X. 1808. July. had attempted to reason with the infuriated mul- CHAP. titude. The magistrates therefore, and the person who had been appointed to the command, withdrew secretly from the city during the night, and fled. In the morning five Frenchmen, who had been surprised upon a marauding party, were brought in prisoners. A short-lived and sense- July 5. less exultation was excited at their appearance. At noon it was known that the enemy were close at hand; they sent forward a peasant who had fallen into their hands, and whom, contrary to their custom, they had spared, to offer pardon to the people if they would return to their obedience; that offer being refused, they attacked the insurgents. By their own account the resistance was so momentary, that there was no time for the artillery, nor for half the troops to take part in the action. The insurgents threw away their arms, like terrified villagers, imploring the clemency of an irritated conqueror. From 800 to 900 were left upon the field. The city was entered on all sides. But, by their own account, 3d Bulletin. the moment the action was over, General Mar- Portuguez, garon restrained the indignation of his troops; Thiebault, their moderation was equal to their valour, and victory was immediately followed by order. Margaron, in a proclamation to the inhabitants, dwelt his clemency. "A decree had been issued," he said, "commanding that every town where the French were fired upon should be burnt, and its inhabitants put to the sword. They had incurred that penalty, and his duty required him upon Observador 357. 143. X. 1808. July. CHAP. to inflict it. Nevertheless he had prevented the massacre and the conflagration; not a house, not a cottage had been burnt; he had protected their persons and their property, as far as was possible under such circumstances; and instead of seeking for the guilty, he repeated to them his offers of peace and union. He called upon them to learn who were their real friends, and Thiebault, lay aside their arms. Leave," said he, "the tificatives, noble task of protecting and defending you to the soldiers of the great nation. Submit yourselves to the power which Heaven supports, and obey our holy church as I do,.. you in renouncing your projects of exterminating the French, I in forgiving all that you have done against them." Pièces Jus No. 10. Massacre of the pri soners. 48. This is what the French relate of their conduct at Leiria. 66 Sepulchres of Leiria," exclaims the Neves, iv. Portugueze historian of these events, "prove ye the falsehood with which these robbers, as cruel as they are perfidious, have deceived the world!” What they have not related is now to be recorded. It is not dissembled by the Portugueze that the defence was as feeble and as momentary as the enemy describe it. They entered the city on all sides, and began an indiscriminate butchery; old and young, women and babes, were butchered, in the streets, in the houses, in the churches, in the fields. The most atrocious acts of cruelty were committed, and not by the common soldiers only. One of the superior officers related of himself, that a feeling of pity came over him when CHAP. X. 1808. July. Memoir of Campaigns ton, p. 8. upon entering the town he met a woman with an infant at her breast, but calling to mind that he was a soldier, he pierced mother and child with one thrust! Free scope was given to every abominable passion; and in the general pillage the early the very graves were opened, upon the sup- of the Duke position that treasure might have been hidden of Wellingthere, as in a place where no plunderer would look to find it. When the slaughter in the streets had ceased, they began to hunt for prisoners, and all who were found were taken to an open space before the Chapel of S. Bartholomew, there to be put to death like the prisoners at Jaffa. The greater number of these poor wretches fell on their knees, some stretching their hands in unavailing agony toward their murderers for mercy; others, lifting them to heaven, directed their last prayers where mercy would be found. The mur- Neves, iv. derers, as if they delighted in the act of butchery, began their work with the sword and bayonet and the but-end of the musket, and finished it by firing upon their *victims. 37-42. On the same day actions of the same devilish Loison's march from Almeida to Abrantes. X. 1808. July. CHAP. character were committed by Loison's division on their way from Almeida. Leaving a garrison of 1250 men in that place, and having blown up the works of Fort Conception, he set out towards Lisbon, in pursuance to the orders which he had received, with between 3000 and 4000 troops. The next day he approached the city of Guarda; it happened to be Sunday, and also the annual festival of Queen St. Isabel, whose name, stripped of all fable and idolatrous observances, deserves always to be held in dear and respectful remembrance by the Portugueze. The assemblage of people was therefore much greater than at other times; but they were assembled to keep holyday, not to provide for their defence. A Junta had been constituted there two days before; and with that miscalculation of strength, or ignorance of the state of things, which prevailed so generally among their countrymen, they seem not to have considered themselves as in danger of an attack till Loison was within two miles of the city. An old iron gun, rusty and dismantled, and lying useless in the ruins of the castle, was their whole artillery; . . a few peasants mounted it upon a cart, and so carried it to a rising ground near the road, as if the sight of it would deter the French from advancing. According to the Bulletin 4. French official account, the rebels, as they inPortuguez, solently styled the Portugueze, drew up in two Thiebault, lines, having their flanks well supported, and 153. two pieces of cannon to protect their centre; their lines were forced at all points, their guns Observador 366. X. 1808. July. taken, themselves surrounded as well as routed; CHAP. the disorder was general, the slaughter dreadful; more than a thousand dead were left upon the field, and Loison in pursuit of the fugitives entered the city. The truth is, that a disorderly multitude fled as soon as they were attacked; and that, as all who could not escape were cut down, the number of the slain has not perhaps been much exaggerated. A night of licentiousness and pillage followed, and Loison then proceeded. The ancient and flourishing town of Covilham escaped a similar visitation, because it lay somewhat out of the line of his march, and he had no time to spare. Alpedrinha, a place containing between two and three thousand inhabitants, was not so fortunate. On the same day that Margaron entered Leiria, and with as little resistance, General Charlot entered this unhappy town; that General was one of the few July 5. commanders who had hitherto obtained a character for honour and humanity,.. here, however, all horrible crimes and cruelties were committed; one inoffensive old man was taken out of the town, and burnt alive within sight and hearing of the fugitives upon the mountains; and the French, having carried off every thing that was portable, set the place on fire. They Neves, iv. proceeded, plundering as they went, by Sarzedas, Cortiçada, and Sardoal to Abrantes. 77. of the The French stated in their bulletin that they Language had lost upon their march twenty killed, and French from thirty to forty wounded, whereas the rebels VOL. II. K bulletins. |