Blake marched the 18th, recrossed the river at Mertola the 22d, remained inactive at Castillegos until the 30th, and sent his heavy artillery to Ayamonte by water; then, instead of moving direct with his whole force upon Seville, he detached only a small body, and with a kind of infatuation wasted two successive days in assaulting the castle of Niebla; a contemptible work garrisoned by three hundred Swiss, who had in the early part of the war abandoned the Spanish service. Being without artillery he could not succeed, and meanwhile Soult, hearing of his march, ordered Olivenza to be blown up, and taking some cavalry, and Godinot’s division which formed the left of his army, passed the Morena by Santa Ollalla and moved rapidly upon Seville. From Monasterio he sent a detachment to relieve the castle of Niebla; and at the same time, general Conroux, whose division was at Xeres de los Cavalheiro, crossed the mountain by the Aracena road, and endeavoured to cut off Blake from Ayamonte. Thus far, notwithstanding the failure at Niebla, the English general’s project was crowned with success. The great army in his front was broken up, Soult was gone, Marmont was preparing to retire, and Portugal was safe. Blake’s cavalry under Penne Villemur, and some infantry under Ballesteros, had also, during the attack on Niebla, appeared in front of Seville on the right of the Guadalquivir, and a slight insurrection took place at Carmona on the left bank. The Serranos, always in arms, were assisted by Beguines with three thousand men, and blockaded the town of Ronda; and Freire advancing with his Murcians beyond Lorca, menaced general Laval, who had succeeded Sebastiani in command of the fourth corps. In this crisis, general Daricau, unable to keep the field, shut himself up in a great convent, which Soult had, in anticipation of such a crisis, fortified in the Triana suburb, before his first invasion of Estremadura. But the Spanish troops of Joseph, shewed no disposition to quit him, the people of Seville remained tranquil, and Blake’s incapacity ruined the whole combination. [Sidenote: 1811. July.]