The French were still upon the Ebro, and made no effort to disturb the besiegers. The garrison made sorties, on the 6th and 10th, and considerably injured the works of the allies: the besiegers, however, effected a breach in the interior line, and lodged some troops close to it. Things continued nearly in the same state till the 18th, when Lord Wellington having received a supply of ammunition, and completed another mine, determined upon storming the breach in the second line, as soon as that should explode. The attempt was made with great gallantry, but the fire of the enemy directed to the spot was so powerful, that the assailants were obliged to retire with considerable loss. The hopes of final success now diminished, especially as the French army began to make demonstrations of a serious design to raise the siege. The army of Portugal had been reinforced by fresh troops from France, aud by all the disposable part of the army of the north, and was now in formidable strength. On the 13th they had made a reconnoissance of the allied outposts of Monasterio; and on the 18th they had made an attack in force, and gained possession of the heights commanding that town, where the outposts had been obliged to retire. They afterwards attempted to drive in other outposts, but for the time were repulsed. Lieutenant-General Hill, who was between Aranjuez and Toledo, now sent intelligence of the enemy's intentions, on his side, to move towards the Tagus; and it was become necessary for Lord Wellington to be near him, that their two armies might not be insulated, and rendered incapable of communication. His Lordship, therefore, on the night of the 20th broke up the siege, and moved his whole army back to the Douro. On the 22d the enemy followed, and afterwards pressed close on the rear of the British, making attacks with their cavalry and light troops wherever they had an opportunity, in which considerable losses were sustained. On the 24th the army took up its ground on the Carrion, and on the 26th reached Cabeçon, where it crossed the Pisuerga. The enemy having found means to pass that river, Lord Wellington broke up from Cabeçon, and crossed the Douro on the 29th. Finding the French were in full march to Tordesillas, he marched again on the 30th, and posted his army upon the heights

between Rueda and that town, opposite to the bridge. He continued in that position on the 3d of November, the enemy having made no attempt to cross the Douro, along which river their army was extended from Toro to Valladolid. The allied troops were withdrawn from Madrid, having first destroyed the fort of La China, and all the stores and guns it contained, which had not been carried away; a body of the enemy entered that capital on the 1st of November. Lieutenant-General Hill, who had retired from the Tagus, and taken post on the Tacama, was directed to quit that position and march northwards, and in the beginning of November he arrived unmolested on the Adaja. The bridge of Toro having been repaired sooner than Lord Wellington had expected, he directed Lieutenant-General Hill to continue his march upon Alba de Tormes; and on the 6th of November, he himself broke up from his position before Tordesillas, and proceeded for the heights of St. Christoval, in front of Salamanca. On the 8th he took his position on the heights, and upon the same day Lieutenant-General Hill occupied the town and castle of Alba, posting troops on the Tormes to defend them. On the 10th the enemy attacked the troops in Alba, with a considerable body of infantry and 20 pieces of cannon: but finding they made no impression, they withdrew at night. On the 14th the enemy having crossed the Tormes in force, Lord Wellington broke up from St. Christoval, and moved with an intention to attack them; but finding them too strongly posted, he withdrew all the troops from the neighbourhood of Alba to the Arapiles, or heights near Salamanca. Finding on the 15th that the enemy were strengthening their positions, and pushing on bodies to interrupt the communications of the allied army with Ciudad Rodrigo, his Lordship determined to move upon that place, which he reached on the 19th, followed by a large body of the enemy, which, however, did not press upon his rear. Some loss was sustained from a cannonade in passing a river, and Lieutenant-General Sir Edward Paget was taken prisoner as he was riding alone through a wood. Lord Wellington had reason to believe, that the whole of the enemy's disposable force was upon the Tormes, in the middle of this month;

and he computed them at 80 or 90,000 men, with 200 pieces of cannon. On the 24th of November the head-quarters of the allies were again at Freynada, on the Portuguese frontier, and the greater part of the enemy's forces had recrossed the Tormes, and were marching towards the Douro. Lieutenant-General Hill had withdrawn southwards to Coria, in Estremadura.

Thus terminated the campaign of 1812: the conduct of the British General obtained universal applause and admiration from his countrymen, and was repaid with more honors and rewards than have been bestowed on any British General since the time of Marlborough. In the course of the year (18th August) he added to his former titles those of Earl and Marquess, and received from Parliament the most substantial proofs of the nation's gratitude, in a grant of 100,000l. to be laid out in land.

To the thanks of Parliament, voted to his Lordship at the conclusion of this campaign, we shall record the following replies.

66 My Lord, "Freynada, March 22nd, 1813. "I have had the honor of receiving your Lordship's letters of the 5th of December and 5th of February last, in which your Lordship enclosed the resolutions of the House of Lords, expressing the approbation of their Lordships of the conduct of the general officers, officers, and troops under my comniand, in the service of Portugal, as well as in his Majesty's service, during the late campaign in the Peninsula, but more particularly in the battle of Salamanca.

"I have had the satisfaction of communicating to those con-. cerned, this honorable testimony of their good conduct, and reward of their services; and I request your Lordship to convey to the House my grateful acknowledgments for the favor with which they have viewed my conduct, and the high honor which they have conferred upon me by their approbation.

"I likewise request your Lordship to accept my thanks, for the handsome terms in which you have conveyed to me the sense of the House of Lords. I have, &c.

(Signed)

"Right Honorable Lord Eldon,

Lord High Chancellor."

"WELLINGTON.

«Sir, Freynada, 22nd March, 1813. "I have had the honor of receiving your letters of the 4th of December and 4th of February last, in which you enclosed the resolutions of the House of Commons, conveying the approbation of the House of the conduct of the general officers, officers, and troops under my command, Portuguese as well as his Majesty's subjects, during the late campaign in the Peninsula, and particularly in the battle of Salamanca, which I have had the satisfaction of communicating to those concerned.

"I beg you will do me the favor to make my acknowledgments to the House, for the favor with which they have again viewed my conduct in my endeavours to serve his Majesty and his allies, and for the honor which they have conferred upon me by their approbation.

"I beg likewise that you will accept my most grateful thanks for the handsome terms in which you have conveyed to me the thanks of the House. "I have, &c.

"The Right Honorable Charles Abbot, Speaker of the House of Commons."

When Lord Wellington went into winter cantonments, after retreating from Burgos, he found it necessary to issue the following general orders. They contain a severe implication upon the subaltern officers, for the bad discipline maintained in the army; and are here recorded as an important document in the history of his Lordship.

"Sir,

"I have ordered the army into cantonments, in which I hope that circumstances will enable me to keep them for some time, during which the troops will receive their clothing, necessaries, &c. which are already in progress, by different lines of communication, to the several divisions and brigades. But besides these objects, I must draw your attention, in a very particular manner, to the state of discipline of the troops. The discipline of every army after a long and active campaign, becomes in some degree relaxed, and requires the utmost attention on the part of the general and other officers, to bring it back to the state in which it ought to be for service; but I am concerned

to have to observe, that the army under my command has fallen off, in this respect, in the late campaign, to a greater degree than any army with which I have ever served, or of which I ever read. Yet this army has met with, no disaster; it has suffered no privations, which but trifling attention on the part of the officers could not have prevented, and for which there existed no reason whatever in the nature of the service; nor has it suffered any hardships, excepting those resulting from the necessity of being exposed to the inclemencies of the weather, at a moment when they were most severe. It must be obvious, however, to every officer, that from the moment the troops commenced their retreat from the neighbourhood of Burgos on the one hand, and from Madrid on the other, the officers lost all command over the men. Irregularities and outrages of all descriptions were committed with impunity, and losses have been sustained which ought never to have occurred. Yet the necessity for retreat existing, none was ever made in which the troops made such short marches; none on which they made such long and repeated halts; and none in which the retreating armies were so little. pressed on their rear by the enemy. We must look, therefore, for the existing evils, and for the situation in which we now find the army, to some causes besides those resulting from the operations in which we have been engaged. I have no hesitation in attributing those evils to the habitual inattention of the officers of regiments to their duty, as prescribed by the standing regulations of the service, and by the orders of this army. I am far from questioning the zeal, still less the gallantry and spirit of the officers of the army; and I am quite certain that as their minds can be convinced of the necessity of minute and constant attention to understand, recollect, and carry into execution the orders which have been issued for the performance of their duty, and that the strict performance of this duty is necessary to enable the army to-serve the country as it ought to be served, they will, in future, give their attention to these points. Unfortunately, the inexperience of the officers of the army has induced many to conceive, that the period during which an army is not on service, is one of relaxation from all rule; instead of. being, as it is, the period during which, of all others, every rule, for the regulation and control of the conduct of the soldiers; for