no countenance to any demand made for interference in an
internal revolution. He remarked: "It is assumed that the usurpation of
the throne of Portugal by the infant Don Miguel has given to her most
faithful majesty the right of demanding from this country effectual
succours for the recovery of her crown and kingdom. But in the whole
series of treaties there is no express stipulation which can warrant
this pretension, neither is such an obligation implied by their general
tenor and spirit. It is either for the purpose of resisting successful
rebellion, or of deciding by force a doubtful question of succession
that Great Britain is now called upon to act. But it is impossible to
imagine that any independent state could ever intend thus to commit the
control and direction of its internal affairs to the hands of another
power. For, doubtless, if his Britannic majesty be under the necessity
of furnishing effectual succours in the event of any internal revolt or
dissension in Portugal, it would become a duty, and, indeed, it would
be essential to take care that no such case should exist if it could be
prevented. Hence a constant and minute interference in the affairs of
Portugal would be indispensable; for his majesty could never consent
to hold his fleets and armies at the disposal of a king of Portugal,
without exercising those due precautions and that superintendence which
would assure him that his forces would not be employed in averting the
effects of misgovernment, folly, or caprice. Is this a condition in
which any state professing to be independent could endure to exist?
The truth is, that the whole spirit of the treaties, as well as their
history, shows that the principle of the guarantee given by England
is the protection of Portugal from foreign interference." The British
government, therefore, refused to interfere in this domestic quarrel;
and it also considered itself bound to observe a strict neutrality in
regard to all military operations. A considerable number of Portuguese
exiles, resident on our southern coast, appeared to have some design
of fitting out an expedition against Don Miguel; and the British
government, holding such views as above unfolded, informed the Brazilian
minister that it would not allow such designs to be carried on in
British harbours, and that the refugees must remove further from the
coast. The Brazilian minister replied, that these troops were about to
be conveyed to Brazil; and acco