y.

We instantly advanced to their relief, and concluded that they would
have rallied behind us; but they had no idea of doing any thing of the
kind; for, when with _Cuesta_ and some of the other Spanish generals,
they had been accustomed, under such circumstances, to run a hundred
miles at a time; so that, passing through the intervals of our
division, they went clear off to the rear, and we never saw them more.
The moment the French found us interpose between them and the
Spaniards they retired within their works.

The only remark that Lord Wellington was said to have made on their
conduct, after waiting to see whether they would stand after they got
out of the reach of the enemy's shot, was, "well, d---- me, if ever I
saw ten thousand men run a race before!" However, notwithstanding
their disaster, many of their officers certainly evinced great
bravery, and on their account it is to be regretted that the attack
was made so soon, for they would otherwise have carried their point
with little loss, either of life or credit, as the British divisions
on the left soon after stormed and carried all the other works, and
obliged those who had been opposed to the Spaniards to evacuate theirs
without firing another shot.

When the enemy were driven from the heights, they retired within the
town, and the canal then became their line of defence, which they
maintained the whole of the next day; but in the course of the
following night they left the town altogether, and we took possession
of it on the morning of the 12th.

The inhabitants of Toulouse hoisted the white flag, and declared for
the Bourbons the moment that the French army had left it; and, in the
course of the same day, Colonel Cooke arrived from Paris, with the
extraordinary news of Napoleon's abdication. Soult has been accused of
having been in possession of that fact prior to the battle of
Toulouse; but, to disprove such an assertion, it can only be necessary
to think, for a moment, whether he would not have made it public the
day after the battle, while he yet held possession of the town, as it
would not only have enabled him to keep it, but, to those who knew no
better, it might have given him a shadow of claim to the victory, if
he chose to avail himself of it; and I have known a victory claimed by
a French marshal on more slender grounds. In place of knowing it then,
he did not even believe it now; and we were absolutely obliged to
follow him a day's march