182G.] [ 545 ] 



BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS OF EMINENT PERSONS. 



I 



THE KINO OF^FOnTDOAL. 



BLirch 10.— John VI. (John Maria I-OU13 

 Joseph), Kinc; of Portugal, was born oa tlic 

 I3th of May 17fi7; and he married on tlie 

 9th of January 1790, the Infanta, Charlotte 

 Joachiina, daughter of Charles IV. of Spain. 

 His mother labouring under merjtal aliena- 

 tion, he was declared Regent of the King- 

 dom in 1792.* The life of this prince is 

 indissolubly connected with the history of 

 Portugal ; and, consequently, to enter upon 

 its multitudinous details, would demand at 

 least a volume of no ordinary size : we 

 must, therefore, content ourselves with a 

 few dates and facts. At the commencement 

 of the revolutionary war, he endeavoured to 

 remain neutral between France and Spain. 

 By this conduct he offended both i)0wers ; 

 and, when Spain became an ally of Ilepub- 

 lican France, they combined to manifest 

 their dissatisfaction. By the treaty of Ba- 

 dajoz, he was compelled to cede Olivcnza 

 nnd a portion of Portuguese Guyana. After 

 the rupture of the treaty of Amiens, he 

 endeavoured, ineffectually, to purchase neu- 

 trality. It was the intention of Buonaparte 

 to attack Portugal in 1805 and 1806 ; but 

 the attack was then prevented by his wars 

 with Austria and Prussia. Having brought 

 the Prussian war to a close, he insisted that 

 the Regent of Portugal should shut his 

 ports against the English, detain, as pri- 

 soners, all Englishmen resident in his do- 

 minions, and confiscate all English property. 

 The first of these demands the Regent 

 granted, the two others he refused. Buona- 

 parte then declared that the House of 

 Braganza had ceased to reign ; sent an army 

 under Junot to carry his decree into effect; 

 and, by the treaty of Fontainbleau, in 1807, 

 it was settled that Portugal should be di- 

 vided between France and Spain— t];e 

 Spanish portion, embracing the southern 

 provinces of the kingdom, to be conferred 

 as an independent sovereignty on Godoy, 

 the minion of the Queen of Spain. In this 

 emergency, the Regent resolved to remove 

 the seat of empire to Brazil ; and, embark- 

 ing with his family and chief ministers of 

 state on board an English squadron, com- 

 manded by Sir Sidney Smith, he sailed for 

 Rio de Janiero. Scarcely had he quitted 

 the Tagus before Junot arrived at Lisbon. 

 One of the Regent's first acts at Rio de 

 Janeiro, vras that of issuing an edict, annul- 



• At a somewhat early period of the Queen of 

 Portugal's malady, application was made to the 

 celebrated Dr. Willis who attended our late Sovee 

 reign, to undertake her cure. Dr. Willis accordingly 

 repaired to Lisbon, saw the royal sufferer, and offer 

 ed to take her under his care upon certain conditions. 

 These conditions were, that her Majesty should bb 

 placed on board a British man-of-war. moored in the 

 Tagus, and that she should be. in every- respect under 

 the Doctor's exclusive control. The Government 

 of Portugal not complyijig with his proposal, Dr. 

 Willis returned to Epgland. 



M.M. Ntw Series.— Vox.. I. No. 5. 



ling all treaties with France, declaring that 

 he would never lay down his arm.s but in 

 concert with Britain, aifd that lie would 

 never ron.sent to the cession of Portugal. 

 In Brazil, he established religious toleration, 

 meliorated the slavery of the negroes, and 

 granted lands and privileges to such of the 

 useful clas.ses as would settle in his domi- 

 nions. Towards the end of 1815, he ef- 

 fected the marrisige of two of his daughters, 

 the one with Ferdinand VII. of Spain, the 

 other with that monarch's brother. 



On the death of his mother, in March 

 1816, the Regent succeeded to the throno 

 of Portugal. In 1817, his son, Don Pedro 

 D' Alcantara, prince of Beira (born in Oc- 

 tober, 1798), married the Austrian Arch- 

 Duchess Leopoldine Caroline. Notwith- 

 standing the exertions of the king in pro- 

 moting tlie happiness of his subjects, insur- 

 rectional movements, to an alarming extent, 

 prevailed in Brazil and also in Portugal. 

 The conspirators were defeated, and the 

 leaders punished ; yet designs, hostile to 

 the government, continued to be pursued , 

 and in the month of August 1820, a revo- 

 lution broke out in Portugal, and was 

 speedily consummated without bloodshed. 

 The Cortes were immediately summoned, 

 and a free constitution was established. 

 Finding that his Brazilian subjects were in 

 concert with those of Portugal, the King 

 voluntarily took the oath as Constitutional 

 Sovereign. 



In the month of July 1821, his Majesty 

 returned (o Portugal, leaving his son, Don 

 Pedro, Regent of Brazil. That prince was, 

 however, soon elevated to a higher rank. 

 Irritated by the Portuguese cortes assuming 

 a right to legislate for them, his council 

 conferred on him the title of Perpetual 

 Defender ; and the breach having been sub- 

 sequently further widened, they renounced 

 all dependance on the mother country, and 

 jilaced him on the throne of Brazil. In 

 that high station, he has continued to be 

 eminently popular. 



Since his return to Europe, the King of 

 Portugal has been on the best terms wth 

 his peoi)le ; but he lias had to contend w-ith 

 a hostile faction in his court, headed by the 

 Queen, and his son, Don Miguel. In the 

 month of August last, his Majesty, by a 

 treaty effected under the auspices of Sir 

 Charles Stuart, the British Ambassador at 

 Rio de Janiero, recognized Brazil as an 

 empire independent of and separate from, 

 the kingdoms of Portugal and Algarve, and 

 his son, Don Pedro, as Emperor— reserving 

 for his own person the honorary title of 

 Emperor. It is imderstood, that by a 

 secret article of the treaty, the Emperor 

 Pedro renounces for himself and liis suc- 

 cessors, the rights which his birth gave him 

 over Portugal ; thus, restricting himself 

 and his posterity to the Brazilian empire, 

 and leaving the throne of Portugal to his 

 younger brother, the infant Don Miguel. 



4 A 



