COMMERCE. 



15 



is affable, and hears the complaint of a peasant 

 or a rich merchant with the same patience ; he 

 is just, seldom exercising the power which he 

 possesses of punishing without appeal to the civil 

 magistrate ; and when he does enforce it, the 

 crime must be very glaring indeed. He acts 

 upon a system, and from principle ; and if it is 

 the fate of Brazil to be in the hands of a despotic 

 government, happy, compared to its present state, 

 would it in general be, if all its rulers resembled 

 him. I love the place at which I so long re- 

 sided, and I hope most sincerely that he may 

 not be removed, but that he may continue to 

 dispense to that extensive region, the blessings 

 of a mild, forbearing administration. 



In political consequence, with reference to 

 the Portuguese government, Pernambuco holds 

 the third * rank amongst the provinces of Brazil ; 

 but in a commercial point of view, with refer- 

 ence to Great Britain, I know not whether it 

 should not be named first, t Its chief exports 

 are cotton and sugar j the former mostly comes 

 to England, and may be accounted at 80,K)00 or 

 90,000 bags annually, averaging 160 pounds 



* I am not quite certain whether it is the third or fourth. 



f I sailed from Pernambuco in the very last convoy of 

 1815, previous to the peace with the United States, winch 

 consisted of twenty-eight vessels, viz. two ships of war. two 

 prizes to them, and twenty -four merchant vessels, fourteen 

 of which were from Pernambuco, and the remaining ten from 

 Rio de Janeiro and Bahia. 



