The town of Coruña, although sufficiently strong to oblige an enemy to break ground before it, was weakly fortified, and to the southward commanded by some heights close to the walls. Sir John Moore caused the land front to be repaired and strengthened, and also disarmed the sea face of the works, and occupied the citadel. The inhabitants cheerfully and honourably joined in the labour, although they were fully aware that the English intended to embark, and that they compromised their own safety by aiding the operation. Such flashes of light from the dark cloud which at this moment covered Spain may startle the mind of the reader, and make him doubt if the Spaniards could have been so insufficient to their own defence as they have been represented in the course of this history. I can only answer, that the facts were as I have told them, and that it was such paradoxical indications of character that deceived the world at this time, and induced men to believe that the reckless daring defiance of the power of France so loudly proclaimed by the patriots, would be strenuously supported. Of proverbially vivid imagination and quick resentments, the Spaniards feel and act individually rather than nationally; and during this war, that which appeared to be in them constancy of purpose, was in reality a repetition of momentary fury, a succession of electric sparks generated by a constant collision with the French army, and daily becoming fainter as custom reconciled them to those injuries and insults which are commonly the attendants of war.
Procrastination and improvidence are the besetting sins of the nation: at this moment a large magazine of arms and ammunition was in Coruña; these stores had been sent in the early part of the preceding year from England, and they were still unappropriated and unregarded by a nation infested with three hundred thousand enemies, and possessing a hundred thousand soldiers unclothed and without weapons.
Three miles from the town, four thousand barrels of powder were piled in a magazine built upon a hill; a smaller quantity, collected in another storehouse, was at some distance from the first: to prevent these magazines from falling a prey to the enemy, they were both exploded on the 13th. The inferior one blew up with a terrible noise and shook the houses in the town; but when the train reached the great store, there ensued a crash like the bursting forth of a volcano, the earth trembled for miles, the rocks were torn from their bases, and the agitated waters rolled the vessels as in a storm; a vast column of smoke and dust, shooting out fiery sparks from its sides, arose perpendicularly and slowly to a great height, and then a shower of stones, and fragments of all kinds, bursting out of it with a roaring sound, killed several persons who remained too near the spot. A stillness, only interrupted by the lashing of the waves on the shore, succeeded, and the business of the war went on.
The ground in front of Coruña is impracticable for cavalry, and as the horses still left alive were generally foundered, and that it was impossible to embark them all in the face of an enemy, a great number were reluctantly ordered to be shot. These poor animals, already worn down and feet broken, would otherwise have been distributed among the French cavalry, or used as draft cattle, until by procrastinated sufferings of the nature they had already endured, they should be killed.
The enemy were now collecting in force on the Mero, and it became necessary to choose a position of battle. A chain of rocky elevations commencing on the sea-coast, north-west of the place, and ending on the Mero just behind the village of El Burgo, offered an advantageous line of defence; covered by a branch of the Mero, which, washing a part of the base, would have obliged the enemy to advance by the road of Compostella; but this ridge was too extensive for the English army, and if not wholly occupied, the French might have turned it by the right, and moved along a succession of eminences to the very gates of Coruña. There was no alternative but to take post on an inferior range, enclosed as it were within the other, and completely commanded by it within cannon-shot.
The French army had been so exhausted by continual toil, that it was not completely assembled on the Mero before the 12th. The infantry took post opposite El Burgo; the cavalry of La Houssaye lined the river as far as the ocean, and Franceschi, as we have seen, crossed at the bridge of Celas, seven miles higher up. The 14th, the bridges of El Burgo being rendered practicable for artillery, two divisions of infantry, and one of cavalry, passed the river. To cover this march some guns opened on the English posts at El Burgo, but were soon silenced by a superior fire. The same evening, the transports from Vigo hove in sight, and soon after entered the harbour of Coruña, and the dismounted cavalry, the sick, all the best horses, and fifty-two pieces of artillery, were embarked during the night; eight British, and four Spanish guns, were, however, retained on shore ready for action.
Noble’s Expedition de Galice.
The 15th, La Borde’s division arrived, and the French occupied the great ridge enclosing the British position, placing their right on the intersection of the roads leading from St. Jago and Betanzos, and their left upon a rocky eminence which overlooked both lines. Towards evening, their cavalry, supported by some light troops, extended towards the left, and a slight skirmish took place in the valley below. At the same time the English piquets opposite the right of the French, got engaged, and being galled by the fire of two guns, colonel M’Kenzie of the fifth, at the head of some companies, endeavoured to seize the battery; but a line of infantry, hitherto concealed by some stone walls, arose, and poured in such a fire of musketry, that the colonel was killed, and his men forced back with loss.
In the course of the night, marshal Soult with great difficulty established a battery of eleven guns, (eight and twelve-pounders,) on the rocks which formed the Noble’s Expedition de Galice. left of his line of battle. Laborde’s division was posted on the right; half of it occupied the high ground, the other half was placed on the descent towards the river. Merle’s division was in the centre. Mermet’s division formed the left. The position was covered in front of the right by the villages of Palavia Abaxo, and Portosa, and in front of the centre by a wood; the left was strongly posted on the rugged heights where the great battery was established. The distance from that battery to the right of the English line was about twelve hundred yards, and, midway, the little village of Elvina was held by the piquets of the latter nation.
The late arrival of the transports, the increasing force of the enemy, and the disadvantageous nature of the ground, augmented the difficulty and danger Sir John Moore’s Letter to Ld. Castleh. of the embarkation so much, that several general officers proposed to the commander-in-chief, that he should negotiate for leave to retire to his ships upon terms. There was little chance of such a proposal being agreed to by the enemy, and there was no reason to try. The army had suffered, but not from defeat; its situation was dangerous, but far from desperate; and the general would not consent to remove the stamp of energy and prudence which marked his retreat, by a negotiation that would have given an appearance of timidity and indecision to his previous operations, as opposite to their real character as light is to darkness. His high spirit and clear judgment revolted at the idea, and he rejected the degrading advice without hesitation.