him and against the Junta. He was careful therefore to keep CHAP. Candido and Mariz as much about his person as possible. X. Among other precautions for preserving tranquillity in the city, 1808. he ordered the guns to be unloaded; persons were not wanting August. to represent this as being done with a treacherous design; and a priest, notorious for irregularities, at the head of a mob seized his bridle, and exclaimed that the people would have no such General. A dangerous stir had already begun, when some men of better mind came resolutely forward; one of them felled the priest to the ground; Bernardim spake to the crowd in a manner which conciliated their good will, the priest was thrown into Neves, iv. prison, and the day was closed with an illumination in honour of the General.

225--229.

spirators

are seized.

Upon the arrival of D. Miguel Pereira Forjaz to assist his The conbrother-in-law Bernardim, an attempt was made to establish a military Junta, in aid of the provisional government, and as a check upon the designs of Candido and his associates. This, however, proved ineffectual; and they proceeded so rapidly in organizing an armed party, that it was deemed necessary to secure Candido and Mariz without delay, lest the city should become a scene of bloodshed. They were accordingly summoned to a consultation at the Bishop's palace, and there arrested. Their escort, which, as usual, had accompanied them, began to express displeasure at this; and three of the men entering the palace, demanded insolently that their commander should be delivered to them; if he were innocent, they said, they would set him at liberty; if he were a traitor, they would blow him to pieces from the mouth of a cannon. These men were secured, and Raymundo, with some other officers to whom this service had been assigned, disarmed their fellows. The agitation, however, continued the whole day, though this was at an early hour; and it was not till after midnight that the prisoners could be

X.

CHAP. conducted without danger of a rescue to the jail. They were immediately proceeded against according to the forms of Por1808. tugueze law, and the evidence against them appeared so conAugust. clusive, that Candido was condemned to death, and Mariz to be degraded to Angola. The gallows accordingly was erected, Candido was led into the oratory to perform the last religious duties, the brethren of the Misericordia went out to attend the execution, and the crowd collected to witness it; when, after a while, it was announced that the two prisoners were removed to the fortress of S. Joam da Foz, to be embarked for Brazil, and there placed at the Prince's disposal. So fickle is a multitude, that the crowd, which a few days before had almost mutinied because of the arrest of this man, became riotous now because he was not put to death. They were pacified by the personal exertions of the Bishop and two of his dignitaries, and by an official notification that the Junta having pronounced sentence of death against Luiz Candido upon full proof of a most atrocious crime, Neves, iv. had thought it proper to lay the proceedings before the Prince, and remit the criminal to his mercy.

229-237.

Disturbances at

The populace at Porto were kept in some degree of submission Braganza. by the vigorous measures of the provisional government, the respect which was paid to the episcopal character, and by the influence which men of property possess in a flourishing commercial town. In remoter parts the local authorities were weaker, and tumults of the most disgraceful nature occurred. After the provinces beyond the mountains and between the rivers had been delivered from their first danger, by the failure of Loison's expedition from Almeida, they were more seriously alarmed from the side of Castille and Leon; and indeed had it not been for the success of the Spaniards in Andalusia, Junot would probably have received powerful reinforcements from Marshal Bessieres after the battle of Rio Seco. The first dis

X.

July.

turbances arose at Braganza upon a rumour that this army was CHAP. approaching. The people gathered together tumultuously, and when they learnt that no enemies were near, directed their venge- 1808. ance against all whom they suspected; and in such times it is in the power of any wretch, however vile and worthless, to throw suspicion upon the object of his envy or resentment. The Junta, in hope of appeasing them, convoked a popular meeting;.. the readiest means of showing them their power, and teaching them how to abuse it; and the result was, that most of the members of the Junta were turned out, and such as the mob thought fit elected in their places. A shoemaker, and the keeper of a wine-house, who, because he was maimed in one arm, called himself o Loion Portuguez, were the kings of the rabble. The latter took upon himself the office of general, and was actually obeyed by the troops. Their chief vengeance was directed against the New-Christians, for Pombal's law (the redeeming act of that tyrannical statesman) had not even in half a century produced a feeling of toleration in the populace. Any accusation, however preposterous, was believed; they gutted the house of one man, and threw him into prison, upon a charge of witchcraft, for having, it was said, made an image of General Sepulveda, and placed it over the fire in a frying-pan. When the city had thus continued three days under mob-rule, the magistrates took courage from despair, arrested the ruling demagogues during the night, and sent them prisoners to Chaves. Troops came from Villa-Real, where Sepulveda at that time was, and tranquillity was restored; but it was necessary to gratify the people by making useless preparations for defence; and the popular opinion was, that nothing but what was right had been done, that the persons whose property had been destroyed, and their lives endangered, deserved the usage they Neves, iv. had suffered, and that the magistrates were bribed by the Jews.

238-245.

CHAP.

X.

July.

Christians

at Villa

Nova de

Ford

More serious disturbances occurred at Villa Nova de FozCoa, arising from the same popular intolerance, and love of 1808. rapine. That town, one of the most flourishing in Beira Ålta, owed in great part its prosperity to its position at the confluence The New of the Coa with the Douro. A considerable trade in silk, plundered and in rice, salt-fish, and other articles of foreign importation, brought thither by the river from Porto, was carried on with the adjacent country, and with the Spaniards of the border. This trade was mostly in the hands of persons who, because they were of Jewish extraction, were believed by the vulgar to be still attached in heart to the Mosaic law. The cry of Down with the French, was coupled here with Kill the Jews; . . their houses were attacked, their goods plundered, their persons abused, their lives threatened and seriously endangered, and more than twenty of the wealthiest families in that country reduced to utter ruin by the complete destruction of their property. Some of these unhappy persons effected their escape to Moncorvo; and, because they were protected there, and the Junta of that town endeavoured to restore order at Villa Nova, hostilities ensued between the two townships. The evil spread; and if the Junta of Moncorvo had not arrested during the night some movers of sedition in their town, and seized also some of the ringleaders from Villa Nova, who had crossed the Douro, the province of Tras os Montes would soon have suffered all the evils of civil war, exasperated by a spirit of fanaticism, such as existed in the worst ages of superstition and ignorance. The New-Christians were accused of assisting the French with money, blaspheming God, cursing the Prince, defiling the crucifix, and finally, of Manicheism! When a judicial inquiry was afterwards Neves, iv. instituted concerning the riots, depositions to this effect were made against them upon oath!

245-263.

Troubles at
Viseu.

The troubles at Viseu, though less destructive in their con

X.

July.

sequences, assumed a more revolutionary character. The mob CHAP. insisted upon having a Juiz do Povo, and elected a demagogue to that office, which had not before been known among them, 1808. which in quiet times is useless, and in turbulent ones dangerous. Florencio José Correa de Mello, the general of the province, and the Bishop, a good but timid man, instead of refusing to acknowledge this tumultuous and illegal appointment, ratified it by administering an oath to the chosen favourite of the mob, who from that moment became a person of more authority than either Bishop or General. The latter offended the military by refusing to double their pay, as had been so imprudently done at Porto; on this account they became mutinous, and a riot broke out in the city upon an absurd report that Loison was come to visit him. The demagogue, who was lord of the day, obtained from the intimidated Bishop an order for his arrest, his house was sacked, and he and the Juiz de Fora were thrown into prison amid the insults of a multitude who knew not what they did. A meeting of the people was then held, at which the magistrates were deposed, new ones appointed, and the Bishop Neves, iv. was declared Generalissimo, with Silveira, who happened to be passing through Viseu, for his adjutant-general. Proceedings equally outrageous, and of more perilous tend- Riotous ency, occurred in the town of Arcos de Val de Vez. The bells in that town and in the surrounding villages rung the alarm upon a report that 20,000 French had landed at Espozende, and were entering Ponte de Lima. A disorderly multitude collected, and set out in search of the enemy; their courage was easily ́ roused, and soon spent ; for when they had ascertained that the report was without foundation, and were returning home, they learnt that a body of men from the north were in possession of their town, and instead of hastening thither to protect their property, and restore order, they took to flight, each seeking a place

VOL. I.

3 x

263-273.

proceedings

at Arcos de

Val de Vez.