rich, and willing to contribute to the exigencies of the moment, the central junta, although complaining of the want of money, would not be at the trouble of collecting patriotic gifts, and left the armies “to all the horrors of famine, nakedness, and misery.” The natural consequence of such folly and wickedness ensued; the people ceased to be enthusiastic, and the soldiers deserted in crowds. [Sidenote: General Broderick’s Letter. Par^y. Pap^s.] [Sidenote: Birch’s Letters to Leith. MS.] The conduct of the generals was scarcely less extraordinary. Blake had voluntarily commenced the campaign without magazines, and without any plan, except that of raising the provinces of Biscay and Guipuscoa. With the usual blind confidence of a Spaniard, he pressed forward, ignorant of the force or situation of his adversaries, never dreaming of a defeat, and so little experienced in the detail of command, that he calculated upon the ordinary quantity of provision contained in an English frigate, which cruised off the coast, as a resource for his army, if the country should fail to supply him with subsistence. His artillery had only seventy rounds for each gun, his men were without great coats, many without shoes, and the snow was beginning to fall in the mountains. That he was able to make any impression is a proof that king Joseph possessed little military talent: the French marshals, from the habitude of war, were able to baffle Blake without difficulty, but the stratagetical importance of the valley of Orduña they did not appreciate, or he would have been destroyed. The lesson given by Napoleon, when he defeated Wurmser in the valley of the Brenta, might have been repeated, under more favourable circumstances, at Orduña and Durango; but if genius was asleep with the French, it was dead with the Spaniards. As long as Blake remained between Frias and Valmaceda his position was tolerably secure from an attack, because the Montagna St. Ander is exceedingly rugged, and the line of retreat by Villacayo was open; but he was cooped up in a corner, and ill-placed for offensive movements, which were the only operations he thought of. Instead of occupying Burgos, and repairing the citadel, he descended on Bilbao with the bulk of his army, thereby discovering his total ignorance of war; for several great valleys, the upper parts of which were possessed by the French, met near that town, and it was untenable. The flank of his army was exposed to an attack from the side of Orduña, and his line of retreat was always in the power of Bessieres. To protect his flank and rear, Blake detached largely, but that weakened the main body without obviating the danger, nor did he make amends for his bad dispositions by diligence, for his movements were slow, his attacks without vigour, and his whole conduct displayed temerity without decision, and rashness without enterprise. [Sidenote: Appendix, No. 27.]