Combats of Clausel's right, the 4th division to attack his front, and the 7th division from Sumbilla against his left. General Barnes' brigade, of the 7th division, arrived before either the 4th or the light division, and assailed the French position at once. So great was the confidence derived from their recent successes that 1,500 British soldiers swept before them the dispirited 6,000 Frenchmen whom Clausel commanded. The 4th division arrived at the close of the action; but Clausel kept up a musketry fire to a ridge beyond the strong pass of Echallar, where his right, covered by the Ivantelly mountain, was attacked by the light division. Barnard's riflemen fought their way to the summit, which was shrouded in mist, and as night fell the French hurried off in disorder. These two combats, Echallar and Ivantelly, cost the British 400 men, and Wellington himself narrowly escaped capture in the vicinity of Echallar. During nine days of ceaseless movement there had been ten engagements, and in that time 7,300 of the allies had been killed, wounded, or taken, or had dropped by the wayside from fatigue. The French loss was at least double, and the several corps had been reduced to the most complete disorganization. Each army required rest and was disinclined for a further movement for some time. In Soult's new dispositions D'Erlon occupied the Ainhoa hills; Clausel the hills by Sarre; Reille the lower Bidassoa to the sea; Villatte's reserve the right of the Nivelle near Serres; Foy, with Reille's 3rd division, St. Jean Pied de Port, to assemble the stragglers and detachments; and General Paris (who had returned into France, leaving 800 men at Jaca) occupied Oleron, to support Foy. Positions assumed by the armies. The allies remained quiet in their positions, their tents and watchfires dotting the heights and valleys from the pass of Roncesvalles to the Bidassoa; but the dispositions were more powerful for defence than formerly, there being nothing to fear regarding another advance to relieve Pampeluna. Wellington devoted all his energies to renewing the siege of San Sebastian under Graham. But he had still to contend with the misconduct of the Admiralty and general negligence and indifference on the part of the home Government. Renewal of the siege of San Sebastian. On the 5th August the guns were disembarked from the transports-on which they had been placed for removal if required— and the active siege was renewed, but it could not be vigorously carried on in consequence of the scarcity of ammunition. By the co-operation of Sir George Collier, who was naval commander on the coast, a naval brigade was formed, and proved of great service in the construction of batteries. A shaft and gallery were run under the Cask Redoubt till the rising water stopped the operations; the old trenches were repaired; and the Antigua convent was occupied and fortified to sweep the bay. A battering train arrived on the 19th August, and another on the 23rd, raising the number of guns to 117; but the authorities, with their usual folly, had sent from England only sufficient ammunition for one day's consumption. The garrison, although 850 men had fallen since the commencement of the attacks, had been raised by reinforcements received by sea to 2,600 men, for the enemy's transports and privateers still kept up free communication with Santona, a serviceable port in Spain, of which the French held possession till the end of the war. The defences of the fortress had been strengthened during the suspension of the siege, the magazines filled, and 67 pieces of artillery mounted. On the 25th August a sally was made, which did considerable damage to the works. The batteries opened a heavy fire on the fortress on the morning of the 27th; and at night another sortie was made against the isthmus battery, but it was repulsed by the bayonets of the 9th regiment. A lodgment was effected, but under a heavy fire, on the St. Clara island by a mixed force of soldiers and blue-jackets, its garrison was compelled to surrender, and the construction of a battery on it was immediately begun to attack the Monte Orgullo defences in reverse. A false attack was made on the 29th August to make the French spring their mines; but the enemy was not imposed upon, and the small attacking party was nearly annihilated. On the 30th the sea front on the east was laid open for 500 feet; the palisades of the hornwork were swept away; and mines were sprung to open a way through the sea-wall for troops to reach the beach. The governor was resolute on defence: he had raised formidable retrenchments behind the sea breach, had mined the tower near the middle of the great breach in front of the retrenchment, had trenched and barricaded the streets, and placed artillery in reserve in the north-east of the town and at several commanding points. Some of the British staff officers expressed even publicly their disapproval of any attempt to storm the breaches until a lodgment had been made in the hornwork. Wellington considered that the troops had been dispirited by these remarks, and he therefore issued an order calling for 50 volunteers from each of 15 regiments, "men who could show other troops how to mount a breach," and 750 men instantly answered to the appeal. The 5th division and these volunteers moved up to the trenches, but General Leith exhibited his vexation at what had occurred by his refusal to let the volunteers go to the front. Leith entrusted the assault to Robinson's brigade of the 5th division. It was formed in two columns--one to attack the old breach between the towers, the other to attack the high curtain and bastion. Bradford's Portuguese from the Chofres hills were to wade the Urumea (which Captain Macdonald had discovered to be fordable), and to assail the smaller breach on the extreme right, and boatfuls of troops were to threaten Monte Orgullo from the sea front. The thick mist which veiled the coast on the morning of the 31st August delayed the attack; at nine o'clock the sharp seabreeze rolled it away; and at eleven o'clock, after a heavy fire from the batteries, Robinson's brigade advanced to the assault. The French mine was prematurely sprung from the bold advance of a sergeant and a dozen men, and the high sea-wall fell on the front of the column, but only about 40 men were buried in the ruins. The forlorn hope sped along the beach, but their gallant leader, Lieutenant MacGuire of the 4th regiment, fell under the shower of grape and shells which poured in from all sides. The stormers, with broken array, reached the top of the great breach, but found progress impossible from the huge gulf behind it. They remained doggedly on the lower part of the breach, though exposed on both flank and rear. In the meantime the efforts to force the curtain had been attended with great slaughter, and Leith had at last to send the volunteers forward. With a rush they mounted the breach and swarmed up the ruins; but rank after rank was swept away by the French fire, and the survivors huddled together at the foot of the breach. Graham, who had surveyed this frightful carnage from the right bank of the river, turned 50 heavy guns upon the curtain over the heads of his men, and under cover of this cannonade a lodgment was effected in some ruined houses within the rampart on the right of the breach. At this time the Portuguese, who had waded the river, although exposed to a heavy fire of grape, and Colonel Macbean with a detachment of the 24th regiment wading after them, reinforced the assailants of the great breach. But all along the line of ruins the French maintained their ground with extraordinary courage; the tide was rising, and the strength of the stormers was nearly exhausted with five hours' fighting, when the combustibles which the French had collected behind the mounds of earth for purposes of defence, suddenly caught fire, probably from one of the shells; the shock of the explosion and the blinding smoke threw into disorder the French Grenadiers on the rampart, the stormers broke in, and, with the fury of maniacs, hurled the half-stupefied French before them into the town. Here, however, the French rallied and maintained the combat with unabated energy at the barricades; but it was only for a short time, and hundreds of prisoners were secured before the fugitives reached the St. Theresa convent and the castle at five o'clock. It was afterwards considered that if a general officer had been present to direct the troops the Monte Orgullo might then have been carried. The confusion of the enemy was increased by a heavy thunderstorm which burst as the fugitives were flying to their last line of defence. The troops, infuriated by their suffering in the previous assaults, |