History of the Peninsular War, Volume 5 (of 6)Southey, Robert
History
History of the Peninsular War, Volume 5 (of 6)
Southey, Robert
Peninsular War, 1807-1814
It would be wronging the Marques to break off here, for in other parts
of his address he spoke in the proper language of a Spaniard and a
general. “This is a holy war,” said he, “in which we must fight like
the Maccabees. Let him who feels for the public cause join us, and take
arms, and offer himself as a sacrifice, and put forth his hand, and
advance, and attack, and triumph. Confide in the Government, and it
will confide in you. If there is conduct in the chiefs, there will be
conduct in the people; moderation in the expenditure, and there will
be plenty in the army; order in private families, and it will display
itself in public actions; activity in individuals, and the army will
be invincible. Let there be obedience, union, fidelity, justice, and
truth, and God will fight with us.”
Unfortunately, there were many in Valencia upon whom the first part of
this address was likely to have more effect than the second. A friar,
preaching in the Plaza Catalina, said to his auditors, “If the Cortes
think of abolishing our holy order, and that of our sisters the nuns,
obey them not, ye armed Valencians, but oppose such mandates like
lions. We are the servants of God, whom you must obey rather than man.
The English themselves, though they have an excellent constitution,
must eventually fall for want of the blessing of the Catholic faith.
Ask not for cannon and gunpowder, but rather fly to your altars; and
instead of any vain attempt to resist the victorious French by force
of arms, implore the aid of Heaven, which alone can avert the heavy
calamities that threaten you.” Zaragoza is as Catholic a city as
Valencia, but it was not by such sermons as this that the heroism of
the Zaragozans was excited and sustained!
♦BLAKE TAKES THE COMMAND.♦
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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