The Express.
London, England, 1847-07-15 00:00:00

-e,f-e<,

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

THIS DAY, Foua 'oCLocic.

NEWS FROM PORTUGAL.
The Oriental Company's steam-ship Madrid, Capt.
John Weeks, Lient Newenham, R.N., Admiralty
Agent in charge of the mails, arrived last night at
Southampton, bringing news to the following dates:
Gibraltar, July 5; Cadiz, July 0; Lisbon, Jitly 9;
Oporto, July 10; and Vigo, July 11.
At Lisbon all was tranquil. Many of the prisoners
taken at St. Übe' and on board the junta's squadron
had joined the forces of the queen, but a few yet re-
mained on board the British fleet and in the fortress
of St. Julian. Some of the most distinguished of
the insurgent leaders, including the Marquis of Louie
and Senhor d'Aguilar, late commissioner of the Oporto
junta, were at Lisbon, at large, and in full enjoyment
of the amnesty which wee in force; yet Du Antes,
Sada Bandetra, da Taipa, Jose Estevao, and others
were not permitted to go at large, they having refused to
sign conditions which it was sought to impose
upon them exclusively, the terms of which they con-
sidered incompatible with their honour. There was,
however, a report that these and all other political
prisoners would be immediately liberated,except some
hundred and fifty serjeants of Antares division, which
were on board a Portuguese vessel, under a guard of
English marines. These men demanded their discharge,
but have been refused, because they belonged to the
troops of the line, and the government requires further
service, which service they will not render. Senor
Antonio Suit de Sombre, who was a member of the junta
until the signing of the protocol, had been restored to the
situation which he held before the insurrection, that of
J uiz da Relaeao of Oporto; and three other judges, who
also joined in the revolt, have been reinvested, by the
same decree, with their former dignities. The Duke de
Terceira, Conde de Santa Maria, Viaeonde de Vallongo,
Vieconde de Campanha, Conde de Limhareee and tins
prisoners liberated at Opine, had arrived at Lisbon.
The government had published a decree, signed by the
Queen and countersigned by all the ministers, again
prohibiting the publication of newspapers, or any
political pamphlets, and suspending individual gua-
rantees until the end of the month of July, on the
plea of the continued duration of the civil war in some
provinces in the north and south of the kingdom.
The existence of a few guerilla bands in some re-
mote provinces, was considered by many insufficient
to justify measures such as these, which were
extremely likely to impede the satisfactory settle-
ment of the details of the convention, and in-
crease the difficulties of the government. The
decree of Conde de Tojal, making the Bank of Lisbon
notes a legal tender but for one-third of any pay-'
ment from June 30, was modified by a subsequent
decree, which ordains that the half-year's rents of
houses due on the 311th June, can be paid half
in paper and half in metal, and the taxes for
the same half-year can be paid also half in paper
and half in metal, provided these payments arc
made before the 30th of July. This modification
affects only the rents of houses and taxes for the half
year ending on the 30th June; custom-house duties,
and all other income and debts must still be paid,
two-thirds in metal and one-third in paper. In con-
sequence of a disposition on the part of the bank
directors to thwart the financial progress of the Conde
de Tojal, the president and two other directors are
reported to have resigned.
When the Madrid left Oporto, the city was occupied
by the Spanish forces, amounting to 13,000 men
under General Concha, and the queen's forces,
8,000 strong, commanded by Saldanha. The
junta had dissolved itself, and addressed a proclama-
tion to the Portuguese people, explaining the condi-
tions on which it had surrendered. It appears that
the skirmish of the 25th ult., at Villa Nova, was suc-
ceeded by an occasional cannonading during the three
succeeding days, between Marshal Saldanba's artil-
lery and the city exhibiting the determination of the
junta to defend 'Oporto rather than surrender to the
troops of the queen. But, as the junta were willing to
lay down their arms, provided the surrender was made
exclusively to the forces by whom alone they considered
themselves eon quered ,the plenipotentiaries of England,
France, and Spain agreed to meet the representatives
of the junta, and on the 29th of June the following
act of surrender was agreed to:
Lieutenant-General Don M. de la Concha, Conde de
Csneellada, and Colonel Buenega, as representatives of
Spain ; Colonel Wilde, as representative of Great Britain ;
the Marquis of Louie, peer of the kingdom, and General
Cesar de Vasconcellos, as representatives of the provisional
junta, having assembled at Gramide for the purpose of con-
certing the necessary measures to procure a peaceful fulfil-
meat of the resolutions of the allied powers, agreed that the
city of Oporto should submit to the obedience of her most
faithful majesty, on the conditions contained in the eight
articles attached to the end of this act.

On this occasion the commissaries of Spain and Great
Britain declared that the military honour of the army of the
junta, and of the ancient, very noble, and always loyal and
unconquered city of Oporto, was completely safe, and that
they had pleasure in making that declaration in favour of
the honour and valour of the Portuguese soldiers. The
Marquis of Loule and General Cesar de Vasconcelloe said
that the junta entrusted the fate of the country to the good
faith of the allied governments; and that, through the im-
possibility of obtaining better conditions for their adherents,
after even the most sanguinary combats, it considered itself
in a condition to accept the modifications that had been made
by the commissaries of the three powers of the articles
already presented by the Marquis of Louie and General
Cesar de Vasconcellos.

. —..—..—.
The commissaries of the provisional junta proposed that
the officers of the first line in the service of the junta should
obtain the same promotions conferred or to be conferred on
the army of Lisbon, on the officers of that army according to
seniority.
The commissaries of Spain and England declared that
they felt much it was not within their instructions to consider
this proposal, which they thought very just ; however, they
trusted that the government of her most faithful majesty
would take the subject into due consideration.
Art. 1. The faithful and exact fulfilment of the four
articles of mediation included in the protocol of the 21st of
May of this year is guaranteed by the allied governments.
Art. 2. The forces of her Catholic Majesty will exclu-
sively occupy, from the 30th ofJune, the city of Oporto, Villa
Nova de Gasa, and all the forts and redoubts on both sides
of the river, until tranquillity be so completely established.
that there will be no fear of disturbances from their absence
—a strong garrison of the allied forces remaining in Oporto
as long as these continue in Portugal. At the same time,
the Castle of the Foz will be occupied by English forces, and
some vessels of war of the allied powers will be stationed in
the river Douro.
. .

Art. 3. The time for the entrance of the Portuguese
troops into the city of Oporto will be determined by the
allied powers.
Art. 4. The property and security of the inhabitants of
Oporto, and of all the Portuguese in general, are confided
to the honour, protection, and guarantee of the allied
powers.
Art. 6. The forces of the army of her Catholic Majesty
will receive the arms of the troops of the line, and of the
volunteers who obey the junta, giving a gratuitous pass.
port to those persons who wish to retire from Oporto to their
homes, and discharging those soldiers of the line who bad
completed their time of service, and those who enlisted
during this struggle to serve to its conclusion.
Art. 6. The army of the junta will be treated will all
the honours of tft, the officers preserving their swords and
private horses.
Art. 7. Passports to be conceded to any person who
wishes to leave the country, being able to return when it
suits lira.
Art. 8. The three allied powers will use every effort to in-
I duce the government of her most faithful majesty to improve
the condition of the officers of the old Royalist army.
Having agreed on these articles, the commissaries of the
allied powers and of the provisional junta consider as termi
nated the conference, of which this act is drawn up in four
copies, signed by the same commissaries.—Matioris or
LOOLE, MANOEL DE. LA CONCHA, CESAR DE VASCONCELLOS,
W. WlLDE.—Gramido, June 29, 1847.
As soon as the act of surrender had been signed,
and the Marquis of Louie and Cesar de Vasconcellos
had returned to Oporto, the junta immediately pub-
lished the convention, and issued an order, ' m the
name of the nation and the queen," to the
civil governor of Oporto, to liberate the Doke of
Terceira and all other political prisoners. On the
next day the junta dissolved itself and handed over
the government of the northern provinces to thequeen'e
viceroy, the British marines in the meantime taking
possession of the Castle of For, while the Spanish
forces entered the city. The disarming of the junta
forces was then proceeded with, but it is reported that
from 8,000 to 10,000 stand of arms had been carried
off by deserters and bands of Patulea, on the days im-
mediately before and after the completion of the terms
of surrender.
Ina proclamation to the nation, the junta announced
the signing of the convention " for the purpose of
terminating the civil war, and reuniting all the Por-
tuguese family around the constitutional throne" of
the queen. The most remarkable paragraphs in this
document are the following :
The junta sincerely desires that, the throne being respected,
as it ought to be, by all, and the constitutional liberty of the
Portuguese people being secured, we never again may see
the loyal subjects of her majesty armed against one another
waging a fratricidal war.
The junta, congratulating itself and the nation on the
termination of so protracted and melancholy • civil war,
hopes that not one of the Portuguese who followed its ban-
ner will preserve the memory of any injury inflicted on him
during that war.

The junta hopes that its conduct, during the difficult times
in which it was called to govern this kingdom, in the name
of the nation and of her majesty the queen, has gained for it
the esteem of the Portuguese people and of the entire world.
They wish for no other reward than the happy memory
that for so long a time they presided over the destinies of
the mildest, most virtuous, most heroic and noblest people
in the world; and will always entertain the sincerest wishes
for the glory of her majesty the queen, the sincere recon-
ciliation of her subjects, and for the liberty and happiness of
the Portuguese people.
LISBON, Jury 9.
Yon will have heard long ere this of the surrender
of Oporto to the forces of the allied powers, and that tho
Spaniards entered and took possession of it on the 30th ult.
It was (as I informed you in my last) the firm
attitude of the junta upon this important stipule.
tion that so nearly led to protracted hostilities. The
surrender of the Oporto forces, and the delivering up of
their arms, were conducted in the most orderly manner, and
passed over with far leas of excitement than might have been
anticipated.
While the garrison were rendering their arms, a most
atrocious and cold-blooded assassination took place. Major
Vila:, the commandant of one of the national battalions,
in passing en route at the head of his regiment
to the point designated for him to occupy, was fired
at from a window of a house, and fell instantly,
mortally wounded. The house from which the mur.
derers fired was immediately entered by the troops, and
the assassins, seven in number, taken in the act of attempted
escape. The exasperated soldiery would have bayonetted
them upon the spot hat for the prompt. hitesibeeees of
General Conchs, who ordered them weeedieneky to
prison, with a promise that they exe-
elated in the morning ; but this mode of administer-
ing justice did not exactly harmonize with Saldanha's
notion of the fitness of things, so, yielding to urgent
entreaty and remonstrance, Couch* gave them up, and
the assassins are yet unhung ; and as they are of the
faction of the Cabral', there remains little doubt but that the
murderers will escape with a brief imprisonment.
The Count dna Antes and the Viscount Sc da Bondi:ire
and other chiefs are yet in the English admiral's prison cus-
tody ; why is not known, unless it is that they refuse to affix
their names to a document, which it is said has been sent
out from the English Foreign-office, pledging themselves
to submit in all things to the Cabral government, and
to abstain from even their senatorial duties and from
interference of whatever kind in public affairs. Coupling
these facts with the undoubted one of the hourly expected
arrival at the palace of Costa Cabral from Madrid, you may
imagine that there is little chime° of tranquillity or of the
nation recovering its liberty now the people have been die-
armed and rendered comparatively powerless.
By telegraphic despatch from Oporto we are in possession
of the news of the entry of Saldanha and his army on the
morning of the 7th inst., the Serra convent, or rather fortress,
on the south side, as well as the castle of Villa Nova de Gaya,
having been previously given up to Dim by the Spaniards.
Beyond a brief notice conveyed by telegraph we are without
particulars.
From the south, the news is of the most meagre and
scanty description, the government Diaro informs us, and
alone chronicles the marchings and counter-marchings f the
Queen's General, Vinhaes, who would seem to be inde-
fatigable by his entries into cities and marching out again;
but the sturdy mountain chief, Galamba, still beds him de-
fiance from his stronghold. In fact, with all the strong ex-
ternal support the Queen has, her position is most insecure.
As regards Lisbon, everything in the shape of commerce
seems at an end. All confidence is destroyed, and few
transaction stake place. In the meantime, famine is aiding
its fearful ravages to complete the picture of national
distress.

Although the government have published no particulars,
we have jest learnt that during the put week a strong ex-
pedition, composed of regular troops and of volunteers, fitted
out at St. Michael's, appeared off the coast of Algarve a few
days back, but, upon communicating with the shore, and
learning how matters stood, i! immediately bore away again.
A rumour is ripe of an intention to get up a sort of sham
resolution or counter-revolution in favour 01 the ex-minister,
so soon as certain regiments (now on the way) present them-
selves in the capital. The project is said to emanate with the
prince and his palace advisers, but it is to be hoped the rumour
is without foundation. . . .

Lisbon bank note► are at 18 teetaos discount. Exchange
on London, 551 at 90 days ; 5.5 at 30 days.
P.S. General the Count Povoes, together with Generale
Guedes, Bernadino, and other distinguished noblemen and
gentlemen of the Oporto force have quitted Oporto in "a
French vessel for Vigo. •