♦DISTRIBUTION OF THE FRENCH TROOPS IN PORTUGAL.♦
A considerable garrison was required in Elvas, as being the strongest fortress in the kingdom, and now of more importance because of the hostile attitude which the Spaniards at Badajoz had assumed. Strong garrisons were placed at Peniche and Setubal, for fear of the English. Almeida also had been occupied by the French. ♦NEVES, III. 77.♦ Except the troops in that place there were no other French in the whole north of Portugal than the small parties stationed upon the military road, a weak detachment at Figueira, and some fifty men at Coimbra. The great body of the French was collected at Lisbon, and in the adjacent country, where, in case of sudden danger, they might be brought to act promptly and with ♦THE SPANIARDS AT PORTO DECLARE AGAINST THE INTRUDER, AND MARCH INTO SPAIN.♦ effect. Porto was in possession of the Spaniards, who had occupied it by virtue of the secret treaty of Fontainebleau. General Bellesta, however, upon whom the command had devolved, had been placed under the orders of the French General Quesnel, when the abortive kingdom of Northern Lusitania was no longer held out as a lure to the court of Spain. Quesnel had with him about seventy dragoons, and a few other French, holding military or civil situations. When news arrived of the movements in Gallicia, Bellesta, obeying without hesitation the voice of his country, ♦JUNE 6.♦ arrested the French and their general, and convoking the military, judicial, and civil authorities, explained to them briefly the situation of affairs, expressed a hope that Junot would by that time have been seized in Lisbon, as Quesnel was in Porto, and asked of them what course they would pursue, ... whether they would restore the national government, choose a Spanish one, or remain in submission to the French? The _Vereador_, Thomas da Silva Ferras, replied, that he, and the chamber, and the city, desired nothing more than to be under the government of their lawful sovereign, and required that the royal arms might immediately be re-established. A _Desembargador_ ventured to observe, that they had no authority to determine such things, not being representatives of the people; that they were without arms, ... that they had no means of resisting so terrible an enemy as the French; and that it was better to wait till they knew what had happened at Lisbon. Reasonable as the fear was which this speaker expressed, a more generous feeling prevailed, and by Bellesta’s orders the _Sargento Mor_, Raymundo José Pinheiro, went from the meeting to take the command of ♦NEVES, III. C. 6.♦ the fortress of S. Joam da Foz, at the mouth of the Douro.
