[ G52 ] [Di-c. 



SPANISH HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS. — No. VI.* 



Conclusio7i. 



I BELIEVE I have spoken before of the inconvenience and unplea- 

 santness of a detention at Irune, the Spanish frontier town. It was not, 

 therefore, without mortification that I found, on my arrival there, that 

 every conveyance was engaged by the French, who were attached to 

 the invading force of their nation already in Spain. A party of French 

 officers, who had been my companions in the dihgence which brought 

 me to Irune, now kindly invited me to proceed with them to St. Sebas- 

 tian, whither they were about to join their regiments. I gladly accepted 

 their offer rather than remain at Irune, though their route was conside- 

 rably at variance with my own. The roar of the cannon from the ram- 

 parts of the besieged city, was the first intimation we had of its proxi- 

 mity ; and on our nearer approach, we found that the Spaniards had 

 made a sally undet the cover of their guns. My friends, the officers, left 

 me to join their respective corps ; and, by their influence, I was admitted 

 to the cover of a strong bastion above St. JMartin's, which commands the 

 town and its environs, where, from an embrasure, I could clearly distin- 

 guish all that was going on, with little danger to myself. I did not see 

 any works erected on the sand-hills, from which the English troops 

 attacked the first curtain when their artillery had effected a breach. 



The French now occupied the plain between St. Jlartin's and the 

 descent to Hernani, with a force consisting of three regiments of the line 

 and a small park of artillery, making altogether about five thousand 

 men. Their guns were not sufficiently heavy to effect a breach ; but as 

 the harbour was blockaded by a strong naval force, it was the determi- 

 nation of the French general to invest the town, and oblige the garrison 

 to capitulate, by cutting off all supplies. The city was defended by 

 O'Donnel, a resolute and intrepid commander; and the garrison con- 

 sisted of two of the best regiments in the service — the Imperial Regt. of 

 Alexander, and the Regt. of Spain. It was but a few months since that 

 I dined with the officers of the former regiment, at Vittoria; they had 

 served in Russia during the late war, and from this circumstance they 

 derived their title. 



The cannonading continued about an hour, the French only returning 

 the fire with musquetry. The Spaniards were eventually obliged to 

 retire, with the loss of a few men killed and taken : the latter were 

 immediately bound, and sent to Hernani. The French likewise lost a 

 few men ; and seeing a sergeant's head fly off close to the spot where I 

 was stationed, I effected a speedy retreat through the French camp to 

 Hernani. Here I found a French medical gentleman and his wife wait- 

 ing for a conveyance, which we at last procured, and, on the following 

 morning, proceeded to Vittoria. 



We overtook many gens-d'armes escorting mules laden with corn, 

 and herds of bullocks, for the supply of the French troops. The roads 

 were entirely free from brigands, these gentry finding their occupation 

 unprofitable when customers have more lead in their pouches than gold. 

 I met I\Ir. Ward, the private-secretary of Sir William A'Court (Lord 

 Heytesbury), travelling with despatches for London. He informed me 

 that the king had left Seville for Cadiz. 



We had scarcely arrived at Vittoria when the doctor's lady presented 

 her husband with a son — a circumstance that obliged me to seek another 



• Extracted from the Note-Book of Sir Paul Bagliott. 



