courage, suddenly fell to casting up defences, piercing loopholes in the walls of the houses, and constructing ramparts with sand-bags, working with such vigour, that under the direction of the engineers, in twentyfour hours they put the place in a condition to withstand an assault. Whereupon Lefebvre, confining his operations to the right bank of the Ebro, established posts close to the gates, and waited for re-enforcements. Meanwhile Palafox, crossing the Ebro at Pina, joined Versage at Belchite, and having collected seven or eight thousand men and four pieces of artillery, gained the Xalon in rear of the French. From thence he proposed to advance through Epila and relieve Zaragoza by a battle, but his officers, amazed at this project, resisted his authority, and would have retired upon Valencia.* Nevertheless, ignorant of war, and probably awed by Tio Jorge, he expressed his determination to fight, saying, with an imposing air, "that those who feared might retire." Touched with shame, all agreed to follow him to Epila; but two French regiments, detached by Lefebvre, met him on the march, and the Spaniards, unable to form any order of battle, were, notwithstanding their superior numbers, defeated with the loss of three thousand men. Palafox, who did not display that firmness in danger which his speech promised, must have fled early, for he reached Calatayud in the night, although many of his troops arrived there unbroken the next morning. After this disaster, leaving Versage at Calatayud, to make fresh levies, the Spanish chief repaired, with all the beaten troops that he could collect, to Belchite, and from thence regained Zaragoza on the 2d of July. Meanwhile Lefebvre had taken the Monte Torrero by assault, and on the 29th of June, was joined by General Verdier with a division of infantry and a large battering train; and being then twelve thousand strong, attacked the convents of St. Joseph and the Capuchins, the very day that Palafox returned. A first assault on St. Joseph's failed, but the second succeeded, and the Capuchins, after some fighting, was set fire to by the Spaniards and abandoned. All this time the suburb was left open and free for the besieged; and Napoleon, who blamed this mode of attack, sent orders to throw a bridge across the Ebro,-to press the siege on the left bank,—and to profit of the previous success, by raising a breaching battery in the convent of St Joseph.† A bridge was accordingly constructed at St. Lambert, two hundred yards above the town, and two attacks were carried on at the same time. A change also took place in the command, for hitherto the French troops employed in the siege formed a part of Marshal Bessières' corps, but the emperor now directed Lefebvre to rejoin that marshal with a brigade, and then constituting the ten thousand men who remained with Verdier a separate corps, gave him the command. Verdier continued to press the siege as closely as his numbers would permit, but around him, the insurgents were rapidly organizing small armies and threatened to enclose him in his camp, wherefore he sent detachments against them; and it is singular that, with so few men, while daily fighting with the besieged, he should have been able to scour the country, and put down the insurrection, as far as Lerida, Barbastro, Tudela, Jaca, and Calatayud, without any assistance save what the garrison of Pampeluna could give him from the side of Navarre.‡ In one * Cavallero. Napoleon's Notes; Appendix, No. II. + S. Journal of Lefebvre's Operations, MSS. : of these expeditions, the powder-mills of Villa Felice, thirty miles distant, were destroyed, and the Baron Versage was defeated, and forced to retire with his division towards Valencia.* During the course of July, Verdier made several assaults on the gate of El Carmen, and the Portillo, but he was repulsed in all, and the besieged having been re-enforced by the regiment of Estremadura, composed of eight hundred old soldiers, made a sally with two thousand men to retake the Monte Torrero; they were, however, beaten, with the loss of their commander, and regular approaches were then commenced by the French against the quarter of St. Engracia and the castle of Aljaferia. The 2d of August, the besieged were again re-enforced by two hundred men of the Spanish guards and volunteers of Aragon, who brought some artillery with them; but the French also were strengthened by two old regiments of the line, which increased their numbers to fifteen thousand men; and on the 3d, the breaching batteries opened against St. Engracia and Aljaferia; the mortars threw shells at the same time, and a Spanish magazine of powder blowing up in the Cosso, a public walk formed on the line of the ancient Moorish ramparts, destroyed several houses, and killed many of the defenders. The place was then summoned, but as Palafox rejected all offers, a breach in the convent of St. Engracia was stormed on the 4th. The French penetrated to the Cosso, and a confused and terrible scene ensued, for while some Spaniards defended the houses and some drew up in the streets, others fled by the suburb to the country, where the cavalry fell upon them. Cries of treason, the sure signals for assassinations, were every where heard, and all seemed lost, when a column of the assailants, seeking a way to the bridge over the Ebro, got entangled in the Arco de Cineja, a long crooked street, and being attacked in that situation, were driven back to the Cosso; others began to plunder, and the Zaragozans recovering courage, fought with desperation, and finally set fire to the convent of Francisco; at the close of day the French were in possession of one side of the Cosso, and the Spaniards of the other. A hideous and revolting spectacle was exhibited during this action, for the public hospital being set on fire, the madmen confined there, issued forth among the combatants, muttering, shouting, singing, and moping, each according to the character of his disorder, while drivelling idiots mixed their unmeaning cries with the shouts of contending soldiers.† The Spaniards now perceived that, with courage, the town might still be defended, and from that day the fighting was murderous and constant; one party endeavouring to take, the other to defend the houses. In this warfare, where skill was nearly useless, Verdier's force was too weak to make a rapid progress, and events disastrous to the French arms taking place in other parts of Spain, he received, about the 10th, orders from the king to raise the siege, and retire to Logroño.* Of this operation I shall speak in due time. OBSERVATIONS. 1°. Mere professional skill and enterprise do not constitute a great general. Lefebvre-Desnouettes, by his activity and boldness, with a tithe of their numbers, defeated the insurgents of Aragon in several ac * Cavallero. + Ibid. S.: Journal of Lefebvre's Operations, MSS. PENINSULAR WAR. tions, and scoured the open country; but the same Lefebvre, wanting the higher qualities of a general, failed miserably where that intuitive sagacity which reads passing events aright, was required. There were thousands in the French army who could have done as well as he, probably not three who could have reduced Zaragoza; and yet it is manifest that Zaragoza owed her safety to accident, and that the desperate resistance of the inhabitants was more the result of chance than of any peculiar virtue. 2o. The feeble defence made at Mallen, at the Xalon, at the Monte Torrero, at Epila; the terror of the besieged on the 16th, when the French penetrated into the town; the flight of Palafox under the pretence of seeking succour; nay, the very assault which in such a wonderful manner called forth the energy of the Zaragozans, and failed only because the French troops plundered, and, by missing the road to the bridge, missed that to victory, proves, that the fate of the city was determined by accident, in more than one of those nice conjunctures, which men of genius know how to seize, but others leave to the decision of fortune. However, it must be acknowledged that Lefebvre and Verdier, especially the latter, displayed both vigour and talent; for it was no mean exploit to quell the insurrections to a distance of fifty miles on every side, at the same time investing double their own numbers, and pushing the attack with such ardour as to reduce to extremity a city so defended. 3o. The current romantic tales, of women rallying the troops and leading them forward at the most dangerous periods of this siege, I have not touched upon, and may perhaps be allowed to doubt; yet it is not unlikely that when suddenly environed with horrors, the delicate sensitiveness of women, driving them to a kind of frenzy, might produce actions above the heroism of men, and in patient suffering their superior fortitude is acknowledged by all nations: wherefore I neither wholly believe, nor will deny, their exploits at Zaragoza, merely remarking, that for a long time afterwards, Spain swarmed with the heroines from that city, clothed in half uniforms, and loaded with weapons. 4°. The two circumstances that principally contributed to the success of the defence were, the bad discipline of the French soldiers, and the system of terror which was established by the Spanish leaders, whoever Few soldiers can be restrained from plunder when those leaders were. a town is taken by assault, yet there is no period when the chances of war are so sudden and so decisive, none where the moral responsibility of a general is so great. Will military regulations alone secure the necessary discipline at such a moment? The French army are not deficient in a stern code, and the English army, taken altogether, is probably the best regulated of modern times; but here it is seen that Lefebvre failed to take Zaragoza in default of discipline; and in the course of this work it will appear, that no wild horde of Tartars ever fell with more license upon their rich effeminate neighbours, than did the English troops upon the Spanish towns taken by storm. The inference to be drawn is, that national institutions only will produce that moral discipline necessary to make a soldier capable of fulfilling his whole duty; yet the late Lord Melville was not ashamed to declare in parliament that the worst men make the best soldiers; and this odious, narrow-minded, unworthy maxim, had its admirers. That a system of terror was at Zaragoza successfully employed to protract the defence is undoubted. The commandant of Monte Torrero, ostensibly for suffering himself to be defeated, but according to some for the gratification of private malice, was tried and put to death; a general of artillery was in a more summary manner killed without any trial, and the chief engineer, a man of skill and undaunted courage, was arbitrarily imprisoned. The slightest word, or even gesture, of discontent, was punished with instant death.* A stern band of priests, and plebeian leaders, in whose hands Palafox was a tool, ruled with such furious energy, that resistance to the enemy was less dangerous than disobedience to their orders: suspicion was the warrant of death, and this system once begun, ceased not until the town was taken in the second siege. CHAPTER VI. Operations in Catalonia-General Swartz marches against the town of Manresa, and General Chabran against Tarragona-French defeated at Bruch-Chabran recalled-Burns Arbos -Marches against Bruch-Retreats-Duhesme assaults Gerona-Is repulsed with lossAction on the Llobregat-General insurrection of Catalonia-Figueras blockadedGeneral Reille relieves it-First siege of Gerona-The Marquis of Palacios arrives in Catalonia with the Spanish troops from the Balearic isles, declared captain-general under St. Narcissus, re-establishes the line of the Llobregat-The Count of Caldagues forces the French lines at Gerona-Duhesme raises the siege and returns to Barcelona-Observations-Moncey marches against Valencia, defeats the Spaniards at Pajaso, at the Sicte Aguas, and at Quarte-Attacks Valencia, is repulsed, marches into Murcia-forces the passage of the Xucar, defeats Serbelloni at San Felippe, arrives at San Clementeinsurrection at Cuenca, quelled by General Caulincourt-Observations. OPERATIONS IN CATALONIA. WHEN Barcelona fell into the power of the French, the Spanish garrison. amounted to nearly four thousand men, wherefore, Duhesme, daily fearing a riot in the city, connived at their escape in parties, and even sent the regiment of Estremadura entire to Lerida ;† but, strange to relate, the gates were shut against it! and thus discarded by both parties, it made its way into Zaragoza during the siege of that place. Many thousand citizens also fled from Barcelona, and joined the patriotic standards in the neighbouring provinces. After the first ebullition at Manresa, the insurrection of Catalonia lingered awhile, yet the junta of Gerona continued to excite the people to take arms, and it was manifest that a general commotion approached.‡ This was a serious affair, for there were in the beginning of June, including those who came out of Barcelona, five thousand veteran troops in the province, and in the Balearic islands above ten thousand ;§ Sicily contained an English army, and English fleets covered the Mediterranean. Moreover, by the constitution of Catalonia, the whole of the male population fit for war are obliged to assemble, at certain points of each district, with arms and provisions, whenever the alarum bell, called the somaten, is heard to ring, hence the name of somatenes; and these warlike peasants, either from tradition or experience, are well acquainted with the military value of their mountain holds. Hostilities soon commenced. Duhesme, following his instructions, detached General Chabran, with five thousand two hundred men, to Cavallero. + Cabanes, 1st Part. Napoleon's Notes; Appendix, No. II. secure Tarragona and Tortosa, to incorporate the Swiss regiment of Wimpfen with his own troops, and to aid Marshal Moncey in an attack on Valencia. At the same time General Swartz having more than three thousand Swiss, Germans, and Italians, under his command was detached by the way of Martorel and Montserrat to Manresa. His orders were to raise contributions, to put down the insurrection, to destroy the powdermills at the last town, to get possession of Lerida, to incorporate all the Swiss troops found there in his own brigade, to place five hundred men in the citadel, and finally to penetrate into Aragon, and co-operate with Lefebvre against Zaragoza.* These two columns quitted Barcelona the 3d and the 4th of June, but a heavy rain induced Swartz to halt the 5th at Martorel; the 6th he resumed his march without any military precautions, although the object of his expedition was known, and, the somaten ringing out among the hills, the peasants of eight districts were assembled in arms. These men having taken a resolution to defend the pass of Bruch, the most active of the Manresa and Igualada districts, assisted by a few old soldiers, immediately repaired there, and when Swartz came on in a careless manner, opened a heavy but distant fire from the rocks. Some confusion arose, but the Catalans were soon beaten from their fastness, and pursued for four or five miles along the main road, to Casa Mansana, where a cross road leads to Manresa; here one part broke away, while the others continued their flight to Igualada.† Swartz, a man evidently destitute of talent, halted at the very moment when his success was complete, and the Catalans, seeing his hesitation, first rallied in the rear of Casa Mansana, then returned to the attack, and finally drove the advanced guard back upon the main body. The French general now became alarmed, formed a square, and retired hastily towards Esparraguéra, followed and flanked by clouds of somatenes, whose courage and numbers increased every moment. At Esparraguéra, which was a long single street, the inhabitants had prepared an ambush, but Swartz, who arrived at twilight, getting intelligence of their design, passed to the right and left of the houses, and continuing his flight, reached Martorel the 7th. He lost a gun and many men by this inglorious expedition, from which he returned in such disorder, and with his soldiers so discouraged, that Duhesme thought it necessary to recall Chabran from Tarragona. That general, although the country westward of the Llobregat is rugged and difficult for an army, had reached Tarragona on the 8th without encountering an enemy; but when he attempted to return, the line of his march was intercepted by the insurgents, who took post at Vendrill, Arbos, and Villa Franca, and spread themselves along the banks of the Llobregat. As he approached Vendrill the somatenes fell back to Arbos, and were defeated there, whereupon the French set fire to the town, and proceeded to Villa Franca. Here the excesses so common at this time among the Spaniards were not spared; the governor, an old man, and several of his friends, had been murdered, and the perpetrators of these crimes, as might be expected, made little or no defence against the enemy. Meanwhile General Lecchi moved out of Barcelona, and acting in concert with Swartz's brigade, which had reached Martorel, cleared the banks of the Llobregat, and formed a junction at San Felice with Chabran on the 11th. The latter, after a day's rest, then marched * St. Cyr-Victoires et Conquêtes des Français-Foy-Cabanes. VOL. I. 5 + Cabanes. |