The Sun.
London, England, 1832-04-23 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THF, PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The manifesto, as. it is called, of Don Mi-
guel, of which we gave an abstract On Saturday,
contains more effrontery and falsehood than per-
baps ever appeared in any public document.
After an inflated eulogium on the Portuguese
people, and on their love of Independence— after
the usual declamations against democratic inno-
vators, and other verbose absurditits---the
per proceeds to a panegyric ouhimself, and states,
with sacrilegious audacity, that 66 he was sent by
Providence to save the monarchy in 1832, and
restore his august father to the plenitude of his
nights." Now, all the world knows, and it is
proved by all the diplomatic correspondence of
that period, that Don Miguel, in league with his
perfidious mother, then made the first attempt
upon his father's crown, and that the King, being
apprised of this unnatural plot, took measures to
prevent its execution, by putting himself at the
head of the conspirators, repairing to Villa
Franca on the sth of June, and abolishing the
constitution, which served as a pretext for the
criminal machinations of the Prince and his mo-
ther. The Prince has the barefaced assurance
to say, that he then placed his sword at the
feet of the King, after saving his crown.
The compliments paid, on that occasion, to the
Infante, by the different Powers, only prove that
they were not then aware of the real motive
which influenced Don Miguel. The manifesto
then draws a pathetic description of the persetu-
tion of Don Miguel, and the mortifications
which the infamous revolutionists made him
pass through, finishing his lamentations by
shamefully saying, "at that unhappy time, I
gave the strongest proof of fidelity to the King,
my august father, and of the purity of my in-
tentions, by going to the Court of Vienna."—
This passage alludes to the infamous plot of the
30th of April, 1824, on which we beg to re-
fresh the memory of our readers. The Marquess
tie Loule, the faithful friend and servant of Don
John VI., was assassinated by the agents of the
Infante in the Royal Palace, and almost in sight
of that venerable Monarch, in order, by striking
him with terror, to prevent the performance
of the promise he had given to strengthen his
throne by institutions for which he had pledged
his word. Don Miguel, encouraged by the im-
punity of his crime, had then the audacity, in
conjunction with his mother, to attempt the de-
position of the King by making him a prisoner,
and surrounding him in the Palace of Bemposta
by troops, the command of whom Don Miguel
made use of to attack the rights and liberty of
his Sovereign. All Europe by their representa-
tives, at the head of whom was the French
Royalist Hyde de Neuville, frustrated the ac•
complishment of that unnatural crime, and the
King was saved on board the Windsor Castle,
whither the Infante was sent for : there he was
reproved and sent into exile to France, the King
having granted him his life, which was justly
forfeited for the crimes of assassination and high
treason. When arrived in France, and received
by Louis XVIII. according to his deserts, Don
Miguel committed fresh acts of disobedience
against his King by quitting Paris with a pass-
port from the old Minister of Baden, the
Minister of his father, M. Brito (who was
afterwards so brutally treated by Don Miguel,
that it occasioned his death), as well as the French
Government, and even the Austrian Ambassa-
dor, having refused him a passport to leave the
place which was appointed for his residence.
These repeated acts of rebellion and disobe-
dience prove abundantly his fidelity to his King,
and the purity of his intentions. It is not pos-
sible to carry impudence and shamelessness far-
ther than this. He then continues his affected
lamentations for the misfortunes of the venerable
John VI., which he attributes, as usual, to the
democratic faction. This is infamous ! Don
John VI. died broken-hearted from vexation
and angeisin a martyr to the ambition and tur-
bulence of his wife, and the low-minded wick-
edness of his son. The manifesto then attempts
to prove, by historical sophisms, enveloped in
declamatory language concerning revolutionists,
the altar, and the throne, that the Portuguese
Crown belongs by right to Don Miguel, and
not to Donna Maria—a sort of proof already
completely destroyed by several able writings,
but chiefly by the manifesto, or expose des droits
de S. M. trses
,fidle Donna Marie 11. After
laborious attempts to give a false idea of the
Portuguese question, and of historical facts,
Don Miguel says, C 6 I was then (in 1826) in-
vited by the Court of Vienna to return to Por-
tugal, and to engage in transactions which are
well known." To the first let Prince Metternich
reply ; but the well-kno,m n transactions are-
1. His oath of fidelity to their Majesties Don
Pedro IV. and Donna Maria 11., legiti-
mate Sovereigns of Portugal (the very
words), and purely and simply to the Con-
stitution, solemnly sworn on the 4th of
October, 1826, no reserve being admitted,
as his manifesto states, and which moreover
related only to the rights which Don Miguel pre-
tended he had to the Regency in virtue of the
same charter, granted by Don Pedro,—a circum-
stance which is surreptitiously concealed in his
manifesto. 2. His several letters to his august
sister, the Regent, of the 6th of April, the 12th
of May, and the 14th of June, 1826, and the
19th of October, 1827, in which he professes
the most profound sentiments of fidelity and sub-
mission to " his august brother and legitimate
King." 3. The Protocols of Vienna, of the
18th, 20th, and 23d of October, 1827, and
that of London of the 12th of. January, 1828.
4. The oath taken by Don Miguel in Lisbon,
in the presence of the two assembled Chambers.
5. The promises made personally by Don Mi-
guel to the Sovereigns of Austria, France, and
England, to remain faithful to his legitimate
Sovereign, and to the institutions granted by his
brother, Don Pedro, to the Portuguese nation.
All these solemn engagements the manifesto
passes over in perfect silence, and proceeds in
the same strain of falsehood as to his scrupulous
disinterestedness and want of ambition, to the
farce of the Convocation of what he calls the
Three Estates, upon whose illusive decision
Don Miguel founds his rights to the Crown of
Portugal. It is superfluous to repeat here what
all the world knows, of that absurd and ridicu-
lous representation of the ancient Cortes, and of
the numerous historical sophistries with which
this manifesto endeavours to contend against time
simple and clear statements under the same title
published by his brother on his departure from
Belleisle, to place himself at the head of the Go-
vernment, and of the loyal Portugese, who de-
fend the rights of his daughter Donna Maria.
Such falacies only prove the want of solid reasons
to sustain a throne founded on perjury, treason,
and deceit, and being neutralized by their own
contradictions, require no comment or argument
to defeat them. In order to prove the love of
the Portuguese, and their unanimity in behalf of
Don Miguel, of which he boasts so much in his
manifesto, the very next Lisbon Gazette contains
a decree, confirming the sanguinary military