The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-03-15 00:00:00

FRIDAY MORNING, MARCH 15, 1833.

THE affairs of Portugal are fast approaching to a con-
clusion, if not already concluded by the retirement of Don
Pedro from Oporto. It is now obvious enough that the ex-
emperor has no chance whatever of regaining the thrOne
-of his father. It is melancholy to reflect that the greater
part of the blood shed in this hopeless contest has been
that of our own countrymen. Unfortunate young men
have been enlisted under specious promises, tempted by
brilliant offers, and led away by dreams of fame and con-
quest, and by other dreams of a still more golden nature,
and shipped off to a besieged town, there to endure all the
pangs of famine, all the mortification of direct insult, and
all the ignominy of defeat. The refugee Portuguese, in
the service of Don Pedro, have exposed themselves to
none of these losses and privations. They have eaten
their brown bread and drank their stolen wine in peace,
sleeping securely in the deepest cellar, beyond the reach
of Don Miguel's shells.
But this is not the worst part of the enterprise. Du-
ring the occupation of Oporto by Pedro, the British mer-
chants resident there have been plundered with impu-
nity, their trade interdicted, and themselves and families
nearly ruined. The manufacturers of England have been
exposed to the same casualties. Their exports have been
altogether disenn tinned ; the best market which they had
in Europe has been closed against them, and French and
German goods now supply the place of those articles for-
merly supplied by Sheffield and Manchester.
Why has this been permitted ? It.was, we are told, to
give the contending princes fair play without any inter-
ference on the part of the British Government. This ex-
cuse may have the merit of being plausible, but it is, ne-
vertheless, totally unfounded. The British Government
have interfered in favour of Don Pedro—not in
an open manner, we admit—not in a fearless and
honest way, but by connivance, by secret aid, and
by a skulking and discreditable mode of interposition,
which would have been "more honoured in the breach
than the observance."

But, while we say this, we beg it to be understood,
that we are not acWocating the claims of either brother,
or holding. up the one as a more preferable sovereign to
the other. For Don Miguel we have no more respect
than we have for Don Pedro. They are both equally
objectionable in our estimation. It is a great mistake to
imagine that Pedro has been contending for his daugh-
ter's rights.and not for his own absolutism as the legiti-
mate monarch of Portugal. This is well known in the
country where he is detested. The objection to Miguel,
on the other hand, by those who contend that he is a
usurper, and has no legal claim to the crown, comes with
a very ill grace from an English refotmer; v;lio is an ad-
mirer of Don Louis Philip, King of the French. Miguel
holds the crown of Portugal by a better title than Louis
Philip does that of France. Miguel has the nation on his
side—almost every noble family, certainly every priest,
every Hidalgo, every farmer, every peasant. Can Louis
Philip.say as much ? Miguel's may. be a disputed inhe-
ritance according to legal descent ; bUtis that of Nicholas
of Russia one whit more hereditary ? Has Louis Philip
any title to the throne founded in law or popularity ?
No. Has Bernadotte of Sweden any hereditary claim ?
Has the Pacha of Egypt any right to usurp the sove-
reignly of Syria and Western Asia ? Not the slightest.
The claims of these Emperors, Kings, and Paellas are by
no means so well grounded as those of Don Miguel of

. .
Portugal:
It is not, however, for any of these reasons that we are
anxious to see -a stop put to the conflict -which has been
too long waged before Oporto. We are guided in this
matter by the interests of England. 'We hav6 seen these
interests not only neglected but deeply injuted by his
Majesty's present ministers. This is not the juncture to
sacrifice any of our Commercial advantages for the sake
of the strut ionsliberalism. of the whigs. The sooner we
desist from such speculations the better. -•The eyes of the
country are now beginning to open to this waste of life
and destruction of private property,', both of which are
wasted and destroyed in a hopeless, a senseless, and a
fruitless.quarrel. . .

NOTHING has transpired which Can be relied upon
either in confirmation or refutation of the rumours rela-
tive to the unfortunate Duchess of Berri.-- It is said that
a deputation of her friends was invited to visit her, but
this, we suspect, is unworthy of credal for considering
the number of her most zealous friends it can hardly be
believed that none of any distinction amongst them, as
is alleged, would avail themselves of. the invitation. It
is the policy of the heartless upstart who treats so harshly
the niece of his own wife and the mother of that prince
who is the rightful heir of the crown of France, to -pre-
vent the duchess from commanicating. with her friendi,
and it would not surprise us if she should never be per-
mitted to depart from the prison of Blaye while she lives.
We do li.ouis Philip no injustice by the insinuation.
The present, we believe, is the fourth or fifth admi-
nistration which the citizen king has called to his coun-
cils, but although it has for its head an old marshal of
Napoleo'n's, it is, nevertheless, in a very distracted state.
Soult has been two or three times defeated in the Cham-
ber of Deputies on paltry questions about money. They
have refused to vote him some £2OO to repair his office,
and provide better chairs for his clerks; and they have,
besides, fleeced him of 50,000 francs Of the secret service
money. This is really very cruel ; but it shows how the
wind blows.

THE longer we reflect on the proceedings of the House
of commons, relative to the Liverpool election, we are
the' more 'convinced of their invidious and • unconstitu-
tional character. An obscure. junta in. this town have
succeeded in inducing the House to enquire into certain
indefinite charges of bribery. It is• not alleged that
either Lord Sandnn or Mr. Ewart has been. guilty of
this bribery, and, therefore, there is no accusation affect-
ing their right to represent Liverpool in the. present.
parliament. The charge is against the corporation, for