[113] [“Though of short duration the resistance of Valencia is nothing less than marvellous,” says the count de Toreño.[f] “She had no soldiers for the defence, her ordinary garrison having been ordered to different places, no experienced leaders, none but subalterns to lead the courageous peasants. The French lost two thousand men, amongst whom were Cazal, general of engineers, and other officers of high rank. Sheltered by their walls and batteries the Spaniards had but few comrades to mourn, and no person of importance.”]
[114] [These are Napier’s words in dedicating his great work to Wellington.]
[115] The author’s eldest brother; he was said to be slain. When the French renewed the attack on Elvina, he was somewhat in advance of that village, and alone, for the troops were scattered by the nature of the ground. Being hurt in the leg, he endeavoured to retire, but was overtaken, and thrown to the ground with five wounds; a French drummer rescued him, and when a soldier with whom he had been struggling made a second attempt to kill him, the drummer once more interfered. The morning after the battle Marshal Soult sent his own surgeon to Major Napier, and, with a kindness and consideration very uncommon, wrote to Napoleon, desiring that his prisoner might not be sent to France, which from the system of refusing exchanges would have ruined his professional prospect; the drummer also received the cross of the Legion of Honour. When the 2nd corps quitted Corunna, Marshal Soult recommended his prisoner to the attention of Marshal Ney. The latter, treating him rather with the kindness of a friend than the civility of an enemy, lodged him with the French consul, supplied him with money, gave him a general invitation to his house, and not only refrained from sending him to France, but when by a flag of truce he knew that Major Napier’s mother was mourning for him as dead, he permitted him, and with him the few soldiers taken in the action, to go at once to England, merely exacting a promise that none should serve until exchanged. I would have not touched at all upon these private adventures, were it not that gratitude demands a public acknowledgment of such generosity, and that demand is rendered more imperative by the after misfortunes of Marshal Ney. That brave and noble-minded man’s fate is but too well known. He who had fought five hundred battles for France, not one against her, was shot as a traitor! Could the bitterest enemy of the Bourbons have more strongly marked the difference between their interests and those of the nation?
[116] [As Napier[b] points out, however, though the Spanish glorify this siege and called Saragossa “Spain,” for her bravery: “Deprive the transaction of its dazzling colours, and it shows thus: Thirty-five thousand French, in the midst of insurrections, and despite of circumstances peculiarly favourable to the defence, reduced fifty thousand of the bravest and most energetic men in Spain. The latter suffered nobly, but was their example imitated? Gerona indeed, although less celebrated, rivalled, perhaps more than rivalled, the glory of Saragossa; elsewhere her fate spoke, not trumpet-tongued to arouse, but with a wailing voice that carried dismay to the heart of the nation.”]
[117] [Napier[b] thus pungently sums up Cuesta: “Cuesta’s knowledge of both friend’s and enemy’s strength and positions was always inaccurate and his judgment false; he never gained a decisive action, and lost every army he commanded.”]
[118] [Lafuente[e] gives the following incidents of the siege of Gerona: “The holy patron of the town, St. Narcissus, was named generalissimo, it being to his protection and intercession that the devout residents attributed their safety in the attacks and dangers of the wars of past times. Of the 900 men who garrisoned the fortress of Monjuich 511 soldiers and 18 officers had perished, and nearly all the rest were wounded before it was abandoned. It cost the French 3,000 men to conquer the ruins. Whenever the limited number of the garrison permitted, Alvarez ordered sallies to be made by small bodies of men. It is related how, on the occasion of one of these sallies, the officer who was to direct it was asked where he would take refuge in case of necessity. ‘In the cemetery,’ he replied.
“When November had set in the town was ravaged by pestilence, while it suffered from the horrors of famine. Even the most unclean animals were bought at an exorbitant price and devoured. Emaciated, and no less hungry than the men, the very animals fell upon and ate one another. Pools of stagnant water full of refuse were seen in the streets; scattered here and there lay the unburied corpses; for the living there was neither shelter nor rest; the air was pestilential and disease was abroad; the overfull hospitals lacked remedies for the sick. During the month of November, 1,378 soldiers alone died. The spirits of the strongest and most valiant began to fail, and yet the dauntless governor Alvarez seized or harshly turned away the emissaries despatched by the French general to advise him to surrender. And upon hearing someone in the fortress pronounce the word ‘capitulation,’ he turned upon him: ‘How!’ he exclaimed in imposing accents, ‘are you alone a coward here! When provisions are at end we will eat you, and such as you.’ At length capitulation was necessary and so ended the famous and memorable siege of Gerona, which lasted seven long months, during which time the enemy’s 40 batteries discharged against the town more than 60,000 balls and 20,000 bombs and grenades.”]
[119] [The Spanish historian, the count de Toreño,[f] says of this siege:
“All the residents, without distinction of class, age, or sex, rushed to the assistance of the troops. Lorenza, a woman of the people, distinguished herself among the women, being twice wounded; and even two blind men, one led by a faithful dog, employed themselves in useful works, ever smiling and jovial, visiting the posts of greatest danger, crying out above the hissing of the balls, ‘Courage, boys; long live Ferdinand VII! Viva Ciudad Rodrigo!’
“The Spaniards were angered with the English for not assisting the town. Lord Wellington had come thither from the Guadiana disposed, and even as it were in honour bound to compel the French to raise the siege. In this case he could not put forward the usual excuse that the Spaniards did not defend themselves, or that by their want of concert they caused the failure of the well-matured plans of their allies. The marquis de la Romana came from Badajoz to Wellington’s headquarters, and joined his prayers to those of the residents and authorities of Ciudad Rodrigo, to those of the Spanish government, and even to those of some of the English. In vain! Wellington, determined not to take any step in the matter, remained obstinate.