XVI. 1794. 64. follows up his successes. Collioure taken. CHAP. and although the inconsiderate ardour of the Republicans exposed them to a severe check at Port Vendre, the siege of Fort St Elmo was pressed with so much vigour, that the Dugommier garrison, abandoned to its own resources, was compelled to evacuate the place, and retire to Collioure. Marshal Navarro, the Spanish commander, at the head of a garrison of seven thousand men, made a gallant defence; and the rocky nature of the ground exposed the besiegers to almost insurmountable difficulties. But the perseverance of the French engineers having transported artillery to places deemed inaccessible, the commander, after having made a vain attempt to escape by sea, which the tempestuous state of the weather rendered impracticable, laid down his arms with his whole garrison.1 May 26. Toul. iv. 308. Jom. v. 241, 243. 65. Invasion of Spain by the At the other extremity of the Pyrenees, the French army, weakened by the detachment of considerable forces to Roussillon to repair the disasters of the preceding camPyrenees. paign, remained in the early part of the year on the defensive. The Republicans in that quarter did not amount to forty thousand men, of whom one-half were national guards, totally unfit to take the field. An attack by the Spaniards on the French intrenchments early in February having been repulsed, nothing was undertaken of importance in that quarter till the beginning of June, when the government, encouraged by the great advantages gained in Roussillon, resolved to invade the Peninsula at once at both extremities of the Pyrenees, while the improved organisation of the new levies around Bayonne afforded every prospect of success. The invasion on the west took place by the valley of Bastan, the destined theatre of more memorable achievements between the armies of Britain and France. The Republicans were divided into three columns, which successively forced the Col de Maya and the valley of Roncesvalles. Some weeks afterwards, an attempt was made by the Spanish commander to regain the position which he had lost; but he was repulsed with the loss of eight hundred men, and June 3. XVI. 1794. June 23. soon after resigned the command of an army, the disorder CHAP. and demoralisation of which were daily increasing. The Count Colomera, who succeeded to the command, was not more successful. He in vain endeavoured, by proclamations, to rouse the mountaineers of the Pyrenees to arms in their defence; the period had not arrived when the chord of religion was to vibrate through every Spanish heart, and rouse the nation to glorious efforts in the cause and' vi. 143. of their own and European freedom. 1 Toul. iv. 309, 310. Jom. v. 248, 252, 255; cesses 66. Republicans ter. Towards the end of July, the French drove the Spaniards out of the whole of the valley of Bastan, forced the Great sueheights of San Marcial, captured the intrenched camp and fees of the fortified posts on the Bidassoa, defended by two hundred in this quarpieces of cannon, and pushed on to Fontarabia, which July 24. surrendered on the first summons. Following up the career of success, they advanced to San Sebastian; and that important fortress, though garrisoned by seventeen hundred regular troops, capitulated without firing a shot. Colomera took post at Tolosa, to cover the roads leading August 4. to Pampeluna and Madrid; but at the first appearance of the enemy the whole infantry took to flight, and left the enemy's attack to be sustained by the cavalry alone, who, by a gallant charge, succeeded in arresting the advance of the pursuers. By these successes, the French were firmly posted in the Spanish territory, and their wants amply supplied from the great magazines and stores, both of ammunition and provisions, which fell into their hands in the fortified places on the frontier. The British historian, who recounts the facility with which these victories were achieved by the inexperienced troops of France, cannot help feeling a conscious pride at the recollection of the very different actions of which that country was afterwards the theatre, and at marking, in the scenes of 152. Spanish disgrace, the destined theatre of British glory.2 While these events were occurring in Biscay, successes still more decisive were gained on the eastern frontier. Twenty thousand of the Republicans were employed in 2 Jom. v. XVI. 1794. Siege and capture of Sept. 12. CHAP. the blockade of Bellegarde ; and the Catalonians, always ready to take up arms when their hearths were threatened, turned out in great numbers to reinforce the army of la 67. Union. After three months of incessant efforts, the Bellegarde. Spanish commander deemed his troops sufficiently reinstated to resume the offensive, and attempt the relief of Bellegarde, which was now reduced to the last extremity. The principal attack was made against the right wing of Dugommier, and, if it had been assailed with sufficient force, the success of the Spaniards could hardly have been doubtful. But the columns of attack having been imprudently divided, the convoy destined to revictual the fortress never reached its destination; and General AUGEREAU,* afterwards Duke of Castiglione and Marshal of France, who commanded the right wing, though driven back to the camp of la Madeleine, succeeded in baffling the objects of the enemy. The consequence was, that the Spaniards, after having at first gained some advantages, were compelled to retreat, and Bellegarde, seeing no prospect of relief, capitulated a few days afterwards. The Spanish general excused himself for the bad success of his arms, by alleging the insubordination and misconduct of the troops. "Without," said he, in his report to government, "consideration, without obeying their chiefs or their officers, who did their utmost to retain them, the soldiers took to flight, after having for the most part 30,33. Jom. thrown away their arms." A battalion was ordered to Th. vii. 92. be decimated for its cowardice, and la Union, despairing of success, solicited his dismissal.1 1 Toul. v. vi. 118, 123. 68. proposals Discouraged by such repeated reverses, the Spanish Ineffectual government made proposals of peace; but the terms were for peace by deemed so inadmissible by the Committee of Public the Span Salvation, that they ordered Dugommier to give their answer from the cannon's mouth. In the meanwhile, the Spanish commander had leisure to strengthen his position. Two hundred and fifty guns, in two lines, arranged along a iards. * See a biography of AUGEREAU, infra, chap. xx. § 51. XVI. 1794. Toul. v. 34. Jom. vi. 124, 69. of the Span succession of heights, nearly seven leagues in extent, pre- CHAP. sented a front of the most formidable kind, while a smaller intrenched camp in the rear, around Figueras, afforded a secure asylum in case of disaster. But the result proved how rare it is that a position of that description, how strong soever in appearance, is capable of arresting an enterprising and able assailant. The artillery, perched upon eminences, produced but an inconsiderable effect, with its plunging shot, on the masses in the valleys beneath; while the distance and difficulty of communication between the different parts of the line rendered a disaster in any quarter extremely probable, from the superior forces which the enemy could bring to bear upon one point. Should 125. such a catastrophe occur, it appeared hardly reparable.1 On the night of the 16th November, the French attacking army, thirty thousand strong, was put in motion. It Great defeat was divided into three columns. The right, under the iards near command of Augereau, after an arduous march of eighteen Figueras. hours over rocks and precipices, drove the Spaniards, under General Courten, from the neighbourhood of the camp of la Madeleine, and made themselves masters of the whole intrenchments in that quarter; but the left, under General Lauret, was repulsed by the heavy fire from the batteries to which he was opposed; and when Dugommier was preparing to support him, he was killed by a shell from the central redoubts of the enemy. This unlooked-for disaster for a time paralysed the movements of the Republican army; till Pérignon, having been invested with the command, moved a considerable force to the relief of Lauret, and with some difficulty extricated him from his perilous situation. But Augereau had meanwhile vigorously followed up his successes. After giving his troops breath, he moved them to the centre, and forced the great redoubt, though bravely defended by twelve hundred men ; the result of which was, that the Spaniards abandoned five other redoubts, and almost all their artillery, and fell back to their intrenched camp in the neighbourhood of Figueras.2 Toul. v. 34. Jom. vi. 140. Th. vii. 200. CHAP. 1794. 70. Their intrenchments Figueras and Rosas taken. Nov. 19. Nov. 20. Pérignon instantly prepared to follow up his successes. Wisely judging that the left was the weak point of the enemy's position, he reinforced Augereau in the night with two fresh brigades, and, on the morning of the 20th, carried, and moved all his forces to the attack. General Bon, intrusted with the conduct of the vanguard of the right wing, defiled over tracts hardly practicable for single passengers, and crossed the river Muga repeatedly, with the water up to the soldiers' waists. Arrived in the presence of the redoubts, he ascended the mount Escaulas, under a tremendous fire from the Spanish redoubts, and carried, at the point of the bayonet, the central intrenchment. La Union, hastening with the reserve to the redoubt of la Rosére, was killed on the spot; and that fort, regarded as impregnable, having been stormed, its whole defenders were put to the sword. These disasters discouraged the Spaniards along the whole line. Several other redoubts having been carried by the bayonet, the defenders evacuated the remainder, and applied the torch to their mines. In a few minutes, twenty bastions, constructed with immense labour, were blown into the air; and the troops charged with their defence, flying in confusion to Figueras, overthrew a column of fresh troops advancing to their support, and rushed in confusion into the gates of the fortress. Such was the dismay of the Spaniards, that when the Republican outposts, a few days afterwards, approached Figueras, the garrison, consisting of above nine thousand men, amply provided with provisions and stores of every sort, laid down their arms; and one of the strongest places in Spain, amidst the general acclamation of the inhabitants, was delivered up to the invaders. This unexpected conquest having made the French masters of the rich and fertile plain of the Ampurdan, and of an ample supply of stores and artillery of every description, preparations were soon afterwards made for the siege of Rosas. The garrison consisted of nearly five thousand men, and the place, in itself strong, as the Nov. 24. |