ABSTRACT
Marmont reviewed the situation. On July 7th Bonet had marched in from the Asturias. All the Peer’s plans to prevent M armont concentrating his forces had failed before the torpor of the army of Galicia and the cool nerve of the French com manders. But now that the whole army of Portugal was assembled in one place, a price would be exacted by the guerillas, free to roam unchecked over large areas of Castile and Leon. Clearly he could not sit placidly on the far side of the Duero, while British and French officers exchanged brandy flasks across its waters. It had proved useless to expect anything from the army of the north. Caffarelli had magnified Home Popham’s squadron into a British invasion fleet and appeared momentarily to expect a large British army to rise like some unlikely Venus from the waves of Biscay; and a rather un pleasant letter had arrived from Jourdan on July 12th. Dated June 30th, it gave him no information about what the army of the centre intended; it did, however, point out that the King was 'forte impatiente’ with the news from the army of Portugal, and thought that the marshal had quite enough strength to ‘ battre les Anglais’ .
