SECTION 5.
Extract from a minute made by captain Codrington.
“Mattaro, July 6, 1811.
“Colonel O’Ronan, aid-du-camp to the marquis of Campo Verde, arrived, and informed me that he came from the marquis, who was on his march to this town or Arens, for the purpose of embarking all the infantry not Catalans, and the whole of the remaining cavalry, leaving the horses on the beach. Colonel O’Ronan said this determination was the result of a junta, composed of the marquis, general St. Juan, general Caro, general Miranda, the general of artillery, brigadier Santa Cruz, Velasco, and Sarsfield; that after the thing had been proposed and discussed a long time, Sarsfield was the first to give his vote, that he rose from his seat and said, ‘any officer who could give such an opinion must be a traitor to his country, and that he and his division would stand or fall with the principality.’ Every other officer was of a contrary opinion, except the marquis (it afterwards appeared that Santa Cruz also supported Sarsfield), who thought with Sarsfield, and yet it seems he allowed himself to be led on by the other generals. In short, it appears he was resolved to abandon the principality.
“I told him, without hesitation, that to embark the Valencians I felt a duty to general O’Donnel, to the kingdom of Valencia, and to the whole nation, but that I felt it equally my duty upon no account to embark the army of Catalonia, and thus become a party concerned in the abandonment of a province I had been sent to protect.”——“The colonel, who could not venture on shore again lest he should be murdered by the inhabitants of Mattaro, for having been the bearer of a commission to arrest brigadier Milans about a month ago, sent to the marquis my answer.”
Extract from a minute of information given by the baron
d’Eroles.
“July 9, 1811.
“The baron d’Eroles was appointed captain-general of Catalonia by the junta of general officers, of which the marquis of Campo Verde was president, and by the voice of the people. His reply was, that so long as the army continued in the principality, and that there was a senior general officer, he would not admit it, but that the moment the army passed the frontier (it was then at Agramunt, in full march to Aragon), he would accept the command, unmindful of the dreadful situation in which he should place himself, but he would do so in order to continue the struggle, and to prevent anarchy and confusion. In this state things were when general Lacy arrived. The baron instantly sought him, could not find, but met one of his aid-du-camps, by whom he wrote to him to say what had occurred, but that he was resolved to support general Lacy in his command, not only with all his local influence, but by his personal exertions, and that he would immediately join him to put this resolution in practice.”
Extract from general Doyle’s Letter after seeing the above.