Sebastiani[343] and had after his victory at Medellin laid siege to Badajoz[344]. If this had been true, the Duke of Belluno would have been strong enough to move against Portugal with 25,000 men, after detaching a competent force to watch the wrecks of Cuesta’s army. Fortunately the whole story was an invention: but it kept Wellesley in a state of feverish anxiety till he reached Lisbon. His fears are shown by the fact that he drew up a memorandum for Lord Castlereagh, setting forth the supposed situation, and asking what he was to do on arriving, if he should find that Cradock had already embarked his troops and quitted Portugal[345]. The Secretary of State, equally harrassed by the false intelligence, replied that he was to make an effort to induce the Spaniards to let him land the army at Cadiz, and, if they should refuse, might reinforce the garrison of Gibraltar to 8,000 men, and bring the rest of the expeditionary force back to England[346]. [340] The official notice is dated April 2 (_Wellington Supplementary Dispatches_, vi. p. 210), but several letters dated late in March show that the matter had been already settled. [341] The troops from the abortive expedition to Cadiz, under Mackenzie, Sherbrooke and Tilson, turned up about the middle of March at Lisbon. But Hill, with the first body of the second batch of reinforcements, only appeared upon April 5. [342] Of the first ten battalions to appear, seven were 2nd battalions--those of the 7th, 30th, 48th, 53rd, 66th, 83rd, 87th regiments. Some were very weak, with less than 750 bayonets, e.g. the 7th (628 men), 30th (698 men), 66th (740 men). [343] This came from Beresford at Lisbon (see _Wellington Supplementary Dispatches_, vi. p. 219). [344] Wellesley to the Duke of Richmond, April 14 (_Supplementary Dispatches_, vi. 227). [345] _Wellington Supplementary Dispatches_, vi. 221-2. It is very creditable to Sir Arthur that, adverting to another possibility, viz. that Cradock may have plucked up courage to go out against the French, and have successfully beaten them off, he declares that ‘he could not reconcile it with his feelings’ to supersede a successful general. He remembered his own state of mind when supplanted by Burrard on the day of Vimiero. [346] Castlereagh to Wellesley, _Supplementary Dispatches_, vi. 222 and 228. It was therefore an immense relief to Wellesley to find, when he landed, that the news from Estremadura was false, that Victor had not been reinforced, and that the 1st Corps was lying quiescent at Merida. Soult was still at Oporto, Cradock had not been molested, and the French invasion was at a standstill.