The first intention was to turn this position, by advancing Sir Rowland’s corps from Roncesvalles through St. Jean de Pied-de-Port; this movement would turn the sources of the Nive, threaten Soult’s rear, and compel him, it was thought, to abandon his works, and retire beyond Bayonne; but this plan was given up upon full consideration, Soult’s line being so short, and the road behind it so good, that he might have it in his power to fall upon Sir Rowland with a superior force, or to attack Sir John Hope when it would be difficult to reinforce either; or he might retire untouched, and keep his army in a condition to continue active and harass the allies in their winter quarters. Lord Wellington resolved, therefore, to strike at the centre of his position, strong as it was, and at the same time to attack the heights of Ainhoue, which were its immediate support on the left. With this view Sir Rowland had been ordered, as soon as Pamplona should fall, to move leftward, into the valley of Bastan, and the cavalry to close up his rear in readiness for supporting the right of Beresford’s corps at Maya.

The enemy, fully expecting an attack, were always under arms at daybreak, and remained in their redoubts till nightfall; and they improved every day’s delay, which the state of the weather afforded them, in strengthening their works, strong as the labour of three months had already made them. The rain, indeed, continued so many days, and so heavy, that many persons began to fear it would be impossible for them to move; and Lord Wellington, with all his just confidence in himself and in the troops which he commanded, could not but feel how easily human strength and military skill might be baffled by the elements. The weather cleared on the 4th; and on the 7th he met Sir Rowland, Marshal Beresford, and all the chiefs of the right and centre at Urdache, from whence he reconnoitred Ainhoue closely, and pointed out the mode by which that part of the position was to be attacked. The object was to force their centre, and establish the army in rear of their right; and the attack was to be made by columns of divisions, each led by the general officers commanding it, and each forming its own reserve. Sir Rowland directed the movements of the right, consisting of the 2d and 6th divisions, under Sir William Stewart and Sir Henry Clinton, Sir John Hamilton’s Portugueze, and Morillo’s Spanish division, Colonel Grant’s brigade of cavalry, a brigade of Portugueze artillery under Lieutenant-Colonel Tulloh, and three mountain guns under Lieutenant Robe. Marshal Beresford directed the right of the centre, with the 3rd, 7th, and 4th divisions, under Major-General Colville, Camp-Marshal Le Cor and Sir Lowry Cole. Giron was to act on his immediate left with the Andalusian army of reserve. Baron Alten’s light division, with three mountain guns, and Longa’s corps, was to attack La Petite Rhune; Sir Stapleton Cotton to follow the movement of the centre, with General Alten’s brigade of cavalry, and three brigades of British artillery. Freyre, with the Galician army, was to move from the heights of Mandale toward Ascain, prevent the enemy from detaching troops from thence to the support of others, and take advantage of any movement which they might make from their right toward their centre; and Sir John Hope was to act along the remainder of their line to the sea.

The 8th was the day intended for the attack, but the state of the roads prevented the artillery and some of Sir Rowland’s brigade from coming up; it was postponed therefore till the 10th. This opened with so clear and beautiful a moonlight morning, that it was scarcely perceptible when daylight began to predominate; and men who had served in India were reminded of an Indian sky. Lord Wellington was on horseback at five, and reached the point of attack at six: he found Sir Lowry Cole’s division at its post, with 18 pieces of cannon at the head of the column: it was on a sloping ridge, which ends in a high point above the village of Sarré; and on that point was the redoubt which he was to attack, and which had been made with the greatest care, having a deep ditch, an abattis in front, and trous de loup, so named from their resemblance to the pit-falls in which wolves are taken. Giron was close on his left, and Le Cor on the right, both in valleys. Lord Wellington, Beresford, Sir Lowry, General Colville, and other staffs, were in a little grove, which covered them, about 600 yards from the redoubt, walking about till it was light enough to commence the attack. Sir Lowry then drove in the enemy’s piquets, and the horse artillery were enabled to gain the ridge, and open in front of the grove within 400 yards of the redoubt: their fire in return rattled through the branches: Colonel Ross dashed forward, and opened six guns within 300 yards, which riddled the curtain: the French, however, stood firm, till after about an hour’s firing they saw the Spaniards moving to their rear, and the infantry advancing with ladders to escalade them; they then leaped over the parapet and ran: ... they were about 300, of whom some twenty were taken in the ditch, and not more than eight or ten killed. The artillery was then rapidly advanced against the next redoubt on the right, and that cost only about a quarter of an hour, for it was abandoned with discreditable precipitation.

By this time the troops were advancing with great celerity over most difficult ground. Lord Wellington moved on to the first redoubt, from whence he could direct the movements of the Spaniards, and of the 3rd, 7th, and 4th divisions; one of those bursts of cheering which electrify the hearers indicated his presence. Beresford advanced with the 3rd and 7th, while the Spaniards attacked the village of Sarré by its right, and Sir Lowry turned its left. Downie commanded the battalion of Spaniards to whom this service was assigned, while Giron remained in the valley with a brigade which was to support the light division; and as in that situation it might not be seen when the village was carried, Downie, as a signal, said he would send his aide-de-camp to toll the church bell. He made the attack with great spirit: the enemy in front of the village made a show of more determination than they kept up, and they rushed from their second line as if ashamed of having too hastily given up the first; but after some skirmishing they retired to the second, and thence from the redoubts and heights cannonaded the assailants. Downie carried the village most gallantly, and the bell tolled. Sir Lowry meantime attacked and carried the works on the low hills in the rear of Sarré, and there halted for orders.

Baron Alten, meanwhile, was equally successful in his operations. He had formed the light division before daylight, in a ravine separating the great and little La Rhune, and within 300 yards of the intrenchments with which the face of La Petite Rhune was covered. Rushing from thence as soon as the day opened, the troops forced line after line: the enemy did not wait in their redoubts to be assaulted; and the assailants having carried all the works, and formed without farther opposition on the summit of the hill, were crossing the valley to attack the right of the high range behind Sarré, when Lord Wellington reached the point which Sir Lowry had gained. The preliminary attacks having thus succeeded, the whole moved forward against the intrenched range of heights which formed the strongest part of the enemy’s position. The Spaniards on Giron’s left were not sufficiently alert to support the light division: it was not for some time that the guns could be got up over most difficult ground: part of the 95th, who had gained the first high point, were attacked and obliged to retire; and the enemy had the advantage till the Spaniards, quickened by messages from Lord Wellington, came up; the French then gave way, and the lower ridge, in the centre of the position opposite to our two central columns, was immediately occupied. The Prince of Orange, who was with Lord Wellington that day, was then sent to Marshal Beresford, desiring him to attack that part of the high range in his front, while Sir Lowry should at the same time assail it on his side.

It was now about ten o’clock, and before this simultaneous effort could be made there was time to look at the position which was about to be attacked. The mountain extends about twelve miles from Ascain to Mondarin; only one valley intersects it, which is that through which the Nivelle flows; but there are several dips in the range; every higher point had its redoubt, and in the intervals the enemy were formed in great strength, some in lines, some in columns, with sharp-shooters half way down the hills. A friend of Lord Wellington’s said at the time to Sir George Murray, that he should expect a very difficult task here, if he had not seen the amazing superiority of our troops in the attack on Sarré. Sir George replied, “It is impossible to say how that position may be defended; it is very formidable, but we probably shall get it very easily; when the French see the red coats they know we are determined to carry our point, and they never dispute it long.” The troops justified this brave confidence; six columns began to ascend, with a chain of sharp-shooters in their front; and never could greater intrepidity be displayed than that with which the British and Portugueze advanced against strong works, or solid columns at the top of steep ascents, where they were frequently obliged to use their hands as well as feet in climbing. When they approached a redoubt, they halted a few minutes to take breath: a party was sent to turn it: the sharp-shooters went close up, and another party went straight at it in front, with as much confidence as if to charge a regiment on a plain: when they got within twenty or thirty paces, the enemy uniformly fled, and the assailants being out of breath, could overtake but few of them. Most of these redoubts had a glacis, with an abattis in front, which gave them time to get off. From one large one, which was attacked by the 21st Portugueze regiment, the garrison continued to fire till the assailants jumped into the ditch; then the French hastened out at the rear with all alacrity.

Lord Wellington ascended in the interval between the 7th and 4th divisions. Just as he reached the summit of the range at one of its dips, Beresford and Colville, with the 3rd division, had carried a very high hill, crowned with a strong stockaded redoubt, which was, in fact, the key of the position, and looked down upon the whole range on both sides. The 40th suffered here from having pushed on too fast. The allies were now gaining the upper ridge on all sides, and the artillery attempted to follow: Ross’s troop was the only one which succeeded, and that by two hours’ of the utmost exertion, and by partly making a road. Sir Lowry, with the 4th division, reached the top at a lower part: two brigades of the enemy were formed upon a height on his left; and beyond them, on a very high point above Ascain, was a large and strong redoubt, manned by a battalion of infantry. The light division was toiling up the hill to the right of this work, and the Spaniards to the left. Sir Lowry attacked the brigades: there were two generals at their heads; but when the assailants came near, the French fired five or six rounds in rather an unsoldier-like hurry, and then moved hastily off, leaving the redoubt to its fate. Downie, seizing a colour, and waving it as he advanced on horseback at the head of his battalion, led on his men: they went against it gallantly, in spite of their officers, who behaved ill: the light division commenced an attack upon it, in which Colonel Barnard was wounded; and the 52nd lost a good many men here, before Lord Wellington’s orders for desisting and summoning the garrison could arrive. While this attack continued, the troops under Beresford got so far in the rear of the redoubt, that it was impossible for the garrison to retreat. They proved to be the first battalion of the 88th regiment, nearly 600 strong: their colonel had been promoted for his defence of S. Christoval’s, at the first siege of Badajoz: he hesitated, parleyed, and requested to confer with his officers, and subsequently with the non-commissioned officers; but it was in vain to resist, and there was no way to escape; so they surrendered, and laid down their arms on the glacis. Some of the men expressed their indignation in coarse and indecent language at finding themselves prisoners; and one serjeant, in particular, who wore the cross of the Legion of Honour, cursed his fortune, that after being present in the battles of Austerlitz and Wagram, he should now be captured in a redoubt!

While these operations were going on in the centre, Sir Henry Clinton, with the 6th division, having driven in the enemy’s piquets on both banks of the Nivelle, crossed that river, covered the passage of Sir John Hamilton’s Portugueze division, and ascended the hill in line, scarcely firing a shot. The enemy were formed on the top of the hill, as on a fine parade, in front of their huts, and with strong redoubts on both flanks. The first party in its eagerness pushed on too fast, and was driven back; but as the support came near they dashed forward again; and the enemy, having thrown away their fire, went off in great confusion, abandoning redoubts, camp, and all. Sir William Stewart’s division carried a work on a parallel ridge in the rear. Morillo, by attacking the enemy’s posts on the slopes of Mondarin, and following them towards Itzatce, covered the advance of the whole to the heights behind Ainhoue. Sir Rowland then forced the enemy to retire from those heights towards the bridge of Cambo on the Nivelle; and Sir William Stewart drove a division from Mondarin into the mountains toward Baygorri. By two o’clock the allies had gained possession of the whole of the position behind Sarré and Ainhoue.

The enemy, who had been in front of our centre, were now retiring along the road to St. Pé, a village on the Nivelle, between three and four miles distant. The nature of the country rendered it impossible to cut them off; and Lord Wellington was obliged to wait an hour, that the troops might take breath, and to see that the operations on the right had succeeded; and that the 6th division, after carrying the works in its front, had inclined to the left, and closed upon the third. This having been ascertained, about three o’clock he directed the 7th and 3rd divisions (being the right of the centre) to move by the left of the river upon St. Pé, and the 6th by the right upon the same place; while the 4th and light divisions, with Giron’s reserve, held the heights above Ascain, covering the movement on that side, and Sir Rowland covered it on the other. The Nivelle is from twenty to thirty yards wide, rapid like a mountain stream, and not fordable; there is a stone bridge at St. Pé, a wooden one half a mile lower down, and a stone one about the same distance still lower, at the village of Ayan. The first of these bridges was eagerly contested; but, after some severe skirmishing, the allies effected the passage of all three. Lord Wellington halted upon the heights above St. Pé; and, having occupied the bridges and the villages, waited there for reports from the right and left. During the whole day he could distinctly hear, and generally see, the firing on the right, Sir Rowland’s quarter; but the projecting base of La Rhune entirely prevented him from seeing what passed on Sir John Hope’s side; and a steady breeze, setting towards the sea, prevented any sound from reaching him in that direction. But on that side there could be no anxiety, for it was not intended to be the scene of serious action; and what service was to be performed there, was performed well. The French had constructed a redoubt round the ruins of a small chapel on a hill, and connected it with the defence of Urogne by intrenchments, and a strong abattis. From this work, which formed a sort of advanced post to their right wing, Sir John Hope drove them, and from Urogne, and pushed forward the 5th division to the inundation which covered the intrenchments in front of Ciboure, and those protecting the heights in advance of Fort Socoa. The enemy were kept in expectation here that this position would be assaulted; and they were menaced in their intrenchments, which covered the heights behind Urogne, and extended along the hills in the direction of Ascain: that village they abandoned in the afternoon, and Freyre took possession of it. As soon as Lord Wellington had received the reports, he gave orders for attacking the heights behind St. Pé: they were of difficult access, through vineyards, and were crowned with woods; and the enemy had a considerable force there: during the intervals of severer action, the sharp-shooters had been warmly engaged in the village, and along the river; and shrapnells had been thrown at the heights with visible effect from Ross’s brigade. The 3rd division now crossed near the village, the 6th advanced upon its right, and the 7th attacked the left of the heights; the brunt of the action on this side was borne by this division. The 51st and 68th regiments, light troops, scoured a wood in full cry, like a pack of hounds, and drove out a large body of sharp-shooters, whom they drove up the hills, but with so much eagerness as to leave their support behind. Instantly upon this advantage being presented, a strong column moved from behind the hill, and attacked them: the enemy were led by a general officer on horseback, and behaved with more spirit than they had shown in any other part of the engagement. The two regiments, if they had not been two of the best, must have been cut to pieces; but though they were very weak in numbers, and were driven back, they formed in close order, and in the most gallant manner retook the hill. This was the last business of the day. The three divisions took post on the heights beyond St. Pé; thus establishing themselves in the rear of the enemy’s right; and the remainder of the army rested on the ground which they occupied, the evening being so far advanced that no further movement could be made.

Lord Wellington was on the heights above St. Pé before daylight; the morning was hazy, and it was noon before he received the reports which enabled him to put the troops in motion. During the night the enemy had abandoned all their works and positions in front of St. Jean de Luz, and knowing no time was to be lost, lest the divisions at St. Pé should interpose between them and Bayonne, retired upon Bidart, destroying all the bridges on the lower Nivelle. Sir John Hope followed with the left, as soon as he could cross the river; but it was mid-day before he could repair the bridge which connects Ciboure with S. Jean de Luz, and construct a flying bridge to expedite the passage of the troops. The 5th division passed here, part with the artillery by the bridge, part by fords close above the town; the first, with Wilson’s Portugueze brigade, by a ford about a mile higher up, and broad enough for the men to cross by platoons. It rained most heavily; the water was deep, the opposite bank muddy, and the shore swampy ground: but no opposition was offered, and the men, elated by the signal success of yesterday, were in high spirits. The centre moved forward about a league, and the right made a corresponding move, which was as far as the state of the roads, after so violent a fall of rain, would allow. Soult showed about 16,000 men at Bidart all day. The army bivouacked a second night. On the following morning Lord Wellington was again in front of the centre at daybreak, but a thick fog enveloped every thing; it was noon before it cleared, and he then learned that the enemy had retired during the night into an intrenched camp, in front of Bayonne.

By these operations, in which the allies lost little more than 500 killed, and less than 2400 wounded, the French were driven from positions strong in themselves, and which they had been fortifying with great skill and great labour for six months: 51 pieces of cannon, 1500 prisoners, and 400 wounded, were taken. Soult had full 70,000 men; but though there was no flight, nor any thing like a rout, no determined spirit of resistance was manifested; they fought like brave men, but dispirited ones, and in several instances their officers used every endeavour to bring them on in vain. They had relied upon the difficulty of the ground, not dreaming that artillery could be brought to act against them over rivers and rocks and mountains; and indeed, the allies were beholden for their success, in no slight degree, to the extraordinary skill and activity with which this part of the service was directed by Colonel Dickson. Mountain-pieces on swivel carriages, harnessed on the backs of mules which had been trained for the purpose, were conveyed to the ridges of the mountains, and brought to bear on the French from positions which they had considered inaccessible for guns.... The foot and horse-artillery were alike active and expert; and the artillerymen dragged their cannon with ropes up steep precipices, or lowered them down, wherever they could be employed with most effect. Generals Byng and Kempt were wounded: Colonel Lloyd of the 94th, an officer of great promise, and who had frequently distinguished himself, was killed.

The weather, which continued wet, without intermission, from the 11th to the 18th, rendered the cross roads so bad, and the streams so formidable, that Lord Wellington could not follow up his success as he would otherwise have done. He placed the army, therefore, in cantonments between the Nivelle and the sea; but as the enemy were concentrated in great numbers round Bayonne, two miles only in their immediate front, a defensive line was formed against any sudden advance. It commenced at the sea on the left, in rear of Biaritz, passed over the main ridge of heights, and crossed the high road, near a country house belonging to the mayor of that little town. The front of this part of the line was protected by the two small lakes of Chuhigue and Rousta; the high road passes across a valley between them, and here was the most advanced line of sentinels guarding the left wing; from thence it followed the right bank of the valley, in front of Arcangues, and coming there upon the Nive, near a chateau belonging to Garat (one of the contemporary historians of the French revolution, and himself an actor in it), it was thrown back along the left of that river by Arrauntz, Ustaritz, Larressore, and Cambo; from which latter place the enemy, who occupied a tête-de-pont there, withdrew their posts on the 18th, and blew up the bridge. Head-quarters were at St. Jean de Luz, ♦St Jean de Luz.♦ a town which dates its decay from the peace of 1763, when France was deprived of its possessions in North America. The Nivelle divides it from Ciboure (a smaller town), spreading just above both into a beautiful bay, and forming an island where it spreads, which is connected by bridges with both. The bay terminates on the north-east by a rocky point of land, on which a battery called Fort St. Barbe was erected, and on the opposite side is the harbour of Socoa, defended by a martello tower. Between these points the bay is nearly a mile in width, and on both sides a pier had been begun, which it was intended to have carried so nearly across, as only to have left a sufficient entrance, and thus to have afforded safe anchorage on this stormy coast, where it is grievously needed. When the Spanish fleet was wrecked here in 1627, the dead who were cast up on the immediate shores filled ninety-six carts. On that occasion the inhabitants of St. Jean de Luz behaved with exemplary kindness to the survivors; and it was proposed in the Spanish council that, as a becoming acknowledgment, its ships and merchants should enjoy a perpetual exemption from all duties in Portugal, whither they ♦D. Francesco Manoel. Epanaphoras, p. 256.♦ traded largely for salt: I wish it could be added, that such a proof of national gratitude had been given. During the action of the 10th, a naval demonstration was made opposite Fort Socoa, by four of Sir George Collier’s squadrons: the swell would not admit of a close approach, but they came near enough for one of them to be struck by some shot from the sea-batteries.

The inhabitants of St. Jean de Luz had mostly remained in their own houses, shutting themselves up there to abide their fate, in dread of invaders whom they had been taught to consider as being equally rapacious and merciless. There was still a disposition in the allied troops to take that license which brutal spirits promise themselves in war; but, during the action of the 10th, two offenders had been hanged, each upon the nearest tree to the spot where his crime was committed, with a paper upon his breast declaring for what offence this summary justice had been executed. Such severity was equally politic and just; and the allies soon acquired as good a character for their conduct toward the inhabitants as for their behaviour in the field. The people were the more sensible of this, because it was strikingly contrasted with the predatory habits in which their own troops had long been licensed, and which those troops had not laid aside when they were driven within the French frontier. Marshal Soult would gladly now have withheld them from courses which he had so long permitted or encouraged; and just at this time an instance occurred in which he endeavoured to strike terror by a wholesome example. When they were quitting St. Jean de Luz, a woman complained to an officer whose company was quartered there, that the men, expecting to depart, were beginning to plunder her house: he gave no ear to her entreaties that he would restrain them, and the woman at length, in her emotion at seeing her goods thus given up to spoil, exclaimed, that “if those who ought to be their defenders would not protect them, the English might as well be there at once.” “Oh!” said the officer, “if you are a friend to the English, you shall see how I will protect you!” and immediately he set fire to her house himself. A gendarme who was present took the woman’s part, and declared that though he could not take the officer into custody, nor prevent him by force, he would report the circumstance to the Marshal: he did so; and the officer, who was a captain of infantry and a member of the Legion of Honour, was brought to a court-martial, condemned, and shot.

But it was too late for Marshal Soult to correct the inveterate habits of men who, during all their campaigns in the Peninsula, had been supported by a predatory system; and though most of the people, and especially the villagers, forsook their houses at the approach of the allies, yet, when proclamations were issued in French and in Basque (which is the language of these parts), assuring them that their persons and property should be respected, and when they understood that British discipline would afford them a security which it was in vain to hope for amid their own armies, they returned. The French authorities endeavoured in vain to dissuade them; the general wish was expressed so strongly, that at length no farther impediment was opposed to it than that of forbidding them to carry back anything with them. Above 3000 persons came back to St. Jean de Luz and the neighbouring places before the end of November, and as many more passed through the line of the allied outposts, in one day early in December, on their return; ... among them were several young men, escaping in women’s clothes from the conscription.

The weather had prevented Lord Wellington from passing the Nive, as he intended to have done, immediately after having forced the French position, and the army in consequence occupied only the confined space on the left of that river; while the enemy profited by all the resources of the country on its right, and had a free communication between Bayonne and St. Jean de Pied-de-Port. They occupied an intrenched camp in front of Bayonne, about twelve miles from S. Jean de Luz, and this position they had been fortifying with provident care from the time of their defeat at Vittoria. Bayonne ♦Bayonne.♦ obtained its present name in the twelfth century, till when it was called Lapurdum, as when the cohort of Novempopulania had its head-quarters there. This ancient city, which during three centuries belonged to our Plantagenet kings, is memorable in military history for the invention of the bayonet, a weapon that in its name indicates the place of its origin, and that, in British hands, has proved more destructive than any other to the nation by which it was invented. In the war of the French revolution this city would not have been tenable against a single division of an enemy’s army: the war of the intrusion made it immediately a place of great importance, as a depôt for the French; and therefore it was well fortified, to secure it against a sudden attack from the English, before the possibility of any more serious danger had been contemplated. It stands at the junction of the Nive with the Adour; the latter a great river, and the former not fordable for several miles up: the city is on the left of the Adour, the citadel on the other side. The position which Marshal Soult occupied was under the fire of the fortress; the right resting on the Adour, and covered in front by a morass, formed by a rivulet which falls into that river. The right of the centre rested upon the same morass, and its left upon the Nive; the left was between the Nive and the Adour, resting on the latter river and defending the former, and communicating with a division of the army of Catalonia, under General Paris, at St. Jean de Pied-de-Port. The roads from that place, and from St. Jean de Luz to Paris, pass through Bayonne; and these are the only paved roads, all the others are so bad as to be impracticable in winter. The enemy had their advanced posts, from their right, in front of Anglet, and toward Biaritz; and they had a considerable corps cantoned in Ville-Franche and Monguerre.

As soon as the weather and the state of the roads allowed, preparations were made for crossing the Nive. On the 8th of December Lord Wellington moved the troops out of their cantonments. The preceding day had brought intelligence that Hanover was delivered from the French, ... and that the Dutch also had risen against their oppressors, and asserted their independence. With this news to encourage them, at which even the French people appeared to rejoice, because it gave them a hope of peace, which could only be obtained by the total defeature of Buonaparte’s ambitious schemes, the allies recommenced their operations on the morrow. Sir Rowland, with the right of the army, was to cross at Cambo, and Beresford to support him by passing Sir Henry Clinton’s division at Ustaritz: the bridges at both places had been destroyed. The river, dividing into two branches, forms an island of considerable extent opposite Ustaritz; our piquets had previously occupied this, and here a pontoon bridge was thrown across during the night. The bridge at Campo had been hastily and insufficiently repaired, so that very few succeeded in getting over its broken slope. There were fords above and below; the lower was good enough for cavalry, but ten men were drowned in attempting it; the upper one, therefore, was chiefly used by the infantry, ... and it was no easy passage, the left bank being steep, and the water rising at the time, in consequence of renewed rain. At both places, however, it was effected with little opposition, and the enemy were immediately driven from the right bank. The troops, advancing then through swampy meadow-land and very deep roads, soon found themselves on the high road from St. Jean de Pied-de-Port; and the French retired skirmishing, being followed and pressed; those opposite Cambo were nearly intercepted by Sir Henry Clinton. The enemy now assembled in considerable force upon a range of heights running parallel with the Adour, keeping Ville-Franche upon their right; and they kindled fires, as if intending to remain there. A galling fire was kept up from the detached houses of this village; but houses, village, and heights were carried by the 8th Portugueze regiment, the 9th Caçadores, and the light battalions of the 6th division; and the French, after one or two hasty volleys, retired. The advance of the allies had been so much impeded by the condition of the ground, that by this time evening had closed; and Lord Wellington contented himself therefore with the possession of the ground that he occupied.

This had been a day of great fatigue for the left wing of the army. At one in the morning the drums had beat to arms; and, after a most toilsome march through heavy rain, the first division, under Major-General Howard, was assembled by daybreak at the Plateau of Barouillet, in advance of Bidart. At dawn the rain ceased; and the 5th division, under Major-General Hay, supported by the 12th light dragoons, was seen crossing the valley which separates the hilly ground of Biaritz from that of Bidart; its right in communication with the first, and its left extending to the sea-coast. At eight o’clock the whole line of light troops commenced their fire; those of the enemy contested every hedge and bank which afforded them shelter, and from whence they could take deliberate aim; but a fire of shells from the artillery, who posted themselves on the eminences along the whole line, assisted greatly in dislodging them. The whole line gradually advanced, and the enemy retreated before them to Anglet, not venturing to await their approach. About one the first division gained the heights on the right of the chaussée, opposite to Anglet, the light infantry driving the enemy down the slopes to their intrenched camp. The 5th division made equal progress, sweeping the country between Anglet and the sea as far as the banks of the Adour, and occupying with its light infantry the Bois de Bayonne, a large pine-wood which covers the whole space on the left of that river, between the intrenched camp and the sea. General Alten, meantime, made a corresponding advance with the light division, between the left wing and the Nive; they drove the enemy from behind the deep morass which ♦Batty’s Campaign, pp. 83–5.♦ covered their advanced posts in front of Bassussarry, and compelled them to retreat to their intrenched camp near the Chateau de Marrac, ... that castle to which, in the first act of this great drama, Ferdinand had been decoyed by Buonaparte.

As the movements on this side were intended only to favour the operations on the right, Sir John Hope’s instructions were to return to his cantonments, and to commence retiring thither at six in the evening, unless a countermand should arrive. It began again to rain heavily in the afternoon; and the troops, supposing they were to remain on the ground which they had gained, lighted, not without difficulty, their bivouac fires; but the weather was far too bad for them to remain in such exposed situations; and at the appointed time they began their march back toward their several cantonments, the 5th division forming the rear guard. By this time it was quite dark; even the main road had been completely broken up by the passage of artillery, and of so many troops; the hollow ways were knee-deep in mud: one little drummer stuck fast in it, and was obliged to be lifted out and carried for some distance by two soldiers; many of the men were so completely exhausted that they sunk down by the way-side; and before they reached the place of rest, they had been little less than four-and-twenty hours on foot, and during the greater part of that time in a heavy winter’s rain.

On the morning of the 10th Sir Rowland found that the enemy on his side had retired into their intrenched camp, on the right of the Nive. He established himself, therefore, in the position intended for him, with his right on the Adour, his left on the heights of Ville-Franche, above the Nive, and his centre across the chaussée at the village of St. Pierre. Marshal Beresford’s troops were again drawn to the left of the Nive; and Sir Rowland communicated with the centre of the army, by a bridge which had been laid over that river. Morillo’s division was placed at Urcuray, and Colonel Vivian’s brigade of light dragoons at Hasparren, to watch Paris’s movements, who, upon the passage of the Nive, had retired towards St. Palais.

Thus the allied army formed a sort of crescent, which was intersected by a river, and along which the communications were exceedingly bad. On any part of this bending line Marshal Soult could direct an attack with his main force; and, if he should be repulsed, there was a secure retreat for him within his intrenched camp. Supposing, therefore, that the allies would have their principal strength on the right of the Nive to support Sir Rowland, he left just troops enough to occupy the works opposite to that General’s position, and with the rest of his army moved at daybreak against Sir John Hope, expecting to overpower the left wing by numbers. The 5th division occupied the Plateau of Barouillet, having General Campbell’s Portugueze brigade in its front, on the high road. Baron Alten, with the light division, was posted at Arcangues, about two miles to the right. Both were on strong ground; but there was no defensive connexion between them, except along a range of hills, which projected too much to be occupied otherwise than by small posts; and between Barouillet and Arcangues there is a broad valley, which was left almost without defence, because it was thought that Marshal Soult would not attempt to advance in this direction, with posts of such strength upon either flank.

The enemy advanced in two strong columns; one by the great road attacked the posts of the 5th division, and drove them back upon their support on the Plateau of Barouillet. The other, coming forward by the Plateau of Bassussarry, threw out a strong line of tirailleurs, supported by battalions, against the light division at Arcangues; but the main body pushed on a little way beyond the left flank of the light division, and sent forward columns to attack the right of the 5th, denoting thus an intention of penetrating between, and in rear of the two divisions. Soult knew not at how great advantage he had taken the allies: the 5th division had been separated during the last night’s dismal march, the ammunition mules were not forthcoming, and when the piquets were driven in, there was hardly a round left. There was nothing to be done but to hold their ground as well as they could till more troops and ammunition should arrive. Not more than eight or ten guns could be brought into action, because of the nature of the ground, ... there being a low thick wood to the right, and close to the road; and on the left a rugged heath, intersected with gullies and ravines. The French brought more pieces into play, and served them with more than usual vivacity; for they knew their own great superiority of numbers, and were elated with the hope of getting to S. Jean de Luz, which was the great depôt of the allies. Sir John Hope, who was, with his staff, in the thickest of the fight, encouraging the troops by his example, received a severe contusion on his shoulder, and a hurt on his leg; and a ball went through his hat: ... it was believed that, at one moment, nothing but his extreme gallantry saved the troops from utter confusion. Major-General Robinson, who commanded the second brigade of this division, was severely wounded, and carried off the field. The contest still continued, ebbing and flowing, till the enemy pushed through the wood in front of Barouillet, and through a large field and orchard on its right, in such force as to drive back Campbell’s Portugueze brigade, and Robinson’s, which supported it; and, penetrating thus beyond the front of the position, they were rapidly following up their success, when a Portugueze battalion on the left flank boldly moved forward on the road, and wheeled into the rear of the wood; at the same time the 9th British regiment, under Lieutenant-Colonel Cameron, which was on the extreme right, faced about, and, uniting with the Portugueze, charged the French columns in their rear, ... a movement as unexpected as it was bold and well-timed. It gave the enemy a severe check at this point, and some hundred prisoners were taken. This was between two and three in the afternoon. By this time a considerable number of troops had arrived in detail; the brigade of guards, who had been ordered from St. Jean de Luz to support the 5th division, arrived just after the enemy had been thus checked; and Lord Wellington, hastening from the right wing where all was quiet, came to the scene of action. He was very much exposed this day, and unavoidably so, for there was no eminence from whence the whole field could be seen; the wood intercepted the sight, and it was necessary for him to ride from point to point. The enemy, checked though they had been, persisted in the action, and it continued till nightfall; the firing gradually ceasing as the evening closed, and the troops, after very severe loss on both sides, remaining on the ground which they had occupied in the morning. The remainder of the left wing having been brought up from its cantonments, the first division relieved the fatigued troops; and the 7th took post in rear of the position, to support either of the defensive corps.

Meantime the attack upon the light division at Arcangues had been maintained with great animation and perseverance. The enemy were repulsed in all their efforts to dislodge these troops from their defences of the churchyard and the chateau; but they retained at night the Plateau of Bassussarry, in the immediate front of Arcangues, which joins that of Barouillet, before the mayor’s house. The issue of the day had greatly disappointed Marshal Soult, whose utmost efforts had been completely defeated by a comparatively small part of the ♦Two German regiments escape from the French army.♦ allied forces, and with great loss. He suffered a further loss during the night. There were with him the two German regiments of Frankfort and Nassau Usingen: every possible means had been taken for concealing from their officers the state of affairs in Germany; nevertheless, they discovered that Germany had thrown off the yoke. The French government had been apprehensive of this, and, in consequence, had recently altered its conduct towards them; instead of being treated with disrespect, as men who had no government which could protect them, they now found themselves the objects of marked attention; and were newly clothed, and received pay up to the last six months, when a year and half’s was due to the greater part of the French army. Marshal Soult, however, under various pretences, had long kept them in the rear. But in the action of this day they were in advance, in Villatte’s division; and that General being severely wounded, the division was for a while without any special commander. The officer in command of the Nassau regiment was a Bavarian, but had been educated in Hanover, and for some years in the Hanoverian guards. Not only had the news from Germany reached him, but means had also been found for conveying to him the orders of his sovereign; he now took advantage of the first opportunity which had offered, and proposed to the Colonel of a French regiment, that his corps, with the two Nassau battalions, and one of the Frankfort, should occupy a height a little in advance of where they then were. The advice, though proposed with a view of going over to the allies, offered some feasible advantage, and was agreed to without suspicion. As it was growing dark, and the roads were intricate, it was further proposed, that the battalions should file to their ground by different routes. The German officers were apprized of the intention, except those of the second Frankfort battalion, to which no communication could be made, its commander being badly wounded in the action. A Frankfort officer now made his way to the outposts of our 4th division, in the centre of the allies, and announced the intended defection, requiring a General officer’s word of honour that they should be well received, and sent to Germany: no General being on the spot, Colonel Bradford gave his word: means were immediately taken to apprize the three battalions, and they came over in a body, 1300 men; the French not discovering their intention till just when it was too late to frustrate it. On the morrow the Colonel wrote to General Villatte, thanking him for the attentions which he had received whilst under his command; but stating that in obedience to their King’s orders, his troops had quitted the service of France to return to that of their own country. Their women and their sick, who were left behind, he commended to the General’s humanity; and said that his brother officers and himself freely gave up their personal baggage in performing an act prescribed by their duty. This officer seems to have united a just moral feeling to a proper sense of military honour; and he rejoiced that he had been able to bring off those battalions, without being compelled to fire on the French, in company with whom they had served so long.

In the morning the 5th division was brought a little forward, beyond the wood, and the advanced skirmishers were soon within forty or fifty yards of each other: the light troops drove in the enemy’s piquets, and the most advanced sentries were again pushed forward to their own line. On this side, and also at Arcangues, there was some skirmishing during the forenoon, but with little advantage on either side: about noon the firing was suspended, the weather brightened, unarmed parties were sent out to cut wood for cooking, and the men received their rations. But about two there was a stir in the enemy’s lines; they were seen cutting gaps in the fences for the passage of artillery; presently they attacked in great force, along the Bayonne road, driving in the piquets, and the hill in front of Barouillet again became the scene of contest. The soldiers who had gone in front to cut fuel ran hastily back when they heard the cry of “to arms,” that they might get themselves armed and accoutred; and the French, seeing them run toward the rear, thought they had taken panic, and set up loud cheers, as if they had now only to pursue their favourable fortune. But their whole left wing was promptly formed in perfect order. A feint attack was made upon Arcangues, to cover a serious one upon the Plateau Bassussarry. Lord Wellington’s orders were, that the piquets, in case of any serious effort, should be withdrawn from the hill in front, but that the position in front of Barouillet should be maintained: great efforts were made, and the enemy every where were repulsed, Sir John Hope, as on the yesterday, encouraging his men wherever there was most danger. During these two days he was struck three times; and all his staff had either themselves or their horses wounded. Lord Wellington is said to have requested that he would consider of what consequence he was to the army, and not expose himself so much. When darkness closed, the two armies were in the same position which they had occupied on the preceding night.

The fifth division, which, after one day’s severe exertion in the worst weather, had borne the heat of the action in the two following ones, was relieved by the first, as soon as it became so dark that the enemy could not perceive and take advantage of any change in their disposition. The night was again rainy, and in posting the sentries at some parts, it was not easy, because of the darkness, to avoid interfering with the French piquets. ♦Dec. 12.♦ The weather cleared toward morning; drums and trumpets were heard at intervals along the enemy’s line; and at sunrise their staff officers were seen riding in all directions. Soult showed three or four divisions; and at ten some severe skirmishing began, which continued till three, being chiefly confined to the wood and the immediate ground about the house of Barouillet. The loss was not great, but it fell chiefly on the guards: Captain Watson, the adjutant of the 3rd guards, observed in the morning that “plenty of laurel grew round that house to deck the graves of those who should fall,” ... and he was one of the first. Lord Wellington, foreseeing Soult’s intention, moved the 4th and 7th divisions to the rear of the light division and of the first, where they might afford support to either. But Marshal Soult, when he found how fully the allies were prepared, did not deem it prudent to make any further effort on this side, where he had tried his fortune skilfully, bravely, and perseveringly, but without success. The skirmishing therefore ceased in the afternoon, and the enemy retired entirely within their entrenched camp that night.

The last four days had been most harassing to the troops, exposed as they had been, and continually under arms; but the fifth day of these multiplied actions proved more murderous than any of the foregoing. During the night Soult passed a large force through Bayonne, with the intention of making a most formidable attack upon the right wing of the allies. Sir Rowland was aware of his movements, and prepared accordingly. His position was about a league from Bayonne, in the form of a crescent, extending about four miles from the Adour to the Nive. Major-General Pringle’s brigade, consisting of the 28th, 34th, and 39th regiments, formed the left, stationed on a ridge of hilly ground extending from Ville-Franche toward Bayonne, and bounded on one side by the Nive, and on the other by large mill-dams in a deep hollow, which separates it from the heights of Monguerre. Major-General Byng’s brigade, consisting of the 31st, 57th, and 68th, formed the right, posted also on a long ridge, in front of the village of Vieux Monguerre, which had the Adour on its right, and mill-dams in like manner on its left, separating it from the heights in the centre. Brigadier-General Ashworth’s Portugueze brigade occupied the centre ridge opposite the village of St. Pierre. The ground was favourable, because it admitted of only one or two points of attack, one of which was by the main road.

It was a clear frosty morning, but the ground so wet, and the road so heavy in that deep and rich soil, that the horses were knee-deep in stiff mud and clay. Soon after eight o’clock, the allied outposts on the great road were attacked by tirailleurs in great numbers, and the French columns advanced close in the rear. Soult showed that day about four divisions; and these, drawn up in two lines and supporting columns, appeared, from the confined ground on which they acted, more numerous than they were. They advanced up the long slope in front of the centre position, their column extending a good way on either side of the road; at the same time a large body moved against the left of the centre, up the hollow way, its right resting upon the mill-dams. Sir Rowland, as soon as the enemy’s intention of piercing the centre was manifest, brought Major-General Barnes’s brigade forward from the heights of Petit Monguerre, and stationed it on the right of Ashworth’s Portugueze. He moved also the whole of Byng’s brigade, except one regiment, and the light companies of the others, to support the right of the centre, and Brigadier-General Buchan’s Portugueze brigade from behind Ville-Franche, to support its left. These troops arrived just at the time when they were most needed; four guns of Lieutenant-Colonel Ross’s troop, and Lieutenant-Colonel Tulloch’s brigade of Portugueze artillery, were also moved up in aid of the centre, and kept up a steady but cautious fire, all possible exertions being used meantime for bringing them a supply of ammunition. The light companies which had gone forward in support of the piquets were borne back by weight of numbers upon the main line, and the French established themselves upon a height close to the position; and here the heat of the contest lay, this post being repeatedly won and lost, till Barnes’s brigade, with the 92nd Highlanders, and Ashworth’s Portugueze, made a final charge, and drove the enemy down. The artillery fired this day with dreadful effect, and the main road was in many places literally running with blood.

On the right a feint only was made, before which the battalion that had been left there retired from Vieux Monguerre to the heights in its rear; but, ascertaining from thence that the enemy on this side were not in force, they re-entered the village, and made some prisoners there. But on the left centre the columns which had advanced up the hollow way made a powerful attack; and though the 71st and part of the 92nd were sent to aid the Portugueze there, the enemy, by dint of superior force, won an important part of the position in front of Ville-Franche. Two Portugueze regiments opportunely arrived. Sir William Stewart directed the one to turn the right flank of the attacking columns, while the other attacked the enemy in front, charging them with the bayonet; and this was decisive in that quarter. A hot fire of tirailleurs was kept up meantime upon Major-General Pringle’s brigade, with a view of preventing it from aiding the centre; but that General, occupying a line at right angles to theirs, caused them considerable loss by a well-directed flanking fire.

Foreseeing such an attack on Sir Rowland, Lord Wellington had provided against it by requesting Marshal Beresford to reinforce him with the 6th division, which had crossed the Nive accordingly at daylight that morning; and he sent also for the fourth and two brigades of the third, and formed them in reserve. The expected coming of the 6th division gave Sir Rowland great facility in making his movements; but before its arrival he had completely repulsed the enemy, the troops under his immediate command being about 13,000 men, and the force by which they were attacked little, if at all, short of twice that number. The allies kept their ground; ... their purpose, therefore, was effected. Soult’s troops, when beaten back, had the city and the intrenched camp in their immediate rear, and retired under cover of their guns placed in position. They remained in great force in front of that camp, and kept up a warm cannonade upon the centre; but the officers could not induce their men again to renew attacks which they had found so destructive. Sir William Stewart then directed Major-General Byng to unite his brigade and attack the enemy upon the opposite bank of the mill-stream, in front of the height of Vieux Monguerre. Byng did this in the most gallant style, carrying the colours of the 66th himself, and planting them, under a hot fire of musketry and artillery, in their position. The third regiment crossed the mill-stream to co-operate in the attack; the brigade then drove the enemy down, and Buchan’s Portugueze arrived to aid in finally repulsing them. About four o’clock the action terminated in a continued skirmishing: at night the enemy retired within their camp.

The loss of the allies during these five days, in killed, wounded, and missing, amounted to 5029, of whom 302 were officers: nearly half the loss fell upon the Portugueze, upon whom, indeed, as much reliance was now placed as upon the British themselves. The last day was the most destructive: Generals Barnes, Le Cor, and Ashworth, and nearly the whole of the staff and aides-de-camp of Sir William Stewart, and of Generals Barnes and Byng, were wounded. The French return made their loss 1314 killed and 4600 wounded. They fought well in this long series of actions, far better than they had done in defending their position upon the Nivelle; and this can only be explained by the different feeling with which men, and especially men of the French temperament, are animated when standing on their defence, from that which excites them when they are themselves the assailants. Marshal Soult, who was never wanting in ability, never displayed more than on this occasion. The often repeated effort cost him his best troops, and forced upon him the mortifying conviction that, brave as they were, and admirably disciplined, they were nevertheless inferior to their opponents: for all circumstances here had been in his favour; the points of attack were at his own choice, and wherever he attacked he brought into the field a greatly superior force; yet every where he had been defeated. Not ♦Soult takes a defensive position.♦ venturing, therefore, again to repeat a trial in which he had so often failed, though he had at this time 50,000 infantry and 6000 cavalry, he cantoned his army in a defensive position, having its right on the camp round Bayonne, its centre spread along the right of the Adour, to Port de Lanne, and its left along the right of the Bidouse, from its confluence to St. Palais, posting two divisions of cavalry on the left of that place, and a weak division, under Harispe, at St. Jean de Pied-de-Port. That General had been withdrawn from Suchet’s army for this service, because, being a native of the valley of Baigorry, and having distinguished himself as a partizan in the Pyrenees, in the years 1794 and 1795, it was supposed that he might raise some irregular corps of his countrymen, and turn against the allies that system of guerrilla warfare which had proved so destructive to the invaders in Spain. Marshal Soult apprehended that Bayonne would be invested; and therefore he made Port de Lanne, which is on the Adour, eighteen miles above that city, his principal depôt, laying down a bridge there, and protecting it by strong works; and he lined the right of the river with redoubts armed with heavy cannon. He intrenched Hastingues, and covered Peyrehorade with a tête-de-pont, for the defence of the Gave de Pau; and in like manner secured the passages over the Bidouse at Guiche, Bedache, and Came. He also strengthened the fortifications of St. Jean de Pied-de-Port and Navarreins, and intrenched Dax as an entrepôt for stores and reinforcements from the interior; thus omitting no measure of precaution which a just estimate of his enemy’s strength seemed to require.