106 ATTEMPT TO RETAKE THE MONTE-TORRERO. [A.D. The carnage now became terrible, but the defenders maintained their ground. The French General was at the end of his ammunition, and was not prepared for the necessity to which he was already reduced by the stubbornness of the defence as evinced at the first assault, notwithstanding the shower of shell and shot which he had poured upon the place during the first two or three nights. He saw the expediency of husbanding his means of attack, and demanded fresh troops; and Colonel Lacoste now determined to make new approaches against the place on the side of the Sta Engracia. Palafox happened to have been absent from the city at the moment of the assault, and the command had devolved on the Intendant Calvo de Rozas and two plebeian chiefs, called Tio Martin and Tio Jorge. These men all resolutely exerted themselves under their energetic chief to keep up a powerful and continued resistance. The enemy succeeded in destroying the corn mills on the river by which the city was supplied with bread. Under this new infliction, all the horses and mules were collected and brigaded to work mills in the town. There was a reasonable apprehension lest their stock of gunpowder should fail, but the monks (for the credit of the order that had produced Friar Bacon) collected all the sulphur, cleansed the sewers to obtain saltpetre, and fabricated charcoal out of the hemp-stalks, which are here of such a size as to become ligneous, and the magazines were continually supplied. The bridge was still open, by which the insurgents from the open country still brought in supplies, but, by the 11th or 12th, the enemy had closed this communication, and the besieged were now reduced to their own resources. The side of the intended attack having been discovered, the convent of Sta Engracia was converted into a perfect citadel. Batteries of heavy guns were placed in the apartments below, and lighter artillery in the upper stories, while the very clock-tower was armed with falconets and what the Chinese call gingals. An épaulement was carried from the convent of the Capuchins on the right, towards the Puerto del Carmen; and the bed of the Huerba being dry at this season, was filled with obstructions of every kind. A reinforcement having reached the city from Estremadura, Palafox resolved upon an attempt to retake the Monte-Torrero; and, on the 17th, made a desperate sally at the head of 2,000 men, but these brave levies could not succeed against the disciplined valour of the besiegers. On the 23rd another vigorous sortie was made from the side of Arrabales, to bring in a force of Arragonese, expected to arrive from that side, but all their efforts were alike vain. The French daily increased the number of their guns, and formed seven new batteries, some of them within 150 yards of the convent. They began to bombard again on the morning of the 31st, but, in the night of the 2nd of August, a furious cannonade opened on the devoted city, which was continued all through the 3rd; 600 shell are said to have been projected, which principally fell on the convents del Carmen and Sta Engracia. On the 4th, at mid-day, the breaches were pronounced practicable, and the besiegers advanced to the storm. Palafox took his place at an early hour near the 1808.] INDIVIDUAL BRAVERY OF THE INHABITANTS. 107 Torre del Pino, against which two columns were in march, the right commanded by General Hubert, the left by General Grandjean. Nothing could resist the impulse of the French attack; they carried the convent, and pushed on to the Calle del Cosso, a broad street in the very midst of the city, where they planted the tricolor on the church of San Francisco. Scarcely, however, had the assailants time allowed them to consolidate their success, when, in their front, flank, and rear, every house vomited forth the fire of musketry. The Spanish account is most expressive -"Cada habitante era yo un leon feroz." The assailants were obliged, therefore, to throw up parapets hastily for their protection, and, indeed, it was already necessary to lay siege to every house. The hospital of San Francisco and the madhouse, on the two sides of the street leading into the Cosso, offered such a resistance that the French troops commenced with this object to bring out of the houses, furniture, bedding, &c., to construct what are termed "blindages," a kind of temporary fireproof roofing for shelter. The bitterness of the individual fighting was almost unprecedented, for on the one side were men who fought for their household gods; on the other, soldiers despising the antagonists who could not withstand them in skill, but brought sheer animal courage and bodily strength to resist them. Before night, the broad space of the Cosso divided the combatants; and the wretched inhabitants, though unhoused and exhausted by the fatigue of a seven hours' conflict, resolutely began to prepare fresh defences. Brigadier Torres was directed by Palafox to get into position fresh guns for the defence of the morrow. In the evening, General Verdier, thinking the besieged sufficiently cowed by the success of his troops, sent to Palafox this short summons," Se rende luego luego Zaragoza. The French Marshal sent in his terms more formally, "La paix et la capitulation ;" to which the Spaniard instantly replied as curtly, "Guerra a cuchillo." Verdier had been himself wounded severely by a ball in the thigh, and Lefebvre-Desnouettes had received a grave contusion in the side, yet the French writers assert that their casualties in this night battle were only 300 killed and 900 wounded. It was probably thrice that number; but no one knows correctly how many were Spanish and how many were French on the heaps that filled every street and every house in the portion of the city which was the scene of the combat. Lefebvre-Desnouettes, who succeeded to the command in consequence of Verdier's wound, proposed to Lacoste to proceed by the more insidious mode of sap and mine, rather than incur all the casualties of street fighting; for the acrimony of the Spaniards was such that it would not even justify the concession of a truce to bury the dead, which, in the terrible heats of the season, soon became a source of as much danger to the inhabitants as the sword of the French. Palafox, in this emergency, harnessed the French prisoners to ropes, and made them drag away the dead out of the streets to cast them into pits, which were hastily dug to receive them, and, of course, the French did not fire on their comrades in the course of these sad duties. 108 ZARAGOZA A NOBLE EXAMPLE OF PATRIOTISM. A.D. On the evening of the following day, the 5th of August, Verdier received the account of the capitulation of Baylen and the order of King Joseph to raise the siege as soon as he could do so without risk, but to do his best to exhaust against the enemy all store of gunpowder which he could not bring away. While, therefore, the street firing was kept up continually, night and day, preparations were silently made for withdrawing the French army. The important intelligence of Dupont's surrender had also reached the garrison on the 9th, and was made known to the city by a public announcement. A reinforcement of 3,000 Arragonese, under Palafox's brother, had, in the meantime, come into Zaragoza on the evening of the 7th, and, on the 8th, a council of war declared unanimously that they were ready to defend the portion of the city they held as long as they could, and, if driven from their streets, could cross over to Arrabales, and defend themselves in that suburb to the last extremity. This determination of the citizens was shared in by the clergy, and even the women. Of the former, one Iago Saass has been noted for his enterprising character, so that his townsmen created him a Captain, and named him Chaplain-General to the army, for his services. Of the latter, the Countess Bureta, one of the most distinguished of the Arragonese nobility, sallied out of her mansion with a firelock in her hand at the head of a disciplined company of women, and led them into the midst of every danger, not only to carry succour to the wounded, but to resist the assailants in person. In expectation of the French departure, Palafox addressed a spirited proclamation from the "Cuartel General de Zaragoza," complimenting both "Arragoneses y Soldados" on their two months' noble resistance of the French armies, and the inhabitants forthwith illuminated their houses; but their liberation was not yet effected, and the most frightful explosions spread continual terror and alarm. In the night of the 14th many mines were sprung, but fires were seen with delight to arise from the engineer's park on MonteTorrero. The last blew up the Church of Sta Engracia, which was laid in ruins.* While the defenders were ready, on the morning of the 14th, to renew the resistance with undiminished rancour, word was brought that the French were marching away on the road to Pampeluna. In the midst of the desolation and misery, the first thought of the besieged was to proceed, in full procession, to the metropolitan church, Del Pilar, where Palafox, accompanied by the Conde de Montijo, the Correjidor, and Ayuntamiento, and crowds, civil and military, amid the sound of music and cannon, sung a solemn Te Deum before they returned to their ruined palaces and broken homes. Honour, immortal honour to the name of Zaragoza ! The The subterranean church of Sta Engracia was, in the estimation of devotees of the Romish Church, one of the most sacred edifices of Spain. It was full of relics, and lighted up day and night with 30 lamps, which, although the roof was but 12 feet high, never sullied it with smoke. This was owing to the oil prepared by the monks of the Geronemite monastery attached to this church, and puzzled all who did not believe it to be miraculous. 1808.] KING JOSEPH ENTERS MADRID. 109 whole history of the world does not present a brighter and purer patriotism than was exhibited, in 1808, by the inhabitants of Zaragoza. It is a perfect wonder, at the present day, how an open town, with no resources but the enthusiasm of a large population, could have resisted, for a moment (let alone forty days), the skill and resources of 17,000 troops of the most experienced and successful army of Europe! Perhaps no nation but the Spanish could have produced such an example. Although not eminently a military people, yet, with great individual bravery, they possess wonderful powers of endurance; though not eminently moral, yet they possess a grandeur of soul, which revolts at deceit and insult, and would stop at nothing to save their women and children from dishonour, and their religion from desecration. The loss of fathers, husbands, sons, mothers, wives, and daughters, was endured with patience, but with indignation; while the sight of their ruined churches and homesteads lighted an inextinguishable animosity, which carried them to a glorious result, such as mere military discipline could never have reached with such slender preparations for defence. Many material trophies remained to them among the stores left behind by the besiegers; but, if glory was ever of value, it was when in defence of their liberties, and their lives, and their religion, they proved that they could successfully resist an inveterate enemy in defence of all they held dear. If, then, the mere animus of patriotism could fire an undisciplined people to such endurance of calamity for a great object, without the "appliances and means to boot," what may not be expected in our own country from the establishment of trained bands of rifle volunteers, who, with equal patriotism and equal resolution, are disciplined to perfect skill in the use of the weapon, and are as completely organised as regular troops? The sovereign of a presumptuous and arrogant soldiery should take warning from Zaragoza. His King Joseph had entered Madrid on the 20th of July. reception had been cold enough, and he could scarcely have reached the capital of his new kingdom in personal safety but for the effect of Bessière's victory at Rio-Seco. He had, however, but just settled himself down in his palace, in that quiet luxury which he particularly loved, when the sinister rumours of the capitulation of Baylen reached Madrid. These were very soon followed by the arrival of M. de Villoutreys, escorted by a guard of Spanish cavalry, bearing the terms of the capitulation of his army to the King. What was now to prevent the victorious army of Castaños marching straight to the capital? Had it been commanded by a Napoleon, it would have been there almost as soon as the Aide-de-camp we have mentioned. The division of General Freire, in La Mancha, could offer little resistance, and the garrison of Madrid was composed merely of men in hospital and the weak divisions of Mounier and Morlot, for all defence. The throne, moreover, was already a thorny seat; for, in the short time that the intrusive King had been at Madrid, he and Savary had been at variance; and, although he might have sent him away out of Spain, yet the General represented the high 110 BRITISH EXPEDITION IN THE PENINSULA. [A.D. authority of the Emperor against the feeble power of an immature royalty, and now, in his trouble, Joseph appealed to him for his advice, glad to cover his own feebleness with the responsibility of a French General. The resolve to abandon Madrid was arrived at in council together; but it was necessary to save as much as possible of the materiel de guerre which had been collected in the fort of Buera-Retico, and, accordingly, while orders were issued for the retirement of all the French forces behind the Ebro, it was the 2nd of August before Joseph quitted Madrid, and established his headquarters at Miranda, on the great Camina Reale leading into France. 18. A BRITISH EXPEDITION, UNDER WELLESLEY, ARRIVES IN THE PENINSULA. The British expedition, intended to aid the patriotic exertions of the nations of the Peninsula, was collected at Cork, to the extent of 9,000 soldiers, who set sail from that port on the 12th of July, and, while the transports were slowly ploughing the Bay of Biscay, Lieutenant-General Sir Arthur Wellesley sailed away on board the "Crocodile," anticipating his forces, in order to learn the state of affairs in the Peninsula, and to determine on the spot which, in his judgment and that of the naval authorities off the coast, was best suited for the landing of the expedition; he arrived, on the 20th, at Corunna. He immediately sought an interview with the Galician Junta, whom he found in a state of the greatest consternation at the defeat of Medina de Rio-Seco, which had only occurred a few days before; and, although in a perfect panic as to its results, they refused the aid of British troops, professing that they needed no assistance, except in money and stores. There is at all times a blind selfconfidence in the Spanish character, and the truth was that the leaders of the patriots, at this time, were hot-headed, violent men, who entertained an inflated opinion of the bravery and efficiency of their troops, and some contempt for the troops of every other nation, especially of the English army, who had not at that time performed any deeds of arms worthy their ancient renown; so that General Castaños, a man of moderate character, gave vent, in a speech addressed to the French officers at Baylen, to this most imprudent remark: "Let not your Emperor force us into the arms of the English, who are hateful to us, and to this moment we have rejected their proffered succour." Finding, therefore, what were the tone and complexion of thought in Spain, Wellesley left that people to their own devices, and took his course to Oporto. There he was cordially received by the Bishop and the authorities, who offered a ready compliance with his demands for supplies of cattle for draught, and for assistance of every kind to his commissariat; but he was warned by Colonel Browne, whom he found at Oporto, not to trust very confidently to the national promises, or to value their proffered assistance in the field, for the Portuguese army did not exceed 6,500 badly-equipped soldiers, and some 10,000 or 12,000 undisciplined |