Note 96 — SECTION XXIII: CHAPTER III

‘The recent augmentation of your force must be considered as made with reference to the present exigency.... We are very anxious, not with a view of abandoning, but for the purpose of maintaining the contest in the Peninsula for an indefinite time, that when the present crisis shall appear to be over, you should send home the excess of your force, after keeping 30,000 effective rank and file for Portugal, and a sufficient garrison for Cadiz, selecting of course those regiments to be sent home which are least efficient, and consequently least fitted for active service.’