LON 
not attempt to defend Valladolid or the pafiage of the Pi- 
fuerga ; but continued their retreat without interminion 
tiii they arrived at Burgos. In front of that place, all 
thofe corps which were called the-“Armies of the Centre 
of Portugal and of the North” were affembled ; and, as it 
formed the key of the north of Spain, and the latt ftrong 
hold on this fide of the Ebro, it feemed that here, if any 
where, a great hand was to be made. If, however, they 
had any intention of receiving the allied army in this po¬ 
rtion, it was foon reiinquithed. In the courfe of the fol¬ 
lowing night they withdrew their whole force through the 
town of Burgos, having firft deftroyed the works of thecaf- 
tle as completely as the ffiort interval allowed ; and, on the 
following day, all their troops were in full retreat towards 
the Ebro.. Lord Wellington did not purfue along the 
main road, where the enemy would have been prepared 
to dilpute the paffage of the river, and where his pro- 
grefs would have been obftrufted by the ftrong fortrefs 
and defiles of Pancorbo; but caufed the whole army to 
make a movement on its left, by lefs-frequented roads, 
with the view of palling the Ebro near its fource. The 
enemy, to whom this manoeuvre feems to have been un¬ 
expected, had made no provifion for guarding thefe paf- 
fages: lord Wellington therefore crofted without oppofi- 
tion at St. Martin Rocamunde and Puente Arenas. He 
had now not only overcome the barrier of the Ebro, but 
was in a condition to threaten the rear of the enemy, and 
his communications with France. 
The Britifh general then direded his march upon Vit- 
toria, which the French had made their central depot in 
the frontier provinces. To oppofe his progrefs, they haf- 
tily collected at Ficas and Efpejo fuch troops as were in 
the neighbourhood, or could be thrown acrofs from Pan- 
corbo. Thefe advanced to meet the allies; but, though 
for the moment fuperior in number, they were quickly 
repulfed. On the 19th, he arrived at Subijana on the 
Bayas, when he was only twelve or fifteen miles diftant 
from Vittoria. The enemy had remained at Pancorbo, 
and feemed determined to maintain themfelves, if poflible, 
in that ftrong pofition. Seeing however the allied army 
on the point of ellablilhing itfelf on their rear, they broke 
up from thence on the night of the 18th, and haltened to 
take up a pofition in front of Vittoria, which they effected 
on the 19th. The French were commanded by Jofeph 
Bonaparte in perfon, marlhal Jourdan being his major- 
general. 
Lord Wellington fpent the 20th in collecting his divi¬ 
fions, which had been fomewhat fcattered by the rugged 
and difficult country through which they had liaitily 
marched ; and all'o in reconnoitring the pofition of the 
enemy, with the view to an attack on the following day. 
The whole front of the French army was covered by the 
river Jadara, which flowed in an irregular line from north- 
eaft to fouth-weft, in front of Vittoria. The right wing 
occupied that city and its neighbourhood, and defended 
the paffages over the river immediately leading to it. The 
centre and left extended downwards along the Zadora, 
terminating at a range of heights near the village of La 
Puebla. Upon thefe obfervations was founded the plan of 
attack for the following day. 
The firft operation of lord Wellington was to occupy, 
by means of Murillo’s Spanifli divifion, the heights of La 
Puebla, on which the enemy’s left refled. In permitting 
this to be effected with little refinance, they fam to have 
committed a capital error, of which they immediately be¬ 
came fenfible; and they made vigorous efforts, and poured 
detachment after detachment, in order to regain poffelfion 
of them. Lord Wellington, however, fupported the troops 
polled there in fuch a manner, that they were ftill able to 
maintain their ground. Meantime, under cover of' the 
poffelfion of thefe heights, general Hill crofted the Zadora, 
and was immediately followed by three other divifions 
higher up. Thefe troops, compofing the main force of 
the army, and nearly all the cavalry and artillery, made 
difpofitions for attacking both flanks of the enemy’s cen- 
Voi.. XIII. No. 915, 
DON. 353 
tre. The French were not prepared for this attack; they 
had weakened their cer. tre, for the purpole of making their 
fruitlefs attack againft the heights on the left; and feeing 
that, when thus hard preffed, their efforts to maintain 
this pofition would be unavailing, they abandoned it, and 
the whole of their centre and left retreated upon Vittoria. 
Meanwhile general Graham, with the Britifh left, was car¬ 
rying on thofe operations which were to render vidlory 
decilive. The enemy had here a confiderable force in ad¬ 
vance of theZadora, and occupying ieveral ftrongly-fortified 
villages, by which the high roads to Bilboa and Bayonne 
were defended. General Graham, whole force confided 
chiefly of Portuguefe troops fupported by the Spaniards 
under Longa and Giron, fucceeded in expelling the enemy 
from all thefe pofitions, and driving him acrofs the Za¬ 
dora. The bridges, however, being Itrongly guarded, he 
was himfelf unable to gain the other fide, until it had 
been cleared by the victorious right and centre. The left 
then eroded alfo, and joined in the purfuit. In confe- 
quence of general Graham’s fuccefs, the French were cut 
off from the high road into France, the molt advantageous, 
and that by which all their arrangements for retreating 
had been made. They were forced to retire by the more 
difficult and circuitous route of Pamplona, upon which 
they had made no provifion of fortified pofitions to cover 
this movement. They had thus no means of making a 
ffand at any one point fora length of timefufficient to en¬ 
able them to carry away their artillery and equipments. 
Near Vittoria, therefore, the whole fell into the hands of 
the purfuers. Never was an army fo completely dripped. 
Baggage, artillery, ammunition, camp-equipage, all was 
taken; even vaft quantities of treafure were thrown down 
the rocks, and collected by the purfuing troops. The al¬ 
lied army, in this mod legitimate plunder, found fonie 
folid reward for the glorious toils through which they had 
paffed. Of 153 pieces of cannon, the enemy carried with 
him one gun and one howitzer only. They palled by 
Pamplona, but without flopping at that fortrefs, and pur¬ 
ified their retreat over the Pyrenees into France. 
Lord Wellington, with the main body, followed the 
French force which was retreating by the route of Pam¬ 
plona ; and on the 27th that place was inverted. So little 
had the enemy forefeen the rapid fweep by which the al¬ 
lied army was to be carried to the creit of the Pyrenees, 
that this almoft-impregnable fortrefs, and grand key of 
the peninfula, was left with provifions for only a very few' 
months. Confidering its ftrength, and the great lofs that 
mult have been incurred in reducing it by force, it ap¬ 
peared more advifable to employ a blockade, which, from 
its unprepared ftate, could not be protrafted to a very 
long duration. After a ffiort interval, the charge of main¬ 
taining this blockade was committed to the army of re- 
ferve of Andalufia, commanded by the conde de Abilbal. 
The conde had previoufly reduced the fortrels of Pan¬ 
corbo, which then interrupted the communication of the 
allies along the high road between Burgos and Vittoria. 
The caftle being of great ftrength, he compelled it to 
furrender by cutting off’ the fupply of water ; and the gar- 
rifon, amounting to 700 men, became prisoners of war. 
General Claufel, on the day of the battle, was with two 
divifions at Logrono, a confiderable town upon the Ebro. 
The refult of the aftion cut him off from the main body; 
yet he ftill lingered tili the 25th, in hopes perhaps of find¬ 
ing an opportunity to make his way through. He then let 
out, and proceeded with fuch expedition, that he reached 
Tudela before the allies, and had then the route open be¬ 
fore him to Saragofla. He was followed by Mina, with 
numerous detachments of Spanilh light troops. Claufel 
did not attempt to make a ffand at Saragofla; but, leaving 
a detachment under general Paris, paffed by a circuitous 
route through Iaca acrofs the Pyrenees, to rejoin the main 
body. Paris, on the approach of Mina, retreated in the 
fame manner, leaving merely a garrifon in the caftle, which 
was foon compelled to furrender. Thus was recovered, 
almoft without a ftruggle, this important city; fo re- 
4 X novvned 
