CHAP. prey would escape him; and he was the more uneasy, because II. at a moment when every thing depended upon celerity, his 1807. march was impeded. There was the Zezere to cross, a river November, which in former wars had been considered as protecting Lisbon

He refuses

to let the

the English

the city.

on this side,.. its depth and rapidity, and the height of its banks rendering it easy to defend the passage. A bridge of boats had been constructed at Punhete in the campaign of 1801, and afterwards broken up. Every exertion was now made to re-establish it; and in the meantime Junot sent off a courier with a confidential despatch to the minister of war and foreign affairs, Antonio de Araujo de Azevedo, framed for the purpose of being communicated to the Prince. Intrigue and protestations, however, would no longer avail; the entrance of the French was an act of such unequivocal outrage, that its object could not be doubted, and the Prince prepared immediately for his removal. Europe had never yet beheld one of its princes compelled to seek an asylum in his colonies; such an intention had once been formed by the Dutch, but it was reserved for Portugal to set the first example in modern history.

Had there been a previous struggle, like that of the demopeople and cratic cantons in Switzerland, or of the Tyrolese, such a terfleet defend mination would have been not less glorious than the most signal success. Preceded as it had been by long misgovernment, and all the concessions and vacillations of conscious imbecility, still it is among the most impressive as well as most memorable events in the annals of a kingdom fertile beyond all others in circumstances of splendid and of tragic story. The Prince had uniformly declared that to this measure he would resort, if the French entered Portugal; but he had not expected to be driven to it, and was not prepared for it. So completely indeed had he relied upon the assurance of the French legation, and of Dom Lourenço de Lima, that he had publicly assured the people all

Neves, i.

171.

II.

November.

had now been settled, and there no longer existed any cause of CHAP. apprehension from France. The dismay and astonishment of the Lisbonians, therefore, may well be conceived, when a few 1807. days only after this declaration, they learnt that the French were at Abrantes, and saw the court making ready for immediate flight. The hurry and disorder of Junot's march was not unknown; his artillery had been damaged, having been dragged by oxen and peasantry over mountainous roads, a great number of his horses had died upon the way overworked, and the men themselves had been marched so rapidly and fed so ill, that a large proportion of them were more fit for the hospital than for active service. The greater part of the Portugueze army was near the capital, and wretched as the state was to which it had fallen, neither the will nor the courage of the men was doubted. The English in the fleet, with a right English feeling, were longing to be let loose against the enemy: Sir Sidney offered to bring his ships abreast of the city, and there, seconded by the indignant populace, dispute every inch of ground with the invader: " Surely," he said, "Lisbon was as defensible as Buenos Ayres!" Well might he thus feel and express himself who had defended Acre; and certain it is that Junot and all his foremost troops might have been put to the death which they had already merited at the hands of the Portugueze, if the Prince had given the word. But such an act of vengeance, Manifesto just as it would have been, would have been advantageous to of Portugal. Buonaparte, by giving him a colourable pretext for treating Portugal as a conquered country: this the Prince knew; and it was in reliance upon his gentle and conscientious character, that Junot advanced in a manner which would else have appeared like the rashness of a madman.

The royal family had for some time past resided at Mafra; as soon as the emigration had been determined, they removed

of the court

Emburkaroyal fa

tion of the

mily.

November.

CHAP. to Queluz, where they might be nearer the Tagus, and less exII. posed to any sudden attempt of the enemy. The Portugueze 1807. navy was ill equipped for sea; no care had been taken to keep it victualled, and it was now found that many of the water casks were rotten, and new ones were to be made. The morning of the 27th had been fixed for the embarkation, and at an early hour numbers of both sexes and of all ages were assembled in the streets and upon the shore at Belem, where the wide space between the river and the fine Jeronymite convent was filled with carts and packages of every kind. From the restlessness and well-founded alarm of the people, it was feared that they would proceed to some excess of violence against those who were the objects of general suspicion. The crowd however was not yet very great when the Prince appeared, both because of the distance from Lisbon, and that the hour of the embarkation was not known. He came from the Ajuda, and the Spanish Infante D. Pedro in the carriage with him; the troops who were to be on duty at the spot had not yet arrived, and when the Prince alighted upon the quay, there was a pressure round him, so that as he went down the steps to the water-edge, he was obliged to make way with his hand. He was pale and trembling, and his face was bathed in tears. The multitude forgot for a moment their own condition in commiseration for his; they wept also, and followed him, as the boat pushed off, with their blessings. There may have been some among the spectators who remembered that from this very spot Vasco de Gama had embarked for that discovery which opened the way to all their conquests in the East; and Cabral for that expedition which gave to Portugal an empire in the West, and prepared for her Prince an asylum now when the mother country itself was lost.

A spectacle not less impressive presented itself when the royal family arrived from Queluz. The insane Queen was in the

II.

November.

first carriage; for sixteen years she had never been seen in CHAP. public. It is said that she had been made to understand the situation of affairs, so as to acquiesce in what was done; and 1807. that when she perceived the coachman was driving fast, she called out to him to go leisurely, for she was not taking flight. She had to wait some while upon the quay for the chair in which she was to be carried to the boat, and her countenance, in which the insensibility of madness was only disturbed by wonder, formed a striking contrast to the grief which appeared in every other face. The widow Princess, and the Infanta D. Maria, the Queen's sister, were in the next carriage, both in that state of affliction and dismay which such a moment might well occasion. The Princess of Brazil came next, in the octagon coach, with all her children, the nurse of the youngest babe, and the two Camareiras mores, or chief ladies of the bedchamber. She had been indefatigable in preparing for the voyage, and now she herself directed the embarkation of the children and domestics with a presence of mind which excited admiration. The royal family were distributed in different ships, not merely for the sake of being more easily accommodated, but that if shipwreck were to be added to their misfortunes, a part at least might probably be preserved.

The apprehension of this danger would occur more readily to the Portugueze than to any other people, because their maritime history is filled with the most dreadful and well-known examples; and the weather at the time of the embarkation gave a fearful specimen of what might be expected at that season. It blew a heavy gale, the bar was impassable, and continued so during the whole of the succeeding day. In the evening M. Herman, and a Portugueze, by name Jose de Oliveira Barreto, came with fresh despatches from Junot; he had sent them down the river in pursuance of that system of deception which was to

VOL. I.

N

CHAP. be carried on to the last. Their arrival produced no effect upon II. the determination of the Prince; but every hou added to the 1807. alarm and danger of his situation, and orders were given to disNovember mantle the fortresses which commanded the river, and spike the

Port. 18.

guns in the batteries. During the night the storm abated, the weather was fair at daybreak on the 29th, a favourable wind sprung up, and the fleet crossed the bar when the enemy were just near enough to see their prey escape.

The fleet consisted of eight sail of the line, three frigates, and five smaller ships of war; besides these there were all the merchant-vessels that could be made ready, making in all a fleet of six-and-thirty sail. The nobles who accompanied the royal family, were the Duke of Cadaval, the Marquesses Angenja, Vago, filho, Lavradio, Alegrete, Torres Novas, Pombal, and Bellas; Counts Redondo, Caparica, Bel-monte, and Cavalleiro, Observador Viscount Anadia; Araujo, whom the public voice loudly, but erringly accused of treason, embarked with the other ministers. All the ships were crowded with emigrants, . . for every one who had the means was eager to fly from the coming ruin. The confusion had been so great, that families were separated; wives got on board without their husbands, . . husbands without their wives; children and parents were divided; many were thus left behind, and many had the joy of meeting in Brazil when each believed that the other was in Portugal.

Neves, i. 180.

Regeney appointed by the Prince.

The Prince had appointed a regency the day before his embarkation, and the edict was made public on the next morning. Having endeavoured, he said, by all possible means to preserve the neutrality which his subjects had hitherto enjoyed, having exhausted his treasury, and after all other sacrifices, gone the length of shutting his ports against his old and faithful ally, the King of Great Britain, exposing thus the commerce of the country to total ruin,.. he saw that the troops of the Emperor