Wellington, soldier and statesman, and the revival of the military power of England . dings, depend-ing on himself, and himself alone. Meanwhile hisgreat adversary had his preparations made for re-invading Portugal, and for what, he was convinced,would prove an easy conquest. Had Napoleon hadthe slightest idea that the Portuguese auxiliariesnow formed a real army, and that the lines of TorresVedras were practically not to be assailed withsuccess in front, he would doubtless have drawntogether the mass of his forces in Spain, and movedthem in overwhelming numbers upon Portugal; andhad he entere
Wellington, soldier and statesman, and the revival of the military power of England . dings, depend-ing on himself, and himself alone. Meanwhile hisgreat adversary had his preparations made for re-invading Portugal, and for what, he was convinced,would prove an easy conquest. Had Napoleon hadthe slightest idea that the Portuguese auxiliariesnow formed a real army, and that the lines of TorresVedras were practically not to be assailed withsuccess in front, he would doubtless have drawntogether the mass of his forces in Spain, and movedthem in overwhelming numbers upon Portugal; andhad he entered that kingdom from the south, as wellas from the north, the lines might perhaps have beenturned, and the defences of Wellington made to a combination would not have been difficult,had not an army been almost thrown away in falseoperations in Andalusia; but even now it was notimpossible, had the Emperor thought the occasionhad come. But Napoleon persisted in a belief thata small British army, of which, too, he much under-rated the strength, was the only enemy to be found. MARSHAL SOULT.(After the painting by Rouillard.) Busaco, Torres Vedras, Fuentes cT Onoro 115 in Portugal; he thought the Portuguese leviesbeneath contempt; above all, he remained in com-plete ignorance of the formidable obstacle laid in hispath, should a French army try to make a directmarch on Lisbon. It will always be a mystery thatthis consummate master of war, who had spies andpartisans in every part of Europe, was absolutelyuninformed as to the most essential fact, when heformed his plans in 1810 for a descent on preparations of Napoleon were, nevertheless,imposing, even if really insufficient for the intendedenterprise. Armies, probably 120,000 strong, hadbeen concentrated in Leon and Castile, to carry thewar across the Portuguese frontier; the first linewas composed of some 650,00 men, largely veteransof the best quality ; the second was not much in-ferior in numbers and was, if n
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