sable, and solicited, as ordained by the Laws and ancient usages, and as demanded by the most urgent necessities of the State: perfectly agreed in the desire, in the opinion, and in the principles on which they were founded. The only discrepancy has been in the greater or lesser resolution.

The great Prince could not neglect the voice and representations of those Bodies and of the People, whose propositions regarded the benefit, nay more, the necessity of the Country, and which they submitted in accordance with its usages and its Laws.

To no Portuguese does the name of his Country sound more sweetly than to our Prince-none has more at heart her glory and happiness. He passionately desires the advancement and security of her true interests-he venerates her discreet usages and forms. He respects the wisdom of her Laws; at the same time he could not be, nor is he, insensible to the cry of loyalty and love of his Person, which, from the moment of his arrival, has been heard in every part of Portugal. Ill could a noble mind resist the gentle force done to it by the People, with their demonstrations of attachment, which have not, nor could have, any other motive than that of the welfare of the Country, and the hope of remedying its misfortunes. Nor could he, without much difficulty. have denied their solicitations, intended for the common good, which must be considered before their zeal.

But since Justice is his first consideration,-since he profoundly respects the Law,-from the Law he demands all, and refuses, without hesitation, whatever may not be accorded to him by the Law. The Kingdom has its own Laws of Succession to the Crown-established from its foundation-religiously observed by it, and loudly and enthusiastically invoked and demanded, at the proper time; whenever it has not been deprived of the full use of its liberty, upon any occasion when Foreign violence may have extinguished them. Laws which have been renewed and explained, and fortified by a provident precaution, when sad experience has caused it to fear future ambition, in order to remove every shadow of pretence under which, at another time, an insolent abuse of power might conceal itself.

If the tenour of these respected Laws, or what is the same, if the Fundamental Law of the Monarchy, calls our Prince to the Succession of the Crown, he cannot but be proud (under so sacred a Title) of presiding over a generous Nation. But is he, in fact, on this occasion, called by the Laws to the Succession of the Portuguese Crown? This is the important question which the general interest demands, and which, therefore, the August Prince desires should be determined, without delay, but, at the same time, with a deliberation befitting its high importance. The enthusiasm of our Patriots, and the ardour of his most moderate Friends, have so decidedly settled this in the affirmative, that they are impatient at the discreet means by which severe justice would remove every doubt. But it would be highly

improper, and, with reason, blameable, in so important an affair, to listen only to the passious, which, though not always false, are ever suspected. It is true that the representations of the different Classes and Corporations, whose Votes are less to be suspected of prejudice, speak the same language on this point with the acclamations of love and exalted patriotism. Still the well-known firmness of our Prince did not consider this sufficient. He determined to submit to a new proof the declarations of the Classes and Corporations, and to bring them before a Tribunal, more competent, because authorized by the Laws-more zealous and discreet, because in prudence, rank, and wealth, it unites all that the Nation possesses most eminent-of greater weight, because its judgment in this matter is legally the judgment of the whole Kingdom.

It is not necessary to say, that by this Tribunal I mean the Assembly of the Three Estates-Clergy, Nobility, and People,-to whom the ancient Portuguese had recourse upon all important occasions of the settlement of the Kingdom. On this certainly most important one, our August Prince restores it, in his high wisdom, shewing at the same time his Royal integrity, his respect for the Institutions of his Country, and his full confidence in the intelligence of the Nation. He has convoked it for the purpose of considering well the letter and the spirit of our Fundamental Laws-of recalling the events in our History, of collecting from them the true national opinion in all times, and of comparing the present case with what has before occurred concerning the Succession to the Throne; in order to ascertain whether the application to the person of His Highness, which the Classes, the Tribunals, and the Camaras, have in their representations drawn from the Laws, be conformable to their true spirit and to the common national sentiment. This is the object which His Highness proposes for the deliberation of the States: each Branch, according to ancient forms, will deliberate and confer with the others, with the gravity due to themselves, to the importance of the subject, and to the advantage and honour of the Portuguese Nation-and, finally, it will come to a judgment, from which it will draw up an authentick Document, declaring to whom the Succession belongs at this time, and settling the same for the future.

May posterity look to the present Assembly, and to its results, with the same consideration and satisfaction, as we look even now to those of the Assemblies of 1385 and 1641!

DECREE of the Infant, Dom Miguel, respecting his assumption of the Throne of Portugal.-30th June, 1828.

(Translation.)

HAVING maturely considered the important Question submitted to the Three Estates, assembled in the Cortes which I commanded to be

convoked, who have presented to me the Resolutions adopted by each Branch, and in which they establish, that, according to the provisions of the Fundamental Laws of this Monarchy, I am calied to the possession of the Crown of these Kingdoms; beseeching me, therefore, to be pleased to assume the Dignity of King and Lord thereof, which Dignity had devolved upon me since the decease of the King, my Lord and Father, of blessed memory; reflecting, moreover, that it is incumbent on me implicitly to follow the above-mentioned Fundamental Laws of the Monarchy, on which the Portuguese Throne is established; I am pleased, for these reasons, to conform in all respects to the said Resolutions of the Three Estates, the principles upon which the same are founded being equally applicable to the present generation and to posterity.

It is further my pleasure that, after the manner practised in the Cortes of 1641, an Act be drawn up, and signed by all and each of the Three Branches, containing the grounds upon which their said Resolutions are formed.

With the Signature of Our Lord the King.

Palace of Ajuda, June 30th, 1828.

ACT of Congress of The United States, relative to the Duties on French Vessels, and their Cargoes, arriving from Martinique and Guadaloupe.-9th May, 1828.

An Act regulating Commercial Intercourse with the Islands of Martinique and Guadaloupe.

BE it enacted; by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, that all French Vessels, coming directly from the Islands of Martinique and Guadaloupe, and laden with articles, the growth or manufacture of either of the said Islands, and which are permitted to be exported therefrom in American Vessels, may be admitted into the Ports of The United States, on payment of no higher Duties on Tonnage, or on their Cargoes, as aforesaid, than are imposed on American Vessels, and on like Cargoes imported in American Vessels. Provided, that if the President of The United States shall, at any time, receive satisfactory information, that the privileges allowed to American Vessels and their Cargoes, at said Islands, by the French Ordinance of February 5th, 1826, have been revoked or annulled, he is hereby authorised, by Proclamation, to suspend the operation of this Act, and withhold all privileges allowed under it.

Approved, 9th May, 1828.

An Account of the Ordinary Revenues and Extraordinary Resources, constituting the Publick Income

INCOME of the UNITED. 2,189,885 14 5 53,768,671 18 34 3,652,343 3 11
KINGDOM

Whitehall, Treasury Chambers, 6th March, 1828.

f the UNITED KINGDOM of Great Britain and Ireland; for the Year ended 5th January, 1828.