1) Correspondence between Sir S Smith and Dom Joćo
a) so, not in Sir S Smiths published papers (or unpublished mss)?
If it still exists, it would be located in the Portuguese/Brazil Archives of
Dom Joćo papers. It would most likely be in French. Smith wrote and understood
French, Spanish, Italian, but I am not sure about Portuguese, but, presumably,
Smith would have used French in communicating with a royal.
b) quite possible that a copy is held in some archive in Lisbon / Brazil
c) that is written in French is pure conjecture
ans:
a) not that I've ever seen. Lisbon gets almost no attention in any of the works on Smith. The 1809 text is the closest I've seen.
c) Smith was completely fluent in French. It's almost unimaginable that he would have written in English to a Portuguese royal. With the choices being Spanish, Italian, French, English; the answer is going to be, almost certainly, French. Conjecture? Yes, but informed conjecture. Might be helpful in looking for it.
We agree on most other points, particularly in regards to impact of Strangford on events. His rewritten "dispatches" appear to be little more than Tory propaganda.
I just find that there is a nearly constant effort, some intentional some not, to erase Smith from history. That he had such a dramatic impact on Portuguese history, at such a critical point, makes the lack of even a single mention ... disconcerting.
I did find Sir Sidney's full credits that includes the Portuguese Order.
From Royal Naval Biography; Or, Memoirs of the Services of All the Flag-officers ...By John Marshall
SIR WILLIAM SIDNEY SMITH,
Admiral of the Blue; Knight Commander of the most honourable Military Order of the Bath; Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Swedish Order of the Sword; of the Portuguese Order of the Tower and Sword, and of the Neapolitan Order of St. Ferdinand and of Merit; Knight of the Ottoman Order of the Crescent: Doctor of the Civil Law: Master of Arts; and Fellow of the Royal Society.
I look forward to any comments you might have on the 1809 text.