THE SIEGE OF ZARAGOZA, IN 1808.

BY SOUTHEY AND NAPIER.

In general, it may be said, that modern sieges have lost much of their interest, except for the scientific soldier; because the art of the engineer has reduced them, placing external relief out of consideration, almost to certainty. Still, there have been sieges, in modern times, in which was displayed all the heroic perseverance that has distinguished the defenders of fortified places, at any previous period. We find a number of them in the history of the war, termed the Peninsular War, which was carried on in Spain and Portugal, in the beginning of the present century, between the English, Spaniards, and Portuguese, on the one side, and the French, on the other. In most of them, we find remarkable instances, both of military resolution and of popular energy; and it is not easy to make a selection of the most interesting of them. For several reasons, however, the Siege of Zaragozat has been selected, and is here given.

The two authors, from whose works the following accounts are taken, are both living in England. Colonel Napier shared in the perils of the war which he has described; and Mr. Southey is so renowned an author, that most readers are, no doubt, in possession of more information respecting him, than could be given here.

Zaragoza is situated on the right bank of the Ebro. Before its first siege, in 1808, it contained fifty thousand inhabitants. It possessed no regular defences, and few guns, fit for service, but was surrounded by a low brick

*At the beginning of the year 1840, a violent attack, made by several thousand Arabs, upon about one hundred and sixty French soldiers, at a place called Mazagran, in Algiria, was sustained for several days, with a degree of fortitude, which has been acknowledged in a signal and lasting manner, both by the King of the French, and the French Chambers.

† Zaragoza is a contraction and corruption of the Latin Caesarea Augusta. By another corruption, the name of Syracuse was formerly changed into Zaragoza, so that we find it spoken of as "the Sicilian Saragossa."

wall. These deficiencies were in some degrec remedied, by the nature of its buildings, which were well calculated for the internal warfare subsequently carried on, the houses being mostly built of brick and stone, and vaulted, so as to be almost incombustible. The city was also full of churches and convents, strongly built, and surrounded by high, thick walls. A broad street, called the Cosso, bent almost into a semicircle, concentric with the wall, and terminated, at each end, by the Ebro, divided the city into an outer and an inner part. It occupied the ground on which the Moorish walls had formerly stood, before the city attained its present size. This street was the scene of that heroic resistance, in 1808, which kept the French at bay, after the walls and one half of the place had fallen into their hands. On the third of August, rather more than a month after the commencement of the siege, the convent of St. Engracia, which formed part of the wall, was breached; and, on the fourth, it was stormed, and the victorious troops carried all before them, as far as the Cosso, and, before night, were in possession of one half of the city. The French General now considered the city as his own, and summoned it to surrender, in a note containing only these words "Head-quarters, St. Engracia, Capitulation." The emphatic reply is well known, and will become proverbial: "Head-quarters, Zaragoza, War to the Knife."

"THE Contest, which was now carried on, is unexampled in history. One side of the Cosso, a street about as wide as Pall Mall, was possessed by the French, and in the centre of it, their general, Verdier, gave his orders from the Franciscan convent. The opposite side was maintained by the Aragonese, who threw up batteries at the openings of the cross streets, within a few paces of those which the French erected against them. The intervening space was presently heaped with dead, either slain upon the spot, or thrown out from the windows. Next day, the ammunition of the citizens began to fail : the French were expected, every moment, to renew their efforts for completing the conquest, and even this circumstance occasioned no dismay, nor did any one think of capitulation. One cry was heard from the people,

whenever Palafox* rode amongst them, that, if powder failed, they were ready to attack the enemy with their knives, formidable weapons, in the hands of desperate

men.

Just before the day closed, Don Francisco Palafox, the general's brother, entered the city, with a convoy of arms and ammunition, and a reenforcement of three thousand men, composed of Spanish guards, Swiss, and volunteers of Aragon,-a succor as little expected by the Zaragozans, as it had been provided against by the

enemy.

"The war was now continued, from street to street, from house to house, and from room to room; pride and indignation having wrought up the French to a pitch of obstinate fury, little inferior to the devoted courage of the patriots. During the whole siege, no man distinguished himself more remarkably, than the curate of one of the parishes within the walls, by name, P. Santiago Suss. He was always to be seen in the streets; sometimes, fighting with the most determined bravery; at other times, administering the sacrament to the dying, and confirming, with the authority of faith, that hope, which gives to death, under such circumstances, the joy, the exaltation, the triumph, and the spirit, of martyrdom. Palafox reposed the utmost confidence in the brave Priest, and selected him when any thing peculiarly difficult or hazardous was to be done. At the head of forty chosen men, he succeeded in introducing into the town a supply of powder, so essentially necessary for its defence.

"This most obstinate and murderous conflict was continued, for eleven successive days and nights, more indeed by night, than by day; for it was almost certain death to appear, by daylight, within reach of those houses which were occupied by the other party. But, under cover of the darkness, the combatants frequently dashed across the street, to attack each other's batteries; and the battles, which began there, were often carried on into the houses beyond, where they fought from room

* The General of the Zaragozans.—I.

to room, and from floor to floor. The hostile batteries were so near each other, that a Spaniard, in one place, made way under cover of the dead bodies, which completely filled the space between them, and fastened a rope to one of the French cannons; in the struggle which ensued, the rope broke, and the Zaragozans lost their prize, at the very moment when they thought themselves sure of it.

"A new horror was added to the dreadful circumstances of war, in this ever-memorable siege. In general engagements, the dead are left upon the field of battle, and the survivors removed to clear ground and an untainted atmosphere but here, in Spain, and in the month of August, where the dead lay, the struggle was still carried on, and pestilence was dreaded, from the enormous accumulation of putrefying bodies. Nothing, in the whole course of the siege, so much embarrassed Palafox, as this evil. The only remedy was, to tie ropes to the French prisoners, and push them forward, amid the dead and dying, to remove the bodies, and bring them away for interment. Even for this necessary office there was no truce, and it would have been certain death to the Aragonese, who should have attempted to perform it: but the prisoners were, in general, secured by the pity of their own soldiers, and in this manner the evil was, in some degree, diminished.

"A council of war was held by the Spaniards, on the eighth, not for the purpose which is too usual in such councils, but that their heroic resolution might be communicated to the people. It was, that, in those quarters of the city, where the Aragonese still maintained their ground, they should continue to defend themselves, with the same firmness. Should the enemy at last prevail, they were then to retire over the Ebro, into the suburbs, break down the bridge, and defend the suburbs, till they perished. When this resolution was made public, it was received with the loudest acclamations. But, in every conflict, the citizens now gained ground upon the soldiers, winning it, inch by inch, till the space occupied by the enemy, which, on the day of their entrance, was

nearly half the city, was reduced, gradually, to about an eighth part. Mean-time, intelligence of the events, in other parts of Spain, was received by the French, all tending to dishearten them. During the night of the thirteenth, their fire was particularly fierce and destructive; in the morning, the French columns, to the great surprise of the Spaniards, were seen at a distance, retreating over the plain, on the road to Pampeluna."*

Zaragoza, however, was a place of too much importance, long to enjoy, in quiet, her hard-earned laurels. In the course of the Autumn, the French recovered their superiority, in Aragon; and had no sooner done so, than they bent their strength to repair the disgrace which their arms had sustained, and overthrow the firmest bulwark of independence in the western provinces of Spain. The inhabitants, aware that their heroic resistance had purchased only a temporary deliverance, employed the intervening time in repairing and improving their external defences; and still more so, in preparing to renew, to greater advantage, that internal conflict in which experience had shown their real strength to exist.

"It has already been observed, that the houses of Zaragoza were fire-proof, and, generally, of only two stories; and that, in all the quarters of the city, the numerous and massive convents and churches rose, like castles, above the low buildings; and that the greater streets, running into the broadway, called the Cosso, divided the town into a variety of districts, unequal in size, but each containing one or more large structures. Now the citizens, sacrificing all personal convenience, and resigning all idea of private property, gave up their goods, their bodies, and their houses, to the war; and, being promiscuously mingled with the peasantry and the regular soldiers, the whole formed one mighty garrison, well suited to the vast fortress into which Zaragoza was transformed for the doors and windows of the houses were built up, and their fronts loopholed; internal com

* Southey, History Peninsular War, Chap. ix.