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barriers, immediately came forth in triumphant pursuit, and Massena was driven out of Portugal. Still, not wishing to cross the frontier without another blow, he rallied at the important fortress of Almeida, and faced round on his pursuers beneath its walls. He was beaten in half an hour, and Almeida was shortly invested.

then, in order to the defence of Portugal, he set | from sickness and starvation to a degree which all himself to meditate the celebrated lines of Torres but disorganized it. The English troops, who had Vedras. While engaged in planning those extraor- been living in comfortable quarters behind the dinary defences, General Beresford, now a marshal in the Portuguese service, was busy organizing the native army which was to help to defend their country. And it was not too soon. The French were now again threatening Portugal; and to Massena and Ney-the "Spoiled Child of Fortune," and the "Bravest of the Brave"-was specially given the charge of coping with the hero of The French being now expelled from Portugal, the Douro and the repulser of Victor and Jourdan. Lord Wellington prepared to follow them into The emperor, indeed, was seriously alarmed for Spain, and great became the excitement at the the safety of his Spanish dominions. He could no Tuileries. One by one, Napoleon had seen his longer despise the "Sepoy General," and he de- most favored and his previously most successful termined this time, if possible, to crush him. The marshals out-generalled and out-fought. Even the whole of the French army, which at this period"Spoiled Child of Fortune" had lost his luck. was closing upon Wellington, amounted to nearly Soult, the best of his manœuvrers, had been taken 380,000, while the English commander possessed by surprise and routed; and Ney, the most headin all hardly 60,000, and half of these Portuguese, long and dashing of his fighting men, had in vain though now well-disciplined and steady soldiers.

flung himself and his cavalry against British bayone ts. Three great armies were now, therefore, poured westward over the Pyrenees; one to guard the north of Spain-another to menace the south of Portugal-while Marmont lay posted between them, ready to help either. Soult hovered upon the frontier, and was for some time Wellington's nearest opponent.

Before, however, attempting to carry the war into Spain, the English general, who never neglected the means to any great result, bethought him of the two great fortresses of Badajoz and Ciudad Rodrigo. Each was a place of vast strength

each was garrisoned by Frenchmen-each commanded a border defile; and to advance into Spain, leaving such posts in the possession of the enemy, would be, in case of a reverse, to hamper-perhaps to preclude-a retrograde westward movement. At all events, it would be to place himself between two fires. He, therefore, determined that Badajoz and Ciudad Rodrigo should fall. It was a bold idea, and few generals so ill-supplied as Wellington was with the requisite material for bombardment would have embraced it. He had literally no heavy artillery-no battering trains capable of playing with real effect upon massive bastions-and he was also deplorably deficient in sappers, miners, and engineers. Perhaps no general ever advanced against such strong fortresses with such slender means for their reduction. Cohorn and Vauban would have laughed at the madness of the experiment, but Wellington had as much confidence in a wall of men-at least of Englishmen-as in one of stone or bricks; and, moreover, he knew that, if his artillery was not what it ought to be, his bayonets were. At all events, home intrigues and ministerial apathy had kept him short of every requisite of a besieging army, and he had no choice.

Such was the aspect of affairs when the famous lines of Torres Vedras were formed. A glance at the map will show that Lisbon is situated on the inner part of a promontory, of which the Atlantic washes one side, and the Tagus and its estuary the other. The promontory is scarcely more than eighteen miles broad; and by carrying a succession of fortified posts, strongly defended, through the country-which offered good capabilities for the purpose-from the ocean at Vedras to the back of Lisbon on the Tagus, Viscount Wellington was, in effect, making a fortified place of the whole city and its immediate vicinity. He thus determined to defend Lisbon after even Portugal had fallen. He did not, however, rest within the lines; but when Massena and Ney began to approach, he went forth to watch and check their progress. The French advanced, confident of victory. Wellington's plan of defence was utterly unknown to them, but they guessed that something unusual was in preparation, from the conduct of the country people, who kept retiring with the British forces, and driving their cattle before them-so that Ney and Massena had, contrary to the wont of French generals, to trust exclusively to their own commissariat. Lord Wellington retired slowly before the advancing French, until he stopped upon the plains of Busaco, and offered Ney battle. The challenge was at once accepted, and Ney rolled his divisions on the British army. It was in vain. They were repulsed again and again, and the bravery of the Bravest of the Brave was met by cold British courage. Wellington was, of course, only fighting on the defensive. After repelling the French he waited to be attacked again, but neither Ney nor Massena thought fit to repeat the assault. All at once, however, he retreated. Massena, persuaded that he had lost heart, and was retiring to embark for England, pursued with great energy. But his The first siege was commenced under the direccommissariat had fallen short. The country he tion of Marshal Beresford, who was watching a found a desert, and the health of his men broke corps of Soult's army, while the commander-indown. Horse-flesh alone was procurable, and even chief proceeded northwards to oppose what he that soon failed them. Nevertheless, Massena rightly deemed would be the last efforts of Masrallied his troops by holding out visions of the sena. The latter, who was expecting every day plunder of defenceless Lisbon. They pushed on, but what they found was not a capital, but a series of entrenched fortifications-the immortal lines of Torres Vedras. Of course, nothing could be done. The French general encamped before the fortifications, and lingered there for two or three weeks; after which, convinced that he had been entrapped, he commenced a sullen retreat—his army suffering

to be recalled in disgrace-for, in fact, Marmont was to take his place-and who was rendered desperate by his losses, made one more effort, in an attempt to scatter the besieging forces who were investing Almeida. His army had been recruited at Salamanca, and his cavalry was stronger than ever. In all, he possessed about 45,000 men. Wellington met him with 32,000 men, and then

ensued the battle of Fuentes d'Onore. This was they fled, leaving 1,500 unwounded British solone of the hardest-fought engagements during the diers-the remnant of 6,000-triumphant on the war, and it is memorable in military history as hill. Beneath them lay their comrades in their one of those rare occasions when bayonets were ranks, as they had been mowed down by Soult's frequently crossed. Massena was everywhere re-grape; and every wound," says Beresford, in pulsed, but next day renewed the combat. During his despatch to the commander-in-chief, "was in its progress a very critical movement on the part the front." of Wellington, for the purpose of concentrating his After some days of uncertainty, Soult retreated troops, exposed the British to imminent danger; upon Seville, and Wellington arrived at Albuera. but it was at last accomplished. The contest was Then followed the first two assaults upon Badajoz. protracted and severe-more so, perhaps, than in They were unsuccessful, and Marmont was adany other Peninsular battle-and various changes vancing, nearly 70,000 strong, with every probaof fortune occurred during the day. Nightfall put bility of being able to effect a junction with Soult. an end to the engagement, and Massena drew off Under these circumstances, Wellington retired his baffled forces. The slaughter was severe upon upon the Portuguese frontier; and after some his side, and, though our losses were considerable, mutual manoeuvring, during which he threatened Massena was irretrievably beaten and ruined. the fortress of Ciudad Rodrigo, he took up his winThe expected order for his recall soon arrived. He ter quarters on the Coa. So terminated the camleft the army with his son and a single aide-de-paign of 1811, and Marmont probably expected a camp, and sank thenceforward into obscurity. quiet winter. If so, he did not know with whom On his discomfiture, Almeida finally surrendered. he had to deal. Wellington had at last procured Meantime Marshal Beresford was busy before a really serviceable battering train, and then, in Badajoz, and Soult was marching against him to the depth of winter, he suddenly invested Ciudad relieve the place. If the gallant English officer Rodrigo. In a few days that all but impregnable had been tolerably supplied with the materials for fortress fell. There was a tremendous conflict as conducting a siege, it is probable that the French the English and Portuguese mounted the breaches, marshal would, on his arrival, have found the and they suffered severely from a mine explosion; British flag flying from the walls of the fortress. but within an hour of the advance of the forlorn But what could Beresford do with breaching cannon hopes, who assaulted the place at three points, the too big for the balls, and with howitzers too small British flag was flying on the battlements. Marin the bore for the shells? Besides, he had no mont was astonished, and made no demonstration efficient corps of engineers, and he was deplorably of action, retiring to Valladolid. Badajoz soon in want of good diggers and trenchers. While he shared the fate of Ciudad Rodrigo. By an inwas thus unprofitably engaged, Soult came up. As genious stratagem the French were made to beBeresford could not carry on the siege in the imme-lieve that the commander of the British forces had diate presence of a French army, he drew up his sent his heavy guns to Cadiz, and they were only entire force upon the ridges of Albuera. They informed of their mistake by the thunder of the consisted of some 6,000 British and 1,500 Ger- artillery as it battered the walls of the last French mans, with 12,000 unreliable Spaniards. Several stronghold in Spain-the so-deemed invincible of the stanch Portuguese brigades, however, dis- Badajoz. The details of this dreadful siege are ciplined by Beresford himself, were present, with well known. It is, perhaps, the bloodiest recorded 2,000 cavalry. In all, he had about 27,000 men, in history. "Never,' says Colonel Jones in his of whom perhaps 15,000 might be called soldiers."History of Sieges,' "since the discovery of gunSoult had brought with him about 19,000 picked powder, were men more seriously exposed to its troops, 4,000 cavalry, and 50 guns. The battle action. On the glacis, in the ditches, in the of Albuera began unprosperously. The French attacked the Spaniards, and the latter ran away. Soult thought that the whole army was yielding; but he speedily found out his mistake, and then, with his well-served artillery, his powerful cavalry, and his ferocious Polish Lancers, he fell upon the English troops. The slaughter was at first fearful-regiment after regiment was all but annihilated, and a mass of bewildered Spaniards actually attacked their own allies. The mistake was at last rectified, and then the word was given to them to charge. But not a man would move. Beresford seized an ensign by the collar, and dragged him forward into the line of the French fire, hoping that the men would follow their standard-bearer. They stood, however, like stocks, and were entirely useless. Still the fight was bravely kept up, and with less inequality, until a fresh French division poured in their masses. This was the most critical moment; but happily the present commander-in-chief suggested, and General Cole ordered, the celebrated charge of the Fusileers. These gallant fellows dashed through the Polish Lancers, and fell upon the French at a point where they least expected it, fighting with the valor of desperation. The carnage was most severe; but Soult's forces were first shaken, then totally discomfited, and, after a confused mêlée,

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trench, and on the ramparts, the British had, inch by inch, to fight their way. When Badajoz was won, nearly 1,000 English soldiers and 72 officers lay dead, while 3,500 men and 306 officers were disabled by their wounds. Wellington is said to have been utterly overcome, and to have wept over the terrible slaughter.

But the work was not ended. Marmont was lingering round Salamanca, making advances and then retreating, according to the news he received of the movements of the British. At length he knew that they were approaching, and after a number of outpost skirmishes, the armies came in sight of each other near the Tormes, when a sort of chess game of manoeuvring took place. That day, on which the two hosts, amounting in all to 90,000 men, marched in parallel lines, sternly regarding each other, has been described as one of the strangest and most remarkable in military annals. Wellington did not wish to risk a battle, and he would not have done so, had not his antagonist committed the extraordinary blunder of separating a large portion of his army from the rest, in hope of cutting off the allied troops from falling back on Ciudad Rodrigo. Instantly Wellington fell like a thunderbolt upon Marmont's weakened force. The fight was short, and the most decisive victory we had yet won in the Peninsula

was one of the speediest. Marmont made desperate efforts to rally the fortunes of the day, until he was wounded, and carried off the field; and soon afterwards his troops were in total rout. The French lost all their artillery, and we took thousands of prisoners. Such was the battle of Salamanca-a battle in which 40,000 men were routed in forty minutes. Wellington is described to have been, in his own quiet way, more elated after this engagement than even after Waterloo, and he always regarded Salamanca as the best won victory he had ever achieved. Napier writes-"I saw him late in the evening of that great day, when the advancing flashes of cannon and musketry showed how well the field was won. He was alone. But the flush of victory was upon his brow, and his eyes were eager and watchful, but his voice was calm and even gentle. With a prescient pride he seemed to accept this glory as an earnest of greater things to come."

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The story of the failure of the siege of Burgos possesses no particular features of interest. Several breaches were effected, and attacks made upon them, but in no case with success; and when Wellington found that, if he sat longer beneath the walls, he would probably be assailed by the united forces of Suchet and Soult, who were marching on the town, the siege was raised. General Hill was recalled from Madrid, where he commanded the English garrison; and he managed to effect a junction with his chief in spite of some difficulties, after which the entire army retired to the frontiers of Portugal, taking up their position on the Aguedo. Near Salamanca a second battle might have been fought. The French had an opportunity for attack, but they declined it.

ceived that the time was come for the final and crowning effort. He bade adieu to Lisbon forever, traversed the country rapidly to the east, crossed the Aguedo for the last time, and marched in high spirits into Spain.

During the winter Lord Wellington made what might be called a progress through the south-west of Spain, and into Portugal. He visited Cadiz, which, thanks to its British garrison, its situaIn the following month of August, Wellington tion, and its fortifications, was the only town in rode, upon scattered flowers and amid garlands, Spain over which the tricolor had not floated. Its wreaths, and banners-the whole population cleav- siege had been a blockade rather than a course of ing the air with acclamations-into the royal city active operations, and Soult had raised it upon the of Madrid. He then received his marquisate from English occupation of Madrid. Thence the MarGreat Britain, and his commission as generalissi- quis of Wellington proceeded to Lisbon, where an mo of Spain. enthusiastic reception awaited him at the hands Notwithstanding these brilliant successes, he of his old friends and coadjutors, the Portuguese; was in a critical position, and to remain for any but, while there, he observed a change in the affairs time inactive at Madrid was impossible. The of France which promised a speedy termination of French marshals, whose jealousies and rivalries the war in Spain, and his quick mind at once perhad often stood the British commander in good stead, were uniting under the pressure of common misfortune. Soult had abandoned the siege of Cadiz; but he had joined his forces to those of Suchet, while Massena's army was being fast recruited under the command of Marshal Clausel, at Burgos in Old Castile. Wellington, true to his accustomed policy of attacking his enemies in detail, determined, if possible, to annihilate Clausel, and to destroy the fortifications of Burgos, which stood on the high road to Bayonne. On his march, which was rapid, he drove Clausel back from Valladolid, and entering the town of Burgos, he found that the French had deserted it-leaving, however, behind them 2,000 men, to defend the fort and citadel. The situation of this point was so important that Bonaparte's attention had been called to it, and it had recently been put into an efficient state of defence; while Wellington, on the other hand, was no longer provided with the siege trains which had burst the breaches in the walls of Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz. The siege of Burgos was consequently unsuccessful; and the subsequent letter of the commander-in-chief to the home authorities is sufficiently explicit as to the difficulties which caused his failure. Writing from winter quarters at Ciudad Rodrigo to Lord Liverpool, he says:-- In regard to means, there were ample means, both at Madrid and Santadar, for the siege of the strongest fortress. That which was The game of war has been often compared to wanting in both places was means of transporting that of chess, and no general has ever done more ordnance and artillery stores to the place where it than Wellington to render the comparison approwas desirable to use them. The people of Eng-priate. It was not so with Napoleon-he fought land, so happy as they are in every respect, so rich recklessly wherever and whenever he found an in resources of every description, having the use enemy. It was Wellington's rule only to fight of such excellent roads, &c., will not readily believe that important results here frequently depend upon fifty or sixty mules, more or less, or a few bundles of straw to feed them; but the fact is so, notwithstanding their incredulity. I could not find means of moving even one gun from Mad

rid."

11

It was, indeed, a critical period. Bonaparte had fled home from Russia; and somewhere about 20,000 poor, worn-out, frost-bitten, and half-starved stragglers-the remnant of a host of near 400,000 men, were making their weary way through the steppes of Poland to the Danube. This was the first great and overwhelming blow which had struck Napoleon. It was overwhelming in every respect. It destroyed his prestige of victory; it seriously undermined his reputation for judgment and sagacity; and it broke up, for the time, the military strength of France. With 350,000 men sleeping in Russian snows, with the warlike spirit of the country in no inconsiderable degree checked and damped, it was obvious to Wellington that French armies could no longer be pushed across the Pyrenees with the old rapidity, and that now was the time for entering on the decisive campaign. His force amounted to fully 70,000 highly disciplined and enthusiastic men, over and above the Spanish contingent. The French had in all nearly 200,000, and King Joseph was nominally at their head; but Wellington well knew his and their relative strength, and pushed confidently on.

when he had, by superior manoeuvring, placed his enemy at a disadvantage, or when-as at Busacohe had some distinct ulterior point to gain, of which his antagonist knew nothing. By this system of policy the English commander spared his men; Napoleon's system was freely and recklessly to sacrifice them. Acting upon his characteristic

principle, the Marquis of Wellington suddenly expressed a wish that he would wait for one "litchanged the line of march from the route which tle quarter of an hour." The general acceded. it had been confidently supposed that he would When the time was up, he moved forward, and the adopt; and by sweeping, with a portion of his three divisions ultimately coalescing, the enemy forces, the north side of the Douro through ground broke up and fled from the field. The spoils of completely new, he suddenly appeared both on the Vittoria were enormous. The French, being on front and the flank of the enemy, who found their their way home, were carrying with them the colcommunications with France cut off, while the lected pillage of years; and the aspect of the field British commander was pressing energetically on where the stores had been deposited is represented their foremost outposts. The forces of King Joseph as that of a perfect chaos of valuable property, immediately retired, General Graham pursuing particularly of jewellery, plate, silks, lace, and a them, and soon joining his commander; so that vast quantity of the finest and most récherché wines the united divisions, including that of General -including the private stock of Joseph, whom the Hill, speedily changed the retreat into something Spaniards called the "King of the Bottles," and very like a flight. The English army were now in who had a very narrow escape from capture, being full march upon the high road to France, and for obliged to jump out of his carriage and fly upon the last time Joseph fled from the Escurial. He one of the horses. In the vehicle was found a made his way to Burgos, attended by the remnant choice collection of plunder, consisting of the richof his court, and there joined the retreating army. est and rarest sacerdotal vessels which could be For a short time it appeared as if the spirits of stolen from the cathedrals of all Spain. An imthe French had been revived by the sight of the mense amount of money also fell to the lot of the still unconquered battlements from which the victors. "The soldiers," writes Lord Wellington, English commander had been obliged to retire the" have got among them more than one million autumn before; for they commenced rebuilding sterling in money, with the exception of about the shattered walls, and showed signs that at 100,000 dollars which we got for the military Burgos they were determined to make a stand. chest." The booty of arms and ammunition was But as the advancing outposts of the conquering vast. There were amongst it 150 brass cannon, army appeared, their hearts failed them. They 415 caissons, 14,000 round of artillery ammunition, blew up the citadel and continued their flight to 2,000,000 musket cartridges, and 41,000 pounds the Ebro, where they prepared to make another of loose powder. One trophy of the field was stand under cover of the fortified town of Pancorvo, Joseph's bûton as Maréchal de France, which still which commands the river. But the consummate exists in Apsley House. player of the chess of war made another move. Leaving Pancorvo alone, he sent a portion of his forces through a wild and difficult country to cross the river at a higher point. The manoeuvre, although it involved great toil, dispensed with the siege of Pancorvo. The French were again taken in flank, and again they retreated, marching to Vittoria, where it was evident they intended really to make a last effort. But their confidence in their own invincibility had been sadly abated. They had been driven across three parts of the breadth of Spain without once turning to bay; and, pernaps, when Joseph and Jourdan saw the British troops defiling out upon the plain of Vittoria, they thought forebodingly upon Talavera, and remembered too the victory gained by English bows and English lances under the banners of the Black Prince, upon that very ground, some six or seven hundred years before.

The French army, now thoroughly broken up, fled to the fastnesses of the outlying spurs of the Pyrenees, and made what preparations they could to prevent the victorious host from penetrating into France. The news of Vittoria spread dismay in Paris, and appalled Bonaparte, who was with his armies in Saxony. The intelligence totally disinclined the allies to treat further with Napoleon, and the Congress of Prague was immediately dissolved. England now took a higher tone than ever in the Continental disputes, and the allied armies pressed harder and harder upon the emperor. Napoleon felt himself in the toils. The fates had turned against him. He uttered passionate exclamations against his generals, who had allowed themselves to be beaten, one after another, by a

Sepoy" captain; and, sending for Soult-now the Lieutenant General of the Empire"-he gave him plenary power over the whole of the The battle which ensued terminated in the de- French soldiers still in the Peninsula, and, as a cisive rout of the entire French army. Not since last resort, despatched him across the Pyrenees. Agincourt or Poitiers had there been a more per- It has often been a matter of speculation why fect discomfiture. The carnage was not so great Napoleon did not himself-leaving Soult in Geras in many other Peninsula fights, but the disor- many, where the French had so often triumphedganization of the French was hopeless. Lord proceed to Spain, where they had never won a Wellington made his attack in three great divis- field. Had he any lurking fear that the Sepoy ions. That under General Hill, which assailed the general's successes were destined to be as unvaried left wing of the French, which was immediately beyond the Pyrenees as his own had been in Italy under Jourdan's command, had the most severe and Germany, campaign after campaign? Had work assigned to them. While they were perform- he proceeded personally to the Peninsula, the two ing it, Wellington's central column was advancing to attack the enemy in their central point. All at once it came to a stand. The French already triumphed in the expectation of victory, and believed that the determined front which they showed had overawed the British commander. The fact was this;-General Sir George Murray, knowing that Graham, the commander of the left division, would require some little time to get into action, and knowing the value of a simultaneous attack, rode up to the marquis and, taking out his watch,

great warriors of the day would have been fairly pitted against each other; but he disposed matters differently, and the result was, that, whilst Soult experienced the defeats of Bidassoa and Toulouse, the emperor himself encountered the "fatal dimdiscrowning day" of Leipsic.

The Lieutenant General of the Empire proceeded gallantly to discharge his mission, collecting every man he could muster, and pouring impetuously through the Bayonne Pass, in the western Pyrenees. Previously to this, however,

both Pampeluna and St. Sebastian had been invest- | vengeance for the years during which they had ed by the advancing English. General Claussel, been groaning under the ravages of the French. who had been coming up to join Jourdan, stopped But they were disappointed. The Spanish legions when he heard of Vittoria-wavered-and then were very refractory, but the Portuguese quietly fled, by the central passes of the Pyrenees, back submitted, and hardly a hen-roost suffered, from into France. Meantime, Wellington was advanc- Bayonne to Bordeaux and Toulouse. ing by the western passes, and gradually establishing his footing in the mountains. His forces soon traversed the famous field of Roncesvalles, and occupied the mouth of the Bidassoa, while the divisions stationed higher on the hills looked down upon the plains of ancient Bearn-the modern department of the Basses Pyrenees.

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Soult's repeated and desperate efforts to check the triumphant progress of his opponents upon French soil need hardly be described. Nothing could arrest the conquering course of the British army. Soult was driven past the Gave and the Adour, and at length the road to Bordeaux lay open to the invaders. General Hope remained under the Pyrenees, investing the abandoned position of Bayonne; and Marshal Beresford was received in a friendly manner by the citizens of Bordeaux. Meantime, Soult had occupied Toulouse, and Suchet, who still had an army in the eastern corner of Spain, was preparing to join him. Recalling, therefore, with all speed, Marshal Beresford from Bordeaux, Wellington attacked Toulouse, and, after one of the bloodiest battles of the war, drove Soult out-Frenchmen maintaining, however, to this day, that it was Soult who had driven back Wellington. But as the former had retired towards Castelnaudry, while the latter was installed in Soult's vacant quarters-and as, moreover, Soult had evidently not wished to leave his position, as was proved by his fighting for itthere is no need of discussing the Gallic version of the story.

It was at this crisis that Soult made his appearance to carry out the orders of the emperor, which instructed him to date the tidings of his success from Vittoria, and to celebrate there the birthday of the ex-King of Spain. The Lieutenant-General and his subordinates in command attacked the Peninsular allies at several points, but the only impression they made was on a battalion of Portuguese, and that success was speedily reversed by English bayonets. This desultory species of fighting endured for some days, after which the French gradually retired from the more advanced passes, and Wellington resumed his occupation of the defiles. These operations, though not brilliant, were most skilfully conducted, and have been much studied and praised by military critics. Wellington calculated that there were seventy passes, within sixty miles, by which his adversaries could introduce men into Spain. In a private letter, written from France, the commanderin-chief remarked :-"I never saw such fighting as we have had here. It began on the 25th of July; and excepting the 29th, when not a shot was fired, we had it every day till the 2d of August.' The battle of the 28th was fair bludgeon work. Soult at length retreated upon the Bidassoa, and General Graham, during the absence of the commander-in-chief, took St. Sebastian. The story of this desperate battle, which lasted for five hours in the breach of the fortalice, is well known. In fierceness it surpassed that of Ciudad Rodrigo, and in loss of life that of Badajoz. Upwards of 3,000 English soldiers perished beneath the walls. The setting fire to the town is now well known to Wellington had landed at Lisbon on the 22d of have been the act of the retreating French garri- April, 1809. His first battle, like his last, was son. "The fire," as Wellington himself wrote, with Soult. The first was the passage of the "was one of their means of defence." The Douro, fought on the 12th of May, 1809. The British were, however, charged by the Spaniards last was that of Toulouse, on the 10th of April, with having caused the conflagration, and the ac- 1814. Between these two dates, including a space cusation was used to excite the populace of Spain of four years and eleven months, Wellington, with against the man, the troops, and the country, which a force which never amounted to more than had saved them from abject submission to a ruth- 35,000 Englishmen, with about 25,000 Portuguese less enemy, at an enormous expense of life and and which was often much less-had driven out treasure. Dastards in the field, the Spanish were braggarts when the danger was over; while the weak and profligate functionaries of the statealthough they paid the English conqueror a lip homage and heaped upon him empty honors-hated in their hearts the man whose splendid achievements had so utterly eclipsed their puny efforts at defence.

After the fall of St. Sebastian, the garrison of Pampeluna surrendered, and, at the cost of some hard fighting, the Bidassoa was crossed; and with flags flying, and bands playing the "British Grenadiers," the army entered France. Here the measures taken by Wellington to prevent plunder, utterly astonished the Spanish and Portuguese allies. They had expected that, once across the Pyrenees, they would be allowed to take ample

At all events the battle of Toulouse was virtually the close of the war. The emperor had abdicated before that event took place, and whether Soult was aware of the transactions at Fontainebleau when he defended Toulouse is one of those riddles which will never be solved. His great opponent, with his accustomed generosity, has, indeed, acquitted the French marshal of the heavy crime of wasting unnecessarily so much blood; but the truth of the matter has never been satisfactorily ascertained. Very shortly after Soult's retreat to Auch, he gave in his allegiance to the Bourbon King-a convention was drawn up for a lasting truce between the two forces, and the Peninsula war was over.

of the Peninsula army after army of the French, amounting to many hundreds of thousands of veteran troops. This he had done in the face of unexampled difficulties-with unpaid soldiers, with stinted and precarious supplies of stores and ammunition-suffering from the cowardice and incapacity of the Spaniards, civil and military, and harassed still more by the apathy and carelessness of the ministry at home. Nor had he, until late in the war, anything like an adequate park of artillery; and, on one most important occasion, he was destitute of the requisite animal force to make it serviceable. Under these disadvantages, however, he first routed Soult on the Douro, broke up his army, and chased him into Gallicia. Secondly, he gave battle to the combined armies of Jourdan and Victor at Talavera, and overthrew them, with

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