NOTES ON BRAZIL. 



667 



and transportation; but could not bring himself to sign a sentence of 

 death even for murder. In such cases his humanity as a man prevailed 

 over his judgment as a sovereign, and prompted him frequently to say, 

 " Surely because the man has killed one person, I am not compelled to 

 kill another." Much, therefore, in this part of jurisprudence remains to 

 be amended, and will do so until the Sovereign, amiable as such a spirit 

 is in a private person, shall surmount his superstitious scruples, and 

 cease to be afraid of sending a soul, unprepared, into eternity. Pains 

 had been taken likewise to amend the national temper and habit, 

 particularly the impetuous desire of vengeance, and the taste for gam- 

 bling. The latter object, in some! measure, had been obtained ; houses 

 notoriously bad had been suppressed; gambling was more private, 

 though perhaps not less ruinous than formerly ; but the spirit, checked 

 on one hand, was encouraged on the other by the establishment of 

 monthly lotteries, as sources of gain to individuals or public companies. 

 As to private revenge it must mainly depend on the temper, education, 

 and habits of a people ; if accustomed to carry weapons, it is vain to 

 think of wresting from them, by force, this imagined privilege ; and, if 

 they remain uneducated and savage, their knives and stilettos will 

 occasionally be used. 



In this period it was peculiarly pleasing to observe how new schools 

 were successively established, and the means of valuable knowledge 

 diffused among every class of the people. In the Gazette of Rio, of 

 July 9th, 1814, is a long advertisement to this effect — " Whoever may 

 wish to send their daughters, female servants, and slaves, to learn to 

 read, write, and account, &c. may speak with a person resident in the Rua 

 do Lavradia." The Brazilian phrase is " as suas filhas, e as suas crias, e 

 escravas," which, though differing some little, I believe, from the elegant 

 Liisbonian dialect, conveys the meaning I have given to it. 



Nevertheless the stimulus most prompt and efficacious in promoting 

 the internal improvement of which we are speaking, and particularly in 

 forming a national character and feeling, of which Brazil was almost desti- 

 tute, and for want of v>rhich the country had nearly fallen, like the Colonies 



