4º. The project of seizing Torres Vedras and Mafra at the close of the battle, was one of those prompt daring conceptions that distinguish great generals, and it is absurd to blame sir Harry Burrard for not adopting it. Men are not gifted alike, and even if the latter had not been confirmed in his view of the matter by the advice of his staff, there was in the actual situation of affairs ample scope for doubt; the facility of executing sir Arthur’s plan was not so apparent on the field of battle as it may be in the closet. The French cavalry was numerous, unharmed, and full of spirit. Upon the distant heights behind Junot’s army, a fresh body of infantry had been discovered by general Spencer, and the nature of the country prevented any accurate judgment of its strength being formed. The gun carriages of the British army were very much shaken, and they were so badly and so scantily horsed, that doubts were entertained if they could keep up with the infantry in a long march. The commissariat was in great confusion, and the natives, as we have seen, were flying with the country transport. The Portuguese troops gave no promise of utility, and the English cavalry was destroyed. To overcome obstacles in the pursuit of a great object is the proof of a lofty genius; but the single fact that a man of sir George Murray’s acknowledged abilities was opposed to the attempt, at once exonerates sir Harry Burrard’s conduct from censure, and places the vigour of sir Arthur Wellesley’s in the strongest light. It was doubtless ill-judged of the former (aware as he was of the ephemeral nature of his command) to interfere at all with the dispositions of a general who was in the full career of victory, and whose superior talents and experience were well known; but it excites indignation to find a brave and honourable veteran borne to the earth as a criminal, and assailed by the most puerile shallow writers, merely because his mind was not of the highest class. Sir Arthur Wellesley himself was the first to declare before the court of inquiry that sir Harry Burrard had decided upon fair military reasons. GENERAL PLAN OF THE CAMPAIGN. 1º. Although double lines of operation are generally disadvantageous and opposed to sound principles, the expediency of landing sir John Moore’s troops at the mouth of the Mondego, and pushing them forward to Santarem, was unquestionable, and unless the probable consequences of such a movement are taken into consideration, sir Arthur Wellesley’s foresight cannot be justly appreciated. Lisbon, situated near the end of the tongue of land lying between the sea-coast and the Tagus, is defended to the northward by vast mountains, that rising in successive and nearly parallel ranges, end abruptly in a line extending from Torres Vedras to Alhandra on the Tagus. As these ridges can only be passed at certain points by an army, the intersections of the different roads form so many strong positions.