The Express.
London, England, 1853-02-04 00:00:00

PORTUGAL.

The Oriental Company's steam packet Madrid,
Captain Weeks, arrived at Southampton yesterday,
and landed her mails, under the charge of Lieut.
Scriven, R.N., Admiralty agent. Her dates are—
Gibraltar, Jan. 25th; Cadiz, 26th; Lisbon, 20th;
Oporto, 30th; Vigo, 31st.
The Duke of Saldanha was seriously ill at Lisbon,
and great anxiety was manifested for his safety.
Re had suffered an operation for a tumour in the
breast, and was considered better, but by no means
oat of danger.
Prince Auguste of Saxe Coburg landed from the
Madrid on her outward voyage,
_ on a visit to his
brother the King of Portugal. The Baron de Siesal
was also a passenger to Lisbon, returning from a
special mission to Brussels, relative to some dif-
ferences between Portugal and America, which had
been settled in favour of Portugal.
The Madrid was detained at Vigo fifteen hours, not
having been able to obtain pratique, although she
anchored before sunset. This is a detention one
would hardly expect in the present day, and certainly
ought not to be submitted to.
Her Majesty's ships Sans Pareil and Inflexible,
were at Lisbon. Lieutenant Mav, of the Sans Pareil,
died on the 16th of January. Vice-Admiral Dandas,
with the Britannia (flag ship), Trafalgar, Albion,
and Bellerophon, of the line, Arethusa (frigate), and
the steamers Sampson and Niger, left Gibraltar for
Malta on the 25th of January, immediately after the
arrival of the Madrid from England, leaving the
steamer, Retribution, to follow with the Admiral's
despatches from England by the Indus. Commander
Bickford joined the Albion on the 25th January.
Our correspondent writes:
LISBON, JAN. 29.

On the 25th, at daybreak, the police, both civil
and military, entered the tecond floor of No. 27, Rua
do Patrocinio, and seized a machine formed of seven
musket barrels, seven red caps, and a red flag, hav-
ing on it " Mons o tyranno" (literally, the tyrant
dies); a table was laid out, having on it some frag-
ments of fried fish, a piece of bread, part of a bottle
of wine, a small bottle of some inflammable liquid,
two torches, two rockets, a bundle of furze, and a
i trunk full of papers. The only demonstrable fact
connected with this extraordinary circumstance is,
that the street in question is in the line of Saldanha's
transit to and from the Palace to his own house;
hence a variety of conjectures; but I understand the
machine is a wretched burlesque upon any instru-
ment intended to hurl death upon any one, as the
barrels are not only weak and imperfect, but the
machine by no means complete. It appears, how-
ever, the invasion of the house took place by de-
nouncement, which probably explains the whole
affair.

The Portuguese a:c not a people prone to assassi-
nation, and even in the most excited seasons no at-
tempt was ever made to remove obnoxious public
men by such means.
I informed you in my last that the definitive con-
tract for the railroad had not been conceded, but that
the government was waiting the arrival of competent
persons from England, with an unexceptional list of
associates, whose means would insure the completion
of the work. The packet of the 17th having arrived
without any such persons, the public disappointment
wss attempted to be allayed by a paragraph in the
.Rerolucoo, the organ of the railroad projectors, that
"information had been received from the secretary
in London, that Mr. Barry and the other directors
would only arrive in London from Paris on the 18th,
immediately after which the material, and other ob-
jects for its construction, would be forwarded
from Leeds, so as to arrive in Lisbon by
the next packet." This has afforded room for
much comment ; that the material should be
forwarded without even knowing that the directors
would confirm Mr. Hislop's (the agent's) verbal and
consequent conditional concession. The government
required to change the course both at Lisbon and
Santarem; that the government would approve the
list of the proposed company or that the required
deposit could be made, is somewhat odd ; and has
suscitated the opinion that at the present discount
Portuguese faith is at in London, Mr. Barry has
been obliged to resort to Paris for the formation of a
company; failing the success of which, all idea of a
railroad in Portugal will, for the present, be aban-
doned! This course, in fact, will not only save to
the unwise projectors of it the money they designed
to invest, but will put it out of the power of the go-
vernment to lay violent hands upon it, or withhold
the interest of it at any future period. If the Pari-
sian purse be shut against Portugal as the Lon-
don is, a crisis must soon take place. The capi-
talising decree of 3rd of December, 1831, promised
thenceforward pay to the troops and navy monthly ;
the latter, however, has not only gone into arrear as
heretofore, but the government has again adopted
the expedient of paying in paper, which can only
be turned into cash at an exorbitant discount. It is
true the pay of the officers of the army and pensions
are yet kept up in this division: but it is said to be
going into arrears is others; the army must, however,
be paid, or squalls may be expected, as discontent is
as widely spreading among the people as it did
under the administration of Count Thomar, at
seeing the tendencies of the government, whose
conduct is perfectly anomalous ; it pretends
to desire the improvement and instruction
of the people, while it publishes a penal code
prohibiting the association of more than 20 persons ;
it desires arts and manufactures to flourish—while''
it prohibits religious, political, literary, and indeed'
all other societies, under severe penalties; in tine, it
is a retrograding government, and when it gets the
steam up m its subservient and obsequious Cortes, it
will run down all before it, and endeavour to stifle
thought if it be possible.
The Port of Ceara in the Brazils is considered
" suspected."
Notwithstanding that many deputies to the Cortes
have loudly exclaimed against the practices used at
the elections, the Chamber has already approved of
nearly the whole of the returns. It is said the go-
vernment are in some fear of the Upper Chamber,
and that a creation of peers is contem Aided.
Exchange, 54 ; discount of notes of the Bank of
Lisbon, 2 per cent.