An outcry was raised against Palacio because he had not intercepted the enemy in their retreat, nor was he ever forgiven by the unreasonable people for not having done what it was impossible to do. When the account from the field of battle reached him at Tarragona, the French were half way to Barcelona; and before he was apprised that they had broken up the siege, they were already in that city. The command which he had ♦CABAÑES, II. 101.♦ undertaken was no enviable one. The repulse of the enemy at Valencia, their losses in Andalusia, and the heroic defence of Zaragoza, had ♦DIFFICULTIES OF THE SERVICE.♦ raised hopes which nothing but the most brilliant success could satisfy; the service in which he was engaged required great steadiness and military skill; the best of his troops were wanting in both, and the great body of them fit only for irregular war. The Junta of Catalonia had decreed that an army of 40,000 men should be raised; and because there were no officers to command, and no time for disciplining them, they determined that the whole force should consist ♦D. FR. MANOEL HIST. DE CATALAÑA, L. IV. P. 90.♦ of Miquelets. This class of irregular troops was originally called [34]Almogavares; but when they began to alter their savage appearance and barbarous mode of warfare, they took their present name from one of their favourite commanders, Miquelot de Prats, a notable partizan who attached himself to Cæsar Borgia. The name was popular among the Catalans, the Miquelets having distinguished themselves whenever the country was invaded, and especially in the succession war. It was intended to raise forty _tercios_ of a thousand men each, and this might have been done in a few days, such was the national spirit, if equipments of every kind had not been wanting. A great bounty was given to these Miquelets, but this prevented recruiting for the line, and the regular troops were disgusted at seeing that men received larger pay for engaging in a service where they had more ♦CABAÑES, I. 90–93.♦ liberty, and were subject to less discipline. On the other hand, the Miquelet officers received less pay than those of the army, and were less esteemed, their rank being only during the war. The force which was thus defective in its constitution, was also ill armed. Sir Hew Dalrymple, upon whom pressing demands for arms were made from all that side of the peninsula, could allot but few to Catalonia; and the abundant supplies which had been sent out by England were dispatched to other parts, where they were neither so much wanted nor so well bestowed; for Barcelona was the great arsenal of the province: 50,000 firelocks had there fallen into the enemy’s hands, whereas the manufactory at Ripoll could furnish the Catalans with not more than 150 per week. Palacio therefore ordered pikes or partisans to be made, with which he armed the two foremost ranks of the Miquelets, who, as upon the old system, were drawn up three deep. In hands that can