The Sun.
London, England, 1808-08-11 00:00:00

ing of a virtuous Prince, wlio would never have
posed his people to the most dreadful calamities by a.
sure first gitcess,- whith only crinld have served to
chastise the !audacity of a man, whb, like =many
others, abused the power withich he B'i'as en-
truSted, or who :hied in pursuance
,of orders which
cannot be justified.
His Royal Highness'the Prince Regent then adopt-
ed, the only measure which could suit his situation,
according to the principles which he had constantly
followed, to save the- blood of hiS 'people, and in
order to prevent the criminal plan of the French Od-
vernment from being carried into7execulion, which
had nothing less in view than to secure his Royal
Person, and the whole Thoyal Family, in order to di,
vide. at its own will and pleasure the spoils of the
Crown of Portugal and the Portuguese dominiOns.
Providenee seconded the etThrts of a just Prince; and
the magnanimous resolution which his Royal High-
ness adopted, to retire with his august Royal Family
to Brazil, disconcerted at once the efforts 'of the
French Government, and exposed in the clearest
light, in
~the face Of Europe, the criminal and
treacherous views of a Government, which aims at
the universal domination of all Europe, and of the.
World, if the great Ehropean Powers, roused from
the lethargic' stupor into which they are • sunk, do
not make common cause vigorously to oppose an
ambition so immoderate and excessive.

Since his Royal Highness'i Safe arrival in his dos
minions in Brazil, he has learned With horrot, not
only the usurpation of Portugal,-and• the pillage and
plunder practised in that country, bOt also the
shameful proceeding of the Emperor of the French,.
who, as the true Dilator of Europe, dares to repre-
sent it as a crime of his Royal Highness, that be has
removed his seat of Government to Brazil, and. in
his faithful subjeds who followed hith, to have ac-
companied a Prince whom all his people revere, still
more on account of his virtues than of the ' rights of
his august Royal Family which he has inheritedOand
by virtue of which he reigns over them. His Royal
Highness has witnessed with horror the hardihood
with which an attempt has been made, in an official
paper, 'to proscribe the right of his august Royal Fa-
mily to the Crown of Portugal, with which he will
never part; arid he is entitled to demand of the Em-•
,peror of the French, from what• Code-of the Law of
Nations 'he has drawnsimilar principles, and received
such authority, claiming to this subjed the_ipiost.
serious consideration of all European Powers; Who.
cannot see with indifference what has here 'been
stated, and the introduction of a new Government
in Portugal, without his consent, as well as the,
'raising of an exorbitant contribution, demanded from
a country which opposed no resistance to the entry
'of the French troops, and which on this very ground
could not consider itself as being at war with France.
The most remote posterity, as well as impartial Eu-
rope, ' will see with grief similar transadions, the.
forerunnerS of ages of barbarism and misery, such as-
those which followed the downfall of the Roman
Empire, and which cannot be avoided, unlesS exer-
tions be made to restore the equipoise of Europe by
an unanimous effort, and with a total oblivion of all.
• ideas and feelings of rivalship, which have hitherto:
been the true causes of the elevation of that ,tnon-.
strous 'poSver which threatens to swalloW up all.. '.•
After this correct and true statement made bybis:
Royal Highness the Prince Regent' of Portugal to
Europe, and to his subjects, of every thing which
has taken place between the Portuguese and French
Government ; and as the Emperor of the French has
not only invaded Portugal, and laid that country un-
der the must dreadful and almost incredible contribu-
tions, under the cloak of friendship, but has alSo
long ago withdrawn his Embassy from his Royal
Highness's Court, and even caused-Portuguese mer-
chant ships to be seized, which were in his ports,
without any previous Declaration of War, and con-
trary to an express article of the Treaty of Neutrali-
ty, from which he derived the greatest advantages;
and lastly declared war against him, according to
report of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, his Royal
Highness,• after having resigned his cause into- the
hands of the Almighty, whom he has every right to
invoke in so just a cause, thinks it due to his rank;
• and the dignity of his Crown, to make the follow-
• ins-° Declaration
His Royal Highness breaks off all communication
with France, recalls i 11 the members of his embasSy,
if any should yet remain, and authorises his subje6ts
to wage war, by sea and land,- against the subjects 'of
the Emperor of the French. His Royal •Highness
declares null' and void all treaties which the •Ettiperor
of the French has compelled•him to conclude, andin
particular those of Badajoz and-Aladrid in 1 aril, and
that of Neutrality in 1804, iltTau,se he has violated,
anti never respected them. His-Royal Highness will
not lay down his arms unless with consent of • his
Britannic Majesty, his old and faithful ally, and will
never agree to hcession of Portugal, which forms the
most ancient patt oft he inheritance, and of the rights
'of his augOst Royal Family, •
When the Emperor of the French shall have sa-
tisfied in every point the just claim Of his Royal
Highness the Prince Regent of Portugal, and shall
have relinquished the didatorial and imperious tone
ire which he lords it over oppressedEurnpe, and when
he shall have restored to the Crown of Portugal all he
has invaded in the midst of peace, and without the
least pl-ovecation, his, Royal Highness will avail him-
self of the earliest oportunity to renew the connec-
tion , which has always subsisted between the two
-countries, and which ought to exist between nations,
which will never be divided-but by the principles
of an inordinate ambition, which, accorditig to the
experience of ages,.have also proved destructive to the ,
welfare and tranquillity of all nations by which they
were adopted.
Rio Janeiro, May 1, 1808,