thing else was going on well for the cause of the continent of Europe, and of Britain; while lord Wellington was victoriously driving the enemy beyond the western Pyrenees; and while the allies in Germany were stimulated and encouraged by his lordship's successes to perseverance and glorious efforts, we could not appeal to the operations of our army in the north-east of the peninsula with any satisfaction or confidence. As nothing further was done in this part of Spain, let us turn our thoughts and attention to the operations and movements of lord Wellington's army,

After the defeat of Soult in his attempt to relieve St. Sebastian, the British army took up its position on one side of the small river Bidassoa, which divides France from Spain; while the French army occupied the other side of the river: detached posts of the latter occupied the right bank from the mouth to the pass of Vera, and a mountain at the distance of about twelve miles. The French had rendered their positions extremely formidable by field-works skilfully contrived and well furnished with artillery. There would not how ever have been much difficulty in attacking them, had the celebrated wooden bridge, over which the high road formerly passed, been still in existence; but it had been for some time broken down. It was therefore necessary for the British army to cross the river by the fords; and in order to render their operations successful, it was necessary to cross it at various points at the same time, and simultaneously to attack the enemy in his entrenchments.

At Andaye near the mouth of the river the French had their principal position: the fortifications

of this place were tolerably strong, and there were entrenchments both above and below it. Against this position sir Thomas Graham, with the 1st and 5th British divisions, and the 1st Portuguese brigade, was directed to proceed: his corps crossed the river in four columns. At the same time, a little higher up, the greatest part of the fourth Spanish army, under the command of don Manuel Freyre, crossed in three columns, in order to carry the entrenchments on the Montagne Verte, and on the heights of Mandal. Both these divisions performed their duty in the most exemplary and successful manner: the British and Portuguese took seven pieces of cannon in the redoubts which they carried; and the Spaniards one piece of cannon in the redoubt carried by them. There seems indeed, on this occasion, to have been between the Spaniards and British and Portuguese a great degree of emulation; the one vying with the other in steadiness, gallantry, and perseverance; so that the enemy had no chance of standing against either of them.

These operations took place in the extreme left of the allied army; and, while they were going on, other bodies were ordered to cross the Bidassoa higher up. The French entrenchments at the pass of Vera were attacked by the British light division under the command of baron Alten, supported by the Spanish division of brigadier-general Longa; while the entrenchments on the mountain of La Rhone were attacked by the Andalusian army of reserve under the command of general Giron. Here, also, both the British and Spaniards behaved admirably; the light division charged with the bayonet, and carried every thing before them, taking upwards

of

of four hundred prisoners and three pieces of cannon. The heights on which that part of the enemy were posted, and against which the Andalusian army advanced, were very steep and difficult of access: never theless they succeeded in establish ing themselves on the same ridge with the enemy, and were only prevented by the utter inaccessibility of one rock from dislodging them entirely before night-fall of the 7th. As it was of the utmost consequence to the future operations of the army to dislodge them entirely from this tock, every effort was made for that purpose; but they were favoured by the intervention of a thick fog; and till that cleared away no attack could be made upon them with any prospect of success. As soon as it did clear away, lord Wellington himself reconnoitred the rock; and observing that on the right side it appeared to be in a small degree accessible, he directed an attack to be made in this quarter. As the Andalusians had had the honour and glory of driving the enemy from every part of the heights but this, his lordship resolved that they should possess a still further opportunity of distinguishing themselves: they were therefore ordered to attack this formidable position; and this order they instantly obeyed with the utmost alacrity, storming the entrenchment in a most gallant style. As by this operation the French camp at Sarre was entirely exposed, they were under the necessity of abandoning all the other works which covered it, and in the course of the night the camp itself. The loss of the allies on this occasion amounted to nearly 1,600 men; that of the enemy was much greater.

In this affair the Spaniards, and especially the army of Andalusia, behaved in such a manner as to receive from lord Wellington, in his

official dispatches, the most marked approbation; and indeed, both on this occasion and on others where the Spanish troops were entirely under his lordship's command, and where morcover they were mixed with the British, they showed themselves by no means deficient in discipline, skill, or valour. What then might they not have donehow much more might they not have contributed towards the libera tion of their country than they actually did had their government been wise and patriotic enough to have placed them at the commencement of the war completely and regularly under the direction and command of British officers !

The result of this attack on the positions of the enemy was to fix the British head-quarters securely and permanently within the boundaries of France: what a subject for reflection, and how proud a day for England! That country invaded, which, not eighteen months before, had given the law to nearly the whole continent of Europe; and invaded too by troops belonging to a nation who hitherto, whatever might have been their naval triumphs, had not greatly distinguished themselves by land! Bonaparte had threatened to drive our army in the peninsula into the sea; and that army was now driving his best troops and most experienced general to seek refuge within the territory of France!

Pampeluna still held out, but it was destined soon to fall; and lord Wellington, with a delicate and laudable attention to national feeling, delegated to a Spanish general the command of the blockade, and the authority to conclude a capitulation: and don Carlos d'Espana showed himself fully worthy of this confidence and honour. The enemy made several sorties, but in all

of

of them they were repulsed with very considerable loss. A circumstance is mentioned by his lordship very honourable to the gallantry and patriotism of don Carlos d'Espana in repulsing one of the sorties he had the misfortune to be wounded; yet anxious to see his country's standard planted on a fortress so basely stolen from her, he hastened to report himself able to discharge his duty, and was accordingly continued in the command by lord Wellington. The garrison, notwithstanding the ill success of all their sorties, and the conviction they must have felt that there was no prospect of relief or reinforcement, continued to hold out till the 26th of October, when they proposed to capitulate on condition that they should be permitted to march into France with six pieces of cannon. These terms being peremptorily refused, they then proposed to capitulate, and engage not to serve against the allies for the space of a year when this condition also was rejected, they declared that they would never submit to be made prisoners of war. In the short space of five days, however, they altered their tone and determination, and consented to be marched to the port of Passages as prisoners of war.

As soon as lord Wellington had succeeded in completely freeing this part of the peninsula from the presence of the enemy, he directed his attention to the fortifying of the passes of the Pyrenees; and in a very short time the most important of them were rendered nearly as strong and unassailable as the celebrated lines of Torres Vedras. If, therefore, the Spaniards are true to themselves; if they are not most grossly and culpably negligent; if they are at all worthy of the liberation and national independence which has been wrought out for

them by British valour and British blood, they must be for ever safe from the invasion of the French. Lord Wellington has taught them that the French may be beaten; he has even enabled them to beat them themselves; he has driven the enemy beyond the natural boundaries of their country; and these boundaries, strong by nature, he has rendered still more so by art. The Spanish nation, therefore, secure from foreign tyranny, may, if they are so disposed, have sufficient leisure and opportunity to bring back their character to what it was formerly; and may again resume their proper and just place among the nations of Europe. Let us hope that they will act in this manner.

Lord Wellington was not content with driving the enemy beyond the Pyrenees, and with establishing his head-quarters within the boundaries of France; he resolved to advance further: indeed, the nature of the country and the season of the year rendered a movement further into France absolutely necessary; for at the foot of the Pyrenees an army could not possibly exist during the winter. But Soult, not dispirited by his defeats and losses, and, whereever he was, still displaying the first-rate military talents, had taken up a position naturally very strong; and this he had fortified, particularly on his right, in such a manner that lord Wellington did not deem it expedient to attack it in front; and his plan of attacking it he had not a sufficient number of troops to carry into execution till the fall of Pampeluna.

As soon, however, as the right of his army was disengaged from covering the blockade of that place, he commenced his movements for the attack of the enemy; but the state of the roads, in consequence of the very heavy rains, obliged

him to defer his ultimate operations longer than he intended. On the 10th of November, however, the attack was practicable; the object of it to force the centre of the enemy, and to establish the British army in the rear of their right wing: the attack was made in columns of divisions, each led by the general officer commanding it, and each forming its own reserve. On the right the second division moved, under lieutenant-general Stewart; and the sixth division, under general Clinton, along with some Spanish and Portuguese troops, attacked the positions of the French behind Anhoue. The fourth division, under the command of general Cole, attacked the redoubts in front of the village of Sarre, and the heights behind it; in the attack they were supported by the army of reserve of Andalusia. The positions of the enemy on La Rhune were attacked and carried by the light division and general Longa's Spanish division; and these troops, as soon as they had succeeded, cooperated with the right of the centre in the attack of the heights behind Sarre.

The attack began at break of day; and general Cole having compelled the enemy to evacuate the redoubts on their right, in the front of Sarre; and the redoubt in the front of the left of the village having been also evacuated; general Cole took possession of the village, which was at the same time turned on its left by the third division. The enemy's positions on La Rhune being also carried, the whole of the British attacking army co-operated in the attack on the enemy's main position behind the village: this attack was so well concerted, and carried on in all its parts with so much skill and bravery, that the enemy were obliged to abandon

their strong positions, which they had fortified with so much skill and labour. By a few other judicious movements and operations lord Wellington succeeded in establishing his army in the rear of the enemy's right, which our readers will recollect was the principal object he had in view in making this attack. The day however was now too far spent to make any further movement. The next day the enemy manifested a disposition to retire without waiting to be again attacked; and in the night of the 11th they retreated into an entrenched camp which they had formed in front of Bayonne.

In the whole of this attack, which required a series of combined movements and operations, the military skill of lord Wellington is eminently conspicuous; nor are the discipline, the steadiness, and the bravery of the soldiers, Portuguese, Spanish, and British, less worthy of admiration. Many people were apprehensive, when his lordship was first appointed to the command of the British army in the peninsula, that he would be rash; and that his love of glory and his spirit of enterprise would induce him to be lavish of the blood of his soldiers. Neither of these anticipated evils has taken place; there is no rashness about him; and the event which we have just recorded, as well as many other operations of the peninsular war, fully prove that, wherever skill can be brought into action so as to save the lives of his men, lord Wellington always prefers it to a downright attack carried through by numbers or hard fighting.

Soon after the defeat of the French at Vittoria, at least as soon as Soult assumed the command in consequence of that defeat, they formed an entrenched camp close under Bayonne, extending semicir eularly on the south side of the

Adour,

Adour, above and below the junction of the river Nive. Bayonne is a strongly fortified town, (it is said, in the opinion of the celebrated Vauban who fortified it, one of his most scientific and perfect works,) lying on the northern bank of the Adour, near the point where the Nive falls into that river from the south. While lord Wellington continued on the side of the Nive next the Pyrenees, supplies of all sorts were brought down the Adour to Bayonne; and as the entrenched camp was uncommonly strong, and bade defiance to all attacks, his lordship could not expect to drive the enemy from it by main force it therefore became necessary to pass the Nive, in order to intercept the supplies that were brought down the Adour to Bayonne. This movement was also expedient from another considerations for though, by the last defeat of Soult, and consequent ad. vance of the British army, they had got beyond the excessive cold of the Pyrenees, yet being still at the bottom of those mountains, they were obliged to encamp in a very, moist and unhealthy situation, and were also cramped for want of

room.

As soon, therefore, as the state of the weather and the roads permitted lord Wellington to collect the materials necessary for throw. ing bridges over the Nive, he re. solved to pass that river: this did not occur till the 8th of December, He then gave orders for the right of the army, under the command of general Hill, to pass on the 9th at one place, while the 6th division under general Clinton passed at another place: both these operations succeeded completely; and the enemy were driven from the right bank of the river, and retired towards Bayonne. His lordship

had now an opportunity of reconnoitring their entrenched camp more closely: he found it to be under the fire of that city; the right resting on the Adour, and the front covered by a morass formed by a rivulet which falls into the Adour. The right of the centre of the entrenched camp rested on the same morass, and the left on the river Nive: the left was between the Adour and the Nive. In consequence of lord Wellington's having succeeded in crossing the Nive, he nearly inclosed the French camp, commanded the navigation of the Adour, and had it always in his power to throw detachments across that river, above the city, either for the purpose of intercepting convoys, or even of bombarding the town, or storming the works to the north of Bayonne.

It is evident from this account of the relative situation of the two armies, after the passage of the Nive by the British, that Soult could not safely continue in his entrenched camp while our army was between the Nive and the Adour; he therefore resolved to attempt to drive us back to our former position: for this purpose he assembled his troops in considerable force on a range of heights which run parallel with the Adour, keeping the village of Ville Franche on their right. This village lord Wellington ordered to be attacked, and it was carried in a very gallant style by a Portuguese regiment (the 9th caçadores) and the British light infantry battalions of the 6th division: as soon as they gained possession of the village, they proceeded to the attack of the heights, which they also carried in the same gallant style. It was lord Wellington's intention to have pushed these advantages still further; but he was not able to proceed, in con

sequence