The emperor, cautious of giving offence to a population so lately and so violently excited, carefully provided against any sudden reaction, and preserved the strictest discipline. A soldier of the imperial guard was shot in one of the squares for having a plundered watch in his possession. The infantry were placed in barracks and convents, and the cavalry were kept ready to scour the streets at the first alarm. The Spaniards were disarmed, and Napoleon fixed his own quarters at Chamartin, a country house four miles from Madrid. In a few days every thing presented the most tranquil appearance; the shops were opened, the public amusements recommenced, and the theatres were frequented. The inhabitants of capital cities are easily moved, and easily calmed; self-interest and the pursuit of pleasure unfit them for noble and sustained efforts; they can be violent, ferocious, cruel, but are seldom constant and firm. It was during this operation that La-Peña, after escaping from the sixth corps, arrived at Guadalaxara with about five thousand men. On the 2d, the dukes of Infantado and Albuquerque having left Madrid, joined him, and on the 4th, Venegas came up with two thousand men. While the generals were hesitating what course to pursue, Napoleon being apprized of their vicinity, directed Bessieres with sixteen squadrons upon Guadalaxara, supporting him by Ruffin’s division of the first corps. At the approach of the cavalry, the main body retired through the hills by Sanctorcaz towards Aranjuez, and the artillery crossed the Tagus at Sacedon. Ruffin’s division immediately changed its direction, and cut the Spaniards off from La Mancha by the line of Ocaña. A mutiny among the Spanish troops having forced La-Peña to resign his command, the duke of Infantado was chosen in his place, the army crossed the Tagus at several points, and after some slight actions with the advanced cavalry of the French, this miserable body of men finally saved themselves at Cuenca. Many deserters and fugitives, and the brigades of Cartoajal and Lilli, which had escaped the different French columns, also arrived there, and the duke proceeded to organize another army. [Sidenote: Sir John Moore’s Papers.] In the mean time the fourth French corps reached Segovia, passed the Guadarama, dispersed some armed peasants assembled at the Escurial, and then marched toward Almaraz, to attack general Galluzzo, who, having assembled five or six thousand men to defend the left bank of the Tagus, was, with the usual skill of a Spanish general, occupying a line of forty miles. The first corps entered La Mancha; Toledo immediately shut its gates, and the junta of that town publicly proclaimed their resolution to bury themselves under the ruins of the city; but at the approach of a French division, betrayed the most contemptible cowardice.