Whatever jealousy had been felt upon this score was thus removed; but the danger of scarcity still remained, and Junot’s first care was to provide for the subsistence of the army, whatever might become of the inhabitants. Many of the provisional authorities, in their fear of famine, laid an embargo upon the corn within their respective jurisdictions: this the French General forbade by a timely edict. ♦Feb. 16, 1808.♦ The Portugueze magistrates found themselves under a government which exercised an unremitting vigilance, and made itself felt every where; ♦Observador Port. 175.♦ and the orders of that government were obeyed with a promptitude and activity which had long been unknown in Portugal. Full use was thus made of the resources of the country. Some corn he procured from Spain: it would have been a heavy cost had it entered into his system to pay any part of the expenses; ♦Neves, 264.♦ Spain having little to export, the distance being great, and the roads and the means of carriage equally bad. ♦December.♦ All farmers and corn-dealers who might be indebted to the crown were ordered to pay half the amount in grain, and deliver it to the French commissariat at reduced prices. The march of the French through the country had been like that of an army of locusts, leaving famine wherever they passed; the tenantry, some utterly ruined by the devastation, and all hopeless because of the state to which Portugal was reduced, abandoned themselves to the same kind of despair which in some parts of the New World contributed to exterminate the Indians, and at one time materially distressed and endangered the merciless conquerors. ♦The Portugueze leave their fields unsown.♦ They thought it useless to sow the seed, if the French were to enjoy the harvest; and so generally did this feeling operate, that the regency which acted under Junot found it necessary to issue orders, compelling them to go on with the usual business of agriculture. ♦Dec. 29.♦ The encouragement of agriculture served also as a pretext for breaking up the Portugueze army. ♦Dec. 22.♦ Every subaltern and soldier who had served eight years, or who had not served six months, was discharged, and ordered to return to his own province. A like order was issued by the Spanish general at Porto; and the Marques del Socorro, who commanded at Setubal as governor of the new kingdom in which the Prince of the Peace was to be invested, disbanded by one sweeping decree all the Portugueze militia, discharged all the married men from the regular army, and invited all the others to apply for leave of absence.
♦Spaniards under Carraffa at Porto.♦
In the partition and invasion of Portugal, the court of Madrid was as guilty as that of the Thuilleries; but the conduct of the Spaniards during the invasion was far different from that of their treacherous allies. The division of General Carraffa, which entered with Junot, and was under his command, separated from him at Abrantes to secure Porto, in case the army which was destined for that purpose should be delayed. This general had acquired the favour of Junot by his exertions at Alcantara, and had so far profited by his lessons, as to imitate him at humble distance; raising a contribution of 4000 cruzados at Thomar, and seizing 10,000 from the depositary at Coimbra; ... but he was the only Spaniard who thus disgraced himself. ♦Neves, i. 189.♦ The force with which he accompanied Junot was little more than 2000 men; it was doubled by the gradual arrival of reinforcements, and was then annexed to the division of D. Francisco Taranco, ♦Taranco takes the command there.♦ which, according to the convention of Fontainebleau, should have consisted of 10,000 men, but did not in reality exceed six, till its number was thus made up. Taranco’s army was formed in Gallicia, of which kingdom he was Captain-General: he entered on the side of the Minho, taking the Valença road; and having reached Porto, issued a proclamation, much in the style of that which Junot had sent before him, saying that he was come to deliver Portugal from the disgraceful yoke of England, and assist her in taking vengeance upon the English for their ferocious treachery toward all the nations of Europe: fair promises followed of strict discipline and just dealing, and bloody denunciations of punishment if resistance were attempted. ♦Good conduct of his troops.♦ The Spanish general’s conduct was wiser than his language; his promises were strictly observed, and no crime was added to that of the iniquitous attack and intended usurpation. He was, indeed, left at full liberty to act as his own disposition and principles might incline; for these provinces were, according to the treaty of Fontainebleau, to be formed into a kingdom for the former Prince of Parma, as an indemnification for Etruria; and as his consent had not been thought necessary to the arrangement which was to deprive him of one kingdom, neither were his instructions for the government of another.
♦Solano at Setubal.♦
The Spanish general who entered Alem-Tejo to take possession of Godoy’s kingdom was less fortunate; ♦Neves, i. 307.♦ for he was compelled to raise contributions from a ruined people, though in other respects considerable latitude seems to have been given him, in deference to his character and talents. This general was the Marques del Socorro, D. Francisco Maria Solano, destined to leave an unhappy name in the history of his country. During many years he had been governor of Cadiz, where he had employed an almost unlimited power in the most honourable and beneficial manner. It was his delight to ornament the city, and to promote the convenience and comfort of the inhabitants. One of the beneficial acts of his government was to abolish the practice of burying in the churches: this he accomplished, not without difficulty, during one of those contagious fevers which of late years have so frequently visited that part of Spain. ♦Jacob’s Travels.♦ He is also entitled to be remembered with respect for the manner in which he maintained the old humanities of war with the English squadron which so long blockaded Cadiz: this conduct was the more honourable, because Solano was decidedly a partizan of France, and had acquired a dangerous love of political experiments in the revolutionary school. He had now an opportunity of indulging this passion; and the measures which he attempted proved the goodness of his intentions, as well as the errors of his judgement. While Junot’s edicts were in one uniform spirit of tyranny, Solano was offering rewards to those who should raise the greatest crops, or breed the most numerous flocks and herds. ♦His schemes for the improvement of society.♦ He addressed circular instructions to the judges, enjoining each of them, when he had notice of any civil suit, to call the parties before him, hear their respective statements, and advise them to settle the dispute by arbitration. If they persisted in their appeal to the laws, he was then to require from each, before the process went forward, a written statement of the case, and the documents which were to support it. If the thing contested did not exceed eighty milreis in value, he might pronounce summary justice without farther examination: the losing party, however, retaining a right of appeal to the superior courts. If the value exceeded that sum, the parties were again to be exhorted to come to some accord, or at least to agree upon shortening the process, and avoiding all unnecessary delay and expense; and the judges were empowered to do this, even without the consent of the parties, and come as summarily as possible to the merits of the case. Another of his projects seems to have been borrowed from the policy of the Peruvian Incas, or the government of Japan. Every parish was to be divided into districts, containing not less than one hundred houses, nor more than two. Each district was to choose one among its inhabitants, with the title of Commissioner, whose duty it should be to make out a list of all the members of his district, their ages and occupations; to interfere in all family disputes, for the purpose of accommodating them; and to keep all persons to their respective employments. If they were not obedient to his admonitions he was to denounce them to the magistrates, that due punishment might be inflicted. ♦Observador Portuguez, 144–150.♦ He was also to walk his rounds for at least an hour every night, accompanied by four of the most respectable men of the district, to see that no prohibited games were played in the taverns, and that nothing was committed offensive to good morals.
♦Emigration from Lisbon.♦
Such were the projects with which Solano amused himself at Setubal! The conduct of his soldiers easily accommodated itself to the good disposition of their chief. Accustomed to the same habits of life, attached to the same forms of worship as the Portugueze, and speaking a language so little different that they mutually understood each other, the Spaniards lived among them like men of the same country; and, as long as the power remained in their hands, the people of Alem-Tejo and of the northern provinces experienced none of those insults and oppressions which the French inflicted wherever their authority extended. In Lisbon the burthen was at once heavier than in other places and more galling; and most persons who had the power of removing into the country retired from those daily and hourly vexations which aggravated their sufferings. The rapacity of the French leaders opened a surer asylum for others. Notice was given that all Brazilians who wished to return to their native land might obtain passports, and be permitted to embark in neutral ships. All who could invent any pretext for availing themselves of this permission hastened to purchase it; and the money which the French thus exacted was cheerfully paid as the price of deliverance. The ships which carried Kniphausen colours took out many emigrants in the dress of sailors, who smeared their hands with pitch, the better to disguise themselves. ♦1808. Jan. 5.♦ The Nuncio[20], who during these transactions demeaned himself with great propriety, and repeatedly solicited passports for Brazil, that he might follow the court to which he was appointed, succeeded at last in getting on board a licensed vessel, unknown to Junot, and reaching England in safety, went from thence to Rio de Janeiro. Meantime the most rigorous measures were devised to prevent any person from escaping to the English squadron. All the fishing boats were arranged in divisions, which were denoted by letters, and the boats then numbered; and each had its letter and number painted on the bow and quarter in white characters a foot long. The master of every boat was bound to carry a list, specifying the letter of its division, the number of his boat, his name, his dwelling-place, and the number and names of the men on board. This paper was to be his passport at the different batteries, and his protection from the watch-boats which patrolled the river, and were charged to apprehend every person whose name was not inscribed in the list, and to seize every vessel by which any part of the edict was infringed, as a prize. The magistrate of every district was to deliver in a list of all the owners of fishing boats in the corresponding division, in order that their property might be answerable for any infraction of these rules: a counter list was to be kept on board the floating battery. All the owners of all the divisions were to appear every Saturday at this floating battery, there to have their papers verified. Every boat which had any communication with the English squadron was to be confiscated; and all were bound to be within the bar at sunset on pain of being fined one piece for the first offence, three for the second, and of confiscation and corporal punishment for the third.
♦Falsehoods respecting England. Observador Port. 181.♦
The sight of the British squadron off the mouth of the Tagus continually kept alive the hopes of the Portugueze. Crowds of artizans who had been thrown out of employment used to assemble upon the heights of Santa Catharina, ♦Neves, i. 261.♦ of the Chagas, Buenos Ayres, and the other eminences, fixing their longing eyes upon the English fleet, counting its number, and oftentimes deluding themselves with a belief that it was entering the river to deliver Lisbon. It was thought necessary to forbid these assemblages. Junot affected to ridicule this popular hope, ♦Neves, i. 245.♦ and said, in scorn of the Marqueza de Angeja, who was known frequently to gaze toward the same object, that she would make an excellent wife for King Sebastian. But his own secret feelings were discovered by the falsehoods which were sedulously circulated respecting England. A pamphlet was published which pretended to describe the actual state of that country; and which, the better to deceive the people, was made by the manner of its license to appear as if it had been printed under the Prince’s government. It represented our population at less than eleven millions, our army as short of 100,000 men, our fleet in great part laid up for want of naval stores; our debt insupportable, our paper-money at a discount, our custom-houses almost shut up for want of any thing to do; more than a million of manufacturers ruined, and publicly crying out for peace, agriculture decaying for want of hands and of commerce, and the people in despair, unable longer to support the burthen and endure the misfortunes of a destructive war. To excite the hatred of the Portugueze, ♦Neves, ii. 8.♦ it was affirmed by Junot that the Prince had not been conveyed to Brazil by the English, but that they had conducted him and his fleet, with all the treasures on board, to England.
♦Report of the French minister, M. Champagny, concerning Portugal.♦