barkment, provided Sir
John Moore's unfortunate campaign and the last Austrian war should
find a climax in a similar French victory over all Spain. These lines
effectually protected the right bank of the Tagus. They consisted of
one hundred and fifty-two redoubts, equipped with seven hundred guns
and manned by thirty thousand English, thirty thousand Portuguese,
and eight thousand Spaniards. As Massena now had but forty-five
thousand men, there could be no question of storming such a fortress,
and nothing was left but to await reinforcements and plan a strategic
movement by which he might cross the Tagus, threaten Lisbon from the
left bank, draw off the foe to its defense, and thus perhaps, having
weakened the garrison, secure the possibility of a successful attack
on the fortified lines in front.

The notion was not visionary. Soult had been despatched with a strong
force southward into Andalusia, with orders to crush out the
resistance of that province; he was then to turn westward, join
Massena in Portugal, and cooeperate with him under his orders for the
expulsion of the English. The belated expedition had not arrived, but
in spite of the delay and disappointment it must surely come at last;
and if the Emperor would but consent to order up the troops lying in
Castile, the quickly formed and brilliant plan of Massena would be
feasible. But, alas for the scheme, what was apparently jealousy on
the part of Soult had quenched all ardor in the Andalusian invasion.
He was at this moment before Cadiz, carrying on a siege in which
either the Spanish were displaying great courage or the French but
little heart. His sluggish progress was not unobserved at Paris, and
finally under pressure he left half his force before the walls of the
"white city," while with the other he advanced and captured the
fortress of Badajoz. There he paused of necessity, being falsely
informed that Massena, who had only withdrawn toward Santarem, was in
full retreat, but being correctly notified that the portions of his
own force left before Cadiz were not able to hold their own. Having
been virtually defeated in his attack on Sir John Moore, his invasion
of Portugal in 1809 had been temporarily successful; but he had
occupied Oporto only to conspire like Junot for the crown of the
country, and he had been driven out without difficulty by the English.
Made commander-in-chief after the empty victory of Wellington at
Talavera, he had won a great batt