On the side of Catalonia, meantime, all went on favourably for the allies; for if they were too weak to obtain any advantages for themselves, the enemy was weakened to a greater degree, in consequence of the progress of the war in other quarters. Marshal Suchet made one vigorous attempt in the beginning of December to surprise the corps at Villafranca, where the British head-quarters were established. He made a forced night march in this hope with about 15,000 men; but timely information had been obtained. Sarsfield’s division, which was stationed there, retired across the country to the left; the British cavalry and artillery fell back about eight miles along the main road to Arbos, where there was a strong position, and whither General Mackenzie moved his division to their support; and Suchet, having failed in his intention, retired from Villafranca on the afternoon of the same day, and returned to the Llobregat as rapidly as he had advanced. The wants of the Spanish army had now become so pressing that it was necessary to send Sarsfield’s cavalry to the rear, where it might be possible for them to subsist, his infantry being sometimes upon the shortest allowance, and without any sure prospect of even that insufficient dole for more than two or three days. His troops must from sheer destitution have quitted the field had it not been for the merchants of Villa-nueva, who, at his earnest persuasion, but on their own credit, and at their own risk, supplied them with provisions from the imports which arrived at that port. Not a murmur meantime was heard from the men; nor did they evince the slightest feeling of discontent or jealousy when they saw the Anglo-Sicilian troops, forming part of the same army, duly supplied, while they themselves were hungered. Only if the greater strength of the British soldiers appeared, when they were engaged together in the public works, a Spaniard would sometimes quietly say, “Give us your rations, and you shall see us work as well as you do.”