The Sun.
London, England, 1856-08-29 00:00:00

" At nine or ten leagues in advancn of Lisbon, between
Alhandre, .on-the Tagus, and.Torres-Vedras towards the
oeean,'lle had taken tztre to create a; first 'line of entrench
ments, Which would tut off the promontory at a dozen
leagues at least froin its extremity to the sea. This first
line-was -eouiposett of the following works. • On the bend
of the Tegtes, the heights of the Alhandra, on one side,
falling perpendicularly to the river, and on the other
rising even towards Sobral, formed over a space of four
• or five leagues escarpments that were almost inaccessible,
an& Washed in all filar extent. by the little river Amide.
The roid which patses bvtween the foot of these heights
and the Tagus, anal which leads to Lisbon by 'the bank cf •
the liver, was cut cff-by lines of cannon. Ascending -
from this point as far as Sobral, the English had artificially
()scarped all thi hills which were not naturally inaccer....-'•
sible. lathe hollows formed by the bed of the ravines
and prosentinglittl'e accessible hills, they established such
redoubts andl abiatia•as entirely: closed -the passages..
[ltaly, they had raised on the principal summits, forts ,
armed with heay artillery; emitting fire with each other, •
and commanding from afar all the avenues by which an—.
enemy could approach. At'SebrA itself, a platform which'
had little 'natural strength, was covered with a multitude
of works of the greatest strength, and on an eminence
called Monte-Agree., had been constructed a veritable
citadel, which could only be taken by means of a regular
Siege. Beyond these extended a new chain cf heights,
vhich stretched as far as the sea, and were" washed by the
Zizambro. This little river passed Torres-Vedras in its
windings. whence the immortal linen of Torres-Vedras
have received their name. There, as on the aide of Alhan-
dra, the heights had teen escarpeJ, the gorges closed by
tbattis and redoubts, the summits crowned by forts, and'the
course of the Zizarnbro was, moreover, rendered almost
impracticable by the construction in its bed of barricades
which retained the water, and would preserve the marshes
donee its banks through every change of season.
"The well-stored arsenal of Lisbon had been emptied,
to supply those various works with artillery, and all the.
oxen of the country employed in carrying the guns to their
Lppointecl positions. The garrisons were permanent, and
those of some of the works atuounted.to a thousand men.
Large and easy roe's ha.t been provide.' between the vari-
ous positions the t reinforcements might be conducted to"
any of. them with.extreme rapidity. A system of signals,
borrowed from the navy, rendered easy the transmission
to-the centre-of the lino, of precise information of all that
might be taking place at its extremities. At its very
entrance, that is to say, vis-a-vis with Sobral, was a sort
of battle field; which had been prepared that the English
army might be able to is,?vs.nce in its entirety upon the
weakest point, and add its defence to the thOusandfold
tire of the surrounding works. The fortifications were, of
course, garrisoned by Portuguese, there being amongst
them three .thmisand Portalgueee artillerymen,-who
had considerable training and were well skilled. The
English army, With the better part of the Portnigneee
troops, was destined to occupy the principal encemptnents
which had been skilfully disposed near. the most probable
pOiliti of attack." '• • '

" Such," adds M. Thiers, " was the unexpected obstacle ,
by WhiCh Alassena found the progress of his atmy'cliecked, •
and which, as soon as he had made, the proper arrange.
meets for the encampment of his army, he reconnoitred
• • ,••
during several days with his own eyes. All the' inferniatioa
hat ho could obtain was itusaimously, to the effect, that
titer this first line of entrenchments there were a second
and a third, the thiee'beirig armed with7oopiecestof cannon . •
and defended.,by.7o,ooo regular troops at the least, without
taking into account the militia and fugitive peasants.
It was nO,t, -therefore, a simple entrenched camp, to be ,
carried by a bold assault, but a series of natural obstacles, w
the difficulties of.hich had been extraordinarily increased
by art ; and whilst the English, moreover, by means of
the roads which they had constructed and the system of
gignals they had established, "were enabled to throw the
entire mass of . their forces on any one point, the French
met, on their side, with an accidental fornaaticul of the
ground which would preclude them from any mauceuvre
of this hind."

It must be remembered, moreover, in explanation
of the enormous and complicateddifficulties placed
in the way of ;the " spoilt child of victory"—Mas-
sena—that against the 70,000 regular troops op-
posed to him, the French Marshal had but
45,000 men to bring into the field-45,000
men, where 90,000 or 100,000 would have
been inadequate. So formidable, so wonderful
were the defences raised in front of the Portuguese
capital by the genius asd daring of Lord Welling-
ton. No marvel that in " making note"
Vedras, even M. Thiers is lost in mingled emotions
of admiration and astonishment. It is amusing
enough now that upwards of forty years
and
have intervened between ".then of Torres
now"—iL
is amusing across this gap of four decoders to-
park the scale upon which the Empire of Napbreon
grow and grew—not merely by the seizure of the
Pontifical States, and the seizure of the kingdom of
Holland, but by such minor additions to the realms
of tho modern Ca3sar as the Hans Towns, as a: part
of Hanover, as the Grand
just then capping the
climax of his conquests. His power had risen to
its zenith Sat
thel en Ne
a. iemen. It was to descend to its
nadir at . H

THE GREAT NORTHERN INFIRMARY. —An institution
of the above name has been lately opened at' King's-
cro-s, a neighbourhood where it was especially needed.
1,915 out-patients and 9 in-patients have received relief
Pince the day of opening, June 30, to the 28th instant.
The daily attendance averages 200. Attendance is given
every day in the week at sta,ed hours, besides which
urgent cases are attended to at any hour day or night. A
maternity charity is attached to the institution. The
great advantages of this institution are as fallow :
Patients are seen immed afely on application and medi-
cines given directly. No letters of recommendation are
required. The infirmary is also open on Sundays. The
medical staff of the infirmary consists of a surgeon,
physician, physician-acoouoheur, surgeon-dentist, resi-
dent house-surgeon, and an apothecary. The institution
is supported entirely by voluntary coutrlbl4lo4.
.