Throughout the month of February, Lord Wellington had been looking out with great anxiety for a reinforcement from England, which was, coming to him, and which, by the unfavourable state of the weather, had been unusually delayed, and did not arrive till the 7th of March. The distressed state of the French army, as well as the menaced movement of Soult and Mortier, had determined him, upon the arrival of this reinforcement, (which amounted to 7,000 English,) to attack; and his plans for this purpose were already decided upon. The night of the 4th of March, however, put an end to this project: Massena broke up from all his positions, and commenced his retreat. The country he had occupied was totally exhausted; his army could no longer subsist in it. The sickness and misery the French had suffered, together with the hostility of the peasants, had considerably reduced their numbers. Lord Wellington had triumphed in his calculations; without the loss of a single man, he had obliged the enemy, weakened and disheartened, to abandon all his objects. Massena, after having previously moved off his sick and baggage upon the road to the Peunte de Marcella, directed his effective army upon Pombal, where it appeared he had intended to fight a battle; some altercation is stated to have taken place here, between him and the Count Erlon; that officer having received instructions to act in Spain, insisted upon being allowed to retire from Portugal, and immediately commenced his movement to effect that object. Lord Wellington had on the 11th, concentrated a part of his army opposite Pombal; the enemy was driven from it, and the next day was attacked at Redinha, from the positions about which place he was also obliged to retire with considerable loss: from thence he was pushed upon Condeixa, where, appearing to take up his ground as if to defend it, Lord Wellington instantly detached a corps to menace his left, and his communication with Miranda do Corvo. This had the desired effect; Marshal Ney, who commanded the French rear-guard, retired upon Miranda, thus abandoning the chance of occupying Coimbra (which was without defence,) or of retaining any advanced position in Portugal. To the activity and vigour with which Lord Wellington pushed the French army, this advantage was entirely due; Massena conceived that an officer who, for so long a period, had acted with so much caution, would never seriously venture to disturb his retreat; he had, therefore, relied upon being able to conduct it at his own discretion: when he found, on the contrary, that he was most vigorously attacked, he was obliged to precipitate his movements. To this alone can be attributed his having been unable to ascertain that there was no garrison in Coimbra, a position to which it appears he was anxious to have led his army.