As soon as the campaign in Portugal was ended, Sir Hew Dalrymple began to prepare for entering Spain: on the 6th of October Sir John Moore received his appointment to the command; the preparations meantime had not been relaxed, and in eight days afterward part of the troops were in motion. Difficulties and doubts had occurred at the very outset. The infantry were to go either by sea or land at the Commander’s discretion; the voyage at that season was thought too precarious; and the Junta represented, that if they went by sea, half the army would be unable to leave the coast for want of necessaries, there being scarcely means at Coruña for forwarding 10,000 men who were to land there under Sir David Baird, and join the Commander wherever he should appoint. The land-journey therefore having been chosen, the Spanish Commissary-General was consulted concerning the means of subsisting the army on the great road by Elvas; but the quantity of meat which was required astonished him; and he computed that in three months all the oxen in the country would be consumed, and very few hogs left. There was no want of food in the north of Portugal, but it was said that artillery could not be transported across the mountains. British officers were sent to examine the roads, and they confirmed this assertion of the natives. It was ascertained when too late, that bad as the ways were, they were practicable for cannon; but in consequence of this error, it was deemed necessary to divide the army, and this led to serious evils. General Hope, with the artillery, cavalry, and four regiments of foot, was to go by the Madrid road; General Paget, with two brigades, by Elvas and Alcantara. The rest of the army moved through Almeida; two brigades, under General Beresford, by way of Coimbra; three, under General Fraser, by Abrantes, crossing the Tagus there, and recrossing at Villa Velha, ... a point which, in former wars, has been considered the key to Lisbon. These were to unite at Salamanca, and General Hope and Sir David Baird to join them either there or at Valladolid.