CHAP. or forty killed. A far more important enterprize met with a still more lamentable termination. An expedition sailed from Coruna to occupy and fortify Santona, a position of prime importance in the north of Spain. It was under the command of Renovales, whose exploits in the vallies of Roncal are among the many heroic actions which the limits of a work like this compel the annalist reluctantly to pass over. A tremendous gale frustrated a plan which otherwise could not have failed of success. The squadron was dispersed, and a Spanish frigate and brig foundered in the bay of Santona, and all on board perished. This failure is perhaps more to be regretted than any other single event during the war. In the course of the year the enemy had obtained many great and important advantages. They had occupied the kingdoms of Andalusia; they had reduced all the fortresses in Catalonia, Tarragona excepted; and they had gained possession of Ciudad Rodrigo and Almeida. Still the aspect of affairs was less unfavourable than CHAP. 18 it had been at the close of 1809. At that time, Andalusia was laid open to the French; the Spaniards were under an unpopular government, and had no cortes to which they looked with confidence; the submission of Austria left Buonaparte at liberty to direct his whole attention and ́his whole force to the conquest of the peninsula; the difficulty of co-operation with the Spaniards on our part had been grievously proved; and our army, after a victory more brilliant than any of modern times, seemed to be mouldering away in sickness and inaction. Now, that army, acting in conjunction with Romana, and with a Portugueze force raised and disciplined by Great Britain, was baffling and defying the utmost force which Buonaparte could send against it; the Spanish people, after the defeat and dispersion of their armies, were displaying a spirit of patriotism which no military power could subdue; and the Spanish government was beginning to adopt those measures which were best calculated to strengthen that spirit and support it. CHAP. XIX. King's Speech at the close of the Session. Release of Sir Francis Burdett. Commercial Embarrassments. Negociations for an Exchange of Prisoners. Arrival of Lucien Buonaparte in England. Death of the Princess Amelia. Illness of the King, and Parliamentary Proceedings consequent thereon, till January 15th, 1811. PARLIAMENT was prorogued by commission before the fall of Ciudad Rodrigo: the king, in his speech, repeat ed the assurance of his " firm and unaltered conviction, that June 21. not only the honour of his throne, but the best interests of his dominions, required his most strenuous and persevering as sistance to the glorious efforts of the Spaniards and Portugueze." He congratulated the country upon the conquest of Guadaloupe, which, with the capture of the only colonies in the West Indies that had remained in the possession of the Dutch, had deprived the enemy of every port in those seas, from whence our islands or our commerce could be molested. He expressed also his satisfaction, that the resources of the country, "manifesting themselves by every mark of prosperity, by a revenue in creasing in almost all its branches, and by a commerce extending itself in new channels, and with an increased vigour, in proportion as the enemy had in vain attempted to destroy it, had enabled parliament to provide for the expences of the year, without imposing the burden of any new taxa tion in Great Britain; and that, while the taxes which had been necessarily resorted to for Ireland, had been imposed upon articles which would not interfere with the growing prosperity of that country, they had found it consistent, with a due regard to its finances, to diminish some of those burdens, and relax some of those regulations of revenue, which had been found most inconvenient in that part of the united kingdom." The speech concluded with a reference to that spirit of insubordination which Sir Francis Burdett's conduct had called into action. "His majesty," it said, "has commanded us to recommend to you, upon your return to your respective counties, to use your best exertions to promote that spirit of order and obedience to the laws, and that general concord amongst all classes of his majesty's subjects, which can alone give full effect to his majesty's paternal care for the welfare and happiness of his people. majesty has the fullest reliance upon the affections of his subjects, whose loyalty and attachment have hitherto supported him through that long and eventful period, during which it has His pleased Divine Providence to commit the interests of these dominions to his charge. His majesty feels, that the preservation of domestic peace and tranquillity, under the protection of the law, and in obedience to its authority, is amongst the most important duties which he owes to his people. His majesty commands us to assure you, that he will not be wanting in the discharge of that duty; and his majesty will always rely with confidence on the continued support of his loyal subjects, to enable him to resist with success the designs of foreign enemies, and to transmit unimpaired to posterity the blessings of the British constitution." From the time of Sir Francis Burdett's committal, the agitators had omitted no means of keeping up the spirit which he had excited. "Now that he had his signals flying," they said, "the people of England would stand boldly by him, and support him * The following is a specimen of the talents of this party for misrepresentation. It deserves to be preserved for its egregious absurdity. "To the Editor of the Morning Chronicle. SIR,-We have all read, with detestation and horror, the accounts of the Secret Tribunals in Germany during the dark ages, when the unhappy victims were dragged at midnight before their unfeeling judges, on the slightest crimes, and without being allowed to face their accusers; and there are few of us who have not burnt with indignation at the recital. We wonder how a nation, that has ever tasted of liberty, should so far forget its true interests, as to suffer so violent an encroachment on its rights-and yet our astonishment will be somewhat abated, when we find that even Englishmen, at the present day, can suffer such transactions to pass over with impunity, as, in the hands of some future elegant historian, may equally rouse the feelings of posterity. I allude, sir, to the recent attempts of a certain assembly to set themselves above the law of the land. In what particular does their conduct differ from that of the tribunals above mentioned? Their sittings are always by night: their meetings are rendered secret at the mere will of any one of the members: their victims are not allowed to face their accusers: neither have they the opportunity of defending themselves and moreover, they may be sent to prison without the possibility of an appeal to the law of the land. Surely this picture is equally true with that of the secret tribunals above alluded to; and equally calls for the reprobation of every sincere friend of his country, who is desirous of preventing so foul a stain on the page of its history. S. P. Q. R. cis! They had met with no refusal there! At the Tower they were welcome !" Mr Sheriff Wood told Sir Francis, that his release could not be a triumph for the people of England, unless it were obtained by the vindication and legal establishment of those grand principles of the contitution, which had been so grossly violated in his person. A triumph, nevertheless, the agitators were resolved to have, and preparations were made for it with as much form and publicity, as for a coronation or the funeral of Nelson! The order of the intended procession was published, stating where the gentlemen who intended to walk were to assemble, and where those who intended to ride, and where the carriages. Gentlemen on horseback, with white wands, were to attend, to marshal each division; the members of the common council and livery were to join the ceremony; bands of music, and banners, and trumpeters, were prepared; and, that no one might be in want of Sir Francis's dark blue favours, a person drove about the streets in an open carriage to sell them, till he had collected such a mob in St Giles's, that he was committed to the watch-house. The sheriffs thought it necessary to warn all persons against committing any breach of the peace, on an occasion which was so likely to produce disturbances, in the then inflamed state of popular feeling. The lord mayor received an intimation from the home secretary, to take proper measures for preserving the peace of the city; and for the purpose of assisting the civil power, in case it should be found necessary, the volunteers were called out, and troops stationed in proper places. When the day of the prorogation arrived, the shops were shut, the church bells of many parishes rung, the streets through which the procession was to pass were soon filled with people, wearing medals and blue favours; the windows were crowded with women, displaying thecolours of the herooftheday; bands of music, with banners flying, proceeded from various parts of the town toward Tower-hill, and marrow-bones and cleavers were heard in every direction. The various divisions assembled at their stations, and being marshalled by the gentlemen on horseback with white wands, the whole procession met on Towerhill, expecting momently that the prorogation would be announced, and Sir Francis come forth, when to their utter astonishment they were informed that Sir Francis was gone: he had crossed the river incognito, where his own carriage was waiting to convey him to Wimbledon. Grievous as this disappointment was, they resolved, nevertheless, that the ceremony should take place; and accordingly the people had their procession, the mob huzzaed, and the ladies flourished their handkerchiefs, ignorant, till the empty phaeton appeared, that the real presence was wanting. Amid all these preparations, Gale Jones, in whose case the question had originated, and who had a much better claim to popular sympathy than Sir Francis, was totally overlooked. Neither the gentlemen on foot, nor those on horseback, nor those in carriages, had made any arrangement for honouring his release, or conveying him in triumph; some humbler friends, indeed, had a hackney coach ready for him, and wrote his name upon the back and sides in chalk. In this vehicle he took his seat, and a party of the mob soon relieved the horses from the trouble of drawing him. The procession did not reach Sir Francis's house in Piccadilly, its appointed goal, till about eight in the evening; there it broke up: but an hour afterwards, the thousands who had dispersed were scarcely missed from the throng. The more riotous remained as night closed they insisted upon an illumination; and their orders were obeyed from Piccadilly to the Mansion House, those persons who refused obedience having their windows broken. This, however, was the only mischief which took place. Two members of the committee who arranged the procession, waited that night upon Sir Francis, to obtain an explanation of his conduct in thus disappointing his friends. Sir Francis said, "It had been the result of the deepest reflection, and had occupied his mind more than half the time he had been in the Tower; and notwithstanding the public might feel disappointed, and would, no doubt, express their disappointment strong ly, yet he was convinced that in less than six weeks there would not be a reflecting mind in the kingdom that would not approve of what he had done. His enemies," he said, " had been base enough to charge him with the blood that had been shed; and had he, by gratifying his personal vanity, been the cause of a single ac cident, or the death of any person, he should have reflected upon it with pain for the remainder of his life." His friends of the committee said, there was little probability of mischief; and indeed such precautions had been taken, that it was scarcely, possible. He replied, "there was no answering for public feeling." They then observed, that his determination ought to have been made known: he made answer, "It was absolutely necessary there should be an expression of public sentiment; that was now com This plete, and his being in the procession could not have added to it." conversation was published with Sir Francis's consent, that it might satisfy the disappointed people. One of the journals of the faction threw out a mysterious hint to strengthen this explanation, if such it may be called. "A motive," it said, "did probably exist for the conduct of Sir Francis, which, if it were what they conjectured, would be deemed more honourable to him than any act of his life: but the moment was not yet arrived when that motive could be disclosed without defeating its object." "He had done every thing," it was said, “which was essential; he had suffered the people to assemble; he had forced government to pay to his influence the compliment of marching an army to the metropolis; and he had drawn forth and mustered the population of all London on the question." The people, however, were not satisfied; many had come from the country to join in the procession; one party was said to have travelled post from Yorkshire, and just arrived in time to be disappointed; they thought themselves deceived by Sir Francis, or at least treated with disrespect; and his conduct was variously accounted for, but generally disapproved Some attributed it to an apprehension that Gale Jones would be seated beside him in the triumphal car, and to his jealousy of a rival and colleague in popularity; but there seems to have been no intention of this kind, and the party were quite as willing as Sir Francis himself that Gale Jones should be kept out of sight. The alleged reason that his presence might have rendered mischief more likely, bore with it little appearance of validity; ill-humour and disappointment were not the most probable means of |