1€28.] L 
185 J 
MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE, DOMETIC AND FOREIGN. 
—— 
History of the War in the Peninsula, 
and in the South of France, by Colonel 
Napier. Vol. 1; 1828.—This history of 
the war is of a different, and, in many re- 
spects, superior character, to Lord London- 
derry’s still very respectable publication. It 
is not, like that, a mere narrative of the 
achievements of the English troops during 
the least important campaigns, but will, 
when completed, present a full view of the 
whole war, and exhibit in detail the conduct 
of the French as well as the English forces 
—the author having had extraordinary faci- 
lities for obtaining information from French 
officers, particularly, from Marshal Soult, 
who, “ disdaining national prejudices, with 
the confidence of a great mind, placed nu- 
merous original documents at his disposal, 
without even a remark to check the freedom 
of his pen.”? Colonel Napier’s professional 
experience, and personal acquaintance with 
the scene, will, moreover, give him a de- 
cided superiority over his rival, Southey. 
He has been not only an executive soldier, 
but is a political philosopher—somewhat, to 
be sure, of a radical cast—too much so, to 
please the leading members of his profession, 
or to conciliate the great commander to 
whom he dedicates his book—though he 
does so on the ground that “ he has served 
long enough under his command to feel why 
the soldiers of the Tenth Legion were at- 
tached to Cesar.” The present volume—a 
pretty portly one—conducts the story to the 
battle of Corunna and the death of General 
Moore, and at least three or four more on 
the same scale will be required to complete 
his purpose. He designedly forbears from 
treating largely of the disjointed and inef- 
fectual operations of the native forces— 
apocryphal as much of what could have been 
obtained of them, must necessarily be. 
The deliverance of Spain was the work, 
Colonel Napier maintains, not of the native 
troops, but of the English armies. The 
Spaniards conducted the war like savages— 
unconnectedly—unskilfully ; not in manly 
warfare, but by stealth and brigandage. They 
were self-sufficient, and stimulated by 
wounded pride—they were superstitious, and 
their religious feelings were roused to fury 
by an over-ruling clergy, who dreaded the 
loss of their endowments ; but, after the first 
burst of indignation, the cause of indepen- 
ce created very little enthusiasm among 
them. The leaders were, many of them, 
traitors, and more of them abhorrers of free- 
dom — pursuing, consequently, their own 
projects, and neglecting the general cause. 
umults and assassinations terrified and dis- 
gusted the sensible part of the community— 
a corrupt administration of the resources ex- 
tinguished patriotism, and neglect ruined 
the armies—and the peasant, a raw soldier, 
usually fled at the first onset, threw away his 
arms, and returned home, or joined the ban- 
M.M. New Series,—Vou.VI. No. 32. 
ners of men, who, for the most part, origi- 
nally robbers, were as oppressive to the 
people as the enemy. The guerilla chiefs 
would, in their turn, have been quickly ex- 
terminated, but that the French, pressed by 
Lord Wellington, were obliged to keep to- 
gether in large masses. This was the secret 
of Spanish constancy. From the moment 
the English took the field, the Spaniards 
ceased to act as principals—though the con- 
test obviously involved their existence as an 
independent nation. - 
Of the barbarities committed by these 
Spaniards, Colonel Napier notices some me- 
morable instances, exceeding in atrocity 
any thing we remember to have ever read. 
For instance :— 
Filanghieri, the Governor of Corunna (at the 
first explosion), an Italian by birth, was by a 
tumultuous crowd called upon to exercise the 
rights of sovereignty, and to declare war in form 
against the French. Like every man of sense in 
Spain, he was unwilling to commence such an 
important revolution upon uncertain grounds ; the 
impatient populace instantly attempted his life, 
which was then saved by the courage of an 
officer of his staff; but his horrible fate was only 
deferred. He was a man of talent, sincerely at- 
tached to Spain, and he exerted himself with 
success in establishing a force in the province: 
no suspicion of guilt seems to have attached to 
his conduct, and his death marks the temper of 
the times, and the inherent ferocity of the people. 
A part of the regiment of Navarre seized him at 
Villa Franca del Bierzo, planted the ground with 
their bayonets, and then tossing him in a blanket, 
let him fall un the points thus disposed, and there 
leaving him to struggle, they dispersed and retired 
to their own houses, 
The fate of Colonel Rene, a French of- 
ficer, was still more horrible :— 
He had been sent on a mission to Portugal, pre- 
vious to the breaking out of hostilities, and was 
on his return, travelling in the ordinary mode, 
without arms, attached to no army, engaged in no 
operations of war; but being recognised as a 
Frenchman, he was seized, mutilated, and then 
placed between two planks and sawed alive. 
Assassinations similar to those of the Mar- 
quis of Solano at Cadiz, and the Conde 
d’Aguilar at Seville, occurred in every part 
of Spain :— 
Grenada had its murders, adds Col. Napier ; 
Carthagene rivalled Cadiz in ruthless cruelty ; 
and Valencia was foul with slaughter. Don 
Miguel de Saavedra, the governor of thatcity, was 
killed, not in the fury of the moment, for he 
escaped the first danger and fled, but being pur- 
sued and captured, was brought back and de- 
liberately sacrificed. Balthaza Calvo, a canon of 
the church of St. Isidro, then commenced a 
massacre of the French residents, For twelve days 
unchecked he traversed the streets of Valencia, 
followed by a band of fanatics, brandishing their 
knives, and filling all places with blood: many 
hundred helpless people fell the victims of his 
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