Chapter X: Part 10

Owen Roe O'Neil, of Ulster, rose to high rank in the Spanish Imperial service and held an important post in Catalonia. He defended Arras against Louis XIII. in 1640, and when forced to surrender, he did so, says Carte, "upon honourable terms; yet his conduct in the defence was such as gave him great reputation, and procured him extraordinary respect even from the enemy;" and the brave O'Sullivan Bearra of Dunbuy, who fled in the days of James I., became Governor of Corunna under Philip IV.

Lieutenant-General Don Carlos Felix O'Neile (son of the celebrated Sir Neil O'Neile of Ulster, slain at the battle of the Boyne), was Governor of Havannah and favourite of Charles III. of Spain; he died at Madrid in 1791, after attaining the great age of one hundred and ten years.

In 1780, Colonel O'Moore commanded the Royal Walloon Guards of Charles III. In 1799, Field-Marshal Arthur O'Neil was Governor-General of Yucatan under the same monarch, and commanded the flotilla of thirty-one vessels which made an unsuccessful attack on the British settlements in the Bay of Honduras. In the same year, Don Gonzalo O'Farrel was the Spanish ambassador at the Court of Berlin, and in 1808 he was Minister of War for Spain. In 1797, O'Higgins was Viceroy of Peru, under Charles IV., one of whose best generals was the famous Alexander Count O'Reilly.

Don Pedro O'Daly was Governor of Rosas when it was besieged by Gouvion St. Cyr in 1809; and General John O'Donoughue was chief of Cuesta's staff, and one of the few able officers about the person of that indolent and obstinate old hidalgo, whose incapacity nearly caused the ruin of the Spanish affairs at the commencement of the Peninsula war. He died Viceroy of Mexico in 1816.

O'Higgins was Viceroy of Peru under Ferdinand VI. and the third and fourth Charles of Spain. He signalized himself with great bravery in the wars with the Araucanos, a nation on the coast of Chili, who were ultimately subdued by him and subjected to the Spanish rule. John Campbell, a midshipman who escaped from the wreck of the _Wager_, one of Commodore Anson's squadron which was lost on the large island of Tierra del Fuego, and who arrived, after inconceivable sufferings, at St. Jago de Chili, furnished O'Higgins with various notes and outlines of the coast, and other memoranda concerning the natives, all of which he had ingeniously written on the bark of trees. These observations, which were afterwards printed in England, were of the greatest value to O'Higgins, who was wont to affirm that by the knowledge they gave him of the barbarians under his government, "he owed the foundation of his good fortune to Campbell."

In 1765, he marched against the Araucanos with a battalion of Chilian infantry, and fifteen hundred horse, named Maulinians. He was thrice brought to the ground by having three horses killed under him; but the Araucanos were routed, and the Spanish rule extended over all Peru, of which he died viceroy in the beginning of the present century, after fighting the battles of Rancagua and Talchuana, which secured the independence of Chili.

Few names bear a more prominent place in Spanish history than those of Blake, the Captain-General of the Coronilla, and O'Reilly, a soldier of fortune, who saved the life of Charles III. during the revolt at Madrid, and who re-formed and disciplined anew the once noble army of Spain.

ALEXANDER COUNT O'REILLY was born in Ireland about 1735, of Roman Catholic parents, and when young entered the Spanish service as a sub-lieutenant in the Irish regiment with which he served in Italy during the war of the Spanish Succession, and received a wound from which he was rendered lame for the rest of his life. In 1751 he went to serve in Austria, and made two campaigns against the Prussians, under the orders of Marshal Count Lacy, his countryman. Then in 1759 he passed into the service of Louis XV., under whose colours was still that celebrated Irish Brigade whose native bravery so mainly contributed to win for France the glory of Fontenoy.

O'Reilly distinguished himself so much that the Marshal de Broglie recommended him to the King of Spain, with great warmth of expression, on his retiring to Madrid. The marshal's interest won him the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, and as such he served in that war which conduced so little to the glory of Portugal, though favoured by the alliance of Britain. Nevertheless, O'Reilly found many opportunities for distinction at the head of the light troops which were confided to him, and soon won the proud reputation of being one of Spain's most gallant officers. He was now named Brigadier of the Armies of the King, with the post of _aide major de l'exercise_. In these capacities he drilled the Spanish infantry according to the best system of tactics and exercise then practised in the British service.

At the peace he was appointed Mariscal de Campo, and named Commandant en Seconde of Havannah, which was to be given up to Spain by the treaty of Fontainbleau. On arriving there, he restored and strengthened the fortifications of the colony, and soon after returned to Spain, where the king named him Inspector-General of Infantry, and desired him to assist in the manoeuvres of a great camp, of which he gave him command. He then sent him to New Orleans, where the inhabitants had scarcely become accustomed to the Spanish yoke, and where the rigorous means employed by O'Reilly to subdue them gained him many enemies. The count returned again to Madrid, and was treated with every mark of favour by Charles III., who knew all his talents, capacity, and courage; and could never forget that it was to the strong hand and stout heart of O'Reilly he owed his life during the fiery sedition at Madrid in 1765, when the people rose in arms. Every honour Charles could bestow upon a foreigner was showered upon O'Reilly, who now gave the Spanish army (which was many years behind every other in Europe in the march of progression and improvement) a new spirit, vigour, and impulse. In this task he was assisted by his brother-in-law, Francisco Xavier Castanos, afterwards Duke of Baylen, Captain-General of Estremadura, Old Castile, and Galicia, whom he took with him to Prussia when he visited that country, like all the principal officers of Europe, to witness and examine the manoeuvres practised by the troops of the Great Frederick.

In 1774, he obtained command of the expedition against Algiers. The great means of attack were entirely confided to him, and he sailed from the Spanish coast with a squadron of forty sail of the line and three hundred and fifty transports, carrying an army of thirty thousand men; but this immense armament failed to achieve its object, and O'Reilly was compelled to bear away for Spain, humiliated and mortified, and landed his discomfited troops at Barcelona, on the 24th of August in the same year.[17] Though this unfortunate result was much against his reputation as a general, it did not lessen his favour with the king, who placed him at the head of a military school which was established in Avila, at Puerto de Santa Maria, on the Adaga, in Old Castile.

Soon after this, O'Reilly was named Captain-General of Andaluzia and Governor of Cadiz. In these important posts he displayed the talents of a skilful soldier and able administrator; but he fell into complete disgrace on the death of Charles III., in 1788, and lived afterwards in a quiet retreat in Catalonia. Despite his many enemies at court, who rose into power with Charles IV., O'Reilly maintained his high military reputation in the Spanish army, and on the death of General Ricardos in 1794, the government knew of none so able as he to direct the war against the invasion of the French republican armies. He was accordingly named General of the Army of the Eastern Pyrenees, and was on his way to assume that high command when he was seized by a sudden illness, and died in his sixtieth year.

O'Reilly was fortunate, perhaps, in escaping thus the misery caused to Spain by the mistakes of the Conde de la Union, and the misfortunes consequent to reverse and defeat. His age would not have permitted him to sustain the fatigue of a war so active; and though he was the instructor of Blake and others who were esteemed the best officers of the Spanish army, as a foreigner he had many envious enemies, and all his ability as a soldier, with the sweetness and insinuating flexibility of his manner, was no guarantee to him among such a people as the Spaniards, who are ever cool and averse to strangers.

His pupil, Joachim Blake, afterwards Captain-General of Aragon and four other provinces, was the son of an eminent Irish merchant who had settled at Velez, near Malaga, and was descended from an ancient family in the county of Galway. His mother was the daughter of a wealthy Spanish banker named Joyes.

At an early age young Blake manifested an ardent predilection for the profession of arms--a predilection inherent in his race, which had given Ireland many proofs of high valour during two centuries. While yet a boy he applied himself to the science of mathematics with great success, and was soon appointed Superintendent of Cadets in the military school established by Count O'Reilly, at Puerto de Santa Maria. In 1773, Blake commenced his military career as a volunteer in the Regiment of America, for it has long been an established principle in the Spanish armies that candidates for commissions must learn the art of war in the ranks; and for some years subsequent to this he served as lieutenant and adjutant to the battalion, so great was the progress he had made in his profession, and so intimate was his knowledge of regimental economy. At the beginning of the war waged by France against Spain, he was appointed Major of the Volunteers of Castile, without serving the intermediate rank of captain; a favour never before granted to any officer, even to a Spaniard. In this capacity he led his battalion with distinguished bravery during the campaigns of 1793 and 1794, in Roussillon and Catalonia, and was wounded when storming the heights of San Lorenzo de la Maga. He was appointed colonel in 1802, without passing through the grade of lieutenant-colonel, and obtained command of a newly-raised battalion, styled _Los Volontarios de la Corona_--the Volunteers of the Crown; and from thenceforward he bore a prominent part in all the warlike and political broils of Spain.

After the peace in 1802, Blake was made brigadier or Mariscal de Campo, by Charles IV., and on his volunteer regiment being numbered with the Spanish line, he was further confirmed in command of it. This position he occupied until the invasion of Spain by Bonaparte and the imprisonment of the king; after which ensued the great contest known as the Peninsula War, during which, by the unanimous voice of the Galicians, he was summoned to the chief command of their valuable and extensive province.

During the second operations of Marshal Bessières (Duke of Istria) in Spain, the army of Blake--twenty thousand strong--united with the ten thousand Castilian recruits of old Don Gregorio de la Cuesta, at Benevente in July, 1808, for the purpose of opposing him; but they soon disagreed; for, contrary to the wishes of Blake, whose fiery energy consorted ill with the indolence of Cuesta, that officer left a strong division to protect stores at Benevente, and led only twenty-five thousand infantry, a few hundred horse, and thirty pieces of cannon, towards Palencia, in the beautiful Tierra de Campos. _Contrary to his judgment_, a battle was risked (14th July, 1808) at Medina del Rio Seco, against the French under General Lasolles.

There, on that day, so fatal to Spain, notwithstanding all the energy of Blake, General Lasolles, with fifteen thousand men and thirty cannon, routed the soldiers of Castile and Galicia, with the loss of seven thousand two hundred of their number, killed, wounded, or taken; and the survivors fled with such absurd precipitation, that the French, in crossing the bed of the Sequillo in pursuit, and finding it dry and stony, exclaimed: "Diable! Why, Spanish rivers run away, too!"

The generals of the two Juntas separated in anger; but Blake had discovered such talents in the lost battle, that he was appointed Governor and Captain-General of the Kingdom of Galicia, and President of the Royal Audience.

He retreated towards the mountains, and Bessières then entered the city of Leon.

Meanwhile the Junta of that province and of Castile sided with Blake, to whom Marshal Bessières sent twelve hundred of the prisoners taken at Rio Seco; and believing it to be a favourable opportunity to tamper with their leaders, he wrote urging them to obey the act of abdication, and acknowledge Joseph Bonaparte, in whose name he offered Blake high rank and honours if he would enter the French service, like Colonel O'Meara of the Irish Brigade, Clarke the Duc de Feltre, General Kilmaine, Marshal MacCarthy, and other Irishmen; while to Cuesta he very _liberally_ offered the Viceroyalty of Mexico; but both the Spanish cavalier and the Irish soldier of fortune repelled his offers with disdain.

On the 17th September the latter advanced against the enemy with six columns, each five thousand strong. Descending from La Montana towards the Upper Ebro, he sent one division to menace the French in the Castle of Burgos, and turn the flank of Marshal Bessières; he left another at Villarcayo to preserve a communication with Reynosa and cover his retreat. He received supplies from General Broderick, who in his despatches complained bitterly that Blake treated him with hauteur, and declined to afford any information as to the nature of his intended operations. The French having abandoned Bilbao, it was regarrisoned by Marshal Ney; and after various evolutions, it was attacked on the 12th October by Blake, at the head of eighteen thousand men. Merlin, with three thousand French, abandoned the fortress and retreated, fighting every foot of the way until he reached Zornosa, where he was succoured by General Verdier, who checked the fury of Blake's pursuit. The winter was now approaching, and his troops began to be in want. Seldom have soldiers endured greater privations than those suffered by the poor Spaniards of Blake. They were destitute of caps, boots, and stockings, and had been constantly in the open air for months, without tents or proper food; yet not a murmur escaped them, nor a wish was uttered but to conquer for their country.

While the well appointed forces of France were hourly increasing, Blake, fearing neither difficulty nor danger, boldly ascended the valley of El Darongo to assail two divisions of the Fourth corps (Lefebre, Duke of Dantzig's), which occupied the neighbouring villages. Full of hope, he advanced, and anticipating, if successful, to capture Marshal Ney's corps of sixteen thousand men, fearlessly, with only eighteen thousand Spaniards, and almost without artillery, he hastened to engage twenty-five thousand Frenchmen of all arms!

Favoured by a dense mist, the Spaniards entered the valley, and for a time nothing was heard but the shots of their skirmishers ringing between the mountain peaks, till Vilatte's corps suddenly fell on Blake's vanguard, and hurled it back upon the third division at the bayonet's point. Then, on came the dark columns of Sebastiani and Laval, each looming in succession through the mist, while a fire of round and grape-shot from their artillery (to which Blake could not reply) swept through the rocky vale, heaping his ranks against each other, and strewing them on the grass.

Madly and bravely Blake, with his infantry and Guerillas, sought to defend every rock and pass of the valley; but they were driven back in full flight towards Bilbao, and crossing the Salcedon, took up a position at Nava, watched by seven thousand French under Vilatte.

After the battle of Gamonal, Soult resolved to make an effort for ever _to cut off Blake_, who, without cavalry, clothing, or food, had reached Espinosa with six divisions and only six pieces of cannon, which he posted in rear of the town at Aguilar del Campo. He had now only twenty-five thousand bayonets, but strongly and skilfully posted. His left wing, composed of Asturians, and his old favourite division occupied the heights above the road to St. Andero; another covered the road to Reynosa, and Romano's soldiers filled a wood two miles in his front.

He was attacked at two o'clock on the 10th November by Marshal Victor, whose soldiers carried the wood at the point of the bayonet, forced his centre, turned his left flank, and he had the mortification to see San Romano and Don Luiz de Riquelmé, his two best brigadiers, fall mortally wounded. His Spaniards were hurled in masses upon each other, and utterly routed. Romano's corps were all taken to a man; the rest fled through Castile, Leon, Galicia, and Asturia, carrying everywhere the tidings of their defeat and the terror of the French name; and poor Blake, jaded, weary, exasperated, and disheartened, reached Reynosa on the 12th, with only seven thousand men--his old division--without artillery, without arms, without spirit, and without hope!

Such was the battle of Espinosa. Blake, in this terrible condition, was attacked by the vanguard of Soult, and after losing two thousand men, retired through the vale of Caburniego, and reached Arnedo in the heart of the Asturian Sierras.

Spain was now nearly prostrate at the feet of France!

In 1809, Blake was appointed Captain-General of the _Coronilla_, or Lesser Crown; a title given to the union of Valencia, Aragon, and Catalonia. In the latter he succeeded General Romano. Gathering his forces in April, restless and indefatigable, he advanced to Alcanitz, from whence the French retired to Samper and Ixar. On this Marshal Suchet advanced against him with the third corps, and on the 23rd of May they fought the battle of Alcanitz.

Blake was skilfully posted in front of the town with twelve thousand men. The bridge of Guadaloupe was in his rear; a pool of water covered his left, but his right was without protection; his centre occupied a hill. With only eight thousand foot and seven hundred horse Suchet attacked him, but without success. Rendered desperate by reverses, the Spaniards stood firm, and fought with their ancient rather than their modern bravery. Suchet was wounded and compelled to retreat: this retreat became a panic, and in great confusion the French reached Samper in the night. This small success was a cause for rejoicing all over Spain. "The victory at Alcanitz," was in every man's mouth, and the Supreme Junta gave Blake an estate, and added the ancient kingdom of Murcia to his command. He now hoped to recover the far-famed Zaragossa, and turning all his thoughts to Aragon, neglected the defence of Catalonia.

After the late victory his little army was augmented by more than twenty thousand men, and full of new hope and enthusiasm he marched with these to Ixar and Samper.

Suchet hovered near Zaragossa, but left a column under General Faber at Villa Muel, near the Sierra of Daroca, to watch Blake, who, hoping to cut that officer off, marched through Carinena, so famed for its vineyards, and sent General Arisayo with a detachment to Bottorio, with orders to capture a convoy of French provisions on the Huerba. This movement was successful, and lack of food forced Faber to retreat towards Plascencia.

The advanced guards exchanged shots on the 14th of June at Bottorio, and Blake, full of confidence, made a vigorous attempt to surround the French by pushing a column to Maria on the plains of Zaragossa; on the 15th he formed his troops in order of battle, but slowly and unskilfully, as they were raw soldiers, who had but recently relinquished the vinedresser's knife for the musket and sword. Occupying both banks of the Huerba, towards 2 p.m. he extended his left flank to overlap the French right; but Suchet, who was unexpectedly joined by Faber's brigade and another from Tudela, paralysed the movement by a furious attack of cavalry and voltigeurs. Blake's left fell back at the very moment that he was triumphantly leading on his centre, and he became involved in a desperate sword-in-hand conflict, in which the leading columns of Suchet were repulsed. He would have achieved more but for a violent storm which arose at that moment, and so darkened the air that the adverse lines could scarcely see each other, and for a time the action ceased. Blake's position was ill chosen (according to the memoirs of Suchet); he was surrounded by deep ravines, and had only one line of retreat by the bridge of Maria, which crossed the Huerba near his right wing.

Marshal Suchet observed this error, and on the storm lulling, selected some cavalry and two regiments of infantry, and forming them, all drenched as they were by rain, in solid column, by a vigorous effort he broke through Blake's brigade of horse, seized the bridge, and cut off his retreat!

Undaunted by this fatal event, Blake, at all times brave and decided, formed his infantry of the left and centre into solid masses, and fought desperately for victory; but was repulsed with great loss, and defeated, leaving one general, twenty-five guns, and many colours on that rough and rocky field, from which he was driven about dusk, when the darkness was so dense that few prisoners were taken. Suchet had Harispe wounded and a thousand men slain.

Favoured by the obscurity of the night, Blake's men fled by the ravines to Bottorio, where he made incredible efforts to rally and remodel them next day. Then he received tidings that a French brigade, under Laval, was marching by the Ebro to cut off his retreat. To anticipate this movement Blake fell back on the night of the 16th, and after skirmishing with Suchet next day at Torrecilla, _again_ formed line of battle on the 18th, to meet him at Belchite, a small town in Aragon. Blake had on this day only fourteen thousand men, dispirited by recent repulse and the loss of nearly all their artillery. Suchet had twenty-two battalions and seven squadrons, with a fine artillery corps, all flushed by recent success, and making fifteen thousand men; thus the result may be anticipated--a defeat!

He had four thousand of his men taken, with the remainder of his artillery, all his baggage and ammunition. He had many difficulties to contend with as leader of an undisciplined army, and stung to the soul by this second defeat, he reproached the Spaniards with great bitterness as shameless cowards; and, after demanding an inquiry into his own conduct, "with a strong and sincere emotion of honour," restored to the Junta the estate which had been conferred upon him after the victorious battle of Alcanitz.

Following up the victory of Belchite, Marshal Suchet sent detachments as far as Morella on the Valencian frontier; but no man in arms appeared to meet them, for Blake's dispersion was signal and complete. His march towards Zaragossa, and his attempt to wrest Aragon from the foe, were fatal to the Spanish cause in Catalonia, where St. Cyr, with more than forty thousand men, occupied the country between Figueras and the city of Gerona, which was blockaded by eighteen thousand Frenchmen, who pressed with vigour one of the most memorable sieges suffered by this ancient ducal city, which was bravely defended by its intrepid Catalans. Blake was ordered by the central Junta of Seville to succour them, as the garrison were defending half-ruined walls with a valour and obstinacy which filled the city with a thousand scenes of horror and distress. He marched accordingly at the head of a weak and irregular force, which was thoroughly dispirited by the result of the two last battles; and thus he resolved to confine his operations simply to supplying the town with men and provisions, rather than risk his strength by attempting to raise a siege which, if essayed with success, would save Gerona, and with it all Catalonia.

Collecting two thousand mules laden with flour, he sent them with four thousand foot and five hundred horse, under Henry O'Donnel and Garcia Condé, towards this strong and picturesque little city, which they reached after a furious encounter with the enemy during a dark and stormy night; but the provisions received did not amount to much more than eight days' food for the starving Geronese and their garrison, which was encumbered rather than aided by Garcia Condé's reinforcement. St. Cyr now resolved to seek out Blake and destroy him for ever; but rendered wary by misfortune, he retired into the mountains, and thus ended his first attempt to relieve the city of Gerona.

Soon after, still hovering near the French, and threatening them, he advanced to the position of St. Hilario; and on St. Cyr preparing to storm the post called Calvary, Blake, from the 20th to the 25th of September, 1809, made movements as if he meant to force the blockade; but being incapable of doing so, his whole object was merely to introduce another convoy; and, watching an opportunity, while drawing the attention of St. Cyr towards the heights of San Sadurnia, on which he had posted a column, he sent 10,000 men under Wimphen towards Gerona. O'Donnel led the vanguard. A dreadful conflict took place on Wimphen's attempting to force the French lines. He was defeated; and in the twilight Blake failed to succour him; but Henry O'Donnel, another gallant Irish soldier of fortune, succeeded in hewing a passage into Gerona with 1000 men and 200 laden mules. Irritated by Blake's second attempt to succour Gerona, St. Cyr marched a column to menace his communication with the citadel of Hostalric, a depôt of magazines on the Tordera. On this he was forced to retreat, leaving to its fate the noble little city of Gerona, which, as its heroic captain, General Alvarez, said, "if not succoured again by all Catalonia, will soon be but a heap of carcases and ruins."

Again, on the 29th October, we find the unwearied Blake hovering on the heights of Brunola, watching the siege of Gerona, and while he was thus occupied, Hostalric was stormed by the French, and 2000 Spaniards, with all his magazines, were taken therein. On the 10th November Gerona capitulated, and Alvarez, its brave and veteran governor, died of a broken heart at Figueras, when on the march towards France, a prisoner of war. Blake now retired to Tarragona, leaving the remains of his army under Henry O'Donnel, who drove Marshal Augereau into Gerona, and received command of the troops at Vich, on Blake being called into Andalusia.

In May the seaport of Tarragona was besieged, taken, and sacked by Suchet, in a manner discreditable alike to his talents as a soldier and his humanity as a man. During the horrors of that affair, which covered the French with infamy, Blake was in Valencia, having sailed for that province on the 16th of May, in search for succour; but Tarragona was lost, and then he assumed command of the Murcian army, which was 22,000 strong, and had remained inactive ever since General O'Mahy's appointment. In June, 1811, the firmness and activity of Wellington formed a strong contrast to the wavering and indolent demeanour of the Spanish generals, until Blake marched to Condado de Niebla, on concerting a movement down the right bank of the Guadiana with the British general, who delivered to him the pontoons lately used at Badajoz. He marched on the 18th, crossed the Guadiana on the 22nd, at the ancient town of Mertola, where the stream first becomes navigable: but halted at Castillegos on the 30th, and sent his siege train to Ayamonte by water. Then, instead of moving his whole force directly on the great city of Seville, he sent only a small column of cavalry, under the gallant Conde de Penne Villamur, in that direction; and, unfortunately, consumed two entire days in besieging the castle of Niebla--a small fortress, which gave the title of count to the eldest son of the Duke of Medina, and was garrisoned by 300 Swiss, who had deserted from the Spanish army at the commencement of the war, and whom he was most anxious to capture and punish. The absence of his siege train rendered the attack futile; and Soult, on hearing of it, sent a detachment from Monasterio to relieve the Swiss, who defended themselves with great valour, while General Conraux crossed the mountains by the Aracena road, to cut off all communication between Blake and his artillery at Ayamonte. Thus he was compelled to abandon the siege, and by a precipitate march reach a pontoon bridge which was thrown across the stream for him by Colonel Austin at San Lucar de Guadiana, from whence he took shelter in Portugal.

Still indefatigable, he projected an assault upon San Lucar de Barameda; but the sudden appearance of Soult's advanced guard disconcerted his troops, who retreated to Ayamonte, and from thence to the Isle of Camelas, where a Spanish frigate and 300 transports fortunately arrived in time to afford him the means of escape. Early in July he embarked all his troops, and sailed to Cadiz, as the French had reinforced San Lucar and taken possession of Ayamonte.

Landing at Almeria, Blake formed a junction with Freire, and proposed to invest Granada; but deeming it necessary first to visit Valencia, where the factious Marquis del Palacio was acting most unwisely, he left his army, now 27,000 strong, under Freire, and before he could return it had utterly dispersed!

After the rout of the Murcians at Baza in Granada, he rallied the fugitives, and in virtue of his authority as regent assumed the chief direction of the war in Valencia, where his noble efforts were nearly rendered futile by the villainy of Palacio's faction, who opposed him and endeavoured to detach the soldiers and people from his authority, and proposed to inundate the plains that lie round the black marble mountain of Murviedro; but on Suchet invading the province, Blake concentrated his ill-armed and undisciplined but brave horde of peasantry to meet him. Exclusive of 5000 infantry and 700 Murcian horsemen, under O'Mahy, at Cuença, and 2000 men under Bassecour at Riguena, in September, he had 20,000 foot and 2000 horse; but, as a foreigner by name and race, he was unpopular both in Murcia and Valencia, "and the regency of which he formed a part was tottering," adds General Napier, in the fourth volume of his history. "The Cortes had quashed O'Mahy's command of the Murcian army, and even recalled Blake himself; but the order, which did not reach him until he was engaged with Suchet, was not obeyed. Meanwhile that part of the Murcian army which should have formed a reserve after O'Mahy's division had marched for Cuença, fell into the greatest disorder; above 8000 men deserted in a few weeks, and those who remained were exceedingly dispirited."

Suchet's army entered in three columns, passed Castellon de la Plana, masked Pensicola, invested Oropesa, and skirmished at Almansora, where a few French, by bravely routing a great body of Spaniards, made Blake doubt seriously the firmness of his troops; and thus leaving four thousand men under O'Donnel at Segorbe, he retired beyond the Guadalquiver, leaving Valencia in confusion. Suchet then invested the town of Saguntum, and again turning all his attention to destroy Blake, after much manoeuvring, they fought their disastrous battle of the 25th October, 1811.

On the level and fertile plain which lies between Murviedro and Valencia, and is intersected by torrents and ravines, fringed by olive-trees, Suchet drew out his lines of battle before the ramparts of Saguntum, where Blake was defeated, with the loss of 5000 men; and on the Emperor Napoleon reinforcing Suchet with 15,000 men, under General Reille (a Reilly of Irish parentage), the position of Blake and his Andalusians became more than ever desperate.

He had now fought _five pitched battles_ as a general, and had under his command 22,000 foot and 3000 horse. In November, Suchet advanced towards the Guadalquiver with a force diminished to 18,000 men by garrisons and detachments. Though Blake had destroyed two of the bridges, and manned the houses, and was in hourly expectation of a general rising of the Valencians, the French fearlessly stormed his defences, crossed the river, menaced his front, and harassed his rear, until he was compelled to form an intrenched camp five miles in extent, enclosing the city of Valencia and three of its suburbs. A twelve-feet ditch surrounded this camp, the slope of which was so high as to require ladders.

The battle of Valencia, fought in December, 1811, followed. O'Mahy was defeated, and fled to Alcira, leaving Blake blocked up in the fortified camp with eighteen thousand men in want of provisions, while the French were well and freely supplied by the _Valencians_, who, as Blake reports, "were a bad people." On the 2nd December he made a bold effort to break through Suchet's lines, and sallied out at the head of ten thousand men; but was repulsed, and Suchet pushed more vigorously than ever the siege of the city, knowing well that it was impossible for Blake to remain long in a camp which included a starving population of fifty thousand souls. The fire of sixty great guns drove Blake into the city, abandoning his camp on the 5th December to the foe, who found in it eighty pieces of cannon. In the evening Suchet summoned Valencia; but Blake declined to yield. Then skirmishes, assaults, and bombarding continued till the 9th, when the citizens were on the point of insurging against Blake, and insisted that he should surrender. He complained bitterly of their cowardice, and required leave to march with his soldiers to Alicant with their baggage, colours, and only four pieces of cannon.

These terms were refused him.

The Valencians opened their gates, and the brave but unfortunate Blake was compelled to surrender his sword, and march out at the head of twenty-two generals, eight hundred and ninety-three other officers, and eighteen thousand men, as prisoners of war; leaving in the hands of the enemy eighty stand of colours, two thousand horses, three hundred and ninety pieces of cannon, forty thousand stand of arms, one hundred and eighty thousand pounds of powder, and three millions of ball-cartridges, with a vast store of other warlike munition.

After the fall of Valencia he had no opportunity of achieving anything of importance; and in May, 1812, the Regent Charles O'Donnel, Conde de Abispal, bestowed the command of the Valencian forces upon his own brother Joseph, who rallied at Alicant the remains of Blake's army, four thousand of whom escaped from Suchet's guards.

For his last important capture, Suchet was created Duke of Albufera; and poor Blake, as a prisoner of war too important to be exchanged, was ordered into France with his two aides-de-camp.

The preceding has been but a brief outline of the career, services, and struggles of Blake, whose popularity, by a combination of circumstances over which he had no control, was almost destroyed for ever in Spain.

He was accompanied to the Spanish frontier by the Adjutant-General Florestan Pipi, who was then sent to Naples. On entering France he was sent to Paris, and from thence to the strong Château de Vincennes, where he remained a close prisoner until the fall of the Imperial Government; but this captivity did not prevent the Cortes from appointing him a Counsellor of State when naming the regency. The triumph of the allies having broken his fetters in 1814, after receiving many marks of favour from the Emperor Alexander, he returned into Spain under the ministry of Ballasteros, and was appointed Director-General of the Corps of Engineers. He occupied this honourable post until the revolution of 1820, when, in exchange, he received a seat in the Council of State. When war was threatened between France and Spain in 1823 he was appointed, on the 7th February, one of the committee of five generals who were ordered to concert measures for defending the kingdom. In the French army which entered Spain in that year, under the Marquis of Lauriston (an officer of _Scottish_ parentage), we find two lieutenant-generals of _Irish_ descent--Count Bourke and Viscount O'Donoughue; the Duke of Angoulême was General-in-Chief, and to him, the Duke of Berwick and Alba, a Spanish grandee of the Stuart blood, gave his adherence. The restoration caused by the French intervention under the Marshal Lauriston was fatal to Blake; for being suspected by the royalists of constitutional principles, he was only able to avoid prosecution by great care and solicitude: but his career was drawing to a close, as he died at Valladolid in 1827, regretted by all the Spanish army, and eulogized by the people in their songs and stories of "the War of Independence."

The military men who had borne arms under him, says a French writer, recognised and admitted his positive talent, his great knowledge and perspicacité of tactiques; but agreed that he failed in two essential points--the prompt _coup d'oeil_ which decides at once the fortune of a battle, and that art of manner by which it is necessary to excite the enthusiasm of the soldier.

A distinguished branch of the old Celtic sept of O'Donnel has borne a prominent part in the Spanish annals during the last fifty years; but so early as the days of Philip of Anjou and Charles of Spain, we find an O'Donnel fighting in the ranks of their armies.

Soon after the accession of James VI. to the English throne, he was engaged in the last struggle of the Crown against the houses of O'Donnel and O'Neil. An earldom was bestowed as a peace-offering upon the chief of the former; but his plots against the king soon deprived him of it: his estates were seized, an English colony planted in the land of his tribe, and he fled to the Court of Spain, between which and the Irish there had been a close connexion during the animosity of Philip II. and Elizabeth. He was welcomed with all the honours of a Castilian grandee, and attained a high rank under King Charles. Eighty years after this we find his descendant, Baldearg O'Donnel, still remembering the days when the chiefs, or petty princes of his race, were solemnly inaugurated as the successors of St. Columba on the Rock of Kilmacrenan. He resigned his commission in the service of Philip V., of whom he begged permission to join the Irish, then in arms against William of Orange. Philip refused; but the O'Donnel fled by a route so circuitous that he visited Turkey, and after enduring many privations, landed at Kinsale in 1690, where seven thousand armed Ulster-men hailed him with joy, as the _Red O'Donnel_ of an ancient Celtic prophecy.

From Baldearg O'Donnel is descended General Count O'Donnel, who commanded the army of Maria Theresa on the fall of Count Lacy at the great battle of Toorgau in 1761; and also General O'Donnel, Vice-Governor of Lombardy, who was attacked by the Milanese during the Austrian revolution of 1848, when his palace was stormed and himself taken prisoner. There was also a Count O'Donnel in the Hungarian service, who died at Brussels in 1767, after reaching the patriarchal age of one hundred and two years.

Of this ancient Celtic family there are now, or were lately, four general officers of the highest rank in the service of Great Britain, Spain, Austria, and America; but of these the most distinguished is Leopold O'Donnel, Conde de Lucena and Marshal in the service of Donna Isabella II.

The four O'Donnels, Henry, Charles, Joseph, and Alexander, who attained such distinction in Spain during the Peninsula War, were the sons of Irish gentlemen who emigrated to that country during the latter end of the last century; and of their services and honours our limits will allow but a brief outline; while General Sarsfield, Colonel O'Ronan, A.D.C. to the Marquis de Campo Verde, or such partisan soldiers as MacDonel, the unfortunate Guerilla chief who fell in action, Captain Flinter the Christino, or General O'Doyle and his brother, a captain, who were taken prisoners at the last battle of Vittoria, and shot in cold blood by Zumalacarregui, can only be indicated here by name.

CHARLES (afterwards) Count O'Donnel first became known to history in 1810, when commanding at Albuquerque, from whence, on the 14th March, he made a vigorous attempt to surprise General Foy, but was driven into Casceres. Marching towards the ancient city of Merida on the 2nd April, he drove back General Regnier and made an attempt to surprise Truxillo (the birthplace of Pizarro), which is situated on a mountain. Here he was repulsed, and with difficulty effected a retreat to Albuquerque; but three months after we find him at Truxillo again, co-operating with Don Carlos de España, with whom he cut off the French at Rio Monte. In May he had lent two thousand infantry and two hundred cannoneers to Blake, to enable that officer to conduct the siege of Tarragona, receiving in return from Captain Codrington two thousand British muskets to equip a new levy. He allowed four thousand of his best Valencians to embark with Miranda to fight at Tarragona, but not until he received a pledge that the British would bring back all who survived the siege.

Charles served long with Blake, and was in most of the battles just recounted; thus, to rehearse his earlier services would be to enumerate those of Blake a second time.

In September, 1811, when the latter was forced to retire beyond the Guadalaviar, he left Charles O'Donnel with four thousand men on the side of Segorbe; and on investing Saguntum in October, he sent him with Villa Campo's division and San Juan's cavalry to Betera. There O'Donnel was attacked by Harispe, though well posted in rear of a canal, and having his centre protected by a chapel and some houses; but the French advanced with such fury, that the Spaniards were swept away by the first fire.

In the war of 1823, General O'Donnel commanded a corps of Royalists, which were destroyed by the troops of Torrijos, the Constitutionalist; and soon after, his wife, the Condesa de O'Donnel, had a narrow escape from a party of the Empecinado, who were sent to Valladolid to take her prisoner, but were repulsed by the troops of the Marshal Duke of Reggio.

Charles O'Donnel was now Captain-General of Old Castile, and as such, in the month of August, he summoned and took from its insurgent garrison, under General Jalon, the citadel of Ciudad Rodrigo. By the convention between them, it appears that the governor of the fortress undertook to obey any orders he might receive direct from the king; but displayed great distrust of the royalists and the Irish commander. After this, the latter marched into Estremadura, everywhere crushing the Constitutionalists, and enforcing the supremacy of the king. In August his head-quarters were at Salamanca, and in October at Algesiras. This war, in which the absolute power of Ferdinand was fatally enforced by the bayonets of France under Marshal Lauriston, the Duke of Reggio, and others, soon ended; but though smothered for a time, the restless spirit of the Spaniards soon again broke forth into a flame, and most fatally for the house of O'Donnel, as shall be shown in the sequel.

JOSEPH O'DONNEL, who had been serving with his brothers against the common enemy, was appointed by the regent, the Conde de Abispal, to succeed Blake in command of the Murcians and Valencians in May, 1812. He collected the remains of these two armies, remodelled them with great energy, raised new levies, and during the illness of Marshal Suchet mustered fourteen thousand men in the neighbourhood of Alicant.

These operations, with others in Catalonia, brought on the battle of Castalla in July, when, with 6000 foot, 700 horse, and eight guns, he fought General Harispe on the mountains; but on the rough pathway and a narrow bridge near Biar, the Spanish infantry were borne down by the weight and fury of the French cuirassiers, and forced to retreat, leaving 3000 slain on the field. O'Donnel, who had made incredible exertions to gain the day, and had fired two pieces of cannon at the bridge with his own hands, attributed his defeat to the disobedience and inability of San Estevan, who commanded his cavalry, and who, by holding that force aloof, took no share in the battle. Pursued by the French cuirassiers, Joseph fled by the Jumella road, and reached the city of Murcia, where he was joined by General Maitland's armament from Sicily, and thus saved from destruction; but he unwisely required that officer to abstain from all requisitions for forage and rations from the neighbouring country. Maitland assented, and immediately sank under the unnecessary difficulties thus created. In August, when O'Donnel was at Yecla with 6000 men, the Cortes passed a severe censure upon him for his conduct at the battle of Castalla; so severe, indeed, that his brother, the Conde de Abispal, a proud and haughty soldier, resigned his high command during the campaign, which ended in Wellington's retreat from Burgos; and then the weakness of the Spanish Government became more than ever apparent.

On the 6th of December, when at Malaga, Joseph wrote a long letter to General Donkin, concerning the _malheur_ at Castalla, in which we find his knowledge of English so imperfect that he was obliged, after a dozen of lines, to adopt and end it in French; and after this unfortunate defeat we hear no more of him.

ALEXANDER O'DONNEL, the third brother, was colonel of a regiment of Spanish infantry, and served with it in the Danish Isles under Romana. Attacked there by overwhelming numbers, they effected their escape in 1808; but on being made captives at Espinosa, they entered the French ranks to the number of 4500, and served in Napoleon's Continental war, until they were all taken prisoners by the Russians on the retreat from Moscow, when they were brought back to Spain in British ships, under the care of Captain Hill of the Royal Navy. One of the Spanish corps which returned after this strange career of military service was the regiment of Don Alexander O'Donnel, which had been fully equipped by the Emperor Alexander in 1812, and for which the daughter of General Betancourt embroidered a pair of colours. It was styled the _Imperial Alexander Regiment_, and under O'Donnel distinguished itself in the national cause till after the disasters of 1823.

HENRY O'DONNEL, Conde de Abispal, who, like his brother, had been serving with success and distinction in the battles of the Peninsula, was a brave, reckless, and determined soldier, possessed of military talents of a very high order, together with a heedlessness of his own life and of the lives of others. Passing, with honour to himself, through all the subaltern ranks, he was a colonel of Spanish infantry in 1809, when Blake ordered him to command in the attack upon Sauham's posts near Brunola, where, on the 31st August, he had the mortification of seeing the place retaken, after he had carried it at the point of the bayonet.

On the 26th September, as related in the memoir of Blake, he led the advanced guard in the brilliant attempt to relieve Gerona. On the 13th October he broke out of the city, sword in hand, hewed a passage through the French blockade, and, falling on Sauham's quarters sabre _à la main_, forced that general to fly in his shirt, and successfully achieved one of the most daring enterprises of that memorable siege. In 1810, on succeeding Blake in command of the Catalonians--an appointment bestowed by the provincial Junta, who heard of his high reputation--he attacked Marshal Augereau with great fury, and drove him into Gerona. He took up a position at Vich, but on the approach of the French retired to the Col de Sespina, where he led a charge so fierce and decisive, that Sauham's battalions were hurled from the hills in confusion upon the plain. Marching to Manresa, he summoned the Miguelets from Lerida to his colours. These were a species of banditti who infested the mountains, and were armed with pistols, daggers, and blunderbusses. With 12,000 men, Henry O'Donnel took up a position at Maya in February, and harassed the French before Vich, where he fought and lost a severe battle, and was forced to retreat to the Sierras, and from thence to Tarragona, leaving a fourth of his men dead on the field.

O'Donnel, "whose energy and military talents," says Napier, "were superior to all his predecessors," now sent Caro with 6000 men against the French at Villa Franca, where unfortunately they were all killed or captured; and being wounded, he was compelled for a time to resign the command to General Gasca.

On the 6th April, he harassed the French, then retreating from Tarragona towards Barcelona; and after retiring from Vich with an army discomfited by only 5000 Frenchmen, with the same discomfited men he baffled Augereau, who led 20,000 bayonets; forced him to abandon Lower Catalonia, and to retreat in disgrace to Gerona, where Marshal Macdonald, a Scotsman, was sent by Napoleon to succeed him. During the investment of Hostalric by the French, Henry O'Donnel collected many convoys for its relief; he attacked the blockade at several points with the Miguelets, and particularly distinguished himself in a noble and dashing attempt to relieve the brave Julian Estrada, on the night of the 12th May, when this strong citadel fell. During the siege of Lerida by Suchet, O'Donnel collected two divisions of 4000 each; with these and 600 cavalry he skilfully passed the defile of Momblanch, and fought the contest of Margalef, where his troops were defeated; but he rallied, and led them again upon the columns of the Duc d'Albufera. The struggle was terrible; but he was forced to retreat through the passes, leaving one general, eight colonels, 5000 men, and three guns in the hands of the foe. His force was now 1400 strong, well supplied by the active Miguelets; and by the bravery of his soldiers and his own unwearying zeal he long prevented the siege of Tortoza, and found full employment for the enemy during the remainder of the year.

"After the battle of Margalef, Henry O'Donnel re-united his forces, and being of a stern, unyielding disposition, not only repressed the discontents occasioned by that defeat, but forced the reluctant (and lawless) Miguelets to supply his ranks and submit to discipline." Thus, in July he had twenty-two thousand men when Marshals Macdonald and Suchet combined to crush him, and when Napoleon's order to invest Tortoza arrived. On this O'Donnel, after making a skilful feint towards Trivisa, suddenly threw himself with ten thousand men into the fated city, from whence, upon the noon of the 3rd July, he fell furiously upon the French entrenchments, and made a fearful slaughter of the troops of Laval. After this he retired to Tarragona. Having cut off Macdonald's communication with the walled city of Ampurias, he now conceived and executed the most skilful and vigorous plan which had yet graced the Spanish arms.

Leaving Campo Verde in the valley of Aro, on the 14th, he marched rapidly down from Casa de Silva upon Abispal, where the French, under Swartz, were entrenched. He attacked them, slew two hundred, and, taking the rest, embarked them for Tarragona, whither he retired soon after, to take a little repose, being troubled by his last wound; yet in January, 1811, we find him again in arms, directing the movements of the army, and harassing Marshals Macdonald and Suchet, though unable to ride or appear in the field; and on his being created Conde de Abispal, he resigned the command of his Catalonians, three thousand in number, to Campo Verde, being so disabled by wounds that he was quite unable to conduct the siege of Tortoza.

In October, 1812, he was appointed to that situation, which several Irish soldiers of fortune have held--Captain-General of Andalusia,--and on Wellington reaching Cadiz in December of that year, after the retreat from Burgos, on his making a complete re-organization of the Spanish forces, the first reserve corps was given to the Conde de Abispal, and the second reserve to Lacy. Thus they both served in the new campaign which ended so gloriously on the field of Vittoria. After this signal victory, the task of reducing the forts near the tremendous pass of Pancorbo, which secured the approach to the Ebro, was given to the Irish Conde and his Andalusians, to whom they fell partly by storm and partly by capitulation.

On the 14th July, 1813, to O'Donnel and his reserve of five thousand was permanently entrusted the important duty of blocking up the French garrison in Pampeluna, now almost the last stronghold of Napoleon in Spain. This task he conducted with great vigour, while Wellington secured the passes of the Pyrenees and pushed the siege of San Sebastian; but on Soult forcing the passes on the 25th July, such an alarm reached Pampeluna, that the Conde de Abispal spiked some of his cannon, blew up his magazines, abandoned the trenches, and but for Picton's victorious stand at Huarte, was prepared to retreat. On the fortunate arrival of a small Spanish division under Don Carlos d'Espana, the blockade was resumed and the siege pressed with renewed vigour.