Oh, it is excellent To have a giant's strength. And it is tyrannous To use it like a giant.
On the first day of January an English army corps under Clinton was landed at Lissabon and a squadron of eleven British ships of the line came to anchor at the mouth of the Tagus. The news of this foreign intervention dismayed the revolutionists. On the banks of the Mondego the Marquis de Chaves, with 10,000 rebels, still commanded the approach to Coimbra. On January 9, a drawn battle was fought with 7,000 constitutional troops under Saldanha. Next morning Dom Miguel's followers, on the news of an approaching British column, quitted the field and dispersed. The Spanish troops on the frontier disarmed those that crossed into Spain.
In France, the government of Charles X., after some violent attacks in the Chambers, recalled the Swiss brigade sent to protect the royal family in Madrid. There was trouble enough at home. The clerical reaction in France brought about a popular outcry against the order of the Jesuits. On the occasion of a royal military review on April 29, some of the companies of the National Guards shared in demonstrations against them. "I am here," said the King, "to receive your homage, not your murmurings." The entire National Guard of Paris was disbanded by royal ordinance.
Early in the spring the Russian forces under Paskievitch had crossed the Araxes and forced the defiles of the Persian frontier. By a rapid flank movement an army of 10,000 Persians was detached and brought to surrender. Erivan, the bulwark of Persia, was taken by assault. The triumphant Russian column entered Pauris, the second city of the kingdom. Thence an advance was made on Teheran.
[Sidenote: Intervention in Greece favored]
These easy victories in Persia left the Czar free to resume his threatening attitude toward Turkey. In this he received the hearty support of Canning. A protocol at St. Petersburg, concluded between the Duke of Wellington and Nesselrode, formed the basis for Anglo-Russian intervention in the East. The royalists of France were won over by an offer from the Greek insurgents to place the Duke of Nimours on the throne of Greece. Without giving actual support to the proposed intervention the French ambassador in Constantinople was instructed to act with his English and Russian colleagues. Under the weight of this combination even Prince Metternich gave way.