Part 22 (1/2)
The hostility of the natives was such that almost all communication was cut off between the two sections of the army. In the confusion of the hasty retreat, and as no enemy was apprehended in that portion of the way, the importance of hourly communication was forgotten. In the morning, as Stanhope put his troops again in motion, he was surprised and alarmed in seeing upon the hills before him the banners of an opposing host, far outnumbering his own, and strongly intrenched. The Earl of Stanhope at once appreciated the nearly utter hopelessness of his position. He was cut off from the rest of the army, had no artillery, but little ammunition, and was almost entirely dest.i.tute of provision. Still he scorned to surrender. He threw his troops behind a stone wall, and vigorously commenced fortifying his position, hoping to be able to hold out until Staremberg, hearing of his situation, should come to his release.
During the whole day he beat back the a.s.saults of the Spanish army. In the meantime Staremberg was pressing on to Barcelona. In the evening of that day he heard of the peril of his rear guard. His troops were exhausted; the night of pitchy blackness, and the miry roads, cut to pieces by the heavy artillery and baggage wagons, were horrible. Through the night he made preparations to turn back to aid his beleaguered friends. It was, however, midday before he could collect his scattered troops, from their straggling march, and commence retracing his steps.
In a few hours the low sun of a November day sunk below the hills. The troops, overtaken by darkness, stumbling through the gloom, and apprehensive of a midnight attack, rested upon their arms, waiting, through the weary hours, for the dawn of the morning. The second day came, and the weary troops toiled through the mire, while Stanhope, from behind his slight parapet, baffled all the efforts of his foes.
The third morning dawned. Staremberg was within some fifteen miles of Briehuga. Stanhope had now exhausted all his ammunition. The inhabitants of the town rose against him and attacked him in the rear, while the foe pressed him in front. A large number of his troops had already fallen, and no longer resistance was possible. Stanhope and the remnant of his band were taken captive and conducted into the town of Briehuga.
Staremberg, unaware of the surrender, pushed on until he came within a league of Briehuga. Anxiously he threw up signals, but could obtain no response. His fears of the worst were soon confirmed by seeing the Spanish army, in brilliant battle array, approaching to a.s.sail him.
Philip himself was there to animate them by his presence; and the heroic French general, the Duke of Vendome, a descendant of Henry IV., led the charging columns.
Though the troops of Staremberg were inferior in number to those of the Spanish monarch, and greatly fatigued by their forced marches, a retreat at that moment, in the face of so active an enemy, was not to be thought of. The battle immediately commenced, with its rus.h.i.+ng squadrons and its thunder peals. The Spaniards, sanguine of success, and inspired with the intensest hatred of their _heretical_ foes, charged with irresistible fury. The left wing of Staremberg was speedily cut to pieces, and the baggage taken. The center and the right maintained their ground until night came to their protection. Staremberg's army was now reduced to nine thousand. His horses were either slain or worn out by fatigue. He was consequently compelled to abandon all his artillery and most of his baggage, as he again commenced a rapid retreat towards Barcelona. The enemy pressed him every step of the way. But with great heroism and military skill he baffled their endeavors to destroy him, and after one of the most arduous marches on record, reached Barcelona with a feeble remnant of but seven thousand men, ragged, emaciated and bleeding.
Behind the walls of this fortified city, and protected by the fleet of England, they found repose.
We must now turn back a few years, to trace the progress of events in Hungary and Austria. Joseph, the emperor, had sufficient intelligence to understand that the rebellious and anarchical state of Hungary was owing to the cruelty and intolerance of his father. He saw, also, that there could be no hope of permanent tranquillity but in paying some respect to the aspirations for civil and religious liberty. The troubles in Hungary distracted his attention, exhausted the energies of his troops, and deprived him of a large portion of his political and military power. He now resolved to try the effect of concessions. The opportunity was propitious, as he could throw upon his father the blame of all past decrees. He accordingly sent a messenger to the Hungarian n.o.bles with the declaration that during his father's lifetime he had never interfered in the government, and that consequently he was in no respect responsible for the persecution of which they complained. And he promised, on the honor of a king, that instead of attempting the enforcement of those rigorous decrees, he would faithfully fulfill all the articles he had sworn to observe at his coronation; and that he accordingly summoned a diet for the redress of their grievances and the confirmation of all their ancient privileges. As proof of his sincerity, he dismissed those ministers who had advised the intolerant decrees enacted by Leopold, and appointed in their place men of more mild and lenient character.
But the Hungarians, deeming themselves now in a position to enforce their claims by the energies of their army, feared to trust to the promises of a court so often perjured. Without openly renouncing allegiance to Austria, and declaring independence, they, through Ragotsky, summoned a diet to meet at Stetzim, where their session would be protected by the Hungarian army. There was a large gathering of all the first n.o.bility of the realm. A s.p.a.cious tent was spread for the imposing a.s.sembly, and the army encircled it as with a sheltering embrace. The session was opened with prayer and the administration of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Will the time ever come when the members of the United States Congress will meet as Christian brethren, at the table of our Saviour, as they commence their annual deliberations for the welfare of this republic? The n.o.bles formed a confederacy for the government of the country. The legislative power was committed to a senate of twenty-four n.o.bles. Ragotsky was chosen military chief, with the t.i.tle of Dux, or leader. Four of the most ill.u.s.trious n.o.bles raised Ragotsky upon a buckler on their shoulders, when he took the oath of fidelity to the government thus provisionally established, and then administered the oath to his confederates. They all bound themselves solemnly not to conclude any peace with the emperor, until their ancient rights, both civil and religious, were fully restored.
In reply to the advances made by the emperor, they returned the very reasonable and moderate demands that their chief, Ragotsky, should be reinstated in his ancestral realms of Transylvania, that the claim of _hereditary_ sovereignty should be relinquished, and that there should be the restoration of those ancient civil and religious immunities of which Leopold had defrauded them. Upon these conditions they promised to recognize Joseph as their sovereign during his lifetime; claiming at his death their time-honored right of choosing his successor. Joseph would not listen for one moment to these terms, and the war was renewed with fury.
The Hungarian patriots had seventy-five thousand men under arms. The spirit of the whole nation was with them, and the Austrian troops were driven from almost every fortress in the kingdom. The affairs of Joseph seemed to be almost desperate, his armies struggling against overpowering foes all over Europe, from the remotest borders of Transylvania to the frontiers of Portugal. The vicissitudes of war are proverbial. An energetic, sagacious general, Herbeville, with great military sagacity, and aided by a peculiar series of fortunate events, marched down the valley of the Danube to Buda; crossed the stream to Pesth; pushed boldly on through the heart of Hungary to Great Waradin, forced the defiles of the mountains, and entered Transylvania. Through a series of brilliant victories he took fortress after fortress, until he subjugated the whole of Transylvania, and brought it again into subjection to the Austrian crown. This was in November, 1705.
But the Hungarians, instead of being intimidated by the success of the imperial arms, summoned another diet. It was held in the open field in accordance with ancient custom, and was thronged by thousands from all parts of the kingdom. With great enthusiasm and public acclaim the resolution was pa.s.sed that Joseph was a tyrant and a usurper, animated by the hereditary despotism of the Austrian family. This truthful utterance roused anew the ire of the emperor. He resolved upon a desperate effort to bring Hungary into subjection. Leaving his English and Dutch allies to meet the brunt of the battle on the Rhine and in the Netherlands, he recalled his best troops, and made forced levies in Austria until he had created an army sufficiently strong, as he thought, to sweep down all opposition. These troops he placed under the most experienced generals, and sent them into Hungary in the summer of 1708.
France, weakened by repeated defeats, could send the Hungarians no aid, and the imperial troops, through b.l.o.o.d.y battles, victoriously traversed the kingdom. Everywhere the Hungarians were routed and dispersed, until no semblance of an army was left to oppose the victors. It seems that life in those days, to the ma.s.ses of the people, swept incessantly by these fiery surges of war, could only have been a scene, from the cradle to the grave, of blood and agony. For two years this dismal storm of battle howled over all the Hungarian plains, and then the kingdom, like a victim exhausted, prostrate and bleeding, was taken captive and firmly bound.
Ragotsky, denounced with the penalty of high treason, escaped to Poland.
The emperor, anxious no longer to exasperate, proposed measures of unusual moderation. He a.s.sembled a convention; promised a general amnesty for all political offenses, the rest.i.tution of confiscated property, the liberation of prisoners, and the confirmation of all the rights which he had promised at his coronation. Some important points were not touched upon; others were pa.s.sed over in vague and general terms. The Hungarians, helpless as a babe, had nothing to do but to submit, whatever the terms might be. They were surprised at the unprecedented lenity of the conqueror, and the treaty of peace and subjection was signed in January, 1711.
In three months after the signing of this treaty, Joseph I. died of the small-pox, in his palace of Vienna. He was but thirty-three years of age. For a sovereign educated from the cradle to despotic rule, and instructed by one of the most bigoted of fathers, he was an unusually good man, and must be regarded as one of the best sovereigns who have swayed the scepter of Austrian despotism.
The law of hereditary descent is frequently involved in great embarra.s.sment. Leopold, to obviate disputes which he foresaw were likely to arise, had a.s.signed Hungary, Bohemia, and his other hereditary estates, to Joseph. To Charles he had a.s.signed the vast Spanish inheritance. In case Joseph should die without male issue he had decreed that the crown of the Austrian dominions should also pa.s.s to Charles. In case Charles should also die without issue male, the crown should then revert to the daughters of Joseph in preference to those of Charles.
Joseph left no son. He had two daughters, the eldest of whom was but twelve years of age. Charles, who was now in Barcelona, claiming the crown of Spain as Charles III., had no Spanish blood in his veins. He was the son of Leopold, and of his third wife, the devout and lovely Eleonora, daughter of the Elector Palatine. He was now but twenty-eight years of age. For ten years he had been struggling for the crown which his father Leopold had claimed, as succeeding to the rights of his first wife Margaret, daughter of Philip IV.
Charles was a genteel, accomplished young man of eighteen when he left his father's palace at Vienna, for England, where a British fleet was to convey him to Portugal, and, by the energy of its fleet and army, place him upon the throne of Spain. He was received at Portsmouth in England, when he landed from Holland, with much parade, and was conducted by the Dukes of Maryborough and Somerset to Windsor castle, where he had an interview with Queen Anne. His appearance at that time is thus described by his partial chroniclers:
”The court was very splendid and much thronged. The queen's behavior toward him was very n.o.ble and obliging. The young king charmed all who were present. He had a gravity beyond his age, tempered with much modesty. His behavior in all points was so exact, that there was not a circ.u.mstance in his whole deportment which was liable to censure. He paid an extraordinary respect to the queen, and yet maintained a due greatness in it. He had the art of seeming well pleased with every thing, without so much as smiling once all the while he was at court, which was only three days. He spoke but little, and all he said was judicious and obliging.”
Young Charles was engaged to the daughter of the King of Portugal; but the young lady died just before his arrival at Lisbon. As he had never seen the infanta, his grief could not have been very deep, however great his disappointment might have been. He made several attempts to penetrate Spain by the Portuguese frontier, but being repelled in every effort, by the troops of Philip, he again embarked, and with twelve thousand troops in an English fleet, sailed around the Peninsula, entered the Mediterranean and landed on the sh.o.r.es of Catalonia, where he had been led to believe that the inhabitants in a body would rally around him. But he was bitterly disappointed. The Earl of Peterborough, who was intrusted with the command of this expedition, in a letter home gave free utterance to his disappointment and chagrin.
”Instead of ten thousand men, and in arms,” he wrote, ”to cover our landing and strengthen our camp, we found only so many higglers and sutlers flocking into it. Instead of finding Barcelona in a weak condition, and ready to surrender upon the first appearance of our troops, we found a strong garrison to oppose us, and a hostile army almost equal to our own.”
In this dilemma a council of war was held, and though many were in favor of abandoning the enterprise and returning to Portugal, it was at last determined, through the urgency of Charles, to remain and lay siege to the city. Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia, was then the princ.i.p.al sea-port of the Spanish peninsula on the Mediterranean. It contained a population of about one hundred and forty thousand. It was strongly fortified. West of the city there was a mountain called Montjoy, upon which there was a strong fort which commanded the harbor and the town.
After a short siege this fort was taken by storm, and the city was then forced to surrender.
Philip soon advanced with an army of French and Spaniards to retake the city. The English fleet had retired. Twenty-eight French s.h.i.+ps of war blockaded the harbor, which they could not enter, as it was commanded by the guns of Montjoy. The siege was very desperate both in the a.s.sault and the defense. The young king, Charles, was in the most imminent danger of falling into the bands of his foes. There was no possibility of escape, and it seemed inevitable that the city must either surrender, or be taken by storm. The French and Spanish army numbered twenty thousand men. They first attempted to storm Montjoy, but were repulsed with great slaughter. They then besieged it, and by regular approaches compelled its capitulation in three weeks.
This n.o.ble resistance enabled the troops in the city greatly to multiply and increase their defenses. They thus succeeded in protracting the siege of the town five weeks longer. Every day the beleagured troops from the crumbling ramparts watched the blue expanse of the Mediterranean, hoping to see the sails of an English fleet coming to their rescue. Two breaches were already effected in the walls. The garrison, reduced to two thousand, and exhausted by superhuman exertions by day and by night, were almost in the last stages of despair, when, in the distant horizon, the long looked-for fleet appeared. The French s.h.i.+ps, by no means able to cope with such a force, spread their sails, and sought safety in flight.
The English fleet, amounting to fifty sail of the line, and transporting a large number of land troops, triumphantly entered the harbor on the 3rd of May, 1708. The fresh soldiers were speedily landed, and marched to the ramparts and the breaches. This strong reinforcement annihilated the hopes of the besiegers. Apprehensive of an immediate sally, they retreated with such precipitation that they left behind them in the hospitals their sick and wounded; they also abandoned their heavy artillery, and an immense quant.i.ty of military stores.
Whatever energy Charles might have shown during the siege, all seemed now to evaporate. When the shot of the foe were crumbling the walls of Barcelona, he was in danger of the terrible doom of being taken a captive, which would have been the annihilation of all his hopes.