THE CIVIL WAR IN PORTUGAL.

THIS volume is rather a narrative than a history: a lively account of a series of events that fell under the gallant author's own ob- servation, or concerning which he was well informed by actors or eve-witnesses, rather than a complete view of a rapid succession of political revolutions, and as extraordinary a conquest of a king- dom as ever took place. But although the author may attempt more than lie altogether performs; sometimes seeming to promise the reader a full exposition of a whole act in the political drama, and putting him off with a scene or a person, yet is The Civil thug in Portugal an amusing and informing book. The writer is evidently familiar with the people about whom he writes; he has a practical and theoretical knowledge of the warlike art whose operations he describes; and in his historical anecdotes he fre- quently paints the national manners, and brings out the personal characteristics of the actors. Could his mind have grasped the social peculiarities and political condition of the people, and have estimated the effects which flow from them with the same compre- hensiveness as is displayed in stating and criticizing the move- ments of an army, little more than a greater sobriety of manner would have been wanting to furnish as complete an account of the subject as can be expected till time shall enable the historian to regard it from a more commanding point of view. Our Colonel's mixture of jest and gravity, however, is well fitted to his book, and not ill adapted to the compound of self-devotion and selfishness, loyalty and intrigue, courage, cowardice, capacity, and folly, which seem to have been so strangely coexistent throughout the war.

The volume opens with a brief reference to the intrigues, plots, and small revolutions, which preceded the return of JOHN the Sixth from the Brazils, and a brief account of the tricks and vacil- lations which distinguished that weak King, but accomplished master of kingcraft, together with sketches of the principal actors on the political stage. The usurpation of MIGUEL, his tyrannies, the insurrection at Oporto, the wretched manner in which it was opposed, and the equally ludicrous way in which it was conducted, are then described. The successful exploits of the Constitution- alists at the Azores, and Don PEDRO'S adventurous landing at Oporto, come next ; and are followed by a minute and graphic account of the siege of the city, in which the sufferings of the citizens, the careless apathy which long exposure to danger produces in the mind, the gallantry of the soldiery, the firm- ness of PEDRO, the intrigues of the courtiers, and the cowardice and blunders of the Miguelites, are vividly placed before the reader. A short narrative of TERCEIRA'S skilful and daring ad- vance upon Lisbon, his victory over JORDAO, the fall of the capital without a blow, the surrender of MIGUEL'S army, and the death of Don PEDRO, close the volume.

Of the direct and obvious causes which led to the overthrow of MIGUEL, the British Officer gives a very clear account.; but lie seems not to have bestowed much consideration on those more latent

ones which rendered his defeat at once so surprising in effect and so easy in execution. The capture of the fleet by NAPIER would

certainly have destroyed the possibility of blockading Oporto, and have facilitated escape or predatory descents upon the coast; but this ought to have been the whole result. For the Pedroites in

Oporto were reduced to the last straits; the Usurper had 80,000 men under arms, being in the ratio of about 7 to 1 ; and when the ' wary Moieties" left the road to Lisbon open, in order to retake a revolted town whither the Constitutionalists were about to direct their march, he did nothing but what seemed perfectly justifiable; for he never could have conceived that TERCEIRA would have dashed for Lisbon with 1500 Infantry and 16 Lancers "most wretchedly mounted on mere ponies," leaving in his rear an army opener to his own, and having between him and the capital garrisoned by his enemies, the Tagus, an army and a fortress. A good deal, indeed, must be attributed to the fortune and bold- ness of TERCEIRA, and a good deal more to the position of affairs. The more active part of the middle classes in Portugal were Liberals; the others were only desirous of being left alone, and would side with whichever appeared uppermost ; the old Ab- solutists, the supporters of MIGUEL, were thoroughly corrupt and cowardly ; the exactions and forced levies had alienated the peasantry from Don MIGUEL, to whose cause they had been in- clined; the humbler classes of the towns were either Consti- tutionalists or ready to fall upon the vanquished; and the threats of the Usurper, with the certainty of his fulfilling them when the war was over, induced many to wish his downfal who were attached to his cause. Still, after every allowance for all these circumstances, we incline to think that something is rotten in the state of Portugal; that the whole body politic is deranged, more resembling an Asiatic despotism than an European state ; that the country is without heart or confidence; and that, in short, we have only seen " the beginning of an end." In choosing a few extracts from this volume, we shall aim at no exact order, but rather take such passages as exhibit the author's manner and stand well alone. Here is o portrait of Don MIGUEL'S father—

DON JOHN THE SIXTH.

He had been a weak sovereign, as incapable of doing harm from a tyrannical or vindictive spirit, as he seas of doing good from capacity or talent. Yet through habit he had acquired a natural tact, a cunning finesse, in treating with public men and authorities ; which, added to a very suspieiousdisposition, res.. dered him a most difficult personage to deal with. He was peculiarly (Mica.' in manners with foreign diplomatists; but, with a most surprising subtlety, be would change a subject of conversation, and avoid an inference being drawn. in a way that often puzzled able men to combat. He was perfectly aware of all the errors and corruptions of his government and servants : he cared nut for it. Ile was pal tieularly unfortunate in his choice of favourites. He had one amiable man, the Marquis Look, cruelly murdered in the palace. Ilk chief aim was to embroil all who served him, whether Ministers, friends, children, or servants : in that lie considered his safety consisted, and he would do it by the most extraordinary treachery and breaches of confidence. lie sus- pected all and trusted none. On one occasion an impression was made upon him by throwing two footmen in his way, pretending to be engaged in earnest conversation, frequently mentioning his name. lie had caught them in the fact, as Ile thought; and they, after much hesitation, showing much fear, on their knees conkssed to the lies with which they had been prepared, and which he then received as holy writ. His passion was the amassing wealth in diamonds. He was careless in his person. The same pair of boots he would not change until patching them was of no utility ; and the same nankeen trousers must be washed sod ironed every night fur the morning's use, so darned and mended, that frequently the washer- wuman's complaints were loud. His embroidered uniform coat was in constant use, blazoned with thirteen stars. lie ate with his fingers. Withal he was a. good man and died beloved, if not respected by his people.

THE MISERIES OF A BELEAGUERED TOWN.

Some respectable families, although they' had been provident at the COM.* mencenteut of the siege, were reduced at this period to the necessity of purchasing the rations which had been distributed to the English soldiers in salt fish, and which the men were in the habit of selling that they might buy wine. Cats and dogs were dainties on which the French and Belgian troops often regaled themselves, laughing at the squeamish prejudices of others. A Frenchman seeing a sleek cat sunning itself in an open window in the Rua do Santa Ouvidio, seized her, and wan in the act of putting her into his corn-bag, when the old woman of the house flew at him, and both she and her pet fought, tooth and nail. with such success, that puss escaped, and monsieur went away swearing for the loss of his supper. There were instances of horse. flesh having been sold ; but the want of forage for such a length of time, and of course disease in the animal,—for if not dis- eased he would have been worth more money alive,—produced a most miserably- looking lean flesh, which could deceive few people ; designedly none bought it ; for rice and sugar, and even salt fish, were to 1* had by some exertion, and for high prices. Wine of the best quality was plentiful during the whole period, and checked the more active progress of cholera. Bread was unknown in the shops for a time, and was alwaya sold at a price too extrava- gant for the greater part of the population. No humane person could then witness unmoved the wretched poverty that pervaded families who had hitherto only known affluence: thousands suffered hunger, particularly those females who had formerly lived by embroidery, millinery, lining bats, binding shoes, or dressing flax; these were now reduced to beggary, sickness, and death. They closed their doors and groaned in misery.

Well has it been said tint the happiness of life is made up of' small fractions, and that use is second nature. Even bombs, on acquaintance, lose a portion of their terrors; but we cannot get accustomed to annoyance at meal-times.

The bombardment was now carried on systematically at the most inconvenient hours. At two o'clock in the afternoon, when the Portuguese generally dine; at ten at night ; next day at two in the morning, or at the hour of going to mass; continuing so at irregular intervals, that it might be unexpected. The house to which the Emperor had removed was their constant object of aim, but it was beyond their range: his neighbours were the sufferers. Seven. shells were frequently seen in the air at the same moment. Very young chil- dren would stand at the windows and dispute one with the other whether the progressive hissing was of a shot or shell, and then would run within ; boys in the streets would throw themselves on their faces while the shell not far distant from them would burst, and then they would run laughing to examine the splinters. All had become familiarized with the hourly danger, _and some suf- fered through want of caution. Raw hides had been adopted as a safeguard against the falling bombs, by strewing them three deep on the upper room floors ; but they were quickly abandoned, in most cases, ftom the fear of cholera, which their strong smell was likely to produce ; and some very rapid deaths were attri- buted to that cause. With all this, dinners and evening parties amongst the- more opulent never ceased, though the sore feeling with which this was ob- served by sonic of the desperately-oppressed poor, became, at one petiod, an alarming consideration : the benevolent authors of the economical soup society brought them to think with moderation.

CASUALTIES OF WAR.

It may be well here to record the severe wound received be Mr. Wright, a British merels it, and the ability of Dr. Jehb. Mr. Wright was sitting in his dining-room when lie was stn uck by an eighteen-pound shot fortunately, his medical friend was near the spot where it happened. He had to take out the arm at the socket of the shoulder ; part of the blade-bone at the back ; to close the lower j isv, split at the chin, with the loss of two teeth ; and to cure

a wound in the head. • • •

This Gaya hill was now fortified by the Miguelites, and a most destructive tire was opened upon the unfortunate inhabitants. The artillerymen had parti- cular houses pointed out to them. At Mr. Cooper's, on the wall, a shell was thrown into a small room filled with several captains of British merchant- ships ; they were fortunate in being able to escape : the furniture was com-

pletely destroyed. • •

The most remarkable patience, and forbearanee from loud complaint under the severest sufferings, were still witnessed in every street at every step. It was melancholy to see a poor woman returning from the lines with her hus- band's dinner in a little basket covered by a clean white napkin. She wiped away the silent tear : " What is the matter ?"—" He's gone! hen need no more of my cares ;" and she held up the empty canteen that his comrades had preserved for her, hung down her sorrowful head, and proceeded to her sad dwdling, followed by a chubby boy, proudly adorned with the now useless cap and haversack, unconscious of his own loss, and careless of others' woes.

Towards the latter part of the siege, very few females could be seen with- out the black silk handkerchief, which replaces that of white cambric or cotton on the head during the mourning for a father, a brother, or a husband. Pestilence carried off thousands of the poor people in the city, and many respectable ladies were killed by shot and shell under appalling circumstances. Fire-wood was become very scarce; coals were not to be bought ; and here a

mother would burst into tears, when, unable to prepare the necessary warm liquids fur her little children, already covered with scorbutic eruptions, the effect of their having been fed for so many months on salt provisions. The poor innocents were beguiled for a while with boiled rice, sweetened with sugar, and made to look pretty and rich by being coloured with saffron ; but they soon rejected this insipid food, with, " No, good mamma, bread, bread !"

War of any kind is horrid enough; but in destruction, as in ether things, it is far better done when reduced to principle and carried on in a scientific way. The professional practitioners may seem more cold-blooded, but the amateurs arc far more clumsy : they have neither pride nor skill, and when put out they lose their temper. This seems to have been the case with the Mi- guelites, as soon as they found their achievement more ditlicult than they bargained for.

On the kit bank. of the Douro, the subordination of their army had been destroyed. An order from an officer, of whatever rank, checking their devas- • tation or disorders, was answered by an accusation of disatkction to the cause of Don Miguel ; and such was the general tendency to suspicion, that the proudest chief dared not to incur the slightest charge of that nature from the vilest individual.

Nothing could be more horrible than the informations received from that part of the itliguelite army, of the %%leeched state of the sick and wounded : without a sufficient number of surgeons, they were in a state of destitution perfectly Hottentot. After their attacks, the very severely wounded had, in more than one case, been removed in the carts of the already dead. This may appear exaggerated ; it was but too well authenticated afterwards. " lie is dying, yet bring him in ''—" No, he is dead, take him there "—were fiats of unpitying, peasantry, forced to the irksome and dangerous work of clearing the field of battle, inwardly cursing those they were sent to succour. * * • Disease had broken out amongst the Miguelite troops, caused of course by excessive fatigue, and by their having been crowded in close huts in the woods during the wet season. The deserters from their army, who from time to time came to Oporto, were the pictures of misery,—with pallid countenances, ragged uniforms, no linen, and so filthy as to create horror. Even fur weeks after- wards, when their uniform had been changed, they could have been picked out of the ranks by their squalid looks.

The volume furnishes a useful hint to the British Ministers, if they are inclined to profit by it. According to its author, we have lost our influence in Portugal. The Miguelites were irritated at the withdrawal of our Ambassador and the language even of our Tory Ministers. The Constitutionalists completely, distrusted a Tory Government, and looked with suspicion on a Liberal one represented by Tory agents. " That fine principle," says the writer, " of a strict adherence to the line of duty, or sending in a resignation, is not so generally nor to the same extent recognized in Portugal as in England. The usual touchstone of proof whether a British public character was to be confided in or suspected, was by the question—Is he Whig or Tory." And as in Portugal, so it is elsewhere.