Souham arrived the 3rd of October with the last of the reinforcements from France, but he imagined that lord Wellington had sixty thousand troops around Burgos, exclusive of the Partidas, and that three divisions were marching from Madrid to his aid; whereas none were coming from that capital, and little more than thirty thousand were present under arms round Burgos, eleven thousand being Gallicians scarcely so good as the Partidas. Wellington’s real strength was in his Anglo-Portuguese, then not twenty thousand, for besides those killed or wounded at the siege, the sick had gone to the rear faster than the recovered men came up. Some unattached regiments and escorts were, indeed, about Segovia, and other points north of the Guadarama, and a reinforcement of five thousand men had been sent from England in September; but the former belonged to Hill’s army, and of the latter, the lifeguards and blues had gone to Lisbon. Hence a regiment of foot-guards, and some detachments for the line, in all about three thousand, were the only available force in the rear. During the first part of the siege, the English general seeing the French scattered along the Ebro, and only reinforced by conscripts, did not fear any interruption, and the less so, that sir Home Popham was again menacing the coast line. Even now, when the French were beginning to concentrate their troops, he cared little for them, and was resolved to give battle; for he thought that Popham and the guerillas would keep Caffarelli employed, and he felt himself a match for the army of Portugal. Nor were the Partidas inactive on any point, and their successes though small in themselves, were exceedingly harassing to the enemy. Mina having obtained two or three thousand stand of English arms had re-entered Aragon and domineered on the left bank of the Ebro, while Duran, with four thousand men, operated uncontrolled on the right bank. The Empecinado, Villacampa, and Bassecour descended from Cuenca, the first against Requeña, the others against Albacete. The Frayle interrupted the communications between Valencia and Tortoza. Saornil, Cuesta, Firmin, and others, were in La Mancha and Estremadura, Juan Palarea, called the Medico, was near Segovia, and though Marquinez had been murdered by one of his own men, his partida and that of Julian Sanchez acted as regular troops with Wellington’s army. Meanwhile sir Home Popham, in conjunction with Mendizabel, Porlier, and Renovales, who had gathered all the minor partidas under their banners, assailed Gueteria; but unsuccessfully; for on the 30th of September, the Spanish chiefs were driven away, and Popham lost some guns which had been landed. About the same time the Empecinado being defeated at Requeña, retired to Cuenca, yet he failed not from thence to infest the French quarters.