SOUTH AMERICA. 97 



JOURNEY. 



beast from Angola ! and now a guard is on duty SECOND 



- lul l.-.l v 



at the very gate where, in times long past, the 

 poor were daily fed ! ! ! 



Trust not, kind reader, to the envious remarks 

 which their enemies have scattered far and near ; 

 believe not the stories of those who have had a 

 hand in the sad tragedy. Go to Brazil, and see 

 with thine own eyes the effect of Pombal's short- 

 sighted policy. There vice reigns triumphant, 

 and learning is at its lowest ebb. Neither is this 

 to be wondered at. Destroy the compass, and 

 will the vessel find her far distant port? Will 

 the flock keep together, and escape the wolves, 

 after the shepherds are all slain ? The Brazilians 

 were told, that public education would go on 

 just as usual. They might have asked govern- 

 ment, who so able to instruct our youth, as those 

 whose knowledge is proverbial ? who so fit, as 

 those who enjoy our entire confidence ? who so 

 worthy, as those whose lives are irreproachable? 



They soon found that those who succeeded the 

 fathers of the Society of Jesus, had neither their 

 manner nor their abilities. They had not made 

 the instruction of youth their particular study. 

 Moreover, they entered on the field after a defeat, 

 where the officers had all been slain; where the 

 plan of the campaign was lost ; where all was in 

 sorrow and dismay. No exertions of theirs could 

 rally the dispersed, or skill prevent the fatal con- 

 sequences. At the present day, the seminary of 



H 



