HISTORY OF EUROPE. 



173 



CHAP. X. 



Affairs of the Peninsula of Spain and Portugal. 



BUONAPARTE, in his ad- 

 dress to the legislative body, 

 25th of October, 1808, said, "In 

 a few days I shall put myself at 

 the head of my armies, to crown, 

 with God's assistance, in Madrid, 

 the king of Spain, and to plant 

 my eagles on the towers of Lis- 

 bon."* Accordingly Joseph Buo- 

 naparte was, towards the end of 

 January, 1809, crowned king of 

 Spain and the Indies at Madrid, 

 after he had been previously ac- 

 knowledged and proclaimed in the 

 principal towns throughout the 

 country, with the exception of 

 those of Arragon, Murcia, Gra- 

 nada, and Andalusia. The ce- 

 remony was performed with the 

 utmost pomp, and attended by 

 persons who assumed the charac- 

 ter of deputies from the different 

 kingdoms of Spain. But the 

 French eagles were not yet planted 

 on the towers of Lisbon. Very 

 serious obstacles were opposed to 

 the execution of that design. 

 Though the brave English army 

 under sir John Moore had been 

 forced, by an immense superiority 

 of numbers and that still increas- 

 ing, to retreat to their ships, or, 

 in the style of Buonaparte, driven 

 into the sea ; his march through 

 Spain had occasioned such a di- 

 version in favour of the patriotic 

 Spaniards, that they were enabled 

 to recruit and re-organize the ar- 

 mies of Palafox, the duke of In- 

 fantado; the marquis del Palacio, 



and general Cuesta. They re- 

 conquered la Mancha, and part of 

 Estramadura, which had been 

 over-run by the French. A great 

 number of towns in the south of 

 Spain were converted into places 

 of arms ; and the French dislodged 

 from their positions in Catalonia, 

 were compelled to retreat to Fi- 

 gueras and Rosas, which last place 

 had fallen into their hands in the 

 end of the year 1808. Saragossa 

 still held out with the most heroic 

 courage and patience', so also, 

 with equal fortitude, did the im- 

 portant fortress of Gerona, in Ca- 

 talonia. There is not a doubt but 

 Buonaparte, by pursuing the ad- 

 vantages he had obtained, and 

 pouring in fresh troops from 

 France, and, if necessary, the 

 whole continent of Europe, would 

 have effected the reduction of Lis- 

 bon as well as the coronation of 

 his brother Joseph at Madrid. But 

 his attention was imperiously de- 

 manded by the vast military pre- 

 parations and even movements of 

 the Austrians, who very naturally 

 deemed it expedient rather to fight 

 for their national independence, 

 hand in hand with the Spaniards, 

 supported by the English, than 

 single handed and alone as they ine- 

 vitably must do, or yield their necks 

 to the yoke of Buonaparte, after 

 the Spanish nation, though per- 

 haps not finally or wholly sub- 

 dued, should have been driven 

 from all their cities and strong 



holds, 



See Vol L. (1808) Appendix to Chronicle, p. 285. 



