Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 60.djvu/194

 Wellesley garrison of fourteen thousand men there, and took up the line of the Bidouze. Wellington, by threatening his left, forced him to fall back, and drew him away from Bayonne, in front of which Sir John Hope [see Hope, John (1765-1823) (DNB00), fourth ] remained with twenty-eight thousand men. On 23 Feb. Hope sent a division across the Adour below the town, and by the 26th a bridge of boats was made, 'a stupendous undertaking which must always rank among the prodigies of war' (, vi. 94;, ii. 145). The width of the river was nearly three hundred yards, and the rise of tide fourteen feet. Bayonne was then invested on all sides.

Meanwhile Soult had fallen back behind the Gave de Pau, and concentrated his troops at Orthes, where he was attacked on the 27th by Wellington, who had passed the stream lower down with the bulk of his troops. There were nearly forty thousand men on each side, and the battle was obstinate. Wellington was himself struck by a bullet above the thigh—his only wound, and not a serious one. The French were at length driven from their position, and as Hill, who had been on the left bank, had by that time forced a passage above Orthes, Soult was obliged to retreat northward. His retreat soon became a flight, in which he lost thousands of stragglers, and he had to abandon his magazines. After crossing the Adour he marched up the right bank, and hoped to deter Wellington from moving on Bordeaux or Toulouse. But Wellington sent Beresford to Bordeaux with twelve thousand men; the Due d'Angouleme entered the city, and Louis XVIII was proclaimed there. Wellington refused, however, to identify himself with a Bourbon restoration, as the allies were at that time negotiating with Napoleon (Desp. 7 and 16 March).

Wellington remained on the defensive at Aire till he was rejoined by Beresford and by other troops, bringing up his numbers to forty-six thousand men. On 17 March 1814 he advanced upon Soult, who had been threatening him, but who now retreated rapidly by Tarbes on Toulouse. He was prepared to defend that city when Wellington, who followed more slowly, arrived there on the 26th. As the country to the south proved impassable, Wellington crossed the Garonne below Toulouse, and made his attack from the north and east; though the Canal du Midi formed a line of defence on these sides, and on the east, beyond the canal, the heights of Calvinet had been intrenched. In numbers Soult was inferior by ten thousand men, but his works and his central position more than made up for this.

Bad weather delayed the battle till 10 April. While Hill threatened the St. Cyprien suburb on the left bank, and two divisions on the north threatened the posts on the canal, the real attack was made by the fourth and sixth divisions upon the heights of Calvinet, after a hazardous flank march under fire. Morillo's Spaniards co-operated with them. The heights were at length taken, and the French fell back behind the canal, though their loss was only two-thirds of that of the allies, which was 4,660 men. On the night of the 11th Soult, fearing that he would be shut in, left Toulouse and marched towards Carcassonne (, Considérations Militaires, &c.) Next day news reached Wellington of Napoleon's abdication, and a convention was signed on 18 April 1814 by which hostilities ceased.

Wellington was summoned to Paris to confer with the allied sovereigns about Spain. On 10 May he set out for Madrid, to smooth matters between the restored King Ferdinand and his subjects. He left Madrid on 8 June, having effected little; issued a farewell order to his army at Bordeaux on the 14th, and landed in England on the 23rd. His journey from Dover to London was a triumphal progress, and his carriage was drawn by the people from Westminster Bridge to his house in Hamilton Place. Fresh honours now fell thick upon him. He was created Marquis of Douro and Duke of Wellington on 3 May. An annuity of 13,000l., or in lieu of it a sum of 400,000l. for the purchase of estates, was voted by parliament, in addition to former grants, on 13 May. The thanks of parliament had already been voted for St. Sebastian (8 Nov.) and for Orthes (24 March). On 28 June the duke took his seat in the House of Lords, and received the thanks of that house and of the House of Commons. On 1 July he made his acknowledgments for the latter in person, the procedure following closely that which had been adopted in the case of Schomberg a century and a quarter before. The speaker remarked in his reply that the nation 'owes to you the proud satisfaction that, amidst the constellation of great and illustrious warriors who have recently visited our country, we could present to them a leader of our own, to whom all, by common acclamation, conceded the pre-eminence' (Speeches, i. 96). On the 7th he took part in the thanksgiving service at St. Paul's, bearing the sword of state, and on the 9th he was entertained by the city, which four years before had demanded an inquiry into his conduct. The orders of Maria Theresa of Austria, St. George of Russia, the Black Eagle of Prussia,