Spanish insurrection. Joseph invaded the country on July 9,
defeated the Spaniards at Rio Seco, and entered Madrid on the
20th. But the defeat of Dupont at Baylen by the veteran Spanish
general Castanos somewhat altered the position of affairs, and
Joseph, after a residence of ten days in his capital, was
compelled to evacuate it.

Meanwhile Sir Arthur Wellesley, afterwards Duke of Wellington, at
the head of the British auxiliary force, had landed at Mondego
bay, and began the Peninsular war by defeating the French at
Roliza and Vimiero. In November, 1808, Napoleon, who had been
preceded by Ney with 100,000 men, entered Spain and assumed the
command. For a time his armies were completely successful. In less
than a week the Spanish forces were broken through and scattered,
and Joseph was returned to Madrid. The victory was a short-lived
one, however, for, in April, 1809, General Wellesley arrived in
Portugal and at once commenced operations. By dint of masterly
generalship and bold enterprise he finally succeeded in driving
the French from the country. Napoleon, loth to lose his hold in
the Peninsula, sent Soult, his most trusted general, to stop the
ingress of the British into France, but the battles of the
Pyrenees, (24th July 1st August, 1813), and of the Nivelle,
Orthez, and Toulouse, in the beginning of 1814, brought to a
victorious conclusion this long and obstinate contest.

LOSS OF AMERICAN COLONIES.

After the convulsions it had endured, Spain required a period of
firm but conciliatory government, but the ill fate of the country
gave the throne at this crisis one of her worst rulers. Ferdinand