tunate, ignorant wretches, led on by the fanaticism of a few designing priests.

I have only seen some of the gazettes; but have heard that the private letters are mostly couched in the most extravagant and ridiculous terms. One officer begs his friend to bring him one of the best English horses he can procure, and regrets his absence at Bayonne will prevent him from having a share in the plunder of our baggage. Such is the style of many of the letters; but others are conceived in very different terms, deploring the uncertainty of the contest, and expressing the most lively apprehensions that the mountains of Spain will, ere long, prove a grave to the great majority of the army.

Nothing can exceed the vile state of degradation in which the French press at present exists. There is not a single paragraph in one of the journals which alludes to the internal state of the empire. Of every other country there is news in abundance; but of France, wretched, fallen France, you hear of nothing, except the exhibitions of the Gallery of the Louvre, or the state of the theatres. Critiques of new novels, plays, or memoirs, fill up the rest of their barren pages, which are also crammed with the grossest adulation of the conqueror, and the vilest falsehoods respecting England. It is really melancholy

to contemplate the shocking blasphemy and sophistry displayed in almost every line.

"War is the lot of mankind, it has been, it is now, and ever will be the principal occupation of states and powers. Therefore God created human beings for the purpose of massacring each other; and the man of letters who endeavours to persuade us that war may very frequently be avoided, is a poor hair-brained visionary, fit only for les petites maisons, whose folly we deplore, but whose illtimed philanthropy is dangerous." Such is the present reasoning of the French journalists, and such the incense offered up to the destroyer of Europe.

A

The people here are now speculating upon the degree of resistance which Madrid is likely to make to the French army. It is reported that great preparations have been made by the inhabitants. The pavement has been taken up, to lessen the effects of the enemy's shells; trenches have been dug across the principal streets, and no less than three hundred pieces of ordnance are mounted around the town. Salamanca.

Such are the reports circulated in

I strongly suspect that the facts are exaggerated. We all know what can be done by Spaniards in defending a

town. The late defence of Saragossa shews, that the Arragonese are the descendants of the same race who so nobly defended Saguntum and Numantia; but when I calculate the value of the bribes which will assuredly be offered to those entrusted with the defence, I cannot allow myself to feel very sanguine. It would be wretched policy in the Pretender to batter down his future capital. Introduce but a few millions of francs, a moderate portion of promises, some field-pieces and threats, and the keys of Madrid will be sent with all dispatch to the Emperor.

An old Irishman, who has lived thirty-five years in Spain, lately said to a friend of mine here—" You must not trust too much to the Spaniards. I believe they always mean well, but they bluster, and after much bragging, and many big words, like a passionate child, they scold themselves to sleep. This is their character in the common transactions of life. But as to their army, it is a little otherwise. During the last thirty-five years, I have watched its progress, and know it well: when they have had muskets, they generally want cannon; if they have powder, they often are without flints; if they are well fed, then they are naked; if they get shoes, they want a loaf of bread; if the soldiers would fight, the officers are unwilling; and when the generals wish to have an engagement, the men are sure to run away. In short,

my dear countryman, such is the Spanish army, and what, in the name of wonder, can I expect from them now? Only this that they will leave you to your fate, to get back to your ships as fast as you can; and you may think yourselves very fortunate, if in the way they do not put their knives into your men, whom they already denominate a pack of miserable heretics, and curse for their unasked assistance, in entering their magnificent country."

Such are the sentiments of Dr. O'Leary. I repeat them as he stated them to my friend M'Leod, and leave you to make your own comments.

LETTER XLI.

COLONEL GRAHAM RETURNS FROM TALAVERA DE LA REINA. THE SURRENDER OF MADRID. THE DUKE OF CASTEL FRANCO AND M. DE MORLA SUSPECTED OF TREACHERY.-LORD PAGET'S BRIGADE of CAVALRY ARRIVES AT ZAMORA.-STATE OF PUBLIC OPINION AT SALAMANCA.

Salamanca, 11th December, 1808.

IT is said that Colonel Graham, who was sent by Sir John Moore some days since towards Madrid, in order to procure information of the real state of affairs in that quarter, returned on the 8th instant, with the distressing intelligence of the capital having surrendered, by capitulation, to the French, so long ago as the 3d instant. The Duke of Castel Franco and Don Thomas Mola, are accused of having betrayed the cause of their country to the enemy. The Captain-General Castellar, and all the military officers of rank refused to ratify the treaty, and left the town with sixteen pieces of cannon.

The cavalry regiments which came from England with