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attributed, under Providence, the success of the day,
which terminated in the complete and entire repulse
and defeat of the enemy."
It was the immediate decision of Sir John Hope
not to follow up a victory over so powerful an enemy,
but taking advantage of the confusion of the French,
to proceed with the original design of embarking
the troops, a measure performed with true military
alacrity and good order, not without the strenuous
exertions of the general, who, after the fatigues of
the day, personally searched till a late hour the
purlieus of the town, to prevent stragglers from fall-
ing into the hands of the enemy. General Hope
wrote to Sir David Baird a succinct and clear account
of the battle, in which his own name seldom occurs.
As exhibiting the subdued opinion he expressed of
the advantage gained, and as what is very probably
a specimen of his style of composition, we quote the
following passage from this excellent document:—
"Circumstances forbid us to indulge the hope that
the victory with which it has pleased Providence to
crown the efforts of the army can be attended with
any very brilliant consequences to Great Britain.
It is clouded by the loss of one of her best soldiers.
It has been achieved at the termination of a long
and harassing service. The superior numbers and
advantageous position of the enemy, not less than
the actual situation of this army, did not admit of
any advantage being reaped from success. It must
be, however, to you, to the army, and to our country,
the sweetest reflection, that the lustre of the British
arms has been maintained, amidst many disadvan-
tageous circumstances. The army, which had entered
Spain amidst the fairest prospects, had no sooner
completed its junction, than, owing to the multiplied
disasters that dispersed the native armies around us,
it was left to its own resources. The advance of the
British corps from Douro afforded the best hope that
the south of Spain might be relieved, but this gener-
ous effort to save the unfortunate people also afforded
the enemy the opportunity of directing every effort
of his numerous troops, and concentrating all his
principal resources, for the destruction of the only
regular force in the north of Spain."
The grateful acknowledgements of his country
crowded thickly on General Hope after the arrival
of the despatches in England; a vote of thanks to him
and to the officers under his command was unanimously
passed in the House of Lords, on the motion of the
Earl of Liverpool; in the House of Commons, on that
of Lord Castlereagh. As a reward for his services,
his brother (the Earl of Hopetoun) was created a
baron of the United Kingdom by the title of Baron
Hopetoun of Hopetoun in the county of Linlithgow,
and himself received the order of the Bath, in which
he was installed two years afterwards, along with
twenty-two other knights. Soon after his return to
Britain Sir John was appointed to superintend the
military department of the unsatisfactory expedition
to the Scheldt. It was the intention of the planners
of the expedition, that by landing on the north side
of South Beveland, and taking possession of the
island, Sir John might incommode the French fleet
while it remained near Flushing, and render its
retreat more difficult, while it might be subject to
the attacks of the British ships. Sir John's division
landed near Ter-Goes, took possession of the impor-
tant post of Baltz, and removed all impediments
to the progress of the British vessels in the West
Scheldt. For nine days Sir John occupied Iris post,
waiting impatiently for the concerted arrival of the
gun-boats under the command of Sir Home Popham,
harassed by frequent attacks from the enemy, in one
of which they brought down about twenty-eight gun-
vessels, and kept up a cannonade for several hours,
but were, after much exertion on the part of the
general, compelled to retreat. The termination and
effect of the expedition are well known, and need
not be here repeated. At the termination of the
expedition Sir John Hope was appointed commander-
in-chief of the forces in Ireland, but he soon left this
unpleasing sphere of duty, to return in 1813 to the
scene of his former exertions in the Peninsula. At
the battle of Nivelle he commanded the left wing,
and driving in the enemy's outposts in front of their
entrenchments on the Lower Nivelle, carried the
redoubt above Orogue, and established himself on
the heights immediately opposite Sibour, in readi-
ness to take advantage of any movement made by
the enemy's right. On the 10th of December nearly
the whole army of the enemy left their entrenchments,
and having drawn in the piquets, advanced upon Sir
John Hope's posts on the highroad from Bayonne
to St. Jean de Luz. At the first onset Sir John took
500 prisoners, and repulsed the enemy, while he
received in the course of the action a severe contusion
on the head. The same movement was repeated
by the enemy, and they were in a similar manner
repulsed. The conduct of Sir John on this occasion
has received the approbation of military men, as
being cool, judicious, and soldierly; and he received
the praises of the Duke of Wellington in his de-
spatches.
In this campaign, which began on the frontiers
of Portugal, the enemy's line of defence on the Douro
had been turned, and after defeat at Vittoria, Soult
had been repulsed in his efforts to relieve St. Se-
bastian and Pamplona, and the army of France had
retreated behind the Pyrenees. On the fall of the
latter place the army entered France, after many
harassing operations, in which the progress of the
allies was stoutly impeded by the indomitable Soult.
In the middle of February, 1814, the passage of the
Adour was accomplished. While the main body
of the army under the Duke of Wellington prosecuted
the campaign in other quarters, Sir John Hope was
left with a division to invest the citadel and town
of Bayonne on both banks of the river. Soon after
these operations commenced, Sir John received in-
formation from two deserters that the garrison was
under arms, and prepared for a sortie before daylight
next morning. By means of a feint attack at the
moment they were so expected, and by the silent
and stealthy movements of some of their men through
the rough ground, many of the sentinels were killed,
and several lines of piquets broken. The nature of
the spot, with a hollow way, steep banks, and inter-
cepting walls, deprived those so attacked of the
power of retreating, and the whole vicinity was a
series of scattered battles, fought hand to hand, with
deadly bitterness. The chief defence of the besiegers
lay in the fortified convent of St. Bernard, and in
some buildings in the village of St. Etienne; to the
latter post Sir John Hope proceeded with his staff
at the commencement of the attack. Through one
of the inequalities of the ground already mentioned,
which formed a sort of hollow way, Sir John ex-
pected to find the nearest path to the village. When
almost too late, he discovered that the banks had
concealed from him the situation of the enemy, whose
line he was just approaching, and gave orders to
retreat; before, however, being extricated from the
hollow way, the enemy approached within twelve
yards' distance, and began firing: Sir John Hope's
horse received three balls, and falling, entangled its
rider. While the staff attempted to extricate him,
the close firing of the enemy continued, and several
British officers were wounded, among whom was