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Chapter 10 - Basic Macroeconomic Relationships
In the aggregate expenditures model one focus is on the consumption schedule which is the
relationship between the consumption part of aggregate expenditures and disposable income.
Graphically this relationship is illustrated with consumption measured on the vertical axis and
disposable income measured on the horizontal axis. If the two were equal, the relationship
would follow a straight line along the 45-degree line. Historical data and the aggregate
expenditures model suggest that it is a direct relationship, and that households spend a larger
proportion of a small income than of a large disposable income. In other words, consumption
as a proportion of income falls as disposable income increases.
Since saving is the difference between disposable income and consumption spending, the
saving schedule also shows a direct relationship between saving and disposable income.
Graphically, it is depicted with saving on the vertical axis and disposable income measured on
the horizontal axis. At very low income levels, dissaving is believed to occur and saving
increases proportionally as income rises.
207. Explain how consumption and saving are related to disposable income.
Consumption and saving are directly related to disposable income. Consumption is positively
related to disposable income, but is a proportionally greater part of low income than of high
income. In fact, at very low income levels it is probable that consumption exceeds income.
Since saving is income not spent, it is also directly related to income and will be an increasing
proportion of income as income rises. At very low levels of income when consumption
exceeds income, saving will be negative or dissaving occurs.
10-1
Chapter 10 - Basic Macroeconomic Relationships
208. Complete the following table assuming that (a) MPS = 1/5, (b) there is no government
and all saving is personal saving.
209. Complete the following table assuming that (a) MPS = 1/3, (b) there is no government
and all saving is personal saving.
10-2
Chapter 10 - Basic Macroeconomic Relationships
10-3
Chapter 10 - Basic Macroeconomic Relationships
210. Differentiate between the average propensity to consume and the marginal propensity to
consume.
The average propensity to consume is defined as the relationship between the amount
consumed relative to the level of income; it is (consumption)/(income). The marginal
propensity to consume is a measure relating the change in consumption resulting from a
change in income to that change in income; it is (change in consumption)/(change in income).
211. What are the marginal propensity to consume (MPC) and marginal propensity to save
(MPS)? How are the two concepts related? How are the two concepts related to the
consumption and saving functions?
The marginal propensity to consume is the ratio of a change in consumption to the change in
income, which caused that change in consumption. The marginal propensity to save is the
ratio of the change in saving to the change in income, which caused that change in saving.
The sum of the MPC and MPS for any change in disposable income must always equal 1
because any fraction of a change in income that is not consumed is saved. The MPC is the
numerical value of the slope of the consumption schedule and the MPS is the numerical value
of the slope of the saving schedule.
10-4
Chapter 10 - Basic Macroeconomic Relationships
212. Suppose a family's annual disposable income is $8,000 of which it saves $2,000.
Level of
output and
income
(GDP = Consumption Saving APC APS MPC MPS
DI)
$480 $_____ $-8 _____ _____ _____ _____
520 _____ 0 _____ _____ _____ _____
560 _____ 8 _____ _____ _____ _____
600 _____ 16 _____ _____ _____ _____
640 _____ 24 _____ _____ _____ _____
680 _____ 32 _____ _____ _____ _____
720 _____ 40 _____ _____ _____ _____
760 _____ 48 _____ _____ _____ _____
800 _____ 56 _____ _____ _____ _____
10-5
Chapter 10 - Basic Macroeconomic Relationships
Using the below graphs, show the consumption and saving schedules graphically.
(b) Locate the break-even level of income. How is it possible for households to dissave at
very low income levels?
(c) If the proportion of total income consumed decreases and the proportion saved increases
as income rises, explain both verbally and graphically how the MPC and MPS can be constant
at various levels of income.
(b) The break-even level of income is 520 where saving equals zero. Households dissave by
borrowing or by dipping into accumulated savings.
(c) The MPC and MPS represent the slopes of the consumption and savings schedules
respectively. The fact that MPC and MPS are constant means that the schedules will be
straight-line graphs. However, the slope can be constant and still not be a constant proportion
of income as represented on the horizontal axis. In fact, the only time the MPC and the APC
would be the same would be along lines emanating from the origin.
10-6
Chapter 10 - Basic Macroeconomic Relationships
10-7
Chapter 10 - Basic Macroeconomic Relationships
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: 10-01 Describe how changes in income affect consumption (and saving).
Topic: 10-04 Average and Marginal Propensities
Level of
output and
income
(GDP = Consumption Saving APC APS MPC MPS
DI)
$100 $_____ $-5 _____ _____ _____ _____
125 _____ 0 _____ _____ _____ _____
150 _____ 5 _____ _____ _____ _____
175 _____ 10 _____ _____ _____ _____
200 _____ 15 _____ _____ _____ _____
225 _____ 20 _____ _____ _____ _____
250 _____ 25 _____ _____ _____ _____
275 _____ 30 _____ _____ _____ _____
300 _____ 35 _____ _____ _____ _____
10-8
Chapter 10 - Basic Macroeconomic Relationships
(a) What is the break-even level of income? How is it possible for households to dissave at
very low income levels?
(b) If the proportion of total income consumed decreases and the proportion saved increases
as income rises, explain how the MPC and MPS can be constant at various levels of income.
a) The break-even level of income is 125 where saving equals zero. Households dissave by
borrowing or by dipping into accumulated savings.
(b) The MPC and MPS represent the slopes of the consumption and savings schedules,
respectively. The fact that MPC and MPS are constant means that the schedules will be
straight-line graphs. However, the slope can be constant and still not be a constant proportion
of income as represented on the horizontal axis. In fact, the only time the MPC and the APC
would be the same would be along the 45-degree line where the slope is equal to 1 and the
ratio of spending to income is equal to 1 at all levels.
215. Suppose that the linear equation for consumption in a hypothetical economy is C = 50 +
0.9 Y. Also suppose that income (Y) is $400. Determine the following: (a) MPC; (b) MPS; (c)
level of consumption; (d) APC; (e) APS.
(a) MPC = 0.9. (b) MPS = 0.1. (c) At Y = $400, C = $410. (d) At Y = $400, APC =
$410/$400 = 1.025. (e) At Y = $400, APS = -$10/$400 = -0.025.
10-9
Chapter 10 - Basic Macroeconomic Relationships
216. List four factors that could shift the current consumption schedule.
Shifts in the current consumption schedule could be caused by any of the non-income
determinants of consumption and saving. The consumption schedule would shift upward if
wealth increases, if households borrow more (e.g., due to lower real interest rates), if they
expect higher future prices or increase in future incomes, -and if real interest rates fall.
217. What is the effect of increase in wealth on the consumption and saving schedules?
When wealth increases, it shifts the consumption schedule upward as people consume more at
each level of disposable income. There is an opposite effect on saving. The saving schedule
shifts downward at each level of disposable income because people save less.
218. Explain the difference between a movement along the consumption schedule and a shift
in the consumption schedule.
A movement from one point to another on the consumption schedule is a change in the
amount consumed. It is caused solely by a change in disposable income. By contrast, a shift in
the consumption schedule is the result of a change in one of the non-income determinates of
consumption such as a change in wealth, expectations, borrowing, or real interest rates. If a
household decided to consume more at each level of disposable income, the consumption
schedule will shift upward.
10-10
Chapter 10 - Basic Macroeconomic Relationships
(a) Graph A represents the consumption schedule and B represents the saving schedule.
(b) If consumption rises at each level of income, then saving must decline at each level so B2
will shift down.
(c) The situation is the reverse of part (b). Line A2 would shift to A3 if B2 shifts to B1.
Consumption rises when saving falls.
(d) Since it is a movement along the curve rather than a shift in the curve, the level of
disposable income must have increased.
(e) A tax increase will lower both consumption and saving schedules because disposable
income has been reduced at each level of output.
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: 10-01 Describe how changes in income affect consumption (and saving).
Topic: 10-02 The Consumption Schedule
10-11
Chapter 10 - Basic Macroeconomic Relationships
220. Describe the relationship between the Great Recession of 2008-2009 and the Paradox of
Thrift.
The Great Recession of 2008-2009 altered the prior consumption and saving behaviour in the
economy. Concerned about reduced wealth, high debt, and potential job losses, households
increased their saving and reduced their consumption at each level of after-tax income (or
each level of GDP). This outcome can be illustrated with the downward shift of the
consumption schedule and the upward shift of the saving schedule. This change of behaviour
illustrates the so-called paradox of thrift, which refers to the possibility that a recession can be
made worse when households become more thrifty and save in response to the downturn.
The investment demand curve relates investment to the real rate of interest and the expected
rate of return. Graphically the interest rate and expected rate of return are measured on the
vertical axis and the amount of investment is measured on the horizontal axis. The investment
demand curve has a negative slope reflecting the inverse relationship between the interest rate
(the price of investing) and the aggregate quantity of investment goods demanded.
10-12
Chapter 10 - Basic Macroeconomic Relationships
(a) The investment demand schedule gives the amount of investment that would be
undertaken at various rates of interest. The rate of interest that an investor would be willing to
pay for any amount of investment will not exceed its expected rate of net profit. Therefore,
the expected rate of profit determines the interest rate (or price) that investors would be
willing to pay for various amounts of investment and this is the definition of an investment
demand schedule.
(b) Investment is $90 billion.
(c) The inverse relationship stems from the equality of the expected rate of profit with the
interest rate at each level of investment as explained in part (a). There are fewer types of
investment that yield a large expected net profit and more and more investments that will
yield a lower rate of return. Therefore, at high rates of interest there is a smaller amount of
investment that will be undertaken because fewer investments yield an expected return high
enough to cover the high interest rate. As the rate declines, more and more investments will
yield enough return to cover the lower rates of interest.
10-13
Chapter 10 - Basic Macroeconomic Relationships
223. List six events that could cause a shift in the investment demand curve to the right.
The investment demand curve would shift to the right if the cost of acquiring, operating, or
maintaining capital goods declined; business taxes decreased; a technological change favoring
new investment occurred; the stock of capital goods on hand relative to sales decreased; firms'
decided to increase inventories; or expectations about higher future profits from investment
increased.
224. State four factors that explain why investment spending tends to be unstable.
Investment spending is based to a large extent on expectations about future profitability and
this can vary significantly from period to period. Technological changes affect investment
spending and these changes are not predictable in their timing. Investment goods tend to be
long lasting and "lumpy" in nature; that is, once a capital good is purchased it lasts a long time
and the expenditure will not be repeated on a frequent, regular basis. Furthermore, this type of
expenditure is usually large, so any changes tend to be substantial on a firm-by-firm basis.
Expectations and profits are both highly variable. Actual profits may not meet expectations
and this can affect expectations in the future. Expectations are also based on many different
external factors. Also, since firms may finance investment out of profits, variability in profits
will lead to instability in investment.
10-14
Chapter 10 - Basic Macroeconomic Relationships
225. Describe the relationship between the Great Recession of 2008-2009 and the Investment
Riddle.
During the Great Recession of 2008-2009, real interest rates declined essentially to zero. This
drop in interest rates should have boosted investment spending. But gross fixed investment
declined substantially—by 16 percent—between 2008 and 2009, and hence this phenomenon
is called the Investment Riddle. The key to the investment riddle is that during the recession
the investment demand curve shifted inward so much that this shift overwhelmed any
investment-increasing effects of the decline of real interest rates. The net result turned out to
be less investment, not more. The leftward shift of the investment demand reflected a decline
in the expected returns from investment.
10-15
Chapter 10 - Basic Macroeconomic Relationships
226. Most economists regard investment demand as being less stable than the income-
consumption relationship. Looking at the determinants of the two relationships, support this
contention.
The non- income determinants of the income-consumption relationship are consumer wealth,
borrowing based on real interest rates, price and income expectations, and personal taxes. For
a given real interest rate, determinants of investment are the price of investment goods and
their maintenance and operating costs, business taxes, technological change, stock of capital
goods on hand, and expectations. Comparing the two lists there are some similarities. For
example, both include expectations, related price levels, and relevant taxes. However, the
technological change and the stock of capital goods on hand have no analogy in the
consumption determinants.
These latter two determinants of investment support the contention of economists that the
investment demand relationship is more unstable than the income-consumption relationship.
Technological change is difficult to predict and certainly its impact would vary depending on
the extent of the change. The stock of capital goods on hand is a result of previous investment
and because of the nature of most capital goods, they can be made to last for a long period of
time. Once new capital spending occurs, it is "lumpy" in the sense that it will not be repeated
gradually, but only again when the particular capital good wears out or becomes obsolete.
Only the durable goods component of consumption is similar, but most of consumer spending
is of the more immediate type such as nondurable goods and services, which are primarily
related to income and would not vary greatly from period to period for most consumers.
The basic determinant of consumption is the level of income, but non-income factors include
wealth, borrowing, expectations, and taxation. Aside from a drastic change in government tax
or transfer policies, the income-consumption relationship is quite stable. That is, changes in
disposable income are accompanied by predictable changes in consumption spending.
Furthermore the other factors are quite diverse and tend to be self-cancelling across the
population.
The two basic factors determining the level of investment spending are the expected rate
return and the real interest rate. Since the former is based on expectations and the latter based
to a large extent on monetary policy, there is potential for wide variation. Add to this the fact
that investment goods are usually quite durable, and new investment can be postponed
depending on expectations, or once it is made there will be a period of time before the new
capital goods will need to be replaced. Also the fact that innovations occur irregularly leads to
the inability to plan for gradual investment in innovative technology. Finally, actual current
profits are often not as expected, so businesses can be expected to shift their investment plans
from year to year.
10-16
Chapter 10 - Basic Macroeconomic Relationships
227. Define the multiplier. How is it related to real GDP and the initial change in spending?
How can the multiplier have a negative effect?
The multiplier is simply the ratio of the change in real GDP to the initial change in spending.
Multiplying the initial change in spending by the multiplier gives you the amount of change in
real GDP. The multiplier effect can work in a positive or a negative direction. An initial
increase in spending will result in a larger increase in real GDP, and an initial decrease in
spending will result in a larger decrease in real GDP.
10-17
Chapter 10 - Basic Macroeconomic Relationships
229. What are two key facts that serve as the rationale for the multiplier effect?
First, the economy has continuous flows of expenditures and income in which income
received by one person comes from money spent by another person who in turn receives
income from the spending of another person, and so forth. Second, any change in income will
cause both consumption and saving to vary in the same direction as the initial change in
income, and by a fraction of that change. The fraction of the change in income that is spent is
called the marginal propensity to consume (MPC). The fraction of the change in income that
is saved is called the marginal propensity to save (MPS). The significance of the multiplier is
that a small change in investment plans or consumption-saving plans can trigger a much
larger change in the equilibrium level of GDP.
230. What are the relationships between the multiplier and the marginal propensities to
consume and save?
By definition, the multiplier is related to the marginal propensity to save because it equals
1/MPS. Thus, the multiplier and the MPS are inversely related. The multiplier is also related
to the marginal propensity to consume because it also equals 1/(1-MPC).
10-18
Chapter 10 - Basic Macroeconomic Relationships
231. Describe the relationship between the size of the MPC and the multiplier. How does it
compare to the relationship between the size of the MPS and the multiplier?
The size of the MPC and the multiplier are directly related. The size of the MPS and the
multiplier are inversely related. In equation form, the multiplier = 1/MPS or the multiplier =
1/(1-MPC).
10-19
Chapter 10 - Basic Macroeconomic Relationships
232. Describe and explain how the Great Recession altered the prior consumption and saving
behavior in the economy.
The Great Recession of 2008-2009 altered the prior consumption and saving behaviour in the
economy. Concerned about reduced wealth, high debt, and potential job losses, households
increased their saving and reduced their consumption at each level of after-tax income (or
each level of GDP). In Figure 10-4, this outcome is illustrated as the downward shift of the
consumption schedule in the top graph and the upward shift of the saving schedule in the
lower graph.
This change of behaviour illustrates the so-called , which refers to the possibility that a
recession can be made worse when households become more thrifty and save in response to
the downturn. The paradox of thrift rests on two major ironies.
One irony is that saving more is good for the economy in the long run, as noted in Chapter 1.
It finances investment and therefore fuels subsequent economic growth. But saving more can
be bad for the economy during a recession, when the increased saving is not likely to be
matched by an equal amount of added investment because firms are pessimistic about future
sales. The extra saving, then, simply reduces spending on currently produced goods and
services. That means that even more businesses suffer, more layoffs occur, and people's
incomes decline even more.
The paradox of thrift has a second irony related to the fallacy of composition (Chapter 1, Last
Word): Households as a group may inadvertently end up saving less when each individual
household tries to save more during a recession. This is because each household's attempt to
save more implies that it is also attempting to spend less. Across all households, that
collective reduction in total spending in the economy creates more job losses and further
drives down total income. The decline in total income reduces the ability of households as a
group to save as much as they did before their spending reduction and subsequent income
declines.
10-20
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guns were dismounted, their batteries injured, and many of their men
killed; general Borthwick the commandant of artillery was wounded
and the sap was entirely ruined. Even the riflemen in the pits were at
first overpowered with grape, yet towards evening they recovered
the upper hand, and the French could only fire from the more distant
embrasures. In the night the battery, intended for the lesser breach,
was armed, and that on the lower Teson raised so as to afford cover
in the day-time.
On the 18th the besiegers’ fire was resumed with great violence.
The turret was shaken at the small breach, the large breach became
practicable in the middle, and the enemy commenced retrenching it.
The sap however could make no progress, the superintending
engineer was badly wounded, and a twenty-four pounder having
bursted in the batteries, killed several men. In the night the battery
on the lower Teson was improved, and a field-piece and howitzer
being placed there, kept up a constant fire on the great breach to
destroy the French retrenchments.
On the 19th both breaches became practicable, major Sturgeon
closely examined the place, and a plan of attack was formed on his
report; the assault was then ordered, and the battering-guns were
turned against the artillery of the ramparts.
A S S A U LT O F C I U D A D R O D R I G O .
This operation which was confided to the third and light divisions,
and Pack’s Portuguese, was organized in four parts.
1º. The right attack. The light company of the eighty-third and the
second caçadores which were posted in the houses beyond the
bridge on the Agueda, were directed to cross that river and escalade
an outwork in front of the castle, where there was no ditch, but where
two guns commanded the junction of the counterscarp with the body
of the place. The fifth and ninety-fourth regiments posted behind the
convent of Santa Cruz and having the seventy-seventh in reserve,
were to enter the ditch at the extremity of the counterscarp; then to
escalade the “fausse braye,” and scour it on their left as far as the
great breach.
2º. The centre attack or assault of the great breach. One hundred
and eighty men protected by the fire of the eighty-third regiment, and
carrying hay-bags to throw into the ditch, were to move out of the
second parallel and to be followed by a storming party, which was
again to be supported by general Mackinnon’s brigade of the third
division.
3º. Left attack. The light division, posted behind the convent of
Francisco, was to send three companies of the ninety-fifth to scour
the “fausse braye” to the right, and so connect the left and centre
attacks. At the same time a storming party preceded by the third
caçadores carrying hay-sacks, and followed by Vandeleur’s and
Andrew Barnard’s brigades, was to make for the small breach, and
when the “fausse braye” was carried to detach to their right, to assist
the main assault, and to the left to force a passage at the Salamanca
gate.
4º. The false attack. This was an escalade to be made by Pack’s
Portuguese on the St. Jago gate at the opposite side of the town.
The right attack was commanded by colonel O’Toole of the
caçadores.
Five hundred volunteers commanded by major Manners of the
seventy-fourth with a forlorn hope under Mr. Mackie of the eighty-
eighth, composed the storming party of the third division.
Three hundred volunteers led by major George Napier of the fifty-
second with a forlorn hope of twenty-five men under Mr. Gurwood, of
the same regiment, composed the storming party of the light division.
All the troops reached their different posts without seeming to
attract the attention of the enemy, but before the signal was given,
and while lord Wellington, who in person had been pointing out the
lesser breach to major Napier, was still at the convent Appendix, No. VII.
of Francisco, the attack on the right commenced, and Sect. 1.
was instantly taken up along the whole line. Then the space between
the army and the ditch was covered with soldiers and ravaged by a
tempest of grape from the ramparts. The storming parties of the third
division jumped out of the parallel when the first shout arose, but so
rapid had been the movements on their right, that before they could
reach the ditch, Ridge, Dunkin, and Campbell with the fifth, seventy-
seventh, and ninety-fourth regiments, had already scoured the
“fausse braye,” and were pushing up the great breach, amidst the
bursting of shells, the whistling of grape and muskets, and the shrill
cries of the French who were driven fighting behind the
retrenchments. There however they rallied, and aided by the
musketry from the houses, made hard battle for their post; none
would go back on either side, and yet the British could not get
forward, and men and officers, falling in heaps, choked up the
passage, which from minute to minute was raked with grape, from
two guns, flanking the top of the breach at the distance of a few
yards; thus striving and trampling alike upon the dead and the
wounded these brave men maintained the combat.
Meanwhile the stormers of the light division, who had three
hundred yards of ground to clear, would not wait for the hay-bags,
but with extraordinary swiftness running to the crest of the glacis,
jumped down the scarp, a depth of eleven feet, and rushed up the
“fausse braye” under a smashing discharge of grape and musketry.
The bottom of the ditch was dark and intricate, and the forlorn hope
took too much to their left; but the storming party went straight to the
breach, which was so contracted that a gun placed lengthwise
across the top nearly blocked up the opening. Here the forlorn hope
rejoined the stormers, but when two-thirds of the ascent were
gained, the leading men, crushed together by the narrowness of the
place, staggered under the weight of the enemy’s fire; and such is
the instinct of self-defence, that although no man had been allowed
to load, every musket in the crowd was snapped. The commander,
major Napier, was at this moment stricken to the earth by a grape-
shot which shattered his arm, but he called on his men to trust to
their bayonets, and all the officers simultaneously sprang to the front,
when the charge was renewed with a furious shout, and the entrance
was gained. The supporting regiments coming up in sections,
abreast, then reached the rampart, the fifty-second wheeled to the
left, the forty-third to the right, and the place was won. During this
contest which lasted only a few minutes, after the “fausse braye” was
passed, the fighting had continued at the great breach with unabated
violence, but when the forty-third, and the stormers of the light
division, came pouring down upon the right flank of the French, the
latter bent before the storm; at the same moment, the explosion of
three wall magazines destroyed many persons, and the third division
with a mighty effort broke through the retrenchments. The garrison
indeed still fought for a moment in the streets, but finally fled to the
castle, where Mr. Gurwood who though wounded, had been amongst
the foremost at the lesser breach, received the governor’s sword.
The allies now plunged into the streets from all quarters, for
O’Toole’s attack was also successful, and at the other side of the
town Pack’s Portuguese, meeting no resistance, had entered the
place, and the reserves also came in. Then throwing off the
restraints of discipline the troops committed frightful excesses. The
town was fired in three or four places, the soldiers menaced their
officers, and shot each other; many were killed in the market-place,
intoxication soon increased the tumult, disorder every where
prevailed, and at last, the fury rising to an absolute madness, a fire
was wilfully lighted in the middle of the great magazine, when the
town and all in it would have been blown to atoms, but for the
energetic courage of some officers and a few soldiers who still
preserved their senses.
Three hundred French had fallen, fifteen hundred were made
prisoners, and besides the immense stores of ammunition, above
one hundred and fifty pieces of artillery including the battering-train
of Marmont’s army, were captured in the place. The whole loss of the
allies was about twelve hundred soldiers and ninety officers, and of
these above six hundred and fifty men and sixty officers had been
slain or hurt at the breaches. General Crawfurd and general
Mackinnon, the former a man of great ability, were killed, and with
them died many gallant men, amongst others, a captain of the forty-
fifth, of whom it has been felicitously said, that “three Captain Cooke’s
generals and seventy other officers bad fallen, but the Memoirs, vol. i.
soldiers fresh from the strife only talked of Hardyman.” General
Vandaleur, colonel Colborne, and a crowd of inferior rank were
wounded, and unhappily the slaughter did not end with the battle, for
the next day as the prisoners and their escort were marching out by
the breach, an accidental explosion took place and numbers of both
were blown into the air.
Vol. 4. Plate 8.
Explanatory Sketch
OF THE
SIEGE of CIUDAD RODRIGO,
1812.
London. Published by T. & W. BOONE.
O B S E RVAT I O N S .
1º. The duration of this siege was twelve days, or half the time
originally calculated upon by the English general, and yet the
inexperience both of the engineer and soldier, and the very heavy
fire of the place, had caused the works to be more slowly executed
than might have been expected; the cold also had impeded the
labourers, and yet with a less severe frost the trenches would have
been overflowed, because in open weather the water rises every
where to within six inches of the surface. But the worst obstacle was
caused by the disgraceful badness of the cutting-tools furnished from
the storekeeper-general’s office in England, the profits of the
contractor seemed to be the only thing respected; the engineers
eagerly sought for French implements, because those provided by
England were useless.
2º. The audacious manner in which Wellington stormed the
redoubt of Francisco, and broke ground on the first night of the
investment; the more audacious manner in which he assaulted the
place before the fire of the defence had been in any manner
lessened, and before the counterscarp had been blown in; were the
true causes of the sudden fall of the place. Both the military and
political state of affairs warranted this neglect of rules. The final
success depended more upon the courage of the troops than the
skill of the engineer; and when the general terminated his order for
the assault, with this sentence, “Ciudad Rodrigo must be stormed
this evening,” he knew well that it would be nobly understood. Yet
the French fought bravely on the breach, and by their side many
British deserters, desperate men, were bayonetted.
3º. The great breach was cut off from the town by a perpendicular
descent of sixteen feet, and the bottom was planted with sharp
spikes, and strewn with live shells; the houses behind were all loop-
holed, and garnished with musketeers, and on the flanks there were
cuts, not indeed very deep or wide and the French had left the
temporary bridges over them, but behind were parapets so
powerfully defended that it was said the third division could never
have carried them, had not the light division taken the enemy in
flank: an assertion perhaps easier made than proved.
4º. The rapid progress of the allies on this occasion, has been
contrasted with the slow proceedings of Massena in 1810, and the
defence of Herrasti has been compared with that of Barrié. But
Massena was not pressed for time, and he would have been
blameable to have spared labour at the expense of blood; Herrasti
also had a garrison of six thousand men, whereas Barrié had less
than two thousand, of which only seventeen hundred were able to
bear arms, and he had additional works to guard. Nevertheless his
neglect of the lesser breach was a great error; it was so narrow and
high, that a very slight addition to its defences would have rendered
it quite impracticable; and as the deserters told him in the morning of
the 19th that the light division was come up, out of its turn, he must
have expected the assault and had time to prepare for it. Moreover
the small breach was flanked at a very short distance, by a demi-
bastion with a parapet, which, though little injured, was abandoned
when the head of the storming party had forced their way on to the
rampart. But the true way of defending Ciudad was by external
operations, and it was not until it fell, that the error of Marmont at
Elbodon could be judged in its full extent. Neither can that marshal
be in any manner justified for having left so few men in Ciudad
Rodrigo; it is certain that with a garrison of five thousand the place
would not have been taken, for when there are enough of men the
engineer’s art cannot be overcome by mere courage.
5º. The excesses committed by the allied troops were very
disgraceful. The Spanish people were allies and friends, unarmed
and helpless, and all these claims were disregarded. “The soldiers
were not to be controuled.” That excuse will however scarcely suffice
here, because colonel Macleod of the forty-third, a young man of a
most energetic spirit, placed guards at the breach and did constrain
his regiment to keep its ranks for a long time after the Captain Cooke’s
disorders commenced; but as no previous general Memoirs, 122.
vol. i. p.
This fortress has before been described. The Vol. III. Appendix,
garrison composed of French, Hessian, and Spanish No. IX.
troops, was now near five thousand strong including sick. Phillipon
had since the last siege made himself felt in all directions, for he had
continually scoured the vicinity of the place, destroyed many small
bands, carried off cattle, almost from under the guns of Elvas and
Campo Mayor, and his spies extended their researches from Ciudad
Rodrigo to Lisbon, and from Lisbon to Ayamonte.
He had also greatly improved the defences of the place. An
interior retrenchment was made in the castle, and many more guns
were there mounted; the rear of fort Cristoval was also better
secured, and a covered communication from the fort itself, to the
work at the bridge-head, was nearly completed. Two ravelins had
been constructed on the south side of the town, and a third was
commenced, together with counterguards for the bastions; but the
eastern front next the castle, which was in other respects the
weakest point, was without any outward protection save the stream
of the Rivillas. A “cunette” or second ditch had been dug at the
bottom of the great ditch, which was also in some parts filled with
water; the gorge of the Pardaleras was enclosed, and that outwork
was connected with the body of the place, from whence powerful
batteries looked into it. The three western fronts were mined, and on
the east, the arch of the bridge behind the San Roque, was built up
to form an inundation, two hundred yards wide, which greatly
contracted the space by which the place could be approached with
troops. All the inhabitants had been obliged, on pain of being
expelled, to lay up food for three months, and two convoys with
provisions and ammunition had entered the place on the 10th and
16th of February, but Phillipon’s stores of powder were still
inadequate to his wants, and he was very scantily supplied with
shells.
As the former system of attack against Cristoval and the castle,
was now impracticable, lord Wellington desired to assail one of the
western fronts which would have been a scientific operation; but the
engineer represented that he had neither mortars nor miners, nor
enough of guns, nor the means of bringing up sufficient stores for
such an attack. Indeed the want of transport had again obliged the
allies to draw the stores from Elvas, to the manifest hazard of that
fortress, and hence, here, as at Ciudad Rodrigo, time was
necessarily paid for, by the loss of life; or rather the crimes of
politicians were atoned for by the blood of the soldiers.
The plan finally fixed upon, was to attack the bastion of Trinidad,
because, the counter-guard there being unfinished, that bastion
could be battered from the hill on which the Picurina stood. The first
parallel was therefore to embrace the Picurina, the San Roque, and
the eastern front, in such a manner that the counter-batteries there
erected, might rake and destroy all the defences of the southern
fronts which bore against the Picurina hill. The Picurina itself was to
be battered and stormed, and from thence the Trinidad and Santa
Maria bastions, were to be breached; after this all the guns were to
be turned against the connecting curtain, which was known to be of
weak masonry, that a third breach might be made, and a storming
party employed to turn any retrenchments behind the breaches in
the bastions. In this way the inundation could be avoided, and
although a French deserter declared, and truly, that the ditch was
there eighteen feet deep, such was the general’s confidence in his
troops, and in his own resources for aiding their efforts, that he
resolved to storm the place without blowing in the counterscarp.
The battering train, directed by major Dickson, consisted of fifty-
two pieces. This included sixteen twenty-four-pound howitzers, for
throwing Shrapnel shells, but this species of missile, much talked of
in the army at the time, was little prized by lord Wellington, who had
early detected its insufficiency, save as a common shell; and partly to
avoid expense, partly from a dislike to injure the inhabitants, neither
in this, nor in any former siege, did he use mortars. Here indeed he
could not have brought them up, for besides the neglect of the
Portuguese government, the peasantry and even the ordenança
employed to move the battering train from Alcacer do Sal, although
well paid, deserted.
Of nine hundred gunners present, three hundred were British, the
rest Portuguese, and there were one hundred and fifty sappers
volunteers from the third division, who were indeed rather unskilful,
but of signal bravery. The engineer’s parc was established behind
the heights of St. Michael, and the direction of the siege was given to
general Picton. General Kempt, general Colville, and general Bowes
alternately commanded in the trenches.
In the night of the 17th, eighteen hundred men, protected by a
guard of two thousand, broke ground one hundred and sixty yards
from the Picurina. A tempest stifled the sound of their pickaxes, and
though the work was commenced late, a communication, four
thousand feet in length, was formed, and a parallel of six hundred
yards three feet deep, and three feet six inches wide, was opened.
However, when the day broke the Picurina was reinforced, and a
sharp musketry interspersed with discharges from some field-pieces,
aided by heavy guns from the body of the place, was directed on the
trenches.
In the night of the 18th two batteries were traced out, the parallel
was prolonged both on the right and left, and the previous works
were improved. On the other hand the garrison raised the parapets
of the Picurina, and having lined the top of the covered way with
sand-bags, planted musketeers there, to gall the men in the
trenches, who replied in a like manner.
The 19th lord Wellington having secret intelligence that a sally was
intended, ordered the guards to be reinforced. Nevertheless, at one
o’clock some cavalry came out by the Talavera gate, and thirteen
hundred infantry under general Vielland, the second in command,
filed unobserved into the communication between the Picurina and
the San Roque; a hundred men were prepared to sally from the
Picurina itself, and all these troops jumping out at once, drove the
workmen before them, and began to demolish the parallel. Previous
to this outbreak, the French cavalry forming two parties had
commenced a sham fight on the right of the parallel, and the smaller
party pretending to fly, and answering Portuguese, to the challenge
of the picquets, were allowed to pass. Elated by the success of their
stratagem, they then galloped to the engineer’s parc, which was a
thousand yards in rear of the trenches, and there cut down some
men, not many, for succour soon came, and meanwhile the troops at
the parallel having rallied upon the relief which had just arrived, beat
the enemy’s infantry back even to the castle.
In this hot fight the besieged lost above three hundred men and
officers, the besiegers only one hundred and fifty; but colonel
Fletcher, the chief engineer, was badly wounded, and several
hundred entrenching tools were carried off, for Phillipon had
promised a high price for each; yet this turned out ill, because the
soldiers, instead of pursuing briskly, dispersed to gather the tools.
After the action a squadron of dragoons and six field-pieces were
placed as a reserve-guard behind St. Michael, and a signal post was
established on the Sierra de Venta to give notice of the enemy’s
motions.
The weather continued wet and boisterous, and the labour of the
works was very harassing, but in the night of the 19th the parallel
was opened in its whole length, and the 20th it was enlarged; yet a
local obstacle and the flooding of the trenches, rendered the
progress slow.
In the night of the 20th the parallel was extended to the left, across
the Seville road, and three counter-batteries were commenced; but
they were traced, in rear of the parallel, partly because the ground
was too soft in front to admit of the guns moving; partly for safety,
because the batteries were within three hundred yards of the San
Roque, and as the parallel, eighteen hundred yards long, was only
guarded by fourteen hundred men, a few bold soldiers might by a
sudden rush have succeeded in spiking the guns if they had been
placed in front of the trench. A slight sally was this day repulsed, and
a shoulder was given to the right of the parallel to cover that flank.
The 21st the enemy placed two field-pieces on the right bank of
the Guadiana, designing to rake the trenches, but the shoulder,
made the night before, baffled the design, and the riflemen’s fire