On the side of Catalonia, meantime, all went on favourably for the allies; for if they were too weak to obtain any advantages for themselves, the enemy was weakened to a greater degree, in consequence of the progress of the war in other quarters. Marshal Suchet made one vigorous attempt in the beginning of December to surprise the corps at Villafranca, where the British head-quarters were established. He made a forced night march in this hope with about 15,000 men; but timely information had been obtained. Sarsfield’s division, which was stationed there, retired across the country to the left; the British cavalry and artillery fell back about eight miles along the main road to Arbos, where there was a strong position, and whither General Mackenzie moved his division to their support; and Suchet, having failed in his intention, retired from Villafranca on the afternoon of the same day, and returned to the Llobregat as rapidly as he had advanced. The wants of the Spanish army had now become so pressing that it was necessary to send Sarsfield’s cavalry to the rear, where it might be possible for them to subsist, his infantry being sometimes upon the shortest allowance, and without any sure prospect of even that insufficient dole for more than two or three days. His troops must from sheer destitution have quitted the field had it not been for the merchants of Villa-nueva, who, at his earnest persuasion, but on their own credit, and at their own risk, supplied them with provisions from the imports which arrived at that port. Not a murmur meantime was heard from the men; nor did they evince the slightest feeling of discontent or jealousy when they saw the Anglo-Sicilian troops, forming part of the same army, duly supplied, while they themselves were hungered. Only if the greater strength of the British soldiers appeared, when they were engaged together in the public works, a Spaniard would sometimes quietly say, “Give us your rations, and you shall see us work as well as you do.”
After the Nassau battalions had passed over to Lord Wellington’s camp, immediate advice had been dispatched to Sir William Clinton; and the information was with due secrecy communicated to the officer who commanded the Nassau troops in Catalonia; but this person preferring what he considered his military obligations to his national duty, delivered the papers into General Habert’s hands, who had succeeded Maurice ♦The German troops in Barcelona disarmed.♦ Mathieu in the command at Barcelona. The French would, perhaps, have been better pleased if he had followed the example of his better-minded countrymen; for that German feeling which the officer had renounced existed among the men, and it was deemed necessary to disarm them all, 2400 in number, thus weakening the army of Catalonia, and bringing upon it this additional inconvenience, that the men of whose services it was deprived were to be supported as prisoners, and guarded also. This officer was mortally wounded a few weeks afterwards in a sally from Barcelona.
♦Troops withdrawn from Suchet’s army.♦
Suchet’s force was still farther weakened by the withdrawal of 2000 of his Italian troops; he then proposed to the French government, as a measure of expediency, that they should dismantle the city of Barcelona, and content themselves with occupying the citadel and Fort Monjuic, whereby 5000 of the garrison would be disposable for service; but his advice was rejected, the possession of Barcelona being deemed necessary for the support of the army in Catalonia. About the same time two strong battalions of Spaniards were detached from the Anglo-Sicilian army, at the pressing request of General Roche, to assist him in blockading Murviedro. Tarragona had now been so far repaired as to be in a defensible state; but such was the exhausted condition of the province that no stores of any kind could be obtained from it for the Spanish authorities. ♦Failure of an attempt against the enemy at Molins del Rey. January.♦ While both armies were withheld from undertaking any important operation by the diminution of strength on both sides, and by the increasing difficulties of obtaining supplies on the part of the Anglo-Sicilians, a plan was concerted between Sir William Clinton and Manso for attacking the enemy’s cantonments at Molins del Rey and the adjoining villages on the Llobregat: Sir William was to move with 8000 men upon the Barcelona road and attack them in front, while Manso should post himself upon the strong ground in the rear of Molins del Rey, close to the only road by which they could retire. Copons had assented to this project, and agreed to lend Manso and his brigade for this service, both the men and their commander being worthy of all confidence. ♦Jan. 17.♦ The enterprise failed, because Copons, without making any communication to the English General, instead of sending Manso, chose to go himself with a larger force, set off two hours later than the time which had been agreed upon, and finally appeared on the right flank of the enemy instead of in the rear; meantime the force from Villafranca having arrived at the hour appointed, the French, who, if there had been the same punctuality on the other side, must have been taken by surprise, were able to effect their retreat over the Llobregat by the stone bridge near Molins, which was well fortified. Upon the first alarm Suchet dispatched troops to support General Pannetier, who was in command there, and manœuvred in the hope of decoying the allies to a dangerous advance: but Sir William was too wary to incur any unwise risk, when the object of his movement had been disappointed. Had Manso been left to execute what had been concerted with him, Pannetier’s division must in all likelihood have been captured.
♦Farther drafts from Suchet’s army.♦
A few days afterwards Marshal Suchet received positive orders from Paris to dispatch for Lyons with the least possible delay two-thirds of his cavalry, from 8000 to 10,000 foot, and fourscore field-pieces. He renewed his representations concerning Barcelona, saying, he should delay till the latest minute his departure from the vicinity of that city, in the hope of farther instructions; and he advised that, as the mission of the Duque de S. Carlos had produced no good effect, Ferdinand should be sent to Barcelona, with an understanding that France put him in possession of the fortified places, in reliance upon his honour for sending the garrison home. Meantime he appointed Habert to the command of Lower Catalonia, the division of the Lower Ebro being under General Robert, who commanded in Tortosa; that General was assured that he should soon be delivered, either by succour or by the conclusion of peace; but at the worst, he was instructed, when his provisions should fail, which would be before the end of April, to make for Lerida, collect his troops there, and by a rapid march through the mountains proceed to Benasque, and so into France. No farther ♦He retires to Gerona.♦ advices having reached him by the first of February, Marshal Suchet moved with the remains of his army to the neighbourhood of Gerona; and when, in the course of another fortnight, instructions came to act as he had advised with regard to Barcelona, it was too late, the allies having immediately upon his removal blockaded that city.
♦One of his aides-de-camp opens a correspondence with Eroles.♦
A greater mortification awaited him. Eroles, in the month of November, when confined by a dangerous illness at Manresa, received information from one in whom he had reason to place entire confidence, that a Spanish officer, by name D. Juan de Halen, who was then one of Suchet’s aides-de-camp, was desirous of being restored to the service of his country, under his protection. Eroles replied that this was not to be hoped for, unless the officer could make some signal reparation for the injury which he had done to the Spanish name; but that in waiting till this could be effected, he might give proof of his sincerity and earnest of his intentions by communicating such useful information as his situation about Suchet’s person enabled him to obtain. Van Halen replied as if he felt himself wounded by being expected to act the part of a spy: there was not much difficulty in overcoming this objection; and he found means of transmitting intelligence from time to time, and, among other papers, a copy of Suchet’s cipher. The more important communications were not intrusted to writing, but made orally, through the person by whom this correspondence was opened.
♦Van Halen.♦
Juan Van Halen, as may be inferred from his name, was a Spaniard of Flemish or Brabantine descent. He was a native of the Isle of Leon, and born in 1789. After some years of active service in the navy, he was employed in the engineers; and as an officer in that corps bore a part at Madrid in the tragedy of the 2nd of May. Escaping from the capital, he joined Blake’s army after the battle of Rio-seco, and was sent by him to Ferrol; when that place was surrendered, he took the oath of fidelity to the Intruder, and afterwards held a commission in his body guards. He had the good fortune subsequently to be employed in other parts of Europe, and was at Paris when Buonaparte’s reverses in Germany rendered it no longer doubtful that the part in which he had engaged must finally be the unsuccessful one. A friend and countryman, who had come to the same unpleasant conviction, advised him to forsake the sinking cause; but Van Halen, in his own words, “could not think of prostrating himself at the feet of the throne and of his country, unless he could bear with him the testimony of some such service as might make him worthy of being received in the arms of Spanish generosity and gratitude, not in those of indulgence, or of ♦Restauracion de las Plazas, &c. p. 12.♦ strict justice.” So getting leave from the then expelled Intruder to solicit employment in Spain, he obtained from the Duc de Feltre an appointment upon Suchet’s staff, and provided himself with credentials to Eroles, and also with a letter of recommendation to Sir Rowland Hill.