B R A S I L. 



.selves on the acqm .-iiti'm of these new neigh- 

 bours ; and passing, witli the impetuosity of s;i . 

 minds, from the extreme of attachment to that of 

 haired ami \ . they commenced a furious 



warfare on the European settlements. Savage valour, 

 without discipline, rendered th encounters dcs- 

 pcrate and bloody ; the Pori 



victorious ; and for those who fell into tin- ham's of 

 the enemy, was reserved a fate at winch humanity 



dders. Such occun n put an end to 



luntary emigration into Brasil; all who pursued the 

 pri/.es of wealth and ambition, crowded to the' more 

 plendid theatre of India, every region > f \\hioh w.s 

 then the theatre of Portuguese triumphs. Biasil 

 seemed likely to revert into its original state of de- 

 sertion ; b\it the Portuguese court, anxious by any 

 means to make something of their acquisition, adopt- 

 ed the scheme of peopling it out of the refuse of the 

 mother country. Wretches, who had forfeited their 

 lite to the laws, were, in mitigation of punishment, 

 sent to this new colony: a destination which, as 

 matters then stood, was considered rather as a re- 

 prieve from death, than a final deliverance. The In- 

 quisition had just been established in Portugal; and 

 that barbarous tribunal, by creating a variety of fac- 

 titious crimes, had augmented in an extraordinary 

 degree, the number of persons amenable to the laws. 

 From such causes, the population of Brazil was gra- 

 dually augmented ; settlements were formed irj dif- 

 ferent parts of the coast ; and the new planters, 

 doomed alternately to wield the ploughshare and the 

 sword, became a fierce and hardy race, fitted to 

 contend with the difficulties of their situation. The 

 Indians, wrought to the highest pitch of exaspera- 

 tion, exhausted on their invaders all the furies of 

 savage war ; while the latter, as if fearing to be out- 

 done, committed atrocities, net perhaps surpassed 

 by those, by which their more celebrated neigh- 

 bours had marked their conquest over the golden 

 regio.is of Mexico and Peru. By the relations of 

 travellers which have been handed down to us, it ap- 

 pears to have been their regular practice on storming 

 a savage village, to put to death the old men, chil- 

 dren, and all who could be of no use ; and to carry 

 the rest into slavery. In process of time, the skill 

 and discipline of the Portuguese prevailed over the 

 savage fierceness ol their opponents ; plantations 

 were extended, and the sugar cane being introduced 

 irom Sicily and Spain, succeeded in a wonderful de- 

 gree, and brought large profits in the markets of Eu- 

 vope. The attention of the Portuguese court was 

 at length arrested by the flourishing state of its new 

 col-Miy ; and it began seriously to consider, how the 



atest advantages could be derived from it. The 



former contempt, however, in which this settlement 



held, had led to measures, which threatened to 



frustrate the hopes now entertained from it. A 



in! oi land, even on the most extensive scale, had 

 been thought of so little value, as to be readily be- 

 stowed on any one who thought it worth the asking. 

 1'iom thisxfeason, almost the whole of tli;>t tine settle- 

 ment had been alienated fro.n the crown, and was in 

 th'j ':ar.ds of different individuals. The remedy ap- 

 plied by John ill. who now reigned in Portugal, 

 was more conformable to the maxims of state ueccs- 



VOL. IV. PART II. 



sity, than to tl In tl>'- ) 



I />!<>, he revoked, without ecicmonT, all the grant. ' v ' 

 that had ' If or his ; is ; 



and having equipped a fl-i-t of ix vessels with a 

 number of troops and officers, he gave the command 

 of it to Thomas de Soiisa, uho went out with the ap- 

 pointment of governor general. He established hues- Fcundatio* 

 pital .it St Salvador, in one of the noblest and most of St Silvj- 

 beautiful bay sin the world, with an admirable harbour, d( r - 

 and in the richest part of Brasil. Six Jesuits went 

 out along with the fleet, for the purpose of convert- 

 ing the natives ; and the judicious and benevolent 1.-.- 

 bours of these missionaries were not altogether unat- 

 tended with success. The increase of force, and t 

 regular establishment of law and government, which 

 were the result of these measures, were efficacious in 

 fixing and extending the prosperity of the colony. 

 Thjs very prosperity, however, exposed it to new 

 dangers. The other European powers all alive to 

 the advantages that were to be derived from esta- 

 blishments in the new world, saw in the wealth and 

 defenceless state of this vast territory, an opportunity 

 of gratifying their ambition. Civil war and religious 

 persecution, which then raged throughout all Eu- 

 rope, produced a vast multitude of refugees, who 

 were ai.xious to find shelter at the greatest possible 

 distance from their native country. France, accord- 

 ingly, which was the peculiar theatre of these cala- 

 mities, was the first country which contested with 

 the Portuguese the possession of Brasil. 



Durand de Villegagnon was a knight of Malta, French ei - 

 and high in the French naval service ; but having P C(ll <'n to 



c \ c ii,- Brasil. 



embraced the opinions of the reformers, and being 



disgusted with some treatment which he had expe- 

 rienced from his government, he conceived the de- 

 sign of forming a Protestant establishment in the 

 new world. He held out to the French court the 

 mere plan of founding a colony, after the example of 

 the Spaniards and Portuguese. Through the interest 

 of the Admiral de Coligny, who regarded him with 

 favour, and had secretly embraced the same opinions, 

 he obtained the concurrence of Henry II. in this un- 

 dertaking. He procured two or three well equipped 

 vesslls, and having filled them with persons of his 

 own persuasion, set sail for Brazil. He landed at 

 the Rio Janeiro, where he settled his people, and be- 

 gan to build a fort, which, after the name of his pa- 

 tron, he called Fort Coligny. Here he found some 

 Normans, who had been thrown by shipwreck upon 

 the same coast, and, having lived some time with the 

 savages, were qualified to act as interpreters. He 

 then sent back his vessels to receive a new cargo of 

 Protestants. He transmitted formal dispatches to 

 the French king ; but those which he wished to be 

 acted upon, were sent to Coligny and his friends at 

 Geneva. A great zeal was immediately kintiled fcr 

 the extension of Calvinism into these remote regioi. 

 two ministers, and fourteen students from Geneva, 

 determined to brave all the hardships of an unknown 

 climate, and of a mode of life wholly different from 

 that to which Europeans were accustomed. They 

 repaired to the admiral's scat near Chatillon sur 

 1'Oing, where they were received with the higheit 

 di.,ti:.ctirn. The influence of Coligny, and the un- 

 easy situation of the reformers in France, soor. swelltd 



