ed off Martinique in the end of Janu- | views for the prosecution of the mariary. The landing was effected with- time contest were essentially wound out any resistance; and the enemy up with the extension of his naval having been defeated in a general ac- power in the Archipelago. By giving tion some days after, they were shut Great Britain a permanent footing in up in Fort Bourbon, the principal the neighbourhood of Greece, and the stronghold in the island, which shortly command of Corfu, the finest harbour after surrendered at discretion, with and strongest fortress in the Adriatic, three thousand men. This was fol- it powerfully contributed in the end lowed, some months afterwards, by a to counterbalance the influence of the successful descent on the colony and cabinet of St Petersburg in that quarfortress of St Domingo, which, with ter, and may be regarded as the first two battalions of infantry, were taken step in a series of events linked toby General Carmichael. Cayenne was gether by a chain of necessary though also reduced; so that, as Cuba and the unperceived connection-the Greek Reother Spanish settlements in those lati-volution-the battle of Navarino-the tudes were now allied colonies, the French flag was entirely excluded from the West Indies. prostration of Turkey-the establishment of a Christian government in Greece-the subjugation of Persia by Russia-and the rapid extension of Muscovite influence in Khorassan. These events are destined, to all human appearance, in their ultimate consequences, to roll back to the East the tide of civilised conquest-array the powers of the West in fearful collision in Central Asia-and prepare, in the hostile efforts of European ambition, that general regeneration of the tro pical regions, which, for mysterious purposes, Providence has hitherto prevented from taking place by the deso 31. The Isle of France in the Indian ocean was at the same time strictly blockaded, and, it was foreseen, must ere long capitulate; the Isle of Bourbon surrendered on the 21st September; the French settlement on the Senegal river, on the western coast of Africa, had fallen into the hands of the English; and preparations were making on a great scale for an attack on Batavia, and the important island of Java in the Indian archipelago. Thus, in every direction, the last distant settlements of Napoleon were fall-lating sway of Mahometan power. ing into the hands of the British; and, at the time when the triumphant conclusion of the Austrian war seemed to give him the undisputed command of continental Europe, the maritime superiority of England was producing its natural results, in the successive acquisition of the whole colonies of the globe. 32. Important success also attended the British arms, both by sea and land, in the Mediterranean. A powerful naval expedition was despatched in autumn, by Lord Collingwood, with sixteen hundred land troops on board, who, after a slight resistance, made themselves masters of the seven islands of Zante, Cephalonia, Corfu, &c., which were permanently placed under the protection and sway of Great Britain. The importance of this acquisition was not at that period perceived; but it was instantly felt by Napoleon, whose | 33. In conformity with the earnest desire expressed by the Austrian government, that a diversion of considerable magnitude should be attempted on the coast of Italy, an expedition was prepared in the Sicilian harbours in the course of this summer, to menace the coast of Naples. As usual, however, the British government were so tardy in their operations, that not only was ample time given to the enemy to prepare for his defence at the menaced points, but it was utterly impossible that the attempt could have any beneficial effect on the vital line of operations in the valley of the Danube. The fleet, having no less than fifteen thousand troops, half British, and half Sicilian, on board, did not set sail from Palermo till the beginning of June; that is to say, more than a month after the Archduke John had retired from Italy, and the theatre of contest between him and Eugene Beauharnais had been transferred to the Hungarian plains. It at first met with considerable success. The island of Ischia, which forms so conspicuous an object in the bay of Naples, was assaulted and carried by the British troops: Procida was next taken, close to the shore, with a flotilla of forty gun-boats, fifteen hundred prisoners, and a hundred pieces of cannon; while a detachment of the English forces, landing in the straits of Messina, took possession of the castle of Scylla and the chain of fortified posts opposite to Sicily. These advantages had at first the effect of spreading a great alarm along the Neapolitan coast, and occasioning the recall of a considerable body of men whom Murat had detached to the support of the Viceroy; but they led to no other or more durable result. This powerful British force, nearly as large as that which gained the battle of Vimeira, and which, if landed and skilfully brought into action, would probably have overthrown the whole army of Naples, was shortly after withdrawn without attempting anything farther, by the instructions of government, who intended this only as a diversion; and the fortified posts at Scylla, after being several times taken and retaken, were at length abandoned to the enemy. This expedition, from its tardy appearance and inconsiderable exploits, could hardly be said to have contributed much to aid the common cause; but, from the alarm which it diffused through the Italian peninsula, it had a powerful effect in accelerating the ecclesiastical revolution which has already been noticed, and may be regarded as the immediate cause of the arrest of the Pope, which in its ultimate effects produced such important results. 34. A maritime operation, attended with more decisive results, took place in autumn, in the bay of Genoa. A detachment of the Toulon fleet having put to sea, with a view to carry succours to the French troops in the bay of Rosas, which were cut off by the Spaniards from direct communication with their own country, they were im mediately chased by Lord Collingwood, who blockaded that port; and, after a hard pursuit, the ships of war were forced to separate from the convoy, and three ships of the line and one frigate driven ashore, where they were burned by their crews, to prevent them from falling into the hands of the British. Meanwhile the transports, under convoy of a frigate and some smaller armed ships, in all eleven vessels, having taken refuge in the bay of Rosas, under protection of the powerful castle and batteries there, deemed themselves beyond the reach of attack. In that situation, however, they were assailed by a detachment of the British fleet, under the orders of Captain Hallowell, who at once formed the daring resolution of cutting out the whole with the boats of the ships under his command. The arrangements for this purpose, made with the judgment. and foresight which might have been expected from that distinguished hero of the Nile, were carried into effect by Lieutenant Tailour with a spirit and resolution above all praise. In sight of the fleet, the boats stretched out, the crews being at the highest point of animation, filling the air with their cheers: and rapidly advancing under a very heavy fire from the armed ships and batteries, carried the whole vessels in the most gallant style, and either burned or brought away them all. Brilliant, however, as these naval operations were, they had no decisive effect on the issue of the war. The maritime contest was already decided: at Trafalgar the dominion of the seas had finally passed to the British flag. It was at land that the real struggle now lay; it was for the deliverance of other nations that England now fought; it was on the soldiers of Wellington that the eyes of the world were turned. 35. After the retreat of the English to Corunna, and the fall of Madrid, affairs in the Peninsula appeared wellnigh desperate. In Portugal there was only a corps of eight thousand British soldiers, chiefly in and around Lisbon, upon whom any reliance could be placed. For though about six thou sand men, under Silviera, lay in the | in that city after the fall of Madrid northern provinces, and the Lusitanian As to the new levies in Andalusia, legion, of half that amount, on the Granada, and Valencia, they were as north-eastern frontier, under the able yet too ill-disciplined and remote from guidance of the gallant Sir R. Wilson, the scene of action to be capable of yet the composition of the forces of affording any efficient support to rewhich these detachments consisted, re- gular troops in the earlier periods of cently embodied and not yet fully dis- the campaign. And though, in Cataciplined, was not such as to inspire any lonia, there were at least fifty thousand confidence as to their ability to con- brave men in possession of Gerona, tend with regular soldiers, or defend Rosas, Tarragona, Tortosa, Lerida, and the country in the event of a fresh in- a strong central range of mountains, vasion. Their small numerical amount yet they were fully occupied with the compelled Cradock, in the first instance, invaders in their own bounds, and to concentrate his forces, which he did without either seeking succour from, at Passa d'Arcos, close to the mouth or being able to afford succour to the of the Tagus, where he might be in a neighbouring provinces, resolutely situation to embark with safety, if a maintained on their own hills an indeserious invasion should be attempted. pendent hostility. The patriot forces These dispositions, however, naturally numbered in all scarcely a hundred spread the belief that the English were and twenty thousand men, scattered going to abandon the country, as they had over the whole extent of the Peninsula, done Galicia; and tumults broke out in without either any means of uniting various quarters arising from the dread with each other, any central authority of this anticipated desertion. Towards to which they all yielded obedience, or the end of February, however, the ar- any common object to which they could rival of six thousand men from Eng- simultaneously be applied. At Madrid, land, under Sherbrooke and Mackenzie, Joseph reigned with the apparent conhaving augmented Cradock's force to sent of the nation. Registers having fourteen thousand, he was enabled to been opened for the inscription of the take a position in advance, covering names of those who were favourable the capital, at Saccavino, which soon, to his government, no less than twentyby reviving confidence, had the effect eight thousand heads of families in a of removing the public apprehensions. few days enrolled themselves; and de36. Affairs in Spain were still more putations from the municipal council, unpromising. The army of Blake, the council of the Indies, and all the which had suffered so severely at Es- incorporations, waited upon him at pinosa and Reynosa, had dwindled Valladolid, to entreat that he would away to eight or nine thousand ragged return to the capital and reassume the and half-starved troops, without either royal functions, with which he at stores or artillery, who with difficulty length complied. maintained themselves in the Galician mountains: the remains of the soldiers of Aragon, about twenty thousand strong, had thrown themselves into Saragossa, where they were preparing to undergo a fresh siege. Castanos' men, who had come up from Andalusia, joined to some who had escaped from Somo-Sierra and Madrid, in all twenty-five thousand strong, were in La Mancha, and had their headquarters at Toledo; while ten or twelve thousand disorganised levies at Badajoz formed a sort of guard for the Central Junta, who had established themselves 37. On the other hand, the forces of Napoleon were much more formidable, both from the position which they occupied, and the number and quality of the troops of which they were composed. Instead of being spread out, like the English and Spanish hosts, round an immense circumference, without any means of communicating with or supporting each other, they were massed together in the central parts of the kingdom, and possessed the inestimable advantage of an interior and comparatively short line of communication. The total French force in the Penin sula amounted, even after the Imperial Guard had departed for Germany, to two hundred and eighty thousand infantry, and forty thousand cavalry, of whom two hundred and forty thousand were present in the field with the eagles. Fifty thousand of this immense force protected the great line of communication with France, which was strengthened by three fortresses, and sixty-four fortified posts of correspondence; and the corps were so distributed that they could all support each other in case of need, or combine in any common operations. The northern provinces were parcelled out into military governments, the chiefs of which communicated with each other by means of movable columns, repressed any attempt at insurrection, and levied military contributions on the inhabitants to the amount not only of all the wants of their respective corps, but in some cases including immense fortunes to themselves. Nearly the whole charges of this enormous force were extorted from the conquered provinces. Soult, with twenty-three thousand effective men, lay at Corunna, while Ney, with fourteen thousand, occupied Asturias and the northern coast; Lannes and Moncey, with two corps, about fortyeight thousand strong, were charged with the siege of Saragossa; Victor was in Estremadura with twenty-five thousand; Mortier, with as many in the valley of the Tagus; Sebastiani, who had succeeded to the command of Lefebvre's corps, observed the enemy's forces in La Mancha; St Cyr, with forty thousand, was stationed in Catalonia; and Joseph, with twelve thousand guards, was at Madrid. 38. The spirits of the Spaniards, which had been sunk to an extraordinary degree by the disasters of the preceding campaign, the capture of their capital, and the retreat of the English troops from Galicia, were first revived by the intelligence of the treaty so opportunely and generously concluded by Great Britain, at the moment of their greatest depression, by which she engaged never to conclude a separate peace with Napoleon; and VOL. VIIL by the resolution expressed in parliament by the ministers, notwithstanding the gloomy forebodings of the Opposition, never to abandon the cause of Spanish independence. These cheering announcements were speedily followed by deeds which clearly evinced an unabated resolution to maintain the contest. Measures were set on foot in Portugal, evidently preparatory to a protracted struggle. General Beresford had been appointed by the regency field-marshal in the Portuguese service, and intrusted with the arduous duty of training and directing the new levies in that kingdom. Twenty thou sand of these troops were taken into British pay, placed under the direction of British officers, and admitted to all the benefits of British upright administration: the regency revived and enforced the ancient law of the monar chy, by which, in periods of peril, the whole male population capable of bearing arms were called out in defence of their country: numerous transports, filled with stores and muniments of war, daily arrived at Lisbon, which became a vast depot for the military operations of the kingdom. Finally, the landing of Sir Arthur Wellesley, with powerful reinforcements from England, was regarded at once as a pledge of sincerity in the cause, and the harbinger of yet higher glories than he had yet acquired. Reanimated by these vigorous steps on the part of their ally, not less than the breaking out of the Austrian war, and withdrawing of the Imperial Guard from the Peninsula, the Central Junta, which was now established at Seville, issued a spirited proclamation to their countrymen, in which, after recounting the propitious circumstances which were now appearing in their favour, they strongly recommended the general adoption of the guerilla system of warfare, and renewed their protestations never to make peace while a single Frenchman polluted the Spanish territory. 39. Saragossa was the first place of note which was threatened by the French arms. The vicinity of that place to the frontier of the Empire, its commanding situation on the banks of | were provided in abundance; the solid the Ebro, the valour of its inhabitants, construction of the storehouses dimiand the renown which they had ac- nished to a considerable degree the quired by the successful issue of the chances of a successful bombardment; last siege, all conspired to render its and one hundred and eighty guns, disearly reduction a matter of the highest tributed on the ramparts, gave token interest to the Emperor. After the of a much more serious resistance than disastrous issue of the battle of Tudela, on the last memorable occasion. Such Palafox, with about fifteen thousand was the confidence of the Aragonese in regular troops, had thrown himself the strength of the ramparts of Sarainto that city; but their number was gossa, the unconquerable spirit of its soon augmented to thirty thousand, garrison, and the all-powerful protecby the stragglers who had taken re- tion of Our Lady of the Pillar, that, on fuge there after that rout, to whom the approach of the French troops to were soon joined fifteen thousand invest the town, the peasants from all armed but undisciplined peasants, quarters flocked into it, burning with monks, and mechanics. The enthusi- ardour, and undaunted in resolution, asm of this motley crowd was incon- so as to swell its defenders to fifty ceivable; it recalled, in the nineteenth thousand men. But they brought century, the days of Numantia and with them, as occurred in Athens Saguntum. The citizens of the town when besieged by the Lacedemonians, were animated by the spirit of demo- the seeds of a contagious malady, cratic freedom; the peasants of the which among its now crowded dwellcountry by that of devout enthusiasm; ings spread with alarming rapidity, the monks by religious devotion; the and in the end proved more fatal even soldiers by former glory—all by patri- than the sword of the enemy. otic fervour. By a singular combination of circumstances, but one which frequently occurred during the Spanish war, the three great principles which agitate mankind-the spirit of religion, the fervour of equality, the glow of patriotism-were all called into action at the same time, and conspired to stimulate one common resistance. Thence the obstinate defence of Saragossa, and its deathless fame. 41. Palafox exercised an absolute authority over the city; and such was the patriotic ardour of the inhabitants, that all his orders for the public defence were obeyed without a moment's hesitation, even though involving the sacrifice of the most valuable property, or dearest attachments of the people. If a house in the neighbourhood was required to be demolished to make way for the fire of the ramparts, hardly was the order given than the proprietor himself levelled it with the ground. The shady groves, the delicious gardens in which the citizens so much delighted, were laid waste by the 40. The defences of the place had been considerably strengthened since the former siege. The weak or ruined parts of the wall had been repaired, additional parapets erected in the most exposed situations, the suburbs includ-axe: in a few days the accumulated ed in new fortifications, barriers and trenches drawn across the principal streets, and the houses loopholed; so that, even if the rampart were surmounted, a formidable resistance might be anticipated in the interior of the town. General Doyle, of the British service, had, ever since the termination of the first siege, been indefatigable in his efforts to strengthen the place. A large quantity of English muskets was distributed among the inhabitants; ammunition, stores, and provisions, wealth of centuries disappeared in the environs of the town, before the breath of patriotism. Palafox's provident care extended to every department, his spirit animated every rank; but such was the ardour of the people that their voluntary supplies anticipated every requisition, and amply provided for the multitude now accumulated within the walls. Terror was summoned to the aid of loyalty, and the fearful engines of popular power, the scaffold and the gallows, were erected |