CIVIL WAR IN PORTUGAL

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22509, 17 September 1938, Page 20

CIVIL WAR IN PORTUGAL

' ♦' " Sieg-e-Lady. By C. P. Hawkes and Marion Smithes. Peter Davies. 288 pp. (8s 6d net.) In 1832 the Absolutist King, Dom Miguel de Braganza, ruled in Portugal. His rule was oppressive, arbitrary, and harsh to the English wine-traders of Oporto. In 1832 his brother, Dom Pedro d'Alcantara, de-

DOM MIGUEL t>E BKACANZA IN EXILE AT BRONNBACH . 1965".

termined to recover the throne for his daughter, Maria da Gloria. He did so, but not without a long and wavering campaign in which the chief event was the -holding of Oporto against the siege laid by Dom Miguel. Dorothy Procter, wife of an English wine-shipper, lived through the siege and wrote a full account of its anxieties and military actions in the letters she sent to her English kinsfolk. These letters are the basis of the chronicle compiled by Mr Hawkes and Miss Smithes. Their narrative, except for excessive conscientiousness in rendering local colour, is admirable, more so in its account of persons than of happenings. Four persons stand out: Maria da Gloria, the child who was of the-same age as Queen Victoria and who later became Queen of Portugal; Dom Pedro, a pious, calm, and wise father and soldier; Cuthbert Armstrong, one of the many young Englishmen who fought for the Princess and undertook dangerous missions; and, of course, Mrs Procter, moving serenely among risks and miseries, preserving her sense of humour, and zealous in good works. The historical background is clear. Dom Miguel sustained by Metternich, Dom Pedro sustained and carried to victory by England and France. Incidentally, it is interesting to come upon names famous in the wine trade, as of old Diedrich Feuerheerd, banished from Germany in I*Bl3 because he refused to wear a French uniform.