being insane, indeed his concealment in the closet, subsequent retreat, and ultimate death, are strongly opposed to this belief. The deposition of Mary Anne Sellis, wife, to the decased, was read; it stated that he had been walking with her and the children in the park the day preceding the murder, and appeared unusually cheerful. He said he should sleep that night at his room in the palace. She remembered his speaking to his sister and saying, "Death is a debt which we must all pay, and it matters not when we do it." He advised with her about the dresses which the children should wear on the birth-day. He was in no pecuniary embarrassment; was a sober and domestic man, never drinking any spirituous liquors even at his meals. The night before he had made her a glass of brandy and water, but would not taste it himself. He always paid the greatest attention to her, and shewed the most tender fondness for the children. She never saw the most remote system of derangement about him. She remembered his having a dispute with Neale, in consequence of which he was about to leave his royal highness' service: but she represented to him the great benefits which his family derived from having coals, candles, and apartments in the palace, and he never mentioned the subject afterwards. The jury, after deliberating about an hour, returned a verdict of felo de se, and the body of the murderer was accordingly buried at the corner of Scotland: yard. At the close of the present year, the humanity and forbearance of the English government, and the character of her people, were pleasingly exemplified in the protection afforded to two illustrious fugitives. In the month of November, Gustavus 1810. Adolphus, the deposed king of Sweden, after enduring many vicissitudes of distress upon the continent, succeeded in obtaining that assylum in this country to which he had long aspired. He was received in a manner worthy of the national character, and his behaviour was such as to command the most general respect. Remaining steady to the prin ciple of independence, which induced him to reject the proposal of pecuniary assistance from the emperor of Russia, he declined the offer of a pension from the British government. In the subsequent month, another stranger of distinction arrived in England. The genius and the habits of Lucien Buonaparte were little adapted to the pomp of royalty, the bustle of intrigue, or the turbulence of war. Engaged in the calm pursuit of literary research, and in the cultivation of the fine arts, he shunned the gaze of the multitude, and despised the glittering temptations to a life of uncongenial activity, so frequently presented. by the importunities of his brother. To be distinguished as a poet was his first and perhaps his only ambition. Exasperated at his refusal to consolidate the regal union of his family by assuming the purple, Napoleon expressed his resentment in terms as undisguised as they were alarming; and Lucien, having escaped to Malta,. was detained until the decision of the English government should be known respecting him. Pursuant to the orders: of the ministry, he was sent to England as a nominal prisoner at war. A residence for him and his suite was allotted in one of the Welsh castles belonging to lord Powis, and, until that was prepared, he · took up his abode at Ludlow, in Shrop shire, where he devoted the leisure of his. voluntary exile to painting and poetry. The distresses occasioned in the mercantile world by the state of European. affairs was great beyond precedent. In the course of the year, numerous failures. took place, and among these were several banking-houses of eminence.. The funds suffered severely from the difficulties ex perienced by the trading part of the community; and so great was the depreciation of stock, that one of the greatest speculators in modern times, Mr. A. Gold-smid, who had contracted for the loan, found it impossible to bear up against the concurrence of unpropitious circumstances, and rather than intimate to his friends that: he needed their support, committed suicide. No single event ever produced so great a shock in the city of London. Omnium the report of a committee of the house of commons on the state of bullion, a prolific source for many successive months in the approaching year, of controversy and confusion. fell in the course of that day to 10 discount, which was at last reduced to four per cent. The evil was considerably extended, and rendered more permanent by HISTORY OF THE WAR. CHAP. LXIII. Movement of Lord Wellington from Badajos to the North of Portugal-Capture of Ciudad Rodrigo by Massena-Retrograde Movement of General Crawford-Siege of Almeida-Battle of Busaco-Lord Wellington's Retreat to Torres VedrasAdvance of Massena, and his Retreat to Santarem-Passage of the French through the Sierra Morena-Deposal of the Supreme Junta-Siege of Cadiz-Progress of the Guarilla War-Character of MARTÍN or the EMPÊCINADO, and of Espozy Mine-Atrocities of the French, and revengeful enthusiasm of the Spaniards. N resuming the history of foreign affairs the first subject which engages our attention is the progress of the army in the peninsula. The disasters which attended the Spanish arms in Castile and La Mancha, and the preparations of the French for the invasion of Portugal, induced lord Wellington to carry into execution a design which he had for some time meditated of removing the British army from Spanish Estreinadura to the north of the Tagus. He accordingly broke up from Badajos and advanced into the province of Beira, of which the mountainous frontier afforded favorable ground for defensive operations. At this period the French force was widely separated. Ney was at Salamanca, Regnier was on his left at the distance of 300 miles, and Junot, occupied in the invest ment and reduction of Astorga, was at a distance on his right of 120 miles. Ney in the beginning of February, at the head of 9000 men, summoned the city of Ciudad Rodrigo; but on the advance of the allied British and Portuguese army he withdrew and took post within four leagues to wait for reinforcements. In a despatch dated Vizeu, the 28th of March, lord Wellington states, that his advanced posts under general Crawford, were between the Agueda and the Coa. Four companies of the 95th regiment under lieutenant-colonel Beck with were stationed at Barba del Puerco, on the Agueda, immediately opposite St. Felices, and connecting with that village by the only bridge on the river below Ciudad Rodrigo. A recent fall of rain had occasioned a flood, and the stream was no where fordable. The French had collected a brigade of infantry at St. Felices, and after dark detached from it 600 men, who crossed the bridge, drove up the picquet, and began their attack, but were repulsed with some loss.. It appears to have been the aim of general Crawford to protect Ciudad Rodrigo, but Ney having mustered a considerable force at Zamames. made preparation for resuming the siege. He took up ground on the 11th of April, at which time the right of lord Wellington's army was appointed on that town, its left rested on Almeida, and its centre was supported by the strong and regular fortification of La Conception. There is reason to suppose that the French were inferior in force; for Ney in a letter to the duke of Dalmatia, dated 10th of May, announcing his intention respecting the siege, expressed doubts of Junot's acquiescence in a proposal to support him by advancing garrisons from Toro and Zamora, and after particularang detachments that he must make from his own corps, added that there would not remain above 12,000 men in his camp ready to fight if necessary. Lord Wellington, it should seem, was precluded by his orders, from fully acceding to the solicitations of the Spaniards respecting the defence of Ciudad Rodrigo. This well fortified place, '(garrisoned by 8000 chosen Spanish troops,) was completely invested on the 11th of June. On the 24th, Massena having arrived with reinforcements that augmented the army to 38,000 men, the fire from the batteries was opened upon it, and a line of sharpshooters advanced to within 100 paces of the wall which surrounded the convent of the Holy Cross, in which a determined body of men were posted, who greatly annoyed the assailants. Two columns of grenadiers, provided with sappers, attacked this post in front and rear. The The first and second gates of the convent were blown up; 200 Spaniards stationed on the ground floor maintained their position for some time, and then retired to the upper stories, where they continued to defend themselves; of the two French captains who conducted the assault, one was killed and the other severely wounded. The French then set fire to the convent, and most of the brave men who were in it perished by the flames. On the succeed ing days, the batteries renewed their fire against the fort; three powder magazines were blown up, and a number of howitzers were thrown, which set fire to the place in several quarters. The firing of the batteries continued all the next day; the flames spread, and another magazine exploded, which greatly damaged the fortifications. On the 4th of July, the advanced-guard of lord Wellington, under general Crawford, was driven back to the neighbourhood of Fort Conception, which had been occupied by a part of the third division of infantry. Ciudad Rodrigo surrendered on the same day. General Crawford was obliged by superior force, to retire from the neighbourhood of La Conception; and, after destroying the fort, he occupied a position near Almeida, within 800 yards of the fort, his right extending towards Junca. Between 3000 and 4000 French cavalry, with a considerable number of guns and a large body of infantry, marched against him. On the first appearance of this force, the cavalry and brigade of artillery attached to the English division, advanced to support the picquets, and captain Ross was for some time engaged with those belonging to the French cavalry, which were of much greater calibre. As their numerical superiority displayed itself, the English cavalry gradually fell back to the fortress, upon the right of which the infantry of the division was posted, having its left in some inclosures near a wind-mill,, about 800 yards from the place, and its right to the Coa, in a very broken and extensive position, which it was absolutely necessary to occupy, in order to cover the passage of the cavalry and artillery through the long defile leading to the bridge. After this object was effected, the infantry retired by degrees, and, notwithstanding the intricacy of the ground, in good order. A position in front of the bridge was maintained as long as was requisite, to give time to the troops which had passed to take up their station behind the river, and the bridge was afterwards defended with great gallantry, though with considerable loss, by the 43rd regiment and part of the 95th. In the night, after the firing had ceased, general Crawford withdrew the troops from the Coa, and retired to Carvelhal. 1 On the same day that Ciudad Rodrigo surrendered, the enemy's cavalry appeared on the plains of Almeida. Lord Wellington's head-quarters were at this time at Alverca; his position was a defensive line about thirty miles in extent, along the frontier mountains of Beira; but as the line formed the segment of a circle, the points were not distant from each other in proportion to its length. The infantry extended from Celorica to Guarda on the one side, and to Fort Conception, one of the outworks of Almeida on the other. The cavalry were in advance near Fort Conception, and at Subugal, and on the Coa. In this instance, as in that of Ciudad Rodrigo, lord Wellington was condemned to witness the siege and capture of the place, without the slightest hope of averting or even retarding so mortifying a result. One half of his troops were undisciplined and untried; he could not act upon the of fensive against an enemy so superior in numbers; since the surrender of Ciudad Rodrigo, his instructions forbade him risking a general battle without the certainty of success; and he had adopted a plan for the preservation and defence of Portugal, from which no circumstance, however painful to his own feelings, or derogatory in appearance to his reputation, could induce him to swerve. The works of Almeida, however, had been repaired; the garrison was strong, and brigadier Cox, an English officer in the Portuguese service, was appointed to the command. The castle of Almeida was strong, and partly founded on a rock. It had a wall with bastions and casemates, built of granite, covered by half moons, wide trenches, and a counterscarp. In the centre was an antient and large castle, flanked by towers of very strong masonry, and bomb-proof. Here the powder was deposited. On the 15th of August, the trenches were opened. The difficulties of the ground were not surmounted till the 25th, when the fire commenced from eleven batteries, which the besieged answered with spirit during the whole of the day. The bombs of the French injured the interior of the works, blew up some powder depôts in the town, and burnt several houses. In the evening, one of the shells set fire to a caisson before the general nagazine, and the combustion extended to 150,000lbs. weight of gun-powder. The explosion resembled the bursting of a volcano, and a violent fire ensued, which lasted throughout the night. On the morning of the 27th, the ravages of the conflagration presented a dreadful spectacle. The castle, the church, and the neighbouring houses, had disappeared; the town was then summoned, and terms of capitulation were sent in to the English governor, who refused to sign them, til the enemy, learning the exhausted state of the gar rison, resumed their fire with redoubled fury, and rendered alt further resistance impossible. Five thousand Portuguese troops marched out with military honors, and remained prisoners of war. Colonel Cox, accompanied by major Hewitt and captain Foley, set off for France, with the permission of Massena, to proceed to England on their parole. Lord Wellington, on learning the fall of Almeida, withdrew his infantry into the valley of the Mondego, keeping at the same time a division upon Guarda, and the outposts of the cavalry at Alverca. In his further retreat, he ordered the country to be evacuated, and all the property which he could not remove to be destroyed. The French army advanced as he retired. A part of its right wing passed the Douro near Hermosilla, and directed its marchi towards Torre de Moncorvo. The corps of Regnier, which had proceeded from Estremadura, advanced by forced marches, upon Guarda. Massena leaving Celorico and Francoso, took a road that leads across the Mondego, along a range of mountains, to Vizeu. From this plain he proceeded to the junction of the rivers Criz and Dao. It was his intention, if possible, to make himself master of Coinbra, and of the fertile country around it; and with this view he crossed and recrossed the Mondego, but lord Wellington always interposed. During the advance of the French, the different divisions of the Portuguese militia and Ordenenza, were employed upon their flanks and rear, and colonel Trant, with his division, attacked the escort of the military chest and reserve artillery near Fajal. He took two officers and 100 prisoners; but the French, having collected a force from the front and rear, again obliged him to retire towards the Douro. It was the object of lord Wellington to collect the allied army in the neighbourhood of Coimbra, and, if possible, to prevent the enemy from obtaining possession of that town. On the arrival of tife French advanced-guard at the Criz and Dao, brigadier-general Pack retired across the former, and joined general |