HISTORY OF EUROPE. 



177 



valour of the besiegers. The Spa- 

 niards, however, though defeated, 

 after a stout resistance, took care 

 to send back in time the con- 

 voy, which was tiius saved from 

 the grasp of the French, who 

 stood much in need of provisions 

 themselves, though not quite so 

 much as the garrison of Hos- 

 talrich. The extreme distress 

 of this being known, the ge- 

 neral of division Severoli, who 

 commanded the besieging army, 

 on the 11th of May summoned it 

 to surrender. On the night of the 

 12th the garrison under the ad- 

 vantage of an exceedingly thick 

 mist, went out of the fort in pro- 

 found silence, and the advanced 

 guard fell of course on the French 

 sentinels. One of these was killed, 

 but the other gave the alarm. 

 The French troops were instantly 

 under arms, and pursued tiie Spa- 

 niards with so much celerity, that 

 the whole were either killed or 

 taken. In the fortress of Hostal- 

 rich were found 42 large pieces of 

 brass ordnance, and a very con- 

 siderable quantity of ammunition 

 for war, but an extremely small 

 stock of provision for the mouth. 

 The reduction of Hostalrich facili- 

 tated the carriage by land of pro- 

 visions to Barcelona, and covered 

 the communication between that 

 place and Gerona. On the 14th 

 of May, 10 P. M. general Suchet, 

 with a division of the 3rd corps 

 under his command became master, 

 after fifteen days of open. trenches 

 and three days firing, of Lerida. 

 There were found in Lerida 100 

 pieces of cannon of various calibre, 



one million five hundred thousand 

 cartridges, two hundred million 

 pounds of powder, and ten thou- 

 sand firelocks. The garrison, 

 eight thousand men, were made 

 prisoners of war, including Gar- 

 cia Condt;, the commander in 

 chief, and six colonels. On the 

 8th of June the fortress of Me- 

 quinenza in Catalonia, situate 

 near the confluence of the Segre 

 and Ebro, in the midst of a desert, 

 and justly called the Key of the 

 Ebro, was taken by a body of 

 French troops, under the com- 

 mand of general Suchet. The 

 French found at Mequinenza 

 fortyfive pieces of ordnance, four 

 hundred thousand English car- 

 tridges, fifty thousand pounds of 

 powder, a great quantity of cast- 

 iron, and provisions for two thou- 

 sand men for three months,* An 

 immense booty was also obtained 

 at Lerida ; because, from the idea 

 entertained of the strength of that 

 fortress it had become the depo- 

 sitory of the money and valuable 

 efiects of many towns and churches. 

 The great movements in the 

 conduct of the war in the penin- 

 sula were prescribed at Paris. 

 We find Berthier, the war minis- 

 ter, transmittingf the orders of 

 his imperial majesty, Buonaparte, 

 to marshal Soult, after the fall of 

 Hostalrich, Lerida, and Mequi- 

 nenza, to send general Suchet 

 against Tortosa, and marshal 

 Macdonald, alias the duke of 

 Tarentum, appointed governor of 

 Catalonia, in the place of the duke 

 of Castiglione, against Tarragona. 

 After the reduction of these two 



Vol, 



• Suchet to Berthier, camp before Mequinenza, 8th June, 1810, 



t Itt a Letter dated, Dieppe, 27lh May, 1810. 

 LII. N 



