culous. To such a pitch had this frenzy risen, that it was at last really dangerous to go out, for you were sure to fall in with one of these political enthusiasts, who would detain you for hours under a burning sun, at the eminent risk of a "coup de soleil," while he read to you a series of new political axioms, developed in a constitution. of his own composition. It was in vain that you observed-when so fortunate as to be able to edge in a word or two, which, by the by, was not often the case-that there is an immeasurable distance between theory and practice, high-sounding generalities and laborious details; you were immediately silenced with the intelligence of the age, which, according to them, rendered every innovation practicable. Human nature must have indeed realized that dream of philosophy, the perfectibility of our species, to have benefited by the labours of these worthies. The grand "Reunion" of these Utopian projectors was in the different apothecaries' shops of the capital. Curiosity often induced me to enter, and a more melancholy picture of political fanaticism I never beheld. The clamour of debate might be heard at a considerable distance, while the violent contentions and angry gesticulations of the disputants recalled forcibly to my memory that admirable scene of Le Sage, between Gil Blas and the logicians. It was at one of these meetings that a demagogue, having intemperately indulged in a pasquinade against the Emperor, drew on himself a severe personal chastisement from an officer who was present. History presents but too many examples of the important effects which have sometimes sprung from the most trifling causes. It will, however, be perhaps scarcely credited, that, in this instance, a few " de canne" overthrew the constitution, and nearly precipitated the enpire into a civil war. The report of this outrage on the person of a peaceful citizen, as it was emphatically called, spread like wild-fire through the city, and worked up the public mind to a pitch bordering on frenzy. The army, hitherto their pride and admiration, and the object of their fondest hopes, was now compared to the pretorian guard of Rome, and the Emperor to Tiberius or Nero. The Cortes, by their emissaries, secretly fanned the flame. The proceedings of this assembly had, from the first moment of their installation, been marked by all the vague notions of undigested theories, rather than any practical knowledge of the science of government; it was not, therefore, to be supposed that they would allow so favourable an opportunity to escape for encroaching on the prerogative of the Emperor, and of carrying into execution their at once darling and democratic plans. They accordingly took up the matter in a most serious light, denounced it as the forerunner of military despotism, declared the constitution in danger, decreed their own sittings permanent, and crowned the whole by ordering the Emperor, with the army, to retire ten leagues from the capital.

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Don Pedro was at the palace of St. Chrestorao, about a league distant from the city, when the decree of the Legislative Assembly fell upon him like a thunderbolt from heaven. His position was one of peculiar difficulty; he had no middle course left him; empire, nay, even life, depended on the cast of the moment; it was now literally "Aut Cæsar, aut nihil," with the Emperor. In this conjuncture he assembled no council; no previous deliberations marked out for him what course to pursue; in the unsubdued energy of his character he calmly

contemplated the approach of the tempest ready to burst on his head, and with admirable energy and decision, he at once saved himself and his newly-founded empire. There were three or four regiments of infantry, with some cavalry and artillery, quartered in the immediate vicinity of the palace. To assemble these, harangue them, put himself at their head, and make a dash at the Assembly, was a plan which the Emperor not more rapidly conceived than executed.

In the course of the many political convulsions which it was my lot to witness during a long residence in Brazil, I invariably remarked, that the strong spirit of curiosity, which in most other countries so irresistibly impels the bystanders to the seat of action, operates in a sense directly inverse with the Brazilian. At the earliest approach of danger, which he intuitively descries with almost animal sagacity, he immediately takes refuge in the deepest recesses of his own habitation; or, if he can possibly accomplish it, in that of a foreign resident. There he prudently remains till the storm has blown over; when, with erect front and flashing eyes, he sallies forth, and, with an air of the most imperturbable gravity and superlative assurance, gives a bulletin of the affair so circumstantially minute in all its details, that one unacquainted with the national character would have no hesitation in pronouncing him an eye-witness of the whole. On this occasion some indefinable sensation of danger appeared to have seized on the minds of the people. I traversed several of the principal streets without meeting a soul-a deathlike silence prevailed throughout the city, like that which, in the material world, precedes some great convulsion of nature. In the great square of the palace I alone encountered a few groups of loiterers, among whom I easily distinguished several of the most determined votaries of Utopia.

Their former air of confidence and pride had given place to one of the deepest dejection, and their usual high sounding and dogmatizing tone had sunk into a lowly whisper. At a short distance, their animated countenances forming a lively contrast with the crest-fallen air of the Brazilians, stood a group of young British officers, who, with all the "diablerie" of their age and profession, appeared to absolutely revel in the prospect of a row. I joined this party, who, like myself, were resolved on seeing the upshot of the affair. We had not waited long, when the roll of guns and the measured tramp of infantry broke on our ears with an effect increased by the solemn silence which prevailed. Away went the groups of Brazilians, like nocturnal mists before the morning sun; and when the column of troops, headed by Don Pedro, debouched from the principal street into the square, we were left in almost solitary possession of it. The column passed in double-quick time, preceded by the Emperor and his staff, who, with a small escort, rode a little in advance. There was marked on the countenance of the Emperor an air of cool determination, to which his lofty black plume, which cast a deep shadow over his features, gave an expression of sternWe moved our hats as he rode past, and were cordially saluted in return. Marching into the small square, in which stood the House of Assembly, he secured all its avenues, and immediately planted four pieces of artillery against the principal entrance of the edifice. Having completed these preliminary arrangements, he despatched his aid

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de-camp, General Moraes, into the Assembly, to dissolve their sittings, and to declare the constitution abolished.

Most, woefully had the Cortes misconceived the character of this prince: when they thought to have taken the lion in his lair, he was found at bay; and at the very moment they least expected it, their own machinations recoiled on them with a violence tenfold superior to the projectile force. The stern decision of the Emperor overwhelmed the Assembly with consternation;-that the closing scene of their mad career had arrived, flashed across their minds in the full tide of withering conviction. A death-like silence reigned within the Hall which so lately resounded with the clamour of debate-through which the clangour of the spurred heel of the General, as he ascended the staircase, broke on their ears with portentous import. In the next moment he was in the Hall, and had thundered forth the will of his master. The President alone, of all the members, appeared to have preserved his presence of mind. He rose, and with great dignity denounced Don Pedro and the army as traitors to their country, and peremptorily commanded the General to retire from the sacred precincts of the Assembly, violated by his armed presence. The General sternly bade him look into the square beneath. He did so, and saw that there was no alternative between absolute submission, or a similar fate to that of Papyrius and his companions-an example which, in spite of their admiration of antiquity, not a member of the Assembly was ambitious of imitating. As they descended the staircase, four or five of the leading agitators, among whom were the prime minister and his brother, were seized, conveyed on board a vessel on the eve of sailing for France, and ere the morrow's sun had reached its meridian height, the shores of their native country were fast receding from their view.

All was now gloom, doubt, and suspicion; I began to find my residence in the Rio horridly dull and monotonous. I had seen the first act of Independence; I will go back, thought I, to St. Salvador, and witness the closing scene of the drama of Portuguese dominion in South America. I experienced some difficulty in getting away, for a rigorous embargo had been laid on all vessels sailing to the Northern provinces, in consequence of the recent departure of Lord Cochrane with a strong expedition under his command. From this dilemma I was extricated by the captain of a French vessel of war, who politely offered me a passage on board his ship. I know of no greater blank in human existence than a long sea voyage; it is an undeviating straight line of monotonous uniformity, on which memory in vain seeks for an object to dwell upon with a pleasurable emotion, unless, indeed, it is the very moment of its termination. My short cruise on board Le Rusé proved a source of high gratification. There is always something about a ship of war singularly interesting to the contemplative mind; it is a little world in itself, or rather, a splendid fragment of civilization. I derived considerable interest in contrasting, as far as I was able, the routine of discipline in the French service with that of our own. Every thing was in the highest possible order, and the men were daily exercised at the great-guns and small-arms. As far as my own observation enabled me to judge, I should say there was more science than practical seamanship. The officers were fully sensible of many defects in their system of organization, and were ever studious in profiting by the more enlarged experience of their neighbours. I was particularly struck

with the extreme docility of the crew, and the consequent absence of those strong measures of coercion--so marked a feature in our own service. As I one day alluded to this circumstance, while conversing with the commandant, he laughingly told me that he could obtain any thing from them but silence; they were composed of Provençaux, who, even in France, are remarkable for their volubility. As we were entering the harbour of St. Salvador, he called them aft, and pointing to three English frigates at anchor in the roads, "Mes enfans," said he, "Messieurs les Anglais have their eyes upon us." This appeal to their national vanity was electric; the ship was worked into harbour in the most profound silence. I almost felt sorry to arrive; and shall, to the last hour of my existence, entertain the liveliest sense of gratitude for the kindness and attention which I received from the Captain and officers of his most Christian Majesty's sloop of war Le Rusé.

The flag of Portugal still floated in lordly pride on the walls of the garrison. As I gazed on that banner which had so often given its ample folds to the breeze in a wide and extended career of victory, a feeling of gloom and melancholy, whether arising from early association, or long habit, I know not, flashed across my mind. I could not help reflecting on the instability of all human grandeur, and the vicissitudes of fortune-and dwelt with a feeling of bitterness and gloomy foreboding on the moment when, perhaps, a similar reverse might cloud the lofty destinies of my own country. Alas! how changed was the once cheerful aspect of this magnificent bay! But Nature still was fair, and amidst the horrors of war shone forth in all the vivid colouring and luxuriant beauty of a tropical climate. The merchant navies which once floated on its deep bosom, laden with the rich and varied productions of every clime; the fleet of barks, and other small craft, which, swan-like,whitened its vast expanse, transporting to the interior the seeds of European civilization, had all disappeared. On landing, the vision darkened. The extensive quays, once all bustle and animation, and resounding with the wild and discordant cries of the negro population, were now one measureless waste, silent as the grave; the lower town appeared to be nearly deserted. In the square of the Opera I encountered a group of officers: their fine countenances were clouded with despondency-even the reckless gaiety of the soldier, "which smiles even in death," was subdued; they broke out into bitter complaints against the conduct of the Governor, who, by his supineness and inactivity, had allowed the favourable moment for action irrevocably to escape him.

The details of this siege offer nothing of interest, even to the military reader; it was, on both sides, an exhibition of patient endurance of privation and hardship, rather than one of fierce and bloody strife. The city, strongly fortified both by nature and art, and defended by a veteran and numerous garrison, laughed to scorn any attempt on the part of the raw and undisciplined levies of Brazil to carry it by assault. I know of no instance, however, in the history of warfare, in which great and manifold advantages were so fatally thrown away as in this, from the sheer want of talent to avail itself of them. The Royalist general might, in the first instance, have carried every thing before him. With fifteen effective battalions of the same men who had marched from the Tagus to the Adour, with a well-appointed artillery, a numerous and well-organized militia force, animated with the best spirit, and, above all, with the halo of invincibility hovering round his standards-in his

position equivalent to a corps d'armée, had he marched boldly into the interior, where there was no efficient force to oppose him, he would have awed the disaffected, have fixed the wavering, and, what was of more importance, would have afforded an opportunity to his numerous partisans to declare themselves. Had he pursued a more bold and decided system of tactics, the march of Independence might have been arrested in its career for some years; instead of which he remained inactively within the walls of the city, and suffered famine and disease, and a host of other concomitants which destroy the morale of an army, to proceed in their work of devastation. The conduct of the naval commander was still more inexplicable. The force under his command was quintuple that of Lord Cochrane's, and yet he perversely allowed his Lordship to maintain a rigorous blockade with a couple of vessels. Had this overwhelming force been properly directed, it might not only have destroyed the Brazilian fleet, but have successfully blockaded the harbour of the Rio Janeiro; they, however, remained quietly at anchor in the bay, a monument of fatal indecision, if not of treachery-a feeling which appeared to have taken possession of the minds of the garrison. I repeatedly heard the soldiers breaking out into loud complaints against the conduct of their officers; and often, at the sight of an Englishman, express their deep and bitter regret at the absence of their British generals and officers, by whom they had been so often led on to victory.

Uninteresting as were the details of this siege, I must not pass over the daring attempt made by Lord Cochrane, in a nocturnal attack, to destroy the Royalist fleet. Sir Thomas Hardy, who commanded our squadron on the station, had previously warned the Royalist Admiral of the desperate tactique of his adversary, and had indicated his own sense of it, by moving with his squadron seven or eight miles across the bay, to be out of reach of the fire-ships in case of attack. What he had foreseen came to pass a few nights after. Taking advantage of a very dark night, his Lordship, in his own ship the Pedro, singly dashed into the midst of three-and-twenty vessels of war, defended by several strong forts and batteries. He was just on the point of running alongside the Admiral's ship, the capture of which would have decided the fate of the rest, when the wind suddenly played the traitor, and saved the Royalist squadron. To have fired would have been madness; for the vacuum produced in the atmosphere by the detonation of artillery would have entirely dissipated the little wind which remained, and the odds against his Lordship were too fearful to forego the only advantage he had--the wind. Had the breeze held on, it would have been a second Basque Roads affair; as it is, we cannot refuse our admiration of the daring conception which planned it.

In the mean while, so rigorously was the blockade maintained, both by sea and land, that the city was devastated by famine and disease. The misery of the unfortunate inhabitants was au comble. Slaves of great value were parted with for the most trifling sums, from the utter impossibility of subsisting them; the coarsest food was sold for almost its weight in gold. In this emergency, the Governor availed himself of the only alternative left him-a stern one, indeed, but at least justified by expediency it was to drive on the enemy's lines all useless mouths. Three days were allowed for this purpose, during which upwards of sixteen thousand old men, women, and children, left the garrison. To