Fort Trinidad was battered in breach by four four-and-twenty pounders, and a passage to the lower bomb-proof being nearly ef fected, the marines belonging to the Fame were withdrawn on the 23d.

At this time the gallant Lord Cochrane had been entrusted by Lord Collingwood with discretionary orders to assist the Spaniard whenever it could be done with most effect, and his Lordship hastened, in the Imperieuse, to the Bay of Rosas, as soon as he knew of the siege.

Captain Bennet, though he had withdrawn his own men, did not officially alter Lord Collingwood's order, and Lord Cochrane threw himself into Fort Trinidad, with eighty of his seamen and marines, at a time when the garrison, amounting to the same number, would else have surrendered, perceiving that further resistance had been thought unavailing by the English themselves.-This garrison was changed, and the new men brought with them fresh hope and unexhausted strength. Lord Cochrane filled the breaches in the lower bomb-proof with sand bags made of the spare sails of his ship; and within the breach, on the upper part of the fort, to which the ruins had formed an easy ascent, he extended from the top, fire grapnel and other chains, having vast numbers of the largest fish hooks attached to them by wires, in order to retard assailants until time should be afforded to stop them effectually by a flanking fire.-Within these he raised two strong palisadoes, covered with similar hooks, having between them greased planks, placed at such an angle, as to plunge those who might surmount the first line of defence into a bombproof upwards of forty feet deep, the top of which was broken in for the purpose, and the usual entrance secured.-These and other means supplied the place of walls and ditches.

On the 30th the breach was assaulted by 1000 picked men; they were repulsed with the loss of their Commanding Officer, storming equipage, and of every man who attempted to mount the breach. The citadel, being reduced almost to a heap of ruins, capitulated on the 5th December. Lord Cochrane then knew that any farther resistance was impracticable, and having maintained the shattered walls of Fort Trinidad twelve days after they were thought untenable, he embarked the whole of its garrison, and blew up the magazines. So skilful was this desperate service performed, that during these twelve days the loss of the English amounted only to three men killed and seven wounded; and that of the Spaniards to twe killed and five wounded.

Before he quitted the station, Lord Cochrane rendered one more service to a cause in which his Lordship felt that lively interest which became him as a Briton and a true lover of liberty. Hearing that eleven victuallers, destined for the relief of Barcelona, were lying in the port of Caldagues, under convoy of a cutter and a lugger, he captured the whole, drove the French from the town of Caldagues, and took all the guns which they had mounted and were mounting on the batteries.- But Barcelona had already been relieved by land. St. Cyr's division, after defeating the patriots under Reding and Vives, entered it on the 17th December.

It is now necessary to trace the movements of the army under Castanos, after its defeat.-When the fate of the day at Tudela was manifestly hopeless, the greater part of the right wing, which consisted of Aragonese and Valencians, and some of the central division. also, dispersed, and escaping how they could from the field, assembled again at Zaragoza.-The 1st and 3d divisions were at Tarazona when the battle was fought.-The 4th, which was the reserve, repelled repeated attacks of the enemy at Cascante till after the darkness had closed; then it retreated and joined the others at Tarazona; the 2d also arrived there.-This division had been ordered to support the 4th; but though it received these orders at noon, and the distance which it had to march was only two leagues, either from incapacity, or treason in some of its leaders, it did not arrive till night, when its assistance was no longer useful. As soon as these four divisions were collected, Castanos ordered them immediately to begin their march, by way of Borja, to Calatayud.-It was now midnight, and at the moment when they were setting forward, a chapel, which had served as a magazine for ammunition, blew up: many shells went off after the explosion. This occasioned an opinion that an enemy's battery might be playing upon them; and the Royal Carabineers, undismayed in the midst of the confusion, presented themselves, sword in hand, to charge the chapel, fancying it was occupied by the French. Presently a cry of treason was set up, and it spread rapidly through the ranks, because the troops, being ignorant of the calamitous result of the battle, were surprised at the order to retreat, for in the morning what they had seen of the action on the left of the line from the heights, had been in favour of the patriots, the action in fact having commenced on that side to their advantage; the men, therefore, could not understand why they were ordered to retreat, and at so inauspicious an hour: a general distrust prevailed; some corps dispersed, and they who remained together were in a state of perilous

insubordination. However, they retreated as they were ordered, through Borja and Riela, without stopping in either place, and on the night of the 25th November reached Calatayud. On that same day the French General Mathieu entered Borja in pursuit, too late, however, to make any prisoners.-Ney arrived on the day following. He had been ordered to reach Agreda, with his division, on the 23d, that he might cut off the retreat of this army, whose total destruction Buonaparte considered as certain as its defeat.

Ney's rapacity frustrated the expectations of his tyrant master. The people of Soria, forgetful of the memorable example which the Numantines had set them upon that very ground, opened their gates to the enemy.—This, however, did not save them from being plundered. Their church and their rich woolfactors afforded a rich booty to the French; and it was for the sake of this pillage, and of extorting all he could from the inhabitants, that Ney remained there three days; not because he had overmarched his men, and they were unable to proceed, as he reported to Buonaparte, and as was reported in the bulletins.-His delay enabled Castanos, with the wreck of his army, to reach Calatayud. They had thus escaped the danger of the immediate pursuit; but there were no stores here; the system of supplying the troops, uncompletely organized as it had always been, was at an end, and the military chest, which contained two miliions of rials, had been conveyed to Zaragoza.Desperate with sufferings and hunger, the men broke through all restraint, and the inhabitants fled from their houses, equally terrified at the outrages of their own soldiers, and at the voracity of the French. The muletteers attached to the baggage and artillery, who could neither obtain payment for the use of their beasts, nor food either for the animals or themselves, cursed their unhappy fortune; such as could find an opportunity threw away the baggage, mounted their beasts, and rode away; others abandoned them altogether, contented to escape with their lives. The soldiers, having nothing else to allay their hunger, devoured cabbage leaves, or whatever crude vegetables they could find; others literally dropped for want, in the midst of a country which nature has rendered so abundant.

Had there been any foresight on the part of the Central Junta to apprehend the defeat of this army, and to provide against its consequences, one of the first and most important objects would have been to secure this very point to which Castanos had retreated. Here the Zaragozans expected that he would have rallied, have made a stand,

and, acting on the offensive as circumstances permitted, have delivered their city from a second siege, or at least have delayed its evil day but the military measures of the government were now directed by Morla, and that traitor had no other object than to deliver up his country to the intruder.-At the very time, therefore, that he was preparing to betray Madrid, he sent to Castanos, ordering him to hasten with his army to the defence of that city, hoping and expecting, no doubt, to put both at once in the power of Buonaparte. Castanos consulted with the Chiefs of division, and they resolved to march by the way of Siguenza, from which city they could either repair to Somosierra, if that position should still be retained; or to Madrid, if the public service rendered such movement more advisable. On the 27th they recommenced their retreat in this direction; the van, which now, however, was made the rear-guard, consisting of 5,000 men, being under the command of Don Francisco Venegas.-Almost ten miles to the west of Calatayud, and near the village of Buvierca, the high road to Madrid passes through a narrow gorge, where the river Xalon has forced or found its way between two great mountain ridges.-When Venegas reached this place he found instructions from the Commanderin-Chief, requesting him to suspend his march, and take measures for defending the pass, on which, he said, the safety of the other divisions depended; and he desired him to place the troops whom he selected for this purpose, under such officers as would volunteer their services, promising to reward them in proportion to the importance and danger of the duty.-Venegas was too well aware of its importance to trust the command to any but himself, and he replied that he would halt them till the rest of the army was beyond the reach of the pursuit.-Early on the 29th the French came up, 8,000 in number, under Mathieu.-They commenced an attack at eight o'clock, which continued for eight hours; the Spaniards suffered severely; but they maintained the pass, and effectually disabled this part of the French army from pursuing.

On the evening of the following day the army reached Siguenza, with all the artillery which they took with them from Tarazona, notwithstanding the bad state of the roads and the fatigue of the men, who had been allowed no rest upon their march.-Here Castanos received a summons from the Central Junta, and resigned the command to Don Manuel de Lapena.

(To be continued.)

MILITARY CORRESPONDENCE.

To H. R. H. the Duke of York, Commander-in-Chief, &c. &c. &c. SIR,

YOUR Royal Highness having always proved yourself anxious to promote the welfare of the British Army, and having hitherto been successful, will no doubt excuse the liberty which I presume to take of presenting to Your Royal Highness; as Commander-inChief, a series of notes calculated for the reward of every member belonging to an army, which your Royal Highness has brought to a state of discipline that enables it to cope with the French legions, reckoned invincible, so long as they were not opposed by an army, which owing to your Royal Highness's continual care, effectual exertions, and successful combinations, has proved itself far superior to those of the Northern emperors, and of the successors of Frederick the Great.

PROPRIETY OF ESTABLISHING A MODE OF REMUNERATION.

I beg leave to observe, that when I proposed to the Right Hon. the late Mr. Secretary Wyndham the enlistment of recruits for a limited number of years, I intimated at the same time, in a particular note, that not only the non-commissioned officers, but even the corporals and privates, should be granted a reward, or a particular distinction, in case they should have distinguished themselves in the field.—A man, for instance, who first ascended the ladder in the storming of a fortress, might be considered as having served 7, 14, or 21 years, with an additional pay, in proportion to the importance of the act of bravery he might have performed; without however being entitled to claim his discharge from the regiment, till he has served his time, or to ask being put upon the retiring list, unless he has effectually served during 21 years: but should he become an invalid, he ought then to receive pay in proportion to the actual number of years he has been serving in the army, or to those granted to him as a reward for an act of bravery.-Upon any other occasion, except facing the enemy, these men would take their rank according to seniority, and if they should be sufficiently acquainted with their duty, that seniority would entitle them to be promoted to corporals, &c. &c.-The privates thus rewarded should be allowed to attend the theoretical lessons which the Non-commissioned Adjutant ought to give, once a week at least, to all the serjeants and corporals.