999 
to take vengeance for the meditated 
injury. He, therefore, expressed 
himself to be perfectly satisfied with 
the conduct of his ally, bat took 
this opportunity of soliciting the 
aid. of a body of Spanish troops, to 
assist him in his wars in the North. 
Glad to have escaped so well from 
the danger, into which his rashness 
had nearly plunged him, the prince 
of the peace acceded. most readily to 
- this demand, and, indifferent to the 
fate of his countrymen, though he 
must have felt that he was delivering 
them over as hostages for his future 
conduct, he sent 16,000 men, under 
the command of the marquis of Ro- 
mana, an able and distinguished 
‘officer, to act in conjunction with 
the troops of Bonaparte, in com. 
pleting the subjugation of the .con- 
tinent. 
. In the course of- the summer the 
‘attention of the British government 
was anxiously directed towards the 
critical situation of Portugal. It 
had for a considerable time been 
manifest, that as soon as France 
should terminate all her differences 
with the Germanic Powers, and 
establish such a peace in the North, 
as her unexampled successes entitled 
her to dictate, she would turn her 
arms against the only remaining 
ally of England upon thecontinent ; 
‘and there wes but too much reason 
‘to apprehend, that she would easily 
‘succeed in dissolving ‘that ancient 
‘connexion, if not in making herself 
mistress of the Portuguese ‘domi- 
ions. This apprehension. was 
founded upon the want of energy 
which had of late years been. con- 
‘spicuous in the comrts both of Lis- 
bon and Madrid; and the feeblo 
‘state to. which the resources of both 
* M. D’Araujo, 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 
1806, 
had been reduced by a long course 
of the worst species of government, 
both civil and ecclesiastical. In the 
last war too, it was evident that the — 
Spanish cabinet, so far from oppos- 
ing any obstacle to the destruction 
of its weaker neighbour,had actively 
assisted France in the invasion 
afforded an easy passage to the 
French troops, aud taken the pro- 
vince of Olivenza, as a recompence, 
at the peace which followed. There 
was no reason whatever to expect in — 
the present instance, a better con- 
duct on the part of the queen of 
Spain and prince of the peace, whose 
influettce was become more abso« 
lute than ever, and whose views 
were at least as wavering, and, of 
consequence, as subservient to 
France as they had been at any 
former period of the war. The 
predominance of the French in- 
fluence at Lisbon, had in the mean 
while displaced the boldest and most 
upright class of Portuguese states- 
men, and ptt into their stations a 
set of feeble and corrupt ministers, 
the mere creatures of the court, 
intriguers who, with a single ex. 
ception, possessed nothing like ta- 
tents or capacity for government 5 
while that one*, though unques- 
tionably a man of distinguished abi- 
lities and much experience, was 
greatly suspected of being lukewarm 
in the cause of his country, and was 
certainly a person of too unsteady 
a line of politics to render him an 
object of implicit confidence to any. 
party, in so extraordinary an emer 
gency. - The Portuguese army, 
under such rulers, had wasted away 
to a skeleton, and could scarcely be 
said tobe on a better footing, either 
in numbers, discipline, or appoint. 
ment, 
