In the summer of 1808, Portugal was delivered by a British army under Lieut.-General Sir Arthur Wellesley; and in the autumn Lieut.-General Sir John Moore received orders to advance with a body of British troops from Portugal into the heart of Spain; at the same time several regiments were embarked from the United Kingdom to co-operate in the enterprise. The second battalion of the THIRTY-FIRST, which had proceeded in August to Fermoy, marched on the 8th of September to Monkstown for embarkation, and sailed in a few days afterwards to Falmouth, where a fleet was assembling with a force for service, the command of the troops being held by Lieut.-General Sir David Baird. In a short time, the fleet sailed, and arrived in the Bay of Corunna on the 23rd of October. The THIRTY-FIRST did not, however, land with the army, the battalion being despatched to Lisbon, where it arrived on the 5th of November. Lieut.-General Sir John Cradock, who commanded in Portugal at this period, detached some regiments towards the frontier, with a view of reinforcing Lieut.-General Sir John Moore in Spain. The THIRTY-FIRST, being one of the corps destined for this service, marched with a force under the command of Brigadier-General Richard Stewart from Lisbon, on the 18th of December, upon Castello Branco, where the battalion arrived in ten days. The communication with Lieut.-General Sir John Moore being at this period suddenly interrupted, Brigadier-General Stewart was ordered to halt, and unfavourable intelligence being received from Spain, Lieut.-General Sir John Cradock determined to concentrate his army near Lisbon, and the further advance was, therefore, countermanded. [Sidenote: 1809] The second battalion of the THIRTY-FIRST, and the other corps of the division, commenced their march to the rear on the 1st of January 1809. On arrival at Santarem, the intelligence of Sir John Moore’s advance upon Sahagun had reached head-quarters, and the anticipated danger being thus drawn from the frontiers of Portugal, Brigadier-General Stewart was again ordered to halt. His head-quarters continued at Santarem, and the THIRTY-FIRST occupied cantonments in the neighbourhood of Bucellas. A month’s march in incessant rain had seriously damaged the appointments, and the men being indifferently provided with shoes, rendered a rest in this pleasant quarter of infinite benefit.