History of the Peninsular War, Volume 3 (of 6)Southey, Robert
History
History of the Peninsular War, Volume 3 (of 6)
Southey, Robert
Peninsular War, 1807-1814
From the tower of this building the French commanded the Cozo for a
musket-shot distance ♦THE FRENCH BEGIN TO MURMUR.♦ on either side.
After many desperate attempts their miners succeeded in crossing that
street; but they were baffled in their attacks upon the University,
and so many of their officers and best soldiers had fallen in this
murderous struggle, that the disgust which ought to have been excited
by their abominable cause was produced by the difficulty which they
found in pursuing it. Not the men alone, but the officers also, began
to complain that they were worn out, though they had as yet only taken
a fourth part of the town; it was necessary, they said, to wait for
reinforcements, otherwise they should all be buried in these cursed
ruins, before they could drive the fanatics from their last retreat.
Marshal Lasnes represented to them, that destructive as the mode of war
was, it was more so to the besieged than to them, whose operations were
directed by more skill, and carried on by men trained to such service;
that pestilence was doing their work; and that if these desperate
madmen chose to renew the example of Numantia, and bury themselves
under the ruins of their city, bombs and mines would not now be
♦ROGNIAT, 38.♦ long in destroying the last of them. Marshal Lasnes was
a man after the Emperor Napoleon’s own heart; with so little honourable
feeling, that he regarded the Zaragozans merely as madmen; and with so
little human feeling, that he would have completed the destruction of
the city and its last inhabitants with the same insensibility that he
declared his intention of doing so.
♦NOT EVEN AN ATTEMPT IS MADE TO RELIEVE THE CITY.♦
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account