to Ciudad Rodrigo, that he admitted the defence had been most obstinate. It was impossible, he said, to form an idea of the state to which it was reduced. Every thing was battered down; not a single house remained uninjured. The killed he estimated at more than 2000. It is extraordinary that the real amount should have been so small;-it was only 63 of the inhabitants, and 237 of the garrison. 7000 soldiers, he said, laid down their arms: the number at the commencement of the siege was 4950. Six hundred made their escape on the night of the capitulation, and more than 1500 before they reached Salamanca. Above two-and-forty thousand shells were thrown into the city, and nearly 25,000 from it. The quantity of powder consumed by the garrison during the last sixteen days was 893 quintales, the quintal being 132 lbs. The French gave no statement of their own loss; even upon their usual scale of diminution it would have appeared too great: the place is said to have cost them 9000 men in killed and wounded. The capture, however, occasioned the greatest exultation in Paris, and the Moniteur mingled with its own insults the echoes of our factious journalists. "The good sense of the English people," it said, "enabling them to foresee the dishonour and destruction of their army in Portugal, they are convinced that the most fortunate event which could befal it would be a catastrophe like that of Moore's. They are too much accustomed to calculate chances and events not to know, that alone against France they could, in such a contest, meet nothing but disaster, and obtain nothing but disgrace." ""Men of sound judgement, like Grenville or Grey, are numerous in England;" said the Moniteur, "but

they are at present without any influence." Then, returning to its na tural tone of insult, it ridiculed the strength of Lord Wellington's army, amounting to the dreadful number of 24,000 English. "The cries of the inhabitants of Ciudad Rodrigo," it said, "were heard in his camp, which was only six leagues distant: but all ears were shut against them; the English army made no attempt to succour that city:-they were the laughing-stock of Europe; every coffee-house waiter knew their weakness on land, as well as their influence at sea. Ciudad Rodrigo was one of the last bulwarks of the insurrection; its capture made the catastrophe more imminent for England, who would now find it necessary to call to the helm more prudent men, better acquainted with the nature of the resources and of the strength of their country, and therefore more moderate."

In England, too, we were told, that if Ciudad Rodrigo were taken, the efforts of the English might be consi dered to be at an end; the French would then be able to advance without fear of a check; the harvest also being now begun, whatever grain there was in the country they would be able to secure for themselves, and so form magazines, the want of which had hitherto chiefly retarded their advance. At one time these politi cians cried out, "that Lord Wellington could not permit the enemy quiet. ly to prosecute the siege of so important a fortress." At another, "they would not suppose him capable of fighting a useless battle: for they trusted he was not so prodigal of the blood of his followers. They trusted that his operations would be justified by the event." "They were not competent to speak from their own know

ledge, yet certainly it did appear a doubtful policy to be patiently waiting till Massena had time to concentrate his troops, and make all his arrangements for an attack on the British position." "The plan of overwhelming Lord Wellington, by bringing an immense superiority to bear upon him, was one which obviously. presented itself; there seemed no insurmountable difficulty in the execution; obstacles there might be, from want of provisions and other circumstances, but the skill and perseverance of the French in combating them, forbade us to place much reliance upon such grounds." In this manner, always presaging evil, and consistent in nothing but despondency, sometimes borrowing the tone of the Moniteur, and sometimes setting it, did these journalists of a disappointed party labour to deaden the hearts and hopes of their countrymen; while their more wicked, but hardly more mischievous coadjutors, addressed their weekly invectives to the readers and auditors in pot-houses and tap-rooms, abusing their ignorance, appealing to, and inflaming their worst passions, and crying out against the tyranny of their own government, while upon the crimes of Buonaparte they observed

a cautious and notable silence.

The fall of Ciudad Rodrigo enabled Massena to detach a force to the relief of Astorga, where General Mahy, who commanded in Gallicia, was blockading the French garrison. He boasted soon after of another success. General Serras took possession of the fort at Pueblo de Sanabria; the French magnified the importance of this post, saying that it commanded the entrance into Portugal, and shut up the communication with Gallicia. They said also, that Lord Wellington had enjoined the Spanish gover

nor to make an obstinate defence; but that the governor reproached him for having deceived the commandant of Ciudad Rodrigo, and broken his word with him; told him it was evident be intended to do nothing for Spain, but only, for the sake of fomenting divi sions, held out hopes of assistance which were never realized; yet nevertheless offered to shut himself up in the fortress, and bury himself in its ruins, if the English general would send him one Englishman for two Spaniards, to assist in its defence. The answer of Lord Wellington, the French papers said, might easily be conceived; the Spanish general aban. doned the town, where the conquer ors found 20 pieces of artillery, and provisions for 3000 men for six months. After these falsehoods and this exag geration, the French made no farther mention of the Pueblo de Sanabria

D. Francisco Taboada Gil, the offcer who was thus infamously and false ly represented as insulting the Eng lish general, had communicated not with him but with the Portuguez: general, Silveira, at Braganza, wit whom it was agreed that he shoul evacuate the place if it were attack ed by a superior force. Taboada accordingly fell back upon the Portillas de Gallicia, July 29, and Silveira, having ascertained that Serras had returned with the greater part of his troops to Momboy, concerted measures with the Spanish general for surprising the garrison which the French had left in Sanabria, and on the fourth day after they had taken possession of their boasted conquest, the enemy found themselves invested in the fort. They were summoned, but the commander replied, Arg. 3. that he had men and ammunition sufficient to defend himself

with, and that he expected speedily to be succoured by the troops of Marshal Massena. The following morning a detachment of about 70 French cavalry came on to attack the advanced guard af the Portugueze, under Captain Francisco Texeira Lobo, whose force was about equal; but while he charged them in front, another small party of Portugueze, by his instructions, wheeled round and attacked them in the rear; they were instantly broken, and 28 were left upon the field, 30 prisoners, and 40 horses taken. All that day was spent in vain endeavours to force an entrance into the fort; the assailants burnt the gates, but the enemy blocked them up effectually with stones; the Portugueze and Spaniards got possession of a house adjoining, from whence they attempted to make a way through, but the enemy soon battered it down. On the morrow, one mortar and one three pounder were planted against them; the first was in such a state, as to be useless after a few discharges, and Silveira, the next morning, sent for a sixpounder from Braganza. He was now apprized that Serras was approaching in force to relieve the garrison. Silveira left the Spaniards to maintain the blockade, and drew up in order of battle upon the river Tera; but Serras, having reconnoitred his forces, thought proper to retire upon Momboy. The six-pounder, from Braganza, was an iron gun, and in such a state, that when it arrived it was of no avail; and a twelve-pounder, which on the 8th was brought from the same place, proved in the same condition; this was a serious disappointment, for Silveira was now apprized that Serras was collecting reinforcements. Six hundred horse had entered Zamora,

VOL. III. PART I.

on their way to him, and two battalions of Italian troops were joining him from Benevente, Leon, and As-. torga. Unable to batter the place, because of the wretched state of the artillery, which Aug. 9. had been long left to decay in a delapidated fortress, he tried the effect of mining; here experience and skill were wanting, and the face of the curtain only was thrown down. The garrison, however, who were Swiss, dreaded that a second attempt might be more successful; and their commandant, pleading that he and his men were not French, proposed and obtained good terms, delivering up the place on condition that the garrison should be allowed to embark from Coruna, and return to theirown country, on their parole, not to bear arms against the allied powers. The artillery of the place, consisting of nine brass pieces instead of twenty, as the Moniteur had asserted, with the stores, were restored to the Spaniards; but Silveira retained for the Portugueze an eagle, the first which they had taken from their insolent enemy. Sixty of the Swiss entered into the service of the allies.

Serras was in sight of Silveira's advanced posts when this capitulation was concluded; he had with him from 4 to 5000 foot, and about 800 cavalry. The conquerors then retired; Taboada upon the Portillas; the Portugueze cavalry upon the road to Campissa; Silveira, with the foot, upon the heights of Calabor, meaning there to await the enemy, where their superiority in horse would be useless. The French soon perceived the skill with which his movements were directed, and having proceeded as far as Pedralva, returned from thence to Sanabria, then to Momboy. This is 2 F

the real history of General Serras's success at Puebla de Sanabria; the whole of the garrison which he left there were taken prisoners, and the

eagle which was taken with them was deposited with proper triumph in the cathedral at Lisbon, as the first trophy of the regenerated Portugueze.