Iberia Won 22

Iberia Won 22

HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES TO CANTO III.

 

 

This Canto describes the battles of Sauroren on the Pyrenees, with

the leading incidents in the minor combats of Buenza, Doña Maria,

Echallar and Ivantelly which followed. The first battle of Sauroren

took place on the 28th July, 1813, the fourth anniversary of the

battle of Talavera, and was remarkable for the extraordinary valour

displayed by the French under Soult, which, having obtained a

slight success at Buenza, they repeated with almost frantic efforts

at Echallar and Ivantelly on the 2nd August, their principal object

being to relieve San Sebastian. But in vain. Lord Wellington

described the first of these actions as “bludgeon work.” The loss

on both sides was very considerable; but it was here demonstrated

by our soldiers, in the words of Napier “that their opponents

however strongly posted could not stand before them.” The actions

will be found detailed in his History, book xxi. chap. 5.

 

The incident of the defence of the mountain top by flinging down

rocks, is taken from the previous combat, where it occurred as

described by Napier in the following words: “The British, shrunk in

numbers, also wanted ammunition, and a part of the eighty-second

under Major Fitzgerald was forced to roll down stones to defend the

rocks on which they were posted.” (_Hist. ibid._) The allusions to

Sisyphus and to Ajax will I trust be excused. It is difficult to

exaggerate such incidents. There was surely something Titanic in

the character of this Pyrenean warfare.

 

The Spanish regiment which gave way towards the end of the battle

(the poor soldiers were starved by their miserable commissariat)

was that of El Pravia, which was stationed on the left of the

fortieth, and the latter regiment justly styled by Napier the

“invincible” victoriously concluded the combat. “Four times this

assault was renewed, and the French officers were seen to pull up

their tired men by the belts, so fierce and resolute they were to

win. It was, however the labour of Sisyphus.” (Napier, _ibid._)

The cavalry engagement was maintained by our tenth and eighteenth

hussars. I occasionally detach my heroes, Nial and Morton, to other

infantry corps for poetic effect.

 

The terrible scene at the bridge of Yanzi is described by Captain

Cooke in his _Memoirs_ as follows:--“We overlooked the enemy at

stone’s throw, and from the summit of a tremendous precipice. The

river separated us, but the French were wedged in a narrow road

with inaccessible rocks on one side and the river on the other.

Confusion impossible to describe followed, the wounded were thrown

down in the rush and trampled upon, the cavalry drew their swords

and endeavoured to charge up the pass of Echallar, but the infantry

beat them back; and several, horses and all, were precipitated into

the river; some fired vertically at us, the wounded called out for

quarter, while others pointed to them supported as they were on

branches of trees, on which were suspended great coats clotted with

gore, and blood-stained sheets taken from different habitations to

aid the sufferers.”

 

The incident of extricating Wellington by the agency of Nial

and Morton from his imminent peril of falling into the hands of

the French is taken from the following passage at the end of

Napier’s description of the combat of Ivantelly: “Lord Wellington

narrowly escaped the enemy’s hands. He had carried with him

towards Echallar half a company of the forty-third as an escort,

and placed a sergeant named Blood with a party to watch in front

while he examined his maps. The French who were close at hand

sent a detachment to cut the party off; and such was the nature

of the ground that their troops, rushing on at speed, would

infallibly have fallen unawares upon Lord Wellington, if Blood, a

young intelligent man, seeing the danger, had not with surprising

activity, leaping rather than running down the precipitous rocks he

was posted on, given the general notice, and as it was the French

arrived in time to send a volley of shot after him as he galloped

away.” (_Hist._ book xxi. c. 5.)

 

The prodigies accomplished by our Peninsular veterans, of which

this and the preceding Canto fall short in the narration, need

little attestation. But here is the testimony of one of Napoléon’s

Generals:--“Bien que leurs corps soient robustes, leurs ames

énergiques, et leurs esprits industrieux,” &c. (Foy, _Hist.

Guerre. Pénins._ liv. ii.) “Le Prince-Noir et Talbot étaient nés

dans Albion. Marlborough et ses douze mille soldats n’avaient pas

été les moins redoutables ennemis de Louis XIV. * * Nos soldats

revenus d’Egypte disaient à leurs camarades la valeur indomptée

des Anglais. Il n’etait pas besoin d’une réflexion profonde pour

déviner que l’ambition, la capacité, et le courage sont bons à

autre chose qu’à être embarqués sur des vaisseaux.” (_Ibid._) “Leur

humeur inquiète et voyageuse les rend propres á la vie errante

des guerriers, et ils possèdent une qualité, la plus précieuse

de toutes sur les champs de bataille, le calme dans la colère.

* * Telle est la puissance Anglaise. C’est Bonaparte en action,

mais Bonaparte toujours jeune et toujours vigoureux, Bonaparte

persévérant dans sa passion, Bonaparte immortel.” (_Ibid._) “Le

soldat Anglais ... son corps est robuste. Son ame est vigoureuse,

parceque son père lui a dit et ses chefs lui répétent sans cesse

que les enfants de la vieille Angleterre, abreuvés de _porter_ et

rassasiés de bœuf roti, valent chacun pour le moins trois individus

de ces races pygmées qui végètent sur le continent d’Europe. * *

Il marche en avant. Dans l’action, il ne regarde pas à droite ni à

gauche.” (_Ibid._)

 

The brilliancy of our cavalry service is equally acknowledged,

though French military writers strive sometimes to mock it, very

ineffectually, as in the following example; “Dans la retraite

de la Corogne, les corps de cavalerie faisaient halte; le chef

commandait: _Pied à terre; prenez vos pistolets_; et à un troisième

commandement, chaque cavalier brûlait la cervelle à son cheval en

un temps et deux mouvements.” (Foy, _Hist. Guerre. Pénins._ liv.

ii.)

 

In illustration of the character of Napoléon, of which I have

attempted some analysis in this Canto, I have drawn together a few

striking passages from the most eminent military writers of England

and France, Napier and Foy:--

 

“That greatest of all masters of the art of war.” (Napier, _Hist.

War in the Penins._ book xxiv. chap. 6.) “In following up a victory

the English general fell short of the French emperor. The battle of

Wellington was the stroke of a battering ram, down went the wall in

ruins. The battle of Napoléon was the swell and dash of a mighty

wave, before which the barrier yielded and the roaring flood poured

onwards covering all.” (_Ibid._) “That successful improvisation in

which Napoléon seems to have surpassed all mankind.” (_Ibid._)

 

“Vaincre et trouver des instruments de victoire était le travail

de sa vie.” (Foy, _Hist. Guerre. Pénins._ liv. i. _Caractère de

Napoléon._)

 

“Jamais esprit plus profondément meditatif ne fut plus fécond en

illuminations rapides et soudaines.” (_Ibid._)

 

“Toujours prêt à combattre, habituellement il choisissait

l’occasion et le terrain. Il a donné quarante batailles pour huit

ou dix qu’il a reçues.” (_Ibid._)

 

“Napoléon’s system of war was admirably adapted to draw forth and

augment the military excellence and to strengthen the weakness of

the national character. His discipline, severe but appealing to the

feelings of hope and honour, wrought the quick temperament of the

French soldiers to patience under hardship, and strong endurance

under fire. * * He thus made his troops, not invincible indeed,

nature had put a bar to that in the character of the British

soldier, but so terrible and sure in war that the number and

greatness of their exploits surpassed those of all other nations.”

(Napier, _Hist. War in the Penins._ book xxiv. chap. 6.)

 

“Ce n’est pas avec les règles de Montécuculli et de Turenne

manœuvrant sur la Renchen qu’il faut juger de telles entreprises.

Les uns guerroyaient pour avoir tel ou tel quartier d’hiver;

l’autre, pour conquérir le monde. Il lui fallait souvent non pas

seulement gagner une bataille, mats la gagner de telle façon

qu’elle épouvantât l’Europe et amenât des résultats gigantesques.

Ainsi les vues politiques intervenaient sans cesse dans le génie

stratégique. * * Quelque habile qu’on soit, il y a presque toujours

dans ce jeu terrible des risques proportionnés à la grandeur des

profits. Le succès est devenu plus chanceux. Les armées étaient

plus nombreuses. Ses ennemis, à son exemple, ont eu aussi des

masses. * * La machine n’était plus maniable; il a été écrasé.”

(Foy, liv. i.)

 

Napoléon’s was a game of double or quits played with the hardihood

of a determined gambler. The value of the stakes became multiplied

with alarming rapidity, as in the arithmetical problem of the

horse-shoe-nails. All the military population and resources of the

empire became involved in the chances of the die, and he lost the

last throw.

 

General Foy narrates the following anecdote. He was probably

himself the interlocutor: “Dans la campagne de France, aux premiers

mois de 1814, Napoléon parlait à Troyes en Champagne, avec un de

ses généraux, de l’état des choses. ‘Les ennemis, disait celui-ci,

sont trop nombreux; il faut que la France se lève’--‘Eh! comment

voulez-vous que la France se lève, interrompit avec vivacité

Napoléon; il n’y a pas de noblesse, _et j’ai tué la liberté!_’”

 

Of the love which the French people bore to Napoléon, let his

march to Cannes be a witness, where the inhabitants, as he passed,

surrounded him in hundreds of thousands with unmistakeable

demonstrations of blind enthusiasm and delight. Not even the

terrible conscription could rase his impression from their hearts.

The general equity of his internal administration, the exact system

of his public accounts, the effectual discharge of duty which he

required of the state servants, the abolition of idle privileged

classes, and the cessation of fraud in the management of the

revenue or its punishment when detected, caused the people to

love him as they everywhere love justice. Napoléon, with all his

other splendid faculties, was a skilful financier; he was opposed

to public loans, and left no debt. He had no private views, and

his active energies were unimpaired in his vassals’ service. The

utility of his public works was commensurate with their grandeur,

providing at once employment for the poor and embellishment for the