strongly suggested by the constant insecurity to which European Portugal was doomed by the Family Compact, seriously entertained by the government since the treaty of Badajoz, and which may be considered as the first step towards the independence of Catholic America.

The events which followed in the Spanish Peninsula are too memorable to be more than alluded to on this occasion. Portugal was governed by a Regency nominated by the King. The people caught the generous spirit of the Spaniards, took up arms against the conquerors, and bravely aided the English army to expel them. The army, delivered from those unworthy leaders to which the abuses of despotism had subjected them, took an ample share in that glorious march from Torres Vedras to Toulouse, which forms one of the most brilliant pages in history.

The King opened the ports of his American territories to all nations, a measure in him of immediate necessity, but fraught with momentous consequences. He cemented his ancient relations with Great Britain (which geography no longer forbad) by new treaties; and he bestowed on Brazil a separate administration, with the title of a kingdom. The course of events in the spring of 1814 had been so rapid, that there was no minister in Europe authorized to represent the Court of Rio Janeiro at the Treaty of Paris: But so close was the ancient and modern alliance with England then deemed, that Lord Castlereagh took it upon him, on the part of Portugal, to stipulate for the restoration of French Guiana, which had been conquered by the Portuguese arms. At the Congress of Vienna in the following year, the Portuguese plenipotentiaries protested against the validity of this restoration, and required the retrocession of Olivenza, which had been wrested from them at Badajos, in a war where they were the allies of England. The good offices of the European powers to obtain this last restoration were then solemnly promised, but have hitherto been in vain.

In 1816, John VI. refused to return to Lisbon, whither a squadron under Sir John Beresford had been sent to convey him; partly because he was displeased at the disregard of his rights, shown by the Congress of Vienna; partly because the unpopularity of the Commercial Treaty had alienated him from England; but probably still more, because he was influenced by the visible growth of a Brazilian party which now aimed at independence. Henceforward, indeed, the separation manifestly approached. The Portuguese of Europe began to despair of seeing the seat of the monarchy at Lisbon; the Regen

cy were without strength, all appointments were obtained from the distant Court of Rio Janeiro; men and money were drawn away for the Brazilian war on the Rio de la Plata; the army left behind was unpaid; in fine, all the materials of formidable discontent were heaped up in Portugal, when the Spanish Revolution broke out in the beginning of 1820. Six months elapsed without a spark having fallen in Portugal; Marshal Beresford went to Rio Janeiro to solicit the interference of the King; but that Prince made no effort to prevent the conflagration, and perhaps no precaution would then have been effectual. In August 1820, the garrison of Oporto declared for a revolution; and, being joined on their march to the Capital by all the troops on their line, were received with open arms by the garrison of Lisbon; and it was determined to bestow on Portugal a still more popular constitution than that of Spain. With what prudence or justice the measures of the popular leaders in the south of Europe were conceived or conducted, it is happily no part of our present business to inquire. Those who openly remonstrated against their errors when they seemed to be triumphant, are under no temptation to join the vulgar cry against the fallen. The people of Portugal, indeed, unless guided by a wise and vigorous government, were destined by the very nature of things, in any political change made at that moment, to follow the course of Spain. The Regency of Lisbon by the advice of a Portuguese minister, at once faithful to his Sovereign, and friendly to the liberty of his country, made an attempt to stem the torrent, by summoning an assembly of the Cortes for the redress of grievances, and the reform of abuses The attempt was too late; but it pointed to the only means of saving the monarchy. The same minister, on his arrival in Brazil, at the end of 1820, advised the King to send his eldest son to Portugal as Viceroy, with a constitutional charter, in which the legislature was to be divided into two chambers, and composed as in that of 1826. He also recommended an assembly of the most respectable Brazilians at Rio Janeiro, to consider of the improvements which seemed practicable in Brazil. But while these honest, and not unpromising counsels, were the objects of longer discussions than troublous times allow, a revolution broke out in Brazil, in the spring of 1821, of which the first professed object was, not the separation of that country, but the adoption of the Portuguese Constitution; which was soon acquiesced in by the King, and espoused with the warmth of youth, by his eldest son Don Pedro. In the month of April, the King, disquieted by the commotions which encompassed him, determined to return to Lisbon, and to leave the con

4

duct of the American Revolution to his son. Even on the voyage he was advised to stop at the Azores, where he might negociate with more independence: But he rejected this counsel; and on his arrival in the Tagus, on the 3d of July 1821, nothing remained but a surrender at discretion. The revolutionary Cortes were as tenacious of the authority of the mother country, as the Royal Administration; and they accordingly recalled the heir-apparent to Lisbon. But the spirit of independence arose among the Brazilians, who, encouraged by the example of the Spanish Americans, presented addresses to the Prince, beseeching him not to yield to the demands of the Portuguese assembly, who desired to make him a prisoner, as they had made his father; but, by assuming the crown of Brazil, to provide for his own safety, as well as for their liberty. In truth it is evident, that he neither could have continued in Brazil without acceding to the popular desire, nor have then left it without insuring the destruction of monarchy in that country. He acquiesced therefore in the Prayer of these flattering petitions; the independence of Brazil was proclaimed; and the Portuguese monarchy was finally dismembered.

In the summer of 1823, the advance of the French army into Spain, excited a revolt of the Portuguese Royalists. The infant Don Miguel, the King's second son, attracted notice, by appearing at the head of a battalion who declared against the Constitution; and the inconstant soldiery, equally ignorant of the object of their revolts against the King or the Cortes, were easily induced to overthrow the slight work of their own

hands.

Even in the moment of victory, however, King John VI. solemnly promised a free government to the Portuguese nation. His proclamation says,

Inhabitants of Lisbon-your liberties shall be guaranteed in a manner, which, while it secures the dignity of the Crown, respects and maintains the Rights of Citizens.'-Proclamation of the King, Villa Franca, 31. May 1823.

Portuguese! Your King, placed in liberty on the Throne, will promote your happiness. He is about to give you a Constitution, from which will be excluded the principles which experience has shown to be incompatible with the quiet of the State. '-Id. 3d June 1823. Don Miguel at the same time said,

Do not believe that we seek to restore despotism. '-Proclamation of D. Miguel, 27th May 1823. *

O Padre Amaro, vi. 243. A Portuguese Journal published in

London.

A few weeks after, the King gave a more deliberate and decisive proof of what was then thought necessary to the security of the Throne, and the well-being of the people, by a Royal decree, which, after pronouncing the nullity of the Constitution of the Cortes, proceeds as follows.

Conformably to my feelings, and the sincere promises of my proclamations, and considering that the ancient fundamental laws of the monarchy cannot entirely answer my paternal purposes, without being accommodated to the present state of civilization, to the mutual relations of the different parts which compose the monarchy, and to the form of Representative Governments established in Europe, I have appointed a Junta to prepare the plan of a Charter of the fundamental laws of the Portuguese monarchy, which shall be founded on the principles of public law, and open the way to a progressive reformation of the Administration.'-Decree, 18th June 1823. +

Count, now Marquis Palmella,-the Statesman to whose counsels we have already adverted, was appointed President of this Junta, composed of the most distinguished men in the kingdom. They completed their work in a few months; and presented to the King the plan of a Constitutional charter, almost exactly the same with that granted in 1826 by Don Pedro. John VI. was favourable to it. He considered it as an adaptation of the ancient fundamental laws, to present circumstances. While the Revolution was triumphant, the most reasonable Royalists regretted that no attempt had been made to avoid it by timely concession. In the first moment of escape, when the remembrance of danger was fresh, the remains of the same feelings disposed the Court to concede something. But after a short interval of quiet, the possessors of authority relapsed. into the ancient and fatal error of their kind;-that of placing their security in maintaining that unbounded power, which had proved their ruin. A resistance to the reform of the Constitution which grew up in the interior of the Court, was fostered by foreign influence, and after a struggle of some months, prevented the promulgation of the charter.

In April 1824, events occurred at Lisbon, on which, for reasons already given, we shall touch as lightly as possible. They are indeed of such public notoriety, that they do not require a recital. It is well known that part of the garrison of Lisbon surrounded the King's palace, and hindered the access of his servants to him; that some of his Ministers were imprisoned; that the diplomatic Body, including the Papal Nuncio, the French Ambassador, and the Russian as well as English Minister, were the means of restoring him to some degree of

O Padre Amaro, vi. 269.

liberty, which was however so imperfect and insecure, that, by the advice of the French Ambassador, the King of Portugal took refuge on board of an English ship of war in the Tagus, where he was at length able to assert his dignity and reestablish his authority. Over the part in these transactions, into which evil counsellors betrayed the inexperience of Don Miguel, it is at present peculiarly proper to throw a veil, in imitation of his father, who forgave these youthful faults as in• voluntary errors.

This proof of the unsettled state of the general opinion and feeling respecting the government, suggested the necessity of a conciliatory measure, which might in some measure compensate for the defeat of the constitutional charter in the preceding year. The minister who, both in Europe and in America, had attempted to avert revolution by reform, was not wanting to his sovereign and this country at this crisis. But still counteracted by foreign influence, and opposed by a Portuguese Minister devoted to the adverse party, who was a personal favourite of the King, he could not again propose the charter, nor even obtain so good a substitute for it as he desired. But he had the merit of being always ready to do the best practicable. By his counsel, the King issued a proclamation on the 4th of June 1824, * for restoring the ancient constitution of the Portuguese Monarchy, with assurances that an assembly of the Cortes, or Three Estates of the Realm, should be speedily held with all their legal rights, and especially with the privilege of laying before the King, for his consideration, the heads (or chapters) of such measures as they might deem necessary for the public good, for the administration of justice, and for the redress of grievances, whether public or private. To that assembly was referred the consideration of the periodical meetings of succeeding Cortes, and the means of progressively ameliorating the administration of the State.' The proclamation treats this reestablishment as being substantially the same with the constitutional charter drawn up by the Junta in the preceding year; and it is accordingly followed by a decree, dissolving that junta, as having performed its office. Though these representations were not scrupulously true, yet when we come to see what the rights of the Cortes were in ancient times, the language of the proclamation will not be found to deviate more widely into falsehood than is usual in the preamble of acts of state. Had the time for the convocaton of the first Cortes been fixed, it will soon appear that the restoration of the