48 



TAXES. 



with his vicar-general, &c. The governor can- 

 not even appoint a chaplain to the island of 

 Fernando de Noronha, one of the dependencies 

 of Pernambuco, but acquaints the bishop that a 

 priest is wanted, who then nominates one for 

 the place. 



The number of civil and military officers is 

 enormous ; inspectors innumerable, colonels 

 without end, devoid of any objects to inspect, 

 without any regiments to command j judges to 

 manage each trifling department, of which the 

 duties might all be done by two or three per- 

 sons ; thus salaries are augmented ; the people 

 are oppressed, but the state is not benefited. 



Taxes are laid where they fall heavy upon 

 the lower classes, and none are levied where 

 they could well be borne. A tenth is raised in 

 kind upon cattle, poultry, and agriculture, and 

 even upon salt; this in former times apper- 

 tained, as in other Christian countries, to the 

 clergy. * All the taxes are farmed to the 

 highest bidders, and this among the rest. They 

 are parcelled out in extensive districts, and are 



* When Brazil was in its infancy, the clergy could not 

 subsist upon their tythes, and therefore petitioned the go- 

 vernment of Portugal to pay them a certain stipend, and 

 receive the tenths for its own account; this was accepted, but 

 now that the tenths have increased in value twenty-fold, the 

 government still pays to the vicars the same stipends. The 

 clergy of the present day bitterly complain of the agreement 

 made by those to whom they have succeeded. 



14 



