CHAPTER VI.
CONTINUATION OF THE WAR IN THE EASTERN PARTS OF SPAIN.
When general Clinton succeeded lord William1813. September. Bentinck, his whole force, composed of the Anglo-Sicilians, Whittingham’s and Sarzfield’s Spaniards, and two battalions of Roche’s division, did not furnish quite nineteen thousand men under arms. Copons, blockading Mequinenza Lerida and Monzon[Appendix 6.] and having garrisons in Cardona and the Seo d’Urgel, the only places in his possession, could not bring more than nine thousand men into the field. Elio had nominally twenty-five thousand, but this included Sarzfield’s and Roche’s troops the greater part of which were with Clinton. It included likewise the bands of Villa Campa Duran and the Empecinado, all scattered in Castile Aragon and Valencia, and acting according to the caprices of their chiefs. His force, daily diminishing also from the extreme unhealthiness of the country about Tortoza, was scarcely sufficient to maintain the blockades of the French fortresses beyond the Ebro.
Copons’ army having no base but the mountains about Vich and Monserrat, having no magazines or depôts or place of arms, having very little artillery and scarcely any cavalry, lived as it could from day to day; in like manner lived Sarzfield’s and Whittingham’s troops, and Clinton’s army was chiefly fed on salt provisions from the ships. The two former having no means of transport were unable to make even one day’s march with ease, they were continually upon the point of starvation and could never be reckoned as a moveable force. Nor indeed could the Anglo-Sicilians, owing to their scanty means of transport, make above two or three marches from the sea; and they were at this time more than usually hampered, being without pay and shut out from their principal depôts at Gibraltar and Malta, by plague at the first and yellow fever at the second place. In fine, the courage and discipline of the British and Germans set aside, it would be difficult to find armies less efficient for an offensive campaign than those of the allies in Catalonia. Moreover lord William Bentinck had been invested with the command of all the Spanish armies, but Clinton had only Whittingham’s and Sarzfield’s troops under him, and notwithstanding his constant endeavours to conciliate Copons, the indolence and incapacity of that general impeded or baffled all useful operations: and to these disqualifications he added an extreme jealousy of Eroles and Manso, men designated by the public voice as the most worthy of command.
This analysis shows that Elio being entirely engaged in Valencia, and Sarzfield and Whittingham unprovided with the means of movement, the army of Copons and the Anglo-Sicilians, together furnishing, when the posts and escorts and the labourers employed on the fortifications of Taragona were deducted, not more than eighteen thousand men in line of battle, were the only troops to be counted on to oppose Suchet, who having sixty-five thousand men, of which fifty-six thousand were present under arms, could without drawing a man from his garrisons attack them with thirty thousand. But Copons and Clinton could not act together above a few days because their bases and lines of retreat were on different sides. The Spaniard depended upon the mountains and plains of the interior for security and subsistence, the Englishman’s base was Taragona and the fleet. Hence the only mode of combining on a single line was to make Valencia a common base, and throwing bridges over the Ebro construct works on both sides to defend them. This was strongly recommended by lord Wellington to lord William and to Clinton; but the former had several times lost his bridges partly from the rapidity of the stream, partly from the activity of the garrison of Tortoza. And for general Clinton the difficulty was enhanced by distance, because Taragona, where all his materials were deposited was sixty miles from Amposta, and all his artificers were required to restore the defences of the former place. The blockade of Tortoza was therefore always liable to be raised, and the troops employed there exposed to a sudden and fatal attack, since Suchet, sure to separate the Anglo-Sicilians from Copons when he advanced, could penetrate between them; and while the former rallied at Taragona and the latter at Igualada his march would be direct upon Tortoza. He could thus either carry off his strong garrison, or passing the Ebro by the bridge of the fortress, move without let or hindrance upon Peniscola, Saguntum, and Valencia, and driving Elio back upon Alicant collect his garrisons and return too powerful to be meddled with.
In these circumstances lord Wellington’s opinion was, that the blockade of Tortoza should be given up and the two armies acting on their own peculiar lines, the one from Taragona the other from the mountains, harass in concert the enemy’s flanks and rear, alternately if he attacked either, but together if he moved upon Tortoza. To besiege or blockade that place with safety it was necessary to throw two bridges over the Ebro below, to enable the armies to avoid Suchet, by either bank when he should succour the place, as he was sure to do. But it was essential that Copons should not abandon Catalonia and difficult for him to do so, wherefore it would be advisable to make Taragona the point of retreat for both armies in the first instance, after which they could separate and infest the French rear.
The difficulties of besieging Tortoza he thought insuperable, and he especially recommended that they should be well considered before-hand, and if it was invested, that the troops should be entrenched around it. In fine all his instructions tended towards defence and were founded upon his conviction of the weak and dangerous position of the allies, yet he believed them to have more resources than they really had, and to be superior in number to the French, a great error as I have already shewn. Nothing therefore could be more preposterous than Suchet’s alarm for the frontier of France at this time, and it is unquestionable that his personal reluctance was the only bar to aiding Soult either indirectly by marching on Tortoza and Valencia, or directly by adopting that marshal’s great project of uniting the two armies in Aragon. So certain indeed is this that general Clinton, seeing the difficulties of his own situation, only retained the command from a strong sense of duty, and lord Wellington despairing of any advantage in Catalonia recommended that the Anglo-Sicilian army should be broken up and employed in other places. The French general’s inactivity was the more injurious to the interests of his sovereign, because any reverse or appearance of reverse to the allies would at this time have gone nigh to destroy the alliance between Spain and England; but personal jealousy, the preference given to local and momentary interests before general considerations, hurt the French cause at all periods in the Peninsula and enabled the allies to conquer.
General Clinton had no thoughts of besieging Tortoza, his efforts were directed to the obtaining a secure place of arms, yet, despite of his intrinsic weakness, he resolved to show a confident front, hoping thus to keep Suchet at arm’s length. In this view he endeavoured to render Taragona once more defensible notwithstanding the nineteen breaches which had been broken in its walls; the progress of the work was however tedious and vexatious because he depended for his materials upon the Spanish authorities. Thus immersed in difficulties of all kinds he could make little change in his positions which were generally about the Campo, Sarzfield’s division only being pushed to Villafranca. Suchet meanwhile held the line of the Llobregat, and apparently to colour his refusal to join Soult, grounded on the great strength of the allies in Catalonia, he suffered general Clinton to remain in tranquillity.
Towards the end of October reports that theOctober. French were concentrating, for what purpose was not known, caused the English general, although Taragona was still indefensible to make a forward movement. He dared not indeed provoke a battle, but unwilling to yield the resources which Villafranca and other districts occupied by the allies still offered, he adopted the resolution of pushing an advanced guard to the former place. He even fixed his head-quarters there, appearing ready to fight, yet his troops were so disposed in succession at Arbos, Vendrills and Torredembarra that he could retreat without dishonour if the French advanced in force, or could concentrate at Villafranca in time to harass their flank and rear if they attempted to carry off their garrisons on the Segre. In this state of affairs Suchet made several demonstrations, sometimes against Copons sometimes against Clinton, but the latter maintained his offensive attitude with firmness, and even in opposition to lord Wellington’s implied opinion that the line of the Ebro was the most suitable to his weakness; for he liked not to abandon Taragona the repairs of which were now advancing though slowly to completion. His perseverance was crowned with success; he preserved the few resources left for the support of the Spanish troops, and furnished Suchet with that semblance of excuse which he desired for keeping aloof from Soult.
In this manner October and November were passed, but on the 1st of December the FrenchDecember. general attempted to surprise the allies’ cantonments at Villafranca, as he had before surprised them at Ordal. He moved in the same order. One column marched by San Sadurni on his right, another by Bejer and Avionet on his left, and the main body kept the great road. But he did not find colonel Adam there. Clinton had blocked the Ordal so as to render a night surprise impossible, and the natural difficulties of the other roads delayed the flanking columns. Hence when the French reached Villafranca, Sarzfield was in full march for Igualada, and the Anglo-Sicilians, who had only three men wounded at one of the advanced posts, were on the strong ground about Arbos, where being joined by the supporting divisions they offered battle; but Suchet retired to the Llobregat apparently so mortified by his failure that he has not even mentioned it in his Memoirs.