ast quantity of shot, shells,
and intrenching tools, three thousand barrels of powder, ten thousand
sacks of corn, and a vast quantity of provisions and stores were found
left behind in the camp. Tesse had left, too, all his sick and wounded
with a letter to the Earl of Peterborough begging him to see that they
were well cared for.

The news of the hasty retreat of Marshal Tesse from before Barcelona
caused a shock of surprise throughout Europe. In France it had never
been doubted that Barcelona would fall, and as to the insurrection, it
was believed that it could be trampled out without difficulty by
the twenty-five thousand French veterans whom the marshal had at
his disposal. As to the handful of British troops whose exploits had
occasioned such astonishment, none had supposed for a moment that they
would be able to effect anything when opposed to so overwhelming a force
of the disciplined troops of France.

Peterborough himself had hardly hoped to save Barcelona, but, unlike
his enemies, he had not considered that the fall of that city would
necessarily entail the final defeat of the cause for which he fought.
While busying himself with the marches and achievements of the troops
under his command, he had never ceased to take measures to provide for
the future. His marches and counter marches had made him thoroughly
acquainted with the country, and he had won the entire confidence of the
people.

He had, therefore, taken measures that even if Barcelona fell Philip
should not march back again to his capital. From the day Tesse advanced
he had had thousands of the country people at work, under the direction
of a few of his own officers, rendering each of the three roads by which
the French army could march from Barcelona to Madrid impracticable.
Gorges were blocked with vast masses of rock rolled down from the
mountain side at spots where the road wound along on the face of
precipices; and where it had only been made by blasting, it was by
similar means entirely destroyed. Bridges were broken down, every castle
and town on the lines of retreat placed in a state of defense, and the
cattle and provisions driven off to places of safety.

Thus while the earl was himself engaged in the most perilous adventures,
he neglected nothing that the most prudent and cautious general could
have suggested to insure the success of his plans. Even when affairs
looked most unpromising in Barcelona the earl wrote cheerfully to the
Du