untoward conduct of the nobles, who, on several years being passed
without the queen's having children, neglected paying their court to his
majesty, and attached themselves very particularly to his brother, don
Francisco: a prince, who is represented of so savage a disposition, that
it appears extraordinary any one should wish to approach his person. One
author,[37] in particular, mentions him as cruel, constantly delighting
in fighting, and infesting the streets of Lisbon, at the head of a set
of armed men, who nightly rambled through the city in search of
adventures. These bands of gentlemen were termed _ranchos_; their
amusement consisted in attacking and insulting passengers of every
description, and such was the force of example, that several personages
of the first nobility vied with don Francisco in the commission of these
dreadful disorders. The duke de Cadaval, the marquis de Marialva, de
Cascaes, the Aveiros, and the Obidos, had each their separate _rancho_.
No night ever passed without people being wounded or murdered by this
illustrious banditti; hatred, revenge, and a sort of civil war
throughout the city, unrestrained by the presence of the king, were the
natural consequences of such horrid barbarity. Foreigners also formed
offensive and defensive treaties; and a body of sailors left their
vessels on pretence of attacking the bravoes of Lisbon, whom they
plundered, whenever their party happened to be the strongest.
A personage likewise acted a part in these nocturnal scenes, who
afterwards made a very different and still more celebrated figure in the
page of history. Carvalho, possessed of extraordinary strength, and
invincible courage, with a form nearly gigantic, seemed decided to
surpass every other bravo of the age. He chose for his companion a man
of a mind and person resembling his own, who, with himself, was habited
in a white Spanish capotte, with shoes and hat of the same colour: thus
accoutered, they were easily distinguished in the night, when, without
any other assistance, they attacked the different _ranchos_, which they
frequently conquered; though never without being exposed to the most
dangerous resistance, nor without receiving several wounds.
All the endeavours of his majesty to prevent such dreadful disorders,
proved fruitless: they were thought, indeed, to proceed in some degree
from a spirit of chivalry, which suited the national taste, and which
the people did not wish to extinguish. The justice which always
distinguished the character of the king, was about that time put to a
severe and singular test, by a very unexpected claim, and one which had
all the appearance of being well founded. In the year 1724, the
chevalier _Porta_, a gentleman of Lausanne, arrived in Portugal, and was
presented at court, where he demanded a private audience of his majesty,
on a very particular occasion; no less than to lay claim to the
possessions of don Antonio, who had been proclaimed king of Portugal in
1580, and from whom he alledged his wife was lineally descended. The
king having granted him several audiences, and received him with great
distinction, did not, however, venture to give judgment either for or
against his claim, but left the decision to two juntas or councils.
These were immediately assembled, and the opinions of the most
celebrated civilians taken on the occasion. The result of their
deliberations was, that the Swiss gentleman's claims were not legal,
since don Antonio had been proscribed by Philip the IId of Spain, as a
traitor to his country, and his property justly confiscated to the
crown. This decision of the civilians was approved and confirmed by the
two juntas.
That Philip the IId, who himself usurped the crown of the Braganzas,
should pronounce such a sentence, is not extraordinary. Philip the IVth
likewise pronounced one of the same nature against that family: but
surprising indeed must it appear in the eyes of posterity, that a
grandson of the duke of Braganza should acknowledge and admit such a
judgment as just and legal. Whilst the Portugueze looked up with
gratitude and blessings to a prince, under whose reign they had enjoyed
all the comforts of peace, and whilst his paternal hands were ever open
to bestow fresh marks of his bounty, they were on the eve of receiving a
blow to their happiness, as dreadful as it was unexpected.
John the Vth, who was above the middle size, very well made, and so
extremely strong, that his great delight in the bullfights was to seize
the furious animal by the horns, and bring him to the ground, was
attacked by a lingering illness, which, during the last eight years of
his reign, reduced him to a state of inactivity, very fatal to the
interests of his kingdom.
So great was his devotion after this attack, that he neglected all
public affairs, which were entirely confided to the care of brother
Gaspard, a _récollet friar_. From that moment the revenues of the state
were employed in building or endowing convents and churches, and causing
masses to be said: this last piece of devotion was carried to such an
excess, that it arose to a degree of madness; and it became necessary to
conceal from his majesty the deaths which took place in Lisbon; for no
sooner did any one expire, were it the meanest of his subjects, than he
caused at least a hundred masses to be said on the occasion. This gave
rise to the following expression: "_that John sent the living to hell,
to pray the dead out of purgatory_."
During the course of this fatal malady, which terminated in death on the
31st of July, 1750, every branch of the administration became relaxed,
and the state was in the end not only destitute of money, but charged
with a debt of a hundred millions of French livres.
John the Vth, as has been already observed, was of a fine height; his
figure was noble, and his countenance agreeable, though his complexion
was rather dark and thick. His dress was magnificent, and he sent for
all his cloaths from Paris. As for his character, it is not very easy to
delineate; he was particularly jealous of the dignity of his throne and
his quality as king; and sought more to inspire his grandees with fear,
than with love. He bore, in many particulars, a great resemblance to
Louis the XIVth; their tastes were the same, except indeed in the
article of war, which the Portugueze monarch always wished to avoid. The
French, and some other nations, have reproached this prince with his
partial attachment to the English, into whose hands he gave up the whole
of the commerce both of Portugal and its colonies.
Joseph the Ist succeeded his father at a most unfavourable juncture: the
deplorable state of the government and finances, required not only his
strictest attention, but the assistance of the most able ministers.
Diego de Mendoça was the first entrusted with the care of public
affairs; but his majesty soon perceived that his choice had fallen on an
improper person. Carvalho, who has been already mentioned as destined
to play a great part on the stage of Portugal, and who, in future, will
make the most conspicuous figure in this history, had displayed very
great talents in his embassies to London and Vienna: he had also shewn
himself so superior to all who composed the council held on the death of
John the Vth, that he was fixed upon to replace Mendoça, who was
afterwards banished to Mazagan, in Africa.
The new minister was born in 1699, of a gentleman's family from Soure,
near Coimbra; in the university of which he was educated: after having
made a great proficiency in his studies, he entered into the service,
which his levity and misconduct obliged him to quit. Launched into the
pleasures of the great world, his gallantry and spirit of chivalry
seduced the affections of a young heiress, of the illustrious house of
Almada. He succeeded in carrying her off, and married her in spite of
her family, whose resentment he braved with impunity, notwithstanding
all their efforts to cause his destruction: fortunately for him, brother
Gaspard, who was the uncle of the duke d'Aveiro, and the favourite of
John the Vth, was particularly his friend, and sent him off immediately;
first to London, and afterwards to Vienna, as secretary to the embassy.
During his residence in the last mentioned city, he received
intelligence of the death of his wife. He very soon was happy enough to
captivate the heart of a relation of the celebrated count de Daun, and
having received letters patent of nobility from the court of Lisbon, all
the numerous objections made at first to this alliance were immediately
removed. Thus fortunate in a foreign country, let us now examine the
different qualities and talents which paved the way for the brilliant
post he was destined to fill on his return to his native land. The page
of history scarcely furnishes a man possessed of so fine an
understanding, and so strong a mind; or who could assume such a variety
of forms, with a character so strikingly contrasted. He, indeed,
displayed successively the lively wit and fascinating manners of a
finished man of fashion; the cultivated understanding of the most
learned scholar; the supple humour of the most artful courtier; the
ready genius of the most consummate man of business; and the subtle
spirit of the most able negociator. With his friends, Carvalho was
sometimes open, and perfectly unreserved; whilst at other times he
treated them with the same profound dissimulation he practised towards
his enemies. The services he received were always rewarded, and the
injuries he suffered were never forgiven. His manners towards foreigners
were as easy and obliging as they were stiff and reserved towards his
countrymen. Such, indeed, was the extent of his capacity, and his
profound knowledge in politics, that he has ever been equally celebrated
as a minister of state, and a manager of foreign affairs.
The great similarity existing between Carvalho, marquis de Pombal, and
the cardinal de Richelieu, has given rise to the following
comparison.[38] These two great personages had each been elevated from
the middling station of life to the highest dignities. Each governed by
terror, and re-established the sovereign authority, by cutting off the
heads, and humbling the arrogance of a turbulent nobility. Each had the
ridiculous pretension of being esteemed wits, and possessed of universal
knowledge. Each was a profound politician, an imperious master, an
irreconcileable enemy, and yet withal of amiable manners. Each rose to
dignities by honourable means, and though alike disdaining to bend the
knee at the shrine of fortune, each became possessed of immense riches.
It would greatly exceed the limits of this work, were we to attempt to
enter minutely into the long administration of the marquis de Pombal; we
shall therefore only take notice of some important particulars, and the
most remarkable events, which took place during the reign of his master.
The respective domains of Spain and Portugal on the continent of South
America, had never been properly divided; but in the year 1751,
commissaries were sent thither to settle this affair, and on their
report the limits were fixed, and a line of separation traced between
the possessions of these two powers; this was approved and confirmed by
treaties signed in the month of April in the same year; these treaties,
however, were not easily put into execution, being strongly opposed by
the Indians of Para and Marignan, and still more violently by those who
inhabited the countries near the rivers d'Uraguay and Parana. Whatever
may be the motives alledged in favour of the war then declared against
these Indians, the principle on which it was founded was certainly
unjust; for even on the supposition that one power has a right to
insist on the neighbouring states adopting the form of government most
conformable to the views of that power; it surely can never have that of
attacking their independence; particularly after their having conformed
to the new established laws, lived happily under them; and desiring
nothing more than to be allowed the quiet enjoyment of the blessings of
peace. The Portugueze, who dreaded the approach of the Spaniards towards
Brazil, and still more particularly towards the mines of St. Paul, and
their settlements on the river Parana; and the Spaniards, who were
equally apprehensive that the Portugueze, by posting themselves on the
Uraguay and Rio de la Plata, should come too near the colonies of Buenos
Ayres, Chili, and the mines of Potosi, had by mutual agreement ceded the
tract of country lying between their different settlements, to the
Jesuits who acted as missionaries in that distant quarter of the globe.
If the grant of these lands, the length of which had never been
ascertained, though the breadth had been determined, became clearly void
on the part of those who ceded it, it could not possibly be valid on
the part of those who signed it; unless, indeed, it was acknowledged as
such by the parties concerned; and this was the ground on which the
missionaries built all their pretensions. This society of holy men, to
the disgrace of the other colonies,[39] had by constant attention and
assiduity greatly humanized Paraguay and the other countries in the
circle of their mission: villages were built in every part, Christianity
triumphed over infidelity and idolatry; the savages became civilized,
and lived happy under a wise government; no people, indeed, ever
appeared more truly blessed; the produce of their labour was distributed
in common; there were neither rich nor poor; no distinctions of high and
low, consequently no avarice, ambition, or jealousy: all took an equal
share in the labours of the day, and all were equally rewarded. The
Jesuits distributed in the different towns and villages, treated the
people with paternal tenderness, and reigned over the whole of Paraguay
like the patriarchs of old, surrounded by a numerous and affectionate
family. The authority they had established, by a system of politics
very different from that of the generality of earthly governments, was
founded on a perfect union of public utility and private happiness; and
this astonishing republic existed some time in peace; for the
missionaries, from moderation, and a wish to avoid all disputes with
Spain and Portugal, paid a reasonable tribute to those powers, without
murmuring at the illegality of such a demand on a free people, who,
though now formed into a commonwealth, was not on that account to be
esteemed either Spanish or Portugueze.
The courts of Lisbon and Madrid, jealous of the great population and
rapid civilization of countries situated so near to their most important
colonies, united to rob the Jesuits of the fruit of their labours, and
to divide the spoil between them. In vain these holy fathers represented
their lawful claim to lands, which had been particularly granted to
them, and the injustice of committing such an outrage on a free people,
who, though they had embraced the Christian religion, and adopted
European manners, never intended bowing their necks to the yoke of
foreign powers. The just reasons alledged by the Jesuits were treated as
acts of rebellion, and an armed force immediately invaded their
colonies. The Indians made all the resistance in their power, but were
presently overcome by the superior skill and experience of European
troops. A small number amongst them submitted to their new masters,
whilst the rest, accompanied by their holy comforters, went farther up
the country, and formed another settlement.
_The war of the missionaries_ bore a very serious aspect at Lisbon; and
Carvalho dispatched his brother to terminate it as soon as possible. The
effects of this war proved in the end very fatal to the Jesuits, for it
prejudiced the king strongly against them, and certainly prepared the
way for their destruction. A very short time afterwards, Joseph the
First not only banished all father confessors of that order from the
court of Lisbon, but every other Jesuit who held employments of
whatsoever nature.[40]
Such about this time became the distressed state of the finances of
Portugal, that the gold of Brazil became an object of the greatest
importance to the minister. The usual annual importation of gold from
that country he knew to amount to forty millions of French livres,
whilst he also knew, that there were not more than fifteen millions, and
those too not without alloy, in circulation throughout the whole of
Portugal. He accordingly published an edict, forbidding the exportation
of gold out of the kingdom. England was greatly alarmed at this
intelligence; and government thought the affair of too much importance
to trust to the common mode of representation; lord Tyrawley was
therefore sent ambassador to Lisbon, with the strictest injunctions to
prevent the effect of this edict; but neither his repeated
expostulations, nor the threatened hostilities of his court, were of any
avail to cause its revocation.
The establishment of several new manufactories in Portugal, occasioned
fresh complaints on the part of the English, which were treated with as
little attention as the former one.[41]
In the mean time Portugal was on the eve of sinking under a blow which
no human prudence could possibly foresee or avert, and which was still
more dreadful, from its not being preceded by any of those signs which
usually presage such awful events.
Never did the horizon appear more clear, nor the sun shine more bright
than on the 1st of November, in the year 1755, and never did the
Portugueze prepare to celebrate All-Saints' Day under more favourable
auspices; when, near the hour of ten, invited by the beauty of the
weather, and the solemnity of the festival, the people with religious
haste flocked towards the churches, the earth suddenly shook under their
feet; clouds of dust darkened the sun; the musical instruments, which
invited them to partake of the holy mysteries, sounded no more; repeated
and violent shocks of an earthquake were felt; houses with terrific
noise fell to the ground on every side; the most solid edifices were
thrown down; the magnificent palace of the kings of Portugal was
entirely destroyed, and scarcely could those who inhabited it, find time
to escape from being buried under the ruins.
Such of the inhabitants of Lisbon who were fortunate enough to avoid
being crushed by the rubbish of their fallen dwellings, knew not where
to seek a place of refuge. Some amongst them flew to the churches, which
presently became their tombs, whilst others, dreading to be swallowed by
the earth, which seemed gaping to receive them, rushed impetuously
towards the sea. The magnificent quays on the banks of the Tagus were
thronged with people; when, in the twinkling of an eye, the element
towards which they looked for safety, rose to a prodigious height, and
threatened them with, if possible, a still more horrid death than that
they sought to escape. The waves of the sea rose several fathoms above
the ordinary level, and dashing towards a shore they were never destined
to overflow, drove in vessels, some of which arrived in safety, whilst
others were entirely shattered to pieces, and swallowed up the unhappy
wretches, who had escaped being buried in the bosom of the earth.
Earth and water were not the only elements which fought against the
miserable Portugueze; fire and air contributed likewise to their
destruction: the former, in particular, caused the most dreadful
catastrophes: for though, at first, apparently smothered amongst the
rubbish, it presently forced itself a passage, and burst forth with such
fury, as baffled every attempt to stop its progress.
The public storehouses, and private magazines were soon reduced to
ashes: the immense riches they contained were entirely consumed; for
such was the violence of the flames, and the excess of heat, that it was
impossible to approach the burning tenements, or assist the wretched
inhabitants, whose piercing cries struck to the heart. But, dreadful to
relate, in the midst of scenes of so much horror, men (if such they can
be called) of different nations and complexions, whose lives had
hitherto been spared, in this awful moment took advantage of the
confusion which reigned throughout the city, to commit the most horrible
depredations. These wretches, dispersed in every quarter, braved the
greatest dangers; not alas! to succour a distressed fellow-creature, but
to rob and murder him; since whosoever discovered a hidden treasure, or
delivered up the keys to these merciless invaders, was sure to pay the
forfeit with his life.
Such atrocious crimes, however, remained not long unpunished; for the
moment the government was able to act, the strictest search was made
for the savage monsters, who, to the disgrace of humanity, still
continued to commit them. Those who escaped the sword of justice, were
strongly fettered, and never relieved from the weight of their chains,
but whilst employed in burying the dead, the numbers of which so
infected the air, and caused such putrid exhalations, that the plague
seemed to threaten this miserable city with still another, and equally
dreadful calamity. The greater part of these atrocious villains survived
but a very few days their accomplices; thus finding a speedy punishment
from the effects of their own diabolical actions; since many amongst
them were struck dead by the putrid vapours issuing from the very bodies
of those they had so inhumanly butchered.
The intelligence of this dreadful event was presently circulated
throughout Europe; and the English displayed on the occasion a degree of
humanity and generosity superior to all praise. All causes of discontent
given them by the Portugueze were, at this calamitous moment, nobly
forgotten; and they alone afforded them more assistance than they
received from the united efforts of all their neighbours and allies.
Justice is also due to the conduct of Carvalho, who during several days
carried on business, eat, and slept in his carriage, which conveyed him
continually from place to place, and whithersoever his presence was
particularly required. Such was his activity, that he published more
than a hundred ordinances in the space of eight days. He advised the
king to wear nothing but undyed woollen cloth, manufactured in the
country; and his example was followed by the court, and every other
description of persons: he also engaged his majesty to sign an edict, by
which all foreign merchandize was obliged to pay an additional duty; and
this he enforced, notwithstanding the representations of the foreign
ministers, and more particularly those of the English ambassador. By the
effects of his zeal, Lisbon was soon cleared of all rubbish, and wide
strait streets built, with new houses on each side. Such indeed were the
signal services he rendered the state on this disastrous occasion, that
he became the idol of the people, and was appointed prime minister by
his majesty. He was not, however, so elated by his good fortune, as not
to be perfectly aware that he had great and dangerous enemies, whose
hatred was still increased by his new dignities; but he was far from
suspecting the extent of their malice, or the dreadful precipice on
which he stood. The attack meditated against him, was still more
formidable, from the profound secrecy with which it was concealed, and
from the parties concerned in it being of the first consideration in the
state.
The duke d'Aveiro, one of the greatest men in the kingdom, was the
ostensible chief of this conspiracy; whilst the marchioness de Tavora, a
most distinguished character at court, was in fact the principal agent;
and the whole was conducted by father Malagrida, a member of the most
powerful religious order in the Christian world.
The union of persons so differently situated, and of such opposite
characters, was the effect of a concatenation of circumstances of the
most extraordinary nature.