Bessieres' corps, set off on the
instant, reached Briviesca, where its headquarters were, at daybreak on
the 9th, and within a few hours the whole machinery was once more in
motion.

Napoleon had, early in October, signified to Joseph that the French
cause in Spain, would always be favoured by acting on the offensive, and
his disapproval of the extent to which the King had retreated had not
been heard in vain. General Blake's army had already been brought to
action, and defeated disastrously by Moncey, at Espinosa; from which
point Blake had most injudiciously retreated towards Reynosa, instead
of Burgos, where another army, meant to support his right, had assembled
under the orders of the Count de Belvedere.

Soult now poured down his columns on the plains of Burgos. Belvedere was
defeated by him at Gomenal even more easily than Blake had been at
Espinosa. The latter, again defeated by the indefatigable Soult, at
Reynosa, was obliged to take refuge, with what hardly could be called
even the skeleton of an army, in the seaport of St. Ander. Thus the
whole of the Spanish left was dissipated; and the French right remained
at liberty to march onwards at their pleasure.

Palafox meanwhile had effected at length a junction with Castanos; and
the combined Spanish armies of the centre and the east awaited the
French attack, on the 22nd of November, at Tudela. The disaster here was
still more complete. Castanos and Palafox separated in the moment of
overthrow; the former escaping to Calatayud with the wreck of his
troops, while the latter made his way once more to Zaragossa.

Napoleon now saw the main way to Madrid open before him--except that
some forces were said to be posted at the strong defile of the
Somosierra, within ten miles of the capital; while Soult, continuing his
march by Carrion and Valladolid, could at once keep in check the
English, in case they were still so daring as to advance from Portugal,
and outflank the Somosierra, in case the mountains should be so defended
as to bar the Emperor's approach in that direction to Madrid. Palafox
was pursued, and soon shut up in Zaragossa by Lannes. That heroic city
on the east, the British army on the west, and Madrid in front, were the
only far-separated points on which any show of opposition was still to
be traced--from the frontiers of France to those of Portugal, from the
sea coast to the Tagus.

Napoleon, with his guards and the first division, marched towards