424 



B R A S I L. 



Brasil. 



Storming 

 of Rio Ja- 

 neiro in 

 1711. 



lions were to enjoy in common the contested territo- 

 ry. This joint occupation was not likely to assuage 

 the animosities of two hostile nations ; and the war 

 of the succession soon ensuing, allowed their hostile 

 disposition to operate. The Spaniards again pre- 

 vailed ; and, in 1705, the Portuguese were expelled 

 anew from Santo Sacramento. By the treaty of U- 

 trecht, however, the English procured for them, not 

 only its restoration, but also the exclusive possession 

 of the territory on which it stood. Santo Sacramento 

 then rose into a place of considerable importance. 

 Its situation was favourable for a contraband trade 

 with Buenos Ayres ; and this trade was soon carried 

 to an extent which gave equal prosperity to the co- 

 lony and umbrage to the Spanish government. The 

 latter could find no better method of guarding against 

 the injurious effects of an establishment so reluctant- 

 ly sanctioned, than by themselves forming settlements 

 on the opposite side of the river, and carrying these as 

 close as possible to the Portuguese territory. This 

 proximity soon gave rise to quarrels ; and perpetual 

 hostilities, unauthorised by the mother country, were 

 carried on by the colonists of the respective nations. 

 In order to put a stop to these, a convention was at 

 length concluded between the two nations, by which 

 Portugal resigned the colony of Santo Sacramento, 

 on receiving in return seven of the missionary settle- 

 ments formed by the Jesuits on the eastern bank of 

 the Uruguay. Spain, however, had no right to make 

 this concession ; Because the nations who composed 

 these missions had submitted voluntarily to the direc- 

 tion of the Jesuits, but had not rendered themselves 

 subjects of the king of Spain. They refused, there- 

 fore, to concur in the deed which transferred them 

 to Portugal, and took up arms in their own defence. 

 But they were unable to contend with the regular 

 troops sent from Brazil, and were compelled either 

 to submit or emigrate. The Portuguese court then 

 insisted, that, as they had obtained possession of these 

 settlements, not in consequence of the treaty, but by 

 force of arms, they were absolved from the conditions 

 on which they had been ceded. Thus all things re- 

 verted to their former confusion ; and the same per- 

 petual and luira.ssing warfare was again recommenced. 

 It continued to rage till the year 1777, when the 

 Portuguese court found itself under the necessity of 

 ceding the disputed territory, receiving, however, at 

 the same time, that of St Pedro, which had been 

 wrested from them. 



These Contests were carried on chiefly between the 

 inhabitants of the American provinces themselves. 

 Brazil, from its distance, and a received opinion of 

 its strength, was not generally the object of those 

 naval wars which, during the eighteenth century, 

 were waged with such activity between ihe European 

 nations. In 1711, however, the war of the succes- 

 sion, which had produced such formidable convul- 

 sions ihroughoul all Europe, was felt in this remote 

 reg'on. Portugal having espoused the cause of Eng- 

 land and Austria, became thus the enemy of France; 

 and the celebraled Admiral Duguay Trouin formed 

 the design of obtaining possession of Rio Janeiro. 

 With the most daring valour, he led his fleet through 

 all the range of batteries which defended it, and car- 

 ried the place by storm. In the peace, however, 



which was soon after concluded, Rio Janeiro was Bra 



restored to Portugal. 



All these wars, however, were of petty importance, Comi 

 and did not materially affect the interest and prospe- cialr. 

 rity of Brasil. She was much more deeply affected tlon>> 

 by the commercial arrangements adopted by ilu- mo- 

 ther country, for the regulation of her colonial inter- 

 course. At the time of the first discovery of the 

 new world, and for the greater part of the period 

 which has since elapsed, the European nations were 

 attached to a system of the most rigid commercial 

 restriction. An ignorance of the true principles on 

 which the prosperity of trade depends, made it be 

 imagined, that the more minutely and carefully all 

 its movements were regulated by government, the 

 more beneficial was it likely lo prbve. The suspi- 

 cious character, besides, of the states of the peninsu- 

 la, and the concealment and mystery in which they 

 delighted to wrap themselves, made them solicitous 

 that colonial intercourse should be confined with- 

 in as narrow limits as possible. These motives led 

 to the introduction of ihcjlota system, by which the 

 intercourse between the mother country and the co- 

 .lonies was permitted to be kept up only from certain 

 ports, and at certain seasons of the year. This sys- 

 tem was adopted by Portugal as well as Spain, but 

 on a considerably more liberal footing. Annual fleets 

 were allowed to sail, both from Lisbon and Oporto ; 

 and as these cities, from their advantageous situation, 

 engrossed almost all the commerce of Portugal, and 

 were almost exclusively qualified for carrying on dis- 

 tant commercial enterprises, the restriction probably 

 was not so severely felt. The ports in the colony 

 which were allowed to hold intercourse with the mo- 

 ther country, were, in like manner, limited to four, 

 Olinda, St Salvador, Paraiba, and Rio Janeiro. To 

 these the same remark may be applied, though not, 

 perhaps, to the same extent. The regulation which 

 prevented the fleets from sailing oftener than once 

 in the year, was probably much more injurious. How- 

 ever, in consequence of the inferior regard which 

 was paid to Brasil, she was happily exempted from 

 that complicated system of restraint and monopoly, 

 under which the Spanish settlements groaned. To 

 this circumstance, perhaps, she was mainly indebted 

 for that measure of prosperity to which she silently 

 attained. As soon, however, as, by the discovery of 

 gold and diamonds, Brasil began to be regarded as an 

 immense source of wealth to the crown, the fortunate 

 indifference with which it had before been regarded, 

 entirely ceased. Rigid regulations, ?.s we have seen, 

 were enacted, in order to secure to the crown the 

 ample revenues arising from these valuable produc- 

 tions ; and in order to render thr se regulations effec- 

 tual, it became necessary to establish a general system 

 of restraint, which cramped the growing prosperity 

 of the colony. About the middle of the last centu- 

 ry, under the administration of the Marquis of Pom- 

 bal, Portugal exhibited the singular and melancholy 

 spectacle, of a nation beginning to adopt an exploded 

 system, at the very moment when every other people 

 was abandoning it, and studying to remedy the evils 

 which it had occasioned. This system was that of 

 exclusive companies, which*Pombal carried to such 

 an extent, as to subject to them even port wine, the 



