alive, with the said scaffold on edifices of his abode be demolished, and erased in such sort, that there may not a sign of them remain, being reduced to a wild, and covered with salt; but also, that all effective houses or estates by him enjoyed, in those parts thereof, which have been established in properties of the crown, or have issued from thence, be confiscated, and from this time forward forfeited, with effectual res version, and reincorporation in the said crown, from whence they de rived, &c.-The same they order to be observed, with respect to the copyholds of any kind whatever, with the proviso established, con cerning the sale thereof in benefit of the lords of the manors. With regard to the other entailed estates, settled with the patrimony of the entailers, they declare, that the statutes are to be observed, in be nefit of those, who ought to succeed to them." They condemn to the same pains the criminal Francis Assizes of Tavora, and ordain, that no persons whatever shall use she surname of Tavora, on pain of confiscation and outlawry. They condemn the two savage monsters Antonio Alvares Ferreira and Joseph Policarp, who fired the two sacrilegious shots, to be conveyed with halters about their necks to the great square; and that being there exalted on two posts, fire be set to them, which shall consume them alive, till their bodies be reduced to ashes and powder, which shall be thrown inso the sea, their dwelling-houses erased, and their names blotted out. But the criminal Joseph Policarp having absconded, a power is given to any body to seize and kill him, and annd a reward of 10,000 crusados is offered for bringing him dead or alive before the senator of the palace; or 20,000 if taken in a foreign country. They condemn the criminals Lewis Bernard of Tavora, Don Jerome of Ataide, Joseph Maria of Tavora, Blaize Joseph Romeiro, John Michael, and Emanuel Alvares, to be conveyed to the same place of execution, with halters about their necks, to be first strangled, and afterwards to have the eight bones of their legs and arms broken, and then their bodies to be reduced by fire into powder, and thrown into the sea, &c. with confiscation and forfeiture of goods, &c. to the use of the crown, demolition, erazement, and salting of their dwelling-houses, and pulling down and defacement of arms and achievements. And the criminal, Lady Eleanor of Tavora, for certain just considerations, they condemn only to be conveyed to the same place of exe cution, with a halter about her neck, and there to be beheaded, her body reduced to powder by fire, and thrown also into the sea, &c. with extinction of memory, and all other confiscations. R. Shirley's principal objec which the facts alledged in it were proved; that the letters said to have been written by the Jesuits, are not made public; and that the criminals were proceeded against with more severity, than those who attempted to assassinate a former King of Portugal, tho' their crime was attended with many aggra vations, from which the crime of these is free. The four lords who were executed for a conspiracy against John IV. in 1641, were conveyed to a great square in the city, called the Rocio, the preceding night, and lodged in separate apartments of the same house. On the next morning theywere conduct ed from the first floor of the house, by a passage which had been built on parpose, up to a scaffold, whereon there were placed four armed chairs, in which they were executed, with an observance of rank in their situa tións; Don Agostinho Manoel's be ing placed on the floor of the scaffold; the Conde de Armamar's on an elevation of one step; that of the Marquis of Villereal on one of two steps; and that of the Duke of Caminha on one of three; while all the meaner conspirators were hanged on a higher gallows than ordinary, and afterwards quartered. Thus far were the proceedings against those offenders without any levelling of distinction. The noblemen had no halters put about their necks, nor were condemned to any such ignominy. When they went separately out, each had his thumbs tied together with a black riband, and was accompanied by judges, justices, gentlemen, and his own servants, with Portugal king at MR. bet on arms, in his habit, to make the which he animadverts is, that it does not exhibit the evidence by publication of offences; and they were afterwards buried in sacred ground. ground. Nay, with such humanity does a cotemporary court-writer treat of their suffering, that he mentions, with detestation, a barbarity of the rabble's towards the Marquis of Villareal in the following words: "The executioner, who with his face covered performed the execution, bound him by the arms and legs to the chair in which he was seated. In this horrid situation, he sent to ask of the people, who in great numbers were assembled in the Rocio, their pardon for the offence he had committed against the kingdom. But that blind and outrageous Monster imagined the pardon he asked was, that he might live, and with high fury repeated three times, Die. An outrage that greatly affected the spirits of those who were less inconsiderate." Such was the decorum of high judicial proceedings in those days; such were the regards paid to rank in the worst of offenders; and such the delicacy of representation of the matter by a court author; in all points far differing from what we have lately seen and heard of from the same country. Mr. Shirley, upon this occasion, relates a barbarous execution made by Peter the first, sirnamed the Cruel, in the year 1357. Peter had married in his father's life time, and was become a widower with butone son; and having had an intrigue with Donna Agnes de Castro, a lady of distinction, his passion for her became so violent that he was married to her in secret. His father, Alfonso IV. who had no other son living, nor any collateral heirs to his crown, knowing of Peter's amour, but not of his marriage, was extremely desirous of espousing him to another; but finding his son's attachment to a supposed mistress unalterable, he at last employed three of his courtiers to make away with her. This they did, unhap pily for themselves; for Peter soon after succeeded to the throne, when they, fearing his indignation, fled the kingdom. But his wrath was so implacable, that he was determined on revenge, and accordingly agreed with Peter the Cruel of Castile, to give up some offenders to him, who had taken shelter in Portugal, for Pedro Coelbo and Alvaro Gonsalves, two of the assassins; as for Deogo Lopez the third, he fortunately got a securer sanctuary. When he had those two men in his power, he ordered their hearts to be torn out alive, and their bodies to be burned, which was accordingly executed in his presence. This, however, Mr. Shirley observes, appears to have been no condemnation of the law, but the arbitrary act of an inflammed tyrannical spirit, as may be judged from the frantic extravagance of affection that appeared in every thing he did concerning that lady, whose body he caused to be taken from the grave, had it solemnly crowned, obliging the states of the kingdom to kiss her hand, in token of their acknowledging her for queen, and then buried her at the royal convent of Alcobaca, with every circumstance of regal pomp, declaring her to have been legally his wife; and some of the children he had by her he moreover caused to be acknowledged for legitimate princes. There is in this pamphlet another remarkable relation, which we extract with great pleasure, notonly because it produces a lively sense of the privilege of British subjects, but because it is a striking proof, that that the cruelty practised in other Countries is ineffectual for the pur poses it is intended to answer. A conscientious judge having observed the effects of the rack on supposed criminals, in making them ready to confess any thing, to the sacrificing of their lives, in order to get released from the torture, felt in his own mind some strong sensations on the conviction of accused persons by such methods; in somuch that, from something which had happened in a particular case, his concern was so great as to determine him upon trying an experi ment. It is a capital crime in that country to kill a horse or a mule, and he hap pened to have one of the former species which he very much esteem. ed. In prosecuting of his scheme, he took care one night to keep all his servants employed, so that no one but the groom could go into the stable. But, when all were afterwards fast asleep in their beds, he stole thither himself, and cut off the tail of his horse, by which wound the creature bled to death. Great confusion, it may be supposed, followed the discovery of the mischief on the succeeding morning, when the master upon be ing informed of what had happened, appeared highly incensed. Strict enquiries being made about the person who could have committed the crime, the other servants all found means easily for the justifying of their own innocence, so that the whole of the imputation of course rested on the groom, who was thereupon apprehended and committed to prison. The poor fellow upon his arraignment, it may be supposed, pleaded not guilty; but the presumptions being very strong against him, he was ordered to the rack, where the extremity of tor ture soon wrung from him a confession of the crime, he choosing to submit to death, rather than endure the misery he was undergoing. Upon this confession he had sentence of hanging passed upon him, when his master (who from having been prosecutor, could not of course be one of his judges) went to the tribunal, and there exposed the fallibility of confessions obtained by such means, by owning the fact himself, and disclosing the motives that had influenced his making the experiment: since which time the practice has been discontinued of applying the torture in any cases that are determined in their public courts. Translation of an intercepted letter from M. Lally, to M. de Leyrit. From the camp before Madrass, the 14th of February, 1759. A GOOD blow might be struck here: there is a ship in the road, of 20 guns, laden with all the riches of Madrass, which it is said will remain there till the 20th. The Expedition is just arrived, but M. Gorlin is not a man to attack her; for she has made him run away once before. The Bristol, on the other hand, did but just make her appearance before St. Thomas; and on the vague report of 13 ships coming from Porto Novo, she took fright; and after landing the provisions with which she was laden, she would not stay? long enough, even to take on boardi twelve twelve of her own guns, which she had lent out for the siege. If I was the judge of the point honour of the company's officers, I would break him like glass, as well as some others of them. The Fidelle, or the Harlem, or even the aforesaid Bristol, with her twelve guns restored to her, would be sufficient to make themselves masters of the English ship, if they could manage so as to get to wind ward of her in the night. Maugendre and Tremillier are said to be good men ; and were they employed only to transport 200 wounded men, that we have here, their ser vice would be of importance. We remain still in the same position; the breach made these 15 days; all the time within 15 toises of the wall of the place, and never holding up our heads to look at it. I reckon we shall, at our arrival at Pondicherry, endeavour to learn some other trade; for this of war requires too much patience. Of 1500 Cipayes which attended our army, I reckon near 800 are employed upon the road to Pondicherry, laden with sugars, pepper, and other goods; and as for the Coulis, they are all employed for the same purpose, from the first day we came here. I am taking my measures from this day, to set fire to the Blacktown, and to blow up the powder mills. You will never imagine, that 50 French deserters, and 100 Swiss, are actually stopping the progress of 2000 men of the King's and company's troops, which are still here existing, notwithstanding the VOL. II. exaggerated accounts that every one makes here, according to his own fancy, of the slaughter that has been made of them; and you will be still more surprized, if I tell you that, were it not for the two combats and four battles we sustained, and for the batteries which failed, or, speaking more properly, which were unskilfully made, we should not have lost 50 men, from the commencement of the siege to this day. I have wrote to M. de Larche, that if he persists in not coming here, let who will raise money upon the Paleagers for me, I will not do it ; and I renounce (as I informed you a month ago I would do) meddling, directly or indirectly, with any thing whatever, that may have relation to your administration, whether civil or military. For I had rather go, and command the Caffres of Madagascar, than remain in this Sodom; which it is impossible but the fire of the English must destroy, sooner or later, even though that from heaven should not. I have the honour to be, &c. &c. Signed L'ALLY." P. S. I think it necessary to ap prize you, that, as M. de Soupire has refused to take upon him the command of this army, which I have offered to him, and which he is impowered to accept, by having received from the court a duplicate of my commission, you must of necessity, together with the council, take it upon you. For my part, I undertake only to bring it back, either to Arcotte, or Sadraste. Send therefore your orders, or come your selves, to command it; for I shall quit it upon my arrival there. Articles |