But the efforts of the party were not confined to formal communications with the ministers; the daily press teemed with invectives against the English general’s conduct, and ex-parte statements, founded on the provisions of an armistice that was never concluded, being thus palmed upon the public, (always hasty in judging of such matters), a prejudice against the convention was raised before either the terms of, or the events which led to it, were known. For, sir Hew, forgetting the ordinary forms of official intercourse, neglected to transmit information to his government until fifteen days after the commencement of the treaty, and the ministers, unable to contradict or explain any of Souza’s assertions, were placed in a mortifying situation, by which their minds were irritated and disposed to take a prejudiced view of the real treaty. Meanwhile the bishop pretended to know nothing of the convention, hence the silence of Freire during the negotiations; but those once concluded, a clamour was, by the party, raised in Portugal, similar to that which they had already excited in England; and thus both nations appeared to be equally indignant at the conduct of the general, when, in fact, his proceedings were unknown to either. [Sidenote: Appendix, No. 11.] It would appear that the bishop had other than Portuguese coadjutors. The baron Von Decken, a Hanoverian officer, was appointed one of the military agents at Oporto: he was subject to sir Hew Dalrymple’s orders, but as his mission was of a detached nature, he was also to communicate directly with the secretary of state in England. Von Decken arrived at Oporto upon the 17th August, and the same evening, in concert with the bishop, concocted a project admirably adapted to forward the views of the latter; they agreed that the prelate was the fittest person to be at the head of the government, and that as he could not, or pretended that he could not, quit Oporto, the seat of government ought to be transferred to that city. But two obstacles to this arrangement were foreseen; first, the prince regent at his departure had nominated a regency, and left full instructions for the filling up of vacancies arising from death or other causes; secondly, the people of Lisbon and of the southern provinces would certainly resist any plan for changing the seat of government. To obviate these difficulties, Von Decken wrote largely in commendation of the proposed arrangement, vilifying the conduct of the regency, and urging sir Hew not only to give his sanction to the ambitious project, but to employ the British troops in controlling the people of Lisbon should they attempt to frustrate the bishop’s plans. To conciliate the members of the regency, it was proposed to admit a portion of them into the new government, and Francisco Noronha, Francisco da Cunha, the Monteiro Mor, and the principal Castro, were named as being the only men who were faithful to their sovereign.