Miguel’s General having insisted that they should be landed on the southern side, and conveyed up to his military hospital.[1]
“Last night, I received a letter from the master of the Brazilian bark, appealing to my humanity as a British officer to send him on board provisions; stating that he had 92 Englishmen and 26 French on board, and that he had nothing to give them to eat. This application I immediately sent to Captain George, not believing it possible that a vessel having on board upwards of 130 persons, including her crew, could be sent to sea by Don Pedro’s Government without a necessary supply of provisions. The whole of the discharged troops have since been made prisoners by Don Miguel’s General.”
These men were sent over land to Lisbon, and eventually conveyed to their respective countries. They drew up a statement, which appeared in some of the English papers, expressive of the kind treatment they received at the hands of the Miguelites. In the same letter. Commander Glascock says:–
“The difficulty of communicating by boats in the Douro is almost inconceivable. Be the service of a nature consistent with that line of conduct which a strict and honorable neutrality would prescribe, or be it even in the cause of humanity, both belligerents appear to vie with each other in offering impediments to the prosecution of every measure which may not accord with their respective notions of neutrality. I, however, hope, since the command of the liberating army has now devolved upon a General of great experience, that the troops of Don Pedro will become better disciplined; for it will hardly be credited that this last week the volunteers of Oporto have stationed themselves at the Tour de Marco, amusing themselves in firing rifle balls at solitary individuals on the other side, and at the party bringing down fresh beef for the British squadron. On one of these occasions (Jan. 2d), three balls were lodged in the quarter-deck bulwarks of the Nautilus, and Lord George Paulet had a very narrow escape in coming on board to acquaint me of the circumstance. Finding that all the remonstrances hitherto made upon this unmilitary practice had no effect upon the authorities on Don Pedro’s side, I took the earliest opportunity to communicate with Marshal Solignac upon the subject, who immediately gave orders, and had them executed, that the practice should no longer continue.”
On the morning of the 10th Jan. Commander Belcher was sent to St. Ovidio, with a communication to the Miguelite
- ↑ The surgeon of the Orestes had a narrow escape – a piece of shell fell at his feet.
