On the second day after the deliverance of Seville, the constitution was proclaimed there in the Plaza de S. Francisco with the same success as in other parts of Spain. A bull fight also was exhibited, for the twofold purpose of gratifying the people in what to the disgrace of the Spaniards was their favourite diversion, and of raising money for the troops. Among other rejoicings, the Inquisition prepared to celebrate a thanksgiving festival; but General Mourgeon intimated to them that he had no authority to re-establish them, and that they would not be suffered to appear as a corporate body. By the retreat of the French from Andalusia, a large and populous, and most productive province reverted to the legitimate government: but, though its resources were thus increased, there was little ground for hoping that they would be directed with more ability than in the early part of the struggle. There was the same generous and devoted sense of duty to their country in individuals; the same strong spirit of nationality in the great body of the people; but on the part of the government there were the same embarrassments to contend with; the same inexperience which the frequent changes in administration allowed no time for curing, and the same incapacity which no experience could cure. The ablest heads were more intent upon carrying into effect their own theories of political reformation, than of devising means to complete the deliverance of the country. The indiscretion with which they hurried on measures that the people were wholly unprepared for, provoked a strong resistance in the Cortes itself; and the obstinate bigotry of the one party was not more manifest than the presumptuous confidence, and the political intolerance of the other. A jealousy of the English prevailed even in persons whose hatred of the French could not be doubted; and in some it seemed to acquire ♦Honours rendered to Lord Wellington.♦ strength in proportion to the celebrity which Lord Wellington had obtained; the people however rendered justice to his merits, as in such cases they will always do when they are not artfully misled; the Great Lord was the appellation which they commonly gave him, and no indication was wanting of that national gratitude which he so well deserved. The Regency had conferred upon him the order of the Golden Fleece; and through their hands the Condessa de Chincon, D. Maria Teresa de Borbon, presented him with the collar of the order, which had belonged to her father the Infante D. Luiz; that it had been her father’s, she said, was the only thing which made it valuable to her; but for its intrinsic value it was a princely present.
♦St. Teresa appointed co-patroness of Spain.♦
A subject not less characteristic than curious had been brought before the Government. The barefooted Carmelites in Cadiz presented a memorial, stating that Philip III. and the Cortes of 1617, had chosen St. Teresa for patroness and advocate of Spain, under the Apostle Santiago, that the nation in all its emergencies might invoke her, and avail itself of her intercession. At that time the saint had only been beatified; but her canonization shortly afterwards took place, and then the Cortes of 1626 published the decree, which was confirmed by Pope Urban VIII., without prejudice to the rights of Santiago, St. Michael the Archangel, and the most Holy Virgin. Jealous, nevertheless, of the imprescriptible rights of their own saint, the chapter of Compostella exerted their influence at Rome with such success, that the decree was suspended against the wishes both of the King and Cortes. That wish, however, continued in the royal family; and Charles II., in a codicil to his will, declaring that he had always desired to establish the co-patronship of St. Teresa for the benefit of his kingdom, charged his successors to effect it. The Carmelites now urged that at no time could it more properly be effected than at the present, when her potent patronage was needed against invaders, who sowed the seeds of impiety wherever they carried their arms. This memorial was referred to a special ecclesiastical commission; and in conformity to the opinion of that commission the Cortes elected St. Teresa patroness and protectress, under Santiago, of those kingdoms; decreed that her patronship should forthwith take effect; enjoined all archbishops, bishops, and prelates, to see that the correspondent alterations should be made in the ritual for the saint’s day; and required the Regency to give orders for printing, publishing, and circulating this decree. The community of the barefooted Carmelites then returned thanks for this appointment of their Mother the Saint. “It was a decree,” they said, “which would fill all the natives of those kingdoms with consolation and hope, and they flattered themselves that from that moment Spain would experience the powerful intercession of its new protectress.” “My great Mother, S. Teresa de Jesus, Co-patroness of the Spains!” exclaimed the prior, in an address which was printed among the proceedings of the Cortes, “the very idea makes me eternally bless the law that sanctions it. This has been a business of much time, an affair of some ages, a work of many and mighty hands; but the glory of completing it has been reserved for the fathers of the country, for the congress of lights, for your majesty the Cortes, which has been the glorious instrument of this work of the Eternal. And it was fitting that the country of heroes should have the heroine of nations at its head, who like another mother of the Maccabees should encourage its sons to triumph and to glory. This Deborah is not less sage than she who judged Israel, not less valiant; and the Baraks who will come forward under her protection will not be intimidated by danger. She is not a Moabitess to pervert the armies of Israel. She is a Jael who will destroy the forces of Sennacherib; a Semiramis, who will overthrow the hosts of the sanguinary Cyrus. At the sight of this fortunate Esther, Spain would lift her head and conceive higher hopes. The unanimous consent of the whole nation, the vows of the Spaniards of both hemispheres, would rise to heaven, and uniting themselves at this moment with the intercessions of their great Co-patroness, form that imperious voice which commands the winds and the tempests, rules the seas, makes itself felt in the dark regions of the abyss, and ascending the eternal mountain of the Lord, puts aside the decree of extermination that threatens us, substitutes for it that of our aggrandizement and elevation, and brings a blessing upon those judicious, prudent, ♦Diario de las Cortes, t. 14. pp. 56, 94, 96, 103.♦ and sage Mordecais, whose wise resolution has been the cause of this portent.” In this language did the descendants of the Prophets who dwelt on Mount Carmel, the children of the great Teresa, offer upon the altar of gratitude the incense of their respect and veneration to the Cortes!
While one set of unbelievers promoted this act of superstition, and another condescended to it, a decree of more consequence was obtained from the Spanish Government, which had become sensible that the war must now be carried on upon one plan of operations, under the direction of a single mind, and that a mind equal to the ♦Lord Wellington appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Spanish armies.♦ emergency had been manifested in Lord Wellington. The Cortes therefore conferred upon him the command in chief of the Spanish armies, during the co-operation of the allied forces in the defence of the peninsula; and the Marquis signified his acceptance of the charge, subject to the Prince Regent’s approbation, “the delay of obtaining which,” he said, “would not impede his operations, because, upon all occasions on which he had communicated with the Generals and Commandants of the Spanish troops, he had received from them the utmost attention, and all the assistance which they could afford him.” The Prince’s consent was not delayed; and in signifying it, his Royal Highness expressed his satisfaction in the measure, as considering it to be a just and signal proof that the Spanish nation rightly appreciated the military talents and reputation of Lord Wellington, and that the Cortes had taken a comprehensive view of the manner in which the war ought to be conducted.
♦His Situation at Madrid.♦
Lord Wellington meantime had more reason to be satisfied with the approbation of his own Government, than with the support that it afforded him. Successful as his campaign had thus far been, there had been a loss of time in it, for want of means, and that want had occasioned much to depend upon the chance of circumstances; whereas, had there been an adequate force under his command, the results would have depended as far as possible in war, upon his own sagacity, and the superiority of British troops. An additional force of 15,000 men, with which to have covered the northern frontier during the siege of Badajoz, would have enabled him to fulfil his first intention of marching upon Seville, after the fall of that fortress; the campaign might then have been commenced two months earlier, and time would have remained, after having freed the south of Spain, for operations in the centre and north. Having been compelled to abandon that intention, lest Marmont should recover Ciudad Rodrigo and overrun the north of Portugal, he had succeeded to his utmost hopes in the plan which he had of necessity adopted, not of choice. After that success, the want of adequate means left him as little choice as before. To have marched into Valencia against the collected armies of Soult, Suchet, and the Intruder, would have rendered it impossible to keep up his communications with Portugal; and except on that communication he could have no safe dependence for supplies. There was moreover the weighty consideration that the yellow fever had broken out in Murcia, and had approached so near to Alicante, that the most rigorous precautions were deemed necessary for preserving that part of the country from the contagion. But independent of all other considerations, he had neither sufficient troops to attack the united forces in the south, nor sufficient money to subsist his army beyond Madrid. Of the 70,000 dollars which he had borrowed there, he was obliged to make over half to the Portugueze, for the relief of their pressing necessities; and he had raised the loan on condition of repaying it at the expiration of a month. By acting in the north he should keep open his communication and his retreat; and in the north also the reinforcements, which after the tidings of his success he was sure would be expedited by all possible exertions, might join him before the enemy could move against him with their combined forces, from all quarters. The Intruder had with him 14,000 men, Suchet had 28,000 disposable in the field, and the army of the south, under Soult, consisted of 55,000; in all 97,000: in the north, there were the army of the north 10,000 strong, and the remains of Marmont’s army, now under Clausel, estimated at 25,000. Against this force, which had resumed its activity, it was resolved to act; and to this determination there was the farther motive, that if the Galician army were put in possession of Burgos, the castle there might enable it to make a stand upon that front, and with the assistance of a British and Portugueze corps to hold the army of Portugal in check while he should be engaged in active operations in the south. The castle would thus become a tête-de-cantonment to this corps of observation, and the French when deprived of it would not possess any strong post on the great line of communication between France and the interior of Spain, this castle commanding the only good road for artillery, and for the movement of convoys.
♦Lord Wellington moves toward Burgos.♦
Accordingly, on the 1st September, Lord Wellington departed from Madrid, leaving the two divisions which were most in need of rest in garrison there. Sir Rowland was ordered to the Xarama, so to cover the capital on that side; and Ballasteros was requested to join him, in case Soult, whose retreat from Andalusia was not yet known, should move on Madrid; otherwise to be in readiness for acting upon the Marshal’s line of march. The troops collected at Arevalo, moved from thence on the 4th, and on the 6th crossed the Douro at the fords of Herrera and ♦The French withdraw from Valladolid.♦ El Abrojo; the enemy withdrew from Valladolid at their approach, crossed the Pisuerga, blew up the centre arch of the bridge, and retired along the right bank of that river to Dueñas. Some skirmishing took place in front of that town, and the cavalry picket drove the enemy out, and established themselves there on the night of the 10th. On the following day, Lord Wellington entered Palencia, where the English as usual were received with joyful acclamations, and where the new Constitution was proclaimed. From thence he communicated with Santocildes, and there learned from him to how small a force the Galician army amounted, and how little that force could be relied on. With all Lord Wellington’s experience of Spanish co-operation, he had not expected this; knowing both the ability and good-will of Castaños, he hoped to have found the army in a state of such efficiency that he might have stationed it at Burgos in a few days, and then without loss of time have returned to Madrid, there to prepare for the contest which might be expected in that quarter. The Galician army joined at Pampaliega on the 16th; the 11,000 of whom it consisted were then separated into three divisions, and each was directed to march in rear of a British division, no doubt being entertained but that they would behave well if they were not exposed to heavy attacks of the enemy’s cavalry.
♦The allies advance to Burgos.♦
The allies now moved up the beautiful valley of the Pisuerga, from Valladolid, along the right bank of the river, to the place where it receives the Arlanzon; and then along both banks of the Arlanzon, up its valley towards Burgos. It is a tract of country in which nature seems to invite human industry, and man has not been negligent in profiting by the advantages of soil and climate and running waters. Every inch of the valley is cultivated, and the hills are on both sides covered with cornfields and vineyards. The country is as strong also in a military point of view as it is fertile; out of the high road in the valley the way is continually interrupted by rivulets and deep ditches: the hills on either side afford admirable flanks for the movements of an army, and there are heights from the river to the hills on either side for strong defensive positions. The French General was not a man to overlook this advantage, and the enemy were found on the 16th strongly posted with their left on the Arlanzon and their right on the mountains. Lord Wellington made arrangements to turn their position; but they decamped during the night, and in the morning their whole army was seen retiring in five columns along the valley, and the hills on either side. They were estimated at about 18,000 infantry and more than 2000 horse, and their line of baggage was longer and closer than men who had served in India had ever seen with an Indian army; for they had pressed all the cattle in the country, and left nothing transportable for any marauders who might follow them. Clausel entered Burgos on the evening of the 17th; Marmont and Bonnet, who were still incapacitated by their wounds, had left that city a few days before. Caffarelli came thither from Vittoria to confer with him: a council of war was held that night; at two in the morning the French commenced their retreat, and by ten o’clock they had left the city and the suburbs.