HISTORY OF EUROPE. 



221 



Towards the end of the pre- 

 ceding year, Kellcnnan, general 

 of division, and governor-general 

 for Upper Spain, for the districts 

 of Salamanclia, Zamora, Toro, 

 Leon,Placcntia,Burgos,G uipusco, 

 and Alava, issued general orders 

 for putting the horses and mares 

 of those districts, of a certain size, 

 in requisition, and conducting 

 them to their respective capitals. 

 Tlie left eyes of all the rest were 

 ordered to be put out, so that they 

 might be disabled IVom military 

 service.* 



It was a common stratagem of 

 the French to appear in one place, 

 where their presence was not ne- 

 cessary, and suddenly retire to 

 liiose where it was, marching witli 

 great rapidity from place to place. 

 It was intended by tliis manceuvre 

 to frighten the people, and thus 

 make them lay down their arms, 

 under the persuasion that they 

 should be certainly overwhelmed 

 by numbers. 



Of all the princes of the house 

 of Bourbon at this time, 1810, 

 the duke of Orleans was by far 

 (lie most active and entcrprizing, 

 and the most distinguished botli 

 by natural capacity and accom- 

 plishments. At the battle of Je- 

 mappe, under general Dumourier, 

 he gave decided proofs of personal 

 valour, and, on a great many sub- 

 sequent occasions, when wandei- 

 ing as a fugitive on the continent 

 of Europe, sometimes in Switzer- 

 land, and sometimes in Scandina- 

 via, even to the North Cape, in 

 America, and in England, he 

 shewed a readiness, and a ferii- 

 lity of resources in Iiis own mind, 



not often to be met with in per- 

 sons of his rank. It was naturally 

 imagined, that tlie presence of such 

 a prince in Spain, would tend to 

 heighten the enthusiasm of the 

 Spaniards, and to detach some of 

 the French from an usurper to a 

 prince of the house of Bourbon. 

 He had married a daughter of the 

 king of Sicily, his kinswoman, and 

 resided at the court of Palermo. 

 He was invited by the Regencj', 

 on the 11 til of March, to lake 

 the command of an army on the 

 frontier of France. He landed 

 from Sicily first at Malta, in the 

 beginning of June ; from thence 

 he proceeded to Tarragona, in 

 Catalonia ; whither he was expect- 

 ed to return, after holding a con- 

 ference with the Ilegency and the 

 Britisii commander at Cadiz. 

 When the duke arrived in Cata- 

 lonia, lie pubhsheda proclamation 

 declaring the purpose of his arri- 

 val, and inviting all true French- 

 men as well as Spaniards to join 

 him in an effort to deliver them- 

 selves from the yoke of tyranny 

 and usurpation. But the Cortes 

 would not confirm this prince in 

 the office of commander-in-chief 

 in Catalonia, to which he had been 

 appointed by the council of Re- 

 gency ; and he was obliged to 

 leave Cadiz, which he did on the 

 3rd of October, and returned in a 

 Spanish frigate to Sicily. It was 

 said at the time, that the cause of 

 the duke's disappointment and dis- 

 missal from Spain was, the ambi- 

 tion he discovered, and the in- 

 trigues he had begun to set on 

 foot among the members of the 

 Cortes, for being appointed sole 



• See Vol. LI, (1809) State Tapers, p. 802. 



