Dessolles, with the reserve, occupied Cordoba and Jaen; but the first and fifth corps, followed by the king’s guards, proceeded without delay towards Ecija, where it will be remembered, Albuquerque’s cavalry had been posted since the night of the 24th. As the French approached, the duke fell back upon Carmona, from whence he could retreat either to Seville, or Cadiz, the way to the latter being through Utrera. But from Ecija there was a road through Moron to Utrera, shorter than that leading through Carmona, and along this road the cavalry of the first corps was pushed on the 27th.
Albuquerque now despairing for Seville, resolved to make for Cadiz, and lest the enemy should reach Utrera before him, gained that town with great expedition, and thence moving through Lebrija and Xeres, by long marches, journeying day and night, reached Cadiz on the 3d of February. Some French cavalry overtook and skirmished with his rear at Utrera; but he was not pursued further, save by scouting parties; for the king had altered the original plan of operations, and ordered the first corps which was then pushing for Cadiz, to change its direction and march by Carmona against Seville, and the 30th, the advanced guards came on that city.
Some entrenchments and batteries had been raised for defence, and the mob still governing, fired upon the bearer of the first French summons, and announced in lofty terms a resolution to fight. Besides the populace, there were about seven thousand troops, composed partly of fugitives from the Morena, partly of the original garrison of the town; nevertheless, the city, after some negotiation, surrendered on the 31st, with all its stores, founderies, and arsenals complete, and on the 1st of February the king entered in triumph. The lower country was thus conquered, and there remained only Cadiz, and the coast tract lying between the Mediterranean and the Sierra de Nevada to subdue.
The first corps was immediately sent against Cadiz, and the fifth against Estremadura; and Sebastiani having placed fifteen hundred men in the Alhambra, and incorporated among his troops, a Swiss battalion, composed of those who had abandoned the French service in the battle of Baylen, seized Antequera. He was desirous to establish himself firmly in those parts before he crossed the Nevada, but his measures were precipitated by unexpected events. At Malaga, the people had imprisoned the members of the local Junta, and headed by a Capuchin friar, resolved to fight the French, and a vast multitude armed in all manners took post above Antequera and Alhama, where the road from Grenada enters the hills.
As this insurrection was spreading, not only in the mountains, but through the plains of Grenada, Sebastiani resolved to fall on at once, lest the Grenadans having Gibraltar on the one flank, Murcia on the other, and in their own country, many sea-ports and fortified towns, should organize a regular system of resistance. The 5th of February, after a slight skirmish at Alhama, he penetrated the hills, driving the insurgents upon Malaga; but near that place they rallied, and an engagement, with the advanced guard of the French, under general Milhaud, taking place, about five hundred Spaniards fell, and the conquerors entered the town fighting. A few of the vanquished took refuge on board some English ships of war; the rest submitted, and more than a hundred pieces of heavy, and about twenty pieces of field artillery with ammunition, stores, and a quantity of British merchandize, became the spoil General Campbell’s Correspondence from Gibraltar. MSS.of the conquerors. Velez-Malaga opened its gates the next day, Motril was occupied, and the insurrection was quelled; for in every other part, both troops and peasantry, were terrified and submissive to the last degree.
Meanwhile, Victor followed the traces of Albuquerque with such diligence, as to reach Chiclana on the 5th of February, and it is generally supposed, that he might have rendered himself master of Leon, for the defensive works at Cadiz, and the Isla were in no way improved, but rather deteriorated since the period of Sir George Smith’s negotiation. The bridge of Zuazo was indeed broken, and the canal of Santa Petri a great obstacle; but Albuquerque’s troops were harassed, dispirited, ill clothed, badly armed, and in every way inefficient; the people of Cadiz were apathetic, and the authorities, as usual, occupied with intrigues and private interests. In this state, eight thousand Spanish soldiers could scarcely have defended a line of ten miles against twenty-five thousand French, if a sufficient number of boats could have been collected to cross the canal.
Venegas was governor of Cadiz; but when it was known that the Central Junta had been deposed at Seville, a Municipal Junta, chiefly composed of merchants, was elected by general ballot. This body, as inflated and ambitious of power as any that had preceded it, would not suffer the fugitive members of the Central Junta to assume any authority; and the latter, maugre their extreme reluctance, were obliged to submit, but, by the advice of Jovellanos, appointed a Regency, composed of men not taken from amongst themselves. The Municipal Junta vehemently opposed this proceeding, but finally, the judicious intervention of Mr. Bartholomew Frere induced them to acquiesce; and the 29th of January, the bishop of Orense, general Castaños, Antonio de Escaño, Saavedra, and Fernandez de Leon, were appointed Regents, until the Cortes could be assembled. Leon was afterwards replaced by one Lardizabal, a native of New Spain.
The council of Castile, which had been reinstated before the fall of Seville, now charged the deposed Junta, and truly, with usurpation—the public voice added peculation and other crimes; and the Regency, which they had themselves appointed, seized their papers, sequestered their effects, threw some of the members into prison, and banished others to the provinces: thus completely extinguishing this at once odious, ridiculous, and unfortunate oligarchy. Amongst the persons composing it, there were undoubtedly, some of unsullied honour and fine talents, ready and eloquent of speech, and dexterous in argument; but it is not in Spain only, that men possessing all the “grace and ornament” of words have proved to be mean and contemptible statesmen.
Albuquerque, elected president of the Municipal Junta, and commander of the forces, endeavoured to place the Isla de Leon in a state to resist a sudden attack; and the French, deceived as to its strength, after an ineffectual summons, proceeded to gird the whole bay with works. Meanwhile, Marshal Mortier, leaving a brigade of the fifth corps at Seville, pursued a body of four thousand men, that, under the command of the Visconde de Gand, had retired from that town towards the Morena; they evaded him, and fled to Ayamonte, yet were Mr. Stuart’s Correspondence, MSS.like to be destroyed, because the bishop of Algarve, from national jealousy, would not suffer them to pass the Portuguese frontier. Mortier disregarding these fugitives, passed the Morena, by Ronquillos and Monasterio, and marching against Badajos, summoned it, the 12th of February. Contreras’ detachment had however, arrived there on the 26th of January, and Mortier, finding, contrary to his expectation, that the place was in a state of defence, retired to Merida.