After Das Minas’ resignation, four new members were added to the regency, namely, Antonio, commonly called, Principal Souza, the Conde de Redondo, the marquis de Olhao, and doctor Noguiera. The two last were men of some discretion, but the first, daring, restless, irritable, indefatigable, and a consummate intriguer, created the utmost disorder, seeking constantly to thwart the proceedings of the British generals. He was strenuously assisted by the patriarch, whose violence and ambition were no way diminished, and whose influence amongst the people was still very considerable. An exceedingly powerful cabal, was thus formed, whose object was to obtain the supreme direction, not only of the civil, but military affairs, and to control both Wellington and Beresford. The Conde Linhares, head of the Souza family, was prime minister in the Brazils; the Principal was in the regency at Lisbon; the chevalier Souza was envoy at the British court, and a fourth of the family, don Pedro de Souza, was in a like situation near the Spanish regency; so that playing into each others hands, and guided by the subtle Principal, they were enabled to concoct very dangerous intrigues; and their proceedings, as might be expected, were at first supported with a high hand by the cabinet of Rio Janeiro. Lord Wellesley’s energetic interference reduced the latter, indeed, to a reasonable disposition, yet the cabal secretly continued their machinations, and what they durst not attempt by force, they sought to attain by artifice. In the latter end of the year 1809, Mr. Villiers was replaced as envoy, by Mr. Charles Stuart, and this gentleman, well experienced in the affairs of the Peninsula, and disdaining the petty jealousies which had hitherto marked the intercourse of the principal political agents with the generals, immediately applied his masculine understanding, and resolute temper, to forward the views of lord Wellington. It is undoubted, that the dangerous political crisis which followed his arrival, could not have been sustained, if a diplomatist less firm, less able, or less willing to support the plans of the commander had been employed. To resist the French was the desire of two of the three parties in Portugal, but with the fidalgos, it was a question of interest more than of patriotism. Yet less sagacious than the clergy, the great body of which perceiving at once that they must stand or fall with the English army heartily aided the cause, the fidalgos clung rather to the regency. Now the caballers in that body, who were the same people that had opposed sir Hew Dalrymple, hoped not only to beat the enemy, but to establish the supremacy of the northern provinces (of which they themselves were the lords) in the administration of the country, and would therefore consent to no operations militating against this design.