The History of the Revolutions of Portugal

The king, on receiving this letter, flew in a transport of rage to the convent, to force back his queen; but don Pedro, who foresaw what would happen, and whose authority in the capital was already greater than his brother’s, appeared at the gates of the convent, accompanied by the nobles of his party, and obliged the king to return to the palace, where he called upon his different mistresses to vouch for his virility; and broke forth into violent threats against the queen and don Pedro; the latter, far from regarding the resentment of a king destitute of counsellors and strength, was resolved on putting a finishing stroke to his power; he therefore repaired the following morning to the palace, followed by the whole of the nobility, magistrates, corporation, and an immense multitude of people, all anxious to know the event of so serious an affair. On entering the palace, he was met by all the counsellors of state, who waited his arrival, and after a short conference, he sent orders to have the king put under arrest in his own apartment; which done, he was soon obliged to sign his abdication. The infant, however, did not venture to assume the title of king, but that of regent was bestowed upon him by the states-general, who took the oath of allegiance accordingly. Peace with Spain was the first object which engaged the attention of the new regent; the king of England acted as mediator in the business, and the king of Spain, by a solemn treaty, acknowledged the crown of Portugal henceforward independent on that of Castille.

Nothing was now wanting to complete the happiness of the regent, but to obtain the hand of his sister-in-law in marriage. The queen, on entering the convent, had presented a petition to the chapter of the cathedral church, (the see being vacant) demanding the dissolution of a marriage, which could never be consummated during nearly fifteen mouths cohabitation. The chapter pronounced it null and void, without any other juridical formalities, than the negation of the proctor, and the non-appearance of the party complained against; the impediment, as the sentence imports, being reduced to a moral certainty, without any necessity of farther proofs, or longer delay. The regent thus, by means of formalities which the generality of judges very willingly accommodate to the wishes of those possessed of sovereign authority, found himself at liberty to espouse the queen: he was advised, however, out of respect to public decency, to obtain a dispensation from the pope, which dispensation, Mr. de Verjus, from a fortunate concurrence of circumstances, happened28 to bring from France at this very juncture. This brief was obtained from the cardinal de Vendôme, at that time the pope’s legate à Latere, who had been invested with that temporary dignity, for the purpose of assisting, in the name of his holiness, at the baptism of the dauphin. The bishop of Targa, coadjutor to the archbishop of Lisbon, bestowed the nuptial benediction on the regent and queen, by virtue of this brief, which was afterwards confirmed by that of pope Innocent the IXth, which was thought necessary, not only to calm their consciences, but to ensure peace and tranquillity in the kingdom.

King Alphonso was banished to the islands of Tercera, which make part of the Portugueze dominions. The people, ever deeply interested for the unfortunate, openly declared, that he was sufficiently punished in the loss of his crown and consort, without depriving him of the liberty of breathing his native air: but, alas! a dethroned prince seldom finds friends or protectors. Not a single grandee dared to espouse his cause, or plead in his favour, being well aware that the regent would never forgive an instance of compassion, which might in the end prove fatal to his government.

Don Alphonso remained in exile till the year 1675, when he was recalled by the regent, who suspected him of having formed a party to assist him in his escape from the islands of Tercera, and to re-establish him on the throne.

This prince died in the neighbourhood of Lisbon29 in 1683, leaving his brother the liberty of assuming the title of king, the only right of which he had not already despoiled the unfortunate monarch.

The death of Alphonso the VIth, having removed all apprehensions from the breast of don Pedro, he remained in future unrivalled possessor of a throne, which, flattering as it was to his ambition, most probably cost him some moments of remorse. This sunshine of prosperity was in the first year of his reign overclouded by the death of the queen, an event sincerely deplored by his majesty; who, however, having paid the just tribute of his tears to her memory, employed his every thought in alleviating the misery of a people who had sympathised in his misfortunes, and whose love towards a sovereign, whom they regarded as a father, made them deeply regret his being left without male heirs. He therefore, in compliance with their solicitations, consented to form a second marriage, and on the 2d of July, 1682, espoused Mary Elizabeth, the daughter of William, elector palatine of the Rhine. This princess, one of the most accomplished women of the age she lived in, bore him several children, and died on the 4th of August, 1699.

The great affection felt by the Portugueze for this monarch, will not appear extraordinary, if we trace back the whole of his conduct from the commencement of his administration as regent, and the situation of Portugal at the moment he took into his own hands the reins of government. Having settled every thing relative to the abdication of the king, with the states-general, his next care was to convince the people, that his true and only motive for taking upon himself the sovereign authority, was the good of the public. Those Portugueze who had presumed to attribute this action to personal interest were most severely punished: nothing, however, contributed so much to silence the clamours of the friends and favourites of the deposed monarch, as the plan of conduct adopted by his successor; a plan from which he never departed during the whole course of his life.

Don Pedro, during his regency, and even after he became king, instead of increasing the expence of his household, introduced the practice of the strictest œconomy; and so far from being surrounded by a pompous train of attendants, he was waited upon by a single domestic. He very frequently eat alone, seated upon a piece of cork on the floor, and neither drank wine himself, nor permitted any one who did to approach him. He passed the greatest part of his time with his ministers, and often negociated affairs himself with foreign ambassadors, when his penetrating eye saw through their deepest designs, and disconcerted their best combined projects. He placed the greatest confidence in his relation, the duke de Cadaval, and had never any reason to repent his choice. He renewed the treaties entered into with England and Holland, and took care they should insert no clause contrary to his views, which were to preserve the strictest neutrality with his neighbours. He rejected the pressing solicitations of Louis the XIVth, to join with him against Spain, and was proof against the most brilliant proposals made him by that monarch, at a time too when Louis had subdued the Low Countries, invaded Holland, conquered Franche Comté, crossed the Pyrenees, and penetrated into Catalonia.

The Spanish government may be said to have acted a most villainous part at this juncture, if it indeed be true, as has been asserted, that it was then secretly contriving the assassination of so firm and faithful an ally.

The court of Portugal being at the baths of Obidos, received intelligence that a most dreadful plot was formed to massacre the regent, his consort, the infanta his daughter, and replace Alphonso the VIth on the throne. The criminals were presently discovered, seized, tried, and condemned to die. Don Francisco Mendoça, don Antonio de Cavida, and their accomplices were accordingly publicly executed. The inquest taken on this trial had been carefully concealed; yet still it transpired that the Spanish ambassador was not unacquainted with this horrible conspiracy. The coolness subsisting between him and the court increased the suspicions of the public; but the dignity of the diplomatic character secured his person. The Portugueze minister at the court of Madrid was very soon after most grossly insulted in his own house, and not being able to obtain redress, returned to Lisbon. Affronts which it was impossible to revenge were passed over in silence by the prudent regent; who, however, did not neglect taking every precaution which the situation of his affairs made necessary. He caused the frontiers to be put in a proper state of defence, and sent a well armed squadron to the Terceres (or Azores) islands, to fetch back his brother Alphonso, who, it had been purposely reported, was improperly treated in that place. The war between France and Spain was still carried on, though to all appearance it was drawing towards an end; and the very moment don Pedro became acquainted with the overtures for peace made at Nimeguen, he offered to act as mediator between the two powers. This proposal was received by Louis the XIVth with a degree of haughtiness and contempt which drew upon himself the never-ending resentment of a prince, to whom he was very soon afterwards forced to sue for succour.

Let us now take a cursory view of the situation of Portugal at that critical juncture. The pains taken by the regent to put the finishing stroke to a war which had lasted twenty-six years, have been already remarked; but great as were the miseries it had caused, they were much less distressing, and much easier repaired than those suffered by Portugal, whilst under the dominion of Spain: such indeed were those calamities, that time itself has been unable to repair them.

During the sixty years this unhappy country groaned under the Spanish yoke, the navy was almost entirely destroyed; more than 200 large merchantmen were lost. The arsenals and forts were robbed of above 2000 brass cannons, with an infinite number of iron ones; and the great square at Seville was at one time filled with 900 pieces of cannon, all marked with the arms of Portugal. Two hundred millions of golden crowns were taken out of the country between the years 1584 and 1626; and the finest estates and richest domains were bestowed on Spanish subjects. The Dutch deprived them too of the islands of Ceylon, Ternate, and Tidor; they forced Malacca to surrender after a long siege, took possession of the ports of Mina and Arguin on the coast of Guinea, and formed different settlements in Brazil; in short, such were the losses sustained by the Portugueze during these sixty years, that all their efforts have been hitherto inadequate entirely to repair them. The spice and East India trade which they had carried on exclusively during a whole century, then fell into the bands of the Dutch and English; and the Portugueze government finding it impossible to regain this valuable branch of commerce, turned all their thoughts towards Brazil, from which they had no small difficulty in driving the Dutch. Don Pedro likewise, on his first accession to the crown, made this important colony one of the principal objects of his attention, and spared no pains to extend it to the utmost of his power.

It became necessary at this time to increase the authority of the missionaries, who, from their first entrance into the interior parts of America, had defended their proselites against the armed savages, with no other weapons than the gospel of Christ in one hand, and a crucifix in the other. An ordinance was therefore published on the 21st of December, 1686, which declared that the holy fathers of the society of Jesus should not only be invested with the spiritual government, as before, but also the political and temporal one, over the towns and villages under their administration.

Some years after the publication of this edict, which, though it opened a passage for the Portugueze to the gold and diamond mines in Brazil, had nearly been attended by the most fatal consequences in Paraguay, the richest fleet which ever sailed from Brazil entered the port of Lisbon. It contained more than a ton and a half of gold, and came most opportunely to relieve the exigencies of don Pedro, who, foreseeing the events that would most probably follow the death of Charles the IId of Spain, was preparing a considerable armament, which was attended by so great an expence, that the royal treasury being nearly exhausted, he was under the necessity of having recourse to the cortes, from whom he obtained a supply of 600,000 crowns.

Louis the XIVth, deeply interested in the motions of Portugal, was presently informed of this new subsidy, and the apparent motives alledged by the king to induce its being speedily granted. This intelligence did not at first appear to make much impression on the French monarch, but he soon after took umbrage at it, and still more particularly on hearing that the Spanish ambassador continued living in a great style at Lisbon, had an opera performed in his own house, gave the most magnificent entertainments, and had succeeded in gaining the favour of the king of Portugal.

The court of France was very well aware, that don Pedro had legitimate claims on the crown of Spain, that his vicinity to Madrid would facilitate his views, and that he might easily find allies to support his pretensions; it was therefore thought expedient to dispatch an envoy extraordinary with orders to sound the intentions of the court of Lisbon on this subject.

The nearer Charles the IId approached towards his end, the more were the powers of Europe employed in forming plans for dividing his inheritance. Different treaties had been formed during the course of his illness between France, England, and the United Provinces; but these were presently annulled, when on the demise of that prince, his will declared Philip, duke d’Anjou, heir to the crown of Spain. The new king was at first acknowledged by all the powers in Europe, except the Empire: he took upon himself the title of Philip the Vth, and departed immediately for Spain. It was this occasion which gave rise to the following memorable speech of Louis the XIVth; “My son, there are now no longer any Pyrenees;” a speech which unhappily was but too soon forgotten, since the first war undertaken by France, after that of the succession, was against the Spaniards.

Philip the Vth entered his new dominions without the smallest opposition; he was received with much solemnity, and with every testimony of joy, on the 14th of April, 1701, at Madrid, where the people took the oath of allegiance, and expressed an attachment to his person, which neither time, nor reverse of fortune, had ever the power to weaken. Destitute of troops sufficient to oppose the united forces of France and Spain, and without allies to furnish him with supplies, don Pedro gave up for the present all idea of bringing forward the claims of the house of Braganza to the crown of Spain, and hastened to form an alliance with Louis the XIVth and Philip the Vth, as the properest means of preventing the kings of Spain from renewing their pretensions to that of Portugal.

This alliance was greatly approved by the public; the Portugueze still bearing in mind the misery of their situation, whilst under the dominion of the house of Austria, and remembering with pleasure and gratitude the signal services rendered them by that of Bourbon. Their great disinclination to war, also added to their satisfaction, since they had now every reason to flatter themselves they might be suffered to remain neuter; but this hope, alas! was presently destroyed, for England, having on the 7th of September, 1701, formed a league with the Empire and Holland against France and Spain, immediately on war being declared, commanded her fleet to commence hostilities on the coast of Portugal. Don Pedro directly gave orders to the duke de Cadaval to assemble a sufficient body of troops to secure the sea-ports from the insults of the English; and at the same time informed his allies of his situation, and the danger with which he was threatened, unless speedily assisted. Neither France nor Spain were in a condition to equip a fleet capable of standing against the attacks of the English, and yet these powers insisted on Portugal’s taking an active part in the war. Spain, in particular, treated the Portugueze ambassador with insupportable insolence, and on his urging the necessity of his master’s remaining neuter, he was answered by the cardinal Portocarrero, “that no other conduct could be expected from the rebel duke of Braganza.”

The king of Portugal, whose love of peace had even induced him to pass over in silence the intelligence he had received from his minister at the Hague, that by a private treaty between France and Spain, his kingdom was to become a province of the last-mentioned country, now thought himself justified in breaking with allies, who not only gave him up to the power of his enemies, but were even employed in contriving his destruction, he therefore on the 6th of May, 1703, entered into the league styled the grand alliance, and obtained the most favourable conditions; the emperor promising to keep in pay 14,000 Portugueze, and the queen of England engaging herself to maintain a fleet ready at all times to defend Portugal and its colonies. There were also secret articles in this treaty, which treaty itself was not to be made public till the archduke Charles arrived at Lisbon, by which don Pedro was to be put into possession of Badajos, Alcantara, Albaquerque, Valentia in Estremadura; Bayonne, Vigo, Tuy, and Gardia, in Gallicia.

Louis the XIVth was presently made acquainted with this convention, and gave orders to his ambassador to demand an explanation, which he was constantly refused.

On the 9th of May, 1704, an English fleet appeared off Lisbon, and landed the archduke Charles, together with 10,000 men. A very few months after his arrival, the court of Portugal was plunged into the deepest distress by the death of the infanta, a child of eight years old, who was betrothed to the archduke. It being of the greatest importance to lose no time in commencing hostilities, the troops were scarcely landed before they were employed in actual service. Nothing decisive occurred during the first campaign; good and ill success equally attended their arms; and the English alone gained a conquest, which they have constantly preserved. The Spaniards, from the most unpardonable negligence, having left Gibraltar with only a garrison of a hundred men, it was taken on the 4th of August by the English, who fought under the command of the prince of Darmstadt, and admiral Rooke.

The second campaign in 1705 was of very little importance; and the advantages obtained in that of the following year, were much more brilliant than solid. On the 16th of June, lord Galway and the marquis de Minas entered Madrid without resistance, and caused the archduke Charles to be proclaimed king of Spain: the greater part of the people, however, faithful to their first engagements, ventured even on the same day to shout out “Long live Philip the Vth, our lawful sovereign.” Such marks of affection, testified by the Spaniards, and at such a moment, were a certain presage that the triumph of the archduke would be but of short duration.

The English and Portugueze armies quitted Madrid on the 1st of August, and prudently avoided engaging the Spanish and French troops, commanded by marshal Berwick, having been informed, that they had recently received a powerful reinforcement from France. The English and Portugueze generals were on this occasion condemned or excused, according to the dictates of party spirit, for not having taken greater advantage of so fortunate a beginning.

The Portugueze troops being returned to their winter quarters, the king gave orders for the levying of twelve thousand men, being determined to carry on the war with the greatest spirit and activity; but unfortunately for Portugal and its allies, don Pedro departed this life, after a very short illness, on the 9th of December, 1706.

An historian of merit30 has ventured to blame this prince for not remaining neuter in the war of the succession; but we have already seen that he was forced into hostile measures, by the conduct of the different parties. Other historians, still more severe, accuse him of not attending sufficiently to the important objects of agriculture and commerce. Nothing can be more unjust in most particulars than these reproaches, since it was during his reign that vegetables, and the most delicious fruits first flourished in Portugal,31 and that the famous treaty was made with England, by which the latter power entered into engagements to take Portugueze wines in exchange for English manufactures.

Cotemporary writers have done more justice to the merits of this sovereign, and allowed him not only the eminent virtues which ought to adorn a great monarch, but the superior talents of a wise administrator. Posterity has gone still farther, attributing to him the double merit of having, by his first alliance with Spain, gloriously terminated a dangerous revolution in the state, and of having carried his point, by quietly effecting another revolution in his own family.

John the Vth, the son of don Pedro (or Pedro the IId) succeeded to the throne on the 9th of December, 1706, but was not solemnly proclaimed king till the 1st of January, 1707. This young prince, aged only seventeen years, continued faithful to the engagements taken by his father with the allied powers, against France and Spain, and put every thing in order to carry on the war with the greatest vigour. Success, however, did not wait upon his arms, for Philip the Vth having returned to his capital on the 8th of October, 1706, gave the command of the army destined to act against Portugal to marshal Berwick, who on the 15th of April, 1707, gained a complete victory over the allied armies, under the command of lord Galway, at the celebrated battle of Almanza, where the greater part of the Portugueze present on the occasion were either killed or taken prisoners. An extraordinary circumstance, and the only one of the kind to be met with in history, took place at this battle, where the English, under the command of a French general,32 were beaten by an English one who commanded the French army.

The year 1708, though it affords nothing very interesting relative to the actions which took place between Spain and Portugal, must always recal to our memory the noblest victory ever obtained by humanity over the ravages of war; since the kings of those two countries, by mutual agreement, prevented hostilities of any kind being committed against husbandmen and vine-dressers.

John the Vth, in the same year, united himself by still closer ties to the house of Austria; and on the 8th of October formed an alliance with the second daughter of the emperor Leopold. The joy occasioned by this marriage was greatly augmented by the arrival of a fleet of merchantmen, consisting of a hundred sail, from Brazil, having on board to the amount of six millions sterling in gold, diamonds and tobacco.

Nothing could be more timely than this supply; the subsidies promised to the Portugueze being very ill paid, and their army having suffered considerably, on the 7th of May, 1709, when the Portugueze were defeated on the banks of the Caya, by the marquis de Bay, in the campaign of Gudina.33 The king was also obliged to withstand the instances of his allies, in an affair which he was decided not to give up; and the ambassadors from the Empire and England, together with the States-General, having remonstrated in the strongest manner about the franchises of foreign ministers, which his father had abolished twenty years before, he resisted all their arguments with a firmness they little expected, and, forced them to lay aside their claims. The year 1709, which began so prosperously for the archduke Charles, ended in the most disastrous manner for him and for Portugal.

General Stanhope on the 27th of July, defeated the French and Spanish armies at Almenara, and afterwards greatly contributed to gaining the great victory of Saragossa; on this occasion the marquis de Bay was so completely beaten by the count de Staremberg, that Philip the Vth was obliged to quit Madrid, and the archduke entered the capital without striking a blow. No monarch, however, ever met with a worse reception from his subjects; they treated him with every possible mark of aversion, avoiding his sight, shutting themselves up in their own apartments, and even disdaining to pick up the money he threw into the streets. All his endeavours were fruitless to extort the oath of allegiance from several of the nobility, and having commanded the marquis de Mancera,34 president of the council of Castille, an old man turned of a hundred years of age, to come and kiss his hand, he received the following reply: “I have but one faith and one king, which is Philip the Vth to whom I have sworn allegiance. I acknowledge the archduke as a great prince, but not as my sovereign, and having lived a hundred years without failing in any of my duties; I will not, for the short space of time I have yet to pass in this world, blast my spotless reputation by a dishonourable action.”