That's why he was surprised by the Portuguese bishops' unanimous hostility towards the French Revolution, "fille des Lumières" [a daughter of the Lights], which was also due to the unanimous condemnation of 18th century philosophy by the Portuguese clergy. Sources of information about what was happening beyond the Pyrenees were scarce. The Gazeta de Lisboa [Lisbon Gazette] selected news items and reduced, altered, or silenced those that were considered dangerous, especially in relation to the Church. Yes, forbidden books were in circulation (of which there were sometimes underground translations), reserved for select buyers. As for the migrant refugees in Portugal, they were somewhat suspect, some of them being members of the freemasonry, such as the Duke of Luxembourg, the father-in-law of the Duke of Cadaval. For this reason, Marcadé emphasises, it was not known how the Portuguese bishops would react to the Constitution civile du clergé [Civil Constitution of the Clergy], but there was no doubt that a holy alliance against the French Revolution— called for loudly by Pina Manique— would bring together the high clergy and the government.

In the more extensive area of Pombalism, Jacques Marcadé considered the educational reforms undertaken by the minister of King José I with Pombal et l’enseignement: quelques notes sur la réforme des estudos menores (1982) [Pombal and education: some notes on the reform of the estudos menores ]. The overall reform of education had begun with the creation of royal colleges for the nobility in 1759 to replace the Jesuit establishments, but the assignment of the general administration of education to the Real Mesa Censória [Royal Board of Censorship] in 1771, which Cenáculo chaired, led to the development of an ambitious project for primary schools. Marcadé lists the important measures, emphasising the creation of a further 440 posts (479 according to other scholars) for teachers of reading, writing, and counting, supported by the new Literary Subsidy tax, with posts for primary education accounting for 59.2% of the total. He concludes by stating that— with Queen Maria I and despite the encouragement given to female education— "c’en était fini de la grande idée de Pombal, un enseignement d’État, laïque . " [Pombal's grand idea of secular state education was finished].

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