Early in November St. Cyr received orders to enter Spain, and he determined to commence his operations with the siege of Rosas. While the fine roadstead which that fortress commands was open to the English, there was scarcely a chance of throwing supplies into Barcelona by sea; to escort them by land was not possible while Gerona and Hostalrich were in possession of the Spaniards; and if those places had been taken they could not be provisioned unless Rosas also were held by the French. Rosas is situated four leagues east of Figueras, in the bottom of the bay, where the plain of Ampurdan touches ♦1808. NOVEMBER.♦ the skirts of the Pyrenees. The town, containing then about 1200 inhabitants, is built along the shore, and completely commanded by the fortress; the fortress, which is an irregular pentangle, the town, and a smaller fort, called, after a custom too prevalent in Catholic countries, Fuerte de la Trinidad, forming a semi-circle round the bay. This place had sustained a most gallant siege of ten weeks in 1795 after Figueras, strong as it was, had been surrendered without defence; and when the commander, D. Domingo Yzquierdo, could maintain the almost demolished works no longer, he succeeded in embarking the remains of his garrison. ♦MARCILLAC. 299–313.♦ During the peace nothing had been done to repair the works, as if no future war was to be apprehended. Even after the present struggle had commenced, six months, in that supineness which belongs to the Spanish character, had been suffered to elapse without taking any measures for strengthening and securing a place of such evident importance. There were many persons, and even some members of the nearest Juntas, who were acquainted with the details of the last siege, and knew what repairs were necessary, and also what the points were which it was most material to strengthen. But their attention was wholly engrossed by local and immediate interests, and the pressing representations which the commandant of engineers repeatedly addressed to the higher authorities produced no effect. Nothing could rouse them from their dream of recovering Barcelona by force of arms. ♦DILAPIDATED STATE OF THAT FORTRESS.♦