neighbours, who, with the guitar, the grave fandango, and song's of " long life to Ferdinand, and death to Napoleon," passed an evening as merrily and as happily as if we had been their oldest friends; and appeared as tranquil as if the enemy was not at hand. I shall feel a respect, and even affection, for the simple pleasures, the cheerful lives, and the generous character, of the Spanish peasants, as long as I recollect this and other similar societies, of whose hilarity I have been a partaker.

I left Vegel early the next morning, and after ascending one mountain, from the sides of which gushing streams of transparent water turn a series of mills, I gained a level and barren plain; and, after about five hours, reached Chiclana. But having already passed some days there, about six weeks ago, and there being a nearer road than that through the town, I passed it on the right hand, and proceeded to the ferry over the river Santi Petri. There I met a number of convicts, chained together, who were marching to Algeziras, to be embarked for Ceuta before the arrival of the enemy.

I pushed on with eagerness to Cadiz, the situation of which it is impossible to describe. The French are advancing with rapidity, and no force exists to impede their progress. The battery of St. Fernando is unfinished; there is no government to forward its completion, and no troops, except volunteers, to man the works, and too few even of them to perform the requisite duty. The late feeble government is dissolved, and some of its solitary members are dropping in here, glad to have escaped from the fury of the populace at Xeres, and other places. The fears of an insurrection in this city are so strong, that patroles are parading every night, and detachments of

volunteers are constantly under arms, while the British sailors are actively employed in blowing up those forts which may be rendered subservient to the views of the advancing enemy. Amid these scenes of terror, the apprehension of a scarcity of many necessary articles increases the gloom; while those who have wives and daughters are imploring from all who are connected with shipping, the means of removing the objects of their affection from the horrid scenes which they anticipate. It is, however, probable, that this giddy people, who, when I left Cadiz, were buoyed up by the most absurd confidence, are now as unreasonably depressed. A day or two will produce some alteration; but I must now close my letter, in the hope of being able to transmit to you some interesting details in a few days.

ON the night of the 30th of January, an express arrived from the Duke of Albuquerque, announcing that he had thrown himself between the advancing enemy and this city, and having gained a day's march on him, would conduct his army to this place; by which a competent garrison will be formed, that must prevent the French from taking the city by a coup de main. Thus, for the present, Cadiz is safe, and the alarm which prevailed has in some degree subsided; but its safety is owing neither to the foresight of the Central Junta, to any precautions taken by its governor, nor to any efforts made by its own inhabitants, but solely to the patriotism of Albuquerque, and the strenuous exertions of his army.

Venegas, the commander here, received his appointment from the Central Junta, not on account of any extraordinary military talents which he possesses, but rather because the distrust manifested by the British ambassador and the British generals, when he was at the head of an army, in the command of which he discovered but very moderate skill, was a recommendation to the favour of that body, ever jealous

of its English allies. By the populace of Cadiz, he has always been regarded with suspicion; and he and his partizans have been in continual alarm, lest an insurrection should break out, to which he might become a sacrifice, like his predecessor Solano.

If Venegas discovered no skill as a soldier, it must be confessed he has managed the populace with the dexterity of a politician; when it was known that the Central Junta had fled from Seville, and were dispersed in various directions, the public indignation here was so strongly felt, that he, having been appointed by them, was no longer secure in the command, which he had but negligently exercised: he therefore addressed the corporation of the city, stating to them, that as the government which had nominated him no longer existed, he wished to resign his command into their hands, to become a private citizen, and perform any duty to which they should appoint him. The city magistrates, gratified by this submission of the military to the civil authority, a submission the more flattering as it was new among Spaniards, requested him to continue his power, by acting as the president of their body till a Junta could be elected for the government of the town. An election has accordingly taken place, and Venegas has been chosen president of this new body of the representatives of Cadiz.

I believe, that on no occasion have representatives of the people been more fairly and freely elected: a balloting box was carried from house to house, and the head of each family voted for an electoral body, consisting of about fifty or sixty persons, who met and chose eighteen members, to compose the Junta for the government and defence of the city. Though I see nothing to condemn in

the plan by which this body of men was elected, and though, so far as I can learn, no unfair influence was used, I have not a very high opinion of its capacity for managing the defence of this important military post. The members are too numerous for an executive government, and though divided into sections, they have so ill arranged the distribution of the different branches of the government, that in the few days they have acted, they have already been found to clash. They have exercised no energy in commanding the inhabitants; and, though nothing can be of so much or of such 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.

Mr. Frere, and the English who were in Seville, together with numerous families of Spaniards who dreaded subjection to France, have arrived here, and unite in representing the conduct of the Central Junta at the period of its dispersion, as marked by the same indecision and imbecility, not to say treachery, as had, uniformly characterised that body. 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 will thus, by their misconduct, be furnished with powerful means for their attack on this city, the last asylum of the defenders of Andalusia. The people of Seville, who had been duped by the government, and to whom, only two days before their flight, the Junta had repre