In his last moments Reding complained that he had been ill-served as a general; that the Somatenes had not supported him; that his orders were neglected; his plans disclosed to the enemy; and that he could never get true intelligence; complaints which the experience of Moore, Baird, Cradock, Murray, and, above all, of Wellington, proved to be applicable to every part of Spain, and every period of the war. Coupigny succeeded Reding, but he was soon superseded by general Blake, who, for reasons hereafter to be mentioned, was appointed captain-general of the “_Coronilla_,” or Little Crown, a title given to the three provinces of Valencia, Aragon, and Catalonia, when united; and, as the warfare in Aragon thus became immediately connected with that in Catalonia, I shall here give a short account of what was passing in the former province. When Zaragoza fell, marshal Lasnes was recalled to France; Mortier, who succeeded him in the command, sent detachments against Jaca and Monzon; and threatened Mequinenza and Lerida. The Fort of Monzon, commanding a passage over the Cinca river, was abandoned by the Spaniards, and the town and citadel of Jaca surrendered: whereby the French opened a new and important communication with France. But, Lerida being fruitlessly summoned, and some slight demonstrations made against Mequinenza having failed, Mortier cantoned his troops on both sides of the Ebro, from Barbastro to Alcanitz, and despatched colonel Briche, as we have seen, to open a communication with the seventh corps; but, in April, the fifth corps marched for Castile, and general Junot was left with a part only of the third corps to maintain Aragon. [Sidenote: Suchet’s Memoirs.] Many of the French artillery-men and non-commissioned officers had been withdrawn from Spain to serve in Germany. One brigade of the third corps also was employed to protect the communications on the side of Navarre, and another was detached to escort the prisoners from Zaragoza to Bayonne. These drafts, added to the loss sustained during the siege, reduced the number of troops in Aragon to about twelve thousand disposable men under arms. Junot, being sick, returned to France, and general Suchet succeeded him. The weakness of the army gave great uneasiness to the new general,--an uneasiness which was not allayed by finding that men and officers were, from various causes, discontented and dispirited. Suchet was, however, no ordinary man; and, with equal prudence and vigour, he commenced a system of discipline in his corps, and of order in his government, that afterwards carried him, with scarcely a check, from one success to another, until he obtained the rank of marshal for himself, and the honour for his corps of being the only one in Spain that never suffered any signal reverse.