PORTUGAL* 561. 



tuguese. However, a few English battalions put an effectual stop, by 

 their courage and conduct, to the progress of the invasion. Portugal 

 was saved, and a peace was concluded at Fontainbleau, in 1763. 



His Portuguese majesty having no son, his eldest daughter was 

 married, by dispensation from the pope, to don Pedro, her own uncle, 

 to prevent the crown from falling into a foreign family. The late king 

 died on the 24th of February, 1777, and was succeeded by his daugh- 

 ter, the present queen. One of the first acts of her majesty's reign, 

 was the removal from power of the marquis de Pombal.; an event which, 

 excited general joy throughout the kingdom, as might naturally be 

 expected from the arbitrary and oppressive nature of his administra- 

 tion : though it has been alleged in his favour, that he adopted sundry 

 puolic measures which were calculated to promote the real interests 

 of Portugal. 



On the 10th of March, 1792, the prince of Brasil, as presumptive 

 heir to the crown, published an edict, declaring, that as his motner, 

 from her unhappy situation, was incapable of managing the affairs of 

 government) he would place his signature to public papers, till the 

 return ot her health ; and that no other change should be made in the 

 forms. 



Portugal, as the ally of England, took a feeble part in the war against 

 France ; but her exertions were confined to furnishing Spain with a 

 few auxiliary troops, and sending a small squadron to join the English 

 fket. Alter Spain had made peace with France, a war took place be- 

 tween the former country and Portugal, but which was not productive 

 of any very important events. In August, 1797, a negotiation for a 

 treaty of peace between France and Portugal was entered into, and the 

 treaty actually concluded ; but the French directory refused to ratify 

 it, alleging that the queen of Portugal, so far from showing a disposi- 

 tion to abide by its articles, had put her forts and principal ports into 

 the possession of the English. After the failure of this attempt at 

 negotiation, Portugal continued a member of the alliance against 

 France; though her aid was very unimportant, consisting only of a 

 small squadron, which cruised in the Mediterranean, and assisted in 

 the blockade of Malta. At length, a short time previous to the sign- 

 ing of the preliminaries of the peace of Amiens, Portugal concluded a 

 peace with Spain, the latter power restoring some places that had been 

 taken from Portugal ; which in return ceded in perpetuity to Spain the 

 fortress of Oiivenza, with its territory and inhabitants, from the Gua- 

 diana, which river, by the same treaty, was made the boundary of the 

 two kingdoms in that part. This treaty was signed at Badajoz, June 

 6, '1801 ; and on the 20th of September, of the same year, Portugal 

 likewise concluded a treaty of peace with France, the principal article 

 of which made some alterations in the limits of Portuguese and French 

 Guiana, considerably to the advantage of the latter power. 



The queen is disordered by .religious melancholy; Dr. Willis at 

 the request of the prince, some years since, made a voyage to. Lisbon, 

 to attempt her cure; but her recovery remaining hopeless, the govern- 

 ment of the country rests with the prince of Brasil. After the re- 

 newal of hostilities between England and France, in 1803, Bonaparte 

 invited the court of Lisbon to join in the war against England, and to 

 exclude English vessels from all the harbours of Portugal. With 

 this requisition the prince of Brasil refused to comply, as dishonoura- 

 ble to himself, as well as extremely injurious to his subjects : but he 

 was obliged to purchase a compromise by paying a considerable trr- 



Vol. 1 4 C 



