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RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAI^ 
 FIRST BARON VIVIAN 
 
 ^3 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tiiis book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/cletails/cu31924028006181 
 
RICHARD HUSSEY YIVIA^ 
 
 riEST BAEON VIVIAN 
 
 A MEMOIR 
 
 BY 
 
 THE HON. CLAUD VIVIAN 
 
 LONDON 
 
 ISBISTER AND COMPANY Limited 
 
 15 & 16 TAVISTOCK STREET COVENT GARDEN 
 
 1897 
 
 M 
 
/\,\•2.^^5-^; 
 
 Printed by Ballantyne, Hanson &= Co. 
 London dr> Edinburgh 
 
TO 
 
 THE PAST AND PKESENT OFWCEllS 
 
 NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS AND MEN 
 
 OF THE 
 
 7th 10th and 18th HUSSARS 
 
 THIS MEMOIR OF ONE WHO FREGIUENTLY ACTED AS 
 
 A LEADER OF THEIR REGIMENTS DURING THE 
 
 PENINSULAR WARS IS RESPECTFULLY 
 
 DEDICATED BY HIS GRANDSON 
 
 CLAUD VIVIAN 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 I. Early Years — Flanders and the 
 
 Helder ...... 1 
 
 II. CoRUNNA Campaign, 1808-9 ... 59 
 
 III. Campaign of 1813 132 
 
 IV. Quatre-Bras and the Retreat of 
 
 June 17 S*."} 
 
 V. Waterloo, 1815 297 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 EARLY YEARS— FLANDERS AND THE HELDER 
 
 RiCHAED HussEY ViviAN, who was created first Baron Vivian 
 in the year 1841, but who was better known as "Sir 
 Hussey " throughout his life, was born at Truro on July 28, 
 1775. 
 
 When about eight years old he was sent to the Grammar 
 School at Truro, under Dr. Cardew. Here, however, he did 
 not remain long, as from 1784 to 1787 he was at school at 
 Lostwithiel, from which place he went direct to Harrow. 
 
 Three years of his life were passed at Harrow ; and in 
 1790 he entered at the old West Country College, " Exeter," 
 at Oxford. 
 
 He appears, however, only to have kept two terms, when 
 he went to France to complete his education. 
 
 The first letter I possess of his is one written from 
 
 " MoNTREUiL, July i8, 1791. 
 
 "Deau Mother, — I hope that my late silence has not 
 alarmed you, but I wished not to write till I should be 
 perfectly settled, which I am happy to inform you I am at 
 present ; and that in as comfortable a place as I could 
 wish for. 
 
 "My uncle has also taken lodgings here, and means to 
 study the French language; not but that at present he 
 knows it as well as most people who are not perfect French- 
 
2 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1791 
 
 men — that is, grammatically, but as to speaking it he can 
 hardly hold a conversation ! 
 
 " A history of our journey would fill a sheet of paper. I 
 shall therefore abridge it a little. 
 
 "Last Tuesday [July 12] we left Oxford and went to 
 Southampton, where the rascals, by telling us lies, contrived 
 to make us stay some hours without giving us a satisfactory 
 answer till late in the evening, when they told us the packet 
 had sailed that morning. 
 
 " Thence we proceeded to London ; thence to Dover ; and 
 then had a bad passage to Boulogne, in which I was sea-sick, 
 but not much. 
 
 " We stayed there one day, but liked not the place. We 
 then came here, where we have settled ourselves comfortably, 
 and in a good place to learn the language. 
 
 "Everything is quite quiet, so that you need not fright 
 vourself. 
 
 ml 
 
 " My uncle tells me to say that for my next you must get 
 your French dictionary. What he means I know not, unless 
 that it will be so exceedingly unintelligible as not to be 
 understood without trouble." 
 
 The uncle referred to in the above letter was the Rev. 
 Richard Vivian, Rector of Bushey, Herts. 
 The next letter is from the same place. 
 
 " MONTREUIL, August 8, I79I. 
 
 " My deab Mother, — After having waited in vain for a 
 letter from you, take another from me. 
 
 " Since the last we have seen and heard many things. We 
 have been at the ' Grand Mass,' where we saw abundance of 
 fine priests and heard a grand instrument called a ' serpent.' 
 
 "We have seen volunteers in the cause of liberty 
 assembled for the purpose of marching to the frontier. 
 
 " We have been at a wedding dinner, the magnificence of 
 which it is almost impossible for me to describe. Un 
 
1 79 1 FLANDERS AND THE HELDER 3 
 
 premier servke — Ventree — and le dessert— cafe — noyau— et 
 Veau de vie. 
 
 " The company, our friends, le Directeur, le Cure, et sa niece. 
 
 " A description of the rest I shall defer till we meet, only 
 observing that the bride is fifty-two, and weighs eighteen 
 stone ; the bridegroom about half as much in both age and 
 weight. 
 
 " I have been often au convent, where, besides the nuns, 
 are some very pretty English girls, imprisoned for love. 
 Their situation is truly deplorable, not being allowed out 
 but once in three weeks. 
 
 " My uncle is not able to creep in through the tournez ; I 
 am not grown very big, though ! How do you like to hear 
 it.? I have tied my hair! Enter the hairdresser, in full 
 national uniform and sword by his side ; he is just going 
 ce la garde. The spirit of these men who buy arms and 
 clothing, when they dress [hair] for three-halfpence a day, 
 appears admirable." 
 
 An interval of nearly two years takes place between the 
 dates of the two letters I have quoted, and that of the next 
 in my possession. 
 
 During this period, the time arrived for Hussey Vivian to 
 choose a profession. Mr. Vivian wished his heir to follow a 
 pursuit in which distinction had been gained both by himself 
 and other members of the family. 
 
 Hussey Vivian was accordingly articled to a Mr. Jonathan 
 Elfoi-d, a solicitor of Devonport, with a view to his becoming 
 a " counsellor learned in the law." But the attractions pre- 
 sented by the lives and uniforms of the officers of a garrison 
 town were an all-powerful opposing force ; and besides, he 
 could urge family precedents for a military career ; for his 
 great uncle, Colonel Hussey, had been amongst the heroes who 
 fell with Wolfe on the heights of Abraham. Accordingly an 
 ensign's commission in the 20th Regiment of Infantry was 
 procured for him on July 31, 1793. 
 
4 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN i793 
 
 It is doubtful if he ever joined this regiment, for on 
 October 20, he obtained a lieutenancy in an Independent 
 Company of Foot, from which, on the 30th of the same 
 month, he exchanged into the 54<th Regiment. 
 
 At the time when the following letter was written, he had 
 expected that his regiment would make part of an expedition 
 which the British Government had prepared to act against 
 the French colonies in the West Indies. This expedition, the 
 land forces of which were commanded by Sir C. Grey, sailed 
 on November 3, 1793. 
 
 " William and Mary Transport, 
 
 " Portsmouth, November Z2, 1793. 
 
 "My deak. Mother, — I have received your very kind letter, 
 for which I return you my sincere thanks ; nor can I possibly 
 proceed any further without first assuring my father that he 
 has always acted with the greatest liberality towards me. 
 
 " You propose so many questions that I really do not 
 know where I shall find room to write all I have to say. 
 
 " I will first begin by informing you in what state things 
 are at present in this place. 
 
 " I have already informed you by a short letter that we 
 were then immediately ordered on board, and expected to sail 
 immediately ; to what place I know not. 
 
 " Since then it has, I believe, been certainly proved that 
 St. Malo is our destination; a cutter having sailed on Monday 
 for Guernsey to procure pilots against our an-ival ; and it is, 
 I believe, generally supposed that we shall sail before 
 Sunday. Lord Moira, who commands the expedition, comes 
 to-morrow. 
 
 "There are at present here, the 3rd, 27th, 28th, 42nd, 
 19th, 54th, 57th, 58th, and 59th Regiments, a troop of 
 horse, and two companies of artillery. Besides these we 
 expect four regiments from Ireland, and, if report speaks 
 true, 5000 Hessians. 
 
 " We are all ordered on board our respective transports to 
 
1793 FLANDERS AND THE HELDER 5 
 
 be ready to sail at a moment's notice. There are great 
 murmurs here about om- being ordered and counter-ordered 
 so, and a petition to Sir C. Grey is, I believe, thought of; 
 for no pay or fortune can possibly support the enormous 
 expense. 
 
 " In the first place we were ordered to lay in ten weeks' 
 provisions, and prepare our clothing for a West India 
 campaign. Besides the dfe'lS — the bare payment for our 
 provisions — we were obliged to find kettles, plates, &e. &c. ; 
 in fact all the necessaries for cookinff. 
 
 o 
 
 " All this being laid in, and expecting every day to be 
 sent on a ten weeks' voyage, an order came on Monday to 
 prepare with all possible expedition for a cold climate. 
 
 " This additional expense besides the loss of all our former 
 stock, which will become useless to us on our leaving the ship, 
 will, I fear, my dear mother, occasion a greater expense than 
 I can afford ; and, had I not saved money by omitting to 
 purchase shirts, more than I could possibly have done. At 
 present I have a few guineas left to buy flannel and thick 
 clothes. Whilst this lasts I will never call for another 
 farthing. How long that will be it is impossible for me to 
 know ; so very different are om' necessaries. We hope 
 nevertheless to receive some sort of redress for our heavy 
 expenses. 
 
 " I forgot to say that our orders did not say prepare for a 
 cold climate, but for a winter campaign — a pleasant thing ! 
 Thank God we are all well, in good spirits, and highly 
 rejoiced at exchanging the West Indies for France. 
 
 " Now for answering your questions. My father comes first. 
 
 " The officers are as good a corps as I ever met with ; you 
 really have the worst at Truro. The men are a very fine 
 body. 
 
 " Mr. Stewart is much mistaken about my getting a com- 
 pany soon, unless a strange fatality happens ; for there is not 
 at present a captain in the regiment inclined to sell, and 
 there are second lieutenants, every one of whom would 
 
6 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN i793 
 
 purchase. Nevertheless, it is so far from my wish to squander 
 more money than is absokitely necessary that I am very 
 happy in supposing that in four years hence I may probably 
 be near being a captain. 
 
 " I wrote a week ago to Captain John desiring that Harry 
 might come into the regiment, as I thought it very probable 
 he would soon be a lieutenant. I told him that before six 
 months were at an end I should probably get a company, but 
 a conversation with Col. Strutt has proved to the contrary. 
 I must here only mention one circumstance. Capt. Hall 
 (who by the way is just now reading very loud) has been in 
 the army but two years, and has, by raising his independent 
 company and purchasing an exchange, got his company 
 cheaper than an officer who has just now, for ,£2200, got his 
 company, after having for nine years been a subaltern in the 
 regiment. 
 
 "The officers are Lieut-Col. Strutt, Major Paget, Capts. 
 Darby, Layard, Montgomery, Harrison, Garden, Hall, 
 Wright, and Seton ; Lieuts. Warren, Gott, Fell, Warren, 
 Gibson, Williams, Baynton, Frederick, Robinson, Vivian, 
 and Frederick ; Ensigns Cunningham, Caimes, Spence, and 
 Maister. My great friends are Paget, Harrison, Garden, 
 and Frederick senior. As for quan-els, a duel was never 
 fought in the regiment. 
 
 " Thus far have I answered your questions and I am really 
 come to a standstill. As soon as we arrive anywhere I will 
 write. It is impossible you can expect a letter as regular as 
 from the post; wind may not permit, perhaps despatches 
 may not be sent. You must not, therefore, fancy I am 
 killed if you do not hear for these three weeks again. As 
 soon as possible I will write 
 
 " I have opened this to say that an express from Guernsey 
 is arrived, which, they say, brings news of an action having 
 been fought, but that St. Malo is still in the hands of the 
 Republicans. We are therefore ordered to get up our yards 
 and topmasts to sail at a minute''s notice." 
 
1794 FLANDERS AND THE HELDER 7 
 
 Presumably the expedition referred to in the above letter 
 was the one commanded by Lord Moira, which sailed with 
 the object of assisting the Royalists, who had for some time 
 been strenuously fighting (and at first with some success) 
 against the Republican forces in Brittany. 
 
 The latter were, however, decisively defeated in December 
 (23rd), before the English forces arrived. 
 
 Alison alludes to the expedition thus : 
 
 " In war everything depends upon rapidity of execution, 
 and an accui'ate attention to time. The moment of success 
 once allowed to escape, never returns. Hardly had the 
 Royalist standards disappeared from the shores of Brittany 
 when the tardy English succours, commanded by Lord 
 Moira, who had exerted himself to the utmost to accelerate 
 the preparations, appeared on the coast of Cherbourg, having 
 on board eight English battalions, 4000 Hanoverians, and 
 2000 emigrants — in all 10,000 men. 
 
 They looked out in vain for the expected signals, and after 
 remaining on the coast for some days, and receiving intelli- 
 gence of the defeat of the Royalists, returned to Guernsey, 
 where the expedition was broken up. 
 
 Had this succour arrived on the coast a fortnight sooner ; 
 had even a few English frigates appeared ofF Granville during 
 the assault, to intimidate the Republicans and encourage the 
 Royalists, the town would have been taken, the junction of 
 the EngHsh troops with the Royalists effected, and the 
 united forces marched in triumph to Pari?." 
 
 The next letter is written two months later than the last, 
 from 
 
 " Southampton, January 26, 1794. 
 
 "My dear Father, — I sit down to answer as much of 
 your letter as this paper will contain. 
 
 "First, then, I must inform you that I like the Isle of 
 Wight most amazingly, and look upon it that it must be a 
 most enchanting spot in summer. What places you can 
 fancy prettier than Yarmouth, or Newport, I know not: 
 
8 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN i794 
 
 than Cowes, certainly not. The castle and view from it are 
 charming. 
 
 " Our return from Guernsey to England, about which you 
 enquire, was not voluntary ; a very hard wind compelled us 
 to it, and the ships left behind were too near the rocks to 
 venture getting under weigh. 
 
 "Mr. 's being disliked in the regiment is entirely 
 
 owing to his being rather a coxcomb. The report you heard 
 is very true ; but he is a bad hand at running away. Their 
 being disappointed was entirely owing to his neglect ; the 
 lady is since married, and her husband, they say, is the 
 happiest man in the world ! 
 
 "The ball at Lord G.'s was full of officers, and about 
 twenty island ladies, with one of whom (the prettiest girl I 
 ever saw in my life) I had the honour of dancing, and you 
 may depend I was not backward in calling on her the next 
 morning. Between you and me I must confess I was most 
 desperately smitten. She unfortunately had no fortune, so 
 that any one who takes her will make a bad bargain. 
 
 " My great friends are Capt. Hall, Major Paget, and 
 Lieut. Robinson, three very good young men ! Since Paget 
 has become Major I do not see so much of him as before ; he 
 has so much to do. The others I am constantly with. Hall 
 is on board our ship. We left Cowes on Thursday and 
 arrived here on Friday 
 
 " Two of our officers are to go recruiting — one to Romsey, 
 and one to Salisbury. I expect to be ordered on the 
 duty 
 
 " The assemblies are few here ; I believe only once a 
 fortnight." 
 
 The next letter has no date, but was evidently written 
 when Hussey Vivian was thinking of exchanging into the 
 28th Regiment. It has the postmark " Lyndhurst." 
 
 " My dear Fathkr, — I have received your letter of the 21st, 
 
1794 FLANDERS AND THE HELDER 9 
 
 and I assure you had taken every precaution that is therein 
 mentioned before I went to any lengths. 
 
 "The case is just this. Lord Moira has the absolute 
 disposal of every commission in his army below the rank of 
 field officers, and of those he has the recommendation. 
 
 " Indeed, had this not been the case, it differs widely from 
 Col. Buller's business ; this resignation is given in con- 
 ditionally on my being the successor. Col. B. depended on 
 his interest ; my money is lodged, and is to be paid only when 
 I am gazetted as Captain qftlie ^8th, vice Wilson. 
 
 " The proposal about Lord Falmouth was made to me 
 only by some of our own old officers, and my own anxiety. 
 Capt. Twysden of the 28th, when I told him of it (for he is 
 my great friend) said, ' Nonsense, you need not think of it.' 
 
 " I hope to be at Bath about the middle of April, about 
 which time we shall be encamped at Romsey. 
 
 " The 3rd and 78th sailed yesterday to the relief of Jersey. 
 About four hours after they passed the Needles a violent 
 cannonade was heard. What it was we know not. The 
 convoy was small I understand. 
 
 " My mother's alarms and the paper's infamous falsehoods 
 agree very well. I have had the fever, and am now, thank 
 God, about again. I mentioned to you the number we have 
 lost, and nearly 3000 have been ill, and our fever is by far 
 the most dangerous. When at Cowes we were the strongest 
 regiment, and we are now nearly the weakest in the 
 expedition 
 
 " I forgot to mention some reasons which induced me to 
 take the company in the 28th. Stewai-t says in a letter of 
 the 17th of this month, that exchanges are not to be had 
 under .£'100, and Lowrie is easily bribed off his bargain ; as 
 was the case with Capt. Groves of the 28th, for whom he 
 engaged to raise a company. At the end of three months 
 Groves asked for his men. Lowrie had sold them to a higher 
 bidder, and Groves, at the expense of ^£"2300, raised an 
 independent company. Lord Amherst heard of this, and 
 
10 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1794 
 
 being his friend, and a vacancy happening in the 28th, gave 
 it him." 
 
 Another letter, undated, but evidently written about the 
 same time as the last, from " Ironhill " says : 
 
 "My deak Mother, — I had determined previous to the 
 receipt of your letter to have written to you by to-day's 
 post ; my reasons for not writing before were two. First, I 
 hoped that you would have heard of my being perfectly 
 recovered, from my father ; indeed, from him I understood 
 that you did not know of my being ill. 
 
 " You will, I am confident, excuse me from having been 
 guilty of any sort of neglect when I inform you, secondly, 
 that on the day I received your letter we were ordered to 
 march from Lyndhurst to this place, about two miles from 
 it ; since which we have been in a continued state of con- 
 fusion, and at this moment I am obliged to borrow paper, 
 &c., to write to you. 
 
 " The place and situation is wonderfully pleasant, but we 
 have not got our things comfortable, as the house has not 
 been inhabited this some time past ; some part of it never. 
 
 " The 28th Regiment still remains at Lyndhurst ; we are 
 alone. 
 
 " My company goes on very well. I wait for nothing but 
 to be gazetted, the commission being already signed ''par le 
 Soi.'' We go into camp May 13; where we know not. 
 Some say Stonycross, and others Romsey Common. 
 
 " I shall be much obliged to you to have the bed, &c., you 
 had made for me at Truro sent me here by the waggon, as 
 soon as possible ; the bed I have is nothing but a cot, which 
 was best on shipboard, and when I bought it we expected to 
 make a four-months'' voyage ! I now sleep on the ground, 
 and that will not do in camp ; there I must have a bed- 
 stead 
 
 " As soon as I am in the 28th Regiment you will see me. 
 
1794 FLANDERS AjSD THE HELDER 11 
 
 When that will be I know not, but very probably on 
 Saturday next (to-morrow). Should it be so, I shall see 
 Bath on Monday or Tuesday." 
 
 Hussey Vivian obtained his company in the £8th Regiment 
 on May 7, 1794<, and formed part of the Duke of York's 
 forces which, in the spring of 1794, went to Flanders to fight 
 against the Republicans. In May, 1794, Pichegru, who com- 
 manded the Republican forces in West Flanders, laid siege 
 to Ypres ; whilst in June another French army imder 
 Jourdan crossed the Meuse and besieged Charleroi. The 
 major portion of the allied forces were then moved in that 
 direction ; the Duke of York with the English and Hano- 
 verians being alone left on the Scheldt. 
 
 "This separation of the Allies contributed not a little 
 to augment the misunderstandings which already prevailed 
 between them, and was the forerunner of numberless disasters 
 to both monarchies. 
 
 No sooner was the departure of the Emperor of Austria 
 with reinforcements to the army on the Sambre known to 
 Pichegru, than he resolved to take advantage of the weakness 
 of his adversaries by seriously prosecuting the siege of Ypres. 
 On June 17, in consequence of the defeat of Clairfait with 
 the Prussians, Ypres capitulated, and its garrison consisting 
 of 6000 men, were made prisoners of war. 
 
 At this time 30,000 Austrians lay inactive at Tournay, 
 and 6000 English were reposing from the fatigues of their 
 sea voyage at Ostend." — Alison, vol. ii. p. 387. 
 
 On June 26, Hussey Vivian writes : 
 
 " Ostend, June 26, 1794. 
 
 " My dear Fatheii, — I have just time to tell you that 
 Ypres and Bruges are both taken, and that the French are 
 advancing with all possible speed to take this place ; but I 
 hope it will be the lot of Lord Moira's army to give them a 
 good drubbing. Our army are all in the highest possible 
 
12 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN i794 
 
 spirits, anxious to meet them, and, I may say, feel themselves 
 pretty confident of victory. 
 
 " We expect the French this night. Bruges was evacuated 
 yesterday morning, and the French took possession last 
 night. 
 
 " This is all the news I have at jnesent to tell, but should 
 anything extraordinary happen, you may depend on hearing 
 from me immediatelv." 
 
 Tournay was abandoned on June 24; Nieuport capitu- 
 lated ; Fort Ecluse, the key of the Scheldt, was blockaded ; 
 and the Island of Cadsand was overrun by the Republicans 
 who crossed the arm of the sea, which separated it from the 
 mainland, by swimming. Clairfait was reinforced by the 
 6000 men, who marched from Ostend under Lord Moira. 
 
 Major Paget, who was in the same regiment as \'i\ian, 
 gives the following account of part of this march : 
 
 " We quitted our position at Oestaker on July 3, at night, 
 and encamped near l)endermont on the 4th. 
 
 We considered ourselves lucky in having accomplished our 
 tedious march, when Graham's Brigade, in which you know I 
 am, received orders to take a post at Wiesse, about half-way 
 to Alost. We remained there during the night, and, being 
 joined early in the morning by the rest of the army, we pro- 
 ceeded to Alost, where we joined the army of Clairfait. 
 
 During the night of the 5th Clairfait advanced, and early 
 the next morning, the 6th, he took his position about a 
 quarter of a mile from the town. About 12 o'clock the 
 enemy (to the shame of the Hanoverians, cntrc nous) entered 
 Alost, where, after a severe skirmish, they were obliged to 
 fly. The 8th Dragoons lost one officer and some men, 
 several wounded. Lieut. -Col. Vandeleur of the 8th was 
 wounded. Col. Doyle also is wounded. My old friends, the 
 54th, had one killed and five wounded. The French left 
 behind them not above twenty killed, though it is said that 
 they took with them several wounded. 
 
 Understanding that the enemy were in great force and 
 near the town, we burnt down all the bridges, which were 
 
1794 FLANDERS AND THE HELDER 13 
 
 the only communication to our camp, during the night of 
 the 6th and day of the 7th. On the night of the 7th we 
 retreated (if I may be allowed the expression) to Thiesselt, 
 where we arrived at 10 a.m. on the 8th. At 12 the same 
 night we marched, passed through Malines, and arrived here 
 this morning at 11 o'clock. 
 
 Thus having finished our march, I shall now enter into the 
 merits of it ; and since I have used the word merit, I must 
 humbly confess that I conceive Lord Moira has as com- 
 pletely saved the Duke of York and his army as — you'll 
 excuse a simile. From what I linow the Duke of York was 
 in a most critical situation when we arrived at Ostend. It 
 became so great an object of the enemy to impede our pro- 
 gress into Flanders that the whole force opposed to the Duke 
 of York and Clairfait were immediately sent to prevent our 
 advancing ; but, all glory to our commander-in-chief, he out- 
 generaled them and joined the Duke of York this morning 
 at Malines ; and this, I may say, he performed, advancing in 
 the front of an enemy, without firing a shot. The fact is 
 this — that our marches have been so unprecedentedly expedi- 
 tious, and our manceuvres so grand, that at no one instant 
 could the enemy conceive where we were, and the conse- 
 quence is that they are left behind to bewail the loss of the 
 destruction of the Duke of York's army, and to lament their 
 want of generalship is not impeding us. 
 
 I cannot finish this letter without giving the sentiment of 
 our army : that, though greater hardships never have befallen 
 an army in so short a period, there is not an individual who 
 would not offer up his life in support of what he considers 
 the first of men and generals — Lord Moira." 
 
 In spite of these reinforcements, however, Clairfait found 
 himself unable to make head against Pichegru. 
 
 "After in vain attempting, in conjunction with Coburg, 
 to cover Brussels, he was compelled to fall back behind the 
 Dyle ; while the Duke of York also retired in the same direc- 
 tion, and encamped between Malines and Louvain 
 
 The English forces posted behind the canal of Malines 
 amounted to above 30,000 British and Hanoverians and 
 
 15,000 Dutch The English were intent on covering 
 
 Antwerp and Holland; the Imperialists on drawing nearer 
 
14. RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN i794 
 
 to their resources at Cologne and Coblentz. Neither recol- 
 lected that by separating their forces they gave the enemy 
 
 means of crushing either separately at pleasure 
 
 On July 15 the canal at Malines was forced, after an in- 
 considerable resistance by the Dutch troops, and the Duke of 
 York retired to Antwerp, which was soon after evacuated 
 and his whole forces concentrated towards Breda for the 
 defence of Holland." — Alison, vol. ii. p. 392 et seq. 
 
 For about two months the English forces had a rest here, 
 as the Republicans, for some inexplicable reason, left them 
 unmolested. During this respite Hussey Vivian wrote the 
 following letter : 
 
 " Camp near Breda, 
 
 August 20, 1794. 
 
 " My dear Mothek, — Having heard from several correspon- 
 dents that they have never received one half of the letters I 
 have written them, I take the opportunity of Robinson's 
 going to England to write you a long letter of our late 
 proceedings. 
 
 " The last camp I wrote from was behind Antwerp, since 
 which time we have marched through Antwerp, Calemthout, 
 Roosendale, and Breda, and are at present encamped within 
 two miles of the latter place. 
 
 " At Calemthout we encamped for one day on a most 
 barren, extensive plain, famous only for a battle fought there 
 by Louis XIV. The troops were for two days here in a 
 complete state of starvation ; in want of bread, water, and 
 everything else. 
 
 " From hence to Roosendale, twenty-four miles, through a 
 very heavy road, the poor soldiers were obliged to march 
 without any sort of halt or provisions. 
 
 " We were encamped at Roosendale a fortnight, and found 
 it a better place (though in itself very bad) than Calemthout. 
 
 " From hence I went to Bergen-op-Zoom, a very strong 
 town, and capable of withstanding a siege of ten years. 
 
 "After having remained at Roosendale a fortnight, we 
 
1794 FLANDERS AND THE HELDER 15 
 
 marched to the position we are now in, which is wonderfully 
 strong, and famous for having been the position of every 
 retreating army. Bois le Due on our left ; Breda on our 
 right ; in front we are throwing up batteries innumerable, 
 and in our rear there is a strong wood. 
 
 " The situation is a pleasant one ; within an hour''s ride of 
 Breda, Oosterhout, and Gertmdenberg, and a day's ride off 
 Dortwilliamstadt and Rotterdam. 
 
 " The country is very flat and in some parts very pretty. 
 The houses the neatest things imaginable; every article, 
 either tin, copper, or plate, would serve for a looking-glass ; 
 and the scales in particular are as bright as if made of gold ; 
 in fact, it is not possible to conceive anything so neat and 
 clean. 
 
 " Dort is the only town in the heart of the country I have 
 as yet seen, and, I must confess, it is the cleanest and neatest 
 I ever saw in my life. 
 
 " We are at present perfectly undisturbed ; nor from all 
 accounts is there any idea of an enemy being at hand ; indeed 
 from all accounts we are to advance again ; but all this we 
 learn from the English papers. What we are to do is never 
 known to us a week, or three days, before. 
 
 " The weather has been very bad here, and, contrary to the 
 opinion of every one, the soldiers have borne it very well, and 
 are in high health and spirits ; our only remedy is to smoke 
 and drink grog — the wines of the country are far too thin for 
 the climate, and all the physicians advise us not to drink 
 them — in fact we are at present curious figures. I am con- 
 fident you would laugh to see me of an evening with my hair 
 cut quite short, no powder, blue trousers and waistcoat, 
 smoking and drinking grog. 
 
 " One thing I beg is that you will not think I am growing 
 fond of spirits ; indeed, were I so, I should not be quite so 
 candid as to mention drinking them. Nothing but the full 
 conviction of their being the only thing good in this climate 
 makes me drink them ; consequently not in quantities 
 
16 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN i794 
 
 " The French are not about to lay siege to any city but 
 Valenciennes, which I have never seen, consequently can say 
 nothing of the inhabitants. The people here seem more to 
 wish, than dread, their coming. 
 
 " I succeeded very well in purchasing my horses at 
 Southampton, and on coming away delivered them up to the 
 commissary who issued them out to me again here ; but not 
 the same or so good — the ones being English, and the others 
 Flemish. 
 
 " I forgot to say that an order has just been issued for all 
 officers to give in a return of their losses, and should I 
 receive any recompense for my baggage, which I expect, I 
 will immediately remit to Mr. Grenfell, to reimburse my 
 father. 
 
 " Col. Moorshead and Capt. McMurdo have been so good 
 as to invite me to dinner twice, and have been wonderfully 
 civil. 
 
 " It may not perhaps be uninteresting to you to know the 
 state of our army which I give at the end of this long letter. 
 
 " Adieu. You shall hear soon from your most affectionate 
 
 " Return of H.R.H. the Dulie of Yorli's army, August 20, 
 1794. Effective, Jit for duty. 
 
 Cavalry. 
 
 Officers. 
 
 Sergts. 
 
 Trumpets. 
 
 File. 
 
 British 
 
 . i6s 
 
 231 
 
 72 
 
 4274 
 
 Hanoverians 
 
 112 
 
 184 
 
 44 
 
 1395 
 
 Hesse Cassel . 
 
 . 46 
 
 116 
 
 23 
 
 860 
 
 Hesse Darmstadt 
 
 10 
 
 36 
 
 
 280 
 
 
 333 
 
 567 
 
 139 
 
 6809 
 
 Infantry. 
 
 
 
 
 
 British . 
 
 ■ 583 
 
 924 
 
 5" 
 
 19,734 
 
 Hanoverians 
 
 143 
 
 273 
 
 213 
 
 3284 
 
 Hesse Cassel 
 
 • 135 
 
 403 
 
 160 
 
 3029 
 
 Hesse Darmstadt 
 
 44 
 
 93 
 
 — 
 
 1327 
 
 
 905 
 
 1693 
 
 884 
 
 27,374 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Grand Total 
 
 • 1238 
 
 2260 
 
 1023 
 
 34,183' 
 
1794 FLANDERS AND THE HELDER 17 
 
 " After an inexplicable delay of two months the Repub- 
 lican armies recommenced those active operations which their 
 immense superiority in numbers speedily rendered decisive. 
 
 The army of the North had 70,000 men under its banners ; 
 that of the Sambre and Meuse, nominally 145,000 strong, 
 presented an efficient force of 116,000 men ; while the Duke 
 of York, to cover the united provinces, had hardly 50,000 ; 
 and General Clairfait, who had replaced Coburg, could only 
 muster 100,000 to maintain the footing of the Imperialists in 
 the Flemish provinces. 
 
 All anxiety about their rear having been removed by the 
 reduction of Conde, Valenciennes, Quesney, and Landrefy, 
 the Republicans, in the end of August, assumed the offensive. 
 
 The fort of Ecluse having surrendered to Gen. Moreau, 
 the army of the North, reinforced by his division, com- 
 menced the invasion of Holland ; while the States General 
 obstinately insisted in maintaining half their forces, amount- 
 ing to 20,000 men, in garrison in the interior, thirty 
 leagues from the theatre of war ; thereby leaving the protec- 
 tion of the frontier to the inconsiderable force of the British 
 commander. 
 
 With little more than half the invaders' force the Duke of 
 York was charged with the defence of a frontier twenty 
 leagues in extent. He first took up a defensive position 
 behind the Aa, but, his advanced posts having been defeated 
 by the French, he was compelled to retire to the right bank 
 of the Meuse, leaving the important places of Bergen-op- 
 Zoom, Breda, and Bois le Due, to their own resources." — 
 Alison, vol. ii. p. 411. 
 
 Maestricht and Bois le Due were both taken by the Re- 
 publicans, and the Duke of York was again forced to retire : 
 
 " He distributed his forces along the line of the Waal, in 
 hopes of being able to maintain a communication with the 
 fortress of Grave now threatened with a siege ; but Pichegru, 
 continuing his career of success, crossed the Meuse and 
 attacked the advanced posts of the allies with so much vigour 
 that they were compelled to fall back with considerable loss 
 across the Waal." 
 
 Capt. Vivian, writing from the scene of war, says : 
 
18 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN i794 
 
 " NiMEGUEN, November 2, 1794- 
 
 " After having been a month on the Continent, and about 
 fifty times drawn out in line of battle, without firing as many 
 shots, we have at last got in the hot of it. 
 
 " For these last four days and nights I have never closed 
 my eyes. The enemy have been continually attacking and 
 thi-owing up works, and five British regiments consisting of 
 scarcely more than 300 men each, are ill able to defend a 
 large town against a victorious army. 
 
 " The hottest battle for the whole war happened here the 
 other day. Two hundred British and Hanoverians opposed, 
 and even repulsed, 300 of the enemy's riflemen, after an 
 action of thirteen hours. The Buffs were considerably 
 engaged, and the party altogether from being 200 were 
 reduced to 76." 
 
 Towards the end of October, Pichegru undertook the siege 
 of Nimeguen, which was defended by a numerous garrison, 
 and covered by the Duke of York, who from his camp at 
 Arnheim was enabled at any time to throw in supplies. 
 
 The enemy, after forcing the British outposts in front of 
 the place, immediately attacked Fort St. Andre, and Lieut.- 
 Gen. Abercromby and General Clarke were slightly wounded 
 in the skirmish, as was also Captain Picton in a sally from 
 the place. 
 
 At length the French broke ground under the direction of 
 General Souham, and began to construct batteries and earth- 
 works ; on which Count Walmoden marched out suddenly 
 with a body of British infantry, consisting of the 27th, 28th, 
 55th, 63rd, and 78th regiments of infantry and the 7th and 
 15th Light Horse, two battalions of Dutch troops, and a few 
 other troops. 
 
 On this occasion the infantry advanced under a severe fire 
 and jumping into the trenches without returning a shot, 
 charged with the bayonet, and by this check greatly retarded 
 the enemy's works. 
 
1794 FLANDERS AND THE HELDER 19 
 
 Returning to Captain Vivian's letter, he continues : 
 
 " I myself have been three times on picket, and as often 
 have had my hands full of it, but for my part have luckily 
 escaped. 
 
 " As the garrison duty is taken between the whole 
 regiments, you seldom are on duty with your own company 
 alone, excepting when in the lunettes ; and I am happy to 
 say our regiment as yet has only had three men wounded, one 
 of whom was the finest fellow in my whole company — his 
 wound from a rifleman, under the shoulder — and I hope he 
 will soon recover. 
 
 " The last picket I was on, four of the Hanoverians and 
 three of the 59th regiment were killed and wounded. We 
 had a picket out last night, and Twysden, who was the 
 Captain, I understand, has gained great credit from having 
 charged the French and driven them from a post. He has 
 sent in twice for ammunition, and when the last messenger 
 came, he had lost no men (an Hanoverian officer who was 
 with him excepted, being killed). 
 
 " At the moment I am now writing my ears are deafened by 
 the heavy cannonade on all sides. Twysden is still engaged, 
 and has been since six last night. I expect that before long 
 I shall either go out with a reinforcement for him, or relieve 
 him, being first for duty. 
 
 " They are busy taking the cannon off the ramparts, the 
 place not being considered as a tenable post, and consequently 
 not worth hazarding five British regiments for ; for should 
 the bridge of boats be cut off, which they say is more than 
 probable, in all probability a trip to Paris would be the 
 consequence. 
 
 " What is to be done I know not, but the enemy are in such 
 superior force that our little army, discouraged by frequent 
 retreats, is very unequal to withstand them ; and the 
 opinion here is that this winter must bring peace. Should it 
 be the case I shall return happy in seeing what every soldier 
 
20 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN i794 
 
 ought to see to know his duty and his profession— a cam- 
 paign ; and that, as fatiguing an one as ever was under- 
 gone. 
 
 "What think you of lying out four nights following, in 
 the latter end of October, on the bare ground, without any 
 other cover than a single blanket, and continually harassed 
 by the enemy, and wet and chilled with the rain and winds ? 
 Even the old Americans are astonished, and allow their 
 campaign to be far surpassed." 
 
 Alison describes the end of the siege of Nimeguen thus : 
 
 " Shortly after " (the siege had begun) " the French 
 established some batteries destined to command the bridge 
 which connected the town with the inti-enched camp in its 
 rear, and soon sunk some of the pontoons composing it, 
 which so much disconcerted the Allies that they hastily 
 evacuated the place with the bulk of the garrison in the 
 night, leaving its defence to an inadequate garrison of 
 3000 men. 
 
 These troops, discouraged by the flight of their fellow 
 soldiers, overawed by the redoubled fire of the besiegers, and 
 despairing of maintaining the place, immediately attempted 
 to follow their example. 
 
 Terror seized their ranks ; they precipitated themselves 
 upon the bi'idge which was burnt before the rear-guard had 
 passed over ; one regiment was obliged to capitulate, and 
 part of another, embarked on a flying bridge, was stranded 
 on the left bank, and the next day made prisoners by the 
 French ; and this splendid fortress, which rendered them 
 masters of the passage of the Waal, fell into the hands of the 
 French.* .... 
 
 * When visiting Nymergen in the course of the last tour ever made by 
 him (1842), Lord Vivian wrote : " At Nymergen, on my approach, I recog- 
 nised many buildings, &c., that reminded me of the events that took place 
 nearly 47 years ago, when as a young captain of the 28th Regiment, I was 
 left with my company and Captain Warren's company of the 27th to bring up 
 the rear of the British Army in their retreat from this town after a short 
 siege, and when I had with my Company to cross the bridge of boats in the 
 depth of winter (January 1795) "P t° ouf middles in water, the French 
 having sunk by their fire five of the boats which formed the centre of the 
 
1794 FLANDERS AND THE HELDER 21 
 
 The evacuation of Nimeguen completed the misunder- 
 standing between the Alhed Powers, and by spreading the 
 belief in Holland that their cause was hopeless, and that the 
 English were going to abandon them, contributed to the 
 easy conquest of the United Provinces which so soon 
 followed. 
 
 Grave, six weeks after, capitulated ; and Breda, one of the 
 last of the Dutch barrier towns, was invested 
 
 Early in December the Duke of York, conceiving the cam- 
 paign finished, set out for England, leaving to General Wal- 
 moden the task of protecting, with an inferior and defeated 
 army, a divided country, against a numerous and enterprising- 
 enemy. 
 
 But a severe frost which soon afterwards set in made the 
 Republicans conceive the design of invading Holland while 
 the frost made the canals and rivers passable for troops and 
 artillery. 
 
 The prospect of that danger excited the utmost alarm in 
 the mind of General Walmoden, who was afraid that the 
 same cold that exposed his line to the attacks of the enemy 
 would render the passage of the arms of the sea impractic- 
 able in the event of a retreat. 
 
 Influenced by these apprehensions he passed his heavy 
 cavalry to the other side of the Waal, evacuated his maga- 
 zines upon the Dwenter, and ordered the Prince of Hesse 
 Darmstadt, cantoned with the most advanced corps in the 
 Isle of Bommel, to abandon it on the first intelligence of the 
 passage of the Meuse by the enemy. 
 
 At the end of Decembet, the Meuse being entirely frozen 
 over, the French army commenced its winter campaign by an 
 attack on two columns of the Dutch advanced posts. 
 
 The result was what might have been expected from an 
 irruption into a cordon of posts by concentrated forces. The 
 Dutch troops after a slight resistance fled in confusion, some 
 to Utrecht and others to Gorcum, leaving 60 pieces of 
 cannon and 1600 prisoners in the hands of the invaders. 
 
 bridge. On the ramparts at Nymergen I met an old retired general officer 
 of the Dutch service, now resident in the house at the Bellevue, but whose 
 name I forget. He informed me that after Nymergen was evacuated, it 
 was discovered that a man employed on the bridge had been bribed to 
 bore holes in the centre boats, and that it was to this rather than to the 
 fire of the enemy that the destruction of the bridge was to be attributed." 
 
22 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN i794 
 
 In the general confusion the Repubhcans even made them- 
 selves masters of some forts on the Waal, and crossed that 
 river ; but the stream not being yet passable for heavy artil- 
 lery, Pichegru withdrew his troops to the left bank. 
 
 Walmoden then wanted to concentrate his forces on the 
 Waal, between Nimeguen and St. Andre, but the Prince of 
 Orange insisted on the allied forces approaching Gorcum in 
 order to cover the direct road to Amsterdam, where a 
 rc\ olutionary spirit had for some time been showing itself. 
 
 Thus thwarted in the only rational way of carrying on the 
 campaign, Walmoden resolved to abandon the United 
 Provinces, and, with a view to secure his retreat to Hanover, 
 concentrated the English forces behind the Lingen and covered 
 them on the left by the Austrian contingents." 
 
 Thiel was abandoned in a panic, and the troops, with the 
 exception of a small vanguard, were withdrawn behind the 
 Rhine. 
 
 On January 8, the French crossed the Waal ; whereupon 
 Walmoden " abandoned Holland altogether, and retiring to 
 the line of the Issel, from Arnheim to Zutphen, left the 
 United Provinces to their fate.'' 
 
 The Prince of Orange did the same and embarked for 
 England. 
 
 A revolution soon after broke out in Amsterdam in favour 
 of the French ; the Dutch fleet was captured by the French 
 crossing with their cavalry on the ice ; and the British troops 
 embarked and returned to England. 
 
 Captain Vivian wrote the following letter in connection with 
 these movements of the British forces. 
 
 " SCHALWYCH ON THE RhINE, 
 
 " Friday, January g, 1795. 
 
 " My dear Father, — I have no doubt but for some time 
 past you have been anxiously waiting to hear how I have 
 been going on ; but having written to my grandmother from 
 Thiel, and having often begged you not to be surprised 
 should you miss hearing from me for a week or a fortnight, 
 
I79S FLANDERS AND THE HELDEB. 23 
 
 and with the addition of having nothing to say, I deferred 
 writing until about ten days ago. 
 
 "What has prevented me since that a journal of the time 
 will best tell you. 
 
 " General D. Dundas, who commanded at Thiel, where our 
 regiment was, having received advice that about 4000 of the 
 enemy had crossed the Waal at Bommel (which the cowardly 
 Dutch had so infamously given up) on the ice, ordered out 
 our regiment, supported by the 80th, 19th, 27th, Hessians, 
 &c., to drive them back. 
 
 " We marched on Monday night at eight o'clock and 
 arrived at the place of action, twenty-two miles distant, at 
 daylight on Tuesday ; but the French could not stand the 
 charge, and the light companies drove all their sharpshooters 
 from the woods, with very little loss. Our company did not 
 lose a man.'" 
 
 As soon as the frost had lasted long enough to make the 
 passage of troops over the ice practicable, Pichegru sent 
 two brigades across to the isle of Bommel : a detachment 
 was at the same time sent against Fort St. Andre, and the 
 two places were captured almost without bloodshed, which at 
 any other time would have been attended with great 
 slaughter. 
 
 The Duke of York having returned to England, the 
 command devolved upon General Walmoden who achieved 
 everything that was possible to be performed by an army 
 destined to contend against an enemy superior in numbers, 
 inured to hardships, and accustomed to success. 
 
 But although Major-Gen. Dundas had succeeded in an 
 expedition, in the course of which he carried Thiel, and drove 
 a body of the enemy across the ice with the loss of a number 
 of men and four pieces of cannon, yet it was deemed necessary 
 in the course of a few days to fall back during the night, 
 first upon Buem, and soon after they took refuge behind the 
 Leek. 
 
24 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN i795 
 
 They, however, at times attacked the enemy, and proved 
 successful in an affair of posts at Geldermalsen, on which 
 occasion Major-Gen. Lord Cathcart, with three Enghsh 
 regiments (the 14th, 27th, and i28th) and the British Hulans, 
 distinguished himself greatly, and this too during a period 
 when the troops, notwithstanding the inclemency of the 
 season, were frequently obliged to pass the night in the 
 open air. 
 
 Captain Vivian «as at Thiel, as he states in his letter, and 
 he gives an account of the affair at Geldermalsen : 
 
 ft' 
 
 " We remained all this night and day on the bare snow 
 (rather a cold bath at the end of December). 
 
 " The next morning our regiments were ordered into the 
 Chateau of Haften, from which we had just driven the 
 Carmagnoles. 
 
 " I cannot pass this over without thanking kind fate for 
 not having sent a war into England. Here is I suppose as 
 elegant an house as you ever saw, furnished in the highest 
 possible style, pillaged to such a degree that out of forty- 
 three pier glasses in the different chambers but one remains 
 sound. Every bed, chair, and table, &c., were all broken. In 
 fact words cannot express the horrid situation in which it was 
 left. 
 
 " We remained here this day and Thursday until eight at 
 night, when we retired to the village of Beest, about six miles 
 distant, on the river Lingen, between the Waal and the 
 Rhine. 
 
 " We slept out all the remainder of this night and the 
 next day, and at length obtained billets for our poor soldiers, 
 harassed with fatigue and cold. We remained here Saturday, 
 Sunday, and Monday. 
 
 " At eleven o'clock on Monday night we marched to Buern, 
 covering the retreat of the army over the Rhine. We slept 
 all Tuesday and the night once more on the bare ground, 
 still covered with snow. 
 
1795 FLANDERS AND THE HELDER 25 
 
 "On Wednesday we marched to the village where I write this. 
 
 " Here, my dear sir, you will fancy an end of our troubles 
 must be drawing near ; but the wise generals at headquarters, 
 determined to try the strength of our unfortunate soldiers, 
 sent an order for us once more to pass the Rhine and march 
 to Buern, January 10, they having determined to take 
 possession of the Waal, if possible — not unlike a falling man 
 grasping at a straw. 
 
 " Before we had got half way to Buern we heard a very 
 smart firing, which was occasioned by the French making an 
 attack on our outposts. 
 
 " The 27th and 14th regiments were ordered immediately to 
 their support, and we were directed to follow as quickly as 
 possible in case the enemy's force should be too great for them. 
 
 " The two regiments no sooner saw the enemy than they 
 charged bayonets and drove them to the village of Gelder- 
 malsen, with trifling loss ; and so elated were they at their 
 success that they (as was the case at Toulon) rushed 
 impetuously through the village, and were checked only by a 
 body of 4000 of the enemy. 
 
 " It was now they that were obliged to retreat, and I am 
 sorry to say with considerable loss, both of officers and men. 
 
 " Lord Cathcart, who commanded, immediately sent off an 
 express to us, saying if we did not run for it the two regiments 
 were lost ; and luckily for them we arrived just in the nick 
 of time, so that we formed on one side of the Rhine and 
 Lingen, under an immensely heavy fire from the enemy, 
 whilst the two regiments retired over the ice from the village. 
 
 "It was just here that I was unfortunate enough to see 
 poor Colonel Buller and two more of the officers knocked down 
 by a discharge of grape ; the other two officers died im- 
 mediately and I am sorry to add Buller died this morning, 
 having had his thigh broken by the ball. 
 
 " During the whole of this time our regiment was sustaining 
 their fire, ourselves not firing a shot ; and I am son-y to add, 
 with great loss. From my own company, in less than ten 
 
26 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1795 
 
 minutes, I lost nine men wounded severely, besides numbers 
 hit with spent balls ; amongst the former was a wonderfully 
 fine lad, my servant, who, although shot in two places through 
 the arm, would never quit me. He is, I am happy to say, 
 out of danger ; and you may depend 111 spare no pains to 
 get him well as soon as possible. 
 
 " During this business, which did not last a quarter of an 
 hour, our regiment lost two sergeants and sixty-five privates 
 wounded ; and what is more astonishing, out of twenty-one 
 officers not one was touched ; in fact our regiment was always 
 lucky in this respect. I am sorry to add out of our wounded 
 men many are dead, and the surgeon says that two-thirds 
 will either die or be unfit to serve again. Out of my nine I 
 shall lose but two. I forgot to mention that this loss was 
 only from nine companies, the grenadier company not being 
 engaged. 
 
 "The chief part of the loss was sustained by Captain 
 Twysden, Captain Potter, and my own ; the wings being divided 
 and one company on the flanks. Captain Twysden lost one 
 sergeant, one corporal, and twelve rank and file. Potter, one 
 sergeant, one corporal, and ten rank and file ; and mine, nine 
 
 rank and file. 
 
 " Continued on January 20. 
 
 " Once more have I been obliged to break off, and as you 
 will perceive, for no inconsiderable time. 
 
 " Just as I was writing, an order came out for our regiment 
 to march from our quarters to the Dyke across the Rhine, 
 not above 400 yards distant, to cover the retreat of the 27th, 
 14th, 33rd, 80th, and 19th regiments, then stationed in 
 Cuylenberg, which place the enemy were expected to attack 
 every minute. 
 
 " Although so near our quarters the necessity was such that 
 our regiment was again obliged, day and night, until the 16th, 
 to lie under the Dyke. 
 
 "This night, one of the most wretched ever was, we 
 marched to Amersfoort, seven leagues. 
 
1 795 FLANDERS AND THE HELDER 27 
 
 " 17th. — Remain here this day. 
 
 "18th. — Six o'clock, morning. Marched to Gardner, six 
 leagues ; a bleak village in the centre of Gelderland. 
 
 " 19th. — Set off, six o'clock, and marched six leagues more 
 to Elburg, from whence I write this. 
 
 " It is impossible for me to express the wretched state our 
 unfortunate army is reduced to. I will satisfy myself by 
 telling you what alone has been our loss since we left Thiel ; 
 and other regiments much more. We marched from Thiel 
 403 privates, besides non-commissioned officers ; and our 
 utmost strength on this morning's parade was 157. In fact, 
 the British army, from being 34,000 men before Breda, are 
 now reduced to less than 7000. 
 
 " You who have been in Holland must know what 
 marching over the dreary heaths of Gelderland by night, in a 
 severe snow, must be. Suffice it to say that some regiments 
 have 200 missing, others 150, and others 100. The 27th 
 and we were more lucky. They have lost about sixty and we 
 thirty-nine. Shocking to say most of these men are supposed 
 to be dead with the frost. 
 
 " The general report is that the French army from 
 Maestricht are advancing to cut off our retreat, and it is 
 supposed not one of our sick can escape. We may, perhaps, 
 escape with our skeletons of regiments. 
 
 " From all accounts nothing can exceed the confusion at 
 headquarters ; no one seems to know what they are about. 
 How Mr. Pitt will be able to stand this I must confess I know 
 not ; but certain I am if England knew the half her soldiers 
 are suffering the war would soon be at an end. The Cold- 
 stream regiment of Guards alone lost the night before last, 
 in a march of six leagues, twenty-five men from frost ; in fact, 
 as I have said already, words cannot express the wretched 
 situation we are in. 
 
 " Holland, you will see from the last date of this letter, is 
 relinquished to her fate. 
 
 " The last accounts we have is that Pichegru is at Utrecht 
 
28 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN i79S 
 
 with the advanced guard; he entered the town amidst the 
 acclamations of the inhabitants, who were provided with the 
 national cockade ; and I have no doubt but that before you 
 receive this, Amsterdam will be in their possession. This, I 
 should suppose, will make a great crash among the merchants 
 of London, and if I do not mistake, will have, I fear, an 
 effect on Mr. Grenfell and his brother. 
 
 "At present the communication is stopped between this 
 and England. I shall therefore keep this open lest anything 
 new turns up. For the present I must conclude, and I fear 
 now having tired you with a long and tedious letter. 
 
 " I forgot to mention that during the whole of this busi- 
 ness I have been as well as ever I v>-as in my life. 
 
 " I must also beg to be excused any irregularity in the 
 writing, &c. This is no place to stand on ceremonies. You 
 will see by the difference of the ink that I have caught every 
 opportunity to write. 
 
 "Lieut. Gough of our regiment, who has just come in, 
 tells me that Lord Cathcart, our General, is just going to 
 send off to England ; so that I must finish. — January 21, '95." 
 
 A further letter, not without interest, was written by 
 Captain Vivian about a month later to a female relative, 
 from 
 
 " Bellingwolda, near Seer sur l'Ems, 
 " February 26, 1795. 
 
 " You certainly deserve well of your country, my dear 
 Betsy, for even affording the slightest amusement to any one 
 billeted under the dykes of Holland ; and I really believe 
 were I near enough I should be inclined to give you the 
 fraternal embrace — for your patriotism 
 
 " In your letter there is a requisition for red-coats ; they are 
 not plenty enough here to spare any ; the exportation from 
 hence to the next world is too gTeat to be able to spare any 
 at present. 
 
 " If a man perchance should happen to escape from fire 
 
1795 FLANDERS AND THE HELDER 29 
 
 and smoke, and visit Truro once more, is there any chance of 
 a fresh brood of chickens ? for by that time, as the present 
 call for those articles is so great, none of the old ones will 
 be left. 
 
 " I must, nevertheless, confess that as the call for red-coats 
 is also great, should I ever happen to return, I shall esteem 
 myself at no small price ; perhaps even higher than the 
 highest bidder — although a campaign in a Dutch winter is 
 at least a five years' addition to a man's age, and although 
 the inconveniences arising from it are, by me, not yet found 
 out, about ten years hence you may expect to see a poor 
 rheumatic old wretch, bound up in flannels, leaning on a 
 wife as on a walking-stick ; for this is, in my opinion, the 
 only proper time when a soldier should marry. 
 
 " The general report here is that we are all soon to come 
 home. Should this be the case, I will, if possible, see Truro ; 
 but I doubt it. 
 
 " Perhaps we may even have something more to do than 
 we expect before that time ; for at this moment the French 
 are cannonading our advanced posts, about six miles on, 
 whom, should they happen to drive in, our regiment is to 
 support.'" 
 
 In June 1795, Captain Vivian's regiment, together with 
 the rest of the British troops, returned to England. From 
 passages in subsequent letters it would appear that the 
 troops remained for some months on board ship. 
 
 At this time there was every prospect of the 28th forming 
 part of the expedition which the British Government were 
 then fitting out for the West Indies. 
 
 Captain Vivian writes : 
 
 " GospoRT, Juno 13, 1795. 
 
 " My dear Fatheii, — You have, I doubt not, seen by the 
 papers that orders are sent to the ten regiments in this 
 neighbourhood to hold themselves in readiness for immediate 
 foreign service. 
 
30 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 179S 
 
 "A letter has just now been received from Lord Paget 
 saying that the fifteen regiments embark in ten days on a 
 secret expedition — generally supposed to be the coast of 
 Brittany — in which parts, if we may believe reports, the 
 Royalists are in great force. 
 
 "A letter has also been received by the Master of the 
 Ordnance at Portsmouth, ordering him to issue arms im- 
 mediately to the ten regiments without the regular writ. 
 Who is to command the expedition I know not ; but, if to 
 the coast of France, Lord Moira most probably ; and I have 
 no doubt but that it will end the same way as his last — 
 tossed up and down Channel for four or five months, and eat 
 our Christmas dinner in old England. 
 
 " There is also a report that the Grenadiers and Light 
 Infantry companies are to be completed to one hundred 
 strong. If this is the case, and they are detached, or form 
 part of a separate corps. Otter, as paymaster, must give the 
 former up, and I succeed to them. 
 
 " If this expedition all ends in a bubble, as I very much 
 suspect, you may expect me either before a month is out, or 
 not before September. The latter is most probable ; not but 
 that I shall be induced to catch the first opportunity, for fear 
 of getting none at all. 
 
 "Both Captain and Lieut. Hall are at home with a 
 month's leave; but this unexpected call will make them join 
 sooner than they would wish, I expect. In fact, I am at 
 present the only captain with the regiment. Major Potter 
 commands, every opportunity being given to officers who 
 wish fourteen days' leave to see their friends. A month's 
 leave must be obtained by application to the General, 
 whereas the commanding officer is empowered to give a fort- 
 night's, from the 7th to the 14th of each month, and from 
 the 14th to the 21st. 
 
 " W^e expect half a dozen of om* lads in to-night ; and to- 
 morrow half a dozen more go to London — which is just the 
 same as being here present — twelve hours brings them down. 
 
1795 FLANDERS AND THE HELDER 31 
 
 " The grand fleet under Lord Bridport sailed yesterday, as 
 is generally supposed, to look into Brest." 
 
 " Camp, Sodthampton, 
 
 August 21, 1795. 
 
 "My deak Fathee, — I have just now received your letter 
 of the 10th, which in all probability would have lain in the 
 Gosport post-office a twelvemonth, had not Captain Paget 
 happened to go there and see it. 
 
 " You will have received my letter stating that we were 
 going to the West Indies. Since that I have been offered 
 various purchases and exchanges, two of which I will mention. 
 One a majority in the 117th Regiment, for i?1800; the other 
 a troop in the Carbineers — a Dragoon regiment, now on the 
 Continent, for the regulation dPSOOO. 
 
 "In case I get the majority of the 117th, my company 
 falls to Government ; and of course the sum is too large ; 
 and if I could lower the price, the purchase would be so 
 much the better, as Colonel St. John engages to carry it 
 through for me. 
 
 " As we certainly are going to the West Indies, the question 
 is, is it worth while to avoid the climate ? If so, you certainly 
 do so eflFectually by getting into the Dragoons, which many 
 of our army are about to do. I should get J'lSOO for my 
 company in the latter case. 
 
 "P.S. — An account is just arrived to say that Charette, 
 with 20,000 men, has forced his way to the coast. If so, we 
 are off directly." 
 
 Charette was the leader of the Royalist adherents in La 
 Vendee. After varying success he was captured and executed 
 by the Republicans in March 1796. 
 
 He was constantly promised support by the Enghsh 
 Government, and was at times even sent it, but as a rule, the 
 expeditions arrived too late to be of service. 
 
82 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 17 95 
 
 Captain Mviau's regiment did not apparently start as soon 
 as he anticipated, for in September he writes from 
 
 " Handdey, September 6, 1795. 
 
 " ]My DEAii Father, — Since the 1st I have been spending 
 my time with my uncle at this place. I came, as you may 
 suppose, with an intent to shoot ; but birds really never 
 were so wild or scarce ; altogether we have killed about thirty 
 brace in five days. 
 
 " You will, of course, have seen by the papers that our 
 destination is positively the W^est Indies, under Sir Ralph 
 Abercromby, and many other Scotch generals. The Guards, 
 very much to their astonishment, are to be a party concerned. 
 
 "We expect to sail somewhere about the beginning of 
 October. The army is immensely large, and St. Domingo 
 is certainly the destination of one part. I hope that by the 
 time we arrive the yellow fever will be nearly done away. 
 
 " As during this long voyage, and also to encounter the 
 climate, there are many luxuries necessary, to which a 
 captain's pay is altogether unequal; and as, in all probability, 
 I shall not suddenly in the West Indies have an opportunity 
 of troubling you for money, I shall be much obliged to you 
 to allow me something to lay in stock, &c., for the passage, 
 and also for my arrival there, as thei'e are a gi-eat many 
 things which I am recommended to cany out ; and also to 
 purchase light dress, as a total change of clothing of course 
 takes place on your arrival there. This is an indulgence 
 which all our officers receive, and which I hope you will not 
 think unreasonable." 
 
 Two months later Captain Vivian, having then rejoined 
 his regiment, writes from 
 
 "GospoRT, November 30, 1795. 
 "My dear Mother, — Your joint letter of the 24th, which 
 I received yesterday, gave me the greatest pleasure; and 
 
1795 FLANDERS AND THE HELDER 33 
 
 amidst the hurry of changing ships, I take the first oppor- 
 tunity of answering the questions you propose. 
 
 " In the first instance I must answer my father by assuring 
 him that it is with the greatest satisfaction that I can say we 
 have not a sick man on board, nor have had any since em- 
 barkation. Fourteen months " [? weeks] " on board ship has 
 been a pretty good lesson to us how to keep our men health 3-. 
 From eight in the morning until sunset of a fine day, our 
 men are all on deck, except at meal times ; their bedding, 
 &c., is also always on deck during fine weather; and the 
 decks are cleaned every day and fumigated twice a week. 
 
 " With regard to provisions, Government allows us fresh 
 beef, if we can get it ; but the bustle of fitting out so large 
 an armament renders it frequently impossible, although you 
 have an order to the purpose. 
 
 " We are not empowered to allow our men to go on shore 
 for fear of desertion, which, among the drafts, is not an 
 uncommon thing. 
 
 " Thus far I think I have answered all the questions pro- 
 posed, and I will now explain the riddle (as I have no doubt 
 you think it) contained in the beginning of this letter, under 
 the words ' changing ships.' 
 
 " You must know the good ship Lyde, being built in the 
 year 1737, did not much relish the knocking about she got 
 in the last place, and proved it by weeping most bitterly on 
 our arrival at Spithead ; so much so as to render it necessary 
 to pump about twice every twenty-four hours — to avoid 
 which we applied for a new ship, and got the Lord Hood — 
 a very fine ship, but not quite so roomy for the men. 
 
 " In answering the questions I forgot to say that we are 
 allowed daily a quart of porter, or half a pint of rum, 
 alternately. 
 
 " The part of your letter concerning the health of the men 
 is already answered, and I am happy to say that the whole 
 regiments are equally well and safe ; and Gough, who is on 
 board the same ship as myself, begs me, with his compli- 
 
34 KICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1796 
 
 nients, to say that his love affair is, hke all others ought to 
 be, laid aside to serve his country in the West Indies. 
 
 " The storm frightened me very little, and, if being seasick 
 proves it, believe me I was plentifully so, although so old a 
 sailor. The 63rd lost a transport and 180 men, with the 
 captain, Bancroft, Mr. Ashe (nephew to Captain Ashe), and 
 the surgeon's mate ; and Captain Godley tells me that there 
 Mere 14- officers and 235 bodies of soldiers lying on the beach 
 of Portland at the same time. Had the wind not lulled 
 when it did, his ship, the Lady Jane, had certainly perished. 
 As it is, she will never move out of the Weymouth harbour 
 again. 
 
 " The troops were brought round in the Alcmene frigate, 
 on board of which is Warren, a Truro man, and to whom 
 I really am very much obliged for the greatest possible 
 attention. 
 
 " We expect to go out of harbour to-morrow, and the fleet 
 are positively to sail the first fine wind. We have been using 
 every possible exertion to get ready to go with them. I 
 have therefore no chance of the pleasure of having another 
 letter from you before we sail. Depend on it the moment 
 anything happens, you shall hear, and the first packet that 
 leaves Barbadoes after our arrival brings a letter from me." 
 
 As will be seen from the next letter, Captain Vivian's 
 regiment was not destined to go to the West Indies. 
 
 " PoRTSMonTH, February 4, 1796. 
 
 " My dear Mother, — I always told you "that the 28th was 
 the luckiest in the army ; and you will acknowledge it when 
 I tell you we are not to go to the West Indies. 
 
 " The expedition is given over, and the regiments to go 
 are the 8th, 44th, 55th, 62nd, and two battalions Scotch 
 Brigade. There was at one time an idea that the two 
 battalions of the Grenadiers were to go, but that is given 
 over. 
 
1796 FLANDERS AND THE HELDER 35 
 
 " The whole of this alteration seems to have taken place 
 on account of the news from Spain, which is none of the 
 best. Government is afraid for Gibraltar, and the Guards 
 are to go there, and I think in all possibility we shall go 
 there too. 
 
 "The quartermaster-general is just gone to the Isle of 
 Wight to get quarters for our brigade, and we are to land 
 there, and be ready for any call. If we remain in England 
 till next April, I will come down among you, but I think in 
 all probability Mr. Pitt will cut out some other employment 
 for us by that time. 
 
 " The force in the West Indies will, with the six regiments 
 ordered, be fully sufficient to defend our islands ; particularly 
 as it is supposed that the part of the regiments already there 
 will be drafted in those going out, so that our four companies 
 will be lost to us. 
 
 " To see the different countenances of the officers here is 
 really curious ; those who have escaped going, and those 
 ordered to go. You cannot conceive how anxious every one 
 was until the orders came out. We should certainly have 
 gone had we not been so long on board ship." 
 
 An interval of four months occurs between the date of the 
 last letter and that of the following one : 
 
 " Lyndhurst, June 13, 1796. 
 
 " My dear Fathee, — I arrived here last night, and found 
 everything just as when I left it, except the regiment having 
 moved ; otherwise there is nothing new, nor is there any idea 
 of our going abroad. 
 
 " Paget has applied for Lymington as our quarters for the 
 summer, and there is every probability we shall go ; not but 
 that the inhabitants have petitioned against us, as having the 
 small-pox in the regiment. 
 
 " We have received many letters from our friends in the 
 
36 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 179S 
 
 V\'^est Indies — all going to St. Lucia — more chance of pro- 
 motion. 
 
 " Godley has gained a good deal of credit for frightening 
 off a sloop-of-war of fourteen guns, after he had parted 
 convoy in his little bark. He fell in with a national sloop- 
 of-war, on which he heated all the pokers, loaded his six 
 guns, and manned the tops with soldiers. 
 
 " The sloop did the same, and they came within hail ; but, 
 seeing him determined, thought proper to sheer off, and 
 Godley, of course, having gained his purpose, did not think 
 proper to stir up their anger by firing on them.'" 
 
 " GospoRT, July 10, 1796. 
 
 "My dear Father, — I have the pleasm-e to inform you 
 that, owing to an application from Paget, we are destined 
 for Gibraltar, for which place we expect to sail the latter end 
 of next week. 
 
 " In general the idea is that the West Indies will be our 
 destination in September next ; but Paget, who has every- 
 thing his o^vn way, says it will not. How far he has a right 
 to say so you may judge when I tell you that within this 
 last week he has made no fewer than the following applica- 
 tions. 
 
 "In the first place he applied for Fort Monkton, about 
 half a mile from this, as our barracks ; and a Militia 
 regiment was to have given them up to us. 
 " Secondly, to go to Gibraltar. 
 
 "Thirdly, for a Lieut.-Colonelcy for Hall, and a Majority 
 for Twysden. 
 
 "Fourthly, for 280 of the best men in the country. He 
 succeeded in all, although very strong opposition was made 
 to everything except our going to Gibraltar ; and what is 
 more extraordinary, his father, who was here when we heard 
 of Colonel Scotfs death, absolutely refused to assist him, and 
 said that he had asked too much already ; but Paget trusted 
 to his brother Arthur, who is a most intimate friend of the 
 
1796 FLANDERS AND THE HELDER 37 
 
 Duke of York, and who no sooner made the applications 
 than they were granted. 
 
 " With regard to the Majority of the 64th, I care very 
 little about it, and perfectly coincide with you in thinking 
 that, even if you had money to thi-ow away on it, it is use- 
 less ; but when it is almost one's all, it is ridiculous. No 
 one knows what may happen. Something perhaps may turn 
 up in the 28th, and how foolish both you and I should look 
 supposing I should sell out, and Otter (even at the distance 
 of five or six years) should get the Majority for nothing." 
 
 " Portsmouth, July 31, 1796. 
 
 " ]\Iy dear Father, — The signal is just now made for the 
 fleet to get under weigh and drop down to St. Helen's, so 
 that there is little probability of my having the pleasure of 
 seeing you on your return into Cornwall. 
 
 " Two of our wounded officers are returned from the West 
 Indies. Grady died two hours after he received his wounds, 
 having both his thighs broken. 
 
 " The companies are drafted into the 14th Regiment, and 
 the officers are on their return. 
 
 " I have no news to tell you, and must, therefore, conclude 
 by wishing you a pleasant journey and myself a quiet 
 passage." 
 
 The next letter from Captain Vivian is of two months' 
 later date, some of which time had been taken up by the 
 passage out to Gibraltar. 
 
 " Gibraltar, October 22, 1796. 
 
 " My dear Father, — I wrote a long letter about two days 
 since, with an intention to send it by a lugger at that time 
 lying here ; but just as I had finished it I had the morti- 
 fication to see her get under weigh, and my labour was in 
 vain. 
 
 " Every person here is in a great bustle on account of the 
 
38 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1796 
 
 Spanish war. The troops are all encamped in the South, in 
 consequence of a threat from the Dons to set the town on 
 fire, and storm in the confusion. 
 
 " You may perhaps have read an account of the last siege. 
 If so, you will remember that when the fire on the town first 
 commenced, the shells entered the houses and opened all the 
 cellars. The consequence was that the soldiers were in a 
 continual state of drunkenness and mutiny for four days; 
 and, certainly, had an attempt to storm been then made, it 
 ^^•ould probably have been successful. It is therefore to 
 avoid anything of that sort again, and, should the enemy 
 attempt to put their threat into execution, to have it in his 
 power to meet them with cool troops, that O'Hara has 
 encamped us, immediately on the beginning of the rainy 
 season. 
 
 " With regard to the policy of the thing, it is very much 
 doubted by many ; for when we consider that the enemy 
 have not above 7000 troops in the neighbourhood, and that 
 the batteries are not at all in a state to begin firing, the 
 chance of their attempting to storm is not equal to the 
 certainty of a sickness prevailing amongst the men owing to 
 their being encamped on the side of the brook during the 
 heavy rains, and the probable attack of gunboats on the 
 encampment. 
 
 "You ^^•ill have heard long before this of the narrow 
 escape Admiral Mann had from the Spanish fleet. They 
 passed by this a fortnight since. At that time war was not 
 declared, and they pretended to say was not about to be ; 
 but in a few days they met Admiral Mann and immediately 
 gave chase to him, but, fortunately, he happened to be 
 rather nearer to the Rock than they were, and owing to 
 their prime sailers being afraid to engage \^ ithout the whole 
 fleet, he got off'. There were some of their fleet close up ; 
 one in particular — an 80-gun ship, and by all accounts an 
 uncommon sailer — was ahead of her fleet and coming fast up 
 with a transport, when Admiral Mann made the signal for 
 
1796 FLANDERS AND THE HELDER 39 
 
 the Hector to put about and take her in tow. Although the 
 Hector was then a league astern of the fleet, as soon as this 
 80-gun ship saw her put about, she did the same, and ran 
 immediately into the Spanish fleet. 
 
 " In fact everybody says that had they not been the most 
 arrant cowards they might certainly have brought the fleet 
 to action ; and probably, owing to the superiority of fifteen 
 sail to seven, might have taken some ships ; the only thing 
 they took, as it happens, was an hospital ship belonging to 
 the 100th Regiment. A very pretty beginning of a war ! 
 
 " To make up for it, we have taken the Mahonesa frigate 
 by the Terpsichore — Captain V. Bowen. 
 
 " She came in the day before yesterday. The action lasted 
 about an hour, but after the first two broadsides the 
 Spaniards ran from their guns, and got into the chains on 
 the opposite side from which they were engaged. In fact, so 
 infamously did they behave, that their captain put one of 
 them to death and wounded four more. 
 
 " She is a fine frigate of 32 guns, and an immense number 
 of four-pound swivels ; her guns are thirteen-pounders. She 
 had upwards of 300 men, out of which one officer and 28 men 
 were killed, and one officer and 30 men wounded. 
 
 " The Terpsichore, owing to a bad fever which raged on 
 board her, had only ] 50 men on board, out of whom one only 
 was wounded in the thigh, and, being unable to move, was 
 afterwards jammed by a gun and was obliged to have his 
 thigh amputated. In fact, never was British naval superiority 
 more evident. A frigate of 650 tons and 32 twelve-pounders, 
 with 150 men, has taken one of 1150 tons and 32 thirteen- 
 pounders, besides 12 four-pound brass swivels, with 300 men ; 
 and whilst the Spaniards were running from their guns, 25 
 British sick on board the Terpsichore were crawling on deck, 
 if possible, to assist in fighting ours. 
 
 "After this, all alarms on account of Sir John Jervis must 
 vanish ; for although he has but fifteen sail, and the Spaniards 
 twenty-two, there can be little doubt but that he will thrash 
 
40 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1796 
 
 them, and very likely bring their admiral once more to visit 
 Gibraltar. 
 
 " We have various reports here. One party says that the 
 French (20,000) and 30,000 Spaniards are coming determined 
 to take this place. If so, they will, I can tell them, get a 
 warm reception; for, in addition to the present gan-ison, 
 which is upwards of 5000 men, 3000 more are coming from 
 Corsica. Indeed, so strong shall we be, that I fear lest they 
 should send some of us to the West Indies. 
 
 " But talking of the reports, others there are who say there 
 certainly will be a general peace very shortly. 
 
 " I forgot to say that young Devonshire is first lieutenant 
 of the Terpskliore, and consequently, will get a ship — a very 
 fortunate thing for him and his family, I think." 
 
 " Gibraltar, November 26, 1796. 
 
 " My deak Fatheii, — I had determined to have written 
 you a long letter this night, and taken the opportunity of 
 sending it by Lieut. Hamline, of the navy ; but he has just 
 now sent to say that Admiral Thompson, who commands 
 here at present, considers his dispatches so urgent that he 
 had ordered him instantly to proceed. What the nature of 
 the dispatches is, you will know before us ; but Hamline 
 says that so secret are they that Sir J. Jervis would not 
 allow him to stop and take a letter from any person belong- 
 ing to the fleet except Admiral Waldegrave. 
 
 "Everything goes on very well. General O'Hara has at 
 length found out that the Spanish were humbugging him, 
 and that his troops were getting sickly. 
 
 " A glorious campaign he has made of it ! A full set of 
 camp equipage spoilt, and an epidemical disorder, owing to 
 the inclemency of the weather, amongst the troops ! Our 
 regiment alone had on leaving camp 104 sick out of 560, 
 and all the rest, I believe, worse. 
 
1797 FLANDERS AND THE HELDER 41 
 
 " I have only time to add that we are all getting better, 
 and our regiment has lost only about eight or ten men as yet; 
 not one of whom, I have the satisfaction to add, was out of 
 my company, who, not to flatter myself or them too much, 
 are about some of the finest fellows you ever saw. 
 
 " I myself am just as well as ever. Excuse all mistakes ; I 
 have written this in about two minutes, and have not had 
 time to read it over ; perhaps there are a great many." 
 
 " Gibraltar, January 15, 1797. 
 
 " My dear MoTHF.il, — At this instant I certainly am in 
 great wrath ; whether I shall cool or not by proceeding 
 remains to be proved ; but you will, I am sure, allow that 
 I have some reason to be annoyed when I tell you that 
 five mails are arrived and not one letter for me ; nearly six 
 months, and not one syllable from any correspondent in 
 England. 
 
 " But, as I have always professed the principle of returning 
 good for evil, I shall continue to maintain it by writing you 
 ■every opportunity that occurs ; and at the same time I beg 
 and beseech you, at least, for the future, once in three months 
 to write and tell me you are alive ; if not, I shall be asking 
 leave to return some of these odd days with the expectation 
 of finding you all dead — for what else can possibly hinder 
 you writing ? Letters for every officer but myself ! Try 
 what directing them to the care of Messrs. Ross and Ogilvie, 
 agents, will do. Perhaps they will find some method of for- 
 warding them. 
 
 " But to proceed. With regard to news no place is more 
 ■destitute than Gibraltar ; and how can it be otherwise, seeing 
 that we have no communication with any ports but African, 
 from whence we get all our supplies ? 
 
 " Captain Bowen,* in the Terpsichore, has taken another 
 
 * Captain Bowen was killed in the unsuccessful attempt made by Nelson 
 *o take the Isle of Teneriffe, on July 15, 1797, when Nelson was himself 
 wounded in the arm. 
 
42 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 179? 
 
 frigate, the Vestale — French — after a desperate action of an 
 hour and a half ; but, owing to the badness of the weather, 
 he could put but nine men on board, and in the night the 
 crew rose and recaptured her. 
 
 " Immense fortunes are made here by the privateers; many 
 men, from a share of only one- eighth, costing £\50, have 
 made £35,000. Colonel Hall, Otter, and our Quartermaster, 
 have all a share in one that sails on Monday for the first 
 time, and they have great expectations from her. Indeed, 
 nothing is more common than for one of these row-boats (for 
 they are nothing more) to go out into the Gutt in the 
 morning, and return with a South Sea man with ^30,000 in 
 the evening. 
 
 " Devonshire is acting-captain in the Mahonesa, the ship 
 the Terpsichore took, and is fitting her out very fast in 
 hopes to be able to get to sea before her captain (GifFard) 
 comes from the Elbe, where he is at present. I sincerely 
 hope he will succeed — if so, he in all probability, will make 
 his fortune, and be able to make some provision for his 
 mother, &c. 
 
 " Lord Garlies, in the Lively frigate, is cruising off Cadiz 
 with a squadron ; they have taken prizes to the amount of 
 =£200,000. 
 
 " I have never told you whom I send this by ; it is Colonel 
 
 Paget, who has got leave to return to England, and I sincerely 
 
 hope that before long I shall write to you from Portugal. If 
 
 any British troops go there he will certainly apply for us to 
 
 go, and we all know what Lord Uxbridge's interest is when 
 
 put in force." 
 
 " Gibraltar, February 12, 1797. 
 
 " My DEAii Father, — In conformance to my promise to 
 write to you by every opportunity, I again sit down to tell 
 you how we go on here, and what has happened since I wrote 
 to you by Gough. 
 
 " I think I concluded that letter by telling you that the 
 Spanish fleet was hourly expected. I shall now commence by 
 
1797 FLANDERS AND THE HELDER 43 
 
 telling you it has passed by, consisting of twenty-seven sail of 
 the line, seven frigates, and a vast number of gunboats, ten of 
 which latter, with three sail of the line, remained at Algesiras; 
 the others, it is supposed, are gone to Cadiz. 
 
 " As Sir J. Jervis is cruising somewhere oiF that port, we 
 all sincerely hope he may fall in with them, as, from all 
 accounts of their condition, if he was so fortunate, there is 
 every prospect of his giving a good account of them ; although 
 to me (being but little of a sailor) they appeared to pass by 
 in good style. At all events, I will venture to pronounce 
 that they looked very well, and that the sight was a very fine 
 one ; the number of vessels being immense, as their whole 
 Mediterranean fleet have accompanied them. 
 
 " That their order is not very good, or that they are not 
 very alert, is very evident by what happened last night. 
 Two of our very heavy sailing 4!4-gun ships, a frigate, and a 
 brig, passed through from the eastward, and within a league 
 of the squadron now lying in the bay, without their taking 
 the slightest notice of them ; although it was clear to every- 
 body had they cut their cables and chased, the 44s, at least, 
 must have fallen ; in fact our frigates, &c., are constantly 
 running in and out, unmolested. This certainly argues a 
 fault somewhere." * 
 
 " The governor is, as usual, in a most terrible fright on 
 account of the gunboats. He declares that he expects them 
 to fire upon us, and has ordered everything ready for another 
 campaign to the South. In fact, any man half so anxious 
 you cannot conceive, and, if there is a shot fired, he will, I 
 am convinced, be the first man killed. 
 
 " It is allowed by all hands that he certainly has, in some 
 measure, more reason for this alarm than the first; since their 
 
 * On February 13, Sir J. Jervis received intelligence that the Spanish 
 fleet was at sea, and immediately set sail in quest of it. At dawn of the 
 succeeding day the enemy were descried off Cape St. Vincent, and Sir 
 J. Jervis gained the memorable victory, for which he was created Earl of 
 St. Vincent. 
 
44 IIICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1798 
 
 having gunboats intimates an idea of acting against the 
 place ; and if anything is to be apprehended, it is from them, 
 their size being so small that it is not once out of a thousand 
 times that we hit them, and almost every shot or shell they 
 fire takes effect. 
 
 " About 1500 men arrived in the squadron to do duty in 
 the lines. This, by all accounts, but makes them equal in 
 number to us, and that will not be for very long, from the 
 quantity of deserters constantly coming in ; scarce ever a 
 night passing without some. Three only are known to have 
 deserted from the garrison to the enemy, although many more 
 are absent, but supposed to be on board ship. 
 
 " We are all in anxious expectation of hearing from 
 England, in hopes of being ordered to Portugal (being 
 heartily tired of this place). If we do not leave this, and 
 should not the Spaniards commence an attack, with the 
 governor''s permission, you may expect to see me before the 
 year is at an end. 
 
 " I mean next week, if possible, to get leave to make a 
 fortnight's excursion with a party into Africa, and see what 
 sort of fellows those Moors are. If I succeed you may expect 
 to see in my next an account of them. 
 
 " Devonshire (who is made master and commander) expects 
 to go to sea in the Mahonesa every day, as he only wants a 
 few men. I sincerely hope he may be successful, as from a 
 conversation I had with him, I am convinced, should he be, 
 he would do something for his mother." 
 
 I have no letters from Captain Vivian for a space of fifteen 
 months, when he still wrote from 
 
 " Gibraltar, jfunc 3, 1798. 
 
 " My deak Fatiieu, — After a month^s anxious expectation 
 we have again been blessed with the sight of a vessel from 
 England, bringing with her also the mails from Lisbon. I 
 unfortunately am of the few to whom it has brought no 
 
1798 FLANDERS AND THE HELDER 45 
 
 letters ; I confess it rather hurts me, when I consider that all 
 my friends and correspondents live within ten miles of the 
 Packet office, and have it in their power to know to a day 
 when she sails. 
 
 " The accounts in the papers, which we have up to May 17, 
 are very good. 
 
 " The troops in Ireland have fine times of it in free 
 quarters. Thank God, the spirit of the English has shown 
 itself in a different manner, and I really think it will puzzle 
 the Great Nation even to make a landing good ; any further, 
 I am convinced they cannot go. Their defeat at St. Marcon 
 will show them how difficult an attack is, and how seldom it 
 succeeds. 
 
 " Nevertheless I wish our regiment were with the expedi- 
 tion from Margate. It would seem as though they were 
 about to pay a visit to our old friends, the Dutch." 
 
 Dinring the spring of this year an expedition was fitted out 
 against maritime Flanders, for the express purpose of blowing 
 up the Bruges canal. 
 
 An armament sailed from Margate roads on May 18, under 
 Captain Popham, with a body of troops under Major-Gen. 
 Coote. 
 
 Ostend was set on fire, and on the 19th a landing was 
 effected without opposition, and as soon as the soldiers had 
 formed, they proceeded to burn several boats, demolish the 
 sluice gates, and attempted to blow up the canal. 
 
 Having, it was supposed, rendered the canal unserviceable, 
 the commander-in-chief attempted, about noon, to return on 
 board the shipping, but he soon discovered that the wind 
 was so high, and the surf so great, that the attempt was 
 impracticable. 
 
 He thereupon occupied a position upon the sandhills at a 
 little distance from the beach, and, by way of gaining time, 
 the governor of Ostend was summoned to surrender ; but this 
 fate was unhappily reserved for the invaders themselves, as 
 
46 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1798 
 
 the governor found means in the course of the night to 
 assemble a great force with which he hemmed in the EngHsh 
 early in the morning, and all resistance being in vain, they 
 surrendered after a gallant defence, in the course of which 
 ]Major-Gen. Coote was wounded. 
 
 " By the way, talking of our regiment, I give you in great 
 confidence an extract from a letter from Lord Paget to his 
 brother, which he has just shown me: 'I can tell you that 
 H.R.H. means to move your regiment, and regrets very much 
 that it is not the 28th, instead of the 100th, on its retiu-n 
 to England ; and as nothing is better worth taking care of 
 than this little island, I do not think it at all improbable but 
 that I shall see the " Slashers " here before the end of 'OS.' 
 
 " Of course, this prospect has made me very happy, and I 
 am fully convinced that if we do not return to England we 
 shall not remain here very long ; nor do I think we shall be 
 sent to the West Indies, from another part of Lord Paget's 
 letter : ' I know of no expedition abroad worth your attending 
 to, nor do I think anything can prevent your return but our 
 friend Tippoo, in the East.' 
 
 " A few days since, we were under the melancholy necessity 
 of shooting a soldier of ours for desertion to the enemy. I 
 hope the example will have a good effect; but to tell you 
 the truth, the troops in this garrison are in a very relaxed 
 state of discipline, nor can the most active officers prevent it, 
 owing to one-half of our men being constantly at work. 
 
 "Admiral Nelson, with twelve sail of the line — picked 
 ships — is gone up the Mediterranean ; and Sir Roger Curtis 
 has joined the Earl St. Vincent with ten sail from Ireland, 
 which proves that the Government has no apprehension in 
 that quarter. 
 
 " Amongst all the Volunteer Corps and various other 
 descriptions of loyal defenders, who every day spring up, I do 
 not see any mention of a Cornish Association. I hope you 
 are taking means to drive the ' Carmagnoles,' from off your 
 
1798 FLANDERS AND THE HELDER 47 
 
 coast if they should dare attempt to invade them ; for 
 although my countrymen are rather riotous now and then, I 
 believe them loyal. I recollect particularly well, when at the 
 bottom of ' Wheel Unity,' a miner telling me that if the 
 French were to come, they (meaning the tinners) would ' scat 
 their brains out.' " 
 
 Owing to the preparations that were being made by the 
 French for the invasion of England, and also to the number 
 of troops that had been sent to Ireland, a spirit of military 
 ardour seemed at once to seize and pervade the whole king- 
 dom at this time. 
 
 All ranks and orders of men eagerly formed themselves into 
 Volunteer Corps, commanded by officers of their own choice 
 acting under temporary commissions, till England presented 
 to her foe the glorious picture of an armed people inspired 
 with the magnanimous resolution of sacrificing their lives in 
 defence of their country. 
 
 " Gibraltar, July 17, 1798. 
 
 " My DEAR Father, — Paget brings this, and will, I think, 
 most probably deliver it himself. He declares that he will 
 use his utmost exertions to get us out of this horrid prison, 
 rendered worse than ever by the uncommon heat of the 
 weather, the thermometer in the shade at noon having two 
 or three days stood at 86° and 87°. 
 
 " You may, perhaps, have heard that had the supple- 
 mentary Militia enlisted (as it was supposed they would) 
 the 28th, 37th, and 42nd Regiments were to have been 
 relieved by three other regiments completed from them, and 
 to have returned to England. 
 
 " We still live in hopes that Paget will be able to get us 
 away, particularly as this rebellion in Ireland has taken place ; 
 to which place I have no doubt but that he will immediately 
 propose our being sent. 
 
 " I feel myself exceedingly obliged to you for the pains 
 
48 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1798 
 
 you have been at to procure me an exchange with the 
 Dragoons ; and I am really of opinion that were it possible 
 to get a troop out of the break it would be a very desirable 
 purchase, provided also it could be obtained at a reasonable 
 price ; but really in these critical times, when the whole 
 world seems upside down, to give a large price for any com- 
 mission seems to me an imprudent thing. 
 
 " I cannot agree with Twysden in thinking it probable that 
 I shall get a majority in our regiment soon. Godley will 
 certainly purchase, and I believe Groves will also ; Hall wants 
 a larger price than any of us will give. 
 
 " Godley is on his return home. I fear the same good luck 
 does not await me soon. Two captains must join before I 
 can get leave, and I know of no two likely to do so. 
 
 " By advices from Admiral Nelson, by the French frigate 
 Sensible (captured by the Seahorse after a short action), we 
 learn that the French have taken Malta with the loss of only 
 five men ; and that Buonaparte has proceeded on his way, 
 supposed to Alexandria, with Nelson within twenty leagues 
 of him. Now, as he is encumbered with transports, it is more 
 than probable that he will be overtaken ; so that we may 
 daily expect good news from aloft. 
 
 " A dreadful mutiny has lately been discovered on board 
 the Princess of Wales off Cadiz. Two hours after it was 
 found out they were to have murdered all their officers, and, 
 in concert with the Hector, to have attacked the Ville de 
 Paris — there also to have committed like enormities; and 
 after having reduced the whole fleet they meant to have gone 
 into Cadiz. Happily it was discovered to Admiral Orde, 
 who secured sixty of the ringleaders — five of whom have 
 been executed. God only knows where the next mutiny will 
 break out. Thank God, in this garrison we have more 
 English and Scotch than Irish. 
 
 " Gibraltar, July 19, 1798. 
 
 " Colonel Paget is, I understand, to sail to-day. I must 
 therefore close this. 
 
1799 FLANDERS AND THE HELDER 49 
 
 " Nothing new. As soon as the wind changes we expect a 
 mail from the West. God send good news from Ireland. 
 Gough is in a great friffht for his friends and acres.^' 
 
 ^b' 
 
 On August 1, the Battle of the Nile was fought by Nelson 
 who gained a signal victory over the French. 
 
 The Great Irish Rebellion broke out in the spring of this 
 year. 
 
 More than a year''s interval takes place between the date 
 of the last letter from Captain Vivian and the date of the one 
 that follows. During this time Captain Vivian had exchanged 
 (in August, 1798) from his old regiment, the 28th, into the 
 7th Light Dragoons (7th Hussars) ; and with them took part 
 in the expedition to the Helder. 
 
 In the summer of 1799 the British Government prepared 
 an expedition against Holland, and, by a treaty concluded 
 in June, England was to furnish 13,000 men, and Russia 
 17,000. 
 
 On August 13, the first division of the English army 
 sailed from Deal, under Sir Ralph Abercromby. On the 
 27th they landed at the Helder which was taken possession of 
 by the English after an action ; and the Dutch fleet was also, 
 very soon afterwards, captured without a shot being fired, 
 owing to the mutiny of their crews. Between September 12 
 and 15 the Russian contingent arrived, as well as the 
 remainder of the English troops ; and the Duke of York 
 took command. 
 
 " The English general, finding himself now at the head of 
 35,000 men, and being aware that extensive reinforcements 
 were advancing to the support of the Republicans, resolved 
 to move forward and attack the enemy. As the nature of the 
 gi-ound precluded the employment of large masses the force 
 was divided into four columns. 
 
 The first, composed of 8000 Russians and a brigade of 
 English, was destined to advance by the Sand dyke against 
 the left of Brune, resting on the sea ; the second, consisting 
 of 7000 men, of whom 5000 were English, was charged with 
 
 D 
 
50 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN i799 
 
 an attack on the French centre; the third, under Sir J. 
 Pulteney, was intended rather to make a diversion than a 
 serious attack, and was not to push far forward unless in the 
 event of an uniooked for success ; while the fourth, under Sir 
 R. Abercromby, was destined to turn the enemy's right. 
 
 The action commenced at daybreak on September 19 
 with a furious attack by the Russians under Hermann, who 
 speedily drove in the advance guard of the Republicans, and 
 pressing forward along the Sand dyke, made themselves 
 masters of Schorldam and Bergen, and drove back Vandamme, 
 who commanded in that quarter, to within half a league of 
 Alkmaer. 
 
 But the assailants fell into disorder in consequence of the 
 rapidity oi' their advance, and, reinforcements having been 
 moved from the centre to the support of the left, Vandamme 
 was enabled to resume the offensive, and the Russians were 
 attacked at once in front and both flanks in the village of 
 Bergen, from whence, after a murderous conflict, they were 
 driven at the point of the bayonet. 
 
 Their retreat, which at first was conducted with some 
 degree of order, was soon turned into a total rout by the 
 sudden appearance of two French regiments on the flank of 
 their column. . . . 
 
 While the Russians were undergoing these disasters 
 on the right, the Duke of York was successful in the centre 
 and left. . . . Indeed, everything promised decisive success 
 in the centre and left of the Allies, when intelligence was 
 brought to the Duke of York of the disaster on the right, 
 and the rapid advance of the Republicans in pursuit of the 
 flying Russians. 
 
 He instantly halted his victorious troops in the centre, and 
 marched upon Schorl with two brigades of English and 
 three Russian regiments, which was speedily carried, and if 
 the Russians could have been rallied, decisive success might 
 yet have been attained. 
 
 But all the efforts of their commander could not restore 
 order, or rescue the soldiers from the state of discouragement 
 into which they had fallen ; and the consequence was that, 
 as they continued to retreat to the entrenchments of Zyp, 
 the Republicans were enabled to accumulate their forces 
 against the Duke of York, who, thus pressed, had no alter- 
 native but to evacuate Schorl, and draw back his troops to 
 their fortified lines. 
 
1799 FLANDERS AND THE HELDER 51 
 
 In this battle the Republicans lost 3000 men in killed, 
 wounded, and prisoners ; but the British lost 500 killed 
 and wounded, and as many prisoners ; while the Russians were 
 weakened by 3500 killed and wounded, twenty-six pieces of 
 cannon, and seven standards." — Alison, vol. iv. p. 151 et seq. 
 
 iVIajor Vivian, who was present at the battle thus writes 
 of it: 
 
 " Callante Ooge, September 20, 1799. 
 
 " My dear Father, — You will be anxious, I have no 
 doubt, to hear an account of the action of the 19th — yester- 
 day. I am myself so excessively fatigued that I cannot 
 possibly enter into particulars. 
 
 " I can only say that the Russians, after advancing like a 
 brave mob, retreated like a cowardly one. 
 
 " The slaughter was dreadful, and they made it worse by 
 their savage acts of cruelty to the wounded French. 
 
 " Our left succeeded completely, and but for ' Russeman ' 
 the day would have been a brilliant one. 
 
 " The country was such that we could not act ; narrow 
 lanes bounded by immense sandhills ; and woods, intersected 
 by ditches. We had some cannon shot at us, but without 
 effect, and a few horses wounded by rifle balls. 
 
 " I am just off picket and am going to bed. We were on 
 horseback from 11 o'clock on the night of the 18th, till 10 
 on that of the 19th. 
 
 " The action commenced at three in the morning, and 
 ended at night. 
 
 " Our loss is dreadful ; that of the enemy 3200 prisoners, 
 but I should guess, from what I saw, not near so many 
 killed as we had. I should think our loss nearly 5000, if 
 not more. The British have lost a quarter of their officers. 
 
 "Adieu. I will write again soon. I expect another 
 attack on Monday." 
 
 The Duke of York was not discouraged by the issue of 
 the attack on September 19. Although heavy rains pre- 
 
52 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1799 
 
 vented him doing so for some time, he resumed the offensive 
 on October 2. 
 
 " The recollection of the success which had everywhere 
 crowned their efforts in the preceding action, animated the 
 English troops, while the Russians were burning with anxiety 
 to wash out the stain which their disasters on that occasion 
 had affixed to the Imperial eagles. . . . 
 
 At six in the morning, the attack was commenced at all 
 points. The Russian division of Essen, anxious to efFace its 
 former disgrace, supported by the English division of Dundas, 
 advanced to the attack in the centre with such impetuosity 
 that the villages of Schorl and Schorldam were quickly 
 carried, and the Republicans driven in confusion to the 
 downs above Bergen. 
 
 An attack was there projected by the Duke of York; but 
 Essen, who recollected the consequence of the former rashness 
 of the Russians on the same ground, refused to move till 
 the advance of Abercromby on the right was ascertained ; a 
 circumstance which paralysed the operations. 
 
 Abercromby advanced gallantly along the Sand dyke, 
 and, notwithstanding a hot fire of musketry and grape, by 
 which he had two horses shot under him, succeeded in forcing 
 the French left and expelling them from the sandhills and 
 downs on which they rested." — Alison, vol. iv. p. 155. 
 
 The shades of night now began to prevail, when the enemy, 
 determined to make one more effort to retrieve the fortune of 
 the day, advanced with his chasseurs in the face of the British 
 column, and charged the horse artillery with such impetuosity 
 as to cut down several of the troops and to carry off two 
 guns in triumph. 
 
 But this success was of short duration ; for several squadrons 
 of the 7th and 11th Dragoons, with Lord Paget at their 
 head, suddenly issuing from a recess between two sandhills, 
 fell upon the cavalry of the enemy, who, incapable of 
 sustaining the shock, rushed into the sea to avoid the British 
 sabi'es. 
 
 The rout now became complete, but a small portion of the 
 
1799 FLANDERS AND THE HELDER 53 
 
 enemy, favoured by the approaching darkness, effected their 
 €scape, leaving their prize cannon behind. 
 
 The British cavalry remained all night on the beach, 
 forming a line with the infantry on the sandhills. Neither 
 horses nor men could get any water. When day broke it 
 was expected the column would move forward. The troops, 
 however, were so worn out with fatigue and the want of food, 
 that it was determined not to advance till they had been 
 refreshed. But the road was so bad that neither the bread, 
 nor the waggons for the wounded, could arrive before four 
 o'clock in the afternoon. 
 
 An order had just been issued for the regiments to send for 
 their rations, when a report was received that the French 
 were retiring from Egmont-op-Zee. Not a moment was to 
 be lost. The troops were ordered to arms. They instantly 
 marched forwards without expressing a murmur, leaving their 
 provisions on the beach. 
 
 The French, however, had retired two hours, and not one 
 Frenchman was overtaken in a pursuit of three miles. 
 
 The cavalry lay again on the beach all night, and were 
 again without water. Altogether the horses were fifty hours 
 without hay or drink — some, indeed, were sixty. The whole 
 army suffered as much as human nature could support. 
 
 The English entered Alkmaer on October 3. During 
 the whole of the 4ith and 5th, the two armies rested on their 
 arms. But on the 6th, in the morning, a general order was 
 given by the Duke of York to make an attack upon the 
 entire front of the enemy's line. 
 
 " The action commenced at seven in the morning, and was 
 obstinately contested during the whole day. 
 
 In the centre the Allies were successful in the first instance ; 
 Essen bore down all opposition, and the Republicans were on 
 the point of succumbing when Brune strengthened them with 
 the greater part of a fresh division, and a vigorous charge 
 threw back the Allies in confusion towards their own position. 
 
 In their turn, however, the victorious Republicans were 
 
54 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN i799 
 
 charged, when disordered by success, by an English regiment 
 of cavah-y, thrown into confusion, and driven back with great 
 loss to Kastricum, where they were with difficulty rallied by 
 Vandamme who succeeded in checking the advance of the 
 pursuers.'" — Alison, vol. iv. p. 156. 
 
 On the whole the battle was indecisive. Haarlem was the 
 object of the English general, without the possession of which 
 he could not maintain himself in the country during the 
 inclement weather which was approaching ; and Haarlem was 
 still in the enemy's hands. The Republican forces were 
 daily increasing ; and the total absence of all the necessary 
 supplies iir the corner of land within which our army was 
 confined, rendered it impossible to remain there for any 
 lenath of time. 
 
 " In these circumstances the Duke of York, with the 
 unanimous concurrence of a council of war, resolved to fall 
 back to the entrenchments at Zyp, there to await reinforce- 
 ments, or commands from the British Cabinet." — Ilnd. p. 158. 
 
 On the day after the battle, therefore, the Allies retired 
 to the position they had occupied before the battle of Bergen. 
 
 " Brune lost no time in following up the retreating English. 
 . . . The situation of the Duke of York was now daily 
 becoming more desperate ; his forces Mere reduced bv sick- 
 ness and the sword to 20,000 men ; the number of those in 
 hospital were daily increasing; there remained but eleven days 
 provisions for the troops ; and no supplies or assistance could 
 be looked for from the inhabitants. ... In these circum- 
 stances, he rightly judged that it was necessary to lose no 
 time in embarking the sick, wounded, and stores." — Ihid. 
 
 Accordingly, he proposed a suspension of arms to General 
 Brune, preparatory to the evacuation of Holland by the 
 allied troops. This was eventually agreed to, and before 
 December 1 the British troops had regained the shores of 
 
1799 FLANDERS AND THE HELDER 55 
 
 England, and the Russians were quartered in Jersey and 
 Guernsey. 
 
 " Such was the disastrous issue of the greatest expedition 
 which had yet sailed from the British harbours during the 
 war, and the only one at all commensurate to the power or 
 character of England." — Alison, vol. iv. p. 159. 
 
 In a letter written when the English were retreating in 
 1799, Major Vivian says : 
 
 " Callante Ooge, October 13, 1799. 
 
 " What we are to do they keep secret, but it is generally 
 believed that we are to return. Advance we cannot ; and if 
 the frost sets in our retreat is cut off. The only alternative 
 appears to be either to retire immediately, or become 
 prisoners. 
 
 " Of this I am convinced — that if 20,000 men more are 
 sent, we shall never be able to reach Amsterdam." 
 
 In December, Vivian returned with his regiment to England 
 and on March 9 he was promoted to a majority. 
 
 The only letter from Major Vivian, that I possess, written 
 in the interval between the expedition to the Helder and 
 the Corunna campaign, is one dated August 1803 — nearly 
 four years after the Helder. During this time, Malta had 
 been taken, and the battles of Copenhagen and Aboukir 
 fought. 
 
 In March 1802, a peace was signed at Amiens between 
 France and England. Previous to this, however. Napoleon 
 had been making great preparations for the invasion of 
 England, which had called forth the national spirit in a 
 remarkable degree. The whole kingdom was filled with 
 volunteers, who were not daunted by the renown lately 
 gained by the French in the victories of Marengo and 
 Hohenlinden. It is to these efforts on the part of the nation 
 that Major Vivian alludes in the following letter. 
 
56 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1803 
 
 " WOODBRIDGE, AugUSt I4, 1803. 
 
 " My dear Fatiiek, — What with business and pleasure, 
 my time has for ten days been so much employed that I find 
 myself in your debt for two letters. 
 
 " Since I last wrote to you I have been making myself 
 acquainted with the coast toward Yarmouth on the one side, 
 and the Essex coast on the other. Add to this balls, fetes, 
 and dinners, given by Thelluson and other gents of the neigh- 
 bourhood, and I really have had scarcely time to write a line. 
 
 " You may imagine how thick engagements are here, when 
 I tell you that I have now been here seven weeks and have 
 dined at home but five times. I make a point of sleeping in 
 my quarters, unless absent on duty, which was the case last 
 week. 
 
 " They tell me this is the best defended district of any ; if 
 so, I can only say others are very bad, for we have not, in 
 the whole of it, 20,000 men, and there is no one spot where 
 we could bring above 5000 men to act under twelve hours at 
 least. The volunteers are few, and those not armed. So 
 much for the exertions of Government ! 
 
 " The army of reserve are here perfectly satisfied, with 
 immense bounties ; but still I find at Bury they have 
 deserted dreadfully ; forty guineas for a substitute has been 
 very common. 
 
 " I agree with you in thinking Government are in a hobble 
 about the Defence Bill ; but I think Sheridan's motion, and 
 the consequent resolutions, will produce more volunteers than 
 anything else. The fellows like the idea of the thanks of the 
 House, and the handing down to posterity the services of their 
 forefathers. 
 
 " Our establishment is eight troops of eighty-five men, and 
 seventy-five horses ; but we want 104 men more to complete, 
 and recruiting is at an end. 
 
 " I certainly think you and Gwatkin most proper and 
 able men to have a corps ; pray let it be a good, rattling 
 battalion. 
 
1803 FLANDERS AND THE HELDER 57 
 
 "We expect the Duke of York here on Saturday to inspect 
 the district and review the troops. In our whole brigade of 
 Light Cavalry we have not at present effective above 700 
 men — we have so many recruits, and recruiting. 
 
 " Since I have been here I have seen a great deal of a very 
 great man — Sir Sidney Smith. I have been several times on 
 board the Antelope, and, in fact, generally see him every day. 
 He is one of the pleasantest possible men to live with, full of 
 anecdote, but, if anything, rather too fond of talking about 
 Acre. He is extremely volatile and very intelligent, and 
 nothing I really believe could put him in a passion. 
 
 " Lord Paget, Sir Robert and Lady Harland, the Thellu- 
 sons, and myself, last week were very nearly drowned in going 
 off with him to the Antelope. The wind was hard and we 
 struck on the bar of the Aide river, and if all the sailors and 
 Lord P. and myself had not jumped out up to our middles in 
 water to lighten the barge, she must have gone to pieces ; for 
 the sea was making a fair breach over her, and the ladies were 
 just as wet as if they had been drawn through a pond. When 
 we got into deep water the boat was full half-way up the leg. 
 So much for water parties ! 
 
 " It seems I was fated to get duckings last week, for the 
 very next evening I had another, in a much more agreeable 
 way. I happened to be walking on the quay at this place 
 and saw an unfortunate fellow, who could not swim, out of 
 his depth and in the act of drowning. Fifty people were 
 present, and no one attempted to assist ! Knowing I could 
 swim very well I felt it my duty to do my best, and without 
 hesitation, in full regimentals, in I jumped, and had the good 
 fortune to fetch the poor fellow, almost lifeless, to the shore. 
 
 "I have gained a good deal more credit for this than I 
 deserve ; for it strikes me now, as it did then, that it was only 
 my duty to do an act of humanity to a fellow creature when 
 I could do it with very little risk to myself. The man I must 
 tell you offered liberally to reward me with a crown bowl of 
 punch ! " 
 
58 RICHARD HUSSEY MVIAN 1803 
 
 During the time that he spent at home, between his return 
 from the Helder and his going on active service again in the 
 Corunna campaign, Hussey Vivian turned his thoughts from 
 war to love, and became engaged to Eliza, daughter of Philip 
 Champion De Crespigny, of Aldborough. 
 
 As this match, however, did not meet with the approval of 
 the relatives of either party, the young couple settled the 
 question for themselves by running away to Gretna Green. 
 The bride was descended from an old French family, refugees 
 from the Edict of Nantes ; and the fruit of the marriage was 
 two sons and three daughters. 
 
 On September 20, 1804, Vivian became Lieut.-Col. of the 
 25th Light Dragoons, but three months later, December 1, 
 he exchanged back into the 7th Hussars. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 CORUNNA CAMPAIGN, 1808-9 
 
 Ix the interval of five years that elapsed between the date of 
 the letter written by Major Vivian in August 1803, and the 
 commencement of the Corunna campaign in September 1808 
 great and interesting events were taking place both on the 
 Continent and in England, and I much regret that I have no 
 correspondence of my grandfather on such exciting and im- 
 portant matters. 
 
 In March 1802, peace had been signed between France and 
 England at Amiens ; but it was not destined to be of long 
 duration, for in May 1803, Napoleon, complaining of the 
 countenance given by England to French emigrants, and of 
 the delay in surrendering Malta to the Knights of St. John, 
 publicly insulted the British ambassador (Lord Whitworth), 
 and war was again declared. 
 
 A huge camp was formed at Boulogne for the invasion of 
 England, but 30,000 volunteers immediately enrolled them- 
 selves to protect these shores. 
 
 The British fleet swept the Channel and recaptured the 
 French and Dutch colonies, which had been surrendered by 
 the English Government at the peace of Amiens. 
 
 In May 1804, Napoleon had assumed the title of Emperor 
 of the Fi'ench ; and with the exception of Prussia, most of 
 the European powers were combined against him. 
 
 The invasion of England was organised, and Napoleon only 
 awaited the junction of his fleets from Toulon, Cadiz, and 
 Brest, to make the attack. Nelson, however, signally defeated 
 
■60 IIICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1808-9 
 
 the French admiral, Villeneuve, at the battle of Trafalgar, 
 ■on October 21, 1805, and completely shattered all Napoleon's 
 hopes of successfully invading this country ; and the latter 
 thereupon marched his " Grand Army ■" from the shores of the 
 Channel to the banks of the Danube, against the Austrians, 
 over whom he gained the celebrated battle of Austerlitz on 
 December 2, 1805. 
 
 The news of this victory is said to have been Pitfs death- 
 blow ; and that statesman's death was shortly after followed 
 by that of his great rival. Fox. 
 
 On land the English had, at first, but little success against 
 their foes; for, though the brilliant victory of Sir John 
 Stuart over the French at Maida (July 1806) raised the 
 prestige of the British arms, the expedition of Sir John 
 Duckworth to Constantinople, and that of General Frazer to 
 Egypt, were unsuccessful. 
 
 Meanwhile Napoleon was in the full tide of success. He 
 had declared war with, and had virtually conquered, Prussia, 
 by the battle of Jena, in October 1806 ; and the victories of 
 Eylau and Friedland had resulted in a close alliance between 
 him and the Emperor Alexander of Uussia, at Tilsit, in 
 July 1807. 
 
 In order to prevent the fleet of the Northern Powers falling 
 into Napoleon's hands, the surrender of the Danish navy 
 was demanded by the English, and enforced by the bombard- 
 ment of Copenhagen in September 1807, and the seizure of 
 that nation's fleet. 
 
 In the autumn of 1807 Napoleon began his schemes of 
 conquest in Spain. An army under Junot overran Portugal 
 and entered Lisbon on November 30, the royal family fleeing 
 to the Brazils. 
 
 Napoleon then decoyed Charles IV. of Spain, and his son, 
 Ferdinand, to Bayonne ; and obtaining from them a renun- 
 ciation of the throne of Spain, conferred the sovereignty on 
 his brother, Joseph Buonaparte, who entered Madrid on July 
 20, 1808. The inhabitants of Spain, however, soon rose in 
 
i8o8-9 CORUNNA CAMPAIGN 61 
 
 revolt against the French yoke, and proclaimed Ferdinand VII> 
 as their king. 
 
 The British Government determined to support the 
 Spaniards in their insurrection against the usurper ; and the 
 greatest valour was shown by the Spaniards in their efforts to 
 rid themselves of the French, more especially in the defence 
 of Saragossa, where women and children flew to the ramparts 
 with the men, and the most heroic resistance was made to 
 the French besiegers. Even when the latter had obtained 
 an entrance into the town, the Spaniards fought so des- 
 perately from house to house, that between August 4 and 14 
 the besiegers were only able to make themselves masters of 
 four houses ; and eventually the French retreated, after 
 having besieged the place for two months, abandoning their 
 cannon and heavy stores. The inhabitants of Valencia 
 behaved in ' the same gallant manner and also repulsed the 
 French. 
 
 In the meantime, however, the Spaniards elsewhere were 
 not so successful. Generals Cuesta and Blake, with 25,000 
 infantry, 400 cavalry, and 80 cannon, were forced to retreat 
 at Rio Seco, on July 14, by Bessiere's force of considerably 
 less number. 
 
 Cordova was taken and sacked by Dupont ; but the latter 
 eventually retired towards Baylen, after having wasted a 
 considerable time at Cordova, which gave the Spanish general, 
 Castaiios, an opportunity of instilling a certain degree of 
 order into his tumultuous array of peasants. 
 
 A battle took place at Baylen on July 19, in which both 
 the French and Spanish armies became intermixed in a most 
 extraordinary manner, with, however, the result that the 
 French army eventually laid down their arms to the Spanish 
 forces, to the immense astonishment and joy of Europe. 
 This capitulation caused Joseph Buonaparte to retire hastily 
 from Madrid. 
 
 In 1808 the British Government sent an expedition to 
 Portugal, under Sir Arthm- Wellesley, consisting of 10,000 
 
62 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1808-9 
 
 men. Two smaller divisions were soon after prepared, and 
 sailed from Margate and Ramsgate ,; and orders were sent 
 to Sir John Moore, who with 12,000 men had been sent to 
 Gottenberg to aid the Swedes, to return and form a further 
 reinforcement of the armies in the Peninsula. 
 
 The expedition under Sir A. Wellesley sailed on July 12, 
 and landed in Mondego Bay on August 1, where it was 
 joined by a further division, under General Spencer, making 
 the force 13,000 strong. On August 9 this force commenced 
 their march inland, and on the 15th a skirmish occuiTed at 
 Obidos, which is memorable as being the first conflict in' 
 which any British soldiers fell in the Peninsular War. 
 
 A battle took place at Rolica in which the French were 
 defeated, and would, on the following morning, have been 
 pursued but for news having arrived that Generals Anstruther 
 and Acland, with their respective brigades, were off the coast, 
 and that Junot was marching with all his forces from Lisbon 
 to bring matters to an issue. 
 
 On the 19th and 20th of August, Anstruther's and 
 Acland's troops were landed, bringing the number of the 
 English army up to 16,000 men. Sir Harry Burrard now 
 arrived, and, as superior to Sir A. Wellesley, took command. 
 The troops were concentrated at Vimiera, where Junot, 
 who attacked them on the 21st, was completely routed. Had 
 he been at once pursued, as Sir A. Wellesley advised, it is 
 probable that he would have been annihilated. Sir Harry 
 Burrard, however, gave orders for the troops to halt at all 
 points and to remain in position at Vimiera till Sir J. Moore 
 arrived with reinforcements. 
 
 Sir Harry Burrard's tenure of office was short ; for on the 
 morning of August 22nd Sir Hew Dalrymple arrived and 
 assumed command ; so that within thirty hours a pitched 
 battle had been fought, a decisive operation rejected, and 
 three successive generals had been in command ! 
 
 Sir Hew resolved to advance on the 23rd, but as he was 
 about to do so a flag of truce arrived from Junot, agreeing 
 
i8o8-9 CORUNNA CAMPAIGN 63 
 
 to evacuate Portugal on conditions that the French army 
 were not to be considered prisoners, but were to be sent back 
 to France by sea, with their artillery and arms. The Russian 
 fleet, which was in Lisbon, was to be conducted to England, 
 and remain there till peace was declared, the officers and 
 crews being transported to Russia without restrictions as to 
 future service. This arrangement, known as the Convention 
 of Cintra, was agreed to by the English generals, but caused 
 such great dissatisfaction in England that a Court of Inquiry 
 was held upon them. 
 
 On the 15th of September the first of the French troops 
 sailed from the Tagus, in accordance with the Convention. 
 By the 30th the whole were embarked, and before the middle 
 of October not a French soldier remained on the soil of 
 Portugal. 
 
 Sir Hew Dalrymple, Sir Harry Burrard, and Sir A. 
 Wellesley were obliged to return to England, to undergo 
 the Court of Inquiry before alluded to ; and the command 
 of the army thereupon devolved upon Sir J. Moore, whose 
 division had landed at Lisbon ; whilst another corps, 15,100 
 strong, under Sir David Baird, was destined about this time 
 to land at Corunna, and descend through Gallicia, to co- 
 operate with the troops of Sir J. Moore, which were 
 advancing from Portugal, in the plains of Leon. 
 
 Sir J. Moore's forces set out on their march from Lisbon 
 in the middle of October; but for the sake of procuring 
 better roads for the artillery and waggon train, broke into 
 two columns ; and whilst the main body, under Sir J. Moore, 
 followed the direct road by Abrantes, Almeida, and Ciudad 
 Rodrigo, a lesser division, but with all the reserve and most 
 . of the guns, under General Hope, took a more circuitous 
 route by Elvas, Badajos, Talavera, and Madrid. 
 
 On the 11th Sir J. Moore crossed the Spanish frontier, 
 and on the 18th had collected the bulk of his forces at 
 Salamanca; but Sir D. Baird, who had landed at Corunna 
 on the 13th of October, had (and then only by great exer- 
 
64 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1808-9 
 
 tions) not got further than Astorga, four days' march from 
 Salamanca, on the 20th of November. 
 
 Thus the British army, in all not more than 30,000 
 strong, was split into three divisions, severally stationed at 
 the Escurial (near Madrid), Salamanca, and Astorga— distant 
 eighty or ninety miles from each other ! Napoleon, on the 
 other hand, lay with 180,000 veteran troops concentrated 
 near Vittoria. 
 
 Major Vivian had by this time become Colonel of the 7th 
 Hussars, which regiment was ordered to form part of the 
 forces that landed at Corunna, and was consequently, at first, 
 under the command of Sir D. Baird. 
 
 A diary was kept by Colonel Vivian during this campaign, 
 which is now in the possession of the present Lord Vivian, as 
 head of the family. From that diary (whilst it was in my 
 mother's possession) I made the following copy. 
 
 r - 
 
 Journal of' March from Corunna and 'j John Moore's 
 Campaign, 1808. t> 
 
 " September 23, 1808. Guildford.— On Friday, September 23, 
 received orders for eight troops of the regiment to be held in 
 readiness for immediate embarkation. 
 
 " September 25. — On Sunday inspected the regiment in 
 watering order, and selected the men and horses to form the 
 troops. 
 
 " September 28. — On Wednesday assembled the regiment 
 again in complete marching order, and formed the troops. 
 
 " September 29. — On Thursday received an order, by 
 orderly dragoon, for the regiment to march in three divisions 
 — three troops in each of the two first, and two troops in the 
 third — to Portsmouth, to embark. 
 
 " September 30. — On Friday, the 30th, the first division, 
 under the command of Lieut.-Col. Kerrison, marched. 
 % ^^ October 1. — The second division, under the command of 
 ('aptain Denshire, marched. 
 
i8o8-9 
 
 CORUNNA CAMPAIGN 
 
 6^ 
 
 " October 2. — The third division, with the band, under 
 Major Cavendish, marched. 
 
 " On the same day the first division embarked, having 
 halted the first day at Liphook, the second at Petersfield. 
 
 "I saw the third division off, and then proceeded to 
 Portsmouth to see the first embark, and so on the others, 
 which embarked the two following days ; and, much to the 
 credit of the regiment, not a man appeared on any parade 
 during the march the least in liquor. 
 
 " The following is a list of the officers, number of men, &c., 
 that embarked : — 
 
 
 Horses 
 
 
 Lieut.-Col. Vivian 
 
 5 
 
 
 Lieut.-Col. Kerrison 
 
 5 
 
 
 Major Paget . 
 
 4 
 
 
 Major Cavendish . 
 
 4 
 
 (Dead. Drowned coming 
 from Corunna) 
 
 Captains Denshire 
 
 3 
 
 
 Cholmley 
 
 3 
 
 
 Hodge . 
 
 3 
 
 (Dead. Killed at Water- 
 loo) 
 
 Treveake 
 
 3 
 
 (A clergyman) 
 
 Thornhill 
 
 3 
 
 
 Dukenfield 
 
 3 
 
 (Dead. Drowned coming 
 from Corunna) 
 
 Lovelace 
 
 3 
 
 
 Pipon 
 
 3 
 
 
 Verner . 
 
 3 
 
 
 Lieuts. Long . 
 
 2 
 
 
 Crawford . 
 
 2 
 
 
 Waldegrave 
 
 2 
 
 (Dead. Drowned coming 
 from Corunna) 
 
 Stow . 
 
 2 
 
 
 Robeck . 
 
 2 
 
 
 Lowther 
 
 2 
 
 
 Wildman . 
 
 2 
 
 
 Cornets Champion 
 
 2 
 
 (Dead) 
 
 Goodwin . 
 
 2 
 
 
 Meyer 
 
 o 
 
 (Killed at Waterloo. I 
 
 mounted him. He was 
 very poor, and had a 
 wife and child. As 
 gallant a soldier as 
 ever drew sword) 
 E 
 
66 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1808-9 
 
 
 Horses 
 
 
 I Paymaster 
 
 2 
 
 
 I Surgeon . 
 
 2 
 
 
 I Asst.-Surgeon . 
 
 I 
 
 
 I Vet. Surgeon . 
 
 I 
 
 (N.B.— Mr. Parker was 
 arrested at Ports- 
 mouth) 
 
 6 Quartermasters 
 
 4 
 
 
 36 Sergeants 
 
 — 
 
 
 8 Trumpeters 
 
 — 
 
 
 672 Rank and File 
 
 — 
 
 
 751 
 
 " The ships went out to Spithead as soon as we embarked ; 
 and on Thursday, the 6th, the whole convoy, under the 
 Egeria, got under weigh and sailed to St. Helens. 
 
 " October 7. — Lying at St. Helens. The wind noi-th- 
 west." 
 
 The troops were some time before they were able to make 
 a start. In St. James' Chronicle of October 13, 1808, I find 
 this : " On the 13th the Egeria, of eighteen guns, lying at 
 St. Helens, with the 7th Regiment of Dragoons for Falmouth, 
 was recalled, it is supposed in consequence of Sir D. Baird, 
 whom they were to j oin, having sailed." 
 
 The Egeria attempted to sail on the 18th, but owing to 
 foul winds, did not actually depart till the 31st. 
 
 " On October 24, Major Paget and myself embarked on 
 board La Sibylle frigate, and on November 8, in the morning, 
 we arrived, after a favourable passage, in Corunna Harbour. 
 
 " The kindness and civility of Captain Upton was beyond 
 anything, and such that I can never forget. 
 
 " On the 9th the regiment began disembarking from the 
 eleven transports. Five of the transports had not arrived. 
 The others were not able to haul in close enough. 
 
 " On this and the three following days, the whole regiment 
 disembarked, having lost only seven horses on the passage, 
 and one drowned disembarking. 
 
r8o8-9 CORUNNA CAMPAIGN 67 
 
 " The 10th Hussars also disembarked. On the second and 
 third days, disembarkation of the 10th and part of the 15th. 
 On the last day part of the 10th, and so on till all were 
 landed. 
 
 " Two of the transports of the 15th parted company and 
 were driven into Muros Bay— one, after being taken and 
 liberated, having lost their arms and on parole not to serve 
 
 " The captain of the French ship which took the above 
 transport proposed to kill all the horses ; but the men 
 declared that they would suffer anything rather than submit 
 to this cruel massacre of animals they regarded as com- 
 panions. 
 
 The Frenchman, touched by this display of feeling, con- 
 sented to spare them, and put the men on parole not to serve 
 again." — St. James'' Chronicle, November 22, 1808. 
 
 "The first day''s disembarkation of the 7th was truly 
 deplorable ; it rained in torrents ; and from the transports 
 not being able to haul up to the quays, the horses were slung 
 into the water and most of them obliged to swim on shore. 
 The poor men, most miserably soaked, having no place to go 
 to but an open shed — many of them having lost their 
 appointments and necessaries, and no man having a dry 
 article to put on. Add to all this the easy rate at which 
 the men obtained wine, and consequent drunkenness, and the 
 misery and confusion^of the scene may be imagined ! 
 
 " Fortunately the following days were very fine, and the 
 regiment had an opportunity of getting into some sort of 
 order ; but still, from the distance to which it was necessary 
 for them to go for procuring forage, &c., nothing could 
 possibly be more harassing than the duty of the soldier, who 
 had scarcely an instant to himself from morning till night. 
 
 " With great exertions, however, on the part of all, officers 
 and men, the i-egiment was in a state to move on on the 
 15th of November, on which day the first division, consist- 
 
68 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1808-9 
 
 ing of the right squadron under the command of Lieut.-Col. 
 Kerrison, and one troop of R.H.A. under that of Colonel 
 Downes, commenced their march. 
 
 " It is now time to say something of Corunna itself. The 
 town is situated in a very fine harbour, at the foot of a 
 mountainous country, and is excessively well supplied with 
 provisions of all sorts. 
 
 " The streets are in some parts very wide, and the foot- 
 pavement most excellent ; the shops very good ; and, what 
 appeared to us rather extraordinary, the very strict blockade 
 to which it had been liable did not prevent their being well 
 furnished. 
 
 " The officers were quartered on the different families, and 
 experienced, most generally, the kindest attention. 
 
 " The playhouse is far from bad ; indeed, very superior to 
 what you will see in any provincial town in England ; the 
 dresses magnificent, and the bolero dances with the castanets 
 most admirable. 
 
 "The British officers were invited to a ball given by a 
 lady of distinction, which, although not in the style of 
 magnificence which is shown at parties of this sort in 
 England, was very far from disagreeable, and the dancing 
 was most excellent. 
 
 " The costumes and manners of the inhabitants were to us 
 something truly different to what we had been accustomed, 
 and in many points they are certainly very much behind the 
 rest of the world ; but still Corunna is, even at the present 
 time, a fine city, and capable of vast improvement. It is 
 true it is dirty, but this might very easily be carried oft' on 
 account of a great part of it being situated on the side of a 
 hill ; and the tout ensemble, both for comfort and con- 
 venience, was very superior to anything we had been led to 
 expect. 
 
 "We heard, shortly after our arrival here, of the army 
 under Blake having been obliged to evacuate Bilbao, after a 
 considerable loss ; but this appeared to have very little effect 
 
i8o8-9 CORUNNA CAMPAIGN 69 
 
 upon the inhabitants, who seemed fully determined to con- 
 tinue the conflict. The women, we understand, in particular, 
 are most zealous in the cause. 
 
 " I cannot here omit relating an anecdote I heard from my 
 landlord, of a Spanish lady of distinction of this city, who, 
 having lost three sons in the last action, lamented only that 
 she had not as many more to supply their places. 
 
 "A spirit even beyond this, if possible, actuated the 
 women of Saragossa, where the women worked the guns and 
 in the trenches even after the men had deserted them. It is 
 said that the women of Corunna requested to be permitted 
 to form a battalion. While such a spirit reigns, however 
 successful the battalions of Buonaparte may be at first, it is 
 impossible that they can be so eventually. At least this is 
 my opinion. I know I differ from those who ought to be 
 better judges." 
 
 Colonel Vivian mentions above the report the army had 
 received as to Blake having been defeated. This was the 
 fact. 
 
 The Spanish troops had been divided into three armies — 
 the right, under Palafox, . were near Saragossa ; the centre, 
 under Castarios, were near Tarazona, opposite the French ; 
 and the left, under Blake, were at Reynosa. 
 
 On September 18, Blake advanced from Reynosa to 
 Santander. The French thereupon concentrated their forces 
 near Vittoria. Blake attacked and took Bilbao, but his men 
 were ill equipped, worse drilled ; he had scant stores, and 
 still less ammunition to rely on. He however was reinforced 
 by Romana^s troops, and attempted to interpose between 
 Lefevre and Ney and their communications with the French 
 frontier. 
 
 Blake's forces were, however, so scattered that, though he 
 had 36,000 men under his orders, only 17,000, without any 
 artillery, were ever actually in front of the enemy. 
 
 Lefevre, under cover of a thick fog, suddenly attacked the 
 
70 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1808-9 
 
 Spanish army, on October 31, and drove them into Rilbao, 
 whence they retreated towards the Asturias ; and the French 
 took possession of Bilbao. 
 
 About this time Napoleon arrived at the seat of war ; and, 
 on November 10, Marshal Victor, with 25,000 men, attacked 
 the Spanish near Espinosa, whilst Lefevre, with 15,000 more, 
 marched upon the Spanish line of retreat. 
 
 Though the Spanish for some time fought gallantly they 
 were eventually completely routed, and Blake fell back, 
 with 7000 disorganised troops, on Reynosa. He was, 
 however, again attacked by Soult and Lefevre, on November 
 13, and completely defeated, and driven, with a few hundred 
 followers, into the heart of the Asturian mountains. Bilbao, 
 Santander, and the remainder of the intermediate coast, 
 together with great stores that had been landed at Santander 
 by the British, fell into the hands of the French. 
 
 The Spanish centre was also defeated by the French near 
 Burgos, on November 10, at which place Napoleon then 
 established his headquarters, and proceeded to organise 
 movements for the destruction of the remaining Spanish army, 
 under Castailos and Palafox, who retreated towards Tudela. 
 
 At this time, as has already been pointed out. Sir J. 
 Moore was, with part of his forces, near Salamanca ; the 
 remainder of his force, under General Hope, was near Madrid ; 
 and Sir D. Baird was on his way from Corunna towards 
 Astorga, with the object of uniting his forces with those of 
 Sir J. Moore. 
 
 Colonel Vivian's diary continues : 
 
 " Sir D. Baird's army had commenced their march previous 
 to our arrival, and we found Sir Uavid himself just ready to 
 depart. 
 
 " November li. — On the 14th he (Sir D. Baird) actually 
 set out, accompanied by the whole 'Etat Majeur''; and the 
 command devolved upon Lieut-Gen. Lord Paget, who was 
 chief of the cavalry. 
 
i8o8-9 CORUNNA CAMPAIGN 71 
 
 " During our stay here a curious and ludicrous circumstance 
 occurred, which afforded us much amusement. 
 
 " In order to conciliate the inhabitants, orders had been 
 given to show all possible respect to their religious customs, 
 and especially when the Host was passing, the guards were 
 directed to turn out and present arms. 
 
 "A large crowd of people, accompanied by priests, was 
 seen one day approaching the main guard, and the sentry 
 (supposing it could be nothing but the Host) turned out the 
 guard, which in all due form presented arms, when, lo and 
 behold ! to the gi-eat amusement of all present it turned out 
 to be an unfortunate fellow, chained hands and feet on a 
 mule, doing penance. 
 
 " On the 15th, the 7th Light Dragoons commenced their 
 march to join the British army assembling at Astorga. 
 
 "The first division consisted of two troops, commanded 
 by Lieut.-Colonel Kerrison, and accompanied by one troop 
 ofR.H.A. 
 
 "The second division, three troops, commanded by Major 
 Cavendish. 
 
 " The third division, three troops, accompanied by Lord 
 Paget and Major Paget.* 
 
 * The Major Paget referred to above, was Berkeley, a younger brother 
 of Lord Paget. Writing to his father (Lord Uxbridge) on November i6, 
 i8o8. Major Paget says : 
 
 " Bladen Capel returns to England in a few days, and as I march to- 
 morrow morning with the last division of the yth I shall give this letter 
 into his custody. 
 
 " Our present route is only as far as Astorga. What is to become of us 
 when we get there I have not yet heard. We are to reach it on the 30th 
 of this month. The loth and 15th follow us, in three divisions each ; the 
 former first, so that the Hussars will not be assembled till December 6. 
 
 " We have always plenty of reports here, but none to be depended on 
 We look for news from England. I, however, believe that Blake has been 
 licked. Two or three Spanish generals have been discovered as rogues 
 having been bought by Buonaparte. They are in custody. I daresay he 
 will buy them all at last. I'm confident, at least, that he will try. I hope 
 that we shall be able to show a good example, and if we meet the French 
 upon equal terms I do not think they will have to boast of much. They 
 outnumber us in cavalry considerably. We are told they have 8000. If 
 
72 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1808-9 
 
 "November 16. — The 10th Hussars, in three divisions, 
 accompanied by a troop of R.H.A., and the 15th, in two 
 divisions marched. 
 
 "On the 17th, the Division of the 7th which I commanded, 
 commenced their march under most favourable circumstances. 
 A finer day never was seen, and the country through which 
 we passed was romantic, and in many parts most beautiful 
 so far as scenery goes. 
 
 " Of its cultivation I cannot boast much, although in many 
 parts it was far from bad, and the number of vineyards, when 
 in leaf, must ha\'e added much to its appearance in this 
 respect and to its general beauty. Turnips are cultivated in 
 very great abundance, and although not brought to that 
 
 we can muster 3000 it will be as much as we can do. The odds are high. 
 I think, nevertheless, that we shall tackle them, as they probably will not 
 be all together. 
 
 "The inhabitants, on whom we are quartered here, are particularly 
 attentive and kind. I dine to-day with Paget's host, who insisted on his 
 asking twenty of his friends. I dined the other day with my landlady, and 
 a sorry meal I made of it. The Spanish cookery does not suit me. A 
 touch of garlic I have no objection to, but my breath was taken away 
 when one dish was put on the table, which was a sausage as large as a 
 line-of-battle ship's mainyard, cram full of garlic, a dish of macaroni 
 poisoned with saffron, and a salad mixed with lamp-oil. I was obliged to 
 eat out of compliment, and lie through thick and thin by saying that I 
 thought it delightful. The market nevertheless is plentifully supplied with 
 red-legged partridges, which I was happy to see, as I mean to try my luck 
 at them with my gun. On our march we may find plenty. 
 
 " Paget marches with my division, and we mean to take our guns. He 
 has plenty to do ; indeed, I do not think he has time to write to England. 
 We have 160 or 170 miles to Astorga, which will occupy us thirteen days, 
 including two halting days. I do not imagine he will remain long with my 
 division, as he will probably soon be tired of going only three or four 
 leagues a day. He will, I think, make the best of his way to Astorga, and 
 wait there till we come up. We go through nothing but mountains on our 
 road thither. 
 
 ' ' Pray tell my mother that I carry my bed with me, as the bugs and 
 fleas swarm, and that every precaution will be necessary to prevent my 
 head being visited with not the most agreeable companions, which I hear 
 thrive in abundance in most parts of Spain. Pleasant ! If I catch any I 
 will preserve them in order that she may compare them with the English 
 ones, and she may transmit her observations to the Royal Society." 
 
i8o8-9 CORUNNA CAMPAIGN 73 
 
 perfection that they are to be found in England, they are 
 still much superior to what I had been led to suspect from 
 the accounts I had read of the country. 
 
 " During our first day's march to Betanzos, we remarked 
 several houses, evidently the property of persons of conse- 
 quence, round which the cultivation was better than in other 
 parts, and about which we observed plantations of fine ash 
 trees. Furze appears to be cultivated in great abundance ; it 
 grows, to a large size, and is the common firewood of the 
 country ; indeed, woods of all sorts are scarce, although here 
 and there we observed some coppice beautifully situated 
 on the borders of mountain rivers ; and, excepting that the 
 scenery is on a much grander scale, in many parts it reminded 
 me of Devonshire. 
 
 " Having marched at about half-past nine o'clock, we 
 arrived at Betanzos, a small, dirty town, situated at the 
 head of a small arm of the sea, into which a little river 
 empties itself. Here we were billeted on the inhabitants ; 
 and it is but justice to say they did, in most instances, their 
 utmost to make the men comfortable. The place itself is 
 very dirty, and abominably stinking. Its market appears 
 remarkably well supplied. 
 
 " Lieut. -General Lord Paget was quartered upon the house 
 •of a colonel serving with the Gallician army. His wife — a 
 pretty woman — was remarkably civil to us, and gave us an 
 
 ■ excellent dinner, and afterwards took us to a ' rout ' composed 
 
 ■ of half a dozen old tabbies. 
 
 "At the colonel's house was a friend of his wife, an exceed- 
 ingly loquacious sort of lady, in whose company I should very 
 ; soon have attained the Spanish language. 
 
 " November 18. — From Betanzos we marched at eight 
 o'clock in the morning, and halted at Monte Salquiero with 
 the left squadron. Captain Treveake's troop with Lord 
 Paffet went on to Guitirez. 
 
 o 
 
 " Nothing could be more miserable than our quarters — in 
 , a low house, on a barren heath, to which the Franciscan inn 
 
74 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1808-9 
 
 was a palace, and the country about it a paradise. Here I 
 was quartered with three officers and 120 men, all pigging 
 together in the straw. 
 
 " November 19. — From Monte Salquiero we marched four 
 and a half leagues to Bahamonde, another most miserable 
 village, where I had the good fortune to be quartered in the 
 same house with Lord Paget, and consequently fared very 
 well as to eating ; but our lodging was even more miserable 
 than before ; ten of us in one little room, and an ante- 
 chamber full of lice, fleas, and all sorts of vermin. 
 
 " The country through which we passed this day was, in 
 some parts, very beautiful, and cultivated as much as it 
 would admit of. In general, however, it was extremely 
 barren. 
 
 " At Bahamonde, having heard that there were woodcocks 
 in a wood facing the house. Lord Paget and the major went 
 out, and succeeded in bringing home a couple. 
 
 " From Bahamonde we marched two leagues to Lugo, a 
 Spanish city, but very inferior in most respects to any 
 English village. In dirt, ho\\ ever, it far surpassed anything 
 I ever beheld. I must do it the justice to say that the 
 cathedral is very fine, and rich in plate, to judge from the 
 massive candelabras and candlesticks it contains. 
 
 " In Lugo we heard confirmed the report which we had 
 before heard of Blake's entire defeat, and the approach of 
 the French to Astorga ; and we received an order to proceed 
 with all possible despatch — not to make the halts at first 
 tn'dered. In this case it certainly appears to be ' more haste 
 less speed.' The horses had already begun to drop off from 
 lameness (owing to their long confinement on board ship — 
 thirty-seven days — and their being moved off too soon after 
 being disembarked) in a most alarming degree. We had lost 
 twelve ; seventeen were lame at Corunna, eighteen at Betanzos, 
 two, three, and four at Salquiero, Bahamonde, and Guitirez,. 
 and at Lugo we left thirty-one more. 
 
 " In addition to the fatigue of the march after disembarka- 
 
i8o8-9 CORUNNA CAMPAIGN 75 
 
 tion, the miserable quality of the forage was the principal 
 cause of the falling off as they did, and even those horses 
 that kept on at all were far from being in a fit state for 
 active service. 
 
 "Between Bahamonde and Lugo we passed the River 
 Minho, at Ponte Ralhado — a most beautiful bridge ; and the 
 scenery excellent. The appearance of the country indeed 
 had considerably improved in the day's march. In the 
 Minho are abundance of trout, some even so large as 30 lb. 
 weight I was informed by an inhabitant of the neighbouring- 
 village. 
 
 " In Lugo, we were given to understand, was a strong 
 French party. Whether it was the case or not I cannot 
 pretend to say, but it certainly was most evident to a casual 
 observer that the assistance offered the British army was by 
 no means what an army coming to fight the battle of the 
 Spaniards had a right to expect. Indeed, the difficulty of 
 obtaining country waggons for the conveyance of our 
 baggage, and the impossibility of getting mules to carry the 
 tents and camp kettles, was of the utmost inconvenience 
 to us. 
 
 "To attempt to describe our sufferings and f)rivations, of 
 men and horses, is beyond my power. No description can 
 be at all adequate to it. It surely would have been reason- 
 able, before the army started from Corunna, for Sir D. Baird 
 to have said : ' We are come to assist you, and before I move 
 a single man I must have so many mules and so many 
 bullock carts attached to each regiment.' Whether this was 
 done, I know not, but at all events I do know that we were 
 without the proper assistance ; and daily (whilst we were 
 without the means of carrying our camp kettles except on 
 our troop horses, and actually without tents) did we meet 
 whole droves ol mules carrying sardines, the value of the 
 whole cargo of which was not that of a single troop horse. 
 Surely these should have been pressed. ' They manage these 
 things better in France,' but it appears more like asking a 
 
76 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1808-9 
 
 favour on our part to be permitted to march through their 
 country, than like the flower of the British army being sent 
 to be sacrificed for the preservation of Spain.'" 
 
 In connection with the above strictures on the apparent 
 mismanagement of the commissariat and transport depart- 
 ments, I here quote from Napier's " Peninsula War," vol. i. 
 p. 336. 
 
 " Sir D. Baird came without money. Sir J. Moore could 
 only give him ^£8000, a sum which might have been taken 
 for a private loan, if the fact of its being public money had 
 not been expressly mentioned. But at this time Mr. Frere, 
 the Plenipotentiary, arrived at Corunna with two millions of 
 dollars intended for the use of the Spaniards ; and while such 
 large sums were lavished in that quarter, the penury of the 
 English general obliged him to borrow from the funds in 
 Mr. Frere's hands. Thus assisted, the troops were put in 
 motion ; but, wanting all the equipments essential to an 
 army, they were forced to march by half battalions, conveying 
 their scanty stores on country cars, hired from day to day ; 
 nor was that meagre assistance obtained but at a great 
 expense and by compliance with a vulgar mercenary spirit 
 predominant among the authorities of Gallicia. The Junta 
 frequently promised to procure the carriages, but did not; 
 the commissioners had to offer an exorbitant remuneration ; 
 the cars were then forthcoming, and the procrastination of 
 the Government proved to be a concerted plan to defraud the 
 military chest." 
 
 " From Lugo we marched four leagues to Constantia. 
 Here I was quartered on a senor who kept a most dirty 
 house and a most miserable carriage, but was very civil 
 indeed, and took me out for a day's shooting, when I killed 
 one red-legged partridge ! The men, as usual, were put up 
 in pig-styes. 
 
 " From Constantia the left division marched to Nogales. 
 I rode a gun, mounted, and, after eleven hours on horseback, 
 joined ]VIajor Cavendish at Trebadildos. 
 
i8o8-9 CORUNNA CAMPAIGN 77 
 
 " During the day we passed through a most lovely country. 
 A bridge between Nogales and Constantia was magnificent — 
 it leaped a valley of immense depth, through which ran a 
 beautiful mountain river. The ^•alley was itself extremely 
 narrow and deep, and the depth of the arches of the bridge, 
 of which there were four, must have been 200 feet at least, 
 whilst the whole length of the bridge could not have been 
 more than 1000. 
 
 " From the hill a little beyond this bridge to look down on 
 it and the valley, and on an old ivy-grown dwarf bridge which 
 leaped the river on the old road, about half a mile down the 
 valley from the present bridge, was a scene far beyond the 
 pencil of an artist, or the pen of so poor a journalist as 
 myself. 
 
 " From Nogales is an ascent of six miles — a death-blow to 
 our artillery and heavy-laden waggons. Up this our men 
 walked, being dressed for the purpose in shoes, and we thus 
 saved our poor horses. From the top of this mountain is a 
 magnificent prospect ; and the situation of a convent on the 
 height at the foot of it is truly romantic and beautiful. 
 
 ■" From hence we descended to Trebadildos, where we 
 halted for the night about a league from Valladolid. On a 
 hill is an old castle, the situation and appearance of which 
 equal any description ever met with in the most romantic 
 novels. In fact, it is a most perfect habitation for banditti ; 
 and, as these mountains are infested with gentlemen of this 
 description, it is not impossible that it may have been a 
 refuge for them. Our quarters at Trebadildos are pretty 
 much of the same description as our former ones — miserable 
 houses, full of lice, bugs, and fleas ! 
 
 "Our men, fortunately, continue most healthy in every 
 respect, ^vhich is wonderful, considering the privations with 
 which the poor fellows have to contend — and which it is but 
 justice to say they experience without a murmur — and the 
 hardships and fatigues they suffer. 
 
 "At Trebadildos we learnt from an oflScer of the Greys,. 
 
78 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1808-9 
 
 going express to Coruima, that the affairs of Blake''s army 
 were, if possible, worse than ever, and that the remains of it 
 were expected at Astorga. 
 
 " From this it seems possible that we may not get so far. 
 If the French succeed in preventing the junction of Sir J. 
 Moore and Sir D. Baird, which they may do by placing 
 themselves at Benavente, the defence of Asturia must fall to 
 the lot of the latter, and Corunna become our only retreat. 
 In this case the cavalry can be but of little use ; and those 
 of the finest regiments in England are rendered nearly useless, 
 and for no good reason. 
 
 " November 24. — Cacabellos, one league in advance of Villa 
 Franca. 
 
 "From Trebadildos I proceeded two leagues to Villa 
 Franca, and from thence on fresh horses, in advance, to 
 overtake Lieut.-Col. Kerrison with the right squadron. This 
 I succeeded in doing two leagues and a half from the place 
 where I now write this ; and, what is rather odd, at the very 
 instant that an order had been received by him to retreat to 
 Villa Franca. The files were just put about, and to my great 
 jjurprise I found them approaching me ! Thus all the evils 
 of a retreating army, through a most wretchedly supplied 
 'Country, appears to be most likely to attend us. 
 
 " I undertook to halt the squadron short of Villa Franca 
 in consequence of the approach of night, and took up our 
 <juarters here with three guns belonging to the R.H.A. 
 
 " The army of Sir D. Baird commenced also their retreat 
 from Astorga. 
 
 " What has occasioned this sudden retrograde movement 
 we do not exactly understand. The defeat of General Blake 
 has been for some time known. It is reported that a column 
 -of the French are making their way through the mountains 
 to Ferrol. In this case our situation would indeed be critical. 
 Cut off from Sir J. Moore by the enemy having placed 
 themselves at Benavente, and cut off from England by the 
 
i8o8-9 CORUNNA CAMPAIGN 79 
 
 enemy having possession of the ipoint of land commanding 
 the entrance to the harbour of Corunna, our only means of 
 escape would be either through the mountains of Oporto ; by 
 catting our way through the French army to Sir J. Moore ; 
 or to Cadiz, if provisions for the troops could be obtained on 
 the march. There can be no doubt but that we could effect 
 either of these two latter ; and supposing affairs to turn ever 
 so bad at last, the possession of the French and Spanish fleets 
 would recompense to a trifling degree the expense and fatigues 
 of our expedition." 
 
 It has already been stated that two of the three so called 
 " Spanish armies " had been utterly defeated by the French, 
 but that there still remained the army of Castaiios, who had 
 been joined by Palafox with the remnants of his forces. 
 
 On November 23, Castahos'' army was also defeated by the 
 French at Tudela. The intelligence of this did not, as a fact, 
 reach Sir J. Moore till a week after the event; and it was not 
 therefore because of this further reverse to the Spaniards that 
 the retreat, alluded to by Colonel Vivian, was commenced. 
 It would appear that it was occasioned by a report received 
 from General Blake, who was in the mountains with a few 
 of his defeated forces, that a considerable French force 
 was collecting at Rio Seco and Ampudia, with a view of 
 interrupting the march of the English ; and Baird, in 
 consequence an-ested the advance and fell back on Villa 
 Franca. 
 
 As Sir J. Moore's information led him to believe that 
 Blake''s report was false, he recalled Sir D. Baird. In the 
 meantime, however, much valuable time had been lost. 
 
 " November 24. — The country through which we have 
 marched this day was, to Villa Franca, most beautiful ; and 
 the situation of that town is truly delightful. The town 
 itself is dirty and miserable in the extreme. 
 
 " From Villa Franca the country assumes a different 
 
80 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1808-9 
 
 appearance — corn lands and immense vineyards ; whilst on 
 either side are immense mountains, covered with snow. 
 
 " The various climates through which we pass day by day 
 are somewhat extraoi'dinary — now pierced with cold, and now 
 drenched with rain, now overpowered with heat, and now 
 blinded with fog. Still, however, the men are healthy in the 
 extreme. In the 7th we left only four men sick on the road 
 before we arrived at this place, and I hear no complaints 
 from the others. This is more wonderful when their fatigues 
 and sufferings are considered. 
 
 " November 25. — At Cacabellos, on the night of the 24th, 
 I again received orders to advance with the first division of 
 cavalry, and again retraced the ground we had the day before 
 retreated over, and I personally halted at Bembibre. The 
 division took up its quarters at the little village of Toro — 
 about a league beyond it. 
 
 " Bembibre is a miserable place on the Nogales road, six 
 leagues from Villa Franca, and five from Astorga. 
 
 '■'■November 26. — On the 26th the first division again 
 marched, and reached Astorga that evening. On our arrival 
 there we found that a retreat had actually been determined 
 on, in consequence of the defeat of Blake and advance of the 
 French army on the side of Valladolid, where it was supposed 
 a corps was placed to intercept our junction with Sir J. 
 Moore, who was at Salamanca. 
 
 " Indeed, no account for some days having been received 
 from him, it was imagined that they had actually placed 
 themselves between the two armies ; but Major Temple, 
 A.D.C. to Lord Paget, having on the 26th been sent with 
 despatches to Sir John Moore, and having passed by Benar 
 vante and Zamora to Salamanca, and returned on the night 
 of the 29th without having met with any inteiTuption, it 
 was again resolved on to advance ; and for this purpose the 
 troops who had retired were again ordered into Astorga from 
 f 'astanos, Bembibre, Ponteferrada, and Villa I'Yanca. 
 
 " November 29. — On the night of the 29th, howe\cr. 
 
i8o8-9 CORUNNA CAMPAIGN 81 
 
 despatches having been received stating the defeat of Castaiios, 
 and, it was supposed in the army, in consequence of orders 
 to that effect from Sir J. Moore, a retreat was finally deter- 
 mined on, and on the morning of the 30th the infantry 
 commenced retiring. 
 
 " It would be presumption for me to say how far this was 
 necessary ; but my own private opinion, which may perhaps 
 be biassed by feelings for the honour of the British name and 
 the credit of the British arms, is that circumstances did not 
 altogether warrant it. 
 
 " It is true Ministers were deceived as to the state of 
 the Spanish armies ; it is true that there appeared a great 
 want of energy in the people ; it is true there was a want of 
 cordiality and assistance towards us ; but still, having come 
 into the country as friends to their assistance, having, in all 
 probability, in some measure been the cause of their starting 
 their own efforts by leading them to expect great things from 
 us, having most certainly occasioned Buonaparte's having sent 
 a larger force than he otherwise would have sent, calculating 
 upon merely a Spanish army — I say, under all these circum- 
 stances, I freely own it was my humble opinion that we should 
 have risked everything rather than retreat. 
 
 " The enemy had beaten Blake, and it was said that a corps 
 of 10,000 — some even said more — were penetrating the 
 Asturias by Oviado to Ferrol. Another corps had made 
 their appearance at Medina del Rio Seco, supposed to be 
 ready to attack us if the attempt were made to join Sir J. 
 Moore, whilst the main body of the enemy were destined to 
 attack Castanos, who was somewhere in the neighbourhood of 
 Segovia, bearing on Madrid. 
 
 " Our route to join Sir J. Moore was over the bridges of 
 Benavente and Zamora ; and the rivers Esla and Douro were 
 not passable at any other places. It is true that this was a 
 most critical position ; if we made the attempt, the enemy from 
 Medina del Rio Seco would probably either at once take pos- 
 session of Benavente, or admit of our passing that bridge and 
 
 F 
 
82 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1808-9 
 
 then attack us between it and Zamora, thus, if they defeated 
 us, placing us in a most perilous situation. But the certainty 
 of the corps stated to be at Medina, and its actual strength, 
 was very ill ascertained ; from the enemy never having taken 
 possession of Benavente, or even entered it, the probability 
 was that the French were not in force. Then, if Sir J. Moore 
 had moved from Salamanca for Zamora on the day on which 
 this army moved from Astorga for Benavente, I think there 
 can be but little doubt that the junction would have been 
 effected. 
 
 " I am aware that by this movement General Hope would 
 have been, in a degree, exposed ; but on December 1 that 
 corps was to have joined him ; on the 3rd Sir David's cavalry 
 were to have arrived ; so that Sir John need not have left 
 Salamanca until the 4th to have arrived at Zamora on the 6th, 
 whilst on the same day we arrived at Benavente. Sir John, 
 however, had, on the 28th, heard accounts of General Cas- 
 taiios'' defeat, and he decided on a retreat, and sent orders to 
 that effect to Sir David Baird. 
 
 " How far the circumstances of the case authorised it, it is 
 not for me to say ; but in spite of any French force that was 
 ready to have ojiposed it, I cannot be but firmly persuaded 
 the junction of the two corps, under the circumstances I have 
 before stated, might have taken place ; and with an army of 
 35,000 he might have moved to his right, and, if compelled 
 to retire, have fallen back upon Cadiz or Gibraltar, instead of 
 disgracefully running into the mammoth mountains of Portu- 
 gal and Galicia. 
 
 "Most, however, of this reasoning may be false. I can 
 only speak of the matter as it strikes me. The means of 
 transporting stores were small, and the difficulty of procuring 
 supplies very great. As to what were the means in the 
 country in the rear of Salamanca must be better known at 
 headquarters than I can possibly know it ; but I have under- 
 stood far inferior to those of Portugal and Galicia. 
 
 "From the Spanish armies we could expect no regular 
 
i8o8-9 CORUNNA CAMPAIGN 83 
 
 movements, no systematic assistance ; but energy on our part 
 would have created energy on theirs ; and the probability is 
 that although in the junction we might have suffered much, 
 yet from the losses of the enemy, and from their attention 
 having been drawn off from the Spanish armies, it would 
 have occasioned a very considerable turn in their affairs, and, 
 in all probability, a favourable one. 
 
 " At all events, anything is better than the horrible dis- 
 grace that must attend a retreat such as we are about to 
 make." 
 
 The defeat of Castanos took place on November 23, but 
 it was not till the 29th that the news reached the Eng-lish 
 generals. 
 
 In the meantime Napoleon, having after the defeat of 
 Castaiios a large body of men at his disposal, had marched 
 with them on Madrid. 
 
 It was reported to Sir J. Moore that that city would make 
 the utmost resistance, and he was begged to assist their efforts 
 in any way he could. 
 
 In ignorance of the defeat of Castaiios, his original plan 
 had been to move to that general's support ; and with that 
 object he had given orders to Baird to join him. 
 
 General Hope, with that part of Sir John's army which 
 had separated from him on account of the badness of the 
 roads, was still en route ; and it was only by a hasty march 
 that he succeeded in escaping the victorious forces of 
 Napoleon advancing on Madrid. 
 
 The news of Castanos'' defeat did away of course with all 
 Sir J. Moore's original plans for assisting the Spanish army, 
 and, at the time when Colonel Vivian wrote the above 
 remarks in his diary, the intelligence that was being daily 
 received by the English generals was so alarming that orders 
 were given to the troops to retreat, and Sir D. Baird's forces 
 commenced a retrograde movement. 
 
 " This determination excited the utmost dissatisfaction in 
 
84 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1808-9 
 
 the troops. Officers and men loudly and openly murmured 
 against such a resolution, and declared it would be better to 
 sacrifice half the army than retire from so fair a field without 
 striking a blow for the Allies, who had staked their all in the 
 common cause.'" — Alison, vol. vi. p. 830. 
 
 " When the news came of the enthusiastic preparations 
 that were being made by the inhabitants for the defence of 
 Madrid, and of their determination to bury themselves in its 
 ruins rather than submit to the invader, these feelings were 
 still further increased ; and Sir J. Moore, giving vent to his 
 native courage, eventually suspended the retreat, and resolved 
 to throw himself upon the communications of the French 
 army, hoping, if fortune was favourable, to inflict a severe 
 loss upon the troops which guarded them. If Napoleon 
 detached lai'gely from his forces, Madrid would be succoured ; 
 if he did not detach largely, the British would be able to 
 hold their own." — " Life of Napoleon," vol. i. p. 448. 
 
 Colonel Graham, who had been sent by Sir J. Moore to 
 ascertain what the real state of affairs was at Madrid, 
 returned, on December 9, with the information that that city, 
 in spite of so much boasting, had held out but one day, and 
 was in the hands of Napoleon. That information, however, 
 did not suspend Sir J. Moore's resolution to advance as a 
 diversion in aid of the South of Spain. 
 
 " Astorga is a city situated at the foot of the mountains, on 
 the borders of a vast plain, adapted beyond everything to the 
 movements of cavalry. Not that those of Sir D. Baird, on 
 their arrival, were in a state to act ; for, from their horses 
 wanting shoeing, the badness of the forage, ike, the regiments 
 had suffered most severely, particularly the 7th, which was 
 greatly attenuated, having left 160 horses on the road 
 between Astorga and Corunna. 
 
 " In the month of July, after the battle of Rio Seco, 
 Bessieres, with his army, advanced to the heights above the 
 village of St. Justo, about one and a half league from 
 Astorga, and from thence sent to summon the city. The 
 
i8o8-9 CORUNNA CAMPAIGN 85 
 
 trumpeter was shot from the ramparts, and the Marshal, with 
 all his army retired. Blake's army were then encamped at 
 the miserable village of Manzanal, about three leagues from 
 Astorga, on the road to Villa Franca. 
 
 " The cathedral of Astorga is most superb ; the front 
 gateway high, the sculpture beautiful. The altar-piece is 
 most magificent, consisting of different Scripture subjects in 
 bronze, surmounted with a very fine figure of our Saviour 
 on the cross. The altar solid silver, and an immense 
 quantity of plate belongs to the cathedral ; but, in fear of 
 the arrival of the enemy, most part of it is taken away and 
 hidden. 
 
 " The painted windows are beautiful, and the colours 
 brilliant to a degree. The pillars of the cathedral are 
 excessively light and elegant, and the whole, for its size (it is 
 but small) I think surpasses almost any building of the sort 
 I ever met with ; but it is the case that the cathedrals are 
 excessively handsome and most richly ornamented. That of 
 Leon is, I understand, superb. 
 
 " I should here mention the sacristy of the cathedral at 
 Astorga, which is a well proportioned, circular room, with a 
 dome painted most beautifully ; but the colours are unfortu- 
 nately damaged by the damp. The subjects I could not 
 exactly make out or have explained to me, but from the 
 number of angels among the figures, we may presume it was 
 a scriptural one. Round the room also are different paintings, 
 one of them representing a martyr on a gridiron ; another 
 the Virgin and our Saviour, &c. 
 
 " Having thus arrived at the end of my travels in Spain, I 
 shall have to return probably by another route. If so I shall 
 continue this journal." 
 
 " December 1. — I should state that on December 1 the 
 right squadron of the 7th, under Colonel Kerrison, was sent 
 to La Baneza. 
 
 " December 5, 1808. — The army commanded by Sir D. 
 
86 RICHAUD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1808-9 
 
 Baii-d continued retiring from the first till this day, with the 
 exception of the cavalry, who kept advancing. 
 
 " On the 3rd, however, it was decided that 400 men from 
 each regiment of cavalry should march by the mountain road 
 by Ponteferrada to Orense. 
 
 " On the evening of the 3rd, however, a letter arrived from 
 Sir J. Moore stating that in the event of the regiments of 
 Dragoons not having already gone to the rear, one regiment 
 might march to form the junction with him. 
 
 " Upon this Lord Paget decided upon marching with the 
 whole brigade, should Sir David Baird not object to his 
 doing so. 
 
 " On the night of the 4th a message arrived stating 
 that Sir David did not object, and preparations were im- 
 mediately made for marching this day (the 5th) at 
 
 11 o'clock A.M. 
 
 "The most extraordinary part of this is that Sir John 
 should have thought the junction of the army impossible, 
 until he ordered a regiment of cavalry to effect it. 
 
 " It is true that cavalry move with less inconvenience than 
 a lot of infantry, but still, if the enemy are in any force, and 
 especially if they oppose the movement at either of the 
 bridges of Benavente and Zamora, it will be impracticable. 
 Not so, supposing the junction had been attempted by the 
 two armies, by a simultaneous movement from Astorga and 
 Salamanca, to Benavente and Zamora. It is, however, under- 
 stood that the enemy's force between Benavente and Zamora 
 is very small, consisting only of some cavalry. If so, and 
 should we be so fortunate as to fall in with them, we shall, I 
 have no doubt, give a good account of them.'" 
 
 Through the kindness of the present Marquis of Anglesey 
 I have been permitted to copy the following letter from 
 Lieut.-Gen. Lord Paget, which gives a vivid account of the 
 state of affairs at this time, and of the steps he took to 
 prevent the retreat of, at least, the ca\alry. 
 
i8o8-9 CORUNNA CAMPAIGN 87 
 
 " AsTORGA, December 3, 1808. 
 
 " My dear Father, — I have been so very busily employed 
 since I left Corunna that I have not had time to write to 
 any one. I will give you a short history of what has 
 happened. 
 
 On my arrival at Lugo with the head of the column of 
 cavalry I received an express from Sir D. Baird, stating that 
 he had received very bad news ; that he found himself in the 
 most critical situation, and that he wished very much to 
 have me with him. 
 
 I, of course, set out instantly on post horses, and contrived 
 to ride seventy-four miles in the first nine and a half hours, 
 which, being on tired bidets and over mountains, was no bad 
 work. I was less expeditious in the other part of the journey, 
 but, however, reached Astorga on the next day. 
 
 Here I found nothing but long faces. Blake's army had 
 been beaten and totally dispersed. The Estremadurians had 
 shared the like fate. Castanos and Palafox were cut off from 
 Blake, and Sir J. Moore had expressed his determination 
 to fall back the moment the enemy advanced from Valla- 
 dolid ; and he recommended Sir D. Baird to look to his own 
 safety. 
 
 Under these circumstances Sir D. Baird had already begun 
 to send back his heavy baggage and a part of the infantry, 
 and all seemed determined to move off. I flatter myself that 
 I very considerably contributed to retard at least this opera- 
 tion, although I acquiesced in the necessity of not advancing 
 into the plain whilst we were without any cavalry at all, or 
 if the enemy should be marching upon us in too great force, 
 or if he should have completely intercepted the communica- 
 tion with Sir J. Moore. In fact, the retrograde movement 
 was stopped, but they soon took alarm again, retired, then 
 advanced, and are now finally gone off. I am in command of 
 the rear guard. It consists of all the cavalry and six pieces 
 of horse artillery, General Crawford's Brigade of light 
 infantry with six guns, and the brigade of Guards. I have 
 kept the cavalry here ; the Light Brigade are about nine 
 miles in my rear, in a pass ; and the Guards in support of 
 them again. 
 
 I really am ashamed of our conduct in Spain. There has 
 been much indecision, and at length the decision come to has 
 been a bad one. I mean for the honour of the country, and 
 
88 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1808-9 
 
 for the appearance of things, although I am very ready to 
 admit that the Spanish cause is desperate. The Spaniards 
 have fought ill, are very weak, have no system, do not act in 
 concert, and, as far as I have seen, are totally without the 
 enthusiasm that we were taught to expect in them. Castarios 
 and Palafox have been totally beaten and dispersed, and I 
 know of no Spanish army anywhere. Still, what an ignomi- 
 nious thing it is to go oif and embark ! I have been stirring 
 heaven and earth to avoid it for my cavalry at least, and I 
 feel sure that you will approve of all I have done, and which 
 I shall now detail. 
 
 I have sent in a proposal to endeavour to march to the 
 right by Orense, and so into Portugal, with the most effective 
 part of the cavalry ; and I have even determined to take with 
 me four guns, although it is stated to be impossible ; but we 
 have so often been taught by the French that nothing is 
 impossible that I have resolved to try it. The roads will be 
 desperate, and there are several rivers to pass. But as I 
 shall be without infantry, and as the enemy might push a 
 small corps of light infantry across Portugal (and a very 
 small corps would be a desperate annoyance to us), and 
 might even stop our march without a few shrapnell shells 
 to assist us, I shall force through all the difficulties that 
 may occur for the artillery, and, by hook or by crook, get 
 them on. 
 
 I forgot to tell you in its place that by desire of Sir D. 
 Baird I went over to Leon to the Marquis de Romana, to 
 endeavour to find out his plans and his means. The 
 latter, alas ! were most feeble when I saw him. He had 
 not more than 5000 men, the debris of Blake^s army, and 
 those are ill equipped in every respect. Since that, how- 
 ever, they have been rallying up a little, and he now talks 
 of being able to bring into the field from 12,000 to 15,000 
 men. 
 
 " Deceviber 4. — Since writing last night a dispatch ar- 
 rived here from Sir J. Moore to Sir D. Baird, approving 
 of his arrangements to retire, but desiring that if he 
 has still a regiment of cavalry forward he will send it to 
 him. 
 
 I have caught at this, have written to Sir D. Baird, and 
 by every argument that has occurred to me, have shown the 
 propriety of my advancing with three regiments and six 
 pieces of Horse Artillery, and begged and entreated, and 
 
i8o8-9 CORUNNA CAMPAIGN 89 
 
 . begged again, that he will allow me to make this movement 
 with 1200 or 1500 of the Hussars. If he does not consent, 
 or if he prevents me personally from going, I solemnly declare 
 that I never will serve again. It will be the finest operation 
 in the world — a rapid march over an immense plain (a 
 perfect sea which has been overrun by the enemy's cavalry), 
 with a compact body of British cavalry and artillery, ready 
 and willing to fall upon almost anything, in its own way, 
 that presents itself. 
 
 Here I am in a state of the most complete trepida- 
 tion until I get his answer. He is at Villa Franca. I 
 have sent two orderly officers to him, and everything is 
 quite ready for a start. If it don't take place, / cut. 
 It will be the only pleasant thing that can happen to 
 me, if Sir J. Moore retires ; for as for assisting in the 
 defence of Portugal, I confess I have no taste for it, and 
 if the French fairly possess themselves of Spain, believe 
 me, Portugal has no chance whatever. It will fall to a 
 certainty. 
 
 I will leave this open till I know my fate. I shall keep 
 my letters on the subject to show you. I think they must 
 have weight. At all events, I shall feel the happiness of 
 having acted as you would like. 
 
 Never was any one so well equipped for a campaign as I 
 am. My horses are capital, and in perfect order. My 
 baggage is upon the best of footings, and can keep pace with 
 the Hussars. My staff is very good. I have the best cook 
 and the best set of servants that ever were collected ; and I 
 have a little corps of cavalry that cannot be surpassed. 
 With all these agrements chez moi, I augur ill of events en 
 dehors. Buonaparte is too much for all Europe. He will 
 place his brother on the throne of Spain, and he will place 
 his Imperial Eagles at Lisbon. 'Tis most humiliating, yet 
 'tis, I fear, unavoidable. 
 
 P.S. — I march to-morrow to join Moore with about 1200 
 cavalry and six pieces of Horse Artillery." 
 
 The news of the fall of Madrid had not at this time 
 reached Sir J. Moore, and it was on December 5 that 
 he sent directions to Sir D. Baird to suspend his retreat ; 
 having then formed the resolve to attack the French com- 
 
90 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1808-9 
 
 munications and thus divert a large detachment (as he hoped) 
 from the French forces before Madrid, and thereby succour 
 that town. 
 
 "On the 5th, at 12 o'clock midday, the cavalry com- 
 menced their march from Astorga ; consisting of the 
 7th, 10th, 15th, and Captain Downman's troop of Horse 
 Artillery. 
 
 " Our march the first day was to La Baneza, over a plain 
 country. 
 
 "The right squadron of the 7th on that day, having 
 previously been at La Baiieza, moved on to Villa Bra- 
 zaro. 
 
 "The remainder of the 7th were destined to occupy 
 the villages of Navianos and Aloya, but owing to the dark- 
 ness of the night and the stupidity of the guide, and 
 the little difference between the roads and the country in 
 general, we lost our way and found ourselves at Puente del 
 Cabroso. 
 
 " Here then I put up two squadrons, whilst I proceeded 
 myself with the left to discover the village of Navianos, 
 knowing the consequence it might be of the commanding 
 officer not being at the place where orders could be sent to 
 him. 
 
 " From Navianos I marched at four in the evening of the 
 6th with Major Paget and the left squadron, and, notwith- 
 standing the experience I had gained during the previous 
 night's march, I found my guide no wiser than my former 
 one, and we again lost our way ; and what was still worse, in 
 endeavouring to find a second guide, I myself lost my way 
 and the squadron, and rambled on with a few men of the 
 rear-guard, over a miserable plain for three hours, and at 
 length I found myself at Villa Brazaro. 
 
 " Here I again got a guide, who conducted me to Benavente, 
 and from thence to the bridge o\'er the river Esla — a post 
 where we expected to be very near the enemy, and which is. 
 
i8o8-9 CORUNNA CAMPAIGN 91 
 
 from the left bank of the river, capable of being made 
 a post of great strength. We could here hear nothing 
 certain respecting the French army ; and on the night of the 
 7th, at twelve o'clock, we again commenced our march for 
 Zamora. 
 
 " During the two last days I had been extremely feverish 
 and unwell, and under any other circumstances should have 
 laid up ; but Lord Paget having done me the honour to say 
 that he should, during the whole march, place the 7th in 
 advance, and that he should trust to me to keep a good look 
 out, I of course could not think of failing him. 
 
 " December 8. — At half-past seven on the morning of the 
 8th we arrived at the village of Riego, five leagues from 
 Zamora. Here the brigade halted in a position about a mile 
 from the village, and remained during the day in the fields ; 
 the horses linked, and the men having received firewood from 
 the village. 
 
 " December 9. — At twelve o'clock at night we again com- 
 menced our march for Zamora, where we arrived at 7 o'clock 
 the next morning, and were received with the shouts of the 
 inhabitants, numbers of whom were assembled, crying ' Viva 
 los Ingleses,' &c. ; and here indeed we experienced some atten- 
 tion and were received with greater enthusiasm than in any 
 other town we had been in. 
 
 ^^ December 10. — On the morning of the 10th we again 
 commenced our march for Toro, where we arrived that 
 evening at 7 o'clock, leaving the 10th behind us at Zamora, 
 having received orders to that effect from Sir John Moore ; 
 and thus have we concluded our junction with the greatest 
 facility — a junction which, had it been effected with the whole 
 of Sir David Baird's l^army, would have placed the character 
 of the British army at least, if not the affairs of Spain, in a 
 very different situation. 
 
 " We understood that our advance from Zamora to Toro 
 was in consequence of the enemy having drawn the whole of 
 their forces from Valladolid towards Madrid, and of the stand 
 
92 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1808-9 
 
 that appeared likely to be made by the inhabitants of the 
 latter city." 
 
 This was partly the case, as has already been shown — but 
 at the date when the 7th joined Sir J. Moore's forces, the 
 news of the fall of Madrid had reached headquarters; still 
 Sir J. Moore did not abandon his intention to attack the 
 French communications, and Sir D. Baird's army was again 
 moving on to join him. 
 
 It was not, however, till December 20 that Sir D. Baird's 
 infantry ultimately joined Sir J. Moore at Mayorga. General 
 Hope had effected his junction after a brilliantly executed 
 march. 
 
 " The whole of the march from Astorga to Benavente and 
 Zamora was over a flat country, where scarcely any trees 
 were to be seen as far as the eye could reach — nothing but 
 cornfields. Even cattle were very scarce in parts, so much so 
 that milk was quite a treat. 
 
 " At Benavente is a most magnificent palace, formerly the 
 property of the house of Benavente, now belonging to the 
 royal family of Spain. It is uninhabited and became the 
 quarters of a troop of the 7th. The rest of the town was 
 but shabby. It is enclosed by walls, but is incapable of much 
 resistance. 
 
 "The bridge of Castro Gonzales, about a league from 
 Benavente, is, from the left bank of the river Esla, a most 
 defensible position ; indeed such an one as to forbid the 
 passage of any force, if tolerably defended. 
 
 " Zamora is by far the finest city we have as yet seen in 
 Spain. It is situated on the river Douro, over which there 
 is a very fine bridge. In Zamora are several very handsome 
 buildings and remains of Moorish architecture; but the 
 fatigues of our marches by night and the duties that followed 
 were such as to put it out of the power of any officer to 
 examine accurately into the beauties of the place. 
 
i8o8-9 CORUNNA CAMPAIGN 93 
 
 " The road from Zamora to Toro was by the side of the 
 Douro, and through by far the most fertile part of Spain we 
 have yet seen ; vineyards in abundance, and fruit trees of 
 every description hned the road ; indeed, this part is, we 
 understand, considered the most kixuriant part of Spain. 
 
 " Toro itself is situated at the extremity of an immense 
 plain, on a level with which it is. On the right bank of the 
 Douro the town stands so high that it is at least 300 feet 
 perpendicular from the water ; so that, as a point of defence 
 against an enemy coming from the other side, Toro presents 
 an almost impracticable obstacle. The bridge is immediately 
 under the bank, and the descent to it is by a road cut in the 
 bank and running zigzag up the side of it. Over this bridge, 
 and up this road, no troops on earth could pass against a 
 tolerable opposition ; whilst on the other hand, for the left 
 flank of an army, whose right is at Tordesillas, it is far from 
 a position to trust a number of troops in. The advance from 
 Valladolid, Rio Seco, and Benavente, is all over a plain up to 
 the very gates, and consequently offers no advantage to those 
 who occupy the post. The walls being of mud afford no 
 defence, especially as they are very old (Moorish) and nearly 
 level with the ground in many places ; whilst a retreat over 
 the bridge, or even to Zamora by the river, would be most 
 awkward, with the town once in possession of the enemy. 
 
 "Toro contains several beautiful remains of Moorish 
 architecture. The church is perfect of the sort. The name 
 of Toro is derived from there being in the place a figure of a 
 bull which was supposed formerly to have been worshipped 
 by the Romans. 
 
 " December 14. — From Toro we marched on the 14, at two 
 o'clock, for Tordesillas, where we arrived at about eleven at 
 night, and found orders to march again next day to Pedrosa 
 del Rey, our route being along the Douro ; but, it being 
 night during the march, we could see but little of it. 
 
 " Our order to return to Pedrosa was excessively annoying^ 
 as the 7th were in advance, and the next morning we hoped 
 
94 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1808-9 
 
 to have entered Valladolid, where we were certain of catching 
 some French ; but unfortunately we were disappointed, and 
 the 18th did it and took the Intendant General with 
 £20,000." 
 
 The affair above mentioned would seem to have taken 
 place at Rueda, where a French post of fifty infantry and 
 thirty dragoons were surprised, and either killed or taken 
 prisoners. 
 
 Napier says, " Great was the astonishment of these haughty 
 conquerors at finding themselves thus assailed by an enemy 
 who the boastful proclamations of the Emperor had led 
 them to believe was in full retreat for his ships." — " Life of 
 Napoleon," vol. i. p. 450. Alisox, vol. vi. p. 831. 
 
 "December 15-17. — The next morning the regiment 
 returned to Pedrosa ; and the next day halted there ; on the 
 following day it marched again for Villa Garcia, a village 
 within two leagues of Rio Seco, where were 600 of the enemy. 
 
 ^^ December 18. — We hoped at least now it would be our 
 good fortune to fall in with these men ; but, alas ! the next 
 morning brought us orders to march to the village of San 
 Pedro Zane — about three leagues in our rear. 
 
 " At San Zane I now write this. 
 
 " The whole of the country, excepting a ridge of table-land 
 towards Rio Seco, is one dead flat, covered with vines and 
 corn — no grass lands, no milk ; plenty of eggs, chickens, and 
 turkeys, which constitute our principal food. The costume 
 of the shepherds is sheepskin, and gives one more the idea of 
 Lapland than of Spain. The weather hard frost and snow. 
 
 "The whole of the English army is now moving towards 
 the left to join the Marquis de Romana — the cavalry covering 
 the front ; but, from the movement at the same time being 
 rather to the rear, I cannot but think it looks rather as 
 though it would end in a retreat ; and I really begin to think 
 that the sooner we are off the better. 
 
 " The Spaniards certainly do not seem inclined to support 
 
i8o8-9 CORUNNA CAMPAIGN 95 
 
 the cause with that energy which at first it was supposed they 
 possessed. Indeed the spirit of the nation has not been taken 
 advantage of either by us or by themselves. Even had the 
 English general issued proclamations full of energy, and such 
 as were calculated to rouse the spirit of the people, I have no 
 doubt but they would have had the desired effect ; and, on 
 the other hand, had the people of property and consequence 
 in the country stepped forward, I am persuaded they might 
 have collected peasantry to any amount. But it is singular 
 that we have never fallen in with any individual man of 
 consequence since our first arrival ; nor do I suppose that on 
 the part of the English general any steps have ever been taken 
 to stir up the spirit of the populace." 
 
 At Toro, on the 16th, information was received by Sir J, 
 Moore that Romana, with his Spanish troops, instead of co- 
 operating in the advance of the English, had, in consequence 
 of the retrograde movement made by Sir D. Baird some days 
 before (and which has been alluded to), started off in full 
 retreat towards the Galician mountains. In spite of this, 
 however. Sir J. Moore did not yet abandon his plan of 
 attacking the French communications. But he had not yet 
 been joined by Baird, and he also realised the necessity for 
 an immediate retreat that would arise should Napoleon send 
 any of his Madrid forces to Soult's support. 
 
 "December 19. — From San Pedro Zane the regiment 
 marched seven leagues to Bolaiios, where we fell in with 
 Lieut.-General Frazer's division. 
 
 " December 20. — From Bolairios the next morning we 
 marched to St. Erbas, where Major-General Paget, and the 
 reserve, joined us. 
 
 " From St. Erbas we marched the following day to Escobar, 
 one league in front of Grajal, on the road to Cai-rion los 
 Andes. This was on the 21st December.'" 
 
 In order to understand the movements of the troops now 
 
96 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1808-9 
 
 taking place, it w ill be necessary to state shortly the position 
 of affairs, both as regards the English as well as the French 
 forces at this time. 
 
 As has been stated. Sir J. Moore, in order to relieve 
 Madrid and succour the South of Spain, had resolved to 
 attack the French forces which were guarding the communi- 
 cations between France and Spain, and had advanced for this 
 purpose. 
 
 On December 14, a despatch from Napoleon to Soult was 
 intercepted, from which Sir J. Moore concluded that Soult 
 was ignorant of his movements, and might therefore be 
 surprised and attacked with some hope of success before he 
 could be assisted by Napoleon ; and so, though Sir J. Moore 
 felt sure that Napoleon would move from Madrid to Soult's 
 support so soon as he learnt of the British advance. Sir J. 
 Moore did not alter his plans, in spite of Madrid having 
 surrendered and of Castanos' defeat, but moved his troops to 
 Toro and Benavente, making Valderas the rendezvous where 
 he was to be joined by Sir D. Baird. 
 
 On December 20, Baird's forces united with that of Moore, 
 and the army then consisted of about 23,500 men, of whom 
 2278 were cavalry. 
 
 On December 16 Soult, who had with him only 16,000 
 infantry and 1200 cavalry, learnt of the British movements, 
 and, becoming seriously alarmed at his position, commenced 
 concentrating the other French forces which were lying some 
 little distance away from his position. 
 
 On December 21, Napoleon learnt of Moore's advance, 
 and leaving 10,000 men to look after Madrid, he instantly 
 started with 50,000 (on the 22nd) against Sir J. Moore, and 
 moved, in spite of the greatest difficulties, with such marvel- 
 lous celerity that he reached Tordesillas on the 26th. In ten 
 days he had moved over 200 miles of country. 
 
 Sir J. Moore's plan was to move on the night of December 
 23 against Soult, who was at Carrion, so as to arri\e there by 
 daylight of the 24th ; to force the bridge there, and after- 
 
i8o8-9 CORUNNA CAMPAIGN 97 
 
 wards, ascending the river, to fall upon the main body of the 
 enemy, which he believed to be at Saldaria. His object was 
 to draw Napoleon away from ^Madrid ; but he knew that 
 Napoleon's advance from there must be a signal for his own 
 immediate retreat, which sooner or later was inevitable. 
 
 On December 23, when the troops were in march towards 
 Carrion, Sir J. Moore received authentic information of 
 Napoleon having started from Madrid with 50,000 men. Sir 
 J. Moore's object had therefore been obtained, for he had 
 caused Napoleon to withdraw a considerable number of his 
 forces from that neighbourhood, and now, having the main 
 body of the French forces, amounting to 80,000 men, on his 
 heels, he had practically no alternative but to retreat, the 
 orders for which he immediately issued, and which retreat he 
 commenced on December 24. 
 
 It is admitted by the highest authorities that had Sir J. 
 Moore delayed his retreat one day more, he would have been 
 cut off by Napoleon. 
 
 '■'December 21. — On this morning, Lieut.-General Lord 
 Paget, with the 15th Regiment of Hussars, marched at one 
 o'clock from Melgar Abaxo, in order to attack a French 
 regiment quartered at Sahagun. He succeeded in arriving 
 there at daybreak in the morning and just as the regiment 
 had turned out, having heard from an advanced post, with 
 which his lordship had fallen in and of whom he had taken 
 six — being half only — that the English were advancing. 
 
 " He therefore found the enemy prepared for him, and the 
 two regiments, French and 15th, trotted in column alongside 
 of each other for a short distance, until Lord Paget thought 
 he had outflanked them on the side where their retreat lay, 
 when he halted, wheeled into line, and charged. They also 
 formed their line and stood firm, but it was only for a short 
 time ; they were soon broken, and a general rout ensued. 
 
 "They lost in killed and wounded and prisoners about 
 220 ; the English, none killed, fourteen wounded, of which 
 
98 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1808-9 
 
 number were Lieut.-Col. Grant, and Adjutant Jones. The 
 number of the 15th was about 500 ; the French between 600 
 and 700. Their two Lieut.-Cols. and eleven officers were 
 made prisoners." 
 
 In both Napier's and Alison's histories, the 10th Hussars 
 are mentioned as having taken part in this affair. They 
 describe the engagement as having been a very brilliant one, 
 though it only lasted about twenty minutes. 
 
 According to an account in the St. James'' Chronicle of 
 January 10, 1800, the 10th only came up when the affair 
 was over and helped in the pursuit. — See " Life of Napoleon," 
 ol. i. p. 458. Alisox, vol. vi. p. 832.* 
 
 " December 22. — After this affair the position of the British 
 army was as follows: 
 
 " Right wing : Lieut. -Gen. Hope ; at Vallada, with the 
 18th Hussars and 3rd Germans covering his front. 
 
 " Centre : Lieut. -Gen. Frazer's division ; Grajal, with the 
 7th Hussars covering his front. 
 
 "Left wing: Lieut.-Gen. Baird (who had joined with his 
 army from Astorga) ; with the 10th and 15th Hussars 
 covering his front. 
 
 " On the night of the 23rd, according to general orders, the 
 
 V 
 
 * Lieut.-Gen. Lord Paget, in describing this affair in a liastily written 
 letter to his father, says : 
 
 " I have but a moment to tell you that I have had an affair with the 
 French cavalry — at the head of the 15th — most honourable to that regi- 
 ment. 
 
 "We attacked about 750 of them with about 400 of the 15th, and an 
 officer and twelve men of the 7th ; and the result was several killed, nine- 
 teen wounded, about 160 prisoners, 125 horses and some mules taken. 
 
 " Immediately after it the regiment insisted upon my accepting two 
 prize horses belonging to officers. One is a strong, low, grey horse, very 
 easy and sure footed in his walk and canter, and perfectly quiet. I destine 
 him for your riding, and will send him by the first opportunity. Coming 
 from your old regiment, and given in so handsome a manner, I know you 
 will ride him with pleasure. 
 
 " I have not time to write details." 
 
i8o8-9 CORUNNA CAIVIPAIGN 99 
 
 whole army was to move in two columns upon Carrion, to 
 attack Soulfs corps, which was statiotied there. 
 
 "The 7th, being detached from the rest of the army, 
 received orders to rendezvous at a particular spot, which I 
 accordingly did ; but to my surprise I found no other corps 
 assembled, and I soon received orders to put up the regiment 
 in -such villages as I might find near me. I accordingly 
 occupied those of Torremolinas, about two leagues in front 
 of Sahagun, on the Carrion road, and a small village of 
 Lamote, in front of it, was occupied by Lieut. -Col. Kerrison 
 with the right squadron. 
 
 " At this place I remained the whole of the following day, 
 and in the evening it was reported to me that 600 French 
 were in a village immediately in my front. 
 
 " The 7th had about 380 mounted men only, having been 
 obliged to send off sixty horses, either on duty or sick, the 
 preceding evening. 
 
 " The next morning, however, I ordered the right squadron 
 to patrol to their front in search of these gentlemen, and 
 supported it with the remaining share. 
 
 " Lieut.-Col. Kerrison fell in with their advanced posts at 
 Calcadela, about a league from Lamote, and gallantly 
 attacked them, taking about twelve prisoners, and killing 
 their officer. Unfortunately be had his arm broken on this 
 occasion. 
 
 " I joined the advance at this instant and found there also 
 a squadron of the 18th, and a field-piece of Captain Evelyn's 
 troop of horse artillery. Learning from the prisoners that 
 the cavalry in search of which I was, was in a village one 
 league in my front, I decided on attacking them, ordered up 
 the 7th, and assembled the officers to make an-angements 
 accordingly. 
 
 " It having been reported to me that they had infantry 
 and artillery with them, and considering my force unequal to 
 this, I judged it right to ascertain the fact by a patrol. 
 Whilst the patrol was out Brigadier-General Stewart arrived. 
 
100 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1808-9 
 
 and from the lateness of the hour, from the regiment being 
 five leagues from their quarters, and having eight to march 
 the next morning, he did not consider himself authorised to 
 proceed to the attack. 
 
 "We accordingly retired to Grajal, this being the com- 
 mencement of our retreat, which it appears had been decided 
 upon in consequence of information received by the Com- 
 mander-in-chief, of Buonaparte having quitted Madrid with 
 Ney's corps (Tarmie, in order to advance upon us, in conjunc- 
 tion with Soult from Carrion, and Junot from Saldana. A 
 retreat therefore from so very superior a force became 
 necessary, and that of the most rapid sort. The infantry had 
 previously moved off. 
 
 ^^ December 26. — From Grajal, therefore, the cavalry 
 marched to Saldafia — eight leagues — where they arrived very 
 late at night. 
 
 " On their march, in passing Mayorga, a report reached us 
 of the enemy having arrived there. The 18th Hussars being 
 in front, half of the regiment was ordered immediately to 
 advance against the place. 
 
 " They fell in with the enemy's advance in the street, and, 
 after a little skirmishing, drove them out of the town into 
 the plain beyond. Here they found a squadron of about 100 
 formed. Lieut.-Col. Leigh, with a squadron of the 10th, 
 immediately charged and dispersed them, killing, or taking 
 about 80 prisoners. The remainder were taken by a baggage- 
 guard of the 7th and the 18th Hussars, who were marching 
 by another route. These men had marched from Rio Seco 
 the same morning, and were the advance-guard of Ney's 
 force." 
 
 On the 24th the general retreat began. General Hope, 
 with two divisions, fell back by the road of Mayorga ; and 
 General Baird by Valencia de San Juan, where there was a 
 ferry boat across the river Esla. Romana undertook to 
 guard the bridge of Mansilla. 
 
i8o8-9 CORUNNA CAMPAIGN 101 
 
 On the 25th, Sir J. Moore, with the reserve and light 
 brigades, followed the route of Hope's column to Valderas. 
 
 On the 26th, Baird passed the Esla at Valencia. 
 
 The troops under the Commander-in-Chief approached 
 the bridge of Castro Gonzales early on the morning of the 
 26th. The stores and baggage were a long time passing, 
 there was a dense fog, and the scouts of the French were 
 already infesting the flanks of the column, and even carried 
 off some of the baggage. The left bank being high and 
 commanding the bridge, the 2nd Light Brigade and two 
 guns were posted on that side to protect the passage ; for the 
 cavalry were still on the march from Sahagun, and Soult, now 
 aware of the retreat, was pressing on vigorously. 
 
 When Lord Paget had passed Mayorga he discovered a 
 strong body of horse, appertaining to Ney's corps, embattled 
 on a swelling hill close to the road ; the soil was deep and 
 soaked with rain. 
 
 "Two squadrons of the 10th, riding stiffly against the 
 enemy, mounted the hill, and notwithstanding the- superiority 
 of numbers and position, overthrew them, killed 20 men, and 
 took 100 prisoners. 
 
 This was a bold and hardy action ; but the English 
 cavalry had been engaged more or less for twelve successive 
 days, and with such fortune and bravery that above 500 
 prisoners had already fallen into their hands ; and their 
 leaders being excellent, their confidence was unbounded." — 
 " Life of Napoleon," vol. i. p. 463. 
 
 ^'■December 27. — From Saldaria the cavalry marched six 
 leagues to Benavente. 
 
 " On the following day the town was alarmed by a report 
 of the enemy's advancing. It proved, however, to be a false 
 alarm. But on the next day they really made their appear- 
 ance in force ; and, in the face of the pickets, the Chasseurs a 
 cJieval de la Garde Imperiale actually crossed the water, 
 amounting to nearly 600 men, led by General Lefevre, who 
 was considered as one of their best cavalry generals. 
 
lOa RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1808-9 
 
 " Their doing this was a most gallant act, as, from the 
 bridge having been destroyed, they were obliged to ford the 
 river at a place where the water was so deep as to occasion 
 several of the horses to swim, and the current so rapid as to 
 render it impossible they could do it quickly. They, how- 
 ever, succeeded, and occasioned a second alarm in the town, 
 upon which they advanced, the pickets retiring before 
 them. 
 
 " Lieut. -Colonel (Jtway, the field officer of the day, who 
 commanded, at length fearing that they should arrive at the 
 town before the regiments were turned out, most gallantly 
 determined on charging them, which he did with 130 men 
 only, and completely checked their advance squadron. The 
 impetuosity of his men, however, was such that in their 
 turn they were checked by the supports, and obliged to fall 
 back. 
 
 " He was then joined by Brig.-General Stewart and about 
 100 more men, principally Germans, who again charged the 
 enemy, and checked them so as to occasion their halting, and 
 a skirmish ensued. 
 
 " In this situation of affairs, Lord Paget arrived and 
 ordered them to keep them in check only whilst he brought 
 up the 10th Hussars, who, being nearest the spot, had just 
 turned out. The 10th accordingly arrived, and soon after 
 the 7th and 18th, with two pieces of light artillery. 
 
 " Upon seeing these the enemy retii-ed at a gallop, closely 
 pursued by the pickets, who chased them to the water's 
 edge, killing hundreds, and making prisoners of about 100 of 
 this elect corps of Buonaparte''s, which was never before 
 defeated, and which had in the preceding year in Poland 
 broken through 30,000 Russians. Lieut.-General Lefevre 
 was himself made prisoner by a private of the 7th and one of 
 the 10th. 
 
 "The artillery arrived just in time to give them three or 
 four shots, which put their columns to flight after they had 
 formed on the other side of the water. Had they arrived 
 
i8o8-9 CORUNNA CAMPAIGN 103 
 
 even a minute sooner, whilst the French were in the water, 
 they must have been all destroyed or made prisoners. 
 
 " In this affair the 7th had five killed and sixteen wounded. 
 Of the wounded nine died. 
 
 " This affair being over, the 7th were ordered to remain on 
 the ground with the two pieces of artillery. The rest of the 
 cavalry returned to Benavente. No movement of consequence 
 took place on the part of the enemy during our stay there, 
 excepting that now and then the head of a column of cavalry 
 would make its appearance, as if intending to cross the water, 
 when a cannon shot or two stopped it. 
 
 "About the middle of the day a general, with a large 
 suite, made his appearance on the hill immediately above 
 us and reconnoitred our position. From the number of 
 attendants, and more especially from there being some 
 Mamelukes of the party, we had every reason to suppose it 
 was Buonaparte himself. 
 
 " The officer commanding the artillery wished rather to 
 have given him a shot. Despising a war of outposts, I 
 declined it. I afterwards rather regretted having done so, 
 when I reflected, if it was Buonaparte and should a shot 
 have been successful, on the benefit that would have resulted 
 to the world in general ; and I, in consequence, accused 
 myself of having, from motives of humanity, avoided doing 
 that which would have contributed so much to the happiness 
 of mankind.* 
 
 "An opportunity was afforded me, during the time I 
 remained in this post, of seeing and conversing with several 
 of the French officers, they having passed the water with a 
 flag of truce respecting General Lefevre^s baggage, &c. 
 
 * A graphic description of the above combat is given in both Napier's 
 and Alison's histories. Napier, however, states that six guns were brought 
 to bear on the French, whereas Colonel Vivian says there were only two. 
 Napoleon, as a matter of fact, was at this time with the French advance ; 
 so it is very probable that he was the general seen by Colonel Vivian. 
 The Spaniards indeed afterwards reported that it was he. 
 
104 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1808-9 
 
 " I saw General Davosail, A.D.C. to the Emperor, Colonel 
 Count Grazinsky of the Polish Guards, and several other 
 officers of distinction. Their dress was superb, and their 
 appearance and manners altogether most perfectly that of 
 gentlemen, and their opinions most liberal. They freely 
 abused the Spaniards, and accused them of having deceived 
 us, and spoke in the highest terms of the conduct of our men 
 in the affair of the morning. 
 
 "From passing the river I had an opportunity of judging 
 of the difficulties the enemy must have encountered. I was 
 mounted on an English horse, considerably stronger and 
 larger than the best of theirs, and in going I found it an 
 operation of difficulty, and several minutes on returning my 
 horse swam and was nearly carried down with the current. 
 Count Grazinsky afterwards came to my side of the water, 
 and would have actually been lost but for one of the men of 
 the 7th, who assisted him on shore. 
 
 "December 19. — At sunset the 7th were relieved by the 
 18th Hussars, but not before the enemy had brought up 
 some guns, which then opened upon the two left squadrons, 
 firing several rounds of shot and shell without effect. 
 
 " At seven o'clock both regiments retired to La Vizana, 
 where we bivouacked in a field for a few hours, and then 
 proceeded on our march to La Barieza, whence, at twelve 
 o''clock, we again marched, and arrived at Astorga the next 
 morning. 
 
 "December 30. — Here we fell in with the Marquis of 
 Romana and his rabble of an army, who were retiring with 
 all the speed they could on Orense, without ever having 
 attempted or offered to make a stand or afford us the least 
 assistance ; nor indeed is it possible to conceive how any one 
 in their senses, who had seen such a force as his was, could 
 have expec'ted to have derived the slightest advantage from 
 their co-operation." 
 
 On the 30th Bessieres crossed the Esla (having been delayed 
 
i8o8-9 CORUNNA CAMPAIGN 105 
 
 by the destruction of the bridge at Castro Gonzalo), and 
 passing through Benavente with 9000 cavalry, bent his course 
 towards La Baiieza. On the same day Franceschi forced the 
 bridge of Mansilla de las Mulas by a single charge of his 
 light horsemen, and captured the artillery and one-half of 
 the dis'ision left by Romana to defend it. The latter then 
 immediately abandoned Leon, which the French took posses- 
 sion of. 
 
 " From Astorga we again retired on the night of Decem- 
 ber 31, the enemy having pressed our outposts at Celada very 
 sharply. 
 
 " We marched without halting to Bembibre, where we 
 found the division of the army commanded by Maj or-General 
 Paget; the other divisions having passed on their route towards 
 Corunna and halted at different villages. 
 
 " The march from Astorga to Bembibre — eight leagues — 
 was severe, and was over the mountain Manzanal, which had 
 been covered with snow, and which, having been beaten 
 down by the infantry, had become hard, and was so slippery 
 as to make it necessary for the men to lead their horses. 
 
 " This, added to the impediments that presented them- 
 selves from baggage waggons, &c., being left on the road 
 (which, at the village of Manzanal alone occasioned a delay 
 of nearly two hours), caused the march to be very tedious and 
 severe. 
 
 '■'■ January 1. — From Bembibre we again marched the next 
 morning at daybreak for Villa Franca. The rear-guard was 
 composed of the 15th Hussars, two companies of riflemen, 
 two light guns, and the 20th Infantry ; the whole under the 
 command of Colonel Ross of the 20th. 
 
 " The enemy pressed them closely during the march, con- 
 stantly skirmishing with the squadron of the 15th, who were 
 in the rear. 
 
 " At Cacabellos, the reserve, with the 3rd German Dragoons, 
 halted. The 15th were halted at a village in front of it. 
 
106 lilCHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1808-9 
 
 The 10th at two others between that and Villa Franca, 
 whilst the other brigade of cavalry halted at Villa Franca. 
 The other divisions of the army had passed on on their 
 march. 
 
 " January 2. — On the following morning the enemy again 
 made their appearance and began skirmishing with the advance 
 of the 15th, and towards evening it became more serions, 
 and several of the rifle corps were sent into the village of 
 Cacabellos to fire from the houses, behind walls, &c., and 
 pretty severe skirmishing ensued, in which on our side we 
 lost nearly 100 men in killed and wounded, whilst the enemy 
 lost as many, if not more." 
 
 Upon January 1, Napoleon took possession of Astorga, 
 and on that day 70,000 infantry, 10,000 cavalry, and 200 
 guns were united by him. Here, however, he received 
 intelligence of Austria having joined the European Con- 
 federacy and of the rapid preparation of her army to take the 
 field. He therefore, on January 3, set out for Paris with his 
 guards, leaving Soult and Ney, with 60,000 men, to continue 
 the pursuit of the English, who numbered about 20,000. 
 
 " The conduct of the British soldier thus far had, although 
 in some instances very irregular, been in general otherwise ; 
 but at Villa Franca it became extremely bad. In order to 
 check such outrages an example was necessary, and on the 
 7th Hussars it unfortunately fell to afford that example, 
 although, without partiality or prejudice, I declare, upon my 
 honour, I believe no regiment was more orderly in their 
 conduct during the whole of the time they had been in 
 Spain, and very few so much so. Three men belonging to the 
 regiment were, at Villa Franca, detected in the act of stealing- 
 some of the wearing apparel of the inhabitants and in the 
 attempt to break open a box. Two were concerned together 
 at one place ; the other was at another house. 
 
 " These three poor fellows drew lots which should suffer 
 
i8o8-9 CORUNNA CAIMPAIGN 107 
 
 death, and it fell to the lot of a man named Day, of Captain 
 Treveake's troop, previously a very steady, good soldier. He 
 was shot in front of the brigade ; and in justice to him, poor 
 fellow, be it said that he met his fate with the most undaunted 
 courage — I may say, with the most perfect sangfroid ; and, 
 if it be of any service to relate it, be it recorded that ten 
 thousand instances of more flagrant outrages occurred than 
 that for which he suffered." 
 
 " In Villa Franca great excesses had been committed. The 
 magazines were plundered, the bakers driven from their 
 ovens, the wine stores forced, and the commissaries prevented 
 from making the regular distributions ; the doors of the 
 houses were broken open, and the scandalous insubordination 
 of the soldiers proved that a discreditable relaxation of dis- 
 cipline on the part of officers had taken place. 
 
 The general immediately arrested this disorder, caused 
 one man taken in the act of plundering a magazine to be 
 shot in the market-place, and issued severe orders to pre- 
 vent a recuri'ence of such inexcusable conduct.'" — " Life of 
 Napoleon." 
 
 ■' January 5. — From Villa Franca to I/Ugo, seventeen 
 leagues (over a most immense mountain, on which several 
 hale men were soon dead from the intense cold and fatigue, 
 and on which guns, ammunition, and money were stuck and 
 were destroyed), the cavalry marched at a rate almost 
 incredible. The 7th were twenty-six hours only completing 
 it, out of which they were halted four; but this rate of 
 marching had the effect of destroying the horses, which never 
 recovered it. 
 
 " The infantry also began to be fatigued. Hundreds 
 that would not come on either died or were shot on the. road ; 
 and several hundreds, who for want of shoes had dropped 
 behind, others who straggled to villages for the sake of 
 plunder, and others who were fatigued and in bad health, fell 
 into the hands of the enemy, all together amounting to a very 
 considerable number." 
 
108 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1808-9 
 
 Alison thus describes the scenes that took place : 
 
 "Disorders went on accunmlating with frightful rapidity 
 along the whole line, and such was the general wreck of 
 jjresence of mind, that at Nogales the military chest of the 
 army, containing i?25,000 in dollars, having stuck fast in the 
 mud, the treasure was rolled in the cask in which it was con- 
 tained over a precipice and becjuTae the property of the 
 peasantry, who picked it up at the bottom. 
 
 All order or subordination was now at an end ; the soldiers, 
 exhausted with fatigue, or depressed by suffering, sunk down 
 by hundreds by the wayside and breathed their last ; and the 
 army, in frightful disorder, at length reached Lugo late on 
 the evening of January 6." 
 
 " January 5. — At Lugo the Commander-in-Chief felt it 
 necessary to halt, probably from the great fatigue that the 
 army had experienced ; and perhaps also from a wish of 
 ascertaining the actual strength of the enemy that were 
 following, of which, it was stated, he had no accurate know- 
 ledge, although in such a country as he passed through it 
 would have been the easiest thing in the world to have 
 counted every man. 
 
 ^'•'January 6. — The day following our halt at Lugo, how- 
 ever, the enemy came up, and a skirmish ensued with the 
 Guards, which occasioned little loss on either side, although 
 both parties fired some cannon shot. 
 
 '■^January 7. — The day following there was a second 
 edition of this work, but equally bloodless — sufficient, how- 
 ever, to harass and annoy our army, which was their object ; 
 and on the 8th Sir J. Moore expected that a general 
 attack would have taken place, and disposed his army accord- 
 ingly ; General Hope's division on the right, next to the 
 Guards, who had their right on the River Minho, which was 
 impassable from the floods; General Fi-aser in the centre, 
 and Sir David Baird on the left. 
 
 '■'■January 8. — The cavalry were disposed of in different 
 parts of the line — the 18th on the main road in rear of the 
 
i8o8-9 CORUNNA CAjMPAIGN 109 
 
 Guards ; the 10th and 15th in rear of them (the 10th was 
 afterwards detached to the brids-e over the Minho, eis-ht 
 miles in the rear, and the 15th to Sir D. Baird) ; the 7th and 
 Germans in the fields with General Eraser's division, and in 
 his rear. 
 
 " The enemy, however, not coming on, at night a retreat 
 was decided upon, and it fell to the lot of the 7th to form 
 the rear-guard of the army, and to supply, by dismounted 
 men, the pickets of the Guards who were close to the enemy ; 
 and there to remain at least two hours after the whole army 
 had marched. 
 
 " This was a delicate and ticklish undertaking, but one 
 which we most fortunately succeeded in without the loss of a 
 man, and without, I believe, the enemy having had the 
 slightest suspicion that the army was in motion. 
 
 " The scenes of distress and of confusion that presented 
 themselves at Lugo during the halt of the army there are 
 almost incredible, and beyond the power of description. 
 
 " The weather had been rainy and bad in the extreme ; 
 many of our fine soldiers were consequently sick and in such 
 a state as to be unable to get on. For these no conveyances 
 could be procured. The whole of the others were fatigued 
 to the greatest possible degree. Wet daily and miserable, 
 without the means of making themselves otherwise, bread 
 scarce, no linen, and almost all the camp kettles lost, so that 
 there was great difficulty in finding means of cooking their 
 provisions. 
 
 "The cavalry, with their horses completely worn out; 
 many of them (especially of the 18th Hussars) standing in 
 the open streets, and dying by dozens. Others of all 
 regiments so crippled as to make it absolutely necessary to 
 destroy them, so that every ten yards you met with a dead 
 or dying horse, and in many places ten, fifteen, or twenty 
 together. 
 
 "Join to all this the confusion that must naturally be 
 occasioned by 15,000 or 20,000 troops being quartered in 
 
110 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1808-9 
 
 one small dirty town, and it is possible some notion may be 
 formed of the scene." 
 
 At Lugo, on January 8, according to Napier, the number 
 of the French amounted to 17,000 infantry, 4000 cavalry, 
 and 50 guns. 
 
 The English had 16,000 infantry, 1800 cavalry, and 40 
 guns. 
 
 For two whole days the English general had offered battle, 
 but the French had not come on. 
 
 " No sooner had the intention of Sir J. Moore to offer 
 battle to the French been realised by the English army 
 when all disorganisation ceased, and the line of battle was 
 filled with men full of confidence and valour. 
 
 There was, however, not bread for another day''s consump- 
 tion remaining in Lugo, and so Sir J. Moore, having by the 
 halt reorganised his forces, broke up his camp at night, 
 leaving the camp fires burning, so as to deceive the French, 
 and resumed his retreat to Corunna. 
 
 The ground in rear of Lugo was intersected by walls and 
 intricate lanes, and precautions were taken to mark the right 
 tracks by placing bundles of straw at certain distances, and 
 officers were appointed to guide the columns. 
 
 At 10 o'clock P.M. the troops silently quitted their ground, 
 and commenced retiring in admirable order. 
 
 A terrible storm of rain, sleet, and wind commenced, how- 
 ever, just as the army broke up from position ; the marks 
 were destroyed, and the guides lost their way. Only one of 
 the divisions gained the main road, the other two were 
 bewildered, and when daylight broke the rear columns were 
 still at Lugo. 
 
 The line of march was broken, disorganisation ensued, and 
 the main body of the army arrived at Betanzos on the 
 evening of the 9th in a most discreditable state of dis- 
 cipline." — Napieu, " Peninsular War," vol. iv. p, 201. 
 
 " January 8. — From Lugo we retreated on the night of 
 the 8th. The confusion there had not tended to reoraranise 
 the army, and the straggling which had before been in a 
 
i8o8-9 CORUNNA CAMPAIGN 111 
 
 great measure occasioned by fatigue, &c., now became with 
 many systematic ; and if I had difficulty in describing the 
 scenes that presented themselves at Lugo, it is almost pre- 
 sumption to attempt to present those I witnessed whilst 
 passing the rear-guard of the army during the last part of 
 our retreat. 
 
 "The commissary stores previous to our departure had 
 been so short as to admit of one day^s bread only being- 
 delivered, and even this some regiments did not receive. 
 But even still, hunger was the least of the poor soldiers' 
 sufferings ; want of rest, want of shoes, wretched roads, and 
 heavy rain filled up the sum of their miseries. 
 
 "Although I left the advanced posts, which were four 
 miles in advance of the town, full four hours after the 
 retreat of our army, I found the houses on the outskirts of 
 the town full of stragglers. Many of these I succeeded in 
 driving out by force or persuasion. Others were so ill and 
 harassed that nothing could move them. 
 
 " From this instant the road presented one constant string 
 of stragglers, many of whom no eflPorts of ours could drive 
 before us ; although the certain consequence of their drop- 
 ping behind was their becoming prisoners, as the enemy 
 would certainly follow early in the morning. 
 
 " Every house was full (I may say, out of some we drove 
 upwards of a hundred) of these stragglers, and such was the 
 state of carelessness and the total want of spirit occasioned 
 by fatigue, &c., that on being told that the enemy would 
 certainly shoot them, many replied, ' They may shoot us, 
 sir, as you may shoot us, but we cannot stir ; ' and although 
 there were many instances in which our men actually pro- 
 ceeded to severe measures to force the people on, hundreds 
 remained immovable ; of these several were almost in a 
 dying state, and two or three were found actually dead. 
 
 " Wherever they found straw they rolled themselves up in 
 it, and although our men rode in upon them they would 
 not cry out ; and we found the only means was to prick 
 
112 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1808-9 
 
 with our swords in order to discover them and make them 
 stir. 
 
 "The road presented a spectacle even more distressing. 
 Fine fellows, willing and anxious to get on, their feet bleed- 
 ing for want of shoes, and totally incapable of keeping up ; 
 others, whose spirit was better than their strength, actually 
 striving till the last to join their battalions, and several of 
 this description perished in the attempt. 
 
 " I myself saw five dead on the roadside, and two women, 
 whilst every now and then vou met with a poor unfortunate 
 woman, perhaps with a child in her arms, without shoes or 
 stockings, knee deep in mud, crying most piteously for that 
 assistance which, alas ! we could not afford her. One poor 
 wretch of this description actually died with two children at 
 her breast, one of whom was also dead, and the second would 
 have shared the fate of its — I may say, under the circum- 
 stances — happy little relative. 
 
 " January 9. — Such was the state of the army that, on the 
 arrival of the reserve at Mobiliano, Sir J. Moore found it 
 necessary to order Major-Gen. Paget to halt in order to ease 
 the stragglers (the first night from Lugo we halted at Baha- 
 monde, in wretched rain, and the whole of the officers of the 
 7th and 10th in a wretched hovel, the men and horses in a 
 field ; we marched at nine with the reserve), and here, the 
 7th having been previously joined by the 18th Hussars, our 
 halt was between six and seven hours ; and during this time, 
 I am certain I speak within bounds when I state that 
 between 4000 and 5000 men who had been left behind passed 
 through us, and a great number must have fallen into the 
 enemy''s hands. 
 
 '■'■January 10. — At length the enemy themselves made 
 their appearance, and immediately in their front a body of 
 stragglers, who, to do them justice, had for the four last 
 miles defended themselves, in rather an open country, against 
 about 400 cavalry who were following and skirmishing with 
 them. 
 
i8o8-9 CORUNNA CAMPAIGN 113 
 
 " To this succeeded a little skirmishing with us, and we 
 then retreated to a position about seven miles in front of 
 Betanzos — the reserve about two miles in our rear. 
 
 " From hence we again proceeded at 4 o'clock (the enemy 
 having attacked our advanced posts) to Betanzos, where the 
 7th passed through the reserve of infantry, having scarcely, 
 since the retreat from Grajal commenced, had the saddles off' 
 their horses' backs for above five or six hours at any time, 
 and seldom so long; having been almost constantly wet, 
 without the means of changing; having lost our camp 
 kettles, from the mules which carried them dying or knock- 
 ing up on the mountains, and consequently having no meat 
 to eat but what was toasted on the points of the swords. 
 Nor were we singular in this respect, for other regiments had 
 suffered nearly, if not fully, as much as we." 
 
 Napier says (vol. i. p. 487) : 
 
 "The reserve, commanded by General Paget, an officer 
 distinguished during the retreat by his firmness, ability, 
 ardent zeal, and courage, remained in position during the 
 night of the 9th a few miles from Betanzos. 
 
 The rest of the army was quartered in that town, and as 
 the enemy could not gather in strength on the 10th, the 
 Commander-in-Chief halted that day, and the cavalry passed 
 from the rear guard to the head of the column. 
 
 On the 11th Sir J. Moore assembled the army in one solid 
 mass, and from thence marched to Corunna." 
 
 "January 10. — The rear guard of cavalry, after the 7th 
 had passed through, consisted of a squadron of the 18th, 
 under Lieut.-Col. Jones, and eighty men of the 10th, under 
 Major Lord C. Manners of the 10th. 
 
 "The enemy kept constantly hanging on their rear, and 
 both at the bridge of Betanzos and of Burgo, about two 
 leagues from Corunna, skirmishes ensued, but with little loss 
 on either side." 
 
 These bridges had been ordered to be destroyed, but the 
 
 H 
 
114 RICHAIID HUSSEY VIVIAN 1808-9 
 
 engineers were only partly able to do so, owing to their tools 
 having been abandoned. 
 
 " January 11. — On the evening of the 11th the whole army 
 marched into Corunna, excepting the reserve, which occupied 
 a position about two leagues in front of Corunna, having the 
 village of Burgo, where a bridge crossed a small, but deep, 
 stream which emptied itself into the bay of Corunna, on 
 their left ; and their right at another bridge near the village 
 of Boa on the St. lago road. 
 
 ^'■January 12. — On the following day a slight skirmish 
 ensued, without loss on either side, at the bridge of Burgo. 
 And on the next day a more serious one, which appeared to 
 indicate an attack, took place. 
 
 '■'■January 13. — In the evening Sir J. Moore thought it 
 was advisable to withdraw his advance corps, and occupy a 
 position about three miles in front of Corunna, having his 
 left appuyed to the river, and posted in strong ground, 
 through which the main road ran ; his right extending 
 towards some strong hills opened to the sea, but separated 
 from them by some low ground, which made the position far 
 from being an advantageous one ; and the more so as the 
 whole fi'ont was commanded by hills which were soon occu- 
 pied by the enemy." 
 
 When the troops arrived at Corunna, " all eyes were 
 anxiously directed to the bay in hopes that the joyful sight of 
 a friendly fleet of transports might be seen. 
 
 But the wide expanse was deserted, and a few coasters and 
 fishing boats alone were visible in the dreary main. 
 
 The sea was in front, the enemy in the rear. The trans- 
 ports had been at Vigo, but had been ordered round to 
 Corunna as being a more easily defended place of embarka- 
 tion ; a head wind, however, had delayed their arrival. 
 
 On the 13th two powder magazines, a short distance with- 
 out the walls, containing 4000 barrels of powder, were pur- 
 posely blown up by the British, with an explosion so terrific 
 
i8o8-9 CORUNNA CAMPAIGN 115 
 
 that nothing in the whole course of the war approached to 
 it."— Alison, vol. vi. p. 843. 
 
 On the 14th the transports from Vigo hove in sight, and 
 stood into the bay. Preparations were immediately made 
 for embarkation ; the cavalry horses were almost all 
 destroyed, and the greater part of the artillery, consisting 
 of 52 guns, were embarked ; eight British and four Spanish 
 guns being alone reserved for use. 
 
 " January 15. — On the 15th, about noon, a small skirmish 
 began, which lasted till nearly dark, with a loss on our side 
 of Lieut.-Col. McKenzie, of the 79th Regiment, and about 
 sixty men killed and wounded. This skirmish was evidently 
 brought on by the enemy in order to enable them to ascer- 
 tain our strength and the manner in which we were posted, 
 previous to an attack which was generally expected on the 
 following day. 
 
 " January 16. — The morning of the 16th, however, arrived 
 without any appearance of an attack ; but about noon move- 
 ments were observed in the enemy's camp, which were imme- 
 diately reported to the Commander-in-Chief, who was then 
 in the town of Corunna ; and about 3 o'clock a general 
 attack on the outposts commenced, which was followed by a 
 heavy cannonade from some guns which the enemy had 
 posted most advantageously on the high hills on the right 
 and left of their position. 
 
 "Under cover of the guns of the enemy's left, which 
 severely galled the right of the British, a large column 
 advanced out of a wood, evidently with an intent to turn 
 our right, and the action in this part soon became general 
 and very hot. The regiments principally concerned were 
 the brigade mider Major-Gen. Lord William Bentinck, con- 
 sisting of the 4th, 42nd, and 50th Foot, and the 11th 
 and 26th. 
 
 "The enemy were most gallantly met and repulsed by 
 these regiments, who, not content with having driven them 
 
116 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1808-9 
 
 back, actually attempted to carry their guns, which were 
 posted half-way up the hill. The 42nd and 50th Regiments 
 in particular dashed forward for this purpose, and failed only 
 from the enemy having withdrawn them still higher up the 
 hill. 
 
 " A village near the foot of the hill was disputed for a 
 considerable time, and several times carried and taken. At 
 length, however, the British valour established itself, and the 
 42nd and 50th Regiments, supported by the Guards, were 
 finally left in possession of it. 
 
 " Still further on the right, the Rifle corps and 52nd Regi- 
 ment actually drove the French riflemen to the top of the 
 hill ; and had there been sufficient daylight there is little 
 doubt but that, by General Frazer's division with the reserve, 
 which were not engaged, moving forward in support of these 
 light troops who had carried the height, and then falling 
 on the left flank of the enemy, and at the same time had 
 the British left pushed forward to the village (afterwards 
 taken most gallantly by the 14th), situated half-way between 
 the British and the bridge of Burgo, and from whence the 
 eneniv had marched into their position in the morning, a 
 most complete victory would in all probability have awaited 
 us. 
 
 "As it was, we have to boast only of having defeated their 
 object, which was to turn the right of the British, and thus 
 penetrate into their rear between them and the town ; but 
 from the vigour with which, to do justice to the enemy, they 
 made the attack, and from the impetuosity of the British in 
 repelling it and following up their success, this advantage 
 was not gained without a very serious loss on our part. 
 
 " Sir J. Moore unfortunately fell in the height of the busi- 
 ness, wounded in the shoulder and side by a cannon shot, 
 which he survived only a few hours. W^hen hurrying off' the 
 field he was anxious only as to the enemy's being defeated, 
 and on hearing that they had been driven back, he said, 
 ' Then it is of little consequence whether I live or die.' He 
 
i8o8-9 CORUNNA CAMPAIGN 117 
 
 afterwards gave some directions as to his private affairs and 
 his family, and shortly afterwards he said to a friend who 
 was standing by, ' I have always served zealously, and I hope 
 my country will approve of what I have done.'' He then 
 said, ' I feel so strong that I fear I shall live and suffer a long- 
 time,' and in less than three minutes he expired. 
 
 " Thus died Sir J. Moore, too late perhaps for his own 
 reputation as a General-in-Chief, but to the last supporting 
 that coolness and that gallantry which had always distin- 
 guished him, and which led him to his fate by inducing him 
 to expose himself where, as Commander-in-Chief, he should 
 not have been. He was buried in the great bastion, near to 
 Brigadier-General Anstruther, who had died a few days pre- 
 viously of a fever brought on by the fatigues of the march, 
 and in whom the service lost a most valuable and excellent 
 officer. 
 
 " Besides Sir J. Moore fell on the 16th Lieut.-Col. Napier, 
 of the 92nd, Majors Stanhope and Napier, of the 50th, and 
 several officers of inferior rank. 
 
 " Sir David Baird, second in command, was wounded so 
 seriously in the shoulder with a grape shot as to make it 
 necessary to amputate it at the armpit that night. 
 
 " Lieut.-Colonel Wyack, of the 4)th, was seriously wounded, 
 and upwards of 1000 men were either killed or wounded. On 
 the part of the enemy the loss was as great, if not greater. 
 
 " The party that attacked was commanded, as was stated 
 by the prisoners, by General Laborde. General Junot, it was 
 understood, was Commander-in-Chief, from a message which 
 was sent by him to Sir J. Moore on the morning by a woman 
 who had been taken and been some time in their camp, to say 
 that he had arrived with the army of Grajal. 
 
 " It appears certain that on the morning of the 16th a 
 reinforcement of 7000 and 11 pieces of cannon had anived ; 
 and this it was that had occasioned the attack to commence 
 so late. We learnt also from the prisoners that Marshal 
 Soult, who commanded in chief, had been wounded in some of 
 
118 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1808-9 
 
 the affairs that had taken place during the retreat, probably 
 at Lugo. The strength of the enemy was stated at from 
 18,000 to 25,000 men. 
 
 " From the loss of Sir J. Moore, and the wound of Sir D. 
 Baird, the command fell on General Hope. 
 
 " On the night of the 16th the whole army, as previously 
 determined on, retired within the walls of Corunna and com- 
 menced their embarkation (the artillery and the baggage had 
 been sent on board before), which was completedbythe morning, 
 with the exception of General HilPs and General Beresford's 
 brigades. 
 
 " January 17. — On the morning of the 17th, the fleet of 
 transports continuing in the harbour, the enemy, as had been 
 foretold by many of us, brought some guns to bear upon them ; 
 and their masters, who would not be persuaded to get under 
 weigh by all the signals that had been made to them to that 
 effect, most speedily obeyed the orders of General Junot. 
 Perhaps no fleet of transports ever got under weigh so quickly ! 
 In less than half an hour the bay was clear ! 
 
 "In the evening the remainder of General HilFs ' brigade 
 was embarked from a little bay to the north of the citadel ; 
 and about midnight General Beresford's, the rear brigade, 
 was, every man, brought off' in boats to the men-of-war pro- 
 tecting the embarkation ; the others having got under weigh 
 and brought up at a distance from the place of embarkation so 
 far as to render it difficult to embark them on board of them. 
 As soon as these troops were on board they got under weigh, 
 and in the morning they were shifted into other ships ; and 
 in the evening the whole fleet bore away for England. 
 
 " It will naturally be asked what were the circumstances 
 which occasioned so rapid a retreat so very immediately to 
 follow the premeditated advance of the whole army to attack 
 the French at Carrion and Saldana. And what made it 
 necessary to make such haste through the Galicias — a country 
 so strong by nature ? 
 
 " Without a thorough knowledge of the information received 
 
i8o8-9 CORUNNA CAMPAIGN 119 
 
 by the Commander-in-Chief, it is almost presumption to 
 hazard an opinion — much less to criticise the operations of 
 his army. 
 
 " But there are some facts that require no such information 
 to ascertain ; some circumstances that must strike even the 
 most casual observer. 
 
 " Of these one fact appears very clear. That previous to 
 the retreat from Sahagun, Grajal, &c., the information received 
 at head-quai-ters respecting the movements of the enemy on 
 the side of Madrid, must have been very incorrect. For had 
 Sir J. Moore been aware that Buonaparte was advancing in 
 person against him, he would never have planned the move- 
 ment he had in agitation, or remained in a situation where, 
 had he remained one day longer, his retreat, without a 
 general action with a very superior force and whilst almost 
 surrounded by other strong corps, would have been un- 
 avoidable. 
 
 "His movement then upon Valencia with Sir D. Baird's 
 corps, and Bembibre with the right of the army, was certainly 
 well timed ; and here let me remark that throughout the 
 campaign, although amved to assist the Spaniards, and in a 
 country where every man might have been expected to be a 
 spy, the utmost difficulty occurred in getting the smallest 
 intelhgence ; and even that intelligence was never to be relied 
 on. Unless the enemy was actually at the door of a Spaniard 
 he discredited his being near him ; and as to their forces, they 
 never would allow that they had any. 
 
 "To attempt to state, therefore, what was the certain 
 force coming against us would be ridiculous ; but it was 
 understood that Marshal Ney had, with 25,000 men, left 
 Madrid to advance upon us, and that Buonaparte in person 
 accompanied him ; his Imperial Guards were with this 
 column, consisting of 6000 infantry and 4000 cavalry. 
 
 " General Soult was advancing from Carrion by Maintica 
 and Puente D'Orego upon Astorga ; and General Junot was 
 supposed to be supporting him, and advancing by Leon, 
 
120 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1808-9 
 
 from whence he had driven the Spanish army under the 
 Marquis de Romana. 
 
 " The probability is that had Sir J. Moore received correct 
 information of the force and movements of the enemy, he 
 never would have altered his first determination of retiring 
 from Salamanca at the same time that a retreat had been 
 determined on by Sir D. Baird from Astorga ; for it appears 
 evident that no resistance was made by the Spaniards that 
 could possibly authorise a presumption that they would 
 succeed in repelling the French, although even to this 
 moment I am fully of opinion that, by a desultory sort of 
 warfare, it is still possible the Spaniards may succeed; at 
 least they will annoy the French so much as to make it 
 necessary for them to keep up an immense army in their 
 country, which alone will be infinitely serviceable to 
 England, and to Europe in general, should other nations 
 take advantage of the circumstance. 
 
 "The resistance threatened by Madrid probably induced 
 Sir J. Moore to proceed from Salamanca to join Sir D. 
 Baird. Had he been aware of the real truth, this movement 
 would probably never have been made. 
 
 "The junction having been once determined on and 
 effected, the intended movement in advance from Sahagun, 
 when the enemy had certainly moved for several days from 
 Madrid towards the British army, proves the bad informa- 
 tion the General-in-Chief received. For had he been aware 
 of their movements he never could have projected an attack, 
 which, had it taken place and even been successful, must 
 have been the precursor of the total destmction of his army ; 
 and which attack was fortunately prevented by information 
 (as it was understood in the army) received only on the very 
 evening on which the army was to move forward to it. 
 
 " The retreat already mentioned upon Astorga ensued, 
 and from the nature of the country and the position of the 
 different corps of the enemy, it was clearly necessary that this 
 retreat should be as speedy as possible. 
 
i8o8-9 CORUNNA CAMPAIGN 121 
 
 " From Astorga this hurry appeared no longer necessary. 
 The strength of the country — full of defiles, and consequently 
 defensible by a small body against even a very superior force, 
 with the circumstance of its containing only one road 
 passable for artillery — rendered the retreat of our army at 
 its leisure perfectly feasible ; the more so as the road leading 
 to Orense, which was the only one by which it was possible 
 for an enemy to advance on our flanks, was defensible by a 
 very small body of light troops. 
 
 "This circumstance, however, never appears to have 
 entered the head of the Commander-in-Chief, and perhaps 
 the greatest error committed was the manner in which he 
 hurried his retreat from Astorga. 
 
 "It is true that to the flank he detached Brig. -Gen. Craw- 
 furd with a light corps ; but they retreated as fast as the 
 main body ; and from this rapidity of retreat arose that 
 dreadful system of straggling, and that complete state of 
 disorganisation in which, to quote Sir John''s own orders, the 
 army was thrown. 
 
 " Had two or three bodies of light troops been formed 
 into rear-guards, to relieve each other and defend each pass ; 
 and had the three days' halt at Lugo been dispensed with and 
 added to the marching days ; had every bridge that possibly 
 could have been destroyed been destroyed, instead of having 
 made away with the entrenching tools and placed the engineers 
 in the ridiculous situation of attempting to destroy them, and 
 that without effect ; had the passes over the mountains been 
 .scarped, which might easily have been effected ; the army 
 might have retired at its leisure and have avoided the severe 
 losses it experienced, which amounted to scarcely less than 
 5000 men. 
 
 " I am well aware of the difficulties that presented them- 
 selves towards the feeding of the army ; but a tolerable com- 
 missariat would easily have placed provisions for two days in 
 such places that the army never need have had the slightest 
 want ; and indeed I am fully persuaded that the rapidity of 
 
122 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1808-9 
 
 the inarch added to the difficulty on this head, instead of 
 taking from it. 
 
 " By a little an-angement also, shoes, of which there were 
 plenty, might have been supplied to the troops, instead of its 
 being necessary, as was really done, to destroy both provisions 
 and clothing to prevent their falling into the enemy's hands. 
 
 " The rapid retreat of the army then appears to have been 
 unnecessary, and evidently the cause of the losses that ensued. 
 
 " The retreat from Lugo to Corunna, instead of to Vigo, 
 is a point on which various opinions have arisen. 
 
 "W^hen Sir David Baird had at first intended to retire, 
 before the junction, Vigo was the port determined on ; and at 
 Vigo the whole of the fleet were assembled for the receipt of 
 the army ; and why it was altered is not exactly known. 
 
 " It is supposed to have been because of the roads to Vigo 
 being almost impassable for artillery ; but this might easily 
 have been remedied by sending the artillery to Corunna under 
 an escort, for which purpose the corps under General Alten 
 would have been perfectly sufficient ; and the risk that was 
 run by altering the whole arrangements and ordering the 
 transports round from Vigo to Corunna at so late an hour — 
 for the order was sent only from Lugo — and at a time of the 
 year when the winds were most variable, and when a foul 
 wind might have occasioned the most disastrous results, was 
 very great. 
 
 "I cannot avoid here remarking that the system of taking 
 so much care of our artillery, although perhaps originally 
 founded on the truest principles, is, at least by the French, 
 exploded in their modern art of war. 
 
 "I have just stated that it was to save our guns that we 
 marched to Corunna instead of Vigo. A foul wind then 
 might, by stopping the transports, have delayed the embark- 
 ation of the army till the French had arrived in such force as 
 to occasion us a loss infinitely of more consequence than that 
 of our artillery. 
 
 " The same unfortunate attachment to our guns prevented 
 
i8o8-9 CORUNNA CAMPAIGN 12^ 
 
 our having, in the action of the 16th, such a force of this 
 description as would have made up for the disadvantages of 
 our position, and been more than equal to that of the enemy ; 
 whereas the case was otherwise — nearly all the British guns 
 were embarked, and to supply the place of them some Spanish 
 guns were brought up, and, as might have been expected, 
 some British ammunition was wanting, and these guns badly 
 served. 
 
 " Now, setting aside all feeling for the animal — man — and 
 taking the man and the gun as two machines of war, 
 calculation alone will convince any one of the extreme im- 
 policy of this over-regard for our artillery. 
 
 " The soldier requires a growth of upwards of twenty 
 years ; the gun may be brought into the field in as many 
 days. It is a maxim with the French that two rounds of 
 grape shot amply repay the loss of a gun. What then to us, 
 who were retiring, could have been the great consequence of 
 saving our guns, when, by running the hazard only of losing 
 them, the defeat of the enemy on the 16th would, in all 
 probability, have been more complete, and our loss infinitely 
 less "^ 
 
 " I now come to speak of the last act of the army. I mean 
 the total evacuation of Spain. 
 
 " On this score I cannot help thinking that Corunna 
 should have been defended even to the last extremity. To 
 me the advantages that would have resulted from this appear 
 very great. Five thousand men would have been equal to 
 defending it for a considerable time. The enemy possessed 
 no heavy artillery ; the fortifications of the place, although 
 commanded by the heights within 1000 yards of them, were 
 well supplied with guns, and were in such a state as to defy 
 any attempt to storm them. The citadel was very strong, 
 and in the rear of it was a small bay, from whence the last 
 embarkation did take place, and from whence the troops left 
 might have embarked in the last extremity. 
 
 " I am aware that the enemy might have, from the heights. 
 
124 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1808-9 
 
 most considerably annoyed the town, and that the poor 
 inhabitants would have suffered severely ; but the French 
 would soon have wanted ammunition probably. 
 
 " Be it observed that these very jJeople were most anxious 
 that the place should be defended ; and this is one of the 
 reasons why I disapprove of the total evacuation — that I 
 think, in so doing, we deserted those people, who, of all 
 Spain, appeared to be best disposed towards us, and the best 
 inclined to defend themselves. 
 
 " The other advantages that would have ensued appear to 
 me to be that for a considerable time we would have occu- 
 pied the attention of the French army, and consequently 
 would have given time to the Spaniards in the South to have 
 made any efforts, if they were so inclined ; that whilst Corunna 
 held out, Ferrol would probably do the same ; and lastly, 
 that for the honour of the British army the French would 
 not have been able to say that we fled to our shipping with 
 the utmost possible rapidity, and the Spaniards that we had 
 deserted them ; and if, after leaving 5000 men for the de- 
 fence of Corunna, the remainder of the army had been sent to 
 Portugal, agamst which no army of an equal force could 
 possibly have been marched, it is impossible to say what 
 beneficial results might not have ensued. 
 
 " To conclude, then, in my humble opinion, the faults of 
 the campaign appear to me to have been the following : — 
 
 " (1) The advance of Sir J. Moore's and Sir D. Baird's 
 army, after Madrid had capitulated, and 
 
 " (2) The advance of the army after the movement to the 
 left upon Sahagun, and the intended attack on Carrion. 
 
 " Bad information, and even the total want of it, certainly 
 in some measure exculpates the General on this subject ; 
 excepting that it appears to me that with a proper attention 
 to these points such an apology ought never to have been 
 necessary. 
 
 " And here I cannot help remarking that from the com- 
 mencement a general complaint against the information 
 
i8o8-9 CORUNNA CAMPAIGN 125 
 
 received might be justly pleaded. Before the army was sent 
 Ministers were certainly most grossly deceived by the reports 
 of the officers sent to Spain, who, elevated by the honours 
 and compliments paid them, certainly did not see things in 
 the most correct light ; and after the arrival of the army the 
 same want of con-ect information as to the real position of 
 affairs was severely felt. 
 
 " As I have, however, before remarked, with the powers 
 that a general officer is invested with, no apology of this sort 
 should be necessary. 
 
 " The third great eiTor, and that from which all the succeed- 
 ing evils arose, was the manner in which the army retreated 
 from Astorga ; the rapidity, the want of system, the bad 
 arrangements of the commissariat department, the neglecting 
 defending of the strongest passes in the country, the omitting 
 to destroy the bridges, were all faults that might and ought 
 to have been avoided. 
 
 " The halt at Lugo, made necessary only by the rapidity of 
 the march to that place, might have been followed by the 
 most serious consequences had the enemy come on in such 
 force as to have attacked us with any chance of success. Our 
 stores in this case must have all inevitably fallen into their 
 hands. 
 
 "(5) The changing the place of embarkation from Vigo 
 to Corunna, and at so late a moment as to make the arrival 
 of the shipping at the latter place very uncertain. 
 
 " (6) Depriving the army of the great advantage that must 
 have resulted from having a superior artillery in the field, by 
 embarking them previous to the action of the 16th. 
 
 "And lastly. At once embarking the whole force from 
 Corunna, without attempting the defence of the place. 
 
 " To these I should have added the not sending a force to 
 Portugal, had not the march of the army placed it in such a 
 plight and state of disorganisation as to make it impossible 
 to send any part of it on a further service without its being 
 again reorganised and reappointed. 
 
126 lilCHAllD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1808-9 
 
 " If, as an error, I stated the permitting the transports to 
 remain in the inner harbour of Corunna until the enemy had 
 brought their guns on the hills above them, I should not 
 perhaps be wrong; for had we not fortunately had a fair 
 wind, the consequences of their remaining there might have 
 been serious in the extreme. Even as it was, four or five 
 transports were lost. But this error perhaps rests properly 
 with the Navy; and I understand that positive orders for 
 their moving out had been sent early in the morning. 
 
 "If, in presuming thus to criticise the campaign, I have 
 hazarded opinions not founded on correct information, or 
 sound memory, I am open to correction ; and, by thus having 
 encouraged the discussion, I shall have given an opportunity 
 to many others (who at present think with me) of seeing the 
 thing in its true light ; whilst the general consequence of all 
 •discussions on military matters must eventually tend to the 
 dissemination of information on subjects in which, I fear, we 
 Englishmen have not yet made campaigns sufficient to record 
 us as equal to cope with the enemy in the field in anything 
 else than valour. 
 
 " These remarks were written, or rather concluded, on 
 board the Barfleur returning from Corunna." 
 
 In 1819 my grandfather, then Sir Hussey Vivian, added to 
 the above diary these words : 
 
 "The brilliant talents of the Duke of Wellington have 
 raised the glory of the British arms to an extent it had not 
 attained, I may say, even under Marlborough; and have 
 occasioned my erasing remarks which were founded on the 
 incapacity which had been displayed by those who, before 
 him, had been placed at the head of our army during the 
 Revolutionary war." 
 
 With regard to the criticisms made by Colonel Vivian on 
 the manner in which Sir J. Moore conducted the campaign 
 of 1808, it must be remembered that they were made imme- 
 
i8o8-9 CORUNNA CAMPAIGN 127 
 
 diately after the events had taken place, and without that 
 full opportunity of making himself acquainted with all 
 the true facts which the exertions of historians have since 
 enabled the present generation to acquire. 
 
 In spite of this, however, they are wonderfully apposite, 
 and raise arguments as to which historians, such as Napier 
 and Alison, take different views. 
 
 Sir J. Moore's advance was planned in the first place to 
 relieve and support Castanos. After that general's defeat it 
 was continued in order to assist the defence of Madrid, the 
 inhabitants of which vowed they would never surrender ; and 
 after the report of the capitulation of that city had reached 
 the ears of the British general, he still did not abandon his 
 advance, in the hopes of succouring the south of Spain, and 
 giving the Spanish both the time and the opportunity of 
 defending themselves against their enemy. 
 
 Levelled against the enemy's communications, Sir J. 
 Moore's advance paralysed the movements of Napoleon, and 
 by drawing him with his legions into the northern extremity 
 of the Peninsula, it gave time to the southern provinces to 
 restore their armies and arm their fortresses. 
 
 Napoleon, however, with 70,000 chosen troops, was 
 speedily sweeping round the audacious enemy who had thus 
 interrupted his designs ; and but for the celerity and skill 
 of the retreat to Astorga the army which achieved this must 
 speedily have been consigned to destruction. 
 
 As to whether or not the army had necessarily to retreat 
 from Astorga with the celerity it did, Napier and Alison 
 differ. 
 
 Napier says there was such necessity — that had not the 
 retreat been executed with the greatest speed, the flanks of 
 the British would have been turned, and the French, but for 
 the jealousy that existed between Soult and Ney, even as it 
 was, might have been manoeuvred so as to cut off the English 
 at Corunna ; besides which, though there were some positions 
 on the route which were easily defensible by small bodies of 
 
128 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1808-9 
 
 men against superior forces, yet anything but a permanent 
 defence would have been useless ; and such permanent 
 defence was impossible, owing to dearth of provisions and 
 the poverty of the land. 
 
 Alison, on the other hand, says that, admitting that the 
 celerity of the retreat to Astorga was unavoidable and saved 
 the army from destruction, there was no necessity for the 
 subsequent forced marches to Lugo. It was admitted that 
 there were provisions for fourteen days' consumption at 
 Villa Franca and Lugo ; and even if there had been nothing 
 but the resources of the country to be had, events proved 
 that they were sufficient for the maintenance of the army, 
 inasmuch as the French found enough to live on, though 
 following in the rear of the British. There was no danger 
 of being turned on the flank, for Ney's corps was several 
 days' march behind Soult's, and the rugged nature of the 
 country rendered it impossible for his troops, worn out by 
 the rapid march from Madrid, to attempt any threatening- 
 movement against the British flank. 
 
 The alteration from Vigo to Corunna as the port of 
 embarkation was made in consequence of reports that were 
 made to Sir J. Moore by officers of the Engineers, detached 
 for the purpose of making inquiry as to which of the two 
 was best. From them it appeared that Vigo, besides being 
 further away, offered no position to cover the embarkation, 
 whereas Corunna and Betanzos did. 
 
 With regard to Colonel Vivian's criticisms on the great atten- 
 tion that was paid to ensuring the safety of the artillery, and 
 on the disadvantage in which the British were placed at the 
 battle of Corunna through the guns having been embarked 
 previous to the battle, there can be no doubt that had the 
 British then had artillery the repulse of the French would 
 have been turned into an utter defeat. 
 
 On the other hand, it should be pointed out that, during 
 the whole of this disastrous campaign, the only guns lost by 
 the British were six three-pounders, which had been landed 
 
i8o8-9 CORUNNA CAMPAIGN 129 
 
 at Corunna without the General's knowledge — which never 
 went past Villa Franca — and which, never having been 
 horsed, were thrown down the rocks when that town was 
 evacuated by the troops. 
 
 As to whether the British should have defended Corunna, 
 or at all events not have deserted Spain by sailing direct for 
 England, Alison says : 
 
 " If the British could not have maintained their ground 
 behind the strong battlements of FeiTol, or the weaker 
 fortifications of Corunna, that might have afforded a good 
 reason for bringing the troops round to Lisbon or Cadiz ; 
 but it was none for setting sail to England with the whole 
 expedition, abandoning the contest in the Peninsula as 
 hopeless, when the South was still unsubdued, and leaving 
 10,000 English still in Portugal to their fate/' 
 
 General Jomini, the great Swiss historian, writing of Sir J. 
 Moore's retreat, says : 
 
 "The road from Astorga to Corunna traverses a long 
 defile of 30 leagues, bounded by high moimtains on either 
 side. A slender rear-guard would have defended that 
 chaussee, and it was impracticable to manoeuvre on either 
 side of it. That rendered it impossible for Soult to get 
 at the enemy ; and Ney, entangled behind him in the 
 defiles, could do nothing. This was the more unfortunate, as 
 the English army, having prepared nothing on that line, 
 stood in want of everything, and was in a frightful state of 
 disorder in consequence of the forced marches it took, for no 
 conceivable reason. He (Sir J. Moore) cut the traces of 
 their horses, and abandoned 3000 or 4000 stragglers or dying- 
 men when their line of operations was never menaced. It is 
 impossible to conceive why the English did not defend 
 Corunna. It is not, indeed, a Gibraltar ; but against an 
 enemy who had nothing but field-pieces it surely could have 
 been maintained for some time, the more especially as they 
 could at any time throw in succour by sea. I could never 
 understand their haste on that occasion, which the nation, it 
 is true, have well wiped off in subsequent times, but which 
 was inferior to no other of the same description.'" 
 
 I 
 
130 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1808-9 
 
 The losses during this campaign were, according to Napier : 
 
 "Lost at, or previous to arrival of army at Lugo, 95 
 cavalry, 1302 infantry ; total, 1397. 
 
 Of this number 200 were left in the wine vaults at Bem- 
 bibre, and nearly 500 were stragglers from the troops that 
 marched to Vigo. 
 
 Lost between Lugo and embarkation, 9 cavalry, 2627 
 infantry ; total, 2636, making a total loss of 4033. Of these, 
 however, 800 escaped into Portugal." 
 
 The disasters of the army did not end on its embarkation 
 for England at Corunna ; for the fleet, on its way to England, 
 was caught in a terrific storm. Many ships were wrecked, 
 and the remainder, driving up Channel, were glad to put 
 into any port ; and the soldiers, thus thrown ashore, were 
 scattered from the Land's End to Dover. 
 
 Their haggard appearance, ragged clothing, and dirty 
 accoutrements — things common enough in war — struck a 
 people only used to the daintiness of parade with surprise. 
 The usual exaggerations of men just escaped from perils and 
 distresses were increased by the uncertainty in which all were 
 as to the fate of their comrades. 
 
 " A deadly fever, the result of anxiety and of the sudden 
 change from fatigue to the confinement of a ship, filled the 
 hospitals at every port with officers and soldiers ; and thus 
 the miserable state of Sir J. Moore's army became the topic 
 of every letter and the theme of every country newspaper 
 along the coast. And the cry was raised that England was 
 no match for France on land, and that the only rational 
 policy for the prosecution of the war was for her to withdraw 
 entirely behind her wooden walls. 
 
 Yet the campaign had been more calamitous to the French 
 than to the Allies. 
 
 The Spanish armies, it is true, had been dispersed ; Madrid 
 had been taken, and the British, after a calamitous retreat, 
 bad been driven to their ships ; but the Peninsula was still 
 unsubdued. Saragossa was again preparing to defend its 
 bloodstained battlements ; Catalonia was in arms ; Valencia 
 and Andalusia were recruiting their forces ; Portugal was un- 
 
i8o8-9 CORUNNA CAMPAIGN 131 
 
 touched ; and the British troops, though in diminished 
 strength, still held Lisbon. 
 
 What had happened in the same campaign to the hitherto 
 invincible arms of France ? One whole corps had laid down 
 its arms with unheard of disgi-ace ; another had capitulated 
 and surrendered a kingdom to purchase its retreat ; the Im- 
 perial arms had been driven from Madrid, and only regained 
 their lost ground by denuding Germany of its defenders, and 
 exposing the Rhine to invasion ; and Austria was preparing 
 to renew the struggle against France on a scale of unprece- 
 dented magnitude." — Alisox, vol. vi. p. 855. 
 
 One of the transports conveying the troops on their 
 return from Corunna, the Despatch, with a detachment of 
 the 7th Hussars, consisting of Captain Treveake^s and Dukin- 
 field's troops, on board, was wrecked on the Manacle Rocks, oif 
 the coast of Cornwall. In this disaster Major Cavendish, 
 Captain Dukinfield, and Lieutenant Waldegrave were 
 drowned, besides 8 non-commissioned officers, 60 men, and 
 35 horses. 
 
 Out of the 751 horses which the regiment took to Spain, 
 the 7th brought back only about 70. 
 
 For his services in this campaign Lieut.-Col. Vivian was 
 awarded the Peninsular gold medal for the actions of 
 Sahagun and Benavente. 
 
 On February 20, 1812, Hussey Vivian was promoted to the 
 rank of colonel in the army, and was shortly afterwards 
 appointed Equerry to H.R.H. the Prince Regent, afterwards 
 George IV. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 CAMPAIGN OF 1813 
 
 I HAVE no letters from Colonel Vivian subsequent to the 
 Corunna Diary until the letter dated August 19, 1813, quoted 
 later on, vi^hen he was on the point of starting with his 
 regiment — the 7th Light Dragoons (Hussars) — for Spain, to 
 join the forces under the Duke of Wellington. 
 
 In the notes to the Corunna Diary it has already been 
 stated that Napoleon, who had left Madrid in order to assist 
 Soult against the English, had been obliged to return to 
 Paris because of Austria having joined the Allies and declared 
 war against him. 
 
 With his usual rapidiby Napoleon marched upon Vienna,, 
 gained a decisive victory at Wagram, and in October 
 dictated terms of peace to the Austrians. During this 
 time an expedition which the English sent to the 
 Scheldt came to a disastrous ending at the Island of 
 Walcheren. 
 
 Napoleon practically was now master of Europe ; Russia 
 was his ally ; Prussia and Austria almost his vassals ; Germany 
 at his feet ; his brother-in-law, Joachim Murat, was on the 
 throne of Naples ; while his brothers, Joseph and Louis, 
 reigned in Spain and Holland. 
 
 England alone defied him, and resolved to continue to 
 support Spain in spite of Sir J. Moore's disastrous retreat. 
 Accordingly, Sir A. Wellesley again landed in Spain at the 
 head of 25,000 men in 1809 ; he crossed the Douro in the 
 face of Soulfs army and defeated the French at Talavera. 
 
i8i3 CAMPAIGN OF 1813 133 
 
 He was, however, subsequently obliged by the numerical 
 superiority of the French forces to retire into Portugal, 
 where he prepared the celebrated lines of Torres Vedras, 
 behind which he retired after checking the pursuit of Massena 
 at Busaco, in October 1810. 
 
 In the spring he again advanced, when he gained victories 
 at Fuentes D'Onoro in May 1811, Ciudad Rodrigo in January 
 1812, Badajos in April 1812, and Salamanca in July 1812. 
 He advanced to Burgos, but retreated from thence to Ciudad 
 Rodrigo for the winter. In the spring of 1813, however, he 
 again moved forward, and gained a decisive victory over 
 King Joseph and Marshal Jourdan, at Vitoria, on June 21, 
 1813. 
 
 In the meantime Napoleon had quarrelled with his old 
 ally, Russia, and had advanced with French, German and 
 Austrian forces as far as Moscow, where he was stopped by 
 the inhabitants setting fire to the town, and was compelled 
 to make that awful retreat in which, from the intense cold 
 and the Cossacks, he left nearly half a million of men 
 dead on the route. In 1813 he was in Germany, fighting 
 against the forces of that country, Austria and Russia, all 
 of whom had combined against him after the retreat from 
 Moscow. 
 
 After landing from Corunna, Colonel Vivian's regiment 
 was for some time quartered at Guildford. In May 1809, 
 Colonel Vivian acted as second to Lord Paget in a duel that 
 was fought between that nobleman and Captain Cadogan, 
 the brother of Lady C. W^ellesley, wife of the Honourable 
 Henry W^ellesley. Captain Cadogan fired at Lord Paget, 
 but the latter discharged his pistol in the air, and as 
 he declared his intention of doing so again wete the 
 duel continued, the seconds refused to allow a second 
 shot. In June 1809, Captain Edward Keane — a relation of 
 Colonel Vivian — was transferred from the 23rd Foot to a 
 troop of the 7th, and later on he acted as A.D.C. to Colonel 
 Vivian. 
 
134 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1813 
 
 During 1809, the 7th went to Ireland, where they remained 
 for the next three years, and seem to have been known as 
 " Pagefs Hussars." 
 
 In September 1810, Lieut.-Col. Vivian, together with 
 several other officers, was given the medal for Spain and 
 Corunna. He also obtained the rank of full colonel in the 
 army, and was made an A.D.C. to the Prince Regent. In 
 February 1811, a detachment of the regiment went to Spain, 
 and on the 7th of June in the same year 200 of them went 
 to Sheffield, to take the place of the 6th Dragoons, who 
 were ordered on foreign service. 
 
 In August of 1813 Colonel Vivian was ordered with his 
 regiment to take part in the Peninsula campaign, and in 
 the middle of that month the 7th, who mustered 800 men, 
 sailed for Bilbao, 
 
 At this period Colonel Vivian's letters begin again, most 
 of them being written to his wife. 
 
 " Portsmouth, 
 
 " 3 o'clock, Thursday. 
 
 "My deauest Eli, — Captain Gordon of the Magiclenne 
 has written me that he sails at daybreak to-morrow if the 
 wind suits. He is our convoy. Under this expectation I 
 must sleep on board ; but if it is decided otherwise and the 
 wind contrary, you will see me nearly as soon as this letter. 
 If not, may God protect and comfort you is the sincere wish 
 of your ever affectionate husband. 
 
 " Tell Richard if the wind is doubtful to come down to- 
 morrow to Spithead, and look for No. 619, The Lord 
 Wellington. I want to send ' Lackless ' and the puppy 
 to you." 
 
 The above letter is not dated, but from the one that 
 follows it obviously ^^'as written when Colonel Vivian was 
 setting out for the Peninsula. August 19 fell on a Thursday 
 in 1813, which further corroborates the inference. 
 
i8i3 CAMPAIGN OF 1813 135 
 
 " On board ' The Lord Wellington,' 
 " Under weigh at St. Helens, 
 August 20, 1813. 
 
 "My deaeest Eli, — Here we are off, with a famous 
 breeze. All my hopes of again seeing you, my ever dear 
 wife, before sailing are at an end — perhaps so much the 
 better. 
 
 " If the wind continues as it is now, we shall reach our 
 destination in about six days." 
 
 " ' Lord Wellington ' Transport, 
 
 " Bilbao Bay, August 29, 1813. 
 
 " My dearest Eli, — Half of the regiment is arrived here 
 safe. The other half I expect to-morrow, I hope all well. 
 Some few horses only lost — none of mine. I am quite stout, 
 thank God, but was dreadfully sea-sick. 
 
 "I have just been up to Bilbao for orders, and land 
 to-moiTow. No chance of any work for the cavalry, or 
 infantry either, I expect ; but I know very little. 
 
 "The river from hence to Bilbao is quite beautiful. 
 However, I have no time for description. I have but an 
 instant to write, or would say more." 
 
 The next letter appears to have been kept by Colonel 
 Vivian until he had written a later one (quoted further on), 
 dated September 11, and to have been then enclosed in that 
 later letter. 
 
 " Bilbao, September 4, 1813. 
 
 " My dearest Eli, — You will probably expect me to give 
 you some account of the place in which we now are 
 quartered. 
 
 " Its situation is beautiful, as I have already told you ; on 
 a river in the midst of magnificent mountains ; and, in peace, 
 when things are neat and settled, I have no doubt it is a 
 delightful residence. 
 
 "The alameda, on which my mansion stands, is on the 
 
136 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1813 
 
 banks of the river, planted with rows of trees, with handsome 
 stone seats, and is the rendezvous of all the beaux and belles 
 of the place every evening at six o'clock ; but somehow or 
 other I have hardly ever contrived to walk in it — I have so 
 much to do. 
 
 " There is also a famous lounge here at the coffee-house, 
 where we generally all go about eight o'clock, and stay until 
 half-past nine or ten. We get punch, lemonade, coffee, &c. 
 &c. ; and the room — a large one — is always completely full. 
 I forgot to tell you we smoke cigars at this place, and I get 
 on famously, notwithstanding you say I can't smoke. 
 
 " As to messing we have lived hitherto at a Spanish 
 posada, and had plenty of garlic and oil. I have once 
 attempted to give a dinner chez moi, and succeeded very 
 tolerably well. I find Higgins really a most useful and 
 excellent servant ; he was our steward on board ship, and I 
 never saw a better one. Mrs. Jarvis was our cook, and a 
 very tolerable one ; and she is now mine. I give her a dollar 
 a week for everything — cooking, washing, &c. I find soap, 
 of course. I hope to live cheap in this country, at least to 
 live upon my pay ; but everything is very dear here. We 
 have paid as yet for our mess seven shillings a head, besides 
 wine. 
 
 " I am sorry to say that two of our transports are not 
 arrived, having on board Roberts and Uniacke, and 51 men 
 and horses. It is a sad loss to us. I very much fear, if they 
 are not put into Falmouth, that they are taken, as they have 
 never been seen since we lost sight of old England. 
 
 " Yoii must not expect me to give you much news of the 
 army. We know much less here than you do in England, 
 and it is even still worse with the army ; you know 
 nothing but what is going on just where the regiment is 
 stationed. 
 
 " You will of course have heard of the fall of St. Sebastian, 
 and of poor Leith being wounded, and also the particulars 
 of an attack on part of the army which was defeated with 
 
i8i3 CAMPAIGN OF 1813 137 
 
 considerable loss on the part of the French. The Spaniards, 
 they say, behaved well. Such are the reports here. 
 
 " The fall of St. Sebastian completely secures our left 
 flank, and my opinion is that the campaign is at an end. 
 Every one here is in fact completely tired of the war, and 
 longing for peace, and I assure you no one more so than your 
 humble servant. 
 
 " I was fortunate enough to bring all my horses out safe, 
 and since their arrival here I have sold two for two hundred 
 guineas — the cream and the one that was sick at H. Court. 
 This will pay for my mules. I shall even sell another if I 
 can, for four are ample enough for a winter campaign. I 
 have bought four mules at one hundred and forty dollars 
 each, and a pony for one hundred and ten, for Mrs. Jarvis to 
 ride ; and if I can sell another horse, I shall buy another 
 mule for Higgins to ride. They require less care and are 
 hardier than the horses. 
 
 " I am now going to breakfast with old Thornhill, so I 
 must conclude this for the present." 
 
 St. Sebastian was besieged by the English in July 1813, 
 but, owing to Soult's advance and the battle of Sauroren, the 
 siege was for a time abandoned. 
 
 It was renewed in August, and on the 31st of that month 
 the place was stormed and taken by Sir Thomas Graham. 
 Sir James Leith commanded the column of attack, and 
 was severely wounded. He had only joined two days 
 before. 
 
 On the same day the French, under Soult, crossed the 
 Bidassoa and attacked the Spanish and English forces near 
 San Marcial, with the object of preventing them establishing 
 themselves on the French frontier. The French were entirely 
 repulsed.— See Alison, vol. ix. pp. 797, 823, 828. St. James' 
 Chronicle, September 16, 1813. 
 
 "September 8. — I left off three days ago, just as I was 
 
138 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1813 
 
 going to breakfast with Thornhill. Since that nothing has 
 occurred worth adding to my letter. I shall therefore now 
 conclude.'" 
 
 " Bilbao, September ii, 1813. 
 
 "My deaeest Eli, — No opportunity having until now 
 offered of sending the enclosed, I take this advantage of 
 Colonel Roberts' going to England (sick) to let you know 
 that I am quite stout and well. 
 
 " I have as yet not heard a syllable from head quarters as 
 to our movements ; but as mules for the carriage of provisions, 
 &c., have joined the regiment, I take it it will not be long 
 before we start. 
 
 " I shall write to you regularly by every post, but if you 
 are ever any length of time without hearing do not be 
 alarmed ; it is very possible, from the irregularity of posts, 
 &c., that I may not be able to send letters so often as either 
 you or I could wish. 
 
 " I have not, up to this moment, since I left England, heard 
 a syllable from any one, and seldom seen a paper, even. The 
 last I saw was of August 19, at Portsmouth ; but Shakspeare 
 writes me word that there are papers with the army of the 
 27th, which state that Austria has declared for the Allies, 
 and that the armistice is broken. If so I expect we shall 
 attempt to advance into France ; but it will be only an 
 attempt. Be assured of it, there will not be much fighting 
 this campaign. For my part, I do not believe we shall fire a 
 shot. 
 
 " I am sorry to hear from the army that Colonel Grant is 
 dangerously ill with a liver complaint ; so much so that if he 
 recovers it will be necessary for him to go to England. This 
 will, I expect, put me into the command of a brigade. I 
 shall go to head-quarters as soon as I can, and see what is to 
 be done. I do not like leaving the 7th ; but the emoluments 
 of a brigade are not to be refused. 
 
 " September 13.— All well." 
 
i8i3 CAMPAIGN OF 1813 139 
 
 " Bilbao, September 15, 1813. 
 
 " My dearest Eli, — I have this instant heard that Roberts 
 is not gone, and I shall therefore send an orderly with this to 
 him, just to say that we are all quite well and stout. That 
 is, Ned and myself. Higgins has had a little touch of a 
 complaint in his bowels, which frightened him most infernally. 
 He is now much better, and indeed well. 
 
 " In a day or two I start for head-quarters. Our destina- 
 tion is Tafalla, to join the Hussar brigade under Lord 
 Edward Somerset ; but I expect to be sent to the command 
 of the brigade of either General Alten or Colonel Grant, 
 who, they say, are both going home ill. If either goes I step 
 into his shoes. 
 
 " Bilbao, September 18, 1813. 
 
 " My dearest Eli, — I am just getting upon my horse to 
 ride off to Lord Wellington's head-quarters at Yrun, and 
 propose returning here in about a week or ten days. 
 
 " I shall leave this with Edward to send by any opportunity 
 that may offer, just to inform you of my being quite stout 
 and well ; and here I must observe to you that you must not 
 expect from me always very long letters. I often have so 
 very many things to do as to be unable to write long epistles, 
 though at the same time I may wish just to let you know 
 that I am as stout and well as any man in the army. 
 
 " I have written to my father to beg him to send me out 
 hams, tongues, butter, cheese, and wine. The hams and 
 tongues I wish you to send him for me ; four hams and eight 
 tongues. 
 
 " I expect the regiment will march to Tafalla, about 
 midway between Pampeluna and Tudela, when I return. 
 The whole of the cavalry are obliged to be near the Ebro 
 for the sake of getting fed ; and even there, I fear, it is short 
 commons. We are in clover here, and if they do not want 
 us they might as well let us remain here during the winter. 
 
 " As soon as Pampeluna falls we shall move either to the 
 
140 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1813 
 
 front or rear, for Lord Wellington will certainly not remain 
 in the mountains all the winter. I expect we shall be in 
 quiet quarters on the Ebro. Pampeluna is expected to fall 
 about the beginning of October. 
 
 " I will write again, if I hear any news from head- 
 quarters. 
 
 " Fraser is going up to Yrun with me." 
 
 Pampeluna, like St. Sebastian, was one of the fortified 
 towns into which the French had retreated after the battle 
 of Vitoria, and which they still held, although besieged by 
 the English. 
 
 Like St. Sebastian, also, it had been momentarily relieved 
 by the battle of Sauroren, by which it had been enabled to 
 obtain a fresh supply of food. 
 
 It finally surrendered from starvation on October 31. 
 
 " Legacia, September 24, 1813. 
 
 " I was delighted, my dearest Eliza, on my amval here 
 yesterday, to find a letter from you, dated both inside and 
 out the 9th of August, but of course meaning September. 
 Be more careful, if you please, in future on this head, and 
 always let me know in each letter the date of your two or 
 three last, in order that I may know whether I receive all 
 your epistles ; and I will do the same in mine to you. 
 
 " I arrived here yesterday [September 23] after a delightful 
 journey of six days, through the most romantic and beautiful 
 country I ever saw. 
 
 "September 18. — The first day from Bilbao I slept at 
 Durango, an excellent inn, much better than any in Ireland, 
 excepting Dublin. The road, part of it, very tolerable ; the 
 rest, stony and bad. The whole through the mountains five 
 leagues. 
 
 " From Durango to Azpeytia (seven leagues), through the 
 villages of Ermua, Eybar, Elgoibar, and Azcoytia, I think one 
 of the finest rides I ever took. The country beautiful, the 
 
i8i3 CAMPAIGN OF 1813 141 
 
 mountains covered with vineyards or forests of chestnuts or 
 walnuts ; the valleys were narrow defiles, through which was 
 tumbling over rocks just such a river as that by Ivybridge, 
 only much more wild and magnificent, and abundantly 
 larger. The villages I have mentioned were beautiful beyond 
 conception ; the houses excellent, and in general that of the 
 Sefior quite a palace. The villages have but little felt the 
 effects of war. 
 
 " September 19. — I dined this day with Lieut. -Gen. Sir 
 Stapleton Cotton, who was excessively civil and kind. He 
 expressed his regret at there being no brigade vacant for 
 me, and added that he hoped very soon there would be 
 one by General Alten's return to England, which is expected 
 very shortly. 
 
 ^^ September 20. — From Azpeytia, the day following, I 
 went to Andoain, on the road from Tolosa to Oyarzim. 
 Part of this day's journey was also by mountain roads, 
 impassable for anything but horses and mules, and scarcely 
 passable for them. 
 
 " At Tolosa, a large but dirty town, I got into the great 
 road — a very good one, but very stony and rough. 
 
 "At Andoain I dined with my old friend, Colonel Ross, 
 of the Horse Artillery, whom you may remember at Ipswich. 
 From Andoain, the following day, I went by way of St. 
 Sebastian to Oyarzun. 
 
 " I shall not attempt to describe to you the horrible state 
 in which the town of St. Sebastian is. Never did I see 
 such an example made of a place. It cost both parties very 
 dear. In short, from the effects of the fire I am only sur- 
 prised at any one, on either side, being alive to tell the tale. 
 The last assault cost us 2300 killed and wounded. 
 
 " I saw General Leith, and Robinson : the former suffer- 
 ing, but doing well ; the latter quite well." 
 
 St. Sebastian was unsuccessfully stormed on July 24. On 
 August 31 it was again stormed, and after a most sanguinary 
 
142 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1813 
 
 fight, was taken by the English troops, supported by a most 
 furious bombardment. 
 
 An immense fire also broke out which destroyed nearly all 
 the houses that were left standing, and, to add to the horrors 
 of the scene, both the English and Spanish troops, in the 
 exultation of victory, gave way to the most horrible 
 debaucheries and atrocities. 
 
 The siege of St. Sebastian cost the Allies 3800 men, 2500 
 of whom were killed in the final assault. 
 
 ^'■September 22. — At Oyarzun I dined with Sir Thomas 
 Graham, and on the following morning rode with him to 
 Yrun, to see the ground where the last action was fought 
 with the Spaniards, and to take a peep into France. 
 
 " The Spaniards behaved very much better than they have 
 ever done before ; but they began by giving way and allow- 
 ing the enemy to get possession of a hill which ought to have 
 been impracticable. On the other hand, the French com- 
 mitted themselves very much, and, but for the fog which 
 came on, would have been well trounced." 
 
 " On August 30 Soult again made an attempt to relieve St. 
 Sebastian and Pampeluna, and attacked the Allies near San 
 Marcial, where the forces were chiefly composed of Spanish 
 troops. The latter behaved with considerable gallantry, 
 and Soult was driven back over the Bidassoa." — Alison, vol. ix. 
 p. 828. 
 
 " The country of France for some distance appears much 
 the same as here — mountains, &c, ; but beyond them, at a 
 distance of two or three leagues, it appears flat. They talk 
 of our soon going to see, but I doubt it. No movement 
 will, I apprehend, be made till Pampeluna falls, and then 
 I think we are more likely to go into Catalonia than any- 
 where else. The French do not appear to be strong in 
 front of this ; their camps are on the hills exactly opposite, 
 and we can see every man." 
 
i8i3 CAMPAIGN OF 1813 143 
 
 "Wellington looked to the security of the Peninsula as the 
 main object of his efforts, and was desirous that his troops 
 should be turned against Suchet, in Catalonia, in order that, 
 during Napoleon's absence in Germany with the greater part 
 of his forces, an effectual barrier against France in the east 
 might be recovered to the Spanish monarchy. 
 
 The English Government, however, looking to the general 
 interest of Europe, and the probable effect on the Allied 
 sovereigns on the Elbe, decided otherwise ; the invasion of 
 France, even before Pampeluna had fallen, was decided on ; 
 and Wellington, like a good general, set himself to execute, 
 to the best of his ability, an offensive campaign which, on 
 military principles, he deemed premature." — Alison, vol ix. 
 p. 845. 
 
 "September 22. — But I am wandering from my journey. 
 I slept again at Oyarzun on the £2nd, for the sake of dining 
 with my old friend. Colonel Delancey ; and yesterday I came 
 over here, through one of the most impracticable roads I 
 almost ever passed, but through mountain scenery beyond 
 anything beautiful. 
 
 " I dined yesterday with the great Lord ; he but made his 
 bow, and said very little. 
 
 " September 24. — To-day I dine with Sir Lowry Cole ; and 
 I am just now going to ride one of his horses two leagues to 
 Echalar, to see Colonel Hawkins. 
 
 " Friday evening, September 24. — I returned too late from 
 Echalar to write before dinner, and now sit down to say a few 
 words to you before I retire to my bed to be bitten to death 
 by fleas, for, nota bene, in this country the fleas have not that 
 respect for me that they have in England, and there are 
 myriads of them ! 
 
 " A mail is just arrived without a letter from you. What 
 can this mean ? Pray write often. I am always too happy 
 to hear from you for you ever to disappoint me so. 
 
 " I start to-morrow on my way home. I cannot find much 
 news here. Many reports about advancing, and moving into 
 -Catalonia. I expect the latter, if either ; but nothing will 
 
144 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1813 
 
 take place until the fall of Pampeluna, and that will not 
 happen time enough for us to move. 
 
 " I forgot, in my account of my j ourney up, to tell you of 
 a most beautiful convent between Azpeytia and Azcoytia that 
 I saw, founded by Ignatius Loyola, the famous Jesuit, built 
 of marble, with the most magnificent altar I ever saw, of 
 inlaid marble ; but the whole has never been finished. 
 
 " I hope it is Roberts and Uniacke in Falmouth ; it cannot 
 be Pipon's squadron. 
 
 " Fraser accompanied me to Oyarzun, where he is with his 
 friends of the Guards. 
 
 " All well." 
 
 " On board the ' Surveillance ' frigate, 
 
 " Passages Harbour, Septemhey 27, 1813. 
 
 " My dearest Eli, — Although I wrote only two days ago 
 from Legacia, I cannot miss the opportunity now offered of 
 the Dwarf' sailing for England, to tell you I am alive and 
 well ; indeed, I never was better in my life. 
 
 " I start to-mon'ow on my way to Bilbao, where I shall 
 arrive in about four or five days." 
 
 Passages is near St. Sebastian, and, being at this time in 
 the possession of the English, was used by them as their chief 
 harbour. 
 
 It will be seen from the date of the next letter that though 
 Colonel Vivian only left Passages on September 28, and then 
 expected to be four days on his journey, yet, as a fact, he 
 reached Bilbao in two days. 
 
 " Bilbao, September 30, 1813. 
 
 " My dearest Eli, — I found on my arrival here your two 
 letters of August 22 and 30. As your last was of later date 
 they of course contain no news. 
 
 " In reply to the questions you put me on the matter in 
 dispute between Sir John and Richard, I can only say, on the 
 
1 8 13 CAMPAIGN OF 1813 145 
 
 first, that I have never known an instance of a j unior captain 
 in a regiment getting a majority of that regiment in preference 
 to the senior captain, because he was senior in the service. 
 
 " In reply to the second, I should say that, in a battalion 
 composed of detachments, the majority, if it went in it, would 
 go to the senior captain of the detachments ; but there is no 
 fixed rule on such occasions — kissing goes by favour, and so 
 do majorities : they are often given away out of the regiments, 
 without even reference to seniority. 
 
 " I found all here on my return pretty well the same as 
 when I left it. On October 2 we shall commence our march 
 for Durango, where we shall halt for some days (two or three) 
 and then march to join the Hussar Brigade at Tafalla and 
 Olite. The latter will be our head-quarters." 
 
 Soult at this time had taken up a strong position on the 
 northern side of the Eidassoa, near Bayonne, and between 
 Yrun and St. Jean Pied-de-Port, on the summit of a ridge of 
 mountains overlooking the valley of the Bidassoa. 
 
 Wellington intended to attack him in September, imme- 
 diately after the fall of St. Sebastian ; but the excessive rains 
 which came on had swelled the Bidassoa into a raging torrent, 
 and made it an impossibility to attempt to cross it till 
 October. — Alison, vol. ix. p. 846. "Life of Napoleon," vol. vi. 
 p. 249. 
 
 "I have just heard that our fourth squadron is arrived at 
 Passages together with our missing ships. I hope it is true. 
 
 " Tell John I wish he would come over and see us. It is 
 not above three days' sail to Passages in the packet, and three 
 days' march afterwards to Olite. I will send horses, mules, 
 &c., for him, and in the winter will accompany him to Madrid. 
 He must bring a cloak, and portmanteau and uniform. 
 Young Bankes is here, travelling all over the country. He 
 is now started for the south, having travelled alone from 
 Portugal all over the north of Spain to this." 
 
 K 
 
146 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1813 
 
 On October 9, Wellington determined to cross the Bidassoa 
 at Yrun, San Marcial, and Vera. 
 
 Soult, not expecting that Wellington would venture to 
 attack him in his strong position, was surprised, and obliged 
 to retreat into France, where he took up a position on the 
 Nivelle. The Allies lost in the engagement 1600 men. 
 
 " Olite, October 20, 1813. 
 
 " My dearest Eli, — I was delighted at the receipt of two 
 letters from you — one of the 16th, and the other of Sep- 
 tember 22. These complete the five you mention having 
 written. 
 
 " Higgins and William both do very well ; the former is 
 cook, &c. ; in fact he is a most useful fellow, and very 
 attentive. Henry Walker is my valet, and an admirably 
 good one he is, but he has been very ill. Mrs. Jarvis is 
 scullion and washing woman. Foxlow takes care of my 
 mules, and I have a German who helps him, and takes care 
 of the goats — an excellent fellow. Antonio turned out sulky 
 and good for nothing, and on the march here he deserted 
 because I would not give him a mule to ride. I was rejoiced 
 at his going. 
 
 " We are now in a totally different country to that we 
 have just left — an open town, in the midst of an immense 
 plain covered with vineyards and olive gardens. 
 
 " Johnny, if he was here, would kill himself with eating 
 grapes. I was out shooting yesterday v,'\\h old Thornhill in 
 the vineyards, and we killed three brace of red legs, and I 
 think ate about twelve pounds each of the most delicious 
 gi-apes you can imagine. Tell Johnny only to imagine him- 
 self panting for breath on a hot day in Sussex, having 
 laboured after a covey of birds for six hours, planted in the 
 midst of the finest possible hothouse full of the finest 
 possible grapes. This was precisely our case, only that the 
 day was October, and rather hotter than one of yours in 
 September. 
 
i8i3 CA:MPAIGN of 1813 147 
 
 " The olives are still green, and are as nasty as the grapes 
 are good ; but every species of fruit and vegetable, and the 
 wine and mutton, in this country are quite delicious. 
 
 " I wrote to ask my father, amongst other things, to send 
 me some wine. If it is not sent off I would now rather have 
 hams, cheese, tongues, &c., in greater abundance ; for if we 
 remain in this country I would rather drink its wines than 
 any port. If we move it will perhaps be into a country 
 where we had better not carry much luggage ; for everything 
 now seems to denote a crusade into France even beyond the 
 Garonne, as soon as Pampeluna falls. If this really takes 
 place, the 7th will have the honour of showing the way ; so 
 you will perhaps, soon hear of our having had a brush with 
 the Gendarmerie Fran^aise. 
 
 " If Pampeluna holds out to the middle of next month, 
 any movement of this sort will be out of the question ; and 
 in that case we, the cavalry, shall have to retire to the Ebro 
 in order to find wherewithal to feed upon. 
 
 " I shall lament leaving this, for the quarters I now 
 occupy are most excellent ones, with admirably good civil 
 creatures, but no pretty girls, which I lament, as it assists me 
 in learning Spanish, in which, however, I have attained great 
 proficiency, and I am sorry only at my having left my 
 grammar and dictionary behind me. Pray send me one of 
 each. 
 
 " I should tell you that to make up for the want of pretty 
 girls in my house, the cousins of my patroness (for that is 
 the proper name for the mistress of the house in this 
 country), two most heautiful creatures, pay me a visit every 
 morning at breakfast-time, and sit and chat an hour or two. 
 Tell my mother one of them is the very picture of ... . 
 only rather tallei-, and about seventeen years old. Don't be 
 jealous ; you need not. 
 
 " The patron of the house is an Irishman, and like many 
 others of his countrymen, is a great vagabond. His name is 
 Murphy. He came here and married, about sixteen years 
 
148 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1813 
 
 ago, the daughter of this house. He very soon left her and 
 a Httle girl he had by her, and went to America, where he 
 now is. Here I have mother, daughter, and grand-daughter, 
 constantly at my elbow. I am in so much favour with them 
 because I talk and laugh with them. Grant, who was here 
 before me, would never speak to any of them ; indeed he 
 could not, and they disliked him very much. 
 
 "Throughout the whole of this country are visible the 
 ravages of war. Just here it was that Mina was eternally 
 ravaging the enemy, and they were obliged to fortify con- 
 vents, &c. &c., in order to maintain themselves at all in any 
 degree of safety ; the consequence has been that Mina, when- 
 ever successful, has invariably destroyed all these strongholds, 
 by which many of the most beautiful buildings are now in 
 ruins. In this very town an old Moorish castle, the residence 
 of the Kings of Navarre, was last year totally destroyed. 
 From the remnants of columns it must have been a most 
 magnificent building. 
 
 " All your old friends in the regiment are quite well and 
 stout. Most of them have had a little touch of a complaint 
 in the bowels prevalent in this country, excepting myself. I 
 grow fat and saucy. 
 
 "The men are all well. They get sadly drunk now and 
 then, for which I have tickled a few of them ; but in general 
 they have behaved admirably well. Wine is so cheap it 
 really is no wonder that they get drunk. It is sixpence a 
 quart only, and very strong. 
 
 " Other articles, however, are as dear as wine is cheap. 
 Eggs, three pence each ; chickens, one dollar ; sugar, three 
 and sixpence a pound ; wax candles (no tallow), six shillings 
 a pound ; beef, mutton, &c., from a shilling to one and three 
 pence a pound. However, we contrive to live very well. I 
 generally have soup and fish (salt), with a joint of meat, or a 
 brace of birds, or a hare, and an apple or rice pudding, for 
 dinner, with a dessert that would gTace the table at Carlton 
 House, and which costs about three pence. 
 
i8i3 CAMPAIGN OF 1813 149 
 
 " I wish my father would inquire whether any captain of 
 a packet would bring me out six couple of hounds, and if so 
 get them for me (old, steady working ones), and send them 
 out, letting me know first that they are coming, in order 
 that I may have a man at Passages waiting for them. This 
 country is delightful for hare hunting, and there is just game 
 enough. Pray try what can be done for me. 
 
 " Tell my father I have received his letter. This must for 
 the present serve you all ; when you separate again I will 
 write to each. Tell Johnny to come out and see the country. 
 From Tolosa to Pampeluna is through the most magnificent 
 and beautiful mountain scenery in the world. 
 
 " I shall send this to Torrens, because I want to write 
 to him. 
 
 "Old Thornhill is just come in from shooting, and desires 
 his kind regards. Ned is well, and sends his love. Thornhill 
 desires me to say that the key he gave you of his portman- 
 teau is not the right one, so you must have the lock picked 
 in order to air the things.'" 
 
 Mina was one of the many Spanish guerilla chiefs who 
 kept harassing the flanks of the French during this cam- 
 paign. 
 
 At the time when the next letter was written the 7th had 
 joined Lord Edward Somerset's brigade. Olite is near 
 Tafalla. 
 
 " Olite, October 25, 1813. 
 
 " Your two letters of September 30 and October 9 reached 
 me, dearest Eliza, this morning. 
 
 " If Victor Alten returns to England I shall certainly have 
 his brigade, and nothing prevents his return but the chance 
 of having something to do ; but, as they still talk of an 
 advance into France, he cannot of course go until it is decided 
 one way or the other ; and if I get a brigade I shall 'of course 
 return it when a Major-Gen., and in this case there is no 
 
150 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1813 
 
 chance of my returning in January ; but, of course, if I have 
 no brigade, and am then made a Major-Gen., I shall not 
 remain here. 
 
 " Believe me, my dearest Eli, I shall most truly rejoice 
 when that day arrives that shall restore me to you, to my 
 dear boy, to my kind parents, and to all my friends ; but if 
 the war continues I am afraid there is no prospect of that day 
 soon arriving. My prospects are in my profession, and if I 
 am to get a regiment, or a staff appointment in England, &c., 
 by-and-bye, I must do my duty for it now. Besides which, it 
 really is not worth while to run to and fro for a few months ; 
 so, barring accidents, I shall stay out here, and when I do 
 return, I hope it will be to sit down in peace and quiet by a 
 good and happy fireside, with you and my dear boy, and all 
 those I love best in the world. 
 
 " October 27. — I left oflF here in consequence of being in- 
 terrupted, and, as the post does not go until to-mon-ow, I 
 have delayed writing again until this day, supposing something 
 might turn up. 
 
 " There is no longer any doubt of an advance into France 
 as soon as PamjDeluna falls ; in fact our orders are arrived to 
 move forward the instant it does ; but I conclude if it holds 
 out till the middle of November that any forward movement 
 will be out of the question. The Pyrenees are already covered 
 with snow. 
 
 " If we do go into France it will, I hope, be in earnest. I 
 have no notion of doing things by halves ; besides ^\'hich, 
 nothing but a good and complete thrashing will secure us 
 quiet winter quarters ; not, indeed, that I expect these under 
 any circumstances, for, in my mind, a British army, even on 
 the Garonne, would be pretty much in the same situation 
 that a French army would be at Exeter — surrounded by a 
 hostile population who would not give them a moment's rest. 
 
 " Our advance into France will be the signal for the union 
 of all parties to resist the invader ; and when this is the case 
 a military nation is not easily beaten. 
 
i8i3 CAMPAIGN OF 1813 151 
 
 " I think it very possible that, in the first instance, our 
 success may be very considerable, and, if Lord Wellington 
 pushes it, there is no saying how far we may not proceed ; 
 but it is as to the ultimate consequences that I have any fear; 
 and I have seen too much of winter campaigns, and retreats 
 in frost and snow, to wish for another edition ! 
 
 " We are all ready for a move. Our horses at first suffered 
 considerably from change of food and climate, &c., but they 
 are getting about fast, and we are nearly in as good order as 
 at Hyde Park barracks. 
 
 " Our men are very healthy in general. We have lost two, 
 and have eight sick. The officers' private servants are failing 
 most. Vernon has lost his, and two or three others have been 
 very ill. William was, at one time ; he is now better. Poor 
 Walker is, I am sorry to say, very ill indeed ; I ■ fear, going 
 into a consumption ; at least he looks so. If we advance he 
 must remain behind. 
 
 " Of our oflScers most have been a little amiss. Grenfell 
 was left sick at Bilbao, Mr. Moff'att at Hernani, and Hamlyn 
 is now in bed here with a very considerable degree of fever 
 on him, but nothing at all alarming. Pour moi, thank God, 
 I never was better in my life ; seldom so well. 
 
 " My stud also is in excellent force. Tell my father that 
 little 'Dragon' is just as fat as he was at Truro, and just as 
 well. Poor ' Dash "" had his thigh broken by a kick from a 
 horse at Bilbao, and was left in hospital there after Irvin had 
 set it. He is a sad loss to me ; he would have done nicely 
 for the red legs. However, 'Jane' does just as well. We 
 have, amongst other game, immense flights of bustards ; but 
 they are so wild that neither Thornhill nor myself, with all 
 our ingenuity, can get at one. 
 
 " We are now here in the midst of the vintage, and such 
 a dirty operation as is the making of wine you cannot con- 
 ceive. The grapes are brought in in large tubs on mules' 
 backs, and sprinkled with fine lime — they say, to make the 
 wine high coloured ; they are then thrown on a floor of dirty 
 
152 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1813 
 
 bricks, that has never been cleaned for centuries, probably. 
 These floors have a gradual slope to the centre, where there 
 is a funnel which conveys the juice of the grapes into 
 immense vats below ; and when the floor is covered with 
 grapes, four or five dirty, filthy wretches, without shoes or 
 stockings, and their feet covered with every species of dirt 
 that abounds so plentifully in the streets of a Spanish town, 
 walk in, and begin treading away. After having thus for 
 some time pressed the grapes, they are collected, and, by a 
 very simple operation, their stems are extracted from the 
 fruit. The fruit is then put into a press which extracts all 
 the j uice, and which runs into the funnel already described. 
 The skins of the fruit are then taken from the press and 
 carried to the still to make brandy. The wine is fit to drink 
 in eight or ten days, the brandy at once. 
 
 " Since I wrote last I have had my general — Lord E. 
 Somerset — to dine with me ; and I must tell you my dinner, 
 in order that you may not think we starve. N.B. I never 
 have more than six. 
 
 First Course. Second Course. 
 
 Salt fish and potatoes . Roast partridges. 
 
 {i.e., "chowder.") Apple stewed. 
 
 Removes. Rice pudding. 
 
 Roast saddle of mutton. Tart. 
 
 Stewed beef, roast potatoes. Mushrooms. 
 
 Steaks. Omelet. 
 Boiled chicken. 
 
 Soup removed. 
 Ham. 
 
 "This, you will say, was a very good dinner. As to 
 dessert, I could beat all the grape-houses in Truro, tell my 
 father. 
 
 " The order of the day in the army is now for every one to 
 live as well as he can ; and a very wise plan it is. In the first 
 campaign it is certain that many officers died from poverty of 
 food ; now it is toute autre chose. I am badly off only in my 
 
i8i3 CAMPAIGN OF 1813 153 
 
 canteens. Instead of those abominable leaden dishes, &c., 
 which I brought out, all these things should have been 
 plated. I was penny wise and pound foolish on this head, 
 for the plated last ten times as long, and cost very little 
 more. My leaden dishes are now all shapes ; in short, no one 
 who has been here any time has anything but plated dishes, 
 cups, &c., and what provokes me most is that several of our 
 officers were wise enough to bring out plated articles — 
 Kerrison, Lowther, Wildman, Vernon, and .many others. It 
 is astonishing, besides, how much better a dinner looks on 
 them. But we do very well altogether. 
 
 " If we get to Bordeaux, tell my father I will send him 
 home two of the best hogsheads of claret I can pick up ; 
 and when we dictate peace at Paris I will return via Calais, 
 and drink it. One, to my mind, is pretty nearly as possible 
 as the other ; but, to hear these crusaders talk, we are 
 already at Paris and the Palais Royale ! A short time now 
 will decide it. 
 
 " There was a report yesterday that Pampeluna had fallen, 
 but I sent an officer there to learn, and he tells me that they 
 only offered to surrender on condition of being allowed to 
 return to France with their baggage. That is the sort of 
 proposal that comes often long before a surrender ; but it is 
 certain that they are short of provisions and have for some 
 time been eating their horses. I gave Thornhill yesterday 
 five guineas to give me a guinea a day until they surrendered, 
 and my opinion is that I shall make money by it." 
 
 This Colonel Vivian did ; for Pampeluna did not surrender 
 till the 31st. 
 
 '•' The governor is well aware of the consequence it is to 
 the army being detained even a few days, and therefore will 
 not — dare not — surrender till the last moment ; he can have 
 no hopes of being relieved. 
 
 "Pray order the hams, tongues, and butter, &c., that I 
 
154 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1813 
 
 wrote for, to be sent to the packet. Write to me by the 
 packet to say that they are coming, so that I may be pre- 
 pared to send for them. 
 
 " I have now written you a long letter, full of nothing, 
 but I know you like to have plenty of reading ! I shall send 
 this by the packet. I sent my last to Torrens because I 
 wanted to ^«ite to him. 
 - "P.S. — October ^S. All well. No news of Fampeluna." 
 
 " Olite, October 31, 1813. 
 
 " My deake.st ELi,^Pampe]una has fallen, and I have this 
 instant received an order to march to-morrow morning ; so 
 this must be a short letter. 
 
 " We go to-morrow to Salines de Pampeluna and Noain. 
 The next day to Berrioplano. The next to Arraix. The 
 next to St. Estevan ; and thence we shall enter France by 
 the pass of Maya. How long we shall remain there I cannot 
 pretend to say. My opinion is that our quarters will not be 
 very pleasant ones. 
 
 " I shall have to send about fifty-six horses, and ten sick 
 men, to the rear; and I regret to say that poor Hamlyn is 
 amongst those who will be sent; in fact, I have just seen him 
 oft' to the hospital at Vitoria, and I very much fear whether 
 I shall ever see him back again. He is very seriously ill, with 
 every appearance of its ending in a typhus fever; in short, he 
 is precisely in the same state that Vernon's servant was, and 
 the dragoon that died." 
 
 Pampeluna surrendered on October 31, and 3000 men were 
 made prisoners. 
 
 During the delay caused by Pampeluna holding out, Soult 
 had been strengthening his position on the Nivelle. 
 
 " BuENZA, November 3, 1813. 
 "After making two foi'ced marches which has nearly 
 
i8i3 CAMPAIGN OF 1813 155 
 
 knocked up all our horses and almost killed my mules, &c., I 
 reached this last night, and was preparing to proceed this 
 morning to St. Estevan, when, thank God, I received an 
 order to halt ; so here I am, in the clouds, with Edwards' 
 and Robins'' troops. 
 
 " I say ' thank God ' we halted, because another such a 
 day''s march as we had yesterday and the regiment would 
 have been hors de combat. No description that I can give 
 you, nor can the worst roads that you ever heard of or saw, 
 at all enable you to form an idea of the mountain paths we 
 climbed yesterday. The worst goat path in all Wales is a 
 garden walk compared to it ; and they tell me that we have 
 eight leagues more into France of still worse roads ! Allien 
 I tell you that we were yesterday on horseback from seven 
 till past six, and only accomplished three leagues of good 
 roads (from Pampeluna until we turned into the mountains), 
 and three leag-ues of bad afterwards, you may suppose what a 
 march we have in view. After we get into France I hope, at 
 least, that the roads will be better. 
 
 " We are now in a village situated most romantically in a 
 country which is beautiful, and which in happier times must 
 be a delightful residence. The villages are exceedingly good, 
 and the peasantry admirable people ; but, alas ! the men and 
 the houses are all that are left. 
 
 " We are almost in a state of starvation. What little our 
 horses have to eat is the wheat taken by force from these 
 poor creatures ; and when you imagine that this has been 
 going on by the French first, in their retreat ; then by our- 
 selves ; then again by the French, in their advance ; then by 
 us ; and since constantly by British cavalry and infantry 
 marching to and fro, you will not suppose much is to be 
 had here. 
 
 "I have this instant heard that an order was sent to 
 Olite to stop us in our quarters, but we had marched before 
 it arrived. The movement into PYance is for the moment 
 suspended, and my opinion is that Lord Wellington will 
 
156 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1813 
 
 be wise enough to suspend it altogether. If he does 
 not I very much fear he will lose more credit than he has 
 gained. 
 
 "I had the good fortune to arrive at Pampeluna just in 
 time to see the garrison march out and lay down their arms ; 
 and a finer body of men I never saw. They looked a little 
 pale or so, and when we considered that they had been for 
 six weeks living on cats and dogs and rats, with four ounces 
 of horse llesh and four ounces of bad bread each per day, it 
 is not to be wondered at their looking so. There were about 
 3500 of them. They marched past 12,000 Spanish troops 
 that had blockaded the place, and very respectable looking 
 soldiers they were. 
 
 " Pampeluna is a beautiful city — by far the finest I have 
 seen in Spain ; a remarkably fine cathedral, a very handsome 
 plaza with a public walk, and altogether very neat and 
 clean ; but the poor inhabitants were in a dreadful state. 
 They had been driven, as some of them most pathetically 
 told me, al ultimo ; and a few days more and many must 
 have died from starvation. But for this the garrison would 
 not have surrendered, for they might have dragged on a little 
 longer ; and Buonaparte will say that they ought to have 
 dragged on a little longer, I expect. 
 
 " I am in daily expectation of letters from you. We know 
 there is a mail up to the 22nd arrived, but where our letters 
 are the Lord knows ! 
 
 "Thornhill is here with me, and has just been paying me 
 a visit in my casa, which is what in Cornwall would be con- 
 sidered a good farm-house, situated almost at the top of a 
 range of mountains, enveloped in clouds, Avith one of our 
 worst Cornish — I should say Pendarvis — days ; a driving 
 rain, with a gale of wind ; windows to which glass is 
 unknown; the wind at N.W., blowing right in; William 
 below, swearing at the country and the bad food for the 
 horses; Higgins cutting up a sheep that we have just caught 
 off the mountains ; and your humble servant writing to his 
 
i8i3 CAMPAIGN OF 1813 157 
 
 darling ; and you will, when you take all this in, have a true 
 picture of ray present situation. 
 
 " The regiment is quartered in the villages about. I will 
 tell you their names ; but I fear you will hardly find them 
 out in any maps you have. Lopez's provincial maps are the 
 only ones that are of any use, and they are not to be pur- 
 chased in England. Our villages are Buenza, Ciganda, 
 Borasain, Aristigue, Musquiz, Garrons, and Erize ; all within 
 about two miles of each other. 
 
 " I forgot to tell you that I was one of the first officers 
 that entered Pampeluna. You have no conception of the 
 joy that appeared on the meagre countenances of the poor 
 people. KeiTison was with me, and they gave us plenty of 
 ' Viva Inglaterra^ ' Viva los Ingleses.'' 
 
 "We remarked that in the whole town we saw but one 
 poor mangy dog alive, and one cat, dead, which had pro- 
 bably been killed that morning for dinner, but thrown away 
 in consequence of the gates being opened and other food 
 admitted. The sufferings of these poor people, and the 
 battered state of St. Sebastian, have together fully deter- 
 mined me never to build a house in a fortified town." 
 
 The blockade of Pampeluna had been carried out with 
 such vigilance that during the three months it lasted the 
 garrison never once received even a letter from their com- 
 rades. 
 
 On October 26, when the garrison was subsisting only on 
 the most revolting reptiles, and unwholesome plants which 
 grew upon the ramparts, negociations were entered into for 
 a surrender ; but Wellington declined to accede to any terms 
 except a total surrender. Hostilities were then renewed, but 
 three days more of hunger compelled the garrison to surrender 
 at discretion. 
 
 "November 5, 1813. 
 "I was last night rejoiced at the receipt of your four 
 
158 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1813 
 
 letters of the 11th, 14th, 16th, and 22nd. I will in my next 
 answer any parts of them that require it. 
 
 " I shall be most happy to receive the wine, &c., as 
 nothing is to be had here of that sort, and I hope that my 
 order to countermand did not arrive before it was sent off. 
 
 " If the French tell truth, they have thrashed the Allies ; 
 at least they have sent word to Lord Wellington to say so ; 
 hut they only say they have completely defeated them, 
 taking 3000 prisoners. No cannon, &c., are mentioned, so I 
 hope it is not much. 
 
 " No order to march. Just going to seal up."" 
 
 " St. Estevan, November 7, 1813. 
 
 " After having scrambled for six hours over mountains and 
 roads, if possible ten thousand times worse than when I last 
 wrote I attempted to describe, I arrived here about half an 
 hour since, with about half of my regiment. 
 
 "You may guess what the roads were when I tell you that 
 in one troop alone upwards of twenty horses lost their shoes ; 
 and so full of rocks and loose stones are they that without a 
 shoe it is impossible to move an inch ; so the farriers are 
 hard at work in the rear, and the road from here to Arraiz is 
 full of the 7th, and I am here with about half the regi- 
 ment. 
 
 " To-morrow, I expect, we shall start again very early." 
 
 "Allured by some fine weather, Wellington moved his forces 
 on the 6th to attack Soult, but subsequent bad weather 
 setting in caused him to postpone doing so till the lOth." — 
 " Life of Napoleon," vol. vi. p. 331. 
 
 " They do say that to-morrow is to be the day when the 
 British flag is to wave triumphant on French soil. I trust 
 with all my heart it may be so ; in fact, I have very little 
 doubt as to the success of our troops in a general action ; 
 what I doubt is the policy of entering France at all, at least 
 at this time of year. 
 
i8i3 CAMPAIGN OF 1813 159 
 
 " If the battle is fought to-morrow, we shall have no 
 concern in it ; for the position of the army is now full seven 
 leagues from hence, and seven leagues in this country would 
 go well to tire the best horse in England." 
 
 The position of the army was at Sarre, in front of St. Pe ; 
 and the expected battle was that of the passage of the 
 
 Nivelle. 
 
 " If the poor horses could but admire the prospect as we 
 do, then indeed they would have been compensated for their 
 labours ; for I really cannot describe to you the beauty of the 
 scenery through which we passed. I think it even surpassed 
 anything we have yet seen. Mountains rising to the clouds, 
 covered to the summit with trees, some of them magnificent 
 oaks ; the valleys full of the most delightful villages — to look 
 at — but, alas ! to enter, the miserable ravages of war are 
 everywhere to be seen. 
 
 " Bread, straw, and wheat are scarcely to be had, and we 
 and our horses shall starve if we do not soon get into quarters 
 that have been less subject to the passing and repassing of 
 troops. 
 
 " If we move on to-morrow it will be on the road towards 
 Vera, where head-quarters now are. I expect either Echallar 
 or Lesaca will be our head-quarters — -or perhaps both. 
 
 " From hence to Echallar and Vera we follow the stream of 
 the Bidassoa, and consequently our road will not be moun- 
 tainous as to-day, but as rough as you can well imagine 
 anything. 
 
 " The town from which I now write has been an exceedingly 
 good one. It is about half as large as Truro, and contains 
 several very good houses, but completely destitute of furniture, 
 excepting here and there an old broken chair or table. 
 
 " Lesaca, you know, is the village where head-quarters were 
 so long ; and Vera is where they now are. From Vera to the 
 position of the army is about two leagues, and from their 
 
160 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1813 
 
 position they look over France, and a country that appears 
 to contain good quarters and fit ground for us to act in. I 
 shall be able to tell you more about it when I finish this 
 epistle. At present I must break off" to go and look up my 
 regiment a little. 
 
 " November 8. — Still here, without orders to advance, but 
 in hourly expectation of them. 
 
 " The attack commenced this morning, it is said. It is 
 distant eight leagues from us, and as the wind blows from 
 hence we do not hear the firing. As you may imagine, we 
 are all anxiety to know the result. 
 
 " Our orders to advance will, I have no doubt, arrive to- 
 night — that is if the army is successful ; if otherwise, we shall 
 have to retire to the Ebro ; for, however unsuccessful the 
 grand lord is in the action, I apprehend nothing can compel 
 him to retire from his lines on the Pyrenees, nor do I conceive 
 the French can attempt taking them. 
 
 " I cannot imagine what can be the object of this move- 
 ment. Besiege Bayonne he cannot, I think, during the 
 winter ; at least, if he does, his losses will be dreadful ; and if 
 he does not take it his advance can be but trifling, and will 
 not, in my mind, secure us quiet winter quarters. Nous 
 verrmis. To-morrow I shall be able to tell you more; at 
 present I am all anxiety, as you may imagine." 
 
 Although Colonel Vivian's regiment was at St. Estevan, 
 some distance away from the scene of the battle that took 
 place at the passage of the Nivelle, yet he himself seems 
 to have gone forward and to have been present at that 
 battle, as the following letter shows. 
 
 " St. Pe, November 12, 1S13. 
 
 " My dearest Eli, — As I promised you, I took especial 
 care to keep clear of the shot in the attack of the 10th, and, 
 being present only as an amateur, I had an ojoportunity of 
 
i8i3 CAMPAIGN OF 1813 161 
 
 witnessing the whole of the battle, at least, the whole of 
 that part of it where it was most severe. 
 
 "Lord Wellington's despatch will give you a better 
 general account than I possibly can. I can only speak as an 
 observer. 
 
 "The position of the enemy was taken up with great 
 judgment on a line of small mountains, extending from near 
 St. Jean de Luz on their right to St. Jean Pied-de-Port 
 on their left. Of course it was so extended as to make it 
 impossible so to connect it throughout as to prevent there 
 being weak points ; but everything had been done to secure 
 it by chains of redoubts, covering and supporting each 
 other, some containing cannon and others only for infantry, 
 and these again, connected by intermediate breastworks, 
 made it altogether a most formidable attempt to drive the 
 enemy from it. To British soldiers, however, nothing is 
 impracticable. 
 
 " The attack commenced at daybreak ; Sir Rowland Hill^ 
 on our right, with the 2nd and 6th Divisions, and some 
 Spaniards under Morillo. Marshal Beresford commanded the 
 centre, composed of the 3rd, 4th, 7th, and Light Divisions, 
 with some Spaniards under Ghiron ; and Sir J. Hope com- 
 manded the left, composed of the 1st and 5th Divisions, with 
 some Spaniards under Frere. 
 
 " The attack on our left was not intended to be carried to 
 any extent. The principal object was to force with our 
 centre, where was supposed to be the principal strength of 
 the enemy ; and it was with this part of the army that the 
 lord himself was. 
 
 " Nothing could be more beautiful than the day, at the 
 very point of which was fired the first shot. 
 
 " It is impossible for me to describe the particular attacks 
 of each division. They all had in their front different 
 batteries and breastworks ; and they were all carried in the 
 handsomest possible manner. 
 
 " The resistance was by no means such as I expected to 
 
 L 
 
162 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1813 
 
 have seen, or such as the position authorised. One after 
 another the different works fell into the hands of our gallant 
 fellows, with a loss infinitely less than ought to have been 
 occasioned ; but it is possible it was never the intention of 
 the enemy to risk the loss of any number of them by engag- 
 ing in a general action ; for certainly this can hardly be 
 called a general action, although it was a general attack, 
 everything almost having been carried by our light troops 
 before the supporting columns could come into action. 
 
 " Nothing could be more beautiful than the manner in 
 which the French retired from one height to another ; they 
 never stood long enough to be severely pressed, and con- 
 sequently never had any difficulty in re-forming on one hill 
 after having been driven from another. 
 
 " The severe part of the action, I believe, fell upon the 3rd 
 and 7th Divisions. John Keane's brigade suffered severely. 
 I saw him about five o'clock in the afternoon. He then told 
 me he had lost about 400 men, and he was then again im- 
 mediately under fire, but I apprehend did not suffer much, 
 as the action entirely ceased with the day. I have not since 
 seen him, but he is, I understand, very well out of it. 
 
 "We have advanced about three leagues, not, I think, 
 much to our advantage as far as obtaining quarters for our 
 men goes. In the villages few inhabitants are left, and those 
 few have been so plundered as to render it impossible for us 
 to get any assistance from them ; and the roads are so dread- 
 fully bad that I fear the difficulty of provisioning om* people 
 will be extreme, and nothing but a very considerable advance 
 into a better country can, in my mind, save us having great 
 distress. 
 
 If (as I conclude was the case) the object of Soult was to 
 ■draw us on without committing himself, and to keep harassing 
 us in our winter quarters, he has done his business well. 
 
 " We shall, I expect, move on again in a day or two, and 
 if we can manage to drive the enemy beyond the Nive, and 
 get a good road from St. Jean de Luz to the right of our 
 
i8i3 CAMPAIGN OF 1813 163 
 
 position, we may be able to maintain ourselves ; but even in 
 this case I fear the troops must pass the winter in camp. 
 
 " What is to become of us I do not know ! Nothing; but 
 an advance that would enable us to extend away towards Pau, 
 into a country where there is forage for us, would save us 
 serious losses. A day or two will show ; and in a day or two 
 I will write again. 
 
 " The 7th are to-day at Sarre and Vera. 
 
 " I take it the British and Portuguese loss in the action 
 was about 2000. The French could not have lost so many. 
 They lost about 1000 prisoners, 500 of them very clumsily." 
 
 " Sarre, November 12, 1813. 
 
 " My letter of this morning, from St. Pe, will have told 
 you of the action having taken place on the 10th (having 
 been postponed from the 8th in consequence of the badness of 
 the roads from wet weather) and of the result. 
 
 " I now write from the quarters of my advanced squadron, 
 {Colonel Kerrison's) ; three others being at Vera. This 
 village is in the most dreadful possible state. It was one of 
 the points raost hotly contested (if indeed any may be said 
 to have been hotly contested), and the consequences are 
 di'eadful. 
 
 "The inhabitants, of course, from the fire, were compelled 
 mostly to desert their homes ; and the soldiery, on entering, 
 completely despoiled them. In addition to all the other 
 miseries, it is now full of wounded men ; and the very house 
 in which I am now writing contains three officers of the 68th 
 severely wounded — Captain Gladstone, Lieutenant Clark, and 
 another. 
 
 " I have fortunately been able to afford them some small 
 comforts, such as tea, &c., which has delighted me. That 
 regiment has again been most unfortunate. Captain Irvin 
 and another have been killed, and six wounded. 
 
 "But to quit such melancholy subjects. This country is 
 less mountainous than that we have left, but still infinitely 
 
164 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1813 
 
 impracticable for cavalry to act in ; nor do I apprehend it is 
 otherwise on this side of the Adour. 
 
 " The inhabitants are but half French. Their language is 
 Basque — perfectly unintelligible. Here and there we meet 
 with those who speak French ; but all the better classes are 
 gone, and most of the lower." 
 
 " Sarre, November 13, 1813. 
 
 " No movement ; nor is it possible to move, for such a day 
 of rain I never yet witnessed. I cannot do better, therefore, 
 than sit down to answer seriatim all your last letters. 
 
 " First, with respect to the things to be sent to me. They 
 would now be truly acceptable ; for nothing is to be had here 
 for love or money. I send you some general regulations as 
 to the conveyance of baggage to officers. If my things are 
 not sent off', pray have the goodness to let them be sent to 
 Plymouth, to be forwarded as therein directed. 
 
 " You are become a prodigious politician, and enter most 
 heartily into the affairs of the North ! Boney, it now seems, 
 has truly got himself into a scrape. He has gone to Paris, 
 we hear, to call out 800,000 men ! W^ill they come at his 
 call ? France has no longer the assistance of other Powers 
 either in feeding or paying her armies. The Allies are, I 
 conclude, now beyond the Rhine ; and men, money, and pro- 
 visions must all now come from France, whilst all the North 
 will, with one heart and soul, be united against her. 
 
 " I hope, for my part, that the Allied Powers will be con- 
 tent to find France di'iven within her original boundaries ; I 
 am not satisfied to say her 'natural' one, the Rhine; for 
 that would leave her Holland, and that I am not disposed 
 to do. 
 
 " As to H , he is absent, sick ; he is not quite what he 
 
 ought to be at bottom in any way, I fear. You know what 
 a fuss he made about coming out, and yesterday I received a 
 letter from him, saying that his fever was gone, but that his 
 constitution was so shattered that it required the care of his 
 
i8i3 CAMPAIGN OF 1813 165 
 
 friends in England to restore it, and begging me to make 
 application for leave ! Only conceive this at the moment 
 when the regiment is j ust commencing upon active service ! 
 If he was half dead he never should have asked such a thine;. 
 There are hundreds of officers in the army who are now 
 serving, having had the similar fever without going home ; 
 but there is more vapour than anything else about that 
 young man ! I said, before I left England, that he would be 
 the first to wish to return; you see what a true prophet 
 I am;' 
 
 " After the battle of the Nivelle, the English were situated 
 in a very contracted space, and Wellington was anxious to 
 extend his cantonments, and gain possession of more fertile 
 districts by pushing his way across the Nive and throwing 
 the enemy entirely back under the cannon of Bayonne. 
 
 But the heavy and long-continued rains rendered the roads 
 impassable for artillery, and prevented his taking advantage 
 of his passage of the Nivelle, and indeed of his making any 
 offensive operations until the end of the first week in 
 December." — Alison, vol. ix. p. 874. 
 
 Colonel Vivian was now promoted to a brigade, and had 
 appointed Captain E. Keane (a relation of his wife) his 
 A.D.C. 
 
 " St. Jean de Luz, 
 
 " November 26, 1813. 
 
 " My DEAEEST Eli, — Although I have not a word more to 
 say than when I last wrote, I cannot let the packet sail with- 
 out giving you a few lines. 
 
 " I have, since my last, been staying in this neighbourhood 
 with my diflFerent friends, Sir S. Cotton, Waldegrave, Pon- 
 sonby, &c. I am just now going to join my brigade, which 
 is between Ustarits and Cambo, on the river Nive. I shall 
 to-day dine with Sir L. Cole, on my way. 
 
 " I assure you it makes me very miserable to part with my 
 old friends, the 7th. Not a soul shall I have about me but 
 
166 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1813 
 
 new faces, excepting Edward, to whom I have written to 
 desire him to join me as soon as possible ; but that I expect 
 cannot be for a week. 
 
 " As it is necessary now that as colonel on the staiF, 
 which gives me about 28*. a day, I must keep a somewhat 
 better table than usual, I was yesterday extravagant enough 
 (or rather, in short, I was obliged, in order to put myself on 
 a level with my brother brigadiers) to give Lord Waldegrave 
 =£'200 for his canteens. I shall sell my own, I hope, for 
 about 6^60 or =£70, and I have Waldegrave's a great bargain; 
 for they cost near ^£"300. Most of the articles are silver. I 
 wish, by-the-bye, you would get from Thompson the bills for 
 the whole amount of the canteens, in order that I may know 
 how to sell them. 
 
 " I will write again as soon as I get to my brigade and see 
 how things are going on. There is an idea that we shall 
 shortly have something to do, but I rather doubt it just at 
 present. 
 
 " The weather is now more beautiful than anything you 
 can imagine ; and, strange to say, we are all complaining of 
 colds, headaches, &c. &c. Amongst the others I am rather 
 an invalid with one of my old feverish attacks, but very 
 trifling ; not, in fact, worth mentioning. 
 
 " I suppose you may have seen Grant. He sailed in the 
 last packet and was not only, I heai', most wretchedly unwell, 
 but very homesick ; and so, to tell you the truth, is the whole 
 army, and peace would delight everybody, and no one more 
 than your ever affectionate husband." 
 
 Laressore, the place from which Colonel Vivian wrote the 
 letter about to be quoted, is on the Nive, between Ustarits 
 and Cambo. 
 
 Colonel Vivian was at this time in command of the cavalry 
 posted between Cambo and Laressore, with General Hill's 
 division. Sec Alison, vol. ix. p. 876 ; and " Life of Napoleon," 
 p. 371. 
 
i8i3 CAMPAIGN OF 1813 167 
 
 " Chateau de St. Martin, Laressore, 
 " December 2, 1813. 
 
 " Here I am, my dearest Eliza, in the midst of my brigade 
 — in the midst of the enemy ! Out of the very window of 
 the room from whence I now write this I can almost converse 
 with the French sentries ! Nothing but a narrow river (the 
 Nive) separates us ; and it is fordable in many places ; but 
 they are very quiet, harmless neighbours. 
 
 " We have agreed not to fire at each other ; and they are 
 too much afraid of an attack from us to make it at all prob- 
 able that they will molest us in our quarters. If they chose 
 it would not be a very difficult matter to walk into my bed- 
 room any night. There is, however, a brigade of infantry 
 in the village, under General Pringle, and they would hold 
 them. We could do nothing, for it is nothing but hill and 
 dale ! 
 
 " You can have no conception of anything more magnifi- 
 cently beautiful than the situation of my chateau, which is 
 on the point of a hill overlooking a beautiful mountain river, 
 and looking up a most delightful valley, through which 
 runs the river, the hills rising from the valley on either side 
 crowned with timber; villages in abundance, bordering on 
 the river. 
 
 " But it is to the eye only that it is now delightful. The 
 ravages of war have depopulated these otherwise charming 
 residences ; few, if any, of the inhabitants remain, and what 
 few do remain are almost starving from having been eaten 
 out of house and home by the soldiery, with whom their 
 houses are literally crammed. 
 
 " General Hill's division, of which I command the cavalry, 
 is posted in the villages of Cambo, Espelette, Souraide, and 
 Laressore — altogether about 12,000 men within a space of 
 three miles of each other. 
 
 " On our left, at Ustarits, is the 6th Division, Sir H. Clinton, 
 about a mile off. I am just going there to dine and sleep at 
 General Pack's. 
 
168 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1813 
 
 " Beyond Ustarits, at Arauntz, is the third division, with 
 which John Keane is. He came here yesterday to see me, 
 and I expect him to-morrow to stay a day or two. 
 
 " They talk of an advance soon, but I do not think it 
 possible ; for the roads are in such a dreadful state from the 
 constant rain we have had that it is perfectly impossible for 
 troops to move. 
 
 "I have just received your two letters, Nos. 13 and 14. 
 No. 12 has not yet come to hand. It is, I conclude, gone to 
 the 7th, from whence Edward will bring it. What has 
 become of that man I cannot imagine ! He ought to have 
 joined me a week since. Here I am in a great chateau, with 
 no soul about me I ever saw before. I have, however, a 
 pretty good sort of a Brigade-Major — a Scotchman — Captain 
 Dunbar; and Harvey, who commands the 14th, together 
 with all his officers, has been attention itself, and when Ned 
 comes I shall be very comfortable ; but I never shall forget 
 the loss of the dear old 7th. 
 
 "I send you, for your amusement, a copy of a letter I 
 wrote to K [Kerrison] after being appointed to the com- 
 mand of the brigade. I wrote it in a hurry, and it is but a 
 scrawl. I have had no answer to it as yet. I think if they 
 do not write me a very handsome epistle in return they are 
 very unhandsome fellows ; for they never will have any one 
 at their head who will take half the pains about them — and, 
 though I say it who should not — will do half as nmch for 
 them as I have. No regiment out here was in half the order 
 they were when I gave up the command of it. Every one 
 said so. How long it will last so I cannot pretend to say, 
 but I hope some time, for the officers are all most anxious, 
 and there is a good system A\'hich is not to be lost in a 
 day. Keep the letter I send you. I will send you also the 
 answer. 
 
 " Many thanks for the articles you have sent me. They 
 have not yet arrived — at least, I ha^'e not heard of it. You^ 
 like a stupid woman, do not mention the name of the man or 
 
i8i3 CAMPAIGN OF 1813 169 
 
 the ship ; so I must send to Passages on a wild-goose chase. 
 Oh, Ehza, after having been married to me for nine years 
 and a half, to be so very thick ! Jarvis goes off to-morrow 
 to search for the packages. The contents, I assure you, will 
 be most acceptable, for we are starving here, man and beast. 
 If you had but sent a little hay also it would have been most 
 acceptable. Candles are articles dreadfully in request, and 
 you have sent none ! Tallow are not to be had, and wax are 
 three dollars a pound ; and as I am obliged to keep a regular 
 table every day for my A.D.C. and my Brigade-Major, these 
 matters are of consequence. 
 
 " The wine, too ! I would have given the world for it ! 
 What we purchase is poisonous to the palate and ruinous to 
 the pocket. I hope your man ' going out upon speculation ' 
 will not speculate with my goods, and sell them all ! I 
 should not wonder ! Only think of you not even giving me 
 his name, or saying what ship he went in, &c. &c. ! ' A 
 man ' — as if he was the only man in the world ! Oh, fie, 
 Eliza ! Now you must admit you are very stupid ! 
 
 " I hope, as my mother does not like John coming out, ■ 
 that he will give it up ; if not, I will soon send him back 
 again. I do confess I should like to receive the old gentleman 
 in my chateau on the Nive, and show him how we soldiers 
 live on active service. 
 
 "I want a livery jacket, two waistcoats, and two pair of 
 breeches, for Walker. I wish you would get them made up 
 ready to send out. I must also, if we remain here, have a 
 blue and gold pelisse, jacket, &c., &c. I will, however, give 
 you orders about all this. 
 
 " John Keane is just arrived, and is making such a bother 
 that I must conclude. He sends his love to you all. He is 
 quite stout and well." 
 
 " Chateau de St. Martin, 
 
 " Laressore-on-the-Nive, 
 
 " December 3, 1813. 
 
 " My dear Mother, — As Eliza has by this left Cornwall, 
 
170 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1813 
 
 and my letters can no longer be considered pro bono publico 
 of the whole fireside, I take the earliest opportunity of letting 
 vou know how I go on. 
 
 " You will have received a few lines announcing my appoint- 
 ment to the command of a brigade, since which I have been 
 put in orders as a Colonel on the staff of the army, which 
 gives me 20s. 9d. a day and 9*. 6d. a day battalion and forage, 
 when they choose to pay it ; but as the staff is eight months 
 in arrear, and the army six, I must for some time to come 
 live upon my means, which as yet (fortunately, from the cash 
 I brought out, and the sale of two horses) are very good. 
 
 " I have been obliged, in order to start my establishment 
 for a regular table, &c. (which I am obliged to keep, having 
 an A.D.C. [Keane] and a Brig.-Major, a Captain Dunbar, a 
 very good sort of Scotchman) to be at some expense in 
 canteens, &c. 
 
 " I fortunately met with a set of very good ones with 
 Waldegrave, for which I have given him d&200, and three 
 more mules have cost me ,£100 ; and I shall do very well 
 now, I take it. For about d^GOO or ,£700 a year I shall 
 manage, and as my pay altogether as Lieut-Colonel, A.D.C, 
 Equerry, and Colonel on the Staff, is little short of .flSOO, I 
 shall manage, if I stay here long enough, to save some money, 
 for the Jirst time in my life. 
 
 " I am now here in the midst of my brigade, on the banks 
 of the Nive, and the enemy is quietly opposite me ; so near 
 that I can certainly make them hear out of the room where 
 I now write ; bat they are in a great fright that we should 
 advance, and we are really very good friends, and they do not 
 molest me, or prevent me sleeping in perfect safety and 
 comfort. 
 
 " I have a capital chateau, delightfully situated, &c. I 
 only wish it were in England. I could sell about i?"! 0,000 
 worth of timber without doing any harm. 
 
 " They talk of an advance very soon. I hope so, for we 
 are terribly off for forage, and we shall get that in front. 
 
i8i3 CAMPAIGN OF 1813 171 
 
 Otherwise I see no great advantage that is Kkely to arise from 
 the movement. They say the army is to place its right on 
 the Adour, and invest Bayonne ; but this they cannot do 
 without crossing the river, and it will ensure a winter cam- 
 paign in a wretchedly muddy country.'" 
 
 " Wellington's object in his advance across the Nive was to 
 place his right on the Adour, whereby the enemy, already 
 distressed for want of provisions, would lose the means of 
 communication with the interior by the river, and be com- 
 pelled to fall back to other, and more distant, quarters from 
 which to draw his resources.'' — Alison, vol. ix. p. 877. 
 
 " We gentle cavaliers are to cover the rear towards 
 Navarrenx, Oloron, and Pau, where the French cavalry are. 
 There are only three weak brigades of ours up — Vandeleur's, 
 Alten's, and mine — altogether about 2000. If the comitry 
 will suit we shall soon have some more up. My old regi- 
 ment, the 28th, are here in the village with me ; but very 
 few of my old friends are left." 
 
 " Chateau St. Martin, Laressore, 
 " December 8, 1813, 
 
 " My deahest Eli, — Your dear letter of November 26 has 
 just arrived. I have only a few minutes to write and thank 
 you for it, having many arrangements to make in conse- 
 quence of an order to inarch to-morrow to the attack that is 
 to take place on the enemy's left. God send us a good day 
 of it. I hope we shall be amongst them. I will take care of 
 myself for your dear sake. 
 
 " John Keane has been staying with me for the last t'wo 
 days, and Ned has joined me; so I have been quite ew- 
 famille — only wanted you and dear Cresp. I am glad John 
 has given up the idea of coming out here, as it fretted my 
 father and mother — dear people, they are too good to be 
 fretted. 
 
 " What glorious news from Holland ; surely there never 
 
172 RICHAllD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1813 
 
 was such a scrape as Boney is in. They do say that the 
 people of France are all ready to rise. These hereabouts 
 abuse little Nap terribly. 
 
 " What stuff" and nonsense it is about the papers and the 
 duty ; it is no such thing ; there is not an officer in the army 
 who has not a regular paper. Tell Huntley to send me the 
 Globe. Ned joins in love. 
 
 " Excuse this scrawl. I have some excuse ; you have none, 
 and I cannot read half of your letter ! 
 
 "Jeys, jun., is just returned from Passages. No accounts 
 of the prog ! " 
 
 On December 7th, orders were issued for forcing the passage 
 of the Nive on the 9th. Hope was to attack the French and 
 keep their troops in check, whilst Beresford and Hill crossed 
 the Nive. Beresford, with the 2nd and 6th divisions, was to 
 cross at Ustarits ; whilst Hill, with the 3rd division, Hamil- 
 ton's Portuguese, Vivian's and Victor Alten's cavalry, and four- 
 teen guns, was to ford the river at Cambo and Laressore ; 
 and to cover Hill, on the right, Morillo's Spaniards were to 
 cross at Itzazu. Foy was in front of Laressore, and Paris 
 and D'Erlon were near by on the heights. 
 
 On the 9th, Hill forced the passage above and below 
 Cambo m ith slight resistance, though the fords were so deep 
 that several horsemen were drowned, and the French strongly 
 posted at Halzou. 
 
 Hill placed a brigade of infantry at Urcurray, to cover the 
 bridge of Cambo, and to support the cavalry, which he 
 despatched to scour the roads towards Lahoussoa, St. Jean 
 Pied-de-Port, and Hasparren, and to observe Paris and 
 Pierre Soult ; whilst he himself marched to the heights of 
 Larmenthoa. 
 
 The greatest danscer now was that Paris, reinforced bv 
 Soult, should have returned and fallen either on IVIorillo or 
 the brigade left at Urcurray in the rear, whilst Soult, rein- 
 forcing D'Erlon, attacked Hill and Beresford in front. It 
 
i8i3 CAMPAIGN OF 1813 173 
 
 was to prevent this that Hope and Alten pressed the enemy 
 on the left. 
 
 The Allies were now divided by the Nive; and Soult 
 determined to attack their left on the 10th. In order to do 
 so, he abandoned the heights in HilFs front. Wellington 
 directed Hill to occupy these, and at the same time moved 
 the 3rd, 4th, and 7th divisions to the left to oppose Soult, 
 who was then repulsed. 
 
 On the 11th there was a thick fog, but Soult sent his 
 cavalry over the Nive at Mousseroles, to check the incursions 
 of HilPs horsemen. 
 
 On the 13th, Soult marched against Hill, and drove the 
 Allied posts from Hasparren. Colonel Napier, in giving an 
 account of this day's proceedings in his history, says : 
 
 " Colonel Vivian, who commanded there, immediately 
 ordered Major Brotherton to charge with the 14th Dragoons 
 across the bridge ; but it was an ill-judged order, and the 
 improbability of succeeding so manifest, that when Brother- 
 ton, noted throughout the army for his daring, galloped 
 forward, only two men and one subaltern — Lieutenant South- 
 well — passed the narrow bridge with him, and they were all 
 taken. 
 
 Vivian then, seeing his error, charged with his whole 
 brigade to rescue them, yet in vain ; he was forced to fall 
 back upon Urcurray, where Morillo's Spaniards had relieved 
 the British infantry brigade on the 11th. 
 
 This threatening movement induced General Hill to put 
 the British brigade in march again from Urcurray on the 
 13th, but he recalled it at sunset, having then discovered 
 Soult's columns passing the Nive by the boat bridge above 
 Bayonne. 
 
 In the night of the 13th the rain swelled the Nive, and 
 carried away the Allies' means of communication. It was 
 soon restored ; but, on the morning of the 1 3th, General 
 Hill was completely cut off from the rest of the army, and 
 while seven French divisions approached him in front, an 
 eighth, under Paris, and the cavalry division of Soult 
 menaced him in the rear. 
 
 To meet the French in his front he had less than 14,000 
 
174 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1813 
 
 men; and there were only 4000 Spaniards and Vivian's 
 cavalry at Urcurray. 
 
 The battle of St. Pierre on the 13th resulted in Soult 
 being repulsed by Hill. Yet the French maintained their 
 line towards the Adour, for Sparre's cavalry, passing out that 
 way, rejoined Soult on the side of Hasparren. 
 
 During the day Soult and Paris menaced Morillo's and 
 Vivian's cavalry at Urcurray ; however, not more than thirty 
 men of a side were hurt, and when Soult's ill-success became 
 known, the French retired to Bonloc." 
 
 It will be seen that whilst Colonel Napier describes the 
 order given by Colonel Vivian on the 13th, as an " ill-judged 
 one," and " improbable of success," yet Colonel Vivian gives 
 a very different account of it in the letter copied post. 
 
 According to his account (and as he was on the spot, and 
 wrote immediately after the event, he ought to have known 
 what actually occurred), his object was to "drive the enemy 
 out of the town," and he says nothing about an order to 
 charge the bridge ; but he states that the two officers were 
 taken prisoners " in consequence of their extravagant gallan- 
 try ; " which, even according to Colonel Napier's statement 
 about Major Brotherton, appears extremely probable. 
 
 The above is not the only occasion in which Colonel 
 Napier thought fit to attempt to disparage Colonel Vivian's 
 abilities as a soldier, as will be seen hereafter. 
 
 "Napier's account, founded on the evidence of Major W. 
 Brotherton, who commanded the 14th Light Dragoons on 
 this occasion, was, as he subsequently admitted, 'in some 
 measure wrong,' and he promised to set the matter right in 
 any future editions of his work." — Royal United Service 
 Journal, October, 1896. 
 
 Among the preparations described by Alison as having 
 been made by Wellington for the passage of the Nive was 
 this : 
 
 "On the right Sir Rowland Hill, with the 2nd and 
 
i8i3 CAMPAIGN OF 1813 175 
 
 Portuguese divisions, Vivian's and Victor Alten's cavalry, and 
 Ross's horse artillery, was to put himself in motion in the 
 night between the 8th and 9th, so as to pass the Nive by the 
 fords of Cambo at daybreak on the latter day, and advance 
 by the great road from St. Jean Pied-de-Port towards Bayonne. 
 
 The main attack was to be made by the centre and 
 right. 
 
 Hill's troops, on the 9th, under cover of the artillery, 
 forced the passage on the right above and below Cambo, and 
 drove the French left wing back on the great road to Bayonne. 
 With such vigour was the onset made that Foy, who com- 
 manded in that quarter, was separated from his men and 
 driven across the fields towards Hasparren. 
 
 Hill shortly after noon attacked D'Armagnac's troops at 
 Villefranche and the heights adjoining, and, after some sharp 
 fighting and one repulse, drove them out of the former, and 
 established themselves in strength on the latter, the French 
 retiring in heavy rain, by deep and almost impassible roads, 
 towards Bayonne. 
 
 During the night Soult drew back his forces into the 
 entrenched camp at Bayonne, and early on the 10th issued 
 forth with 60,000 men to assail one-half of the Allies, not 
 mustering more than 30,000, on the British left, many of 
 whom, not thinking of an attack, had retired to their canton- 
 ments, some miles in the rear. 
 
 The French were at first partly successful, but ultimately 
 were repulsed. 
 
 On the 11th more fighting took place, when about 600 
 on each side were killed. 
 
 On the 12th a severe cannonade killed about 400 on each 
 side, and on the night of the 12th Soult again attacked Hill, 
 and by daylight of the 13th had placed 35,000 men in front 
 of him, while 7000 menaced his rear. 
 
 Beresford's bridge over the Nive had been swept away, so 
 that Hill was unsupported ; but, though his position was at 
 one time extremely critical, he held his ground till Wellington 
 arrived with other divisions of the army and drove the enemy 
 back into their entrenched camp." 
 
 " Hasparren, Decemier 14, 1813. 
 
 "After five hours' fighting, and a prospect of five more, 
 Jiere we are, not much advanced ; nor shall be until the lord 
 
176 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1813 
 
 gets Bayonne — and that is not the work of a day or 
 week ! 
 
 " Soult is determined to die hard. He has attacked three 
 days following, and always with great loss. W^e cover the 
 right flank, and have not had much to do. 
 
 " The French have two brigades of cavalry opposed to me, 
 and Lord Wellington having called for one of my regiments, 
 I was left with the 14!th alone — about 350 — to look after 
 them. This has worried and harassed me much. For four 
 days I have never undressed ; but last night Alten's brigade 
 arrived to my support. 
 
 " I then determined to avenge myself for the impertinence 
 of the enemy, and advanced with the 14th to drive them out 
 of this town, in which I succeeded, making some prisoners, 
 and killing and wounding a few others ; but, I am sorry to 
 say, with the loss on our side of Major Brotherton and 
 Lieutenant Southwell taken pi'isoners. 
 
 "The officers were taken owing to their extravagant 
 gallantry. They rushed so far into the French that one had 
 his horse killed, and the other was taken away in the crowd." 
 
 " Urt, December i8, 1813. 
 
 " My dearest Eli, — Ever since the crossing of the Nive 
 on the 9th I have been so constantly in sight of the 
 enemy, and so constantly on the alert, that I have not had 
 time to sit down and write to a single friend, excepting 
 only the few minutes I found for your service the other 
 day. I am now but little more quiet. On my flank is 
 the Adour, with Foy's division of infantry on the other 
 side ; and in my front is the 5th regiment of Chasseurs-a- 
 cheval. I have with me 200 infantry only, so that I must 
 look out ! The 5th Chasseurs are nearly as strong as my 
 brigade ! 
 
 " This is the most infernal country to campaign in I ever 
 met with. For ten days I have been covered ^^•ith mud. 
 You can have no conception of the sort of lanes — I can't call 
 
i8i3 CAMPAIGN OF 1813 177 
 
 them roads — that we have here ; up and down stiff hills, 
 knee deep in mud. From head to foot we are all covered, 
 and, being without our baggage, you may imagine we are 
 pretty figures. 
 
 " In every other respect the country is good. In spring it 
 must be beautiful. The houses are good ; the inhabitants 
 civil ; and plenty of everything to be had ; that is, plenty of 
 chickens, eggs, &c. 
 
 " They all are, or pretend to be, rejoiced at our arrival. 
 It certainly has saved their sons from the conscription — they 
 say to the amount of 1500 in the country we now occupy ; 
 but I do not anywhere observe a spirit of resistance to the 
 conscription. They all say: 'We are rejoiced you are 
 arrived as it has saved us ; ' but they do nowhere say, ' We 
 would not have gone.' However, an ensign who is believed 
 to be an agent of the Royalist party yesterday came to us to 
 say that the people in the interior were everywhere disposed 
 to rise, and that we have nothing to do but cross the Adour ; 
 but I fear the Adour is not so easily crossed, for the roads 
 here are so tremendously bad that it really is quite out 
 of the question endeavouring to advance with an army and 
 supplies, &c. 
 
 " I have no conception how we get on even now, and I 
 shall be much surprised if all our baggage animals do not die 
 under it. In the event of any reverse I am confident that 
 the immediate consequence would be the entire loss of all our 
 baggage ; but I do not like to anticipate misfortunes. I 
 hope the reverse will happen ; but if Buonaparte is able to 
 call out the conscription, and assemble 100,000 men at 
 Bordeaux, we can advance but little further. 
 
 " How admirably things go on in the north. I long to 
 hear the Allies have crossed the Rhine, and to know the result. 
 If the French have any spunk in them they will assuredly 
 follow the example of Holland and get rid of the tyrant. 
 Nothing but his fall can restore peace to Europe ; and the 
 sooner the day comes the better.'" 
 
 M 
 
178 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1813 
 
 At this time, Russia, Austria, and Prussia, had combined 
 together and were preparing to invade France; but they had 
 not yet crossed the Rhine. 
 
 The object of both generals, at this period of the war, was 
 to nourish their armies and circumvent their adversary in 
 this i-espect. Soult aimed to make WelHngton retire into 
 Spain ; Wellington to make Soult abandon Bayonne, or so 
 reduce his force in the entrenched camp that the works might 
 be stormed. At Urt, the stream being narrow, the navigation 
 could be interrupted. Soult therefore ordered Foy to build 
 & fortified bridge there, but Wellington menaced him with a 
 superior force, and made him recross the river. 
 
 Soult, embarrassed by Foy's failure, reinforced him with 
 Boyer's and D'Armagnac's divisions, and transferred his head- 
 quarters to Peyrehorade. 
 
 " Urt (on the River ADonR), 
 
 " December 23, 1813. 
 
 " To-morrow, my dearest Eli, is the birthday of my darling 
 boy. I shall commence the day by offering a prayer for his 
 happiness and that of the dear woman who gave him birth ; 
 ■ and I shall end it by dining off a roast turkey and drinking, 
 the largest bumper of wine I can get to both your dear 
 healths. Thornhill and Eraser I have written to, to come 
 and partake of the cheer my house affords, both for to-morrow 
 and Christmas day. I have a turkey one day, and a goose 
 the next, stuffed with potatoes. 
 
 " I am now quartered in the country house of one of the 
 best and dearest women in the world. Don't be jealous now, 
 Eli ; for observe, she is upwards of fifty years old, and is a 
 widow with daughters as old as you ; but, alas, the daughters 
 are absent. So to return to my widow ; never did there exist 
 a better woman. Poor soul ! she is frightened out of her 
 wits, and she considers me her guardian angel. She cannot 
 do too much for me ; her house, and everything belonging to 
 it, is at my service, and Madame Genevoit is never happy 
 
i8i3 CA:VIPAIGN of 1813 179 
 
 unless she is conferring some act of kindness on me. Stewed 
 pears, stewed apples, jellies, preserves, and wines, are daily 
 furnished for my table, together with the nicest napkins and 
 table-cloths I ever saw. 
 
 " Her property is small, but delightfully situated, consisting 
 of vineyards and garden ground. She has two boys and two 
 girls, and her house is a little outside the town, beautifully 
 situated on the magnificent river Adour. We occupy a very 
 comfortable parlour (only a stone floor), two capital bed- 
 rooms, a good kitchen, and excellent stables, farmyard, &c. ; 
 and altogether we could not, on this side of the water, have 
 found better Christmas quarters. 
 
 " I very much fear, however, I shall not remain here long, 
 for Alten is going home, and they have desired me to take 
 his brigade. I have begged to decline and keep that I have, 
 which I like very much ; and I hope my prayers may be 
 heard. If not I must go off to Hasparren, which is now full 
 of infantry, and which consequently I have no fancy for ; for 
 it is the devil to be so situated ! 
 
 " We are now stuck fast in mud and water ; no possibility 
 of moving, either for the enemy or us ; nor do I suppose 
 either party wish it. We all want a little rest ! 
 
 " I expect General Fane here to-morrow, to take charge of 
 I know not what besides my brigade ; but to please him, 
 they must, forsooth, call him a general of division ! There 
 is nothing here but Spaniards and myself. However, I shall 
 do very well with him, I have no doubt. 
 
 " The 7th are now at Hasparren. From Fellows I hear 
 that they have already been three days without bread — 
 literally starving — and two men have shot themselves. They 
 will want me back soon I expect ! 
 
 " You have no conception of anything so abominably cold 
 
 as the letter I received from in answer to one I wrote 
 
 him taking leave of the regiment. My letter was dictated 
 from my heart, and I spoke my feelings towards the regiment. 
 I know not what dictated the answer ; but I should feel 
 
180 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1S13 
 
 excessively sorry if I thought any officer of the regiment 
 approved of it. In short, it was by no means such a letter as 
 I had a right to expect, and in fact did expect, from them ; 
 but nimpm-te ! I cannot help liking them still, and have 
 applied to have them, if I may, in my brigade. 
 
 " I am a stupid man ! I made up this letter and directed 
 it to Lord Uxbi'idge, so I must now put it into an envelope, 
 which will cost you something for nothing. 
 
 "I will now tell you the news of my family. Higgins 
 goes on admirably ; he is really a most excellent servant ; 
 always ready, always good humoured. William also is very 
 good. Jarvis and his wife are most useful people. Walker 
 is so ill that he must go to England. Edward Walker was 
 taken prisoner with my mules, as I told you before. 
 
 "■ My horses are all well. ' Dragon,' still fat as a beast ; 
 and so is the horse you rode — ' Johnny.' ' Jane ' and 
 ' Slasher ' quite well. Poor ' Dash ' still at Bilbao. 
 
 "I have just heard that Grant was taken, going home. 
 Poor fellow, he was very ill. I am truly sorry for him. In 
 the packet were letters for you, Sharpe, Hodge, and Lord 
 Uxbridge. Pray write to the two former to explain my 
 silence. Two mails have now arrived without a letter from 
 you. How is this ? " 
 
 Colonel Vivian was now transfeiTed from his former 
 brigade, of the 10th and 14th, to that of General Alten,, 
 consisting of the 18th and German Hussars, who were 
 quartered at Hasparren. He, however, did not take over 
 the command of them till January 1, 1814. 
 
 " Just before Colonel Vivian took command of this brigade,, 
 the 18th Hussars, whilst on a foraging expedition, had a 
 severe skirmish near Mendione and Macaye, during which the 
 Spaniards, under Morillo, who were with them, withdrew,, 
 without informing Major Hughes, who commanded the 
 18th, of their intention. The cavalry were consequently 
 turned, and escaped with difficulty, having had one captain 
 
i8i3 CAMPAIGN OF 1813 181 
 
 killed, and two others (Hughes himself and a lieutenant) 
 wounded. 
 
 The unfortunate issue of this affair was attributed to the 
 bad conduct of the 18th Hussars, against whom Wellington 
 was, by a malicious misrepresentation, previously prejudiced ; 
 for at Vitoria they had been unjustly accused of being more 
 licentious in plundering than others." — " Life of Napoleon," 
 c. vi. p. 414. 
 
 " Ukt, December 29, 1813. 
 
 " ^Iy DEAiiEST Eli, — It is now upwards of a month since 
 the date of your last letter. What in the name of mercy 
 can occasion this long silence ? I hear there is another mail 
 at headquarters ; but as the post goes to-morrow, I shall 
 write you in order that you may not be disappointed in the 
 manner I have been. 
 
 " I desired Edward this morning to write to you, thinking- 
 it possible that I might not return from the outposts in time. 
 However, I have a quarter of an hour to dinner, and I cannot 
 employ this time better than by assuring you, myself, of my 
 health, &c. 
 
 " Edward will, I have no doubt, have told you how we go 
 on in every way. I am sorry to say that I have left my dear 
 old widow's house. General Fane, as a senior officer, turned 
 me out ! However, I am by no means in an uncomfortable 
 house, appertaining to 'Mons. le Medecin,' who, with his 
 young wife, has fled to Dax, leaving his house all to me. Of 
 course he fled before I arrived, or, I flatter myself, the young 
 wife, at all events, would have remained ! 
 
 " We are in very comfortable quarters, and, as yet, have 
 plenty to eat and drink, and, thank God, Edward and myself 
 are as well as any fellow in England. I cannot say so much 
 for my household. Poor Walker gets worse daily, and is of 
 no use whatever. Higgins is far from well ; William still worse. 
 Blofield, my famille orderly, goes into general hospital with 
 a fever. Old Foxlow and Hubbard in great force. My horses 
 and mules in great foi-ce. So much for family concerns. 
 
182 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1813 
 
 " I am appointed to the command of General Alten's 
 brigade, consisting of the 18th and German Hussars. I 
 would much rather have kept the one I had, but Fane is 
 to have it, as Grant does not return. I hope in my new 
 one to change the Germans for the 7th, and then I shall be 
 happy. I saw Thornhill two days since at Hasparren. He 
 
 tells me the 7th are going on very badly. K has no 
 
 management, no arrangement ; in short, they want me back, 
 so he says ; and this is, he tells me, the wish of the maj ority 
 of the officers. However, I suppose the men do not think 
 so ; for he lets them do pretty well as they like, and after 
 he had made them a speech, on my going, they gave him 
 three cheers. He is always courting popularity, you know. 
 I never cared a damn for it. I did my duty. Those that 
 pleased might like or dislike me. However, I cannot help 
 thinking, if it were put to the vote of both men and officers, 
 I should have the majority. I am sure I should of all those 
 worth commanding. 
 
 " Pray write constantly, and long letters. No news of my 
 things from Falmouth ! 
 
 " Hasparren, January 5, 1814. 
 
 " My deauest Eli, — I arrived here on the 1st of the 
 month to take charge of ui}' new brigade, the 18th Hussars 
 and German Hussars. I assure you I do not like them half 
 as well as the last. I shall see to-morrow \^hat they are 
 made of, for these impertinent fellows, the French, have of 
 late been disturbing us considerably ; and we mean therefore 
 to make them pay for it. 
 
 " I have for the last two days had my old friends, the 7th, 
 under my command, and I assure you I was delighted to see 
 them ; and for the last two days also I have had the pleasure 
 of giving my old friends, Thornhill, Eraser, Kerrison, and 
 Lowther, a good dinner, when they otherwise would have 
 starved. Eraser and Thornhill are now in the room with 
 me, and desire to be most kindly remembered. 
 
i8i4 CAMPAIGN OJF 1813 18S 
 
 "We have had no mail from England since that of the 
 9th, and we are consequently in a very considerable state of 
 anxiety as to the proceedings of our Allies in the north. 
 There is a report that Switzerland has j oined us ; if so, it is 
 a great thing for the Imperial army in Italy. 
 
 "I hope after to-morrow we shall have a little peace and 
 quiet for some time ; but, to tell you the truth, I do not 
 much expect it. I shall, however, be better able to tell you 
 how this is likely to be after we have settled the business 
 with these impertinent fellows who are now annoying me. 
 
 '■''January 8. — I have just time to tell you that both Ned 
 and myself are alive and well. The French, on the 6th, ran 
 like merry fellows ; and we ran after them ; but they had the 
 heels of us. We will now, I hope, have a little peace and 
 quiet for a week or ten days. 
 
 "We fully expect a peace here, at which I shall be 
 delighted ; although it will lose me about dfi'lOOO a year, if I 
 am not on the staff. 
 
 " No things yet arrived at Passages. Sugar 3,y. 6'(i. a 
 pound ; hams Its. 6d. ; fowls 12s. a couple ; and everything 
 else in proportion ; and I have to feed four people — A.D.C., 
 Brigade-Major, and Quarter-Master-General Campbell ! My 
 B.-M. is a nice young German, Claudt." 
 
 " Wellington had intended to fall upon the enem}^ at once, 
 but the swelling of the small rivers prevented him. 
 
 However, on January 5, the Portuguese marched against 
 the French rig;ht ; the 4th division against their centre ; the 
 3rd, supported by cavalry, against their left ; the remainder 
 of the cavalry and the 7th division, under Sir S. Cotton, wei-e 
 posted at Hasparren to watch Paris on the side of Bonloc. 
 
 Soult was at Bastide de Clarence, and a general battle 
 appeared imminent ; but the intention of the English general 
 was merely to drive back the enemy from the Joyeuse; and 
 the French general, thinking the whole Allied army was in 
 movement, directed the troops at La Costa to retire fighting 
 upon the Bidouze. 
 
 The affair terminated therefore with a slight skirmish on 
 
184 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1814 
 
 the evening of the 6th, and the Allies resumed their old 
 positions." — " Life of Napoleon," vol. vi. p. 417. 
 
 " Hasparren, January ii, 1814. 
 
 " I have received your letter, my dearest John, of Decem- 
 ber 24. A thousand thanks for the good wishes it contains, 
 which I return to you, and to all the house of Vivian, with 
 tenfold interest. 
 
 " We are pretty much in the same position as when I last 
 wrote to Truro. Covering too much ground, we are liable at 
 any moment to be harassed by the enemy ; and they daily 
 take advantage of it. A day seldom passes without my being- 
 roused out to the outposts, to stand like a crow to be shot 
 at for half an hour ! 
 
 " When this is over we are all the best friends possible, 
 and ride down to the river and talk across it as aiFectionately 
 as if we were sworn allies ! I should tell you that the river is 
 precisely such a stream as runs at the bottom of our garden 
 (neither more nor less), fordable in ten thousand places, but 
 an excellent line of demarcation ; and such it is understood 
 to be. 
 
 " This morning at half-past four I was roused out of my 
 bed by a considerable firing of musketry. I galloped down 
 to the advance and found that the enemy had attacked a hill 
 on their side of the water, on which I had a sergeant and six, 
 and a sergeant and twelve infantry. 
 
 " They came on with about 150 men. Of course they 
 soon drove us beyond the river ; but, the firing still con- 
 tinuing, I went down and holloaed to the French to cease 
 firing and to send an officer to me. 
 
 " In a very short time an A.D.C. of D'Armagnac's came to 
 me, and I asked him if his only object had been to carry the 
 post. If so, I told him, he should have had it by asking for 
 it, without the loss of two or three poor fellows'' lives on each 
 side ; to which he replied he had done ; it was their only 
 object to gain the bank of the river, and he concluded that 
 
i8i4 CAMPAIGN OF 1813 185 
 
 I would admit that they had a right to it as the proper hne. 
 I assented. The firing ceased ; and we talked together for 
 half an hour. 
 
 " I mention this to show you how we go on. A forage, or 
 any trifle, brings on a skirmish daily ; but it ends in our all 
 being the best friends possible ; and this I expect will be the 
 case for some weeks to come, when we shall either have a 
 peace, or advance, or retreat. A peace I scarcely look to ; 
 there is so much to settle. Nothing but Austria positively 
 saying "Je le veux" will do, to my mind. As to Lord 
 Castlereagh's mission, I view it more as a warlike than as a 
 peaceable embassy. 
 
 " Advance we cannot, without more troops ; and you are 
 sending them all to Holland. Retreat we will not, whilst 
 we can feed where we are. We have now about 45,000 
 effective British and Portuguese, and the army is very 
 healthy, but dreadfully reduced from hard blows. Divisions 
 that were 6000, 7000, and 8000 men, are now 3000 and 
 4000 ; none exceed 5000. Some regiments that left Portugal 
 900 strong have not now 200 effective — many, I may say. 
 
 "We have nothing but hard work, so we keep up very 
 well. My brigade is 800, as you will see by the return I 
 send for your amusement and information. 
 
 "We have a report that the grand Allied army have 
 marched upon Basle, and from thence are to advance to 
 Lyons and cut off Italy. It would be a bold move if it 
 takes place. More extraordinary things have occurred than 
 that we should give them a hand ; but I can scarcely look to 
 such an event. 
 
 " What stuff and nonsense the papers talk about Bayonne 
 being blockaded, &c. ! We have not a man across the 
 Adour, and the French have just as free an exit to Bordeaux 
 as you would have from Bodmin to Truro if the enemy were 
 at Chevala and Calenick. We have no chance, in my mind, 
 of getting Bayonne without a siege ; and then it will be a 
 work of six weeks or two months, with the loss of at least 
 
186 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1814 
 
 5000 men in the siege, and with the certainty of a general 
 action. You may judge from this what prospect there is of 
 our advancing much. 
 
 " At present we are much crippled also by a want of 
 forage ; but when the grass begins to grow, the valleys of 
 this country are so fertile that they will afford us excellent 
 green forage, and get up the horses that are not starved 
 between this and then ; and we shall then, I conclude, think 
 of moving on. I expect it will be by marching towards 
 Dax ; but much is to be done between this and then. 
 
 " Instead of saying we are crippled for want of forage, I 
 should have said that our cavalrv are literally starving ; 
 neither hay nor corn ! The country is exhausted by the 
 number of troops that are feeding on it. My horses are as 
 yet doing very well. If the brigadier commanding the 
 advanced cavalry cannot take care of himself, who should ? 
 ' Dragon ' is as fat as butter. 
 
 " I v.\sh. to heaven you had come out to me. I do not 
 keep the worst table in the world, I assure you ; but had you 
 come, I should have purchased the pleasure dearly at the 
 expense of the feelings of our parents ; so all is for the 
 best! 
 
 " Since I commenced this I have been to the advanced 
 posts, and agreed with the French not to fire on each other 
 but in cases of a serious attack ; so we now ride along, side 
 by side, within five yards of each other, without any more 
 danger of being shot than you are in when hunting on the 
 town burrows. This is doing as gentlemen should. They 
 really are devilish civil, honourable fellows, and know how to 
 make war. They behaved admirably to the t^^o officers of 
 the 14th made prisoners. 
 
 " If we have a peace I shall return through Paris, if I can, 
 to save the misery of the sea." 
 
 In the sixth volume of Napier's " History,'' p. 422, several 
 instances are given of the friendly intercourse that at this 
 
i8i4 CAMPAIGxN OF 1813 187 
 
 time existed, by mutual agreement, between the French and 
 English outposts. 
 
 " Hasparren January 14, 1814. 
 
 " My dearest Eli, — Ned will have told you all the news 
 here, how we go on, &c. &c. He has more time than I have, 
 for he is never happy but ' over a fire of wood,'' or, I must do 
 him the justice to say, ' under a fire of shot,' or in bed ! He 
 is a good creature, but entre nous, the very indolentest (to 
 coin a word for the occasion) young man I ever met with. 
 
 " We are preciselv in the statu quo as when I last wrote 
 you, and so I expect we shall remain for some time to come 
 — a week or ten days. By that time, if we do not move on, 
 I expect Mr. Soult will think of trying to make us move 
 back. 
 
 " John Keane is quartered close to us, and we see a good 
 deal of him. He is a very good fellow, a very good officer, 
 and very much liked. 
 
 " We are all very anxious here for news from the Austrian 
 army that is advancing upon Lyons. ^Ve hear from the 
 French themselves of their having arrived at Besan^on. I 
 wish to God we could give them a hand, and advance with 
 them ; but the bad roads and the want of transport will 
 completely prevent our moving for some time. 
 
 " We are most anxious to hear also the result of Lord 
 Castlereagh's embassy. For my part, I think he is princi- 
 pally gone from an alarm lest the Allies should make a peace 
 and leave us in the lurch. I am not one of those Quixotes 
 who calculate upon marching to Paris, unless well seconded 
 by the French themselves; and therefore I think that the 
 best way will be to make a good peace whilst we can. By a 
 'good peace' I mean an honourable and liberal one to all 
 parties. It will not do to screw any one too tight ; the con- 
 sequence would be a renewal of the war on the first oppor- 
 tunity ; and, for my part, if I once sheathe the sword I do 
 not wish again to unsheathe it. 
 
188 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1814 
 
 " So much for my speculations on affairs. By-the-bye, 
 dearest Eli, I am always delighted to have yours in return ; 
 but I wish you would not half fill your letters, as you do 
 sometimes, with news from the papers, the whole of which I 
 see. Your paper is too small, and you have so many other 
 things to write about, that I can spare this ! As to papers, 
 I am almost the only officer in the anny who has them not. 
 Once more I beg you to desire Huntley to send me the 
 Globe. Ned grumbles terribly at their non-arrival. I tell 
 him it is all your fault ! 
 
 " I hear there are several ships lost near Passages. I am 
 in a great fright for my hams, tongues, &c. I shall send 
 again very soon after them. 
 
 "Poor Walker was so ill that I was obliged to send him 
 off last week for England ; and poor old Foxlow was, last 
 week, also left in general hospital at Cambo. William has 
 also been very ill, but is now much better. All the rest 
 stout and well. I have now an excellent establishment, but 
 in the event of advancing into France I shall send all my 
 valuables to the rear, so I shall not yet part with my old 
 canteens." 
 
 " Haspareen, January 21, 1814. 
 
 " My dearest Eli, — I again return to my weekly duty of 
 announcing to you my being perfectly well, &c. 
 
 " Nothing whatever worth mentioning has occurred since 
 I last wrote, except that poor Higgins, two days since, was 
 severely wounded whilst on a foraging expedition. The ball 
 went through his arm into his side, and ran round the 
 muscles of his back, lodging almost close to the bone, from 
 whence it was extracted, and he is now doing as well as 
 possible. 
 
 " My old friends, the 7th, have been great invalids for the 
 last week. Churnside, I am sorry to say, is seriously ill still. 
 Lowther has been in bed for six days, but writes me word 
 this morning that he is better. As soon as he is able to 
 
i8i4 CAMPAIGN OF 1813 189 
 
 move he is to come to my house to stay ; their kindness to 
 you demands some return from me. Pipon has been very ill, 
 and still looks dreadfully so. Uniacke is in hospital in the 
 rear, and Kerrison and Thornhill have been ailing. Old Irvin 
 is more altered than any man I ever saw. Ned and your 
 humble servant were never in more perfect preservation, and 
 if a comfortable house and good living will keep us so, we 
 shall have, I hope, no reason to complain. 
 
 " The French and ourselves remain exactly in statu quo — alt 
 quiet and likely to continue so. I yesterday talked for a 
 considerable time to a French officer. He told me Turkey 
 had declared war against Russia and us, and that Buonaparte 
 had gone from Paris at the head of 100,000 Imperial Guards 
 for Lyons, where he would find 350,000 of the levee en masse, 
 with the magistrates at their head. I told him I thought 
 they would be well commanded — that the magistrates would 
 make good generals, no doubt ! But, in truth, I believe not a 
 word of what he said. Buonaparte has not 100,000 Imperial 
 Guards, nor have the people risen en masse. We have re- 
 ports of insurrections at Nantes, Toulouse, &c., but I believe 
 not half the reports I hear.'" 
 
 Napoleon had ordered a levy of 300,000 conscripts ; but 
 it was not till January 25 that he set out from Paris ; on the 
 29th he defeated Blucher at Brienne. 
 
 " Lord Castlereagh has, I have no doubt, gone to prevent 
 a separate peace ; and I should not be surprised to see a 
 general one take place. Austria must have some little feeling 
 for Marie Louise. A very few weeks will let us into the 
 secret. We shall soon see how things are likely to go ! 
 
 " It is a gi-eat pity that we cannot stir from here to assist 
 the Austrians ; but we cannot move. The impossibility of 
 transporting provisions, &c., with us, precludes all hope of 
 our going on. 
 
 " I write to Hodge by this post, and have sent him my 
 
190 MCHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1814 
 
 letter to the regiment on leaving it, and answer, with 
 directions to send it to you. You will, I am sure, see that I 
 have reason to complain. I have never said a syllable to any 
 one but Thornhill on the subject, and I hear from him that 
 several officers disapproved of it, but did not like to speak. 
 
 " We are in expectation of a mail. Our last is only up to 
 the 31st. There is a report that the brevet is stopped on 
 account of the expectation of peace. If so, I hope it will be 
 stopped altogether; for to be a major-general, unemployed, 
 all peace, would make me poorer than ever by taking from 
 me my A.D.C.'s pay. However, we shall be able to do very 
 well by living quietly in the country on what we have. I 
 will see it fairly out, this war, come what will ; and then, 
 having once sheathed my sword, I hope never again to draw- 
 it, but to pass the remainder of my days in peace and quiet 
 with my Elizabeth and her boy, and all those that I love best 
 in the world about me. 
 
 " If the war continues I wish you to pack up and send out 
 for me my two A.D.C's coats, six shirts, four pair of net 
 pantaloon drawers, four under-waistcoats of the same, twelve 
 pair half stockings (thin worsted), six black neckties, six of 
 the white waistcoats I have at home, and half a dozen pairs of 
 the nankeen overalls and white trowsers, some of each, for 
 summer wear. 
 
 " I have written to Hodge about some other things he is 
 to send ; among the rest some hams, &c. He will send all 
 together. Communicate with him and settle between you ; 
 but send nothing till peace or war is decided. 
 
 "Pirect your letters France not Spain." 
 
 " Hasparren, January 28, 1814. 
 
 " Another week, dearest Eli, and nothing has occuiTed to 
 disturb us in our quarters ; and the weather is now so dread- 
 fully bad as to prevent either party from moving for some 
 time to come. In fact, before it is possible for us to do so, I 
 expect something very decided mHI have occurred ; for, if 
 
i8i4 CAAIPAIGN OF 1813 191 
 
 report speaks true, the Allied army is rapidly advancing into 
 France ; but I confess myself I expect a peace. The 
 Emperor of Austria seems so disposed, and all the other 
 powers must of course say aye." 
 
 "At this time the whole country was a vast quagmire. 
 It was with difficulty that provisions, or even orders, could 
 be conveyed to the different quarters ; December and 
 January were thus passed by the Allies." — " Life of Napoleon," 
 vol. vi. p. 423. 
 
 " Your two letters of December 31 and January 4 arrived 
 together. I do not expect a brevet, because, if there is peace, 
 they will be obliged to give another ; and therefore, not- 
 withstanding all reports to the contrary that we have had, I 
 think that they will hardly give us one just yet. It makes 
 very little difference to me. In fact, if there is a peace, it 
 would be worse for me being a Major- General ; for in that case 
 I should be off the staff, and lose my A.D.C.'s pay ; for I 
 certainly would not go to the East or West Indies from 
 choice, and I could not expect to be employed in England. 
 So I should take a house, and sit down quietly in the country, 
 and keep a pig — a horse, I fear, I should not be able to 
 afford, unless times changed. 
 
 " You must have been in a sad fuss about us during your 
 suspense, before the official documents arrived. But be 
 assured of it, we, the cavalry, can have but little hard fighting 
 until we advance considerably out of this country. It is by 
 no means adapted for mounted gentlemen ! 
 
 "What possibly can make you suppose that I shall be 
 quietly settled at Bordeaux.? Depend on it there is no 
 chance of that ! If there is peace, we shall move back into 
 Spain to embark ; if there is a continuance of the war, we 
 shall not be quietly settled at Bordeaux. 
 
 " If the war goes on send me the things I mentioned in 
 my last, but no wine ; we shall do very well with the wine 
 of this country. It is not claret, but very like it. 
 
192 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1814 
 
 " My horses, goats, servants, and dogs, all well ; excepting 
 poor ' Dash ' who has not yet returned from Bilbao. 
 'Slasher'' and 'Jane' as fat as butter. Higgins was tipsy 
 yesterday for the first time, but he is greatly ashamed of 
 himself. I gave it him properly, both with my tongue and 
 hand ; for I pushed him head first into his room and locked 
 him in ! I never saw a fellow so penitent, and he is in truth 
 an excellent servant. It was an old fellow-servant of his that 
 he met with who ga\e him some brandy-and-water before 
 dinner, and he was overtalcen he knew not how ! 
 
 " Lowther is better ; he is living in my house. I sent my 
 last letter by Colonel Hawkins of the 69th. He will call on 
 you if he can." 
 
 " Haspareen, Febniary 3, 1814. 
 
 •'My dearest Eli, — Your letter of the 17th has just this 
 instant reached me. . . . 
 
 " I have no idea but that we must shortly have a peace, 
 let the advance of the enemy be what it may. My opinion 
 is that, notwithstanding their talk of peace, the Allies mean, 
 if they can, to walk to Paris and upset Boney. They know 
 there is no safety for Europe else, and they think that by 
 giving out that peace is likely to take place, the people of 
 France are more likely to remain peaceably at home in their 
 houses, than if they were at once to declare that they would 
 march to Paris and overthrow the present Government. I 
 only lament that we cannot move on and assist them in this 
 operation, but, alas ! the weather gets worse and worse here, 
 and there is not the slightest chance of our being able to 
 move for a very considerable time ; so I cannot get my head 
 knocked off if I would. There is no hope for you at 
 present ! 
 
 " You will, ere this reaches you, have seen my letter to 
 
 , and his answer. I do not believe the man dislikes 
 
 me. I believe he was jealous of me, and was not anxious 
 that the officers should pay me any particular mark of atten- 
 
1 8 14 CAMPAIGN OF 1813 193 
 tion on leavina; them. You will observe that in 's 
 
 & 
 
 letter, there is not one expression of regret at my quitting 
 the regiment. I blame the officers for allowing this letter, 
 for it was a reply to one from me addressed generally. They 
 
 should, if they disapproved of 's answer, have said so. 
 
 However, I have had several messages on the subject, all very 
 
 gratifying ; and if dislikes me, I heap hot coals on his 
 
 head, for I have been invariably civil to him ever since, and 
 in two or three instances have had the pleasure of giving him 
 a dinner when he would not otherwise have had one. 
 
 " I hear you correspond with Thornhill ! Robbins told 
 me he saw a very handsome letter of yours on the subject of 
 my leaving the regiment. The old sinner did not show it to 
 me ! He generalty dines and sleeps at my house once or 
 twice a week, and so does Fraser. He is now by my side and 
 begs to be kindly remembered. 
 
 "John Keane also has just called in, and he desires to be 
 kindly remembered. He is an excellent fellow and, as I told 
 you before, no man more liked, and no better officer. 
 
 " No news yet of the hams, which I much regret ; for my 
 housekeeping is now most ruinous. Sugar and butter 5s. a 
 pound ! My last week's bills are 62 dollars. This is ruination ! 
 
 " I have just had an order to be in readiness to move on 
 with my brigade in about a fortnight. I am to have the 
 advance guard of cavalry ; so I shall, in about six weeks, 
 write from Paris." 
 
 The advance actually commenced on February 13. On 
 that day the Anglo-Portuguese army numbered about 70,000 
 — 10,000 being cavalry — and with the Spaniards it amounted 
 to 100,000. 
 
 The English general's first design was to threaten the 
 French left, and turn it by the sources of the river with Hill's 
 corps. 
 
 On the 12th and 13th, Hill's corps was concentrated about 
 Urcurray and Haspai-ren. 
 
 N 
 
194 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1814 
 
 On the 14th they marched in two columns. One by 
 Bonloc, to drive the French posts beyond the Joyeuse ; and 
 the other against Harispe, who was at Hellette. 
 
 On the 15th, Hill marched upon Garis, and Beresford sent 
 a brigade of the 7th division to the Bastide de Clarence. 
 The front was extended from Urt towards Garis — a distance 
 of twenty miles — and was too attenuated. 
 
 The fight near St. Palais alluded to in the following letter 
 is described in " Life of Napoleon,'" vol. vi. p. 529. 
 
 " Ayherre, February i6, 1814. 
 
 "At last, my dearest Eli, we have had a week's fine 
 weather, and we have made a forward movement, hitherto 
 without any opposition. 
 
 " The day before yesterday, the 2nd division, under Sir R. 
 Hill, with the 3rd, a Portuguese, and Morillo's Spaniards, in 
 all amounting to about 18,000 men, advanced from Has- 
 parren upon St. Palais. They reached Hellette the first night. 
 Last night they skirmished rather sharply near St. Palais, 
 and this morning, I hear, they have entered it, the enemy 
 having retired. 
 
 " My brigade is at Bardos and this place. We have not 
 fired a shot, but I have been very considerably harassed, 
 riding about from morning till night. 
 
 " The country here is by no means as rich as what we have 
 left. The mountains, or rather, large ranges of heathy hills, 
 do not abut in fertile valleys ; and what there was the French 
 have exhausted ; in short, they have ahimed (to anglicise a 
 French term) the country. Forage and provisions of all 
 sorts are not to be had for love or money, and unless we 
 soon move on and get into a better country we shall literally 
 starve. Bread is not to be had, nor are chickens, sheep, &c. 
 Bad beef and biscuit, and my Cornish tongues, constitute our 
 dinner food. 
 
 " I expect we shall find considerable opposition in crossing 
 the Gave de Pau, and still more the Adour; but I suppose 
 
i8i4 CAMPAIGN OF 1813 195 
 
 the lord has some plan in his head by which he thinks 
 suddenly to pounce upon these monsieurs ; and they will find 
 him on the other side of the Adour before they know what 
 he is about ! They talk of his crossing at the mouth of the 
 River Adour. I almost doubt it. I rather suspect his pre- 
 parations for so doing are all sham, and that he will cross 
 somewhere about Urt or Urcuit. However, there is no saying ; 
 he is a close sort of chap ! 
 
 " However, if he is right, we shall not cross at all ; for I 
 heard him take four to one in dubloons that we heard of 
 peace being made before the 21st of this month. Eh, bien! 
 If so, old girl, I shall have the pleasure of hugging you in 
 my arms before I am many months older ; but still, I cannot 
 help believing that the Allies have no intention of making 
 peace with Boney. I am persuaded they consider him a 
 troublesome dog that is better out of the way, and therefore 
 will set him aside if they can ; and all this talk of making 
 peace with him is humbug, in order that he may not have a 
 handle to move the people by. 
 
 " The Allies must now be prebty near Paris, if it is destined 
 that they are to get there at all. 
 
 " I have sold the pair of canteens that I purchased from 
 Lord Waldegrave for £200 to Lowther, and have sent the 
 money to the agents. My pay and allowances will, I hope, 
 more than cover my expenses here, although lately things 
 have been most exorbitantly dear. I paid, last week only, 
 82 dollars ! You see I have to keep a daily table for four, 
 both breakfast and dinner ; and this is the very devil ! How- 
 ever, I must try and get on as well as I can. 
 
 " I am afraid I am going to experience a sad loss (certainly 
 for some time, at least) in the services of the horse that was 
 John^s ; his leg has for some time been dreadfully swollen 
 and inflamed, and now it has gathered and broken, and he 
 can scarcely walk. However, we must rub on as we can. 
 
 "'Dash' has joined me from Bilbao with his leg quite 
 recovered — only a little lame. All the rest of my family are 
 
196 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1814 
 
 in high preservation. I have got a beautiful cock turkey, 
 which I mean to bring to England with me, if I can. I 
 never saw so tame a bird, or so handsome an one. I have 
 two goats, and that is all my animals in addition to those 
 with which you are already acquainted. 
 
 " Ned is blooming, but as lazy, and not more talkative, as 
 ever. I ought not, I think, to say ' as lazy ' quite ; for I do 
 now and then get him out a little early, and to bustle 
 a bit! 
 
 " I must now shut up my epistle to send to headquarters 
 to-morrow, so adieu." 
 
 On February 23 Colonel Vivian was with Beresford's 
 divisions, who held the line of the Bidouze down to its con- 
 fluence with the Adour. 
 
 "Apparently to distract the enemy, Beresford threw a 
 battalion over the Adour at Urt, and collected boats there 
 as if to form a bridge. 
 
 In the evening he recalled this detachment, yet con- 
 tinued the semblance of building a bridge until late on the 
 23rd, when he moved forward and drove Foy from Oyergave 
 and Hastingues into the entrenchments near the bridge of 
 Peyrehorade. The Allies lost fifty men, but Soult's right 
 and centre were thus held in check ; for Beresford, having 
 the 4th and 7th divisions and Vivian's cavalry, was strong 
 enough for Foy at Peyrehorade, and Taupin at the Bastide 
 de Beam. The rest of the French army was distributed at 
 Orthez and Sauveterre. 
 
 On February 24 Wellington put his troops in motion to 
 pass the Gave d'Oloron. The ford at Villenave, about three 
 miles below Doguen, was where Wellington intended to cross 
 the Adour at this part of his position ; but he made feints 
 of passing the river at Monfort, Barraute, and Sauveterre ; 
 and Vivian's Hussars, coming up from Beresford's right, 
 threatened all the foi'ds between Picton's left and the Bastide 
 de Beam ; and below this some detachments were directed 
 upon the fords of Sindos, Castagnhede, and Hauterive. 
 
 Beresford, during this movement, kept Foy in check at 
 Peyrehorade with the 7th division, and sent the 4th towards 
 
i8i4 CAMPAIGN OF 1813 197 
 
 Sordes and Laren to seek a fit place to throw a bridge 
 over. 
 
 Thus the whole of the French front was menaced on a 
 line of twenty-five miles ; hut the great force was above 
 Sauveterre. 
 
 The first operations were not happily directed on the side 
 of Sindos, for the columns there missed the fords. 
 
 Picton opened a cannonade against the bridge-head at 
 Sauveterre, and made four companies of Keane's brigade and 
 some cavalry, pass the Gave in the vicinity of the bridge. 
 They were immediately assailed by a French regiment, and 
 driven across the river, with the loss of ninety men and 
 officers, of whom some were drowned, and some made 
 prisoners ; whereupon the cavalry returned to the right 
 bank, and the cannonade ceased." — "Life of Napoleon," vol. vi. 
 p. 547. 
 
 Colonel Vivian alludes to this affair in the next letter, and 
 he explains how it occurred. 
 
 " On the 25th Lord Wellington was near Orthez with the 
 2nd, 6th, and Light divisions, and five regiments of cavalry. 
 
 The 3rd division and a brigade of cavalry were in front 
 of the broken bridge of Bereux. The 4th and 7th divisions, 
 with Vivian's cavalry, were in front of Peyrehorade, from 
 whence Foy retired by the great Bayonne road to Orthez." — 
 " Life of Napoleon," vol. vi. p. 549. 
 
 " Bastide de Bearn, 
 
 " On the Gave d'Oloron, 
 
 February 25, 1814. 
 
 "My DEAiiEST Eli, — Since I last wrote from Ayherre I 
 have been so constantly on the move that I have not had a 
 minute's leisure to write. 
 
 " We are arrived thus far without any serious opposition, 
 and the weather has favoured us excessively. It has not 
 rained now for upwards of a fortnight, and in consequence 
 all the rivers are fordable, and the roads passable ; and if it 
 only lasts fine for a few days longer, we shall, I hope, succeed 
 in passing the Adour. 
 
198 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1814 
 
 " Lord Wellington yesterday passed the Gave d'Oloron 
 above Sauveterre with the 2nd and Light divisions, and a 
 Portuguese and Spanish division, and my old brigade of 
 cavalry. He had no fighting. 
 
 " At Sauveterre was the 3rd division, with Lord E. Somer- 
 set's brigade of cavalry, with orders to threaten a passage 
 there, but not to cross. Somehow or other, however, either 
 through Sir S. Cotton or Picton, the Light companies of John 
 Keane's brigade passed, and, not being supported, they were 
 driven back with the loss of five officers and forty men, killed 
 and wounded. John's horse was wounded, and I only wonder 
 at his getting back at all ! There were very high words 
 between Picton and Cotton on the disaster happening, and I 
 expect some inquiry will follow. Thank God, John is not 
 blamed, as far as I can learn ; he received positive orders to 
 cross. 
 
 " I must tell you how gallantly our friend Eraser behaved ; 
 and I beg of you to write the account to Lady Eraser, from 
 me. It will so delight her — Sir William, at least. 
 
 " Sir S. Cotton called for a subaltern and six men of the 
 7th to lead the way across the river in order to show the 
 ford to the infantry ; and, no subaltern being immediately in 
 front of the regiment, there was the trifling delay of sending 
 to the rear of a squadron for one ; upon which. Sir S. 
 Cotton reflected on the slowness of the Hussars, and said he 
 wished he had one of the old brigades there. 
 
 " Eraser was by, and heard this, and he most gallantly 
 said, 'Subaltern or captain, it is no matter which, I will take 
 the six men over, and lead the way across. And this he did 
 through a most difficult and deep ford (so bad that several 
 infantry were drowned), and under a very severe fire of the 
 enemy's infantry from a house on the other side, and he was 
 the first man that landed. As God's mercy would have it, 
 neither he nor any of his men were touched. How they 
 escaped is wonderful ! 
 
 " Now to return to the position of the army. My brigade 
 
i8i4 CAMPAIGN OF 1813 199 
 
 was (and is now) on the left of the 3rd division, with orders 
 to threaten the fords over the Gave between Sauveterre and 
 Peyrehorade. 
 
 " On my left is Marshal Beresford, with the 4th and 7th 
 divisions, opposite Peyrehorade. 
 
 "The 6th division is at Bardos, and the 5th and 1st, 
 under Sir J. Hope, are watching Bayonne. What they have 
 been doing I know not ; but there was a very heavy firing 
 there two days since. Whether they have passed the Adour 
 there, or not, I cannot say ; but there is a report that such a 
 plan is in contemplation.'" 
 
 Sir J. Hope crossed the Adour below Bayonne on the 
 23rd, which would account for the firing heard by Colonel 
 Vivian. 
 
 "We are now getting into a country where the houses 
 begin to look French, the furniture neat, most admirable beds, 
 the people all understanding a little French, and everything 
 to be had excepting tea, sugar, and butter, and I am sorry to 
 say that my stock of the two latter is nearly exhausted. 
 
 " I fear there may be some delay in sending your letters, as 
 the post is now irregular. 
 
 " February 26. — Puyoo. Near Peyrehorade. All well." 
 
 " Puyoo, February 27, 1814. 
 
 " My deakest Eli, — I finished a letter last night by dating 
 it and saying ' all well.' From this time I shall write you a 
 sort of journal of our movements, &c., by which means I shall 
 be able, day by day, to devote some little time to it, and 
 also have a letter ready to be despatched by every oppor- 
 tunity. 
 
 " February 25. — We marched from Bastide de Beam on 
 the 25th to Sorde, Cassabe, and Carivo, villages on the banks 
 of the Gave d'Oloron, and I was quartered in a. capital chateau^ 
 belonging to the ancient Comte de Berieux, at Cassabe, where 
 
200 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1814 
 
 we found every comfort, and which put us in mind of a good 
 old English nobleman's house. The count was himself 
 absent ; but his aumonier and his homme d'affaires did the 
 honours. 
 
 " The corps of General Hill was opposite Orthez ; and 
 Beresford, with three divisions, was between the two Gaves, 
 near me : Sir J. Hope, with two divisions and the Spaniards, 
 covering Bayonne ; Sir J. Hope himself having passed the 
 Adour by landing the 1st division at Cape Le Breton. 
 
 " February 26. — Marched from Cassabe, &c., and crossed 
 the Gave de Pau with four squadrons at Hointon, and with 
 two, with the infantry, at Sorde. 
 
 " On arriving in the great road leading from Peyrehorade 
 to Pau (which, by the way, is more admirable than any road I 
 ever beheld), I found that a party of the enemy's cavalry 
 were in the village of Puyoo, and having selected twenty well- 
 mounted men, with them and the patrol of about as many I 
 charged them, supported by the squadron. 
 
 " After a chase of two miles as hard as we could race along 
 the road, we overtook them and cut down and took about 
 half a dozen, and were, I thought, in complete possession of 
 the rest ; but they, having fallen back on a small party of 
 their supports, and our troop horses being all almost blown 
 and tired from their bad condition, the enemy in turn halted 
 upon their support, and charged us. The men deserted their 
 officers, who were in front, and Ned and Hughes of the 18th 
 were very nearly taken. Ned jumped over a hedge and saved 
 himself. I was not far from it. The enemy chased us for 
 about five hundred yards, when I got the fellows a little 
 together and again turned upon them ; but by this time the 
 horses were so blown that nothing more was to be done, and 
 we remained in quiet possession of our prisoners, without the 
 loss of a man. One fellow made a cut at Ned, and Ned cut 
 again and passed on ; the fellow then turned upon me and 
 gave point, but I cut at his elbow and disarmed him and left 
 him to a man of the 18th, 
 
i8i4 CAMPAIGN OF 1813 201 
 
 " After this we quietly put up here, in a very comfortable 
 house of a Mr. Rheinhardt, a West India planter formerly, 
 with a wife and eight children — some daughters beautiful ! 
 
 " The 3rd and 4th divisions passed us on the great road 
 towards Orthez. 
 
 " The Hussar Brigade put up at some villages on this and 
 the other side of the Gave de Pau, and the corps under Hill 
 is marching from Orthez towards this place to cross." 
 
 Napier describes the events of this day (so far as they concern 
 Vivian's Brigade) thus : 
 
 " On the 26th, Beresford, finding that Foy had abandoned 
 Peyrehorade, passed the river. He had previously detached 
 the 18th Hussars to find a ford higher up, and, this being 
 effected under the guidance of a miller, the Hussars gained 
 the high road about halfway between Peyrehorade and 
 Orthez, and drove some French cavalry through Puyoo and 
 Ramous. 
 
 The French, rallying on their reserves, turned, and beat 
 back the foremost of their pursuers, but could not await the 
 shock of the main body, now reinforced by Vivian's Brigade, 
 and commanded by Beresford in person. 
 
 In this affair Major Sewell, an oflScer of the staff", happen- 
 ing to be without a sword, pulled a large stake from the hedge 
 and with that weapon overthrew two hostile Frenchmen in 
 succession. 
 
 The negligence of the French officer who had suffered 
 Vivian's Hussars to pass at Puyoo without making any 
 report, enabled Beresford to make the movements he did in 
 safety, when otherwise he might have been assailed by at least 
 two-thirds of the French army. 
 
 It was not till three in the afternoon that Soult received 
 intelligence of this movement ; and then Beresford's columns 
 were close to Baights, on the right flank of the French army ; 
 his scouts were on the Dax road, and at the same time the 6th 
 and Light divisions were seen descending by various roads from 
 the heights beyond the river, pointing towards Berenx. 
 
 In this crisis Soult hesitated whether to fall upon Beres- 
 ford and Picton, while the last was crossing the river, or to 
 
202 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1814 
 
 take up a defensive position ; but he finally decided on the 
 latter, and took up his position at Orthez." 
 
 " February 27. — We shall probably not move to-day. 
 
 " The enemy are said to be in force at Orthez, but I believe 
 they have no idea of waiting for us. 
 
 " We have with us six divisions of British, one Spanish, and 
 altogether are about 35,000 men. 
 
 " The enemy have nearly as many. Our heavy cavalry are 
 marching up. At present we are short of cavalry, having 
 only seven regiments, averaging about 350 each. The 7th are 
 stronger. The enemy, however, are not stronger ; but their 
 horses are in better condition." 
 
 On the 27th, the 6th and Light divisions, having crossed 
 the river, were on the road of Peyrehorade. 
 
 Beresford, with the 4th and 7th divisions, and Vivian''s 
 cavalry, had meanwhile gained the ridge of St. Boes, and 
 approached the Dax road beyond. 
 
 Hill menaced the bridge of Orthez ; and between Beresford 
 and Picton there were no troops, but an old Roman camp, on 
 which Lord Wellington surveyed the enemy's position imme- 
 diately before the battle of Orthez. 
 
 Lord Wellington determined to assail the French chiefly on 
 the side of St. Boes, with the intent to overlap their right and 
 seize the St. Sever road, while Hill passed the river at Souars 
 and cut off the road to Fau, and in this way to enclose the 
 French in Orthez. The village of St. Boes was strongly 
 fortified. 
 
 " Mont Marsan, March 2, 1814. 
 
 " I was completely out in my reckoning as to our not 
 moving, and the enemy not waiting for us ! I had scarcely 
 finished my paragraph before I received an order to march 
 inmiediately. We found the enemy in position, waiting for 
 us on some strong heights covering Orthez, and the whole 
 British army was marching to attack him. 
 
i8i4 CAMPAIGN OF 1813 203 
 
 " General Hill, with the 2nd and 15th Light divisions, 
 attacked their left. 
 
 " The 3rd and 6th divisions, with Lord Wellington, 
 attacked their centre. 
 
 " The Light, 7th, and 4th divisions attacked their right. 
 
 "The attack commenced about eleven o'clock, and the 
 4th division met with great resistance in the village of 
 St. Boes, which was taken and retaken three times. 
 
 " After about three hours' very severe fighting the enemy 
 began to give way on every point, but still retiring regularly 
 and defending their ground from position to position until 
 towards five o'clock, when they were completely en deroute ! 
 
 " The ground was altogether excessively unfavourable for 
 cavalry ; but towards evening our old friends the 7th were 
 fortunate enough, with three troops — Heyliggen's, Lowther's, 
 and Elphinstone's — to get in among their broken infantry. 
 Kerrison and Thornhill were of the party. Nothing, I under- 
 stand, could have behaved better than the dear old regiment. 
 
 " Thornhill charged an officer with a colour, who, with the 
 pike at the end of it, struck him in the stomach, but not 
 severely, and he secured both the colour and the officer, and 
 walked back (for he was in too much pain to ride) with his 
 trophy, and met Lord Wellington, who was much pleased ; 
 and I hope it will secure him the rank of lieut. -colonel. Poor 
 Heyliggen is again wounded severely, in the thigh. 
 
 " I, unfortunately, could not all day get into action with 
 my brigade ; that is to say, I could not get amongst them. 
 I was almost all day under a cannonade, but I kept my men 
 under the hedges, hills, &c., and so saved them. The country 
 was completely intersected by deep ditches and enormous 
 enclosures, and it was only by getting into the fields in small 
 parties that the 7th got at them. Douglas had his horse 
 killed, and Robbins his wounded. 
 
 The loss of the British during the day was about 3000 
 men ; that of the enemy much greater, besides a considerable 
 number of prisoners and guns, &c. 
 
204 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1814 
 
 " On the night of the 27th I bivouacked my brigade at 
 Bonnegarde, near Sault de Navailles. My baggage and 
 everything was in the rear, and we had to exist on what we 
 could find in a miserable farmhouse." 
 
 Napier says the British lost 2300 ; Soult, 4000 in killed 
 and wounded and six guns. 
 
 With regard to the charge made by the 7th Hussars, and 
 alluded to by Colonel Vivian, Alison says : 
 
 " Cotton charged on the only occasion that presented itself, 
 at the head of Somerset's Dragoons and the 7th Hussars, 
 three battalions of the enemy, which he broke, and made 300 
 prisoners ; but although 2000 more threw down their arms in 
 an enclosed field, the greater part contrived to escape across 
 the river, which was not far distant." 
 
 At the battle of Orthez Colonel Vivian's Brigade was, as 
 has been seen, with the 4th and 7th divisions on the heights 
 of St. Boes. Napier says that this village was carried five 
 times, but Taupin's supporting masses had on each occasion 
 forced the shattered columns back again. 
 
 " On the other side of the battlefield also the 3rd and 6th 
 divisions had made no progress. 
 
 Some Portuguese troops, sent to assist the attack on 
 St. Boiis, gave way in disorder, and the French pouring on, 
 the British retreated through St. Boes with great difficulty, 
 and Soult felt confident of victory. 
 
 Wellington, however, now changed his plan of battle. 
 Supporting Ross with Anson's Brigade, which hitherto had 
 not been engaged, he backed both with the 7th division and 
 Vivian's cavalry, now forming one mass, towards the Dax 
 road. 
 
 He threw the 3rd and 6th (li\isions on Foy's flank, and 
 sent the 52nd from the Roman camp to assail the French flank 
 and the rear, engaged with the 4th division at St. Boes. 
 
 With a mighty shout and rolling fire the 52nd dashed 
 forward between Foy and Taupin, throwing everything before 
 
i8i4 CAMPAIGN OF 1813 205 
 
 them into confusion. Foy was dangerously wounded, and his 
 troops got into disorder and retreated. 
 
 The narrow pass beyond St. Boes was thus opened, and 
 WeUington, seizing the critical moment, thrust the 4th and 
 7th divisions, Vivian's cavalry, and two batteries of artillery 
 through, and spread a front beyond." — "The Life of Napoleon," 
 vol. vi. p. 561.) 
 
 The victory was thus secured. The 7th and 3rd divisions 
 continued to advance, and the wings of the army were united. 
 
 Hill had forded the river at Souars and now menaced 
 Soulfs line of retreat by Salspice, on the road to St. Sever, 
 just at the time when the Allies' wings were united ; and 
 Soult immediately determined to retreat, but the French 
 yielded step by step and without confusion. 
 
 As the danger of being cut off by Hill at Salspice became 
 more imminent, the reti'eat became more hurried. 
 
 Hill, seeing this, qviickened his pace, till both sides began 
 to run violently, and the whole country was covered with 
 scattered bands. 
 
 Sir S. Cotton then, breaking with Somerset's Brigade, 
 through a small covering body opposed to him by Harispe, 
 cut off about 2000 men. The 7th Hussars cut them off in an 
 enclosed field, but some confusion occurring, the greatest 
 part, recovering their weapons, escaped. The pursuit ceased 
 at the Luy de Beam. 
 
 The vigour of the pm-suit after this battle would probably 
 have been greater but for Lord Wellington having been 
 struck by a musket-ball just above the thigh, which caused 
 him to ride with difficulty, though he was early on horseback 
 on the following morning. 
 
 Soult, in his retreat, abandoned his magazines at Mont-de- 
 Marsan, and on the following day Wellington detached 
 Beresford, with the Light division and Vivian's cavalry, to 
 seize them, whilst he himself continued in pursuit of Soult, 
 during which time a combat took place at Tarbes. 
 
 In his observations on the operations that had been taking 
 
206 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1814 
 
 place since the advance on the 13th February, Napier points 
 out that on the 15th and 16th Soult, by rapid and well- 
 digested combinations, might have united four divisions of 
 infantry and a brigade of cavalry to attack Beresford between 
 the Nive and the Adour ; when, if successful, the defeated 
 English, pushed back on the 6th division, must have fought 
 for their lives, with the rivers on their flanks, Soult in front, 
 and the garrison of Bayonne in their rear. 
 
 Again, he says that before Orthez Soulfs original design 
 was to assail the head of the first column that should come 
 near him, and Beresford's approach to Baights on the 26th 
 furnished the opportunity. 
 
 " It was true that the French cavalry gave intelligence of 
 Beresford's march too late, and thereby marred the combina- 
 tion ; but there was still time to fall on the head of that 
 column while the 3rd division was crossing the river and 
 entangled in the narrow road leading from the ford to the 
 Peyrehorade road. 
 
 It was not till the morning of the 27th that Wellington 
 discovered that Soult meant to fight, and that he himself was 
 in a false position. Instead of hesitating, or assuming the 
 defensive, which would have drawn Soult's attention to his 
 ticklish position, Wellington confidently sent Picton forward 
 as if to assail the French left, and put Beresford in movement 
 against their right, with all the coolness imaginable. The 
 success was complete." — " The Life of Napoleon,'" vol. vi. 
 p. 577. 
 
 A full account of the battle of Orthez is given in " The 
 Life of Napoleon," vol. vi. p. 555, and Alison, vol. x. p. 320 ; 
 but perhaps the best account of all is that contained in Lord 
 Wellington's despatch, from which the following is extracted : 
 
 " On the 24th Sir R. Hill passed the Gave d'Oloron at 
 Villeneuve ; while Sir T. Picton made demonstrations of an 
 intention to attack the enemy's position at the bridge of 
 Sauveterre, which induced the enemy to blow up that bridge. 
 
 Sir W. Beresford likewise, who since the movement of 
 ,Sir R. Hill on the 14th and 15th, had remained with the 4th 
 
i8i4 CAMPAIGN OF 1813 207 
 
 and 7th divisions, and Colonel Vivian's Brigade, in observation 
 on the lower Bidouze, attacked the enemy on the 23rd in 
 their fortified posts at Hastingues and Oyergave, on the left of 
 the Gave de Pau, and obliged them to retire within the tete 
 de pont of Peyrehorade. 
 
 Immediately after the passage of the Gave d'Oloron was 
 effected, Sir R. Hill and Sir H. Clinton moved towards Orthez 
 and the great road leading from that town to Sauveterre, and 
 the enemy retired in the night from Sauveterre across the 
 Gave de Pau, and assembled their army near Orthez, on the 
 25th, having destroyed all the bridges on the river. 
 
 The right, and the right of the centre of the army, 
 assembled opposite Orthez ; Sir S. Cotton, with Lord E. 
 Somerset's Brigade, and the 3rd division, under Sir T. Picton, 
 was near the destroyed bridge of Berenx ; Sir W. Beresford, 
 with the 4th and 7th divisions, under Sir L. Cole, and Colonel 
 Vivian's Brigade, towards the junction of the Gave de Pau 
 with the Gave d'Oloron. 
 
 The troops opposed to Sir W. Beresford having marched 
 on the 25th, he crossed the Gave de Pau below the junction 
 of the Gave d'Oloron, on the morning of the 26th, and moved 
 along the high road from Peyrehorade towards Orthez, on the 
 enemy's right. 
 
 As he approached. Sir S. Cotton crossed with the cavalry, 
 and Sir T. Picton with the 3rd division, below the bridge of 
 Berenx ; and I moved the 6th and Light divisions to the 
 same point ; and Sir R. Hill occupied the heights opposite 
 Orthez and the high road leading to Sauveterre. 
 
 On the 27th I ordered Sir W. Beresfoi'd to turn and 
 attack the enemy's right with the 4th division, and the 7th 
 division and Colonel Vivian's cavalry ; while Sir T. Picton 
 should move along the high road leading from Peyrehorade 
 to Orthez, and attack the heights on which the enemy's centre 
 and left stood, with the 3rd and 6th divisions, supported by 
 Sir S. Cotton and Lord E. Somerset's Brigade. 
 
 Sir W. Beresford carried the village of St. Boes with the 
 4th division, after an obstinate resistance by the enemy ; but 
 the ground was so naiTow that the troops could not deploy 
 to attack the heights, and it was impossible to turn the 
 eneijiy by their right without an excessive extension of our 
 line. 
 
 I therefore so altered the plan of action as to order the 
 immediate advance of the 3rd and 6th divisions, and I moved 
 
208 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1814 
 
 forward Colonel Bernard's Light division to attack the left of 
 the heights on which the enemy stood. 
 
 This attack dislodged the enemy from the heights, and 
 gave us the victory. 
 
 In the meantime Sir R. Hill had forced the passage of 
 the Gave above Orthez, and, seeing the state of the action, he 
 moved immediately with the 2nd division and Fane's cavalry 
 direct for the great road from Orthez to St. Sever, thus keep- 
 ing on the enemv's left. 
 
 The enemy retired at first in admirable order, taking 
 every advantage of the numerous good positions which the 
 country afforded. The losses, however, which they sustained 
 in the continuous attacks of our troops, and the danger with 
 which they were threatened by Sir R. HilFs movement soon 
 accelerated their movements, and the retreat at length became 
 a flight, and their troops were in the utmost disorder. 
 
 Sir S. Cotton took advantage of the only opportunity 
 which offered to charge with Lord E. Somerset's Brigade in 
 the neighbourhood of Sault de Navailles, where the enemy had 
 been driven from the high road by Sir R. Hill. The 7th 
 Hussars distinguished themselves upon this occasion and made 
 many prisoners. 
 
 The whole country is scattered with the enemy's dead, and 
 their army was in the utmost confusion when I last saw it. 
 
 We followed the enemy the day after to this place (St. 
 Sever), and we to-day (March 1st) passed the Adour. 
 
 Sir W. Beresford, with the Light division and Colonel 
 Vivian's Brigade, marched upon Mont-de-Marsan, where he 
 has taken a very large magazine of provisions. 
 
 The charge made by the 7th Hussars, under Lord E. 
 Somerset, was highlv meritorious." 
 
 Colonel Vivian's conduct in the battle of Orthez earned for 
 him the approbation of Sir W. Beresford, and he was awarded 
 a clasp to his gold Peninsular medal. 
 
 Vivian continues his account thus : 
 
 " February 28. — At daybreak commenced our march in 
 pursuit of the enemy ; but the roads were so bad that the left 
 wing, with which my brigade was, could not get to St. Sever 
 in time enough to co-operate in an attack on the enemy, who 
 
i8i4 CAMPAIGN OF 1813 209 
 
 had been obliged to halt in position there in order to cover 
 the retreat of their artillery, &c., over the bridge of the Ad our, 
 which is behind that town. Had we got up I have no doubt 
 but that the principal part of Soult's army would have been 
 destroyed. As it is, they are completely disorganised. 
 
 " My brigade halted this night at the village of Mauntot, 
 on the Adour. Fortunately, in the house of the Mayor, I got 
 for myself and staff a very tolerable dinner, or we must have 
 starved, as my baggage was still in the rear.'" 
 
 The combat alluded to above was one that took place at 
 Caceres, when a charge of cavalry was made and a few men 
 and officers hurt on each side. 
 
 "March 1. — We marched at daybreak, as we thought, to 
 attack the enemy in position at St. Sever ; but Soult was too 
 wise ! His halt had answered his purpose. He had secured 
 his retreat, and, at one o''clock in the morning, had quitted 
 St. Sever and marched upon Grenade towards Aire. 
 
 " We then received orders to ford the Adour and march 
 upon this place (Mont-Marsan), and here, at last, we have 
 had a day's; rest from our fatigues, and here, at last, I have 
 had the good fortune to be j oined by my baggage, after having 
 been as uncomfortable and as dirty a pig, for two days, as ever 
 existed ! 
 
 " We are now got into the department of the Landes, a 
 sandy desert just getting into cultivation ; but beyond this, 
 towards Bordeaux, a complete desert altogether. 
 
 " This town in which we now are is the capital ; and a 
 very delightful one it is. Situated on the Midouze — a stream 
 navigable for boats from Bayonne — it has the means of pro- 
 curing from that port every sort of French luxury, so that we 
 are admirably off for a few days, and I hope that we shall stay 
 here for a little to refresh, and then, I conclude, we shall 
 march again to the Garonne, behind which Soult's army is 
 retiring. 
 
210 RICHAllD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1814 
 
 " I reckon Agen will be our point. Some say we are to go 
 to Bordeaux ; but I expect Sir J. Hope will go there after 
 having taken Bayonne, which he is, I believe, now besieging. 
 
 " I think that the thing must be settled either one way 
 or the other before we again come to blows. If the Allies 
 have met with any reverses, of which we find Buonaparte 
 boasting in his Paris journals, they will be disposed to make 
 peace ; if, on the other hand, they are successful, the French 
 will certainly declare themselves. 
 
 " Here they are well disposed towards us ; but the absolute 
 dread they have of Napoleon is such that they are afraid to 
 move. They, however, prevented the Prefect from blowing 
 up a beautiful new bridge here before his departure, which 
 there were orders for doing ; and they now mount guard for 
 the protection of the peace of the town in conjunction with 
 our soldiers ! 
 
 " March 2. — Mont-Marsan. We have delicious wine here. 
 / can never drlnh strong port again! 
 
 "The poor little Major! How mad he will be when 
 Thornhill gets his lieutenant-colonelcy ! ^ 
 
 The following letter is written on paper at the top of 
 which is printed the official heading of the " Prefecture de 
 Marsan." 
 
 " Mont-de-Marsan, March 3, 1814. 
 
 " Paper running short, my dearest Eli, I cannot do better 
 than take advantage of a good stock found in the house of 
 the Prefect, who has absconded ! 
 
 " We are still here, in comfortable quarters ; and thank 
 God we are so, for such a dreadful day I never witnessed — 
 hail, rain, snow, thunder, lightning, and wind ! 
 
 " In this town everything is to be procured. It is situated 
 at the commencement of the sandy desert that runs from the 
 Garonne to the Adour and up to the sea on the west ; but 
 this place, being on a navigable river (the Midouze), receives 
 
i8i4 CAMPAIGN OF 1813 211 
 
 all sorts of supplies from Bayonne. I believe I told you this 
 before ! 
 
 " We have found some remains here of our ancestors ; the 
 bridge and the church were both built by the English ; but 
 Buonaparte has just built a most beautiful new bridge which, 
 on our arrival, was not yet opened for passengers. I think 
 it is by far the neatest piece of architecture I ever saw. It 
 must be admitted that, with all his iniquities, the Corsican 
 has done much for this country. He has built a new prefec- 
 ture also, not yet inhabited. 
 
 " My landlord — M. Barrere — has supplied me with excel- 
 lent claret and brandy, gratis. This is a nice country to make 
 war in ! 
 
 " Whilst I am now writing, an order has arrived to march 
 immediately ; so I must shut up. 
 
 " March 4. — I now write from the most miserable habita- 
 tion, in the midst of a pine forest. My brigade around me 
 dispersed over ten miles of ground. What a change from 
 yesterday ! 
 
 " We moved, it seems, to attack the enemy who had taken 
 up a position near Aire, near Barcelone, and where they had 
 had a brush with Hill's corps ; but, whilst on the march, an 
 order came for us to halt where we were as the bird was 
 again flown towards Nogaro. Consequently two divisions 
 and my brigade, marching in the most tremendous weather, 
 and up to our necks in mud and quicksands, were halted and 
 ordered to put up as well as we could. Late at night I 
 found out the wretched hovel I am now inhabiting, after 
 having put up my brigade as well as circumstances would 
 admit. 
 
 " I have just returned from a ride to Mont-Marsan to see 
 my excellent host and his wife. I have never met such kind 
 people, and I was compelled by the husband at parting to 
 salute his wife, and, what was worse, I was obliged to submit 
 to being myself embraced by him, in spite of garlic, &c. 
 
212 IIICHAIID HUSSEY VIVIAN 1814. 
 
 " ViLLENEnVE, ON THE RiVER MlDOUZE, 
 
 " March 5, 1814. 
 
 " I have just marched into this place with my brigade, to 
 look out towards Roquefort, St. Justin, Cazaubon, &c. ; but 
 there is no enemy to look after ! They have retired from 
 Nogaro towards Plaisance ; I suspect with an intention of 
 drawing Lord Wellington away from Bordeaux, and probably 
 also of joining part of Suchefs force at Toulouse; but I do 
 not think it improbable that Lord W. will, with the 2nd, 
 3rd, 4th, and 6th British and Portuguese and Spanish, and 
 two brigades of cavalry, follow Soult, whilst he sends Beres- 
 ford, with the 7th and Light divisions, and my brigade,, 
 towards Bordeaux. 
 
 " I think this is just possible, because it is certainly an 
 object to get as fast as possible to Bordeaux, where we shall 
 find friends ; whereas the enemy is collecting there an army 
 of National Guards, &c. I believe the original plan was that 
 Sir J. Hope, after Bayonne fell, should proceed to Bordeaux. 
 I understand also that the army from Holland is to land 
 somewhei'e about the mouth of the Loire. 
 
 " We have heard nothing from Paris since February 21, 
 ivhen it appeared that Buonaparte had obtained some successes 
 over the advanced guard of Swartzenberg. 
 
 " The town from whence I now write is small, but a very 
 nice little place. I am of course very comfortably lodged in 
 the best house in the town ; my host, a very kind old man, 
 with a kind old lady for a wife, and a family of four sons and 
 four daughters, all grown up. 
 
 "The country about, immediately on the banks of the 
 river, is pretty ; otherwise it is all sand and pine forests. 
 The produce of the banks of the river is corn and wine. 
 From the pines they collect quantities of turpentine by cut- 
 ting down the bark and allowing the turpentine to run into 
 a small excavation made at the bottom for its reception. 
 
 " Mai'ch 6. — No orders yet received to move again. No 
 enemy near me. 
 
1 8 14 CAMPAIGN OF 1813 213 
 
 "]\Iy patrol has just returned from Roquefort, St. Justin, 
 and ]\Iontguillem, and can see or hear nothing of any French 
 troops. I have now sent oif an officer and twenty men to a 
 village near Gabarret, to take possession of an immense store 
 I am told there is there. 
 
 " March 7. — Still at Villeneuve. Nothing extraordinary.'" 
 
 " On ]March 3 and 4 Soult retreated by Pla,isance and 
 Madiran to Rabastens, Marciac, and Maubourget, where he 
 halted, covering Tarbes, to await the development of his 
 enemy's plans.'''' — " Life of Napoleon,"" vol. vi. p. 581. 
 
 " Roquefort, March 8, 1814. 
 
 " ]\Iy prophecy was right. I last night received orders to 
 march at daybreak to this place, where I have met with the 
 7th division marching towards Bordeaux. We are, I under- 
 stand, to have with us the 4th division, and Marshal Bere.s- 
 ford is our Commander-in-Chief, and no bad one either." 
 
 " On the 8th Beresford marched towards Langon with the 
 4th and 7th divisions, Vivian''s horsemen, and some guns ; he 
 •was joined on the road by some of Vandeleur's cavalry from 
 Bayonne, and he had orders to observe the enemy's movements 
 towards Agen ; for it was still in Soult's power, by a forced 
 march on the side of that town, to cross the Garonne and 
 enter Bordeaux before him.''' — " Life of Napoleon," vol. vi. 
 p. 593. 
 
 " This town (Roquefort) is situated on a small stream, in the 
 midst of a sandy desert. It has the remains of a castle which 
 was taken three times in one day by the Black Prince ; so you 
 see we are only treading where Englishmen have trodden 
 before. We have found throughout this country bridges, 
 castles, and churches, built by the English. 
 
 " March 9. — Captieux. 
 
 " After a most tremendously cold march, in frost and snow, 
 over sixteen miles of sandy desert, a dead flat and straight 
 road without a house, we are arrived thus far on our journey. 
 
214. RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1814 
 
 "I have, of course, always been tolerably well off for a 
 quarter myself, but I have had the greatest possible difficulty 
 in getting my brigade under cover, and then only by dispers- 
 ing them over miles of country into the detached sheep-huts ; 
 but the weather is now so severe that it would kill both men 
 and horses to bivouac them ; and, as there is no enemy near, 
 we may venture to be a little careless. 
 
 " We expect at Bordeaux to meet with a quarter that will 
 amply repay all our sufferings. 
 
 " March 10. — From Captieux we marched through Bazas to 
 the place from whence I now write this — Langon. The first 
 part of our road was through sandy deserts and pine forests ; 
 our road made of pines laid across the road. 
 
 " At Bazas we began to enter upon a better country, and 
 between that and Langon it became delightful. 
 
 " At Langon we just got a sight of that magnificent river, 
 the Garonne ; and here, in order to bring back some boats 
 the enemy had taken to the other side, we fired three cannon 
 shots across the Garonne — the first that have been fired by the 
 English across that river, I apprehend. 
 
 " Langon is a nice town, and we were admirably well 
 received by the inhabitants — indeed, so we have been 
 throughout." 
 
 " Beresford, who reached Langon on the 10th, left Lord 
 Dalhousie there with the bulk of the forces, and advanced 
 with 800 cavalry." — " Life of Napoleon," vol. vi. p. 549. 
 
 " March 11. — From Langon we marched, on the 11th, to 
 Castres, by a most delightful road on the banks of the Garonne, 
 through the villages of Pignore, Sauterne, and Barsac. 
 
 " Whoever would have believed that a British army would 
 march through this country ? Who would have thought that 
 the British soldier would get drunk on their delicious wines, 
 for which in England we pay 10*. a bottle, and which we 
 purchase here for ten sous l! 
 
 "At Castres I was quartered at the house of a famous 
 
i8i4 CAMPAIGN OF 1813 215 
 
 grower of Vin de Grave, who had in his cellar six hundred 
 barrigs of wine that he could not sell. A harrig holds two 
 hundred and sixty claret bottles ; and he offered them all to 
 me at less than £5 a barrig ! I mean to purchase some as 
 soon as I find I can get a conveyance for them to England. 
 
 " March 12. — From Castres, on the morning of the 12th, 
 we moved to this place — Bordeaux. 
 
 " No words of mine can convey to you any idea of the events 
 of this day. 
 
 " We marched at daybreak. One regiment of my brigade 
 (1st Germans) in front, two light guns, and one brigade of 
 infantry. My other regiment had been left in the rear, dis- 
 persed through the different villages on the banks of the 
 Garonne ; and so also were the different brigades of the two 
 divisions of infantry. 
 
 " At about 8 o''clock my advanced patrol discovered 
 that the enemy, about 600 infantry and 150 cavalry, had 
 quitted the post they occupied the previous night, and we 
 soon learnt that they had passed the Garonne about two 
 o'clock that morning, and that no resistance would be offered 
 to us. 
 
 " I proceeded with my patrol into the suburbs, and at the 
 gate I found about a hundred of the Guards of the city 
 under arms. I rode quietly up to their commanding officer, 
 and from him learnt that no opposition was intended. 
 
 " I then also learnt that there was an intention of hoisting 
 the white flag and declaring Louis XVIII., as soon as the 
 mayor (Count Lynch) had made his speech to Marshal 
 Beresford. It struck me that, at such a moment, such a 
 declaration would appear as if dictated by the English ; 
 and, hereafter, should any reverse occur, and any dire mis- 
 fortune befall the city (as I have no doubt would be the case 
 should Buonaparte ever recover his power), that the English 
 would be considered as the cause of it. I was most anxious 
 that such a reflection should not attach to us, especially as, 
 knowing we have an ambassador treating at this moment with 
 
216 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1814 
 
 Buonaparte the result of which may be peace with him, I 
 felt that it would be actually base in us to allow it to be 
 possible that, from want of explanation, it might ever be 
 supposed we urged the hoisting of the white flag; and I 
 directly rode back to Marshal Beresford and stated my 
 opinion, and ventured to suggest to him the propriety of a 
 message on the subject to the Mayor. 
 
 " He immediately felt it, and desired me to go to the Mayor 
 and state that he had been sent by Lord Wellington with a corps 
 to take possession of Bordeaux ; that he was happy to enter 
 it as a friend, and without bloodshed; that he understood 
 there was an intention of hoisting the white flag and proclaim- 
 ing Louis XVIII. ; that he honoured the cause, and that, as 
 long as the war against Napoleon existed, England would 
 support it with their lives and fortunes ; but that he was not 
 authorised either to urge or disapprove such a step ; and that 
 whatever they did in this respect must be ever considered as an 
 act of their own, and by no means a^ directed by the British. 
 
 "' This message I delivered verbatim in English, in the 
 presence of Beresford's A.D.C. — Captain Sewell — and of 
 Edward, to the INIayor, who spoke English himself, and who was 
 also accompanied by a gentleman who spoke it perfectly. 
 I was most particular in doing this, because, as I have said 
 before, I felt that it might hereafter be said that we had 
 caused any misfortune that might befall the Bordelais ; and, 
 moreover, because I was aware that there were those who 
 would, even now, say that the English insisted on the white 
 cockade being hoisted, in order to make those do so who 
 might not otherwise be so disposed. 
 
 " I am more particular in explaining this also to you, 
 because you will see by the paper which I send herewith 
 that, notwithstanding all the pains I took to explain myself 
 on the subject, it (my message to the Mayor) was inter- 
 preted as conveying an intimation that Marshal Beresford 
 expected to find the drapeau blanc flying ! This paper will 
 probably get into the English papers ; but, if ever it is 
 
i8i4 CAMPAIGN OF 1813 217 
 
 necessary, I have witnesses as to the exact message I deHvered 
 being what I have given you. I made a memorandum of it 
 immediately after ; for hereafter it may be of consequence. 
 
 " The Mayor replied simply that he was much obliged by 
 the message, and that he would himself explain to Marshal 
 Beresford his feelings on the subject. 
 
 "Thus the parley ended, and we proceeded to meet 
 the Marshal ; the Mayor in his carriage, preceded by 
 his gendarmes (twelve of them) and accompanied by an 
 enormous mass of people, amongst them the most respectable 
 of the city. I should have told you that the streets were 
 crowded with people, who met us at a considerable distance 
 from the town. 
 
 "The procession of the Mayor and the Marshal having 
 met, the former quitted his carriage and mounted on horse- 
 back to meet the Marshal, who was also mounted. 
 
 " The exclamations of the people were for some time so 
 ^reat that nothing could be heard. At length, silence having 
 been obtained, the Mayor commenced his speech, a copy of 
 which I have not yet got, as it is not printed, or I would 
 send it you — but it was almost an echo of his address, which 
 I send ; and it contained at almost the commencement a 
 ■declaration in favour of Louis XVIII. 
 
 " It was then I found the reason of the Mayor having given 
 me only the short answer of ' that he would himself explain 
 to Marshal Beresford his feelings ; ' for the speech was a 
 written one, and the determination to raise the white cockade 
 was evidently their own act and deed, previously decided on ; 
 and never can it be said that the British dictated their 
 conduct to them in this respect. 
 
 " To proceed, however ; as soon as the Mayor had reached 
 that part of his speech which declared in favour of Louis 
 XVIII., the air was rent with acclamations. The Mayor 
 immediately took off the tricoloured sash, and substituted a 
 white one ; and white cockades were mounted in almost 
 every hat. 
 
218 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1814 
 
 " Silence again obtained, the Mayor proceeded in his 
 speech, which was very loyal and very complimentary to the 
 English; to which, after wonderful acclamations, Marshal 
 Beresford, in a short reply, stated that he trusted the dis- 
 cipline of the British troops would prevent their ever 
 regi-etting our arrival, and that, much as he honoured the 
 steps the Bordelais had taken, he wished it fully to be under- 
 stood that Lord V\''ellington had not directed him to urge 
 them. 
 
 " All this ended, the procession returned to the Hotel de 
 Ville. We all got into our quarters ; and thus, thank God, 
 without bloodshed, ended the counter revolution of 
 Bordeaux. 
 
 " I should tell you that immediately as the white cockade 
 was hoisted a general cry of " A bas le Tyran " " A has les 
 Aigles " (the decoration of the caps of all the French soldiers) 
 was heard, and, in one instant, the eagles of the gendarmes 
 were flying in the air and the white cockade substituted ! 
 
 Now, after all this, you will suppose the thing was finished 
 and the Bom-bons restored. Believe me, it is no such thing ! 
 There is in this city a very strong party still in favour of 
 Buonaparte, and there are many thinking men who fear the 
 Bordelais have been too hasty. But they have now 
 committed themselves, and half measm-es will not do ; they 
 must now treat only with arms in their hands if peace should 
 be made with the Allies and Boney ; and they must commence 
 organising a force, or they will do nothing ; and after all, I 
 fear they want energy. 
 
 " After the tumult of the day, with which I ^\as most 
 completely tired, I dined with Marshal Beresford and accom- 
 panied him to the theatre." 
 
 " The Mayor of Bordeaux, with the connivance of the Duke 
 d'Angouleme, subsequently issued a proclamation stating 
 that the Allies were united ' solely to destroy Napoleon and 
 replace him by a Bourbon king, and that only by accepting 
 that king could the French appease the resentment of the 
 
i8i4 CAMPAIGN OF 1813 219 
 
 Spaniards ; ' and, when Beresford was withdrawn, they argued 
 that Wellington, having allowed the Duke d'Angouleme to 
 assume the civil government of Bordeaux, was bound to 
 support him with soldiers and money ! 
 
 Wellington was very indignant at these false statements, 
 and wrote the Duke d'Angouleme that Count Lynch had not 
 treated him with fairness or with truth; and that if his 
 Royal Highness did not, within ten days, contradict the 
 objectionable parts of the Mayor's proclamation, he would do^ 
 so himself." — " Life of Napoleon," vol. vi. p. 598. 
 
 ''March 13.— On the 13th I devoted part of the day 
 to viewing this most magnificent town, much, very much, 
 finer than anything I ever beheld, both from its situation 
 and the aiTangement of the streets and their width, the 
 superb houses, and above all things, from the beautiful and 
 prodigious length of the buildings on the banks of the 
 magnificent river, the Garonne, having, in the front of the 
 houses, a terrace on which ten carriages could pass abreast of 
 each other. 
 
 " It is impossible for me to attempt to describe every public 
 building. The theatre is reckoned one of the most beautiful 
 structures in the world. Of course I go to it every evening. 
 The performance in the first place is a sort of farce, and that 
 is followed by a ballet in which the dancing is admirable. 
 Last night we had a most magnificent one. The Duke 
 d'Angouleme was present, and the house crowded beyond 
 conception. I dined with my host, a most delightful man — a 
 Portuguese Jew, settled here for forty years as Consul, 
 immensely rich — who gave me and my staff a most capital 
 dinner and the most delicious wine I ever drank. 
 
 " After this digression I must proceed in my account of 
 Bordeaux. The cathedral is extremely fine, built by the 
 English, and finer than any of ours I think. The bishop's 
 palace, now inhabited by the Duke d'Angouleme, is a very 
 fine building also. In fact, there are innumerable fine 
 buildings. 
 
220 RICHAllD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1814 
 
 " Now to the living animals. The ladies promenade on 
 the principal walks in crowds, about two o'clock. I was 
 there, of course, to look at them ! I did not much admire 
 their faces generally ; some were, however, excessively hand- 
 some. Their head-dresses were very lofty caps or bonnets, 
 loaded with plumes of feathers. I did not like them, but, if 
 the heads were bad, their heels repaid you ; for such feet and 
 legs, such shoes and stockings, I never saw — quite perfect, I 
 assure you ! 
 
 " Now from the living animals I must proceed to the dead, 
 and tell you that, of all things, nothing exceeds the market. 
 The supply of fish or flesh, game of every sort, butter, &c., is 
 the very best I ever met with ; in short, the market out- 
 markets every market I ever saw. 
 
 " To be short, Bordeaux is a residence where you can have 
 every luxury the world affords, and at about one-fourth of the 
 price you can procure them elsewhere. I think it very 
 fortunate that so few of the British pass here or we should 
 lose half our population of England, for numbers would, I 
 have no doubt, settle here. 
 
 " Nothing, I assure you, that I can say can give you an 
 adequate idea of the place, its luxuries, elegance, beauties, 
 charms, enticements, &c. &c. &c. I do so wish you were here 
 to see it. I declare, when we \'isit France, you shall visit 
 Bordeaux; and, if there were any chance of our remaining 
 here long, I would even now desire you to come out ; but I 
 expect we shall soon move on again. 
 
 " Whilst writing this I was called to the window by Ned 
 to see a fellow from the Landes who had come into the 
 market walking on stilts. Anything so ridiculous you never 
 saw ! They are about four feet oft" the ground, and of 
 course the man looks a monster. They say Buonaparte was 
 frightened when first he saw them ; and so also they say 
 was a patrol of ours ! They walk as quick as a horse can 
 trot. They are obliged to use them, the I'oads are so covered 
 with water. 
 
1 8 14 CAMPAIGN OF 1813 221 
 
 " March 15. — I dined yesterday with the Marshal, tO' 
 meet the Duke d'Angouleme. He is really quite a good 
 sort of man, but, I fear, by no means active or spirited 
 enough for the business with which he is concerned. 
 
 " I have just received a letter from poor old Thomhill, 
 telling me that he was surprised in bed the other night 
 by some gendarmes, and taken prisoner, but that after 
 some time, when they were taking his horses out of his 
 stable, he made his escape, losing his wardrobe, two horses,, 
 and one man ! 
 
 " He was sleeping in the very bed in i\'hich I had slept 
 before. But I will send you the letter, as this is a large 
 packet. He fancies they took him for me ; but they would 
 not have caught me so ! It is a bad business ; very dis- 
 graceful to the regiment, and not creditable to Thornhill. I 
 fear it will cause a serious inquiry. There never was a post 
 so easily guarded as Villeneuve. At a bridge, at the entrance 
 of the place, which I barricaded, and where I had a picket,. 
 he had none. The old fool ! 
 
 " Lord W., with the rest of the annj-, is at or about Aire 
 and Barcelone. I omitted to tell you this, and have only 
 written about our corps." 
 
 " Barsac, March i6, 1814. 
 
 " My deaeest Eli, — I had scarcely concluded my last sen- 
 tence, which brought up my journal to yesterday, when I 
 received an order to march this morning, at daybreak, to this 
 place, and to join the army by forced marches. 
 
 " The 4th division also have the same order ; and from all 
 I can hear, Soult has been reinforced, so as to make it 
 necessary for Lord Wellington to draw together as many 
 troops as he possibly can. And now it appears that his 
 movement upon Bordeaux with two divisions was by no 
 means so well judged as might have been expected from his 
 lordship. The cry it made in favour of the Bourbons has 
 not added a man to the strength of the army; whilst the 
 
222 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1814 
 
 absolute necessity there is of leaving one division at Bordeaux 
 and in the line of the Garonne to Langon, puts 5000 men 
 Iwrs de combat on our part. 
 
 " It is now perfectly out of the question ever attempting 
 to withdraw from Bordeaux ; for it would compromise the 
 safety of the town, and the entrance of one hundred French 
 troops only would produce dreadful scenes. Even the march 
 of my brigade caused a sensation greater than I could have 
 supposed. The 4th division was not in the city, so they did 
 not see it depart. A good victory, however, would seb all 
 right very soon ; but without that the affairs of the 
 Bourbons are in a bad state in this part of the country, just 
 now.^' 
 
 "Beresford was recalled from Bordeaux with the 4th division 
 and Vivian's cavalry, and Lord Dalhousie remained there with 
 only the 7th division and three squadrons of cavalry." — " Life 
 of Napoleon,'" vol. vi. p. 595. 
 
 " I expect there will be an action very shortly. All I 
 fear is that we shall hardly reach the army before it is 
 fought. We have, however, been at Bordeaux, and that 
 repays us for retracing our steps over these horrid Landes. 
 
 " The place from whence I now write is, you know, famous 
 for its white wine, called after it. Depend on it we will 
 not have the worst bottle in the place for our dinner this 
 day. 
 
 " I cannot tell you with what infinite regret I left the 
 delightful Bordeaux, ray most excellent quarters, and my still 
 more excellent host. Whatever I may hereafter suffer as a 
 soldier, the having had the good fortune to enter Bordeaux 
 (the first British soldier) with the British army will ever 
 reconcile me to ray fate ; and whenever I hear quarters 
 talked of, I shall always say Boi'deaux was the very best I 
 ever was in. 
 
 " Now for Toulouse. If I should happen to be the first 
 British officer in there what a fortuuate fellow I shall be ! 
 
i8i4 CAMPAIGN OF 1813 223 
 
 More extraordinary things have happened. My brigade will 
 generally have the good fortune to be employed on any flying 
 expedition, I expect. 
 
 " Now for a little military news, &c. I have already said 
 that Soult is reinforced, they say to the extent of 10,000 
 conscripts, and 6000 from Sachet's army — the latter good 
 troops, the former good for nothing — they will run away or 
 desert. But, if he has the number I mention, he has about 
 43,000 men, besides about 4000 cavalry. 
 
 " Now, we have five divisions of British, averaging about 
 4500 each, say 22,000 ; one Portuguese division, 2500 ; 
 Morillo's and Frere's Spanish corps, about 10,000 ; altogether 
 perhaps 35,000 infantry and 6000 cavalry. But I fear the 
 ground where the two armies lie (between Girlan and Conchez, 
 on the road from Pau to Auch) is bad for cavalry, so that 
 the battle will be between the infantry ; and, setting aside 
 the Spaniards and Soult's conscripts, we shall have about 
 25,000 good soldiers against perhaps 33,000, or say 30,000 ; 
 and we shall beat them even with this difference ; but if Soult 
 attacks before the 4th division reaches the army, he will have 
 a still greater advantage. 
 
 "Now, although I cannot too greatly admire, generally 
 speaking. Lord Wellington's ai-rangements, still I think there 
 have been great errors in many instances lately, both with 
 our Ministers at home and our commander here. 
 
 " In the first place, I think the lord was wrong to detach 
 to Bordeaux before Soult was over the Garonne. It has 
 taken 5000 men from him. 
 
 " In the second place, the lord, it seems, has only lately, 
 since the battle of Orthez, ordered our Anglo-Sicilian army 
 to join ; and they will not be with us for a month or six weeks ; 
 whereas part of Suchet's force has joined Soult. 
 
 " In the third place, I think Ministers much to blaine in 
 not having long since sent the promised reinforcements of 
 9000 men to us. 
 
 "And in the fourth place, I think Graham's army 
 
224 IIICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1814 
 
 ought to have joined us as soon as affairs were settled in 
 Holland. 
 
 " On the lord's part also, I think there has been more 
 delay in bringing our battery train up to Bayonne than 
 necessary ; but, however, of this I do not know much. This 
 I do know, that the capture of Bayonne would give us 15,000 
 men, and also be of the utmost consequence. 
 
 " Only conceive, if we had but our reinforcements, &c., as 
 before enumerated, what an army we should have ! 
 
 " There are now in the field : 
 
 Infantry (British, Spanish, and Portuguese) . . . 35,000 
 
 At Bordeaux 5000 
 
 Southern Army (British, Germans, &c.) .... 10,000 
 
 Before Bayonne (of these, 12,000 British and Portuguese) 15,000 
 
 Portuguese reinforcements expected .... 5000 
 
 British ,, ,, .... gooo 
 
 Spanish army of reserve coming up ... . 8000 
 
 Graham's army 8000 
 
 British cavalry ........ 7000 
 
 Portuguese and Spanish cavalry ..... 2000 
 
 Total ........ 104,000 
 
 " I put them at the lowest figures. I have no doubt but 
 that the Spanish could bring many more into the field. 
 Indeed, I have omitted altogether Mina's troops at Pied-de- 
 Port, about 11,000, which makes the total 115,000 men — a 
 force fully sufficient to march to Paris if all together, be 
 assured of it ; and, as I have said before, there appears to me 
 to be some little bad arrangement with such a force not to 
 be able to be infinitely superior in the field to Soult. So 
 much for military matters." 
 
 At this time Soult had not, as a fact, been reinforced by 
 any men from Suchefs army, though Wellington believed he 
 had been. Each general thought the other stronger than he 
 in reality was. 
 
i8i4 CAMPAIGN OF 1813 225 
 
 " Barsac, March 17, 1814. 
 
 " We marched this morning from Barsac at six o'clock for 
 this place, a very cui-ious old town that has been regularly 
 walled. It is now dilapidated. It was also a bishop's see, 
 but it is now no longer so. It has a very magnificent 
 cathedral, built by the English, but not so fine as that at 
 Bordeaux. 
 
 " In his last letter John said that they were, in Cornwall, 
 getting some packages of hams, &c., ready for me ; but 
 France is a place of plenty, and, therefore, if they are sent to 
 Plymouth, I wish my father to get them returned to him (he 
 can do so by writing there), as they will probably never reach 
 me ; and if they were to do so, it would be when they were 
 not wanted. The butter and ham at Bordeaux are delicious ; 
 the butter infinitely the best I ever tasted. 
 
 " But why do I talk of Bordeaux ? The remembrance of it 
 only brings regret at having left it ! One good thing, how- 
 ever, I have done. I have made the acquaintance of some 
 friends there who will send me any quantity of the best wine. 
 At Sauterne, Barsac, Medoc (where the best claret is made), 
 and at Beautiran, where is the best Grave, I know the pro- 
 prietors of the properties where the best of each sort is 
 grown ; besides which, my dear old friend, M. Haba (Consul 
 Generate de Portugal and Chevalier de TOrdre Royale Mili- 
 taire de Santiago da Espada, as his card tells me), has pro- 
 mised to send me whatever quantity I want of the very best 
 quality whenever I write for it. 
 
 " In addition to all these I have a friend — a German — who 
 made me a present of a dozen, for immediate use, of the 
 most exquisite claret that ever was tasted, and who has 
 offered to supply me with any quantity ; so that if my father 
 or any friends wish to have any quantity of wine they have 
 nothing to do but say what quantity and what sort. 
 
 ' I was very near speculating upon the opening of the river, 
 and purchasing all Mr. Gravier's stock of vin de Grave, both 
 red and white (the red is in fact claret of infinite flavour, but 
 
 p 
 
226 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1814 
 
 not so strong as the vin de Medoc). He offered me 600 bar- 
 rigs at two guineas a barrig, holding 260 claret bottles. I 
 think if I had turned wine merchant I should have made a 
 good job of it had the port opened ! I do think it must be a 
 good trade, and if the war was over, and I had no other metier, 
 I should be very apt to come to Bordeaux and set up as a 
 marchwiid de vins. 
 
 " RoguEFORT, March i8, 1814, 
 
 " 3 o'clock p.m. 
 
 " After a most tremendous march of eight leagues which 
 has pretty nearly knocked up all our baggage animals, &c., I 
 arrived here about half an hour since. 
 
 " I have already, in a former letter, described this place ; 
 to that description I have nothing to add." 
 
 Colonel Vivian was at this time making forced marches to 
 rejoin Wellington, who was now moving on again against 
 Soult. 
 
 " Barcelone, March 19, 1814. 
 
 " Another terrible march of seven leagues has brought us 
 here; nearly all horses, mules, &c., knocked up! We have 
 now marched in four days considerably upwards of a hundred 
 miles, and great part of it through sands up to the horses' 
 fetlocks. One of my poor goats (Mayer's little one) has died 
 from fatigue, and the others are rather sick ; otherwise my 
 establishment goes on very well. I have lightened mj' bag- 
 gage by getting rid of my tents, and the mules get on very 
 well with it. 
 
 " This place has for fifteen days been full of British, 
 Spaniards, &c., and consequently it is completely abimed, as 
 the French say. 
 
 " I am sorry to say that though Soult has not been able to 
 raise the country against us, he has nevertheless contrived to 
 establish some partisan corps in our rear. One of these, the 
 (lay before yesterday, took four officers and 30 men between 
 
i8i4 CAMPAIGN OF 1813 227 
 
 Orthez and St. Sever ; and a second destroyed a brigade of 
 mules between Mont-Marsan and Villeneuve — the same fellows 
 that took Thomhill out of bed ! 
 
 " The 7th, and a corps of Portuguese, are left in the rear to 
 watch them." 
 
 " Soult had retired to Lombez and Simacourbe, but his out- 
 posts still remained at Conchez ; and Pierre Soult detached a 
 hundred chosen troopers against the communications of the 
 Allies with Orthez. 
 
 Captain Dania, commanding these men, making a forced 
 march, reached Hagetmau at nightfall, surprised six officers, 
 made a number of other prisoners, and returned on the night 
 of the 18th. 
 
 This, owing to the distance from the army at which it took 
 place, was attributed at the time to the insurgent bands.'' — 
 " Life of Napoleon," vol. vi. p. 611. 
 
 " My brigade marches to-morrow to Plaisance. I shall then 
 be able to tell you more about Soult. 
 
 " People in general expect a battle. I do not, myself, until 
 he passes Auch." 
 
 " Rabastens, March 20, 1814. 
 
 " Whatever might have been our marches before, that of 
 this day has completely eclipsed them. 
 
 " We have now arrived here — a full distance of 43 miles — 
 and, thank God, have arrived at an end of our labour's, so far 
 as long marches go ; for I have joined the 4th division with 
 which my brigade is to act." 
 
 " General Cole, still making forced marches with the 4th 
 division and Vivian's cavalry, followed the Allies' left wing, 
 from Beaumarchez and La Deveze, sending detachments 
 through Marciac, to watch P. Soult on the side of Trie." — 
 " Life of Napoleon," vol. vi, p. 616. 
 
 " The principal front of the army is on our right ; they 
 have skirmished considerably with the enemy all this day, and 
 
228 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1814 
 
 so also they were yesterday, but nothing serious has taken 
 place. 
 
 " This town is at the very head of the river Adour. 
 
 " Soult is retiring with his left flank to the mountains, 
 but I do not expect he will go much further that way ; indeed 
 he must soon turn upon Toulouse." 
 
 " GoNDRiN, March 21, 1814. 
 
 " After a short march this day we have arrived here, in a 
 wretched, dirty village. 
 
 " The main army is on the great road to Toulouse, upon 
 which Soult has retired. The 6th and 4th divisions, and a 
 heavy brigade of cavalry, and my brigade, form the left wing 
 of our army. 
 
 " The country in which we are is very beautiful ; but the 
 weather is bad. 
 
 " Le Pena, near Trie, March 2z, 1814. 
 
 " After another short march we arrived here — another 
 miserable village — with the brigade dispersed all over the face 
 of the earth. 
 
 " It rains in torrents, and I must put them up to save them 
 from being drowned. If the enemy come on, we shall be, like 
 Thornhill, surprised in our quarters ! " 
 
 Beresford had now taken command of the left column, with 
 which Colonel Vivian's brigade was. 
 
 " During the night Soult made a march of 30 miles to St. 
 Gaudens, with a view of gaining Toulouse as rapidly as pos- 
 sible ; for, having now seen nearly all Wellington's infantry 
 and his 5000 horsemen, and hearing from his brother that the 
 4th division and Vivian's cavalry were pointing towards Mielan,. 
 on his right, he feared that they would, by Tiie and Castlenau, 
 gain the plains of Muret and cut him oft' from Toulouse. 
 
 The Allies pursued in three columns, but their marches^ 
 were short." — " Life of Napoleon," vol. vi. p. 618. 
 
i8i4 CAMPAIGN OF 1813 229 
 
 " MniGAN, NEAR Boulogne, 
 
 " March 13, 1814. 
 
 " A still more wretched village than that in which I was 
 last quartered, and my brigade still more dispersed ! The fine 
 roads are all past and gone, and we are once more up to our 
 necks in mud. 
 
 " We are, I see, evidently making a race of it to try and get 
 to Toulouse before Soult, who is marching by the great road 
 from St. Gaudens to Toulouse, followed by Hill ; whilst we 
 are endeavouring to cut him off — in which we shall not 
 succeed. 
 
 " PUYLANZIC, NEAR LOMEEZ, 
 
 " March 24, 1814. 
 
 " Worse and worse. A still more wretched village, and my 
 brigade still more dispersed in a completely open country, 
 something like Salisbury Plain, cultivated without being 
 enclosed. A fine cavalry country, if the ground was not too 
 deep ; but this wet weather has played the devil with it ! 
 
 " I am in a very tolerable chateau, with a very tolerable 
 host, who has taken out several bottles of wine which he 
 means to give us for dinner, but which, I fear, we shall not 
 find so good as what we got at Bordeaux. 
 
 " Sabonneres, near St. Foy, 
 
 "March 25, 1814. 
 
 " We marched in mud up to our horses' knees. 
 
 " A wretched hovel — still worse than the others. 
 
 " My poor brown goat has failed under the exertion and 
 been left behind, I fear to die ; and the little one that was so 
 tame is obliged to be strapped on to a mule. I have, how- 
 ever, two long-legged country goats that travel like race 
 horses, but, alas! they give no milk just now, and none is to 
 be had, so we do without it. 
 
 " In every other respect we do tolerably well, but the 
 country, excepting for corn and bad wine, is not abundant in 
 resources. 
 
230 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1814. 
 
 " Leguevin, March 26, 1814. 
 
 " A village on the high road from Auch to Toulouse, still 
 worse, if possible, than any we have yet met with. I really 
 did hope as we approached the banks of the Garonne that 
 the country would have improved, but it appears to get 
 worse and worse. 
 
 " I am just returned from driving in the advanced posts of 
 the French beyond the little river La Touch, which is about 
 three miles from Toulouse. Soult's whole army is there, and 
 ours is concentrating. 
 
 " I suppose in a day or two the lord will show us what he 
 means to do. I fear he will not find it an easy task to enter 
 Toulouse. Soult has barricaded the entrances, and in many 
 ways made it so strong as certainly to occasion us the loss of 
 many men if we attempt to carry it ; and then the bridge is 
 blockaded in such a manner as to render it impossible it 
 should be forced, and the heavy rains we have had have 
 destroyed the fords, and will prevent ovoc throwing a bridge 
 over the river ; so that I very much fear we shall be detained 
 here for some time. 
 
 "At all events, even when we do get to Toulouse, we cannot 
 advance still further without being reinforced, nor without 
 being re-rigged ; for our men are in I'ags, and most of the 
 infantry without shoes. Their sufferings are dreadful." 
 
 " On the 26th, Beresford entered St. Lys, and marching in 
 order of battle by his left, while his cavalry skirmished on 
 the right, took post on the Auch road behind the Aussonelle 
 stream, facing the French army, which was on the Touch 
 covering Toulouse. 
 
 The Allies took seven days to march the distance Soult 
 had covered in four." — " Life of Napoleon " vol. vi. p. 619. 
 
 " COLOMIEN, March 27, 1814. 
 
 " My brigade marched to this place this morning, where I 
 am quartered in the house of a seigTieur — a very comfortable 
 house. 
 
1 8 14 CAMPAIGN OF 1813 231 
 
 "The whole army is closing up, and we are in sight of 
 Toulouse. 
 
 " CoLOMiEN, March 28, 1814. 
 
 " We all turned out this morning before daybreak. Sir 
 Rowland Hill was to have thrown a bridge over the Garonne 
 at Portet, but, unfortunately, he wanted two pontoons to have 
 enough to make it so wide as to cross the river. No great 
 proof of the superior abilities of our engineers ! 
 
 " There was no one to oppose the passage, and all the 
 army had moved to the right, excepting my brigade and the 
 Hussar brigade ; and we were left to watch the two great 
 roads leading from Toulouse to Auch and Boulogne. 
 
 "About ten o''clock I observed the enemy in my front 
 beginning to withdraw, and, not aware of the failure of the 
 bridge, I concluded it was in consequence of the troops 
 having crossed the river, and I determined therefore immedi- 
 ately to follow them up, and endeavour to enter the town 
 with them. 
 
 " I therefore moved on, and chased the 10th Chasseurs and 
 some infantry along the high road up to the very suburbs ; 
 but there, however, I was brought up short by the discharge 
 of five pieces of cannon, which they had placed in a battery 
 enfilading the road. 
 
 " I was obliged to put about ; but the 18th, who were in 
 front, were very steady, and did it very quietly ; and I was 
 fortunate enough to lose only four or five horses killed and 
 wounded, and two or three men wounded, although they fired 
 as fast as possible directly up the road on us ; but they fired 
 very badly indeed ! 
 
 " By this movement of mine, however, we gained an excel- 
 lent position overlooking Toulouse, and Lord Wellington 
 was very much pleased when he arrived and saw how we were 
 posted, and directly ordered the 4th and 6th divisions up to 
 the ground." 
 
 Colonel Napier thus describes this operation : 
 
RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1814 
 
 " Soult did not know of the attempt to cross at Portet till 
 two days later. 
 
 Wellington, thus baffled, tried another scheme ; he drove 
 the enemy from the Touch stream on the 28th, and collected 
 the infantry of his left and centre about Portet, masking the 
 movement with his cavalry. 
 
 In the course of the operation a single squadron of the 18th 
 Hussars, under Major Hughes, being inconsiderately pushed 
 by Colonel Vivian across the bridge of St. Martyn-de-la-Touch, 
 suddenly came upon a whole regiment of French cavalry. 
 
 The rashness of the act, as often happens in war, proved 
 the safety of the British, for the enemy, thinking that a 
 strong support must be at hand, discharged their carbines 
 and retreated at a canter. 
 
 Hughes followed ; the speed of both sides increased, and, 
 as the nature of the road did not admit of any egress to the 
 sides, this great body of horsemen was pushed headlong by a 
 few men under the batteiies of St. Cyprien." 
 
 Here again Colonel Napier attempts to disparage Colonel 
 Vivian's action ; and if the latter is correct in the account 
 he gives of the affair, Napier is absolutely wrong. 
 
 It is noticeable that Major Hughes is mentioned in con- 
 nection with this charge. Several years ago a correspond- 
 ence took place between that officer and my father, the 
 second Lord Vivian, on the subject of this charge and the one 
 made later at Croix d'Orade, which correspondence I am 
 unfortunately unable to obtain. I am informed, and have 
 every reason to believe, that Major Hughes himself never 
 attempted to detract from Colonel Vivian's abilities as a 
 soldier, or to deny him the credit of these charges which 
 Napier seems to attribute to Major Hughes alone. For his 
 conduct in the affair with the French cavalry at the bridge 
 of St. Martyn-de-la-Touch, Colonel Vivian was highly com- 
 mended by Sir S. Cotton and Lord Wellington. 
 
 " CoLOMiEN, March 29, 1814. 
 
 " Here we still are, and with a day's rest, which we stood 
 much in need of. 
 
i8i4 CAMPAIGN OF 1813 233 
 
 " I conclude they are making preparations to pass the 
 river, which we shall attempt again, I expect, to-morrow ; 
 but, I fear, not now without considerable loss, as the enemy 
 are aware of our intention. 
 
 "They say Soult has detached 8000 men to Bordeaux. I 
 sincerely hope not ; for if he has it will play the very deuce 
 there, and hurt our cause very much. 
 
 " The people of this country are excessively well disposed 
 towards us, and they detest the French army. Nor am I 
 surprised, for in my life I never saw such vile ravages as their 
 soldiers have made in the beautiful country-houses of the 
 citizens of Toulouse, near the ground on which we are en- 
 camped. Buonaparte may collect proces verhauoc, and publish 
 accounts of the atrocities of the Cossacks, but nothing can 
 equal the ' Vandalism ' of his own troops ! 
 
 " He is trying all and every means in his power, through 
 the medium of the press, to stir up the people against the 
 invaders ; but I have not an expectation of his success. I 
 send you two songs that are in a farce composed for the 
 pui-pose. In a better cause they would be good, but the 
 cause for which the present troops fight is not that of the 
 conqueror of the oppressor of their country. After all, how- 
 ever, it must be admitted that Buonaparte has never shown 
 himself greater than on the present occasion. 
 
 " I send you also a proclamation of that worthy servant of 
 his most unworthy master — Marshal Soult. Such an in- 
 famous production never escaped the hands of a man calling 
 himself an officer and a gentleman. He is a vile wretch ! I 
 wish I was within sabre's length of him. The whole country 
 exclaims against him." 
 
 " COLOMIEN, NEAR ToULOUSE, 
 
 " March 30, 1814. 
 
 " My dearest Eli, — I yesterday despatched my epistle to 
 you, containing my journal up to that date, directed to the 
 Quarter-Master-General. 
 
234 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1814 
 
 "Nothing new has occurred. The engineers are hard at 
 work, making pontoons of casks, &c., to throw the bridge 
 over the Garonne. 
 
 " It rains tremendously, and the river is swelling much, so 
 that I fear we shall still have some difficulty in crossing. 
 
 " CoLOMiEN, March 31, 1814. 
 
 " Still in our quarters. The day beautiful. The enemy, 
 as before, posted in the town, and on the banks of the river, 
 apparently intending to oppose our either penetrating by the 
 town or crossing. 
 
 " The river must fall to-day, and the result, I hope, will be 
 our crossing to-morrow. This idleness "b^ins to be stupid. 
 
 " My landlord and his wife are very kinJ and civil; not- 
 withstanding which I expect they must wish' me away, for 
 we are turning them out of their rooms, and eating up all 
 their forage. Let me tell you, four officers (Keane, Camp- 
 bell, my Brigade-Major, and myself), and about forty mules 
 and horses, and a dozen servants and orderlies, are no joke 
 in a country-house. I know I should, so circumstanced, wish 
 them at the devil ! " 
 
 " CoLOMiEN, Afril I, 1814. 
 
 " And proper April fools they have made of us ! 
 
 " We turned out this morning at daybreak, thinking to be 
 in Toulouse, General Hill having crossed the water at 
 Rochet, and marched to Cintegabelle, from whence he was to 
 have marched upon Toulouse ; but he has found the roads so 
 bad that his artillery could not advance ; so he is come back, 
 and I expect the business will be done by the left wing. If 
 so, my brigade will be in the thick of it." 
 
 " General Hill crossed the Ariege at Cintegabelle, and sent 
 his scouts and cavalry towards Villefranche and Nailloux, but 
 his artillery could not move owing to the bad state of the 
 roads, and he returned during the night, and recrossed the 
 Garonne." — "Life of Napoleon," vol. vi. p. 631. 
 
i8i4 CAMPAIGN OF 1813 235 
 
 " April 2. — Nothing settled. 
 
 "The lord is now planning how to circumvent Mr. Soult, 
 who is rather a serious playfellow. 
 
 " April 3. — Half-past nine o'clock p.m. 
 
 " It is just as I expected. I received an order this morning 
 to accompany the lord and Marshal Beresford in a recon- 
 naissance down the river, as my cavalry will be the first in case 
 of a move this way. We had a long ride, and it was at last 
 decided that the bridge was to be thrown over at a small 
 village, near Grenade, at daybreak to-morrow morning. 
 
 " Since this I have been dining with the lord ; and to-morrow 
 morning, at two o'clock, we move to the point of attack. 
 
 " The ground is favom-able for our artillery, as the heights on 
 this side of the river are very commanding ; but as the enemy's 
 pickets are thick on the other side, I expect we shall very soon 
 find their army in front. If so we shall have hot work of it. 
 
 " My brigade of cavalry follow the 4th division, which goes 
 first ; so the devil is in it if I do not get a hit at the gentle- 
 man to-morrow. I have always been in luck and got off well, 
 and so, please God, I mean to do. 
 
 " God bless you, dearest Eli. I will tell you all about it 
 after it is over." 
 
 " On the evening of April 3 the pontoons were carried to 
 Grenade, where the bridge was at last thrown, and thirty 
 guns placed on the left bank to protect it. 
 
 The 3rd, 4th, and 6th divisions of infantry, and three 
 brigades of cavalry, under Beresford, immediately passed over, 
 and the cavalry being pushed out two leagues on the front and 
 flanks, captured a large herd of bullocks destined for the 
 French army. 
 
 But now the river again swelled so fast that the Spaniards 
 and Light division were unable to follow, the bridge got 
 damaged, and the pontoons were taken up."- — " Life of 
 Napoleon," vol. vi. 632. 
 
 " April 4. — Yesterday (April 4) was so busy a day that I 
 had not time to continue my journal. 
 
236 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1814 
 
 " Notwithstanding our expectation of opposition not a shot 
 was fired. 
 
 " The 3rd, 4th, 6th, and Light divisions, with Lord E. 
 Somerset's and my brigades of cavalry, marched at eleven 
 o'clock at night on the 3rd to reach the bank of the river at 
 daybreak in the morning, at which time the bridge was com- 
 menced. It was an operation of three hours and a half 
 throwing it over ; and at nine we commenced passing. 
 
 " First the 4th division, then my brigade, then the 6th 
 division, then half of Lord E. Somerset's brigade, then the 
 3rd division, then the other half of Lord E. Somerset's 
 brigade, then a Heavy brigade of Dragoons ; and the opera- 
 tion was so long, the horses being obliged to be led one by 
 one over, that only those I have mentioned could pass before 
 night. 
 
 '■^ April 5. — To-day (April 5) the Spaniards and Light 
 division and heavy Germans are crossing. 
 
 " The weather during the preceding night had been tremen- 
 dous. Such a flood of rain I never saw ; and the river was 
 much swollen, which made our operation a still more hazardous 
 one ; but either Soult was afraid, or deceived, for he never 
 even attempted the slightest resistance. When first he heard 
 we were coming he moved his army out of the town of 
 Toulouse as if to oppose us, but he afterwards moved back 
 again. I suspect he means to be off altogether ; if not, he 
 has missed a fine opportunity of fighting us. He never can 
 mean to stay in Toulouse, for if he does, he and all his army 
 will certainly be taken. 
 
 " I conclude we shall move in the evening towards 
 Toulouse, and I exjiect the bridge will be moved to Bluynau, 
 which will connect our army. At present we are separated ; 
 General Hill beina; on the other side of the Garonne with his 
 corps. 
 
 " The passing of the Garonne was a beautiful sight. It 
 would have been magnificent had the weather been fine ; but 
 it was cloudy, with showers ; and the poor fellows, after a 
 
i8i4 CAMPAIGN OF 1813 237 
 
 night march, drenched to the skin and up to their knees in 
 mud, were looking rather miserable ; still, however, the pass- 
 ing the river on a pontoon bridge, all the bands playing the 
 ' British Grenadiers,' the trumpets soiuiding, and the banks 
 lined with thousands of spectators, was, notwithstanding the 
 weather, a beautiful sight. 
 
 " As soon as I was over I had to send small parties into all 
 quarters to chase away the detachments of the enemy's 
 cavalry observing our movements, and at eight o'clock at 
 night I reached this place with my brigade, more dead than 
 alive from fatigue. I got a little warm soup and some hashed 
 beef, and at half-past nine turned into bed, and at six this 
 morning woke out of the soundest possible sleep, as well as 
 ever I was in my life. 
 
 " I expect as soon as the Spaniards and heavy guns are over 
 we shall move on. I am just going to get on my horse to see 
 what is to be seen, and hear what is to be heard. 
 
 " Six o'clock P.M. I little thought when I wrote the last 
 sentence, that I should have learnt we were in a most serious 
 scrape. 
 
 " Instead of passing the whole of the troops last night in- 
 tended to be passed. Lord Wellington ordered the baggage of 
 some of the divisions over. The consequence was that, owing 
 to the immensity of rain that had fallen, the bridge, during 
 the night, became impassable ; and here we are — three brigades 
 of cavalry, the 3rd, 4th, and 6th divisions of infantry — com- 
 pletely cut off from the rest of the army, and liable to be 
 attacked by double our numbers. We have just 10,700 
 bayonets, and 2200 swords. If Soult does not take advan- 
 tage of this opportunity and attack us he is not worth his 
 salt. 
 
 " However, after all, if he does he will get thrashed ; for my 
 firm belief is that the three divisions here would beat his 
 whole army ; and nearly his whole army he can bring against 
 us, for he is perfectly secure from any attack on the other 
 
238 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1814 
 
 side from the works he has thrown up in front of the bridge 
 of Toulouse. We shall see to-morrow.'" 
 
 Alison, alluding to the position of affairs at this period, 
 
 says : 
 
 " On the 3rd, as the river had somewhat fallen, the pontoons 
 were carried in the night to Grenade, fifteen miles below 
 Toulouse, and the bridge having been quickly thrown over, a 
 battery of thirty guns was established to protect it, and three 
 divisions of infantry and three of cavalry immediately passed 
 over, which captured a large herd of oxen intended for the 
 French army. 
 
 But meanwhile a catastrophe, threatening the most terrible 
 consequences, ensued. 
 
 The river rose again in raging torrents ; the Light 
 divisions and Spaniards, intended to follow the leading 
 divisions, could not be got across ; the grappling irons and 
 supports of the bridge were swept away ; and, to avoid total 
 destruction, it became necessary to take up the pontoons and 
 dismantle the bridge ; leaving Beresford with 15,000 foot, and 
 3000 horse, alone exposed to the whole weight of the French 
 army, at least double their strength." 
 
 " Castelnau, April 6, 1814. 
 
 " The morrow has come and nearly passed without an 
 attack. We had a flood of rain last night, and our diffi- 
 culties increase. Soult might starve us in three days, if this 
 weather lasts, by moving on against us in front and occupy- 
 ing the line of the little river Ers in our i-ear, and this 
 without firing a shot. If he is not at us to-morrow he is 
 indeed a cocktail of a fellow, and that I do not suspect him 
 of being. 
 
 " The weather is, however, holding up, and if it continues 
 dry all night, to-morrow, I hope, will re-establish our bridge. 
 If not, we will die hard — no surrendering, I promise you. If 
 the worst comes to the worst I mean to start with my 
 brigade and march upon Lyons to join the Austrians. I 
 have no notion of cajntulation ; but, as I said before, if they 
 
i8i4 CAMPAIGN OF 1813 239 
 
 dare attack us they will pay dear for it. I am more afraid of 
 starving than of being beaten, 
 
 " My baggage is on the other side of the water, and I have 
 nothing but Higgins (who is very ill) with me, a clean shirt, 
 and a toothbrush, but I can rough it as well as any man, so 
 I care not a sou. 
 
 " Castelnau, April 7, 1S14. 
 
 " Here we still are, and much to our surprise and dis- 
 appointment still in peace. It is now four o'clock and Soult 
 has not attacked us. I only wish he had ! He would pro- 
 perly have caught it, for our position was such as could have 
 been defended by the troops we have on this side of the water 
 against the whole French army. 
 
 " The weather is delightful. The river has fallen 3 feet 
 since the morning, and at seven o'clock this evening we expect 
 the bridge to be re-established, when the Spaniards and Light 
 division will cross to this side ; and to-morrow we shall 
 probably move on. But as Soult has not dared to attack our 
 small force, cut off completely from the rest of the army, he 
 will not, I expect, attempt to make a stand against us united, 
 although, after all, we are miserably weak. Altogether we 
 have not 32,000 bayonets, and Soult has as many, but we are 
 stronger in cavalry. 
 
 " Soult will retire, I expect, upon Carcassonne by-and-bye. 
 He will perhaps be joined by Augereau and Suchet ; but then 
 we shall join Bianchi and Babna. Reinforcements from 
 England we cannot expect, and as to Graham's army it is 
 lost to us. What a pretty business ! 
 
 " We have French papers to the 29th from Paris. By 
 them it appears that on or about the 30th Blucher must have 
 been so near as to have been in a position to have attacked 
 it ; and Buonaparte, hastening from St. Dizier on the 27th, 
 could not be in time to save it. 
 
 " A private letter received here says the streets of Paris 
 are strewed with dead and dying, but that King Joseph has 
 
240 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1814 
 
 induced the Cohortes Urbaines to fight under a promise of 
 reinforcements and Boney's arrival. By this it appears as if 
 Paris is not taken ; but if the Cohortes Urbaines are like 
 those we meet here, their resistance will be trifling." 
 
 On March 30th a battle was fought near Paris, when the 
 French, under King Joseph, Marmont, and Mortier, were 
 defeated, and Paris capitulated on the following day. 
 
 Napoleon abdicated on April 4th. All this, however, was 
 unknown to Wellington and Soult. 
 
 " I expect the white cockade will be hoisted in Toulouse 
 on our entrance. In short, I hope V affaire est jink, and the 
 tyrant will soon cease to reign. After all, he has made a grand 
 resistance ; he never showed himself so great. 
 
 " Why do we not proclaim Louis XVIII. .? Every one 
 here wishes it. Every one complains of our not doing so. 
 This once done, and the game is over, and our own ; not that 
 the people care a sou for the Bourbons, but that they 
 hate Buonaparte; and, if we once pledged ourselves to 
 support the Bourbons, they would join us to put down 
 Buonaparte. 
 
 " Castelnau, April 8, i8id. 
 
 " The bridge was not re-established until four o'clock this 
 morning. The baggage has been until now (eleven o'clock) 
 passing over, and at twelve o'clock we expect to advance 
 towards Toulouse, but not so far as to bring us into action 
 to-day. 
 
 " To-morrow we shall probably have a gentle brush with 
 them, but I do not expect that Soult will fight much. 
 
 " We have just heard a report that Paris is taken and 
 the white flag hoisted. If true, this accounts for Soult's 
 inactivity. 
 
 " The post goes to-mori'ow, and I am so busy I have not a 
 moment to add anything more, so God bless you ! " 
 
i8i4 CAMPAIGN OF 1813 241 
 
 The above is the last letter written by Colonel Vivian 
 during this campaign, which is accounted for by the fact that 
 he was mistaken in thinking that nothing would take place 
 on the 8th ; for Wellington advanced upon Toulouse, and in 
 the course of the day Colonel Mvian was himself seriously 
 wounded. 
 
 From Napier's History I extract the following account of 
 the events of the day : 
 
 " On the 8th the waters subsided, the bridge was again 
 laid down, Frere's Spaniards and the Portuguese crossed, and 
 Wellington advanced to Fenoulhiet, within five miles of 
 Toulouse. 
 
 Marching up the two banks of the Ers his columns were 
 separated by that river, which was impassable without pon- 
 toons ; and it was essential to secure as soon as possible one 
 of the stone bridges. 
 
 Hence, when his left approached the heights of Kyrie 
 Eleison, on the great road of Alby, Vivian's horsemen drove 
 Berton's cavalry up the right of the Ers towards Bordes, 
 and the 18th Hussars descended towards that of Croix 
 d'Orade. 
 
 The latter was defended by Vial's Dragoons, and after 
 some skirmishing, the 18th was suddenly menaced by a regi- 
 ment in front of the bridge, the opposite bank of the river 
 being lined with dismounted carbineers. 
 
 The two parties stood facing each other, hesitating to 
 begin, until the approach of some British infantry, when 
 both sides sounded the charge at the same moment ; but the 
 English horses were so quick that the French in an instant 
 were jammed up on the bridge. Their front ranks were 
 sabred, and the mass, breaking away to the rear, went off in 
 disorder, leaving many killed and wounded, and above a 
 hundred prisoners, in the hands of the victors. 
 
 They were pursued through the ^•illage of Croix d'Orade, 
 but beyond it they rallied and advanced again. 
 
 The Hussars then recrossed the bridge which was now 
 defended by the British infantry, uhose fire stopped the 
 French cavalry." 
 
 Colonel Napier then goes on to volunteer the remark that 
 
 Q 
 
242 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1814 
 
 " the credit of this brilliant action was given in the despatch, 
 inaccurately, to Colonel Vivian, for that officer was wounded 
 by a carbine shot previous to the charge at the bridge. The 
 attack was conceived and conducted by Major Hughes of 
 the ISth." 
 
 This is another occasion when Colonel Napier detracts from 
 Colonel Vivian's performances ; and it is again noticeable that 
 jMajor Hughes is the officer he names as deserving of all the 
 credit of the action. 
 
 In 1871 my father, writing to the editor of " Historical 
 Records of the 18th Hussars," who had quoted this passage 
 from Napier, said : 
 
 " I can only contradict this assertion on the authenticity of 
 the statement which has often been made me by my father, 
 the late Lord Vivian. 
 
 He stated that he ordered the advance on the bridge which 
 was made by the 18th, and whilst with the squadron was shot 
 in the arm by a dismounted carbineer. Colonel Hughes only 
 carried out the order given by my father." 
 
 Wellington in his despatch most undoubtedly gives the 
 credit of the performance to Colonel Vivian, and Sir S. Cotton 
 thanked him in Cavalry Orders. 
 
 AVellington''s despatch is as follows : 
 
 " The continued fall of rain and the state of the roads pre- 
 vented me from laying the bridge across till the morning of 
 the 8th, when the Spanish corps and the Portuguese artillery, 
 under the immediate orders of General Frere, and the Head- 
 quarters, crossed the Garonne. 
 
 We immediately moved forward to the neighbourhood of 
 the town ; and the 18th Hussars under the immediate com- 
 mand of Colonel Vivian had an opportunity of making a most 
 gallant attack upon a superior body of the enemy's cavahy, 
 which they drove through the village of Croix d'Orade and 
 took about 100 prisoners and gave us possession of an im- 
 portant bridge over the Ers, by which it was necessary to 
 pass to attack the enemy's position. 
 
1 8 14 CAMPAIGN OF 1813 243 
 
 Colonel Vivian was unfortunately wounded upon this occa- 
 sion and I am afraid I shall lose his services for some time." 
 
 When Chaplain-General Gleig disputed a statement of 
 Napier s relating to the battle of Vimiera, the latter writer 
 fell back on the authority of the Duke of Wellington, which 
 of course Napier preferred to that of Gleig, adding tartly that 
 " the two authorities may be weighed by those who are fasti- 
 dious.'" A similar process may be recommended as to Wel- 
 lington's and Napier's authority touching Vivian's share in the 
 affair of Croix d'Orade. 
 
 I may also add the significant fact that the officers of the 
 18th Hussars sent the following letter to Vivian on the day 
 after the action : 
 
 " Dear Sir, — In proportion to the gratitude we entertain 
 for the occasion you obtained for us yesterday of meriting 
 your approbation, is the regret we feel that it should have 
 deprived us, we trust but for a short time, of your continued 
 protection. Although so much above any consequence our 
 compliments and congratulations would give you, yet with 
 our condolence permit us to say we feel and justly appreciate 
 the vigilance, activity, and great gallantry with which on ail 
 occasions, and on this occasion particularly, you have sought 
 our honour. As a memorial and tribute of our gratitude we 
 request that you do us the honour to accept a sword which, 
 God grant, you may be enabled to wield at the head of your 
 brigade." 
 
 The sword, which was presented when the regiment returned 
 to England a few months later, bore on one side the inscrip- 
 tion " Croix d'Orade, 8th April 1814," and on the reverse, 
 ^' The officers of the 18th Hussars express by this token their 
 regard for, and confidence in, Major-General R. H. Vivian, 
 who was wounded at the head of their regiment." 
 
 Further than this, amongst the heraldic allusions to his 
 distinguished career granted to Vivian later in life, is a soldier 
 of the 18th Hussars bearing a pennon with the words " Croix 
 
24-4 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1814 
 
 d'Orade '" on it. As this was in 1827 — fourteen years after 
 the event and when the truth of the action would have been 
 thoroughly thrashed out — it is scarcely probable that Vivian 
 would have accepted, or have been allowed to bear without 
 challenge, a device which he had not justly merited. 
 
 " A perusal of the correspondence which took place on the 
 subject in 1840 and 1841 will convince most people that 
 Colonel Vivian did conceive and direct the attack, and that 
 only his wound prevented him personally conducting it. 
 Major Hughes did what hundreds of others did during the 
 war, he gallantly carried out an order conceived and directed 
 by a superior officer." — Uriited Service Magazine, October 
 1896. 
 
 Colonel Vivian's wound was of so serious a nature that he 
 was unable to take any further part in the operations against 
 Toulouse, and his brigade was afterwards commanded by 
 Colonel Arentschild, and took part in the battle of Toulouse 
 on April 10, which town Wellington entered on the 12th. 
 On the 13th information of Napoleon's abdication reached the 
 armies, and on the 17th hostilities ceased. 
 
 The British cavalry marched through France and embarked 
 at Boulogne on July 12, 1814. Colonel Vivian retm'ned to 
 England in June, and on the 4th of that month he was, at the 
 age of thirty-eight, promoted to the rank of Major-General, 
 and in January 1815 nominated a Knight Commander of the 
 Bath. 
 
 Shortly afterwards he was appointed to the command of 
 the Sussex district. His promotion necessitated his relin- 
 quishing the command of the 7th Hussars, when the officers, 
 to show their respect, affection, and high appreciation of his 
 bravery and efficient services, presented him with a handsome 
 piece of plate valued at three hundred guineas. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 QUATRE-BRAS AND THE RETREAT OF JUNE 17 
 
 In February of 1815 Napoleon Buonaparte, in Elba, came to 
 the conclusion that with the assistance of the army he could 
 overthrow the Bourbons. On March 1, he landed near 
 Cannes, and on March 20 entered the Tuileries, Louis XVIII. 
 having driven out of it only a few hours before. 
 
 When Buonaparte left Elba for France, Wellington was in 
 Vienna, attending the Congi-ess, where the Ministers of various 
 European Powers were wrangling over the division of the 
 lands that had been ceded by France on Napoleon's retire- 
 ment to Elba. The news at once stopped all their dissensions, 
 and on March 12 the Allied Powers joined hands, and 
 declared Napoleon to be beyond the pale of civil and social 
 relations, and that, as a common enemy and disturber of the 
 peace of the world, he had delivered himself over to public 
 justice. 
 
 There was not a nation in Europe that felt the slightest 
 particle of trust in Napoleon. Great Britain, Russia, Austria, 
 and Prussia, bound themselves each to provide 150,000 men 
 to work together for the common end " until Buonaparte shall 
 have been rendered absolutely unable to create disturbance, 
 and to renew attempts for possessing himself of supreme power 
 in France.'" 
 
 On March 29 W^ellington left Vienna and arrived in 
 Brussels on April 4, where he took command of the Dutch- 
 Beige, as well as of the British and Hanoverian troops which 
 
246 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1815 
 
 were there assembled and assembling. It was not, however, 
 till April 16 that Sir Hussey Vivian embarked to join the 
 brigade to which he had been appointed. He was now a 
 K.C.B. and was the first Major-General sent in command of a 
 brigade to join the army at Brussels. 
 
 His diary, which he kept with care, and in which he jotted 
 down the chief events in which he took part, commences : 
 
 " April 16. — Sailed from Ramsgate, on board of the Lord 
 Liverpool packet. 
 
 " The 10th Hussars sailed at the same time. 
 
 " Wretchedly sea-sick. 
 
 " April 17. — Landed at 10 o'clock a.m. on the beach near 
 Ostend, and walked up to the place with Lieut.-Col. Sir A, 
 Fraser, Royal Artillery, and Brig.-Major Harris. 
 
 " At Ostend I found the Duke of Wellington inspecting 
 the troops and works. He left it about half an hour after I 
 landed, for Ypres. He appeared most anxious to know what 
 infantry were coming from England. 
 
 " Ostend is very large, and tolerably well fortified ; by 
 Buonaparte, in a great measure. The works are very extensive 
 and would require a very large garrison ; and, excepting for 
 the facility of inundating the country about it, I consider it 
 as a place of no gi-eat strength. It might, I apprehend, be 
 taken by a coup de main, especially from the seaside. 
 
 " On the hills beyond the river is a work of considerable 
 strength, erected by Buonaparte after the defeat of Sir E. 
 Coote's expedition, which landed near the sandhills, near 
 where the works stand. Guns from it can reach the town, 
 but not so as to drive troops out, I imagine. 
 
 " At Ostend I occupied the house that Buonaparte had in- 
 habited, and afterwards the Emperor Alexander." 
 
 Lieut.-Col. Sir Augustus Eraser commanded the whole of 
 the Horse Artillery dui'ing the campaign. One of the three 
 who walked together up to the town on this day was not 
 
i8is QUATRE-BRAS 247 
 
 destined to return to England. Brig. -Major Harris was 
 killed at Waterloo. He was Brig.-Major to Sir Hussey 
 Vivian's brigade. 
 
 "April 18, 19, 20, and 21. — Remained at Ostend, my 
 horses not having arrived till the 19th. 
 
 " Api'il 22. — Left Ostend in the gig, in the most tremendous 
 rain imaginable, and blowing so hard that I could not hold 
 an umbrella to it. 
 
 " Dined with Major-Gen. Sir J. Lyon K.C.B., at Bruges, 
 a very large town, but apparently at present a place of little 
 traffic and much deserted, to judge from the number of 
 houses that are shut up. 
 
 " There are some monuments in the churches of this town." 
 
 Sir J. Lyon commanded a Hanovei-ian brigade at 
 Waterloo. 
 
 " April 23. — Went on the barge by the canal to Ghent. A 
 most admirable conveyance, in which your passage and a good 
 dinner costs you 7*., with wines of all sorts. The distance is 
 about 25 miles. 
 
 " Ghent is a very considerable town; stands on an immense 
 space, and contains 50,000 inhabitants. It is famous for its 
 linen and lace manufactories. 
 
 "At Ghent I expected to have found my brigade assem- 
 bled, as they had been marching by detachments as they 
 landed ; but I found an order for the different regiments to 
 march at once into quarters at Harlebeke, Avelghem, and 
 Berchem ; villages upon, and between, the Scheldt and the 
 Lys rivers. 
 
 " I must here notice the very curious circumstance of part 
 of one of the regiments of my brigade, the 18th Hussars 
 (the other two were the 7th and 10th), having marched from 
 Canterbury on the morning of the 17th and into Bruges on 
 the evening of the 18th. 
 
248 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1815 
 
 "At Ghent there are many curiosities worth seeing, 
 especially the church of St. Bavon, in which there is some 
 beautiful sculpture ; and under which is what is called another 
 church, and is, in fact, used as such ; but it is really nothing 
 more than a ca\'ern or vault in which there are windows. Its 
 age, however, makes it a curiosity, having been built by 
 Charlemagne. In the church of St. Michael also there are 
 some good paintings. Ghent is a very fine city, and very 
 clean." 
 
 At this point it will be well to state what was the dis- 
 position of Wellington's army at this time. 
 
 As early as the 11th of April he had divided his troops 
 into two corps cfarmee and a reserve ; the two former com- 
 manded respectively by the Prince of Orange and Lord Hill, 
 the last by himself. 
 
 The whole of the cavalry was under the orders of Lord 
 Uxbridge (afterwards Loi'd Anglesey) and the British portion 
 was kept united in cantonments. 
 
 Hooper says : 
 
 " Wellington was occupying an immense front. Com- 
 mencing from the right at Ostend, the line followed the 
 frontier. 
 
 Nieuport, Ypres, Courtrai, Tournai and Mons, had been 
 strengthened so far as to be able to embarass the march of 
 an army attempting to break into Belgium between the 
 Scheldt and the Lys, or between the Scheldt and the Sambre. 
 From Courtrai to Mons ran a chain of cavalry posts in 
 observation, and in rear of these stood the divisions of the 
 army. 
 
 The gi-eat mass of the troops was cantoned in the wide 
 plains between the Scheldt and the great road from Charleroi 
 through Brussels to Antwerp. 
 
 Lord Hill's headquarters were at Ath, and the brigades 
 of his corps extended to the right as far as the Lys, and to 
 the left in the direction of Mons. The first corps formed the 
 left of the army ; the headquarters were at Braine-le-Comte, 
 and the divisions were on each side of the high i-oad from 
 
i8is QUATRE-BRAS 24<9 
 
 Mons to Brussels. The most forward post was at Binche, and 
 the furthest to the left at Frasnes. 
 
 In the rear of Lord Hill lay the great body of the cavalry, 
 in the valley of the Dendre, the headquarters being at 
 Grammont; and in rear of the Prince of Orange was the 
 Reserve, at Brussels, and one brigade of Cole''s division at 
 Ghent." — Hoopek, p. 41. 
 
 "■^ April 24. — Went with Keane, in a curricle of the 
 country, to Brussels. 
 
 " We were invited to dine with the Duke of Wellington, 
 but the invitation arrived after the hour named for dinner. 
 Dined with Sir E. Barnes. 
 
 " April 25. — Visited my friends in Brussels ; amongst 
 others, Greathead, the Duke of Richmond, Lady E. Somerset, 
 &c. Dined with the Duke of Richmond. 
 
 " April 26. — Walked about the city. 
 
 " Lord Uxbridge arrived from England to take command 
 of the cavalry. 
 
 "There is nothing that I could discover particularly 
 worth seeing in Brussels, excepting the park, which is really 
 a very magnificent appendage to the city ; and the upper 
 part of the town also, about it, contains some fine buildings ; 
 the lower part is dirty and bad. There are a few good 
 pictures in the Museum. 
 
 " Dined this day with the Quartermaster-General, Sir 
 Hudson Lowe, and met Pozzo di Borgo, and the Prussian 
 general, Ryder." 
 
 Sir Hudson Lowe was afterwards the Governor of St. 
 Helena, when Napoleon was sent there. 
 
 Pozzo di Borgo was with Wellington's staff at the battle of 
 Waterloo. 
 
 " April 27. — Brussels. 
 
 " Dined with Lord Uxbridge at the Hotel d'Angleterre. 
 
 '■'■April 28. — The Knights Commander of the Bath not 
 
250 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1815 
 
 invested by the Prince Regent were this morning invested by 
 the Duke of Wellington, and he gave afterwards, to about 
 seventy or eighty of the principal officers of the army, a 
 dinner at the Hotel Bellevue, and afterwards at the room 
 called the ' Concert Noble,' a very brilliant company assem- 
 bled to dance. Never did I witness a more beautiful sight. 
 The French head-dresses, and the different national uniforms, 
 formed a splendid sight. 
 
 " April 29. — Attended the levee of the King of the Nether- 
 lands, and dined afterwards with the Paymaster-General, Mr. 
 Smith. Sir C. Alten, Sir J. Lyon, and Mr. and Mrs. Small, 
 were of the party ; Mrs. Small very handsome indeed — very 
 like Mrs. George Wyndham of Norfolk. 
 
 " April 30. — Left Brussels in a hired carriage for Ghent. 
 Arrived there late at night. A carriage I had bought was 
 out of repair, and delayed my journey. 
 
 "■ May \.— At Ghent. 
 
 " Rode out with Lord Uxbridge, and dined with the 
 Comte with whom he was quartered. Had an excellent 
 dinner, and a very pleasant party. Two very delightful 
 women, his daughters-in-law, were there ; one very pretty and 
 very interesting. 
 
 "At night I received a letter to say that the brigade 
 marched the next day from its cantonments to Ninove and 
 the villages on the left bank of the Dendre. Thinking this 
 move might arise from some movements in the French army. 
 Lord Uxbridge and myself gave up a plan of going to see 
 Antwerp ; and he started in the morning of the second for 
 Oudenarde. 
 
 " I did the same for Ninove, where I arrived as soon as the 
 7th, and dined with my host, a most kind and excellent man." 
 
 With regard to this movement of Sir H. Vivian's brigade 
 to Ninove, Hooper, in his history, says : 
 
 " The first of May arrived, and with it false reports of the 
 
i8i5 QUATRE-BRAS 251 
 
 march of the Imperial Guard, and of the intention of Buona- 
 parte to visit the frontier. 
 
 Yet uncertain of their value Wellington issued the first 
 orders directing a concentration of the cantonments of the 
 troops. 
 
 Informing the Earl of Uxbridge of this order, he said, 
 ' All dispositions are so made that the whole army can be 
 collected in one short movement with the Prussians on my 
 left.' 
 
 The line of operations which he deemed it probable that 
 the French would select was either between the Lys and the 
 Scheldt, or between the Scheldt and the Sambre, or by both ; 
 and for each contingency he was prepared." 
 
 " May 3. — Ninove. 
 
 " A very nice, pleasant little town, situated on the Dendre, 
 which divides it. 
 
 " Lord Uxbridge and his staff dined with me. 
 
 " A large portion of the army appears to have collected 
 about Enghien, Nivelles, and Grammont, as if something was 
 expected. I have no idea of Buonaparte making any 
 attempt whatever. 
 
 "The force is at present about 13,000 British, 7000 
 German Legion, 25,000 Hanoverians, and as many Dutch; 
 of them about 10,000 are in garrisons, and the others are, 
 many of them, but badly composed. The proportion of 
 cavalry is about 8000 or 9000 ; of them 3500 are British. 
 More are expected. The Duke of Wellington must be much 
 stronger before he can attempt a forward movement." 
 
 " Although no forward movement was as a fact made, 
 Wellington was at this time urging offensive, instead of 
 defensive, steps being taken." — Hooper, p. 51. 
 
 " May 4. — Ninove. 
 
 " Inspected my brigade in watering order, and found a 
 dreadful number of sore backs ; especially in the 7th and 
 18th. 
 
252 IIICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1815 
 
 " Oh that the age of reason would but come, and that 
 those who have influence enough in these matters would 
 discern that it would be money well spent to provide every 
 British Dragoon with one of the best old English saddles that 
 can possibly be made, and not with such ridiculous things as 
 the Hussar saddles, which reejuire a day's labour to put on, 
 from the numerous straps and trappings, and which, after all, 
 cut the horses' backs to atoms ! The day must and will 
 come when the folly of these things is discovered. I never 
 have had but one opinion on the subject, and I never can 
 have but one. Every day's experience but confirms me in 
 the belief that nothing can be so truly ridiculous as mounting 
 English Dragoons on German saddles. The very principle of 
 the saddle is false. It contains in it that which must inevit- 
 ably do mischief. No tree of a Hussar saddle will bear the 
 test of mathematical trial as to its being true in all its 
 bearings. It cannot. AVood will bend and warp with heat 
 and damp, and consequently, if the bearings are not even, 
 some part of the horse's back must be pressed more than the 
 other ; hence sores arise. Not so with the English saddle. 
 An iron tree may be made exactly true to rule ; and where 
 the injury was formerly done from the English saddle itai-ose 
 from their being badly and clumsily made. I would have 
 every Dragoon ride on as good a saddle as can be put out of 
 hand. To this might be added a peak behind and before, 
 the first of which would carry the baggage off the horse's 
 back — the sole advantage of the Hussar saddle. Oh, ye 
 rulers of these like matters, when will you learn from experi- 
 ence to adopt that which is useful, and feel persuaded that a 
 good appearance is not only to be considered (not that the 
 aj)pearance even, to my mind, is good), and that that only can 
 be beautiful which is in reality useful ? The very subject makes 
 me wretched. I feel persuaded that a service campaign will 
 destroy every horse's back in the brigade. These opinions, 
 here recorded, have been ten thousand times expressed. 
 
 " Mar/ 5. — Ninove. 
 
i8i5 QUATRE-BRAS C53 
 
 " Rode with Lord Uxbridge to the quarters of the Heavy 
 Dragoons, at Denderhautem, St. Lieven, Estre, &c. 
 
 "Nothing can be more beautiful than the cultivation of 
 this country — not a weed to be seen anywhere ; and the 
 inhabitants are, without exception, the civilest, and appear to 
 be the happiest, people possible. 
 
 " May 6. — Lord Uxbridge inspected my brigade in mount- 
 ing order. The 7th had twenty-nine, the 18th thirteen horses 
 dismounted on account of sore backs. 
 
 " He afterwards inspected the King's Dragoon Guards and 
 the Greys. In the former regiment was not one instance of a 
 sore back ; and in the latter, one only. How much does this 
 prove in favour of the Hussars' saddles .? The whole of the 
 regiments were in perfect order. 
 
 " May 7. — Lord Uxbridge, Captain Wildman,and Shenewitz 
 and myself left Ninove, in Lord Uxbridge's carriage, to visit 
 the advance of the army. We went by Grammont and Les- 
 sines to Ath; and from thence rode to Tournai, where we 
 dined, and walked roUnd the fortifications in the evening. 
 Slept at Tournai. The inn — the ' Singe d'Or ' — a very toler- 
 able one. 
 
 " Tournai is a very considerable town, and has been 
 very strong, but Joseph II. dismantled it. They are now 
 at work repairing the citadel, which is a very neat little 
 work." 
 
 After Wellington an-ived at Brussels a large number of 
 Sappers were engaged throughout the country in repairing 
 the chief fortifications on the frontier. 
 
 '■'■May 8. — Lord Uxbridge inspected the 1st Hussars, K.G.L., 
 and found them in very high order. My old friends did me 
 the honour to express themselves very anxious again to return 
 to my brigade. 
 
 " From Tournai we rode to the field of Fontenoy, a position 
 strong beyond measure from the beautiful glacis that was in 
 
S54 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1815 
 
 front of it, and from its flanks having been so well protected. 
 Nothing could be more daring than to attack it. 
 
 " From Fontenoy we rode to the field of Genappe, a position 
 totally indefensible by 20,000 men, which was about the force 
 of the Austrians when the French attacked it. In short, a 
 position, to my mind, very bad under almost any circum- 
 stances ; but under those in which the action was fought, the 
 only thing that surprises me is that Dumourier allowed a man 
 of the Austrian right wing to escape. 
 
 " At Mons we dined with General Domberg, and slept at 
 the ' Hotel de la Couronne Imp^riale ' — an excellent house." 
 
 The battle of Genappe was fought between the French and 
 Austrians on November 6, 1792, and resulted in a victory for 
 the French. It was the first pitched battle that was gained 
 by the Republican army, and led to the immediate conquest 
 of the whole of the Netherlands. 
 
 At Waterloo the 1st Hussars were in Sir H. Vivian's brigade. 
 The 7th Hussars were in that of Sir C. Grant. 
 
 " May 9. — Rode to Grandglise to inspect the 3rd Hussars, 
 K.G.L., and a squadron of the Regent's Hussars, having first 
 seen two squadrons of the Bremen and Verdin regiments, 
 beautifully mounted and altogether very good. The 3rd 
 Hussars in excellent order ; the horses not so good as those of 
 the Bremen and Verdin regiments. 
 
 "From Grandglise to Ath, by Belleisle, the magnificent 
 seat of the Prince de Ligne ; and from Ath to Ninove, in 
 Lord Uxbridge's carriage. 
 
 " May 10. — Received an order to move that part of my 
 brigade in Ninove into other quarters. Sent my baggage, 
 &c., to the Chateau de Murat, near Grammont, and rode 
 over to Brussels and dined with Greathead. 
 
 '■'•MayW. — Returned from Brussels to the chateau near 
 Grammont. Found my host, the count, by no means disposed 
 to form an acquaintance, and altogether possessing all the 
 
i8i5 QUATRE-BRAS 255 
 
 love for money of the people of this country, and all the 
 pride of an old German nobleman. 
 
 " As a proof of this, I asked him where I could purchase 
 some Rhine wine, and he told me he would send a friend who 
 would get me some from a wine merchant. His friend was 
 not long in arriving, for it was his own steward ; and he sold 
 me wine at 3.?. a bottle, out of the count's cellar, that I could 
 have bought at Grammont for 2s. ! 
 
 " 2Iay 12. — Rode to the quarters of the 18th Hussars. 
 
 "Fuller, Hodge, Lord R. Manners, and Captain King 
 dined with me. 
 
 " May 13. — Still no appearance of a move. 
 
 " Reports from the front state that the National Guards 
 will neither march nor give up their arms, and that the con- 
 scripts will not obey the orders to appear at particular 
 depots. In short, things certainly wear the appearance of 
 uneasiness, and there are those who fancy that the march to 
 Paris will be an affair of pleasure, and without opposition. I 
 confess I am not one of them. 
 
 " Dined with Lord Hill. 
 
 " May 14. — Still at my chateau in a morass — as famous 
 a place for ague as ever was seen. I shall be surprised if all 
 my household escape it. 
 
 "One admirable thing I have observed here, and well 
 worthy of imitation. It is that the mangers in the stables 
 are of stone, and the front of glazed tiles ; much cleaner and 
 less liable to infection than wooden ones, evidently. 
 
 " Dined at Ninove with Lord Uxbridge. 
 
 " May 15. — Exercised my brigade in a meadow near 
 Schendelbeke ; I fear somewhat to the injury of the 
 crops; but when thousands of acres are inundated for the 
 protection of fortresses that probably will never be attacked, 
 surely it may be permitted to do some little mischief to a 
 few, for the purpose of perfecting in their manoeuvres a 
 brigade, which, if there is a war, is sure to be engaged, 
 and the very success of which may perhaps, in a very great 
 
256 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1815 
 
 measure, depend on the state of their discipHne in the 
 field. 
 
 " Dined at home — a large party of the 7th with me. 
 
 '■'■ May 16. — Rode to Ninove, and afterwards with Lord 
 Uxbridge to Denderhautem, to see some scrambling races 
 made up by the 10th. 
 
 " Dined at home ; a party of the 10th with me. 
 
 '■'•May 17. — Rode to Enghien to see the cricket match. 
 Met the Duke and Duchess of Richmond, and the Ladies 
 Lennox there. Rode round the superb park of the Duke 
 d'Arenberg, in whom is an instance as strong as (or even 
 more so than) that of the Cavendish family, of the little 
 happiness riches alone can afford — or rather how truly un- 
 fortunate and unhappy a man overwhelmed with riches may 
 be. The Duke d'Arenberg himself had his eye shot out by 
 a friend whilst out shooting. (The friend, Sir W. Gordon, 
 died of grief in consequence.) He lost his wife, of whom he 
 was fond beyond measure, in the prime of life. His daughter, 
 the Princess Schwartzenberg, was burnt at Paris. His third 
 son was killed by the fall of a horse at Vienna. Another lost 
 his feet in the French service in the Russian campaign. 
 Another was, in the French service also, wounded and taken 
 prisoner in Spain ; and all of them are considered but bad 
 subjects, and great Buonapartists. 
 
 " Dined at home with Fitzroy. 
 
 " May 18. — Neder Boulner. At home alone. 
 
 '^ May 19. — Neder Boulner. W^ent in the morning to see 
 the review of Prince Frederick of Orange's corps of 9000 men 
 — some very young men. One fine brigade — Indian troops. 
 
 " Breakfasted with Prince F. 
 
 " May 20. — Went in the carriage to Brussels. The spring 
 broke. 
 
 "Dined with Major-General Sir C. Grant. Major Hodge 
 there. 
 
 '^ May 21. — Brussels. Dined with Hodge and Keane at 
 the ' Hotel d'Angleterre.' 
 
i8i5 QUATRE-BRAS 257 
 
 " Rode in the evening to the Allee Vert, where, at about 
 six oVlock, all the royal family, and all the inhabitants of 
 Brussels, assemble on horseback, or carriages, or on foot ; and 
 a very gay and lovely scene it is. 
 
 " May S,2. — Went to a review of the coi-ps of the Duke of 
 Brunswick, and a very neat and complete corps it is — about 
 5 500 infantry, 800 cavalry, and sixteen guns ; all perfectly 
 equipped and dressed in a most convenient and soldierlike 
 manner in black. It rained very hard ; but it had no other 
 effect on their dress than to make it look brighter. Not so had 
 they been decked out with pipe-clay and feathers. 
 
 " Dined afterwards with the Duke of Wellington, and met 
 the Duke of Brunswick and staff, and a Saxon Chef de Brigade 
 of Cavalry, from whom I learnt that there was much dis- 
 satisfaction in the corps of Saxons against the Prussians, and 
 a great wish on their part to serve with the British. To 
 explain this was the object of his visit to Brussels. 
 
 " May 23. — Retm-ned to Neder Boulner, and went to the 
 races at Grammont. Very good. 
 
 " The Prince of Orange came and dined with me, with part 
 of his staff. If I am not much mistaken. Colonel Knaife, his 
 A.D.C., is more attached to his late master than to his present 
 one, in spite of all the attentions he receives. Colonel Knaife 
 served with Buonaparte in the Russian campaign. 
 
 "May 24. — Went to the inspection of the Household 
 brigade, and Sir W. Ponsonby's brigade, and dined after- 
 wards with Lord Uxbridge ; a very large party. The Prince 
 of Orange, and Prince Frederick, a most delightful young man 
 and a good soldier, dined there. 
 
 " I have before remarked on the very beautiful manner in 
 which the ground in this country is cultivated. The more I 
 see of it the more I like it; not a weed anywhere to be 
 seen. In no country is dressing more sought after, or better 
 applied. The cattle are never turned out, and everything 
 that can be converted into manure is collected into a general 
 sink. From this liquid manure is carried on to the potato 
 
258 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1815 
 
 ground, and every plant is blessed with a ladle full of the 
 highest perfume that one can imagine. The air, for an 
 immense distance, is tainted when this is going on, and one 
 can only wonder that the potato itself is not tainted. 
 
 " The cattle are all kept in the houses. This surely must 
 be an admirable plan. Nothing is wasted, neither manure nor 
 fodder ; and the little extra labour must be amply repaid, I 
 should imagine, in the saving of these articles. 
 
 " They do not, in this country, cut the potato into eyes to 
 plant them, but put a whole one into each hole. Query : 
 Does it answer to cut them .'' Does not a whole potato, with 
 four eyes, produce more fruit than one of the eyes would ? 
 And supposing this to be the case, suppose a whole potato 
 with four eyes produces ten fruit, and one of the eyes produces 
 eight only, then it would be wise to plant whole ones ; for by 
 cutting the potatoes into fom- you have thirty-two fruit, 
 whilst by planting four whole ones you have forty fruit. 
 This gives a balance of eight in favour of planting whole 
 potatoes. From this balance you must deduct three potatoes 
 saved out of four by the cutting, and then five still remain in 
 favour of planting whole ones. I cannot, for my part, think 
 but that a whole potato must produce more fruit than one 
 eye of one. However, I suppose it has been tried, for it is a 
 very simple proposition. 
 
 " May 25. — Lords Uxbridge, Bradford, and Hill dined 
 ^\ith me at Neder Boulner. 
 
 " May 26. — Dined with Lord Hill to meet Lord Bradford. 
 They went afterwards to the Duke's ball at Brussels. 
 
 " In the morning Vandeleur's and my brigades were out to 
 mark the gi"ound for a review of cavalry. Lord Uxbridge did 
 not take it up as I thought best. He looked more to effect 
 than to showing the brigades as they ought to be, under their 
 respective commanders ; and consequently divided Grant's 
 brigade, because two regiments were Light Dragoons and one 
 regiment Hussars. In my opinion a general inspecting a 
 corps ought to see every man at the head of his proper 
 
i8i5 QUATRE-BRAS 259 
 
 division, brigade, and regiment. Then he is responsible for 
 them." 
 
 The 7th Hussars at Waterloo were in Sir C. Grant's 
 brigade, which then consisted of two Hussar and one 
 Dragoon regiment ; whereas at the time the above entry in 
 the diary was made, it consisted of two Dragoon and one 
 Hussar regiments. 
 
 The 7th Hussars, which at the commencement of the cam- 
 paign were in Sir H. Vivian's brigade, were replaced by the 
 1st Hussars, K.G-.L., who thereby obtained the wish they had 
 expressed to him, as previously mentioned in the diary. 
 
 '•'•May 27. — Officers commanding regiments, and adjutants, 
 &c., in the field for taking up the ground. Lord Uxbridge 
 made a total change of the direction of the line ; but still not 
 quite what I could have wished. 
 
 " Robbins, (illegible), and Hozier, dined with 
 
 me. 
 
 " May 28. — General Fagel, Count Goltz (the Prussian 
 Minister aupres Louis XVIII.), and Sir Sidney Smith dined 
 with me. The three former slept at my house, having come 
 to see the review the following day. 
 
 " May 29.— The Duke of Wellington, Marshal Blucher, 
 two Princes of Orange, General Gneisenau,* Duke de Berry, 
 and a multitude of the general officers of all nations, came to 
 see the review of the British cavalry and Horse Artillery. 
 
 * Gen. Gneisenau was second in command of the Prussian army under 
 Blucher. During the retreat from Ligny, after Blucher had been knocked 
 over and disabled, Gneisenau took sole command, and arranged the retreat 
 which was so excellently and skilfully carried out. Blucher was greatly 
 attached to Gneisenau, and used to say that it was Gneisenau who made up 
 the pills which he (Blucher) administered. On one occasion at a party, 
 when charades and riddles were going on, Blucher said that he could do 
 what no one else could — viz. , kiss his own head ; and on being asked 
 to explain the riddle, he walked in the most affectionate and touching 
 manner up to Gneisenau — who was one of the party — and embraced him, 
 saying, " This is my head." 
 
260 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1815 
 
 "There were present in the field the 1st and 2nd Life 
 Guards (two squadrons each), Blues (two squadrons), King's- 
 Dragoon Guards (four squadrons). Lord E. Somerset's brigade; 
 Royal Dragoons, Greys, and Inniskillings, Sir W. Ponsonby's 
 brigade ; 11th, 12th, and 16th Light Dragoons, Sir J. 
 Vandeleur's brigade ; 13th, 15th Hussars, and 23rd Light 
 Di-agoons, Sir C. Grant's brigade ; 7th, 10th, and 18th, 
 Sir H. Vivian's brigade ; and six troops of Horse Artillery 
 and thirty-six guns ; and a force in more perfect order never 
 was seen. The Duke merely passed down the line and saw 
 them march past. 
 
 " We afterwards dined, a party of 120 persons, the Duke, 
 Blucher, &c., with Lord Uxbridge at Ninove ; and never was 
 anything better managed than the whole was, and I was- 
 happily disappointed in my fears as to the manner in which 
 Lord Uxbridge proposed drawing up the cavalry not answer- 
 ing. Still, however, I think it was not done as it ought to 
 have been. The day was beautiful, and the ground beautiful." 
 
 " May 30. — Races at Grammont, of which I was one of 
 the stewards ; Lord R. Manners and Sir R. Hill my co- 
 ad] utors. The races tolerably well attended, and very good,, 
 considering it rained. 
 
 " Dined afterwards with Lord Hill, the two Princes of 
 Orange, Sir S. Smith, Lord Bradford, &c. 
 
 " May 31. — Neder Boulner. 
 
 " June 1. — Do. 
 
 " Lord Bradford and a large party dined with me. Lord 
 and Lady Waldegrave, &c. 
 
 " June 2. — Dined at Kerrison's." 
 
 Sir C. Kerrison was Colonel of the 7th Hussars, and, it 
 will be remembered, took command of that regiment when 
 Colonel Vivian (as he then was) was appointed to the com- 
 mand of a brigade during the campaign of 1813-14. 
 
 " June 3. — Went into Brussels with Lord TTxbridge, after 
 
i8i5 QUATRE-BRAS 261 
 
 an inspection of the necessaries of cavalry, in which Lord 
 Uxbridge got rid of some light articles of baggage, such as 
 two shoe-brushes, a shirt, &c., per man ; but he kept the 
 shabraques. When a man keeps a shabraque of seven pounds 
 weight, and gets rid of a shirt of one, it is no use attempting 
 to talk reason on a subject where such folly exists and leads. 
 The cavalry might easily be lightened, if all ridiculous articles 
 were got rid of, and useful only retained. 
 
 " In the evening went to a ball at Sir C. Stewart''s. 
 
 " June 4. — Returned from Brussels to Neder Boulner. 
 
 " June 5. — Field day with the 10th, in a flood of rain. 
 
 " Dined at home quietly. 
 
 " Jurvi 6. — Races at Grammont, in a flood of rain. Lord 
 and Lady Waldegrave came to see the races. 
 
 " Dined at home enfamiUe with them. 
 
 '■'■June 7. — Lord and Lady W. still with me. 
 
 " Sir H. Ellis, Beauchamp, Croker, &c., met them at 
 dinner. 
 
 " June 8. — Rheumatism very bad. The Waldegraves left 
 me. Shakespeare dined with me. 
 
 " June 9. — At home with rheumatism. 
 
 ^^ June 10. — At home with rheumatism. Collins, Taylor, 
 and two of the 18th dined with me. 
 
 ^^ June 11. — Dined Lord Uxbridge. 
 
 " June 12. — Went to Tournai to inspect the 1st Hussars. 
 
 '■'■June 13. — At Tournai. Dined with the 1st Hussars. 
 Nothing could be more gratifying and flattering than the 
 reception this regiment gave me. 
 
 "Heard that Buonaparte meant to advance on the 
 15th." 
 
 The 1st Hussars had now been placed in Sir H. Vivian's 
 brigade, in lieu of the 7th Hussars, who had gone to Sir C. 
 Grant's brigade. 
 
 Wellington at this time was in Brussels. Napoleon's army 
 had been rapidly and secretly concentrating between the 
 
262 JRICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1815 
 
 Sambre and the Meuse ; but the frontier was so well guarded 
 by outposts that but little information could be gained as to 
 the movements of the French. 
 Hooper states that : 
 
 "W^ellington learnt from Sir Hussey Vivian that some 
 movement of concentration was in progTess ; Napoleon, as he 
 himself states, having arranged his outposts on the line of 
 the Scheldt and Lys, to create expressly an impression that 
 he was concentrating to his left. 
 
 Napoleon intended to surprise the Allies. He quitted 
 Paris on June 12, arrived at Leon that night, where he 
 slept ; went on the next day to Avesnes, and gave all direc- 
 tions for an advance on the 1 5th on Sombref and Quatre-Bras. 
 
 This fact, however, was on the 13th, and up to a late 
 hour on the June 15, unknown to Wellington.'' 
 
 Siborne, in his " Waterloo Campaign," says : 
 
 " On June 12 Lieut.-Col. Wissell, whose regiment, the 1st 
 Hussars, K.G.L., formed an extensive line of outposts in 
 front of Tournay, reported to Major-Gen. Sir Hussey Vivian, 
 to whose brigade the regiment belonged, that he had ascer- 
 tained, from information on which he could rely, that the 
 French army had assembled on the frontier, and was pre- 
 pared to attack. 
 
 Vivian desired him to report upon the subject to Lord Hill, 
 to whose corps the regiment was attached while employed on 
 that particular service. 
 
 The next morning Vivian repaired in person to the out- 
 posts, and found that the French cavalry picket, which had 
 been previously posted opposite Tournay, had a short time 
 before marched to join the main army, and had been relieved 
 by Douaniers. 
 
 These, upon being spoken to by Vivian, did not hesitate 
 to say that their army was concentrating, and that if the 
 Allies did not advance their troops would attack. 
 
 On retm-ning to his quarters, Vivian communicated what 
 he had seen and heard both to Lord Hill and the Earl of 
 Uxbridge, by whom the circumstances were made known to 
 the Duke of Wellington." 
 
i8is QUATRE-BRAS 263 
 
 Sir H. Vivian's letter on this point is quoted later. It 
 corroborates both Hooper and Siborne. 
 
 " Jime 14. — Returned to Neder Boalner." 
 
 On this day Wellington was all day at his headquarters in 
 Brussels. Blucher was at Namur, and early on the 14th had 
 heard of Napoleon being at Avesnes. But neither he nor 
 Wellington knew, nor could they know, that Napoleon's object 
 was Sombreff'e and Quatre-Bras. Blucher, however, being 
 nearer the French, had more information than Wellington, 
 and began to concentrate his forces at Fleurus. 
 
 Wellington, who would make no move except on accurate 
 and ample information, did not alter the disposition of any of 
 his troops, except to give orders for their assembly at the 
 several alarm posts, till he should hear of a decided movement 
 of the French army, and the real line of their attack became 
 evident. 
 
 " June 15. — Went to Brussels, to a ball at the Duchess of 
 Richmond's. At the ball we heard that the French had 
 advanced and driven the Prussians from Binche. 
 
 " We all immediately left the ball and returned to our 
 quarters, to march the next morning upon Enghien. From 
 thence we proceeded by Braine-le-Comte to Nivelles ; and 
 from thence, as fast as we could go, to Quatre-Bras, where we 
 arrived, after a march of forty miles, in dreadful roads, j ust too 
 late to assist in defeating an attack of the French on the 
 British force, which had lasted several hours, and in which, 
 although a very small part of the army was up and no cavalry, 
 Lord Wellington had completely defeated the enemy's plans ; 
 and this with a very great loss on their part, especially of 
 Ciiirassiers and Landers, who made a desperate attack on our 
 infanti-y in squares, but completely without success. 
 
 " The brunt of this action fell upon the division of Sir T. 
 Picton (the 5th) of British, composed of the Highland brigade 
 
264 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1815 
 
 under General Pack, and another under General Kempt ; and 
 on the Guards, commanded by General Cooke and Generals 
 IMaitland and Byng ; and some Dutch troops. The Duke of 
 Brunswick was killed this day. 
 
 " The French on the same day made an attack on the Prus- 
 sians under Marshal Blucher, and, after some severe fighting, 
 broke through his line of infantry at 9 o'clock at night with 
 his cavalry, and took 14 pieces of cannon, and created great 
 confusion. This occasioned the Marshal's retreating from 
 the position he held on the road between Namur and Quatre- 
 Bras to Gembloux and Wavre." 
 
 It was not till 3 o'clock in the afternoon of the 15th, when 
 the Prince of Orange arrived to dine with him, that the Duke 
 of Wellington heard that the French had attacked Thuin and 
 Lobbes, and that the enemy appeared to be threatening Char- 
 leroi. That was all the information as to the movements 
 that had taken place on the part of the French that the 
 Duke then had. 
 
 In a letter to his wife, written on June 23, 1815 (the first 
 halt after the battle of Waterloo), Sir H. Vivian writes : 
 
 " I take an opportunity of the first day's halt to give you a 
 detailed account of our proceedings during the last eight 
 days. 
 
 " On the 13th, you know, I went to Tournai, to inspect 
 the 1st Hussars. I there heard that the whole French army 
 had concentrated at Maubeuge, and that the persuasion in 
 France was that Buonaparte would arrive from Paris and 
 advance on the 15th. We treated this with contempt, sup- 
 posing that he would hardly dare such a thing, although well 
 aware that he had collected on the frontier the elite of the 
 whole army. 
 
 " On the 14th I I'eturned to my quarters at Neder Boulner, 
 and on the 15th I went to Brussels, to attend the Duchess of 
 Richmond's ball ; and I should here notice that so little did 
 
i8i5 QUATRE-BRAS 265 
 
 the Duke of Wellington expect an advance of the enemy that 
 he was to have given a ball on June 21, the anniversary of the 
 battle of Vitoria. 
 
 " At dinner on the 15th, however, he heard that the enemy 
 had advanced and driven the Prussians, who were at Binche, 
 out of that place. 
 
 " At the ball reports came which proved the enemy were 
 advancing in great force. Things became serious, and most 
 ■of the officers about 12 or 1 o'clock left Brussels to join their 
 respective corps. 
 
 " We received orders to march at daybreak upon Enghien, 
 12 miles from Grammont. 
 
 " From Enghien we moved, by Braine-le-Comte — 12 miles 
 more — to Nivelles, 12 more — the roads dreadful. Before 
 arriving at Nivelles we heard a very considerable firing of 
 artillery and musketry, and of course pressed on with all speed 
 we possibly could, but unfortunately arrived too late at 
 Quatre-Bras, six miles from Nivelles, to participate in an 
 action which had been going on from early morning, but 
 which had been very serious towards the end of the day, and 
 ended, on the part of the British, with the complete defeat of 
 every attempt upon their line, although made with desperation 
 l)y the French, and in which they had a vast advantage owing 
 to their having a great body of cavalry in the field, whereas 
 the British had only a few Beige and Brunswick Light 
 cavalry. 
 
 " The roads through which we had to pass all day were 
 dreadful ; through forests knee-deep in mud. In fact it was 
 almost impossible to get on. 
 
 " The Prussians also were engaged within a league of us. 
 The exact result of their battle we did not that night ascer- 
 tain ; but having stood our ground, and concluding they had 
 stood theirs, we threw out our pickets and bivouacked on the 
 field of battle." 
 
 In a letter to Mr. E. Vivian, Sir Hussey says : 
 
266 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1815 
 
 " We heard prior to the 15th that Buonaparte had been 
 collecting his men near Maubeuge, and was himself about to 
 leave Paris to attack us. Lord Wellington had felt per- 
 suaded he would do so ; but what reason he had to form his 
 opinion I know not, but certain it is that on the 15th, at a 
 ball at the Duchess of Richmond's, we were all surprised to 
 find that the French were pressing on with great force upon 
 Binche and Nivelles. 
 
 " We all left the ball and returned to our quarters, and on 
 the following morning, about 5 o'clock, marched upon 
 Enghien, Braine-le-Comte, and Nivelles ; from thence to 
 Quatre-Bras, where we came too late to join in a very severe 
 affair, in which a small part only of our army had been 
 engaged ; for, to tell you the truth, our great general had 
 committed a sad blunder in not having collected his forces 
 before." 
 
 Writing in June 1839, Sir Hussey says : 
 
 " In respect to the Duke being taken by surprise. That he 
 must have been aware that the enemy was concentrating there 
 can be no doubt. 
 
 " I myself, on the 12th and 13th, visited Tournay and 
 Mons. I found that in front of Tournai, where there had 
 been a picket of French cavalry, they were replaced by 
 Douanier/i. I spoke to them, and they did not hesitate to 
 say that their army was concentrating, and that if they did 
 not attack us they expected we should attack them ; and 
 this I communicated on my return to my quarters, both to 
 Lord Anglesey and to Lord Hill. 
 
 "On the 15th I went to Brussels, and dined with Lord 
 Anglesey. After dinner Sir Pulteney Malcombe came to us 
 from the Duke, where he had dined, and said that the French 
 had advanced, and, I think he said, had taken Charleroi. 
 
 " At night we all went to the Duchess of Richmond's ball. 
 
 " It was only during the ball that the Duke called several 
 
i8i5 QUATRE-BRAS 267 
 
 of those who coinmanded divisions or brigades together, and 
 told us to be prepared to move in the morning ; and it was 
 during the night only that orders were issued for the actual 
 march of the British army from the right towards Nivelles ; 
 and it was on the march that we received orders to continue 
 our march on Quatre-Bras. 
 
 " That the Duke must have been aware, therefore, that the 
 French were concentrating, there can be no doubt. 
 
 " That the uncertainty of the front on which they would 
 make their attack prevented his concentrating his force 
 sooner, I think is equally clear ; and that he did not expect 
 the attack quite so soon, I am very much disposed to 
 believe ; and he was probably led to this from the fact of 
 information having only about the 14th, I think, reached 
 him of the Imperial Guard having left Paris, and from his 
 not calculating that they could so soon have arrived with the 
 army, and been in a state of readiness to advance." (See 
 " Waterloo Letters.") 
 
 Major-Gen. Napier, writing in 1842 (see "M^aterloo 
 Letters "), gives the following interesting account as to when 
 and how the Duke of Wellington first heard of the advance 
 of the French ; which account. General Napier says, he had 
 from the Duke's own mouth. 
 
 " He (the Duke) found the Prince of Orange at the 
 Duchess of Richmond's ball on the evening of the 15th. 
 
 He was surprised to see him, because he had placed him at 
 Binche, an important outpost, for the purpose of observing 
 and giving notice of the enemy's movements. 
 
 He went up to him, and asked if there was any news. 
 ' No ; nothing but that the French had crossed the Sambre, 
 and had a brush with the Prussians. Have you heard 
 ofit?' 
 
 This was nercs .' So the Duke told him quietly that he 
 had better go back to his post, and then, by degrees, he got 
 the principal officers away from the ball, and sent them to their 
 troops. This was done, I think he said, about eleven o'clock. 
 
S68 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1815 
 
 He then went to his quarters, and found Muffling there, 
 coming from Bhicher with the news. He ought to have 
 arrived long before, ' but,^ said the Duke, ' I cannot tell 
 the world that Blucher picked the fattest man in his army to 
 ride with an express to me, and that he took thirty hours to 
 go thirty miles.' " 
 
 According to other historians, however, the Prince of 
 Orange lunched with the Duke as early as 3 p.m. 
 
 Within twenty-four hours from the time he had received 
 decisive information, the Duke of Wellington had collected 
 upwards of 30,000 men at Quatre-Bras. 
 
 As Sir Hussey Vivian's brigade arrived too late at Quatre- 
 Bras to take any active part in the action, he gives only a 
 short account of that battle in his diary, which requires 
 slightly augmenting in order to explain the state of affairs, 
 both with regai"d to the British and Prussian positions and 
 movements. 
 
 The French army had concentrated near Maubeuge, and 
 on the 15th, about noon, had crossed the Sambre — one of 
 the points of attack that Wellington had anticipated, but 
 not thought most probable. Ney (who had only received 
 orders to join the army on the 11th) came up with Napoleon 
 about 4.30 on the 15th, and was at once placed in command 
 of a large portion of the French army, and simply instructed 
 to drive ahead, and push back the enemy on the left of the 
 French advance. 
 
 The Prussians were gradually drawing their troops 
 together, and whilst opposing, or rather making a show of 
 resistance so as to impede the French advance, were at the 
 same time gradually, and in good order, falling back on 
 Fleurus. On the Allies' left. Prince Bernhardt of Saxe 
 AVeimar had also retired and united his brigade at Quatre- 
 Bras, to which place Ney followed him. 
 
 On the morning of the 16th Napoleon was extraordinarily 
 late before making any movement ; and Ney also, apparently, 
 had received no orders as to occupying Quatre-Bras. 
 
i8i5 QUATRE-BRAS 269' 
 
 It was not till between 7 and 8 in the morning of the 16th 
 that Napoleon seems to have made up a plan, when he 
 divided his army into two wings. The left wing of 33,520 
 infantry, 8800 cavalrv, and 96 guns, was under Ney ; the 
 right wing consisted of 42,869 infantry, 15,023 cavalry, and 
 144 guns, and ^^■as under Grouchy. In addition to these the 
 reserve was composed of the Imperial Guard, 13,206 infantry,, 
 1718 horse, and 96 guns, under Napoleon himself. 
 
 The right wing was to march upon SombrefFe, and there 
 take up a position. Napoleon, before noon, was to be in, 
 Fleurus, and if he met an enemy was to push on to Gem- 
 bloux ; and the left wing was to march on Brussels, occupy- 
 ing Quatre-Bras, Genappe, and Marbais, en route. 
 
 Napoleon thought the Prussians would concentrate at 
 Namur, and that Wellington would do so at Nivelles. 
 Napoleon's object was to impede the junction of the British 
 and the Prussians, to vanquish them in detail, establish himself 
 in Brussels, and arouse the people. 
 
 Ney received his orders to push on about 11 o'clock, and 
 Grouchy his about 9.30, in the morning of the 16th. But, 
 as the Prussians were now in force near Fleurus, the latter 
 could not move further forward, and was still there when 
 Napoleon drove up about 1 o'clock, unwilling to believe that 
 Blucher had dared to court an encounter so soon. He could 
 not bring himself to realise that three-quarters of the 
 Prussian army were there drawn up in battle an-ay. 
 
 Wellington during this time had ridden over from Quatre- 
 Bras, to which place he had gone early on the morning of 
 the 16th, to communicate with Blucher ; and whilst on his 
 way, learning that the Prussians were forming their troops 
 in columns and not in line, because Blucher was of opinion 
 that the Prussian soldier Mould not stand in line, said : 
 " Then the artillery will play upon them, and they will be 
 beaten damnably." He afterwards saw Blucher, and it was 
 then agreed that Blucher should fight, and that Wellington 
 should, as soon as possible, move up troops from Quatre-Bras 
 
270 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1815 
 
 against the French left, and support Blucher by an attack on 
 the French flank. 
 
 WelHngton rode back to Quatre-Bras to find that he him- 
 self was being so vigorously attacked by the enemy that 
 there was no possibility of his carrying out the arrangement 
 be had made with Blucher. But for this it might have been 
 possible that the English at Ligny might have played the 
 part that the Prussians afterwards did at AVaterloo. 
 
 With regard to Ligny, the battle fought by the Prussians, 
 all that it is necessary to say for the present purpose is that 
 it was most gallantly contested by the Prussians, and was a 
 most bloody battle because of the hatred that existed 
 between the two nations. None demanded, none gave, 
 quarter ; and there were no survivors but the victors. 
 Eventually Napoleon turned the Prussian flank, and gained 
 the battle, but he had not routed the Prussian army. There 
 was no flight. 
 
 During the night the Prussians, without the sKghtest inter- 
 ference from the French, and apparently even without their 
 knowledge, quietly and secretly withdrew the whole of their 
 army towards Wavre, leaving their camp fires burning. 
 
 Whilst the battle of Ligny was being fought Ney, about 
 2 o''clock in the afternoon, began to attack the British and 
 Dutch-Beige forces at Quatre-Bras. When the action first 
 commenced there were but few English soldiers present, but 
 all through the afternoon they kept hurrying up from their 
 various quarters at their utmost speed. 
 
 One of the chief characteristics of the battle of Quatre-Bras 
 was that Wellington had practically no cavalry there, and had 
 consequently to fight the enemy's cavalry and artillery with 
 artillery only and with squares of infantry. 
 
 Picton's brigade, which arrived at the scene of action 
 about 2.30 in the afternoon, behaved with extraordinary 
 gallantry, and, in squares, resisted successfully most furious 
 charges made by Ney's cavalry. The 42nd, even when in the 
 act of forming square and when only half formed, successfully 
 
i8is QUATRE-BRAS 271 
 
 resisted a charge of Landers. And the 44th did even more ; 
 they actually resisted a charge when hi line; for when the cavalry 
 unexpectedly rushed on them the rear rank of the 44th faced 
 about and delivered so steady a fire that the Lanciers were 
 driven off, and they thus defeated the cavalry charge when 
 standing only two deep and with one line only opposed to the 
 charge. 
 
 In one charge of the French made during this battle 
 Wellington himself, having been carried away by a somewhat 
 precipitate retreat made by some foreign troops, was nearly 
 captured, and only saved himself by leaping his horse over 
 the 92nd Highlanders, who lined a ditch and stopped the 
 enemy. 
 
 The 69th lost a large number of men in one charge of the 
 French Cuirassiers. They had been warned by Sir C. Halkett 
 to form square, and were in the act of doing so when they 
 were heedlessly stopped in the movement by the Prince of 
 Orange. A moment afterwards a body of Cuirassiers charged 
 and took them in flank, rode over and sabred the men, and 
 captured one of the colours. The i30th just managed to form 
 square in time, having disregarded the Prince's commands, 
 and successfully repulsed the vanquishers of the 69th. 
 
 Wellington grew stronger, and Ney weaker, every moment ; 
 and in the evening, about 6.30, the Guards arrived under 
 Major-Gen. Cooke, and their gallantry and marvellous 
 discipline and training enabled the British to retake all the 
 ground they had previously been obliged to partially 
 cede. 
 
 Both armies eventually took up for the night the positions 
 they had originally occupied, Ney having lost one-quarter 
 and Wellington one-seventh of the forces actually engaged. 
 
 "June 17. — The British, Hanoverians, and Belgians re- 
 mained during the night on the same ground where the 
 battle had been fought. 
 
 " This morning we learnt that the Prussians had retreated 
 
272 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1815 
 
 (as before stated), and it became necessary for us to do the 
 same. It was commenced about 8 o^clock by the infantry, 
 the cavah-y being left to cover them. The French army 
 remained quietly looking on, opposite to us, until about 
 2 o'clock. 
 
 " We then perceived an immense column of cavalry making- 
 their appearance on our left, and we commenced our retreat 
 at the instant that the most tremendous storm came on I ever 
 witnessed. 
 
 " The enemy pressed us very severely in the centre, and in 
 one instance did very considerable mischief to the 7th Hussars, 
 and by a cannonade killed several of the Blues. 
 
 "The army occupied a position in front of Waterloo, 
 having its right at Braine PAlleud and its left in front of 
 Verd Cocu, its centre at Mont St. Jean." 
 
 The above is all that is contained in Sir Hussey's Diary as 
 to the retreat from Quatre-Bras to the position where the 
 battle of Waterloo was fought. He could have had but little 
 time for writing, because, as a matter of fact, his brigade had 
 some severe fighting and hard work whilst assisting to cover 
 the retreat of the army. 
 
 After the battle of Ligny the Prussians had retreated, but, 
 owing to the negligence of Napoleon and his officers in not 
 sending out scouts, no Frenchman knew exactly whither they 
 had gone, or indeed that they had gone at all, so quietly and 
 with such regularity had their retreat during the night and 
 early morning been conducted. 
 
 Ney had not been informed of the battle of Ligny, and 
 Napoleon did not know the result of the contest at Quatre- 
 Bras until eleven hours after the last gun had been fired. 
 Wellington's patrols, on the other hand, had brought him 
 early intelligence of the retreat of the Prussians and of the 
 inactivity of Napoleon, and he wondered at Ney not moving 
 to attack him. 
 Hooper says : 
 
i8i5 QUATRE-BRAS 273 
 
 "Within an hour of daybreak Captain Wood, who had 
 patrolled along the Namur road, reported to the Duke the 
 retreat of the Prussians ; and Colonel Gordon, with Grey's 
 troop of the 10th Hussars [one of the regiments in Sir Hussey's 
 brigade] communicated with General Ziethen, then on his 
 way to Wavre. 
 
 An officer from Blucher himself confirmed the information 
 acquired by Colonel Gordon, and Wellington determined to 
 retreat. 
 
 He sent word to Blucher that he should fall back on the 
 position of Mont St. Jean, and there, if the Marshal would 
 support him with two corps, fight the enemy. 
 
 Blucher''s reply did not reach Wellington till the evening 
 of the 17th, when he had arrived at Waterloo. It said : ' I 
 will join you, not only with two corps, but with the whole 
 army ; and if the enemy does not attack you on the 18th, we 
 will attack him together on the 19th.' ■" 
 
 Fuller details of the movements of the patrol sent out 
 on the morning after Quatre-Bras are given in Siborne's 
 " History." 
 
 " It was not long before Wellington, who had slept at 
 Genappe, arrived at Quatre-Bras, where he found Major-Gen. 
 Sir Hussey Vivian, whose brigade of Light Cavalry, consisting 
 of the 10th British Hussars under Colonel Quentin, of the 
 18th British Hussars under Lieut.-Col. the Hon. Henry 
 Murray, and of the 1st Hussars of the King's German Legion 
 under Lieut.-Col. Wissell, was posted on the left of that 
 point, with two strong picquets thrown out — one of the 18th 
 Hussars, under Captain Croker, on the Namur I'oad, and the 
 other of the 10th Hussars, under the Hon. F. Howard, in 
 front, with a picquet from the latter, under Lieutenant Arnold, 
 on the right of the Namur road. 
 
 Vivian, on being asked what account he could give of the 
 enemy, communicated to the Duke the results of his observa- 
 tions, which were necessarily very limited, as, with the excep- 
 tion of the firing that had taken place at early dawn between 
 some outposts along the line of picquets, the French had 
 continued perfectly quiet, and had as yet given no indication 
 of any offensive movement. 
 
 The Duke then took a general survey of the field, and 
 
274 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1815 
 
 while sweeping the horizon with his telescope he discovered a 
 French vedette on some rising ground in the direction of 
 Fleurus and a little to the right of the high road leading to 
 Namur, apparently belonging to some picquet thrown out 
 from Ney's extreme right on the previous night after the 
 battle had ceased, or to some detached corps placed in 
 that quarter for the purpose of observation and for the 
 maintenance of the communication between Ney and 
 Napoleon. 
 
 The Duke had received no intelligence of Blucher. 
 Probably judging from the advanced position of the vedette 
 in question that, whatever might have been the result of the 
 battle of Ligny, the Prussians could not have made any 
 forward movement likely to endanger Ney's right, he came to 
 the conclusion that it was quite possible that on the other 
 hand Napoleon might have crossed the Namur road and cut 
 off his communication with Blucher. 
 
 The Duke, therefore, desired Vivian to send a strong 
 patrol along the Namur road to gain intelligence respecting 
 the Prussian army. 
 
 A troop of the 10th Hussars, under Captain Grey, was 
 accordingly despatched on this duty, accompanied by Lieut.- 
 Colonel the Hon. Sir Alexander Gordon, one of the Duke's 
 A.D.Cs. 
 
 As the patrol advanced along the road the vedette before 
 mentioned began to circle, evidently to give notice of the 
 approach of an enemy, and then retired. 
 
 This induced the patrol to move forward with great 
 caution so as to guard against the possibility of being cut off. 
 Nevertheless it continued, but with all due precaution, ad- 
 vancing along the road, until, after passing a few scattered 
 cottages comprising a hamlet called Petit Marbais, it reached, 
 about a mile and a half further on, some rising ground 
 about five miles from Quatre-Bras and beyond which was 
 another height. 
 
 A vedette was observed posted upon the latter, but who 
 had evidently not yet discovered the approach of Captain 
 Grey's troop ; down in the intervening hollow was an isolated 
 house, at the door of which stood a dismounted sentry, and 
 some horses were standing in an adjoining yard. 
 
 Captain Grey directed Lieutenant Bacon to patrol towards 
 the house, whilst he remained with the remainder of the 
 troops concealed from the enemy's \ievv ; a disposition favoured 
 
i8i5 QUATRE-BRAS S75 
 
 by the nature of the ground and the trees and hedges on both 
 sides of the road. 
 
 When Lieutenant Bacon's party moved forward it was 
 •discovered by the vedette who began circling and fired his 
 carbine. The French picquet posted in the house instantly 
 rushed out ; several of the men had their jackets and accoutre- 
 ments oflF, and the post could have been easily captured, had 
 the special duty on which the British patrol was engaged 
 admitted of an attack. 
 
 The French turned out very quickly and galloped to 
 the rear along the high road, while Bacon's party was 
 recalled. A few French cavalry galloped up to the vedette 
 on the heights, but evinced no disposition to advance. 
 
 It had now become sufficiently evident that, commencing 
 from this point, the French were in possession of the Namur 
 road ; but the principal object which Sir A. Gordon had in 
 view was yet to be obtained. 
 
 The patrol now retired a little until it reached a cross 
 road, which a peasant pointed out as the Prussian line of 
 retreat. 
 
 Pursuing the track, the patrol, within an hour, reached 
 Tilly, where General Ziethen, who had been placed in 
 temporary command of the cavalry, was covering the retreat 
 of the Prussian army. 
 
 After remaining here about a quarter of an hour, during 
 which Sir A. Gordon obtained from General Ziethen the 
 most ample information respecting the movements of the 
 Prussians, the patrol commenced its return at a quick pace, 
 striking into a cross road which joined the high road at 
 a point nearer to Quatre-Bras than the one whence it had 
 quitted it. 
 
 The patrol reached Quatre-Bras about 7.30, and Sir A. 
 Gordon immediately reported to the Duke that the Prussians 
 had retreated towards Wavre ; that the French occupied the 
 ground on which the battle had been fought ; but that they 
 had not crossed the high road, along which the patrol had 
 proceeded almost into the immediate vicinity of their 
 advanced outposts." 
 
 In a footnote Captain Siborne mentions that Lieut. -Col. 
 Wood of the 10th Hussars, in the Naval and Military 
 Magazine for July 1841, and March 1847, published a state- 
 
276 IIICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1815 
 
 ment to the effect that he was sent forward to patrol previous 
 to Captain Grey being sent ; that he fell in with the Prussian 
 stragglers, who agreed that Blucher had retired ; that at a 
 village on the high road he had found the French vedettes ; 
 that he had met Sir A. Gordon's patrol and suggested their 
 bearing to the left, and that he then told the Duke what he 
 had seen, who sent directions to the brigades on the march 
 to turn on Waterloo. 
 
 Hooper continues his account of the retreat thus : 
 
 " About 8 o'clock on the 17th Wellington began his retreat, 
 sending off the infantry first, and leaving the cavalry in masses 
 to cover the retreat. 
 
 Vivian's and Vandeleur's Light cavalry were on the left, 
 and the Duke himself was with the 10th Hussars, who stood 
 in echelon of squadrons on the scene of Picton's exploits. 
 
 In the centre were the Heavy cavalry and the Union 
 brigades, and on the right Grant and Dornberg. 
 
 Ney's horsemen were gradually pressing forward. On the 
 British left Subervie's Lancers, coming from Marbais, were in 
 action with the outposts of Vivian's Hussars ; and behind 
 them came Milhaud's Cuirassiers, whose mail gleamed in the 
 noonday sun. 
 
 Vivian threw back his left to face the force bearing down 
 upon their flank, and soon the skirmishers were engaged 
 from the Namur road to the eastern fringe of the wood of 
 Bossu. 
 
 Wellington did not intend to resist ; so the three columns 
 of cavalry went about and retired : Vivian and Vandeleur by 
 a by-road that led to Thuy, a few miles below Wais la Hutte ; 
 but this left column had no sooner gone about than the 
 French guns opened upon them, and their horse seemed intent 
 upon outflanking the rear regiment and coming to close 
 quarters. 
 
 Vivian halted and prepared to charge, but no sooner had 
 his artillery begun to fire than a violent and drenching 
 thunderstorm broke over them and made rapid cavalry move- 
 ment impossible. 
 
 The ardour of the pursuit relaxed, and no further incident 
 occurred until the brigade reached the river by Genappe. 
 
 Vandeleur, who had left to Vivian the glory of guarding 
 
I Si 5 QUATRE-BRAS 277 
 
 the rear, was still crossing by the bridge. The French were 
 pressing on. Vivian, to check them, immediately brought up 
 the 10th to support the 1st K.G.L., and kept the French at 
 bay until Vandeleur had crossed. Then he sent back the 10th 
 with orders to dismount and line the banks on the other side 
 of the bridge. 
 
 The situation was critical. One squadron of the 1st, 
 retiring, was cut off and compelled to seek a ford lower down. 
 The French coming up in great force seemed to be sure of 
 overthrowing the Germans, when Vivian gave the word and 
 his Hussars galloped down the road and over the bridge. 
 
 The French dashed after them with loud shouts, but they 
 were too late. The 10th Hussars on the opposite bank 
 saluted them with a brisk fire ; and a regiment and a half 
 were ready to charge if they ventured to cross. They 
 refrained, and the brigade proceeded to Verd Cocu on the 
 east of Mont St. Jean." 
 
 Sir H. Vivian, in the account he wrote to his wife, alluding 
 to this affair, says : 
 
 " It then became necessary for us to retreat, for it was 
 obvious that Buonaparte would bring all his forces against us. 
 Orders were given accordingly, and the cavalry left to cover 
 the retreat ; the Hussars in front, Grant's brigade on the 
 right, mine on the left. 
 
 " We remained quietly on the ground till about 2 o''clock, 
 when immediately on my left I observed a great dust, and by 
 looking a little nearer, I discovered an enormous column 
 of Cuirassiers, Landers, Hussars, &c., moving over a hill into 
 the high road, which was on my flank. 
 
 " My pickets were soon engaged and driven in. A brigade 
 of the enemy trotted up the road and formed opposite to me, 
 a little ravine separating us. I opened upon them with my 
 horse artillery, and they very soon returned the compliment 
 with theirs, and knocked over a man of the 10th and a few 
 horses. A large body also moved up the road to attack our 
 centre, where General Dornberg was posted with the 7th 
 Hussars and 23rd. 
 
 " The line of Heavy Cavalry and Light Dragoons in our 
 
278 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1815 
 
 rear had by this time received ordei's to fall back, and we in 
 advance were to do the same. This I did very contre gre ; 
 for at this moment a brigade oi Landers and Chasseurs-a-cheval 
 were about to attempt crossing the ravine in my front, and 
 my fingers were itching to have a hit at them. 
 
 " However we retired quietly enough. They cannonaded 
 my rear, and pressed my rear squadron, until we crossed a 
 little river (the Dyle) which runs by Genappe, and there I 
 formed the 10th to support my rear guard, and they molested 
 me no more. 
 
 " Not so the poor 7th, who were in the high road parallel 
 to me on my right. The principal body of cavalry pressed 
 down the road with horse artillery, &c., and some very severe 
 work they had. Poor Hodge, Mayer, and Elphinstone, gal- 
 lantly leading a charge of the regiment, were wounded and 
 made prisoners. The report was that both Hodge and Mayer 
 were killed. The regiment suffered very severely, and I 
 believe things were not exactly what they ought to have been, 
 owing to some mistake ; the officers were all broken-hearted 
 about it. After this the Blues and Lifeguards were brought 
 up to cover the retreat, and behaved admirably and suffered 
 severely. 
 
 " W^e reached our position extending from Braine-le-Comte 
 to Mont St. Jean, in front of Waterloo, in the centre, to a 
 small village in front of Verd Cocu on the left. The Prussians 
 at Wavre and Gembloux were on our left, but at a consider- 
 able distance. 
 
 " In the retreat of the previous day a most tremendous 
 storm had soaked us all to the skin." 
 
 In his letter to Mr. E. Vivian, Sir Hussey says : 
 
 " On the 17th, owing to the Prussians ha\ ing been beaten 
 on our left and retreated, we were obliged to do the same to 
 Mont St. Jean, near Waterloo, ^vhere we occupied a position^ 
 and no very strong one either. 
 
i8iS QUATRE-BRAS 279 
 
 " On our retreat we were considerably pressed by the 
 enemy's cavalry, who gave us a pretty good specimen of their 
 
 boldness. They played the d 1 with my old regiment, 
 
 the 7th, which is not in my brigade. They did not press me 
 much. I covered the retreat of the left column. 
 
 "We had the most tremendous rain I ever beheld, and 
 were soaked to the skin without anything to change, and the 
 canopy of heaven for our covering — no very comfortable 
 commencement of a campaign which was to take us, almost 
 without a blow, to Paris." 
 
 In a letter to Captain Siborne, written in 1839 and 
 published in " Waterloo Letters " p. 150, Sir Hussey gives 
 more details as to what occurred on this retreat of June 17. 
 
 " On the morning of the 17th at daybreak, or soon after, 
 the Duke came to Quatre-Bras. I believe he had slept at 
 Genappe. I was on horseback, near the house at Quatre- 
 Bras, looking about. Some few of the enemy's vedettes only 
 were to be seen, and, my brigade being on the left, I had two 
 strong picquets out ; one of the 18th, on the Namur road, and 
 one of the 10th Hussars in front. The 1st Hussars had only 
 joined me from Tournai in the night, after an immense march. 
 
 " The Duke asked me what account I could give of the 
 enemy. I told him all I knew, which was not in fact much, 
 for they had been very quiet. He then desired that I should 
 send half a squadron with an A.D.C. of his (Colonel Gordon) 
 on the Namur road. I did so, and in about an hour, or 
 rather more, they returned, reporting that the enemy were to 
 be seen on the right of the road, about two miles distant, 
 where they had been engaged with the Prussians the pre- 
 ceding day ; but that they could not learn that they had 
 crossed the road. This patrol, however, seeing the enemy on 
 the right, had not ventured to push on very far, from a fear 
 of being cut oft". 
 
 "Soon after the patrol was sent off" the Duke received 
 
280 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1815 
 
 some despatches from England ; and shortly after that, I 
 think, he gave orders for the retreat, having satisfied himself 
 that, although the enemy were not in motion, still they were 
 preparing to move. 
 
 " He then laid himself down on the ground, covered his 
 head with one of the newspapers he had been reading, and 
 appeared to fall asleep ; and in this way he remained some 
 time, when he again rose and mounted his horse and rode 
 down the field in front of Quatre-Bras a little distance, and 
 looked about with his glass ; and I perfectly well remember 
 his expressing his astonishment at the perfect quiet of the 
 enemy, and his saying that it was not at all impossible that 
 they also might be retreating. 
 
 " He remained for some time longer anxiously looking out, 
 when on a sudden, on the road to Namur, at a considerable 
 distance, I should say about three miles, we saw something 
 glittering in the sun, which was rising brilliantly. The 
 Duke at first said they were the French bayonets, but on 
 looking through my glass I saw they were Cuirassiers, 
 moving on the road and forming in the field by the side of it. 
 Very shortly after, the picket of the 18th Hussars began 
 skirmishing, as did that of the 10th in our front, and also 
 that of the 7th (I believe) on our right. 
 
 " My brigade, with their guns, formed on the left of the 
 house at Quatre-Bras ; Vandeleur's in their rear and on their 
 right somewhat. Presently the 18th picket came galloping 
 in, followed by two or three squadrons of French cavalry, on 
 which my guns opened a fire ; and, if I am not mistaken, 
 some guns of another brigade on the right did the same. 
 This checked the advance of the French, but we presently 
 saw them very active in bringing up guns, and soon a fire 
 was opened upon us. 
 
 " The Duke had by this time left us to go more to the 
 right. Lord Anglesey, who remained, told me we were to 
 retire, and that Vandeleur's brigade would support mine, and 
 he then left me. 
 
i8is QUATRE-BRAS 28] 
 
 " I saw the enemy pressing on in vast numbers, not only in 
 my front, but on my left flank. I therefore ordered off the 
 guns at once. Fortunately, I had early in the morning sent 
 an officer of the artillery. Lieutenant Swabey, to reconnoitre 
 the passages of the little River Dyle, and he had discovered a 
 bridge to which a road, parallel to the high road, led from 
 the i-ear of Quatre-Bras, and which was a little higher up the 
 river than Genappe. To this bridge, then, he at once moved, 
 at a trot, with his guns, and passed without interruption from 
 the enemy. 
 
 " I put my brigade about and retreated in line, covered by 
 skirmishers. 
 
 " Across a small dip in the ground, and standing rather in 
 a commanding position, Vandeleur's brigade was drawn up, 
 distant from me about 600 or 700 yards. I fully calculated 
 on his allowing me to pass through, and his taking the rear. 
 The enemy had brought some guns to bear on us, and I 
 recollect a soldier of the 18th being killed by a shot imme- 
 diately before me, in the ranks of that regiment, as we were 
 retiring. 
 
 " On my retiring within about 50 or 60 yards of Sir J. 
 Vandelear, he put his brigade about and retired ; upon which 
 I moved to the ground he had occupied, and directed the 1st 
 Hussars to cover the left flank and left front. 
 
 " In this manner we stood some time skirmishing with the 
 enemy, and during which Lieut.-Col. Thornhill, A.D.C., 
 came from Lord Uxbridge to me to see what we were about. 
 I told him I had enough upon my hands, but that I hoped 
 to get my people all well off, and I sent an A.D.C. to Sir J. 
 Vandeleur to desire he would, as fast as possible, get his brigade 
 over the river in order that I might have no interruption in 
 my retreat in case I was hard pressed. 
 
 "About this time the most tremendous storm I almost 
 ever witnessed came on, in a very short time rendering the 
 ground so deep that the horses had some difficulty in moving 
 quick through it. To this I am persuaded I am in a very 
 
282 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1815 
 
 great degi-ee indebted for the little loss I experienced in the 
 retreat over the bridge. 
 
 " The enemy began to relax in their preparations for en- 
 veloping me, which considerable bodies assembling on my left 
 appeared preparing to do. Those in my front were content 
 with simply skirmishing. 
 
 " I sent off' the 18th and the 10th, ordering both regiments 
 to form on the other side of the bridge and the 10th to 
 dismount some of their men, who were armed with rifles, to 
 defend it, and prevent the French from pursuing our rear- 
 guard over it should they press us hard ; and I remained 
 with the 1st Hussars K.G.L. This regiment had now taken 
 the whole of the rearguard of our left and skirmished with 
 the enemy, but no charge took place. On the high road to 
 our right skirmishing was also going on, and I observed the 
 greater portion of the enemy's cavaliy were directed to that 
 road. 
 
 " After some time I sent off' a squadron of the 1st Hussars 
 towards the bridge, and when we began to do this the French 
 again pressed on so much as to interpose between the left 
 squadron and the body of the regiment, and obliged that 
 squadron to pass the little River Dyle higher up than the 
 bridge over which we passed. 
 
 "When I found all was ready, I galloped off' down the 
 road to the bridge with the remaining troops of the Hussars. 
 The French followed us, cheering, and took a sergeant, 
 whose horse was wounded. On our passing the bridge, 
 and the enemy's arriving at it, some of the dismounted 
 men fired, and from that moment no attempt was made to 
 molest us. 
 
 " I halted my brigade some little time on the ground 
 beyond the bridge, and then moved quietly on the narrow 
 lane which runs parallel to the high road by an old abbey — 
 I think called the Abbey of Ayanors — to the hamlet of Verd 
 Cocu, where I bivouacked, the officers occupying three small 
 houses." 
 
i8i5 QUATRE-BRAS 283 
 
 Captain Tomkinson, an officer in the 16th Dragoons, 
 which regiment was in Vandeleur's brigade, confirms Sir 
 Hussey^s main statement as to the above affair and Vande- 
 leur's brigade ; for in a letter he wrote to Captain Siborne, 
 sending an extract from a diary he had kept (and which has 
 since been published, under the title of " Diary of a Cavalry 
 Officer," and which is hereafter referred to in connection with 
 another matter), he says : 
 
 " I have no doubt Sir Hussey Vivian expected us to cover 
 him, and so we were ordered to do; but the events I have 
 mentioned changed that purpose, and made it impossible.'" 
 
 The words underlined by me appear conclusive as to Sir J. 
 Vandeleur having been told to support Sir H. Vivian. 
 
 The extract from Captain Tomkinson's diary contains 
 these words : 
 
 "The two brigades of Hussars were in the first line, 
 General Vandeleur's brigade in the second line, and the 
 Heavy cavalry in support some distance to the rear. 
 
 The intention of Lord Uxbridge was to keep the Hussars 
 to take advantage of any favourable opportunity, and on the 
 enemy advancing in such force as to oblige us to retire, they 
 were to pass tlirougli the second line (our brigade), and it to 
 cover the retreat. 
 
 I saw the French cavalry when turning out of their 
 bivouack, and I thought from their numbers that we must 
 either bring all our force to oppose them, and keep our 
 ground, or that if a retreat were determined on the sooner we 
 marched the more prudent. 
 
 They came out column after column, and in greater force 
 than I ever recollect seeing together at one point. 
 
 They advanced in very great bodies, and Lord Uxbridge 
 soon saw that so far from having any chance of charging, he 
 had nothing left but to get his troops away with the least 
 possible delay. 
 
 We, the second line, were ordered away immediately, and 
 retired, leaving Genappe on our left on retiring. 
 
 The first line got away without much loss, retiring with 
 
284 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1815 
 
 the Heavy brigade on Genappe, but had not time allowed it 
 to retire through the second line as at first intended. There 
 was not time for the Hussars to pass through our brigade, 
 the enemy was so close upon them ; and had we not got off 
 with the least possible delay, the Hussars and our brigade 
 would have been in one confused heap. We had learnt the 
 necessity of making way for those in front when we and they 
 were retiring. 
 
 The infantry being all clear and the enemy showing so 
 large a force of cavalry, we ought not to have waited so 
 long." 
 
 Colonel Childers sent to Captain Siborne the following 
 account of the matter, as given by Lieut.-Gen. Sleigh in 
 1845: 
 
 " Previous to the brigades retiring, the 4th (Vandeleur's) 
 was formed in rear of the 6th (Vivian's) some short distance. 
 
 We received instructions to send an officer to ascertain 
 where we could cross the Genappe River, and to commence 
 our retreat as soon as this had been found. 
 
 Before the officers returned who had been sent from the 
 two brigades, that tremendous rain commenced. 
 
 We moved off, and gradually proceeded to the bridge, 
 Vivian's brigade and the guns following. 
 
 We took up no new or commanding position until the 
 brigade had crossed. 
 
 The 11th Dragoons was the leading regiment when they 
 broke into column to pass the bridge, and I fully remember 
 Sir J. Vandeleur desiring me to form as soon as I could find 
 an open space, leaving the road clear for the guns and rear 
 brigade. 
 
 This was done, and the 4th brigade remained until Lord 
 Vivian's and the guns had passed ; and this is sho«n, I 
 believe, if I recollect rightly, in Siborne's statement ; as it 
 will be found we were the last brigade that got to the final 
 position ; then, if Sir J. Vandeleur had received instructions 
 to allow the rear brigade to pass and relieve them, he did so 
 the moment he could and at the most material point." 
 
 Colonel Childers, in commenting on the above, says : 
 
 " It only shows how hopeless it is to expect (after such a 
 
i8i5 QUATRE-BRAS 285 
 
 lapse of time) an account from those who were actors in what 
 then took place in which all should agree. For my part, 
 I do not even recollect the bridge to which the Lieut. -General 
 refers.'" 
 
 The account given in Siborne's " History " (3rd edition) of 
 the affair at the bridge of Genappe runs thus : 
 
 "These skilful dispositions had scarcely been arranged 
 when the picquet of the 18th Hussars on the left came in at 
 a good round trot, upon which Vivian's battery of horse 
 artillery opened fire, whereby the enemy's advance was 
 checked. 
 
 The enemy, however, was obsei-ved to be very active in 
 bringing up his artillery, which soon opened upon the Hussars. 
 
 Vivian having received the Earl of Uxbridge's instruc- 
 tions to retire, accompanied hy an intimation that he would be 
 supported by VaiwLeleurs brigade, then in his rear, and ob- 
 serving that the French cavalry was pressing forward in great 
 numbers, not only in his front but also on his flank, put 
 his brigade about and retired in line, covered by the skir- 
 mishers. 
 
 The French followed with loud shouts of ' Vive VEmpereur^ 
 and just as the brigade reached a sort of hollow, their guns 
 again opened, throwing shells which mostly flew over the 
 heads of the 18th Hussars, against which regiment they 
 appeared to be principally directed. 
 
 In the meantime, Vandeleur's brigade had been drawn 
 up in support on rather a commanding position, and Vivian 
 approached it in thejidl expectation that it would open out for 
 the passing of his own men and take the rearguard in its 
 turn ; but on the Hussars arriving within fifty or sixty yards 
 of the 4th brigade, Vandeleur put it about and retired; 
 Vivian not being aware that Vaiideleur had previously re- 
 ceived orders to retire and leave the road clear Jbr the retreat 
 of the cavalry in his front. 
 
 Vivian immediately occupied the ground thus vacated, 
 and with a view to check the enemy's advance more effectually 
 ordered the 18th to charge as soon as the French appeared 
 within favourable distance." 
 
 Captain Siborne then gives an account of how Sir Hussey 
 
286 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1815 
 
 got his men over the bridge and checked the enemy by the 
 dismounted men of the 10th and the remainder of his brigade 
 drawn up on the other side of the river. 
 
 The earlier editions of Siborne did not contain the words : 
 " Vivian not being aware that Vandaleur had previously re- 
 ceived orders to retire and leave the road clear for the cavalry 
 in his front ; " and the statement originally published led to 
 considerable discussion and correspondence. 
 
 Sir Hussey appears to have stuck to the main facts as 
 being absolutely correctly stated, but he never intended in 
 any way to insinuate (as seems to have been inferred) that 
 Sir J. Vandeleur had acted in anything like a cowardly 
 manner ; for in one of Sir Hussey ''s letters he speaks of 
 Sir J. Vandeleur as being " as gallant an old fellow as ever 
 breathed." 
 
 It would seem that Sir J. Vandeleur received orders to 
 retire, but that this fact was not brought to Sir Hussey's 
 knowledge, who on the contrary had been informed by Lord 
 Uxbridge that Vandeleur would support him ; and there 
 can be no doubt that Sir Hussey fully expected that this 
 would be done, and that he was thrown into an awkward 
 and critical position through his expectation not being 
 realised. 
 
 Sir Hussey, however, was willing to admit as a fact that 
 Vandeleur might not have been instructed to support him ; 
 and did not therefore contest the assertion afterwards made 
 by Sir J. Vandeleur to the effect that he, Vandeleur, had 
 absolute orders to retire. 
 
 A letter showing that this was so appears in " Waterloo 
 Letters," p. 106, where Sir J. Vandeleur writes to Captain 
 Siborne : 
 
 " I am perfectly satisfied with your proposal, viz., that the 
 last declared opinion of the late Lord Vivian was that Sir J. 
 Vandeleur had received no instructions to support his. 
 Sir H. Vivian's, brigade on the 17th June ; and with the 
 alterations you propose to insert and which Colonel Childers 
 
i8i5 QUATRE-BRAS 287 
 
 approves of, namely adding the following sentence ' Vivian 
 not being aware that Vandeleur had previously received orders 
 to retire and leave the road clear for the retreat of the cavalry 
 in his front." " 
 
 The third edition of Siborne, therefore, contains these 
 words ; but, as already pointed out, whether Sir J. Vandeleur 
 received instructions (as Captain Tomkinson says he did) 
 which were subsequently altered ; or whether he received no 
 instructions at all to support Sir Hussey ; the main fact 
 remains the same — Vandeleur did not support Sir Hussev 
 when the latter expected him to do so, and the consequence 
 was that Sir Hussey was placed in a critical and anxious 
 position with his brigade. 
 
 Colonel Taylor gives a full and interesting account of the 
 part played by his regiment, the 10th Hussars (and part of 
 Vivian's brigade) during the march to Quatre-Bras, and the 
 retreat of the 17th ; which account he, at the request of 
 Sir H. Vivian, put into writing in 1829. 
 
 He says : 
 
 " On the 15th June I rode home from Brussels to Vivorde, 
 by myself, in the evening, and found that there were orders 
 for a field-day the next morning. 
 
 On the 16th, about half-past 4 a.ji., my servant called 
 me and said the regiment was to turn out in full marching 
 order to change quarters. 
 
 The brigade assembled on the road from Vivorde to 
 Grammont. We waited some time for the 18th Hussars. 
 
 \\Tien assembled we commenced om' march about seven. 
 We proceeded through Grammont and Enghien, falling in 
 with other corps of cavalry on the march. 
 
 At Enghien Lieutenant Parsons, of my ti-oop, joined, 
 having come across from Brussels, where I had left him the 
 day before ; he informed me of the advance of the French ; 
 that the troops had turned out of Brussels, and that there 
 would probably be an action in the com-se of the day. 
 
 After some hours' march we turned off the road to the 
 right, dismounted and fed, and the men and officers dined 
 on what they had in their haversacks or could procure. 
 
288 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1815 
 
 Continued the march to Braine-le-Cornte. In passing 
 through a deep wood beyond that town we began to hear 
 firing ; on our issuing from the wood it became quite distinct, 
 and soon we were enabled to see the Hne of fire of the action 
 of Quatre-Bras from the right bank of the road. 
 
 An order arrived from Lord Uxbridge to throw away our 
 hay and to trot at nine miles per hour towards Nivelles, which 
 we did accordingly. 
 
 We passed through Nivelles, in which we saw several 
 waggons with wounded. 
 
 We had then an order to proceed two miles on the 
 Namur road, and the brigade, with its horse artillery, trotting 
 up the road made no small clatter. 
 
 We met several wounded coming out of action. When 
 we got near the left of the wood at Quatre-Bras the firing 
 was still going on and some cannon shot passed us ; a horse 
 of the 18th, I heard, was killed. 
 
 We formed half squadrons, and were then ordered to 
 canter, and in this way advanced to the field and halted. 
 
 Our horses, in spite of the long march — between thirty and 
 forty miles, I should think, for some of the corps — were very 
 fresh. One horse of ours broke his neck by falling into a 
 hollow road we passed, in consequence of his pulling and 
 throwing up his head. 
 
 The action was now over ; only a gun firing now and then, 
 and a few occasional shots of tirailleurs. 
 
 We heard of the Duke of Brunswick's death, and of the 
 battle of Ligny and that the Prussians had retired. [This 
 as a fact could not have been so till later in the day.] 
 
 We retired and dismounted, and bivouacked in a wheat 
 field behind the left of the wood in which the Guards had 
 been engaged. 
 
 June 17. — About 2 a.ji. a troop was ordered to patrol 
 with Sir A. Gordon, the Duke of ^^^ellington's A.D.C. 
 Captain Grey's troop went, they had twelve miles out and as 
 many back [Sir H. Vivian has here noted in the margin 
 ' Not five,' ^\hich seems to be more probable] but were, I 
 believe, unsuccessful in comnumicating with the Prussians. 
 
 Firing commenced at daybreak between the pickets of 
 infantry and lasted with little intermission till near 12. 
 
 Major Howard's squadron had been on picket during the 
 night at a farm in front and to the left of Quatre-Bras, 
 whither we all went in the morning, by squadrons, to water, 
 
i8is QUATRE-BRAS 289 
 
 and then returned to the brow of the hill and dismounted 
 and breakfasted, having a good view of the infantry skir- 
 mishing. 
 
 The infantry, guns, and baggage commenced retiring, the 
 pickets were withdrawn, and the firing ceased. 
 
 At about IS, o''clock the French infantry began to cook, as 
 we saw by their fires. 
 
 Our regiment mounted, and was moved down to the low 
 ground, where it stood in echelons of squadrons — a picket of 
 the 18th, where the road came through the enclosures, in 
 advance of us. 
 
 About this time we saw the French cavalry filing over the 
 rising ground in front, beyond the pickets, and forming their 
 columns of assembly. 
 
 The Duke of Wellington and staff, with Lord Uxbridge, 
 came down to look at them, and stood near the front of mv 
 (the centre) squadron. 
 
 I heard the Duke say, ' Well, I suppose ^ve shall fight 
 them here,' and I understood Lord Uxbridge to answer that 
 he did not think it a favourable situation as there were 
 defiles in our rear, &c. 
 
 The Duke then said, stretching himself and yawning, 
 ' Then I suppose we must retreat.' 
 
 Just after, the cavalry forming two lines along the brow 
 of the rising ground to the left of the road (to Namur, I 
 believe) — the heavy cavalry in second line — we were ordered 
 to retire and form in our place in brigade. 
 
 The French cavalry then commenced its advance, the 18th 
 picket falling back, not by the road but in line across the 
 field under us, a squadron oi Landers advancing upon them, 
 both having skirmishers out. 
 
 When the enemy's cavalry was pretty thick in the opening 
 between the fences, our brigade of horse artillery gave them 
 a few rounds, apparently with effect, knocking men and 
 horses off the road. 
 
 Both lines of cavalry were then ordered threes about, 
 and retired in line over the cornfields. On om- getting 
 rather into a hollow the enemy's guns opened upon us, 
 throwing shells, which fell over us. I saw one burst near 
 the 18th. 
 
 Just then commenced a thunderstorm worthy of the 
 tropics for the abundance of the thunder and violence of 
 the rain. This, with the sort of ballet of war of the 
 
 T 
 
290 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1815 
 
 retiring and advancing cavalry, and the French guns firing, 
 altogether made a picturesque and grand scene. 
 
 Our brigade then filed off' into narrow roads and through 
 a village, the 18th leading (I think), the 10th in the centre, 
 and the 1st German Hussars following. I heard that their 
 rear was attacked by the enemy j ust as we entered the narrow 
 roads, but the French soon left us for the main road. 
 
 On issuing from the village there was a hollow way, with 
 an ascent, commanded by high banks. Here Sir H. Vivian 
 formed a division of the 10th on the bank, in rank entire, 
 with carbines advanced and ready to fire into the hollow 
 way and check pursuit had the enemy come on ; but as they 
 did not, the division resumed its place, and the brigade 
 marched quietly and unmolested through narrow roads, 
 hearing occasional cannonade on the main road and the 
 shouts of the attacks that took place. 
 
 Lieutenant Smith, of the 10th, was sent across to the 
 main road, and was present at the affair between the 7th 
 Hussars and the French Landers ; during which, at consider- 
 able risk to himself, he saved Lieutenant Gordon of the 7th, 
 who was wounded, from capture or death by dismounting 
 and lending him his horse to cany him to the rear till he 
 could meet his own led horses. Lieutenant Smith escaped 
 being taken by leaping over the ditch off the cliaussee till, 
 the Landers being driven back, he got his horse again." 
 
 It will be seen that there are a few discrepancies between 
 this account and the one given by Sir Hussey Vivian, though 
 they in the main agree. 
 
 AVith regard to the time Sir A. Gordon went off to patrol, 
 it could scarcely have been as early as two in the morning. 
 Sir H. Vivian says it was soon after daybreak that the Duke 
 came up to him, and it was after that event that the patrol 
 was sent off; and Colonel Gordon did, as a fact, communicate 
 with the Prussians. 
 
 Again, the pickets of infantry could scarcely have been 
 exchanging shots with the enemy quite so late as twelve 
 o'clock in the daytime, for their retreat began, so far as the 
 infantry were concerned, at eight in the morning. 
 
 Nor do I think Colonel Taylor could have heard quite 
 
i8is QUATRE-BRAS 291 
 
 correctly, at the time he mentions, the conversation that he 
 says took place between the Duke and Lord Uxbridge ; for 
 from the moment that the Duke knew the Prussians had 
 retreated, which he did early in the morning, he could have 
 had, and had, no other plan than that of retiring, so as to 
 co-operate with the Prussians and avoid having the whole 
 French army on him. At 12 o'clock in the day, the time 
 apparently alluded to, the retreat had, as a fact, actually 
 commenced. Such a conversation might have taken place 
 quite early in the morning, before the Duke knew for 
 certain of the line of retreat of the Prussians or of their 
 intentions, and possibly took place when Colonel Gordon 
 was being sent off' to find out about them ; or it might have 
 taken place with reference to the resistance to be offered by 
 the cavalry. 
 
 Colonel Taylor, having been with his regiment in advance, 
 and having passed over the bridge before the time when Sir 
 Hussey was placed in the critical position which has been 
 alluded to, naturally cannot give any particulars as to what 
 took place with the 1st K.G.L. Hussars, who were then alone 
 guarding the rear of that part of the retreat, and were on 
 the other side of the bridge at Genappe. 
 
 Captain Ingilby, who was in the Artillery attached to Sir 
 H. Vivian's brigade, in his account of the retreat, says 
 (" Waterloo Letters," p. 195) : 
 
 " The cavalry formed in three lines ; the Hussars in the 
 first line, the Light cavalry in the second line, and the Heavy 
 cavalry in the third line. 
 
 It suddenly became insufferably hot and close, and the 
 sun became absolutely darkened by a black cloud, while at 
 the same time a jheavy cloud of dust rising showed the 
 advance of a very large body coming on to reinforce the 
 enemy. They came from a direction on the right of the 
 ■enemy. 
 
 I had heard Lord A. Hill say that Lord Uxbridge had 
 positive orders not to have an affair of cavalry. 
 
 The French cavalry I have before adverted to now 
 
292 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1815 
 
 advanced boldly in great force, and for some time partially 
 under cover of a wood, until their vedettes fired on our front 
 line. 
 
 We commenced a cannonade, which was promptly returned ; 
 and as the enemy continued to advance, and I think had 
 commenced a deployment, an affair seemed inevitable. 
 
 The interest, and even silence, until the guns and skir- 
 mishers opened, up to this moment, was intense ; for it was 
 not generally known that the Cavalry General was to avoid 
 an aflFair. 
 
 At the last moment the order was given, and the whole 
 commenced a rapid retreat in three columns and by different 
 roads. 
 
 At this instant the heavy black cloud broke with a tre- 
 mendous clap of thunder and torrents of rain. 
 
 We formed the left column in retreat. The road and 
 ground became so quickly deluged with the heavy rain that 
 was falling that it became impracticable for the French 
 cavalry to press our columns in any force. In fact, out of 
 the road in the track of our own cavalry the ground was 
 poached into a complete puddle. 
 
 Seeing this, and having lost a shoe from a gun horse, I 
 halted, and had it put on in spite of some skirmishers who 
 began to press on us, but were kept at bay by our own skir- 
 mishers forming as if to charge them. This will show how 
 impracticable it was for them to press us on this cross road. 
 But at this moment I could see the centre column on the 
 main road on ray right, and they apparently charging and 
 accompanied with much cheering. 
 
 In our column not a man was lost. The retreat for the 
 guns the whole way, with the exception of the gun men- 
 tioned, was at a hand gallop for six or seven miles until we 
 came upon the infantry in, and getting into, position.^' 
 
 In Sir H. Vivian^s letter some words are erased having 
 reference to the affair of the 7th Hussars at Genappe, which 
 would no doubt have thrown some light upon that subject, 
 and coming from a general officer who had been for years in 
 that regiment, who was extremely fond of it, and in whose 
 brigade the 7th had been up to a very short time previously, 
 would have been of considerable interest. 
 
i8is QUATRE-BRAS 293 
 
 The words were evidently scratched through at a date 
 later than when the words were written, for the ink is of a 
 much darker and of a different character. 
 
 It would be wrong- to attempt to make out what was 
 originally written ; but there appears to have been some- 
 thing not altogether right about the charge then made by 
 the 7th, and it would seem, by looking at the various 
 accounts given by officers who were present, that the charge 
 was made at a time and in a place where the 7th was not by 
 any means the best regiment suited to the occasion, or the 
 charge itself, from the position of affairs, likely to be suc- 
 cessful. 
 
 As the regiment was one in which Sir Hussey had for so 
 long served and been intimately acquainted, an account of 
 what took place will be of interest to those for whom this 
 collection of his writings is put together. 
 
 In the retreat of the 17th, the 7th Hussars, with the 
 Heavy cavalry, were in the centre, and had to pass through 
 the village of Genappe. 
 
 There being only one street by which the army could pass 
 through that village, and that a narrow one, the progress of 
 the troops at this point was considerablv retarded ; the 
 French pressed close upon the English rear, planted guns at 
 the left of Genappe, and opened a heavy fire. As the English 
 ai-tillery were considerably further in front, the latter were 
 without a gun to return the fire. 
 
 The British troops having at last got through the village 
 some of the cavalry, among others the 7th Hussars, were 
 formed on the other side of the village in order to check the 
 French in their advance. 
 
 Major Banner (" AVaterloo Letters,"' p. 94) describes what 
 took place thus : 
 
 " The enemy's cavalry, having entered Genappe, began to 
 press upon our rearguard, the last division of which had 
 scarcely quitted the rear when Lord Uxbridge came to the 
 
294 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1815 
 
 rear to reconnoitre, and .... perceiving the boldness of the 
 French, directed the 7th Hussars to charge in order to check 
 their advance. 
 
 The 7th, being animated by the presence of their Colonel, 
 rushed on the enemy with the greatest spirit and intrepidity, 
 and drove the French advanced squadrons back into the 
 street of Genappe upon the main body of their cavalry which 
 occupied the town, where a most obstinate conflict commenced, 
 each party fighting with the utmost desperation. 
 
 The French, being backed by a long, dense column of 
 cavalry, flanked by the houses on each side of the street, were 
 enabled to make a most formidable resistance. Notwith- 
 standing their numerical inferiority, it was only when menaced 
 by such a heavy force that the 7th were obliged to retire ; 
 but, although they fell back, the fault did not lie with them, 
 nor was it in consequence of the lightness of their horses, as 
 has been insinuated. 
 
 The conduct of this corps on this occasion was heroic in 
 the extreme ; their spirit and ardour was universally admired 
 and acknowledged by all who witnessed the gallant affair. 
 
 The French became exceedingly elated in thus having 
 repulsed the 7th Hussars in this, the first, attack made by 
 the British cavalry." 
 
 The French, jubilant in their temporary success, debouched 
 from Genappe, and when their leading squadrons had ascended 
 about half-way up a hill beyond the village the Life Guards 
 were ordered to charge, and although the French sustained 
 the attack with firmness they were eventually " overthrown 
 with great slaughter, and ridden down in such a manner that 
 the road was covered with men and horses scattered and 
 sprawling in all directions down to the main body of the 
 enemy's advanced guard." 
 
 Colonel CGrady, an officer of the 7th Hussars, who was in 
 the charge, says that the French Avere so jammed up in the 
 narrow street of Genappe, and so pressed forward by the 
 mass of cavalry following them, that they could not go about. 
 The charge of the 7th, under these circumstances, "could 
 make no impression, but we continued cutting at them, and 
 we did not give ground, nor did they move. Their com- 
 
i8i5 QUATRE-BRAS 295 
 
 manding officer was cut down, and so was ours (Major 
 Hodge)/' 
 
 Colonel O'Grady afterwards says : " As we never could find 
 Major Hodge or Adjutant Mayer, I only say they were killed 
 because I hope so." By which I presume he meant that he 
 hoped they had been killed fighting. 
 
 Lord Anglesey (" Waterloo Letters,'" page 6) writes that 
 the charge of the 7th was made mosb "gallantly, but they 
 could not penetrate the Lancers. In their turn these now 
 advanced and drove the 7th upon their reserve. Here the 
 7th rallied, and again drove the Lancers to the town. 
 
 " Again the Lancers, being reinforced, rallied and drove the 
 7th ; and again the 7th rallied ; and thus a determined see- 
 saw was kept up for a considerable time. At length, after 
 the 7th had lost several excellent officers and men, I withdrew 
 them.'' 
 
 And he subsequently ordered the Life Guards to charge, 
 which was done with the result already described. The 
 French, however, were then through the village, and no 
 longer "jammed up in its narrow street where they could not 
 possibly go about," even had they felt so inclined. 
 
 Vivian's brigade, jjassing through Glabais, Maransart, 
 Aywiers, Frischermont, Smohain, and Verd Cocu, arrived in 
 the evening of the 17th in the vicinity of the Forest of 
 Soigne, and bivouacked there; while Vandeleur passed the 
 night somewhat nearer to the ground which had been selected 
 as the position to be taken up by the Anglo-allied army, 
 and on which, on the following day, the great battle was 
 fought. 
 
 In the course of the evening the Duke of Wellington 
 received Blucher's reply to his request for " two corps," which 
 has already been alluded to. The Prussian officer conveying 
 this communication was brought to headquarters by an escort 
 from a squadron of the 1st Hussars K.G.L., which Vivian 
 had detached to the left with orders to patrol as far as 
 Ohain. 
 
296 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1815 
 
 That the brigade, together with the rest of the army, 
 spent a wretchedly uncomfortable night is beyond doubt. 
 Sir Hussey, in one of his letters, states that on the 17th " one 
 of the most tremendous storms I have ever witnessed had 
 soaked us all to the skin, and it had continued to rain all 
 night. The poor fellows in bivouack were dreadfully oft", and 
 the officers, although some got shelter, but little better ; for, 
 wet to the skin, we had no baggage or anything to change, nor 
 had we seen a servant or baggage since we first marched from 
 our quarters on the morning of the 16th. We ate such eggs, 
 K'c, as we could pick up." 
 
 It was in this state that the English army passed the night 
 previous to that battle which was to hurl Buonaparte from 
 his ascendency, and put an end for ever to his ambitious 
 schemes. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 WATERLOO 1815 
 
 By eight o'clock on the morning of the 18th June 1815, the 
 aUied forces had taken up the position they were destined to 
 occupy during the ever- memorable battle of Waterloo. After 
 the fatigue and anxiety of the previous day's retreat they 
 had spent a night of the utmost discomfort, soaked to the 
 skin with rain, and without any adequate food or shelter. 
 They consoled themselves, however, by reflecting that the 
 French had been in no better plight than they ; they realised 
 the enormous responsibility that rested upon them ; and they 
 were actuated with the greatest determination to do their 
 duty, and show that courage which has always been one of 
 the characteristics of an Englishman when placed in dire 
 emergency. 
 
 The French were somewhat later in taking up their 
 gromid, but they were now deploying with the greatest pre- 
 cision, and with all the pomp and display of a grand review. 
 Napoleon was exulting in having been successful in separ- 
 ating the Prussians from the i-est of the Allies by the battles 
 of I-igny and Quatre-Bras, and he was congratulating himself 
 on having got Wellington and those " accursed English " into 
 his power and to himself. 
 
 Whilst the French were getting into position for attack, 
 the Duke of Wellington occupied his time by taking a survey 
 of his own lines. 
 
 Sir Hussey Vivian was in command of the 6th Light 
 
298 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1815 
 
 Cavalry brigade, composed of the 10th (Prince of VS'^ales') 
 Hussars, the 18th Hussars, and the 1st Hussars of the King's 
 German Legion. 
 
 " The 10th and 18th were drawn up in Hue in rear of 
 the Wavre road, withdrawn a little from the crest of the 
 ridge ; the right of the 10th resting upon the lane which, 
 leading up from Smohain, crossing over the position and 
 ascending along its reverse slope, proceeds in a direction for 
 Verd Cocu. The 1st Hussars were also in line and formed in 
 reserve. 
 
 The left of the brigade was completely en rah-, upon high, 
 flat ground, the main ridge widening considerably in that 
 direction. 
 
 A picket, consisting of a squadron of the 10th Hussars, 
 under Captain Taylor, occupied the village of Smohain down 
 in the valley, which, having its source a little to the west- 
 ward of La Haye Sainte, takes an easterly, and therefore 
 parallel, course with that part of the ridge which formed the 
 left of the British position. 
 
 The advanced posts of this picket were on the further 
 side of the village, and its vedettes formed a chain on the 
 rising gi'ound beyond, within half carbine shot of some French 
 cavalry standing dismounted in close column. A party was 
 detached from the picket as a patrol on the road to Ohain. 
 
 During VS'^ellington's progress along the left of his lines he 
 heard from Vivian that a Prussian officer had reached 
 Smohain and had informed Captain Taylor that Bulow was 
 on the march with his whole corps, and that the advanced 
 guard was then only about two miles distant. The officer, 
 however, who brought this cheering intelligence, did not of 
 course know that a fire, ■which had accidentally broken out in 
 AVavre, was destined to seriously impede the maich of the 
 main body of the corps, and cause the hour of the arrival of 
 the Prussians on the scene of battle to be much later than 
 anticipated.'" — Sibohne, p. 204. 
 
 The entry made in Sir Hussey Vivian's diary, as to the 
 initial stage of the battle is — 
 
 " This most memorable, most glorious day is beyond my 
 power to describe. 
 
i8i5 WATERLOO 299 
 
 " Commanding a brigade on the left, it is impossible that I 
 can tell every movement, or position of the divisions. 
 
 " Lord Hill's corps was on the right ; the Prince of 
 Orange in the centre ; Sir J. Vandeleur's and my brigades on 
 the left. 
 
 " About eleven o'clock the pickets reported the advance of 
 the enemy, and very shortly a most serious attack on a wood 
 on the right of our centre, in which were posted the Guards, 
 commenced. 
 
 " The whole line stood to arms. All the cavalry moved up 
 into their places in position. 
 
 " We soon saw the French forming in enormous masses on 
 the side of the hill opposite to us. We heard the repeated 
 cheers of ' Vive VEmpereur,^ and we waited with anxiety, 
 but with perfect steadiness, those tremendous attacks for 
 which Buonaparte is so famous, when, caring not for the loss 
 of men, he sacrifices whole bodies for the sake of carrying a 
 particular point of the enemy's line. 
 
 "■ In this instance the high road, which was about the centre 
 of the position, was the principal object of his attack. 
 
 " Three several times did he, with the whole French army, 
 rush with desperation against this part of our position. 
 Three several times, under cover of near one hundred pieces 
 of cannon, did the Cuirassiers endeavour to break through 
 our squares of infantry, and in one instance they got possession 
 of our guns ; but the steady determination of our glorious 
 infantry, and the handsome conduct of our cavalry, who 
 instantly charged on the enemy reaching the position, defeated 
 all these attempts. 
 
 ""The way in which these attacks were met was by our 
 infantry forming squares, and our cavalry immediately charg- 
 ing those of the enemy as they appeared on the flank of 
 them. 
 
 " It is impossible to imagine anything more desperate than 
 this sort of combat. The dreadful loss sustained by both 
 sides speaks plainly as to this. Of two Heavy brigades of 
 
300 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1815 
 
 cavalry, of 1000 men each, scarcely 200 remained in line at 
 the end of the day ! 
 
 " Whilst these attacks were going on on the right and 
 centre, a similar effort was being made on the left of the 
 centre. 
 
 " On the extreme left nothing very serious took place. 
 It was appuykl on a village which was immensely strong, and 
 defensible by a very small number of men." 
 
 It was at or about one o'clock that the first of Napoleon''s 
 gi'eat attacks on the left and centre of the Allies was made ; 
 and it was in charges made at the end of this attack that a 
 considerable number of English cavalry, belonging to Sir W. 
 Ponsonby's brigade, in the exultation of having successfully 
 repelled a charge of the enemy, and of momentary victory, 
 pursued their flying foes too far, and recklessly crossed over 
 the road to the south of La Haj^e Sainte, with disastrous 
 result. 
 
 Jacquinot's Lancers, in open order, taking advantage of 
 the disordered pursuit of the British, fell diagonally upon 
 their left ; while Milhaud's two regiments of Cuirassiers, sent 
 by Napoleon himself, took them full in front. 
 
 " With wearied arms and blown horses the English Dra- 
 goons strove to regain the British position ; but most of them 
 ^^ere overthrown and killed." Help, however, was, although 
 somewhat late, at hand ; for Vandeleur, who was nearest to, 
 and therefore best able to act as a support to the fleeing 
 English, retarded by a hollow road which prevented him 
 acting as speedily as needed, at length brought up his 
 brigade, and with the 16th and 12th Dragoons charged the 
 pursuing French and drove them up their side of the valley 
 again. 
 
 Vivian, who had come forward in person from the exti'eme 
 left and proceeded some way down the slope for the purpose 
 of making his observations, upon perceiving Ponsonby's 
 brigade pursuing recklessly and in disorder up to the French 
 
i8i5 WATERLOO 301 
 
 heights, had immediately sent back word for the 10th and 
 18th Hussars to move at once through the hollow way to 
 their right, and to leave the i-emaining regiment of his 
 brigade, the 1st Hussars K.G.L., to keep a look-out to the 
 left. The execution of these orders was immediately com- 
 menced, but the brigade being further to the left of the line, 
 and even more impeded by the formation of the ground near 
 it than that of Vandeleur''s, was necessarily some time before 
 it could reach the desired position. 
 
 Two guns, detached in advance from Vivian's Horse 
 artillery, drew up on the brow of the main ridge, but they 
 had scarcely opened fire when a well-directed shot from one 
 of the French batteries passed through the ammunition boxes 
 of one of the limbers, causing an explosion which drew forth 
 a shout of triumph from the French artillery men. 
 
 In the meantime the charge of Vandeleur's brigade having 
 succeeded without the aid of even its own support (the 
 11th Dragoons), the further advance of the 10th and 18th 
 was not needed, but they remained in the new position they 
 had taken up on the right of the lane leading to Verd Cocu, 
 and the two guns rejoined their battery. — Conf. Sibokne and 
 Hooper. 
 
 In " Cavalry at Waterloo,'" Sir E. AVood, commenting on 
 the lack of support given to Sir W. Ponsonby's Union 
 brigade at this period of the day, says that — 
 
 " Lord Uxbridge, who had accompanied the charge made 
 by Sir W. Ponsonby, looked round anxiously for the support 
 of one of the Light brigades from the left of the position 
 (\'andeleur''s and Vivian's). 
 
 It does not appear that he had warned them of the 
 attack he was about to make, and the brigade nearest at 
 hand (Vandeleurs) was commanded by an officer who, 
 however brave, was more accustomed to wait for orders 
 than no act on his own initiative. He had served for a 
 long time under the Duke of V\''ellington, and knew how 
 heavily he could vent his wrath on officers who moved with- 
 out orders. 
 
302 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1815 
 
 When the Prussian Military Attache, seeing what was 
 about to occur, urged Vandeleur and Vivian to move to the 
 support of the Union brigade, they both dechned, saying, 
 ' Alas ! we dare not move without orders,' and Muffling, 
 eventually having left them before Vandeleur moved, re- 
 mained for years under the impression that neither had 
 advanced. 
 
 The Brigadiers do not seem to have been aware that the 
 Duke had put the cavalry entirely in Uxbridge's hands. 
 
 There was, however, some ground for their apprehension 
 of the Duke's displeasure, as is shown by his observation to 
 Muffling, when discussing the question years afterwai'ds, that 
 he would have tried either of them by court-martial had 
 they moved, even if they wei-e successful." 
 
 I do not know where Sir E. Wood derives his authority 
 for the above statement, but I cannot think that the state- 
 ment is well founded ; for Sir J. Vandeleur has placed it on 
 ' record that the only orders received by himself and Sir H. 
 Vivian previous to the charge made by Vandeleur's brigade 
 was that they were "to engage the enemy whenever they 
 could do so to advantage." 
 
 As a fact Sir J. Vandeleur did move his brigade to the 
 support of Ponsonby as soon as he could, looking to the 
 difficulties of the ground ; and Sir H. Vivian sent orders to 
 his brigade to move up in support also ; but, as has been 
 seen, his assistance was not required. 
 
 After the French had been checked in their pursuit of the 
 remains of Ponsonby's brigade no further attack of any 
 importance was made on the extreme left of the Allied line 
 during the day ; and as it was in that part of the position 
 that Sir H. Vivian's brigade was posted, and it is with the 
 doings of his brigade alone that I am concerned, I refrain 
 from attempting to give any account of the various acts of 
 valour which were being performed in other portions of the 
 battlefield. 
 
 Sir H. Vivian writes : 
 
i8i5 WATERLOO 303 
 
 "My brigade did not suffer much till towards the close of 
 the last attack. The ground on the left did not admit of 
 the cavalry advancing, and I, being on the left of all, 
 consequently suiFered only from the cannonade. 
 
 " About six o'clock I learnt that the cavalry in the centre 
 had suffered terribly, and the Prussians having by that time 
 formed to my left, I took upon myself to move off from our 
 left, and moved directly to the centre of our line, where I 
 arrived most opportunely, at the instant that Buonaparte was 
 making his last and most desperate effort ; and never did I 
 witness anything so terrific ; the ground actually covered 
 with dead and dying, cannon shots and shells flying thicker 
 than I ever heard even musketry before, and our troops — 
 some of them — giving way. 
 
 " In this state of affairs I wheeled my brigade into line 
 close (within ten yards) in the rear of our infantry, prepared 
 to charge the instant they had retreated through my intervals. 
 (The three squadron officers of the 10th were wounded at 
 this instant.) My doing this, however, gave them confidence, 
 and the brigade, which was literally running away, halted on 
 our cheering them, and again began firing. 
 
 "Lord Edward Somerset, with the mutilated remains of 
 the two Heavy brigades, not 200 men and horses, retired 
 through me ; and I then remained for about half an hour 
 exposed to the most dreadful fire of shot, shell, and musketry 
 that it is possible to imagine. How a man escaped is to me 
 a miracle. 
 
 "We every instant expected through the smoke to see 
 the enemy appearing under our noses ; for the smoke was 
 literally so thick that we could not see ten yards off; but we, 
 at last, began to find that the shot did not come so thick, 
 and I discovered that the enemy were, instead of endeavour- 
 ing to gain our position, retrograding on theirs. 
 
 " The first Prussians that came into action, I should say, 
 were the advanced guard of a corps not exceeding two 
 
804 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1815 
 
 I'egiments, and were supported by another. They passed 
 the hedge of Pappelotte and drew up across the valley in 
 line, almost, at right angles with us. They were directly 
 under where I stood, and I saw the operation as plainly as 
 if at a field day. 
 
 " The French at once advanced against them (their left 
 flank rather) and drove them back ; they then occupied the 
 village of Smohain or Pappelotte (I forget exactly the name). 
 This must have been somewhere between five and six o'clock. 
 I should say nearer five. 
 
 " It was a considerable time after this that the Prussians 
 appeared in force. We remained long enough for me to see 
 the French reserve and right form line, en potencc, in order 
 to meet the attack on Planchenoit ; and I was surprised to 
 see the tremendous fire the French were able to direct against 
 the Prussians. It was just as this took place that I moved 
 to the right." 
 
 Siborne, in his account of this part of the battle, says : 
 
 " Vivian was informed by patrols that the Prussiaijs were 
 advancing. Having satisfied himself of the fact, and per- 
 ceiving their advanced cavalry coming on, Vivian felt that 
 there could be no longer any apprehension of the left of the 
 army being turned ; and having previously understood from 
 Sir W. Delancy and other staff officers that fresh cavalry was 
 much needed in the centre, he proposed to Vandeleur, who 
 was on his right, and who was his superior officer, that the 
 two brigades should move towards the centre, where they 
 might be of service. 
 
 Vandeleur, however, declined to act without orders ; 
 whereupon Vivian put his own brigade in motion, passing 
 along the rear of Vandeleur's ; and soon after having com- 
 menced his march he met Lord Uxbridge, who was much 
 pleased to find the Duke's wishes had thus been anticipated, 
 and sent orders to Vandeleur to follow, accompanying the 
 former brigade himself towards the centre." 
 
 When Vivian took upon himself to mo\e his brigade from 
 the extreme left to the centre of the Allied position, Najioleon 
 
i8i5 WATERLOO 305 
 
 was at length being attacked on his right rear by the 
 Prussians, near Pappelotte and Planchenoit. 
 
 For a time the Young Guard, under Lobau, sufficed to stop 
 the progress of the Prussians ; but the latter renewing the 
 contest again and again drove the French out of Planchenoit. 
 Napoleon, however, retook the village with some of the Old 
 Guard, and the Prussians were, for the time, driven up the 
 heights to the eastward. 
 
 Seeing the Prussians thus recoil. Napoleon thought that 
 Bulow had exhausted his strength, and that he had still the 
 time and the means at his disposal to crush Wellington. He 
 determined to assail the British right with the Guard, and to 
 support the onset with every available bayonet and sabre 
 from the ravines of Pappelotte to the Nivelles road. 
 
 Hooper says : 
 
 " Napoleon himself directed the attack, which it was Ney's 
 business to see executed ; he exhorted alike officers and men ; 
 he urged them forward ; he accompanied them on their way ; 
 he pointed out their enemies with a commanding gesture ; he 
 told his ' children ' that he ' desired to sup at Brussels,' 
 and they knew that he expected them to hew out a path for 
 him ; he spread the report that Grouchy had arrived, in order 
 to encourage his men, though it was not Grouchy, but 
 Ziethen's Prussian cavalry that had shown themselves, as he 
 well knew. The delusive statement was, however, believed by 
 the French soldiers, and it was, for the moment, confirmed by 
 the fact that the Prussians, deceived by the Nassau uniforms, 
 at first opened fire upon these defenders of Smohain and La 
 Haye. 
 
 The whole French line advanced, Donzelot and Quiot 
 forcing their troops forward with a fury that seemed in-e- 
 sistible. At one moment the Brunswickers, the Nassauers, 
 and the Hanoverians receded from the front. Some of them 
 fell back to the very heads of Vivian's leading horsemen. 
 But Vivian, and the" Duke himself, once more roused their 
 spirits with homely words ; and Kilmansegge and the Prince 
 of Orange led them back into the fight and pushed the 
 French from their forward position. 
 
 The smoke hung in clouds, darkening the light of the 
 
306 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1815 
 
 declining sun. The rattle of musketry, the booming of guns, 
 were incessant. At no period of the day had these troops 
 been exposed to so murderous a fire. 
 
 To the troops comprising Vivian's and Vandeleur's brig- 
 ades, as they arrived quite fresh from the extreme left, the 
 air of ruin and destruction which met their view in rear of 
 the centre of the line ; the desperate struggle which appeared 
 to be carried on upon the crest of the main ridge by a single 
 line of infantry, evidently exhausted by the continuous fight ; 
 the almost total absence of British cavalry in support of 
 that line ; the numbers of wounded retiring both singly and 
 in groups ; the whole scene was calculated to inspire thoughts 
 by no means akin to anticipation of victory. They quickly 
 partook of the feelings of extreme uncertainty which per- 
 vaded the rest of the army as to the result of the contest, 
 and many imbibed the idea that they had been brought 
 from the left for the purpose of covering a contemplated 
 retreat. 
 
 ' Where is your brigade ? ' said Sir Hussey Vivian to Lord 
 Edward Somerset. ' Here,' replied his lordship, as, pointing 
 firstly to a small band of horsemen, and then to the ground, 
 covered with dead and dying, clad in red, and with mutilated 
 horses wandering or turning in circles, he displayed to him 
 the wreck of what had been the Household and Union brigade 
 combined — a force amounting at the commencement of the 
 action to upwards of 2000 Dragoons ! 
 
 The French skirmishers crowded close up to the Allied 
 line, maintaining a most rapid and destructive fire. Vivian's 
 brigade, by its proximity to the wavering infantry, against 
 whom so close and unremitting a fire of musketry was main- 
 tained, was placed in a very trying situation for cavalry, and 
 suffered much in consequence. 
 
 As soon, however as the infantry, which Vivian and others 
 had cheered on, had rallied and resumed their former position 
 in the line, he withdrew his brigade under the crest of the 
 hill, a distance of not more than thirty yards, to place his 
 men a little out of fire ; and when thus posted he was better 
 prepared to make an attack, if required." 
 
 The French were making this, their last great attack, in 
 two huge columns. The first column bore directly on that 
 point of the ridge behind which lay the British Guards. 
 
i8is WATERLOO 307 
 
 When the Imperialists appeared above and upon the level of 
 the ridge, the Allied guns opened a terrific and rapid fire 
 upon them, and, at the command of the Duke, Maitland's 
 men, four deep, sprang suddenly to their feet, within fifty 
 yards of the advancing and astonished Frenchmen, and 
 poured in a volley which struck the column like an iron 
 bolt, and crushed it into a shapeless, confused, and retreating 
 mass. 
 
 The defeat of the right column, however, in no way arrested 
 the advance of the second (left) one, which steadily pursued 
 its way across the field ; and once more the fortunes of the day 
 seemed to hang upon a single thread. 
 
 " Partly to avoid the artillery fire, but mainly in order to 
 bring its front parallel with that of Maitland's brigade, now 
 visible upon the ridge, this left column diverged into a hollow 
 on its right and rapidly ascended the slope. 
 
 The Allied guns again opened fire, and the British Guards 
 renewed their destructive volleys ; yet the daring Frenchmen 
 kept on their way. 
 
 At this critical moment Sir J. Colborne wheeled the 52nd 
 upon its left company and brought it nearly parallel to the 
 left flank of the attacking column. ' What was he going to 
 do ? "" was the inquiry of his superior officer. ' To make that 
 column feel our fire,' was the prompt reply. The Duke and 
 Lord Hill had seen and approved of the movement, and the 
 next moment the 52nd was over the brow and its whole fire, 
 full and close, was brought to bear upon the heavy masses 
 before it. 
 
 Napier's guns, double shotted ; the muskets of the British 
 Guards ; the rifles of the 95th ; and the rapid fire of the 52nd, 
 shook the column from front to rear. Reduced to an un- 
 steady crowd, it yielded and fled, when, at Colborne''s com- 
 mand, the 52nd brought down their bayonets to the charge, 
 cheered, and dashed on. 
 
 This splendid regiment, supported on the right by the 
 71st, and on the left by the 95th, did not halt in its vic- 
 torious career until it had swept from right to left along 
 the front of the British centre. When it halted, its left 
 flank was in advance of La Ilaye Sainte, 800 yards from the 
 ground at which its charge had commenced. Before its 
 
308 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1815 
 
 steady march the broken Imperialists withdrew without a 
 halt ; but not without looking back, fiercely and grimly, upon 
 their pursuers. 
 
 The British leader, watchful of the course of the fight, had 
 been patient and persevering for over nine hours. It was now 
 his turn to attack." 
 
 Sir Hussey Vivian describes this portion of the battle 
 thus : 
 
 " The moment to attack them was arrived. I received 
 orders to advance, and wheeling my brigade by half squadrons 
 to the right, trotted in column round the right flank of the 
 infantry in my front, to attack the French squares and 
 cavalry during their retreat. 
 
 " Having cleared the smoke, I observed the French retiring 
 up the hill and along the high road, covered by their guns — 
 two large bodies of cavalry and two squares of infantry — 
 whilst our infantry was gallantly moving on after them. 
 
 " I led the head of my brigade diagonally across the 
 ground for the left body of cavalry. The enemy, seeing this, 
 opened a fire upon me from the squares and with grape from 
 their guns, and I suiFered some loss ; but every man was at 
 his post. We gave them a cheer in reply, and I instantly 
 ordered the regiment to form line on their front half 
 squadrons. They did this with as much accuracy as if 
 manoeuvring at a field day in England. 
 
 " I led the 10th against a body of Cuirassiers and Landers, 
 much superior to them in force, on the French left, and, 
 having seen them fairly in — the enemy flying and falling 
 under their swords — I rushed to the 18th, and with them 
 attacked the Cuirassiers, who were formed on the French 
 right in support of the squares and guns. 
 
 " They were routed by the intrepidity and gallantry of 
 this regiment, and the artillery men cut down at their guns. 
 
 " I ordered the advance at a trot, and that the leading 
 squadron moved off at a trot there cannot be the slightest 
 
i8is WATERLOO 309 
 
 doubt. Captain Taylor, who commanded the centre squadron, 
 may have had to gallop in order to preserve his distance, 
 perhaps from not having moved off the position at the same 
 moment. There is one circumstance which proves that the 
 advance was at a trot and not a hurried one. 
 
 " The leading half squadron, as we were moving off the 
 position, on approaching some of our guns, wheeled to the 
 right instead of to the left, and was consequently moving to 
 the rear. 
 
 " I was on the flank of the squadron. I immediately (I 
 recollect perfectly well) with a considerable degree of emphasis, 
 ^■c., and a good hearty damn, galloped to the flank of the 
 second half squadron, and said that it was towards the enemy 
 and not j^"o?re them that they were to wheel. 
 
 " I then took the flank officer's place and I led the column 
 down the hill in the direction I wished it to move, until the 
 leading half squadron was brought back into its place, when 
 I went to the front of that half squadron and in this way 
 conducted the column some little distance. 
 
 " Had our advance been at a very rapid pace the half 
 squadron which had wheeled from us and been left behind, 
 somewhat perhaps confused and entangled with the guns, 
 would never have returned to its place in so short a time. 
 
 " When we arrived in the plain at the bottom of the hill 
 there was a pause, and I may say a halt, in the front. The 
 very circumstance of Sir Colin Campbell coming to me ft-om 
 the Duke, and desiring me to halt, and the conversation 
 which took place (the affair of a minute, or perhaps, moment 
 only, I admit) proves it. 
 
 " When I moved on again and ordered the formation on 
 the leading half squadron, and the advance and attack, the 
 order was to form line on the front half squadron ; but that 
 the formation was rather en echelon of squadrons than in line 
 I think was much more than probable ; and if any halt 
 occun-ed in the next squadron it was rectified at once ; for I 
 well recollect the instant it was in line giving the order 
 
310 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1815 
 
 to charge, and the others, no doubt, took it up in succes- 
 sion. 
 
 " I sent orders to the 18th to remain steady in reserve. 
 
 " I charged with the 10th, and as soon as we were well into 
 the enemy and mixed up, the French making oft", I gave the 
 word ' Halt," and galloped off" to the 18th. 
 
 " En route I was attacked by one of the Cuirassiers whom 
 we had passed. I was fortunate enough to give him a thrust 
 in the neck with my left hand (for my right was in a sling 
 and I was just capable of holding the reins with it only) [in 
 consequence of the wound he had received at Croix d'Orade, 
 near Toulouse in 1814], and at that moment I was joined by 
 my little German orderly, who cut the fellow off' his horse. 
 I then went to the 18th. A circumstance which occurred at 
 this time made a great impression on me, viz., a man of that 
 squadron having had his horse wounded was struggling to get 
 from under it, when a French Lancer, immediately before me, 
 blew out his brains. 
 
 "To the 18th I said, 'Eighteenth, my lads, you will, I 
 know, follow me.' On which Sergeant-Major Jeff's, afterwards 
 Adjutant of the 7th, who was near me, answered, 'Yes, 
 General ; to hell, if you will lead us.' 
 
 " With the 18th I charged the second body of Cuirassiers 
 and Chasseurs that were supporting a sqviare of Imperial 
 Guards ; and the 18th not only defeated them, but took 
 fourteen pieces of cannon that had been firing grape at us 
 during our movement. 
 
 " By this time the remains of the 10th had again formed — 
 the 1st Hussars being still in reserve — and I determined that 
 the glory of ending the day should rest with the regiment of 
 my royal master. 
 
 " I ordered the 10th to charge a square of infantry still 
 steady and close to us. This they did most gallantly, and 
 as gallantly was the attack received. 
 
 " Here fell poor Howard, as amiable a young man and as 
 gallant a soldier as ever breathed. Here we took prisoner 
 
i8i5 WATERLOO 311 
 
 Count Lobau, who commanded one of the corps cTarmee ; and 
 here was fired the last shot for the night. The 10th cut 
 down the French in their ranks ; some few then escaped under 
 cover of a hedge, but from this time every man was in retreat, 
 and eventually every man was taken during a pursuit which 
 lasted as long as we were able to see — so long indeed that, 
 until actually having cut some Prussians down, we were 
 obliged to desist, and give to them the pursuit, they having 
 suffered much less than we had — in fact, they having scarcely 
 suffered at all. 
 
 "I was by the side of Major Howard at the time of his 
 charge, and myself advanced with the squadron." 
 
 Such is the short account given by Sir Hussey (mostly in 
 his diary, written two days after the battle) of the doings of 
 his brigade in the closing charge made at the battle of 
 Waterloo. 
 
 Siborne (whose history of the campaign was one of the 
 first of the many books that have been published, and which 
 was founded on the accounts given by oflicers who were 
 present at the battle, and collected by him at great trouble) 
 gives a full and similar description of the charges made by 
 Sir H. Vivian's brigade. 
 
 He states that Wellington, as soon as he saw that the 
 success of Adam's brigade was so decisive, requested Lord 
 Uxbridge to immediately launch forward some fresh cavalry 
 to check the probable advance of that of the enemy, and to 
 second the efforts of the infantry in front by boldly attacking 
 the .French reserve, which appeared collected in front of La 
 Belle Alliance — the critical point of Napoleon's line. 
 
 " Lieut.-Col. Lord Greenock, Assistant Quarter-Master- 
 General of the Cavalry, was despatched to Vivian with orders 
 for him to move his Hussar brigade to the right, from its 
 position in the rear of Alten's division, so as to get clear of 
 the infantry, and then to advance directly in front by the right 
 of Maitland's Brigade of Guards. 
 
SI 2 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1815 
 
 Vivian, the moment he received the order to advance, 
 wheeled his brigade half squadron to the right. Thus the 
 10th became the leading regiment, the 18th Hussars followed, 
 and the 1st Hussars K.G.L., which had stood in second 
 line, moved off as soon as its front was clear, in rear of the 
 latter corps. 
 
 The brigade proceeded at a trot, a short distance in rear 
 of the infantry and parallel to the crest of the position ; and 
 as it approached the right of Maitland's Brigade of Guards, 
 ^'ivian, ordering the leading half squadron to wheel to the left 
 through Napier's battery, led it perpendicularly to the front. 
 
 As the column thus advanced across the ridge in left 
 front of Vandeleur's Light Cavalry brigade it was saluted by 
 the latter with cheers of encouragement ; and in a similar 
 manner by Maitland's Brigade of Guards as it passed their 
 flank. 
 
 The smoke lay heavily along the entire position, and 
 especially at this moment over that part of the exterior 
 slope of the ridge on which the struggle with the French 
 Imperial Guard had taken place, and across which Vivian 
 was now leading his brigade. 
 
 On advancing further and getting clear of the smoke he 
 obtained a more distinct view of the disposition of the enemy's 
 forces in his direct front. 
 
 A very considerable portion appeared in great confusion ; 
 disordered columns of infantry were hurrying back to their 
 main position up the slope, on which were numerous stragglers 
 of all arms, and in various uniforms, mixed together, and 
 retiring in crowds. 
 
 Guns were firing from various points to cover the retreat, 
 and the discharge of musketry in and about Hougoumont 
 continued very brisk. 
 
 On arriving about midway towards the enemy's position, 
 well formed bodies of troops were observed on the French 
 left of La Belle Alliance, posted as if fully prepared to resist 
 the threatened attack. They consisted of two squares of 
 infantry, with cnxahy and guns formed on the flanks and 
 between them. 
 
 The cavalry on their left was somewhat advanced, com- 
 prising several bodies ])artially covering one another, but 
 presenting a general front and posted on some rising ground 
 about 200 yards on the Allied left of the south-eastern angle 
 of the Hougoumont enclosures." 
 
i8i5 WATERLOO 313 
 
 The two squares here alluded to were the two battalions 
 of the Grenadiers of the Old Guard which had been placed 
 as a reserve of the main attack of that force. 
 
 " The cavalry on the left was thus disposed. First, on the 
 slope of the little eminence a portion of the Lancers of the 
 Imperial Guard; then in left rear of the latter, on lower 
 ground, were two squadrons of Dragoons of the Guard ; and 
 in their right rear, two more squadrons of the same corps ; 
 and in right rear of these again, and on the summit of the 
 eminence, stood the Brigade of Carbineers. 
 
 In rear of these and of the squares themselves, as also on 
 the right of the latter, were collected the remainder of that 
 portion of the French cavalry which had made such repeated 
 attacks upon the Duke's line during the day. 
 
 All these different bodies of cavalry were bvit mere wrecks 
 of their former selves — regiments, and in many instances 
 entire brigades, were diminished to less than squadrons. 
 
 Vivian, as soon as he perceived the disposition of the 
 enemy's forces in his immediate front, decided upon forming 
 a front line with the 10th and 18th Hussars, and upon hold- 
 ing the 1st Hussars K.G.L. in second line in support. 
 
 For this purpose, and also with a view to oppose, and 
 if possible to turn, the left of the enemy's cavalry, he 
 made the leading regiment — the 10th Hussars — incline to its 
 right. 
 
 Shortly afterwards Vivian was joined by Colonel Sir 
 Colin Campbell, of the Staff, who brought him an order from 
 the Duke that he was not to attack before the infantry came 
 up, unless he felt confident of success. 
 
 Vivian remarked that as the Allied infantry, in its anxiety 
 to get on, was probably not in compact order, its safety 
 might be seriously endangered should it be exposed to a 
 cavalry attack ; and that in his opinion it would be better 
 that not a moment should be lost on his part in driving off 
 the cavalry which appeared in front. 
 
 Sir Colin Campbell coincided in this opinion and returned 
 to the Duke. 
 
 After a very short pause at the head of the column, 
 consequent upon this little discussion, Vivian, continuing his 
 advance, ordered the 10th Hussars to form line on the front 
 half squadron, and at the same time sent orders to his other 
 
314 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1815 
 
 two regiments also to form line on their leading half squadrons 
 respectively, but then to remain in support. 
 
 The rapid pace which had been maintained by the head 
 of the column, and the incline to the right which had been 
 given it, required great activity on the part of the left half 
 squadron to get up into line ; and as Vivian ordered the 
 charge as soon as the first squadron was formed, it was 
 executed, not in line, but rather en echelon of squadrons, 
 which, under the circumstances of the moment, as will pre- 
 sently be seen, was the preferable and more desirable for- 
 mation. 
 
 Just as the charge was ordered the Second Light Dragoons 
 K.G.L., in a column of squadrons, which had been detached 
 from the main position almost simultaneously with the 
 advance of Vivian's brigade, came up on the right of the 
 10th Hussars, and in a direction rather crossing the front of 
 the latter regiment which had its left thrown rather forward, 
 whilst the Germans were moving straight to their front and 
 directly upon the French Dragoons of the Guard before 
 mentioned as posted in the hollow on the Allied right of the 
 eminence on which stood the French cavalry about to be 
 charged by Vivian's brigade. 
 
 The Dragoons at first appeared disposed to resist the 
 Germans, and received them with a tolerably effective carbine 
 fire ; but the former charged home, cut down several of the 
 enemy's horsemen, and made some prisoners. In following 
 up the charge, however, the regiment exposed its left to a 
 body of Cuirassiers, by which it was thrown into disorder. 
 It afterwards rallied, and made another charge, which put the 
 enemy's cavalry to flight. The regiment then continued 
 moving forward with proper precaution along the base of the 
 higher ground on the left, over which the 10th Hussars were 
 also charging and advancing. 
 
 In the meantime the latter regiment made its charge ; 
 the right, centre, and left squadrons, in rapid succession, 
 dashed in amongst the French cavalry posted as before 
 mentioned. 
 
 The left squadron of the 10th had scarcely closed with 
 the enemy before the whole of the cavalry on the French left 
 of the squares of the Guard were in full flight. 
 
 Vivian, perceiving the complete success of this brilliant 
 charge, ordered a halt ; and then returned as quickly as 
 possible to the 18th Hussars. 
 
i8i5 WATERLOO 315 
 
 On his way to the 18th Vivian was attacked by a 
 Cuirassier. His right arm was in a sling, in consequence of 
 a wound received at Croix d'Orade, near Toulouse. Taking 
 the reins in this hand, which was barely capable of holding 
 them, he contrived to give the Cuirassier a thrust in the neck 
 with his left hand, whilst at the same moment he was joined 
 by his German orderly, who cut the Frenchman off his horse. 
 
 After the 10th Hussars had pursued the enemy about 
 200 yards a body of Cuirassiers charged their right flank, 
 and forced it about a hundred yards away on the left ; whilst 
 the centre and left squadrons, not being aware of Vivian's 
 order to halt, continued their pursuit, inclining to their right 
 under Lt.-Col. Lord Robert Manners, then commanding the 
 10th. 
 
 Previous to describing the subsequent proceedings of the 
 brigade, it is necessary to advert to other matters in order 
 to connect them with the general disposition of the main 
 army. 
 
 Wellington, perceiving the confusion of the French 
 Imperial Guard, remarking also the beautiful advance of 
 Vivian's Hussars brigade against the French reserves posted 
 close to La Belle Alliance, in the very heart of Napoleon's 
 position ; the steady and triumphant march of Adam's 
 brigade; and that the movement of Bulow had begun to take 
 effect ; ordered a general advance of the whole line, and he 
 himself galloped off' to Adam's brigade. 
 
 Sir Colin Campbell now rejoined the Duke and explained 
 the grounds upon which Vivian had decided upon attacking 
 the French reserves ; on learning which Lord Uxbridge, who 
 was present, determined upon personally leading the attack 
 with the Hussars and participating in the final and decisive 
 triumph of the British cavalry, and was darting off to that 
 part of the field when his intentions were frustrated by a 
 grape shot striking and severely wounding his right leg. 
 
 Having watched Adam's brigade for some time, the Duke 
 rode up the valley and came upon the plain upon which 
 Vivian was successfully attacking the French reserves. 
 
 The gallant charge made by the 10th Hussars upon the 
 French cavalry in its front has already been described. 
 
 After ordering the halt and rally, Vivian galloped towards 
 the 18th Hussars, which regiment he found well formed in 
 line, and in perfect order. 
 
 In its front stood two squares of the Grenadiers of the Old 
 
316 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1815 
 
 Guard ; in its left front, and much nearer to it, were posted 
 artillery and cavalry in advance of the proper right of the 
 squares. This cavalry consisted principally of Cuirassiers, 
 the wrecks of entire brigades. 
 
 Nearer to, and partly in rear of the squares, stood the 
 Chasseurs and Grenadiers-a-cheval of the Imperial Guard, 
 gi-eatly diminished in numbers. 
 
 It was immediately evident to Vivian that the attack must, 
 in the first instance, be directed against the advanced cavalry 
 and artillery ; and having put his line in motion, he placed 
 himself in the centre beside the Hon. Henry Murray, the 
 commanding officer, for the purpose of putting the regiment 
 into the required direction. 
 
 This having been effected he ordered the charge, when the 
 Hussars dashed forward with the greatest impetuosity and at 
 the same time with as much steadiness as if they had been at 
 a field day exercise on Hounslow Heath. 
 
 Thus the direction of the charge of the 18th diverged as 
 much to the left as that of the 10th had inclined to the right. 
 
 Just as the charge conniienced some French artillery, 
 coming from their right and slanting across the right of the 
 18th, made a bold push to cross the front of the latter at a 
 gallop. But the attempt failed, and the Hussars were in- 
 stantly among them, cutting down the artillery men and 
 drivers, and securing the guns. 
 
 In the next moment they fell upon the advanced cavalry, 
 which they completely dispersed ; and then, bringing forward 
 their right shoulders, they attacked the cavalry and guns 
 which stood to the right front and near to the right square, 
 which was no^^' retiring. 
 
 This cavalry appeared at first determined upon making 
 a stand, and an officer in its front dashed forward and fired 
 at Lt.-Col. Murray ; but in another moment the 18th were 
 fiercely and dexterously plying their swords amongst them. 
 They were forced to give way ; the artillerymen were driven 
 from their guns ; and the whole fled in disorder. 
 
 The charge then ceased to be compact, for the assailants 
 and the flying were intermingled pell-mell, all riding as fast 
 as the confusion of the melee would permit ; a part of them 
 along the high road, but the ])rincipal portion on the Allied 
 right of the latter ; the whole, however, passing by La Belle 
 Alliance and leaving the two squares of the Guard on their 
 
 right. 
 
i8is WATERLOO 317 
 
 Vivian, satisfied with the complete success of the charge, 
 ordered the regiment to halt and re-form ; whilst he proceeded 
 himself to bring up the 1st Hussars, K.G.L., which he had 
 left in reserve. 
 
 On his way he found Major the Hon. Fredk. Howard, 
 with the right squadron of the 10th Hussars, which, as 
 before stated, had been driven to the left by a charge of 
 Cnira.me7'.<). 
 
 This squadron stood formed within a short distance of 
 the left square of the Grenadiers of the Guard, from the fire 
 of which it was losing men fast. 
 
 Vivian doubted for a moment how far it might be advis- 
 able to attack the square ; but perceiving an infantry regi- 
 ment in red advancing on his left, and calculating on its 
 immediately charging the face and angle of the square next 
 to it, he ordered Major Howard to charge the face and angle 
 to which he was opposed. 
 
 This was executed with the greatest gallantry and deter- 
 mination. Vivian himself joined in the charge on the right 
 of the squadron. The Hussars charged home to the bayonets 
 of the French Guard, and a fierce conflict ensued. Major 
 Howard was killed at the head of his men. He was shot in 
 the mouth and fell senseless to the ground, when one of the 
 Imperial Guard stepped out of the ranks and brutally beat 
 his head in with the butt end of his musket. Two other 
 officers, Lieuts. Arnold and Bacon, were wounded. Lieut. 
 Gunning was killed immediately previous to the attack. 
 
 The regiment of infantry, however, did not charge as 
 Vivian had expected, but continued pursuing a separate 
 column in its own immediate front on the high road. 
 
 Although the square — a very strong one — cannot be 
 said to have been broken by the shock (for the veteran 
 soldiers of whom it was composed knew too well their power 
 of resistance against such a handful of horsemen), still the 
 manner in which the latter, notwithstanding the rapid 
 diminution of their numbers, continued cutting at their ranks, 
 pai-rying the bayonet thrusts, and pertinaciously pressing on, 
 reflects the highest credit on the 10th Hussars. 
 
 The men fought with desperation, maddened, probably, 
 by the fall of their officers. The square, yielding to the 
 pressure, continued to fall back until it reached the hollow 
 way formed by the narrow road that leads from the chaussee 
 in rear of La Belle Alliance towards the left of the French 
 
318 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1815 
 
 position. Into this the Guards hastily descended in con- 
 fusion, and escaping by either outlet, mingled with the host 
 of fugitives hurrying along the general line of retreat of the 
 French army. 
 
 In the meantime the remainder of the 10th Hussars, con- 
 sisting of the left and centre squadrons, that had in the first 
 charge crossed over to the right of the rise of ground on 
 which the French reserve cavalry had been posted, continued 
 its course, under Lord R. Manners, down into the valley 
 south-east of the Hougoumont enclosures. 
 
 The routed cavalry spread out in the utmost confusion — 
 Cuirassiers of an almost gigantic size galloped as hard as 
 they could, and numbers tumbled off their horses to save 
 themselves. 
 
 The Hussars now came upon retiring infantry that 
 appeared seized with a panic as their routed cavalry dashed 
 past them. The large bearskin caps worn by several of 
 them betokened a portion of the Imperial Guard ; they com- 
 menced throwing down their arms, numbers of them loudly 
 calling out ' Pardon.' 
 
 Then, crossing the same road, already mentioned as 
 leading from La Belle Alliance to the left of the French 
 position (but on the Allied right of the hollow road by which 
 the square of the Guard effected its escape), the Hussars 
 brought up their right shoulders and ascended the height in 
 rear of the hollow road. 
 
 Upon the slope of the hill about half a battalion of the 
 French Guard had rallied and formed, with some cavalry close 
 behind them, and opened a sharp fire upon the 10th. Part 
 of the 18th Hussars at this time reached the hollow way, an 
 obstacle, however, which rendered their attacking wholly im- 
 practicable. 
 
 Lord R. Manners halted for a minute within about forty 
 paces of them to allow his men to form up. He then gave a 
 cheer and charged, when the Imperial Guard and the cavalry 
 instantly fled, the greater poi-tion of them throwing them- 
 selves down and many of the latter tumbling off their 
 horses. 
 
 The Hussars pursued up to the brow of the hill, on 
 the further or south side of which was a deep hollow and 
 beyond this a knoll (on the Allied side of the Charleroi road 
 and nearly opposite De Coster's house) upon which another 
 square of infantry had formed and appeared very steady. 
 
i8is WATERLOO 319 
 
 At this time a party of the ]8th Hussars — not more 
 than thirty to thirty-five men — continuing the charge before 
 mentioned close along the right of La Belle Alliance and 
 Trimotion, and crossing the narrow road near its junction 
 with the Charleroi road, dashed down the hollow and, 
 ascending the height above mentioned, charged the square 
 in the most gallant style ; but, as might have been expected, 
 was cheeked and turned by the latter. 
 
 Lord R. Manners and Captain Taylor had rallied a 
 party of the 10th Hussars, with a view to support the 18th, 
 should these be charged in their turn, which however did not 
 occur. 
 
 The two last-mentioned regiments had by this time been 
 thrown so much in confusion by their charges that it became 
 necessary to check their further advance in order to give time 
 for collecting and re-forming their ranks. 
 
 Although this measure was supported by the coming up 
 of the 1st Hussars, King's German Legion, to take post in 
 front of the brigade, and was also rendered secure by the 
 advance on the right of Vandeleur's brigade (which had come 
 up on Vivian's right, and between him and the enclosures of 
 Hougoumont, in column of squadrons, at the moment he was 
 preparing to charge the square of the Imperial Guard with 
 the party of the 10th Hussars under Major Howard), still the 
 rallying and re-forming of these two regiments was attended 
 with considerable difficulty, inasmuch as they had been com- 
 pletely intermingled with the fugitives. 
 
 The very forward movement of Vivian's brigade, and the 
 vigorous attack which it had made against the centre of the 
 French position, having rendered obvious the necessity of an 
 immediate support, Vandeleur's brigade was despatched across 
 the ridge ; and it was by this time in advance, and rather in 
 right front of Vivian's. 
 
 In this manner Vivian's brigade, which had not only 
 broken but completely pierced the centre of the French 
 position, had its right effectually protected ; and due advantage 
 was promptly taken of the disorder into which its bold and 
 successful advance had thrown the French troops that had 
 been moving in that quarter. At the same time Vivian's left 
 was secured by the advance of Adam's brigade, which con- 
 tinued to drive before it, along the left side of the Charleroi 
 road, the square of the Guard as well as the Cuirassiers by 
 ivhom the former were supported." 
 
320 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1815 
 
 Sir H. Vivian writes : 
 
 " The time between the attack of my brigade (the 6th) 
 and the advance of that of Sir J. Vandeleur must have been 
 at least twenty minutes, if not thirty. 
 
 " It may be judged of from the following facts : the 10th 
 had charged and rallied ; the 18th had charged after the 
 order to halt had been given to the 10th ; the order to halt 
 had been given to the 18th ; the rallied body of the 10th had 
 charged ; and it was after this that Capt. Keane was sent 
 by Sir H. Vivian to beg Sir J. Vandeleur to move on in his 
 support ; and Sir H. Vivian was in the act of moving on 
 with two squadrons of the 1st Hussars when Sir J. Vandeleur, 
 with his brigade, passed his right flank, and a conversation 
 took place between them. 
 
 " I have been thus particular in stating these facts, because 
 the confusion occasioned by the attack of cavalry from the 
 left has been attributed to an attack of both these brigades ; 
 whereas in fact it was one only that made the most important 
 impression. In saying this, it is not my object to take from 
 the merit of the conduct of Sir J. Vandeleur^s brigade. That 
 brigade had been much exposed and suffered severely, and 
 had behaved gallantly, early in the day ; whilst mine was in 
 comparative security. It was fair and right therefore that 
 the brunt of the battle should at last fall upon me ; and 
 having so fallen it is equally fair and right that we should 
 have credit for it. 
 
 " Truth is history, and history without truth does not 
 deserve the name ; and I am anxious, for the sake of the 
 gallant men that I commanded, that, one day at least, the 
 truth may be known. 
 
 " I assert positively that when I advanced I left Vandeleur's 
 brigade standing on the position, and they cheered me as I 
 passed. 
 
 " The 10th charged ; the 18th charged ; the squadron, or 
 more, of the 10th, under Howard, formed, and charged 
 
i8i5 WATERLOO 321 
 
 again ; and I had myself ordered the 10th and 18th to be 
 re-formed and to follow me. 
 
 " Having placed myself at the head of two squadrons of 
 the 1st Hussars, two other squadrons being in support, I was 
 advancing in pursuit of the broken enemy when I found on 
 my right and front the 11th regiment, part of Vandeleur's 
 brigade. 
 
 " So completely had I found myself alone with my brigade 
 prior to this that I had actually, some time before, sent my 
 A.D.C., Capt. Keane, to Sir J. Vandeleur to request he 
 would come on and support me ; and the gallant old soldier 
 (for he was as brave an old fellow as ever lived) was very 
 angry with me for so doing, saying ' I had no business to send 
 orders ' (which I did not) ' to my senior officer.'' " 
 
 After having made the charges that have been described, 
 Vivian's brigade, which, with that of ^'andeleur, was the most 
 advanced of the British forces, found their progress most 
 seriously obstructed and retarded by the vast crowd of fugitives 
 of all arms, mingled in the wildest confusion. 
 
 Sibome says : 
 
 " In fact, the cavalry thus situated in the van of the 
 Duke's victorious army had now become almost helpless ; 
 it seemed as if carried aloft on the billows of the agitated 
 sea, yielding rather to its impulse than controlling the angry 
 element. 
 
 As might have been expected, there were innumerable in- 
 stances in which the rage and disappointment of the conquered 
 foe gave rise to covert assaults. 
 
 The 10th and 18th Hussars, of Vivian's brigade, whilst 
 attempting to re-form between La Haye Sainte and Rossomme, 
 found themselves in the midst of an enormous mass, com- 
 posed partly of defeated soldiers of the Imperial Guard, 
 who could ill conceal their mortification, and who seized 
 every opportunity that afforded to gratify their hatred and 
 revenge. 
 
 Lieut.-Col. the Hon. H. Murray, commanding the 18th, 
 was nearly bayoneted by one of them, and his orderly was 
 
322 RICHARD HUHSEY VIVIAN 1815 
 
 compelled, for the safety of his master, to cut down five or 
 six of them in succession. 
 
 About half-past eight — perhaps somewhat later — the dark- 
 ness, which had been rapidly setting in, had become so great 
 as to render it difficult to distinguish one particular body 
 of troops from another. 
 
 Some little time before this one of the Prussian advanced 
 regiments of cavalry, suddenly entering the highroad between 
 La Belle Alliance and Rossomme, came into partial collision 
 with the 18th Hussars, who, not anticipating the presence of 
 any other foreign troops in that vicinity than those of the 
 French army, commenced an attack on them ; cuts were 
 exchanged and some few lives lost before the error was 
 corrected. 
 
 The 1st Hussars, K.G.L., while advancing along the right 
 of the road, came upon the rear of Vandeleur's brigade, and 
 were all but in collision with the 11th and 16th Light 
 Dragoons, which regiments having previously ascertained that 
 a brigade of French artillery (Fire's) was on their right, and 
 perceiving, though but dimly in the dark, the approach of a 
 strong body of horsemen towards their rear, concluded that 
 an attempt was being made to intercept their retreat. They 
 immediately went threes about and struck into a charge. 
 
 On the other hand, the 1st K.G.L., not being aware that 
 any British cavalry was in their front, and misled in great 
 measure by the sudden clamour of French voices proceeding 
 from the various fugitives who, taking alarm, were en- 
 deavouring to get out of their way, prepared to charge, and 
 gave a loud cheer. 
 
 This cheer fortunately was recognised by the British 
 Dragoons, when in the act of charging, as being that of the 
 1st German Hussars, and was thus the means of preventing a 
 rencontre that might have been productive of the most fatal 
 consequences to the parties concerned.'" 
 
 Napoleon had taken part in the last encounter; during the 
 attack of the Imperial Guard he had ridden as far as the 
 orchard of La Haye Sainte ; when the 52nd had pursued so 
 promptly he had fallen back, suiTounded by the veterans of 
 the Guard. 
 
 " When Vivian and Vandeleur had tried to cut in upon his 
 
i8i5 WATERLOO 323 
 
 iine of retreat a majestic body of Horse Grenadiers, resolute 
 and compact, barred the way, and walked superbly from the 
 field in unassailable order." — Hooper. 
 
 As to the effect that the charges made by Sir H. Vivian's 
 brigade had on the result of the battle, the following extracts 
 speak. 
 
 Sibome's " History," says : 
 
 " There is not perhaps an instance in modern history in 
 which the threatening tide of battle has, through the 
 lightning-like promptitude of decision, and the energetic 
 application of yet remaining resources, been so suddenly and 
 so powerfully controlled, and so majestically and irresistibly 
 hurled back, overthrowing all and everything that, in the 
 previous plenitude of its force, it had borne aloft with 
 buoyant hopes, and carried along with exultation in its 
 ■course, as it was by the immortal Wellington in this, his 
 last, his crowning victory. 
 
 Never did a battlefield present so complete, so magical, a 
 transition of scene as that which succeeded the defeat of the 
 Imperial Guard of France by the Guards of the Sovereign of 
 JEngland and the British Light Cavalry brigade. 
 
 Wellington's perfect knowledge of the character and com- 
 position of the French army told him that a signal defeat of 
 the Imperial Guard would be certain to exercise a powerful 
 influence on the morale of the enemy's troops ; but it also 
 told him that unless instant advantage were taken of that 
 •defeat, unless it were followed up in such a manner as to 
 render the incipient panic which it had created, general 
 and incontrollable, that same army might recover the 
 shock. D'Erlon's and Reille's columns, although falter- 
 ing for a moment, might pursue their advance with deter- 
 mined efforts to regain the footing which the Guards 
 had lost. The veterans of the latter force might speedily 
 rally. 
 
 This view had scarcely crossed the mind of the Duke when 
 his decision was fully made up. With those critically slender 
 means to which allusion has been made, and which in the 
 hands of many a commander would have been deemed totally 
 ineidequate for even the maintenance of the position at such 
 fearful odds, Wellington determined to compensate for the 
 
3'2i RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1815 
 
 awfully reduced and exhausted state of the fighting portion 
 of his troops and the utter want of confidence in the re- 
 mainder, by one of those bold and daring acts which, when 
 hazarded at the right moment, carry with them the prestige 
 of conscious superiority, and allow an enemy no time to dis- 
 cover deficiencies or to calculate mischances. 
 
 No sooner was the second attacking column of the Guard 
 defeated and dispersed than he ordered it to be vigorously 
 pursued and the rallied forces of the first column to be 
 attacked by Adam''s brigade ; whilst at the same time he 
 launched forth Vivian^s Hussar brigade against the cavalry 
 reserves near La Belle Alliance before these had made their 
 disposition for attack, and even before they had recovered 
 from the surprise and hesitation which prevailed among them 
 on witnessing the discomfiture of the Guard." 
 
 In eulogising the gallantry and services of Lord Uxbridge, 
 Captain Sibome attributes special praise to him for having so 
 judiciously economised the strength of the cavalry as to have 
 been able, " when at the critical moment its services were 
 required, to bring forward two fresh brigades which fulfilled 
 those services in a style the most brilliant that can be con- 
 ceived, and with a success which commanded the admii'ation 
 of all who witnessed it." 
 
 In a footnote Siborne further says that the French his- 
 torians " invariably attribute the final rout of their army to 
 the charges made by the Light Cavalry launched against it 
 immediately after the attack by the Imperial Guard." 
 
 In a letter to Mr. E. Vivian, written on June 23, 1815, Sir 
 Hussey says : 
 
 "Whether the Duke will do my brigade justice or not, I 
 know not ; but Buonaparte has given them their due in his 
 account. We are the cavalry that he alludes to when, at the 
 end, he says : ' At eight o'clock,' &c. ; and the Colonel of the 
 3rd Chas.niir.s; who lodged the night before last in the house 
 I occupied last night, told the proprietor that two regiments 
 
i8i5 WATERLOO 325 
 
 of British Hussars decided the affair. The third regiment I 
 kept in reserve." 
 
 The words in Napoleon's account referred to by Sir Hussey 
 are doubtless those contained in the official bulletin of the 
 battle, which appeared in the Moniteiir on June 21, as 
 follows : 
 
 "At 8.30 the four battalions of the middle Guard, who 
 had been sent to the ridge on the other side of Mont St. Jean 
 in order to support the Cuirassiers, being greatly annoyed by 
 the gTape shot, endeavoured to carry the batteries with the 
 bayonet. 
 
 At the end of the day a charge directed against their flank 
 by several English squadrons put them in disorder. 
 
 The fugitives recrossed the ravine. Several regiments near 
 at hand seeing some troops belonging to the Guard in con- 
 fusion believed it was the Old Guard, and in consequence 
 were thrown into disorder. 
 
 Cries of ' All is lost, the Guard is driven back ! ■" were 
 heard on all sides. The soldiers pretend even that on many 
 points evil-disposed persons cried Sauve qui peut. However 
 this may be, a complete panic at once spread itself through 
 the whole battlefield, and they threw themselves in the 
 greatest disorder on the line of communications ; soldiers, 
 cannoniers, caissons, all pressed to this point ; the Old Guard, 
 which was in reserve, was infected, and was itself hurried 
 along. 
 
 In an instant the whole army was nothing but a mass of 
 confusion ; all the soldiers of all arms were mixed pell-mell, 
 and it was utterly impossible to rally a single corps. 
 
 The enemy, who perceived this astonishing confusion, im- 
 mediately attacked with their cavalry and increased the 
 disorder ; and such was the confusion owing to night coming 
 on, that it was impossible to rally the troops and point out 
 to them their en-or." 
 
 Writing in 1830, with reference to criticisms which had 
 appeared in the Quarterly Review on the conduct of the 
 cavalry at Waterloo, Sir H. Vivian, after pointing out the 
 important results of the charge made by Sir W. PonsonbyV 
 
326 RICHARD HUSSEV VIVIAN 1815 
 
 brigade, and stating that the only effective cavalry left at the 
 end of the day were the brigades commanded by Vandeleur 
 and himself, says : 
 
 " These brigades then were moved to the right, and arrived 
 at a most opportune moment. The effect of their formation 
 immediately in the rear of the line of infantry on the position 
 was to give confidence to the troops, almost worn out with 
 the protracted and murderous combat ; and to the effect of 
 their charges the quotations from French authors (for they, 
 at least, have done them justice ; and those who feel the blow 
 may be supposed to know, under such circumstances, from 
 whence it came) will bear testimony. 
 
 " The details of the proceedings of Sir H. \ ivian's brigade 
 will show that the cavalry referred to is this brigade, and this 
 only. 
 
 " That Sir J. Vandeleur's brigade did not attack any of the 
 French cavalry, nor indeed until they all had been driven 
 from the field, is proved by their having taken no horses ; 
 whilst a very large number, nearly 200, were captured by Sir 
 H. Vivian's brigade. 
 
 " The principal loss sustained by Sir J. Vandeleur's brigade 
 occurred whilst formed on the left of the road and in support 
 of Sir W. Ponsonby's brigade. There indeed its loss had 
 been great, especially in the 12th Light Dragoons. 
 
 " The attack that was made at night upon the body of 
 French infantry that had collected, was made by the 11th and 
 part of the 16th Light Dragoons." 
 
 Sir Evelyn Wood, in " Cavalry at Waterloo,'" writes : 
 
 "No one who has perused the vast library of English 
 literature on Waterloo can have failed to notice how com- 
 paratively little credit is given to the British cavalry for its 
 work on June 18. 
 
 No one, indeed, can read the account of how our cavalry 
 
i8i5 WATERLOO 327 
 
 charged home, and later, with the gunners and infantry, 
 stood up for hours, never flinching when their ranks were 
 being decimated, without feeJing the deepest admiration for 
 them and their gallant chief. 
 
 It is strange that the conduct of our regimental officers 
 and men, especially of the cavalry, has been generally more 
 appreciated by our foes than by our countrymen.'^ 
 
 The comments on the battle made by Sir H. Vivian in his 
 diary are these : 
 
 "Thus ended this most triumphant day, and thus our 
 dreadful fatigues of the preceding forty-eight hours were 
 crowned with the most brilliant victory perhaps ever gained. 
 
 " On the part of the British, Lieut.-General Sir T. Picton 
 and Major-General Sir W. Ponsonby were killed, and eight 
 others wounded ; and of inferior officers the killed and 
 wounded were innumerable ; in fact, the question was, not who 
 was killed, but who was not killed. 
 
 " The Prussians, having had very little of the severe fighting 
 of the battle, followed up night and day, and the results were 
 more glorious than ever could be imagined ; 170 pieces of 
 cannon remained in their possession. In short, the enemy 
 appears to be totally destroyed. 
 
 " I bivouacked this night at Hilaincourt." 
 
 In the first letter he wrote after the battle Sir Hussey 
 says : 
 
 "Never was battle so contested, never was contest so 
 gained. 
 
 "Nothing that I can say can add to the laurels of the 
 Duke of Wellington ; but it is to his example as well as to 
 his abilities that we are indebted. Never was courage so con- 
 spicuous ; never was it so necessary. 
 
 " Our dear Lord Uxbridge, too, most worthily imitated 
 this great hero. Would to God he had been equally 
 
328 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1815 
 
 fortunate ; but, alas ! he received the dreadful wound which 
 deprived him of his leg almost from one of the last guns fired 
 with grape at my brigade, when we were charging the enemy. 
 I did not see it, but soon heard the sad news. He bore his 
 sufferings and the amputation like a hero. 
 
 " No action that ever was fought was certainly so con- 
 tested. The dreadful list of those who have fallen will prove 
 this. \ever did I see such a battlefield. I have no 
 certainty of our loss, but on the field, within the space of a 
 square mile, I think 10,000 men of both sides must lie, and 
 horses innumerable. 
 
 " The question in the army is not who is killed, but who is 
 alive : and the cavalry have suffered dreadfully. We are not 
 3000 men who were near 10,000. Most of those returned 
 missing are killed. 170 pieces of cannon and about 8000 
 prisoners are, I hear, already in our possession. To night 
 only they owe the escape of a man. 
 
 " I know not what will be done for Lord Wellington, or 
 what will be done for the army ; but some mark of distinction 
 ■will, I trust, be bestowed on every man present that day. I 
 know if it is a mere piece of brass with Mont St. Jean (for 
 that I think ought to be the name of the battle, as it was at 
 that village the centre rested) on it, I should wear it with 
 more pride than the most brilliant star that could be given 
 me for any other occasion. 
 
 " My poor Brigade-Major — Harris — an admirable and 
 gallant soldier, is severely wounded ; lost his right arm and 
 shot through the body. 
 
 " Fitzroy was hit in the thigh slightly, and I myself received 
 a graze with a grape shot, or shell, in my leg, of which I 
 thought nothing, but which has since prevented me wearing a 
 boot and obliged me to ride in a cart ; but the inflammation 
 has abated and I shall soon be all right.'" 
 
 '&' 
 
 In a letter to Capt. Siborne, dated June 3, 1839, Sir 
 Hussey says : 
 
i8iS WATERLOO 329 
 
 " That the Prussians were seen advancing to our support 
 long before their arrival on the field cannot be doubted. The 
 French at first took them for Grouchy''s corps. 
 
 "That its being an understoo(J thing between the Duke 
 and Blucher that they were to support us, and that such an 
 understanding was a necessary part of our remaining in 
 our position and risking a battle, is equally certain. Any 
 attempt therefore to throw doubt on the combination by 
 which their assistance was afforded us is quite absurd. 
 
 " That the tardy arrival of the Prussians rendered the 
 victory more complete is, I feel confident, quite correct. Had 
 the French been engaged earlier in the day with them, the 
 last body that attacked us would not have been so committed. 
 So far, the delay in arrival was most fortunate. Still, how- 
 ever, had they arrived earlier, we might have beaten the 
 enemy sooner, and have had more daylight to take advantage 
 of our victory. 
 
 " That the position of Waterloo is by no means a strong- 
 one cannot for a moment be disputed. How far the state- 
 ment that the Duke had the year before selected it is correct 
 I will not pretend to say ; but I will mention an anecdote 
 told me by poor Sir Frederick Ponsonby after the battle, and 
 which I heard him often repeat. He said ' he knew it to be 
 a fact that the Duke had himself halted some regiments on 
 the Brussels side of Genappe, meaning to have halted his 
 army there, having that town and the small river that runs 
 through it in his front ; but that Delancy, his Quarter-Master- 
 General, who had been sent to the rear, came to him and 
 described the position of Waterloo, and that the Duke 
 determined to retire from that on which he then was halted 
 to take up that on which the battle was fought.' 
 
 " The Fi-ench made a gi-eat mistake in attacking the posi- 
 tion of Waterloo. They should have masked Hougoumont 
 and penetrated with all their forces between us and the 
 Prussians by attacking our left; or else they should have 
 attacked Hougoumont in a different manner from that in 
 
330 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1815 
 
 which the} did attack it ; not advancing against the garden 
 and wood, but occupying in force the height above it and 
 driving our troops out with their artillery ; and then turning 
 our right altogether, advancing, getting possession of the 
 road to Brussels at the point of junction with that from 
 Nivelles and that from Genappe. They might thus have 
 bothered us dreadfully. 
 
 " With respect to the meeting of Wellington and Blucher 
 I have no doubt in my own mind that when I saw the Duke 
 he had met Blucher. 
 
 " I think his words were, on my telling him (after con- 
 gratulating him on his victory) that my brigade was in 
 perfect order, re-formed after their attack, and ready to 
 pursue, ' Our troops have had a hard day's work ; the Prus- 
 sians will pursue the enemy ; do you bivouack your brigade.' 
 
 " I am not quite certain, but I believe he said he had 
 settled it with Blucher that the Prussians were to pursue. 
 Certain I am that what he said conveyed the conviction to 
 my mind that he had seen Blucher. 
 
 " The morning after the battle, at, or soon after daybreak, 
 I proceeded from the village of Hilaincourt over the field of 
 battle to Waterloo, to see Lord Anglesey. 
 
 " I called on the Duke ; it must have been about, or soon 
 after, four o'clock ; he had just had his breakfaist. 
 
 " He asked many questions about the field which I had 
 just crossed over, and was very much surprised indeed when I 
 assured him of the very large number of the enemy's guns 
 that I had seen on the field. 
 
 " He told me no return he had received at all amounted 
 to what I had described, and I am quite certain that he was 
 not, at that time, aware of the full extent of his victory. He 
 told me, I recollect full well, that as far as he had then heard, 
 the prisoners sent to the rear were about 1200. 
 
 " If any one can tell you exactly about the time we advanced 
 it will give you the time of the Prussians being generally 
 engaged ; but I should certainly say that they were before 
 
iSis WATERLOO 331 
 
 Planchenoit very soon after half-past seven, if not as early. 
 There I saw them when, with the 18th Hussars, I got into 
 the high road beyond La Belle Alliance. Some Prussians 
 also had reached it, and I have no doubt some were cut down 
 by the 18th for French ; for I saw two or three who were 
 wounded with the sabre on the road the next morning. 
 
 " I do not think any large force of Prussians reached the 
 high road short of La Belle Alliance. I am certain some came 
 along the original position of the French, from the direction 
 of the fire. The fact was that after the attack of the 
 Prussians theirs might be called the general action ; fighting 
 had in a great measure ceased along our line, excepting on 
 one front, i.e., the attack of the Imperial Guard ; so that 
 the Prussian army must of course cut a conspicuous figure at 
 the moment chosen for representation on the model. In 
 truth, I care not what others may say, we were greatly 
 indebted to- the Prussians, and it was their coming on the 
 right and rear of Napoleon that gave us the battle of 
 Waterloo. We might have held our ground, but we never 
 could have advanced but for the Prussian movement. You 
 are quite right in saying there is not the slightest ground for 
 jealousy; and I must say those are most unjust to the 
 Prussians who refuse them their full share of credit for their 
 most effective aid at the end of the day." 
 
 In the last journal ever kept by Sir Hussey (or as he then 
 was, Lord) Vivian, he again refers to the assistance rendered 
 by the Prussians in these terms : 
 
 " June 18th — the 27th anniversary of the battle of Water- 
 loo. This naturally led to the events of that day becoming 
 a subject of conversation with some of the foreigners here 
 (Baden-Baden), and I regret exceedingly to find that there 
 is an impression in the Prussian army that something said by 
 the Duke of Wellington (or perhaps iwt said) has led to a 
 feeling that his Grace has been unjust towards the Pmssians, 
 
332 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1815 
 
 and not disposed to give them the credit they deserved for 
 the assistance they afforded. 
 
 "I have no recollection of the Duke -liaving shown any 
 feehng of this sort. There was something he said about the 
 movements of the Prussian army which I remember gave 
 offence. Be this as it may, as no one had a better opportunity 
 of seeing the effect of the arrival of the Prussians on the 
 field than I had, I take this opportunity of again recording 
 the opinion I have, in my journal and also repeatedly to 
 individuals when speaking on the subject, expressed. 
 
 " The arrival of the Prussians was most opportune, and was 
 of the greatest importance. I never was more surprised (and 
 standing on the left of our line I had an opportunity of seeing 
 everything that took place) than to see the very large force 
 that Napoleon was enabled to oppose to the advancing 
 Prussians, and most especially at the number of guns that he 
 opened upon them ; and I could not help feeling and saying 
 at the time to those around me that had this body of troops 
 been employed earlier in the battle to turn our left and 
 attack the front of the position on which I was then standing, 
 it might have made a vast difference in the state of affairs ; 
 and, moreover, I could not afterwards help thinking that the 
 arrival of the Prussians at this moment, after our army had 
 been so long engaged and suffered so severely, was most 
 fortunate, as it engaged a body of the enemy which might 
 otherwise have assisted in the last desperate attack on our 
 centre, and, considering the enormous losses we had sustained, 
 might have enabled Napoleon to force it. 
 
 " At all events, whether such might or might not have 
 been the consequence of the non-arrival of the Prussians, of 
 this I am confident, that it was their arrival which enabled 
 us to advance. We might very probably have maintained 
 our ground ; but it is not possible that, with the few men we 
 had left in the field (Lord Uxbridge, in passing from the left 
 to the centre, told me he did not think we had 5000 men 
 
i8i5 WATERLOO 333 
 
 under arms in the centre, so severe had been our loss), it is 
 quite impossible to suppose an attack on the enemy''s line, 
 even if their attack on ours had been defeated, would have 
 been attempted. 
 
 "To the happy arrival of the Prussian corps, and the 
 gallant attack it made on Planchenoit and on the right of 
 the French, the British were most undoubtedly most indebted, 
 and I cannot for a moment fancy that the Duke of Wellington 
 has ever expressed himself otherwise." 
 
 Captain Siborne in pointing out that a mistake had been 
 made as to the real position of the Prussians at the close of 
 the day in the model he had prepared and exhibited, 
 explains that the Prussian authorities assumed that the 
 defeat of the Imperial Guard and the advance of the whole 
 line happened at one and the same moment ; whereas in 
 reality there was an interval of at least twelve minutes 
 between these two incidents. 
 
 He says : 
 
 " The Prussians have not hitherto been cognisant of the 
 fact that when the British line advanced Vivian's Light 
 Cavalry brigade was attacking and dispersing Napoleon's last 
 reserves of both cavalry and infantry, posted on the French 
 left of La Belle Alliance — the very centre of the enemy's line ; 
 that Adam's infantry was attacking and defeating the 
 rallied force of "the first attacking column of the Imperial 
 Guard upon the height situated midway between La Belle 
 Alliance and La Haye Sainte ; and that Vandeleur's 
 Light Cavalry brigade was pushed forward in support of 
 Vivian. 
 
 These attacks, planned with consummate judgment and 
 electric decision, and carried into execution with perfect 
 order and unequalled gallantry, could not, from the con- 
 figuration of the ground, be observed by the Prussian army ; 
 to which circumstance may be attributed the origin of the 
 mistake concerning the actual disposition of the Duke of 
 Wellington's forces at the moment of the general advance of 
 his line, which induced the Prussian authorities to confound 
 
334 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1815 
 
 that advance with the defeat of the attacking columns of the 
 Imperial Guard." 
 
 Sir E. Wood, in " Cavalry at Waterloo,"' remarks : 
 
 " Modern cavalry soldiers who read these articles will be 
 astonished to see how the generals displaced the commanding 
 officers in leading charges. 
 
 Vivian went so far as to halt his second line (the 18th) till 
 he could charge with the first line (the 10th) and return to 
 lead the 18th. He only failed to lead the third regiment 
 from the darkness preventing further attacks being executed." 
 
 At Waterloo Sir Hussey Vivian rode a milk-white troop 
 horse of the 10th Hussars. 
 
 It is a curious fact that this great battle received different 
 names from each of the three chief nations engaged in it. 
 The French call it "Mont St. Jean" (the name Sir H. Vivian 
 thought most appropriate) ; the Prussians call it the battle 
 of " La Belle Alliance ; " whilst the English call it " Water- 
 loo," which, as a fact, was the name of a village some distance 
 in rear of the position, but was where Wellington slept after 
 the battle had been won. 
 
 The movements of the Allied forces after the battle, during 
 which time Sir H. Vivian's brigade acted as the advance 
 guard, are given in Sir Hussey's diary as folfow : 
 
 " Jwwe 19. — The army marched by Nivelles. 
 
 " The Prussians by Quatre-Bras. 
 
 " I moved to Houtain, near Nivelles." 
 
 '5 
 
 In the course of the evening the Duke of Wellington 
 established his headquarters at Nivelles. 
 
 " June 20. — The army moved, leaving Binche on its left, 
 and Mons on its right. 
 
i8i5 WATERLOO 335 
 
 " I went to Avesnes." 
 
 Vivian's Hussar brigade took the outpost duties on the 
 Sambre. The British cavalry were cantonned in the villages 
 of Strepy, Thieu, &c. ; Vivian's brigade in those of Merbes 
 St. Marie, Bienne, Le Hapart, and Mont. 
 
 The Duke's headquarters were at Binche. 
 
 " June 21. — The army moved to Bavay, 
 " I moved to Battayan." 
 
 The Duke's headquarters were at Malplaquet. 
 
 " June 22. — The army to Cateau. 
 
 " My brigade to St. Benin. All these marches were from 
 morning till night. 
 
 "■June 23 and 24.— Le Cateau." 
 
 On June 23 Wellington and Blucher gave to the great 
 mass of their troops a halt, not merely for the sake of 
 affording them a rest, but also for the purpose of collecting 
 stragglers and bringing up the ammunition and the baggage. 
 
 It was from here that Sir Hussey wrote the letters from 
 which quotations have been given. At the end of his letter 
 to his wife he says : 
 
 " From daybreak until sunset have we been marching ; 
 now the infantry are so fatigued that it has been found 
 absolutely necessary to rest. 
 
 " The reports of the cavalry are that the French are com- 
 pletely dispersed. If so, we shall get to Paris without a shot, 
 and that I indeed expect, although some say he will rally at 
 Laon. A desperate man will do anything, but such an 
 attempt would but hasten his end." 
 
336 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1815 
 
 " June 25. — The army to Joncourt. 
 
 " My brigade to Crissour, near St. Quentin. 
 
 " June 26. — The army to Beauvais and Lanchy. 
 " My brigade to Mattigny on the road to Nesle." 
 
 Vivian's brigade was again the advance guard at Mattigny, 
 near the Somme, having its pickets on the river. 
 
 Vivian had on this day sent forward Lieut. Siayter Smith 
 of the 10th Hussars, cii reconnaisance, as far as Nesle, with 
 directions to proceed, if possible, as far as Roye and gain 
 information concernina; the movements of the French 
 
 "ft 
 army. 
 
 Lieut. Smith having reached the latter place, ascertained 
 that French troops had left the town the night before and 
 that a body of gx^iularmerie had marched out at one end of 
 the town as he and his party had entered the other. 
 
 On returning from Nesles he had proceeded but a short 
 distance when he perceived a can'iage moving rapidly and 
 coming from a cross road. He ordered the driver to halt, 
 and found in the cari'iage a military looking man who 
 acknowledged himself to be Gen. Lauriston, A.D.C. to 
 Napoleon, and stated that he was going in the first instance 
 to his country seat at Vaux, and then to join the King, 
 Louis XVIII. He added that he had gone to Paris to raise 
 a par'ty for his Majesty, and that he had not only failed in 
 the attempt but had narrowly escaped being arrested. 
 Having given this explanation, he entreated Lieut. Smith to 
 allow him to continue his route, but the latter, considering 
 it his duty to make him a prisoner, took him that night to 
 Sir Hussey Vivian, who then desired Lieut. Smith to proceed 
 with the General to the Duke of Wellington. 
 
 On reaching his Grace's quarters at one o'clock in the 
 morning and intimating his en-and, a curious incident occurred. 
 There was no guard at the house, not even a sentry ; and 
 Smith had some difficulty in arousing a sleepy servant from 
 
i8is WATERLOO 337 
 
 among his fellows to announce him. The Duke was engaged 
 in conversation with a Frenchman. On a table appeared the 
 debris of a repast. Having explained the name and rank of 
 the individual he had brought, the Duke said to Lieut. Smith, 
 " Bring him in." On hearing the name of Lauriston, the 
 Frenchman, who had been sent to the Duke by Fouche to 
 treat for a cessation of hostilities, became greatly alarmed 
 and begged to know how he might escape without being- 
 recognised. The Duke remarked "There is but one door 
 and one window ; take your choice.'" The Frenchman pre- 
 ferred the door, and escaped by passing behind the Duke's 
 back as Lauriston entered. — See Siborne. 
 
 The Duke subsequently sent Lauriston to the King as a 
 prisoner instead of a volunteer. 
 
 " June 27. — From Mattigny to Vassalin, in front of Roye. 
 " The army about Roye. 
 
 " JuTie 28. — My brigade to Mouchy and Auteuil. 
 
 " The array on the high road to Pont St. Maxence. 
 
 " I was quartered at the chateau of Gen. Count Curial, 
 whose wife had left it only three days. A most admirable 
 house, gardens, fish-ponds, &c. 
 
 " Madame la Comtesse Curial, horrible to relate, left an 
 infant child in the house to the care of a wet nurse. My 
 wife would not have done so, I am sure. 
 
 " June 29. — Marched from Mouchy to Senlis. 
 
 "In the evening rode to see Chantilly, the magnificent 
 residence of the Prince de Conde'. The great chateau is 
 destroyed. Two smaller ones, together with the palace of 
 the Due d'Enghien, and the stables, are standing and give a 
 good idea of the extreme magnificence of the place when in 
 all its splendour." 
 
 The advanced guard (Vivian's brigade), supported by that 
 
338 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1815 
 
 of Arentschild, crossed the Oise at Pont St. Maxence, and 
 reached Senlis. 
 
 '■'^ June 30. — Marched from Senlis to Vanderlan, between 
 Louvres and Bourget, on the road to Paris. 
 
 "During the latter part of the march we have had the 
 misfortune to follow the Prussians, who have plundered and 
 destroyed everything, without considering that they are, by 
 this means, not only making enemies of the French, but 
 actually starving us, their Allies. 
 
 " Our poor soldiers get nothing scarcely, in consequence of 
 this most terrible conduct of the Prussian army; and the 
 officers encourage it ! 
 
 " July 1. — Halted at Vanderlan. The British army entering 
 into position ; the Prussians crossing at Argenteuil and 
 St. German to surround Paris. 
 
 " The Prussians had a severe affair of cavalry at Versailles. 
 
 " At ten o'clock at night received orders to march to Le 
 Bourget, to support the first division, encamped there. 
 
 " Arrived at one o'clock, and put up in the most wretchedly 
 plundered house I ever saw. 
 
 " July 2. — At Le Bourget. 
 
 " The Prussians had a severe affair with the French near 
 Mont Rouge, in which the French, who attacked, were 
 repulsed with considerable loss. 
 
 " The Prussians lost between 2000 and 3000. 
 
 '■'■July 3. — Le Bourget. 
 
 " This day we learnt that an armistice was concluded, and 
 that the French army was to evacuate St. Denis on the 4th, 
 Montmartre on the 5th, and Paris on the 6th. 
 
 " July 6. — At Le Bourget. 
 
 " Extremely unwell with pains in my side and back ; so 
 bad as to be scarcely able to turn or move in bed. 
 
i8i5 WATERLOO 339 
 
 " Lord Castlereagh called in passing through. 
 
 " July 7. — Received orders to march and cross the bridge 
 of Argenteuil, and march to Puteaux and Suresnes, very 
 delightful villages on the Seine, opposite the Bois de 
 Boulogne. 
 
 " I was quartered at the house of the Duke de Felthe, and 
 received every mark of civility from the Duchesse — an old 
 lady, very fat, but very agreeable. 
 
 "July 8.— At Puteaux. 
 
 "Some Prussians and British had entered Paris the day 
 before yesterday. 
 
 " Rode into Paris and saw the king enter. The rascally 
 French made a great cry of ' Vive le Roi!' 
 
 " July 9. — Went into Paris to stay. 
 " My brigade at Puteaux and Suresnes. 
 
 "July 10.— Paris. 
 
 " All the British and Prussian generals dined with the Duke 
 at Verrey's. 
 
 " Got leave to go to England. 
 
 "JulyWr 
 
 This date is entered in the diary, but nothing further is 
 written ; and under the circumstances that is not surprising. 
 
 For his services at Waterloo Vivian was mentioned in 
 despatches and received the thanks of both Houses of Parlia- 
 ment. He also received the following decorations : the Order 
 of Maria Theresa from the Emperor of Austria; the Order 
 of St. Vladimir from the Emperor of Russia ; and that of 
 Hanover from the Prince Regent. 
 
 On the restoration of Louis XVIII. Sir H. Vivian's brigade, 
 composed of the 12th Lancers and 18th Hussars, formed 
 
340 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1815 
 
 part of the Army of Occupation in Picardy ; services less 
 brilliant than those previously performed, yet certainly most 
 useful and important. 
 
 When Sir Hussey returned to Truro (his native town) 
 after the battle of Waterloo, the whole town was en _fete. 
 Numbers of the inhabitants went out to meet him and, taking 
 the horses out of his carriage, dragged it in triumph through 
 the streets. A similar enthusiasm greeted him on the 
 occasion of a public dinner given to him at Truro on 
 July 31. 
 
 The array returned to England in 1818, and with it Sir 
 H. Vivian, who now found himself, for the first time in 
 twenty-three years, unemployed. Great reductions in the 
 military establishment of course took place, and on Septem- 
 ber 10, 1821, his favourite regiment (the 18th Hussars) was 
 disbanded, upon which occasion Sir H. Vivian was presented 
 by the soldiers of the regiment with a silver trumpet and 
 banner, purchased by their desire with part of the prize 
 money accruing from the horses of the enemy captured by 
 the brigade at Waterloo. It bore the following inscrip- 
 tion : — 
 
 "On September 10, 1821, the day on which the 18th 
 Hussars were disbanded, this trumpet was presented to 
 Major-General Sir Hussey Vivian, K.C.B. Having com- 
 manded them upon many glorious occasions, they offer to him 
 this memorial of the last victory in which it was their fortune 
 to be led by him, as an assurance that, while he gained their 
 admiration as a soldier, he secured their lasting and unfeigned 
 esteem as a friend, and in the hope of living in his recollec- 
 tion and estimation when they shall have ceased to exist as a 
 corps." 
 
 This trumpet, on September 10, 1880, the fifty-ninth anni- 
 versary of the disbandment of the regiment, was entrusted 
 by my father, the second Lord Vivian, to the care of the 
 present regiment of 18th Hussars, "believing that in this 
 record of glorious deeds, the memory of his father, who led 
 
i8i5 WATERLOO 341 
 
 the regiment to victory on many occasions, will be cherished 
 in the corps whose admiration he secured." 
 
 In 1819 Sir H. Vivian w^as despatched to Newcastle-on- 
 Tyne and thence to Glasgow, for the purpose of quelling 
 riots which had broken out at those places. This service 
 was promptly and efficiently performed. In 1820 he was 
 elected a member of Parliament for his native town, and he 
 continued to represent it till 1826. 
 
 From 1825 to July 20, 1830, Sir H. Vivian held the 
 appointment of Inspector-General of Cavalry. On January 22, 
 1827, he was promoted to the rank of Lieut.-General, and 
 ■on the following day received the Colonelcy of the 12th, or 
 Prince of Wales'" Royal Lancers. 
 
 From 1826 (when he gave up Truro) till 1831 he repre- 
 sented Windsor in Parliament, but in 1832 he again returned 
 to Truro, which he represented till 1835. 
 
 In 1828 he was created a Baronet — a coat of arms full of 
 heraldic allusions to his distinguished career being at the 
 same time granted to him. On July 1, 1831, he was 
 appointed to the command of the forces in Ireland, and this, 
 •coupled with the failing health of his wife, caused him to 
 retire from Parliament. From 1830 to 1837 he was Groom 
 of the Bedchamber to William IV. 
 
 In 1833, whilst in Ireland (the first Lady Vivian having 
 died), he man-ied a second time ; the lady of his choice being 
 Letitia, daughter of the Rev. J. Webster, by whom he had 
 one daughter. 
 
 On May 4, 1835, he succeeded General Su- George Murray 
 as Master-General of the Ordnance, and wis made a Privy 
 Councillor. On January 29, 1837, he was transferred from 
 the 12th Lancers to the Colonelcy of the Royal Dragoons, 
 and on May 30, 1837, was advanced to be a Knight Grand 
 Cross of the Bath. In this year also he was elected for East 
 Cornwall, and continued to represent it till 1841. 
 
 In 1841, on account of his declining health, Sir Hussey 
 
342 RICHARD HUSSEY VIVIAN 1815 
 
 was obliged to relinquish his seat in Parliament and to give 
 up his post as Master-General of the Ordnance. On retiring 
 from the above exalted position he was made a Peer and took 
 his seat in the Upper House. This last earned honour he 
 did not enjoy for long, for he died suddenly at Baden-Baden 
 from aneurism of the heart, on August 20, 184I2, at the age 
 of sixty-seven. He was buried quietly in St. Mary's Ceme- 
 tery, Truro, in the same vault as his father and mother, 
 against the eastern wall of the enclosure. 
 
 Although he concealed the fact from his wife and relations, 
 yet it is clear, from various entries in the last diary he kept, 
 that Lord Vivian was well aware that his end was likely to be 
 sudden, owing to the condition of his heart. 
 
 In closing this memoir of his life I feel that I cannot better 
 portray my grandfather's character than he himself does in 
 an entry made in his diary just one week before he died : 
 
 " This morning, after a short walk, the pain in my chest 
 and arms was beyond any I have before felt, and the short- 
 ness of my breath was very troublesome. God's will be done. 
 I hope when the time comes I shall meet my end as becomes 
 a man and a soldier, and that God, in their distress, will 
 support my dear wife, my children, and my family. 
 
 " My anxious endeavour, I trust, through life has been to 
 do my duty towards the Almighty Creator of all things, 
 acknowledging that from Him all blessings are derived, and 
 sensible that I am never carrying out His will and the 
 purpose for which I was sent into this world, better than by 
 doing all the kindness and all the good I can towards my 
 fellow-creatures." 
 
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