4

piles, with six divisions of infantry and Boyer's dragoons, which last, he now put in march to take fresh ground on the left of the Arapiles rocks, leaving only one regiment of cavalry to guard Foy's right flank at Calvariza.

66

In these new circumstances, the positions of the two armies embraced an oval basin formed by different ranges of hills, that rose like an amphitheatre of which the Arapiles rocks might be considered the door-posts. This basin was about a mile broad from north to south, and more that two miles long from east to west. The northern and western half formed the allies' position, which extended from the English Arapiles on the left to Aldea Tejada on the right. The eastern heights were held by the French right, and their left, consisting of Thomieres' division with the artillery and light cavalry, was now moving along the southern side of the basin; but the march was wide and loose; there was a long 4 space between Thomieres' and the divisions which, coming from the edge of the forest, were destined to form the centre, and there was a longer space between him and the divisions about the Arapiles. Nevertheless, the mass of artillery placed on his right flank was very imposing, and opened its fire grandly, taking ground to the left by guns, in succession, as the infantry moved on; and these last marched eagerly, continually contracting their distance from the allies, and bringing up their left shoulders as if to envelope Wellington's position, and embrace it with fire. At this time also, Bonet's troops, one regiment of which held the French Arapiles, carried the village of that name, and although soon driven from the greatest part of it again,' maintained a fierce struggle.

"Marmont's first arrangements had occupied several hours, yet as he gave no positive indication of his designs, Wellington, ceasing to watch him, had retired from the Arapiles. But at three o'clock a report reached him that the French left was in motion, and pointing towards the Ciudad Rodrigo road; then starting up he repaired to the high ground, and observed their movements for some time, with a stern contentment, for their left wing was entirely separated from the centre. The fault was flagrant, and he fixed it with the stroke of a thunder-bolt. A few orders issued from his lips like the incantations of a wizard, and suddenly the dark mass of troops which covered the English Arapiles, was seemingly possessed by some mighty spirit, and rushing violently down the interior slope of the mountain, entered the great basin amidst a storm of bullets which seemed to shear

away the whole surface of the earth over which the soldiers moved. The fifth division instantly formed on the right of the fourth, connecting the latter with Bradford's Portuguese, who hastened forward at the same time from the right of the army, and the heavy cavalry galloping up on the right of Bradford, closed this front of battle. The sixth and seventh divisions, flanked on the right by Anson's light cavalry, which had now moved from the Arapiles, were ranged at half cannonshot in a second line, which was prolonged by the Spaniards in the direction of the third division'; and this last, reinforced by two squadrons of the fourteenth dragoons, and by D'Urban's Portuguese horsemen, formed the extreme right of the army. Behind all, on the highest ground, the first and light divisions, and Pack's Portuguese were disposed in heavy

masses as a reserve.

"When this grand disposition was completed, the third division and its attendant horsemen, the whole formed in four columns and flanked on the left by twelve guns, received orders to cross the enemy's. line of march. The remainder of the first line, including the main body of the cavalry, was directed to advance whenever the attack of the third division should be developed; and as the fourth division must in this forward movement necessarily lend its flank to the enemy's troops stationed on the French Arapiles, Pack's brigade was commanded to assail that rock the moment the left of the British line should pass it. Thus, after long coiling and winding, the armies came together, and drawing up their huge trains like angry serpents mingled in deadly strife."

Now commenced the battle-the most glorious, probably, of any during Wellington's Peninsular campaigns. Marmont felt that he was taken at a disadvantage, in the midst of a difficult and complicated evolution; and, having failed to arrest the advance of the British by a tempest of bullets, his only hope of restoring the battle, was by bringing up his reserve divisions, and falling by the village of the Arapiles, upon what was now the left of the allies' position. But even this was but a weak resource, as there were, on the part of the British, although unknown to him, reserves by which such a device might be promptly counteracted.

"However, the French general, nothing daunted, despatched officer after officer, some to hasten up the troops from the forest, others to stop the progress of his

left wing, and with a sanguine expectation still looked for the victory, until he saw Pakenham with the third division shoot like a meteor across Thomieres' path; then pride and hope alike died within him, and desperately he was hurrying in person to that fatal point, when an exploding shell stretched him on the earth with a broken arm and two deep wounds in his side. Confusion ensued, and the troops, distracted by ill-judged orders and counter-orders, knew not where to move, who to fight, or who to avoid.

"It was about five o'clock when Pakenham fell upon Thomieres, and it was at the instant when that General, the head of whose column had gained an open isolated hill at the extremity of the southern range of heights, expected to see the allies, in full retreat towards the Ciudad Rodrigo road, closely followed by Marmont from the Arapiles. The counter-stroke was terrible! Two batteries of artillery placed on the summit of the western heights suddenly took his troops in flank, and Pakenham's massive columns supported by cavalry, were coming on full in his front, while two-thirds of his own division, lengthened out and unconnected, were still behind in a wood where they could hear, but could not see the storm which was now bursting. From the chief to the lowest soldier all felt that they were lost, and in an instant Pakenham, the most frank and gallant of men, commenced the battle.

The British columns formed lines as they marched, and the French gunners standing up manfully for the honour of their country, sent showers of grape into the advancing masses, while a crowd of light troops poured in a fire of musketry, under cover of which the main body endeavoured to display a front. But bearing onwards through the skirmishers with the might of a giant, Pakenham broke the half-formed lines into fragments, and sent the whole in confusion upon the advancing supports; one only officer, with unyielding spirit, remained by the artil lery; standing alone he fired the last gun at the distance of a few yards, but whether he lived or there died could not be seen for the smoke. Some squadrons of light cavalry fell on the right of the third division, but the fifth regiment repulsed them, and then D'Urban's Portuguese horsemen, reinforced by two squadrons of the fourteenth dragoons under Felton Harvey, gained the enemy's flank. The Oporto regiment, led by the English Major Watson, instantly charged the French infantry, yet vainly, Watson fell deeply wounded, and his men retired.

"Pakenham continued his tempestuous course against the remainder of Tho

mieres' troops, which were now arrayed on the wooded heights behind the first hill, yet imperfectly, and offering two fronts the one opposed to the third division and its attendant horsemen, the other to the fifth division, to Bradford's brigade, and the main body of cavalry and artillery, all of which were now moving in one great line across the basin. Meanwhile Bonet's troops, having failed at the village of Arapiles, were sharply engaged with the fourth division. Maucune kept his menacing position behind the French Arapiles, and as Clauzel's division had come up from the forest, the connection of the centre and left was in some measure restored; two divisions were however still in the rear, and Boyer's dragoons were in march from Calvariza Ariba. Thomieres had been killed, and Bonet, who succeeded Marmont, had been disabled, hence more confusion; but the command of the army devolved on Clauzel, and he was of a capacity to sustain this terrible crisis.

Thus

"The fourth and fifth divisions, and Bradford's brigade, were now hotly engaged and steadily gaining ground; the heavy cavalry, Anson's light dragoons and Bull's troop of artillery were advancing at a trot on Pakenham's left; and on that general's right D'Urban's horsemen overlapped the enemy. in less than half an hour, and before an order of battle had been even formed by the French, their commander-in-chief and two other generals had fallen, and the left of their army was turned, thrown into confusion and enveloped. Clauzel's division had indeed joined Thomieres', and a front had been spread on the southern heights, but it was loose and unfit to resist; for the troops were, some in double lines, some in columns, some in squares; a powerful sun shone full in their eyes, the light soil, stirred up by the trampling of men and horses, and driven forward by a breeze, which arose in the west at the moment of attack, came full upon them, mingled with smoke in such stifling clouds, that, scarcely able to breathe, and quite unable to see, their fire was given at random.

"In this situation, while Pakenham, bearing onward with a conquering violence, was closing on their flank, and the fifth division advancing with a storm of fire on their front, the interval between the two attacks was suddenly filled with a whirling cloud of dust, which moving swiftly forward, carried within its womb the trampling sound of a charging multitude. As it passed the left of the third division Le Marchant's heavy horsemen, flanked by Anson's light cavalry, broke forth from it at full speed, and the

next instant twelve hundred French infantry, though formed in several lines, were trampled down with a terrible clamour and disturbance. Bewildered and blinded, they cast away their arms and run through the openings of the British squadrons, stooping and demanding quarter, while the dragoons, big men and on big horses, rode onwards smiting with their long glittering swords in uncontrollable power, and the third division followed at speed, shouting as the French masses fell in succession before this dreadful charge.

"Nor were these valiant swordsmen yet exhausted. Their own general, Le Marchant, and many officers had fallen, but Cotton and all his staff was at their bead, and with ranks confused, and blended together in one mass, still galloping forward they sustained from a fresh column an irregular stream of fire which emptied a hundred saddles; yet with fine courage, and downright force, the survivors broke through this the third and strongest body of men that had encountered them, and Lord Edward Somerset, continuing his course at the head of one squadron with a happy perseverance, captured five guns. The French left was entirely broken, more than two thousand prisoners were taken, the French light horsemen abandoned that part of the field, and Thomieres' division no longer existed as a military body. Anson's cavalry, which had passed quite over the hill, and had suffered little in the charge, was now joined by D'Urban's troopers, and took the place of Le Marchant's exhausted men; the heavy German dragoons followed in reserve, and with the third and fifth divisions and the guns, formed one formidable line, two miles in advance of where Pakenham had first attacked; and that impetuous officer with unmitigated strength still pressed forward, spreading terror and disorder on the enemy's left."

lieving himself victorious, when suddenly the French reserves leaped forward from the rocks upon his front, and upon his left flank. The hostile masses closed, there was a thick cloud of smoke, a shout, a stream of fire, and the side of the hill was covered to the very bottom with the dead, the wounded, and the flying Por tuguese, who were scoffed at for this failure without any justice; no troops could have withstood that crash upon such steep ground, and the propriety of attacking the hill at all seems very questionable. The result went nigh to shake the whole battle. For the fourth division had just then reached the southern ridge of the basin, and one of the best regiments in the service was actually on the summit, when twelve hundred fresh adversaries, arrayed on the reverse slope, charged up hill; and, as the British fire was straggling and ineffectual, because the soldiers were breathless and disordered by the previous fighting, the French, who came up resolutely and without firing, won the crest. They were even pursuing down the other side, when two regiments, placed in line below, checked them with a destructive volley.

"This vigorous counter-blow took place at the moment when Pack's defeat permitted Maucune, who was no longer in pain for the Arapiles hill, to menace the left flank and rear of the fourth division, but the left wing of the fortieth regiment immediately wheeled about, and with a rough charge cleared the rear. Maucune would not engage himself more deeply at that time, but General Ferey's troops pressed vigorously against the front of the fourth division, and Brennier did the same by the first line of the fifth division. Boyer's dragoons also came on rapidly, and the allies, being outflanked and overmatched, lost ground. Fiercely and fast the French followed, and the fight once more raged in the basin below. General Cole had before this fallen deeply wounded, and Leith had the same fortune, but Beresford promptly drew Spry's Portuguese brigade from the second line of the fifth division, and thus flanked the advancing columns of the enemy; yet he also fell desperately wounded, and Boyer's dragoons then came freely into action, because Anson's cavalry had been checked fire of artillery. after Le Marchant's charge by a heavy

"The crisis of the battle had now arrived, and the victory was for the general who had the strongest reserves in hand. Wellington, who was seen that day at every point of the field exactly when his presence was most required, immediately brought up from the second line the

sixth division, and its charge was rough, strong, and successful. Nevertheless the struggle was no slight one. The men of General Hulse's brigade, which was on the left, went down by hundreds, and the sixty-first and eleventh regiments won their way desperately, and through such a fire, as British soldiers only, can sustain. Some of Boyer's dragoons also, breaking in between the fifth and sixth, slew many men, and caused some disorder in the fifty-third; but that brave regiment lost no ground, nor did Clauzel's impetuous counter-attack avail at any point, after the first burst, against the steady courage of the allies. The southern ridge was regained, the French general Menne was severely, and General Ferey mortally, wounded; Clauzel himself was hurt, and the reserve of Boyer's dragoons coming on at a canter were met and broken by the fire of Hulse's noble brigade. Then the changing current of the fight once more set for the British. The third division continued to outflank the enemy's left, Maucune abandoned the French Arapiles, Foy retired from the ridge of Calvariza, and the allied host, righting itself as a gallant ship after a sudden gust, again bore onwards in blood and gloom, for though the air, purified by the storm of the night before, was peculiarly clear, one vast cloud of smoke and dust rolled along the basin, and within it was the battle with all its sights and sounds of terror.

"When the English general had thus restored the fight in the centre, he directed the commander of the first division to push between Foy and the rest of the French army, which would have rendered it impossible for the latter to rally or escape; but this order was not executed, and Foy's and Maucune's divisions were skilfully used by Clauzel to protect the retreat."

Nothing now remained for the French general but to withdraw his men from the field of battle with as much expedition as possible. The Duke of Wellington imagined that his only line of retreat was by the ford of Huerta, and upon that point he directed his pursuit; Alba de Tormes, the only other practicable passage of the river on that side, being, as the Duke supposed, strongly garrisoned by Spaniards. But the governor had aban doned the place; and, what was still more inexcusable, had not informed the British commander of his movement. The consequence was, that that passage was now free to Clauzel, and that he was enabled to retire comparatively unmolested. Had the

Duke's orders been attended to, or had the Spanish officer but given him timely information that they were not attended to, the whole of the French army would have been either taken or destroyed.

Such was the battle of Salamanca, the most decisive that had yet been fought in Spain. Its immediate consequences were, the retreat of the army of Portugal beyond the Duero, and the abandonment of Madrid by the intrusive king of Spain.

"In former actions," General Napier observes, "the French had been repulsed; here they were driven headlong, as it were, before a mighty wind, without help or stay, and the results were proportionate. Joseph's secret negociations with the Cortes were crushed; his partizans in every part of the Peninsula were abashed, and the sinking spirit of the Catalans was revived; the clamours of the opposition in England were checked; the provisional government of France was dismayed; the secret plots against the French in Germany were resuscitated; and the shock, reaching even to Moscow, heaved and shook the colossal structure of Napoleon's power to its very base."

When Joseph retired from Madrid he was accompanied by a motley group of about twenty thousand men, women and children, who seemed in most wretched plight, and were evidently prepared for anything rather than the precipitate and unceremonious departure from the capital, to which they were now condemned. But they were ignorant that, bad as their condition was, they were only protected from worse evils by the humanity of the British general.

"The cavalry of the allies," our author tells us, "could have driven the whole before them into the Tagus; yet, Lord Wellington did not molest them. Either from ignorance of their situation, or what is more probable, compassionating their misery, and knowing that the troops, by abandoning the convoy, could easily escape over the river, he would not strike where the blow could only fall on helpless people, without affecting the mili tary operations. Perhaps he also thought it wise to leave Joseph the burden of his

court."