HISTORY OF EUROPE. 



153 



doomed by the rigour of fortune, 

 would dare to proclaim a wish to 

 become a Frenchman ? The Su- 

 preme Junta, the organ of the 

 wishes of all good patriots, has 

 taken measures suitable to the 

 dangers of the moment. The Su- 

 preme Junta has come to a resolu- 

 tion, according to a decree of the 

 ith of April last, that all the ef- 

 fects of the churches, not neces- 

 sary to the performance of divine 

 service, shall be immediately sent 

 to the mint at Seville with the 

 utmost exactness ; that there shall 

 forthwith be opened a forced loan 

 of half the gold and silver pos- 

 sessed by individuals; that an ex- 

 traordinary contribution be levied 

 on all classes of the state; that 

 all sinecure and uselessplaces shall 

 be abolished as they become va- 

 cant; that there be opened in 

 Spain six millions of dollars, and 

 forty millions in America ; that a 

 tax be imposed on all carriages of 

 Juxury; that our armies be re- 

 inforced by 100,000 men ; that 

 100,000 lances be formed, and as 

 many poignards, to be distributed 

 in the provinces ; that the whole 

 Sierra, from Santa Ollala to the 

 kingdom of Grenada, be inspected 

 by able engineers ; that all (he 

 companies of the different corps 

 of the army shall be commanded 

 by officers properly qualified, and 

 in sufficient numbers; that be- 

 sides the measures taken for fur- 

 nishing the army with arms and 

 other articles in place of those they 

 have lost, the Junta will make 

 every exertion for recovering the 

 muskets distributed among the 

 peasants. Three commissioners 



were appointed, and had already 

 set out on their mission, with full 

 powers to remedy the disaster of 

 Ocana, and to prevent the recur- 

 rence of the like in future.'' 



The Spaniards selected the best 

 positions in the Sierra for defence, 

 formed entrenchments, erected 

 batteries, intersected the roads by 

 deep cuts in some places, and 

 planted mines ior blowing them 

 up in others. But the species of 

 natural defence, on so extended a 

 line as that presented by the 

 Sierra Morena, avails but little, as 

 had been repeatedly proved in our 

 times, by the passageofthe French 

 over the mountains of Germany, 

 Switzerland, and Italy. It is easily 

 overcome by the improved instru- 

 mentality andoperations of modern 

 warfare. 



The French army, on the 20th 

 and 21st of January, infantry and 

 cavalry, forced their way through 

 the mountains, chiefly by the 

 passes of Puerto del B-ClJ, Col de 

 Muladar, and Despenna Perros. 

 But it was necessary to send the 

 heavy artillery round by Aranjues. 

 The Spaniards scarcely made any 

 resistance : they were driven from 

 their entrenchments with the bay- 

 onet. The intersections of the 

 roads,and derangements occasion- 

 ed by the explosion of the mines, 

 did not retard the march of the 

 French a quarter of an hour. Six 

 thousand Spaniards, of whom a 

 considerable portion were officers, 

 were made prisoners ; the rest 

 fled, or were dispersed. The 

 greater part of them escaped to 

 Sierra Susanna, in the province of 

 Jaen.* Their magazines and ord- 



• Leltrn dc Mareschal Due de Dalmatiaau Prince de Ncufchatel, Major GeneraJ, 

 B»yt«n, 22 Jan, 1810. 



