Part 13

The Spanish government may be said to have acted a most villainous part at this juncture, if it indeed be true, as has been asserted, that it was then secretly contriving the assassination of so firm and faithful an ally.

The court of Portugal being at the baths of _Obidos_, received intelligence that a most dreadful plot was formed to massacre the regent, his consort, the infanta his daughter, and replace Alphonso the VIth on the throne. The criminals were presently discovered, seized, tried, and condemned to die. Don Francisco Mendoça, don Antonio de Cavida, and their accomplices were accordingly publicly executed. The inquest taken on this trial had been carefully concealed; yet still it transpired that the Spanish ambassador was not unacquainted with this horrible conspiracy. The coolness subsisting between him and the court increased the suspicions of the public; but the dignity of the diplomatic character secured his person. The Portugueze minister at the court of Madrid was very soon after most grossly insulted in his own house, and not being able to obtain redress, returned to Lisbon. Affronts which it was impossible to revenge were passed over in silence by the prudent regent; who, however, did not neglect taking every precaution which the situation of his affairs made necessary. He caused the frontiers to be put in a proper state of defence, and sent a well armed squadron to the Terceres (or Azores) islands, to fetch back his brother Alphonso, who, it had been purposely reported, was improperly treated in that place. The war between France and Spain was still carried on, though to all appearance it was drawing towards an end; and the very moment don Pedro became acquainted with the overtures for peace made at Nimeguen, he offered to act as mediator between the two powers. This proposal was received by Louis the XIVth with a degree of haughtiness and contempt which drew upon himself the never-ending resentment of a prince, to whom he was very soon afterwards forced to sue for succour.

Let us now take a cursory view of the situation of Portugal at that critical juncture. The pains taken by the regent to put the finishing stroke to a war which had lasted twenty-six years, have been already remarked; but great as were the miseries it had caused, they were much less distressing, and much easier repaired than those suffered by Portugal, whilst under the dominion of Spain: such indeed were those calamities, that time itself has been unable to repair them.

During the sixty years this unhappy country groaned under the Spanish yoke, the navy was almost entirely destroyed; more than 200 large merchantmen were lost. The arsenals and forts were robbed of above 2000 brass cannons, with an infinite number of iron ones; and the great square at Seville was at one time filled with 900 pieces of cannon, all marked with the arms of Portugal. Two hundred millions of golden crowns were taken out of the country between the years 1584 and 1626; and the finest estates and richest domains were bestowed on Spanish subjects. The Dutch deprived them too of the islands of Ceylon, Ternate, and Tidor; they forced Malacca to surrender after a long siege, took possession of the ports of Mina and Arguin on the coast of Guinea, and formed different settlements in Brazil; in short, such were the losses sustained by the Portugueze during these sixty years, that all their efforts have been hitherto inadequate entirely to repair them. The spice and East India trade which they had carried on exclusively during a whole century, then fell into the bands of the Dutch and English; and the Portugueze government finding it impossible to regain this valuable branch of commerce, turned all their thoughts towards Brazil, from which they had no small difficulty in driving the Dutch. Don Pedro likewise, on his first accession to the crown, made this important colony one of the principal objects of his attention, and spared no pains to extend it to the utmost of his power.

It became necessary at this time to increase the authority of the missionaries, who, from their first entrance into the interior parts of America, had defended their proselites against the armed savages, with no other weapons than the gospel of Christ in one hand, and a crucifix in the other. An ordinance was therefore published on the 21st of December, 1686, which declared that the _holy fathers of the society of Jesus should not only be invested with the spiritual government, as before, but also the political and temporal one, over the towns and villages under their administration_.

Some years after the publication of this edict, which, though it opened a passage for the Portugueze to the gold and diamond mines in Brazil, had nearly been attended by the most fatal consequences in Paraguay, the richest fleet which ever sailed from Brazil entered the port of Lisbon. It contained more than a ton and a half of gold, and came most opportunely to relieve the exigencies of don Pedro, who, foreseeing the events that would most probably follow the death of Charles the IId of Spain, was preparing a considerable armament, which was attended by so great an expence, that the royal treasury being nearly exhausted, he was under the necessity of having recourse to the _cortes_, from whom he obtained a supply of 600,000 crowns.

Louis the XIVth, deeply interested in the motions of Portugal, was presently informed of this new subsidy, and the apparent motives alledged by the king to induce its being speedily granted. This intelligence did not at first appear to make much impression on the French monarch, but he soon after took umbrage at it, and still more particularly on hearing that the Spanish ambassador continued living in a great style at Lisbon, had an opera performed in his own house, gave the most magnificent entertainments, and had succeeded in gaining the favour of the king of Portugal.

The court of France was very well aware, that don Pedro had legitimate claims on the crown of Spain, that his vicinity to Madrid would facilitate his views, and that he might easily find allies to support his pretensions; it was therefore thought expedient to dispatch an envoy extraordinary with orders to sound the intentions of the court of Lisbon on this subject.

The nearer Charles the IId approached towards his end, the more were the powers of Europe employed in forming plans for dividing his inheritance. Different treaties had been formed during the course of his illness between France, England, and the United Provinces; but these were presently annulled, when on the demise of that prince, his will declared Philip, duke d'Anjou, heir to the crown of Spain. The new king was at first acknowledged by all the powers in Europe, except the Empire: he took upon himself the title of Philip the Vth, and departed immediately for Spain. It was this occasion which gave rise to the following memorable speech of Louis the XIVth; "_My son, there are now no longer any Pyrenees_;" a speech which unhappily was but too soon forgotten, since the first war undertaken by France, after that of the _succession_, was against the Spaniards.

Philip the Vth entered his new dominions without the smallest opposition; he was received with much solemnity, and with every testimony of joy, on the 14th of April, 1701, at Madrid, where the people took the oath of allegiance, and expressed an attachment to his person, which neither time, nor reverse of fortune, had ever the power to weaken. Destitute of troops sufficient to oppose the united forces of France and Spain, and without allies to furnish him with supplies, don Pedro gave up for the present all idea of bringing forward the claims of the house of Braganza to the crown of Spain, and hastened to form an alliance with Louis the XIVth and Philip the Vth, as the properest means of preventing the kings of Spain from renewing their pretensions to that of Portugal.

This alliance was greatly approved by the public; the Portugueze still bearing in mind the misery of their situation, whilst under the dominion of the house of Austria, and remembering with pleasure and gratitude the signal services rendered them by that of Bourbon. Their great disinclination to war, also added to their satisfaction, since they had now every reason to flatter themselves they might be suffered to remain neuter; but this hope, alas! was presently destroyed, for England, having on the 7th of September, 1701, formed a league with the Empire and Holland against France and Spain, immediately on war being declared, commanded her fleet to commence hostilities on the coast of Portugal. Don Pedro directly gave orders to the duke de Cadaval to assemble a sufficient body of troops to secure the sea-ports from the insults of the English; and at the same time informed his allies of his situation, and the danger with which he was threatened, unless speedily assisted. Neither France nor Spain were in a condition to equip a fleet capable of standing against the attacks of the English, and yet these powers insisted on Portugal's taking an active part in the war. Spain, in particular, treated the Portugueze ambassador with insupportable insolence, and on his urging the necessity of his master's remaining neuter, he was answered by the cardinal Portocarrero, "_that no other conduct could be expected from the rebel duke of Braganza_."

The king of Portugal, whose love of peace had even induced him to pass over in silence the intelligence he had received from his minister at the Hague, that by a private treaty between France and Spain, his kingdom was to become a province of the last-mentioned country, now thought himself justified in breaking with allies, who not only gave him up to the power of his enemies, but were even employed in contriving his destruction, he therefore on the 6th of May, 1703, entered into the league styled the _grand alliance_, and obtained the most favourable conditions; the emperor promising to keep in pay 14,000 Portugueze, and the queen of England engaging herself to maintain a fleet ready at all times to defend Portugal and its colonies. There were also secret articles in this treaty, which treaty itself was not to be made public till the archduke Charles arrived at Lisbon, by which don Pedro was to be put into possession of Badajos, Alcantara, Albaquerque, Valentia in Estremadura; Bayonne, Vigo, Tuy, and Gardia, in Gallicia.

Louis the XIVth was presently made acquainted with this convention, and gave orders to his ambassador to demand an explanation, which he was constantly refused.

On the 9th of May, 1704, an English fleet appeared off Lisbon, and landed the archduke Charles, together with 10,000 men. A very few months after his arrival, the court of Portugal was plunged into the deepest distress by the death of the infanta, a child of eight years old, who was betrothed to the archduke. It being of the greatest importance to lose no time in commencing hostilities, the troops were scarcely landed before they were employed in actual service. Nothing decisive occurred during the first campaign; good and ill success equally attended their arms; and the English alone gained a conquest, which they have constantly preserved. The Spaniards, from the most unpardonable negligence, having left Gibraltar with only a garrison of a hundred men, it was taken on the 4th of August by the English, who fought under the command of the prince of Darmstadt, and admiral Rooke.

The second campaign in 1705 was of very little importance; and the advantages obtained in that of the following year, were much more brilliant than solid. On the 16th of June, lord Galway and the marquis de Minas entered Madrid without resistance, and caused the archduke Charles to be proclaimed king of Spain: the greater part of the people, however, faithful to their first engagements, ventured even on the same day to shout out "Long live Philip the Vth, our lawful sovereign." Such marks of affection, testified by the Spaniards, and at such a moment, were a certain presage that the triumph of the archduke would be but of short duration.

The English and Portugueze armies quitted Madrid on the 1st of August, and prudently avoided engaging the Spanish and French troops, commanded by marshal Berwick, having been informed, that they had recently received a powerful reinforcement from France. The English and Portugueze generals were on this occasion condemned or excused, according to the dictates of party spirit, for not having taken greater advantage of so fortunate a beginning.

The Portugueze troops being returned to their winter quarters, the king gave orders for the levying of twelve thousand men, being determined to carry on the war with the greatest spirit and activity; but unfortunately for Portugal and its allies, don Pedro departed this life, after a very short illness, on the 9th of December, 1706.

An historian of merit[30] has ventured to blame this prince for not remaining neuter in the _war of the succession_; but we have already seen that he was forced into hostile measures, by the conduct of the different parties. Other historians, still more severe, accuse him of not attending sufficiently to the important objects of agriculture and commerce. Nothing can be more unjust in most particulars than these reproaches, since it was during his reign that vegetables, and the most delicious fruits first flourished in Portugal,[31] and that the famous treaty was made with England, by which the latter power entered into engagements to take Portugueze wines in exchange for English manufactures.

Cotemporary writers have done more justice to the merits of this sovereign, and allowed him not only the eminent virtues which ought to adorn a great monarch, but the superior talents of a wise administrator. Posterity has gone still farther, attributing to him the double merit of having, by his first alliance with Spain, gloriously terminated a dangerous revolution in the state, and of having carried his point, by quietly effecting another revolution in his own family.

John the Vth, the son of don Pedro (or Pedro the IId) succeeded to the throne on the 9th of December, 1706, but was not solemnly proclaimed king till the 1st of January, 1707. This young prince, aged only seventeen years, continued faithful to the engagements taken by his father with the allied powers, against France and Spain, and put every thing in order to carry on the war with the greatest vigour. Success, however, did not wait upon his arms, for Philip the Vth having returned to his capital on the 8th of October, 1706, gave the command of the army destined to act against Portugal to marshal Berwick, who on the 15th of April, 1707, gained a complete victory over the allied armies, under the command of lord Galway, at the celebrated battle of Almanza, where the greater part of the Portugueze present on the occasion were either killed or taken prisoners. An extraordinary circumstance, and the only one of the kind to be met with in history, took place at this battle, where the English, under the command of a French general,[32] were beaten by an English one who commanded the French army.

The year 1708, though it affords nothing very interesting relative to the actions which took place between Spain and Portugal, must always recal to our memory the noblest victory ever obtained by humanity over the ravages of war; since the kings of those two countries, by mutual agreement, prevented hostilities of any kind being committed against husbandmen and vine-dressers.

John the Vth, in the same year, united himself by still closer ties to the house of Austria; and on the 8th of October formed an alliance with the second daughter of the emperor Leopold. The joy occasioned by this marriage was greatly augmented by the arrival of a fleet of merchantmen, consisting of a hundred sail, from Brazil, having on board to the amount of six millions sterling in gold, diamonds and tobacco.

Nothing could be more timely than this supply; the subsidies promised to the Portugueze being very ill paid, and their army having suffered considerably, on the 7th of May, 1709, when the Portugueze were defeated on the banks of the _Caya_, by the marquis de Bay, in the campaign of Gudina.[33] The king was also obliged to withstand the instances of his allies, in an affair which he was decided not to give up; and the ambassadors from the Empire and England, together with the States-General, having remonstrated in the strongest manner about the franchises of foreign ministers, which his father had abolished twenty years before, he resisted all their arguments with a firmness they little expected, and, forced them to lay aside their claims. The year 1709, which began so prosperously for the archduke Charles, ended in the most disastrous manner for him and for Portugal.

General Stanhope on the 27th of July, defeated the French and Spanish armies at Almenara, and afterwards greatly contributed to gaining the great victory of Saragossa; on this occasion the marquis de Bay was so completely beaten by the count de Staremberg, that Philip the Vth was obliged to quit Madrid, and the archduke entered the capital without striking a blow. No monarch, however, ever met with a worse reception from his subjects; they treated him with every possible mark of aversion, avoiding his sight, shutting themselves up in their own apartments, and even disdaining to pick up the money he threw into the streets. All his endeavours were fruitless to extort the oath of allegiance from several of the nobility, and having commanded the marquis de Mancera,[34] president of the council of Castille, an old man turned of a hundred years of age, to come and kiss his hand, he received the following reply: "I have but one faith and one king, which is Philip the Vth to whom I have sworn allegiance. I acknowledge the archduke as a great prince, but not as my sovereign, and having lived a hundred years without failing in any of my duties; I will not, for the short space of time I have yet to pass in this world, blast my spotless reputation by a dishonourable action."

The archduke, irritated at such opposition, proposed giving up the town to be pillaged, but the generous Stanhope representing the cruelty as well as impolicy of such vengeance, "Well," replied Charles, "if we cannot plunder the city, let us at least quit it." If, indeed, the approach of the duke de Vendôme had not made this retreat necessary, circumstances alone must, sooner or later, have forced the archduke to take this step; since both he and his partizans began to perceive the impossibility of preserving a crown, which the people were decided, at the risk of their lives and properties, to replace on the head of him whom they had acknowledged as its lawful possessor. The reverse of fortune which Philip had experienced, far from weakening the attachment of the Spaniards, had very much contributed to increase it; so great, indeed, was the affection they bore him, that they preferred burning their provisions to selling them to his enemies. Such conduct gave rise to Stanhope's remark, "that a victorious army might indeed march through Spain, but that it required a still stronger one to keep possession of it."

If a retreat through a country so ill disposed towards Charles, was in itself so dangerous, how infinitely more so must it be on the arrival of such an enemy as the duke de Vendôme, who, having reconducted Philip to Madrid, on the 3d of December, went immediately in pursuit of the archduke and Stanhope, who were making every possible effort to regain Portugal.

Vendôme, having swam his troops across the Tagus, attacked general Stanhope, who was shut up in _Briguegua_, and on the 9th of December forced him to surrender himself prisoner, together with 5000 English. His success did not stop here, for having joined the count de Staremberg the same day at Villaviciosa, he, the following one, gave the battle which is known in history by the name of the above-mentioned place.

Philip the Vth, who had not hitherto joined his generals in the field of battle, commanded, on that day, the right wing of his army, whilst the duke de Vendôme appeared at the head of the left: and thus a victory was obtained which ended all conflicts, and put him in the unrivalled possession of the crown of Spain. It was after this engagement that Philip, being unprovided with a bed, Vendôme exclaimed, "I will presently form you the most glorious bed on which a sovereign ever slept;" and he gave orders that a mattress should be made of the standards and colours taken from the enemy.

The defeat at Villaviciosa having placed the Portugueze in a most critical situation, it was thought highly necessary, in 1711, to defend their own frontiers as much as possible, without ever attempting to attack those of their neighbours. The intelligence received of the capture of Rio Janeiro by Guy Trouin, cut off every hope of carrying on the war any longer. This place surrendered after eleven days siege, on the 23d of September, and the loss on this occasion was estimated at twenty-five millions of French livres; which made it impossible for Brazil (for some time at least) to furnish supplies to the mother country: a circumstance the more to be regretted, as Portugal never stood in greater need of assistance.

A peace was now their only resource, and an unexpected event took place, which not only gave them an opening to make propositions, but accelerated the negociations. The emperor Joseph dying, the archduke Charles succeeded him in the imperial dignity; and from that moment it became contrary to the interest, not only of the allies, but of the whole of Europe, to place the crown of Spain upon his head. To preserve the _balance of power_ had been the _pretext_ alledged for the war, which could certainly never have been maintained, had the vast possessions of the emperor Charles the Vth been once more united under the dominion of one and the same person. The real and only motive, however, for this war, appears to be the ancient hatred entertained against the name of Louis the Great.

In the course of this same year (1711) France began to enter into correspondence with England: the duke of Marlborough had been recalled by the court of St. James's, whose views tended towards peace, in as high a degree as his led towards war. In this situation of affairs the Portugueze had the prudence to attach themselves more closely than ever to the interests of Great Britain: they were accordingly admitted to the conferences held at Utrecht, on the 29th of January, 1712, and on the 11th of April, in the same year, France made peace by five different treaties; the first with England, signed at _three_ o'clock in the afternoon; the second with the duke of Savoy, at _four_ o'clock; the third with the king of Portugal, at _eight_; the fourth with the king of Prussia, at _midnight_; and the fifth with the States-General, at a _quarter past one_ the next morning.

By the treaty with Portugal, France engaged that Spain should lay no claim to any part of that country; and at the same time renounced her pretensions on the river of the Amazons. Nothing now remained for the tranquillity of John the Vth, but to conclude peace with Philip the Vth, and all difficulties being done away by the mediation of the court of Versailles, it was at last signed at Utrecht, on the 13th of February, 1715.