The Duke of Wellington, in his old age, takes pleasure in talking over the campaign of Portugal at Apsley House, because he there offered a powerful resistance to the French army, displayed the most consummate strategic skill, and was opposed to the most renowned marshals of the empire; first Soult and Massena, and afterwards Marmont, who, though skilful in his arrangements, was always unfortunate, and Ney, the boldest and most adventurous of them all. The Duke of Wellington has caused drawings to be made of the celebrated lines of Torres Vedras, whose plan he traced himself, and had executed with a rapidity and perseverance that appear almost to belong to fabulous times. They were intended to protect Lisbon, and extended from the sea to the Tagus, at the point where the river, being about six miles broad, defended them as completely as the sea itself. They were constructed with so much secrecy, that Marmont was struck with amazement at the sight of them; and the English system of tactics, which consists in taking up a fortified position, was displayed on this occasion in all its glory. The brave Massena passed nearly six months before these lines,--this magnificent military work, roaming like a chafed lion desirous of engaging with his enemy around these masses of granite, and the waters of the great river, almost as vast as the sea. The old general of the Italian campaign expected reinforcements from France, but he received no assistance either in men or provisions--a circumstance which must have rendered his retreat to the frontiers of Spain very difficult to accomplish. The Duke of Wellington always does justice to the skill of Marshals Soult and Massena; and, in speaking of them in present times, he acknowledges them both to have been men of great military capacity. The English general again received the thanks of both houses of parliament on this occasion; an additional subsidy was voted him, and the title of Marquis of Torres Vedras was conferred upon him, to perpetuate the memory of the military resistance that had saved Portugal. At this period the English government lavished marks of gratitude upon its generals, in order to excite them to fresh acts of self-devotion; and England already discerned in the Duke of Wellington a man capable of coping with the power of Napoleon. An attempt had been at first made to institute a comparison between Admiral Nelson and the Emperor, and after his death at Trafalgar the Duke of Wellington succeeded him in public estimation; such, at least, was the opinion expressed and acted upon by the British parliament.