Thus pressed, the supreme junta, considering Venegas as a man devoted to their wishes, resolved to increase his forces. For this purpose they gave Albuquerque the command in Estremadura, but furnished him with only twelve thousand men, sending the remainder of Eguia’s army to Venegas; and, at the same time, making a last effort to engage the British general in their proceedings, they offered to place Albuquerque under his orders, provided he would undertake an offensive movement. By these means, they maintained their tottering power: but their plans, being founded upon vile political intrigues, could in no wise alter sir Arthur Wellesley’s determination, which was the result of enlarged military views. He refused their offers; and, the 4th of September, his head-quarters were established at Badajos. Meanwhile, Romana delivered over his army to the duke del Parque, and repaired to Seville. Venegas again advanced into La Mancha, but at the approach of a very inferior force of the enemy, retired, with all the haste and confusion of a rout, to the Morena. The English troops were then distributed in Badajos, Elvas, Campo Mayor, and other places, on both banks of the Guadiana. The brigades already in Portugal were brought up to the army, and the lost ammunition and equipments were replaced from the magazines at Lisbon, Abrantes, and Santarem. Beresford, leaving some light troops and militia on the frontier, retired to Thomar, and this eventful campaign, of two months, terminated. The loss of the army was considerable; above three thousand five hundred men had been killed, or had died of sickness, or fallen into the enemy’s hands. Fifteen hundred horses had perished from want of food, exclusive of those lost in battle; the spirits of the soldiers were depressed; and a heart-burning hatred of the Spaniards was engendered by the treatment endured. To fill the cup, the pestilent fever of the Guadiana, assailing bodies which fatigue and bad nourishment had already predisposed to disease, made frightful ravages. Dysentry, that scourge of armies, raged; and, in a short time, above five thousand men died in the hospitals. CHAPTER V. OBSERVATIONS.