Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 60.djvu/193

 Wellesley On the 30th Soult, who had been joined by D'Erlon, while Wellington's divisions had also drawn together, gave up his attempt on Pamplona and moved off to his right, hoping to turn the left of the allies and relieve St. Sebastian. But Wellington fell upon the French left, which remained behind to cover this movement, and drove it in disorder over the mountains; and Soult himself, giving up his plan, regained French territory with difficulty on 2 Aug. by way of Echalar. In the nine days fighting, known as the battles of the Pyrenees, the loss of the allies was 7,300; that of the French was about twice as much (Desp. 1 and 3 Aug.)

The siege of St. Sebastian was renewed. A more powerful siege-train was used, and some trained sappers were employed for the first time; but the attack was still unsystematic, and the naval blockade had not been close enough to prevent aid reaching the garrison. The town was stormed on 31 Aug., and the castle surrendered on 9 Sept.; but they cost the besiegers 3,778 men (, i. 335-48). On the day of the assault Soult, pressed to do something to save the place, sent some of his troops over the Bidassoa. 'They were beat back, some of them even across the river, in the most gallant style by the Spanish troops,' Wellington reported; but this was said to encourage the Spaniards rather than as an accurate account (Desp. 2 Sept.; cf., i. 69; and , pp. 22, 156).

Wellington was strongly urged on political grounds to invade France, and he so far complied as to throw his left across the Bidassoa on 7 Oct. and force the French back on the Nivelle. Further than this he was not prepared to go while Pamplona held out, and the course of the war in Germany was doubtful. He knew that Suchet could bring at least thirty thousand men to cooperate with Soult if he chose to do so; and he had thoughts of going himself to Catalonia before undertaking any serious invasion of France (Desp. S Aug. and 19 Sept.) He had trouble to keep his own army together, for the Spaniards starved their troops, and the Portuguese wanted to withdraw their brigades from the British divisions and combine them under a Portuguese commander. There was bitter hostility to the English both at Lisbon and Cadiz, and at the latter place it was inflamed by reports that they had burnt St. Sebastian by order, out of commercial jealousy (ib. 9 and 23 Oct.) The minister of war, O'Donoju, who spread these reports, so persistently violated the conditions on which Wellington had accepted the command of the Spanish armies that he resigned that command on 30 Aug. His resignation was accepted by the regency but not by the cortes, and the dismissal of the minister improved matters (ib. 6 Oct. and 26 Jan. 1814).

Pamplona capitulated on 31 Oct. 1813. The battle of Leipzig had decided the war in Germany, and Wellington was now ready to invade the south of France with ninety thousand men. He issued a proclamation to the French people on 1 Nov. assuring them of good treatment if they took no part in the war. On the 10th the battle of the Nivelle was fought. The French right was very strongly posted in front of St. Jean de Luz, and Wellington's object was to force the centre and cut off the right, like Marlborough at Blenheim. He did not succeed entirely; but the French were driven from positions which they had been intrenching for three months, and which Soult believed to be impregnable. They fell back on Bayonne, having lost four thousand men and fifty guns.

The Spanish troops, neglected by their own government, plundered and ill-used the French peasantry, so Wellington sent them back to Spain, except Morillo's division. Bad weather kept him inactive for a month, but on 9 Dec. he forced the passage of the Nive, and placed Hill's corps between the Nive and the Adour. This restricted the French field of supplies and enlarged his own. Soult, seeing the allied army divided, took advantage of his central position at Bayonne to assail first one part and then the other. On the 10th he attacked the left and centre, but with no great vigour or success. He continued demonstrations against them on the llth and 12th; and having drawn the British reserves to that side of the Nive, he fell with twenty-eight thousand men upon Hill, who had only fourteen thousand. There was a hard-fought battle at St. Pierre on the 13th, but Hill held his ground till reinforcements came up (, Campagne du Marshal Soult en 1813-14, p. 284).

The state of the roads obliged Wellington to suspend his further advance till the middle of February 1814. By that time Napoleon had drawn largely on Soult and Suchet for troops; while Wellington, having at length received money to pay his way, was able to bring some of the Spaniards to the front again, though he could not cure them of pillaging. The French government tried, but with small result, to raise the peasantry against the invaders: 'the natives. . . are not only reconciled to the invasion, but wish us success' (Desp. 21 Nov.) Soult, not wishing to be shut up in Bayonne, left a