Miguel I of Portugal - King

King

On March 13, 1828 Miguel dissolved the Cortes without calling new elections, as stipulated in the Constitutional Charter. Some municipal councils, many nobles and clergy, and several important citizens requested that the regent revoke the Constitutional Charter and reign as king. Blood was first spilled by the liberals, when delegates from the University of Coimbra (who ostensibly traveled to Lisbon to present their compliments to Miguel) were murdered on March 18 by hot-headed Coimbran students. On April 25, the senate (of the university), issued a proclamation in which they requested that Miguel assume the throne. This only fueled the divisions between liberals and absolutists. Because of the independence of Brazil, Miguel's supporters considered Miguel to be the legitimate heir to the crown of Portugal. If, to liberals, the name of Miguel was despised, to the legitimists (the absolutists) it was venerated. But Miguel's reign was immediately marked by cruel, almost tyrannical, governance which some attribute to him personally; however some blame the injustices on his subordinates, while others attribute them to the malevolence of Queen Charlotte.

On May 3, 1828, the very nobles who had been nominated by Peter to the new Chamber of Peers met in the Palace of the Duke of Lafões, and invited Miguel to convoke a new cortes consisting of the Three Estates with a view to deciding the legitimate succession to the throne. Such a cortes met in June at Ajuda, where the Bishop of Viseu proposed that Miguel should assume the crown since "...the hand of the Almighty led Your Majesty from the banks of the Danube to the shore of the Tagus to save his people...". On July 7 D. Miguel was acclaimed as absolute ruler, and on July 15 the Three Estate Cortes closed.

Shortly afterwards the military garrison in Oporto revolted, formed a provisional governmental junta, and marched on Coimbra to defend the liberal cause. But the general in command of these troops was indecisive, and Miguel was able to raise his own troops, create a battalion of volunteers and blockade Oporto. In Lagos a similar revolt was attempted, but immediately quashed when the liberal General Saraiva was shot by the Miguelist General Póvoas. On this occasion, João Carlos Saldanha (later Duke of Saldanha) and Pedro de Sousa Holstein (later 1st Duke of Palmela), who had arrived from England on board the British ship Belfast in order to lead constitutional forces, quickly re-embarked, judging the liberal cause lost. The liberal army escaped to deplorable conditions in Galicia where they awaited the next move. In the former regency's court there were few strong supporters of a constitutional monarchy; Princess Isabella Maria was supported by weak-willed ministers or incompetents and was personally too timid to stand up to Miguel. The liberal elite and their supporters escaped into exile. All of Portugal recognized the sovereignty of the monarch, except the islands of Madeira and Terceira; Madeira was easily subjugated, but Terceira remained faithful to the liberal cause.

The excess zeal of his supporters to prosecute the liberals would blacken the reputation of Miguel's regime. During the liberal insurrection on March 6, 1829, in Cais do Sodré, Brigadier Moreira, his officers and their supporters were all bayoneted. On May 7, the members of the rebel garrison of Oporto who had revolted were also executed. In some cases, the local population contributed to these horrors and reprisals, as in Vila Franca da Xira where they assassinated 70 people believed to have liberal sympathies. Although these actions were disapproved of by many of Miguel's ministers, the Count of Basto was not one of them. Even the Viscount of Queluz, a medic and intimate friend of the Miguel, was exiled to Alfeite for joining the chorus of those who challenged the reprisal killings. But the Queen Mother continued to support the attacks on liberals, and motivated these actions in order to strengthen the monarchy. Even after she died on 7 April 1830, many atrocities continued to be committed in the name of Miguel, some against foreign nationals who intervened in the politics of Portugal.

While Spain, The Holy See and the United States recognized Miguel as king, in England and France there was little public support for the regime. The imprudence that the Miguelist government showed in harassing English and French foreign nationals provoked them to protest. Eventually Admiral Albin Roussin, was ordered by Louis Philippe I (who, like England, could not obtain any diplomatic satisfaction), to take action; he sailed up the Tagus, captured eight Portuguese ships and forcibly imposed a treaty (July 14, 1831). But, Miguelist reprisals on liberals continued; most sentences were carried out within 24 hours. The 4th Infantry, in Lisbon, registered 29 executions on August 22 and 23, 1831, alone.