The Sun.
London, England, 1834-10-25 00:00:00

PORTUGAL

(From a Morning Paper.)
LISBON, OCT. 12.—1 n one of my former letters I
mentioned to you that the Minister of Finance had
stated in the Cortes, during Don Pedro's life-time,
that orders had been given to pay off all the claims of
British officers and soldiers ; a proof that the Govern-
ment was then already in earnest, and had made pro-
visions to carry this measure into effect, as the Mini-
seers of War and of Finance always combined their
operations, so that 'the
should not be delayed by any want of preparation in
the other. However, a partial change having since
taken place in the Cabinet, the new Administration
receives the credit for what was cut out for them by
their predecessors, as 150 British marines were paid
off on. Thursday by the Commission, besides 50 be-
fire, that had gone to Spain with Captain Henry.
The privates received 21. ss. per lunar month (of 13
to the year), and go home at the expense of this Go-
vernment with 50/7 each in their pockets, and the ser-
jeants with 75/. The officers, likewise, including those
remaining in this service, receive, in addition to their
;Jay, two years' gratuity. A list has been sent out also
from the Commission in London, of all claims of men
already in England, for pensions, wounds, &c., to be
investigated and settled by the Commission in
which will cheer the heart of many a poor fellow now
pining in want in England. This, of course, must
have•been the act of the late rather unpopoular Mini-
ster of War, M. Freire, as at the departure from
England of the last mail of the 25th of September,
the Emperor's death, which happened only the day
before, still less the appointment of a new Administra-
tion, could not have been known there. In short, the
Paymaster-General of the British troops is confident
that every just claim, susceptible of proof, will be im-
mediately settled.

The new Minister of War. the Duke of Terceira,
holds military levees on fixed days in the English
Horse Guard style, and has won already the hearts
of all the British officers by the affability of his deport-
client, and the soldier-like frankness of his manners,
kindly inquiring what he can do for every applicant.
To Brigadier-General Bacon he has, with the greatest
delicacy, offered, as I am told, the use of his private
purse, until his claims are arranged, which amount to
about 3,0001., subject, it is said, to the explanations
of a party now absent.

Co-lonel Williams likewise experienced the most
polite reception. That gallant officer, who commanded
the several battalions of the British marines at Oporto,
and has multifarious certificates of the services he per-
formed in action, has met with various delays in the
settlement of his accounts, which arc also of consider-
able magnitude. The other day, I hear, he was called
upon to account for 10 or 12 contos paid to him at
Oporto, when he immediately produced vouchers and
viva voce evidence of having paid rather more to the
men under his command, and brought the Government
actually some victims in debt to him on that score.

The Duke of Terceira has declared his intention
of restoring Ex-Colonel Pizarro to his rank, as a
matter of justice. Pizarro is still a prisoner, but not
likely to remain so much longer. Next election he is
sure to be returned again for Oporto.
Saldanha remains at the head of the opposition,
much respected for his moderation, firmness, and the
absence of ambition from his conduct. I never heard
of his being disappointed at not being made a Duke,
a dignity never belonging to more than two indivi-
duals in Portugal, and now already occupied by the
Dukes of Terceira and Palmella, for the Miguclite
Dukes of Cadaval and De La Focus have forfeited
caste in the Constitutional regime, and to all appear-
ances irrecoverably. But this I do know, that he has
declined a seat in the Cabinet, and a porte-feuilie
long ago said to have been destined for him. He can
afford to smile at the repeated attacks made on him in
an English journal, which excite only, to use the
mildest term, disapprobation here. Some of his ene-
mies charge him with having intrigued to procure the
Regency for the Infanta, and the Premiership under
her for himself; others accuse him of a leaning to
Republican principles and the introduction of that
form of . Government here. Distinguished persons,
who can know and. ought to know; acquit him of the
former charge, and especially of having called late at
night with a deputation for such purpose on the In-
fanta, whilst the Emperor was still alive ; and as Re-
publics, according to Montesquieu, arc founded upon
virtue (as despotism is on fear, and monarchy on
honour), he must know sufficient of his country to en-
tertain some modest doubt of this form of Government
being at present likely to prosper in Portugal.
The Queen is well, but has grown a little thinner
since her father's death, and looks all the better for it,
as 'she could well spare some.part of her former em-
bon-point. If there is any reliance to be placed upon
the accuracy of those who divulge State secrets, her
Majesty has declared her intention in council to be-
stow her Royal hand on the Duke of Leuehtenburg.
The President of the Council, possibly having an eye
to his own unmarried son, is said to have been parti-
cularly anxious to assure the Queen that her Majesty
was now at perfect liberty to choose for herself, and
to do as she liked ; but Donna Maria 11. stuck to the
text, that she would abide by her father's choice, and
wed the Prince he had selected for her, her maiden
modesty not allowing her to acknowledge, perhaps•
that this paternal selection was in perfect accordance
with her own inclinations. The Duke of Leuchten-
burg is described by those who have seen him as a
handsome young man, six feet high, and proportion-
ably square, well educated, and parfaitenzent bier in-
strait, uniting French politesse in his manners to the
German candour and good nature of his character.
The Queen is said to look upon him very favourably.
Baron Mortier, the French Ambassador, having
taken leave of the Queen last Sunday, and asked if
she had any commands to France, it was immediately
conjectured that this Minister took his departure from
Lisbon because Louis Philip, the King of the French,
had taken umbrage at the Queen of Portugal's in-
tended marriage with a scion of the Napoleon dynasty,
and that, being in high dudgeon at such audacity, the
King of the Barricades had, with right Royal and le-
, i tim at
from
di s ple a s ur e,
of
ordered
the
laic
Constitutional representative
t Queen.
o with-
draw
the Court
But, upon inquiry, I find that Baron Mortier goes
himself upon a matrimonial excursion to Paris, being
engagedinen
tt
iomim marryon
months
sl aadgyo_ there,nay and
even havingapplied
fora p
announcedas
his i.
sage in the Royal Tar; were it
and
would
fr otherwiseonmevhise he
be
appear-
ance, p‘stp•
aoekua
rel
d
he much regretted here he is universally respected.
very
r
naotioi grand
yesterday cEo si tb:
the cathedral, to at-
tend to
ttall'eonnreedea Frenchman.'sap higha
except
n
The Queen
mass,we performed in honour of St. Fran-
cisco de Borja, the patron of the kingdom. She kissed
the crucifix presented to her by the Cardinal Patriarch
of Lisbon, which her Most Faithful Majesty did on
her knees. She was then conducted to the throne,
where, kneeling down, she heard the " Oremus pro
Regina" sung, and ordered her Grand Almoner at.the

Collect to make an offering, according to the custom
of the Kings her predecessors. It was the custom of
the Regent, her father, at church parades, to hear Mass
standing, surrounded by the Imperial Staff. That de-
votion is very amiable in the fair sex, and was even
allowed by Lord Byron ; and in a Queen reigning over
a people, the lower classes of which are proverbially
• superstitious, it may be politic too to make a display
of it. Catherine 11., though a patroness of Vo,
d'Alembert, and Diderot, studied so far to please the
pious Russians as to pass whole nights in the churches
on particular festivals ; but in Portugal there are cer-
tain conspirators against the young Queen, who wanted
to make her odious to the Liberals by attributiitq to
her fanatical and apostolical notions, a design of -re-
storing priestcraft, and reported of her that she ascrib
ed-
the death of her grandfather John VI. to the Fre: ',-
masons. A misrepresentation, no doubt, contrived ant.l
spread to answer particular purposes, which, had they
succeeded, would have proved fatal to her Majesty's

interests.
In reviewing the labours of the Cortes, I must refer
you to some of the annexed minor papers, the Gazette
being constantly ten dayS in arrears with its reports.
In the Revista, of Monday, tiff: 6th, you find not
only the debate in the Chamber of Deputies on the
preceding Friday, the 3d, which I had previoos,lY
transmitted in the Aguia and Periodico, of the 4t1:.,
respecting the report of the Committee of Infractiort.l4
against the appointment of the President of the
Council, who met the charge of his unquestionably
escaping all Ministerial responsibility in his exercise of
the Executive powers, he beinz so prominent a per-
sonage in the Ministry, and the chief instrument of
the Crown, by drawing from his pocket a project of
law I 1. The responsibily of Ministers and Secre-
taries of State ; 2. The formation of an impeachment,
and its effect ; 3. The mode of trial of the same ;
piutlucca a theatrical effect, and shows pretty
clearly that the Duke of Palmella was apprised of the
attack about to be made against him, or that if he was
in ignorance of the blow aimed at his appointment
that he himself felt the necessity of warding it off, by
coming prepared with his project of law on the very
first day of the re-opening the Cortes. His speech,
which is now being re-written for publication in the
Gazette (corrected and amended), gave little satisfac-
tion to the Opposition when delivered in the Chamber;
as one of the principal members of which, a leading
party of the Ministerial side, admitted immediately
afterwards in the lobby that it was a pitiful thing ! Aa
there is no punishment fixed for any Ministerial de-
linquency, as in the Habeas Corpus Act in England,
the Opposition expect it will be made death to ensure
the escape of offenders.
The law respecting the liberty of the press has been
also further debated. The severity of the 14th para-
graph against blasphemy, or the mere questioning any
of the received dogmas of the Catholic Church,
punishable by heavy fines and imprisonment has been
much censured ; and the first and second paragraph to
protect the Saints of the Church against evil-disposed
pens and chissels, are thought to come pretty near to
the Bourbon law of sacrilege. The repressing of
works exciting-to rebellion, or to ridicule and injure the
Royal Family, sections 5 and 6, is thought necessary
under existing circumstances, and was not objected to.
By the 7th paragraph, authors are only mulcted three
copies of their works for the use of libraries, instead of
eleven as in England. By the 10th section, nothing
short of distribution of six copies, o six or more per-
sons, the selling of three, or the posting up of one
copy in a public place, is deemed to be a publication.
Section 12 entails the same legal responsibility on
books printed abroad in the Portuguese language, as if
printed within the kingdom. According to the 13th
section, the consigner of books printed abroad in Por-
tuguese, must be a resident in Portugal, and deliver
lists in duplicate to the Customhouse and Attorney-
General. The same also applies to books in Spanish
The liberty of the press, though somewhat crippled,
will still prove an immense national benefit.
It having been determined to establish National
Guards, the Government reserved to itself the power
of exempting towns and districts, in order not to put
arms into the hands of that part of the population as it
deemed not well affected to the Constitutional system.
On Thursday M. Rodrigo Magalhaes proposed, that
as it had been asserted that false or base money had
been issued, with the concurrence of the Treasury, the
subject should be referred to a Committee, to report
upon, for the Government having been impugned by
the press, it was important that the truth should be
published, when the Vice-President appointed a Com-
mittee.

The Duke of Palmella, on the same dav, informe d
the Chamber, that the Government had already at its
disposal the 600 contos of reis for the relief of the
agriculturists, but that, being aware of the difficulty of
distributing the same, it had appointed a Committee at
persons having the confidence of the Government anal
of the nation to administer it. To this Committee.,
consisting of Members of both Chambers, it was ne—
cessary that this House should give its sanction. Th e
Government had named Mr. J. F. Brancamp, th e
Marquis of Fronteira, Soure and Joao Elius. That
as an annual importation of grain was requisite, it wa s
just that the duties paid on this foreign grain reverted
to the benefit of agriculture. He also stated, that th e
supplementary sum had been provided by a loan tran-
saction at five per cent. redeemable by the Customs of
1836.

The Viscount de Fonte Arcada inquired what was
the exact quantity of foreign grain that was to be
admitted ?
The Duke could not state the precise quantum ; the
Custom-house would report thereon, but he supposed
it would not exceed 20,000 mois.
A great number of vessels laden with grain have
already arrived, and no less than 50,000 to 60,000
mois are expected.
M. Scabra denied that the Ministry had any right
to nominate such a Committee, and they ought there-
fore to be refused the sanction now sought. This was
not a case where rfie safety of the State demanded
such latitude.
M. Soure thought the members of the Municipali-
ties the fittest persons. Five men in Lisbon could not
hear the whole country ; but that the Municipalities
knew best what was wanted, and who could pay for
the supplies.
Viscount Fonte Arcada also voted against the Com-
mittee, and for the Municipalities.
M. Lionel Tavares followed on the same side, and
deemed the appointment an infraction of the thirty-
one articles of the Charter, which spoke of unforeseen
emergencies.
The Duke defended the Committee as not infringing
the Charter.
The Commission demanded by Government was
then granted. The Committee were to retain their
places in the Chamber.
In the election of a new President, M. Carnello
Fortes had the greatest number of votes—namely 61.
Rewards were proposed for the Coimbra students,
who had formed the corps of Academicos, and fought
gallantly for the Queen and Constitution from the be-
ginning of the expedition.—Carried.
On Friday, M. Sanchez presented a petition from
90 citizens, praying for the execution of the 6th Aug.,
1832, ordering all the adherents of the usurpation to
be dismissed from their employments. Foreigners said
that the laws in Portugal were a dead letter. It was
a great mischief to employ sectarians of the Usurper,
when so many thonsand Portuguese who had fought
against, or been oppressed by him, were unemployed.
He prayed that the petition be referred to a committee,
and reported upon.
M. Tavares having seen the second number of a
printed paper, the Impartial, asked if it was printed at
the expense of the Finance Department, or of a pri-
vate person ; as, in the former case, he eould not allow
such an expense to pass ? A private individual would
hardly double its size at the second number, and go on
progressively.
he Minister of Finance denied its being printed
at the expense of his department.
M. Rodrigo Magalhaes said, though the style ap-
peared to be his, it was not from his pen.
Other Deputies observed it had been distributed in
the Chamber without any intervention of the Chair.
..4,llll)Secrettry Azevedo could not examine all the pa-
ief4,'llior be their censor ; he only admitted such as
the name of their author.
soi-ditant Impartial is a strenuous defender
rorp; f

,1.R;z41

04. s,;r.:.

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