CHAP. to embody and discipline the impatient volunteers, who, in their VIII. honest hatred of the French, would have hurried to their own 1808. destruction. June. Evil of his hesitation. But great evil arose from the resistance which he had opposed to the patriotic cause. Where the principal persons and constituted authorities declared themselves frankly and freely at first, the zeal of the people was easily restrained within due bounds, and no excesses were committed; but wherever the higher orders acted manifestly in deference to the multitude, and in fear of them, the mob knew that they were masters, and always abused their power. Thus it was at Valladolid. General Miguel Cevallos was imprisoned there by Cuesta, as the only means of preserving him: the ferocious rabble broke in, dragged him out, and murdered him, and paraded with his head and lacerated limbs in bloody and abominable triumph through the streets. Nor was this the only ill consequence: while he advised submission, and endeavoured to enforce it, time, which should have been employed in uniting, arming, and training the willing Impugna people, was irrecoverably lost; and when the French approached Valladolid, they found Cuesta at the head of an undisciplined assemblage numerous enough and brave enough to raise a vain and unreasonable confidence in themselves, and perhaps in him. He is de- They had taken post at Cabezon, a village surrounded with vineyards, two leagues from the city. Lasalle having reconnoitred their position, ordered General Sabatier to charge them, while Merle cut off their retreat from Valladolid. According to the French account they stood the enemy's fire half an hour, then took to flight, leaving upon the ground a thousand dead (the seventh part of their number), and 4000 muskets. Cuesta, with the remains of his army, retired to the borders of Leon, defeated, The French but not discouraged. Valladolid was now at the conqueror's mercy; and the Bishop, with the other heads of the clergy, cion, p. 13. feated at Cabezon. enter Val ladolid. VIII. June. came out to intercede for it. The people were disarmed, the ad- CHAP. joining country was kept down by military force, and deputies from Valladolid, Segovia, and Palencia were sent to Bayonne 1808. to solicit the Emperor's clemency, and pledge themselves for the allegiance of their fellow-citizens. Two detachments under Generals Merle and Ducos were then ordered into the Montañas de Santander by different routes. The patriots, consisting almost wholly of untrained volunteers, were beaten at Lantueño, at Soncello, and at Venta del Escudo. The two detachments entered the city on the same day, and Santander They enter also was compelled to send deputies with promises of submission to Bayonne. By these operations Marshal Bessieres kept Navarre and the three Biscayan provinces in subjection, and, for the time, reduced the Montaña and the greater part of Old Castile. upon Santander. Desnouettes Aragonese. The movements of the French had not been less successful G. Lefebvre on the side of Aragon. General Lefebvre Desnouettes was or- defeats the dered to suppress the insurrection in that kingdom. He began by arresting D. Francisco Palafox in Pampluna, who having accompanied Ferdinand to Bayonne as his chief equerry, was on his way through that city with the supposed intention of joining his brother. Lefebvre then marched from Pampluna Tudela. Palafox had detached a body of Aragonese from Zaragoza, chiefly armed peasantry, to assist the Tudelans in June 9. defending the passage of the Ebro: they were defeated by superior discipline and superior numbers, their cannon were taken, and Lefebvre having entered Tudela, put the leaders of the insurrection to death, following, after Murat's example, the principle of the tyrant whom he served, that the Spaniards who opposed him were to be considered and treated as rebels. The French paid dearly in the end for the insolent barbarity with which they thus began the war: it called forth the revengeful CHAP. spirit of the nation, and the contest assumed a character hateful VIII. to humanity, the guilt and the reproach of which must lie mainly 1808. upon those by whom the provocation was given. Lefebvre then June. June 13. repaired the bridge over the Ebro, which had been burnt, and advanced to the village of Mallen, where the Marquis de Lazan, at the head of ten thousand raw troops, with two hundred dragoons, and eight ill-mounted cannon, had taken a position, with the canal of Aragon on the right, and the village on the left, and supported by an olive grove. A short but bloody action ensued: brave as the Aragonese were, they were in no condition to oppose flying artillery, well disciplined troops, and a powerful cavalry. They were defeated, but not disheartened; and on the following day sustained another action with the same ill success at Alagon, about four leagues from Zaragoza. The He marches French then approached the city, expecting that not more reZaragoza. sistance would be made there than at Valladolid, and that the submission or punishment of the capital would intimidate the rest of Aragon; this object was to be aided by a movement from the side of Catalonia. against Troops sent from Barce Valencia and Zara goza. There were between three and four thousand Spanish troops at lona toward Barcelona in the beginning of June; but in a short time there remained scarcely more than as many hundreds, so rapidly they had deserted, some to return home, or seek their fortunes, the greater part to serve their country in these stormy times. The French secretly encouraged this desertion: so large a force in Barcelona would have rendered a stronger garrison necessary, and have increased their uneasiness and danger; but in the field they cared not what number of Spaniards might be collected against them; the more numerous they were in their present state of indiscipline, the more easily, and with the greater effect, they might be defeated. Being thus rid of their presence, Duhesme was able to send out more than half his force in two detachments, June 3. VIII. June. under Generals Chabran and Schwartz. The first, who had CHAP. distinguished himself in Switzerland against the Austrians in the dreadful campaign of 1799, was ordered with 4200 men to enter 1808. Tarragona, garrison it with a thousand men, incorporate in his division Wimpffen's Swiss regiment of 1200 men, which was stationed in the city, and then proceed by way of Tortosa to co-operate with Marshal Moncey against Valencia. General Schwartz's orders were to march with 3800 men by Molins de Rey and Martorell upon Manresa, and raise upon that city a contribution of 750,000 francs, to be paid within eight and forty hours, and applied to the service of the division. He was instructed to take means for putting the promoters of sedition to death, but to pardon them upon the plea of the Emperor's clemency. What powder was in the magazines he was to send to Barcelona, and then to destroy the mills; next he was to proceed by way of Cervera to Lerida, and get possession of that city, if it could be done by a sudden attempt; in that case he was to garrison the castle with 500 men, incorporate with his own troops the Swiss who were there, and levy a contribution of 600,000 francs, for the use of Lefebvre's army, with which he was then to co-operate according to sealed instructions, which he was to open at Bujaraloz, on the way to Zaragoza. marches Manresa. The French plans were widely combined and well concerted. G Schwartz Here, however, they failed in execution. The people of Man- toward resa and Igualada received timely intelligence from Barcelona of the intended movements; the Somatenes, or armed population, were called out, and posted to wait for the enemy in the strong positions of Bruch and Casa Masana: powder was served out from those mills at Manresa which Schwartz intended to destroy; and curtain rods were cut into small pieces, and distributed instead of bullets. The French lost a day by halting at Martorell because of the rain: the time which they thus lost was CHAP. well employed by the Catalans, and when Schwartz arrived at VIII. Bruch a fire was opened upon him by an enemy concealed 1808. among the crags and bushes. and bushes. Driven from this pass, after a June. brave defence, some of the Somatenes retreated to Igualada, others to Casa Masana; the latter were pursued and again defeated; they fled with all speed to Manresa, and if Schwartz had pursued his success he might have reached the city without opposition; but having met with more resistance than had been looked for, and perceiving how determined a spirit had been manifested in the people, he halted, as if doubtful whether to advance or retire. Upon discovering this irresolution the Somatenes again took heart; and being reinforced by the peasantry from the plain of Bages, a hardy active race, and excellent marksmen, they attacked the vanguard of the enemy at Casa Masana, and drove them back upon the main body of the column near Bruch. He is defeated at retreats to An odd accident deceived the French. There was among Bruch, and the Somatenes a drummer, who had escaped from Barcelona: Barcelona. little as the knowledge was which this lad possessed of military manœuvres, it enabled him to assume authority among these armed peasants, and he performed the double duties of drummer and commander with singular good fortune. For the enemy inferred from the sound of the drum, which was regularly beaten, that the peasantry were supported by regular troops:.. there were Swiss in Lerida, and the regiment of Extremadura was at Tarrega; the apprehension therefore was not unreasonable, and, after a short stand against a brisk fire, Schwartz determined upon retreating. The Somatenes, encouraged by success, and now increasing in number, pressed upon him; and the news of his defeat raised the country behind him, to his greater danger. He had to pass through the little town of Esparraguera, consisting of one narrow street, nearly a mile in length. The |