422 



B R A S I L. 



Bi-asil. tion, expressed their determination to remain satisfied 

 1 ' ?\-nii' with nothing less than the entire restoration of their 

 former possessions in Brasil. They allowed, how- 

 ever, the ambassadors to meet, on its being conced- 

 ed by the Portuguese, that this should take place at 

 the Hague. The Dutch plenipotentiaries immedi- 

 ately opened their demand of Brasil, declaring, that 

 unless they were satisfied, no treaty could be brought 

 to a conclusion. The Portuguese, however, justly 

 represented, that, in the present state of affairs, such 

 restitution was entirely out of the question ; but 

 that they were willing to give a liberal pecuniary 

 compensation. All the states acknowledged the ne- 

 cessity of contenting themselves with this offer, ex- 

 cept the maritime province of Zealand, which, being 

 deeply embarked in the West India Company, pro- 

 tested .against a treaty founded on any other basis,, 

 than the entire restoration of the provinces which 

 Treaty tie- they had loit. Its remonstrances, however, were 

 tweenHol- overruled, and on the tenth of August, a treaty 

 land and was 8 jg ne( J ( by which the whole of Brasil was finally 

 ' ceded to Portugal. That power agreed to pay in 

 return eight millions of florins, by sixteen instal- 

 ments, in salt and West India commodities. Dutch 

 vessels were likewise allowed to sail from Portugal 

 to Brasil, and from Brasil to Portugal, importing 

 and exporting all commodities whatever, with the 

 single exception of Brasil wood. Large privileges 

 were likewise granted to the Dutch trade with other 

 parts of the Portuguese dominions. But the conces- 

 sion, with regard to Brasil, was found, in practice, 

 to be of very small value. The ports of that coun- 

 try are little open to those who profess any other 

 religion than the Catholic. The arbitrary conduct, 

 besides, of the governors, and other officers, expo- 

 sed them to continual outrages, for which redress was 

 not easily obtained. The Dutch, therefore, have 

 long ceased to avail themselves of this permission. 



Not to interrupt the thread of this narrative, we 

 have omitted to notice some transactions which had 

 meantime occurred in the interior of Brasil. The 

 race of malefactors with which its coast was at first 

 peopled, could ill brook the restraints of law and 

 government. A number found means to emancipate 

 themselves by flight ; and the district of St Paul, 

 in the interior and southern part of Brasil, presented 

 them with an inviting retreat. Here they formed 

 intermarriages with Brasilian females, and the mixed 

 class thus produced, received the name of Mameluss, 

 in allusion to the servile race which has held the domi- 

 nion of Egypt. The country in which they settled was 

 of the most luxuriant fertility, and being surround- 

 ed by forests and vast mountains, presented a secure 

 asylum. Instead, however, of applying to culti- 

 vation and peaceful pursuits, they abandoned them- 

 selves entirely to rapine and disorder. They plun- 

 dered alike all their neighbours, Portuguese, Spa- 

 niards, and natives ; the latterthey carried off as slaves. 

 In order to accomplish this more effectually, they 

 practised a most atrocious stratagem. The Jesuits, 

 by their benevolent exertions, had gained the full 

 confidence of the Indians bordering on the La Plata, 

 and had converted many of them to the Christian 

 laith. The Paulists assumed the dress and charac- 

 ter of Jesuits, and having, after their example, per- 



Sti 



suadud the natives to embrace Christianity, they- 

 thru, on plausible pretences, seduced them into their *-"* 

 own settlements, where the unhappy victims were 

 immediately converted into slaves. By these crimi- 

 nal methods, they were enabled to cultivate their 

 fertile lands, and to acquire some wealth. Hence 

 they were gradually softened into a degree of civili- 

 zation, and were induced, by the combined influence 

 of fear and persuasion, to acknowledge the suprema- 

 cy of the Portuguese government, and to pay a cer- 

 tain annual tribute. 



About the conclusion of the Dutch war, Brasil Negf 

 was afflicted by another insurrection, arising from a surrei 

 different source. About the year 1570, negroes had 

 begun to be imported into Brasil ; and as they were 

 found much better fitted than the natives for the la- 

 bours of cultivation, the nefarious trade was soon 

 carried to a great extent. In the course of the wars 

 which the two nations waged against each other, it 

 had frequently been found necessary to put arms into 

 the hands of the negroes, and they had become in 

 some degree warlike and inured to discipline. In the 

 confusion occasioned by the capture of Olinda, about 

 forty made their escape, and established themselves 

 in a favourable situation on the frontier, near Porto 

 do Calvo. This became a rendezvous for all of their 

 nation who could emancipate themselves from bond- 

 age ; and their numbers soon became considerable. 

 They supplied the want of wives, like the first found- 

 ers of Rome, by violence ; they entirely swept the 

 neighbouring plantations, carrying off every female 

 of colour. Equal laws, joined to the possession of ;j 

 fertile territory, and copious opportunities of plunder, 

 caused their population to multiply with extraordi- 

 nary rapidity ; they soon erected themselves into a 

 nation, assuming the name of the Palmarese ; they 

 elected a king, whose dignity, however, was to last 

 only for life. They procured supplies of arms and 

 ammunition from the planters ; and, continually ap- 

 prehensive of attack, they formed stockades of large 

 trees round the capital and others of their towns. 

 They remained unmolested, however, for forty years ; 

 and had grown in that time to such a height of pow- 

 er, as to threaten the very existence of the colony. 

 The population of their principal town amounted to 

 not less than 20,000. At length, in 1606, the Por- 

 tuguese governor, seriously alarmed, collected, at 

 Olinda, a force of 6000 men, which he placed under 

 the command of Don John de Lancastro, with orders 

 to proceed against the Palmarese. That people, un- 

 able to meet such a formidable force in the field, shut 

 themselves up, with all their effects, in the capital, 

 to which the Portuguese immediately advanced and 

 laid siege. They were struck with dismay, however, 

 at the formidable aspect of the works, and the reso- 

 lute countenance of their defenders ; and this terror 

 was increased by repeated and destructive sallies made 

 by the besieged. Unprepared for such a resistance, 

 they had made no adequate provision of artillery and 

 supplies ; the spirit of the troops sunk ; and the Palma- 

 rese entertained sanguine hopes of a speedy deliverance 

 from this formidable invasion. The governor, how- 

 ever, was not so to be deterred ; he prepared a detach- 

 ment with every thing of which the besiegers stood 

 in need. The Palmarese, meanwhile, had exhausted 



