intimate manner with her enemy, that it was rendered impoffible to diftinguish the one from the other. In this point, however, prudence was to interpofe, and circumstances to direct. It was not, therefore, until every attempt to bring Spain to a clear declaration of pacific intentions had been tried without fuccefs, in the manner we have already feen, that war was actually declared against her. This declaration was made, on our part, in London, the 2d of January of the prefent year. Since Great Britain was a kingdom, fhe never was in fuch a doubt ful and dangerous fituation; for at this time fhe was engaged, directly or indirectly, in a war, not only with all the great continental powers, but, what is more material, with the most confiderable part of the maritime ftrength of Europe. According to the ordinary computations, the navy of Spain confifted of more than an hundred men of war; and though the French navy was greatly reduced, it became of confideration when added to the Spanish. Great efforts were made to render it refpectable. Several communities in France engaged to fit out men of war at their own expence; and in general that whole people felt, after having been funk under a long defpondency, a momentary glow of hope and animation from this alliance, fo powerful in its real ftrength, and in its principles fo flattering to the national vanity. The glory of their royal houfe was, on this occafion, united with the fafety of their country, They were reinforced by the moft cordial amity of a power, untouched in its refources of men, money, and itores; whilft Great Britain was exhausted of men by her many victories, and her resources were finking under a debt of more than one hundred millions. Befides, a rude shock had been lately given to the fyftem of the English miniftry, which might be fuppofed, in fome degree, likely to affect public credit. The part which Mr. P. might finally take, and the confequences which might refult from his actions, were extremely undermined; nor was it at all clear, what degree of harmony and real confidence continued amongst the feveral parts of the fubfifting adminiftration. All these confiderations could not fail of infpiring France with great confidence. Great Britain, under thefe circumftances, had, however, fome things in her favour. The hope of plunder which always attends a Spanifh war, difpofed the minds of many towards the prefent; and was fure to call forth a very vigorous exertion both of public and private ftrength. This circumftance alfo infured the fupplies. With regard to the adminiftration, their delay in entering into this Spanish war. contrary to the ideas of Mr. P. his refignation in confequence of this delay; the neceffity which fo foon after appeared, of engaging in hoftilities, and which, to the bulk of the people, feemed to juftify the fentiments of that minifter, together with a recollection of the fingular fpirit with which the French war had been carried on, muft neceffarily have excited them to the moft ftrenuous efforts, and to every act of laudable emulation. There was a neceffity of fhewing, that the fpirit of the nation, and the wildom of its coun cils, were not confined to a fingle man; and it was fhewn effectually. We had, alfo to ballance the great ftrength derived from the extraordinary combination of our enemies, that uniform tenor of fuccefs on our fide, which made our people believe themselves invincible. This was not an ungrounded prefumption, or a dream of enthufiafm: their just opinion of fuperior courage, together with the folid experience derived from fuch a variety of fervices, and fo many fharp conflies by fea and land, all combined to make our forces feem, and be, almoft irrefiftible. Spain, on the other hand, had, in the very conftitution of her power, an effential defect, which expofed her on this, as upon all other occafions. Her resources, though very great, are not within herself; and confequently are not always at her command, being fubject not only to be intercepted by the operations of the war, but to be deftroyed or loft by the cafualty of long voyages; and, in every event, are liable to delay and disappoint ment. CHA P. II. Portugal threatened. Melancholy fate of that kingdom. Arrogant propofition of the French and Spanish minifters to the court of Liban. Answer of that court. Several memorials. Refolution of the king of Portugal. French and Franifh minifters depart. War declared by thofe powers against Portugal. S UCH was our fituation, both at home and abroad, at the breaking out of this new war. Something extraordinary was to be expected from the confederacy of the houfe of Bourbon. It was not, however, altogether certain where the ftorm, that was gathering, would fall. There were apprehenfions for the peace of Italy; Holland had fome caufe of dread; and menaces were used in that quarter. But Portugal feemed to be most endangered, on account of her clofe and natural connection with Great Britain, her internal weakness, the ancient claims of the catholic king, and the opportunity of invafion; the kingdom being on all fides, except to the fea, in a manner inclofed by Spain. Public conjecture was not mif taken in fixing upon Portugal. No mention was made, indeed, of the Spanish pretenfions to that crown; but a refolution was taken not only to oblige her to renounce all friendfhip, but to violate her neutrality with Great Britain. No attempt was ever defigned with lefs appearance of juftice; no propofition was ever made with more arrogance and defpotifm to an independent fovereign; and no fcheme feemed, according to every human appearance, fo certain of fuccefs. The kingdom of Portugal on the recovery of her liberty, which happened in the year 1640, found herself ftripped of the greatest part of thofe acquifitions, in both Indies. which had been the principal fources of her power, and the great mony ments ments of the capacity of her former kings and commanders. During the interval of her fubjection, new commercial powers had rifen, fome on the ruins of her fortune, and others upon different but not lefs fubftantial foundations. Though the Brazils were recovered, and Goa and fome other places in India remained still to Portugal, her maritime power, and the hare of trade, on which it de pended, were not recoverable. Contrary to the fate of other nations, who have shaken off a foreign dominion, she did not owe her liberty to great abiliites. Whilft the United Provinces were first freed, and afterwards aggrandized, by the capacity of the princes of Orange, and whilft Pruffia, from an inconfiderable and dependent principality, grew into a formidable monarchy by the genius of her fovereigns, Portugal Continued to languish in a state of mediocrity. Without any fymptoms of danger to her existence, fhe fuffered a gradual decay of her power and confideration. The cha racter of her government was narrow and bigoted, and the whole fyftem of her commerce prepofterous. If, on the one hand, a long peace added to the resources of her revenue, it, on the other, abfolutely annihilated her military; and no country in the world had an army fo incomplete in numbers, fo ill furnished with arms, fo deficient in discipline, and so wholly unprovided of able and experienced officers. In this condition the fuffered a fatal blow from the earthquake in 1756. The wealthy and flourishing city of Lisbon was laid level with the ground; near thirty thou fand of the inhabitants were buried in the ruins; and thofe who remained, with the court itfelf, were reduced to the utmost diftrefs and mifery. As if this earthquake, which overturned their capital, had also thaken and distracted the frame of their government, and the temper of their minds, the most dreadful diftempers broke out in the ftate. A feries of horrid crimes, and of cruel punishments, fucceeded to this calamity. The most noble and wealthy family of Portugal, having engaged itself in a facrilegious attempt on the life of their fovereign, was cut off at once, with little dif tinction of fex or age, by a bloody and dreadful exertion of justice. Many others, who were accufed or fufpected, fuffered death, or exile, or imprisonment. Amongst thefe, and from the fame caufes, one of the most confiderable religious orders for wealth, influence, and policy, was ftripped of its poffeffions, and intirely driven out of the country, All thefe circumftances left this. unhappy kingdom in the utmost weakness and confufion. All those, and they were not a few, who were attached by connexion of blood or intereft to the nobles that had fuffered, or by religious prejudice to the Jefuits who had been expelled, could never be cordially relied upon by the crown, and were probably as little inclined to any extraordinary efforts in favour of a government, which their refentments must have reprefented to them as no better than a bloody tyranny. The Bourbon confederacy had fome ground to fuppofe that Portugal, in this fituation, would not have courage to withstand their menaces, and much less ability for any long time to refift their efforts. The Spanish army over[B] 4 fpread fpread the frontiers of Portugal; the commerce of corn between the two kingdoms was prohibited, and every thing threatened a fudden invafion. In the midst of 6th Mar. thefe hoftile preparations, the French and Spanish minifters prefented a joint memorial to the court of Lisbon, which was followed by feveral others. The purport of these memorials was to perfuade his moft faithful majefty to enter into the alliance, and co-operate in the measures of the two crowns, against Great Britain. It was not easy to find very convincing arguments to induce Portugal to adopt fo extraordinary a change of fyftem. The united crowns, in a memorial which was figned by the ambaffadors of both, infifted largely on the tyranny which Great Britain exerted upon all powers, especially the maritime, and upon Portugal among the reft; on the particular infult which had been offered to her jurisdiction, by Boscawen's attack on de la Clue's fquadron in a Portuguefe harbour; on that affinity, by which the two monarchs of Spain and Portugal are as clofely connected by their ties of blood, as all powers are by a common intereft, to oppofe the ambiticus defigns of the English. Whatever these arguments were deficient in reafon, was made by a strong infinuation of force. The memorial concluded with a declaration, that as foon as his most faithful majefty had taken his refolution, which they doubted not would prove favourable, their army was ready to enter Portugal, and to garrifon the principal ports of that kingdom, in order to prevent the dangers to which they might be ex up pofed from the attempts of the English. The two minifters added to this extraordinary memorial, that they were ordered by their courts to demand a categorical answer in four days; and that any delay, beyond that time, fhould be confidered as a negative. The fituation of Portugal was at this time certainly worthy of compaffion. If, contrary to her known interefts, contrary to her ancient connections, and to the faith of treaties, fhe fhould engage in this offenfive alliance, fhe muft expect to fee her territories and her colonies exposed to the formidable navies of England. This however dangerous condefcenfion was not to fecure her, by her own act, he would have put herself, bound hand and foot, into the power of the Bourbon alliance; and having received foreign garrifons into all her places of ftrength, would have reduced herself to the condition of a province of Spain. On the other hand, if the adhered to her faith, and attempted to maintain her independency, an army of fixty thoufand men was ready to enter her territories, which contained no place of real ftrength, and which had not twenty thousand troops, and those iil armed, and worse difciplined; to defend it. In this emergency, the firmness of the king of Portugal was eminent,, and fuch as must deliver his name to pofterity to the most diftinguished advantage. He refolved fteadily to adhere to his ancient and natural alliance, and to brave all dangers and difficulties, that he might preferve his fidelity inviolable; following that generous maxim of king John of France, that that if good faith were to be banifhed from all other parts of the world, it ought to be found in the breaft of fovereigns. His answer to this infulting propofition was humble and moderate, but firm: he observed, that the ties, which equally united him to Great Britain and the two crowns, rendered him as proper a mediator to them all, as they made it improper for him to declare himself an enemy to any of them; that his alliance with England was ancient, and therefore could give no offence at this conjuncture; that it was purely defenfive, and therefore innocent in all its circumstances; that the late fufferings of Portugal difabled her (in cafe fhe were willing) from taking part in an offenfive war, into the calamities of which, neither the love his faithful majesty bore to his fubjects as a father, nor the duty by which he was bound to them as a king, could fuffer him to plunge them. Finally, he reminded the catholic king of his pacific difpofitions, by which, on former occafions, he had yielded fo much, to preferve peace between the two kingdoms. This reasonable and moderate anfwer drew on replies, which more and more difclofed the true charac-> ter and fpirit of the Bourbon confederacy. They denied that the alliance with England was purely defenfive, or intirely innocent; and for this unheard-of reafon, that the defenfive alliance is converted into an offenfive one, from the fituation of the Portuguefe dominions, and from the nature of the English power: the English fquadron, faid they, cannot keep the fea in all feafons, nor cruize on the principal coafts for cutting off the French and Spanish navigation, without the ports and the affiftance of Portugal; that these islanders could not infult all maritime Europe, if all the riches of Portugal did not pass into their hands; that therefore Portugal fur nifhes them with the means to make war; and their alliance with the court of Great Britain is offenfive. Certainly, the fituation of a country was never before given as a reason, however it might have ferved as a fecret motive, for declaring war against it. Nor was it before heard, that the common advantages of trade, derived from a neutral nation, could be deemed an act of hoftility. These were rather infults than arguments. And the whole proceedings of the united crowns was in the fame ftrain: they undertook to judge for Portugal of the pretended yoke which was impofed upon her by England, and which the could not herself difcover; to refent injuries for her, for which fhe had received and accepted fatisfaction; and, as if this had not been indignity fufficient, they infultingly inform the king of Portugal, that he ought to be glad of the neceffity which they laid upon him to make ufe of his reafon, in order to take the road of his glory, and the common intereft. This neceffity was the immediate march of their army to take poffeffion of his dominions. So extraordinary a treatment neither intimidated the king from the firmness of his refolution, nor provoked him to change from the moderation of his language. He maintained, that the treaties of league and commerce, which fubfifted between Portugal and Great Britain, are fuch as the law of God, of nature, and of nations, have al ways deemed innocent. He intreat ed |