“You can form no adequate idea of the difficulty to procure supplies. The subject of forage for the cavalry keeps me in alarm without intermission, and there is no certainty for a single day. The country appears to be without the ability to furnish straw.”--“In short, the supply is just for the day, and barely sufficient.”--“I have begged of Mr. Villiers to desire the regency would send a person, in special authority, to this district to furnish supplies, if they are to be found. I shall act like the French, and make requisition, with this difference, that we are ready to pay for every thing to the utmost.” _Cradock to Berkely, Caldas, April 17._ “Such is the dearth of supply in this part of the country, and even in advance as far as we could go, that, unless victuallers are sent (or some other arrangement to the same effect) to Peniché and St. Martinho Bay, we cannot maintain our position. We cannot advance, for all our means of transport are gone back to Lisbon; and even in a retreat the cavalry could not be fed.”--“If there is insurmountable risk in sending the victuallers to Peniché, I request your declaration to this effect; for I must, in that case, retire the army to a station close to Lisbon, to fed be from thence.” _Cradock to Villiers, April 17._ “This letter is plainly to state that, unless some victuallers are sent, even at risk, to Peniché and St. Martinho Bay, we cannot maintain our position, and must retreat.”--“If the articles are in the country we must have them, and all ceremony must be dispensed with. The enemy would have them without paying for them: we must equally exact and pay.” _Cradock to Beresford, April 20._ “All the recommendation you point out upon the assistance to be derived from the coast have been long since acted upon to the utmost of my exertions; but the difficulties started by the admiral and the commissary were so great, that I cannot say I have much dependence upon immediate aid.” _General Cotton to Cradock, April 21._ “I wish I could once see the cavalry together; but I much fear that before that happens they will be very much out of condition. The fourteenth have already fallen off very much, owing to the frequent want of straw and their being supplied with Indian corn, which they will not eat: added to these circumstances, the commissary obliges the cavalry to carry (on the horses) three days’ forage.” _G. Harrison to Mr. Rawlings, Treasury-chambers, February 25._ “It having been represented to the lords commissioners of his majesty’s treasury that the troops at Lisbon are experiencing the greatest hardships from the want of shoes, I have received their lordships commands,” &c. &c. _Sir J. Cradock to colonel Willoughby Gordon, military secretary, February 11._ “I trust that the importance of the subject will plead my excuse for thus repeating my representations of the wretched state of the clothing and the great coats in particular of his majesty’s troops serving in this country.”