men. Being informed of the unexpected arrival of the Spaniards, whose numbers report had greatly exaggerated, and that they were to be attacked by surprise, in the night, they suddenly evacuated Ronda, and fled in great disorder, leaving behind them their arms, provisions, and ammunition: the whole of which fell into the hands of the Spaniards. Though the number of the Spanish regulars was exaggerated, the whole of Lacey's troops, regulars and volunteers, in a few days after his landing, at Algesiras, is said to have amounted to 12,000. All the arms found at Ronda, were distributed among the inhabitants of the mountains. Parties of French were again marched against the insurgents, as the French called them, by General Sebastiani. A murderous warfare was carried on on both sides. The Spaniards were obliged to retreat. The mountaineers were defeated in various actions, but not pacfied. All the British officers and men who have had occasion to see any of the Spanish mountaineers, agree in their descriptions of the ferocious and savage appearance and air of the Alpujarrese, and other Spanish moun taineers. They every day were bringing prisoners to Gibraltar, with spoils taken from the Frenchmen they had killed, such as horses, helmets, uniforms, &c. The rustics, who were wont to be clothed like the Russian boors, in sheepskins, were many of them completely accoutred in French uniforms.

Whilst General Blake was making demonstrations in the Alpujerras, and on the sea-coast, where he was supported by two ships of the line, he also raised the

inhabitants

of the mountains, which separate Murcia, Grenada, and Jaen. General Sebastiani being ordered to penetrate into Murcia, to drive away the troops that scoured the frontiers of these provinces, set out April 18, and his advanced guard entered Murcia on the 23d. The Spanish force, computed at 15 or 17,000 men, retired, with a good deal of fighting between the French and the rearguard of the Spaniards, to Alicant, from whence they detached 4000 men to Carthagena.

On the 22d of August a combined expedition set sail from the port of Cadiz against Moguer, a town in the province of Seville, on the river Huelva, below its junction with the Tinto, where a French division was posted under the command of the Duke of Aremberg. The land force consisted chiefly of Spaniards, to the number, it would appear, of from 12 to 1500; but there was also an English division, under the orders of Captain George Cockburn. The land force was commanded by the Spanish General Lacey. Captain Cockburn had charge of the naval part of the expedition In the evening of the 23d, when the squadron was about four leagues from the entrance of the Huelva, the General intimated to Captain Cockburn his desire to disembark on the coast along which they were sailing, by which means the troops could reach Moguer a good deal sooner than by water. About ten o'clock the troops began to disembark; and the whole, with the horses, ammunition, and other things, being safely landed between one and two o'clock, the General began his march along

the

the coast. Eleven English flatbottomed boats advanced for the purpose of transporting the army over a large branch of the Huelva, which intersects the road to Moguer, and comes a great way to the south and west of Moguer, into the country. By the passage of the Huelva, in the boats, the march was not retarded a moment. It arrived at Moguer, 22 miles from the point of disembarkation, towards eleven in the forenoon, August 24. The Spaniards forgetting their fatigues, proceeded immediately to attack the French; who, not expecting such a visit, were driven from the town almost without resistance. They soon rallied, however, and made several attacks on the advanced Spanish line, in order to recover what they had lost. But the Spaniards stood firm, and repelled their onsets with the utmost bravery. Captain Cockburn in his dispatch to Admiral Sir R. G. Keates, commanding the naval force at Cadiz, speaks in the highest terms of the alacrity and ardour with which the Spaniards sustained the fatigue of a march of 22 miles, after three successive nights past without repose, and of the firmness and valour they displayed in their engagements with the French. These he says had raised his admiration to the highest pitch, and added to the liveliness of his hopes that such a people must ultimately prevail and triumph in such a cause. Of General Lacey he says, that he shewed himself worthy to command such men. The coolness of the General, his ability, and active bravery, qualified him in a singular manner for the kind of service on which he was then

employed. The Spaniards were not less liberal in their praises of the English. In the Regency Gazette Extraordinary of Cadiz, Aug. 30, it is said, "The Spanish and English Marines contributed in the most distinguished manner to the fortunate success of the enterprize; and our allies, and particularly Captain Cockburn, acquired new claims to the gratitude of the Spanish nation."

Some artillery, ammunition, and other articles being Janded from the vessels on the night of the 24th, measures were taken for pursuing the enemy. The next day a division advanced, and took possession of the town of Niebla, about ten miles north east from Moguer, to the great joy of the inhabitants, and all the country round. But General Lacey, apprised that the French were on their march in great haste towards Seville, having destroyed the magazines and batteries, and spiked the guns of Moguer, reimbarked his troops, and sent them back to Cadiz, where they ar rived safely on the 30th of August. Though both Captain Cockburn's letter to the English Admiral, and the Regency Gazette Extraordinary represent the attacks made on the first line of the Spaniards as desperate, it seems difficult to reconcile this with the circumstance that the Spaniards took only 12 prisoners, and that the killed and wounded, left on the field of battle, according to the report of those prisoners, did not exceed 300. The booty taken from the enemy, in trinkets, valuable effects, and some money, was distributed among the troops of the expedition.

The

The English flotilla of gunboats also destroyed the batteries and redoubts of St. Mary's, and some other points on the Bay of Cadiz. A secret expedition that set sail from Gibraltar, 11th October, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Lord Blaney, against Malaga, produced very different effects from that of the force under the orders of General Lacey. The object of the expedition from Gibraltar, was to take Fort Fangarola, in order to draw the enemy out of Malaga; then to reimbark, set sail for that city, and with the assistance of a reinforcement to be sent without delay from Gibraltar, to destroy the enemy's works at Malaga, and drive away the hords of privateers that took shelter in its harbour. It was calculated that Fort Fangarola would surrender with out resistance. The expedition consisted of about 4 or 500 English of the 39th regiment, 500 German deserters enrolled and armed at Gibraltar, a number of artillery men, and a Spanish regiment sent over from Ceuta. This armament, the 14th of October, disembarked 3 leagues west from Fangarola, situate about 4 from Malaga. The garrison, 160 men, when a division of the troops under Lord Blaney were within canon-shot, fired upon them with a 24-pounder, and some other pieces of smaller calibre. Lord Blaney had trusted that a herald of truce would do the business. He had not at hand either scalingladders or battering-cannon. He brought up some pieces from the ships in the night, and planted them on ground from whence they could play with advantage.

en

The fire of the garrison ceased about eleven o'clock, A. M. But they sallied out and stormed the battery. The officers of the English divisior which remained on the flanks of the height on which the battery was raised, while the rest of the troops were moving to the positions assigned by the General, with some artillery men, attacked the assailants, and the battery was cleared. In this gallant exploit Major Grant, who commanded the division of the 89th, was mortally wounded. In a very short time a more numerous party of the French appeared in the midst of the cannon; the battery was taken, and the English, as well as the rest of the troops, took to flight. The arrival of 1,200 men from Malaga, couraged the French, and struck a panic into the English and Spanish troops. The French from Malaga were disguised in Spanish uniforms; of which stratagem, on their near approach to Fort Fangarole, Lord Blaney was apprised by some French deserters: but his Lordship firmly believed them still to be Spaniards, and threatened to cut off with his own hand the head of any traitor that should fire on the troops that were come to join them. He persevered in the error of mistaking them for friends till the moment they told him he was their prisoner; which happened nearly at the same instant when the battery. was taken a second time. It fortunately happened that the 32d regiment, which followed the expedition a few days after its departure from Gibraltar, had landed two companies at the moment when the encounter took place.

These

These two companies marched with a firm pace to meet the enemy. They took possession of a height, that commanded that part of the waterside, and supported by the fire of the line of battle ship, in whic. they had come, withstood the French, and covered the reimbarkation of all such of the 89th regiment as had not taken the route of Marabella, with the fugitive Spaniards. This affair of Fangarola was very disgraceful to the expedition, for the French did not exceed half their numbers.

The French, to the number of 12,000 men, having early in February made a fruitless attempt on Valencia, from whence they were driven back with considerable loss, proceeded to lay siege to the castle of Hostalrich, in Catalonia, the reduction of which was necessary to an attack on the important city of Tarragona. The town of Hostalrich was reduced in the month of January. The castle, situated on a steep and rugged mountain, was not to be taken but by blockade. The governor or military commander of the French in Catalonia, at that time, was Marshal Augereau, one of the new Dukes, (Duke of Castiglione). About the middle of February, General O'Donnel drew together Spanish troops of the line from different military stations, with an intent to cut off the French division under the orders of General Souham, and raise the siege of Hostalrich. His

infantry were 12,000, his cavalry 1200. These were joined by some thousands of Miquelets,* and smugglers. Towards seven o'clock A. M. Feb. 20, the Spaniards were seen advancing in three columns in the plain of Vich. The Miquelets and Smugglers, commanded by Rovira, a physician, occupied the adjacent heights, in the same plan, immediately above Vich. General Souham having observed the movements of the enemy, drew up the whole of his division. O'Donnel attempted to delude the French General by a false attack. A strong party of the Miquelets began the battle with a most vigourous attack on a battalion of French stationed at Gurp, but General Souham ordered the battalion to fall back, without making any other change in his order of battle. A hot fire immediately flew on the whole fronts of the opposite lines. The Spaniards brought forward into the first line, the choice of their troops, including two fine Swiss regiments, who charged the French with great bravery, and at the same instant the cavalry made a movement for turning their left Hank. But General Souhamo dispatched his cavalry to attack them. By this charge the Spanish cavalry were thrown into great disorder, and a great number of Spanish cavaliers were killed. The Spanish General now brought forward the whole of his reserve, and made the most vigourous effort;

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