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306

SIEGE OF ASTORGA.

CHAP. IX. ing altogether to about twelve thousand men.

1810.

Hitherto this force had been employed in disMarch. persing the irregular bands which abounded in Biscay, Navarre, and Old Castile. But on receiving reinforcements, Junot advanced into Leon, with the view of protecting that kingdom from the incursions of the Gallician army. Astorga was garrisoned by about three thousand Spanish troops; and an attack made upon it, in the preceding September, had been gallantly repulsed by Santocildes, who still acted as Governor. The city was not strong, yet considerable efforts had been made to improve and repair the works. The walls were ancient and massive, and the suburbs, to the north and south, were covered and connected with the body of the place by a line of retrenchment. Astorga contained large magazines of all sorts; and its acquisition, at this period, was held of great importance to the intended operations in Portugal, as it commanded a debouché leading into the north of that kingdom.

Mar. 21.

On the twenty-first of March, Junot invested Astorga. The defence of the city was resolutely maintained for upwards of a month, when, at length, having repulsed their assailants at the

CAPTURE OF ASTORGA.

307

1810. April.

breach, the garrison surrendered, only when the CHAP. IX. near exhaustion of their ammunition rendered further defence hopeless. The French suffered heavily in this siege, though the amount of their loss has been variously represented. This is certain: The expense of life at which Astorga was acquired, and the gallantry of its defenders, had a greater effect in animating the people, than its reduction in depressing them.*

On the fall of Astorga, a detachment of Junot's corps reduced the castle of Sanabria, while the remainder proceeded to invest Ciudad Rodrigo. The Asturias had been reduced to submission; so that, at the end of April, of the whole western frontier of Spain, Gallicia and Badajos alone remained free. The latter had been secured by the promptitude of Romana, when the corps of Mortier was approaching

Long after the capture of Astorga, a song was popular among the middling and lower classes, recounting the achievements of the besieged, each stanza of which terminated in a sort of choral chant, declaring that "Astorga was the tomb of Frenchmen." We merely allude to this, as an indication of that buoyancy of spirit, which enabled the Spanish people to bear up amid so many and severe reverses, and to discover matter of exultation even in disaster.

308

MOVEMENTS OF ROMANA.

CHAP.IX. from Seville, in expectation of carrying it by a

1810. April.

coup-de-main. Baffled in this attempt, the French retired to Merida, Zafra, and Santa Marta, followed by a division, under Don Carlos O'Donnel.

STATE OF SPAIN.

309

CHAPTER X.

INVASION OF PORTUGAL BY MASSENA.

1810.

SINCE the commencement of the year, the CHAP. X. campaign had hitherto been one of almost uninterrupted disaster. The Spaniards, had no army of any magnitude in the field; their most important fortresses were reduced or blockaded; and three-fourths of the kingdom had been overrun. The southern provinces had fallen, with scarcely the semblance of resistance. The wealth and resources of Andalusia had passed, without a struggle, into the hands of the enemy; and Spain beheld the chief nursery of her armies, the provinces from which fresh bands of patriots might still have gone forth to combat, if not to conquer, in her cause, at once torn from her grasp. The British army had been compelled to limit its exertions to the defence of

310

PUBLIC FEELING IN ENGLAND.

CHAP. X. Portugal; and it was already evident that a mighty effort would soon be made for the reduction of that kingdom.

1810.

Never at any period had the cloud which lowered on the cause of Spanish liberty shed a darker or more impenetrable gloom. Those whose confidence in the zeal, the devotion, the native and untamed energy of the Spanish people had led them to predict a successful termination to the contest, now wavered in their hope. The British government, urged by the enthusiasm of the people, had at first rushed blindfold into the contest. The vast resources of England had been ineffectually wasted; her utmost efforts had been found unequal to arrest the progress of the French arms; and the lamentable expedition to the Scheldt, had exposed the counsels of her rulers to the ridicule of Europe.

Under such reverses, the enthusiasm of the British nation had begun to subside. The bright and glowing colours, which in their eyes had beautified the prospect, gradually faded into fainter and more sober hues. True, indeed, the voice of England was still for war; there was no flinching or faintness of heart among her sons, but it was not as heretofore, for sudden,

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