History of the Peninsular War, Volume 5 (of 6)

At no time had Lord Wellington’s situation been more uneasy than at this: not so much because of the inadequacy of his means in the field, for, such as they were, he was able to oppose the enemy and baffle him at all points; as because of the distressed state of the Portugueze Government, and the apprehended instability of his own. Marlborough had had more various and conflicting interests to adjust and keep in unison, but he had no other difficulty with his allies: he could rely upon a sure support in the British cabinet, till he had beaten down all opposition in the field; and the feelings both of the army and the nation were with him. Lord Wellington might rely upon himself with a confidence as well founded, but he could have no other trust. Nothing was to be expected from any government which the Spaniards might form for themselves; and it now began to appear that the inert part of the nation, which must every where be the majority, would have been best pleased to remain neuter if that had been possible, and let the French and English fight the battle and bear the cost. Portugal, indeed, had been delivered from the enemy: but there Lord Wellington had to contend with intrigues and jealousies in the Government both at Lisbon and Rio de Janeiro; and with the difficulties arising from want of provisions, want of transports, and the state of the commissariat, the persons employed in which were for the most part either idle or dishonest, or ignorant of their duty; so that at this time the Portugueze army, though brought by Marshal Beresford and the British officers to an efficient state of discipline, was reduced to half its nominal strength. Their troops were starving in the field, and dying in the hospitals, for want of money. If there was much to complain of here on the part of the Portugueze ministry, the conduct of Great Britain itself was neither consistent nor generous. Engaged as we were in the war, Lord Wellington thought we ought to have entered upon it with a determination of carrying Portugal through it at whatever cost; that for this purpose we should have required an efficient control over all the departments of the state, have seen the resources of the country honestly and exclusively applied to the objects of the war, and have made up the deficiency whatever it might be: this he had recommended from the beginning, but the influence which was exercised was less at this time than it had been when the Convention of Cintra was concluded.

No general ever more anxiously desired to be placed at the head of an army than Lord Wellington did now to be relieved from the command; but of this he had no prospect, except from such a peace as would in its certain consequences have given Buonaparte all that he was seeking vainly to obtain by war. There was great apparent danger of this at this time. In case of the death of the king, or the acknowledged unlikelihood of his recovery (which now daily became more unlikely), the French speculated upon a change of administration in England, and the accession of the Whigs to power. The French officers eagerly looked for this, expecting to make such a peace as would enable them to withdraw from the Peninsula without loss of credit, and to re-enter it as soon as their perfidious policy should have prepared a favourable opportunity. In our own army also there were many who regarded the probability of peace with as much complacency as if the end for which the war had been waged would have been secured by it. These were persons who neither by their acquirements, nor pitch of mind, were qualified for the rank which they had attained in their profession; who had not the slightest feeling or perception of the great interests which were at stake, but knowing little, understanding nothing, and criticising every thing, infected all about them with despondency and discontent.

On the other hand, there was at this time, in many parts of Europe, hopeful symptoms, of which Lord Wellington was well informed. Even when Austria had concluded the most unfortunate of its struggles, with loss of honour as well as loss of territory, one of the wisest heads in Germany assured the British Government, that although the German courts swarmed with men who were great calculators of all possible disasters, and who knew nothing more of the human heart than its weaknesses and its selfishness, ... the Germans themselves, though subjugated, were not yet debased by their subjugation; they would one day revenge their wrongs; a warlike spirit would be developed among them, which had been neglected or suppressed by their feeble and corrupt governments; and it would then be seen that there are times when enthusiasm judges more wisely than experience, and when elevation of mind creates resources for the talents which it calls forth. Russia, which had so long been duped by Buonaparte, became sensible of his perfidy, when, in violation of the treaty of Tilsit, he incorporated the Hanse towns and the duchy of Oldenburgh with the French empire. An opposition to the tyrant’s schemes was manifested in Sweden, where it was less to have been expected: for when the French government demanded permission to march troops through Sweden into Norway, and embark them there for the purpose of invading England, the Swedish government refused, and communicated its refusal to the British cabinet. Prussia, meantime, was silently preparing to break its yoke; and in the course of this autumn, arms, stores, and artillery to a considerable amount, were shipped from England for its use. This was so secretly done, that not a rumour got abroad of any expectations from that quarter; and if the British ministry had acted with as much ability in the management of the war, as in its other foreign relations, its conduct would now have been entitled to unqualified praise: but no representations could as yet induce it to make exertions proportionate to the opportunities that invited, or the necessity that called for them. Whether Buonaparte apprehended, or not, any opposition to his ambitious career in the north of Europe, he was too able a politician to let pass the opportunity of employing as large a force in the Peninsula as could be supported there upon his predatory system of warfare; and accordingly more than 50,000 troops were marched into Spain between the middle of July and the end of September.

When Marmont and Soult, finding it impossible to take Lord Wellington at advantage, separated on the Guadiana, their plan was, that the former should keep the English in check, while Dorsenne, who had succeeded Bessieres in the north, should enter Galicia, fortify Lugo, seize Coruña by a coup de main, and in this manner once more obtain military possession of the province.

Abadia had just taken the command of the Galician army; it was in wretched equipment, and without magazines of any kind; but the men had confidence in their general, and when Spanish soldiers have this feeling to invigorate them, they will support privations under which the troops of almost any other nation would sink. His advanced guard was at S. Martin de los Torres, and occupied the bridge of Cebrones; one division was at Bañeza, another at the bridge of Orbigo, and the reserve at Astorga. Dorsenne collected his troops in a line of operations on the Ezla, the right leaning upon Leon, and the left at Castro ♦August 25.♦ Gonzalo: then he crossed the Ezla, one division marching upon the bridge of Orbigo, two upon Bañeza, and the reserve upon Cebrones. Abadia well knowing the state of his own army, and the strength of the country behind him, had formed his plans in case of such an attack. The division at Bañeza withstood a charge of lancers, and fell back in good order to Castro Contrigo, from whence its retreat was unmolested to Puebla de Sanabria, the place appointed.

The other divisions fell back from four in the evening, when the enemy first presented themselves, till night had closed, when they were all collected in Castrillo. The next day the French entered upon the mountains behind Astorga in pursuit. The points of Manzanal and Molina Seca were well defended, and though the Spaniards retired at both points before superior numbers, they brought off with them the eagle of the sixth regiment of infantry, which Abadia, in the name of the army, dedicated to Santiago, and deposited in the chapel of that saint, in his cathedral at Compostella. Seeing the force of the enemy, and divining their purpose, he fell back to Ponferrada, covering, with his little cavalry, a considerable body of men who were crippled for want of shoes, and in the most dismal state of nakedness and want. The ferry in Valdeorras, that gorge through which the river Sil entering Galicia carries with it all the waters of the Bierzo, was the point of re-union. The artillery at Villafranca was ordered back into the interior, three regiments took a position upon the heights of Valcarcel to cover the roads from that town, and another detachment was stationed at Toreno for the double purpose of assisting the reserve and watching Asturias. Abadia himself took a position at the Puente de Domingo Florez. In the Vale of Orras he hoped to find provisions, meaning, as soon as he should have collected enough for three days, and received shoes for his men, to act upon the offensive, in co-operation with the Portugueze general Silveira.

The French hoped, that while Dorsenne was dispersing the Galician army, and getting possession of that important province, Lord Wellington would make some incautious movement upon Salamanca, and expose himself to Marmont’s superior numbers, and far superior cavalry, in the open country. Lord Wellington knew better in what manner to relieve Galicia. Immediately upon his failure at Badajoz, his attention had been directed to Ciudad Rodrigo, and orders were given for bringing a battering train and siege stores up the Douro to Villa de Ponte, whereby much of the difficulty experienced in Alentejo for want of means of transport was avoided. General Hill had been left with 14,000 men to guard that frontier; the rest of the army was collected on the Agueda; and Lord Wellington fixing his head-quarters at Fuente Guinaldo, kept his troops there in a healthy country, and rendered it impossible for the enemy to throw supplies into Ciudad Rodrigo, unless they advanced with an army strong enough to give him battle. Marmont, ♦Dorsenne recalled from Galicia.♦ in consequence, recalled Dorsenne to join him, that they might raise the blockade, and supply the fort with provisions for a long time. Dorsenne, indeed, could not have advanced without danger of having his retreat cut off; even in his own account, wherein he asserted that the Galician army was entirely dispersed, and could not possibly resume the offensive, he pretended to have occasioned them no greater loss than that of 300 killed and wounded, and 200 prisoners: but in reality no dispersion had taken place: if he had pursued his original plan of descending upon Lugo and Coruña, Abadia would have been in his rear, and the French knew by experience what it was to encounter the peasantry of Galicia, armed against them, and thirsting for vengeance. Dorsenne therefore retired more rapidly than he had advanced, leaving behind him some of his wounded, and provisions enough to supply Abadia’s army with three days’ consumption, ... a booty of no little consequence in the deplorable state of the Spanish commissariat. The Spaniards in their turn advanced, and fixed their head-quarters in Molina Seca, where ♦August 31.♦ they had won the eagle four days before; and the French derived no other advantage from their expedition, than the possession of Astorga, which they once more occupied, and repaired its ruined fortifications.

The relief of Ciudad Rodrigo was an object not less important to the French in this part of the country than that of Badajoz had been on the side of Extremadura, and equal exertions were made to effect it. Lord Wellington had formed the blockade to make these exertions necessary, not with any serious intention of attacking the town, an operation for which he was not yet prepared. Two important objects were fulfilled by making the enemy collect their force upon this point. It relieved Galicia, and it drew from Navarre General Souham’s division, which had been destined to hunt down Mina. Lord Wellington was perfectly informed of Marmont’s plans; the only thing doubtful was the strength of the enemy, and upon that head reports were as usual so various, that he determined to see them, being certain of his retreat, whatever their superiority might be, and ready to profit by any opportunity which might be offered. As soon, therefore, as the French commenced their movements with the convoy of provisions from the Sierra de Bejar, and from Salamanca, he collected his army in positions from which he could either retire or ♦Sept. 22.♦ advance without difficulty, and from whence he could see all that was going on, and ascertain the force of the hostile army.

The third division occupied a range of heights on the left of the Agueda, between Fuente Guinaldo and Pastores, having its advanced guard on the heights of Pastores, within three miles of Ciudad Rodrigo. The fourth division was at Fuente Guinaldo, which position had been strengthened with some works. The light division was on the right of the Agueda, its right resting upon the mountains which divide Castille and Extremadura. The left, under General Graham, who, having joined Lord Wellington’s army, had succeeded Sir Brent Spencer as second in command, was posted on the Lower Azava; D. Carlos d’España and D. Julian Sanchez observed the Lower Agueda, and Sir Stapleton Cotton, with the cavalry, was on the Upper Azava in the centre. The fifth division was in the rear of the right, to observe the Pass of Perales, for General Foy had collected a body of troops in Upper Extremadura. On the 23rd, the enemy appeared in the plain near the city, and retired again: the next morning they advanced in considerable force, and before evening collected on the plain their whole cavalry, to the amount of 6000, and four divisions of infantry; the rest of their army was encamped on the Guadapero, immediately beyond the hills which surround the plain; and on the following day an immense convoy, extending along many miles of road, entered the town under this formidable escort.

On the 25th, fourteen squadrons of their cavalry drove in our posts on the right of the Azava. General Anson’s brigade charged them, pursued them across the river, and resumed the posts. But their chief attention was directed toward the heights on the left of the Agueda; and they moved a column in the morning, consisting of between thirty and forty squadrons of cavalry, fourteen battalions of infantry, and twelve guns, from Ciudad Rodrigo, against that point. The cavalry and artillery arrived first, and one small body sustained the attack. A regiment of French dragoons succeeded in taking two pieces of cannon; the Portugueze artillerymen stood to their guns till they were cut down; and the guns were immediately retaken by the second battalion of the fifth regiment under Major Ridge. When the enemy’s infantry were coming up, Lord Wellington saw they would arrive before troops could be brought to support this division, and therefore he determined to retire with the whole on Fuente Guinaldo. The 77th, which had repulsed a charge of cavalry, and the second battalion of the 5th, were formed into one square, and the 21st Portugueze regiment into another, supported by General Alten’s small body of cavalry, and by the Portugueze artillery. The enemy’s horse immediately rushed forward, and obliged our cavalry to retire to the support of the Portugueze regiment. The 5th and 77th were then charged on three faces of the square; Lord Wellington declared, that he had never seen a more determined attack than was made by this formidable body of horse, and repulsed by these two weak battalions. They halted, and received the enemy with such perfect steadiness, that the French did not venture to renew the charge.

In the evening, Lord Wellington had formed his troops into an echellon, of which the centre was in the position at Guinaldo, the right upon the pass of Perales, and the left at Navedeaver. In the course of that night and of the ensuing day, Marmont brought his whole army in front of the position. Fuente Guinaldo stands on an extensive plain, and from the convent there the whole force of the enemy, and all their movements, could be distinctly seen. Their force was not less than 60,000 men, a tenth part being cavalry, and they had 125 pieces of artillery. There was no motive for risking a battle, for the happiest result would only have been a profitless and dearly-purchased victory, as at Albuhera. Lord Wellington therefore retired about three leagues. No movement was ever executed with more ability in the face of a superior enemy; ... yet even this, performed with consummate skill and perfect courage, without hurry, without confusion, and almost without loss, presented but too many of those sights which make the misery of a soldier’s life. The sick and hungry inhabitants of the villages were crawling from their huts, too well aware of the fate which awaited them if they trusted to the mercy of Buonaparte’s soldiers; women were supplicating our troops to put their children in the provision cars; and the sick and wounded were receiving medical assistance, while they were carried over a rugged and almost impassable road.

Lord Wellington formed his army, after this retreat of twelve miles, with his right at Aldea Velha, and his left at Bismula: the fourth and light divisions with General Alten’s cavalry in front of Alfayates, the third and seventh in second line behind it. Alfayates, though now one of the most wretched of the dilapidated towns in Portugal, was once a Romish station, and has since been considered as a military post of great importance. It is about a league from the border, standing so as to command an extensive view over a beautiful, and in happier times a fertile, country. Here Lord Wellington stood by the castle (one of the monuments of King Diniz), observing the enemy with a glass. Marmont had intended to turn the left of the position at Guinaldo by moving a column into the valley of the Upper Azava, and thence ascending the heights in the rear of the position by Castillejo; from this column he detached a division of infantry and fourteen squadrons of cavalry to follow the retreat of the allies by Albergaria, and another body of equal strength followed by Forcalhos. The former drove in our piquets at Aldea da Ponte, and pushed on to the very entrance of Alfayates. Lord Wellington, with General Stuart and Lord Robert Manners, stood watching them almost too long; for the latter, who retired the last of the three, was closely pursued by ten of the enemy’s dragoons, and might probably have been taken, if his horse, being English, and accustomed to such feats, had not cleared a high wall, and so borne him off.

General Pakenham, supported by General Cole, and by Sir Stapleton Cotton’s cavalry, drove the enemy back through Aldea da Ponte upon Albergaria; the French being reinforced by the column which had marched upon Forcalhos advanced again about sunset, and again gained the village, from which they were again driven. But night had now come on; General Pakenham could not know what was passing on his flanks, nor was he certain of the numbers which might be brought against him; and knowing that the army was to fall back farther, he evacuated Aldea da Ponte during the night. The French then occupied it; and Lord Wellington, falling back one league, formed his army on the heights behind Soito, having the Sierra das Mesas on their right, and their left at Rendo on the Coa. Here ended his retreat. Marmont had accomplished the object of throwing supplies into Ciudad Rodrigo, and could effect nothing more. Lord Wellington was not to be found at fault. He had fallen back in the face of a far outnumbering enemy, without suffering that enemy to obtain even the slightest advantage over him. The total loss of the allies on the 25th amounted to twenty-eight killed, 108 wounded, twenty-eight missing. On the 27th, fourteen killed, seventy-seven wounded, nine missing. The hereditary prince of Orange was in the field, being then for the first time in action.

While the British took their position behind Soito, the French retired to Ciudad Rodrigo, and then separated, Dorsenne’s army toward Salamanca and Valladolid, Marmont’s towards the pass of Baños and Plasencia. Marmont boasted in his dispatches of having forced Lord Wellington to abandon an intrenched camp, and driven him back with great loss ♦Marmont boasts of his success.♦ and confusion; “The Spanish insurgents,” he added, “have felt the greatest indignation at seeing themselves thus abandoned in the north as well as in the south; and this contrast between the conduct of the English, and the promises which they have incessantly broken, nourishes a natural hatred, which will break out sooner or later.” “We should have followed the enemy,” said Marshal Marmont, “to the lines of Lisbon, where we should have been able to form a junction with the army of the south, ... which is completely entire, and has in its front only the division of General Hill, ... had the moment been come which is fixed for the catastrophe of the English.” Soult, of whose unbroken strength Marmont thus boasted, was at this time devising measures for destroying the army which Castaños had recruited, or rather remade, since it had been so miserably wasted after Romana’s death. General Girard therefore, with a division of about 4000 foot and 1000 cavalry, was sent into that part of Extremadura which was still free, thus to confine Castaños within narrower limits, and deprive his army of those rations which it still, though with difficulty, obtained, and which were its sole means of subsistence; for in the miserable state of the Spanish commissariat and Spanish Government, their armies subsisted upon what they could find, and had little or nothing else to depend upon.

Girard took his position at Caceres, extending as far as Brozas. Of the spirit in which his detachment acted, one instance will suffice. He sent a party against the house of D. Jose Maria Cribell in Salvatierra, an officer in the service of his country; they carried off his wife in the fifth month of her pregnancy; plundered the house, even to the clothes of her two children, one five years old, the other three, and left these children naked to the mercy of their neighbours. The presence of such a force greatly distressed the country, and produced the intended inconvenience to Castaños; that general, therefore, concerted with Lord Wellington a movement for relieving this part of Extremadura by striking a blow against the enemy. The execution was entrusted to general Hill, with whom a Spanish detachment was to co-operate under Camp-Marshal D. Pedro Augustin Giron.

General Hill, with such a portion of his force as was thought sufficient for the service, moved from his cantonments in the neighbourhood of Portalegre on the ♦General Hill moves against him.♦ 22nd of October, and advanced towards the Spanish frontier. On reaching Alburquerque he learned that the enemy, who had advanced to Aliseda, had fallen back to Arroyo del Puerco; and that Aliseda was occupied by the Conde de Penne Villemur with the rear of the Spaniards. At that place, the allies and the Spaniards formed their junction the next day. The French occupied Arroyo del Puerco with 300 horse, their main body being at Caceres. Penne Villemur, on the 25th, drove back their horse to Malpartida, which place they held as an advanced post. At two on the following morning the allies began their march upon this place, in the midst of a severe storm; they arrived at daybreak; but the enemy had retired in the night. Penne Villemur, with the Spanish cavalry, and a party of the second hussars, followed them, skirmishing as far as Caceres, supported by the Spanish infantry under D. Pablo Morillo. Girard, as soon as he knew that the allies were advancing, retired from that city, and General Hill received intelligence of his retreat at Malpartida, but what direction he had taken was uncertain. In consequence of this uncertainty, and of the extreme badness of the weather, the British and Portugueze halted for the night at Malpartida, the Spaniards occupying Caceres.

The next morning General Hill, having ascertained that the enemy had marched on Torremocha, put his troops in motion, and advancing along the Merida road, by Aldea del Cano, and the Casa de D. Antonio; for as this was a shorter line than that which Girard had taken, he hoped to intercept him and bring him to action. On the march he learned that the French had only left Torremocha that morning, and that their main body had again halted at Arroyo Molinos, leaving a rear-guard at Albala. This proved that Girard was ignorant of the movements of the allies, and General Hill therefore made a forced march that evening to Alcuescar, a place within four miles of Arroyo Molinos, where he was joined by the Spaniards from Caceres. Everything confirmed the British general in his opinion that the enemy were not only ignorant of his near approach, but also off their guard; and he determined upon attempting to surprise them, or at least bringing them to action, before they should march in the morning. The troops, therefore, lay under a hill, to be out of sight of the enemy; they had marched the whole day in a heavy rain, the rain still continued, and no fires were allowed to be made.

Arroyo Molinos is a little town situated at the foot of one extremity of the Sierra de Montanches; this mountain, which is everywhere steep, and appears almost inaccessible, forms a cove or crescent behind it, the two points of which are about two miles asunder. The Truxillo road winds under the eastern point; the road to Merida runs at right angles with that to Alcuescar, and that to Medellin between the Truxillo and Merida roads. The ground between Alcuescar and Arroyo Molinos is a plain, thinly scattered with cork-trees and evergreen oaks; and General Hill’s object was to place a body of troops so as to cut off the retreat of the enemy by any of these roads. At two in the morning, the allies moved from their comfortless bivouac: it was dark, the rain was unabated, and the wind high, but in their backs: but this weather, severe as it was, was in their favour, for it confirmed the French in their incautious security. When Girard had first advanced into Extremadura, he felt some uneasiness at the neighbourhood of General Hill, and demanded succour, saying, that unless he was reinforced he should not be able to resist in case the English should attack him. But the little enterprise which the British and Portugueze army had hitherto displayed, seems to have lulled him into a contemptuous confidence; and there was no distinguished guerrilla leader to disturb the enemy in this part of the country, since D. Ventura Ximenes fell in a rencontre near Toledo.

The allies moved in one column right in front upon Arroyo Molinos, till they were within half a mile of it: the column then closed in a bottom under cover of a low ridge, and divided into three, the enemy not having the slightest intimation of their approach. The left column, under Lieutenant-Colonel Stuart, marched direct upon the town; the right, under Major-General Howard, broke off to the right so as to turn the enemy’s flank, and having marched about the distance of a cannon-shot toward that flank, moved then in a circular direction upon the farther point of the mountain crescent. Penne Villemur, with the Spanish horse, advanced between these two columns, ready to act in front, or to move round either of them, as occasion might require; he had found a good road, but the English horse, owing to an error, which, in so dark and tempestuous a night, might easily have been more general, had gone astray, and were not yet come up. The French had had a piquet about a mile from the town, which would have given the alarm, if it had not retired just before the head of our column came to the spot; for Girard had ordered the troops to be in motion at an early hour. One brigade of his infantry had marched for Medellin an hour before daylight: and when the allies were close at hand, Girard was filing out upon the Merida road; the rear of his column, some of his cavalry and his baggage, being still in the town. A thick mist had come on, the storm was at its height, and the French general marched with as little precaution as if he had been in a friendly country. When he heard that an enemy was approaching in the mist, he laughed, and said, “the English were too fond of comfort to get out of their beds in such a morning; ... it could only be an advanced party of the Spaniards;” ... but while he was ordering his men to chastise these insurgents, the Highland bagpipes played “Hey, Johnny Coup, are ye waukin yet?” and the 71st and 92d charged into the town with three cheers. Their orders were not to load, nor to halt for prisoners; but to force through every obstacle between them and the enemy, without turning to the right or left.

A few of their men were cut down by the French cavalry, but they soon drove the enemy every where before them at the point of the bayonet. The enemy’s infantry, which had got out of the town, formed into two squares, with their cavalry on their left, between the Merida and Medellin roads, by the time our two regiments had forced their way to the end of the town. Their right square being within half musket-shot, the 71st promptly lined the garden walls, while the 92d filed out and formed in line on the right, perpendicularly to the enemy’s right flank, which was much annoyed by the well-directed fire of the 71st. Meantime, one wing of the 50th occupied the town and secured the prisoners, some of whom were surprised over their coffee; and the other wing, with a three-pounder, which was all the artillery the allies had brought, skirted the outside of the town, and fired with great effect upon the squares. General Howard’s column was moving round their left. Penne Villemur meantime engaged the enemy’s cavalry, till Sir W. Erskine came up and joined him; they then presently dispersed the French horse, and charged their infantry repeatedly, “passing through their lines,” said a serjeant, “just like herrings through a net.” The French were now in full retreat, when, to their utter dismay, General Howard’s column appeared, and cut off the road. There was no resource, but to surrender or disperse; all order was at an end ... the cavalry fled in all directions, the infantry threw down their arms, and clambered up the mountain, ... where, inaccessible as the way appeared, they were pursued by General Howard, till the British became so exhausted, and so few in number, that he was obliged to halt and secure his prisoners. Morillo, with the Spanish infantry, one English and one Portugueze battalion, having ascended by the Puerto de las Quebradas, in a more favourable direction, continued the pursuit farther, and met with more resistance; but they drove the enemy from every position which they attempted to take, and pursued them many leagues, till within sight of the village of St. Anna, when, being completely exhausted with their exertions, they returned, having counted in the woods and mountains upwards of 600 dead.

In this brilliant affair, General Brun, the Prince de Aremberg, two lieutenant colonels, thirty other officers, and 1400 men, were made prisoners. The British and Portugueze loss amounted only to seventy-one, that of the Spaniards was very trifling. The whole of the enemy’s artillery, baggage, and commissariat was taken, the magazines of corn which they had collected at Caceres and Merida, and the contribution of money which he had levied upon the former town. A panic was struck into the enemy, to such a degree, that Badajoz was shut for two days and nights, all the fords of the Guadiana were watched, and every detachment ordered to rendezvous at Seville.

This expedition was less important in itself, than as it was the first indication of a spirit of hopeful enterprise in the British army; it seemed as if that army had now become conscious of its superiority, and would henceforth seek opportunities of putting it to the proof. For the Spaniards it was a well-timed success, when all their own efforts tended only to evince more mournfully the inefficiency of their troops and the incompetence of their generals.

The Marques del Palacio had been appointed captain-general of the kingdoms of Aragon, Valencia, and Murcia. He announced his coming in a proclamation from Alicante, of a very different character from those which had so greatly contributed to support the cause of Spain. “From the moment,” said he, “that I set foot in this country, and knew the fall of Tarragona, my spirit, far from being cast down, seemed as if it had taken fresh courage to run to danger as well as to victory. Do not hold me arrogant and vain, for my hopes are not rested upon the arm of flesh. From afar I see the walls of Valencia of burnished and impenetrable brass; and the more secure, inasmuch as the enemy cannot perceive them. I see also a cloud of protection over the whole kingdom, whereof that which for forty years protected the people of God was but a type and a figure. The brazen walls are the Valencian breasts, which have loyalty for their stamp and shield of arms; and the cloud which protects us is the Queen of Angels, ... she who is the general of the best appointed army, our adorable and generous Madre de desamparados, Mother of the helpless, with her omnipotent Son. Heaven itself has given the greatest proof of this truth, and of its predilection for the city and kingdom of Valencia. Is there any other capital in all Spain which has not been entered by some army of this Corsican robber, this impious tyrant? Is there any other province which has twice repelled the enemy from its centre, without walls and without armies? Heaven and this invincible Deborah, or Judith, have saved us, and will save us, if our conduct is not unworthy of her protection. Wonder not at this language from a soldier! I am a Christian; I am an old Spaniard; and I am persuaded that they are not earthly victories, but bolts from heaven which reach the wicked, such as the Corsican and his generals, whose principles are bad, and whose conduct is worse. I resign, therefore, my staff to this Sovereign Queen: she has been the general who has delivered the kingdom thus long: she it is who will deliver all that is placed under this staff, no longer mine but hers, and the Lord’s, who is the God of battles.”

It would be wronging the Marques to break off here, for in other parts of his address he spoke in the proper language of a Spaniard and a general. “This is a holy war,” said he, “in which we must fight like the Maccabees. Let him who feels for the public cause join us, and take arms, and offer himself as a sacrifice, and put forth his hand, and advance, and attack, and triumph. Confide in the Government, and it will confide in you. If there is conduct in the chiefs, there will be conduct in the people; moderation in the expenditure, and there will be plenty in the army; order in private families, and it will display itself in public actions; activity in individuals, and the army will be invincible. Let there be obedience, union, fidelity, justice, and truth, and God will fight with us.”

Unfortunately, there were many in Valencia upon whom the first part of this address was likely to have more effect than the second. A friar, preaching in the Plaza Catalina, said to his auditors, “If the Cortes think of abolishing our holy order, and that of our sisters the nuns, obey them not, ye armed Valencians, but oppose such mandates like lions. We are the servants of God, whom you must obey rather than man. The English themselves, though they have an excellent constitution, must eventually fall for want of the blessing of the Catholic faith. Ask not for cannon and gunpowder, but rather fly to your altars; and instead of any vain attempt to resist the victorious French by force of arms, implore the aid of Heaven, which alone can avert the heavy calamities that threaten you.” Zaragoza is as Catholic a city as Valencia, but it was not by such sermons as this that the heroism of the Zaragozans was excited and sustained!

Zaragoza had defended itself without any other reliance than what the inhabitants placed in themselves. Valencia prepared for its defence under very different circumstances. The Regent, General Blake, embarking with all the force he could collect, had landed at Almeira to take the command in those provinces, which, since the fall of Tarragona, were so seriously menaced. From thence he proceeded to Valencia, with full powers, civil as well as military, and the whole strength of the executive authority, to carry into effect whatever measures he might think needful. The collected force under his command was more than equal in number to that of the invaders; one division of 6000 men, taking its name from the field of Albuhera, had attained discipline upon which the officers could rely, and reputation which every effort would be made to support. Some of the generals also stood high in public opinion; Lardizabal had distinguished himself in Lapeña’s expedition; and Zayas was thought by the English, as well as by his own countrymen, one of the best officers in the Spanish service. But Blake himself inspired no confidence wherever he went; he had the reputation of being an unfortunate general; and what credit he acquired in the battle of Albuhera had been lost by his subsequent movements in the Condado de Niebla. The Valencians, therefore, were unwilling to receive him, and would fain have persuaded the Marques del Palacio to retain the command, to which, in these times of insubordination, a popular election would have been considered as conferring a legitimate right; but the Marques had been bred in a better school, and though he had some reason to complain of the manner in which he was thus suddenly superseded, demeaned himself toward his successor with a frankness and cordiality deserving a better return than they obtained. In the course of more than thirty years’ service, it had been his good fortune never to incur the slightest disaster in any command which he had held; twice during the present war, having been appointed to armies which he found incomplete and ill-equipped, he had placed them upon a respectable footing; and being then removed from the command, they had presently under his successors been dispersed or destroyed; he was popular, therefore, because no miscarriage could be laid to his charge. Embarking from Cadiz for Alicante on the day that Tarragona was taken, he brought with him no supplies either in men, arms, or money, nor was any thing sent after him; it seemed as if the eastern provinces were left to their own resources; and Alicante and Orihuela, from whence he might have drawn supplies, were separated from his government. The Murcian army consisted nominally at this time of 20,000 foot and 5000 horse; he asked for 3000 of these men and 600 cavalry, and they were refused. The effect of this was, that feeling he had no external support to look for, he formed his plans for defence upon the nature of the country, and that moral resistance, in which the strength of the Spanish cause consisted: but Blake coming with the entire confidence of the executive Government, of which he was a member, had the Murcian forces at his command, and seemed to think his military means so fully sufficient, that he disregarded all other resources. The Marques would have defended the strong ground through which the enemy must pass before they could attack Murviedro. Between that town and Valencia is a labyrinth of water-courses, gardens, plantations, and deep narrow roads, through which no force could penetrate against the resistance of a determined people; ... and if that resistance had been overcome, he would have cut the dikes and inundated the country. These plans he communicated to Blake, who never bestowed a thought upon them, contemplating no measures which were not in the ordinary course of tactics, and thinking, that if the punctilios of his profession were correctly observed, nothing farther could be required on the score of honour or of duty.

Murviedro is an open town twelve miles east of Valencia, but its fortress, called the Castle of San Fernando de Sagunto, was, both for its natural strength and artificial defences, a most formidable post. D. Luis Maria Andriani commanded there with a garrison of 3500 men, who had volunteered for its defence. The name which that fortress bore, and the knowledge of the resistance which upon that spot had been made against Hannibal, as it might well have given confidence to its defenders, induced Suchet to expect greater difficulty in its conquest than any which he had yet overcome. The Roman theatre here, which was one of the most perfect remains of the ancients, and the other antiquities of this sacred spot, were held in such proper estimation by the Spanish Government, that in 1785, under the ministry of the Conde d’Aranda, an officer was appointed to preserve them. When it was deemed necessary to fortify the place, the engineers condemned the theatre; the conservator appealed to the Cortes, and the Cortes unanimously agreeing that it would be a reproach to the nation if this precious monument should be destroyed, addressed the Regents, requiring them to give orders for its careful preservation: but such considerations could no longer be allowed, when the paramount interests of the nation were at stake, and instructions were given to make any demolition which might be required for the security of the place. Andriani entered upon his command there in the middle of September, and a few days afterwards the French from Tortosa and from Aragon began their march toward Valencia. Suchet had with ♦Suchet takes possession of the town.♦ him all the disposable troops from Aragon and Catalonia, ... withdrawing many of the less important garrisons and smaller detachments, in full confidence that there was neither energy enough in the general Government of Spain, nor union enough among the provincial authorities, to take advantage of the opportunity which was thus afforded them. He arrived before Murviedro on the 21st, and took possession of the town. Blake, who had advanced thither to see that the garrison was complete, and the place provided for defence, offered no resistance when the enemy approached, but retired within an intrenched camp, on the right of the Guadalaviar; it rested with its right upon the sea, and covered the city of Valencia; he had the Murcian army behind him in reserve. The divisions of Obispo and Villacampa, under Carlos O’Donnel, had been recalled from the frontiers of Castille and Aragon: these remained in the field and formed his left; 4000 men occupied Segorbe and Liria, and Bassecourt, with about 2000, was in Requeña and Utril: besides these forces the commander-in-chief had 1600 cavalry, part of them veteran troops.

Against such means of resistance Suchet would never have ventured to advance if he had not despised the Valencians. With an abundant population, brave and patriotic enough to offer themselves to any danger and submit to any sacrifices, ... and with resources greater than those of any other province from its redundant fertility, Valencia had scarcely made an effort in favour of its neighbours. When, at the earnest requisition of the British naval commander on that coast, a body of its troops had been detached into Catalonia, they were embarked without muskets, because there was an established regulation, that before they left the province their arms must be deposited in the arsenal. After arms had been provided for them, it was judged necessary to march them into Aragon; but they refused to enter that kingdom, because they had not been sent with that intention, and in consequence they returned to Valencia without having faced the enemy. Whenever, indeed, the Valencian army had faced them, some glaring misconduct had appeared, and some lamentable disaster been the necessary result. The spirit of provincialism ceased to paralyse them when the enemy was within their own territory, but Suchet still calculated upon want of discipline in the men, and want of skill in the leaders; some reliance, too, he placed upon those means of seduction by which France had triumphed as often as by her arms.