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horrid carnage followed. Those who were not killed by the fire, were charged with the bayonet. As resistance was impossible, and the doors were blocked up, there was a general attempt to escape by the windows. The firing was mercilessly and wickedly continued while this desperate attempt was made, for few could even thus escape, as the windows were high; and some who leaped down were mutilated or killed by the fall, and some who reached the ground comparatively unhurt, were so much under the impression of being still pursued, that they ran into the sea and were drowned. When all were either driven out or dead, the murderers proceeded at their ease to plunder the corpses. They carried off their watches, money, and every thing else worth carrying, then stripped the room of its plate and rich ornaments, and having done their work completely, they left the spot. Thus closed the session of an assembly lawfully constituted, called together by the King's authority, and convened by the Ouvidor, or High Sheriff. As the details of this most atrocious affair transpired, they produced additional horror. Individuals were slain who had no share in the deliberations of the assembly, be those wise or foolish. One was a clerk in an English mercantile house. He happened to be near the door, and standing up on hearing the bustle, saw the muzzle of a musket pushed close to his breast. In the next moment the musket was discharged through his heart. Another was a young man, who, tired with the length of the sitting, had fallen asleep. As he was stretched upon one of the benches, he was fearfully awoke by the thrust of a bayonet, which was driven through his back into the bench on which he lay, and which pinned the unfortunate man to it. About thirty persons of a certain respectability were found dying or dead within the hall; others disappeared and were heard of no more, probably being drowned; and many others were hurt in various ways.

The massacre had its intended effect. It completely frightened the people. There was now no further debating on the royal departure; that point, at least, was fully secured.

The fleet was now ordered to be in instant readiness, and the King embarked on the 24th of May, with many of the nobles and moneyed men. They were wearied of the perpetual fluctuations of their revolutionary fellow-subjects; still more fearful of the insecurity of property, which is involved in all experiments on constitutions; and probably still more reluctant to exchange the old quiet government of their peaceable King, for the irregular activity of his successor. Dom Pedro was left behind as Prince Regent, with a council of three ministers, and, in case of his death, succession in the Regency to the Princess Leopoldina. There was now no farther question of the money carried on board, though it was accounted at fifty millions of crusadoes, (the crusado is about halfa-crown,) a formidable deduction from the circulating coin of the new state. The massacre had settled all.

To whom the ultimate guilt of this spurious exhibition of power was to be attributed, has never been ascertained; it was charged on the mere spontaneous wickedness of a pampered soldiery, glad to take the opportunity of safe robbery and murder. The popular feeling denounced the Conde de Arios, the late Governor of Pernambuco. Others charged the Prince Regent. But no satisfactory evidence was offered, and all that can be now said of it is, that it precipitated the King's departure. Yet though the popular voice was frightened into silence, the national disgust and abhorrence have never subsided. The hall was never entered afterwards by the merchants, for whom it had been built, by whom voluntarily furnished, and with whom this new Exchange had been a most favourite resort. The smell of murder and treachery was in it, and they could not be prevailed upon to enter its polluted walls. For some time it had remained in the same condition as on the night of the massacre, the walls and floors marked with bullets and blood. At length, to remove the palpable evidence of a fact which was equally a disgrace to the government, and an insult to the people, the hall was repaired and put into the same order as on its opening. Still the merchants would not

enter it; and after being left in this state of contemptuous desertion and disgust for some years, it was finally converted into a store-house for lumber. The building was suffered to go to decay, and the vaults and offices were tenanted by beggars and negroes. The departure of the King was the signal for a total change of measures. The popular outcry which had been so summarily extinguished, was again as summarily raised, and a demand was made of total independence. The Cortes of the mother country felt this demand as an act of rebellion, and orders were haughtily issued to break up the government, put the country into the hands of a provisional government more amenable to the will of Portugal, and, as an essential measure, to send the Prince Regent, without delay, to Europe, "to travel for his improvement," the well understood phrase for royal disgrace and exile.

The Prince's situation had now become one of delicacy. Open resistance to the decree must have been followed by his denouncement as a revolter. Acquiescence must have closed his career as the sovereign of a great empire. But he was soon extricated from the dilemma. The frigate was scarcely ordered to be ready for sea, and the Prince had scarcely announced his "dutiful submission to the will of his illustrious father," when an uproar arose from one end of the Brazils to the other. Newspapers, now for the first time called into activity, popular meetings, provincial riots, the general convulsion of men and things, commanded the refusal of the ordinance of the Cortes, the creation of a sovereignty, and the stay of the Prince in the country. The newspapers led the way. The Déspértador Brazilieuse (Brazilian Awakener) was filled with eloquent diatribes on the subject. It pronounced the measures of the Cortes, "illegal, impious, and impolitic. Illegal-because decreed without the co-operation of the Brazilian representatives, and consequently without any manifestation of the national will. Impious as shewing the contemptuous indifference with which the Cortes disposed of their existence, as if they were a band of miserable slaves, erected to

be subject to the caprice, and abandoned to the will of their masters; and not a coequal kingdom as they were, more powerful, and possessing more resources, than Portugal herself. Impolitic-because it was precisely at the moment when their union was likely to be most advantageous to the mother country, that she chose to fill them with disgust, and to render in the eyes of the world their separation a matter of both justice and necessity." This strong language was echoed by all voices. A still more direct denial of the authority of the Cortes was couched in the address of one of the Andrada family, men distinguished for their abilities, and their successive high employments under the crown. "How dare those Deputies of Portugal," says this bold manifesto," without waiting for the concurrence of the Deputies of Brazil, legislate on a matter, involving the most sacred interests of the entire kingdom? How dare they deprive Brazil of her Privy Council, her Court of Conscience, her Board of Commerce, her Court of Requests, and so many other institutions, just "established among us, and which promised us such future benefits? Where now must the people apply for justice in their civil and judicial concerns? Must they once more, after enjoying for twelve years the advantages of speedy justice, seek it in a foreign land, across two thousand leagues of ocean, among the procrastinations and corruptions of Lisbon tribunals, where the oppressed suitor is abandoned by hope and life ?" But the more pungent part of the address was an appeal to the Prince, to know whether he would allow himself "to be led about like a schoolboy, surrounded by masters and spies." The Camera presented an address expressed in the same terms, which was readily answered, "that since the Prince's remaining seemed to be the general wish and for the general good, he would remain." The declaration was received with great popular triumph. The usual exhibition of an opera commemorated the day, the Prince and Princess appeared in their box, to receive the homage of the audience; and the national hymn, written and composed by the Prince

himself, was sung with extravagant applause.

But this determination was in immediate hazard of being roughly changed. The Portuguese battalions, which felt themselves still strangers in the land, murmured loudly against what they termed rebellion to the authority of their country, and threatened to seize the Prince's person, and carry him on board. They assembled round the theatre for the purpose of their seizure, but the Prince escaped. They next took post upon a hill, with their guns pointed down on the city. A civil war was all but begun. Yet the discipline of the Portuguese was baffled by the rude zeal of the people. The popular force continued to pour in during the entire night,-arms and ammunition were brought from considerable distances on mules and horses, and by daybreak the Portuguese battalions were astonished to find themselves besieged by five thousand suddenly armed soldiers, hourly increased by the population from the neighbouring districts. The battalions soon made another and not less formidable discovery, that in their preparations for war, they had 'forgot the essential of provisions, and that if they remained but a little longer in their position, they must be starved. They had now no resource but to surrender, which they did, with the Prince's stipulation that they should be sent to Europe. But the transports not being ready, the troops were suffered to encamp on the opposite side of the bay, until preparation was made for them to put to sea. But yet when the time arrived, the troops again refused to move. Dom Pedro now acted with the necessary promptitude. He ordered a division of Brazilians into their rear, to prevent their march on the city, and at the same time moored two frigates in their front. Going on board one of them, he declared to the commander of the Portuguese, that he gave him but till the next day to make up his mind on the subject; and that if he was not ready to embark at that time, he would order a general assault by sea and land. Suiting the action to the word, he displayed himself on the quarterdeck, with a lighted match in his

hand, declaring that if it were necessary, he would fire the first gun. Within the stated time, the Portuguese were all embarked, and sailing out of the harbour. In the entire of those anxious transactions, Dom Pedro had continued to raise his estimation among the people. No excellence in a King will compensate for the want of energy. The public instinctively connect decision with power; and the monarch who exhibits himself fluctuating, or fearful, unequal to casualties, or apprehensive of results, instantly falls from his high estate in the general mind. By the mere fact of his being a monarch, he is prohibited from the irresolution which might be pardonable in an inferior grade; he is placed on the throne, for the express purpose of command. Dom John, with all the qualities of a paternal sovereign, had rapidly forfeited the public respect by his indolence, timidity, and indecision. Dom Pedro threw a veil over all his unpopular qualities, or rather eclipsed them, by the new lustre of his one great quality for a troubled throne-decision. During the struggle with the turbulent troops he was every where, he hazarded his ease, his throne, and his life, hourly; and by his conduct in this trying time, he shewed the peo. ple that he possessed all the title to their obedience that could be deserved by personal intrepidity.

But when he had thus gained the steps of Empire, he was soon com. pelled to learn, that even the most successful ambition has its penalties. The new spirit of independence which had lifted him to supreme power, suddenly began to spread through the provinces, and Maranhao, the Minas Geraes, and several other of the chief divisions of this enormous empire, each equal to an European kingdom, began to claim the right of separate legislation. The policy of the Portuguese Cortes promoted those divisions, with the idea of keeping the revolted government in check. The standard of independence was actually hoisted in the great province of Minas Geraes, and a provisional government appointed. As this was the province of the principal gold mines, and one of the most powerful, populous, and

intelligent of the empire, Dom Pedro resolved on striking at rebellion there, without delay. Leaving the government of Rio de Janeiro to his friend, Andrada, and ordering troops to march on all sides in the direction of Villa Rica, the capital of the insurgent province, he took the manly resolution of setting out in person, and actually preceding the troops to the centre of insurrection. The daring nature of this action was the source of its success. The insurgent army had marched out to fight the troops whom they expected to meet on the road to their capital. They met only the Prince, and whether astonished, or corrupted, or captivated, they received this solitary opponent with shouts, put themselves under his command, and marched back to Villa Rica. Insurrection hid its head at his approach, or rather was turned into sudden loyalty, for the independents joined the deputation which came forth to welcome the sovereign. Dom Pedro had the good sense to be satisfied with the submission, declared himself, so far from hostile to independence, that he was its warmest advocate, congratulated them on having, like himself, burst asunder all fetters, and gave a huzza for the constitution, religion, honest men, and the men of the Minas. No punishment was inflicted, except the politic suspension of a few of the leaders from public employment. He then turn ed his horse's head, galloped back to Rio; on his arrival went instantly to the Opera, announced there to the shouting multitude the submission of the province, and thus showily closed a campaign of thirty days, during which he had accomplished a journey of a thousand miles, through forest, mountain, furious river, and trackless wilderness, continually in peril, and accomplished the still more hazardous object of appeasing and reconciling a remarkably daring, turbulent, and headstrong portion of his people.

and that was enough for the Brazilians. On that day, a deputation of the Camera waited on him with the proposal of the title of "Constitutional Prince Regent, and Perpetual Defender of Brazil." The next invitation was, to call a general council to deliberate on the affairs of the kingdom. This was equivalent to a declaration of independence; and the actual declaration was soon to follow.

His popularity was now unbounded, and it was dexterously made a ground for a new advance in power. The 13th of May, the anniversary of his father's birth, was singularly chosen to consummate the usurpation of the son; but it was a holiday,

The Portuguese Cortes, like all the modern makers of European constitutions, were Jacobins, and, of course, at once blunderers, impostors, and tyrants. With the Jacobin, in all countries, personal cupidity is the sole impulse, and the extinction of every man and thing above himself the sole object of his success. Generally flung out of the natural and honest ways of acquiring character, he is poor and characterless; and he knows, or will adopt no better way of balancing his ill fuck, than by sinking every honester and better man to his own level. Universally a personal profligate, heartless in his private intercourse with society, without allegiance to God, or fidelity to man, he becomes an advocate for every extravagant claim of popular passion; is a clamourer for the independence of all religions, in all their forms, which all, in all their forms, he equally despises; devotes himself to the cause of license in every land, under the insulted name of liberty; and with every element of scorn for all human rights, interests, and feelings, utterly contemptuous of human nature, and looking on the people but as a toolfraudulent in all his dealings, and false in all his protestations, he proclaims himself the champion of popular rights throughout all nations.

The Portuguese Cortes acted in the full spirit of this character. The slightest claim to equality of privileges was scoffed at. The Brazilians were pronounced rebels, troops were sent to coerce them; and while the rabble of Portugal were giving law to the throne, the halls of the Cortes resounded with the bitterest taunts of the members against the fair claims of Brazil, seconded or dictated by the most furious clamours of the mob, which were suffered to

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crowd their avenues and galleries. The few Brazilian deputies vainly attempted to reason; they were put down by uproar. The Brazils, a territory as large as Europe, and hourly rising in wealth, population, and general acquirement-an empire, whose smallest province was larger than the whole of Portugal-were treated as the toy, the slave, or the victim of the rabble legislation of Lisbon; and orders were sent out commanding the Prince's return to Europe within four months; and denouncing all the military who continued to obey him, as traitors to Portugal. But this act of violence was equally an act of folly. The blow was too late. The Prince, on receiving the dispatches, virtually consigning him to a dungeon, decided at once on resistance. After contemplating them seriously for a time, he drew the natural conclusion, that on his decision turned the question of personal sovereignty or chains. He exclaimed, "Independence or Death!" The exclamation was caught like a Roman omen-was repeated on all sides; and from that moment the Brazils were free. The town of Piranga, where this event occurred, is still commemorated as the cradle of Brazilian independence.

The next and natural step was the formation of a legislature. By the advice of the Council, a general assembly of Deputies from all the provinces was called, to assume the functions of a Parliament. And the first act of the nation, thus established in its independence, was to shew its gratitude by proclaiming Dom Pedro its sovereign. On the 22d of October, he was publicly shewn to the soldiery and the people, in the Campo de Santa Anna, as "Constitutional Emperor, with the unanimous acclamation of the people." The tinge of republicanism thrown over this high acknowledgment, was destined to colour the whole future history of this brief sovereignty; but, for the time, all was confidence, triumph, and perhaps sincerity; and whether with the tacit object of marking the popular influence on the occasion, or in the mere captivation of a sounding title, the Saint lost her rights, and the Square was thenceforth named the Campo d'Ac

clamacáo.

The Portuguese garrison and fleet

at Bahia now became the points of public attention. Dom Pedro displayed his habitual activity on this occasion, collected troops, engineers, and ammunition from all quarters, and made a still more important accession in the person of Lord Cochrane, whom he put at the head of the Imperial fleet, and instantly dispatched to Rio. The enemy's fleet was strong, amounting to thirteen ships, with 398 guns, while the Brazilian amounted only to seven, with 250 guns. But their commander's name was a tower of strength; he found the Portuguese hauled out in order of battle, and instantly attacked them. But his ships were worked by inexperienced Brazilians, and by Portuguese, who could not be relied on. He yet forced the Portuguese line, but he found himself so il seconded, that after some firing he was forced to retire. On returning the next day to the attack, he found that the enemy had been frightened under the guns of their shore batteries; he therefore blockaded them, and urged the blockade with such vigilance, that the garrison were speedily on the verge of famine. But a blockade was not sufficient employment for the stirring spirit of this officer. He determined to enter the harbour, and surprise the fleet. The English commodore in the Bay, well acquainted with the style of the gallant blockader, advised the Portuguese Admiral to take some precautions against a night attack. But the Portuguese thought himself safe, and, like a true son of the south, left the rest to fortune. He was dining on shore with the General, when a fire from the bay at ten at night told him that the Englishman was not mistaken; Lord Cochrane had attacked the fleet at anchor. Under cover of the night, he had hove his ship into the midst of the fleet, and was already alongside of the Admiral's vessel. The wind had brought him thus far, and in a few minutes more his boarders would have been upon the deck of the Portuguese. But by one of the changes common in that climate, the breeze died away at the moment, and the assailant found himself powerless in the midst of the enemy's fleet, and, what was of much more importance, under the guns of their batteries. Thero

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