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CHARACTERS.

Account of the celebrated Guerilla, Colonel Don FRANCIS ESPOZ Y MINA, translated from the Spa nish of Colonel Don Lorenzo Ximenes.

MIN

VINA is a well-made man, of a florid complexion, robust, and about five feet eight inches high, a man of few words, frank in his manner, detesting women, for he will not allow one to be with an officer or a soldier of his party, nor, indeed, will he keep an officer or a soldier with bim who is attached to them; he is between 20 and 30 years old, scarce ever eats, and never sleeps more than two hours in the night, and then always with his loaded pistols in his girdle, and his room locked, on the few nights he ever passes in a village. He is very thoughtful; never commuricative: his officers never, by any accident, know where he intends to march. The instant the drum beats, whether it is for roll-call or not, he insists upon their ail appearing, and the officers mounted (that is, the captains, for none others are allowed horses), and their mules, with baggage, loaded. When least expect ed, he places himself at the head of his men, saying, "Follow me!" and often he marches them in YOL, LIII.

this way thirty miles; and, even on the day of his attacking the convoy, he marched them forty miles, without the horses or men eating the whole day. He, happened, at this time, to have little or no forage, either for his men or horses; but, when he has plenty,. he is very liberal in giving it away, never allowing any one to receive pay for it; and, indeed, the patriotism of the people, and their adoration of Mina, is such, that they give every thing cheerfully. Whenever a volunteer of infantry joins Mina, he is not allowed to bring any thing but a pair of sandals, half-stockings, breeches, and jacket. Whenever bis shirt is dirty, he goes to the first house near him, enters, and says, " The shirt I have on is dirty-give me a clean one." The countrymau changes with him; and, if he has time, washes it, and gets his own back; if not, he keeps Mina's, and Mina the countryman's. arms are all rusty on the outside, but he is particularly careful to have them well cleaned within, and good locks and flints: his bayonets are encrusted with the blood of Frenchmen. The captain who commands the advanced guard is called the Dos Pelos (why, I know not); but in this last busi

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ness he ordered all his men to put three musket-balls in each of their pieces; and said, "I know they did as I ordered them, for in the first discharge they killed and wounded 60 people. His cavalry, at this time, consisted of 150 intrepid and valiant men, dressed like hussars, with jacket and blue pantaloons; caps like the rest of the army, with this difference, that they have about a yard of red cloth hanging down their backs, in a point from the cap, and a gold tassel at the end. All of them wear sandals and spurs; and Mina himself never wears boots, or halfboots, but sandals, in order the more easily to escape, by climbing up the side of mountains, if he gets knocked off his horse. He has several times saved himself miraculously in this way.

Whenever a youth wishes to enlist in the cavalry, after being well examined by Mina, and questioned, he calls for the commanding officer of the infantry, and says, "This boy wishes to serve in the cavalry; take him first with you, and let me know how he behaves. The first action they are engaged in, this captain, who commands the infantry, and is on horseback, keeps the boy close to him during the whole of the action, and watches narrowly how he behaves; and after having been four times in action, and if he distinguishes himself, the captain brings him to Mina, and says, "This lad will do; he is worthy to die for his country." Mina then furnishes him with arms, and a horse, closely watching him himself, to see how he behaves. By these means, his corps is composed of the most des

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perate and intrepid Spaniards that live.

Mina has one boy of 14 years old in his troop. He is mounted on a poney, with arms in proportion to his youth, a double-barrelled carbine, with pistols and sword. He is always in the advanced guard, and, of course, goes into action the first. This lad, by himself, got between five French cavalry soldiers, and called to them to surrender. The French, observing that a strong party of Mina's cavalry were headed by the boy. turned about, and were in the act of galloping off, when the boy. charged one of them, and knocked him off his horse, and kept hold of the bridle of a second, until some of his companions came up, who put them both to the sword. Mina himself says, that he is one of the bravest lads that he has in his division; and, if Mina says so, you may be assured that the boy is something remarkable.

The French call Mina the King of Navarre. In whatever town he enters, he is sure to find every thing that he wants; the whole province thinks it an honour to have him as a guest. No officer in Navarre pays for his meals; every thing is brought out to them gratis. This extraordinary man has found means to get rid of all French spies cleverly enough, and without putting them to death. Whenever any of his partizans have brought him auy, he strips them stark naked, to see if they have any papers, plans, or drawings; and, if he finds any thing of the sort, he calls instantly for one of the soldiers of his guard, and says to him, "Take this fellow-he is a

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spy-cut off his right ear." The soldier (who has had pretty good practice at this work) draws his sword, and performs the operation as cleverly as a regular surgeon. This operation being finished, he heats an iron-mark red-hot, and stamps upon his forehead-Viva Mina! With this mark the man remains during the rest of his life; and I have been assured that, so ashamed are those who have suffered this operation, of shewing themselves, that they have been found singly in the mountaius, actually starved to death. Mina has an hospital for his sick and wounded near a beautiful little village called Estella, close upon the brow of a mountain. Six women attend upon the sick, with two excellent surgeons. They are well supplied with every thing gratis. The French know the spot where he has established this hospital, and have made several attempts to surprise it, but never with success. Mina is sure to get information when they are coming; and the inhabitants of the little village all turn out, and carry the sick and wounded on biers, on their shoulders, up six leagues into the mountains, where they remain, in perfect security, until the French retire. In this same mountain he has a cave, where he fabricates bis own gunpowder, and with this he is pretty well supplied. Mina encourages the people of Navarre to trade with the French; he gives them passports to do so: by which means he secures many articles for the comfort and advantage of his men, that he could not obtain otherwise. And, for allowing this trade, he gets what he wants graais. If those who wish to trade are

rich, he exacts money from them, which goes towards the pay of his soldiers, but more particularly to pay his spies, to obtain information of the movements of the French. To these men he is unbounded in his liberality, and he is supplied with the most correct information of the motions of the enemy: not a man can stir, that Mina is not informed of it. If the alcaldes (or justices of the peace) of a village are ordered by the French to make any requisition, and if they do not instantly inform Mina of it, he goes himself to their houses, in the night, and shoots them: he has done this to no less than nine of these fellows. If they inform him, Mina then takes steps accordingly, either to intercept their communications, or cut off their soldiers, or molest them in one way or other. Every volunteer has plenty of wine, meat, and bread. Every thing he takes in an action is his own; bowever, it must be after the battle is. over-he shoots every man that plunders while he ought to be fighting. His tactick is reduced simply to forming line of battle, column, charging, and great care never to fire without being sure of hitting the object. He never allows gaming, nor a pack of cards, either among the officers or soldiers.

Plunderers at all times he shoots. Officers and soldiers are. all punished alike, when they forget their duty. He never takes either a regular soldier, or a regu lar bred officer, into his corps. He says, "They pretend to have too much theory-and he sees they fail in all their attempts." His second in command is Guruchaga, about his own age, taller : and thinner, of a most violent and a 2 A 2 hasty

hasty temper, moderate talents, brave to a degree that is incredible, impetuous in action, and a powerful arm with the sword. Mina is very fond of him, and is the only man in whom he places implicit confidence, and sometimes consults. This man is severe with the troops, and makes himself feared and respected. He is, in general, the observer of the conduct of the army in battle; and, according to his report of their individual valour, they are promoted. Mina has a perfect knowledge, as well as all his officers and soldiers, of the whole country, and all the passes in the mountains; , and, whenever it is necessary, he disperses his people, appointing a particular spot, some distance off, to meet, where they never fail to arrive, although the country is surrounded by the French. On a recent occasion, he practised this with great success: he was surrounded by 20,000 French, who had received orders to destroy him and his corps at all hazards. Mina knew the peril of his situation; but, with his 3000 men, he remained in the mountains 15 days, treating the French with the utmost contempt. At length, about dusk in the evening, he saw himself surrounded by four columns of the enemy, who were pressing down upon him. With the greatest coolness, he called all his men around him, and said, “Gentlemen, we are in an unpleasant situation here. Let every captain take care of his company. Let the rendezvous be at such a place (nam<ing one)→→Mina the rallying-word. And now let every man disperse, and make the best of bis way." They immediately dispersed. The

French deployed their columns at day-light, in the morning; and, when they thought that they had these people in their power, they found the whole of them had escaped, In five days afterwards, Mina was at the head of his men, committing depredations on the French, ten leagues from that spot, and without having lost a single individual. This is Mina's own account of this circunstance.

After we came into the power of Mina, by the capture of the French convoy who were escorting us, Mina's whole care was to provide for our security. He marched us through different villages, and across mountains, some. times close to the French lines. He endeavoured, if possible, to get us to Valencia, for which purpose he sent to Duran and Empecinado, to desire them to cooperate with him, and to pass along the banks of the Ebro, in order that they might protect our passage across. He waited with anxiety 12 days for an answer from Empecinado, but got none. (Unfortunately, Empecinado had been attacked by the French at this time, and lost his artillery.) At length, he determined to execute this project by himself. He ordered some boards to be placed on cars, with preparations to make a bridge; and spread a report that be intended to cross the Ebro at a certain point. The carts and waggons, that he loaded with these materials, he moved down in the day-time towards the water. The French, hearing this, waited anxiously expecting Mina, and his troops. In the mean time, Mina started in the middle of the night," marched, twelve miles from the

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spot

spot where he intended building his bridge; and, coming to the banks of the river, he jumped off his horse, and said, "Here is the spot where I will take you across." Without the least noise or confu sion, Mina halted all his men, forced his own horse into the river, to try the depth; and, finding it practicable, he ordered a hundred men to get up behind a hundred of the cavalry, and plunge into the river. In this manner he contrived to pass over 800 Spanish prisoners, and land them in perfect safety, before the French were aware that he was not coming down to the bridge. The moment he had placed us in safety on the other side of the river, he said, "Now, Spaniards! you are safe." He divided two handkerchiefs full of dollars amongst us, saying, that we had as good right to share in the plunder of the French as they had; and, wishing us farewell, galloped into the river with his ca valry, and disappeared, leaving 20 dragoons and an officer to escort us. This extraordinary man might, if he chose, increase the number of his army to ten or twelve thousand men; but he has no vanity; and says fairly, that he thinks he can manage four or five thousand men better than a larger nuinber.

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whose works, both as a philoso pher and an historian, are so wondurtully replete with genius, and entertainment, was, when I was at Turin, Secretary to Sir John Sinclair, Plenipotentiary from the court of Great Britain to his Sardinian Majesty. He had then lately published those Philosophical Essays, which have done so much mischief to mankind, by contributing to loosen the sacred bonds by which alone man can be restrained from rushing to his own destruction, and which are so in timately necessary to our nature; that a propensity to be bound by them was apparently instilled into the human mind by the all-wise Creator, as a balance against those passions which, though perhaps necessary as incitements to activity, must, without such controul, ins evitably have hurried us to our ruin. The world, however, unconscious of its danger, had greedily swallowed the bait; the Essays were received with applause, read with delight, and their admired author was already, by public opi nion, placed at the head of the dangerous school of sceptic philo, sophy. T

With this extraordinary man I was intimately acquainted. He bad kindly distinguished me from among a number of young men, who were then at the academy, and appeared so warmly attached to me, that it was apparent he not only intended to honour me with his friendship, but to bestow on me what was, in his opinion, the first of all favours and benefits, by making me his convert and disciple. Nature, I believe, never formed any man more unlike his real

character

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