took kindly to their new commanders, and served them loyally and well. [258] For notes on the difficulties and friction caused by clashing pretensions of British and Portuguese seniority in rank, see _Wellington Dispatches_, vol. iv. pp. 368-81, 394-5, and several other letters to Castlereagh and Beresford. [259] Largely from the 1/3rd foot. See _Wellington Dispatches_, vol. iv. p. 463. Other regiments also contributed. In the beginning Beresford’s reorganization only extended to the regiments in Lisbon and the south. Those stationed beyond the Douro were already in the field, and actively engaged with Soult. They had hardly received any assistance, either of officers or of arms and equipment, before they became involved in the campaign of March, 1809[260]. In fairness to them this must be borne in mind, when their conduct in battle is compared with that of the reorganized army in the following year. The Portuguese Regency, in their report on the Oporto campaign sent to their Prince on May 31, 1809, pleaded with truth ‘that the armies formed in the northern provinces were motley assemblies, whose numbers and good will bore witness to the zeal of the people, and their determination not to accept the French yoke, but which could not with any propriety be called regular troops. They were composed of incomplete and fractional regiments, and the larger proportion of the rank and file consisted of recruits, many of whom had not been a month under arms. Some of the corps were short of muskets: those which had them were armed with weapons of bad quality[261], and various calibre. All were deficient in the most essential articles of equipment. It was not fair to expect that such troops could oppose with any prospect of success a well-armed and well-disciplined veteran army like that of France[262].’ [260] A few British officers had arrived, such as Col. Patrick who commanded the 12th of the line in Silveira’s army. [261] Some of the muskets sent by the British were in the hands of the Oporto troops, but none had reached the Tras-os-Montes regiments of Silveira’s army. [262] All this is analysed from the Portuguese historian Da Luz Soriano.