But the supply of the army under any system was now becoming extremely precarious, for besides the activity of the American privateers English ships of war used, at times, to capture the vessels secretly employed in bringing provision under licenses from Mr. Stuart and Mr. Forster. Nay the captain of a Scotch merchant vessel engaged in the same trade and having no letter of marque, had the piratical insolence to seize in the very mouth of the Tagus, and under the Portuguese batteries, an American vessel sailing under a license from Mr. Forster, and to carry her into Greenock, thus violating at once the license of the English minister, the independence of Portugal, and the general law of nations. Alarm immediately spread far and wide amongst the American traders, the indignation of the Portuguese government was strongly and justly excited, and the matter became extremely embarrassing, because no measure of punishment could be inflicted without exposing the secret of a system which had been the principal support of the army. However the Congress soon passed an act forbidding neutrals to ship flour in the American ports, and this blow, chiefly aimed at the Portuguese ships, following upon the non-importation act, and being combined with the illegal violence of the English vessels, nearly dried up this source of supply, and threw the army principally upon the Brazil trade, which by the negligence of the Admiralty was, as I have before noticed, exposed to the enterprize of the United States’ privateers. During Wellington’s absence in Spain the military administration of Portugal was necessarily in the hands of the regency and all the ancient abuses were fast reviving. The army in the field received no succours, the field-artillery had entirely disappeared, the cavalry was in the worst condition, the infantry was reduced in numbers, the equipments of those who remained were scarcely fit for service, and the spirit of the men had waned from enthusiasm to despondency. There was no money in the military chest, no recruits in the dépôts, and the transport service was neglected altogether. Beresford’s severity had failed to check desertion, because want, the parent of crimes, had proved too strong for fear; the country swarmed with robbers, and as no fault civil or military was punished by the regency, every where knaves triumphed over the welfare of the nation.