Note 139 — SECTION XVIII: CHAPTER III

Napier (ii. 298) seems unjust to the arrangements of the King and Soult when he writes: ‘From Andujar to Seville is only 100 miles, and the French took ten days to traverse them, a tardiness for which there appears no adequate cause.’ He then attributes it to King Joseph’s wish to make spectacular entries, and to display his benevolence to the Andalusian towns. But the facts are wrong. Joseph reached Andujar late on Jan. 22; Victor’s cavalry was in front of Seville on Jan. 29: this makes seven, not ten, days: and the distance by the direct road via Ecija and Carmona is not 100, but 130 miles. A rate of eighteen miles a day is no bad record for an army advancing through a hostile country, even if it is meeting with no actual resistance. And January days are short, with sunrise late and sunset early.