The failure of the campaign was, by the king, attributed to Soult’s disobedience, inasmuch as the passage of the Tagus by Drouet would have enabled the army of the centre to act, before Palombini’s division arrived. But it has been shewn that Hill could have brought Wellington an equal, or superior reinforcement, in less time, whereby the latter could either have made head until the French dispersed for want of provisions, or, by a rapid counter-movement, he could have fallen upon Andalusia. And if the king had menaced Ciudad Rodrigo in return it would have been no diversion, for he had no battering train, still less could he have revenged himself by marching on Lisbon, because Wellington would have overpowered Soult and established a new base at Cadiz, before such an operation could become dangerous to the capital of Portugal. Oporto might indeed have been taken, yet Joseph would have hesitated to exchange Madrid for that city. But the ten thousand men required of Soult by the king, on the 19th of June, could have been at Madrid before August, and thus the passes of the Guadarama could have been defended until the army of Portugal was reorganized! Aye! but Hill could then have entered the valley of the Tagus, or, being reinforced, could have invaded Andalusia while Wellington kept the king’s army in check. It would appear therefore that Joseph’s plan of operations, if all its combinations had been exactly executed, might have prevented Wellington’s progress on some points, but to effect this the French must have been concentrated in large masses from distant places without striking any decisive blow, which was the very pith and marrow of the English general’s policy. Hence it follows that Soult made the true and Joseph the false application of the principle of concentration.