Beresford, neglecting this happy opportunity, put his troops into quarters round Elvas, induced thereto by the fatigue and wants of the soldiers; especially those of the fourth division, who had been marching incessantly since the 6th of the month, and were bare-footed and exhausted. He had been instructed, by lord Wellington, to throw a bridge over the Guadiana at Jerumenha; to push back the fifth corps; and to invest Olivenza and Badajos. The Portuguese government had undertaken not only to provide the means for these operations, but had actually reported that they were collected at Elvas and Jerumenha; that is to say, that provisions, shoes, battering guns, ammunition, and transport were there; that the Guadiana abounded in serviceable craft; that twenty large boats, formerly belonging to Cuesta, which had been brought away from Badajos before the siege, were at Elvas; and that all other necessaries would be sent from Lisbon. It now appeared that no magazines of provisions or stores had been formed; that very little transport was provided; that only five of Cuesta’s boats had been brought from Badajos; that there was no serviceable craft on the river, and that some small pontoons, sent from Lisbon, were unfit to bear the force of the current, or to sustain the passage of guns. The country, also, was so deficient in provisions, that the garrison-stores of Elvas were taken to feed the army. All these circumstances combined to point out Merida as the true line of operations; moreover, plenty of food was to be had on the left bank of the Guadiana, and the measures necessary to remedy the evil state of affairs on the right bank, did not require the presence of an army to protect them. The great distress of the fourth division for shoes, alone offered any serious obstacle; but, under the circumstances, it would not have been too much to expect a momentary effort from such an excellent division, or, it might without danger even have been left behind. Marshal Beresford preferred halting until he could procure the means of passing at Jerumenha; an error which may be considered as the first and principal cause of those long and bloody operations which afterwards detained lord Wellington nearly two years on the frontiers of Portugal. For, during Beresford’s delay, general Phillipon, one of the ablest governors that ever defended a fortress, levelled the trenches, restored the glacis, and stopped the breach; meanwhile Latour Maubourg, who had succeeded Mortier in command of the troops, covered the country with foraging parties and filled the magazines.