ed to Austria the admission of representatives of the Spanish
_insurgents_ to the European Congress. But it is time to turn from the
haze of conjecture to the sharp outlines of Wellington's
campaign.[315]

While the French cause in Spain was crumbling to pieces, that of the
patriots was being firmly welded together by the organizing genius of
Wellington. By patient efforts, he soon had the Spanish and Portuguese
contingents in an efficient condition: and, as large reinforcements
had come from England, he was able early in May to muster 70,000
British and Portuguese troops and 30,000 Spaniards for a move
eastwards. Murray's force tied Suchet fast to the province of
Valencia; Clausel was fully employed in Navarre, and thus Joseph's
army on the Douro was left far too weak to stem Wellington's tide of
war. Only some 45,000 French were ready in the districts between
Salamanca and Valladolid. Others remained in the basin of the Tagus in
case the allies should burst in by that route.

Wellington kept up their illusions by feints at several points, while
he prepared to thrust a mighty force over the fords of the Tormes and
Esla. He completely succeeded. While Joseph and Jourdan were haltingly
mustering their forces in Leon, the allies began that series of rapid
flanking movements on the north which decided the campaign. Swinging
forward his powerful left wing he manoeuvred the French out of one
strong position after another. The Tormes, the Esla, the Douro, the
Carrion, the Pisuerga, none of these streams stopped his advance.
Joseph nowhere showed fight; he abandoned even the castle of Burgos,
and, fearing to be cut off from France, retired behind the upper Ebro.

The official excuse given for this rapid retreat was the lack of
provisions: but the diaries of two British officers, Tomkinson and
Simmons, show that they found the country between the Esla and the
Ebro for the most part well stocked and fertile. Simmons, who was with
the famous Light Division, notes that the Rifles did not fire a shot
after breaking up their winter quarters, until they skirmished with
the French in the hills near the source of the Ebro. The French
retreat was really necessary in order to bring the King's forces into
touch with the corps of Generals Clausel and Foy, in Navarre and
Biscay respectively. Joseph had already sent urgent orders to call in
these corps; for, as he explained to Clarke, the supreme need now was
to beat Wellington; that done