I have been so far minute to show in how able a manner Lord Wellington's arrangements were invariably made for combined movements; but I have no intention of entering into a detail account of the action; and shall only say, that at night, the 3rd division, having carried the redoubts and entrenchments before them, and having accomplished, as usual, the work assigned them, found themselves beyond St. Pé; and we were able to congratulate ourselves that Lord Wellington had at last thought fit to allow us to find a way into a part of the country blessed with a more genial climate than the Pyrenees. Had Massena acted thus at Torres Vedras, there is no saying what might have been the result, for the Portuguese, as I before observed, were then young and inexperienced as soldiers, and but little to be depended upon, had the parts of the position occupied by them been assailed by the French. It was an extraordinary occurrence in the action upon the Nivelle that a redoubt carried by our 88th regiment should have been defended by the greater part of the French 88th, the latter thus becoming prisoners to the former. And it was likewise the fate of the French 45th at Talavera to have been nearly destroyed by the fire of ours, as was ascertained by the numbers of killed and wounded left upon the ground, and also by the late Major-General Guard (who then commanded our 45th), who was left amongst the wounded at Talavera when our army retreated after the action. I believe it is an axiom in war, at least it ought to be, that no extended position--fortify it as you please--can be held for any length of time against a properly combined movement of good troops. Had not we to fall back through the Pyrenees before Soult, and did we not find ourselves unable to make any effectual stand before him till we reached the ground in front of Pampeluna? Sir Thomas Picton certainly, the previous evening, checked the French for a short time; but after a night's march we found ourselves in the excellent position selected by him, and in which, when our army was more concentrated, we were able to frustrate all Soult's efforts, great as they were. I must not here omit remarking, that it was insinuated, and even believed by many, that if Lord Wellington had not arrived in time, followed by a part of the army at this position, Sir Thomas Picton intended to have abandoned it, and to have retired behind Pampeluna, and thereby would have removed our blockading force, and thrown it open to Soult.