The Sun.
London, England, 1846-12-30 00:00:00

grni

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1846

Knowing the confusion of parties consequent upoi
the military disturbances in Portugal, we are in n'
degree surprised at what would otherwise excite ow r
astonishment, namely, the contradictory intelligent,
continually arriving from that portion of the penin-
sula. Groups of insurgents are scattered over thq
mountains, bands of guerillas infest the more sylvan,
valleys, and regiments of the royalist troops ar
quartered in the different towns and villages; beyonl it
this, there is a perpetual movement in the dispositioi s
and numbers of the popular army, as well as in th.!
body of soldiery in the service of the SOVEREIGN.
Much blundering is consequently inevitable in th.s
information received from the theatre of this civi 1
war. As in every similar outbreak, the most impos-
sible rumours are prevalent, every moment has its
particular report, and those individuals who,
from their mercantile occupations are not actually
implicated in the struggle, are alternately the
originators of some extravagant fabrication or
the credulous hearers of the equally extravagant
fabrications of their neighbours. In addition to all
these causes of uncertainty as to the infbrmation re-
ceived from Portugal, there is another—perhaps the
most important of all—the detestable bondage of the
press. When merely a single journal is permitted to.
appear by the Government of a kingdom, and when
that journal is as subservient to the interests of the
degenerated Court of Lisbon as is the Diario do.
Governo, it cannot be a matter of amazement that
the intelligence contained therein is of a marvellously
fragmentary and incredible character.
If we discard all the improbable and opposite asser-
tions of the different Portuguese correspondents, we
obtain the following lamentable picture of the condi-
tion of that country. Notwithstanding the numerous
and sanguinary conflicts which have already occurred
in that quarter of the peninsula, it would appear
that matters are, if possible, farther than ever
from any settlement. In spite of the vaunted
dispersion of the " rebels " under the banners
of SA Di BANDEIRA, the Court party are very far
indeed from being triumphant. The accounts ob-
tained as recently as the 20th ultimo are to the
effect that BOMFIM had combined his forces with
those commanded by General MustiNuo D'AEBU •
QUERQUE, and that, together with a detachment of the
soldiers of DAs ANTAS, he had established himself in
Caldas. According to the same packet SALDANIIA
was hastening towards that stronghold. Oporto was
still invested by CASAL, and the question of the suc-
cess of royalists and insurgents still quivered on the
balance. A fortunate calculation of time or of num-
bers, an accidental selection of ground, or a chance
concentration of troops on either side, may bring
victory to DAS AsTas and his followers, or to SAL-
DANHA and his colleagues. Numerically the hostile
armies are tolerably well matched, but they have each
a number of distinct and very dissimilar advan-
tages. The soldiers of Queen MARIA are ensured
ample rations and regular pay, they are periodically
reinforced, their leaders are guided by a council
concentrated in the metropolis. On the other hand,
the soldiers of the popular party are animated by a
contagious enthusiasm, they are recruited by the
ardent worshippers of a beneficent legislation, they
are inspired by the love of nationality, their cause is
the cause of the people, and they themselves are a
portion of that people.
While the position of the armed belligerents in
the provinces is thus precarious and complicated, the
state of the metropolis is most embarrassing, and
most unpropitious. Commerce is in the utmost
torpor, trade is languishing, provisions are gradually
rising in price, and the bank- notes are regarded
with so much suspicion as to be at a discount of
twenty-five per cent. It is utterly impossible that
the citizens can continue much longer in this condi-
tion without some frantic effort being made by the
Portuguese to re-establish a really constitutional
monarchy, to remove their numerous political dis-
abilities, to ensure certain municipal reforms, to re-
invigorate the manufacturing and agricultural
industry of the nation, and to restore to Portugal at
least some shadow of her pristine glory and greatness-
It would be indecorous and ungrateful for any
maritime country like England not to regard the
prosperity and happiness of Portugal as a thing to be
peculiarly desired—Portugal, the mistress of naviga-
tion, the Carthage of the middle ages, the promoter
of international communication, the fosterer

of modern commerce ! What Tyre did by its
purple dyes upon the borders of Palestine ; what
Venice did upon the Adriatic under the rule of its
Council of Ten ; what Genoa did upon the frontiers
of Italy under the guidance of the immortal D0m...,
and aided by the influence of hlr Golden Book, Por-
tugal did for Western Europe, and through 'Western
Europe for the entire world, in the fifteenth century.
The enterprise which was germinated at that period

in the palace of Prince HENRY, in the harbour of

Lisbon, in the hearts of her mariners, and the marts

of her commerce, has entitled Portugal to the sterna:

estimation of every free and prosperous people. Her
troublous position at this moment is, in a par-
ticular manner, worthy of exciting our sym-
pathy. The sufferings to which she is
now subjected are attributable more to the

incapacity of her legislators, and to the undue inter-
ference of a foreign potentate, than to her own

mercantile sluggishness and national degeneracy.
Gifted with a fertilising climate and a generous soil,
possessing vast internal and not contemptible colonial
resources, with the experience of the woes of
anarchy in the direction of Spain, of the feasibility of
extrication from the most disastrous plights in the
direction of Franc?, of the blessings consequent upon
a judicious constitution, a gradual reform, and an
indomitable industry in the direction of England—
Portugal has every means of ensuring her own pros-
perity, and of keeping pace with the advancement of
civilisation and the ;diffusion of knowledge. If ac-
companied by sagacity and confidence, her present
misery may be only the forerunner of her future
happiness, her civil commotions at this moment may
be only the phenomena of some striking transition in

her history, the odious rebellion of to-day may be

xansformed into a glorious and commendable revo-

ution. MARIA DA GLORIA has within reach the

means of investing her name with an enviable im-

mortality ; her people have within reach their own

restoration to peace and greatness.

No nation has accomplished so much in favour of
the liberty of the subject as England. Her virtue in
this respect has not been confined to empty profes-
sions, all her public institutions bearing evidence to
the sacred value which is attached by Englishmen to
the maintenance of the blessing of liberty. In France,
highly civilised as she is, her citizens invoke, profess,
and dilate upon the privileges of liberty with an im-
passioned fervour far exceeding, in enthusiasm,
the spirit which would animate our own countrymen
whilst deliberating upon or contending for the same
object; and yet, both in the institutions of France
and the actual working of them, there are contained
guarantees for the subject's liberty far inferior to