There was no force in Extremadura which could oppose any obstacle to this plan. When the pass of Somosierra was lost, San Juan, who commanded there, cut his way sword in hand through a squadron of Poles, and by by-roads reached Segovia, where he found the troops who had retired from Sepulveda. From thence he marched to Guadarrama, united with the Extremaduran troops under General Heredia, and descended to the Escurial, because he was without provisions in the pass. There they received orders to hasten to Madrid, and enter that city by the gate of Segovia. On the way exaggerated reports were spread of the strength of the enemy; suspicion increased the insubordination of the soldiers; the artillery and baggage-men forsook their charge and fled, and several corps broke up. The whole of Heredia’s van-guard dispersed in this manner, in spite of all San Juan’s efforts to detain them; they would rally, they said, at Talavera: this word went through the army, and served as a pretext for every one who chose to fly. The two generals had only a handful of men with them when they approached Madrid, and then they discovered that the city had been betrayed. No other course remained for them than to repair to Talavera, in the hope of rallying what would still form a considerable force. The rabble of the army, sufficiently faithful to their appointment, bent their way to that city, plundering as they went along; and there San Juan met them, unhappily for himself. The wretches who had been foremost in subverting discipline, and instigating the troops to break up, began to apprehend punishment if the army should again assume a regular form; and this was likely to be the case immediately, for many thousands (many having escaped from Madrid) were now collected there, and the government had already begun to take measures for re-equipping them. It was easy for these villains to raise a cry against San Juan: all men knew the importance of the position at Somosierra; but there were few who knew with what insufficient means the general had been supplied. Mobs never reason, least of all when they are under the influence of fear; and the Spanish troops had suffered so much from incapacity, that when any person was denounced as a traitor, it seemed like a relief to themselves, and an act of justice to their country, to vent their vengeance upon him. The cry against San Juan became general: a friar went at the head of a party to the convent of the Augustines, where he had taken up his quarters, and they cried out that they were come to put ♦DEC. 7.♦ Benito San Juan to death. San Juan attempted to expostulate, but in vain. He drew his sword to defend himself, and immediately he was pierced with their bullets. The rabble dragged the body to a gibbet, and hung it there; next they sought for Heredia, that they might kill him also; but he eluded their search. As soon as their fury was allayed, the instigators of these excesses secured