viii 



phefacJe. 



The rapidity with which improvement proceeds in Brazil is 

 wonderful, and it requires a steady hand to steer the vessel of 

 the state. Would to God that the King may have judgment 

 enough to avoid the rock upon which many nations have split — 

 a love of useless conquest — and the no less dangerous whirlpool 

 which threatens to draw the country into the vortex of 

 Revolution. 



