ona, but permitted Suchet without a
battle to relieve it, demolish its fortifications, and withdraw its
garrison at the end of August. An ill-judged advance of the British
general into Catalonia brought about another misfortune, and, upon the
whole, the series of operations conducted against Suchet were by no
means glorious to British arms or generalship, however important their
effect in preventing a large body of French veterans from reinforcing
Soult's army at a critical time in the Western Pyrenees. Wellington
himself inclined to complete the deliverance of Spain by clearing the
province of Catalonia of the invaders, but the British government,
having in view the prospect of crushing Napoleon in Germany, urged him
to undertake an immediate invasion of France. Accordingly he moved
forward on October 7, leaving Pamplona closely blockaded, threw his army
across the Bidassoa on the 8th by a stroke of masterly tactics, forced
the strong French lines on the north side of it, and established himself
on the enemy's soil. Before entering France he issued the most stringent
proclamations against plundering, which he enforced by the sternest
measures, and announced that he would not suffer the peaceful
inhabitants of France to be punished for the ambition of their ruler. On
the 31st the French garrison of Pamplona, despairing of relief,
surrendered as prisoners of war.

The prolonged defence of Pamplona gave Soult time to strengthen his
position on the Nivelle. The lines which he constructed rivalled those
of Torres Vedras, and the several actions by which they were at last
forced and turned were among the most desperate of the whole war. The
first was fought in the early part of November, and resulted in the
occupation by Wellington's army of the great mountain-barrier south of
Bayonne, with six miles of entrenchments along the Nivelle, and of the
port of St. Jean de Luz. A month later Wellington became anxious to
establish his winter-cantonments between the Nive and the Adour, partly
for strategical reasons, and partly in order to command a larger and
more fertile area for his supplies. On December 9, therefore, Hill with
the right wing forded the Nive and drove back the French left upon their
camp in front of Bayonne. Then followed three most obstinate combats on
the 10th, 11th and 13th, in which Soult took the offensive, with Bayonne
as the centre of his operations, and with the advantage of always moving
upon interior lin