Madrid, and all that of Andalusia, with the exception of what was necessary to maintain their position before Cadiz, and the body commanded by Sebastiani in the eastern part of that kingdom. They occupied both banks of the Guadiana, from Badajos to Merida, and made various move ments towards the frontiers of Portugal with the intention of cutting off detachments of the allies, but with inconsiderable success. On July the 14th the army of Portugal broke up from its position of the Guadiana, and moved towards Truxillo, whence they afterwards marched further northwards. Lord Wellington, who had been strongly posted on the Portuguese border in Alentejo, now moved his army to cantonments in the Lower Beira; and thus the seat of war was transferred from the vicinity of Badajos.

It may be useful to close this narrative of the military transactions in Portugal with some account of the state of the Portuguese army, as modelled by the commander-in-chief, Marshal Beresford, whose activity and talents in this department are universally acknowledged.

When the marshal first took the command, the cavalry of the line, consisting of twelve regiments, were in a wretched condition; and though he bestowed much attention on their improvement, their progress had not yet been equal to that of the infantry, with the exception of some regiments under the immediate direction of British officers. When the business of organizing the cavalry was first undertaken, a set of rules

and regulations was drawn up, similar to those of the British cavalry, and printed for the guidance of the officers; and the organized regiments are now in every respect similar to the British, and manœuvre upon the same principles. The establishment of the different regiments has been raised to 520, and the whole are very complete in men; but the Portuguese are not calculated to excel in this kind of service, the men being too indolent to pay due attention to their horses, and the country not producing forage in sufficient abundance to maintain any considerable body of cavalry. Out of the twelve regiments, only six are actually complete, forming little more than 3,000 men.

The Portuguese artillery are formed into brigades similar to those of the British, with which they are dispersed in the different divisions of the allied army; and whenever they have had an opportunity of coming into action, they have much distinguished themselves.

The light troops of the line, or Cacadores, are the favourite service of the natives. Of those there are six battalions, some of which are as fine bodies of this description as are to be found in any army. There is besides a Loyal Lusitanian Legion, which has been formed into two excellent batta lions of Cacadores; and other bat. talions of this species are in the process of organization.

The irregular force of Portugal is composed of the militia and the ordenanza. The militia is formed of such of the inhabitants, capable of bearing arms, as can be taken

from agricultural employments with the least inconvenience; the ordenanza comprehends every male vassal of the age of manhood, who is not a member of the church, the regular army, or the militia. There are 48 regiments of militia; and though still upon the old system, they have been found very useful in the present war. At the beginning of the campaign they, indeed, displayed a want of steadiness, but they have since much improved.

The ordenanza consists of companies of infantry, and troops of cavalry, the last formed of persons of superior condition. They are exercised once or twice in every month, and are inspected

twice in the year. Like the guerillas in Spain, they have greatly harrassed the French armies, and have destroyed a number of the stragglers. Every man in Portugal is a soldier of some description, and is obliged to have arms in his possession; those who are not masters of fire-arms, being provided with pikes, or long poles with a bayonet fixed on the end. From the preceding relation it appears, that few countries of the same population are so well furnished with materials for an effective force against an invading enemy, and that proper discipline and a hearty good will in the cause, are alone requisite to ren der it formidable in defence.

CAT

NATALONIA was the theatre of the most active military operations in Spain about the close of the last, and the commencement of the present year. A convoy of provisions for the supply of Barcelona and the French army, being assembled in Palamos Bay, Captain Rogers, of the Kent, resolved to attempt its destruction. Accordingly, on December 13th, a body of 350 seamen and 250 marines, under the command of Captain Fane, who volunteered his services, landed on the beach, and moved forward to take the town and batteries in the rear. They met with very little opposition, and succeeded in spiking the cannon and mortars, blowing up the magazine, and destroying all the vessels. In the meantime the enemy, who had been reinforced, collected and advanced upon the party, which, on its retreat, mistook the way to the beach, and marched through the town, where a severe fire was maintained from the walls and houses. The result was the capture or destruction of the greatest

part of the English. Capt. Fane was among the prisoners.

The reduction of the important fortress of Tortosa, which capitulated on January 2nd, has been recorded among the events of the preceding year. Marshal Suchet, fully sensible of the value of his conquest, lost no time in repairing the fortifications, and he also put in a state of defence the forts at the mouth of the Ebro. On Jan. 8th he sent a division against Fort Balaguer, situated on the coast at some distance to the north of that river. It arrived in the middle of the night; and on the next mornirg, the governor hesitating to obey a summons to surrender, an assault was immediately made, and the place was carried, part of the garrison escaping to Tarragona, and the rest being made pri

soners.

The siege of Tarragona was the next operation of importance meditated by the French; and previously to undertaking it, Marshal Macdonald put his army in motion for the purpose of attacking the Marquis Campo Verde. On Jan.

15th the whole Italian divison of the French army marched from Valls, near Tarragona, to attack the Spanish General Sarsfield, who was posted near Pla, when a warm action ensued, terminating in the complete repulse of the assailants with a considerable loss. This check seems to have had the effect of deferring for some months the fate of that city.

The Spanish cause sustained an afflictive loss by the death of the Marquis de la Romana, on Jan. 23rd, at Cartaxo, whither he had gone with two divisions of his army to partake the glory and danger of Lord Wellington. This illustrious general had distinguished himself on various occasions by the spirited defence of his country against its unprincipled in vaders, and had been particularly successful in clearing Estremadura of the enemy. A short time before his death, on hearing of the new movements of the French in that province, he had ordered the troops, with which he had joined the allied army, to march to the frontier. Lord Wellington, in communicating the melancholy intelligence, says, that "in him the Spanish army has lost its brightest ornament; his country, their most upright patriot; and the world, the most strenuous defender of the cause in which we are engaged." His remains were temporarily deposited at Lisbon, with distinguished funeral honours. Gen. Castanos succeeded to his command.

Whilst Massena was lying in front of the main allied army in Portugal, the other French generals were intent upon improving the opportunity of gaining advantages in the adjacent parts of

Spain. In the beginning of the year, the Duke of Dalmatia (Soult) having assembled the 5th corps, with other troops near Llerena, advanced towards the Spanish army, and coming up with the rear-guard at Usagre, on Jan. 3rd, obliged them to make a hasty retreat. Gen. Mendizabal retired upon Merida; and Ballasteros endeavoured to gain Calera; but being immediately attacked, after a contest of two hours he was routed, and pursued in the direction of Fregenal, with a considerable loss of men. He afterwards marched down the left bank of the Guadiana, purposing to embark a part of his troops at Ayamonte for Cadiz ; but having taken a position at Castilegos to cover the embarkation, he was attacked by a division of Soult's corps, and driven across the Guadiana, with great loss. On the 7th, Soult advanced upon Merida, whence the Spanish cavalry had on the preceding evening been driven; and Mendizabal, with the Portuguese cavalry, re-entered Badajos.

Soult being informed that a considerable number of men had been thrown into Olivença, immediately invested the place; and on the 22nd, soon after the breaching battery began to play, the governor proposed a capitulation. He was, however, told that nothing would be accepted but a surrender at discretion, with which he complied without further delay, and a garrison of 4,500 became prisoners of war. In the meantime, General Lahoussay, from the army of the centre, had received orders to cross the Tagus, and push forward a division upon the Guadiana, in order to connect himself with the 5th

corps charged with the siege of Badajos.

This very important frontier town for some time engaged the principal attention both of the invaders and of the defenders of Spain. After the investment had been completed by the besiegers, it was interrupted on Feb. 5th by the arrival, on the heights of St. Christoval, of the two Spanish divisions detached from the allied army before Lisbon, which soon after entered Badajos. On the 7th the garrison made a general sally on the right of the French attack, and succeeded in carrying two redoubts, but these were soon recovered, and the Spaniards were driven back with considerable loss. Another sortie took place on the 9th, in which the two Spanish divisions, and the cavalry, established themselves on the heights of St. Christoval for the purpose of renewing the communication with Elvas and CampoMayor. As it was necessary to remove this impediment to the siege, as soon as the waters of the Guadiana and Gebora, which had inundated the fields, were subsided, preparations were made for an attack. This was effected on the 19th, and the result was almost the annihilation of the Spanish force, 850 being killed, and 5,200 taken prisoners. The siege was then closely pressed, and a breach being made practicable on March 10th, the governor signed a capitulation, by which Badajos was delivered to the French arms, its garrison, to the number of more than 7,000, exclusive of the sick and wounded, remaining prisoners of war. This disaster was evidently a cause of great chagrin to Lord Wellington, to

whom the retreat of Massena seems to have given confident hopes of being able to send relief to Badajos in time to save it. In his communication of the event to the regency of Portugal he made several pointed observations on the subject, whence it appears that even after the unfortunate battle of Feb. 19th he had made arrangements for succouring the place, which would have taken effect had it held out a few days longer. He concludes in these strong terms: "It is useless to make any reflection on the facts here stated. The Spanish nation has lost in the course of two months the for tresses of Tortosa, Olivença, and Badajos, without any sufficient cause; at the same time Marshal Soult, with a corps of troops, which never was supposed to exceed 20,000 men, besides the capture of the last two places, has made prisoners and destroyed above 22,000 Spanish troops."

About this time, however, Spain was the theatre of an action highly honourable to the British arms, at least, and which gave promise of more enterprize on the part of the Spaniards than had lately been displayed by them. Towards the close of February, the Spanish government determined on an expedition for the purpose of making a combined attack on the rear of the French army blockading Cadiz. A British force exceeding 3,000, under Lieutenant-gen. Graham, and a body of 7,000 Spanish troops, commanded by General La Pena, were embarked in Cadiz Bay on board the men of war and a number of transports, in order to be landed on some part of the coast to the east, where they were to form a