 He fought with it in Catalonia against the French beside a Portuguese division and commanded a brigade of the 2nd division of the "Army of Estremadura".After the Treaty of Amiens, he used the peace to establish cotton mills in Catalonia using technical experts from England.He was interested in science generally and in 1802 he ordered the first 'double chronometer' from Abraham-Louis Breguet, the world's foremost watchmaker.