The Sun.
London, England, 1851-04-24 00:00:00

FOREIGN AFFAIRS.

"'Madrid, April 20, Five o'Clock P.M.
" According to the news of the 16th inst., wh ch hai
been comtnunicated to me by the Portuguese Acabas,s-
dor, General Saldanha, di,couraged by the bad reception
he hsd met with at Coimbra, has directed his course
towards Spain."

The Journal des Dibats states that it was ru-
moured that SALDANHA had succeeded in effecting
his escape across the frontier. SALDANHA addressed
the following letter to the Duke of TERCEIRA, at
Santarem :

"Leiria, April 11, 1851.
"Sir—A general rising has long been prepared
throughout the kingdom against the prevarications, pecu-
lations, and continued iufractions of the Constitution
committed by the Count of Thomar. More than once
have I prevented it by representing the possibility of
ejecting that ill-omened man from the Ministry by legal
means, but the proceedings of the majorities in both
Chambers convinced every one of its impossibility. The
only thing I could do to avoid such rising was to accept
the invitation of many of our brave companions in
arms, who, horrified at the future which the presence
of the Count of Thomar in the Ministry pre-
pared for us, urged me to put myself at their bead ;
and, by a military demonstration, obtain the result which
the nation wishes, needs, and will infallibly obtain. Until
this moment all the chiefs of the popular party have
remained quiet, but your Excellency may rest assured
that in the same instant in which they are convinced
that the military demonstration, at the bead of which I
resolved to place myself, is not sufficient to overthrow
the extortioner who oppresses the nation, a movement
will manifest itself in all the provinces, the end of
which no human perspicacity can foresee. I have just
been told your Excellency lias marched out of Lisbon
at the head of some troops to, support the peculating
Minister, the man who unites in himself all the cor-
ruption and all the odium of the nation. I have the
pleasing conviction, that not one of those who accom-
pany your Excellency will fail to participate in my
ideas and in my wishes to deliver the nation from the
yoke which oppresses it. Duke of Terceira! if you for-
get that after our time there is an inexorable tribunal
called history, in which the glorious pages to which your
Excellency has an incontestable right will be completsly
neutralised by those in which you will appear as the
champion of the corrupt man, the infamous extortioner,
thP known prevaricator, remember, at least, that your
Excellency's conduct not only places the throne of her
Msjesty the Queen in imminent danger, but likewise
causes ner dyilasty to run the greatest risk. Shoula
your Excellency persist, to me the honour will be due
of having done, for fourteen months, all that lay in hu-
man power to avoid the evils of a revolution—to your
Excellency the disgrace of having rendered it necessary,
indispensable. Let us remember that if in heaven there
is God's justice, the laws of morality are likewise not
prohibited on earth. This insurrection will not be
a struggle of parties; their interests will be
foreigu to it; its object will be a graver one,
that of proving to Europe that the Portuguese
nation will not cansent that a system of corruption, of
peculations, and unconstitutionalisais should be raised
on high by means of the Government and political doc-
trine. The movement represents purely and simply the
resistance of the nation to the moral death which was
prepared for it after prolonged agonies. The country,
during the indifference with which the Government has
considered its most urgent necessities, and in the cry of
anguish which it raises at this moment, limits itself to
beg for justice and morality.
" Yuur Excellency can avert the evils which menace
us, save the country from the horrors you are preparing
for it by causing her Majesty the Queen to dismiss im-
mediately this man fatal in so many respects, and call to
the Ministry persons deserving the national confidence.
Never has there rested upon your Excellency so grave a
responsibility as at this moment.
" Duke of SALDANHA."
The following is the reply of the Count DE CASAL
to S.ILDANHA'S summons:—
" TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE DUKE OF SALDANHA.
" Oporto, April 14, 1851.
" I had the honour to receive your Excellency's
letter, dated the 11th inst., brought by your Aide-de-
camp, Datnagio.
"Sir, however great may be the affection and defe-
rence we feel for our Excellency, I cannot, es a soldier
and General of they 3d Military Division, but fulfil, even
at the sacrifice of my life, the duty I owe to her Majesty
the Queen, mainteining intact the prerogatives of the
Crown, which I am determined to sustain with the
brave and faithful garrison I command.
Conde DE CASAL."
The Count DE CASAL subsequently issued the fol-
lowing proclamation :
" THIRD MILITARY DIVISION.
" Inhabitants of Oporto! The Marshal Duke of Sal-
danha, in disobedience to her Majesty's Government,
entered yesterday into Coimbra with the sth bat-
talion of Cassadores, and 12 horse.
" As this event might occasion in this city some dis-
turbancee which might endanger the public security, it
is necessary that its tranquillity should be placed under
the safeguard of a military toreo.
" Pacific ci:izeas, trust to the care and solicitude I
shall employ to obtain this result; continue quietly at
your avocations, and do not allow yourselves to be de-