RIC, Pedro Maria.

An exposition of the most interesting circumstances attending the second siege and capitulation of Zaragoza . . . Translated from the Spanish, by William Buy, Esq. late his Majesty's agent for packets at Corunna. With an appendix, containing the French account.

London, printed for James Ridgway, 1809. 8vo (215 x 130 mm), pp. vii, [i], 48; scattered light spotting; modern calf-backed boards. First English edition. An account of the second siege of Zaragoza justifying the decisions taken by José Palafox and his ruling committee in the defence and eventual surrender of that city to the Napoleonic forces under Marshal Lannes in 1809. The author, who was the regent of the Royal Audience of Aragon and later also became president of the junta set up to govern Zaragoza during Palafox’s illness, led negotiations with Lannes for the city’s surrender. Palafox and his supporters have been criticised for the manner in which the city was defended and subsequently surrendered because it was felt that they mishandled the siege for the personal glorification of Palafox.In his history of the Peninsular War, Charles Esdaile describes the second siege of Zaragoza as ‘a horrific affair’ where ‘in a foretaste of battles far in the future, the French had to advance into the city house by house, blowing holes in partition walls and methodically slaughtering the defenders of each room. Amidst scenes of desperate courage, the Spaniards fought back, engaging in repeated counter-attacks and digging mines under many French positions, but, though increasingly exhausted, Lannes’ men kept inching forward. Fighting even went on underground as mine was met by counter-mine, and rival parties of miners hacked at each other with picks and shovels . . . . The end came on 18 February in the form of a fresh French attack that overran the whole of the left bank of the Ebro. With the defenders reduced to starvation rations, constantly exposed to a rain of mortar and howitzer shells, decimated by typhus, and less and less capable of holding back the French, even Palafox, who was himself seriously ill, realised that all was lost . . . . The desperate resistance put up by the Army of Reserve and its civilian allies constituted a heroic epic that did much to counter the negative effects of the previous few months, whilst again making it much harder for the British to abandon the Patriot cause. Certainly, the evidence was impressive enough: much of the city lay in ruins, whilst only a third of the garrison remained on its feet, the 24,000 deaths that it had suffered having been augmented by those of 30,000 civilians. Defeat, then, had been heroic’ (Esdaile, The Peninsular War pp. 162–163). These horrors are vividly recalled in Ric’s Exposition: ‘Zaragoza! a name of terror, of shame, of reproach, to that monster who thought himself omnipotent! a name venerable and grateful to good men of all nations: a name of example to every town in Spain. In thy ashes and ruins, in thy stately edifices, shattered by bombs or blown up by mines, in thy streets, drenched with French blood, in thy cemeteries which enclose as many heroes as dead bodies, there, there, and not in the obsolete and perhaps exaggerated accounts of Sparta, of Athens, and of Rome, is where should in future be sought the sacred fire of liberty; where, should be cherished the flame of patriotism, and where the whole world should learn lessons of sacrifice, fidelity, and greatness’ (p. 35).Sandler 2853. Not in Palau.

• GBP 600.00 > 其他币种价格
• 订书号：: T2371

• 书商: Bernard Quaritch Ltd. (GREAT BRITAIN)