CHAPTER II.

SECRET TREATY OF FONTAINEBLEAU. INVASION OF PORTUGAL. REMOVAL OF

THE ROYAL FAMILY TO BRAZIL. STATE OF PORTUGAL UNDER THE FRENCH

USURPATION.

♦1807.

CONJECTURES CONCERNING THE PROJECTS OF BUONAPARTE.♦

All opposition to Napoleon Buonaparte being at an end upon the

continent of Europe, men began to inquire what would be the next

object of his restless ambition. Would he execute his long meditated

designs against the Turkish empire, parcel out Greece in tributary

dukedoms, principalities and kingdoms, and make his way again to Egypt,

not risking himself and his army a second time upon the seas, but by

a safer land journey, conquering as he went? The imbecile policy of

the English in Egypt, the state of that country, and the importance

of which it might become in the hand of an efficient government,

seemed to invite the French emperor to direct his views thitherward,

if he understood his real interests as a conqueror. The scene also

which had recently been enacted at Paris by the Jews in Sanhedrim

assembled, under his command, appeared to have more meaning than was

avowed. It was little likely that he should have convened them to

answer questions which there was no reason why he should ask; or to

lend their sanction to the conscription, which requiring no other

sanction than that of his inexorable tyranny, set all laws, principles,

and feelings, at defiance. And though doubtless the deputies indulged

gratuitously in impious adulation, yet it was apparent that in some

of their blasphemies they echoed the pretensions of the adventurer

whom they addressed. When in their hall of meeting they placed the

Imperial Eagle over the Ark of the Covenant, and blended the cyphers

of Napoleon and Josephine with the unutterable name of God; impious

as this was, it was only French flattery in Jewish costume. But when

they applied to him the prophecies of Isaiah and Daniel, when they

called him “the Lord’s anointed Cyrus,” ... “the living Image of the

Divinity,” ... “the only mortal according to God’s own heart, to whom

He had entrusted the fate of nations, because he alone could govern

them with wisdom;” ... these things resembled the abominable language

of his Bishops and of his own proclamations, too much to escape notice.

And when they reminded him that he had subdued the ancient land of the

eternal pyramids, the land wherein their ancestors had been held in

bondage, that he had appeared on the banks of the once-sacred Jordan,

and fought in the valley of Sichem in the plains of[12] Palestine,

such language seemed to indicate a project for resettling them in the

Holy Land, as connected with his views concerning Egypt. Nay, as he had

successively imitated Hannibal, and Alexander, and Charlemagne, just

as the chance of circumstances reminded him of each, was it improbable

that Mahommed might be the next object of his imitation? that he might

breathe in incense till he fancied himself divine; that adulation, and

success, and vanity, utterly unchecked as they were, having destroyed

all moral feeling and all conscience, should affect his intellect next;

and that, from being the Cyrus of the Lord, he would take the hint

which his own clergy had given him, and proclaim himself the temporal

Messiah? Nothing was too impious for this man, nothing too frantic; ...

and, alas! such was the degradation of Europe and of the world, England

alone excepted, that scarcely any thing seemed to be impracticable for

him.

Another speculation was, that, in co-operation with the Russians, he

would march an army through Persia to the Indies, and give a mortal

blow, in Hindostan, to the prosperity and strength of England; for it

was one of the preposterous notions of our times, that the power of

England depended upon these foreign possessions, ... the acquirements,

as it were, of yesterday! An ominous present was said, by the French

journalists, to have been sent him by the Persian sovereign, ... two

scimitars, one of which had belonged to Timur, the other to Nadir

Shah. The intrigues of his emissaries at the Persian court, and

with the Mahrattas and Mahommedan powers in Hindostan, were supposed

to render this project probable; and the various routes which his

army might take were anxiously traced upon the map, by those whose

forethought had more of fear in it than of wisdom and of hope. But

Buonaparte was now enacting the part of Charlemagne, and had not

leisure, as yet, to resume that of Alexander. He had determined upon

occupying the kingdoms of Spain and Portugal, believing that because

of the helplessness of one country, and the state of the court in the

other, he might obtain possession of both without resistance, and

become master of Brazil and of the Spanish Indies.

♦RISE OF D. MANUEL DE GODOY.♦

Don Manuel de Godoy, Duke of Alcudia and Prince of the[13] Peace, was

at this time minister in Spain. He was an upstart, who, because he

had been the Queen’s paramour, had attained the highest power in the

state, and by whatever qualities he ingratiated himself with the King,

possessed his confidence and even his friendship. There was no jealousy

in the Queen’s attachment to this minion; she gave him one of the royal

family in marriage, but the private life of the favourite continued

to be as infamous as the means whereby he had risen. It is said that

there was no way so certain to obtain promotion, as by pandering to

his vices; and that wives, sisters, and daughters, were offered him

as the price of preferment in a manner more shameless than had ever

before been witnessed in a Christian country. Certain it is, that the

morals of the Spanish court were to the last degree depraved, and that

this depravity affected all within its sphere like a contagion. He was

rapacious as well as sensual; but as his sensuality was amply fed by

the creatures who surrounded him, so was his avarice gratified by the

prodigal favour of the crown, and Godoy had nothing to desire beyond

the continuance of the authority which he enjoyed. The cruel part of

his conduct must be ascribed to that instinctive dread of wisdom and

hatred of virtue which such men necessarily feel in their unnatural

elevation.

♦GODOY CREATED A PRINCE FOR MAKING PEACE WITH FRANCE.♦

Other ministers may have been as vicious; many have been more

vindictive; and in ordinary times Godoy might have filled his station

without more disgrace than certain of his predecessors, and even

with some credit, for vanity led him to patronize arts and science

in conformity with the fashion of the age. Pestalozzi’s scheme of

education was introduced under his favour into Spain; and vaccination

was communicated to the Spanish dominions in America, and to the

Philippines by an expedition sent for that sole purpose. But his lot

had fallen in times which might have perplexed the ablest statesman;

and in proportion as he was tried his incapacity became notorious to

all men. The measures for which he was rewarded with a princedom

evinced his ignorance of the interests, and his insensibility to the

honour of the country. ♦DISGRACEFUL TERMS OF THAT PEACE.♦ By the

peace of Basle he ceded to the French republic the Spanish part of

Hispaniola, which was the oldest possession of the Spaniards in the

New World, and therefore, neglected and unproductive as it was, the

pride and the character of the nation were wounded by the cession, a

cession[14] in direct contravention to the treaty of Utrecht. By the

subsequent treaty of St. Ildefonso he contracted an alliance with

France offensive and defensive against any power on the continent;

now France was the only continental power with whom there was any

probability that Spain could be involved in war; the advantage

therefore was exclusively on the side of France: and at the time these

terms were made, the French republic, notwithstanding its successes

in the peninsula, would have been well contented with securing the

neutrality of the Spaniards.

♦THE COURT OF SPAIN NOT WILLINGLY SUBSERVIENT TO FRANCE.♦

Under the reign of Charles IV. the whole machine of government was

falling to decay. The navy which Charles III. left more formidable than

it had ever been since the time of the Armada, was almost annihilated.

The army was in the worst state of indiscipline and disorder; the

finances were exhausted, and public credit at the lowest ebb: foreign

commerce had been destroyed by the war with England; and France,

meantime, insatiable in its demands upon a helpless ally, continued

to exact fresh sacrifices of men and treasure. ♦GODOY NOT CORRUPTED

BY FRANCE.♦ It has been loudly asserted that Godoy was corrupted by

the French government; any thing was believed of one so profligate and

so odious, as if because he would have scrupled at no wickedness, he

was in like manner capable of any folly. But with what was France to

purchase the services of one whose greediest desires were gratified?

If Godoy had not felt and thought like his sovereign, he could not

so entirely have obtained his confidence; now the disposition of the

King could not be doubtful. Charles had been compelled to abandon

the coalition, and ally himself with France, but he acted from his

heart when he entered into that coalition, not when he withdrew

from it. For the example of the French revolution could not but be

regarded with fear by all crowned heads, and especially by those who

were conscious that the state of their own kingdoms cried aloud for

reform; and even when the frenzy fit of that revolution subsided,

and anarchy in natural progress had ended in military despotism, it

was not possible that princes who reigned by hereditary right should

behold without secret apprehensions the establishment of a new dynasty

upon an ancient throne. ♦DISPOSITION TO JOIN WITH THE ALLIES BEFORE

THE PEACE OF TILSIT.♦ At the first gleam of hope the court of Spain

ventured to indicate its disposition: when Prussia began that war which

the peace of Tilsit terminated, a rash proclamation was issued at

Madrid, exhorting the nation not to be dismayed, for it yet possessed

great resources, and a powerful armament was about to be formed. ♦DE

PRADT. MEMOIRES SUR LA REVOLUTION D’ESPAGNE, P. 15.♦ This proclamation

Buonaparte received upon the field of battle at Jena, and from that

hour, as he afterwards declared, swore in his heart that the Spaniards

should dearly abide it. That deep determination was, however, carefully

dissembled. The French embassador presented a strong remonstrance upon

the occasion, in reply to which, Godoy made the sorry excuse that the

preparations were intended against an apprehended attack from the

Emperor of Morocco. Shallow as this pretence was, it was allowed to

pass, and no other immediate consequence ensued.

♦THE PRINCE OF ASTURIAS INIMICAL TO GODOY.♦

While Charles and his favourite were vainly wishing to free themselves

from the yoke of France, that very disposition on their part induced

the Prince of Asturias to regard Buonaparte with complacency and hope.

The father’s favourite has seldom been the minister of the son. Those

Spaniards who were excluded from any share in public affairs under the

administration of Godoy, looked naturally to the Prince, and formed

a party round him, in which men of the most opposite elements were

combined. ♦PARTIES IN FAVOUR OF THE FRENCH.♦ When the French revolution

began, the young and the ardent in Spain, as in the rest of Europe,

eagerly adopted principles which promised a new and happier order of

things: they were comparatively far less numerous than in any other

country, partly because of the state of the press, still more because

of the feeling and devotion with which this nation is attached to its

religion and all its forms. There were, however, many, and those of the

best of the Spaniards, who hoped to obtain that reformation in their

government by the assistance of France, which without such assistance

they knew it would not only be hopeless, but fatal to attempt. The

attachment which they had formed to the French republic, many of these

men transferred to the French empire, with an inconsistency so gross

and monstrous, that it might seem impossible, if we had not seen it

exemplified among ourselves: having, because of their principles, at

first acquired a party feeling, they deluded themselves by supposing

that in serving their party they promoted their principles, till at

last they had no other principle than the mere party interest itself.

Another class of Spaniards had been hostile to the French revolution

till its character was changed by Buonaparte: they felt no dislike

to the system of his government, because they were accustomed to

despotism, and the acts of personal atrocity which he had committed did

not sufficiently alarm them. The unhappy circumstance with which the

English war had commenced, irritated them against Great Britain, and

that sentiment of indignation naturally biassed them toward France.

There were some of a third description, who had neither heart nor

understanding to feel for the honour, or to wish for any improvement

in the state of their native land, but who desired a change for the

mere sake of acquiring authority: these men were enemies to the Prince

of the Peace, not for his vices, his injustice, and his political

misconduct; they hated him because they envied him, and wished to

exercise a like tyranny themselves.

♦UNPOPULARITY OF GODOY.♦

The people felt the degradation of Spain, and imputed to Godoy not

only their present difficulties, but the whole train of inveterate

evils under which the country was groaning. Never had any former

favourite been so universally detested. His administration would have

been instantly at an end, if the Prince’s party could have appealed

to public opinion; but being precluded by the nature of a despotic

government from any other means of attempting his overthrow than those

of intrigue[15], and knowing that all intrigues against him at their

own court would be dangerous, as well as ineffectual, they hoped

to accomplish this object by help of a foreign power. ♦THE FRENCH

EMBASSADOR ADVISES THE PRINCE TO SOLICIT AN ALLIANCE WITH BUONAPARTE’S

FAMILY.♦ The Prince being a widower, Beauharnois, the French embassador

at Madrid, seeing the disposition of the government to shake off its

subjection to France, and that of Ferdinand and his friends to get the

administration of affairs into their hands through the influence of

France, hinted to him how advantageous it would be to connect himself

by marriage with the new imperial family. Whether he was instructed to

invite a proposal to this effect or not, it is believed that he acted

with perfect good faith, and indeed he might well have imagined that in

so doing he acted for the interest of both countries. It was at this

time generally believed in Spain that Buonaparte, being justly offended

with Godoy for the intention which he had manifested before the battle

of Jena, would insist upon his dismissal from the government. The

friends of Ferdinand therefore never doubted but that he would gladly

contract the proposed alliance with the heir of the Spanish monarchy, a

connection which would at once gratify his pride, strengthen his power,

and secure a wavering ally. The better men of this party seem also

to have been persuaded, that under the protection of Buonaparte they

might relieve the country from some of its manifold grievances; nor

would this persuasion have been unreasonable, if any ties could have

restrained the merciless ambition of the man in whom they confided.

For though it might be his policy now to keep Spain in her present

weakness, and consequent dependence, yet when his own blood acquired an

interest in the prosperity of that kingdom, it might fairly be expected

that those salutary changes which were essential to its welfare would

be promoted by him, and peaceably effected under his auspices.

♦11 OCT. THE PRINCE APPLIES SECRETLY TO BUONAPARTE.♦

Influenced by such considerations, the Prince addressed a secret letter

to Buonaparte. It had long, he said, been his most earnest desire to

express, at least by writing, the sentiments of respect, of esteem,

and of attachment which he had vowed to a hero who eclipsed all those

that preceded him, and whom Providence had sent to preserve Europe

from the total subversion with which it was threatened, to secure her

shaken thrones, and to restore peace and happiness to the nations.

He was unhappy enough to be compelled by circumstances to conceal so

just and laudable an action as if it were a crime, ... such were the

fatal consequences of the excessive goodness of the best of kings. His

father was endowed with the most upright and generous heart; but artful

and wicked persons too often took advantage of such a disposition to

disguise the truth from their sovereigns, and none but the Emperor

Napoleon could detect the schemes of such perfidious counsellors, open

the eyes of his dearly beloved parents, render them happy, and provide

at the same time for his happiness, and for that of the Spaniards.

“Therefore,” said the Prince, “I implore with, the utmost confidence

your majesty’s paternal protection, to the end that you will not only

deign to accord me the honour of allying me with your family, but that

you will smooth all the difficulties, and remove all the obstacles

which might oppose this object of my wishes.” ♦BUONAPARTE INTENDS

TO SEIZE THE PENINSULA.♦ When Buonaparte was thus entreated by the

Prince to lend his influence for the removal of Godoy, he was carrying

on secret negotiations with that favourite. Long before he received

this letter, he had determined upon seizing Spain; his measures for

subjecting it by force had been arranged. But it was necessary to

begin by occupying Portugal, and to dupe the Spanish court into a

co-operation against a friendly and unoffending power, a power too with

which it was connected by the closest ties: thus would the purposes

of France be every way served; for while she derived from Spain all

the assistance that could be desired, the Spanish government would be

preparing the way for its own destruction, and depriving itself at the

same time of all claim to compassion when the hour arrived.

♦SPANISH TROOPS SENT TO THE NORTH OF EUROPE, AND TO TUSCANY.♦

The first step toward the accomplishment of his design, was to remove

the best troops from Spain; and accordingly, at the requisition of

the French government, in conformity to treaty, 16,000 men, the

flower of the Spanish army, were marched into the North of Germany,

under the Marquis de Romana, and another division into Tuscany, under

D. Gonzalo O’Farrill. The next business was to introduce French

troops into Spain, and for this the occupation of Portugal afforded

a pretext. Buonaparte, who was regardless of all other engagements,

however solemnly contracted, was always, as far as his power extended,

faithful to his vows of vengeance. Exasperated by the service which the

Portugueze ships had rendered in blockading Malta, he had said in one

of his Egyptian proclamations, that there would come a time when the

Portugueze should pay with tears of blood for the affront which they

had offered to the French republic. Heavy payments of a different kind

had already been exacted. ♦CONDITION OF THE PORTUGUEZE GOVERNMENT.♦

During many years the Prince of Brazil had submitted to insults which

he had no means of resenting, and from time to time had bought off

at a heavy price the threat of invasion, in the hope of preserving

his kingdom by these expedients till peace should be restored to

Europe. So often had these threats been renewed, and these respites

purchased, that Portugal incurred the burden and the shame of paying

tribute, without obtaining the security of a tributary state. Upon

this, however, that poor government relied. They thought themselves

safe because France obtained greater sums from them in this manner than

could be drawn from Portugal as a conquered country; because much of

the treasure from Spanish America, so large a portion of which found

its way into France, reached Europe in safety by the assistance of the

Portugueze; and because they had every reason to suppose that if an

attack upon them should at any time be seriously intended, the court of

Madrid would use its utmost influence to avert their danger for its own

sake. Could any reliance have been placed either upon the understanding

or the honour of the Spanish king, upon royal and national faith,

the plainest common interest, and the closest ties of alliance, the

Portugueze government would have reasoned justly. But Charles IV.

was one of the weakest of sovereigns; his favourite had obtained the

administration for his vices, not for his talents, which were of the

meanest order; and it was easy for Buonaparte to deal with such men,

and make them at once the instruments and the victims of his ambition.

♦AUGUST.

PORTUGAL REQUIRED TO ACT AGAINST ENGLAND.♦

A month after the peace of Tilsit had been concluded, the French and

Spanish embassadors jointly informed the court of Lisbon that it must

shut its ports to England, arrest the English subjects, and confiscate

the English property in Portugal, or expose itself to an immediate war

with France and Spain; if these propositions were not complied with,

they were instructed to leave the country in three weeks. Without

waiting for the reply, Buonaparte seized the Portugueze ships in his

harbours. The crisis was now manifestly at hand; there no longer

remained a hope of purchasing farther respite, and in the state to

which the army had been reduced by long misrule, resistance was not

thought of. The court of Portugal was weak even to helplessness, but

it had the advantage of perfectly understanding the character of the

two powers between which it was compelled to choose; knowing that

every forbearance might be expected on the part of England, and on

the part of France every thing that was oppressive and iniquitous.

♦MIDDLE COURSE PROPOSED BY THE PORTUGUEZE GOVERNMENT.♦ In full reliance

therefore upon the justice and long tried friendship of Great Britain,

the Prince informed the French government that he would consent to

shut his ports, but that neither his principles of morality nor of

religion would permit him to seize the persons and property of the

British subjects, in violation of treaties and of the law of nations.

At the same time the English were apprized that they would do well to

wind up their affairs as speedily as possible, and leave the kingdom.

A Portugueze squadron happened to be cruising against the Algerines,

and the necessity of keeping on good terms with England till this

should have re-entered the Tagus, was urged as a reason for temporising

awhile, to which Buonaparte, eager as he was for ships, was likely to

listen more readily than to any other plea. ♦CHAMPAGNY’S REPORT, IN L.

GOLDSMITH, V. III. P. 253–255.♦ It was held out to him also, that as

hostilities must be expected from England in case the rigour of the

terms upon which France insisted were enforced, it would be prudent to

send out the young Prince of Beira to Brazil, while the seas were still

open, that his presence might secure the fidelity of the colonies.

♦PREPARATION FOR OCCUPYING PORTUGAL.♦

The Portugueze ministers at Paris and Madrid have been accused of

having betrayed their country at this time; more probably they were

deceived and perplexed, and knew not how to advise; and thus the

Portugueze government was left to act without any other information

of the proceedings of the two hostile courts, than what it obtained

from common rumour, or through the circuitous channel of England.

Buonaparte’s intention was to secure the persons of the royal family if

possible, but at all events to take possession of Portugal: this point

was essential to his ulterior views. For this purpose a force had been

collected under the title of the Army of Observation of the Gironde,

... a title which may have been intended to intimidate the government

of Spain, for it was not even pretended that France could have any

danger to apprehend in that quarter. Junot, who had been embassador at

Lisbon, was appointed to the command, and he was on the way to Bayonne

before the term expired which had been allowed to Portugal to choose

its part. The Prince was prepared to make every sacrifice of interest

and of feeling, so he might thereby save the country from an attack:

the misery which the expulsion of the English, and the consequent

loss of a flourishing and extensive commerce, must bring upon Lisbon

and upon the whole kingdom, was yet less dreadful than the horrors of

invasion at a time when defence appeared impracticable. He determined

therefore, at the last, to comply with the demands of the besotted

court of Spain, and of the tyrant who directed its suicidal measures,

but not till the last. The French and Spanish legations were suffered

to retire, because nothing but the last extremity could induce him,

even in appearance, to commit an act of cruelty toward the English.

♦THE FRENCH AND SPANISH EMBASSADORS LEAVE LISBON.♦ When these legations

withdrew, the British residents were at the same time preparing with

all speed for their compulsory departure: and so little did the Prince

feel assured that he could preserve the country in peace by total

submission to the iniquitous terms which were pressed upon it, that

circular instructions were dispatched to the bishops and the heads

of the religious orders, requiring them to register the plate of the

churches, and send it to Lisbon or other places appointed for security.

♦SECRET TREATY OF FONTAINEBLEAU.♦

While the Prince and his ministers were in this state of lamentable

suspense, a secret treaty between France and Spain for the partition

of Portugal was signed at Fontainebleau. By this extraordinary treaty,

the King of Etruria ceding his Italian possessions in full and

entire sovereignty to Buonaparte, was to have the province of Entre

Minho e Douro, with the city of Porto for its capital, erected into

a kingdom for him, under the title of Northern Lusitania. Alentejo

and Algarve were in like manner to be given to Godoy[16], in entire

property and sovereignty, with the title of Prince of the Algarves;

the other Portugueze provinces were to be held in sequestration till

a general peace, at which time, if they were restored to the house

of Braganza, in exchange for Gibraltar, Trinidad, and other colonies

which the English had conquered, the new sovereign was, like the King

of Northern Lusitania and the Prince of the Algarves, to hold his

dominions by investiture from the King of Spain, to acknowledge him

as protector, and never to make peace or war without his consent. The

two contracting powers were to agree upon an equal partition of the

colonial possessions of Portugal; and Buonaparte engaged to recognize

his Catholic Majesty as Emperor of the Two Americas, when every thing

should be ready for his assuming that title, which might be either at

a general peace, or at farthest within three years therefrom; and he

guaranteed to him the possession of his dominions on the continent of

Europe south of the Pyrenees.

A secret convention, which was concluded at the same time, agreed upon

the means for carrying this nefarious treaty into effect. Twenty-five

thousand French infantry and 3000 cavalry were to enter Spain, and

march directly for Lisbon; they were to be joined by 8000 Spanish

infantry and 3000 cavalry, with 30 pieces of artillery. At the same

time 10,000 Spanish troops were to take possession of the province

between the Minho and Douro, and the city of Porto; and 6000 were to

enter Alentejo and Algarve. The French troops were to be maintained

by Spain upon their march. As soon as they had entered the country

(for no opposition was expected), the government of each portion of

the divided territory was to be vested in the Generals commanding,

and the contributions imposed thereon accrue to their respective

courts. The central body was to be under the orders of the French

Commander-in-chief. Nevertheless, if either the King of Spain, or

the Prince of the Peace, should think fit to join the Spanish troops

attached to that army, the French, with the General commanding them,

should be subject to his orders. Another body of 40,000 French troops

was to be assembled at Bayonne, by the 20th of November at the latest,

to be ready to proceed to Portugal, in case the English should send

reinforcements there, or menace it with an attack. This army, however,

was not to enter Spain till the two contracting parties had come to an

agreement upon that point.

This nefarious treaty, whereby the two contracting powers disposed of

the dominions of two other sovereigns, with whom the one was connected

by the nearest and closest ties of relationship and alliance, and both

were at peace, was carried on with a secresy worthy of the transaction.

D. Eugenio Izquierdo, an agent of Godoy’s, was employed to negotiate it

unknown to the Spanish embassador in France, and the whole business is

said to have been concealed from the ministers[17] in both countries.

It was signed on the 27th of October. The convoy with the English

factory on board had sailed from the Tagus on the 18th, and never

had a day of such political calamity and general sorrow been known

in Lisbon since the tidings arrived of the loss of Sebastian and his

army. ♦THE ENGLISH RESIDENTS EXPELLED FROM LISBON.♦ Their departure

was followed by a proclamation for the exclusion of British commerce:

it had ever, the Prince said, been his desire to observe the most

perfect neutrality during the present contest; ♦EDICT FOR THE EXCLUSION

OF BRITISH COMMERCE. OCT. 22.♦ but that being no longer possible,

and having reflected at the same time how beneficial a general peace

would be to humanity, he had thought proper to accede to the cause of

the Continent by uniting himself to the Emperor of the French and the

Catholic King, in order to contribute as far as might be in his power

to the acceleration of a maritime peace. Whatever hopes he might have

indulged of satisfying France by this measure were soon dissipated,

when the Portugueze embassadors at Paris and Madrid, having been

formally dismissed, arrived at Lisbon. The former of these, D. Lourenço

de Lima, is said to have travelled night and day, for the purpose of

dissuading the Prince from removing to Brazil, ... a measure which the

French apprehended, and which of all others would oppose the greatest

obstacles to their projects. D. Lourenço is said to have represented

that this step would make him the victim of the perfidious counsel of

England, and at the same time provoke the utmost wrath of the great

Napoleon. That emperor, he assured the Prince, had the highest respect

for his virtues, and harboured no hostile intentions against him: he

would be completely satisfied if Portugal would only sequester the

British property, and arrest the few British subjects who remained.

To this last sacrifice the Prince now consented, trusting to the

generosity of England, and probably also, as has been well observed

by a Portugueze historian, ♦NEVES, I. 151.♦ secretly resolving to

indemnify the sufferers whenever it should be possible, ... for this

is consistent with his character. ♦EDICT FOR REGISTERING THE PERSONS

AND PROPERTY OF THE ENGLISH.♦ Under these feelings he issued an edict

for registering all English persons and property which were still to be

found in his dominions. The order was reluctantly given, and leniently

carried into effect; but it compelled the British minister, Lord

Strangford, to take down the arms of Great Britain from his house: ♦THE

BRITISH MINISTER LEAVES LISBON.♦ he demanded his passports, and went

off to a squadron under Sir Sidney Smith, which had been ordered to

cruise off the mouth of the Tagus, and Lisbon was then declared to be

blockaded.

♦NOVEMBER.

A RUSSIAN SQUADRON ENTERS THE TAGUS.♦

While the court was waiting in the most anxious incertitude the result

of its submission, the agitation of the Lisbonians was increased by

the appearance of a Russian squadron in the Tagus. Admiral Siniavin

with nine ships of the line and two frigates had been acting in the

Archipelago against the Turks, in alliance with England; and now on

his way home to act against England in conformity with the plans of

Buonaparte, he found that he could not possibly reach the Baltic before

it would be frozen. He would have put into Cadiz to winter there, but

the British admiral who commanded upon that station would not permit

him, rightly judging that as the disposition of the Russian government

was now known to be unfriendly towards England, it was not proper

that these Russian ships should be allowed to enter an enemy’s port,

and thus effect a junction with an enemy’s fleet. Siniavin therefore

proceeded to the Tagus; his unexpected arrival at such a juncture

was naturally supposed to be part of the tyrant’s gigantic plans,

and it was not doubted now that Buonaparte meant to make Lisbon one

of the ports from which the British dominions were to be invaded.

The circumstance was in reality accidental, but at such a moment it

appeared like design, and the blockade was therefore more rigorously

enforced.

♦BUONAPARTE ENDEAVOURS TO SEIZE THE ROYAL FAMILY.♦

If Buonaparte’s only object had been to force the Prince into

hostilities with England, he would now have been satisfied. A courier

had been immediately dispatched to inform him that all his demands were

complied with, and the Marquis de Marialva speedily set out after the

courier with the title of Embassador Extraordinary; ... while he was

on his way the French troops had entered Portugal. The tyrant thought

to entrap the royal family; but disdaining in the wantonness of power

to observe even the appearances of justice or common decorum toward

a country which he so entirely despised, the success of his villany

was frustrated by his own precipitation. From the commencement of

these discussions the Prince had declared that if a French army set

foot within his territories he would remove the seat of government to

Brazil. The French expected that the rupture with England would deter

him from pursuing this resolution; should it prove otherwise they

thought to prevent it by their intrigues and their celerity: and such

was the treachery with which the Prince was surrounded, and the want

of vigilance in every branch of his inert administration, that Junot

was within an hundred miles of Lisbon before any official advices were

received that he had passed the frontiers! Even private letters which

communicated intelligence of the enemy’s movements and the rapidity and

disorder of the march, were detained upon the road.

♦NEVES, I. 160.♦

Junot had advanced from Salamanca by forced marches; he reached

Alcantara in five days, the distance being forty leagues, by

mountainous and unfrequented roads and in a bad season. No preparations

had been made for the French on the way; even at Ciudad Rodrigo the

governor had received no intimation of their coming. The Spanish

forces, which according to the secret convention of Fontainebleau

were to be under the French general’s orders, had been instructed to

join him at Valladolid and Salamanca; by his directions however they

waited for him at Alcantara; scarce half a ration could be procured

there for the half-starved and exhausted troops, and this the Spanish

general Carraffa took up upon his own credit. ♦JUNOT’S PROCLAMATION

FROM ALCANTARA. NOV. 17.♦ From thence Junot issued a proclamation to

the Portugueze people, in which among his other titles he enumerated

that of Grand Cross of the Order of Christ, an order conferred upon

him by that very Prince whom he was hastening to entrap and depose.

“Inhabitants of the kingdom of Portugal,” it said, “a French army is

about to enter your country; it comes to emancipate you from English

dominion, and makes forced marches that it may save your beautiful city

of Lisbon from the fate of Copenhagen. But for this time the hopes of

the perfidious English government will be deceived. Napoleon, who fixes

his eyes upon the fate of the Continent, saw what the tyrant of the

seas was devouring in his heart, and will not suffer that it should

fall into his power. Your Prince declares war against England; we make

therefore common cause. Peaceable inhabitants of the country, fear

nothing! my army is as well disciplined as it is brave. I will answer

on my honour for its good conduct. Let it find the welcome which is

due to the soldiers of the Great Napoleon; let it find, as it has a

right to expect, the provisions which are needful.” The proclamation

proceeded to denounce summary justice against every French soldier who

should be found plundering, but its severest threats were against the

Portugueze themselves. Every Portugueze, not being a soldier of the

line, who should be found making part of an armed assembly, was to be

shot, as well as every individual exciting the people to take arms

against the French; wherever an individual belonging to the French

army should be killed, the district was to be fined in not less than

thrice the amount of its yearly rents, the four principal inhabitants

being taken as hostages; and the first city, town or village in which

this might happen, should be burnt and rased to the ground. “But,” said

Junot, “I willingly persuade myself that the Portugueze will understand

their own true interest; that aiding the pacific views of their Prince

they will receive us as friends; and especially that the beautiful city

of Lisbon will with pleasure see me enter its walls at the head of an

army which alone can preserve it from becoming a prey to the eternal

enemies of the Continent.”

The march from Salamanca had been so fatiguing that it was impossible

for the troops to proceed without some rest. Junot had arrived there

on the 17th of November. On the 18th he sent a reconnoitring party

as far as Rosmaninhal, and they returned with intelligence that the

country was neither prepared to resist them, nor aware of their

approach. ♦THE FRENCH ENTER PORTUGAL.♦ On the 19th, the vanguard passed

the frontier, and Junot, with the remainder of the first division of

his army, followed the ensuing day. This division consisted of 8,600

men, with 12 field pieces. The second division, moving likewise upon

Castello-Branco, entered by Salvaterra and Idanha-a-nova: its cavalry

and guns, with the third division and the baggage, were detained some

days by the sudden rise of the mountain streams. On the evening of

the 20th there was a report in Castello-Branco that the French were

at Zebreira: and at six o’clock, when it was hardly known whether the

rumour were true or false, a French officer arrived to inform the

magistrates that quarters must be made ready for General Laborde and

a corps of 3000 men, who would be there in the course of two hours.

Junot took up his quarters the next day in the episcopal palace, and

manifested sufficient ill-humour that no preparations had been made

for entertaining him. ♦THEIR RAPACITY UPON THE MARCH.♦ The adjutants

carried off some of the bishop’s valuables, overhauled his library in

the hope of finding money concealed there, and not finding what they

were in search of, demanded money, and obtained it. One of them, after

they had left the city, returned from Sarzedas to borrow a farther

sum in Junot’s name; nor was it known whether this was a fraudulent

extortion of his own, or a courteous mode of robbery on the part of

the general. ♦NEVES, I. 199.♦ The night which the French passed in

Castello-Branco is described by the inhabitants as an image of Hell.

Junot had pledged his honour for their good conduct; but men and

officers were, like their commander, as rapacious and as unprincipled

as the government which they served. They were passing through a

country where they experienced no resistance, and which they protested

they were coming to defend; but they added wanton havoc to the

inevitable devastation which is made by the passage of an army; the men

pillaged as they went, and the very officers robbed the houses in which

they were quartered; olive and other fruit trees were cut down for fuel

or to form temporary barracks, houses and churches were plundered; and

as if they had been desirous of provoking the Portugueze to some act

of violence which might serve as a pretext for carrying into effect

the threats which Junot had denounced, ♦NEVES, 196–199.♦ they burnt or

mutilated the images in the churches, and threw the wafer to be trodden

under foot.

♦CONDUCT AT ABRANTES.♦

The vanguard of the French reached Abrantes on the afternoon of the

23d, and Junot arrived the next morning. The generals entered that city

with all the cattle which they had been able to collect on the way,

like border-men returning from a foraging party, and the booty was

sold for their emolument. A detachment was immediately sent to secure

Punhete, a town situated on the left bank of the Zezere, where it falls

into the Tagus. Means also were taken to supply some of the wants of

the army, after the manner of the French in a country where they called

themselves friends, protectors, and allies. The _Juiz de fora_ was

ordered to collect rations for 12,000 men, and 12,000 pair of shoes; a

threat was added of imposing upon the town a contribution of 300,000

_cruzados novos_; and the manner in which these orders were intimated,

seemed to imply such consequences to the magistrate in case of

non-performance, that he thought it prudent to consult his own personal

safety by flight. Junot then ordered the son of the person in whose

house he had taken up his quarters to assume the vacant office, though

the young man was not only not qualified for the office, because he had

not taken the degrees which are required for it, but was positively

disqualified, being a native of the place. The whole city was in

consternation, apprehending the most dreadful results if the demands of

the French were not complied with. Messengers were dispatched to Thomar

and through all the country round, to purchase all the shoes which

could be found, and set all the craft to work: by these means, and by

taking them from individuals, between 2 and 3000 pair were collected;

with which Junot was fain to be satisfied, because he saw that no

possible exertions could have procured more. These exactions were less

intolerable to the Portugueze, than the insults and irreligion with

which they were accompanied. A colonel who was quartered in a Capuchin

convent made the Guardian pull off his boots, and after robbing the

convent of the few valuables which it contained, threatened to fusilade

him if he did not bring him money; the friar had no other resource but

that of feigning to seek it, and taking flight. ♦NEVES, 200–2.♦ In the

church of St. Antonio the altars were used as mangers for the horses.

♦REPRESENTATION OF THE BRITISH EMBASSADOR.♦

Junot was at Abrantes, within ninety-two miles of Lisbon, before the

Portugueze government received any certain intelligence that the

French had passed the frontier. The first advices came from Lecor,

orderly adjutant to the Marquez d’Alorna, and a truer Portugueze

than his commander. ♦OBSERVADOR PORTUGUEZ, P. 12.♦ At the same time

a flag of truce from the British squadron entered the Tagus; and the

secret treaties of Fontainebleau were communicated to the Prince by

Great Britain. D. Rodrigo de Sousa Coutinho urged him to execute his

resolution of removing to his possessions in Brazil, the only course

which he could pursue with honour or with safety. Lord Strangford came

on shore, and assured him on the word of a British ambassador and a

British admiral, that the measures which had been taken against Great

Britain were considered as acts of compulsion on his part, in no ways

abating the friendship of that old ally, if he would avail himself of

her friendship. In Brazil he had an empire to the growing prosperity

of which he might now add by his presence; or he must inevitably be

cut off from it by the nature of the maritime war, against which the

combination of all the continental powers must be ineffectual.

♦THE PRINCE DETERMINES UPON REMOVING TO BRAZIL.♦

The Prince’s determination was anticipated at Abrantes before it was

known, and perhaps before he himself had decided how to act. Rumours

were current there that he had already embarked part of the royal

family, that many fidalgos had gone on board to accompany the court

in its removal, and that the army which had bombarded and taken

Copenhagen was on board the British squadron. These reports made Junot

fear that the prey would escape him; and he was the more uneasy,

because at a moment when every thing depended upon celerity, his march

was impeded. There was the Zezere to cross, a river which in former

wars had been considered as protecting Lisbon on this side, ... its

depth and rapidity, and the height of its banks rendering it easy to

defend the passage. A bridge of boats had been constructed at Punhete

in the campaign of 1801, and afterwards broken up. Every exertion

was now made to re-establish it; and in the meantime Junot sent off

a courier with a confidential dispatch to the minister of war and

foreign affairs, Antonio de Araujo de Azevedo, framed for the purpose

of being communicated to the Prince. Intrigue and protestations,

however, would no longer avail; the entrance of the French was an act

of such unequivocal outrage, that its object could not be doubted, and

the Prince prepared immediately for his removal. Europe had never yet

beheld one of its princes compelled to seek an asylum in his colonies;

such an intention had once been formed by the Dutch, but it was

reserved for Portugal to set the first example in modern history.

♦HE REFUSES TO LET THE PEOPLE AND THE ENGLISH FLEET DEFEND THE CITY.♦

Had there been a previous struggle, like that of the democratic cantons

in Switzerland, or of the Tyrolese, such a termination would have been

not less glorious than the most signal success. Preceded as it had

been by long misgovernment, and all the concessions and vacillations

of conscious imbecility, still it is among the most impressive as well

as most memorable events in the annals of a kingdom fertile beyond all

others in circumstances of splendid and of tragic story. The Prince

had uniformly declared that to this measure he would resort, if the

French entered Portugal; but he had not expected to be driven to it,

and was not prepared for it. ♦NEVES, I. 171.♦ So completely indeed

had he relied upon the assurance of the French legation, and of Dom

Lourenço de Lima, that he had publicly assured the people all had now

been settled, and there no longer existed any cause of apprehension

from France. The dismay and astonishment of the Lisbonians, therefore,

may well be conceived, when a few days only after this declaration,

they learnt that the French were at Abrantes, and saw the court making

ready for immediate flight. The hurry and disorder of Junot’s march was

not unknown; his artillery had been damaged, having been dragged by

oxen and peasantry over mountainous roads, a great number of his horses

had died upon the way overworked, and the men themselves had been

marched so rapidly and fed so ill, that a large proportion of them were

more fit for the hospital than for active service. The greater part of

the Portugueze army was near the capital, and wretched as the state was

to which it had fallen, neither the will nor the courage of the men was

doubted. The English in the fleet, with a right English feeling, were

longing to be let loose against the enemy: Sir Sidney offered to bring

his ships abreast of the city, and there, seconded by the indignant

populace, dispute every inch of ground with the invader: “Surely,” he

said, “Lisbon was as defensible as Buenos Ayres!” Well might he thus

feel and express himself who had defended Acre; and certain it is that

Junot and all his foremost troops might have been put to the death

which they had already merited at the hands of the Portugueze, if the

Prince had given the word. ♦MANIFESTO OF THE COURT OF PORTUGAL.♦ But

such an act of vengeance, just as it would have been, would have been

advantageous to Buonaparte, by giving him a colourable pretext for

treating Portugal as a conquered country: this the Prince knew; and

it was in reliance upon his gentle and conscientious character, that

Junot advanced in a manner which would else have appeared like the

rashness of a madman.

♦EMBARKATION OF THE ROYAL FAMILY.♦

The royal family had for some time past resided at Mafra; as soon as

the emigration had been determined, they removed to Queluz, where they

might be nearer the Tagus, and less exposed to any sudden attempt of

the enemy. The Portugueze navy was ill equipped for sea; no care had

been taken to keep it victualled, and it was now found that many of

the water casks were rotten, and new ones were to be made. The morning

of the 27th had been fixed for the embarkation, and at an early hour

numbers of both sexes and of all ages were assembled in the streets and

upon the shore at Belem, where the wide space between the river and the

fine Jeronymite convent was filled with carts and packages of every

kind. From the restlessness and well-founded alarm of the people, it

was feared that they would proceed to some excess of violence against

those who were the objects of general suspicion. The crowd however

was not yet very great when the Prince appeared, both because of the

distance from Lisbon, and that the hour of the embarkation was not

known. He came from the Adjuda, and the Spanish Infante D. Pedro in

the carriage with him; the troops who were to be on duty at the spot

had not yet arrived, and when the Prince alighted upon the quay, there

was a pressure round him, so that as he went down the steps to the

water-edge, he was obliged to make way with his hand. He was pale

and trembling, and his face was bathed in tears. The multitude forgot

for a moment their own condition in commiseration for his; they wept

also, and followed him, as the boat pushed off, with their blessings.

There may have been some among the spectators who remembered that from

this very spot Vasco de Gama had embarked for that discovery which

opened the way to all their conquests in the East; and Cabral for that

expedition which gave to Portugal an empire in the West, and prepared

for her Prince an asylum now when the mother country itself was lost.

A spectacle not less impressive presented itself when the royal family

arrived from Queluz. The insane Queen was in the first carriage; for

sixteen years she had never been seen in public. It is said that

she had been made to understand the situation of affairs, so as to

acquiesce in what was done; and that when she perceived the coachman

was driving fast, she called out to him to go leisurely, for she was

not taking flight. She had to wait some while upon the quay for the

chair in which she was to be carried to the boat, and her countenance,

in which the insensibility of madness was only disturbed by wonder,

formed a striking contrast to the grief which appeared in every other

face. The widow Princess, and the Infanta D. Maria, the Queen’s sister,

were in the next carriage, both in that state of affliction and dismay

which such a moment might well occasion. The Princess of Brazil came

next, in the octagon coach, with all her children, the nurse of the

youngest babe, and the two _Camareiras mores_, or chief ladies of the

bedchamber. She had been indefatigable in preparing for the voyage, and

now she herself directed the embarkation of the children and domestics

with a presence of mind which excited admiration. The royal family were

distributed in different ships, not merely for the sake of being more

easily accommodated, but that if shipwreck were to be added to their

misfortunes, a part at least might probably be preserved.

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.♦