Being loath to interrupt my narrative of the sanguinary operations of
this day, I have omitted to notice an event, perhaps more important
in its general consequences than even the successful resistance of
one British corps to the attack of almost the whole French army. The
reader will no doubt recollect that, at the period of time respecting
which I am now writing, the various states of Germany, which had lain
so long under the French yoke, were beginning once more to assert
their independence--many, indeed, had taken up arms against the common
enemy. The battle of Leipsic had been fought; the Confederation of
the Rhine was dissolved; Holland and the Netherlands were in a great
measure restored to their legitimate sovereign; and all in rear of the
Allied line, extending from Huningen to the Low Countries, was free.
Attached to the army of Marshal Soult were several brigades of German
and Dutch troops, from whom the intelligence of the real state of their
respective countries could not be concealed. Of these, about 4000 men,
through the instrumentality of their commanding officers, had for some
time back been in secret communication with Lord Wellington. All indeed
that was wanting to withdraw them from the ranks of the enemy was a
convenient opportunity to desert; and against this the French general
appeared studiously to strive. One brigade he had already sent to the
rear on suspicion, and he had thrown out various hints that the rest
must speedily follow; nor can it be doubted that these hints would have
been acted upon but for the events of the three last days. The extreme
fatigue of his French battalions compelled him to assign the advanced
station this morning to a corps of Germans, who had no sooner taken up
their ground than they proposed to carry into execution a plan which
their officers had long matured. Collecting their baggage, and carrying
with them their arms, ammunition, and accoutrements, they marched in
regular order within our lines, and were instantly shipped, as they had
previously desired, for their own country. Thus, independently of his
loss in killed and wounded, which, on the most moderate computation,
could not amount to less, during the late operations, than four
thousand men, Soult found his army weakened by the desertion of fifteen
hundred or two thousand veteran soldiers.
The Germans had taken up the ground in our immediate front soon after
dark on the evening of the 10th. They were not then prepared to abandon
the cause of Napoleon; but messengers were sent in that night to warn
our general of what was to take place on the morrow, and to guard
the column of deserters from being fired on by our outposts. All was
fully arranged. Just before the advance of the Portuguese brigade,
which brought on the renewal of hostilities, the German corps began
their march; and being welcomed with cheers by their new allies, who
stood under arms to receive them, that which was to us an animating
spectacle, doubtless spread dismay and bitter chagrin among the ranks
of the enemy. But to return to my own personal narrative.
The night of the 11th was spent, as that of the 10th had been, round
our fires, and in the open air. A supply of beef, biscuit, and rum had,
however, been issued out; and the beef being broiled over the coals,
a substantial supper recruited the strength of those who were really
beginning to faint from inanition. Then the grog being passed round,
and pipes and cigars lighted, we lay not down to sleep till many a rude
joke had been bandied about and many a merry catch chanted. Not that
we were altogether insensible to more grave and melancholy feelings.
Our ranks were a good deal thinned; of our beloved companions many had
fallen; and I speak truly when I say that we lamented their fall, even
in the midst of our mirth. But a state of warfare is productive, and
necessarily so, of more consummate selfishness than any other situation
into which man is liable to be thrown; and hence, except some bosom
friend have perished, such as Grey was to me, and I to him, it must be
confessed that soldiers think less of the dead than of the living. Each
man, indeed, is (shall I own it?) too happy to find himself unscathed,
to waste many fruitless expressions of sorrow upon those whose fate has
been different.
The dawn of the 12th found us, as the dawn of the preceding day had
done, under arms. Just before day broke, the battalion, leaving two
companies to act as skirmishers, fell back to the rear of a thin
hedgerow, for the purpose of keeping an open stubble-field in its
front, in case the enemy should attack. By this means we hoped to throw
in our fire with the better effect as they moved along their coverless
ground; whilst, a clear space lying before us, our charge, which must
of course follow, would be the more decisive. But the enemy gave us no
opportunity of carrying these plans into execution.
The French army was still before us in immense numbers; but it remained
perfectly quiet. Hour after hour elapsed without any movement being
made on either side, till about nine in the morning his column, which
occupied the main road, began to retrograde. An English officer of
artillery seeing this, as if determined that the retreat should not be
altogether bloodless, fired the two guns which he commanded, I believe
without orders. Whether these shots irritated the Marshal, or that
he was anxious to deceive us into a belief of fresh hostilities on
his side, I know not, but they were immediately answered. The column
halted, faced about, and made a show of advancing. The pickets came
on, and a good deal of skirmishing ensued; but no decided attack was
made, though enough was done to keep our attention awake. About noon,
however, even this firing ceased, and a sort of pause in hostilities
ensued.
Let me take advantage of this pause to describe the relative positions
of the two armies, as far at least as my circumscribed opportunities
enabled me to judge of them.
The extreme left of the British, and consequently the extreme right of
the French army, rested upon the sea. Between the highroad and the sea,
however, lay a small lake, measuring perhaps a mile in circumference,
the ground beyond which was so rugged and enclosed that only a few
companies were left to guard it. On that plateau no military operations
took place. Perhaps, then, I may speak more intelligibly if I say that
the left of our army and the right of the enemy rested upon the lake.
The main road, which was one key of our position, ran along the summit
of the high bank above the lake. It was winding, but as nearly level
as high roads generally are. To defend it, a battery of three guns had
been thrown up a little way to the left, where an inclination of the
lake permitted, and where the whole of a long sweep was commanded. On
the right of the road was the mayor's house, with its out-buildings,
gardens, and thick plantations, for the possession of which so much
blood had been shed. So far, however, the ground was perfectly even;
that is to say, neither the French nor we possessed the advantage of an
acclivity, nor could either side boast of superior cover from wood But
about musket-shot from the mayor's house the case was different, and
the general face of the country underwent a change.
In the quarter of which I have last spoken, and where, indeed, my own
corps was this morning stationed, the French and English divisions were
separated from one another by a ravine. The ground occupied by the
enemy was perhaps higher than that on which we stood; but then on our
side we were better supplied with thickets; and had the contrary been
the case, there was ascent sufficient to give a decided advantage to
the defenders over the assailants. In both lines one or two farmhouses
stood conveniently enough as posts of defence; and on the side of the
enemy a wilderness of furze-bushes covered the face of the hill.
This ravine, after running in a straight direction about three or four
hundred yards, wound inwards upon the French hill, so as to place the
church of Arcanques rather in front of our station than the contrary.
That building stood, however, upon a detached eminence. It was
completely surrounded by ravines except in the rear, where it sloped
gradually down into a woody plain. Beyond Arcanques it was not possible
for me to make any accurate observations; but, as far as I could judge,
the country appeared flat, with the same sort of inequalities occurring
in it as those already described. There was, however, a great deal
of wood scattered here and there; and several villages, some in the
possession of the French, others in our possession, could be descried.
On the whole, neither position could be pronounced greatly superior in
natural strength to the other; nor, perhaps, would ours at least have
caught an eye less accurate in these matters than his who selected it
for his winter line.
I have said that a good deal of unconnected firing having been kept up
till about noon, a solemn pause ensued throughout the line. Not that
Marshal Soult had yet resigned all hope of forcing our left, and so
gaining the command of the road by which our supplies were brought
up; but he appeared satisfied that absolute force would not secure
his object, and hence he betook himself to manœuvring. Of the various
changes of ground which now took place among the different divisions of
both armies it is vain for me to attempt any minute description. What
I myself saw, however, may be repeated; though it will convey but a
feeble idea of the magnificent operations of these two mighty gamesters.
We had stood, or rather lain, quietly behind a hedge about half an
hour, when the arrival of a group of horsemen on the brow of the
French hill attracted our attention. It was Soult and his staff. The
Marshal dismounted, leant his telescope over the saddle of his horse,
and swept our line. While he was thus employed, Lord Wellington,
followed by about twenty aides-de-camp and orderlies, rode up. The
glass of our General was instantly turned upon his adversary, and
the two Commanders-in-Chief gazed at each other for several seconds.
Now a mounted Frenchman rode to the rear of his group at full speed;
next Lord Wellington flew, as fast as his horse could gallop, towards
Arcanques; and for about a quarter of an hour all was still.
Soult had departed in the same direction with Lord Wellington; and we
were wondering what was to follow, when the head of a French column
suddenly showed itself on the high ground opposite to Arcanques. An
attack was of course expected, but none took place. As if the two
columns had agreed to reach their ground at the same instant, the enemy
hardly made his appearance ere the wood in rear of Arcanques glittered
with the bayonets of the seventh division. Again Soult showed himself
on the ridge opposite, but a good deal farther to the right, gazing, as
if with deep anxiety, upon the advance of these troops. His plan was
anticipated; and his newly-formed column melted gradually away.
"Where next?" thought I; but no great time was spent in wondering.
The same, or another mass, speedily crowned the hill opposite; and,
at the same moment, two or three brigades of fresh troops were in our
rear. Once more the enemy withdrew. Thus the whole hours of light were
spent, the heads of columns appearing and disappearing at different
points; indeed both armies seemed to be handled as the pieces upon
a chess-board are, when two skilful and tolerably equal players are
opposed. Darkness at length beginning to set in, an end was put to
the manœuvring; and we again made preparations to spend the night as
comfortably as circumstances would permit.
It fell to my lot this evening to mount picket. As soon as the night
set in, I put myself at the head of the body of men which was assigned
to me, and moved down to the bottom of the ravine of which I have
already spoken as dividing the two armies. There our watch-fire was
lighted, and there the main body of the picket took its ground, the
sentinels being posted a little on the rise of the opposite hill. The
French, on the other hand, stationed their outposts on the summit, and
placed their sentries opposite to ours, at a distance of perhaps thirty
paces. Thus each man was at the mercy of the other; but both British
and French sentinels were too well trained in the school of modern
warfare to dream of violating the sanctity which is happily thrown
around them.
It will be readily imagined that this was to me a night of peculiarly
high excitement. My friend Grey was with me; so the time passed
cheerfully enough, but it was wholly sleepless. We took it by turns
to visit our sentries every half-hour, who again were relieved, as
sentinels generally are, each at the expiration of a two hours'
watch; and thus, by going our rounds and examining the state of the
men previous to their proceeding to their posts, all inclination to
repose was dispelled. The privates, indeed, on whose shoulders no
responsibility rested, lay down with their firelocks beside them and
slept; but we sat by our fire, smoking and conversing, whenever an
opportunity of sitting was granted. All, however, passed quietly off.
Except the voices of our own and the enemy's sentries, who challenged
as we approached, no sound could be heard in the front; nor did any
event occur worthy of notice till midnight was long past.
It might be, perhaps, about two in the morning of the 13th, when a
sentinel, whose post I visited, informed me that he had heard a more
than usual stir in the French lines about ten minutes before, and had
seen a blue-light thrown up. "Have any reliefs taken place among them
lately?" said I. "Yes, sir," replied the soldier; "a relief has just
gone now." "We must reconnoitre," rejoined I; and so saying, I stooped
down, and in a creeping attitude approached the enemy's vedettes. One
stood directly before me. Though it was very dark I could distinguish
his cap and firelock; so I crept back again, satisfied that all was
quiet.
In half an hour after I visited the same man. "Has anything occurred
since?" asked I. "No, sir," was the answer; "all is perfectly quiet."
Repeating my experiment, I found the French sentinel still stationary,
and I was again satisfied. The same thing occurred at each successive
visitation, till about four in the morning. At that hour my own
sentinel stated that he had heard no relief since he came on duty,
neither had the man whom he relieved heard any. Upon this I returned
to consult with Grey; when it was agreed between us that a patrol
should go forward and ascertain at once how matters stood. Taking with
me four men, I again crept up the hill. The vedette was still there. We
approached. He continued silent and motionless. We ran up to him. It
was a bush with a soldier's cap placed upon the top of it, and a musket
leaning against it! The enemy were gone. Not a vestige of them remained
except their fires, on which a quantity of fuel had lately been heaped.
Of course we transmitted to the rear, without delay, intelligence of
all that had occurred; when a general recognisance being made along the
front of the whole left, it was found that Soult had withdrawn, and
that he had carried off with him, not only his artillery and baggage,
but all his wounded. We gave him ample credit for the adroitness with
which his retreat had been conducted.