GENERAL HISTORY. 



[27 



lington a suspension of hostilities, 

 for the purpose of giving him time 

 to ascertain the real state of affairs. 

 To this, his lordship refused his 

 consent, and marched his troops 

 forward on the 15th and 17th, to 

 Castelnaudary ; in the mean time 

 he concluded a suspension with 

 the commandant at Montauban. 

 On the 16th another officer ar- 

 riving from Paris was forwarded to 

 Soult, who, on the following day, 

 gave information of his having 

 acknowledged the provisional go- 

 vernment of France. Lord W. 

 in consequence authorized an 

 English and a Spanish general to 

 arrange with the French general 

 Gazan, a convention for a suspen- 

 sion of hostilities between the 

 allied armies under his command, 

 and those under marshals Soult 

 and Suchet. 



This was not the only unneces- 

 sary bloodshed, which the delay 

 of intelligence for a few days oc- 

 casioned. Early on the morning 

 of April 14th, a sortie in force 

 was made from the French camp 

 in front of the citadel of Bayonne, 

 upon the position of the allies at 

 St. Etienne, opposite the citadel 

 chiefly on its left and centre. At 

 the beginning of the attack. Major 

 gen. Hay, the commanding officer 

 of the out-posts for the day, was 

 killed, and the assailants gained 

 temporary possession of St. Eti- 

 enne. They also drove in the 

 picquets of the centre, where 

 major-gen. Stopford was wounded. 

 On the right, lieut. gen. Hope 

 bringing up some troops to sup- 

 port the picquets, came suddenly 

 in the dark upon a party of the 

 enemy, when his horse was shot 

 under him, and himself wounded 

 and taken prisoner. After a time, 



all the lost ground was recovered, 

 and the picquets were re-esta- 

 blished in their former posts, but 

 a serious loss was incurred, both 

 of officers and men. These ac- 

 tions, however, were the conclu- 

 sion of a war now without an 

 object. On April 23rd, Monsieur 

 ratified, with the allied powers, a 

 convention for the suspension of 

 all hostilities. 



In the preamble, it is said, that 

 " the allied powers, united in the 

 determination to put a period to 

 the calamities of Europe, and to 

 found its repose on a just distri- 

 bution of power, among the states 

 which compose it ; wishing to 

 give France, replaced under a 

 government whose principles off'er 

 the necessary securities for the 

 maintenance of peace, proofs of 

 their desire to resume amicable re- 

 lations with her; wishing also to 

 cause France to enjoy as much as 

 possible, the benefits of peace, 

 even before all the terms thereof 

 have been settled, have resolved 

 to proceed conjointly with his 

 Royal Highness Monsieur," &c. 

 Of the articles, the first declares, 

 that all hostilities by land and sea 

 are suspended between the Allied 

 Powers and France, as soon as the 

 French generals and commanders 

 shall have made known to those 

 opposed to them, that they have 

 acknowledged the authority of the 

 lieutenant-general of the kingdom. 

 By the second, the Allies agreed 

 to cause their armies to evacuate 

 the French territory, such as it 

 was on Jan. 1, 1792, in proportion 

 as the places beyond those limits, 

 still occupied by French troops, 

 should be evacuated and given up 

 to the allies. The blockade of 

 foitresses in France by the allied 



