m from sending
re-enforcements to that country so quickly as he otherwise would
have done. In the meantime King Joseph had, on the 23rd of January,
re-entered Madrid. His party was increased by a considerable number of
the Spanish people, who thought that a new order of things was necessary
to resuscitate the Spanish monarchy. After the departure of Napoleon
seven divisions of the French forces remained in Spain; Marshal Jourdan
having the chief command, under the auspices of King Joseph. The war
was continued with success, although with less vigour; but the Spanish
nation only became more exasperated by every defeat, so that it was not
subdued. On the other hand, the French, enraged by obstinate resistance,
and more yet by the stratagems and assassinations compassed by the
Spaniards, became daily more severe and cruel.

The spirit of the Spanish people is well exemplified in the siege af
Saragossa. This siege had been formed anew before Napoleon returned
to Paris, and it was carried on by the third and fifth corps, under
Marshals Moncey and Mortier. The citizens of Saragossa prepared an
internal system of defence, far more effectual than that of external
fortification; transforming the city itself into one huge fortress, and
coalescing with the troops in one energetic garrison. The French made
but little progress until Marshal Lasnes took the command, and then the
external defences of the city were quickly demolished. Saragossa itself,
however, still defied all the efforts of the French. The war-cry was
heard in all her streets, and every house became a fortress, and every
church and convent a citadel, garrisoned by heroic men, resolved to die
for its defence. The French had laboured and fought without intermission
fifty days; they had crumbled the walls with their bullets, burst the
convents with their mines, and carried the breaches with their bayonets;
fighting above and beneath the surface of the earth, they had spared
neither fire nor sword; their bravest men were falling in the obscurity
of a subterranean warfare; famine pinched them; and Saragossa was still
unconquered. Lasnes, however, persevered in his attempts to take the
city, and at length he was successful. Discovering that a pestilence
raged within the devoted city, that the living were unable to bury the
dead, he ordered a general assault; and then, when one quarter of the
city was laid waste, Saragossa was captured. The garrison were allowed
to "march o