History of the Peninsular War, Volume 2 (of 6)

by Robert Southey

♦1808.
July.♦

In no other province were such great and continued exertions made against the invaders: and in no other province were the people left so entirely to their own resources. They made the most urgent solicitations to the Junta of Seville for a supply of artillery, which could have been spared in abundance from the arsenals of Seville and Cadiz, and which Lord Collingwood offered them the means of conveying; but they could obtain none, and were fain, therefore, to use the trunks of trees, bored, and hooped with iron. The want of cavalry was even more severely felt in all the level part of the country; ... no substitute could be found for this, nor was it possible that their volunteers and newly-raised levies could resist the well-disciplined horse-soldiers upon plain ground. They had, however, been eminently successful where the ground favoured them; and confiding in their numbers, they occupied the right bank of the Llobregat from San Boy to Martorell, in order to distress the enemy in Barcelona. From thence they were dislodged by General Lechi, who, marching out by night with 2500 men, forded the river in several places at daybreak, drove them from their batteries, sacked the towns and villages along the line, set fire to them, and returned in triumph, bearing as trophies the banners of the churches which had been plundered. ♦Duhesme resolves to besiege Gerona.♦ Duhesme then resolved to undertake the siege of Gerona, having concerted it with Reille, who was to co-operate with him from Figueras. It was an object of great importance; for while Gerona and Hostalrich were in possession of the Spaniards, they would be able greatly to molest, if not wholly to interrupt, the communication by land between Barcelona and France. Materials of every kind were found in the well-stored arsenals and magazines of Barcelona, and the horses, mules, and carriages of the inhabitants of that city were put in requisition for conveying them. So sure of success was Duhesme, and so exasperated by his former failure, that he is ♦Cabañes, p. i. 80–85.♦ said to have declared he would arrive before the city on one day, attack it the next, take it on the third day, and on the fourth destroy it.

♦Difficulties on the march.♦

He began his march on the 10th of July, with about 6000 men. From Barcelona to Gerona is a journey of twenty hours; but Duhesme had not calculated upon the obstacles which he was to encounter on the way. The road for two-thirds of the distance lies always within sight of the sea, and in great part along the coast; the Catalans, under D. Francisco Milans, had broken it up, and annoyed him with great activity on his left, while an English frigate, and some smaller vessels, brought their guns to bear upon him from the sea; these impediments delayed him five days between Caldetas and San Pol. On the 19th he divided his troops; one part crossed the wild mountains of Vallgorguina to S. Celoni, and endeavoured by a sudden attack to get possession of Hostalrich. Twice they attempted to escalade it, and were repulsed with loss by the acting governor D. Manuel O’Sulivan. The other division continued the coast road, losing many guns and much of its ammunition there. They rejoined on the way to Gerona, and arrived before that city on the 22nd, where they were met on the following day by Reille ♦Cabañes, i. 85–87.♦ with 2000 men from Figueras; but Duhesme had suffered so much on the march, that he was in no condition for active operations, and the remainder of the month was employed in preparing for the siege.

♦Troops from Minorca land at Tarragona.♦

On the very day that the French General appeared for the second time before Gerona, the Marques del Palacio, with 4600 regular troops from Minorca, landed at Tarragona. Many officers, who had hitherto remained in Barcelona, and several magistrates, escaped now from that city to join it. The first measure of the Marques was to strengthen the line of the Llobregat, which the Somatenes and Miquelets, undismayed by their late defeat, had again occupied. The Conde de Caldagues was sent with a detachment upon this service, and the garrison, who made a vigorous attempt to dislodge him immediately on his arrival, were repulsed. The Catalans were now in high spirits, and with the assistance of Lord Cochrane, in the Imperieuse frigate, made a successful attack upon the Castle of Mongat, a small fort on the coast, about nine miles from Barcelona, which the French had strengthened, as a point of support for their plundering incursions to the eastward. About an hundred prisoners were taken there, seven pieces of cannon, and a considerable quantity or ammunition ♦1808.
August.♦ and stores. The enemy could no longer maraud in that direction, and feeling great present inconvenience, began to apprehend serious consequences ♦Barcelona blockaded.♦ from the blockade of Barcelona: the British cruisers watched it effectually by sea, and in the only part of the land now open to them, which was the mountainous country in their immediate vicinity, between the Llobregat and the Besos, they had to contend with an ♦Cabañes, p. ii. 3–25.♦ armed and exasperated peasantry; for even those persons who would have remained quiet were driven to despair by the system of fire and sword which Duhesme pursued.

♦Barcelona.♦

Barcelona, with its fort Monjuich, is one of the strongest places in Europe. It is remarked by Swinburne, that the citadel was calculated to overawe the inhabitants at least as much as to protect them from a foreign enemy. For this in fact it was built, when six hundred houses were demolished for its site; and to the same purpose it was now applied against the family which built it, when Buonaparte’s perfidy had made the Bourbons as popular in Catalonia as they had been hated there during the war of the succession. Every house in Barcelona lies exposed to Monjuich, which stands singly on the south-west. A new fortress had been erected there early in Charles the Third’s reign, and it had that completeness and magnificence which characterised public works in Spain. On the sea side it was considered impregnable, so admirably had the natural strength of the situation been improved by art; and toward the land the glacis had been sloped at an incredible expense in such a manner that no approaches could be made under shelter. The population of Barcelona in 1797 was 130,000, and if the increase since had been in proportion to that of the ten years preceding, it must have amounted to 150,000 at this time. Yet this population, than which a braver and nobler-minded people were no where to be found, was kept under control by 4000 French, Lechi having been left with no greater force. The city was so completely at the mercy of the citadel and Monjuich, that the invaders had nothing to fear from open attacks. Their only danger was from stratagems or famine. Against the former they were always on their guard; and it was to open the communication for supplies and reinforcements from France that Duhesme had undertaken the expedition against Gerona.

♦The Junta of Catalonia remove to the head-quarters.♦

The Marques del Palacio arrived in Catalonia without treasure or provisions, and there was no government to which he could look for either. The contributions which had been raised had already been expended, and nothing was to be obtained by way of loan. A temporary resource was found in the confiscation of French property; for in these calamitous times the numerous French families who were settled in Spain bore their full share in the general misery and ruin. These funds, however, could not long suffice; and for the better establishment of some permanent system, it was agreed that the Supreme Junta of Catalonia, which had hitherto resided at Lerida, should remove from that inconvenient situation, and accompany in future the head-quarters. The Junta was newly constituted accordingly, and the Commander-in-chief was chosen president. The Marques would now have marched to raise the siege of Gerona; but such means as he would have deemed adequate were wanting; he had no cavalry, the little which there was in Lerida and Tarragona was unfit for action, and perhaps he reasonably distrusted his troops if they were led against a well-disciplined ♦Caldagues sent to interrupt the siege of Gerona.♦ army. Caldagues, however, was sent to harass the enemy and interrupt the siege, with four companies of regular troops, 2000 Miquelets and Somatens, and three pieces of artillery. He was joined at Hostalrich by more of these new levies, making his whole number 4300 men, and he received two cannon from that fortress. They advanced to Castella, passing within sight of the French encampment; some officers came out of ♦Cabañes, ii. 30–32, 52–55.♦ the city to confer with the Count, and a joint attack upon the enemy’s batteries was concerted for the following morning.