December.

CHAP. gold and silver, and colours which are hardly less gorgeous. XV. It belonged to the Duke of Ossuna; and the splendor of old 1808. times was still continued there. The extent of this magnificent structure may be estimated from this circumstance, that two regiments, besides artillery, were quartered within its walls. They proved the most destructive enemies that had ever entered them: their indignant feelings broke out again, in acts of wanton mischief; and the officers, who felt and admired the beauties of this venerable pile, attempted in vain to save it from devastation. Every thing combustible was seized, fires were lighted against the fine walls, and pictures of unknown value, the works, perhaps, of the greatest Spanish masters, and of those other great painters who left so many of their finest productions in Spain, were heaped together as fuel. The archives of the family fortunately escaped.

Affair of

cavalry on the Ezla. Dec. 28.*

Dec. 29.

The soldiers had, however, here an opportunity of displaying a spirit more becoming them as Englishmen. Soon after the rear of the army had marched into the town, an alarm was given that the enemy were on the opposite heights. In an instant all was on the alert; every man hastened to his place of rendezvous ; the cavalry poured out of the gates: . . the plain in the opposite direction was covered with fugitives, and the streets were filled with women bewailing their fate, and calling upon the Saints and the Virgin for protection. The French, seeing with what alacrity they would be encountered, looked at our men from the heights, and retired. It was towards evening, and as the enemy were so near, orders were given to destroy the bridge. This was effected about daybreak the following morning; and it was supposed that their progress was for a while impeded. The troops again continued their retreat, and the whole of the infantry and heavy artillery had departed, when intelligence arrived that the French were again appearing, and that their cavalry were in the act of passing the Ezla: .. they had found a ford about three

XV.

December.

hundred yards below the bridge. Lord Paget and General CHAP. Stewart were still in the town. The picquets of the night, under Lieutenant-Colonel Otway and Major Bagwell, were sent down; 1808. the cavalry were ordered to repair to their alarm posts; and many volunteers came forward. Lord Paget hastened to the spot: he found four squadrons of imperial guards already formed, and skirmishing with the picquets; other cavalry were in the act of passing. The 10th Hussars were sent for: as soon as they arrived, General Stewart placed himself at the head of the picquets, and charged the enemy. The French gave way, and repassed the ford more expeditiously than they had crossed it. They formed again on the other side, and threatened a second attempt; but three pieces of horse artillery, which now came up, were stationed near the bridge, and opened a fire upon them, that did considerable execution. About seventy prisoners were taken: among them General Lefebvre Desnouettes, Commander of the imperial guard of cavalry. The loss of the enemy could not be ascertained: it was variously guessed, from 60 to 200. Ours was about 50 in killed and wounded. It was reported that Buonaparte was on the heights during this action.

Moore reaches

pur- Astorgu.

The ardour of the French was manifestly damped by this Sir John fresh proof of British valour; and they continued their suit at such respectful distance, that the rear of the army, which had been engaged with them, reached Bañeza that night unmolested. The next day the Commander-in-chief reached Dec. 30. Astorga. This was the rallying point, and here they found about 5000 men of Romana's army. That army was literally half naked and half starved; a malignant typhus fever was raging among them, and sixty or seventy were sent daily to the hospitals. About this number, however, were fit for service. Romana arrived there the same day. The first intimation that the French were advancing to interpose between Portugal and

XV.

CHAP. the British army had been received from him; but it was his opinion that that information ought to have produced no 1808. change in Sir John Moore's intentions. The intended attack, December. he thought, ought still to have been made; Soult might have

been beaten in time to fall upon the corps which was coming to reinforce him, and by the success which prompt and vigorous measures would have ensured, they should have become masters of Leon and Castille. To his utter astonishment he now found that there was no intention of making a stand at Astorga, part of the British army being already on the way to Villafranca, and a regiment of cavalry all that was left on the side of Bañeza. He went therefore to the British Commander, and represented to him the propriety of facing the enemy where they were, a point from whence they had always a secure retreat by the passes of Manzanal and Foncebadon,.. passes so strong that a small force might maintain them against any numbers. He represented to him also, that the park of artillery was at Ponferrada, where also the hospitals were established, and there were magazines of corn; that in Villafranca there were more than 2000 sick, with hospital stores and depôts of arms, and therefore it was of the utmost consequence to defend the Bierzo. But Sir John Moore replied, that he had determined upon retiring into Galicia, because his troops required rest. He desired that the high road of Manzanal might be left to him, saying, he would defend that and the principal entrance to Galicia by Villafranca; and that Romana might take the Foncebadon pass, and enter by way of the Val de Orras and Puebla de SanaHonourable bria. And here a proof of Spanish magnanimity was given by Romana these half armed, half naked, and half famished men, for such they literally were. A malignant fever was raging among them, and long fatigue, privations, and disease, made them appear more like an ambulatory hospital than an army. Under such circumstances it might have been supposed they would have sought

conduct of

and his army.

to secure their retreat under protection of the British to Coruña CHAP. and Ferrol. But Romana and his forlorn band were too high- XV. minded to attach themselves as a burden upon those allies with 1808. whom they had so lately expected to co-operate in honourable and December. hopeful enterprise; and they assented without hesitation to the British General's desire. Romana only requested that the British troops might no longer be permitted to commit disorders which even in an enemy's country ought never to be allowed; it must have been painful indeed for Sir John Moore to have heard of such excesses, and still more painful to feel, that in a retreat so hasty as this was intended to be, it was impossible to prevent them.

Moore pur

treat.

The troops had been assured, at Benevente, that they were Sir John not falling back upon Coruña, but that their march was only to sues his resecure a more favourable position: . . no affirmations could make the soldiery believe this; and when Sir John Moore reached Astorga, and issued his orders, it was too manifest that they were not retreating, but flying, before the enemy. Ammunition waggons were burnt here, and an entire depôt of entrenching tools abandoned, so that the army was thus deprived of a most important means of impeding the enemy's progress. The position at Villa Franca, which the Commander-in-chief had formerly mentioned in his dispatches, was no longer thought of. Two brigades, under General Craufurd, were detached, by way of Orense, to Vigo, to which port Sir John had ordered empty transports to be sent for him, supposing it to be the best point of embarkation. This detachment preceded Romana in the line which he expected was to have been left for him; and when he and his forlorn band, after halting only one night, took their way toward Orense, they found the country stripped of the means of subsistence upon which they had reckoned. General Fraser and his division were immediately sent forward, with orders to 5 H

VOL. I.

CHAP. proceed to Lugo; he was followed by General Hope and Sir XV. David Baird, and their instructions were to make forced marches 1808. to the coast. "With respect to me and the British troops," said December. the Commander, in his official letter, "it has come to that point which I have long foreseen... From a desire to do what I could, I made the movement against Soult: as a diversion, it has answered completely; but as there is nothing to take advantage of it, I have risked the loss of the army for no purpose. I have no option now but to fall down to the coast as fast as I am able. We must all make forced marches, from the scarcity of provisions, and to be before the enemy, who, by roads upon our flanks, may otherwise intercept us. us."

The Bierze.

It appears evident, from these expressions, that Sir John Moore was not well informed of the nature of the country through which he was about to retreat. Westward of Astorga, two great ranges of mountains trend from north to south: Puerto del Rabanal, Cruz de Ferro, and Foncebadon, are those of the eastern branch; those of the western are the Puerto del Cebrero, Puerto del Courel, and Puerto del Aguiar; they meet, on the south, with the Sierra de Sanabria, the Sierra de Cabrera, and the Montes Aquilianos. The tract which these mountains inclose is called the Bierzo: from summit to summit it is about sixteen leagues from north to south, and about fourteen from east to west. The whole waters of this amphitheatre have but one opening; they are collected into the river Sil, and pass, through a narrow gorge, into the Val de Orras, in Galicia... The centre is a plain of about four square leagues. There is scarcely in Europe a more lovely tract of country, certainly no where a more defensible one. The main road, one of the finest in Europe, is that of Manzanal; that of Foncebadon also leads into the Bierzo ; there is no third ingress, and from Villa Franca toward Coruña the only way is that of the Puerto Cebrero; both the former