PROCEEDINGS IN ENGLAND. SUCCESSES OF THE FRENCH IN THE NORTH OF
SPAIN: THEIR FAILURE IN CATALONIA. MONCEY REPULSED FROM VALENCIA.
DUPONT ENTERS CORDOBA. BATTLE OF RIO SECO. THE INTRUDER ENTERS
MADRID. SURRENDER OF DUPONT’S ARMY. THE FRENCH RETREAT FROM
MADRID.
♦1808.
FEELINGS OF THE ENGLISH PEOPLE CONCERNING THE TRANSACTIONS IN SPAIN.♦
The first news which reached England of the Spanish insurrection
was brought by the Asturian deputies, and it was soon followed
by dispatches from Coruña, Cadiz, and Gibraltar. Never was any
intelligence received with more general joy. Notwithstanding the
frequent hostilities in which Spain had been involved with this
country, first, during the age of its power; then through its connexion
with the Bourbons; and afterwards from the ascendance which the
Directory and Buonaparte had obtained over an infamous minister, an
imbecile King, and a wretched government, the English had always
regarded the Spaniards as the most honourable people with whom they
were engaged either in commerce or in war; nor was there ever a war
in which some new instance of honour and generosity on their part did
not make us regret that they were our enemies. Hitherto the present
contest had been carried on with little hope. ♦1808. JUNE.♦ No other
sympathy than that of mere political interest had as yet been felt
in our alliances with Austria or Russia; but, from the moment when
the Spaniards called upon us for aid, we felt that we had obtained
allies worthy of our own good cause, and the struggle assumed a higher
and holier character. It became, avowedly and plainly to every man’s
understanding, a war for all good principles; and we looked on to the
end with faith as well as hope. Never since the glorious morning of the
French revolution, before one bloody cloud had risen to overcast the
deceitful promise of its beauty, had the heart of England been affected
with so generous and universal a joy. They who had been panic-stricken
by the atrocities of the French demagogues, rejoiced to perceive the
uniform and dignified order which the Spaniards observed in their
proceedings, and their adherence to existing establishments; ... firmer
minds, in whom the love of liberty had not been weakened by the horrors
which a licentious and unprincipled people committed under that sacred
name, were delighted that the Spaniards recurred with one accord to
those legitimate forms of freedom, which a paralyzing despotism had
so long suspended; the people universally longed to assist a nation
who had risen in defence of their native land; and professional
politicians, not having time to consider, nor being able to foresee in
what manner these great events would affect their own party purposes,
partook of the popular feeling.
♦PROCEEDINGS IN PARLIAMENT.
JUNE 15.♦
The first parliamentary notice of these proceedings was by a speech of
Mr. Sheridan’s, made by him for the purpose of stimulating the ministry
to a vigorous co-operation with the Spaniards. “There had never,” he
said, “existed so happy an opportunity for Great Britain to strike a
bold stroke for the rescue of the world. Hitherto, Buonaparte had run
a victorious race, because he had contended against princes without
dignity, ministers without wisdom, and countries where the people were
indifferent as to his success; he had yet to learn what it was to
fight against a people who were animated with one spirit against him.
Now was the time to stand up, fully and fairly, for the deliverance
of Europe; and, if the ministry would co-operate effectually with
the Spanish patriots, they should receive from him as cordial and as
sincere a support, as if the man whom he most loved were restored to
life and power. Will not (said he) the animation of the Spanish mind be
excited by the knowledge that their cause is espoused, not by ministers
alone, but by the parliament and the people of England? If there be a
disposition in Spain to resent the insults and injuries, too enormous
to be described by language, which they have endured from the tyrant
of the earth, will not that disposition be roused to the most sublime
exertion by the assurance that their efforts will be cordially aided
by a great and powerful nation? Never was any thing so brave, so
generous, so noble, as the conduct of the Spaniards! Never was there
a more important crisis than that which their patriotism had thus
occasioned in the state of Europe!”
Mr. Canning replied, that his Majesty’s ministers saw, with the most
deep and lively interest, this noble struggle against the unexampled
atrocity of France; and that there was the strongest disposition on
the part of government to afford every practicable aid in a contest
so magnanimous. In endeavouring to afford this aid, he said, it would
never occur to them that a state of war existed between Spain and
Great Britain. They should proceed upon the principle, that any nation
who started up with a determination to oppose a power, which, whether
professing insidious peace, or declaring open war, was the common enemy
of all nations, ... whatever might be the existing political relations
of that nation with Great Britain, became instantly our essential ally.
As for what were called peculiarly British interests, he disclaimed
them as any part of the considerations which influenced government.
In this contest, wherein Spain had embarked, no interest could be so
purely British as Spanish success; no conquest so advantageous for
Great Britain as conquering from France the complete integrity of the
Spanish dominions in every quarter of the world. This declaration
satisfied Mr. Whitbread; but that gentleman thought proper to
deprecate the tone in which the Emperor Napoleon was spoken of, saying,
that, when he heard him called despot, tyrant, plunderer, and common
enemy of mankind, he wished from his heart England could come into the
cause with clean hands.
♦JUNE 4. MR. WHITBREAD PROPOSES TO NEGOTIATE WITH FRANCE.♦
A few days after this debate, Mr. Whitbread, in a speech upon the
state of the empire, took occasion to refer to an opinion concerning
peace, which he had delivered early in the session. “I then stated,”
said he, “that it did not appear to me degrading for this country
to propose a negotiation for peace with France: at no period of
the interval which has elapsed, has it appeared to me that such a
proposition would be degrading; nor can I anticipate, during the
recess which is about to take place, any circumstance, the occurrence
of which can, by possibility, render it unexpedient or degrading to
open such a negotiation.” The common feeling and common sense of the
country were shocked at the mention of negotiating with Buonaparte,
just at the moment when his unexampled treachery towards an ally was
the theme of universal execration; and when a whole nation had just
arisen against his insolent aggression. ♦JULY 4. MR. WHITBREAD SPEAKS
IN FAVOUR OF THE SPANIARDS.♦ Mr. Whitbread felt that he had injured
himself in the opinion of the people, and therefore, on the last day
of the session, took occasion to express his admiration of the Spanish
patriots; and to regret that ministers had not applied for a vote of
credit, which would enable them more effectually to second the wishes
of all ranks of Englishmen, by aiding and assisting the Spaniards.
“Had such a message,” he said, “been sent down, it would have been met
with unanimous concurrence; and that concurrence would have been echoed
throughout the country. The Spanish nation was now committed with
France: never were a people engaged in a more arduous and honourable
struggle; and he earnestly prayed God to crown their efforts with a
success as signal as those efforts were glorious. He could not help
thinking, that it would have been well to have given an opportunity of
manifesting to them the sympathy which glowed in every British heart,
through the proper channel, the legitimate organ of the British people.
For himself, from the bottom of his soul, he wished success to the
patriotic efforts of the Spaniards; and that their present struggle
might be crowned with the recovery of their liberty as a people, and
the assertion of their independence.”
♦MR. WHITBREAD’S LETTER TO LORD HOLLAND.♦
As a farther avowal of these sentiments, Mr. Whitbread addressed a
letter, on the situation of Spain, to Lord Holland; “the subject,” he
said, “being peculiarly interesting to that distinguished nobleman,
from the attachment he had formed to a people, the grandeur of whose
character he had had the opportunity to estimate, and to which he
had always done justice, even when that character was obscured by
the faults of a bad government.” Having repeated his professions of
ardent sympathy with the Spaniards, he recurred to his proposal for
negotiating. “It has been falsely and basely stated,” said he, “that
I advised the purchase of peace by the abandonment of the heroic
Spaniards to their fate. God forbid! A notion so detestable never
entered my imagination. Perish the man who could entertain it! Perish
this country, rather than its safety should be owing to a compromise
so horridly iniquitous! My feelings, at the time I spoke, ran in a
direction totally opposite to any thing so disgusting and abominable.
I am not, however,” he pursued, “afraid to say, that the present
is a moment in which I think negotiation might be proposed to the
Emperor of the French by Great Britain, with the certainty of this
great advantage, that if the negotiation should be refused, we should
be at least sure of being _right_ in the eyes of God and man; an
advantage which, in my opinion, we have never yet possessed, from the
commencement of the contest to the present hour; and the value of which
is far beyond all calculation.”
In vindicating himself from the imputation of regarding the cause of
the Spaniards with indifference, Mr. Whitbread succeeded for the time;
but, in other respects, this letter lowered him in the opinion of
judicious minds. The folly of wasting time in a farce of negotiation;
the certainty that such delay would injure the Spaniards, and the
probability that it might induce them to regard us with a suspicion,
which such conduct would render reasonable; above all, the absurdity
of proposing to treat with the tyrant at the very time when he was
perpetrating the most flagrant breach of treaties; when he had proved
in the eyes of all Europe, that no treaties, no alliances, no ties
of public faith, or individual honour, could restrain him, ... were
so glaring to every man’s understanding, that Mr. Whitbread’s advice
appeared like absolute infatuation. So far, indeed, from opening a
negotiation at that time, and on these grounds, with the Corsican, it
behoved the British Government then to have made the war a personal
war against him, ... to have proclaimed loudly before God and the
world, that this country never would treat with a man who had avowed
his contempt for the laws of nations; and given open proof that he
made treaties only for the purpose of more securely effecting the
destruction of those who were credulous enough to rely upon his faith.
Then was the time to have appealed to the French people themselves....
The Spanish war was a war of the Buonaparte family, not of France.
Hitherto, Buonaparte and his immediate agents were the only persons
implicated in the infamy of this unexampled treachery and usurpation.
Would France appropriate that infamy to herself? Would she, for the
sake of this foreign family, entail upon herself the privations, the
sacrifices, and the hazards of interminable war? To France we offered
peace, under any other ruler; we reclaimed none of her conquests; we
asked nothing from her, ... we were ready to restore prosperity to her
merchants, her citizens, and her peasantry; and to open her ports to
the commerce of the world. But peace with Buonaparte was impossible.
How could England, so long the object of his avowed and inveterate
hatred, trust him, when his insatiable ambition did not spare the
oldest, the most faithful, the most serviceable, the most submissive
of his allies and friends! If proclamations to this tenor had been
scattered over the whole coast of France, Buonaparte might have been
endangered by the British press and the force of truth, when he stood
in no fear of any other force. The importance of communicating true
intelligence to the French was manifested by the care with which he
kept them in ignorance, and the shameless falsehoods which continually
appeared in his official papers.
♦MEASURES OF THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT.♦
Arms, ammunition, and clothing were dispatched to the northern
provinces, immediately upon the arrival of the Deputies: men, they
said, they did not want. Colonel Sir Thomas Dyer, Major Roche, and
Captain Patrick, were sent at the same time on a military mission
to Asturias, and Lieut.-Colonel Doyle, Captain Carroll, and Captain
Kennedy, to Galicia. The Spanish prisoners were released and sent home;
and, in the King’s speech, at the close of the ♦JULY 4.♦ session, Spain
was recognised as a natural friend and ally. It was there declared,
“that the British government would make every exertion for the support
of a people thus nobly struggling against the tyranny and usurpation
of France; that it would be guided in the choice and direction of its
exertions by the wishes of those in whose behalf they were employed;
and that, in contributing to the success of this just and glorious
cause, England had no other object than that of preserving unimpaired
the integrity and independence of the Spanish monarchy.” An order
of council appeared on the same day, announcing that hostilities
against Spain had ceased. Nor was Portugal overlooked by the British
government. Lieut.-Colonel Brown, Colonel Trant, and Captain Preval,
were sent to obtain intelligence of the state of affairs in the
northern provinces, and preparations were made for sending an
expedition under Sir Arthur Wellesley, to free that kingdom from the
French; and in thus delivering an old and faithful ally, to operate a
powerful diversion in aid of the Spaniards.
♦MOVEMENTS OF THE FRENCH IN NAVARRE AND OLD CASTILE.♦
The French in Spain, meantime, had acted with their wonted celerity,
and for the most part, at first, with their wonted success. General
Verdier having routed the people who had assembled at Logroño, entered
that town, and put the leaders of the people to death as rioters.
General Frère defeated a body of 5000 men at Segovia, and reduced the
city to submission. Lasalle marched from Burgos upon the little town of
Torquemada, where Queen Juana, in former times, watched during so many
weeks the body of her husband, as jealously as if he had been living;
suffered no woman to approach the church wherein his bier was placed;
and listened eagerly to the knave who flattered her insane affliction
with a tale, that a certain King fourteen years after his death had
been restored to life, and why might not a like miracle be vouchsafed
in compassion to her grief, and in answer to her prayers? Some 6000
Spaniards had gathered together there: ♦TORQUEMADA BURNT.♦ he dispersed
them with great slaughter, and burnt the place; then marched upon
Palencia, disarmed the inhabitants of that city and the vicinity, and
being joined at Duenas by General Merle, proceeded against Valladolid,
which had declared for the national cause.
♦G. CUESTA ATTEMPTS AT FIRST TO QUIET THE PEOPLE.♦
D. Gregorio de la Cuesta, whom Ferdinand had appointed Captain-General
of Castille and Leon, had endeavoured to suppress the spirit of
resistance when it first manifested itself in those kingdoms. He was in
correspondence with Urquijo; and the leaders of that party, who were
considered as the _Liberales_ of Spain before they attached themselves
to the service of the Intruder, reckoned upon his co-operation, and had
already nominated him to the Vice-royalty of Mexico. ♦NELLERTO, T. 2,
P. 203.♦ Cuesta was an old brave man, energetic, hasty, and headstrong:
in the better ages of Spain he would have been capable of great and
terrible actions; and the strong elements of the Spanish character
were strongly marked in his resolute, untractable, and decided temper.
Yet the national spirit was dormant within him till it was awakened by
the voice of the nation. He published a proclamation at Valladolid,
exhorting the people to remain tranquil, and accept the powerful
protection which was offered to the kingdom, and threatening with
punishment all who should attempt to raise disturbances, or take part
in them. And when the _Ayuntamiento_ of Leon applied to him for advice
how to act upon the abdication of the Bourbons, he resented their
application as implying a doubt of his own sentiments; and replied,
that nothing ought to be attempted against the determination of the
Supreme Junta who governed in the Emperor’s name; that the nation ought
peaceably to wait for the King whom Napoleon should appoint; that a
struggle without arms, ammunition, or union, must needs be hopeless;
and that even if any successes were obtained, the leaders would quarrel
among themselves for command, and a civil war must arise, which would
end in the destruction of the kingdom. But when Cuesta saw how strong
the tide of popular feeling had set in, and that what he had looked
upon at first merely as a seditious movement, ♦IMPUGNACION AL MANIFESTO
DEL G. CUESTA, P. 8, 9.♦ ♦HE TAKES THE NATIONAL SIDE.♦ had assumed
the sacred and indubitable character of a national cause, perceiving
then that the choice was not between subordination and anarchy, but
between France and Spain, he chose the better part, and entered into it
heartily, and exerted himself to embody and discipline the impatient
volunteers, who, in their honest hatred of the French, would have
hurried to their own destruction.
♦EVIL OF HIS HESITATION.♦
But great evil arose from the resistance which he had opposed to
the patriotic cause. Where the principal persons and constituted
authorities declared themselves frankly and freely at first, the zeal
of the people was easily restrained within due bounds, and no excesses
were committed; but wherever the higher orders acted manifestly in
deference to the multitude, and in fear of them, the mob knew that they
were masters, and always abused their power. Thus it was at Valladolid.
General Miguel Cevallos was imprisoned there by Cuesta, as the only
means of preserving him: the ferocious rabble broke in, dragged him
out, and murdered him, and paraded with his head and lacerated limbs
in bloody and abominable triumph through the streets. Nor was this the
only ill consequence: while he advised submission, and endeavoured to
enforce it, time, which should have been employed in uniting, arming,
and training the willing people, was irrecoverably lost; ♦IMPUGNACION,
P. 13.♦ and when the French approached Valladolid, they found Cuesta
at the head of an undisciplined assemblage numerous enough and brave
enough to raise a vain and unreasonable confidence in themselves, and
perhaps in him. ♦HE IS DEFEATED AT CABEZON.♦ They had taken post at
Cabezon, a village surrounded with vineyards, two leagues from the
city. Lasalle having reconnoitred their position, ordered General
Sabatier to charge them, while Merle cut off their retreat from
Valladolid. According to the French account they stood the enemy’s fire
half an hour, then took to flight, leaving upon the ground a thousand
dead (the seventh part of their number), and 4000 muskets. Cuesta, with
the remains of his army, retired to the borders of Leon, defeated,
but not discouraged. ♦THE FRENCH ENTER VALLADOLID.♦ Valladolid was
now at the conqueror’s mercy; and the Bishop, with the other heads of
the clergy, came out to intercede for it. The people were disarmed,
the adjoining country was kept down by military force, and deputies
from Valladolid, Segovia, and Palencia were sent to Bayonne to solicit
the Emperor’s clemency, and pledge themselves for the allegiance of
their fellow citizens. Two detachments under Generals Merle and Ducos
were then ordered into the Montañas de Santander by different routes.
The patriots, consisting almost wholly of untrained volunteers, were
beaten at Lantueño, at Soncello, and at Venta del Escudo. ♦THEY ENTER
SANTANDER.♦ The two detachments entered the city on the same day,
and Santander also was compelled to send deputies with promises of
submission to Bayonne. By these operations Marshal Bessieres kept
Navarre and the three Biscayan provinces in subjection, and, for the
time, reduced the Montaña and the greater part of Old Castile.
♦G. LEFEBVRE DESNOUETTES DEFEATS THE ARAGONESE.♦
The movements of the French had not been less successful on the side
of Aragon. General Lefebvre Desnouettes was ordered to suppress the
insurrection in that kingdom. He began by arresting D. Francisco
Palafox in Pampluna, who having accompanied Ferdinand to Bayonne as
his chief equerry, was on his way through that city with the supposed
intention of joining his brother. Lefebvre then marched from Pampluna
upon Tudela. Palafox had detached a ♦JUNE 9.♦ body of Aragonese from
Zaragoza, chiefly armed peasantry, to assist the Tudelans in defending
the passage of the Ebro: they were defeated by superior discipline and
superior numbers, their cannon were taken, and Lefebvre having entered
Tudela, put the leaders of the insurrection to death, following, after
Murat’s example, the principle of the tyrant whom he served, that the
Spaniards who opposed him were to be considered and treated as rebels.
The French paid dearly in the end for the insolent barbarity with which
they thus began the war: it called forth the revengeful spirit of the
nation, and the contest assumed a character hateful to humanity, the
guilt and the reproach of which must lie mainly upon those by whom the
provocation was given. Lefebvre then repaired the bridge over the Ebro,
which had been burnt, and advanced to the village of Mallen, where the
Marquis de Lazan, at ♦JUNE 13.♦ the head of ten thousand raw troops,
with two hundred dragoons, and eight ill-mounted cannon, had taken a
position, with the canal of Aragon on the right, and the village on
the left, and supported by an olive grove. A short but bloody action
ensued: brave as the Aragonese were, they were in no condition to
oppose flying artillery, well disciplined troops, and a powerful
cavalry. They were defeated, but not disheartened; and on the following
day sustained another action with the same ill success at Alagon, about
four leagues from Zaragoza. ♦HE MARCHES AGAINST ZARAGOZA.♦ The French
then approached the city, expecting that not more resistance would be
made there than at Valladolid, and that the submission or punishment of
the capital would intimidate the rest of Aragon; this object was to be
aided by a movement from the side of Catalonia.
♦TROOPS SENT FROM BARCELONA TOWARD VALENCIA AND ZARAGOZA.♦
There were between three and four thousand Spanish troops at Barcelona
in the beginning of June; but in a short time there remained scarcely
more than as many hundreds, so rapidly they had deserted, some to
return home, or seek their fortunes, the greater part to serve their
country in these stormy times. The French secretly encouraged this
desertion: so large a force in Barcelona would have rendered a stronger
garrison necessary, and have increased their uneasiness and danger; but
in the field they cared not what number of Spaniards might be collected
against them; the more numerous they were in their present state of
indiscipline, the more easily, and with the greater effect, they might
be defeated. ♦JUNE 3.♦ Being thus rid of their presence, Duhesme was
able to send out more than half his force in two detachments, under
Generals Chabran and Schwartz. The first, who had distinguished himself
in Switzerland against the Austrians in the dreadful campaign of 1799,
was ordered with 4200 men to enter Tarragona, garrison it with a
thousand men, incorporate in his division Wimpffen’s Swiss regiment of
1200 men, which was stationed in the city, and then proceed by way of
Tortosa to co-operate with Marshal Moncey against Valencia. General
Schwartz’s orders were to march with 3800 men by Molins de Rey and
Martorell upon Manresa, and raise upon that city a contribution of
750,000 francs, to be paid within eight and forty hours, and applied
to the service of the division. He was instructed to take means for
putting the promoters of sedition to death, but to pardon them upon
the plea of the Emperor’s clemency. What powder was in the magazines
he was to send to Barcelona, and then to destroy the mills; next he
was to proceed by way of Cervera to Lerida, and get possession of that
city, if it could be done by a sudden attempt; in that case he was
to garrison the castle with 500 men, incorporate with his own troops
the Swiss who were there, and levy a contribution of 600,000 francs,
for the use of Lefebvre’s army, with which he was then to co-operate
according to sealed instructions, which he was to open at Bujaraloz, on
the way to Zaragoza.
♦G. SCHWARTZ MARCHES TOWARD MANRESA.♦
The French plans were widely combined and well concerted. Here,
however, they failed in execution. The people of Manresa and Igualado
received timely intelligence from Barcelona of the intended movements;
the Somatenes, or armed population, were called out, and posted to
wait for the enemy in the strong positions of Bruch and Casa Masana:
powder was served out from those mills at Manresa which Schwartz
intended to destroy; and curtain rods were cut into small pieces, and
distributed instead of bullets. The French lost a day by halting at
Martorell because of the rain: the time which they thus lost was well
employed by the Catalans, and when Schwartz arrived at Bruch a fire
was opened upon him by an enemy concealed among the crags and bushes.
Driven from this pass, after a brave defence, some of the Somatenes
retreated to Igualada, others to Casa Masana; the latter were pursued
and again defeated; they fled with all speed to Manresa, and if
Schwartz had pursued his success he might have reached the city without
opposition; but having met with more resistance than had been looked
for, and perceiving how determined a spirit had been manifested in the
people, he halted, as if doubtful whether to advance or retire. Upon
discovering this irresolution the Somatenes again took heart; and being
reinforced by the peasantry from the plain of Bages, a hardy active
race, and excellent marksmen, they attacked the vanguard of the enemy
at Casa Masana, and drove them back upon the main body of the column
near Bruch.
♦HE IS DEFEATED AT BRUCH, AND RETREATS TO BARCELONA.♦
An odd accident deceived the French. There was among the Somatenes
a drummer, who had escaped from Barcelona: little as the knowledge
was which this lad possessed of military manœuvres, it enabled him
to assume authority among these armed peasants, and he performed the
double duties of drummer and commander with singular good fortune. For
the enemy inferred from the sound of the drum, which was regularly
beaten, that the peasantry were supported by regular troops: ...
there were Swiss in Lerida, and the regiment of Extremadura was at
Tarrega; the apprehension therefore was not unreasonable, and, after a
short stand against a brisk fire, Schwartz determined upon retreating.
The Somatenes, encouraged by success, and now increasing in number,
pressed upon him; and the news of his defeat raised the country behind
him, to his greater danger. He had to pass through the little town of
Esparraguera, consisting of one narrow street, nearly a mile in length.
The inhabitants cut down trees, and brought out tables and benches to
obstruct the way, and they stored the flat roofs of their houses with
beams and stones. The head of the French column, ignorant of these
preparations, entered the street at twilight; but having experienced
the danger, Schwartz divided them into two bodies, one of which made
its way on the outside of the town by the right, the other by the left.
From this time the retreat became disorderly; the enemy lost part of
their artillery in crossing the Abrera; and had the people of Martorell
acted upon the alert like those of Esparraguera, and broken down the
bridge over the Noya, the fugitives, for such they were now become,
might probably all have been cut off. ♦JUNE 7.♦ They entered Barcelona
in great confusion and dismay: their loss was less than might have
been expected in such a route, for the Spaniards had neither horse nor
cannon; they left, however, one piece of artillery in the hands of the
pursuers, and about 400 dead, the greater part being Swiss.
♦G. CHABRAN RECALLED IN CONSEQUENCE OF SCHWARTZ’S DEFEAT.♦
The effects of this action were of great importance. It was the first
success which the Spaniards had obtained, and it had been obtained by
the people without any troops to assist them, ... without any military
leader. The insurrection became general throughout Catalonia as fast
as the tidings spread; the plan of co-operating with Lefebvre against
Zaragoza was disconcerted; and Duhesme, perceiving that it would
require all his force to repress the Catalans, recalled Chabran from
his march toward Valencia. That General had reached Tarragona without
opposition on the day when Schwartz’s routed division re-entered
Barcelona; but receiving orders to return without delay, he could
neither secure that fortress, as had been intended, nor venture to
incorporate the Swiss, who were more likely to take part with the
Spaniards than against them. Meantime the people of the intermediate
country, encouraged by the victory at Bruch, had risen: they began to
harass him at Vendrell, and attempted to maintain a position against
him at Arbos, which they brought artillery to defend. ♦ARBOS BURNT BY
THE FRENCH.♦ Here, however, they were totally defeated; fire was set to
the place, a neat and flourishing agricultural town, two-thirds of the
houses were destroyed by the flames, and cruelties were committed upon
the inhabitants which exasperated the Catalans instead of intimidating
them. Even the people of Arbos themselves, who escaped the enemy,
when they returned to inhabit their half burnt habitations, or the
hovels which they constructed amid the ruins, instead of repenting the
part which they had taken, or bewailing the ruin of their property,
prided themselves in the thought that their town should have been the
first to suffer the full vengeance of the enemy in so glorious and
unquestionable a cause. Duhesme came out to protect the division on its
farther retreat; they halted at S. Feliu de Llobregat, and having been
reinforced, Chabran was ordered to proceed against Manresa, and punish
that city, which was believed to be the centre of the revolution.
♦CHABRAN DEFEATED AT BRUCH.♦ The fatal pass of Bruch was upon the road,
and it was now occupied with some degree of skill. The Catalan Juntas,
conceiving a high opinion of the strength of this position, had used
great exertions to strengthen it; artillery had been planted there,
and the Somatenes were supported by some of the soldiers who had fled
from Barcelona, and by four companies of volunteers from Lerida under
Colonel Baget. Chabran had a stronger detachment than that with which
Schwartz had forced the pass; but after losing some 450 men, and some
of his guns, he deemed it advisable to retreat, and was harassed by the
Catalans almost to the gates of Barcelona.
♦DUHESME ENDEAVOURS TO SECURE GERONA.♦
Duhesme now perceived, that instead of dispatching troops to assist
in the subjugation of Aragon and Valencia, there would be employment
enough in Catalonia for all his force. The French, expecting no
resistance from the people after the government was subdued, had
thought it sufficient to possess themselves of Figueras and Barcelona:
the distance between these places is about fourscore miles, and
they had neglected to secure the intermediate posts of Gerona and
Hostalrich. Duhesme now learnt, not without some alarm, that Figueras
was invested by the peasantry, and that though impregnable to any means
which they could bring against it, it was in danger of being reduced by
famine; thinking, therefore, by a prompt attack upon Gerona to repair
the oversight which had been committed, he drew out a considerable
force from the capital, and marched with it in ♦JUNE 17.♦ person, with
Generals Lecchi and Schwartz, against that city. Intelligence had
been obtained of his intention; and the peasantry of Valles, and the
inhabitants of the sea-shore, posted themselves to oppose his march
on the heights which terminate at Mongat, a small fortress, or rather
strong house, with a battery to protect that part of the coast from the
Barbary corsairs. An armed vessel sailed from Barcelona to act against
this place, in co-operation with the land forces; and Duhesme easily
deceiving his unskilful opponents by demonstrations which drew their
attention from the real point of attack, defeated them, drove them from
the ground, took the strong house, and disgraced his victory by the
cruelty which he exercised upon his prisoners, as well the unarmed
villagers who fell into his hands as those who were taken in action.
♦MATARO SACKED BY THE FRENCH.♦ The people of Mataro, not intimidated by
the enemy’s success, defended the entrance of their town: the French
general, in revenge for the loss which the head of his column sustained
in forcing it, gave up this rich and flourishing place, containing
above 25,000 inhabitants, to be sacked by his troops; and the men were
not withheld from committing the foulest atrocities by ♦CABANES. 1. P.
63.♦ the recollection, that they had recently been quartered during two
months in that very town as allies and guests, among the people who now
found no mercy at their hands.
♦FAILURE OF THE ATTEMPT ON GERONA.♦
Duhesme proceeded plundering, burning, and destroying as he went
along. On the morning of the 20th he appeared before Gerona, sacked
the adjoining villages of Salt and S. Eugenia, opened a battery upon
the city with the hope of intimidating the inhabitants, endeavoured to
force the Puerta del Carmen without success, and was in like manner
repulsed from the fort of the Capuchins. A second battery was opened
with more effect in the evening, and its fire was kept up during the
night, which was so dark that none of the besiegers’ movements could
be distinguished. They attempted to scale the bulwark of S. Clara,
and some succeeded in getting upon the wall; these were encountered
there by part of the regiment of Ulster, and their fate deterred their
comrades from following them. The people of Gerona evinced that night
what might be expected from them when they were put to the proof. The
clergy were present wherever the fire was hottest, encouraging the men
by example as well as by exhortations; and the women, regardless of
danger, carried food and ammunition to their husbands, and fathers,
and brothers, and sons. Without the city the Somatenes collected in
such force, that they prevented the French from fording the river Ter,
which they repeatedly attempted, with the intention, it was supposed,
of proceeding to relieve Figueras. Duhesme employed artifice as well
as force: he sent proposals at various times to the Junta; and some of
his messengers were seized and detained as prisoners, for endeavouring
when they entered the city to distribute proclamations from Bayonne,
and from the government of Madrid. Finding, however, that the place
was not to be taken by a sudden assault, and not being prepared to
undertake a regular siege, he deemed it expedient to return on the
following day towards Barcelona, after no inconsiderable loss in men as
well as in reputation. ♦FIGUERAS RELIEVED BY THE FRENCH.♦ This repulse
would have drawn after it the loss of Figueras, if the Catalans could
have collected a regular force on that side. They blockaded it with
the Somatenes of Ampurdan, assisted by a few troops from Rosas: the
garrison consisted of only 1000 men; had they been more, the place must
have fallen, for the French had had no time to introduce provisions,
and they were reduced to half allowance. Not being strong enough to
sally against the besiegers, they revenged themselves upon the town,
and laid about two-thirds of it in ruins. At length the relief which
their countrymen in Spain could not effect was brought to them from
France. General Reille being made acquainted with their distress,
collected 3000 ♦JULY 3.♦ men at Bellegarde, and putting the Somatenes
to flight with that force, introduced a large convoy of provisions, and
reinforced the garrison.
♦MOVEMENTS OF M. MONCEY AGAINST VALENCIA.♦
The preservation of Figueras by the French was an event of more
importance in reality than in appearance; but at this time appearances
and immediate effect were what they stood in need of to maintain
that opinion of their power which had been so rudely shaken by this
national resistance. It was part of their plans, that, while Lefebvre
chastised Zaragoza, and terrified Aragon by the fate of its capital,
a similar blow should be struck in the south by Marshal Moncey. For
this purpose he collected a force of 12,000 men besides cavalry in
the province of Cuenca. The Spaniards were doubtful whether his march
would be directed against Murcia, where Count Florida Blanca coming at
the age of fourscore from the retirement in which he had hoped to pass
the remainder of his honourable age in piety and peace, had proclaimed
Ferdinand, and hoisted the standard of independence; or against
Valencia, where the inhabitants had reason to expect severe vengeance
for the massacre which had been committed there. This uncertainty
produced no evil when the Spaniards had no armies on foot, and every
province was left to its own resources. ♦DEFEAT OF THE SPANIARDS.♦
Valencia was the point of most importance; the people were more willing
to meet the danger than to wait for it; and with such a force as could
be raised of peasantry, new levies, and a few regular troops, they
occupied the entrance of a defile near Contreras, and the bridge over
the river Cabriel. ♦JUNE 21.♦ They were forced from thence with the
loss of four pieces of cannon, the whole of their artillery; but they
were not pursued like a routed enemy: the French deemed it expedient
to proceed with caution in a country where the whole population was
decidedly hostile, and the Spaniards took up a second and stronger
position at Las Cabrillas, and in front of Las Siete Aguas. ♦JUNE 24.♦
There also they were unable to withstand the attack of disciplined
troops, well commanded, and well supplied with all the means of war;
yet they made a brave resistance, retreating from one position to
another; and when they fell back upon Valencia, as they had no cause
for shame, they brought with them no feeling of despondency, and
communicated no dismay, with which the arrival of a beaten army might
under other circumstances have infected the people.
♦HE APPROACHES THE CITY.♦
Moncey, on the other hand, had found a more determined resistance than
he expected, and was disappointed of the succours which should have
joined him from Catalonia. He has been censured for not advancing
against the city with the utmost expedition, before the people had time
to make preparations for resisting him; but knowing the anarchy which
prevailed there, he might not unreasonably think that an interval of
delay would either abate their ardour, or increase their confusion; if
he failed to intimidate them into submission, he had reason to believe
that the gates would be betrayed to him; and if the traitors who had
engaged to perform this service should be detected, or fail in the
execution, even in that case a successful resistance could hardly have
been contemplated by him as a possibility. In a military view Valencia
indeed must then have appeared incapable of defence. Suburbs nearly as
large as the city itself had grown up round the whole circle of its old
brick walls, and the citadel was small, ill fortified, and altogether
useless. In so large a city, for the population exceeded 80,000, a
besieger might reckon upon the wealth, the fears, and the helplessness
of a great portion of its inhabitants; and perhaps he might undervalue
a people whom travellers had represented as relaxed by the effects of
a delicious climate, by which, according to the proverbial reproach of
their Castillian neighbours, all things were so debilitated, that in
Valencia the meat was grass, the grass water, the men women, and the
women nothing.
♦PREPARATIONS FOR DEFENCE.♦
On the day after his second victory Moncey wrote from his
head-quarters at La Venta de Bunol, six leagues from the city, to the
Captain-general, saying, that he was ordered by the Junta of government
at Madrid to enter and restore tranquillity there, and promising to
pardon the atrocious massacre which had been committed if he were
received without opposition. The Junta appealed to the people with a
spirit that inspired confidence: the very women exclaimed that death
was better than submission; and Padre Rico, with a sword in one hand
and a crucifix in the other, went through the streets exhorting his
fellow citizens to exert themselves to the utmost, and die, if they
were so called, like martyrs, in the cause of their country. The
public opinion having been decidedly expressed, all persons capable of
bearing arms without exception were ordered to repair to the citadel,
and there provide themselves with weapons. The quantity of muskets was
insufficient for the number who applied, and all the swords, of which
there was a large stock, were delivered out, though many were without
hilts. A few twelve and sixteen pounders, with one twenty-pounder,
were planted at the Puerta del Quarte, where the principal attack was
expected; a great quantity of timber, which had just been floated down
the river, was used in part to form a breastwork at this important
point, and part in blocking up the entrance of the streets within the
walls. The other gates were fortified, though less formidably; and the
ensuing day was employed in filling the ditches with water, and cutting
trenches across the road to impede the enemy’s approach.
So little were the Valencians disheartened by their preceding defeats,
that even now they would not wait for the French within their vantage
ground. ♦THE SPANIARDS DEFEATED AT QUARTE.♦ On the evening of the
27th Moncey found some 3000 of them under D. Joseph Caro, brother of
the Marquis de Romana, posted about six miles from the city, behind
the canal at the village of Quarte, where they had broken down the
bridge. A severe action ensued: the mulberry trees, with which that
delightful country is thickly planted, afforded cover to the Valencian
marksmen, and before they were dislodged and defeated, the number
of slain on both sides amounted to 1500. At eleven on the following
morning the advanced guard of the city came in with the expected
intelligence that the enemy were close at hand; and shortly afterwards
a flag of truce arrived with a summons, saying, that if the French
were permitted to enter peaceably, persons and property should be
respected; but otherwise they would force their way with fire and
sword. A short time for farther preparations was gained by assembling
the parochial authorities, under the plea of consulting them; and then,
in the name of the people, it was replied, that they preferred death
to any capitulation. Moncey immediately gave orders for the attack. A
smuggler, who, for the purpose of better concealing his intentions,
affected to put himself foremost among the patriots, had undertaken
to deliver up the battery upon which the Valencians depended in great
part for their defence, and which they had placed under the patronage
of St. Catharine. He had engaged a sufficient number of accomplices;
but the treason had been discovered on the preceding night: he and
his associates were put to death; and when the French approached the
battery, instead of finding it manned by traitors, they were received
with a brisk and well-sustained fire.
♦THEY REPULSE THE FRENCH FROM VALENCIA.♦
The approach to the Puerta del Quarte was by a broad street leading
straight for the gate. The Spanish commander, by a bold stratagem,
ordered the gate to be opened; and when the French hastened forward,
thinking either that their agents had done this, or that it was a
mark of submission, a fire of grape was opened upon them, with effect
equal to the most sanguine hopes of the defenders. The enemy drew
back, leaving the ground covered with their dead. They then directed
their efforts against the weakest point of the whole weak circuit
of the walls, ... so well were they always acquainted with whatever
local circumstances might contribute to the success of their military
operations. It was where the old gate of S. Lucia had been built up;
but the battery which they erected against it had scarcely begun
to play, before a well-directed fire from the Puerta de S. Vicente
dismounted the guns, and killed the men who were employed there.
It was now manifest from the determined spirit of the Valencians,
that if Moncey could have forced his way within the walls, his army
was not numerous enough for the civic war which it would have been
compelled to wage from house to house, and from street to street. After
persevering in vain attempts from one till eight in the evening, he
became convinced of this unwelcome truth, and withdrew for the night
to his head-quarters between Mislate and Quarte, about a league from
the city. ♦MONCEY RETREATS INTO CASTILLE.♦ To maintain his position
there was impossible: he retreated, leaving part of his artillery, and
suffering from the peasantry, and the parties who harassed his retreat,
that vengeance which Murat had provoked, and which the conduct of the
French wherever they were successful had exasperated. An attempt was
made to intercept him on his way, and inclose him between the Valencian
and Murcian forces: the plan was well conceived, and he had twice to
attack and defeat the enemy, who had taken post in his rear, before he
could reach Almanza. He had now effected his retreat out of the kingdom
of Valencia, but his position was still so insecure, that it was deemed
necessary to fall back from Almanza to S. Clemente, nearer the main
force of the French in the two Castilles; there while the Valencians
were exulting in the deliverance which they had obtained, he collected
artillery and stores, and waited for reinforcements which would enable
him to renew the attack with means that might ensure success.
♦MOVEMENTS OF THE FRENCH IN ANDALUSIA.♦
The failure of the French in Valencia would have been amply compensated
if they could have reduced Andalusia to obedience, and for this more
important object greater and more commensurate efforts were made. One
of the first acts of Murat after he reached Madrid had been to prepare
for securing Cadiz. General Dupont was appointed governor of that city
soon after the abdications at Bayonne had been effected; and he had
commenced his march towards the south, when he was diverted to Toledo,
to repress some tumults by which the people there had manifested their
temper, before the insurrection in the capital kindled the whole
kingdom. The apprehension of that insurrection, or the determined
intention of provoking some such crisis, made Murat deem it expedient
to keep the whole of his force within call. Dupont, therefore, was
detained at Toledo; but when the disposition of the Andalusians was
known, and fears were entertained for the French squadron at Cadiz, he
was dispatched thither with a force esteemed fully equal to a service
which, momentous as it was, was not thought difficult to be performed.
He began his march at the end of May, and crossing the Sierra Morena
without opposition, arrived on the third of June at Andujar. There
he obtained the unwelcome intelligence that a Junta had been formed
at Seville, and that not that province alone, but Granada, Cordoba,
and Jaen also had declared against the French. Proceeding, therefore,
now, as in an enemy’s country, he occupied Montoro, El Carpio, and
Bujalance, and throwing a bridge over the Guadalquivir at El Carpio,
passed some of his corps to the right bank, and proceeded with the main
body along the left to the bridge of Alcolea, where the Spaniards
had taken a strong position. ♦G. DUPONT DEFEATS THE SPANIARDS AT THE
BRIDGE OF ALCOLEA.♦ The bridge is very long, consisting of twenty
arches, constructed of black marble; and the Spaniards had erected
a redoubt to command the approach. They had planted some batteries
upon an eminence, and confiding in these defences, had not thought it
necessary to destroy the bridge. Want of skill, rather than of courage,
rendered these preparations ineffectual: the _tête-du-pont_ and the
village were carried after a brave resistance. The way was now open;
but when the French began to pass, a fire was opened which swept the
bridge, and made the bravest of the assailants for a moment hesitate.
A lieutenant of grenadiers, by name Ratelot, whose courage was worthy
of a better cause, advanced to the middle of the bridge alone, and
placing his hat upon his sword, waved it over his head, crying _Vive
L’Empereur!_ and calling his comrades to follow him. His example roused
a brave spirit, which was only the more excited by the sight of his
death. They crossed, and attacked the Spaniards with all the advantages
which discipline gives to courage; and at the same time the division
which had passed the river at El Carpio came up, and falling upon their
left, completed their defeat. The French without delay advanced against
Cordoba. A camp had been formed before that city with the intention of
defending it; but the routed troops brought dismay with them; and the
Cordobans, at the approach of danger, chose rather to rely upon their
walls than their lines. Among the arms which they abandoned there were
many of English manufacture, and others which, for their antiquity and
unusual form, became objects of curiosity to the conquerors. ♦CORDOBA
ENTERED AND PILLAGED BY THE FRENCH.♦ Resolute men might have defended
weaker walls than those of Cordoba, which were partly the work of the
Romans, partly of the Moors; but stronger fortifications would not have
afforded security unless they had been better defended. In two hours
the gates were forced, the troops and the new levies retreated or fled
towards Ecija, and the city was at Dupont’s mercy.
♦DUPONT UNABLE TO ADVANCE.♦
Though by this easy conquest the French were enabled to enrich
themselves with pillage, they were far from feeling themselves at
ease. The news from Cadiz was of the worst kind; their squadron had
been captured there, and the Spaniards were in communication with the
English. The only considerable body of Spanish troops in the peninsula,
under D. Francisco Xavier Castaños, which had been stationed in the
camp of S. Roque, had heartily entered into the national cause; and
the English from Gibraltar (which in the hands of England was now more
serviceable to Spain than it had ever been made injurious to her)
had assisted him with money, and with arms for the new levies. The
alliance with England enabled the Spaniards also to bring over troops
from Ceuta, who had been sent to garrison that place early in the
year, because of a rumour that the English were intending to attack it.
On all sides the insurrection was spreading; and the armed peasantry
had occupied the passes of the Sierra, to cut him off from retreat
and from reinforcements. He had looked for co-operation from the
side of Portugal. A detachment of Junot’s army was to have proceeded
along the coast of Algarve, and have crossed the Guadiana; a body of
English troops from Gibraltar, sent under General Spencer to Ayamonte,
had defeated this intention. ♦HE IS DISAPPOINTED OF SUCCOURS FROM
PORTUGAL.♦ Junot, therefore, was fain to send them by the circuitous
way of Elvas; but his own situation was now becoming perilous. The
Spaniards under his command contributed to his danger at this time
rather than to his strength. An English squadron off the Tagus kept
him upon the alarm, while it encouraged the hopes of the Portugueze;
and when General Kellerman was ordered to Elvas, the insurrection
at Badajoz made it doubtful whether he would be able to proceed and
effect his march to Cadiz with so small a force as could be spared
from Portugal, and a detachment from Madrid was sent to join with him,
and quell the people of Extremadura. Dupont could not be placed in a
condition to effect the object for which he entered Andalusia, unless
he received strong reinforcements; and Savary, therefore, ordered two
divisions under Generals Vedel and Gobert, a force which was deemed
more than sufficient to secure him against all danger, even if it
should not be equal to the subjugation of the whole province.
♦REINFORCEMENTS FROM MADRID JOIN HIM.♦
These troops did not effect their junction without experiencing proofs
of the national feeling, which might have taught them in how severe
as well as hateful a contest the insatiable ambition of Buonaparte
had wantonly engaged them. In passing through La Mancha they found
that the sick, whom Dupont had left at Manzanares, had been killed;
and they did not enter the little town of Valdepe as without a severe
contest: the inhabitants embarrassed the invader’s cavalry by chains,
which they stretched across the streets, and kept up a brisk fire
from the houses, from which they were not dislodged till the French
set the town in flames. When the advanced guard attempted to pass the
Sierra Morena, they found an irregular force well posted and entrenched
in the tremendous defiles of that great line of mountains, and they
were compelled to fall back upon the main body. Notwithstanding this
warning, the French entered upon the pass without precaution, in full
confidence that even the strength of the situation would not enable
the Spaniards to withstand them; and this presumption cost them many
lives which might well have been spared. The first brigade and the
cavalry were allowed to pass an ambush, which was laid among the trees
and rocks, in advance of the entrenchment; a fire was then opened
upon the second, and the French suffered three discharges before they
were ready to act in return. Their _Voltigeurs_ then dislodged the
enemy from their vantage ground; the works were forced with a loss,
according to the French account, of 900 on the part of the defendants;
and the invaders leaving a detachment to secure the defiles, crossed
the mountains, and entered Andalusia. Vedel, with his division, was
stationed at Carolina; Gobert occupied the large and ancient village of
Baylen, about four leagues farther on, nearly half way between Vedel
and Dupont, who had his head-quarters at Andujar. A _tête-du-pont_ was
constructed to command the passage of the river there, and another at
the village of Manjibar, between Baylen and Jaen.
♦CUESTA AND BLAKE ADVANCE AGAINST THE FRENCH.♦
While the intrusive government believed that by this junction its army
in Andalusia was so strengthened, that the defeat of the Spaniards was
certain if they could be brought to action, an opportunity was afforded
it of striking a great blow in Castille, by which the way to the
capital was laid open. A force considerable in numbers had been raised
in Galicia, and arms and stores in abundance had now been supplied by
Great Britain. Filangieri exerted himself in training these new levies,
and gave orders for forming entrenchments at Manzanal; a position of
extraordinary strength on the heights above Astorga. Whether this
preparation for defensive war, when the people were too eager to be
led against the enemy, renewed the suspicions which his conduct on St.
Ferdinand’s day had excited; or whether private malice, as has been
asserted, was at work for his destruction; he was murdered by some of
his soldiers at Villa Franca, in the Bierzo, and the command of the
Galician army then devolved upon D. Joaquin Blake, an officer of Irish
parentage. Advancing to Benevente he formed a junction with the army
of Castille and Leon, which Cuesta, with that characteristic energy
which on such occasions he was capable of exerting, had collected after
his defeat at Cabezon. The two generals disagreed in opinion; Blake
dreaded the discipline of the French, and would therefore have avoided
a general action; Cuesta relied upon the courage of his countrymen,
and was eager to engage: he took the command, as being superior in
rank, and they proceeded, in no good understanding with each other,
in a direction which threatened Burgos. Nothing could have been more
conformable to the wishes of the enemy; and Marshal Bessieres, in the
expectation of sure victory, marched against them with the divisions of
Generals Mouton and Merle, and General Lasalles’ division of cavalry,
in all 12,000 men.
♦M. BESSIERES DEFEATS THEM AT RIO SECO.
JULY 14.♦
He found them posted near Medina del Rio Seco, an ancient, and, in
former days, a flourishing city, and containing now in its decay some
8000 inhabitants. The numbers of the Spanish army have been variously
stated from 14,000 to 40,000. They attacked the enemy’s infantry
with such determined ardour that they forced them to give way; won
four pieces of artillery, spiked them, and set up their shout of
victory, ... too soon; for the French cavalry charged their left wing,
and by their great superiority decided the day, but not till after
a most severe contest. Few bloodier battles have ever been fought
in proportion to the numbers in the field, even if the force of the
Spaniards be taken at its highest estimate: upon the best authority,
that of the neighbouring priests, it is affirmed that 27,000 bodies
were buried. The stores and artillery were taken, but the victors were
not in a condition to complete the rout of the defeated army, and take
advantage of the dissension between the two generals.
♦THE WAY TO MADRID OPENED BY THIS VICTORY.♦
When Buonaparte received intelligence of this victory, he said, “it
is the battle of Villa Viciosa. Bessieres has placed Joseph upon the
throne:” and calculating with contempt the farther resistance which
might be expected, he added, “Spain has now some 15,000 men left, and
some old blockhead to command them.” Little did he know of Spain and of
the Spaniards. The battle of Rio Seco did not intimidate even the men
who were defeated there; but the enormities which the French committed
in the city increased, if that were possible, the hatred with which
the whole nation regarded them. The people of that city, unsuspicious
of the future, had illuminated their houses, when the French on their
entrance into the country arrived there, and some of the troops had
been quartered among them. This did not save them from the worst
horrors of war.
♦JOSEPH ENTERS MADRID.♦
The way to Madrid was now open, and the Intruder proceeded on his
journey thither without molestation. He had been proclaimed in that
city on Santiago’s day, and the circumstances had been such as were
little likely to encourage his partizans. The great standard-bearer
and his son withdrew from the capital, rather than incur the guilt
and contract the degradation of bearing part in the ceremony. Joseph
and his train arrived on the evening of the 20th, ... all the troops
being under arms to receive him, a most necessary part of the parade.
Nothing indeed could be more striking than the contrast between the
popular feeling on this day, and on that when Ferdinand, only four
months before, made his entrance as king! Then the streets swarmed with
the population of the whole surrounding country, and all the power
and exertions of the magistrates were required to repress the general
enthusiasm; now what few demonstrations of joy were made were procured
by the direct interference of authority, the officers going from door
to door to call upon the inhabitants, and even with this interference
the houses were but just sufficiently decorated to save the inhabitants
from vexation which they would otherwise have incurred. The money which
was scattered among the populace lay in the streets where it fell, for
the French themselves to pick up; and the theatres, which were thrown
open to the people, were left to be filled by Frenchmen.
♦FEARS OF THE INTRUSIVE GOVERNMENT.♦
Yet every possible means had been used to prepare the metropolis for
his reception, and keep down the spirit of the inhabitants by fraud and
force. The publication of news from the provinces was prevented by the
severest measures, and if any of the patriots’ manifestos found their
way to Madrid, to print, copy, read, or listen to them, was declared
and punished as high treason. A paper was forged in the Bishop of
Santander’s name, recommending the people to receive with gratitude
the King and the army, who were come to regenerate them. Revolution,
they were told, was one of those indispensable remedies which must
be employed when abuses had proceeded to a length which could not be
restricted by the ordinary resources of public law. It was a species of
war declared by the people against their own government to remove the
established authority, when, either from ignorance or disinclination,
it was not exercised for the general advantage. Happily for Spain,
it was spared the necessity of passing through the calamities which
other countries had experienced in this inevitable process; and it
had only to receive a new government under the authority of the
protector of the nations of Europe. In spite of these artifices and
false representations, in spite also of all the measures taken to keep
the inhabitants in ignorance of what was passing in the provinces,
the agitation of the public continued; and a new edict was issued,
enacting, that all strangers arriving in the metropolis should, within
four and twenty hours, send in their names to the police, with an
account of their occupations, the places from whence they came, and
their motives for visiting Madrid.
♦THE COUNCIL OF CASTILLE DEMUR AT THE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE.♦
The intrusive government had hoped that the battle of Rio Seco, and
the terrible slaughter which had there been made of the Spaniards,
would intimidate the nation, and convince them that all opposition to
the new dynasty must be unavailing. In this expectation they were soon
undeceived. The battle, bloody as it was, proved that the Spaniards
were not to be discouraged by any defeat, however severe; and the
Intruder, on his arrival in Madrid, experienced a resistance in a
quarter where he looked only for pliancy and submission. The Council
of Castille, when it was called upon to swear to the constitution,
demurred; and avowed that it had not circulated the constitutional act,
which it had been ordered to do by an edict from Vittoria: a transfer
of the succession from one family to another, it maintained, could not
be made without the authority and intervention of the nation: nor would
the Members of the Council swear to the new constitution, because they
were not the representatives of the nation; the Cortes were, and the
Cortes had not accepted it. Now it would be a manifest infraction of
the most sacred rights, if in a matter of such importance, relating not
to the introduction of a new law, but to the extinction of all their
former codes, and the formation of new ones in their stead, they should
take an oath of observance before the nation should have signified its
acceptance. The Junta of Bayonne had not been convoked to form codes
and laws, but to treat of the advantages which they could obtain for
the respective bodies or provinces by which they were deputed.
This was the point at which the Council had determined to make their
stand. Many and great concessions they had previously made, yielding
to compulsion, and trusting or hoping that political considerations,
if worthier motives failed, might even yet prevent Buonaparte from
effecting his designs of usurpation. But all temporizing was now at an
end. The oath was to supply the invalidities of the forced abdications,
to cover all the injustice and villany by which the Royal Family had
been ensnared, to sanction the insolent intrusion of a stranger upon
the throne, and bind the nation in honour and in conscience to support
him there. It had already been ordered that no person in any public
employ should receive his salary, or enjoy any of the emoluments
of his office, till he had taken the oath. The Council therefore
resolved now to stand forward, and give an example to those, who,
like themselves, were within the power of the intrusive government,
of the resistance which it was their duty to oppose. Their written
memorial was laid before Joseph Buonaparte, who, upon hearing that the
oath had not been taken, refused to read it, and directed Azanza to
demand of them an immediate compliance with his decree; requiring that
if the Council would not unanimously obey, as many as were obedient,
though they should be the minority, should, without delay, subscribe
the written oath. ♦JULY 26.♦ This order was twice repeated on the
following day; and on the day after, the Council returned a dilatory
reply, stating that it was a matter of conscience, and advising that
as such it should be propounded to the chief universities, or other
bodies or communities, as the Kings of Spain were wont to do in arduous
points, which were to be decided not upon legal reasons alone, but
upon theological considerations also; or that a Junta of the most
approved Canonists and Theologians should be appointed, before whom the
Council would send ministers to dispute the case. When this demand was
delivered strong measures were meditated in return: an example, it was
said, must be made of the Council, which might operate as a warning
to all minor bodies and individuals; and it was generally believed
that they would not escape death or banishment into France. But the
policy of gaining time and trusting to events proved fortunate in this
instance; and they were delivered from danger when all further arts of
procrastination would have failed, by the splendid success of their
countrymen in Andalusia, which compelled the Intruder and his ministers
to consult their own safety by immediate flight.
♦G. CASSAGNE ENTERS JAEN.♦
When Vedel and Gobert had effected their junction with Dupont, it was
thought proper, for the security of his position at Andujar, to occupy
the old city of Jaen, the Aurigi, Oringe, or Oningis of the ancient
Spaniards, in latter ages the capital of a Moorish kingdom, taken from
the Mahommedans by King St. Ferdinand, famous afterwards for its silk
manufactories; and still, though its trade and population had declined,
containing some 12,000 inhabitants. It is situated on the skirts of
the Sierra, and at the foot of Mount Jabaluez, in one of the happiest
parts of a delightful country. The French had already made one of their
plundering visits there; ♦JULY 1.♦ and when General Cassagne was now
sent with a brigade consisting of 1300 men to take possession of the
city and maintain it, a number of armed peasants awaited his approach
among the fields and gardens without the walls. Their defence was ill
planned and ill conducted; they fired their musquets repeatedly before
the enemy were within shot, and took flight at the first discharge of
the French artillery, many of them throwing away their cartridges to
disencumber themselves of any thing which might impede their escape.
The city was entered without any resistance from the inhabitants; and
while one party of the assailants, singing the song of Roland, scaled
the heights to attack an old castle, the others found an easier way
to it through the town: it was abandoned at their approach, and they
placed a garrison there.
♦HE IS COMPELLED TO EVACUATE IT, AND RETURNS TO BAYLEN.♦
The French, conformably to the system upon which they began this wicked
war, put to death the peasants who fell into their hands. One of these
victims excited admiration even in his murderers; he asked for life
in a manner not unbecoming a Spaniard in such a cause: finding that
no mercy was to be expected, he wrapt his cloak around his head and
began his prayers; and when the bullet cut them short, fell and expired
without a cry, or groan, or struggle. These military murders were not
unrevenged. On the first day after the arrival of the French, the
Spaniards increased in number, regular troops came to their assistance,
and some smart skirmishes took place at the outposts. Early on the
ensuing morning they surprised the castle; most of the garrison chose
rather to leap from a high crag, at the imminent hazard of life or
limbs, than to fall into the hands of an enemy to whom they had given
such provocation; the others were put to death, and some of them
barbarously tortured before that relief was given. Encouraged by this
success, the Spaniards entered the city; a terrible fire was kept up
upon the enemy from roofs and windows; the French were driven out,
they formed upon some level ground in front of the town, where the
Spanish cavalry charged them, and their guns were taken and retaken.
The French occupied the same ground from which they had first driven
the peasantry, and which was covered with stubble and with sheaves of
corn, for there had been no time to carry in the harvest when these
invaders approached. The sheaves took fire during the action, the
cartridges which had been left there by the Spaniards exploded, threw
the French into disorder, and killed and scorched many of them; and the
whole field was presently in flames, out of which the wounded in vain
endeavoured to crawl upon their broken limbs.
This action continued from an early hour in the morning till four or
five in the afternoon, when the French again forced their way into the
city; they pillaged it, they committed the foulest enormities upon the
nuns and other women who had not taken flight in time; and in many
places they set the houses and convents on fire. But the invaders
had now learnt in what kind of war they were engaged; that they had
provoked a national resistance, and that victory brought with it so
little advantage, that when they had won the field, they were masters
only of the ground on which they stood. The Spaniards were preparing
for another attack, to avoid which General Cassagne ordered a retreat
under cover of the night. The French families who resided in Jaen,
suffering now for the crimes of their countrymen, abandoned their
property and their homes to save their lives, and put themselves under
the protection of the retreating troops. They had been thrown into
prison on the morning when the invaders were first expelled, and that
precautionary measure on the part of the magistrate might probably
have failed to save them from the fury of an unreasoning multitude. As
many of the wounded as could be carried by the dragoons’ horses were
removed, the rest were left to their fate, for the French had no other
means of transport; but most of those who were removed died on the
way from the heat of the ensuing day’s journey and the pain of their
wounds. ♦MEMOIRES D’UN SOLDAT, T. I. 145–168.♦ Their whole loss, as
stated by themselves, amounted to a fourth part of their number. They
were not pursued, and they effected their retreat to Baylen.
♦PREPARATIONS OF G. CASTAÑOS.♦