The Statesman.
London, England, 1820-09-15 00:00:00

PORTUGUESE REVOLUTION.

-.mai....-

iL JI;NTA OF TOM gl PRF•/' (10%1V111EXT

or Tin ILIXOTOXI To THOM VELL/W.( 01.0%T11V MEN.
" If, during the late alarming agitation which
roused the nationsof &trope and shook the throne of
Monarchs, your army saved our country and immor-
talised its wme, this day it has rendered itself still'
'more deserving a perklic esteem, by raising its from
the abyss into which we had been plunged, and through
which we had nearly lost the name of a nation.
"Au inconsiderable Administration, tilled with
errors and vices, had brought upon us all kinds of
by violating our privileges and rights, by break•
Ing down our franchises and liberties, and profanating
those praiseworthy customs which distinguished us,
from the first establishment of the Monarchy, and pos-
sibly were the most secure pledges of our social
tirtUei.

" The love of country, sacrificed to ettotism, Iral.
no more than an empty name in the mouths of
those ambitious men, who occupied the first places iu
the nation, and who had no other-object in view than
to prosper amidst honour and riches, as a reward for
their crimes, and their want of talent and experience
with which they directed the affairs of the State.
" Thus did we unfortunately see our commerce dis-
appeat—unr industry and agriculture dwindle away—
anti our nary not in one ports.
"Soon should we scarcely have had a mercantile
vessel left ; soon would all our navigation have been
lost, fur which we were so renowned during the time
of our past glories, when we visited the most remote
seas, and brought bark to astonished Europe the
riches of the east, as well as those of the two worlds.

"The sources of national prosperity beinw thus shut
up, the ruin of onr most valuable concerns became a
necessary consequence, and to clown the rest of cur
'Maur: unes, oar adored Sovereign ceased to live among
as. Portuguese! From that fatal day we date our
niisfoi mites ; then commenced cur orphanage. Then
it was we lost all, and soon should we have lost our
very name, once so famous in the unniverse, had we
not evinced that we were s ill the same by the con-
stancy with which we have endured so many calan►i-
ties and miseries, and by the heroic resolutioaav ►a..
this day tak n.

" OUr forefathers were happy. her:vase they lived
in the glorious times when Portugal enjoyed a Re- .
presentative Government in the Cortes of the nation,
and they achieved prodigies of ya!our. a. lung as they
were obedient to the haus which the latter sorely
instituted ; laws which were beneficial to all, because
on all they were binding. Then it WAS Cley made
Africa tremble, conquered India, anal astonished the
Old World by the acquisition of a new one, still noire
to extend their fame. Never did religion, the throne
and our country, before experience such important
services ; never did they acquire more lustre and solid
greatness ; but all these benefits were entirely derived
front the Constitution of the State. because it kept iii
just equilibrium and perfect harmony the rights of the
Sovereign and his subject-, by coin erring. the nation
and its chief into one family, in which all laboured
fur the general felicity.
" Let us again enjoy this Constitution, and we shall
be again happy. Dun John VI. our adored Sovereign.
has nut given it hack to us, because he is ignorant of
our wishes; but it is now time to ask it, because the
evils we endure, and still more so those we have reason
to expect, require a most pr pt rem•raly.
1 "In imitation of our ancestors, let us convene oar
Cortes, and expect front their wisdom anal firmness the
inea:ures which alone can save ns from perditien,'and
secure our political existence. This is the will of the
nation and of the army ; thus expressed, and this ex.
prisssion aids the attainment, already too long delayed
through timidity or disunion g the lovers of
their country. On the the glorious held of Ourique,
the army raises its voice anal a Monarchy appears.
1 his 'lay, in the cradle of Portugal, the army raises
its voice, and saves front destruction and ruin this
precious deposit confided tat its care, and so lung sus-
tained by the valour of their invincible arm.
" Portuguese' The step you have just taken to-
wards your felicity was necessary and even indis-
pensable, and your situation fully justifies your pro.
ceealing. Be not, therefore afraid, fur t assuredly
you commit no treason against the fornor sentiments
of your natural fidelity. No law ur human institution
was ever made .a last for ever, anal the reample of our
neighbours su!fices tat set your minds at ease. The
world is well aware that our deliberations are nut the
ellset of any personal anger against the Government,
or any disaffection against the august House of Rea-
gan:a ; on the contrary, in this way shall we draw
tighter those bonds of love, respect, and allegiance,
by which we are happily bound to the dynasty of the li
immortal John VI. and the virtues which adorn the
heart of the ns,st beloved of his descendants. The
change out which we enter in no way attacks the stable
parts of the Monarchy ; the holy religion of our cartu-
try will acquire more brilliant splendour, and murals
will improve by the advantages of public instruction,
at present unhappily now abandoned ; this will create
our felicity and that of futnre ages. The laws of
the kingdom, religiously observed, will secure inali•
vidnal property. anal the nation will uphold each one
in the pnnc aa b:e enjoyment of his rights, because its
lobject is nut to devroy, but to preserve. The same
orders, the Lillie play, the sante office's, the priest-