378 Don Pedro and his Adherents. [APRIL, 



government, when it was decided that its members should embark for 

 England, while the army should abandon the city, and gain the Spanish 

 frontier in the best manner it was able. Stung to the quick by this 

 pusillanimous resolution, General Saldanha, one of the best officers in 

 the Portuguese service, offered to remain and conduct the retreat of the 

 army, provided two members of the government would also remain, 

 and share the responsibility. Two of the number, a colonel of cavalry, 

 and a young ouvidor, acceded to the proposition. The general accord- 

 ingly mounted his horse, and galloped to the army, while the marquis and 

 his companions sought refuge on board the English steam-boat. When 

 the general reached the camp, he assembled the superior officers of the 

 army, communicated to them the object of his mission, and the reso- 

 lutions of the provisional government concealing, however, their in- 

 tended return to England, well knowing that such a communication 

 would have proved fatal to their lives. The officers, to a man, refused to 

 retreat ; the general, finding every effort to control their resolution 

 ineffectual, returned to Oporto, and communicating to his colleagues the 

 result of his mission, embarked on board the steam-boat. It was with 

 joy that Palmella witnessed his return ; for the glory he was likely to 

 acquire had already engendered in his mind the bitterest feelings of 

 jealousy. Saldanha, on his side, overcome with grief and fatigue, re- 

 tired to his cabin. Scarcely had the general quitted the camp than a 

 reaction in the feelings of the officers took place. A deputation, com- 

 posed of the general and two colonels, repaired to Oporto, to induce 

 him to return and assume the command. On reaching the city, what 

 was their surprise and indignation at finding that the members of the 

 government had all embarked, and left the army to its fate. They 

 repaired on board the steam-boat, and demanded an interview with 

 General Saldanha ; but this did not suit the views of Palmella. They 

 were told that the general was indisposed, and could not be disturbed. 

 In the meantime the tide served, the boat got under weigh, and when 

 Saldanha awoke in the morning and found the deputation on board, 

 he was already far from the shores of Portugal. Such was the termi- 

 nation of this ill-conducted enterprise. Had the Marquis of Palmella 

 possessed but the spirit and professional knowledge of a corporal, the 

 advance upon Lisbon would have been a mere military promenade ; and 

 the evils which for the last four years have pressed so heavily on his 

 unhappy country, consigned to a scaffold, to the noxious dungeons 

 of Belem, or driven into foreign exile, the elite of her population 

 would have been averted. 



It is owing to the jealousy and intrigues of the Marquis de Palmella 

 and the Marquis de ViHa Flor, the destined commander of the invad- 

 ing army, that General Saldanha does not accompany the ex-emperor in 

 the present expedition, in the success of which all the liberal portion of 

 Europe is interested. 



THE MARQUIS DE VILLA FLOR. 



Don Jose Monoel de Portugal Marquis de Villa Flor entered the 

 army at an early age. He served during several of the peninsular 

 campaigns on the staff of Marshal Beresford ; the bearer of dispatches 



