Hi Anthony!

You are most kind!

Soriano give us in those pages a description of what was happening at Braga at the time Soult was entering in Portugal. The so called «junta de segurança publica» was different from the Juntas formed in 1808 during the uprise against the French (they were formal «institutions» formed solemny with the participation of many respected persons and were dissolved after the reinstalment of the Regency).
As Soriano explained it was formed by some individuals that, taking advantage of the weakness of the legitimated authorities and the emergency of the situation, manipulated the people's fears and the feelings of mistrust against those authorities, to achieve personal goals. “Settling old scores”, as you put it, or to persecute people for economic or «political» (not in the modern sense) reasons with the accusation that they sympathize with the French and are responsable by is comeback.

In your translation only the expression «merely served to agitate and sustain factious in-fighting» is not right; I put it this way «...instead of being elected by the people, as it was claiming, was (elected) by agitators and payed people...»; so some individuals manipulated and bought particular persons witin the people to be in the junta.

Moisés Gaudêncio