The Sun.
London, England, 1867-01-12 00:00:00

PILICE.... ld.
STAMPED sd.

Miguel ; he had no idea that the Crown of Por-
tugal fell to him by right. Long before, in the

year 1824, the Infant Dom Miguel had been forced
to quit his fatherland, in consequence of the

unhappy party struggles that distracted Portugal.
lie resided in Vienna, and the dominant party in
Portugal took care that he should be kept in

the hands of people who would never permit
him to learn what they desired to keep concealed
from him. And this advantage the party insidi-

ously made use of to obtain from him a renunci-
ation of his rights to the Crown of Portugal. He
fell into the snare laid for him, and solemnly pro-

mised to fulfil what they desired ; he acknow-
ledged rights in the existence of which he

undoubtedly believed, although their existence
was illusory, and he failed to guard or claim

rights (his own as well as those of his people) of
whose existence he was not aware. The enemies of

the young and inexperienced prince believed him
to be inextricably entangled in the meshes of the
net they had woven for him with wondrous subtlety,
but the texture of it was not as strong as it was
fine. He was required totally to renounce certain
rights, and was to remain ignorant of those rights.
His promises were grounded on a totally false
basis, and yet promises 'so made were to be held
binding on him !, The partisans of the revolution in
Portugal had carefully prepared their schemes.
The father of Dom Pedro had scarcely breathed

his last when the thendominant revolutionary party

proclaimed that prince King of Portugal. Ile
_ _

overthrew the ancient constitution of the country,

and set up a new revolutionary constitution in its

stead. It is true the Portuguese people rose up
and loudly protested against these changes, but

revolutionists succeeded, with the assistance

of England, in stifling their efforts to right
themselves ; warned .by this opposition, and by
the attachment they now perceived the nation
cherished for their rightful prince, the exiled

Dom Miguel, the party changed their tactics.
Through the influence of England they induced
Dom Pedro to renounce his pretensions to the

Throne of Portugal in favour of his daughter.
Their plan was as follows :—Dora Miguel was to
return home to be betrothed to Donn'a Maria, and
to be Regent during her minority. What ensued?
On the 22d of February, 1828, the deluded Infant
arrived in Lisbon, and scarcely had he assumed
the Regency when a fresh popular insurrection
broke out, and this time of a strength to overpower
all resistance. The truth, that had been so long
kept back from Dom Miguel, now burst upon
him ; he saw how he had been duped in Vienna ;
how he had acted without knowing what he was
about, in acknowledging a claim which was
founded only on usurpation ; how he had made
promises which he ought not to make, which
he ought not, could not, keep without violating
the Constitution, without sacrificing the most
sacred rights of the nation. He heard but one
opinion from the mouths of all: the same was
avouched by the bishops of the Church, was
averred by the great nobles of the kingdom, was
confirmed by the first lawyers of the land. In
truth, all Portugal—the great majority, at least,
of the nation—was decidedly in favour of the
righteous cause of their legitimate prince ; the
minority consisted but of a portion of the towns-
people, who, under English influence, had been
corrupted by the machinations of the secret
societies. As soon as Dom Miguel was con-
vinced of his claims, the nation was restored
to its rights. In June of the same year the ancient
Cortez assembled in great numbers, and declared
that, according to the order of succession estab-
lished in Portugal, Dom Miguel was the legitimate
successor of his father.
Thus was law and order restored in Portugal.
Dom Miguel reigned six years as a truly national
prince. He governed as a Catholic prince of a
Catholic people. He restored to the Church the
possessions and the freedom of which the revolution
had robbed her. No wonder, then, that the Church
recognised in him her most faithful, her obedient
He displayed on the throne of Portugal the
same qualities which distinguished his character
down to the latest period of his life, when we had
the privilege of becoming personally acquainted
with him. His character was one of unshaken,
undaunted rectitude and of deep religious feeling.
At all times modest and full of moderation, never
provoking discussion, he only now and then revealed
by a word, or an animated and expressive glance,
the feelings with which he watched, from his
distant rural retreat, in the bosom of his peaceful
and happy home, the development of the mighty
events which had agitated the world since his
downf al.
The clearer and the more indisputable the title
of Dom Miguel according to the fundamental laws
of the Portuguese constitution, the louder rose the
clamour of his adversaries about the breach of the
promises made in Vienna. Their bitter disap-
of his actions. But let a legitimate prince ensnared
in the nets of a revolutionary faction, deceived and
betrayed, succeed at length in freeing himself from
their thraldom, let him, retracting invalid and un
lawful promises as simply inoperative, retrieve as
soon as possible the error he committed in making
them, then, forsooth, against such a prince the
cry of broken faith may rightly be raised and pro-
pagated far and wide. Upon falseness like this
comment is needless.
But there is another view we cannot leave en-
tirely unnoticed. Many a man of rectitude may
exclaim, not without a feeling of uneasiness,
" True it is, Dom Miguel was legitimate King of
Portugal, the promises made at Vienna could not,
ought not, to prevent him from acting as he did in
Lisbon ; yet it was at least a proof of levity that
he "allowed himself to be seduced into making such
promises. This reproach will ever weigh heavily
on him." Well, we acknowledge this to be pretty
nearly our own opinion, although we are not per-
fectly informed on the subject, and have reason to
believe that hereafter these transactions in Vienna
will be placed in a clearer light. But, allowing
that this prince had been guilty of an act of
youthful indiscretion, this circumstance could not
have the slightest influence on the question of
right, which is the question now chiefly under con-
sideration. Neither do I believe will the image of
this fine character be dimmed in our memories by
the recollection of these transactions in Vienna.
If a single individual among the many men of
rectitude who may ever become acquainted with
the history of the much-agitated and chequered
life, can say that his own youth was entirely guilt-
less of a similar weakness, then I hope he will not
make the remark without heartily thankalmosting un-
for a ;happiness so great, so rare,
heard of.

son.

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....—T2.--------
THE SEARCH OF PASSENGERS' LUGGAGE.—The
following memorial, numerously signed, has been presented
to the Right Hon. B. Disraeli, M.P., Chancellor of the
Exchequer:—" Sir,---We beg to urge upon your considera-
tion the desirability of substituting Custom-house surveil-
lance, through detective or other officers, for the practice
of individual and personal search of baggage at the ports
and iu London, in the case of travellers by railway between
London and Paris for the seven months of the Great In-
ternational Exhibition of 1867. The concession suggested
involves the comfort and convenience of several hun-
dred thousands of her Majesty's subjects, and of Americans
and other travellers from abroad passing through England
on the interesting occasion offered by the Emperor for the
assembly of people of all nations at Paris. It cannot mate-
rially affect the revenue or prejudice the future practice of
the Custom-house, as the concession is to meet an excep-
tional case, in which the duty of co-operating to make the
Exhibition in every sense a success must be admitted by
her Majesty's Government. It is understood that the Go-
vernment of the Emperor, placed under far greater diffi-
culty than our own from the fact of their much larger
number and heavier scale of customs duties, will mate-
rially modify their system of search during the Exhibition
and are also ready to discuss the whole question with you
on the principal of reciprocal action ; and we cannot doubt
that you, on equally enlightened views, will sympathise
with our object, and be led to deal with any technical or
departmental difficulties which may present themselves."