5º. The great combinations of the French emperor were upon the point of being crowned with success, when a sudden catastrophe overturned his able calculations and raised the sinking hopes of the Spaniards. It was the campaign in Andalusia which produced such important effects, and it offers one of the most interesting and curious examples recorded by history of the vicissitudes of war; for there disorder unaccompanied by superior valour triumphed over discipline; inexperienced officers were successful against practised generals; and a fortuitous combination of circumstances enabled the Spaniards, without any skill, to defeat in one day an immense plan wisely arranged, embracing a variety of interests, and until that moment happily conducted in all its parts. This blow, which felled Joseph from his throne, marked the French army with a dishonourable scar, the more conspicuous, because it was the only one of its numerous wounds that misbecame it. CHAPTER VIII. OPERATIONS IN ANDALUSIA. [Sidenote: Journal of Dupont’s Operations. MS.] General Dupont received orders to march against Cadiz with a column, composed of two Swiss regiments (Preux and Reding), taken from the Spanish army, a French division of infantry under general Barbou, a division of cavalry commanded by general Fresia, a marine battalion of the imperial guards, and eighteen pieces of artillery. Three thousand infantry, five hundred cavalry, and ten guns, drawn from the army of Portugal, were to join him in Andalusia, and he was to incorporate among his troops three other Swiss regiments, quartered in that province. The latter end of May he traversed La Mancha, entered the Sierra Morena, by the pass of Despeñas Perros, and proceeded by Carolina and Baylen to Andujar, where he arrived the 2d of June; there he was informed that a supreme junta of government was established at Seville, that minor juntas ruled in Granada, Jaen, and Cordoba, that war was formally declared against the French, that the whole of Andalusia was in arms, and the Swiss regiments ranged under the Spanish banners, and finally, that general Avril, commanding the detachment expected from Portugal, had halted in Tavora, and was preparing to return to Lisbon.