“Were we to imitate the example of certain English historians, a wide field is here open to us to fittingly reply to the unjust recriminations which such historians have largely and wrathfully poured out, with respect to the Spanish military operations. But with more impartiality than they have shown and following no other guide but truth, setting aside public opinion, we declare, on the contrary, that Lord Wellington acted as a prudent general if, to compel the enemy to raise the siege, it was necessary to risk a battle. His forces were not superior to the French, his soldiers lacked the necessary quickness to manœuvre in the open and without set positions, nor did the Portuguese troops possess that discipline and experience of fighting which gives self-confidence. A battle gained would have saved Ciudad Rodrigo, but it would not have ended the war; and had they lost it, the English army would have been destroyed, the enemy enabled to advance to Lisbon, and a terrible if not mortal blow have been dealt to the Spanish cause. The voice of public opinion deafened the ears of the government with complaints, qualifying the conduct of the English as at least tepid and indifferent.”]
[120] [Napier,[b] while admitting the harshness of Masséna’s deeds, blames the Portuguese peasantry for many atrocities, and says that at least one of the worst outrages blamed upon Masséna’s men—the pulling to pieces of João I’s body—was actually done by the British themselves. Many of the charges against the French he declares not only slanderous but impossible.]
[121] [On this triumph the count de Toreño[f] says: “During this siege the French displayed consummate courage and skill; the first was also displayed by the English, but not the latter. This was proved by their losses in the assault of the breaches, and their valour and triumph in the escalade. This was usually the case with them in the besieging of towns. The English treated their foes well, but maltreated the inhabitants of Badajoz. The latter awaited their liberators with impatience, and prepared presents and refreshments for them, not to escape their fury, as certain British historians have asserted, as from allies and friends such conduct was not to be expected, but rather to welcome and gratify them. More than six hundred inhabitants of both sexes were killed by the English. The work of pillage and destruction lasted the whole of the night of the 6th and the following day. The exhortations of their leaders were disregarded, and Lord Wellington himself was threatened by the bayonets of his soldiers, who impeded his entrance into the fortress to check the disorder. Order was re-established the following day with troops purposely brought from without. Nevertheless the cortes presented thanks to the English general, not wishing that the excesses of the soldiers should in any way detract from the advantages resulting from the reconquest of Badajoz. The regency conferred upon Wellington the grand cross of San Fernando.”]
[122] [Though Skerrett was covered with honours for this victory, Napier[b] shows that he was forced by certain officers to defend the place against his will, and that his mistakes even then were only overcome by Captains Smith and Mitchell. He sets the numbers of the garrison at twenty-five hundred; the number of French was variously rated between five and ten thousand.]
[123] [Napier[b] says: “San Sebastian, a third-rate fortress and in bad condition when invested, resisted a besieging army possessing an enormous battering train, for sixty-three days. The place was, in fact, won by accident—the ignition of the French powder-barrels and shells, which alone opened the way into the town.” Of the sad atrocities committed by the British troops, Napier goes on to say:
“A thunderstorm, coming down from the mountains with unbounded fury immediately after the place was carried, added to the confusion of the fight. This storm seemed to be a signal from hell for the perpetration of villany which would have shamed the most ferocious barbarians of antiquity. At Rodrigo intoxication and plunder had been the principal object; at Badajoz lust and murder were joined to rapine and drunkenness; but at San Sebastian, the direst, the most revolting cruelty was added to the catalogue of crimes. One atrocity of which a girl of seventeen was the victim staggers the mind by its enormous, incredible, indescribable barbarity. The resolution of the troops to throw off discipline was quickly made manifest. A British staff officer was pursued with a volley of small arms and escaped with difficulty from men who mistook him for the provost-marshal of the 5th division; a Portuguese adjutant who endeavoured to prevent some wickedness was put to death in the market-place, not with sudden violence from a single ruffian, but deliberately by a number of English soldiers; and though many officers exerted themselves to preserve order and many men were well conducted, the rapine and violence commenced by villains spread; the camp-follower soon crowded into the place, and the disorder continued until the flames, following the steps of the plunderer, put an end to his ferocity by destroying the whole town.”]
CHAPTER XIV. THE RESTORATION OF THE BOURBONS
[1814-1902 A.D.]