336 Dom Pedro's successes. — Quadruple Alliance [1833-4

to withdraw; and all who had served under the Absolutist regime were treated as enemies. Napier, who was a strong adherent of the party of conciliation, scathingly says of the new Government, which he had done so much to set up — " one species of tyranny was substituted for another; there was a change of men, none of measures; they were rulers of a party, not of a kingdom. . . . They thought themselves masters and took no pains to conciliate." To such an extent indeed had the hallucination that he was already master of Portugal gained possession of Dom Pedro, that on October 1 he issued a decree summoning the Cortes, although his authority did not actually extend beyond the fortifications of the two towns which he held in military occupation.

Thus passed the autumn of 1833. The young Queen had arrived (September 22) from France accompanied by the Empress. Dom Miguel with his main army in Santarem was contained by the Constitutional army under Saldanha at Cartaxo. The garrison at Oporto was threatened afresh by the Miguelist army of the north under d'Almar. Both sides were grievously in want of funds, more particularly the Miguelists. Both sides, and specially the Government of Dom Pedro, were distracted by divided counsels and rival ambitions. The year 1834 was marked by more vigorous operations. Saldanha advanced northwards to Leiria, which he captured (January 14), cutting off the enemy from Coimbra. At Pernes he gained (January 30) a barren victory over a Miguelist force under Povoas. He followed this up by a more important triumph at Almoster (February 18). The month of March saw Napier at the head of a body of English marines and sailors disembarking at Caminha and making himself master of the province of Minho. Another army under Terceira penetrated by the Douro into Tras-os-Montes, where he was joined by a Spanish force. This force had entered Portugal in virtue of the Quadruple Alliance concluded (April 22) between Great Britain, France, Spain, and the Government of Queen Maria, for the purpose of putting an end to the war and expelling Dom Miguel from Portugal. The allied army encountered a retreating body of the enemy (May 16) at Asseirceira, and after a brave resistance completely defeated them. It was the last stand of the Miguelists.

Dom Miguel was still at the head of 18,000 men at Santarem, but their spirit was broken. He beat a hasty retreat to Evora-Monte, but only to surrender. A Convention was signed (May 24) ; and on this occasion Dom Pedro, in opposition to the wishes of many of his counsellors, showed himself magnanimous. The army was to lay down its arms; but the officers, on taking their oath to the new Government, were allowed to retain their posts, and the soldiers were free to return to their homes. An amnesty was granted for political offences, of whatever nature; and there was to be no confiscation without sanction of the Cortes. By the terms of the Convention Dom Miguel, though condemned to perpetual exile from the Peninsula, was granted a life pension of sixty

1834] Miguel leaves Portugal. — Death of Pedro 337

eontos of reis, or about £1500 per annum. Nothing could have exceeded the incapacity and errors committed from first to last by Dom Pedro and his adherents except those actually committed by their opponents. Of the Pedroists the acute and friendly critic, Napier, observes: " With regard to military measures or plans they never had any. . .. When they were shut up in Oporto, I am not aware of one wise statesmanlike decree they issued, or one that had the least tendency to conciliate the opposite party; and, when they arrived in Lisbon, there was hardly one political act they did, that Dom Miguel would not himself have counselled them to do in order to make Dom Pedro unpopular." If then Dom Miguel, with all the advantages of the devoted support of a united nation, and the possession of far superior forces, failed to maintain himself on the throne, some idea can be formed of the utter lack of all the qualities of successful leadership, in himself, his generals, and his advisers. The fallen prince was too proud to accept alms at the hands of his brother. He sailed on May 30, and at Genoa issued a protest (June 20) against the enforced relinquishment of his rights to the Portuguese Crown, and refused to take the pension. In thus accepting a lot of poverty, which he afterwards bore with exemplary patience, Dom Miguel, as he makes his exit from the page of history, commands a certain measure of respect in his hour of misfortune.

On August 15 the Cortes assembled. Dom Pedro, who had for some time been suffering from illness brought on by the excessive fatigues and privations of the past two years, gave a long address in which he rendered an account of the events of his regency, of the burden of which he asked on the ground of his health to be relieved. The Chambers, however, insisted that he should retain his powers during the minority of the Queen; and on the 29th at the Ajuda palace he took the oath as required by the Charter. It was his last act. He retired to the palace of Queluz to seek repose, but rapidly became worse, and, after some weeks of severe suffering, expired on September 24. He had not yet reached his 35th year. The strangely adventurous career of the ex-Emperor and ex-King, whose crowded life thus ended, while still in early manhood, in the hour of a triumph as unexpected as it was complete, had throughout its changing fortunes an element of the romantic, the eccentric, and the chivalrous. It was probably a happy thing for Portugal, nay for Dom Pedro himself, that death came so soon. A temperament so restless as his, after the storm and stress of such varied agitations and experiences, could scarcely have found satisfaction in retirement.

The short dictatorship of Dom Pedro had been productive of lasting results. A succession of decrees had given effect to the reforming and legislative ideas of the minister Mousinho da Silveira, a really constructive statesman. Tithes were abolished, hereditary rights and privileges swept away, the numerous monasteries and convents were closed and

338 Reign of Maria II. Parties in Portugal [1834-9

their property nationalised, judicial and administrative functions were separated, monopolies suppressed. The semi-feudal Portugal of history and tradition disappeared in 1834, and Queen Maria II entered upon her reign in a transformed land. But there was no master-hand at the head of affairs, and in an impoverished and backward country, which had just passed through so many cruel vicissitudes, unrest, party spirit, and general discontent were for a lengthened period to hamper progress and render sound and stable government impossible. The marriage of the Queen to Augustus, Duke of Leuchtenberg, son of p]ugene Bcauharnais and brother to Dom Pedro's second wife (December 1, 1834), was unfortunately followed by the speedy death of the new Prince Consort (March 25, 1835). A second husband was speedily found for her in the person of the youthful Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg, the nephew of King Leopold I of Belgium ; to whom she was married on April 9,1830. They found themselves confronted by a troubled situation and grave disorders.

There were three main parties, whose struggles and intrigues filled up the whole of the distracted reign of Maria II. The Chartists upheld Constitutional Government in accordance with the provisions of Dom Pedro's Charter of 182(3; the Septembrists, or democratic party, wished to revert to the principles of the Constitution of 1822; the Miguelists favoured absolutist rule and clerical predominance in the State. The Queen at the time of her second marriage was but 17 years old, Ferdinand only 20. She was almost a stranger to Portugal, her husband a foreigner both by race and training. In such circumstances it was but natural that the young and inexperienced sovereign, though not lacking in courage or in character, should have been swayed by the advice of a small Court coterie composed chiefly of foreigners, or that she should have made mistakes in her efforts to maintain the authority of the Crown amidst the rivalry of self-seeking politicians, and the ceaseless strife of factions. The decades, which follow the close of the war of succession, contain a dismal record of insurrections and counter-insurrections accompanied by the rise and fall of ministers. The briefest summary of the chief events that marked them must here suffice.

The Chartist leaders, Palmella, Saldanha, and Terceira, held the chief posts in the Administrations of the first two years of Queen Maria's reign. In September, 1836, a revolution took place at Lisbon, which placed the Septembrists under Lumiares, Sa-da-Bandeira, and the brothers Passos in power. The Charter was suppressed, and the Queen was compelled to take the oath to the Constitution of 1822 (September 9-11). An attempt was made to shake off the yoke by a coup d'etat planned in the palace of Belem, and known as the Belemzada ; but it was foiled by the energy of Manuel Passos (November 4). A Ministry was formed under Sa-da-Bandeira, which remained in office until April, 1839, except for a short interval in the summer of 1837. This year, 1837, was marked by a formidable Chartist insurrection under Saldanha and

1837-47] Revolutions of 1842 and 1846 339

Terceira, known as the revolt of the marshals. Several actions took place with varying success, but at length the forces of the Government were victorious, and the two marshals went into exile. On September 16, an heir to the Crown, afterwards Pedro V, was born, and the title of King Consort was conferred upon Ferdinand. In 1831) a moderate Ministry succeeded that of Sii-da-Bandeira under Count Bomfim as president but with Costa Cabral, the Minister of Justice, as its moving spirit. The return of a Chartist majority to the Cortes in the following year was a sign that the ascendancy of Septembrist principles was at an end; but it was not till January, 1842, that the counter-revolution was effected. The action of Costa Cabral himself precipitated the issue. The Minister's bold pronunciamento at Oporto led to the restoration of the Charter. On February 10, a decree re-established the Charter of 1826, and a Cabral administration was formed under the nominal presidency of the Duke of Terceira, which lasted until April, 1846.

There can be no doubt that in bringing about this revolution Costa Cabral by forcing the hands of the Queen's Government really acted in accordance with the royal wishes. Henceforth as Minister of the Interior he wielded almost dictatorial influence in the country. To him was due the new administrative code of 1842. Against the Cabral rSgime there was a coalition of oppositions, Miguelist, Septembrist, and dissentient Chartist; but for some years the Ministry was strong enough to hold its own against all efforts to subvert it. But, though many risings were successfully and firmly suppressed, the growing hostility to the dictator at length came to a head in the revolutionary outburst of May, 1846 ; and Cabral, now Count of Thomar, had in his turn to give up office and go into exile. But the revolution of Maria da Fonte, as this general rising is usually called, was not to be appeased by the departure of the obnoxious Minister. An insurrectionary Junta was formed at Oporto; and Saldanha, now at the head of the Ministry, found himself unable to save the dynasty without the assistance of a British squadron in the Tagus. The opening of the year 1847 saw rebellion still rampant in the land, and defying throughout the spring the efforts of the royal troops under Saldanha. Foreign intervention was invoked. In June a Spanish and a British force marched upon Oporto and a British fleet blockaded the Douro. The rebel city surrendered (June 30) and the Junta was dissolved. The Convention of Gramido (July 24) brought to an end a civil war that had caused widespread distress throughout the country. It left the Government discredited, industry at a standstill, the State bankrupt. The closing months of 1847 saw tranquillity restored in Portugal, but it was the tranquillity of exhaustion.

CHAPTER XI

THE GERMANIC CONFEDERATION
(1815-40)

The Napoleonic domination in Germany had been submerged by the strongest wave of really national feeling which Germany had experienced since the early days of the Reformation; and for a year or two statesmen as well as poets thought that this patriotic enthusiasm might find permanent expression in a free, independent, and national German State. The quarter of a century which followed the War of Liberation was, however, a period of disillusionment, of hopes belied, promises broken, and reforms deferred. Reaction set in; and in 1840 Germany seemed further off from union and liberty than it had been in 1815. This result was natural, though unforeseen. The German peasant who returned from Waterloo or Paris was more intent on rebuilding his ruined cottage than on agitating for a vote; the middle classes had enough to do in restoring German trade and manufactures; while Prussian and other statesmen were amply burdened with the task of assimilating the new provinces with which recent events had enriched their sovereigns.

There were other causes for the barrenness of the efforts towards progress and reform. The chief was perhaps their lack of unity. It is difficult for a nation to deal with more than one great constitutional problem at a time; yet Germany at one and the same moment was confronted with nearly all the problems which England took ten centuries to solve —the relics of feudalism, the relations between executive and legislature, and between Church and State, and the strength of centrifugal forces. This chaos of conflicting issues produced a similar confusion of political parties. Some wished for German unity; Metternich described it as an " infamous object." Of those who wished for unity some desired it under Austria's hegemony, and Stein had tentatively suggested a revival of the Empire in the House of Habsburg; a few saw salvation only in the predominance of Prussia. Others again, regarding both Prussia and Austria as semi-foreign Powers, wanted a purely Germanic federation ; and a few desired a democratic republic. Equally divergent were men's conceptions of domestic government. There were advocates of bureaucratic absolutism after the Napoleonic model; old-fashioned