stimulated by the depredation of
the French troops, ripened into a general revolt.

Meanwhile, Napoleon had lost Germany by the battle of Leipzig; early in
1814 the allied armies of Austria, Prussia, and Russia had entered
France, and a congress was being held at Chatillon-sur-Seine, to
formulate, if possible, terms of peace. The city of Bordeaux was the
first to declare itself openly in favour of the Bourbons. Wellington
sent a large detachment to preserve order, with strict instructions to
Beresford, who commanded it, to remain neutral, in the event of Louis
XVIII. being proclaimed, pending the negotiations with Napoleon at
Chatillon. But the excitement of the people could not be restrained, and
the arrival of the Duke of Angouleme evoked a burst of royalist
enthusiasm which anticipated by a few weeks only the abdication of
Napoleon at Fontainebleau. The defection of Bordeaux forced Soult to
fall back rapidly on a very formidable position in front of Toulouse.
The British army followed in pursuit, encumbered with a great artillery
and pontoon train. After a lively action at Tarbes, it arrived in front
of Toulouse on March 27, to find the Garonne in flood, and the French
army strongly entrenched around the town, with a prospect of being
joined by 20,000 or 30,000 veterans, under Suchet, from Catalonia.

[Pageheading: _THE BATTLE OF TOULOUSE._]

The dispositions of Wellington, ending in the battle of Toulouse, on
April 10, have not escaped criticism. Hill, with two divisions and a
Spanish contingent, threw a bridge across the Garonne below Toulouse,
but discovered that he could make no progress in that direction, owing
to the impassable state of the roads. Beresford crossed the river with
18,000 men at another point, but a sudden flood broke up the pontoon
bridge in his rear, and he remained isolated for no less than four days,
exposed to an attack from Soult's whole army. Having missed this rare
opportunity, Soult calmly awaited the attack, with a force numerically
inferior, but with every advantage of position. On the 10th Wellington's
troops advanced in two columns, separated from each other by a perilous
interval of two miles. One of these, including Freyre's Spaniards and
Picton's division, was fairly driven back after furious attempts to
storm the ramparts of the fortified ridge held by the French. Beresford,
however, who in this battle combined generalship with brilliant
courage, restored the fortunes of the da