Chapter XXXVII: Section I: State of Portugal

_Sir J. Cradock to sir R. Wilson, Oporto, December 8, 1808._

“I press this measure” (to move the legion from Oporto to Villa Real) “upon your adoption, for many reasons, &c. &c.; but the more especially that it will give an impulse to military preparation in general, and tend to eradicate _the notion that, since the evacuation of Portugal by the French, the prospect of a future war is at an end_.”

_Sir J. Cradock to sir John Moore, December 9, 1808._

“I have pressed the adoption of such measures as appeared most likely _to revive some notion of danger_, and the necessity of activity and energy.”

_Sir J. Cradock to lord Castlereagh, December 14, 1808, Lisbon._

“The inaction of the regency was apparent at Oporto to a lamentable degree; and, though I saw general Bernadim Friere, I could not gain from him any information as to the state or numbers of the Portuguese troops, where they were stationed, or who commanded them. I apprehend, from his conversation, that the general officers are all of equal authority; and that even seniority had not its usual effect. He concluded his observations to me with the strong expression, ‘_That, from the evacuation of Portugal by the French, the nation had thought all war at an end_.’”

_Sir J. Cradock to sir J. Moore, December 28, 1808._

“Mr. Villiers and myself have both concurred upon the _absolute necessity to arouse and animate the Portuguese to some sense of their situation_.”

_Colonel Kemmis to sir J. Cradock, Elvas, December 30, 1808._

“_The apathy of the Portuguese is not to be expressed._ Their general, Leite, is a most excellent character: a theorist, and, like his countrymen, _supine_.”

_Extract from the Report of lieutenant Brotherton, (an officer employed to obtain intelligence in the north of Portugal,) February 11, 1809. Head-quarters of Romana’s army._

“From the totally defenceless state in which the two northern provinces are left, it will require at least eight days (I speak from authority) to prepare any thing like adequate means of defence.”