SPAIN. 
423 
veterans, who had been feebly replaced by a body of con¬ 
scripts. Lord Wellington was now, for the first time, at 
thg head of a superior force, which he wielded with con¬ 
summate skill. The strength of the enemy lay ill the line 
of the Douro, which they expected to defend with ad¬ 
vantage, so far at least as to make us purchase dearly its 
acquisition; but all this was prevented by Lord Wellington 
making his left division cross the river on the Portuguese 
territory, and advance along its northern bank; while he 
and Sir Rowland Hill, at the head of separate corps, marched, 
after several feints, in a diagonal direction, so as to support 
this movement, and effect a junction in an advanced posi¬ 
tion. The French, threatened with being taken in the rear, 
evacuated one town after another, and, even at Burgos, 
declined to fight on ground where late recollections would 
have been so animating; they continued to retreat, increas¬ 
ing from time to time their numbers by the garrisons of the 
evacuated towns, until, at last, they took a position at Vit- 
toria, a town in Biscay, near the north-east frontier of Spain. 
The position of the French extended from north to south, 
and was of great length. Their left rested on heights ; 
part of their centre was also on heights, and their right was 
near the town of Vittoria. The Zadora, a stream of con¬ 
siderable size, but crossed by several bridges, ran nearly 
parallel to their front. Both armies were numerous, parti¬ 
cularly that of the allies. It was the first time that nearly 
40,000 British had fought together in Spain. Lord Wel¬ 
lington acted on the offensive throughout, and began the 
operations by taking possession of the heights near the 
extreme left of the enemy. This was easily effected ; but 
their importance being soon perceived by the French, an 
attack was made to recover them. An obstinate contest 
took place, but the British on the heights repelled every 
assault.- Under cover of these heights, our right wing 
advanced, and took a village (Sabijana) in front of the 
enemy’s centre. It was in vain the French attempted to 
retake this'village. The centre of the allies crossed the river 
near it, and the centre of the French withdrew from their 
position, retreating to the town of Vittoria. At first this 
retreat took place in good order, but an alarming account 
was soon received from the French right. That part of their 
position had been defended by the river and two tetes-de- 
pont, but the troops of our left wing had taken, first the 
heights commanding these forts, and soon after the forts 
themselves, baffling every effort of the enemy to retake 
them. The great road leading to tire north was thus in 
possession of the allies; hence a general alarm and confu¬ 
sion throughout the French army. Their reserve was hastily 
withdrawn from its position, and pressed, with the whole 
army, along the only remaining road to the eastward; 
abandoning all their artillery, their ammunition, and their 
baggage. The loss of the battle was imputed by the French 
to Jourdan, whom Buonaparte, in a luckless hour, had 
allowed his brother to substitute to Soult; and who here, 
as at Talavera, was too late in discovering the importance 
of commanding positions. The loss in men was not par¬ 
ticularly severe; that of the allies in killed and wounded 
was under 4000, and that of the French probably not much 
greater. The temptation afforded by the plunder of the 
baggage prevented our troops from making many prisoners; 
but the spirit of the enemy was shaken, and the loss of 
their artillery and stores obliged them to retreat across the 
Pyrenees. 
The next operation of consequence was the siege of San 
Sebastian, a frontier fortress of great importance, which the 
French made the most vigorous efforts to relieve. Their 
army, provided anew with ammunition and cannon, ad¬ 
vanced under the command of Soult, and drove back, after 
some sharp actions, the British corps posted in the passes of 
the Pyrenees. Our troops retreated to the vicinity of Pam¬ 
plona, where, on the 27th, and still more on the 28th, they 
sustained a succession of impetuous attacks from the enemy. 
On the 29th Lord Wellington resumed the offensive, drove 
the French from their position, strong as it was, and 
obliged them to retrace their steps through the Pyrenees. 
Our loss in these actions was about 6000 men in killed ancl 
wounded ; that of the enemy was still greater, exclusive of 
4000 prisoners. 
At San Sebastian we had been repulsed in an assault on 
25th July; the siege was continued, and a final assault on 
31st August led to the capture of the place, though with 
the loss of 2500 men. The farther operations were the 
entrance of our army on the French territory on 7th 
October; the capitulation of Pamplona on the 26th, and a 
general attack on the position of the French near St. Jean 
de Luz on 10th November, after which they retreated across 
the Nivelle. But this mountainous country afforded a num¬ 
ber of positions, and our next task was to drive the enemy 
from behind the Nive, a large river flowing northward from 
the Pyrenees. This was partly accomplished on 9th 
December; but on several succeeding days the French 
commanded by Soult, made impetuous attacks on the allied 
army, all anticipated by Lord Wellington, and all repulsed 
with heavy loss. Still the rains of the season, and the size 
of the mountain streams, retarded our operations. In 
January (1814) our army made some farther progress, and 
on 25th February, attacked the French in a position near 
Orthes, behind the Gave de Pau, another large river flowing 
from the Pyrenees. This attack was successful; and the 
retreat of the French was followed by the desertion of a 
number of their new levies. Soult’s army now drew back, 
not in a northerly but easterly direction, to join detach¬ 
ments from the army of Suchet in Catalonia. At Tarbes, 
on 20th March, the fighting was of short duration, but a 
sanguinary battle took place at Toulouse, on 10th April;— 
a battle attended with a loss to the allies of nearly 5000 
men, which, as well as a great sacrifice of lives on the part 
of the French, might have been prevented, had earlier 
intelligence arrived of the overthrow of Buonaparte, and the 
change of government at Paris. 
We shall now retrace our steps to give some account of the 
civil history of Spain, during the period we have just de¬ 
scribed. In the year 1811, the new constitution was es¬ 
tablished, of which the following is an abstract:— 
The sovereignty is declared to reside essentially in the 
nation which, being free and independent, neither is, nor 
can be, the patrimony of any person or family.—All Span¬ 
iards, without distinction, are subject to taxation.—“ The 
religion of the Spanish nation is, and shall be for ever, the 
Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman, which is the only true 
religion.”—“ The nation,” it is added, “ protects it by wise 
and just laws, and forbids the exercise of any other what¬ 
ever.”—The government of the Spanish nation is stated to be 
“ a limited hereditary monarchy.”—The power of making 
laws is vested “ in the Cortes, jointly with the King.”—In 
describing the class of Spaniards who enjoy the privi¬ 
leges of citizenship, persons “ reputed of African origin, 
either by the father or the mother’s side,” are excluded. A 
similar exclusion is given to Spaniards who obtain natu¬ 
ralization in another country, or who, without leave, absent 
themselves five years from Spain. The only basis for the 
number of representatives in the Cortes is Population, to be 
taken from the census of 1797, till one more correct can be 
made. For every seventy thousand souls there is to be one 
deputy in the Cortes. The returns of the members are made 
by three successive elections. Every parish appoints elec¬ 
tors for the district to which it belongs. These repair to the 
chief town of the district to choose another set of electors, 
who, lastly, meeting in the capital of the province, make 
the final appointment to the Cortes. The Cortes is triennial. 
No member can be elected for two successive representations. 
No debate can be carried on in the presence of the king; his 
ministers may attend and speak, but are not allowed to vote. 
There is a permanent deputation, or committee of the Cortes, 
composed of seven members, appointed by the whole body, 
before a prorogation or dissolution, whose duty is to watch 
over the executive, and report any infringement of the con¬ 
stitution to the next Cortes. It also belongs to them to con¬ 
voke an extraordinary Cortes in the cases prescribed by the 
constitution. 
The 
