Nothing could be more complicated than the political state of Portugal with reference to the situation of the English general. His object, as I have repeatedly shown, was to bring the whole resources of the country to bear on the war, but to effect this he had to run counter to the habits and customs, both of the people and of the government; to detect the intrigues of the subordinate authorities as well as those of the higher powers; to oppose the violence of factious men in the local government, and what was still more difficult, to stimulate the sluggish apathy and to combat the often honest obstinacy of those who were not factious. These things he was to effect without the power of recompensing or chastising, and even while forced to support those who merited rebuke, against the still more formidable intriguers of the court of Brazil; for the best men of Portugal actually formed the local government, and he was not foiled so much by the men as by the sluggish system which was national, and although dull for good purposes, vivacious enough for mischief. The dread of ultimate personal consequences attached, not to neglect of the war but to any vigorous exertions in support of it. The proceedings of the court of Rio Janeiro were not less mischievous, for there the personal intrigues fostered by the peculiar disposition of the English envoy, by the weak yet dogged habits of the prince, and by the meddling nature and violent passions of the princess Carlotta, stifled all great national views. There also the power of the Souza’s, a family deficient neither in activity nor in talent, was predominant, and the object of all was to stimulate the government in Portugal against the English general’s military policy. To this he could, and had opposed, as we have seen, the power of the English government, with some effect at different times, but that resource was a dangerous one and only to be resorted to in extreme circumstances. Hence when to all these things is added a continual struggle with the knavery of merchants of all nations, his difficulties must be admitted, his indomitable vigour, his patience and his extraordinary mental resources admired, and the whole scene must be considered as one of the most curious and instructive lessons in the study of nations.