Peninsula. Being accustomed to measure the chances of success in a military contest by the achievements of the regular troops employed, and an entire stranger to the passions and actions of parties in a free community, he not unreasonably concluded, when the last army of Spain capitulated in Valencia, and the whole country, from the Pyrenees to Gibraltar, had, with the exception of a few mountain districts, submitted to his authority, that the contest in the Peninsula was at an end, so far as the Spaniards were concerned; and when he beheld the party in Great Britain, who had all along denounced the war there as utterly hopeless and irrational on the part of this country, and some of whom, in their zeal against its continuance and to demonstrate its absurdity, had actually corresponded with himself, even at the crisis of the contest, on the eve of getting possession of the reins of power in London; he was naturally led to believe that no cause for disquiet existed, in consequence of the future efforts of England in Spain. He was thus tempted to prosecute, without hesitation, his preparations for the Russian war; and, before finishing the conflict in the Peninsula, plunge into the perils of the Moscow campaign, and the double strain it was, as he himself told us, which proved fatal to the empire. Had he been less successful in the east of Spain —had the English Opposition less strenuously asserted the impolicy and hopelessness of British resistance in the west, he would probably have cleared his rear before engaging with a new enemy in front. Neither could have withstood

his whole force if directed against itself

alone; and the concentration of all his military power against Wellington in the first instance, would have chilled all hopes of success in Russia, and extin guished, perhaps for ever, the hopes of European freedom. So manifestly does Supreme power make the passions and desires of men the instruments by which it carries into effect its inscrutable purposes, that the very events which vice most strenuously contends for, are made the ultimate causes of its ruin; and those which virtue had most earnestly deprecated when they occurred, are afterwards found to have been the unseen steps which led to its salvation."

But we have now reached the period when the delay was to be turned into rapidity, and the disappointments were to be known no more. The campaign of 1811 was the true commencement of British victory in the

Peninsula. The battles fought in the earlier years of the war had exhibited the incomparable qualities of the British soldier, and given him the military confidence which belongs to successful trials of strength; but the facility of pouring troops across the Pyrenees gave France a singular power of robbing British victory of its fruits. The proudest triumph over the French armies in the field was baffled by a new influx of battalions and squadrons, and for three years the at Thermopyla, fighting the multiBritish army stood, like the Spartans tudes of the invaders,-less to gain final victory than to exhibit the powers of gallant resistance; less to save the depressed and divided nations than to give them time to recover from their alarm, and to show them the use of the weapons which command human glory.

Independently of those perpetual succours, the state of the French forces south of the Pyrenees was one which might have repelled all hope of resistance. Their muster-rolls reckoned no less than 370,000 men, of whom 40,000 were cavalry, and those not tumultuary levies, but disciplined soldiers, headed by the first officers of the age. A part of those were in garrison, but 280,000 were in the field. It is true, that this force had all Spain to cover. But its masses were enor

mous.

:

Soult's army in Andalusia amounted to 88,000 men, of whom 10,000 were cavalry. Marmont, in Leon, had 61,000 men; and Bessières, in the north, commanded 102,000, with all the deductions for detachments and sick one hundred and forty thou sand men were capable of being brought against Wellington. To incet this tremendous accumulation of force, organized too by the first military science, and directed by a man uniting in himself unlimited power, determined ambition, and genius almost without a rival. Wellington could bring into the field scarcely 50,000 British and Portuguese. An extraordinary degree of sickness prevailed among the troops: the hot season sent 19,000 British into the hospital, and of the 30,000 Portuguese in pay but 14,000 could be found on parade. That such fearful disparity of force could be even faced by the English general, is among the most extraordinary instances in the recollections of soldiership. Mr Ali

son proceeds to account for it by three circumstances:-The central position of Wellington, which gave him either of the French armies in his front, while his rear rested on the sea;The supplies furnished by the British ships, and the facility of conveying them up the country by the rivers which intersected the British cantonments, while the French supplies of both provisions and ammunition must be brought from a distance of some hundred miles, and by land;-The hatred of the people inciting them to interrupt the French communications, from guerilla parties convey constant intelligence to the English, and in every possibly way embarrass and destroy the enemy.

The French system of rendering the generals independent of each other, and of the Spanish king; a system which, while it engendered jealousy among the leaders and their armies, rendered all combination of plan diffi. cult. The marshals lived like sovereigns at the head of provinces as large as kingdoms, and each secretly rejoiced at the disasters of the others, and despised the authority of Joseph, who, though neither a soldier nor a statesman, was, by the mere relationship, placed on the mockery of a throne, at the head of men who regarded themselves as the pillars of the Empire.

Those were palpable advantages, but they were advantages only in detail, altogether too minute to meet the tremendous disparity of force, and too gradual in their operation to avert the rapid movements of that mighty column of force which Napoleon was directing from the summits of the Pyrenees. We think that a still more powerful advantage was to be found in that public opinion of England which has always acted with so deep an impulse on the British army. The nation had made up its mind to fight out the Peninsular war, and nothing but the most decisive defeat could have influenced it to forgive a retreating army, or a reluctant general. The army was brave, the general as brave as the army; no defeat had been suffered: the French force rolled on in their sight, but rolled like the ocean in sight of the greensward on the shore; a turn of the swell might sweep it over the land which seemed so open to its career, but it still rolled on.

Neither the British nation nor the British soldier anticipates defeat; neither is to be beaten by calculation. The French army rolled on like the surge, and the English general and his troops were not the men to shrink from a ruin which had not yet come, and which might never come.

Vast

The war unexpectedly degenerated into a series of manoeuvres. French armies suddenly moved across the Peninsula, gathering like thunderclouds, menacing every quarter of the horizon for a while, and then as suddenly dissolved, but without the flash and the roar. Wellington remained unshaken. He had two prizes in his view which he was steadily resolved on seizing; the great fortresses of Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz. Nothing could exceed the dexterity which concealed his design, except the daring, the almost despe rate intrepidity, which finally accomplished the achievement. Among the numerous minor affairs which occurred during this period, was one gallant repulse of the enemy's overwhelming cavalry :

"When the French army approached the British, it was at first uncertain on which point they would direct their attack; but after some hesitation, Monbrun, with fourteen battalions and thirty-five squadrons of splendid horsemen, crossed the Agueda by the bridge of Rodrigo and adjacent fords, and pouring rapidly along the road, soon reached the heights of EL BODON. The British, at this point of their position, were not prepared for so sudden an onset ; and while Wellington sent to Guinaldo for a brigade of the 4th division, MajorGeneral Colville, the officer in command, was directed to draw up his little force, consisting of the 5th and 77th British regiments, and 21st Portuguese, with eight Portuguese guns and five squadrons of Alten's German dragoons, on the summit of the height which was convex towards the enemy, and secured on

either flank by deep and rugged ravines.

On came Monbrun's cuirassiers like a

whirlwind, in spite of all the fire of the guns which tore their masses in a fearful way, and dividing into two bodies when they reached the front of the hill, rode up the rugged sides of the ravines on either side with the utmost fury, and were only checked by the steady fire of the guns and devoted intrepidity of the German horsemen at the summit, who, for three mortal hours, charged the heads of the squadrons as they ascended,

and hurled them not less than twenty times, men and horses rolling over each other, back into the hollows. Monbrun, however, was resolute. His cavalry were numerous and daring; and by repeated charges and extreme gallantry, they at length got a footing on the top, and captured two of the guns, cutting down the brave Portuguese at their pieces; but the 5th regiment instantly rushed forward, though in line, into the midst of the horsemen, and retook the guns, which quickly renewed their fire; and at the same time the 77th and 21st Portuguese hurled the horsemen down the steep on the other side. But though this phalanx of heroes thus made good their post, the advance of the enemy rendered it no longer tenable. French division was rapidly approaching the only road by which they could rejoin the remainder of the centre at Fuente Guinaldo; and, despite all the peril of the movement, Wellington ordered them to descend the hill and cross

A

the plain, six miles broad, to Fuente

Guinaldo."

But the hazard of this brave detach

ment was scarcely more than beginning. A plain of six miles was to be crossed in the face of the mass of French cavalry. The small force of German dragoons was driven under cover of the infantry, and the 5th and 77th regiments formed square. The French charged; but the heavy fire of the square repulsed them. At length Picton, always gallant and indefatigable, who, on the first tidings of the attack, had hastened forward, came up with his brigade, and the whole moved in unbroken order, though constantly enveloped in the enemy's horse, until they reached the camp. A note gives a trait

of the admirable conduct of this favourite officer:

"Picton, during this retreat, conducted himself with his accustomed coolness. He remained on the left flank of the column, and repeatedly cautioned the different battalions to mind the quarter-distance and the telling-off. Your safety,' said he, 'my credit, and the honour of the army are at stake. All rests with you at this moment.' We had reached to within a mile of the entrenched camp, when Monbrun, impatient lest we should escape from his grasp, ordered his troopers to bring up their left shoulders, and incline towards our columns. The movement was not exactly bringing his squadron into line, but it was the next thing to it, and at this time

they were within half-pistol-shot of us. Picton took off his hat, and holding it over his eyes as a shade from the sun, looked sternly but anxiously at the French. The clatter of the horses, and the clanking of the scabbards, were so great when the right half squadron moved up, that many thought it was the forerunner of a general charge, and some of the mounted officers called out, Had we not better form square?' 'No,' replied Picton, it is but a ruse to frighten us, but it won't do.' And so in effect it proved. Each battalion in its turn formed the rearguard to stop the advance of the enemy, and having given them a volley, they fell back at double quick time behind the battalion formed in their rear.'-Reminiscences of a Subaltern, 182, and PICTON's Memoirs, ii. 37, 39."

The close of this year was the commencement of the fall of Napoleon. He had embroiled himself with Russia in the prospect of speedily concluding the conquest of Spain. But his northern armament compelled him to weaken his armament in the south; and, thus involved in two tremendous contests at once, he devoted himself to ruin. Two spirited successes, which diversified the closing months of the campaign, should have taught him the perils of leaving the British army behind him, when he sought a new antagonist in the colossal strength of Russia entrenched in the winter of the pole. The first of these was the cap. ture of General Girard by Lord Hill, at Aroyo de Molinos, in October. The British reached the enemy, consisting of nearly 3000 infantry, at two in the morning, and the surprise was complete :

"Favoured by a thick mist and de. luge of rain, the troops entered the town, with drums suddenly beating and loud cheers, so unexpectedly, that the cavalry pickets were rushed upon before they had time to mount; and the infantry, who were under arms, beginning to muster, were so confounded that, after a desultory struggle, they fled precipitately out of the town, leaving a great many of their number prisoners. Once outside, however, they formed two squares, and endeavoured to resist, but while a brisk fire was going on between their rear and Stewart's men pressing on in pursuit, Howard's column suddenly appeared directly in their rear on the great road to Truxillo, and no alternative remained but to surrender, or break and seek safety by climbing

the steep and rugged sides of the Sierra on their flank. Girard, however, who was a gallant officer as well as skilful, though surprised on this occasion, for some time made a brave resistance; but seeing his guns taken by the 15th dragoons, and his hussars dispersed with great slaughter by the 9th dragoons and German hussars, he saw that his situation was desperate, and gave the word to disperse. Instantly the squares broke, and all the men, throwing away their arms, ran towards the most rugged and inaccessible part of the Sierra. Swiftly as they fled, however, the allies pursued as quickly; the Highlanders, at home among the rocks and scaurs, secured prisoners at every step; the 28th and 34th followed rapidly on the footsteps of the flying mass; the 39th turned them by the Truxillo road; and Girard escaped only by throwing himself into rugged cliffs, where the British, encumbered with their arms, could not follow him. He joined Drouet, by devious mountain-paths, at Orellano on the 9th November, with only six hundred followers, without arms and in woful plight, the poor remains of three thousand superb troops, who were round his eagles at Aroyo de Molinos, and who were esteemed the best brigade in Spain. General Brun and Prince D'Aremberg, with thirteen hundred prisoners, three guns, and the whole baggage of the enemy, fell into the

hands of the victors.

"This brilliant success was achieved with the loss only of twenty killed and wounded."

The next exploit was the defence of Tarifa. It is an old observation that peasantry and all undisciplined levies fight better behind old walls than the best fortifications. Whether it is that they depend more on themselves where they have little besides to depend on; or that the contempt of a disciplined euemy for any thing short of regular fortifications, exposes them to the rude bravery of the people; but Tarifa exhibited an instance of the gallantry of troops, so highly disciplined as the British, behind the mouldering defences of a half-deserted Spanish town.

Soult, in order to extinguish Spanish insurrection in the south, had sent General Laval with 7000 men, followed by 6000 more, to take possession of Tarifa. But Skerret, a brave aud active officer, had already taken post there with 1800 British, and 700 Spaniards. The French battered the walls, until, by the 30th of December, the

breach was sixty feet wide, and the assault was ordered :

"Little aware of the quality of the antagonists with whom they had to deal, a column of 2000 French commenced the assault at daylight on the 31st. Such, however, was the vigour of the fire kept up upon them from every part of the rampart where a musket or gun could be brought to bear on the mass, that it broke before reaching the of the breach in great disorder. Part wall, and the troops arrived at the foot tried to force their way up, part glided down the bed of a stream which flowed through the town, and a few brave men reached the bars of the portcullis which debarred entrance above the waters. But the British soldiers now sent down such a crashing volley on the throng at the iron grate, and at the foot of the breach, that they dispersed to the right and left, secking refuge from the fire under any projecting ground. The combat continued for some time longer, the French, with their usual gallantry, keeping up a quick irregular discharge on the walls; but the ramparts streamed forth fire with such violence, and the old tower sent such a tempest of grape through their ranks, that after sustaining a dreadful loss, they were forced to retreat, while a shout of victory passed round the walls of the town. This bloody repulse suspended for some days the operations of the besiegers, who confined themselves to a cannonade, and meanwhile the rain fell in such torrents, and sickness made such ravages in their ranks, that, according to their own admission, 'the total dissolution of their army was anticipated.' Laval persevered some days longer, against his own judgment, in obedience to the positive injunctions of Victor, and the breach was so wide from the continued fire that a fresh assault was antici

pated; but on the 4th he raised the siege, and retreated in dreadful weather, having first drowned his powder, and buried his heavy artillery. In this expedition, the French lost all their cavalry and artillery horses, and about five hundred men by the sword, besides an equal number by sickness and starvation, while the total loss of the allies did not exceed one hundred and fifty."

A new era was now about to open, and the days of Napoleon were thenceforth numbered. The historian thus strikingly and truly gives a parting view at this year of struggle :

"It was upon Russia and the north of Europe that the whole attention of the Emperor was now fixed. The war in Portugal he regarded as a useful auxi