chief was not an error of the head, and reason is of CHAP. little avail against the suggestions of self-interest. The march of the British troops was as rapid as the previous preparations had been. Head-quarters reached Almeida on the 8th of November. The infantry were already assembled at that town. The condition of the men was superb, and their discipline exemplary; on that side all was well, but from the obstacles encountered by sir David Baird, and the change of direction in the artillery, it was evident, that no considerable force could be brought into action before the end of the month. Meanwhile, the Spaniards were hastening events. Despatches from lord William Bentinck announced that the enemy remained stationary on the Ebro, although reinforced by ten thousand men; that Castaños was about to cross that river at Tudela; and that the army of Aragon was moving by Sor upon Roncevalles, with a view to gain the rear of the French, while Castaños assailed their left flank. The general, judging that such movements would bring on a battle, the success of which must be very doubtful, became uneasy for his own artillery: his concern was increased by observing, that the guns might have kept with the other columns; " and if any thing adverse happens, I have not," he wrote to general Hope, "necessity to plead ; the road we are now travelling, that by Villa Velha and Guarda, is practicable for artillery. The brigade under Wilmot has already reached Guarda, and as far as I have already seen, the road presents few obstacles, and those easily surmounted; this knowledge was, however, only acquired by our own officers; when the brigade was at Castello Branco, it was not certain if it could proceed." Wherefore, he desired Hope no III. 1808. BOOK longer to trust any reports, but seek a shorter line, by Placentia, across the mountains to Salamanca. III.. 1808. Up to this period, all reports from the agents, all information from the government at home, all communications public and private, coincided upon one subject. The Spaniards were an enthusiastic, a heroic people, a nation of unparalleled energy! their armies were brave; they were numerous; they were confident! one hundred and eighty thousand men were actually in line of battle, extending from the sea-coast of Biscay to Zaragoza; the French, reduced to a fourth of this number, cooped up in a corner, shrunk from an encounter; they were deserted by the emperor; they were trembling; they were spiritless! Nevertheless, the general was somewhat distrustful; he perceived the elements of disaster in the divided commands, and the lengthened lines of the Spaniards; and early in October he had predicted the mischief that such a system would produce. "As long as the French remain upon the defensive," he observed, "it will not be so much felt; but the moment an attack is made, some great calamity must ensue." However, he was not without faith in the multitude and energy of the patriots, when he considered the greatness of their cause. Castaños was at this time pointed out by the central junta as the person with whom to concert a plan of campaign, and sir John Moore, concluding that it was a preliminary step towards making that officer generalissimo, wrote to him in a conciliatory style, well calculated to ensure a cordial co-operation. This was an encouraging event; the English general believed it to be the commencement of a better system, and looked forward with more hope to the opening of III. 1808. No. 13, the war; but this favourable state soon changed. CHAP. Far from being created chief of all, Castaños was superseded in the command he already held, the whole folly of the Spanish character broke forth, and confusion and distress followed. But even at that moment clouds were arising in a quarter, which had hitherto been all sunshine. The military agents, as Appendix, the crisis approached, lowered their tone of confidence, section 7. they no longer dwelt upon the enthusiasm of the armies; they admitted, that the confidence of the troops was sinking, and that even in numbers they were inferior to the French. In truth, it was full time to change their note, for the real state of affairs could no longer be concealed, and a great catastrophe was at hand; but what of wildness in their projects, or of skill in the enemy's; what of ignorance, vanity, and presumption in their generals; what of fear among their soldiers; and what of fortune in the events; combined to hasten the ruin of the Spaniards, and how that ruin was effected, I, quitting the English army for a time, will now relate. III. 1808. CHAPTER IV. BOOK IN the preceding chapters I have exposed the weakness, the folly, the improvidence of Spain, and shown how the bad passions and sordid views of her leaders were encouraged by the unwise prodigality of England. I have dissected the full boast and meagre preparations of the governments in both countries; laying bare the bones and sinews of the insurrection; and by comparing their loose and feeble structure with the strongly knitted frame and large proportions of the enemy, prepared the reader for the inevitable issue of a conflict between such ill-matched champions. In the present book, I shall recount the sudden and terrible manner in which the Spanish armies were overthrown, and the tempestuous progress of the French emperor. But previous to relating these disasters I must revert to the period immediately following the retreat of king Joseph, and trace those early operations of the French and Spanish forces which, like a jesting prologue to a deep tragedy, unworthily ushered in the great catastrophe. CAMPAIGN OF THE FRENCH AND SPANISH ARMIES After general Cuesta was removed from the command, and that the junta of Seville was, by major Cox, forced to disgorge so much of the English subsidy as sufficed for the immediate relief of the troops in Madrid, all the Spanish armies closed upon the Ebro. IV. 1808. General Blake, reinforced by eight thousand Astu- CHAP. rians, established his base of operations at Reynosa, opened a communication with the English vessels off the port of St. Andero, and directed his views towards Broderick's Biscay. The Castillian army, conducted by general Pignatelli, resumed its march upon Burgo del Orma and Logroña. General Correspondence. tingham's. The two divisions of the Andalusian troops under Capt. WhitLapeña, and the Murcian division of general Llamas, advanced to Taranzona and Tudela. Palafox, with the Aragonese and Valencian divi- Colonel Doyle's. sions of St. Marc, operated from the side of Zaragoza. Fourteen or fifteen thousand of the Estremaduran troops were drafted, and placed under the conduct of the conde de Belvedere, a weak youth, not twenty years of age. They were at first directed upon Logroña, as forming part of Castaños's command, but Castaños's finally, as we shall find, received another destination. Vindication. Between these armies there was neither concert nor connexion; their movements were regulated by some partial view of affairs, or by the silly caprices of the generals, who were ignorant of each other's plans, and little solicitous to combine operations. The weak characters of many of the chiefs, the inexperience of all, and the total want of system, opened a field for intriguing men, and invited unqualified persons to interfere in the direction of affairs. Thus we find colonel Doyle making a journey to Zaragoza, and priding himself upon having prevailed with Palafox to detach seven thousand men to Sanguessa; and captain Whittingham, without any knowledge of Doyle's interference, earnestly dissuading the Spaniards from such an enterprise. The first affirmed, |