Many of those who were not crushed or disabled by the falling buildings fled to the Tagus, vainly hoping that they might find there the safety which they had lost on land. For, soon after the shock, the sea also came rushing in like a torrent, though against wind and tide, and rising in an enormous wave, overflowed its banks, devouring all it met on its destructive path. Many large vessels sank at once; others, torn from their anchors, disappeared in the vortex, or, striking against each other, were shattered to pieces. A fine new stone quay, where about three thousand persons had assembled for safety, slipped into the river, and every one was lost; nor did so much as a single body appear afterwards.
Had the misery ended here, it might in some degree have admitted of redress; for, though lives could not be restored, yet a great part of the immense riches that were in the ruins might have been recovered; but a new calamity soon put an end to such hopes, for, in about two hours after the shock, fires broke out in three different parts of the city, caused by the goods and the kitchen fires being all jumbled together. About this time also, a fresh gale suddenly springing up, made the fire rage with such violence that, at the end of three days, the greatest part of the city was reduced to ashes. What the earthquake had spared fell a prey to the fire, and the flames consumed thousands of mutilated victims, who, incapable of flight, lay half-buried in the ruins.
According to a popular report, which, true or not, shows the hatred in which the Holy Office was held, the Inquisition was the first building that fell down, and probably more than one inquisitor, who, in his life-time, had sent scores of Jews or heretics to the stake, was now, in his turn, burnt alive.
As if the unshackled elements were not sufficient agents of destruction, the prisons also cast forth their lawless denizens, and a host of malefactors, rejoicing in the public calamity which paralysed the arm of justice, added rapine and murder to the miseries of the city.
More than 60,000 persons are supposed to have perished in Lisbon from all these various causes. The total loss of property was estimated at fifty millions of dollars, an enormous sum for a small country, and in times when money was far more valuable than at present. A few shocks sufficed to destroy the treasures accumulated by the savings of many generations.
The royal family was at this time residing in the small palace of Belem, about a league out of town, and thus escaped being buried among the ruins of the capital—a fortunate occurrence in the midst of so many misfortunes; for the anarchy that must have ensued from the destruction of all authority would have filled the cup of misery to the brim. As it was, Government seemed utterly incapable of contending with a disaster of such colossal proportions. ‘What is to be done?’ said the helpless king to his minister Carvalho, Marquis of Pombal, who, on entering the council-chamber, found his sovereign vainly seeking for advice among his weeping and irresolute courtiers: ‘how can we alleviate the chastisement which Divine justice has imposed upon us?’ ‘Sire! by burying the dead and taking care of the living,’ was the ready answer of the great statesman, whose noble bearing and confident mien at once restored the king’s courage. From that moment José bestowed a boundless confidence upon Pombal. Without losing a single moment, the minister, invested with full powers, threw himself into a carriage, and hastened with all speed to the scene of destruction. Wherever his presence was most needed, there was he sure to be found. For several days and nights he never left his carriage, whence, incessantly active in his efforts to reduce chaos to order, he issued no less than two hundred decrees, all bearing the stamp of a master-mind. Troops from the provinces were summoned in all haste, and concentrated round the capital, which no one was allowed to leave without permission, so that the robbers, who had enriched themselves with the plunder of palaces and churches, were unable to escape with their spoils.
In all his numerous ordinances Carvalho neglected none of the details necessary for insuring their practical utility, writing many of them on his knees with a pencil, and sending them, without loss of time, to the various officers charged with their execution. His wise regulations for ensuring a speedy supply and a regular distribution of provisions averted famine. Great fears were entertained of pestilential disorders, in consequence of the putrid exhalations of so many corpses, which it was impossible to bury. To prevent this additional misfortune, Carvalho induced the Patriarch to give orders that the bodies of the dead should be cast into the sea, with only such religious ceremonies as circumstances permitted.
But the Jesuits, the mortal enemies of the enlightened minister, did not lose this opportunity of intriguing against him, and openly ascribed the catastrophe to the wrath of God against an impious Government. Thus Pombal had not only to cope with the disastrous effects of the earthquake, but also with the venomous attacks of hypocritical bigots, in spite of whose clamours he interdicted all public processions and devotional exercises that were calculated still further to inflame the excited minds of the populace.
Though Lisbon was the chief sufferer from the great earthquake of 1755, the shocks which destroyed the capital of Portugal proved disastrous in many other places, and vibrated far and wide over a considerable portion of the globe. St. Ubes was nearly swallowed up by the sudden rising of the sea. At Cadiz the shocks were so violent that the water in the cisterns washed backwards and forwards so as to make a great froth upon it. No damage was done, on account of the excessive strength of the buildings; but, about an hour after, an immense wave, at least 60 feet higher than common, was seen approaching from the sea. It broke against the west part of the town, which is very rocky, and where, fortunately, the cliffs abated a great deal of its force. At last it burst upon the walls, destroyed part of the fortifications, and swept away huge pieces of cannon. The strong causeway which connects the town with the Island of Leon, was utterly destroyed, and more than fifty people drowned that were on it at the time.
In Seville a number of houses were thrown down, and the bells were set a-ringing in Malaga. In Italy, Germany, and France, in Holland and in Sweden, in Great Britain and in Ireland, the lakes and rivers were violently agitated. The water in Loch Lomond rose suddenly and violently against its banks, so that a large stone lying at some distance from the shore, in shallow water, was moved from its place, and carried to dry land, leaving a deep furrow in the ground along which it had moved. At Kinsale, in Ireland, a great body of water suddenly burst into the harbour, and with such violence that it broke the cables of two vessels, each moored with two anchors, and of several boats which lay near the town. The vessels were whirled round several times by an eddy formed in the water, and then hurried back again with the same rapidity as before. London was shaken, the midland counties disturbed, and one high cliff in Yorkshire threw down its half-separated rocks. At Töplitz, in Bohemia, between eleven and twelve o’clock, the mineral waters increased so much in quantity that all the baths ran over. About half an hour before, the spring grew turbid and flowed muddy, and, having stopped entirely for nearly a minute, broke forth again with prodigious violence, driving before it a considerable quantity of reddish ochre. After this, it became clear, and flowed as pure as before, but supplying more water than usual, and that hotter and more impregnated with its medicinal substances.