166 



ANNUAL REGISTER, ISli. 



that which he gave .Lieutenant- 

 Geiieral Sir John Hope ii. carrying 

 itjoto execution. 



The enetiiy, conceiving that the 

 means of crossing the river, which 

 Lieutenaiit-General Sir John Hope 

 had at his cotnn)and, viz. rafts 

 made of pontoons, had not enabled' 

 him to cross a large force in the 

 course of the 23rd, attacked the 

 corps which he had sent over on 

 that evening. This corps consist- 

 ed of 600 men of the 2nd briuade 

 ot guards, under the command of 

 Major-General the Hon. Edward 

 Stopford, wlio re|)ulsed the enemy 

 immediately. The rocket brigade 

 was of great use upon this occa- 

 sion. 



Three of the enemy's gun-boats 

 were destroyed this day, and a fri- 

 gate lying in the Adour received 

 considerable damage from the fire 

 of a battery of eighteen pounders, 

 and was obliged to go higher up 

 the river to the neighbourhood of 

 the bridge. 



Lieutenant-General Sir John 

 Hope invested the citadel of 

 Bayonne on the 25th, and Lieut- 

 General Don Manuel Freyre moved 

 forward with the 4th Spanish army, 

 in consequence of directions which 

 I had left for him. On the 27th 

 the bridge having been completed, 

 Lieutenant-General Sir John Hope 

 deemed it expedient to invest the 

 citadel of Bayonne more closely 

 than he had done before ; and he 

 attacked the village of St. Etienne, 

 which he carried, having taken a 

 gun and some prisoners from the 

 enemy; and his posts are now 

 within 900 yards of the outworks 

 of the place. 



The result of the operations 

 jvhich 1 have dttailtd to your 



lordship is, that Bayonne, St. 

 Jean Pied de Port, and Navarrens 

 are invested ; and the army having 

 passed the Adour, are in possession 

 of all the great ' communications 

 across the river, after having 

 beaten the enemy and taken their 

 magazines. 



Your lordship will have observ- 

 ed with satisfaction the able assist- 

 ance which 1 have received in these 

 operations from Marshal Sir W. 

 Beresford, Lieutenant-General Sir 

 Rowland Hill, Sir John Hope, and 

 Sir Siapleton Cotton, and from ail 

 the general officers, officers, and 

 troops acting under their orders 

 respectively. 



It is impossible for me suffi- 

 ciently to express my sense of their 

 merits, or of the degree in which 

 the coimtry is indebted to their 

 zeal and ability for the situation in 

 which the army now finds itself. 



All the troops, Portuguese as 

 well as British, distinguished them- 

 selves : the 4th division, under 

 Lieut.-General Sir Lowry Cole, in 

 the attack of St. Boes, and the 

 subsequent endeavours to carry the 

 right of the heights. The 3rd, 6th, 

 and light divisions, under the com- 

 mand of Lieutenant-General Sir 

 Thomas Picton, Sir H. Clinton, 

 Major-General Charles-Baron Al- 

 ten, in the attack of the enemy's 

 position on the heights ; and these 

 and the 7th division under Major- 

 General Walker, in the various 

 operations and attacks during the 

 enemy's retreat. 



'I'he charge made by the 7 th 

 hussars under Lord Edward So- 

 merset was highly meritorious. 



The conduct of the artillery 

 throughout the day deserved my 

 entire approbation. I am likewise 



