Bellesta had left a letter for Junot, which the Chamber of Porto, as soon as his departure left them to the sense of their own weakness, dispatched to Lisbon, with assurance of their continued submission to the French. The news reached him at the close of an entertainment given by the French officers at the theatre, where, though the Russian admiral and his officers were present, the portrait of Buonaparte was displayed, with the Russian flag lying among other trophies ♦Observador Portuguez, 292.♦ at his feet. A sense of insecurity was manifested amid their festivities; the avenues to the theatre were occupied by armed troops, fire engines were made ready, and all the watermen were ordered to be at hand with their barrels full. The entertainment continued till four in the morning, and immediately afterward movements were observed which indicated that some important intelligence had arrived; couriers were sent off, troops crossed the Tagus, and detachments marched to Mafra, Santarem, and other places. A body of Spaniards who were stationed in the Campo de Ourique were ordered to the Convent of S. Francisco da Cidade, an unfinished pile of enormous magnitude, which the French occupied as barracks, and where a thousand men were waiting to disarm them as soon as they should enter. The Spaniards, when they drew nigh, suspected ♦Observador Portuguez, 295.♦ some ill design, and fixing their bayonets, declared they would not be quartered there. They were allowed to return without interruption; and in the evening they and their countrymen at Val de Pereiro, being in all 1200, were ordered to assemble at two in the morning, in the Terreiro do Paço, there to embark and cross the river on their way to Spain. Thither they repaired joyfully, and found 3000 troops awaiting them, with cannon placed under the arcades of that great square, and at the mouths of the streets which open into it; and they were summoned to lay down their arms and baggage, and surrender. In the course of that and the succeeding day, the Spaniards from Mafra and other parts were brought in as prisoners, in a condition which excited the compassion of the people, their women exhausted with the fatigue of marching in the burning heat of summer, some carrying children at the breast, and some, who were unable to walk, tied upon the baggage carts, lest they should be thrown off. The whole number of Spaniards thus arrested was somewhat above 4500; they were confined in hulks upon the Tagus. The officers were left at liberty upon their parole; but after a few days, when several had broken an engagement, which, considering the manner in which they had been seized, they did not think themselves bound in honour to observe, they were placed under the same confinement as the men. Junot then informed his army, in public orders, that the infamous conduct of the Spanish General Bellesta, the revolt of two regiments, the arrest of some of his officers at Badajoz and at Ciudad Rodrigo, and the inability of the Spanish commanders to control their men, had compelled him to this severe measure. Happily it had been executed without shedding blood. These Spaniards were not enemies; they should receive pay and provisions as heretofore, and their actual situation in no degree altered his good disposition toward them. ♦Neves, iii. 99-109.
Observador Portuguez, 300.♦ He expressed his satisfaction at the conduct of his soldiers; and said, that if the English thought proper to make an attack, they were now fully at leisure to receive them.
♦Junot’s proclamation to the Portugueze.♦
He addressed a proclamation also to the Portugueze, wherein with incautious effrontery he avowed the double treachery which had been ♦June 11.♦ practised upon them and upon the Spaniards. After six months of tranquillity, he said, the peace of the kingdom had been in danger of being disturbed by the Spanish troops, who entered the country apparently as allies, but in reality with the intention of dismembering it. No sooner had he in the Emperor’s name taken possession of the whole government, than they had begun to show their dissent: and at length their conduct at Porto, and in other places, had compelled him to disarm all who were within his reach. “Portugueze,” he continued, “I have hitherto been satisfied with your good disposition. You have known how to appreciate the advantages which must result to you from the protection of Napoleon the Great. You have had confidence in me. Continue it, and I will guarantee your country from all invasion, from all dismemberment. If the English, who know not how to do any thing except fomenting discord, choose to seek us, they will find us ready to defend you. Some of your militia and your remaining troops shall make part of my army to cover your frontiers; they will be instructed in the art of war, and if I may be fortunate enough to put in practice the lessons which I learnt from Napoleon, ♦Observador Portuguez, 297.♦ I will teach you how to conquer.” Junot seems at this time to have aimed at conciliating the Portugueze soldiers, and making them act with his army. For this purpose he announced certain new regulations by which they were placed upon the same footing with the French ♦June 14.♦ as to their pay and provisions. Hitherto four-fifths of their pay had been in paper money, which was at a great discount; the proportion was now reduced to two-thirds. A promise was made that the first item in the monthly military expenses should be for the allowance of the Portugueze prisoners in Algiers. The manner in which it was notified that the troops were to be under French command, was not in the imperious tone which the Duke of Abrantes, as he styled himself, heretofore had used; they were to form part of the divisions, it was said, within whose districts they were stationed; consequently the French commanders were to include them in their reports, and inspect and review them, to see that they received what was their due, and to perfect and accelerate their instruction. The ♦Observador Portuguez, 303.♦ artillery, cavalry, engineers, and marine, were to be immediately under the orders of the respective French generals, who by this means would know their force, watch over their instruction, and see to their welfare: the intention of his majesty being, that the Portugueze troops should be treated in the same manner as his own in all respects.
♦Festival of the Corpo de Deos at Lisbon.♦
But it was too late for conciliation and flattery, after so many acts of insolent oppression: and an accident at this time occurred to manifest ♦June 16.♦ with what suspicious apprehensions the French and the inhabitants of Lisbon mutually regarded each other. The day arrived for the annual procession of the Corpo de Deos. In the days of Joam V. this had been the most splendid display which the Catholic religion exhibited in Europe; and though in latter years the management had been less perfect, and there had been some diminution of its splendour, it was still a spectacle of unrivalled magnificence and riches. The streets of the capital on that occasion, and that only, were cleaned and strewn with fine gravel; the houses were hung with damask; the troops in their new uniforms, the various companies and brotherhoods, civil and religious, each with their banners, the knights of the military orders, and all the monks and friars of Lisbon, moved in the procession; which was closed by the dignitaries of the patriarchal church, the Prince in person, and the chief persons of his court, following the great object of Catholic adoration, which on that day, and that day only, was actually carried abroad. The most remarkable object in this pompous display used to be an image of St. George in complete armour, upon a beautiful horse, led by a squire and supported by pages on each side, and accompanied by the finest horses from the royal stables, with rich housings, and escutcheons thrown across their saddles. These horses and the saint had formed part of the procession from the year 1387, with one interruption only, early in the seventeenth century, when, at the instigation of a certain Mordomo, the Archbishop of Lisbon excluded the horses, as thinking it irreverent that the Real Presence should be preceded by unreasonable creatures. St. George’s charger alone was excepted from the prohibition; but in the midst of the procession that charger suddenly stopped, and could neither be induced nor compelled to proceed; it was not doubted that the rider had chosen this means to manifest his displeasure at the privation of his accustomed train; the Archbishop revoked his order upon the spot, and when the horses were introduced as usual, St. George consented to move forward, and the ceremony of the day was concluded with more than wonted satisfaction. The profane Mordomo, however, was not forgiven; on the following Sunday, when he was saying mass at the saint’s altar, St. George let ♦Mappa de Portugal, t. ii. 257.♦ his spear drop from his hand upon the offender’s head.
The image which performed this miracle, after appearing annually in the procession during more than 350 years, was destroyed by fire at the time of the great earthquake. A new one, however, had been substituted, which succeeded to all the honours and miraculous properties of its predecessor. One of the finest horses which could be found in Portugal was selected to bear the saint in the great procession, and reserved for that single purpose, as if any other would have desecrated it. Junot, however, had taken St. George’s horse for himself, and rode it every Sunday when he reviewed his troops. And this year, for the first time, St. George was not to bear a part in the pageant: the reason which the French assigned for excluding him was, that he could not appear with his usual splendour, because the jewels of the Cadaval family, which he always wore in his hat on that day, had been taken to Brazil when the court emigrated. Other motives were imagined by the Portugueze: when the saint returned, after the fatigues of the day, a royal present had always been allotted him; it was thought that the French wished to spare themselves this expense. They were carrying on works within the circuit of the castle which were designed to command the city, and render the place defensible against the English and the Portugueze themselves; these works were carried on secretly, but it was part of the ceremony that St. George should enter the castle, and in that case his retinue would have observed what ♦Neves, iii. 257.♦ was going on. Lastly, the people said that the French did not choose to let St. George go into public because he was an English saint.
♦The procession interrupted by a panic fear.♦
In all other things Junot wished the Lisboners to see that the spectacle had lost nothing of its wonted splendour. The procession had performed half its course when a sudden alarm arose, occasioned, it is said, by a thief, who being detected in some petty larceny, cried out, in the hope of exciting confusion and effecting his escape, that the English were crossing the bar. A general tumult ensued; some of the French formed as if expecting immediately to be attacked, ... others hurried to their posts with a celerity which was absurdly attributed to fear instead of promptitude; a crowd rushed into the church of S. Domingos for sanctuary, from whence the chapter of the patriarchal church were just about to proceed with the pix, in which the Romish mystery of impanation, the object of that day’s superstition, was contained. Some of the insignia which were to form a part of the show were thrown down and broken in the rush, and the clergy hastened to secure themselves each where he could. Not the mob alone, but the persons who were to form the procession, priests, monks, ministers, and knights, in the habiliments of their orders, took to flight; communities and brotherhoods forsook their banners and their crosses; here and there only an aged friar or sacristan was seen in whom the sense of devotion was stronger than fear, and who remained in his place, thinking that if he were now to die, it were best to perish at his station and in his duty. Wherever a door was open, the terrified people ran in, as if flying from an actual massacre; the great streets and the Rocio were presently deserted, and the pavement was strewn with hats, cloaks, and shoes, lost in the confusion. Fewer accidents occurred than might have been expected in such a scene; the alarm abated when it was ♦Observador Portuguez, 306.
Neves, iii. 256–262.
Thiebault, 122–124.♦ ascertained that the British fleet was not entering; and when the cause of the[13]disturbance was discovered, the broken parts of the procession were brought together as soon as possible, and Junot with his generals closed it, in place of the Prince Regent and his court.
♦Junot fortifies the castle.♦
Though the tidings of the insurrection at Porto had soon been followed by news that submission had been restored in that city, intelligence of insurrectionary movements or designs was now arriving every day, and Junot thought it necessary to take farther precautions for holding Lisbon in subjection. The water-carriers were employed to fill the cisterns in the Castle, which was now strongly fortified; stores and fodder were laid in there, it was garrisoned with 800 men, and all the swords and small arms from the arsenal ♦June 24. Edict for disarming the people.♦ were removed thither. An edict was issued commanding all persons to deliver up their fire-arms, swords, and hunting-spears, those Portugueze alone whose legal privilege it was to wear a sword being allowed still to retain one. If within forty-eight hours after the publication of that edict arms should be found in the possession of a Portugueze, he was to be imprisoned, and fined according to his means from 100 franks to 1000 cruzados; if the offender were a native of Great Britain, and delayed obedience half the time, his fine was to be from 100 cruzados to 10,000, and greater punishment inflicted if the case required it: for other foreigners the same time was appointed as for the natives, and the extent of ♦Observador Portuguez, 314.♦ their fine was to be 2000 cruzados, but, like the English, they were liable to any farther punishment which the French might think proper to inflict. It was the custom in Portugal, as formerly in England, to celebrate the eve of certain festivals, and especially those of St. John the Baptist, and St. Peter, with bonfires: the custom of kindling festal fires at that season of the year is as old as the worship of the Kelts, even perhaps before their entrance into Europe; and it is one of the many pagan rites which Romish Christianity adopted. The use of gunpowder made it a dangerous custom even among a people so little addicted to mischief as the Portugueze: and at the pretended desire of certain pious persons, who deemed such rejoicings incompatible with that calm and collected state of mind which the church required at such times, all these demonstrations of festivity were prohibited. Any person letting off fire-works or fire-arms, as had been usual, making any use of gunpowder, or kindling a bonfire, was to be imprisoned eight days, and pay a fine proportioned to his means: parents were made answerable for their children, schoolmasters for their boys, masters for their servants, tradesmen for those in their employ; the public walk was not to be open in the evening, and any concourse of people in the streets was forbidden. Orders were given to clear the ♦Observador Portuguez, 311.♦ Campo de Ourique immediately, though the crops were not ripe, that troops might be encamped there, from whence, and from the Castle, the city would be completely under their command. Detachments were sent north and south to keep down a people, who were now everywhere beginning to manifest their long suppressed ♦Observador Portuguez, 317.♦ indignation. The men marched out of Lisbon with provisions and kettles upon their backs, and each with a loaf fixed upon his bayonet.