Chapter IV: Book XIX: Chap. I

State of the war—Eastern operations—Lacy’s bad conduct—French
army of the Ebro dissolved—Lacy’s secret agents blow up the
magazines in Lerida—He is afraid to storm the place—Calumniates
Sarzfield—Suchet comes to Reus—The hermitage of St. Dimas
surrendered to Decaen by colonel Green—The French general burns
the convent of Montserrat and marches to Lerida—General Maitland
with the Anglo-Sicilian army appears off Palamos—Sails for
Alicant—Reflections on this event—Operations in Murcia—O’Donel
defeated at Castalla—Maitland lands at Alicant—Suchet concentrates
his forces at Xativa—Entrenches a camp there—Maitland advances
to Alcoy—His difficulties—Returns to Alicant—The king’s army
arrives at Almanza—The remnant of Maupoint’s brigade arrives from
Cuenca—Suchet re-occupies Alcoy—O’Donel comes up to Yecla—Maitland
is reinforced from Sicily and entrenches a camp under the walls of
Alicant 213

CHAP. II.

Operations in Andalusia—The king orders Soult to abandon that
province—Soult urges the king to join him with the other
armies—Joseph reiterates the order to abandon Andalusia—Soult
sends a letter to the minister of war expressing his suspicions
that Joseph was about to make a separate peace with the allies—The
king intercepts this letter, and sends colonel Desprez to
Moscow, to represent Soult’s conduct to the emperor—Napoleon’s
magnanimity—Wellington anxiously watches Soult’s movements—Orders
Hill to fight Drouet, and directs general Cooke to attack the
French lines in front of the Isla de Leon—Ballesteros, pursued
by Leval and Villate, skirmishes at Coin—Enters Malaga—Soult’s
preparations to abandon Andalusia—Lines before the Isla de Leon
abandoned—Soult marches towards Grenada—Colonel Skerrit and
Cruz Murgeon land at Huelva—Attack the French rear-guard at
Seville—Drouet marches upon Huescar—Soult moving by the mountains
reaches Hellin, and effects his junction with the king and
Suchet—Maitland desires to return to Sicily—Wellington prevents
him—Wellington’s general plans considered—State of affairs
in Castile—Clauzel comes down to Valladolid with the French
army—Santo Cildes retires to Torrelobaton, and Clinton falls
back to Arevalo—Foy marches to carry off the French garrisons in
Leon—Astorga surrenders before his arrival—He marches to Zamora
and drives Sylveira into Portugal—Menaces Salamanca—Is recalled
by Clauzel—The Partidas get possession of the French posts on the
Biscay coast—Take the city of Bilbao—Reille abandons several posts
in Arragon—The northern provinces become ripe for insurrection 234

CHAP. III.

Wellington’s combinations described—Foolish arrangements of
the English ministers relative to the Spanish clothing—Want of
money—Political persecution in Madrid—Miserable state of that
city—Character of the Madrilenos—Wellington marches against
Clauzel—Device of the Portuguese regency to avoid supplying
their troops—Wellington enters Valladolid—Waits for Castaños—His
opinion of the Spaniards—Clauzel retreats to Burgos—His able
generalship—The allies enter Burgos, which is in danger of
destruction from the Partidas—Reflections upon the movements of
the two armies—Siege of the castle of Burgos 254

CHAP. IV.

State of the war in various parts of Spain—Joseph’s distress
for money—Massena declines the command of the army of
Portugal—Caffarelli joins that army—Reinforcements come from
France—Mischief occasioned by the English newspapers—Souham
takes the command—Operations of the Partidas—Hill reaches
Toledo—Souham advances to relieve the castle of Burgos—Skirmish
at Monasterio—Wellington takes a position of battle in front of
Burgos—Second skirmish—Wellington weak in artillery—Negligence
of the British government on that head—The relative situation
of the belligerents—Wellington offered the chief command of the
Spanish armies—His reasons for accepting it—Contumacious conduct
of Ballesteros—He is arrested and sent to Ceuta—Suchet and
Jourdan refuse the command of the army of the south—Soult reduces
Chinchilla—The king communicates with Souham—Hill communicates with
Wellington—Retreat from Burgos—Combat of Venta de Pozo—Drunkenness
at Torquemada—Combat on the Carion—Wellington retires behind the
Pisuerga—Disorders in the rear of the army—Souham skirmishes at the
bridge of Cabeçon—Wellington orders Hill to retreat from the Tagus
to the Adaja—Souham fails to force the bridges of Valladolid and
Simancas—The French captain Guingret swims the Duero and surprizes
the bridge of Tordesillas—Wellington retires behind the Duero—Makes
a rapid movement to gain a position in front of the bridge of
Tordesillas and destroys the bridges of Toro and Zamora, which
arrests the march of the French 280

CHAP. V.

The king and Soult advance from Valencia to the Tagus—General Hill
takes a position of battle—The French pass the Tagus—Skirmish at
the Puente Largo—Hill blows up the Retiro and abandons Madrid—Riot
in that city—Attachment of the Madrilenos towards the British
troops—The hostile armies pass the Guadarama—Souham restores the
bridge of Toro—Wellington retreats towards Salamanca and orders
Hill to retreat upon Alba de Tormes—The allies take a position
of battle behind the Tormes—The Spaniards at Salamanca display a
hatred of the British—Instances of their ferocity—Soult cannonades
the castle of Alba—The king reorganizes the French armies—Soult and
Jourdan propose different plans—Soult’s plan adopted—French pass
the Tormes—Wellington by a remarkable movement gains the Valmusa
river and retreats—Misconduct of the troops—Sir Edward Paget taken
prisoner—Combat on the Huebra—Anecdote—Retreat from thence to
Ciudad Rodrigo—The armies on both sides take winter cantonments 308

CHAP. VI.

Continuation of the Partizan warfare—General Lameth made governor
of Santona—Reille takes the command of the army of Portugal—Drouet,
count D’Erlon, commands that of the centre—Works of Astorga
destroyed by the Spaniards—Mina’s operations in Arragon—Villa
Campa’s operations—Empecinado and others enter Madrid—The duke
Del Parque enters La Mancha—Elio and Bassecour march to Albacete
and communicate with the Anglo-Sicilian army—The king enters
Madrid—Soult’s cavalry scour La Mancha—Suchet’s operations—General
Donkin menaces Denia—General W. Clinton takes the command of
the Anglo-Sicilian army—Suchet intrenches a camp at Xativa—The
Anglo-Sicilian army falls into disrepute—General Campbell takes
the command—Inactivity of the army—The Frayle surprises a convoy
of French artillery—Operations in Catalonia—Dissensions in that
province—Eroles and Codrington menace Taragona—Eroles surprises a
French detachment at Arbeça—Lacy threatens Mataro and Hostalrich
returns to Vich—Manso defeats a French detachment near Molino
del Rey—Decaen defeats the united Catalonian army and penetrates
to Vich—The Spanish divisions separate—Colonel Villamil attempts
to surprise San Felippe de Balaguer—Attacks it a second time
in concert with Codrington—The place succoured by the garrison
of Tortoza—Lacy suffers a French convoy to reach Barcelona, is
accused of treachery and displaced—The regular warfare in Catalonia
ceases—The Partizan warfare continues—England the real support of
the war 341

CHAP. VII.

General observations—Wellington reproaches the army—His censures
indiscriminate—Analysis of his campaign—Criticisms of Jomini
and others examined—Errors of execution—The French operations
analyzed—Sir John Moore’s retreat compared with lord
Wellington’s 357