in agreeing not to resent the exclusion of British commerce from the
ports of Portugal, His Majesty had exhausted the means of forbearance;
that in making that concession to the peculiar circumstances of the
Prince Regent's situation, His Majesty had done all that friendship and
the remembrance of ancient alliance could justly require; but that a
single step beyond the line of modified hostility, thus most
reluctantly consented to, must necessarily lead to the extremity of
actual war.
"The Prince Regent, however, suffered himself for a moment to forget
that, in the present state of Europe, no country could be permitted to
be an enemy to England with impunity, and that however much His Majesty
might be disposed to make allowance for the deficiency of means
possessed by Portugal of resistance to the power of France, neither his
own dignity nor the interests of his people would permit His Majesty to
accept that excuse for a compliance with the full extent of her
unprincipled demands. On the 8th inst. His Royal Highness was induced to
sign an order for the detention of the few British subjects, and of the
inconsiderable portion of British property which yet remained at Lisbon.
On the publication of this order, I caused the arms of England to be
removed from the gates of my residence, demanded my passports, presented
a final remonstrance against the recent conduct of the court of Lisbon,
and proceeded to the squadron commanded by Sir Sydney Smith, which
arrived off the coast of Portugal some days after I had received my
passports, and which I joined on the 17th inst.
"I immediately suggested to Sir Sydney Smith the expediency of
establishing the most rigorous blockade at the mouth of the Tagus; and I
had the high satisfaction of afterwards finding that I had thus
anticipated the intentions of His Majesty: for despatches (which I
received on the 23d) directing me to authorise that measure, in case the
Portuguese government should pass the bounds which His Majesty had
thought fit to set to his forbearance, and attempt to take any further
step injurious to the honour or interests of Great Britain."--
----"I resolved, therefore, to proceed forthwith to ascertain the effect
produced by the blockade of Lisbon, and to propose to the Portuguese
government, as the only condition upon which that blockade should cease,
the alternative (stated by you) either of surrendering the fleet to His
Majesty, or of immediately employing it to remove the Prince Regent and
his family to the Brazils."--
"I accordingly requested an audience of the Prince Regent, together with
due assurances of protection and security; and upon receiving His Royal
Highness's answers I proceeded to Lisbon on the 27th, in His Majesty's
sloop Confiance, bearing a flag of truce. I had immediately most
interesting communications with the court of Lisbon, the particulars of
which shall be detailed in a future despatch. It suffices to mention in
this place, that the Prince Regent wisely directed all his apprehensions
to a French army, and all his hopes to a British fleet: that he received
the most explicit assurances from me that His Majesty would generously
overlook those acts of unwilling and momentary hostility to which His
Royal Highness's consent had been extorted; and that I promised to His
Royal Highness, on the faith of my sovereign, that the British squadron
before the Tagus should be employed to protect his retreat from Lisbon,
and his voyage to the Brazils.
"A decree was published yesterday, in which the Prince Regent announced
his intention of retiring to the city of Rio de Janeiro until the
conclusion of a general peace, and of appointing a regency to transact
the administration of government at Lisbon, during His Royal Highness's
absence from Europe."
Sir Sydney Smith writes on the first of December the following letter to
the admiralty:--
His Majesty's Ship Hibernia, 22 leagues west of the Tagus, Dec. 1, 1807.
"Sir,
"In a former despatch, dated 22d November, with a postscript of the
26th, I conveyed to you, for the information of my Lords Commissioners
of the Admiralty, the proofs contained in various documents of the
Portuguese government, being so much influenced by terror of the French
arms as to have acquiesced to certain demands of France operating
against Great Britain. The distribution of the Portuguese force was made
wholly on the coast, while the land side was left totally unguarded.
British subjects of all descriptions were detained; and it therefore
became necessary to inform the "Portuguese government, that the case
had arisen, which required, in obedience to my instructions, that I
should declare the Tagus in a state of blockade."
(_Sir Sydney then repeats part of Lord Strangford's despatch._)
"On the morning of the 29th, the Portuguese fleet came out of the Tagus
with His Royal Highness the Prince of Brazil, and the whole of the royal
family of Braganza on board, together with many of his faithful
councillors and adherents, as well as other persons attached to his
present fortunes.
"This fleet of eight sail of the line, four frigates, two brigs, and one
schooner[20], with a crowd of large armed merchant ships arranged itself
under the protection of that of His Majesty, while the firing of a
reciprocal salute of twenty-one guns announced the friendly meeting of
those, who but the day before were on terms of hostility, the scene
impressing every beholder (except the French army on the hills) with the
most lively emotions of gratitude to Providence, that there yet existed
a power in the world able, as well as willing, to protect the
oppressed.--I have, &c.
"W. SYDNEY SMITH."
[Note 20: _List of the Portuguese Fleet that came out of the Tagus
on the 29th of November, 1807._
Guns. Commanded by
Principe Real 84, Adm. Manoel da Cunha.
Capt. Manoel da Canto.
Rainha de Portugal 74, Capt. Francisco Manoel Soetomayor.
_The Princess Dowager and younger daughters
came in this ship._
Conde Henrique 74, Capt. Jose Maria de Almeida.
Medusa 74, Capt. Henrique de Souza Prego.
Affonso d'Abuquerque 64, Capt Ignacio da Costa Quinatella.
_The Queen and family in this ship._
D. Joam de Castro 64, Capt. Don Manoel Juan Souça.
Principe do Brazil 74, Capt. Garçaŏ.
Martim de Freitas 64, Capt. Don Manoel Menezes.
FRIGATES.
Minerva 44, Capt. Rodrigo Lobo.
Golfinho 36, Capt. Luiz d'Acunha.
Urania 32, Capt. Tancos, Conde de Viana.
Cherua Princesa S.S. 20, Commanded by a lieutenant.
BRIGS.
Voador 22, Lieut. Fs. Maximilian.
Vingança 20, Capt. Nicolas Kytten.
Gaivota 22.
SCHOONER.
Curiosa 12, _Hoisted French colours and deserted._
Of these vessels, the _Martin Freitas_ is now the _Pedro Primero_. The
_Principe Real_ is the receiving ship at Rio. The _Rainha de Portugal_
is at Lisbon, as well as the Conde Henrique. The _Medusa_ is the sheer
hulk at Rio. The three other line-of-battle ships either broke up or
about to be so. Of the frigates, the Minerva was taken by the French in
India. The Golfinho is broken up, and the _Urania_ was wrecked on the
Cape de Verde Islands. The Voador is now a corvette. The Vingança is
broke up, and the Gaivoto is now the Liberal.
_List of the Ships that remained at Lisbon._
Guns.
S. Sebastao 64, _Unserviceable without thorough repair._
Maria Prima 74, _Ordered for floating battery--not fitted._
Vasco de Gama 74,[21] _Under repair, nearly ready._
Princesa de Beira 64, _Ordered for floating battery._
FRIGATES.
Fenix 48, _In need of thorough repair_ (broke up at Bahia).
Aamazona 44, _Do. Do._ (Do. at Lisbon).
Perola 44, _Do. Do._ (Do. at Lisbon).
Trítaõ 40, _Past repair._
Veney 30, _Past repair._
]
[Note 21: Hulk at Rio.]
Such are the public accounts transmitted by foreigners to their court of
one of the most singular transactions that has occurred in the history
of kingdoms and of courts. Yet such was the state of Europe at that
time, so momentous the struggle between the principals in the mighty
warfare that was going on, that the ancient house of Braganza left the
seat of its ancestors, to seek shelter and security beyond the Atlantic,
almost without notice and with less ceremony than had formerly attended
an excursion to its country palaces.
The French Government had waited to invade Portugal till that unhappy
country had exhausted its treasury, in the payment of the enormous sums
demanded as the price of its neutrality. French influence had removed
the Portuguese troops from the mountain passes, where they might have
opposed the entrance of French armies, and the Prince Regent only
declared his adherence to the continental system, and arrested the
English on the simultaneous entrance of three Imperial and Spanish
armies.
Junot invaded Algarve and passed the Zezere, at the same moment when
Solano threw himself upon Oporto, and Carafa occupied Alentejo and
Algarve.--Under these circumstances, the conduct of the ministry, though
not courageous, was natural, and it was as natural when Lord Strangford
returned to Lisbon, which, perhaps, he ought not to have left, that the
last council held in that capital should decide on the emigration of the
court to Brazil. Had it remained, and Portugal had become a French
province, the Prince and all his family were prisoners in the hands of
one who had respected no crown; and besides, England had intimated that
in that case she must occupy Brazil for her own security. By emigrating
to Brazil the Prince retained in his hands the largest and richest
portion of his domains, and secured at least, the personal freedom and
safety of his family. At the end therefore of the last meeting of his
councillors the Prince called his confidential servants[22], and ordered
them to prepare every thing _in secret_ for the embarkation of the court
on the next night but one. One of these had been actually ordered to
provide quarters for Junot, and on the next morning to have a breakfast
ready for him at a house half-way between Sacavem and Lisbon. This man
had smuggled his family on board one of the ships, he had been night and
day getting provisions, plate, books, jewels, whatever could be moved on
board the fleet, and, remaining to the last, was again ordered to
provide quarters for Junot: but he was fortunate enough to secure a boat
to carry him off to the fleet, leaving papers, money, and even his hat
behind him on the beach.
Such is the picture of the hasty embarkation, given by some of the
attendants on the royal family.
[Note 22: These were the Visconde de Rio Seco, who managed all; the
Marquis de Vagos, gentleman of the bed-chamber; Conde de Redondo, who
had the charge of the royal pantries; Manoel da Cunha, admiral of the
fleet; the Padre José Eloi, who had the care of the valuables belonging
to the patriarchal church.]
The fleets had no sooner got off the land than they encountered a
violent gale of wind, but by the 5th of December they were all collected
again; on that day Sir Sidney Smith having supplied the ships with every
thing necessary for their safety, and having convoyed them to lat. 37°
47' north, and long. 14° 17' west, left them to go on under the
protection of the Marlborough, Capt. Moore, with a broad pennant, the
London, Monarch and Bedford.[23] They proceeded without farther accident
to the coast of Brazil, and landed at Bahia on the 21st of January,
1808.[24]
[Note 23: On the removal of the family of Braganza to Brazil, Sir
Samuel Hood and General Beresford took possession of Madeira, in trust
for Portugal, till a restoration should take place.]
[Note 24: The Rainha de Portugal, and the Conde Henrique with the
Princess Dowager and the younger Princesses arrived straight at Rio, on
the 15th of January. The Martim de Freitas and Golfinho arrived on the
15th at Bahia for supplies, sailed for Rio on the 24th, and arrived on
the 30th.]
The Conde da Ponte was at that time governor of Bahia, and is said to
have been very popular[25]: he had married a lady of high family who was
not less so, and she possessed, besides the manners of the court, a
considerable portion of both beauty and talent.
[Note 25: The Conde died in May, 1809, at the age of 35, leaving ten
children, and an embarrassed estate.]
The reception of the royal party was rendered so agreeable to the Prince
by the governor and his lady, that he remained at St. Salvador's a
month, every day being a festival, and then left it with regret. In
commemoration of the visit, a spot was cleared near the fortress of St.
Peter's, and commanding a fine view over the whole of the beautiful bay,
and there an obelisk was erected with an inscription, stating its
purpose, and the surrounding ground was planted and converted into a
public garden.
But, however agreeable a residence at Bahia might have been to His Royal
Highness, the place is too insecure for the purposes for which he
emigrated. If it is besieged by sea, and the smallest land force gets
possession of the neck of land between the Cape and Rio Vermelha, it is
actually without the means of subsistence. The entrance of the bay is so
wide, that nothing, can prevent ships from going in when they please.
Whereas, the harbour of Rio is easily defended, it not being possible
for ships to enter without being exposed to the fire of the forts.
Besides, it has resources which Bahia has not, being at all times able
to communicate with the rich province of the Minas, which, besides the
metals, abounds in corn, mandioc, cotton, coffee, cattle, hogs, and even
the coarse manufactures such as cotton, &c., for the use of the slaves
and for ordinary purposes.
Rio was therefore the best adapted for the asylum of the illustrious
house of Braganza, and, on the 26th February, His Royal Highness sailed
from Bahia, and arrived in Rio de Janeiro on the 7th March.
Meantime the French troops had occupied Portugal, and Junot, who
commanded in chief, and had fixed his head-quarters at Lisbon, began by
disarming the inhabitants, and war between France and Portugal was
formally announced, eight days before the signature of the treaty of
Fontainbleau, by which Portugal was divided into three great feoffs,
which, under the King of Etruria, the Prince of Peace Godoy, and a
Braganza, if he would submit to the conditions[26], were to be subject
to the crown of Spain.
[Note 26: Godoy was to have Alentejo and Algarve; Etruria, Entre
Minho e Douro with the city of Oporto, the rest was to be sequestrated
till a general peace, when a Braganza was to be placed at its head, on
condition that England should restore Gibraltar, Trinidad, &c. to
Spain.]
Junot published a proclamation flattering the people in proportion to
his oppressions and exactions, and nearly ruined them by a forced war
contribution of nearly 3,000,000_l._--In addition to this a conscription
of 40,000 men was raised, and thus the means which Portugal possessed,
and which, if timely used, might have saved her from invasion were
turned against her.
The first ministry appointed on the arrival of the court at Rio,
consisted of Don Rodriguez de Souza Continho, Don Juan d'Almeida, the
Visconde d'Anadia, and the Marquez d'Aguiar.
The first measure of the court was to publish a manifesto, setting forth
the conduct of France towards Portugal, from the beginning of the
revolution; the efforts of the government to preserve its neutrality;
and detailing all the events which had led immediately to the emigration
of the royal family. The manifesto also denied having, as the French
government alleged, given any succours to the English fleet or troops in
their expedition to the River Plate; and it states, that the French
government having broken faith with that of Portugal, His Royal Highness
considered himself at war with France, and declared that he could only
make peace by consent of, and in conjunction with, his old and faithful
ally the king of England; and this was all the direct interference of
the Prince in the affairs of his ancient European kingdom, where a junta
of five persons was appointed to govern, and where, before the end of
the year (1808), the battle of Vimiera had been fought, and the
convention of Cintra had been signed.
The first sensible effect of the arrival of the royal family in Brazil
was the opening of its numerous ports[27]; and in the very first year
(1808) ninety foreign ships entered the single harbour of Rio, and a
proportional number, those of Maranham, Pernambuco, and Bahia. The
effect of the residence of the court was soon felt in the city of Rio de
Janeiro. It was before 1808 confined to little more than the ground it
occupied when attacked by Duguay Trouen in 1712; and the beautiful bays
above and below it, formed by the harbour, were unoccupied, except by a
few fishermen, while the swamps and morasses which surrounded it
rendered it filthy in the extreme. A spot near the church of San
Francisco de Paulo had been cleared for a square, but scarcely a dozen
houses had risen round it, and a muddy pond filled up the centre, into
which the negroes were in the habit of throwing all the impurities from
the neighbourhood. This was now filled up. On one side of the square a
theatre was begun, not inferior to those of Europe in size and
accommodation, and placed under the patronage of St. John; several
magnificent houses rose in the immediate neighbourhood, the square was
finished, and another and much larger laid out beyond it, on one side of
the city, while on the other, between the foot of the mountain of the
Corcovado, with its surrounding hills, and the sea, every station was
occupied by delightful country-houses, and the beautiful bay of Boto
Fogo, where there were before only fishermen and gipsies, soon became a
populous and wealthy suburb.
[Note 27: 28th January, 1808.]
It is not in my power to give a detailed account of all the transactions
of this important year. The trade had naturally rapidly increased; the
money brought by the emigrants from Portugal, had called forth greater
exertions and speculations in commerce; and in October a public bank was
chartered in Rio, with a capital of from seventy to eighty thousand
pounds sterling.
The establishment of a regular gazette naturally took place, for the
speedier dissemination of whatever tidings might arrive from Portugal,
where lay the possessions and the interest of the court and the new
people of Brazil; and though the press, of course, did not boast of much
freedom, nor indeed would its freedom at that time have been of any
consequence, it formed the first step towards awakening rational
curiosity and that desire for reading, which has become not only a
luxury, but even a necessary, in some countries, and which makes a rapid
and daily progress here.
On the arrival of the court many of the old Creole families hastened to
the capital to greet their sovereigns. The sons and the daughters of
these married into the noble houses of Portugal; the union of the two
nations became intimate and permanent; and the manners and habits of the
Brazilians more polished. With the artificial wants that sprung up, new
industry was excited, especially near the capital; the woods and hills
were cleared, the desert islands of the bay became thriving farms,
gardens sprung up every where, and the delicate table vegetables of
Europe and Africa were added to the native riches of the soil and
climate.
The numbers of the royal family furnished birth-days for frequent galas,
the foreigners vied with the Portuguese in their feasts, so that Rio
presented a scene of almost continued festivity. On the 17th of
December, the birth-day of the queen, six counts were created, that is,
Luiz de Vasconcellos e Souza was made Conde de Figuerio, Don Rodrigo de
Souza Continho, Conde de Linhares, the Visconde d'Anadia, Conde
d'Anadia, D. Joao d'Almeida de Mello e Castro, Conde das Galveas, D.
Fernando Jose de Portogal, Conde d'Aguiar, and D. Jose de Souza
Continho, Conde de Redondo. The Papal Nuncio, Sir Sidney Smith, and Lord
Strangford[28], were honoured with the order of the Tower and Sword; six
English officers were named commanders of the order of the Cross, and
five others were made knights of the same.
[Note 28: Sir Sydney Smith had followed the Portuguese court to Rio,
less as commander of the British naval force in those seas, than as the
protector of the Braganzas. Lord Strangford had resumed his character of
ambassador.]
The beginning of 1809 was marked by an event of some importance. By the
treaty of Amiens, Portuguese Guiana had been given up to France, and was
now, together with French Guyana and Cayenne, governed by the infamous
Victor Hughes. It was long since France had been able to send out
succour to these colonies. The fleets of England impeded the navigation,
and the demands at home were too urgent and too great to permit much to
be hazarded for the sake of such a distant possession. The court of Rio,
therefore, resolved to send a body of troops under Colonel Manoel
Marquez, to the mouth of the Oyapok. The English ship of war, Confiance,
commanded by Captain Yeo, accompanied him, and their combined attack
forced the enemy to surrender on the 12th of January. The terms were
honourable to both parties: and among the articles I observe the 14th,
by which it is stipulated, that the botanic garden, called the
Gabrielle, shall not only be spared, but kept up in the state of
perfection in which it was given up. War is so horrible, that a trait
like this, in the midst of its evils, is too pleasing to be overlooked.
The rest of the year passed in Brazil in quiet though important
operations; many roads were opened through the still wild country in the
interior; a naval academy was instituted; a school of anatomy was
founded in the naval and military hospital; and the vaccine
establishment formed in Brazil in 1804 having declined, it was renewed
both at Bahia and Rio, and immense numbers of persons of all colours
were vaccinated.
Meanwhile the Portuguese arms were employed in another quarter of the
world. The extensive dominions of Portugal in the east had fallen off
one by one, as pearls from a broken thread. Yet Macao was still
Portuguese. For twenty years past, it, in common with the coast of
China, had been plagued with the pirates of the Yellow Sea; till, at
length, the Chinese government found it necessary to take measures for
suppressing them, and therefore made a treaty with the Portuguese
government of Macao, signed by the following personages, on the 23d of
November.
MIGUEL DE ARRIGA, Judge.
BRUN DA SILVA.
JOSE JOAQUIN BARROS, General.
SHIN KEI CHI.
CHES.
POM.
The Portuguese were by this treaty to furnish six vessels of from
sixteen to twenty-six guns, but being in want of ball and other stores
they were supplied liberally by the English East India Company's
factory; and the result was, that after three months' resistance, the
pirates surrendered their ships, and promised to become peaceable
subjects, and the people of Macao performed a Te Deum in honour of their
success; but twelve months elapsed ere the happy tidings reached Brazil.
The great European interests of Brazil and its sovereign might have been
forgotten in the country itself, during the year 1810, so tranquil was
it, but for the packets which brought across the Atlantic the details of
those desperate battles, which the strength and the treasure of England
were waging in defence of them in the Peninsula. On the 19th of
February, Lord Strangford and the Conde de Linhares, in behalf of their
respective governments, signed a commercial treaty at Rio, by which
great and reciprocal advantages were obtained, and the English were
allowed the free exercise of their own form of worship, provided they
built no steeples to their churches, and that they used no bells.