g2 POLITICAL STATE OF BRAZIL 
legislative power from further interruption, and achieved a complete 
victory over the bayonets and tyranny of Don Pedro, by forcing him, 
through the threats of the people and his fears, to grant a more 
liberal constitution. Political freedom seems to have made rapid 
advancement from this date, and the voice of liberty may be said to 
have been heard, although it was at first listened to with apprehen- 
sions, and its meaning imperfectly understood. Although many 
years have since passed, the people have scarcely more than began 
to feel that they have individual rights, and for the most part yield a 
blind obedience to the laws. This is true as respects the population 
of the seaports, but in the country, the population being sparse, 
communication of every kind is difficult, and social intercourse 
embarrassed by early habits and customs. The advantages of a 
free and frequent interchange of sentiments are in consequence 
almost entirely unknown. A long time will probably elapse before 
there will be any political struggle among them. They are pros- 
pering in their private concerns, and contented without any ambition 
to advance themselves in political knowledge, or to meddle with the 
concerns of the state, except in their local operation. The state of 
society in the interior is very much of this character, and consequently 
the affairs of the country have suffered little derangement from the 
difficulties which have occurred, and maladministration under the 
different sovereigns who have held rule for the last thirty years. 
Through part of this time a rapid decline was experienced in the 
national prosperity, which led to the abdication of the late Emperor 
Pedro I. 
The whole political machine by which the government is adminis- 
tered is uncouth and awkward, being composed of a mixture of feudal 
notions with the refinements of modern times. It is moved and 
sustained more by the habit of obeying the laws, than skill and 
judgment in administering them. There is an entire absence of all 
force, moral as well as physical, to sustain the government, yet to 
this in a great measure is to be ascribed, that the country has not 
been a prey to anarchy and confusion. Combined with the above 
causes, is the jealousy that exists among the parties who have been 
called to office, and which prevents self-aggrandizement. Pretensions 
have been at times asserted, dangerous to public tranquillity and 
threatening the subversion of the established order of things. These 
have been promoted by the disaffected and discontented, principally 
composed of or countenanced by those persons who, after the depar- 
