CHAPTER XXVI.
Uncertain Intelligence—Capture of Toulouse—Wellington at the Theatre—The “Liberator”—Ball at the Prefecture—The Feelings of the French—Soult and Suchet—Ball at the Capitole.Head-quarters, Grenade,April 10, 1814, 1 o’clock.
Uncertain Intelligence—Capture of Toulouse—Wellington at the Theatre—The “Liberator”—Ball at the Prefecture—The Feelings of the French—Soult and Suchet—Ball at the Capitole.
Head-quarters, Grenade,April 10, 1814, 1 o’clock.
My dear M——,
Herewe are still, away from all that is going on, but expecting every moment an order to enter Toulouse. The day before yesterday the bridge was re-established (the 8th), and by one o’clock the Spaniards had all passed over. The order then came for a brigade of Portuguese artillery to do the same. They were passing when I went there, soon after one o’clock; and just as a gun was quitting the last boat to ascend the bank, down went the boat; the gun, however, run off safe, but two of the Portuguese pontoon-train sailors got a ducking, which was all the mischief except a delay of about two hours to fish up the pontoon, drag it on shore, turn it upside down, to clear out the water, and then launch it again, and refit the board.
By four o’clock I left the remainder of the guns going over. The head-quarters of Lord Wellington remained at St. Jouy that night, and last night Lord Wellington has only pushed the troops on a little, to reconnoitre, and in the evening the 18th Hussars, under Colonel Vivian, had a brilliant affair. They charged the French cavalry on the high-road, broke them, sabred several, and tookabout seventy prisoners, with the loss of a few officers wounded, and, it is believed, only about six or eight men. Unluckily, Colonel Vivian received a ball in the arm, which, it is feared, will render amputation necessary. Yesterday (the 9th), the bridge was taken up very early, and ordered to be immediately fixed about four miles nearer the town of Toulouse, at a little place called Assaic. The light divisions were close to that point, on this side of the river, as a security in case of any attack on the second division, near St. Cyprien and the bridge of Toulouse. They were ordered to cross the river as soon as our pontoons were ready, and a movement was intended, and ordered yesterday.
From some difficulties, or bad management, the bridge of boats was not ready until nearly three o’clock, when it was thought too late. Lord Wellington was more vexed, and in a greater state of anger, than he usually is when things go wrong, even without any good cause. He said that his whole plans for the day were frustrated and nothing could be done; and the light divisions were counter-ordered to remain where they were on this side the river, and head-quarters remained at St. Jouy.
The French, it appeared, while still keeping a force to defend the bridge of Toulouse, had before this taken a strong position on the hills beyond the town, and had made there some strong works, upon which they were constantly busy. The last two days and nights their main body rested on the hills, bivouacking in this position, and in an uncomfortable state, hourly expecting an attack. This morning about seven it commenced: the firing was heavy for about two hours, until nine, and has continued partially since. As I dare not cross the river and go to the front, I went with my glass to the highest look-out here, and saw the French redoubt very plainly, firing away briskly: since that all has been silent here, and free from smoke. The stories of thepeople here are that, with the loss of six thousand men, we have taken the redoubt and thirty-six pieces of ordnance.
The former, from the direction of the fire, it is certain, is a lie, and perhaps the latter. As, however, we have now some sort of official news that the Allies are in Paris, and the Imperial Court at Orleans, and as there is no account of Bonaparte, the French here will probably not fight much; and if beaten, it is certain that many, nay thousands, will run home, and the army be much diminished. I suspect that Bonaparte will try to unite his corps and all the remains of corps near Paris, and Augereau’s from Lyons, and Marshal Soult’s and Suchet’s from Provence, towards Montpelier; but it is to be hoped that even regiments, and perhaps Marshals, will begin to desert, when it is found that Paris is taken, and the royal party proclaimed and gaining ground.
We certainly are in a very odd state just now in France. Our military chest, Paymaster, Doctors, Commissaries, &c., and nearly all our money, are in this place, which is altogether without troops; only about a dozen staff corps men, and about ten of the paymaster’s ordinary marching guard. The whole army is nearly four leagues in front, and our only protection is the good-will of the people, and the river. Yet we are told that there are French troops at Montauban, about four leagues off, and nothing between us except the river. All feel, notwithstanding, quite secure, and have no anxiety but to enter Toulouse.
In the mean time Lord Dalhousie with a part of the seventh division has crossed, not only the Gironde, but the Dordogne, and we are told, is to take Fort Blaze by storm: I suppose his whole force is not above three thousand five hundred men. Bayonne has not yet been seriously attacked, nor do we hear of any very great distress in the town, which is surprising, considering the length of the blockade.
In the attack to-day, it is said that the third and sixth divisions were to form the right of the attack on the river, the fourth the centre, and the light and large body of Spaniards to make the flank movement on the left, to get on the hills and turn the French position, whilst the cavalry advance also in that direction, to be ready to take advantage of the enemy’s retreat.
Five o’clock, same day.—No one returned, and no news: and yet no firing heard, and no orders. I fear that the resistance has been greater than was expected, and begin to be fidgety and uneasy. The reports are now, that eight thousand English wounded, and fighting in the streets now going on. If such complete ignorance of the truth exists within ten miles of what is passing, you may judge how false reports circulate: we receive contradictory rumours every hour. All we know for certain is, that two hours ago Lord Wellington’s baggage remained at St. Jouy without orders; I despair, therefore, of seeing Toulouse to-day.
Grenade, April 11th, 8 o’clock, morning.—The firing continued all day yesterday, and until past eight at night, and began again at four this morning, and has continued to this time, but has now lessened. Several of our civilians returned home here last night. I understand our loss is very considerable. We drove the enemy from all the heights, but with difficulty. The Spaniards failed in the attack of a redoubt, were put to the rout completely, and, it is reported, would have lost their guns, which the French were within two or three hundred yards of, had not the Portuguese stepped in to their support, and enabled them to rally again.
This is really too bad—my friend says the ground was covered with dead Spaniards, and that he saw but few French; this is generally the result of alarm and flight. The redoubt was taken, but not by the Spaniards, it is said; the fire close to Lord Wellington was most severe.Near the town the French fought very hard in the houses, particularly at some houses near the lock of the canal close to the river. We each occupied some of the houses, and fired continually; the French houses were loop-holed, and they had the best. We were obliged to bring guns, &c.; and, unfortunately, the most successful shell fell into one of our own houses, and burnt out our own people. Among the killed, &c., I hear, is Colonel Coghlan of the 61st, an excellent officer, Lieutenant-colonel Forbes, Captain Gordon, 10th Hussars. Colonel Fitzclarence is wounded in the thigh: he charged with his troops two French squadrons, he says, up a hill, beat them, but on the top was received by infantry: the first shot carried away part of his sword, the second hit him on the thigh, and they fell back. We were close to the town and to the bridge last night on all sides, and had moved our bridge up within two miles of the town. The French have barricaded the houses and streets, fixed swivels on the tops, lined the roofs with men, &c., and seem determined to defend the town with desperation. An officer deserted yesterday, and says he will serve no longer under a man who acts like a madman, as Soult now does, in defending a town like Toulouse in such a manner.—It is madness.
Four Spanish officers came in here yesterday, who had escaped from Italy through Switzerland, and had walked here. They seemed in great distress. We had no Commissary here: I therefore gave them eight pounds of bread and a dozen eggs, got them a quarter for the night, and advised them to stay here until this morning, and then proceed to head-quarters. One had served in Colonel Roche’s corps in Catalonia, and spoke English tolerably. Our delay here, and in taking the town, has alarmed the people very much. All who have relations and friends in Toulouse are terribly frightened. The officer who deserted says that many will do the same assoon as the business is over, and occasions arise. Captain O. K——, the French-English officer from Toulouse, who came over to the Duke d’Angoulême at St. Jean de Luz, arrived here yesterday from Bordeaux. He says, that things are going on well, especially since the news from Paris; that the Duke has now eighteen hundred men formed; and that French officers come in every day with fleur-de-lys embroidered on their Napoleon uniforms, and thus tender their services. O. K—— was here on his road to Aurillac, to Auvergne, &c., where, he says, a party is formed and ready to rise. He must take care of his head, for he goes about talking very imprudently.
Head-Quarters, Toulouse, April 13th, 1814, Section 3, No. 676.—To give you any notion of what we have all felt from the changes which the last thirty-six hours have produced, you must go back to my first sheet, and you will feel more as I did, by reading in succession what has occurred than by anything I can now write. I was about to destroy the first sheet, as much of it is now not worth the trouble of reading; but thought it would give you a better idea of the feelings, from day to day, of the army.
An order came for civil departments to march, to cross the pontoons, and to proceed on the high road to Toulouse to a church only three miles from the town, and there halt and wait for orders. We were off in ecstasies, expecting all to dine in Toulouse, and that the French were off, and our men after them. Judge of our vexation, when, on arriving at the church, we were all turned back off the road, to a miserable village of about ten houses, called St. Albains; and were there to find quarters for the night, in places just quitted by the plundering Spaniards, and left nearly in the state in which the French left the houses in Spain as they passed.
When we arrived, we found many of the Spaniardsstill in possession, and four of us disarmed and seized three of them in the act of plundering. The people were screaming in every direction, the houses abandoned, and the inhabitants just beginning to return to witness the mischief done. Everything had been ransacked—all the closets, &c., broken open; the rags and remnants on the floor, mixed with hundreds of egg-shells, and the feathers of the plundered fowls, &c. Much linen was carried off, the sheets and heavy articles in the yard; the tables were covered with broken dishes, bottles, bones, and twine; and the cellars with the wine-casks running. In about two hours we got possession of the quarters, and got the inhabitants in to clean them, and by five o’clock had divided the places among us. My whole baggage lost its road, and did not arrive at all—five mules and a horse loaded.
You may conceive the disappointment and the vexation we experienced. Dr. M’Gregor said that our loss was terrible! He was just returned from collecting all the wounded in villages, and, by Lord Wellington’s desire, was hurrying every one possible instantly to the rear. They were passing all night in cars. The Spaniards were moaning and crying most desperately, and were to reach Fenoullet that night, Sole Jourdain the next, and then to be sent on further if necessary. The accommodations were very bad. The accounts from the town were that the French were continuing to barricade every house and loophole, and arming to defend themselves to the last.
The army was said to be now much weakened; the Spaniards could not be depended upon; the reinforcements were not come up from England, and a story was going about and believed by many who ought to have known better, that we were out of ammunition, and could not use our artillery. You may conceive that I went (without my baggage and comforts), with this news,sorrowfully to bed, ordering my servant to be off at five in the morning in search of my stragglers.
On the 12th, at 6 o’clock, I was up and wandering about alone, listening to an occasional heavy gun, seeing wounded men pass, and waiting for the return of my man. About eight I saw Henry returning alone, and was expecting more bad news, when he told me that the French were off, that we were to march for Toulouse directly, and that my baggage was all safe at a house a league off on the road; and that, therefore, he had ordered them to pack and be off with the rest. Think of our sensations on hearing of this welcome change! The last twenty-four hours had been among the most critical of the war, and now all was safe and right again. I found out the clergyman, Mr. B——, got a razor and a cup of tea, whilst my horse was getting ready, and was then off, to go round by head-quarters and to enter Toulouse with Lord Wellington. About eleven I arrived at the fortified entrance, and found, instead of the enemy behind the new works, themaireof the town, almost all the officers of thegarde urbaine, a considerable number of national guard officers, deserters, &c., and about two hundred smart but awkward men of the city guard, and a band of music, all with the white cockade, and a great crowd of citizens besides, all waiting with anxiety to receive Lord Wellington, and carry him in form to the mayoralty. Unluckily, from some mismanagement and mistake, he went in at another entrance, and passed on, almost unknown. Hearing this, I went to the mayoralty with General Packington’s aide-de-camp, and found it was so; and, therefore, we went back to inform the mayor officially, and to beg he would return to themaison commune. He did so, though an immense crowd entered the mayoralty in form, and an introduction then took place, and Lord Wellington showedhimself at the window, amidst the shouts and waving handkerchiefs and hats of every one.
The procession then went with Lord Wellington to his quarters, the Prefêt’s palace, amidst the applause of the inhabitants all the way. Nothing could be more gratifying than his reception, and that, indeed, of all the English; the most respectable inhabitants, many of them, not only anxiously showing us the way to our billets, but offering their homes without any billets, or receiving us with a sincere welcome as soon as the paper was delivered. Lord Wellington announced a ball in the evening at the Prefecture, and left Marshal Beresford with three divisions and cavalry to follow Marshal Soult for the day.
We thought nothing could make us happier, when at five o’clock in came Colonel Ponsonby from Bordeaux with the Paris news, which you know. He told us that the official accounts would arrive in an hour or two. Ponsonby came through Montauban: the French officer commanding there taking his word, and letting him pass. I had been, at Colonel Campbell’s request, examining General St. Hilaire and his servant. St. Hilaire was found, under suspicious circumstances, in the town, and was just put under arrest, and Campbell luckily asked me to dine with Lord Wellington, which I should have been very sorry to have missed.
Just as we were sitting down to dinner, about forty of us, General Frere, and several Spaniards, General Picton, and Baron Alten, the principal French, &c., in came Cooke with the despatches. The whole was out directly, champagne went round, and after dinner Lord Wellington gave “Louis XVIII.,” which was very cordially received with three times three, and white cockades were ordered for us to wear at the theatre in the evening. In the interim, however, General Alava got up, and with great warmth gave Lord Wellington’s health, as theLiberador del’ Espagna! Every one jumped up, and there was asort of general exclamation from all the foreigners—French, Spanish, Portuguese, Germans, and all—El Liberador d’Espagna! Liberador de Portugal! Le Liberateur de la France! Le Liberateur de l’Europe!And this was followed, not by a regular three times three, but a cheering all in confusion for nearly ten minutes! Lord Wellington bowed, confused, and immediately called for coffee. He must have been not a little gratified with what had passed.
We then all went to the play. The public were quite in the dark as to what had just arrived, but Lord Wellington was received in the stage-box (where he sat, supported by Generals Picton, Frere, and Alava, &c., and also themaire) with no little applause, I assure you. At the door the people would scarcely take the money from us; and in the opposite stage-box the French left the box themselves, and made room for us. We had the white cockades on the breast. The English officers in the house stared, and did not know what to make of it. Some thought it a foolish, giddy trick. In about ten minutes Lord Wellington turned his hat outwards to the front of the box: it was seen, and a shout ensued immediately. The play was “Richard, oh mon Roi,” which was fixed upon really before the news came. The “Henri IV.” was played, and then the new French constitution was read aloud from one of the boxes. The people most anxious, and in general pleased; in some things not. I think most of it very good, if the French can enjoy anything so like our own constitution, for such it is, under other names; but this is doubtful. The article worst received was that leaving all the sales of emigrant lands to stand good; and it does appear to me that, when, by means of paper, an estate had been bought for the price of a team of horses, an equitable arrangement would have been better, to be settled by Government Commissioners. This was followed by “God save the King,” which was received with great applause.
When the play was over, we adjourned to the ball at Lord Wellington’s. The only drawback was our meeting on the way the cars of the wounded in the streets, now moving to the excellent hospitals here. This on consideration was also a satisfaction, for many lives will be saved by the wounded being brought here, instead of being sent to rear. You will now guess what we felt, and what a species of trance we were in.
Here we are halted, whilst the news is sent on to Soult, with whom Marshal Beresford could not come up. The arrival of the news was at the moment we should have selected, except for the loss of life. For Lord Wellington’s character, however, even that was good, and eight hours sooner it would have been said that the late battle was no victory on our part, and that we should never have entered Toulouse, nor would the real sentiments of the town have been known.
On inquiry, I find that the French loss has been great. General Taupin, one of my friends on La Rhüne, killed; General D’Armagnac, who took me, wounded; Harispe wounded, and here a prisoner; two other Generals wounded, &c. Our loss fell principally, you will see, on the sixth division, and the Scotch Brigade in particular, and on the Spaniards. With regard to the latter, it is said that, upon the whole, the men for a long time behaved well, and that if General Frere had been as skilful as brave, and the officers better, they probably would have succeeded in their object, which certainly happened to be the most arduous duty of the day. They arrived on a sort of smooth glacis below the French works, under a fire admitted to be more severe than almost any since Albuera. Decision and skill and rapidity were then required. The men were kept too long in this fire—they broke—and then ran like sheep. One French regiment, it is said, drove more than four thousand of them, and in such a manner that they almost upset a Caçadore Portuguese regiment by main force.Three companies of the latter stood firm, beat back the Spaniards with their firelocks, laughed at them, enjoyed it, and completely checked the French. The redoubt was afterwards taken by our men, with great loss, as you will see. General Frere was in despair; he exerted himself to the utmost to rally his men; at last, by his exertions, assisted by Lord Wellington in person, one or two Spanish companies were formed, and became steady. Upon this the rest soon followed, and formed up also. The Spaniards had then a less arduous post assigned them; all went on well again, and I believe they behaved fairly enough. Their loss is considerable.
This morning the whole conversation of the officers turns upon half-pay and starvation. With some, want of preferment; with others, promotion; and with those who have promotion, a determination to enjoy themselves now that all is over, and their dangers and sufferings past. As to my own prospects, they are so completely in the air, that my being never much of an architect for building in that element, I go quietly on with my work, and trust to the future.
I shall defer any account of this place, &c., for fear of being too late for the despatches, and now say adieu.
Pray forward the enclosed two letters, which are from Madame de Baudré, my hostess at Mont de Marsan, who desired me to take care of them, and enclosed them in a letter of great professions of kindness for me, only exceeded by the most romantic ones for the Bourbons, and stating the great losses her family and connexions have lately sustained.
Head-Quarters, Toulouse, April 15th, 1814.—Here we are quietly waiting the result of the communication of the late news to Marshal Soult, &c. Cooke has come back from his head-quarters. The Marshal hesitates a little at present. He objects that he has no authentic documents from Bonaparte or the authorities whom herepresents, and seems to have some doubts of the extent of the late news—or pretends to have. In short, as yet he takes no decided line, but it is said has applied for an armistice, probably wishing to gain time, to consult Suchet, &c., and learn more of the state of things.
Colonel Gordon was sent to him yesterday by Lord Wellington with a flag-of-truce; and it is understood that a positive answer and determination was required, and the armistice refused. Lord Wellington and all the officers yesterday attended Colonel Coghlan’s funeral in the morning, at the Temple, and went from thence in procession to the Protestant burial-ground out of the town.
In the evening Lord Wellington gave another more magnificent ball at the Prefecture. It was too crowded to dance much, or well, but went off with great glee and general satisfaction. The ladies were very prettily dressed, in general, with the exception of a few of the high ugly bonnets, and there were several very pleasing-looking girls, and good dancers; but I do not think that in general the women are handsome here. I met with one very good-humoured chatty lady, about eighteen probably, who said she had only left her “Maman,” with whom she had always lived near Carcassonne, one month, and that, in that time she had witnessed many strange things:—the ravages of the French army, the passage of our army over the Garonne, a great battle (which was all visible quite plainly from the churches here, and even from the houses), the preparations for a siege, the retreat of the French, our triumphal entry, the change of the national government, and her own marriage.
Captain Tovey, of the 20th, taken at Orthes, has escaped, and came in here yesterday. He would not give his parole, and made several attempts to be off. In consequence he was hardly treated, but is now safe. He met with every assistance from the French inhabitants;and at the last house he was in, the owner made him leave his peasant’s dress, and equipped him in a new suit, boots and all, French cut, to pass our lines, and go to head-quarters in. The villages through which he passed were proclaiming the King; and he was told that Soult’s house, near Carcassonne, had been destroyed by the mob.
The French here discover the same volatile character as ever.Vive le Roi!is shouted as vigorously asVive l’Empereur!was, I am told, a few years since, when Bonaparte made his then really popular entry, and gave his fêtes here, of which the most fulsomeprocès verbalstill exists, signed by a maire-adjoint of the same name as the one who now signs the King’s proclamation, and I believe he is the same man—Lameluc.
The inhabitants are all at work as usual, and very active. Fleurs-de-lys are now upon the skirts of the coats instead of eagles, and last night on the theatre dropscene. The busts of Bonaparte are smashed. The Capitolium ornaments are all undergoing a change. All the N.’s and B.’s, &c., are effaced; and the workmen are now busily employed working round the cornice of the great staircase at the Capitol, changing all the alternate ornaments of a handsome cornice, every other one having been abee. The English are everything, and in general estimation. To return the compliment of our wearing their white cockade on our black one, they now wear a black one on their white. The Spaniards are considered much as the Cossacks. The Capitolium is a very fine building, and as the splendid velvet and gold canopy, and the throne of Bonaparte at one end, had no decided emblems except that of authority generally, it has, after some doubts, been allowed to remain, and is not destroyed. We are to have a grand ball there, it is said, given on Sunday, by the inhabitants, if approved of, and we stay.
The theatre is about the size of the Haymarket Theatre; in width rather larger, but much deeper, and something in the improved shape of Covent Garden. The actors are tolerable. It is, however, inferior to the Bordeaux Theatre, and certainly to that of Lyons.
The stone bridge over the Garonne, of seven arches, is very solid and substantial, wide, and upon the whole a splendid work, but not very graceful in its architecture. It is like Kew bridge in general shape, but in much heavier and substantial proportions.
Several improvements have been some time since commenced in the city, but most of them are now at a stand, and have been so for some time. The cathedral of St. Etienne is an unfinished Gothic building, the great aisle being wanting to the new building. Instead of this, a large sort of Westminster Hall, of more ancient date, joins the cathedral on one side. This was originally intended to be pulled down or altered.
There is some good tapestry and fine painted glass, which have escaped here, as in several other churches, the revolutionary destruction.
The streets here are like the old parts of Paris, in general narrow, with a gutter in the middle; and the houses very good, but high shops below, and three stories of good rooms above. Several handsome hotels, with their great gates and small gardens. I am in a dirty place, but tolerably well off. The people are civil; I have good stabling, and one comfortable room, now it is cleaned.
C—— gives rather a strange account of our Allies, but seems to think from their numbers, and the general feeling, that the business has at last been well-blundered through. There is a good story told of an incident which happened at the interview with Soult the other day. The substance of the news somehow got wind, and the army, whilst the Marshal was closeted with C——,gave a loud shout. The aide-de-camp went to inquire the cause, and returned saying, “Ce n’est qu’un lièvre, Monseigneur.” You ought to know that nothing causes a louder shout amongst troops than a hare crossing them. General M—— said the aide-de-camp should have been asked whether it was a Leipzig hare? If Soult does not declare himself, his army will, I think, desert him. I have now only just received a letter from you, of the 22nd March, and papers.
The French works at the entrance of the town, by the bridge (tête de pont), were very strong, and cost much in labour and materials, for no use. They were formed by close piles of timber like the caissons for the foundation of a bridge, filled up with earth, and the tops lined by barrels of earth, with a ditch and guns, &c., placed, and the walls of the buildings round all loop-holed.
I rode all over the positions of the battle yesterday, on the hills, and examined all the forts and the monuments of French industry and British courage. They were most formidable places to approach, for the hills formed a regular smooth glacis from the works at the top to the valley below, and half way down were long low heaps of sod, or turf, made up to protect the advanced sharp-shooters, who were lying safe on the ground, protected behind them, though the barrier was not above two feet high. A church and a house loop-holed, formed the sort of citadel to two of the forts or redoubts for musquetry, with the guns around the outside. The ditches were not so deep, nor the works so complete as those near Vera, where the French had more time, nor were the roads or mountains so difficult to ascend; but there was less shelter to approach, from the greater smoothness of the ground. Almost the only chance of safety was following some hollow roads, and a ride or two on the hills.
16th (4 o’clock).—I have just heard that the mail goes in half an hour. There is, therefore, little time to add tothis. Colonel G—— is come back: Soult very civil, but high and proud in his manner, not yet satisfied, and so circumstanced, does not yet join the royal cause; the consequence is, I hear, that the troops move to-morrow morning, and I fear we shall do the same then or soon after. This is very provoking, for the general result seems clear, and all bloodshed now useless. I suspect the truth of the hare story, as it is said that Soult’s army is still ignorant of what has happened, at least, nearly so. Pains are now being taken to circulate the proclamations, news, &c., in all directions round him, that the troops may learn the real state of things. I have to-day received the parcel from you, letter to 29th, and newspapers. Many thanks.
The museum here contains but a bad second-rate set of pictures. About a hundred have been carried away during the month of March, no one knows where; but I presume they were the best of those which were portable from their size.
There has been some difference of opinion, and confusion, we hear, at Montauban about royalty. Bayonne, it is to be feared, will abide by Soult, and do nothing yet.
Head-Quarters, Toulouse, April 18th, 1814, 5 o’clock.—The troops moved as I told you yesterday, and the order was actually out for head-quarters to move to-day, when Count Gazan came in yesterday, about mid-day, to announce Marshal Soult’s submission, I believe, to the new order of things, and to arrange cantonments, &c., for the two armies. He was closeted with General Murray a long time, and arrangements were made. He returned this morning to have the articles ratified, and to-night Lord G. Lennox has orders to be in readiness to go to England through Paris with the news. This last fact you will, perhaps, have heard, and probably before you get this.
We had yesterday a grandTe Deum, a most strangenoisy military and religious ceremony attended with all the drums and military band; French civic soldiers, with their hats on, hallooing, shouting, singing, organs, &c., an immense crowd, and great cordiality. Unluckily, Gazan passed the door as the crowd was coming out; he was hooted, and saluted with “A bas Soult!” &c. This was a pity, but these changeable gentlemen are all in extremes. The troops are all going into cantonments immediately, and we shall for some time, I conclude, be quiet.
The bad news from Bayonne is very unlucky. General Hope is, I hear, not dangerously wounded; and his aide-de-camp is gone to Bayonne to comfort him in his confinement, which I trust will now be soon over. The affair seems to have been a surprise in a great measure, and the chief loss was in regaining the church, &c., of St. Etienne, which had been easily lost at first. Lord Dalhousie, on the other hand, seems to have gone on well alone, across the Dordogne.
The arsenal is here on a very large scale, and would have been a very great acquisition, were the war to have gone on. The French carried away almost everything but materials, of which there is abundance of wheel carriages, &c., and all the forges, &c., in order.
Head-Quarters, Toulouse, April 23rd, 1814.—Our life has now fallen into the old routine way again, and not only without daily events and little incidents to excite the mind, as has hitherto been the case, but also with the additional flatness and indifference, which cannot but be felt so immediately after a succession of such occurrences as have taken place within the last month. You will now have only the tittle-tattle of a country town (a French town certainly, and therefore somewhat novel), with which you must be satisfied. When Count Gazan came over here, to settle the terms of the armistice and line of demarcation, &c., with Generals Murray andWimpfen, he was so much engaged that I could not see him, as I wished to do, and he went very suddenly back again. The terms you will see in the papers.
When all the Spanish garrisons are collected in France, this southern French army will again be respectable. Our troops are all moving into their cantonments along the Garonne on the left bank, except a few on this right bank, within the department of the Haute Garonne, which remains nearly all ours for the present. We have had a variety of strangers—the two Sir Charles Stewarts the first place. The Lisbon minister only stopped here one day on his way to Holland; the other Sir Charles, from Paris, came, as it is whispered here, to signify a wish on the part of the Allies that Lord Wellington would be the English commissioner at the general Congress. If so, and this seems very probable, I think he does well to refuse, for he cannot stand higher than he does. Were he to go, the other diplomatists would be surprised at his method of getting through business. We should certainly have a general peace many weeks sooner, if not months, than we are likely to have otherwise.
I was walking with C—— in Lord Wellington’s garden about eight o’clock in the morning, three days since, when we saw a queer-looking figure approach, of whom we could make out nothing from the complete mixture of undress and magnificence—a pair of not clean overalls on, a common short pelisse, and a foraging cap, but the whole breast covered with stars and little crosses, and swords and orders of all sorts.
I was not a little surprised at being introduced to Sir Charles Stewart. He had arrived at two in the morning and had gone to bed, without sending word to Lord Wellington, depending upon finding him at home at eight o’clock, when to his mortification he found that Lord Wellington had been since five in the morning outhunting; and when Sir Charles asked where he could go to meet him, the best information he could get was, that it was in a forest somewhere about eighteen miles distant, but no one knew exactly where, for the only persons who knew, about four in number, were out with him. Patience, therefore, was his only remedy; and instead of being off again in two hours as he said he had intended, he was obliged to stay long enough to give us a few anecdotes from the Allies. Two of Marshal Suchet’s aides-de-camp, and two or three French colonels from his army and that of Soult, have also been here.
With one of Suchet’s aides-de-camp I had much conversation. He is a gentleman-like young man. He told me that Suchet was at Perpignan when he heard of Soult’s affair here; but that he then thought it prudent to hasten to Narbonne, and there he was when the news from Paris arrived. Had the war gone on, therefore, we should evidently have had a dance, as I expected, to the Mediterranean, on the road to Montpelier, after these united marshals, and should have required your utmost exertions and reinforcements from England; as it is, all is well. Suchet’s aide-de-camp said that he found very different feelings towards Soult in this country from what there were towards his master in the districts where he had commanded, and that he feared Soult had conducted himself very badly. The two marshals are, I understand, very jealous of each other. I asked him if Suchet had the least notion or expectation previously of what has happened. He said, “No: who could expect such a change in the minds of every one, and such a revolution in seven days’ time?” Then he laughed, and said, “At present we wereà la mode;” and as I met him at the grand ball at the Capitole here again, he said, “There, you have nothing to do now but to make the most of your advantages, and amuse yourselves: all the beauties have now declared for you.”
I rather pitied him, when at that meeting a number of pert apprentices, with immense white cockades on, and some still with Napoleon buttons and smart civic uniforms, were continually coming up to him, and reaching about up to his chin, asking him, pertly, “Oh! are you Soult’s aide-de-camp, or Suchet’s? Well, how do you like what is going on?” fellows, that a month ago would have almost cleaned his shoes had they been asked. Some of them even thought he was English, and in bad patois French, complimented him on the progress he had made in the French language. His military pride was much put to the trial, and he could hardly smother his feelings. He then asked me to show him his new King, of whom there was an old picture hung up, as he said it was now time to make acquaintance with his new sovereign, as well as with this new state of society.
The grand ball given by the town at the Capitole on Thursday went off well, except that it was just such a crowd as an Easter Monday ball at the Mansion House. The rooms were very handsome, and the five hundred English, Spanish, and Portuguese officers added not a little to the effect of the scene. Nearly the whole were generals, aide-de-camps, staff-officers, or at least field-officers, and every order and ornament of every nation was worn. Lord Wellington was most splendid. The amusement commenced by leading him into the Salle de Troneci-devantBonaparte, where, over the vacant chair in the centre, was the picture of King Louis XVIII., and on each side that of the Duke d’Angoulême, and one of Lord Wellington himself—the latter a hasty caricature likeness taken by a painter here at the play from memory. He was then entertained with a short concert, principally consisting of La Chasse d’Henri IV., and “God save the King,” sung by the public singers from a gallery, amidst the clouds—goddesses and cupids painted above them.
I had got Mr. K——, the famous English officersinger, to go with me to the leader of the band, and to give him the catch-club harmony of “God save the King,” and we wrote them down full instructions, and all the words for the song, solo, trio, chorus, &c., the words spelt also according to the French pronunciation, while the musician caught by the ear and scribbled down all the parts, one by one, from K——’s singing. It was an interesting scene. They had a rehearsal, and Mr. K—— gave theprima donnaa few private lessons, and the whole in consequence went off really surprisingly well. The supper-tables were filled by about four sets successively, the English having the preference, sentinels letting us in, and keeping out the French until the last. This went on until there was not even bread and water remaining.
The press, now, is at work here, printing Cevallo’s old history of the conduct of the French in Spain, and a variety of things, which to the natives are news. There seems to be a disposition to buy the books and read; nothing, however, will make the French what Cobbett calls us, “a thinking people.” They seem to be as frivolous as ever. The next thing wished for here, and at Bordeaux, is to get rid of this new constitution, and have the Bourbons as before; at least the party is strong for this line, and, unless something decisive is done soon, and the old military dispersed about, and gens-d’armes, I think they will even yet have a squabble about several things among themselves, which makes me wish that we should be off as soon as possible, and have nothing to do with them. As soon as all the foreign garrisons are withdrawn, and the line of the French empire settled, the faster we withdraw from within it the better. I always expected the royal cause would gain ground as it has, when once fairly tried. It was the only source of peace, and that was what all wanted, on any terms. Of course the acceptance of the Bourbons made it all easy; but Ibelieve all the southern departments would gladly have been English, to secure peace, and get sugar, sell their wines, and get rid of conscriptions and acquisitions.
Lord Wellington gives another grand ball at theci-devantPrefecture, now Palais Royale, on Monday next. On Tuesday, he resigns his place there to the Duke d’Angoulême, and as there is an old adage about two kings of Brentford, I suspect he will soon afterwards take a trip somewhere else, at least for a time. I doubt, however, his leaving the armies altogether, while they remain in force, and the French marshals likewise.
Bordeaux must be very proud of the example they have given to France. They must take especial care to conceal their subsequent alarms, and half-repentance of what they have done.