The Intruder and his ministers halted at Vitoria till the French, of whose speedy and complete success no doubt was entertained, should have chastised the insurgents, and opened for them the way to Madrid. Buonaparte meantime returned to Paris. In every place through which he passed he was received with more than usual demonstrations of triumphant joy. The population of town and country gathered together to behold and to applaud him. Houses were hung with garlands, and the streets through which he rode were formed into parterres of flowers, and overbowered with shrubs. From Bayonne to Toulouse and Bordeaux, and from thence to Nantes and Tours and to the capital, it was one continued festival. It gratified the ambition of the French to know that their great Emperor had placed his brother upon the throne of Spain; this was another step toward that universal empire which they believed to be within their reach. They had been kept in ignorance of the nefarious artifices by which the usurpation had been brought about, and little did they apprehend that the consequences of this usurpation would carry tears and mourning into almost every family in France, and bring upon it the full and overflowing measure of retribution. CHAPTER VIII. PROCEEDINGS IN ENGLAND. SUCCESSES OF THE FRENCH IN THE NORTH OF SPAIN: THEIR FAILURE IN CATALONIA. MONCEY REPULSED FROM VALENCIA. DUPONT ENTERS CORDOBA. BATTLE OF RIO SECO. THE INTRUDER ENTERS MADRID. SURRENDER OF DUPONT’S ARMY. THE FRENCH RETREAT FROM MADRID. ♦1808. FEELINGS OF THE ENGLISH PEOPLE CONCERNING THE TRANSACTIONS IN SPAIN.♦