the quay and harbour evinced a total stagnation of business.-Nor was the situation of the adjoining country any better: the produce on which the inhabitants principally depended was their wine; but not having been able to dispose of it for many years, the stock on hand was very large, while they had neither capital nor inclination to keep the vineyards in proper condition. Under these circumstances, and being assured that the army of Soult could not reach them, the inhabitants of Bourdeaux determined to declare for the Bourbons: it hap. pened fortunately for this determination, that the mayor of this city was a friend of the old family; had in fact emigrated early in the re. volution, and on his return had been unaccountably appointed to this important situation by Bonaparte: he was moreover descended from an Irish family, and had a brother a merchant in London. His name was Lynch.

On the 12th of March he ad. dressed a proclamation to his fellow-citizens; in this he declared that he considered himself fortunate that it fell to his lot to be the interpreter of their long-suspended wishes: the duke d'Angoulême, the nephew and son-in-law of Louis XVI., was among them; his presence had converted into allies irritated nations, who almost to the gates of Bourdeaux had borne the name of enemies. The English, Spanish and Portuguese were not advancing to subject the provinces of France to a foreign yoke; their object, their wish, was the same as that of the inhabitants of Bourdeaux, the restoration of the Bour bons, and, along with their restoration, the restoration of industry, of plenty, of peace, of good morals, of liberty, Could the people of

Bourdeaux for one moment refuse to admit the bearers of these blessings? could they for a moment believe, that those armies who had given protection to one of the Bourbon family were the real enemies of France? No: they were enemies only to Bonaparte, enemies only to the enemy of France. The English, Portuguese and Spaniards had assembled in the south, as the people of other countries had done in the north, to destroy the scourge of nations, and to replace him by a monarch the father of his people. But apprehensions might be entertained that the Bourbons, on their restoration, would indulge in vindictive feelings: these apprehensions were totally void of foundation; for the Bourbons knew what Frenchmen had already sustained, and it was far from their wish, as it was at variance with their real interest and policy, to be vindictive, or even to carry punishment further than was absolutely necessary.. With the testament of Louis XVI. in their hands they forget all resentment: every where they proclaim and they prove that tolerance is the first wish of their soul; and they promise equal protection to every faith which invokes a God of peace and reconciliation. Every liberal institution shall be main tained: the prince will be the first to devise, with the representatives of the people, the most legal mode of taxation, in order that they may not be oppressed.

There was yet another subject on which it was necessary to quiet the apprehensions of the people of Bourdeaux, and that respected the state of property: on this, therefore, the mayor gave them the most perfect and explicit assurance, "Already his majesty has twice proclaimed, in the face of Europe,

that

that the interest of the state made it a law with him to confirm the sales, which by innumerable changes interested so many families, in estates henceforward guarantied." " People of Bourdeaux, I have obtained assurance, that it is the firm determination of his majesty to favour industry, and to recall among us that impartial liberty of commerce which, prior to 1789, had diffused comfort among all the labouring classes. Your harvests shall cease to be ruinous; the colonies, too, long separated from the mother country, shall be restored to you: the sea, which had become nearly useless to you, is about to bring back, friendly flags into your port: the laborious artisan will no longer be idle; and the mariner, restored to his noble profession, is about to navigate the seas anew, to purchase repose for his old age, and to bequeath his experience to his sons." The husband of the daughter of Louis XVI. is within your walls: he himself will soon communicate to you the expression of the sentiments which animate him, and those of the monarch whose representative and interpreter he is." The mayor concluded this animated address, so well calculated to make an impression on the people of Bourdeaux, by reminding them, that it was to the patriotism of mer chants that the Stadtholder owed his re-establishment; and that they had it now in their power to be the first to give a similar example in France.

As soon as lord Wellington was made acquainted with what had taken place at Bourdeaux, he gave directions for the march of part of his army to be hastened thither; the duke d'Angoulême, as appears from the proclamation of the mayor, having preceded them. One

of the first wishes and objects of the duke, as well as of the people of Bourdeaux, naturally was, to send a deputation to Louis XVIII. in England. Accordingly, on the 25th of March, about a fortnight after, the proclamation of the mayor two deputies from Bourdeaux waited on Louis at Hartwell House; and a short time afterwards deputies came also from other parts of France. The crisis of Bonaparte was now indeed very fast approaching but before we relate the particulars of the capture of Paris, and of his fall, it may be proper to anticipate what remains of the operations of lord Wellington, in order to give them completeness, and bring them to a final close.

We have already mentioned that Soult retreated towards Toulouse: hither he was followed by lord Wellington: before, however, he attacked the enemy, Bonaparte had been overthrown, and intelligence of this event had been sent both to lord Wellington and Soult: but the messengers being unaccountably detained on the road, hostilities between the two armies continued after peace was restored to the rest of France.

Though Toulouse was not naturally very strong, yet Soult had had time to prepare for its defence, by the continual falls of rain which impeded the advance of the allied army. This city is surrounded on three sides by the Garonne and the celebrated canal of Languedoc; and part of an ancient wall still remains: the French engineers took advantage of these circumstances, and constructed têtes de pont commanding the approaches by the canal and, the river, and supporting them by musketry and artillery from the wall. They had besides fortified a commanding height to the eastward

with five redoubts; and as the roads had become impassable for artillery and cavalry, no alternative remained but to attack them in this formidable position.

On the 8th of April part of lord Wellington's army moved across the Garonne; and the cavalry of the enemy were driven from a village on a small river which falls into the Garonne below the town: between this river and the canal of Languedoc were the fortified heights which formed the chief strength of the enemy's position. Lord Wellington therefore resolv. ed, that while these heights were stormed in front the enemy's right should be turned, and the tete de pont on the canal to the left should be threatened; and that these operations on the right of the Garonne should be supported by a simultaneous attack on the tete de pont formed by the suburb on the left of the river. The whole of the 9th was occupied in making preparations for these different attacks; and on the 10th they were carried into execution. Marshal Beresford carried the height of Montblanc, and forced his way to the point, at which he turned the enemy's right, while a Spanish corps moved forward to the attack in front; but the French troops were so strongly posted, that they not only repulsed but pursued the assailants to some distance. At this time the light division under sir Thomas Picton was moved up to their assistance; they were formed again, and brought back to the attack. In the mean time marshal Beresford had succeeded in carrying the redoubt which covered the extreme right of the enemy, and had established himself on the heights on which the four other redoubts were placed. As soon as

the marshal's artillery could be brought up, and the Spaniards were formed again, the marshal continued his movement along the heights, and stormed the two next redoubts which covered the centre of the enemy; who, after being driven from them, made a desperate effort to regain them. There now remained only the two redoubts on the enemy's left, and these were soon carried by the British troops advancing along the ridge, while the Spaniards at the same time attacked in front. While these things were going on, sir Thomas Picton drove the enemy's left within the tête de pont on the canal, and sir Rowland Hill forced the works of the suburb on the left of the Garonne; so that at the close of the day the French were closely hemmed in, the allies having established themselves on three sides of Toulouse, and the road of Carcassaone being the only one left open. By this road marshal Soult drew off the remainder of his troops in the night of the lith; and lord Wellington entered Toulouse in triumph the following morning. This splendid and decisive victory, gained under the walls of Toulouse, terminated lord Wellington's campaigns against the French; as very soon after this event intelligence reached both the commanders of the restoration of the Bourbons.

We have so often had occasion to dwell upon the transcendent talents of lord Wellington, that it is almost needless to bring them again under the notice of our readers: yet, as this is the last opportunity which we shall probably have, we may be permitted to say a few words on the subject.

When lord Wellington first took the command of the British army in the peninsula, he had many pre

judices

judices to contend against: the ambition and the alleged vanity of his family were much to his disadvantage; while the convention of Cintra, and the very high reputation of the armies to which he was opposed, induced those who did not know him thoroughly to anticipate only defeat and disaster. Even when he retreated to the lines before Lisbon, his talents as a general were not duly appretiated; but when it was seen that he had thus foiled Massena, one of the best and most experienced of Bonaparte's generals, his reputa tion began to rise; and each subsequent transaction in which he was engaged proved that it had not yet attained its just height. Indeed, there seems scarcely a single quality or talent, either of nature or experience, necessary.to constitute a consummate general, which he does not possess: endowed with great quickness and comprehension of mind, he unites with it more than a usual share of coolness and determination; while he continues to inspire his officers, and even his men, with many of his own qualities. To the comfort of his soldiers he was particularly attentive; so that while in point of discipline he was uncommonly strict, and even severe, he was yet a favourite with them on account of his looking so carefully, and so much like a father, after their wants.

Of all the French marshals and generals to whom lord Wellington was opposed, Soult was undoubt edly the man of the most talent: stern, and unbending in his temper, he was possessed of uncommon vigour of mind and of great personal courage. The whole of his conduct in the south of Spain, particularly his mode of organizing that part of the country so as

;

to maintain a large army there for so long a time in the midst of the greatest difficulties, sufficiently proves that his talents were not merely those of a soldier while the manner in which he opposed lord Wellington, even after a great part of his old and best troops had been withdrawn by Bonaparte, and had been replaced by raw and inexperienced conscripts, proves that he was worthy of contending with the British chief.

One unfortunate event marked the close of the campaign in the south of France. It has already been mentioned that sir John Hope invested Bayonne: before this place the enemy had an entrenched camp, from which they made a sortie at three o'clock in the morning of the 13th of April. The picquets were driven in; and sir John Hope, in endeavouring to support them, came unexpectedly, in the dark, on part of the enemy: his horse was shot dead, and fell upon him; and not being able to disengage himself from it, he was unfortunately made prisoner. In this sortie major-general Hay was killed, and several officers wounded; but the enemy were at length driven back into their entrenched camp.

On the side of Holland the operations of the British under sir Thomas Graham were by no means of that magnitude and importance to the cause of the allies which it was expected they would have been: the Dutch indeed, after the first impulse of their detestation of Bonaparte, and their anxiety for the restoration of the house of Orange, had passed away, seemed by no means disposed to exert themselves, either to co-operate in the invasion of France, or even in the expulsion of the French from

those

those parts of the Netherlands which formerly belonged to them; so that the British were nearly left to fight by themselves the battles of the Dutch. This apathy on the part of the inhabitants of Holland, who, from their commercial habits, had suffered more perhaps than any other people from the tyranny of Bonaparte, was truly astonishing, and cannot easily or satisfac torily be accounted for.

The crown prince of Sweden, after he was freed from his war against Denmark, was also expect ed to have put forth a vigorous and effectual co-operation in the common cause; but his movements were very slow; nor did he arrive near the frontiers of France till his services were no longer wanted. His tardiness seems to have created suspicion and dissatisfaction on the

part of the allied monarchs; for, according to all accounts, after they had succeeded in dethroning Bonaparte, they received him with great coolness. The restoration of the Bourbons, therefore, mustbe ascribed to the successes of the armies of Russia, Austria, and Prussia, which invaded France on the side of the Rhine; and of the armies of England, Spain, and Portugal, which invaded that kingdom on the south. The achievements of the latter armies under lord Wellington we have brought to a conclusion :the grand and decisive achievement of the armies of Russia, Austria, and Prussia, which crowned all their labours, and conquered the peace and independence of Europe, remains to be told.

marches which he found it necessary to make in order to meet his numerous foes. It may also be observed, that in this campaign, as well as in those of 1812 and 1813, Bonaparte's generals failed in displaying those great talents for which they had been previously remarkable: so that his science, talent and activity were frequently called into action merely for the purpose of repairing the blunders