. The French generals threw the
blame of defeat upon each other, but, in fact, the skill of Massena
converted a defeat into an episode in his victorious advance. On the
following day, he again found a way of turning Wellington's left, and,
in an intercepted despatch, he naturally treated this as a compensation
for the repulse at Bussaco, which he did not disguise. Compelled to
retire once more with a vast drove of encumbered, panic-stricken, and
famishing Portuguese fugitives, and conscious that no reserves awaited
him, Wellington knew, nevertheless, that he was drawing Massena further
and further away from his base, to encounter a terrible surprise. For,
so useless had been the French scouts, and so worthless the information
received from Portuguese sources, that no adequate conception of the
obstacle presented by the lines of Torres Vedras had entered the mind of
that experienced strategist.

These elaborate works had been constructed in the course of a year by
thousands of Portuguese labourers, directed by Colonel Fletcher of the
royal engineers, upon a plan carefully thought out and laid down by
Wellington himself. The first and principal chain of fortifications
stretched for nearly thirty miles across the whole promontory between
the river Tagus and the sea, about twenty-five miles north of Lisbon.
The summits of hills were crowned with forts, their sides were escarped
and protected with earthworks, their gorges were blocked with redoubts,
a small river at the foot of them was made impassable by dams; in short,
the utmost advantage was taken of the defences provided by nature, and
these were supplemented by artificial entrenchments. Portuguese
garrisons manned the greater part of the batteries, armed with guns from
the arsenals of Lisbon; British troops were to occupy the most
vulnerable points of attack. There was a second and third range of
fortifications behind the first, in case these should be forced, but no
such emergency arose. When Massena had carefully inspected the
stupendous barrier reared in front of him, his well-trained eye
recognised it as impregnable: he paused for some weeks under semblance
of blockading the British forces, while he was really scouring the
country for the means of feeding his own; but in November he began to
retreat upon Santarem, Almeida, and Ciudad Rodrigo, with a half-starved
and dispirited army, greatly reduced in numbers during the campaign.[47]

The year 1811 was perhaps the