CHAPTER XI.

GLORY AND ILLUSIONS. SPAIN AND AUSTRIA.

Napoleon did not keep his promise to the Bourbons of Spain. He had not

come to Madrid in order to heal their divisions, and strengthen the

tottering power. One after another, he had drawn all the members of the

royal family to Bayonne, and there, on French soil, had easily consummated

their ruin. It was also on French soil that he made preparations to raise

his brother to the throne. King Joseph was late in arriving, entering

Bayonne only on the 8th June; and already the imperious will and clever

management of the emperor had brought into that town a certain number of

great lords, favorable to the new power from interest or fear. Already

Joseph was proclaimed King of Spain and the Indies; and scarcely had he

had time to put foot to the ground when he was surrounded by Spanish

deputations, which had been carefully prepared by Napoleon's orders. The

king regretted much having to leave Naples. Without foreseeing the

difficulties that awaited him, he loved the gentle, easy life of Italy,

and had not yet forgot the annoyance of taking possession, or the

obstacles to be met by a new regime. The emperor took care to dazzle him

at the outset. The Junta formed at Bayonne prepared a constitution.

Napoleon had collected much information as to the lamentable state of the

administration in Spain. "These papers are necessary to me for the

measures which I have to order," he had written to Murat, who was still in

Madrid, ill and sad; "they are also necessary to me to show some day to

posterity in what state I have found the Spanish monarchy." Useless

precaution of a great mind, who thought to dispose of the future and of

the judgment of posterity, as, till then, he had dazzled or overthrown all

the witnesses of his marvellous career!

Eight days after the arrival of King Joseph at Bayonne, the new

constitution was adopted by the improvised Junta. "It is all that we can

offer you, sire," said imprudently the Duke de l'Infantado, formerly the

most eager accomplice of the Prince of Asturias in his intrigues against

his father; "we are waiting till the nation speaks, and authorizes us to

give freer course to our sentiments." They stopped the duke from saying

any more; the Spanish nation had not been consulted.

The Spanish constitution was prepared generally on the model of the French

constitution. The first article paid homage to the strong religious

feeling of Spain: "The religion of the State is the Catholic religion; no

other is permitted." Several of the ministers chosen by the King Joseph

had been members of the government of Charles IV. After taking the oath to

their new monarch, the Junta first of all went to the Emperor Napoleon at

Marac, to offer their thanks and congratulations.

At the same moment, and whilst summoning to Bayonne the reinforcement of

troops which he intended to accompany and support King Joseph on his entry

into his new kingdom, Napoleon wrote to the Emperor Alexander:--

"My brother, I send your Majesty the constitution which the Spanish Junta

have just decided upon. The disorders of that country had reached such a

degree as can scarcely be conceived. Obliged to take part in its affairs,

I have by the irresistible tendency of events been brought to a system

which, while securing the happiness of Spain, secures the tranquillity of

my states. I have cause to be satisfied with all the persons of rank,

fortune, and education. The monks alone, who occupy half the territory,

anticipating in the new order of things the destruction of abuses, and the

numerous agents of the Inquisition, who now see the end of their

existence, are now agitating the country. I am very sensible that this

event opens a very large field for discussion. People are not likely to

appreciate the circumstance and events, but will maintain that all had

been provoked and premeditated. Nevertheless, if I had only considered the

interest of France, I should have adopted a simpler means, viz., extending

my frontiers on this side, and diminishing Spain. A province like

Catalonia or Navarre, would have affected her power more than the change

which has just taken place, which is really of use only to Spain."

Whilst the Emperor Napoleon thus announced in Europe the interpretation

which it suited him to put upon the events of Spain, and whilst the new

king, leaving Bayonne on the 9th July, was planting his foot upon his new

territory, the whole of Spain, from north to south, from east to west, was

in a blaze.

After the departure of the Bourbon princes for Bayonne, the popular

agitation and uneasiness in Madrid became extreme, and gradually extended

to the more remote provinces, and into the depths of the old Spanish race,

honorable and proud, still preserving in their fields their ancestral

qualities. "Trust neither your honor nor your person to a Spanish Don,"

was said to M. Guizot by a man who learned to form severe judgment upon

them during several revolutions; "trust all that is dearest to you to a

Spanish peasant." In spite of the emperor's assertions, all the great

lords were not favorable to the King Joseph. In the country, the peasants

had risen in a body, and the burgesses did the same in the towns.

Carthagena was the first town to give the example of revolt. On the 22nd

May, at the news of the abdication of the two kings, published in the

journals of Madrid on the 20th, the people shouted in the streets, "Long

live Ferdinand VII.!" and Admiral Salcedo, who was preparing to convey the

Spanish fleet to Toulon, was arrested. The arms shut up in the arsenals

were distributed among the populace. A Junta was immediately formed.

Murcia and Valencia followed the example of Carthagena. The people, roused

by the preaching of a monk, Canon Calvo, killed the Baron Albulat, a "lord

of the province," who was in vain defended by another monk, called Rico.

The French who lived in Valencia had taken refuge in the citadel, but

being persuaded to come out, they were quickly massacred to the last man.

This first ebullition of popular fury was followed by the horror of all

respectable people. In spite of himself, Count Cerbellon was put at the

head of the insurrection. Everybody took arms, and waited for the arrival

and vengeance of the French soldiers.

All the provinces rose in insurrection one after another. The most

apathetic waited for St. Ferdinand's Day; and on the 30th May, at

daybreak, before the saint's flag was displayed in the streets, in

Estremadura, at Granada, and Malaga, the shouts of the populace proclaimed

King Ferdinand VII. Blood was shed everywhere, with an atrocious display

of cruelty. The magistrates, or gentlemen, who attempted to stop a

dangerous rising were massacred. The Asturias had shuddered at the first

report of the abdication; the Junta of Oviedo proclaimed a renewal of

peace with England, and sent delegates to London. The clergy succeeded in

protecting the lives of two Spanish colonels who had opposed the

insurrection of their troops. In Galicia the honorable efforts of Captain-

General Filangieri cost him his life; after accepting, with regret, the

presidency of the Junta, when he attempted to maintain order amongst the

insurgents he was killed in the street. Valladolid obliged the Captain-

General, Don Gregorio de la Cuesta, to take a part in the rising of the

populace. At the first sign of resistance shown by the old soldier, they

erected a gibbet under his windows. Burgos, occupied by Marshal Bessières,

remained quiet, but Barcelona attempted an insurrection. The Catalans were

armed to the teeth, and, on General Duhesme threatening to set fire to the

town, the more violent of them escaped to places which were less

threatened. Saragossa had placed at the head of its heroic population Don

Joseph Palafox de Melzi, an amiable young man, well known in his own

country. He summoned the Cortes of the province, and ordered a general

rising of the population of Aragon. On the confines of Navarre, almost

under the eyes of the French army, Santander and Logrono formed an

insurrection. The Castilles, with their vast open plains, and their

proximity to the French Government, showed only a silent agitation,

without yet attempting an insurrection. Murat was ill--frequently

delirious; but General Savary watched over Madrid: the capital awaited its

new master.

Nowhere was the insurrection more spontaneous or more general than in

Andalusia. Seville had conceived the hope of becoming the centre of the

national movement, and grouping round it the patriotic efforts of the

whole of Spain. The provisional government assumed a pompous name--

"Supreme Junta of Spain and the Indies"--and sent messengers to stir up

the towns of Badajoz, Cordova, and Jaen. At Cadiz they surrounded the

hotel of the Captain-General Solano, Marquis of Socorro. All the troops

throughout the south of Spain were under his orders. With difficulty he

was persuaded to give a forced assent to the disorderly wishes of the

populace, but persisted in opposing the bombardment of the French fleet,

commanded by Admiral Rosily, which had been in the harbor for three

months. He in vain pleaded the danger to the Spanish vessels mixed with

the French. The crowd became mad, dragged the Marquis on to the ramparts,

and massacred him.

Without any preliminary understanding, in a country everywhere intersected

by rivers and mountains, and even under the fire of the French cannon,

Spain thus rose spontaneously against an arrogant usurpation, preceded by

base perfidy. In this first burst of her patriotic anger, she bore the

courage, ardor, and passion which were to make certain her triumph; she at

the same time displayed a savage cruelty and violence, of which our

unhappy soldiers were too often the victims. The emperor was still at

Bayonne, occupied in arranging the affairs of Spain from without Spain: he

was informed slowly and imperfectly of the insurrection convulsing the

whole country. Accustomed to give orders to his lieutenants from a

distance and arbitrarily, he ordered all the movements of his troops from

Bayonne, affecting to attach but small importance to the revolt, sending

to Paris and Valençay false news of the success of his arms, and doing his

best to conceal from King Joseph the extent and importance of the

resistance which was being prepared against him. In many places the

couriers were arrested or killed. The emperor ordered General Savary to

set out again for Madrid.

Nevertheless, all the forces of the French army were on their march to

crush the insurrection. General Verdier and General Frère quickly took

satisfaction for the insurrection of Logrono and Segovia. General Lasalle,

before Valladolid, defeated Don Gregorio de la Cuesta, who had been forced

to leave the town, afraid of having his throat cut there. "You have only

had what you deserve," said the old Spanish general, as he retreated upon

Leon; "we are only a handful of undisciplined peasants, yet you imagine

you can conquer those who have conquered all Europe." General Lefebvre-

Desnouettes met more resistance at Tudela, where the insurgents had broken

down the bridge over the Ebro. On the 15th June he was before Saragossa,

where Don Joseph Palafox had shut himself up; the whole population covered

the roofs of the houses, where there was a constant hail-storm of musket

balls. The French general at once concluded it was a question of regular

siege, and sent to Barcelona for reinforcements and artillery. Marshal

Moncey had not succeeded in taking Valencia. General Duhesme was shut up

in Barcelona by the insurrection, which daily gained ground in Catalonia.

Yet he was compelled to send away General Chabran, that he might join

Marshal Moncey; and the insurgents took advantage of this division of our

forces to throw themselves on General Schwartz's column, which had been

ordered to search the convent of Montserrat. The tocsin was heard

everywhere in the mountain villages; the bridges over the streams were

broken down, and every little town had to be carried with the bayonet. By

a sudden sally, General Duhesme dislodged the enemy from their post on the

River Llobregat, took possession of their cannons, and brought them back

to Barcelona. "Let the whole town of Barcelona be disarmed," wrote the

emperor on 10th June to Marshal Berthier, "so that not a single musket is

left, and let the castle of Montjouy be supplied with provisions taken

from the inhabitants. They must be treated in thorough military fashion.

War justifies anything. On the slightest occasion, you should take

hostages and send them into the fortress."

General Dupont had been entrusted with the most difficult as well as most

important undertaking. With from 12,000 to 13,000 men under his orders, he

advanced into Andalusia, with the object of reducing that great province

to submission, and protecting the French fleet in Cadiz. The emperor had

ordered General Junot to support Dupont's advance by sending him

Kellermann's division, but Portugal was imitating the example of Spain,

and had all risen in insurrection. On his first entrance into Andalusia,

Dupont recognized the importance of the movement, and immediately asked

for a reinforcement. "I shall then have nothing to do but a military

promenade," he wrote to General Savary.

On the 7th June, after a pretty keen fight, the French troops took the

bridge of Alcolea, on the Guadalquivir, and arrived the same evening

before Cordova. After the gates were burst open with cannon-shot, the

barricades and houses had to be carried with the bayonet; and the

soldiers, losing their temper, cruelly abused the victory they gained. The

hatred against the invaders increased; and in the van of our army, on this

side of the Sierra Morena, on the road from Cordova to Andujar, the men

who had not kept up in marching, the sick and wounded who were obliged to

stay in the villages, were put to death with refinements of barbarity.

General Dupont still waited for the divisions of Vedel and Frère, which he

had sent to Madrid for; and at Cadiz, in the French fleet, they were

counting the days, and soon the hours.

The leader in the insurrection, Thomas de Morla, at first seemed faithful

to the alliance of the Spanish and French navy, recalling the memories of

the battle of Trafalgar, the glorious ruins of which composed the French

squadron in the Cadiz roads. Gradually, however, he took care to separate

the two fleets, persuading Admiral Rosily to take his position within the

roads, and placing the Spanish vessels at the entrance, in order, he said,

to defend Cadiz against the English, who had been trying in vain to land

5,000 men. The admiral soon found himself cantoned in the midst of the

lagoons which form and protect the Cadiz roads; while a contrary wind

prevented the attack which, from desperation, he wished to make upon the

Spanish, their gun-boats and sloops were already gathering round him, and

on the 9th June the firing began, but it was weak and unavailing on the

part of our ships, in spite of the heroic resolution of the crews. The

fighting lasted two days, and on the Junta of Seville demanding a

surrender pure and simple, Admiral Rosily, who knew that General Dupont

had entered Cordova, asked for a delay, hoping to receive help. On the

14th June, after four days had elapsed, the French fleet, being deprived

of every resource, and with certain ruin before them, surrendered at

discretion. The officers were distributed in the fortresses, and the

vessels disarmed. The mob, crowding round the harbor, shouted fiercely and

cheered as the French prisoners passed before them and the English, who

had just succeeded in effecting their landing.

General Dupont had not been reinforced. He did not know whether his

couriers had arrived, many having been already intercepted by the robbers

of the Sierra Morena; he knew of the rising of the St. Roque troops, and

of the treachery of the Swiss regiments recently engaged in the

insurrection; and finding himself threatened on the right by the insurgent

army of Andalusia, and on the left by the army of Granada, he resolved to

fall back upon the Guadalquivir, and on the 18th June took up his position

in the small town of Andujar, to wait for the divisions which he had sent

for. That of Vedel was already on its march.

Marshal Moncey had failed before Valencia, and could not commence the

investment for want of siege guns; he had brought back his division in

good condition, and effected his junction with General Frère at San

Clemente. Marshal Bessières advanced at the same time against Don Gregorio

de la Cuesta, and against General Blake, a descendant of English Catholic

refugees. Their forces were considerable, and composed of old soldiers;

they had, however, asked for time to prepare their troops and had been

forced by the Junta of the Corogne to march to battle. On the evening of

the 13th July, the Spaniards, badly informed as to the march of the

French, were formed in two lines on the plateau of Medino de Rio-Seco, not

far from Valladolid. Attacked one after the other by Marshal Bessières,

the two lines were completely beaten and put to flight, not without some

resistance at certain points. The slaughter was terrible. General Mouton,

at the head of two regiments with fixed bayonets, entered the town of

Medina, which was sacked. Marshal Bessières again took the road towards

Leon, sweeping before him the disbanded remains of the Spanish army. King

Joseph had just entered Madrid.

He took possession of his capital in the midst of the melancholy silence

of the inhabitants, more irritated than cowed by the news of the victory

of Rio-Seco, which reached them a few hours before the entry of their new

monarch. Since his entrance into Spain the eyes of Joseph had been opened.

"Up to this time no one has told the whole truth," he wrote to the Emperor

Napoleon on the 12th July. "The fact is that not a single Spaniard is on

my side, except the small number who were present at the Junta, and travel

with me. The others, on arriving here, hid themselves, terrified by the

unanimous opinion of their countrymen." And some days later: "Fear does

not make me see double; since I have been in Spain I say to myself every

day that my life is of small account, and that I give it up to you. I am

not alarmed at my position, but it is unique in history; I have not a

single partisan here." Every day he repeated the same demand; "I still

want 50,000 men of old troops, and 50,000,000 of money; in a month I must

have a 100,000 men, and a 100,000,000." The French army in Spain numbered

already 110,000 men, young, it is true, and for the most part without

experience, but Europe almost entirely was occupied by our troops;

Napoleon was irritated at the sensible remarks of Savary, still more

gloomy than those of King Joseph. "The emperor finds that you are wrong to

say that nothing has been done for six weeks," wrote Marshal Berthier.

"All sensible men in Spain have changed their opinion, and are very sorry

to see the insurrection. Affairs are in the most prosperous position since

the battle of Rio-Seco." On the 19th July, when making his preparations to

quit Bayonne to visit the towns of the south, Napoleon wrote to King

Joseph:

"My brother, I received your letter of the 18th, at three o'clock in the

morning. I see, with sorrow, that you trouble yourself. It is the only

misfortune I fear. Troops are entering on all sides, and constantly. You

have a great many partisans in Spain, but they are intimidated; they are

all the respectable people. However, I acknowledge none the less that your

task is great and glorious.

"The victory of Marshal Bessières, who has wholly beaten Cuesta and the

army of Galicia, has greatly improved the position of affairs. It is worth

more than a reinforcement of 30,000 men. The divisions of Gobert and Vedel

having joined General Dupont, offensive measures must be vigorously pushed

on that side. It is the only point menaced, and there must soon be a

success there; with 25,000 men, comprising infantry, cavalry, and

artillery, there are more than necessary to obtain a great result. At the

worst, with 21,000 men present on the field of battle, he can boldly take

the offensive; he will not be beaten, and will have more than four-and-

twenty chances in his favor.

"You ought not to find it so extraordinary to conquer your kingdom. Philip

V. and Henry IV. were obliged to conquer theirs. Keep your spirits up, and

never doubt for an instant that everything will finish better and more

quickly than you now imagine.

"Everything goes on very well at Saragossa."

The attack upon Saragossa, on the 1st July, was unsuccessful. General

Verdier, who commanded the siege, had seized the convent of St. Joseph,

without being able to penetrate into the town, all the streets being well

fortified. He had asked for troops and a train of artillery. General

Dupont was threatened, in a badly chosen position, by the insurgents of

Grenada, commanded by General Reding, formerly colonel of one of the Swiss

regiments; General Castaños brought up the troops of Andalusia. The orders

of the emperor were precise; General Dupont was not to repass the Sierra

Morena, he was not to retreat on Andalusia.

In the hitherto restricted sphere of his operations, General Dupont had

shown himself constantly bold and successful under chiefs more skilful and

more experienced than himself; but left to his own resources, he knew not

how to profit by his advantages, nor choose his quarters advantageously.

The food of the troops was bad and insufficient, and the sick were

numerous; isolated in the midst of a country passionately hostile, without

means of information as to the enemy's movements, without news of Madrid

or the government, the French remained stationary, sad and depressed.

General Vedel occupied Baylen, General Gobert La Carolina; thus they

commanded the defiles of the mountain.

On the 14th July, General Castaños appeared before Andujar, while the

corps of Reding threatened Baylen; the imprudent movement of our troops

had uncovered this last position. General Dupont was informed of this.

He resolved to march himself upon Baylen, but he was encumbered with an

immense train of baggage, and by numerous sick, whom he would not abandon

to the cruelties of the enemy; the movement was deferred till the next

day, the 18th July. At the approach of night the army began its march. The

heat was still suffocating. A great number of soldiers, suffering from

dysentery, had been unable to find a place in the wagons, and dragged

themselves behind the train, scarcely able to bear the weight of their

arms. The anxiety of General Dupont was entirely for his rearguard; he

feared that General Castaños, informed of his movements by the hundreds of

voluntary spies who served the Spanish cause, would throw himself on his

rear. The vanguard was feeble, composed of young and undisciplined

soldiers; when it deployed at three in the morning, on the rocky banks of

the Rumblar, the Spanish posts occupied the passage. Before the combat,

the soldiers rushed towards the bed of the torrent. It was dried up. "The

Spaniards have taken away the river!" cried the French, even then disposed

to treat painful thoughts with gayety. The Spanish battalions barred the

route of Baylen, which General Reding had occupied the previous day.

Worn out by the heat, by thirst, by the march, our soldiers charged the

enemy, and drove them back as far as the plain of Baylen. There lay

extended before us the Spanish army, in front of the little town, in an

amphitheatre of hills, covered with olive-trees. The Spanish artillery was

formidable: the field-pieces brought up by the French were soon

dismounted. The centre of the Spanish army remained solid, and even the

charges of cavalry could not break it. When at last the front ranks opened

under the shock of the horses, or the steel of the bayonets, the lines

reformed at the end of the plain, always pitilessly barring the road. The

cannonade did not slacken for a single instant.

The soldiers began to show signs of discouragement, and the officers

proposed to the general to abandon the sick and the baggage, and to form

into a compact mass, in order to open a passage by force in the direction

of La Carolina, occupied by General Vedel. Dupont expected his lieutenant

every moment. He refused to abandon his train, and vainly renewed the

attack on all the length of the Spanish lines. Up to this time the Swiss

regiments in the service of France, mixed with our soldiers, and marching

in our ranks, had remained faithful; the bad fortune of our arms, the view

of their comrades fighting among the Spaniards under a chief of their

race, triumphed at last over their good resolutions--they deserted in a

body. At the same moment the sound of cannon was heard in the distance,

but it was not in the direction of La Carolina, it was at the bridge of

Rumblar: General Castaños arrived to crush us.

This was too much, and the unfortunate General Dupont was to show on this

day that he was not one of those whose courage defies fortune. "Find

General Reding," said he to one of his officers, "and ask from him a

suspension of arms." The battle was already ceasing of its own accord, on

account of the extreme fatigue of the troops. The Spanish general gave the

order to cease firing, but said, however, to the officer who had been

sent, "The truce must be ratified by General Castaños." General de la

Peña, who commanded the vanguard, accepted the same conditions. "The

French army must surrender at discretion," he said haughtily, "for the

present let us rest ourselves." The aide-de-camp of General Dupont went

forward to General Castaños, in order to obtain his assent to the truce. A

melancholy sadness weighed upon both officers and men; the general-in-

chief, formerly brilliant, bold, even emphatically eloquent, hid his

despair inside his tent; scarcely would he listen to the voice of those

who surrounded him. Broken down by his misfortune, he had lost all energy

and all presence of mind.

The same fault of irresolution and despair seems to have taken hold on

General Vedel. He had resolved to return to Baylen, of which he too late

understood the importance. But the troops were worn out, he was forced to

allow them a day of rest. Since three o'clock in the morning of the 19th,

the continual echo of the cannon announced to the least vigilant the

coming engagement. The division began its march at five o'clock, at eleven

it had only advanced half-way; the men left their ranks at every moment to

seek a drop of water in the rocks. The cannon was heard more faintly; at

noon it was heard no more. It was five o'clock when, in the midst of

silence, the corps which had been so impatiently expected debouched above

Baylen. The Spaniards guarded all the passages; an officer appeared

announcing the truce. General Vedel refused to believe it. He sent off an

aide-de-camp to ascertain the truth from General Reding. "If you do not

return in half-an-hour," said he, "I shall commence firing." At the given

moment, having no news from their emissary, the French sounded the charge,

and already a battalion of Spanish infantry had been surrounded, while the

cuirassiers advanced at full gallop; at the same instant the officers of

the enemy, accompanied by an aide-de-camp of General Dupont, came up to

Vedel. The orders of the general-in-chief were precise, they must cease

firing. The negotiations had commenced. General Castaños marched on

Baylen.

The enthusiasm and triumph of the Spaniards did not give him time to

arrive there. The general of engineers, Marescot, had been charged with

the sad duty of treating with the Spaniards. General de la Peña, still

posted at the bridge of Rumblar, threatened to crush the unfortunate army

caught between his corps and that of General Reding. "I must have an

answer in two hours," said he, repeating at the same time his only

condition, "the French army must surrender at discretion."

General Dupont appealed to his lieutenants, general officers, and

colonels; all declared that the soldiers would not fight. The general-in-

chief surveyed the ranks some moments; his courage failed him entirely.

"Our honor is saved," repeated the members of the council of war, "we have

done yesterday all that men could do." One resource remained to them, to

die to the last man in endeavoring to rejoin General Vedel. They had the

misfortune not to try this last and glorious chance. The capitulation was

resolved on. Don Castaños entertained the French officers while hatred

shone in the eyes of all his staff. Polite, and full of attention to the

vanquished, the Spanish general remained wholly inflexible. All the

divisions of the army of Andalusia, engaged or not in the battle of

Baylen, were to be comprised in the capitulation.

The conditions were about to be signed, the French troops were authorized

to retreat on Madrid; the Barbou division alone commanded by General

Dupont, was to be disarmed. At the same instant a letter from General

Savary to General Dupont was brought by the mountaineers, into whose hands

it had fallen. The aide-de-camp of the emperor announced a general

concentration of the troops of the south at Madrid, and General Dupont was

ordered to take the road to La Mancha. The Spaniards could not allow their

victory to serve the designs of the emperor. General Castaños immediately

declared to the French negotiators that the conditions were changed, and

communicated to them the letter of General Savary. Overwhelmed by this new

blow, General Marescot and his companions saw themselves forced to give up

the Barbou division prisoners of war; the two other corps were to be

transported to France under the Spanish flag; the officers retained their

baggage, but the knapsacks of the soldiers were to be submitted to

examination. "All Spaniards believe the sacred vessels of Cordova are in

the bags of your soldiers," said General Castaños.

While the wretched negotiators accepted a capitulation which delivered

them to their enemies, Vedel had proposed to General Dupont to attempt a

new attack; he sent at the same time one of his aides-de-camp to plead the

cause of his division. At one time Dupont authorized Vedel to save, at any

price, his troops, and those of General Dufour's, by taking in forced

marches the road to Madrid. Already Vedel had obeyed, and hastened across

the defiles of the Sierra Morena, but the news of his departure was not

long in coming to the camp of the Spaniards. They accused the French of

breaking the truce, and threatened to immediately massacre the Barbou

division, which found itself at that time completely surrounded. The

Spanish negotiators broke out into fury, overwhelming with insults the

unhappy officers charged to treat with them. Heroism had disappeared from

their souls. They hastened to the tent of the general-in-chief, still

plunged in melancholy dejection. He gave way at last, and to his eternal

dishonor, and that of the men who tore from him this cowardly concession,

he sent to General Vedel the order to retrace his steps, and to submit

with his soldiers to the lot the capitulation reserved for him.

Like General Dupont, Vedel consulted his lieutenants. At first all refused

a submission which would lead to their destruction. A new messenger came,

throwing on them all the responsibility of the inevitable massacre of

their comrades. They gave way, and with despair in their souls they slowly

retraced their steps; as the sole solace to their sufferings they still

retained their arms, while they saw their unhappy comrades defile before

the Spanish army laying down their muskets at the feet of the victors.

During three days the troops had not received any food; the Spaniards had

counted on hunger as well as defeat to lead the French to capitulate. At

last they got some food, and soon the columns began their march. The ports

of embarkation had been fixed upon.

They advanced slowly, for from all the towns, villages, and scattered

houses, flocked multitudes in fury, who insulted the frightful misfortune

of our soldiers. General Castaños, moderate in his triumph, had said to

the French negotiators, "De la Cuesta, Blake, and myself, were not of the

same opinion as the insurgents. We yielded to the national movement; but

this movement is becoming so unanimous that it has a chance of success.

Let Napoleon not insist upon an impossible conquest, let him not force us

to throw ourselves into the arms of the English. Let him give us back our

king, and the two nations will be forever reconciled."

It was in fact the same thought, clothed in offensive language that Thomas

de Morla, the chief of the insurrection at Cadiz, flung at General Dumont

when he complained of the bad treatment undergone by his soldiers. "Your

excellency forces me to express truths which must be bitter to you. What

right have you to insist on the execution of a treaty concluded in favor

of an army which entered Spain under the mask of alliance and friendship,

which has imprisoned our king and his family, sacked his palaces,

assassinated and robbed his subjects, ravaged his country, usurped his

crown? How it would rouse the populace to know that a single one of your

soldiers was the possessor of 2180 livres!"

The pillage of Cordova had been exaggerated by the public imagination, and

served the chiefs of the insurrection to justify their want of faith. The

entire army of Andalusia was detained under various pretexts. The Junta of

Seville refused to ratify the capitulation. The divisions of Dufour and

Vedel saw their army taken away, and 20,000 men of those French troops,

who up to the present time had been accustomed to victory, remained during

long years prisoners of war, subjected to the worst treatment, slowly

decimated by sickness and sorrow. Spain first gave to the world the

spectacle of a successful resistance to the oppression the Emperor

Napoleon had made to weigh upon all nations.

We understand by sad experience the astonishment and anger which seized

upon our armies everywhere when they heard of the capitulation of Baylen.

This name has remained fixed as an indelible stain on the memory of the

men who concluded it in a moment of despair, after numerous faults, of

which the most unpardonable cannot be imputed to them. Perhaps in his

secret thought, Napoleon began to foresee the difficulties of the

enterprise he had undertaken against Spain; perhaps he comprehended his

error, but his indignation was excessive, and broke out in his words as

well as letters. There was also a shade of discouragement when he wrote to

King Joseph, on the 3rd August, "My brother, the knowledge I have that you

are struggling, my friend, with events foreign to your habits as well as

to your natural character, pains me. Dupont has dishonored our flag. What

stupidity! What baseness! Those men will be taken by the English. Events

of such a nature require my presence at Paris. Germany, Poland, Italy, all

join together. My sorrow is really great when I think that I cannot be at

this moment with you, and in the midst of my soldiers. I have given orders

to Ney to go there. He is a man of honor, zeal, and thorough courage. If

you get accustomed to Ney, he might command the army. You will have

100,000 men, and Spain will be conquered in the autumn. A suspension of

arms, made by Savary, might perhaps lead to commanding and directing the

insurgents; we shall hear what they say. I think that, so far as your

personal likings go, you care little for reigning over the Spaniards."

At the moment when Napoleon was writing these lines, King Joseph retreated

before the enemy, and abandoned his capital. Deprived of the succor that

General Dupont was to have brought, the defenders of Madrid did not

consider the concentration of troops sufficiently considerable to protect

the Castiles against the ever-rising flood of the national insurrection.

"The emperor could hold his own here," said Savary, "but what is possible

to him is not so to the others." It was resolved to make a stand on the

line of the Ebro; King Joseph quitted Madrid, abandoned by the intimate

servants of his household, as well as by a certain number of his

ministers. 2000 domestics of the palace had fled for fear of being forced

to follow the royal retreat. Burgos not appearing to be a retreat

sufficiently sure, the monarch and his little court soon established

themselves at Vittoria. After a second assault, as sanguinary and without

result as the first, General Verdier, recalled to the Ebro, found himself

obliged to abandon the siege of Saragossa. Already the position of the

French in Spain became defensive, and the fears of King Joseph increased.

"I can only repeat, once for all, that nearly all the grand army is

marching, and that between this and autumn Spain will be inundated with

troops," wrote the emperor, on the 9th of August. "You must try to

preserve the line of the Douro to maintain a communication with Portugal.

The English are not much, they never have more than a quarter of the

troops they announce. Lord Wellesley has not 4000 men. Besides, they are

intended, I believe, for Portugal."

It was in truth on Portugal that the efforts of England were directed at

this moment, as she discerned clearly that there lay the true road to

Spain. In Galicia, as well as Andalusia, the Spanish insurgents had

refused the active intervention of the English. Sir Arthur Wellesley, who

at first appeared before Corunna, contented himself by furnishing the

suspicious Spaniards with ammunition and money, and on the 1st August he

appeared at the mouth of the Mondego, in Portugal. His fleet carried

10,000 English troops. A reinforcement of 4000 men was shortly expected.

For two months General Junot had been isolated in Portugal, separated from

Spain by the insurrection of the frontier provinces, menaced by a similar

rising of the Portuguese nation, already chafing under the foreign yoke,

and sure of soon seeing England hasten to the succor of her faithful ally.

He understood his danger, and, assembling around him his troops, recalled

General Kellermann from Elvas and General Loison from Almeida. The

insurrection already commenced around them, when Sir Arthur Wellesley set

foot on the Portuguese soil. The French did not hold more than four or

five towns. The entire people was in insurrection. But General Junot still

occupied Lisbon; his forces were unfortunately diminished by the garrisons

left in the forts, and by a corps of observation that had been detached

under the orders of General Delaborde. After a courageous resistance, this

vanguard of the French army had been already beaten when the English

advanced on Vimeiro. Junot marched against them with an army of twelve or

thirteen thousand men. The English numbered about 18,000. The arrival of

Sir John Moore with his brigade was announced.

An unfortunate respect for the rights of seniority had placed Sir Arthur

Wellesley under the orders of Sir Henry Burrard, and the latter under the

command of Sir Hew Dalrymple, who had already left Gibraltar to place

himself at the head of the army. The instructions of Wellesley obliged him

to wait at Vimeiro for the arrival of Sir John Moore. General Junot wished

to anticipate the reinforcements, and attacked the English on the 31st

August, in the morning.

Sir Arthur Wellesley occupied the heights of Vimeiro; behind him were

precipices, and all retreat was impossible. The access to the rocks was

difficult; a strong artillery protected all the positions. When the French

advanced to the assault of this natural fortress, they could not at first

reach the English lines. General Kellermann alone succeeded in scaling the

steep slopes which led to the enemy, and was received by a deadly fire,

which forced him to retire. Our cavalry superior to that of the English,

was useless in this difficult attack; its only duty was constantly to

protect the corps of infantry, repulsed one after another. The English

army had not moved. At noon, General Junot ordered the retreat. Sir Arthur

Wellesley, always on watch on the heights, was already on the move to

follow and crush those who had been unable to make him lose an inch of

ground; but Sir Henry Burrard had arrived, and the command passed into his

hands. He was opposed to all thought of pursuit. Junot took the road to

Torres Vedras. Sir Arthur Wellesley listened with mingled respect and

impatience to the arguments of his chief, and, turning towards his staff,

"After this, gentlemen," said he, "we have only to go and shoot the red

partridges."

General Junot had comprehended better than his adversary the danger which

threatened him; he felt the impossibility of maintaining himself in a

country suddenly become hostile, in face of an English army already

superior to his own, and soon to be reinforced by excellent troops.

General Kellermann was charged to treat, at first for an armistice, then

for the convention bearing the name of Cintra, which provided honorably

for the evacuation of Portugal by the French generals. The conditions

accorded were so favorable that public opinion in England accused the

negotiators of it as a crime, of which the obloquy weighed some time on

Sir Arthur Wellesley. He had not, however, been too favorable to it. "Ten

days after the battle of the 21st," he wrote to Lord Castlereagh, "we are

less advanced than we might and ought to have been on the evening of the

battle." The Emperor Napoleon had, for his part, manifested some

discontent at the convention, which brought back to France all his troops

free from engagement, and possessing their arms. "I was going to send

Junot before a council of war," said he; "but, happily, the English have

been before me in sending their generals, and have thus spared me the

mortification of punishing an old friend." The confidence of Napoleon

remained, however, shaken with respect to his officer. "Everything which

was not a triumph he looked upon as a defeat," said the Duchess of

Abrantes in her memoirs.

It often happened to Napoleon to judge unjustly of men and things, because

he appreciated them exclusively from a personal and selfish point of view.

Thus, he accused of treason the Marquis de la Romana and his brave

companions. After the battle of Friedland, the Spanish battalions wrung in

1807 from the shameful terror of the Prince de la Paix, were sent by

Napoleon to regions which would appear the most fatal to the temperament

and habits of southern people. They had been confided to the King of

Denmark, and charged to protect from the English his little kingdom,

hitherto so cruelly oppressed by them. The health of the troops was,

however, excellent when the news came to them of the general rising which

had taken place in Spain, and the unforeseen success of the national

resistance. They immediately conceived the thought of returning to their

country, to join their efforts to those of their countrymen. An English

squadron, under the orders of Admiral Keith, appeared suddenly on the

coasts of Jutland, at the entrance to Niborg, in the island of Funen.

Immediately the Marquis de la Romana, with difficulty warned by secret

advices, seized the fishing-boats, which were numerous on the coast; then,

making himself master of the citadel and port of Niborg, and crossing two

arms of the sea, he assembled around him all those of his companions-in-

arms who were within reach. He arrived at the English fleet, and sailed

towards Gothenburg, from which place he put to sea for Spain. Several

regiments far in the interior of the land could not be warned in time, and

remained prisoners of war. One of them, having by chance heard of the

enterprise of their comrades, succeeded in rejoining them at the exact

moment of their embarkation, after a march long even for Spaniards. In the

middle of September, they at last landed in Galicia amidst the joyous

acclamations of the people.

At Vittoria the unhappy King of Spain continually received one after

another news which damped his courage and convinced his reason of the

futility of all attempts to support his throne. On the 9th of August he

wrote to the Emperor Napoleon: "I do not think it possible to treat with

the insurgent chiefs; all their heads are turned; no one has sufficient

direction of affairs or influence enough upon the masses to lead them in a

determinate manner. On the supposition that France will gratuitously spend

her blood and treasure to place and maintain me on the throne of Spain, I

cannot hide from your Majesty that I cannot endure the thought of any

other than your Majesty commanding the French armies in Spain. If I become

the conqueror of this country by the horrors of a war in which every

individual Spaniard takes part, I shall be long an object of terror and

execration. I am too old to have time for repairing so many evils, and I

shall have sown too much hatred during the war to be able to gather in my

last years the fruit of the good that I may be able to do during peace.

Your Majesty sees, then, that even by this hypothesis--that of the

conquest and establishment of the monarchy--that I should not desire to

reign in Spain.... This nation is more concentrated in its sentiments than

any other people of Europe; it has something of the character of the

peoples of Africa, which is peculiar to itself. Your Majesty cannot form

an idea, because certainly no one has ever told you, in what degree the

name of your Majesty is execrated. This, then, is what I desire: to keep

the command of the army sufficiently long to beat the enemy, return to

Madrid with the army, because it left with me, and from this capital put

forth a decree to the effect that I renounce reigning over a people I

should be obliged to reduce by force of arms; and I return to Naples with

wishes for the happiness of Spain, and the desire to effect the welfare of

the Two Sicilies. In resigning to your Majesty the rights I hold from you,

you will make of them whatever use your wisdom will indicate. I beg, then,

your Majesty to suspend all operations relative to the kingdom of Naples.

The means will not be wanting to your Majesty for compensating the prince

you wished to place on the throne of Naples; for the rest, exact justice

and affection plead in my favor in your Majesty's heart." And two days

later he wrote: "It would take 200,000 Frenchmen to conquer Spain, and a

hundred thousand scaffolds to maintain the prince who should be condemned

to reign over them. No, sire, you do not know this people; each house will

be a fortress, and every man of the same mind as the majority. I repeat

but one thing, which will suffice as an example; not a Spaniard will be on

my side if we are conquerors; we cannot find a guide or a spy. Four hours

before the battle of Rio-Seco, Marshal Bessières did not know where the

enemy was. Every one who speaks or writes differently either lies or is

blind."

On the 15th of July the kingdom of Naples had been solemnly conferred on

"Prince Joachim Murat, Grand Duke of Cleves and Berg." The haughty

obstinacy of Napoleon, his habit of conquering, and the growing want of

the prestige of victory, did not permit him to admit for a single instant

the modest pretensions of King Joseph. He was already preparing to pass

into Spain, counting upon success as soon as his presence should inspire

his generals with foresight and boldness. Other cares had till this time

detained him from this expedition, which became more necessary every day.

Already, for a long time, Napoleon had nourished suspicions of the loyalty

of Austria. On several occasions he had, not without reason, accused her

of making armaments and hostile preparations. The occupation of Rome and

the events of Spain had, on the other side, increased the distrust and

irritation of Vienna. The Archduke Charles, usually favorably inclined

towards France, exclaimed, "Well, if we must, we will die with arms in our

hands; but they shall not dispose of the crown of Austria as easily as

they have disposed of the crown of Spain!"

Napoleon had scarcely arrived at Paris, returning from a long journey in

France, when a great fête had assembled around him all the diplomatic body

(15th August, 1808). His anger broke out against Austria, as it had

previously broken out against England in his celebrated interview with

Lord Whitworth. The frequent menaces of Champagny had not intimidated

Metternich, at that time Austrian ambassador in Paris. The emperor

advanced suddenly towards him: "Austria wishes, then, to make war against

us? She wishes to frighten me?..." And without listening to the pacific

protestations of the prince, "Why, then, these immense preparations? They

are defensive, you say. But who attacks you, to make you think so much of

defence? Is not all peaceful around you? Since the peace of Presburg, has

there been the slightest disagreement between you and me? Have not all our

relations together been extremely amicable? And yet you have suddenly

raised a cry of alarm; you have put in motion all your population; your

princes have overrun your provinces; your proclamations have summoned the

people to the defence of the country; your proclamations and measures are

those which you used when I was at Leoben.

"You are well aware that I ask nothing from you, and make no claim upon

you, and that I even regard the preservation of your power in the present

state of affairs as useful to the European system, and to the interests of

France. I have encamped my troops to keep them fit for marching. They do

not camp in France, because that costs too much; they camp abroad, where

it is less expensive. My camps have been distributed; none of them

threatens you. In the excess of my security I dismantled all the places of

Silesia. I am ready to remove my camps, if that is necessary to your

security.

"In the meantime what will happen? You have raised 400,000 men; I am about

to raise 200,000. Germany, who was beginning to breathe after so many

ruinous wars, is about to see again all her wounds reopened. I shall

reconstruct the places of Silesia, instead of evacuating that province and

the Prussian States, as I wished to do. Europe will be all up in arms.

Soon the very women must become soldiers.

"Those are the evils you have produced, and, as I believe, without

intending it. In such a state of things, when the strain everywhere is so

great, war will soon become desirable, in order to hasten the end. A sharp

pain, if short, is better than prolonged suffering.

"But if you are as disposed for peace as you allege, it is necessary that

you speak out, that you countermand the measures which have excited so

dangerous a fermentation, and that all Europe be convinced that you wish

for peace. It is necessary that all should proclaim your good intentions,

justified by your acts as well as your language."

Definitively, and as a proof of Austria's submission, Napoleon asked for a

recognition of King Joseph. On this special demand--which no doubt was

made less harsh in form by the report of Champagny, which has been

preserved--Austria did not give way, nor did she refuse: she delayed,

still constantly and unobtrusively engaged in warlike preparations, which

were actively pushed forward by the Archduke Charles and Stadion, the

prime minister.

Napoleon wished to intimidate Austria, his bold foresight assuring him of

her hostility. He required several months for his Spanish expedition.

Finding it necessary to send new troops into the Peninsula, he was obliged

to quit the countries which were occupied, and at last put an end to the

long suspense imposed upon Prussia, and aggravated by intolerable war-

contributions. Prince William, appointed by his brother to the painful

mission, had in vain tried to obtain favorable conditions. Napoleon

feeling the necessity of recalling his forces, fixed at 140,000,000 the

sum still left of what had been demanded from Prussia; but before signing

the treaty the conqueror exacted more than one sacrifice. The French

continued to occupy Stettin, Custrin, Glogau on the Oder, and Magdeburg on

the Elbe: a secret article forbade Prussia to raise an army for ten years

of more than 42,000 men. No militia was allowed; and in case war should

break out in Germany, King Frederick William undertook to supply the

Emperor Napoleon with an auxiliary force of 16,000 men.

To those painful conditions Napoleon added another, which was entirely

personal and political. "I have asked for Stein's dismissal from the

cabinet," wrote the emperor to Marshal Soult on the 10th September;

"without that the King of Prussia will not recover his states. I have

sequestrated his property in Westphalia."

Baron Stein resigned, but continued working ardently in reviving and

fostering the national spirit in Germany against the Emperor Napoleon, as

he had been preparing for more than a year. He began an able and prudent

scheme of reform, which was continued by his colleagues after his fall.

The convention of the 8th September, 1808, being signed between France and

Prussia, King Frederick William took possession of his diminished states,

and the Emperor Alexander was freed from the importunities of the

unfortunate sufferers, who blamed him for their lot. Napoleon feeling the

need of drawing closer the alliance with Russia, an interview was agreed

upon between the two emperors, and Erfurt was chosen for the scene of the

illustrious interview.

The Emperor Alexander had looked with secret satisfaction upon the events

in Spain. Constantly influenced by the hopes by which Napoleon had dazzled

him at Tilsit, and haunted by that passion for obtaining Constantinople

which had so long been common to all the Russian sovereigns, he had

accepted without any difficulty the spoliation of the Spanish Bourbons, in

order to justify beforehand the spoliations in which he was interested.

The national rising of the Spanish people served his design: the all-

powerful conqueror had met with a serious resistance, undergone checks,

and had need of the moral support of his allies; their material assistance

might be needed. Alexander reckoned upon gaining at Erfurt the cession of

that 'cat's tongue which was the key of the Bosphorus,' and which he

coveted so eagerly. He set out from St. Petersburg on the 7th of

September, somewhat against the will of his mother and the "Russian

party," and with but few attendants.

The Emperor Napoleon, on the contrary, had assembled at Erfurt all the

resources of French elegance, joined to the brilliance which is

inseparable from a powerful and victorious court. All the small princes of

Germany were present, and the great sovereigns sent their most able

representatives. The celebrated actors of the Théâtre Français, with Talma

at their head, were appointed to amuse the two emperors in the intervals

of business. The representation of _Cinna_ was the first of a series of

master-pieces of the French stage. The emperor forbade comedies, saying

that the Germans did not understand Molière.

A fortnight was thus spent in the midst of the most magnificent fêtes

combined with serious negotiations. Napoleon decided to at once abandon

the Danubian provinces to his ally, though resolved never to grant

Constantinople. After long conferences between Champagny and Romanzoff, as

to the suitable form to give to this division of other people's property

which was to render the Franco-Russian alliance indissoluble, the

convention was signed on the 12th October. Both emperors agreed to address

to England a formal demand for immediate peace, the base of the

negotiations to be the _uti possidetis_, that is to say, the

acknowledgment of conquests and occupations which were already

accomplished. France was only to agree to a peace which should secure

Finland, Wallachia, and Moldavia to Russia; and Russia only to one which

should secure to France all her possessions, including the crown of Spain

for King Joseph.

Supposing the negotiations or acts of the two powers for the execution of

the treaty should bring on war with Austria, France and Russia made

promises of mutual support: their hostilities were to be in common. At the

urgent request of Alexander, the Emperor Napoleon granted a reduction of

20,000,000 on the war-contribution of Prussia. At the same time, and by

the clever mediation of Talleyrand, he threw out a hint to the young Czar

that he wished to be united to him by family alliance. "The emperor had

resolved to have recourse to a divorce," said the prince, "and his

thoughts turned naturally towards the sisters of his ally and his dearest

friend." Alexander blushed, being by no means all-powerful in the bosom of

his family, and the empress-mother having a strong dislike to Napoleon.

Complimentary and friendly attentions, therefore, could not remove reserve

on this delicate point. The two emperors separated on the 14th October,

after hunting together on the plain of Jena, and supping and chatting

familiarly with Goethe and Wieland, at Weimar. Germany showed every

attention to her conqueror, while silently preparing to take revenge.

The Emperor Napoleon on returning to Paris finished his preparations for

the Spanish campaign. He had told King Joseph, when in Erfurt, that he

should march as soon as the Corps Législatif was opened. On the 1st

October he had put in the mouth of Champagny suitable arguments to prepare

the way for a new levy of soldiers. In his report to the emperor, the

Foreign Minister thus publicly denounced the ingratitude of the Spanish

people:--

"Your Majesty hoped to prevent the return of the troubles in Spain, by

means of persuasion and by measures of a wise and humane policy.

Intervening as a mediator in the midst of the divided Spanish, your

Majesty indicated to them the safety of a wise and prudent constittution,

suitable for providing every want, and in which liberal ideas are

reconciled with those ancient institutions which Spain wished to preserve.

"Your Majesty's expectation was deceived. Private interests, the intrigues

of the foreigner, and his corrupting gold, have prevailed over the

influence which you had a right to exercise. The Spanish people having

shaken off the yoke of authority, aspired to govern. The intrigues of the

agents of the Inquisition, the influence of the monks, who are so numerous

in Spain, and who dreaded reform, have at this critical moment occasioned

the insurrection of several Spanish provinces, in which the voice of wise

men has been disavowed or smothered, and several of them made the victims

of their courageous opposition to the disorderly populace. We have seen a

frightful anarchy spreading over the greater part of Spain. Will your

Majesty allow England to be able to say that Spain is one of her

provinces, and that her flag, driven from the Baltic, the northern seas,

the Levant, and even the Persian coasts, rules over the gates of France?

Never, sire.

"To avoid so great disgrace and misfortune, there are two millions of

brave men ready, if need be, to cross the Pyrenees; and the English will

be driven out of the Peninsula."

In expectation of the supreme effort thus boldly proclaimed, the Senate

ordered a levy of 160,000 men, anticipating by sixteen months the regular

call. The recruits were intended to replace in Germany the trained

soldiers of the Grande Armée, who had already started to go to Spain, and

were everywhere fêted in the towns they passed through. Skilled in all the

plans by which great success is procured, the emperor, on the 3rd of

September, had written to Cretet, Minister of the Interior: "Give order,

so that the town of Metz may fête the troops as they pass through; and as

the town is not rich enough, I shall give three francs a man, but all must

be done in the name of the town. The municipal body will make a speech to

them, treat them, give the officers dinners, get triumphal arches raised

at the gates through which they pass, and put inscriptions on them. Give

the same order for the town of Nancy, which is the place where the central

column will pass. As for the column of the right, it will be fêted at

Rheims. I wish you to see that the prefects of departments on their route

pay special attention to the troops, and in every way keep up the

enthusiasm which animates them and their love of glory. Speeches, verses,

shows gratis, dinners,--that is what I expect from the citizens for the

soldiers returning victorious." On the 17th, with the list of towns which

had responded to his call as well as those from which he expected the same

display: "Get songs written in Paris, and send them to the different

towns. These songs will tell of the glory gained by the army and that it

is still to gain, of the liberty of the seas which will result from its

victories. These songs will be sung at the dinners which will be given.

Get three kinds of songs made, so that the soldier may not hear the same

sung twice."

It was not without secret emotion and an inquietude which showed itself by

numerous heroical declamations, that the Emperor Napoleon himself passed

into Spain with his old troops, which had gained for him the sovereign

rule in Europe. For the first time in his military career, he felt himself

face to face with the spontaneous resistance of a people. "Soldiers," said

he to the regiments which were to march before him on the Spanish soil,

"after triumphing on the banks of the Danube and Vistula, you have crossed

Germany by forced marches; and now I make you cross France without

allowing you a moment's rest. Soldiers, I have need of you. The hateful

presence of the leopard contaminates the continents of Spain and Portugal;

let him fly in terror at the sight of us. Let us carry our eagles in

triumph as far as the columns of Hercules; there also we have outrages to

avenge. Soldiers, you have surpassed the renown of modern armies, but have

you equalled the glories of the armies of Rome, which in one campaign

triumphed on the Rhine and the Euphrates, in Illyria and on the Tagus? A

long peace and lasting prosperity will be the fruit of your labors. A true

Frenchman neither can nor ought to rest till the seas are open and freed.

Soldiers, all that you have done, all that you will yet do for the

happiness of the French people, for my glory, will remain eternally in my

heart."

According to the custom of constitutional monarchies, the English cabinet

replied to the personal letter addressed to King George III. by the two

emperors. Without formally rejecting the overtures of peace, Canning urged

that all the allies of England ought to have been admitted to the

negotiation; and he included in the list of allies the Kings of Naples,

Portugal, Sweden, and even the Spanish insurgents, although no formal

treaty had yet been concluded with them. Soon after, to put an end to the

pretence of negotiation, an official declaration of the British Government

announced to the world that England could not treat with two courts, one

of which dethroned legitimate kings and kept them prisoners, while the

other assisted from interested motives. Resolved "to attack by every means

a usurpation to which there was nothing comparable in the history of the

world, Great Britain will never abandon the generous Spanish nation, nor

any of the people who, though at present hesitating, may soon shake off

the yoke which oppresses them." For the future all pretences disappeared,

and the struggle began afresh between the Emperor Napoleon and England.

The latter had long been looking for a ground of attack against the

conqueror; now at last it was supplied by the Spanish soil and people.

It is extremely painful to have to prove the injustice of a course which

is naturally dear to us. That is bitterly felt at every step during the

long years of the war of Spain, in presence of the generous efforts of a

people who, with arms in their hands, vindicated their national liberty

and independence. The first outbursts of the Spanish insurrection showed

this with a brilliancy that soon partially disappeared. The efforts of the

English their courage and feats of arms, were soon to eclipse to some

extent the obstinate animosity of the Spanish. The long series of checks

which began on Napoleon's arrival was sufficient to prove with what a

decisive weight the alliance which they were soon to conclude with Great

Britain weighed in the balance of their destinies.

Setting out from Paris on the 29th October, the emperor, on arriving at

Bayonne, showed great anger at the delay in the preparations, the bad

state of the roads and the shortness of supplies. "You will see how

disgracefully I am served," he wrote to General Dejean, in charge of the

war administration. "I have only 7000 cloaks instead of 50,000; 15,000

pairs of shoes instead of 129,000. I am in want of everything; my army is

naked, and yet we are entering on a campaign. Yet I have spent a great

deal of money, which is so much thrown into the sea."

Napoleon's displeasure was not diminished when he reached Vittoria. He had

beforehand forbidden the attempt upon Madrid which King Joseph proposed to

him, mistrusting his brother's military skill. "The military art is an art

the principles of which must never be violated," he wrote, in some

observations of great sense and force. "To change one's line of operation

is an operation of genius; to lose it, is an operation so serious that it

constitutes a crime in the general who is guilty of it. If, before taking

Madrid, organizing the army there, with military stores for eight or ten

days, and providing sufficient supplies, one had just been defeated, what

would become of that army? where could they rally? where transport their

wounded? whence draw their war supplies, having nothing but provisions for

a short time? We need say no more; those who have the courage to advise

such a measure would be the first to lose their head so soon as the result

proved the madness of their procedure. With an army entirely composed of

men like those of the guard and commanded by the most able general--

Alexander or Caesar, if they could act with such folly--one could answer

for nothing; much more therefore in the circumstances in which the army of

Spain is placed. In war everything depends on opinion--opinion as to the

enemy, opinion as to one's own soldiers. When a battle is lost, the

difference between the conquered and the conqueror is but trifling; yet

opinion makes it immeasurable, because two or three squadrons are then

sufficient to produce a great effect. Nothing has been done to give

confidence to the French; there is not a soldier but sees that timidity

pervades everything, and therefore forms from that his opinion of the

enemy. He has no other data for knowing what is opposed to him except what

is told him, and the bearing which he is expected to assume."

By a chance which prudent minds might have anticipated, but which

astonished and confounded the inexperience of the insurgent leaders, the

national rising, which lately was universal, irresistible, and triumphant,

lost all its power and energy immediately after the victory of Baylen. The

hesitation and inaction of King Joseph, his government, and his army, had

met with an unexpected counterpart in their adversaries.

It is often a difficult undertaking, even when desired and concerted

beforehand, to stir up an entire nation and animate them for war; and when

their rising is spontaneous, brought on by the same patriotic and

revolutionary idea, it is a still more difficult undertaking to organize

their efforts and direct aright their impassioned impulses. After the

first shock, which had agitated Spain from one extremity to the other,

after the formation of provincial or municipal Juntas, after the success

of some of the insurgent generals, the trial of government suddenly

presented itself to the leaders of the national movement. It was necessary

to command all those proud and independent men, intoxicated with a new

liberty and an ancient self-respect; it was necessary at any cost to get

from them obedience, for Napoleon was at hand--he, the master of so many

armies waiting for his bidding, and who at his will had made princes and

kings bend down. The Spanish alone had resisted him successfully; how were

they to keep up and continue the resistance?

With considerable difficulty, a central Junta was formed at Aranjuez,

composed of delegates from the local Juntas, too numerous to be a council

of government, and too restricted to possess, or even claim, the rights of

a representative assembly. The new Junta wished to exercise absolute

authority. The Council of Castile had proposed that the Cortes be

assembled, but most of the generals were opposed to a measure which

necessarily tended to diminish their power. The Cortes were not assembled,

and the Junta called all the Spaniards to arms.

Though the patriotic ardor in Spain was undoubtedly great, and the

patriotic uneasiness profound, the results of the general rising were

insufficient, and came greatly short of the hopes of the insurrectional

government. About 100,000 men were mustered when the military organization

was decided upon by the Junta. Three main armies--that of the left, under

the orders of General Blake; that of the centre, under General Castanos;

that of the right, under Palafox--were to combine their operations in

order to surround the French army. A fourth army, called the reserve, was

to be afterwards formed; and the troops scattered over Catalonia were

ordered to defend that province against General Duhesme. In spite of the

repugnance inspired by foreign assistance to Spanish pride, the Junta had

accepted the assistance of an English army, which had already collected at

Lisbon, under the orders of Sir John Moore. He had marched across

Portugal, and his lieutenant, Sir David Baird, was bringing him

reinforcements from England, which afterwards joined him at Corunna. These

forces and resources were sufficient to harass the French army, and make

an easy occupation of Spain impossible; but not sufficient to keep up a

regular war against the first troops in the world. The Spanish, as well as

the English, soon found the truth of this.

Before Napoleon arrived at Vittoria, several battles had already taken

place, generally favorable to the French army, though it was badly led,

and had its forces scattered, instead of concentrated, as the emperor

wished them to be, for his ready use. He bitterly blamed Marshals Lefebvre

and Victor, and already the presence of the general who had been

everywhere victorious was being promptly felt in the management of the

army and the vigor of the operations. Marshal Soult had been sent to

attack Burgos, then protected by 12,000 men of the Estremadura army; and

on the 10th November, on the charge of Mouton's division alone, the

Spanish wavered and took to flight, delivering up Burgos and its castle to

the French army. The cavalry eagerly pursued the retreating enemy, who

quickly formed again, and were as quickly scattered: many of the prisoners

were killed. Napoleon at once set out for Burgos. "I start at one in the

morning," he wrote to Joseph, "in order to reach Burgos incognito before

daybreak, and shall make my arrangements for the day, because to win is

nothing if no advantage is taken of the success. I think you ought to go

to-morrow to Briviesca. The less ceremony I wish made on my own account,

the more I wish made on yours. As for me, it does not suit well with the

business of war; besides, I have no wish for it. On arriving, I shall give

the necessary orders for disarming, and for burning the standard used for

Ferdinand's proclamation. Use every endeavor that it may be felt to be no

idle form."

Burgos already felt all the weight of the conqueror's anger. The town was

pitilessly sacked. "A sad sight," say the memoirs of Count Miot de Melito,

who accompanied King Joseph as he entered the town; "the houses nearly all

deserted and pillaged; the furniture, smashed in pieces, scattered in the

mud of the streets; one quarter, on the other side of the Arlanzen, on

fire; the soldiers madly forcing in doors and windows, breaking everything

that came in their way, using little and destroying much; the churches

stripped; the streets crowded with the dead and dying--in a word, all the

horrors of an assault, although the town had offered no defence!" The

emperor ordered all the wool to be seized which was found in the town: it

belonged to the great Spanish nobles, and he had resolved to confiscate

their property everywhere. "The Duke of Infantado and Spanish great

lords," he wrote a few days afterwards to Cretet, the Minister of the

Interior (on the 19th November), "are sole proprietors of half the kingdom

of Naples, and in this kingdom they are worth not less than 200,000,000.

They have, besides, possessions in Belgium, Piedmont, and Italy, which I

intend to sequestrate. That is only the first rough draft of my plans". A

decree of proscription had already been published, and a capital

condemnation pronounced (12th November) against ten of the principal

Spanish nobles. At that price, pardon was promised to all who made haste

to make submission.

Marshal Soult, the conqueror of Burgos, had already been despatched by the

emperor in the direction of Reinosa, in order to complete the destruction

of General Blake's army, already partially defeated, on the 11th and 12th

by General Victor, near the small town of Espinosa, at the spot where the

road from the Biscayan mountains crosses the road of the plain. Soult was

late in arriving; but, after a vigorous resistance, the overthrow of

Blake's army was so complete that there was no fear that the army of the

left could soon rally. Napoleon ordered Lannes and Ney to crush the armies

of the right and the centre, commanded by Palafox and Castanos. Ney

failing to keep his appointment at Tudela on the 23rd November, owing to a

mistake on the march, Lannes made the attack alone, taking by surprise the

Spanish generals, who were undecided as to their course of action,

disagreeing as to the place for meeting the enemy, and yet urged on to the

engagement by the popular cries, already accusing them of treason. The

battle was a serious one; and for a short time Lannes, reduced to his own

troops, found himself in a difficult position. He was, moreover, ill from

a fall from his horse, but succeeded in winning the battle, and drove

before him, one after another, all the divisions of the enemy's army. With

the cruel and heedless fickleness of revolutionary governments, the Junta

of Aranjuez hurriedly cashiered Generals Blake and Castanos. The Marquis

of Romana's soldiers having distinguished themselves at Espinosa, he was

appointed general of the united armies. Already, in spite of the

consternation which reigned in the national party in Spain, small bodies

of troops collected in various parts. Napoleon soon understood that the

masterly-strokes of his usual tactics were not sufficient to conquer men

who were as prompt in again taking up arms as in throwing them down on the

roads in order to run away. He hurried in pursuit everywhere, and

multiplied his modes of attack. Junot, scarcely returned to France,

received orders to go into Spain. Napoleon resolved to march upon Madrid.

The resources left at the disposition of the Junta for the defence of the

capital were obviously insufficient. A body of 10,000 to 12,000 men, under

the command of Benito San Juan, occupied the height Somo-Sierra, and on

the 30th November Napoleon in person appeared before the small Spanish

army. The passage being quickly forced by a charge of General Montbrun,

the French cavalry rode to the gates of Madrid, causing indignation and

alarm. The Junta had already left Aranjuez to meet in Badajoz, and the

capital, entrusted to a small detachment of troops of the line under the

Marquis of Castellar, at one time supported, at another hindered by the

populace, corregidor of Madrid, the Marquis of Perales, was massacred by a

handful of madmen, on the charge of having mixed sand with the powder of

their cartridges. Thomas de Morla, the tribune of Cadiz, commanded the

defence. Barricades were raised at every point, and ramparts improvised,

Madrid never having been surrounded with fortifications.

On the morning of the 2nd December the emperor arrived at the gates of the

capital, and at once had a summons sent to those in command of the place.

His messenger had great difficulty in obtaining admission to the town; and

the Spanish general appointed to convey the refusal of surrender was

accompanied and watched by a band of insurgents, who dictated to him his

reply. A second summons producing no result, the firing at the walls and

the town began; and in a few hours the palace Buen Retiro and all the

northern and eastern gates were in the power of the French. At several

points the resistance was most obstinate. The emperor again summoning the

Junta of Defence to spare the capital the horrors of a general assault,

Thomas de Morla soon presented himself before him, in the name of the

insurrectional government.

The emperor's features clearly expressed his anger at the sight of the

governor of Andalusia, who had recently retained the troops taken

prisoners, in defiance of the capitulation of Baylen. Napoleon had more

than once violated treaties: he attached always an extreme importance to

military conventions. On this occasion, his natural sense of wrong and

offended vanity alone had the mastery in his soul. Thomas de Morla,

generally arrogant and bold, seemed troubled and confused. "The people,"

said he, "are ungovernable in their patriotic passion; the Junta ask for

one day to bring them back to reason."

"It is in vain for you to use the name of the people," exclaimed Napoleon.

"If you cannot succeed in calming them, it is because you yourselves have

excited them, and have led them astray by your falsehoods. Bring together

the curés, the heads of convents, the principal proprietors, and let the

town surrender between this and six o'clock in the morning, or else it

will have ceased to exist. I have no desire to withdraw my troops, nor

ought I. You massacred the unhappy French prisoners who fell into your

hands. A short time ago you allowed to be dragged in the streets and put

to death two servants of the Russian ambassador because they were

Frenchmen. The want of skill and the cowardice of a general placed in your

hands some troops which had capitulated on the battle-field, and the

capitulation was violated. What kind of letter, M. Morla, did you write to

that general? It became you well to speak of pillaging, you who entered

Roussillon and carried off all the women, to divide them among your

soldiers like booty. What right had you, on other grounds, to use such

language? You were prevented by the capitulation. Consider the conduct of

the English, who certainly do not boast of being rigid observers of the

rights of nations. They have complained of the convention of Portugal, but

they executed it. To violate military treaties is to renounce all

civilization; it is to place one's self on a level with the Bedouins of

the desert. How dare you ask a capitulation, you who violated that of

Baylen? I had a fleet at Cadiz, the ally of Spain, and you turned against

it the mortars of the town under your command. Go back to Madrid. I give

you till six o'clock in the morning. Return then, if you have nothing to

say of the people except that they have submitted: otherwise, you and your

troops will all be put to the sword."

The situation left to the insurgents no alternative but that of

submission. During the night, the Marquis of Castellar went out with his

troops by the gates which the French had not yet seized. At six in the

morning, on the 4th December, Madrid surrendered. All the citizens were

disarmed. Napoleon took possession of a small country-house at Chamartin,

and King Joseph held his court at the Pardo, some distance from Madrid;

the rebel town being thus held unworthy to be honored by the presence of

its masters. Several great lords were arrested: the Marquis of St. Simon

was even condemned to death, as a French emigrant in the Spanish service;

but the sentence was badly received by the soldiers, and left unexecuted.

A series of decrees abolished the feudal rights, the Inquisition, and the

custom duties in passing from one province to another. The number of

convents was reduced by a third. The conquests of liberty and civilization

thus imposed on the Spanish by their oppressors naturally became hateful

to them. Thus one of the results of Napoleon's Spanish campaign was to

prepare a reaction in favor of the Inquisition.

While the emperor took possession of Madrid, and endeavored to reduce the

undisciplined spirit of the capital, General Gouvion St. Cyr had been

appointed to bring Catalonia to submission. A man of skill and prudence,

though obstinately attached to his own opinions, St. Cyr was never a

favorite with Napoleon, though he knew his merit. He had entrusted him

with the duty of reducing an isolated province, where his command ran no

risk of being interfered with by contradictory wishes or orders. The

general delayed some time at the siege of Rosas, which he was anxious not

to leave in his rear, and when he at last advanced towards Barcelona,

General Duhesme and his garrison were short of provisions. On his approach

the blockade was raised, and, on the 15th December, General Vives offered

battle to St. Cyr at Cardeden, before Barcelona. The French having left

their artillery behind, so as to advance more quickly, the order was given

to open a road through the enemy's ranks with the bayonet. The soldiers

obeyed, keeping their heads down as they advanced under the fire of the

Spanish; the latter were unable to resist the impetuosity of such an

attack, and the columns of our troops passed through the enemy's lines,

which were soon broken and scattered. The Spanish artillery fell entirely

into our hands, and next day the French entered Barcelona. On the 21st the

entrenched camp on the Llobregat was taken, and complete dispersion of the

Spanish troops in Catalonia soon followed, only a few places still holding

out, which General Gouvion St. Cyr prepared to besiege.