In England, too, we were told, that if Ciudad Rodrigo were taken, the efforts of the English might be considered to be at an end; the French would then be able to advance without fear of a check; the harvest also being now begun, whatever grain there was in the country they would be able to secure for themselves, and so form magazines, the want of which had hitherto chiefly retarded their advance. At one time these politicians cried out, “that Lord Wellington could not permit the enemy quietly to prosecute the siege of so important a fortress.” At another, “they would not suppose him capable of fighting a useless battle: for they trusted he was not so prodigal of the blood of his followers. They trusted that his operations would be justified by the event.” Then again “they were not competent to speak from their own knowledge, yet certainly it did appear a doubtful policy to be patiently waiting till Massena had time to concentrate his troops, and make all his arrangements for an attack on the British position.” “The plan of overwhelming Lord Wellington, by bringing an immense superiority to bear upon him, was one which obviously presented itself; there seemed no insurmountable difficulty in the execution; obstacles there might be, from want of provisions and other circumstances, but the skill and perseverance of the French in combating them forbade us to place much reliance upon such grounds.” In this manner, always presaging evil, and consistent in nothing but despondency, sometimes borrowing the tone of the Moniteur, and sometimes setting it, did these journalists of a disappointed party labour to deaden the hearts and hopes of their countrymen; while their more daring, but hardly more mischievous coadjutors addressed their weekly invectives to the readers and auditors in pot-houses and tap-rooms, abusing their ignorance, appealing to, and inflaming their worst passions, and crying out against the measures of their own government, while upon the crimes of Buonaparte they observed a silence which sufficiently indicated their sympathy with his system, their wishes for the extension of his tyranny, and their hopes of his eventual success. ♦LA PUEBLA DE SANABRIA OCCUPIED BY THE FRENCH.♦