end here. In the north-east the hardy
Catalans had risen against the invaders, and by sheer pluck and
audacity cooped them up in their ill-gotten strongholds of Barcelona
and Figueras. The men of Arragon, too, never backward in upholding
their ancient liberties, rallied to defend their capital Saragossa.
Their rage was increased by the arrival of Palafox, who had escaped in
disguise from the suite of Ferdinand at Bayonne, and brought news of
the treachery there perpetrated. Beaten outside their ancient city,
and unable to hold its crumbling walls against the French cannon and
columns of assault, the defenders yet fiercely turned to bay amidst
its narrow lanes and massive monasteries. There a novel warfare was
waged. From street to street and house to house the fight eddied for
days, the Arragonese opposing to French valour the stubborn devotion
ever shown by the peoples of the peninsula in defence of their walled
cities, and an enthusiasm kindled by the zeal of their monks and the
heroism of the Maid of Saragossa. Finally, on August 10th, the noble
city shook off the grip of the 15,000 assailants, who fell back to
join Joseph's forces higher up the Ebro.

Even now the Emperor did not fully realize the serious nature of the
war that was beginning. Despite Savary's warnings of the dangers to be
faced in Spain, he persisted in thinking of it as an ordinary war that
could be ended by good strategy and a few victories. He censured
Joseph and Savary for giving up the line of the Upper Douro: he blamed
them next for the evacuation of Tudela, and summed up the situation by
stating that "all the Spanish forces are not able to overthrow 25,000
French in a reasonable position"--adding, with stinging satire: "In
war _men_ are nothing: it is _a man_ who is everything."

When, at the close of August, Napoleon penned these memorable words in
his palace of St. Cloud, he knew not that a _man_ had arrived on the
scene of action. At the beginning of that month, Sir Arthur Wellesley
with a British force of 12,300 men landed at the mouth of the River
Mondego, and, aided by Portuguese irregulars, began his march on
Lisbon. This is not the place for a review of the character and career
of our great warrior: in truth, a volume would be too short for the
task. With fine poetic insight, Lord Tennyson has noted in his funeral
Ode the qualities that enabled him to overcome the unexampled
difficulties caused by our own incompetent Government and b