BRITAIN. 



Britain, intlie Mediterranean, on (.lie other, Lord Collingwood 



v arrived witli ships to take the command of the Eng- 



llu lish licet off Cadiz, and general Sprm-.T, with six or 

 seven regiments, from Gibraltar. Lord Collingwood 

 offered his services fur the reduction of the French 

 fleet in the harbour ; but Thomas de Morla, who 

 siu-cecded to the government of the city after the ex- 

 ecution of Solanos, determined that this should be 

 exclusively an achievement of the Spaniards. The 

 French ships lay in the canal of the arsenal, in such 

 a position, that they were out of the reach of the can- 

 non of the castles, as well as of the Spanish squadron 

 off Cadiz ; but the gun-boats, bomb-vessels, and bat- 

 teries, constructed on the isle of Leon, and near fort 

 bcFrcnch Louis, soon reduced admiral Rosilly (June 14th,) to 

 ;et in Ca- surrender the fleet, consisting of five ships of the line 

 * s * urren " of 74' guns, one frigate, and four thousand seamen 

 and marines. 



Advice having been received, that a detachment 

 of French had assembled at Tavira, to enter Spain 

 from the side of Portugal, by the river Guadiana, ge- 

 neral Spencer, with his detachment, set sail for the 

 Guadiana, and landed his troops at Ayamonte. Three 

 ships had already been sent to the mouth of the Gua- 

 diana by general Purvis. Alarmed at these move- 

 ments, the French concentrated all their force at Lis- 

 bon, excepting a few detachments in fortified places. 

 The Portuguese also rose upon their oppressors, and 

 sent solicitations for succours to admiral Sir C. Cot- 

 ton, who commanded the naval forces of Britain in that 

 quarter. The change of circumstances, which had 

 thus changed the relations of Spain and Great Bri- 

 tain towards each other, hardly needed the ceremony 

 of a proclamation, to establish friendship and alliance. 

 The juntas, however, formally proclaimed peace and 

 alliance with Great Britain, Sweden, and Portugal ; 

 and the Portuguese provinces of Algarve and Alen- 

 tejo put themselves under the protection of the junta 

 of Seville ; so did the Canary isles. Envoys were dis- 

 patched to the transmarine establishments of Spain, in 

 the Americas, West Indies, and Asia, inviting them 

 to the cause of the patriots, and of Ferdinand. Pro- 

 clamations had been sent out to those colonies by 

 king Joseph ; but the vessels which carried them had 

 been mostly taken by the English, and the crews of 

 those which arrived had been imprisoned by the 

 nanish transatlantic patriots. Meanwhile the Viscount de Ma- 

 puties terosa, Don Diego de la Vega, and other deputies 

 nve in f rom tne Spanish and Portuguese provinces, arrived 

 on * at London. Peace was proclaimed with Spain in 

 the London Gazette, on the 5th of July. The Spa- 

 nish prisoners in our jails, to the number of many 

 thousands, were liberated, clothed, and sent home to 

 join their countrymen in arms. Independent of the 

 arms and treasures promptly forwarded by govern- 

 ment, the public ardour in Britain, for the cause of 

 the patriots, was evinced by subscriptions that were 

 set on foot throughout the kingdom ; and some corps 

 of militia volunteered their services in the cause. 



Some admirable precautions were published by the 

 Seville junta, calculated to direct the desultory war- 



fare which they had determined to pursue, in prefer- iiiiuib. 

 cnce to risking pitched battles. Hap;)) liad it I, n ~ 

 if the several juntas, in their /.eal I 

 countrymen, had not forgot the precaution ot adhe- 

 ring to truth, in the calculation of th'-ir : n. 

 While they hoped to terrify tin; 1'rimli by - xag ^-ra- 

 tion, they only deceived each other, and their allies.* 

 Of the French armies in the whole peninsula, inelu- State of 

 ding the army of Junot in Portugal, a force exceed- il><- 

 ing 100,000 men, 50,000 were stationed in Madrid, a " d s !' 1 - 

 or its vicinity, under Prince Murat, and marshal Mon- " 

 cey. From this great body, detachments were sent 

 to take possession of Cadiz and Valentia ; the former 

 detachment commanded by Dupont, the latter under 

 marshal Moncey. Marshal Bessieres had in charge 

 to guard the roads between Madrid and Ba\c;. 

 and to bridle the country as much as possible, by 

 spreading to the right and left.f This northern army 

 was opposed by the Spanish general Cuesta, at the 

 head of the forces of Galhcia, Asturias, Estremadu- 

 ra, and Leon, and those of some insurgent district* 

 of Biscay. General Castanos was commander in 

 chief of the four kingdoms of Andalusia, with the 

 provinces of Granada and Valentia, which had uni- 

 ted themselves with Andalusia. Admiral Cisneros 

 was captain-general of Murcia. Don Joseph Palafox 

 of Arragon ; and Count Espetella of Catalonia. 



The army of Dupont left Madrid 20,000 strong, Operation', 

 crossed the mountains of the Morena, and descending of General 

 into Andalusia, took and pillaged Cordova. At this Dupont. 

 place, the French general was informed that Casta- 

 nos was advancing with 45,000 patriots. He retired 

 first to a strong position behind the Guadalquivir, 

 and from thence fell back to Baylen. Already he Battle *f 

 had lost great numbers by the desultory attacks of Baylen. 

 the insurgents. It was not, however, till a whole di- 

 vision of his army under general Wedel, and a rein- 

 forcement under general Belliard, which were on their 

 march from Madrid, had been separated from him by 

 the judicious movements of Castanos that his case 

 became hopeless. As his last resource, he made a Dupont 

 bold attack on 25,000 of Castanos' army, \ with all ur: cutlers, 

 the forces under his immediate command, was repul- w 

 sed with the loss of 3000 men, and obliged to sur- 



i i* t~^ i TT* i 11 i* :ll jj **^ inc 



render at discretion. General VVeders division was Suaniardi. 

 comprehended in the capitulation. It was agreed, 

 that they should be sent home by sea. The battle 

 of Baylen was fought on the 20th of July. General 

 Moncey was not more successful in Valentia. March- 

 ing upon the city of Valentia, after routing the pea- 

 sants at the passes of the mountains, he began to 

 cannonade its walls, when he was attacked by gene- 

 ral Caro, the nephew of Romana, with the covering 

 army, was beaten back to his camp, and from thence 

 obliged to fly to Madrid. Of 1.5,000 men who had 

 marched with Moncey from the Spanish capital, 150O 

 were taken prisoners, and 10,000 returned, with a 

 prodigious proportion of wounded. In the campaign 

 of Arragon, the defence of Saragossa displayed a he- 

 roism never surpassed in ancient or modern times. On 

 the 14-th of June, before any force could be organ- 



. * This ivas sadly experienced by Sir John Moore. 



f- Of the 14 provinces of Spain, there were lour in the hands of the French when the insurrection broke out, Jfavmc, Bi?- 

 civ, and the two Castiles. The fortress of Barcelona was also in their possession. 



O< those, or. half were irregulars. 



