sailed from Lisbon in the month of June; and the immediate fate of the province would probably vary, according as the Portuguese fleet or the Brazilian, reached the harbour first. On the 8th of August, the Lisbon squadron arrived; and scarcely had it entered the port, when that of Rio de Janeiro made its appearance. The latter finding itself thus anticipated, stood out to sea again, landed the soldiers and arms at Alagoas, and thence proceeded to Pernambuco. The Brazilians now mustered a considerable force, which was commanded by a Frenchman of the name of Labitat, who had served under Bonaparte, and, approaching to within a league and a half of Bahia, kept the city almost in a state of siege. They were not, however, strong enough to attack Madeira: who, on his part, though much to the dissatisfaction of the Portuguese residents, was contented with acting on the defensive. Considerable efforts were made at Lisbon and Rio de Janeiro, to send out fresh reinforcements to their respective armies; and the Brazilians, it was said, applied to lord Cochrane to take the command of their navy. Monte Video, also, was still held in the name of the king and congress. General Lecor, who commanded there, was favourable to the cause of Brazilian independence, and wished to declare openly for it. His troops, however, could not be induced to adopt that course, and were so incensed at what they deemed his perfidy, that they would have murdered him, if he had not been protected and escorted out of the fortress by a battalion which he had commanded in Europe. With It was not to be expected, that Portugal would willingly resign her trans-atlantic dominion; the Cortes, however, deserve the praise of having acted in these delicate affairs, with more moderation than is usually shown by a mother-country to a - revolting colony a moderation, which was probably inspired by the evident superiority of the child to the parent, in political strength. In the Month of March, the Cortes adopted a set of resolutions, by which they revoked the measures that had been the immediate cause of the disobedience of the colonists, and testified their willingness to make every reasonable concession. The first of these resolutions was, that orders should be despatched, directing the prince royal not to leave Rio Janeiro; but to remain there until the general organization of the kingdom of Brazil was completed: another was, that the commander of the armed force of each of the provinces should be subordinate to the provincial junta, of which, however, he should be a member, and in which he should have a vote, but only on military questions; and a third, that the plan of a decree respecting commercial relations, should be discussed, and immediately referred to the provinces of the kingdom of Brazil. In it, said the Cortes, the Brazilians will not discover a single article, which does not correspond with the most perfect equality and reciprocity; but, on the contrary, will be convinced, that the congress treats Brazil as a true friend and brother. The resolutions concluded with a declaration, "That the congress, saving the principle of union, would not dispute respecting the concession of whatever might be proper for the better and more prompt administration of the constitution in Brazil." Though the disobedience of the prince to the mandate of recal, was prudently overlooked, the proceedings of the 16th of Feb., could not be passed unnoticed; and, in condemning them, consistency required, that the Cortes should express its displeasure against those addresses, which led the way to their adoption. The debates on this subject were long and earnest; and were terminated on the 1st of July, by voting seven resolutions. The second of those ordered, that the members of the actual junta of St. Paulo, who signed the representation of the 24th of December, 1821, should be prosecuted and tried; and that a similar proceeding should be instituted against the four persons, who signed the address directed to the prince royal on the 26th of the same month; but that no sentence of condemnation should be executed without the previous decision of the Cortes. The third article declared, that no other persons should be proceeded against for these transactions, and was carried by a majority of only 59 to 58. The fifth resolution was, that the two secretaries of state of Rio de Janeiro should be held responsible for the decree of Feb. 16, and the other acts of their administration; and the seventh, that the stay of the prince royal in Brazil should continue, till the publication of the additional act, and that, in the mean time, his royal highness should govern, in subjection to the Cortes and to the king, the provinces which he then governed and which obeyed him, his ministers or secretaries of state being named by the king. The only effect of the promulgation of these resolutions in Brazil, was, to inflame the spirit of independence: andthe purpose thus openly declared of prosecuting the junta of Santa Paulo, had no small share in exciting that province, in the month of September, to take the lead in calling upon the prince to assume the rank of an independent sovereign, and the title of emperor. The edict of the 3rd of June, which convoked a constituent and legislative assembly, being a direct disavowal of the right of the mother-country to have any share in the sovereignty of the colony, called forth stronger language from the Cortes, and rendered it impossible for them to continue to temporise. On the 20th of Sept., they voted a decree, which declared, 1. That the decree of the 3rd of June, convoking an assembly of constituent Cortes in Brazil, was null. 2. That the secretaries of state at Rio Janeiro were highly responsible for the illegality of so despotic a resolution, and should be impeached. 3. That the government of Rio de Janeiro, disobeying the Cortes, and constituting itself independent, was a government de facto, and not de jure, and that the voluntary obedience of any authority would be criminal. 4. That the delegated authority of the prince should immediately cease, and that the king should appoint a regency to exercise that authority. 5. That the prince royal should return to Portugal, within one month after the deeree should be notified to him. 6. That every commander of the land and sea forces should be accounted a traitor, who should obey the government at Rio de Janeiro, unless compelled by force. Next to the affairs of Brazil, the completion of the constitution chiefly occupied the Cortes. To frame a theoretical system of government, was much easier than to conciliate or subdue a disobedient colony: and here accordingly, their discussions led to a result much more satisfactory, at least, to themselves, than their deliberations on Brazilian affairs. The constitution was at length finished; and being signed by the deputies, with the exception of some of those who were delegated by Brazilian provinces, it was, on the 25th of September, presented in solemn procession to the king; who, on the first of October, swore in the presence of the Cortes, to observe it faithfully. On the 11th of October, a law was passed, that whoever should refuse to swear to the constitution, on or before the 3rd of December, should quit the kingdom, and renounce the rights of a Portuguese citizen. The queen having declined to take the oath, the ministers of the interior, of foreign affairs, and of the marine, notified to her on the 22nd of November, that the period of delay allowed by the law, would expire on the 3rd of December, and that it was necessary for her to make known her intentions. She replied, "That she had caused it to be stated to the king, that she would not take an oath; that she had made a promise never to swear either for good or evil during her whole life; that she did not adopt this course from haughtiness, or from hatred of the Cortes, but merely because she had passed her word, for a good person ought never to retract; that she knew the law; that she was aware of the penalty which the law inflicted, and was willing to submit to it." A ship was immediately made ready, and she was desired to point out the country to which she wished to be conducted. She answered, that she was ready to submit to whatever the king might order by virtue of the law; that her purpose was to go to Cadiz ; that her delicate state of health rendered it impossible for her to undertake the voyage in the middle of winter; and that she therefore wished to retire with her daughters to the palace of Ramalhao, till the season permitted her to leave the kingdom. At the same time, ten physicians certified, that her life would be endangered by the severity of the weather, if she should attempt to travel immediately. Accordingly, a decree was issued, permiting her to retire to the palace of Ramalhao, where she was to remain till she was able to quit Portugal, but refusing her request to be allowed to take her daughters along with her, and declaring that she had lost all rights, civil and political, belonging either to her character of Portuguese citizen, or to the dignity of queen. Considerable difference of opinion prevailed, both in the council of state, and in the Cortes, on this delicate subject. Many of the deputies, thought, that the ministers had acted in it with harshness and precipitation; that it belonged only to the Cortes to determine, whether, and how far her majesty was affected by the law of the 11th of October; and that, in dooming her to a species of imprisonment, and depriving her of the company of her daughters, without any judicial sentence, both the forms and the substance of justice had been violated. After having continued their legislative labours for one and twenty months, the extraordinary and constituent Cortes was dissolved on the 4th of November. The speech of the king, and the reply of the president on this occasion breathed outwardly a spirit of mutual confidence. The most remarkable feature in them was the strong hope which they expressed, that Brazil might yet be re-united to the parent kingdom. The session of the new ordinary Cortes was opened on the 1st of December. Illness prevented the king from attending in per son. The Portuguese constitutionalists were still harassed by apprehensions of attempts to overturn the new system. In the end of April, the minister of justice made a representation to the Cortes, in which he stated, "that there were, in the capital principally, and in some other parts of the kingdom, individuals dangerous to the state, whose characters and notorious designs rendered it advisable to separate them from each other, though no legal proofs had been obtained of their actual crimes." This communication was referred to the committee on the constitution, which advised "that the government should be authorized, for the space of one month, to proceed against such individuals, whether private persons or public officers, by removing them from one part of the kingdom to an other, as it might judge fit." Under this authority, several persons were deprived of their liberty, without any charge, except, that they were known to be hostile to the existing order of things.* A short time after these arrests had taken place, a conspiracy was said to be detected at Lisbon, the objects of which were, to dissolve the extraordinary Cortes and convoke the old with some modifications, such as that of creating a second chamber to consist of here ditary noble and dignified ecclesiastics; tò depose the king; to appoint a regency with the infant Don Michael at its head; and to put instantly to death such of the ministry and of the Cortes, as had distinguished themselves most in behalf of the constitutional system. The chief of this plot was M. Januario das Neves, formerly under secretary to lord Beresford. * The following are the names of a few of the individuals, who were arrested on this occasion. The first aim of the conspirators was to gain the army; for this purpose it was necessary to find some officer of rank to head them, and they fixed on general Luiz do Rego Barello as likely to join them. Januario accordingly applied to him; but he declined giving a decisive answer, and desired him to return at a certain hour on the following day. The minister of justice was in the meantime made acquainted with the circumstance, and Januario developed the plot before concealed witnesses. He was immediately taken up. On the night between the 1st and the 2nd of June, a merchant, a servant, and a printer's apprentice were also seized. These surely were not the kind of persons, who could dream of subverting the government of a kingdom. No light was thrown upon this affair by any judicial proceedings; and we may, therefore, reasonably infer, that, if any plot existed, its nature and objects were very much misrepresented or exaggerated. More undoubted symptoms of conspiracy manifested themselves in the garrison of Lisbon. On the 2nd of July, a part of one or more regiments of the line mutinied in the castle, crying out “the king for ever;" but the non-commissioned officers remaining firm, the mutineers were seized, and sent on board a man of war without resistance. Eleven of the soldiers, who were arrested, desired to be interrogated without delay, as they had to make some disclosures. What these disclosures were, the world was never informed; but suspicions were entertained by members of the Cortes, that this infant insurrection had not been prepared, without the connivance of certain individuals among those who had left Brazil in the train of his majesty, and who had been removed to a specified distance from Lisbon. |