240 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1313. 



Lor.don Gazette Extraordinary, 

 Dec. 30, 1813. 



WAR DEPARTMENT. 



Major Hill, aide-de-camp to 

 lieut.-geneial sir Rowland Hill, 

 has arrived with a dispatch of which 

 the following is a copy, addressed 

 to earl Bathurst by field marshal 

 the marquis of Wellington, K. G. 

 dated 



St. Jean de Luz, 

 Dec. 14, 1813. 



My Lord ;— Since the enemy's 

 retreat from the NiveJIe, they had 

 occupied a position in front of Bay- 

 onne, which had been entrenched 

 with great labour since the battle 

 fought at Vittoria in June last. It 

 appears to be under the fire of the 

 works of the place ; the right rests 

 upon the Adour, and the front in 

 this part is covered by a morass, 

 occasioned by a rivulet which falls 

 into the Adour. The right of the 

 centre rests upon this same morass, 

 and its left upon the river Nive. 

 The left is between the Nive and 

 the Adour, on which river the left 

 rests. They had their advanced 

 posts from their right in front of 

 Anglet and towards Biaritz. Vv'ith 

 their left they defended the river 

 Nive, and communicated with 

 general Paris's division of the army 

 of Catalonia, which was at St. Jean 

 Pied de Port, and they had a con- 

 siderable corps cantoned in Ville 

 Pranche and Alouguerre. 



It was impossible to attack the 

 enemy in this position, as long as 

 they remained in force in it. 



J had determined to pass the 

 Nive immedir.tely after the pas- 

 sage of die Nivelle, but was pre- 

 vented by the bad slate of the 

 roads, and the swelling of all the 

 rivulets occasioned by the fall of 

 rain in the beginning of that month; 



but the state of the weather and 

 roads having at length enabled me 

 to collect the materials, and make 

 the preparations for forming bridges 

 for the passage of that river, I 

 moved the troops out of their can- 

 tonments on the Stii, and ordered 

 that the right of the army under 

 lieut.-general sir Rowland Hill, 

 should pass on the 9th, at and in 

 the neighbourhood of Cambo, 

 while marshal sir William Beres- 

 ford should favour and support his 

 operation by passing the 6th divi- 

 sion under lieut.-general sir Henry 

 Clinton at Ustaritz : both opera- 

 tions succeeded completely. The 

 enemy were immediately driven 

 from the right bank of the river, 

 and retired towards Bayonne, by 

 the great road of St. Jean Pied de 

 Port. Those posted opposite Cambo 

 were nearly intercepted by the 6th 

 division ; and one regiment was 

 driven from the road, and obliged 

 to march across the country. 



The enemy assembled in consi- 

 derable force on a range of heights 

 running parallel with the Adour, 

 and still keeping Ville Franche by 

 their right. The 8th Portuguese 

 regiment, under colonel Douglas, 

 and the 9th Cap ndores under colo- 

 nel Brown, and the British light 

 infiintry battalions of the 6th divi- 

 sion, carried this village and the 

 heights in the neighbourhood. The 

 rain which had fallen the preceding 

 night and on the morning of the Sth 

 had so destroyed the road, that the 

 day had nearly elapsed before the 

 whole of sir Rowland Hill's corps 

 had come up, and I w as therefore 

 satisfied with the possession of the 

 ground which we occupied. 



On the same day, lieut.-general 

 sir John Hope, with the left of the 

 army under his command, moved 



