s the court of Portugal had made remonstrances to the British ministry
against the proceedings of the English squadron under admiral Boscawen,
which had attacked and destroyed some French ships under the Portuguese
fort in the bay of Lagos, his Britannic majesty thought proper to send
the earl of Kinnoul as ambassador-extraordinary to Lisbon, where that
nobleman made such excuses for the insult of the English admiral, as
entirely removed all the misunderstanding between the two crowns;
and could not fail of being agreeable to the Portuguese monarch, thus
respected, soothed, and deprecated by a mighty nation, in the very
zenith of power and prosperity. On the sixth of June, being the birthday
of the king of Portugal, the marriage of his brother don Pedro with the
princess of Brazil was celebrated in the chapel of the palace where
the king resides, to the universal joy of the people. The nuptials were
announced to the public by the discharge of cannon, and celebrated with
illuminations and all kinds of rejoicing.

An accident which happened in the Mediterranean had like to have drawn
the indignation of the Ottoman Porte on the knights of the order of
Malta. A large Turkish ship of the line, mounted with sixty-eight brass
cannon, having on board a complement of seven hundred men, besides
seventy christian slaves, under the immediate command of the Turkish
admiral, had, in company with two frigates, five galleys, and other
smaller vessels, sailed in June from the Dardanelles; cruised along the
coast of Smyrna, Scio, and Trio; and at length anchored in the channel
of Stangie, where the admiral, with four hundred persons, went on shore,
on the nineteenth day of September: the christian slaves, seizing this
opportunity, armed themselves with knives, and fell upon the three
hundred that remained with such fury and effect, that a great number
of the Turks were instantly slain; many leaped overboard into the sea,
where they perished; and the rest sued for mercy. The christians, having
thus secured possession of the ship, hoisted sail, and bore away for
Malta: which, though chased by the two frigates and a Ragusan ship, they
reached by crowding all their canvas, and brought their prize safe into
the harbour of Valette, amidst the acclamations of the people. The order
of Malta, as a recompence for this signal act of bravery and resolution,
assigned to the captors the whole property of the ship and slaves,
together with all the effec