in of escape from the Italian The fact of duresse is confirm of her independence, are so strong The constitution to which the 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 dedi- the death of the King; and in the cated and yielded up all the indis- month of September 1826, a regiputable and inalienable rights which ment quartered at Braganza, under I held to the crown of the Portu- the Viscount de Monte Alegre, proguese monarchy, and the sovereignty claimed Dom Miguel, and marched of these kingdoms, in favour of my to the Spanish frontier, where they much beloved and esteemed daugh- were joined by a number of soldiery ter and Princess, Donna Maria da and some civil functionaries. At Gloria, now Queen of Portugal, Ma- the same moment, in the Alentejo, ria the Second. This I felt bound to nearly all the regiments proclaimed do for my own honour and that of Dom Miguel, and protested against Brazil. Let those still incredulous the charter. The insurrection bevilians, therefore, know (as they came general, and the Regency was ht to have known) that on the point of being forcibly exand the love tinguished. In this emergency the British Cabinet interposed. The arm- The British troops sent hastily to orders of Dom Ped specimen of his fr to the charter was him, and the civil espousals with Do celebrated. London, as we all r He was now let lo ceived graciously b and, if we are to be port, distinctly ple his Majesty and his observance of the ch ed Lisbon on the 2 1828. The nationa stantly and unequiv his assumption of th bassador, Sir Frede The dispatches of full testimony on t mediately succeedin first stated, that " Miguel the First, we the Prince, cries of second dispatch, M that "his Royal Hig santly assailed wit tions to declare hir reign without the Ch his will to do so, as saying, that it dep would offer no opp great majority of the measure would be p public feeling on th nued to increase. T tution of Dom Pedr to the habits of the was received with u of March 23d, he sure. In the ambass appeared to attach th that "no party of a the charter." The being thus declared, ferment, Dom Migu kingdom being in a Portugal, convened purpose of deciding decree of May 6th, law, and thus re-est tion of certain wei order." The mayor lities were directed the election of delega ding to the form alre previous elections," their " new the Cortes. The was as follows:public and "The national op at various periods, a Dom Miguel had now been three 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." 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 succession. His sitting on the throne of Brazil was in fact a rebellion, which extinguished all civil rights in Portugal. This document is unanswerable as a proof of the national opinion, The 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, 1833.] but with a perfect and perpetual exclusion of all foreigners from the throne. The Portuguese War. From the original possessor the crown descended through eight princes of his line, the last of them, Ferdinand the First, leaving no children. The law of the Cortes of Lamego had not sufficiently provided for this case, and the three estates of the realm, the Cortes, were summoned to meet at Coimbra in 1383, to deliberate on the new emergency. The first process was to prove the throne vacant, which was done in the usual forms by the Chancellor Joao das Regras. The next was to provide a possessor, which was done by proposing that the sceptre should be given to the Grand Master of Aviz, for his gallant services in the war against the Spaniards, as well as in consequence of his royal blood. The act set forth, that, "Seeing that the kingdoms, as well as the government and defence thereof, have become vacated and bereft, after the death of King Ferdinand, the last in possession, and being without king, ruler, or any other defender whatever, who can or ought by right to inherit the same, we all agreeing in our love and deliberation, &c., in the name of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, do hereby name, elect, and receive in the best and most valid manner provided by law, the aforesaid Grand Master, and solemnly professed of the Cistercian Order of Aviz, Senhor Dom Joao, first of the name among those of Portugal, and illegitimate son of Peter the First, as our King and Lord, as well as of the aforesaid kingdoms of Portugal and Algarves. And we grant unto him that he should call himself King, as also that he may be able to do and command for our government and defence, as well as for that of the aforesaid kingdoms, all those things, and each one of them, touching the office of King," &c. &c. 21 who, dying childless, left the crown to Emanuel Duke de Beja, son of Edward the First, notwithstanding the competitorship and nearer claim of the Emperor Maximilian, in 1495. The crown now descended to his son, John the Third; and from him to Sebastian, the grandson of the late monarch. The crown next fell into the possession of Cardinal Henry, son of Emanuel. Then began the evil days of Portugal. On the death of Henry a crowd of competitors started up; among whom was the relentless and bloody Philip the Second of Spain. Before the master of the New World, and perhaps the most powerful sovereign of the Old, all opposition hid its diminished head. Philip seized on the Portuguese crown, and held the people in merciless thraldom. The Spaniards profess an ancient scorn of the Portuguese, which the Portuguese have returned by an ancient hate. The antipathy of the master and the subject was felt in perpetual quarrels, but it was not till after the lapse of more than half a century that the chain was broken. The eyes of the nation had long been fixed on the Duke of Braganza, a brave and popular nobleman; the public irritation was roused into fury by the extortions of a tyrannical and insolent Viceroy, Vasconcellos; a meeting was held of noblemen, in which it was determined to shake off the intolerable yoke of Spain. The determination was promptly execu'ted; the palace guards were surprised and disarmed; the Viceroy was thrown out of his chamber window; the Spanish authority was declared to be at an end, and John Duke of Braganza was proclaimed King. By this prince a connexion was formed with our country. Dom Joao, after he was released from his vows of celibacy as Grand Master, marrying Philippa, the daughter of the Duke of Lancaster, an undisputed though varied succession followed. The Prince Duarte, his son, ascended the throne at his death; then Alonzo the Fifth; then John the Second, To confirm this fortunate revolution by a public act, the three estates were summoned to Lisbon in 1641. The perils of a contested succession had been bitterly felt in the sixty-one years of suffering from which they had but just escaped; and the first object of the Cortes was to state, with a clearness which should preclude all future doubts, the law of succession. The form of this proceeding was by petition of each of the three estates to the throne. That of the People prayed, that " Resolutions might be passed confirming those of the Cortes of Lamego, enacted by his favour; he has been nearly three months in Portugal, and notwithstanding proclamations, and the lavish distribution of money, no portion of the people have joined him; no man of rank has come over to his side; he has seized on a single strong position, and in that he is besieged. In that position, too, he is sustained altogether by foreign succours, for if he were left to his Portuguese resources, he must surrender within a week. His provisions, his ammunition, his arms, his troops, come from foreign countries. His recruits Poles, Swiss, French, English-every thing but Portuguese; while his adversary is surrounded by all the influential classes, traverses the provinces with a couple of grooms, is every where received with triumphal arches, feasts, and congratulations; and fights his competitor's foreign brigades, at the head of a native militia. This settles the question of public opinion; and if Dom Pedro is to be made Regent of Portugal, it must be by the bayonet. The personal merits of the competitors can be a matter of but little import to us. They are, probably, nearly on a par for good and evil. The brothers are both brave, and possibly both disposed to use their authority as men born under arbitrary governments are in the habit of doing. Dom Pedro has been already expelled from a throne for alleged unconstitutional and arbitrary conduct. Dom Miguel has, at least, the advantage of him in this point, for he has not been so expelled; and the nation even plunge into foreign war to keep him on the throne. He has been called a tyrant; but it is clear that he has not yet earned the odium of his country. That there may be men in Portugal who love the charter, and hate the King,-that there may be real lovers of liberty, who prefer the constitution of Dom Pedro to the ancient forms of government,-that there are many Voltairists, French agents, avowed atheists, and conscious Jacobins, who would prefer any change that gave them a chance of general rapine or revenge, that Dom Miguel may have imprisoned open repugnants to his authority, or hanged soldiers mutinying under arms, may all be true; but as neither the attachment of the the glorious King Alonzo Henriquez, the founder of the monarchy; and that it should be so ordained, that the throne may never again be inherited by any foreign king or prince whatsoever; so that the sovereign who is to be such over this kingdom of Portugal, be a natural and legitimate Portuguese born in the kingdom, and held bound to abide and dwell personally therein," &c. &c. The petition of the Nobility prayed, that "a law be passed, ordaining that the succession of this kingdom shall not at any time come to a foreign prince, nor to his children, notwithstanding they may be next of kin to the last King in possession. Further, that when it happens that the sovereign of these realms succeeds to any larger kingdom or lordship, he shall always be bound to reside in this; and having two or more male children, that the eldest shall succeed to the foreign kingdom, and the second to this one of Portugal." The third estate, the Clergy, adopted the same sentiments, declaring that "experience having shewn the injuries which result to kingdoms from princes, who are not natural born, succeeding thereto, they submitted to the King the expediency and fitness of putting an end to those grievances," &c. &c. The King, John the Fourth, immediately acquiesced in those petitions; his answers confirming their requests were embodied into letters patent, and the law of the Cortes of Lamego, thus reinforced, became once more the law of the land, by decree of the 12th of September 1642, signed by the King. The state of the question having been thus given from acknowledged documents, the conclusion is inevitable, that whoever may have the right to the Portuguese throne, Dom Pedro and his descendants have none. His right is nullified by the ancient laws, by his own direct acts, and by the national opinion. If he cannot govern Portugal in his own person, he cannot govern it by a delegated authority, let the name be Donna Maria, Count Palmela, or what it will. At this moment there is not the slightest evidence that he has any valid portion of the national will his side. He has been a twelveonth in Europe, and not a single vince of Portugal has declared in his favour; he has been nearly three The personal merits of the com- the glorious King Alonzo Henriquez, the founder of the monarchy; and that it should be so ordained, that the throne may never again be inherited by any foreign king or prince whatsoever; so that the sovereign who is to be such over this kingdom of Portugal, be a natural and legitimate Portuguese born in the kingdom, and held bound to abide and dwell personally therein," &c. &c. The petition of the Nobility prayed, that "a law be passed, ordaining that the succession of this kingdom shall not at any time come to a foreign prince, nor to his children, notwithstanding they may be next of kin to the last King in possession. Further, that when it happens that the sovereign of these realms succeeds to any larger kingdom or lordship, he shall always be bound to reside in this; and having two or more male children, that the eldest shall succeed to the foreign kingdom, and the second to this one of Portugal." The third estate, the Clergy, adopted the same sentiments, declaring that" experience having shewn the injuries which result to kingdoms from princes, who are not natural born, succeeding thereto, they submitted to the King the expediency and fitness of putting an end to those grievances," &c. &c. The King, John the Fourth, immediately acquiesced in those petitions; his answers confirming their requests were embodied into letters patent, and the law of the Cortes of Lamego, thus reinforced, became once more the law of the land, by decree of the 12th of September 1642, signed by the King. The state of the question having been thus given from acknowledged documents, the conclusion is inevitable, that whoever may have the right to the Portuguese throne, Dom Pedro and his descendants have none. His right is nullified by the ancient laws, by his own direct acts, and by the national opinion. If he cannot govern Portugal in his own person, he cannot govern it by a delegated authority, let the name be Donna Maria, Count Palmela, or what it will. At this moment there is not the slightest evidence that he has any valid portion of the national will on his side. He has been a twelveonth in Europe, and not a single of Portugal has declared in The Portuguese War. who dare not be an Dom Miguel's pre nearly precluded all |