The Sun.
London, England, 1836-09-30 00:00:00

J yy

LONDON,
FRIDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 30, 1836.

Advices from Lisbon to the 24th inst., received by
express at the Times Office, have just been published
in a Second Edition. The Constitutional Govern-
ment proceeds with energy, and a degree of dignity
which we were not prepared to expect from it, in the
reformation of acknowledged abuses. Numerous em-
ployments about the Court, which only entailed ex-
pense upon the country without any corresponding
advantage either to the Crown or the people, have
been abolished—the pensions of Honorary Secretaries
of State have been reduced to 2001. a year, and a
regulation has been made to grant no such pensions
to future retiring Secretaries without the consent of
the Cortes—all the Counsellors of State have been
dismissed as incompatible with the Constitution—the
offices of Administrators-General of the Customs
have been suppressed—and a Royal decree of the
19th inst. ordains that parochial Juntas shall be
formed, to levy a tax on the people for the support
of the clergy, now reduced to a state of utter
destitution. Nor is this all. Ministers have already
contrived to pay 10,500/. due to the Bank by their
predecessors in office ; and the operation of the mea-
sures of retrenchment which they have already adopted
will effect a saving to the amount of 350,000/. a-

year to the country—an immense saving in
such a poor, impoverished country as Portugal. Of
this sum 100,0001. a year was nominally paid to the
Clergy as a compensation for the abolition of tithes ;
but in point of fact nearly one-third of it was pocketed
by the officers charged with its distribution.
Notwithstanding the open hostility of the Court to
the new order of things, all the great towns in Por-
tugal have already proclaimed the Constitution. There
is therefore no appearance whatever of a re-action
having taken place, either in the acts or the opinions of
the people. On the 14th the PRINCE ROYAL resigned
the Commandership-in-Chief of the army : and at the
same time communicated the fact to the troops by an
especial order; but the citizens appeared quite indiffe-
rent upon the subject.
The following is a copy of this document
" It is with the most profound regret I find myself
placed under the necessity of resigning the command of the
Portuguese army, and this day to acquaint the general
officers, subalterns, and privates, of my retirement.
accepted the
It was with the greatest delight that I
honour of commanding this brave army, which so freely
spilt its pure blood in obtaining the constitutional Charter
—this Charter emanated freely from the Crown, and which
offered to the nation guarantees of the greatest security—
this charter for which the Queen's father, the Hero of
Oporto, died so gloriously—this Charter, which acted a s
a watchword, to rally together the friends of liberty in
the hour of misfortune and actual conflict, and which
was invoked by the dying martyrs of the Azores, Porto,
Almoster, and Assenceira, and which inspired them
with courage and fortitude, wherewith they crowned
with triumph—by
their splendid deeds of arms—the
just cause of the Queen, over tyranny and oppression,
—this Charter was trodden under foot on the evening of the
9th instant,. and substituted by the Constitution of 1820,
by means of force, on the very eve of the meeting of the
Cortes of the nation's clmice. I do not take upon myself
to decide on the relative merits of the different Constitu-
tions, but my heart feels a sense of repugnance in believing
that the charter of Don Pedro, so dearly cherished up to
the present moment, is insufficient to insure the happiness
of the Portuguese.
" I shall, therefore, await the future sentiments of the
nation thereupon, and will not return to take the command
of the brave companions in arms of the Emperor—of those
heroes who, in Oporto and Mindillo, covered themselves
unitedly with him with glory and laurels, which ought to
remain unsullied and immortal—until good discipline, obe-
dience, and order shall be restored to the army, and when
it shall act upon the lessons given it by Don Pedro."
It is impossible to glance over such an " Order" as
the above, without commiserating the QUEEN, if her