The emperor was informed of that general’s advance on the 21st; in an instant the Spaniards, their juntas, and their armies were dismissed from his thoughts; the different corps were arrested in their movements, ten thousand men were left to control the capital, and on the evening of the 22d, fifty thousand men were at the foot of the Guadarama. A deep snow choked the passes of the Sierra, and, after twelve hours of ineffectual toil, the advanced guards were still on the wrong side; the general commanding reported that the road was impracticable, but Napoleon, rebuking him fiercely, urged the columns to another attempt, and the passage of the mountain was effected amidst storms of hail and drifting sleet. The cold and fatigue being so intense that many soldiers and draft animals died during the two days that the operation lasted. [Sidenote: S. Journal of Operations, MS.] Personally urging on the troops with unceasing vehemence the emperor arrived at Villacastin, fifty miles from Madrid, on the 24th, and the 26th he was at Tordesillas with the guards and the divisions of La-Pisse and Dessolles. The dragoons of La Houssaye were at Valladolid on the same day, and marshal Ney, with the sixth corps, was at Rio Seco. From Tordesillas Napoleon communicated with Soult, informed him of these movements, and concluded his despatch thus: “_Our cavalry scouts are already at Benevente. If the English pass to-day in their position, they are lost; if on the contrary, they attack you with all their force, retire one day’s march: the farther they proceed the better for us. If they retreat, pursue them closely_;” and then, full of hope, he hastened to Valderas, but had the mortification to learn that, notwithstanding his rapid march, having scarcely rested night or day, he was twelve hours too late. The British were across the Esla! [Sidenote: S. Journal of Operations, MS.]