WHILE the people of Cadiz, with an enemy in sight, felt none of the evils, and scarcely even any of the inconveniences of war, protected by their situation, which our naval supremacy rendered inaccessible, and assisted by British and Portugueze troops; the Catalans, whom their own govern ment could not assist, and Great Bri tain most unfortunately still continued to neglect, carried on the contest with a desperate perseverance, worthy of so noble a people in so good a cause. One of the last acts of the Jan. 3. supreme junta, was to decree the same honours to Gerona, and its heroic defenders, as had been awarded to Zaragoza. The rewards which Mariano Alvarez had deserved by his admirable conduct, were to be given to his family, if, as there was reason to fear, he himself should not live to receive them. This apprehension was but too well found ed Alvarez recovered sufficiently to be removed to Figueras, the place to which, by his own choice, he was conveyed prisoner, for, in this respect, Augereau maintained his word; but he soon died there. The Catalans affirm, that Buonaparte sent orders to have him executed in the public

* Gazeta de Valencia, June 19.

plaza, or market-place of Gerona, but that the French, fearing the effect which this would have upon the people, and yet not daring to disobey their tyrant, satisfied his cowardly vengeance, by poisoning their noble prisoner: this was believed upon the testimony of a man, who deposed that he had seen the body, though the French endeavoured to conceal it, and buried it hastily and by night; the face was swoln, and the eyes forced out of their sockets. These appearances rather denote strangulation than poison; under any other circumstances, his death would have been thought natural, considering what he had suffered, and in how dangerous a state of bodily disease he had been at the conclusion of the siege; but, if the Corsican be wronged by the imputation of this new murder, it is owing to his own crimes. He who was the public murderer of Hofer, would as willingly order the execu tion of Mariano Alvarez as of Santiago Sass; he who was the private murderer of Captain Wright, would have Alvarez strangled in secret with as little scruple as he had ordered the murder of Pichegru. One murder more can neither add to his infa

Gazeta de la Regencia July 10.

my, nor, in any human conception, to the measure of his guilt.

About six hundred of the garrison of Gerona made their escape from Rousillon, and rejoined their brethren in arms. Among them was Baron de Eroles, who immediately began to make the most vigorous exertions for recruiting the army. A decree had been past for making every fifth man take arms; but this, like most of the orders of the government, had been scandalously evaded, and Eroles was now charged by the superior junta of Catalonia to see it carried into effect. He called accordingly upon the people in animated language, reminding them of their forefathers, who spread terror through the Greek empire; and referring, as a not less illustrious instance of the good effects of discipline, to those regiments of the Gerona garrison, which had but lately before the siege been filled up by this measure of the Quintos, or fifths. This decree, even now, was very imperfectly executed; nevertheless, the patriotic army was considerably strengthened, and it derived new spirit from its new commander; for Blake being removed to the command of the central army, O'Donnell was appointed to succeed him. Blake, with all his talents, had been too unfortunate to be popular, and O'Donnell, by his splendid enterprizes for the relief of Gerona, had obtained the confidence

both of the soldiers and the people. Catalonia was in a deplorable state. In the other parts of Spain, grievously as they all had suffered, the scene of action had frequently been shifted; but in Catalonia the war has been carried on without intermission, from the commencement of the revolution. A noble instance of the spirit of the Catalans was given by the people of Villadran, an open town in the plain

of Vich; on the approach of a French detachment, which they had no means of resisting, the whole of its inhabitants retired to the mountains in the midst of February. The French commandant, finding the place thus utterly deserted, wrote to the regi dor, telling him, that if he did not bring back the inhabitants by the next day, he should be obliged to report their conduct to Marshal Augereau, and take the necessary measures for reducing them to obedience; at the same time he assured him, that the most rigorous means would be taken to preserve perfect order. The regidor returned his answer in these words: "That the French nation may know the love they bear to their religion, their king, and their country, all these people are content to remain buried among the snows of Montsen, rather than submit to the hateful domi nion of the French troops." So many families, in this same spirit, forsook their homes, rather than remain subject to the invaders, that the superior junta, by O'Donnell's suggestion, issued a decree for providing them with quarters in the same manner as the soldiers.

The fall of Gerona enabled the besieging army to pursue further operations, which was done, according to the French accounts, with such success, that little more was necessary for the complete subjugation of Catalonia.

Augereau asserted in his dispatches, that the Ampurdam was reduced, the peasants taken in arms hung in great numbers upon the trees along the roads, and all the French communications secure. "The famous Rovira," General Souham said, "fled before him, notwithstanding his audacious boasts of his incursions, his robberies and assassinations ;" for in this manner did these invaders, robbers, and murderers, always speak

of the patriots, against whom they were waging a war of extermination. Finally, in the plain of Vich, on the 20th of February, they boasted of the most glorious victory which they had yet obtained, affirming that O'Donnell had been totally defeated, with the loss of 3500 killed and wounded, and about as many prisoners, and all his baggage: he could find no safety, except under the walls of Tarragona. It was evident, even from Augereau's own account of this action, that the Spaniards had displayed in it both discipline and courage; and it was soon seen, that they boasted of its consequences as vainly as they had grossly exaggerated the success. Meantime a division, under the Italian General Mazzachelli, laid siege to the castle of Hostalrich, a small fortress seven leagues from Gerona, on the way to Barcelona, and therefore of importance to the communication between those places. The little town of Hostalrich, not being defensible, was taken possession of by the invaders on the 9th of January; the inhabitants took refuge in the church, and defended themselves there till a party from the castle sallied to their relief, and escorted them in, from whence they removed at leisure be fore the blockade of the castle was pressed. Julian de Estrada, who commanded here, encouraged his men by the example of Gerona. "This fortress," said he, "is the daughter of Gerona, and ought to imitate its mother in resistance." The siege began on the 13th of January, and one of its outworks, called Torre de los Frayles, the Friar's Tower, was taken on the 20th. D. Francisco Oliver, a brave officer, who had the command there, was killed by a hand-grenade, which exploded as he was throw. ing it, and Clemente Merino, who suc

ceeded him, either from treason or cowardice, immediately delivered up his post. Augereau, who was at this time come in person to inspect the state of the siege, and accelerate the operations, thought this a good opportunity to intimidate the governor, and summoned him to surrender, say. ing, that he and the garrison should in that case be allowed all the honours of war, and marched as prisoners to France; giving them two hours to reply, and warning them that if they refused to submit upon this summons, they were not to expect to be treated as soldiers, but should suffer capital punishment, as men taken in rebellion against their lawful king. Estrada replied, that the Spaniards had no other king than Ferdinand VII. The siege was carried on with little vigour till the 20th of February, when the French began to bombard the fort; but the men who defended it showed themselves worthy of the cause in which they were engaged, and of their commander; and here, as at Gerona, the French, with all their skill, and all their numbers, found that the strength of a fortress depends less upon its walls and bulwarks, than upon the virtue of those who defend it.

Hostalrich was not large enough to occupy the main part of the French force in Catalonia, which was sufficiently numerous for Augereau to commence operations against Lerida, and to spread his troops over the province, despising the raw levies of O'Donnell. Meantime Suchet thought, by a rapid movement from Aragon, to make himself master of Valencia, relying as much upon a correspondence with some traitors in the city, as upon his own strength. One division of his army advanced from Alcaniz to Morella, which it occu

in sight of Tarragona. One division occupied Vendrell, and extended to the Arco de Bara, upon the high road to Barcelona; but in a few days this division joined the main March 28. body, which was at Coll de Santa Cristina, and they immediately advanced towards Valls. O'Donnell, profiting by this movement, sent Camp Marshal D. Juan Caro against Villa-franca; Ca

ro proceeded by forced March 30. marches, and surprised the enemy on the following morning; between 2 and 300 were killed, and 640 made prisoners, not a man escaping. Caro himself was wounded; the command of his detachment devolved upon Brigadier D. Gervasio Gasca, and they proceeded toward Manresa, to attack the enemy, who occupied that town. A body of 5 or 600 men had already been sent to reinforce the French in Manresa, and had effected their junction, though not without the loss of two carts of ammunition, and forty killed, in an action with a party of somatanes and of expatriates, as the Spaniards were called whose homes were occupied by the enemy. Augereau no sooner heard of the loss in Villafranca, than, apprehending a similar attack upon Manresa, he ordered a reinforcement of 1200 men from Barcelona, to proceed there with the ut most celerity. Gasca, receiving timely intelligence of this movement, in

stead of proceeding upon April 3. Manresa, marched to intercept this column, and fell in with it between Esparraguera and Abrera; 400 were left upon the field, 500 made prisoners, and the remainder fled toward Barcelona; not more than 200 reaching that city. The Spaniards, after this second suc cess, prepared to execute their pro

jected attack upon the French in Manresa, and the Marquis de Campoverde took the command for this purpose: But the men had exerted themselves too much in forced marches and in action to perform this enterprize with the same celerity as the two former, and on the night before the attack should have been made, Schwartz, who headed the French detachment, evacuated the town, and took the road to Barcelona by Santa Clara, Barata, and Marieta. He began his retreat at eleven on the night of the 4th. Brigadier D. Francisco Milans, who was stationed at San Fructuos, passing the night under arms, to be ready for the attack at seven on the following morning, was apprised of the enemy's retreat between four and five, and dispatched the corps of expatriates, under Rovira, in pursuit, while the rest of the division followed as fast as possible. Rovira, whom the French had so lately, with their characteristic insolence, reviled as a wretch who fled before them, passing in two hours over a distance which was the ordinary journey of four, in their pursuit, overtook them at Hostalet, and attacked them with his usual intrepidi ty. Schwartz, whose force consisted of 1500 men, formed them into a column, and continued to retreat, fighting as he went: Rovira, how. ever, so impeded his movements, that he gave time for Milans to come up with them near Sabadell; the Spaniards then charged with the bayonet; 500 of the French fell, 300 were made prisoners; Schwartz himself was wounded, and owed his life to the swiftness of his horse. The reason why the number of the slain exceeded that of the prisoners, was, that some of the French, after having surrendered, fired upon the Spaniards.

The amount of the slain and the