the Prince and invite +the principal citizens to meet him.</p> + +<p>The old notion of the sign of the Four Alls—“John +Bull pays for all,” seems to be as well known here as +elsewhere in the world. There seems no principle now-a-days +more generally diffused or adopted more readily +in every quarter. Our rations are all procured, you must +be aware, by requisitions, through the mayors of the +country, &c., to be provided by the districts, and you +would naturally think the same authority could provide +for all French deserters, and for the Royal troops of +guards and establishment; but then who would pay for +all these requisitions? All we have is paid for; and it +is <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">bien plus commode</i> to come to our store ready collected +than to form one for these purposes.</p> + +<p>An odd incident occurred to me just before the procession +on Wednesday. I was at Lord Wellington’s +new hotel, the great inn, the Hotel de France, endeavouring +to find his room, to leave a Court-martial, when +I stumbled on my friend the Dutch aide-de-camp of +General Clausel, who told me he was looking for one of +our Marshal’s aides-de-camp in waiting to introduce his +General, who was behind him, and who, on my turning +round, recognized me, as he and his division took me +prisoner. To their great surprise, I told them that there +was no chance of finding an aide-de-camp, but perhaps +we might find a serjeant, and I was on the search. It +so happened that there was no one but an ignorant +sentinel. In trying a door or two, we all blundered upon +Lord Wellington, who came himself to the door; so I +introduced the astonished Clausel, and walked off.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_509">[Pg 509]</span></p> + +<p>My Dutch friend told me that Soult and Suchet would +have had about six aides-de-camp, &c., in the first room, +and a general officer in waiting in the second. I own +that I think our great man goes to the opposite extreme; +but he does not like being watched and plagued. Just +after the state <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">levée</i> yesterday, I saw him cross the crowded +square in his blue coat and round hat, almost unnoticed +and unknown even to the very people who half an hour +before had been cheering him. In one angle of Lord +Wellington’s hotel lives Madam C——, a Spanish beauty, +married into a French family of rank, who are the proprietors +of the hotel, but who have been obliged to let +nearly the whole, reserving this angle. I do not mean +to be scandalous; but this, perhaps, may have decided the +choice of the house.</p> + +<p>Lord Wellington to-day had intelligence that Marshal +Suchet was on his way here, and has been with his staff +about a dozen miles to meet him in form. The French +Marshal, from some confusion, did not appear, and Lord +Wellington would wait no longer, but returned alone. In +our grand procession to meet the royal Duke on Wednesday +a ridiculous accident happened. A French post carriage +with three horses abreast ran away, and came full +drive down upon us, the Frenchmen all bawling, the +horses pulling all ways, and clearing all before them. Our +three hundred warriors were all broken in an instant, and +dispersed over the ditches, and in all directions, until at +last one unfortunate horseman ran foul of the French +horses, and the whole came down together. Fortunately +nobody was materially hurt.</p> + +<p><em>Saturday, Post-day.</em>—As I returned home last night +by the Palais Royal from dinner, I found every one going, +without regular invitation, into the Palais Royal to the +Prince, who held a <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">soirée</i>; so I entered likewise, and +found him surrounded by dancing as usual, and by Marshals +and Generals only to be outdone at Paris. Suchet<span class="pagenum" id="Page_510">[Pg 510]</span> +had arrived with his staff. Colonel Canning, who was +left behind for him, brought him in about two hours after +Lord Wellington returned. General Lamarque and several +other officers came with him, two Generals, as aides-de-camp, +besides Colonels, &c. The Marshal himself was +a strange figure. His head and cheeks and chin all overgrown +with hair, like a wild man of the woods: and his +dress more splendid than the drum-major of one of our +Guards’ bands on a birthday.</p> + +<p>The contrast had a singular effect. The uniform was +blue, but almost concealed, and could have stood alone +with gold embroidery. Every seam, edge, and button, +before and behind, above and below, was <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">galloné</i> with a +sort of oak-leaf pattern about three inches wide, and on +his breast were two gold and silver stars, as large as our +Garter star, and several small orders of different kinds. +He would have been rather a good-looking man if dressed +in a more moderate style. Lord Wellington and several +of his Generals, being in their plain uniforms, made the +French General’s extravagance the more striking.</p> + +<p>Soult’s aide-de-camp also came in, and a guard was +ready, and an hotel for him, but he did not appear. Generals +Lamarque, Clausel, Villette, and three or four +more, and a number of embroidered <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Payeurs</i> and <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Commissaires +Généraux</i>, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Préfêts</i>, &c., increased the general +glitter; but nothing looked better than our scarlet. The +Prince and Suchet had much conversation, and seemed +more easy and gay than I had seen the former before with +any of his new friends.</p> + +<p>Scarcely any Frenchman has worn the Spanish or Portuguese +cockade; and amidst all the cries you never hear +a <i lang="es" xml:lang="es">viva</i> for either Spaniards or Portuguese. They are in +consequence very angry and sulky, and I think a little +jealous of us. This you may well imagine, when you +learn that they all along consider that <em>they</em> have accomplished +all that has happened, and that we have assisted<span class="pagenum" id="Page_511">[Pg 511]</span> +a little certainly, but that they could have done without +us. Except those about Lord Wellington, who do it +more out of compliment to him, the Spaniards in general, +and a great number of the Portuguese, will not in consequence +wear the white cockade.</p> + +<p>I see no harm in this, for as we fought a whole century +to prevent the two kingdoms of France and Spain +from being both under the Bourbons, it is quite as well +now that it happens to be our interest to fight for the +contrary doctrine, that there should be as little cordiality +between them as possible. A Spanish soldier was told +the other day in the street to cry “<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Vive le Roi! Vivent +les Bourbons!</i>” He made no answer. The request was +repeated, and he was asked why he made a difficulty. +He was still silent at first, but then rapped out a favourite +Spanish oath, then “<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Viva Fernando VII.! Viva Lord +Wellington!</i> Los Espanoles care for nothing more;” +and nothing more would he say.</p> + +<p>It is remarkable enough, but the fact is that Lord +Wellington is very popular with the common Spanish +soldiers, I am told, and with the country people; but +with the generality of officers, regimental in particular, +and with the highest classes in Spain, it is rather the reverse.</p> + +<p>It is curious now to see Lord Wellington play the +second fiddle, having been so long established leader. It +will serve to break him in by degrees for England and +peace. He carries it off very well. Most of our Lieutenant-generals +are gone to Paris, or going, and many +other officers. I suppose it will be best for me to remain +with the army to the last, or at least as long as Lord +Wellington remains, and then go straight to London and +report my arrival.</p> + +<p>At the Capitolium on Thursday, young B——, with +whom I was talking, as we were very hot and tired, persuaded +me to sit down with him on the bottom step of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_512">[Pg 512]</span> +the vacant throne. The Prince and all the grandees +were then in another room, but we were soon routed up +by the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">garde urbaine</i> sentinel, to the mortification and +vexation of my young honourable companion at not being +allowed at Toulouse what he was entitled to in the House +of Lords in England. He is well; and dancing away +cotillions, waltzes, &c.</p> + +<p><em>Later.</em>—We have just had an arrival, and Lord Wellington +quits this place for Paris immediately: I hope, +however, that he will return shortly, as he now intends +to do. We all here said that matters would never be +well arranged at Paris without him, and that he would +go at last.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, Toulouse, May 2nd, 1814.</em>—Having +thanked you for your letter of the 12th of April, and +papers to the same date, I must proceed on my old +subject, Toulouse, and its sights and curiosities, regretting +on your account, as well as my own, that they are not +more interesting.</p> + +<p>The great cannon-foundry here was formerly one of +the most prominent, but it has now ceased to work for +nearly three or four years. How or why this could +happen, when military works and manufactures seemed +alone to flourish in France during that period, I cannot +say. The fact is, everything remains in a state as if the +workmen were only all gone away to dinner, but in +silent desolation, like a scene in Herculaneum, or +Southey’s town under water. Unfinished moulds, guns, +&c., and tools are lying about in all directions. To show +how much the whole has been neglected, even <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Egalité</i> +has been suffered to remain on one entrance pillar, +<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Liberté</i> on the other, and the word <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Impérial</i> in the +middle. The fleur-de-lys will, I suppose, find its way +there soon by some accident.</p> + +<p>Suchet now commands both armies here. He told +the Duke d’Angoulême that he had sixteen thousand<span class="pagenum" id="Page_513">[Pg 513]</span> +men of his own army at his service. This hero, to whom +the day of the month, yesterday (May-day), reminded +me of a much nearer resemblance than the drum-major, +has left us, and is off to his troops.</p> + +<p>There are two public libraries here, in which I have +spent the better part of a morning each, one containing +about thirty thousand volumes, the other about twenty-five +thousand. The former has too large a proportion of +ecclesiastical learning; but they both contain some good +editions of classics and good historians, annals, &c., +particularly the smaller library. They are old episcopal +and private foundations, and have neither gained nor +lost much by the Revolution, which is rather extraordinary. +There seems to have been no very valuable early +editions or manuscripts—nothing very much worth +plundering; and they say they were too conscientious to +take advantage of the times, and enrich themselves by +plunder. The arrangement of the books is not bad. +Firstly, good polyglot and other Bibles of all kinds; then +commentaries on sacred history, &c.; then history in +general; then laws of nations, &c.; then laws in general, +essays, &c.; then French voyages, arts, sciences, classics, +and belles lettres. There is an atlas of the Grand Canal +and its vicinity on an immense scale, which might have +been important had we proceeded, though I think no +other stand would have been made until after we had +gone beyond the limits of the canal, and after a junction +of Soult with Suchet at Narbonne. Amongst the books +pointed out as of the most interest, were Racine’s Greek +editions of Euripides and Æschylus, containing his name +and several notes in his own handwriting,—a remarkably +neat hand. The editions were Stephens’ and Stanley’s. +The notes were either short free translations of passages +and sentiments, or memoranda to call attention to particular +passages for future use and application, or they +were short remarks of approbation or disapprobation of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_514">[Pg 514]</span> +scenes, passages, &c. I copied out nearly the whole, not +being very long, and I now enclose them. Will you +oblige me by putting them into my Euripides or somewhere, +to be preserved.</p> + +<p>Several of the private houses here of the merchants +and nobles are on a very large scale, and contain very +spacious suites of rooms round the court-yard. The +architecture is, in general, very moderate. Most of the +mansions have only the merit of extent; and one or two +which have an attempt at more are in bad taste. The +one most remarkable is particularly so. It has an +immense heavy stone cornice, out of all proportion, and +the capitals of all the pillars are a species of false Corinthian, +or rather, Composite, with the upper ornaments, +spread eagles, in most barbarous taste, and in the place +of the most beautiful part of the true pillars of the Composite +order.</p> + +<p>Toulouse appears to have been for a very considerable +time nearly stationary in size. There is not, as in some +of our country towns, and in some of those in France, +the new town as well as the old. The old brick walls, +with occasional towers, remain entire almost all round, +and still form nearly the city boundary, for there is +scarcely any suburbs without the walls. At several of +the entrances within there seems to have been some +vacant spaces, and in two or three places an ornamental +sort of crescent or square has been commenced,—one +lately, but the others before the Revolution. They are +all unfinished. In general, however, all within the city +walls is covered with building of some sort or another.</p> + +<p>The splendid façade of the Capitolium was raised +before the Revolution. Henry IV. commenced the work, +it is said, and his statue remains there. A very small +beginning has been made towards stone façades on one +of the other sides of the Grande Place of the Capital, but +in general the old shabby buildings still remain, and +seem likely to do so, for some time to come.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_515">[Pg 515]</span></p> + +<p><em>May 3rd.</em>—Our Prince is gone to review his new army +under Suchet, and leaves us quiet. Every day carries +off some of our higher officers, and we all expect to move +the instant Lord Wellington returns, if not before. To-morrow, +if possible, I go with a party and passport to see +the great basin de Feriol, the main feeder of the Grand +Canal. It is the sight of this country, and therefore, +though expecting to be disappointed, I have agreed to +join Dr. Macgregor and a party to-morrow, and return +the next day. It is near Revel, about thirty-two miles +off.</p> + +<p>I yesterday attended the Court of Appeal here for the +four departments around—Aude, Tarn, Lot and Garonne, +and Arriège. There were ten judges present: there exist, +and may be present, as many as sixteen, and a quorum of +seven is necessary to form a Court. There were, besides +the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Procureur-Général</i> and <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Advocat-Général</i>, about twenty-five +barristers in gowns, nearly like ours, but with bonnets +instead of wigs. They were dirty, and mostly old, and +looked precisely like a set of provincial barristers in England. +The same habits make the manners and appearance +so similar in nations nearly equally civilized, that, +until the language betrayed the difference, I could have +fancied myself in England again.</p> + +<p>The subject in dispute was half an acre of vineyard, +and it turned on the construction of a confused legacy in +a will of an old gentleman. The eagerness with which +the contest was maintained reminded me of a Court of +Quarter Sessions in England,—all talking at once, and +with abundance of noise and action, especially just as the +ten judges, like our juries, had laid their heads together +to consider, and whilst <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">le Procureur-Général</i> was summing +up the law and argument previously to the Court. +Either the lawyers and judges must be starving, or the +judicial establishment must be very expensive in France +now.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_516">[Pg 516]</span></p> + +<p>There are, besides this Court, others of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Première Instance</i> +in each department, and in four departments you +have more judges than in England. Unless some changes +are made, the French, in my opinion, will find their whole +government, which is calculated for a larger empire, in +every way much too expensive. This will prevent any +great reduction of ordinary taxation. The King and his +court to be paid; the senate; all the marshals and grand +dignitaries, the prefêts, &c. Each department now has a +salary to pay its prefêt nearly as large as that of an intendant +of a whole province before the Revolution. The +King will find abundance of patronage, if this goes on; +but a great part of the national income will be consumed +in the management and support of the different species of +rulers. One advantage in this, it is to be hoped, will be +to keep France more quiet in future, as I have otherwise +little faith in the present temper of this changeable race.</p> + +<p><em>May 7, 1814. Post-day.</em>—At five o’clock on Wednesday +morning I went to Dr. Macgregor’s to breakfast, +preparatory to our expedition to St. Feriol, having obtained +our leave and a passport for that purpose. Our +party consisted of Dr. H——, Colonel G——, and P——, +General H——, and Mr. J——, and Mrs. J——. On +account of the latter, who was in an interesting condition, +we set out on the canal road towards Castelnaudary, +that she might go in the boat. We rode along the towing-path +very pleasantly for about twenty miles. Finding +that Castelnaudary would be so much out of the way, +we then left the canal and rode across through Villefranche +and St. Felix to Revel, about twenty-two miles further. +This water scheme delayed us much, so that we did not +reach Revel until seven or eight at night, and it also +lengthened our ride considerably.</p> + +<p>The ordinary dinner at twelve, at the lock-house, was +however, entertaining, and partly made up for this; but, +in truth, ladies should learn on these occasions, when in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_517">[Pg 517]</span> +such a state, to stay at home. We expected a <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">malheur</i> +every hour, she was so fatigued.</p> + +<p>On Thursday morning, after breakfast, we went three +miles to Sorège, to see the great college or school establishment +there, which is about three miles from Revel. +It was formerly attached to a convent, and a sort of +Government military establishment. At the Revolution +the buildings were sold, and the present director and his +brother, who was one of the professors of the old establishment, +bought the whole, and undertook to continue, +and, as they say, to improve the plan as a private specution. +There are now about three hundred boys, from +eight to nineteen, or even twenty-one years old. On the +present arrangement, four hundred and forty is the limit. +The number, it is said, once amounted to nearly six or +seven hundred. There are now about thirty Protestant +boys. The rest are Catholics. Most of the Spanish +boys, once very numerous, left the school during the late +war. This peace, it is supposed, will bring them back, +even in greater numbers. English boys are also expected +to come again, as formerly.</p> + +<p>The building is very spacious, and is prettily situated, +under the side of a mountainous tract of country, at the +head of a valley. The accommodation is very ample, and +the order and arrangement very great; though, in my +opinion, it is less cleanly than the college at Aire. The +studies are more varied; and the whole is complete in +itself; for there is a priest, a doctor, an Italian professor +of mineralogy, anatomy, a riding-master, and teachers of +all kinds. The regular studies for all the boys are +French, Latin, a little Greek, mathematics to some extent, +dancing, swimming, drawing from models and casts, +perspective, drawing from anatomical study, fortification, +&c.; and for the upper boys, riding—for which purpose +about sixteen horses are at the disposal of the riding-master. +In addition to this, every boy has his own bedstead<span class="pagenum" id="Page_518">[Pg 518]</span> +of iron; and all the two upper classes of the three +into which the whole school is divided have separate +places to sleep in. Every boy, at a certain time, either +follows in his studies the choice of his parents, or his +own inclination, and may learn Italian, German, English, +Spanish, or any musical instrument; even the pianoforte. +The drawing-school is hung round with the approved +productions of the boys, and is spacious, and so is the +riding-school. There is also a theatre, regularly fitted +up, in which the boys recite, and act plays and perform +concerts; asking the neighbours to come and form an +audience. The establishment also contains a small botanical +garden, a tolerable collection of mineralogy, and a +piece of water for the purpose of swimming. The boys +were all in uniform, and looked healthy and well. As +they come from all quarters, it is usual to leave them +there all the year round, and this is rather expected and +desired. They come clothed at first, but afterwards +everything is found them, and the parents have nothing +to do but to pay <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">mille francs</i>, about 45<em>l.</em> or 50<em>l.</em>, annually, +and no bills or extras of any kind are ever sent or charged, +whatever may be learnt by the boys: this is rather dearer +than at Aire or St. Sever, I believe, but not much, when +all circumstances are considered.</p> + +<p>We found the schoolmasters consequential and prosy, +as they usually are with us. The Italian, who was more +particularly so, was formerly the professor who managed +the Grand Duke of Tuscany’s collection. This education +would, I think, suit many an orphan or natural son destined +for the English army, and with small means. He +would join his regiment at eighteen, with much more +useful knowledge than could be obtained for the same +money in England, as to languages, &c., and much information +useful to a military man. He would also come +away, with at least one or two accomplishments probably, +by which he might amuse himself in country-quarters,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_519">[Pg 519]</span> +and be kept out of mischief. It might also answer for +mercantile men, merchants, clerks, &c., though, perhaps, +some of these pursuits would only make them idle. Most +of the boys are destined for merchants or soldiers, I +understood. For other professions, probably, we have +as good, or better, and as cheap an education in Yorkshire, +and other places in England. This sort of education +accounts for the general distribution of a certain +extent of acquirement which we see amongst the French +officers, and for the advantages they possess as to the +power of self-amusement. When prisoners of war, they +have a smattering of drawing, dancing, singing, music, +acting, &c.</p> + +<p>We then went to the basin of St. Feriol. On our way +I rode up a valley to see some foundries of copper, which +were much talked of; only one of a number was at work, +as times were so bad. I found the copper was Swedish, +and only worked there on account of the facilities of +wood and water to work the bellows and anvil. The +work in which the men were then engaged, was making +saucepans and pots, and stewing-pans for the Toulouse +ships, and on a very small scale. I always like to ascertain +that there is nothing to see when a sight is talked +of. We went then over the hill to the basin.</p> + +<p>The extent of this basin rather surprised me; but +though it was almost exactly what I expected to find it, +I was very glad to have seen it. The shape of the +ground, and course of the stream, were particularly fortunate +and well adapted to the plan, and the great dam or +dyke, which pens back the water, so as to form a small +lake, in depth, near the wall, from fifty to sixty feet, is a +noble work. It consists of three main walls, well <em>terrassed</em> +or puddled between each, and with two large +arched vaults, one quite at the bottom, covering the +natural bed of the river; the other higher up, and +leading to the <em>robinets</em> or great cocks, which let out the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_520">[Pg 520]</span> +water as required. The river coming down the valley +fills the basin, not being able to find its vent, and therefore +spreading over the ground, and filling all the hollows +up to the dam wall, which is about sixty feet high. +The banks, except the natural dam, are the natural shape +of the ground, and there is no excavation at all. When +full, the water as required is let out by a hatch, and so +runs by into the stream, which conducts it, after about +ten miles circuit, to the highest point of the canal, +whence the locks descend both ways to Toulouse, and to +the Mediterranean. It then supplies both. When the +basin is low, the next opening is a sort of hatch or floodgate, +lower down in the wall; when lower still, the water +is let off by three great <em>robinets</em> or cocks at the end of the +<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">voute</i>, about thirty feet or so below the surface. When +these are opened, the rushing of the water makes a tremendous +noise, at a distance like that of thunder. When +it is required to empty or clean the basin, the river is +turned off, and the contents of the basin empty themselves +in the original bed of the stream: the contents of +the basin are, in my opinion, six millions of tons of water. +There is another smaller basin, about ten miles higher +up, in the mountains, and another near the canal, whence +the stream enters it.</p> + +<p>The whole seems well managed. The canal itself is +kept in great order, like our New River, the banks trimmed, +&c.; and in width it exceeds even our Royal Canal +in Ireland, probably by several yards.</p> + +<p>With much delay and difficulty, we got Mrs. J—— +through these sights, after much unnecessary alarm and +fright in the vaults. We returned about five to dinner +at Revel, where we slept again yesterday. We had a hot +ride home through Caraman and Lentar, about thirty-two +miles. The country round the canal and in the +bottoms is rich and fertile, but it contains little wood. It +is like some of our Somersetshire and Dorsetshire valleys,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_521">[Pg 521]</span> +but more covered with villas and chateaux, and villages. +The road back, by Caraman, is through a much poorer +country, but also like the higher bad parts of Somersetshire, +and that neighbourhood—such as near Chard and +the hills round Bath.</p> + +<p>The villages seem in a state of decay, and the inhabitants +poor, but the country upon the whole is in much +better condition, in point of cultivation and appearance, +than one could suppose after what has passed in the last +twenty years. In one or two out-of-the-way places we +were stared at, and followed like monsters or sights, but +were everywhere well received by the people. At Sorège +some French cavalry was quartered; but they were +nearly all gone to the grand review before the Duke +d’Angoulême. I should like to have been there also; +but we understood it would not be liked, and that the +Duke was to go without English altogether: this was +quite right. I am told that the review went off well, +and that Soult himself set a good example.</p> + +<p>It is strange to think of our carrying off Bonaparte +in a frigate; and his conversation with Augereau is +curious after the address of the latter to his men. King +Joseph is gone off and escaped; but no one need be much +afraid of him now.</p> + +<p>The style of nearly all the French chateaux is similar; +all front and appearance.</p> + +<p>On my return yesterday I dined with Mr. B—— and +his French hosts, for I scarcely know whose dinner it +was; I believe a joint effort. The wines were the +patron’s, and very good. He is a man of fortune, a +Monsieur de T——, and speaks English tolerably. The +wife is a pleasing woman, and rather good-looking and +young. They were very civil, and she sang and played +in the evening very fairly. At least she had much execution +and dash, if not feeling, in her playing. Like +most of our young female players, she left out all the +andantes and slow passages.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_522">[Pg 522]</span></p> + +<p>The furniture of the two or three rooms in which she +lived was very splendid. Handsome carpets were alone +wanting to make her own room in particular an elegant +fine lady’s drawing-room in England. In some respects, +particularly as to the gilding, there was both more show +and taste than generally are seen with us. The pianoforte +was particularly handsome; it was by Erard of +Paris, and, though only a small one, cost a hundred louis +d’or. The whole content of her room cost, it is said, a +thousand louis d’or.</p> + +<p>In the variety and materials of the ladies’ dresses here, +there seems to be also a very considerable degree of +luxury—more perhaps than with us.</p> + +<p>We are now very dull, and as the Prince is still absent, +do not even hear the “<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Vive le Roi!</i>” or “<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Vivent les +Bourbons!</i>” &c., as usual. I was much amused yesterday +at seeing pasted up at a country inn, a halfpenny print +of the royal Duke d’Angoulême in his best, on horseback, +and surrounded by a copy of most loyal verses singing +his praises and those of the Bourbons, and the English, +in the measure, and going to the music of the famous +Marseillais hymn; in short, a sort of parody of that +song, beginning “<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Allons enfans de la Garonne</i>,” &c. +What changes!</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_523">[Pg 523]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXVIII">CHAPTER XXVIII.</h2> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="fs80" style="margin-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em;">Toulouse—Mr. Macarthy’s Library—The Marquess of Buckingham—General +Hope—Wellington’s Dukedom—The Theatre—A Romantic +Story—Feeling towards the English—The Duke on the Russian Cavalry.</p> + +<p class="right fs80"> +Head-Quarters, Toulouse,<br> +<span style="padding-right: 2em">May 11, 1814.</span></p> +</div> + +<p class="no-indent"><span class="smcap">My dear M——.</span> +</p> + +<p><span style="padding-left: 2em">The</span> very small number of sights which this town +affords being exhausted, and Lord Wellington being still +absent, we are in truth more dull than we should be in a +country town in England. The only interesting subject +of conversation now is, who goes to America, and who +does not? Some of the regiments move to-day towards +Bordeaux from hence for the purpose of embarking upon +this new expedition, which I should think would all end +in a mere demonstration. Lord Wellington is expected +here to-morrow, and we shall then know what is to +happen; and head-quarters will, I conclude, move immediately.</p> + +<p>I have heard nothing since my last, and seen but one +thing worth mentioning, and that is, Mr. Macarthy’s +library, which the old father and grandfather have been +sixty years collecting, and which is now to be sold on the +father’s death for the benefit of the widow and nine +children. This is the library for which the Duke of +Devonshire offered 25,000<em>l.</em> sterling as it stands; but the +bargain was never closed, as he wished the whole to be +embarked at the risk of the owner, and they wanted to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_524">[Pg 524]</span> +have the money for it as it stands here, to be moved by +the purchaser. The owner now talks of sending it to +Paris, and having a public sale there by auction, thinking +that emperors and kings will then bid against the Duke +of Devonshire, Earl Spencer, and others of our book-loving +nobles.</p> + +<p>It contains a considerable number of fine copies of +“Principes editiones,” filling one side of a large room all +upon vellum. There is also Cardinal Ximenes’ polyglot +edition of the Bible; his own copy—the only one on +vellum; and a number of valuable books and some fine +MSS. Amongst the rest is the first printed edition of +the Psalms in 1457, of which we are told the only other +perfect copy is in our king’s (George the Third’s) library; +that Lord Spencer had only an imperfect copy, and that +twelve thousand francs had been already offered for this +one volume! So the world goes! This sum would furnish +a handsome set of all the best French authors, and +amusement for life; but many, you find, prefer a single +black-letter volume, which one must go to school again to +learn to read, and which, indeed, looks like a child’s great +black-letter spelling book, or the books among the giant +friends of Gulliver. A single page as a specimen would be +as good to me as the whole, and thus five hundred curiosos +would be gratified for a few guineas a-head; or a lottery +would be still better—fifty pages for the highest prize, +and a few lines for every one; no blanks! There would +be another advantage in this, that it would be employment +for some worthy collector for half his life to reassemble +all the parts and put the book together +again.</p> + +<p>The Marquess of Buckingham has been here, and is +now going to Tarbes and Barege, and then returns to see +our great man. We hear the latter was at the review at +Paris in his blue coat and round hat. This is quite like +him, and upon a good principle; the marshals, the public<span class="pagenum" id="Page_525">[Pg 525]</span> +functionaries, the kings and the emperors, would have +outdone anything he could have put on except this.</p> + +<p>I am sorry not to have returned from Revel through +Castelnaudary. Some of the officers did so, and by that +means fell in with a division of the French army. The +French officers were very civil, but told the same story—“If +the Emperor had not deserted us, we never would +have deserted him; and the men are of the same opinion; +but as it was, there was nothing else to be done.” +Colonels B—— and C—— went over to the second +review at Montauban, where the Duke d’Angoulême +reviewed Count Reille’s corps—two divisions. If I had +known this had been permitted, I should have been very +curious to be of the party. The men, it is said, were +well equipped and in high order. The officers in general +looked very shabby and unlike gentlemen.</p> + +<p>Suchet was smiling and in high good humour, and +very fine as he was here. Soult was only to be distinguished +by a most enormous hat, and by a surly look, +which is described as unpleasantly penetrating, and more +bespeaking talent than amiability. He took little notice +of the English officers, but the aides-de-camp and staff +officers, both belonging to Soult and to the other Generals, +did so when they learnt who they were, and appeared +very earnest in their attentions and civilities. They +went there in a carriage, but were splendidly mounted +immediately; Colonel —— on Count Erlar’s led and +caparisoned charger.</p> + +<p><em>Thursday, 12th.</em>—Lord Wellington not having yet returned, +and of course nothing positive being known as to +our destination, we have only those passing reports which +the military men call “shaves.”</p> + +<p>General Hope is, I fear, likely to suffer long from his +wounds. He has astonished the Generals at Bayonne by +making three of them presents each of an English horse +out of his stud. It is an odd circumstance, but I believe<span class="pagenum" id="Page_526">[Pg 526]</span> +true, that the sort of notice we had of an intended sortie +by the enemy at Bayonne, which was given by a deserter +just before it took place, only did us mischief. The out-picquets +were doubled, and as no picquets could stand the +rush of four or five thousand men, we only lost so many +more prisoners by this. The men were alarmed with the +expectation of such an attack. The only fault spoken of +in this business was the abandonment of the church of +St. Etienne, which might and ought to have been maintained. +The fifth division were but just on duty there, +and scarcely knew their posts. General Hay met the +men running back from it, and was stopping and leading +them on again, telling them he would show them how to +defend the church, when he was killed. Some of the +muskets of our men were found there, broken by the +French, and thrown away unfired. An English officer, +with about twenty men, maintained himself in a house +near the church the whole time, though it was much less +defensible than the church.</p> + +<p>Our position there, close under the works, it is said, +was liable to such a sortie every night, and some well-informed +persons wonder it did not take place sooner. +General Hope’s eager courage led him into a situation +where, I am told, no one could under ordinary circumstances +remain the shortest time without almost a +certainty of destruction. Even as it was, it is said that +a party of Guards ought to have carried him off, as at +first only four Frenchmen were near him when his horse +fell, and the Guards then were close by. The French +had made the outworks of the citadel very strong; they +must have been stormed first, which would have cost us +about twelve or fifteen thousand men. It would then +have taken sixteen days to establish batteries on the crest +of the glacis, the only possible way of breaching the +citadel. The garrison, who are now excessively bold, and +who have demanded rations for nineteen thousand two<span class="pagenum" id="Page_527">[Pg 527]</span> +hundred men, say they should have even then stood a +storming twice—in the citadel, and again in the town at +last.</p> + +<p>Making all due allowance for this gasconading, it is +quite as well to have been saved the necessity of taking +Bayonne. It would have taken all our transports about +sixteen days to bring up materials for four days’ open +trenches from Passages by land, and we must then, for +the remainder of the time, have trusted to the uncertainty +of the water communication. The object of the French +sortie was supposed to be the destruction of our three +stores of fascines and gabions, &c., which we had been +six weeks and more cutting, collecting, and forming, and +for which purpose we had stripped the environs for near +five miles round the town. In that respect we were +quite prepared for the whole siege, and it is remarkable +enough that we remained nearly all that time sufficiently +near the French works to form the first parallel, and that +without making works to protect ourselves, because doing +so would only have drawn down a fire which no works +could have enabled us to live under, and there was nothing +to be done but to remain as quiet as possible until the +siege began. Had we withdrawn at all, the French +having seen the importance of the ground, which we got +as it were almost by accident, would have made it necessary +to begin the siege by the storming of the works +they would soon have made there. Thus we were obliged +to keep what we had got, unless resolved to turn the +whole into blockade. The French engineers admire our +bridge very much, and say it will figure in military history; +but their officers in general in Bayonne have +hitherto been very sulky, and we are yet by no means +friends. Very little accommodation is afforded us in +any way.</p> + +<p>We are infinitely obliged to Bonaparte for having +lost his head, and blundered as he did latterly, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_528">[Pg 528]</span> +suffered the Allies to enter Paris, and put an end to the +war. Had he succeeded at Paris, or had Soult and +Suchet united succeeded against us here, near the shores +of the Mediterranean, where our next conflict would have +been, you would have found, when a retreat became +necessary, and that the French saw that way out of their +difficulties, instead of a return to royalty, that we should +have had the other party, and that a strong one, uppermost, +and a cry the other way, with parties in our rear. +Thinking, as we do, the French army, and a great part +of the French nation, quite as much responsible and to +blame as Bonaparte, for a considerable portion of the +misery caused by France (for to effect this they were his +willing agents so long as it was out of France, and only +deserted him when he was in distress, and because his +good fortune had left him, and by no means from principle)—thinking +this, their excess of loyalty only disgusts +us. Of course we are glad to promote it, but must +despise the majority of the Bourbon shouters—a few +honourable individuals, and a small party, of course, +excepted.</p> + +<p><em>Friday, 13th May.</em>—Lord Wellington not yet returned, +and the late very warm weather turned to a +steady rain. The Paris papers of the 8th, received this +morning, make Lord Wellington ambassador in France, +and a Duke.</p> + +<p>I was last night at the play to see <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">La Reine de Golconde</i>, +an opera, with some pretty music. I mention this +merely on account of a curious circumstance attending it. +A French General, according to the story, fights for the +deposed Queen and restores her. The troops of this +French General and liberator were a part of the grenadier +company of our Scotch <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">sans culottes</i> here in their own +costume; and as they marched past, commanded and +headed by the French General in the full costume of a +general officer of Bonaparte’s army, the house immediately<span class="pagenum" id="Page_529">[Pg 529]</span> +applauded the English heroes. The sensations of +the French officers present must have been strange, and +not very agreeable. These Scotchmen are considered by +all the inhabitants (particularly of the town) as having +had the principal share in their defeats in sight of the +town. The mutes, bearers, and others in the procession +were all English soldiers.</p> + +<p>We have had no disturbances or quarrels here, and +our officers seem all to have behaved with considerable +propriety; in short, the inhabitants dread our departure, +and the return of their own people. They say that all +order ceases, and all security, the moment our side of the +line of demarcation is passed. One furious old gentleman +at the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">café</i> this morning said publicly, that he thought +the only regret was, that the war had not lasted three +months longer, to destroy the remainder of the French +brigands; and that as for Soult, he should have been sent +in here, that the women might cut pieces out of his flesh +with their scissors, and that he might afterwards have +been executed publicly for his conduct to this city.</p> + +<p><em>Saturday, Post-day.</em>—Lord Wellington returned in +the middle of the night, and, having had a cold, that and +the effects of his journey make him look rather thin. +He has been so taken up with business that I only saw +him for a moment. Report says that he leaves us again +in a day or two. I shall, if possible, ask leave, on our +arrival at Bordeaux, to be independent, and find my own +way home: yet I believe it would be best to go home +with the army.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, Toulouse, May 21, 1814.</em>—Immediately +after my last, Lord Wellington left us for Madrid. +Nearly every one has quitted the army; I mean the +great men, generals, &c. We are reduced to a few quiet +parties and have no events to observe upon, and see no +strangers to write about; everything is tame and stupid +and the weather growing hot makes us languid and idle.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_530">[Pg 530]</span></p> + +<p>Lord Wellington, on his return here, was absolutely +overwhelmed with business, and every department was at +work in a sort of confusion and hurry that has never +happened before.</p> + +<p>On Sunday, the Duke gave a splendid ball and supper +at the Prefêt’s or Palais Royal, where everything went +off much as usual. The ladies dressed well, and danced +admirably; and the supper was not a matter of mere form +with them. Their early dinners, and their greater +exertion in dancing, make them certainly more voracious +than our fair ones.</p> + +<p>On Monday, the Marquess of Buckingham returned, +and was introduced to his new cousin of Wellington. +The latter seemed, I understand, not a little surprised at +being embraced and saluted on the cheek by his new +relative. He had not been in the habit of receiving +those embraces <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">à la mode Française</i>, and, I take it, +prefers very much the kind attentions of the fair ones +here, with whom he is an universal favourite.</p> + +<p>On Monday the Marquess of Buckingham dined with +him, as well as a large party of French and English. I +was of the number, and we all went to a concert of very +moderate music in the evening at the Capitolium. The +Duke at eight the next morning was off for Madrid. He +intends to rejoin us at Bordeaux, and then to return +through Paris, and to be in London about the 10th of +June. This is a great deal too much, and I think +almost impossible. These exertions make him look thin +and rather worn; but he was very gay, and in excellent +spirits whilst here.</p> + +<p>The American party was all settled by him finally, and +is all on the road to Bordeaux, or now there. It will be +of about nine or ten thousand men, I should think, and +strong in artillery. Our faithful six 18-pounders, which +have marched all the way from Lisbon since this day +twelvemonth! on roads which never have, I think, or<span class="pagenum" id="Page_531">[Pg 531]</span> +will see such animals again, were embarked yesterday on +the Garonne, for Bordeaux, to be of the party; and their +little grand-children, the mountain guns, go also. At +first the expedition was by no means popular, but is now +tolerably so, and the staff appointments have been of +course much in request. Lord Fitzroy Somerset, who is +the great manager of all this, and prime minister, has +been very busy, and we have all the intrigues of a little +court in miniature. Those who have been long here on +the staff, and with high brevet rank, will feel much a +return to their regimental duty and rank, and still more +if their fate be half-pay? I hear of nothing except all +this, and the schemes to get provided for. The regimental +officers are those who like this new expedition the +least.</p> + +<p>On seeing the Duke of Wellington the last time, I +said, I concluded he would wish me to go down to Bordeaux +with the army. He answered, “Oh, yes, you had +better.” We are already almost without Generals. We +shall remain here, it is said, some days yet. The orders, +however, are all given for our movement as soon after we +receive official news of the garrison of Figueras having +marched for France as possible. In the mean time all +wounded, &c., are moving now. The cavalry also are to +set out on their way overland to England as soon as the +French Government have finally agreed to that arrangement. +I should not at all dislike to march with this +party. The Portuguese troops remain with the British +until the Commissaries can part entirely with the mule +transport. They then separate, taking all the mules and +muleteers with them attached to different regiments for +rations, &c., and set out through Spain for Portugal, a +good three months’ trip, the weather growing warmer and +warmer all the way, to the great enjoyment, I conclude, +of the natives. At Almeida the muleteers have been +promised to be paid all their arrears.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_532">[Pg 532]</span></p> + +<p>The British from hence are to encamp near Bordeaux, +ready to be off as transports arrive. The Spaniards move +out of France the first of all, at the signal of Figueras, to +the joy of all parties. The Guards and troops at Bayonne +are likely to be the last, for they are to remain until all +stores, wounded, &c., are clear out of the Adour and St. +Jean de Luz, &c. The people here will be very sorry to +lose us, partly from the loss of the money spent here, and +partly from their dread of those who will succeed us—their +own countrymen.</p> + +<p>I understand General Clausel was the only one of the +French here who admitted the truth that they were fairly +beaten into taking their King. The others feel it, but +will not own it, and are very sulky in consequence; and +in general not civil to our officers. Some of the French +gens-d’armes are expected on Monday in this town to do +duty, I believe, to levy taxes, &c. It is to be hoped that +this will not lead to quarrels with our men.</p> + +<p>The continuance of the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Droits réunis</i> is very unpopular, +and, in my opinion, the effervescence of loyalty is somewhat +subsiding already. We all expect disturbances also +in Spain. I hope the Duke will resign his command, +and have nothing to do with either party. It is said +even the armies are divided, and ours here (Frere’s) is for +the Cortes. What with Spain, Ireland, Norway, America, +and perhaps the interior of France, the world will +after all, it is feared, not be in that state of profound +peace which was generally expected.</p> + +<p>Yesterday and to-day I have received letters from you +of the 3rd and 10th of May, and papers to the latter date, +which contain precisely the same news as those from +London through Paris. There seems to be nothing very +important either way.</p> + +<p>I have just got the papers relating to a most extraordinary +story of a murder at Lisbon. It is a most +complete novel, and would be incredibly romantic as<span class="pagenum" id="Page_533">[Pg 533]</span> +such. A Commissary named R—— had an English girl +(a lady) who lived with him. Another Commissary +named S——, his friend, had long been living in the +same house with him. After a time Mr. R—— conceived +that Mr. S—— was undermining the affections of +the lady. He taxes her with it, she confesses, and says +she has promised to live with S——, but swears nothing +improper had ever passed. Mr. R—— persuades her to +give up this scheme, stating how dishonourably S—— +had betrayed him, his friend. He then tells this friend +his discovery, and upbraids him. S—— says that the +lady has been faithless to R——, and is the betrayer. +R——, in despair, is going to quit the house, the lady, +and the whole connexion; but he previously repeats to +her what Mr. S—— told him. She solemnly denies it, +and then goes out with S——. I should have mentioned +that the three had just before this conversation ridden +out together without speaking, and sat together at dinner +without speaking or eating. The explanation between +R—— and the lady then took place, immediately after +which S—— and the lady went out of the house. Three +pistol-shots are heard. R—— goes into the garden, +finds his mistress shot dead. S—— ran by him into the +house apparently wounded, his handkerchief to his head. +He forced his way to a table-drawer, took out a razor, +and cut his throat quite across. He still survived both +wounds when the account came away, and deliberately +confesses in writing that by the lady’s desire, by their +joint consent and agreement, he was to kill both; her +first, and then himself. This he endeavoured to accomplish, +but in vain as to himself. Mr. R—— declines +telling who the lady is, except in a court of justice, in +order to prevent unnecessary pain to her friends in +England.</p> + +<p>I have been asked, “What is to be done?” and whether, +if the delinquent is mad, I thought that he must<span class="pagenum" id="Page_534">[Pg 534]</span> +be tried for the murder? It surely was very unfortunate +that the poor man had not been left in the hands of the +Portuguese surgeons and doctors, who pronounced him a +dead man, and his wounds incurable. The skill of an +English surgeon has unluckily enabled this unhappy being +to stand the chance of either being hung or confined for +life as a madman for the rest of his days.</p> + +<p><em>The 22nd, Post-day.</em>—I send you, being dull myself, +a part of a <cite>Gazette de France</cite>, which paper I take in +regularly. Some part of the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Franc parleur</i> is well done. +The same feelings exist here in the army. Were I a +French officer I should feel in the same way.</p> + +<p>We have now rain, and the weather cooler again: +hitherto it has not been ever very unpleasantly hot, +though at times above our summer heat, and with rain +and without sun at 69°.</p> + +<p>You ask me in your last letter about religion and +manners here? The former seems again much what it +was before the Revolution. The churches are in general +well attended, but principally (as the case is all over the +world, I believe,) by your sex in particular of all ages, by +the very old of both sexes, who go there to make their +peace; and the very young who are taken there by their +older friends and relations. With regard to manners, the +old French memoirs would still, I think, apply very +tolerably to the description of their present state, except +that the same things are done and said with rather more +coarseness perhaps now than in old times.</p> + +<p>Our cavalry have not moved yet, as the approval of the +French Government has not arrived. They are intended +to move in two columns, one up the Paris road, nearly +through Cahors, &c.; the other more to the left, through +Angoulême, Poictiers, and to unite at a town on the Seine.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, Toulouse, May 27th, 1814.</em>—My new +friends and acquaintance fall off daily around me, and +our party at head-quarters is continually on the decline.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_535">[Pg 535]</span></p> + +<p>I am not a little amused with the Toulouse paper of +yesterday. We, the English, have been for these last +six weeks praised to the skies, and treated as, and called +the deliverers of Toulouse city and its inhabitants. +Soult’s troops are now expected in here in a few days, +and the gens-d’armes have actually arrived. The Toulouse +<cite>Gazette</cite>, therefore, exhorts the inhabitants to receive with +open arms and to feast, and entertain those brave troops, +whose courage and noble conduct they witnessed on the +hills, above this city, when fighting for the defence of +the inhabitants. They also assure the public, that the +statement in an early number of the <cite>Gazette</cite>, that +Marshal Soult owed the safety of his retreat to the clemency +of Lord Wellington, under whose guns the French +troops filed off, was all an error and mistake (as it certainly +was), and that the retreat was in fact as secure as the +defence of the heights was noble and courageous. Had +we had but about five thousand more men up, to cross the +canal at once, this might have been another story. The +<cite>Gazette</cite> should have waited until we were off.</p> + +<p>I dined yesterday with a Monsieur Castellan, a gentleman +of very good fortune, and who, I understand, has a +good house, pictures, library, &c., at Paris, and lands in +Normandy and elsewhere. He was formerly, at the +commencement of the Revolution, Attorney-general to +the Parliament of Toulouse, and on that account desired +to be introduced to me, and gave us an excellent dinner. +In 1781, he was a man who figured much here, and also +in the English papers, on account of his early resistance +to the orders of the Court, and being imprisoned in consequence. +He was followed by all the inhabitants to his +prison, and released in a short time by the triumph of his +own party. He seems to be a good constitutionalist.</p> + +<p>He mentioned several curious facts of Bonaparte’s +tyranny, such as his putting persons to death without +trial, and without inquiry. Two of these persons he<span class="pagenum" id="Page_536">[Pg 536]</span> +knew in particular. They were chiefs of La Vendée. +When all the hopes of that party were gone, terms were +offered to these two men. One came in to sign them, +when he was instantly shot. The other, in consequence, +remained concealed three years in Normandy. At last +he was told privately, that if he would retire from the +country quietly, a passport should be given to him. He +agreed, received his pass, and made for the coast; but +when he arrived near the sea-side two gens-d’armes shot +him.</p> + +<p>This made a noise; the Juge de Paix began a <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">procès +verbal</i>, and the Préfet was active in endeavouring to +apprehend the soldiers. The Judge and Préfet were not +in the secret. Suddenly a senator came from Paris. +The Préfet was suspended from his office, and the Juge +de Paix enjoined at his peril not to stir a step in the +business. Monsieur Castellan’s servant acted as clerk in +the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">procès verbal</i> which had commenced, and the murder +took place close to his estate in Normandy. He therefore, +he said, knew the facts.</p> + +<p>Another story, for the truth of which he vouched, and +which from the circumstances appeared to be true, shows +a little the state of Napoleon’s court and their morals. A +young cousin of Monsieur de Castellan was the Emperor’s +page—a very good-looking boy. At the carnival he was +dressed as a girl at the play, and one of the grand chamberlains +fell in love with him. The page continued the +disguise and the joke every night during the carnival, +and was courted and fêted with presents by the lover. +At last the discovery was made, and the mortified chamberlain +stopped the boy’s promotion in consequence, +under the pretence that the page was ordered not to go +to the play.</p> + +<p>I wished very much to have had time during my visit +to Monsieur Castellan to look over a very curious collection +of original letters which he had in portfolios, and of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_537">[Pg 537]</span> +which I looked at one or two only. The most valuable +were of the Valois family, and were numerous and confidential, +coming to M. Castellan through a great-uncle, +and derived from an ambassador of the family in Spain. +There were several from Catherine de Medicis, mostly +about the marriage of her daughters with the Spanish +royal family, and which (as she had good occasion to do) +she always finished by desiring might be burnt as soon +as read.</p> + +<p>The eldest daughter was first sent, being intended for +the son, Don Carlos, but Philip the Second took a fancy +to her, and though the son was in love, married her. An +intrigue was suspected with the son, as the daughter was +also in love with Don Carlos; the finale was, as history +records and romance writers have improved upon, that +Don Carlos and the lady suffered death. After this, and +knowing, as she must have done, the cause, or at least the +reports of all suspected, Catherine writes, saying that she +must forget the mother in the Queen, and proposes to +make up a match between King Philip and her youngest +daughter. The writer desires the person addressed to get +at the King’s mistress and his confessor, and to secure +them both as friends to her plans. The remaining letters +were those of eminent men, some from Rousseau, Voltaire, +&c., and appeared to contain nothing particularly +interesting.</p> + +<p>A few days since I think I half made a convert of a fat +silversmith’s lady here, of whom I was purchasing some +articles. She asked me if we had a religion in England +at all like theirs. I said, “Yes; very like.” “But,” +said she (and that weighed very much with her), “you do +not use these great silver cups, &c., in your country?” +To this I replied, “Indeed we do, and want them much +larger than you do in France, for with us we let every +one taste that pleases of the wine, and you only let the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_538">[Pg 538]</span> +priests.” This rather staggered her, when the sale of the +cups and sacramental plate came into her head.</p> + +<p><em>May 28th, Saturday, Post-day.</em>—Our cavalry have at +last got leave to pass through France, and will commence +their route on the 1st of June. It is probable that we +shall move soon after. I have this moment received a +packet from you, with papers and enclosures to the 16th, +and having your letter now before me, will go through it +in answer. The alarms you mention about the quarrels +between the Allies, and the French, and the army, and +the National Guards, seem to have been principally of +English invention. We have heard little of this matter +here, though I have no doubt that the French officers +and soldiers are vexed and mortified, and as the Irish say +sometimes, they would easily “pick a quarrel” just now, +when they meet with any occasion. There is the same +feeling here, only hitherto scarcely any officers of the +army have arrived.</p> + +<p>I witnessed last Sunday a quarrel between a gend’arme +and a garde-urbaine, about cutting off some acacia +blossoms in the public walk. The latter was disarmed at +last, after a scuffle and fight, in which, from the noise and +confusion, you would have supposed several limbs and +lives would have been lost (as would have been the case +in half the time in England), but in which in reality no +one seemed to come out the worse. The gend’arme, however, +was very neatly beaten at last, as two of the garde-urbaine +overtook him again, and whilst one tried to wrest +the conquered sword back again, the other cut the belt of +the gend’arme, by which his own sword fell, and in +recovering that he lost the trophy, with which the two +lads made off in triumph.</p> + +<p>An officer of the French regular army who was here +by accident a few days since, saw the caricature of Bonaparte +in a window, the face made up of “<em>victimes</em>,” with<span class="pagenum" id="Page_539">[Pg 539]</span> +the cobwebs, &c., introduced, which I conclude you have +seen. He entered the shop in a rage, and desired the +shopman to take it from the window, threatening to cut +him down if he refused. It has not appeared in the +window since, and the man when now asked for the +print by an Englishman or Royalist, says, “They are all +sold.”</p> + +<p>The Duke of Wellington’s misfortune from the Cossack +charge I have not heard of here. He came back +most highly admiring and praising the Russian cavalry +as in appearance the best in Europe, and saying there +was scarcely a private horse in the regiment he saw for +which a short time ago we should not willingly have +given a hundred and fifty or two hundred guineas in +Spain. The draught and artillery horses, also, though +very small, and unlike those of the cavalry, he thought +had great appearance of hardiness and activity. Some of +your other stories concerning us here are really, in my +opinion, mere inventions.</p> + +<p>By-the-by, what inventions and scandal we shall have +now to fill the newspapers and afford conversation for all +our idlers! As soon as peace is signed, they will have +little else but that to live upon; whilst the politician +must pore over all the debates of the multiplied popular +assemblies in modern Europe, which will all be aping our +House of Commons.</p> + +<p>Our clergy here were ten days ago praying for rain, +and they have not sued in vain, for we have had it for +this week in showers only, and in the English fashion, +not like our mountain and St. Jean de Luz rain. We +have also had tremendous storms of wind, which were +not prayed for; and more than that, a bit of an earthquake, +felt principally at Pau and in that vicinity, but, it +is said, by some perceived here. It is not surprising that +old Mother Earth should just at first shake a little at all +that has passed lately; but I hope she will take it quietly,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_540">[Pg 540]</span> +and be as peaceably inclined as her inhabitants now are. +The recovery of the balance of Europe will be a fine +subject for an essay. This superiority over the ancient +associated states of Greece, which when once upset never +could right themselves again, is a matter of considerable +triumph for the moderns, and promises to check for some +time another age of barbarism. I should say that one +great cause of this has been the more general diffusion of +knowledge amongst the middling classes. Public opinion +and more fixed principles of the advantages of independence, +have got the better at last of a system of universal +tyranny of the most ingenious and complicated +nature, and extending to every individual, and every +hole and corner within its clutches. I must now seal up +for the post.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_541">[Pg 541]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXIX">CHAPTER XXIX.</h2> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="fs80" style="margin-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em;">Preparations for Departure—Bordeaux—Imposition on the English—Greetings +from the Women—Mausoleum of Louis XVI.</p> + +<p class="right fs80"> +Wednesday, June 1, 1814.<br> +<span style="padding-right: 2em">Toulouse.</span></p> +</div> + +<p class="no-indent"><span class="smcap">My dear M——</span>, +</p> + +<p><span style="padding-left: 2em">Here</span> we are still, but on the point of moving. +The orders are actually out, and our route fixed. We +start on Saturday, the 4th of June, I suspect on purpose +to avoid festivities on that day. On the 10th we hope +to be at Bordeaux: 4th, Isle en Jourdain; 5th, Auch; +6th, Condom; 7th, halt; 8th, Castel Jelous; 9th, +Langon; 10th, Bordeaux. This will be sharp work for +loaded mules, and warm for us all, for the weather is now +clearing up, and promises to be hot again.</p> + +<p>I am tired of Toulouse, and not sorry to leave it, +though the inhabitants continue to be civil and friendly. +So indeed they ought to be, as they have made no little +money out of us, and have been continually entertained +by balls, &c. Since the Duke has been away we have +had three balls given by the Adjutant-general, General +Byng, and by the aides-de-camp. At last I was, by accident, +introduced to a Madame de Vaudreuil. She was +it turns out, wife to the son of the old admiral, our +<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">emigré</i> Marquis in England, and your cousin. I was +then introduced to the husband, and we had some conversation +on family matters. He mentioned his nephew, +the aide-de-camp in Ireland, and inquired much after the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_542">[Pg 542]</span> +Hochepieds, &c. To-morrow I am to breakfast with +them, and you shall hear more. He is a little man, but +high, and in repute here.</p> + +<p>No events of any consequence have occurred. The +only thing at all worth mentioning which I can recollect +is a trait of the conduct of the French lower officers of +Soult’s army. Two of the officers of the 43rd British +rode towards Montauban a few days since, out of their +own limits, without a passport. This, though foolish +just now, was a venial offence, and committed by many +French, who come in here within our line of demarcation. +On a bridge near the town our two gentlemen +were met by about eight or ten, not gentlemen, but +officers of the French garrison there. The latter immediately +attacked the two British officers rudely, told them +that they ought to know better their own limits, and +added at last that if they intended to come again, they +advised them to come with their coats off, sleeves turned +up, and swords drawn. One man actually went so far +as to come behind one of our officers to knock his hat off, +that he might get out the white cockade; in short, the +two Englishmen were obliged to yield and return back.</p> + +<p>An apology was, it is said, sent in to our General, from +the commanding officer at Montauban, stating that he +was sorry for what had happened, and hoping we would +consider it as the act of some <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">mauvais sujets</i> in the lower +commissioned ranks of the army, and not the act of, or +sanctioned by, the garrison in general. I believe, however, +that it is intended still to make some remonstrance +on the subject.</p> + +<p>Dr. Macgregor has returned here, delighted with his +trip to Montpelier, Avignon, Nismes, Valence, &c. He +was received most cordially everywhere, and at some +places quite enthusiastically. Almost at every place, he fell +in with fêtes and entertainments in consequence of the late +changes, and the whole country was covered with conscripts<span class="pagenum" id="Page_543">[Pg 543]</span> +and deserters going home: he thinks he must have +seen from ten to fifteen thousand. Everywhere, he found +much jealousy between the military, the national guards, +and the civilians, as is the case here. There were several +quarrels in consequence. At the playhouse at Montpelier +the applause was so violent at a new popular piece called +“The Conscript,” that a French General, who was there +with his suite, conceived it a marked insult to himself +and rose to leave the house, but was persuaded to remain.</p> + +<p>The Society of Medicine at Montpelier made the +Doctor a member, with such fine speeches, that even +though he only half understood them, they raised his +blushes.</p> + +<p><em>Friday, June 3rd.</em>—In the midst of the bustle and +confusion of my preparations for the march of to-morrow, +I received this day your letter and papers to the 24th of +May. I had just been reading in to-day’s French paper +London news of the same date, so that, even this late +mail, of only nine or ten days from London, brought +us nothing new politically from England. The details, +however, and private news are always interesting. I +shall have more occasion for them as I am going the road +on this (the Toulouse) side of the Garonne, instead of our +military route, and shall be nearly, if not quite, alone, for +almost every other person who goes this way intends to +travel post, or ride faster than would suit me this warm +weather. This road is said to be by far the most picturesque, +rich, and amusing; and, having a passport ready, +I mean to start at five to-morrow. My route is through +Grisolles, Castel Sarazin, Monteil, Moissac, Agen, Port +St. Marie (where I shall try and see our <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">emigré</i> friend, +the Baron de Trenqueléon), Tomeirs, Reolle; then, if +necessary, cross the river to Langon, but if not, keep the +right bank, opposite Bordeaux. I have sent my baggage +and Henry on in the line of march, and only take a Portuguese +<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">ci-devant</i> servant to the Prince of Orange, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_544">[Pg 544]</span> +now mine, on a pony, with a small valise, and intend to +trust to the inns for everything. Thus I shall avoid +troops, and nearly all places through which they have +passed.</p> + +<p>The last detachment of cavalry will leave this to-morrow, +to start to Grisolles and Montauban on Sunday. +The Hussars in advance leave Montauban to-day. The +last infantry will move from hence on Sunday; and the +whole infantry from hence will be assembled at Bordeaux +(excepting what may be embarked) by the 17th of June. +The last Portuguese will pass Bayonne about the 23rd; +and then the Guards and troops there will be at liberty +to move—not before. The Spaniards are nearly all out +of the country already!</p> + +<p>Sir W. W. Wynne has been here these last five or six +days, to succeed the Marquess of Buckingham; they are +specimens of what are considered our greatest peers and +commoners. The people here stare at them, and look +strange. The inhabitants are seriously sorry for our +departure, I really believe. We had a sort of farewell +party at the Duke’s house yesterday, given by Colonel C. +Campbell, of all the great men here: we dined, then went +to the play, and then to the ball. Some of our Generals +are so pleased that they talk seriously of returning here +after peace is signed, and they have laid by their laurels +in England. Having so many things to do, I must now +end this, and leave it to go by the post, for I shall be +away from head-quarters, and the regular post, perhaps, +next mail. Do not be surprised if you do not hear again +very soon. On my arrival at Bordeaux I shall endeavour +to write immediately, and let you know my plans.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, Bordeaux, June 13th, 1814.</em>—On +Saturday (11th), I sent you a few hasty lines, I will now +try and fill up the interval from Toulouse here, with an +account of my proceedings during that time.</p> + +<p>After a tremendous thunder-storm, at six in the morning<span class="pagenum" id="Page_545">[Pg 545]</span> +of the 4th of June, I started along the rich plain in +which Toulouse stands, and proceeded through Grisolles, +and a number of small places, to Castle Sarazin; but not +liking the appearance of the latter, I went on to Moissac, +which is just across the Tarn, at which place the plain +ceases, and the road becomes hilly.</p> + +<p>The distance was about forty-five miles to Moissac; +the country all rich and fertile, but much too bare of +wood, and the road is tiresome from its uniformly level +character. The river ran the whole way, about half a +mile from the road, and the opposite bank being high, +bounded the view on that side, and formed a picturesque +object, though not the most profitable, for the soil seemed +less rich. The flat lands must be subject to great losses +and damage from floods, as there is no fall for the sudden +torrents which descend. The corn in many places had +suffered much this year.</p> + +<p>At Grisolles, I passed the last of the cavalry (the Blues) +on their way home. The Life Guards entered Montauban +with laurels. The Préfet immediately told the commanding +officer, that he understood his men were come +into the town in a triumphant manner, and seemed much +vexed, until reminded that it was the 4th of June, when +he became civil, and admitted the validity of the reason. +On stopping at the village of Fignan, to give my horses +some corn, I was very glad to find the inhabitants +regretting the departure of the Portuguese regiment +which had been quartered there, as they had behaved so +well. They told me the people cried when they crossed +the water, and the next day so many soldiers came back +to take another farewell of their new friends, that the +officers were compelled to place a guard to prevent it.</p> + +<p>The Tarn at Moissac was wide, and the current very +strong. The passage by the ferry, a troublesome one, +backwards and forwards, through the remains of the +ruined buttresses of an old bridge. On landing I asked<span class="pagenum" id="Page_546">[Pg 546]</span> +for the Commandant or French General. There had +been unpleasant altercations of late near that place and +neighbourhood. The officer of whom I inquired pointed +to General Key, the late governor of St. Sebastian, who +happened to be near. I announced myself to him, and +was received civilly by him, and then immediately went +to the inn.</p> + +<p>The only sights noticeable in the town are a great +water-mill in the river, with about twenty-four pair of +mill-stones, and a number of establishments for purifying +wheat and preparing flour. These last were on a large +scale, but without machinery of any ingenuity, and one +steam-engine would have saved them nearly all their +labour, which was great. The country round is famous +as a corn country, and Moissac was once a great place of +export for flour and wheat by the canal, &c., of Toulouse, +to Montpelier, and by the Tarn and Garonne to Bordeaux, +and thence to the French islands and foreign settlements. +The inhabitants wished much to begin dealing with the +English; but I told them that our Parliament was about +to prevent that taking place.</p> + +<p>There is a curious old church at Moissac with many +carved grotesque figures at the entrance. The style is +nearly the old English, but in some places, the early +Gothic. The accommodation at the inns is very good; +but the joke of Milord Anglois has commenced, and is +increasing fast. We were all <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">mon Commandant</i> and <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">mon +Général</i>; and paid accordingly.</p> + +<p>The next day, on leaving Moissac, I ascended a long +hill, and continued on rich high ground above the river, +in a country of cultivated, undulating scenery, with more +wood, somewhat resembling Devonshire or Somersetshire, +with the exception of the want of hedges. This continued +about seven miles, when I came down again, having a +fine view of the river, and continued my way along the +banks over a rich flat through several villages and small<span class="pagenum" id="Page_547">[Pg 547]</span> +towns to Agen, about thirty-four miles from Moissac. +The valley was here much narrower and varied than that +at Toulouse, bounded on both sides by gentle hills, cultivated +and rich, as well as apparently populous, along the +whole way. The French troops were in cantonments in +every village, and in general looked very sulky. A few +touched their caps to me, as I was in my scarlet uniform; +but most looked sulky and took no notice. I was, however, +never insulted. The cries of the children all the +way, and often of the country-women, and sometimes of +the men, of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">vivent les Anglois!</i> certainly did not contribute +to put their soldiers and officers in better humour. If so +disposed, I could easily, as the Irish say, “have picked a +quarrel.”</p> + +<p>At Agen all was gaiety and bustle. It was the +Sunday before their great fair; and all was preparing for +that, as well as for the service which was to take place in +the great church the next day for Louis XVI., the +Queen, &c. I immediately went to the Commandant of +the town. He was civil, but the numerous officers looked +very much disposed to be impertinent, if occasion should +offer. The eager curiosity of the townspeople to see the +English, and to be civil, was very pleasing; every one +seemed anxious to show some attention. Here I fell in +with Dr. M—— and Mr. and Mrs. J——, and after +dining together, we went to the play.</p> + +<p>It was a little narrow theatre, but almost new, and +very clean and neat. The performances were not despicable. +There was a good-looking singer, with no bad +voice, from Bordeaux. In the character she acted much +happened to be said of her innocence and inexperience. +From the constant joking this gave rise to in the +audience, and from some very prominent feature in her +person, I conclude that she had lately been under the +necessity of retiring from Bordeaux, from some little<span class="pagenum" id="Page_548">[Pg 548]</span> +<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">faux pas</i>. And this, I was told afterwards, was the +case.</p> + +<p>Agen is an old and rather shabby town of about ten or +eleven thousand inhabitants; but the walks and country +around it are picturesque. The next morning I staid +until after the ceremony had commenced in the church, +and peeped in, to see what was going on, and whether +the military attended. Many of the latter did so, with +crape round their arms. I was immediately admitted +without a ticket; and the old priests, several of whom +had been <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">émigrés</i>, and spoke a little English, were very +civil to me. About twenty milliners had made really a +very elegant linen and crape mausoleum for the occasion, +nearly twenty feet high. Four fluted pillars, one at each +corner, were made of fine white linen, the festoons round +the base were of black and white crape, urns on the pillars, +and other ornaments of the same. About a hundred +and fifty wax candles were arranged up the steps on every +side of the tomb, and above it were lilies springing fresh +from the centre, and the crown, in elegant crape, suspended +above the whole.</p> + +<p>About ten o’clock I started again to find out the +Baron de Trenqueléon at Port St. Marie, which was +about twelve miles from Agen. On inquiry at the inn, +I found a friend of his son’s who had left him only a few +hours before. I, therefore, determined to cross the river +again, in order to pay him a visit, and to stay there the +night. Trenqueléon Chateau is about five miles from +Port St. Marie, on the road thence to Nerac, on the side +of the hills which enclose the valley in which the +Garonne descends. It is old-fashioned, in the style of +the Tuileries, and apparently large. In reality, it does +not contain much room, but is a comfortable place.</p> + +<p>Except two higher wings, it is, in fact, only a ground-floor +house. The rooms are lofty, spacious, and decently<span class="pagenum" id="Page_549">[Pg 549]</span> +furnished for a French house in the country. There is +a great square garden in front, like a wilderness full of +weeds, with a square plantation and straight walks. The +roads run about two hundred yards from it on one side, +and a small river navigable for boats on the other, which +runs into the Garonne about four miles below. This +would be convenient to export the produce, if there were +a market, which of late had been the case.</p> + +<p>I found the old Baron feeble, without the use of his +limbs, in a great chair penned in like a child. He was +surrounded by a large party—his wife, his son, and his +son’s wife, daughter to the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">maire</i> of Agen; an old lady, +whom I took for the Baron’s sister; and five young +ladies, who called him “Papa.” One of these was in +weeds, and one about twenty-five or thirty; the rest +young. One was a fresh, ruddy, English-looking girl. +All were most attentive and civil. The old Baron made +me repeatedly kiss him, and cried several times as he +conversed with me. He remembered all our friends in +England during his emigration. He was very anxious +to know all I could tell him of my brothers. He asked +much after your sister and brother, and the T—— +family. His table was bad, but there was quantity, and +a hearty welcome. I was put into his uncle’s room, our +old friend the Bishop of Montpelier. His family seemed +attentive to him, and, except at meal times, seemed to +live around him, some at work, some reading the papers +to him, and some sitting ready to talk, and with no other +occupation. The poor girls must lead a very dull life in +the Chateau de Trenqueléon, for from the state of the +Baron’s health they do not go out to balls or amusements +even at Agen.</p> + +<p>On the following morning I left Trenqueléon about +twelve o’clock, and crossed the river again at a ferry near +Aiguillon, which is a pretty town, small, but well situated. +I got on to Tomeins that night. The country<span class="pagenum" id="Page_550">[Pg 550]</span> +continues to be the same rich valley the whole way, and +is very populous. Tomeins is a small ill-built town of +perhaps about five thousand inhabitants. There is +nothing of interest in it, except a fine sort of Richmond-terrace +view from the public walk overhanging the river. +The women struck us as very pretty, and they were +peculiarly eager about “<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">les Anglois</i>” one or two calling +out in English, as we passed near the windows where +they were, “How you do? how you do?” &c., and then +running away to hide themselves. And this came from +well-dressed girls in good houses.</p> + +<p>On the 8th I proceeded through Marmande de la +Reolle, to breakfast; and then crossing the river again +near Langon, I intended to stop at the pretty village of +Barsac, about five miles on this side Langon, where the +good wine of that name comes from. Finding all this +part full of our sixth division, just arrived, I was obliged +to push on to Ceron, a mere post stage and a poor inn.</p> + +<p>On the 9th I proceeded to this place (Bordeaux), and +arrived by one o’clock, when my order to proceed to Tarragona +(for the trial of Sir J. Murray) was put into my +hands. I found every one in the same hurry and confusion +as when the Duke paid us his last visit at Toulouse.</p> + +<p>The country continued nearly the same until we got +some way beyond Barsac; we then began to skirt the +Landes, and had only sand and firs, a sort of Bagshot +Heath, but still broken by frequent villages and chateaux, +which are very numerous around Bordeaux.</p> + +<p>During my journey I always stopped at some small +inn for a feed of corn in the course of the way, and also +during rain, which was frequent and heavy. I gave the +chance passengers their wine to make them talk. A +drunken Frenchman seemed much like an English one, +and was sometimes very entertaining; but the feeling of +the soldiers was the most curious. At one place I found +two discharged soldiers going home on leave; they said<span class="pagenum" id="Page_551">[Pg 551]</span> +that they had been betrayed by their Generals, &c., and +that the game was up, so they had applied for their discharges, +for they would not fight for the King. They +had served seven or eight years, and now intended to be +quiet, though their wounds would not have prevented +their fighting for the Emperor. One had lost a finger +only, the other had received a knock in the leg, which +rather made him halt a little; they had both above sixteen +months’ pay due to them, but said that they concluded, +of course, the King would never pay the Emperor’s +debts, and they were satisfied to be discharged +without pensions. They said that nine-tenths of the +soldiers of the army would have remained firm to the +Emperor if their Generals had been faithful, and had +agreed in opinion with them; “<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">mais n’importe—c’est +fini</i>.”</p> + +<p>The Trenqueléon party told me, they were for some +time in great uneasiness, for we had no troops near them +on the left bank of the river, and on the right bank only +came down to the river Lot. Thus Agen was the centre +of the formation of partisan corps who were to cross the +river near them, and scour the country to annoy us.</p> + +<p>In three or four instances they succeeded in this; and +the Commissioner was issuing most violent orders to +compel all persons to form their corps immediately (these +if caught by us would be hung), and to teach the women +also, to entice our soldiers into their houses by wine, &c., +to make them prisoners and kill them, and even to instruct +their children to cut the back sinews of the horses +in the stables at night, saying they must do as the +Spaniards did by them in Spain.</p> + +<p>The Baron’s family said they had different feelings, +but would have been compelled to do much of this had +matters gone on. They also talked with much horror of +the state of terror in which they had been kept by Bonaparte’s +agents. One deputy Préfet some time since<span class="pagenum" id="Page_552">[Pg 552]</span> +alarmed them by quietly telling some of their neighbours +(who told them again) that they were in a terrible scrape, +and had been detected corresponding with the English. +They went instantly to the Préfet to know what this +meant, and found it was one of my father’s letters about +the Bishop of Montpelier’s affairs, which had been stopped +by the police. My father was the Bishop’s executor in +England. The Préfet afterwards told him to be easy—“<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">ce +n’étoit rien</i>.” The Baron seems to have been a +popular character in the neighbourhood.</p> + +<p><em>12th, later.</em>—A mail goes to-day, and I have a pile of +papers a foot high to arrange by to-morrow. The Duke +goes away and leaves the army the day after, Wednesday +the 14th, consequently all is a bustle of business, balls, +dinners, operas, plays, all proceeding at once. My next +will give you an account of this handsome town. I am +in quarters at Monsieur Emerigon’s, a barrister now at +Paris, but daily expected to return. The Duke has +written strongly home to put off this intended Court-martial +at Tarragona; all here detest it, and grumble. +The worst is, that we are to remain here in suspense +until an answer arrives.</p> + +<p>I am writing without my coat, and so are all the +Duke’s Secretaries, &c., on account of the heat. The +thermometer shut up in my writing-desk is at 76°. The +sun most ardent when out.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_553">[Pg 553]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXX">CHAPTER XXX.</h2> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="fs80" style="margin-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em;">The Opera-house—The Cathedral—The Synagogue—A Jewish Wedding—Strange +Show-house—Wellington and King Ferdinand.</p> + +<p class="right fs80"> +Head-quarters, Bordeaux,<br> +<span style="padding-right: 2em">June 16, 1814.</span></p> +</div> + +<p class="no-indent"><span class="smcap">My dear M——</span>, +</p> + +<p><span style="padding-left: 2em">As</span> I have no news to communicate, you must be +satisfied with the best account of Bordeaux which the +excessive heat permits me to give you. The Duke is +gone for good, and we are left here in a state of dull, and +almost feverish uncertainty. Time slips away fast, however, +and my fate will soon be decided.</p> + +<p>Before breakfast I take an hour’s ride to look about +the town and suburbs, and make my observations. The +restaurateurs are so hot that I prefer my own society +and a mutton-chop with abundance of vegetables and +fruit, and my bottle of claret or Sauterne, to the incessant +dinners going on in public. My wine I get from +the housekeeper of my landlord, Monsieur Emerigon, the +counsellor, as she in his absence sells his produce for him—his +wine, namely Sauterne Emerigon, which is really +very good, his pigeons, his ortolans, his poultry, his +cherries, his vegetables, &c. As he has not yet returned +from Paris, I have also taken possession of his <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">salle à +manger</i>, and drawing-room, in addition to my bedroom. +I only now want to get into his library. He is a +royalist, and one of the commissioners sent from Bordeaux +to Paris.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_554">[Pg 554]</span></p> + +<p>Bordeaux is a very handsome town, and very superior +to Toulouse—as a city indeed there is no comparison; +still in my opinion there was more <em>ton</em> and fashion at +Toulouse. The prosperity of the place was arrested by +the Revolution, when it was in a state of splendid commercial +prosperity, rapidly increasing in magnificence. +Toulouse, on the contrary, I take it, was even then on +the decline. Another advantage Bordeaux has, in addition +to its having been laid out, like Bath, with modern +improvement as to the width of the streets, namely, the +convenience of stone quarries close at hand, instead of +bricks to form the buildings, and this with water carriage. +It has besides a stone somewhat similar to Portland +stone, a complete Bath stone cut by the saw and +adze like that at Bath; and of course these advantages +have not been neglected by Frenchmen.</p> + +<p>The Garonne is a noble river, not very much wider +than the Thames at London Bridge, but it appears +deeper, and of more importance; the tide occasionally +reaches up as high as the neighbourhood of Langon. The +quays probably extend nearly two miles, and in general +are well-built and handsome, and the river just now full +of shipping. The quays are inferior to those at Lyons, +and the few half-rotten ships on the stocks in the spacious +yard, show strongly the urgent necessity of what the +people did on the late occasion.</p> + +<p>The Grand Theatre is a very handsome building, with +a colonnade of twelve pillars in front. The whole height +of the building, with its connexions of taverns, Exeter +Change, &c., runs back to the river. In its front is a +square, with two handsome streets branching off right +and left. One has the double row of trees, in the foreign +fashion, in the centre, with paved carriage-roads outside, +and is spacious, ornamental, and useful. At the end of +this is the other Theatre, de la Gaieté, and that leads into +a sort of wide avenue street planted all the way, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_555">[Pg 555]</span> +nearly a mile long. On one side again of this is the +<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">ci-devant</i> Champ de Mars, or Jardin Publique, a spacious +public planted walk. The town contains several other +planted wide streets, and a handsome Palais-Royal, +<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">ci-devant</i> Du Préfet. There is not any one very handsome +square, and upon the whole Brussels is to be preferred; +and it is a town probably nearly of the same +size.</p> + +<p>The Opera House is handsome in the inside, but dirty, +and not well contrived so as to hold the greatest numbers. +It consists of twelve large Corinthian pillars, which +occupy much of the room; and all the upper boxes +are like baskets projecting between them, and only two +deep. The shape of the house is a flat horseshoe, and +well proportioned. The singing tolerably good; and the +dancing by no means despicable. Except perhaps one or +two of our best, it is better than at our London theatres. +The dresses are rich and expensive. The reception of +our Duke was very gracious; and it was not a little +curious to hear “God save the King” sung constantly +with “<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Vive Henri IV.!</i>” <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">A l’Anglois, à l’Anglois!</i> was +also a popular cry, and produced a hornpipe tune, always +attended with great acclamation, but what the connexion +was I cannot say. Some impudent sailors always called +out for “Rule Britannia,” but French <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">politesse</i> could not +go so far. Two Americans would not pull off their hats +one night to “God save the King,” and were shouldered +out of the house in consequence.</p> + +<p>The upper boxes are entirely filled with very smartly +dressed ladies of a certain class, whose wardrobes have +improved during the last two months, I have no doubt, +as much as that of the similar class of ladies at Toulouse,—and +the last was very visible. The Theatre de la +Gaieté is a sort of Sadler’s Wells, neither more elegant, +nor more chaste. The rope dancing is decidedly good. +There is also a Musée here, as well as at Toulouse, but<span class="pagenum" id="Page_556">[Pg 556]</span> +much inferior. There are not half a dozen original pictures +of any tolerable master. The antique inscriptions +are very uninteresting, to me at least, and there were no +antiques affording pleasure to an artist or amateur. The +collection of birds, serpents, butterflies, minerals, &c., are +tolerable, but only of the second order. The library also +appeared smaller and inferior to that at Toulouse, but +there were many more readers, which surprised me.</p> + +<p>There is also a deaf and dumb establishment here similar +to that at Paris, and a very civil and apparently very +intelligent master. I stayed there two hours, to have a +regular lesson of the principles of the education illustrated +by the female pupils, who were the most forward. There +were about seventy scholars, mainly supported by the +Government. The pupils were not quite so skilful as +those at Paris, but it is always an interesting exhibition. +To find out what we were, the teacher ingeniously made +a pupil ask us what nation we were of, and of what profession, +and as all the deaf and dumb pupils rejoiced in +the answer, and seemed much pleased, I determined to +keep up our good character, and gave the damsels a +Napoleon, for which I got much dumb-show thanks in +return.</p> + +<p>The cathedral, or principal church, of St. André, is a +good Gothic building of about the second class, built by +“<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">vos Messieurs les Anglais</i>,” as we are instantly told. It +is in one respect unfinished; for both the north and +south fronts are intended to have each two light Gothic +spires on the towers, whereas only one pair is built—the +other has been but just commenced. The pair that exist +were some little time since out of repair, and a part had +fallen down. Bonaparte saw this, and graciously said +they must be put in order directly. The Bourdelois were +grateful, thinking he intended to have it done, but he +only ordered it, and a tax on the commune at the same +time, to pay for it. In the same way, as he came from<span class="pagenum" id="Page_557">[Pg 557]</span> +Lyons to Bordeaux, he found the road bad, and much +out of repair: this he also ordered to be repaired immediately; +but an <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">impôt</i> all along the communes on the +road, beyond the expense of the repairs, followed likewise +as immediately. The Préfet’s palace he also ordered to +be put in complete order, and it was just finished in time +to receive the Duke d’Angoulême, which was not quite +according to the wishes and intentions of the said Bonaparte.</p> + +<p>The Exchange at Bordeaux is a well-contrived handsome +building, and the square in the centre, roofed in +with sky-lights, to form a convenient place for the different +walks. The cloisters round are full of shops, jewellery, +maps, &c.</p> + +<p><em>June 28th.</em>—I have just returned from the synagogue, +where I have been these two hours. There are nearly +two thousand Jews at Bordeaux. “It is no wonder the +Christians are well fleeced,” as my French companion +observed, “when there are two thousand persons in the +town who impose it upon themselves as a duty, and cheat +for religion’s sake.” The chapel is a new building, the +style of architecture not good, being a sort of imitation +of Saxon, or rather of no particular order, but the shape +of the temple is excellent, the proportions good, and the +whole imposing. A colonnade formed by pillars runs all +round, with a gallery above for the women, who are +separated from the men. The altar at the end, with the +ark of the covenant and the books of Moses, &c. The +branch in the centre; round this the reading-desks, with +the rows of lights for the priests, &c. The upper +gallery is arched over like Covent Garden, with a circular +roof.</p> + +<p>The Jews were very civil. The singing was tolerably +good; the singing boys, about twenty in number, in +white surplices and sky-blue silk sashes and scarfs, and +bonnets, had a good effect, mixed with the old priests in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_558">[Pg 558]</span> +their hoods. The ceremony of producing the books of +Moses and returning them to the ark was the most +imposing in point of solemnity, and was attended by +music; but what to me was the most striking, was when +at a certain period in the service called the Benediction, +every parent found immediately his son or grandson, or +the children their parents. In short, after a few moments’ +bustle, you saw every one, whatever his age, +imposing his hooded head and hands on his own offspring, +and every generation thus at the same instant +receiving the benediction from his own parent respectively. +This was really an imposing scene.</p> + +<p>The most truly Jewish part followed, for by solemn +proclamation every sacred office, namely, the opening of +the ark, the drawing the curtains, carrying the books, +putting on the ornaments, reading out of them when +produced, the right of assisting in every part of the ceremonies, +was regularly put up to auction, and sold to the +highest bidder. The biddings were from one franc to +three and five, and even at times up to forty and fifty. +As I was informed, these profits were given to the poor. +There was a little spoilt Jew child, about six years old, +for whom its papa had, I conclude, bought the privilege +of placing the silver ornaments on the tops of the +wooden rollers of the vellum Pentateuch, and the little +creature seemed much pleased and excessively proud +of his office. On Wednesday next there is to be a +wedding, and if not engaged, it is my intention to be +present.</p> + +<p>The coffee-houses here, before we came, were very good, +and are not very dear. They are now so hot and +crowded, and in such confusion that I prefer my dinner +solo. Being in a great measure fixed by <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">la carte</i> as to +prices, I believe we are less imposed upon at the restaurateurs +than anywhere else.</p> + +<p>I rode out one day about four miles on the old<span class="pagenum" id="Page_559">[Pg 559]</span> +Bayonne road, to see a house and garden much talked of +here, belonging to a Mons. R——, the Portuguese Consul, +a queer old man, who goes about in a scarlet uniform +like that of our former English Generals, and with a +white-feathered General’s hat. The grounds and gardens +are large, and in the first style of a Paddington tea-garden, +with a mixture of Hawkstone nonsense and +Walsh Porter’s sham villages, &c. The house is nothing +remarkable, consisting of a number of rooms by no means +good; not a single good picture, only some bad indecent +ones and very free prints. The most ludicrous part was +a regular inscription of “Library” over a door which led +to a little closet with one small set of book-shelves, containing +a dozen or two of great almanacs, and a few odd +volumes of all sorts of books, the whole in number about +a hundred.</p> + +<p>On the landing-place on the stairs is a negro, carved in +wood, holding a bottle and glass. The flower-garden—which +is in the old style, is tolerable. There are no good +statues, but plenty of cut trees in all shapes, temples, +&c., the whole being an endeavour to make poor Nature +as little likely to know herself as possible. There were +trees with the stems in frames and the tops pointed. In +the cut promenades in the woods were tombs and +wooden painted figures, of all sorts and descriptions. +There were dogs in their houses, the prodigal son feeding +swine, a mad lady half naked in a cage, &c. In another +part of the garden was a labyrinth, and a windmill with +a wooden man looking out of one window and a woman +out of the other, and below these a wooden cow and +some sheep, goats, deer of the same material, grazing.</p> + +<p>Strangers are admitted to survey this place on any day. +The doors were opened to about a dozen of us, and we +were turned loose, without any showman, into the house +and grounds, and ranged about where we pleased. On +Sunday every one is admitted, and it is said there is much<span class="pagenum" id="Page_560">[Pg 560]</span> +company. The walks are cool, and it is not surprising +that they are frequented. The whole is one mode out of +many of obtaining notoriety. An ingenious way for preserving +the flowers is by an inscription insinuating that +every flower is a transformed female. This would not, I +fear, succeed in England. The poor ladies would have +many a pinch and squeeze, and lose many a limb, if +Kensington Gardens were full of such flowers, and had +no other protector.</p> + +<p><em>Sunday, 19th.</em>—The embarkation of the troops is now +going on with more spirit. The fourth division are, I +believe, all on board, if not sailed, and everything is by +degrees moving down towards the camp at Blanquefort, +and the place of embarkation, Pouillac, about thirty-five +miles below this. From the state of uncertainty in +which I remain I shall be one of the last, if I go at all, +that is, whether our Tarragona Court-martial is put an +end to. All accounts which have reached me agree with +P——’s. I have thought all along that, with the help +and assistance of Bonaparte himself, who was our best +ally, almost the whole of what has happened has arisen, +as it were, from the peculiar state of the nations of Europe, +and from a natural course of events directed by +Providence, and with which the Allies had nothing +to do, except not to prevent it by their blunders or +quarrels.</p> + +<p>We have various letters from Toulouse, to officers of +the army, full of regret for the loss of their English +friends, and by no means satisfied with the exchange for +their own countrymen. The army is vexed at this, and +matters are worse, as they do nothing but grumble and +quarrel in consequence. The reception of the French +troops when they entered, it is said, was very flat and +provoking. D’Armagnac, who was supposed to have +saved the town by advising Soult to be off, was sent in +first, with two thousand five hundred men, and he and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_561">[Pg 561]</span> +his officers bowed and were very anxious to court a cordial +greeting; but the dull silence was scarcely broken, +and the French officers could not contain their vexation +and abuse in consequence. There was, I believe, more +sincerity in the professions of the Toulousians towards +us, as far as the majority was concerned, than is usual +with Frenchmen, or than we could reasonably have expected +from them.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, the accounts from the cavalry, of +their treatment in their march through France, is very +different from ours at Toulouse:—in this they all agree. +The officers, trusting to French hospitality, have left their +own beds behind, and having had to bivouac almost as +much as in Spain, they have had a bad time of it. Several +letters have come from Mr. H——, who went with +the column through Angoulême and Poictiers. He has +written from both these places. He says, “The inhabitants +profess openly that, as we chose to march through +France, they will try and make us repent of it. They +scarcely give any quarters, send the men leagues about +out of the road, and only let the Commissary buy his +provisions on the road. At Angoulême, a town which +might quarter ten thousand men without inconvenience +for a short time, they would only suffer a few officers and +the General in the town, and most of those were quartered +at inns. The General and one servant got a billet at a +private house, but he was to pay if he took more in with +him. The incivility is general; the doors were all shut +against us. The playhouse at Angoulême was empty +the night it was known that our officers would be there. +Nothing to be had without paying.” This is the same +spirit of vexation as that in the army—a conviction that +they have been beaten, and that this march is a sort of +proof and token of it.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, Bordeaux, June 26th, 1814.</em>—My life +has been every day the same—a ride early, at work<span class="pagenum" id="Page_562">[Pg 562]</span> +at home all the middle of the day, a dinner generally +solo, and another walk or ride in the evening, or, as +the weather has become cooler again, sometimes the +play.</p> + +<p>I have spoken to Colonel M—— about your friends +who think of a removal to the south of France, he +having many connexions at Toulouse. He is decidedly +of opinion that that should be the place of abode, for a +family of ladies especially; I am rather disposed to be +of the same opinion. Pau, however, which I have not +seen, is much recommended. Supposing they fix on +Toulouse, Colonel M—— says, of course, that the house +which they will require for comfort must be large, giving +them four rooms with <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">lits de maître</i>, and four beds for +<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">filles de chambres</i>, and about four other servants, and +three good sitting rooms, &c. He thinks such a house +may be had for about eighteen hundred francs a-year, +that is, about 75<em>l.</em> a-year. I can assure them, that in +point of economy, all must depend upon their arrangements +being made by some French friends, and not by +an English one. In house-rent, in wine, in everything, +an inhabitant will get articles at one-third of the price demanded +of the English. The French have no ideas of +honesty or moderation towards the English, and not +much towards any one in matters of trade. The extortion, +and even the downright frauds committed, especially +on travellers, are quite disgraceful, and every tradesman +assists his neighbour in getting a job, and fleecing +the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">milords</i>. I believe they are like the Jews, and have, +from continual practice, arrived at the same conclusion as +the others from religion, namely, that they are performing +a duty when they cheat an Englishman.</p> + +<p>There are two Protestant chapels here, and one excellent +preacher, in the style of a London chapel preacher, +only extempore; I heard one very eloquent French +sermon delivered by him, with great propriety. The<span class="pagenum" id="Page_563">[Pg 563]</span> +service, the singing, and other parts of the duty, are but +moderately performed.</p> + +<p>The courts of justice are much the same as at Toulouse, +and about nine or ten judges generally attend. I was +unfortunately obliged to leave Toulouse before their +criminal sessions with a jury commenced, and on my +arrival here they were over. This takes place only once +in three months, unless something extraordinary or a +great press of business occurs. I attended a case of misdemeanor, +a bad assault, in the criminal court, but that +was an appeal only, and being of the class of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">petits delits</i>, +there never is a jury—but a president and five judges. +The same number presides when there is a jury, in more +penal trials; and in certain cases when the jury are +divided, as for instance seven against five, then the judges +are called in to vote as jurymen, and the proportion of +votes required by law calculated on the whole numbers. +There was much unnecessary delay and argument in the +case I heard. It was like one of our worst-managed cases +of motions for a new trial on account of deficiency of +evidence, which are always of the most tiresome class.</p> + +<p><em>Post-day, June 27th.</em>—I have been to the Jew’s wedding. +The ceremony consists principally of singing and +drinking, and blessings in Hebrew. There must be something +Jewish, however, as usual, and that is concerning +the ring, which, as soon as it is produced, is shown round +to all the rabbies near, and some elders, &c., and to the +sponsors, to be sure it is really gold, or otherwise the +marriage is void, and the true old clothesman-like way in +which they all spied at the ring was very amusing. +Nearly the last ceremony is the bridegroom’s smashing a +wine-glass in a plate on the floor, with an idea that he +and his spouse are then as difficult to separate as it would +be to reunite the glass. The gentleman showed gallantry +by exerting all his force, and looking most fiercely as he +broke the glass.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_564">[Pg 564]</span></p> + +<p>I understand that the Duke of Wellington came back +from Madrid with a much better impression of King +Ferdinand than when he went, thinking that he showed +talent, firmness, and character. The manner in which +he received the Duke may have somewhat disposed him +to this favourable judgment. I understand the King +immediately treated the Duke as a grandee of Spain, by +shaking hands with him, and putting his hat on, and that +the king declared almost the only two acts of the Cortes, +which he approved of <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">in toto</i>, were those which made the +Duke commander of all the Spanish armies, and gave him +the estate in the South.</p> + +<p>We have had news from our cavalry from the vicinity +of Paris, from Chartres; all the officers have deserted +their regiments to see Paris—that present wonder of +wonders! They have occasionally lately been better +treated, that is, whenever they met with a Royalist patron +at their quarters. H—— says there seems to be two +parties everywhere, and it is a sort of lottery which they +fall into the hands of; that, when he wrote last from +Chartres he had been “stuffed to death,” made to eat three +or four meals a-day, and to attend a party given on purpose +for him every evening: this, I conclude, was all a +<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">douce</i> violence.</p> + +<p>Still no news as to our Tarragona plan. My patron, +Monsieur Emerigon, says, that at Paris the Emperor of +Russia individually was the most popular, except perhaps +the English and our Duke; that the Russian troops were +not in such favour; the King of Prussia so-so. Blucher +and his troops better, but the Emperor of Austria the +worst of all; and every one must have observed the +marked difference of his reception from that of the other +sovereigns.</p> + +<p>I am to-day turned out of my room, which is the +dining-room, as my patron gives a dinner, to which he +has asked me. I must not therefore complain.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_565">[Pg 565]</span></p> + +<p>We have been paid up a good deal of money at this +place, where the quantity of gold and silver we have +circulated is quite incredible. Every one talks of it, and +the piles and piles of empty money-boxes of all sorts, and +from all quarters, fully prove it. At present we have +immense quantities of French money, Napoleons and +Louis, gold and silver, from Paris, whilst, on the other +hand, I am told that the French are here buying up our +guineas and Portuguese gold, to turn them into Louis, +as they have begun a new coinage both here and at +Paris.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_566">[Pg 566]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXXI">CHAPTER XXXI.</h2> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="fs80" style="margin-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em;">Country Fêtes—Brawls with the French—The Duke d’Angoulême—Mademoiselle +Georges—The Actress and the Emperor—French Acting +and French Audiences—Presentation of a Sword to Lord Dalhousie—Georges’ +Benefit—Departure.</p> + +<p class="right fs80"> +Head-quarters, Bordeaux, July 4, 1814,<br> +<span style="padding-right: 4em">Post-day.</span></p> +</div> + +<p class="no-indent"><span class="smcap">My dear M——</span>, +</p> + +<p><span style="padding-left: 2em">We</span> have still had no instruction how to proceed, +and are waiting the determination in England. In +the mean time I am being gradually stewed, for the heat +has again commenced, and is in full operation. My life +is quite retired and monotonous, and affords no incidents. +The only variety that has arisen is, that yesterday I +dined at three o’clock with my patron’s sister, a West +Indian elderly single lady, and a female party. I was +the only beau, the brother was engaged; and in the +evening I rode over about three miles to Briges, a village, +where they were keeping an annual fête.</p> + +<p>The crowd of country-people dancing and singing was +very considerable, and the road was covered with the +lower class, going and returning. The difference between +this and our country fêtes seems to be, that there was +nothing to buy or sell, and but little eating and drinking +going on, the principal occupation being dancing and +talking, laughing, and parading about. It seems impossible +to make such a people as the French very unhappy +in any way, however bad their government, except by +the conscription.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_567">[Pg 567]</span></p> + +<p>Those who are satisfied with salads, sour wine, dancing, +and other amusements entirety depending upon themselves +and the meeting of the two sexes, can only be disappointed +and deprived of their happiness by the removal +of one sex altogether. Leave them alone, and they have +nearly all they wish. John Bull, on the contrary, wants +many things more to put him into the same state of joy +and satisfaction.</p> + +<p>Several of Marshal Soult’s officers have got into Bordeaux +of late; disputes and quarrels have been the consequence, +but hitherto they have been of no great +moment. Every opportunity of seeking a row was +eagerly laid hold of by the French—a jostle on the +stairs at the theatre was sufficient. Lord Dalhousie, +who is in command here now, has been obliged to forbid +any officer going to the Theatre de la Gaieté where this +was most likely to arise, and to order off every officer +not on duty here to camp. We have here now only the +Guards and staff officers. The inhabitants are all with +us, particularly a set of very fine-looking young men, but +a little hot-headed, who compose the Duke d’Angoulême’s +guard of honour. They have been also insulted, and a +few days since paraded with bludgeons to see if this +would be repeated either against themselves or the +English, and they determined to resist either on the +spot. No great harm has yet happened. As far as I can +learn, there have been about three fights, but none fatal.</p> + +<p>A young Tyrolean, in the pay-office department, +having been insulted, watched and followed the offender +home. He then went for his sword, which we never +wear (but the French always do), returned, and insisted +upon instant satisfaction. Upon this the Frenchman’s +zeal began to cool, but it was too late; the Tyrolean +insisted upon his going out into a backyard and fighting +directly. He cut him across the face, and was just +about running his sword into his body, when a friend<span class="pagenum" id="Page_568">[Pg 568]</span> +interfered, and stopped him, saying that “he had done +enough.”</p> + +<p>Another Frenchman has been horsewhipped by an +English officer, who, when insulted, returned with his +sword and whip, and offered the Frenchman his choice, +and as the latter persisted in asking for time, he chose +for him and gave him the whip. All this makes Lord +Dalhousie anxious to get the troops off, and as I hear +Lord Keith has promised plenty of transports, in answer +to his pressing letters on the subject, we expect to be all +away in ten days’ time, and some immediately. There +are nearly eighteen thousand men still in France, including +the fifth division at Bayonne, where, by-the-by, the +disposition on the part of the French to be uncivil, sulky, +and quarrelsome has been much greater. On the contrary, +the generals and superior officers are very civil, +particularly Marshal Suchet, to the few English officers +remaining at Toulouse, and General Villette, who is here, +is also very civil.</p> + +<p><em>Later.</em>—A ship is just arrived in sixty-four hours +from Plymouth, telling us that fifteen sail of the line, +and as many frigates are close at hand, but no news of +our destination.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, Bordeaux, July 10th, 1814.</em>—I have +now received two letters and packets of papers from you +by the last mail, including those up to the 28th June. +The same mail brought orders for all the members of the +Court-martial appointed for Tarragona to proceed direct +for England, and there report themselves to the Adjutant-general. +Upon this I asked Lord Dalhousie (our present +chief) what I was to do? and was by him desired to +remain here to the last and move with the head-quarters, +who remain here till the troops move. This must, I +think, take place in about a week or ten days, unless you +cease to send shipping from England. We shall in three +days’ time have only a brigade of Guards remaining for<span class="pagenum" id="Page_569">[Pg 569]</span> +the city duty. The rest who will not be already embarked +will be at Pouillac in readiness.</p> + +<p>We have now got our small share of Royalty also at +Bordeaux, as the Duke d’Angoulême has arrived again, +and means to stay a few days before he goes to join +Madame la Duchesse at the Baths at Vichy. He looks +worn, and less calculated than ever for public show, but +still apparently as amiable as before. The Duc de G——, +though still, I believe, in our 10th Hussars, came in with +him, as his aide-de-camp. The Duc de G—— is come +back much disgusted with Paris, and even almost with +France and Frenchmen. He says that Paris is a dirty +place, without society and manners, and that he has met +with no one to whose word or whose honour he would +fairly trust: that all seemed to be a system of deception +and falsehood, and that unless things mend, and alter +considerably, he should feel almost disposed, in case of +any unfortunate quarrel with England, to renounce +France, rejoin his regiment, and become an Englishman. +This, I conclude, is the depression of first feelings, +which, in the case of emigrants, must be very +strong just now. Matters have not quite proceeded to +their tastes, and they must every hour meet with that +which must inevitably disgust them.</p> + +<p>We have now also at Bordeaux the celebrated Mademoiselle +Georges, the actress from Paris, and Mons. +Joami, also from the metropolis. In spite of the heat, +I have been three times to hear them in Voltaire’s plays, +<em>Merope</em>, <em>Phedre</em>, and <em>l’Orphelin de la Chine</em>. The man +has neither much figure nor countenance, and I should +place him only as a second-rate performer, though still +very superior to the ordinary set here in that line. In +fact there are no tragic performers here at all; and the +inferiority, beneath mediocrity, with which every other +part is sustained, takes off the interest with which these +tragedies would be otherwise attended.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_570">[Pg 570]</span></p> + +<p>Mdlle. Georges herself is also in many parts deficient, +both in good taste and in true nature. She is of a +large figure, but now fallen to pieces; and I am rather +surprised that the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">ci-devant</i> Emperor should have fancied +her anywhere except during his Moscow campaign. The +story, however, goes here, that at one of their interviews, +Bonaparte was taken ill, and in her confusion and ignorance +Mdlle. Georges rang the Empress’s bell instead +of that for the attendants, and that on the arrival of +Maria Louise there was of course a scene.</p> + +<p>Mdlle. Georges’ voice is good, and her countenance +would by many be considered fine. In some parts of +her acting I think she is strikingly great, but generally +forced and extravagant. She runs into extremes from +crying to laughing, and from low ghost-like intonations +to loud vulgar screams. Upon the whole, one comes +away fatigued from one of these representations, and not +much pleased or affected. And what convinces me that +it really is inferiority in the drama or in the actress, and +not merely the difference of style and manner, or national +feeling as to composition and taste, which causes this, is, +that the French part of the audience never seem affected +like an English audience under the influence of really +fine acting. You never hear the generally suppressed +sobs, or see the eyes full of tears all round the house as +with us at an English tragedy, when, for example, Mrs. +Siddons plays, and every one goes away with a serious +impression. In the French auditors you only hear +bursts of “<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Très beau, très beau! superbe! magnifique!</i>” &c., +always applied to some extravagant and sudden change of +tone or manner; and now, at this present moment, if +there happens to be a royal sentiment which can be +applied, it is encored like a song. No one seems carried +away by feelings which he cannot command; but the +applause is given as it would be to a mountebank for a +clever trick. The distressed heroine or empress spits in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_571">[Pg 571]</span> +her pocket-handkerchief, or on the stage in the true +French style, and certainly not in a manner to excite +admiration or interest, or to impress the spectators very +strongly with ideas of her dignity and elegance.</p> + +<p>The first night the Duke d’Angoulême was at the play +(on his arrival here this time), we had verses and songs +in his honour, and “<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Vive Henry IV.!</i>” without end. +At last came for once, “God save the King,” which was +received very differently from what it was even when I +first came here; coolly and civilly enough, except by a +few; and I believe we have a few sincere friends here.</p> + +<p>As Paris gave a sword to General Sacken, Bordeaux is +to give one to Lord Dalhousie; and I really think the +town has (as they certainly ought to have) some feelings +of gratitude towards him for his attention to everything +which can be of service to the city, and in successful +efforts to preserve order, and prevent any mischief being +done to the inhabitants. This sword will be a curious +heir-loom in the Dalhousie family, given to their ancestor +by the French civil authorities of Bordeaux.</p> + +<p>As a trait of the natural French feelings of vanity, I +may tell you, that my loyal patron Mons. Emerigon said, +not only should we have been all originally prevented +from entering France, had the people been of one mind +with the Emperor and the army, but that all along a +single word of complaint from Louis XVIII. of the conduct +of the allied troops would have been a signal for +their entire destruction at any period since.</p> + +<p>I am now told that the fifth division, from Bayonne +are also on their march hither to embark. This will +probably cause some little more delay; but I think in +ten days we must be on board ship.</p> + +<p><em>Head-Quarters, Bordeaux, July 15th, 1814.</em>—Our final +departure from hence appears, at last, to be gradually +approaching. The numbers of the English diminish +daily; and though we have for this month past been<span class="pagenum" id="Page_572">[Pg 572]</span> +talking of the “next week,” I begin to think that another +week will really and truly see us off, and the +French army again in possession of Bordeaux.</p> + +<p>The tradesmen of the town will miss us greatly. They +have made a famous time of it these last three months, +for the army has in that time received six months’ pay, +and most of it has found its way into the pockets of the +keepers of the restaurateurs, the hotels, &c. Bordeaux +has had its full share of the spoils of the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">milords</i>. Nor +have the inhabitants suffered anything by the army, +except the little inconvenience of giving up a room or +two in general as quarters for the officers, who partly +made up even for this by giving their hosts tickets for +the play, taking boxes for the ladies, &c., and making +them presents every now and then. The only persons +who have suffered by us at all in the neighbourhood, are +those who have small gardens near the camp. They +certainly have had their vegetables and fruit gathered +gratis, and have generally not even had their share. +This evil is, however, exaggerated, and much of it which +really exists, has been done by the French peasantry and +country servants, who, if a soldier takes six cabbages, +immediately take a dozen more themselves, sell them in +the camp, and swear to the owners that the soldiers are +the culprits.</p> + +<p>Those who have vineyards as well as gardens, have +also their full revenge in the price of their wines, which +were immediately doubled, by the arrival of the troops, +and the latter in fact pay dearly for their vegetables, +though they get a good part for nothing. It is fortunate +for the inhabitants that we shall be off before the grapes +begin to ripen, and for our own soldiers likewise. Surrounded +by vineyards, the temptations would be irresistible, +and the means of offence almost boundless; so that +the loss to the cultivators of them principal harvest, and +the injury to the soldiers, would be very considerable.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_573">[Pg 573]</span></p> + +<p>I have bought a violoncello to amuse myself this warm +weather, and as my host, M. Emerigon, plays the violin +in very excellent style, we have frequently music of an +evening before he goes to his consultations.</p> + +<p>We most of us, nevertheless, begin to find Bordeaux +dull,—I do in particular. My occupation has nearly +ceased, except as to swearing the paymasters, &c., to +their accounts, and now and then a Court-martial,—not +enough to give me full employment. The constant +expectation of moving, the uncertainty when I may be +wanted, and the natural indolence arising from the heat, +prevent me from voluntarily engaging in any regular +study or pursuit, and even prevent my making any +excursions beyond a league or two on my pony. Shut +up in this town, which, though airy, as to the general +breadth of the streets and openings, is still in fact hot +and low, and built in a country like that round Woolwich +or Deptford, I get thin and languid, and shall be glad to +be braced by the sea-air and the cooler climate of England.</p> + +<p><em>Saturday, 1st.</em>—As yet we have had no packets this +week, and being beyond the usual time, this makes us +believe the reports which have been some days in circulation, +that you mean to send no more packets from +England. I have still hopes.</p> + +<p>I must tell you a trait completely French, of one of +the noble guard of honour of the Duke d’Angoulême at +Bordeaux. I had met him twice in the family with +whom I live: on one of these occasions, at dinner. He +dined here yesterday, and whilst the rest of the party +were taking their coffee, I went to my room to dress, as +I dined at Lord Dalhousie’s. This guardsman slipped +up stairs after me. He came bowing into my room, +whilst I was in my shirt, and without any excuse or +apology, immediately began to tell me he had a little +favour to ask, and hoped that I would oblige him, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_574">[Pg 574]</span> +say nothing of it in the family, for he would not ask +them, and was anxious they should not know anything +about it; and at last said, “Could I just let him have +five guineas or so, for which he would give me a bit of +paper.” In short, he added that he was rather deficient +in cash, and I should oblige him infinitely by the loan, +which should be paid when he could. As I fully expected +an application to ask some favour of Lord Dalhousie or +the Duke of Wellington, or something very disagreeable, +I felt rather relieved by the explanation in full. As he +was quite a young man, had just got a commission in +the new regiment to be raised in Martinique, and was, I +concluded, of good character, from his connexion with +M. Emerigon and his family, who are held in great +esteem, I counted him out his five guineas (all the time +in my shirt), and he went away very happy, saying that +he would go below and leave me a bit of paper, though I +told him there was pen and ink in my room. The paper +said that he would send Mr. —— six guineas to England +(a guinea more than I had given him) as soon as he +could. It was signed—<cite>P. de V. De R——, De La +Martinique</cite>, leaving my name a blank, and not inquiring +where he should send, so as to reserve, I presume, enough +to satisfy his conscience in not repaying the money, that +he should never know where to send it. His bit of paper +only confirmed me in my notion that I was doing an act +of charity, and not turning Jew or money-lender.</p> + +<p>The guard of honour are to-day dismissed, by order of +the higher powers from Paris. In truth, there are quite +troops enough in France, without adding the expense of +these gentlemen, with their white feathers a yard long, +who would be of no use except to quarrel with the +regular troops. Only four years since Bonaparte, when +at Bordeaux, was attended everywhere by a guard of +honour of the same description. Volunteers were his only +body-guard.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_575">[Pg 575]</span></p> + +<p>The Prefêt of Bordeaux last night gave a fête to the +Duke d’Angoulême. I went with M. Emerigon. The +Duke came a few minutes after eight o’clock in his carriage +and six, dressed, I believe, in the uniform of a +Field-Marshal, with the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">cordon-bleu</i>, &c. He was received +by the Prefêt, attended by Generals Villette, +Blagnac, Clement de la Ronciere, &c., &c., and a number +of old and new nobility, all in their best; and having +been, as it were, proclaimed to the company by the +Prefêt, the Duke went about most graciously, talking to +every one as usual.</p> + +<p>About ten supper was announced, for the Duke has +very early habits; and in about half an hour afterwards +he came to the window to see very pretty fireworks, +which were let off in the main street, surrounded by +thousands of people below, and at all the windows. It +was a gay and attractive scene. Soon after eleven the +Duke went home, for he rises at five, and works hard at +business, on petitions, &c., and at four o’clock to-morrow +morning is to start for Bayonne. He had been at two +reviews in the course of yesterday, and had both times +been in tolerably severe storms. I fancy he must now +and then wish himself quiet again, as he has been for the +last twenty years. I am almost sure I should. The +new barons and nobility seem to make very good courtiers. +Indeed, the duties are all the same; it is only a +change in the cry and the idol, the same worship exists +as before. The Prefêt, Monsieur le Baron de V——, +while the fireworks were going on, observed to all +around him (loud enough on purpose for the Duke to +hear)—how fortunate he was to have thought of the fireworks; +that the idea had come into his head, as he +observed that every one would see Monseigneur so well +at the window, whilst the fireworks were going off; and +then how plainly we can read the inscriptions—O yes, +observe <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Vive le Duc d’Angoulême! Vivent les Bourbons!</i><span class="pagenum" id="Page_576">[Pg 576]</span> +and the fleurs-de-lys—how well they look in the midst of +the fire! He felt quite happy that he had thought of +all this to gratify the people, as it necessarily must do.—Now +the inscriptions were close to us, and in letters +a foot long. And note besides, that this Baron was one +of the functionaries who ran away from Bordeaux, when +the Duke came here on the 12th of March, and who +would probably not now hold his situation, if my patron +and some others had not persuaded him to return in +good time, and continue in his office to wait the result. +The Duke must see through this, and be disgusted.</p> + +<p>The women here are not as well dressed as at Toulouse—not +so stylish. They do not show so much blood and +fashion. I believe, however, among the higher orders, +that there is much more morality, and that there is a +greater difference in reality, as well as in outward appearance, +between the ladies in the dress-boxes, and those in +the tier above, than there was at Toulouse.</p> + +<p>Shortly after eleven o’clock the few English who were +present at the fête, had nearly all gone home, being chiefly +Generals and their aides-de-camp. I came away, leaving +the company waltzing and dancing away with less spirit +and skill than at Toulouse.</p> + +<p>I met with some very liberal Catholics here; for +instance, a gentleman said yesterday, before me, that if +all the pieces of the true Cross were collected, they +would, when put together, make a cross half a mile long. +A lady in company said to a friend (also before me), that +she did not much trouble the father confessor, and indeed +that it was what she liked the least of any part of her +duty. She added that their religion depended on faith, +hope, and charity, and that she understood (addressing +me), ours did so too, but that theirs required a good deal +of hope. Madame Emerigon, with whom I live, has +returned home highly delighted with Paris, but abuses +the inhabitants, who, she says, think only of making<span class="pagenum" id="Page_577">[Pg 577]</span> +money, taking in strangers, provincials and foreigners, +and amusing themselves day and night.</p> + +<p>She is a French creole from one of the islands. A +little mulatto girl, about fourteen, always stands behind +her chair, laughing at all her mistress says. The hairdresser +is generally seated in one corner of the room, +half the dinner-time, joining in the conversation, and +sometimes adorning Madame, whilst we are taking our +wine, and during this time an idle Paris lad, of the girl’s +age, whom Madame seems to have fancied because he +speaks such good French, and not the Patois, is running +about, bustling, but in reality doing little or nothing from +morning till night. Three other female servants, and a +nephew of the family, complete the party on this side +of the house, or rather wing.</p> + +<p>In an opposite wing, are, first in the upper part, two +respectable old ladies, and their servants; below them +<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">au-premier</i>, is an old West Indian gentleman and his two +sons, both <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">ci-devant</i> of the Imperial guard of honour, +from Bordeaux, and his two daughters, with servants, +&c. None of these are very elegant, nor, as far as I can +judge from one visit, very well bred. They amused me +the whole time with talking of the superiority of the +French troops, and how the Imperial guards in particular +could beat all the Allies if not more than two to one, as +they always had done, to which I only said that I +believed the Imperial Guards had been all withdrawn +from the army of Spain, at least I supposed so, and that +I had had, therefore, no opportunity of judging. One +Miss also asked what the English lived upon? as she +understood we ate no bread. Upon which a French +visitor, to save me the trouble of explanation, informed +her that we principally lived upon <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">des potates</i> (which is +now the word here for potatoes) and <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">betraves</i>, with which +accurate information she seemed quite satisfied. This +sort of conversation, and a few songs quite in the French<span class="pagenum" id="Page_578">[Pg 578]</span> +style, which I do not at all admire, though one of the +demoiselles had a good voice, have not tempted me to +pay another visit.</p> + +<p>The other night I went to the benefit of Madame +Georges. She acted Semiramis, in Voltaire’s play, and +with considerable success, particularly when she let +Nature have its way. She also acted in the sentimental +farce of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">La Belle Fermière</i>, and really well, if she had +but omitted a miserable song, accompanied by an old +violin or two behind the scenes, all out of tune. The +orchestra, as well as every part of the house, was full—almost +every passage crammed near the openings to the +boxes. The play began at seven o’clock, and the company +were all ready by four, and I saw many well-dressed +women going to the play at two and three o’clock, as +a box cannot be engaged without paying almost double +price. The Duke was very well received, and as there +was luckily no band, we escaped about five-and-twenty +<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Vive Henry IV.!</i> which we should otherwise have had.</p> + +<p>Mr. Wilberforce should exert himself in getting little +essays written in French, on the Slave Trade, circulated +in France, in some degree at least to enlighten the +people. At present, even the more intelligent and better +sort of men seem only to consider the English as playing +the part of Don Quixote in this business, and consider the +whole as a sort of romantic affectation of humanity; whilst +many others insinuate motives not quite so honourable, +by stating that, having well supplied our own islands +with slaves, we wish to give up all the other colonies, +with a diminished black population, and in bad condition, +and then to prevent their ever recovering themselves. +This is to be done by the abolition of the Slave Trade; +whilst our own islands, in full prosperity, will be ready +to reap the benefit of the distress of their rivals.</p> + +<p><em>July 18th.</em>—I have now only time to seal up and to +tell you that the returns of embarkations are just arrived<span class="pagenum" id="Page_579">[Pg 579]</span> +from Pouillac, by which it appears that all the troops are +now actually on board, except the two brigades of Guards, +one of which entered Pouillac to-day to be prepared, and +the other is still here. At present no more shipping is +ready, though more are expected; some say we shall be +moving about to-morrow week, some this day fortnight; +but I believe no one knows anything of the matter.</p> + +<hr class="r5"> + +<p>From the following entry in the Diary kept by Mrs. +Larpent, it appears that Mr. F. S. Larpent arrived at his +father’s house, at East Sheen, on the 8th August, 1814.</p> + +<p><em>8th August, 1814.</em>—“In the evening came Seymour, +looking younger than when he went away, and in excellent +health, after having been absent two years, all but a +fortnight. We thanked God sincerely for this great +mercy and happiness.”</p> +<br> + +<hr class="r25"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="APPENDIX">APPENDIX.</h2> +</div> + +<hr class="r5"> + +<p>[Although the annexed letter does not come chronologically +within the scope of Mr. Larpent’s Journal, as there is an anticipatory +notice, towards the close of the second volume, of Sir John +Murray’s trial, it may not inappropriately be inserted here.]</p> + +<div class="blockquot fs90"> +<p class="right"> +Paris, January 19th, 1815.</p> + +<p class="no-indent"> +<span class="smcap">My dear Sir</span>, +</p> + +<p><span style="padding-left: 2em">In</span> regard to Sir John Murray’s trial, I intended to prove +the charges framed by my directions against him, in consequence of +the orders of Government, by the production of my Instructions +and his Reports, all of which are in the Government Offices.</p> + +<p>Sir John Murray contends that one paragraph of my Instructions +directed him not to risk an action. I think he has mistaken my +meaning in that paragraph; but whether he has or not, that paragraph +did not recall the other Instructions for his conduct.</p> + +<p>The object of that paragraph was to prevent the Spanish Generals +Elio and the Duque del Parque, from taking advantage of Sir John<span class="pagenum" id="Page_580">[Pg 580]</span> +Murray’s absence, and the temporary command which they had of +the cavalry belonging to Sir John Murray’s and Whittingham’s +corps, to attack the French. There existed a prevailing opinion +among the Spanish officers that their failures were to be attributed +to the want of good cavalry; and this paragraph of the Instructions +was drawn with the view of preventing those officers from attempting +to fight a general action when circumstances should have +placed a small body of good cavalry at their disposal, more particularly +as all the manœuvres ordered by the Instructions had in view +to prevent the necessity of a general action.</p> + +<p>I have not by me the Instructions, but, as well as I recollect, +this meaning of the paragraph is obvious; and it will be particularly +observed that it comes in after the directions for the formation of +the Corps Romain in Bohemia with the Duque del Parque and +General Elio. I think, as I before stated, that this paragraph has +nothing to say to the question of Sir John Murray’s guilt or innocence +of the two charges, though it has to that brought against him +by the Admiral.</p> + +<p>The Court has, of course, a right to judge of my meaning by the +words in which it is conveyed, in whatever manner I may now +explain it or you may explain it for me, as the obvious meaning of +those words was to be the guide of Sir John Murray’s conduct. +I must add also, that whatever care I may have taken, it is not +improbable that in drawing an Instruction for the operations of so +many corps, all with separate Commanders-in-Chief, I may not in +every instance have made use of the language which should convey +the meaning I had in my mind.</p> + +<p>There is nothing else that occurs to me; but I shall be glad to +hear from you occasionally during the trial, and receive a copy of +the evidence when it can be got.</p> + +<p class="right"> +<span style="padding-right: 5em">Believe me,</span><br> +<span style="padding-right: 2em">Ever yours, most faithfully,</span><br> +<span class="smcap">Wellington</span>.</p> + +<p class="no-indent"><em>To F. S. Larpent, Esq.</em><br> +<span style="padding-left: 2em"><em>&c.</em></span> <span style="padding-left: 2em"><em>&c.</em></span></p> +</div> +<br> +<br> + + +<p class="center no-indent fs70">LONDON: W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS.</p> +<br> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter transnote"> +<h2 class="nobreak bold fs150" id="Transcribers_Notes">Transcriber’s Notes</h2> + +<ul> +<li>pg 65 Changed: that is the best way, I believe, if posible<br> +<span style="padding-left: 2em">to: that is the best way, I believe, if possible</span></li> + +<li>pg 102 Changed: not to neglect making up her deficiences<br> +<span style="padding-left: 2em">to: not to neglect making up her deficiencies</span></li> + +<li>pg 125 Changed: the obligation of cuting so much of the corn<br> +<span style="padding-left: 2em">to: the obligation of cutting so much of the corn</span></li> + +<li>pg 137 Changed: too much for them, end are consequently retiring<br> +<span style="padding-left: 2em">to: too much for them, and are consequently retiring</span></li> + +<li>pg 144 Changed: round the botton of an insulated hill<br> +<span style="padding-left: 2em">to: round the bottom of an insulated hill</span></li> + +<li>pg 159 Changed: und and there the first charge of cavalry took place<br> +<span style="padding-left: 2em">to: und and there the first charge of cavalry took place</span></li> + +<li>pg 208 Changed: prisoners aad deserters say nearly five thousand<br> +<span style="padding-left: 2em">to: prisoners and deserters say nearly five thousand</span></li> + +<li>pg 308 Changed: given up their lodgings and and have packed up<br> +<span style="padding-left: 2em">to: given up their lodgings and have packed up</span></li> + +<li>pg 330 Changed: He is a stanch Frenchman<br> +<span style="padding-left: 2em">to: He is a staunch Frenchman</span></li> + +<li>pg 457 Changed: and thence he was was to post the other<br> +<span style="padding-left: 2em">to: and thence he was to post the other</span></li> + +<li>pg 458 Changed: every precaution taken for secresy<br> +<span style="padding-left: 2em">to: every precaution taken for secrecy</span></li> + +<li>pg 471 Changed: probably let the King he proclaimed<br> +<span style="padding-left: 2em">to: probably let the King be proclaimed</span></li> + +<li>pg 482 Changed: stay here until this mornimg<br> +<span style="padding-left: 2em">to: stay here until this morning</span></li> + +<li>pg 493 Changed: who were lyng safe on the ground<br> +<span style="padding-left: 2em">to: who were lying safe on the ground</span></li> + +<li>pg 520 Changed: like our New River, the bands trimmed<br> +<span style="padding-left: 2em">to: like our New River, the banks trimmed</span></li> + + +<li>New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain.</li> +</ul> +</div> + + +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75413 ***</div> +</body> +</html> + diff --git a/75413-h/images/cover.jpg b/75413-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e5facf8 --- /dev/null +++ b/75413-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. 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