estimating the same, the Undersigned conceives that he possesses the right of requiring, from the honour and good faith of M. le Chev. d'Olfers, an explicit declaration of the motives which, in the conversation which took place between them, on the 3d instant, upon the subject of the contents of the Note in question, can have induced M. d'Olfers to resort to what he terms the extremity of demanding his Passports.

The Undersigned, awaiting this explanation, in order to bring the same to the knowledge of the King, renews, &c. The Chev. d'Olfers.

SILVESTRE PINHEIRO FERREIRA.

(4.)-The Chev. d'Olfers to Senhor Silvestre Pinheiro Ferreira. (Translation.)

SIR,

Lisbon, 7th July, 1822. I HAVE had the honour, in many Conferences with your Excellency, to explain the only points of conciliation according to which it would be possible for me to resume my Diplomatick Functions; and this object not having been attained, either by your Excellency's Note of the 3d July, nor by the conversation which took place on occasion of that Note; on the contrary, all probability of arrangement having vanished, in consequence of the peremptory and formal refusal of your Excellency to accede to my propositions; I consider myself justified in saying, without the slightest idea of imputation, that this very refusal of your Excellency has constrained me to the disagreeable necessity, or, which is the same thing, to the extremity of withdrawing from this Court, and, by so doing, to fulfil my duty and the positive Orders of my Court, concerning which I have not left your Excellency in ignorance.

Constantly animated by the best dispositions to terminate amicably this disagreeable affair, I cannot afford to your Excellency a more convincing proof of this, than by repeating to you, even now, that, notwithstanding the new obstacles that present themselves, I am nevertheless yet disposed to renew, verbally, the propositions which I have made at various times; it not being in my power any longer to maintain a Correspondence with your Excellency, until those proposals are admitted, which I had the honour to present personally to His Majesty, and of which your Excellency has doubtless had to render an account.

Your Excellency cannot, moreover, fail to be convinced, that the refusal of those very proposals, constituted a sufficient motive, too well known to His Majesty, to place him in the necessity of forming conjectures.

This is all that I have to state in answer to your Excellency's Note of the 6th instant, to which I should certainly have returned the same answer, without the necessity of a formal appeal to my honour and good faith.

In the event, however, that your Excellency, judging unfavourably of my sentiments, which, it is to be hoped, is not the case, shall persist in withholding the only means within my reach, of reconducting matters to the point at which I desire to see them, permit me again to renew my solicitations for my Passports, referring myself to 'the Official Communication which I have already made to that effect. I have the honour, &c.

H.E. Silvestre Pinheiro Ferreira.

D'OLFERS.

(5.)-Senhor Silvestre Pinheiro Ferreira to The Chev. d'Olfers. (Translation.) Foreign Office, 8th July, 1822. RESPONSIBLE for my conduct, not only to the King my Sovereign, but also to the Supreme Congress and to the Nation, it is not sufficient that it be known to His Majesty, in order to consider myself free from censure. The accusation which you bring forward against me, of having compelled you to the extremity of demanding your Passports, cannot be judged of by His Majesty, except by means of the explana tion which I myself have given to him of the conversation which took place between us.

You will therefore see that I had a right to ask you to have the goodness to communicate to me, in writing, the circumstances of this conversation, which could oblige you to take such a step. You said that, to induce you to make this declaration, there was no necessity to appeal, as I did, to your good faith and honour, and you refuse this, and offer verbal explanations only.

Although I am very far from believing that it is permitted to affirm, verbally, any thing which may not be repeated in writing, I nevertheless accede to this, such being your instructions; because our Correspondence is sufficient to prove on which side the right exists; whether on that which desires its publicity, or on that which seeks to conceal it under a veil of mystery.

Inclosed I forward the Passports which you have solicited, and which, I can assure you, are delivered to you with regret by the King's Government, who would have desired never to see interrupted the relations of most intimate friendship with that of His Prussian Majesty. But no one regrets so much as myself your retirement from this Court, where I had the happiness of becoming acquainted with those distinguished qualities which have inspired me with the invariable sentiments of consideration and esteem, with which I have the honour, &c. SILVESTRE PINHEIRO FERREIRA.

The Chevalier d'Olfers.

SPEECH of The King, on the Closing of the Extraordinary Constituent Cortes of Portugal.—4th November, 1822. GENTLEMEN, (Translation.) At the moment of closing your labours in this Legislature, I come, with you and the Nation, to render thanks to God for the success of the Legislative measures which you have adopted for the reformation of the social edifice.

My attention is naturally fixed on the Political Constitution or Fundamental Law of the State, which I have sworn to, voluntarily and deliberately, and which receives this day the sacred promise of all the Citizens.

Yes, Gentlemen, all Portuguese must feel a virtuous pride in beholding the Rights of Man, as a member of Society, established amongst them on principles as solid and durable as eternal morality. The Throne, built upon the Law, and the prosperity of our social institutions, supported by the sublime power of the divine Religion which we profess; the safety of Individuals and property, combined with the interest and security of the State; the agreement, and the harmony, between the rights of the Citizen and his duties; the civil liberty of the Individual, and the well-being of society, guaranteed by the responsibility of the publick Functionaries, and by the just Liberty of the Press. What a sum of happy results, Gentlemen, do the conditions of our social compact promise!

Faithful Representatives of the Nation, you have embraced the whole extent of the wants of the People. Whilst research and meditation prepared the work of the Constitutional Code, your care provided a remedy for the evils that most urgently required it. Thus, the administration of Justice; the restoration of publick Credit, Commerce, Navigation, Agriculture, Manufactures, publick Instruction and philanthropy, have received the impulse of wisdom and patriotic zeal, which characterise and distinguish the Regenerators of a Nation in an enlightened age.

To this spirit of justice and order, with which the plan of the political regeneration of the Monarchy was conceived, we owe the relations of friendship and interest, which happily subsist with Foreign Powers; and most particularly with the Constitutional and Representative Governments of both Worlds; and I have particular satisfaction in being able to announce to you, that the most positive declarations of the Governments of France and England, have fully secured us against the apprehension of any attack upon our Independence.

To the same wisdom, and to the measures of conciliation, with which you have endeavoured to maintain the integrity of the United Kingdom, and to strengthen the fraternal ties which bind us to our Brethren of Brazil, the dissenting Provinces will owe, I trust, the return of their tranquillity, and of the blessings, which they can only

expect, from their union with the Portuguese of Europe. This subject, Gentlemen, awakens recollections, which deeply afflict my heart. I would not touch upon it, were it not so intimately connected with the progress of your labours, and with the claim which it gives you, to the acknowledgments of the Nation, and to my personal gratitude.

The glory of Kings is inseparable from the happiness of their Subjects; and He who presides over a free Nation is as happy as He is miserable who rules over Slaves. This is the measure of the satisfaction which your illustrious and useful labours afford me. They open a boundless career of prosperity and glory to the noble Portuguese Nation, whose fate is essentially united with mine.

You are going, Gentlemen, to receive from your Constituents, the congratulations and benedictions to which your services entitle you. Convey to them, at the same time, the assurance that my care and solicitude continue to be devoted to the welfare of the Nation. Acquaint them with the sincerity of my intentions and the consistency of my proceedings, of which you have been eye witnesses; and if it should be necessary, inspire them with a true love of their Country, which should induce them to sacrifice every thing for it; and teach them that a faithful adherence to the Constitutional System, essentially consists in obedience to the Laws, and in a love of order and justice, without which the best Institutions cannot prosper. In this manner, continuing to instruct and to edify, you will enjoy, in the publick gratitude, the just reward of your glorious labours; and the generous People to which you have consecrated them, by following the course which you have traced out for them, will become, by the perfection of their social Institutions, the model and the envy of other Nations.

SPEECH of the King, on the Opening of the Cortes of Portugal.-1st December, 1822.

GENTLEMEN,

(Translation.)

YOUR assembling in this August Hall, on a day celebrated by the Liberty and Independence of the Nation, offers an additional motive for me to congratulate you on the confidence with which your Fellowcitizens have distinguished you, at the same time that I recommend to your consideration the subjects of great importance with which you will have to be occupied.

The Constituent Cortes, by settling the conditions of the social Compact, have fixed the rights of Citizenship and the limits of civil freedom. In framing the Constitution to which we have sworn, they planned and commenced a magnificent work, the completion of which is by the Law and the choice of the Nation intrusted to your hands. So much the more difficult, therefore, must it be for you to fulfil the

duties which you have taken upon yourselves, if your labours are to correspond with the confidence of your Fellow-citizens.

Yes, Gentlemen! great intelligence and much firmness are wanting for the completion of the details of those regulatory Laws, on the wisdom of which depends the triumph of the Constitution over the rebellion of a constantly refractory egotism. Fortunately, the Portuguese People in general approve of the Constitution, because they are sensible of the necessity of reform. Pacifick, and submissive to reason and the Law, this heroick People are daily acquiring new titles to the distinguished place which it becomes them to occupy among civilized Nations.

The due administration of Justice engaged the attention of the Constituent Cortes, because that is the most sacred object of the Laws, and the most important for Mankind. This subject also demands your wise deliberation. It is necessary that the great work which has been begun should be completed, in order that the Govern ment may make known the effects of the salutary reform which the Country desires.

The management of the Revenue, and the establishment of Publick Credit, claim your special attention. The most effectual means of attaining these objects would be the producing an equilibrium between the Publick Income and Expenditure, by a diminution of the latter agreeably to the rules of a rigid economy. The reduction of expense, and a reform in the mode of collection and distribution of the Income, will depend on the wisdom of your deliberations.

The paternal love which I bear towards the Portuguese has directed my solicitude and particular attention to the important objects of the publick health, and the advancement of education. The numerical force of the People, being in exact proportion to the means of subsistence and the preservation of publick safety, constitutes the bases of the power and greatness of a Nation; and the firmness and stability of the social edifice depend essentially on the encouragement of those habits which derive their origin from a religious respect for the Laws.

The well-directed liberty of the Press, and the distinctions which the Constitution confers on virtue and talents, doubtless proportion the hope of the moral and political regeneration of the Portuguese People, with the progress of civilization. But the efforts of the Government for the encouragement of the arts and sciences will be insufficient, without the support of Legislative Authority; a support which your knowledge and patriotism assure me will not be wanting, as you must be convinced that a Nation cannot be free without being virtuous and civilized.

The regulatory Laws of the Municipal and Administrative Bodies, on which, in a great measure, depend the fulfilment of the Constitution, and the vivifying principles of regeneration, are above all