"Soon after midnight, the troops having fallen under arms without 209 the signal of trumpet or drum, began to descend the Pyrenean mountains by moonlight, by the different passes, and advanced to the verge of the line of out piquets, preparatory to the attack at day-dawn. This grand movement was made in the most profound silence. lumns moved onward, the stillness was felt by all to be impressive. The village clocks striking the hours amid the darkness increased the genAs the coeral anxiety for break of day; and the first streaks of light which dappled the east were watched by many thousand eyes with strong and almost feverish impatience. ordered to lie extended on the ground, and the columns were so posted On reaching their stations the troops were that the intervening ground concealed them from the enemy.

"It was the object of Lord Wellington, in the approaching attack, to occupy the attention of the enemy by false attacks on his right wing, where the position was too strong to be seriously assailed, while his chief efforts should be directed to penetrating the centre, and thus to separate the wings of the French army. This object attained, it was even possible, that by establishing his troops in rear of the enemy's right wing, its retreat on Bayonne might be cut off.

"The attack began at daylight by a brisk cannonade, and a skirmish of the piquets along the whole line. The fourth division then advanced to attack a strong redoubt of the enemy in front of the village of Sarre, and carried it with little opposition. Sarre was then abandoned by the enemy without any attempt at resistance. At the same time, the light division, advancing with the greatest impetuosity, forced the lines on Petite La Rhune, and, having driven the enemy from the different redoubts, formed on the summit of the hill.

"These preliminary attacks having proved successful, the centre columns continued their advance against the heights, in rear of Sarre, under a heavy fire from the various lines of retrenchment by which this point of the position had been secured. On the approach of the columns, however, these were successively abandoned, with scarcely an effort at defence, and the enemy fled in great disorder towards the bridges on the Nivelle. The garrison of one redoubt alone attempted to repulse the assailants. While the light division were escalading the work, the column of Marshal Berresford succeeded in intercepting the retreat of the garrison, and an entire French battalion, nearly six hundred strong, was in consequence made prisoners.

"In the meanwhile, Sir Rowland Hill made a powerful attack on the heights of Ainhoe. The troops moved on in echelons of divisions; and the sixth division, supported by that of Sir John Hamilton, having first crossed the Nivelle, came in contact with the enemy's right, posted behind the village, and at once carried the whole of his defences on that flank. The second division was equally successful in its attack on a redoubt on a parallel ridge in the rear; and both divisions then advanced to Espellate, when the enemy, afraid of being intercepted, abandoned their advanced line in front of Ainhoe, and retreated in some confusion towards Cambo.

VOL. VIII-NO. 15

27

During these operations, a detachment of fifteen hundred Spaniards of Mina's division moved along the heights of Maya, and attacked the advanced post of the enemy in that direction. Their onset was vigorous, and the French were at first forced to retire; but being reinforced, they again returned to the assault, and beat the Spaniards back nearly to the village of Maya.

"The heights on both sides of the Nivelle being thus carried, the third and seventh divisions were directed to move by the left, and the sixth division by the right of the river, against a ridge of fortified heights near St. Pe, where the enemy was observed to be collecting in considerable force. These divisions came up, and, after a smart engagement with the enemy, drove them in confusion from the position. By this success the troops of the centre were established in rear of the enemy's right, which still remained in their works. But the extreme extent of the line of movement, and the great difficulty of part of the ground to be crossed, joined to the approach of night, prevented Lord Wellington from pushing farther the advantages he had acquired. Marshal Soult took advantage of the darkness to retire the force from his right, and resigned his whole line to the victorious army." vol. iii. pp. 243-6.

We do not propose to enter into a detail of the civil and military transactions of the Peninsular Campaigns, of the obstaclacles which Lord Wellington overcame by his diplomacy and strategy, of his sagacity in detecting the design of his adversaries, of his skill in baffling the efforts of superior numbers, of his daring and judicious enterprise when he turned upon his pursuers, of his tactic, and combination, and prescience in the day of battle, which prevented his enemies from taking any advantage of his position, or his being involved in any difficulties, which he was unprepared to meet and to surmount; nor of that moral courage, which sustained him in the most perilous conjunctures, and enabled him to disregard censure and reproach, and to regulate all his actions by the dictates of cool and deliberate reflection. He was never over-reached by any stratagem of the enemy, either when advancing or retreating-he was never beaten in any pitched battle, though opposed by six French marshals, among whom were Masséna, Marmont, Ney, and Soult; and he acquired the splendid reputation, of having driven the French out of Spain and Portugal, and of afterwards vanquishing them upon their own territory, at Nivelle and Toulouse. All these particulars are set forth in a lucid and interesting manner by the author. It, nevertheless, appears to us, that upon some occasions, his national predilections have induced him, without sufficient grounds, to assign the victory to his countrymen. From his own representation of the affairs at Albuera and at Fuertes d'Honore, we should infer that they

were drawn battles. When the former terminated, no advantage had been gained on either side, and on the day of the engagement, as well as on the following day, "both armies remained in the peaceful occupation of their respective positions." At . Fuertes d'Honore, the great object of the contest, was the possession of that village; and the result was, "that towards evening the fire on both sides gradually slackened, and the village, 'as if by mutual consent, was divided by the combatants, the upper part being occupied by the British, the lower by the 'enemy."

The conduct of British officers of high rank is noticed in these volumes, with great frankness and independence. The timid measures of Sir Harry Burrard, after the battle of Rolica, and his injudicious interference with the plans of the Duke of Wellington (then Sir Arthur Wellesley) whom he superseded, are unreservedly pointed out; and the following accompanying remarks are manly and appropriate :—

"Sir Harry Burrard, thrown accidentally and unawares into what could only be considered as a situation of transient command, it was scarcely possible to be expected that his measures would be marked by the confidence and boldness of purpose, which might have contributed so greatly to the success of the campaign. It was certainly not unnatural, that a person so situated should be unwilling to incur the responsibility of directing operations, of the propriety of which, and the chances of success which they afforded, he could form but a partial and imperfect judgment. Called summarily to decide in difficult and unexpected circumstances, Sir Harry Burrard will probably be considered to have decided wrong; yet he unquestionably decided to the best of his judgment. Fault, therefore, can be attributed only to those who sacrificed the interest of their country, by placing a man of narrow capacity, yet of honest intentions, in a situation for which he was manifestly unfit. That officers of such acknowledged talent and pretensions as Sir John Moore and Sir Arthur Wellesley, should have been superseded in command by Sir Heu Dalrymple and Sir Harry Burrard, is a tolerable convincing proof that the selection of military leaders, was, in those days, regulated by principles very different from that of detur digniori."

The gross incapacity of Sir John Murray, near Tarragona, and the glaring want of military talent of Marshal Beresford, at the battle of Albuera, are plainly exhibited and judiciously. censured; and in the other instances the same candour and boldness are displayed, without any mixture of undue harshness or severity.

In March, 1814, Ferdinand was restored to his dominions, in every part of which he was received with enthusiasm and

boundless loyalty. During the journey nothing could exceed the suavity of his deportment. He declared himself to be the father of his people. He professed himself to be gratified with the arrangements which had been made upon his approach to the capital, expressed his acquiescence in the restrictions which had been imposed upon his prerogatives, and refrained from the exercise of any act of sovereignty. Instead of taking the road to Valencia, as prescribed to him by the Cortes, he went to Zaragoza, to view, as he alleged, the ruins of that celebrated city, and to pay a compliment to its brave inhabitants. But this hypocirey was not of long continuance. Upon arriving at Valencia he threw off the mask under which he had concealed his real designs, and issued a manifesto charging the Cortes with having violated the constitution, and introduced revolutionary innovations subversive of the royal authority. That the Cortes had committed errors is undoubted, but they proceeded from the head not the heart. Their devotion to the cause which they had espoused was unquestionable. Under the pressure of every danger and temptation, they presented a bold and unwavering front, and never suffered their ardour to cool, until the great object which they aimed at had been obtained; and towards the termination of their session, they enacted many wholesome regulations. Ferdinand then revoked the freedom of the press, which the Cortes had, partially established; and he, subsequently, reinvested the Inquisition with its hateful power over the bodies and the souls of the people, and resumed all the functions of the monarchy, "without a single correction of any of the enormous abuses, which in the lapse of centuries, had crept into every department of the government."

Such was the conduct of one, who had courted the smiles, and crouched beneath the frown of a foreign dictator-who had abandoned his throne to an usurper, without a single effort to maintain it, physical or moral. Such were the benefits which Spain derived from the restoration of her legitimate monarch, for whom she had exhausted her treasures and poured out her blood. Such was the gratitude of a coward, towards those who had rescued him from danger-of a tyrant, towards those to whom he was indebted for his liberty and his crown.

ART. IX.-1. Speech of Mr. MCDUFFIE against the Prohibitory System; delivered in the House of Representatives of the United States. April, 1830.

2. Second Speech of Mr. McDUFFIE against the Prohibitory System; delivered in the House of Representatives of the United States. May, 1830.

3. Speech of the Hon. GEORGE MCDUFFIE, at a Public Dinner given to him by the citizens of Charleston, (S. C.) May,

1831.

IN discussing a question so complicated and involved as that of the practical operation and ultimate effects of our system of indirect taxation, upon the various interests and the several subdivisions of the Union, those who sincerely seek after the truth, naturally endeavour to dissipate the uncertainty and confusion which arise from the complexity of the subject, by pushing analysis to the very extreme of simplification. Accordingly, it seems to have been a leading object of Mr. McDuffie, in the Speeches under review, to resolve the great question in controversy, into the most plain and elementary propositions. Nothing but a deep and settled consciousness of truth could prompt to such a course of investigation, for it would be most obviously fatal to his purpose, if the doctrine be maintained, were er

roneous.

We shall not enter upon a formal exposition of the theory of Mr. McDuffie, as his principles are laid down with too much force and clearness and illustrated with too much power and ingenuity to require any such elucidation from us. We propose, however, to examine and defend some of the positions assumed by that gentleman, as we think them well calculated not only to strip the Tariff of its disguise, but to exhibit its true relative operation upon the different sections of the Union.

The leading proposition of Mr. McDuffie that "it makes no 'difference to the producer, whether the duty be laid upon the 'export of his cotton, or upon the import which might be obtained 'for it," has been controverted by a statesman of ability and reputation upon the ground "that the producer might export 'his cotton, &c. to England or France and spend the proceeds ' in either of those kingdoms, or he might apply them to the 'payment of a debt due to persons resident in Europe." This