Henriod governor of Lerida had on the 25th of October surprised and destroyed, in Balaguer, a swarm of Partidas which had settled on the plain of Urgel, and the Partizans on the left bank of the Ebro had been defeated by the escort of one of the convoys. The French also entrenched a post before the Medas Islands, in November, which prevented all communication by land, and in the same month Maurice Mathieu surprised Mattaro. The war had also now fatigued so many persons, that several towns were ready to receive the enemy as friends. Villa Nueva de Sitjes and other places were in constant communication with Barcelona; and the people of Cadaques openly refused to pay their contributions to Lacy, declaring that they had already paid the French and meant to side with the strongest. One Guinart, a member of the junta, was detected corresponding with the enemy; counter guerillas, or rather free-booting bands, made their appearance near Berga; privateers of all nations infested the coast, and these pirates of the ocean, the disgrace of civilized warfare, generally agreed not to molest each other, but robbed all defenceless flags without distinction. Then the continued bickerings between Sarsfield, Eroles, and Milans, and of all three with Lacy, who was, besides, on bad terms with captain Codrington, greatly affected the patriotic ardour of the people, and relieved the French armies from the alarm which the first operations had created. In Catalonia the generals in chief were never natives, nor identified in feeling with the natives. Lacy was unfitted for open warfare, and had recourse to the infamous methods of assassination. Campo Verde had given some countenance to this horrible system, but Lacy and his coadjutors have been accused of instigating the murder of French officers in their quarters, the poisoning of wells, the drugging of wines and flour, and the firing of powder-magazines, regardless of the safety even of the Spaniards who might be within reach of the explosion; and if any man shall doubt the truth of this allegation, let him read “_The History of the Conspiracies against the French Armies in Catalonia_.” That work, printed in 1813 at Barcelona, contains the official reports of the military police, upon the different attempts, many successful, to destroy the French troops; and when due allowance for an enemy’s tale and for the habitual falsifications of police agents is made, ample proof will remain that Lacy’s warfare was one of assassination.