double object of resting the troops, and gaining time for Sir Rowland Hill’s movements; for, ... though his first view had been in falling back upon the Douro to afford Sir Rowland a point upon which to retire when he should no longer be able to maintain an advanced position in front of Madrid, against the very superior force which would be brought against him, ... having seen the strength of Souham’s army, it had become necessary to order Sir Rowland to break up from the Xarama, for the purpose of securing his own retreat. ♦SIR ROWLAND HILL RETREATS FROM THE XARAMA.♦ Sir Rowland was an officer upon whom Lord Wellington might always rely with the most perfect confidence. He expected such orders, and receiving them on the 29th, intended to begin his march on the following morning; but the mine which should have destroyed the Puente Larga, on the Xarama, failed; and the enemy, who had collected a large body between that bridge and Aranjuez, immediately made an attack upon the allied post there. They were repulsed by Colonel Skerrett with considerable loss on their part, and that of some forty men on ours: this affair delayed the march of Sir Rowland’s right till the evening, the enemy however made no subsequent attempt to molest him, farther than by picking up such stragglers as fell behind for the sake of plundering and drinking; and these were numerous. The army marched all night and reached Madrid on the following morning. That capital presented ♦STATE OF MADRID.♦ a melancholy scene: it was known that these allies could make no attempt to defend it, and that their retreat would be followed by the entrance of the enemy; and two days before, when the Military and Provisional Government were about to transfer their authority to the _Ayuntamiento_, that body dissolved itself, regardless of its duty. Upon this, the Regidor D. Pedro Baranda, who had been on the point of resigning his office, came bravely and honourably forward to take himself the charge from which they had shrunk, and summoning persons to his aid who had been in authority when the French withdrew, began to take measures for averting the evils which there was so much cause to apprehend. The letters in the post-office were sent off to Avila, lest they should be seized by the enemy, and many persons brought into danger by their contents. And to prevent the excesses which must be expected, if on the entrance of the enemy the prisons should be thrown open, the alcaydes were called upon to deliver in ♦NOVEMBER.♦ a list of those persons who were imprisoned for disloyalty to the national cause, and they were set at liberty while there yet existed an authority which could restrain them from acts of immediate vengeance. ♦THE ALLIES WITHDRAW FROM MADRID.♦