80 POLITICAL STATE OF BRAZIL. 



constitution. Political freedom seems to have made rapid advance- 

 ment through the freedom of the press, and the voice of liberty may be 

 said to have been heard. At first it was listened to with apprehensions, 

 and its meaning but imperfectly understood. Although many years 

 have since passed, the people have scarcely more than begun to feel 

 that they possess 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, communi- 

 cation 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 prospering in their private concerns, 

 and contented without any ambition to advance themselves in political 

 knowledge, or to meddle with the concerns of the government, 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 mal-administration 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 by 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 it to be ascribed, that the country has not 

 become 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- 

 ture of Don Pedro L, remained in the country, and who, having lost 

 their importance with their offices, returned to private life, with their 

 pride wounded, their fortunes and reputation impaired and injured, 

 and themselves dissatisfied with their condition. These persons have 

 sought every occasion to disturb the even current of events, and to 

 array themselves against the power of the state, wielded as they deem 



