On the following morning an assembly of the people was held in the Alto da Esperança. The magistrates, the Bishop and his chapter, the clergy, the monks and friars, (who had all taken arms), the troops and the nobles, met and solemnly proclaimed their lawful Prince; the Quinas were hoisted, and an oath was taken that they would each to the last drop of his blood defend the rights of the house of Braganza. Circular letters were dispatched to all the towns and villages in Algarve. The next day some instances of insubordination, and the reasonable apprehension of an attack, induced one of the canons to propose, and the people to consent, to the appointment of a Junta. The Chamber nominated seven electors for the nobles, and as many for the people, the chapter seven for the clergy, and the army seven for themselves. By these electors eight members were chosen, two for each of the four orders, and the Conde de Castro-Marim was appointed president. This nobleman had been governor and captain-general of Algarve at the time of the invasion; under the intrusive government he resided as a private individual at Tavira, and the popular desire of re-establishing the order of things to which they had been accustomed, was shown in nominating him to the presidency, as it was indeed in all the circumstances of the insurrection throughout ♦The insurrection spreads through Algarve.♦ Portugal. Emissaries were now sent to the east and west: in the west there were no enemies, and within eight-and-forty hours the acclamation was effected in Loule, Sylves, Lagos, at the fort of Sagres, and in the little towns to the north of Cape St. Vincent. From the east there was reason to apprehend an attack; the enemy, who had been compelled to retire from Faro, had retreated to Tavira, and had been joined there by a detachment from Mertola. But the English squadron was in sight; and the French commander, knowing how inadequate his whole force was to the dangers which menaced it, knew also that Algarve might, with little inconvenience, be left to itself, and that his business was to place himself in communication with the ♦The French retreat to Mertola.♦ troops in Alem-Tejo. He therefore withdrew to Mertola, and the people of Tavira, rising as soon as the enemy retired, harassed them on the way. Juntas, subordinate to that of Faro, were now formed in Tavira, and in other smaller places; a red riband upon the right arm was assumed as the badge of patriotism, and they who ventured to appear without it were in no small danger from the people; but though many persons were insulted and menaced, and some imprisoned as partizans of the French, the better orders exerted their influence with such effect, that no blood was shed. Preparations were made for defending the passes of the mountains which divide Algarve from Alem-Tejo; and accredited agents were sent to Ayamonte, Seville, and Gibraltar. Arms were without delay supplied from all these places, and from Gibraltar a considerable quantity of ammunition. A circumstance, however, occurred, which seemed likely at first to occasion a misunderstanding with the Spaniards; for the Portugueze, upon the retreat of the French, having thrown up some works at Castro-Marim, the Spaniards crossed the river and destroyed them. This measure, so rash, and in appearance so hostile, was occasioned by an apprehension that the French might return there, which they had made a demonstration of doing before they ♦The people of Algarve form a treaty with Seville.♦ abandoned Tavira. It was soon explained, when each people had so strong an interest in being upon the best terms with each other, and a formal ♦Neves, iii. 290–303.♦ treaty was concluded with the Junta of Seville.

Before the insurrection in Algarve had succeeded, and even before it was known beyond the mountains, the same national feeling had ♦Insurrection at Villa-Viçosa.♦ manifested itself in Alem-Tejo at Villa-Viçosa, the place of all others where the national and loyal feelings of a Portugueze would be most elevated by local associations, having been the residence of the Braganzan family during the Spanish usurpation. Early in the month the inhabitants had been exasperated by the passage of a French escort through the town, with the contributions that had been levied in that Comarca and the plate of the churches. They were farther irritated by an order for the militia to repair to Elvas at a time when Kellermann hoped to employ them against the Spaniards at Badajoz. But Elvas, where the main body of the French in Alem-Tejo were stationed, was only four leagues distant; there was a strong detachment still nearer, at Estremoz, and a French company was quartered among them, in the castle: they knew not that any movement for the recovery of their country’s independence had been made; nor, owing to their peculiar situation, were there any people in Portugal by whom it could be made with so little hope or possibility of success. Thus they had borne oppression, and might have continued to bear it, if their oppressors, in the wantonness of power, had not added insult to wrong. There was an image of N. Senhora dos Remedios, which, after having by a supernatural declaration of its own pleasure, changed its name, ♦Santuario Mariano, t. vii. 571, 579.♦ made sundry voyages to and from India, and travelled from one place to another in Portugal during more than fourscore years, had at length obtained a settlement at Villa-Viçosa, in a chapel of its own, where, being in high odour for its miraculous powers, it was visited with peculiar devotion on its own holyday, the 19th of June, by the people of that town, and the adjacent country. The history of this idol might excite a mournful smile for human weakness, not without indignation at the systematic frauds which have been practised upon a religious people. The French were too irreligious to see any thing in it but matter of mockery; and some of the soldiers, placing themselves in a gateway near the chapel, amused themselves with deriding the Portugueze, who were going there to worship, in ignorance indeed, and in delusion, but in simplicity and sincerity of heart. Some of the peasants resented this insult by manual force; more Frenchmen came to help their comrades, more Portugueze to support their countrymen; the scuffle became serious, for life or death, ... the bell of the Camara was rung, the ♦Neves, iii. 305–309.♦ French retired into the Castle, and succeeded in closing the gate, which had been so well secured with iron in old times, that the people were neither able to break it open, nor to hew it in pieces. This was towards evening, and the riot continued all night.

The town was now in open insurrection. Messengers set off to solicit succour from Badajoz, and General Francisco de Paula Leite, who had lately governed the province, was called upon to take the command, which he absolutely refused, knowing that this tumult must inevitably end in the destruction of those who engaged in it. Antonio Lobo Infante de Lacerda, an old officer, and then Sargento-Mor of the militia, regarding consequences less, set his life fairly upon the die; he took the lead, and stationed marksmen upon the top of the Conceiçam church, and in other points which commanded the Castle. Owing to these dispositions several of the French fell. Meantime the news reached Estremoz, where Kellermann and Avril both happened to be: fifty dragoons, with half a battalion of infantry, and two pieces of cannon, were immediately dispatched to rescue their fellows. A poor countryman, by name Ignacio da Silva, was in Estremoz at the time; seeing their movements, he easily divined their intention; good will gave him good speed, and running the ten miles, he brought intelligence of their march to Villa-Viçosa in time for Antonio Lobo to make preparations for receiving them. He stationed some forty men, all for whom fire-arms could be found, upon the walls, and towers, and houses, at the entrance from the Borba road; the enemy, informed of, or divining this design, took another entrance. The way was soon cleared by their field-pieces. General Avril and Colonel Lacroix entered the town in pursuit of the routed multitude, the bayonet was used, with little mercy or discrimination, 200 persons were killed in the ♦Observador Portuguez, 335.♦ streets, many more in the country, twelve prisoners ♦Neves, iii. 309–315.♦ were put to death as ringleaders in what the French called rebellion, and the place was given up to pillage for one hour.

The messengers from this unfortunate town had been joyfully received at Badajoz; and Moretti, the officer who had performed the perilous service of conferring with General Carraffa in Lisbon, was dispatched with a corps of Portugueze refugees which had been formed under protection of the Spanish fortress. They had arrived at Olivença on their way, when Antonio Lobo arrived there also, escaping with about a score companions from the carnage. Instead of returning with ill news, as a man of ordinary spirit would have done, Moretti inquired whether some useful enterprise might not be attempted; and they determined upon getting possession of Jurumenha, knowing how important it was that the Portugueze loyalists should possess a place within their own border, which had the name of being fortified, when the French were in no condition to attack it. It was occupied by a Portugueze garrison, but the governor partook so little in the honourable feelings of his nation, that he had that day seized some fugitives from Villa-Viçosa, and sent them prisoners to Elvas, requesting at the same time a French garrison for his security and that of the place. He understood the temper of his own people; but Moretti and Lobo knew it also, and calculated upon it. Sixteen Portugueze, concealing their arms, entered as if upon ordinary business; eight proceeded to seize the governor, the others took their station in the gates, and admitted their party just in time to point the artillery of the place against the French, who had been ordered from Elvas to occupy it without delay. Moretti now obtained farther assistance from Badajoz, and discretionary powers: on the other hand, Kellermann sent a second party to recover Jurumenha; but supposing the force which defended it to be much stronger than in reality it was, they returned without venturing to attack it. This greatly encouraged the Portugueze, and more than counterbalanced the effect of their slaughter at Villa-Viçosa. Emissaries and proclamations were sent from hence throughout ♦Neves, iii. 316–320.♦ the province; and the people, exaggerating the importance of the place, looked to it with confidence as a strong point of support in their own country.

The news from Algarve, spreading at the same time, elevated their spirits; and the state of the country soon became such, that the French couriers were every where intercepted. Colonel Maransin, with his troops, had now effected his retreat to Mertola, from whence, for the purpose of restoring a communication with Estremoz and with Lisbon, he sent a detachment of 100 foot and thirty dragoons to Beja. That city was originally a settlement of the Kelts, possessed next by the Carthaginians, afterwards the Pax Julia of the Romans, a Moorish corruption of which name has been euphonized to its present form. It was taken from the Moors by the first king of Portugal, restored from its ruins and fortified in the thirteenth century by Affonso III. and beautified by his son, King Diniz, with his characteristic magnificence, of which the walls with their forty towers, and the fine castle, bore testimony in their ruins. Here, as in all the other cities of Alem-Tejo, there was a melancholy air of decay, less owing to the long and destructive struggle with Spain, in which that province had been the great scene of action, than to the peculiar circumstances which depressed its agriculture, and that inhuman persecution of the New-Christians, by which the largest part of the commercial capital in Portugal had either been annihilated by confiscations, or driven out of the kingdom. Still, however, it contained some ten or twelve thousand inhabitants, and was a place of considerable importance in that thinly peopled province. It stood on the highest part of an elevated and extensive plain, conspicuous from a distance, and commanding a wide prospect on all sides, the heights of Palmella and even of Cintra being distinctly visible. The immediate country, where it is cultivated, is fertile, and the situation in high repute for its salubrity. Eventful as the history of Beja had been, it was now to undergo as severe a calamity as any with which it had been visited in the unhappiest ages of Spain.

The French detachment entered the city without opposition, passed the night there, and on the next day ordered quarters and provisions to be made ready for the whole body of troops in Mertola, who, they said, were about to follow them. Their demand was received in such a manner by the people of Beja, who were now acquainted not only with the state of Spain, but with the nearer events in Algarve and at Jurumenha, that the French deemed it prudent to march out, and take a position in the open country, not far from the walls. This encouraged the populace; and, like all mobs, becoming cruel as they felt themselves strong, they murdered two soldiers whom the French indiscreetly sent into the city for provisions. Ignorant of their fate, the commander supposed they had been imprisoned, and threatened, if they were not immediately set free, to release them by force. The people then riotously demanded arms, that they might rush out and attack the enemy. The magistrates remonstrated with them in vain, and on the following ♦June 25.♦ morning the Corregidor, finding that farther delay would only endanger his own life, distributed among them such weapons as could be collected, and taking the safest course for himself, set off to solicit aid from the Junta of Ayamonte, the nearest authority by which it could be supplied. The Provedor and the Juiz de Fora thought it their duty to avert, if possible, the immediate danger: they went out to the French, entreated them not to attack the town, and promised them supplies; the enemy were easily entreated, because they were not strong enough in reality for any such attempt: the magistrates then endeavoured to make the people ratify what they had undertaken for them; all reasoning was in vain, and to save their own lives they left the city. But here also private malice availed itself of public troubles to effect its own ends; a messenger recalled them, upon the plea that they were wanted to give orders for collecting provisions, in fulfilment of their agreement; for the Corregidor having departed, there was no person to take upon himself that business. Deceived ♦Neves, iii. 323–327.♦ by this treacherous message, they returned, and were butchered by a ferocious mob, who knew not that they were made the brutal instruments of individual revenge.

By this time, however, the ardour of the people had so far cooled, that they no longer talked of sallying against the French, they contented themselves with keeping a tumultuous watch through the night; and when the morning dawned, and there appeared no enemy, they fancied themselves secure. The French commander had merely retired out of sight: his dispatches reached Mertola at eleven on the preceding night; at midnight Maransin, with 950 men, began his march, and at four the next evening the united force ♦June 26.♦ arrived before Beja. They were opposed by a mere multitude without order, leader, or plan of defence, every man acting for himself as he thought best. Yet the victory was not gained without a brave resistance, and some loss to the assailants. According to the French account they lost eighty in killed and wounded, while 1200 of the Portugueze were slain in the action, and all who were taken in arms were put to ♦Observador Portuguez, 341.
Neves, iii. 327–332.♦ death. The worst excesses followed by which humanity can be disgraced and outraged, and the15 city was sacked and set on fire.

In this whole merciless proceeding Maransin acted upon his own judgement, well knowing that such was the system which Napoleon had laid down, and which his generals felt no reluctance in executing. He proceeded to Evora, and Kellermann, approving of his conduct, held out the fate of Beja in a proclamation, as a warning ♦Kellermann’s proclamation to the people of Alem-Tejo.♦ to the province. “Inhabitants of Alem-Tejo,” he said, “Beja had revolted, and Beja exists no longer. Its guilty inhabitants have been put to the edge of the sword, and its houses delivered up to pillage and to the flames. Thus shall all those be treated who listen to the counsels of a perfidious rebellion, and with a senseless hatred take arms against us. Thus shall those bands of smugglers and criminals be treated, who have collected in Badajoz, and put arms into the hands of the unhappy Lusitanians, but dare not themselves march against us. Who, indeed, can resist our invincible troops? Ye who have precipitated yourselves into rebellion, prevent, by prompt submission, the inevitable chastisement that awaits you! And ye who have hitherto been happy or prudent enough to continue in your duty, profit by this terrible example! Our general in chief has not told you in vain that ♦Observador Portuguez, 347.♦ clouds of rebels shall be dispersed before us like the sands of the desert before the impetuous breath of the south wind.”

The bombastic sentence which Kellermann thus quoted, was from a proclamation that Junot had just sent forth, in that spirit of shameless falsehood and remorseless tyranny which characterised the intrusive government. He asked the Portugueze what madness possessed them? What reason they could have, after seven months of the most perfect tranquillity, of the best understanding, to take arms; ... and against whom? against an army which was to secure their independence and maintain the integrity of their country! Was it their wish, then, that ancient Lusitania should become a province of Spain? Could they regret a dynasty which had abandoned them, and under which they were no longer counted among the nations of Europe? What more could they desire than to be Portugueze, and independent? and this Napoleon had promised them. They had asked him for a king, who, under his all-powerful protection, might restore their country to its rank. At this moment their new monarch was expecting to approach them. “I hoped,” said Junot, “to place him in a peaceable and flourishing kingdom; am I to show him nothing but ruins and graves? Will he reign in a desert? assuredly not; and you will not be any thing but a wretched province of Spain. Your customs and laws have been maintained; your holy religion, which is ours also, has not suffered the least insult; it is you who violate it, suffering it to be influenced by heretics, who only wish for its destruction. Ask the unhappy Roman-catholics of Ireland under what oppression they are groaning! If these perfidious islanders invade your territory, leave me to fight them; ... your part is to remain peaceably in your fields.” He then attempted to soothe them, saying, that if any abuses in the administration still existed, every day’s experience would diminish them. The Emperor, satisfied with the reports which he had received of the public spirit, had graciously remitted half the contribution. He was fulfilling all their wishes. And would they let themselves be dragged on by the influence of a banditti, at the very moment when they should be happy? “Portugueze,” said he, “you have but one moment to implore the clemency of the Emperor and disarm his wrath. Already the armies of Spain touch your frontiers at every point; ... you are lost if you hesitate. Merit your pardon by quick submission, or behold the punishment that awaits you! Every village or town in which the people have taken arms, and fired upon my troops, shall be delivered up to pillage, and destroyed, and the inhabitants shall be put to the sword. Every individual ♦Observador Portuguez, 317–320.♦ found in arms shall instantly be shot.”

The French had dealt largely in false promises; they were sincere in their threats, and on the very day when this proclamation was issued at Lisbon, that sincerity was proved at Beja. ♦National feeling of the Portugueze.♦ But as the Portugueze had not been deceived, neither were they now to be intimidated. Their character had been totally mistaken by their insolent oppressors. They, like the Spaniards, had a deep and ever-present remembrance of their former greatness. It was sometimes expressed with a vanity which excited the contempt of those who judge hastily upon that imperfect knowledge which is worse than ignorance; more generally it produced a feeling of dignified and melancholy pride. The kingdom had decayed, but the degeneracy of the people was confined to the higher ranks, whom every possible cause, physical and moral, combined to degrade. Generation after generation, they had intermarried, not merely within the narrow circle of a few privileged families, but oftentimes in their own; uncles with their nieces, nephews with their aunts. The canonical law was dispensed with for these alliances; but no dispensing power could set aside the law of nature, which rendered degeneracy the sure consequence. Thus was the breed deteriorated; and education completed the mischief. The young fidalgo was never regarded as a boy: as soon as the robes, or rather bandages of infancy were laid aside, he appeared in the dress of manhood, was initiated in its forms and follies, and it was rather his misfortune than his fault, if, at an early age, he became familiar with its vices. When he arrived at manhood, no field for exertion was open to him, even if he were qualified or disposed to exert himself. The private concerns of embellishing and improving an estate were as little known in Portugal as those public affairs in which the nobility of Great Britain are so actively engaged: if not in office, he was in idleness, and his idleness was passed in the capital. A wasteful expenditure made him a bad landlord, and a bad paymaster; a deficient education made him a bad statesman; and well was it if the lax morality which the casuists had introduced into a corrupt religion, did not make him a bad man. Exceptions there were, because there are some dispositions so happily tempered, that their original goodness can never be wholly depraved, however unpropitious the circumstances in which they are placed; but men, for the most part, are what circumstances make them, and these causes of degeneracy were common to all of the higher class. On the other hand, the middle classes were improved, and the peasantry uncorrupted. Their occupations were the same as those of their forefathers; nor did they differ from them in any respect, except what was a most important one at this time, that a long interval of peace, and their frequent intercourse with the Spaniards, had effaced the old enmity between the two nations, so that along the border the languages were intermingled, and intermarriages so common, as to have produced a natural and moral union. They were a fine, hospitable, noble-minded race, respected most by those who knew them best. The upper boughs were scathed, but the trunk and the root were sound.

Their ignorance as well as their superstition, contributed at this time to excite and sustain a national resistance. They expected miracles in their favour; the people of Coimbra actually believed that a miracle had been wrought, because when the French fired upon them from the windows of their quarters, no person was ♦Neves, iii. 210.♦ hurt. Of the relative strength of nations they knew nothing, nor of the arrangements which are necessary for carrying on war, nor of the resources by which it must be maintained. Spain filled a larger space in their imagination than France, and Portugal than either; and they were not erroneous in believing that Spain and Portugal together possessed a strength which might defy the world. The threats of the intrusive government therefore excited indignation instead of dismay; such language addressed to minds in their state of exaltation, was like water cast upon a fire intense enough to decompose it, and convert its elements into fuel for the flames. The fate of Beja excited hatred and the thirst of vengeance instead of fear, and the insurrection continued to spread in the very province where the experiment had been made upon so large a scale of putting an end to it by fire and sword.

A Portugueze of the old stamp, by name Antonio Leite de Araujo Ferreira Bravo, held the office of Juiz de Fora at Marvam, a small town about eight miles from Portalegre, surrounded with old walls. Of the many weak places upon that frontier it was the only one which, in the short campaign of 1801, resisted the Spaniards in their unjust and impolitic invasion, and was not taken by them; and this was in great measure owing to his exertions. When the French usurped the government, a verbal order came from the Marquez d’Alorna, at that time general of the province, to admit either French or Spanish troops as friends, and give them possession of the place. Antonio Leite protested against this, maintaining that no governor ought to deliver up a place intrusted to his keeping without a formal and authentic order: proceedings were instituted against him for his opposition, and he was severely reprehended, this being thought punishment enough at that time, and in a town where no commotion was dreamt of. When the decree arrived at Marvam, by which it was announced that the house of Braganza had ceased to reign, Antonio Leite sent for the public notaries of the town, and resigned his office, stating, in a formal instrument, that he did this because he would not be compelled to render that obedience to a foreign power which was due to his lawful and beloved Sovereign, and to him alone. Then taking with him these witnesses to the church of the Misericordia, he deposited his wand of office in the hands of an image of N. Senhor dos Passos, and in the highest feeling of old times called upon the sacred image to keep it till it should one day be restored to its rightful possessor. He then returned to his house, and put himself in deep mourning. The order arrived for taking down the royal arms. He entreated the Vereador not to execute it, upon the plea that the escutcheon here was not that of the Braganza family, but of the kingdom, put up in the reign of Emanuel, and distinguished by his ♦Neves, ii. 109–122.♦ device; and when this plea was rejected, he took the shield into his own keeping, and laid it carefully by, to be preserved for better days.

The Juiz seems to have been a man who had read the chronicles of his own country till he had thoroughly imbibed their spirit. These actions were so little in accord with the feelings and manners of the present age, that they were in all likelihood ascribed to insanity, and that imputation saved him from the persecution which he would otherwise have incurred. But when the national feeling began to manifest itself, such madness was then considered dangerous, and the Corregidor of Portalegre received orders from Lisbon to arrest him. Before these orders arrived he had begun to stir for the deliverance of his country, and had sent a confidential person with a letter to Galluzo, the Spanish commander at Badajoz, requesting aid from thence to occupy Marvam; men could not be spared; and the messenger returned with the unwelcome intelligence that before he left Badajoz the business on which he went had transpired, and was publicly talked of. Perceiving now that his life was in danger, his first care was that no person might suffer but himself, and therefore he laid upon his table a copy of the letter which he had written, from which it might be seen that the invitation was his single act and deed; having done this, he seemed rather to trust to Providence than to take any means for securing himself. It was not long before, looking out at the window, he saw the Corregedor with an adjutant of Kellermann’s and a party of horse coming to his house. He had just time to bid the servant say he was not within, and slip into the street by a garden door. He had got some distance, when the Corregedor saw him, and called after him, saying he wanted to settle with him concerning the quartering of some troops. Antonio Leite knew what his real business was too well to be thus deceived, and quickened his pace. The town has two gates, one of which was fastened, because the garrison was small: toward that however he ran, well knowing that if he were not intercepted at the other, he should be pursued and surely overtaken. Joaquim José de Matos, a Coimbra student, then at home for the vacation, met him, and offered to conceal him in his house; but the Juiz continued to run, seeing that the soldiers were in pursuit, dropt from the wall, escaped with little hurt, and then scrambled down the high and steep crag upon which it stands. Matos, thinking that he had now involved himself, ran also, and being of diminutive stature, squeezed himself through a hole in the gate; they then fled together toward Valencia de Alcantara, and had ♦Neves, iii. 333–337.♦ the satisfaction, at safe distance, of seeing a Swiss escort come round the walls to the place where the Juiz had dropt.

The Spanish frontier being so near, their escape was easy; but when they had been a few days at Valencia de Alcantara, Matos determined upon returning to his family, knowing that there was no previous charge against him, and thinking that the act of having spoken to the Juiz could not be punished as a crime. In this he was mistaken. The governor of Marvam was a worthy instrument of the French. He not only arrested Matos, but his father also, an old man who was dragged from his bed, where he lay in a fit of the gout, to be thrown into a Portugueze prison; and a physician, whom he suspected of being concerned in the scheme of an insurrection. This news reached the Juiz; it was added, that his own property had been sequestered, he himself outlawed, and all persons forbidden to harbour him, and that a French escort had arrived to carry the three prisoners to Elvas. He could not endure to think that he should be, however innocently, the occasion of their death, and therefore determined to attempt at least their deliverance at any hazard. It was not difficult to find companions at a time when all usual occupations were at a stand, and every man eager to be in action against an odious enemy. With a few Spanish volunteers he crossed the frontier, and there raised the peasantry, who knew and respected him: with this force he proceeded to a point upon the road between Marvam and Elvas; the escort had passed, ... but he had the satisfaction to learn that it had not gone for the prisoners, only to bring away the ammunition and spike the guns. This raised their spirits; they directed their course to Marvam, climbed the walls during the night, opened the prison, seized the governor, and without the slightest opposition from two hundred Portugueze troops, whom he had just obtained from Elvas to secure the place, and who, if they knew what was passing, did not choose to notice it, the adventurers returned to Valencia in triumph with their friends, and with the governor prisoner. The Junta of Valencia did not now hesitate, in conformity to an order from Badajoz, to give the Juiz regular ♦June 26.♦ assistance; he entered Marvam in triumph with this auxiliary force, and the Prince Regent was proclaimed there by the rejoicing inhabitants, at the very time when Beja was in flames. A few ♦Insurrection at Campo-Mayor.♦ days afterwards a Spanish detachment from Albuquerque entered Campo-Mayor with the same ♦July 2.♦ facility. Some jealousies which arose there, as well as at Marvam, from the inconsiderate conduct of the Spanish officers in issuing orders as if they were in their own territories, were put an end to by the formation of a Junta, of which the Spanish commander at Campo-Mayor was made president. The example of these places was immediately followed at Ouguela, Castello de Vide, Arronches, and Portalegre; and the insurrection thus extended throughout all that ♦Neves, iii. 337–360.♦ part of the province which is to the north of Elvas.

Junot meantime was in a state of great anxiety at Lisbon. It was not known what was become of Maransin and the troops in Algarve; there was no news of Loison; the insurrection in the north had reached Coimbra, and was spreading in Estremadura, and there was a report, probable enough to obtain credit, that an expedition of 10,000 English was off the bar. He called a ♦June 28.♦ council, at which the generals of division, Comte de Laborde and Travot, were present, the chief of the staff, General Thiebault, Baron de Margaron, and other officers. The result of their conference was, that the army should be collected in and near Lisbon, leaving garrisons in only the three important places of Almeida, Elvas, and Peniche; that Setubal and the left bank of the Tagus should be maintained as long as possible; that when the English appeared they should occupy in succession three positions; one from Leiria to Ourem and Thomar; a second from ♦Thiebault, Relation, 128.♦ Santarem to Rio-Mayor, Obidos, and Peniche; lastly, one from Saccavem to Cintra: finally, that they should defend Lisbon till the utmost extremity, and only leave it to retire upon Elvas, rest the troops there, and then force their way either to Madrid, Segovia, or Valladolid. In

♦1808.
July.♦ pursuance of this resolution, Kellermann was summoned from Alem-Tejo, and courier after courier dispatched to recall Loison from Beira. Junot’s next measure was to put the church plate ♦Observador Portuguez, 321.♦ which he had secured in a portable form, and for this purpose what there was no time for coining was melted into ingots. To counteract the rumours, true and false, by which the Portugueze were encouraged, it was affirmed that Napoleon had entered Spain, and that 20,000 men had reached the frontiers of Portugal to reinforce the French. Alarmed and harassed by contradictory rumours, and dreading from the temper of the people an insurrection, which would be punished by a massacre, many families removed from Lisbon; those who had country estates to their Quintas, the greater number to the different ♦Observador Portuguez, 343. n.♦ places on the opposite side of the river, particularly ♦July 1.♦ Almada and Casilhas. They were however ordered to return; every head of a family who did not within four days obey this order was to be arrested, and all persons were prohibited from leaving Lisbon, unless they were provided with a passport from the police, ... an institution to which the Portugueze at this time applied the name of the Inquisition. It was of importance, the decree said, that good citizens should be secured against the ridiculous rumours which were promulgated, and that all notions of danger to the city of Lisbon should be put an end to; the French army would know how to maintain tranquillity there. This, however, was less a measure of policy than of extortion; those families who had retired were made to pay, in proportion to their means, for permission to remain where they were. They who had nothing to ♦Observador Portuguez, 345.♦ give suffered the whole inconvenience of this oppressive law.

The French commander tried to suppress the national feeling by the influence of religion. In the village of Varatojo, near Torres Vedras, there was a famous seminary for itinerant preachers of the Franciscan order, instituted by Fr. Antonio das Chagas, a man remarkable alike for his genius, for the profligacy of his youth, and the active, austere, enthusiastic piety of his after life. Junot sent for the Guardian of this seminary, requiring his immediate attendance; the old man, in strict adherence to the rule of his order, which forbade him to travel by any other means, obeyed the summons on foot, and arrived four-and-twenty hours later than the time appointed. He was then ordered to dispatch some of his preachers, as men who possessed great authority over the people, to Leiria and into Alem-Tejo, to preach the duty of submission and tranquil obedience. The Guardian excused himself by representing that his brethren who were qualified for such a mission were already on their circuits, and that there were then in the seminary none but youths engaged in preparing for the ministry, and old men, who, being past all service, rested there ♦Neves, iv. 61–63.♦ from their labours, in expectation of their release. ♦July 2.♦ The dignitaries of the patriarchal church could not so well evade his commands; a pastoral letter was obtained from them denouncing excommunication against all persons who should, directly or indirectly, either by writing, speaking, or acting, encourage the spirit of insurrection which had gone abroad. This was sent into the provinces, with a letter from the French intendant of police, Lagarde, in which the clergy ♦July 4.♦ and the heads of convents were informed, that wherever public tranquillity might be disturbed, they would be held responsible, because no disturbance would break out if they exerted themselves to prevent it, as the true spirit of religion required. The fate of Beja, he said, should be that of every city in Portugal which should have the guilty imprudence to revolt against the Emperor, now the sole sovereign of that country. And he asked the Portugueze, wherefore they would bring upon themselves the heavy weight of power at a moment when the Almighty authority (such was the blasphemous expression) thought only of putting in oblivion the rights of conquest, and of governing with mildness? Is it, said he, before a few handfuls of factious men ♦Observador Portuguez, 348–353.♦ in Portugal that the star of the great Napoleon is to be obscured, or the arm of one of his most valiant and skilful captains to be deadened? Deeply as the baneful superstition of the Romish church has rooted itself in that country, the threat of excommunication excited nothing but contempt. The French could not derive any assistance from ecclesiastical interference while it was remembered that they had robbed the churches.

It is not extraordinary that the intrusive government should have failed to deceive the people by its addresses; but that it should have attempted so to do; that it should have talked of benefits intended and conferred upon a nation on whom it had brought such wide and general misery, and inflicted injuries as unprovoked as they were enormous, indicated indeed an effrontery of which none but the agents of Buonaparte were capable. Their insolent language exasperated the Portugueze. One of these papers was lying upon a tradesman’s counter in Thomar, and one of their very few partizans vindicated the manner in which the Prince was there spoken of, saying, that the country was now rid of him and of the Inquisition. A Franciscan who was present immediately took a knife from his sleeve, and struck it through the paper into the board, saying, that in that manner he would serve any one who dared speak against his Prince and his religion: and producing a pistol, he was only withheld by force from giving murderous proof of his sincerity. An information was laid against him, and a party of Portugueze soldiers sent from Abrantes to arrest him: he absconded in time, and the Guardian of the convent, who was suspected of favouring his escape, was taken in his stead. Before they could carry him out of the ♦Neves, iv. 3–8.♦ town, the people rose and rescued him, and the restoration of the legitimate government was proclaimed with the same ceremonies as in other places.

About the same time a handful of students from Coimbra, collecting volunteers as they went, spread the insurrection at Condeixa, Ega, and Pombal, and approached Leiria, from which city a small party of the French retired before them. This place was within easy reach of the enemy, and troops, arms, and ammunition were wanting to defend it. The people sent to Coimbra for all, as if Coimbra could supply either: the Bishop exerted himself to forward the preparations; and the people mustered tumultuously with that confidence which an ignorant multitude always feels of its own untried strength. The French had some small garrisons upon the coast, about twenty miles off, in the little forts of Nazareth, S. Giam, and S. Martinho, which communicated with each other by telegraphs, and drew rations every day from the adjoining country. The Juiz of Pederneira was compelled to furnish these; in this time of alarm he was called upon to store them with a convenient stock beforehand, and because this was not, and could not be done in a few hours, they began to pillage the neighbourhood. Provoked at this, the fishermen fell upon a ♦Success of the insurgents at Nazareth.♦ Frenchman, who was going with dispatches from S. Martinho to Nazareth, and murdered him, crying, Down with the French! The sentinel at the signal-post had the same fate ... the signal-post was broken, and the country round about was presently in insurrection. The enemy withdrew from S. Giam and S. Martinho, having hastily spiked two guns at the former place, and buried two barrels of powder. They fell back upon a detachment under General Thomieres, which watched the country between the Caldas, Obidos, and Peniche. Nazareth was blockaded by the insurgents; the report was, that a considerable Spanish army had arrived at Leiria, and incredible as this was, it was believed, and gave full confidence to these ignorant and zealous people. They sent thither for assistance, and the Coimbra students came with a party of peasants, those who could muster the best arms. The cannon were brought from S. Giam, and rendered serviceable; the two barrels of powder were discovered; a Portugueze artilleryman escaped from the fort to join his countrymen, and direct their operations; and the French, finding themselves now in serious danger, capitulated ♦July 5.♦ to save their lives. The victorious students and their party were far advanced on their ♦Neves, iv. 14–30.♦ return to Leiria, when they heard news of that miserable city, which rendered it necessary for them to strike into the pine forest, and conduct their prisoners by unfrequented ways to Figueira.