L O N D O N. m 
'/ition covered a large body of Spanifh infantry, (hamefully 
took to flight at a critical moment, and fpread di(order and 
confternation among the Spaniards. The confufion and 
alarm became inttantly general; and the fuperior taffies 
of the French enabled them to take advantage of fuch a 
fituation. 
The battle of Ocana was quickly followed by the reduc¬ 
tion of Cordova and Seville ; and a road was opened to Cadiz. 
While thefe and other fubordinate operations were go¬ 
ing on, fieges were carried on by the French againit Sa- 
ragoffa and Gerona. The fiege of Saragofla commenced 
early in the month of January; and, on the 21ft of Fe¬ 
bruary, in the midft of ruins and dead bodies, it was 
compelled, by all that could aflail and overcome human 
nature, to capitulate. When Augereau fummoned the 
town, declaring that, if it did not furrender on that day, 
he would florin it and put all the inhabitants to the fword, 
Palafox aflembled his troops and the armed inhabitants of 
the city in the churches, where they folemnly (wore to de¬ 
fend the place to the lafl ; and, rather than furrender, to 
be buried in its ruins. An unfuccefsful fortie was after¬ 
wards made ; the Spaniards were defeated with great lofs; 
and the French entered the town along with thofe who 
efcaped (laughter. A fanguinary contelt then took place 
in the ftreets, in which the French had again the advan¬ 
tage. Some of the inhabitants in defpair (prung a mine, 
the explofion of which deftroyed a coniiderable part of the 
city, and produced a dreadful carnage. The number who 
perilhed, French and Spaniards, was eftimated at feveral 
thoufands. The remainder of the Spaniards defended 
themfelves for Come time in works erected in another part 
of the town; but at lafl furrendered at diferetion, the 
French commander having refufed a capitulation. But, 
immediately on obtaining poflefiion of the ports, he iflued 
a proclamation containing a general pardon, in the name 
of king Jofeph ; and a flop was put to all hoftile afts on 
the part of the French troops. The perfonal heroifm that 
was difplayed by the Spaniards in the Cege of Saragofla, 
and that of Gerona, equalled, if they did not exceed, that 
of the 15th and 16th centuries. 
Gerona capitulated on the 10th of December, and the 
French on the nth entered the city, where they found 
eight ftandards and 200 pieces of cannon. By the capi¬ 
tulation, the garrifon was to evacuats the city with all the 
honours of war, and be conducted prifoners of war to 
France. The inhabitants were to be refpefted ; that is, 
both their perfons and property were to be fafe ; and the 
catholic religion was to be continued and protected. 
Thus attheclofeof 1809, all the fortrefles of Spain had 
fallen into the hands of the enemy, and all her principal 
armies been defeated and difperfed ; and, by difperflon, 
for a time annihilated. The grand caufe was undoubt¬ 
edly the fenfelerthefs, the ignorance, the contracted views, 
and the paltry intrigues, among the fupreme junta, who 
were more attentive to the preservation of their own power 
than to the defence of the country. They neither knew 
bow to infufe energy where it was wanting, nor to direft 
it where it exifled. 
Towards the end of the year, Bonaparte poured frefh 
troops into the peninfula; and relumed the defign, which 
tlie war with Aurtria had fufpended, of reducing Cadiz, 
the moft important point in Spain, and planting his eagles 
on the towers of Lilbon. 
The afpect of affairs became now more alarming than 
ever ; and the junta,’’whether from a confcioufnefs of their 
own imbecility and want of authority, or an apprehenfion 
that the public diflatisfaciion with their management, for 
it can fcarcely be called government, might built into 
Come fatal explofion, iflued a proclamation for the meet¬ 
ing of the Cortes. The firft of January, 1810, was fixed 
for the aflembling of the Cortes, and the firlt of March 
following for entering on their tnndtions. 
We now turn from the peninfuk to the continent.— 
At the fame time that the correspondence between count 
Vol. XIII. No. 899. 
Metternich and Cbatftpigny betrayed the utmoft jealoufy 
and miftrurt on the part of both France and Auftria, Bo¬ 
naparte proclaimed daily in his newfpapers in France, 
Italy, and Spain, that the molt perfect harmony and cor¬ 
diality prevailed between the courts of the Thuilleries and 
Vienna. And in his German and Poliih newfpapers again, 
he reprefented the caufe of the Spanifli infurgents, as lie 
called the patriots, as quite defperate ; their tumultuous 
parties as broken and difperfed. He Itated that Saragofla 
was reduced fome weeks before it actually furrendered ; 
and that Lifbon, in the beginning of 1809, was in the 
hands of the French. He wifhed to difeourage the Auf- 
trians by his account of the ftate of affairs in Spain; and 
to difhearten the Spaniards by precluding all hopes of co¬ 
operation from the Auftrians. 
War was declared by Auftria againft France in the fora's 
of a proclamation of the archduke Charles, glowing with 
fentiments the moft fitted to roule indignation againit the 
French, and awaken all their love for their own country, 
dated at Vienna, April 6,1809. Proclamations in the fame 
(train were alfo id'lled ; one by the emperor Francis to the 
Aultrian nation, April 8 ; and another of the fame date by 
the archduke Charles to the German nations. Thefe pro¬ 
clamations were followed by a manifefto, detailing the va¬ 
rious caufes of juft offence, provocation, and alarm, which 
Auftria had received from France. 
The ftate and diftribution of the Auftrian forces, in the 
beginning of April 1809, was as follows : The whole of 
the army was divided into nine corps, each corps confid¬ 
ing of 30 or 40,000 men. The firft fix of thefe corps were 
under the immediate orders of the archduke Charles, as 
commander-in-chief. Under the archduke, the count dc 
Bellegarde was at the head of the firft corps ; count Kol- 
lowrath of the fecond ; the prince of Holienzollern of the 
third ; the baron of Rofenberg of the fourth ; the arch¬ 
duke Louis of the fifth; and general Hiller of the fixth., 
The feventh corps was Cent under the archduke Ferdinand 
into Poland ; and the eighth and ninth to Italy, under the 
archduke John. The lieutenant-general of the eighth 
corps was the marquis of ChSnc.mi’; of the r.if.th Currsf 
general Guilay. Befides thefe corps, there were two of re- 
ferve; one of 20,GOO .'lit:"; commanded by prince John of 
Lichtenftein ; the other of 10,000 under the orders of ge¬ 
neral Kinmayer ; and troops to the number of 25,000 in 
the Tyrol, Croatia, and in (mall parties adling as partifana 
on the confines of Bohemia. In addition to all thefe, there 
was a kind of militia in the interior of the Auftrian king¬ 
doms and provinces, called the land-wekr. So that it was 
computed, that, when thearchduke Charles entered on the 
campaign, he had at his difpofal not much fewer than 
400,000 men. 
The main Auftrian army parted the Inn on the 9th of 
April ; and, on the 10th, the Ifer at Munich, driving the 
French and Bavarians before them to and from Landfhut. 
Corps arriving by the way of Pilfen from Bohemia drove 
the French garrifon left by Davoutt from Ratifbon, and 
lecured to the Auftrians that important paffage of the Da¬ 
nube, which it was neeeflary to preferve until the arrival 
of the army under Bellegarde, which covered the frontier 
of Bohemia towards Saxony and Franconia. For this 
purpofe it was neeeflary to cover the poll at Ratilbon from 
the armies of France that had begun to advance rapidly 
along the courfe of the Danube; and at the (aine time 
not to ad vance a ftep farther than was abfolutely nee.diary 
for (ecuring that objedl. It was with a view to this that 
the archduke extended his front from Landfhut on the 
Iler as far as the town of Abenlberg, near which his right 
wing reffed on the Danube. This right wing was ad¬ 
vanced about fifteen Englifli miles beyond, that is, farther 
up, the Danube than Ratifbon, on which it had a fafe re¬ 
treat, being flanked all along by the Danube, The extent 
of the whole Auftrian line, from the Iler at Land (hut to 
the Danube at Newftadt, was about twenty-eight Englifli 
miles. 
3D 
Bonaparte, 
