The Sun.
London, England, 1839-08-29 00:00:00

THE TOURNAMENT.

EGLINTOUN CASTLE, AYRSHIRE, SATURDAY Nlc'rir. Earl of Eglintoun is now surrounde:!,
a select
circle of visitors at the Castle.
The Marquis of W^.
from Ardrossan. ...erforci has arrived at Irvine
eda y, n, -v-here the Noble Marquis landed yes-
I - -.;comparned by Lord George Beresford, Mr.
tr
_,:ctiemere, and party. His Lordship's stud arrived by
the same steamer.

The Duke and Duchess of Montrose arrived at the
Castle yesterday from Buchanan Castle.
The Marquis and Marchioness of Londonderry ar-
rived this morning from Wynyard Park, their scat near
Stockton-on-Tees.

Lord and Lady Seymour arrived this afternoon.
The Dowager Lady Rendlesham and the Hon. Misses
Thelluson, who have been residing at Ardrossan for a
few days, arrived this morning.
Lord and Lady Belhaven arrived yesterday morning
from Wishaw.

The other arrivals at the castle during yesterday and,
to-day were—Viscount Chelsea, Sir Charles Lamb,
Lady Montgomery, Sir George Head,Sir Francis Head,
Lord Archibald Seymour, Mrs. Upton, Misses Upton.
Mr. and Mrs. Glasgow, Mr. C. Lamb, Mr. Grant, Mr
and Mrs. Macdougall, &c.
The dinner party this evening consisted of the above
personages of distinction.

. _
Lady Montgomery, the Earl of Eglinton's mother,
does the duties of the hostess on this occasion.

The preparations are very extensive, but arc not so
forward as they ought to be by this time. The ball
and banqueting-rooms have only just been covered in,
and have to be decorated, which will necessarily oc-
cupy several days. The lists and galleries are nearly
completed ; and the encampments and pavilions were
being erected this morning, but owing to the rain falling
fast, only four out of twenty-two were put up. The
castle, a small irregular building in the old Anglo-Nor.
man style, was built by the eleventh Earl of Eglintoun,
grandfather of the present Earl, about fifty years since.
The interior is elegantly fitted up. The whole, how-
ever, being incomplete in its decorations and embellish-
ments, a descriptive notice here would be premature.
A party of noblemen and ladies drove round the lists
this afternoon, to witness the progress the workmen
were making. The Earl of Eglintoun, the Marchioness
of Londonderry, the Marquis of Waterford, Lord Geo.
Beresford, Mr. Lechemere, &c., were of the party.
Up to this evening the weather has been unpropi-
tious, and doubts are entertained, if it should continue,
whether the Tournament will take place on Wednes-
day, the ground being now extremely wet.—Mornin
Post.

EXTRACTS FROM A JUSTIFICA-
TORY MEMORIAL FOR PORTUGAL IN HER
DISCUSSIONS WITH ENGLAND ON THE
SUBJECT OF THE FINAL ABOLITION OF
THE SLAVE TRADE.

LISBON, AUGUST 13.—The allegations advanced in
Parliament in support and justification of the hostile
measures proposed to be adopted towards Portugal
having been brought forward in a manner calculated to
excite doubts as to the good faith of the Portuguese Go-
vernment, it becomes necessary to exhibit the facts in
their true light, and to correct the voluntary errors of the
British Ministry. Portugal has no fear of the verdict of
public opinion, provided it be duly instructed and founded
on facts such as they really exist, and not such as the re-
presentations of mercantile interest and an inexplicable
passion have made them. Portugal looks for nothing more
than the respect due to her independence, and in her
dispute with England she has had only in view to defend
that independence from the severe attacks directed
against it ; and to withdraw herself from that unheard-
of humiliation of submitting to that law, which a foreign
Government assumes the pretension of imposing upon
her despotically, as on a conquered nation. Under
these circumstances, the Portuguese Government con-
siders itself entitled to claim the support and to deserve
the sympathy of every Cabinet, whose interest it like-
wise is not to view with indifference an attempt to trample
on the independence of nations, and to destroy the basis
of their real security.
We commence by declaring that we do not defend
the slave-trade. We are sensible of our inability to
contend against public opinion—against the general
sentiment of civilized nations. In theory the slave-
trade is an abomination, and its defence an absur-
dity. Public opinion loudly demands the abolition
of the slave-trade, and Portugal ardently desires the
abolition. Joseph I. rendered free, §ig :a decree, every
slave who set foot on Portuguese soil. The horror of
slavery is, therefore, of older date in Portugal than in
any other Christian country. Portugal will not press on
England the recollection of the famous treaty of the As-
siento, signed on the 26th of March, 1713, and con-
firmed by the Convention of May 26, 1716, which
grants to that power the exclusive monopoly of sup-
plying the Spanish colonies with slaves for 30 years.
Portugal does not wish to take advantage in her own
favour of this manifestation, single in its kind, of the
absence of every sentiment of philanthropy in the Eng-
land of that period ; but she cannot permit England or
any other power to question the morality and feelings of
humanity of which she was the first to give to the world
a brilliant and honourable proof.
But, to come to the point. During the Congress
of Vienna, the English Plenipotentiaries made propo-
sals to the Portuguese Plenipotentiaries with a view to
the abolition of the slave-trade. In the conference
held between those Ministers on the 11th • of January,
1815, the Portuguese Plenipotentiaries offered the total
abolition within the term of eight years in return for the
abrogation of the deplorable commercial treaty of 1810;
but at that time mercantile interest silenced the voice
of British philanthropy. This, however, is by no means
surprising, for British philanthropy is really nothing
but a modification, an adroit form of mercantile interest.
The liberal proposition of Portugal having, then, been
at that time put aside, others were taken into conside-
ration. Finally, the following points were agreed upon :
" 1. That the treaty of alliance of February 19, 1810,
dishonourable "for the Crown of Portugal should be
declared null.

~v"2. That Portugal should immediatedly relinquish
the slave-trade on the north of the Equator.
"3. That Great Britain should pay the residue of
the Portugese loan (450,0001.) contracted in London
in 1809, undertheguaranteeof England, towards the ex-
pense of the Peninsular war. It was expressly declared
in the note of the Portuguese Plenipotentiaries, dated
January 12, 1814, drawn up under the eyes of Lord
Castlereagh, and by agreement with him, that the sum
of 450,0001. should be ceded to Portugal, not only in
compensation of the sacrfices and losses occasioned by
the immediate abolition of the slave-trade on the north
of the Equator ; but, particularly. and more especially
as equivalent for the restitution of Guyana to
France, to which restitution Portugal was obliged
to submit in consequence of the stipulations of the
treaty of Paris concluded by Great Britain without
the knowledge and without the authority, or
previous consent, of the Portuguese Government. Thus,
Portugal was then treated as a country under the
sovereign tutelage of her ally. She was bound by a
secret article to make this restitution, and it was for the
purpose of mitigating whatever there was in this article
offensive to the Portuguese Government, and the inde-
pendence and honour of the Portuguese monarchy, that
Great Britain took upon herself the said debt 01
450,0001. ; but, moreover, promised by the same
secret article, her mediation for the settlement of ques-
tions of boundary between the French and Portuguese
possessions in America.
" 4. In fine, that Great Britain should pay to Por-
tugal the sum of 300,0001. as indemnity for prizes ille-
gally made by English cruisers previous to June 1,1814.
These different points were embodied in the Conven-
tion of January 21, 1815, and the treaty of the follow-
ing day between Portugal and Great Britain.
It is then false, as has with incredible assurance been
said, that Portugal received 600,0001.. on one hand, and
300,0001. on the other, for the abolition of the slave
trade, or for concurring with Great Britain in that
abolition.

It is equally false that Portugal has not observed the
stipulations of the treaties concluded with Great Bri-
tain for the said abolition. Portugal has conformed
thereto in every point, and no well founded complaint
can be alleged against her in this respect.
Great Britain, always pursuing her object, concluded
with Portugal, on the 28th of July, 1817, a convention
additional to the treaty of the 22d of January, 1815,
" for the purpose of preventing their subjects from en-
gaging in any illicit traffic in slaves." This convention
(article 2) allows the slave trade by Portuguese vessels
to subsist as lawful—

" 1. In the territories possessed by the Crown of
Portugal on the coasts of Africa to the south of the
Equator ; that is to say, on the east coast of Africa the
territory situated between Cape Delgado and the bay of
Lourence Marques, and on the west coast all the terri-
tories situated between the Bth and 18th degree of
south latitude.

" 2. In the territories to the south of the Equator,
over which it is declared his Most Faithful Majesty
reserves his rights—namely, the territories of Molembo
and Cabinda on the east coast of Africa, between the
sth and the 18th degrees of south latitude."
By this convention (article 5) Portugal concedes to
England the dangerous right of visit on Portuguese
merchantmen by vessels of the British Royal Navy, with
a reciprocity evidently illusory and false—a concession
which England never could obtain from the United
States, though all the world knows that American ships
in considerable numbers are engaged in carrying on the
slave-trade, and that reciprocity would hot be an idle
word in reference to the navy of the United States.
a separate article
signed September, followed
terriber, boftyhe same year, which
This
the conventionllth of was

we transcribe here in the original English, as it was pre-
sented to Parliament in 1818
" As soon as the total 4belitido at' tli`e slave-trade for
the subjects of the of Portugal should have taken
place, the two high contracting parties by corninon eon,
sent to adapt to that statb of ciretutistanect the stipu-
lating of the additional Convention concluded at Lon-
don on the o,th Of july last ; but, in default of such
alterations, the additional convention of that date shall
remain in force until the expiration of 15 years from the
Cal which the general abolition of the slave-trade
shall so take place on the part of the Portuguese Go-
vernment.

" The present separate article shall have the same
force and validity as if it were inserted word for word in
the additional convention aforesaid. It shall be rati-
fied, and the ratification shall be exchanged as soon as
possible."
The Portuguese Government abolishes the slave-
trade in all the dominions of Portugal, by decree of
December 10, 1836 ; and, consequently, according to
the separate article above transcribed, the two Go-
vernments, the Portuguese and English, not having of
common accord adapted to this new state of things the
stipulations of the additional convention of July 28,
1817, the said convention remains in vigour until the
expiration of the term fixed by the separate article,
that is to say, until December 10, 1815. Such is the
justice of the case,

The Portuguese Government has always been favour-
ably disposed to the negotiation of a new treaty with
England on the subject. It was under consideration at
the moment of the publication of the decree of the
10th of December ; and Portugal, considering it neces-
sary to modify the stipulations of the treaty, in order
to reconcile it with the provisions of the said decree,
presented a counter-project to the British Government,
framed according to the convention recently concluded
between France and England for the same object, to
which Denmark, Sweden, Naples, Sardinia, and the
Hans-Towns acceded. Portugal, however, inserted
therein the guarantee by Great Britain of the posses-
sions of the Portuguese Crown in Africa—a guarantee
rendered indispensable in consequence of the dissatis-
faction produced by the immediate abolition of the
slave-trade in those possessions—by a sudden change in
their internal and external economy, which injured the
most direct interests of the inhabitants—by a crisis, in
a word, which threatened to tear asunder the ties
which attach them to the mother country. This gua-
rantee England was, in common justice, bound to give to
Portugal, as it was for and on account of England that
Portugal was about to expose herself to such dangers, and
to incur such great losses. The English Government,
however, accepted all the stipulations of the counter-pro-
ject, which were favourable to itself, rejected those which
were favourable to Portugal, and added new conditions
still more rigid and less acceptable than the preceding.
Finding that Portugalacceded to some of the demands,
the British Cabinet did not hesitate to present to the
Portuguese Government the famous ultimatum in which
all the preceding pretensions were aggravated, in order,
it was said, to be signed without the least delay or al-
teration, for otherwise, Great Britain would proceed to
accomplish by her own means the object of the Treaty.
It required much self-presumption, and a very low
estimate of the Portuguese Government, to make such
a demand in terms so outrageous and insulting, and
still more, to suppose that it would be conceded. It is
not necessary to say, that the Portuguese Government
rejected it ; but, in so doing, knew how to control its
just resentment. The refusal was made with dignity,
but without bitterness. The Government endeavoured
by arguments incapable of refutation, to manifest its
justice and the legality of its proceeding, and to bring
back the Cabinet of Great Britain to sentiments more
conformable to the principles of justice, as well as
to the ancient relations of friendship and alliance
between the two countries. Unfortunately, the
Portuguese Government did not succeed, and the
British Ministry carried their menaces into execution
by presenting to Parliament a bill, conceived in terms
most injurious towards Portugal, and the object of
which was nothing less than legalising hostilities in the
midst of peace, the most flagrant infraction of treaties,
and the subversion of all the recognised principles of
public right and the law of nations. The British Mi-
nistry by this proceeding gave, however, without being
aware of it, the most evident proof of their want of
right, as they wished to supply for it by Parliamentary
sanction the power of the stronger. Fortunately, the
House of Lords perceived all that was odious and un-
just and eminently revolutionary in the proposed mea-
sure, and rejected it.
The British Ministers did not think fit to yield the
point. They persisted more than ever in their idea, as
if their defeat in the House of Lords had excited still
more their animosity against Portugal, which was pe!-
fectly innocent of it. They now pretend to attain their
object by re-introducing the rejected Bill disguised under
a new form. The result will still be the same—the le-
galizing of force against right, and the destruction of all
the principles of justice which govern the world, and
which form the protection of States.
There results from what we have said—

1. That Portugal nercr received from England any
sum of money for the general abolition of the slave-
trade, or for concurring with that Power in the said
abolition, as has been boldly affirmed, in spite of the
evident and official proofs of the contrary.
2. That the convention of the 28th of July, 1817,
is in full force, and that it is it which regulates the
relations between Portugal and England on the sub-
ject of the slave-trade. _ _ _

Cabinet,notreeof
the
being
stipulationsable dis
of -
said convention,
etghaelaßnrditish
existing force
pretends to sanction their
ianlfor3awt.hectTitobilat lne by an Act of Parliament—a proceeding
which never can abrogate public law or legalize injustice.
4. That the scandal of such a sanction, if ever given,
would menace the independence of all nations.
5. That the Bill, as well as the measures which the
British Cabinet proposes to substitute, would be hosti-
lity in full peace, aggression unprovoked against the
most ancient, the most faithful, and the most useful
ally of Great Br:tain.

G. That Portugal never refused, and does not now
refuse, to enter into new stipulations with England for
the total abolition of the slave trade, provided that such
stipulations do not wound her independence and the
dignity of the Portuguese Crown, and do not compro-
mise in a manner too dangerous, the preservation of
the few possessions which remain of that great empire
lacerated in part by the interposition, and for the profit
of the mercantile interests of Great Britian.