Rossio massacre
[1][4] The September Revolution had taken place when the National Guard, assembled illegally in Rossio Square, had thrown its support behind the crowds of Lisbon calling for a restoration of the Constitution of 1822.
[7] The Constitutional Charter of 1826, in force at the time of the September Revolution, involved indirect elections that could easily be manipulated by the government,[6] and an upper chamber, the House of Peers.
In response, Sá da Bandeira had mustered the National Guard at the Campo de Ourique and made ready to march on the royal palace of Belém.
[15] The radical clubs and the National Guard feared that this would allow Queen Maria II to appoint a new cabinet that would reimpose the Constitutional Charter of 1826.
[2] On 8 March it became known that on the previous day the Queen had dismissed Soares Caldeira and replaced him as civil Governor of Lisbon with António Bernardo da Costa Cabral.
[15] Discussions took place between França and the Visconde do Reguengo in a coffee house across the street from the Arsenal named the Marcos Filipe after its late owner.
"[18] It contained four points: With this agreement, the National Guard left the Arsenal accompanied by a large number of people cheering França and Caldeira, and marched to Rossio Square, where they dispersed.
[13]: 129–132 Costa Cabral therefore advised the government that the National Guard remained hostile, a general uprising was being prepared and that armed force would ultimately be necessary to reassert control.
A proclamation from the Queen convened the Constituent Chamber in the Necessidades Palace at eight o’clock in the morning, where it unanimously voted to support the government against the uprising.
[15] According to another source, the guardsmen were marching down from Graça and had reached the end of the Rua dos Cavaleiros where they encountered a squadron of troops under Sá da Bandeira.
[19]: 4083 According to the account given to the Constituent Congress by Sá da Bandeira himself, the government thought it essential to deal with the rebel threat before nightfall, when the guardsmen might be reinforced, or fortify their positions, making it much harder to disperse them.
According to Sá da Bandeira, the National Guard had opened fire on the vanguard of the government troops, who were marching away on the understanding that the day's events were over.
The formal government response to the uprising did not concentrate on its armed nature or on the deaths and injuries, but on the unarguable illegality of the National Guard assembling against the express orders of the Queen.
It was therefore decided not to make any arrests or bring charges against any of the Guard commanders, but to refer the matter to a commission of the Lisbon City Council, which should review the membership and organisation of the corps.
[17] As well as rewarding her loyal commanders, the Queen also forgave some of her enemies, granting an amnesty to all acts since 10 September 1836 "calculated to destroy the institutions proclaimed by the nation at that period, to disturb order, and to treat the Royal authority with disrespect".
