Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 24.djvu/522

Rh 496 WELLINGTON defeat him at Fuentes d Onoro, and Almeida passed into the hands of the British. In the south Soult advanced to the relief of Badajoz. He was overthrown by Beresford at Albuera ; but the junction of the two French armies compelled the English to raise the siege, and Wellington had to retire within the Portuguese frontier. Moving northwards with the view of laying siege to Ciudad Rodrigo, he was again outnumbered by the French, and forced to withdraw to cantonments on the Coa. Wellington had from the first seen that, whatever number of men Napoleon might send against Portugal, it was impossible, owing to the poverty of the country, that any great mass of troops could long be held together. The French generals, by combining their armies, might for a while be superior to him, but the want of provisions would inevitably lead to their separation after a longer or shorter interval. This was verified at the end of 1811. Soult s division had to move southwards for support, and the English were again more than a match for the enemy in front of them. Wellington resumed the offensive, and on the 19th of January 1812 Ciudad Rodrigo was taken by storm. The road into Spain was now open ; it only remained to secure Portugal itself and the line of com- Badajoz munication by the capture of Badajoz. Wellington crossed captured, the Tagus and completed the investment of this fortress by the middle of March. It was necessary at whatever cost to anticipate the arrival of Soult with a relieving army, and on the 6th of April Wellington ordered the assault. The fearful slaughter which took place before the British were masters of the defences caused Wellington to be charged with indifference to the loss of human life ; but, whatever faults may have been made in the actual operations, a postponement of the attack would merely have resulted in more battles against Soult, in which a greater number of men would have perished. Of all generals Wellington was the last to throw away a single life needlessly. Advance The advance into Spain against the French line of com- into munication between Madrid and the Pyrenees was now begun. Marmont, who had succeeded Massena in the command, fell back and allowed Wellington to occupy Salamanca ; but on reaching the Douro he turned upon his assailant, and, by superior swiftness in marching, threatened to cut the English off from Portugal. Battle Wellington now retreated as far as Salamanca, and there of S.ila- extricated himself from his peril by one of the most lua &quot; brilliant victories which he ever gained (July 22). The French fell back on Burgos. Instead of immediately following them, which from a military point of view would have been the better course, Wellington thought it wise to advance upon the Spanish capital. King Joseph retired southwards and the English entered Madrid in triumph. The political effect of this act was very great, but the delay gave the French northern army time to rally. On march ing against them Wellington was checked by the obstinate defence of Burgos. Moreover, in consequence of the loss of the capital, Soult was now ordered to raise the siege of Cadiz, and to move to the support of King Joseph. Gathering his forces, and uniting them with the French army of the centre, he pressed on towards Madrid. It was impossible for Wellington to maintain his position, and he was compelled once more to retire into Portugal, while Madrid passed back into the hands of the French. During this his last retreat the demoralization and misconduct of the British army surpassed anything that their chief had ever witnessed. The effect of the campaign was, however, that Cadiz was free, and that the southern provinces were finally cleared of the invader. Wellington was now invested by the cortes with the supreme command of the Spanish armies. He visited Spain. Cadiz in December 1812, and offered counsels of modera tion to the democratic assembly, which were not followed. During the succeeding months he was occupied with plans and preparations for a great combined attack, and at length, in May 1813, the hour for his final and victorious advance arrived. The disasters of the Russian campaign had compelled Napoleon to withdraw some of his best regiments from the Peninsula. Against a weakened and discouraged adversary Wellington took the field with greatly increased numbers, and with the utmost confidence of victory. His design was to throw himself directly upon the French line of communication, keeping his left pushed forward in advance of his centre, so as to threaten the envelopment of the fortified posts held by the enemy. Napoleon had foreseen that this would be the strategy of the English commander, and had ordered King Joseph to neglect every point to the centre and east, and to concen trate at Valladolid. This order had been but imperfectly obeyed. The advance of the allied army was irresistible. Position after position was evacuated by the French, until Wellington, driving everything before him, came up with the retreating enemy at Vitoria, now encumbered with an Battle oi enormous train of fugitives, and with the spoils of five Vitoria. years occupation of Spain. His victory, won on the 21st of June, was overwhelming. All the artillery and almost all the treasure and stores of the French army fell into the hands of the conquerors. It only remained for Napoleon to commit to Marshal Soult, as his lieutenant, the task of defending the Pyrenees, and of delivering, if possible, the fortresses of St Sebastian and Pamplona, which Wellington now besieged. Soult s combats in the Pyrenees, and the desperate resistance of St Sebastian, prolonged the struggle through the autumn of 1813, and cost the English torrents of blood. But at length the frontier was passed, and after a succession of encounters on French soil Soult was forced back into his entrenched camp at Bayonne. Both armies now rested for some weeks, during which interval Wellington gained the con fidence of the inhabitants of the district by his unsparing repression of marauding, his business-like payment for supplies, and the excellent discipline which he maintained among his soldiers. In February 1814 the advance was renewed. The Adour was crossed, and Soult, leaving a garrison in Bayonne, fell back on Orthes. At Orthes he was attacked and defeated. Bordeaux now declared in favour of the Bourbons and admitted the English. Soult s last move was upon Toulouse. Here, after the allies had entered Paris, but before the abdication of Napoleon had become known, the last battle of the war was fought. Peace being proclaimed, Wellington took Return 1 leave of his army at Bordeaux, and returned to England, En g ] and where he was received with extraordinary honours. After the treaty of Paris (May 30) Wellington was Ambas- appointed British ambassador at the French capital. sad r at During the autumn and winter of 1814 he witnessed and Pans&amp;lt; reported the mistakes of the restored Bourbon dynasty, and warned his Government of the growing danger from conspiracies and from the army, which was visibly hostile to the Bourbons. &quot; The truth is,&quot; he wrote, &quot; that the king of France without the army is no king.&quot; His insight, however, did not extend beyond the circumstances immediately before and around him, and he entirely failed to apprehend the fact that the great mass of the French nation was still with Napoleon at heart. He remained in France until February 1815, when, in con sequence of the return of Lord Castlereagh to England to meet the House of Commons, he took that minister s place at the congress of Vienna. All the great questions of the congress had already been settled, and Wellington s diplomatic work here was not of importance. His im-