♦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.
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.♦