RESUMING the history of the Peninsula where we left it the last year, we proceed, without any prefatory remarks, to describe the organization, progress and conclusion of the Spanish invasion of PORTUGAL, and for the sake of regularity and succinctness we shall complete the account of the latter kingdom before giving that of Spain.

Notwithstanding the apparent cordiality with which don Pedro's constitution was received in Lisbon and other parts of the kingdom, elements of disaffection existed, which soon began to embarrass the movements of the regency. There was a servile party, consisting of many priests, a few nobles, and some of the mili. tary officers, who felt irrecon

cilably hostile to the introduction or spread of liberal principles in whatever shape. Through the want of any better point of union, rather than from

admiration of the character of the individual, this party rallied around the name of the absent don Miguel. They were secretly assisted by the queen dowager, who, although subject to a kind of honourable confinement at Queluz, was unceasing in her efforts to disturb the new orders of things. The marquis of Chaves, better known in Europe as count Amarante, was an aid of lord Wellington's during the peninsular war. Being a particular friend of don Miguel's, and greatly in fa. vour with the queen mother, and also possessed of great possessions in the northern part of the king.

dom, he attained the credit, if credit it may be called, of heading the party which sighed for the restoration of unqualified despotism. In 1823 he led the anti-constitutionalists of Tras-os-Montes, and succeeded in overcoming the cor

tes.

His success at that time may have been considered as prognosticating his fortune in the present case; and may thus have imparted boldness to himself, and confidence in him to his followers. His most distinguished associates were the viscount Canellas, and generals Montealegre and Magessi, officers of some reputation in the army. They counted upon seducing the soldiery to join their cause, and upon being warmly supported by the priesthood, the lower classes of whom were not and could not in the nature of things be friendly to the new constitution, which tended to circumscribe their influence and diminish their importance. Work. ing with such instruments, and cloaking their purpose under the specious name of religion, Chaves and his coadjutors manfully pre. pared to proclaim don Miguel, and to raise the standard of opposition against the regency.

But the conspirators well knew they could accomplish nothing of themselves, and without the aid of some other government. All the great European powers, Great Britain, France, Russia, Prussia, and Austria, had expressly recognized

the new regency, and thus lent their sanction to the constitution. Nothing was to be expected, therefore, from the disapprobation of the leading powers of Europe. But Spain, although she stood alone opposed to the constitutional government of Portugal, and although she was degraded by the mischievous policy of the ruling party to the lowest degree of imbecility and wretchedness,--Spain alone refused to allow the neighbouring king. dom and its legitimate princes to pursue their own measures of internal government. She persisted in regarding the political changes which Portugal had undergone as a pernicious example of misrule, threatening the most fatal conse quences to herself; and not content with suppressing constitutional forms at home, Ferdinand seemed to feel it necessary to his safety to prevent their existence in Portugal. He forgot that the constitution, being a free grant from don Pedro, the lawful hereditary sovereign of the kingdom, not extorted from him by fear, nor imposed upon him by rebellious subjects, or disaffected soldiery, was wholly unexceptionable even according to the slavish maxims of the parties to the holy alliance. Disregarding alike the rights of Portugal as an allied nation, and the plainest dictates of prudence, Spain resolved to op. pose, and if possible subvert the regency and the constitution.

Conscious, however, that an immediate open declaration of war would be difficult to justify, and moreover that the condition of the country would not warrant the measure, the government of Spain sought to attain that, by secret in trigues and covert means, which they durst not attempt in any other more honourable way. Instead, therefore, of organizing a Spanish army, as such, for the invasion of Portugal, they began by supplying resources to Chaves, Canellas, and their fellow conspirators- So ear. ly as July, 1826, the machinations of Chaves and his adherents had occasioned desertions from the Portuguese army. They appeared in different places along the frontier, instigating the troops and peo. ple to rebellion, assembling the disaffected in bands, and marching them into Spain, to receive the protection. and countenance of the local authorities there, and await a convenient time to return in hostile array. Chaves and Montealegre were engaged in this business in the north; and in the south Magessi was arranging at Badajos the deserters belonging to the pro. vince of Alentejo.

All these operations were carried on openly and tranquilly in the Spanish territory, under the eye, and with the sanction of the local authorities, with as much regularity as if Spain had formally declared war against Portugal.

With singular inconsistency, these seditious factionaries, whose pretended object was the defence of the altar and the throne, proposed to make the most violent alterations in the succession to the crown. On the 31st of July, they proclaimed don Miguel king, and the queen mother regent during his absence, although Pedro and each of his children had prior claims; and failing Miguel, they bestowed their allegiance on the princess of Beira, and her son, although by the Portuguese laws, her marriage rendered her incapable of the succession.

The contiguity of Spain and Portugal, and the nature of their past relations, had given occasion to treaties, which, if executed faith. fully, would have provided fully and precisely for the present con. tingency. Each country was bound to disarm all deserters from the other; and, if required, to deliver up the deserters themselves. Instead of performing these engage. ments, the military and civil governors of Spain along the frontiers, cordially received the Portuguese rebels as allies, and supplied them with arms, ammunition, provisions, and other necessaries, in the same manner as if they had actually been Spaniards. Reiterated ap. plications were made to the com. manders in the frontier towns, and border fortresses, urging the enforcement of the existing treaties;

but without producing the slightest effect. Thereupon Gomez, the Portuguese minister in Madrid, was directed to represent the abuse to the Spanish government, to demand the apprehension of the deserters, and the seizure of their arms for the purpose of restoring them to Portugal; and the removal and punishment of the local authorities, under whose eye the infractions of treaty had taken place, and received a kind of pub. lic sanction. To add, however, to the embarrassments of the regency, it soon appeared that Gomez himself was devoted to the cause of the insurgents; and the duty of maintaining the interest of Portugal at the Spanish court thus devolved upon Mr. Lamb, the English ambassador, by whom they were ably sustained. But all his remonstrances were met with the usual course of paltering evasion, which distinguish. ed the conduct of the Spanish ministry throughout the present affair. Longa, S. Juan, and the other commanders on the frontiers, were protected in their conduct; the refugees continued to be cordially received; and the equipment of infantry and cavalry was carried on in Gallicia, Valladolid, and Sala. manca, with redoubled diligence.

No change taking place in consequence of Mr. Lamb's remonstrances,the marquis of Villa Real wasdespatched to Madrid as plenipotentia ry in place of Gomez. But with sin

gular infatuation, the Spaniards not only refused to acknowledge the Portuguese regency, but also refu. sed to recognise the official charac. ter of Villa Real. Although such conduct would have been ample justification of a declaration of war on the part of the regency, yet the lat. ter continued to hope, that the alternative of actual hostilities might be averted. Villa Real, therefore, was unremitting in his endeavours to impress upon the Spanish ministry, how unjust it was to persist in suffering, if not encouraging, the subordinate agents of the government to commit the most barefaced infringements of the rights of a neighbouring and an allied nation. All that he obtained, was new assurances from Mr. Salmon, of the innocence of the Spanish government, as fallacious, and as futile as those which had been given before; assurances, which, in the circumstances of the case, were little better than an insult upon Portugal.

Mean time, the great body of the nation was comparatively tranquil. Disaffection to the constitution and regency seemed to be confined to the military, and to the small towns on the frontier. Lisbon and Oporto were decidedly favourable to the new order of things; and the military of the interior betrayed no symptoms of uneasiness. conspiracy, which had made some progress among a few companies in Lisbon, was soon detected, and

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easily suppressed. The regency took suitable precautions to pre. vent the recurrence of such attempts. In September, a decree was issued for punishing all fugi. tives from the kingdom with the sequestration of their property, according to the provisions of law, in order to deter others from imitating their example. And thus matters continued until the beginning of October, when the duke of Abrantes landed at Tavira in Algarve. He induced a regiment of chasseurs to join him, and marching eastward to the town of Villa Real, he compelled the inhabitants to proclaim Don Miguel. But no part of the population joined the insurgents, nor were they aided by the rest of the military in the province. Of course, they were obliged to flee on the approach of general Saldanha, the minister of the department of war, and took refuge in Spain. The same fortune attended a rising contemporaneous ly made by Chaves, in Tras-osMontes. At this time, therefore, not a single spot in Portugal was occupied by the insurgents; and if Spain had conducted with can. dour and ingenuousness, the tranquillity of the whole country would have been instantly and perma. nently secured.

An extraordinary session of the cortes of Portugal, was appointed by the executive to take place on the 30th of October, in conse

quence of the unpromising aspect of affairs. New taxes had become necessary, to meet the increased expenditure occasioned by the rebellion. Add to this the circumstapce, that, if the rebels conti. nued to be upholden by Spain, it might be advisable to invoke the aid of Great Britain; and in this event a vote of the cortes would be necessary to authorize the introduction of foreign troops into the kingdom. The speech of the Infanta Regent, delivered upon the opening of the chambers, was moderate, conciliatory, and judiciously conceived and expressed. She artfully represented the new constitution as substantially reviving the ancient cortes of Lamego, and other liberal institutions of the early ages of the monarchy. She recommended the legislature to bestow their earliest attention upon measures calculated to maintain the public tranquillity, and give stability to the political system established by the constitution. In alluding to the troubles with Spain, she wholly abstained from the use of irritating reflections upon the unworthy double dealing of that nation, contenting herself with a decided expression of the pacific feelings of the Portuguese govern. ment towards the Spanish.

To supply the deficiency in the budget of the year, the minis. ter of finance was authorized to procure a loan of 2000 contos of