The heroism of the citizens was only equalled by their industry, and by the sagacity of those who conducted the defence. Gunpowder was manufactured within the walls of the city, though it was on fire in every quarter At the end ofnearly two months, every desperate effort had failed to recover the adjacent heights and the envi rons : the bodies, but not the courage, of the besieged were almost exhausted. On the 4th of August, the French opened a tremendous fire on one quarter of the town : the mud walls had been battered down : the French columns had entered, and were in possession of one-half of the city, even to the central street. The French general then demanded a capitulation, in these words,—" Head quarters, Santa Engracia : The Capita. lation." He was answered in the following words : " Head quarters, Saragossa : 1Var to the knife " The French occupied one side of the main street called Corso. The Arragonese threw up their entrenchments within a few paces of them, on the opposite side. In day light, it was certain death to appear within this horrid interval ; but during the night, the combatants often dashed across the street against each others batteries. At last the ammunition of the Spaniards began to fail, and the people were calling out to be led to attack the enemy with only their knives, when, at this awful crisis, a convoy of provisions and ammunition, and 3000 Span ish guards, Swiss and volunteers of Arragon, unexpect edly found their way into the city, under Don Francis Palafox, the brother of the general. A council of war now determined, that if the whole of Saragossa should be consumed, the patriots should retire over the Ebro to the suburbs, and defend them till they perished. The people shouted when they heard the resolution. For eleven days the conflict was continued from house to house, from room to room, when the French had again lost all but about an eighth part of the city. During the night of the 13th of August, the fire of the French was particularly destructive ; and, when their batteries ceas ed, flames were seen to burst out in many parts of the buildings in their possession. On the morning of the 14th, to the great surprise of the Saragossians, the ene my's columns were seen at a distance retreating over the plain, on the road to Parnpeluna.
In Catalonia, the French general Duhesme had been directed to reduce Gerona, at the same time that Le Febre was sent against Saragossa ; but, after spending a month in the siege, he was threatened by the insur gems in flank, and precipitately retreated. The French prevented (but with the utmost difficulty) the patriots from cutting off the communications of Figueras, and investing Barcelona. Such were the successes of the patriots in the south and east ; while their affairs in the north of Spain wore a much less favourable aspect, from the fate of a battle which they lost at Medina del Rio Seco, in the province of Leon. Marshal Bessieres, while he dispatched a force against Saragossa, had also pushed forward columns against Segovia, Logrono, Valladolid, and St Andero. Segovia was taken, after the defeat and dispersion of the peasantry before its walls. The town and province of Palentia was also disarmed, and the members of the council of the captured towns were deputed to go to Bayonne, there to supplicate the forgiveness of Joseph Bonaparte, and swear fealty to his Catholic majesty. General Merle had proceeded to the mountains of St Andero on the 21st of June, and defeat ed the natives under their patriotic bishop in one quar ter, while General Ducos drove them from post to post into the town from other points. The French generals then entered St Andero on different sides : the peasants returned to their homes; and the city swore fealty to the usurper. But the severest blow to the patriotic cause, was the defeat of the army of the western provinces un der Cuesta. That general, whose forces comprehended all the prisoners restored by the British government,* was attacked (on the 14th of July) on the high grounds of Medina del Rio Seco by general Bessieres. All the
positions of his raw troops were carried. He lost all his artillery, his baggage, stores, and the better part of his army. The Spaniards fled through Benevento as far as Astorga. They were pursued for many days ; and all the places which they left behind them surrendered as the enemy came up.
It appears, however, that in spite of this defeat, the patriots were not without hopes of rallying even under Cuesta, and that reinforcements were expected to join the fugitives from Medina. The battle of that place was certainly not regarded as a sufficient counterba lance to the surrender of Dupont at Baylen, and the symptoms of a resisting spirit which were still displayed. When the news of the battle of Baylen had reached :Madrid, the French immediately had begun to fortify the Reteiro. On the evening of the 29th of July, they began to evacuate Madrid. King Joseph, with the last companies of the troops, left the Spanish capital on the 29th, from whence he proceeded to Burgos, after plun dering the public treasury of the plate and the crown jewels of his unfortunate predecessors. It was observed by the Spaniards, " that Joseph had put the crown into s pocket, which he durst not wear upon his head." While the French government could not extinguish the flame of insurrection in Spain, they were still less able to prevent its explosion being heard all over Eu rope. Bonaparte had in vain attempted to impress the Spanish regiments, in that army which he kept watching over his late conquests in Germany, with an idea, that the most respectable part of their countrymen had sanc tioned his proceedings. He published, indeed, an ac count in the Moniteur, of those regiments having vo luntarily come forward to devote themselves to his cause, and, having formed a detachment, to beg the honour of being the body-guard of Joseph. If any such offer was made, it ill accorded with the subsequent spirit of the same troops, who, when they heard of the true state of their country, planted their colours in the centre of a circle, around which they formed, and, having sworn an oath of patriotism on their knees, marched out through the hostile battalions which surrounded them, but who did not choose to put their courage and de spair to the proof. Ten thousand Spaniards, stationed under the Marquis Romana on the islanil of Langland, Zealand, and Jutland, who had thus emancipated them selves from the French yoke, were brought off by our fleet in the Baltic under Admiral Keats, and were con veyed, with their stores, arms, and artillery, to Corunna, on the 30th of September.t The whole aspect of Spanish affairs, had inspired hopes in the beginning of summer, that the co-operation of a British army would not be thrown away in the Pe ninsula; and for this purpose, a force of about 10,000 men set sail from Cork on the 12th of July, and arrived at Corunna on the 20th. Sir Arthur Wellesley, who commanded them, offered the assistance of his forces to the Junta of Gallicia ; they replied, that they wanted not men, but arms, ammunition, and money, but re commended a diversion by the British in Lisbon. The army then sailed for Oporto, but was left inactive there, while Sir Arthur proceeded in person to have a confe rence with the British admiral, Sir Charles Cotton, off Lisbon. On board of that admiral's ship, he received information from General Spencer, that the Junta of Seville did not require the co-operation of his little ar my ; he therefore gave orders to General Spencer to join him, in his proposed operations on Portugal. Be fore he landed his troops, he received advice from home, that 5000 men, under General Anstruther, were pro ceeding to join him, and that 10,000 men, under Sir John Moore, would speedily be detached for the same purpose.