The West, 1763-1783
(Narrative and Critical History of America,
volume 6, chapter 9)._
ALSO IN:
_F. Parkman,
Conspiracy of Pontiac._
_S. Farmer,
History of Detroit and Michigan,
chapter 38._
_Historical Account of Bouquet's Expedition._
_A. Henry,
Travels and Adventures in Canada,
part 1, chapters 9-23._
_W. L. Stone,
Life and Times of Sir William Johnson,
volume 2, chapters 9-12._
_J. R. Brodhead,
Documents Relative to Colonial History New York,
volume 7._
PONTIFEX MAXIMUS.
PONTIFICES, Roman.
See AUGURS.
PONTIFF, The Roman.
The Pope is often alluded to as the Roman Pontiff, the term
implying an analogy between his office and that of the
Pontifex Maximus of the ancient Romans.
PONTIFICAL INDICTIONS.
See INDICTIONS.
PONTUS.
See MITHRIDATIC WARS.
PONTUS EUXINUS,
EUXINUS PONTUS.
The Black Sea, as named by the Greeks.
PONZA, Naval Battle of (1435).
See ITALY: A. D. 1412-1447.
POOR LAWS, The English.
"It has been often said and often denied that the monasteries
supplied the want which the poor law, two generations after
the dissolution of these bodies, enforced. That the
monasteries were renowned for their almsgiving is certain. The
duty of aiding the needy was universal. Themselves the
creatures of charity, they could not deny to others that on
which they subsisted. …
{2563}
It is possible that these institutions created the mendicancy
which they relieved, but it cannot be doubted that they
assisted much which needed their help. The guilds which
existed in the towns were also found in the country villages.
… They were convenient instruments for charity before the
establishment of a poor law, and they employed no
inconsiderable part of their revenues, collected from
subscriptions and from lands and tenements, in relieving the
indigent and treating poor strangers hospitably. … Before the
dissolution of the monasteries, but when this issue was fairly
in view, in 1536, an attempt was made to secure some legal
provision for destitution. The Act of this year provides that
the authorities in the cities and boroughs should collect alms
on Sundays and holy days, that the ministers should on all
occasions, public and private, stir up the people to
contribute to a common fund, that the custom of giving doles
by private persons should be forbidden under penalty, and that
the church-wardens should distribute the alms when collected.
The Act, however, is strictly limited to free gifts, and the
obligations of monasteries, almshouses, hospitals, and
brotherhoods are expressly maintained. … There was a
considerable party in England which was willing enough to see
the monasteries destroyed, root and branch, and one of the
most obvious means by which this result could be attained
would be to allege that all which could be needed for the
relief of destitution would be derived from the voluntary
offerings of those who contributed so handsomely to the
maintenance of indolent and dissolute friars. The public was
reconciled to the Dissolution by the promise made that the
monastic estates should not be converted to the king's private
use, but be devoted towards the maintenance of a military
force, and that therefore no more demands should be made on
the nation for subsidies and aids. Similarly when the guild
lands and chantry lands were confiscated at the beginning of
Edward's reign, a promise was made that the estates of these
foundations should be devoted to good and proper uses, for
erecting grammar schools, for the further augmentation of the
universities, and the better provision for the poor and needy.
They were swept into the hands of Seymour and Somerset, of the
Dudleys and Cecils, and the rest of the crew who surrounded
the throne of Edward. It cannot, therefore, I think, be
doubted that this violent change of ownership, apart from any
considerations of previous practice in these several
institutions, must have aggravated whatever evils already
existed. … The guardians of Edward attempted, in a savage
statute passed in the first year of his reign, to restrain
pauperism and vagabondage by reducing the landless and
destitute poor to slavery, by branding them, and making them
work in chains. The Act, however, only endured for two years.
In the last year of Edward's reign two collectors were to be
appointed in every parish, who were to wait on every person of
substance and inquire what sums he will give weekly to the
relief of the poor. The promises are to be entered in a book,
and the collectors were authorized to employ the poor in such
work as they could perform, paying them from the fund. Those
who refused to aid were to be first exhorted by the ministers
and church wardens, and if they continued obstinate were to be
denounced to the bishop, who is to remonstrate with such
uncharitable folk. … In the beginning of Elizabeth's reign (5,
cap. 3) the unwilling giver, after being exhorted by the
bishop, is to be bound to appear before the justices, in
quarter sessions, where, if he be still obdurate to
exhortation, the justices are empowered to tax him in a weekly
sum, and commit him to prison till he pays. … There was only a
step from the process under which a reluctant subscriber to
the poor law was assessed by the justices and imprisoned on
refusal, to the assessment of all property under the
celebrated Act of 43 Elizabeth [1601], cap. 3. The law had
provided for the regular appointment of assessors for the levy
of rates, for supplying work to the able-bodied, for giving
relief to the infirm and old, and for binding apprentices. It
now consolidates the experience of the whole reign, defines
the kind of property on which the rate is to be levied,
prescribes the manner in which the assessors shall be
appointed, and inflicts penalties on parties who infringe its
provisions. It is singular that the Act was only temporary. It
was, by the last clause, only to continue to the end of the
next session of parliament. It was, however, renewed, and
finally made perpetual by 16 Car. I., cap. 4. The economical
history of labour in England is henceforward intimately
associated with this remarkable Act. … The Act was to be
tentative, indeed, but in its general principles it lasted
till 1835. … The effect of poor law relief on the wages of
labour was to keep them hopelessly low, to hinder a rise even
under the most urgent circumstances."
_J. E. Thorold Rogers,
Six Centuries of Work and Wages,
chapter 15 (volume 2)._
"In February 1834 was published perhaps the most remarkable
and startling document to be found in the whole range of
English, perhaps, indeed, of all, social history. It was the
Report upon the administration and practical operation of the
Poor Laws by the Commissioners who had been appointed to
investigate the subject. … It was their rare good fortune not
only to lay bare the existence of abuses and trace them to
their roots, but also to propound and enforce the remedies by
which they might be cured."
_T. W. Fowle,
The Poor Law,
chapter 4._
"The poor-rate had become public spoil. The ignorant believed
it an inexhaustible fund which belonged to them. To obtain
their share, the brutal bullied the administrators, the
profligate exhibited their bastards which must be fed, the
idle folded their arms and waited till they got it; ignorant
boys and girls married upon it; poachers, thieves, and
prostitutes extorted it by intimidation; country justices
lavished it for popularity, and guardians for convenience.
This was the way the fund went. As for whence it arose—it
came, more and more every year, out of the capital of the
shopkeeper and the farmer, and the diminishing resources of
the country gentleman. … Instead of the proper number of
labourers to till his lands—labourers paid by himself—the
farmer was compelled to take double the number, whose wages
were paid partly out of the rates; and these men, being
employed by compulsion on him, were beyond his control—worked
or not as they chose —let down the quality of his land, and
disabled him from employing the better men who would have
toiled hard for independence. These better men sank down among
the worse; the rate-paying cottager, after a vain struggle,
went to the pay-table to seek relief; the modest girl might
starve, while her bolder neighbour received 1s. 6d. per week
for every illegitimate child.
{2564}
Industry, probity, purity, prudence– all heart and spirit—the
whole soul of goodness —were melting down into depravity and
social ruin, like snow under the foul internal fires which
precede the earthquake. There were clergymen in the
commission, as well as politicians and economists; and they
took these things to heart, and laboured diligently to frame
suggestions for a measure which should heal and recreate the
moral spirit as well as the economical condition of society in
England. To thoughtful observers it is clear that the … grave
aristocratic error … of confounding in one all ranks below a
certain level of wealth was at the bottom of much poor-law
abuse, as it has been of the opposition to its amendment. …
Except the distinction between sovereign and subject, there is
no social difference in England so wide as that between the
independent labourer and the pauper; and it is equally
ignorant, immoral, and impolitic to confound the two. This
truth was so apparent to the commissioners, and they conveyed
it so fully to the framers of the new poor-law, that it forms
the very foundation of the measure. … Enlightened by a
prodigious accumulation of evidence, the commissioners offered
their suggestions to government; and a bill to amend the
poor-law was prepared and proposed to the consideration of
parliament early in 1834. … If one main object of the reform
was to encourage industry, it was clearly desirable to remove
the impediments to the circulation of labour. Settlement by
hiring and service was to exist no longer; labour could freely
enter any parish where it was wanted, and leave it for another
parish which might, in its turn, want hands. In observance of
the great principle that the independent labourer was not to
be sacrificed to the pauper, all administration of relief to
the able-bodied at their own homes was to be discontinued as
soon as possible; and the allowance system was put an end to
entirely. … Henceforth, the indigent must come into the
workhouse for relief, if he must have it. … The able-bodied
should work—should do a certain amount of work for every meal.
They might go out after the expiration of twenty-four hours;
but while in the house they must work. The men, women, and
children must be separated; and the able-bodied and infirm. …
In order to a complete and economical classification in the
workhouses, and for other obvious reasons, the new act
provided for unions of parishes. … To afford the necessary
control over such a system … a central board was
indispensable, by whose orders, and through whose
assistant-commissioners, everything was to be arranged, and to
whom all appeals were to be directed. … Of the changes
proposed by the new law, none was more important to morals
than that which threw the charge of the maintenance of
illegitimate children upon the mother. … The decrease of
illegitimate births was what many called wonderful, but only
what the framers of the law had anticipated from the removal
of direct pecuniary inducement to profligacy, and from the
awakening of proper care in parents of daughters, and of
reflection in the women themselves. … On the 14th of August
1834, the royal assent was given to the Poor–law Amendment
Act, amidst prognostications of utter failure from the timid,
and some misgivings among those who were most confident of the
absolute necessity of the measure. … Before two years were
out, wages were rising and rates were falling in the whole
series of country parishes; farmers were employing more
labourers; surplus labour was absorbed; bullying paupers were
transformed into steady working-men; the decrease of
illegitimate births, chargeable to the parish, throughout
England, was nearly 10,000, or nearly 13 per cent.; … and,
finally, the rates, which had risen nearly a million in their
annual amount during the five years before the poor-law
commission was issued, sank down, in the course of the five
years after it, from being upwards of seven millions to very
little above four."
_H. Martineau,
A History of the Thirty Years Peace,
book 4, chapter 7 (volume 2)._
In 1838 the Act was extended to Ireland, and in 1845 to
Scotland.
_T. W. Fowle,
The Poor Law,
chapter 4._
"The new Poor Law was passed by Parliament in 1834; and the
oversight of its administration was placed in the hands of a
special board of commissioners, then known as the Central Poor
Law Board. This board, which was not represented in
Parliament, was continued until 1847. In that year it was
reconstructed and placed under the presidency of a minister
with a seat in the House of Commons—a reconstruction putting
it on a political level with the Home Office and the other
important Government Departments at Whitehall. The Department
was henceforward known as the Poor Law Board, and continued to
be so named until 1871, when there was another reconstruction.
This time the Poor Law Board took over from the Home Office
various duties in respect of municipal government and public
health, and from the Privy Council the oversight of the
administration of the vaccination laws and other powers, and
its title was changed to that of the Local Government Board.
Since then hardly a session of Parliament has passed in which
its duties and responsibilities have not been added to, until
at the present time the Local Government Board is more
directly in touch with the people of England and Wales than
any other Government Department. There is not a village in the
land which its inspectors do not visit or to which the
official communications of the Board are not addressed."
_E. Porritt,
The Englishman at Home,
chapter 2._
ALSO IN:
_Sir G. Nicholls,
History of the English Poor-Law._
_F. Peek,
Social Wreckage._
POOR MEN OF LYONS.
POOR MEN OF LOMBARDY.
See WALDENSES.
POOR PRIESTS OF LOLLARDY, The.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1360-1414.
POPE, General John.
Capture of New Madrid and Island Number Ten.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1862 (MARCH-APRIL: ON THE .MISSISSIPPI).
Command of the Army of the Mississippi.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1862 (APRIL-MAY: TENNESSEE-MISSISSIPPI).
Virginia campaign.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1862 (JULY-AUGUST: VIRGINIA);
(AUGUST: VIRGINIA);
and (AUGUST-SEPTEMBER: VIRGINIA).
POPE, The.
See PAPACY.
POPHAM COLONY, The.
See MAINE: A. D. 1607-1608.
POPISH PLOT, The.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1678-1679.
POPOL VUH, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: QUICHES.
{2565}
POPOLOCAS, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: CHONTALS.
POPULARES.
See OPTIMATES.
PORNOCRACY AT ROME.
See ROME: A. D. 903-964.
PORT GIBSON, Battle of.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1863 (APRIL-JULY: ON THE MISSISSIPPI).
PORT HUDSON, Siege and capture of.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1863 (MAY-JULY: ON THE MISSISSIPPI).
PORT JACKSON: A. D. 1770-1788.
The discovery.
The naming.
The first settlement.
See AUSTRALIA: A. D. 1601-1800.
PORT MAHON.
See MINORCA.
PORT PHILLIP DISTRICT.
See AUSTRALIA: A. D. 1800-1840, and 1839-1855.
PORT REPUBLIC, Battle of.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1862 MAY-JUNE: VIRGINIA).
----------PORT ROYAL: Start--------
PORT ROYAL,
The Jansenists: A. D. 1602-1660.
The monastery under Mère Angelique
and the hermits of the Port Royal Valley.
Their acceptance of the doctrines of Jansenius.
Their conflict with the Jesuits.
"The monastery of Port Royal … was founded in the beginning of
the 13th century, in the reign of Philip Augustus; and a later
tradition claimed this magnificent monarch as the author of
its foundation and of its name. … But this is the story of a
time when, as it has been said, 'royal founders were in
fashion.' More truly, the name is considered to be derived
from the general designation of the fief or district in which
the valley lies, Porrois—which, again, is supposed to be a
corruption of Porra or Borra, meaning a marshy and woody
hollow. The valley of Port Royal presents to this day the same
natural features which attracted the eye of the devout
solitary in the seventeenth century. … It lies about eighteen
miles west of Paris, and seven or eight from Versailles, on
the road to Chevreuse. … The monastery was founded, not by
Philip Augustus, but by Matthieu, first Lord of Marli, a
younger son of the noble house of Montmorency. Having formed
the design of accompanying the crusade proclaimed by Innocent
III. to the Holy Land, he left at the disposal of his wife,
Mathilde de Garlande, and his kinsman, the Bishop of Paris, a
sum of money to devote to some pious work in his absence. They
agreed to apply it to the erection of a monastery for nuns in
this secluded valley, that had already acquired a reputation
for sanctity in connection with the old chapel dedicated to
St. Lawrence, which attracted large numbers of worshippers.
The foundations of the church and monastery were laid in 1204.
They were designed by the same architect who built the
Cathedral of Amiens, and ere long the graceful and beautiful
structures were seen rising in the wilderness. The nuns
belonged to the Cistercian order. Their dress was white
woollen, with a black veil; but afterwards they adopted as
their distinctive badge a large scarlet cross on their white
scapulary, as the symbol of the 'Institute of the Holy
Sacrament.' The abbey underwent the usual history of such
institutions. Distinguished at first by the strictness of its
discipline and the piety of its inmates, it became gradually
corrupted with increasing wealth, till, in the end of the
sixteenth century, it had grown notorious for gross and
scandalous abuses. … But at length its revival arose out of
one of the most obvious abuses connected with it. The
patronage of the institution, like that of others, had been
distributed without any regard to the fitness of the
occupants, even to girls of immature age. In this manner the
abbey of Port Royal accidentally fell to the lot of one who
was destined by her ardent piety to breathe a new life into
it, and by her indomitable and lofty genius to give it an
undying reputation. Jacqueline Marie Arnauld—better known by
her official name, La Mère Angélique—was appointed abbess of
Port Royal when she was only eight years of age. She was
descended from a distinguished family belonging originally to
the old noblesse of Provence, but which had migrated to
Auvergne and settled there. Of vigorous healthiness, both
mental and physical, the Arnaulds had already acquired a
merited position and name in the annals of France. In the
beginning of the sixteenth century it found its way to Paris
in the person of Antoine Arnauld, Seigneur de la Mothe, the
grandfather of the heroine of Port Royal. … Antoine Arnauld
married the youthful daughter of M. Marion, the
Avocat-general. … The couple had twenty children, and felt, as
may be imagined, the pressure of providing for so many. Out of
this pressure came the remarkable lot of two of the daughters.
The benefices of the Church were a fruitful field of
provision, and the avocat-general, the maternal grandfather of
the children, had large ecclesiastical influence. The result
was the appointment not only of one daughter to the abbey of
Port Royal, but also of a younger sister, Agnes, only six
years of age, to the abbey of St Cyr, about six miles distant
from Port Royal. … At the age of eleven, in the year 1602,
Angélique was installed Abbess of Port Royal. Her sister took
the veil at the age of seven. … The remarkable story of
Angélique's conversion by the preaching of a Capucin friar in
1608, her strange contest with her parents which followed, the
strengthening impulses in different directions which her
religious life received, first from the famous St Francis de
Sales, and finally, and especially, from the no less
remarkable Abbé de St Cyran, all belong to the history of Port
Royal."
_J. Tulloch,
Pascal,
chapter 4._
"The numbers at the Port Royal had increased to eighty, and
the situation was so unhealthy that there were many deaths. In
1626 they moved to Paris, and the abbey in the fields remained
for many years deserted. M. Zamet, a pious but not a great
man, for a while had the spiritual charge of the Port Royal,
but in 1634 the abbé of St. Cyran became its director. To his
influence is due the position it took in the coming conflict
of Jansenism, and the effects of his teachings can be seen in
the sisters, and in most of the illustrious recluses who
attached themselves to the monastery. St. Cyran had been an
early associate of Jansenius, whose writings became such a
fire-brand in the Church. As young men they devoted the most
of five years to an intense study of St. Augustine. It is said
Jansenius read all of his works ten times, and thirty times
his treatises against the Pelagians. The two students resolved
to attempt a reformation in the belief of the Church, which
they thought was falling away from many of the tenets of the
father.
{2566}
Jansenius was presently made bishop of Ypres by the Spanish as
a reward for a political tract, but he pursued his studies in
his new bishopric. … In 1640, the Augustinus appeared, in
which the bishop of Ypres sought, by a full reproduction of
the doctrines of St. Augustine, to bring the Church back from
the errors of the Pelagians to the pure and severe tenets of
the great father. The doctrine of grace, the very corner–stone
of the Christian faith, was that which Jansenius labored to
revive. Saint Augustine had taught that, before the fall of
our first parents, man, being in astute of innocence, could of
his own free will do works acceptable to God; but after that
his nature was so corrupted, that no good thing could proceed
from it, save only as divine grace worked upon him. This grace
God gave as He saw fit, working under his eternal decrees, and
man, except as predestined and elected to its sovereign help,
could accomplish no righteous act, and must incur God's just
wrath. But the Pelagians and semi-Pelagians had departed from
this doctrine, and attributed a capacity to please God, to
man's free will and the deeds proceeding from it—a belief
which could but foster his carnal pride and hasten his
damnation. The Jesuits were always desirous to teach religion
so that it could most easily be accepted, and they had
inclined to semi-Pelagian doctrines, rather than to the
difficult truths of St. Augustine. Yet no one questioned his
authority. The dispute was as to the exact interpretation of
his writings. Jansenius claimed to have nothing in his great
book save the very word of Augustine, or its legitimate
result. The Jesuits replied that his writings contained
neither the doctrine of Augustine nor the truth of God. They
appealed to the Pope for the condemnation of these heresies.
Jansenius had died before the publication of his book, but his
followers, who were soon named after him, endeavored to defend
his works from censure. … It was not until 1653 that the
influence of the Jesuits succeeded in obtaining the
condemnation of the offending book. In that year, Innocent X.
issued a bull, by which he condemned as heretical five
propositions contained in the Augustinus. … The members of the
Port Royal adopted the Jansenist cause. Saint Cyran had been a
fellow worker with Jansenius, and he welcomed the Augustinus
as a book to revive and purify the faith of the Church. … The
rigid predestinarianism of Jansen had a natural attraction for
the stern zeal of the Port Royal. The religion of the convent
and of those connected with it bordered on asceticism. They
lived in the constant awe of God, seeking little communion
with the world, and offering to it little compromise. … An
intense and rigorous religious life adopts an intense and
rigorous belief. The Jansenists resembled the English and
American Puritans. They shared their Calvinistic tenets and
their strict morality. A Jansenist, said the Jesuits, is a
Calvinist saying mass. No accusation was more resented by
those of the Jansenist party. They sought no alliance with the
Protestants. Saint Cyran and Arnauld wrote prolifically
against the Calvinists. They were certainly separated from the
latter by their strong devotion to two usages of the Catholic
Church which were especially objectionable to Protestants—the
mass and the confessional. … In 1647, Mother Angelique with
some of the sisters returned to Port Royal in the Fields. The
convent at Paris continued in close relations with it, but the
abbey in the fields was to exhibit the most important phases
of devotional life. Before the return of the sisters, this
desolate spot had begun to be the refuge for many eminent men,
whose careers became identified with the fate of the abbey.
'We saw arrive,' writes one of them, 'from diverse provinces,
men of different professions, who, like mariners that had
suffered shipwreck, came to seck the Port.' M. le Maitre, a
nephew of Mother Angelique, a lawyer of much prominence, a
counsellor of state, a favorite of the chancellor and renowned
for his eloquent harangues, abandoned present prosperity and
future eminence, and in 1638 built a little house, near the
monastery, and became the first of those who might be called
the hermits of the Port Royal. Not taking orders, nor becoming
a member of any religious body, he sought a life of lonely
devotion in this barren place. … Others gradually followed,
until there grew up a community, small in numbers, but strong
in influence, united in study, in penance, in constant praise
and worship. Though held together by no formal vows, few of
those who put hand to the plough turned back from the work.
They left their beloved retreat only when expelled by force,
and with infinite regret. The monastery itself had become
dilapidated. It was surrounded by stagnant waters, and the
woods near by were full of snakes. But the recluses found
religious joy amid this desolation. … As their numbers
increased they did much, however, to improve the desolate
retreat they had chosen. … Some of the recluses cultivated the
ground. Others even made shoes, and the Jesuits dubbed them
the cobblers. They found occupation not only in such labors
and in solitary meditation, but in the more useful work of
giving the young an education that was sound in learning and
grounded in piety. The schools of the Port Royal had a
troubled existence of about fifteen years. Though they rarely
had over fifty pupils, yet in this brief period they left
their mark. Racine, Tillemont, and many others of fruitful
scholarship and piety were among the pupils who were watched
and trained by the grave anchorites with a tender and
fostering care. … The judicious teachers of the Port Royal
taught reading in French, and in many ways did much to improve
the methods of French instruction and scholarship. The
children were thoroughly trained also in Greek and Latin, in
logic and mathematics. Their teachers published admirable
manuals for practical study in many branches. 'They sought,'
says one, 'to render study more agreeable than play or games.'
The jealousy of the Jesuits, who were well aware of the
advantages of controlling the education of the young, at last
obtained the order for the final dispersion of these little
schools, and in 1660 they were closed for ever. Besides these
manuals for teaching, the literature of the Port Royal
comprised many controversial works, chief among them the
forty-two volumes of Arnauld. It furnished also a translation
of the Bible by Saci, which, though far from possessing the
merits of the English version of King James, is one of the
best of the many French translations. But the works of Blaise
Pascal were the great productions of the Port Royal, as he
himself was its chief glory. The famous Provincial Letters
originated from the controversy over Jansenism, though they
soon turned from doctrinal questions to an attack on the
morality of the Jesuits that permanently injured the influence
of that body."
_J. B. Perkins,
France under Mazarin,
chapter 20 (volume 2)._
ALSO IN:
_M. A. Schimmelpenninck,
Select Memoirs of Port Royal._
{2567}
PORT ROYAL: A. D. 1702-1715.
Renewed persecution.
Suppression and destruction of the Monastery.
The odious Bull Unigenitus, and its tyrannical enforcement.
"The Jesuits had been for some time at a low ebb, in the
beginning of the 18th century, the Cardinal de Noailles,
Archbishop of Paris, then ruling the King through Madame de
Maintenon, and himself submitting to the direction of Bossuet.
The imprudence of the Jansenists, their indefatigable spirit
of dispute, restored to their enemies the opportunity to
retrieve their position. In 1702, forty Sorbonne doctors
resuscitated the celebrated question of fact concerning the
five propositions of Jansenius, and maintained that, in the
presence of the decisions of the Church on points of fact and
not of dogma, a respectful silence sufficed without internal
acquiescence. Some other propositions of a Jansenistic
tendency accompanied this leading question. Bossuet hastened
to interfere to stifle the matter, and to induce the doctors
to retract. … Thirty-nine doctors retracted out of forty. The
King forbade the publication thenceforth of anything
concerning these matters, but, in his own name, and that of
Philip V. [of Spain, his grandson], entreated Pope Clement XI.
to renew the constitutions of his predecessors against
Jansenism. … Clement XI. responded to the King's wishes by a
Bull which fell in the midst of the assembly of the clergy in
1705. Cardinal de Noailles, who presided, made reservations
against the infallibility of the Church in affairs of fact.
The assembly, animated with a Gallican spirit, accepted the
Bull, but established that the constitutions of the Popes bind
the whole Church only when they have been accepted by the
bodies of the pastors,' and that this acceptance on the part
of the bishops is made 'by way of judgment.' The court of Rome
was greatly offended that the bishops should claim to 'judge'
after it, and this gave rise to long negotiations: the King
induced the bishops to offer to the Pope extenuating
explanations. The Jesuits, however, regained the ascendency at
Versailles, and prepared against Cardinal de Noailles a
formidable engine of war." The Cardinal had given his
approval, some years before, to a work—"Moral Reflections on
the New Testament"—published by Father Quesnel, who
afterwards became a prominent Jansenist. The Jesuits now
procured the condemnation of this work, by the congregation of
the Index, and a decree from the Pope prohibiting it. "This
was a rude assault on Cardinal de Noailles. The decree,
however, was not received in France, through a question of
form, or rather, perhaps, because the King was then
dissatisfied with the Pope, on account of the concessions of
Clement XI. to the House of Austria. The Jansenists gained
nothing thereby. At this very moment, a terrible blow was
about to fall on the dearest and most legitimate object of
their veneration." The nuns of Port-Royal of the Fields having
refused to subscribe to the papal constitution of 1705, the
Pope had subjected them to the Abbess of Port-Royal of Paris,
"who did not share their Augustinian faith (1708). They
resisted. Meanwhile, Father La Chaise [the King's confessor]
died, and Le Tellier succeeded him. The affair was carried to
the most extreme violence. Cardinal de Noailles, a man of pure
soul and feeble character, was persuaded, in order to prove
that he was not a Jansenist, to cruelty, despite himself,
towards the rebellious nuns. They were torn from their
monastery and dispersed through different convents (November,
1709). The illustrious abbey of Port-Royal, hallowed, even in
the eyes of unbelievers, by the name of so many great men, by
the memory of so much virtue, was utterly demolished, by the
order of the lieutenant of police, D'Argenson. Two years
after, as if it were designed to exile even the shades that
haunted the valley, the dead of Port-Royal were exhumed, and
their remains transferred to a village cemetery (at Magny).
Noailles, while he entered into this persecution, took the
same course, nevertheless, as the nuns of Port-Royal, by
refusing to retract the approbation which he had given to the
'Moral Reflections.' Le Tellier caused him to be denounced to
the King. … The King prohibited Quesnel's book by a decree in
council (November 11, 1711), and demanded of the Pope a new
condemnation of this book, in a form that could be received in
France. The reply of Clement XI. was delayed until September
8, 1713; this was the celebrated Unigenitus Bull, the work of
Le Tellier far more than of the Pope, and which, instead of
the general terms of the Bull of 1708, expressly condemned 101
propositions extracted from the 'Moral Reflections.' … The
Bull dared condemn the very words of St. Augustine and of St.
Paul himself; there were propositions, on other matters than
grace, the condemnation of which was and should have been
scandalous, and seemed veritably the triumph of Jesuitism over
Christianity; for example, those concerning the necessity of
the love of God. It had dared to condemn this: 'There is no
God, there is no religion, where there is not charity.' This
was giving the pontifical sanction to the Jesuitical theories
most contrary to the general spirit of Christian theology. It
was the same with the maxims relative to the Holy Scriptures.
The Pope had anathematized the following propositions: 'The
reading of the Holy Scriptures is for all. Christians should
keep the Sabbath-day holy by reading the Scriptures; it is
dangerous to deprive them of these.' And also this: 'The fear
of unjust excommunication should not prevent us from doing our
duty.' This was overturning all political Gallicanism." The
acceptance of the Bull was strongly but vainly resisted. The
King and the King's malignant confessor spared no exercise of
their unbridled power to compel submission to it. "It was
endeavored to stifle by terror public opinion contrary to the
Bull: exiles, imprisonments, were multiplied from day to day."
And still, when Louis XIV. died, on the 1st day of September,
1715, the struggle was not at an end.
_H. Martin,
History of France: Age of Louis XIV.,
volume 2, chapter 6._
{2568}
"It is now time that I should say something of the infamous
bull Unigenitus, which by the unsurpassed audacity and
scheming of Father Le Tellier and his friends was forced upon
the Pope and the world. I need not enter into a very lengthy
account of the celebrated Papal decree which has made so many
martyrs, depopulated our schools, introduced ignorance,
fanaticism, and misrule, rewarded vice, thrown the whole
community into the greatest confusion, caused disorder
everywhere, and established the most arbitrary and the most
barbarous inquisition; evils which have doubled within the
last thirty years. I will content myself with a word or two,
and will not blacken further the pages of my Memoirs. … It is
enough to say that the new bull condemned in set terms the
doctrines of St. Paul, … and also those of St. Augustin, and
of other fathers; doctrines which have always been adopted by
the Popes, by the Councils, and by the Church itself. The
bull, as soon as published, met with a violent opposition in
Rome from the cardinals there, who went by sixes, by eights,
and by tens, to complain of it to the Pope. … He protested …
that the publication had been made without his knowledge, and
put off the cardinals with compliments, excuses, and tears,
which last he could always command. The constitution had the
same fate in France as in Rome. The cry against it was
universal."
_Duke of Saint Simon,
Memoirs (abridged translation by St. John),
volume 3, chapter 6._
"Jansenism … laid hold upon all ecclesiastical bodies with
very few exceptions, it predominated altogether in theological
literature; all public schools that were not immediately under
the Jesuits, or, as in Spain, under the Inquisition, held
Jansenist opinions, at least so far as the majority of their
theologians were concerned. In Rome itself this teaching was
strongly represented amongst the cardinals." Fenelon declared
"that nobody knew—now that the controversy and the
condemnations had gone on for sixty years—in what the
erroneous doctrine exactly consisted; for the Roman court
stuck fast to the principle of giving no definition of what
ought to be believed, so that the same doctrine which it
apparently rejected in one form, was unhesitatingly accepted
at Rome itself when expressed in other though synonymous
terms. … The same thing which under one name was condemned,
was under another, as the teaching of the Thomists or
Augustinians, declared to be perfectly orthodox. … Just
because nobody could tell in what sense such propositions as
those taken from the works of Jansenius or Quesnel were to be
rejected, did they become valuable; for the whole question was
turned into one of blind obedience and submission, without
previous investigation. The Jesuit D'Aubenton, who as
Tellier's agent in Rome had undertaken to procure that the
passages selected from Quesnel's book should be condemned,
repeatedly informed his employer that at Rome everything
turned upon the papal infallibility; to get this passed whilst
the king was ready to impose, by force of arms, upon the
bishops and clergy the unquestioning acceptance of the papal
constitution, was the only object."
_J. I. von Döllinger,
Studies in European History,
chapter 12._
ALSO IN:
_W. H. Jarvis,
History of the Church of France,
volume 2, chapters 5-7._
_F. Rocquain,
The Revolutionary Spirit preceding the French Revolution,
chapter 1._
----------PORT ROYAL: End--------
----------PORT ROYAL, Nova Scotia: Start--------
PORT ROYAL, Nova Scotia: A. D. 1603-1613.
Settled by the French, and destroyed by the English.
See CANADA: A. D. 1603-1605; 1606-1608; and 1610-1613.
PORT ROYAL, Nova Scotia: A. D. 1690.
Taken by an expedition from Massachusetts.
See CANADA: A. D. 1689-1690.
PORT ROYAL, Nova Scotia: A. D. 1691.
Recovered by the French.
See CANADA: A. D. 1692-1697.
PORT ROYAL, Nova Scotia: A. D. 1710.
Final conquest by the English and
change of name to Annapolis Royal.
See NEW ENGLAND: A. D. 1702-1710.
----------PORT ROYAL, Nova Scotia: End--------
PORT ROYAL EXPEDITION, The.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1861 (OCTOBER-DECEMBER: SOUTH CAROLINA-GEORGIA).
PORTCHESTER, Origin of.
See PORTUS MAGNUS.
PORTE, The Sublime.
See SUBLIME PORTE;
also PHARAOH.
PORTEOUS RIOT, The.
See EDINBURGH: A. D. 1736.
PORTER, Admiral David D.:
Capture of New Orleans.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1862 (APRIL: ON THE MISSISSIPPI).
Second attempt against Vicksburg.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1862 (DECEMBER: ON THE MISSISSIPPI).
PORTICO, The Athenian, Suppression of.
See ATHENS: A. D. 529.
PORTLAND MINISTRY, The.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1806-1812.
PORTO NOVO, Battle of (1781).
See INDIA: A. D. 1780-1783.
PORTO RICO: Discovery by Columbus (1493).
See AMERICA: A. D. 1493-1496.
PORTO VENERE, Naval Battle of (1494).
See ITALY: A. D. 1494-1496.
PORTOBELLO: A. D. 1668.
Capture by the Buccaneers.
See AMERICA: A. D. 1639-1700.
PORTOBELLO: A. D. 1740.
Capture by Admiral Vernon.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1739-1741.
PORTOLONGO, or Sapienza, Battle of (1354).
See CONSTANTINOPLE: A. D. 1348-1355.
----------PORTUGAL: Start--------
PORTUGAL:
Early history.
Mistaken identification with ancient Lusitania.
Roman, Gothic, Moorish and Spanish conquests.
The county of Henry of Burgundy.
"The early history of the country, which took the name of
Portugal from the county which formed the nucleus of the
future kingdom, is identical with that of the rest of the
Iberian peninsula, but deserves some slight notice because of
an old misconception, immortalized in the title of the famous
epic of Camoens, and not yet entirely eradicated even from
modern ideas. Portugal, like the rest of the peninsula, was
originally inhabited by men of the prehistoric ages. … There
seems to be no doubt that the Celts, the first Aryan
immigrants, were preceded by a non-Aryan race, which is called
by different writers the Iberian or Euskaldunac nation, but
this earlier race speedily amalgamated with the Celts, and out
of the two together were formed the five tribes inhabiting the
Iberian peninsula, which Strabo names as the Cantabrians, the
Vasconians, the Asturians, the Gallicians and the Lusitanians.
It is Strabo, also, who mentions the existence of Greek
colonies at the mouth of the Tagus, Douro, and Minho, and it
is curious to note that the old name of Lisbon, Olisipo, was
from the earliest times identified with that of the hero of
the Odyssey, and was interpreted to mean the city of Ulysses.
…
{2569}
The Carthaginians, though they had colonies all over the
peninsula, established their rule mainly over the south and
east of it, having their capital at Carthagena or Nova
Carthago, and seem to have neglected the more barbarous
northern and western provinces. It was for this reason that
the Romans found far more difficulty in subduing these latter
provinces. … In 189 B. C. Lucius Æmilius Paullus defeated the
Lusitanians, and in 185 B. C. Gaius Calpurnius forced his way
across the Tagus. There is no need here to discuss the gradual
conquest by the Romans of that part of the peninsula which
includes the modern kingdom of Portugal, but it is necessary
to speak of the gallant shepherd Viriathus, who sustained a
stubborn war against the Romans from 149 B. C. until he was
assassinated in 139 B. C., because he has been generally
claimed as the first national hero of Portugal. This claim has
been based upon the assumed identification of the modern
Portugal with the ancient Lusitania [see LUSITANIA, an
identification which has spread its roots deep in Portuguese
literature, and has until recently been generally accepted. …
The Celtic tribe of Lusitanians dwelt, according to Strabo, in
the districts north of the Tagus, while the Lusitania of the
Latin historians of the Republic undoubtedly lay to the south
of that river, though it was not used as the name of a
province until the time of Augustus, when the old division of
the peninsula into Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior was
superseded by the division into Betica, Tarraconensis, and
Lusitania. Neither in this division, nor in the division of
the peninsula into the five provinces of Tarraconensis,
Carthaginensis, Betica, Lusitania, and Gallicia, under
Hadrian, was the province called Lusitania coterminous with
the modern kingdom of Portugal. Under each division the name
was given to a district south of the Tagus. … It is important
to grasp the result of this misconception, for it emphasizes
the fact that the history of Portugal for many centuries is
merged in that of the rest of the Iberian peninsula, and
explains why it is unnecessary to study the wars of the
Lusitanians with the Roman Republic, as is often done in
histories of Portugal. Like the rest of the peninsula Portugal
was thoroughly Latinized in the days of the Roman Empire;
Roman 'coloniæ', and 'municipia' were established in places
suited for trade, such as Lisbon and Oporto. … Peaceful
existence under the sway of Rome continued until the beginning
of the 5th century, when the Goths first forced their way
across the Pyrenees. …
See GOTHS (VISIGOTHS): A. D. 410-419.
The Visigothic Empire left but slight traces in Portugal." The
Mohammedan conquest by the Arab-Moors, which began early in
the 8th century, extended to Portugal, and for a general
account of the struggle in the peninsula between Christians
and Moslems during several succeeding centuries the reader is
referred to SPAIN: A. D. 711-713, and after. "In 997 Bermudo
II., king of Gallicia, won back the first portion of modern
Portugal from the Moors by seizing Oporto and occupying the
province now known as the Entre Minho e Douro. … In 1055
Ferdinand 'the Great,' king of Leon, Castile, and Gallicia,
invaded the Beira; in 1057 he took Lamego and Viseu; and in
1064 Coimbra, where he died in the following year. He arranged
for the government of his conquests in the only way possible
under the feudal system, by forming them into a county,
extending to the Mondego, with Coimbra as its capital. The
first count of Coimbra was Sesnando, a recreant Arab vizir,
who had advised Ferdinand to invade his district and had
assisted in its easy conquest. … But though Sesnando's county
of Coimbra was the great frontier county of Gallicia, and the
most important conquest of Ferdinand 'the Great,' it was not
thence that the kingdom which was to develop out of his
dominions was to take its name. Among the counties of Gallicia
was one called the 'comitatus Portucalensis,' because it
contained within its boundaries the famous city at the mouth
of the Douro, known in Roman and Greek times as the Portus
Cale, and in modern days as Oporto, or 'The Port.' This county
of Oporto or Portugal was the one destined to give its name to
the future kingdom, and was held at the time of Ferdinand's
death by Nuno Mendes, the founder of one of the most famous
families in Portuguese history. Ferdinand 'the Great' was
succeeded in his three kingdoms of Castile, Leon, and
Gallicia, by his three sons, Sancho, Alfonso, and Garcia, the
last of whom received the two counties of Coimbra and Oporto
as fiefs of Gallicia, and maintained Nuno Mendes and Sesnando
as his feudatories." Wars between the three sons ensued, as
the result of which "the second of them, Alfonso of Leon,
eventually united all his father's kingdoms in 1073, as
Alfonso VI." This Alfonso was now called upon to encounter a
new impulse of Mohammedan aggression, under a new dynasty,
that of the Almoravides
See ALMORAVIDES.
"The new dynasty collected great Moslem armies, and in 1086
Yusuf Ibn Teshfin routed Alfonso utterly at the battle of
Zalaca, and reconquered the peninsula up to the Ebro. …
Alfonso tried to compensate for this defeat and his loss of
territory in the east of his dominions by conquests in the
west, and in 1093 he advanced to the Tagus and took Santarem
and Lisbon, and made Sueiro Mendes, count of the new district.
But these conquests he did not hold for long. … In 1093 Seyr,
the general of the Almoravide caliph Yusuf, took Evora from
the Emir of Badajoz; in 1094 he took Badajoz itself, and
killed the emir; and retaking Lisbon and Santarem forced his
way up to the Mondego. To resist this revival of the
Mohammedan power, Alfonso summoned the chivalry of Christendom
to his aid. Among the knights who joined his army eager to win
their spurs, and win dominions for themselves, were Count
Raymond of Toulouse and Count Henry of Burgundy. To the
former, Alfonso gave his legitimate daughter, Urraca, and
Gallicia; to the latter, his illegitimate daughter Theresa,
and the counties of Oporto and Coimbra, with the title of
Count of Portugal. The history of Portugal now becomes
distinct from that of the rest of the peninsula, and it is
from the year 1095 that the history of Portugal commences. The
son of Henry of Burgundy was the great monarch Affonso
Henriques, the hero of his country and the founder of a great
dynasty."
_H. M. Stephens,
The Story of Portugal,
chapter 1._
{2570}
PORTUGAL: A. D. 1095-1325.
The county made independent and raised to the rank of a kingdom.
Completion of conquests from the Moors.
Limits of the kingdom established.
Count Henry of Burgundy waged war for seven years with his
Moorish neighbors; then went crusading to Palestine for two
years. On his return in 1105 he made common cause with his
brother-in-law and brother-adventurer, Count Raymond of
Gallicia, against the suspected intention of King Alfonso to
declare his bastard, half-Moorish son, Sancho, the heir to his
dominions. "This peaceful arrangement had no result, owing to
the death of Count Raymond in 1107, followed by that of young
Sancho at the battle of Uclés with the Moors, in 1108, and
finally by the death of Alfonso VI. himself in 1109. The
king's death brought about the catastrophe. He left all his
dominions to his legitimate daughter, Urraca, with the result
that there was five years of fierce fighting between Henry of
Burgundy, Alfonso Raimundes, the son of Count Raymond, Alfonso
I. of Aragon, and Queen Urraca. … While they fought with each
other the Mohammedans advanced. … On May 1, 1114, Count Henry
died, … leaving his wife Theresa as regent during the minority
of his son Affonso Henriques, who was but three years old.
Theresa, who made the ancient city of Guimaraens her capital,
devoted all her energies to building up her son's dominions
into an independent state; and under her rule, while the
Christian states of Spain were torn by internecine war, the
Portuguese began to recognize Portugal as their country, and
to cease from calling themselves Gallicians. This distinction
between Portugal and Gallicia was the first step towards the
formation of a national spirit, which grew into a desire for
national independence." The regency of Theresa, during which
she was engaged in many contests, with her half-sister Urraca
and others, ended in 1128. In the later years of it she
provoked great discontent by her infatuation with a lover to
whom she was passionately devoted. In the end, her son headed
a revolt which expelled her from Portugal. The son, Affonso
Henriques, assumed the reins of government at the age of
seventeen years. In 1130 he began a series of wars with
Alfonso VII. of Castile, the aim of which was to establish the
independence of Portugal. These wars were ended in 1140 by an
agreement, "in consonance with the ideas of the times, to
refer the great question of Portuguese Independence to a
chivalrous contest. In a great tournament, known as the
Tourney of Valdevez, the Portuguese knights were entirely
successful over those of Castile, and in consequence of their
victory Affonso Henriques assumed the title of King of
Portugal. This is the turning-point of Portuguese history, and
it is a curious fact that the independence of Portugal from
Gallicia was achieved by victory in a tournament and not in
war. Up to 1136, Affonso Henriques had styled himself Infante,
in imitation of the title borne by his mother; from 1136 to
1140 he styled himself Principe, and in 1140 he first took the
title of King." A little before this time, on the 25th of
July, 1139, Affonso had defeated the Moors in a famous and
much magnified battle—namely that of Orik or Ourique—"which,
until modern investigators examined the facts, has been
considered to have laid the foundations of the independence of
Portugal. Chroniclers, two centuries after the battle,
solemnly asserted that five kings were defeated on this
occasion, that 200,000 Mohammedans were slain, and that after
the victory the Portuguese soldiers raised Affonso on their
shields and hailed him as king. This story is absolutely
without authority from contemporary chronicles, and is quite
as much a fiction as the Cortes of Lamego, which has been
invented as sitting in 1143 and passing the constitutional
laws on which Vertot and other writers have expended so much
eloquence. … It was not until the modern school of historians
arose in Portugal, which examined documents and did not take
the statements of their predecessors on trust, that it was
clearly pointed out that Affonso Henriques won his crown by
his long struggle with his Christian cousin, and not by his
exploits against the Moors."
_H. M. Stephens,
The Story of Portugal,
chapters 2-3._
"The long reign of Affonso I., an almost uninterrupted period
of war, is the most brilliant epoch in the history of the
Portuguese conquests. Lisbon, which had already under its
Moorish masters become the chief city of the west, was taken
in 1147, and became at once the capital of the new kingdom.
The Tagus itself was soon passed. Large portions of the modern
Estremadura and Alemtejo were permanently annexed. The distant
provinces of Algarve and Andalucia were overrun; and even
Seville trembled at the successes of the Portuguese. It was in
vain that Moorish vessels sailed from Africa to chastise the
presumption of their Christian foes; their ships were routed
off Lisbon by the vessels of Affonso; their armies were
crushed by a victory at Santarem [1184], the last, and perhaps
the most glorious of the many triumphs of the King. … Every
conquest saw the apportionment of lands to be held by military
tenure among the conquerors; and the Church, which was here
essentially a militant one, received not only an endowment for
its religion but a reward for its sword. The Orders of St.
Michael and of Avis [St. Benedict of Avis] which were founded
had a religious as well as a military aspect. Their members
were to be distinguished by their piety not less than by their
courage, and were to emulate the older brotherhoods of
Jerusalem and of Castile. … Sancho I. [who succeeded his
father Affonso in 1185], though not adverse to military fame,
endeavoured to repair his country's wounds; and his reign, the
complement of that of Affonso, was one of development rather
than of conquest. … The surname of El Povoador, the Founder,
is the indication of his greatest work. New towns and villages
arose, new wealth and strength were given to the rising
country. Affonso II. [1211] continued what Sancho had begun;
and the enactment of laws, humane and wise, are a testimony of
progress, and an honourable distinction to his reign." But
Affonso II. provoked the hostility of an arrogant and too
powerful clergy, and drew upon himself a sentence of
excommunication from Rome. "The divisions and the weakness
which were caused by the contest between the royal and
ecclesiastical authority brought misery upon the kingdom. The
reign of Sancho II. [who succeeded to the throne in 1223] was
more fatally influenced by them even than that of his father.
… The now familiar terrors of excommunication and interdict
were followed [1245] by a sentence of deposition from Innocent
IV.; and Sancho, weak in character, and powerless before a
hostile priesthood and a disaffected people, retired to end
his days in a cloister of Castile. The successor to Sancho was
Affonso III.
{2571}
He had intrigued for his brother's crown; he had received the
support of the priesthood, and he had promised them their
reward in the extension of their privileges"; but his
administration of the government was wise and popular. He died
in 1279. "The first period of the history of Portugal is now
closed. Up to this time, each reign, disturbed and enfeebled
though it may have been, had added something to the extent of
the country. But now the last conquest from the Moors had been
won. On the south, the impassable barrier of the ocean; on the
east, the dominions of Castile, confined the kingdom. … The
crusading days were over. … The reign of Denis, who ruled from
1279 to 1325, is at once the parallel to that of Affonso I. in
its duration and importance, the contrast to it in being a
period of internal progress instead of foreign conquest. …
That Denis should have been able to accomplish as much as he
did, was the wonder even of his own age. … Successive reigns
still found the country progressing."
_C. F. Johnstone,
Historical Abstracts,
chapter 4._
ALSO IN:
_E. McMurdo,
History of Portugal,
volume 1, books 1-4,
and volume 2, book 1._
PORTUGAL: A. D. 1383-1385.
The founding of the new dynasty, of the House of Avis.
"The legitimate descent of the kings of Portugal from Count
Henry, of the house of Burgundy, terminated with Ferdinand
(the son of Peter I.) … in 1383. After wasting the resources
of his people in the vain support of his claims to the crown
of Castile, exposing Lisbon to a siege, and the whole country
to devastation, this monarch gave his youthful daughter in
marriage to the natural enemy of Portugal, John I., at that
time the reigning king of Castile. … It was agreed between the
contracting parties that the male issue of this connection
should succeed to the Portuguese sceptre, and, that failing,
that it should devolve into the hands of the Castilian
monarch. Fortunately, however, the career of this Spanish
tyrant was short, and no issue was left of Beatrix, for whom
the crown of Portugal could be claimed; and therefore all the
just pretensions of the Spaniard ceased. The marriage had
scarcely been concluded, when Ferdinand died. It had been
provided by the laws of the constitution, that in a case of
emergency, such as now occurred, the election of a new
sovereign should immediately take place. The legal heir to the
crown, Don Juan [the late king's brother], the son of Pedro
and Ignes de Castro, whose marriage had been solemnly
recognised by an assembly of the states, was a prisoner at
this time in the hands of his rival, the king of Castile. The
necessity of having a head to the government appointed without
delay, opened the road to the throne for John, surnamed the
Bastard, the natural son of Don Pedro, by Donna Theresa
Lorenzo, a Galician lady. Availing himself of the natural
aversion by which the Portuguese were influenced against the
Castilians, he seized the regency from the hands of the
queen-dowager, … successfully defended Lisbon, and forced the
Spaniards to retire into Spain after their memorable defeat on
the plain of Aljubarota. … This battle … completely
established the independence of the Portuguese monarchy. John
was, in consequence, unanimously elected King by the Cortes,
assembled at Coimbra in 1385. … In aid of his natural talents
John I. had received an excellent education from his father,
and during his reign exhibited proofs of being a profound
politician, as well as a skilful general. … He became the
founder of a new dynasty of kings, called the house of 'Avis,'
from his having been grand master of that noble order. The
enterprises, however, of the great Prince Henry, a son of
John I., form a distinguishing feature of this reign."
_W. M. Kinsey,
Portugal Illustrated,
pages 34-35._
PORTUGAL: A. D. 1415-1460.
The taking of Ceuta.
The exploring expeditions of Prince Henry the Navigator
down the African coast.
"King John [the First] had married an English wife, Philippa
Plantagenet—a grand-daughter of our King Edward III.,
thoroughly English, too, on her mother's side, and not without
a dash of Scottish blood, for her great-great-grandmother was
a Comyn of Broghan. King John of Portugal was married to his
English wife for twenty-eight years, they had five noble sons
and a daughter (who was Duchess of Burgundy and mother of
Charles the Bold); and English habits and usages were adopted
at the Portuguese Court. We first meet with Prince Henry and
his brothers, Edward and Peter, at the bed-side of their
English mother. The king had determined to attack Ceuta, the
most important seaport on the Moorish coast; and the three
young princes were to receive knighthood if they bore
themselves manfully, and if the place was taken. Edward, the
eldest, was twenty-four, Peter twenty-three, and Henry just
twenty-one. He was born on March 4th, 1394. There were two
other brothers, John and Ferdinand, but they were still too
young to bear arms. Their mother had caused three swords to be
made with which they were to be girt as knights; and the great
fleet was being assembled at Lisbon. But the Queen was taken
ill, and soon there was no hope. Husband and sons gathered
round her death-bed. When very near her end she asked: 'How is
the wind?' she was told that it was northerly. 'Then,' she
said, 'You will all sail for Ceuta on the feast of St. James.'
A few minutes afterwards she died, and husband and sons sailed
for Ceuta on St. James's day, the 25th of July, 1415,
according to her word. … Ceuta was taken after a desperate
fight. It was a memorable event, for the town never again
passed into the hands of the Moors unto this day. … From the
time of this Ceuta expedition Prince Henry set his mind
steadfastly on the discovery of Guinea and on the promotion of
commercial enterprise. During his stay at Ceuta he collected
much information respecting the African coast. … His first
objects were to know what was beyond the farthest cape
hitherto reached on the coast of Africa, to open commercial
relations with the people, and to extend the Christian faith.
Prince Henry had the capacity for taking trouble. He undertook
the task, and he never turned aside from it until he died. To
be close to his work he came to live on the promontory of
Sagres, near Cape St. Vincent, and not far from the seaport of
Lagos. He was twenty-four years old when he came to live at
this secluded spot, in December, 1418; and he died there in
his sixty-seventh year. … He established a school at Sagres
for the cultivation of map-drawing and the science of
navigation. At great expense he procured the services of
Mestre Jacome from Majorca, a man very learned in the art of
navigation, as it was then understood, and he erected an
observatory. …
{2572}
My readers will remember that during the time of the Crusades
a great order of knighthood was established, called the
Templars, which became very rich and powerful, and held vast
estates in most of the countries of Europe. At last the kings
became jealous of their prosperity and, in the days of our
Edward II. and of the French Philip IV., their wealth was
confiscated, and the order of Knights Templars was abolished
in all countries except Portugal. But King Dionysius of
Portugal refused either to rob the knights or to abolish the
order. In the year 1319 he reformed the order, and changed the
name, calling it the Order of Christ, and he encircled the
white cross of the Templars with a red cross as the future
badge of the knights. They retained their great estates.
Prince Henry was appointed, by his father, Grand Master of the
Order of Christ in the year 1419. He could imagine no nobler
nor more worthy employment for the large revenues of the Order
than the extension of geographical discovery. Thus were the
funds for his costly expeditions supplied by the Order of
Chivalry of which he was Grand Master. When Prince Henry first
began to send forth expeditions along the coast of Africa, the
farthest point to the southward that had been sighted was Cape
Bojador. The discovery of the extreme southern point of
Africa, and of a way thence to India, was looked upon then
exactly as the discovery of the North Pole is now. Fools asked
what was the use of it. Half-hearted men said it was
impossible. Officials said it was impractical. Nevertheless,
Prince Henry said that it could be done, and that, moreover it
should be done. … In 1434 he considered that the time had come
to round Cape Bojador. He selected for the command of the
expedition an esquire of his household named Gil Eannes, who
was accompanied by John Diaz, an experienced seaman of a
seafaring family at Lagos, many of whose members became
explorers. Prince Henry told them that the current which they
feared so much was strongest at a distance of about three to
five miles from the land. He ordered them, therefore, to stand
out boldly to sea. 'It was a place before terrible to all
men,' but the Prince told them that they must win fame and
honour by following his instructions. They did so, rounded the
Cape, and landed on the other side. There they set up a wooden
cross as a sign of their discovery. … The Prince now equipped
a larger vessel than had yet been sent out, called a varinel,
propelled by oars as well as sails. Many were the eager
volunteers among the courtiers at Sagres. Prince Henry's
cup-bearer, named Alfonso Gonsalves Baldaya, was selected to
command the expedition, and Gil Eannes—he who first doubled
Cape Bojador—went with it in a smaller vessel. … They sailed
in the year 1436, and, having rounded Cape Bojador without any
hesitation, they proceeded southward along the coast for 120
miles, until they reached an estuary called by them Rio
d'Ouro. … During the five following years Prince Henry was
much engaged in State affairs. The disastrous expedition to
Tangiers took place, and the imprisonment of his young brother
Ferdinand by the Moors, whose noble resignation under cruel
insults and sufferings until he died at Fez, won for him the
title of the 'Constant Prince.' But in 1441 Prince Henry was
able to resume the despatch of vessels of discovery. In that
year he gave the command of a small ship to his master of the
wardrobe, Antam Gonsalves. … He [Gonsalves] was followed in
the same year by Nuno Tristram. … Tristram discovered a
headland which, from its whiteness, he named Cape Blanco. …
The next discovery was that of the island of Arguin, south of
Cape Blanco, which was first visited in 1443 by Nuño Tristram
in command of a caravel. … The next voyage of discovery was
one of great importance, because it passed the country of the
Moors, and, for the first time, entered the land of the
Negroes. Dinis Diaz, who was selected for this enterprise by
the Prince, sailed in 1446 with the resolution of beating all
his predecessors. He passed the mouth of the river Senegal,
and was surprised at finding that the people on the north bank
were Moors, while to the south they were all blacks; of a
tribe called Jaloffs. Diaz went as far as a point which he
called Cabo Verde. In the following years several expeditions,
under Lanzarote and others, went to Arguin and the Senegal;
until, in 1455, an important voyage under Prince Henry's
patronage was undertaken by a young Venetian named Alvise
(Luigi) Cadamosto. … They sailed on March 22, 1455, and went
first to Porto Santo and Madeira. From the Canary Islands they
made sail for Cape Blanco, boldly stretching across the
intervening sea and being for some time quite out of sight of
land. Cadamosto had a good deal of intercourse with the
Negroes to the south of the Senegal, and eventually reached
the mouth of the Gambia whence he set out on his homeward
voyage. The actual extent of the discoveries made during the
life of Prince Henry was from Cape Bojador to beyond the mouth
of the Gambia. But this was only a small part of the great
service he performed, not only for his own country, but for
the whole civilised world. He organised discovery, trained up
a generation of able explorers, so that from his time progress
was continuous and unceasing. … Prince Henry, who was to be
known to all future generations as 'the Navigator,' died at
the age of sixty-six at Sagres, on Thursday, the 13th of
November, 1460."
_C. R. Markham,
The Sea Fathers,
chapter 1._
ALSO IN:
_R. H. Major,
Life of Prince Henry of Portugal, the Navigator._
PORTUGAL: A. D. 1463-1498.
The Pope's gift of title to African discoveries.
Slow southward progress of exploration.
The rounding of the Cape of Good Hope.
Vasco da Gama's voyage.
"In order to secure his triumphs, Prince Henry procured a bull
from Pope Eugenius IV., which guaranteed to the Portuguese all
their discoveries between Cape Nun, in Morocco, and India.
None of his commanders approached within six or eight degrees
of the equator. … By the year 1472, St. Thomas, Annobon, and
Prince's Islands were added to the Portuguese discoveries, and
occupied by colonists; and at length the equator was crossed.
Fernando Po having given his name to an island in the Bight of
Biafra, acquired possession of 500 leagues of equatorial
coast, whence the King of Portugal took the title of Lord of
Guinea. The subsequent divisions of this territory into the
Grain Coast, named from the cochineal thence obtained, and
long thought to be the seed of a plant, Gold Coast, Ivory
Coast, and Slave Coast, indicate by their names the nature of
the products of those lands, and the kind of traffic.
{2573}
Under King John II., after an inactive period of eight or ten
years, Diego Cam (1484) pushed forward fearlessly to latitude
22° south, erecting at intervals on the shore, pillars of
stone, which asserted the rights of his sovereign to the
newly-found land. For the first time, perhaps, in history, men
had now sailed under a new firmament. They lost sight of a
part of the old celestial constellations, and were awe-struck
with the splendours of the Southern Cross, and hosts of new
stars. Each successive commander aimed at outdoing the deeds
of his predecessor. Imaginary perils, which had frightened
former sailors, spurred the Portuguese to greater daring.
Bartholomew Diaz, in 1486, was sent in command of an
expedition of three ships, with directions to sail till he
reached the southernmost headland of Africa. Creeping on from
cape to cape, he passed the furthest point touched by Diego
Cam, and reached about 29° south latitude. Here driven out of
his course by rough weather, he was dismayed on again making
land to find the coast trending northward. He had doubled the
Cape without knowing it, and only found it out on returning,
disheartened by the results of his voyage. Raising the banner
of St. Philip on the shore of Table Bay, Diaz named the
headland the Cape of Tempests, which the king, with the
passage to India in mind, changed to that of the Cape of Good
Hope. By a curious coincidence, in the same year Covillan [see
ABYSSINIA: 15-19TH CENTURIES] … learnt the fact that the Cape
of Good Hope, the Lion of the Sea, or the Head of Africa,
could be reached across the Indian Ocean."
_J. Yeats,
Growth and Vicissitudes of Commerce,
part 2, chapter 4._
"Pedro de Covilho had sent word to King John II., from Cairo,
by two Jews, Rabbi Abraham and Rabbi Joseph, that there was a
south cape of Africa which could be doubled. They brought with
them an Arabic map of the African coast. … Covilho had learned
from the Arabian mariners, who were perfectly familiar with
the east coast, that they had frequently been at the south of
Africa, and that there was no difficulty in passing round the
continent that way. … Vasco de Gama set sail July 9, 1497,
with three ships and 160 men, having with him the Arab map.
King John had employed his Jewish physicians, Roderigo and
Joseph, to devise what help they could from the stars. They
applied the astrolabe to marine use, and constructed tables.
These were the same doctors who had told him that Columbus
would certainly succeed in reaching India, and advised him to
send out a secret expedition in anticipation, which was
actually done, though it failed through want of resolution in
its captain. Encountering the usual difficulties, tempestuous
weather and a mutinous crew, who conspired to put him to
death, De Gama succeeded, November 20, in doubling the Cape.
On March 1 he met seven small Arab vessels, and was surprised
to find that they used the compass, quadrants, sea-charts, and
'had divers maritime mysteries not short of the Portugals.'
With joy he soon after recovered sight of the northern stars,
for so long unseen. He now bore away to the north-east, and on
May 19, 1498, reached Calicut, on the Malabar coast. The
consequences of this voyage were to the last degree important.
The commercial arrangements of Europe were completely
dislocated; Venice was deprived of her mercantile supremacy
[see VENICE: 15-17TH CENTURIES]; the hatred of Genoa was
gratified; prosperity left the Italian towns; Egypt, hitherto
supposed to possess a pre-eminent advantage as offering the
best avenue to India, suddenly lost her position; the
commercial monopolies so long in the hands of the European
Jews were broken down. The discovery of America and passage of
the Cape were the first steps of that prodigious maritime
development soon exhibited by Western Europe. And since
commercial prosperity is forthwith followed by the production
of men and concentration of wealth, and, moreover, implies an
energetic intellectual condition, it appeared before long that
the three centres of population, of wealth, of intellect, were
shifting westwardly. The front of Europe was suddenly changed;
the British Islands, hitherto in a sequestered and eccentric
position, were all at once put in the van of the new
movement."
_J. W. Draper,
History of the Intellectual Development of Europe,
chapter 19._
ALSO IN:
_G. Correa,
The Three Voyages of Vasco da Gama
(Hakluyt Society, 1869)._
_J. Fiske,
The Discovery of America,
chapter 4 (volume l)._
_G. M. Towle,
Voyages and Adventures of Vasco da Gama._
See, also, SOUTH AFRICA: A. D. 1486-1806.
PORTUGAL: A. D. 1474-1476.
Interference in Castile.
Defeat at Toro.
See SPAIN: A. D. 1368-1479.
PORTUGAL: A. D. 1490.
Alliance with Castile and Aragon in the conquest of Granada.
See SPAIN: A. D. 1476-1492.
PORTUGAL: A. D. 1493.
The Pope's division of discoveries in the New World.
See AMERICA: A. D. 1493.
PORTUGAL: A. D. 1494.
The Treaty of Tordesillas.
Amended partition of the New World with Spain.
See AMERICA: A. D. 1494.
PORTUGAL: A. D. 1495.
Persecution and expulsion of Jews.
See JEWS: 8-15TH CENTURIES.
PORTUGAL: A. D. 1498-1580.
Trade and settlements in the East Indies.
See INDIA; A. D. 1498-1580.
PORTUGAL: A. D. 1500-1504.
Discovery, exploration and first settlement of Brazil.
See AMERICA: A. D. 1500-1514; and 1503-1504.
PORTUGAL: A. D. 1501.
Early enterprise in the Newfoundland fisheries.
See NEWFOUNDLAND: A. D. 1501-1578.
PORTUGAL: A. D. 1510-1549.
Colonization of Brazil.
See BRAZIL: A. D. 1510-1661.
PORTUGAL: A. D. 1524.
Disputes with Spain in the division of the New World.
The Congress at Badajos.
See AMERICA: A. D. 1519-1524.
PORTUGAL: A. D. 1579-1580.
Disastrous invasion of Morocco by Sebastian.
His death in battle.
Disputed succession to the throne.
The claim of Philip II. of Spain established by force of arms.
"Under a long succession of Kings who placed their glory in
promoting the commerce of their subjects and extending their
discoveries through the remotest regions of the globe,
Portugal had attained a degree of importance among the
surrounding nations, from which the narrow limits of the
kingdom, and the neighbourhood of the Spanish monarchy, seemed
for ever to exclude her. … John III., the last of those great
monarchs under whose auspices the boundaries of the known
world had been enlarged, was succeeded in the throne of
Portugal [1557] by his grandson Sebastian, a child of only
three years old.
{2574}
As the royal infant advanced to manhood, his subjects might,
without flattery, admire his sprightly wit, his manly form,
his daring spirit, and his superior address, in all the
accomplishments of a martial age. But the hopes which these
splendid qualities inspired were clouded by an intemperate
thirst of fame. … He had early cherished the frantic project
of transporting a royal army to India, and of rivalling the
exploits of Alexander; but from this design he was diverted,
not by the difficulties that opposed it, nor by the
remonstrances of his counsellors, but by the distractions of
Africa, which promised to his ambition a nearer and fairer
harvest of glory. On the death of Abdalla, King of Morocco,
his son, Muley Mahomet, had seized upon the crown, in contempt
to an established law of succession, that the kingdom should
devolve to the brother of the deceased monarch. A civil war
ensued, and Mahomet, defeated in several battles, was
compelled to leave his uncle Muley Moluc, a prince of great
abilities and virtues, in possession of the throne." Mahomet
escaped to Lisbon, and Sebastian espoused his cause. He
invaded Morocco [see MAROCCO: THE ARAB CONQUEST AND SINCE]
with a force partly supplied by his uncle, Philip II.; of
Spain, and partly by the Prince of Orange, engaged the Moors
rashly in battle (the battle of Alcazar, or the Three Kings,
1579), and perished on the field, his army being mostly
destroyed or made captive. "An aged and feeble priest was the
immediate heir to the unfortunate Sebastian; and the Cardinal
Henry, the great uncle to the late monarch, ascended the
vacant throne." He enjoyed his royal dignity little more than
a twelvemonth, dying in 1580, leaving the crown in dispute
among a crowd of claimants.
_History of Spain,
chapter 22 (volume 2)._
"The candidates were seven in number: the duchess of Braganza,
the king of Spain, the duke of Savoy, Don Antonio, prior of
Crato, the duke of Parma, Catherine of Medicis, and the
sovereign pontiff. The four first were grand-children of
Emanuel the Great, father of Henry. The duchess of Braganza
was daughter of Prince Edward, Emanuel's second son; Philip
was the son of the Empress Isabella, his eldest daughter; the
duke of Savoy, of Beatrix, his younger daughter; and Don
Antonio was a natural son of Lewis, who was a younger son of
Emanuel, and brother to the present king [cardinal Henry]. The
duke of Parma was great–grandson of Emanuel, by a daughter of
the above-mentioned Prince Edward. The Queen-mother of France
founded her claim on her supposed descent from Alphonso III.,
who died about 300 years before the present period; and the
Pope pretended that Portugal was feudatory to the see of Rome,
and belonged to him, since the male heirs in the direct line
were extinct." The other candidates held small chances against
the power and convenient neighborhood of Philip of Spain.
"Philip's agents at the court of Lisbon allowed that if the
duchess of Braganza's father had been alive, his title would
have been indisputable; but they maintained that, since he had
died without attaining possession of the throne, nothing but
the degree of consanguinity to Emanuel ought to be regarded;
and that, as the duchess and he were equal in that respect,
the preference was due to a male before a female. And they
farther insisted, that the law which excludes strangers from
inheriting the crown was not applicable to him, since Portugal
had formerly belonged to the kings of Castile." Promptly on
the death of the cardinal-king Henry, the Spanish king sent an
army of 35,000 men, under the famous duke of Alva, and a large
fleet under the Marquis of Santa Croce, to take possession of
what he claimed as his inheritance. Two battles sufficed for
the subjugation of Portugal:—one fought on the Alcantara,
August 25, 1580, and the other a little later on the Douro.
The kingdom submitted, but with bitter feelings, which the
conduct of Alva and his troops had intensified at every step
of their advance. "The colonies in America, Africa, and the
Indies, which belonged to the crown of Portugal, quickly
followed the example of the mother country; nor did Philip
find employment for his arms in any part of the Portuguese
dominions but the Azores," which, supported by the French,
were not subdued until the following year.
_R. Watson,
History of the Reign of Philip II.,
book 16._
PORTUGAL: A. D. 1594-1602.
Beginning of the rivalry of the Dutch in East India trade.
See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1594-1620.
PORTUGAL: A. D. 1624-1661.
War with the Dutch.
Loss and recovery of parts of Brazil.
See BRAZIL: A. D. 1510-1661.
PORTUGAL: A. D. 1637-1668.
Crisis of discontent with the Spanish rule.
A successful revolution.
National independence recovered.
The House of Braganza placed on the throne.
"A spirit of dissatisfaction had long been growing amongst the
Portugueze. Their colonies were neglected; a great part of
Brazil, and a yet larger portion of their Indian empire, had
fallen into the hands of the Dutch; Ormus, and their other
possessions in the Persian Gulph, had been conquered by the
Persians; their intercourse with their remaining colonies was
harassed and intercepted; their commerce with the independent
Indian states, with China and with Japan, was here injured and
there partially destroyed, by the enterprising merchants and
mariners of Holland; whilst at home the privileges secured to
them as the price of their submission, were hourly, if not
flagrantly, violated by their Spanish masters. The illegal
imposition of a new tax by the king's sole authority, in 1637,
had provoked a partial revolt in the southern provinces, where
the duke of Braganza, grandson of Catherine [whose right to
the throne was forcibly put aside by Philip II. of Spain in
1580,—see, PORTUGAL: A. D. 1579-1580], was proclaimed king. He
refused the proffered dignity, and assisted in quelling the
rebellion. He was thanked by Philip and at once recompensed,
and, as it was hoped, ensnared, by an appointment to be
general–in-chief of Portugal. But the flame was smothered, not
extinguished. … The vice-queen, Margaret, duchess-dowager of
Mantua, a daughter of Philip II.'s youngest daughter,
Catherine, saw the gathering tempest, and forewarned the court
of Madrid of the impending danger. Her information was
treated, like herself, with contempt by Olivarez. One measure,
however, he took, probably in consequence; and that one
finally decided the hesitating conspirators to delay no
longer. He ordered a large body of troops to be raised in
Portugal, the nobles to arm their vassals, and all, under the
conduct of the duke of Braganza, to hasten into Spain, in
order to attend the king, who was about to march in person
against the rebellious Catalans.
{2575}
Olivarez hoped thus at once to overwhelm Catalonia and
Roussillon, and to take from Portugal the power of revolting,
by securing the intended leader, and draining the country of
the warlike portion of its population. The nobles perceived
the object of this command, and resolved to avoid compliance
by precipitating their measures. Upon the 12th of October,
1640, they assembled to the number of 40 at the house of Don
Antonio d' Almeida. At this meeting they determined to recover
their independence, and dispatched Don Pedro de Mendoza as
their deputy, to offer the crown and their allegiance to the
duke of Braganza, who had remained quietly upon his principal
estate at Villa Viçosa. The duke hesitated, alarmed, perhaps,
at the importance of the irrevocable step he was called upon
to take. But his high-spirited duchess, a daughter of the
Spanish duke of Medina-Sidonia, observing to him, that a
wretched and dishonourable death certainly awaited him at
Madrid; at Lisbon, as certainly glory, whether in life or
death, decided his acceptance. Partisans were gained on all
sides, especially in the municipality of Lisbon; and the
secret was faithfully kept, for several weeks, by at least 500
persons of both sexes, and all ranks. During this interval,
the duke of Braganza remained at Villa Viçosa, lest his
appearance at Lisbon should excite suspicion; and it seems
that, however clearly the vice-queen had perceived the
threatening aspect of affairs, neither she nor her ministers
entertained any apprehension of the plot actually organized.
The 1st of December was the day appointed for the
insurrection. Early in the morning the conspirators approached
the palace in four well-armed bands," and easily mastered the
guard. From the windows of the palace they "proclaimed liberty
and John IV." to a great concourse of people who had speedily
assembled. Finding Vasconcellos, the obnoxious secretary to
'the vice–queen, hidden in a closet, they slew him and flung
his body into the street. The vice-queen, seeing herself
helpless, submitted to the popular will and signed mandates
addressed to the Spanish governors and other officers
commanding castles and fortifications in Portugal, requiring
their surrender. "The archbishop of Lisbon was next appointed
royal-lieutenant. He immediately dispatched intelligence of
the event to the new king, and sent messengers to every part
of Portugal with orders for the proclamation of John IV., and
the seizure of all Spaniards. … Obedience was prompt and
general. … John was crowned on the 15th of December, and
immediately abolished the heavy taxes imposed by the king of
Spain, declaring that, for his own private expenses, he
required nothing beyond his patrimonial estates. He summoned
the Cortes to assemble in January, when the three estates of
the kingdom solemnly confirmed his proclamation as king, or
'acclamation,' as the Portugueze term it. … In the islands, in
the African settlements, with the single exception of Ceuta,
which adhered to Spain, and in what remained of Brazil and
India, King John was proclaimed, the moment intelligence of
the revolution arrived, the Spaniards scarcely any where
attempting to resist. … In Europe, the new king was readily
acknowledged by all the states at war with the house of
Austria." The first attempts made by the Spanish court to
regain its lost authority in Portugal took chiefly the form of
base conspiracies for the assassination of the new king. War
ensued, but the "languid and desultory hostilities produced
little effect beyond harassing the frontiers. Portugal was
weak, and thought only of self-defence; Spain was chiefly
intent upon chastizing the Catalans." The war was prolonged,
in fact, until 1668, when it was terminated by a treaty which
recognized the independence of Portugal, but ceded Ceuta to
Spain. The only considerable battles of the long war were
those of Estremos, or Ameixal, in 1663, and Villa Viçosa,
1665, in which the Portuguese were victors, and which were
practically decisive of the war.
_M. M. Busk,
History of Spain and Portugal,
book 2, chapters 10-12._
ALSO IN:
_J. Dunlap,
Memoirs of Spain, 1621-1700,
volume 1, chapter 12._
PORTUGAL: A. D. 1702.
Joins the Grand Alliance against France and Spain.
See SPAIN: A. D. 1701-1702.
PORTUGAL: A. D. 1703.
The Methuen Treaty with England.
Portugal joined the Grand Alliance against France and Spain,
in the War of the Spanish Succession, in 1703, and entered at
that time into an important treaty with England. This is known
as the Methuen Treaty—"called after the name of the ambassador
who negotiated it—and that treaty, and its effect upon the
commerce of England and the habits of her people lasted
through five generations, even to the present time. The wines
of Portugal were to be admitted upon the payment of a duty 33½
per cent. less than the duty paid upon French wines; and the
woolen cloths of England, which had been prohibited in
Portugal for twenty years, were to be admitted upon terms of
proportionate advantage. Up to that time the Claret of France
had been the beverage of the wine-drinkers of England. From
1703 Port established itself as what Defoe calls 'our general
draught.' In all commercial negotiations with France the
Methuen Treaty stood in the way; for the preferential duty was
continued till 1831. France invariably pursued a system of
retaliation. It was a point of patriotism for the Englishman
to hold firm to his Port."
_C. Knight,
Popular History of England,
volume 5, chapter 17._
See, also, SPAIN: A. D. 1703-1704.
PORTUGAL: A. D. 1713.
Possessions in South America confirmed.
See UTRECHT: A. D. 1712-1714.
PORTUGAL: A. D. 1757-1759.
Expulsion of the Jesuits and suppression of the order.
See JESUITS: A. D. 1757-1773.
PORTUGAL: A. D. 1793.
Joined in the coalition against Revolutionary France.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1793 (MARCH-SEPTEMBER).
PORTUGAL: A. D. 1807.
Napoleon's designs against the kingdom.
His delusive treaty for its partition with Spain.
French invasion and flight of the royal family to Brazil.
"One of the first steps taken by Napoleon, after his return to
Paris, … [after the Peace of Tilsit-see GERMANY: A. D. 1807
(JUNE-JULY)] was, in the month of August, to order the French
and Spanish ambassadors conjointly, to declare to the
prince–regent of Portugal, that he must concur in the
continental system, viz. shut his ports against English
commerce, confiscate all English property, and imprison all
English subjects to be found within his dominions, or they
were instructed immediately to leave Lisbon.
{2576}
The prince and his ministers dared not openly resist the
French emperor's will, even whilst the wiser part of the
cabinet were convinced that the very existence of the country
depended upon British commerce. In this extremity, and relying
upon the friendly forbearance of England, they strove to
pursue a middle course. Don John professed his readiness to
exclude British ships of all descriptions from his ports, but
declared that his religious principles would not allow him to
seize the subjects and property of a friendly state in the
midst of peace, and that prudence forbade his offending
England until a Portugueze squadron, then at sea, should have
returned safely home. … Napoleon punished this imperfect
obedience, by seizing all Portugueze vessels in ports under
his control, and ordering the French and Spanish legations to
leave Lisbon. The Portugueze ambassadors were, at the same
time, dismissed from Paris and Madrid. A French army was, by
this time, assembled near the foot of the Pyrenees, bearing
the singular title of army of observation of the Gironde; and
General Junot … was appointed to its command. … Spain was
endeavouring to share in the spoil, not to protect the victim.
A treaty, the shameless iniquity of which can be paralleled
only by the treaties between Austria, Russia, and Prussia for
the partition of Poland, had been signed at Fontainebleau, on
the 27th of October. … By this treaty Charles surrendered to
Napoleon his infant grandson's kingdom of Etruria (King Louis
I. had been dead some years), over which he had no right
whatever, and bargained to receive for him in its stead the
small northern provinces of Portugal, Entre Minho e Douro and
Tras os Montes, under the name of the kingdom of Northern
Lusitania, which kingdom the young monarch was to hold in
vassalage of the crown of Spain. The much larger southern
provinces, Alemtejo and Algarve, were to constitute the
principality of the Algarves, for Godoy, under a similar
tenure. And the middle provinces were to be occupied by
Napoleon until a general peace, when, in exchange for
Gibraltar, Trinidad, and any other Spanish possession
conquered by England, they might be restored to the family of
Braganza, upon like terms of dependence. The Portugueze
colonies were to be equally divided between France and Spain.
In execution of this nefarious treaty, 10,000 Spanish troops
were to seize upon the northern, and 6,000 upon the southern
state. … On the 18th of October, Junot, in obedience to his
master's orders, crossed the Pyrenees, and, being kindly
received by the Spaniards, began his march towards the
Portugueze frontiers, whilst the Spanish troops were equally
put in motion towards their respective destinations. … The
object of so much haste was, to secure the persons of the
royal family, whose removal to Brazil had not only been talked
of from the beginning of these hostile discussions, but was
now in preparation, and matter of public notoriety. … The
reckless haste enjoined by the emperor, and which cost almost
as many lives as a pitched battle, was very near attaining its
end. … The resolution to abandon the contest being adopted,
the prince and his ministers took every measure requisite to
prevent a useless effusion of blood. A regency, consisting of
five persons, the marquess of Abrantes being president, was
appointed to conduct the government, and negotiate with Junot.
On the 26th a proclamation was put forth, explaining to the
people that, as Napoleon's enmity was rather to the sovereign
than the nation, the prince-regent, in order to avert the
calamities of war from his faithful subjects, would transfer
the seat of government to Brazil, till the existing troubles
should subside, and strictly charging the Portugueze, more
especially the Lisbonians, to receive the French as friends.
On the 27th the whole royal family proceeded to Belem, to
embark for flight, on the spot whence, about three centuries
back, Vasco de Gama had sailed upon his glorious enterprise. …
The ships set sail and crossed the bar, almost as the French
advance guard was entering Lisbon. Sir Sidney Smith escorted
the royal family, with four men-of-war, safely to Rio Janeiro,
the capital of Brazil, leaving the remainder of his squadron
to blockade the mouth of the Tagus."
_M. M. Busk,
History of Spain and Portugal,
book 4, chapter 7._
ALSO IN:
_C. A. Fyffe,
History of Modern Europe,
volume 1, chapter 7._
_Sir A. Alison,
History of Europe, 1800-1815,
chapter 52._
_H. Martineau,
History of England, 1800-1815,
book 2, chapter 1._
_R. Southey,
History of the Peninsular War,
chapter 2 (volume l)._
See, also, BRAZIL: A. D. 1808-1822.
PORTUGAL: A. D. 1808.
Rising against the French.
Arrival of British forces.
See SPAIN: A. D. 1808 (MAY-SEPTEMBER).
PORTUGAL: A. D. 1808.
Wellington's first campaign in the Peninsula.
The Convention of Cintra.
French evacuation of Portugal.
See SPAIN: A. D. 1808-1809 (AUGUST-JANUARY).
PORTUGAL: A. D. 1809 (February-December).
Wellington's retreat and fresh advance.
The French checked.
Passage of the Douro.
Battle of Talavera.
See SPAIN: A. D. 1809 (FEBRUARY-JULY);
and (AUGUST-DECEMBER).
PORTUGAL: A. D. 1809-1812.
Wellington's Lines of Torres Vedras.
French invasion and retreat.
English advance into Spain.
See SPAIN: A.D. 1809-1810 (OCTOBER-SEPTEMBER);
and 1810-1812.
PORTUGAL: A. D. 1814.
End of the Peninsular War.
See SPAIN: A. D. 1812-1814.
PORTUGAL: A. D. 1820-1824.
Revolution and Absolutist reaction.
Separation and independence of Brazil.
"Ever since 1807 Portugal had not known a court. On the first
threat of French invasion the Regent had emigrated to the
Brazils, and he had since lived and ruled entirely in the
great Transatlantic colony. The ordinary conditions of other
countries had been reversed. Portugal had virtually become a
dependency of her own colony. The absence of the court was a
sore trial to the pride of the Portuguese. An absent court had
few supporters. It happened, too, that its ablest defender had
lately left the country. … In April 1820 [Marshal] Beresford
sailed for the Brazils. He did not return till the following
October; and the revolution had been completed before his
return. On the 24th of August the troops at Oporto determined
on establishing a constitutional government, and appointed a
provisional Junta with this object. The Regency which
conducted the affairs of the country at Lisbon denounced the
movement as a nefarious conspiracy. But, however nefarious the
conspiracy might be, the defection of the army was so general
that resistance became impossible. On the 1st of September the
Regency issued a proclamation promising to convene the Cortes.
{2577}
The promise, however, did not stop the progress of the
insurrection. The Junta which had been constituted at Oporto
marched at the head of the troops upon Lisbon. The troops at
Lisbon and in the south of Portugal threw off their
allegiance, and established a Junta of their own. The Junta at
Lisbon were, for the moment, in favour of milder measures than
the Junta of Oporto. But the advocates of the more extreme
course won their ends. The Oporto troops, surrounding the two
Juntas, which had been blended together, compelled them to
adopt the Spanish constitution; in other words, to sanction
the election of one deputy to the Cortes for every 30,000
persons inhabiting the country. … When the revolution of 1820
had occurred John VI., King of Portugal, was quietly ruling in
his transatlantic dominions of Brazil. Portugal had been
governed for thirteen years from Rio de Janeiro; and the
absence of the Court from Lisbon had offended the Portuguese
and prepared them for change. After the mischief had been done
John VI. was persuaded to return to his native country,
leaving his eldest son, Dom Pedro, Regent of Brazil in his
absence. Before setting out on his journey he gave the prince
public instructions for his guidance, which practically made
Brazil independent of Portugal; and he added private
directions to the prince, in case any emergency should arise
which should make it impracticable to preserve Brazil for
Portugal, to place the crown on his own head, and thus save
the great Transatlantic territory for the House of Braganza.
Leaving these parting injunctions with his son, John VI.
returned to the old kingdom which he had deserted nearly
fourteen years before. He reached Lisbon, and found the
Constitutionalists in undisputed possession of power. He found
also that the action of the Constitutionalists in Portugal was
calculated to induce Brazil to throw off the authority of the
mother country. The Cortes in Portugal insisted on the
suppression of the supreme tribunals in Brazil, on the
establishment of Provincial Juntas, and on the return of the
Regent to Portugal. The Brazilians declined to adopt measures
which they considered ruinous to their dignity, and persuaded
the Regent to disobey the orders of the Cortes. A small body
of Portuguese troops quartered in Brazil endeavoured to
overawe the prince, but proved powerless to do so. In May 1822
the prince was persuaded to declare himself Perpetual Defender
of the Brazils. In the following September the Brazilians
induced him to raise their country to the dignity of an
empire, and to declare himself its constitutional emperor. The
news that the Brazilians had declared themselves an
independent empire reached Europe at a critical period.
Monarchs and diplomatists were busily deliberating at Verona
on the affairs of Spain and of the Spanish colonies. No one,
however, could avoid comparing the position of Portugal and
Brazil with that of Spain and her dependencies. … The evident
determination of France to interfere in Spain created anxiety
in Portugal. The Portuguese Cortes apprehended that the
logical consequence of French interference in the one country
was French interference in the other. … The position of a
French army on the Spanish frontier roused the dormant spirits
of the Portuguese Absolutists. In February 1823 a vast
insurrection against the Constitution broke out in Northern
Portugal. The insurgents, who in the first instance obtained
considerable success, were with difficulty defeated. But the
revolt had been hardly quelled before the Absolutists
recovered their flagging spirits. Every step taken by the Duc
d' Angoulême in his progress from the Bidassoa to Madrid [see
SPAIN: A. D. 1814-1827] raised their hopes of ultimate
success. The king's second son, the notorious Dom Miguel, fled
from his father's palace and threw in his lot with the
insurgents. For a moment the king stood firm and denounced his
son's proceedings. But the reaction which had set in was too
strong to be resisted. The Cortes was closed, a new Ministry
appointed, and autocracy re-established in Portugal. The
re-establishment of autocracy in Portugal marked the
commencement of a series of intrigues in which this country
[England] was deeply interested. One party in the new
Government, with M. de Palmella at its head, was disposed to
incline to moderate measures and to listen to the advice which
it received from the British Ministry and from the British
Ambassador, Sir Edward Thornton. Another party, of which M. de
Subsérra was the representative, was in favour of an intimate
union with France, and ready to listen to the contrary
counsels of M. de Neuville, the French Minister at Lisbon. M.
de Palmella, despairing of founding a settled form of
government amidst the disorders which surrounded him on every
side, applied to the British Ministry for troops to give
stability to the Administration. The demand arrived in London
in July 1823. … The demand for troops was refused, but a
British squadron was sent to the Tagus, with a view of
affording the King of Portugal the moral support of the
British nation and a secure asylum in the event of any danger
to his person. Many months elapsed before the King of Portugal
had occasion to avail himself of the possible asylum which was
thus afforded to him. … The evident leanings of M. de Palmella
towards moderate measures, however, alarmed the Portuguese
Absolutists. Ever since the revolution of 1823 Dom Miguel had
held the command of the army; and, on the night of the 29th of
April, 1824, the prince suddenly ordered the arrest of the
leading personages of the Government, and, under the pretext
of suppressing an alleged conspiracy of Freemasons, called on
the army to liberate their king, and to complete the triumph
of the previous year. For nine days the king was a mere puppet
in the hands of his son, and Dom Miguel was virtually master
of Lisbon. On the 9th of May the king was persuaded by the
foreign ministers in his capital to resume his authority; to
retire on board the 'Windsor Castle,' a British man-of-war; to
dismiss Dom Miguel from his command, and to order his
attendance upon him. The prince, 'stricken with a sudden
futuity,' obeyed his father's commands, and was prevailed upon
to go into voluntary exile. The revolution of 1824 terminated
with his departure, and Portugal again enjoyed comparative
tranquillity."
_S. Walpole,
History of England from 1815,
chapter 9 (volume 2)._
ALSO IN:
_H. M. Stephens,
The Story of Portugal,
chapter 18._
See, also, BRAZIL: A.D. 1808-1822.
PORTUGAL: A. D. 1822.
The independence of Brazil proclaimed and established.
See BRAZIL: A. D. 1808-1822.
{2578}
PORTUGAL: A. D. 1824-1889.
Return of John VI. to Brazil.
Abdication of the Portuguese throne by Dom Pedro,
after granting a constitution.
Usurpation of Dom Miguel.
Civil war and factious conflicts.
Establishment of Parliamentary government, and Peace.
"At the close of 1824 the king returned to Brazil to spend his
last days in peace. On reaching Rio de Janeiro, he recognized
Dom Pedro as Emperor of Brazil, and on the 6th of March, 1826,
John VI. died in the country of his choice. By his will, John
VI. left the regency of Portugal to his daughter Isabel Maria,
to the disgust of Dom Miguel, who had fully expected in spite
of his conduct that Portugal would be in some manner
bequeathed to him, and that Dom Pedro would be satisfied with
the government of Brazil. The next twenty-five years are the
saddest in the whole history of Portugal. The establishment of
the system of parliamentary government, which now exists, was
a long and difficult task. … The keynote of the whole series
of disturbances is to be found in the pernicious influence of
the army. … The army was disproportionately large for the size
and revenue of the country; there was no foreign or colonial
war to occupy its energies, and the soldiers would not return
to the plough nor the officers retire into private life. The
English Cabinet at this juncture determined to maintain peace
and order, and in 1826, a division of 5,000 men was sent under
the command of Lieutenant-General Sir William Clinton to
garrison the chief towns. The accession of Pedro IV. to the
throne was hailed with joy in Portugal, though looked on with
suspicion in Brazil. He justified his reputation by drawing up
a charter, containing the bases for a moderate parliamentary
government of the English type, which he sent over to
Portugal, by the English diplomatist, Lord Stuart de Rothesay.
Then to please his Brazilian subjects, he abdicated the throne
of Portugal in favour of his daughter, Donna Maria da Gloria,
a child of seven years old, on condition that on attaining a
suitable age she should marry her uncle, Dom Miguel, who was
to swear to observe the new constitution. The Charter of 1826
was thankfully received by the moderate parliamentary party;
Clinton's division was withdrawn; Palmella remained prime
minister; and in the following year, 1827, Dom Pedro destroyed
the effect of his wise measures by appointing Dom Miguel to be
regent of Portugal in the name of the little queen. Dom Miguel
was an ambitious prince, who believed that he ought to be king
of Portugal; he was extremely popular with the old nobility,
the clergy, and the army, with all who disliked liberal ideas,
and with the beggars and the poor who were under the influence
of the mendicant orders. He was declared Regent in July, 1827,
and in May, 1828, he summoned a Cortes of the ancient type,
such as had not met since 1697, which under the presidency of
the Bishop of Viseu offered him the throne of Portugal. He
accepted, and immediately exiled all the leaders of the
parliamentary, or, as it is usually called, the Chartist,
party, headed by Palmella, Saldanha, Villa Flor, and Sampaio.
They naturally fled to England, where the young queen was
stopping on her way to be educated at the court of Vienna, and
found popular opinion strongly in their favour. But the Duke
of Wellington and his Tory Cabinet refused to countenance or
assist them. … Meanwhile the reign of Dom Miguel had become a
Reign of Terror; arrests and executions were frequent;
thousands were deported to Africa, and in 1830 it was
estimated that 40,000 persons were in prison for political
offences. He ruled in absolute contempt of all law, and at
different times English, French, and American fleets entered
the Tagus to demand reparation for damage done to commerce, or
for the illegal arrest of foreigners. The result of this
conduct was that the country was hopelessly ruined, and the
chartist and radical parties, who respectively advocated the
Charter of 1826 and the Constitution of 1822, agreed to sink
their differences, and to oppose the bigoted tyrant. … Dom
Pedro, who had devoted his life to the cause of parliamentary
government, resigned his crown in 1831 [see BRAZIL: A. D.
1825-1865] to his infant son, and left Brazil to head the
movement for his daughter's cause. … In July, 1832, the
ex-emperor with an army of 7,500 men arrived at Oporto, where
he was enthusiastically welcomed, and Dom Miguel then laid
siege to the city. European opinion was divided between the
two parties; partisans of freedom and of constitutional
government called the Miguelites 'slaves of a tyrant,' while
lovers of absolutism, alluding to the loans raised by the
ex-emperor, used to speak of the 'stock-jobbing Pedroites.'
The siege was long and protracted." The Miguelites finally
sustained several heavy defeats, both on land and at sea, and
Lisbon was triumphantly entered by the Chartists in July,
1833. "The year 1834 was one of unbroken success for the
Chartists. England and France recognized Maria da Gloria as
Queen of Portugal, and the ministry of Queen Isabella of
Spain, knowing Dom Miguel to be a Carlist, sent two Spanish
armies under Generals Rodil and Serrano to the help of Dom
Pedro. … Finally the combined Spanish and Portuguese armies
surrounded the remnant of the Miguelites at Evora Monte, and
on the 26th of May, 1834, Dom Miguel surrendered. By the
Convention of Evora Monte, Dom Miguel abandoned his claim to
the throne of Portugal, and in consideration of a pension of
£15,000 a year promised never again to set foot in the
kingdom. … Dom Pedro, who had throughout the struggle been the
heart and soul of his daughter's party, had thus the pleasure
of seeing the country at peace, and a regular parliamentary
system in operation, but he did not long survive, for on the
24th of September, 1834, he died at Queluz near Lisbon, of an
illness brought on by his great labours and fatigues, leaving
a name, which deserves all honour from Portuguese and
Brazilians alike. Queen Maria da Gloria was only fifteen, when
she thus lost the advantage of her father's wise counsel and
steady help, yet it might have been expected that her reign
would be calm and prosperous. But neither the queen, the
nobility, nor the people, understood the principles of
parliamentary government. … The whole reign was one of violent
party struggles, for they hardly deserve to be called civil
wars, so little did they involve, which present a striking
contrast to the peaceable constitutional government that at
present prevails. … In 1852 the Charter was revised to suit
all parties; direct voting, one of the chief claims of the
radicals, was allowed, and the era of civil war came to an
end.
{2579}
Maria da Gloria did not long survive this peaceful settlement,
for she died on the 15th of November, 1853, and her husband
the King-Consort, Ferdinand II, assumed the regency until his
eldest son Pedro V. should come of age. The era of peaceful
parliamentary government, which succeeded the stormy reign of
Maria II., has been one of material prosperity for Portugal. …
The whole country, and especially the city of Lisbon, was
during this reign, on account of the neglect of all sanitary
precautions, ravaged by cholera and yellow fever, and it was
in the midst of one of these outbreaks, on the 11th of
November, 1861, that Pedro V., who had refused to leave his
pestilence-stricken capital, died of cholera, and was followed
to the grave by two of his younger brothers, Dom Ferdinand and
Dom John. At the time of Pedro's death, his next brother and
heir, Dom Luis, was travelling on the continent, and his
father, Ferdinand II., who long survived Queen Maria da Gloria
… assumed the regency until his return; soon after which King
Luis married Maria Pia, younger daughter of Victor Emmanuel,
king of Italy. … The reign of King Luis was prosperous and
peaceful, and the news of his death on October 9, 1889, was
received with general regret. … Luis I. was succeeded on the
throne by his elder son, Dom Carlos, or Charles I., a young
man of twenty-six, who married in 1886, the Princess Marie
Amélie de Bourbon, the eldest daughter of the Comte de Paris.
His accession was immediately followed by the revolution of
the 15th of November, 1889, in Brazil, by which his great
uncle, Pedro II., Emperor of Brazil, was dethroned and a
republican government established in that country."
_H. M. Stephens,
The Story of Portugal,
chapter 18._
See BRAZIL: A. D. 1889-1891.
ALSO IN:
_W. Bollaert,
Wars of Succession in Portugal and Spain,
volume 1._
PORTUGAL: A. D. 1884-1889.
Territorial claims in Africa.
The Berlin Conference.
See AFRICA: A. D. 1884-1891.
----------PORTUGAL: End--------
PORTUS AUGUSTI AND PORTUS TRAJANI.
See OSTIA.
PORTUS CALE.
The ancient name of
Oporto, whence came, also, the name of Portugal.
See PORTUGAL: EARLY HISTORY.
PORTUS ITIUS.
The port on the French coast from which Cæsar sailed on both
his expeditions to Britain. Boulogne, Ambleteuse, Witsand and
Calais have all contended for the honor of representing it in
modern geography; but the serious question seems to be between
Boulogne and Witsand, or Wissant.
_T. Lewin,
Invasion of Britain._
ALSO IN:
_G. Long,
Decline of the Roman Republic,
volume 4, appendix 1._
_Napoleon III.,
History of Cæsar,
book 3, chapter 7._
PORTUS LEMANIS.
An important Roman port in Britain, at the place which still
preserves its name—Lymne.
_T. Wright,
Celt, Roman and Saxon,
chapter 5._
PORTUS MAGNUS.
An important Roman port in Britain, the massive walls of which
are still seen at Porchester (or Portchester).
_T. Wright,
Celt, Roman and Saxon,
chapter 5._
POST.
POSTAGE.
POST–OFFICE.
"The little that is known of the post-system of the [Roman]
empire is summed up in a few words in Becker's 'Handbuch,'
iii. i. 304: 'The institution of Augustus, which became the
basis of the later System known to us from the writings of the
Jurists, consisted of a military service which forwarded
official despatches from station to station by couriers,
called in the earlier imperial period speculatories. (Liv.
xxxi. 24.; Suet. Calig. 44.; Tac. Hist. ii. 73.) Personal
conveyance was confined (as in the time of the republic) to
officials: for this purpose the mutationes (posts) and
mansiones (night quarters) were assigned, and even palatia
erected at the latter for the use of governors and the emperor
himself. Private individuals could take advantage of these
state posts within the provinces by a special license
(diploma) of the governor, and at a later period of the
emperor only.' Under the republic senators and high personages
could obtain the posts for their private use, as a matter of
privilege."
_C. Merivale,
History of the Romans under the Empire,
chapter 34 (volume 4), foot-note._
"According to Professor Friedländer in his interesting work,
'Darstellungen aus der Sittengeschiehte Roms,' great progress
was made by the Romans, in the fourth and fifth centuries, in
their method of postal communication. Their excellent roads
enabled them to establish rapid mule and horse posts as well
as carts, and it is even stated that special 'postal ships'
(Post schiffe) were kept in readiness at the principal
sea-ports. These advanced postal arrangements, like many other
traces of Roman civilization, survived longest in Gaul; but
even there the barbarism of the people, and the constant wars
in which they were engaged, gradually extinguished, first the
necessity, and then, as a natural consequence, the means of
postal communication, until we find, at a much later period,
all European countries alike, for lack of any organized
system, making use of pilgrims, friars, pedlars, and others,
to convey their correspondence from one place to another. The
first attempt of any importance, to rescue postal
communication from the well-nigh hopeless condition into which
it had for centuries fallen, was made in Germany in 1380, by
the order of Teutonic Knights, who established properly
equipped post-messengers for home and international service.
An improvement and extension of this plan was carried out by
Francis von Thaxis in the year 1516, when a postal line from
Brussels to Vienna, via Kreuznach, was established. It is true
that, shortly before this, there is some record of Louis XI.
of France having started, for State postal purposes, what were
termed cavaliers du roy; but these were only allowed to be
used for private purposes by privileged individuals, part of
whose privilege, by the way, consisted in paying to Louis an
enormous fee. It is to Francis von Thaxis that must be
accorded the title of the first postal reformer. So eager was
his interest in the work he had undertaken, that, in order to
gain the right of territorial transit through several of the
small states of Germany where his plans were strongly opposed,
he actually agreed for a time to carry the people's letters
free of charge, an instance of generosity, for a parallel of
which we look in vain in the history of the Post Office. The
mantle of this reformer seems, strangely enough, to have
fallen in turn upon many of his descendants, who not only in
Germany, but also in Spain, Austria, Holland, and other
countries, obtained concessions for carrying on the useful
work started by Francis von Thaxis.
{2580}
One of the Thaxis family, at a later date, was created a
prince of Germany, and took the name of Thurm und Taxis; and
from him is descended the princely line bearing that name
which flourishes at the present day. Another member of the
family was created a grandee of Spain, and has the honor of
being immortalized by Schiller in his 'Don Carlos.' The first
establishment of an organized system of postal communication
in England is wrapt in some obscurity. During the reign of
John post-messengers were, for the first time, employed by the
king; these messengers were called nuncii; and in the time of
Henry I. these nuncii were also found in the service of some
of the barons. In Henry III.'s reign they had so far become a
recognized institution of the State that they were clothed in
the royal livery. Mr. Lewins, in his interesting work, 'Her
Majesty's Mails,' states that several private letters are
still in existence, dating back as far as the reign of Edward
II., which bear the appearance of having been carried by the
nuncii of that period, with 'Haste, post haste!' written
across them. … Edward IV., towards the end of the fifteenth
century, during the time that he was engaged in war with
Scotland, had the stations for postal relays placed within a
few miles of each other all the way from London to the royal
camp, and by this means managed to get his despatches carried
nearly a hundred miles a day. … No improvement is recorded in
the postal service in this country from the period last
referred to until the reign of Henry VIII. This king, we are
told, appointed a 'master of the posts,' in the person of Sir
Brian Tuke, who really seems to have made great efforts to
exercise a proper control over the horse-posts, and to bring
some sort of organization to bear on his department. Poor
Tuke, however, was not rewarded with much success. … James I.
established a regular post for inland letters, and Charles I.,
recognizing, no doubt, the financial importance of the Post
Office, declared it in 1637, by royal proclamation, to be
State property. It was, however, during the Protectorate,
twenty years later, that the first act of Parliament relating
to the formation of a State Post Office was passed. This
statute was entitled, 'An Act for the settling of the postage
of England, Scotland, and Ireland.' … The first trace which
can be found of a regular tariff of postal charges is in the
reign of Charles I., and even regarded by the light of to-day
these charges cannot be held to be exorbitant; for example, a
single letter from London, for any distance under eighty
miles, was charged twopence; fourpence up to one hundred and
forty miles; sixpence for any greater distance in England, and
eightpence to all parts of Scotland."
_Postal Communication, Past and Present
(National Review; copied in Littell's Living Age,
July 30, 1887)._
"A penny post was established in London, in 1683, two years
before the death of Charles II., for the conveyance of letters
and parcels within the City, by Robert Murray, an upholsterer
by trade, who, like a great many others, was dissatisfied with
the Government, which, in its anxiety to provide for the
postal requirements of the country, had entirely neglected the
City and suburbs. The post, established by Murray at a vast
expense, was ultimately handed over to a William Docwray,
whose name is now well known in the annals of Post Office
history. The arrangements of the new penny post were simple,
and certainly liberal enough. All letters or parcels not
exceeding a pound weight, or any sum of money not exceeding
£10 in value, or parcel not worth more than £10, could be
conveyed at a cost of one penny; or within a radius of ten
miles from a given centre, for the charge of twopence. Several
district offices were opened in various parts of London, and
receiving houses were freely established in all the leading
thoroughfares. … The deliveries in the City were from six to
eight daily, while from three to four were found sufficient to
supply the wants of the suburbs. The public appreciated and
supported the new venture, and it soon became a great
commercial success, useful to the citizens, and profitable to
the proprietor. No sooner, however, did a knowledge of this
fact reach the ears of those in authority over the General
Post Office, than the Duke of York, acting under instructions,
and by virtue of the settlement made to him, objected to its
being continued, on the ground that it was an invasion of his
legal rights. … The authorities … applied to the court of
King's Bench, wherein it was decided that the new or so-called
penny post was an infraction of the privileges of the
authorities of the General Post Office, and the royal
interest, and that consequently it, with all its organization,
profits, and advantages, should be handed over to, and remain
the property of, the royal establishment. … Post-paid
envelopes were in use in France in the time of Louis XIV.
Pelisson states that they originated in 1653 with M. de
Velayer, who established, under royal authority, a private
penny-post in Paris. He placed boxes at the corners of the
principal streets to receive the letters, which were obliged
to be enclosed in these envelopes. They were suggested to the
Government by Mr. Charles Whiting in 1830, and the eminent
publisher, the late Mr. Charles Knight, also proposed stamped
covers for papers. Dr. T. E. Gray, of the British Museum,
claimed the credit of suggesting that letters should be
prepaid by the use of stamps as early as 1834."
_W. Tegg,
Posts and Telegraphs,
pages 21-23 and 100-101._
"On the morning of the 10th of January, 1840, the people of
the United Kingdom rose in the possession of a new power—the
power of sending by the post a letter not weighing more than
half an ounce upon the prepayment of one penny, and this
without any regard to the distance which the letter had to
travel. … To the sagacity and the perseverance of one man, the
author of this system, the high praise is due, not so much
that he triumphed over the petty jealousies and selfish fears
of the post-office authorities, but that he established his
own convictions against the doubts of some of the ablest and
most conscientious leaders of public opinion. … Mr. Rowland
Hill in 1837 published his plan of a cheap and uniform
postage. A Committee of the House of Commons was appointed in
1837, which, continued its inquiries throughout the session of
1838, and arrived at the conviction that 'the mode recommended
of charging and collecting postage, in a pamphlet published by
Mr. Rowland Hill,' was feasible, and deserving of a trial
under legislative sanction. … Lord Ashburton, although an
advocate of Post-office Reform, held that the reduction to a
penny would wholly destroy the revenue. Lord Lowther, the
Postmaster-General, thought twopence the smallest rate that
would cover the expenses.
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Colonel Maberly, the secretary to the post office, considered
Mr. Hill's plan a most preposterous one, and maintained that
if the rates were to be reduced to a penny, the revenue would
not recover itself for forty or fifty years. … Public opinion,
however, had been brought so strongly to bear in favour of a
penny rate, that the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Spring
Rice, on the 5th of July, 1839, proposed a resolution, 'that
it is expedient to reduce the postage on letters to one
uniform rate of a penny postage, according to a certain amount
of weight to be determined—that the parliamentary privilege
of franking should be abolished, and that official franking be
strictly limited—the House pledging itself to make good any
deficiency that may occur in the revenue from such reduction
of the postage.' A Bill was accordingly passed to this effect
in the House of Commons, its operation being limited in its
duration to one year, and the Treasury retaining the power of
fixing the rates at first, although the ultimate reduction was
to be to one penny. This experimental measure reduced all
rates above fourpence to that sum, leaving those below
fourpence unaltered. With this complication of charge the
experiment could not have a fair trial, and accordingly on the
10th of January, 1840, the uniform half-ounce rate became by
order of the Treasury one penny. … In 1840 the number of
letters sent through the post had more than doubled, and the
legislature had little hesitation in making the Act of 1839
permanent, instead of its duration being limited to the year
which would expire in October. A stamped envelope, printed
upon a peculiar paper, and bearing an elaborate design, was
originally chosen as the mode of rendering prepayment
convenient to the sender of a letter. A simpler plan soon
superseded this attempt to enlist the Fine Arts in a plain
business operation. The plan of prepaying letters by affixing
a stamp bearing the head of the ruler of the country, came
into use here in May, 1840 [see, also, ENGLAND: A. D. 1840].
The habit of prepayment by postage stamps has now become so
universal throughout the world, that in 1861 the system was
established in eighty different countries or colonies."
_C. Knight,
Popular History of England,
volume 8, chapter 24._
The first postal system in the American colonies was privately
established in New England in 1676, by John Heyward, under
authority from the General Court of the colony of
Massachusetts. "In 1683 the government of Penn established a
postal system for the Colony of Pennsylvania. In 1700 Colonel
J. Hamilton organized 'his postal establishment for British
America' including all the English colonies, but soon after
disposed of his right to the English crown. In 1710 the
English Parliament established by law the first governmental
postal system with the general office at New York, which
continued until in 1776 the Continental Congress adopted and
set in action the postal system proposed by Franklin, who was
appointed the first Postmaster General. The first law of the
Federal Congress continued this system in operation as
sufficient for the public wants, but the postal service was
not finally settled until the act of 1792. This law (1792)
fixed a tariff which with unimportant changes remained in
force until the adoption of the system of Uniform Postage in
the United States. Single, double and triple letters were
charged 8, 16 and 24 cents respectively when sent to other
countries, and four cents plus the internal postage when
arriving from foreign countries. The internal postage between
offices in the United States was 6, 8, 10, 15, 17, 20, 22 and
25 cents for distances of 30, 60, 100, 150, 200, 250, 350, or
400 miles respectively for single letters, and double, triple,
etc., this for double, triple, etc. letters. A single letter
was defined by the law to be a single sheet or piece of paper,
a double letter, two sheets or pieces of paper, etc. … The
earliest letters which we have seen, consist of single sheets
of paper folded and addressed upon the sheet. An envelope
would have subjected them to double postage."
_J. K. Tiffany,
History of the Postage Stamps,
introduction._
By an act of March 3, 1845, the postage rates in the United
States were reduced to two—namely, 5 cents for 300 miles or
under, and 10 cents for longer distances. Six years later
(March 3, 1851) the minimum rate for half an ounce became 3
cents (if prepaid) with the distance covered by it extended to
3,000 miles; if not prepaid, 5 cents. For distances beyond
3,000 miles, these rates were doubled. In 1856 prepayment was
made compulsory; and by an act signed March 3, 1863, the 3
cent rate for half–ounce letters was extended to all distances
in the United States.
_J. Rees,
Footprints of a Letter-Carrier,
page 264._
In 1883 the rate in the United States was reduced to 2 cents
for all distances, on letters not exceeding half an ounce. In
1885 the weight of a letter transmissible for 2 cents was
increased to one ounce. The use of postage stamps was first
introduced in the United States under an act of Congress
passed in March, 1847. Stamped envelopes were first provided
in 1853. The first issue of postal cards was on the 1st of
May, 1873, under an act approved June 8, 1872. The registry
system was adopted July 1, 1855. Free delivery of letters in
the larger cities was first undertaken on the 1st of July
1863.
_D. M. Dickinson,
Progress and the Post
(North American Review, October, 1889)._
ALSO IN:
_Annual Report of the Postmaster-General
of the United States, 1893,
pages 543-558
(Description of all Postage Stamps and
Postal Cards issued)._
POSTAL MONEY-ORDER SYSTEM, The.
The postal money-order system, though said to be older in
practical existence, was regularly instituted and organized in
England, in its present form, in 1859. It was adopted in the
United States five years later, going into operation in
November, 1864.
_D. M. Dickinson,
Progress and the Post
(North American Review, October, 1889)._
ALSO IN:
_Appleton's Annual Cyclopœdia, 1887,
page 687._
POSTAL SAVINGS BANKS.
Postal savings banks were first brought into operation in
England in 1861. "One shilling is the smallest sum that can be
deposited. The Government has, however, … issued blank forms
with spaces for twelve penny postage-stamps, and will receive
one of these forms with twelve stamps affixed as a deposit.
This plan was suggested by the desire to encourage habits of
saving among children, and by the success of penny banks in
connection with schools and mechanics' institutes. No one can
deposit more than £30 in one year, or have to his credit more
than £150 exclusive of interest. When the principal and
interest together amount to £200, interest ceases until the
amount has been reduced below £200.
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Interest at two and a half per cent is paid, beginning the
first of the month following the deposit and stopping the last
of the month preceding the withdrawal, but no interest is paid
on any sum less than a pound or not a multiple of a pound. The
interest is added to the principal on the 31st of December of
each year. … The English colonies … have established postal
savings-banks of a similar character. … The Canadian system …
went into operation in 1868. … Influenced by the success of
the English system of postal savings-banks, the governments on
the Continent of Europe have now nearly all made similar
provisions for the investment of the surplus earnings of the
people. The Italian system … went into operation February 20,
1876. … In France the proposal to establish postal
savings-banks was frequently discussed, but not adopted until
March 1881, although the ordinary savings-banks had for
several years been allowed to use the post-offices as places
for the receipt and repayment of deposits. … The Austrian
postal savings-banks were first opened January 12, 1883. … The
Belgian system has been [1885] in successful operation for
more than fifteen years; that of the Netherlands was
established some three years ago; while Sweden has just
followed her neighbors, Denmark and Norway, in establishing
similar institutions. In 1871 Postmaster-General Creswel
recommended the establishment of postal savings depositories
in connection with the United States post-offices, and two
years later he discussed the subject very fully in his annual
report. Several of his successors have renewed his
recommendation;" but no action has been taken by Congress.
_D. B. King,
Postal Savings-Banks
(Popular Science Monthly, December, 1885)._
POSTAL TELEGRAPH, The.
"The States of the continent of Europe were the first to
appreciate the advantages of governmental control of the
telegraph. … From the beginning they assumed the erection and
management of the telegraph lines. It may be said that in
taking control of the telegraphs the monarchical governments
of the Old World were actuated as much by the desire to use
them for the maintenance of authority as by the advantages
which they offered for the service of the people. To a certain
extent this is doubtless true, but it is none the less true
that the people have reaped the most solid benefits, and that
the tendency has been rather to liberalize government than to
maintain arbitrary power. … The greatest progress and the best
management have alike been shown in those countries where the
forms of government are most liberal, as in Switzerland and
Belgium. … In Great Britain the telegraph was at first
controlled by private parties. … In July, 1868, an act was
passed 'to enable Her Majesty's Postmaster-General to acquire,
work, and maintain electric telegraphs.' … The rate for
messages was fixed throughout the kingdom at one shilling for
twenty words, excluding the address and signature. This rate
covered delivery within one mile of the office of address, or
within its postal delivery." The lines of the existing
telegraph companies were purchased on terms which were
commonly held to be exorbitant, and Parliament, changing its
original intention, conferred on the post-office department a
monopoly of the telegraphs. Thus "the British postal telegraph
was from the first handicapped by an enormous interest charge,
and to some extent by the odium which always attaches to a
legal monopoly. But notwithstanding the exorbitant price paid
for the telegraph, the investment has not proved an
unprofitable one."
_N. P. Hill,
Speech in the Senate of the United States,
January 14, 1884, on a Bill to Establish Postal Telegraphs,
("Speeches and Papers," pages 200-215)._
POSTAL UNION, The.
The Postal Union, which now embraces most of the civilized and
semi-civilized countries of the world, was formed originally
by a congress of delegates, representing the principal
governments of Europe, and the United States of America, which
assembled at Berne, Switzerland, in September, 1874. A treaty
was concluded at that time, which established uniform rates of
postage (25 centimes, or 5 cents, on half-ounce letters),
between the countries becoming parties to it, and opening the
opportunity for other states to join in the same arrangement.
From year to year since, the Postal Union has been widened by
the accession of new signatories to the treaty, until very few
regions of the globe where any postal system exists lie now
outside of it. The late accessions to the Postal Union have
been North Borneo, the German East African Protectorate, and
the British Australasian Colonies, in 1801; Natal and
Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1802; the South African Republic
(Transvaal) in 1803. By the action of an international postal
congress, held at Vienna, in 1801, a kind of international
clearing-house for the Postal Union was established at Berne,
Switzerland, and the settlement of accounts between its
members has been greatly facilitated thereby.
POSTUMIAN ROAD.
One of the great roads of the ancient Romans. It led from
Genoa to Aquileia, by way of Placentia, Cremona and Verona.
_T. Mommsen,
History of Rome,
book 4, chapter 11._
POTESTAS.
The civil power with which a Roman magistrate was invested was
technically termed potestas.
_W. Ramsay,
Manual of Roman Antiquity.,
chapter 5._
POTESTAS TRIBUNITIA, The.
The powers and prerogatives of the ancient tribunitian office,
without the office itself, being conferred upon Augustus and
his successors, became the most important element, perhaps, of
the finally compacted sovereignty of the Roman emperors.
_C. Merivale,
History of the Romans,
chapter 30._
POTIDÆA, Siege of.
The city of Potidæa, a Corinthian colony founded on the long
peninsula of Pallene which projects from the Macedonian coast,
but which had become subject to Athens, revolted from the
latter B. C. 432, and was assisted by the Corinthians. This
was among the quarrels which led up to the Peloponnesian War.
The Athenians reduced the city and expelled the inhabitants
after a siege of three years.
_Thucydides,
History,
books 1-2._
See, also, GREECE: B. C. 432;
and ATHENS: B. C. 430-429.
POTOMAC, Army of the:
Its creation and its campaigns.