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Sir John Hope, who commanded our corps d'armee at Bayonne, had his quarters at a village on the Adour, called Beaucauld. He was good enough to name me to the command of the village; which honour I did not hold for many days, for the famous sortie from Bayonne took place soon after, and the general was made prisoner.
When hostilities were resumed in the middle of February, 1814, the Anglo-Portuguese and Spanish force combined outnumbered the French by nearly five to three, but Soult retained the decisive advantage of having a strong point d'appui in Bayonne at the confluence of the Nive and Adour.
Under blazing blue skies, tempered by soft dappled cloud, for ever sliding from the Atlantic and the Asturias mountains, in a climate soft as milk, and exhilarating withal as wine, one sees far and wide a panorama which, from its variety as well as its beauty, can never weary. To the north, the long sand-line of the Biscayan shore the bar of the Adour marked by a cloud of grey spray.
The sad curlews, annunciators of the autumn, had just appeared in a mass in a gray squall, fleeing from the high sea under the threat of approaching tempests. At the mouth of the southern rivers, of the Adour, of the Nivelle, of the Bidassoa which runs by Spain, they wandered above the waters already cold, flying low, skimming, with their wings over the mirror-like surfaces.
Of its commerce and manufactures I can say little, except that I should not imagine either to be extensive. I am led to form this opinion, partly from having seen no shipping at the wharfs, and partly because the Adour, though here both wide and deep, is rendered unnavigable to vessels of any size, by a shallow or bar at its mouth.
Over the Tarn and the Garonne, through the vast quagmires of Armagnac, past the swift-flowing Losse, and so down the long valley of the Adour, there was many a long league to be crossed ere they could join themselves to that dark war-cloud which was drifting slowly southwards to the line of the snowy peaks, beyond which the banner of England had never yet been seen.
Advance to Orthes Lawrence moralizes again on the vicissitudes of war Losses of his own regiment during the campaign Proclamation by Lord Wellington against plunder Passage of the Adour Battle of Toulouse Casualties in Lawrence's company Sad death of a Frenchman in sight of his home The French evacuate Toulouse News arrives of the fall of Napoleon Lawrence on ambition The army ordered to Bordeaux to ship for England.
South of the Adour the jagged line of mountains which fringe the sky-line send out long granite claws, running down into the lowlands and dividing them into "gaves" or stretches of valley.
You may watch the quaint dresses in the marketplace; you may rest, as Froissart rested of old, in a 'right pleasant inn; you may eat of the delicious cookery which is to be found, even in remote towns, throughout the south of France, and even if you dare of 'Coquilles aux Champignons. You may sit out after dinner in that delicious climate, listening to the rush of the clear Adour through streets, and yards, and culverts; for the city, like Romsey, or Salisbury, is built over many streams.
General Hill commanded at this battle, and with 14,000 Anglo-Portuguese, with 14 guns, repulsed the furious and repeated attacks of 16,000 French, with 22 guns. In five days' fighting on the river the French lost more than as many thousand men. The weather now for a time interrupted operations, but Wellington was preparing for the passage of the Adour.
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