This edition is published by PICKLE PARTNERS PUBLISHING
Text originally published in 1831 in Constables Miscellany, Vol. XXVIII, Memorials of the Late War Vol. II.
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Publishers Note
Although in most cases we have retained the Authors original spelling and grammar to authentically reproduce the work of the Author and the original intent of such material, some additional notes and clarifications have been added for the modern readers benefit.
Contents
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.
IT is unnecessary to say that Rocca's name is already known as a narrator of events that happened during the Peninsular war. The present is the fifth edition of his Memoirstwo editions in French and two in English having already been given to the world. The work has been admired in the original; and, in the only Arose in which it has yet been presented to the English reader, it has not been undervalued. As a faithful relation of proceedings in which the writer had but too intimate an interestas a picture of the joy and grief of war in which the limner moved and sufferedas a story of romance, where all that is told is true:it deserves, and has obtained, a favourable reception. It is not merely as a memorial of a conqueror's progress, or as a fragment of history, declaring how a nation will sometimes be rekindled amid its ashes, and, like a taper's expiring flame, emit a blaze of dazzling glory before it is everlastingly extinguishedit is not only as an account of the French war in Spain that Rocca's pages are valuable;but the freshness and fidelity of personal observation which they exhibit, give them a peculiar excellencelike the fruit which tastes sweeter the fewer hands touch it till it is eatenor the flower that distils a richer perfume the less it is fingered before its fragrance is inhaled.
Rocca was a Frenchman, and, of course, it is the French account of battles gained and lost that the reader will peruse. But both sides of a question often throw a wonderful degree of light upon a subject; and none that have been interested and delighted with a friendly relation of events, will think it labour lost to peruse a foeman's narrative. The storm is now hushedthe rage of strife is passedthe name and antipathies of enemies have gone into oblivion:and while, as Englishmen and Frenchmen, we now sojourn together, like fellow-pilgrims, along the lapse of time, we may well mutually listen to each other's tale of wonders. It is reckoned an evidence of Scripture authenticity, that the faults of those characters held up to our esteem are delineated as faithfully as their excellences. These Memoirs vouch their own truth, by the unsparing censures passed therein on French men and French measures that merit reprobation.
They are otherwise entitled to regard, from the manly candour, which makes a hostile hand record, to the glory of Britain, the heroic prowess of her sons. They are praiseworthy for the encomiums they bestow on the enthusiasm of that nation, which, like the giant with whom Hercules combated, no sooner fell prostrate than it again rose in renovated strength. That nation has since lowered its dignity, and fallen low enough; but hope would make us write "RESURGAM," in emblazoned letters, on the dark page of Spanish history, when we think of the "olim quod meminisse juvabit."
The grand moral lesson these Memoirs convey, isthat, in the most infelicitous circumstances, no nation need despair. Spain endured incalculable miseries, when she could not withstand, yet would not tolerate, the overpowering might of foreign aggression. It was not the soldier or the ruler who was the only sufferer in the memorable Peninsular war. No class was exempted from its portion of calamity; and tender women, harmless nuns, revered ecclesiastics, and even the youngest and the oldest of all ranks, had reason to bewail their sorrows. But the vortex which ingulfed the nation's peace and happiness, drew down along with them the conqueror's wreath of glory. It was in Spain the French first experienced that they were not invincible; and the first decline of their fortunes may be dated from losses sustained in the Peninsula.
The present Edition has been faithfully translated, and expressly prepared for the Memorials which it accompanies, and which form an unpretending historical series of splendid achievements, each as the world has seen rarely paralleled. They afford the British people an opportunity of drawing their own inferences, and of judging from data therein supplied, how little, or how much, they have reason to contemn all that man can do against them. If they be wise, brave, and faithful, as hitherto, they will be great as in past times, though the whole world be their foes.
Rocca's narrative having been reckoned valuable accompaniment to the other Memorials, it was felt advisable to present it to the Public in a more recommendatory manner than that in which it has hitherto appeared. The former translation seers to have been hurriedly executed, and many instances of inattention might be noticed. A quantity of superfluous matter, which Rocca never wrote, has been added to give the volume a fit octave bulk. The style is often most untastefully literal, and sometimes it has quite an opposite character. An army begins to march when it ought to bivouack. A gallant officer lies nearly two years in bed, when it was against his inclination that he lay so many hours. A certain corps tries to raise a siege when it wishes to take the place. Names, numbers, and dates, are sometimes incorrect. A Spanish army loses, by such misfortunes, five thousand of its amount, and the French are minus eight thousand prisoners.
For the sake of convenience, the work is now divided into chapters, and a table of contents has been added. The voluminous notes contained in the French edition have been omitted, because they are nearly all drawn from English materials, and are already well known. It would have been desirable to have added some further account of the brave man who penned these Memoirs. But all that we can now say of him is, that he was one of the many thousands who fought and bled for the glory of Napoleona name which made Europe tremble, and may for ever make her wonder.
A.
EDINBURGH, AUGUST 1828.
MEMOIRS OF THE WAR IN SPAIN.
CHAPTER I.
Comparison between the Military state of the Germans and SpaniardsEase of retaining conquests among the formerDifficulty among the latter Departure from GermanyJourney through France Arrival in SpainPosition of the Forces in the Peninsula
THE year after the close of that campaign which terminated with the battle of Friedland and the peace of Tilsit, the 2d regiment of hussars, formerly named Chamboran, in which I had the honour to serve, received orders to leave Prussia, and march for Spain. I had thus an opportunity afforded me of comparing two very different kinds of: military servicethe war of regular troops, who seldom concern themselves about the matter of dispute, and the resistance of a nation, fighting for existence against a disciplined conquering force.
