The days being long, and low water in the harbour, it gave me a very good opportunity of examining it.
I had occasion to visit Viana subsequently. It is a very pretty little commercial town, surrounded by a rich, thriving country; it does a good deal of trade, and is therefore very prosperous, there being some wealthy merchants and a good deal of property in the place. The valley through which the Scina flows is very beautiful and fertile, surrounded by mountains varying from 2000 to 7000 feet high. The large village of Scina, about twelve or fourteen miles above Viana, is particularly picturesque. It is situated in a delicious country, abounding in corn, wine, and oil, and apparently wanting in nothing.
As soon as I got on board the vessel weighed anchor. The night was fine, so that we reached the offing of Figuera, at the mouth of the Mondego, about noon the next day. I was met on landing by the captain of the port, who had received intelligence of our coming, and on account of the heat we were obliged to take refuge in his house, where he exhibited all his plans, and the measures which had been taken to improve the bar at the entrance, which, upon the whole, as far as they went, were satisfactory. After a couple of hours’ rest we took a boat and sounded the bar, upon which the water was very shallow. There was a very extensive reservoir for tidal and fresh water within, which, under proper management I considered might be rendered very valuable in deepening and scouring out the entrance, and in lowering the bar; but at low water there was a narrow channel, which was constantly changing, so that there was no good entrance, and consequently neither the fresh nor tidal waters could be either admitted or properly discharged; thus the quantity of water was reduced, and the effect upon the bar considerably diminished. I therefore saw at once that it was necessary to confine the low water channel to some extent by slight works, composed of osiers and faggots, extending from two to three feet above the low water level, so that it should be confined always to the same course; thus the low water line would be lowered, more tidal water would be admitted and discharged, the surrounding lowlands, which were frequently flooded, would be better drained, and the bar improved. I observed also that the channel at the entrance was too wide, and that consequently it was much exposed to the swell during westerly gales. I therefore proposed to reduce the width of the entrance to a certain extent; by this means a greater quantity of water would be admitted and discharged, the bar would be reduced, the drainage improved, and a less quantity of swell would be admitted; when I explained my views to the captain of the port, who was a very intelligent person, he quite agreed with me.
Having finished my examination here, we embarked at sunset and proceeded to Lisbon, which we reached on the following morning, when I took my leave of the commander of the vessel and his officers, who had treated me most kindly, for which I felt very grateful; I wanted to make a present of some champagne, but this was most politely declined. I therefore renewed my thanks, and went on then to the Braganza hotel. I next day called upon the Finance Minister, Fontes, and Vicomte de Luz, the chief officer of the Board of Works, reported generally what I had done, and said that I would proceed to England at once, and send my plans, estimates, and reports as early as possible. I accordingly left two days afterwards, and reached England in the middle of June, after an absence of between six and seven weeks.
When I was in Portugal I had a good deal of conversation with M. Fontes about their railways. He said that they had already given a concession for them to an English company, Messrs. Shaw, Waring, and Co., of whom the Government was now desirous if possible of getting quit. M. Fontes also talked to me about their financial affairs, and said that they had had a good deal of trouble with our Stock Exchange. I did not know the precise cause of this at the time, but it was afterwards explained to me that the English Stock Exchange would not allow their funds to be quoted in the English money market in consequence of the Portuguese Government having reduced the interest of the last Portuguese loan without the consent of the subscribers, so that unless this was remedied, it would not be possible to raise another loan in England. I saw the full force of this, and told the minister frankly my opinion, which he appeared to take very well, for he then said that he wished me to lay out a line between Coimbra and Oporto, and gave me instructions accordingly.
In the month of August, Dom Pedro, the heir apparent to the throne, and his brother, Dom Louis, paid a visit to our Queen at Osborne House, Isle of Wight, and Count Lavradio, the Portuguese minister in London, recommended me to go there to pay my respects to his future majesty. I therefore went, and was honoured with an audience on board Her Majesty’s yacht, which was lying off Osborne, and in which Dom Pedro and his brother were living at the time, as the Queen did not wish them to be on shore, on account of the prevalence of the smallpox in the vicinity. Dom Pedro and his brother received me very courteously, and we had a great deal of conversation about Portuguese affairs, particularly concerning the various engineering works that he wished to see carried into effect, such as railways, harbours, docks, &c., and he said that until these were done Portugal could not be on a par with other nations. He also very kindly invited me over to Portugal again. I took my leave and returned to Southampton, where I dined with Count Lavradio at Radley’s hotel, and then returned to London. It should be added that Dom Pedro attained his majority on the 15th of September, when he was crowned.
As soon as I got my harbour plans and reports ready, I determined to go over and present them in person after the coronation. As I had been commissioned by the Government to make the surveys and estimates for the proposed railway between Coimbra and Oporto, and consult two other English contractors about making railways in Portugal, I went to Messrs. Peto and Betts, who said that they would be happy to undertake them, provided that they could make proper arrangements with the Government, and that they did not interfere with any other contractors or companies who were then employed; and that in order to ascertain the Government views, they would send over their agent, Mr. Giles, with me. As I had previously agreed with Mr. Cheffins to make the survey of the line between Coimbra and Oporto, he preceded me with his staff, while Mr. Giles went to Lisbon with me in the Royal Mail Company’s vessel the ‘Trent,’ leaving Southampton on the 9th September, 1855.
After a fine passage we reached Lisbon on the morning of the 14th of September. I immediately presented myself to M. Fontes, the Finance Minister, and the Duke de Saldanha, President of the Cabinet, and delivered my plans, which were well received, and tickets were sent to us to visit the various ceremonies of the coronation.
It happened just before our arrival that the Government and the English contractors of the Great Eastern Railway from Lisbon to Santarem, who had been quarrelling for some time past, came to an open rupture, and the Government took possession of the whole of the works and all the materials, machinery, and plant, with an armed force, turned the Company adrift, and would have nothing further to do with them. The contractors complained to the British representative, Mr. Ward, Chargé d’Affaires, who was very indignant at this summary mode of treating his countrymen; and M. Fontes was equally indignant at the way in which the Company had behaved; but more of this hereafter. In the meantime the coronation took place, and a very pretty sight it was. We had the usual demonstrations of fêtes, reviews, illuminations, salvos of artillery, &c. To heighten the spectacle a British fleet of five line-of-battle ships was sent over to do honour to the occasion. These fêtes lasted for three days, and no business was done; but in the mean time I had the honour of being presented to the king at the great palace of the Ajude; and when M. Fontes returned to his office again, I called upon him and presented Mr. Giles, Messrs. Peto and Betts’s agent. Afterwards, when Mr. Giles had left, M. Fontes commenced talking to me about their dispute with Shaw, Waring, and Co. He spoke very temperately on the subject, and said that justice should be done to them. I said that I did not wish for a moment to defend them; in fact, I did not know the merits of the case on either one side or the other. At the same time, I said that it would be far better to arrange with them amicably; and if they could not agree, they should settle accounts and dissolve the agreement; as until this matter was satisfactorily concluded, it would be impossible to get any fresh English contractors of respectability to finish the works, or form a new English company, or indeed to raise any money in England, which the Government at that time wanted to do. Moreover, it was desirable above all things to arrange matters with the English Stock Exchange, and until the affair of Shaw, Waring, and Co. had been settled this could not be done. These arguments appeared to have much weight with the minister, who replied, that he would think them over; that he was desirous of coming to an amicable settlement; that he had very little doubt but it would be ultimately arranged properly; and that when Mr. Griles and I returned from our examination of the country, he would be glad to see us again.