CHAPTER VI.

The Bishop and Junta of Oporto aim at the supreme power; wish to establish the seat of government at Oporto; their intrigues; strange proceedings of General Decken; reflections thereupon-Clamor raised against the convention in England and in Portugal; soon ceases in Portugal-The Spanish General Galluzzo refuses to acknowledge the convention; invests Fort La Lippe; his proceedings absurd and unjustifiable--Sir John Hope marches against him; he alters his conduct-Garrison of La Lippe; march to Lisbon; embarked--Garrison of Almeida; march to Oporto; attacked and plundered by the Portuguese Sir Hew Dalrymple and Sir Harry Burrard recalled to England-Vile conduct of the daily press-Violence of public feeling-Convention, improperly called, of Cintra-Observations-On the action of Roriça-On the battle of VimieroOn the convention.

THE interview that took place at Vimiero between Don Bernardin Freire d'Andrada and Sir Hew Dalrymple has been already noticed as the commencement of an intrigue of some consequence. The Portuguese chief objected at the time to the armistice concluded with Kellermann, ostensibly upon general grounds, but really, as it appeared to Sir Hew, because the Bishop and Junta of Oporto were not named in the instrument. At the desire of Freire, one Ayres Pinto de Souza was received at the English head-quarters as the protector of Portuguese interests during the subsequent negotiation, and he was soon apprised that a treaty for a definitive convention was on foot, himself and his General being invited to state their views and wishes before any further steps were taken. Neither of them took any notice of this invitation, but when the treaty was concluded clamored loudly against it. The British army was, they said, an auxiliary force, and should only act as such; nevertheless, it had assumed the right of treating with the French for Portuguese interests, and a convention had been concluded which protected the enemy from the punishment due to his rapine and cruelty; it was more favorable than the strength of the relative parties warranted, and no notice had been taken of the Portuguese government, or of the native army in the Alemtejo; men who were obnoxious to their countrymen for having aided the invaders, were protected from a just vengeance; finally, the fortresses were bargained for as acquisitions appertaining to the British army-a circumstance which must inevitably excite great jealousy both in Portugal and Spain, and injure the general cause by affording an opportunity for the French emissaries to create disunion among the allied nations. They dwelt also upon the importance of the native forces, the strength of the insurrection, and insinuated that separate operations were likely to be carried on notwithstanding the treaty.

Noble words often cover pitiful deeds: this remonstrance, apparently springing from the feelings of a patriot whose heart was ulcerated by the wrongs his country had sustained, was but a cloak for a miserable interested intrigue. The Bishop of Oporto, a meddling ambitious priest, had early conceived the project of placing himself at the head of the insurrectional authorities, and transferring the seat of government from Lisbon to Oporto. He was aware that he should encounter great opposition, and he hoped that by inveigling the English General to countenance these pretensions, he might, with the aid of Freire's force, and his own influence, succeed in the object of his wishes. With this view he wrote a letter to Sir Charles Cotton dated the fourth of August, in which was inclosed, as the letter describes it, "The form of government with which they, the Junta of Oporto, meant to govern Portugal when the city of Lisbon should be free from the French;" and this letter, together with its inclosure, being transmitted to Sir Arthur Wellesley, he placed them among other public documents in the hands of Sir Hew Dalrymple when the latter first landed at Maceira. In the document itself it was declared that "The body of government had taken the glorious resolution of restoring the Portuguese monarchy in all its extent, and of recovering the crown of Portugal for its lawful sovereign Don Juan VI., their prince." But this "glorious resolution" was burthened with many forms and restrictions; and although the Junta professed the intention of re-establishing a regency, they declared, "that if this new regency should be interrupted by a new invasion of the French, or by any other thing, the Junta would immediately take the government on itself, and exercise the authority and jurisdiction which it had done ever since its institution."

Thus prepared for some cabal, Sir Hew Dalrymple was at no loss for an answer to Freire's remonstrance. He observed, that if the government of Portugal had not been mentioned in the treaty, neither had that of England, nor that of France. The convention was purely military, and for the present concerned only the commanders in the field. With regard to the occupation of the fortresses, and the fact of the British army being an auxiliary force, the first was merely a measure of military precaution absolutely necessary, and the latter was in no way rendered doubtful by any act which had been committed; he, Sir Hew, was instructed by his government to assist in restoring the Prince Regent of Portugal to his lawful rights, without any secret or interested motives; finally, the Portuguese General had been invited to assist in the negotiations, and if he had not done so, the blame rested with himself. To this Sir Hew might have justly added, that the con

duct of Freire in withdrawing his troops at the most critical moment of the campaign, by no means entitled him to assume a high tone towards those whom he had so disgracefully deserted in the hour of danger.

The Portuguese General was silenced by this plain and decided answer; yet the English General was quickly convinced that the Bishop and his coadjutors, however incapable of conducting great affairs, were experienced plotters. In his first interview with Andrada, Sir Hew Dalrymple had taken occasion to observe, that "no government lawfully representing the Prince Regent actually existed in Portugal;" in fact, a Junta, calling itself independent, was likewise established in Algarvé, and the members of the regency legally invested by the Prince with supreme authority were dispersed, and part of them in the power of the French. This observation, so adverse to the prelate's views, was transmitted to him by Freire, together with a copy of the armistice; and he was well aware that a definitive convention, differing materially from the armistice, was upon the point of being concluded, the refusal of Sir Charles Cotton to concur in the latter having rendered it null and void. Nevertheless, preserving silence on that point, the Bishop forwarded the copy of the armistice to the Chevalier Da Souza, Portuguese minister in London, accompanied by a letter filled with invectives and misrepresentations of its provisions; the Chevalier placed this letter, with its inclosures, in the hands of Mr. Canning, the English Secretary of State for foreign affairs, and at the same time delivering to him an official note, in which, adopting the style of the prelate and Junta, he spoke of them as the representatives of his sovereign, and the possessors of the supreme power in Portugal.

Nor were the efforts of the party confined to formal communications with the ministers: the daily press teemed with invectives against the English General's conduct; ex-parte statements, founded on the provisions of an armistice that was never concluded, being thus palmed upon a public, always hasty in judging of such matters, a prejudice against the convention was raised before either the terms of, or the events which led to it, were known. For Sir Hew, forgetting the ordinary forms of official intercourse, had neglected to transmit information to his government until fifteen days after the commencement of the treaty, and the ministers, unable to contradict or explain any of Souza's assertions, were thus placed in a mortifying situation, by which their minds were irritated and disposed to take a prejudiced view of the real treaty. Meanwhile the Bishop pretended to know nothing of the convention, hence the silence of Freire during the negotiation; but that once con

cluded, a clamor was, by the party, raised in Portugal, similar to what had already been excited in England: thus both nations appeared to be equally indignant at the conduct of the General, when, in fact, his proceedings were unknown to either.

It would appear that the Bishop had other than Portuguese coadjutors. The Baron Von Decken, a Hanoverian officer, was appointed one of the military agents at Oporto; he was subject to Sir Hew Dalrymple's orders, but as his mission was of a detached nature, he was also to communicate directly with the Secretary of State in England. Von Decken arrived at Oporto upon the 17th August, and the same evening, in concert with the Bishop, concocted a project admirably adapted to forward the views of the latter they agreed that the prelate was the fittest person to be at the head of the government, and that as he could not or pretended he could not quit Oporto, the seat of government ought to be transferred to that city.

Two obstacles to this arrangement were foreseen: first, the Prince Regent at his departure had nominated a regency, and left full instructions for the filling up of vacancies arising from death or other causes; secondly, the people of Lisbon and of the southern provinces would certainly resist any plan for changing the seat of government; hence, to obviate these difficulties, Von Decken wrote largely in commendation of the proposed arrangement, vilifying the conduct of the regency, and urging Sir Hew not only to give his sanction to the ambitious project, but to employ the British troops in controlling the people of Lisbon, should they attempt to frustrate the Bishop's plans. To conciliate the members of the regency, it was proposed to admit a portion of them into the new government, and Francisco Noronha, Francisco de Cunha, the Monteiro Mor, and the principal Castro, were named as being the only men who were faithful to their sovereign. Now the last had accepted the office of Minister of Worship under the French, and was consequently unfaithful; but he was the half-brother of the Bishop, Castro being legitimately born. Under the pretext of sparing the feelings of the people of Lisbon, it was further proposed to appoint a Portuguese commandant, subject to the British governor, yet with a native force under his orders, to conduct all matters of police, and the Bishop took the occasion to recommend a particular general for that office. Finally, civil dissension and all its attendant evils were foretold as the consequences of rejecting this plan.

Sir Hew Dalrymple's answer was peremptory and decisive. He reprimanded General Von Decken, and at once put an end to the Bishop's hopes of support from the English army. This second

repulse-for Sir Hew's answer did not reach Oporto until after Freire's report had arrived there-completed the mortification of the prelate and his Junta, and they set no bounds to their violence. Efforts were made to stimulate the populace of Lisbon to attack both French and English, in the hope that the terrible scene which must have ensued would effectually prevent the re-establishment of the old regency, and at the same time render the transfer of the seat of government to Oporto an easy task. Hence the outrageous conduct of the Monteiro Mor and of the judge of the people, and the former's insolent letter calling upon Sir Charles Cotton to interrupt the execution of the convention.

The 3d September, Sir Hew Dalrymple received instructions from home relative to the formation of a new regency which were completely at variance with the plan arranged between the Bishop and General Von Decken, yet no difficulty attended the execution; and here, as in the case of Prince Leopold, we are arrested by the singularity of the transaction. General Charles Stewart, brother of Lord Castlereagh, was the bearer of Von Decken's first letter. He would not knowingly have lent himself to an intrigue subversive of his brother's views, as explained in the official instructions sent to Sir Hew; neither is it likely that Von Decken should plunge into such a delicate and important affair in one hour after his arrival at Oporto, if he had not been secretly authorized by some member of the English Cabinet: are we then to seek for a clue to these mysteries in that shameful Machiavelian policy that soon afterwards forced Lord Castlereagh to defend his public measures by a duel?

But the usual fate of plans laid by men more cunning than wise attended the Bishop of Oporto's projects. He was successful for a moment in rendering the convention of Cintra odious to the Portuguese, yet the great mass of the people soon acknowledged with gratitude the services rendered them by the English, rejoicing at the fulfilment of a treaty which freed their country at once from the invaders. And well might they rejoice, when they beheld above twenty-five thousand bold and skilful soldiers reluctantly quitting the strongholds of the kingdom, and to the last maintaining the haughty air of an army unsubdued, and capable on the slightest provocation of resorting once more to the decision of battle. The Portuguese people were contented, but the Spanish General Galluzzo appears to have favored the views of the Oporto faction. Detachments of his troops and Portuguese refugees, principally from the northern provinces, and commanded by a Spaniard, were acting in conjunction with the insurgents of the Alemtejo. Many disputes had arisen between the two nations, as I have already