Notwithstanding the contempt with which the French government, and its agents in Portugal, regarded the Portugueze, Junot knew how easily brave men might be made good soldiers, under due instruction; and he seems to have apprehended, that better officers would be found to train and command them than either Portugal or Spain at that time could supply. He apprehended that the force in Alem-Tejo would soon become strong enough not only to seize Setubal, but to occupy the heights of Almada, and render useless all the batteries on the left bank of the Tagus; while at the same time another division of their troops, acting higher up the river, would co-operate with the insurgents from Coimbra. To prevent this combination, he resolved to attack the weaker and nearer body first. For this purpose Loison had been recalled from Leiria, Solignac and Margaron were placed under his command, with 5000 men, and it was thought, that after quelling the insurgents in Alem-Tejo, he might send a supply of food to Lisbon, especially of meat, ... victual Elvas, strike a blow against the Spaniards at Badajoz, and then, recrossing the Tagus at Santarem or Abrantes, proceed against Coimbra; operations from which, at any time, in case of need, he could speedily turn back to join the main body of the French at Lisbon. There was, in fact, so little combination ♦Thiebault, 156.♦ among the Portugueze at this time, that the insurgents in the northern provinces, and those in Alem-Tejo, knew nothing whatever of each other’s proceedings, and the first news which reached the latter of the insurrection at Porto was communicated to the people of Sines by an English frigate.
♦He advances against Evora.♦
The first tidings of Loison’s movement which reached Evora were, that he had crossed the Tagus, and was in full march towards that city. No time was lost in transmitting this from Aldea Gallega; any previous intelligence had been rendered impossible by the secrecy with which the French prepared their measures. Moretti applied for reinforcements to Badajoz; orders were sent for the forces from Campo-Mayor and the other places in the north of the province, to hasten to Evora, and General Galluzo was requested to occupy the posts which would be left unprotected by their absence; but no assistance came from Badajoz, and Galluzo, instead of acting as was expected, forbade the Portugueze to leave Campo-Mayor. An advanced guard of 700 men had been stationed at Montemor o Novo, twenty miles from the city. General Leite ordered 400 men to reinforce this post. They met the corps which they had been sent to support in full retreat, the commander, not knowing that succours were on the way to him, having thought himself too weak to await[20] an attack. Instead of deriving confidence or hope from the meeting, they hastened to Evora, and entered the city in alarm, exclaiming that they were betrayed. That cry, in such miserable times, is sure to be eagerly taken up. The people had been assured that the French who were coming against them did not exceed 800 men; this had been said either in a most erroneous policy, to keep up the spirits of the inhabitants, by deceiving them as to the extent of their danger; or more probably in good faith, all ranks being credulous in believing what they wished; the natural effect, when the truth now became known, was to give the populace apparent ground for believing the vague charge of treason; their tumultuous movements were with difficulty suppressed, and the Corregedor found himself so marked an object of suspicion, that, in the hope of securing himself, he secretly left the city. Order being in some degree restored, piquets of cavalry and patroles were stationed for the night. In the morning a company of Miquelets arrived from Villa-Viçosa (that term having been borrowed from the Catalans), and the legion of Foreign Volunteers in the Spanish service, under Sargento-Mor D. Antonio Maria Gallego: both came by forced marches; the latter had left Jurumenha the preceding evening, a distance of four-and-forty miles. With these succours the whole force collected then amounted to 1770 ♦Neves, iv. 126–131.♦ men, of whom about half were regular troops, the others being volunteers newly-raised and undisciplined.
♦Evora.♦
The city of Evora is so ancient, that fabulous history has laid its foundation more than two thousand years before the Christian era. Certain it is, that it was a flourishing city in the days of Viriatus. Sertorius chose it for his residence; some of the buildings with which he adorned it are still remaining, and the inhabitants are still supplied with water by his aqueduct, which Joam III. repaired. Cæsar made it a municipal town, and from him it was called Liberalitas Julia. Under the Visigoths it continued to flourish, and Sisebut coined money there. It was recovered from the Moors in the reign of Affonso Henriquez, the first king, by the romantic enterprise of Giraldo the Fearless, then an outlaw. King Fernando rebuilt or repaired its walls; and Cardinal Henrique founded an university and established an Inquisition there; but the university had been suppressed. In the war of the Restoration it was besieged and taken by D. Juan de Austria, but it was soon recovered, and the Spaniards in retreating toward their own frontier suffered one of the most signal defeats which they sustained during that long contest. Its population, once amounting to 40,000, had declined to about half that number at the beginning of the eighteenth century; since which time it had varied so little, that there had neither been any apparent diminution nor increase. The city was populous enough to have defeated the force which was now marching against it, if it had been prepared for a Zaragozan defence. There is courage enough for any thing in the Portugueze character; but that individual and commanding genius was wanting by which alone the inhabitants of a large city can be made to act steadily with one will, and thereby capable of heroic valour. They prepared for a military defence in the field, which was exposing peasantry and half-disciplined troops to certain defeat.
♦Action before the city.
About seven in the morning the vedettes announced that the enemy were in sight, and the Portugueze took their ground in better order than might have been expected, considering the alarm and insubordination which had lately prevailed, and the real inequality of the contest. Their right rested upon the Mill of S. Bento, about a mile from the city, the centre was posted upon the hill of S. Caetano, the left rested upon the Quinta dos Cucos. Having reconnoitred this position, Loison directed General Solignac to attack the enemy’s right, and Margaron to break the centre with one part of his brigade, while the other attacked the left; they were to unite behind the city, occupy the roads to Arrayolos and Estremoz, and thus cut off the fugitives from all retreat, the cavalry being ready for pursuit upon the right and left, ... so sure and easy a victory was anticipated. The action began about eleven. The Portugueze had four four-pounders in their right wing, one three-pounder in the centre, and two howitzers in the left; there was no want of artillerymen, and if the other troops had understood their business and performed their duty like these, the event might have been doubtful; but the cavalry could not by any exertion of their commanders be brought into action; they hung back and retired, while the infantry stood their ground. When the latter were defeated, instead of flying, as the French had expected, in all directions, they retreated into the town. The defeat, however, was thought so irreparable, that General Leite and his staff made the best of their way to Olivença, and Moretti hastened to the Archbishop, to bid him provide for saving his own life without delay, in the imminent danger which threatened it. The venerable prelate calmly told him in reply, to think of preserving his own, which might yet be useful and honourable to his country; for himself, he said, the remainder of his days, few and useless as they needs must be, did not deserve a thought. The city had five gates, three of which had been walled up; the breaches which time had made in the walls had also been closed, but the walls were old and ruinous, and the French forced their entrance at many points, and then most of the defendants took flight: ... Moretti and the ♦Neves, iv. 132–138.
Observador Portuguez 382–387.
Thiebault, 158–165.♦ Spaniards to Jurumenha, the company from Villa-Viçosa to their own town; others dispersed; time was gained for them by the resistance which Lieutenant-Colonel Franco made at one of the gates, and the brave conduct of the foreign volunteers under[21]Gallego, who fought desperately in the streets, and suffered great loss.
♦The city taken.♦
The horrors which ensued will be remembered in Portugal while any record of past times shall be preserved there. Though even a military pretext was wanting for delivering up the city and the inhabitants to the will of the soldiers, the whole proceedings of the Portugueze and their Spanish allies having been those of regular war, to them it was abandoned. A resolution had been taken in the Junta that those persons who feared the event should provide for their safety by retiring in time; ... from some unexplained cause, most probably from a well-grounded fear that any persons who attempted to remove would be regarded as traitors by the furious populace, few or none availed themselves of this ominous warning; when it was too late great numbers got over the walls, but the French horse surrounded the city, and showed as little mercy to the fugitives without, as the infantry did to the ♦Inhumanity of the conquerors.♦ inhabitants within. The convents and churches afforded no asylum; not those who had borne arms alone, but children and old men, were massacred, and women were violated and slaughtered. The lowest computation makes the number of these victims amount to 900. The clergy and religioners were especial objects of vengeance: they were literally hunted from their hiding-places like wild beasts: eight-and-thirty were butchered; among them was the Bishop of Maranham. The Archbishop’s intercession with Loison obtained only a promise that a stop should be put to these enormities; no attempt was made to restrain them that day, nor during the whole night, nor till eleven on the following morning, and then by an order of the General, what he called the lawful pillage was declared to be at an end; but he contented himself with ♦Observador Portuguez, 387.
Neves, iv. 138–142.♦ issuing the order; no means for enforcing it were taken, and the soldiers continued their abominations till every place had been ransacked, and their worst passions had been[22] glutted.