The English in Spain; or, the story of the War of Succession between 1834 and 1840, etc

Front matter

MOREL-LA IN 1838. Frontispiece THE ENGLISH IN SPAIN; OB, THE STORY OF THE WAR OF SUCCESSION Between 1834 and 1840. COMPILKD FROM THE LETTERS, JOURNALS, AND REPORTS OF GENERALS W. WYLDE, SIE COLLINGWOOD DICKSON, W. H. ASKWITH; COLONELS LACY, COLQUHOUN, MICHELL, AND MAJOR TURNER, R.A. AND COLONELS ALDERSON, DU PLAT, AND LYNN, R.E., Commissioners with Queen Isabella's Armies. By MAJOK FEANCIS DUNCAN, M.A., D.C.L., LL.D., K ROYAL ARTILLERY, F.R.G.S., F.G.S. ; .VCTHOE OF THE " HISTORT OF THE EOTAL ARTILLERY." WITH ILLUSTRATIONS By L1EUT.-GENERAL W. H. ASKWITH, R.A. ; AND MAP. LONDON : JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 1877. LONDON : PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS. TO HIS MAJESTY ALFONSO XII., KING OF SPAIN, THIS NARRATIVE OF A LONG AND DESOLATING WAR IN THE COUNTRY OVER WHICH HE REIGNS IS RESPECTFULLY AND BY PERMISSION JBrtficatclr By THE AUTHOR. ESPARTER

Preface

. The Author in the course of his researches into the history of the Royal Artillery during the years subsequent to 1815, — the date at which his published record of the services of that great corps terminates, found many interesting letters and journals written by some of the most distinguished of his brother officers, who had been employed under the English Foreign Office as Commissioners with Queen Isabella's armies during the Civil War in Spain between 1834 and 1840. Although, perhaps, to many English readers this war may not present features of special interest equal to those of the great 'Peninsular War, yet there must be to the student of history matter for congratulation, when from an impartial source information is obtained about a time during which our countrymen contributed to the pacification and union of a great and — until lately — a divided people.

To artillery officers in England it is hoped that this contribution to the history of their corps may be valuable and welcome. The men whose industry has virtually built up this work lived in a time of regimental stagnation, which made them hunger for any loop-hole beyond their own immediate duties. It was a cruel time for testing a man's Preface. VI real merits,- — a merciless time for exposing those who had no merits to be tested. But the test was successfully en countered by the officers who were employed as Commis sioners by the English Government, and the more their con duct is revealed, the more certain is it to excite the pride of their countrymen. Now, — when the air is rife with tales of unprecedented horror, and while a war is going on almost unparalleled in atrocity and loss of life, the reader will especially commend the labours of those who did so much in Spain to lessen the sufferings of the sick and wounded, and to minimize the miseries of the non-combatant population.

The terms of the Eliot Convention would have been but empty platitudes, had it not been for the ceaseless labours of those English officers, who for the first time in Spanish history or ganized that which reads like a paradox — philanthropy in war. Of all these Commissioners, the late General Wylde was facile princeps. He lived to see some of these pages, but died ere they were in type. Such was the modesty which characterised him, that the Author dared not show him the chapters which attempted to describe his special powers. In publishing them now, the Author feels that he is giving to the world an inadequate " In Memoriam " of one who was as generous in his views as he was astute in his action. To his astuteness and generosity he added that courtesy and tact which have so large a share in commanding and in fluencing men.

One of the chief difficulties to be encountered by the student of Spanish history lies in the absence of maps of sufficient accuracy and detail to enable the frequent movements of the opposing armies to be traced and understood. The accompanying Map demands the reader's indulgence. The Author of " England's Artillerymen," Mr. James Browne, has with his usual enthusiasm and industry in all matters connected with his Regiment, devoted himself to the compilation of an Index to this work. The thanks of the Author are for a third time his due, and are cheerfully — gratefully — rendered. CONTENTS. Page Preface v Introduction xi Chapter I. — The English Commissioner 1 II.— MlNA 13 III. — The Eliot Convention 2(i IV.— Valdez 35 V. — The True Story of the British Legion .. 41 VI. — The Death of Zumalacarreguy 52 VIL— Cordova 58 VIII. — The Royal Artillery Contingent 78 IX. — The Mocking March of Gomez 88 X. — Raising the Siege of Bilbao 96 XL— Cabrera 109 XII.— Hernani 124 XIII. — He-organisation of the British Legion and the Action of Huesca 137 XIV.— Clouds 142 XV. — The Advance of Don Carlos on Madrid .. 150 XVI. — The Fueros 163 XVII. — The Munagorri Episode 176 XVIII. — The Growth of Espartero 188 XIX. — Massacre and Reprisal 208 XX. — The First Siege of Morella Contents.

VIII Chapter Page XXI. — The Defection of Maroto 244. XXII.— Catalonia 271 XXIII. — The Sacrifice of Van Halen 280 XXIV. — Concentration • 290 XXV. — The Second Siege of Morella 304 XXVI.— The End of the War 315 XX VII.— The 7th of October, 1841 324 Appendix LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Page Morella in 1838 .. .. .. .. .. Frontispiece. EsrARTEKO .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. v Graves of the British Legion .. .. ... .. .. 51 House where Zumalacarreguy was shot .. .. .. 57 Canta Vieja .. .. .. .. .. .. .. to face 120 Bunol, Valencia .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 152 Castillon de la Plana .. .. .. .. .. .. 155 Chiva .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 155 Teruel 213 Alcaniz, Ar agon .. .. .. .. .. .. to face 225 Segorbe .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 280 Daroca 283 Segura, Aragon .. .. .. .. .. .. to sice 283 Murviedro .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 287 Montalvan, Aragon .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 289 Tales 295 Chulilla .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 296 Ares 299 Castle of Alcala, Aragon.. .. .. .. .. .. 300 Ai.cala de la Selva . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301 Baxix 302 Ai.puente, Valencia .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 302 Morella .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 314 Manzanbra .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 318 Castel Favit .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 318 Caspe " .. 322 Map of North and North-East of Spain .. .. .. At the end.

Introduction

. Madrid, during the continuance of that war, the course of which it is attempted to trace in the following pages, presented a succession of phases which it is almost painful to contemplate. The anarchy and confusion foretold by the dying Ferdinand had made their appearance. Around the baby-Queen, politicians of every shade, schemers and earnest men, place-holders and place-hunters, and generals who preferred the quill to the sword, crowded with real or affected anxiety, and with very real mutual suspicion. Political dreamers made that young life the centre of their visions ; in it was to be fulfilled the widely-different hopes of men who agreed only in their sincerity ; and in it the greedy and the ambitious office-seekers fondly hoped to realise the attainment of their selfish ends. Nor was it only in Court and Cortes that this feverish restlessness was apparent.

Daily in the Puerta del Sol, " le siege inofficiel du Gouvernement,"* excited speculators shouted or moaned over battles, not on account of the victories or the defeats, but according as the consequent rise or fall in securi ties swelled or diminished their individual gains. Knowing this full well, there were at times weak generals in the field, such as Cordova, who fought untimely battles, rather than offend the impatience of the Puerta. * Martignac. Introduction. XII ' L'Espagne: par J. Tanski.' Paris, 1844. Ibid. The streets were crowded by the class so bitterly criticised by a contemporary writer. This most powerful class con sisted of public functionaries, and employes of various ranks and titles. Successive ministers had given office to personal friends and supporters, until at last they approached the strength of an army.

These were quaintly classified as " ilimitados, en non-activite, avec un tiers de traitement ; " cesantes, suspendus, gardant le titre de leurs emplois, sans " solde; retirados, en retraite honorifique ; jubilados, jouissant " d'une pension de l'Etat :" and it was well said that " cette " armee administrative etait une plaie devorante pour le " Tresor public." At the end of the war there were some five-and-twenty thousand of these locusts. The bewildered stranger found also to his amazement that even the bankers — a class generally interested in the main tenance of order and in the absence of radical change — greedily welcomed political revolutions and changes of ministry. It was only on inquiry that he learnt that these bankers were as a rule merely the agents of foreign houses, — each having more or less dealings with the Treasury ; and as the first want of every new government was money, on almost any terms, — the prospects of high commission, and of well-paid agency, made these gentry hungrily welcome changes which might be disastrous to Spain.

So depressing was the superficial aspect of society in Madrid, that the despairing writer above quoted exclaimed : " Ici l'esprit de parti ne menage rien ; conviction, honneur, " merite, experience, longs services — tout est sacrifie aux " exigences du moment. ... Le patriotisme, le sentiment " du devoir, les convictions politiques, ont fait place a la Introduction. XIII " cupidite et a un vil calcul. Je n'hcsite pas a dire que les " choses sont arrive'es a ce point que les places, les fonctions " de l'Etat, les grades militaires, si respectables ailleurs par " leur abnegation, leur devouement au service public, sont " devenus ici une simple affaire, une marchandise sur laquelle " on specule, comme on fait a la Bourse sur les nouvelles du " jour, pour la hausse et la baisse des fonds." A ghastly picture this, and painted with no feeble hand ; and as one remembers how hushed became the noisy patriot ism of many, when the wave of war surged on one occasion from the North to the arid plains in the neighbourhood of Madrid, one fears at first that the picture is not overdrawn.

But, happily, a corrupt even if dominant class is no more a nation than is a diseased limb a man. The same strong pen which immolates the official locusts goes on to say : " Le " peuple est a Madrid spectateur impassible de toutes les " insurrections." And it was in the quiet patriotism of the patient people of Spain that the hopes of the country and the future of the young Queen lay sheltered. The army possessed the same patience, and was most amenable to discipline ; and war was sure to develope a fit leader. As, too, time went on, impracticable reformers in the Cortes, intoxicated at first by the novel opportunities of airing their crotchets, would postpone even their cherished ideas to their country's present weal ; and would, for a time at least, abandon the pet role of the reformer — the attitude of impracticability.

It was, indeed, a painful time, but it was not one for despair. The pent-up feelings of generations do not find vent in soft words or lovers' sighs. The long-wished cry of Constitutional Liberty which came in with Isabella, had in h Introduction. XIV Spain, as elsewhere, the effect of almost hysterical excite ment on even strong and noble men whose life-dream seemed now about to be realised ; but, although the weaker among the enthusiasts spent time and eloquence in an almost feminine scolding of a past which they hated, many would soon settle down to the nobler and manly task of regenerating the present. It was a painful time, but a hopeful. And as the waves of party surged to the foot of the throne, and a babel of noble and ignoble sounds echoed on the ear of its unconscious occu pant, there stood — like some sentinel at his post — one who has been bitterly maligned and wilfully misunderstood, one who was fiercely able and thirstily ambitious, but who conquered herself in her loyalty to her child, — who accepted ungrateful tasks, and practised unwelcome self-denial in nourishing the idea which that child embodied to Spain — ■ the Queen-Dowager, Christina !

Civil war may be a sad spectacle : but the war to be treated in these pages had many bright and almost fasci nating features. The Basque peasant may have been but a tool in the hands of intriguers, but his heart was filled with fondly-cherished memories and far from ignoble aspirations : — and for these he was ready to suffer and to die. The Cbristino rank and file may have been marched and countermarched fruitlessly for years, but in no army since wars began on earth was more patience displayed, or a more self denying sense of duty entertained. Civil war may indeed be a sad spectacle : but self-denial, and patience, and belief, atone for many of its more distressing attributes. ERRATA, The Sketch at the end of Chap. XXV. should have been placed at the end of Chap. XX., as it shows the breach in the walls of Morella, which was made during the first siege. Page 222, 5th line from the bottom, for " San Miguel Everisto," read " Don Santos San Miguel." „ 300, for " Castle of Alcala" read " Aliaga."

Chapter I

The English Commissioner. TN September, 1834, Lord Palmerston, who then presided at *- the Foreign Office of England, decided on sending " an " officer of rank and experience to the head-quarters of the " Army of Her Catholic Majesty employed in suppressing " the rebellion in the Northern Provinces of Spain." It was a happy resolution for the students of this period of Spanish history : and it was a wise resolution, as far as concerned the suffering inhabitants of a distracted country, and the wounded and prisoners of the opposing armies. It really appears to be impossible for any one, a party to a struggle, to give an accurate account of what takes place. The desire — one might almost say the necessity — of inspiring troops to renewed efforts, leads an interested and contemporary chronicler to give undue prominence to successes, and to forget reverses : if indeed his imagination does not carry him beyond the region of facts altogether.

Special circumstances intensified this tendency in the War of Succession in Spain, which is to be discussed in these pages. Each party desired to stand high in the eyes of Europe, because each desired eagerly to obtain money from foreign lenders. The greater and more numerous the victories which each could claim, the easier would be the terms on which the capitalists of London, Paris, or Amsterdam would part with their hoards. Nor were the means of speedy contradiction so available as they B are forty years later. Again, as success in the field rendered the position of ministers in either Court more secure, and as these ministers were practically the fountain of military promotion, the temptation to shed a roseate hue over their own movements, and to paint in the darkest colours the necessities of their opponents, was more than the average Spanish general could resist.

Yet again, the credulity of the Spanish peasantry was omnivorous : and as from their ranks each army drew its patient and long-suffering soldiery, it behoved the Christino and Carlist leaders to sing in rival strains the bravery, the comfort, and the successes of their respective forces. The historian, who would attempt to write the Spanish War of 1834-40 from purely Spanish sources, would be baffled by the clouds of exaggeration and contradiction incessantly surrounding him. Happily the Spanish accounts can be sifted and tested in comparison with those of the English Commissioners, the first of whom was appointed in the autumn of 1834. These had no motive for concealing the real facts : it was their duty, and their instinct, to report the exact state of affairs; and any opinions which they might express would be founded on special experience, with a view, indeed, to the ultimate success of the cause in which England was interested, — a success, however, not to be at tained by closing their eyes to actual reverses, or by revelling in accounts of imaginary victories.

Able and conscientious as were all the commissioners suc cessively attached by England to the armies of the child- Queen Isabella, none of them surpassed — if, indeed, any of them equalled — him who was appointed in 1834, and who acted during the years of his appointment as Chief Commis sioner with the main Christino army, the Army of the North. Colonel W. Wylde, of the Boyal Artillery, had already distinguished himself in the troubles attending the dispute as to the Portuguese Succession between Dom Pedro and Dom Miguel. His tact had been tried, and not found wanting, under circumstances of special gravity and difficulty in Portugal : it was now to have a wider field in more trying situations in Spain. The orders which he received were too detailed. It is not the fashion of English Government departments to allow much liberty of action to their agents ; they prefer so to trammel them with instructions on even the minutest details, that in no possible contingency can their re presentatives forget that they are dependent.

Colonel Wylde was directed in the first instance to proceed to the head quarters of the Queen's army under General Kodil, and to make full reports of all that he might see or hear. He was especially to note " the disposition of the inhabitants of the districts Wylde " through which he might pass, the motives which might 1SS* " have induced any of them to join in the insurrection, and " how far their resistance to the Queen's authority might be " attributed to attachment to Don Carlos, how far to political " causes." He was to maintain the most intimate relations with the British Ambassador at Madrid, Sir George Villiers, afterwards Lord Clarendon ; and his despatches were to be transmitted through the British Ambassador in Paris, who was to make himself acquainted with them. He was to be cordial in his relations with any French officer who might be similarly employed with the Queen's armies; but he was always to remember that he was not charged with any political or diplomatic mission.

He was also forbidden to accept the surrender of Don Carlos' person, " should His " Koyal Highness, under critical circumstances, prefer to " give himself up to him instead of to the Queen's generals." Thus strangled, Colonel Wylde started on his mission. That the instructions under which he was to act would in all probability stultify his position with the Christino armies must have been apparent to him from the first. A commissioner without power, an officer of rank delegated by the British Government to communicate " notes by the way," and to cheer the idle hours of Foreign Office clerks with his speculations as to the inner consciousness of rebels, would be a characteristic British conception, but would be wholly unintelligible to men engaged in earnest warfare. This warfare, too, was conducted under the patronage of a quadruple alliance, under the benediction of Western Europe b Col. Wylde, October 4, 1834. with Louis Philippe on one hand bidding for the support of democracy by a lukewarm support of Constitutionalism against Carlism, and with Lord Palmerston on the other, hungering to see some energetic, automatic rule among the Spanish people drive out of the field a priest-blighted despotism, possessing all the evils of tyranny, and yet emas culated as to the good which in anxious and exceptional times a wise despot is able to perform.

The conditions and surroundings which were meant by officialism to dwarf the English Commissioner were condu cive, by a righteous retribution, to his elevation. It is the old, old story. The Delilah of routine and red-tape may bind the Samson of genius ; but the bonds are snapped when the time arrives for original and opportune action. Delilah weaves new bonds ; but while Samson's power is undoubted, she can only whine over the rupture within her office walls. Her policy is to wait. To most men comes the danger of error, the certainty of some shortcoming. Then on the shorn head Delilah drops not even an official tear; and the venturesome genius is bound hand and foot, and cast into the limbo of departmental oblivion. Happily, in the case of the Chief Commissioner sent by England to the Army of the North, there was no failure.

Colonel Wylde's influence increased month by month, and year by year, with both parties to the war. He was enabled by his advice to enhance the successes of the Queen's troops, and to diminish the horrors concomitant in an especial degree with civil and irregular warfare. His letters, journals, and despatches record, also, in statesman-like perspicuity and historic calmness, the events which transpired before him. Honoured by his Sovereign for the performance of his difficult task, Colonel Wylde was also long remembered in Spain with singular respect and affection. Colonel Wylde reached Bayonne in the beginning of October, 1834, and was enabled to get more than a glance at the situation, both military and political. Although the political aspect of this war will be allowed to develope in these pages, as the narrative progresses, — it may be well to take a bird's-eye view of the military situation at the date of the arrival of the English Commissioner.

While Don Carlos remained in Portugal, his movements had to be carefully watched by the Christino troops under General Bodil, so that the Pretender was able unconsciously to effect some strategic service, which left his sympathizers in the north of Spain to organize themselves with comparative ease. This was notably the case with Zumalacarreguy, who Boilaert, had assumed command of a Carlist force of 8'JO men in October, 1833, and by the following spring had converted it into a tolerably efficient army, which by its powers of rapid movement had wearied most of Queen Isabella's generals. So assured was this Carlist leader of his ultimate success, that he appealed to Don Carlos so early as May, 1834, to come from Portugal and ascend the throne of his fathers. Don Carlos found the advice more palatable than practicable.

The frontier was too closely watched for him to traverse it, except at the head of a large force. A tolerably large Portuguese force was attached to the now hopeless cause of Dom Miguel in that country, and that unsuccessful candidate for a throne was requested to lend to Don Carlos, as a body-guard, a force which was no longer useful to him self. He had to reply that even if he complied with the request, the valuable force in question would not obey his orders. The only alternative for the Pretender was to adopt the circuitous route of reaching the Basque Provinces via London and Paris. This was rendered more easy since the signing of the quadruple alliance, under which Don Carlos secured a passage to England, with almost regal state, from the government of that country. Within a few days of one another, Dom Miguel and Don Carlos sailed under the English flag for Italy and England respectively.

The names of Maria II. and Isabella II. were at once those favoured by the Western Powers, and also the emblems in Portugal and Spain of constitutional liberty as opposed to a second-hand tyranny — a despotism masking priestcraft. Don Carlos quitted England in disguise on the 1st July, 1834, and reached Spain through France. In the latter country there was considerable sympathy with his cause ; and among the numerous tradesmen who supplied contraband of war across the frontier to the Carlists, there would be nothing but satisfaction at the arrival of a Prince who would by his mere presence intensify the rebel spirit and prolong the hostilities. The attempts made by Don Carlos to elude pursuit in France were indeed more affectation than necessity. In the month of September, he and his generals swore — under the historical oak-tree of Guernica — to preserve the Fueros of the Basque Provinces.

In the same place, in 1476, Ferdinand and Isabella had sworn the same oath. But the motive of Don Carlos was a different one from theirs. By this oath he hoped to secure the support of many in Spain to whom his personal claims and dynasty were utterly in different. The Fueros were to the north of Spain a sacred creed : he hoped — as the story will prove — by expressing his adhesion to them, to secure for his own ambitious ends the active sympathy of believers more earnest and single-eyed than himself. So, in every land and in every age, are the aspirations of the people made stepping-stones for designing and ambitious men. When the English Commissioner reached Bayonne, the presence of Don Carlos with the rebels, and the military ability of Zumalacarreguy, had placed the Carlist cause in a position not to be assailed too rashly.

Away in Aragon and Valencia a man was also making himself felt, Bamon Cabrera, who was to inspire the Carlists with the fire of his own revengeful feelings, his influence and energy. And, as yet, above all other agents in crystallizing the floating discontent in the minds of men who were only half rebels, the system of massacring wounded and prisoners had been inaugurated by the leaders on both sides— by none more than Zumala carreguy and Eodil. Each fresh butchery drove into the ranks of open partizans many halting and peaceable men, and filled the air with exaggerations and rumours which deepened the horrors of the war. There had been many small engagements, the results of Chap. I. The English Commissioner. 7 which had varied with the political creed of the narrator; but, on the whole, the Carlist cause had had the advantage for two reasons.

First, Zumalacarreguy could bewilder as well as vanquish the detached armies of the Queen, and was infinitely superior to Bodil in the art of war ; and secondly, the Carlists, who were merely organizing their forces, were genuinely thankful for the smallest successes, whereas the Christinos, who started with all the boasting and display of trained armies, became irritated and depressed at finding a hydra-headed enemy, whose method of warfare was un favourable to success, and was prohibitory of any complete victory being gained over them. The system in the Christino army — then practically com manded by politicians at Madrid — was to visit want of success upon the general in command, by removing him. This line of conduct had the result either of making the general rash, or of making his ambitious subordinates disloyal to him.

In no country — in Spain, perhaps, less than any other — is it wise to make a political body, with political prejudices and party emergencies, the fountain of military honour, or the umpire in military criticism. And yet on no question — except perhaps theology — are men more fond of dogmatizing without previous study than on the conduct of military operations. In Madrid, the situation was complicated by the infancy of the Queen, and the supposed ambition of the Queen-mother, Christina. The incessantly changing governments were constant in quoting these as reasons why all patronage should be left in their own virtuous hands. The general, who had received notice to quit, when Colonel Wylde reached Bayonne, was Bodil. He had been loyal under trying circumstances while Don Carlos was in Por tugal ; he had done his best in the field while surrounded by many difficulties ; but he had not been so successful as was desired, and it was therefore decided to sacrifice him, and in an unmistakeable manner.

" He had to resign the command Coi.Wyide. " of the army by order of the Government, without waiting 7' " for his successor, and also the viceroyship of Estremadura " and other appointments, and went to Gallicia, his native Chap. I. Coi.Wyide, Bayonne, October 7, 1834. " province, in disgust." The generals of the early days of the French Bevolution did not fight more thoroughly under the orders of their masters in Paris, than did the Christino generals under equally peremptory and more ignoble requisitions from Madrid. The successor who had been decided upon was General Mina, a mere guerilla chief, but one whose name was asso ciated with service in former campaigns, and who was ex pected to terrify the peasantry who might meditate revolt, by the cruel reprisals he had threatened to inflict.

He was at Bayonne when Colonel Wylde arrived, and was in wretched health. He cordially welcomed the English Commissioner, and promised him all the information in his power ; but as yet he knew little, and was in hopes that Bodil would retain the command for some time, until his own health should be restored. He had already gathered that his appointment to the command of the Army of the North had been by no means palatable to the French Government. Whether it was feared that more decided measures would follow his taking the field, and that the system of smuggling contra band, so advantageous to French trade, might be put an end to, or whether some other motive, such as secret Carlist pro pensities, influenced the policy of France, it is difficult to say. The French policy remained doubtful during the whole war, — a policy of diverse words and actions.