SPAIN. 
417 
It was natural that, when entering on so determined an 
opposition to the measures of Buonaparte, the Spaniards 
should turn their eyes towards that nation, by whom alone 
the ambitious views of that potentate had been successfully 
combated. A peace and alliance with Britain was evidently 
not only a measure of policy, but would afford them the 
most effectual assistance in the formidable struggle in which 
they were about to engage. Accordingly, deputies were dis¬ 
patched to Great Britain from several of the provinces, to 
solicit the aid and friendship of that country, and to concert 
measures with the British ministry for executing the plans 
which had been contrived for freeing the kingdom from the 
French yoke. The junta of Seville issued a declaration of 
war with France, and declared the Spanish nation on terms 
of peace and amity with Britain. The Spanish deputies were 
empowered to solicit supplies of arms, ammunition, clothing 
and money; but it was thought that a supply of British 
troops would be unnecessary, the Spanish patriots consider¬ 
ing themselves as fully equal to the defence of their country. 
The cause of the Spanish patriots was eagerly embraced by 
the court of London, and by the British nation at large, and 
the most active measures were quickly taken to send them 
effectual aid. 
While these preparations were making on the part of the 
Spaniards, the French forces were collecting in great num¬ 
bers, both on the frontiers, and in the neighbourhood of 
the capital. Above 25,000 men, under the command of 
Bessieres and Lassoles, threatened the provinces of Asturias 
and Biscay, or occupied the plains of Castile. Ten thousand 
men were shut up in the citadel of Barcelona; and to relieve 
them, a strong body of French troops had marched from the 
frontiers, and laid siege to Zaragoza. A considerable body 
under General Moncey attacked the city of Valencia; 
while the grand duke of Berg, after having detached General 
Dupont at the head of 20,000 men, to quiet the insurrection 
of the southern provinces, held Madrid with about 15,000 
troops. Junot, with about 25,000 men, had entered Portu¬ 
gal, and taken possession of the capital. The whole French 
lorce at this time in Spain cannot be computed at less than 
100,000 men. These were opposed by a very numerous, 
but undisciplined force, commanded by generals of acknow¬ 
ledged bravery, but differing widely from each other in ex¬ 
perience and military prudence. General Palafox com¬ 
manded in Arragon; General Castanos in the southern pro¬ 
vinces ; and General Blake in the north. 
The first exertions of the Spanish patriots were eminently 
successful, though they have been greatly exaggerated in the 
newspapers published under authority of the juntas. The 
harbour of Cadiz, which contained a numerous and well- 
appointed fleet, was under the command of the Marquis de 
Solano, a man notoriously attached to the French interest; 
and here lay a French fleet, consisting of five ships of the line 
and a frigate. One of the first efforts of the patriots was, to 
obtain possession both of Cadiz and the French fleet, and in 
this they completely succeeded. Solano was arrested and 
put to death, and Don Morla was appointed in his room. In 
the beginning of June, the French fleet was summoned to 
surrender, and on the admiral’s refusal, was furiously attacked 
by the batteries on shore, and obliged to capitulate. The 
force detached by Murat, under Dupont, was attacked near 
Baylen, on the 22d July, by Major-general Reding, second 
in command under Castanos, and after having been defeat¬ 
ed, was compelled to surrender at discretion. The French 
force besieging Zaragoza, was repeatedly attacked by General 
Palafox, and suffered considerable losses, while that city held 
out with the most heroic bravery. Perhaps there are few 
instances in the annals of modern warfare, in which such per¬ 
severing and succesful courage has been displayed, as by the 
defenders of Zaragoza. All the means of attack which were 
in possession of the French, directed by the skill With which 
their long experience and success had supplied them, were 
made use of. The inhabitants were obliged continually to 
be upon their guard, and to be prepared to resist the most 
unexpected and secret, as well as the most open and violent 
assaults. The city was frequently bombarded in the middle 
Vol. XXIII. No. 1580. 
of the night, at the same time that the gates were attempted 
to be forced, under cover of the shells. More than once the 
French got into some parts of the town; but they were re¬ 
ceived with so much coolness and bravery, that they were 
never able to preserve what they had with so much difficulty 
and loss acquired. The women vied with their husbands, 
sons, and brothers, in the display of patriotism and contempt 
of danger: regardless of the fire of the enemy, they rushed 
into the very middle of the battle, administering support and 
refreshment to the exhausted and wounded, and animating, 
by their exhortations and example, all ranks to such a dis¬ 
play of firmness and bravery as long secured this important 
city. When it is recollected, that the attacks of the French 
were numerous and varied, that they were constantly repeat¬ 
ed with fresh, and generally with increasing forces, and that 
the sole defence of the city rested with its spirited inhabit¬ 
ants and the army of Palafox; some idea may be formed of 
the difficulties they must have undergone and surmounted, 
and of the glory to which they are so justly entitled. The 
patriots had gained possession of most of the sea-ports in 
the bay of Biscay, and headed by the bishop of St. Andero, 
repulsed the French in several attacks. The French force 
under General Moncey was also repulsed before Valencia, 
and the patriots were equally successful in several other 
quarters ; so that by the end of July there did not 
remain above 40,000 French forces within the Spanish 
territory. 
In the meantime preparations were making at Madrid for 
the reception of the new sovereign Joseph; and Murat, 
uitted the capital, to give way to the brother of Napoleon, 
oseph arrived at Madrid in the latter end of July, with 
a guard of 10,000 men; but soon after his arrival, the news 
of the defeat and capitulation of Dupont reached Madrid, 
and threw the new court into the utmost consternation. They 
understood that the victorious army of Castanos was on its 
march towards the capital; and if he did not speedily retire 
from so dangerous a position, King Joseph dreaded either 
falling into the hands of the conqueror of Dupont, or of 
being intercepted in his retreat by the army of Genera) Blake. 
In this situation he found himself under the necessity of 
quitting the capital which he had so lately entered, and be¬ 
fore the end of the month he had reached Burgos in his pre¬ 
cipitate flight towards the frontiers. Thus, within the space 
of two months, did the people of Spain behold their country 
almost entirely freed from the presence of the French; and 
this happy issue had been brought about by their own 
intrepidity. At a time when their situation was the most 
dispiriting and forlorn; when their king had been compelled 
to forsake them, and to make over his right to the throne to a 
foreign potentate; when they beheld scarcely any troops 
surrounding them on all sides, but those of their enemy 
they rose in arms, and opposed themselves, unskilled as they 
were in war, and totally unprepared for it, to a man before 
whom the mightiest empires in Europe had fallen. 
The successes of the Spanish arms, though brilliant and 
important, were but transient. The leaders of the insurrec¬ 
tion appear to have been but ill calculated to oppo e the 
system of tactics which had been so often practised with 
success by the conqueror of Marengo, of Jena, and of Auster- 
litz. In a series of about 30 bulletins, published from the 
French army of Spain, comprehending from the beginning 
of November, 1808, to the m.ddle of January, 1809, we read 
of nothing but the rapid movements and successes of the 
French, and the defeat and annihilation of the best appoint¬ 
ed armies of the insurgents. In Gallicia, General Blake, 
after having withstood Marshal Ney, in several encounters, 
was at length defeated, and his army dispersed. A division 
of the army of Estremadura, under Count Belvider, which 
had marched from Madrid to support the city of Burgos, was 
attacked and defeated by a division of the French army 
under the Dukes of Istria and Dalmatia; while the army of 
General Castanos was in a great measure dispersed, after a 
severe conflict on the heights of Tudela. 
In the meantime Buonaparte had entered Spain, and taken 
the command of the French army. He advanced by rapid 
5 O inarches 
