I am aware that the first-named generals, especially Soult, were included by Joseph amongst those who, by oppressing the people, extended the spirit of resistance; but this accusation was the result of personal enmity; and facts, derived from less interested quarters, as well as the final results, prove that those officers had a longer reach in their policy than the king could understand.
There is yet another view in which the matter may be considered. Napoleon says he left many provinces of Italy under the harsh government of Austria, that the spirit of jealousy, common to the small states of that country, might be broken, and the whole rendered amenable and ready to assimilate, when he judged the time ripe to re-form one great kingdom. Now the same policy may be traced in the military governments of Spain. The marshal’s sway, however, wisely adapted to circumstances, being still the offspring of war and violence, must, of necessity, be onerous and harsh; but the Peninsula once subdued, this system would have been replaced by the peaceful government of the king, who would then have been regarded as a deliverer. Something of this nature was also necessary to sweep away the peculiar privileges which many provinces possessed, and of which they were extremely tenacious; and the iron hand of war, only, could introduce that equality which was the principal aim and scope of the constitution of Bayonne.
King Joseph’s Correspondence. MSS.
Nevertheless, the first effects of the decree establishing this system, were injurious to the French cause. Fresh contributions were exacted to supply the deficiency occasioned by the cessation of succours from France; and, to avoid these, men, who would otherwise have submitted tranquilly, fled from the military governments. The Partidas also suddenly and greatly increased, and a fresh difficulty arose about their treatment when prisoners. These bodies, although regardless of the laws of war themselves, claimed all the rights of soldiers from their adversaries, and their claim was supported by the Spanish government. Thus, when Soult, as major-general for the king, proclaimed that military execution would be done on the bands in Andalusia, as assassins, and beyond the pale of military law, the Regency answered, by a retaliatory declaration; and both parties had strong grounds for what they did: the Junta, because the defence of the country now rested chiefly on the Partidas; Joseph, because the latter, while claiming the usages of war, did not act upon them, and were, by the Junta, encouraged in assassination. Mina, and, indeed, all the chiefs, put their prisoners to death whenever it became inconvenient to keep them; and Saraza publicly announced his hope of being able to capture Madame Suchet Suchet’s Memoirs.when she was pregnant, that he might destroy the mother and the infant together! And such things were common during this terrible war. The difficulties occurring in argument were, however, overcome in practice; the question of the treatment of the prisoners was generally decided by granting no quarter on either side.
Joseph, incensed at the edict establishing the governments, sent the marquis of Almenara to Paris, to remonstrate with his brother, and to complain of the violence and the injustice of the French generals, especially Ney and Kellerman; and he denounced Appendix, [No. IV.] Section 2.one act of the latter, which betrayed the most wanton contempt of justice and propriety; namely, the seizure of the national archives at Simancas; by which, infinite confusion was produced, and the utmost indignation excited, without obtaining the slightest benefit, political or military. Another object of Almenara’s mission was to ascertain if there was really any intention of seizing the provinces beyond the Ebro; and this gave rise to a curious intrigue; for his correspondence, being intercepted, was brought to Mr. Stuart, the British envoy, and he, in concert with Romana, and Cabanes the Spanish historian, simulated the style and manner of Napoleon’s state-papers, and composed a counterfeit “senatus consultum” and decree for annexing the provinces beyond the Ebro to France, and transmitted them to Joseph, whose Appendix, [No. IV.] Section 5.discontent and fears were thereby greatly increased. Meanwhile, his distress for money was extreme; and his ministers were at times actually destitute of food.
These political affairs impeded the action of the armies, but the intrinsic strength of the latter was truly formidable; for, reckoning the king’s French guards, the force in the Peninsula was not less than three hundred and seventy thousand men, and eighty thousand horses. Of these, forty-eight thousand Appendix, [No. I.] Section 1.men were in hospital, four thousand prisoners, and twenty-nine thousand detached; leaving nearly two hundred and eighty thousand fighting men actually under arms, ready either for battle or siege: and moreover, a fresh reserve, eighteen thousand strong, was in march to enter Spain. In May, this prodigious force had been re-organized; and in July was thus distributed:—
| Governments or Armies in the 2d Line. | |||||
| Total Strength. | |||||
| 1. Catalonia | Seventh corps | Duke of Tarento | 55,647 | ||
| 2. Aragon | Third corps | Gen. Suchet | 33,007 | ||
| 3. Navarre | { | Detachments and a division of the Imperial Guards | } | Gen. Reille | 21,887 |
| 4. Biscay | Detachments | Gen. Caffarelli | 6,570 | ||
| 5. Old Castile, comprising Burgos, Aranda, and Soria | { | Divisions of the Imperial Guards and Cavalry | } | Gen. Dorsenne | 10,303 |
| 6. Valladolid, &c. | Detachments | Gen. Kellerman | 6,474 | ||
| 7. Asturias | One division | Gen. Bonet | 9,898 | ||
| ——— | |||||
| Total for the governments | 143,786 | ||||
| ——— | |||||
| Armies in the 1st Line. | |
| Army of the South, composed of the first, fourth, and fifth corps, under the command of Soult | 72,769 |
| Army of the Centre, composed of the Royal Guards, two divisions of infantry, and two of cavalry, under the personal command of the king | 24,187 |
| Army of Portugal, composed of a reserve of cavalry and the second, sixth, and eighth corps, under the command of Massena | 86,896 |
| The ninth corps, commanded by general Drouet, distributed, by divisions, along the great line of communication from Vittoria to Valladolid | 23,815 |
| A division under general Serras, employed as a moveable column to protect the rear of the army of Portugal | 10,605 |
| ——— | |
| 218,272 | |
| ——— | |
Thus the plan of invasion was determined in three distinct lines, namely, the third and seventh corps on the left; the army of the south in the centre; the army of Portugal on the right. But the interior circle was still held by the French; and their lines of communication were crowded with troops.
State of Spain.—On the right, the armies of Valencia and Catalonia, were opposed to the third and seventh corps; but the utmost efforts of the last could only retard, not prevent the sieges of Taragona and Tortoza. In the centre, the Murcian troops and those assembled at Cadiz, were only formidable by the assistance of the British force under general Graham. On the left, Romana, supported by the frontier fortresses, maintained a partizan warfare from Albuquerque to Ayamonte, but looked to Hill for safety, and to Portugal for refuge. In the north, the united forces of Gallicia and Asturias, did not exceed fifteen thousand men; and Mahi declared his intention of retiring to Coruña if Bonet advanced beyond the frontiers. Indeed, the Gallicians were so backward to join the armies, that, at a later period, Contreras was Memoirs of Contreras, published by himself.used to send through the country moveable columns, attended by an executioner, to oblige the villages to furnish their quota of men. Yet, with all this severity, and with money and arms continually furnished by England, Gallicia never was of any signal service to the British operations.