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mons fro the duke of Albuquerque to furrender that place, 
at the fame time inviting him to a conference for fettling 
the terms. The duke replied, that the Spaniards, faithful 
to Ferdinand, shifted by the Englifh, would not lay down 
their arms till they fiiould have recovered their juft rights; 
and that they were not to be intimidated by the irruption 
of the French, who were matters only of the ground they 
had overrun and now occupied. In return for the interett 
which marlbal Soult took in the fortune of the Spaniards 
inhabiting the Ifle of Leon-and the fortrefs of Cadiz, the 
duke of Albuquerque counfelled him to renounce the idea 
of facrincing his troops to no purpofe ; knowing, as he did, 
the advantages poffeffed by his own troops not only in. re- 
fpeft of localities, but alfo in that fraternal concord with 
which they performed all kinds of fervice together with 
the Englifh, their intimate allies. The defenders of Ca¬ 
diz were Spaniards ; but they would be fupported by Eng¬ 
lifh and Portuguefe, and by all thofe who, penetrated 
with the juftice of their caufe, would do themfelves ho¬ 
nour in contributing tb the defence of that fortrefs. The 
duke concluded by declining the conference to which 
the marfhal had invited him, until by the reftoration of 
Ferdinand VII. to Spain, and the removal of all foreign 
troops, he fiiould be in a fituation to accept what he would 
do with pleafure; his obliging ofFer. 
On the 16th of February, the junta of Cadiz received 
a written meffage from kingjofeph, by a flag of truce, in 
which he gracioufly exprefled his readinefs to forgive and 
forget all their offences; reprefented the ruinous confe- 
quences of war, which mult annihilate commerce, and 
deftroy the mafs of the inhabitants ; and requefted that 
perfons might be deputed from Cadiz to treat for the fe- 
curity of the Spanifh fleet. This note was addreffed to 
three of the leading members of the junta. The anfwer 
-of the junta was in the following terms: “The citv of 
.Cadiz, faithful to its principles, renounces any other king 
than Ferdinand VII.” 
The duke of Albuquerque was fome time after removed 
from the command of the army, and general Blake appointed 
in his ftead ; but, until general Blake, who was employed 
in collecting the wrecks of the army of Ariefaga, fiiould 
arrive in Cadiz, the command of the army was entrufted 
provifionally to general Caftanos. 
The caufe and manner of the duke’s removal, which 
Tnay well Appear a matter of furprile, were as follow :— 
The duke’s little army, on its arrival, after a long and ra¬ 
pid march, in the Ifle of Leon, (a place feparated from 
Cadiz by a very narrow ifthmus,) was in want of necefla- 
ries of all kinds. The only authority at that crifis was a 
junta of merchants. To this body the duke applied for 
clothes, arms, ammunition, accoutrements, and pay; and, 
in a word, for every thing that his trc*=ps flood in need of. 
The junta alleged that it was not in their power to furnifh 
the neceffaries demanded. The duke maintained that it 
was; and declared publicly, that he could not remain at 
the head of an army in want of every thing with which an 
army fiiould be provided. The regency, willing to tem¬ 
porize with the junta, appointed the duke of Albuquerque 
ambaflador to the court of London; which was only an 
honourable exile. It was eafy to perceive, that treatment 
fo bafe and injurious made a deep and painful impreflion 
on the feeling mind of that high and heroic fpirit. But, 
animated by the fame love of his country which had re¬ 
trained him from diflolving the municipal junta, which 
lie could have done with a word of his mouth, he frno- 
thered his refer, tment for the fpace of eight months; when, 
being no longer under any anxiety for the fafety of Cadiz, 
lie conceived it to be due both to his own honour and 
intereft, as well as t’nofe of his country, to vindicate his 
honour and reputation. Fie fet hiinfelf to write and pub- 
lifh a manifetto, that might ferve as an anfwer to his ene¬ 
mies. It was dated at London, December 12, 1810. In 
this the duke declared, that he had attended in perfon the 
fittings of the junta of Cadiz as often as poflible, to re- 
|>refent the urgent neceflity of the troops under his com- 
D O N. 
mand. This intercburfe was continued till he was con¬ 
vinced by his own obfervation, as well as what fell in con- 
verfation with individual members of that body, that they 
had not the general intereft in contemplation fo much as 
they pretended'. From the very commencement of their 
authority, they ftrove by all means to acquire the ex- 
cluiive management of the public revenue. They em¬ 
ployed the national funds in commerce, the profits of 
which were to be appropriated to their own private ufe ; 
and. the moft pitiful fpeculations lie had been made ac¬ 
quainted with from the mouths of feveral of the members. 
“ Who,” laid the duke, “ would believe that the junta of 
Cadiz could detain in its hands a hundred pieces of cloth, 
in the hope that, by the management of the public re¬ 
venue, they fiiould gain, and put in their own pockets, 
three reals per yard ?” This was a fact that the duke 
knew to be certain. 
The junta of Cadiz, on feeing this manifefto, wrote a 
letter to the duke of Albuquerque, dated the 12th of Ja¬ 
nuary, 1811, in which they treated the duke as an impu¬ 
dent calumniator, and an enemy to the public welfare and 
to his country. Yet the Cortes pronounced fentence in 
favour of the duke, and tranfmitted their refolution on 
the fubjeft, dated Leon, Jan. 14, 1811, to the fecretary 
of the war department, to be communicated to the coun¬ 
cil of regency. They declared, that the duke of Albu¬ 
querque, and the army under his command, had deferved 
well of their country by their fervices, and particularly 
by covering the acceftible points of the Ifla and of Cadiz. 
It was therefore the will of the Cortes, that the duke of 
Albuquerque, who was defirous of continuing his military 
career, fiiould be called on by the regency to return to 
Spain to be employed in the army. The council of re¬ 
gency did not delay a moment to fend their orders to Al¬ 
buquerque, to repair immediately to Galicia, to take the 
chief command of ail the north of Spain, in place of ge¬ 
neral Mahe, who was appointed to a command in Murcia.' 
Had thefe two difpatches reached the duke of Albuquerque 
at the fame time, it is probable that, from a fatisfabfion at 
the condubi of the- Cortes, he would have defpifed the 
infults offered by the mercantile junta of Cadiz. But this 
was not*the cafe. He received the letter from the junta 
firtt; and that by the twopenny-poft, with the feal broken. 
This made an impreflion on his mind, which his nomi¬ 
nation to the chief command in Galicia, and all the north 
of Spain, was not fufflcient to efface. The infults of the 
junta rankled, and painfully agitated his Icul. Contrary 
to the advice of his friends, who reprefented how much 
he fiiould defpife them, he fpent three days and three 
nights in drawing up a reply, almoft without taking any 
nouriflunent. On the fourth, which was the 15th of Fe¬ 
bruary, 1811, he was feized with a phrenzy, which on the 
18th terminated in his diffolution. Thus periflied, in the 
37th year of his age, the great pride and hope, at that crilis, 
of Spain ; the victim of high and juft indignation, and of 
fenfibility too lively and exquifite. The remains of this 
young warrior and patriot w'ere depofited in Henry VII’s 
chapel, Weftminfter-abbey, until they fiiould be removed to 
his native country. All the minifters of ftate, foreign ani- 
baffadors, French princes deputed by Louis XVIII. and 
an immenfe concourfe of perfons of the higher ranks, at¬ 
tended his funeral, which was folemnized with a noble 
and affe&ing magnificence, and fuch as we never witneffed 
before or fince that of lord Nelfon. His eulogy was wor¬ 
thily pronounced in the houfe of peers by marquis Wel- 
lefley. Tlie affembly of the Cortes poured forth their 
regrgts, together with the praifes due to the man who 
had been the firft to quit the Spanifh army is Denmark, 
and fly to the fuccour of his country; who had always 
fought the French with glory; who, in the charabter of 
a commander in chief, had defeated them in a variety of 
aflions; and, laftly, who had preferved the ground on 
which they now flood. 
The war extended nearly from one fide of the peninfula 
to the other, whilft the liege of Cadiz was going on with 
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