royal mandate, or to an extravagant party which spoke in the royal mandate. There is no defect in the character of the minis ter of a free country which is so difficult to be pardoned, none so destructive of his political dignity and weight.

In the beginning of December, M. Villèle resigned his office. His example was followed by Damas, Peyronnet, Corbieres, and Clermont Tonnerre. They still remained members of the privy council; and Villèle, Peyronnet, and Corbieres, were raised to the dignity of the peerage, which, but a few weeks before, they had so shamefully degraded. They were succeeded by M. Roy, as Minister of Finance, and President of the Council; Count Portalis as Minister of Justice; La Ferronnays, as Minister for Foreign Affairs; Martignac, as Minister of the Interior; and De Caux, as Minister at War. Chabrol retained his place as Minister of Marine and of the Colonies, and Frayssinous continued at the head of Ecclesiastical affairs; but from the department of the latter was now separated the superintendence of public instruction, which had subjected all the concerns of education to the control of the church.

The foreign relations of France were not perplexed by the agitation which reigned in her internal affairs. A dispute in which she found herself involved with the Dey of Algiers, was not very actively prosecuted, and excited no notice beyond her own Southern harbours. Some Barbary Corsairs had searched and pillaged vessels sailing under the French flag. The French consul having remonstrated with the Dey against these infractions of treaty, his highness

wrought himself into such a passion, and forgot his princely dignity so far, as to crown the menaces and insults which he heaped upon the consul with a blow. The consul found means to convey intelligence of this to France, without the knowledge of the Dey; and a squadron was despatched to Algiers to demand satisfaction. It was preceded by a schooner, on board of which the consul contrived to make his escape, before the appearance of the fleet should expose him to the vengeance of the barbarian. On the arrival of the squadron, the admiral sent to the Dey to demand satisfaction for the insult offered to his nation, in the person of their consul; and required that one of the Dey's ministers should instantly repair on board his ship, and, in the name of his master, and in the presence of the French consul, as well as in the presence of the other European consuls, who were to be invited for that purpose, should there make an ample apology for the blow which had been inflicted upon the French king's representative. This the Dey indignantly refused, and declared that the impertinence of the message more than equalled the insult complained of. Dey, however, invited the admiral to his palace, to discuss the points in dispute, at the same time declaring, that, if they were not satisfactorily arranged within eight and forty hours, the Regency would be prepared to act accordingly. This invitation the admiral very naturally declined; and the French government announced that it was in a state of war with the Regency of Algiers. No attack, however, was hazarded upon the town, the batteries, or the shipping; there was no rivalry of lord Exmouth's

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splendid exploit: the French squadron contented itself with blockading the harbour. The Algerine vessels of war shut up in port came out, and attacked the blockading fleet; but, after an action of two hours, the engagement ceased as if by mutual consent, and without either party having suffered any material loss. The Algerine ships returned into harbour, apparently in as good order, and with as much regularity, as when they left it, not pursued or molested by the French squadron, which forthwith resumed the blockade.

A commercial agreement, of a novel form, was entered into with Mexico. It was concluded with the consular agent of that republic at Havre, and, though intended to serve all the purposes of a treaty, it bore the singular name of a "declaration;" an unworthy evasion to which France had recourse, to avoid the appearance of formally recognizing the South American States. By this declaration it was provided, that the inhabitants of the two nations might proceed with their shipping and cargoes, to every port, river, and place, where strangers were admitted, and there remain and occupy houses or warehouses to carry on their commerce; and, in

general, every merchant of each state was to enjoy, in the territory of the other, perfect liberty and security. The reciprocal right of entering the ports, rivers, and other places of the two countries, did not include the privilege of the coasting trade, which each country might subject to special regulations. The produce of each country, on being imported into the other, was not to be subject to higher duties than those imposed on the produce of the most favoured nation, with an exception in favour of Hayti, with regard to reductions in the tariff, which France might make in return for the privileges reserved by the ordinance of the 17th of April, 1825. Certificates of origin were required for all merchandise exported from either country. The shipping duties paid in the two countries by the ships of each, were placed on the footing of the most favoured nation, and the produce of either might be imported into the other, either in French or Mexican ships. The rights of Frenchmen in Mexico, and Mexicans in France, the es tablishment of consuls, with their privileges, in each country, were secured and provided for by various articles, on the principle of reciprocity.

TH

HE arrival of British troops at Lisbon in the end of December, 1826, and in the beginning of the following January, the expressed displeasure of France, and the military disasters of the Portuguese rebels, had at last compelled Spain reluctantly to abandon her armed machinations against the Portuguese regency. In the beginning of January a manifesto appeared, in the shape of a despatch from the Minister at War to the Captains-general of the provinces, explaining the conduct which Spain had hitherto adopted, and that which she intended to pursue for the future. In this document the Spanish government averred, that it had not only acted with perfect good faith towards Portugal, but had done no more than self-preservation required. The establishment of the Portuguese constitution, they said, had been accompanied by the daily emigration of Portuguese troops, who entered Spain on so many different points of the frontier, that it was impossible to believe the

more

movement to have been the result of a Spanish plot. At the same time, the danger, with which the innovations in Portugal threatened the tranquillity of Spain, had been instantly manifested by the desertion of mal-content Spanish troops. In this state of "moral hostility" his Catholic majesty, though he had found it necessary to take what his manifesto called "precautions" for the security of his own dominions, had acted honestly towards his neighbours; and he now declared, that nothing was important to the gratification of his love of peace, than that every collision or disturbance should be avoided which might give offence to Portugal or her armed ally. But in the same breath he pronounced an apologetic eulogy on "the ardour and exalted sentiments of the emigrated Portuguese soldiers, which equalled, if they did not surpass, those of their officers-undoubtedly an interesting situation, in which the fire of despair might have been kindled by the very means contrived to at

tain " "a contrary result." His Catholic majesty, by thus identifying himself with the rebels, confirmed all that had been said of his policy; and if, by the possible kindling of their "fire of despair," he meant that, had they not been countenanced by his government, they would have had recourse to more desperate measures than they actually adopted, it is not, in the first place, easy to see what measures could have been more desperate than rebellion and invasion; and, secondly, however extravagant their "despair" might have been, it would at all events have proved infinitely more harmless to Portugal when not equipped with Spanish arms, and not guided by Spanish counsels.

In the mean time, as a precautionary measure against any hostile movement on the part of Portugal, which Britain had guaranteed to Europe should not take place, if Spain desisted honestly from her aggressions, two armies of observation were stationed; the one on the Tagus at Talavera, under the command of general Sersfeld, the other under Rodil, the obstinate defender of Callao, along the frontiers of Estremadura, from Badajoz to Alcantara. Another

division was stationed near the Gallician frontier, at Orense. Together, these troops amounted to about fifteen thousand men. Although the finances were in such miserable disorder that money could not be furnished for the ordinary civil services of the government, funds were procured to equip these troops, on the fidelity, or devoted bigotry of whom, so much depended. The ecclesiastics, who probably expected that they would be employed as much for opportune offence as for the execution of

needless precautions, and who knew, at all events, that their very presence would give countenance to Portuguese mal-contents, supplied liberal contributions. It was their policy to make the army regard them as the substantial providers for their wants. The royalist volunteers, the most numerous and formidable military body in the kingdom, might be almost said to be in their pay. In its movements it was at their nod, and the nod of their agents;-an instrument to be played off by them at any time against the king their master.

In addition to these corps of observation, an ordinance was issued directing a new levy of twentyfour thousand men, which was to be completed by the end of March. The period of service, however, was in this instance to be limited to six years, instead of eight, the regular extent of its duration. The nobles were exempted from service on payment of fifteen thousand reals; the same privilege was granted to the elder sons of persons not noble, on payment of six thousand reals, and furnishing a substitute an indulgence which was extended to persons in public employments, and, "with the view of protecting learning," as the decree said, to students in the universities, colleges, and seminaries. These costly exemptions, however, were believed to have been granted as much for the purpose of raising money, as from any wish to alleviate the burthen of personal service. Such preparations seemed to shew that Spain was serious in apprehending an attack from Portugal, than which no fear could well be more groundless; but no person had any right to complain of her parade of the "pomp and circumstance of war,"

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so long as it was not directed of fensively against her neighbours. She pretended, indeed, that the augmentation of her military means was necessary to enable her to fulfil her promises, to disarm the Portuguese rebels who might take refuge in the Spanish territory; but, for a long time, this duty was performed in a way that proved, how reluctantly she submitted to the necessity which her own misconduct had imposed upon her. By the end of February, only between three and four hundred men had been returned to the Waroffice as disarmed, although the rebel troops, routed in the engagement at Coruches, had amounted to twelve thousand. It had been loudly proclaimed that the refugees were to be removed into the heart of the Asturias and Castile; but they were allowed to remain at Santiago and Orense in Gallicia within a few miles of the frontiers. There, just as before, they were allowed to assemble and equip themselves; and the result was a new invasion of Portugal by Chaves, Silveira, and Magessi, in the month of February, in the course of which they had penetrated to Braga, within a short distance of Oporto, before the generals of the regency could march from Beira to oppose them. Being again routed by the constitutional troops, they again retired towards Spain, where they would have been received with the same friendly aid as before, if the remonstrances of Britain and Portugal on this new and outrageous violation of faith had not been backed by the neighbourhood of a British army, which by this time had advanced its head-quarters from Lisbon to Coimbra. Spain at last appeared to be in earnest.

The rebels were actually disarmed, and sent into the interior. But it was now further de manded, that Chaves and Canellas should not be allowed to remain in Spain. This, too, was complied with; and these turbulent traitors withdrew into France. The success with which the cabinet of Madrid now made its orders be executed, furnished the best answer to its former pretences, that the captains-general had armed and encouraged the rebels, contrary to the express instructions of their government. One circumstance put them to the blush. The artillery taken from the rebels in Portugal was found to be principally of Seville manufacture. As only the government has the right, in Spain, of casting cannon, and manufacturing powder, this discovery directly implicated it. Such a circumstance could not be referred to the unauthorized acts of private individuals.

In truth, the most influential party in the country, and a portion even of the cabinet, would have preferred an open avowal of the assistance given to Chaves and his confederates, and would even now have urged a declaration of war against Portugal and her ally. Madrid was the seat of a double government. There was the cabinet, with Ferdinand at its head, ostensibly in possession of the administration of the kingdom; but there was likewise the Camarilla of the Apostolics, with M. de Calomarde at its head, which exercised more substantial authority than the monarch himself. The latter party was supported by all the influence of the church, which, in Spain, swallows up almost every other. It was under its immediate orders that the measures