The strong fortresses of Pampehtna and St Sebastian still held out. The former was besieged by the Spaniards ; the latter by Sir Thomas Graham. An unsuccessful at tack was made on St Sebastian on the 25th of August, which cost the British many lives. This, however, did not deter Sir Thomas Graham from renewing the attack ; but the attempt seemed nearly desperate, when the as sailants having made repeated but fruitless exertions to gain an entrance, no man surviving the attempt to mount the narrow ridge of the curtain, lie adopted the critical and venturous expedient of ordering the guns to be turned against the curtain, the shot of which passed only a few feet over the heads of the men at the foot of the breach% This manoeuvre, joined to the success of the Portuguese in another quarter, decided the fate of St Sebastian. But Soult was too deeply sensible.of its importance to permit it to fall, without making an effort to relieve it. He there fore made several desperate attacks on the allied army ; but, though several of them were directed against the Spaniards and Portuguese, they repulsed them with great bravery and steadiness ; and on the 18th of September the castle of St Sebastian surrendered.
On the 7th of October, Lord Wellington crossed the Bidassoa and entered France ; but he did not commence offensive operations till the fall of Pampeluna had disen gaged the right of his army from its blockade. Having now all his forces at liberty, he resolved to execute a grand operation against the French. Ever since the beginning of August, they had occupied a position, with their right upon the sea, in front of the town of St Jean de Luz, their centre on a village and the high grounds behind it, and their left on a strong height. This position, naturally ad vantageous, they had fortified with great skill and care. Lord Wellington soon determined on his plan of attack ; but the execution of it he was obliged to defer, in conse quence of the heavy rains. On the 10th of November, however, the weather proving favourable, lie commenced his attack, the object of which was to force the centre of the enemy, and establish the allied army in the rear of their right. The various attacks to accomplish these objects began at day light, and it was night before the rear of the right of the French al my was gained. On the next morn ing they were pursued across the Nivelle, and on the fol lowing night they retired to an entrenched camp in the front of Bayonne. As, however, they still held posts on the rivers Adour and Nive, Lord Wellington caused a series of manoeuvres and operations to take place on the . a 9th, 10th, 11t11, 12th, and 13th of December, the result of which was, that the French were driven from most of their positions, and obliged to confine themselves to the vicinity of Bayonne.
In the mean time, Suchet, in the south-east of Spain, seemed resolved to maintain himself, notwithstanding the retreat of the French main army from the Peninsula. Sir John Murray having been recalled, Lord William Ben tinck had assumed the command of the Anglo-Sicilian army. His first operation was to resume the siege of
Tarragona, which Sir John had abandoned on the advance of Suchet. But the Marshal again advancing with nearly 25,000:Lord William Bentinck was obliged to imitate the example of his predecessor, and retreat upon Cambrilly.
By the middle of January 1814, part of the allied army occupied Langres, an ancient and considerable town, 100 miles within the French frontier : till they reached it, there was not a single shot fired at them by any body but the military. Bonaparte had not yet quitted Paris, and had not been able to collect any considerable force. The troops he had mustered were under the command of Marshals Victor and Marmont, the former of whom advanced into Alsace, to oppose the Bavarians, under General Wrede ; but not being able to cope with them, he abandoned this province, and retired into Lorraine. Here an engage ment, the first on French ground, took place : Victor was defeated, and obliged to continue his retreat to Luneville. By the middle of January, the Cossacks, who had entered France in great numbers, gave a clear proof in what a de fenceless state it was, by pushing on between Epinal and Nancy, unsupported by any regular troops.
The second French army, under the command of Mar moat, was opposed to Blucher, whose troops had crossed the Rhine near Coblentz and Manheim ; but he found it necessary to retreat before the Prussian general, and take up a position behind the Saare. .Even here he could not long continue ; for by the end of January he had fled to Verdun, while Victor was at Commcncy ; and the addi tional troops which Bonaparte had placed under the com mand of Mortier and Macdonald, were at Chaumont and Namur. The allies, at this time, occupied Lorraine, as far as the Meuse, all Alsace, Franche Compte, and great part of Burgundy. Such, however, was the embarrass ment of Bonaparte, that he had not yet quitted Paris. Not withstanding the representations of his force, and the fa vourable disposition of the French, which were given in the French official newspapers, his means to cope with the allies were so inadequate, that be resolved to sue for peace. The allied sovereigns had taken up their head quarters at Chatillon ; and thither Caulincourt, Bonaparte's minister, was directed to proceed. But peace was not ex pected, even by the most sanguine ; for though the allies were sincerely disposed towards it, and the Emperor of Austria was suspected of a leaning towards his son-in-law, which retarded his cordial co-operation with them, yet the character of Bonaparte left no doubt, that his sole object was delay, in order to augment his forces ; and that, if he were again successful, his conduct would be as ambitious and overbearing as before. A congress, however, was held at Chatillon, which was attended by the allied sovereigns in person, and by Caulincourt on the part of Bonaparte, and Lord Castlereagh on the part of Great Britain.