GENERAL HISTORY. 



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quarters at Toledo. Thus all the 

 central part of Spain remained in 

 possession of the invaders. 

 . Lord Wellington, with his habi- 

 tual activity, was employed in vi- 

 siting different parts occupied by 

 the allied troops; and on Dec. 'i^th 

 he arrived at Cadiz, where he was 

 respectfully waited upon by a de- 

 putation from the Cortes. That 

 at this time the Spanish govern- 

 ment experienced considerable op- 

 position to its measures, may be 

 inferred from a proposition sent 

 from the Regency to the Cortes 

 for suspending various articles of 

 the constitution by which personal 

 freedom, and the liberty of the 

 press are guaranteed. The reason 

 given was, that there existed a 

 conspiracy to subvert the national 

 representation and the government 

 bj a popular insurrection ; but the 

 committee of the Cortes, to which 

 the proposition was referred, re- 

 ported that there was no necessity 

 for the suspension of any of the 

 articles of the constitution, not 

 even for a moment ; and this report 

 was approved of. Lord Welling- 

 ton, after having transacted with 

 the Spanish government the busi- 

 ness which brought him thither, 

 returned by Lisbon, at which capi- 

 tal he was honoured with a most 

 triumphant reception. (See Chro- 

 nicle J. His lordship's visit to Ca- 

 diz was probably connected with a 

 decree issued by the Cortes, dated 

 Jan. 6th, for the purpose of ren- 

 ilering more efficient the powers of 

 the commanders of armies, draw- 

 ing the line between their autho- 

 rity and that ©f the civil governors 

 and naunicipal councils of pro- 

 vinces, and providing for the 

 maintenance of each army. On 

 Jan. 17th, the Regency issued an 



order for a section of the general 

 staff to attend upon the duke of 

 Ciudad Rodrigo (lord Welling- 

 ton), to be the channel of commu- 

 nication between the duke as com»- 

 mander-in-chief, and all parts of 

 the armj^ 



The French cantoned about the 

 Upper Tormes were in motion on 

 Feb. 19th, and on the following 

 day made an attack upon a post at 

 Bejar, occupied by lieut.-colonel 

 Harrison, under the command of 

 sir Rowland Hill, but were re- 

 pulsed with loss. Sir Rowland 

 afterwards pushed forward a bri- 

 gade from Coria to occupy Pla- 

 cencia. Not long after it appears 

 that the revulsion of the war in 

 Germany was felt by the French 

 armies in Spain. Lord Welling- 

 ton, on March ^ith, communicates 

 the information, that nearly all the 

 French troops are withdrawn from 

 La Mancha, and that the army of 

 the south was concentrated be- 

 tween Talavera, Madrid, and To- 

 ledo. Joseph wai supposed to have 

 quitted Madrid. Col. Bourke re- 

 ported fromCorunna, on April 1st, 

 that a division of the French army 

 of Portugal, which had assembled 

 at Valladolid, had marched for 

 Burgos ; that their garrison at 

 Leon was diminished, and that 

 they were strengthening Bilboa. 

 These movements indicated an in- 

 tention on their parts to retire 

 from the central provinces, and take 

 strong positions in the north and 

 north-east, suitable to the coni- 

 tracted scale of their powers. From 

 the allied army in Alicant, lieut. 

 gen. sir John Murray sent a des- 

 patch, dated March 23rd, mention- 

 ing his having attacked in force 

 the position of the French at Al- 

 coy, and driven them some miles 



