1809.] YOUTHFUL SAGACITY OF PALAFOX. 173 tacle of warning to the province. Among the prisoners was Augustina, the maid of Zaragoza; but she was stricken down with fever, and was, therefore, left in hospital. The French Commander-in-Chief did not maintain even the spirit of the terms of the capitulation which he had granted to the garrison, for he meanly despatched Palafox from the sick bed on which he found him a prisoner to France. But Palafox, whose career was fated to terminate with this arduous service, has left a more glorious name than even Marshal Lannes, whose own terminated very early in this year. 6. MILITARY CHARACTER OF THE CAPTAIN-GENERAL PALAFOX, DUQUE DE Zaragoza. Don Jose Palafox y Melei sprang from one of the most ancient and distinguished families of Arragon. He was the youngest of three brothers, and was born at Zaragoza on the 28th of October, 1775. At the age of 17 he was admitted into the military household of the King of Spain, and formed one of the personal guard of the monarch. In this position, however, he was rather initiated in all the dissipations of a luxurious court and capital than in the study of his profession, or even in the athletic pursuits of youth and manhood. Popular, however, with his contemporaries, and probably already exhibiting some of that ascendency of character which afterwards advanced him to the illustrious position which has conferred upon him a just immortality, he was elected second in command of the Guard after the events of Aranjuez, on the 17th, 18th, and 19th of March, 1808, with the rank of Mariscal del Campo. In that quality he accompanied Ferdinand VII. to Bayonne. Whether owing to his own sagacity or to the confidence of the young King, he became early apprised of the dark treachery that was hatching against the royal house, and accordingly escaped thence into Spain, and repaired to a small country-seat which he possessed at Alfranca, near Zaragoza. Here he appears to have resided some short time in great privacy, without taking any part in public affairs, when a report got into circulation, from the known attachment which he entertained for the Bourbon Court, that the young King himself was residing with him at Alfranca in disguise, and accordingly an order was issued by the Captain-General of Arragon, who had pronounced for the Bonaparte King, that he should quit the kingdom. The inhabitants of the city, however, flocked to their young neighbour's house, and bringing him back with them in triumph, deposed Guillielmi from the post of Captain-General, and invested Palafox with that dignity" por acclamacion general," and on the 23rd of May he was installed Governor of Zaragoza. With all the energy of youth and ardour of patriotism, he forthwith set himself to work to form regiments, which he styled Tercios, in which he persuaded the young students of the University and all the retired or disbanded officers to enrol themselves. He himself paid constant attention to their organisation, and in various reconnoissances of the city with engineers and artillery officers, he determined on constructing the 174 PALAFOX A HERO OF THE FIRST ORDER. [A.D. military works necessary for its defence. He then issued a stirring proclamation, which made an astounding impression upon all classes, who readily came forward to give him the assistance he demanded from all and each of them. The French invested Zaragoza on the 14th-15th of June, and, between that date and the 22nd of August, when they raised the siege, he successfully resisted 32 assaults, although one-half of the city was destroyed by the cannon of the enemy. On the 23rd of November he, in conjunction with Castaños, lost the battle of Tudela, but with undiminished spirits, he forthwith prepared active measures again to defend his native city, when Moncey with 15,000 men sat down before it on the 21st of December. The resistance which he now opposed to the enemy was, according to his own expression, "Guerra al cuchillo," and it was not till he was himself hors de combat with fever, and the city of his affections more than half destroyed, and almost wholly occupied by the enemy, that terms were proposed and accepted by Marshal Lannes on the 21st of February, when Palafox was inhumanly marched off to France, where he was carried from prison to prison, till ultimately incarcerated at Vincennes, in the dungeons of which castle he remained till the 13th of December 1813, when he returned to Spain in the suite of King Ferdinand. It is a subject of regret to those who admire his patriotism and his wonderful devotion of self to the cause of his country, that his destiny did not permit him to act prominently in the field in the subsequent years of La Guerra de la Indepença: accordingly, it is in the splendour of Zaragoza alone that the name of Palafox as a hero and a patriot is enshrined, but his star will nevertheless shine in the firmament of glory as long as the sun and moon endure. It may, perhaps, admit of question whether this great man was really a general or simply a patriot; but what between his unquestioned personal bravery, and the ascendency of his character, he certainly united the inhabitants of a crowded city as one man against the common enemy with undisputed success. He evinced very great military prudence in abandoning the strong position of the Torrero, in spite of popular prejudice, in order to concentrate his force behind the walls of the town, and he showed especial skill in selecting the isolated convents and other structures for employment as a detached chain of forts, in preference to any attempt at making the feeble line of the old wall defensible. His surpassing energy, activity, and vigilant supervision of the complicated mass of defenders, soldiers, volunteers, priests, women, and children,—are all substantial military characteristics, and we therefore justly rank him a most able and efficient commander. The miserable Sovereign whom he so faithfully served did indeed bestow on him the decorations of his military orders, and create him Duque de Zaragoza and Captain-General of Arragon, but left him unemployed. He was mixed up in after years with the Constitutional party, and eventually sank under an accumulation of diseases at his country-seat on the 15th of February, 1847. 1809.] THE FRENCH ARRIVE BEFORE CHAVES. 7. MARSHAL SOULT ENTERS OPORTO. 175 The Emperor's orders to Soult and Ney had been, that while the latter should remain about Galicia, the former should advance into Portugal, successively occupying Oporto and Lisbon, and afterwards give his hand to Victor, who had been directed to move by Seville and Cadiz. Soult had accordingly separated from Ney at Coruña, and taken up cantonments at Santiago de Compostella, Tuy, and Vigo. He now marched the divisions Merle, Mermet, Delaborde, and Heudelot, with the cavalry of Franceschi, on the 15th of February, and reassembled his corps, amounting to 26,000 men, at Tuy, near the embouchure of the Minho, and on the road to Oporto by Braga. But upon his arrival at this town, which stands on the Spanish or right bank, he found the river swollen with the late heavy rains, and not a boat to be found. He sent his cavalry right and left to seek for the means of passage, but the Portuguese patriots, having no desire to admit another French army into the kingdom after the experience of that of Junot, had carefully withdrawn every floating thing to their bank of the Minho. At length, the French found a few fishing-boats at the little port of La Gardia, upon the ocean, and one or two ship-loads crossed over seawards; but the instant they touched the Portuguese shore the inhabitants fell upon them and forced them to yield up their arms and surrender. Under these circumstances, the Marshal marched away, on the 17th, to Orense; but he found every defile obstructed, and all the villages barricaded and defended by the patriots. At every hamlet the tocsin was sounded, wherever the road crossed a mountain torrent, so that the advance of Dragoons had some difficulty in making their way, owing to these obstructions. It was the 21st before the Minho was crossed at Orense. Soult now resolved to enter Portugal, by crossing the frontier of Tras-oz-Montes, and marching by Chaves to Braga. He was, however, surprised to find the Marquis de la Romagna with a Spanish army occupying the heights of Monterey, where they cross the high road; for, with the usual pertinacity of the patriot forces, they no sooner found that Ney had gone away to Ferrol and the northern provinces, than they flocked to the south to embarrass Soult. The French easily drove the Spaniards across the Tierra Segundera to Sanabria and the valley of the Syl, and then continuing their march to Verin, crossed the frontier, and arrived before Chaves on the 4th of March. Here the Marshal found himself opposed to the Portuguese levies under Generals Sylveira and Freire. As soon as he discovered the obstacles which thus early beset him, he disembarrassed himself of his sick and siege guns; these he sent back, under an escort of 2,000 men, to form a place-d'armes at Tuy, while he prepared to force his way onward. But the Portuguese, instigated by British officers, who had been sent to organise them, stubbornly held the position behind Chaves against the French advance, when the general, having in vain summoned the town, was obliged to order his troops to bivouac under its walls until the 2nd, when the people gave way and admitted the French army. 176 THE ENRAGED INHABITANTS OF OPORTO. [A.D. On the 15th, Soult renewed his march on Braga. Franceschi, with the cavalry leading, had incessant obstacles to contend with as he proceeded, for crowds of half-armed peasants, with priests, monks, and women, so covered the line of march, that in every narrow defile, though giving way before the cavalry, they were again found by the advancing infantry divisions, in a mass which required some time to dissipate. They at length arrived under the height of the Cavado, on the 17th, where Freire, with 17,000 or 18,000 men, was stationed, to oppose their further progress. The General, however, had received instructions to retire on Oporto; but, on the order for retreat being given, the peasantry suspecting treason, rose upon him and his staff and brutally murdered them. They then called on Baron d'Eben, a German officer in the British service, to assume the command, who, on the 18th, had no alternative but to march the patriots to the attack an indiscretion which Soult spared him, by advancing himself against him, and soon carrying the position with little loss. The fugitives fled to Braga, which the enemy entered with them in hot pursuit, and drove them back many leagues beyond it. The Marshal placed his head-quarters there; but he now found his line of communication with the place-d'armes which he had established at Tuy, and to which a direct road led from Braga, blockaded by the patriot levies. In this emergency, he sent General Heudelot to open and maintain the communication, and, availing himself of the magazines he found at Braga to relieve the immediate necessities of his troops, he marched forward on Oporto. This city, the second in importance of the kingdom of Portugal, and the great entrepôt of the whole wine district of the Douro, had been carefully fortified by many detached works to cover the encampment of some 20,000 men under the Bishop, who was the head of the Junta, and who was resolved to defend it with 200 pieces of cannon. The patriots had offered some slight resistance to the advance of Franceschi at Falperra, on the banks of the Abo, but, forced to retire, they again fell upon their leader, Brigadier Vallongo, and killed him. At length on the 27th, the date the French army took up a position before Oporto, Marshal Soult was anxious to avert the inevitable horrors of an assault, and with that view sent in General Foy to persuade the Bishop to come to terms; but the people mistook this General for Loison, whom they called Maneta, and very nearly put him to death, so that he was saved with difficulty, by being thrown into prison to conceal him from the enraged people. All his endeavours having proved vain, he issued orders on the 29th to storm the city, and the army in three columns made a brisk and vigorous entry. The right was led by General Merle, the centre by Generals Mermet and Lahonssage, and the left by Laborde and Franceschi. tocsin sounded from the city towers, the artillery thundered, the musketry resounded, the soldiers cheered, and the air was filled with the cries of the men, women, and children. Nothing, however, could withstand an assault led with unshaken bravery and consummate skill, and havoc was let loose in the streets of the The 1809.] TERRIBLE SLAUGHTER AT OPORTO. 177 unhappy city. The lines, the guns, and the redoubts, were carried in a moment by the French bayonet, driving onward a terrified and helpless crowd, who fled to the bridge, which yielded to their weight, and many sunk with it into the waters, while others rushed into the river and were drowned. The Bishop's palace was occupied by 200 men, who fired resolutely on the French advance; but it was stormed, and all were put to the sword. Every street and every house rang with the noise of combatants, and with the shrieks of distress. The numbers who were exterminated in the storming of Oporto cannot be thought of without horror. It is said that many thousands perished on that disastrous 29th of March. The resources derived from the possession of the city were of great value to the French army vast supplies of food and wine were of course found in the stores, and a great amount of war material which had been sent thither from England, to arm the population. But the rage of the people against the French could not be appeased. Their fury was painfully visible on every highway; and on the great road to Coimbra the fugitive soldiers rallied under the first leader they could find, and formed themselves into an army. It must be recorded however, to the honour of Marshal Soult, that he exerted himself personally, and with all the authority of his officers, to abate the anger of the exasperated community; nor did he exact any contribution on the unfortunate city-be even ordered plunder, wherever it could be recovered, to be restored to the owners; but, though merciful in victory, he was stern in his justice, and when his friend Colonel Lamett was waylaid and inhumanly murdered at Drifana, when returning to the camp from a visit to the Commander-in-Chief, he sent General Thornières with a brigade, to burn that village, and ordered five or six persons suspected of the murder to be shot. Soult was now so completely separated from the army in Spain, that he could obtain no certain intelligence of it for many weeks. 8. BATTLES OF MEDELLIN AND CIUDAD REAL. The intrusive King had again entered and occupied his capital on the 22nd of January. Napoleon, distrusting his brother's activity and intelligence in war, had associated Marshal Jourdain with him in the command of the French armies, who, although by no means the Marshal highest in his estimation, was yet recognised as an excellent administrator and man of business; and it was hoped that he might have influence enough from a seniority in command, (which dated from the battle of Fleurus,) to exercise a due control over the French Marshals, who had already commenced that series of private quarrels which, in the end, hastened the French crisis in the Peninsula The Emperor had directed that the first corps under Marshal Victor, Duke of Belluna, should move across Estremadura towards Andalusia, in order to act in concert with the Duke of Dalmatia's advance into Portugal, and for the conquest of the west of the Peninsula. Victor was therefore reminded of this order for his guidance; but he raised objections to its |