History of the war in the Peninsula and in the south of France from the year 1807 to the year 1814, vol. 6

by William Francis Patrick Napier

CHAPTER I.

The fate of Spain was decided at Vittoria, but on1813. June. the fields of Lutzen and Bautzen Napoleon’s genius restored the general balance, and the negociations which followed those victories affected the war in the Peninsula.

Lord Wellington’s first intention was to reduce Pampeluna by force, and the sudden fall of the Pancorbo forts, which opened the great Madrid road was a favourable event; but Portugal being relinquished as a place of arms, a new base of operations was required, lest a change of fortune should force the allies to return to that country when all the great military establishments were broken up, when the opposition of the native government to British influence was become rancorous, and the public sentiment quite averse to English supremacy. The Western Pyrenees, in conjunction with the ocean, offered such a base, yet the harbours were few, and the English general desired to secure a convenient one, near the new positions of the army; wherefore to reduce San Sebastian was of more immediate importance than to reduce Pampeluna; and it was essential to effect this during the fine season because the coast was iron-bound and very dangerous in winter.

Pampeluna was strong. A regular attack required three weeks for the bringing up of ordnance and stores, five or six weeks more for the attack, and from fifteen to twenty thousand of the best men, because British soldiers were wanted for the assault; but an investment could be maintained by fewer and inferior troops, Spaniards and Portuguese, and the enemy’s magazines were likely to fail under blockade sooner than his ramparts would crumble under fire. Moreover on the eastern coast misfortune and disgrace had befallen the English arms. Sir John Murray had failed at Taragona. He had lost the honoured battering-train intrusted to his charge, and his artillery equipage was supposed to be ruined. The French fortresses in Catalonia and Valencia were numerous, the Anglo-Sicilian army could neither undertake an important siege, nor seriously menace the enemy without obtaining some strong place as a base. Suchet was therefore free to march on Zaragoza, and uniting with Clauzel and Paris, to operate with a powerful mass against the right flank of the allies. For these reasons Wellington finally concluded to blockade Pampeluna and besiege San Sebastian, and the troops, as they returned from the pursuit of Clauzel,July. marched to form a covering army in the mountains. The peasantry of the vicinity were then employed on the works of the blockade which was ultimately intrusted to O’Donnel’s Andalusian reserve.

Confidently did the English general expect the immediate fall of San Sebastian, and he was intent to have it before the negociations for the armistice in Germany should terminate; but mighty pains and difficulties awaited him, and ere these can be treated of, the progress of the war in other parts, during his victorious march from Portugal to the Pyrenees, must be treated of.

CONTINUATION OF THE OPERATIONS ON THE EASTERN COAST.

It will be remembered that the duke Del ParqueVol. V. p. 512. was to move from the Sierra Morena, by Almanza, to join Elio, whose army had been reinforced from Minorca; the united troops were then to act against Suchet, on the Xucar, while sir John Murray sailed to attack Taragona. Del Parque received his orders the 24th of April, he had long known of the project and the march was one of twelve days, yet he did not reach his destination until the end of May. This delay resulted, partly from the bad state of his army, partly from the usual procrastination of Spaniards, partly from the conduct of Elio, whose proceedings, though probably springing from a dislike to serve under Del Parque, created doubts of his own fidelity.

It has been already shewn, how, contrary to his agreement with Murray, Elio withdrew his cavalryVol. V. p. 460. when Mijares was at Yecla, whence sprung that general’s misfortune; how he placed the regiment of Velez Malaga in Villena, a helpless prey for Suchet; how he left the Anglo-Sicilian army to fight the battle of Castalla unaided. He now persuaded Del Parque to move towards Utiel instead of Almanza, and to send a detachment under Mijares to Requeña, thereby threatening Suchet’s right, but exposing the Spanish army to a sudden blow, and disobeying his instructions which prescribed a march by Almanza.

This false movement Elio represented as DelMay. Parque’s own, but the latter, when Murray remonstrated, quickly approached Castalla by Jumilla, declaring his earnest desire to obey Wellington’s orders. The divergence of his former march had, however, already placed him in danger; his left flank was so exposed, while coming by Jumilla, that Murray postponed his own embarkation to concert with Elio a combined operation, from Biar and Sax, against Fuente de la Higuera where Suchet’s troops were lying in wait. Previous to this epoch Elio had earnestly urged the English general, to disregard Del Parque altogether and embark at once for Taragona, undertaking himself to secure the junction with his fellow-commander. And now, after agreeing to co-operate with Murray he secretly withdrew his cavalry from Sax, sent Whittingham in a false direction, placed Roche without support at Alcoy, retired himself to the city of Murcia, and at the same time one of his regiments quartered at Alicant fired upon a British guard. Roche was attacked and lost eighty men, and Del Parque’s flank was menaced from Fuente de la Higuera, but the British cavalry, assembling at Biar, secured his communication with Murray on the 25th, and the 27th the Anglo-Sicilians broke up from their quarters to embark at Alicant.

The French were now very strong. Suchet unmolested for forty days after the battle of Castalla, had improved his defensive works, chased the bands from his rear, called up his reinforcements, rehorsed his cavalry and artillery, and prepared for new operations, without losing the advantage of foraging the fertile districts immediately in front of the Xucar. On the other hand lord William Bentinck, alarmed by intelligence of an intended descent upon Sicily, had recalled more British troops; and as Whittingham’s cavalry, and Roche’s division, were left at Alicant, the force actually embarked to attack Taragona, including a fresh English regiment from Carthagena, scarcely exceeded fourteen thousand present under arms. Of[Appendix, No. 6.] these, less than eight thousand were British or German, and the horsemen were only seven hundred. Yet the armament was formidable, for the battering train was complete and powerful, the materials for gabions and fascines previously collected at Ivica, and the naval squadron, under admiral Hallowel, consisted of several line-of-battle ships, frigates, bomb-vessels and gun-boats, besides the transports. There was however no cordiality between general Clinton and Murray, nor between the latter and his quarter-master-general Donkin, nor between Donkin and the admiral; subordinate officers also, in both services, adopting false notions, some from vanity, some from hearsay, added to the uneasy feeling which prevailed amongst the chiefs. Neither admiral nor general seem to have had sanguine hopes of success even at the moment of embarkation, and there was in no quarter a clear understanding of lord Wellington’s able plan for the operations.

While Del Parque’s army was yet in march, Suchet, if he had no secret understanding with Elio or any of his officers, must have been doubtful of the allies’ intentions, although the strength of the battering-train at Alicant indicated some siege of importance. He however recalled Pannetier’s brigade from the frontier of Aragon, and placed it on the road to Tortoza; and at the same time, knowing Clauzel was then warring down the partidas in Navarre, he judged Aragon safe, and drew Severoli’s Italian brigade from thence, leaving only the garrisons, and a few thousand men under general Paris as a reserve at Zaragoza: and this was the reason the army of Aragon did not co-operate to crush Mina after his defeat by ClauzelVol. V. p. 495. in the valley of Roncal. Decaen also sent some reinforcements, wherefore, after completing his garrisons, Suchet could furnish the drafts required by Napoleon, and yet bring twenty thousand men into the field. He was however very unquiet, and notwithstanding Clauzel’s operations, in fear for his troops in Aragon, where Paris had been attacked by Goyan, even in Zaragoza; moreover now, for the first time since its subjugation, an unfriendly feeling was perceptible in Valencia.

On the 31st of May Murray sailed from Alicant. Suchet immediately ordered Pannetier’s brigade to close towards Tortoza, but kept his own positions in front of Valencia until the fleet was seen to pass the Grāo with a fair wind. Then feeling assured the expedition aimed at Catalonia, he prepared to aid that principality; but the column of succour being drawn principally from the camp of Xativa, forty miles from Valencia, he could not quit the latter before the 7th of June. He took with himJune. nine thousand men of all arms, leaving Harispe on the Xucar, with seven thousand infantry and cavalry, exclusive of Severoli’s troops which were in full march from Teruel. Meanwhile sir John Murray’s armament, having very favourable weather, anchored on the evening of the 2d in the bay of Taragona, whence five ships of war under captain Adam, and two battalions of infantry with some guns under colonel Prevot, were detached to attack San Felippe de Balaguer.

The strength and value of this fort arose from its peculiar position. The works, garrisoned by a hundred men, were only sixty feet square, but the site was a steep isolated rock, standing in the very gorge of a pass, and blocking the only carriageway from Tortoza to Taragona. The mountains on either hand, although commanding the fort, were nearly inaccessible themselves, and great labour was required to form the batteries.

Prevot, landing on the 3d, was joined by a Spanish brigade of Copons’ army, and in concert with the navy immediately commenced operations by placing two six-pounders on the heights south of the pass, from whence at six or seven hundred yards distance they threw shrapnel-shells; but this projectile is, when used with guns of small calibre, insignificant save as a round shot.

On the 4th two twelve-pounders, and a howitzer, being brought to the same point by the sailors, opened their fire, and at night the seamen with extraordinary exertions dragged up five twenty-four-pounders and their stores. The troops then constructed one battery, for two howitzers, on the slope of the grand ridge to the northward of the pass, and a second, for four heavy guns, on the rock where the fort stood at a distance of one hundred and fifty yards. To form these batteries earth was carried from below, and every thing else, even water, brought from the ships, though the landing place was more than a mile and a half off. Hence, as time was valuable, favourable terms were offered to the garrison, but the offer was refused. The 5th the fire was continued, but with slight success, the howitzer battery on the great ridge was relinquished, and at night a very violent storm retarded the construction of the breaching batteries. Previous to this colonel Prevot had warned Murray, that his means were insufficient, and a second Spanish brigade was sent to him. Yet the breaching batteries were still incomplete on the 6th, so severe was the labour of carrying up the guns, and out of three, already mounted, one was disabled by a shot from the fort.

Suchet, who was making forced marches to Tortoza, had ordered the governor of that place to succour San Felippe. He tried, and would undoubtedly have succeeded, if captain Peyton, of the Thames frigate, had not previously obtained from admiral Hallowel two eight-inch mortars, which, beingNotes by sir Henry Peyton, R.N. MSS. placed just under the fort and worked by Mr. James of the marine artillery, commencing at day-break on the 7th, soon exploded a small magazine in the fort, whereupon the garrison surrendered. The besiegers who had lost about fifty men and officers then occupied the place, and meanwhile sir John Murray had commenced the

SECOND SIEGE OF TARAGONA.

Although the fleet cast anchor in the bay on the evening of the 2d, the surf prevented the disembarkation of the troops until the next day. The rampart of the lower town had been destroyed by Suchet, but Fort Royal remained and though in bad condition served, together with the ruins of the San Carlos bastion, to cover the western front which was the weakest line of defence. The governor Bertoletti, an Italian, was supposed by Murray to be disaffected, but he proved himself a loyal and energetic officer; and his garrison sixteen hundred strong, five hundred being privateer seamen and Franco-Spaniards, served him well.

The Olivo, and Loretto heights were occupied the first day by Clinton’s and Whittingham’s divisions, the other troops remaining on the low ground about the Francoli river; the town was then bombarded during the night by the navy, but the fire was sharply returned and the flotilla suffered the most. The next day two batteries were commenced six hundred yards from San Carlos, and nine hundred yards from Fort Royal. They opened the 6th, but being too distant to produce much effect, a third was commenced six hundred yards from Fort Royal. The 8th a practicable breach was made in that outwork, yet the assault was deferred, and some pieces removed to play from the Olivo; whereupon the besieged, finding the fire slacken, repaired the breach at Fort Royal and increased the defences. The subsequent proceedings cannot be understood without an accurate knowledge of the relative positions of the French and allied armies.

Taragona though situated on one of a cluster of heights, which terminate a range descending from the northward to the sea, is, with the exception of that range, surrounded by an open country calledPlan, No. 1. the Campo de Taragona, which is again environed by very rugged mountains, through which the several roads descend into the plain.

Westward there were only two carriage ways, one direct, by the Col de Balaguer to Taragona; the other circuitous, leading by Mora, Falcet, Momblanch and Reus. The first was blocked by the taking of San Felippe; the second, although used by Suchet for his convoys during the French siege of Taragona, was now in bad order, and at best only available for small mountain-guns.

Northward there was a carriage way, leading from Lerida, which united with that from Falcet at Momblanch.

Eastward there was the royal causeway, coming from Barcelona, through Villa Franca, Arbos, Vendrills, and Torredembarra; this road after passing Villa Franca sends off two branches to the right, one passing through the Col de Cristina, the other through Masarbones and Col de Leibra, leading upon Braffin and Valls. It was by the latter branch that M‘Donald passed to Reus in 1810; he had, however, no guns or carriages, and his whole army laboured to make the way practicable.

Between these various roads the mountains were too rugged to permit any direct cross communications; and troops, coming from different sides, could only unite in the Campo de Taragona now occupied by the allies. Wherefore, as Murray had, including sergeants, above fifteen thousand fighting men, and Copons, reinforced with two regiments sent by sea from Coruña, was at Reus with six thousand regulars besides the irregular division of Manso, twenty-five thousand combatants were in possession of the French point of junction.

The Catalans, after Lacy’s departure, had, with the aid of captain Adam’s ship, destroyed two small forts at Perillo and Ampolla, and Eroles had blockaded San Felippe de Balaguer for thirty-six days, but it was then succoured by Maurice Mathieu; and the success at Perillo was more than balanced by a check which Sarzfield received on the 3d of April from some of Pannetier’s troops. The partida warfare had, however, been more active in Upper Catalonia, and Copons claimed two considerable victories, one gained by himself on the 17th of May, at La Bispal near the Col de Cristina, where he boasted to have beaten six thousand French with half their numbers, destroying six hundred, as they returned from succouring San Felippe de Balaguer. In the other, won by colonel Lander near Olot on the 7th of May, it was said twelve hundred of Lamarque’s men fell. These exploits are by French writers called skirmishes, and the following description of the Catalan army, given to sir John Murray by Cabanes, the chief of Copons’ staff, renders the French version the most credible.

“We do not,” said that officer, “exceed nine or ten thousand men, extended on different points of a line running from the neighbourhood of Reus along the high mountains to the vicinity of Olot. The soldiers are brave, but without discipline, without subordination, without clothing, without artillery, without ammunition, without magazines, without money, and without means of transport!”

Copons himself, when he came down to the Campo, very frankly told Murray, that as his troops could only fight in position, he would not join in any operation which endangered his retreat into the high mountains. However, with the exception of twelve hundred men left at Vich under Eroles, all his forces, the best perhaps in Spain, were now at Reus and the Col de Balaguer, ready to intercept the communications of the different French corps, and to harass their marches if they should descend into the Campo. Murray could also calculate upon seven or eight hundred seamen and marines to aid him in pushing on the works of the siege, or in a battle near the shore; and he expected three thousand additional troops from Sicily. Sir Edward Pellew, commanding the great Mediterranean fleet, had promised to divert the attention of the French troops by a descent eastward of Barcelona, and the armies of Del Parque and Elio were to make a like diversion westward of Tortoza. Finally, a general rising of the Somatenes might have been effected, and those mountaineers were all at Murray’s disposal, to procure intelligence, to give timely notice of the enemy’s approach, or to impede his march by breaking up the roads.

On the French side there was greater but more scattered power. Suchet had marched with nine thousand men from Valencia, and what with Pannetier’s brigade and some spare troops from Tortoza, eleven or twelve thousand men with artillery, might have come to the succour of Taragona from that side, if the sudden fall of San Felippe de Balaguer had not barred the only carriage way on the westward. A movement by Mora, Falcet, and Momblanch, remained open, yet it would have been tedious, and the disposable troops at Lerida were few. To the eastward therefore the garrison looked for the first succour. Maurice Mathieu, reinforced with a brigade from Upper Catalonia, could bring seven thousand men with artillery from Barcelona, and Decaen could move from the Ampurdam with an equal number, hence twenty-five thousand men might finally bear upon the allied army.

But Suchet, measuring from the Xucar, had more than one hundred and sixty miles to march; Maurice Mathieu was to collect his forces from various places and march seventy miles after Murray had disembarked; nor could he stir at all, until Taragona was actually besieged, lest the allies should reimbark and attack Barcelona. Decaen had in like manner to look to the security of the Ampurdam, and he was one hundred and thirty miles distant. Wherefore, however active the French generals might be, the English general could calculate upon ten days’ clear operations, after investment, before even the heads of the enemy’s columns, coming from different quarters, could issue from the hills bordering the Campo.

Some expectation also he might have, that Suchet would endeavour to cripple Del Parque, before he marched to the succour of Taragona; and it was in his favour, that eastward and westward, the royal causeway was in places exposed to the fire of the naval squadron. The experience of captain Codrington during the first siege of Taragona, had proved indeed, that an army could not be stopped by this fire, yet it was an impediment not to be left out of the calculation. Thus, the advantage of a central position, the possession of the enemy’s point of junction, the initial movement, the good will of the people, and the aid of powerful flank diversions, belonged to Murray; superior numbers and a better army to the French, since the allies, brave, and formidable to fight in a position, were not well constituted for general operations.

Taragona, if the resources for an internal defence be disregarded, was a weak place. A simple revetment three feet and a half thick, without ditch or counterscarp, covered it on the west; the two outworks of Fort Royal and San Carlos, slight obstacles at best, were not armed, nor even repaired until after the investment, and the garrison, too weak for the extent of rampart, was oppressed with labour. Here then, time being precious to both sides, ordinary rules should have been set aside and daring operations adopted. Lord Wellington[Appendix, No. 6.] had judged ten thousand men sufficient to take Taragona. Murray brought seventeen thousand, of which fourteen thousand were effective. To do this he had, he said, so reduced his equipments, stores, and means of land transport, that his army could not move from the shipping; he was yet so unready for the siege, that Fort Royal was not stormed on the 8th, because the engineer was unprepared to profit from a successful assault.

This excuse, founded on the scarcity of stores, was not however borne out by facts. The equipments left behind, were only draft animals and commissariat field-stores; the thing wanting was vigour in the general, and this was made manifest in various ways. Copons, like all regular Spanish officers, was averse to calling out the Somatenes, and Murray did not press the matter. Suchet took San Felippe de Balaguer by escalade. Murray attacked in form, and without sufficient means; for if captain Peyton had not brought up the mortars, which was an afterthought, extraneous to the general’s arrangements, the fort could not have been reduced before succour arrived from Tortoza. Indeed the surrender was scarcely creditable to the French commandant, for his works were uninjured, and only a small part of his powder destroyed. It is also said, I believe truly, that one of the officers employed to regulate the capitulation had in his pocket, an order from Murray to raise the siege and embark, spiking the guns! At Taragona, the troops on the low ground, did not approach so near, by three hundred yards, as they might have done; and the outworks should have been stormed at once, as Wellington stormed Fort Francisco at the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo. Francisco was a good outwork and complete. The outworks of Taragona were incomplete, ill-flanked, without palisades or casements, and their fall would have enabled the besiegers to form a parallel against the body of the place as Suchet had done in the former siege; a few hours’ firing would then have brought down the wall and a general assault might have been delivered. The French had stormed a similar breach in that front, although defended by eight thousand Spanish troops, and the allies opposed by only sixteen hundred French and Italians, soldiers and seamen, were in some measure bound by honour to follow that example, since colonel Skerrett, at the former siege, refused to commit twelve hundred British troops in the place, on the special ground that it was indefensible, though so strongly garrisoned. Murray’s troops were brave, they had been acting together for nearly a year; and after the fight at Castalla had become so eager, that an Italian regiment, which at Alicant, was ready to go over bodily to the enemy, now volunteered to lead the assault on Fort Royal. This confidence was not shared by their general. Even at the moment of victory, he had resolved, if Suchet advanced a second time, to relinquish the position of Castalla and retire to Alicant!

It is clear, that, up to the 8th, sir John Murray’s proceedings were ill-judged, and his after operations, were more injudicious.

As early as the 5th, false reports had made Suchet reach Tortoza, and had put two thousand French in movement from Lerida. Murray then openly avowed his alarm and his regret at having left Alicant; yet he proceeded to construct two heavy counter-batteries near the Olivo, sent a detachment to Valls in observation of the Lerida road, and desired Manso to watch that of Barcelona.

On the 9th his emissaries said the French were coming from the east, and from the west; and would, when united, exceed twenty thousand. Murray immediately sought an interview with the admiral, declaring his intention to raise the siege; his views were changed during the conference but he was discontented; and the two commanders were now evidently at variance, for Hallowel refused to join in a summons to the governor, and his flotilla again bombarded the place.

The 10th the spies in Barcelona gave notice that eight or ten thousand French with fourteen guns, would march from that city the next day. Copons immediately joined Manso, and Murray, as if he now disdained his enemy, continued to disembark stores, landed several mortars, armed the batteries at the Olivo, and on the 11th opened their fire, in concert with that from the ships of war.

This was the first serious attack, and the English general, professing a wish to fight the column coming from Barcelona, sent the cavalry under lord Frederick Bentinck to Altafalla, and in person sought a position of battle to the eastward. He left orders to storm the outworks that night, but returned, before the hour appointed, extremely disturbed by intelligence that Maurice Mathieu was at Villa Franca with eight thousand combatants, and Suchet closing upon the Col de Balaguer. The infirmity of his mind was now apparent to the whole army. At eight o’clock he repeated his order to assault the outworks; at ten o’clock the storming party was in the dry bed of the Francoli, awaiting the signal, when a countermand arrived; the siege was then to be raised and the guns removed immediately from the Olivo; the commander of the artillery remonstrated, and the general then promised to hold the batteries until the next night. Meanwhile the detachment at Valls and the cavalry at Altafalla were called in, without any notice to general Copons, though he depended on their support.

The parc and all the heavy guns of the batteries on the low grounds were removed to the beach for embarkation on the morning of the 12th, and at twelve o’clock lord Frederick Bentinck arrived from Altafalla with the cavalry. It is said he was ordered to shoot his horses, but refused to obey, and moved towards the Col de Balaguer. The detachment from Valls arrived next, and the infantry marched to Cape Salou to embark, but the horsemen followed lord Frederick, and were themselves followed by fourteen pieces of artillery; each body moved independently, and all was confused, incoherent, afflicting, and dishonorable to the British arms.

While the seamen were embarking the guns, the quarter-master-general came down to the beach, with orders to abandon that business and collect boats for the reception of troops, the enemy being supposed close at hand; and notwithstanding Murray’s promise to hold the Olivo until nightfall, fresh directions were given to spike the guns there, and burn the carriages. Then loud murmurs arose on every side, and from both services; army and navy were alike indignant, and so excited, that it is said personal insult was offered to the general. Three staff-officers repaired in a body to Murray’s quarters, to offer plans and opinions, and the admiral who it would appear did not object to raising the siege but to the manner of doing it, would not suffer the seamen to discontinue the embarkation of artillery. He even urged an attack upon the column coming from Barcelona, and opposed the order to spike the guns at the Olivo, offering to be responsible for carrying all clear off during the night.

Thus pressed, Murray again wavered. Denying that he had ordered the battering pieces to be spiked, he sent counter-orders, and directed a part of Clinton’s troops to advance towards the Gaya river. Yet a few hours afterwards he reverted to his former resolution, and peremptorily renewed the order for the artillery to spike the guns on the Olivo, and burn the carriages. Nor was even this unhappy action performed without confusion. The different orders received by Clinton in the course of the day had indicated the extraordinary vacillation of the commander-in-chief, and Clinton himself, forgetful of his own arrangements, with an obsolete courtesy took off his hat to salute an enemy’s battery which had fired upon him; but this waving of his hat from that particular spot was also the conventional signal for the artillery to spike the guns, and they were thus spiked prematurely. The troops were however all embarked in the night of the 12th, and many of the stores and horses were shipped on the 13th without the slightest interruption from the enemy; but eighteen or nineteen battering pieces, whose carriages had been burnt, were, with all the platforms, fascines, gabions, and small ammunition, in view of the fleet and army, triumphantly carried into the fortress. Sir J. Murray meanwhile seemingly unaffectedAdmiral Hallowel’s evidence on the trial. by this misfortune, shipped himself on the evening of the 12th and took his usual repose in bed.

While the English general was thus precipitately abandoning the siege, the French generals, unable to surmount the obstacles opposed to their junction, unable even to communicate by their emissaries, were despairing of the safety of Taragona. Suchet did not reach Tortoza before the 10th, but a detachment from the garrison, had on the 8th attempted to succour San Felipe, and nearly captured the naval captain Adam, colonel Prevot, and other officers, who were examining the country. On the other side Maurice Mathieu, having gathered troops from various places, reached Villa Franca early on the 10th, and deceiving even his own peopleLaffaille Campagne de Catalonia. as to his numbers, gave out that Decaen, who he really expected, was close behind with a powerful force. To give effect to this policy, he drove Copons from Arbos on the 11th, and his scouting parties entered Vendrills, as if he was resolved singly to attack Murray. Sir Edward Pellew had however landed his marines at Rosas, which arrested Decaen’s march; and Maurice Mathieu alarmed at the cessation of fire about Taragona, knowing nothing of Suchet’s movements, and too weak to fight the allies alone, fell back in the night of the 12th to the Llobregat, his main body never having passed Villa Franca.

Suchet’s operations to the westward were even less decisive. His advanced guard under Panettier, reached Perillo the 10th. The 11th not hearing from his spies, he caused Panettier to pass by his left over the mountains through Valdillos to some heights which terminate abruptly on the Campo, above Monroig. The 12th that officer reached the extreme verge of the hills, being then about twenty-five miles from Taragona. His patroles descending into the plains, met with lord Frederick Bentinck’s troopers reported that Murray’s whole army was at hand, wherefore he would not enter the Campo, but at night he kindled large fires to encourage the garrison of Taragona. These signals were however unobserved, the country people had disappeared, no intelligence could be procured, and Suchet could not follow him with a large force into those wild desert hills, where there was no water. Thus on both sides of Taragona the succouring armies were quite baffled at the moment chosen by Murray for flight.

Suchet now received alarming intelligence from Valencia, yet still anxious for Taragona, he pushed, on the 14th, along the coast-road towards San Felippe de Balaguer, thinking to find Prevôt’s division alone; but the head of his column was suddenly cannonaded by the Thames frigate, and he was wonderfully surprised to see the whole British fleet anchored off San Felippe, and disembarking troops. Murray’s operations were indeed as irregular as those of a partizan, yet without partizan vigour. He had heard in the night of the 12th, from colonel Prevôt, of Panettier’s march to Monroig, and to protect the cavalry and guns under lord Frederick Bentinck, sent Mackenzie’s division by sea to Balaguer on the 13th, following with the whole army on the 14th. Mackenzie drove back the French posts on both sides of the pass, the embarkation of the cavalry and artillery then commenced, and Suchet, still uncertain if Taragona had fallen, moved towards Valdillos to bring off Panettier.

At this precise period, Murray heard that Maurice Mathieu’s column, which he always erroneously supposed to be under Decaen, had retired to the Llobregat, that Copons was again at Reus, and that Taragona had not been reinforced. Elated by this information, he revolved various projects in his mind, at one time thinking to fall upon Suchet, at another to cut off Panettier, now resolving to march upon Cambrills, and even to menace Taragona again by land; then he was for sending a detachment by sea to surprise the latter, but finally he disembarked his whole force on the 15th, and being ignorant of Suchet’s last movement decided to strike at Panettier. In this view, he detached[See Plan, No. 1.] Mackenzie, by a rugged valley leading from the eastward to Valdillos, and that officer reached it on the 16th, but Suchet had already carried off Panettier’s brigade, and the next day the British detachment was recalled by Murray, who now only thought of re-embarking.

This determination was caused by a fresh alarm from the eastward, for Maurice Mathieu, whose whole proceedings evinced both skill and vigour, hearing that the siege of Taragona was raised, and the allies re-landed at the Col de Balaguer, retraced his steps and boldly entered Cambrills the 17th. On that day, however, Mackenzie returned, and Murray’s whole army was thus concentrated in the pass. Suchet was then behind Perillo, Copons at Reus, having come there at Murray’s desire to attack Maurice Mathieu, and the latter would have suffered, if the English general had been capable of a vigorous stroke. On the other hand it was fortunate for Mackenzie, that Suchet, too anxious for Valencia, disregarded his movement upon Valdillos; but, taught by the disembarkation of the whole English army that the fate of Taragona, whether for good or evil, was decided, he had sent an emissary to Maurice Mathieu on the 16th, and then retired to Perillo and Amposta. He reached the latter place the 17th, attentive only to the movement of the fleet, and meanwhile Maurice Mathieu endeavoured to surprize the Catalans at Reus.

Copons was led into this danger by sir John Murray, who had desired him to harass Maurice Mathieu’s rear, with a view to a general attack, and then changed his plan without giving the Spanish general any notice. However he escaped. The French moved upon Taragona, and Murray was left free to embark or to remain at the Col de Balaguer. He called a council of war, and it was concluded to re-embark, but at that moment, the great Mediterranean fleet appeared in the offing, and admiral Hallowel, observing a signal announcing lord William Bentinck’s arrival, answered with more promptitude than propriety, “we are all delighted.”

Sir John Murray’s command having thus terminated, the general discontent rendered it impossible to avoid a public investigation, yet the difficulty of holding a court in Spain, and some disposition at home to shield him, caused great delay. He was at last tried in England. Acquitted of two charges, on the third he was declared guilty of an error in judgement, and sentenced to be admonished; but even that slight mortification was not inflicted.

This decision does not preclude the judgement of history, nor will it sway that of posterity. The court-martial was assembled twenty months after the event, when the war being happily terminated, men’s minds were little disposed to treat past failures with severity. There were two distinct prosecutors, having different views; the proceedings were conducted at a distance from the scene of action, defects of memory could not be remedied by references to localities, and a door was opened for contradiction and doubt upon important points. There was no indication that the members of the court were unanimous in their verdict; they were confined to specific charges, restricted by legal rules of evidence, and deprived of the testimony of all the Spanish officers, who were certainly discontented with Murray’s conduct, and whose absence caused the serious charge of abandoning Copons’ army to be suppressed. Moreover the warmth of temper displayed by the principal prosecutor, admiral Hallowel, together with his signal on lord William Bentinck’s arrival, whereby, to the detriment of discipline, he manifested his contempt for the general with whom he was acting, gave Murray an advantage which he improved skilfully, for he was a man sufficiently acute and prompt when not at the head of an army. He charged the admiral with deceit, factious dealings, and disregard of the service; described him as a man of a passionate overweening, busy disposition, troubled with excess of vanity, meddling with everything, and thinking himself competent to manage both troops and ships.

Nevertheless sir John Murray had signally failed, both as an independent general, and as a lieutenant acting under superior orders. On his trial, blending these different capacities together, with expert sophistry he pleaded his instructions in excuse for his errors as a free commander, and his discretionary power in mitigation of his disobedience as a lieutenant; but his operations were indefensible in both capacities. Lord Wellington’s instructions, precise, and founded upon the advantages offered by a command of the sea, prescribed an attack upon Taragona, with a definite object, namely, to deliver Valencia.

“You tell me,” said he, “that the line of the Xucar, which covers Valencia, is too strong to force; turn it then by the ocean, assail the rear of the enemy, and he will weaken his strong line to protect his communication; or, he will give you an opportunity to establish a new base of operations behind him.”

This plan however demanded promptness and energy, and Murray professed neither. The weather was so favourable, that a voyage which might have consumed nine or ten days was performed in two, the Spanish troops punctually effected their junction, the initial operations were secured, Fort Balaguer fell, the French moved from all sides to the succour of Taragona, the line of the Xucar was weakened, the diversion was complete. In the night of the 12th the bulk of Murray’s army was again afloat, a few hours would have sufficed to embark the cavalry at the Col de Balaguer, and the whole might have sailed for the city of Valencia, while Suchet’s advanced guard was still on the hills above Monroig, and he, still uncertain as to the fate of Taragona, one hundred and fifty miles from the Xucar. In fine Murray had failed to attain the first object pointed out by Wellington’s instructions, but the second was within his reach; instead of grasping it he loitered about the Col de Balaguer, and gave Suchet, as we shall find, time to reach Valencia again.

Now whether the letter or the spirit of Wellington’s instructions be considered, there was here a manifest dereliction on the part of Murray. What was that officer’s defence? That no specific period being named for his return to Valencia, he was entitled to exercise his discretion! Did he then as an independent general perform any useful or brilliant action to justify his delay? No! his tale was one of loss and dishonour! The improvident arrangements for the siege of San Felippe de Balaguer, and the unexpected fortune which saved him from the shame of abandoning his guns there also have been noted; and it has been shown, that when the gain of time was the great element of success, he neither urged Copons to break up the roads, nor pushed the siege of Taragona with vigour. The feeble formality of this latter operation has indeedDefence of sir J. Murray in Phillipart’s Military Calendar. been imputed to the engineer major Thackary, yet unjustly so. It was the part of that officer to form a plan of attack agreeable to the rules of art, it might be a bold or a cautious plan, and many persons did think Taragona was treated by him with too much respect; but it was the part of the commander-in-chief, to decide, if the general scheme of operations required a deviation from the regular course. The untrammelled engineer could then have displayed his genius. Sir John Murray made no sign. His instructions and his ultimate views were withheld alike, from his naval colleague, from his second in command, and from his quarter-master-general; and while the last-named functionary was quite shut out from the confidence of his commander, the admiral, and many others, both of the army and navy, imagined him to be the secret author of the proceedings which were hourly exciting their indignation. Murray however declared on his trial, that he had rejected general Donkin’s advice, an avowal consonant to facts, since that officer urged him to raise the siege on the 9th and had even told him where four hundred draught bullocks were to be had, to transport his heavy artillery. On the 12th he opposed the spiking of the guns, and urged Murray to drag them to Cape Salou, of which place he had given as early as the third day of the siege, a military plan, marking a position, strong in itself, covering several landing places, and capable of being flanked[See Plan, No. 1.] on both sides by the ships of war: it had no drawback save a scarcity of water, yet there were some springs, and the fleet would have supplied the deficiency.

It is true that Donkin, unacquainted with Wellington’s instructions, and having at Castalla seen no reason to rely on sir John Murray’s military vigour, was averse to the enterprize against Taragona. He thought the allies should have worked Suchet out of Valencia by operating on his right flank. And so Wellington would have thought, if he had only looked at their numbers and not at their quality; he had even sketched such a planVol. V. p. 512. for Murray, if the attack upon Taragona should be found impracticable. But he knew the Spaniards too well, to like such combinations for an army, two-thirds of which were of that nation, and not even under one head; an army ill-equipped, and with the exception of Del Parque’s troops, unused to active field operations. Wherefore, calculating their power with remarkable nicety, he preferred the sea-flank, and the aid of an English fleet.

Here it may be observed, that Napoleon’s plan of invasion did not embrace the coast-lines where they could be avoided. It was an obvious disadvantage to give the British navy opportunities of acting against his communications. The French indeed, seized Santona and Santander in the Bay of Biscay, because, these being the only good ports on that coast, the English ships were thus in a manner shut out from the north of Spain. They likewise worked their invasion by the Catalonian and Valencian coast, because the only roads practicable for artillery run along that sea-line; but their general scheme was to hold, with large masses, the interior of the country, and keep their communications aloof from the danger of combined operations by sea and land. The providence of the plan was proved by Suchet’s peril on this occasion.

Sir John Murray, when tried, grounded his justification on the following points. 1º. That he did not know with any certainty until the night of the 11th that Suchet was near. 2º. That the fall of Taragona being the principal object, and the drawing of the French from Valencia the accessary, he persisted in the siege, because he expected reinforcements from Sicily, and desired to profit from the accidents of war. 3º. That looking only to the second object, the diversion would have been incomplete, if the siege had been raised sooner, or even relaxed; hence the landing of guns and stores after he despaired of success. 4º. That he dared not risk a battle to save his battering train, because Wellington would not pardon a defeat. Now had he adopted a vigorous plan, or persisted until the danger of losing his army was apparent, and then made a quick return to Valencia, this defence would have been plausible, though inconclusive. But when every order, every movement, every expression, discovered his infirmity of purpose, his pleading can only be regarded as the subtle tale of an advocate.

The fault was not so much in the raising of the siege as in the manner of doing it, and in the feebleness of the attack. For first, however numerous the chances of war are, fortresses expecting succour do not surrender without being vigorously assailed. The arrival of reinforcements from Sicily was too uncertain for reasonable calculation, and it was scarcely possible for the governor of Taragona, while closely invested, to discover that no fresh stores or guns were being landed; still less could he judge so timeously of Murray’s final intention by that fact, as to advertize Suchet that Taragona was in no danger. Neither were the spies, if any were in the allies’ camp, more capable of drawing such conclusions, seeing that sufficient artillery and stores for the siege were landed the first week. And the landing of more guns could not have deceived them, when the feeble operations of the general, and the universal discontent, furnished surer guides for their reports.

Murray designed to raise the siege as early as the 9th and only deferred it, after seeing the admiral, from his natural vacillation. It was therefore mere casuistry to say, that he first obtained certain information of Suchet’s advance on the night of the 11th. On the 8th and 10th through various channels he knew the French marshal was in march for Tortoza, and that his advanced guard menaced the Col de Balaguer. The approach of Maurice Mathieu on the other side was also known; he should therefore have been prepared to raise the siege without the loss of his guns on the 12th. Why were they lost at all? They could not be saved, he said, without risking a battle in a bad position, and Wellington had declared he would not pardon a defeat! This was the after-thought of a sophister, and not warranted by Wellington’s instructions, which on that head, referred only to the duke Del Parque and Elio.

But was it necessary to fight a battle in a bad position to save the guns? All persons admitted that they could have been embarked before mid-day on the 13th. Panettier was then at Monroig, Suchet still behind Perillo, Maurice Mathieu falling back from Villa Franca. The French on each side were therefore respectively thirty-six and thirty-four miles distant on the night of the 12th, and their point of junction was Reus. Yet how form that junction? The road from Villa Franca by the Col de Cristina was partially broken up by Copons, the road from Perillo to Reus was always impracticable for artillery, and from the latter place to Taragona was six miles of very rugged country. The allies were in possession of the point of junction, Maurice Mathieu was retiring, not advancing. And if the French could have marched thirty-four and thirty-six miles, through the mountains in one night, and been disposed to attack in the morning without artillery, they must still have ascertained the situation of Murray’s army; they must have made arrangements to watch Copons, Manso, and Prevôt, who would have been on their rear and flanks; they must have formed an order of battle and decided upon the mode of attack before they advanced. It is true that their junction at Reus would have forced Murray to suspend his embarkation to fight; but not, as he said, in a bad position, with his back to the beach, where the ships’ guns could not aid him, and where he might expect a dangerous surf for days. The naval officers denied the danger from surf at that season of the year; and it was not right to destroy the guns and stores when the enemy was not even in march for Reus. Coolness and consideration would have enabled Murray to see that there was no danger. In fact no emissaries escaped from the town, and the enemy had no spies in the camp, since no communication took place between the French columns until the 17th. On the 15th Suchet knew nothing of the fate of Taragona.

The above reasoning leaves out the possibility of profiting from a central position to fall with superior forces upon one of the French columns. It supposes however that accurate information was possessed by the French generals; that Maurice Mathieu was as strong as he pretended to be, Suchet eager and resolute to form a junction with him. But in truth Suchet knew not what to do after the fall of Fort Balaguer, Maurice Mathieu had less than seven thousand men of all arms, he was not followed by Decaen, and he imagined the allies to have twenty thousand men, exclusive of the Catalans. Besides which the position at Cape Salou was only six miles distant, and Murray might with the aid of the draft bullocks discovered by Donkin, have dragged all his heavy guns there, still maintaining the investment; he might have shipped his battery train, and when the enemy approached Reus, have marched to the Col de Balaguer, where he could, as he afterwards did, embark or disembark in the presence of the enemy. The danger of a flank march, Suchet being at Reus, could not have deterred him, because he did send his cavalry and field artillery by that very road on the 12th, when the French advanced guard was at Monroig and actually skirmished with lord Frederick Bentinck. Finally he could have embarked his main body, leaving a small corps with some cavalry to keep the garrison in check and bring off his guns. Such a detachment, together with the heavy guns, would have been afloat in a couple ofNaval evidence on the trial. hours and on board the ships in four hours; it could have embarked on the open beach, or, if fearful of being molested by the garrison, might have marched to Cape Salou, or to the Col de Balaguer; and if the guns had thus been lost, the necessity would have been apparent, and the dishonour lessened. It is clear therefore that there was no military need to sacrifice the battery pieces. And those were the guns that shook the bloody ramparts of Badajos!

Wellington felt their loss keenly, sir John Murray spoke of them lightly. “They were of small value, old iron! he attached little importance to the sacrifice of artillery, it was his principle, he had approved of colonel Adam losing his guns at Biar, and he had also desired colonel Prevôt, if pressed, to abandon his battering train before the Fort of Balaguer.” “Such doctrine might appear strange to a British army, but it was the rule with the continental armies and the French owed much of their successes to the adoption of it.”

Strange indeed! Great commanders have risked their own lives, and sacrificed their bravest men, charging desperately in person, to retrieve even a single piece of cannon in a battle. They knew the value of moral force in war, and that of all the various springs and levers on which it depends military honour is the most powerful. No! it was not to the adoption of such a doctrine, that the French owed their great successes. It was to the care with which Napoleon fostered and cherished a contrary feeling. Sir John Murray’s argument would have been more pungent, more complete, if he had lost his colours, and pleaded that they were only wooden staves, bearing old pieces of silk!