The life of Napoleon Buonaparte, emperor of the French. By Sir Walter Scott.

LIFE OF NAPOLE ON BONAPARTE. 447
bringing ammunition and- refreshments to the corn- was, as we shall hereafter see, in no situation to
batants. Every attempt to penetrate into the city spare Dupont the succours he desired. Butt two
was found unavailing; and Moncey, disappointed of brioades, under Generals Vedel and Gobert, joined
meeting with the reinforcements which Duhesme Dupont from Castile, after experiencing some loss
was to have dispatched him from Barcelona, was of rather an ominous character, for it could neither
obliged to abandon his enterprise, and to retreat, be returned nor avenged, from the armed peasantry
not without being severely harassed, towards the of the Sierra.
main French army, which occupied Old and New These reinforcements augmented Dupont's divi.
Castile. sion to twenty thousand men, a force which was
It was not common in Napoleon's wars for his thought adequate to strike a decisive blow in Andatroops and generals to be thus disconcerted, foiled, lasia, providing Castanos could be broug'ht to hazard
and obliged to abandon a purpose which they had a general action. Dupont accordingly put himself
adopted. But a worse and more decisive fate was in motion, occupied Baylen and La Carolina in Anto attend the division of Dupont, than the disap- dalusia, and took by storm the old Moorish town of
pointments and losses which Duhesme had expe. Jaen. The sagacious old Spanish general had in the
rienced in Catalonia, and Moncey before Valencia. meantime been bringing his new levies into order,
So early as Murat's first occupation of Madrid, and the French, after they had possessed themselves
he had dispatched Dupont, an officer of high repl- ofJaen, were surprised to find themselves attacked
tation, towards Cadiz, of which he named him go- there with great vigour and by superior forces, which
vernor. This attempt to secure that important city, compelled them, after a terrible resistance, to evaand protect the French fleet which lay in its har- cuate the place and retire to Baylen. From thence,
bours, seems to have been judged by Napoleon pre- Dupont wrote dispatches to Savary at Madrid, statmature, probably because he was desirous to leave ing the difficulties of his situation. I-Iis men, he
the passage open for Charles IV. to have made his said, had no supplies of bread, save fiom the corn
escape from Cadiz to South America, in case he which they reaped, grinded, and baked with their
should so determine. Dupont's march, therefore, own hands-the peasants, who were wont to per*w5as countermanded, and he remained stationary at form the country labour, had left their harvest-work
Toledo, until the disposition of the Andalusians, and to take up arms-the insurgents were becoming
of the inhabitants of Cadiz, showing itself utterly daily more audacious-they were assuming the off'eninimical to the French, he once more received or- sive, and strong reinforcements were necessary to
ders to advance at ll risk, and secure that important enable hint either to maintain his ground, or do anyseaport, with the French squadron which was lying thing considerable to annoy the enemy. These disthere. The French general moved forward accord- patches fell into the hands of Castanos, who acted
ingly, traversed the chain of wild mountains called upon the information they afforded.
Sierra Morena, which the tale of Cervantes has ren- On the 16th July, two large divisions of the Spadared classical, forced the passage of the river niards attacked the French on different points, and,
Guadalquiver at the bridge of Arcolea, advanced to, dislodging them from Baylen, drove them back on
and subdued the ancient town of Cordova. Menjibar; while Castanos, at the head of a large
Dupont had thus reached the frontiers of Anda- force, overawed Dupont, and prevented his moving
Ilusia; but the fate of Cadiz was already decided. to the assistance of his generals of brigade, one of
That rich commercial city had embraced the pa- whom, Gobert, was killed in the action. On the
triotic cause, and the French squadron was in the night of the 18th, another battle commenced, by an
hands of the Spaniards; Seville was in complete attempt on the part of the French to recover Bavlen.
insurrection, and its Junta, the most active in the The troops on both sides fought desperately, bat the
kingdom of Spain, were organizing large forces, Spaniards, conscioils that succolrs wvee at togreat
and adding them daily to a regular body often thou- distance, made gotd their defence of the village.
sand men, under General Castanos, which had oc- The action continued the greater 1part of' the dav,
cupied the camp of St Roque, near Gibraltar. when, after an honourable attempt to redeem tlhe
If Dupont had ventured onward in the state in victory, by a desperate charge at the head of' all his
which matters were, he would have rushed on too forces, Dupont found himself defeated on all points,
unequal odds. On the other hand, his situation at *and so inclosed by the superior force of the SpaCordova, and in the neighbourhood, was precarious. niards, as rendered his retreat impossible. lie had
He was divided from the main French army by the llo resource except capitulation. He was conmpelled
Sierra Morena, the passes of which were infested, to surrender himself; and the troops under his inoand might almost be said to be occupied, by the in- mediate command, prisoners of war. But, for the
surgent mountaineers; and he was exposed to be division of Vedel, which had not been engaged, and
attacked by the Andalusian army, so soon as their was less hard pressed than the other, it was stipugeneral might think them adequate to the task. Du- lated, that they should be sent back to France in
pontsolicited reinforcements, therefore, aswell from Spanish vessels. This part of the convention of
Portugal as from the French army in the Castiles; Baylen was afterwards broken by the Spaniards,
such reinforcements being absolutely necessary, not and the whole of the French army were detained
merely to his advancing into Andalusia, but to his close prisoners. They were led to this act of bad
keeping his ground, or even effecting a safe retreat, faith, partly by an opinion that the French generals
Junot, who commanded in Portugal, occupied at had been too cunning for Castanos in the conditions
once by the insurrection of the natives of that coun. they obtained,-partly from the false idea, that the,try, and by the threatened descent of the English, perfidy with which they had acted towards Sipain