station appointed for them. The fourth and light division, however, passed the Zadora immediately after Sir R. Hill had possession of Sabijana de Alava; and almost as soon as these divisions had crossed, the column under the Earl of Dalhousie arrived at Mendonza, and the third division under Sir T. Picton crossed at the bridge higher up, followed by the 7th division. These four divisions, forming the centre of the army, were destined to attack the heights on which the right of the enemy's centre was placed, while Sir R. Hill moved forward from Sabijana de Alava to attack the left. The enemy, however, having weakened his line to strengthen his detachment in the hills, abandoned his position in the valley as soon as he saw the disposition of the allied army to attack it, and commenced his retreat in good order towards Vittoria. The British troops continued to advance in admirable order, notwithstanding the difficulties of the ground. In the mean time Sir T. Graham, who commanded the left of the army, consisting of the 1st and 5th divisions, of Generals Pack and Bradford's brigades of infantry, and Generals Bock's and Anson's cavalry, and who had moved on the 20th to Margina, advanced thence on Vittoria, by the high road from that town to Bilboa. He had with him also the Spanish division under Colonel Longa. General Giron, who had been detach ed to the left, under a different view of the state of affairs, having afterwards been recalled, had arrived on the 20th at Ordima, and marched thence on the morning of the 21st, so as to be in the field in readiness to support Sir Thomas Graham, if his support had been required. The enemy had a division of infantry, and some cavalry advanced on the great road from Vittoria to Bilboa, their right resting on some strong heights which cover the village of Gamarro Major. Both Gamarro and Abechinco were strongly occupied, as tetes-du-pont to the bridges over the Zadora at these places. General Pack, with his Por tuguese brigade, and Colonel Longa, with the Spanish division, supported by General Anson's brigade of light dragoons, and the 5th division of infantry under the command of General Oswald, who was desired to take the command of all these troops, were directed to turn and gain the heights. So soon as the heights were in possession of the allies, the village of Gamarro Major was most gallantly stormed and carried by General Robinson's brigade of the 5th division, which advanced in columns of battalion, under a very heavy fire of artillery and musketry, without firing a shot. The enemy suffered severely at this point, and lost three pieces of cannon. The Lieutenant-General then proceeded to attack the village of Abechinco with the first division, by forming a strong battery against it; under cover of the fire, Colonel Walkett's brigade advanced to the attack, and carried the village, the light battalion having charged and taken three guns and howitzer on the bridge. During the operations at Abechinco, the enemy made the greatest efforts to repossess themselves of the village of Gamarro Major; but were gallantly repulsed by the troops of the 5th division under General Oswald. The enemy had, however, on the heights on the left of the Zadora two divisions of infantry in reserve; and it was impossible to cross by the bridges till the troops which had moved upon the enemy's centre and left had driven them through Vittoria. This service having been admirably peformed, the whole army co-operated in the pur suit. The movements of the troops under Sir T. Graham, by which they obtained possession of Gamarro and Abechinco, intercepted the enemy's retreat by the high road to France. The fugitives were thus obliged to turn to the road towards Pampluna ; but they were unable to hold any position for a sufficient length of time to allow their baggage and artillery to be drawn off. The whole of the artillery therefore which had not been captured by the troops in their attack of the successive positions taken up by the enemy, after their retreat from their first position on Arunez, and on the Zadora, and all their ammunition and baggage, and every thing they had, were taken close to Vittoria. The enemy carried off with them one gun and one howitzer only. The army under Joseph Buonaparte consisted of the whole of the armies of the south and of the centre,-of four divisions, and of all the cavalry of the army of Portugal-and of some troops of the army of the north. General Foy's division of the army of Portugal was in the neighbourhood of Bilboa at this time; and Clausel, who commanded the army of the north, was near Logrono with one division of the army of Portugal, and another of the army of the north. The 6th division of the allied army, under general Pakenham, was likewise absent, having been detained in Medina del Pomar for three days, to cover the march of the magazines and stores belonging to thefallied army. "I cannot," says Lord Wellington in his official dispatches, "extol too highly the good conduct of all the general officers and soldiers of the army in this action." When the short account of this brilliant exploit, which has just been given almost in the very words of Lord Wellington, is considered, we shall find every reason to admire the talent which he displayed on this occasion, and to wonder at the strange errors committed by the enemy. The first operation of the allies was to occupy the heights of La Puebla, on which the enemy's left rested. In permitting this to be effected with little resistance, the French seemed to have committed a capital error, of which they immediately became sensible; and they made vigorous efforts, and poured detachment after detachment, in order to regain possession of them. Lord Wellington however supported the corps posted there in such a manner, that they were still able to maintain their ground. Then followed the attack on both flanks of the enemy's centre. The French were not prepared for this attack. They had weakened their centre, for the purpose of making fruitless efforts against the heights on the left; and discovering at last that their exertions to maintain their position would be unavailing, they abandoned it, and the whole of their centre and left retreated upon Vittoria. General Graham, with the left of the allied army, was now carrying on those operations which were to render victory deci. sive. The enemy had stationed a considerable force in advance of Gamarro ; and occupied several strongly fortified villages, by which the high roads to Bilboa and Bayonne were defended. General Graham succeeded in expelling the enemy from all these positions, and driving him across the Zadora. The bridges however being strongly guarded, he was himself unable to gain the opposite bank, until it had been cleared by the victorious right and centre. The left then crosseď the river also, and joined in the pursuit. The enemy was thus cut off from the high road into France, on which all their arrangements for retreating had been made. They were forced to retire by the more difficult and circuitous route of Pampluna, upon which they had secured no fortified positions to cover this movement. They had thus no means of making a stand at any one point for a length of time sufficient to enable them to carry away their artillery and equipments. Near Vittoria, therefore, the whole fell into the hands of the pursuers. Never was an army so completely stripped. Baggage, artillery, ammunition, campequi. page-all was taken; vast quantities of treasure were even thrown down the rocks and collected by the pursuing troops. The allied army, in this most legitimate plunder, found some solid reward for the glorious toils through which they had passed. Of one hundred and fifty pieces of cannon, the enemy carried with him one gun and one howitzer only; even this solitary gun was afterwards captured. The French passed Pampluna, but without stopping at that fortress, and pursued their retreat over the Pyrenees into France. Joseph Buonaparte passed through Salvatierra, in his precipitate flight from Vittoria, stripped of every thing, and exhibiting every symptom of fear and confusion. The Spanish people hailed the approach of their allies with the most extravagant demonstrations of joy, satisfied, as they were from the appearance and strength of the army, that Spain was completely emancipated from the French yoke. The inhabitants of Logrono, a fine town a few leagues distant from Vittoria, resolved to lose no time in proclaiming the change of affairs, although it was humanely suggested to them, that, in case of the French returning, every one would be oppressed and punished, who assisted in the ceremony. They insisted, how ever, upon proclaiming Ferdinand VII. immediately; and he was accordingly reinstated upon his throne by proxy, the ceremony having been attended by the civil authorities of the place, who conducted the representative of majesty to a stage erected for the occasion in the market-place. In the evening the town was illuminated and the rejoicings were general and enthusiastic. The victory of Vittoria will be no less memorable for the importance of its consequences, than for the courage and talent by which it was achieved. The extent of the enemy's loss in stores and artillery was almost unexampled. This victory besides afforded the prospect of driving the enemy out of Spain, and what had by many been regarded as wild speculation was now become matter of confident hope. Even the invasion of France seemed to be a question of prudence merely with the British general. The British people, who had so long heard of the intention of the enemy to invade this country-who had heard of their vain boast that they should plant the French eagles on the Tower of London-were now assured that France might be invaded by a British army. It was highly probable that the same army which, by imperial mandate, was ordered into the sea at Lisbon, might soon enter by land into Bourdeaux; and thus the prospects which opened to the country were such as amply confirmed the original wisdom of that policy which had led her to engage in the cause of the peninsula. The grand object of this policy was to support the cause of Spain and Portugal, and thus create a most important diversion in favour of other nations, who might be inclined to oppose the encroachments, or throw off the yoke, of France; and at the same time to afford to all nations a noble example of persevering and determined resistance. The wisdom of that policy had now been amply proved.-It was universally known, that the efforts of the British in Spain had encouraged Russia to resist. It was the request of that power, that, as the best assistance which Britain could give her in her contest with France, the peninsular war should be vigorously maintained. And what had been the result of this resistance? The opposition made to the power of the enemy in Spain and Portugal had produced the great efforts of Russia, and had enabled that country to resist with success; for if the French had been prepared to advance into Russia at an earlier season, and in greater force, the issue might have been different. Another great object of this policy was to deprive the enemy of the resources of Spain and Portugal, which he might have employed to the subjugation of other countries. How great the progress which had now been made in effecting this object! Was it not much that the main French army, commanded by the intrusive king in person, should have been signally defeated with the loss of all its artillery, and every thing which constituted its strength; and that this same king, (whose "sacred dynasty" was to be perpetual) had been compelled to fly in disgrace? In such a state of things, it was impossible to deny that a great stride had been made towards the accomplishment of the legitimate objects of the contest-the destruction of the enemy's power in the peninsula. This victory, moreover, was of a nature as decisive as any which had graced the military annals of England. Not only was the enemy defeated, and driven off the field, but he had lost all his artillery, his stores, his baggage, and, in short, every thing which constituted the materiel of an army. He had been compelled to abandon the strong military positions on the Ebro, which he had been fortifying for months, and where he reckoned upon making a stand, if forced to relinquish the other districts of Spain. The great talents of Lord Wellington had scarcely been more displayed in the decisive battle of Vittoria, than in the skill with which the campaign was planned and the rapi dity with which it had been conducted. The enemy imagined that the fortifi. cations which he had constructed at Toro and other places, but particularly at Burgos, would retard the movements of the British troops, till he should be able, at least, to carry off his magazines in security. Such however was the skill of Lord Wellington's manœuvres, and such the rapidity with which they were conducted, that all the plans of the enemy were confounded. No sooner had the allies advanced into Spain, than the French hastily abandoned all their points of defence, and were constrained even to evacuate Burgos, on which they had expended so much labour. They abandoned Pancorbo and Miranda on the Ebro with equal rapidity; so that in less than a month after the allies entered Spain, the enemy beheld them threatening his magazines at Vittoria, which he was compelled to defend at every hazard. Here the contest was never for a moment doubtful. The French seem to have fought with spirit on two points only, the one on their right, where it was their object to cover or regain the main road to France by Bayonne, in which attempt they were completely repulsed by the troops under Sir T. Graham; the other on the left, where they endea voured in vain to retake the commanding positions which were forced and maintained by the division of Sir Rowland Hill. It is remarkable that near the spot where this great battle was fought, another victory was obtained in the proudest days of England's martial glory, when Edward the Black Prince defeated the usurper of the crown of Spain, who on that occasion was supported by French troops. The merits of Lord Wellington seemed now to transcend all praise. He had been tried in a more extraordinary manner perhaps than any character, in military or in civil life. He had at first planned and conducted a system of defence in the face of a far superior force, commanded by very able generals; and had displayed the high, est qualities of a consummate captain. He had, with unequalled coolness and vigilance, struggled with every difficulty, and triumphed over every obstacle. Such events could have been accomplished only by wonderful exertions of valour by himself and his army, and by the more difficult exercise of persevering endurance in the most trying situations. But his lordship now appeared to his country and to the world, as a man who had frequently distinguished himself in every possible way through every stage of the contest-by his skill in conducting sieges-by his promp. titude in the application of sudden efforts-by his success in operations carried on in a country where the greatest difficulties were experiencedby the ability with which he had conducted himself even in retreating,and at last by a series of victories which had never been surpassed in splendour and importance. The prince, whom he served with so much glory, testified the sense which he entertained of his high deserts in the most marked and gratifying manner. The staff of Marshal Jourdan having been taken at the battle of Vittoria, and sent to the Prince Regent, his Royal Highness in return created Lord Wellington a field marshal of Great Britain. The frank and affectionate letter of the prince, so worthy of that illustrious personage, which accompanied this mark of the royal favour, must have greatly enhanced the gratification felt by Lord Wellington. The Spanish government also, as a proof of its gratitude for his eminent services to Spain, created him Duke of Vittoria. |