Thus prepared for some cabal, sir Hew Dalrymple was at no loss for an answer to Freire’s remonstrance. He observed, that if the government of Portugal had not been mentioned in the treaty, neither had that of England nor that of France. The convention was purely military, and for the present concerned only the commanders in the field. With regard to the occupation of the fortresses, and the fact of the British army being an auxiliary force, the first was merely a measure of military precaution absolutely necessary, and the latter was in no way rendered doubtful by any act which had been committed; he sir Hew was instructed by his government to assist in restoring the prince regent of Portugal to his lawful rights, without any secret or interested motives; finally, the Portuguese general had been invited to assist in the negotiations, and if he had not done so, the blame rested with himself. And to this sir Hew might have justly added, that the conduct of Freire in withdrawing his troops at the most critical moment of the campaign, by no means entitled him to assume a high tone towards those whom he had so disgracefully deserted in the hour of danger. The Portuguese general was silenced by this plain and decided answer; but the English general was quickly convinced that the bishop and his coadjutors, however incapable of conducting great affairs, were experienced plotters. In his first interview with Andrada, sir Hew Dalrymple had taken occasion to observe, that “no government lawfully representing the prince regent actually existed in Portugal.” In fact, a junta, calling itself independent, was likewise established in Algarvé, and the members of the regency legally invested by the prince with supreme authority were dispersed, and part of them in the power of the French. This observation, so adverse to the prelate’s views, was transmitted to him by Freire, together with a copy of the armistice. The junta were well aware that a definite convention, differing materially from the armistice, was upon the point of being concluded, and that the refusal of sir Charles Cotton to concur in the latter, had rendered it null and void; but preserving silence on that point, the bishop forwarded the copy of the armistice to the chevalier Da Souza, Portuguese minister in London, accompanied by a letter filled with invectives and misrepresentations of its provisions. The chevalier placed this letter with its inclosures, in the hands of Mr. Canning the English secretary of state for foreign affairs, and at the same time delivered to him an official note in which, adopting the style of the prelate and junta, he spoke of them as the representatives of his sovereign, and the possessors of the supreme power in Portugal.