It is of consequence here to take a general view of the situation in which the French army was placed. Massena, when he entered Portugal, commanded a force of 72,000 effective men. The plan of operations he adopted was to break in at once upon Lord Wellington’s defences; to pursue him till he forced him to a battle; to allow no circumstances to arrest this decision, and finish thus at one blow the campaign intrusted to his conduct. In pursuance of his system, he marched, with all the corps of his army concentrated, into the heart of Portugal, taking his line direct upon Coimbra, at which place, by turning Lord Wellington’s left, he hoped to have arrived almost without resistance. In effecting this movement, he left no garrisons behind him; he occupied no posts to secure even his communication with Spain, or to ensure him any supplies or protection from the rear of his army. Such considerations were all sacrificed to preserve his greater numerical force for the battle by which he hoped at once to decide the fate of Portugal. The first interruption to this arrangement of the campaign, was the assembling of the whole British army at Busaco, and the subsequent defeat of the French. On the day on which this took place, Massena’s communication with Spain was cut off by a force of Portuguese militia, upon the frontiers near Pinhel and Celorico. He determined, however, to continue his original movement; and, hoping to conceal his march through the Sierra of Caramula, expected again to turn Lord Wellington, and fight a battle to advantage in the open country, between Busaco and Coimbra. These hopes were frustrated. Perceiving the difficulties into which the enemy was plunging, Lord Wellington retired through Coimbra, and abandoned to him that deserted town and country. Arrived at this point, Marshal Massena must have begun to feel the difficulties of his situation. He was encumbered with 5,000 wounded from the battle of Busaco; he was without the security of any supply of provisions, in the midst of a most inimical and exasperated population; he was without the means of communicating with Spain. If he remained where he was, the boasted conquest of Portugal in a campaign was at an end; the difficulties to which he must have exposed himself, by the extension of his army to procure provisions, must also have had weight with him; and the uncertainty as to our real object in so rapid a retreat, must have induced him to expect some great result from the bolder measure of pursuing the allied army. In conformity to this feeling, without leaving any protection for his rear, or even for his wounded, Marshal Massena conducted his army to Sobral. His progress here was totally arrested. The strength of the position occupied by us was such, as, with the recollection of Busaco fresh upon him, Massena dared not attack; he was, therefore, reduced at once to the defensive; his mighty vengeance was conducted harmless to this unpromising position.