Opening…

Chapter I

Lord Wellington blockades Pampeluna, besieges St. Sebastian—Operations on the eastern coast of Spain—General Elio’s misconduct—Sir John Murray sails to attack Taragona—Colonel Prevot takes St. Felippe de Balaguer—Second siege of Taragona—Suchet and Maurice Mathieu endeavour to relieve the place—Sir John Murray raises the siege—Embarks with the loss of his guns—Disembarks again at St. Felippe de Balaguer—Lord William Bentinck arrives—Sir John Murray’s trial—Observations Page 1

CHAP. II.

Danger of Sicily—Averted by Murat’s secret defection from the emperor—Lord William Bentinck re-embarks—His design of attacking the city of Valencia frustrated—Del Parque is defeated on the Xucar—The Anglo-Sicilians disembark at Alicant—Suchet prepares to attack the allies—Prevented by the battle of Vittoria—Abandons Valencia—Marches towards Zaragoza—Clauzel retreats to France—Paris evacuates Zaragoza—Suchet retires to Taragona—Mines the walls—Lord William Bentinck passes the Ebro—Secures the Col de Balaguer—Invests Taragona—Partial insurrection in Upper Catalonia—Combat of Salud—Del Parque joins lord William Bentinck who projects an attack upon Suchet’s cantonments—Suchet concentrates his army—Is joined by Decaen—Advances—The allies retreat to the mountains—Del Parque invests Tortoza—His rear-guard attacked by the garrison while passing the Ebro—Suchet blows up the walls of Taragona—Lord William desires to besiege Tortoza—Hears that Suchet has detached troops—Sends Del Parque’s army to join lord Wellington—Advances to Villa Franca—Combat of Ordal—The allies retreat—Lord Frederick Bentinck fights with the French general Myers and wounds him—Lord William returns to Sicily—Observations 33

CHAP. III.

Siege of Sebastian—Convent of Bartolomeo stormed—Assault on the place fails—Causes thereof—Siege turned into a blockade, and the guns embarked at Passages—French make a successful sally 65

CHAP. IV.

Soult appointed the emperor’s lieutenant—Arrives at Bayonne—Joseph goes to Paris—Sketch of Napoleon’s political and military situation—His greatness of mind—Soult’s activity—Theatre of operations described—Soult resolves to succour Pampeluna—Relative positions and numbers of the contending armies described 86

CHAP. V.

Soult attacks the right of the allies—Combat of Roncesvalles—Combat of Linzoain—Count D’Erlon attacks the allies’ right centre—Combat of Maya—General Hill takes a position at Irueta—General Picton and Cole retreat down the Val de Zubiri—They turn at Huarte and offer battle—Lord Wellington arrives—Combat of the 27th—First battle of Sauroren—Various movements—D’Erlon joins Soult who attacks general Hill—Second battle of Sauroren—Foy is cut off from the main army—Night march of the light division—Soult retreats—Combat of Doña Maria—Dangerous position of the French at San Estevan—Soult marches down the Bidassoa—Forced march of the light division—Terrible scene near the bridge of Yanzi—Combats of Echallar and Ivantelly—Narrow escape of lord Wellington—Observations 109

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XXII. CHAP. I

New positions of the armies—Lord Melville’s mismanagement of the naval co-operation—Siege of St. Sebastian—Progress of the second attack 179

CHAP. II.

Storming of St. Sebastian—Lord Wellington calls for volunteers from the first fourth and light divisions—The place is assaulted and taken—The town burned—The castle is bombarded and surrenders—Observations 197

CHAP. III.

Soult’s views and positions during the siege described—He endeavours to succour the place—Attacks lord Wellington—Combats of San Marcial and Vera—The French are repulsed the same day that San Sebastian is stormed—Soult resolves to adopt a defensive system—Observations 218

CHAP. IV.

The duke of Berri proposes to invade France promising the aid of twenty thousand insurgents—Lord Wellington’s views on this subject—His personal acrimony against Napoleon—That monarch’s policy and character defended—Dangerous state of affairs in Catalonia—Lord Wellington designs to go there himself, but at the desire of the allied sovereigns and the English government resolves to establish a part of his army in France—His plans retarded by accidents and bad weather—Soult unable to divine his project—Passage of the Bidassoa—Second combat of Vera—Colonel Colborne’s great presence of mind—Gallant action of lieutenant Havelock—The French lose the redoubt of Sarre and abandon the great Rhune—Observations 239

CHAP. V.

Soult retakes the redoubt of Sarre—Wellington organizes the army in three great divisions under sir Rowland Hill, marshal Beresford, and sir John Hope—Disinterested conduct of the last-named officer—Soult’s immense entrenchments described—His correspondence with Suchet—Proposes to retake the offensive and unite their armies in Aragon—Suchet will not accede to his views and makes inaccurate statements—Lord Wellington, hearing of advantages gained by the allied sovereigns in Germany, resolves to invade France—Blockade and fall of Pampeluna—Lord Wellington organizes a brigade under lord Aylmer to besiege Santona, but afterwards changes his design 271

CHAP. VI.

Political state of Portugal—Violence, ingratitude, and folly of the government of that country—Political state of Spain—Various factions described, their violence, insolence, and folly—Scandalous scenes at Cadiz—Several Spanish generals desire a revolution—Lord Wellington describes the miserable state of the country—Anticipates the necessity of putting down the Cortez by force—Resigns his command of the Spanish armies—The English ministers propose to remove him to Germany—The new Cortez reinstate him as generalissimo on his own terms—He expresses his fears that the cause will finally fail and advises the English ministers to withdraw the British army 295

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XXIII. CHAP. I

War in the south of France—Soult’s political difficulties—Privations of the allied troops—Lord Wellington appeals to their military honour with effect—Averse to offensive operations, but when Napoleon’s disasters in Germany became known, again yields to the wishes of the allied sovereigns—His dispositions of attack retarded—They are described—Battle of the Nivelle—Observations—Deaths and characters of Mr. Edward Freer and colonel Thomas Lloyd 326

CHAP. II.

Soult occupies the entrenched camp of Bayonne, and the line of the Nive river—Lord Wellington unable to pursue his victory from the state of the roads—Bridge-head of Cambo abandoned by the French—Excesses of the Spanish troops—Lord Wellington’s indignation—He sends them back to Spain—Various skirmishes in front of Bayonne—The generals J. Wilson and Vandeleur are wounded—Mina plunders the Val de Baygorry—Is beaten by the national guards—Passage of the Nive and battles in front of Bayonne—Combat of the 10th—Combat of the 11th—Combat of the 12th—Battle of St. Pierre—Observations 363

CHAP. III.

Respective situations and views of lord Wellington and Soult—Partizan warfare—The Basques of the Val de Baygorry excited to arms by the excesses of Mina’s troops—General Harispe takes the command of the insurgents—Clauzel advances beyond the Bidouze river—General movements—Partizan combats—Excesses committed by the Spaniards—Lord Wellington reproaches their generals—His vigorous and resolute conduct—He menaces the French insurgents of the valleys with fire and sword and the insurrection subsides—Soult hems the allies right closely—Partizan combats continued—Remarkable instances of the habits established between the French and British soldiers of the light division—Shipwrecks on the coast 410

CHAP. IV.

Political state of Portugal—Political state of Spain—Lord Wellington advises the English government to prepare for a war with Spain and to seize St. Sebastian as a security for the withdrawal of the British and Portuguese troops—The seat of government and the new Cortez are removed to Madrid—The duke of San Carlos arrives secretly with the treaty of Valençay—It is rejected by the Spanish regency and Cortez—Lord Wellington’s views on the subject 425

CHAP. V.

Political state of Napoleon—Guileful policy of the allied sovereigns—M. de St. Aignan—General reflections—Unsettled policy of the English ministers—They neglect lord Wellington—He remonstrates and exposes the denuded state of his army 440

CHAP. VI.

Continuation of the war in the eastern provinces—Suchet’s erroneous statements—Sir William Clinton repairs Taragona—Advances to Villa Franca—Suchet endeavours to surprise him—Fails—The French cavalry cut off an English detachment at Ordal—The duke of San Carlos passes through the French posts—Copons favourable to his mission—Clinton and Manso endeavour to cut off the French troops at Molino del Rey—They fail through the misconduct of Copons—Napoleon recalls a great body of Suchet’s troops—Whereupon he reinforces the garrison of Barcelona and retires to Gerona—Van Halen—He endeavours to beguile the governor of Tortoza—Fails—Succeeds at Lerida, Mequinenza, and Monzon—Sketch of the siege of Monzon—It is defended by the Italian soldier St. Jaques for one hundred and forty days—Clinton and Copons invest Barcelona—The beguiled garrisons of Lerida, Mequinenza, and Monzon, arrive at Martorel—Are surrounded and surrender on terms—Capitulation violated by Copons—King Ferdinand returns to Spain—His character—Clinton breaks up his army—His conduct eulogised—Lamentable sally from Barcelona—The French garrisons beyond the Ebro return to France and Habert evacuates Barcelona—Fate of the prince of Conti and the duchess of Bourbon—Siege of Santona 475

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