to be at an end.  Surely England could not be expected to recognize a Minister who, when he was addressed upon public matters, declared that his functions as a Minister were at an end!  With regard to the Marquis Barbacena, he arrived here in charge of the Queen of Portugal, quite unexpectedly.  The Queen had been sent from the Brazils to Vienna, in order to be placed under her relation the Emperor of Austria.  No notification had been transmitted to this country of his intention to send her here.  Letters were actually received from Mr. Gordon, our Minister at the Brazils, dated three weeks after the Queen of Portugal had sailed, which mentioned no intention of the Queen coming to England.  It was not until the arrival of the Marquis Barbacena at Gibraltar, that he determined to convey her hither; and it was not too much for the Government to ask the marquis, ’In what character do you appear?’ Still it was intimated to him that, notwithstanding the want of courtesy displayed in not notifying the intention of Her Majesty, this would not affect the conduct of the Government, or cause the disrespectful reception of the Queen.  But this showed the absolute necessity of ascertaining the character and powers of the marquis.  Therefore, he could not think that his noble friend at the head of the Foreign Department, having to do with three Ministers of one state, was in fault if he desired to know their powers before he treated with them.

He would again remind the hon. gentleman that, if Don Miguel did sway the destinies of Portugal, this was not owing to foreign influence; it was owing to the Portuguese themselves.  He had been proclaimed King by the Cortes of the kingdom.  An insurrection had indeed sprung up, but it had failed.  The right hon. gentleman said that it failed through some mistake, and that if the insurgents had pressed forward to Lisbon, Don Miguel and his mother would have been forced to emigrate.  But he (Mr. Peel) held it to be quite unnecessary to discuss these points, or to inquire into the popularity of the King, or the consequences which might have happened if the insurgent general had advanced.  Don Miguel was the person administering, de facto, the government of Portugal, and he could not think it prudent on the part of England to undertake to displace him, and to dictate to the Portuguese who should be their ruler.

The only other transaction to which the right hon. gentleman had referred in the second part of his speech was that of Terceira.  He would attempt to explain, with as much clearness as possible, the course which the Government had pursued in this affair.  It was the determination of the English Government to maintain a strict and undeviating neutrality in regard to the dissensions of Portugal; and they resolved not to be induced, by any appeal to their feelings, to depart from it.  They considered that there had been no sufficient case made out for forcible interference, and they resolved not to interfere.