The Sun.
London, England, 1828-06-04 00:00:00

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PROGRESS OF THE COUNTER-RtVO-
- PORTUGAL

THE COYSTITUTION PROCLAIMED IN COIMBRA, VIZEU,
By a merchant vessel which, has arrived at Cork, we
have received the following letter from a resident at Oporto,
containing an important and most gratifying account of the
progress of affairs in the north of-Portugal, six days later
than the intelligence previously received by way of Lisbon.
The declaration of the treop,Sat Oporto, taken ajone, was
•
of little importance, firip.mrFiexpinstined the trmmph with
which it was hailed' fhePrßgresS:of the opposition to
the usurpation 'of bon tivbeett eal,deeisive.
,O
throUgh all the Military atatiOns,f tonly,RfAhe„.pptyinces
north of the DoUro, but „Brra-lhas,extmapti#o
south as Coimbra, and even Tlrkay.'„L A ,i4,S,,Spre4d, iu
`fact, througb more than half of'Porfpgah .lbese facts are
Of the greater consequence, as rend emit it probable, that
. the troops in Lisbon and the neighliourhood Aellj,,det4vc
zeal and encouragement from the rapiditunf eye.pteln the
north. Miserably fallacious as the expeciatiena,raincl ip
the Peninsula have too often provecOvi e cannot avoid, being,.
iheeted'hy the prospect that is once,mere afforded 0C the,
establishment of a better system in Portugal. Pug grennil,
for some degree of confidence exist in, the cireurns;anc.e,
that the men who have ventured 'their lives and fornyses in'
the present attempt are not likely tii entrust the' reins of
Government to the weak and the treacherous. The nation
'has been sifted by the late events,; the friendsig the!
Charter are now known from its enemies. The ioriguing
Queen and her son will, it is presomed, be atleastexpelled,
if they escape th severer ponishmentwhicb they (*epee
. •
• " ()nitro, .44ar„14.*—Thotigh from .the monitent of
Saldanba's dismissal the Constitutional Charier/viaa openly.
infripge4 and ita supporters thrOwn into disgrace, :he,
ever* 444:his Ministry, .114-4ected a change suds; as i.
was out,of the power of the Queen's party to ,undo. Hee
reformed the army, and has thus saved the Charter, and:
preserved,the country to Dou.Pedro. The recrnits
were, then.made werp,young men of from sixteen to twenty,
years of age, and .they farm (such was the. miserable: and,
weakened state of the army) by far the majority of it.
These having served under none but Constitutional,Office,rs,
and having been enlisted in the name of, and •sworn fidelity
to, Don Pedro and the Charter, will hear. of-nothing else..
Immediately upon. Don Miguel's arrival, all the more
portant places ,of trust were given to the Queen's friends,
and all, reference to Don Pedro awl the Charter scrupu.i
lously avoided. The municipal authorities in most of the
towns proclaimed Don Miguel the First; but the soldiery-
were, generally passive observers. The Government then
thought that they might venture to dismiss the Field
Officers ;. and on the 15th,. the Degree, dismissing -several
Colonels (and also the Governor of Braga, who, though an'
AWolutist„. declined entering into the treason), reached:.
Oporto. Among the dismissals was that of the C,Olonel of the'
liith Infantry (an,Oporto regiment). The Governor,. fearing:
the soldiers wouldnot give up their Colonel, ordered him tel
be arrested in his own house. The news of this was car-
ried to,their barracks. The regiment immediately formed,
:and the., band struck up the Constitutional Hymn. A
Captain wits sent to request their Colonel to head them....-
/le at first hesitated, on the plea that he had not spoken to ,
.the Commanders
,of the other regiments; hut. his wife
cided him, by asking if he preferred. disgrace and -aprisdn,
to glory and the field? And then bringing his ssiord'aid
. cap, told him to go, and not return until lie had proclaimed
Don Pedro the Fourth. He 'joined his regiment, and ilia-.
,mediately marched to the great barracks of St. Ovidio, the
quarters of the ISth and 54th. The Colonels of these he-
sitated, upon the, same ground, of their having been no
combination with the other regiments in theprovinee.—
yhile they were consulting, the Governor rode up Ito the
field, but was not allowed to enter, and finding he could
effect nothing, retired. At about three in the morning of
the 17th he fled, with about 150 police-soldiers and some
few officers. Soon after, a salute of artillery announced'
that the five Colonels had united and formed a Military
Council. Their first step was to restore the arms to the
volunteers and Local Militia (ordenances), and they non:
form the police of the city. . In the afternoon the Procla-
mation,
a translation of which I. inclose, Was published.--
An express was sent to Braga inviting the • Governor to
place himself at their head). yfith.which request he• corn-
plid, and arrived here 'with his brigade (Scl and 9th in-
fantry, and twelve Cooadores) on the 21st. In the mean
time the Military Council sent notes with copies of the
Proclamation to all the Consuls, requesting them to
inform the Ministers of their Courts at Lisbon of the
change which had taken place ; they published the
enclosed " Manifesto," and invited, by letter, the most
respectable inhabitants to meet at the Senate House,
to, elect a, Previsional Government. These invitations
evemada.e.oterplied with, and .the following ware elected
.President, -Antonio • Hypolito da Costa ; Lieutenant-Gene-
.-raY(Ex-Governor of Braga); Vice-President, Colonel
Ferreri, 4th Artillery; Alexandre Thomas Moraes; Sar-
mento (the Judge of the British Conservatorial Court);
.Jose Joaquin' Girardo de Sainpaio (one of the Judges of
Oporto, and one of the Deputies to the Cortes) ; Christiano
Nicalu Copque (merchant) ; Francisco IgnaciO Vauzeller
(merchant); and Francisco de (lima Lobo Bcitelho, Colo-
•nel 'l2th Cavalry.. 'These immediately commenced their
functions, and: appointed Officers in the room of all' those
who had fled (amongwhom were all the Civil Authorities)
and Administrators of public revenue. The Bishop of
Oporto has also retired to his country house. At Aveiro
(a small city about 10 leagues from this) the 10th Chas-
seurs had already proclaimed Don Pedro,and their Colonel
was on his march for this with all the rebel authorities
prisoners, when the express sent by the Military.Conncil
met him.
" At Vizeu, the Capital of Beira Alta, the news arrived
on the 19th. The Governor fled with 150 Chaaseurs (9th
Regiment) ; but as aeon as the Lieutenant-Colonel was fully
informed of the occurrences here, he sent a detacbmenk in
pursuit of him, anti on the same day re-established-the au-
thority of Don Pedro. The Governor of Traa-os-Montes
has retired to his house, and all the troops in that province
have put themselves under the orders of the Provisional.
Government.
"At Coimbra, when the Rector 'of the University re-
ceived intelligence of what had taken place; 'he ordered all
the students to leave within 24 hours, and also the mili-
tias of Figueira, which had been previously called out and
stationed there ; but the students, instead of 'leaving,
marched up and down the streets, and One fellow, who
appeared with a red neckcloth, was killed. , As soon as
the Rector and other officers. heard this, they fled. The
Colonels of the Coimbra and Figueira militias then issued'
a Proclamation, an echo of the one enclosed, and placed
themselves under the orders of the Provisional Govern-
ment. Their Proclamation was still wet from the press
when the 2d Chasseurs arrived from Thomar, where they
had re-established ' the legitimate authority, and marched
- upon Coimbra in the hopes of taking the R.ector prisoner.
• The Provisional Government have ordered the arms which
were taken from the students to be re-delivered, and have
determined that the time for cdrnpleting their terms shall
be changed from June, the usual' month, to October. In
.all there are about 1,500 students=7--300 of these';*'Ati
solutists, and of the remaining 1,200, 800 at' least P
enrol themselves. The Ex-Governor of ,OptaitOrttiiikiifil'hia
station,' with the few police and Militias
,itithieli,lCeoinpa-
nied him, 'at Canaveges, about ten leagues' hence. Lieu-
tenant-Colonel Abreu, with a strong :detaeliment„'nras'
sent to attack him ;—before he arrived there' the
nor had fled, but the few men that were left to k,eep•the
pass were cut to pieces; they, however, fought well ;
Abreu had his horse shot under him, and was wounded
slightly.ilf..the arm. These are the principal .pircuen-
staneee orthis change—a change which is comPlete, end
was almoSesiinultaneons.
"At Valence, Chaves, Bragansa,' Braga, Aveiro,' and
Oporto, the troops proclaimed their determination' to de-
fend the rights of Pedro, almost on the same day, and this
without any previous combination. And in the three
provinces there is but one regiment that has divided' tipol;
the subject, the 12th infantry--sik coMpanies declared for
Pedro, four for Mignel--swith the font was the Colonel,
and, what is worse; the standard-bearers ; a Captain with
a few soldiers attempted to seize the colours ; they were fired
on by order of the Colonel ; the 'Captain and' 1614. soldier
were killed;' and several others wounded. T1i14..f4k phice
at Amarante. In all fifteen regiments have, placed them-
selves under the orders of the Provisional ooveqinient, ex-
clusive of militias: ' The volunteers and' local militia are
more than. sufficient for, Oporto, and we rat•lcilird
that there' arel,oqo fffecoy.e ;nen 44'liirlt fan he
upon Lisbon, if necessary, and they have no force thereto
oppose them.
as the post' is of course stopped. Well, t
manner " From Lisbon you will get earlier intellivgeeriene:haanrxt
irty
about the result. The cautious and"l),!Ten ' in
which the Government proceeds, °RAI! legitimate'tli.
escoeseshwilistioSuathlahnahvain,
principles npon•which it acts, Ad, 4htiVia4i. the
,fights
mined spirit Odle troopi•to defend ,
toensru'doubt will soon appear here,
Don PeilrO,'all insure a triumph. There is, however, a
Want felt, and-. severely felt—the presence of a General
or Villa
FOlffiorc,eorrofstdueilids.ed
,(.:rhhaerseaC
g" shared
thbqe.t idtanlVgielir ti;eltotreunstjotyhetiir absence will not be overlooked:
This letter was comenced, 'as you will perceive, several days
since, 'and it has been written by 6 shatch es,' just as the
news arrived;' I shall address, you again shortly. The
chaogis we see here' are certainly new, sudden
The illuminations of some of the authorities 'and convents
are-not taken down; nay, they are yet smoking far