The count set off for Lisbon attended by eighty officers, partly captains, and partly subalterns, together with more than four hundred troopers, all experienced soldiers, capable of forming and commanding new forces. In compliance with secret orders from the regent, the count passed through England, where Charles the IId was newly restored to the crown, and where he was to endeavour to discover whether that protestant prince would object to an alliance with the infanta of Portugal. The count acquitted himself of this commission with great nicety, and succeeded in making both the king, and the lord chancellor Hyde, solicitous for the marriage. The queen was no sooner secure of their approbation, than she dispatched the marquis de Sande to England, to carry on the negociation.
The king of Spain, who trembled at this alliance, used every possible endeavour to prevent its taking place; he did not even scruple offering three millions of French livres to Charles the IId, to induce him to espouse a protestant princess; and his ambassador proposed to him the princesses of Denmark, Saxony and Orange, assuring him that the king his master would adopt as his daughter whichever of these princesses he should honour with his choice, and as such, bestow her on him in marriage. The chancellor Hyde, however, represented in such forcible terms, the great necessity of supporting the family of Braganza on the throne of Portugal, and the danger of that country being united to Spain under the government of one prince, that Charles decided on accepting the hand of the infanta. Thus, we see, a protestant minister, engaging his sovereign to form an alliance with a catholic, whilst a prince of the latter religion, particularly distinguished by the title of catholic king, offered immense sums to induce him to marry a protestant. So true it is, that reasons of state are the basis on which crowned heads form their religion; since princes, in cases of this nature, are usually guided by motives of self-interest alone.
The king of England, through this alliance, contrived to make a treaty of commerce between the States-General and Portugal; and afterwards sent a considerable body of troops, under the command of the earl of Inchinquin, into that kingdom. This nobleman was soon recalled, and the English commanded to act under the orders of the count de Schomberg, who presently after his arrival in Portugal had the troops of three different nations at his command. The Portugueze, indeed, had a separate general of their own country, but this distinction was a vague title, intended only to flatter the ambition of the grandees, since the count enjoyed the unlimited confidence of the queen; who, in fact, gave him absolute power over the army, which he employed in establishing the strictest discipline. He taught the Portugueze the order to be observed on a march; with the art of encamping to the greatest advantage; and erected regular fortifications on most of the frontier posts, which had hitherto been left in an undefended state.
The regent, thus happy in so experienced a general, carried on the war with the greatest vigour. Her arms were almost always successful. Her troops had never before been in so flourishing a state, or so perfectly well disciplined; the poor blessed her government; and the grandees, impressed with sentiments of fear and respect, were all submission to her will; but alas! this happy state of affairs soon underwent a painful alteration, and domestic troubles, joined to different intrigues, gave a new turn to every thing at court; for whilst this great princess was constantly and successfully employed in securing the crown to her son, that prince, by the irregularity of his conduct, was proving himself unworthy of so dignified a situation. His mind was low and sordid, his temper gloomy and savage: he could not support the idea of submitting to the authority of his mother, and contemptuously rejected the advice of his ministers. The society of the noblemen appointed to attend him, was odious to a prince who delighted only in that of negroes and mulattoes, with other young men chosen from the very dregs of the people; and of these wretched beings he had contrived to form a little court, notwithstanding every effort of his governor to prevent it. He termed them his bravoes, and thus escorted, passed the night in ranging through the streets of Lisbon, insulting every one who had the misfortune to meet him.
The disordered state of his intellects was supposed to be occasioned by a paralytic stroke, which attacked him at the age of four years. The impressions it caused were terrible; but his defects were left uncorrected in his earliest youth, from the fear of his weakness being increased by severity; hopes were also entertained, that time, by strengthening his body, might also temper his mind: this indulgence, however, only added to his natural indocility: his health, indeed, improved by age and medicine; he was equal to the strongest exercise, and fenced and rode remarkably well; but his disposition still continued savage; he acted more from violence than judgment; and when the passions of youth took place of those of childhood, he did not scruple introducing the vilest strumpets into the palace; nay, he even frequently passed his nights in the most notorious brothels, where he gave way to all kinds of shameful debauchery.
The regent, deeply grieved at such conduct, rightly judged that it must inevitably end in the loss of his crown, and that it would finally destroy the work it had cost her such pains, and so many years to complete. She was frequently tempted to imprison him for life, and place the infant his brother on the throne; but the fear of creating a civil war, of which the Spaniards would not fail to profit, alone prevented her taking so bold a step. She also flattered herself with the possibility of reclaiming the king, by depriving him of a certain Conti, a tradesman’s son, who was his favourite, and the secret agent of his debaucheries. She therefore gave orders to have him secured, and sent to the Brazils, from whence he was forbidden to return on pain of death.
The king at first appeared thunderstruck at the loss of his favourite, but he soon affected great calmness, and even became more tractable. This alteration delighted the queen, who congratulated herself, and was congratulated by the courtiers and ministers on the success of her scheme: but the king’s apparent tranquillity proved to be merely put on, to cover designs of a deeper nature than the queen thought him capable of forming; and this sagacious princess, who could penetrate into the most secret recesses of a courtier’s heart, became the dupe of an absolute idiot.
The king, in the first moments of his grief for the loss of Conti, had bewailed his misfortunes to the count de Castello Melhor, a Portugueze nobleman of very high extraction, who, though an ambitious and artful courtier, was much more capable of carrying on a court intrigue, than conducting a state affair. Such a mark of confidence appeared a fair opening for the count, to replace the favourite in his master’s affections, by pretending to pity his disgrace, and by contriving methods to restore him to the king. He therefore began his operations, by representing to his majesty, that he was himself the sole cause of Conti’s misfortunes, since being the sovereign, and having been long of age, he had nothing to do but to exert his authority, throw off that of the regent, and recal his favourite, who would then return, not only triumphant over his enemies, but even over the queen herself.
The king, delighted with advice so conformable to his natural disposition, let him into every secret of his heart. Their intimacy, however, was carried on in a mysterious manner; and his majesty bestowed no public marks of favour on the count, who was fearful of incurring the suspicions of the regent; but this princess was too clear sighted not to perceive his influence over her son; and meeting him one day in the train of that prince, she caught him by the arm, and fixing her eye upon him, with that dignified aspect which made her equally respected and feared by all her subjects, “Count,” said she, “I am well informed of your credit with the king; and should he commit any action contrary to my will, your life shall be the forfeit.”
The count made no reply to this discourse, but profoundly bowing, followed the king, who at that moment called him. He was, however, no sooner alone with his majesty, than he related all that had passed; adding, that he was very well aware of the danger of his situation, being on the eve of sharing the fate of Conti; but he would submit to it with pleasure, could he once see his master freed from the yoke of an imperious regency, which, whilst it subsisted, must ever keep him in the back ground, with no other distinction than the title of king, without either authority or consideration.