Part 833

"At the close of 1824 the king returned to Brazil to spend his last days in peace. On reaching Rio de Janeiro, he recognized Dom Pedro as Emperor of Brazil, and on the 6th of March, 1826, John VI. died in the country of his choice. By his will, John VI. left the regency of Portugal to his daughter Isabel Maria, to the disgust of Dom Miguel, who had fully expected in spite of his conduct that Portugal would be in some manner bequeathed to him, and that Dom Pedro would be satisfied with the government of Brazil. The next twenty-five years are the saddest in the whole history of Portugal. The establishment of the system of parliamentary government, which now exists, was a long and difficult task. … The keynote of the whole series of disturbances is to be found in the pernicious influence of the army. … The army was disproportionately large for the size and revenue of the country; there was no foreign or colonial war to occupy its energies, and the soldiers would not return to the plough nor the officers retire into private life. The English Cabinet at this juncture determined to maintain peace and order, and in 1826, a division of 5,000 men was sent under the command of Lieutenant-General Sir William Clinton to garrison the chief towns. The accession of Pedro IV. to the throne was hailed with joy in Portugal, though looked on with suspicion in Brazil. He justified his reputation by drawing up a charter, containing the bases for a moderate parliamentary government of the English type, which he sent over to Portugal, by the English diplomatist, Lord Stuart de Rothesay. Then to please his Brazilian subjects, he abdicated the throne of Portugal in favour of his daughter, Donna Maria da Gloria, a child of seven years old, on condition that on attaining a suitable age she should marry her uncle, Dom Miguel, who was to swear to observe the new constitution. The Charter of 1826 was thankfully received by the moderate parliamentary party; Clinton's division was withdrawn; Palmella remained prime minister; and in the following year, 1827, Dom Pedro destroyed the effect of his wise measures by appointing Dom Miguel to be regent of Portugal in the name of the little queen. Dom Miguel was an ambitious prince, who believed that he ought to be king of Portugal; he was extremely popular with the old nobility, the clergy, and the army, with all who disliked liberal ideas, and with the beggars and the poor who were under the influence of the mendicant orders. He was declared Regent in July, 1827, and in May, 1828, he summoned a Cortes of the ancient type, such as had not met since 1697, which under the presidency of the Bishop of Viseu offered him the throne of Portugal. He accepted, and immediately exiled all the leaders of the parliamentary, or, as it is usually called, the Chartist, party, headed by Palmella, Saldanha, Villa Flor, and Sampaio. They naturally fled to England, where the young queen was stopping on her way to be educated at the court of Vienna, and found popular opinion strongly in their favour. But the Duke of Wellington and his Tory Cabinet refused to countenance or assist them. … Meanwhile the reign of Dom Miguel had become a Reign of Terror; arrests and executions were frequent; thousands were deported to Africa, and in 1830 it was estimated that 40,000 persons were in prison for political offences. He ruled in absolute contempt of all law, and at different times English, French, and American fleets entered the Tagus to demand reparation for damage done to commerce, or for the illegal arrest of foreigners. The result of this conduct was that the country was hopelessly ruined, and the chartist and radical parties, who respectively advocated the Charter of 1826 and the Constitution of 1822, agreed to sink their differences, and to oppose the bigoted tyrant. … Dom Pedro, who had devoted his life to the cause of parliamentary government, resigned his crown in 1831 [see BRAZIL: A. D. 1825-1865] to his infant son, and left Brazil to head the movement for his daughter's cause. … In July, 1832, the ex-emperor with an army of 7,500 men arrived at Oporto, where he was enthusiastically welcomed, and Dom Miguel then laid siege to the city. European opinion was divided between the two parties; partisans of freedom and of constitutional government called the Miguelites 'slaves of a tyrant,' while lovers of absolutism, alluding to the loans raised by the ex-emperor, used to speak of the 'stock-jobbing Pedroites.' The siege was long and protracted." The Miguelites finally sustained several heavy defeats, both on land and at sea, and Lisbon was triumphantly entered by the Chartists in July, 1833. "The year 1834 was one of unbroken success for the Chartists. England and France recognized Maria da Gloria as Queen of Portugal, and the ministry of Queen Isabella of Spain, knowing Dom Miguel to be a Carlist, sent two Spanish armies under Generals Rodil and Serrano to the help of Dom Pedro. … Finally the combined Spanish and Portuguese armies surrounded the remnant of the Miguelites at Evora Monte, and on the 26th of May, 1834, Dom Miguel surrendered. By the Convention of Evora Monte, Dom Miguel abandoned his claim to the throne of Portugal, and in consideration of a pension of £15,000 a year promised never again to set foot in the kingdom. … Dom Pedro, who had throughout the struggle been the heart and soul of his daughter's party, had thus the pleasure of seeing the country at peace, and a regular parliamentary system in operation, but he did not long survive, for on the 24th of September, 1834, he died at Queluz near Lisbon, of an illness brought on by his great labours and fatigues, leaving a name, which deserves all honour from Portuguese and Brazilians alike. Queen Maria da Gloria was only fifteen, when she thus lost the advantage of her father's wise counsel and steady help, yet it might have been expected that her reign would be calm and prosperous. But neither the queen, the nobility, nor the people, understood the principles of parliamentary government. … The whole reign was one of violent party struggles, for they hardly deserve to be called civil wars, so little did they involve, which present a striking contrast to the peaceable constitutional government that at present prevails. … In 1852 the Charter was revised to suit all parties; direct voting, one of the chief claims of the radicals, was allowed, and the era of civil war came to an end. {2579} Maria da Gloria did not long survive this peaceful settlement, for she died on the 15th of November, 1853, and her husband the King-Consort, Ferdinand II, assumed the regency until his eldest son Pedro V. should come of age. The era of peaceful parliamentary government, which succeeded the stormy reign of Maria II., has been one of material prosperity for Portugal. … The whole country, and especially the city of Lisbon, was during this reign, on account of the neglect of all sanitary precautions, ravaged by cholera and yellow fever, and it was in the midst of one of these outbreaks, on the 11th of November, 1861, that Pedro V., who had refused to leave his pestilence-stricken capital, died of cholera, and was followed to the grave by two of his younger brothers, Dom Ferdinand and Dom John. At the time of Pedro's death, his next brother and heir, Dom Luis, was travelling on the continent, and his father, Ferdinand II., who long survived Queen Maria da Gloria … assumed the regency until his return; soon after which King Luis married Maria Pia, younger daughter of Victor Emmanuel, king of Italy. … The reign of King Luis was prosperous and peaceful, and the news of his death on October 9, 1889, was received with general regret. … Luis I. was succeeded on the throne by his elder son, Dom Carlos, or Charles I., a young man of twenty-six, who married in 1886, the Princess Marie Amélie de Bourbon, the eldest daughter of the Comte de Paris. His accession was immediately followed by the revolution of the 15th of November, 1889, in Brazil, by which his great uncle, Pedro II., Emperor of Brazil, was dethroned and a republican government established in that country."

_H. M. Stephens, The Story of Portugal, chapter 18._

See BRAZIL: A. D. 1889-1891.

ALSO IN: _W. Bollaert, Wars of Succession in Portugal and Spain, volume 1._

PORTUGAL: A. D. 1884-1889. Territorial claims in Africa. The Berlin Conference.

See AFRICA: A. D. 1884-1891.

PORTUGAL: End--------

PORTUS AUGUSTI AND PORTUS TRAJANI.

See OSTIA.

PORTUS CALE.

The ancient name of Oporto, whence came, also, the name of Portugal.

See PORTUGAL: EARLY HISTORY.

PORTUS ITIUS.

The port on the French coast from which Cæsar sailed on both his expeditions to Britain. Boulogne, Ambleteuse, Witsand and Calais have all contended for the honor of representing it in modern geography; but the serious question seems to be between Boulogne and Witsand, or Wissant.

_T. Lewin, Invasion of Britain._

ALSO IN: _G. Long, Decline of the Roman Republic, volume 4, appendix 1._

_Napoleon III., History of Cæsar, book 3, chapter 7._

PORTUS LEMANIS.

An important Roman port in Britain, at the place which still preserves its name—Lymne.

_T. Wright, Celt, Roman and Saxon, chapter 5._

PORTUS MAGNUS.

An important Roman port in Britain, the massive walls of which are still seen at Porchester (or Portchester).

_T. Wright, Celt, Roman and Saxon, chapter 5._

POST. POSTAGE. POST–OFFICE.

"The little that is known of the post-system of the [Roman] empire is summed up in a few words in Becker's 'Handbuch,' iii. i. 304: 'The institution of Augustus, which became the basis of the later System known to us from the writings of the Jurists, consisted of a military service which forwarded official despatches from station to station by couriers, called in the earlier imperial period speculatories. (Liv. xxxi. 24.; Suet. Calig. 44.; Tac. Hist. ii. 73.) Personal conveyance was confined (as in the time of the republic) to officials: for this purpose the mutationes (posts) and mansiones (night quarters) were assigned, and even palatia erected at the latter for the use of governors and the emperor himself. Private individuals could take advantage of these state posts within the provinces by a special license (diploma) of the governor, and at a later period of the emperor only.' Under the republic senators and high personages could obtain the posts for their private use, as a matter of privilege."

_C. Merivale, History of the Romans under the Empire, chapter 34 (volume 4), foot-note._

"According to Professor Friedländer in his interesting work, 'Darstellungen aus der Sittengeschiehte Roms,' great progress was made by the Romans, in the fourth and fifth centuries, in their method of postal communication. Their excellent roads enabled them to establish rapid mule and horse posts as well as carts, and it is even stated that special 'postal ships' (Post schiffe) were kept in readiness at the principal sea-ports. These advanced postal arrangements, like many other traces of Roman civilization, survived longest in Gaul; but even there the barbarism of the people, and the constant wars in which they were engaged, gradually extinguished, first the necessity, and then, as a natural consequence, the means of postal communication, until we find, at a much later period, all European countries alike, for lack of any organized system, making use of pilgrims, friars, pedlars, and others, to convey their correspondence from one place to another. The first attempt of any importance, to rescue postal communication from the well-nigh hopeless condition into which it had for centuries fallen, was made in Germany in 1380, by the order of Teutonic Knights, who established properly equipped post-messengers for home and international service. An improvement and extension of this plan was carried out by Francis von Thaxis in the year 1516, when a postal line from Brussels to Vienna, via Kreuznach, was established. It is true that, shortly before this, there is some record of Louis XI. of France having started, for State postal purposes, what were termed cavaliers du roy; but these were only allowed to be used for private purposes by privileged individuals, part of whose privilege, by the way, consisted in paying to Louis an enormous fee. It is to Francis von Thaxis that must be accorded the title of the first postal reformer. So eager was his interest in the work he had undertaken, that, in order to gain the right of territorial transit through several of the small states of Germany where his plans were strongly opposed, he actually agreed for a time to carry the people's letters free of charge, an instance of generosity, for a parallel of which we look in vain in the history of the Post Office. The mantle of this reformer seems, strangely enough, to have fallen in turn upon many of his descendants, who not only in Germany, but also in Spain, Austria, Holland, and other countries, obtained concessions for carrying on the useful work started by Francis von Thaxis. {2580} One of the Thaxis family, at a later date, was created a prince of Germany, and took the name of Thurm und Taxis; and from him is descended the princely line bearing that name which flourishes at the present day. Another member of the family was created a grandee of Spain, and has the honor of being immortalized by Schiller in his 'Don Carlos.' The first establishment of an organized system of postal communication in England is wrapt in some obscurity. During the reign of John post-messengers were, for the first time, employed by the king; these messengers were called nuncii; and in the time of Henry I. these nuncii were also found in the service of some of the barons. In Henry III.'s reign they had so far become a recognized institution of the State that they were clothed in the royal livery. Mr. Lewins, in his interesting work, 'Her Majesty's Mails,' states that several private letters are still in existence, dating back as far as the reign of Edward II., which bear the appearance of having been carried by the nuncii of that period, with 'Haste, post haste!' written across them. … Edward IV., towards the end of the fifteenth century, during the time that he was engaged in war with Scotland, had the stations for postal relays placed within a few miles of each other all the way from London to the royal camp, and by this means managed to get his despatches carried nearly a hundred miles a day. … No improvement is recorded in the postal service in this country from the period last referred to until the reign of Henry VIII. This king, we are told, appointed a 'master of the posts,' in the person of Sir Brian Tuke, who really seems to have made great efforts to exercise a proper control over the horse-posts, and to bring some sort of organization to bear on his department. Poor Tuke, however, was not rewarded with much success. … James I. established a regular post for inland letters, and Charles I., recognizing, no doubt, the financial importance of the Post Office, declared it in 1637, by royal proclamation, to be State property. It was, however, during the Protectorate, twenty years later, that the first act of Parliament relating to the formation of a State Post Office was passed. This statute was entitled, 'An Act for the settling of the postage of England, Scotland, and Ireland.' … The first trace which can be found of a regular tariff of postal charges is in the reign of Charles I., and even regarded by the light of to-day these charges cannot be held to be exorbitant; for example, a single letter from London, for any distance under eighty miles, was charged twopence; fourpence up to one hundred and forty miles; sixpence for any greater distance in England, and eightpence to all parts of Scotland."

_Postal Communication, Past and Present (National Review; copied in Littell's Living Age, July 30, 1887)._

"A penny post was established in London, in 1683, two years before the death of Charles II., for the conveyance of letters and parcels within the City, by Robert Murray, an upholsterer by trade, who, like a great many others, was dissatisfied with the Government, which, in its anxiety to provide for the postal requirements of the country, had entirely neglected the City and suburbs. The post, established by Murray at a vast expense, was ultimately handed over to a William Docwray, whose name is now well known in the annals of Post Office history. The arrangements of the new penny post were simple, and certainly liberal enough. All letters or parcels not exceeding a pound weight, or any sum of money not exceeding £10 in value, or parcel not worth more than £10, could be conveyed at a cost of one penny; or within a radius of ten miles from a given centre, for the charge of twopence. Several district offices were opened in various parts of London, and receiving houses were freely established in all the leading thoroughfares. … The deliveries in the City were from six to eight daily, while from three to four were found sufficient to supply the wants of the suburbs. The public appreciated and supported the new venture, and it soon became a great commercial success, useful to the citizens, and profitable to the proprietor. No sooner, however, did a knowledge of this fact reach the ears of those in authority over the General Post Office, than the Duke of York, acting under instructions, and by virtue of the settlement made to him, objected to its being continued, on the ground that it was an invasion of his legal rights. … The authorities … applied to the court of King's Bench, wherein it was decided that the new or so-called penny post was an infraction of the privileges of the authorities of the General Post Office, and the royal interest, and that consequently it, with all its organization, profits, and advantages, should be handed over to, and remain the property of, the royal establishment. … Post-paid envelopes were in use in France in the time of Louis XIV. Pelisson states that they originated in 1653 with M. de Velayer, who established, under royal authority, a private penny-post in Paris. He placed boxes at the corners of the principal streets to receive the letters, which were obliged to be enclosed in these envelopes. They were suggested to the Government by Mr. Charles Whiting in 1830, and the eminent publisher, the late Mr. Charles Knight, also proposed stamped covers for papers. Dr. T. E. Gray, of the British Museum, claimed the credit of suggesting that letters should be prepaid by the use of stamps as early as 1834."

_W. Tegg, Posts and Telegraphs, pages 21-23 and 100-101._

"On the morning of the 10th of January, 1840, the people of the United Kingdom rose in the possession of a new power—the power of sending by the post a letter not weighing more than half an ounce upon the prepayment of one penny, and this without any regard to the distance which the letter had to travel. … To the sagacity and the perseverance of one man, the author of this system, the high praise is due, not so much that he triumphed over the petty jealousies and selfish fears of the post-office authorities, but that he established his own convictions against the doubts of some of the ablest and most conscientious leaders of public opinion. … Mr. Rowland Hill in 1837 published his plan of a cheap and uniform postage. A Committee of the House of Commons was appointed in 1837, which, continued its inquiries throughout the session of 1838, and arrived at the conviction that 'the mode recommended of charging and collecting postage, in a pamphlet published by Mr. Rowland Hill,' was feasible, and deserving of a trial under legislative sanction. … Lord Ashburton, although an advocate of Post-office Reform, held that the reduction to a penny would wholly destroy the revenue. Lord Lowther, the Postmaster-General, thought twopence the smallest rate that would cover the expenses. {2581} Colonel Maberly, the secretary to the post office, considered Mr. Hill's plan a most preposterous one, and maintained that if the rates were to be reduced to a penny, the revenue would not recover itself for forty or fifty years. … Public opinion, however, had been brought so strongly to bear in favour of a penny rate, that the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Spring Rice, on the 5th of July, 1839, proposed a resolution, 'that it is expedient to reduce the postage on letters to one uniform rate of a penny postage, according to a certain amount of weight to be determined—that the parliamentary privilege of franking should be abolished, and that official franking be strictly limited—the House pledging itself to make good any deficiency that may occur in the revenue from such reduction of the postage.' A Bill was accordingly passed to this effect in the House of Commons, its operation being limited in its duration to one year, and the Treasury retaining the power of fixing the rates at first, although the ultimate reduction was to be to one penny. This experimental measure reduced all rates above fourpence to that sum, leaving those below fourpence unaltered. With this complication of charge the experiment could not have a fair trial, and accordingly on the 10th of January, 1840, the uniform half-ounce rate became by order of the Treasury one penny. … In 1840 the number of letters sent through the post had more than doubled, and the legislature had little hesitation in making the Act of 1839 permanent, instead of its duration being limited to the year which would expire in October. A stamped envelope, printed upon a peculiar paper, and bearing an elaborate design, was originally chosen as the mode of rendering prepayment convenient to the sender of a letter. A simpler plan soon superseded this attempt to enlist the Fine Arts in a plain business operation. The plan of prepaying letters by affixing a stamp bearing the head of the ruler of the country, came into use here in May, 1840 [see, also, ENGLAND: A. D. 1840]. The habit of prepayment by postage stamps has now become so universal throughout the world, that in 1861 the system was established in eighty different countries or colonies."

_C. Knight, Popular History of England, volume 8, chapter 24._