Chapter II (2)

The apprehension of this danger would occur more readily to the Portugueze than to any other people, because their maritime history is filled with the most dreadful and well-known examples; and the weather at the time of the embarkation gave a fearful specimen of what might be expected at that season. It blew a heavy gale, the bar was impassable, and continued so during the whole of the succeeding day. In the evening M. Herman, and a Portugueze, by name Jose de Oliveira Barreto, came with fresh dispatches from Junot; he had sent them down the river in pursuance of that system of deception which was to be carried on to the last. Their arrival produced no effect upon the determination of the Prince; but every hour added to the alarm and danger of his situation, and orders were given to dismantle the fortresses which commanded the river, and spike the guns in the batteries. During the night the storm abated, the weather was fair at daybreak on the 29th, a favourable wind sprung up, and the fleet crossed the bar when the enemy were just near enough to see their prey escape.

The fleet consisted of eight sail of the line, three frigates, and five smaller ships of war; besides these there were all the merchant-vessels that could be made ready, making in all a fleet of six-and-thirty sail. The nobles who accompanied the royal family, were the Duke of Cadaval, the Marquesses Angenja, Vago, filho, Lavradio, Alegrete, Torres Novas, Pombal, and Bellas; Counts Rodondo, Caparica, Belmonte, and Cavalleiro, Viscount Anadia; ♦OBSERVADOR PORT. 18.♦ Araujo, whom the public voice loudly, but erringly accused of treason, embarked with the other ministers. All the ships were crowded with emigrants, ... for every one who had the means was eager to fly from the coming ruin. The confusion had been so great, that families were separated; wives got on board without their husbands, ... husbands without their wives; children and parents were divided; ♦NEVES, I. 180.♦ many were thus left behind, and many had the joy of meeting in Brazil when each believed that the other was in Portugal.

♦REGENCY APPOINTED BY THE PRINCE.♦

The Prince had appointed a regency the day before his embarkation, and the edict was made public on the next morning. Having endeavoured, he said, by all possible means to preserve the neutrality which his subjects had hitherto enjoyed, having exhausted his treasury, and after all other sacrifices, gone the length of shutting his ports against his old and faithful ally, the King of Great Britain, exposing thus the commerce of the country to total ruin, ... he saw that the troops of the Emperor of the French, to whom he had united himself on the continent in the persuasion that he should be no farther disquieted, were marching towards his capital. To avoid, therefore, the effusion of blood, for these troops came with professions of not committing the slightest hostility, ... knowing also that his royal person was their particular object, and that if he himself were absent, his subjects would be less disturbed, he had resolved for their sakes to remove, with the whole royal family, to his city of Rio de Janeiro, and there establish himself till a general peace. The persons whom he appointed to govern during his absence, were the Marquez de Abrantes, Francisco da Cunha de Menezes, lieutenant-general, the _Principal_ Castro of the royal council, and _Regidor das Justiças_, Pedro de Mello Breyner, also of the council, and President of the treasury during the illness of Luiz de Vasconcellos e Souza, and Don Francisco de Noronha, Lieutenant-general, and President of the Board of Conscience. In failure of any of these, the Conde Monteiro Mor was appointed, who was also named for president of the _Senado da Camara_, with the Conde de Sampaio, or in his place Dom Miguel Pereira Forjaz, and the _Dezembargador do Paço_ and _Procurador da Coroa_, Joam Antonio Salter de Mendonça, for the two secretaries. These governors were instructed to preserve, as far as possible, the kingdom in peace; to see that the French troops were well quartered and provided with every thing needful during their stay, to take care that no offence was offered them, or if offered, to punish it severely, and to preserve that harmony which ought to be kept with the armies of two powers to which Portugal was united on the continent.

♦JUNOT ADVANCES RAPIDLY.♦

Junot meantime had re-established the bridge over the Zezere, but not without difficulty. The river, at all times a strong and rapid stream, was swoln with rains; the work was more than once frustrated, and some of the workmen drowned. So impatient was he to proceed, that he had begun to pass over his men in boats. Hastening on with his usual rapidity over the marshes of Gollegam, he reached Santarem to dinner on the 28th. Here he met the messenger on his return whom he had dispatched from Abrantes, and the report of this person increased his anxiety. He ordered the Capitam Mor de Aviz, at whose house he was entertained, to provide him a horse: this gentleman happened to possess a very beautiful one, and Junot discovering that he had attempted to conceal the animal, was only dissuaded from putting him to death by the supplications of his wife; but he made him walk beside him, bare-headed, to the jail, and then dismissed him with every mark of ignominy. Time was when a Portugueze officer would have wiped out such an injury in the blood of him who inflicted it; it is fortunate that in this instance a forbearance suited to the times was shown. The French general reached Cartaxo that night; about an hour after midnight he was awakened with intelligence that the royal family had actually embarked, and it produced a fit of rage like madness.

♦THE FRENCH ENTER LISBON.♦

The next day he was met by a deputation whom the governors sent to compliment him on his approach, a measure upon which the people commented with just severity. ♦NEVES, I. 134.♦ A few persons volunteered on the same obsequious service; men, probably, who having adopted the principles of the revolution in its better days, adhered to the French party under all its changes. In the course of the day the advanced guard arrived in the immediate vicinity of the city, and Junot himself saw the ships with that prey on board in the hope of which he had advanced with such rapidity, conveying the family of Braganza beyond his power, and beyond that of his mighty master. ♦OBS. PORT. P. 19.♦ The troops arrived without baggage, having only their knapsacks, and a half gourd slung from the girdle as a drinking cup; their muskets were rusty, and many of them out of repair; the soldiers themselves mostly barefoot, foundered with their march, and almost fainting with fatigue and hunger. The very women of Lisbon might have knocked them on the head. Junot reached Sacavem between nine and ten at night. The next morning the royal guard of police went on to meet him at an early hour. Without halting in Lisbon, he hurried on to Belem, and entering the battery of Bom-successo, satisfied himself by ocular demonstration that the Portugueze squadron was beyond his reach; ♦NEVES, I. 215.♦ he fired, however, upon those merchant-ships, which not having been ready in time, were now endeavouring to escape. Very many were thus detained, for the Prince’s orders to spike the guns had only been partially obeyed, having been countermanded by the governors; ♦NEVES, I. 184.♦ and this was another of their acts for which the people could assign no adequate or excusable cause. Junot immediately sent a battalion to garrison Fort St. Juliens, and then returned to Lisbon, with hardly any other guard than some Portugueze troops whom he had met on the way and ordered to follow him; thus accompanied, he paraded as in triumph through the principal streets. It was raining heavily, yet the streets were filled with a melancholy and wondering crowd. The shops were shut, the windows and varandas full of anxious spectators. The gestures of all those who saluted him as he passed, either for former acquaintance, or flattery, or fear, he returned with studied courtesy and stateliness. In this manner he proceeded to the house of Baraō de Quintella, in the Rua d’Alegria, one of the most opulent of the Portugueze merchants. The palace of Bemposta had been prepared for him, and the _Senado da Camara_ assigned for his household expenses a monthly contribution of 12,000 cruzados. ♦NEVES, I. 216–7.♦ He received the money, and compelled Quintella to be at the whole charge of his establishment.

During the night before his entrance the streets had been placarded with a proclamation in French and Portugueze, saying, “Inhabitants of Lisbon, my army is about to enter your city. I come to save your port and your Prince from the malignant influence of England. But that Prince, otherwise respectable for his virtues, has let himself be dragged away by the perfidious counsellors who surrounded him, to be by them delivered to his enemies: his subjects were regarded as nothing, and your interests were sacrificed to the cowardice of a few courtiers. People of Lisbon, remain quiet in your houses; fear nothing from my army, nor from me: it is only our enemies and the wicked who ought to fear us. The great Napoleon, my master, sends me for your protection; I will protect you.” This proclamation was not without effect upon that numerous class of the community who think little and know nothing. Only those persons, indeed, who were in the confidence of government, knew what was the real state of things; and many persuaded themselves the sole object of the French was to occupy the ports, that British commerce might be effectually excluded. ♦MISERABLE PLIGHT OF THE FRENCH WHO FIRST ENTERED.♦ The state in which the French entered, very much contributed to this short delusion; for they came in not like an army in collected force, with artillery and stores, ready for attack or defence, but like stragglers seeking a place of security after some total rout. Not a regiment, not a battalion, not even a company arrived entire: many of them were beardless boys, and they came in so pitiable a condition, as literally to excite compassion and charity[18]; foot-sore, bemired and wet, ragged and hungered and diseased. ♦NEVES, I. 213.♦ Some dropped in the streets, others leant against the walls, or lay down in the porches, till the Portugueze, with ill-requited humanity, gave them food, and conveyed them to those quarters, which they had not strength to find out for themselves. Junot, however, well knew that he risked nothing by this disorder; his first object was speed, his next security; and while he was pushing on with the van of his army, Laborde, who had accompanied him as far as Santarem, ♦NEVES, I. 213.♦ remained in that city to collect the following troops and provide the means of transport.

♦1807. DECEMBER.

ARRIVAL OF THE SECOND DIVISION.♦

The next day, December 1, was the anniversary of the Acclamation, ... of that revolution which in 1640 had restored Portugal to the rank of an independent kingdom, and given its crown to the rightful heir. What a day for those inhabitants of Lisbon who loved their country, and were familiar with the history of its better ages! The second division was now come up, with the artillery and baggage; ... powder waggons creaked along the streets; thousands, and tens of thousands, whom the destruction of trade and the dissolution of government had thrown out of employ, were wandering about the city, and the patroles and the whole force of the police was employed in calming and controlling the agitated multitude. The parish ministers went from house to house, informing the inhabitants that they must prepare to quarter the French officers, and collecting mattresses and blankets for the men. In the midst of all this so violent a storm of wind arose[19], that it shook the houses like an earthquake, and in the terror which it occasioned many families fled into the open country: windows were blown in, and houses unroofed; the treasury and arsenal were damaged, and the tide suddenly rose twelve feet. ♦OBS. PORT. 22.♦ The troops entered Lisbon mostly by night, and without beat of drum. On the 3rd, 11,000 men were posted in the city, from Belem to the Grilo, and from the castle to Arroios; and as the first fruits of that protection which the religion of the country was to experience, all persons in the great convents of Jesus, the Paulistas, and St. Francisco da Cidade, who had any relations by whom they could be housed, were ordered to turn out, that the French soldiers might be accommodated in their apartments. This measure produced a great effect upon those who had for a moment been deluded by the professions of the enemy. The generals of division and brigade took possession of the houses of the principal merchants, and of those fidalgos who accompanied the Prince.

♦FORCED LOAN REQUIRED, DEC. 3.♦

Every day, almost every hour, brought with it now some new mark of French protection. No sooner had troops enough been introduced into Lisbon to enforce the demand, than the merchants were called on for a compulsory loan of two million cruzados; and this at a time when their property, to an immense amount, had been seized in France, when a British squadron was blockading the Tagus, when the ships from Brazil were warned off by that squadron, and sent to England, foreign commerce utterly destroyed, and the internal trade in that state which necessarily ensued when the spring which gave motion to the whole was stopped. ♦A FRENCHMAN ADDED TO THE REGENCY.♦ M. Herman, who had been sent to demand satisfaction from the court of Lisbon in 1804, for having suffered the ambassador, General Lasnes, to depart in disgust, was added to the regency by an act of Junot’s pleasure, and made minister of finance and of the interior by an appointment of the Emperor; the date of which afforded decisive proof, if any proof had been wanting, that whatever the conduct of the Prince might be, Buonaparte had resolved to usurp the kingdom. ♦OBS. PORT. P. 44. NEVES, II. 225.♦ Another Frenchman was nominated to the new office of Receiver-general of the contributions and revenues of Portugal. It was now plainly seen upon what tenure the people of Lisbon held their remaining property; and that they might fully understand upon what tenure they held their lives, the threatening proclamation which Junot had issued at Alcantara was now reprinted and circulated in the capital.

♦DEC. 5. EDICT FOR CONFISCATING ENGLISH GOODS.♦

The next measure was an edict for confiscating English goods, ordering all persons who had any British property in their possession to deliver an account of it within three days, on pain of being fined in a sum ten times the amount of the property concealed, and of corporal punishment also, if it should be thought proper to inflict it. On the same day the use of fire-arms in sporting was prohibited throughout the whole kingdom: all persons detected in carrying fowling-pieces or pistols without a license from General Laborde, the French commandant of Lisbon, were to be considered as vagabonds and highway-murderers, carried before a military commission, and punished accordingly. ♦USE OF ARMS PROHIBITED.♦ The next day the use of all kind of arms was prohibited; and the wine sellers were ordered to turn out all Portugueze, French, or other soldiers, at seven in the evening, on pain of a heavy fine, and of death for the third offence. More troops came daily in; they were quartered in the convents, and their women with them, ... a fresh outrage to the religious feelings of the people. Complaints were made that the officers required those persons upon whom they were billeted to keep a table for them: an order was issued, in which Junot expressed his displeasure at this, saying, that the French officers in Portugal were to consider themselves as in garrison, and had no right to demand any thing more than their lodging, fire, and lights. He reminded them also that the Emperor had placed them on the same footing as the grand army, in consequence of which they would regularly receive extraordinary pay sufficient to defray all their expenses. This was intended for publication in foreign newspapers, as a proof of the good order which the French observed; ... while the superior officers not merely compelled those upon whom they had quartered themselves to furnish a table, but every kind of provision also for the entertainments which they thought proper to give. Many persons abandoned their houses to these imperious guests, and retired into the country; still they were required to support the establishment, and answer all the demands which the intruders chose to make.

♦DEC. 8.

PASTORAL LETTER OF THE CARDINAL PATRIARCH.♦

There now appeared a pastoral letter from the Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon, written in obedience to the desire of Junot, and according to his suggestions. The patriarch began by alluding to his age and infirmities; these, he said, prevented him from addressing his flock in person on the present occasion; but he could still, as their father and pastor, speak to them in this manner, so that in the day of judgment the Lord might not charge him with neglect of this important duty. “Beloved children,” he continued, “you know the situation in which we find ourselves; but you are not ignorant how greatly the divine mercy favours us in the midst of so many tribulations. Blessed be the ways of the Most Highest! But it is especially necessary, beloved children, that we should be faithful to the immutable decrees of his divine providence; and first we should thank him for the good order and quietness with which the kingdom has received a great army coming to our succour, and giving us the best founded hopes of prosperity. This benefit we owe equally to the activity and prudence of the general in chief, whose virtues have long been known to us. Fear not then, beloved children; live in security at home and abroad; remember that this is the army of Napoleon the Great, whom God hath destined to support and defend religion, and to make the happiness of the people. You know him, and the whole world knows him; confide implicitly in this wonderful man, whose like hath not been seen in any age! He will shed upon us the blessings of peace, if you obey his determinations, and if ye love each other, natives and strangers, with brotherly charity. Religion, and the ministers of religion, will then be always respected; the clausure of the spouses of the Lord will not be violated; and the people, being worthy of such high protection, will be happy. Demean yourselves thus, my children, in obedience to the injunction of our Lord Jesus Christ. Live subject to those who govern, not only for the respect which is due to them, but because conscience requires you so to do.” In conclusion, he entreated all his clergy, by the bowels of Christ Jesus, to concur with him in impressing upon the people the duty of resignation and submission. ♦CONDUCT OF THE INQUISITOR GENERAL.♦ The Inquisitor general repeated the same strain of adulation and servility: some of the prelates followed the example, and the clergy were ordered in circular letters to enforce these principles from the pulpit and the confessional. Whatever may have been the secret wishes of these men, however their language may have belied their hearts, certain it is that they now betrayed their country, and as far as in them lay contributed to its degradation and destruction.

♦THE FRENCH FLAG HOISTED.♦

By such means and such agents Junot thought to prepare the minds of the Portugueze for fresh humiliation. On the day after the publication of this pastoral, he went on board the Russian admiral, and when he embarked the French flag was hoisted on the arsenal. This was the first time that it had been planted in Lisbon; all eyes were attracted to it by a salute which was fired on the occasion, and the sight exasperated a people who perhaps more than any other European nation are remarkable for national pride. The general feeling was sufficiently apparent in the murmurs and agitation of the populace; but they had no leaders, and in murmurs it seemed to spend itself. ♦DEC. 13.♦ Two days the French colours remained flying there. On the third a large body of troops was drawn up in the great square of the Rocio, and Junot with his staff, and a numerous train of officers, appeared in state. He thanked them in the Emperor’s name for the constancy with which they had endured the hardships of their march. They had rescued, he said, this fine city from oppression, ... they had saved it from disorder; and they had now the glory of seeing the French flag planted in Lisbon. He concluded with three cheers for Napoleon: the troops took up the cry; at the same moment the French colours were hoisted on the castle, and a salute of twenty-five guns was fired and repeated by all the forts upon the river. A deep and general murmur ran through the multitude of spectators: at this moment the Marquez d’Alorna entered the square; the people regarded him as one of the generals to whom they might look up in their hour of deliverance, and they repeatedly cheered him as he passed. A spark then would have produced an explosion, and Lisbon was never in such danger of a massacre: happily there was no man bolder than his comrade, to step forward and provoke it; the troops marched off, and the crowd dispersed. But the national spirit which had thus systematically been outraged was burning in every heart. It was Sunday, a day on which more people are always in the streets than on any other, and now the confluence was increased by the perturbed state of the general feeling. Towards evening some French soldiers, riding their horses to water through the Terreiro do Paço, were hooted by some of the populace, and they on their part returned insult for insult. A quarrel ensued, a Portugueze of the police guard interfered, and the French, thinking that he interfered as a party and not as a mediator, seized him and delivered him to their principal _corps de garde_ which was in the same great square. The populace attempted to rescue him: they attacked the guard with sticks and stones, ... and were on the point of overpowering and disarming them, when some patroles of the police came up, and succeeded in appeasing the tumult.

♦COMMOTION IN LISBON.♦

Junot had given a grand dinner to celebrate the events of the day: the governors and the greater part of the nobles were present at this festival for the degradation of their country. He was repeatedly called out, as messenger after messenger arrived with news of the tumult; the cause of these frequent interruptions was indicated by his thoughtful manner, and the guests were presently informed that the people had mutinied, and that they themselves were to be considered as hostages. It was believed that he had invited them for that purpose, and it seems as if he had determined to provoke a tumult for the purpose of intimidating the Portugueze. The disturbance in the Terreiro do Paço had been put an end to, but the crowd had not dispersed, and the popular feelings were still in the highest excitement. Things were in this state when Junot adjourned with his guests to the opera; he had taken possession of the royal family’s box in the centre of the theatre, and from thence he ordered the French flag to be displayed over the pit during this night’s representation. The French who were present saluted it with shouts; many of the Portugueze left the theatre, and the news of this fresh insult increased the indignation of the people. The patroles could no longer restrain them; men, women, and boys ran through the streets, exclaiming “The five wounds for ever, and down with France!” It was fortunate for the Lisbonians that they had at this time a well disciplined police guard, raised by the Comte de Novion, a French emigrant, whom General Frazer, when he commanded the British forces in Portugal, had first patronized and recommended to the Portugueze government, and who having rendered essential service to the city by the establishment of this body, was now become one of the most active and efficient agents of the new tyranny. These guards formed the principal part of the force which was called out against the people, and they levelled their pieces so as to spare their countrymen. The firing continued between three and four hours; but for this cause, and because the mob, who had neither arms, nor plan, nor leaders, were more loud than dangerous, few lives were lost. The firing ceased about nine o’clock: the remainder of the night was actively employed by the French; when morning appeared, cannon were seen planted at the door of the commander in chief, 1200 men were drawn up in the square, with horses and artillery, and the streets were every where filled with patroles of soldiers. In the course of the day a few straggling Frenchmen were killed, and some seven or eight of the people. The mob saw the danger of attacking so overpowering a force, and did not venture to engage against musketry and cannon with their knives. Had they been armed, nothing could have preserved Lisbon from a massacre. The few native corps which still remained in the city were confined to their quarters during the tumult; they would else probably have taken part with their countrymen. A corps at Almada, hearing the stir and the discharge of musketry, endeavoured to get boats to cross over for this purpose. ♦NEVES, I. 274.♦ The populace were in a state of frantic agitation; at noon-day groups were collected in the streets, looking at the sky, and affirming that they saw a blazing star which portended the vengeance of God against their abominable oppressors.

♦PRECAUTIONS OF THE FRENCH.♦

These events convinced Junot at once of the disposition and the weakness of the people. He forbade immediately all assemblies of whatever kind, created a military tribunal, and decreed that every individual found with arms in an assembly should be carried before this tribunal, and sentenced to three months’ imprisonment, or to death if he had used his arms against any person whatever. Death was in like manner denounced against the leaders of any assembly or tumult. These regulations, he said, were made for the security of the good and honourable inhabitants of Lisbon, whom he did not confound with a few wretches. Those wretches who had seduced the people he knew, and they should pay with their heads for the insult which they had offered to the French flag. These words stood as a text to the proclamation, “Rebellion is the greatest of crimes.” Junot had neither principles nor feelings to deter him from committing any wickedness which might suit with his policy or his inclinations; in the present instance nothing was to be gained by cruelty, and therefore no execution followed the insurrection, nor were the persons who had been taken at the time proceeded against. This forbearance the Portugueze imputed to fear; for however he might despise their present means, their numbers and their temper made them formidable, and the sight of the English fleet continually excited their hopes and his uneasiness. He began immediately to take the most effectual measures for securing himself. New batteries were formed at the castle, and works thrown up there from which the city might at any time be laid in ruins: and the provincial troops whom the Prince had called to Lisbon to cover his embarkation were now ordered back to their respective provinces, as the first step toward that breaking up of the Portugueze army which was intended. On the 17th, which was the queen’s birthday, the guards and patroles were doubled, and Novion paraded the streets in person. The midnight ceremonies of the church at Christmas were forbidden; the bells also were forbidden to be sounded on any pretext during the night; and when the host went out, a hand-bell only was to be rung before it, and that but thrice; once at its going out, once to call good Christians to the aid of the dying person, and again at its return.

♦REGULATIONS CONCERNING ENGLISH GOODS.

OBS. PORT. P. 52.

NEVES, I. 288.♦

The edict for the discovery and confiscation of English property and goods had produced little effect. The three days allowed for sending in the returns having elapsed, the term was prolonged for eight days more, with heavy denunciations against those who should attempt to evade it. That part of the edict which related to English property might easily be obeyed by those who chose to obey it; but the confiscation of all English goods in a city where half the goods were English, was as impracticable as it was oppressive; and the day after Junot had issued his second decree upon this subject, he found it necessary to publish a third, modifying the former two, and in fact confessing their absurdity. It appeared, he said, that under these decrees the merchants and shopkeepers could not dispose of many articles of British manufacture; that the want of these articles kept out of the market a great number of things which were in daily use, ♦DEC. 19. OBS. PORT. P. 50.♦ and would raise the prices of those which were not prohibited: such articles, therefore, as were not actually the property of British subjects, might be sold, on condition that the owners gave in an account of the British goods in their possession, and obtained permission to sell them from the commissary at Lisbon, or some public functionary in the provinces; that this permission should not be granted unless the kind, quality, measure, quantity, and price of the articles for sale were specified; that the vendor should hold himself responsible for the amount of all which he disposed of, and should for that purpose enter in his books the quantity of the thing sold, the price, and the name of the purchaser; and give security for this if it were required.

♦SCARCITY OF CORN APPREHENDED.♦

The trade of Lisbon needed not these new shackles. The stagnation of commerce was indeed beheld by the French General with complacency, as tending to the accomplishment of Buonaparte’s desires against England; but in its more immediate effects he felt the security of his army in some degree implicated. Lisbon is dependent for great part of its corn upon foreign supplies: the failure of this supply had been contemplated by the Prince’s government as one of the consequences to be expected if he submitted to the demands of France; and when he gave orders to shut the ports against England, an edict was issued, prohibiting all kinds of cakes and biscuits, that flour might be reserved for bread alone. ♦NEVES, 263.♦ Grievously as a scarcity of corn is felt when it occurs in our own country, in Portugal it is more literally a necessary of life; for the Portugueze consume little animal food, and the potatoe is hardly known among them; nor, indeed, is its culture successful. When Junot took possession of Lisbon, it was apprehended that in the course of two or three months there would be an actual want of bread. The Russians consumed about 10,000 rations daily; a consumption which made the French, as well as the inhabitants, regard them with an evil eye. Junot disliked them on another account: he suspected that they favoured the escape of British subjects and Portugueze emigrants to the British squadron; and the Russian officers kept aloof from the French, as if they were shocked at the profligacy of their conduct. But before the close of the year intelligence arrived that Russia had declared war against Great Britain; an event which excited as much exultation in the French and their few partizans, as grief in the great body of the people; for, notwithstanding the peace of Tilsit, many were they who still rested their hopes upon the strength of Russia, and the personal character of the Emperor Alexander.

♦MEASURES FOR PROVIDING THE ARMY.♦

Whatever jealousy had been felt upon this score was thus removed; but the danger of scarcity still remained, and Junot’s first care was to provide for the subsistence of the army, whatever might become of the inhabitants. Many of the provisional authorities, in their fear of famine, laid an embargo upon the corn within their respective jurisdictions: this the French General forbade by a timely edict. ♦FEB. 16, 1808.♦ The Portugueze magistrates found themselves under a government which exercised an unremitting vigilance, and made itself felt every where; ♦OBSERVADOR PORT. 175.♦ and the orders of that government were obeyed with a promptitude and activity which had long been unknown in Portugal. Full use was thus made of the resources of the country. Some corn he procured from Spain: it would have been a heavy cost had it entered into his system to pay any part of the expenses; ♦NEVES, 264.♦ Spain having little to export, the distance being great, and the roads and the means of carriage equally bad. ♦DECEMBER.♦ All farmers and corn-dealers who might be indebted to the crown were ordered to pay half the amount in grain, and deliver it to the French commissariat at reduced prices. The march of the French through the country had been like that of an army of locusts, leaving famine wherever they passed; the tenantry, some utterly ruined by the devastation, and all hopeless because of the state to which Portugal was reduced, abandoned themselves to the same kind of despair which in some parts of the New World contributed to exterminate the Indians, and at one time materially distressed and endangered the merciless conquerors. ♦THE PORTUGUEZE LEAVE THEIR FIELDS UNSOWN.♦ They thought it useless to sow the seed, if the French were to enjoy the harvest; and so generally did this feeling operate, that the regency which acted under Junot found it necessary to issue orders, compelling them to go on with the usual business of agriculture. ♦DEC. 29.♦ The encouragement of agriculture served also as a pretext for breaking up the Portugueze army. ♦DEC. 22.♦ Every subaltern and soldier who had served eight years, or who had not served six months, was discharged, and ordered to return to his own province. A like order was issued by the Spanish general at Porto; and the Marques del Socorro, who commanded at Setubal as governor of the new kingdom in which the Prince of the Peace was to be invested, disbanded by one sweeping decree all the Portugueze militia, discharged all the married men from the regular army, and invited all the others to apply for leave of absence.

♦SPANIARDS UNDER CARRAFFA AT PORTO.♦

In the partition and invasion of Portugal, the court of Madrid was as guilty as that of the Thuilleries; but the conduct of the Spaniards during the invasion was far different from that of their treacherous allies. The division of General Carraffa, which entered with Junot, and was under his command, separated from him at Abrantes to secure Porto, in case the army which was destined for that purpose should be delayed. This general had acquired the favour of Junot by his exertions at Alcantara, and had so far profited by his lessons, as to imitate him at humble distance; raising a contribution of 4000 cruzados at Thomar, and seizing 10,000 from the depositary at Coimbra; ... but he was the only Spaniard who thus disgraced himself. ♦NEVES, I. 189.♦ The force with which he accompanied Junot was little more than 2000 men; it was doubled by the gradual arrival of reinforcements, and was then annexed to the division of D. Francisco Taranco, ♦TARANCO TAKES THE COMMAND THERE.♦ which, according to the convention of Fontainebleau, should have consisted of 10,000 men, but did not in reality exceed six, till its number was thus made up. Taranco’s army was formed in Gallicia, of which kingdom he was Captain-General: he entered on the side of the Minho, taking the Valença road; and having reached Porto, issued a proclamation, much in the style of that which Junot had sent before him, saying that he was come to deliver Portugal from the disgraceful yoke of England, and assist her in taking vengeance upon the English for their ferocious treachery toward all the nations of Europe: fair promises followed of strict discipline and just dealing, and bloody denunciations of punishment if resistance were attempted. ♦GOOD CONDUCT OF HIS TROOPS.♦ The Spanish general’s conduct was wiser than his language; his promises were strictly observed, and no crime was added to that of the iniquitous attack and intended usurpation. He was, indeed, left at full liberty to act as his own disposition and principles might incline; for these provinces were, according to the treaty of Fontainebleau, to be formed into a kingdom for the former Prince of Parma, as an indemnification for Etruria; and as his consent had not been thought necessary to the arrangement which was to deprive him of one kingdom, neither were his instructions for the government of another.

♦SOLANO AT SETUBAL.♦

The Spanish general who entered Alem-Tejo to take possession of Godoy’s kingdom was less fortunate; ♦NEVES, I. 307.♦ for he was compelled to raise contributions from a ruined people, though in other respects considerable latitude seems to have been given him, in deference to his character and talents. This general was the Marques del Socorro, D. Francisco Maria Solano, destined to leave an unhappy name in the history of his country. During many years he had been governor of Cadiz, where he had employed an almost unlimited power in the most honourable and beneficial manner. It was his delight to ornament the city, and to promote the convenience and comfort of the inhabitants. One of the beneficial acts of his government was to abolish the practice of burying in the churches: this he accomplished, not without difficulty, during one of those contagious fevers which of late years have so frequently visited that part of Spain. ♦JACOB’S TRAVELS.♦ He is also entitled to be remembered with respect for the manner in which he maintained the old humanities of war with the English squadron which so long blockaded Cadiz: this conduct was the more honourable, because Solano was decidedly a partizan of France, and had acquired a dangerous love of political experiments in the revolutionary school. He had now an opportunity of indulging this passion; and the measures which he attempted proved the goodness of his intentions, as well as the errors of his judgement. While Junot’s edicts were in one uniform spirit of tyranny, Solano was offering rewards to those who should raise the greatest crops, or breed the most numerous flocks and herds. ♦HIS SCHEMES FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF SOCIETY.♦ He addressed circular instructions to the judges, enjoining each of them, when he had notice of any civil suit, to call the parties before him, hear their respective statements, and advise them to settle the dispute by arbitration. If they persisted in their appeal to the laws, he was then to require from each, before the process went forward, a written statement of the case, and the documents which were to support it. If the thing contested did not exceed eighty milreis in value, he might pronounce summary justice without farther examination: the losing party, however, retaining a right of appeal to the superior courts. If the value exceeded that sum, the parties were again to be exhorted to come to some accord, or at least to agree upon shortening the process, and avoiding all unnecessary delay and expense; and the judges were empowered to do this, even without the consent of the parties, and come as summarily as possible to the merits of the case. Another of his projects seems to have been borrowed from the policy of the Peruvian Incas, or the government of Japan. Every parish was to be divided into districts, containing not less than one hundred houses, nor more than two. Each district was to choose one among its inhabitants, with the title of Commissioner, whose duty it should be to make out a list of all the members of his district, their ages and occupations; to interfere in all family disputes, for the purpose of accommodating them; and to keep all persons to their respective employments. If they were not obedient to his admonitions he was to denounce them to the magistrates, that due punishment might be inflicted. ♦OBSERVADOR PORTUGUEZ, 144–150.♦ He was also to walk his rounds for at least an hour every night, accompanied by four of the most respectable men of the district, to see that no prohibited games were played in the taverns, and that nothing was committed offensive to good morals.

♦EMIGRATION FROM LISBON.♦

Such were the projects with which Solano amused himself at Setubal! The conduct of his soldiers easily accommodated itself to the good disposition of their chief. Accustomed to the same habits of life, attached to the same forms of worship as the Portugueze, and speaking a language so little different that they mutually understood each other, the Spaniards lived among them like men of the same country; and, as long as the power remained in their hands, the people of Alem-Tejo and of the northern provinces experienced none of those insults and oppressions which the French inflicted wherever their authority extended. In Lisbon the burthen was at once heavier than in other places and more galling; and most persons who had the power of removing into the country retired from those daily and hourly vexations which aggravated their sufferings. The rapacity of the French leaders opened a surer asylum for others. Notice was given that all Brazilians who wished to return to their native land might obtain passports, and be permitted to embark in neutral ships. All who could invent any pretext for availing themselves of this permission hastened to purchase it; and the money which the French thus exacted was cheerfully paid as the price of deliverance. The ships which carried Kniphausen colours took out many emigrants in the dress of sailors, who smeared their hands with pitch, the better to disguise themselves. ♦1808. JAN. 5.♦ The Nuncio[20], who during these transactions demeaned himself with great propriety, and repeatedly solicited passports for Brazil, that he might follow the court to which he was appointed, succeeded at last in getting on board a licensed vessel, unknown to Junot, and reaching England in safety, went from thence to Rio de Janeiro. Meantime the most rigorous measures were devised to prevent any person from escaping to the English squadron. All the fishing boats were arranged in divisions, which were denoted by letters, and the boats then numbered; and each had its letter and number painted on the bow and quarter in white characters a foot long. The master of every boat was bound to carry a list, specifying the letter of its division, the number of his boat, his name, his dwelling-place, and the number and names of the men on board. This paper was to be his passport at the different batteries, and his protection from the watch-boats which patrolled the river, and were charged to apprehend every person whose name was not inscribed in the list, and to seize every vessel by which any part of the edict was infringed, as a prize. The magistrate of every district was to deliver in a list of all the owners of fishing boats in the corresponding division, in order that their property might be answerable for any infraction of these rules: a counter list was to be kept on board the floating battery. All the owners of all the divisions were to appear every Saturday at this floating battery, there to have their papers verified. Every boat which had any communication with the English squadron was to be confiscated; and all were bound to be within the bar at sunset on pain of being fined one piece for the first offence, three for the second, and of confiscation and corporal punishment for the third.

♦FALSEHOODS RESPECTING ENGLAND. OBSERVADOR PORT. 181.♦

The sight of the British squadron off the mouth of the Tagus continually kept alive the hopes of the Portugueze. Crowds of artizans who had been thrown out of employment used to assemble upon the heights of Santa Catharina, ♦NEVES, I. 261.♦ of the Chagas, Buenos Ayres, and the other eminences, fixing their longing eyes upon the English fleet, counting its number, and oftentimes deluding themselves with a belief that it was entering the river to deliver Lisbon. It was thought necessary to forbid these assemblages. Junot affected to ridicule this popular hope, ♦NEVES, I. 245.♦ and said, in scorn of the Marqueza de Angeja, who was known frequently to gaze toward the same object, that she would make an excellent wife for King Sebastian. But his own secret feelings were discovered by the falsehoods which were sedulously circulated respecting England. A pamphlet was published which pretended to describe the actual state of that country; and which, the better to deceive the people, was made by the manner of its license to appear as if it had been printed under the Prince’s government. It represented our population at less than eleven millions, our army as short of 100,000 men, our fleet in great part laid up for want of naval stores; our debt insupportable, our paper-money at a discount, our custom-houses almost shut up for want of any thing to do; more than a million of manufacturers ruined, and publicly crying out for peace, agriculture decaying for want of hands and of commerce, and the people in despair, unable longer to support the burthen and endure the misfortunes of a destructive war. To excite the hatred of the Portugueze, ♦NEVES, II. 8.♦ it was affirmed by Junot that the Prince had not been conveyed to Brazil by the English, but that they had conducted him and his fleet, with all the treasures on board, to England.

♦REPORT OF THE FRENCH MINISTER, M. CHAMPAGNY, CONCERNING PORTUGAL.♦

Junot, it is said, was not without some apprehensions of the displeasure of Buonaparte for having suffered this prize to escape him. When that tyrant was exasperated by the failure of his commanders, he seldom condescended to ask whether success had been possible: in the present instance he either was or affected to be satisfied; and the principles upon which he had thus far proceeded were now made known to the world in a report or M. Champagny, his minister for foreign affairs: it bore date a few days before the secret treaty of Fontainebleau. ♦OCT. 21, 1807.♦ After the peace of Tilsit, this minister said, France and Russia had combined to restore peace to the world, the sole object of all the Emperor Napoleon’s labours, of all his triumphs, of all his innumerable sacrifices. He had a right to call upon the continental powers to maintain their neutrality against England; he had a right to demand that all Europe should concur in re-establishing the peace of the seas, and those maritime rights which England had haughtily declared she would respect no longer. All governments ought to make war against the English; they owed this to their own dignity, they owed it to the honour of their people, they owed it to the mutual obligations by which the sovereigns of Europe are connected. There was not any sovereign who would not acknowledge, that, if his territory should be violated to the injury of the Emperor of the French, he would be responsible. For instance, if a French vessel were seized by the English in the ports of Trieste or Lisbon, the sovereigns to whom those ports belong are bound to make the English respect their territory by force; otherwise they would make themselves the accomplices of England, and place themselves in a state of war with the Emperor of France. When, therefore, the Portugueze government suffered its vessels to be searched by English ships, its independence was violated, with its own consent, by the outrage done to its flag, just as it would have been if England had violated its territory or its ports. ♦1808. JANUARY.♦ For the ships of a power are as portions of its territory which float upon the seas, and which, being covered by its flag, ought to enjoy the same independence, and to be defended against the same attacks. The conduct of Portugal, therefore, gave the Emperor Napoleon a right of proposing to it the alternative of making common cause with him in maintaining the rights of its flag, and declaring war against England, or of being considered as an accomplice in the evil which might result to his Imperial Majesty from that violation.... Such was the law of nations as laid down by Buonaparte’s minister, M. Champagny, and such the logic by which Portugal was proved to have placed itself in a state of war with France!--M. Champagny proceeded to affirm that Portugal had pronounced her own fate. She had broken off her last communications with the continent in imposing upon the French and Spanish legations the necessity of quitting Lisbon. Her hostile intentions, which the language of perfidy and duplicity had ill concealed, were then unveiled. Not only were the English and their property placed in safety, but her military preparations were directed against France; and she waited only for the arrival of the English fleet and army which had plundered Denmark to avow herself. This curious paper concluded in a manner worthy of its reasoning and its veracity. If, it said, this war was to make Portugal undergo the fate of so many states which had fallen victims of the friendship of England, the Emperor Napoleon, who sought not for such successes, would without doubt regret that the interest of the continent should have rendered it necessary. His views, which had constantly been raised with his power, showed him in war rather a scourge for humanity than a new prospect of glory; and all his wishes were that he might devote himself wholly to the prosperity of his people.

♦SECOND REPORT, INDICATING MEASURES AGAINST SPAIN.

JAN. 2.♦