centre upon the left, and the whole pushed back in confusion upon Molino del Rey. Meantime a detachment from Chabran's division, passing the Llobregat above Molino, blocked the road to Martorel, and in this miserable situation, the Spaniards being charged by the light cavalry, scarcely a man would have escaped if Chabran had obeyed his orders, by pushing across the bridge of Molino upon their rear. But that General, at all times feeble in execution, remained a tranquil spectator of the action, until the right of Souham's division reached the bridge; thus the routed troops escaped by dispersion, throwing away everything that could impede their flight across the mountains. Vives reached the field of battle just as the rout was complete, and was forced to fly with the rest. The victorious army pursued in three columns; Chabran's in the direction of Igualada; Chabot's by the road of San Sadurni, which turned the pass of Ordal; Souham's by the royal route of Villa Franca, at which place the head-quarters were established on the 22d. The posts of Villa Nueva and Sitjes were immediately occupied by Pino, while Souham pushed the fugitives to the gates of Tarragona. The loss of the Spaniards, owing to their swiftness, was less than might have been expected; not more than twelve hundred fell into the hands of the French, but many superior officers were killed or wounded, and, on the 22d, the Count de Caldagues was taken, a man apparently pedantic in military affairs, and wanting in modesty, but evidently possessed of both courage and talent. The whole of the artillery, vast quantities of powder, and a magazine of English muskets quite new, were captured, yet many of the Migueletes were unarmed, and the Junta were unceasing in their demands for succors of this nature! but the history of any one province was the history of all Spain. CHAPTER V. Tumult in Tarragona-Reding proclaimed General-Reinforcements join the Spaniards-Actions at Bruch-Lazan advances, and fights at Castel AmpuriasHe quarrels with Reding, and marches towards Zaragoza-Reding's plans-St. Cyr breaks Reding's line at Llacuna-Actions at Capellades, Igualada, and St. Magi--French General, unable to take the abbey of Creus,turns it, and reaches Villaradoña-Joined by Souham's division, takes post at Valls and Pla-Reding rallies his centre and left wing-Endeavors to reach Tarragona-Battle of Valls -Weak condition of Tortosa-St. Cyr blockades Tarragona-Sickness in that city-St. Cyr resolves to retire-Chabran forces the bridge of Molino del ReyConspiracy in Barcelona fails-Colonel Briche arrives with a detachment from Aragon-St. Cyr retires behind the Llobregat-Pino defeats Wimpfen at Tarrasa-Reding dies-His character-Blake is appointed Captain-General of the Coronilla-Changes the line of operations to Aragon-Events in that province -Suchet takes the command of the French at Zaragoza-Colonel Perena and Baget oblige eight French companies to surrender-Blake advances-Battle of Alcanitz-Suchet falls back-Disorder in his army-Blake neglects Catalonia -St. Cyr marches by the valley of Congosto upon Vich-Action at the defile of Garriga-Lecchi conducts the prisoners to the Fluvia-St. Cyr hears of the Austrian war-Barcelona victualled by a French squadron-Observations. BARCELONA was now completely relieved, and the captured magazines supplied it for several months; there was no longer a Spanish army in the field, and in Tarragona, where some eight or nine thousand of the Spanish fugitives from this and the former battle had taken refuge, there was terrible disorder. The people rose tumultuously, broke open the public stores, and laying hands on all the weapons they could find, rushed from place to place, as if searching for something to vent their fury upon; they called aloud for the head of Vives, and to save his life he was cast into prison by Reding, who was proclaimed General-in-chief. The regular officers were insulted by the populace, and there was as usual a general cry to defend the city, mixed with furious menaces against traitors; but there were neither guns, nor ammunition, nor provisions, and during the first moment of anarchy, St. Cyr might certainly have rendered himself master of Tarragona, by a vigorous effort. The opportunity soon passed away; the French General, seeking only to procure subsistence, occupied himself in forming a train of field artillery, while Reding, who had been almost without hope, proceeded to rally the army, and place the town in a state o defence. The 1st of January eleven thousand infantry and eight hundred cavalry re-assembled at Tarragona and Reus; a Swiss regiment from Majorca, and two Spanish regiments from Granada, increased * Cabanes. + St. Cyr. this force, and the 5th three thousand four hundred men arrived from Valencia, from whence also five thousand muskets, ammunition in proportion, and ten thousand pikes fresh from England, were forwarded to Tarragona, and a supply of money, obtained from the British agents at Seville, completed the list of fortuitous events following the disaster of Molino del Rey. These fortunate circumstances, and the inactivity of St. Cyr, who seemed paralyzed, restored the confidence of the Catalans, yet their system remained unchanged, for in Spain confidence often led to insubordination, but never to victory. A part of the fugitives from Molino had taken refuge at Bruch, where, being joined by the Somatenes, they chose Major Green, an English military agent, for their general, thinking to hold that post, which was considered impregnable ever since the defeats of Chabran and Swartz. St. Cyr, glad of this opportunity to retrieve the honor of the French arms, detached Chabran himself the 11th January to take his own revenge; but as that General was still depressed by the recollection of his former defeat, to encourage him, Chabot was directed from San Sadurni upon Igualada, by which the defile of Bruch was turned, and a permanent defence rendered impossible.† Green made little or no resistance; eight guns were taken, a considerable number of men were killed, the French pursued to Igualada, and a detachment, without orders, even assailed and took Montserrat itself, and rejoined the main body without loss. Chabot was then recalled to San Sadurni, and Chabran was quartered at Martorel. While these events were passing beyond the Llobregat, the Marquis of Lazan advanced, with seven or eight thousand men, towards Castellon de Ampurias. The 1st of January he drove back a battalion of infantry upon Rosas with considerable loss, but the next day General Reille, having assembled about three thousand men, intercepted his communications, and attacked him in his position behind the Muga; the victory seems to have been undecided, and in the night Lazan, regaining his communications, returned to Gerona. The battle of Molino del Rey having abated, for a time, the ardor of the Catalans, Reding was enabled to avoid serious actions, while the Somatenes harassed the enemy; and this plan, being followed during the months of January and February, was exceedingly troublesome to St. Cyr, because he was obliged to send small parties continually to seek for provision, which the country people hid with great care, striving hard to protect their scanty * Doyle's Correspondence, MS. + St. Cyr. In the beginning of February the country between the Llobregat and Tarragona was almost exhausted of food; the English ships continued to vex the coast-line, and the French, besides deserters, lost many men, killed and wounded, in the innumerable petty skirmishes sustained by the marauding parties. Still St. Cyr maintained his positions, until the country people, tired of a warfare in which they were the chief sufferers, clamored against Reding, that he, with a large regular force, should look calmly on, until the last morsel of food was discovered, and torn from their starving families; the townspeople, also feeling the burden of supporting the troops, impatiently urged the General to fight, nor was this insubordination confined to the rude multitude. Lazan, although at the head of nine thousand men, remained perfectly inactive after the skirmish at Castellon de Ampurias; but when Reding required him to leave a suitable garrison in Gerona, and bring the rest of his troops to Igualada, he would not obey, and their dispute was only terminated by Lazan's marching, with five thousand men, to the assistance of Zaragoza. His operations there have been related in the narrative of that siege. The army immediately under Reding was very considerable, the Swiss battalions were numerous and good, and some of the most experienced of the Spanish regiments were in Catalonia; every fifth man of the robust population had been called out after the defeat of Molino del Rey, and, although the people, averse to serve as regular soldiers, did not readily answer the call, the force under Reding was, in the beginning of February, not less than twenty-eight thousand men. The urban guards were also put in activity, and above fifteen thousand Somatenes assisted the regular troops; but there was more show than real power, for Reding was incapable of wielding the regular troops skilfully, and the Migueletes, being ill armed, without clothing and insubordinate, devastated the country equally with the enemy. The Somatenes, who only took arms for local interests, would not fight, except at the times, in the manner, and in the place that suited themselves; they neglected the advice of the regular officers, reviled all who would not adopt their own views, and caused many to be removed from their commands. The Spanish generals never obtained from them good information of the enemy's movements; yet their own plans were always made known to the French, for at Reding's head-quarters, as at those of Castaños before the battle of Tudela, every project was openly and ostentatiously discussed. Reding himself was a man of no military talent, his activity was of body, not of mind; but he was brave and honorable; and popular, because, being without system, arrangement, or deep design, and easy in his nature, he thwarted no man's humors, and thus floated in the troubled waters until their sudden reflux left him on the rocks. The Catalonian army was now divided into four distinct corps. Alvarez, with four thousand men, held Gerona and the Ampurdan. Lazan, with five thousand, was near Zaragoza. Don Juan Castro, an officer accused by the Spaniards of treachery, and who afterwards did attach himself to Joseph's party, occupied, with sixteen thousand men, a line extending from Olessa, on the upper Llobregat, to the pass of San Cristina, near Tarragona; this line, running through Bruch, Igualada, and Llacuna, was above sixty miles long. The remainder of the army, amounting to ten or twelve thousand men under Reding himself, was quartered at Tarragona, Reus, and the vicinity of those places. The troops were fed from Valencia and Aragon, the convoys from the former being conveyed in vessels along the coast; but the magazines being accumulated on one or two points of the line, and chosen without judgment, fettered Reding's movements and regulated those of the French, whose only difficulty, in fact, was to procure food. Early in February, St. Cyr, having exhausted the country about him, and finding his communications much vexed by the Somatenes, and by descents from the English ships, concentrated his divisions in masses at Vendril, Villa Franca, San Sadurni, and Martorel. The seventh corps, having been reinforced by the German division, and by some conscripts, amounted at this period to forty-eight thousand men, of which forty-one thousand were under arms, but the force immediately with St. Cyr did not exceed twentythree thousand combatants. The relative position of the two armies was, however, entirely in favor of the French General; his line, extending from Vendril, by Villa Franca, to Martorel, was not more than thirty miles, and he had a royal road by which to retreat on Barcelona; whereas the Spanish posts, covering an extent of above sixty miles, formed a half-circle round the French line, and their communications were more rugged than those of St. Cyr. Nevertheless, it is not to be doubted that, by avoiding any serious action, the Catalans might have obliged the French to abandon the country between the Llobregat and Tarragona; famine, and the continued drain of men in a mountain warfare, would have forced the latter away, nor could they have struck any formidable blow to relieve themselves, seeing that all the important places were fortified towns requiring a regular siege. The never-failing arrogance of the Spanish character, and the unstable judgment of Reding, induced him to forego these advantages. The closing of the French |