When the men of Mealhada began to prepare for their expedition, there were some whose hearts failed them, and the contagion spread. José Bernardo, however, by reproaching and threatening some, encouraging and praising others, with the seasonable administration of fruit and wine, and the zealous help of a serjeant of the Ordenança, mustered some thirty peasants, with about twenty muskets, the rest were armed with pikes and sickles and other such instruments; and when they set off many of the others followed, ashamed to be left behind. The party from Ois not having arrived when they reached Carquejo, José Bernardo ordered his people to halt for them there, and suffer no person to pass toward Coimbra, while he and two others went on to reconnoitre and form the plan of attack. He found no difficulty in entering the city and obtaining all the information he desired. The French soldiers in Coimbra did not amount to an hundred men, and of these not more than forty were capable of service. There was a rumour that 1200 Spaniards were on the way against them. This the inhabitants were more likely to believe than the French, who, relying upon their Emperor’s fortune, the terror of the French name, and the submission of the Portugueze, were living to all appearance in full confidence of security. Satisfied with this intelligence, and without venturing to concert any co-operation in the city, José Bernardo returned as far as the Bridge of Agua de Maias, and sent to hasten the march of his motley volunteers.
♦The French in that city are made prisoners.♦
When they were not far from this bridge, they were seen by a patrole of four horsemen, two French and two Portugueze, who clapped spurs to their horses, in order to cross the bridge before them and give the alarm. The insurgents, however, equally on the alert, got between them and the bridge, and addressed them with the quem vive? Napoleon, was the answer, and two pistols were fired upon them without effect. A general discharge was returned, which killed two of the patrole and mortally wounded another. The fourth, who escaped unhurt, was a Portugueze; he threw himself off his horse, cried out, Viva o Principe de Portugal! and joined his countrymen. The wounded man was a Frenchman: the insurgents, with a humanity not to have been expected at such a moment, left one of their number to assist him, and he was afterwards removed into the city, and there humanely and carefully attended; but to his latest breath he reviled the Portugueze, and the last hope which he expressed was, that ample vengeance would be taken for his blood. The French guard at the gate of S. Sophia hearing the guns, and seeing a number of men approach, fired among them, and fled to their quarters in the College of S. Thomas. The Portugueze followed close: they were fired upon from the windows without effect, for the French were too sensible of their own weakness to make any regular defence; the doors were forced, and they quietly laid down their arms, and suffered themselves to be bound, ♦Neves, iii. 207–212.♦ happy to receive no worse treatment from such an assemblage, ... for by this time the whole rabble of Coimbra had collected.
♦The Juiz do Povo takes the command.♦
Having thus easily succeeded, the first thought of José Bernardo and his comrades was to obtain the sanction and assistance of some legal authority for their future proceedings. The courage, and perhaps the disposition, of the magistrates was doubted; but the Juiz do Povo was an officer whom tumultuous times had heretofore forced into importance, and the Juiz do Povo was now called for. José Pedro de Jesus, a cooper by trade, who held the office, happened to possess a rare union of upright character, activity, and good sense. He came forward, assumed a power which was willingly recognized, and exercised it in a manner which at once gratified the populace and satisfied the wishes of cooler minds. First he lodged the French safely in prison, then distributed among the people the arms of those cavalry regiments belonging to the northern provinces, which Junot had disbanded. In the depôt with these weapons a flag was found with the royal arms. It was carried in triumph through the streets, while the exulting people hastened to uncover the shield of Portugal upon the public buildings. The bells from all the colleges and convents and churches of that populous city pealed in with the acclamations of the people, and heightened the excitement and agitation of their spirits. Bonfires were kindled, as in old times, in defiance of Junot’s prohibition: the night of St. John’s had always been a festival in Coimbra, but never before had it been celebrated with such uproar and overflowing joy. Some barks on the river, laden with provisions for the French in Figueira, were seized during the night; and in the morning it was deemed prudent to march off the prisoners to Porto, under a strong escort, lest the magistracy, in their fear, ♦Neves, iii. 214–217.♦ should release them, and again reduce the city to submission.
♦Order restored in Coimbra.♦
This apprehension, however, was ill founded. The Juiz de fora came forward to act in the national cause; the students and lecturers formed themselves into an academical corps; and the Vice-Rector of the university, Manoel Paes de Aragam Trigoso, took upon himself the civil authority, in compliance with the wish of the inhabitants. They would have vested the military command in General Bernardim Freire de Andrade, whom the Prince, before his departure for Brazil, had appointed to the command at Porto. Not choosing to exercise it under the intrusive government, he was living privately at Coimbra; but being now summoned by the Bishop and Junta of Porto to his proper station, he declined for that reason the present nomination. The people next thought of D. Miguel Pereira Forjas, but he chose rather to follow Bernardim as his quarter-master general. They then chose Bernardim’s brother, Nuno Freire de Andrade, making him, however, subordinate to Trigoso. The men who thus accepted offices of authority discharged a most perilous duty to their country. They were not, like their countrymen in Tras os Montes and between the rivers, secured in some degree by distance from the French, and within reach of assistance from Spain, or, if need were, of an asylum in that kingdom. Nor would Coimbra be like some of the smaller towns, overlooked as unworthy of vengeance. Next to the capital itself there was no place in Portugal where a terrible example would so deeply impress and intimidate the nation: it was within easy reach of the enemy, from Almeida as well as from Lisbon, and all military means of defence were ♦Neves, iii. 219–223.♦ wanting: a few pounds of powder were all that could be found in the city, and not one piece of cannon.
♦Preparations for defence.♦
On the other hand, more talents and enterprise, such as the times required, might reasonably be expected in Coimbra than in any other of the Portugueze towns. It was a populous and flourishing university, the only one in the kingdom: here therefore the flower of the Portugueze youth would be found, just at that age when they would be most willing and fit for service; and of that rank, and in that place, where national and generous feelings would have their strongest influence. If any where heads to plan and hands to execute might be found, it would be here. Accordingly no exertions were wanting. Chemists made gunpowder, geometricians directed works of defence, old soldiers were employed, some in making cartridges, others in training volunteers; mechanics were ♦Neves, iii. 223–225.♦ set to work in whatever manner they might be most useful; bridges were broken down, roads broken up, means made ready for defending the streets, if the enemy should enter the city, and a strict police established.
♦Successful expedition against Figueira.♦