The Express.
London, England, 1846-12-11 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, FRIDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 11, 1846,

for a loan to the insurgents. It is false that I ever permitted
a promise to be made in my name of a monthly allowance in
Spam to those individuals who have quitted Lisbon, in case
they should hereafter be compelled to leave their country;
nor have I made any proralse whatever. All this I declare
upon my word of honour—obeerving that the falsity of such
accusations, preferred without any proof, can only be met on
3rd. That in the duke's house numerously attended meet-
ings of suspected persons daily took place, principally during
h
the night time. A person most intimate WIMP te duke
my part by such denial.
having been seen running into his house, and after remaining
there for one hour, going out again and taking the direction
of the house of two Englishmen named Croft and Fletcher,
junior, known to be agents of the rebels and seducers, (re-
cruiting officers). And immediately afterwards the last of
these two foreigners was observed coming to the duke's
house, wherein previously he had never entered.
RPply, The concluding observation of my reply to the lust
article does not apply to this one, in so far as the meetings
numerously
.attended and held in the night at my house are
concerned, inasmuch as it can be proved by all the persons
on my domestic establishment, that no such meetings have
ever taken place there. On the contrary, it so happens
that since I left the administration only two or three pFople
amongst my old friends and constant familiars have visited
me during the evening. It being a fact worthy of notice,
that I have, during this interval, lived in greater solitude,
as also has my family, than would have been the case had
I received the number of visitors which it as erto
been customary for me to entertain. The lattirh parthi othf this
article iPO ridiclous, that 1 do not know WAN answer it
merits.s The allegation of a person intimately familiar with
me having been seen running into my house, does not ap-
pear to me to be a crime. His having remained there the
an
hour, even lees so. His having gone from my residence
house of the Englishmen, Croft end Fletcher, will probably
turn out to be a felsity ; and, even should it not be so, I
' have nothing to do with it ; end 1 declare formally
'I am wholly ignorant of it. I am very little acquainted with
1 thetwo mentioned foreignersthem has not been in my
I house for many years. The other came only once, and
I have no relations with him whatsoever.
40. That the said foreigners (Croft and Fletcher) go fre-
quently from the duke's house to the house of Col. Wylde,
, and a
ced a the British minister, whose opinions have been
declared against the government of her Majesty, Queen
Donna Maria 11.
Reply, As I have formally declared, that, of the two fo
house on -
reigners here mentioned, only one came to my a
single occasion ; and that I have no relations whatever with
him, it is quite clear that it is impressible for the accuation to
be true, that they go frequently from my house to the dwell-
ings of the British Minister and Colonel Wylde. they afi
re
spies being such great liars, I must believe that they are
quite mistaken in the opinions which they are pleased to at-
' tribute to these functionaries of the British government.
sth. That the communications established by means of
these and other foreign agents, between the said colonel, the
British minister, the English admiral, and the duke: the
long conferences that he has had with them ; the dinner
1 Tb.ho
his ins,. however, not a subject proper for me to express any
opinion upon ; and I am only astonished at its being men-
tioned in a document emanating from the Civil Governor of
parties of a political character which he has given to them
(i. e. the British miuister, admiral, and Colonel Wylde), ore 1
the apparent means by which be has influenced them, not
only to entertain fears of the final result of the contest, but
also to express opinions, encourage discourses, and evince
dispositions unfavourable and almost hostile to the govern-
ment of her Majesty the Queen.
Reply, This article, which consists entirely of details of
private intercourse supposed to have taken place between
me and the English Admiral, Colonel Wylde, and Mr.
Southern, is an amalgamation of absurdities and falsehoods,
as I could very easily demonstrate by the declarations of the
said individual", all of whom are doubtless worthy of the
utmost belief. The fact being that I only once, if 1 recollect
rightly, saw Mr. Southern since Oct. 7. Only once Col.
Wylde who did me the honour to pay me a visit, and who was
out when I returned his call. That I gave no dinner
party to these gentlemen, nor to the admiral, notwithstanding
the excellent and ancient relations of friendship that I have
with him, a neglect for which I am very sorry. and
of which I ant almost ashamed, but which originated
on my part in a desire to prevent absurd rumours.
I once dined on board the admiral's ship, and I did not
visit him after the said dinner, although I intend yet to
do so. All the consequences drawn from these imputed
facts are absurd to a degree that I purposely abstain from
commenting on.
6th. That the duke's nearest retainers act as agents and
promoters of the rebellion, frequenting suspected houses,
and parading themselves in familiar intercourse with pr dif-
ple,
who before the present period were either strangers, or In
ferent to them; which strangers are commonly. reputed to be
agents for, and even to be engaged in, seducing persons to
join the rebels.
Reply, This article does not mention the names of my
nearest relations who are accused of being agents and pro
motets of the rebellion, and of frequenting the houses of
suspected persons; neither are the persons, so said to be
suspected, who, it is alleged, were before the present epoch,
strangers to my said kinsmen, named. Should this, how-
ever, prove to be the case, the accusation would not be
against me ; such, however, as it is, I assert it to be false,
and believe that it cannot be expected of me to answer
seriously such an absurd and vague Recitation.
7th. That the duke has qualified the nomination of the
Ministry of the 6th of October, and the subsequent events as
a military sedition that cannot be upheld or maintained.
Queen
seea meeting,imuph thaadt
ihne
hweoruelad
dominly
Ia
al eat v. e Port ui gf,alanin
tcahrase the
Queen triumphed in her endeaeours. But if, on the con-
And it is not long since that the duke declared in a nume-
trary, the rebels should triumph, then he would not leave
the country, as he wished to give assistance to his friends,
who he was not in the habit of abandoning.
Reply, In cue I should have qualified as asserted here, the
nomination of the administration of October 6, and the sub-
sequent events, to be a military sedition, I should have ad-
vanced an absurd opinion, which no person of any under-
standing or sense could attribute to me. It is also false that
I declared in a numerous meeting that I should only leave
Portugal in case the Queen succeeded in attaining her ob-
jects. I never made such a declaration, and have not, more-
over, been lately present at any numerous meeting.
Bth. That the duke's intimate friends point him out to be
the only person capable of presiding over and directing a
Cabinet that would represent the English influence
in Portugal, when at the same time they depict
the present administration as being under the imme-
diate domination of the Spanish and the indirect influence of
the French Cabinets.
Reply, I am ignorant of what opinions, my intimate friends
entertain respecting me; and whatever those opinions may
be, they cannot be made the grounds of an accusation
against me. What Ido know, and what every person ac-
quainted with the history of iortugal during the last forty
years, can be justified in believing is, that my presence in
the administration has always been a guarantee that the
dignity of the crown would not be depreciated or lessened,
and that the interests of Portugal never were, and would
never be sacrificed under English influence, or any other
foreign interference whatsover.
9th. That the presence of the duke in Lisbon has en-
couraged and upheld the hopes of the rebels who all regard
him as the head of their party and their chief support;
these sentiments being expressed even by the most obscure
and humble agents of the rebellion.
Reply, No accusation whatever is contained in this article
bemelievel thaamt anybodyaat oapthineiornspearespipee respecting
to which it is possible for me to give an answer. Ido net
riepoennsit*brltaie forns thwewhat
think or say, they having obtained no mark of approval or
of concurrence from me.
10th. That in consequence of all these circumstances the
duke is considered not only by the public authorities, but
also by the people at large, as the had and principal support
of the conspiracy that is organised in Lisbon against the
government of Iler Majesty.
Reply, This article appears to be the conclusion drawn by
the civil governor of Lisbon from the premises, all false,
which he has formulated, and the value of which the govern-
ment of her Majesty is beet able to estimate.
The Duke of Palmella's reply, together with the
document containing the charges, were communicated
to the minister in the following letter :
TO TAE MINISTER OP TITE INTERIOR, SENOR VISCONDE

however, was accustomed to send the caftan of in-
vestment for the vice-regal authority, on the here-
ditary Bays of Tunis and Tripoli succeeding to their
hereditary rights; whilst the military piratical chief
of Algiers, elected by that piratical republic, received
in due form, and at the usual time, the confirmation
of kis election, without a word of censure, or remark,
or hesitation on the part of the paramount chief or
Sultan at Constantinople. Such was the practice of
several centuries, and so the Sultan of the Turks
acknowledged the independence of the Barbary chiefs
in their North African States.
On the other hand, the SULTAN exercised his rights
of paramount sovereignty in Barbary. His money
passed current in those states, his firmans of invest-
ment were devoutly received by princes and people,
as the approbation of the chief or Kalif of Islamism,
and at various periods he received tribute in the shape
of specie and magnificent presents. It is, neverthe-
less, worth observing, that the amount of tribute was
never fixed, and it was always left to the caprice or
liberality of the various bashaws. The present Bey
of TUNIS has at different periods despatched presents,
the last of which was, among other things, a large sum
of specie, and a splendid corvette. This, then, is the
present position of his Highness the Bey of TUNIS in
relation to the Sublime Porte.
But politics have recently very, materially affected
the position of this prince in relation to the States
of Europe. The conquest of Algeria has given him
very powerful, if not too powerful, neighbours. It is
the policy of the French to stimulate the Bey to
aspire after, if not to declare, his absolute independ-
ence of the Porte, contrary to the paramount rights
of the Turkish Sultan, now the acknowledged
rights of many centuries. The Bey, once inde-
pendent, and the French on the aggressive, the
feeble and newly-created sovereignty would be
swallowed up in a single mouthful of Algerian
military ambition. There would then be no barrier
between the French and Egypt ; for Tunis is far
too feeble to act the part of barrier. It is therefore
clearly the duty and interest of all European states,
the aggressor excepted, to maintain the rights of the
Porte in Tunis; and to repress any aggressive move-
ment on the part of the French in Africa, by up-
holding the connexion between Tunis and Turkey.
However, whilst we maintain the paramount rights
of the Porte, because they are founded on the prac-
tice and sanction of ages, and have been acknow-
ledged by the princes of Tunis, conjointly with the
powers of Europe, we have no inclination to depress
and degrade the Bey, or lower his position as the
hereditary and quasi independent chief of the Tuni-
sian regency; for this would be highly impolitic, as
well as unjust. We even go so far as to think that,
in the event of his Highness not renouncing his in-
tended visit to England this winter, his Highness
might be received at the court of St. James' without
the cold and jealous formality of being introduced by
the Turkish ambassador. This might be done surely
without disturbance of diplomatic or court etiquette.
We consider the Bey more independent than the Pasha
of Egypt, of Turkish rule; he is more at home in his'
own house, and more free as its master. Certainly,
none of the commercial treaties of the Porte refer to
or bind Tunis; treaties, indeed, which bind the
Pashas of Tripoli and Egypt do not bind the Bey of
Tunis. This, itself, is enough to elevate the position
of the Bey of TUNIS above that of InitAnin PAsn t or
his celebrated father, as to sovereign rights in their
respective regencies.
The Bey of TUNIS has also many claims to the
sympathy of England and civilised Europe. He is
the first Mussulman prince who abolished slavery.
Whilst the Egyptian Pasha has been insincere in his
professions of abolition, the BEY has put his anti-
slavery feelings beyond all doubt. The BEY, besides,
is a man of innovation and progress, andevery
manifestation of the ancient Moorish fana-
ticism in his territories is immediately quelled
by the wisdom and firmness of his admi-
nistration. It is true the finances of his country
are in a wretched condition, brought about by a lavish
profusion of gifts and presents to foreigners, as also by
a foolish passion of " playing at soldiers," which latter
propensity has been fatally encouraged by the French
officers in his employ, and by French governmetn
intrigues. But eventually this French system of im-
poverishing Tunis, in order to make it a
little more easy
prey, can be successfully counteracted by a
salutary advice, seasonably administered, to a prince
so pacific and enlightened as his Highness.
M'e hope the BEY may imitate the frank conduct of
inasfirm PASHA, who apt aside all the obstructions of
French prerention and etiquette, coming amongst us
and enjoying himself like an enlightened and affable
citizen of the world.
and we

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- -
WE will not add, by any lengthened comment, to
the very large space which the ample and able letter
from our correspondent atLisbon, fills in our columns.
From his communication will be seen not only the
critical relations in which the contending parties in
Portugal stand, but the captious and ill-advised con-
duct of the court and its present councillors, who seek
to implicate and accuse the representatives of the
British Government of all kinds of machination and
hostility, simply because they refrain from taking
open or active part with Marshal SALDANIIA and his
absolutist government.

NEWS FROM PORTUGAL.
---
A summary of the following appeared in our im-
pression of yesterda_y :
SOUTHAMPTON, DEC. 10.—The Cyclops, arrived
at Southampton, brings the followui.g intelligence
from Portugal, which has reached us by express :
PROM OrR OWN COREMONDENT.
LISBON, Nov. 30.
The events of the last ten days at this capital have
so far exceeded in significancy and importance those
which have occurred at the head-quarters of the two
principal corps d'armee, that I shall offer no apology
for giving the civil portion of my intelligence pre-
cedence over the military news which I have to
narrate, always premising that nothing decisive or
even possessing much interest has occurred since my
last, in so far as hostilities are concerned.
I think I stated in a former letter the position in
which the Duke of Palmella found himself during
the period that bad elapsed between his forced se-
cession from the ministry and the date at which I
wrote, viz., the 20th of November. Naturally anxious
to disconnect himself from a policy. such as that pur-
sued by Saldanha and the actual ministers, the duke
declined fulfilling his functions of Councillor of State,
and even sent in his resignation, which was not then
accepted. Previous, however, to this, about the
middle of October, he had requested of the minister
his passports, with the intention of making DR OLIVEIRA..
a lMost Excellent Sir,—l have received your Excellencre
ourney to Cadiz or the south of Europe,
letter, dated the 21st inst., and the greatest proof of respect
an they were accordingly granted to him. Some
which I can give to the government of her Majesty is to
answer seriatim, as I do in the enclosed paper, the impute,
circumstances intervened, by which this projected
journey was delayed, when on the 21st of this month lions formulated in the note which your Excellency for-
he received a communication from the Minister of the warded to me.
that I never expected the moment to
Interior, enclosing a list of charges which that func-I confess, really, '
arrive,o (Zing the reign of her Majesty Donna Maria ll, 1
welfmare,
tionary had drawn regularly up, and which, togetheressential for our
with the duke's categorical replies to them, were as dart ml
MiliTclmhee 'hme objets soar °such denunciations
follows : on the part— of a stupid and calumniatingj
police. I have ll
con-
NOTES or THE FACTS nerirrso TO THE DCIE OP PALHELLA, sidered myself to be under the necessity of limiting my
TOGETHER WITH Hui EICILLRitcy'S REPLY. observations, in the an ewer which I give to the said note,
ACCCSATION AND REPLY. to the charges therein contained. Addressing myself, how- ,1
Ist. That the delay in the duke's quitting the kingdom, ever, directly to your Excellency, permit me to refer to I
which occurred from the middle of October, when he de- the interview which we lately had, and to the letter of
mended his passports, up to the 20th of November, is entirely the Duke of Saldanha, shown to me by your Excellency,
owing to his intercourse with the revolutionary nucleus es this communication on your part places me under
existing at Liebon. cessity of explaining myself with the utmost clearness asil
Reply, The delay in my departure from the kingdom since precision. It is by no means exact that I promised to ere
I demanded my passports is entirely owing to personal and Duke of Saldanha to leave the kingdom ,• in order that I
domestic circumstances, of which Ido not feel myself called should have made such a promise, it would have been necee-
upon to give any account, inasmuch as I believed myself, up siuy that his Excellency. should have either requested or re-
to the present moment, at liberty to undertake or to decline coved me to do so. I, indeed, told him that mo intention
the journey which I had projected, according as I might was to embark for the south in the first packet that sailed,
please. lam ignorant of the existence of any revolutionary and, in fact, such was my design. I also spontaneously
nucleus at Lisbon, such as is here mentioned. In every case, answered him when he confidentially mentioned to me the
if it does exist, I have no knowledge of it. I have hail no existence of an accusation against me (coming, I believe, from
relation of any description with it, directly or indirectly, the police), in which it was said that a revolutionary central
which assertions I make upon my word of honour. comnussion, existing in Lisbon, had requested me to abandon
2nd. That the duke has favoured the rebel faction my projected journey. I then answered him, denying such
with his influence and money ; giving to some of the chiefs an assertion, which is entirely untrue, saying, what I now
of the rebellion—as, for instance to Jose Lucio Valdez again repeat, that I then was, as I now am, ignorant ot
(Count Boman.) and Bernardo de ,136. (Bandeira)—money ; the existence of such a commission ; that I had re-
exciting hopes that he would lend his signature as guarantee I calved no message of any such description, nor any
for a loan; allowing that in his name promises should be other message, and that my intention was to go
made to those persons in Lisbon who would join the rebels, by the next packet. I do not, therefore, conceive that
and that a monthly allowance should be made them in Spain this intention, voluntarily manifested, could have been
in case they should be ultimately obliged to emigrate. interpreted into • promise, nor that such a promise had been
cos-
Barbary posers, R'sply, I have not favoured the rebellious faction by any exacted from me ; and I considered, and even yet do
ermine, nor by my hand-writing, nor by means of money eider, what I then said to have been a voluntary intention,
France, and the unless should be so termed the insignificant sums of which I was not liable to be compelled to fulfil, and which
werament of 20 moidores (23L), to one, and 30 moidoree (341.), to ano- I was not to be at liberty to change. The other confides:l
-..6 has been thee, lent to two individuals, my particular friends, without till communication which his Excellency made to me in the
years appoint- the slightest idea of a political motive ; which declaration I last conversation held between us, was, that an individual,
concluded ireatice make on my word of honour. I should not have mentioned then under arrest, had declared that I had sent 12 contoe
insignincant a circumstancet as the above were I of reis (3,0001.) to Coimbra, through the medium of I
"•Mversu.—me.:nill gl mnot aware of the fact that the Duke of Saldanha, to Senor lacunae de Albuquerque. I likewise denied
ingerr""" ""`"'",_'s of I• ati it in familiar' this accusation (which •
whom accidentally mentioned
.nissaries in Barbary had narrated it in writing to his colleagues in the administra- and, as I considered this conversation to be entirely
ordinary collection non, which very much astonished me. It is fain that I confidential, I told him that the only sums lent by
trhe Porte, ever held out anyhopes of lending my signature as guarantee me to any individuals new compromised (and this even

literature,
adbeeoul-
'the future

ii of

be ez•