This unfortunate event, however, created little or no sensation beyond the immediate scene of the catastrophe. Triumphs and rejoicings occupied the people of Madrid and Zaragoza, and it is difficult to say how long the war would have been neglected, if Palafox had not been roused by the re-appearance of a French corps, which re-took Tudela, and pushed on to the vicinity of Zaragoza itself. This movement took place immediately after the expedition against Bilbao, and was intended to suppress the insurrection of the valleys, and to clear the left flank of the French army. Palafox thus roughly aroused, wrote intemperately to the council of Castille, commanding that all the troops in the capital should be forwarded to the Ebro, and menacing the members personally for the delay which had already occurred. Being a young man without any weight of character, and his remonstrances being founded only upon his own danger, and not supported by any general plan or clear view of affairs, the presumptuous tone of his letters gave general offence; they were chiefly aimed at Castaños, who was not under his command; and moreover, the junta of Seville refused to pay or to subsist the Andalusian army if it moved beyond the capital before a central government should be established; at the same time resorting to every kind of intrigue, to retard, if not entirely to prevent, the execution of the latter measure. [Sidenote: Whittingham’s Letters. MSS.] [Sidenote: Mr. Stuart’s Letters. Parliamentary Papers.] It was, however, necessary to do something, and a council of all the generals commanding armies was held at Madrid on the 5th of September. Castaños, Llamas, Cuesta, the duke of Infantado, and some others assembled; Blake gave his proxy to the duke, and Palafox was represented by a colonel of his own staff. Cuesta proposed that a commander-in-chief should be appointed: the others were too jealous to adopt this proposal, but they agreed to pursue the following plan of operations. Llamas, with the Murcians, to occupy Tarascona, Agreda, and Borja. La-Peña, with the two divisions of Andalusia already in the capital, to march by Soria, and take possession of Logroña and Najera. The other divisions of that army to follow in due time. When La-Peña should be established in Logroña, Llamas was to advance to Cascante, Corella, and Calahorra. [Sidenote: Sir H. Dalrymple’s Corresp^{ce}. Doyle’s Letters. Cox’s D^o.]