quis of Wellington removed his head quarters from St. Jean de Luz, and the combined armies began to advance through a country full of strong posts, destitute of good roads, intersected by rapid streams, and in the face of a brave, vigilant, and active enemy. A great deal of fighting ensued, but always to the advantage of the allies, who at length drove the French across the Gave d’Oléron, and established themselves on the banks of that rivulet. In consequence of these movements. Marshal Soult’s line of defence before Bayonne was broken in no less than three points; his entrenched camp, near St. Jean Pied de Pont, was abandoned; and he was obliged to establish himself on the heights above Orthes.
It formed a prominent part in Lord Wellington’s stupendous plan of operations, to take possession of both banks of the Adour, as well below as above Bayonne, and to place that city in a state of blockade, at the very moment when the army which covered it should be driven from its position. To render his lordship’s scheme effectual, it was necessary to push a detachment of troops, artillery, &c. across the river in readiness to protect the formation of a bridge, to be composed of small coasting vessels, decked boats, cables, and planks, which Rear-Admiral Penrose had been for some time indefatigably employed in collecting and preparing, at Porto de Socca, and in the bay of St. Jean de Luz.
Accordingly on the 23d Feb., 600 infantry and a small detachment of the rocket brigade, under the command of Major-General Stopford, were conveyed across in pontoons, and landed about two miles below Boucaut, a village situated rather more than midway from the citadel of Bayonne to the confluence of the Adour with the ocean. The strength of the tides, however, rendered it impossible to do more without the aid of the navy; and unfortunately Rear-Admiral Penrose, who had sailed with his flotilla the evening before, was then becalmed to the westward of Fontarabia.
At day-break on the 24th, the Porcupine with her charge arrived off the bar of the Adour, where Rear-Admiral Penrose was joined by Lieutenant John Debenham, an active and zealous agent of transports, who had come in a boat from
