SPAIN. 



337 



ordered the whole country, through which Massena 

 could follow him, to be laid waste ; and the latter 

 was obliged to take measures for the support of his 

 army during four weeks, before he could proceed. 

 At last, Massena advanced, September 18, over the 

 Mondeja, to Coimbra. On this march, he was 

 beaten, on the 27th, at Busaco, but nevertheless, 

 was able to occupy the heights of Sardico, which 

 opened to him the plains of Lisbon. Wellington 

 now entered the strong position of Torres-Vedras, 

 which consisted of two lines on the heights of Lis- 

 bon, defended by 170 well- placed works and 444 

 cannons. Massena found this position unassailable, 

 and retreated, after several engagements of little 

 importance, November 14, to Santarem. Here he 

 remained till March, 1811, when he was compelled, 

 by want of provisions, to evacuate Portugal en- 

 tirely. He hardly succeeded, by the battle of Fu- 

 entes d'Onoro, of two days' continuance, in effecting 

 a union with the garrison of Almeida, which blew 

 up the works, and fought its way to him under 

 Brenier. But the French were victorious at other 

 points. Suchet, January 2, 1811, took the impor- 

 tant fortress of Tortosa, in Catalonia, and, June 28, 

 after a murderous assault of five days, the fortress 

 of Tarragona: Soult took the frontier fortresses 

 towards Portugal, Oliven9a and Badajoz, March 

 10; and Victor defeated the British general 

 Graham, who wished to deliver Cadiz, March 3, at 

 Chiclana. In the autumn, Suchet marched against 

 Valencia. After having beaten the army under 

 general Blake, Saguntum fell, October 26, and 

 Valencia surrendered, January 9, 1812. Welling- 

 ton now again entered Spain. January 19, he took 

 Ciudad-Rodrigo, and, April 7, Badajoz. But he 

 was ill supported by the cortes and the regency, 

 consisting of general Blake* and the naval offi- 

 cers Agar and Ciscar. Marmont was now at 

 the head of the army in Portugal. But the loss 

 of the decisive battle of Salamanca, July 22, 

 1812, obliged him to give up the defence of Mad- 

 rid. Wellington, entered the city August 12. 

 The French retired from before Cadiz August 25, 

 1812 : they withdrew their forces from the south 

 of Spain, and concentrated it in the eastern and 

 northern parts. After the occupation of Madrid, 

 Wellington followed the enemy to Burgos ; but the 

 seige of the castle of Burgos, after several unsuc- 

 cessful assaults, occupied him from September 19 

 to October 20, when he gave it up, as the Span- 

 iards afforded him insufficient support, and the 

 French had received succours. He retreated to the 

 Duero. After several engagements, he transferred 

 his head-quarters to Freynada, on the frontier of 

 Portugal, November 24, and the French again en- 

 tered Madrid. Thus ended the year 1812, in which 

 134 members of the cortes had drawn up a new 

 constitution for the monarchy, and signed it, March 

 18, at Cadiz. March 20, the regency took the oath 

 to maintain it. This constitution was acknow- 

 ledged by the allies of Spain Great Britain, Swe- 

 den, Denmark, Prussia, &c also by Russia, in the 



treaty of alliance concluded with Spain, at Welicki- 

 Lucki, July 20, 1812. It perhaps gave too much 

 power to the cortes for a monarchical government, 

 and a people so little accustomed to the exercise 

 of civil rights. At length Napoleon's disasters in 

 Russia decided the fate of the peninsula. Soult 

 was recalled in the beginning of 1813, with 30,000 

 men, from Spain. Suchet left Valencia in July, 



* In 1813, the cardinal of Bourbon, archbishop of Toledo, took 

 Blake's place. 

 VI. 



but delivered Tarragona, which was besieged by 

 Bentinck, in August, and withstood Clinton on the 

 Lobregat. But Joseph had been obliged to leave 

 Madrid again, May 27, and Wellington had occupied 

 Salamanca, May 26. The French army, com- 

 manded by Joseph and Jourdan, retreated to Vit- 

 toria. Here Wellington overtook the enemy, and 

 gained the splendid victory of Vittoria, June 21 ; 

 after which the French army, pursued by Graham 

 and Hill, retreated in disorder over the Pyrenees 

 to Bayonne. It lost all its baggage. The victors 

 immediately invested Pampeluna. Count Abisbal 

 occupied the pass of Pancorbo. Graham besieged 

 St Sebastian, and Wellington entered France July 

 9. In the mean time (July 1), Napoleon, then in 

 Dresden, had appointed marshal Soult his lieuten- 

 ant and commaiider-in-chief of his armies in Spain. 

 He united the beaten corps, and opposed a consider- 

 able force to the victor. July 24, the struggle be- 

 gan in the Pyrenees, and was maintained until 

 August 1, on every point. Wellington, on August 

 31, took St Sebastian by assault, after having sev- 

 eral times repulsed the enemy, who approached to 

 deliver the garrison. It was not, however, till 

 October 7, that he left the Pyrenees, and passed 

 the Bidassoa. After Pampeluna had fallen (Oct. 

 31), no French soldier was left on the Spanish ter- 

 ritory, except in Barcelona and some other places 

 in Catalonia. Wellington now attacked the enemy 

 on the fortified banks of the Niville (Nov. 10), 

 and Soult retreated into the camp of Bayonne. 

 But, until Wellington had passed the Nive (Dec. 

 9 and 10), and had repulsed several attacks, which 

 continued to the 13th, it was not possible for him 

 to obtain a secure footing in the hostile territory. 

 His head-quarters were at St Jean de Luz. Thence 

 he repulsed, in 1814, Suchet's attacks on the Garve. 

 Feburary 26, he fought a battle with Soult at Or- 

 thies, by which the latter was driven from his 

 strong position, and obliged to retreat, in great dis- 

 order, to the Upper Garenne. Wellington followed 

 the French, under Soult, to Toulouse, where the 

 bloody battle of April 10, and the occupation of the 

 place, put an end to the war. 



The cortes had already held its first session (Jan. 

 15, 1814), and had resolved that Ferdinand VII. 

 should swear to preserve the constitution, before 

 he should be recognised as king; The treaty of 

 Valenfay, between Ferdinand and Napoleon (Dec. 

 11, 1813), was made void by declaring all the acts 

 of the king during his captivity null. Ferdinand 

 arrived at Valencia, where he received the deputies 

 of the cortes, April 16. In reply to their question, 

 when he would swear to maintain the constitution, 

 he answered coldly, "I have not thought about it;" 

 and, on the 4th of May, be issued a proclamation, 

 declaring it invalid. May 14, he entered Madrid, 

 after having caused the principal members of the 

 regency, and sixty-four members of the cortes, to 

 be arrested. The people, dissatisfied with the new 

 direct taxes which had been imposed by the cortes, 

 received him with acclamations. The friends of the 

 cortes and of Joseph were persecuted with the great- 

 est rigour. All officers above the rank of captain, 

 who had served under Joseph, were condemned to 

 perpetual banishment, with their wives and children, 

 and many civil officers received the same sentence. 

 Freemasonry was abolished, and the inquisition was 

 revived; the conventual estates were restored, and 

 the Jesuits recalled, and reinstated in all the rights 

 and property of which they had been deprived since 

 1767. And, although the king had solemnly pro- 



