Macdonald now, whose army had been reinforced, took a position at Perillo and at Mora, to cover the siege against any interruption on the side of Tarragona, the only quarter from whence an effort in aid of Tortosa could be apprehended; and Suchet, secure from all farther attempts either from Valencia or Aragon, passed twelve battalions across the river at Xerta to the left bank, and in one day completed the investment of the place. The besiegers had great difficulties to overcome, the soil being everywhere rocky, ... so that the engineers were obliged to form parapets and sacks of earth, and in many places to work their way in the trenches by means of gunpowder. The trenches were opened on the night of December 20; and the siege from that hour was carried on with an alacrity and skill in which the French are never wanting. On the twelfth night the enemy had established themselves at the bottom of the ditch; they had then bombarded the city for four days, ... two days they had been engaged in mining, and there were three breaches in the body of the place: but there were nearly 8000 troops within the walls; there was a brave and willing people, and there were the examples of Zaragoza and Gerona. They were in no danger of famine, for the place had been abundantly provided; there was no want of military stores, and the besieging army did not exceed 10,000 men.
♦O’Donell’s plan for relieving the place.♦
Meantime O’Donell had concerted a bold and hopeful enterprise for its relief. He knew that there were provisions and ammunition sufficient for two months’ consumption in the city; he had full reliance upon the disposition of the people, and the whole conduct both of the garrison and the governor from the time that the enemy appeared before the walls had given him reason to confide in both. With his own force he was aware that nothing could be done against the besieging army, covered as it was by Macdonald; but he proposed that Bassecourt should supply 3000 foot and 500 horse from the Valencian army; that the central army should detach 4000 foot and 200 horse; that these should unite under Carvajal with such forces as Aragon could furnish, make demonstration upon the Ebro as if their intention was to succour Tortosa, but there turn off from the most convenient point, and by forced marches proceed to Zaragoza, whither O’Donell would at the same time detach 4000 foot and 400 horse by way of Barbastro. It was believed that the French at this juncture had not more than 4000 men in the whole of Aragon, and the garrison of Zaragoza consisted almost wholly of convalescents and invalids. Bassecourt assented heartily to this well-devised plan; from the central army a refusal was returned, ... perhaps it could not then have mustered even the small force that was required from it; but upon receiving this reply Bassecourt dispatched an officer to the Empecinado, and that intrepid and excellent partisan cheerfully engaged to co-operate. Carvajal held himself in readiness; and at no moment during the war was it so probable that a great success might be obtained with little hazard. For it was not doubted that Suchet would precipitately break up the siege of Tortosa, rather than allow the Spaniards time to strengthen themselves in Zaragoza; that they could enter it was certain, ... and no other possible event could have diffused such joy throughout all Spain. All arrangements having been concluded between the Empecinado, Carvajal, and Bassecourt, O’Donell’s aid-de-camp, who waited for this at Valencia, set off instantly for ♦Tortosa surrendered.
1811. Jan. 2.♦ Tarragona by sea; contrary winds delayed him a little while on the passage, ... and he arrived a few hours after the commander-in-chief had received intelligence that Lili had surrendered at discretion.
♦Sentence on the Governor for surrendering it.♦
There was no treason here, as there had been at Lerida, but there was a want of honour, of principle, and of virtue. Seven thousand eight hundred men, not pressed by famine, not debilitated by disease, with a brave and willing population to have supported them, laid down their arms and surrendered at discretion to ten thousand French. The enemy indeed affirmed that the garrison could not have continued the defence an hour longer without being put to the sword: the people of Spain thought otherwise; they remembered Palafox and Alvarez; they remembered that at Gerona a French army, not inferior to this of Suchet’s in number, lay ten whole weeks in sight of an open breach which they did not venture to assault a second time, though it was defended only by half-starved men, who would have come from the hospitals to take their stand there. They remembered this, and therefore they thought that the governor who under such circumstances had hung out the white flag, ought himself to have been hung over the walls. Accordingly sentence of death was pronounced in Tarragona against the Conde de Alache for having, it was said, infamously surrendered a city which he ought to have defended to the last extremity; and his effigy was beheaded there in the market-place.
♦Col de Balaguer surrendered.♦
The fortress at Col de Balaguer, which commanded a strong pass about half-way between Tortosa and Tarragona, was yielded a few days after Lili’s surrender, by the treachery or cowardice of the men entrusted with its defence. Tarragona was now the only strong place that remained to the Catalans; it had been the seat of government since the fall of Mequinenza, the Provincial Congress, which was to have assembled at Solsona, having then been summoned thither, as the only place of safety; now its land communication with Valencia and the rest of Spain was cut off; and Suchet immediately prepared to follow up his success by investing it, with less apprehension of any obstruction from the Catalan army, because the wound which O’Donell had received at La Bisbal compelled him at this time to retire to Majorca. The Marquis de Campoverde, being second in command, succeeded him. In O’Donell the Catalans lost a commander who had raised himself by his services, and whose conduct had justified the public opinion, in deference to which he had been promoted. But the spirit of the people was not shaken: they relied upon the strength of their country, even though the fortresses were lost, ... upon their cause, and their own invincible resolution; and they lived in continual hope that some effectual assistance would be afforded by England to a province which so well deserved it. The little which had been given had been gratefully received, and it had shown also how much might and ought to have been done.
♦Commodore Mends destroys the batteries on the north coast.♦
Maritime co-operation of a similar kind had been carried into effect on the northern coast of Spain. About midsummer Commodore Mends of the Arethusa frigate consulted with the Junta of Asturias, who engaged to put what they called the armies of that province, and of the Montañas de Santander, in motion, if he would take Porlier and 500 men on board his squadron and beat up the enemy’s sea-quarters. This it was deemed would draw the French troops towards the ports in their possession, calling them from the frontiers of Galicia, which they were then threatening, give the mountaineers opportunity to act with advantage, and favour the Guerrillas in Castille, whom the French were endeavouring to hunt down. The Commodore had no instructions for an expedition of this kind, but he saw that it offered a reasonable prospect of advantage; for if the Junta should fail in their part of the undertaking, or be disappointed in their hopes, he might nevertheless destroy the enemy’s sea-defences, and cut off the supplies which they received coast-ways. Accordingly Porlier with his men embarked, and the squadron sailed from Ribadeo. The wind serving for Santona, they landed on the beach to the westward of that place. The garrison there, some 120 in number, retired with the loss of about thirty men; and the French commander at S. Sebastian feared that it was their intention to establish themselves there, in a post which might easily have been rendered defensible, and would afford good anchorage during the prevalence of the westerly gales upon that coast: the utmost efforts therefore were made to prevent this; and on the second day after the landing, from seven to eight hundred French attacked them on the isthmus. This body was repulsed with considerable loss; but finding that the enemy were collecting in greater force, the Commodore re-embarked his men on the following day, having destroyed the fortifications. Pursuing his object, he demolished all the batteries upon the coast between S. Sebastian’s and Santander (those at Castro alone excepted), carried off or threw into the sea above a hundred pieces of heavy cannon, and laid that whole extent of coast bare of defence, without the loss of a single man; and having made about two hundred prisoners and taken on board three hundred volunteers, all for whom room could be found, the squadron returned to Coruña.
♦Expedition to Santona under Renovales.♦