After issuing this proclamation the French took entire possession of Portugal; the alcaides were dismissed, and the French generals ruled with absolute authority as military governors. A new regency was formed, which included several Frenchmen, notably Junot himself as president, General Herman, M. Lhuillier, and Viennot de Vaublanc as Secretary-General; and a new ministry was constituted of friends to the French alliance, consisting of Pedro de Mello Breyner at the Home Office, Azevedo at the Treasury, the Count of Sampaio at the War Office, and Principal Castro at the Ministry of Justice. Junot then began to intrigue for the throne of Portugal; he knew well that Napoleon had no intention of carrying out the terms of the treaty of Fontainebleau; and he did not see why, after his successful campaign, he should not receive this great reward. He posed as a patron of letters, and was elected President of the “Academia Real das Sciencias” in the place of the Duke of Lafoẽs; he changed his attitude towards and made extravagant promises to the radical party; and in the hope of succeeding the Braganzas, he reduced Napoleon’s requisition of forty millions of francs to twenty millions, on his own authority. The chief agent, through whom he negotiated, was a lawyer, named José de Scabra, who got up a deputation to visit Napoleon, headed by the Grand Inquisitor, the Bishop of Leiria, to ask for the nomination of Junot as King of Portugal. These efforts of Junot’s were, however, of no avail. The tyranny of his generals, and their treatment of the Portuguese as a conquered people; the atrocities which the French soldiers committed, and their deliberate insults to the dearest sentiments of a proud nation, far outweighed the effect of Junot’s policy. General Thomières, for instance, plundered the great abbey of Alçobaça, and destroyed the corpses of the early kings of Portugal; and General Loison trampled on the people, and put down a little riot at Mafra with most frightful cruelty. There were exceptions to this behaviour of course. General Travot and General Charlot made themselves popular by their just administration; but, as a rule, the conduct of the French generals was rapacious in the extreme. At this moment, when the Portuguese people were quivering with indignation, came the news of the rebellion in Spain, and of the victory of Baylen. The Spanish general, Bellesta, who commanded at Oporto in succession to General Taranco, seized the French governor, General Quesnel, and handed him over to a Portuguese junta, and then marched away into Gallicia. It was on the 18th of June, when the French had held Portugal for about nine months, that this great event occurred. Antonio José de Castro, Bishop of Oporto, was declared president of the “junta” of that city. The example was followed from Braga to Faro; everywhere the French officers were murdered or expelled, and independent “juntas” were formed.