DEPUTIES SENT TO FRENCH HEAD-QUARTERS.

43

missioners were ushered into the presence of CHAP. I. Napoleon. His reception of them was calcu

1808.

lated to inspire terror. On Morla he particu- December.

:

larly vented his indignation. He adverted in
strong language to the violation of the capitula-
tion of Baylen. His address concluded thus:-
"To violate a military treaty is to renounce
civilization; it degrades generals to the rank of
the Bedouins of the desert. How dare you
then to solicit a capitulation, you who have vio-
lated that of Baylen? See how injustice and bad
faith ever recoil on the guilty! I had a fleet at
Cadiz; it was in alliance with Spain, and yet
you directed against it the mortars of the city
where you commanded. I had a Spanish army
in my ranks, and rather than disarm it, I would
have seen it embark on board the English
ships, and be forced afterwards to precipitate
it from the summit of the rocks of Espinosa. I
would rather have seven thousand more enemies
to fight, than be deficient in honour and good
faith. Return to Madrid. I give you till six
o'clock in the morning; come back at that hour
to announce the submission of the people, or
you and your troops shall all be put to the
sword."

44

1808. December.

SURRENDER OF MADRID.

CHAP. I. It was the object of Napoleon, in his treatment of the deputies, to stimulate their fears, in order that the impression they carried with them might be diffused among the populace of Madrid. He was, above all things, anxious that the surrender of the capital should appear the voluntary act of the people-not the traitorous betrayal of their leaders. He felt the importance of propagating the belief that he had entered Madrid, not as an enemy, but amid the acclamations of the inhabitants.

Dee. 4.

Dec. 7.

Early on the morning of the fourth, Morla, and Don Fernando de la Vera, returned to the French head-quarters, announcing that the peaceable inhabitants had consented to receive, with gratitude, the generous offers of the Emperor. At ten o'clock, General Belliard, at the head of a body of French troops, entered the city, and assumed the command. During the night, the armed peasants from the country had returned to their habitations: and Castellar, refusing to sanction the capitulation, with the main body of the troops and sixteen guns, marched out of the city, and effected his re

treat.

On the seventh, Napoleon issued a proclama

PROCLAMATION OF NAPOLEON.

45

tion to the Spanish nation. He declared they CHAP. I. had been misled by perfidious men to engage in

a hopeless struggle. What possible result, he asked, could attend even the success of a few campaigns? Nothing but an indefinite protraction of war on their own soil-an endless uncertainty of life and property. Was there one Spaniard amongst them so senseless as not to feel that the nation had been the sport of the eternal enemies of the continent, who took delight in witnessing the effusion of French and Spanish blood? It had cost him but some marches to defeat their armies; he had entered their capital, and the laws of war would justify him by a signal example in washing away, in blood, the insult offered to himself and his country. But he had listened to the voice, not of justice, but of clemency. His wish was to be the regenerator of Spain. All that obstructed their prosperity and greatness he had destroyed; he had broken the fetters which bent the people to the earth. Their destiny now was in their own hands. An absolute monarchy had been displaced by a free constitution. "It depends on yourselves whether this constitution shall continue in your land. But should all my efforts

1808.

December.

46

CONDUCT OF THE INTRUSIVE GOVERNMENT.

CHAP. I. prove fruitless, and should you shew yourselves 1808. unworthy of my confidence, nothing will remain December. for me but to treat your country as a conquered

Dec. 11.

province, and to establish my brother on some other throne. I shall then place on my own head the crown of Spain, and cause it to be respected by the guilty. God has given me the will and power to surmount all difficulties."

This proclamation was succeeded by a number of decrees on various subjects. No grant was in future to be made from the public revenue to any individual. The Tribunal of the Inquisition, feudal rights, and the jurisdiction of seigniorial courts of justice, were abolished. The number of convents was reduced to onethird. Most of the members of the Council of Castile were displaced, and declared unworthy of continuing the magistrates of a free nation; and, with few exceptions, a general pardon was granted to all Spaniards, on professing allegiance to the intrusive monarch.

After the fall of the capital, the French still continued to follow up their successes. Toledo was occupied by Marshal Victor on the eleventh, and La Mancha became subject to the pillage of his ferocious soldiery. In the meanwhile, the

POSITION OF THE FRENCH ARMIES.

47

1808. December.

southern Juntas were employed in fortifying CHAP. I. the passes of the Sierra Morena, which were daily expected to become the object of attack. But at that moment the movements of the British army had the effect of diverting the attention of Napoleon; and it was probably expected that the force detached towards Badajos, in pursuit of the retiring Junta, would, in that direction, find easier access to Seville and Cadiz, than over the difficult and giant ranges by which Andalusia is bounded on the north.

When Sir John Moore, therefore, commenced his march from Salamanca, the different corps of the French army were disposed nearly as follows. Marshal Bessieres was pursuing the remains of the central army on the road to Valencia. Victor had entered Toledo. Lefebvre, with a strong division, was marching on Badajos. Mortier was preparing to besiege Zaragoza; Soult to enter Leon; while Napoleon, from Madrid, was ready to support all these movements, and complete the subjugation of Spain. The total of this force was estimated at one hundred and fifty thousand men. That of Sir John Moore amounted altogether to twentysix thousand nine hundred infantry, and two