No. III.
JUSTIFICATORY EXTRACTS FROM SIR J. CRADOCK’s CORRESPONDENCE, MSS.
SECTION I.—STATE OF PORTUGAL.
Sir J. Cradock to sir R. Wilson, Oporto, December 8, 1808.
“I press this measure” (to move the legion from Oporto to Villa Real) “upon your adoption, for many reasons, &c. &c.; but the more especially that it will give an impulse to military preparation in general, and tend to eradicate the notion that, since the evacuation of Portugal by the French, the prospect of a future war is at an end.”
Sir J. Cradock to sir John Moore, December 9, 1808.
“I have pressed the adoption of such measures as appeared most likely to revive some notion of danger, and the necessity of activity and energy.”
Sir J. Cradock to lord Castlereagh, December 14, 1808, Lisbon.
“The inaction of the regency was apparent at Oporto to a lamentable degree; and, though I saw general Bernadim Friere, I could not gain from him any information as to the state or numbers of the Portuguese troops, where they were stationed, or who commanded them. I apprehend, from his conversation, that the general officers are all of equal authority; and that even seniority had not its usual effect. He concluded his observations to me with the strong expression, ‘That, from the evacuation of Portugal by the French, the nation had thought all war at an end.’”
Sir J. Cradock to sir J. Moore, December 28, 1808.