Operations in Andalusia—The king orders Soult to abandon that province—Soult urges the king to join him with the other armies—Joseph reiterates the order to abandon Andalusia—Soult sends a letter to the minister of war expressing his suspicions that Joseph was about to make a separate peace with the allies—The king intercepts this letter, and sends colonel Desprez to Moscow, to represent Soult’s conduct to the emperor—Napoleon’s magnanimity—Wellington anxiously watches Soult’s movements—Orders Hill to fight Drouet, and directs general Cooke to attack the French lines in front of the Isla de Leon—Ballesteros, pursued by Leval and Villate, skirmishes at Coin—Enters Malaga—Soult’s preparations to abandon Andalusia—Lines before the Isla de Leon abandoned—Soult marches towards Grenada—Colonel Skerrit and Cruz Murgeon land at Huelva—Attack the French rear-guard at Seville—Drouet marches upon Huescar—Soult moving by the mountains reaches Hellin, and effects his junction with the king and Suchet—Maitland desires to return to Sicily—Wellington prevents him—Wellington’s general plans considered—State of affairs in Castile—Clauzel comes down to Valladolid with the French army—Santo Cildes retires to Torrelobaton, and Clinton falls back to Arevalo—Foy marches to carry off the French garrisons in Leon—Astorga surrenders before his arrival—He marches to Zamora and drives Sylveira into Portugal—Menaces Salamanca—Is recalled by Clauzel—The Partidas get possession of the French posts on the Biscay coast—Take the city of Bilbao—Reille abandons several posts in Arragon—The northern provinces become ripe for insurrection 234 CHAP. III. Wellington’s combinations described—Foolish arrangements of the English ministers relative to the Spanish clothing—Want of money—Political persecution in Madrid—Miserable state of that city—Character of the Madrilenos—Wellington marches against Clauzel—Device of the Portuguese regency to avoid supplying their troops—Wellington enters Valladolid—Waits for Castaños—His opinion of the Spaniards—Clauzel retreats to Burgos—His able generalship—The allies enter Burgos, which is in danger of destruction from the Partidas—Reflections upon the movements of the two armies—Siege of the castle of Burgos 254 CHAP. IV.