256 LON 
an inconfiderable lofs on their part, while not more than 
half the French are faid to have got back to Yittoria. 
On the other hand, marfhal Suchet, having fucceeded 
in reducing Tortofa, (fee p. 226.) appeared with an army 
.of forty thoufand men about the end of April before Tar¬ 
ragona, and began forthwith a courfe of operations which 
•/bowed that to preferve the lives of his troops was with 
•him altogether a fubordinate conlideration. In one of 
la is obftinate efforts to forward his progrefs by affault, he 
is faid to have loft, in taking the fmall fort of Olivo, not 
fewer than 2000 men. This affair occurred on the 29th of 
May';- and two days afterward the Spanifh general in chief; 
withdrawing from the town, ordered marfhal Contreras to 
•take the command of the garrifon. Nothing could exceed 
the^eal.of the'troops and of the inhabitants; a zeal wljich 
fupplied’in a great meafure the very deficient fortificati&qs 
■of the place, and required to be frequently reftrained, but 
never Simulated. The defence became more obftinate as 
the attack advanced ; for, being open by fea, it was able to 
•receive fuccours of every kind by means of the Englifh fleet 
.on the coaft. The capture, on June the 16th, of an out¬ 
work, gave accefs to the interior of the lower town. A. 
breaching-battery was immediately tranfported to the fpot 
by the befiegers; and on the 21ft a furious affault was made, 
by which, after much bloodfhed on both tides, the lower 
town, and its dependencies, were put into the power of 
.the French. Although fcarcely any hopes now remained 
of an effectual refiftance, the garrifon in the body of the 
place /till held out, and determined to await a final affault. 
This was given on the afternoon of the 28th, when, a 
practicable breach being made, the affailants ruffled in, 
and almoft immediately carried the town. Suchet, in his 
former difpatch, had exprefled his apprehenfion of being- 
obliged “to fet a terrible example, and intimidate for ever 
■Catalonia and Spain by the deltruCfion of a whole city.” 
He too well verified his menace ; and thus he relates the 
■•cataftrophe: “The fury of the foldiers was increafed by 
.the refiftance of the garrifon, who every moment expected 
its deliverance, and thought to fecnre fuccefs by a gene¬ 
ral fortie. The fifth affault, (till more vigorous than the 
preceding, madeyefterday in broad day on the fortification, 
lias occafioned a horrible maflacre, with but little lofs on 
our fide. T.he terrible example which I forefaw with 
regret in my laft report to your highnefs, has taken place, 
and will for a long time be recollected in Spain. Four 
thoufand men have been killed in the city; from 10 to 
-12,000 men endeavoured to make their efcape over the 
walls into the country : 1000 have been fabred or drowned ; 
nearly 10,000, of whom 500 are officers, have been made 
prifoners, and are fetting off for France; nearly 1000 
.wounded are in the hofpitals of the city, where their lives 
were refpeCted in the midft of the carnage. Three field- 
marfhals and the governor are among the prifoners : many 
others among the (lain.” 
When marfhal Contreras was brought prifoner to the 
French camp, Suchet. affeCted to charge him in public 
with the whole bloodfhed confequent on the affault; while, 
in private, he fpared no efforts to detach him from the 
caufe of the Spanifh patriots, and enlift him in that of his 
anafter. The marfhal continuing inflexible, he was carried 
a clofe prifoner into France; and, although Bonaparte 
profeffed to ifi'ue an order to treat him with the attention 
due to his rank, he was immured in the caftleof Bouillon 
with eleven ftate-prifoners who had long loft all hope of 
releafe, notwithftahding the expiration of their preferibed 
term of confinement. With one of thefe, however, he 
found means to efcape, and wandered throughout France, 
fometimes on foot, fometimes on horfeback, during eight 
months. Part of this period was the time immediately 
fiubfequent to the difafters of Bonaparte in Ruffia. The 
marfhal arrived in England in June 1813 ; and has fince 
publifhed a Relation of the Siege, from which the above 
account is partly coilefied.—-Thus fell Tarragona, leaving 
.to the French arms a triumph that perhaps more than com- 
.genfated all ’their failures in other quarters. It put the 
D O N. 
whole coaft of Catalonia in their pefieffion, and enabled 
them to carry on their defigns againft the provinces to the 
fouthward, without apprehenfion of any confiderable force 
remaining behind to check their movements. 
In the north of Spain, in the mean time, the Guerillas 
were increafing in numbers, activity, and boldnefs. Ge¬ 
neral Bonnet had found it expedient to evacuate the Af- 
tuxias; and a part of his troops withdrew to Leon. On 
June 19th the French quitted Aftorga ; and marfhal Bef- 
iieres marched in that month from Valladolid with all the 
force he could coiiebt, and bent his courfe towards Bena- 
vente. An alarm given to Valladolid, however, caufed 
him to return to that city. A detail of all the aftions 
which took place in thefe quarters, and the circumftances 
and refuits of which are reprefented in the mofc oppofite 
colours by the different parties, would rather embarrafg 
the reader, than afford him a clear conception of the ge- 
nerai jlate of affairs. On the whole, the occupation of the 
principal towns and diflrifls in thefe parts appears to have 
.remained nearly the lame as at the commencement of the 
campaign. The Spanifh army of Galicia, which had 
.pufhed forward to Aftorga, was finally compelled to re¬ 
tire to its own province, and rendered unable to act, of¬ 
fend vely. 
General Blake, who, after feparating from lord Wel¬ 
lington’s army, had made an unfuccefsful attempt, on 
June 30th, to obtain poffeffion of Niebla, embarked his 
forces for Cadiz, which city he immediately left, and failed 
to join the Spanifh army under general Freyre, in Grana¬ 
da. This united force, which had taken a pofition in the 
beginning of Auguft, near Baza, was attacked by differ¬ 
ent divilions of the French army under marlhal Souit; and 
i.n.a feries of actions on the 9th and 10th was entirely broken, 
up with great lofs, and obliged to return to Murcia. 
We; now return to lord Wellington’s army, which, 
from, its cantonments in Beira, had proceeded to march 
upon the Spanifh frontier, between the Coaand the Agueda, 
and had threatened Ciudad Rodrigo. This movement 
produced the efi'eiS of collecting the enemy’s troops from 
the army of the north, where an attack had been com¬ 
menced on the Spaniards in Galicia, and alfo from that 
which on the frontiers of ^avarre had been employed ia 
operations againft Mina, together with a great part of the 
army called of Portugal—all compofing a force of not lefts 
than 60,000 men. The French appeared in the plain near 
Ciudad Rodrigo on Sept. 23d, and on the 25th they made 
a general attack on the pofts of the allied army on the 
heights of Bodon, which, after much fharp fkirmifhing, 
terminated in an orderly retreat of the allies to a more fa¬ 
vourable pofition. Another, but inferior, aCtion took 
place on the 27th at Aldea de Ponte. The rei'ult of the 
whole was, that lord Wellington found it ncceflary to 
quit the blockade of Ciudad Rodrigo, which place was 
of courfe relieved. The French army, having efieCtecl 
this purpofe, withdrew, each part returning to its former 
quarters. A fingular accident happened on Ocl. 15th to 
general Regnaud, the governor of Ciudad Rodrigo. An 
nmbufeade having been placed near the town for jhe ptir- 
pofe of intercepting the cattle of the garrifon, the governor, 
who had crofted the Agueda with fome ftaff-officers and 
an efcort, was furrounded by the Spanifh cavalry, and 
taken prifoner. 
The French army of Portugal was cantoned, in the 
middle of October, beyond Placentia, in the northern 
part of Eftremadura, having one divilion at that town, 
with their advanced pofts on the Allagon. A divifion of 
the 5th corps, with a confiderable body of cavalry under 
general Girard, having crofted the Guadiana at Merida, 
and advanced upon Caceres, lord Wellington direfted 
general Hill to move into Eftremadura. That officer in 
confequence broke up from Portalegre on the 23d of Oc¬ 
tober, and marched to Albuquerque ; and thence, on the 
26th,'to Mai Partida. Girard fell back on his approach, 
and was retreating to Merida, when Hill, having made a 
forced march, furp riled him on the 28th at Arroyo del 
1 Molinoj 
