Meanwhile, general Sylveira, assuming the command of the Tras os Montes, advanced to Chaves, and put himself in communication with the marquis of Romana, who, having remained tranquil at Oimbra and Monterey since the 21st of January, had been joined by his dispersed troops, and was again at the head of nine or ten thousand men. Sylveira’s force consisted of about two thousand regulars and as many militia, and his army was accompanied by many of the _ordenanzas_; but here, as elsewhere, the Portuguese were licentious, insubordinate, and disdainful of their general; and the national enmity between them and the Spaniards overcoming the sense of a common cause and common danger, the latter were evilly entreated, both officers and men; and a deadly feud subsisted between the two armies. The generals, however, agreed to act in concert, offensively and defensively; but neither of them were the least acquainted with the numbers, intention, or even the position of their antagonists: and it is a proof of Romana’s unfitness for command that he, having the whole population at his disposal, was yet ignorant of every thing relating to his enemy that it behoved him to know. The whole of the French force in Gallicia, at this period, was about forty-five thousand men, Romana estimated it at twenty-one thousand. The number under Soult was above twenty-four thousand, Romana supposed it to be twelve thousand; and among these he included general Marchand’s division of the sixth corps, which he always imagined to be a part of the duke of Dalmatia’s army. [Sidenote: Appendix, No. 6, section 3.] [Sidenote: Cradock’s Correspondence, MSS.] The Spanish general was so elated at the spirit of the peasants about Ribidavia, that he anticipated nothing but victory. He knew that on the Arosa, an estuary, running up towards St. Jago de Compostella, the inhabitants of Villa Garcia had also risen, and, being joined by all the neighbouring districts, were preparing to attack Vigo and Tuy; and partly from his Spanish temperament, partly from his extreme ignorance of war, he was convinced that the French only thought of making their escape out of Gallicia, and that even in that they would be disappointed. But to effect their destruction more certainly, he also, as we have seen, pestered sir John Cradock for succours in money and ammunition, and desired that, the insurgents on the Arosa might be assisted with a thousand British soldiers. Cradock anxious to support the cause, although he refused the troops, sent ammunition, and five thousand pounds in money; but, before it arrived, Romana was beaten and in flight. The combined Spanish and Portuguese forces, amounting to sixteen thousand regulars and militia, besides _ordenanzas_, were posted in a straggling unconnected manner along the valley of the Tamega, and extended from Monterey, Verim, and Villaza, to near Chaves, a distance of more than fifteen miles. This was the first line of defence for Portugal.