GUERRILLAS, AND THEIR EXPLOITS. SIR ROWLAND HILL’S SUCCESS AT ALMARAZ. BATTLE OF SALAMANCA. ♦MAY, 1812. DURAN ENTERS SORIA.♦ At this time, when nothing could be expected from the Spanish armies, the Guerrillas acted in larger bodies than before, and engaged in more difficult enterprises than they had yet undertaken. Duran having obtained a plan of the fortifications of Soria from an architect who resided there, resolved upon attacking that city as an important post, from whence the French commanded a considerable extent of country. Soria, which stands on the Douro, near the supposed site of Numantia, and contained about 1,100 families in the middle of the last century, is surrounded by an old wall eighteen feet in height and six in thickness, to which some works adapted to a more modern art of war had been added; the suburb also had been fortified, and the castle strengthened. He approached the city by a circuitous route (during a most tempestuous night of wind ♦MARCH 18.♦ and snow, which froze as it fell,) and reaching it at daybreak scaled the walls, forced the suburb, and obtained possession of the city. The enemy retired into the castle, and Duran prepared to besiege it, setting fire to four convents to clear the way for his operations. The adventurers had arrived in fortunate time, for the morrow was St. Joseph’s day, when a ball and supper were to have been given in honour of the Intruder for his name’s sake, and the delicacies which had been prepared for this occasion served to regale these unexpected and unwelcome visiters. Battering-rams were employed with great effect against the old walls, that the city might no longer afford protection to the French; the public money was seized, great quantities of grain and biscuit dispatched by all the means of transport which could be found, and a contribution levied upon the inhabitants, for hitherto they had contributed nothing to the national troops, being under the yoke of the French, and thinking it evil enough to pay what the invaders exacted; but the Guerrillas admitted of no such excuse: they supposed the people to be rich because it was a trading city, and many who had formerly been rich proprietors dwelt there; the contribution, therefore, was not likely to be lightly imposed. Duran enrolled also such men as he thought fit for service, ordered others who might have been serviceable to the enemy to leave the city, and retreated himself without loss, when a detachment arrived from Aranda to the succour of the garrison. ♦MEMBERS OF THE JUNTA OF BURGOS SEIZED BY THE FRENCH AND PUT TO DEATH. MARCH 21.♦