The sick of these are reported to be in a very bad condition; and nearly the whole of them to be at present unserviceable, from lameness, age, and sore backs.” So great was the scarcity of horses, that when the Horse Artillery landed at Corunna, the officers’ horses were taken on repayment--without their consent, and they were left to purchase any animals they could find in the country. That Colonel Robe had good reason to fear a demand being made on his small depôt may be seen from the following account of the number of horses, which the state of the roads between Lisbon and Spain had rendered absolutely necessary [Sidenote: Official Return to Sir H. Burrard, Nov. 1, 1808.] for the brigades which had marched with Colonel Harding. Every artillery carriage, of whatever description, had 6 horses; the long 6-pounder gun had 8, and the 12-pounder had 10. Besides this, horses were required for the officers, non-commissioned officers, and for park duties; and the ammunition waggons, for conveyance of such as could not be carried on the limbers, were drawn by a motley collection of horses, mules, and oxen. Six days after this return was [Sidenote: Colonel Robe to D.-A.-Gen. 6 Nov. 1808.] prepared, Colonel Robe’s supply had decreased to 40, and the demands from the front were such that he declared no less than a reserve of 600 horses would be required to meet them. There is a danger, in perusing the noble story of the Peninsular War, lest all the reader’s admiration should be given to the courage and endurance of the men, or the skill of the leaders. But there were men who would infinitely rather have endured bodily suffering, than the charge which neglect or ignorance at home had thrust upon them. To feel in all its terrible reality the starvation of equipment, without which no adequate results can be expected either from skill or courage;--to know that if that equipment is not in some way forthcoming, the disgrace of failure or consequent disaster will be transferred from those to whom it is due, and will be visited on themselves;--and at the same time to be certain that any responsibility which they may assume is at their own peril, and can only be exercised with a halter round their neck of possible disallowances, reprimands, and suspicion,--all these produce in men a state of mind, beside which danger or bodily hardship seems almost repose. And it was in such a condition that many of England’s best soldiers had to live during the war in Spain--enduring more than has formed the theme of song and story--and yet bearing it without sympathy, without acknowledgment.