That Philip the IId, who himself usurped the crown of the Braganzas, should pronounce such a sentence, is not extraordinary. Philip the IVth likewise pronounced one of the same nature against that family: but surprising indeed must it appear in the eyes of posterity, that a grandson of the duke of Braganza should acknowledge and admit such a judgment as just and legal. Whilst the Portugueze looked up with gratitude and blessings to a prince, under whose reign they had enjoyed all the comforts of peace, and whilst his paternal hands were ever open to bestow fresh marks of his bounty, they were on the eve of receiving a blow to their happiness, as dreadful as it was unexpected.
John the Vth, who was above the middle size, very well made, and so extremely strong, that his great delight in the bullfights was to seize the furious animal by the horns, and bring him to the ground, was attacked by a lingering illness, which, during the last eight years of his reign, reduced him to a state of inactivity, very fatal to the interests of his kingdom.
So great was his devotion after this attack, that he neglected all public affairs, which were entirely confided to the care of brother Gaspard, a récollet friar. From that moment the revenues of the state were employed in building or endowing convents and churches, and causing masses to be said: this last piece of devotion was carried to such an excess, that it arose to a degree of madness; and it became necessary to conceal from his majesty the deaths which took place in Lisbon; for no sooner did any one expire, were it the meanest of his subjects, than he caused at least a hundred masses to be said on the occasion. This gave rise to the following expression: “that John sent the living to hell, to pray the dead out of purgatory.”
During the course of this fatal malady, which terminated in death on the 31st of July, 1750, every branch of the administration became relaxed, and the state was in the end not only destitute of money, but charged with a debt of a hundred millions of French livres.
John the Vth, as has been already observed, was of a fine height; his figure was noble, and his countenance agreeable, though his complexion was rather dark and thick. His dress was magnificent, and he sent for all his cloaths from Paris. As for his character, it is not very easy to delineate; he was particularly jealous of the dignity of his throne and his quality as king; and sought more to inspire his grandees with fear, than with love. He bore, in many particulars, a great resemblance to Louis the XIVth; their tastes were the same, except indeed in the article of war, which the Portugueze monarch always wished to avoid. The French, and some other nations, have reproached this prince with his partial attachment to the English, into whose hands he gave up the whole of the commerce both of Portugal and its colonies.
Joseph the Ist succeeded his father at a most unfavourable juncture: the deplorable state of the government and finances, required not only his strictest attention, but the assistance of the most able ministers. Diego de Mendoça was the first entrusted with the care of public affairs; but his majesty soon perceived that his choice had fallen on an improper person. Carvalho, who has been already mentioned as destined to play a great part on the stage of Portugal, and who, in future, will make the most conspicuous figure in this history, had displayed very great talents in his embassies to London and Vienna: he had also shewn himself so superior to all who composed the council held on the death of John the Vth, that he was fixed upon to replace Mendoça, who was afterwards banished to Mazagan, in Africa.
The new minister was born in 1699, of a gentleman’s family from Soure, near Coimbra; in the university of which he was educated: after having made a great proficiency in his studies, he entered into the service, which his levity and misconduct obliged him to quit. Launched into the pleasures of the great world, his gallantry and spirit of chivalry seduced the affections of a young heiress, of the illustrious house of Almada. He succeeded in carrying her off, and married her in spite of her family, whose resentment he braved with impunity, notwithstanding all their efforts to cause his destruction: fortunately for him, brother Gaspard, who was the uncle of the duke d’Aveiro, and the favourite of John the Vth, was particularly his friend, and sent him off immediately; first to London, and afterwards to Vienna, as secretary to the embassy. During his residence in the last mentioned city, he received intelligence of the death of his wife. He very soon was happy enough to captivate the heart of a relation of the celebrated count de Daun, and having received letters patent of nobility from the court of Lisbon, all the numerous objections made at first to this alliance were immediately removed. Thus fortunate in a foreign country, let us now examine the different qualities and talents which paved the way for the brilliant post he was destined to fill on his return to his native land. The page of history scarcely furnishes a man possessed of so fine an understanding, and so strong a mind; or who could assume such a variety of forms, with a character so strikingly contrasted. He, indeed, displayed successively the lively wit and fascinating manners of a finished man of fashion; the cultivated understanding of the most learned scholar; the supple humour of the most artful courtier; the ready genius of the most consummate man of business; and the subtle spirit of the most able negociator. With his friends, Carvalho was sometimes open, and perfectly unreserved; whilst at other times he treated them with the same profound dissimulation he practised towards his enemies. The services he received were always rewarded, and the injuries he suffered were never forgiven. His manners towards foreigners were as easy and obliging as they were stiff and reserved towards his countrymen. Such, indeed, was the extent of his capacity, and his profound knowledge in politics, that he has ever been equally celebrated as a minister of state, and a manager of foreign affairs.
The great similarity existing between Carvalho, marquis de Pombal, and the cardinal de Richelieu, has given rise to the following comparison.[38] These two great personages had each been elevated from the middling station of life to the highest dignities. Each governed by terror, and re-established the sovereign authority, by cutting off the heads, and humbling the arrogance of a turbulent nobility. Each had the ridiculous pretension of being esteemed wits, and possessed of universal knowledge. Each was a profound politician, an imperious master, an irreconcileable enemy, and yet withal of amiable manners. Each rose to dignities by honourable means, and though alike disdaining to bend the knee at the shrine of fortune, each became possessed of immense riches.
It would greatly exceed the limits of this work, were we to attempt to enter minutely into the long administration of the marquis de Pombal; we shall therefore only take notice of some important particulars, and the most remarkable events, which took place during the reign of his master.
The respective domains of Spain and Portugal on the continent of South America, had never been properly divided; but in the year 1751, commissaries were sent thither to settle this affair, and on their report the limits were fixed, and a line of separation traced between the possessions of these two powers; this was approved and confirmed by treaties signed in the month of April in the same year; these treaties, however, were not easily put into execution, being strongly opposed by the Indians of Para and Marignan, and still more violently by those who inhabited the countries near the rivers d’Uraguay and Parana. Whatever may be the motives alledged in favour of the war then declared against these Indians, the principle on which it was founded was certainly unjust; for even on the supposition that one power has a right to insist on the neighbouring states adopting the form of government most conformable to the views of that power; it surely can never have that of attacking their independence; particularly after their having conformed to the new established laws, lived happily under them; and desiring nothing more than to be allowed the quiet enjoyment of the blessings of peace. The Portugueze, who dreaded the approach of the Spaniards towards Brazil, and still more particularly towards the mines of St. Paul, and their settlements on the river Parana; and the Spaniards, who were equally apprehensive that the Portugueze, by posting themselves on the Uraguay and Rio de la Plata, should come too near the colonies of Buenos Ayres, Chili, and the mines of Potosi, had by mutual agreement ceded the tract of country lying between their different settlements, to the Jesuits who acted as missionaries in that distant quarter of the globe.