the reparation made to his good name be as solemn and public as the aggression was cruel and scandalous." These proceedings satisfied the people, of whom the better sort were grieved at the excesses which had been committed; and their suspicions against the marquis were in some degree removed when Don Felix Jones, to whom his papers were delivered, declared that no indication of treason was to be discovered in them.

A seasonable supply of Feb. 1. seven millions of dollars arrived at Cadiz early in the year from the colonial possessions of Spain: 600,000 of these were a patriotic contribution from Carthagena, 300,000 from Cuba. This was one main advantage which the legitimate government possessed over that of the intruder: they received the usual revenue from the colonies, while he, when the church-plate had once been melted down, could raise no supplies from the provinces which he devastated. At present, before these provinces were quite exhausted, his armies were contented with free plunder, the hope of ransacking the rich cities of the south, and the confident expectation that they should soon complete the subjugation of Spain. A large proportion of their force became disposeable after the fall of Zaragoza; but even those who formed the army of observation had been so harassed, notwithstanding their superiority, by the indefatigable Spaniards, that it was found necessary to allow them some repose. When they were sufficiently recruited, St Cyr returned with his division into Catalonia. Reding had made a daring attempt to surprise Barcelona, in which he was frustrated by the treachery of some of his officers. He took up a line of posts from Martorell to Tar

ragona, the head-quarters, under Field Marshal Castro, being at Igualada: before his measures were completed for an intended attack upon the ene my, St Cyr, preventing him, fell, with far superior Feb. 16. forces, upon his left, and compelled it to fall back upon Igualada, which Castro then found it necessary to evacuate, retreating towards Cerrara. Reding was at this time in Tarragona. Judging it now necessary to reassemble his troops, and collect them in that fortress, he set out from Feb. 20. thence with 300 horse, a battalion of his Swiss countrymen, and six pieces of flying artillery, to effect this object; the party who were retreating from Coll de Santa Christina joined him, and he sent or ders to Brigadier-General Irenzo, who with 1200 men had defended himself for two days in the monastery of Santa Cruz, to force a pas sage that night, and effect a junction with him. This that officer accom. plished without the loss of a man, or any part of the stores or baggage. Proceeding from thence to Santa Colonia de Queralt, he collected other detachments there, his forces now amounting to 10,000 men; but there he learned that the French had entered Vals in order to cut off his retreat, and it was in consequence resolved to make a retrograde movement. On the 23d he reached Montblanch. A party of the enemy having appeared in his rear, he held a council the following day, and it was determined that they should make the best of their way in the night. At five in the morning the Feb. 25. advance, under Castro, and half the centre, had passed Vals, leaving the enemy's camp-fires on the left. They were proceeding as silent

ly as possible, and in good order, when, as Castro with his escort was passing a small bridge, a volley of musketry opened upon him within pistol-shot. This unexpected attack occasioned a momentary disorder; the troops, however, were soon judiciously stationed,-the artillery on both sides began to play; the French descended from the heights of Vals in several columns; the patriots advanced against them, and attacked them so bravely, that they drove them back, and made them fly to the very summit; there they received reinforcements and made a stand. By this time it was mid-day, and the troops were exhausted with their night march: Reding concentrated them, and the whole of the baggage being safe, again pursued his retreat. St Cyr meantime collected all his force, followed the retreating ariny, and attacked them in three points. Their main effort was on the left, and this they succeeded in forcing about half after four; and the Spaniards then, unable longer to resist a very superior force, dispersed, the less reluctantly as they had a near point of shelter in Tarragona. They had been engaged for eleven hours, with out showing the slightest sign of disorder till the fate of the day was thus finally decided. In the whole of this long action Reding distinguished himself equally by his personal exertions and his military skill, and he received five wounds. His aid-de-camp, Mr Reed, an Englishman, bravely covered the retreat of his disabled general, till being himself severely wounded with a sabre, he was taken prisoner. Reding got into Tarragona that night, where the greater part of the dispersed troops found their way, some corps in good order, others in small parties. In his dispatches he

made no mention of his wounds; but they proved mortal, and he closed an honourable life by a death worthy of his former atchievements. He fell in a foreign land, and in the service of a foreign state; but the cause in which Theodore Reding fell was the same for which his brother Aloys had fought amid their native mountains; it was the cause of his own countrymen as well as of the Spaniards, the cause of all good men in all countries. In ordinary wars, the motives for which they have been undertaken have been so mean and transitory, and come so little to the heart of man, that when a few years have elapsed all interest concerning them is exhausted; and even our nationality does not prevent us from feeling, that they, whose lives have been expended in such contests, have died rather in the exercise of their profession than of their duty. But the struggle of Spain against Buonaparte is of the same eternal and unfading interest as the wars of Greece against Xerxes: at whatever distance of time its records shall be perused, they will excite in every honest heart the same indignant and ennobling sympathy. Not, therefore, in an ungrateful service did Reding lay down his life, for with those records his name must be perpetuated: Switzerland will remember him with pride, and Spain with gratitude.

Blake was appointed to succeed him in the command; a more able man could not have been chosen ; but he succeeded to a charge of extreme difficulty; the most important fortresses and cities were in possesion of the enemy, and he had to keep the country against a force as much superior to his own in numbers as they were in discipline and equipment, and who, by way of Figueras or Pamplu

na, could receive stores and reinforcements more easily from France than he could draw them from the exhausted provinces of Spain. Such, however, was the skill, and such was the activity of the Catalans, that, under all disadvantages, the patriots kept their ground, and for some months prevented the French from attempting any important operation. No country has ever produced a braver or more enterprizing race of men than Catalonia, and grievously as their liberties have suffered since their union, first with Aragon and afterwards with Castile, the people have never lost their characteristic qualities which ennobled them in former times, when they were the masters of the sea. The irregular troops, who severely annoyed the French from the commencement of the struggle, were called Miquelets, or Michelets. In the old wars between Aragon and France, they had been known by the appellation of Almogavares: their patience under every kind of privation, their savage habits and appear. ance, and their dexterity in the use of their weapons, made them the terror of their enemies. These men were originally the scouts and outposts of the Christians against the Moors, and lived in a perpetual state of warfare; when that contest was terminated they became banditti in their own country, or soldiers of fortune abroad, and, losing their Moorish appellation, acquired their present name from Michelot de Prats, one of their leaders, who served with distinction in Italy, and became the companion of Cæsar Borgia, and the main agent in many of his atrocities. Wherever the administration of justice is corrupt and feeble, men will always be found who live in a state of continual outlawry;-in Spain,

however, the severity of the revenue laws opened for bold and mutinous spirits the least injurious channel in which they could be employed, and they, who in other times would have been robbers, became smugglers. Of such men the Miquelets consisted in the commencement of the contest; their hardy habits, their daring and adventurous disposition, and that intimate knowledge which, in the course of their former occupation, they had acquired of all the mountain paths, made them the best soldiers for such warfare as the state of Spain required; and the peasantry, or the citi zens, who, having been utterly ruin. ed, had no other course left them, than to stand or fall with their country in the field, acquired the same title when they formed themselves into irregular companies. Their ingenuity supplied the deficiency of arms; they manufactured wooden cannons, and by means of this artillery sometimes obtained advantages over their enemies.

Catalonia, however, was not the side to which the French were now directing their efforts. Their object was by a conjoined operation to destroy the armies of La Mancha and Estre madura at the same time, and make themselves masters of Seville. While Sebastiani was preparing to march against the former army, Victor was concentrating his forces for an attack upon the latter. His plans were im. peded by the Duke de Albuquerque, who held a command under the Duke de Urbino in the army of La Mancha. He attempted to surprise a detachment of the Feb. 18. enemy, who occupied the town of Mora; by the mistake (not the treachery) of a guide, the differ ent parties of his troops were prevented from uniting at the appointed

spot, and surrounding the French before their approach was discover ed. The success, however, was still considerable; the French suffered great loss before they fell back upon their head-quarters, abandoning their baggage, and Mora, with all the adjacent posts, were left in possession of the Spaniards. The operations of the enemy against the army of Estremadura were thus for a while frustrated. The Duke now projected fresh enterprizes on the side of Madrid; but the distinguished proofs of ability which he had given in the plan and conduct of this attack, the discipline which he had introduced into his troops, and the confidence with which he had inspired them, excited the apprehension of the French; and collecting a force of 11,000 infantry, and 3000 horse, they attempted to surprise him at ConFeb. 22. suegra early on the morning of the 22d. In this they were defeated by his vigilance; the advanced guard of the Spaniards gave the alarm in time, and opposed the enemy steadily; the remainder of his division instantly formed; they, in the face of superior numbers, effected their retreat in good order through the pass of La Gineta, and took up their position at Villalta. The French, after an action of six hours, had only advanced a mile, when they gave up the attack at the expence of more than 400 horse, a chest of ammunition, and two of their cannon, which they were obliged to spike. The Viscount de Zolina, who had distinguished himself at the battle of Baylen, acquired fresh reputation in this action; which, in deed, was greatly to the honour of the Spaniards; only seven of the army discovered either treachery or cow

ardice in the field, and they were delivered over to a military commission.

The success of the Duke de Al buquerque retarded the plans of the enemy for a month, and had the army been under his command, greater things would have been accomplished; the men had full confidence in him, but his commander had neither the same spirit of enterprize, nor the same talents, and withheld him from any further offensive operations by positive orders. This was exceedingly unfortunate; the troops were in high spirits; they had the greatest love for their leader, and he was equally popular among the people of La Mancha. The French, freed from the disquietude which his active measures would have given them, had leisure to complete their preparations, and about the middle of March Victor began to put his plans in execution. He had to cross to the left bank of the Tagus; the point where he designed to effect his passage was at the Puente del Arzobispo, or the Archbishop's bridge, so called from its founder, Don Pedro Tenorio. A wooden bridge which existed in his days was swept away by the flood, and as it was here that all pilgrims from the western side of the river passed to pay their devotions to the famous image of our Lady of Guadaloupe he built the present edifice, founded an hospital for their accommodation, and a town which he named Villa Franca, but which now takes its appellation from the bridge. Six thousand men had been stationed to defend this March 16. point; due precautions, however, had not been taken, the passage was won, and on the following, morning the French attacked the

Spanish positions at Meza de Ibor and Fresnedoso. The patriots, though consisting mostly of raw levies, made an obstinate resistance to the superior force which was brought against them, and when compelled to retreat they fell back in good order, taking up new positions, till early on the next day they joined the main body of Cuesta's army at Miravete.

This column of the French then divided into two bodies; the one proceeded by the circuitous way of De. leytosa and Torrecillas, to take post between Truxillo and Miravete, and thus cut off Cuesta's communication and supplies, and attack him in the rear, while the force from Almaraz, passing the river in boats, or upon rafts, should attack him in front. The other columns directed their march to the bridge of Almaraz, to turn Cuesta's advanced guard, who were defending that bridge against the enemy on the right bank. Henestrosa, who commanded here, abandoned this important post and fell back to Miravete, with such precipitation and evident misconduct or treachery, that he was put under arrest, brought to a summary trial, and shot within three hours. Cuesta himself gave no proofs either of firmness or ability. Miravete is a difficult pass; the force which was marching round to get in his rear did not exceed six thousand men, against whom he might have sent a detachment of sufficient strength, and still have been strong enough to maintain so advantageous a post. He, however, fell back as soon as the troops from the Puente del Arzobispo joined him, retreated beyond Truxillo, and took up a position at Santa Cruz, thus leaving Estremadura open to the enemy. His magazines at Truxillo fell into their hands.

This was not the only error which Cuesta committed. He knew at this time that he might expect an English army to act in co-operation with him. Sir Arthur Wellesley had, in the end of February, resigned his seat in Par. liament, and the chief secretaryship of Ireland, preparatory to taking the command, and General Beresford was already arrived at Lisbon. His policy, therefore, should have been by all means to avoid a general action Having, however, formed a junction with the Duke de Albuquerque's division, and hearing that Victor had detached part of his troops from Miajadas to Merida and Medellin, he resolved to march in search of him, and give him battle. Accordingly on the 27th of March he put his army in motion; the next morn ing he discovered that Victor had concentrated his whole force, consisting of about 3000 horse and 20,000 foot, in front of Medellin. This discovery, however, did not divert him from his rash resolution. The French infantry were formed in large close columns, their flanks covered by the cavalry, their front by six batteries. Cuesta ordered some of his columns to deploy, others to storm these batteries, the town be fore them was the birth-place of Hernan Cortes, and that recollection alone might have given them courage. The left wing of the Spaniards advanced steadily, within pistol-shot of the first battery, and carried it with fixed bayonets. Victor, with a strong division, both of horse and foot, char ged to retake it; the Spanish infantry advanced resolutely to meet them, but the cavalry failed in their duty; instead of charging the enemy at full gallop according to their orders, they threw their own troops into disorder, -the left wing was consequently