11 MAY 1844, Page 14

CIVIL WARS, PORTUGUESE AND BRITISH.

Tint newspapers this week have announced the termination of no less than two civil wars.

One of them, the Portuguese, has been from first to last a shabby enough affair—a parody almost of an intestine commotion, and has been characteristically finished off. A few irregular troops, who with four spiked guns have made good a dismantled fortress, over the walls of which the cavalry of the besieging army might have galloped without once drawing bridle, have, after withstanding for some months the whole force that a Government which had no other enemy on its hands could bring to bear upon it, been admitted to the honours of capitulation. The officers have escaped into Spain ; and the privates have returned in safety to their various occupa- tions of smuggling, agricultural labour, and brigandage. The other helium internecinum, in which ourselves have a much nearer interest, has been brought to a close in a much more dash- ing style. Early on Wednesday morning, a simultaneous assault was made upon the intrenched gambling-houses in the streets of Albemarle, Bury, and St. James's, and the vicinal courts and alleys. select divisions of the gallant Police force, to the number of well nigh half the letters of the alphabet—including A, B, C, D, E, G, B, N, P, and R—were marshalled at midnight, supplied with sledge-hammers, crow-bars, and other ammunition, and marched without further ado to the scene of operations. The crashing of the battered walls and portcullises was the first intimation of attack received by the bewildered garrisons, who endeavoured to seek safety in flight. Flushed with victory, however, the assaulting forces rushed on, and succeeded in capturing nearly as many moustaches as escaped from Almeida, and bearing off the spolia °pima of rouge-et-noir tables and loo-tables, some thousands in bills and cash, and as many cues as all the actors of all the minor theatres have ever failed in catching. The captives and booty were deposited at the encampment of Division C in Vine Street, and graced next day the ovation of Generals May, HUGHES, PIERCE, THATCHER, and PENNY, on their entry into the Police Court, Marlborough Street.

It is generally understood that a grand Te Deum will be cele- brated in Exeter Hall, under the direction of the Society for the Suppression of Vice; in which the great organ which drowned O'Cosneene's voice while sounding to the onset of the Niger Expe- dition is to outdo itself. An extraordinary Gazette is also to be compiled, for the purpose of shaming the Portuguese Government, by showing how, while its troops were nibbling at the defenders of Almeida, British valour was crushing in one fierce onslaught the legionary heroes who taught them the art of war. History records DO coup-de-main equal to that of Wednesday morning, since the blowing-in of the gates of Ghuznee.