355 
LON 
wards that point. 'What amount they could thus affetn- 
ble, might, with any tolerable information, have been 
eafily afcertained. If then that amount was fuch, that the 
Britifli force could not even think of facing it, this ex¬ 
pedition was from the beginning quite hopelefs. At the 
fame time we entertain doubts, whether the difparity was 
fo very extreme as fir John Murray feems to have appre¬ 
hended. A great part of his troops were indeed Spanifli ; 
but they were difciplined and commanded by Britifli of¬ 
ficers, and had fliown repeatedly that they were capable 
of fuccefsfully maintaining a conteft with thofe of the 
enemy. The two armies, befides, which w-ere to be united 
againft him, came from oppofiteand diftant quarters; and 
the Britifli were in poffeflion of all the high roads by 
which they could communicate. An active commander 
might have feized the opportunity of flriking a blow be¬ 
fore the junction ; and certainly the difficulties were fuch 
as mult have interpofed a confiderable delay before it 
could be effected. With regard, above all, to the leav¬ 
ing of the cannon in the trenches, it furely behoved a 
commander to paufe, before he expofed the Britifli arms 
to fo fignal a difhonour. No enemy was at hand ; and 
the only danger was, left the weather, at prefent favour¬ 
able, lliould change, and become unfit for embarkation. 
Of this point, admiral Hallowell was the natural judge ; 
and his opinion it appears was decidedly for remaining. 
He even engaged, provided fir John would merely de¬ 
lay his departure till night, that he would bring off every 
cannon. But the general, “ having taken his part,” im¬ 
mediately put it in execution; a refolution in which, 
with the information pofTeffed by us, we can fee no lymp- 
toms of any thing but the rnoft frightful panic. 
General Murray was fucceeded in the command by lord 
William Bentinck; who conveyed the troops back to 
Alicant. While Suchet marched towards Tarragona, the 
Spaniffi generals, the duke del Parque, Elio, and Villa- 
campa, advanced from different points upon Valencia. 
Suchet, on hearing of the re-embarkation of general Mur¬ 
ray, immediately ljurried back, in hopes of flriking a blow 
againft fome one of thefe corps ; but they all fucceeded in 
making their retreat without ferious lofs. 
We (hall now return to the operations of the grand 
army.—The two fortrefles of Pamplona and St. Sebaftian, 
forming the keys of the principal entrance into Spain, 
were inverted, as we noticed, at the fame time; and their 
fall might be confidered as in a great meafure clofing the 
peninfuia againft French invafion. Pamplona, being im¬ 
perfectly fupplied with provifions, was fubjeCted to a 
blockade, which, in the courfe of a few months, mull, if 
not relieved, infallibly reduce it. St. Sebaftian was bet¬ 
ter prepared ; and its maritime pofition rendered it alnsoft 
impoffible to prevent fuccours and fupplies from being 
continually introduced. As it pofTeffed no ftrength there¬ 
fore which precluded the hope of fpeedily reducing it by 
force, that niode of fiege appeared moft advifeable. Sir 
Thomas Graham, who conducted it, began his operations 
againft the convent of San Bartolomeo, which the French 
had occupied in great ftrength, and had converted into 
a formidable outwork. A battery was eftabliffied on the 
14-th of Auguft; yet, after it had played for two days, the 
defences appeared ftill fo ftrong, that a new one was begun ; 
but, this not being ready on the morning of the 17th, ge¬ 
neral Graham determined, on that day, no longer to de¬ 
lay the aflault. The valour of the Britifli and Portuguefe 
troops furmounted every obltacle ; the place was ftormed ; 
the enemy driven down the hill on which it is fituated, 
and forced, after burning the village of St. Martin, to 
withdraw precipitately into the town of St. Sebaftian. The 
allies fuffered fome lofs by a too-eager purfuit. The 
trencHfes were now immediately opened againft the body 
of the place; and there appeared a very fair prolpeft of 
its being compelled to a fpeedy furrender. 
Lord Wellington had eftabliffied his head-quarters at 
Lefaca, a final! diftance from St. Sebaftian's. The two 
roads leading to Pamplona 'were meanwhile covered by di- 
D O N. 
vifions of the Britifli army; one under general Hill in the 
Puerta de Maya, the other under general Byng, on the 
extreme right, at Roncefvalles. On the 24-th of July, 
Soult (who had now been lent back from Germany to 
take the chief command in Spain) attacked in great force 
the pofition occupied by general Hill, who, though driven 
from it at firft by fuperior numbers, had recovered the 
moft effential point of it, and would foon have regained 
the whole ; but in the mean time an attack bn a much 
greater fcale, with between 30 and 40,000 men, was made 
upon general Byng’s pofition at Roncefvalles ; and, though 
reinforced by another divifion under fir Lowry Cole, the 
Britifli force was at length overpowered, and compelled 
to give way. They took poll at Zerbiri ; and general 
Hill, whofe rear was now threatened, fell back upon 
Irurita. 
Thefe corps had thus loft their direbl communication 
with the force under lord Wellington, and we.re left alone 
to defend the blockade of Pamplona againft the over¬ 
whelming force with which the enemy were pouring in 
to relieve it. Two Britifli divifions, with a fmall part of 
the Spanifli force covering the blockade, took a pofition 
immediately in front of the place. On the 27th, Soult ar¬ 
rived in fight of the walls of Pamplona, and immediately 
began operations for its relief. Net having yet brought 
up all his troops, he contented himfelf with attacking 3. 
hill, which formed an important part of the Britifli pofi¬ 
tion. A Spaniffi and Portuguefe regiment however, with 
tlie 40th Britifli, defended it againft all his efforts. , On 
the 28th, another Britifli divifion arrived ; and the enemy, 
alfo reinforced, began a conteft of the moft furious and 
fanguinary defeription. His main efforts were directed 
againft the fourth divifion under general Pifton; but 
they were every-where fruftrated, unlefs at one point, 
where, a Portuguefe battalion having been overpowered, 
the enemy were enabled to eftahlifli themfelves on our line. 
By the united efforts of the neighbouring regiments, how¬ 
ever, they were driven from the heights with immenfe 
lofs, and were unable to make any farther efforts on this 
fide. In the courfe of the 28th, generals Hill and Dal- 
houfie arrived with their divilions, and placed themfelves 
in line with the reft of the Britifli force. On the 29th 
and 30th, thefe two great armies continued to view each 
other, neither daring to attack the formidable heights on 
which its antagonift was ported. But, in the courfe of 
thefe days, the enemy filently withdrew a confiderable 
body of troops from the front, where the former a 61 ions 
had taken place, and conveyed it to their right, with a 
view of attacking the Britifli left under fir Rowland Hill; 
milling to the natural ftrength of the original pofition, 
that the troops remaining would Hill be able to maintain 
it. O11 the 30th accordingly, general Hill was attacked, 
and obliged to fall back from the range of hills which he 
occupied to the one immediately behind. But, lord Wel¬ 
lington feeing the point weakened, inftantly feized- the 
opportunity : he detached lord Dalhoufie and general Pic- 
ton to-drive the enemy from the formidable heights on 
which their right and left refted ; which being effe6led, 
the centre advanced to join in the attack. Thefe opera¬ 
tions were crowned with the moft brilliant fuccefs, and 
the enemy were quickly driven from one of the (trongeft 
pofitions wdiich it was poffible for troops to occupy. The 
French were now in full retreat towards their own fron¬ 
tier. In order to cover this operation, they placed a ftrong- 
rear-guard in the pafs of Donna Maria, from which how¬ 
ever they were driven by lord Dalhoufie. This retreat 
now refembled a flight. Many prifoners were brought 
in, and a large convoy, with luggage, taken at the town 
of Elizondo. They endeavoured however to make a new 
fland at the Puerto de Echalar, immediately within the 
Spaniffi frontier. But two of their divifions were quickly 
driven from thefeheights by a Angle Britifli divifion; and 
the refpe6live armies were replaced in the fame pofition 
as before they had begun their formidable attack. The 
lofs on both fides was great, perhaps nearly equal; for in 
