ere 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1809. 



■versity of manners or inhumanity 

 can invent. Portugal, unfortunately, 

 is threatened witli all these evils, 

 and its inhabitants have no means 

 to avoid the horrors to which they 

 are exposed, butby having recourse 

 to arms, to repel by force, the odious 

 and wicked designs of their enemies. 



We have therefore resolved, that 

 the whole Portuguese nation shall 

 be armed in the manner which to 

 each inhabitant may be practicable, 

 that all the males without exception 

 of person or class, shall provide 

 themselves with a pike, 12 or 13 

 palms (6 or 7 feet) in length, and 

 such other arms as their circum- 

 stances may permit. 



That all the cities, towns, and 

 considerable villages, shall be forti- 

 fied by blockading the entrances and 

 principal streets with two, three, or 

 more cross-beams, in order that all 

 the inhabitants may be enabled to 

 defend themselves vigorously when 

 the enemy shall present himself. 



That all the officers in Lisbon, 

 and administrators of districts, shall 

 within the space of eight days from 

 the date of this decree, deliver in 

 to the military governor-general of 

 their respective provinces, a list of 

 such persons as from their activity, 

 ability, good conduct, and the re- 

 spect they are held in by the people, 

 are qualified to take a command, 

 always preferring in similar circum- 

 stances, those who are already mili- 

 tary officers, and pointing out such 

 of the said officers as by their age, 

 incumbrances, or other circum- 

 stances, ought no longer to fill the 

 posts they occupy. 



That all the generals charged with 

 the military government of pro- 

 vinces, shall divide their govern- 

 ments into districts, and appoint an 

 officer of known activity and probi- 



ty, whether of the troops of the line, 

 or militia, whom the chief and other 

 officers shall obey in consequence 

 of the said appointment, who shall 

 visit the different villages of their 

 district, examine the state of the 

 several companies, and from the 

 persons recommended to them, ap- 

 point such for officers as they shall 

 judge deserving and capable, who 

 shall immediately begin to exercise 

 their companies, which shall assem- 

 ble on all Sundays and saints' days 

 in their respective districts, in order 

 to render themselves expert in the 

 use of the arms they have, and in 

 military evolutions; comprehending 

 all the males from fifteen to sixty. 



Lastly, we have resolved, that 

 every person who shall not take up 

 arms, but refuse to concur with the 

 nation in general, to the defence of 

 our country, shall incur and sufier 

 the punishment of death ; and the 

 same punishment shall await all 

 those who shall furnish any succour 

 or aid to the enemy, by supplying 

 them with provisions, or assisting 

 them in any other mode. 



In like manner, any village which 

 shall not defend itself against the 

 assailants of the kingdom, but per- 

 mit their entrance without making 

 every possible resistance, shall be 

 burnt and levelled with the ground. 



And we hereby order all gene- 

 rals, military governors of pro- 

 vinces, the intendant-general of po- 

 lice, and all corregidors, auditors, 

 and in general all officers military 

 and civil to aid and assist in carry- 

 ing into effect the provisions of this 

 royal decree, which shall be affixed 

 up in all the public places, all the 

 cities, towns, and villages of this 

 kingdom, in order that it may be 

 known to every inhabitant. 



Approved by the council of 

 , war. 



