§ From William Jams. 28 August 1806, Lisbon. “Inclosed I have the honor to hand you copies of mine of the 19th. Ultimo 9th. & 2nd. of 9th & 10th Inst; which went by the Brig Maria for Alexandria & the Brig Perseverance, Captn Bowler, for Providence R.I. Lord St. Vincents arrived here the 14th. Instant with five line of battle ships, a frigate & sloop of War. His unexpected appearance has excited considerable Alarm; and employed the ingenuity of the whole Country to divine the cause of a step so unexpected & extraordinary. All the reports in circulation relating thereto seem to be merely conjecture, at least they cannot be traced to any unexceptionable source. Those who wish & are determined that this Country shall remain in Peace say that it is nothing more than to wait for Jerome Bonaparte, least he should get in here; the other ports in Europe which he will probably attempt1 being so closely beset, that he must inevitably fall into the hands of the English and offer in proof or as a fact corroborative of this opinion that three or four men of war are kept ou[t]side to watch for him:2 others say that it has come out in the course of the present Negotiation betwe⟨en⟩ England & France, that the Emperor Napoleon has obtained all the Country north of the River Ebro, say Catalonia Navarre, Guipuzcoa & Biscay & as an indemnification ha⟨s⟩ consented that the King of Spain shall possess himself of this Country. You will readily perceive what stres⟨s⟩ ought to be laid on those reports. Those who pretend to be best informed say that in the course of the Negotiation now depending, a threat has been made that in case a treaty was not concluded between the two Countries, England & France, that British Manufactures should be excluded from this port Country, & dependencies, or in case of a refusal a French Army would take possession of it Portugal. That the British Govmt. to prevent the execution of this threat, or that any very beneficial consequences should result to France from such a step, or injurious ones to themselves, have ordered these Men of War here, & if needful will send a considerable reinfo[r]cement with a sufficient number of transports, to take off the Portugueze Navy, the effects of the British Merchants, & to assist to the carrying off the wealth of such Portugueze as choose to quit the Country. In fine to take away the Royal Family if they choose to quit it for the Brazils & to destroy all the Provisions & stores, that if the French do come, they shall have little more than the bare Walls of Lisbon & as barren a Country. That the arrival of this squadron has some relation to the Negotiations carrying on at Paris, I hav⟨e⟩ little doubt; but what, I beleive no body here, beside those who are directly concerned in explaining the caus⟨e⟩ of the step, have any knowledge. It is possible that Franc⟨e⟩ finding England not so complying as they could wish, may have made some threat of the kind; but I cannot be persuaded, with any serious intention of carrying it into execution, because I cannot beleive she would do a thing so evidently contrary to her interest. For it is certainly contrary to her interest for the English to possess themselves of the Brazils & the other Foreign Colonies of this Crown, or if the Royal Family should go there (to the Brazils), by the protection she has & will afford, from the superiority of her Navy, to command pretty much the whole of that valuable trade: and probably obtain the Azores & Madeira in hand for the service rendered. As the English have no Wine Countries those would be a very valuable acquisition to them. The squadron under Lord St. Vincents lay eight days before Prattic was granted it; but a frigate which arrived here the day before yesterday bringing the Earl of Rosslyn & Genl. Simpcoe (Simcoe I beleive) got Prattic yesterday. If any thing can be inferred from this, it is, that a change favourable to Gt. Britain has bee⟨n⟩ produced; or possibly the former was only accident as the Prince & Minister of Foreign Affairs were then in the Country. It is not known, but said, that the Earl of Rosslyn, is come here as Envoye Extraordinary. People however are much puzzled to know the business of the General. Their arrival has tended to renovate a report that sixteen to twenty five thousand British troops are to be sent here. This I cannot beleive because this number of troops are only sufficient to embroil this Countr⟨y⟩ but not to defend3 it; and because the British not sending in more vessels of War than are allowed by treaty between this Country & France do not discover a disposition unnecessarily to hazard its Neutrality.4

“It will be unnecessary for me at this time to observe, that the information I received from the secretary of the French Legation, relative to Peace was devoid of foundation, at least it was premature. I was disposed to give more credit to it, from the report of the Courier having brought similar advice to this Government; and when I spoke to Mons Legoy as if I was doubtful of the Peace upon the terms he mentioned, observing that I had no question but the English would make Peace on those conditions, he replied that the preliminaries were actually signed upon those terms, repeating it with some emphasis; and beside, from all the information I had before received from him having proved true.

“Inclosed Sir you will receive three communications relative to the imprisonment of Mr Marcellino Rs. da Silva, my deputy Consul for Faro.5 I was much at a loss what to do regarding him, he having four days before told me that his Mercantile business had turned out so badly at Faro that he should not return, of course that the Office was again vacated. But as he had not returned his Commission, & I considered that his treatment had been in the highest degre⟨e⟩ cruel, I determined to apply for him. As the answer of the judg⟨e⟩ contradicted in several points the facts stated in mine of the 26th. July to His Excellency, I wrote out the necessary questions, to be answered under Oath, to substantiate the truth of my assertions, which luckily, in all the material points, there was witnesses to prov⟨e,⟩ not choosing to let the truth of what I had said rest upon my own assertion. The delay occasion⟨ed⟩ by having this evidence taken legally, was the cause of Mr da Silva being detained a few days longe⟨r,⟩ but the 22nd the order was sent to r⟨e⟩lease him, with his Books papers ⟨&⟩ Cash. The next day after His Excy⟨’s⟩ Office reached the Judge inquiring into the cause of Mr da ⟨Silva’s⟩ imprisonment, he requested leave of absence, under pretence of sickness, & has gone into the Country, substituting another judge in his place.

“With this goes three letters from Mr Erving & in another packet four, two recd from Mr kirkpatric & one from Mr. Baker. These would have been forwarded sooner had any opportunity offered since the Perseverance.”

Adds in a 31 Aug. postscript: “Probably this Country is exhibiting now a political Phenomenon6 rarely to be met with; impressments for soldiers in every quarter of the City but not any additional hands put on or apparently any steps taken to fit out, the Marine; altho out of ten or 11 line of battle ships now laid up, five or six frigates & 7 or 8 sloops of War, not more than a third could be got to sea, short of a six weeks or two months repair.”