Nor would the evil be merely negative; for the interference of professed friends, acting in this manner, must have superinduced dispositions and passions, which were alien to the condition of the Portugueze;--scattered weeds which could not have been found upon the soil, if our ignorant hands had not sown them.

Of this I will not now speak, for I have already detained the reader too long at the threshold;--but I have put the master key into his possession; and every chamber which he opens will be found loathsome as the one which he last quitted.

Let us then proceed.
By the first article of the Convention it is covenanted, that all the places and forts in the kingdom of Portugal, occupied by the French troops, shall be delivered to the British army.

Articles IV.

and XII.
are to the same effect--determining the surrender of Portugueze fortified places, stores, and ships, to the English forces; but not a word of their being to be holden in trust for the prince regent, or his government, to whom they belonged! The same neglect or contempt of justice and decency is shewn here, as in the preamble to these instruments.