[42] [Jan. 
MR. YOUNG AND FOPERY IN PORTUGAL. 
A Carratn, of the name of Johnson, has written a very clever pamph- 
let, to prove that, by all the laws and ordinances of the Cortes of Lamego 
—by the uniform practice of Portuguese descent—by the custom of the 
dynasty of Braganza—and by the fundamental laws of Portugal— 
backed by the dictates of common sense, public principle, and civil 
law, Don Miguel, the king, de facto, of Portugal, is also king de jure. 
He argues, and most correctly, we believe, that a foreign prince can- 
not be king of Portugal, unless he surrenders his foreign dominions— 
that Don Pedro having, by his act of acceptance of the Brazilian throne, 
avowed himself a Brazilian in express and definite terms—that Brazil 
having been separated from Portugal, is as much alien from that country, 
as Kentucky, or Bloody-Shoulder-of-Mutton, or any other free state in 
the Union of North America is to us. Don Pedro has forfeited, know- 
ingly, and wilfully, all right to the Portuguese throne. Admitting 
these premises, it follows as plainly as that Charles Edward could not 
be King of England, in consequence of James the Second’s abdication, 
that no person, deriving any right from Don Pedro, can, acting in Don 
Pedro’s name, and under sanction of his authority, exercise jurisdiction 
of any kind in the realm of Portugal. Ergo, that not Don Pedro’s son, 
if he claims through his father, has the right to the Portuguese throne 
—but that, as to the claim of his daughter, it is altogether absurd, and, 
to the last degree untenable. If Don Pedro have any right, it descends, 
according to all European law and practice, to his son; it appears rather 
too much that, in these days, when kingdoms are not generally divided 
in the old fashion of the descendants of Charlemagne, or of the 
monarchs in the Fairy Tales, as plum-cake is divided at Christmas— 
this slice for “ pretty dear, my son,’—that slice for “ pretty dear, my 
daughter”—the newest of all possible Emperors should attempt to revive 
the oldest of all possible manners of disposing of crowns and sceptres. 
We skip with the greatest pleasure all the details of Captain Johnson’s 
book, and all his long recapitulation of acts of particular Cortes, &c., for 
a reason which we shall probably give by and by—but here we must 
do Don Miguel’s pretensions the justice of saying, that if law and pre- 
cedent be looked to, they are wholly irrefragable. If he came as lieu- 
tenant of Don Pedro, and afterwards cast off his authority, we admit 
that many of the finest of all possible common-places may be said and 
sung upon that head; we hold, however, that common-places, quite as 
good, and altogether as venerable, may be quoted on the other side. 
Into such a wood we have no fancy to wander. The fact, as appears to 
us, is, that the foreign and colonial government of Don Pedro was dis- 
tasteful to the resident Portuguese nobility—that the constitutionalists 
were the greatest of cowards, and the most long-eared of asses—and (for 
here we are coming to the subject of the book before us) that the influ- 
ential portion of the Portuguese people wished for Don Miguel. We 
might say that ninety-nine in every hundred are in favour of “ Nosso 
Anjo,” as they call him; but as, before we have done, it will be seen that 
we set little value on the ciphers of the country, we shall confine our- 
selves to demanding it to be granted—and it cannot be denied—that the 
influential portion, THE class, the true rulers of the country, are in his 
favour. We shall add, in favour of Don Miguel, that the principal, 
and most virulent accusations against him, come from sources, the 
