50 
VOYAGE OP THE POTOMAC. 
[Octobetj 
For several months after his departure, the country Was in a 
most unsettled state. Commerce came to a stand ; confidence 
Was again destroyed ; revolts took place daily; and quiet and se- 
curity seemed banished from the land. The regency was put into 
the hands of General Lima and the Marquis of Barbecina, while 
great efforts were made for the restoration of peace and tranquil- 
lity, A new form of government was again discussed ; and, after 
some time, public affairs seemed gradually to assume a more fa- 
vourable appearance. 
Still, however, at the period of the Potomac's arrival at Rio, the 
Brazilian government could not be said to be in a settled or tran- 
quil condition, and many disorders in the state seemed to threaten 
other and still greater changes. But a short time had elapsed 
since a number of convicts joined with a party of disbanded sol- 
diers, to the number of about three hundred, the greater part 
of whom were negroes. This rabble had the temerity to fire 
upon the city, from a small island of which they had obtained 
possession, and directed their shots from six and nine pounders 
towards the palace square, to the manifest annoyance of those 
loyal subjects of the empire who were promenading very lei- 
surely this beautiful area. A volunteer corps was soon formed, 
consisting principally of citizens, by whom the insurgents' works 
were stormed, and the greater part of them made prisoners. 
A national guard of citizens, of about five thousand men, has 
been recently formed. They have an appropriate uniform, and 
nothing was more common than to see respectable citizens doing 
the duty of vigilant sentinels at the numerous posts throughout 
the city — marching and countermarching, and suffering a fatigue 
which evinced how much they were ready to encounter before 
they would again submit to the yoke which Don Pedro had so 
very obligingly taken under his arm, and with which he had 
departed. 
Liberal principles are certainly on a rapid advance in Brazil ; 
and bigoted opinions, both in politics and religion, which have been 
handed down from their forefathers, and which are inseparable 
from despotism, are being fast exploded from among the laity. The 
clergy, as before intimated, are far behind, the age they live in, as 
respects moral or scientific improvement. They were originally 
sent over here for the avowed object of converting the native In- 
