654 



PORTUGAL (HISTORY.) 



influence of England continued, ami tin- con, ilium 

 of tin- kingdom was not essentially changed. The 

 peace of 1'aris (May 30, 1&14), by no means, there- 

 fore, corresponded to the expectations of the nation, 

 although it had exerted itself vigorously in the 

 common cause, and Spain evaded the restitution of 

 Olivenza, which had been provided for by the con- 

 gress of Vienna, at the same time that Portugal was 

 required to restore French Guiana to France. The 

 court of Rio Janeiro, therefore, occupied the Banda 

 Oriental, and Portugal was involved in new diffi- 

 culties with Spain. ^See Brazil.) In 1815, the 

 inquisition was abolished in the Portuguese domin- 

 ions; the Jesuits were refused admission into them ; 

 and the Jews, at the request of the pope (1817), 

 were allowed the same privileges which they en- 

 joyed in the Roman states. The absence of the 

 court was viewed with dislike by the nation ; the 

 military were dissatisfied with the influence of mar- 

 shal Beresford and the general feeling required 

 some fundamental changes in the administration 

 and constitution of government : thus commences 

 the recent history of Portugal. 



Portugal since 1820. On the morning of Aug. 

 24, 1820, began the revolution, in which the army 

 and citizens acted in concert. The soldiers were 

 induced by their officers to swear obedience to the 

 king, the cortes, and the constitution which should 

 be adopted. The magistrates and citizens declared 

 in favour of the measure, and a junta was estab- 

 lished, which addressed a declaration to the nation, 

 in which they assert that the convocation of the 

 cortes, and the adoption of a new constitution, 

 were the only means by which the state could be 

 saved. All the garrisons from Minho to Leyria 

 embraced the constitutional cause, and the troops 

 of the regency, established at Lisbon, refused to 

 act against their countrymen. September 15, all 

 the troops and the citizens in Lisbon declared for 

 the king, the cortes, and the constitution. The re- 

 volution was attended by no violence nor blood- 

 shed. A provisional government was established, 

 which, October 1, formed a union with the junta 

 of Oporto. Count Palmella, the head of the royal 

 regency, was despatched to Rio Janiero, with an 

 account of what had happened, and a petition, that 

 the king or the prince-royal would return to Lis- 

 bon. The mode of electing the cortes was settled 

 chiefly in imitation of the Spanish constitution, 

 and the liberal party, which was desirous of the 

 immediate adoption of that constitution, obliged 

 the supreme junta, November 11, to administer the 

 oath of obedience to it to the troops. The latter 

 took the oath, but the eighth battalion, under colonel 

 Sepulveda, acceded to this measure only to prevent 

 a civil war. On the 14th, four members of the 

 junta and 150 officers, dissatisfied with this act of 

 violence, resigned their posts ; and it was soon after 

 agreed by a meeting of officers, with the general 

 approbation, that no part of the Spanish constitu- 

 tion should be in force, excepting the regulation of 

 the mode of election, until acted upon by the cortes. 

 The elections fell chiefly upon the clergy, lawyers, 

 and officers, and the first session of the cortes was 

 opened January 26, 1821, under the presidency of 

 the archbishop of Braga. It proceeded to name a 

 regency and a ministry, sanctioned the insurrections 

 of August 24, and September 15, 1820, and abol- 

 ished the inquisition. March 9th, the articles of 

 the new constitution, securing freedom of person 

 and property, the liberty of the press, legal equality, 

 and the abolition of privileges, the admission of all 

 citizens to all offices, and the sovereignty of the 

 nation, were adopted almost unanimously. There 

 was more diversity of opinion concerning the organi- 



zation of the chambers, and the royal veto; but large 

 majorities finally decided in favour of one chamber 

 and ;i conditional veto. After some disturbances 

 in Brazil (q. v.),the king sailed for Portugal, where 

 he was not permitted to land (July 4) until he had 

 given his consent to several acts of the cortes, im- 

 posing restrictions on his power. On landing, he 

 immediately swore to observe the new constitution, 

 and concurred, without opposition, in all the suc- 

 ceeding acts of the cortes. The Austrian and Rus- 

 sian ambassadors left the country ; the separation 

 of Brazil from Portugal (1822) followed, and the 

 country was disturbed by several movements in 

 favour of the old system of government. The con- 

 stitution was finally completed and sworn to by the 

 king, October 1, 1822, and the session of the extra- 

 ordinary cortes was closed November 4. The ordi- 

 nary cortes was convened December 1, and was 

 occupied to the end of its session (March 31, 1823) 

 in reorganizing the different departments of the 

 administration. France declared that she had no 

 intention of interfering with the affairs of Portugal, 

 and the duke d'Angouleme refused to enter into 

 any connexions with the Portuguese insurgents 

 under count Amarante, who was driven, after seve- 

 ral sanguinary engagements, from the northern 

 provinces, and fled into Spain. A Portuguese re- 

 gency was established in Valladolid (May, 1823), 

 under the presidency of the patriarch of Lisbon, 

 who had been banished the kingdom ; and the plot 

 for overthrowing the constitution, at the head of 

 which was the queen (a Spanish infanta), and in 

 which several of the nobility and clergy were en- 

 gaged, was now ripe for execution. Dom Miguel 

 (q. v.), after assuring his father of his determination 

 to maintain the constitution, went to Villafranca, 

 where he was joined by several nobles and many 

 officers, with several regiments of troops, and invited 

 the nation to rise, under the royal standard, against 

 the anarchical policy of the cortes. At the same 

 time, general Sepulveda, in Lisbon, had been gained 

 over by some members of the cortes, and the minis- 

 try, to assist in the overthrow of the liberal party, 

 and to effect the introduction of a new constitution 

 with two chambers; but Sepulveda, who was already 

 suspected by the cortes and the national guards, was 

 prevented from accomplishing the plan of carrying 

 off the king, and did not join the prince till the 

 evening of May 29. But the garrisons of the pro- 

 vincial towns declared for the Infant; general Rego 

 did the same, June 4; and count Amarante advanced 

 from Spain with his forces. The troops remaining 

 at Lisbon also joined the absolute party, and John 

 VI., yielding to the instances of the soldiery, en- 

 tered the camp of the Infant, named a new minis- 

 try, and declared the constitution of 1822 null. 

 Sixty members of the cortes, finding their cause 

 lost, signed a protest against the new order of things, 

 and the king entered Lisbon, June 5. Petitions 

 were sent up, requesting the king to reassume abso- 

 lute power, the restoration of which was the object 

 of the counter-revolution. But the king still declar- 

 ed his determination not to comply with this request. 

 The national guards and militia were disarmed; the 

 church property restored ; the patriarch of Lisbon 

 recalled; Amarante reinvested with his former rank 

 and rights; several adherents of the cortes banished 

 or imprisoned ; and a censorship of the press estab- 

 lished. Finally, June 17, a junta was organized, at 

 the head of which was Palmella, to draw up a con- 

 stitution adapted to a representative monarchy. 

 The theocratical party and the absolutists, support- 

 ed by France and Spain, and of which the queen 

 was the rallying point, exerted themselves to pre- 

 vent the establishment of a constitution. The queen 



