kept, and ought to be kept, by a regular government, even in the midst of peace. The Pyramus, the first vessel that sailed from England, arrived at Lisbon on the 25th of December, just two days after his majesty's message to parlia ment, on the 11th, was known there. The message, and Mr. Canning's speech had been received in Lisbon on the 23rd, the last day of the session of the Cortes, and produced an instant change in the hopes and fears of all parties. The charter did not allow the Cortes to continue their session, and not having time to draw up such an address as would sufficiently convey their high sense of the obliga tions under which they lay to this country, a vote of thanks in their own name, and that of the Portuguese nation, to the king, parliament, and people, of Great Britain, was voted by acclamation. The speech of Mr. Canning was immediately translated, and sought after with an avidity which the presses of Lisbon could scarcely supply. Six thousand copies were sold in a few hours, and it was spread over all parts of the kingdom in the form of hand-bills. it From the moment of the arrival of the British troops in the Tagus, all hope departed from the rebels; gave confidence to the govern ment, it disheartened the disaffected, it decided the wavering in favour of the regency. These troops, indeed, were not to be employed in civil dissention, or in defending one part of the nation against another, in an internal struggle about a constitution with which no foreign power had a right to interfere; but the rebels, though Por tuguese by birth, were the soldiers of Spain; it was her cause they were maintaining, and by her re sources that they were supported. Ferdinand now saw that the continuance of that support must be purchased, notwithstanding all his wiles, at the expense of an open rupture with Britain; that her long forbearance had only been the result of conscious strength; that the firmness with which she decided, and the rapidity with which she executed, proved her to be completely in earnest. At the same time, France expressed very plainly and publicly her opinion of his conduct, and her determination to leave him, helpless and contemptible as he was, to rescue himself unaided from the lion-grasp into which he had flung himself in despite of so many warnings. The possibility of France taking part with Spain was the only matter which could have deserved much consideration on the part of Britain, before taking the resolution of standing forth in defence of Portugal; and the conduct of De Moustier at Madrid had given reasonable cause for grave suspicions of the sincerity of France. But the French cabinet disavowed his conduct by recalling him from his mission; and convinced Ferdinand much more feelingly how little he had to expect from them in the prosecution of his mad career, by recalling likewise the regiments of Swiss guards, which had been given to him for his personal protection at a time when he could not trust himself among his own subjects. Ferdinand, therefore, finding that France would not support him, and that Britain would not allow him to trifle with her, was compelled to yield ungraciously to necessity what he might so often have conceded with a good grace. On the 18th of December, M. Salmon addressed a note to Mr. Lamb, in which, after stating his satisfaction that the assurances given in his note of the 28th of November had produced "the happy effects which were to be expected from them." these effects having been the landing of five thousand British troops in Portugal-he added, that his august master, in order to furnish another proof of his desire for peace" was ready to receive a public agent on the part of his most faithful ma jesty Don Pedro, as soon as the count de Casa Flores, his ambassador at Lisbon, should be re-instated in his functions." New assurances, likewise, were given of the fulfilment at last of repeated promises and former resolutions, "taking at the same time such precautions as must insure the punctual execution of them:"-a very plain acknowledgment that he hitherto had taken care that these promises and resolutions should be worthless and futile. This note being transmitted to Lisbon, the regency informed count Casa Flores that he would he received in a private audience, and, after that audience, would be considered as re-instated in all his official rights and privileges. But was added, "the speedy execution of all the promises made by Spain in M. Salmon's circular of the 28th of November, and especially the prompt and total disarming and dispersing of the corps of Magessi, now in the Spanish territory, must be considered as an indispensable part of this conciliation." On the 26th of December, M. Casa Flores was admitted to his audience, and the diplomatic relations between the two countries were again established. it By the first of January, 1827, all the vessels of war in which the British troops had been embarked, had arrived in the Tagus; but the course of events rendered it unnecessary for them to encounter an enemy. Their presence, besides depriving the rebels of the last gleam of hope, enabled the regency to employ an additional force against the insurgents. It was only in Tras os Montes, and in the upper parts of Beira, that they had been able hitherto to maintain any footing; and even there they had little chance of keeping the field against the troops which would now be opposed to them. Hitherto the commanders of the constitutional forces had been content in a great measure to act merely on the defensive, because any serious misfortune in the provinces might have had the worst effects upon the public mind, and endangered the safety of the capital. But the considerations of prudence, which recommended this line of conduct, were now at an end, and the constitutionalists were at liberty to commence offensive operations. Generals Claudino and Azeredo entered Vizeu on the 28th of De cember; the rebels, who occupied it as the advanced guard of the insurgent army, having already begun to retire towards the frontier. At the same time Villa Flor was moving against them from the neighbourhood of Guarda and Celorico, and at last they were brought to a decisive engagement near the town of Coruches. The rebels were said to amount to about twelve thousand men, and the troops opposed to them to seven thousand. The battle began at one o'clock in the afternoon on the 9th of January, 1827, and lasted till night-fall, when it ended in the total discomfiture of the rebels: their commanders were among the first to fly. An ineffectual at tempt was made to rally at Almeida, but the panic was universal, and the greater part of the rebels, now informed of the arrival of the British troops, deserted a cause which they had never maintained from principle; and, by giving themselves up to the constitutional commander, endeavoured still to entitle themselves to the benefit of the amnesty, which, in the beginning of November, the Princess Regent had proclaimed to all subalterns and soldiers who should return to their duty before the expiry of the year. Their generals, accompanied by about a thousand men, escaped into Spain, and furnished to the Spanish cabinet another opportunity of proving how little sincere it had been in the assurances given by it on the 18th of December, that precautions would be taken to insure the punctual execution of orders for disarming and dispersing the Portuguese refugees. A body of eight hundred men marched from Ciudad Rodrigo, ostensibly to meet and disarm the fugitives from the battle of Coruches; but instead of being disarmed, they were allowed time to supply themselves with money, and ammunition, and with Spanish arms in the place of those which had been thrown away in their precipitate flight. In a few days they re-crossed the Douro, and entered the southern part of the province of Tras os Montes without meeting with the slightest obstacle from the Spanish authorities. M. Salmon now found it more difficult than ever to satisfy the British minister; he found it necessary to suspend general Longa, who had permitted this new act of hostility, from his command; an inquiry was ordered to be instituted into the conduct of several local governors; and the cabinet expressed diplomatically its high displeasure at their disobedience to orders which they were said to have received. But the disobedience of Longa had been particularly brought under its notice long before; and, while troops were moving from all parts of the kingdom towards Portugal, under the pretext of preventing any violation of the Spanish territory by the contending parties, all those points, at which it was known the rebels were assembling and arming themselves, and from which their inroads were to be made, were left defenceless. After the defeat at Coruches, Chaves, and the other commanders sent their baggage to Madrid, where it was granted the same privilege with that of ambassadors, and allowed to pass without being examined. Count Villa Flor having made himself master of Almeida, and the whole province of Beira being thus cleared of the rebels, crossed the Douro into Tras os Montes, whither the fugitives, few and disheartened, had ventured to return. They offered no resistance, and retired to the frontiers. The same bad fortune attended them in the northern part of the province, where the constitutional troops under Angija and Mello, drove them back into Spain, and reco vered the town of Chaves. Braganza was now almost the only point which the insurgents retained in the kingdom; their force was completely broken; their hopes were gone; their ally was overawed; and there was no prospect that they would again be able to disturb the tranquillity of Portugal, or endanger the existence of its new constitution. ། CHAP. XIII. TURKEY-Ultimatum of Russia, regarding Wallachia and Moldavia; it is acceded to by the Porte-Conferences at Ackerman between Russia and Turkey - Settlement of their Differences - The Sultan attempts to introduce European Discipline among the Janissaries-The Janissaries Revolt-The Revolt is quelled, and the Janissaries suppressed-Fire in Constantinople-Executions— Measures adopted to Reform the Administration.-GREECE-Engagements between the Greek and Turkish Fleets-Siege of MissolonghiAttacks and Repulses of Ibrahim-Capture by Ibrahim of Vassiladi and Anatolico-Famine in Missolonghi-Miaulis endeavours to relieve it-The Garrison attempts to cut its way through the Turkish Camp-Missolonghi taken-Military Operations after the taking of Missolonghi-Proclamation of the National Assembly-Measures of the Commission of Government-European Policy in regard to Greece -Piracies committed under the Greek Flag-Finances-Exposure of the Greek Loans-The conduct of Persons connected with those Loans. from her yoke her Grecian provinces, and driving her fleets with disgrace to the very mouth of the Dardanelles, was wilfully exposing herself at every moment to be attacked on the north by the most gigantic military power in Europe. She may have thought, that, with its possessor, the throne of Russia had changed likewise its policy, and that the new emperor might feel less powerfully than his predecessor, the almost native desire of modern Russian sovereigns to make the Danube the southern boundary of their European dominions. But, from the moment when Suwarrow gladdened Catherine with his brief despatch that Ismael was no more, that had been too constantly an object of Russian policy, to be easily lost sight of in the mere change of a monarch; from the other side of the Danube, and the Waiwodes had been directed to appoint others in their place. The Servian deputies would be immediately liberated, and Hadi-Effendi, and IbrahimEffendi, members of the Uhlemas, were named the Turkish plenipotentiaries definitively to settle with those of Russia the other matters between the empires which still remained undecided. The Turk was faithful to his word: the Servian deputies were immediately liberated; the withdrawing of the Beschlis could not but wound his pride, but it was immediately executed. To the inhabitants of the principalities it was veiled under the pretext, that, "as the number of the Beschlis in them had been increased in consequence of the civil troubles, and the restoration of tranquillity rendered the presence of so large a number of soldiers unnecessary, it had been thought fit, in order to avoid useless expense, that the Agas should retire with their troops, and that the Hospodar should appoint a Baschbeschli-Aga, commanding a number of Beschlis equal to that which existed before the insurrection." Russia, on her part, named the marquis de Ribeaupierre, and general count Woronzov, commissioners to treat with those of Turkey; and Ackermann, a town of Bessarabia, near the mouth of the Dniester, as the place where the conferences should be held. The questions, which remained to be settled by the plenipotentiaries at Ackermann, were much more numerous than the preliminary points which had been fixed at Constantinople, and did not promise to be of more easy ad justment. They regarded principally the restoration by Russia of certain Asiatic fortresses on the Black Sea; the free navigation of that sea by the Russian flag; the repayment to that power of losses sustained by her subjects from the Barbary corsairs, amounting, it was said, to a million sterling; the internal government of Wallachia and Moldavia; and the reestablishment of the independent rights of the Servians. These demands, excepting what concerned the fortresses, went directly to secure to Russia a preponderance fatal to Turkey; and the perseverance, with which she resisted the only demand that Turkey made, sprung from the same policy that rendered her inflexible in imposing her own demands upon the Sultan. As the independence of the principalities, that is, a virtual dependence upon Russia as their protector against a Mahommedan government which they disliked, gave Russia, in any attack which she might make upon her neighbour, all the immense aid to be derived from civil commotion, so the possession of the strong-holds, and navigation of the Euxine, gave a thousand facilities to actual invasion. In the hasty peace concluded between Russia and the Porte, in 1812, the minister of the former consented to restore to Turkey, Anape, Anagri Poti which commands the entrance of the Phasis, and Soukom Kale, and Redoute Kale, two ports on the Black Sea, the one on the side of Abasia, the other on that of Mingrelia. The court of St. Petersburgh was said to have been highly offended with the cession, and to have sent orders to her generals to defer, at least, the re |