The Express.
London, England, 1847-07-17 00:00:00

.THE EXPRESS, SATURDAY EVENING, JULY 17, 1847.

DRM, Juicy •
The new and unexpected phase A
whichlD Portuguese
affairs have taken has excited great interest here.
General Concha, in fraternising with the junta, in-
stead of serving the views of the court at Lisbon, has
become a Spanish hero. Loud is the acclaim with
which this voluntary investment of the character of
high mediator and interpreter of the sentiments of the
Spaniards towards their Portuguese brethren, has
been received in Spain by all classes of the natives.
But our diplomatic men seem to regard with a jealous
and offended eye the assumption of so independent a
character upon the part of the Spanish general, and
appear to dread the spreading of that flame of interna-
tional sympathy which has been kindled so unex-
pectedly, and which has vibrated so electrically through
the Peninsula. We received yesterday, though some-
what vaguely, the news that the representatives of the
allied powers at Lisbon had signed a protocol dis-
approving of the capitulation made by General
Concha and Colonel Wylde. Rumours alai prevailed
that the unauthorised course taken by the former had
given rise to great displeasure and equal distrust on
the part of the court and of Sir Ilamilton Seymour.
Are we then to conclude that the prevalence of a
cordial fellowship between the Spanish and Portu-
guese liberals would be injurious to the interests of
those two countries, or of Great Britain, or
diminish the influence which we have so long natu-
rally exercised in Portugal ? Or is this a
sally of jealousy on the part of the heads of English
intervention because General Concha has throwi him-
self into the vacant place which they might have oc-
cupied with so much more credit to themselves,
insp.ring the junta with confidence in their protection,
instead of filling that party with distrust, fear, and
aversion ? Those who think that a cordial union be-
tween the Spanish and Portuguese masses, or the
political union between Spain and Portugal, which
might result from that sympathy, would damage
English commerce or English influence in the Penin-
sula, reason thus: to-morrow you will have
the Montpensiers on the throne of Spain, and
the union of Spain and Portugal would end
in the submission of both to France. Your commerce
will be ousted then from the Portuguese ports, as it
is now from the Spanish. If the mere rumour that
Espartero harboured the intention of removing the
restrictions upon English trade sufficed, through
French agency, to fan Catalonia into a flame, which
soon extended to all Spain, and chased the regent out
of Cadiz, do you suppose that you can make head
!against French influence in the peninsula, when there
is a French prince on the Spanish throne, extending
his sceptre over Portugal ? So these reason ; but to
all minds by no means conclusively. For the union
of the Spanish and Portuguese people would tend to
the triumph of constitutional principles in both coun-
tries, and consequently to the repression of that abso-
lutism and those usurpations on the part of the go-
vernment, which are the chief curse of the peninsula.
Whatever, therefore, may be the views of Gen.
Concha in cultivating the confidence of tho junta;
whether he is playing the game of France, or gra-
tifying his own vanity or ambition, there appears no
reason why the course he is pursuing should be
&Mende with any mischief to the interests of Great

The state of things here is truly lamentable. The
government must soon come to a dead-lock. The
notices, inviting capitalists to compete for the farming
of the taxes in the different districts, seem, in a great
number of cases, to have been answered by nobody.
And if there seems to be a general reluctance to
succeed the agents of the Bank of St. Fernando in
their tax-gathering function, there also appears to
exist on the part of some of the functionaries of
the said bank a great reluctance to surrender to
the government the contributions they have in their
possession. At least, the Espanol of to-day reports
that General Pavia has received peremptory orders
t
from the government to wrest out of the hands of the
Barcelona collector for the bank of St. Fernando, by
force of arms if needful, one million and a half of
reels, which he retains under pretext of the govern-
ment's engagements with the bank not having been
completed. Every description of security is falling
in the market, and no one can raise a penny upon
shares of any kind, but at an enormous loss. The
poor three per mats. have tumbled down to 25. Every-
body who has any coin locks it up, the Correo says,
to spite the government. What better proof that
the wealthy classes are all arrayed against the
government?

The Faro says that Senhor Pacheco, having given
his wife a ribbon, had now better get one for him-
self, and accept the embassy to Home.
Meantime, all accounts of the Carliata are most
favourable to the cause of order and tranquillity.
They were getting routed and dispersed on ell hands

OPORTO, JULY 10.
On the 30th ult., the Spanish army entered into
this city, under the command of General D. Manuel de
la Concha. The forces of the junta were, in accordance
with stipulations entered into, disarmed, but the greater part
of them succeeded, in the preceding night, to return to their
native places, armed and equipped, to wait there the course of
events. The Spanish general published a proclamation, the
terms of which were approved of by all parties. It breathes
conciliation and protection to all politicians; and I am glad
to see that he has kept his word.
As soon as the city was in possession of the Spanish army,
the brave Cabralistas rushed into the place, and all the public
offices were instantly occupied by them, and even employes
of fourteen years' standing were turned out, because they
happened to belong to the Septembrist
_party. By Sal-
dan's nomination a moat desperate Cabralista, Jose
Laurence Pinto, was invested with the administrative
government of the district of Oporto. Men convicted of
murder and corruption are the chosen to fill the first places.
The municipal body, elected by the suffrages of the
people, was dismissed, and a commission named, at
whose head is a son of the Conde de Serena, a well known
Cabralista, who had in the Cortes of Cabral's administration
four eons, all of them deputies. and all of them wretched
slaves of those ministers. This was, in fact, a Cabrslista
Restattration.
. . .

The allied powers may sanction all these atrocities ; they
may, with their armies end their fleets, enslave this people,
that so aobly fought for their liberties ; but they may be
enured that, as soon as they leave their protegee to herself,
and to the keeping of her friends the Cabralistas, the people
will again vindicate their rights, and she will repent, but per.
hap too late, the support she sought in foreign bayonets.
The province of Minho has already commenced the holy
war. The people at Braga disarmed a force of Spanish
soldiers, and a brigade was sent there in great haste. The
Portuguese battalion No 1. commanded by Joaquins Benito,
was sent to Guimaraes, because the armed people were mai-
ten of that town. I understand that accounts have been re-
ceived from that place, stating that the soldiers are sur-
rounded by people, and cannot even run away.
At ten o'clock last night, Infantry No. 15 started from
here to Aviero. That town is in possession of the people;
the Cabralista authorities, to save their lives, were obliged to
run away.
A person highly connected arrived lately from Lisbon, by
• steamer, and states that it is asserted that the decrees for
the new ministry are already signed: palmella, President;
Rodrigo da Fonseca Magalhaes, Interior ; Jose Jorge
Lourairo, Guerra; Jervea d Atouguia, Marinha ; Antonio
Joie d'Avila, Fasenda; Coode di Disraeli°, Ratrangeiros.
All of these gentlemen are well known Carlistas, and
would be a ministry accepted by the national party, because
it only wants a government composed of honest men.
On the 7th inst. Saldanha and his victorious army (!!
made his entry in Oporto. The enthusiasm was ordered
beforehand by the municipality, and therefore there were not
wanting Prides, the very pleasing sound of the bells, for
three successive days and nighu, and illuminations; and the
inhabitants that were not susceptible of enthusiasm had ell
their windows brokeu!

TURKEY.—Mostm, Max 30.—Many important
and iailuential persons have abandoned Bederhan Bey, and
submitted to the governor of Mond. Amongst them are
the sons of Said Bey, one of the most powerful and in-
fluential chiefs in Kurdistan. Abandoned by his oldest and
staunchest followers, Bederhan Bey can make but feeble
resistance. He still asserts that he will oppose force by
force, and that if others are cowards, he is not, and will
never dishonour himself in the eyes of his followers. The
Persian government has intimated to him that, in the event
of his entering the Persian territory, alter tiring a single
shot, he will be seized and delivered tip to the Porte. But
that if he chooses to take an asylum there previous to an
engagement with the Ottoman troops, he may remain there
without molestation. This has placed Bederhan Bey in a
dilemma. The Turkish army, composed of 2.5,000 men,
horse, foot, and artillery, are now at Djezirf. The com-
mander-in-chief, Osman Pacha, has obtained en imperial
Erman, couched in the mildest terms of clemency from the
Porte, to induce Bederhan Bey to submit, sad spare an
effusion of blood. This he sent by a deputation of priests,
who presented it to Bederhan Bey, bat all was useless ; he
refused to submit, inying he would become a free prince in
Kardistan, or perish in the attempt. The neat accounts
will announce either a battle, the submission of Bederhan
Bey, or his flight into Persia.

COLONIAL APPOINTMENTS.—Mr. Maedonnell, the
Chief Justice of the Gambia, is to be the new governor ; his
successor in the chiefjustiosihip is not yet appointed. Lieut.-
Col. Robe goes from Adelaide to assume the deputy adju-
tant-generalship st the Mauritius, and will be succeeded at
Ads/aide by Sir Henry Young (for some years colonial secre-
tary in Guiana), who now leaves the eastern district of the
Cape Colony.