ne at Badajoz and Salamanca)--was, they knew, a
pledge of certain punishment on any visit from the French. So that
good-will, manifested in these circumstances, was nothing less than a
testimony of devotion to the cause.

Here then, the reader will say, I find granted--in the courage and the
good-will of the Spaniards--all the elements of an enthusiastic
resistance; and cannot therefore imagine what more could be sought for
except the throwing out and making palpable of their enthusiasm to the
careless eye in some signal outward manifestations. In this accordingly
we learn what interpretation we are to give to Sir J.M.'s charge:--there
were no tumults on his entrance into Spain; no insurrections; they did
not, as he says, 'rally round' the English army. But, to determine how
far this disappointment of his expectations tells against the Spaniards,
we must first know how far those expectations were reasonable. Let the
reader consider, then,

First; what army was this round which the Spaniards were to rally? If it
was known by the victory of Vimiera, it was known also to many by the
Convention of Cintra; for, though the government had never ventured to
communicate that affair officially to the nation, dark and perplexing
whispers were however circulated about it throughout Spain. Moreover, it
must surely demand some superstition in behalf of regular troops--to
see, in an army of 20,000 men, a dignity adequate to the office here
claimed for it of awakening a new vigour and enthusiasm in such a nation
as Spain; not to mention that an English army, however numerous, had no
right to consider itself as other than a tributary force--as itself
tending to a centre--and attracted rather than attracting.

Secondly; it appears that Sir J.M. has overlooked one most important
circumstance;--viz. that the harvest, in these provinces, had been
already reaped; the English army could be viewed only as gleaners. Thus,
as we have already seen, Estramadura had furnished an army which had
marched before his arrival; from Salamanca also--the very place in which
he makes his complaint--there had gone out a battalion to Biscay which
Gen. Blake had held up, for its romantic gallantly, to the admiration of
his whole army.

Yet, thirdly, it is not meant by any means to assert that Spain has put
forth an energy adequate to the service--or in any tolerable proportion
to her own strength. Far from it! But upon whom does the blame rest? Not
surely u