The Sun.
London, England, 1842-03-25 00:00:00

PORT UGA, L.

COSTA CABRAL HERO OF THE LATE PORTU-
GUESE REVOLUTION, BY WHICH THE CHAR-
TER REPLACED THE CONSTITUTION.

His Excellency Bernardo Antonio da Costa Cabral was born
at Villa d'Algodres, of very low origin, and took his degree at
the University of Coimbra. In 1828. he was at Oporto when
the revolt broke out against Don MigUel,.• and the unfortunate
result of that affair drove its authors,' from their native land,
and with them Costa Cabral. He emigrated to France, whence
he arrived at Oporto, forming part of, Don Pedro's expedition.
As soon as the civil war was at an• end, he was appointed by
Silva Carvalho (then Minister of Finance) to the post of Ma-
gistrate in the Azores, and ultimately was elected Deputy to
the last Chartist Chamber, which was dissolved in 1836.

In 1837 he sat in the Constituent Con4ress as a Deputy, and
gave his adhesion to the party which supported the revolution
and the Passoz Ministry, which he abandoned, as being too
moderate for him.

In July, 1837, a part of the 4th Regiment of Chasseurs, pro-
claimed the Constitutional Charter of 1826 in the village of
Barrea, and in the month following Marshals Saldana and Fer-
reir also declared themselves for the same charter in the village
of Loriez ; but not being sufficiently supported, they were
obliged to fall back upon Villa Franca.
On the 22d of August, the Constitutional Congress pub-
lished a manifesto against the Chartist revolt, and the Deputy,
Costa Cabral, who had so lately declared himself in favour of
the Charter of 1826, signed the manifesto against the Chartists.
General Bomfim was sent against the insurgents, and then
Costa Cabral, doubtless wishing to see revived the good old
days of the French National Convention, offered to accompany
the Septembrist army which was going to defend the constitu-
tion of 1838. In his manifesto, dated Oporto, Jan. 27, 1842,
Costa Cabral declares that this same constitution did not pos-
sess the sympathies of any political party whatsoever.
By dint of Costa Cabral's exertions the Chartists were de-
feated at the plains of Feira. They then proposed an armis-
tice, and accordingly a meeting of 'the -Commissioners, ap-
pointed by the two parties, took place on the 30th of August,
at Alzuburrota, in order if possible to make arrangements for
the termination of the civil war. The Commissioners wbo
represented the Marquis Saldanha, proposed " that the consti-
tutional charter of the monarchy, accepted and sworn to by the
nation in 1c26, should be proclaimed, and that the Cortes con-
voked by the terms of the same charter, should be authorised
to make the necessary ref°, ms." Costa Cabral, as Commis-
s oner representing the September revolution, replied, " that
alteration should be made Li the constitution of 1838, ex-
cepting such act should emanate from the constitutional Con-
gress."
Hostilities recommenced on the 18th of September, on the
plains of Reivaez, when the Chartist army laid down theirarms,
and accepted the conditions dictated by the Viscount Das
Antas.

Costa Cabral thus crushed the Chartist revolution, and on
arriving at Lisbon he became the idol of the patriots, who
placed implicit confidence in his promises. In the Chamber he
became a violent democrat, declaring that the September revo-
lution was in danger of being betrayed, and at length became
the popular speaker of the day. Without the walls of the
Chamber he let loose his thunder upon the moderate party,
and went about the cafes, exciting every one to revolt, until at
length the Ministry had the weakness to appoint him to the
post of Civil Administrator of Lisbon.
General Bomfim, who was the Minister of War, had pre-
sented to the Queen a list containing the names of officers who
deserved promotion for their good conduct displayed on several
occasions against the Chartists. To this her Majesty refused
her sanction. The battalion at the Arsenal became incensed
at this refusal, and assumed a hostile character, but being
obliged to desist from their pretensions, they were disbanded
for this breach of discipline.
_ _ _ . _ _

On the 13th of March a portion of the National Guard fol.
lowed in the wake of the battalion at the Arsenal, and a skir-
mish took place in the streets of Lisbon, between the troops of
the line and the National Guards. Several were killed, and a
great many wounded on both sides, but order was at length,
with some difficulty, re-established:
Another emeute took place in the month of June, and the
7th, Bth, 14th, 15th, and 17th battalions of the National Guards
were accordingly disbanded. All theie revolts had been prerii-
ously organized in the masonic clubs by Costa Cabral. He
was the author of all these disorders, es well as of those of
Mach 13, as his object was first to compromise the National
Guards, and then to get them out of his way effectually, by
causing them to be disbanded.
The Extraordinary Cortes opened in December, and Costa
Cabral took his place as a Member, having resigned his post of
General Administrator at Lisbon. His position in the Chamber
was excessively equivocal, as he found himself obliged to fight
single handed against the attacks of all parties. Things went
on this way until Nov,mber, 1839.
The Saborosa Ministry being completely undermined by in.
trigues, was compelled to give way, and the Fonseca Alagalhaes
Ministry immediately replaced it. Costa Cabral obtained the
portfolio of Minister of Justice. .His first act was to rid him-
self of his old colleague the Count'de l3omfim, who was then
Minister of War. He substituted in his place the Count de
Villa Real, as he found himself continually thwarted in all his
projects by the presence of honest and honourable men. He
next enlisted in his service all the officers who had been dis-
missed by the Convention of September 18, 1837. With this
band of malcontents he inundated the country, filling it with
mischievous secret societies, by which means the army was
corrupted, and a train laid for the events of January last • and
on the 21st of that month, without having ever resigned his
post in the town of Oporto, supported by his bayonets, he pro-
claimed the Charter of 1826.

For some time previous to these events, Costa Cabral had
been the mainspring, the life and soul, of the Ministry. He
was all and every thing; but his ambition was not yet gratified.
There was a power still above him upon the throne—he as-
pired to be Dictator. To obtain this post he knew he must
play most foully—he must stir up the raging billows of revolu-
tion over his country. But he was not a man to stick at trifles.
The Minister of the Crown, who had sworn to serve faithfully
and to protect his Sovereign, abandoned her—put weapons
into the hands of her own soldiers to fight against her. She
resisted ; but in order to save the effusion of blood, she deter-
tnined to make a noble sacrifice, and allow herself to be crushed
by the traitorous rebel. Even at the'last moment the daugh-
ter of Don Pedro addressed these words to the traitor Minis-
ter :—" Were my august father still alive, he would have re-
fused to listen to traitorous propositions, supported by corrupted
and misguided troops He would have displayed the same
firmness which he Manifested under similar circumstances at
a memorable period of his life. I will never yield to the
abusivs exigencies of any party, and I cannot tint consider
as such pretensions which are founded in fraud and dis-
order, and supported by violence. I can never recognise as
true friends to their Sovereign those who attempt to dic •
tate to her; and I am therefore determined to resist your
pretensions to support the dignity of my Crown, and to re-
fuse my adhesion to aught that may compromise the esta-
blished order of things." The voice of the Sovereign was
however, unheeded amidst the din of rebellion, and the traitors
triumphed. It is in vain that Costa Cabral attempts to justify
himself—none of his protestations can be listened to ; his pro-
mises are sneered at, and, traitor to all parties, he is detested,
mistrusted, and despised by all shades of political parties.
Even the Janissaries, who have raised him to his present bad
eminence, will find themselves kicked off, laid aside, and be.
trayed, as soon as he has no longer any occasion for their venal
services. Who would have thought, in 1833, that the noble
blood which was then shed under the walls of Oporto, would
have prepared the way for another revolution? We fear not
far the people—a people cannot be easily wiped away from the
face of the earth—but we cannot repress our fears for the
safety of the Throne, for the daughter of the Duke of Bra
,anza, who is now compelled in her palace to receive the
peremptory crders of a plebian dictator, who, on the plains of
feira, wantonly shed the blood of the noble defenders of
the 1806 charter, the self-same identical charter which he
has lately dared to bind himself with the solemnity of, an
oath. The page of history may be turned over in vain
to find so flagrant an instance of atrocity. Surrounded by his
mercenary troops, Costa Cabral compels the Queen of Portugal
to swear to a code, the pages of which have all been dictated
by him. A re-action here is inevitable--it must sooner or
latter take place, as all that is brave, noble, and loyal in the
land detest and despise the traitor, who has in his turn con-
scientiously betrayed every party who had confided in his pro-
mises, and lent him their support. The greatest insult you
car, heap upon a man in Lisbon at present is to accuse him of
being a friend of Costa Cabral's. His only present supporters
are his mercenary soldiers, and their support is ever open to
the highest bidder. They have lately proclaimed liberty and
absolution, and to-morrow they would declare for the Grand
Turk, if they were well paid for their trouble. lie bas just