After the Belfastada, Palmela was determined to launch a new expedition, not least to restore his own reputation. In Plymouth, he formed the Battalion of Volunteers of the Queen, which he planned to send to Terceira, an island in the Azores and the only Portuguese territory still loyal to Pedro. In a dispatch dated 15 October, Palmela informed Itabaiana: ‘I wrote today to the Commander of the Plymouth Depot urging him to have the three transports to convey the battalion ready to sail […] within the next forty- eight hours’. On board there were already several crates of guns and ammunition, some destined for Madeira, others for the Azores, and others for the use of the Plymouth battalion. However, the less than cooperative attitude of the British government was to cause serious delays to the project, which, in the end, only went ahead after complicated manoeuvres involving a good deal of deception and half truth.

On 15 September, Barbacena, the accredited Brazilian plenipotentiary, requested Wellington to agree to the departure for the Azores of ‘a part of the faithful Portuguese Troops, which are now in England, and whose presence in the above mentioned Islands would ensure its defence as well as its tranquillity’. Three days later, Wellington replied: ‘We know of no Portuguese Troops in this country. If there be any they must quit the Country without loss of time.’ Wellington's response seems ambiguous although it could be construed as accepting Barbacena's request. But Wellington was becoming concerned. Less than two weeks later, he admitted to Aberdeen,