No general-in-chief was appointed to command the Spanish armies; nor was sir John Moore referred by the English ministers to any person with whom he could communicate at all, much less concert a plan of operations for the allied forces. He was unacquainted with the views of the Spanish government, he was uninformed of the numbers, composition, or situation of the troops with which he was to act, as well as those with whom he was to contend, and 25,000_l._ in his military chest, and his own genius, constituted his resources for a campaign, which would probably lead the army far from the coast, and from all its means of supply. He was first to unite the scattered portions of his forces by a winter march of three hundred miles; another three hundred were to be passed before he reached the Ebro; then he was to concert a plan of operations with generals acting each independent of the other; their corps reaching from the northern sea-coast to Zaragoza; themselves jealous and quarrelsome, their men insubordinate, differing in customs, discipline, language, and religion from the English, and despising all foreigners; and this was to be accomplished in time to defeat an enemy who was already in the field, accustomed to great movements, and conducted by the most rapid and decided of men. It must be acknowledged that the ministers’ views were equally vast and inconsiderate, and their miscalculations are the more remarkable, as there was not wanting a man in the highest military situation to condemn their plan at the time, and to propose a better. [Sidenote: Appendix, No. 24.] The duke of York, in a formal minute drawn up for the information of the government, observed, that the Spanish armies being unconnected, and occupying a great extent of ground, were weak. That the French being concentrated, and certain of reinforcements, were strong. That there could be no question of the relative value of Spanish and French troops, and that, consequently, the allies might be beaten before the British could arrive at the scene of action; the latter would then unaided have to meet the French army; hence it was essential to provide a sufficient number of troops to meet such an emergency; that number he judged should not be less than sixty thousand men, and by a detailed statement, he proved that such a number could have been furnished without detriment to any other service. [Sidenote: Mr. Stuart’s letters. MS.] [Sidenote: Appendix, No. 13, section 6th.]