[ The Peninsular War. ] Manuscript Letter, in a secretarial hand, signed by J. L. Mallet of the Audit Office, to Charles Stuart, British envoy to Portugal, regarding £277,450 spent by him on supplies for Wellington's army.

2pp., folio. In good condition, on lightly aged paper. He is directed to 'make up and transmit to this Office an account Current of the receipt & application of the [...] Sum of £277,450, duly attested upon oath & accompanied by the necessary vouchers & authorities in support thereof'. The money is made up of 'various bills of Exchange drawn by you upon their Lordships on 4th. Novr: 1810 payable to M. T. Sempayo [Sampayo]'. Clarification is also required 'respecting the difference previously observed upon between the amount of Specie charged to your account as transmitted by the Dryad, and the amount specified in the Statement which you have delivered'. The context of the letter is explained in Napier's 'Peninsular War': 'Now in 1810 Mr. Stuart had given treasury bills to the house of Sampayo for the purchase of American corn; but the disputes between England and the United States, the depreciation of English bills, from the quantity in the market, together with the expiration of the American bank charter, had prevented Sampayo from completing his commission, nevertheless, although the increasing bitterness of the disputes with America discouraged a renewal of this plan, some more bills were now [i.e. in 1812] given to the English minister at Washington, with directions to purchase corn, and consign it to Sampayo, to resell in Portugal as before, for the benefit of the military chest. Other bill were also sent to the Brazils, to purchase rice, and all the consuls of the Mediterranean were desired to encourage the exportation of grain and the importation of colonial produce. In this manner, despite of the English ministers' incapacity, lord Wellington found resources to feed the population, to recover some of the specie expended by the army, and to maintain the war.'