squadron are calumniated, and are made out to be the most diabolical monsters that ever existed in the forms of men! But when I go on shore I will give the lie to their vile inventions.” So anxious was Captain George to contradict the vile rumours then afloat, that, in his haste, he inclosed to Don Pedro’s Minister of Marine the original hurried note he had received from Commander Glascock. It ran thus:–
“My dear Sir,– Pray lose no time in sending boats for the unfortunate wounded now on board the two British brigs, Lusitania and Redport. Send silent steady hands (Englishmen), and not d___d noisy jabbering Portuguese. Yours, &c.”
In removing the wounded from these vessels, which were moored within a very short distance of the Miguelite piquet-house, silence was every thing – the least noise would have brought on a heavy fire.
On the night of the 17th Dec, Commander Glascock also wrote to the British Consul as follows:
“Sir,– I have to request you will be so good as to take the earliest opportunity to communicate with Don Pedro’s Minister for Foreign Affairs on a subject which has excited in me, as well as generally throughout the British squadron, the utmost indignation. I have no time to expatiate upon the system of invariably making all attacks under the shelter of British ships, and bringing upon them a galling cross fire. One of the seamen of H.M. sloop Orestes I fear has been mortally wounded, and the ship, in her masts, yards, rigging, and bulwarks, has suffered considerably. Most of the fire proceeded from Don Pedro’s side, bits of shell, grape, and canister-shot were picked up on the decks of the Orestes.
“But, Sir, the immediate subject of this communication is to request that the vile fabrication, now circulated so currently in the town, of the British ships of war having fired upon Don Pedro’s troops when retreating in their boats, may be distinctly and indignantly denied. This falsehood even surpasses in mischievous malignity the rumour of the Orestes having landed powder for Don Miguel’s service. I demand a public denial of both fabrications from the Government authority; and I call upon you, as his Britannic Majesty’s Consul, to assist me in obtaining this denial.
“Humanity led me even to risk my own men by sending medical aid on board the ‘Red-port’ and ‘Lusitania’ brigs, which received some of the wounded of Don Pedro’s troops. I even visited the wounded men myself, and was personally fired at, when going on board those vessels to