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82

ST. CYR ENTERS CATALONIA,

[1808.

Palacio's head-quarters were at Villa Franca; and hopes were entertained that, by a general rising of the inhabitants, the garrison would be forced to surrender. Magnificent offers were made to Lecchi, governor of the city, to induce him to betray his trust-offers which that General rejected with honourable indignation. In the meanwhile, the danger of Duhesme was daily increasing. His force was weakened to such a degree, by frequent contests with the blockading army, that he could no longer venture on a sortie. A deficiency of provisions was already felt in the city, and the prospects of the garrison were becoming daily more cloudy and unhopeful.

Such was the situation of affairs in Catalonia, when a new force, under command of General Gouvion St. Cyr, entered the province. It amounted to about eighteen thousand men, chiefly drawn from the army in Italy, commanded by Eugene de Beauharnois. During September, and the early part of October, this corps had assembled at Perpignan; but the requisite arrangements for its advance were so November.] tardily completed, that the troops did not quit their cantonments till the beginning of

November.

The first operation of St. Cyr was to invest the town of Rosas. Rosas stands at the lower extremity of a fine bay, about four leagues east of Figueras, where the plain of Ampourdan touches the skirts of the Pyrenees. The possession of this place was considered indispensable, because, while the fine anchorage which it commands was open to the British, it was nearly impossible to re-victual Barcelona by sea; and the route by land was obstructed by Gerona and Hostalrich, both of which places were held by the Spaniards.

Nov. 6.]

On the sixth, St. Cyr established his head-quarters at Figueras, where he formed a junction with the corps of Reille. To this

Nov.]

AND LAYS SIEGE TO ROSAS.

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General the conduct of the siege was committed, and, uniting the Italian division of General Pino to his own, Reille took up a position near the town. On the day following, the French took possession of the heights which encompass the whole bay; and the troops and peasants from the neighbouring villages were driven into the town.

The works of Rosas were in a feeble and dilapidated condition. The injuries sustained in the former siege had been but imperfectly repaired. Yet the garrison were resolute, and animated with the determination of firm and unshrinking resistance. A small British squadron was in the bay. It consisted of the Excellent of fifty guns, and the Lucifer and Meteor bomb-vessels. In order to assist the defence, a small body of marines was sent into Fort Trinidad; and the remainder, with fifty seamen, were thrown into the citadel.

Reille had expected to carry Rosas by a sudden attack; but his hope soon vanished. Preparations were then made for a regular siege. The heavy artillery was brought up though not without some difficulty from the state of the weather and roads. General Souham's division was posted between Figueras and the river Fluvia, to watch the movements of the enemy on the side of Gerona. General Chabot was moved to Espolla Rabos, with the view of covering the rear of the besieging force, and keeping in check the hostile population.

On the sixteenth, an attempt was made on Fort Trinidad. It failed. The enemy, after a severe struggle to gain possession of the gates, were driven back. The progress of the besiegers was slow-for they appear to have been unprepared for the vigorous resistance which met them at every step of their advance. But time pressed. St. Cyr was aware that Barcelona, unless speedily succoured, must fall; and it became necessary that the operations should be pushed on with the greatest speed. The town

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Nov. 27.]

THE TOWN IS TAKEN.

[1808.

was attacked on the night of the twentyseventh. It was defended by five hundred men, who opposed the most resolute resistance to the assailants. These, however, were at length overpowered; and, of the whole number, fifty only succeeded in effecting their escape into the citadel.

The capture of the town was of material advantage to the besiegers. A breaching-battery was immediately established in front of a bastion formerly injured by the explosion of a magazine. Another was erected on the shore, by which the communication between the ships and the citadel was cut off.

Before the battery opened fire on the citadel, a summons was sent in by General Reille. The garrison, however, refused to surrender; and the enemy continued to push on their operations. Fort Trinidad had already been breached; and the communication with the citadel was cut off.

At this juncture, Lord Cochrane arrived in the Imperieuse. With eighty seamen and marines he threw himself into the fort, and revived the sinking spirits of the garrison. On the thirtieth, Nov. 30.] General Sanson, commanding the French engineers, pronounced the breach practicable; and at night it was directed to be stormed. The attack was made, and failed. Lord Cochrane had formed a rampart, within the breach, of palisadoes and barrels filled with sand and rubbish, which the assailants found it impossible to surmount.

In the meanwhile, the situation of General Souham had been one of alarm. Had the Spaniards advanced in force against him, the siege must inevitably have been raised. But they wanted cavalry; energy and promptitude were not the characteristics of their leaders; the opportunity of effective action was suffered to escape; and Souham, though subjected to frequent annoyance from the Miquelets, was successful in maintaining his ground.

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[December.

Dec.] THE FORT OF ROSAS SURRENDERS. On the fifth of December, the citadel, having an open breach and being no longer tenable, consented to surrender; and the garrison, consisting of about two thousand men, were marched into France as prisoners of war. Sixteen bronze cannon were taken in the place. It then became apparent to Lord Cochrane that further resistance in the fort was impossible. He accordingly withdrew his men, blew up the magazine, burned the buildings, and quitted the Bay of Rosas with the squadron.

[Dec. 8.

It amount

On the day after the capitulation, the French army commenced its march. On the eighth, the whole force, destined for the relief of Barcelona, was collected on the Fluvia. ed to fifteen thousand foot and fifteen hundred horse; the division of Reille being ordered to remain in the Ampourdan, holding Figueras and Rosas, and guarding the communications of the army.

The numerical strength of the French was apparently inadequate to the object it was intended to effect. The Spanish army in Catalonia mustered upwards of thirty thousand; and had General Vives, by whom the Marques de Palacio had been superseded in command, concentrated his forces for one decisive effort, there can be little doubt that the projects of the French General would have been defeated. But St. Cyr calculated on the imbecility of his adversary, and, unfortunately, was not deceived in his computation.

The march of the French army to Barcelona was one of great difficulty and danger. In case of defeat, retreat was impossible; for it was necessary to pass over mountains covered with snow, through long and dangerous défiles; and the swarms of armed peasants which occupied the heights, though dispersed with facility by the advancing army, again united, like the waves of the sea when furrowed by VOL. II.

8

86

ST. CYR MARCHES ON BARCELONA.

[1808.

the keel of a ship, and closed up all avenue of escape.

The road by the coast had been broken up; and the other, commanded by the Fort of Hostalrich, was not practicable for artillery. At La Bisbal, therefore, St. Cyr found it necessary to send back his artillery to Figueras; and, issuing four days provisions, and fifty cartridges, to each soldier, with one hundred and fifty thousand cartridges carried on mules, the army continued their march on Barcelona.

Don Juan Claros, with a body of Miquelets and Somatenes, had taken up a strong position at Col de la Grange, in order to oppose their march. From this he was driven by Pino's division; and the army proceeded to Val de Aro, without encountering other danger than that of receiving a few shots from the English ships, where the road near Palamos passes close to the shore.

Dec. 13.] On the thirteenth, the French halted at Vidreras. By his manœuvres, St. Cyr had endeavoured to propagate the belief that his object was Gerona. Having now passed that city, the deception could continue no longer; yet he adopted every means of creating doubt as to the route he intended to follow, aware that every hour of delay, in the concentration of the hostile forces, was an important advantage.

Dec. 14.]

On the fourteenth, St. Cyr took post in the neighbourhood of Hostalrich. Here, in order to avoid the fort, endeavours were made to find a path across the mountains, which were at length successful. The march was continued on the fifteenth, but not without annoyance from the garrison of Hostalrich, which, having discovered the vicinity of the enemy, came out and annoyed their rear. No sooner had these assailants been repulsed, than the neighbouring heights were observed to be covered with Somatenes, who kept up a continued

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