Chap. III. o/BR AZiL PORTUGUEZE. i8i 
Point was, that of a Governor General, who, by keeping a 
kind of a Court, feemed to be an intolerable Burden 
upon fuch as were at the Expence of it ^ but if they had 
confidered tliat this Governor, who kept this Court, ac- 
Quired for them the beft Part of that Colony, and put 
the reft of it into fo good a Situation, they would have 
iudged the Services of fuch an Officer a fufficient Recom- 
mence for the keeping Him. Their next Reformation was 
m the Military Eifabliffiment, which in 1641 Count 
Maurice had fixed at upwards of feven thoufand Men, 
and which, immediately upon his Removal, they very 
frugally reduced to two thoufand feven hundred, and 
even allowed fuch of thefe Soldiers as would pay for it, 
to go home : The Magazines, that were always well 
fiilM in the Time of Count Maurice^ and from which, 
as we have feen, he furnifhed feveral Fleets for diftant 
Expeditions, they emptied, to raife Money by the Sale 
of their Contents, and very fooliffily fufiered their Ser- 
vants and Soldiers to live upon European Provifions, 
inftead of accuftoming themfelves to live upon the Pro- 
duce of the Brazilian Territories. It was likewife a great 
Fault that they laid high Taxes upon the great Manu- 
faftiire of the Country, Sugar, which threv/ it entirely 
into the Hands of the Portugueze, their own Subjcas 
being afraid to meddle with a Trade in which the firft 
Mif?arriage was attended with total Ruin. Another 
notorious Blunder was, their fending over a vaft Num- 
ber of Jews, who, finding the People finking under 
heavy Taxes, brought in that excellent Cordial of high 
Ufury,. to keep up their Spirits. By thefe, and fuch 
like Methods, they, in the Space of a few Months, 
brought all Things into Confufion •, and, from that Time 
forward, never took one fenfible Step towards bringing 
them out. 
The third Caufe of the Ruin of this Colony was, 
that the States did not interpofe in time, and take the 
Care of the Dutch Brazil into their own Hands, inftead 
of leaving it to a Company which had fhewn themfelves 
fo unequal to what they had undertaken ; and therefore, 
for their own Good, as well as for that of the Public, 
this very important Concern ffiould have been taken out 
of their Hands. But by continuing the fame Government, 
the States and the Company pinned down the unhappy 
People that were left there, labouring under Miferies and 
Misfortunes- of all kinds, without Remedy and without 
Hope 1 If they had fent over in time a new Governor- 
General, Things might have been reftored *, but for want 
of this, they ran continually from bad to worfe, as it was 
very natural for them to do •, fo that after ten Years 
Struggle, as well againft their own Weaknefs and ill 
Management, as the fuperior Force of their Enemies, 
they fuffered the Colony to expire ; but, when they 
found their Malady incurable, they had better have taken 
the Brazilian Method, and, without waiting Extremities, 
knocked it on the head at once. 
But to conclude this Subjedl with a fhort State of both 
Adminiftrations : WhtnCownt Maurice, after eight Years 
refiding in Brazil, quitted the Governm'ent, he left them 
feven Captainffiips, one City, thirty great Towns, forty- 
five regular Fortrefles, ninety Sail of good Ships, three 
thoufand regular Troops, twenty thoufand Dutch of all 
Ages and Sexes, fixty thoufand Negroes, and above twice 
as many Brazilians : At that Time the Colony yielded 
twenty-five thoufand Chefts of Sugar annually, and a 
Carpenter, Cooper, or Smith, could earn five or fix 
Guilders a-day, and live very comfortably upon one *, 
And, after expending Millions upon this Colony, for ten 
Years together, and the Lofs of feveral thoufands fent 
thither from time to time, there returned to Holland, in 
1655^ beween fix and feven hundred Perfons, of all 
forts, not worth a Groat. 
• Upon- this the States declared War Portugal, by 
which their Eafi-India E(dmpdxrj were great Gainers, but 
the Nation ftill Lofers ; fo that, after five Years, 
they were glad to make a Peace, under the Mediation of 
our King Gharks II. which was figned the 6th of Augufi, 
r66o, in- which the principal Articles relating to our SuB- 
jedl are thefe that follow : That the Crown' of Portugal 
ihall be obliged to pay to the States the Sum of eighty 
Vo L. IL Numb. 81. 
Tons of Gold, either in ready Money or Sugar, Tobacco 
or Salt, or elfe affign the laid ready Money upon the 
Portugueze Cuftoms : That the Places taken on each Side 
ftiould remain to thofe who w^ere then in Pofieffion of 
them : And that a free Trade fliould be allowed to the 
Dutch in Portugal, Africay and Brazil, without, paying 
any more Cuftoms than the native PortugUeze. 
16. The Portugueze have, fmce this time, remained in 
quiet Pofieffion of all this vaft Country, which is the 
Reafon that it is very difficult, if not impofiible, to give 
any diftinft Account of vdiat has palfed there fmce this 
Time : For the Portugueze are, in the firft place, not much 
addifted to Writing ; dhd in the next, they are not ex- 
tremely willing that the World ffiould be acquainted, far- 
ther than they muft be from Fadts, with the State of 
their Colonies in Brazil and it is for this Reafon, that 
they fuffer no Ships to trade thither but their own •, a 
Point in which they are extremely precife, infomuch 
that they have made it a kind of capital Maxim in their 
Policy. But it is with them as it is with all other Nations 
of this Stamp i they flatter themfelves that this Rule 
which they lay down is inviolably adhered to ; yet it is 
certain that the Fad is otherwife, and that fometimes 
EngliJJo Interlopers, and now and ih&n French and Dutch, 
fell their Cargoes in Brazil, efpecially in time of War j 
and in time of Peace, when there is not an Opportunity 
of carrying on a clandeftine Trade in this manner, they 
find out another, which is, fending thither Goods, 
under the Name of fome Portugueze Merchant, in the 
Very fame manner that the Goods are fent to the Spanijh 
Colonies, under the Name of Spanijh Merchants. 
In both Cafes they are no more than Brokers •, but, to 
their immortal Credit, the faireft and the moft honourable 
in the World for they are never known to break their 
Faith, or to injure thofe who truft them. As to the Trade 
which the Portugueze themfelves carry on to this Colony 
of' theirs, it has for thefe laft hundred Years been fo great, 
that it is thought to have been the principal Caufe why 
they have flighted that of the Indies, as we have ffiewn 
in its proper Place ; tho’ formerly it confifted principally 
in Sugar, Tobacco, Brazil SJSf ood., and other Commo"* 
dities of great Value ; yet within thefe laft forty Years 
they have received from thence Commodities of ftill 
greater Value, or rather, to fpeak in the Language of our 
Times, of the greateft Value, fuch as Diamonds, and 
Gold •, and of this precious Metal we have been thought 
to have fo large a Share, that without it we could fcarce 
have carried on the laft general War, and the expenfive 
Meafures that have fucceeded it ; and though this may 
not be ftridtly true, yet there is certainly fo much of 
Truth in it, that it ought to make us curious in the in- 
quiring after, and obtaining the beft Account we can of 
thefe Plantations, which is fo much the more neceflary, 
becaufe hitherto the Accounts we have had are as far 
from being fatisfaftory as Accounts well can be. The Pains 
I have taken upon this Subjedt, have not indeed enabled 
me to give the Reader fo exadt a View of all the Portugueze 
Settlements in Brazil as I could wiffi ; but, however, 
as I fliall have no Occafion to treat of this Country again, 
I will take this Opportunity of giving him the moft par- 
ticular and fatisfadtory Accounts I have met with, till 
fomething better fliall be publiffied upon the Subjedl. 
All the Trade of the five northern Captainffiips of 
Brazil, viz. Paria, Maragnan, Siara, Rio Grande, and 
Paraiha, is carried on in the laft mentioned Port, which 
lies on a River of the fame Name, at the Diftance of 
about five Leagues from the Sea it is a fair and popu- 
lous Town for that Country; and there are annually 
about feven or eight Ships fent hither from Lijbon and 
Oporto, of the Burden of two hundred and fifty Tons 
each. Their I.ading confifts chiefly in Sugar, of which 
they m.ake more in thefe northern Captainffiips, than in 
the South ; efpecially fince the Difcovery of the Gold 
Mines,, which has made the Inhabitants of thofe Parts 
of the Country negligent. There was a Time' when the 
Trade of Brazil, in this Commodity, was fuperior to 
any in the World; for the Sugar of Brazil was the 
firft that was known in Europe ; and the Portugueze ^ are 
faid to have fetup their Works in this Country, about 
A a a th® 
9 
