♦MEASURES OF THE FRENCH.♦ Junot meantime was in a state of great anxiety at Lisbon. It was not known what was become of Maransin and the troops in Algarve; there was no news of Loison; the insurrection in the north had reached Coimbra, and was spreading in Estremadura, and there was a report, probable enough to obtain credit, that an expedition of 10,000 English was off the bar. He called a ♦JUNE 28.♦ council, at which the generals of division, Comte de Laborde and Travot, were present, the chief of the staff, General Thiebault, Baron de Margaron, and other officers. The result of their conference was, that the army should be collected in and near Lisbon, leaving garrisons in only the three important places of Almeida, Elvas, and Peniche; that Setubal and the left bank of the Tagus should be maintained as long as possible; that when the English appeared they should occupy in succession three positions; one from Leiria to Ourem and Thomar; a second from ♦THIEBAULT, RELATION, 128.♦ Santarem to Rio-Mayor, Obidos, and Peniche; lastly, one from Saccavem to Cintra: finally, that they should defend Lisbon till the utmost extremity, and only leave it to retire upon Elvas, rest the troops there, and then force their way either to Madrid, Segovia, or Valladolid. In ♦1808. JULY.♦ pursuance of this resolution, Kellermann was summoned from Alem-Tejo, and courier after courier dispatched to recall Loison from Beira. Junot’s next measure was to put the church plate ♦OBSERVADOR PORTUGUEZ, 321.♦ which he had secured in a portable form, and for this purpose what there was no time for coining was melted into ingots. To counteract the rumours, true and false, by which the Portugueze were encouraged, it was affirmed that Napoleon had entered Spain, and that 20,000 men had reached the frontiers of Portugal to reinforce the French. Alarmed and harassed by contradictory rumours, and dreading from the temper of the people an insurrection, which would be punished by a massacre, many families removed from Lisbon; those who had country estates to their _Quintas_, the greater number to the different ♦OBSERVADOR PORTUGUEZ, 343. N.♦ places on the opposite side of the river, particularly ♦JULY 1.♦ Almada and Casilhas. They were however ordered to return; every head of a family who did not within four days obey this order was to be arrested, and all persons were prohibited from leaving Lisbon, unless they were provided with a passport from the police, ... an institution to which the Portugueze at this time applied the name of the Inquisition. It was of importance, the decree said, that good citizens should be secured against the ridiculous rumours which were promulgated, and that all notions of danger to the city of Lisbon should be put an end to; the French army would know how to maintain tranquillity there. This, however, was less a measure of policy than of extortion; those families who had retired were made to pay, in proportion to their means, for permission to