Sir David Baird came without money, sir John could only give him 8000_l._, a sum which might have been mistaken for a private loan, if the fact of its being public property were not expressly mentioned. But at this time Mr. Frere, the plenipotentiary, arrived at Coruña, with two millions of dollars, intended for the use of the Spaniards; and while such large sums, contrary to the earnest recommendations of Mr. Stuart and major Cox, were lavished in that quarter, the penury of the English general obliged him to borrow from the funds in Mr. Frere’s hands. Thus assisted, the troops were put in motion; but, wanting all the equipments essential to an army, they were forced to march by half battalions, conveying their scanty stores on country cars, hired from day to day, nor was that meagre assistance obtained but at great expense, and by compliance with a vulgar mercenary spirit predominant among the authorities of Gallicia. The junta frequently promised to procure the carriages, but did not; the commissaries pushed to the wall by the delay, offered an exorbitant remuneration: the cars were then forthcoming, and the procrastination of the government proved to be a concerted plan, to defraud the military chest. In fine, the local rulers were unfriendly, crafty, fraudulent, the peasantry suspicious, fearful, rude, disinclined towards strangers, and indifferent to public affairs. A few shots only were required to render theirs a hostile instead of a friendly greeting. [Sidenote: Sir H. Dalrymple’s Correspondence.]