History of the Peninsular War, Volume 3 (of 6)

by Robert Southey

♦The remains of the Spanish army collect.♦

The battle itself, most unfortunate as it was, afforded Cuesta some vindication for the error which he had committed in risking it. It had been fought so well by the infantry, that they had obtained, and that for a considerable time, a decided advantage, till the horse took fright, and abandoned them. But it was after the defeat that the strength of the old man’s character appeared with full effect; and certainly on that memorable occasion both the General and the government proved themselves worthy of their country and their cause. The advance of the French was impeded by the weather, a storm of wind and heavy rain having raged uninterruptedly for three days after the battle, and swollen the brooks so as to render them like rivers. A mishap also had befallen them at Almaraz, where their bridge gave way while some ammunition carts were passing: many lives were lost, and the operations of the army were delayed in consequence. They collected, however, in and about Merida, and their advanced parties appeared at Almendralejo and Villa Franca. This seemed to indicate an intention of entering Andalusia; and Cuesta was of opinion, that, knowing the total dispersion of his army, they would not hesitate at dividing their own force, and execute this design with one part, while they laid siege with the other to Badajoz, which was not in a state for making a long military defence. He urged the government to send all the disposable force in Andalusia to S. Olalla without delay; between that place and Ronquillo, he said, was the only position where they could resist the enemy with good probability of success, provided there were troops, and artillery and subsistence.

♦Cuesta disgraces those who had behaved ill.♦

He had appointed Llerena as the rallying point for the fugitives. The infantry came slowly in, but when Cuesta arrived he found that the cavalry had collected there with little diminution. He thanked the army in his general orders for their good conduct at Medellin, excepting by name the horse regiments which had so disgracefully taken flight, and thereby occasioned that to be a defeat, which, if they had done their duty like the foot, would have proved a most glorious and important victory. For this offence he suspended three Colonels from their rank. It does not appear that any heavier punishment was inflicted: ... the fault had been too general to fix it upon individuals; ... and if recourse had been had to lot, it might have fallen upon men who, with the best heart and will, had not been able in that precipitate ♦1809.
April.♦ movement to check either their companions or their horses. The privates were disgraced by having one of their pistols taken from them, till by some good service they should regain the honour which they had lost.

♦The Junta act wisely and generously upon these defeats.♦

It was reported that the Central Junta upon the first intelligence of the defeat had fled from Seville. The danger was considered so imminent, that they had deliberated concerning their removal; and the Junta of Seville, who had been consulted, proposed that if such a measure were adopted, absolute power should be left in their hands. But the government did nothing precipitately, and on no occasion throughout the war did it display more magnanimity or so much energy as at this time of trial. The same day brought them tidings of the defeat at Ciudad Real and of that at Medellin; the same gazette communicated both to the people. There was nothing to qualify the disgrace and loss which Cartaojal had sustained; he was therefore quietly removed from the command. Whatever errors the Central Junta may have committed, no other government ever exercised its power with such humanity in such times, no other government ever made such just and humane allowances for inexperience and weakness, nor dealt so generously with the unfortunate. They decreed pensions to the widows and orphans of all who had fallen at Medellin, in proportion to their rank and circumstances, and a badge of distinction to those corps which the General should commend; and they promoted all the officers who had distinguished themselves. They pronounced that the General and the body of the army had deserved well of their country. Knowing that Cuesta had been lamed by his fall, they required him in all his dispatches to report the state of his own health; and though they appointed D. Francisco de Venegas to succeed Cartaojal, they placed both armies under Cuesta’s orders, giving him the rank of Captain-general. In the preamble to this decree they said that all the details of the battle tended to console them for its loss, and that the spirit of Hernan Cortes might have beheld with joy the courage which his countrymen had manifested upon the scene of his childhood. The example of that day, they said, might make them hope that with perseverance they might form an infantry capable of defending the national independence; an infantry that should be the worthy rival and successor of those famous Tercios which under the best captains in the world had supported the glory of Spain in Flanders and in Italy and in Germany.

♦Their appeal to the people.♦

The Junta felt it necessary to defend themselves at this time against the base enemies who charged the late calamities upon their misconduct, and who were agitating the people of Seville by false alarms, reporting that the French were within five leagues of that city, and that the nation was betrayed and sold by its Government. In reply to these senseless accusations the Junta appealed to the fact, that in the course of two months it had set on foot two armies for the defence of the Andalusias, consisting of 50,000 men and nearly 12,000 horse. This they had done beside the assistance which they had afforded to other provinces; and when was it known that the injuries which the ship sustains in a storm had been imputed to the pilot? The Junta had issued an abominable edict, whereby, after denouncing the punishment of death against all persons who should endeavour to raise distrust of the existing Government, or to overturn it by exciting popular commotions, they invited informers to denounce such persons to ♦Tribunal of public safety.♦ the Tribunal of Public Safety which they had instituted, holding out the promise of secresy and reward. When this decree appeared Mr. Frere saw to what an atrocious system of tyranny it might lead. Judging of the Junta by their individual characters, he felt assured that they would each have shrunk from carrying such measures into effect; but he was well aware how little the personal characters of any men placed in such circumstances are to be relied on, and apprehended that after some natural hesitation the majority might either yield to the guidance of one or two members, more violent and less scrupulous, or abandon themselves to the direction of this Tribunal of Public Safety; the very name of which, he said, must remind us of the worst revolutionary horrors. But though the State Papers of the Junta were on most occasions wiser than their actions, in this instance their conduct was better than their language; and it now appeared, most honourably for the national character, that, notwithstanding this public encouragement to the nefarious practice of delation, not a single secret information had been laid. If any person, said the Junta, had complaint to make, or suspicion to allege against any of the public functionaries, let him lay his proofs before this Tribunal. But this has not been done, and all the processes which that Tribunal has instituted have been public prosecutions, not one upon the accusation of an individual.

♦Correspondence on the Intruder’s part with the Junta.♦

The Intruder and his partizans hoped at this time that the defeat and dispersion of two armies on two succeeding days would break the spirit of the Government, if not of the nation, and that the Junta might be induced to secure themselves and their own possessions by submission. Accordingly a Spanish traitor, by name Joaquim ♦April 12.♦ Maria Sotelo, addressed a letter from Merida to the vice-president, saying, that the greater number of the provinces of Spain had sufficiently suffered from the effects of war and conquest, and now the rest were threatened with the same calamities. Filled with consternation, he said, at the defeats of Cartaojal and Cuesta, the honourable Spaniards at the court of Madrid, who could not contemplate without the most poignant grief the desolation of their country, had implored the King to alleviate the distresses of such provinces as were occupied by the French troops, and to prevent them in those which were not yet in their possession. To these prayers the King had attended, had ordered him to announce his compliance to the Junta, and authorized him to confer with such deputies as the Junta might appoint, on the best means of fulfilling his wishes. He could not suppose that they would refuse to take steps on which the salvation of Andalusia and the happiness of the whole kingdom depended. And, as the business was most important and most urgent, Sotelo represented, that it would be improper to conduct it in writing, but that all the disputes and irregularities and doubts which it would otherwise cause might be obviated by a personal conference. On this ground, he hoped that deputies would be named to confer with him.