While Lord Wellington detained in Portugal the most numerous of the French armies, defied their strength and baffled their combinations, events of great importance, both military and civil, were taking place in Spain.

The command in Catalonia had devolved upon Camp-Marshal Juan Manuel de Villena, during the time that O’Donell was invalided by his wound. He had to oppose in Marshal Macdonald a general of higher reputation and of a better stamp than Augereau. Augereau had passed through the revolutionary war without obtaining any worse character than that of rapacity; but in Catalonia he manifested a ferocious and cruel temper, of which he had not before been suspected. Every armed Catalan who fell alive into his hand was sent to the gibbet: the people were not slow at reprisals, and war became truly dreadful when cruelty appeared on both sides to be only the exercise of vindictive justice: it was made so hateful to the better part of the German soldiers, and to the younger French also, whose hearts had not yet been seared, that they sought eagerly for every opportunity of fighting, in the hope of receiving wounds ♦Von Staff, 296.♦ which should entitle them to their dismission, or, at the worst, of speedily terminating a life which was rendered odious by the service wherein they were engaged.

The force under Macdonald’s command consisted of 21,000 men, including 2000 cavalry, and of 16,500 employed in garrisons and in the points of communication; the army of Aragon also, which Suchet commanded, was under his direction. They could not in Catalonia, as they had done in other parts of Spain, press forward, and leave defensible towns behind them: it was necessary to take every place that could be defended by a resolute people, and to secure it when taken. After Lerida had been villanously betrayed by Garcia Conde, Tortosa became the next point of importance for the French to gain, for while that city was held by the Spaniards, the communication between Valencia and Catalonia could not be cut off. Tarragona and Valencia were then successively to be attacked, but Mequinenza was to be taken before Tortosa was besieged. This town, which was called Octogesa when the Romans became masters of Spain, which by the corrupted name of Ictosa was the seat of a bishop’s see under the Wisigoths, and which obtained its present appellation from the Moors, was at the present juncture a point of considerable importance, because it commanded the navigation of the Ebro, being situated where that river receives the Segre. It was now a decayed town with a fortified castle: the works never had been strong, and since the Succession-war had received only such hasty repairs as had been made, at the urgent representations of General Doyle, during the second siege of Zaragoza. These preparations had enabled it to repulse the enemy in three several attempts after the fall of that city. It had now, by Doyle s exertions, been well supplied with provisions, but every thing else was wanting; the garrison consisted of 700 men, upon whose discipline or subordination the commander, D. Manuel Carbon, could but ill rely. He himself was disposed to do his duty, and was well supported by some of his officers.

Six days after the betrayal of Lerida the French Colonel Robert was sent with three battalions to commence operations against this poor fortress; he tried to force the passage of a bridge over the Cinca, which was so well defended, that it cost him 400 men. Between that river and the Ebro, Mousnier’s division approached so as to straiten the place, and a bridge of boats was thrown across the Ebro, and a tête-du-pont constructed to cut off the besieged from succour on that side. The operations were conducted with little skill or success, till at the expiration of a fortnight Colonel Rogniat came to direct them. Carbon then found it necessary to abandon the place, and retire into the Castle; to this he was compelled less by the efforts of the enemy than by distrust of his own men, who now becoming hopeless of relief, took every opportunity of deserting. His only armourer had fled, so had his masons, his carpenters, and his medical staff, the latter taking with them their stores. Four of the iron guns had burst, ... two brazen ones were rendered useless; and the Castle, which the people looked upon as impregnable, was not only weak in itself, but incapable of long resistance, had it been stronger, for want of water: there was none within the works; it was to be brought from a distance, and by a difficult ♦June.♦ road. The governor represented to the captain-general that his situation was truly miserable; that the best thing he could do, were it possible, would be to bring off the remains of the garrison; but they were between the Ebro and the Segre, and the banks of both rivers were occupied by the enemy. A force of at least 3000 men would be required to relieve him ... whereas 500 might have sufficed if they had been sent from Tortosa in time.

This dispatch was brought to Villena by a peasant who succeeded in swimming the Segre with it; and an attempt accordingly was made to relieve the Castle, but it was made too late. General Doyle, whom the Junta of Tortosa had addressed entreating him to continue his services to Mequinenza, asked and obtained the command of the succours, and was on the way with them, when they were met by tidings that the garrison ♦June 8.♦ had surrendered. The course of the Ebro from Zaragoza was now open to the enemy, and they prepared immediately to besiege Tortosa. If Suchet had known the state of the city at this time, he might have won it by a coup-de-main. The suspicions of the people had been re-inflamed by the betrayal of Lerida; the fall of Mequinenza excited their fears; ♦Lili appointed to the command in Tortosa.
Vol. i. 731–735.♦ and an insurrection was apprehended, to prevent which Villena requested Doyle to hasten thither, and act as governor till the Conde de Alache, D. Miguel de Lili y Idiaquez, should arrive. This nobleman had displayed such skill and enterprise in the painful but fortunate retreat which he made with a handful of men after the wreck of the central army at Tudela, that it was thought no man could be more adequate to the important service for which he was now chosen.

Tortosa stands upon the left bank of the Ebro, about four leagues from the sea; it is on the high road by which Catalonia communicates with the south of Spain. Before the Roman conquest the Ilercaones had their chief settlement here, and the place was called after the tribe Ilercaonia; Dartosa was its Roman name, which either under the Goths or Moors passed into the present appellation. It was taken from the Moors1 by Louis le Debonnaire, during the life of his father Charlemagne, after a remarkable siege, in which all the military engines of that age seem to have been employed. The governor whom he left there revolted, called in the Moors to his support, and they took it for themselves. It was conquered from them by Ramon Berenguer, Count of Barcelona, in the middle of the twelfth century; and in the year following was saved from the Moors by the women, who took arms when the men were almost overpowered, rallied them, and animated them so that they repulsed the entering enemy: in honour of this event a military order was instituted, and it was enacted that the women of Tortosa should have precedence of the men in all public ceremonies. During that revolt of the Catalans which was one of the many and great evils brought upon Spain by the iniquitous administration of Olivares, Tortosa declared early for the provincial cause; but it was reduced to obedience soon and without violence, and the city, which then contained 2000 inhabitants, was secured against any sudden attack. Marshal de la Mothe besieged it in 1642, and effected a breach in its weak works: he was repulsed in an assault with considerable loss, and deemed it necessary to raise the siege. Six years afterwards the French, with Schomberg for their general, took it by storm, ... the bishop and most of the clergy falling in the breach. It was retaken in 1650. In the Succession-war this place was gladly given up to the allies by the people, as soon as the capture of Barcelona by Lord Peterborough enabled them to declare their sentiments. The Duke of Orleans took it in 1708 by a vigorous siege, and through the want of firmness in the governor; had it held out two days longer, the besieging army must have retired for want of supplies. Staremberg almost succeeded in recovering it by surprise a few months afterwards; and in 1711 he failed in a second attempt. From that time the city had flourished during nearly an hundred years of internal peace; the population had increased to 16,000; the chief export was potash; the chief trade in wheat, which was either imported hither or exported hence, according as the harvest had proved in the two provinces of Catalonia and Aragon. But during this long interval of tranquillity, while the city and its neighbourhood partook the prosperity of the most industrious province in Spain, the fortifications, like every thing upon which the strength and security of the state depended, had been neglected, and were falling to decay.

This place, which could only have opposed a tumultuous resistance if the French had immediately pursued their success, was soon secured against any sudden attack by Doyle’s exertions. He had given up his pay in the Spanish service to the use of this province, and the confidence which was placed in him by the people and the local authorities, as well as by the generals, gave him influence and authority wherever he went. Every effort was made for storing and strengthening the city, while the enemy on their part made preparations for besieging it in form. Mequinenza was their depôt for the siege: from thence the artillery was conveyed to Xerta, a little town two leagues above Tortosa on the Ebro, which they fortified, and where they established a tête-du-pont: another was formed at Mora, half way between Mequinenza and Tortosa; the navigation of the river was thus secured. The roads upon either bank being only mountain paths, which were practicable but for beasts of burthen, a military road was constructed from Caspe, following in many parts the line of that which the Duke of Orleans had formed in the preceding century. A corps of 5000 infantry and 500 horse was to invest the city on the right bank, while another corps of the same strength watched the movements of the Catalan army. One division Suchet had left in Aragon, where the regular force opposed to it had almost disappeared in the incapable hands of D. Francisco Palafox. He had as little to apprehend on the side of Valencia; neither men nor means were wanting in that populous and wealthy province, but there prevailed a narrow provincial spirit, and General Caro remained inactive when an opportunity was presented of compelling the French, who were on the right bank, to retire, or of cutting them off. The other part of the besieging army was not left in like manner unmolested, for O’Donell had by this time recovered from his wound, and resumed the command.

On the 4th of July the enemy appeared on the right bank, and occupied the suburbs of Jesus and Las Roquetas; they took possession also of the country-houses which were near the city on that side, but not without resistance. On the 8th they attacked the tête-du-pont, expecting to carry it by a sudden and vigorous attempt; they were repulsed, renewed the attempt at midnight, were again repulsed, and a few hours afterwards failed in a third attack. They were now satisfied that Tortosa was not to be won without the time and labour of a regular siege. They had seen also a manifestation of that same spirit which had been so virtuously displayed at Zaragoza and Gerona. For the Tortosan women had passed and repassed the bridge during the heat of action, regardless of danger, bearing refreshments and stores to the soldiers; two who were wounded in this service were rewarded with medals and with a pension. They enrolled themselves in companies to attend upon the wounded, whether in the hospitals or in private houses. There was one woman who during the whole siege carried water and cordials to the troops at the points of attack, and frequently went out with them in their sallies; the people called her La Titaya, and she was made a serjeant for her services. The men also formed themselves into companies, and it was evident what might be expected from the inhabitants, if their governor should prove worthy of the charge committed to him. Velasco, who held the command till the Conde de Alache should arrive, was incapacitated by illness for any exertion. The garrison, encouraged by their success in repelling the enemy, made a sally on the 10th with more courage than prudence, and lost about 100 men; the next day the French began their regular approaches.

O’Donell’s first care upon resuming the command of the army was to strengthen Tortosa and provide it against the siege, which if he could not prevent he would use every exertion to impede and frustrate. Lili arrived there in the middle of July, and a convoy of provisions with him: Velasco then left the place, and retired to Tarragona, broken in health. Stores and men were introduced till the magazines were fully replenished, and the garrison amounted to 8000 effective men. On the night of the 21st the enemy made another attack upon the tête-du-pont, as unsuccessfully as before. Some days afterwards O’Donell came there to inspect the place; he thanked the inhabitants for the good-will which they were manifesting, and the readiness with which they had cut down their fruit-trees and demolished their villas in the adjoining country, sacrificing every thing cheerfully to the national cause. He directed also a sally, which was made with good effect, ♦Aug. 3.♦ some of the enemy’s works being destroyed: Lili was present in this affair, and was wounded. Having seen that every thing was in order here, and promised well, the general returned to his army.

But O’Donell deriving no support from either of the neighbouring provinces, had on the one hand to impede Suchet’s operations, and on the other to act against Macdonald. Before that Marshal could take any measures in aid of the besieging army, he had to introduce a convoy ♦Macdonald enters the plains of Tarragona.♦ into Barcelona. Having effected this object, and baffled the force which endeavoured to prevent it, he moved upon the Ebro; by this movement O’Donell was compelled to withdraw the division which kept in check the French corps upon the left bank; and Suchet, seizing the opportunity, passed that corps across the river, and advanced against the Valencian army, with which Caro had at last taken the field, ... only to make a precipitate retreat when it was thus attacked, and leave the enemy without any interruption from that side. Macdonald meantime easily overcoming the little resistance that could be interposed entered the plain of Tarragona, and took a position at Reus, with his whole disposable force, raising contributions in money and every kind of stores upon that unhappy town, while his troops pillaged the surrounding country. Tarragona was at this time but weakly garrisoned, and some apprehension was entertained that it might be his intention to lay siege to it. Campoverde’s division, therefore, was immediately removed thither from Falset, and O’Donell himself entered the place, and occupied the height of Oliva and the village of La Canonja, endeavouring by activity and display to make the most of his insufficient force. Before daybreak this latter post was attacked by the French in ♦Aug. 21.
Affair near Tarragona.♦ strength, ... the Spaniards fell back till O’Donell came to their support; he supposed the enemy’s object was to reconnoitre the place, and this he was desirous to prevent. Captain Buller, in the Volontaire frigate, was near enough distinctly to hear and see the firing; immediately he sent his launch and barge with some carronades in shore, and anchored the ship with springs in four fathoms water, to support the boats, and act as circumstances might require. These boats acted with great effect upon the right flank of the French; and the frigate bringing its guns to bear upon the enemy’s cavalry, which was forming upon a rising ground, dislodged them; so that they retreated to their position with the loss of about an hundred and fifty men. On the same day Captain Fane, in the Cambrian frigate, and some Spanish boats, performed a like service at Salou, driving from thence, with the loss of some forty men, a detachment of the enemy who had gone thither to plunder the place. ♦Macdonald retires.
Aug. 25.♦ On the fourth day after this affair the French retreated, leaving 700 sick and wounded in the hospital at Reus, and 200 at Valls. Their rearguard was overtaken in the town of Momblanch, and the plunder which they had collected there was recovered: but a Spanish general was put under arrest for not having improved the advantage which he had gained. They suffered also a considerable loss by desertion. Nearly 300 Italians deserted from Reus, and 400 more during the expedition.

Suchet with 3000 men had moved down upon Momblanch, to cover a retreat which was not made without danger. This movement left Tortosa for a while free of access, and large supplies were promptly introduced. Macdonald now took a position near Cervera, as a central point, from whence he could cover the besieging army before Tortosa, and threaten the rear of the Spaniards upon the Llobregat, and where he could occupy an extent of country capable of supplying him with provisions. But ♦O’Donnell surprises the enemy at La Bisbal.♦ this afforded opportunity to O’Donell for renewing that system of warfare which he had carried on successfully against Augereau. He embarked a small detachment at Tarragona, provided with artillery, which sailed under convoy of a small Spanish squadron and of the Cambrian frigate. On the 6th of September he put himself at the head of a division at Villafranca, having directed the movements of his troops so as to make the French infer that it was his intention to interpose between them and ♦September.♦ Barcelona. Leaving Campoverde to throw up works near La Baguda, and secure that pass, he proceeded to Esparraguera: from thence he reconnoitred El Bruch and Casamasanes, and leaving Eroles to guard that position, ordered Brigadier Georget to take post at Mombuy, close by Igualada, and Camp-Marshal Obispo to advance by a forced march from Momblanch, and place himself upon the heights to the right and left of Martorell. This was on the 9th: that same night he ordered Campoverde to march the following morning and join him at S. Culgat del Valles, sending a battalion to reinforce Georget, but letting no one know his destination. The whole division reached Mataro on the 10th, Pineda on the following day; from thence a party under the Colonel of Engineers, D. Honorato de Fleyres, was dispatched to take post at the Ermida of S. Grau, while O’Donell proceeded to Tordera. Before he left Pineda he received intelligence that the squadron had commenced its operations auspiciously. Doyle had landed at Bagur, taken forty-two prisoners there, and with the assistance of the Cambrian’s boats destroyed the battery and carried off the guns. Being now about to leave the garrison of Hostalrich in his rear, O’Donell sent off a detachment towards that fort, and another toward Gerona, that they might lead the French in both places to suppose he was reconnoitring with a view to invest them. On the 13th he reached the village of Vidreras, falling in on the way thither with an howitzer and a field-piece which had been landed for him at Calella. At Vidreras the two last detachments which he had sent off rejoined him, having performed their service with great success, the one party bringing off nine prisoners from the suburbs of Hostalrich, whom they had taken in the houses there, the other eleven from under the walls of Gerona.

This long movement had been undertaken in the hope of cutting off the French who occupied S. Feliu de Guixols, Palamos, and La Bisbal. The larger force was at La Bisbal under General Schwartz; and that he might have no opportunity to reinforce the two weaker points, it was O’Donell’s intention to attack him there, at the same time that Fleyres, dividing his detachment, should attack both the other garrisons. From Vidreras to La Bisbal is a distance which in that country, where distances are measured by time, is computed at eight hours, the foot-pace of an able-bodied man averaging usually four miles in the hour; but at this time much depended on celerity. At daybreak on the 14th he renewed his march with the cavalry regiment of Numancia, sixty hussars, and an hundred volunteer infantry, who thought themselves capable of keeping up with the horse. The regiment of Iliberia followed at a less exhausting pace; and the rest of the division, under Campoverde, went by way of Llagostera to post itself in the valley of Aro, as a body of reserve, and cut off the enemy in case they should retire from the points which they occupied. O’Donell proceeded so rapidly that he performed the usual journey of eight hours in little more than four, the infantry keeping up with the horse at a brisk trot the whole time. As soon as they reached La Bisbal, Brigadier Sanjuan, with the cavalry, occupied all the avenues of the town, to prevent the enemy, who upon their appearance had retired into an old castle, from escaping; some cuirassiers who were patrolling were made prisoners; the Spanish infantry took possession of the houses near the castle, and from thence and from the church tower fired upon it. They rung the Somaten, and the peasants who were within hearing came to join them. O’Donell perceiving that musketry was of little avail, and that Schwartz did not surrender at his summons, resolved to set fire to the gates; but in reconnoitring the castle with this object, he received a musket-ball in the leg, the sixteenth which had struck him in the course of this war. Just at this time a detachment of an hundred foot, with two-and-thirty cuirassiers, came from the side of Torruella to aid the garrison. Sanjuan charged them with his reserve; the cuirassiers fled toward Gerona, all the infantry were taken, and a convoy of provisions with its escort fell into the hands of the Spaniards. The regiment of Iliberia, quickening its march when it heard the firing, now came up; at nightfall the enemy were a second time summoned, and Schwartz, seeing no means of escape, was then glad to have the honours of war granted him, upon surrendering with his whole party, consisting of 650 men and 42 officers.

Fleyres meantime leaving S. Grau at two on the morning of the same day, divided his force, and directed Lieutenant-Colonel D. Tadeo Aldea, with 300 foot and 20 horse, against Palamos, while he with the same number of horse and 250 foot proceeded against S. Feliu de Guixols; 150 men being left as a reserve for both parties upon the heights on the road to Zeroles. Both were successful. The Spaniards were not discovered as they approached S. Feliu till they were within pistol-shot of the sentinel; and the enemy, after a brisk but short resistance, surrendered when they were offered honourable treatment in O’Donell’s name. Thirty-six were killed and wounded here; 270 men and eight officers laid down their arms. At Palamos the enemy had batteries which they defended; but there the squadron co-operated, and after the loss of threescore men, 255, with seven officers, surrendered. Seventy more were taken on the following day in the Castle of Calonge. The result of this well-planned, and singularly fortunate expedition, which succeeded in its full extent at every point, was the capture of one general, two colonels, threescore inferior officers, more than 1200 men, seventeen pieces of artillery, magazines and stores, and the destruction of every battery, fort, or house which the enemy had fortified upon the coast as far as the Bay of Rosas. The British seamen and marines had exerted themselves with their characteristic activity and good-will on this occasion; and Captain Fane, though suffering under severe indisposition at the time, had landed with Doyle, and put himself forwards wherever most was to be done. O’Donell, to mark the sense which was entertained of their services, ordered a medal to be struck for the officers and crew, with appropriate2 inscriptions.

The Spaniards had only ten men killed and twenty-three wounded; but O’Donell was disabled by his wound, and a General who had displayed so much ability, and in whose fortune the soldiers had acquired confidence could ill be spared. The system of maritime enterprise which had been thus well commenced ♦The enemy’s batteries on the coast destroyed.♦ was actively pursued. Upon General Doyle’s representation it was resolved to attack the batteries which the enemy had erected upon the coast between Barcelona and Tarragona, and by means of which, with few men, they kept the maritime towns in subjection; they were placed always in commanding situations, ... boats with supplies lay at anchor under them all day, in safety from the cruisers, and under cover of the night crept along shore toward their destination. Doyle embarked for this service, and with the aid of Captain Buller, in the Volontaire, effectually performed it, destroying every battery, and carrying off the artillery and stores. The same service was performed a second time upon the coast between Mataro and Rosas, where the enemy had re-occupied stations; the batteries were again destroyed, their coasters taken, and the Spanish Lieutenant-Colonel O’Ronan, who embarked in the Volontaire with authority from the provincial government, collected the imposts and levied contributions upon those persons who traded with France, or were known partizans of the ♦October.♦ French. He had the boldness to enter the town of Figueras with twenty-five men, and draw rations for them in sight of the enemy’s garrison; but in this cruise the Volontaire suffered so much in a gale of wind, that it was necessary to make for Port Mahon.

The British ships rendered essential service to the Catalans at this time, and were at all times useful in keeping up their hopes, and rendering it more difficult for the enemy to obtain supplies. The spirit of the people was invincible; and under such leaders as Manso, and Rovira, and Eroles, they were so successful in desultory warfare, that a land convoy for Barcelona required an army for its escort, and the French government was informed, that precarious as the supply by sea was, they must mainly trust to it. Indeed no inconsiderable part of the provisions which were sent by sea found its way to Barcelona after it had fallen into the hands of the British squadron. The cargoes were sold by the captors at Villa Nova, where there were persons ready to purchase them at any3 price: ... these persons were agents for the enemy; and when the magazines were full, a detachment came from Barcelona and convoyed the stores safely to that city, which is not twenty miles distant. The indulgence also which was intended for the Spaniards in Barcelona, in allowing their fishing-boats to come without the mole, was turned to the advantage of the garrison. There were about 150 of these boats, and upon every opportunity they received provisions and stores4, which they carried in for some time without being suspected.

Suchet meantime could make no progress in the siege of Tortosa; though the Valencians left him undisturbed on their side, he could undertake no serious operations till the other part of his army could be brought down to complete the investment of the place, and till Macdonald should be in a situation to cover the besieging force, which that General could not do till he received reinforcements, his strength being wasted by the losses which he was continually suffering in detail, and by the numerous desertions which took place. Doyle’s address to the foreigners in the French service, in their respective languages, had produced no inconsiderable effect; copies of it were fired from the town in shells, and by that means scattered among the ♦Sept. 7.♦ besiegers. As soon as it was known that the enemy’s heavy guns had arrived at Xerta, Lili issued a proclamation to the inhabitants, requesting that all who were not able to take arms and bear an active part in its defence would withdraw, while a way was yet open: the place, he said, had no shelter for them when it should be bombarded, nor could provisions be afforded them. But the invaders, he added, deceived themselves if they supposed that his constancy was to be shaken by the fears and lamentations of old men and children and of a few women, or if they expected to find another Lerida in Catalonia; for he and his garrison had sworn, and he now repeated the vow, that Tortosa should not be yielded up till it had surpassed, if that were possible, the measure of resistance at Zaragoza and Gerona. He issued an order also that as soon as the first gun should be discharged against the place, the door of every house should be open day and night, and vessels of water kept there in readiness for extinguishing fires, ... and lights during the night.

Buonaparte’s birthday recurred about this time, and the French general sent a letter into the city, informing the governor that it would be celebrated in due form with a discharge of cannon. Lili corresponded to this courtesy by sending a similar communication on the eve of Ferdinand’s anniversary; at the same time he sent the official notice which had reached him, that the yellow fever had broken out in certain ports of the Mediterranean, and that some ships were infected with it: this information, he said, was given as humanity required, in order that the enemy might take all possible precautions against the contagion in those parts of the country which were occupied by their troops. The holiday was observed with its usual solemnities and pageants, as if there had been no hostile encampment without the walls: in the morning there was service in the churches; in the afternoon the holy girdle, a relic of which Tortosa boasted, was carried in procession, a masque of giants going before it, accompanied by persons performing a provincial sword-dance, and followed by all the corporate bodies, civil and ecclesiastical, and by the military, with music, and banners displayed. Bull-fights with young animals who were neither tortured with fireworks (as is the manner in the serious exhibitions of that execrable sport) nor slaughtered, were held in the streets, and the day concluded with a ball, a banquet, and an illumination.

The next communication of Lili to the French general was not received so courteously by Harispe, who at that time was left in command of the besieging army. The Spaniards sent him copies of the decree issued by the Regency in consequence of Soult’s infamous edict against the Spanish armies, both edicts being printed on one sheet, in parallel columns; Lili sent them with a flag of truce, saying it was his duty to put the French general and his commander-in-chief in possession of this royal decree. Harispe replied, that he should always receive the Spanish commander’s messengers with pleasure, when they were the bearers of decent and useful communications; but in the present instance he must detain them prisoners of war, inasmuch as they seemed to have no other object than that of scattering satirical writings. If this reply had not been accompanied by an act in violation of the laws of war, it would have been satisfactory to the Spaniards; for the French general could not more plainly have shown the opinion which he entertained of Marshal Soult’s decree, than by thus affecting to believe that it was spurious. The besieging army, however, had given some examples of that merciless system upon which the intrusive government required its generals to act; ... for the bodies of some peasants were taken out of the river, with many bayonet wounds about them, and their hands tied: they were interred in the city, where the circumstance and the solemnity made a strong impression upon the people. There was a Piemontese, who, having resided more than twenty years in Tortosa, went over to the French, and rendered them all the service which his knowledge of the place and the country enabled him to perform. This treason on the part of a naturalized foreigner excited a strong desire for vengeance; some peasants watched his movements, laid wait for him, surprised him, and carried him prisoner into the city, where he was tried, and condemned to be shot in the back, under the gallows; that mode and place of death being chosen as the most ignominious, there being no hangman there. The besieged were gratified by another act of vengeance. An officer in the French army, before the serious business of the siege began, amused5 himself, from a favourable station, with bringing down such individuals as came within reach of his gun. At length a deserter gave information that this unseen marksman’s stand was in a house called la Casilla Blanca, upon which the commandant of artillery, D. Francisco Arnau, went with his piece to a good station on the bank of the river, and getting aim at him while he was engaged in his murderous sport, had the satisfaction of seeing him fall.

Though the enemy had established two bridges with a tete-du-pont to each between Mequinenza and Tortosa, they had not been able to render the passage of the river secure. Their boats were sometimes intercepted and sometimes sunk; and everywhere a system of war was carried on by which the armies of Macdonald and Suchet were so harassed, that the operations of the siege were impeded during five months. ♦Successes of Eroles.♦ Some brilliant achievements were performed in the Ampurdan by Baron Eroles, an officer who rendered himself so obnoxious to the enemy by the activity and success with which he discharged his duty to his country, that there was an order in the French army to hang him as soon as he should fall into their hands. The German troops in Catalonia had at this time been reduced by deaths, captures, and desertions, to such a state of inefficiency, that the few survivors were permitted to leave Spain, and stationed on the South coast of France; there in the enjoyment of rest and a benign climate, to recruit their broken health, before they returned to their respective countries. Some troops only were left in the garrisons of Lerida and Barcelona, ... the remainder, a few hundreds only of as many thousands, gladly departed from a country in which they had committed and suffered so many evils. Their place in the Ampurdan was supplied by a reinforcement of 5000 French, under General Clement; the new general, to signalize his entrance, entered Olot with 3000 men, and got possession of the stores which were deposited there, with which, and with the spoils of the town, he departed early on the ♦Dec. 6.♦ second day, having thus far successfully effected his purpose. Eroles was at Tornadis at this time, where he had collected his troops; and they were receiving their rations when intelligence was brought him that the enemy had left Olot, and were on their way to Castellfullit. A cry arose from the Catalans that they did not want their bread and their brandy then; what they wanted was cartridges, and to kill the French. The men knew their commander, and he knew his people, for what kind of service they were fit, and how surely they might be relied on in that service. The enemy had had two hours’ start, but they were impeded with artillery and plunder, and apprehending no danger, had made no speed: the Catalans had the desire of vengeance to quicken them, and performing in less than an hour and a half what is estimated at a three hours’ journey, they came up with the rearguard at Castellfullit, attacked and routed it. The French rallied, took a position on the plain of Polligé, where they were protected by the cavalry and their guns, and thus awaited for Eroles to attack them. His dispositions, however, as soon as he had reconnoitred the ground, were made for turning both their flanks; and when to prevent this they attacked his centre, their cavalry were repulsed, the attempt wholly failed, and they retreated to another position near S. Jayme. From thence they were driven, and fell back upon a battalion which had now formed in the plain of Argalaguer, and were protected by the buildings in that village; but supposing the few horse which Eroles then brought forward to be part of a greater force, Clement withdrew his men to a near wood, on the other side of a stream. Encouraged by success, the Catalans attacked them there also, drove them successively from thence and from Besalu, and did not give up the pursuit till night closed. In this affair Clement lost more than a thousand men, the Spaniards twenty-five killed and fifty wounded: scarcely any prisoners were taken; the French were persuaded that no quarter would be given, and in that persuasion some had run upon the bayonets of the Spaniards, and some had thrown themselves down a precipice near Castellfullit. The whole detachment would have been destroyed if Eroles had had his cavalry, but they had been detached before he knew of the enemy’s movements, and the utmost exertions did not suffice to bring them up in time. The Baron observed with satisfaction, in his dispatches, that they had been favoured with this victory by the patroness of Spain, on the6festival of whose conception it had been won.

Such, indeed, was the spirit which the French found in Catalonia, and such the exasperated temper on their part which this unexpected and brave resistance had occasioned, that they said it would be necessary to exterminate one-half the Catalans in order to intimidate the other. They found a similar spirit in Aragon; but there the country had not the same natural strength, nor was there a single fortress to afford protection to the people. The army, however, under D. Joze Maria Carvajal, was again in activity; and though, owing to the incapacity of their commanders in the first years of the war, and the want of means in the utter destitution wherein it was afterwards left, it was never fortunate enough to perform any splendid or signal service, it deserved this praise, that for patience and constancy under the most trying circumstances, this of all the Spanish armies was that which during the contest deserved most highly of its country. The severest means were used to intimidate the Aragonese, but in vain. ♦Edict against the Junta of Aragon.♦ Suchet, as governor-general of that kingdom for the intrusive government, published a decree, saying, it had come to his knowledge that a set of senseless men, who had the ridiculous audacity to style themselves the Junta of Aragon, had fixed themselves in the village of Manzanera, from whence they endeavoured to disturb the tranquillity of the Aragonese, by their incendiary libels, and despotically took possession of the public revenues and stores: he gave orders, therefore, that they should be pursued, delivered over to a military tribunal, and be sentenced within twenty-four hours: that the people of Manzanera, or of any other place to which they might betake themselves, should drive them out, or, failing so to do, receive an exemplary punishment, the Ayuntamiento and the parochial priest being responsible in their goods and persons for the behaviour of the inhabitants in this point: every place which received them was to be punished irremissibly, and the authorities to suffer ignominious death by the gallows. The Junta of Aragon, to show how they regarded this decree, printed it in their own Gazette, well knowing that nothing could contribute more to keep up that feeling in the nation which it was their duty to encourage and to direct. They called attention also to the important circumstance, that this decree was issued not in the name of Joseph the Intruder, but in that of the emperor of the French, King of Italy, and Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine, of whose intention to include Spain, if he could, among the states subjected to him, no equivocal indication was here afforded. The intrusive government, however deceitful in its promises, was always sincere in its threats. Of this every province had abundant proofs, and none more than ♦Molina de Aragon burnt by the French.♦ that in which Suchet commanded. The city of Molina de Aragon in an especial manner provoked the vengeance of the invaders by the disposition which the inhabitants manifested, who, as often as the French entered it, took refuge in the woods ♦Nov. 1.♦ and mountains: the enemy at length set fire to it on all sides, and three parts of the city were consumed. But acts of this kind, which proved the intention of the invaders to reduce Spain to a desert rather than leave it unsubdued, served only to confirm the Spaniards in that resolution which rendered their subjugation impossible.

While Carvajal impeded Suchet’s operations from the side of Aragon, some efforts were made from Valencia; a province where, with ample means, little exertion had been found, and less ability to direct it. The Regency relied upon the unexhausted resources which existed there, believing that if the Valencian force were well employed, even though it should not undertake any grand operations, Tortosa could not be taken by less than 30,000 men. But when Bassecourt arrived to take the command there, he found the army in a miserable condition both as to equipments and discipline, which might have made him hopeless of success in any other warfare than that desultory one, wherein inexperienced troops may be trusted, and in which nothing is lost if they find or fancy it necessary to disperse and provide every man for his own safety. Some field-pieces had been sent from Valencia to the army of Aragon: the French obtained intelligence of this, and a strong detachment ♦Oct. 31.♦ under the Polish General Chlopisky entered Teruel to intercept this artillery, when General Villacampa, for whom it was intended, was at Alfambra, six hours distant: ... the officer in charge of the guns endeavoured to retreat with them, but was pursued and overtaken at Alventosa, and the whole fell into the enemy’s hands. After this success Chlopisky sought to inflict another blow upon Villacampa’s division, and an affair took place between Villel and La Fuensanta, which the Spaniards considered as a victory on their part, because, though compelled to retire from the ground, they had not been pursued, nor had any dispersion taken place. Somewhat better fortune attended ♦Nov. 12.♦ a maritime expedition from Peñiscola, which was planned by General Doyle and executed by his aide-de-camp, Lieutenant-Colonel San Martin; by this force the strong tower of S. Juan, which commanded the Puerto de los Alfaques, was surprised, and immediately garrisoned and stored; and thus the enemy were deprived of a port in which their corsairs and coasters found protection. A land expedition, undertaken at the same time in the hope of cutting off a French detachment at Trayguera, failed altogether; the French had withdrawn in time, and receiving a timely reinforcement, compelled the Spaniards ♦Defeat of the Valencians at Ulldecona.♦ in their turn to retreat. No loss was sustained in this attempt. General Bassecourt was less fortunate in an enterprise of greater moment; he projected an attack upon Suchet’s army, which if it succeeded, should have the effect of breaking up the siege; ... this general had not yet learnt how little either his men or officers were to be relied on in any combined or extensive operations; in full expectation7 that every thing would be executed as exactly as ♦Nov. 26.♦ it had been planned, he left Peñiscola at night, put himself at the head of his central division, and reaching the bridge over the Servol, beyond Vinaroz, halted there to give time for the movements of his right, under Brigadier Porta, which took the road of Alcanar. Having, as he supposed, allowed a sufficient interval for this, he proceeded towards Ulldecona, and halted a little before five in the morning at a place called Hereu. Here he inspected his troops, and promised them a speedy triumph, when a messenger arrived from Porta, requesting that the signal for attack might be delayed, inasmuch as his division had not been able to get forward with the speed which they had calculated on. Bassecourt waited impatiently a full hour till day began to break; then, as success depended in great measure upon surprising the enemy, he sent his advanced parties forward to attack the French outposts, and directed his cavalry to gallop into the town as soon as the gun should be fired and the rocket discharged that were the signal for attack. General Musnier’s division was quartered here; Bassecourt’s made three attempts to force its position, but not hearing any firing either to the right or left, he perceived that on both sides his combinations had failed, and deemed it therefore necessary to retreat. He succeeded in reaching Vinaroz, ... there Porta joined him with the right column; there he halted to give the harassed troops some rest, and to obtain some intelligence of his left; ... and there the enemy surprised him. The men instantly took to flight, and all that his personal exertions could effect, was to keep a few of the better soldiers together, and, under protection of his cavalry, reach Peñiscola with them.