Chapter XXII: Appendix: No. III (2)

[12] Sleep after a battle is most welcome; but Baird and his staff were speedily disturbed, and it was communicated to the general that the city was on fire, and outrages were being committed, which he took immediate means to remedy. Having again composed himself to rest, a new alarm disturbed him. “The treasury of Tippoo had been forced, and the soldiers were actually loading themselves with gold.”

It was true. The door generally used was securely guarded; but another had been discovered, and by that the plunderers had obtained access to the treasure. Colonel Wallace found the place crowded with soldiers and one _officer_, all busily employed in pocketing gold and jewel. The individual who disgraced his rank is dead; and Baird, as it is supposed, out of respect to his family, kept his name a secret.

[13] Macleod.

[14] Official statement of Captain Macleod.

[15] Baird’s despatch to Harris.

[16] Dirom’s Campaign.

[17] Above one hundred pieces of artillery were taken at Assaye, and thirty-eight were captured at Argaum.

[18] Wilson.

[19] “It may be a question why the army did not sail direct to Egypt, and the event justifies the supposition that it would have experienced less resistance, since L’Egyptienne, Justice, Régénérée, and Lodi, which carried out important succours of troops and ammunition, had not at that time got into Alexandria.”--_Wilson’s Expedition to Egypt._

[20] “The animals were naturally bad, and in such a shocking state as to make the dragoons feel humiliation in being ordered to take charge of them. Every commanding officer solicited rather to serve with his corps as infantry; but the nature of the service the army was about to be employed on rendered even such more desirable than none. Out of several hundred horses, two hundred were left for the cavalry, fifty for the artillery, and the remainder _shot_, _or sold for a dollar apiece_.”--_Wilson’s Expedition._

[21] EFFECTIVE STRENGTH OF THE EGYPTIAN ARMY.

Guards, Major-General Ludlow.
1st, or Royals, 2nd battalions 54th and 92nd, Major-General Coote.
8th, 13th, 90th, Major-General Craddock.
2nd, or Queen’s, 50th, 79th, Major-General Lord Cavan.
18th, 30th, 44th, 89th, Brigadier-General Doyle.
Minorca, De Rolde’s, Dillon’s, Major-General Stuart.

RESERVE.

40th, Flank Company, 23rd, 28th, 42nd, 58th, Corsican Rangers,
Major-General Moore.

Detachment 11th Dragoons, 12th Dragoons, 26th Dragoons,
Brigadier-General Finch.

Artillery and Prince’s, Brigadier-General Lawson.

[22] The men-of-war brought up exactly in the place where the battle of the Nile was fought, the Foudroyant chafing her cables on the wreck of the French admiral’s ship. The anchor of the L’Orient was crept for and recovered.

[23] On the morning of the 2nd of March, a frigate was seen standing into Alexandria. Pursuit was unavailing; she reached the harbour, and hoisting French colours, proved unequivocally her nation. It will scarcely be credited that a French frigate, finding herself unexpectedly in the midst of an English fleet, should have been so capable directly to disguise herself, as to continue unsuspected on her course with it, which she did the whole day before, answering the various signals made, and yet never attracted the smallest suspicion; nevertheless it is a fact, and must remain on record as an honourable anecdote to the credit of the French captain of the Régénérée. During the night, a brig, the Lodi, also entered, but which was not then known.--_Wilson._

[24] “A bullet which grazes four or five times, as it does on water, will be much more likely to do execution than a direct shot; which may either strike short of the mark, and in the next bound pass far beyond it, or go over without touching at all.”--_Carnot._

[25] “There exists, in fact, but little or no difference between the force of shot fired from a practicable elevation and that fired from a field-piece on a dead level. It is well known to military men, that artillery, firing from an elevated situation on bodies of troops, is less destructive than when firing on nearly the same level. In the former case, the shot can hardly hit more than one or two men; whereas it has been ascertained, that one single horizontal or _rezant_ shot has killed _forty-two_ when formed in close column.”--_Carnot._

[26] “Whilst Sir Ralph Abercrombie _reconnoitred_, the army continued under the most terrible and destructive fire from the enemy’s guns to which troops were ever exposed.” This is Sir Robert Wilson’s statement. Surely, were it necessary to reconnoitre, the troops should have been sheltered from a fire to which, without any possible object, they were uselessly exposed. The truth is, the Peninsular campaign first taught England the art of modern war--and made her army, at its termination, officers and men, the first in Europe.

[27] “Happy would it have been, however, if the army had never advanced beyond the first captured position--as far as that it had gloriously triumphed. The loss which it had sustained was inconsiderable; but it was a fatal movement which brought it so entirely within cannon-shot of the second position, and where it was halted so long. If, instead of finally abandoning so important an object, part of the army had been marched to the left, obliquely over the ground which lay between Lake Maadie and Lake Mariotes, subsequently inundated, and then formed to the right, when the left reached the turn of Pompey’s Pillar, then attacking the south front of the position, whilst the right of the eastern front was attacked at the same time, no doubt can now exist of its having been easily carried and most probably the town of Alexandria. Old and new forts Cretin and Caffarelli could have opposed but little resistance; and if they had held out, must have surrendered long before the arrival of General Menou.”--_Wilson._

[28] “The 13th regiment dug into an aqueduct of running fresh water, well arched over, but the source or outlet of which was never ascertained. The Arabs themselves could give no information, and seemed lost in astonishment when regarding this valuable discovery.”-- _Wilson._

[29] A curious incident occurred immediately afterwards. An aid-de-camp of General Craddock, in carrying orders, had his horse killed, and begged permission of Sir Sydney Smith to mount a horse belonging to his orderly dragoon. As Sir Sydney was turning round to give the order to dismount, a cannon-shot took off the poor fellow’s head. “This,” said the Admiral, “settles the question; Major, the horse is at your service.”

[30] _Flèche_, in field fortification, is a work with two faces, generally used to cover the quarter guards of a camp, or any advanced post, as a tête de pont, &c.

[31] _Echelon_, in military parlance, is the movement of companies or regiments, when each division follows that which preceded it, like the steps of a ladder. It is employed when changing from a _direct_ to an _oblique_ or diagonal formation. The _oblique_ changes are produced by the wheel, less than the quarter circle of division, from line; the _direct_ are effected by a perpendicular and successive march of divisions from line to front or rear.

[32] Wilson.

[33] The pain attendant upon wounds is very uncertain, and depends chiefly on the means by which they have been inflicted. It is said, “that a wound from a grape-shot is less quietly borne than a wound from round-shot or musketry. The latter is seldom known in the night, except from the falling of the individual; whereas the former not unfrequently draws forth loud lamentations.”--_Leith Hay._

[34] In a sandy soil the decomposition of animal matter proceeds slowly. On the landing of the Capitan Pasha in the bay of Aboukir, his army encamped on the beach, near the place where four thousand Turks had formerly perished. They had been interred upon the plain where they had fallen, but, although two years had elapsed, the corruption of the battle-field was intolerable; every hoof-mark baring a corpse in partial putridity, while the clothes remained perfectly entire.

[35] One gun, an Austrian eight-pounder, was lying dismounted in front of the redoubt. In the darkness of the morning it had been too far advanced, and a round of grape from an English twenty-four pounder in battery, had annihilated the men attached to it, and killed the four horses.

* * * * *

The colours bore most honourable inscriptions:--“Le Passage de la Serivia; Le Passage du Tagliamento; Le Passage de l’Isonzo, Le Prise de Graz, Le Pont de Lodi.”

[36] The body was conveyed to Malta in a frigate, and buried in the north-east bastion of Valetta. A black marble slab, with a Latin inscription, marks the place where the ashes of the brave old commander are deposited.

[37] Life of Sir David Baird.

[38] “It is utterly impossible to convey to your lordship an adequate idea of the obstacles which opposed the advance and retarded the success of our army.

* * * * *

“A deep, heavy, and dry sand, covered with shrubs, scarcely pervious by light bodies of infantry; and above all, the total privation of water, under the effect of a burning sun, had nearly exhausted our gallant fellows in the moment of victory; and with the greatest difficulty were we able to reach Reit Valley, where we took up our position for the night.”--_Baird’s Despatches._

[39] _The parapet_ is a part of the rampart elevated six or seven feet above the rest, to cover the troops from fire.

_The banquette_ is four feet lower than the parapet, and two or three higher than the rampart. It is the platform from which musketry is discharged, with the least possible exposure to the soldiers from the fire of the besiegers.

[40] Afterwards, General Ross of Bladensburgh.

[41] Manhes, steadfast in his purpose, and closing his ears to pity, became, by the severity of his measures and the novelty of his punishments, the terror of the Calabrese. He was never known to relax from love of gain; and it is but just towards his character to state, that individual interests were never considered in his proscriptions. Faithful to the views of Murat, he accomplished by persevering activity in less than six months what others had only begun in six years.

Manhes, after having ascertained, commune by commune, the number of wandering brigands, suspended all labour throughout the country. The workmen and their cattle were collected in the villages under protection of the regular troops, and the punishment of death was decreed against any individual found in the country with provisions, unless belonging to the armed columns.

The principal possessors of property received orders to arm and march against the brigands, and were made answerable, number for number, and head for head, not to return to their homes without bringing with them, dead or alive, the brigands of their respective communes.

Pursued by famine and the bayonets of their enemies, the greater number of the fugitives sold their lives dearly. The remainder of these unfortunate creatures, reduced to the last extremity, preferred a certain but immediate death, to the sharp and protracted sufferings of fear and famine. A prodigious number of them were shot. The heads and limbs of the condemned were, after their execution, fixed on pikes, and the road from Reggio to Naples was garnished with these disgusting trophies.

The river Crati, upon the banks of which a crowd of these victims was executed, and which is very shallow at Cozenza, presented for a long time the disgusting spectacle of their mutilated bodies.

The following anecdotes show the determined spirit that animated the leaders of the band.

“Parafanti could not be secured till dead with a hundred wounds. Perched on the ledge of a rock, which afforded him a certain degree of protection, his thighs fractured but his arms free, he sacrificed many to his vengeance. Not one of his discharges failed of effect. His head was exposed at Rogliano, his birth-place.

“Another, who had taken refuge in a mill, set it on fire himself, with his last cartridge, to prevent his being taken alive.

“Nierello was assassinated on the road of Nicastro by one of the civic guard, who pretended to surrender himself to him.

“Paonese, the terror of the environs of Gasparena and of Montanio, fell a sacrifice to the columns of Manhes--and Masotta, Mescio, Giacinto, and Antonio, with many others, shared the same fate.

“Murat was not, like his predecessor, lavish of amnesties; nevertheless, he authorized some; and it was observed that the brigand chiefs who took advantage of them became the most formidable and bitter persecutors of those in whose dangers and whose crimes they had participated.

“Benincasa, chief of the band of St. Braggio, fleeing with four companions from a French detachment, was stopped by the swelling of the river Angitola; they tried to effect their passage on a bullock-car, which, however, was stopped in the middle of the current. To a summons to surrender, they only returned discharges of their muskets. At last, after a long and desperate resistance, being all wounded, and having expended their ammunition, they mutually assisted each other in falling into the river, where their mangled bodies were afterwards found.

“A brigand chief, of the band of Foggia, was condemned to have his wrist severed. The executioner having failed in the first blow, the sufferer begged to be permitted to do it himself. He coolly cut off his hand at one blow, and turning to the executioner, said, ‘Endeavour to learn your trade better.’”--_Memoir of Stuart’s Campaign in Calabria._

[42] Campaign in Calabria.

[43] It is scarcely conceivable how much the effect of artillery depends on the position of the guns, and the accuracy with which they are pointed. One gun, well placed and skilfully served, has been known to do more execution than one hundred when laid in an unfavourable situation. This was most strikingly illustrated in an attack made by Sir Sydney Smith on a martello tower, armed with two heavy guns, and situated on the extremity of Cape Licosa.

The Pompée, of eighty guns, and two frigates, anchored within eight hundred yards of the battery, and opened their broadsides. Their fire was kept up with unremitting fury, until their ammunition failed, and many of the guns had become unserviceable. The battery returned the fire slowly--but every shot took effect. The Pompée was the only object of its fire, and she was at last completely crippled, and obliged to haul off with the loss of her mizen-top-mast, and nearly forty men killed and wounded. Almost every shot had hulled her--while the concentrated fire from three men-of-war had failed entirely in silencing the French cannonnade.

On the tower being afterwards surrendered, it appeared that the carriage of one of the guns had been disabled by the second shot, and subsequently that it had been fired as it lay on the sill of the embrasure,--so that, in point of fact, the batteries of the Pompée and her consorts had been unable to overpower _the fire of a single gun_, and the opposition of a garrison, consisting of one officer and twenty-five soldiers.

[44] Campaign in Calabria.

[45] Life of Sir John Moore.

[46] “At this time, also, that system of warfare began, which soon extended through Spain, and occasioned greater losses to the French than they suffered in all their pitched battles. The first adventurers attracted notice by collecting stragglers from their own dispersed armies, deserters from the enemy, and men who, made desperate by the ruin of their private affairs in the general wreck, were ready for any service in which they could at the same time gratify their just vengeance and find subsistence.” _Southey._--

[47] Marquis of Londonderry.

[48] Written as frequently _De La borde_.

[49] Portuguese light infantry.

[50] CASUALTIES AT ROLICA:--

Killed, 70; wounded, 335; missing, 74; total, 479.--_Wellington’s Despatches._

[51] Guthrie.

[52] CASUALTIES AT VIMIERO:--

Killed, 135; wounded, 534; missing, 51; total, 720.--_Wellington’s Despatches._

[53] Within twelve months from the commencement of the war she sent over to the Spanish armies (besides 2,000,000_l._) 150 pieces of field artillery, 42,000 rounds of ammunition, 200,000 muskets, 61,000 swords, 79,000 pikes, 23,000,000 ball cartridges, 6,000,000 leaden balls, 15,000 barrels of gunpowder, 92,000 suits of clothing, 356,000 sets of accoutrements and pouches, 310,000 pairs of shoes, 37,000 pairs of boots, 40,000 tents, 250,000 yards of cloth, 10,000 sets of camp equipage, 118,000 yards of linen, 50,000 great coats, 50,000 canteens, 54,000 havresacks, with a variety of other stores, far too numerous to be recapitulated.--_Jones’s Account of the War._

[54] “The British General advanced unaided by or in communication with any Spanish force, except the remains of the army of the left, under the Marquis de la Romana, who continued to occupy Leon with that weak and inefficient force;--this, with about five thousand Asturian recruits under General Ballisteros, that had not yet been engaged, being the only Spanish force now in the field in the whole north of Spain. Sir John Moore had no friendly corps to protect his flanks--no reinforcements to expect. He commanded an army brilliant in appearance, yet weak in numerical strength; but upon that, and that alone, was dependence to be placed for the successful result of a very bold advance.”--_Lord Londonderry._

[55] The situation of the several corps of the French army, when Sir John Moore advanced from Salamanca, was as follows:--The Duke of Dalmatia at Sahagun, Saldanha, and the villages in that neighbourhood on the river Carion; Marshal the Duke of Treviso moving upon Zaragosa; the Duke of Abrantes with eight corps at Vittoria; Marshal Lefebre with the fourth corps beyond the Guadarama; Marshal Lasnes upon the Ebro; and the Emperor, with the Imperial Guard, and the first and sixth corps _d’armée_ at Madrid.

[56] “The Bivouac.”

[57] “Early next day our sufferings opened with the crossing of the Esla. The river was already rising, and one huge and ill-constructed ferry-boat was the only means by which to pass over a whole division, its baggage, and its camp followers. The waters were increasing, the rain fell in torrents, the east wind blew with cutting violence, mules kicked, men cursed, and women screamed; all, in short, was noise and disorder. Fortunately, a contiguous ford was declared practicable. The infantry and their equipages passed safely; and before the flood rose so high as to bar their passage, the whole column were safe upon the right bank.”--_The Bivouac._

[58] “The difficulties were such, that the artillery preceding the column of infantry gave up the point, and were returning down the southern ascent of the Guadarama mountain when met by the Emperor. This retrograde movement was occasioned by the increased violence of a hurricane blowing hail and snow with, it was considered, resistless force. In addition to the report of his officers, the Spanish peasants declared the passage to be attended with the greatest danger.

“Napoleon ordered his troops to follow him, and immediately proceeded to place himself at the head of the column. Accompanied by the _chasseurs à cheval_ of the guard, he passed through the ranks of the infantry, then formed the chasseurs in close column, occupying the entire width of the road; then, dismounting from his horse, and directing the rear of the leading half squadron, the whole moved forward. The men, by being dismounted, were, with the exception of those immediately in front, more sheltered from the storm, while the dense mass trod down the snow, and left a beaten track for the infantry, who, no longer obstructed in the same degree, and inspired by the presence as well as the example of Napoleon, pushed forward, and the whole descended to Espinar.”--_Leith Hay._

[59] This sketch of Moore by Lord Londonderry displays his character in all its valuable and defective lights, as an officer, so strongly, that no minuter description probably could exceed it in point, and none certainly in fidelity.

[60] “A few were got away, but many were so tired and lame from sore feet that they did not care if the French sabres and bayonets were at their breast, so completely did most of them give themselves up to despair. The rear-guard was at length forced to retire and leave these unfortunate people to their fate. Some of these poor fellows who had thought better of it, and were endeavouring to overtake their countrymen, were unmercifully sabred by the French cavalry, many of them in a defenceless state.

“One of the handsomest men in the grenadier company, of the name of M’Gee, was coming along the road lame from an accident, his firelock and pack having been taken by his messmates to enable him to keep up; he was, however, overtaken by two French dragoons, and, although unarmed and helpless, was inhumanly cut to pieces almost within sight.”--_Cadell._

[61] “Under these circumstances Sir John Moore decided that the whole should be thrown down the mountain; most judiciously considering, that if the casks were broken the men would make a rush for the money, which would have caused great confusion, and might have cost the lives of many. The rear-guard, therefore, was halted; Lieutenant Bennet, of the light company 28th regiment, was placed over the money, with strict orders from Sir John Moore to shoot the first person who attempted to touch it. It was then rolled over the precipice, the casks were soon broken by the rugged rocks, and the dollars falling out, rolled over the height a sparkling cascade of silver. The French advanced guard coming up shortly after to the spot, were detained for a time picking up a few dollars that had been scattered on the road.”--_Cadell._

[62] Leith Hay.

[63] “The Bivouac.”

[64] “We bivouacked on the heights above Betanzos. Here we met with a God-send for the night. Just as we had taken up our ground we found a number of waggons laden with dry bullocks’-skins, on their way to Corunna; we made beds of some and covering of others, which gave us for once a dry sleep.”--_Cadell._

[65] “The French were in as great a panic as we were, their army was under arms, and aides-de-camp flying in all directions. In a short time every thing was quiet, but a shower of white ashes began to fall, and continued for some time afterwards.”--_Cadell._

[66] Leith Hay.

[67] In this charge the regiment lost both its majors; one being killed, and the other wounded and taken prisoner.

[68] “The embarkation going forward had none of the exhilaration attending an operation naturally accompanied with so much activity, life, and spirit; all seemed sombre and depressed; we were flying from the land, which was left in the undisturbed possession of troops vanquished on the preceding day, but now preparing to fire the last taunting discharges against soldiers, whom fortune appeared to have frowned upon, even in victory.”--_Leith Hay._

[69] MEMORIALS OF SIR JOHN MOORE.

The following simple inscriptions are the only memorials which as yet have marked the field of Corunna, or the grave of the departed general:--

A la Gloria
del
Ex^{mo} S^r D. Juan Moore, Gen^l del Ex^{to} Ingleso,
Y a la de sus valientes compatriotas,
la
España agradecida.

On the other side,--

Batalla de Coruña a 16 de Enero,
Año 1809.

Marshal Soult also ordered the following inscription to be engraved upon a rock near the spot where Sir John Moore fell:--

Hìc cecidit Johannes Moore, Dux Exercitus,
In pugnâ Januarii xvi. 1809,
Contra Gallos, à Duce Dalmatiæ ductos.

[70] General Order, Horse-Guards, Feb. 1st, 1809.

[71] “He always rose between three and four in the morning, lighted his fire and candle by a lamp, and wrote till breakfast-hour. Afterwards, he received commanding officers, transacted business, and then rode out to view the troops or reconnoitre the country. His table was plentiful, his guests varying from fourteen to twenty. With these he talked familiarly, drank a few glasses of wine, returned to his orderly business, and was in bed by ten o’clock.”--_Life of Moore._

[72] “_Pray for me_, that I may make right decisions, * * * _I sleep little_,” &c. &c. “_I see my situation_, and nothing can _be worse_.”-- _Campaign, &c. in Spain._

[73] Disastrous as Sir John Moore’s campaign proved, the French accounts circulated over the continent grossly exaggerated the real loss of our army, and heavy indeed it was. “Three British regiments,” they said, “the 42nd, 50th, and 52nd, had been entirely destroyed in the action--and Sir John Moore killed in attempting to charge at their head with the vain hope of restoring the fortune of the day. The English had lost every thing which constitutes an army, artillery, horses, baggage, ammunition, magazines, and military chests. Of eighty pieces of cannon they had landed, they had re-embarked no more than 12,--200,000 weight of powder, 16,000 muskets, and 2,000,000 of treasure (about 83,000_l._), had fallen into the hands of the pursuers, and treasure yet more considerable had been thrown down the precipices along the road between Astorga and Corunna, where the peasantry and the soldiers were now collecting it. Five thousand horses had been counted which they had slaughtered upon the way--five hundred were taken at Corunna, and the carcases of twelve hundred were infecting the streets when the conquerors entered that town. The English would have occupied Ferrol, and seized the squadron there, had it not been for the precipitance of their retreat, and the result of the battle to which they had been brought at last. Thus, then, had terminated their expedition into Spain! Thus, after having fomented the war in that unhappy country, had they abandoned it to its fate! In another season of the year not a man of them would have escaped; now, the facility of breaking up the bridges, the rapidity of the winter torrents, shortness of days, and length of nights, had favoured their retreat.”

[74] “Successes of this kind made Mina dangerous in more ways than one to the invaders. Germans, Italians, and even French, deserted to him. In the course of five days, fifteen hussars came over with their arms and horses, and fourteen foot soldiers.”--_Life of Mina._

[75] “The Bivouac.”

[76] “Many of the guerilla leaders were accompanied in the field by females, who, as is not unfrequent in camps, wore male attire. These, after a time, habituated to danger, became very daring, frequently fighting amongst the foremost, on which circumstance most of the tales of the bands being commanded by Amazons had their origin.”--_Jones._

[77] “In this pursuit the Corregidor of Cervera was taken attempting to escape with the enemy; a man who had joined the French, and, with the malevolence of a traitor, persecuted his own countrymen. He had invented a cage in which to imprison those who did not pay their contributions, or were in any way obnoxious to him: it was so constructed as to confine the whole body, leaving the head exposed to be buffeted and spit upon; and sometimes this devilish villain anointed the face of his victim with honey to attract the flies and wasps. ‘To-morrow,’ said Eroles in his despatches, ‘the Señor Corregidor will go out to parade the streets in this same cage, where the persons who have suffered this grievous torment may behold him: _Discite justiciam moniti, et non temnere Divos_!’ The capture of this man was worth as much, in the feelings of the people, as all the preceding success.”

[78] “Various explanations have been offered of this name. One account says, that upon finding his family murdered by the French, he smeared his face with pitch, and made a vow of vengeance. Another, that he was so called because of his swarthy complexion. But in the account of his life, it is said that all the inhabitants of Cashillo de Duero, where he was born, have this nickname indiscriminately given them by their neighbours, in consequence of a black mud, called pecina, deposited by a little stream which runs through the place; and the appellation became peculiar to him from his celebrity.”--_Southey._

[79] Southey.

[80] “He himself was in the most imminent peril, a party of hussars having surrounded him: and one of them aimed a blow which he had no other means of avoiding but by stretching himself out upon his horse. The horse at the same moment sprang forward and threw him; he recovered his feet and ran; the horse, whether by mere good fortune, or that, in the wild life to which Mina was reduced, like an Arab he had taught the beast to love him, followed his master, who then lightly leaped into his seat, and, though closely pursued, saved himself.”--_Life of Mina._

[81] “The French attacked Mina a few days after his exploit before Estella, near Arcos. His inferiority in numbers was compensated by his perfect knowledge of every foot of the ground, experience of his officers in their own mode of warfare, and his confidence in all his followers. After an action which continued nearly the whole day, he drew off in good order, and scarcely with any loss, having killed and wounded nearly four hundred of the enemy.”--_Life of Mina._

[82] Abridged from “The Bivouac.”

[83] “Before the further actions of the British are narrated, a few pages will be well bestowed to recount the heroic, but unconnected efforts of resistance made by the Spaniards themselves, of which the siege of Zaragoza stands foremost. Immediately after the repulse of the French in the preceding summer, Palafox directed the execution of various defensive works, which, thrown up in haste, and executed with greater zeal than judgment, gave more the appearance than the reality of additional strength to the place; yet, in the defence of them, Palafox added much to his previously high fame,--this second defence being far more arduous than the former; as thirty-six thousand men were employed in the attack, and such a provision of artillery and stores brought against the town, as rendered success certain. From the day succeeding the unfortunate action at Tudela, constant skirmishing and small affairs of posts took place, whilst the French were bringing up the supplies for the attack; which having accomplished, the siege commenced on the 20th December, by the assault and capture of the outposts of the Torrero and Casa-blanca; and by an attempt to lodge in the suburbs on the left of the Elbro, from which, after several hours’ fighting, and a dreadful slaughter of the Spaniards, the French were ultimately repulsed. On the 10th January a violent bombardment began, and frequently three thousand shells were thrown into the devoted town in twenty-four hours. On the 26th, fifty-five pieces of heavy ordnance battered the newly-raised works of the _enceinte_, and quickly formed a practicable breach: the French vigorously assaulted it the following morning, and, after a desperate resistance, gained the summit; where, however, they could not maintain themselves, as the citizens, from behind an interior retrenchment, kept up an incessant fire, and every moment sallied forth and fought hand to hand with the troops and workmen endeavouring to form the lodgment. In these fierce encounters, women and priests were observed among the foremost and most courageous; and openly to contend with such enthusiasm was hopeless. The besiegers, therefore, confined themselves to the slow but certain operations of the sap, and by its insidious advances on the 6th, penetrated into the principal street, named the Corso, where the buildings are of great solidity. Then the conflict assumed the greatest degree of obstinacy-- each house became a citadel, and required to be separately attacked; mining was the art employed, and the courage of the unpractised Arragonese failed before the skill of their more experienced antagonists. They nevertheless made the most surprising efforts: when forced from one room, they renewed the combat in the next; and frequently, when driven inch by inch out of a building, Palafox, by a desperate and bold offensive movement, recovered it, and the enemy had the same resistance a second time to overcome. But courage alone is of little avail against courage and science united: daily and hourly the French made some advance; and when exertion was most required, a pestilential disorder, arising from the number of the unburied slain, broke out among the defenders, causing far more havoc than the sword. At last the heroic Palafox himself sickened, and affairs became desperate. Still the constancy of these dauntless Spaniards remained unshaken; and a priest of the name of Ric, by his personal example and the enthusiasm he inspired, directed the defence of the few remaining streets with undiminished bravery; and at last, on the 20th February, after thirty thousand citizens had buried themselves under the ruins of their houses, he, by firmness of conduct, forced Marshal Lannes to promise good treatment to the survivors.

“The garrison, fifteen thousand in number, marched out, and laid down their arms, after a resistance of fifty-two days open trenches, twenty-three of which were a war of houses. The town, on entering it, presented a dreadful and melancholy spectacle; entire districts of it were demolished by repeated explosions, and presented merely a mass of ruins, thickly spread over with mutilated limbs and carcasses; the few houses which fire and the mine had spared, were riddled by shot and shells; their interiors were cut through with communications, the walls loopholed, the doors and windows barricaded, and the streets blocked up with numberless traverses. The dirt, corruption, and misery attending the crowding together of more than one hundred thousand souls into a city calculated for only forty thousand, with all the hardships attendant on a long siege, had generated a frightful epidemic, more relentless than the sword.

“In the midst of the ruins and bodies with which the streets were filled, were observed here and there crawling along a few inhabitants, pale, emaciated, and cast down, who seemed on the point of following their dead comrades whom they had been unable to remove. From an enumeration made at the commencement and at the termination of this extraordinary and terrible siege, it has been ascertained that in fifty-two days, fifty-four thousand individuals perished; being two-thirds of the military, and the half of the inhabitants or refugees. The loss of the besiegers did not exceed three thousand. * * * * *

“In no place would they have imagined themselves so secure as in Zaragoza itself, which had been so wonderfully defended and delivered, and which they believed to be invincible through the protection of Our Lady of the Pillar, who had chosen it for the seat of her peculiar worship. During the former siege, prints of that idol had been distributed by women in the heat of action, and worn by the men in their hats both as a badge and an amulet. The many remarkable escapes and deliverances which had occurred were ascribed not to all-ruling and omnipotent Providence, but to the immediate interference of the _Magna Mater_ of Zaragoza.

“Palafox himself had been trained up with more than common care in the superstition of the place; he and his brethren in their childhood had been taken every day to attend mass in the Holy Chapel where the image was enshrined, dressed at such times in the proper costume of the Infantes, as a mark of greater honour to the present goddess. An appearance in the sky, which at other times might have passed unremembered, and perhaps unnoticed, had given strong confirmation to the popular faith. About a month before the commencement of the first siege, a white cloud appeared at noon, and gradually assumed the form of a palm-tree; the sky being in all other parts clear, except that a few specks of fleecy cloud hovered about the larger one. It was first observed over the church of N. Lenora del Portillo, and moving from thence till it seemed to be immediately above that of the pillar, continued in the same form about half an hour, and then dispersed. The inhabitants were in a state of such excitement, that crowds joined in the acclamation of the first beholder, who cried out, ‘a miracle!’ and after the defeat of the besiegers had confirmed the omen, a miracle it was universally pronounced to have been, the people proclaiming with exultation that the Virgin had by this token prefigured the victory she had given them, and promised Zaragoza her protection as long as the world should endure.”--_Southey._

[84] “In all this view of the case, the loss of the bridge of Amarante is a great misfortune, and is the greater from the manner in which it was lost. Our friend says, it was carried by the French making two false attacks on the right, under cover of which they mined the barricade on the bridge, which was very strong, and blew it up in the morning at daylight; threw a column over it, which surprised the Portuguese asleep; and they were unable to blow it up as was intended. The French carried every thing before them.”--_Wellington’s Despatches._

“To call off the attention of the Portuguese guard, some twenty men were stationed to keep up a fire upon the intrenchments, so directed as not to endanger the sappers, who had volunteered for the real service of the hour. It was a service so hopeful and hazardous as to excite the liveliest solicitude for its success. The barrel was covered with a grey cloak, that it might neither be heard nor seen, and the man who undertook to deposit it in its place wore a cloak of the same colour. The clear moonlight was favourable to the adventure, by the blackness of the shadow which the parapet on one side produced. In that line of darkness the sapper crept along at full length, pushing the barrel before him with his head, and guiding it with his hands. His instructions were to stop if he heard the slightest movement on the Portuguese side: and a string was fastened to one of his feet by which the French were enabled to know how far he had advanced, and to communicate with him. Having placed the barrel, and uncovered that part where it was to be kindled, he returned with the same caution. Four barrels, one after the other, were thus arranged without alarming the Portuguese. The fourth adventurer had not the same command of himself as his predecessors had evinced. Possessed either with fear, or premature exultation, as soon as he had deposited the barrel in its place, instead of making his way back slowly and silently along the line of shadow, he rose and ran along the middle of the bridge in the moonlight. He was seen, fired at, and shot in the thigh. But the Portuguese did not take the alarm as they ought to have done; they kept up a fire upon the entrance of the bridge, and made no attempt to discover for what purpose their intrenchments had been approached so closely.

“Four hours had elapsed before the four barrels were placed; by that time it was midnight, and in another hour, when the Portuguese had ceased their fire, a fifth volunteer proceeded in the same manner with a saucisson[A] fastened to his body: this he fixed in its place, and returned safely. By two o’clock this part of the business was completed, and Laborde was informed that all was ready. Between three and four a fog arose from the river and filled the valley, so that the houses on the opposite shore could scarcely be discerned through it. This was favourable for the assailants. The saucisson was fired, and the explosion, as Bouchard had expected, threw down the intrenchments, and destroyed also the apparatus for communicating with the mine. The French rushed forward: some threw water into the mine, others cleared the way; the fog increased the confusion into which the Portuguese were thrown by being thus surprised: they made so little resistance that the French lost only nine men.”--_Southey._

[A] _Saucisson_ is a pipe or hose filled with gunpowder, which
reaches from the chamber of the mine to the gallery. It is
used for firing mines, bomb-chests, &c. &c.

[85] “Our arrival at the camp was announced by a general discharge of artillery, upon which an immense number of torches were made to blaze up, and we passed the entire Spanish line in review by their light. The effect produced by these arrangements was one of no ordinary character. As the torches were held aloft, at moderate intervals from one another, they threw a red and wavering light over the whole scene, permitting, at the same time, its minuter parts to be here and there cast into shade; whilst the grim and swarthy visages of the soldiers, their bright arms and dark uniforms, appeared peculiarly picturesque as often as the flashes fell upon them. Then there was the frequent roar of cannon, the shouldering of firelocks, mingled with the brief word of command, and rattling of accoutrements and arms, as we passed from battalion to battalion; all these served to interest the sense of hearing to the full as much as the spectacle attracted the sense of sight. Nor was old Cuesta himself an object to be passed by without notice, even at such a moment and under such circumstances as these. The old man preceded us,--not so much sitting on his horse as held upon it by two pages,--at the imminent hazard of being overthrown whenever a cannon was discharged, or a torch flared out with peculiar brightness; indeed his physical debility was so remarkable, as clearly to mark his total unfitness for the situation which he then held. As to his mental powers, he gave us little opportunity of judging; inasmuch as he scarcely uttered five words during the continuance of our visit; but his corporal infirmities alone were at absolute variance with all a general’s duties, and shewed that he was now fit only for the retirement of private life.

“In this manner we passed about six thousand cavalry, drawn up in rank entire, and not less than twenty battalions of infantry, each consisting of perhaps from seven to eight hundred men. These formed but one portion of the army, the rest being either at the bridge of Arrobispo, or in position along the Tagus; and they were all, with a few exceptions, remarkably fine men: speaking of them in the aggregate, they were little better than bold peasantry, armed partially like soldiers, but completely unacquainted with a soldier’s duty. This remark applied fully as much to the cavalry as to the infantry. The horses were many of them good, but their riders manifestly knew nothing of movement or discipline; and they were, as well on this account as on the score of a miserable equipment, quite unfit for general service. The artillery, again, was numerous, but totally unlike, both in order and arrangement, to that of other armies; and the generals appeared to have been selected according to one rule alone, namely, that of seniority. They were almost all old men; and except O’Donaju and Largas, evidently incapable of bearing the fatigues or surmounting the difficulties of one hard campaign.

“The place at which we paid this visit, and witnessed these events, was called Casa del Puertos; where the head-quarters of the Spanish army were established in a wretched hovel. We alighted here after the review had ended, and as soon as we entered, Cuesta, who seemed quite overpowered by fatigue, retired to rest; but he returned again at eleven o’clock to supper, and sat with us till past midnight. He sat, however, as he always did under similar circumstances, in profound silence, neither seeking to take a share in the conversation, nor, apparently at least, paying the slightest attention to it.

“After a secret conference between Cuesta and Sir Arthur ended, dinner was announced; and we sat down, at three o’clock, to about forty dishes, the principal ingredients in which were garlic and onions. Our meal did not occupy us long; and on Cuesta retiring, as was his custom, to enjoy his siesta, we mounted our horses, and rode out into the camp. By this means we were enabled to see more of the regiments separately than we had seen during the torch-light review. We saw, however, nothing which served in any degree to raise our opinion of the general efficiency of our allies; and we returned to our host at a late hour, more than ever impressed with the persuasion, that if the deliverance of the Peninsula was to be effected at all, it must be done, not by the Spaniards, but by ourselves.”--_Lord Londonderry._

[86] “I find General Cuesta more and more impracticable every day. It is impossible to do business with him, and very uncertain that any operation will succeed in which he has any concern. O’Donoju expresses himself to be heartily tired of him, and has declared that he will quit him at the first moment he is unsuccessful. He has quarrelled with some of his principal officers; and I understand that all are dissatisfied with him, for the manner in which he has conducted his operations near this place.

“He contrived to lose the whole of yesterday, in which, although his troops were under arms, and mine in march, we did nothing owing to the whimsical perverseness of his disposition; but that omission I consider fortunate, as we have dislodged the enemy without a battle, in which the chances were not much in our favour. His want of communication with his officers of the plan settled with me for the 22nd, and his absence from the field, were the cause that we did the French but little mischief on that day; and of these circumstances his officers are aware.”--_Wellington’s Despatches._

[87] Lord Londonderry’s Narrative.

[88] These celebrated regiments were then raw battalions--and both afterwards immortalized themselves, the “_Faugh a balloghs_” (87th) at Tarifa; the Rangers (88th) as the crack regiment of “The Fighting Third.”

[89] Joseph Buonaparte nominally commanded, but there were three marshals on the field, beside General Sebastiani; namely, Jourdan, Victor, and Mortier.

[90] Between the British and French, even in military duty, the courtesies of society were respected, and an interchange of kind and gentlemanly civilities was not unfrequent, as will be evidenced by the following anecdotes:--

“While Hasparen was the head-quarters of the fifth division, the pickets of both armies avoided every appearance of hostility. Each occupied a hill, with sentries about two hundred yards apart. The French on one occasion pushed forward their videttes, and seemed as if they designed to trespass on the neutral ground. The captain of the English picket reported this encroachment, and received orders not to allow it. On the following morning, he observed that the French vidette had been advanced about fifty yards, and he thought it most advisable to demand an interview with the French captain of chasseurs. A peasant was despatched, and returned with a message, that the commandant would wait upon the British officer immediately; and, in a few minutes, the parties met on the neutral ground. The Briton stated the orders he had received and explained, that, to avoid so _lâche_ a proceeding as to fire upon a vidette, he had solicited a meeting with the brave chasseur. The Frenchman expressed himself in the most flattering terms, and begged that the hussar might point out a situation which would be agreeable to him. A thorn bush, about one hundred yards behind the spot the French vidette was posted upon, was mentioned as equally advantageous for the security of the French picket; while it would be such as the hussar was permitted by his orders to allow. The chasseur gave orders accordingly, the vidette was placed at the very spot which was recommended, and the Frenchman, having expressed his satisfaction at the interview, produced a bottle of cogniac; two or three officers on each side now joined the party; a happy termination to the war was drunk; and the captain, whose name was (we think) Le Brun, said, he trusted that it would not be the fate of war to bring into collision the parties who had met in so amicable a manner.”

Again. “I have known several instances of right feeling evinced by the enemy, worthy of gentlemen who are above turning into individual strife the quarrels of the two countries. While the light division was at Gallegos, some greyhounds belonging to an officer strayed into the enemies’ lines, and an opportunity was found, by means of the first flag of truce, to request their being returned. The answer was favourable, stating that they should be sent in on the first opportunity. A day or two after the enemy made a _reconnoissance_, and when their skirmishers were thrown out, the greyhounds were seen in couples in the rear, and on the first carbine being fired, they were let slip (the dogs of war?), and came curveting through the whistling balls to their old masters.”--_Recollections by a Subaltern._

There seemed to have existed between these noble armies an honourable confidence, that was often tried and never violated.

A descriptive passage of the advance across the Pyrenees runs thus:-- “We perceived, not twenty yards off, a wounded voltigeur extended on the ground, and a young comrade supporting him. The Frenchman never attempted to retreat, but smiled when we came up, as if he had been expecting us. ‘Good morning,’ he said; ‘I have been waiting for you, gentlemen. My poor friend’s leg is broken by a shot, and I could not leave him till you arrived, lest some of these Portuguese brigands should murder him.--Pierre,’ he continued, as he addressed his companion, ‘here are the brave English, and you will be taken care of. I will leave you a flask of water, and you will soon be succoured by our noble enemy. Gentlemen, will you honour me by emptying this canteen. You will find it excellent, for I took it from a portly friar two days ago.’ There was no need to repeat the invitation. I set the example, the canteen passed from mouth to mouth, and the monk’s brandy vanished. The conscript--for he had not joined above a month-- replenished the flask with water from a spring just by. He placed it in his comrade’s hand, bade him an affectionate farewell, bowed gracefully to us, threw his musket over his shoulder, and trotted off to join his regiment, which he pointed out upon a distant height. He seemed never for a moment to contemplate the possibility of our sending him in durance to the rear; and there were about him such kindness and confidence, that on our part no one ever dreamed of detaining him.”-- _The Bivouac._

Again. “From the 3rd until the 12th of July the two armies remained in presence of each other, encamped on the sides of a river, which at times is a formidable sheet of water, but which was then little more than an insignificant stream. Nevertheless, although both armies kept their guards on their respective sides of the water, and that the movements of each were cautiously watched, not one life was lost, nor one shot fired by either army.

“Indeed, so different from hostility was the conduct of both nations, that the French and British lived upon the most amicable terms. If we wanted wood for the construction of huts, our men were allowed to pass without molestation to the French side of the river to cut it. Each day the soldiers of both armies used to bathe together in the same stream, and an exchange of rations, such as biscuit and rum, between the French and our men, was by no means uncommon.”--_Reminiscences of a Subaltern._

The reverses which attend even successful warfare occasionally require its rigours to be softened. The French and English felt this--and those who had the misfortune to be prisoners or wounded, received the greatest care circumstances would allow, and had baggage or money conveyed to them from their friends with strict fidelity. The tables of the commanding officers were open to their captives--their wounds were carefully dressed--and in some cases their escape connived at. A parole of honour insured the fullest liberty to the giver; but when it was not required or was refused, the prisoners were subjected to the least possible restraint consistent with security, and treated with gentlemanly attention.

“During three days that some British officers were at Castel Legos as prisoners of war, with a very slender guard, indeed almost nominal, they were treated by General Villatte with the utmost kindness. He sent dinner to them from his own table, with abundance of wine. His aide-de-camp and brother-in-law, Captain Cholet, visited them twice each day, to see that they wanted for nothing; and two, and sometimes three, surgeons visited them (by order) twice a day to dress their wounds. In fine, the greatest possible kindness and attention were shewn to them; and even their escape, on the night of the 31st of August, was easily effected, if not connived at, as the French retired without insisting on the officers being taken away, although carts had been provided.”

But a noble instance of an enemy’s humanity remains to be recorded-- and with a similar instance of humane feeling displayed to a friend and not an enemy, we shall close these anecdotes.

“When the assault on St. Sebastian failed, and our troops retreated to the trenches, the enemy advanced beyond his defences, or clustered on the ramparts, shouting defiance, and threatening a descent in pursuit. To check this movement, an animated fire of round and grape was opened from our battery, the thickest of which fell on a particular part of the breach where lay a solitary grenadier of the Royals, shot through both legs, and unable to extricate himself from his awfully perilous situation. His fate appeared inevitable; when a French officer stepped forward, walked coolly through the hottest of our fire, lifted his wounded enemy in his arms, and bore him off, himself unhurt.”