The hire of mules and carts, the food for the animals and drivers, are never paid; and of course the animals die, and the people desert the service.

The Commissaries have no money to purchase anything in the country. I will not allow the soldiers to pillage. The Government have no money to pay for the transport of provisions from the magazines on the coast to the army, and are bankrupt in credit, and are unwilling to execute their own law to force means of transport; and the result is that the troops get nothing, and every department and branch of the service is paralysed.

The remedy which has been proposed from England has been that we should take the commissariat upon ourselves. I have already done as much as I could in this way; that is, under an arrangement which provides for the expense being subtracted from the subsidy. I have arranged that the Commissary General shall provide for those parts of the army serving with the British divisions. I know that we cannot do more without failure.

In addition to embarrassments of all descriptions surrounding us on all sides, I have to contend with an ancient enmity between these two nations, which is more like that of cat and dog than anything else, of which no sense of common danger, or common interest, or anything, can get the better, even in individuals.

Our transport, which is the great lever of the commissariat, is done principally, if not entirely, by Spanish muleteers; and, to oblige Mr. Kennedy, they would probably once or twice carry provisions to a Portuguese regiment, but they would prefer to quit us, and attend the French, to being obliged to perform this duty constantly.

When a Portuguese brigade is in a British division the muleteers do not inquire, and do not know, for whom they carry the supplies; and the Commissary with the division issues to the Portuguese Commissary what is required for the Portuguese troops, taking his receipt for the quantities, and a charge is made against the subsidy for the actual cost, including a certain sum for transport from the magazines.

There are but few Portuguese troops not serving in our divisions; but there is the militia, there are the forts, and other establishments, to be provided for, into which we could.

not enter without involving ourselves in inextricable details and an enormous expense.

The remedy for the existing evils is simple, and has been repeatedly recommended by me as far back as November, 1809, at the period of the Austrian peace. It consists in the following measures:

First, to make the disposable income of the State more nearly equal to the expenditure, by reforms, improvements in collection, and some increase of taxation. Something has lately been done in this way, and I understand with very considerable success; but, notwithstanding my repeated remonstrances, and telling the Government over and over again that money (that is, specie) could not be got for their expenses in England, and that they must look to the produce of their own exertions alone for that necessary, it is only lately that they have done anything.

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Secondly, to make all Officers and departments connected with the army liable to the military law of the country.

Thirdly, to alter the military law of the country so as to render it more conformable to the circumstances of the present day.

Fourthly, to appoint a Commissary General, with a sufficient number of deputies and assistants, to perform the duty of the army, instead of what is called a Junta, consisting of merchants of Lisbon and their clerks, who have no responsibility, and know nothing of provisioning an army, excepting the profitable jobs they themselves derive from it, and to regulate the duties of the Commissary General's office, in the manner the details of which have been proposed to them.

Fifthly, to regulate the medical department, and render it liable to military law. You will scarcely believe that the office of Physician General is a sinecure, held for life, with a right to appoint a deputy, likewise a sinecure held for life, and at the same time a right to interfere in the medical department, and to prevent anybody else from doing any good.

Sixthly, to regulate the department of the arsenal, and render its officers liable to the military law. This is a department connected not only with army and military stores, but with the clothing and appointments of the army,

and this also is managed by a Junta, responsible to nobody, and who do nothing.

It may be observed that all these improvements would do very well, but still that a British Commissary or two might be of use. So they might if they were worth having; but if they are worth having, I cannot spare them; and if they are not, they will do no good to the Portuguese concerns. In fact, there is no want of ability in the country or of good will. The wants consist in what we cannot give them, unless more disposition is shown to attend to our counsel, and the local Governments determine to alter their system, and really to do their duty by their country.

'Colonel Gordon,

Commissary in Chief:

· Believe me, &c.

WELLINGTON.

To Lieut. General Sir Charles Asgill, Bart.

MY DEAR SIR CHARLES,

'Quinta de Granicha, 12th June, 1811.

I have received your letter of the 18th May, and I shall be very happy to give you every assistance in my power, in carrying into execution the charitable intentions of the people of Ireland. That which the people of Portugal have lost, from the want of which they are likely to suffer most, is their laboring cattle, bullocks: Ireland could supply many; and cows with calf would be very acceptable. Building materials, such as planks, nails, and bar iron, would be very useful; large casks with iron hoops would also be desirable, particularly at an early period, as the French destroyed their casks, and they will find it difficult to replace them in time to receive the wine harvest of this year. Blankets, and coarse woollen in the piece, might be sent with advantage.

'Lieut. General

Sir Charles Asgill, Bart.'

To the Officer commanding His Majesty's Troops at Niza.

Quinta de Granicha, 13th June, 1811.

I request that the brigade of cavalry under Major General Anson, which I understand arrived at Niza on the 12th,

and the Light division of infantry under Major General Craufurd, which I understand arrived at Niza on this day, the 13th, may march to Portalegre on the morning of the 15th instant.

The Officer commanding
H.M. Troops at Niza.'

SIR,

To the Officer commanding the 1st Division of Infantry.

'Quinta de Granicha, 13th June, 1811.

I request that the 1st division of infantry, with the artillery attached, or marching with it, which I understand arrived this day at Villa Velha, Sarnadas, and the villages between Villa Velha and Castello Branco, may cross the Tagus at Villa Velha, on the morning of the 15th instant, and proceed to Niza, and on the 16th to Portalegre. I have the honor to be, &c.

'The Officer commanding

the 1st Division of Infantry.

WELLINGTON.

To Lieut. General Sir Stapleton Cotton, Bart.

'MY DEAR COTTON,

no authority, excepting

'Quinta de Granicha, 13th June,

1811, 7 P. M.

I have received your letter of 10 A. M., and if you have ―'s report, for saying that the enemy were in Los Santos, I should be inclined to doubt it. However, I have ordered General Hamilton's division to Albuera this night; and if I should not receive a contradiction of the report before the moon rises I shall go there myself.

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⚫ Quinta de Granicha, 13th June, 1811, 7 P.M.

I enclose some letters just received. I doubt the enemy being in Los Santos, although, as Drouet joined either last night or this morning, they will probably move to-morrow. I have ordered Hamilton to move to Albuera, and I shall go

there to night if I should not receive a contradiction of the report before the moon rises.

MY DEAR SPENCER,

'Quinta de Granicha, 13th June, 1811, 20 minutes past 8 P. M.

I have just received your letter of yesterday evening; and I request that the blankets, which the Commanding Officers of regiments may be desirous of getting rid of, may be sent by return mules to the Commissary's stores at Abrantes, if any should be sent there. A mule will not carry more than about forty, and they should be made up in packages of twenty each. The Commanding Officers of regiments should report to the Quarter Master General the number they send into store, and to what place.

I send directions to General Craufurd to march with the Light division, and to General Anson to march with his cavalry, to Portalegre on the 15th, and to the 1st division to march on the same day to Niza, and on the 16th to Portalegre; and I request you to order General Campbell and General Pack to move on the 15th to Villa Velha and Sarnadas, and on the 16th to Niza. The other brigade of cavalry may move into Castello Branco on the 15th, keeping still a look towards Salvaterra.

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I beg that the 9 pounders, the reserve artillery, &c., may move with any division with which they may be.

MY DEAR LORD,

'Quinta de Granicha, 13th June, 1811. I beg leave to inform your Lordship that, since the commencement of the siege of Badajoz, fifty two of the Chasseurs Britanniques have deserted, notwithstanding that we have with the army only a selection of that corps; 686 who are suspected being left behind at Lisbon. The inconvenience of the desertion of the soldiers of this army is very great,