CHAPTER LIII. THE SPANISH PENINSULA AT THE OPENING OF THE WAR. CHAP. LII. 1808. 1. events of which the Spanish peninsula has been the theatre. THE Spanish peninsula, in which a frightful war was now about to commence, and where the armies of France and England at last found a permanent theatre of combat, has been distinguished from the earliest times by Memorable memorable achievements, and rendered illustrious by the exploits of many of the greatest captains who have ever left the impress of their actions on the course of human events. The mighty genius of Hannibal there began its career, and under the walls of Saguntum gave the earliest indication of that vast capacity which was soon to shake to its foundation the enduring fabric of Roman power. In it Scipio Africanus first revived the almost desperate fortunes of the republic, and matured those talents which were destined on a distant shore to overthrow the fortunes of the inveterate enemy of his country. The talents of Pompey, the capacity of Sertorius, the genius of Cæsar, were exerted on its plains. A severer struggle than that of Pharsalia awaited the founder of the empire on the shores of the Ebro. The desperate contest between the Cross and the Crescent raged for centuries amidst its mountains, and from their rocks the wave of Mussulman conquest was first permanently repelled. Nor has the Peninsula been in modern times the theatre of less memorable exploits. The standards of Charlemagne have waved in its passes; the bugles of Roncesvalles LIII. 1808. have resounded through the world; the chivalry of the CHAP. Black Prince, the skill of Gonzalvo of Cordova, have been displayed in its defence. The genius of Napoleon, the firmness of Wellington, have been exerted on its plains; and, like their great predecessors in the wars of Rome and Carthage, these two illustrious chiefs rolled the chariot of victory over its surface, and, missing each other, severally conquered every other opponent, till their mutual renown filled the world, and Europe, in breathless suspense, awaited the issue of their conflict on another shore. 2. and singular its guerilla warfare. From the earliest times, the inhabitants of the Peninsula have been distinguished by a peculiarity of military Uniform character and mode of conducting war which is very character of remarkable. Inferior to many other nations in the firmness and discipline with which they withstand the shock of battle, they are superior to them all in the readiness with which they rally after defeat, and the invincible tenacity with which they maintain a contest under circumstances of disaster, when any other people would succumb in despair. In vain are their armies defeated and dispersed, their fortresses taken, their plains overrun, their capital subdued. Singly, or in small bodies, they renew the conflict; they rally and reunite as rapidly as they disperse; the numerous mountain chains which intersect their country afford a refuge for their broken bands; their cities make a desperate though insulated defence; and from the wreck of all regular or organised opposition emerges the redoubtable "GUERILLA warfare. "Prælio victi Carthaginienses," says Livy, " in ultimam Hispaniæ oram, ad oceanum, compulsi erant-desparem autem; quod Hispania, non quam Italia modo, sed quam ulla pars terrarum, bello reparando aptior erat, locorum hominumque ingeniis. Gens nata instaurandis reparandisque bellis brevi replevit exercitum, animosque ad tentandum de integro certamen fecit."* It is a singular fact, strik "The Carthaginians, conquered in battle, were driven into the farthest LIII. 1808. CHAP. ingly illustrative of the durable influence of common descent and physical circumstances on national character, through all the varieties of time, religion, and political condition, that the system of warfare, thus deemed peculiar to Spain, of all nations in the world, in the days of Pompey and Sertorius, has continued to distinguish its inhabitants, without any interruption, to the present time. It was pursued without intermission for eight hundred years in their wars with the Moors, formed the characteristic of the struggle with Napoleon, and continued afterwards to be the leading feature of the savage contest between the aristocratic and democratic parties, which for so many years bathed the Peninsula in blood. 3. Physical conforma country, led to these effects. Durable characteristics of this kind attaching for ages to a nation, though its inhabitants have in the course of tion of the them become the mixed progeny of many different tribes of mankind, will invariably be found to arise from some peculiarity in its physical circumstances, or some distinctive mental quality in its predominant races, which has imprinted a lasting character on all its successive inhabitants. This is in an especial manner the case with Spain and Portugal. Their territory differs in many important particulars from any in Europe. Physically considered, it belongs as much to Africa as Europe. The same burning sun parches the mountains and dries up the valleys of both; no forests clothe their sides; naked, they present their arid fronts to the shivering blasts of the north and the scorching rays of a tropical sun. Cultivation in general spreads in proportion only as irrigation can be obtained. Aided by that powerful auxiliary, the steepest mountain sides of Catalonia and Aragon are cut into terraces and clothed with the most luxuriant vegetation : provinces of Spain next the ocean. But these were unlike all other places; for Spain is better adapted, not merely than Italy, but than any part of the world, for repairing defeat, not merely by the nature of the country, but the disposition of the people. A nation born for restoring the fortune and repairing the losses of wars, speedily refilled the ranks, and inspired the spirit to renew the contest."-LIVY. LIII. without it, vast plains in Leon and the Castiles are almost CHAP. entirely destitute both of cultivation and inhabitants. So extensive in consequence are the desert tracts of Spain, 1808. that the country, viewed from the summit of any of the numerous mountain ridges with which its inland provinces. are intersected, in general exhibits only a confused group of barren elevated plains and lofty naked peaks, intersected here and there by a few glittering streams flowing in deep valleys, only on the margins of which are to be seen crops and flocks, and the traces of human habitation. A feeling of melancholy steals over the mind in traversing 47. Nap. i. its wide and broken plains: the general sterility is allied borde,i.163. to sublimity; and, amidst the desolation of nature, deep Bible in Spain, ii. impressions are made, and a lofty character communicated 117." to the mind.1 seas. 1 Suchet's Mem. i. 42, 52, 53. La Borrow's character Plate 48. The whole Peninsula may be viewed as a vast moun- 4. tainous promontory, which stretches from the Pyrenees to General the southward, between the Atlantic and Mediterranean of the PenOn the shores of the ridge to the east and west are insula. plains of admirable fertility, which at no distant period Atlas, have emerged from the waves of the sea; but in the interior an elevated assemblage of mountain ridges and lofty desert plains is to be found, the external slopes of which were once washed by the ocean, in the centre of which Madrid is placed in an upland basin at a height of eighteen hundred feet above the level of the sea. This lofty plateau consists of immense dry plains, scorched by a burning sun in summer, swept by frozen blasts in winter. Over these vast expanses the habitations are rare, towns or villages still rarer, and the only animated beings in general to be seen are vast flocks of sheep, tended by huge dogs and fierce but manly shepherds. The inhabitants of these elevated regions partake of the stern and melancholy character of the scenery by which they are surrounded. They are grave, silent, and thoughtful; but, like all persons of that temperament, capable, when roused, of heroic actions, and deeply imbued with LIII. 1808. CHAP. romantic feelings. The great rivers from the elevation of this plateau flow for the most part to the east and west in long courses, and are fed by tributary streams, which meander at the bottom of ravines of surprising depth, shut in often by precipitous banks or very steep declivities. Three great chaussées only-viz. that leading from Madrid to Bayonne by the Somo-Sierra pass, that to Valencia, and that to Barcelona-intersect this great central desert region. In every other quarter the roads are little better than mountain paths, uniting to1 Suchet's gether towns built for the most part on the summit of 49. Nap. hills, surrounded by walls, environed by superb olive Woods, but having little intercourse either with each other or with the rest of Europe. It may readily be imagined what extraordinary advantages a country of such natural 480, 481. strength and character must afford to insulated and defensive warfare.1 Mem. i. 42, i. 52, 53. Laborde's Spain, i. 163, 169, Introd. Thiers, viii. Spain contains 23,850 square geographical leagues, or about 214,000 square geographical miles, being more than double the superficies of the British islands. It was inhabited in 1808 by eleven millions, which in 1834 had risen to 14,660,000 souls. Its revenue in 1826 was 105,000,000 francs, or £4,200,000; in 1833, 162,000,000, or £6,500,000 sterling; and its public debt, 4,000,000,000 francs, or £160,000,000. Its agriculture produces 1,847,000,000 francs, or £74,000,000 sterling annually. The total yearly produce of its industry, agricultural and commercial, is 2,250,000,000 francs, or £90,000,000; facts indicating at once the disordered state of its finances, and the vast amount of its physical resources. In 1808 the revenue was 126,000,000 francs, or about £5,000,000; the expenditure 159,000,000 francs, or £6,400,000; the public debt about £50,000,000 sterling. The surface of the country, generally speaking, is arid, rocky, and sterile, unless aided by irrigation-which, however, whenever it can be obtained, produces, under its genial sun, luxuriant vegetation. Vast tracts, especially in Leon Castile, and |