The place of the retiring ministers administration, under the premiersh The Portland young man Port1 Ministry. Coalition M camp a body of m of the French J the claims of were Eldo Canning. and lor Wo Aation of Charles and Ferdinand to come to Bayonne persuaded to abdicate, this the French troops occupied Madrid, Both were Joseph Bonaparte king of Spain, nord hand him regnised by what purported to be a body of Spanish Joseph had been king of Naples since 1806, and had shown himself an excellent sovereign. By his accession the Spaniards were offered the advantages of the French Revolution, and were invited to throw over the systems of feudalism, priestcraft, and corruppartly because the intelligence of the people was not sufficiently aroused of the people refused to accept Joseph, even under these conditions, tion which had long been dominant in Spain. Nevertheless, the majority being intensely patriotic, resented interference by the French. Hitherto to the evils of the existing state of affairs, and also because the Spaniards, armies of regular soldiers, and had been accustomed to see whole peoples Napoleon, in all his campaigns, had had to deal with monarchs and submit without a blow when their professional defenders had been vanquished. He was now for the first time confronted by a national resistance. In the open field, and against equal numbers, the Spaniards had no chance with the French, and their troops were disgracefully beaten by Bessières at the battle of Rio Seco; but the town of Saragossa defied all efforts of the French to capture it, and Dupont, one of the French generals, having advanced too far from his supports, was suran overwhelming force and compelled to surrender at rounded by Baylen. The whole Spanish population rose, and commenced a guerilla warfare against the invaders. Confronted with this, Joseph, who was no soldier, evacuated Madrid, and withdrew his armies to the entrance of the road from Bayonne into Spain. Meanwhile, the British government had determined to assist the and other Spanish towns, which resulted in the abdication of Charles and the accession of Ferdinand. On this the French troops occupied Madrid, and Napoleon induced both Charles and Ferdinand to come to Bayonne for the purpose of conferring with him. Both were persuaded to abdicate, and then Napoleon named his brother Joseph Bonaparte king of Spain, and had him recognised by what purported to be a body of Spanish notables in June 1808. Joseph had been king of Naples since 1806, and had shown himself an excellent sovereign. By his accession the Spaniards were offered the Spanish advantages of the French Revolution, and were invited to Resistance. throw over the systems of feudalism, priestcraft, and corruption which had long been dominant in Spain. Nevertheless, the majority of the people refused to accept Joseph, even under these conditions, partly because the intelligence of the people was not sufficiently aroused to the evils of the existing state of affairs, and also because the Spaniards, being intensely patriotic, resented interference by the French. Hitherto Napoleon, in all his campaigns, had had to deal with monarchs and armies of regular soldiers, and had been accustomed to see whole peoples submit without a blow when their professional defenders had been vanquished. He was now for the first time confronted by a national resistance. In the open field, and against equal numbers, the Spaniards had no chance with the French, and their troops were disgracefully beaten by Bessières at the battle of Rio Seco; but the town of Saragossa defied all efforts of the French to capture it, and Dupont, one of the French generals, having advanced too far from his supports, was surrounded by an overwhelming force and compelled to surrender at Baylen. The whole Spanish population rose, and commenced a guerilla warfare against the invaders. Confronted with this, Joseph, who was no soldier, evacuated Madrid, and withdrew his armies to the entrance of the road from Bayonne into Spain. Sir Arthur Wellesley in Portugal. Meanwhile, the British government had determined to assist the Portuguese, and for this purpose a body of troops under Sir Arthur Wellesley, which had been designed for South America, were ordered to proceed to Portugal. They landed in Mondego Bay, and on August 17 defeated a division of the French army under Laborde at Roriça. He then marched south and took up a position at Vimiero, a little north of Lisbon, to await reinforcements. While these were landing, he was attacked on the 21st by the whole Battle of French army under Junot himself. After hard fighting the French were beaten; and as it was still noon, Wellesley wished to drive Junot into the valley of the Tagus, and, by cutting him off from Vimiero. Lisbon, to compel him to surrender. Wellesley, however, was superseded in turn by two senior officers, Sir Harry Burrard and Sir Hew Dalrymple. They gave up his plan, and accepted the overtures for an armistice which were made by the French. Accordingly a convention was signed at Cintra, by which the French agreed to evacuate Portugal, taking with them their arms and private property-which turned out to include their plunder-on condition that they were conveyed in British ships to France. From a military point of view the convention was ridiculous, as there is no doubt that a little energy would have compelled Junot to surrender at discretion; but politically, by giving Portugal to the British as a safe base of operations, it secured a great advantage. In England, however, it was received with the greatest indignation, and of the three generals responsible for it, only Sir Arthur Wellesley was employed again. The French troops had now been expelled from the whole of the peninsula, except where the road to France entered Spain; but in Napoleon November Napoleon himself took the command, dein Spain. feated the Spaniards at the battles of Espinosa and Tudela, and entered Madrid on the 4th of December. Meanwhile the British army in Portugal, which was now under the command of Sir John Moore, had crossed the Spanish frontier to Salamanca, and there Moore heard of the defeat of the Spaniards. Recognising that it was impossible for him to fight Napoleon with any chance of success, Moore Moore's determined to march on Burgos in such a way as to threaten Advance. Napoleon's communications with France; this he hoped would compel Napoleon to concentrate his forces, and so give time to the Spanish fugitives to recover from their defeat. As Moore expected, the news of his advance caused the concentration of the French on Burgos; and as soon as he knew this was in progress, his object being now accomplished, Moore retreated towards Corunna, where the transports from Lisbon were ordered to meet him. For some time the British were pursued by Napoleon in person, and suffered terrible hardships in their forced winter march through the mountains of the Asturias; but before they reached the coast Napoleon returned to France, leaving Soult and Ney to complete the destruction of the British. On reaching Corunna the transports were not in sight, but Moore turned at bay on Battle of the outskirts of the town and inflicted, on January 16, such Corunna. a decisive defeat on the French that the embarkation of the British was conducted without interference. Moore himself was mortally wounded, and died before the troops embarked. Although during the war the British had never fought the French on |