History of the Peninsular War, Volume 2 (of 6)Southey, Robert
History
History of the Peninsular War, Volume 2 (of 6)
Southey, Robert
Peninsular War, 1807-1814
along the border the languages were intermingled, and intermarriages
so common, as to have produced a natural and moral union. They were a
fine, hospitable, noble-minded race, respected most by those who knew
them best. The upper boughs were scathed, but the trunk and the root
were sound.
♦THEIR HATRED OF THE FRENCH.♦
Their ignorance as well as their superstition, contributed at this
time to excite and sustain a national resistance. They expected
miracles in their favour; the people of Coimbra actually believed
that a miracle had been wrought, because when the French fired upon
them from the windows of their quarters, no person was ♦NEVES, III.
210.♦ hurt. Of the relative strength of nations they knew nothing, nor
of the arrangements which are necessary for carrying on war, nor of
the resources by which it must be maintained. Spain filled a larger
space in their imagination than France, and Portugal than either; and
they were not erroneous in believing that Spain and Portugal together
possessed a strength which might defy the world. The threats of the
intrusive government therefore excited indignation instead of dismay;
such language addressed to minds in their state of exaltation, was like
water cast upon a fire intense enough to decompose it, and convert its
elements into fuel for the flames. The fate of Beja excited hatred and
the thirst of vengeance instead of fear, and the insurrection continued
to spread in the very province where the experiment had been made upon
so large a scale of putting an end to it by fire and sword.
♦THE JUIZ DE FORA AT MARVAM.♦
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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