Star.
London, England, 1828-08-16 00:00:00

PRICE SEVENPENCE.

PORTUGUESE STATE PAPER.

•PROTRIST of the PLENIPOTENTIA PIE; of his hfarevrT the Emerson Of
BRAZIL against the USURPATION which has recently been made of
his CROWN and kumoom of PORTUGAL.
When we addressed our solemn- protest to the Por-
tuguese nation on the 24th of last May__
Ist. Against all violation of the hereditary rights of
his Imperial Majesty and those of his august daughter;
21. -Again,t the abolition of institutions liberally
:,ranted by that Monarch, and legally established in
Portugal;
3d. Against the illegal and insidious convocation of
the ancient States of that kingdom, which had been
i!soli,lred by virtue of a long prescription, and by effect
.t the. institutions above alluded to--

We then flattered ourselves that the horrible attempt,
of which ti:e acts referred to were the sad prelude,
would Lot have been carried into effect.
We had indeed been lei to believe, that the menacing
t! itude assumed by the Ministers of Foreign Courts
rccredited at Lisbon, together with the efforts made by
part of the brave Portuguese troops, would have ar-
rested the machinations of a perjured and rebellious
raction, and preyeireed the accomplishment of an nsurpa-
;ion pregnant with mischief, and subversive of the prin-
ciple of legitimacy, held sacred by all the Powers of
Europe.
Every noble spirit, to which treason and perjury are
obnoxious, conceived the same hopes; but neither the
remonstrances of, the Governments most deeply inte-
rested in the prosperity of Portugal, nor the praiseworthy
resistance made by the friends of legitimacy, and by all
those whotreeerence religion and respect the sanctity of
.111 oath, could check tire fury of that faction which bad
resolved, at all hazards, to seal their iniquity by a corn-
rletion of the usurpation which they bad premeditated.
By means of popular tumult, of violent destitutions,
of innumerable imprisonments, and of revolting pro..
scriptions—by the arts of seduction and underm.rung--
and, indeed, by the employment of every kind of
means, however odious or reprehensible, they rendered
access easy to the criminal object they had in view ;
and their progress was so rapid, the work of usurpation
was speedily effected, in despite of, and to the OA in-
jury of all the Potentates of Euiope, who.had,- to a for-
mal manner, fulminated a general.anathema against it.
On the 23d of June last the assembling of thesoi-
disant " Three Estates of the Kingdom" was witnessed
at Lisbon; but which, in fact, was nething,more than
a meeting of the accomplices of an execrable faction ;
and 'then every thing for this scandalous. procee4lng
was ready, having been for a long time previously al-
' ranged, it was opened, by the proposition of the follciw-
ing question, to ascertain.
" If the Crown of Portugal 'ought, on the•demise of
Don John-VI. to have.descended to the eldest son, the
Emperor of Brazils and Prince Royal of Ptittisgal,* or
to the youngest son, the Infante Don- Miguel?'" • ,
On this proposition being-subutitted; 'a miserable 'and
insidious discourse was delivered in Elector of lrlaligh-
ness's rights to the succession, and against those of .the
Emperor our august Sovereign. whom it was -endea-
voured to representas a foreign Prince, and-det r'eed of
his rights of primogeniture horn •ttri, circumstance' of
his having ascended the throne of Brazils in-the life-
time of his father.

• In this tribunal of injustice andihail. of usurpation,
no one dared lift up his voice in favour of legiiiittcy,
with which the cause of the Emperor of Brazils and
King of Portugal isidentifieJ. ~ :. . • ; •
The honourable duty of chf.nding those rights be.
longed,•as.a platter of course, to the Attorney-general
of the Crosvo; but he was net callek upon to.folfil it,
which, prove-that he:ought not to be inclusfea,io site
number oftheir accoMplices. .. • .
Unanimity was consequently So...complete. amongst
the conspirators, who.assumed to themselves. the uobe-
clming title of 41 The Three Estates,",thattbey ?mild
have decided the question at once without any asijuitk-
ment ; but the better to impose ou.the Poet. eguetelos-i
tion, and as well on the,people of the two hemissiberes,
they deemed it expedient to defer it ; and Oil thC,VS:h
of June, after a few days of mock deliberation, theypresented to the head of the illegitiMate doiernri*t
established at Lisbon, the result of their Contemptible
machinations, consiging of their unani'mous. sinctOrinii-
nal vote; in raveni:: of that 'usurpation they hid Bien
called together for the parpoce of sanctioping, and
which. was unfortunately consummated. in that
.ckly .on
the Ist Of July lase-4a day, the memory of which will
ever be iiicritted fil the annals of Portugal; on account
of. the disastrous consequences which cannot fail to flow
from such a deplorable event.
~
Disappointed in our expect !thus, we now firicri.ur.
selves under the disagreeable, -but imperious necessity-,
pf unfolding to the eyes of the whole world, all the
perfidy of the.acts above-menti .nej, as well as the fal-
lacies contained in the arguments brought forward
against the incontestible 'and
.acknowledged rigbts of
our august mater the,Emperer..o,l Brazil, and Paw
RuYil,pf Portugal, to the ;roma of that kingdoon? on
tlse. deathof the king his father.•• - : ... -. !• '•
We vet y well know (andsallptiblicists confirm:4;oa
the direct and legitimiti 1in0..? )i ..reigning .11s.MAy
becoming extinct, that it case*
4141
a abotild,:appler
amongst the collateral branches se 0 pretenders to
the succession of the vacant .ithrone,• whose respective
pretensions may be doubtful, it belongs to the superior
tribunals or authorities of the state to' decide so im-
-1 portant a national question; and the histotYtif Portugal
itself affords two examples: the one on cheated) of the
King Don Ferdinand, and the other at the peithad when
the Portuguese nation, on throwing off the isithlerable
yoke of Spain, exalted the august House of 134aganza
to the throne.

But as that question cannot be raised where the suc-
cession to a crown is regulated by the right of prirno.
geniture (and such is the case with respect to that of
Portugal, as it regards his Majesty the Emperor of
IBrazils, the eldest son of his Majesty• Don John VI.
who has besides been recognised, as well by iris own
father, as by all the Powers of. Europe, in his quality of
Prince Royal of Portugal, both before and since the
pat tition which.was made of the Crown of Portogal,.by
a solemn treaty executed between the two Sovereigns),
the hereditary rights of august master.could not be
rendered doubtful on the demise of the King, his father
—nor were they. •
Before even this unfortunate event which occasioned
the important succession was known at Rio de Janeiro,
his Imperial Majesty had been proclaimed King in Poi-
and immediately recognised as such by all the
boveteigns and Governments of Europe. • •
.• Snch.proclamititm, and such tecognitior, at sponta-

•