1832.] Don Pedro and his Adfofenl*. % 



tutional liberty, amid the waves of the western ocean. Among the 

 liberal portion of his countrymen his name is in universal execration; 

 for to his subserviency to the political views of the English ministry, 

 they, one and all, attribute the ruin of their country. Accordingly, 

 when, in the year 1820, the constitutional star arose on the benighted 

 horizon of Portugal, the marquis was banished from her shores. Fore- 

 seeing that the chord struck in Europe would vibrate in Brazil, he 

 crossed the Atlantic for the purpose of crushing in the bud the first 

 germ of liberty on the Brazilian soil. 



He landed at Bahia. Here, by his wiles, he gained over to his 

 views the Brigadier Felisberto Gomes Caldeira Brant (since known in 

 this country as the Marquis de Barbacena), one of the most influential 

 men in the country, and already looked upon as the future Bolivar of 

 Brazil. 



Yet, by the promise of an earldom, a boon no South American re- 

 publican can resist, he enlisted him on the side of despotism ; and when 

 the regiment of artillery raised a few weeks afterwards the banner of 

 the constitution, Felisberto led a body of troops against them, was de- 

 feated, and, unable to stem the torrent of popular opinion, was obliged 

 to take refuge on board an English sloop-of-war in the harbour. 



It would take up too much room were we to follow, from this period 

 until the death of Don John the Sixth, this astute diplomatist through 

 all the dark and tortuous mazes of that policy, which sacrificed, without 

 a blush, every consideration of his country's weal at the shrine of his 

 own ambition. We shall complete this sketch by presenting him to 

 the reader, in his military capacity, during the memorable campaign of 

 the three days, as the expedition to Oporto in 1828 has been face- 

 tiously termed by the political adversaries of the noble marquis. 



When the steam-boat with Palmella and his companions arrived in 

 Oporto, the constitutional army, under General Saraiva, an officer who 

 had studied the art of war in the anti-salas of the palace at Rio Janeiro, 

 was in full retreat, and their vanguard already within seven leagues of 

 the city. Unfortunately for the cause of legitimacy and right, the 

 command of the army devolved on the Marquis de Palmella, who was 

 the senior officer present. Had the youthful queen herself assumed the 

 command, the result could not have been more disastrous. The con- 

 juncture was a critical one ; but an officer of decision would have risen 

 superior to it, and have converted the retrograde into an en avant move- 

 ment. But such a man was not Don Pedro Holstein ; for years past 

 he had been more conversant with the wiles of a diplomatic chancellerie 

 than with the martial exercises of the camp. He could scarcely sit his 

 charger, and as he rode through the streets of Porto, amid the " vivas" 

 of the assembled populace, holding on by the pummel of his saddle, 

 and almost sinking beneath the weight of his military trappings, he 

 was compared to the figure of St. George of Cappodocia, the patron 

 saint of Portugal, who, in the procession of the Corpus Christi, is annu- 

 ally paraded through the city. The whole day was occupied in per- 

 forming a distance of barely three leagues, and, in the meantime, hear- 

 ing that the army was abandoning its forward position, the panic seized 

 Palmella, who actually returned to Oporto without even seeing the 

 army he went out to command. Here he assembled the provisional 



