Meanwhile, since the departure of General Auchmuty, the British Government had committed itself to the project of a general attack on Spanish South America. Sir Arthur Wellesley himself was called upon to give advice respecting it. Finally, on the 30th October General Craufurd (the famous Craufurd of the Light Division) was ordered off with 4000 men, with instructions to take Lima and Valparaiso on the Pacific coast, and to open communications with Beresford across the continent when Valparaiso was in his hands. Craufurd sailed on the 13th December 1806, arrived at Porto Praya on the 11th January 1807, waited for several weeks there in vain for the admiral who was to go with him, and at last in despair sailed for the Cape, where he arrived on the 20th March. There he found orders to join Auchmuty at Buenos Ayres, and accordingly sailed thither on the 5th April. [Sidenote: 1807.] The confusion caused by the efforts of the British Government to manage a campaign at from three to six months’ distance from England, can be appreciated only by those who have read the original despatches. In February there arrived in the Plata a reinforcement consisting of the 9th Light Dragoons, a fact worth noting, inasmuch as this is the only occasion on which this great regiment, the first of the Lancer regiments, has fought side by side with the Seventeenth. The 16th and Seventeenth fought together in their youth in America. Thus after unspeakable confusion a large British force was at last in process of concentration on the Plata. And now the Government in an evil hour decided to put another commander over the heads of Craufurd and Auchmuty, and chose for the purpose General John Whitelocke. He arrived on the 10th May, and found that Auchmuty had already seized the town of Colonia, immediately opposite to Buenos Ayres, so as to make the passage across the river as short as possible. [Sidenote: 15th June.] A month later Craufurd arrived, and next day the Seventeenth and the artillery were embarked at Monte Video, while the rest of the army moved up to Colonia to embark there. Devoutly thankful the Seventeenth must have been to get to serious business again. Forage was terribly scarce for the horses, and flour hardly less scarce for the men, though bullocks could be bought for a dollar a head.