The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-03-19 00:00:00

E LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

of the sea. The tinker has presided in the cabinet, and'
for every one hole he mended he has made three. Lord
Althorp's budget, Mr„ Stanley's Irish arms bill, Lord Pal-
merston's protocols, Lord Durham's mission, Lord Go-
derich's orders in council, Sir James Graham's expedi-
tion to the Scheldt, Sir Stratford Canning's mission to
Madrid, Lord William Russell's adventures in Portugal
—all have been failures, or blunders, which, had they
been committed by a corporal in the marines, would have
subjected him to the infliction of two hundred lashes un-
der the superintendanee of Sir John Cam Hobhouse.

In our last we considered the justice of encouraging
Don Pedro's buccaneering expedition against the legi-
timate King of Portugal—we will now proceed to con-
sider the Policy of it.

Its real intention is evident enough, The expedition
is a revolutionary one, headed by a revolutionist, who
rebelled against his father, plotted against his newly ac-
quired subjects, was expelled by them, and now wants
to 'get possession Of another kingdom for himself, under
the pretence of securing it for his daughter. Selfish
however as his Views are, unworthy as he is of any
respect, he is a revolutionist, and therefore he is em-
ployed as a cat's paw to forward the revolutionary move-
ments of the present. age. The policy thus far therefore
is evident enough: but what is its policy as far as
British interests are concerned ? The success of Don
Pedro's invasion could only have tended to the aggran,
dizement of France. Since the • days of Cromwell the
Portuguese have been our most faithful, as they are our
most ancient allies. To the extent of their means they
have always been our best customers, taking from us
manufactured goods to the amount., we believe, of
£1,400,000 a-year. It is one of the few wise sayings of
the astute Palmerston, "That with Gibraltar our own,
and an ally at Lisbon, we might face the hostility of
France and Spain. This opinion too has not been con-
fined to our ablest statesmen, it was shared by our ablest
eneiny Napoleon Buonaparte." See his speech 'June 1,
1829. This alliance France has always envied us; of this
she will rob us if she can; and in this as in every other
point, Lord Palmerston has played the French game till
he has made England the laughing stock of Europe.
Through the medium of his agent, Hopner, he has in-
sulted and exasperated the Portugese people beyond
forgiveness. And with Captain Glasscock and his 18-gun
sloop, he has bullied a gallant army fighting for. its inde-
pendence against a horde of foreign mercenaries in a
manner that ought to make a British officer's cheeks
blush with shame; and for what? To place a minion of
France upon the throne of Portugal, and swell the
triumph of a revolutionary faction that has always evi-
denced its hostility to British interests. The self-called
constitutionalists hate the British. " The constitutional
government," says Mr. Stapleton in his life of Canning,
" violated without scruple its engagements with Great
Britain by imposing on British woollenS double the
amount of the stipulated duty, and absolutely prohibiting
the importation of British corn. Moreover, such sig-
nal bad faith occurred in its diplomacy, that Mr. Canning
could not regret the revolution which transferred the
power of the state into the hands of the King." Vol. 2.
p. 199. •
Old Solignac, who, to signalize his courage and piety
when in Portugal before, attacked a procession of peace-
ful devotees,• who were going to the shrine of our Lady
of Nazareth, near Caldas, and robbed them of their
flags which he Sent as trophies to Junot; this old free-
booter of the imperial school had no doubt his secret in-
structions from the court of the citizen king, and if suc-
cessful, would have been the first accredited ambassador
to the mock court at LiSbOn. BUt theSe dreams are. at
an end. The Portuguese nation will triumph, and Don
Pedro must return to Philip sober, so console himself in
the best way he can for the woeful disappointment of the
sanguine expectations which Philip, when drunk, with
revolutionary triumph, encouraged him to entertain.

All that has been said about dissensions in the cabinet
has proved true, for Lord Durham has retired, or rather
has been expelled from a council in which he was a fire-
brand, and which he would have blown up had he been
allowed to remain.

The pretext for the noble lord's retirement—for it is
nothing but a pretext—is one of the most shabby upon
record, and shows with what facility the Whigs can in-
vent a falsehood to cover their embarrassinents. Lord
Durham lately of Dover, lately of St. Petersburgh, and
lately of all the principal towns of Europe, is said to be
in such a state of health as to render him incompetent to
discharge the arduous duties Of Privy Seal. This is the
first time that we ever heard the term " duty" applied to
the business of the almost sinecure office filled by Lord
Durham, which business we: were innocent enough to
think consisted of nothing more than the trouble of re-
ceiving his salary. If there were duties to perform, how
came it that the-noble lord was allowed to absent himself
from England for several months in a useless mission to
Russia, carrying along with him his whole family and
suite at the expense of the country ? It is not complained
that these duties, whatever they are, were not as well
executed during the travels of Lord Durham in foreign
countries as during his sojourn at Dover and other
places. Family misfortunes, however severe, do not in-
capacitate a man from signing his name; and it should
be borne in mind, that these misfortunes cannot now have
the poignancy which they must have had during the dis-
cussions on the reform bill, when the calamity was green,
and the gush of sorrow nearest its fountain. We heard
nothing then, during the natural season of tears, of the
contemplated retirement of Lord Durham, although the
noble lord had the bad taste to allude in Parliament to his
six bereavements, and trumpet them forth to the world
as so many sacrifices which he had made for the good of
his country. He bottled up his grief at that time, in or-
der to keep it for a better opportunity, and without any
scruple availed himself of a splendid outfit at the cost of
the nation, to perform an act of diplomacy which has
never been and never will be explained.

But if the revived sorrows of the noble baron have ren-

dered him incompetent to discharge his official and sine-
cure duties, why is this incompetence rewarded with an
Earldom Q
,LoYd Durham, of the creation of Mr. Canning,
is now Viscount Lambton and Earl Durham, of the crea-
tion of his noble father-in-law, Lord Grey. What has
Lord Durham done to entitle him to such high honours ?
He has, at the most, made three or four angry speeches
in the House of Lords,—he has favoured some of the
bludgeon journals, with secret information,—he has in-
trigued fur the office of Governor General of India against
Lord Munster,—he has endeavoured to oust Lord Pal-
merston,—and for this he is made an Earl ! Is this the
way in which Lord Grey stands by his order ? Public
services should be rewarded; but Lord Durham has per-
formed no services that should entitle him to either pen-
sion or dignity. We know of- no man whose career has
been so tainted with factioh. With a cankered disposi-
tion, a mean spirit, and an insolent demeanour, he has
trailed hiS obnoxious principles in the very kennel of ra-
dicalism. He has been a very Hecate among the destruc-
tives, adding more potent and repulsive charms to the re-
volutionary cauldron than any of his compeers. He was
desirous to ride with the wildest portion of the movement
party, and would have precipitated the country into all
the horrors of anarchy and confusion, towards which it is
progressing fast enough, without receiving any impetus
from John George Lambton, Earl of Durham.

However, the excuse for the noble lord's retirement is
worthy of the party. We forgive them, merely because
they cannot too soon rid themselves of these movement
gentlemen. Lord Goderich, we suppose, will be the
next martyr of incapacity. Lord Durham's incompetency
is only assumed: Lord Goderich's is conspicuous. The
former has made himself responsible for none of the mi-
nisterial errors : the latter has rendered himself ridicu-
lous by his colonial blunders. It is the same with Lord
Althorp. He and Lord Goderich merit immortality in
the same doggrel rhymes ; or, painted on a sign-board,
they would swing in beautiful harmony, like the two
kings of Brentford smelling at the same rose.
Our hopes of reform in the cabinet, are, on these
grounds, not unreasonable. When the lesser evil is re-
moved, may we not anticipate the excision of the greater
evil ? It would be cruel to pluck the feather from the
cap of Lord John Russell. He is too small a creature to
do much harm. But Lord Althorp is a mill-stone about
the neck of the administration. He is a greater dead
weight upon the country than the naval and million'
pensions. If not removed, he will sink the ship and
swamp the ministry; but if, by the united efforts of Lord
Brougham and Mr. Stanley, he could be thrown over-
board, the gravity of the noble lord is sure to drag him
to the bottom, and it would be a fortunate circumstance
if he should drag Lord Goderich after him.

ALTIIOUGH it is probable that the affairs of Portugal
may not be very deeply interesting to the generality of
our readers, still, as Don Pedro's expedition, now rapidly
approaching to a disastrous close, is a part of that exten-
sive conspiracy which is carrying on against all the an-
cient monarchies of Europe, under thq pretence of esta-
blishing liberal institutions, we think it may not be in
expedient or uninstructive occasionally to revert to the
subject.

With respect to Don Miguel's legitimate right to the
throne, we conceive that no unprejudiced person who
knows anything about it can entertain a doubt. It is the
fundamental law, the magna charta of the Portuguese con-
stitution, that no foreigner can inherit the crown. In the
cortes of Lamego, convened by Don Alonzo Henriquez,
the founder of the monarchy in 1143, it was expressly
decreed, that no foreigner should ever ascend the throne.
This decree was confirmed by the cortes assembled at
Coimbra in 1385, when Don John was elected king.
In 1641, when the Portuguese, having thrown off the
Spanish yoke, had proclaimed the Duke of Braganza
king, the three estates were summoned at Lisbon, and
in these cortes it was decreed that whenever the sovereign
should happen to succeed to a larger kingdom he should,
nevertheless, continue to reside in Portugal, and that if
he had two sons, his eldest should succeed to the foreign
kingdom, and his second to that of Portugal.
This, then, settles the question of right. Don Pedro,
when viceroy of the Brazils, revolted against his father,
and set up an independent empire, and thereby became
ipso facto a foreigner ; .renounced his allegiance,—ex-.
patriated himself, and forfeited all his rights to the Por-
tuguese inheritance as completely as the Duke of Cam-
bridge would if he were to renounce his allegiance to
William the Fourth, and proclaim himself independent
king of Hanover. In like manner as James the Second
ceased to be King of England by desertion, so did Don
Pedro cease to be heir apparent to the throne of Portu-
gal from the moment he renounced his allegiance to his
father, and assumed f' foreign independent crown. Hav-
ing forfeited his own rights to the succession, of course
he can convey none to his children,—no after-disposition,
extorted by his perfidy from the imbecility of the late
king, can annul the-constitutional law. He can no more
make the Princess of Gran Para Queen of Portugal than
he can make her Pope of Rome.
By the Portuguese constitution, therefore, Don Mi-
guel, the second son of the late sovereign, is the legiti-
mate king of Portugal, de jure ;—but he is, also, king
de facto by the choice of the nation.
In July, 1828, the three estates of the realm, assembled
at Lisbon, solemnly decreed that the laws of the consti-
tution excluded Don Pedro and his descendants from the
throne, and that to the king their Lord Senhor Don Mi-
guel, the first of that name, the crown of Portugal be-
longed. The nation has confirmed this their decree by
an almost unanimous voice; and what whig, who pre-
tends any reverence for the revolution of 1688,—what
Briton, who pretends to acknowledge the right of the
House of Brunswick to the British throne, can dare to
question the 'sacred determination of a nation's will ?
If the English convention had a right to transfer the
crown of England from James the Second to William the
Third, the cortes of Lisbon had a greater right to declare
the more legitimate title of Don Miguel the First to the
Portuguese crown ; and that a ministry, professing and