XI. 1808. September. CHAP. were appointed to arrest every person who should break the peace. Nothing but this prompt vigilance prevented the people from gratifying their thirst for vengeance. It is said that all the houses in Belem in which the enemy were lodged were marked in the course of one night, and that lists of those Frenchmen and their adherents who were deemed most worthy of death were posted up. The English were loudly reproached for having protected men who deserved the most exemplary punishment; and there were not wanting persons unreflecting enough to assert, that sure as they were of the Spaniards, they could have exacted that punishment without any necessity for English aid. This feeling, however, was far from general. The English character was too well known in Lisbon, for the English name ever to be unpopular among a people not less retentive of kind and friendly feelings than of injuries. When the English soldiers went to occupy the arsenals and forts, refreshments were brought out for them along the way, and British officers were followed in the streets by applauding crowds; while the hatred which was manifested towards the French was so deep and general, that no people could possibly have incurred it unless they had deserved it to the utmost. Not only did the Portugueze refuse to purchase from them those things which they wished to convert into money, they refused to sell them any thing, even provisions for their hospital. If a Frenchman ventured to appear alone, trusting to escape dis XI. 1808. September. covery, he betook himself, upon the first suspi- CHAP. cious eye which was directed toward him, to an Englishman for protection. Kellermann came on shore one day after his embarkation to dine with a British officer, and being recognized on his return to the water-side, was attacked by the mob. Our sailors defended and saved him, but not before he had received some severe contusions. Loison, who was a more marked object of execration, was considered in so much personal danger, that four battalions were bivouacked near his quarters, and four pieces of cannon planted there for his protection. But toward those officers who had demeaned themselves humanely and honourably, the people testified nothing but respect and good-will. the French. The French were not sufficiently humbled to Temper of bear this meekly. The success which they had obtained in negotiation, in their minds more than counterbalanced the humiliation of their defeat, and of their present state. They denied that they had been defeated; they affirmed that they had dictated the terms; and Junot continued to occupy the royal box at the opera till his departure. The English generals respected, in this instance, the custom of the country, and after the Frenchman had resigned it, left it unoccupied, with the curtain down. But however much the enemy might console themselves with the confident hope of again becoming masters of the kingdom, their pride was bitterly wounded by the display of national feeling which met them September. CHAP. every where, and which they considered preXI. sumptuous in a people who were soon to be 1808. brought again under their iron yoke. They called it audacity in the Portugueze to wear the national cockade, which they still chose to denominate a badge of insurrection; and they complained that even in their sight lamps were preThiebault, pared for illuminating the city upon their de219-222. parture, and demanded in greater numbers than could be supplied. Embarkation of the French. The first division of the French embarked under protection of the second, the second and third were protected by the British troops from the fury of the Portugueze. Wholly to restrain it was impossible, but no serious injury was done. They embarked amid the curses of the people. Nine days and nights the rejoicings continued, not by any order from the magistracy, but by the voluntary act of the inhabitants, whose joy was in proportion to the misery from which they had been delivered. It was a joy which thousands whose fortunes had been ruined in the general calamity, partook; and which brought the last earthly consolation to many a broken heart. The enemy, while they lay in the river, were within sight of the illuminations and fireworks, and could hear the bells with which that great city rang from side to side. However brave in arms, however skilful in negotiation, they departed under circumstances more reproachful than had ever before attached to any army, or body of military men. As a last act 66 XI. 1808. September. sioners. of baseness, one of their general officers called CHAP. at the commissioners' office, while they were absent, just before he embarked, and carried off all the papers he could collect, in the hope of making it impossible for them to produce an account of their proceedings. But he was driven back to Lisbon by contrary winds, and compelled to restore them. The commissioners concluded Final report of the the final report of their transactions by stating, commisthat the conduct of the French had been marked by the most shameful disregard of honour and probity, publicly evincing their intention of carrying off their plundered booty, and leaving acknowledged debts unpaid. Finally, said they, they have only paid what they were obliged to disgorge, and were not permitted to carry off. The British commissioners had represented to General Kellermann, that whatsoever the words, it could never be the spirit of any convention, that an army should, as a military chest, or otherwise, carry off public money, leaving public debts unpaid: they had called upon him, for the honour of the French army and nation, to act justly; and yet, unmindful of any tie of honour or of justice, the French army had taken away a considerable sum in the military chest, leaving its debts unpaid, to a very large amount." Thus the courtesy which had been shown toward the French Generals in the course of the negotiation, had the effect of fixing upon them a deeper stigma; by bringing into full view a low chicanery, a total want of honour, and utter XI. 1808. September. CHAP. disregard of truth, which could not have been suspected, if it had not been thus officially proved, and placed upon public record. Had such charges been advanced by the enemy against the general officers of a British army, the strictest inquiry would have been instituted, and no rank, no influence, no professional merits, could have screened the offenders. They would have been dismissed with ignominy from the service which they had disgraced, and for ever excluded from all honourable society. There was a time when the highest eulogium which the French bestowed upon a soldier was to say, that he was without fear and without reproach; but under the system of Buonaparte nothing was considered reproachful in his soldiers, provided they feared nothing in this world or in the next. Addresses of thanks to tish Com mander. The good faith of the British, and their real the Bri- regard for the interest and feelings of the Portugueze nation, were now apparent. The national flag was every where displayed, and the people were informed by a proclamation that no time would be lost in establishing their government upon the basis on which the Prince had left it, and substituting the civil for that military power which was continued only from necessity and for a few days. The magistrates and the clergy meantime, and all persons who possessed authority or influence, were called upon to co-operate in preserving order. Addresses of thanks came from the provinces; and the Juiz do Povo, who had protested in the name of the people of Lisbon |