1“Elle est sans defense et sans fortification,” said Colmenar, writing a century ago, “fermÉe d’une simple muraille; mais ce dÉfaut est reparÉ par la bravoure des habitans.” After the proofs which the inhabitants have given of their patriotism, this praise appears like prophecy.

2The Spaniards, by a more curious corruption, call Syracuse, Zaragoza de Sicilia.

3Hist. Apparitionis DeiparÆ supra Columnam, Beato Jacobo apud CÆsaragustam prÆdicante. Ex cod. membraneo, qui in Archivo SanctÆ Maria de Pilari asservatur. Espana Sagrada, t. xxx. p. 426. Risco adds to this account, the Collect, which, from time immemorial, has been used in the Church of the Pillar. It may be added here as a curiosity for those who are not accustomed to such things. Omnipotens Æterne Deus, qui Sacratissimam Virginem matrem tuam inter choros Angelorum super columna marmorea a te ab alto emissa venire, dum adhuc viveret, dignatus est, ut Basilica de Pilari in ejus honorem a Protomartyre apostolorum Jacobo suisque sanctissimis discipulis Ædificaretur; prÆsta quÆsumus ut ejus meritis et intercessione fiat impetrabile quod fida mente poscimus. Qui vivas et regnas, &c.

The French, as may be supposed, ridicule this fable; but, it is worthy of remark, that, in the early part of the last century, the Spanish annalist, Ferreras, represented the story as of doubtful authority; his book passed through the hands of the usual censors, and was printed; and then Philip V. the first of the Bourbon dynasty in Spain, a Frenchman by birth and education, personally interfered, commanded Ferreras to cancel the heretical leaf, and sent the edict in which this was decreed to Zaragoza, there to be deposited among the archives of the Virgin’s church, in proof of his especial devotion to our Lady of the Pillar.

4“Here,” says Mr. Townsend, “I forgot all the hardships and fatigues which we had suffered in this long journey: nay, had I travelled all the way on foot, I would have freely done it to enjoy the sight of these cathedrals. That which is called El Aseu is vast, gloomy, and magnificent; it excites devotion, inspires awe, and inclines the worshipper to fall prostrate, and to adore in silence the God who seems to veil his glory. The other, called El Pilar, spacious, lofty, light, elegant, and cheerful, inspires hope, confidence, complacency, and makes the soul impatient to express its gratitude for benefits received.”

5Laborde.

6In military language, you always describe the country by the current of water, and speak as if you were looking down the stream. It was requisite to explain this to the court upon Whitelocke’s trial, and therefore the explanation cannot be thought unnecessary here.

7“On this simple foundation,” says Mr. Vaughan, “a regular manufactory of gunpowder was formed after the siege, which produced 13 arrobas of Castille per day; that is, 325 lb. of 12 ounces.”

8

The poet goes on describing her torments with his usual love of live-anatomy ... I know not whether it be possible that any person should have survived them; but that some may be found wicked enough to inflict equal tortures under the pretext, and others conscientious enough to endure them for the sake of religion, has been too often proved, and in few places more frequently than in Zaragoza itself, from which city many an inquisitor has gone to keep company with Dacianus. St. Engracia is invoked in diseases of the heart and the liver, in consequence of the circumstances of her martyrdom.

9The Bollandists relate this miracle with a candid admission of doubt, because the writer, in whom they found it related, spoke upon the testimony of others, instead of boldly asserting it on his own authority. There are, however, testimonies in abundance, and that of M. Bourgoing will be admitted to be decisive. “The roof,” he says, “though very low, is certainly not smoked. They invite those who are doubtful of it, to put a piece of white paper over one of these lamps. I tried this experiment, and I must confess, I saw, or thought I saw, that my paper was not blackened. I had still my doubts, but I took care to conceal them from my bigoted conductors. I was, however, tempted to say to them, God has not thought proper to work any striking miracle to accelerate the end of the French revolution, or to calm the passions which it has roused; and do you think that he would condescend to perform here a miracle as obscure as your cavern, and as useless as your own existence?”

10Quartel-general, Santa Engracia. La capitulation.

11Quartel-general, Zaragoza. Guerra al cuchillo.

12It is asserted by the French, in their official account, that, after many days fighting, they won possession of many cloisters which had been fortified, three-fourths of the city, the arsenal, and all the magazines; and that the peaceable inhabitants, encouraged by these advantages, hoisted a white flag, and came forward to offer terms of capitulation; but that they were murdered by the insurgents; for this is the name which the French, and the tyrant whom they served, applied to a people fighting in defence of their country, and of whatever could be dear to them. Unquestionably, if any traitors had thus ventured to show themselves in the heat of the contest, they would have been put to death as certainly as they would have deserved it; and, if the thing had occurred, it would be one fact more to be recorded in honour of the Zaragozans; but there is no other authority for it than the French official account, in which account the result of the siege is totally suppressed. The circumstance, had it really taken place, would not have been omitted in Mr. Vaughan’s Narrative, and in the accounts published by the Spaniards.

13General Thiebault says, “On attribua d’abord ce mouvement, si brusque et si general, À des causes peu signifiantes, À des terreurs paniques, &c.; mais on apprit depuis qu’il tenoit À des grands projets, et on en eut la preuve, quand on sut que dans presque toutes les provinces il avoit ÉtÉ tentÉ ce mÊme jour avec plus ou moins d’audace ou de succÈs; et que, s’il avoit manquÉ À Lisbonne, il avoit (et toujours par le moyen des prÊtres) eu tout son succÈs À Oporto, Braga, Chaves, ou ce jour mÊme, une insurrection gÉnÉrale avoit ÉclatÉ, fait prendre les armes contre nous À tous les habitans des provinces d’Oporto, du Tras-los-Montes, d’une partie du Beira, et fait arrÊter ou assassiner tous les FranÇais isolÉs qui s’y trouvoient.”—Relation de l’ExpÉdition du Portugal, p. 124.

General Thiebault is certainly wrong. Had there been any combination against the common enemy, the persons by whom it was concerted would eagerly have pleaded it afterwards as a claim to honour if not to reward. The Portugueze have preserved the most minute details of a national insurrection so honourable to the nation, and the merit of priority has been contested by different places: but from all that has been published it appears, in direct contradiction to the French general’s statement, that no combination existed, (indeed it was impossible that it should exist,) and that no tumult broke out on the day which he has specified as the commencement of a general and concerted movement, except at a village of fishermen in Algarve.

14Baron Thiebault ascribes the success of the insurgents, and the loss of Faro, to the news of Dupont’s surrender, and to the landing of troops, arms, ammunition, and money, at Faro, from the English squadron. Not a man nor a musket had been landed from that squadron, and the surrender of Dupont did not take place till a month afterwards! With so little accuracy do the French relate the circumstances of their ill success, even where no military misconduct is imputable.

15Baron Thiebault represents this as a great exploit on the part of his fellow-soldiers. He says, Le Colonel Maransin auroit pu Éviter Beja, mais il crut devoir ramener, par un grand exemple, ce pays À l’obeissance. Il forme ses colonnes en marchant, et sans artillerie attaque cette ville, enceinte de hautes murailles, dont toutes les portes Étoient barricadÉes, dont les murs, les tours, Étoient dÉfendus par des forces quintuples des siennes, et par des hommes qui, dans leur fureur, defioient nos bataillons. Who would suppose, from this description, that these high walls and towers were in ruins, and that they were defended by a mob of three or four thousand men, not a third part of whom were armed with firelocks! After killing 1200 men in action, and all who were found in arms after it, sacking the city, and setting it on fire, it seems difficult to understand what the mercy was which the surviving inhabitants are said to have sent to Lisbon to solicit. According to Baron Thiebault, un brave religieux, after the assault, moved all his auditors to tears, by representing to them how much they had provoked their own misfortunes: he was consequently deputed unanimously to implore Junot’s clemency. Junot received him graciously, and rewarded him with a canonry; LA RECONNOISSANCE FUT EXTREME, ... et Beja n’en reprit pas moins les armes peu de jours aprÈs. In the bulletin published at Lisbon upon this occasion, and signed by this same General Thiebault, it is said, the inhabitants expressed their contrition by their deputy, acknowledged that they had been justly punished, and confessed that they had been seduced by the English!

16Two persons were left alive when the French thought their accursed work was done. One of them lingered three days before he was relieved by death. Feliz Lourenco, the surveyor of the high road, was the other. “He,” says Neves, (writing in 1811,) “still lives ... but in what a condition! With his body and face disfigured by the marks of powder, and the scars of eight and twenty bayonet wounds; ... with his left eye struck out by a ball, the bones of his right shoulder broken, the tendons rendered useless, and the hand paralyzed. It is from himself that I have received the details of this frightful transaction, of which there exists no other witness, except the murderers themselves.”—Historia Geral da Invasam dos Francezes em Portugal, t. iv. p. 42.

17General Thiebault, by whom the bulletin was signed, gives a different statement in his book (p. 155). The French loss is there given at sixty men killed, and from 130 to 140 wounded; that of the Portugueze as at least 4000 left upon the field.

18As another example of the arts used to impose upon the Portugueze people by the intrusive government, the following extract from the fifth bulletin of the army of Portugal may be read with feelings very different from what the detail in the text must excite. “On the 10th of July forty English disembarked at the foot of the village of the Costa, to take in water and provisions. That point was defended by only five carabineers of the thirty-first regiment of light infantry. Notwithstanding this disproportion of numbers, these five men, in sight of all the inhabitants, attacked the forty English, repulsed them, forced them to abandon upon the beach all that they had purchased, and pursued them to the sea.” Yet even this is outdone in the same bulletin. “Three conscript lads (it is farther said), of the sixty-sixth regiment, occupied a small post on the sea-shore, in front of Cascaes, when they saw a boat put off from the English squadron, and make towards them. Immediately these three lads placed themselves in ambush, to wait till the boat should draw near: as soon as it reached the shore they rose from their ambush, fired upon the boat, killed the pilot (who was the master of Admiral Cotton’s ship), obliged two English officers, and six seamen or soldiers, who were in the said boat, to come on shore, and lay down their arms upon the beach, and then conducted them as prisoners of war to the quarters-general of General Solignac at Cascaes. This fact discovers a presence of mind, a degree of intelligence, and a vigour, which do honour to the three lads.” To complete the story, it should have been added, that the three lads ate the eight Englishmen.

19Neves relates that Kellermann demanded for his own use 50,000 cruzados from the prior of AlcobaÇa at this time, letting him know, without circumlocution, that what the French generals wanted was money. He accepted a hundred moidores after hard bargaining. Loison heard of this on his arrival, and, being on bad terms with Kellermann, made him refund the money, charging the prior, if any such extortion were practised upon him in future, to complain to him, wherever he might be. Kellermann, however, coming there again when Loison had marched to the south, redemanded the money, and laid on ten per cent. for interest. T. iv. p. 82, 88.

20General Thiebault says, there was an action at Montemor, in which the Portugueze lost fifty men, and that Loison also took prisoners there some hundred peasants, que les lois de la guerre condamnoient À la mort, mais qu’il se borna À desarmer et renvoya chez eux.

21General Thiebault says, that after their defeat in the field the Portugueze wished to capitulate, but that the Spaniards shot those persons who by timely submission would have saved the town: whereas the fact is, that immediately after the defeat the Spaniards made the best of their way towards their own country. During the action, he says that several men dropt down dead, owing to the excessive heat, the blood gushing from their ears, nose, and mouth. He is mistaken in saying that General Leite (whom he calls Loti) fell in this action.

22These facts are notorious in Portugal, and circumstantial accounts, too horrible to be repeated, are published of them. General Thiebault only says in his text, that there was a desperate conflict in the streets, and that “all who were found in arms were exterminated.” He annexes the following note: “Si l’on ne put de suite arrÊter ces terribles reprÉsailles, si l’on ne put Éviter le pillage de beaucoup de maisons, les officiers-gÉnÉraux, superieurs, et d’État-major, parvinrent du moins À faire respecter les Églises, oÙ les femmes, les vieillards, et les habitans paisibles s’Étoient retirÉs, avec ce qu’ils avoient de plus prÉcieux; ils firent plus, ils allÈrent rassurer eux-mÊmes tous ceux qui s’y trouvoient, et dÈs que l’ordre commenÇa À se rÉtablir, ils firent escorter les femmes jusques chez elles, afin de les prÉserver de toute insulte.” P. 164.

That there were some men of honour and humanity, who protected the inhabitants as far as they could, must be believed for the sake of human nature. But the Revolution and the school of Buonaparte had done all that was possible for eradicating both humanity and honour; and I affirm, on the testimony of the Portugueze, and of those British officers who have had full opportunities of ascertaining the truth, that the conduct of the French in Evora was marked with deliberate and sportive cruelty of the most flagitious kind. Concerning the conduct of the general officers, as respects their sense of honour, I happen to possess some rather curious information. Loison promised the Archbishop that his property should not be touched. After this promise, Loison himself, with some of his officers, entered the Archbishop’s library, which was one of the finest in Portugal; they took down all the books, in the hope of discovering valuables behind them, they broke off the gold and silver clasps from the magnificent bindings of the rarest part of the collection, and in their disappointment at finding so little plunder, tore in pieces a whole pile of manuscripts. They took every gold and silver coin from his cabinet of medals, and every jewel and bit of the precious metals with which the relics were adorned, or which decorated any thing in his oratory. Loison was even seen in noon-day to take the Archbishop’s episcopal ring from the table and pocket it. These circumstances are stated on the authority of the Archbishop himself.

23Sir Arthur, upon the court of inquiry, begged leave, in justice to the individuals composing this commissariat, to state, that he did not intend to complain of want of zeal, nor of any deficiency of exertion on their part. “The fact is,” said he, “that I wished to draw the attention of the government to this important branch of the service, which is but little understood in this country. The evils of which I complained are probably to be attributed to the nature of our political situation, which prevents us from undertaking great military operations, in which the subsistence of armies becomes a subject of serious consideration and difficulty, and these evils consisted in the inexperience of almost every individual belonging to the commissariat, of the mode of procuring, conveying, and distributing supplies.” He requested that this explanation might stand upon the minutes.

24General Thiebault affirms, that they had only 1900 in the field. An officer who was dying of his wounds informed Sir Arthur Wellesley that their numbers were 6000. General Thiebault asserts also, that in a charge made by General Brenier with two companies in front of Azambugeira, the 29th regiment having lost its colonel, and many of its officers and men, surrendered tout-entier: but that par-malheur the firing did not cease, and the wreck of the regiment saved itself by a spontaneous movement, leaving a major, eight officers, and fifty men, in the hands of the French. There is an official test by which the accuracy of this statement may be tried; and thereby it appears, that only four officers were missing in this action, and that there was no major among them. The loss of the English he states at more than 2000. The accuracy of our official lists of the killed and wounded is among those things relating to Great Britain which a Frenchman cannot understand.

25They were cast off cavalry, purchased in Ireland; and they were described as old, blind, and lame: some of them, it was said, had already at this time died of age, others of work, though they had been carefully fed: nearly a sixth part had thus perished on the way, and of the remainder a great number were not worth the forage which they consumed. Nine years after these poor horses had been delivered over to the dogs and wolves, a representation was made to me in their favour, and I feel myself bound to notice it, were it only for the singularity of the case. I am assured that the 300 horses (which Lord Castlereagh good-naturedly called his countrymen) were selected with the greatest care, as well as knowledge, in horseflesh, from 1050 of which the corps was then composed; that they were in the very best condition and working order; they were drafts from a collection made by purchase in 1803, (that is, five years before, and therefore not young); or from the best and most useful horses cast from dragoon regiments, as unfit for dragoon service generally, (the inferior description of such cast horses having been from time to time sold); that they had been always carefully groomed and well fed, and were in excellent condition for common draft, the service for which they were required. From the manner in which this representation was made to me, I have no doubt of its truth. The horses, when they began the campaign, had probably not recovered from the voyage; they were not accustomed to the food of the country, and were employed in much harder work than had ever fallen to their lot before, and upon much worse roads. And so, peace to their memory. I must not however omit to observe, that Captain Eliot, in his Treatise on the Defence of Portugal, says, these artillery horses, in the brigade to which he was attached, did their duty perfectly well at the battle of Vimeiro.

26According to General Thiebault, ten guns and 1800 men; but to make up the number of killed and wounded, he adds to the British loss, what he takes off from the French, and says, we had more than 500 killed and 1200 wounded.

27Weel, my bra’ lads, I can gang nae farther wi’ ye a-fighting; but Deel ha’e my saul if ye sal want music, were his words.

28They remained, according to General Thiebault, long enough to dress 800 of their wounded upon the field, and send them all off for Torres Vedras. The attitude of the grenadiers with which General Kellermann had charged, the rapidity with which the infantry re-formed, and the movements of four cavalry regiments under General Margaron, he says, concoururent efficacement À contenir l’ennemi. Nous restames de cette maniÈre, maÎtres du champ de bataille, plus de trois heures aprÈs la cessation de l’action. It is melancholy to observe, that the historical relations of this war which the French have published since its termination, are, generally speaking, as little to be relied on as their official accounts during its continuance.

29General Thiebault, who was present at this council, represents the force against them, independent of Lisbon, of 30,000 British, and 17,000 Spaniards, at more than 80,000 men, auxquels rien ne manquoit! In reality, every man in Portugal was their enemy; but except animosity and individual courage, the Portugueze at that time wanted every thing.

30It is asserted by General Thiebault, that General Kellermann was sent to feel his ground, under pretext of a conference relating to the prisoners and wounded. Upon that General’s return he says, “On conÇoit de quel interÊt Étoient les nouvelles qu’il rapportoit, et combien elles parurent heureuses quand on sut À quel point il avoit rÉalisÉ tout ce qu’on avoit pu esperer. Il avoit ÉtÉ reÇu avec la plus grande distinction; il avoit eu le talent de faire prendre aux Anglais l’initiative des propositions qu’il avoit À leur faire; sachant parfaitement l’Anglais, il avoit suivi la partie la plus mysterieuse de leurs conversations31; il s’Étoit fortifiÉ de la certitude que, malgrÉ l’ÉnormitÉ de leurs avantages, les Anglais, incertains de l’Époque de l’arrivÉe des renforts, qu’ils attendoient, n’Étoient pas tranquilles sur leur position: il Étoit parvenu À traiter pour la flotte Russe en mÊme temps que pour l’armÉe FranÇaise, et cela en faisant pressenter que les Russes alloient se joindre À nous: il Étoit arrivÉ de cette maniÈre À demander mÊme que nous Émmenassions la flotte Portuguese, non pour l’obtenir, mais afin d’avoir quelque chose À cÉder, dans le cas oÙ des articles d’une haute importance seroient trop contestÉs; et c’est ainsi, que par autant d’habilitÉ que de fermetÉ et d’adresse, il parvint À conclure et À signer un traitÉ provisoire.” This statement is sent into the world with General Kellermann’s sanction, Baron Thiebault’s Relation having, as the preface states, been read to him. General Kellermann was so successful in this negotiation, that he can derive no additional credit from these additions to the plain facts. With regard to the initiative, he came declaredly to treat for an armistice preparatory to a convention for evacuating Portugal, and he produced a paper containing the wishes of the French Commander-in-chief; the deliberations upon his proposal, which he is said to have overheard, were not carried on in his presence, but in an inner room. (Proceedings upon the Inquiry, p. 57.) As to the demand that the French might carry away the Portugueze fleet, the French are certainly bold askers; and in this negotiation, as in many others, they proved that Fortune favours the bold; ... but he must have been more than bold, who could have made such a proposal. What was afterwards asked upon that score will appear hereafter.

31Voici quelques-unes des phrases qu’il recueillit: Notre position est delicate—Le corps de Sir John Moore n’est pas encore arrivÉ À FiguiÈres—La bonne intelligence des Russes et des FranÇais doit nous donner des inquietudes, &c.

33Llorente, under his name of Nellerto, (vol. i. 155,) asserts, that when Florida-Blanca was summoned to the central Junta he left a writing, addressed to the municipality of the city of Murcia, protesting that he acted under fear and compulsion, and in the full knowledge that his country was going to destruction; and adding, that he made this solemn declaration lest King Joseph should one day treat him as a criminal. This infamous calumny, which by its own absurdity confutes itself, is advanced by the ex-secretary of the Inquisition upon no better authority than that of a Madrid journal, published under the Intruder’s government. It is so palpably calumnious, that I should not have thought it worthy of contradiction, if it had not been doubtfully repeated by Col. Jones in his very able Account of the War.

34An account of them may be found in the notes to the Chronicle of the Cid, pp. 141 and 418. Marshal Gouvion St. Cyr says of the present Miquelets, that they are the best light troops in Europe (p. 54.) But CabaÑes argues that they cannot possibly be so efficient as they were when war was carried on less scientifically, and he regrets that it was not possible to raise regular regiments in their stead. P. i. 90.

35Aun vea el hora que vos merezca dos tanto. V. 2348, p. 318. Mr. Frere proposed to read merezcades.

36I give this remarkable story from that very meritorious journal, ‘The Plain Englishman,’ (vol. i. 294,) where it is related by the editor on the authority of Sir Richard Keats himself.

37June 14. Se sabe de oficio que ha muerto el 26 de Mayo el Rey de Inglaterra; y que su sucessor ha mudado todo el ministerio eligiendo sugetos decididos por la paz.

38M. Nellerto (Llorente) kills him twice. Once on the flight of the Intruder from Madrid, preliminarily, (t. i. p. 143); and secondly and definitively on this occasion. T. i. p. 159.

39This part of the bulletin was officially transmitted by Lord Castlereagh to Sir John Moore, with the following instructions:—“His Majesty cannot overlook this account, descriptive, according to the obvious sense of it, of the murder of some unresisting stragglers of his army, although his Majesty is disposed to disbelieve a transaction, however sufficiently recorded, which is so utterly repugnant to the usual laws of war, and to every principle of humanity. His Majesty therefore desires that you will take the earliest means of ascertaining the truth of the fact so recorded, and the circumstances under which it was perpetrated, if perpetrated at all. If it shall upon investigation appear to be founded, I am to desire you will cause a protest to be made by you to the nearest head-quarters of the French army, and that you will take such measures as shall appear to you most expedient for the protection of the troops under your orders against conduct so barbarous and so disgraceful.”—No such measures were taken, in consequence of Sir John Moore’s retreat. This instruction, however, exculpates the British government from any charge of indifference upon the subject.

40The French historian of Marshal Soult’s Campaigns in 1808–9, affirms that Sir John Moore had 37,000 effective men, and Romana had from 25,000 to 30,000; their united force amounting thus to more than 60,000!

41He was shot through the heart, and died so instantaneously, that the smile with which he was regarding the conduct of his men was fixed upon his cheek. They buried him at the entrance of the bivouac which he had occupied the preceding night; and as his brother leant forward to look upon the body for the last time, a rifle-shot passed through his cloak, and struck his side; its force was broken by the folds of the cloak, otherwise the blow must have been fatal, and he would have fallen into the grave upon his brother’s corpse.

42The historian of Marshal Soult’s campaigns in 1809 states the loss of the French at 150 killed and 500 wounded. They were successful on all points, he says; the victory was decided, and if the action had begun earlier, and if the ground had permitted the cavalry to charge, c’en Était fait de cette armÉe Anglaise. These are modest mis-statements in an author who asserts that, in the hope of impeding the French in their pursuit, the English conceived the horrible intention of blowing up the town of Betanzos, where the inhabitants had received them as allies; and that for this purpose they deposited six thousand weight of powder on the ground floor of the town-house and set fire to the four quarters of the town!!