625 



WELLINGTON, DUKE OF. 



WELLINGTON, DUKE OF. 



626 



the battle, and still more during the retreat, owing to desertion having 

 spread to a great extent, especially among the conscripts, who threw 

 away their arms in vast numbers. 



The battle of Orthez had important results. The garrison of 

 Bayonne was now left to its fate, and the road to Bordeaux lay open 

 to the allies. Lord Wellington gave orders to General Hope for the 

 siege of Bayonne, and detached Marshal Beresford with two divisions 

 to occupy Bordeaux. On the arrival of the allies at the latter city, 

 the mayor and most of the inhabitants, of their own accord, proclaimed 

 Louis XVIII. 



Lord Wellington's business was purely military. In the Spanish 

 peninsula it was to drive the invader out of the country, and leave 

 the people to settle their own affairs. In France, from a similar prin- 

 ciple, he was extremely anxious not to countenance a civil war. The 

 Duke of Angouleme having landed in the south of France to excite a 

 movement in favour of the Bourbons, Lord Wellington advised him 

 politely to keep incognito, and to wait for some more important 

 demonstration iu his favour. When Beresford marched upon Bor- 

 deaux he directed him most particularly not to originate or encourage 

 any rising of the Bourbon party. " If they should ask you for your 

 consent to proclaim Louis XVIII., to hoist the white standard, &c., 

 you will state that the British nation and their allies wish well to 

 Louis XVIII. ; and as long as the public peace is preserved where our 

 troops are stationed, we shall not interfere to prevent that party from 

 doing what may be deemed most for its interest : nay, further, that I 

 am prepared to assist any party that may show itself inclined to aid 

 us in getting the better of Bonaparte. That the object of the Allies 

 however iu the war, and above all in entering France, i.=, as is stated 

 in my proclamation, Peace; and that it is well known that the Allies 

 are now engaged in negociating a treaty of peace with Bonaparte. 

 That however I might be inclined to aid and support any set of people 

 against Bonaparte while at war, I could give them no further aid when 

 peace should be concluded ; and I beg the inhabitants will weigh this 

 matter well before they raise a standard against the government of 

 Bonaparte and involve themselves in hostilities. If however, notwith- 

 standing this warning, the town should think proper to hoist the 

 white standard, and should proclaim Louis XVIII., or adopt any 

 other measure of that description, you will not oppose them ; and 

 you will arrange with the authorities the means of drawing, without 

 loss of time, for all the arms, ammunition, &c., which are at Dax, 

 which you will deliver to them. If the municipality should state 

 that they will not proclaim Louis XVIII. without your orders, you 

 will decline to give such orders, for the reasons above stated." (' Dis- 

 patches,' xi. p. 558 and 594.) 



On the 18th of March Lord Wellington moved his army to Vic 

 Bigorre, and Soulb retired to Tarbes, which he abandoned on the 20th, 

 and continued his retreat to Toulouse, where he arrived on the 24th. 

 On the 27th the Allies arrived on the left of the Garonne, in front of 

 Toulouse. The object of Soult was to facilitate a junction with 

 Suchet, who was withdrawing his troops from Cataluna, in conse- 

 quence of Ferdinand having been sent back to Spain, and acknow- 

 ledged as King of Spain by Napoleon, who had resorted to this new 

 political stratagem in order to create discord among the allies. 

 Knowing the character of Ferdinand, he had written to him on the 

 12th of November 1813, saying, "That the circumstances of the 

 times made him wish to conclude at once the affairs of Spain, where 

 England was fomenting anarchy and Jacobinism, and was depressing 

 the nobility, in order to establish a republic. He (Napoleon) was 

 much grieved to see the destruction of a nation bordering upon his 

 empire, and whose maritime interests were closely connected with his 

 own. He wished therefore to remove all pretence for the influence of 

 England to interfere in the affairs of Spain, and to re-establish the 

 relations of friendship and good neighbourhood between the two 

 nations." (Thibaudeau, ' Histoire de 1'Empire,* ch. 94.) A treaty was 

 concluded at Valengay, where Ferdinand had been detained a prisoner 

 for five years, in which Napoleon acknowledged him as King of Spain 

 and of the Indies, and promised to withdraw the French troops from 

 Spain, whilst Ferdinand engaged to cause the English to evacuate the 

 Peninsula. 



At last, in the month of March, Napoleon, being hard pressed for 

 troops for the defence of France, and wishing to avail himself of the 

 army of Suchet, which was uselessly cooped up in Cataluna, allowed 

 Ferdinand to return to Spain. Meantime Suchet, who had already 

 detached early in March 10,000 men to join Soult, made an offer to 

 the Spanish Regency to withdraw all his garrisons from Cataluna, 

 which were blockaded by Spanish troops, on condition of their being 

 allowed to return ho France with their arms. The Regency referred 

 the proposal to Lord Wellington for his opinion, and he recommended 

 .them not to allow any capitulation with any French troops, except 

 on the condition of their being prisoners of war. Suchet's garrisons 

 amounted to about 18,000 men, mostly veteran soldiers, who, if they 

 had been able to join Soult on the Garonne, would have made him too 

 strong for Wellington, part of whose army was stationed before 

 Bayonne and at Bordeaux. Suchet, with his disposable force of about 

 14,000 men, evacuated Cataluna and re entered France. In the begin- 

 ning of April he placed his head-quarters at Narbonne, but did not 

 join Soult. 



On the 10th of April, Lord Wellington, having crossed the Garonne 

 BIOG.DIV. VOL VI. 



the day before, attacked Marshal Soult in his entrenched camp on a 

 range of heights between the river Ers and the canal of Languedoc, 

 on the eastern side of the city of Toulouse. Marshal Beresford, with 

 the 4th and 6th divisions, attacked and earned the heights on the 

 French right, and the redoubt which covered and protected that flank ; 

 the French however were still in possession of four redoubts and of 

 the entrenchments and fortified houses, from which they could not be 

 dislodged without artillery. At the same time the Spanish division of 

 General Freyre had attacked the French left with great spirit, but 

 were at first repulsed ; one regiment however, the Tiradores de Can- 

 tabria, maintained its position under the enemy's entrenchments. 

 The British light division moving up, the whole rallied, and again 

 advanced to the attack. Marshal Beresford, having brought up his 

 artillery, which had b^en detained by the badness of the roads, con- 

 tinued his movement along the ridi;e on the right of the French, and 

 General Pack's brigade of the 6th division carried the two principal 

 redoubts and fortified houses in the centre of the French position. 

 Soult made a powerful attack on the 6th division, which received it 

 with the bayonet, when the French general Taupin was killed. At 

 last the French were driven entirely from the heights, and withdrew 

 across the canal of Languedoc into the town of Toulouse, which Soult 

 prepared to defend. The loss of the allies at the battle of Toulouse 

 was about 600 killed and 4000 wounded. The French acknowledged 

 the loss of 3200 men. 



Oil the night of the llth Marshal Soult evacuated Toulouse by the 

 only road which was still open to him, and retired by Castelnaudary 

 to Carcassonne. On the 12th Lord Wellington entered Toulouse, to 

 the great joy of the inhabitants, who were relieved from the fearful 

 apprehensions of a siege. The white flag was flying, everybody had 

 put on white cockades, and the people had pulled down Napoleon's 

 statue and the eagles and other emblems of the imperial government. 

 The municipality of Toulouse presented an address to Lord Welling- 

 ton, requesting him to receive the keys of their city, in the name of 

 Louis XVIII. Lord Wellington told them what he had told the people 

 of Bordeaux, that he believed that negociations for a peace were still 

 being carried on with the existing government of France, and that they 

 must judge for themselves whether they meant to declare in favour of 

 the Bourbons, in which case it would be his duty to treat them as allies 

 as long as the war lasted ; but if peace should be made with Napo- 

 leon, he could not give them any assistance or protection afterwards. 

 (' Dispatches,' xi., p. 630). In the afternoon however of the same day 

 the English Colonel Cooke and the French Colonel St. Simon arrived 

 from Paris, with news of Napoleon's first abdication, and of the estab- 

 lishment of a provisional government in the name of Louis XVIII. 

 From Lord Wellington's head-quarters the two officers proceeded to 

 those of Marshal Soult, who did not think himself justified in sub- 

 mitting to the provisional government, having received no information 

 from Napoleon concerning what had happened, but he proposed an 

 armistice to Lord Wellington. The British commander wrote to him 

 a very polite letter, excusing himself from accepting the armistice, 

 unless the marshal ackuowledyed the Provisional Government of 

 France. The object of Lord Wellington was to prevent Marshals 

 Soult and Suchet's armies becoming the nucleus of a civil war in 

 France in favour of Napoleon's pretensions for his son. At the same 

 time he made preparations to pursue Soult, if required. At last on, 

 the 18th of April, Soult, having received from Berth ier an order to 

 stop all hostilities, concluded a convention with Lord Wellington for 

 the purpose. A line of demarcation was drawn between the two 

 armies. The head-quarters of Lord Wellington remained at Toulouse. 

 Marshal Suchet concluded a like convention with Lord Wellington on 

 the 19th, by which the final evacuation of Catakma by the French 

 garrisons was provided for. 



Before the news of the events of Paris reached Bayonne, the French 

 made a sortie out of the entrenched camp in front of it, on the 14th 

 of April, and attacked the lines of the Allies, who lost about 800 men 

 in this affair, including General Hay, who was killed, and the general 

 in command, Sir John Hope, who was wounded and taken prisoner. 

 General Stopford, of the Guards, wsis also wounded. 



On the 30th of April Lord Wellington set off for Paris, whither he 

 was sent for by Lord Castlereagh. He left General Hill in charge of 

 the army. On the 13th of May he returned to Toulouse, and soon after- 

 wards set offfor Madrid, where the army had already taken different 

 sides ; O'Donnell and Elio for the king, and Freyre and the Prince of 

 Anglona for the constitution. Having in some degree quieted the 

 contending parties, and got the affairs of the kingdom into a condition 

 for being amicably settled, Lord Wellington returned to France, and 

 on the llth of June was again with his army at Bordeaux, giving 

 orders for the evacuation of Franco by the allied troops. On the 14th 

 of June he issued his farewell general orders to the army. ('Dis- 

 patches,' xii., p. 62.) 



In May 1814 he had been created Marquis of Douro and Duke of 

 Wellington, and the Prince Regent had sent to the House of Commons 

 a message recommending them to grant the Duke such an annuity as 

 would support the high dignity of the title which had been conferred 

 upon him. On the 12th of May an annuity of, 10,OOOZ. was granted 

 to him, to be at any time commuted for the sum of 300.000Z., which 

 was ultimately increased to 400.000J. On the 23rd of June the Duke 

 of Wellington arrived in London, and on the 28th received it. his 



2 s 



