Marmont replied, with a suppressed rage that can be read between the lines even more clearly than in his earlier letters, ‘Since the Emperor attributes to me the fall of Almeida, which was given up before I had actually taken over the command of this army[238], I cannot see what I can do to shelter myself from censures at large: ... I am accused of being the cause of the capture of Ciudad Rodrigo: it fell because it had an insufficient garrison of inferior quality and a bad commandant. Dorsenne was neither watchful nor prescient. Was it for me to take care of a place not in my command, and separated from me by a chain of mountains, and by the desert that had been made by the six months’ sojourn of the Army of Portugal in the valley of the Tagus?... I am blamed for having cantoned myself in the valley of the Tagus after repulsing Lord Wellington beyond the Coa [at the time of El Bodon], but this was the result of the imperative orders of the Emperor, who assigned me no other territory than the Tagus valley. Rodrigo was occupied by troops of the Army of the North.... I have ordered General Bonnet to reoccupy the Asturias at once, and quite see the importance of the occupying of that province.... I am told that the Emperor thinks that I busy myself too much about the interests of others, and not enough about my own. I had considered that one of my duties (and one of the most difficult of them) was to assist the Army of the South, and that duty was formally imposed on me in some twenty dispatches, and specially indicated by the order which bade me leave three divisions in the valley of the Tagus. To-day I am informed that I am relieved of that duty, and my position becomes simpler and better! But if the Emperor relies with confidence on the effect which demonstrations in the North will produce on the mind of Wellington, I must dare to express my contrary opinion. Lord Wellington is quite aware that I have no magazines, and is acquainted with the immensely difficult physical character of the country, and its complete lack of food resources at this season. He knows that my army is not in a position to cross the Coa, even if no one opposes me, and that if we did so we should have to turn back at the end of four days, unable to carry on the campaign, and with our horses all starved to death[239].’ [238] To be exact, it was on May 10 that Marmont took over the command from Masséna, and Almeida was evacuated by Brennier that same night. [239] I extract these various paragraphs from Marmont’s vast dispatch of March 2, omitting much more that is interesting and apposite. This and much more to the same effect had apparently some effect on the mind of the Emperor. But the result was confusing when formulated on paper. Berthier replied on March 12: