6. Wellington's Difficulties in Spain. -Wellington had difficulties enough in Spain. He had but few soldiers to oppose to the hosts of the French. If the French armies could have joined together, they must have driven him out of the Peninsula. Yet he did not despair. He did not trust merely in his own skill, great as it was, so much as in the righteousness of his cause. He knew how terribly cruel and oppressive Napoleon was, and he felt sure that, sooner or later, his cruelty would provoke all Europe to rise against him. How soon that day would come he could not tell, but he felt that it was his business to wait patiently till the time came. In Spain, the French armies, numerous as they were, were already in difficulty. The Spaniards could not fight great battles, but they could form small groups of men, each having his gun in his hand, and firing at small parties of Frenchmen. Then too there were always a number of French generals in Spain, and they despised Joseph, whom Napoleon had made King of Spain, because he was not a soldier, and, therefore, they would not do as he ordered them. They were also very jealous of one another, and never liked to help one another, for fear that the other might get the credit of any victory that was gained. All this helped Wellington very much, because, if he had two or more generals against him, he could calculate that they would not agree what to do. Perhaps the treatment which Wellington received from the ministers at home was worse for him than the opposition of his enemies. Canning ceased to be minister about this time, and Mr. Perceval became Prime

Minister. The ministers did not think it possible that Wellington would ever succeed in conquering Spain, and were always talking of ordering him to come home. With all this to endure, he had need of the most wonderful patience. His patience was as great as that of Washington, and it was this even more than his being a great general which enabled him to win in the end.

7. Torres Vedras.--In the year in which the Battle of Talavera was fought Napoleon had beaten the Austrians. He did not himself come into the Peninsula the next summer, but he sent his best general, Massena, with orders to drive the English into the sea. Wellington knew that he had not a large enough army to fight him, though he had now got a number of Portuguese, who were put under English officers, and made excellent soldiers. He quietly prepared means to stop him. At Lisbon he had a good port, where the English ships could come and take his army away if he were forced to leave the country, or could bring food for his men as long as he chose to stay. He therefore threw up three lines of fortifications from the river Tagus to the sea. The first one was intended to stop Massena for a time. The second one was intended to stop him if he passed the first. The third one was intended to protect the soldiers if they had to embark, though Wellington did not expect to have to use it for that purpose. These fortifications are known as the Lines of Torres Vedras, from the name of a village near them. When Massena reached Portugal, Wellington met him near the frontier, and retreated slowly. He had given

orders that all cattle were to be driven away and the crops destroyed, in order that the French might find nothing to eat. When Massena saw Wellington retreating, he thought that everything was going well, and that he would soon drive the English to their ships. He had not the slightest idea that there were any fortifications in the way. When at last Wellington's army went behind the first line, the French were taken by surprise. Massena took some time to think whether he would attack the lines at all. The more he thought of it the less he liked the idea. Week after week passed by, and he did not venture to attack. All this while provisions were running short in the French camp. At last the halfstarved Frenchmen had, unwillingly, to retreat. No less than 45,000 of them died of hunger and disease, or were cut off by the Portuguese if they straggled from their ranks. Wellington followed up the retiring enemy, and by the next spring there was not a Frenchman left in Portugal.

8. The Regency.-Whilst Wellington was strug gling with the French, the old King at home ceased to have any further knowledge of joy or sorrow. The madness, with which in the course of his reign he had been from time to time afflicted, came down upon him like a dark cloud in 1811. He remained insane the rest of his life. He lost his eyesight too, and the blind old man was an object of affectionate pity to his subjects during the nine years which he had still to live. His strong will was broken down for ever. His place was taken by his eldest son, a selfish and unprincipled man, who was

now known as the Prince Regent, and afterwards ar George IV. That year was marked by some fighting in Spain. At Barossa and Fuentes d'Onoro in the spring, and at Albuera in the summer, the British gained victories; but the main object of Wellington was to capture two strong fortresses, Ciudad Rodrigo in the north, and Badajoz in the south, which shut up the two great roads from Portugal into Spain. If the French held these they might again invade Portugal. If Wellington could gain them he might invade Spain. The invasion of Spain seemed to him now likely to be possible. Napoleon, not content with the enormous power which he exercised over all western Europe, was threatening Russia, and Wellington knew that if Napoleon engaged in war with Russia he would have no soldiers to spare to send to Spain.

9. The Guerillas.-The year 1812 was the one which saw the beginning of the ruin of the great oppressor. Spain swarmed with armed men, moving about separately or in small bands. These men were called Guerillas, which is a Spanish word meaning men who fight in small companies, and not in great armies. They shot down the French wherever they found them straggling, slipping away easily amongst the hills or woods, where every path was known to them. The French found it as difficult to lay hands upon them as a man finds it difficult to catch gnats which sting him. If a French soldier had to carry a letter, even a short way, he needed an escort of at least 200 men to see him safely through Spain. An important despatch

to the Emperor had to be guarded by more than 1,000 horsemen. The Guerillas seized money or provisions going to the enemy's army, and stole the horses or the guns. Wellington knew that a great part of the French army would be so occupied in keeping off the Guerillas that the whole of it could not be gathered into one place to fight him.

10. The Capture of Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz.Wellington was thus able to attack the two great fortresses which stopped his road inte Spain. In the first month of the year he set out for Ciudad Rodrigo. He knew that if he did not take it in a short time he would not be able to take it at all, because a large French army would arrive to drive him off. He had no proper tools for digging trenches. The English Government kept their general ill-supplied in almost everything that he ought to have had. Yet the town was taken after great slaughter, and the soldiers disgraced themselves by brutal violence when they burst into the place. Three months later Badajoz was also attacked. Again the British soldiers had to rush upon almost certain death, because there was no time to wait. Rank after rank, as the men charged up the slippery breach, which was guarded with a row of sword-blades fixed in a beam, was mown down by fire from the French guns like grass before the scythe. After a terrible slaughter the town was at last taken. When Wellington heard of the number of the dead, the pride of conquest yielded to a passionate burst of grief for the loss of his soldiers.' Sad to say, the soldiers who were living were raging madly about the streets in drunken fury, slaying and wound

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