from all burdens-a golden age-and they gladly echoed the cry. The King was terrified by the uproar, and the Cortes were established, with the code of Cadiz of 1812, totally hostile as it was to the ancient institutions, and breathing the spirit of republicanism in every line for their acknowledged model. The Cortes continued its control for nearly three years. Its folly had long signed its fate. The Queen and the nobles saw that it was sinking; and they determined that it should sink thoroughly. The eldest son of the throne was in Rio de Janeiro; they put the second, Dom Miguel, at the head of a small body of troops on the 27th of May 1823, at Villa Franca, some miles from Lisbon. There he published a proclamation, declaring the uselessness of the Cortes; and there he was joined by the King. The nation, weary of the burlesque of liberty, received the proclamation with a burst of joy, and the King was once more a Sovereign. The Cortes followed the example of their brothers of Spain, swore to shed the last drop of their blood for liberty, and ran away with the oath on their lips. Some fled outright; about sixty signed a protest, and fled after them. The rest made their submission. Dom Miguel, then a boy, was appointed Generalissimo by the King in sign of royal approbation.

But the measure was imperfect. The King, still alarmed by the menaces of the defeated revolutionists, took the measure of appointing a minister hostile to the Queen's party. This was felt to be an insult, and the same daring experiment of force was again tried. On the 30th of April, Dom Miguel, as commander-in-chief, ordered a body of troops to parade in one of the squares of Lisbon, and sent detachments to arrest the ministers, Pamplona, Palmela, the head of the police, of the customs, and some other obnoxious heads of departments. But the alarm had rapidly spread, the palace was roused, the ambassadors of the foreign Pow ers hastened to protect the King from what they conceived to be a revolution. The troops were sent to their quarters, and Lisbon remained in a state of formidable excitement. The excitement rapidly increased, until John the Sixth con

VOL. XXXIII. NO. CCIII.

ceived that his life was in danger. The French ambassador then proposed that he should retire on board the French fleet until the disturbance was appeased. The offer was curiously characteristic of the land of compliment; there was no French fleet in the Tagus. A letter was dispatched to their squadron in Cadiz. But in the mean time the British ambassador had offered the King an asylum in Windsor Castle. The King went on board, and published an edict, censuring the late transactions. Dom Miguel, on the 10th, was admitted to the royal presence for the purpose of vindicating himself; and, in pursuance of the order for his appearance, he was not suffered to reland. A letter was published, as written by him, and evidently dictated under duresse, apologizing for his errors as those of youth; and "fearing that his presence in Portugal might afford a pretext to evil-minded persons to renew disturbances and intrigues, very foreign to the pure sentiments which he had just uttered, requesting his Majesty's permission to travel for some time in Europe," &c. This letter was dated the 12th, and on the same day the Prince was sent on board a frigate for Brest, thence to be transmitted into the care or custody of Prince Metternich at Vienna. During his absence a Court of Enquiry was formed for the express purpose of investigating the guilt of all persons concerned under the orders of Dom Miguel. The commission was busily employed during a year and a half. No evidence could be procured of any culpability in the Prince, beyond that of the forcible arrest of the ministers. And at the end of that time, the King, wearied with the uselessness of the proceeding, or alarmed at the open expressions of the public disgust, dissolved the tribunal.

All

At Vienna, there can be no doubt whatever, that the Portuguese Prince was a prisoner. He was treated by the court with great civility; but he was not suffered to have any correspondence with his country. Portuguese were prohibited from approaching him. Though constantly about the person of the Emperor, he was not suffered to go with him on his Italian tour, notoriously from the

B

facility of escape from the Italian ports, but was sent to travel in Hungary. The fact of duresse is confirm ed by the subsequent acknowledgment of a stipulation on the part of Austria, not to let loose Dom Miguel, to oppose in Portugal the execution of his brother's decrees."

In the mean time, the old King John the Sixth had died, and the crown had been offered to Dom Pedro, on condition, of course, of his returning from Brazil, and answered by the following Imperial declaration, at the opening of the Brazilian Chambers:

"On the 24th of last April, the anniversary of the embarkation of my father and lord, Dom John the Sixth, for Portugal, I received the melancholy and unexpected news of his death. The keenest grief seized upon my heart. The plan which it was incumbent on me to follow, on finding myself, when I least expected it, the legitimate King of Portugal, Algarves, and the dominions thereof, rushed to my mind. Grief and duty alternately swayed my breast; but laying every thing aside, I looked to the interests of Brazil. I clung to my word. I wished to uphold my own honour, and deliberated within myself what could promote the happiness of Portugal; what it would be indecorous for me not to do. How great must have been the agony that tortured my heart, on seeking out the means of promoting the happiness of the Portuguese nation, without offending Brazil, and of separating them (notwithstanding that they are already separate), in such manner as that they may never again be united! I confirmed in Portugal the regency which my father had appointed. I proclaimed an amnesty. I bestowed a constitution. I dedicated and yielded up all the indisputable and inalienable rights which I held to the crown of the Portuguese monarchy, and the sovereignty of these kingdoms, in favour of my much beloved and esteemed daughter and Princess, Donna Maria da Gloria, now Queen of Portugal, Maria the Second. This I felt bound to do for my own honour and that of Brazil. Let those still incredulous Brazilians, therefore, know (as they already ought to have known) that the interest of Brazil, and the love

of her independence, are so strong in me, that I abdicated the crown of the Portuguese monarchy, which, by indisputable right belonged to me, only because it might hereafter implicate the interests of Brazil, of which country I am the perpetual defender."

The constitution to which the speech alludes, was the memorable one so unaccountably taken charge of by the British minister, Sir Charles Stuart, and which Dom Pedro had compiled within a week; one half, as is alleged, copied from the French constitution of 1791, and the other half from the new Brazilian code. Why the Brazilian Emperor should have promulgated a republican constitution is not to be reasoned upon. According to some, it was to secure popularity with the Brazilians, who are all amateurs in legislation; according to others, it was from an ambition of making a government on his own plan. But in Portugal it was received with infinite disgust by the whole influential part of the community. The pride of the nation was equally irritated by the rejection of its crown, and by its disposal. The ancient sovereignty of Portugal seemed thrown into contempt by its being thus summarily given to a child. The men of property were alarmed by the revolutionary turn of the charter. The patriots felt that the long minority of the little Princess would virtually render Portugal but a viceroyalty in the hands of the Regents appointed by Dom Pedro, and the kingdom but a province of Brazil. The spirit of insubordination rapidly spread; it grew too strong to be checked by the feeble government of the Infanta, who had been appointed to the Regency on the death of the King; and in the month of September 1826, a regiment quartered at Braganza, under the Viscount de Monte Alegre, proclaimed Dom Miguel, and marched to the Spanish frontier, where they were joined by a number of soldiery and some civil functionaries. At the same moment, in the Alentejo, nearly all the regiments proclaimed Dom Miguel, and protested against the charter. The insurrection became general, and the Regency was on the point of being forcibly extinguished. In this emergency the

British Cabinet interposed. The arming and recruiting of the insurgents in Spain, gave Mr Canning a ground for asserting that Portugal was invaded by a hostile force.

The British troops sent hastily to Lisbon repelled the danger for the time. The insurgents retired into Spain, where they were disarmed by the government, and the Princess Regent was once more in safety. But it was obvious that this state of things could not continue. British troops could not keep perpetual garrison in Portugal; the national feeling could not be continually coerced. The Infanta's government must finally give way; and for the double purpose of tranquillizing the public mind, and ensuring the connexion of Portugal and Brazil, another expedient was resorted to, the marriage of Dom Miguel with his niece, the daughter of Dom Pedro; a disgusting and criminal alliance, but of which there had been examples in the royal line, the late King himself having been the offspring of Queen Maria the First, by her uncle Dom Pedro.

Dom Miguel had now been three years and a half under Austrian surveillance. He was now twenty-five years old, and it would have been difficult to keep him a prisoner any longer, without bringing down strong European animadversion. The Emperor of Brazil, on the 3d of July 1527, had also issued a decree, in which, after pronouncing an eulogium on "the good qualities, activity, and firmness of character" exhibited by the Prince, he appointed him "his lieutenant, with full powers to govern in conformity to the provisions of the charter." This decree was communicated to the British court and the Austrian. On the 6th of October Prince Metternich communicated to Dom Miguel the intelligence that he might return to his own country, with a proviso that he should not return through Spain. Dom Miguel insisted on his sailing in no other than a Portuguese vessel, as his country would feel itself offended by his returning under any other flag. Prince Metternich expressed some displeasure at this determination, and informed his prisoner that if any farther obstructions arose," he must await at Vienna the

orders of Dom Pedro." After this specimen of his free-will, the oath to the charter was administered to him, and the civil contract of his espousals with Donna Maria was celebrated.

He was now let loose; he came to London, as we all recollect; was received graciously by the late King, and, if we are to believe general report, distinctly pledged himself to his Majesty and his ministers, to the observance of the charter. He reached Lisbon on the 22d of February 1828. The national outcry was instantly and unequivocally raised for his assumption of the throne.

The dispatches of the British ambassador, Sir Frederick Lamb, give full testimony on this point. It is first stated, that " on the days immediately succeeding the landing of the Prince, cries of "Long live Dom Miguel the First, were heard." The second dispatch, March 1st, states, that "his Royal Highness was incessantly assailed with recommendations to declare himself King, and reign without the Chambers; further saying, that it depended entirely his will to do so, as the Chambers would offer no opposition, and the measure would be popular with the great majority of the country." The public feeling on this subject continued to increase. The novel constitution of Dom Pedro was so hostile to the habits of the country, that it was received with universal displeasure. In the ambassador's dispatch of March 23d, he distinctly says, that "no party of any consequence appeared to attach the least value to the charter." The national feeling being thus declared, and the whole kingdom being in a state of angry ferment, Dom Miguel, as Regent of Portugal, convened the Cortes, by decree of May 6th, 1828, "for the purpose of deciding on the application of certain weighty points of law, and thus re-establishing public order." The mayors and municipalities were directed to proceed to the election of delegates, &c.," according to the form already fixed in the previous elections," and thus to renew the Cortes. The Cortes met, and their "public and solemn award" was as follows:

"The national opinion, declared at various periods, and according to

divers events in our history, excludes from the right of succession to the crown of Portugal, the actual firstborn of the distinguished House of Braganza, and in his person, as in law obviously acknowledged, all his descendants. A foreigner through choice and preference of his own, a foreigner by treaties, the laws of Lisbon exclude him, in accordance with those of Lamego. Deprived of present, future, and, morally speaking, all possible residence in this kingdom, he was, in like manner, excluded by the letters patent of 1642." The document closes with declaring, that "the laws, with all the Portuguese who love and respect them, award to the second son the succession to the crown, from which the laws themselves had so justly excluded the first."

In pursuance of this award, the Three Orders of the State signed the following declaration, July 11, 1828, "The Three Estates of the Realm finding that the most clear and peremptory laws excluded from the crown of Portugal, previously to the 10th of March 1826 (the time of the late King's death), Dom Pedro and his descendants, and for this same reason called in the person of Dom Miguel and his descendants, the second line thereto; and that every thing that is alleged or may be alleged to the contrary is of no moment, they unanimously acknowledged and declared in their several resolutions, and in this general one also do acknowledge and declare, that to the King, our Lord, Senhor Dom Miguel, the first of that name, from the 10th of March 1826, the aforesaid crown of Portugal has justly belonged. Wherefore all that Senhor Dom Pedro, in his character of King of Portugal, which did not belong to him, has done and enacted, ought to be reputed and declared void, and particularly what is called the Constitutional Charter of the Portuguese Monarchy, dated the 29th of April, in the year 1826. And in order that the same may appear, this present act and resolution has been drawn up and signed by all the persons assisting at the Cortes, on account of the Three Estates of the Realm."

This document is unanswerable as ¿09781q slyps¶ a proof of the national opinion, The

palpable fact is, that the Portuguese, looking upon Dom Pedro as for life the monarch of a distant land, and equally convinced that any government delegated from him to his daughter, who was still a child, as to a regency, would be nothing less than turning their kingdom into a dependency on the government of the Emperor of Brazil, determined that the ancient honours of Portugal should not be humiliated, and thus determined that they would have a king of their own. Dom Pedro had already in the most express manner declared the separation of Brazil from Portugal, and his resolution to resist by the sword any attempt to renew its dependence on the mother country. His proclamation to the Brazilians on the 10th of June 1824, two years before the death of his father, was" to arms, Brazilians. Independence or Death is our watchword." This was followed by a declaration, that he had identified himself with the Brazilians, and was resolved to share their fate, "whatever it might be." No man could have more utterly cut down the bridge between himself and the suc cession. His sitting on the throne of Brazil was in fact a rebellion, which extinguished all civil rights in Portugal.

As the Cortes of Lamego has been adverted to on both sides for the Portuguese law of succession, its history is worth stating.

Don Alonzo Henriquez, the first monarch, was proclaimed King by the army and people, and the choice being referred for confirmation to the great authority of the time, the Pope, was by him confirmed. The Pope, was the celebrated Innocent the Third, the general distributor of European crowns. The election was made at a period still memorable in Portuguese history, the vigil of the famous fight of Ourique, in which the Moorish invaders were totally defeated. This event was nearly half a century previous to the memorable meeting at which the law of royal succession was finally settled. The Cortes of Lamego, summoned in 1148, declared the crown to be hereditary in the line of Don Alonzo; the crown to descend by primogeniture; females to inherit, on condition of their marrying subjects of Portugal,