Well might the French nation have shuddered at the prospect of interminable war which was thus held out by the ministers of a tyrant, whose ambition increased with his power. He found, however, implicit and servile obedience in the nation. Their crime brought with it its curse, new successes only served as pretexts for demanding more sacrifices; and at a moment when France had not an enemy upon the whole continent of Europe, and a larger military force than had ever before existed, more conscripts were thus called for in advance! But though Buonaparte at this time despised the military force of Great Britain as heartily as he hated its naval power, neither London, nor Ireland, nor India, were as yet his objects. His projects for seizing the whole Spanish peninsula were now mature, and these projects were probably communicated to Junot by dispatches which arrived from Milan the second week in January. A few days afterward that General went with more than his usual pomp to the Foundery, destroyed the portraits of the Braganzan kings, and gave orders that the Portugueze arms should no longer be placed on the cannon. He gave orders also to deface the royal arms which were carved in stone over the entrance, but no Portugueze could be tempted to commit this act of treason; and when some French soldiers broke the crown and defaced the shield, no sooner had they left the place than the women gathered up the fragments to preserve them as relics. The final act of usurpation was not long delayed. ♦FEBRUARY.♦ Early on the morning of the first of February the movements of the troops indicated that some great measure was about to be announced, for which the public mind was to be prepared by intimidation. Cannon were planted in the Rocio; the streets from thence to head-quarters were lined with soldiers; and Junot, with all the parade of military pomp and power, proceeded to the palace of the Inquisition, where the Regents held their sittings. ♦JUNOT DECLARES THAT THE PORTUGUEZE GOVERNMENT IS DISSOLVED.♦ Troops followed him, filling the lobbies of that execrable edifice, and extending even to the table where these poor puppets of authority were seated: amid this scene of noise and tumult and indecorum he read a paper, of which nothing more could be collected than that it pronounced the extinction of the Portugueze government, and the consequent dismission of the Regents from office. Rockets gave the signal when the General came out, and salutes of artillery from the castle and all the forts and batteries insulted the afflicted and groaning people. The city was soon placarded with a proclamation in French and Portugueze, saying that all uncertainty was now at an end, the fate of Portugal was decided, and her felicity secured, because Napoleon the Great had taken her under his omnipotent protection. The Prince of Brazil, in abandoning Portugal, had renounced all right to the sovereignty of that kingdom.