These cena, that from what he has now Great Britain, when offered, should The undersigned, &c. (Signed) ABERDEEN. CORRESPONDENCE regarding the PORTUGUESE MILITARY REFUGEES in GREAT BRITAIN. THE MARQUIS DE BARBACENA to THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON. (Confidential) London, Oct. 15, 1828. M. le Duc, A matter of urgent importance had made me resolve to repair this day to Strathfieldsay, in order to speak to your grace respecting it, instead of making it the subject of a written communication; but having learned, in Downing-street, that you were not at your house in the country, and fearing lest your absence may be prolonged for some days, I take the only method which is left to me, seeing that the affair in question cannot admit of the least delay. tinually increasing number of Porguese refugees in England entails an enormous expense, and appears to be attended with some incon venience. Determined, as I am, to grant the succours which faithful subjects of the queen demand from her, and persuaded that these succours, when once landed at Terceira, will be sufficient to put that island out of danger, I cannot conceal from myself the risks which the transports may run during their voyage if they be not protected by some ships of war. Such, M. le Duc, is the strong motive which makes me have recourse to your grace, for the purpose of demanding from his Britannic majesty, in the name of the queen, the convoy of a ship of war, to escort from England to a possession which remains subject to the legitimate authority of her most faithful majesty, a part of the loyal troops which are at Plymouth; the succours in question not to be landed at Terceira in the unfortunate event of that island having fallen under the aggression with which it is threatened. From what is above stated you will see, M. le Duc, that there is no question of a hostile undertaking, but simply of a measure of defence, dictated by the feeling of that strict obligation which is imposed upon every sovereign to protect his subjects. I therefore venture to hope that the government of his Britannic majesty will not refuse to give the queen this first mark of friendship which she requires from the most faithful friend and ally of her august family; and in this just expectation, I request, M. le Duc, that you will accept the thanks VOL. LXXI. which I offer you beforehand, in the name of the queen, and the most formal assurances of the very high consideration with which i have the honour to be, &c., (Signed) Le Marquis de BARBACENA. His Grace Field Marshal the Duke of Wellington, &c. (Second Enclosure in No. 37.- THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON to London, October 18, 1828. Monsieur le Marquis, I have had the honour to receive your excellency's letter of the 15th. The Portuguese, who are in England, are here in the quality of individuals. We know of no Portuguese troops in this country. If there be any, they must quit the country without loss of time. now at The government has, indeed, much reason to complain of the Portuguese individuals Plymouth, who, notwithstanding that they have been received in this country with all the hospitality which was possible, have so much forgotten themselves within the last few days, as to make an attack upon a house where a Portuguese traveller had taken refuge. I also announce to your excellency, that his majesty's government cannot permit that England should be made an arsenal or a fortress, from whence any one may make war as he thinks proper. If those Portuguese subjects desire to make war at the Azores, instead of doing so in Portugal, of which they had the choice, let them go there as individuals if they please. But I must candidly tell you, Monsieur le Marquis, that it cannot be permitted that individuals, G of whatever character they may be, should prepare warlike expeditions in the ports and arsenals of this country, in order to make attacks upon others. Still less can it be permitted that they should be convoyed by the navy of his Britannic majesty, to enable them to make these ex peditions in safety. I have the honour to be, &c. (Signed) WELLINGTON, Duke of Victoria. The Marquis de Barbacena, &c. (Third Enclosure A. in No. 37.Translation.) THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON to THE MARQUIS OF PALMELLA. London, Nov. 20, 1828. Monsieur le Marquis, As his majesty's government do not think it proper that a considerable number of persons who have been officers and soldiers in the service of Portugal should remain at Plymouth, lord Aberdeen requested yesterday of his excellency the Vicomte d'Itabayana, that a distribution should be made of them at a distance from Plymouth, having reason to believe that these persons are paid by his excellency the minister plenipotentiary of the emperor Don Pedro at the court of his majesty. His excellency replied to lord Aberdeen that these men were not paid by him; but that his excellency made advances to the marquis de Palmella, who gave them their pay in the shape of assist ance. I consider it, therefore, to be my duty, Monsieur le Marquis, to demand that all the Portuguese who have been officers and soldiers of the Portuguese army, or who have served in the army, for example, as students of Coimbra, or volunteers of Oporto, should be desired to quit Plymouth. I also announce to you the wish that the officers may be separated from the soldiers, and that they may repair to Exeter, or to wherever they may desire to go as individuals; and that the men may be placed in one of the towns or villages named in the enclosed paper, the number in each town or village not exceeding that which is therein indicated. I have the honour to be, &c. (Signed) WELLINGTON, Duke of Victoria. The Marquis de Palmella, &c. (Third Enclosure B. in No. 37.) Houses. Population Truro Oakhampton Exeter 410 2,712 300 Launceston Ashburton Chudleigh Tiverton Bridgewater (Fourth Enclosure in No. 37.) THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON to THE MARQUIS DE PALMELLA. London, Nov. 27, 1828. Mons. le Marquis,--In consequence of your informing me that the Portuguese officers and troops now at Plymouth preferred to quit this country, and proceed to Rio Janeiro, rather than remove from Plymouth to the neighbouring towns and villages, as I had desired in the conversation which 1 had with you on the 20th instant; and as you have expressed a wish that this government should give these Portuguese a guarantee for their safety from attack on their passage, or send a vessel of war to convoy them, I have to inform you that his majesty's servants will give orders that a convoy shall be prepared to escort the vessels which will carry these Portuguese troops according to the wish expressed by you. (Signed) WELLINGTON, The Marquis de Palmella, &c. (Fifth Enclosure in No. 37.- THE MARQUIS DE PALMELLA to THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON. London, Dec. 3, 1828. Monsieur le Duc, -I have received the letter which your excellency did me the honour to write to me, dated the 27th ult., to announce to me that the government of his Britannic majesty would take the necessary measures to grant, in consequence of the desire which I had expressed, a convoy, in order to escort the vessels which will transport the Portuguese refugees from Plymouth to Rio de Janeiro, and to guarantee them from the danger of being attacked during the passage. After having maturely reflected upon the contents of your excellency's letter, I think it my duty, M. le Duc, to beg of you not to give effect to the intention which you have announced to me, and which appears to me, under the existing circumstances, to present more inconvenience than advantage. The demand which I addressed to your excellency had only for its object to secure to the Portuguese emigrants, who are come freely, and of their own accord, to claim hospitality in this country, the protection of his Britannic majesty, in case they should have the misfortune to meet, during the voyage which they are under the necessity of undertaking, any vessel of war belonging to the usurping government of Portugal. A simple verbal assurance on the part of the British government seems to me suffieient to secure them from all danger in the case in question. And I think, M. le Duc, that his Britannic majesty could grant the sort of guarantee which I have solicited, on the same principle which gives him the undeniable right to require, that these Portuguese refugees do not set out from England in armed vessels, nor with any plans of aggression against any country not at war with England. This assurance, which may be justly required from the Portuguese refugees, fully requires, as it appears to me, that a similar assurance should be demanded in their favour, from those who may threaten them with danger, against which these individuals are deprived of the means of defending themselves. Your excellency will recollect that such was the meaning of my demand, and that the idea of furnishing an escort of the British navy was never suggested by me. At the first moment the objections to which this measure is liable did not present themselves with sufficientelearness to my mind to induce me to point them out to your excellency; but I own, that the more I think of it, the more it seems to me that it would be interpreted, either as a mark of distrust on the part of the British government, or as a proof of the forced expulsion of the Portuguese who had sought, an asylum in this country. For the interest of her majesty the queen of Portugal, it is my duty to endeavour to avoid, as much as depends on me, allowing the departure of the Portuguese, faithful to their legitimate sovereign, to be made a triumph for their enemies, whom I regard, in virtue of the treaties subsisting between the two crowns, as impossible to be considered as friends of the British government; and it is not less my duty to spare those who have sacrificed every thing for the most just of causes, whatever might, in their present situation, wound their feelings. After having candidly avowed to your excellency the motives which induced me not to accept the escort which the government of his Britannic majesty is willing to offer to my emigrant countrymen, and requesting you to accept on this subject their thanks and mine, I take this opportunity, M. le Duc, to add a few words upon the communication which your excellency addressed to me, at first verbally, and afterwards in writing, in the letter of the 20th November, and which occasions the departure for Brazil of all the Portuguese soldiers who are assembled at Plymouth. I should have already taken the liberty to represent to your excellency, in writing, the fatal consequences which the resolution adopted by the government of his Britannic majesty will produce to the cause of his most faithful majesty, and I should have done so with the intention of endeavouring to show the inconveniences of it, if your excellency had not from the first moment declared to me that it was unchangeable, and that it would be carried into effect, even in the event of my refusing to take part in it. This resolution, which consists in distributing among a certain number of towns and places pointed out by the British government, the Portuguese refugees, till now were assembled at Plymouth, and to separate the officers from the soldiers, is too repugnant to the feelings of all those individuals for it to have been possible to induce them to submit to it willingly, and they would all have preferred a total dispersion, and an absolute deprivation, to assistance afforded in such a manner. Under these circumstances, no choice remained to them but that of quitting the country, towards which they had been drawn by the hope of a reception conformable to the interest which their cause inspires here; and in quitting England, Brazil is the only asylum where that same cause gives them the right to be received. I do not conceal from myself, M. le Duc, that in quitting Europe at this moment, the Portuguese emigrants deliver the usurping party from a fear which was always present to it, and carry despair into the minds of all that are honourable and faithful in Portugal. But, on the other hand, their dispersion in England, in the manner required by the British government, would produce an effect quite as unfavourable; and those persons themselves, when I proposed the alternative to them, did not hesitate as to their choice. Pray excuse, M. le Duc, the length of this letter. Your excellency will, no doubt, feel that in' an affair so important, it became indispensable for me to record, in a permanent form, the observations which I think it my duty to |