♦St. Narcis appointed generalissimo.♦
These were demonstrations of the religious feeling with which the Geronans devoted themselves to the cause of their country, and to the duty of self-defence. With more reason might the French deride the part which in that city was assigned to the Patron Saint, though such derision would come with little consistency from those among them who professed to believe in the Romish church. St. Narcis, as the Saint is called in the clipt language of that province, had obtained as much credit for defeating Duhesme in his first attempt upon Gerona, as for sending the plague of flies against the French King Philip. A meeting had in consequence been held of the municipality, the chapter, the heads of the religious houses, and all the chief persons of the city, Colonel Julien Bolivar presiding as the king’s lieutenant. Resolutions were passed, that seeing St. Narcis had always vouchsafed his especial protection to the principality of Catalonia, as had been manifested during the former invasions of the French, and recently by the defeat of Duhesme, which was wholly owing to his favour; and seeing moreover that for the purpose of resisting the tyranny and oppression of Napoleon Buonaparte it was necessary to appoint a commander who should be capable of directing their operations and repulsing such an enemy, ... no one could so worthily fill that office as the invincible patron and martyr St. Narcis; and therefore, in the name of Ferdinand the King, they nominated him Generalissimo of all the Spanish forces by land and sea, and confided to him the defence of Gerona, of its district, and of the whole principality. On the following Sunday, the Junta, with all the clergy and other persons of distinction, went in procession to notify this appointment to the Saint in his shrine in the church of St. Felix; the shrine was opened, and a general’s staff, a sword, and a belt, all richly ornamented, were deposited by the relics of the chosen commander; and the enthusiastic joy which the ceremony excited was such, that the Spaniards said it seemed as if the glory of the Lord had descended and filled the church, manifesting that their devotion was approved and blessed by Heaven!
♦All mention of capitulating forbidden.♦
This display of national character and of Romish superstition had taken place in the first fervour of their feelings after a signal deliverance. The spirit of the Geronans did not fail when danger was again at hand; and the governor, seeing and relying upon this disposition of the people, thought it advisable, before the time of trial approached, to restrain by fear the few treacherous subjects who might be waiting, when opportunity offered, to declare themselves; ♦April 1.♦ he published an edict, therefore, forbidding all persons from speaking of capitulation on pain of immediate death, without exception of class, rank, or condition. Both by the garrison and the people it was received with acclamations. The military Junta of the city proposed that the streets should be unpaved as a precaution against bombardment; this was opposed by the board of police, upon the ground that it would be prejudicial to health; the question, therefore, was referred to the medical board, who found it convenient to avoid a physical discussion, and compromised the matter by deciding that the paving should be taken up in the squares and streets through which the troops must necessarily pass.
♦St. Cyr would have reduced the city by blockade.♦
General Reille, who was to have commanded the besieging army, was at this time superseded by General Verdier. This army consisted of 18,000 men; to make up that number Marshal St. Cyr was compelled to weaken the corps of observation under his own command, which was thus reduced to about 12,000; but from such armies as the Catalans could bring into the field, and such counsels as directed them, he well knew how little there was to apprehend. ♦St. Cyr, 164.♦ In this confidence St. Cyr would have preferred blockading the city to besieging it, and would have waited till it should be reduced by famine, whereby all the loss which the besiegers sustained might have been spared. But he was neither consulted nor listened to, holding the command at this time only till Marshal Augereau ♦1809. May.♦ should arrive. On the 6th of May the besiegers first appeared on the heights of Casa Roca and Costarroja on the other side the Ter, and began to form their lines without opposition. A battery of eleven mortars was planted upon Casa Roca, from whence it commanded the city; works were erected against Monjuic also; the garrison being far too weak to impede these operations, and no efforts being made for impeding them from without. When the lines were completed, and every thing ready to commence the bombardment, they sent a flag of truce requiring Alvarez to spare himself and the city the evils which must inevitably attend resistance. D. Mariano admitted the officer to his presence, and bade him tell his general, that in future the trouble of sending flags of truce might be spared, for he would hold no other communication with him than at the mouth of the cannon. The French commander found means of conveying a letter to him afterwards, with the significant observation that he might probably repent having thus cut himself off from the only means of communication which ♦The bombardment begins.♦ were allowed in war. It was on the 12th of June that the summons was sent, and on the night of the 13th, about an hour after midnight, the bombardment began. Then for the first time the generale or alarm was beat, a sound which afterwards became so frequent in this ♦1809. June.♦ devoted city: roused from their sleep, the aged and the children repaired to cellars and other places of imagined security, which they who could had provided for this emergency, and the female company of St. Barbara hastened to their posts. An ill-judged sally was made early on the 17th against some works which were supposed to be the base of a battery against the Puerto de Francia: it was successful, but the success was of little importance and dearly purchased; many brave men fell, and 110 were brought back wounded. The bombardment continued, and among other buildings the military hospital was destroyed: the people, while it was in flames, observed that its destruction was deserved, for, instead of proving a place of help and healing for the sick, covetousness and peculation had made their profit there upon human misery. The hospitals of St. Domingo and St. Martin were also rendered uninhabitable; one other had been made ready, another was to be prepared, and the difficulty of providing for the sick and wounded increased at the time when their numbers were daily increasing. About the end of the month an epidemic affection of the bowels become prevalent, occasioned partly by the perpetual agitation of mind which the people endured, partly by sleeping in damp subterranean places, where the air never circulated freely, and where many had nothing but the ground to lie on. In July, a bilious fever is usually endemic in Gerona; it seized especially upon the lower classes now, and upon the refugees from those places which had been taken or burned by the enemy; and it affected the wounded also.
♦St. Cyr draws nearer Gerona.♦
During these operations St. Cyr, retaining the command till Augereau, who was disabled by an attack of gout at Perpignan, should arrive to supersede him, had remained in his position ♦P. 368.♦ near Vich. The capture of the French troops near Monzon, and Blake’s success at Alcañiz, had so alarmed the enemy at Zaragoza and at Madrid, that orders were dispatched for him to return towards Tarragona, and combine his movements with Suchet, who, it was deemed, would otherwise be in danger. But King Joseph’s orders were respected almost as little by the French commanders as by the Spanish nation. Marshal St. Cyr represented that his army had always been left to itself, having no relation with any other corps, and being specially destined for subjugating Catalonia, which the Emperor Napoleon had thought quite sufficient employment for it, and which, in fact, would long continue to require all its efforts. On the other hand, Verdier was entreating him to approach nearer Gerona, and this he prepared to do, being aware that Blake’s immediate object, after collecting the runaways from Belchite, must be to introduce supplies and reinforcements into the besieged city. His first care was to send the sick and wounded to Barcelona, the only place where they could be in safety. This done, no time was lost in breaking up from quarters which he was unwilling to abandon; for though the want of meat and wine had been severely felt there by the troops and officers, as well as by the invalids, there had been no lack of bread; and the country through which they had to pass not being practicable for carriages of any kind, no more could be taken with them than the soldiers could carry for ♦June 18.♦ themselves. The movement was so luckily timed, that they reached S. Coloma de Farnes, just as a small detachment of Blake’s army arrived there, escorting some 1200 cattle to Gerona: the whole convoy fell into their hands, ♦St. Cyr, 167–172.♦ with an abundance of wine also, the want of which is felt by the French soldiers more severely than any other privation.
♦Palamos taken by the French.♦
St. Cyr’s head-quarters were now at Caldas de Malavella, and he occupied a line extending from Oña in advance of Bruñola to S. Feliu de Guixols, of which place his troops took possession at this time, after a brave but ineffectual resistance. It was a point of considerable importance, being the port most convenient for those Spanish vessels which cut off the communication between France and Barcelona for all ships which were not under a strong escort. Palamos was of still more importance at this juncture, because from thence Gerona communicated by sea with Tarragona. This place was attacked by Italian troops under General Fontane; it was carried by assault, and the only persons who were spared were the few who threw themselves into the sea, and were received prisoners when the fury of the invaders had spent itself[3]. On the other hand, the Catalans were not always unsuccessful in their endeavours to annoy the invaders. Rovira, formerly a canon, and therefore called Doctor Colonel Rovira (one of the most able and enterprising partizans who appeared during the contest), intercepted a convoy and a train of artillery horses, to supply the loss of which St. Cyr was obliged to part with the horses belonging to his corps. And a battalion which Augereau had sent to fix up proclamations in the villages beyond the frontier, was routed by Colonel Porta before it had disposed of three of ♦St. Cyr, 173, 190.♦ its papers. Augereau having, in the campaign of 1794, served in that province, and left a good name there, had counted upon the effect of his proclamations, not considering that he was now engaged in a cause in which every heart and every understanding, every principle and every feeling, were against him.