Fortunately for the allies, this report, although rife amongst all parties, and credited both by Joseph’s ministers, and the French ambassador at Madrid, proved groundless; and a leader for the projected operations was still to be named. I have been informed that marshal Ney resumed the command of the sixth corps, under the impression that he was to conduct the enterprise against Portugal, that the intrigues of marshal Berthier, to whom he was obnoxious, frustrated his hopes, and that Napoleon, fatigued with the disputes of his lieutenants, had resolved to repair in person to the Peninsula: that his marriage, and some important political affairs, diverted him from that object, and that Massena, prince of Esling, was finally chosen, partly for his great name in arms, and partly that he was of higher rank than the other marshals, and a stranger to all the jealousies and disputes in the Peninsula. His arrival was known in May amongst the allies, and lord Wellington had no longer to dread the formidable presence of the French emperor. That Massena’s base of operations might not be exposed to the interference of any other authority in Spain, the four military governments, of Salamanca, Valladolid, Asturias, and St. Andero were placed under his temporary authority, which thus became absolute in the northern provinces. But previous to taking the command of the troops, he repaired to Madrid, to confer with the king; and it would seem that some hesitation as to the line of invasion still prevailed in the French councils, because, in the imperial muster-rolls, the head-quarters of the army of Portugal are marked as being at Caceres in Estremadura, and the imperial guards are returned as part of that army, yet during the month of April only; a circumstance strongly indicating Napoleon’s intention to assume the command himself. The northern line was, however, definitively adopted; and, while the prince of Esling was still in the capital, the eighth corps passed the Tormes, and Ney commenced the FIRST SIEGE OF CIUDAD RODRIGO. [Sidenote: Lord Wellington’s Correspondence. MSS.]