CHAPTER XX.

REIGN OF GEORGE III. (_continued_).

Napoleon's Designs on Spain--The Continental System--Treaty

of Fontainebleau--Junot marches on Portugal--Flight of the

Royal Family--The Milan Decree--The Pope imprisoned in the

Quirinal--Imbecility of the Spanish Government--Quarrels of the

Spanish Royal Family--Occupation of the Spanish Fortresses--The

King's Preparations for Flight--Rests at Madrid--Abdication of

Charles IV.--Murat occupies Madrid--The Meeting at Bayonne--Joseph

becomes King of Spain--Insurrection in Spain--The Junta

communicates with England--Ferocity of the War--Operations

of Bessières, Duchesne, and Moncey--Dupont surrenders to

Castaños--Joseph evacuates Madrid--Siege of Saragossa--Napoleon's

Designs on Portugal--Insurrection throughout the Country--Sir

A. Wellesley touches at Corunna--He lands at Figueras--Battle

of Roliça--Wellesley is superseded by Burrard--Battle of

Vimiera--Arrival of Dalrymple--Convention of Cintra--Inquiry

into the Convention--Occupation of Lisbon--Napoleon's

Preparations against Spain--Wellesley is passed over in favour of

Moore--Moore's Advance--Difficulties of the March--Incompetency

of Hookham Frere--Napoleon's Position in Europe--The Meeting

at Erfurth--Napoleon at Vittoria--Destruction of the Spanish

Armies--Napoleon enters Madrid--Moore is at last undeceived--The

Retreat--Napoleon leaves Spain--Moore retires before Soult--Arrival

at Corunna--The Battle--Death of Sir John Moore--The Ministry

determine to continue the War--Scandal of the Duke of York--His

Resignation--Charges against Lord Castlereagh--Wellesley arrives in

Portugal--He drives Soult from Portugal into Spain--His Junction

with Cuesta--Position of the French Armies--Folly of Cuesta--Battle

of Talavera--State of the Commissariat--Wellesley's Retreat--French

Victories--The Lines of Torres Vedras--The Walcheren

Expedition--Flushing taken--The Troops die from Malaria--Disastrous

Termination of the Expedition--Sir John Stuart in Italy and the

Ionian Islands--War between Russia and Turkey--Collingwood's last

Exploits--Attempt of Gambier and Cochrane on La Rochelle.

The restless spirit of Buonaparte did not allow him any repose,

even after his subjugation of the greater part of the north of

Europe. Whilst he had been contending with the Russians, he had been

planning fresh campaigns--fresh conquests at the opposite extremity

of the Continent. Godoy, the favourite of the King of Spain, and the

paramour of his dissolute queen, who had professed great admiration

of Buonaparte, seeing him so deeply engaged in Germany, had suddenly

called out a considerable army, and addressed it in a vaunting but

mysterious way. The news of this reached Buonaparte on the field

of Jena, and, discovering by this means the real sentiments of the

Spanish favourite towards him, he vowed vengeance on Spain. It was by

no means the first time that he had contemplated the conquest of Spain

and Portugal, but this circumstance inspired him with a new impulse

in that direction, and a plausible excuse. In his interviews with

Alexander of Russia, these views had been avowed; and now, no sooner

had he returned to Paris than he commenced his operations for that

purpose. He blended this scheme, at the same time, with his great one

of shutting out the British trade from the whole Continent. Russia had,

by the Treaty of Tilsit, entered into a compact to enforce his system

in her ports. Holland was compelled to submit to it. The kingdom of

Westphalia was now in the hands of his brother Jerome, who had been

forced to separate from his American wife, Elizabeth Paterson, and

had been married to a daughter of the King of Würtemberg, so that the

territories now comprised in the new kingdom of Westphalia were under

the same law of exclusion. He had extended it to the Prussian ports

since his conquest of that country, and to the Hanseatic towns. Denmark

was ready to comply, and the treaty with Russia extended his embargo

ostensibly to the whole western shores of the Baltic. Sweden refused to

accept it, and the foolhardy King Christian IV. declared war on Russia,

and invaded Norway. He promptly lost Finland and Pomerania. Sir John

Moore, with an army of 10,000 men, was sent to his assistance, but

found him so unreasonable that he thought it better to return without

landing the troops. Christian was soon afterwards deposed, and his

uncle established in his place, who accepted the Continental system.

But Alexander was as little faithful in this part of the Treaty as in

other parts. In fact, he dared not strictly enforce the exclusion of

British trade, were he so disposed. Nearly the whole heavy produce

of Russia--hemp, iron, timber, wax, pitch, and naval stores, which

constituted the chief revenues of the Russian nobles--was taken by

the British, and paid for in their manufactures. To have cut off his

trade would have made the life of Alexander as little secure as that

of his father, Paul, had been. The Russian and British trade therefore

continued, under certain devices, and notwithstanding the decrees of

the Czar to the contrary. Buonaparte knew it, but was not prepared to

open up a new war with Russia on that account--at least, at present. He

was now turning his attention to the south.

Spain and Portugal--still nominally existing under their native

princes, but very much under the influence of Buonaparte--admitted

British goods to a great extent. Buonaparte himself had winked at

the introduction of them into Portugal, because that country had

paid him large sums to permit it. But now he determined to enforce

a rigid exclusion, and to make the breach of his dictated orders a

plea for seizure of the country. In fact, he had long resolved to

seize both Spain and Portugal, but to employ Spain first in reducing

her neighbour, and by that very act to introduce his troops into

Spain herself. He complained, therefore, that Portugal had refused to

enforce the Berlin decree; and he entered into a treaty with Spain

at Fontainebleau, which was signed on the 29th of October. By this

infamous treaty, Spain agreed to assist France in seizing Portugal,

which should be divided into three parts. The province of Entre Minho y

Douro, with the town of Oporto, was to be given to the King of Etruria,

the grandson of the King of Spain, instead of Etruria itself, which

Buonaparte wanted to annex to France, and this was to be called the

kingdom of Northern Lusitania. The next part, to consist of Alemtejo

and Algarve, was to be given to Godoy, who was to take the title of

Prince of Algarve. The third was to remain in the hands of the French

till the end of the war, who would thus be at hand to protect the

whole. In fact, it never was the intention of Buonaparte that either

Godoy or the King of Etruria should ever be more than a temporary

puppet; but that the whole of Spain and Portugal should become

provinces of France under a nominal French king.

No sooner was this treaty signed than Junot was ordered to cross the

Bidassoa with thirty thousand men, and march through Spain for the

Portuguese frontier. Two additional armies, partly of French and

partly of Spaniards, supported him, and another army of forty thousand

was stationed at Bayonne, intended, it was said, to act as an army

of reserve, in case the British should land and attempt to defend

Portugal, but in reality it was intended for the subjugation of Spain

itself. Junot, who had formerly been Buonaparte's ambassador at the

Court of Lisbon, made rapid marches through Spain. The Prince Regent

of Portugal, knowing that resistance was in vain, sent the Marquis

of Marialva to state to the Courts of France and Spain that he had

complied with the whole of their demands, as regarded the admission of

British goods, and demanded the arrest of the march of the invading

army. But no notice was taken of this, and Junot pushed on with such

speed as to exhaust his troops with fatigue. He was anxious to seize

the persons of the royal family, and therefore this haste, accompanied

by the most solemn professions of his coming as the friend and ally of

Portugal--as the protector of the people from the yoke of the British,

the maritime tyrants of Europe.

But the royal family put no faith in these professions; they resolved

not to wait the arrival of the French, but to muster all the money

and valuables that they could, and escape to their South American

possessions. Whilst these preparations were being made in haste, the

British traders collected their property and conveyed it on board

British vessels. The inhabitants of the British factory, so long

established in Lisbon, had quitted it on the 18th of October, amid the

universal regret of the people. The ambassador, Lord Strangford, took

down the British arms, and went on board the squadron of Sir Sidney

Smith, lying in the Tagus. On the 27th of November the royal family,

amid the cries and tears of the people, went on board their fleet,

attended by a great number of Portuguese nobility; in all, about one

thousand eight hundred Portuguese thus emigrating. The Prince Regent

accompanied them, sensible that his presence could be of no service

any longer. The fleet of the royal emigrants was still in the Tagus,

under the safe protection of Sir Sidney Smith's men-of-war, when Junot

and his footsore troops entered Lisbon, on the 1st of December. He was

transported with rage when he saw their departing sails, for he had

received the most imperative injunctions to secure the person of the

Prince Regent, from whom Napoleon hoped to extort the cession of the

Portuguese American colonies. Junot declared that the Prince Regent and

royal family, having abandoned the country, had ceased to reign, and

that the Emperor Napoleon willed that it should henceforth be governed,

in his name, by the General-in-chief of his army. This proclamation of

the 2nd of February set aside at once the conditions of the Treaty of

Fontainebleau; the imaginary princedom of Godoy was no more heard of,

and the kingdom erected for the King of Etruria remained a mere phantom

at the will of Buonaparte. The property of the royal family, and of all

who had followed them, was confiscated; a contribution of four million

five hundred thousand pounds sterling was laid on a people of less than

three millions, and as there was not specie enough to pay it, plate and

every kind of movable property was seized in lieu of it, without much

regard to excess of quantity. The officers became money-brokers and

jobbers in this property, much of which was sent to Paris for sale, and

the whole unhappy country was a scene of the most ruthless rapine and

insult.

[Illustration: FLIGHT OF THE ROYAL FAMILY OF PORTUGAL. (_See p._ 547.)]

Whilst these abominations were being done in Portugal, Buonaparte had

proceeded to Italy to prosecute other parts of his one great design.

He determined, in the first place, to shut the trade of Britain out of

all the Italian ports, as he had now, in imagination, done in nearly

all the other ports of Europe. Accordingly, at Milan, on the 17th of

December, he issued his celebrated decree, which took its name from

that city, as his Northern decrees had taken their name from Berlin.

Henceforward the Berlin and Milan decrees acquired great notoriety.

To counteract the ordinances of the Berlin decrees, which forbade

any ship of any nation to be admitted into Continental ports without

certificates of origin--that is, without certificates showing that no

part of their cargo was of British produce--various Orders in Council

had been issued by Britain, permitting all neutral vessels to trade to

any country at peace with Great Britain, provided that they touched at

a British port, and paid the British duties. Thus, neutrals were placed

between Scylla and Charybdis. Ii they neglected to take out British

certificates they were captured at sea by the British cruisers; if

they did take them, they were confiscated on entering any Continental

port where there were French agents. This led to an enormous system of

bribery and fraud. The prohibited goods were still admitted by false

papers, with respect to which the French officers, men of the highest

rank, were well paid to shut their eyes. All the ports of Italy were

now subjected to this system, and Buonaparte immediately seized a

great number of American vessels, on the ground that they had complied

with the British Orders in Council. It might be thought that America

would so far resent this as to declare war on France, but Buonaparte

calculated on the strength of American prejudices against Britain and

for France at that time, that the United States would rather declare

war against Britain, which, by its Orders in Council, brought them into

this dilemma. The ports of the Pope alone now remained open, and these

Buonaparte determined forthwith to shut.

But, in the first place, he announced to the Queen of Etruria, whom

he had hitherto allowed to retain her Italian territory in right of

her infant son, that she must give that up and accept the kingdom of

Northern Lusitania in Portugal. This princess had an ominous persuasion

that her son would never possess, or, if he possessed, would never

retain this Northern Lusitania; but she had no alternative and, in

the month of June following, the kingdom of Etruria was converted

into three new departments of France. This having been arranged, this

setter-up and puller-down of kingdoms proceeded to compel the Pope to

adopt his system. Pius VII. did not seem disposed to comply. He had

no quarrel with Britain; had no advantage, but much the contrary, in

depriving his subjects of articles of British manufacture; besides

that, amongst the numerous adherents of the Church in Ireland he would

create great prejudice. But all these reasons had no more weight with

the haughty egotism of Buonaparte than so much air. He forced his

troops into the Papal territories; threw a strong body into Ancona

on the Adriatic, and another into Civita Vecchia, and at the mouth

of the Tiber. The Pope protested against the violent invasion of his

principality, but in vain; Buonaparte insisted that he should declare

war against Britain. Pius then consented to close his ports, but this

did not satisfy Napoleon; he demanded that war should be declared,

pronouncing himself the heir of Charlemagne, and therefore suzerain of

the Pope, and he demanded compliance. On the Pope continuing obstinate,

Buonaparte forced more troops into his States, and sent General Miollis

to take possession of Rome. This accordingly was done in February,

1808. The Pope shut himself up in the Quirinal palace, and the French

surrounded him with troops and cannon, and held him prisoner to compel

him to comply. The Pope, though shut up in the Quirinal and deprived of

his cardinals, remained unshaken, and protested solemnly against this

violent usage and robbery by the man whom he had consented to crown

and to make a concordat with. When the magistrates and priests of the

Marches were called on to take the oath of allegiance to Napoleon, they

refused almost unanimously, and were driven out of the States, or shut

up in prisons and fortresses in the Alps and Apennines.

The Government of Spain was sunk into the very deepest degradation and

imbecility. Charles IV. was one of the weakest of Bourbon kings. He was

ruled by his licentious wife, Maria Luiza, and she by Manuel de Godoy,

a young and handsome man, who, about the year 1784, had attracted her

eye as a private in the Royal Guards. By her means he was rapidly

promoted, and at the age of twenty-four was already a general. He was

soon created a Grandee of Spain, and the queen married him to a niece

of the king. He was made Generalissimo of all the Spanish Forces, and,

in fact, became the sole ruling power in the country. He was styled

the Prince of the Peace--a title acquired by his having effected

the pacification of Basle, which terminated the Revolutionary War

between France and Spain. By the subsequent Treaty of St. Ildefonso he

established an offensive and defensive alliance with France, which, in

truth, made Spain entirely subservient to Napoleon.

Whilst the French were seizing on Portugal, the Spanish royal family

was convulsed by quarrels. Ferdinand, the Prince of Asturias, and heir

to the throne, hated Godoy, as usurping the power which he himself

ought to enjoy, and, stimulated by his friends, who shared in his

exclusion, appealed to Napoleon for his protection, and to win his

favour requested him to choose a wife for him out of his own family.

This at one time would have been a subject of the highest pride to

Buonaparte, that a member of the Bourbon family, and future King of

Spain, should solicit a personal alliance with his; but that day was

gone by. Buonaparte had determined to make himself master of Spain, and

he left the request of the Prince without any answer. Urged on by his

party, the Prince seems to have determined to do without Buonaparte,

and to depose his father, but the plot was discovered, and the person

of the Prince secured. The imbecile king, instead of contenting

himself by the exercise of his own authority, appealed to Napoleon;

and at the same time, to make the disgrace of his family as public as

possible, he appealed to the Spanish people, by a proclamation against

the conduct of his son, and informing them that he had put the Prince

under arrest. But the appeal to Buonaparte did not succeed; for his own

purposes, the French Emperor appeared to take part with the Prince,

and caused his Ambassador, Beauharnais, to remonstrate with the king

on his severity towards him. Charles IV. wrote again to Napoleon, and

ventured to mention the Prince's private application to him for a wife,

hoping, the king said, that the Emperor would not permit the Prince to

shelter himself under an alliance with the Imperial family. Buonaparte

professed to feel greatly insulted by such allusions to his family, and

the poor king then wrote very humbly, declaring that he desired nothing

so much as such an alliance for his son. Ferdinand, through this

powerful support, was immediately liberated. But these mutual appeals

had greatly forwarded Buonaparte's plans of interference in Spain.

He levied a new conscription, and avowed to Talleyrand and Fouché

that he had determined to set aside the royal family of Spain, and to

unite that country to France. Both those astute diplomatists at once

disapproved, and endeavoured to dissuade him from the enterprise. They

reminded him of the pride of the Spanish character, and that he might

rouse the people to a temper of most stubborn resistance, which would

divide his attention and his forces, would be pretty certain to bring

Britain into the field for their support, and unite Britain again with

Russia, thus placing himself between two fires. Talleyrand, seeing that

Buonaparte was resolutely bent on the scheme, dropped his opposition,

and assisted Napoleon in planning its progress; thus enabling the

Emperor afterwards to charge Talleyrand with the responsibility of this

usurpation, as he had before charged him with counselling the death

of the Duke d'Enghien. In after years, Napoleon used to denounce his

own folly in meddling with Spain, calling it "that miserable war" and

describing it as the origin of his ruin.

Buonaparte very speedily matured his plans for the seizure of Spain,

and he began to put them into execution. From Italy, where he was

violating the territories of the Pope, and compelling the reluctant

Queen of Etruria to give up her kingdom, he wrote to the King of Spain,

her father, that he consented to a marriage between the Prince of

Asturias and a lady of his family. Whilst he thus gave assurance of his

friendship, he ordered his army, lying at Bayonne, to enter Spain at

different points, and possess themselves of the strong positions along

its frontier. By this means the French were received as friends by the

people, and neither the king nor Godoy complained of this gross breach

of the Treaty of Fontainebleau. The impudent tricks by which the great

fortresses were secured, each of which might have detained an army for

years, have scarcely any parallel in history. At Pamplona, on the 9th

of February, 1808, the French troops commenced a game of snowballing

each other on the esplanade of the citadel, when suddenly they occupied

the drawbridge, entered the fortress gate, and admitted a body of

their countrymen, who had been placed in readiness, and the fortress

was secured. At Barcelona the French gave out that they were about to

march. Duchesne, the General, drew up his men before the citadel, on

pretence of speaking with the French guard, near the citadel gate,

passed suddenly in, followed by an Italian regiment, and the place

was their own. St. Sebastian was captured by a number of French being

admitted into the hospital, who let in their fellows, and Mountjoy was

taken by a like _ruse_.

[Illustration:

_Reproduced by André & Sleigh, Ltd., Bushey, Herts._

NAPLES, FROM THE MERGELLINA.

AFTER THE PAINTING BY BIRKET FOSTER, R.W.S.]

Nothing could exceed the consternation and indignation of the Spanish

people when they found their great strongholds guarding the entrances

from France into the country thus in the hands of the French. Had there

been a king of any ability in Spain, an appeal to the nation would,

on this outrage, have roused it to a man, and the plans of Buonaparte

might have been defeated. But Godoy, knowing himself to be the object

of national detestation, and dreading nothing so much as a rising of

the people, by whom he would most certainly be sacrificed, advised the

royal family to follow the example of the Court of Portugal, and escape

to their trans-Atlantic dominions; which advice could only have been

given by a miscreant, and adopted by an idiot. To surrender a kingdom

and a people like those of Spain, without a blow, was the extreme

of cowardice. But, as if to urge the feeble king to this issue, at

this moment came a letter from Buonaparte, upbraiding him with having

received his acceptance of the match between their houses coldly.

Charles, terrified in the extreme, wrote to declare that nothing lay

so near his heart, and at the same time made preparations to be gone.

The intention was kept as secret as possible, but the public soon

became aware of the Court's proposed removal from Madrid to Cadiz, in

order then to be able to embark for America. The Prince of Asturias

and his brother protested against the project; the Council of Castile

remonstrated; the populace were in a most tumultuous state, regarding

the plan as originating with Godoy, and surrounded the palace with

cries and gestures of dissatisfaction. The king was in a continual

state of terror and irresolution, but Godoy pressed on matters for the

flight.

On the 17th of March a proclamation was placarded at the gates of the

palace, announcing that the king was resolved to remain and share

the fate of his people. Great were the acclamations and rejoicings;

but, towards evening, the crowds that still lingered around the royal

residence saw unmistakable signs of departure: there was an active

movement amongst the Guards; carriages and baggage were becoming

apparent, and the agitation of the people grew intense. The Prince

of Asturias and his brother protested against the departure; bodies

of soldiers, in open revolt, began to assemble, and the people cried

that they would have the head of the traitor, Godoy. From angry words

the populace and revolted soldiers came to blows with the Household

Troops. Godoy's brother led up a regiment against the rioters, but the

men seized him, and joined the people. Whilst one crowd surrounded the

Palace of Aranjuez, another rushed to the house of Godoy to seize and

kill him. They ran all over his house, but could not discover him.

The tumult continued all night, but was somewhat appeased the next

morning by a Royal proclamation, which announced that the king had

dismissed him from his offices. This did not, however, prevent the

people continuing the search for Godoy, who was at length discovered

by a Life-Guardsman in a garret of his own house, where he had been

concealed between two mattresses. Compelled to come forth by heat and

thirst, he was dragged into the street, soundly beaten, and would soon

have been put to death, had not the Prince of Asturias, at the urgent

entreaty of the king and queen, interceded, declaring that he should

be tried for his crimes, and duly punished. Godoy was committed to

custody, in the Castle of Villaviciosa: his property was confiscated;

and, on the 19th, the king, terrified at the still hostile aspect of

the people, proclaimed his own resignation in favour of Ferdinand,

their favourite; in truth, as little deserving of their favour, by any

moral or intellectual quality, as the king himself. The abdication was

formally communicated by letter to Napoleon, whose troops, under Murat,

were, during these tumults, now rapidly advancing on Madrid.

On the 23rd, only four days after the abdication of the king, Murat

entered Madrid with a numerous body of infantry and cuirassiers,

attended by a splendid train of artillery. Ferdinand entered the

city the same day. He had formed an administration wholly opposed to

Godoy and his policy. The Ambassadors of the other Powers presented

themselves to offer their congratulations; but Beauharnais, the

French Ambassador, preserved a profound silence. Murat, also, though

he professed himself friendly to Ferdinand, said not a word implying

recognition of his title. Still more ominous, the news arrived that

Buonaparte himself was on the way with another powerful army. Murat

took up his residence in the Palace of the Prince of the Peace, and

greatly alarmed Ferdinand and his courtiers by addressing him, not as

"your Majesty," but merely as "your Royal Highness." He counselled him

to wait, and do nothing till he could advise with Napoleon, and, in

the meantime, to send his brother, Don Carlos, to greet the Emperor on

his entrance into Spain. To this Ferdinand consented; but when Murat

recommended him also to go, and show this mark of respect to his ally,

Ferdinand demurred, and by the advice of Cevallos, one of his wisest

counsellors, he declined the suggestion. To complicate matters, Murat

opened communication with the king and queen, and, not content with

that, with Godoy also, assuring him that his only hope of safety lay

in the friendship of the Emperor. By this means Murat learned all the

accusations that each party could make against the other, so that these

things might serve Buonaparte to base his measures, or, at least, his

pretences upon. Encouraged by this, Charles wrote to Napoleon to

declare his abdication entirely forced, and to leave everything to the

decision of his good friend, the Emperor.

[Illustration: CAPTURE OF GODOY. (_See p._ 551.)]

The suggestions of Murat had failed to induce Ferdinand to leave his

capital and go to meet Napoleon; but a more adroit agent now presented

himself in the person of Savary, the delegated murderer of the Duke

d'Enghien. Savary paid decided court to Ferdinand. He listened to

all his statements of the revolution of Aranjuez and the abdication

of the king. He told him that he felt sure Napoleon would see these

circumstances in the same favourable light as he did, and persuaded him

to go and meet the Emperor at Burgos, and hear him salute him Ferdinand

VII., King of Spain and of the Indies.

Savary accompanied Ferdinand to conduct him safely into the snare. He

spoke positively of meeting Napoleon at Burgos; but when they arrived

there, they received the information that Napoleon was only yet at

Bordeaux, about to proceed to Bayonne. Savary seemed so sure of his

victim, that he ventured to leave Ferdinand at Vittoria, and went on

to see Napoleon and report progress; probably, also, to receive fresh

instructions. The opportunity was not lost by some faithful Spaniards

to warn Ferdinand to make his escape during Savary's absence, and

to get into one of his distant provinces, where he could, at least,

negotiate with Napoleon independently. Ferdinand was astounded, but

persuaded himself that Napoleon could not contemplate such treachery.

Although the people opposed the Prince's going, Savary prevailed, and

on they went.

When Buonaparte heard that Ferdinand had arrived, he is said to have

exclaimed--"What! is the fool really come?" He received him, however,

with courtesy, invited him to dinner, and treated him with all the

deference of a crowned head; but the same evening he sent Savary to

inform him that he had determined that the Bourbons should cease to

reign, and the crown should be transferred to his own family. Possessed

of the Prince of Asturias, Buonaparte proceeded to complete his

kidnapping, and make himself master of the king and queen. He was sure

that if he brought Godoy to Bayonne he should draw the infatuated queen

after him, and that she would bring the king with her. He therefore

ordered Murat to send on Godoy under a strong guard. This was executed

with such rapidity that he was conveyed from Aranjuez to the banks of

the Bidassoa in a couple of days. Buonaparte received Godoy in the

most flattering manner, told him that he regarded the abdication of

Charles as most unjustifiable, and that he would be glad to see the

king and queen at Bayonne, to arrange the best mode of securing them

on the throne. Godoy communicated this intelligence with alacrity,

and Napoleon very soon had the two remaining royal fools in his safe

keeping. On the 30th of April a train of old, lumbering carriages, the

first drawn by eight Biscayan mules, was seen crossing the drawbridge

at Bayonne. The arrival consisted of the King and Queen of Spain, with

three or four unimportant grandees. Godoy welcomed Charles and his

queen, and assured them of the friendly disposition and intentions of

Buonaparte. Having the family in his clutches, Napoleon had little

difficulty in compelling Ferdinand to restore the crown to his father,

who abdicated a second time, and placed his crown in the hands of the

Emperor.

Having now kidnapped and disposed of the whole dynasty of Spain,

Buonaparte had to inaugurate the new one by the appointment of a

king. For this purpose he pitched on his brother Lucien, who, next to

himself, was the ablest of the family, and who had rendered him signal

services in the expulsion of the Council of Five Hundred from St.

Cloud. But Lucien was of too independent a character to become a mere

puppet of the great man, like the rest of his brothers. As Napoleon

grew haughty and imperious in the progress of his success, Lucien

had dared to express disapprobation of his conduct. He declared that

Napoleon's every word and action proceeded, not from principle, but

from mere political considerations, and that the foundation of his

whole system and career was egotism. He had married a private person to

please himself, and would not abandon his wife to receive a princess

and a crown, like Jerome. Lucien had, moreover, literary tastes, was

fond of collecting works of art, and had a fortune ample enough for

these purposes. When, therefore, Napoleon sent for him to assume the

crown of Spain, he declined the honour. Napoleon then resolved to

take Joseph from Naples, and confer on him the throne of Spain and

the Indies. Joseph, who was indolent and self-indulgent, and who at

Naples could not exempt himself from continual fears of daggers and

assassination, received with consternation the summons to assume the

crown of Spain, as ominous of no ordinary troubles. He declared that it

was too weighty for his head, and showed no alacrity in setting out.

Napoleon was obliged to summon him several times, and at length to

dispatch one of his most active and trusted aides-de-camp to hasten his

movements.

And truly the prospects of the reign before him were such as might

have daunted a much bolder and wiser man than Joseph. The people of

Madrid had watched with increasing resentment the spiriting away of the

different members of the royal family to Bayonne. They were wrathful

that Godoy had been carried beyond the reach of their vengeance, and

every day they were on the look-out for news from Bayonne as to the

cause of Ferdinand, and this news grew even more unfavourable. On

the evening of the 30th of April the populace had retired in gloomy

discontent, because no courier had arrived bringing intelligence of

Buonaparte's intentions towards Ferdinand. On the morning of the 1st

of May numbers of men assembled about the gate of the inn and the

post-office, with dark looks, and having, as was supposed, arms under

their long cloaks. The French mustered strongly in the streets, and the

day passed over quietly. But the next morning, the 2nd of May, the same

ominous-looking crowds, as they assembled, were agitated by reports

that the only remaining members of the royal family, the widowed Queen

of Etruria and her children, and the youngest son of King Charles, Don

Francisco, were about to be sent off also to Bayonne. They presently

saw these royal personages conducted to their carriages; Don Francisco,

a youth of only fourteen, weeping bitterly, and the sight roused the

people to instant fury. They fell on the French, chiefly with their

long knives, massacred seven hundred soldiers of the line, and wounded

upwards of twenty of the Imperial Guard. The French, in return, fired

on the people, and killed a hundred and twenty of them. Murat poured

in troops to suppress the riot, but could not disperse them till

after several volleys of grape-shot and repeated charges of cavalry.

Unprepared as the country was, the people felt by no means daunted.

The Alcalde of Mostoles, about ten miles south of Madrid, hearing the

firing, and understanding the cause, sent a bulletin to the south in

these words, "The country is in danger: Madrid is perishing through the

perfidy of the French: all Spaniards come to deliver it!" That was all

that was necessary. The fact of being in possession of Madrid was a

very different thing to being in possession of Paris, Spain consisting

of various provinces, having their separate capitals, and everywhere

was a martial people, just as ready and able to maintain a struggle

against an invader as if Madrid were free. At Valencia, the populace,

headed by a priest, fell on the French, and massacred two hundred of

them. Solano, the governor of Cadiz, suspected of favouring the French,

was dragged out of his house and murdered. Even before the insurrection

at Madrid there had been one at Toledo, and the French had been menaced

with destruction.

Amid these popular outbursts the great body of the Spaniards were

calmly organising the country for defence. A junta or select

committee was elected in each district, and these juntas established

communications with each other all over the land. They called on the

inhabitants to furnish contributions, the clergy to send in their

church plate to the mint, and the common people to enrol themselves as

soldiers and to labour at the fortifications. The Spanish soldiers,

to a man, went over to the popular side, and in a few days the whole

nation was in arms. The crisis of which Buonaparte had warned Murat was

come at once, and the fight in Madrid on the 2nd of May was but the

beginning of a war which was to topple the invader from his now dizzy

height. This made Buonaparte convene a mock national junta, or Assembly

of Notables, to sanction the abdication, and the appointment of Joseph

Buonaparte as the new monarch. Joseph entered Madrid on the 6th of

June, and proclaimed a new constitution.

No sooner had the insurrection of Aranjuez taken place, and Ferdinand

been proclaimed king, than, so early as April the 8th, General Castaños

informed Sir Hew Dalrymple, the governor of Gibraltar, that there was

an end of the policy of Godoy, which had made Spain the slave of France

and the foe of Britain. Sir Hew sent a prompt dispatch to England with

the news, and, till he could receive instructions from the British

Government, he maintained friendly relations with the Spaniards.

When the junta of Seville was formed, and there was every reason to

believe that Spain would make a determined resistance, on his own

responsibility he encouraged the merchants of Gibraltar to make a loan

of forty thousand dollars to the junta without premium; and Captain

Whittingham, an officer well acquainted with Spain, went to Seville to

assist in planning the best means of preventing the French from passing

the Sierra Morena. On the 8th of June Sir Hew received a dispatch

from Lord Castlereagh, informing him that the British Government had

determined to send ten thousand men immediately to the assistance of

the Spanish patriots. But this was preceded four days by a proclamation

which had outstripped Lord Castlereagh's dispatch, stating that his

Majesty had ordered all hostilities towards Spain to cease, and all

Spanish ships at sea to be unmolested. Admiral Collingwood took the

command of the whole British fleet on the coast of Spain, ready to

co-operate. He landed Mr. Cox to proceed to Seville as confidential

agent, and about the middle of June General Spencer arrived at Cadiz

with five thousand British soldiers. About the same time, the junta of

Seville declared themselves at peace with Great Britain, and sent four

commissioners to England to settle diplomatic relations between the

countries.

Meanwhile the French generals, though they saw insurrections rising in

every quarter, and though they themselves were located in different

parts of the country, distant from each other, entertained no fear but

that the steady discipline of their troops, and their own experience,

would easily put them down. Murat had quitted Spain to proceed to his

kingdom of Naples, which he had received on the 15th of July, and

Savary was left at Madrid as Commander-in-Chief, and he found himself

in a most arduous and embarrassing post, with so many points to watch

and to strengthen for the suppression of the insurrection. The Spanish

junta recommended their country, very prudently, to avoid regular

engagements, with their yet raw forces, against the veteran armies of

France, but to carry on a guerilla warfare, waylaying the enemy in

mountains and defiles, cutting off their supplies, and harassing their

rear, their outposts, and their foraging parties. The ardour and pride

of the Spaniards only too much tempted the men to despise this advice,

and whenever they did they severely paid for it. The relentless spirit

of the people against the lawless invaders, on the other hand, incited

the French to equal ferocity. They treated the Spaniards as rebels in

arms against their king; the villages were given up to the plunder

and licentiousness of the soldiers. This again fired the Spaniards to

retaliation, and they put to death sick and wounded when they fell

into their hands. The war thus commenced with features of peculiar

horror. The character of the country rendered the conflict the more

desperate to the invaders; the fertile regions were separated from

each other by vast desert heaths and barren mountains, so that Henry

IV. had said truly, if a general invaded Spain with a small army he

would be defeated; if with a large one, he would be starved. To collect

provisions, the French had to disperse themselves over wide tracts,

and thus exposed themselves to the ambuscades and surprises of the

Spaniards, every peasant carrying his gun.

At first victory seemed to attend the French. Lefebvre defeated the

Spaniards in Aragon, on the 9th of June, and General Bessières beat

the insurgents, in several partial actions, in Navarre and Biscay. But

his great success was over the united forces of Generals Cuesta and

Blake, on the 14th of June, at Medina de Rio Seco, a few leagues from

the city of Valladolid. Duchesne thought he should be able to send

reinforcements to assist in reducing Valencia and Aragon; but he soon

found that he had enough to do in his own district. Marshal Moncey, all

this time expecting the co-operation of Duchesne, had advanced into

Valencia. For a time the country seemed deserted; but as he advanced

he found the hills and rocks swarming with armed people, and he had to

force his march by continual fighting. There were Swiss troops mingled

amongst the Spanish ones opposed to him, and whilst they attacked

him in front, the Spaniards assaulted his flanks and rear. When he

arrived before the city of Valencia, on the 27th of June, he found

the place well defended. On the 29th Moncey retired from before the

walls, despairing of the arrival of Duchesne. Moncey, like Bessières,

now found himself called to Madrid to defend the new king, who, it

was clear, could not long remain there; and already the British were

landing on the shores of the Peninsula, to bring formidable aid to the

exasperated inhabitants.

But the most important operations were at this moment taking place

in the south between Dupont and Castaños. Castaños was quartered at

Utrera with twenty thousand men. Dupont had been ordered by Murat to

march from Madrid into the south-west, and make himself master of the

important post of Cadiz. After a countermand, he again advanced in

that direction, and had crossed the Sierra Morena, so celebrated in

the romance of "Don Quixote," and reached the ancient city of Cordova.

There he received the news that Cadiz had risen against the French,

and had seized the French squadron lying in the bay, and, at the same

time, that Seville was in the highest state of insurrection. Whilst

pausing in uncertainty of what course to pursue, Castaños advanced

from Utrera towards the higher part of the Guadalquivir. If Dupont

had rushed forward to attack Castaños at Utrera, he would have done

it under great disadvantages. He was cut off from the main French

army by the Sierra Morena, and these mountains being occupied by the

insurgent inhabitants, he would have no chance of falling back in case

of disaster. He now advanced to Andujar, which he reached on the 18th

of June, having had to fight his way through bands of fiery patriots.

On the evening of the 16th of July Castaños appeared on the Argonilla,

directly opposite to Andujar; the river was fordable in many places

from the drought, and the different divisions of the Spaniards crossed

in the night. Vedel, seeing the critical situation of the French army,

made a rapid movement to regain and keep open the mountainous defile

by which he had arrived, but Dupont remained at Andujar till the

night of the 18th. Vedel remaining at the pass for Dupont, the latter

found himself intercepted at Baylen by the Swiss General, Reding,

and whilst engaging him his own Swiss troops went over to Reding. He

sent expresses to Vedel to return to his aid, but before this could

be accomplished he was defeated, and compelled to surrender. He was

enormously encumbered by baggage; for the French, as usual, utterly

regardless of the necessity of keeping on good terms with a people over

whom they wished to rule, had been pillaging churches and houses of all

plate and valuables that they could find. In endeavouring to defend the

baggage, Dupont had weakened his front, and occasioned his repulse.

Castaños had not perceived the march of the French; but, by the time

his van came up with Reding, he found the French army prisoners. The

terms proposed by the French were that they should be allowed to retire

upon Madrid with all their arms and baggage. But Castaños was too well

acquainted with the necessities of the French through the intercepted

letter to Savary. He insisted that they should pile their arms, give

up the greater part of their spoil, and be sent down to San Lucar

and Rota, where they should be embarked for France. Whilst Dupont

was hesitating on these conditions, he received a note from Vedel,

proposing that they should make a simultaneous attack on the Spaniards,

and thus have a fresh chance of turning the scale in their own favour.

But Dupont saw that this was hopeless; and, moreover, it is said that

Castaños insisted that if Vedel himself did not immediately lay down

his arms, he would shoot Dupont. Vedel, who now saw little hope of

cutting his way through the mountains, was compelled to obey. The

French piled their arms on the 22nd of July, the prisoners amounting to

between eighteen and nineteen thousand. They gave up also thirty pieces

of cannon.

The news of this great victory, which at once freed from the French

armies the rich province of Andalusia and the cities of Cadiz and

Seville, spread joy and exultation over Spain, and filled Buonaparte,

who received it at Bordeaux, with the deepest anxiety, but the

Spaniards were led into a confidence which brought its subsequent

chastisement. The news no sooner reached Madrid than the king ceased to

feel himself safe there. He determined to retire to Vittoria, which was

at a convenient distance from the French frontier. On the 3rd of July

he quitted the city by night, and, guarded by French troops, took the

road to Vittoria, leaving Grouchy and Marshal Bessières to cut off any

pursuit of the Spaniards. Grouchy then despatched a letter requiring

Castaños to send an officer to take charge of the city, and to protect

the French invalids in the hospitals. He sent General Moreno, and

himself arrived to hold the city on the 23rd of August. Such of the

Spanish grandees as had encouraged the French fled, with Joseph, for

safety, and obtained the name of "Josepinos," or "Infrancsados;" the

rest joined the Spanish cause.

But the event which, far more than the battle of Baylen, showed

Buonaparte and the world the sort of war he had provoked, was the siege

of Saragossa. This ancient city, the capital of Aragon, stands on the

right bank of the Ebro, with a suburb on the left bank connected with

it by a bridge. Another river, a small one, called the Cozo, flowed

into the Ebro, close under the city walls. The immediate neighbourhood

of Saragossa is flat, and, on one side of the river, marshy; its walls

were of brick, about ten feet high, old and ruinous, but in places they

were only of mud. It might seem that no strong defence of such a place

could be made against an army of thirteen thousand men--veterans who

had served in Germany and Poland, and who were furnished with battering

trains and every means of assault. But the streets of the city were

narrow and crooked, the houses strong and lofty, the rooms being almost

all vaulted, and therefore almost impervious to shell. The inhabitants

were sixty thousand. Saragossa raised the flag of resistance the

moment that Murat issued his proclamation on the 20th of May, informing

the Spanish people of the abdication of Charles and Ferdinand, and

calling on the Spaniards to submit to the new government. On the

16th of June General Lefebvre commenced the attack by driving in the

outposts of Palafox, the Spanish General, and establishing strong

guards before the gates, but the Spaniards fought him street by street.

As fast as they knocked down the walls and scattered the sandbags,

they were repaired again by the Spaniards. At this stage of the

siege, Augustina, "the Maid of Saragossa," a handsome woman of the

lower class, of about twenty-two years of age, arrived on one of the

batteries with refreshments, and found every man who had defended it

lying slain. The fire was so tremendous that the citizens hesitated to

re-man the guns. Augustina sprang forward over the bodies of the dead

and dying, snatched a match from the hand of a dead artilleryman, and

fired off a six-and-twenty-pounder. She then jumped upon the gun, and

vowed never to quit it alive during the siege. Such an example added

new courage to the defenders; and the siege proceeded with incessant

fury. At this juncture Buonaparte withdrew a part of the troops,

ordering Lefebvre to join Bessières with them, and Verdier was left

to continue the siege with about ten thousand men. The Saragossans,

encouraged by this, and assisted by some regular troops, not only

defended the town more vigorously than ever, but sent out detachments

to cut off Verdier's supplies. After several determined assaults he

raised the siege on the 13th of August.

The success of the revolt against the French in Spain was certain to

become contagious in Portugal. Junot was holding the country with an

army of thirty thousand men, amongst whom there was a considerable

number of Spanish troops, who were sure to desert on the first

opportunity after the news from Spain. What Buonaparte intended really

to do with Portugal did not yet appear. The conditions of the Treaty

of Fontainebleau remained a dead letter. He had established neither

the Queen of Etruria nor the Prince of the Peace in their kingdoms

there. The likelihood was that, as soon as Spain was secure, he would

incorporate Portugal with it. This seemed very probably his intention,

from words that he let fall at an Assembly of Portuguese Notables,

whom he had summoned to meet him at Bayonne. The Count de Lima, the

president of the Assembly, opened it with an address to Napoleon, who

listened with great _nonchalance_, and then said, "I hardly know what

to make of you, gentlemen; it must depend on the events in Spain.

And, then, are you of consequence sufficient to constitute a separate

people? Have you enough of size to do so? What is the population of

Portugal? Two millions, is it?" "More than three, sire," replied the

Count. "Ah, I did not know that. And Lisbon--are there a hundred and

fifty thousand inhabitants?" "More than double that number, sire." "Ah,

I was not aware of that. Now, what do you wish to be, you Portuguese?

Do you desire to become Spaniards?" "No!" said the Count de Lima,

bluntly, and drawing himself up to his full height. Then Buonaparte

broke up the conference.

[Illustration: HEROISM OF THE MAID OF SARAGOSSA. (_See p._ 556.)]

The Spanish junta sent an officer to Lisbon to consult with General

Caraffa, the commander of the Spanish auxiliaries, on the best means of

withdrawing the troops from that city. Caraffa, who was an Italian, did

not seem to fall into the proposal; but this was of less consequence,

for his men took the liberty of deserting, first in small numbers and

secretly, but soon by a whole regiment at a time, and openly. Junot

sent out six hundred men to stop them; but they attacked, killed, and

wounded nearly half the detachment, and pursued their march. General

Bellesta, who commanded the Spanish troops at Oporto, seized the French

general, Quesnel, who had but a small number of men, and marched away

for Corunna, carrying Quesnel and his few soldiers prisoners with him.

No sooner were the Spaniards gone, however, than the cowardly governor

of Oporto put down the rising and declared for the French. But the fire

of revolt was flying too fast all over the kingdom for this to succeed.

In a few days the people rose again, seized on the arsenal, and armed

themselves. They were encouraged by the monks, who rang their bells to

call the people out, and by the bishops, who blessed the banners, and

offered up public prayers for the enfranchisement of the country in

the cathedrals. There was a similarly successful outbreak at Braganza.

From one end of the country to the other the rising was complete and

enthusiastic. Deputies were dispatched to England to solicit assistance

and arms. For a time Junot managed to keep down the population of

Lisbon by collecting troops into it, seizing, altogether, four thousand

five hundred of the Spaniards, and making them prisoners. Alarmed,

however, at his position, and fearing to move any of his forces from

the capital, he ordered Loison, who lay at the fortress of Almeida, on

the frontiers, to march to Oporto, and suppress the revolt; but General

Silviera, a Portuguese nobleman, put himself at the head of the armed

population, and successfully defended Oporto. At Beja, Leiria, Evora,

and other places, the French managed to put down the insurgents, but

not without much bloodshed and severe military executions. But the hour

of retribution was fast approaching. Spanish as well as Portuguese

deputies appeared in London soliciting aid. They did not ask for men;

for, in the pride of their temporary success, they imagined themselves

amply able to drive out the French; but they asked for arms, clothes,

and ammunition; and they prayed that an army might be sent to Portugal,

which would act as a powerful diversion in their favour.

Both the Government and people of Britain responded to these demands

with enthusiasm. War with Spain was declared to be at an end; all the

Spanish prisoners were freed from confinement, and were sent home in

well-provided vessels. The Ministers, and Canning especially, avowed

their conviction that the time was come to make an effectual blow at

the arrogant power of Buonaparte. Sir Arthur Wellesley was selected

to command a force of nine thousand infantry and one regiment of

cavalry, which was to sail immediately to the Peninsula, and to act

as circumstances should determine. This force sailed from Cork on

the 12th of July, and was to be followed by another of ten thousand

men. Sir Arthur reached Corunna on the 20th of the same month, and

immediately put himself in communication with the junta of Galicia. All

was confidence amongst the Spaniards. They assured him, as the deputies

in London had assured the Ministers, that they wanted no assistance

from foreign troops; that they had men to any amount, full of bravery;

they only wanted arms and money. He furnished them with a considerable

sum of money, but his experienced mind foresaw that they needed more

than they imagined to contend with the troops of Buonaparte. They

wanted efficient officers, and thorough discipline, and he felt

confident that they must, in their overweening assurance, suffer

severe reverses. He warned the junta that Buonaparte, if he met with

obstructions in reaching them by land, would endeavour to cross into

Asturias by sea, and he advised them to fit out the Spanish ships lying

at Ferrol to prevent this; but they replied that they could not divert

their attention from their resistance by land, and must leave the

protection of their coasts to their British allies. Sir Arthur then

sailed directly for Oporto, where he found the Portuguese right glad to

have the assistance of a British force, and most willing to co-operate

with it, and to have their raw levies trained by British officers. On

the 24th of July he opened his communication with the town. The bishop

was heading the insurrection, and three thousand men were in drill,

but badly armed and equipped. A thousand muskets had been furnished

by the British fleet, but many men had no arms except fowling-pieces.

Wellesley made arrangements for horses and mules to drag his cannon,

and convey his baggage, and then he sailed as far as the Tagus, to

ascertain the number and condition of the French forces about Lisbon.

Satisfied on this head, he returned, and landed his troops, on the 1st

of August, at Figueras, in Mondego Bay. This little place had been

taken by the Portuguese insurgents, and was now held by three hundred

mariners from British ships. Higher up the river lay five thousand

Portuguese regulars, at Coimbra. On the 5th he was joined by General

Spencer, from Cadiz, with four thousand men; thus raising his force to

thirteen thousand foot and about five hundred cavalry. The greatest

rejoicing was at the moment taking place amongst the Portuguese from

the news of General Dupont's surrender to Castaños.

Junot had from sixteen to eighteen thousand men in Portugal, but a

considerable number of them were scattered into different garrisons;

his hope of reinforcements from Spain was likewise cut off by the

surrender of Dupont, and by the fact of the Spaniards being in

possession of Andalusia, Estremadura, and Galicia. Thus the numbers

of the two armies which could be brought into the field against each

other were pretty equal, except that Junot had a fine body of cavalry,

of which arm the British were nearly destitute. On the 9th of August

General Wellesley commenced his march southward, in the direction of

Lisbon, to encounter Junot. On the 16th Wellesley came in contact

with the van of Junot's army. On the landing of the British, Junot

had called in his different garrisons, and concentrated his troops

about Lisbon. He also dispatched General Laborde to check Wellesley's

march, and ordered Loison to support him. But before Loison could

reach Laborde, Wellesley was upon him, and drove in his outpost at

the village of Obidos, and forced him back on Roliça. At that place

Laborde had a very strong position, and there he determined to stand.

He was located on a range of rocky hills, the ravines between which

were thickly grown with underwood and briars. Up these the British

must force their way, if they attacked, and must suffer severely from

the riflemen placed in the thickets and on the brows of the hills. But

Wellesley knew that Loison with his detachment was hourly expected, and

he determined to beat Laborde before he came up. He therefore placed

his Portuguese division on his right to meet Laborde, and ordered his

left to ascend the steep hills, and be prepared for the appearance of

Loison's force, which was coming in that direction. His middle column

had to make its way up the steepest heights, in front of Laborde's

centre. All three columns executed their movements, however, with equal

valour and spirit. The centre suffered most of all, both from the

nature of the ground, and from a rifle ambuscade placed in a copse of

myrtle and arbutus, which mowed our soldiers down in heaps, with their

gallant colonel, the son of Lord Lake, of Indian fame, at their head.

Notwithstanding all difficulties, our soldiers scaled the heights,

formed there, and the centre charged Laborde's centre with the bayonet

and drove them back. As the French had been taught that the British

soldiers were of no account, and their general only a "Sepoy general,"

they returned several times to the attack, but on every occasion found

themselves repulsed as by an immovable wall. Then, seeing the right and

left wings bearing down upon them, they gave way, and ran for it. They

were equally astonished at the terrible charges with the bayonet, at

the rapidity and precision of the firing, and the general arrangement

of the battle, and the exactitude with which it was carried out.

The French left six hundred killed and wounded on the field; the

British had four hundred and eighty killed or disabled. Laborde

retreated amongst the hills to the village of Azambugueira, and thence

to Torres Vedras, where he looked for the junction of Loison, and where

that general really appeared. Still the British force was equal, if not

superior, in numbers to the French, and Sir Arthur Wellesley advanced

along the sea-coast to Vimiera, where he was joined by Generals

Anstruther and Acland. Unfortunately, at this moment arrived Sir

Harry Burrard, whom the Ministry had ordered to supersede Sir Arthur

Wellesley in the chief command till the arrival of Sir Hew Dalrymple,

who was to be the General-in-Chief; Burrard, second in command; and

Wellesley, Sir John Moore, Lord Paget, Sir John Hope, and Macdonald

Frazer, to command different divisions. Thus, by the old system of

routine, the real military genius was reduced from the first to the

fourth in command. Sir Arthur went on board Sir Harry Burrard's vessel

on the evening of his arrival, the 20th of August, and explained to him

the positions of the armies, and his plan of advancing along the coast

to Mafra, thus turning the flank of Laborde and Loison, and compelling

them to fight or retreat on Lisbon. This was clearly the view of every

one of the officers, who were eager to press on; but Sir Harry, old

and cautious, was of opinion that nothing more should be risked till

Sir John Moore arrived with his reinforcements. Sir Arthur must have

returned under a sense of deep disappointment, but, fortunately for

him, the enemy did not allow of his waiting for Sir John Moore. At

midnight he received a hasty message that the French were in motion,

and coming in one dense mass of twenty thousand men to surprise and

rout him. Sir Arthur was strongly posted in the village of Vimiera and

on the hills around it. He sent out patrols, and ordered the pickets

to be on the alert, and he then called out his troops, and had them

in good fighting order by the dawn of day. At about seven o'clock the

advance of the enemy was perceived by the clouds of dust that rose into

the air, and soon they were seen coming on in columns of infantry,

preceded by cavalry. By ten o'clock the French were close at hand, and

made an impetuous attack on the British centre and left, to drive them

into the sea, according to a favourite French phrase, the sea actually

rolling close to their rear. The first troops which came into collision

with them were the 50th regiment, commanded by Colonel Walker. Seeing

that the intention of the French, who were led by Laborde himself, was

to break his line by their old method of pushing on a dense column

by a momentum from behind, which drove in the van like a wedge, in

spite of itself, Colonel Walker instantly changed the position of his

regiment so as, instead of a parallel line, to present an oblique one

to the assailing column. This was, therefore, driven on by the immense

rear, and, instead of breaking the British line, was actually taken

in flank by it, and the musketry and grape-shot mowed down the French

in a terrible manner. This was at once succeeded by a rapid charge

with the bayonet; and so astonishing was the effect of this unexpected

movement, that the French were thrown into irretrievable confusion,

and broke on every side. Whilst this was the effect on the centre and

left, General Sir Ronald Fergusson was attacked with equal impetuosity

by Loison: bayonets were crossed, and the same result as took place

at Maida occurred--the French fell back and fled. Nothing was wanted

but a good body of cavalry to follow up the flying foe, and completely

reduce them to surrender. The small body of horse, commanded by Colonel

Taylor, fought with an ardour that led them too far into the centre of

Margaron's powerful cavalry, and Colonel Taylor was killed, and half

of his little troop with him. Kellermann, to stop the pursuit, posted

a strong reserve in a pine wood, on the line of retreat, but they were

driven out at the point of the bayonet. Had the orders of General

Wellesley now been carried out, the French would have been cut off from

much further retreat. General Hill was commanded to take a short cut,

and interpose between the French and the strong position of Torres

Vedras, and General Fergusson was directed to follow sharply in their

rear. In all probability they must have capitulated at once; but here

the evil genius of Sir Harry Burrard again interfered to save them. He

appeared on the field and thought sufficient had been done till Sir

John Moore arrived. It was not enough for him that the French had now

been twice put to rout within a few days, and were in full flight,

and that they were found not to be twenty thousand, but only eighteen

thousand strong. He ordered the pursuit to cease, and the army to sit

down at Vimiera till the arrival of Moore. To the great astonishment of

the French, and the equal mortification of the British, the retreating

enemy was thus allowed to collect their forces and take possession of

the heights of Torres Vedras.

The next day, the 21st, Sir Hew Dalrymple arrived from Gibraltar, and

superseded Sir Harry Burrard. But the mischief was done; the enemy

had gained the strong position from which Wellesley would have cut

them off. What would have been the effect of Sir Arthur's unobstructed

orders was clearly seen by what did take place; for, notwithstanding

the possession of the strong post of Torres Vedras, Junot saw that he

could not maintain the conflict against the British, and on the 22nd he

sent General Kellermann with a flag of truce to propose an armistice,

preparatory to a convention for the evacuation of Portugal by the

French.

The terms which Junot required were that the French should not be

considered as prisoners of war, but should be conveyed to France by

sea, with all their baggage; that nothing should be detained. These

would, in fact, have allowed them to carry off all the plunder of

churches and houses, and to this Sir Arthur objected. He said that

some means must be found to make the French disgorge the church plate.

But the Convention was signed, subject to the consent of the British

admiral, Sir Charles Cotton, a condition of importance, seeing that

Junot had stipulated that the Russian fleet in the Tagus, commanded

by Admiral Siniavin, should not be molested or stopped when it wished

to go away. Admiral Cotton objected to these terms, and it was agreed

that the Russian fleet should be made over to Britain till six months

after the conclusion of a general peace. Commissioners were appointed

to examine the French spoil, who recovered the property of the Museum

and Royal Library, and some of the church plate; but the French were

allowed to carry off far too much of their booty. The definitive treaty

was signed at Cintra on the 30th of August, much to the disgust of Sir

Arthur Wellesley, who, however, signed it as a matter of form. He then

wrote to Lord Castlereagh, to say that he desired to quit the army;

that matters were not prospering, and that he had been too successful

to allow him to serve in it in any subordinate situation. Indeed, he

saw that, left to himself, he could carry victory with the British

standard, but that it was impossible to do any good under incompetent

men.

[Illustration: SIR JOHN MOORE.]

The indignation of all parties in England was unbounded. They were

persuaded that Junot might have been compelled to surrender with all

his army as prisoners of war; that his arms and booty ought to have

been given up entirely, as well as the Russian fleet; and the army

prevented from taking any part in the after war, except upon a proper

exchange. And no doubt this might have been the case had Wellesley

been permitted to follow his own judgment. A court of inquiry was

appointed to sit in the great hall of Chelsea College, which opened on

the 14th of November and closed on the 27th of December. Yet matters

were so managed that scarcely any blame was cast on Sir Harry Burrard,

and all the generals were declared free from blame. Sir Harry was,

indeed, included in the praise bestowed by the committee--that Sir Hew

Dalrymple, Sir Harry himself, and Sir Arthur Wellesley, as well as the

rest of the officers and men, had displayed an ardour and gallantry on

every occasion during the expedition that reflected the highest lustre

on his Majesty's troops. But the public was not at all mystified by

this strange sentence.

The Convention being ratified, the British took possession of all the

forts on the Tagus on the 2nd of September, and the port of Lisbon was

opened to our shipping. On the 8th and 9th the British army entered

Lisbon in triumph, amid the acclamations of the people. Transports

were collected and the embarkation of the French army commenced, and

before the end of the month they were all shipped off, except the last

division, which was detained by an order from England. The colours of

the House of Braganza were hoisted on all the forts which we had taken

possession of, and a council of government was established, which ruled

in the name of the Prince Regent of Portugal.

The system of Buonaparte, by which he endeavoured to prevent the

knowledge of these events in Spain and Portugal from spreading through

France, was one of unscrupulous lying. He took all sorts of false

means to depress the spirits of the insurgents by mere inventions,

which he had inserted in the Spanish and Portuguese Gazettes under

his influence. At one time it was that George III. was dead, and that

George IV. was intending to make peace with Napoleon. But whatever

effect he might produce by such stories for a time in the Peninsula,

the truth continued to grow and spread over France. It became known

that Junot and his army were driven from Lisbon; that Dupont was

defeated and had surrendered in the south of Spain; then that King

Joseph had fled from Madrid; and that all the coasts of the Peninsula

were in possession of the British, who were received by the Spaniards

and Portuguese as friends and allies. Compelled to speak out at

length, on the 4th of September a statement appeared in the _Moniteur_

mentioning some of these events, but mentioning only to distort them.

It could not be concealed that Britain was active in these countries,

but it was declared that the Emperor would take ample vengeance

on them. In order to silence the murmurs at the folly as well as

the injustice of seizing on Spain, which was already producing its

retributive fruits, he procured from his slavish Senate a declaration

that the war with Spain was politic, just, and necessary. Buonaparte

then determined to put forth all his strength and drive the British

from the Peninsula; but there were causes of anxiety pressing on him

in the North. Austria and Russia wore an ominous aspect, and a spirit

of resistance showed itself more and more in the press of Germany,

and these things painfully divided his attention. His burden was fast

becoming more than he could bear.

Meanwhile Ministers had not yet perceived the military genius of Sir

Arthur Wellesley, notwithstanding his services in India, at Copenhagen,

and his brilliant victories at Roliça and Vimiera. Instead of making

him at once commander-in-chief of the forces destined to co-operate in

Spain--for they now resolved to make a decided movement in favour of

the Spanish patriots--they gave that post to Sir John Moore. Sir Arthur

had assured Ministers that he was far better qualified for the chief

command than any of the superior officers then in the Peninsula. He had

now displayed the qualities necessary for a great general: prudence

as well as daring, and the sagacious vision which foresees not only

difficulties, but the means of surmounting them. Sir Arthur had carried

victory with him everywhere, a circumstance one would have thought

sufficient to satisfy the dullest diplomatist that he was the man for

the occasion. But there was one thing which demanded attention, without

which the successful operation of our armies was impossible--the

thorough reform of the Commissariat Department. This department was

at that time in a condition of the most deplorable inefficiency. The

commissariat officers had no experience; there was no system to guide

and stimulate them. Sir Arthur had learned the necessity, in India, of

the most complete machinery of supply; that it was of no use attempting

to advance into a hostile country without knowing how and whence your

troops were to be provisioned, and to have always ammunition in plenty,

and tents for shelter. This machinery all wanted organising--the

absolute necessity of its perfect action impressing itself on every

individual concerned in it. Until this were done, Sir Arthur would

never have advanced into the heart of Spain as Sir John Moore did.

Considering the state of the roads, and the want of mules, horses, and

waggons to convey the baggage, he would not have proceeded till he

had first brought these into existence. Still more, Sir Arthur would

not have marched far without securing, by one means or other, correct

information of the real state and localities of the Spanish armies. On

all these things depended success, and no man was more alive to the

knowledge of this than Sir Arthur Wellesley. He had already pressed

these matters earnestly on the attention of Government, and had they

had the penetration to have at once selected him for the command, they

would have spared the country the disasters which followed.

On the 6th of October Sir John Moore received instructions from

Lord Castlereagh that his army was to advance into Spain, and

co-operate with the Spanish armies for the expulsion of the French.

He was informed that his twenty-five thousand men would receive a

reinforcement of ten thousand men under Sir David Baird, who was on

his voyage to Corunna. When Sir John prepared to march, the most

serious difficulties presented themselves. Even at Lisbon it was

found impossible to procure conveyance for the necessary baggage,

and therefore the supplies of provisions and stores were cut down

extremely--a great mistake. There was one species of baggage--women

and children--who, according to the wretched practice of the time,

were allowed to accompany the troops, and would not be left behind,

though the army was going into immediate active service against the

enemy. Sir John directed the commanding officers to order that as many

as possible of these should stay behind, especially such women as had

very young children, or infants at the breast, as there would not be

found sufficient carts for them; and in the mountainous tracks at that

season, and the horrible roads, they must suffer the most exhausting

fatigues and hardships. But Sir John had not the commanding firmness

of Wellesley, and his orders in this respect were, for the most part,

neglected. Very proper orders were also issued by Sir John regarding

the behaviour of the soldiers towards the natives. They were informed

that the Spaniards were a grave and very proud people, readily offended

by any disrespect towards their religion or customs; and the soldiers

were desired to behave courteously, and to wear the cockade of King

Ferdinand VII. as well as their own.

The army set out in successive divisions, and by different routes,

in consequence of the exhausted state of the country, which had been

stripped by the French as by an army of locusts. The roads were

intolerable, and the weather was vile. Wading through mud, and dragging

their artillery through bogs and sloughs, they struggled on to Castello

Branco, which the first division reached on the 4th of December. By the

11th Sir John had crossed the Portuguese frontier, and entered Ciudad

Rodrigo. There he was received with great demonstrations of joy; and

on the 13th he arrived at Salamanca. Here he had to remain for the

coming up of his artillery, which, under a guard of three thousand

foot and one thousand horse, had been conducted, by Sir John Hope,

round by Elvas, as the only road, according to the Portuguese, by which

heavy cannon could be conveyed. This was a proof of the great need of

those arrangements so strongly urged by Sir Arthur Wellesley. Proper

inquiries, through proper officers, would have ascertained beforehand

the actual state of the roads and passes. Here Sir John, too, had to

wait for Sir David Baird's detachment, which had arrived at Corunna on

the 13th of October, but had found the greatest difficulty in being

allowed to land and proceed. This was refused by the junta of Galicia,

out of that ignorant and inflated pride of the Spaniards, which

persuaded them that, because they had compelled Dupont to surrender,

they could drive the French out of their country without any assistance

of the British, whom they regarded not as saviours, but as intruders.

Whilst application was made to the Central Junta, at Madrid, for the

troops to land, they had to remain for a fortnight cooped up in the

transports. There was still another hindrance, which the sound sense

and foresight of Wellesley would not have permitted. Though the British

Government had forwarded to Spain two hundred thousand muskets, with

all requisite ammunition, and sixteen millions of hard dollars, Sir

John Moore was entrusted with only twenty-five thousand pounds of it,

and Sir David Baird with none at all. When, therefore, permission was

obtained, from Madrid, for the Allies, who were bringing them all the

arms and all the material of war, to land, Baird had no money to pay

his way on the march with ten thousand men, and Sir John Moore had to

remit him eight thousand pounds. This was sufficiently bad management,

but this was far from the worst. Sir John Moore, in the most critical

circumstances, was left without the necessary information regarding

the real strength of the enemy, and without the influence which the

British Ambassador should have exerted to have the army supplied with

the necessary means of conveyance for its baggage, ammunition, and

artillery. The Spaniards obstructed rather than helped the British

army. They did not know themselves that the French were pouring

reinforcements through the Pyrenees to the amount of seventy thousand

men, soon to be followed by Buonaparte himself. The British Ambassador,

at such a time, ought to have taken measures for knowing the truth; but

the Ambassador was, just at this moment, the most unfit person that

could possibly have been pitched upon. Sir Charles Stewart, who had

been for some time Ambassador at Madrid, was well acquainted with the

Spaniards, and had energy and intelligence enough to have operated upon

them. But as, with new changes of Ministry, everything must be changed

by the British Government, even if it be for the worse, so here, not

only had the generals been changed three times in four-and-twenty

hours, but the active and well-informed Minister was withdrawn, and

a most indolent and useless man sent in his place. This was Mr. John

Hookham Frere, great in the _Quarterly Review_, and connected with

Canning and his party. He either sent Sir John no information as to the

state and position of the Spanish armies or of the advance and numbers

of the French, or he sent him erroneous intelligence. Lord William

Bentinck, who was in Spain, exerted himself to rouse the Spanish Junta

to a proper sense of their real position, and of the necessity for

affording the British army, which had come to assist them, all the

information and support that they could; and he himself sent word that

the French were crossing not merely the Pyrenees, but the Ebro. At

length, a dispatch to Marshal Jourdain, being accidentally intercepted

by a guerilla party on the frontiers, startled the Junta with the news

that immense bodies of French were advancing into Spain; and they began

to appreciate the value of their British allies, but would do nothing

to facilitate their march, or to direct them to the quarter where they

would be most useful; and Frere, who should have stimulated them to a

sense of their duty, did just nothing at all.

[Illustration: THE ROYAL PALACE, MADRID. (_From a Photograph by Frith &

Co._)]

Sir John Moore entered Spain under the impression that several brave

and victorious Spanish armies were to co-operate with him; but he

looked in vain for any such armies. Nay, on the very day of his

arrival at Salamanca he heard of the defeat of the Count de Belvedere,

near Burgos; and only two days afterwards that general had also been

defeated at Espinosa, on the frontiers of the province of Biscay. He

demanded from the Junta to know with whom he was to co-operate for the

conduct of the campaign, and he was referred to Castaños. But Castaños

had already lost the confidence of the proud and ignorant Junta, and

had little information to give. On the 15th of November the governor

of the province announced to him that the French had taken possession

of Valladolid, only twenty leagues from Salamanca; from the dormant

Mr. Frere he heard nothing. This was startling intelligence; for he

had only a small portion of his army yet with him. Sir David Baird was

still struggling with the obstructive junta at Corunna, and Sir John

Hope was wandering near Madrid with the artillery. Moore began to have

a very gloomy idea of the situation, not only of Spain, but of his

situation in it. He wrote that there was no unity of action; no care

of the juntas to promote it, or to furnish arms and clothing to the

soldiers; that he was in no correspondence with the generals of the

other armies, and knew neither their plans nor those of the Government.

He declared that the provinces around him were not armed; and as for

the national enthusiasm of which so much had been said, that he saw not

a trace of it; that, in short, the British had no business there; but

he would still try to do something, if possible, for the country, since

he was there.