Chapter XLII: Section 5: Extract from a minute made by captain Codrington

“_Mattaro, July 6, 1811._

“Colonel O’Ronan, aid-du-camp to the marquis of Campo Verde, arrived, and informed me that he came from the marquis, who was on his march to this town or Arens, for the purpose of embarking all the infantry not Catalans, and the whole of the remaining cavalry, leaving the horses on the beach. Colonel O’Ronan said this determination was the result of a junta, composed of the marquis, general St. Juan, general Caro, general Miranda, the general of artillery, brigadier Santa Cruz, Velasco, and Sarsfield; that after the thing had been proposed and discussed a long time, Sarsfield was the first to give his vote, that he rose from his seat and said, ‘any officer who could give such an opinion must be a traitor to his country, and that he and his division would stand or fall with the principality.’ Every other officer was of a contrary opinion, except the marquis (it afterwards appeared that Santa Cruz also supported Sarsfield), who thought with Sarsfield, and yet it seems he allowed himself to be led on by the other generals. _In short, it appears he was resolved to abandon the principality._

“I told him, without hesitation, that to embark the Valencians I felt a duty to general O’Donnel, to the kingdom of Valencia, and to the whole nation, but that I felt it equally my duty upon no account to embark the army of Catalonia, and thus become a party concerned in the abandonment of a province I had been sent to protect.”——“The colonel, who could not venture on shore again lest he should be murdered by the inhabitants of Mattaro, for having been the bearer of a commission to arrest brigadier Milans about a month ago, sent to the marquis my answer.”

_Extract from a minute of information given by the baron
d’Eroles._

“_July 9, 1811._

“The baron d’Eroles was appointed captain-general of Catalonia by the junta of general officers, of which the marquis of Campo Verde was president, and by the voice of the people. His reply was, that so long as the army continued in the principality, and that there was a senior general officer, he would not admit it, but that the moment the army passed the frontier (it was then at Agramunt, in full march to Aragon), he would accept the command, unmindful of the dreadful situation in which he should place himself, but he would do so in order to continue the struggle, and to prevent anarchy and confusion. In this state things were when general Lacy arrived. The baron instantly sought him, could not find, but met one of his aid-du-camps, by whom he wrote to him to say what had occurred, but that he was resolved to support general Lacy in his command, not only with all his local influence, but by his personal exertions, and that he would immediately join him to put this resolution in practice.”

_Extract from general Doyle’s Letter after seeing the above._

“The Valencian division, that is to say, two thousand four hundred of the four thousand three hundred soldiers who disembarked in this province, are now on board to return to Valencia. General Miranda says the desertion took place in consequence of the marquis’s determination to proceed to Aragon, which made them believe they would not be embarked. In short, most disgraceful has been the conduct of this division, and the marquis, as you will see by this letter to me, attaches to it no small portion of blame.”

_Captain Codrington to the marquis of Campo Verde._

“_Blake, July 5, 1811._

“I have to remind you that by ordering the Valencian division out of Taragona, in breach of the terms by which I bound myself when I brought them, you yourself broke the pledge given by me, and dissolved the contract.”

_Extracted from captain Codrington’s papers._

“Minute of a conference betwixt generals Caro and Miranda with
general Doyle and myself this day.

“_July 9, 1811._

“About eight o’clock generals Caro and Miranda came on board the Blake. After being seated in the cabin with general Doyle and myself, general Caro begged general Doyle would explain to me, that they were come in consequence of my promise, to request I would embark the division of Valencian troops which I had brought from Peniscola. I desired to know what promise general Caro understood me to have made? He answered, that I would take the above troops back to Valencia. I denied positively that I had made any promise to re-embark them if they should ever join the marquis of Campo Verde, although I had deeply pledged myself to restore them to general O’Donnel if they joined in a sortie from the garrison, which I was very confident would be decisive of its success. I then referred general Miranda to a similar explanation, which I gave to him, through general Doyle, on the day after our quitting Peniscola, when he had said he was ordered, both by his written instructions and by verbal explanation from general O’Donnel, not to land within the garrison. General Miranda instantly repeated that so he was; upon which general Doyle, to whom he had shewn those instructions jointly with myself, after leaving Taragona for Villa Nueva, when under a difficulty as to how he should proceed, referred him to them again, when it appearing that he was therein positively ordered ‘desembarear en la plaza de Tarragona,’ general Doyle stopped.

“_General Miranda._ ‘Ah! but read on.’

“_General Doyle._ ‘No, sir, there is the positive proof of your receiving such an order.’

“_General Miranda._ ‘Well, but read on.’

“_General Doyle_. ‘No, sir. This (_pointing to the paper_) is the positive proof of your receiving such an order, which we wanted to establish, because you positively denied it.’

“Upon this general Caro, shrugging up his shoulders, said, ‘he was not aware of there being any such order.’ And general Miranda again requested general Doyle would read on.

“_General Doyle._ ‘For what purpose?’

“_General Miranda._ ‘To prove that I was not to shut myself up with the division in the plaza de Taragona.’

“_General Doyle._ ‘There is no occasion, sir, for any proof of that, for it was a part of the very stipulation made by captain Codrington when he strongly pledged himself to general O’Donnel.’

“General Doyle continued,——‘And now, general Caro, that we have proved to you that general Miranda _had_ orders to land in Taragona, and that captain Codrington is bound by no such promise as you had imagined, I must inform you that he has been eight days upon the coast with all the ships of war and transports which are wanted for other services, for the sole purpose of embarking these troops; and he desires me to add that in consideration of what is due to the liberal and exemplary assistance afforded by general O’Donnel and Valencia in aid of Taragona, but not at all on account of any pledge he has been said to have given, that he will use the same exertion in re-embarking and restoring the troops which he would have done if so bound by his word of honour.’”

_Mr. Wellesley to lord Wellesley._

“_July 28._

“The morning of 30th of June, a few hours after the arrival of the British squadron and Spanish vessels in the roadstead of Villa Nueva, five thousand French infantry and five hundred cavalry surprised the place by a night-march, and seized all the property of Taragona, which had been sent there before the siege. Twenty-five thousand dollars for each of the next three months was demanded, but no violence or plunder allowed. Eroles narrowly escaped. Lacy, appointed to command in Catalonia, arrived 1st July at Villa Nueva, the 6th went to Igualada to join Campo Verde.”

“Desertion in the army at Mataro has been carried to a most alarming extent since the fall of Taragona; the first night fifteen hundred men disappeared, nearly three hundred cavalry had likewise set off towards Aragon; and these desertions are to be attributed to the gross neglect and want of activity on the part of the officers.”————“The only division that keeps together in any tolerable order is that of general Sarsfield, of about two thousand men.”————“He had however disputes with Eroles, and the people called for the latter to lead them.”

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No. III.