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CHAP. XIII.

Blake goes to the Eastward. Suchet enters the kingdom of Valencia. Siege of Murviedro. Defeat of Blake, and Capture of Murviedro and the Capital.

THE Regent General Blake, as soon as he had returned to Cadiz after his feeble attack upon Niebla, prepared to take the field in the eastern provinces which were now so imminently endangered. Embarking, therefore, with all the force he could collect, he landed at Almeria to join the army of Murcia, and took a position between Guadix and Baeza. Soult, who knew better how to profit by favourable opportunities, marched against him; when the French forces broke up from the Guadiana, he turned the right of the Spanish army under General Freyre, and compelled him to fall back upon Murcia; a retreat, however, which was effected with honour, though not without considerable loss. Soult shortly afterwards returned to Seville, and Blake proceeded to Valencia, where Suchet was now advancing in his destructive career.

The Marquis del Palacio had been appointed captain general of the kingdoms of Aragon, Valencia, and Murcia. He announced his coming in a proclamation from Alicante, of a very different character from those which have so greatly contributed to support the cause of Spain. "From the moment," said he, "that I set foot in this country, and knew the fall of Tarragona, my spirit, far from being cast

down, seemed as if it had taken fresh strength and courage to run to danger as well as to victory. Do not hold me arrogant and vain, for my hopes are not rested upon my arm of flesh. From afar I see the walls of Valencia of burnished and impenetrable brass; and the more secure, inasmuch as the enemy cannot perceive them. I see also a cloud of protection over the whole kingdom, whereof that which for forty years protected the people of God was but a type and a figure. The brazen walls are the Valencian breasts, who have loyalty for their stamp and shield of arms, and the cloud which protects us is the Queen of Angels,— she who is the general of the best appointed army, our adorable and generous Madre de Desamparados, mother of the helpless, with her omnipotent son. Heaven itself has given the greatest proof of this truth, and of its predilection for the city and kingdom of Valencia. Is there any other capital in all Spain which has not been entered by some army of this Corsican robber, this impious tyrant? Is there any other province which has twice repelled them from its centre, without walls and without armies? Heaven and her invincible Deborah, or Judith, have saved us, and will save us, if our conduct is not unworthy of her protection.

Wonder not at this language from a soldier. I am a Christian: I am an old Spaniard, and I am persuaded that they are not earthly victories, but bolts from heaven which reach the wicked, such as the Corsican and his generals, whose principles are bad, and whose conduct is worse. I resign, therefore, my staff to this sovereign queen; she has been the general who has delivered the kingdom thus long: she it is who will deliver all that is placed under this staff, no longer mine but hers, and the Lord's who is the God of bat. tles."

It would be wronging the marquis to break off here, for in other parts of his address he spoke in the proper language of a patriot and a commander. "This is a holy war," said he, "in which we must fight like the Maccabees. Let him who feels for the public cause join us, and take arms, and offer himself as a sacrifice, and put forth his hand, and advance, and attack, and triumph. Eternal war against the tyrant, war against the coward, against the impious, the selfish, the peculator, and him who does not labour to his utmost in the good cause. Confide in the government and it will confide in you. If there is conduct in the chiefs, there will be conduct in the people: moderation in the expenditure, and there will be plenty in the army; order in private families, and it will display itself in public actions; activity in individuals, and the army will be invincible; let there be obedience, union, fidelity, justice and truth, and God will fight with us."

Unfortunately there were many in Valencia upon whom the first part of this address was likely to have more effect than the second. A friar, preaching in the Plaza Catalina, said to his auditors," If the cortes think of abolishing our holy order, and that of our sisters the nuns, obey them not, ye armed Valencians, but oppose such

mandates like lions. We are the servants of God, whom you must obey rather than man. The English themselves, though they have an excellent constitution, must eventually fall for want of the blessing of the Catholic faith. Ask not for cannon and gunpowder, but rather fly to your altars; and instead of any vain attempt to resist the victorious French by force of arms, implore the aid of Heaven, which alone can avert the heavy calamities that threaten you." Zaragoza is as Catholic a city as Valencia, but it was not by such sermons as this that the heroism of the Zaragozans was excited and sustained.

Zaragoza had defended itself without any other hope than what the inhabitants placed in themselves. Valencia prepared for its defence under very different circumstances; it was true, indeed, that the French hitherto had succeeded in all their sieges; but, on the other hand, the Spanish general, who was now arrived to oppose them, came with full powers, civil as well as military, and the whole strength of the executive authority, to carry into effect whatever measures he might think needful. The collected force under his command was equal in number to that of the invaders, and one division of 6000 men, taking its name from the field of Albuhera, had attained discipline upon which the officers could rely, and reputation which every effort would be made to support. Some of the generals also stood high in public opinion; Lardizabal had distinguished himself in Lapena's expedition; and Zayas was thought by the English, as well as by his own countrymen, one of the best officers in the Spanish service. Lines had been made to cover the city; no labour had been spared upon them; lines well constructed and adequately manned are upon all military principles impregnable; there could be no want of men here,

for, in addition to the regular force, the city and the kingdom contained a numerous and willing population.

Twelve miles east of Valencia is the town of Murviedro, which had been fortified. Colonel Andrioni was appointed to command there with a garrison of 3500 men, who volunteer. ed for this service. Murviedro stands upon the site of Saguntum; and that recollection would have stimulated any honourable man to rival the fidelity which has rendered that name illustrious. The Roman theatre here, which is one of the most perfect remains of the ancients, and the other antiquities of this sacred spot, were held in such proper estimation by the Spanish government, that in 1785, under the ministry of the Conde d'Aranda, an officer was appointed to preserve them. When it was deemed necessary to fortify the place the engineers condemned the theatre; the conservator appealed to the cortes, and the cortes unanimously agreeing that it would be a reproach to the nation if this precious monument should be destroyed, addressed the regents, requiring them to give orders for its careful preservation.

On the 15th of September, Andrioni entered upon his charge, and a few days afterward the French from Tortosa and from Aragon began their march toward Valencia. Suchet had with him all the disposeable troops from Aragon and Catalonia; withdraw ing many of the less important garrisons, and smaller detachments, in full confidence that there was neither energy enough in the general government of Spain, nor union enough among the provincial authorities, to make a due advantage of the opportunity which was thus afforded them. He arrived before Murviedro on the 27th, and took possession of the town. Blake retreated from that place to the capital with 13,000 men, these were the flower of his army,the divisions of General

Obispo and Villacampa under D. Carlos O'Donnel, brother to the Conde de Bisbal, remained in the field, 4000 men occupied Segorbe and Liria, and Bassecourt, with about 2000, was in Reguena and Utril; besides these forces the commander-in-chief had 1600 horse, part of them veteran troops.

scarce.

Against such means of resistance, Suchet would never have ventured to advance if he had not despised the Valencian troops. Here, as in every part of Spain, the spirit of the people was excellent, but no where had it been more wretchedly misdirected. With an abundant population, brave and patriotic enough to offer themselves to any danger and submit to any sacrifices, and with resources greater than those of any other province from its redundant fertility, Valencia had ly made an effort in favour of its neighbours. At the earnest requisition of the British naval commander on that coast, a body of its troops had been detached into Catalonia, and they were actually embarked without a musket, because there was an established regu lation, that before they left the province their arms must be deposited in the arsenal. When arms were provided for them, it was judged necessary to march them into Aragon, but they refused to enter that kingdom, and in consequence returned to Valencia without having faced the enemy. Whenever, indeed, the Valencian army had faced them, some glaring misconduct had appeared, and some lamentable disaster been the necessary result. The spirit of provincialism ceased to paralyse them when the enemy was within their own territory, but Suchet still calculated upon the want of discipline in the men, and want of skill in the leaders: some reliance too he placed upon those infamous means of seduction by which France has triumphed as often as by her arms.

The day after he reached Murviedro

he assaulted the fort at two in the morning; in three places the escalade was attempted, but the French were repulsed at all points with the loss of their ladders, and of more than 400 killed and wounded. They kept possession of the town, broke through the party walls of the houses, that they might thus communicate without exposing themselves to the fire of the garrison, barricadoed the streets, and planted guns in those houses which looked toward the fort. This was not effected without some loss, and the besiegers had not yet brought up their battering train; it was to come from Tor tosa, and the little fort of Oropesa in their rear commanded the road. Suchet gave directions for reducing this, and acted in the meantime against the troops in the field. Obispo was attacked on the 30th at Seneja, and driven back upon Segorbe; there he rallied, but reinforcements came to the enemy, which again gave them the superiority; they entered Segorbe also in pursuit of his broken troops, put all who resisted to the sword, and drove him towards Liria. The next object of Suchet was to drive General Carlos O'Donnell's division beyond the Guadaliavar; on the night of October 1st he marched against it; the advanced guard was attacked and routed at Betero; the main body at Benaguacil: little loss was sustained by the Spaniards in these actions, but they did not contribute to raise the character of the Valencian troops in the eyes of their enemies, and Suchet, who knew that the struggle would be with Blake's forces, endeavoured to provoke that general into the field, by reproaching him for having remained idle in Valencia while two divisions of his army were defeated.

He had made himself, however, already so far master of the field, as to continue his operations against Murviedro without interruption. He as

saulted it a second time on the 8th, and was again repulsed. The castle of Oropesa surrendered on the 11th, after a cannonade of a few hours. Captain Eyre, in the Magnificent, had just arrived to assist it, but he came only in time to bring off the garrison of a tower about a mile distant. Artillery and tools could now be safely brought from Tortosa; and a week afterwards a practicable breach was effected. Twice in the course of the day and the night the French attempted to storm it: the garrison behaved like men, and repulsed them with great slaughter. The fort, though, according to the inveterate habit of procras tination which has for centuries been the reproach of Spanish policy, its works were incomplete, yet was capa ble of making a very formidable resist ance for it was so constructed as to form four parts, each of which might be defended after the others were ta ken. Blake calculated upon the im petuosity of the enemy, the steadiness of the garrison, and the patriotism of the governor; the two former did not deceive him; and, being unwilling to hazard a battle, because he felt an ominous apprehension of the result, he laid down for himself a wise plan of operations; which was to abstain from battle, in hope that the French would weaken themselves in the siege, and that they might be compelled to retreat by movements upon their flank and on the side of Aragon.

It was part of this plan to surprise the French in Cuenca, and thus cut off Suchet's communication with Madrid; this expedition was committed to General Mahy's care, that Mahy who was employed and trusted after his misconduct in Galicia. The Conde de Montijo was to co-operate with him. The attempt proved ineffectual, and Mahy returned with his division to join the commander-in-chief. In Aragon the Spaniards were led by men of a differ

ent stamp, and their movements would have led to very different results, if the spirit of provincialism, and that insubordination which long habits of military independence can scarcely fail to produce, had not frustrated fair beginnings, and bright prospects of success. A decree of the cortes had attach ed the Guerilla parties to the armies of their respective districts, and given rank to their leaders, leaving them to pursue their own system of warfare at their own discretion, but subjecting them thus to a military superior when ever they should be called upon. Duran and the Empecinado, who commanded, the one in the province of Soria, the other in that of Guadalaxara, each with the rank of brigadier, had been ordered by Blake to unite and enter Aragon, which Suchet had drained of troops for the expedition against Valencia. Their collected force was computed at about 4000 men. With the greater part of this force they appeared before the city of Calatayud, where the enemy had a garrison of between 8 and 900 men. Not expecting, as it appears, so bold a measure on the part of the Guerillas, the French upon sight of them sent out a detachment, who took post upon an eminence before the city, where there was a ruined castle; of this detachment about 50 were killed and as many made prisoners, not a man escaping; the garrison then, and all the persons connected with them, took shelter in the convent of the Mercenarios; this edifice had been fortified, and was one of those posts which gave them military possession of the country. The Spaniards had no artillery, and having in vain attempted to burn it, began to mine. This was a branch of warfare in which they had little skill and less experience; on the third day the mine was ready, it was exploded and produced

Sept. 26.

no effect, though two others were immediately commenced. Meantime a reinforcement of 200 foot and 50 horse, the precursors of a much larger force from Zaragoza, came to relieve the besieged-the Empecinado hastened to meet them, routed them, and chased them as far as Almunia, taking the colonel who commanded prisoner, and more than 200 of their muskets and knapsacks, which they threw away to disencumber themselves in flight. On the sixth day of Oct. 3. the siege, the match was laid to the second mine, which produced little more effect than the first; the third, however, was more successful; it brought down part of the wall of the church, and the French then capitulated, on condition that the officers should be sent to France on their parole. Five hundred men were made prisoners, and about 150 killed and wounded were found in the convent. There were found here provisions and money which had been collected by the intrusive government: the grain was sold at a fair price to the inhabitants of the district for seed. This Duran and the Empecinado thought necessary, that they might lessen as much as possible the evils arising from the state of waste to which that part of the country was abandoned. Soon afterwards more than 3000 French arrived, they followed the patriots, hoping to recover the plunder, but the Guerilla chiefs gave them no opportunity of effecting this, and the next day the enemy. returned into Navarre, where they were recalled to resist Espoz y Mina. Lord Wellington, by a movement upon Ciudad Rodrigo, among other most essential services which he rendered to Spain, had compelled Marmont to draw troops from Navarre, and Mina, being thus relieved from the long-continued pressure of forces ten times out

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