In further extenuation it may truthfully be urged that the whole
hideous and odious affair was the result of a misapprehension;
although I cannot go so far as one of Lieutenant Butler's apologists
and accept the view that he was the victim of a deliberate plot on
the part of his too-genial host at Regoa. That is a misconception
easily explained. This host's name happened to be Souza, and the
apologist in question has very rashly leapt at the conclusion that
he was a member of that notoriously intriguing family, of which the
chief members were the Principal Souza, of the Council of Regency
at Lisbon, and the Chevalier Souza, Portuguese minister to the
Court of St. James's. Unacquainted with Portugal, our apologist
was evidently in ignorance of the fact that the name of Souza is
almost as common in that country as the name of Smith in this. He
may also have been misled by the fact that Principal Souza did not
neglect to make the utmost capital out of the affair, thereby
increasing the difficulties with which Lord Wellington was already
contending as a result of incompetence and deliberate malice on
the part both of the ministry at home and of the administration in
Lisbon.
Indeed, but for these factors it is unlikely that the affair could
ever have taken place at all.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25