had been for the first time in any war driven entirely out of the West Indies; the French and Dutch flags were suffered to wave in that hemisphere no more-an advantage which had never been gained before, not even in the the war of 1756. The family of Braganza had been removed from French influence and French aggression to the Brazils, whence advantages of importance might be expected to result to this country. Portugal, which had been overrun by the enemy, had seen that enemy expelled by British va lour. Spain had been encouraged to struggle with her oppressors by our example. The port of Lisbon was now free; and Cadiz and Ceuta were at present occupied by British, in conjunction with Spa nish troops. Such was the real state of things at the period when the noble lord had thought proper

to move a censure so severe.

The Earl of Stanhope proposed as an amendment, "That that house would pledge themselves to mainin the law of the land, to which

they deemed the right of trial by jury, and the preserving the liberty of the subject, as indispensable." The Earl of Suffolk supported the amendment; so also did the Duke of Norfolk. The privileges of parliament, the duke admitted; but only those privileges that were consistent and salutary; among which he could not class that privilege, the recent discussion of which had caused so much discontent and alarm. Other lords spoke on the subjects of several of the resolutions. The necessity of some reform in the House of Commons was much insisted on. The question on the amendment was negatived without a division. The question was then put on the original address, and the house divided for the address 72; against it, 134.

On the 21st of June the royal assent was given to several bills, a speech in his Majesty's name was delivered by the Lord Chancellor,* one of his Majesty's commissioners, and the parliament prorogued to the 21st of August.

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CHAP.

doomed by the rigour of fortune, would dare to proclaim a wish to become a Frenchman? The Supreme Junta, the organ of the wishes of all good patriots, has taken measures suitable to the dangers of the moment. The Supreme Junta has come to a resolutien, according to a decree of the 4th of April last, that all the effects of the churches, not necessary to the performance of divine service, shall be immediately sent to the mint at Seville with the atmost exactness; that there shall forthwith be opened a forced loan of half the gold and silver possessed by individuals; that an extraordinary contribution be levied on all classes of the state; that all sinecure and useless places shall be abolished as they become vacant; that there be opened in Spain six millions of dollars, and forty millions in America; that a tax be imposed on all carriages of Juxury; that our armies be reinforced by 100,000 men; that 100,000 lances be formed, and as many poignards, to be distributed in the provinces; that the whole Sierra, from Santa Ollala to the kingdom of Grenada, be inspected by able engineers; that all the companies, of the different corps of the army shall be commanded by officers properly qualified, and in sufficient numbers; that besides the measures taken for furnishing the army with arms and other articles in place of those they have lost, the Junta will make every exertion for recovering the muskets distributed among the peasants.

were appointed, and had already set out on their mission, with full powers to remedy the disaster of Ocona, and to prevent the recurrence of the like in future."

The Spaniards selected the best positions in the Sierra for defence, formed entrenchments, erected batteries, intersected the roads by deep cuts in some places, and planted mines for blowing them up in others. But the species of natural defence, on so extended line as that presented by the Sierra Morena, avails but little, as had been repeatedly proved in our times, by the passage of the French over the mountains of Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. It is easily overcome by the improved instrumentality and operations of modern warfare.

The French army, on the 20th and 21st of January, infantry and cavalry, forced their way through the mountains, chiefly by the passes of Puerto del Rey, Col de Muladar, and Despenna Perros. But it was necessary to send the heavy artillery round by Aranjuez. The Spaniards scarcely made any resistance: they were driven from their entrenchments with the bayonet. The intersections of the roads, and derangements occasioned by the explosion of the mines, did not retard the march of the French a quarter of an hour. Six thousand Spaniards, of whom a considerable portion were officers, were made prisoners; the rest fled, or were dispersed. The greater part of them escaped to Sierra Susanna, in the province of Their magazines and ord

hance fell, of course, into the hands of the victors; who, having crossed the Morena mountains, directed their march on Baylen, Jaen, Cordova, Carmona, and Seville. Detachments were sent into various quarters for overawing the country, keeping open their communications, collect ng provisions, and raising contributions. At Jaen and Cordova the French found great quantities of ammunition and stores; at Jaen, 44 pieces of ordnance, and 6000 muskets; at Cordova, 6000 muskets and an arsenal. The pieces of different calibres that fell into their hands at these two cities, together with those that were found here and there in the mountains, amounted to not fewer than eighty.

From Jaèn, Sebastiani was ordered by Soult, the general in chief in this expedition, January 27, to march with his division to Grenada. The wrecks of the Spanish army, after the battle of Ocana and the passage of the Sierra, re-united under the generals Ariesaga and Frêre, to the number of 7000 foot and 3000 cavalry, were also on their way to throw themselves into Grenada. Sebastiani came up and attacked them on the other side, that is to say, the side next Grenada, of Alcala Real, whither the park of artillery at Badajoz had been removed, and where some divisions that had fled from the Sierra Morena had rallied. Two hundred of them fell: about an equal number was taken. The infantry was dispersed. Ariesaga abandoning his artillery, retreated with the remains of his cavalry to Murcia.

Grenada, alarmed at these

events, on the 28th of January opened its gates to the French general. He was greeted by the universal acclamation of an immense multitude of people. No one fled. All in the public employments of the state, and all men of rank and property, wero ardent in their professions of attachment, and eager to take an oath of allegiance to King Joseph. At Grenada was found a battalion of troops, one thousand strong, all of them strangers, and most of them Swiss, formerly belonging to the army of General Dupont, who had gone over to the patriots. They were terribly afraid of punishment, but were offered pardon, on the condition of entering into the service of the Emperor; which they accepted. Plentiful stores and provisions were found at Grenada. General Sebastiani, to secure peaceable possession of both the capital and the whole province, threw a garrison, from 12 to 15,000 men, into the fortress of Alhambra, which was put into a proper state of defence, and provisioned for six months.

It was among the instructions of the commander in chief, at this period, to General Soult, to Sebastiani to proceed from the reduction of Grenada to that of Malaga. This city was in a state of great commotion; a circumstance which determined the French general to march against it sooner than he intended. An old colonel, of the name of Aballo, had seized on the government of the town, and shipped off the old authorities, civil and military, as well as such of the principal inhabitants as were suspected of favouring the French usurpation. A number

A number of priests and monks had been employed night and day in preaching a crusade against the French infidels. Both the inhabitants of Malaga, and of the mountainous country around, had taken up arms. A Capuchin friar was appointed their general. All the colonels and other officers were also monks. The insurrection had become alarming. Six thousand men had seized the great pass into the mountain, and deep trenches were dug for securing the roads leading to it from the plain. The inhabitants of Albama too, were in a state of insurrection. General Sebastiani, therefore, setting out, February 5th, with the advanced guard of his army from Antequara, drove the insurgents from their fastnesses in the mountains to Malaga. Here they rallied in a great, but disorderly mass, having with them a great train of artillery and a detachment of cavalry. They withstood the musketry and artillery of the French infantry with great courage and obstinate valour; but they gave way to an impetuous charge of the French cavalry. Fifteen hundred of the insurgents, among whom were many priests and monks, were found dead on the field of battle. The French entered the city of Malaga with the flying Spaniards. The contest, had for a few moments been kept up by a fire from the windows of houses and at the crossings of the streets, when the inhabitants made their submission. Next day, the inbabitants of Velez-Malaga arrested

the ringleaders of this new insurrection, and sent them to the imperial army, requesting that they might be brought to justice. The possession of Malaga was a point of great importance to the invaders, as it cut off the communication between the maritime provinces of Spain, on the east side, and the country in the neighbourhood of Gibraltar and Cadiz: and not only this, the whole peninsula was cut in two parts by a military cord. The communication between the eastern and the western provinces of Spain, was intersected by a line of posts extending from Bayonne, by Burgos and Valladolid, to Madrid; and from thence by Toledo, Andujar, and Jaen, to the gulph of Malaga. At Malaga were found 143 pieces of cannon of different calibres, and a considerable quan tity of ammunition and provisions. Such of the inhabitants as could not reconcile themselves to the idea of submitting to the French, found refuge in three English ships of war in the harbour. All English merchandize found in Malaga was sequestrated.*

After the passage of the Morena, both King Joseph, who accompanied the army as the nominal commander, and his generals, seemed to think that the conquest of Spain was completed. Soult, in a letter to Berthier, from Cordova, January 27, says, "The inhabitants of Andalusia shew the best dispositions possible. They remain all of them quietly at their homes, with the exception of some ringleaders of the insurrection. Their countenances are open and

placid,