allied," says Mr. J. "in this country is dignity in public to vulga rity in private." And we think that a better commentary upon the anecdote can hardly be afforded, than the conduct of the Junta from this period to that of it's dispersion, which was marked by the same imbecility and indecision, not to say treachery, as had uniformly formerly characterized that body. "Upon the approach of the French they were strongly urged to remove the warlike stores, to destroy the depôts, and especially to blow up the cannon foundery; but all without effect; and the enemy by their miscon duct were thus furnished with powerful means for their attack on Cadiz, the last asylum of the defenders of Andalusia."-P. 366. Indeed it was evidently the intention of the Junta that that attack should be neither difficult nor doubtful; and nothing under heaven but the promptitude, sagacity, and patriotism of the Duke of Albuquerque could have prevented Cadiz from falling as easy a prey to the French has Seville had just done. Separated from his commander-in-chief, and distracted with repeated but contradictory orders from Cornel, the minister at war, evidently a traitor, he took upon himself the responsibility of marching in a direction contrary to that marked out in his last dispatch from the government; and thus threw himself and his army be tween the French and Cadiz.

"Never (as Mr. Jacob well observes) did an army endure greater fatigues and privations, and never did general share in them with more readiness than this gallant officer, who has merited the everlasting gratitude of his country, by disobeying its treacherous government, as much as by the exertions he has subsequently made."-P. 371.

That the people of Cadiz were in no condition to resist the French, appears but too plainly from the following passages:

"The Junta of Cadiz has exercised no energy in commanding the inhabitants; and though nothing can be of so much, or so pressing importance, as completing the battery of St. Fernando; instead of making requisitions of the whole, or a proportion of the population, for this necessary work, proclamations, or rather invitations, have been issued, which, while they urge the willing to labour, leave the indolent and the selfish, who are by far the greater number, to the full indulgence of their injurious propensities." P. 372.

"If any thing could conquer the gravity of Spaniards, we might naturally expect that an approaching siege would infuse some degree of activity into the conduct of the people; but the characteristics of the nation are patience and perseverance, not vivacity and zeal

ous exertion. The number of the citizens who daily assemble on the ramparts, and wrapped in their long clokes, spend hours silently gazing on the explosions of the forts that surround the bay, which the English sailors are busily employed in blowing up, naturally excites this remark. They appear indifferent spectators of the events around them, rather than the persons for whose security these exertions are made.

"Our countrymen are labouring with great activity in destroying all those batteries which may annoy the shipping at their anchorage in the bay. The castle of St. Catherine, near St. Mary's, is strongly built, and requires great exertions to demolish it; but, by the help of gunpowder under the buttresses which support the arches on which the platforms are constructed, they have nearly reduced it to a heap of ruins. Fort Matagorda and fort Louis, two other forts, situated on the points of land which form the entrance of the canal leading to the arsenal, are undergoing the same operation, and will, in a few days, be totally destroyed; and until they can be re-constructed, the vessels will remain in security in their present anchorage: but, as it is scarcely possible to prevent the enemy from rebuilding them, the shipping must move nearer to the entrance of the bay; and, if the number of vessels be as considerable as at present, there will be great danger of the contracted anchoring-ground being too much crowded."-P. 372.

"It is well known that more than twelve months ago the British government, in its earnest wish to assist the cause of Spain, projected and submitted to the Junta a plan of operations, materially different from that which has since been adopted, by which the Bri tish army would have advanced to the Sierra Morena, and have been enabled to act a more beneficial part in the assistance they have rendered. But to this plan it was indispensably necessary that they should have possession of Cadiz, from whence to receive supplies; and to which to retreat, in case of necessity. The propriety, therefore, of garrisoning this important post with British troops was so obvious, that General Sherbrooke was sent out with a force for that purpose, not anticipating any objection on the part of the Spaniards: but the Junta, whose jealousy and indecision have nearly ruined their country, would not permit the troops to land; and the people of Cadiz applauded their determination. Now, however, when the enemy is approaching, the sense of immediate danger has removed their apprehensions of the good faith of their ally; and the people of Cadiz have clamoured as loudly for a British garrison, as they before did against the admission of foreign troops." Dispatches have been sent to Lisbon and Gibraltar, earnestly pressing for assistance; and all the anxiety now discovered is for the arrival of those very means of defence, which, when danger was more distant, had been decidedly, not to say insultingly, rejected.

"The infantry of the Duke of Albuquerque's army has entered the Isla, whence one regiment has been marched into this city. They appear weather-beaten and ragged; but having been supplied with good great coats, their appearance is already somewhat improved; whilst the gallant commander discovers in his manners, his countenance, and his conversation, that determined spirit, which inspires confidence in all who meet him.

Notwithstanding the rapid advance of the enemy, and the prospect of an impending siege, the gaiety and dissipation of this city is not, in any degree, diminished. The public walk, and the square, are as lively as at any time; and from the great influx of distinguished fugitives, more crowded with the gayest company than at any former period. The government have, indeed, ordered the theatre to be shut; but the private parties for gaming, and other amusements, have only been more numerous and more crowded in consequence of it. The scarcity of provisions is not perceptible at the tables of the rich; who, regardless of the increased prices, spread as sumptuous a board as when there was no alarm.". P. 373-6.

The arrival of the Duke of Albuquerque threw a momentary gleam of sunshine athwart this lamentable scene of apathy or thoughtlessness. His manners, his countenance, his conversation, exhibited a determined spirit, which inspired confidence in all who approached him. His eulogium was in every body's mouth; his general conduct highly extolled; and his late retreat, by which the city had been saved, exhibited such proofs of military talent, that public opinion pointed him out as the proper officer to have the command of the fortress. Yet will it be believed, all this promise of improvement passed away like the fleeting shadow of a cloud over an extensive plain. Although the regency was immediately afterwards appointed, a system of base rivalship and petty jealousy was so predominant, that even gratitude towards their immediate preservers was forgotten amidst the paltry contests.

"It was scarcely to have been expected that those gallant saviours of this city, who, under the conduct of Albuquerque, have preserved it from destruction, should have been the first to feel the effects of the jealousy of the two ruling bodies. They arrived here almost destitute of clothing; and though repeated applications have been made to the Junta, to supply them with what their pressing necessities demand, they are still in nearly the same want as when they first arrived; whilst the Junta have seven hundred pieces of cloth adapted for their use, but which are withheld, till it is settled whether the Regency or the Junta are to have the control over the finances; and if they should fall to the disposal of

the Regency, the Junta expect to gain a profit by selling the cloth to that body.

"After this single fact, which may be depended on, no reliance can be placed, no hope can be entertained, that such a heteroge neous mixture of authority as now exists within this city will be able to adopt any great or enlarged system of policy, either with regard to what remains unsubdued of Spain, or what is also of im portance to the different provinces of America."-P. 390.

Although the last days of the noble-minded Albuquerque afford but too much reason to fear that he at length became the victim of the jealousy, which his well-earned fame had infused into the minds of his degenerate countrymen, we are happy, for the present, to turn from these disgusting scenes, and to contemplate the rise and progress of this distinguished noble man to the merited elevation which he had attained at so early an age. Mr. Jacob appears to have detailed them with considerable accuracy.

"In rank and possessions, this nobleman was among the first in Spain under the old government. He entered into the army in 1795, and displayed, in the war then carried on against France, the presages of that courage and military skill, which have recently been more fully developed. He was a pure Spaniard, detesting the dominion of France, to which Godoy had subjected his country; and to avoid the humiliating spectacle which the influence of that favourite exhibited, offered his services in the army, which the Marquis Romana led into the north of Europe. The first intelligence of the new disgraces which were preparing for his beloved country reached him when in Funen with that distinguished officer. Though suffering from sickness, he determined to return home, and hastened with expedition to Paris; where he first heard the particulars of the base transactions in Spain. The Spanish grandees who were assembled in that city endeavoured, by persua sions and threats, to prevent him from returning to join the pa triotic party on his native soil. He escaped the dangers of the road; and having joined his countrymen in Valencia, in June, 1808, he there organised an army, which, under his command, marched to Madrid.

"He published a manifesto, addressed to the tenants and peasantry on his extensive estates; which, in language at once patriotic and energetic, called on them to arm in the cause of their country. He lessened the rents of those who had suffered by the incursions of the enemy, remitted their fines, and, by his liberal donations to the voluntary defenders of the country, did every thing in his power to assist the common cause. He distinguished himself at the battle of Medellin, which the blundering Cuesta unnecessarily fought, and as negligently lost; and by his conduct at

Talavera, where he commanded the Spanish cavalry, obtained the confidence of Lord Wellington, and the praise of the British and Spanish armies. When Cuesta was removed from the command, the British ambassador urged the appointment of Albuquerque to succeed him; an appointment so proper in itself, and so acceptable to the Spanish army, that nothing could have prevented its adoption but that paltry jealousy which instigated the Central Junta to decline every suggestion made by their ally."-P. 368.

Soon after the preservation of Cadiz, it is well known that the government got rid of what they deemed a troublesome rival and inconvenient spectator of their conduct, by deputing the Duke of Albuquerque to fill the post of ambassador to England. All London knows also, and was witness to, the general feeling of respect and melancholy with which every rank of the people, from the princes of the blood to the lowest shopkeeper, followed to the repositary of the illustrious dead the funeral obsequies of the hero, whose heart, steeled as it was against adversity inflicted by the open enemies of his country, burst at a series of ungrateful treatment from his pretended friends, which our good wishes to the cause of Spain prevents us from detailing.

It is in truth with no feelings of satisfaction that we have extracted from the work before us the foregoing accounts of the apathy, laziness, and want of combination among the higher classes of society in Spain, who have hitherto had imposed upon them the task of superintending the national efforts. Mr. Jacob suspects that they are inseparable traits in the national character, originating in the indolence which a warm climate, and the consequently luxurious habits produce. But the traits of heroism, energy, and constancy, which have been displayed by the people wherever a sufficient stimulus has urged them into action, and the partial successes which have attended their efforts when well commanded in the field, and not opposed to an overwhelming superiority of numbers, are to us convincing proofs, that a sad moral degeneracy from the real national character, induced among the higher orders by the general prevalence of selfish principles, arising out of a long slavery under foreign influence and corruption, is the true source of the evil. Let us not, however, be so far misunderstood, as to have it supposed, that we wish to extend these strictures to all the good families of Spain. If we have rightly distinguished the cause, (and it is evident that the effect must cease whenever that cause does not operate) we may safely venture to affirm that the younger part of the nobility, and many of those who from a comparative inferiority of rank were not admitted to the mi