Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 9.djvu/358

 350

NOTES AND QUERIES.

[9 th 8. IX. MAY 3, 1902.

though some success attended him he Vas unable to effect anything decisive. He re- signed in April, 1835, and died a few months later.

The contrast between Peterborough and Mina seems rather strained. The latter was a guerilla leader acting in his own country. Peterborough was compelled by circumstances to become something of a " free captain " in Spain. If it is true that he was responsible for the capture of Barcelona (of which there seems to be some little doubt), Peterborough deserves a higher place than Mina. The parallel would seem to be in the contempt of both for the red tape of their day. Peter- borough had his way by land and sea as long as it was humanly possible. His methods were impossible a hundred years later, even if Mina had been capable of anything outside his own experience. Mina inveighed against the officers of the regular army. They were the slaves of an unsuccessful system, and he would have none of them. He was able to create his material, while Peterborough had to work with what was to his hand ; and Marlborough, "who thought no campaigning except his own material," took care in his wretched fashion that it should be none of the best. Both made free use of the means, good and (often) bad, that came to hand. Such disgraceful incidents as Peterborough's shameless trick on Mahoni at Murviedro and Mina's destruction of Castellfollit seem merely necessary events in such stormy careers Mina, however, was made of sterner stuff than the fiery and versatile Mordaunt. 'Here was Castellfollit," he wrote on one of its ruined walls. "Cities, learn by this example not to befriend the enemies of your country ! "

It may be mentioned as a coincidence that when Peterborough arrived in Spain the Por- tuguese general in nominal command over tough old Galway and the allies was Las Minas. GEORGE MARSHALL.

opfton Park, Liverpool.

The guerilla system of warfare was of a wild and romantic character. Men totally unfitted by previous habits and education appeared upon the scene, and developed talent and determination that made them a scourge to the invaders of their country. But theirs was simply a war of extermination. Expecting no quarter (they were called bandits by the French), they did not extend any to those who became their prisoners.

War to the knife " was the motto of the guerillas, and on both sides blood flowed in torrents. Several of the followers of Juan Martin Diez, the Empecinado, having been

surprised in the mountains, they were nailed to the trees and left there to die of hunger and thirst. To the same trees, before a week elapsed, a similar number of French soldiers were affixed by the guerillas. Some females had been abused most scandalously by the escort of a convoy ; in return the guerilla leader drove into an ermida eighty French- men and their officers, set fire to the thatch, and burnt them to death. Such were the dreadful enormities a system of retaliation caused. Many of the guerilla bands were actuated in every enterprise by a love of bloodshed and spoliation. Others took the field from nobler motives : a great love of their country and religion, and for ven- geance against a tyranny which had become insufferable. These desperate adventurers were commanded by men of the most dis- similar professions ; and, strange to say, the most ferocious band that invested Biscay was commanded by a woman named Mar- tina. Of all the guerilla leaders the two Minas were the most daring and successful. The younger, Xavier, had but a short career chivalrous and romantic. The elder, Fran- cisco Espoz y Mina, was born in 1784, and became a guerilla chief in 1809, and after obtaining several victories over the French generals was promoted to the rank of field- marshal. Mina was the idol of the Spanish people, who styled him the " King of Navarre," and extolled his deeds beyond those of the Cid or the most famous knights of Spanish chivalry and romance. Mina resided in England for some time, but returned to Spain in 1834 to oppose Don Carlos, and died on 24 December, 1836, of wounds he received at Barcelona.

HENRY GERALD HOPE. 119, Elms Road, Clapham, S.W.

GORDON RIOTS (9 th S. ix. 68, 233). In the 'Annual Register' for 1780 will be found a full account (the best I have come across) of the riots, the burning of Langdale's, A T C , together with a report of the subsequent judicial proceedings, names of prisoners, verdicts, sentences (where found guilty). I would have mentioned this sooner, only I was afraid of being "one among too many." A full list (but without names) of those put on trial may also be found in Thornbury's * Old and New London ' (new edition, ed. by Edward Walford, 1893, vol. vi. p 347). Lang- dale's is still, I believe, in the hands of the original family ; but I doubt whether the products of the firm in 1902, however much the perfumes, vanilla, &c., might tempt the fair, but frail ones among the rioters (espe-