Difficulties which could not have been foreseen arose concerning the delivery of Elvas. Galluzo, who commanded the army of Extremadura, and who had hitherto afforded no very efficient aid to the Portugueze, thought proper at this time, when he had been required by every civil and military authority to begin his march towards Castille, in contempt of those orders to enter Alem-Tejo, and besiege Elvas, as if no treaty for its surrender had been made. The French Commandant, Girod de Novillars, upon this required from the inhabitants an immediate loan of money, to the amount of 30,000 francs, and wine and provisions to the value of 20,000 more. Drained as they had been by repeated exactions, the people of Elvas were in no condition to obey this demand; the Bishop and the magistrates therefore easily obtained permission to go to the Spanish camp, and entreat Galluzo to suspend hostilities. That General, however, declared, that if the French did not surrender within six hours, he would open his fire against Fort La Lippe, and put the whole garrison to the sword. He had no time to lose, he said, but must hasten to assist his fellow-soldiers in expelling the enemy from the Peninsula; and the inhabitants must either abandon the city, or take arms against the French. From this dilemma they were delivered by the French themselves, who, during the night, withdrew into the forts, leaving about an hundred men in the hospital. An agreement was then made, with Galluzo’s consent, that the city should remain neutral; and the Spaniards began an absurd fire against Fort La Lippe, which is the strongest fortress in Portugal. Things were in this state when Lieutenant-Colonel Ross arrived with letters from the French Commander, instructing M. Girod to give up the place to him in pursuance of the convention. A demur was made by the Commandant, till he could send an officer to Lisbon, and satisfy himself that the dispatches were authentic; and difficulties less reasonable in their kind were started both by the Spaniards and Portugueze. Galluzo argued that no agreement between the British and French Generals could be binding upon him. The Spaniards, he affirmed, had a right as besiegers to take possession of Elvas, and the Spanish arms were not to be defrauded of the splendour which this would give them. He threatened Girod that if any injury were offered to the city the prisoners should be put to death, and the garrison receive no mercy; and he insisted that they should march out and lay down their arms, and that the place should be entered and occupied by the Spaniards only. In his communications with Sir Hew Dalrymple he held rather a lower tone, saying that certainly he should not have besieged and cannonaded Elvas if he had known of the convention; but it had not been thought proper to announce it to him. He required only a joint surrender to the British and Spanish arms, leaving the place and the prisoners to his Excellency; but he had heard the garrison were not to be considered prisoners; that article, though the opinion was that it would not be executed, occasioned some uneasiness, and therefore he would make them lay down their arms, and swear not to bear them again against Spain or her allies.