found united, to adorn the sanctuary of the Country, without finding the avenues to the Throne, which have hitherto been open only to hyprocrisy, and to imposture, shut against them by intrigue.

Citizens of all classes, Brazilian Youth, you will have a Code of Publick National Instruction, which will cause the talents of this blessed Climate to germinate, and to vegetate vigorously, and will place our Constitution under the safeguard of future generations; which exist in spreading throughout the Country a liberal education, and communicating thereby to its Members the instruction necessary to promote the felicity of the Great Brazilian Nation.

Behold, Inhabitants of Brazil, the perspective of glory and of greatness which is before you be not alarmed at the imperfections of your actual situation. The torrent of civilization has already begun to pour impetuously from the Deserts of California, to the Streights of Magellan. A Constitution, with lawful liberty, are the inexhaustible sources of wonders; they will form the bridge over which all that is good, in old and convulsed Europe, will pass to our Continent. Fear not Foreign Nations. Europe, which acknowledged the Independence of the United States of America, and remained neutral during the struggle of the Spanish Colonies, cannot fail to acknowledge that of Brazil, which, with so much justice, and so many means and resources at hand, has determined also to enter into the great Family of Nations. We will never involve ourselves in their internal affairs, and they, on their part, will not seek to disturb the Peace and free Commerce we shall offer to them, guaranteed by the Representative Government we are about to establish.

Let no cry be heard amongst you but that of Union. From the Amazons to the Plata, let no other echo resound but Independence. Let all our Provinces combine to form the mysterious faggot which no force can break. Let all old prejudices disappear for ever, and let the love of the general good be substituted for that of any one Province, or of any one City. Regard not injuries, calumnies, and invectives, which obscure Libellers send forth against you, against me, and against our liberal system. Recollect that, had they praised you, Brazil would have been lost. Let them say that our attempts are against Portugal, against the Mother Country, against our Benefactors: by preserving our Rights, by punishing by our Laws, by consolidating our Liberty, we wish to save Portugal from a new class of Tyrants.

Regard not their cry that we are rebelling against our King. He knows that we love him, as a Citizen King, and wish to rescue him from the insulting state of captivity to which they have reduced him, by tearing the mask of hypocrisy from infamous Demagogues, and marking with true Liberalism the just limits of Political Powers. They may still endeavour to persuade the World, that we are breaking all the ties of Union with our European Brethren. It is not so. We wish to establish them upon a solid basis, free from the influence of

a Party, which has shamefully disregarded our Rights, and has openly betrayed itself, by so many acts that can no longer be concealed, which are tyrannical and domineering, to our dishonour and prejudice, and weaken and destroy irremediably that moral power so necessary in a Congress, which depends for its support upon Publick opinion and justice.

Illustrious Men of Bahia! the generous but unfortunate portion of Brazil, on whose soil those famished and pestiferous Harpies have taken the fastest hold! How deeply your lot grieves me! How much do I lament that I could not long since contribute to the drying up of your tears, and assuaging your despair! Bahians, whose emblem is bravery; drive from your bosom those Monsters who live upon your blood; fear them not: your delay is their strength. They are no longer Portuguese. Expel them, and unite yourselves with us whose arms are open to receive you.

Brave Miners, intrepid Pernambucans, Defenders of Brazilian Liberty, fly to the succour of your neighbouring Brethren. It is not the Cause of a Province, but the Cause of Brazil, that is defended in the first-born of Cabral. Destroy this nest of Wolves in disguise, who still support the sanguinary caprices of the factious Party. Pernambucans! call to mind the burning piles of Bonito and the scenes of the Recife! Spare, however, and love as Brethren, all pacifick Portuguese, who respect our Rights, and are anxious for our and their own happiness.

Inhabitants of Ceará, of Maranham, of the rich Pará, and of the fertile and beautiful Provinces of the North; come to form and sign the Act of our Emancipation, that we may immediately assume our rank in the great Political Association. Brazilians in general! Friends! Let us all unite-I am your Compatriot-I am your Defender-Let us regard as the only reward of our toils, the honour, the glory, the prosperity of Brazil. Pursuing this path you will always find me in your front, and in the place of the greatest danger. Be assured that my happiness depends upon your happiness. It is my glory to rule over brave and a free People. Shew me the example of your virtues and of your union.-I will be worthy of you.

Palace of Rio de Janeiro, 1st of August, 1822.

THE PRINCE REGENT.

DECREE of the Prince Regent and Perpetual Defender of Brazil, respecting the Measures to be taken, in the event of the arrival of Troops from Portugal.-1st August, 1822. (Translation.)

HAVING been confirmed, by the unanimous consent and free-will of the People of Brazil, in the dignity and power of Regent of this vast Empire, with which the King, my August Father has charged me; a

dignity whereof the Cortes of Lisbon, without hearing all the Deputies of Brazil, have attempted to despoil me, as is notorious; and having, moreover, accepted the title and charge of Perpetual Defender of this Kingdom, which the same People have so generously and loyally conferred upon me: It behoves me, therefore, in the discharge of my sacred duties, and in acknowledgment of so much love and fidelity, to take all the Measures which are indispensable for the salvation of this the greatest part of the Portuguese Monarchy, which has been entrusted to me, and whose Rights I have sworn to preserve inviolate, against all attack. And, as the Cortes of Lisbon continue to pursue the erroneous, and in every light unjust, system, of recolonizing Brazil, even by force of arms, notwithstanding that it has already declared its Political Independence, and that a General Constituent and Legislative Assembly has been already legally convoked, by my Royal Decree of the 3d June last, at the general request of all the Magistracies, thus proceeding with a formality which was not observed in Portugal, where the Convocation of the Congress was in its origin the act solely of secret and factious Clubs: And considering, also, that His Majesty the King, Lord Don John the VIth, whose name and authority the Cortes employ for their sinister ends, is a Prisoner in that Kingdom, without his own proper will, and without that liberty of action which is given to the Executive Power in Constitutional Monarchies I order, after having heard my Council of State, to all the Provisional Juntas of Government, the Governors at Arms, Military Commandants, and all the Constituted Authorities, to whom the execution of this Decree belongs, as follows:

I. That all Troops shall be considered as Enemies who may be sent to Brazil from Portugal, or any other Quarter, without my previous consent, under whatever pretext it may be; as well as all the Crews and Persons on board of the Ships in which the said Troops may be transported, if they attempt to land: the commercial and amicable relations between the two Kingdoms remaining free, for the preservation of the Political Union which I so much desire to maintain.

II. That if they arrive with peaceful intentions, they shall immediately return, remaining however on board, without communication, until they shall be furnished with all the supplies and assistance necessary for that purpose.

III. That in case the said Troops should not obey these Orders, and should attempt to land, they shall be driven back, by force of arms, by all the Military Corps of the first and second Line, and even by the People en masse; putting into execution every possible means, if it be necessary, to burn the Ships, and to sink the Boats for disembarkation.

IV. That if, notwithstanding these efforts, it shall happen that such Troops succeed in effecting a disembarkation, in any Port, or Place of Brazil, all the Inhabitants shall retire into the interior, car

rying with them into the woods and mountains all their provisions and cattle, and whatever might be useful to the Invaders. And the Troops of the Country shall carry on against them an active warfare of Posts and Guerillas, avoiding every occasion of general Battle, until they succeed in freeing themselves from the Enemy.

V. That, from this moment, it is the duty of all Military and Civil Authorities to whom it may belong, to fortify all the Ports of Brazil, in which a Landing might be effected, under the most strict and rigorous responsibility.

VI. That if, by accident, any of the Provinces of Brazil should not be supplied with the necessary Ammunition and Ordnance for the Fortifications, the abovementioned Authorities will represent to this Court what they require, in order that they may be furnished therewith from hence, or they will immediately acquaint the nearest Province thereof, which shall be bound to give them all the succour necessary for the due fulfilment of such important duties.

The Civil and Military Authorities to whom the execution of this my Royal Decree belongs, will so execute and cause it to be executed, with all zeal, energy, and promptitude, under the responsibility of rendering themselves guilty of Treason should they neglect so to fulfil it. Palace of Rio de Janeiro, 1st of August, 1822.

[With the Initials of His Royal Highness the Prince Regent.] LUIZ PEREIRA DA NOBREGA DE SOUZA COUTINHO.

MANIFESTO of the Prince Regent of Brazil to Friendly Governments and Nations, relative to the Independence of Brazil.-6th August, 1822. Translation.)

I, AND the People who have recognized me as their Prince Regent, being desirous to preserve our Political and Commercial Relations with Governments and Nations, the Friends of this Kingdom, and of continuing to merit that approbation and esteem which the Brazilian character deserves from them, it behoves me to lay before them succinctly, but truly, the series of facts and motives that have induced me to accede to the general will of the People of Brazil, who have proclaimed in the face of the Universe its Political Independence, and their wish, as a Sister Kingdom, and as a great and powerful Nation, to preserve, pure and inviolate, their imprescriptible rights, which Portugal has constantly attacked, and now attacks more than ever, since the so-much-praised political regeneration of the Monarchy by the Cortes of Lisbon.

When this rich and vast Brazilian Region first accidentally presented itself to the eyes of the adventurous Cabral, avarice and religious proselytism, and the incitements to discovery and Colonization, immediately induced him to possess himself of it as a Conquest; and by Laws of

blood, dictated by bad passions, and sordid interests, the Portuguese tyranny was established. The uncivilized Native, and the European Colonist, were obliged to tread the same path of wretchedness and slavery. If they dug into the bowels of their Mountains to extract from them their gold, absurd Laws, and the Quinto Tax quickly came to disgust them in their hardly commenced labours; at the same time that the Portuguese Government, with insatiable voracity, devoured the treasures which beneficent Nature supplied, causing the unfortunate Mines to be encumbered with the weight of the most odious of tributes, the Capitation Tax. They wished that the Brazilians should pay even for the air they breathed, and the ground on which they walked. If the industry of a few enterprizing Men endeavoured to give a new form to the productions of their soil, wherewith to cover the nakedness of their Children, tyrannical Laws prevented it, and punished their praiseworthy efforts. The Europeans have always studied to keep this fine Region in the most rigid and abject dependence upon the Mother Country, because they considered it necessary, for the security of their dominion, to obstruct or impoverish the perennial fountain of its riches. If the activity of a Colonist, offered to his Fellow-citizens from time to time some new branch of rural economy, by the introduction of exotick, useful, and valuable plants, onerous Imposts soon came to destroy such happy undertakings. If adventurous Men had the courage to change the course of the streams, in order thereby to obtain diamonds from the earth, they were immediately prevented by the cruel Agents of Monopoly, and punished by inexorable Laws. If the superfluity of its productions invited and called for an exchange for Foreign productions, Brazil, deprived of the Markets of Nations, and consequently of competition in them, which rendered its purchases dear, and its sales cheap, had no alternative but to send them to the Ports of the Mother Country, and thus more and more to stimulate the sordid desire of wealth, and preponderance of its Tyrants. If, finally, the Brazilian, to whom bountiful Nature has given talents of no ordinary kind, were desirous of being instructed in the arts and sciences, the better to understand his rights, or to know how to avail himself of the natural gifts with which Providence has endowed his Country, it was necessary that he should go for that purpose to Portugal, which scarcely possessed any such information, and from whence, in many instances, he was not permitted to return.

Such was the fate of Brazil for nearly 3 Centuries; such the narrow policy that Portugal, always illiberal in its views, always avaricious. and tyrannical, adopted to consolidate its dominion, and maintain its factitious splendour. Colonists and Natives, Conquered and Conquerors, their Children and their Children's Children, all were confounded; all were subjected to one general anathema. And, as the