WHILE the attention of the Spanish government was almost exclusively directed towards operations which it was scarcely possible could terminate otherwise than disastrously, Catalonia, the province wherein the most uniform and universal energy was displayed, was left to itself. The two strongest and most important places in this province had been treacherously seized by Buonaparte, while he pretended to be the friend and ally of Charles IV.; yet, even with this mighty advantage at the commencement, the French had to win their ground there by inches. As soon as their armies were recruited from the losses and exhaustion which they had suffered before Zaragoza, they proceeded to lay siege to Gerona. This city is situated upon the side and at the foot of a mountain near the place where the little river Onar falls into and loses its name in the Ter. When the siege commenced, it was surrounded by old walls in good repair, and had besides four

forts with redoubts upon the high ground above it, but its principal de fence was the citadel of Monjuic, which commanded it from an eminence about 60 fathoms distant. This was a square fort, in length 200 rast on each side. with four bas tions, and four out-works, called the towers of St Luis, San Narcis, San Daniel, and San Juan. The popula tion of Gerona was between 13 and 14,000. In the Succession War, it distinguished itself by its faithful adherence to the Archduke Charles, and its desperate defence against his successful rival. After it had fallen, the Catalans blockaded it for eight months. Marshal Berwick raised the siege, and the French minister then proposed to him to demolish the works, upon the plea of saving the expence of garrisoning them, but in reality that the Spaniards might have one strong-hold the less upon their frontier. Berwick requested an order from Louis XIV. himself; but, though that ambitious prince

manifestly wished to have Gerona destroyed, a sense of decency prevented him from directly ordering it to be done, and Berwick did not chuse to expose himself to the anger of Philip V. without possessing a warrant which might be produced in his justification.

After the fall of Rosas and Zaragoza, and the defeat of the Catalan army at Valls, in which Reding received his mortal wound, it could not be doubted that the enemy would endeavour to take vengeance for the shameful repulse which they had suffered before Gerona the preceding year. The French expected a brave resistance, and they made their preparations accordingly. On the 6th of May, they appeared upon the heights of Casa Roca and Castaroja, and began to form lines around without opposition. A battery of eleven_mortars was planted upon Casa Roca, from whence it commanded the city; works were also erected against Monjuic. The garison, consisting only of 3,400 men, was not numerous enough to impede hese operations; no precautions, however, were wanting on their part, or were any means of defence >mitted. The citizens, like the cruaders of old, took the cross, and with this ceremony, which their cause anctified, eight companies of 100 nen each were formed and organied. The women also, maids and natrons alike, enrolled themselves In an association, called the Compahy of St Barbara, to perform whatever they were capable of, like their Countrywomen at Zaragoza. Never lid any people prepare more resoutely for the performance of their arduous duty. Their governor, Campnarshal D. Mariano Alvarez, was worthy of the situation wherein he

VOL. II. Part I,

was placed; being himself fully determined to maintain the city to the last gasp, he thought it adviseable now, during the first enthusiasm of the people, to restrain by fear the few cowardly or treacherous spirits which might exist among them, and, with this intent, he forbade all persons from speaking of capitulation or peace, on pain of immediate death, without distinction of quality or condition. The garrison and the people received this edict with acclamations of applause, and throughout the whole course of the siege they did not belie the expectations which their governor formed of them. The military junta of the city proposed that the streets should be unpaved, to lessen the dangers of a bombardment. This was opposed by the junta corrigimental, or board of police, and the question was referred to the hospital board for decision; for the objection to the measure was, that it would be prejudicial to health. The medical men found it most convenient to avoid entering into a physical discussion, and they compromised the matter by deciding, that the paving should be taken up only in the plazas or squares, and in those streets through which the soldiers must necessarily pass.

The French meantime continued their works, and so sure were they of the firm and unalterable spirit, both of the Geronans and their governor, that they did not summon the place till their lines were completed, and every thing ready to commence the bombardment. Then they sent a flag of truce requiring Alvarez to spare himself and the city the evils which must inevitably attend a resistance. Don Mariano admitted the officer to his presence, and bade him say to his general, that

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for the future the trouble of sending flags of truce might be spared, for he was determined to have no other com munication with him than at the mouth of the cannon. This was on the 12th of June; on the night between the 13th and 14th, about an hour after midnight, the bombardment began. Then for the first time the generale or alarm was beat, a sound which afterwards became so frequent and familiar in this devoted city roused from their sleep, the aged and the children repaired to those cellars and other places of imagined security, which they who could had provided for this emergency, and the female company of St Barbara hastened to their posts. An ill judged sally was made early on the 17th against some works which were supposed to be the base of a battery against the Puerto de Francia: they succeeded in their object, but the success was in itself of little importance and dearly purchased, many brave men fell, 110 were brought back wounded. The bombardment continued, and, among the other buildings which it reduced to ashes, the military hospital was destroyed: the people, while it was burning, ob served that its destruction was deserved, for, instead of proving a place of help and healing for the sick, covetousness and peculation had made their profit there upon human sufferings. The hospitals of St Domingo and St Martin were also rendered uninhabitable; one other had been made ready, another was to be prepared, and thus the labour and difficulty of providing for the sick and wounded increased at the time when their numbers were daily increasing. For about the end of the month, an epidemic affection of the bowels became very prevalent, occa

sioned partly by the perpetual agita tion which the people endured, partly by their sleeping in damp subterranean places, where the air never circulated freely, and where may of them had nothing but the ground to lie upon. In July, a bilious fever is usually endemic in Gerona; it sei zed especially upon the lower classes, and upon the refugees from those places which had been either takes or burned by the enemy, and it af fected the wounded also.

The main attacks of the enemy were directed against Monjuic; ther tremendous artillery soon rendered the out-works untenable, though every foot of ground was defended with a heroism unexampled in m dern times, except at Zaragoza. At the beginning of July, three batteries played upon three sides of this little fortress: that which was planted against the north front, consisted of 20 four-and-twenty pounders; while the French were battering it, that angle on which the flag was hosted fell into the ditch, D. Mariano Mor torro descended for it in the mid: of the fire, brought it up in safety, and replanted it upon the wall. The breach was soon wide enough to ad mit forty men abreast. The fire of the garrison had ceased, for they percei ved that the French were secured by their trenches, and ammunition was too precious to be used unless its ef fects were certain: The enemy, wto had not learned the nature of the men with whom they were conterd ing, judged from this silence, that their hearts or their ammunition had failed, and in the night between the fourth and fifth they assaulted the breach. It was for this that the gar rison had reserved their fire, and they poured it so destructively upon the columns which approached, that

the French retreated with great loss. For three days they continued their fire upon the breach. Between two and three on the morning of the 8th, 6000 chosen men again assaulted it, at the same time the town was bombarded. D. Blas de Furnas, second in command at Mon juic, was in the thickest of the fight; he strained his voice till from exertion it totally failed him, but still his presence and his actions encouraged all who saw him; the enemy came on, filled the fosse and proceeded to the breach-"Woe to him," says Samaniego, the historian of the siege, "woe to him who sets his daring foot upon the fosse of Monjuic!" A mortar, which lay hidden among the ruins of the ravelin, and discharged 500 musket-balls at every shot, was played full up on the enemy by D. Juan Candy. The havoc which it made was tremendous,-three times in the course of the day, the assault was repeated, with the utmost resolution on the part of the assailants, who were never thrown into confusion, though all their efforts were unavailing, and though they left 1,600 of their number slain. The day, however, was disastrous to the Geronans also, though not from any evil which it was possible for strength or courage to have averted. The tower of St Juan, which stood between the west curtain of the castle, the city, and the Calle de Pedret, was blown up. In what manner the magazine took fire was never known. Part of its little garrison were fortunately employed in active service elsewhere, the rest were buried in the ruins, from whence twenty-three persons were extricated alive amid the incessant fire which the enemy kept up upon the spot. Their preservation was in a great measure owing

to the exertion of D. Carlos Beramende. The company of St Barbara distinguished themselves greatly that day: covered with dust and blood, under the burning heat of July, and through the incessant fire of the batteries and musketry, they carried water and wine to the soldiers, and bore back the wounded.

The severe loss which the French sustained in this second attempt, convinced them, that while one stone remained upon another, Monjuic was not to be taken by assault. From this time, therefore, they continued to batter it on three sides, and, practising the surest and most destructive mode of warfare, stationed sharpshooters in their trenches on every side, so that for one of the garrison to be seen was almost certain death. So perilous was the service become, that the centinels were changed every half hour, yet nine were killed in one day at one post, and scarcely one escaped unwounded. An instance of heroism worthy of record was displayed by Luciano Aucio, a drummer belonging to the artillery, who was stationed to give the alarm when a shell was thrown: a ball struck off his leg at the knee; but when the women came to remove him, he cried out,--No, no, it is only a leg: my arms are left, and I can still beat the drum to give my comrades warning in time for them to save themselves. This brave lad was the only person during the siege who recovered after an amputation of the thigh. It became at length impossible to obserye the operations of the enemy, so thick were their marksmen, and with such fatal certainty did they. take their aim: no other means remained than that of sending some one into the fosse, who, lifting up his head with the most imminent ha

zard, took a momentary glance. By the beginning of August the besiegers had pushed their parallels to the edge of the fosse; their labour was impeded by the stony nature of the soil, which rendered it necessary to bring earth from some distance; for this, however, they had hands enough, and they had no apprehension to hurry and disturb them, that any army powerful enough to raise the siege could be brought against them.

The ravelin was the particular object at which the enemy aimed; while it was possible to maintain it, the garrison contended who should be stationed there, as at the post of honour. It was repeatedly attacked by night, but the defenders were always ready, and always repulsed the assailants. It was now discovered that the enemy were mining; this was distinctly ascertained by the sounds which were heard in the direction of the fosse. The castle was founded upon a rock, and therefore the officers did not apprehend any immediate danger from any operations of this nature. The purpose of the French was to destroy a breast work which protected that gate of the castle through which was the passage to the ravelin: the breastwork was almost wholly of earth, and its explosion did no hurt, but it left the gate exposed. A battery, already prepared, began to play upon it, and the communication between the castle and the ravelin was thus made exceedingly difficult. A sally was made against this battery, and the guns were spiked; a priest was one of the foremost: he received a ball in his thigh and fell; the enemy pressed on to kill him; one of their officers, at the hazard of his own life, protected him, and in the very act of thus defending him was slain by

the Spaniards, a circumstance which their journalists record with becoming regret. The success which had been obtained was of little avail, for the French had artillery in abundance: in the course of a few hours they mounted other pieces in the place of those which had been rendered useless, and continued their fire upon the gate and the ravelin. At the same time they formed a covered way from their own parapet to the breach of the ravelin; by this, on the night between the fourth and fifth of August, they poured a sufficient body of troops through the breach to overpower the forty men who were stationed there; but having won the place, they could not maintain it, exposed as it was to musketry from the castle. It remained, therefore, deserted, like a place left for the dead who covered it. About forty hours afterwards a few Spaniards determined to go and bring off the arms which the French had not had time to carry away: they found a lad of sixteen who had lain this whole length of time among the carcasses; he was the only one of his comrades who escaped death or captivity, they brought him off, and he was sent to the hospital half dead with exhaustion.

All the guns of Monjuic had now been silenced; the enemy were so near, that sometimes the Spaniards knocked them down with stones: it was with difficulty that the governor of Monjuic, Lieut-Col. D. Guillerme Nasch, could restrain the brave men whom he commanded: impatient at remaining inactive in sight of the enemy, they earnestly solicited permission to sally out upon the most desperate attempt. The garrison had held out seven-and-thirty days since a practicable breach was made. A