NOTES ON BRAZIL. 



99 



the sphere of his administration. He detected, and endeavoured as much 

 as possible to drive from the Palace wicked men ; hence he was hated 

 by them, and at length taken off by poison. 



The Count de Linhares had few imitators. The people, among 

 whom his lot was cast, are said to be singularly given to intrigue, and 

 in Brazil this disposition had been greatly sharpened by the system of 

 colonial policy, which had been acted upon from the first settlement of 

 Portuguese subjects in the country. By the arrival of the Court a new 

 field was opened for the exercise and display of this favourite passion. 

 Few as were the honours and emoluments which the Prince had to 

 bestow, all sought them with eagerness, all endeavoured to supplant 

 each other in the good graces of persons in power. Hence jealousies 

 arose, and, between tlie old Courtiers and the new, got to a high degree 

 of virulence ; hence frequent bickerings and open dissensions, until the 

 parties gradually divided into Lisbonian and Brazilian. 



The companions of the Prince, in his flight from Europe, had, of 

 course, one considerable advantage over their rivals ; they had been his 

 friends or acquaintance at home, and were now his associates in banish- 

 ment and its attendant evils ; they pretended that they had sacrificed 

 their all to loyalty, and he Avas not of a spirit to resist such claims. But 

 here their influence ended. Royalty had reached the Transatlantic 

 shores almost in a state of pauperism, *' stripped of all but its honour ;" 

 and its followers were in no better case, their estates had been plundered, 

 their places annihilated, the sources of their pensions had been dried, and 

 many of them were literally without a home. 



But the wealthy Brazilians had a home, and good things to spare ; 

 herein consisted their advantage. They were welcome visitors at Court, 

 from a wish to conciliate them, and still more because they had it in 

 their power to repay an empty honour with solid benefits. Indeed the 

 government had not left it altogether at their option, whether to bestow 

 or to withhold. One of the first public orders issued after the arrival of 

 the Prince was, that no person should have in his occupation two houses ; 

 and some, who had little influence at Court, found it difficult to retain 



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