Had there been a previous struggle, like that of the democratic cantons in Switzerland, or of the Tyrolese, such a termination 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. ♦NEVES, I. 171.♦ 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 had now been settled, and there no longer existed any cause of apprehension from France. The dismay and astonishment of the Lisbonians, therefore, may well be conceived, when a few 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. ♦MANIFESTO OF THE COURT OF PORTUGAL.♦ But such an act of vengeance, just as it would have been, would have been advantageous to 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. ♦EMBARKATION OF THE ROYAL FAMILY.♦