LXI. 1809. levies at Badajoz formed a sort of guard for the Central CHAP. Junta, who had established themselves in that city after the fall of Madrid. As to the new levies in Andalusia, Granada, and Valencia, they were as yet too ill-disciplined and remote from the scene of action to be capable of affording any efficient support to regular troops in the earlier periods of the campaign. And though, in Catalonia, there were at least fifty thousand brave men in possession of Gerona, Rosas, Tarragona, Tortosa, Lerida, and a strong central range of mountains, yet they were fully occupied with the invaders in their own bounds, and, without either seeking succour from, or being able to afford succour to the neighbouring provinces, resolutely maintained on their own hills an independent hostility. The patriot forces numbered in all scarcely a hundred and twenty thousand men, scattered over the whole extent of the Peninsula, without either any means of uniting with each other, any central authority to which they all yielded obedience, or any common object to which they could simultaneously be applied. At Madrid, Joseph reigned with the apparent consent of the nation. Registers having been opened for the inscription of the names of those who were favourable to his government, no less than twenty-eight thousand heads of families. in a few days enrolled themselves; and deputations from 1 Lond. i. the municipal council, the council of the Indies, and 294, 295. all the incorporations, waited upon him at Valladolid, Vict. et to entreat that he would return to the capital and 255, 257, reassume the royal functions, with which he at length 205. complied.1 Jan. 22. Nap. ii. 4, 5. Tor. ii. 204, 37. distribution French in On the other hand, the forces of Napoleon were much more formidable, both from the position which they Forces and occupied, and the number and quality of the troops of of the which they were composed. Instead of being spread Spain. out, like the English and Spanish hosts, round an immense circumference, without any means of communicating with or supporting each other, they were massed together in the LXI. 1809. CHAP. central parts of the kingdom, and possessed the inestimable advantage of an interior and comparatively short line of communication. The total French force in the Peninsula amounted, even after the Imperial Guard had departed for Germany, to two hundred and eighty thousand infantry, and forty thousand cavalry, of whom two hundred and forty thousand were present in the field with the eagles. Fifty thousand of this immense force protected the great line of communication with France, which was strengthened by three fortresses, and sixty-four fortified posts of correspondence; and the corps were so distributed that they could all support each other in case of need, or combine in any common operations. The northern provinces were parcelled out into military governments, the chiefs of which communicated with each other by means of movable columns, repressed any attempt at insurrection, and levied military contributions on the inhabitants, to the amount not only of all the wants of their respective corps, but in some cases including immense fortunes to themselves. Nearly the whole charges of this enormous force were extorted from the conquered provinces. Soult, with twenty-three thousand effective men, lay at Corunna, while Ney, with fourteen thousand, occupied Asturias and the northern coast; Lannes and Moncey, with two corps, about forty-eight thousand strong, were charged with the siege of Saragossa; Victor was in Estremadura with twenty-five thousand; Mortier, with as many, in the valley of the Tagus; Sebastiani, who had succeeded to the command 1 Belmas, i. of Lefebvre's corps, observed the enemy's forces in la Must. Rolls, Mancha; St Cyr, with forty thousand, was stationed in Catalonia; and Joseph, with twelve thousand guards, was at Madrid.1 37,38. Imp. Nap. i. App. Nos. 1, 2. The spirits of the Spaniards, which had been sunk to an extraordinary degree by the disasters of the preceding campaign, the capture of their capital, and the retreat of the English troops from Galicia, were first revived by the LXI. 1809. 38. Peninsula of treaty, and defend Por stand by intelligence of the treaty so opportunely and generously CHAP. concluded by Great Britain, at the moment of their greatest depression, by which she engaged never to conclude a separate peace with Napoleon; and by the Effect in the resolution expressed in parliament by the ministers, not- the English withstanding the gloomy forebodings of the Opposition, resolution to never to abandon the cause of Spanish independence. tugal and These cheering announcements were speedily followed Spain. by deeds which clearly evinced an unabated resolution to maintain the contest. Measures were set on foot in Portugal, evidently preparatory to a protracted struggle. General Beresford had been appointed by the regency field-marshal in the Portuguese service, and intrusted with the arduous duty of training and directing the new levies in that kingdom. Twenty thousand of these troops were taken into British pay, placed under the direction of British officers, and admitted to all the benefits of British upright administration: the regency March 2. revived and enforced the ancient law of the monarchy, by which, in periods of peril, the whole male population capable of bearing arms were called out in defence of their country numerous transports, filled with stores and muniments of war, daily arrived at Lisbon, which became a vast depot for the military operations of the kingdom. Finally, the landing of Sir Arthur Wellesley, with powerful reinforcements from England, was regarded at once as a pledge of sincerity in the cause, and the harbinger of yet higher glories than he had yet acquired. Reanimated by these vigorous steps on the part of their ally, not less than the breaking out of the Austrian war, and withdrawing of the Imperial Guard from the Peninsula, the Central Junta, which was now established at April 17. Seville, issued a spirited proclamation to their country- clamation in men, in which, after recounting the propitious circum- App. No. 25. App. Lond. stances which were now appearing in their favour, they i. 294, 295. strongly recommended the general adoption of the gue- 159. rilla system of warfare,1 and renewed their protestations 1 See pro Belmas, i. Nap. ii. 142, CHAP. LXI. 1809. 39. Preparations for Saragossa. Atlas, never to make peace while a single Frenchman polluted the Spanish territory. Saragossa was the first place of note which was threatened by the French arms. The vicinity of that the siege of place to the frontier of the empire, its commanding situation on the banks of the Ebro, the valour of its Plate 49. inhabitants, and the renown which they had acquired by the successful issue of the last siege, all conspired to render its early reduction a matter of the highest interest to the Emperor. After the disastrous issue of the battle of Tudela, Palafox, with about fifteen thousand regular troops, had thrown himself into that city; but their number was soon augmented to thirty thousand, by the stragglers who had taken refuge there after that rout, to whom were soon joined fifteen thousand armed but undisciplined peasants, monks, and mechanics. The enthusiasm of this motley crowd was inconceivable; it recalled, in the nineteenth century, the days of Numantia and Saguntum. The citizens of the town were animated by the spirit of democratic freedom; the peasants of the country by that of devout enthusiasm; the monks by religious devotion; the soldiers by former glory-all by patriotic fervour. By a singular combination of circumstances, but one which frequently occurred during the Spanish war, the three great principles which agitate mankind-the spirit of religion, the fervour of equality, the glow of patriotism-were all called into action at 125. Cav. the same time, and conspired to stimulate one common ii. 236, 237. resistance. Thence the obstinate defence of Saragossa, 1 Jom. iii. 68, 69. Tor. 40. Prepara tions which had been made for and its deathless fame.1 The defences of the place had been considerably strengthened since the former siege. The weak or ruined parts of the wall had been repaired, additional the defence parapets erected in the most exposed situations, the of the place. suburbs included in new fortifications, barriers and trenches drawn across the principal streets, and the houses loopholed; so that, even if the rampart were LXI. 1809. surmounted, a formidable resistance might be anticipated CHAP. in the interior of the town. General Doyle, of the British service, had, ever since the termination of the first siege, been indefatigable in his efforts to strengthen the place. A large quantity of English muskets was distributed among the inhabitants; ammunition, stores, and provisions, were provided in abundance; the solid construction of the storehouses diminished to a considerable degree the chances of a successful bombardment ; and one hundred and eighty guns, distributed on the ramparts, gave token of a much more serious resistance than on the last memorable occasion. Such was the confidence of the Aragonese in the strength of the ramparts of Saragossa, the unconquerable spirit of its garrison, and the all-powerful protection of Our Lady of the Pillar, that, on the approach of the French troops to invest the town, the peasants from all quarters flocked into it, burning with ardour and undaunted in resolution, so as to swell its defenders to fifty thousand men. 87. Tor. ii. But they brought with them, as occurred in Athens when 239, 240. besieged by the Lacedemonians, the seeds of a contagious 126, 127. malady, which among its now crowded dwellings spread 139, 140; with alarming rapidity, and in the end proved more Just. i. fatal even than the sword of the enemy.1 1 Cav. 74, Jom. iii. Belm. ii. and Pièces dispositions Palafox exercised an absolute authority over the city; 41. and such was the patriotic ardour of the inhabitants, Preparatory that all his orders for the public defence were obeyed of Palafox. without a moment's hesitation, even though involving the sacrifice of the most valuable property, or dearest attachments of the people. If a house in the neighbourhood was required to be demolished to make way for the fire of the ramparts, hardly was the order given than the proprietor himself levelled it with the ground. The shady groves, the delicious gardens in which the citizens so much delighted, were laid waste by the axe: in a few days the accumulated wealth of centuries disappeared in the environs of the town, before the breath |