Junot, it is said, was not without some apprehensions of the displeasure of Buonaparte for having suffered this prize to escape him. When that tyrant was exasperated by the failure of his commanders, he seldom condescended to ask whether success had been possible: in the present instance he either was or affected to be satisfied; and the principles upon which he had thus far proceeded were now made known to the world in a report or M. Champagny, his minister for foreign affairs: it bore date a few days before the secret treaty of Fontainebleau. ♦Oct. 21, 1807.♦ After the peace of Tilsit, this minister said, France and Russia had combined to restore peace to the world, the sole object of all the Emperor Napoleon’s labours, of all his triumphs, of all his innumerable sacrifices. He had a right to call upon the continental powers to maintain their neutrality against England; he had a right to demand that all Europe should concur in re-establishing the peace of the seas, and those maritime rights which England had haughtily declared she would respect no longer. All governments ought to make war against the English; they owed this to their own dignity, they owed it to the honour of their people, they owed it to the mutual obligations by which the sovereigns of Europe are connected. There was not any sovereign who would not acknowledge, that, if his territory should be violated to the injury of the Emperor of the French, he would be responsible. For instance, if a French vessel were seized by the English in the ports of Trieste or Lisbon, the sovereigns to whom those ports belong are bound to make the English respect their territory by force; otherwise they would make themselves the accomplices of England, and place themselves in a state of war with the Emperor of France. When, therefore, the Portugueze government suffered its vessels to be searched by English ships, its independence was violated, with its own consent, by the outrage done to its flag, just as it would have been if England had violated its territory or its ports. ♦1808. January.♦ For the ships of a power are as portions of its territory which float upon the seas, and which, being covered by its flag, ought to enjoy the same independence, and to be defended against the same attacks. The conduct of Portugal, therefore, gave the Emperor Napoleon a right of proposing to it the alternative of making common cause with him in maintaining the rights of its flag, and declaring war against England, or of being considered as an accomplice in the evil which might result to his Imperial Majesty from that violation.... Such was the law of nations as laid down by Buonaparte’s minister, M. Champagny, and such the logic by which Portugal was proved to have placed itself in a state of war with France!—M. Champagny proceeded to affirm that Portugal had pronounced her own fate. She had broken off her last communications with the continent in imposing upon the French and Spanish legations the necessity of quitting Lisbon. Her hostile intentions, which the language of perfidy and duplicity had ill concealed, were then unveiled. Not only were the English and their property placed in safety, but her military preparations were directed against France; and she waited only for the arrival of the English fleet and army which had plundered Denmark to avow herself. This curious paper concluded in a manner worthy of its reasoning and its veracity. If, it said, this war was to make Portugal undergo the fate of so many states which had fallen victims of the friendship of England, the Emperor Napoleon, who sought not for such successes, would without doubt regret that the interest of the continent should have rendered it necessary. His views, which had constantly been raised with his power, showed him in war rather a scourge for humanity than a new prospect of glory; and all his wishes were that he might devote himself wholly to the prosperity of his people.
♦Second report, indicating measures against Spain.
A second report of the same minister was published at the same time. The house of Braganza, it said, had delivered itself up to the English with all that it could carry away, and Brazil from henceforward would be only an English colony. But Portugal was at length delivered from the yoke of England. Her coasts had been left without defence; and England was at this time threatening them, blockading her ports, and wishing to ravage her shores. Spain, also, had had fears for Cadiz, and now was fearing for Ceuta. Toward that part of the world the English appeared to be directing their secret expeditions: they had landed troops at Gibraltar; they had assembled there those who had been driven from the Levant, and part of those whom they had collected in Sicily. Their cruisers upon the coast of Spain were become more vigilant; they seemed to wish to revenge themselves upon that kingdom for the disgrace which they had suffered in its colonies. The whole of the peninsula ought particularly to fix the attention of his Imperial Majesty, whose wisdom would dictate to him such measures as the state of things required. ♦Jan. 6.♦ This paper was followed by a report from General Clarke, the minister of war, who announced that the corps of observation of the Gironde under General Junot had conquered Portugal; ♦The conscription for 1809 required.♦ and advised that the conscription for the year 1809 should be called out, because of the necessity of shutting the ports of the continent against their enemy, and of having considerable forces at every point of attack, in order to profit by the fortunate circumstances which might arise for carrying the war into the heart of England, of Ireland, and of the Indies. “Although,” said the General, “the indignation of all Europe is roused against England, although France has at no time possessed such armies, this is not yet enough; English influence must be attacked wherever it exists, till the moment when the sight of so many dangers shall induce England to remove from her councils the oligarchs who direct them, and intrust the administration to wise men, capable of reconciling the love and the interest of their country with the interest and the love of the human race. A vulgar policy,” he pursued, “would have induced your Majesty to disarm, but that policy would be a scourge for France; it would render imperfect the great results which you have prepared. Yes, Sire, far from diminishing your armies, your Majesty ought to increase them, till England shall have acknowledged the independence of all powers, and restored to the seas that tranquillity which your Majesty has secured to the continent.... Doubtless your Majesty must suffer in requiring new sacrifices and imposing new burthens upon your people; but you ought to yield to the cry of all the French, ... no repose till the seas are set free, and till an equitable peace has re-established France in the most just, the most useful, and the most necessary of her rights.” ♦Jan. 21.♦ Accordingly, 80,000 conscripts, of the conscription of 1809, were, by a decree of the senate, placed at the disposal of government: they were to be taken from the youths born in the year 1789; according to the conscription laws, twenty was the age at which they were ripe for slaughter, but the practice of dispensing with a year had already been begun. ♦Threats against England.♦ The minister of state, M. Regnaud de St. Jean d’Angely, pronounced an harangue upon this occasion. “A holy and powerful league,” said he, “has been formed, to punish the English oligarchy, to defend the right of nations, to revenge humanity. From the Baltic to the Mediterranean, from the Nile to the Neva, there hardly remain for the ships of Great Britain any shores where they may land, any points where they are not forbidden to touch. But it is not enough, by a just reciprocity, to have pronounced against England this tremendous sentence of outlawry among nations; no rest must be given her in the seat of her iniquitous dominion, nor upon any of her coasts, nor in any of her colonies, nor in any of those parts of the globe where she is not yet interdicted. Repulsed from one part of the world, and menaced in all the other, England must not be suffered to know where to direct the little military force which she can command; and our armies, more formidable than ever, must be ready to carry our victorious and avenging eagles into her possessions. The pillage of the arsenal and port of Copenhagen, the emigration of the Portugueze fleet, have not left the continent without ships: our legions may yet reach the English militia; Ireland may still look for succours against oppression; India may still expect her deliverers.”
♦The royal arms of Portugal defaced.♦
Well might the French nation have shuddered at the prospect of interminable war which was thus held out by the ministers of a tyrant, whose ambition increased with his power. He found, however, implicit and servile obedience in the nation. Their crime brought with it its curse, new successes only served as pretexts for demanding more sacrifices; and at a moment when France had not an enemy upon the whole continent of Europe, and a larger military force than had ever before existed, more conscripts were thus called for in advance! But though Buonaparte at this time despised the military force of Great Britain as heartily as he hated its naval power, neither London, nor Ireland, nor India, were as yet his objects. His projects for seizing the whole Spanish peninsula were now mature, and these projects were probably communicated to Junot by dispatches which arrived from Milan the second week in January. A few days afterward that General went with more than his usual pomp to the Foundery, destroyed the portraits of the Braganzan kings, and gave orders that the Portugueze arms should no longer be placed on the cannon. He gave orders also to deface the royal arms which were carved in stone over the entrance, but no Portugueze could be tempted to commit this act of treason; and when some French soldiers broke the crown and defaced the shield, no sooner had they left the place than the women gathered up the fragments to preserve them as relics. The final act of usurpation was not long delayed. ♦February.♦ Early on the morning of the first of February the movements of the troops indicated that some great measure was about to be announced, for which the public mind was to be prepared by intimidation. Cannon were planted in the Rocio; the streets from thence to head-quarters were lined with soldiers; and Junot, with all the parade of military pomp and power, proceeded to the palace of the Inquisition, where the Regents held their sittings. ♦Junot declares that the Portugueze government is dissolved.♦ Troops followed him, filling the lobbies of that execrable edifice, and extending even to the table where these poor puppets of authority were seated: amid this scene of noise and tumult and indecorum he read a paper, of which nothing more could be collected than that it pronounced the extinction of the Portugueze government, and the consequent dismission of the Regents from office. Rockets gave the signal when the General came out, and salutes of artillery from the castle and all the forts and batteries insulted the afflicted and groaning people. The city was soon placarded with a proclamation in French and Portugueze, saying that all uncertainty was now at an end, the fate of Portugal was decided, and her felicity secured, because Napoleon the Great had taken her under his omnipotent protection. The Prince of Brazil, in abandoning Portugal, had renounced all right to the sovereignty of that kingdom. The House of Braganza had ceased to reign, and it was the will of the Emperor Napoleon that the whole of that fine country should be administered and governed in his name, and by the General in chief of his army. ♦Junot appointed governor for the Emperor Napoleon.♦ “The duties,” said Junot, “which this mark of benignity and confidence on the part of my master imposes upon me, are difficult to fulfil, but I hope worthily to discharge them. I will open roads and canals, that agriculture and national industry may once more flourish. The Portugueze troops will soon form one family with the soldiers of Marengo, of Austerlitz, of Jena, and of Friedland; and there will be no other rivalry between them than that of valour and discipline. The good administration of the public revenues will secure to every one the reward of his labours. Public instruction, that parent of national civilization, shall be extended over the provinces, and Algarve and Beira shall each have one day its Camoens. The religion of your fathers, the same which we all profess, shall be protected and succoured by that same will which restored it in the vast empire of France, but freed from the superstitions which dishonour it. Justice shall be equally administered, and disembarrassed of the delays and arbitrary will which paralysed it; the public tranquillity shall no more be disturbed by robbers, and deformed mendicity no longer drag its filth and its rags through this superb capital. Inhabitants of Portugal, be secure and tranquil! Resist the instigations of those who would excite you to rebellion, and who care not what blood is shed so it be the blood of the continent. Betake yourselves with confidence to your labours; you shall enjoy the fruits. If it be necessary that in these first moments you should make some sacrifices, it is that the government may be enabled to ameliorate your condition. They are also indispensable for the subsistence of a great army, which is required for the vast projects of the Great Napoleon. His vigilant eyes are fixed upon you, and your future happiness is secure. He will love you as he loves his French vassals: study therefore to deserve his goodness by your obedience to his will.”
♦Council of government formed.♦
A second decree, bearing date on the same day, was promulgated the next. It explained the form in which Portugal was from that time forward to be governed, in the name of the Emperor of the French, by the General in chief of the French army in that country. There was to be a council of government, composed of the General as president, a secretary of state for the administration of the interior and of the finances, with two counsellors of government, one for each department; a secretary of state for the departments of war and the marine, with a counsellor of government for the same departments; and a counsellor of government for the superintendence of justice and public worship, with the title of Regedor. The secretary-general of the council was to be keeper of its archives. M. Herman and M. Lhuitte were the two secretaries of state: the former had D. Pedro de Mello and the Senhor d’Azevedo for his secretaries; the latter had the Conde de S. Payo. The principal Castro was named for Regedor, and M. Vianez Vaublanc secretary-general. There was to be in every province an administrator-general, with the title of Corregedor Mor, to direct all the branches of administration, to watch over the interests of the province, and to point out to the government the improvements which ought to be made in it; on which subjects he was to communicate with the home secretary and the Regedor. The province of Estremadura was to have two of these Corregedores: one residing at Lisbon, whose jurisdiction was confined to that capital and its term; the other for the rest of the province, and residing out of it, at Coimbra. There was also to be in each province a general officer, to maintain order and tranquillity: his functions were purely military, but in all public ceremonies he was to take the right hand of the Corregedor Mor. This precedence was not required to prove to the people that they were under a mere military government.
♦War contribution imposed.♦
The device of Buonaparte, an eagle upon an anchor, was now placed over the arsenal; the official seals were ordered to bear the same impress as those of the French empire, with this inscription, “Government of Portugal:” and on the same day that possession was thus taken, and protection promised, an edict was made public, dated from Milan Dec. 23, imposing a war contribution-extraordinary of an hundred million of francs upon the kingdom of Portugal, as a ransom for individual property of every kind. A second article of this memorable decree directed the French general to take the necessary means for promptly collecting this contribution; and a third declared that the property of the Queen, the Prince Regent, and all the royal family, should be sequestered, and that of all the fidalgos who accompanied him also, unless they should return by the 15th of February. The decree originally fixed the first, but as it was not published till the second, Junot ventured to extend the term: even then, however, it served only to show how little the framer of such decrees considered what was possible; how impudently he set even the forms of equity at defiance. It was now explained what those sacrifices were which the people had been told on the preceding day were necessary to enable the government to ameliorate their condition. The sum to be levied amounted in Portugueze money to forty million cruzados. Junot decreed that the two millions already paid, which he raised as a loan, and now called a contribution, should be accounted as part of the sum, and allowed for in the final payment. Six millions were to be paid by the commercial part of the nation at three instalments; on the first of March, the first of May, and the first of August. All goods of English manufacture being, on account of their origin, liable to confiscation, were to be ransomed by the merchants and tradesmen who possessed them, at a third of their value. All the gold and silver of all the churches, chapels, and fraternities in Lisbon and its district was to be carried to the mint within fifteen days; no other plate being excepted than what was indispensable for the decency of public worship. In the provinces the collectors of the tenths were to receive the church plate and transmit it to the mint, and the amount was to be carried to the contribution. Archbishops, bishops, religious orders and superiors of either sex, who possessed any revenue from land, or capital of any kind, were to contribute two-thirds of their whole yearly income, if that income did not exceed sixteen thousand cruzados, and three-fourths if it did; ... in consideration of which they were to be excused from paying the regular tenths for the current year. Every person enjoying a benefice which produced from six to nine hundred milreis, should contribute two-thirds of his income; three-fourths, if it exceeded the latter sum. All Commendadors of the military orders or of Malta should also pay two-thirds of their revenue. The donatories of crown property were to pay double their usual tax; owners of houses, half the rent for which they were let, or a proportionate sum if they inhabited them themselves; land-holders, two-tenths, in addition to the former imposts. The tax upon horses, mules, and servants, was doubled. The Juiz do Povo, under orders of the Senado, was to rate all trading bodies and booth and stall-keepers, and compel them to pay their assessments by distress; and shops which were not under the jurisdiction of the Senado were to be rated in like manner by the Mesa do Bem Commun, ... the Board of General Good, ... under the inspection of the Royal Junta of Commerce.