712 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1809. 



more the plough in your hand ; 

 come and cultivate in peace and re- 

 pose the inheritance of your fa- 

 thers ; hasten to fertilise those fields 

 vviiich have been toolong deserted : 

 and you, ye faithful Spaniards, 

 dome and receive the happy fruits 

 and rewards of your fidelity. Join 

 your voice to ours ; call to those 

 unhappy wretches, your brethren, 

 who are led astray; tell them that 

 we love them, that Napoleon will 

 forget their errors and their faults ; 

 and that your felicity will be the 

 constant object of his concern as 

 your parent ; tell these wandering 

 brethren, that they will ever find 

 me ready to carry their cries to the 

 foot of that monarch's throne, who 

 is the friend of truth ; that they 

 may depend on the protection of 

 our arms, which, formidable against 

 rebels and the ill-disposed, however 

 rumerous, will ever be the defen- 

 ders of the faithful citizen ; and 

 that we will avenge ofiences com- 

 mitted against them : but tell them 

 at the same time, and above all 

 things, that mercy has its limits, and 

 that,atlength, the day of vengeance 

 will come. A powerful army is dis- 

 l^ersed throughout your ten itory; a 

 formidable army is coming, and woe 

 to him that shall dare to resist me; 

 for I shall then hearken only to a 

 just indignation, a most just rage, 

 and none of you will escape a terri- 

 ble vengeance. 



Saragossa is yet smoaking ; and 

 you, ye towns of Catalonia, who 

 please, or dare, to follow its exam- 

 ple, behold its ashes, its ruins — 

 tremble. 



Angereau. 



Portuguese Government.— Decree 

 of the Prince Regent of Portu- 

 gal, dated Rio Janeiro, Jul// 6, 

 1809. 



Governors of the kingdom of 

 Portugal and the Algarves, friends ! 

 I, the Prince Regent, send unto you 

 greeting, as unto those whom I 

 love and prize. It being my prin- 

 cipal care to secure, by every 

 means possible, the independence 

 of my dominions, and to deliver 

 them completely from the cruel 

 enemy whoso inhumanly, and con- 

 trary to the good faith of treaties, 

 has invaded the states of my Crown 

 in Europe, and has never ceased 

 making upon them the most unjust 

 war; and as it is, on the one hand, 

 acknowledged that, in such a diffi- 

 cult crisis, nothing can more con- 

 tribute to the defence of the king- 

 dom than a government composed 

 of a small number of individuals ; 

 and as, on the other, it is indispen- 

 sable to preserve, with my ancient 

 and faithful ally, the king of Great 

 Britain, not only the best under- 

 standing, but likewise to prove to 

 him, in the most evident manner, 

 that my intentions are not different 

 from those by which he is animated 

 in the promotion of the common 

 cause, that his Britannic majesty 

 may continue, in the same effica- 

 cious manner, to succour Portugal 

 and the whole of the Peninsula ; 

 and as it cannot be doubted that 

 this glorious purpose, which I so 

 ardently desire to eficct, can only 

 be attained by the most extensive, 

 firm, and reciprocal confidence ; 

 and his Britannic majesty having 

 made known his piinciples on this 

 subject, and what he judges will 

 most contribute to a happy result, 

 and is most essential to the de- 

 fence of the kingdom and of the 

 I'eninsula ; I have seen fit to order 



that 



