GENERAL HISTORY. 



[145 



rived at thtf Admiralty, that the 

 supplies of the garrison of Castro 

 having been cut off by the English 

 cruizers on the coast, the castle 

 was evacuated by the French, and 

 afterwards taken possession of by 

 the English, and a party of Men- 

 dizabeFs army. Their retreat was 

 doubtless hastened by the battle of 

 Vittoria. 



The French army retreated from 

 the neighbourhood of Pamplona on 

 the 25th, by the road of Ronce- 

 valles, into France, followed by the 

 light troops of the allies ; and on 

 the next day lord Wellington 

 caused the fort of Pamplona to be 

 invested. Sir T. Graham had in the 

 mean time taken possession of To- 

 losa, after two actions with the 

 enemy, in which they sustained 

 considerable loss. He continued 

 to push them along the road to 

 France, dislodging them from all 

 their strong posts ; and a brigade 

 of the army of Gallicia under gen. 

 Castanos drove them across the 

 Bidassoa (the boundary river) over 

 the bridge of Irun. The garrison 

 of Passages surrendered on the 30th 

 to the troops of Longa, and St. 

 Sebastian was blockaded by a 

 Spanish detachment. A garrison 

 left by the enemy in Pancorbo, 

 commanding the road from Vitto- 

 ria to Burgos, lord Wellington 

 directed the Conde del Abisbal to 

 make himself master of the place, 

 which he effected, the garrison sur- 

 rendering themselves prisoners of 

 war. General Clausel having re- 

 mained some time in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Logrogno, hopes were 

 conceived of being able to inter- 

 cept him, and a force of light 

 troops and cavalry was detached 

 towards Tudela for that purpose. 

 By extraordinary forced marches, 



Vol. LV. 



however, he arrived first at Tu- 

 dela, whence he made good his 

 retreat to Saragossa, followed by 

 Mina, who took some guns and 

 prisoners. 



While the cause of Spain was 

 proceeding triumphantly in this 

 quarter, events of a different com- 

 plexion were taking place on the 

 eastern coast. Sir John Murray, 

 with the force under his command, 

 in pursuance of lord Wellington's 

 instructions embarked on board the 

 English fleet upon that station on 

 May 31, and landing his army on 

 June 3, invested Tarragona. He 

 had previously detached a party to 

 attack fort St. Philippe, on the 

 Col de Balaguer, which blocks the 

 nearest and most accessible way 

 from Tortosa to Tarragona, and the 

 result was its capture, after pro- 

 digious exertions by the soldiers 

 and sailors in getting up the batter- 

 ing cannon to the crest of a rugged 

 hill commanding the place. In 

 the meantime reports reached sir 

 John Murray that the French 

 forces were assembling at Barce- 

 lona, and that marshal Suchet 

 was advancing from Valencia ; and 

 he calculated the amount of the 

 troops destined for the relief of 

 Tarragona, at 20,500. To meet 

 these in the field he could bring 

 only 16,000, of whom there were 

 only 4,500 British and German, 

 the rest being Spanish. Strongly 

 impressed with the idea of this in- 

 equality, the general determined 

 to avoid the conflict by a timely 

 retreat ; and without waiting for 

 any certain tidings of the enemy's 

 approach, or information of their 

 actual strength, he embarked his 

 array, leaving behind, the guns in 

 the most advanced batteries. He 

 says, " Had 1 remained another 



