Junot was at Abrantes, within ninety-two miles of Lisbon, before the Portugueze government received any certain intelligence that the French had passed the frontier. The first advices came from Lecor, orderly adjutant to the Marquez d’Alorna, and a truer Portugueze than his commander. ♦OBSERVADOR PORTUGUEZ, P. 12.♦ At the same time a flag of truce from the British squadron entered the Tagus; and the secret treaties of Fontainebleau were communicated to the Prince by Great Britain. D. Rodrigo de Sousa Coutinho urged him to execute his resolution of removing to his possessions in Brazil, the only course which he could pursue with honour or with safety. Lord Strangford came on shore, and assured him on the word of a British ambassador and a British admiral, that the measures which had been taken against Great Britain were considered as acts of compulsion on his part, in no ways abating the friendship of that old ally, if he would avail himself of her friendship. In Brazil he had an empire to the growing prosperity of which he might now add by his presence; or he must inevitably be cut off from it by the nature of the maritime war, against which the combination of all the continental powers must be ineffectual. ♦THE PRINCE DETERMINES UPON REMOVING TO BRAZIL.♦ The Prince’s determination was anticipated at Abrantes before it was known, and perhaps before he himself had decided how to act. Rumours were current there that he had already embarked part of the royal family, that many fidalgos had gone on board to accompany the court in its removal, and that the army which had bombarded and taken Copenhagen was on board the British squadron. These reports made Junot fear that the prey would escape him; and he was the more uneasy, because at a moment when every thing depended upon celerity, his march was impeded. There was the Zezere to cross, a river which in former wars had been considered as protecting Lisbon 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 dispatch 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. ♦HE REFUSES TO LET THE PEOPLE AND THE ENGLISH FLEET DEFEND THE CITY.♦