Chapter X: Insurrection in Portugal (4)

The first tidings of Loison’s movement which reached Evora were, that he had crossed the Tagus, and was in full march towards that city. No time was lost in transmitting this from Aldea Gallega; any previous intelligence had been rendered impossible by the secrecy with which the French prepared their measures. Moretti applied for reinforcements to Badajoz; orders were sent for the forces from Campo-Mayor and the other places in the north of the province, to hasten to Evora, and General Galluzo was requested to occupy the posts which would be left unprotected by their absence; but no assistance came from Badajoz, and Galluzo, instead of acting as was expected, forbade the Portugueze to leave Campo-Mayor. An advanced guard of 700 men had been stationed at Montemor o Novo, twenty miles from the city. General Leite ordered 400 men to reinforce this post. They met the corps which they had been sent to support in full retreat, the commander, not knowing that succours were on the way to him, having thought himself too weak to await[20] an attack. Instead of deriving confidence or hope from the meeting, they hastened to Evora, and entered the city in alarm, exclaiming that they were betrayed. That cry, in such miserable times, is sure to be eagerly taken up. The people had been assured that the French who were coming against them did not exceed 800 men; this had been said either in a most erroneous policy, to keep up the spirits of the inhabitants, by deceiving them as to the extent of their danger; or more probably in good faith, all ranks being credulous in believing what they wished; the natural effect, when the truth now became known, was to give the populace apparent ground for believing the vague charge of treason; their tumultuous movements were with difficulty suppressed, and the Corregedor found himself so marked an object of suspicion, that, in the hope of securing himself, he secretly left the city. Order being in some degree restored, piquets of cavalry and patroles were stationed for the night. In the morning a company of Miquelets arrived from Villa-Viçosa (that term having been borrowed from the Catalans), and the legion of Foreign Volunteers in the Spanish service, under Sargento-Mor D. Antonio Maria Gallego: both came by forced marches; the latter had left Jurumenha the preceding evening, a distance of four-and-forty miles. With these succours the whole force collected then amounted to 1770 ♦NEVES, IV. 126–131.♦ men, of whom about half were regular troops, the others being volunteers newly-raised and undisciplined.

♦EVORA.♦

The city of Evora is so ancient, that fabulous history has laid its foundation more than two thousand years before the Christian era. Certain it is, that it was a flourishing city in the days of Viriatus. Sertorius chose it for his residence; some of the buildings with which he adorned it are still remaining, and the inhabitants are still supplied with water by his aqueduct, which Joam III. repaired. Cæsar made it a municipal town, and from him it was called Liberalitas Julia. Under the Visigoths it continued to flourish, and Sisebut coined money there. It was recovered from the Moors in the reign of Affonso Henriquez, the first king, by the romantic enterprise of Giraldo the Fearless, then an outlaw. King Fernando rebuilt or repaired its walls; and Cardinal Henrique founded an university and established an Inquisition there; but the university had been suppressed. In the war of the Restoration it was besieged and taken by D. Juan de Austria, but it was soon recovered, and the Spaniards in retreating toward their own frontier suffered one of the most signal defeats which they sustained during that long contest. Its population, once amounting to 40,000, had declined to about half that number at the beginning of the eighteenth century; since which time it had varied so little, that there had neither been any apparent diminution nor increase. The city was populous enough to have defeated the force which was now marching against it, if it had been prepared for a Zaragozan defence. There is courage enough for any thing in the Portugueze character; but that individual and commanding genius was wanting by which alone the inhabitants of a large city can be made to act steadily with one will, and thereby capable of heroic valour. They prepared for a military defence in the field, which was exposing peasantry and half-disciplined troops to certain defeat.

♦ACTION BEFORE THE CITY.

JULY 29.♦

About seven in the morning the vedettes announced that the enemy were in sight, and the Portugueze took their ground in better order than might have been expected, considering the alarm and insubordination which had lately prevailed, and the real inequality of the contest. Their right rested upon the Mill of S. Bento, about a mile from the city, the centre was posted upon the hill of S. Caetano, the left rested upon the Quinta dos Cucos. Having reconnoitred this position, Loison directed General Solignac to attack the enemy’s right, and Margaron to break the centre with one part of his brigade, while the other attacked the left; they were to unite behind the city, occupy the roads to Arrayolos and Estremoz, and thus cut off the fugitives from all retreat, the cavalry being ready for pursuit upon the right and left, ... so sure and easy a victory was anticipated. The action began about eleven. The Portugueze had four four-pounders in their right wing, one three-pounder in the centre, and two howitzers in the left; there was no want of artillerymen, and if the other troops had understood their business and performed their duty like these, the event might have been doubtful; but the cavalry could not by any exertion of their commanders be brought into action; they hung back and retired, while the infantry stood their ground. When the latter were defeated, instead of flying, as the French had expected, in all directions, they retreated into the town. The defeat, however, was thought so irreparable, that General Leite and his staff made the best of their way to Olivença, and Moretti hastened to the Archbishop, to bid him provide for saving his own life without delay, in the imminent danger which threatened it. The venerable prelate calmly told him in reply, to think of preserving his own, which might yet be useful and honourable to his country; for himself, he said, the remainder of his days, few and useless as they needs must be, did not deserve a thought. The city had five gates, three of which had been walled up; the breaches which time had made in the walls had also been closed, but the walls were old and ruinous, and the French forced their entrance at many points, and then most of the defendants took flight: ... Moretti and the ♦NEVES, IV. 132–138. OBSERVADOR PORTUGUEZ 382–387. THIEBAULT, 158–165.♦ Spaniards to Jurumenha, the company from Villa-Viçosa to their own town; others dispersed; time was gained for them by the resistance which Lieutenant-Colonel Franco made at one of the gates, and the brave conduct of the foreign volunteers under [21]Gallego, who fought desperately in the streets, and suffered great loss.

♦THE CITY TAKEN.♦

The horrors which ensued will be remembered in Portugal while any record of past times shall be preserved there. Though even a military pretext was wanting for delivering up the city and the inhabitants to the will of the soldiers, the whole proceedings of the Portugueze and their Spanish allies having been those of regular war, to them it was abandoned. A resolution had been taken in the Junta that those persons who feared the event should provide for their safety by retiring in time; ... from some unexplained cause, most probably from a well-grounded fear that any persons who attempted to remove would be regarded as traitors by the furious populace, few or none availed themselves of this ominous warning; when it was too late great numbers got over the walls, but the French horse surrounded the city, and showed as little mercy to the fugitives without, as the infantry did to the ♦INHUMANITY OF THE CONQUERORS.♦ inhabitants within. The convents and churches afforded no asylum; not those who had borne arms alone, but children and old men, were massacred, and women were violated and slaughtered. The lowest computation makes the number of these victims amount to 900. The clergy and religioners were especial objects of vengeance: they were literally hunted from their hiding-places like wild beasts: eight-and-thirty were butchered; among them was the Bishop of Maranham. The Archbishop’s intercession with Loison obtained only a promise that a stop should be put to these enormities; no attempt was made to restrain them that day, nor during the whole night, nor till eleven on the following morning, and then by an order of the General, what he called the lawful pillage was declared to be at an end; but he contented himself with ♦OBSERVADOR PORTUGUEZ, 387. NEVES, IV. 138–142.♦ issuing the order; no means for enforcing it were taken, and the soldiers continued their abominations till every place had been ransacked, and their worst passions had been[22] glutted.

♦ALARM AT ESTREMOZ.♦

According to the statement of the French, 8000 of the allies were killed or wounded in the battle and in the capture of the city, and 4000 made prisoners, the latter being chiefly peasants. Their own loss they stated at 90 killed, and more than 200 wounded. The intimidation of that part of the country which was within the immediate reach of the victors was such as might be expected after such a blow. At the first rumour that reached Estremoz, the populace became ungovernable; their first impulse was that of rage, which would willingly have found any victim on which to sate itself. An officer had just arrived from Portalegre; they fancied that he had prevented the coming of some regular troops, which they had looked for; an attempt was made to murder him in the hall of the Junta, whither he fled for refuge, and in the presence of the members; and there was no other means of saving him but by concealing him from the ferocious rabble. Presently a dispatch came, announcing the total defeat at Evora, the capture of the city, and the loss of every thing. Such was the temper of the people, that it was a service of the utmost danger to communicate this news; and the member who attempted to read the dispatch to them from a varanda found his life in danger, and drew back. But it was not possible either to conceal the fatal intelligence or to delay it. Estremoz would assuredly be the next object of the enemy, and Evora was only six leagues distant; if they had hitherto dreamt of defending the town, the fate of Evora was now before their eyes: they knew that even the unreasonable multitude would feel this near and imminent danger, though they would not endure to be told of it; and the members of the Junta determined to take measures for immediate submission. The melancholy manner with which they passed through the crowd confirmed the worst apprehensions of the people; and as they went along they spake each to those persons on whose prudence he could rely, telling them what had occurred, and what must now of necessity be done; thus they thought the news might pass from one to another with the least danger, and every one take such measures for himself as he deemed best. There was a cry of treason at first, when it was seen that of the three guns which had been mounted to defend the walls, one was cast into the ditch, and the other two sent off to Olivença. The Juiz de Fora became the object of suspicion, and could he have been found at that moment, would have been murdered; ... so fickle is popular feeling, that this very man was presently sought for as the ♦NEVES, IV. 145–149.♦ fittest person to give counsel. A meeting was held, and a messenger deputed to solicit Loison’s clemency.

♦LOISON PROCEEDS TO ELVAS.♦

Loison received the messenger well, thinking that severity enough had been shown to secure the submission of Alem-Tejo. He constituted a provisional government in Evora, at the head of which the Archbishop was compelled to act, and he set off for Estremoz on the fourth day ♦AUGUST 2.♦ after the action. He raised no contributions there, permitted no pillage, and paid for every thing which the troops consumed; he also set at liberty some of his prisoners. But when he proceeded to Elvas he ordered two Swiss prisoners to be shot, condemned four others to work in chains for five years, threw the Spanish commander Gallego into a dungeon, and condemned the Portugueze Lieut.-Colonel Franco to death, for bearing arms against the French. The Bishop of Elvas interceded earnestly for this officer, and finding all intercession vain, concluded by saying, if this favour were refused him, he had still one to ask, which was, that the General would sentence him to the same fate, seeing life would be hateful to him if he could not save his countryman under such circumstances. Loison was ♦1808. AUGUST. NEVES, IV. 149, 156–158. OBSERVADOR PORTUGUEZ, 397.♦ touched at this, and revoked the order for execution. That General has left a name in Portugal which will be execrated to the latest generations; here, however, is an instance which evinces some sense of generosity, as if his heart had not been naturally bad; but it was the tendency of the Revolution, and of Buonaparte’s system, to make men wicked whom it did not find so.

♦LOISON ENTERS PORTALEGRE.♦

The less portable part of the plunder of Evora was sold at Elvas, a sort of fair being held for the purpose; and many persons purchased church vessels for the sake of restoring them to the altars from whence they had been taken. Loison made a movement upon Badajoz, and believing that the troops in that city had been called off to the Spanish armies, and that his recent success had occasioned great consternation there, endeavoured to introduce officers under a flag of truce, for the purpose of observing the state of the place; but they were refused admittance. The commandant of Elvas, Colonel Miquel, had made himself odious in that city, especially for executing a German as an emissary of the Spaniards, the main proof against him being some thirty pieces of gold which were found in his possession. Some fugitives from Elvas, with a few comrades from Campo-Mayor, waylaid this commandant as he went from the city, intending to sleep in Fort La Lippe, for greater security; they fired upon him and an officer in his company; the officer escaped, but Miquel lay all night upon the ground, the soldiers not venturing to seek him in the darkness, and being removed to Lisbon, he died there of his wounds. ♦HE IS RECALLED TO THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF LISBON.♦ This was some days before Loison’s arrival. That General appointed M. Girod de Novilard of the engineers to succeed him, and marched upon Portalegre. The Spaniards had already retired from thence, and the Bishop, with most of the principal persons, withdrew also in time. The city was plundered, and a contribution of 100,000 cruzados demanded from the district; about 40,000 were raised, and six persons were carried away as pledges for the remainder. He then ♦NEVES, IV. 156–164. THIEBAULT, 168–172.♦ marched for Abrantes, having received dispatches which ordered him to hasten his return toward Lisbon by that route, it being now certain that an expedition from England was off the coast.

♦INSUBORDINATION OF THE PEOPLE AT PORTO.♦

Those provinces, meantime, which had not felt the vengeance of the French were in a state of anarchy. The temporary dissolution of order, even though no revolutionary opinions were at work, produced evils little less alarming than the actual presence of the enemy. The cry of an inflamed multitude is always for blood. The Intendant of Police at Porto addressed a manly proclamation to the people, reproving them for eagerly demanding the death of a few suspected persons, who were already in the hands of justice, and from whom they had nothing to fear. In the processes against them, he said, there ought to be nothing precipitate, nothing that could be accused of inhumanity; he must see that all the proofs of their guilt were brought forward, that his own honour might suffer no stain. If they were dissatisfied with him, he would gladly lay down an office which he had never solicited; more willingly would he accompany his son to the army, than occupy a station for which, even in quiet times, he should have thought himself unqualified; and though life was dear to him, he would rather lose it in the service of his country than in a tumult. But mobs are as seldom capable of reason as of compunction. It was necessary, for the sake of preventing wider evils, to accelerate the processes, and to promise blood. No person, however innocent of any connexion with the French, however distinguished for his exertions against them, was safe from suspicion; no place, however sacred, was secure from search. Upon a report that a suspected person had concealed himself in a burial-vault, it was proposed to open all the vaults in the church till he was found. Upon another rumour that he was concealed in a nun’s habit in a Carmelite nunnery, the mob proposed to break in and examine the sisterhood. Raymundo exerted himself to prevent this scandalous outrage. Some one charged him also with treason, and his life was for a moment in danger. But Raymundo, who knew how little in such times any popularity, however deserved, was to be trusted, had provided himself with a crucifix in case of need. He displayed ♦NEVES, IV. 209–224.♦ it in this emergency, and by an exclamation according with the display, induced the rabble to join with him in a shout of loyalty, and succeeded in dissuading them from entering the convent.

♦DESIGN OF A MILITARY USURPATION IN THAT CITY.♦

Even in this early stage of popular commotions a military usurpation is said to have been projected by Luiz Candido Cordeiro Pinheiro Furtado, in conjunction with Joam Manoel de Mariz. Both were esteemed good officers; the latter was a member of the Junta, the former offended that he had not been nominated, and still more so that another person had been made commander-in-chief. They designed to erect a military Junta under their own direction, and they proposed to raise a corps under the name of the Loyal Porto Legion, of which Candido was to have the command; the officers were named, the uniform designed, and worn by Candido with some of his associates; he took to himself also a guard of honour, which, from a small beginning, was gradually increased, till at length the armed attendance with which he always appeared in public was such as to excite reasonable apprehension. The city was in this state when Bernardim Freire arrived from Coimbra to take upon himself the command. He was received with great joy by the people; but Luiz Candido was evidently displeased at his coming, and Bernardim was soon apprised that a conspiracy was formed against him and against the Junta. He was careful therefore to keep Candido and Mariz as much about his person as possible. Among other precautions for preserving tranquillity in the city, he ordered the guns to be unloaded; persons were not wanting to represent this as being done with a treacherous design; and a priest, notorious for irregularities, at the head of a mob seized his bridle, and exclaimed that the people would have no such General. A dangerous stir had already begun, when some men of better mind came resolutely forward; one of them felled the priest to the ground; Bernardim spake to the crowd in a manner which conciliated their good ♦NEVES, IV. 225–229.♦ will, the priest was thrown into prison, and the day was closed with an illumination in honour of the General.

♦THE CONSPIRATORS ARE SEIZED.♦

Upon the arrival of D. Miguel Pereira Forjaz to assist his brother-in-law Bernardim, an attempt was made to establish a military Junta, in aid of the provisional government, and as a check upon the designs of Candido and his associates. This, however, proved ineffectual; and they proceeded so rapidly in organizing an armed party, that it was deemed necessary to secure Candido and Mariz without delay, lest the city should become a scene of bloodshed. They were accordingly summoned to a consultation at the Bishop’s palace, and there arrested. Their escort, which, as usual, had accompanied them, began to express displeasure at this; and three of the men entering the palace, demanded insolently that their commander should be delivered to them; if he were innocent, they said, they would set him at liberty; if he were a traitor, they would blow him to pieces from the mouth of a cannon. These men were secured, and Raymundo, with some other officers to whom this service had been assigned, disarmed their fellows. The agitation, however, continued the whole day, though this was at an early hour; and it was not till after midnight that the prisoners could be conducted without danger of a rescue to the jail. They were immediately proceeded against according to the forms of Portugueze law, and the evidence against them appeared so conclusive, that Candido was condemned to death, and Mariz to be degraded to Angola. The gallows accordingly was erected, Candido was led into the oratory to perform the last religious duties, the brethren of the Misericordia went out to attend the execution, and the crowd collected to witness it; when, after a while, it was announced that the two prisoners were removed to the fortress of S. Joam da Foz, to be embarked for Brazil, and there placed at the Prince’s disposal. So fickle is a multitude, that the crowd, which a few days before had almost mutinied because of the arrest of this man, became riotous now because he was not put to death. They were pacified by the personal exertions of the Bishop and two of his dignitaries, and by an official notification that the Junta having pronounced sentence of death against Luiz Candido upon full proof of a most ♦NEVES, IV. 229–237.♦ atrocious crime, had thought it proper to lay the proceedings before the Prince, and remit the criminal to his mercy.

♦1808. JULY.♦

The populace at Porto were kept in some degree of submission by the vigorous measures of the provisional government, the respect which was paid to the episcopal character, and by the influence which men of property possess in a ♦DISTURBANCES AT BRAGANZA.♦ flourishing commercial town. In remoter parts the local authorities were weaker, and tumults of the most disgraceful nature occurred. After the provinces beyond the mountains and between the rivers had been delivered from their first danger, by the failure of Loison’s expedition from Almeida, they were more seriously alarmed from the side of Castille and Leon; and indeed had it not been for the success of the Spaniards in Andalusia, Junot would probably have received powerful reinforcements from Marshal Bessieres after the battle of Rio Seco. The first disturbances arose at Braganza upon a rumour that this army was approaching. The people gathered together tumultuously, and when they learnt that no enemies were near, directed their vengeance against all whom they suspected; and in such times it is in the power of any wretch, however vile and worthless, to throw suspicion upon the object of his envy or resentment. The Junta, in hope of appeasing them, convoked a popular meeting, ... the readiest means of showing them their power, and teaching them how to abuse it; and the result was, that most of the members of the Junta were turned out, and such as the mob thought fit elected in their places. A shoemaker, and the keeper of a wine-house, who, because he was maimed in one arm, called himself _o Loison Portuguez_, were the kings of the rabble. The latter took upon himself the office of general, and was actually obeyed by the troops. Their chief vengeance was directed against the New-Christians, for Pombal’s law (the redeeming act of that tyrannical statesman) had not even in half a century produced a feeling of toleration in the populace. Any accusation, however preposterous, was believed; they gutted the house of one man, and threw him into prison, upon a charge of witchcraft, for having, it was said, made an image of General Sepulveda, and placed it over the fire in a frying-pan. When the city had thus continued three days under mob-rule, the magistrates took courage from despair, arrested the ruling demagogues during the night, and sent them prisoners to Chaves. Troops came from Villa Real, where Sepulveda at that time was, and tranquillity was restored; but it was necessary to gratify the people by making useless preparations for defence; and the popular opinion was, that nothing but what was right had been done, that the persons whose property had been destroyed, and their lives endangered, ♦NEVES, IV. 238–245.♦ deserved the usage they had suffered, and that the magistrates were bribed by the Jews.

♦THE NEW-CHRISTIANS PLUNDERED AT VILLA NOVA DE FOZ-COA.♦

More serious disturbances occurred at Villa Nova de Foz-Coa, arising from the same popular intolerance and love of rapine. That town, one of the most flourishing in Beira Alta, owed in great part its prosperity to its position at the confluence of the Coa with the Douro. A considerable trade in silk, and in rice, salt-fish, and other articles of foreign importation, brought thither by the river from Porto, was carried on with the adjacent country, and with the Spaniards of the border. This trade was mostly in the hands of persons who, because they were of Jewish extraction, were believed by the vulgar to be still attached in heart to the Mosaic law. The cry of Down with the French, was coupled here with Kill the Jews; ... their houses were attacked, their goods plundered, their persons abused, their lives threatened and seriously endangered, and more than twenty of the wealthiest families in that country reduced to utter ruin by the complete destruction of their property. Some of these unhappy persons effected their escape to Moncorvo; and, because they were protected there, and the Junta of that town endeavoured to restore order at Villa Nova, hostilities ensued between the two townships. The evil spread; and if the Junta of Moncorvo had not arrested during the night some movers of sedition in their town, and seized also some of the ringleaders from Villa Nova, who had crossed the Douro, the province of Tras os Montes would soon have suffered all the evils of civil war, exasperated by a spirit of fanaticism, such as existed in the worst ages of superstition and ignorance. The New-Christians were accused of assisting the French with money, blaspheming God, cursing the Prince, ♦NEVES, IV. 245–263.♦ defiling the crucifix, and finally, of Manicheism! When a judicial inquiry was afterwards instituted concerning the riots, depositions to this effect were made against them upon oath!

♦TROUBLES AT VISEU.♦

The troubles at Viseu, though less destructive in their consequences, assumed a more revolutionary character. The mob insisted upon having a Juiz do Povo, and elected a demagogue to that office, which had not before been known among them, which in quiet times is useless, and in turbulent ones dangerous. Florencio José Correa de Mello, the general of the province, and the Bishop, a good but timid man, instead of refusing to acknowledge this tumultuous and illegal appointment, ratified it by administering an oath to the chosen favourite of the mob, who from that moment became a person of more authority than either Bishop or General. The latter offended the military by refusing to double their pay, as had been so imprudently done at Porto; on this account they became mutinous, and a riot broke out in the city upon an absurd report that Loison was come to visit him. The demagogue, who was lord of the day, obtained from the intimidated Bishop an order for his arrest, his house was sacked, and he and the Juiz de Fora were thrown into prison amid the insults of a multitude who knew not what they did. A meeting of the people was then held, at which the magistrates were deposed, new ones ♦NEVES, IV. 263–273.♦ appointed, and the Bishop was declared Generalissimo, with Silveira, who happened to be passing through Viseu, for his adjutant-general.

Proceedings equally outrageous, and of more perilous tendency, occurred in the town of Arcos de Val de Vez. The bells in that town and in the surrounding villages rung the alarm upon a report that 20,000 French had landed at Espozende, and were entering Ponte de Lima. ♦RIOTOUS PROCEEDINGS AT ARCOS DE VAL DE VEZ.♦ A disorderly multitude collected, and set out in search of the enemy; their courage was easily roused, and soon spent; for when they had ascertained that the report was without foundation, and were returning home, they learnt that a body of men from the north were in possession of their town, and instead of hastening thither to protect their property, and restore order, they took to flight, each seeking a place of refuge where he thought best. The people in fear of whom they fled were peasantry, who, like themselves, had set out to fight the French, in utter disorder; hurrying along in scattered parties, some with a soldier for their leader, some with an abbot, provided neither with ammunition nor bread, increasing their numbers as they went along, and expecting that the magistrates were to issue orders for supplying them wherever they came. The _Vereadores_ exerted themselves to feed this rabble, and be rid of them; the Juiz de Fora, dismayed at such a visitation, and in despair of satisfying such visitors, absconded, and his disappearance was imputed to a consciousness of treason. While they were seeking him every where, an unlucky messenger entered the town with dispatches from the Corregedor of Barcellos, and as he happened to have lost an arm, the senseless multitude took him for Loison; and even when they had examined his papers were still so possessed with this preposterous notion, that they placed him in confinement. Another messenger with letters fell into their hands, and was seized in like manner; and they were demanding a warrant for the apprehension of the Juiz de Fora, when he was brought in from the country, by an inhuman rabble, in a condition which would have excited pity in the poor unthinking wretches themselves who were his tormentors, if they had beheld him separately, and if men did not seem to be divested of all compassion when they act in mobs. With great difficulty they were prevailed upon not to finish killing him, but to lodge him in prison. Presently the thirst for blood returned, and they ordered a young priest to go and prepare him for death. The priest objected that he had not yet received that order in the church which empowered him to officiate in the sacrament of confession; upon which they replied, that they ♦NEVES, IV. 279–287.♦ conferred the order. The young man then entered the prison, and with great presence of mind advised the Juiz to feign himself dead; then going out, he asked the mob, with a tone of anger, why they had sent him to confess a man whom they had already killed? They made no farther inquiry; ... the bells tolled for his death, and by this artifice his life was saved.

♦THE RABBLE ENACT LAWS.♦

The rabble now took upon themselves to reform the state; they began by turning out the members of the Camara, throwing the chairs out of window, demolishing the seat of the Judge, and burning the public papers. They displaced officers, deposed two or three abbots, and nominated a Capuchin friar to be their General. They appointed a Junta, and made laws whereby they abolished the recruiting system, fixed the prices of milk, meat, and wine, prohibited the exportation of bread, forbade all processes for debt, suspended all law-suits during the war, abolished the fees of the parochial priests, and were hardly persuaded to spare the tithes, and, finally, exempted all tenants from payment of manorial rights; and these laws were enacted not for their own district alone, but for the whole kingdom. This was the only indication of a revolutionary disposition which manifested itself during these unhappy times. By good hap the persons whom they had chosen to form their Junta were prudent and well-intentioned men, who temporized with them, and accepted an illegal authority in the hope of restoring order. The anniversary of a religious procession occurred at this time, and they took advantage of it. The Host was borne through the streets, a sermon adapted to the circumstances was preached with good effect, and the reformers, tired of their work, and willing to secure what they had gained by pillage, broke up, and returned to their own part of the country. The people of the land then enrolled themselves, established patroles, and subjected themselves to ♦NEVES, IV. 287–293.♦ good discipline; so that when a second visit of the same kind was attempted, they seized the ringleaders. Troops at length came from Viana, and many of the criminals were apprehended and sent prisoners to Porto.

♦COMMUNICATION BETWEEN ALEM-TEJO AND THE NORTHERN PROVINCES.♦

The authority of the provisional government at Porto would not have been generally acknowledged, and with so little reluctance, throughout these provinces, if that city had not been looked to as a capital, because of its great commercial importance. But so little intercourse was there between the north and south of Portugal, that both had been in insurrection against the French more than a month, before it was known in one part that any resistance had commenced in the other. Vague reports indeed were in circulation, which could be traced to no authentic source; but no intelligence upon which any reliance was placed arrived in Alem-Tejo, till a student from Coimbra, who had enlisted in the academic corps, came to Campo-Mayor on his own concerns, and gave a clear account of the transactions in which ♦JULY 18.♦ he had borne a part. The news was immediately dispatched to Badajoz; tidings of the battle of Baylen reached that city at the same time; and messengers, accredited by the governors of Badajoz and Campo-Mayor, were sent to Coimbra, to communicate the joyful accounts from Spain. They were received not merely with transports of exultation, but with as much surprise, says the Portugueze historian of these events, as if they had come from another world, ... in such utter ignorance were the people of Beira of what had been going on in Alem-Tejo, though the two provinces, along an extent of some forty miles, are only separated by the Tagus. The messengers on their part with equal surprise learnt that the legitimate government was restored in Tras os Montes, and Entre Douro e Minho. Being thus referred to Porto, thither they proceeded; and returned from thence with letters from the Bishop and the General to the Archbishop of Evora and the Junta of Badajoz, recommending the establishment of a provisional government under the Archbishop, similar to that at Porto, that the same system might be pursued in the south as in the north. When they reached Coimbra on their way, they learnt the fate of Evora, that news having been circulated by the French without delay. Proceeding on their journey, when they drew near Castello-Branco they found the roads full of fugitives, removing with their children and families, and such goods as they could carry away, in fear of Loison, so far had the terror of his name extended. It was not then known that he had marched toward Abrantes; and the messengers, to avoid the ♦NEVES, IV. 197–205.♦ danger of falling in with his troops, entered Spain by Zebreira, and so proceeded to Badajoz and Campo-Mayor.

Things were in this state when a British expedition arrived upon the north coast. General Leite was collecting at Olivença the troops which had escaped from Evora. The Conde de Castro-Marim was raising and embodying forces in Algarve; and the Junta of Porto were hardly less perplexed by the perilous spirit of insubordination which prevailed both in the city and in the remoter parts of the provinces, than by the deficiency of money and means for the men who willingly came forward to serve against the invaders. There were numbers, and courage, and good will, but every thing else was wanting.