Little attempt was made on the enemy’s part to annoy the allies during the winter and spring. Foy, with 1500 infantry and 100 horse, had endeavoured, in February, to surprise the post at Bejar, but was promptly repulsed; and the French in the same month advanced from Orbigo and Castro Gondoles as far as Astorga and Manzanal in one direction, and to the Puebla de Sanabria and Mombuey in another, the Gallician army retreating before them, and then resuming their former position when the enemy in their turn had retired. Much greater activity was shown in plundering the inhabitants; and this kind of war, wherein there could be no resistance, was carried on so shamelessly, that the Intruder, it was said, deemed it necessary to call one of the generals to account. Clausel was of opinion that an error had been committed in not concentrating their forces more upon the Ebro, which might have been done, he said, without abandoning Castille, and this error, he feared, they should find cause to repent. But the Intruder’s council had determined upon taking the Douro for their line of defence; and with this view they threw up works on the right bank at every assailable point, relying, as Soult had formerly done at Porto, upon the security which that deep ♦M. SOULT CALLED FROM SPAIN.♦ and rapid river might afford them. Marshal Soult had been called away in March to take part in the campaign in Germany. The head-quarters of what had been his army were removed from Toledo to Madrid early in April, and Toledo was abandoned; but troops were kept at Illescas, and reconnoissances made by the cavalry towards Escalona, the Alberche, and Añobes del Tajo, apprehending some movement of Sir Rowland’s army in this direction. The ♦THE INTRUDER GOES TO VALLADOLID.♦ Intruder, leaving that capital to which he was never to return, removed his court, or rather his head-quarters, to Valladolid, where the Palace Gardens were put in order for his recreation, and some defensive works constructed. On the 11th of April, General Hugo, who had been left with the command in Madrid, informed the _Ayuntamiento_ that the troops were about to depart, and that they must take measures for preserving tranquillity and guarding the public buildings, civil and military. The most precious articles in the cabinet of natural history were sent off, with whatever else could be removed from the other public establishments, and all arrears of contribution were exacted with the utmost rigour. Beasts enough were not left in Madrid for the scavengers’ use, so that the inhabitants were ordered to collect the sweepings of the streets into the squares, and there burn what used to be carried into the country for manure. The people of that poor capital had always clung to the hope of deliverance with a strength of belief which characterizes the nation, and in the movements of their oppressors they now saw reasonable ground for expecting that it could not be long delayed. ♦ANGLO-SICILIAN ARMY.♦