Freire was forced to remain in Vienna until he could accumulate funds, then moved to France where he joined the service of the French diplomat Comte de Laforêt for several years before finally achieving his goal of living in Portugal.

When Russia went to war with Turkey, Freire obtained an appointment to serve in the army of Catherine II and left for St. Petersburg, where he made a favorable impression on the royal court and the empress herself.

Freire returned to Lisbon, where he was assigned to the Marquês das Minas regiment, part of the division Portugal was sending to assist Spain against the French Republic, and about to sail for Catalonia.

Shortly after arriving at Roses, the Portuguese division left for Céret, while the regiments of Freire de Andrade and Cascais proceeded to occupy the village of Rebós at the front lines.

There, according to Latino Coelho, he began to show his restless and undisciplined spirit, "...the haughty courage of the Colonel abrogated full submission and fomented indiscipline throughout the division.

Freire was initiated into Freemasonry before 1785, probably in the Vienna Masonic lodge Zur gekrönten Hoffnung (To Hope Crowned) an organization to which he is known to have belonged together with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart by 1790, attaining the rank of Worshipful Master of the Regeneration.

Having returned to Portugal to join the Portuguese Legion organised by Jean-Andoche Junot and under the command of the Marquis de Alorna, Freire left for France in April 1808, where he was received by Napoleon Bonaparte on 1 June, and subsequently took part in the French invasion of Russia.

[20] He had intended to suspend execution of the sentence until it was confirmed by the sovereign, "but the Regency took offence at the very suggestion, as if sensing an intention to usurp authority, and ordered him in an imperious and arrogant manner to proceed immediately in implementing it.

This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Portugal; diccionario historico, biographico, bibliographico, heraldico, chorographico, numismatico e artistico, by Esteves Pereira.