1822.5 
solemnly engaged to return to Europe, 
from the Brazil, as soon as peace 
should be established. Peace was 
concluded in 1814: a year passed by, 
-and there seemed to be no real inten- 
tion on the part of John to fulfil his 
promise. Fernandez Thomaz soon 
perceived that there were no hopes of 
-the establishment of an economical 
and beneficent government, which 
would be likely to heal the wounds in- 
flicted by the grievous and desolating 
war of invasion. 
He had travelled through the whole 
kingdom of Portugal, he had esta- 
blished an active intercourse with the 
persons of the most distinguished ta- 
lentand virtue of his country; and he 
soon found sympathy among the wise 
and the good, and an universal sense 
of the necessity of some decided 
change. His house at Coimbra be- 
came a central point of union, where 
the enthusiasm of youth and the expe- 
rience of age blended their influences 
for the salvation of Portugal. His 
observing mind soon discovered how 
rapidly and widely the elements of 
freedom were spreading, and his judge- 
ment directed them to the great ob- 
ject he had at heart. In 1817 he vi- 
sited Oporto, a city remarkable for its 
population and civilization; there he 
strengthened and confirmed his con- 
nexions with the friends of truth and 
liberty. Removed from the corrup- 
ting influence of the capital, his tower- 
ing mind saw the great stream of pub- 
lic opinion rolling silently, but deci- 
~ dedly, onwards towards national eman- 
cipation; and if his feeling heart bled 
when he witnessed the misery pro- 
duced by the reckless exercise of ty- 
rannical power, he saw light for the 
future even amidst the darkness of the 
present and the past. The fate of the 
heroic martyrs of 1817 added much 
‘indignation, and created no despair. 
Of the intentions of a government 
that could coldly sacrifice some of 
the noblest of their fellow-citizens to 
the sanguinary vindictiveness of an 
ambitious and usurping stranger, it 
could no longer be allowed to doubt; 
but the reign of terror could not intro- 
duce that of insensibility. The seed 
was scattered, and it could not but 
Spring up, and produce its beautiful 
oWers and generous fruit. That fo- 
reign tyrant, who could only be conci- 
ated by offerings of human victims, 
was soon to be restrained in his career 
of blood and misery. 
Montity Mas. No. 372. 
Fernandez Thomaz and the Portuguese Revolution. 
137 
In 1818 Fernandez Thomaz confi- 
dentially communicated, to those who 
were worthy of such a mark of esteem, 
his patriotic hopes and projects. There 
were many such in Portugal; to the 
shame of hereditary and factitious 
dignity, be it said, there was none 
among its ranks. They are servile by 
necessity,—by habit,—by profession ; 
and, as they could bring neither cou- 
ragé nor talents,—as they were inca- 
pable of good, and fit only for evil,— 
it is not strange that they were forgot- 
ten by those who determined to have 
no ineffective labourers, in the great 
and glorious work they had under- 
taken. No one had better opportuni- 
ties than Fernandez Thomaz of sound- 
ing the miserable abyss into which his 
country had fallen. The mal-adminis- 
tration of justice, founded on the chi- 
canery and oppressiveness of a barba- 
ric legislation, constantly led to the 
oppression of powerless innocence, 
and to the crushing of the unprotect- 
ed into the very dust. Corrupt ma- 
gistrates, as irresponsible and igno- 
rant as corrupt, were the sole ven- 
ders of the laws. Despotism made 
new Strides, from time to time, under 
their tutelary influence ; and the degra- 
dation of to-day seemed to have reach- 
ed its maximum, till succeeded by the 
greater degradation of to-morrow. 
The tribunals had become auction- 
marts, where justice or injustice was 
sold to the highest bidder ; public rob- 
beries and extortions were encou- 
raged and rewarded; forced loans and 
violent extortions became more and 
more intolerable ; and the defalcations 
of the national treasury were notwith- 
standing constantly and rapidly in- 
creasing. 
The Portuguese revolution was ‘not 
the consequence of that of Spain. The 
success of the latter gave, no doubt, 
better and brighter hopes to the pro- 
jectors of the former; but it was as 
early as the 21st of Janaary, 1818, that 
Manoel Fernandez Thomaz, and his 
friend John Ferreira Borges solemnly 
pledged themselves to devote their 
energies, from that day, to the salva- 
tion of their country. They carried 
on their generous enterprise prndent- 
ly and proudly. They have added no 
titles to their names ; but where is the 
nobility so bright and pure as their’s? 
Two other individuals joined them on 
the following day,—Joseph da Silva 
Carvalho, the present minister of jus- 
tice, and John Ferreira Vearina; and 
T nine 
