The bombastic sentence which Kellermann thus quoted, was from a proclamation that Junot had just sent forth, in that spirit of shameless falsehood and remorseless tyranny which characterised the intrusive government. He asked the Portugueze what madness possessed them? What reason they could have, after seven months of the most perfect tranquillity, of the best understanding, to take arms; ... and against whom? against an army which was to secure their independence and maintain the integrity of their country! Was it their wish, then, that ancient Lusitania should become a province of Spain? Could they regret a dynasty which had abandoned them, and under which they were no longer counted among the nations of Europe? What more could they desire than to be Portugueze, and independent? and this Napoleon had promised them. They had asked him for a king, who, under his all-powerful protection, might restore their country to its rank. At this moment their new monarch was expecting to approach them. “I hoped,” said Junot, “to place him in a peaceable and flourishing kingdom; am I to show him nothing but ruins and graves? Will he reign in a desert? assuredly not; and you will not be any thing but a wretched province of Spain. Your customs and laws have been maintained; your holy religion, which is ours also, has not suffered the least insult; it is you who violate it, suffering it to be influenced by heretics, who only wish for its destruction. Ask the unhappy Roman-catholics of Ireland under what oppression they are groaning! If these perfidious islanders invade your territory, leave me to fight them; ... your part is to remain peaceably in your fields.” He then attempted to soothe them, saying, that if any abuses in the administration still existed, every day’s experience would diminish them. The Emperor, satisfied with the reports which he had received of the public spirit, had graciously remitted half the contribution. He was fulfilling all their wishes. And would they let themselves be dragged on by the influence of a banditti, at the very moment when they should be happy? “Portugueze,” said he, “you have but one moment to implore the clemency of the Emperor and disarm his wrath. Already the armies of Spain touch your frontiers at every point; ... you are lost if you hesitate. Merit your pardon by quick submission, or behold the punishment that awaits you! Every village or town in which the people have taken arms, and fired upon my troops, shall be delivered up to pillage, and destroyed, and the inhabitants shall be put to the sword. Every individual ♦OBSERVADOR PORTUGUEZ, 317–320.♦ found in arms shall instantly be shot.”