Buonaparte could keep the French people ignorant of the course which events had taken in Portugal and Spain; but even the vigilance of his military tyranny could not prevent the Spaniards from knowing that the allies, having driven out the French from the one kingdom, had entered the other, and had recovered the two strong places of Ciudad Rodrigo and ♦Appeal of the Intruder to the Spaniards.♦ Badajoz. Fresh appeals were made by the Intrusive Government to the fears and jealousies of a people whom they had now began to apprehend it would be found impossible to subdue. “What would it avail them,” it was asked, “if they were to set up Infantado, or the Empecinado, or Ballasteros, or any other of their countrymen for king? Wherefore should they persist in an obstinate and unavailing resistance after the Bourbon dynasty had been extinguished by that great man whom Providence had appointed to regenerate Spain, and who for their happiness had selected Joseph to reign over them? Why did they not rally round his throne?” The Spaniards only ridiculed such appeals; and the French themselves, in derision, called Joseph King of the Highways, as one whose authority extended no farther than his patrols and armies could enforce it. His was indeed a miserable condition; the brother, of whose wicked will he had, in despite of his own understanding and heart, consented to become the instrument, regarded him with displeasure, because he had met with a resistance which was not to be overcome; the nation upon which he had been insolently intruded, regarded him with deeper hatred than perhaps had ever before been co-existent with the feeling of sincere contempt; the army by which alone he was scarcely supported despised him, and the French generals kept up towards him a semblance of respect.

But odious as the usurpation was everywhere, it was rendered peculiarly so at Madrid, by the presence of the Intruder and of his ministers. Being the seat of the Intrusive Government, more of those traitors were collected there who had made the miseries of their country a means for their own advancement; and as the commanders in other parts cared little for the necessities of the court, heavier imposts were exacted from the inhabitants, at the very time when a remission of taxes was announced in edicts, which, if intended to be executed, were never carried into effect. The duties payable upon the entrance and exit of wheat, rice, and pulse of every kind, were repealed by a decree, but continued to be exacted as before, and at the same time, new duties were imposed upon wine, oil, meat and vegetables. A loan of 20 million reales was soon exhausted, a contribution of eight millions was then demanded from the trading part of the people; and an equivalent proportion was taken in kind from the occupiers of land. Eight per cent. upon the value of houses were first required, then ten, and then fifteen; the poorest artisan was compelled to take out an annual license for the exercise of his calling; even the water carriers were subjected to this tax. Having collected a great quantity of grain, the Government sold it at a price more suited to its own wants than to the condition of the people: the hospitals were crowded with sick and starving poor; and of the persons who died during the first six months of this year, two-thirds perished in consequence of misery and want. Patient endurance was all that the people of Madrid could oppose to their oppressors; but they lived in firm belief that the day of deliverance would come, believed every rumour of success on the part of their countrymen and their allies, and with the same determined will, discredited whatever was related of their reverses. They looked upon the account of Ballasteros’s defeat at Bornos as so much exaggerated that it was unworthy of belief; and with more reasonable incredulity when it was reported that Marmont had totally defeated the allies and taken 20,000 prisoners, while the French and their partisans congratulated each other upon the news, they required dates and details, and assured themselves that it was nothing more than one of the enemy’s customary falsehoods.

Indeed, before the battle of Salamanca, it was made sufficiently apparent by circumstances which the French were unable to conceal, that however confidently they might expect some great success, they had as yet obtained none. The garrison at the Puerto de Miravete, which had been relieved after the destruction of the bridge at Almaraz, was withdrawn now, the Puente del Arzobispo was abandoned, and they withdrew also from Talavera, which was immediately entered by the Medico. Most of their garrisons at the same time withdrew from La Mancha, and they were followed by those miserable people, who, having accepted offices, whether high or low, under the Intrusive Government, dared not remain without French protection in any place where they were known. Exertions were made for fortifying Toledo; and in the works which were carried on for the same purpose at the Retiro, the people of Madrid saw unequivocal proof, that the French apprehended at least the possibility of an advance of the allies upon the capital. To prevent that danger, they had thus collected their forces from all quarters, thinking then to attack Lord Wellington with such superior numbers as would render success certain: but Joseph and M. Jourdan were too slow in moving from Madrid, and meantime Marmont had been too confident of his strength and of his skill. If he had delayed his passage of the Tormes only for two days, till the army of the centre should have joined, the enemy persuaded themselves that Lord Wellington could not have escaped from utter defeat, and that that victory would have secured the entire conquest of Spain.

The event could not be kept secret at Madrid; every one knew what no one dared publish; and while false intelligence was sedulously spread abroad by the Intrusive Government, and the police was more than ordinarily active in arresting suspected persons, every one congratulated his friends and neighbours upon a victory the extent of which was magnified in proportion to their hopes. They entertained no doubt but that Marmont had been killed, and his whole army destroyed. Lord Wellington moved from Cuellar on the 6th of August, leaving General Clinton’s division there, and General Anson’s brigade of cavalry to observe the line of the Douro. He arrived at Segovia on the 7th, and at S. Ildefonso on the 8th, the beautiful summer retreat of the kings of Spain: there he halted one day that the right of the army might have time to come up. The passage of the Guadarama mountains was effected without opposition. Brigadier-General d’Urban, with the Portugueze cavalry, the first light battalion of the German Legion, and Captain M’Donald’s troop of horse artillery, drove in on the morning of the 16th, about 2000 French cavalry; they moved toward Naval Carnero, and returned from thence in the evening with the Intruder himself, to make a reconnoissance. D’Urban formed the ♦August.Affair at Majalahonda.♦ Portugueze cavalry in front of Majalahonda, and ordered them to charge the enemy’s leading squadrons, which seemed too far advanced. The Portugueze pushed on, but unexpectedly disgraced themselves; their officers set them a brave example, but in vain, and the Visconde de Barbacena, who behaved remarkably well, was taken prisoner; the men turned about shamefully, fled through the village, and left the guns behind them which had been moved forward for their support. M’Donald’s troop exerted themselves to bring them off, but owing to the rough ground, one carriage was broken, two were overturned, and thus the three fell into the enemy’s hands. The German dragoons who had been formed behind the village rallied the fugitives, charged the enemy, and stopped their progress, but suffered considerable loss. In this affair, about 200 men were killed, wounded, or taken, and 120 horses. The left of the allied army being not three miles distant, two brigades of horse and foot moved forward to support the troops in advance; the French retired as soon as they saw them, and withdrew during the night, leaving the guns. The piquets of the allies took post that evening on the mountains, in sight of Madrid.

The enemy, who from Madrid had been looking through telescopes toward the passes of the Guadarama, had seen D’Urban’s detachment on the evening of the 9th. Orders were then given and revoked by the resident members of the Government, with the precipitation of fear: it was determined to abandon the capital on the following morning, and the adherents of the Intruder prepared in all haste for their departure; some selling their goods for any price that could be obtained for them, others, intrusting them to the care of their friends, and not a few soliciting the compassion of those who had been found faithful to their country. The families of these unhappy men were objects of compassion even to the populace, notwithstanding the indignation which was felt at the men themselves, who bitterly repented now, not so much their guilt as their short-sightedness in supposing that they had taken the stronger side. The troops under whose protection they retired would have saved them from any outrage or insult if any had been intended; but they had not proceeded far from the gates before many of them were plundered by these protectors. Two of Joseph’s ministers entered Madrid with a strong escort the next day, for the supposed purpose of destroying papers, and securing effects which could not be carried away in the hurry of the removal. They retired in the evening, and on the morning of the 12th all the troops who remained shut themselves up in the Retiro. The shops which, during the two preceding days, had been closed were then opened, and Madrid became a scene of such joy as had never been witnessed ♦The allies enter.♦ in the days of its proudest prosperity. Soon after middle day the allies began to enter through streets so crowded with gratulating multitudes, that the officers who were on horseback at the head of their men, could scarcely make their way, and scarcely keep their seats, so eagerly did the Spaniards press to shake hands with them, as if nothing but an English mode of greeting could make their exultation and their hearty welcome sufficiently intelligible.

Madrid had lost more than two-thirds of its inhabitants since its occupation by the French, but an influx of people from all the surrounding country now filled it as if there had been no depopulation; and amid this multitude, on the following day, the new constitution was proclaimed by D. Carlos de España, who was appointed governor of the capital and province, ... a charge for which no one could be better qualified by clearness of judgment, and promptitude in executing what he saw to be right. Their acclamations were hushed as soon as they knew what they were called upon to hear; and the deep silence with which they listened to the constitutional act was interrupted only by the enemy’s cannon from the Retiro, which seemed rather like a salute in honour of the ceremony, than an enemy’s artillery employed in defence of their last hold in the capital. The act was received with exultant delight; young minds and generous ones, whose natural ardour enabled them to believe what they eagerly desired, persuaded themselves that the Spaniards had now established their freedom as well as achieved their independence; the happy days of Athens and of Sparta, they said, seemed to be restored; and the people of Madrid already appeared like a nation accustomed to liberty, and to deliberate concerning their own interests.

On that evening Lord Wellington invested the Retiro, where Marshal Jourdan, with little prudence, had left a garrison of 1700 men. At the eastern extremity of Madrid, Philip II. had a small palace, or rather house of retreat, pleasantly situated by the Prado or public walk, on a rising ground, and immediately adjoining the convent of S. Geronimo. Philip IV. took a fancy to the site; and Olivares, whose chief object seemed to be that of amusing his royal master at whatever cost, purchased adjacent land enough for a large palace, with its gardens and a park four miles in circuit; and such enormous sums were lavished upon the edifice and the grounds, that the additional imposts which were required for this expenditure, or artfully, perhaps, imputed to it, were one of the causes which provoked the revolt in Catalonia, and occasioned the separation of Portugal from the Spanish monarchy. The palace contained a theatre, spacious itself, and opening into the gardens, which might thus be made upon occasion a continuation of the scene; in this theatre the master-pieces of the Spanish drama were represented before a court who delighted in dramatic literature; and Ferdinand VI. gratified his dear Queen Barbara’s hereditary love of music, with Italian operas, performed under Farinelli’s direction. Formerly the Buen Retiro contained a large collection of pictures by the greatest masters of Italy, Spain, and the Low Countries; many of these were transferred to other palaces when this began to be neglected, and the French had now made spoil of the rest. But there were ceilings painted by Luca Jordano, which were not removable; and in a compartment of that in the great saloon, Spain was pictured, ruling the terrestrial globe, ... a dream of ambition which her kings of the Austrian line had entertained, which the craftiest as well as the wildest heads among the Romish clergy encouraged, and which many circumstances seemed to concur in favouring, when, under the blessing of Providence, the Dutch, by their patriotic and religious virtue, averted that evil from the world. Two other noted works of art were still to be seen in the Buen Retiro; one, remarkable for its design, was a bronze statue of Charles V. trampling upon the Spirit of Reformation which lay, personified as Heresy in chains, at his feet; the other, which for the surpassing skill of the sculptor was even more remarkable, was an equestrian statue of Philip IV. cast by Pietro Tacca of Florence, weighing, it is said, not less than nine tons, and yet supported only by the hind legs, the horse being in the act of galloping. Within the precincts of the palace were many pavilions which used to be assigned to the courtiers when the court resided there. The gardens were of that formal style in which art allows as little as possible of nature to be seen, ... where water is brought at great expense to spout from fountains and fill circular fish-ponds, the gardener exercises his topiary genius upon trees and shrubs, and humble evergreens are compelled to grow in fantastic patterns, like a vegetable carpet. The park was a thick wood, with broad avenues, a central pond having a pavilion in its centre, and a large piece of water at its termination, on which gilded gondolas awaited the king’s pleasure when he was disposed to take the diversion of fishing, his retinue beholding the sport from the little pavilions which decorated its sides. Like all the other palaces of the kings of Spain, the Buen Retiro was a place in which a meditative beholder was forcibly reminded of the vanity of human greatness. Those kings, above all other European sovereigns, had been loved and reverenced by their people; their palaces were among the wonders of the modern world, and no expenditure, no efforts of ingenuity and art had been spared in embellishing their summer retreats: but these things had been grievously compensated, not alone by the never-ending anxieties of state, and the gloom of disappointed ambition, but by a more than ordinary share of the afflictions incident to human nature, coming upon themselves or their families, ... maladies of body and of mind alike incurable and painful; ... madness, fatuity, weak intellects, ... conscious of their weakness, and of the awful responsibility in which their birth had placed them, ... morbid consciences, and broken hearts.

After the accession of Charles III. the Retiro ceased to be a royal residence, and part of its buildings were converted into a royal manufactory of porcelain. Its park, however, continued to be a fashionable promenade, the more agreeable, because carriages were not allowed to enter; but the French had now made it a depôt for their artillery stores, the victims whom they arrested for political offences were confined there, and they had fortified it as a military post, but with less judgment than their engineers had displayed on any other occasion. ♦Surrender of the Retiro.♦ The outer line was formed by the palace, the museum, and the park wall, with flèches thrown out in part to flank it; the second was a bastioned line of nine large fronts, but with no outworks except a ravelin and a lunette; the interior was an octagonal star fort, closely surrounding what had been the porcelain manufactory. The garrison was far too small for the outer enceintes, and Marshal Jourdan had therefore left written orders, that if they were seriously attacked, they should confine their defence to the star fort, which, however, itself would be rendered nearly indefensible if the manufactory were destroyed. A copy of this order was found, and on the night of the 13th, Major-General Pakenham drove in their posts from the Prado and the botanical garden, made them retire from the outer enceintes, broke through the wall in many places, ♦August 14.♦ and established his troops in the palace. In the morning arrangements were made for driving them from the bastioned lines, and for battering the manufactory; but the governor saw that resistance was useless, and he surrendered. The number of prisoners taken there and in the hospital amounted to 2500, and there fell into the hands of the allies 189 pieces of cannon, and above 20,000 stand of arms, with a great quantity of ammunition and stores of all kinds. The eagles also of the 13th and 51st regiments were found there, and sent to England.

The inhabitants of Madrid, who looked upon this strong hold of their oppressors as a Bastille, were desirous of thronging thither to see the place where so many of their countrymen had been sacrificed; but this was not permitted, both the British commander and the Spanish authorities seeking as much as possible to prevent any thing which might excite the vindictive feelings of the people. That same day, the churches in every parish were opened for administering the oath of fidelity to the new constitution; and multitudes crowding thither with an eagerness which might well have excited apprehension of its stability, swore to they knew not what. Napoleon, it was said, had promised to regenerate them, and they were regenerated; for through his means, who had intended nothing less, the Spaniard had been converted from a slave to a citizen; the superstitious had thrown off his prejudices, the coward his fears, the credulous his credulity; the idle had become industrious, the selfish man generous, and the reckless one had learned to think. While those who knew little of history and less of human nature exulted thus in the persuasion, that the habits of a whole people might be changed as lightly as an inconsiderate man changes his opinion, and that inveterate evils may suddenly be cured by legislation as if by miracle, and leave no scar behind; the general joy was kept up by fast following tidings from all parts of successes, which, though little more than the necessary consequences in most instances of the battle of Salamanca and the occupation of Madrid, were considered each by the multitude as an important achievement in itself. On the same day that the Retiro was surrendered, the French withdrew from Toledo to join the army of the centre, with which the Intruder was retreating towards Valencia: they destroyed their artillery, and all the ammunition which they could not carry; and hardly had they left the city before the Abuelo’s party entered, and the bells rung, and the squares and streets were illuminated. ♦August 16.♦ Guadalaxara was attacked by the Empecinado, and after a vain resistance, above 700 French were made prisoners there. The enemy retired from Logroño, and Duran hastened thither and destroyed its outer fortifications, its fort, and its inquisition. A detachment was sent from Zaragoza to bring away the garrisons from Tarrazona and Borja, and destroy the works there.

General Foy, with 6000 infantry and 1200 horse, part of Marmont’s army, now under his command, moved from the neighbourhood of Valladolid with the intent of raising the blockade of Toro and Zamora, and the siege of Astorga. The garrison at Tordesillas, consisting of 250 men, had previously surrendered to ♦August 17.♦ Santocildes. The Spaniards retired from before Toro at their approach, in good order and with little loss; the enemy bringing off their garrison, were then joined by another body of equal force, and proceeded towards Astorga; 300 of their cavalry were sent forward to that city, but when they entered it they found that the Spaniards had withdrawn, and had marched the garrison, consisting of 1200 men, prisoners towards Coruña: for Castaños knowing that a force was advancing which his army was in no condition to meet, had successfully employed the easy artifice of representing to ♦August 18.♦ the commander that relief was impossible, and resistance hopeless, and thus he had induced him to ♦August 21.♦ surrender. Foy was at Baneza, half way between Benevente and Astorga, when he received this mortifying intelligence; he then turned back to the Ezla, and marched upon Carvajales, thinking to surprise the Conde de Amarante, who with the militia of Tras-os-Montes, then serving voluntarily beyond their own frontier, was blockading Zamora; the Conde retreated ♦August 29.♦ without loss, and the French general bringing off the garrison marched for Tordesillas.

Some of the traitors who had made themselves conspicuous in the Intruder’s service, fell into the hands of ♦Measures of police at Madrid.♦ their countrymen at Guadalaxara; others who were conscious that they had been weak rather than wicked, and that in submitting to him for their own good, they had not aggravated the crime by injuring those who had persisted in their duty, presented themselves voluntarily to the newly constituted authorities in Madrid, thinking it better to take the chance of mercy, than to fly they knew not whither, without resources, without friends, and without the consolation which those who act righteously find in their own hearts. There were writers on this occasion who cried for vengeance in a most ferocious spirit. They called upon the people of Madrid to prepare graves for their guilty countrymen who had thus presented themselves at the foot of the gallows! They advised them to go to the governor, and with one voice require justice upon these wretches, as what the nation was entitled to demand; ... the sword for some, chains for others, and strict confinement till the conclusion of the war for those who were suspected, and who, if they were left at large, might act as secret agents for the French. This atrocious language failed of its intended effect, for the presence of the allied troops maintained order; and a vigilant police had been established, not for the oppression of the people, but for their security.

No needless severity was used. D. Carlos d’España made known by an edict, that persons of both sexes in that capital carried on a correspondence with those unhappy Spaniards who had followed the French, and that in this manner they supplied the enemy with intelligence; all such communication, therefore, was prohibited to all persons, on pain of being brought before a council of war, and condemned irremissibly to suffer the punishment appointed for spies. The families of the fugitives, and of those who had enriched themselves by the purchase of what the Intrusive Government called national goods, were ordered to remain in their houses under the word of three respectable sureties, and not to leave them except for the purpose of attending their religious duties; but their wives and daughters were advised to retire into a convent, as the course which consisted best with their own honour, and with that of their husbands and fathers, for whom they might there offer up their prayers, supplicating Providence to bring them in its mercy back to the path of duty which they had forsaken.

How to deal with the juramentados, as those Spaniards were called who had entered into Joseph’s armies, was a question which now became of great importance. Hitherto it had been possible to execute the rigour of the law, and put to death those who were taken in arms against their country; but the tide having now turned, it might reasonably be expected that they would eagerly desert a cause in which they had never heartily engaged; and the policy of thus recruiting the Spanish army, instead of driving these men to despair, was so evident, that Alava, immediately on the occupation of Madrid, issued a proclamation, as commissary for the Government, inviting them to accept the free pardon which the Cortes had offered them on the publication of the new constitution. Great numbers in consequence came over. Another measure of the Intrusive Government, which was not less obvious and dangerous in its possible results, than the scheme of raising a Spanish force to be employed in the subjugation of Spain, was that of selling or otherwise disposing of confiscated houses and lands, and thus binding the new possessors to their allegiance by the only tie which they would not be likely under any circumstances to break. They had contrived thus to connect with the French interest many who would have been unwilling or unable to purchase property of this description; for under pretext of embellishing the capital, they pulled down about a fourth of it, and by way of compensating the owners of the demolished dwellings, assigned among them in exchange the houses of those who adhered to the national cause. This policy the Cortes met by a timely decree, declaring all purchases of confiscated estates null, and empowering the rightful owners to enter upon them whenever the fortune of war should permit, and authorising them to exact from the intrusive proprietors the mean profits, and the amount of any waste which they might have committed.

Lord Wellington was now enjoying the highest reward which can fall to the lot of a successful commander. He was living in a palace, the most magnificent in Europe, from which he had driven an Usurper; and the blessings of the people accompanied him wherever he went. The municipal authorities gave a bull-fight in his honour, and when he appeared in the royal box, the air rung with the repeated shouts of not less than 12,000 spectators. He could not walk abroad by daylight because of the pressure of the multitudes who gathered round him; even in the dark when he went into the Prado, though he and his suite were dressed in blue great coats in hopes of escaping notice, they were generally recognized and followed by crowds, the women pressing to shake hands, and some even to embrace them. Welcomed as he was with overflowing joy by a grateful people as their deliverer, his satisfaction would have been complete, if the same difficulties with which he had struggled since the commencement of the war had not still impeded his plans; for he was still embarrassed by the want of adequate means, and disappointed in his hopes of co-operation. He was without money. The United States of America had declared war against Great Britain, with no just cause, nor even plausible pretext for hostilities. Lord Wellington received the news of this declaration immediately after the battle of Salamanca. The troops in Portugal depended in great measure for corn upon the importation from America to that country; and he deemed it necessary, without delay, to make large purchases at Lisbon, that the subsistence of the army might not be endangered. But this required a great expenditure, the effect of which was now severely felt, for no pecuniary resources were to be found in Madrid. The inhabitants fed the garrison, and the produce of the sequestered ♦Col. Jones’s account of the war, 2. 122.♦ and crown lands was readily given up to the allies, on promise of future payment; but when money was required for the military chest, a few thousand dollars were all that could be procured upon the most unquestionable security, and of this sum much was in base coin.

Lord Wellington had counted with as much confidence as he ever allowed himself to place upon arrangements which were not wholly under his own control, on the promised co-operation of an expedition to the eastern coast. The most urgent solicitations from that part of Spain for aid had long been disregarded by the British Government; and the Catalans, who of all the Spaniards made the greatest and most persevering exertions in their own defence, had been left from the commencement of the struggle until this time with no other help than occasional supplies of money and arms, scantily apportioned, and the assistance of a few ships of war. And now, when the strong fortresses, one after another had fallen, and the British Government at length resolved to withdraw part of its troops from Sicily, where the intrigues of that poor kingdom, and the expectation of chances in Italy which were little likely to occur, and of little importance if they had occurred, had unduly detained them; only 6000 men were detached from Sicily, without cavalry, and a considerable number of them consisting of such foreigners as could be enlisted in the Mediterranean. Lieutenant-General Maitland was appointed to the command, and they sailed in company with a squadron from the Mediterranean fleet under Rear-Admiral Hallowell. The common opinion was that they were destined for Corfu, because heavy artillery was embarked with them.

The Majorcan division of Spanish troops which was to co-operate with them, was supposed to be in a more efficient state than any of the Spanish armies. This division had been raised upon the suggestion of General Whittingham, Majorca being a safe place, where they might be properly trained before they were brought into the field; but the materials were not so unexceptionable as the design. Some 250 Germans who had been made prisoners with Dupont’s army, were taken from the island of Cabrera as volunteers; though, if free-will had influenced them, they would, like the Swiss, have entered the Spanish service upon the first opportunity, instead of remaining two years in that miserable place of confinement. Majorca itself supplied so few willing soldiers, that criminals who had been transported thither from Catalonia and Valencia were enlisted, ... fellows of such a description, that those who were not deemed capable of service were kept in prison: discipline, however, and equitable treatment, of which even bad men are sensible, made them better than was expected. Cuesta sent to this division all who were discharged from the hospitals; and as runaways from the routs in Valencia and Murcia could be collected or caught, they were shipped for Majorca, and incorporated in this hopeful force. No officer however was appointed without secret and strict inquiry into his character. Other difficulties, which might not so probably have been anticipated, impeded the equipment of this division. The plan was unpopular in the island, the more so, perhaps, because it was set on foot by an Englishman who was also invested with the command. Upon Cuesta’s death, the situation of affairs was critical; the authorities withheld all supplies from the troops, who were also threatened as well as insulted in pasquinades: convents had been converted into barracks for their use, and this may possibly have been one cause of offence. An agreement had been concluded with the Dey of Algiers for a supply of horses, but it was broken off for want of money, the Superior Junta of Majorca disregarding all orders from the Regency. The institution of a military academy was another cause of dislike, owing to the habits of insubordination which prevailed in Majorca, as in every other part of the Spanish dominions. By prudent conduct, however, impediments were removed, and dislike softened or overcome; the troops were clothed and armed by Great Britain, and their hospital supplied: and when the expedition from Sicily called for them at Palma, 4500 men embarked, in a state of efficient discipline.

The fleet made for the eastern coast of Spain, and on the first of August anchored in the bay of Blanes, at the mouth of the Tordera. The enemy occupied Tosa, and had a redoubt there which covered the town and protected the coast. On that and the following day demonstrations of landing were made; but upon an interview with Eroles, it was found that any such measure would be worse than useless, with so inadequate a force. That able Spaniard saw that it was better for the Catalans to be left as they had so long been to their own exertions, than to give the French an opportunity of bringing superior numbers against a British expedition: and it was agreed that the best service which such a force could then perform was to secure the city of Alicante, at that time endangered in consequence of a defeat which Joseph O’Donell ♦Defeat of the Spaniards at Castalla. June 21.♦ had suffered in its vicinity. He had endeavoured to drive the vanguard of Marshal Suchet’s army, under General Harispe, back upon the Xucar, from the line which it occupied at Castalla and Ibi, and other points of the mountainous country; but as usual, when the Spaniards were brought forward in regular war, against well-disciplined and well-commanded troops, some of the officers either misunderstood their orders or executed them ill, and some of the men losing courage as soon as they lost hope, threw into confusion those who were braver than themselves; their loss amounted to 4000 men, being little less than the whole number which they attacked, and they left more than 10,000 muskets in their flight. Suchet, who was the most enterprising and successful of all the French generals in Spain, would have taken advantage of this shameful defeat, and endeavoured to obtain possession of Alicante, if the force at his disposal ♦August.♦ had not been greatly diminished. Buonaparte had withdrawn all the Poles in his service from the peninsular, for the Russian campaign; and this deprived him of six thousand of his best troops, at a time when his army was otherwise greatly weakened by sending succours to Caffarelli in Navarre, and by the increased exertions which it was necessary to make against Duran and the Empecinado, Villacampa and Bassecourt. Before the battle of Salamanca the Intruder, in his dreams of triumph, informed Suchet that he must prepare for marching towards Madrid, and then accompanying him to the Tagus; and he ordered him to form a camp of 8000 men between Albaceyte and San Clemente; such a force it was impossible for him to spare; he could not venture to weaken himself further than by detaching 1500 men to Requeña and Cuenca, to relieve General Darmagnac, and he represented to Joseph that he could not move for Madrid with one of his divisions, unless he received orders to evacuate Valencia. The last orders from Paris were to direct all his efforts to the preservation of the countries under his command, and to keep his force concentrated. General Maitland knew less of Marshal Suchet’s actual strength than of his relative superiority to any force that could be brought against him; the best course, therefore, seemed to be that upon which he resolved; to secure the important fortress and port of Alicante, both as a place of arms from whence future operations might be undertaken, and as a rallying point for the wreck of Joseph O’Donell’s army. Thither ♦The expedition lands at Alicante.♦ accordingly the Anglo-Sicilian expedition sailed: contrary winds and bad weather retarded it some days upon the passage, but on the evening of August the 9th they anchored in the harbour, and on the following day the troops were landed.

The French who were in sight of the fortress retired upon this, and formed their line in Chichona, Ibi, Castalla, Biar, and Villena. But Suchet saw that this position would not be tenable against General Maitland’s corps; ♦The French fall back to the Xucar.♦ he concentred his divisions, therefore, about St. Philippe; fixed his head-quarters in that city; threw up field-works there, and upon the high road from Valencia to Madrid; and constructed a bridge of boats over the Xucar, near Alberique, which he secured with a tête-du-pont. His intention was not to fall back without fighting, provided the allies should attack him only in front, and were not too greatly superior in numbers. But the superiority was soon on his own side: the allies took the field on the 14th, and occupied the country from which the enemy retired; on the 18th they received intelligence that the Intruder with the force which he could bring together was about to join the army of Valencia, and then it became necessary for General Maitland to fall back to his position in front of Alicante.

The expedition which was to have effected a diversion in the east of Spain, was thus for the time rendered useless, not having been upon a sufficient scale to accomplish the purpose for which it was designed. Meantime the squadron on the north-east coast proceeded successfully, acting in concert with some of the ablest Guerrilla ♦The French withdraw from Santander. August 2.♦ leaders. Caffarelli found it prudent to withdraw his garrisons from Torrelavega and Santander, lest they should be made prisoners; the latter place was entered by Porlier; the constitution was proclaimed there while salutes of joy were fired by the Spanish troops and the British vessels; ♦They are driven from Bilbao.♦ and Renovales made good his word to General Rouget by driving him from Bilbao, and defeating him in an attempt at recovering it. There also the constitution was proclaimed. The Te Deum was performed in Santiagos church, and the Cid Campeador in the theatre; and all the unmarried men from the age of 17 to 45, were enrolled for Mendizabal’s army. On that side there had been no want of exertion, and no disappointment; but the Gallician army, from which more might have been looked for, considering the resources of the province, served for little more than to manifest the gross incapacity or negligence with which ♦State of the Gallician army.♦ affairs of the greatest moment were conducted: nominally it amounted to 30,000 men, and nearly that number were supposed to be mustered, paid and fed, and yet 11,000 infantry and 350 horse were all that Santocildes had under his command, and these were badly disciplined and miserably equipped.

On the night of the eighth day after the entrance of the allies into Madrid, the news of that event reached Cadiz, where it excited among the inhabitants the joyful hope of being speedily delivered from the blockade: and deeper emotions in those exiles who had left their houses and families in the metropolis. On the 24th the French broke up the siege; they threw shells during the preceding night; those which were filled with lead and discharged from howitzers with a velocity of about 2000 feet per second, ♦Sir Howard Douglas’s Naval Gunnery, p. 61.♦ ranged to the astonishing distance of three miles. They burst their guns by overcharging them, placing their muzzles one against another and exploding them by means of portfires and trains; and thus almost the whole of their artillery between Chiclana and Rota, consisting of 600 pieces, were rendered unserviceable. Many, however, were left uninjured for the Spaniards to take possession of, as well as thirty gun-boats, and a great quantity of stores. The necessity of this retreat had been foreseen by Soult as soon as he was informed of the battle of Salamanca. Before that action he had been meditating another attack upon Tarifa, as a place from whence he could easily communicate with Tangiers and the Barbary coast, and thus secure supplies for feeding the army under his command. Sir Rowland Hill’s movements withdrew him from this project: and after Marmont’s defeat he prepared to abandon Seville, but to hold the Carthusian convent there, which he occupied as a citadel. Strong working parties were employed in adding to its defences, while at the same time the French packed up their public documents and their private plunder for removal. But on this occasion the Spaniards were on the alert.

As early as the middle of August the enemy had blown up the Castle of Niebla, and retired from the whole county of that name; and on the very day that they broke up from before Cadiz, Camp Marshal D. Juan de la Cruz Mourgeon, in concert with Colonel Skerrett, judged it advisable to make a forward movement on Seville, and for this purpose to force the corps of observation at San Lucar la Mayor, consisting of 350 cavalry and 200 foot. Brigadier-General Downie was second in command of the Spanish force. This officer was born in Stirlingshire, and commenced his military career by accompanying Miranda in his first expedition to Venezuela, an adventure for which those foreigners who were taken in it paid the forfeit of their lives. He joined Sir J. Moore’s army as Assistant Commissary-General, was with Sir Arthur Wellesley in the campaign of 1809, and in the ensuing year, having entered the Spanish service, raised, with the approbation of his own government, the loyal legion of Extremadura and was appointed Colonel-Commandant thereof. The legion was armed and clothed by the British Government, and he revived in it the old Spanish costume, ... or something resembling it; and several of the young nobility are said to have entered it on that account. By this and by his character, which in some respects resembled their own, he made himself popular among the Spaniards; insomuch that the Marquesa de Conquista, the representative of the Pizarros, presented him with the sword of her ancestor, the famous, or infamous, conqueror of Peru.

They marched from Manzanilla with 800 men, consisting of the 1st regiment of guards, the 87th, and a Portugueze regiment, accompanied by 600 Spanish troops: the Spaniards attacked on the right, the British and Portugueze on the left: the enemy were driven through the streets, leaving some killed, wounded, and prisoners, and the allies took post at San Lucar without the loss of a man. Leaving his advance in that town, and the British and Portugueze on the right bank of the river San Lucar, the Spanish general returned to Castilleja del Campo, being the place whither the persons from whom he received intelligence directed their communications. Various and contradictory accounts were brought thither on the morning of the 26th concerning the intentions of the enemy in Seville; but in the afternoon he received positive information that Soult, with the greater part of his force, was about to move by way of Alcala upon Marchena. Arrangements were immediately made, that the troops should collect at San Lucar, and after two hours’ rest there, proceed towards Seville at three on the following morning, in the hope that by this movement they might accelerate the retreat of the French, and save Seville from being plundered. On arriving at Espartinas, they ascertained that Soult had left the city with 5000 foot and 500 horse. General Mourgeon, upon this, sending out some Guerrillas to cover his flanks, proceeded, and arrived on the heights ♦August 27.♦ of Castilleja de la Cuesta, immediately above Seville, at six in the morning. The French, occupied some olive grounds close to the village, and some forty infantry garrisoned the redoubt of Santa Brigida from which the guns had been withdrawn. They were driven from the olive grounds into the plain, where for awhile the cavalry, 100 in number, protected the retreat of the foot, some 150: but they were so pressed by the Spanish vanguard and annoyed by an English field-piece, that they took to flight, and many of the men were made prisoners. The redoubt was attacked at the same time, with more bravery than judgment, and the Spaniards sustained some loss; the columns then advanced into the plain, by which the redoubt was turned and its communication cut off: and Colonel Skerrett ordered it to be masked by a detachment of Portugueze.