In his instructions to the duke of Rovigo he says, “_In a war of this sort it is necessary to act with patience, coolness, and upon calculation._” “_In civil wars it is the important points only which should be guarded, we must not go to all places_;” and he inculcates the doctrine that to spread the troops over the country without the power of uniting upon emergency would be a dangerous and useless display of activity. The principle upon which he proceeded may be illustrated by the comparison of a closed hand thrust forward and the fingers afterwards extended: as long as the solid part of the member was securely fixed and guarded, the return of the smaller portions of it and their flexible movement was feasible and without great peril; but a wound given to the hand or arm not only endangered that part but paralyzed the action of the whole limb. Hence all the care and attention with which his troops were arranged along the road to Burgos; hence all the measures of precaution already described, such as the seizure of the fortresses, and the formation of the reserves at Bayonne. The insurrection having commenced, Bessieres was ordered to put Burgos into a state of defence,--to detach a division of four or five thousand men under general Lefebre Desnouettes against Zaragoza,--to keep down the insurgents of Biscay, Asturias, and Old Castille,--and to watch the army assembling in Gallicia; he was likewise enjoined to occupy and watch with jealous care the port of St. Ander and the coast towns. At the same time a reinforcement of nine thousand men was preparing for Duhesme, which, it was supposed, would enable him to tranquillize Catalonia, and co-operate with a division marching from Madrid against Valencia. [Sidenote: Napoleon’s notes, Appendix, No. 2.] The reserve under general Drouet was nourished by drafts from the interior: it supplied Bessieres with reinforcements, and afforded a detachment of four thousand men to watch the openings of the valleys of the Pyrenees, especially towards the castle of Jaca, which was in possession of the Spanish insurgents. A smaller reserve was established at Perpignan, and another detachment watched the openings of the eastern frontier. All the generals commanding corps, or even detachments, were directed to correspond daily with general Drouet. [Sidenote: S. Journal of Moncey’s Operations. MSS.] [Sidenote: Napoleon’s notes, Appendix, No. 1.]