ART. VIII.-Memoires du Maréchal Suchet, Duc D'Albuferec, sur les campagnes en Espagne depuis 1808, jusqu'en 1814, Ecrits par lui

même. 2 vols. 8vo. Paris et Londres: Colburn. 1829.

THERE never, we judge, was a series of events about which so much has been written, as those which occurred within the last half century. The important interests which they involved would be, perhaps, sufficient to explain this circumstance. But we are more inclined to attribute it to the insatiable thirst for miscellaneous reading, which at present forms the indulgence of people of almost every class. We confess we are a little sick when we look back, for three or four years, at the pile of books which have been given us to wade through, on the eternal subjects of the French Revolution, and counter-revolution; on Buonaparte's victories and exile; on the confederacy of the Rhine, or the battle of Watelroo. We are fully ready to allow that each, and all of these several topics are adapted to awaken a lively interest, and that it would be an evil of no slight consequence, to be deficient in information on points so intimately connected with the past and present state of Europe. But it would be difficult to frame an apology from this remark, for many of the campaign and memoir writers to which we have alluded. We could pardon, indeed, their frivolity, and their book-making experiments, but we cannot so easily pass over the dangerous tendency which we observe in the fashionable passion for their compilations. If any one will trouble himself to look over a Catalogue of the works which have been published respecting the concluding campaigns of the late war, he will see that not one in ten deserves the smallest credit for authenticity; that some have, without disguise, assumed the air of romance; that most of them have been written by unknown and anonymous authors; and that the matter of which they are composed, depends entirely for its value, on the truth of some single testimony. We do not mean to say, that the fire-side students of military science will be seriously injured by conceiving some wrong notion respecting the plan of the battle-field; or, that the politician is likely to be led into error by the false conceptions he may hereby form of armies, and the expence of their maintenance; but we have not the smallest doubt that when truth and fiction become closely intermixed-when readers are tutored into receiving the hearsays of any man who has crossed the channel and carried his sword into some two or three battles-when books on such subjects begin to be valued for the amusing style of their contents, we have no doubt that a considerable deal of harm is done to the veraciousness of spirit with which we would have all books of public memoirs sent into the world.

Such of our readers as are interested in publications of the class

to which we allude, will have no difficulty in applying our observations. But the same mine which has already produced such a fund of wealth to the speculators in military literature, still contains abundance of ore, which, we doubt not, succeeding labourers in the same toil will manage to work up into marketable articles. Although we by no means intend to class the volumes now before us with those, the respectability of which is so questionable, they in some measure produce that feeling of dislike which always accompanies the reading of a work which treats of a subject already grown old by continual handling. Let this feeling however be removed, and there is much in the nature of the publication to destroy it; and the memoirs of the Maréchal Suchet will be received and perused with considerable satisfaction.

This celebrated general, whose name makes such a conspicuous figure in the history of modern France, was among the first who fought the great battles of the republic. Having distinguished himself in the early campaigns of Italy, he early rose through the inferior grades to the rank of lieutenant-general. He held an important post in the battles of Loano, Dego, Castiglione, Lonato, Rivoli, Trente, Bassano and Arcole. In 1799, when the campaign was undertaken which proved so disastrous to the French, and in which, by the loss of the battles of the Adige, &c. the republic received such a severe shock, he received from Massena a command in the Grisons. His conduct in this situation obtained him the warmest applause from the Commander-in-chief; and when Chirine, the chef d'état-major-general was killed, Suchet was appointed to the important post, by which he obtained the second rank in the principal division of the French army. Shortly after this, Joubert, under whom Suchet had formerly served as chef d'état major, was appointed to command the army in Italy. Suchet was directed, at his request, to join him, and he had the melancholy satisfaction of sharing in the campaign, which was the last in which his distinguished friend was to appear.

Suchet, after the death of Joubert, was directed to wait the arrival of General Championnet, who was appointed to the vacant command. At this period he was in constant intercourse with Moreau, whose respect he secured, and from whom he received the most flattering assurances of esteem. Championnet died before he could exercise his command (perishing, as it is supposed, of a broken heart, caused by the grief he suffered at finding the army in the most deplorable condition). But Napoleon now obtained entire possession of the empire, and Suchet obtained, through the recommendation of Massena, the rank of lieutenant-general, and was sent to undertake the defence of the river Ponent. From his conduct in this and the following campaigns, he firmly established himself in the highest reputation for military talent. But the scene of his exertions was now to be removed. At the close of the year 1808 he was sent to Spain, in which country he arrived at

His ap

the high rank which he held to the close of his career. pointment to be general en chef of the army of Arragon, gave full scope for the exercise of all the various qualifications with which he was endowed, to secure success in his operations. He distinguished himself in the situation which he filled, as much by the good management which he exercised in the provinces under his control, as by his conduct in the field; and he has received the praises of his countrymen for the best principles which could guide the actions of any man occupying the high station which was awarded him.

In commanding and directing the movements of the army of Arragon, he surpassed the highest expectations which had been formed from his known ability. The extract which is given in the work before us from the Journal de l'Empire, expressed the high opinion which Napoleon entertained of his services. It attributed to his conduct several of the most important achievements of the French arms in the Peninsula. It compares his campaign to that of the Duc de Vendôme, and after having united his name with a mention of the greatest battles that had been fought, it attributes to him the honour of having arrested, on the banks of the Var, the invasion of foreign armies, and of having long before given a prelude of the brilliant successes which now attended him.

Suchet was always eagerly desirous of the praises of Buonaparte; these he obtained to his utmost wish, and the Emperor was accustomed to pay him the high compliment of saying, " Ce qu'il écrit vaut encore mieux que ce qu'il dit, et ce qu'il fait vaut mieux que ce qu'il écrit: c'est le contraire de bien d'autres. From his entrance upon his career in Spain to the end of the year 1808, he had no opportunity of personally pushing his interest at the imperial court, but he had no cause to complain of neglect, for he obtained successively the rank of Général en chef, Maréchal, Duc d'Albufera, Collonel General de la Garde, Commandant of the two armies of Arragon and Catalonia. Napoleon, it seems, repeatedly expressed his high ideas of Suchet. O'Meara says, in his Memoirs, that in answer to a question which he put, desiring the Emperor's opinion as to who was the best of all the French Generals, he received for his reply" It is difficult for me to say, but I think Suchet; formerly it was Massena, but we may now consider him as dead; Suchet, Clausel, and Gérard are, in my opinion, the best of the French Generals." Madame Campan has the following anecdote: Napoleon said, that if he had two such Maréchals as Suchet in Spain, he would not only have conquered the Peninsula, but have kept it. His justice, conciliating and careful mind, his military tact and bravery, obtained for him unheard of success. It is a sad thing, added he, that Sovereigns cannot create such men at their will."

66

The good opinion formed of him by Buonaparte was that of people in general. Durable recollections of him remain, it is said,

in Italy. At Saragossa a public promenade is called by his name, and at the news of his death the Spaniards of the place ordered a funeral service to be performed for the repose of his soul. That his conduct rendered him deserving of respect, we have a letter from General Clinton, of our own army, given in proof. It expresses the most grateful feelings for the Maréchal's kindness and attention to the English prisoners who had fallen into his hands. But Suchet's respectability did not end with the downfall of Napoleon. The King of France provided for his family in the most ample manner, and conferred upon it many and distinguished attentions. This celebrated man died on the 3d of January, 1826, at the age of fifty-six, and, if we are to believe his biographer, is to be ranked among the first military characters of this or any other age. The Memoirs of which the volumes before us are composed, were compiled during the latter years of Suchet's life, when he employed himself in the leisure of his retirement in comparing together the various documents which had been collected around him during his active exertions in the field, and from these notes we shall endeavour to take the passages which appear most likely to interest the reader. Suchet was appointed to succeed the Duc d'Abrantes. On the 21st of May, he left Saragossa, which was in the most miserable condition. As the general events of the war are too well known to our readers to need any fresh recital, we pass to that part of our narrative in which the Maréchal comments upon the reduction of the important fortress of Mequinenza.

The fall of Mequinenza completed our possession of all the fortified places of Arragon. We had taken from the enemy the last depôt of arms and ammunition-the last refuge of the corps which had been defeated on the left bank of the Ebro. Catalonia had lost an advanced post, from which it could trouble Arragon, and pour upon it on every favourable opportunity bodies of armed men. This possession would have been of the most valuable use to us if Cordova, Berga, and Sen d'Urgel had been occupied in their turn by our army in Catalonia, for we could then have secured the submission of the high valleys between the Ebro and the Pyrennees. But it was not so; and the result was, that during the whole of the war the mountaineers of Arragon and Catalonia received orders, arms, and ammunition, to harass or attack us. As it was necessary to take advantage of the enemy's discouragement, two hours. after the reduction of Mequinenza, the Commander-in-chief ordered General Montmaria to form his brigade, and having penetrated into Valencia, to make himself master of Morella. This movement was executed with celerity. On the 13th of June our troops entered the Chateau of Morella, where they found eight mortars in a bad state, and without ammunition: The enemy had neglected to occupy this advantageous and easily defensible post. The Commander-in-chief determined to put it into a respectable condition, since it offered the double advantage of covering Arragon. and of menacing the kingdom of Valencia. The Spaniards discovered, but too late, the importance of its occupation. General O'Donoju, at the head of a corps of Valencians, approached, at the end of June, and took

a position, which announced his intention of surrounding and depriving the French troops of succours. General Montmarie, with the brave 14th regiment and the 3d of the Vistula, suffered him not to achieve this manœuvre. He marched without hesitation against him, vanquished him, and put him to flight. The possession of Morella was no longer disputed. The army of Arragon there made its first establishment, which was subsequently enlarged, and it preserved it till the entire evacuation of Valencia. After the example of the Moors, who had a long time before fought on the same theatre, we made ourselves masters of the most elevated posts, to fortify them, to make them depôts of ammunition and stores, and, above all, to exercise a moral influence over the population, which, even in places where it had submitted, often shewed itself unsettled or hostile. It was continually disposed to deny or under-rate the advantages which we obtained in the open country; but the capture of a place or of a fort, that of men and cannon, was a result positive and incontestible, of which the traces could not be effaced, which put their conceit to default, and overcame their incredulity.'-vol. i. pp. 169-171.

The Duc d'Albufera has been commended, and it appears justly, by the writer of the biographical notice prefixed to these volumes, for the promptness and decision with which he pursued every advantage which he gained over the enemy. Thus it is observed, that he had no sooner obtained the important victory over Blake at Maria, than, without suffering himself to lose any part of the advantage by delay, he followed and succeeded in still further discomfiting the vanquished forces at Belchite. On entering Lerida, he dispatched a force to invest the important fortress of Mequinenza; and no sooner had this place capitulated, than he formed the design of attacking Tortosa, and actually sent, as we have seen, a detachment from his army to obtain possession of the important but neglected position of Morella. This promptness in action marked his conduct through the whole of his career as a commander; so that it really seems, that it has not been an unjustifiable partiality which has ascribed to him the praise of not deserving the reproach which was applied to Hannibal, vincere scis, victoriâ uti nescis, and of meriting the high eulogium which was conferred on Julius Cæsar, nil actum reputans, si quid superesset agendum.

Suchet's route to Tortosa, and the investment of that place, were attended with the utmost difficulty. Having, after the greatest exertions transported his artillery to the walls of the besieged town, his next care was to provide for the maintenance of his troops. For this purpose he despatched thirty vessels laden with corn from Mequinenza. But they had no sooner commenced their course, than they were attacked by an ambuscade of six hundred Spaniards, and it was not till after a severe contest, it was left to proceed on its destination. Tortosa was then closely invested. On the 20th of December, 1810, the principal attack against the demi-bastion of St. Pierre commenced.-On the 29th, at the beginning of day,