The Sun.
London, England, 1833-09-23 00:00:00

flattering hope of one day enjoying, in his sititple
character of Duke of Braganza, the blessings of
peace, and the pleasure of seeing his august daugh-
ter reign in the hearts of all Portuguese; thus ex-
periencing, beneath the shade of the laurels he has
won, the sweet consolation of having begun and
finished a painful war without ambition, and to have
concluded it without remorse.
Indeed, what single action of Don Pedro's, since
he took to heart the cause of her Most Faithful Ma-
jesty, can inspire even a distant fear of a propa-
gandism ? What fact can authorize a rational fear
on the subject in the Cabinets which observe the
loyal and frank manner of his proceeding ? It must
be confessed that such fears become still more ex-.
traordinary when those same Cabinets, whatever
may be the system of their government, allow the
organization and operation in the Peninsula of a
propaganda of another species without even attempt-
ing to check its progress! For what reason are
they so fearful of an imaginary propaganda, of which
there exists not the least appearance, either in the
will or the actions of him whom they suspect as its
chief, than of that which is not only openly and vi-
sibly announced, but already organized and put into
action, of which the undisguised chief is General
Bourmont, with 240 Vendean officers at least, who,
pretending to fight for Don Miguel, declare, without
shame, that they are fighting for Henry V. Is not
this propaganda destined to support the doctrine op-
posed to liberty and the interests of the people ?
Have they not visibly undertaken for its basis the
support with their money, with their influence, with
Generals in their pay, the civil war in Portugal ?
To disturb completely the tranquillity of Spain, and
to overthrow the reigning dynasty in France, and`,
to light up the torch of war which may extend all
over Europe ? Can an army which contends for
its rights, and for those of the nation it belongs
to, be justly suspected of propagandism ? A
Prince born in the country, who fights for the
throne of his august daughter ? And is not
that a more fearful propagandist—an army headed
by a stranger to the country and to the cause in dis-
pute, banished from his own country—who came
and introduced himself gratuitously in a cause which
does not belong to him ; for the defence of which
he has been made Minister at War, thereby unnatu-
ralizing the army he commands ? A General who
is a stranger to all the interests that justify this war,
and yet so devoted to it, that although he had expe-
rienced nothing but reverses before Oporto, he
came yesterday to find before the lines of Lisbon
another defeat a more than sufficient proof, by this
mad pertinacity, that others will govern him—that
another ambition than that of war is his guide ; and
that his real intention is to wait in this corner of the
Peninsula for future events, in which his propagan-
dism may be snore boldly developed ? By this
parallel, of which nobody can dispute the correctness,
it is difficult to explain the timid spirit by which, in
this respect, the Cabinets of those countries are ac-
tuated which are governed by free institutions—
obliged by duty, as well as interest, to preserve un-
touched their political existence, the quiet of their
people, and the conversation of the threatened dy-
nasty, as a guarantee of general tranquillity,
they not only refuse to check the progress
of this evil, but carry their erring system
so far, as to sacrifice by a cold indifference
upright men, whose views are protected by the laws
of nature and of mankind ; they are unmoved spec-
tators of the horrors committed, and the vast pro-
jects formed by a party of Vandal Miguelites, who,
not content with wounding the bosom of the country
which gave birth to each of the two actual chiefs,
would wish to end by overthrowing completely the
tranquillity of Europe. In truth, the sang frond
with which these powers, whose nod can give peace
or war, behold the progress of such a scourge, is
very like the complacency with which the peasants
in the fable beheld the burning of their neighbours'
corn-fields without assisting them, until it finished
by burning their own. The time is come for Eng-
land to consider the present case as a caaus firderis
in her treaties with Portugal, attacked by an army
foreign by its chiefs, foreign from its motives, and
foreign by its conduct; and for France to recognize
the hostile intentions of this army, and be assured
that the war commenced in Portugal will shortly,
if suffered to proceed, extend to the gates of
Bayonne. These two great Powers, happily for
the people of Europe, are now united—let them re-
collect, that on their conduct depends the general
tranquillity—that the system of non-interference has
its limits, as well as all systems, which otherwise
degenerate into absurdities ; and that for their go-
vernments is reserved either the glory of putting an
end to the sufferings of the people, or the responsi-
bility of sacrificing their interests and rights to the
caprices of a faction.