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CHAPTER X.

PORTUGAL.-Proclamation of Revolt by the Duke of Saldanha-Letter from him to the Duke of Terceira, explanatory of his Conduct and Views-He in vain tries to induce the Governor of Oporto to declare in his Favour-Disaffection in the Garrison there-Saldanha tries to escape from Portugal-Oporto pronounces for him-His Return and enthusiastic Reception there-Count Thomar takes refuge on board an English Vessel of War-The Queen summons Saldanha to Lisbon -He forms a Ministry, of which he is at the head.

SPAIN. Resignation of the Narvaez Ministry-New Cabinet formed by Bravo Murillo-Accouchement of the Queen of Spain.

GERMANY.-Abortive Conferences at Dresden-Final Resolution adopted by the Representatives-Restoration of the old Frankfort Diet-Cabinet Letters from the Emperor of Austria to Prince Schwarzenberg and Baron Kübeck, declaring Ministers responsible solely to the Crown. SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN-Formal Submission of the Duchies-Proclamotion of the Stadtholders. HANOVER-Death of the King-Proclamation by his Successor George V.

PORTUGAL.- A sudden and the cost of a revolution.

extraordinary change took place this year in the Government of Portugal. It began by an act of insurrection, which at one time threatened to bring about a revolution, but the result was merely a change in the Cabinet. The Duke of Saldanha was the successful hero of the plot, and he became, by an almost unparalleled reverse of fortune, the Prime Minister of Portugal, from being a few days previously an outlawed and fugitive rebel.

Saldanha was bitterly opposed to the Ministry of Count Thomar, and, finding that constitutional means were of no avail, he determined to raise the standard of open revolt, and, relying upon the unpopularity of the Thomar Ministry, bring about a change of policy at VOL. XCIII.

Early in April, he suddenly took with him a small detachment of troops to Cintra, and there he openly proclaimed his intentions. He soon afterwards quitted Cintra, attended by an inconsiderable force, and reaching Leiria, addressed from that place, on the 11th, a letter to the Duke of Terceira, in which he gave the following explanation of his conduct and views:

66

"Leiria, April 11, 1851. Sir,-A general rising has long been prepared throughout the kingdom against the prevarications, peculations, and continued infractions of the Constitution committed by the Count of Thomar. More than once have I prevented it by representing the possibility of ejecting that ill-omened man [T]

from the Ministry by legal means; but the proceedings of the majorities in both Chambers convinced every one of its impossibility. The only thing I could do to avoid such rising was to accept the invitation of many of our brave companions in arms, who, horrified at the future which the presence of the Count of Thomar in the Ministry prepared for us, urged me to put myself at their head, and by a military demonstration obtain the result which the nation wishes, needs, and will infallibly obtain. Until this moment all the chiefs of the popular party have remained quiet; but your Excellency may rest assured that in the same instant in which they are convinced that the military demonstration at the head of which I resolved to place myself, is not sufficient to overthrow the extortioner who oppresses the nation, a movement will manifest itself in all the provinces the end of which no human perspicacity can foresee. I have just been told your Excellency has marched out of Lisbon at the head of some troops to support the peculating Minister the man who unites in himself all the corruption and all the odium of the nation. I have the pleasing conviction that not one of those who accompany your Excellency will fail to participate in my ideas and in my wishes to deliver the nation from the yoke which oppresses it. Duke of Terceira! if you forget that after our time there is an inexorable tribunal called history, in which the glorious pages to which your Excellency has an incontestable right will be completely neutralized by those in which you will appear as the champion of the corrupt man, the infamous extortioner, the known prevaricator, remember, at least,

that your Excellency's conduct not only places the throne of Her Majesty the Queen in imminent danger, but likewise causes her dynasty to run the greatest risk. Should your Excellency persist, to me the honour will be due of having done, for fourteen months, all that lay in human power to avoid the evils of a revolution-to your Excellency the disgrace of having rendered it necessary, indispensable. Let us remember that if in heaven there is God's justice, the laws of morality are likewise not prohibited on earth. This insurrection will not be a struggle of parties; their interests will be foreign to it; its object will be a graver one-that of proving to Europe that the Portuguese nation will not consent that a system of corruption, of peculations, and unconstitutionalisms, should be raised on high by means of the Government and political doctrine. The movement represents purely and simply the resistance of the nation to the moral death which was prepared for it after prolonged agonies. The country, during the indifference with which the Government has considered its most urgent necessities, and in the cry of anguish which it raises at this moment, limits itself to beg for justice and morality.

"Your Excellency can avert the evils which menace us, save the country from the horrors you are preparing for it, by causing Her Majesty the Queen to dismiss immediately this man. fatal in so many respects, and call to the Ministry persons deserving the national confidence. Never has there rested upon your Excellency so grave a responsibility as at this moment.

"Duke of SALDANHA."

But neither the army nor the people seemed to favour Saldanha's views, and he found himself almost destitute of support. The King left Lisbon at the head of a strong military force in search of the Duke, but the latter did not venture to come to an engagement; and he retired to the neighbourhood of Oporto, in hopes that that city would pronounce in his favour.

He made an effort to induce the Count de Casal, who commanded the garrison at Oporto, to join him; but that officer remained firm in his duty and allegiance, and replied to Saldanha's summons in these terms:

from the soil of Portugal. The
news that Oporto had declared in
his favour overtook him on the
27th of April, just as he had en-
tered Gallicia, and he immediately
turned his horse's head and rode
back. He reached Oporto late in
the afternoon, and met with a most
enthusiastic reception.
One ac-
count says: "The whole city
seemed to vomit forth its inha-
bitants, and for two leagues on the
route by which he was expected
the road was a complete mass of
people on foot, on horseback, and
in carriages. In the city, the streets
which he had to pass along were a
living mass, colours of all nations
waved across from house to house,
the windows were hung with dra-
peries, and filled with all the
beauty and fashion of the place."

By this time the tide had everywhere turned in Saldanha's favour, and the Queen resolved to make at once a virtue of necessity, and, accepting the hasty resignation of Count Thomar, who took refuge on board an English vessel of war, she dispatched a telegraphic message to Oporto, by which she desired the Duke of Saldanha to come immediately to the capital, the good of the State required it."

"Sir, However great may be the affection and deference we feel for your Excellency, I cannot, as a soldier and General of the 3rd Military Division, but fulfil, even at the sacrifice of my life, the duty I owe to Her Majesty the Queen; maintaining intact the prerogatives of the Crown, which I am determined to sustain with the brave and faithful garrison I command." But there was disaffection amongst the troops under his command, and on his ordering the arrest of some officers whose designs he suspected, an insur-as rection of the garrison broke out, which the Count de Casal was unable to quell. He therefore at last, on the 25th of April, abruptly quitted Oporto, attended by only one aide-de-camp. A colonel of infantry, in endeavouring to restore order and obedience, was shot by the soldiers.

In the mean time the Duke of Saldanha was wandering a fugitive, no one exactly knew where. He had been disappointed in his hopes of a general rising, and his only chance of safety seemed to be in his escape as quickly as possible

The result was, that Saldanha came in triumph to Lisbon, and a ministry was formed, on the 22nd of May, consisting of the following members :-

Duke of Saldanha, President of the Council, and Minister ad interim of War.

Jose Ferreira Pestana, Minister of the Interior.

Joaquim Felipe de Soure, of Justice.

Marquis de Loulé, of Marine. Marino Miguel Frangini, of Finance.

from the Ministry by legal means; but the proceedings of the majorities in both Chambers convinced every one of its impossibility. The only thing I could do to avoid such rising was to accept the invitation of many of our brave companions in arms, who, horrified at the future which the presence of the Count of Thomar in the Ministry prepared for us, urged me to put myself at their head, and by a military demonstration obtain the result which the nation wishes, needs, and will infallibly obtain. Until this moment all the chiefs of the popular party have remained quiet; but your Excellency may rest assured that in the same instant in which they are convinced that the military demonstration at the head of which I resolved to place myself, is not sufficient to overthrow the extortioner who oppresses the nation, a movement will manifest itself in all the provinces the end of which no human perspicacity can foresee. I have just been told your Excellency has marched out of Lisbon at the head of some troops to support the peculating Minister-the man who unites in himself all the corruption and all the odium of the nation. I have the pleasing conviction that not one of those who accompany your Excellency will fail to participate in my ideas and in my wishes to deliver the nation from the yoke which oppresses it. Duke of Terceira! if you forget that after our time there is an inexorable tribunal called history, in which the glorious pages to which your Excellency has an incontestable right will be completely neutralized by those in which you will appear a the champion of the corrupt man, the infamous extortioner, the known prevaricator, remember, at least

that your Exce!!
only places the
jesty the Queen i
but likewise
run the great-
Excellency p
nour will be
for fourteen
human pow
a revolution
the disgrac
necessary.
remember
is God's
lity are likew
earth. This
be a struggl
terests will
object will
of proving
Portugues
that a sy
peculation
alisms,
means
politica
represe
resist
moral
for it
count of
with

[graphic]

AUSTRIA.-The return of to her old system of absocomment, and the utter the promises made and his advisers Rationary storm of in future a more policy, were signifi by the publication of g letters addressed by ror Francis Joseph to Schwarzenberg and Baron

HIGH CABINET LETTER TO THE MINISTER-PRESIDENT.

"Dear Prince Schwarzenberg.As the responsibility of the Cabinet as it now stands is devoid of legal 1 distinctness and exactitude, my -duties as a Monarch induce me to n- relieve Ministers from the doubtful eir political position in which, as my als, counsellors, and as the highest pitted executive organs, they are now placed, by declaring that they are responsible to no other political authority than the Throne.

f all the ts which ny since of all the infor the regene herland which expeared and enlived popularitystoration of the old Get as it had existed It seemed as if the been asleep for four I dreamt of revolutions, awakening found themisely in the same situawhich they were at the beg of their slumber. Prussia Austria and all the other Sites sent their representatives to Diet as of old, and before the of May its sittings began. But thing of sufficient general interest curred to make its deliberations worth recording in our pages.

"1. The Cabinet has to swear in my hands unconditional fidelity, as also the engagement to fulfil all Imperial resolutions and ordinances.

"2. The Cabinet will in this new position have punctually to carry out my resolutions concerning all laws, ordinances, maxims of administration, &c., may they have been considered necessary or judicious by Ministers, or may the latter have been directed by me to consult on and propose them.

"3. The Cabinet, and each Minister in his department, is responsible to me for the exact observance of the existing laws and Imperial ordinances, in their administration. To each Minister is intrusted the direction of that branch of the Administration with

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