ceed alone, and, with one exception, returned to their former positions. It was not easy to divine whether such misconduct proceeded from dislike and jealousy of a foreign commander, or regard to their own personal safety. The Brazilian fleet had been put under a new leader, Norton, but he was neither more enterprising, nor more successful than his prede cessor Lobo. Though much superior in numbers, and in weight of metal, he ventured nothing more serious than the bravado of approaching the town, and uniformly retiring when the republican squadron drew near.

In the beginning of June, while great part of the republican squadron were on the opposite coast, to which they had convoyed a reinforcement of troops undisturbed, he approached the remainder lying at anchor near the town. Without leaving their anchorage, they opened their fire upon him, and he retired to a safer distance. They weighed anchor, and stood out after him, and a distant cannonade was kept up, till night separated the parties, while, in the mean time, the detachment from the republican squadron, having safely landed their troops on the Banda Oriental, had returned in safety, under the very eyes of the Brazilian fleet, which, with all its numerical superiority, had been unable, or rather did not attempt, to stop their passage.

To increase its maritime force, the government had purchased the naval armament of Chili, which that republic was willing to sell, and admiral Brown proceeded to the coast, over land, to take the command of it; but unexpected

difficulties intervened; and the ships were not ready for the voyage round Cape Horn till the following year. The privateers of Buenos Ayres made several captures. Military operations had been almost suspended, since the defeat sustained by the Brazilians in the neighbourhood of Monte Video, in the preceding October. That town still continued to be invested by the republican army, but was defended by a garrison of three thousand troops, and was regularly and abundantly supplied with provisions. Inferiority in point of numbers constrained the republicans to remain in inactivity, but the government, notwithstanding its financial difficulties, made great exertions, towards the end of the year, to augment the invading army, and send it across the Negro. The plan was, to attack the Brazilian provinces of Rio Grande and San Paulo, to which they were invited by the spirit of disaffection which prevailed in these provinces, particularly in the latter; the appearance of republicant invaders was to call forth insurrection. Considering that Don Pedro's throne in Brazil was yet scarcely established; that, even in' time of peace, all his neighbouring states presented a powerful seduction to his subjects in their republican forms of government, and could entertain only one common wish to see royalty, as well from opinion as for the safety of their own institutions, rooted out from the American continent; it was extreme imprudence in the cabinet of Rio Janeiro to provoke a war which increased tenfold their means of exciting discontent, and enabled them, at the same time, to take advantage of it with a good [2 C 2]

grace. The war, at least, once begun, ought to have been prose cuted with energy, and not conducted by indecisive skirmishes; every month it lasted increased to the emperor its political dangers; success alone could deprive it of its sting.

At home, the emperor of Brazil was amusing his subjects with the re-production of a liberal constitution, two years old, and the pageant of assembling the representative legislative body. În November, 1823, he had dissolved the legislative assembly as it then existed; he had promised, at the same time, to prepare, without delay, a more liberal constitution; and, accordingly, in December he had given forth the plan of a constitution, to be submitted for discussion to a general national and constitutional assembly. This document, being officially published, was considered by the Brazilians as perfectly satisfactory; and the citizens of all the towns in the empire, beginning with the capital, expressed their approbation of it. Books were opened in which every body was invited to inscribe his assent or dissent; the assent was nearly unanimous; the books, crowded with signatures, were sent to Rio de Janeiro. The emperor considered this as a formal assent of the nation to the constitution which he had prepared, and it was accordingly promulgated as such, without losing time by calling a constitutional assembly to discuss it. The emperor himself took the oath to observe it on the 25th of March, 1824, declaring that he complied with the wish of his people assembled in Camaras, that is, the municipal councils of the different

towns and districts of the empire. It was now again formally promulgated, and orders issued for the meeting of the first national assembly to be convoked under it.

By this constitution, the government of Brazil was declared to be monarchical, hereditary, constitutional, and representative;" the crown to descend through the posterity of Don Pedro, the first of its emperors, according to the right of primogeniture, the first line of issue being always preferable to any subsequent line, the next degree to the more remote of each line, and the elder person to the younger of each sex. All strangers were declared incapable of succession; the husband of a princess, who might be heiress presumptive, was to be selected by the reigning emperor, or, in event of his death, the choice was to be approved of by the legislative body; the husband was to take no part in the government, nor assume the title ofemperor, until the empress should have become a mother a rule borrowed from the ancient customs of Portugal. It was declared to be the prerogative of the crown to appoint all public functionaries, civil, naval, and military; to appoint all bishops, and provide fit persons for ecclesiastical benefices; to declare war, or conclude peace, making to the national assembly, in the former case, such communications as might be compatible with the interest of the state; to form treaties of alliance, defensive or offensive, obtaining, however, the sanction of the legislature, as indispensable to the validity of any treaty entered into during time of peace, which might stipulate for the cession or exchange of any part of the territories included

in,

or belonging to, the empire; to distribute titles, honours, and pensions, the last, when not already fixed by law, being always submitted for approval to the assembly; to confirm, or reject, the decrees of councils, and other ecclesiastical bodies, before presenting them, in the case of approval, and of their relating to general affairs, for the sanction of the legislature; and to maintain, along with the indivisibility of the empire, and the purity of the constitution, the apostolic Roman Catholic religion. The emperor, however, was not invested with an absolute legislative veto. If both chambers of the national assembly should pass a law, he had the power of refusing his sanction to it once; and, if this prerogative were exercised, the chambers, who had bmet with the refusal, were to answer, "The chambers commend his majesty for the interest which he takes in the nation;" but, if two successive legislatures should approve of the law, and present it for his adoption in the same terms, it was to be "understood" that the emperor granted his sanction.

qThe legislative body was formed of the Senate and the Chamber of the Deputies, both of them elective, but elective for different periods. The members of the senate, once chosen, were to retain their offices for life; their number from each province was to be equal to one half of the number of deputies from that province, unless province should have only one deputy, in which case it was likewise to have one whole senator. It was required that the senators should be at least forty years old (except imperial princes, who

were entitled to take their seats at 25), possess an annual income of 800 milreas (2001.) arising from property, trade, a profession, or an office; and, above all, that they should be persons "of prudence experience, and virtue," one of those requirements on which all the value of a constitution depends, but which is in no degree aided by being fairly set down in a paper constitution. It was made the exclusive duty of this body to take cognizance of all offences committed by members of the imperial family, ministers and counsellors of state, senators and deputies during the period of their legislative existence; in other words, to try impeachments. The mode of election of the chamber of deputies was indirect; provincial assemblies, or colleges, choosing provincial delegates, and these again electing the deputies of the province in a certain proportion to its population. The elective franchise was vested in all citizens, twenty-five years of age, possessing an income of an hundred milreas (251.), except servants, monks, and the regular clergy; but the qualification for a provincial elector was fixed at two hundred milreas (507.), and the qualification which should entitle the possessor to be elected a deputy, at double that sum; one half of the qualification required in a senator. The chamber was to be renewed every four years; and was to enjoy the exclusive privilege of originating all laws relating to taxes, the raising of men and the selection of a new dynasty for the throne whenever a reigning one should become extinct.

These two bodies formed the National Assembly, which was to

meet every year on the 2nd of May, the session to continue for four months. Its most important powers were, to fix the annual ex penditure, and the amount of direct taxation; to determine, on reports presented by government, the extent of the naval and military force to be maintained; to régulate the administration, and disposal, of the national property; to create or suppress public offices; to give, or refuse, its sanction to the introduction of foreign forces, naval or military, into the interior, or the harbours, of the empire. Its members were to receive wages for their legislative services; they were not to be answerable for any opinion which they might express; their persons were declared exempt from arrest; and, if any action should be brought against a legis lator, the judge before whom it might come was to intimate the circumstance to the chamber of which the defendant was a member, that it might decide whether or not he ought to be suspended from his functions.

In relation to the administra tion of justice, the constitution introduced juries, declared the judges to be irremoveable, and gave a right of popular action against them for subornation, corruption, peculation, and extortion a provision which, unless guarded by very strict practical restraints, threatened to render the office of a judge no object of envy; for, of all men, disappointed litigants are most apt to accuse their judges of corrupt motives, and deceive themselves into a belief that their suspicions are correct. This charter, likewise, contained within itself a species of habeas corpus act. Every person arrest

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ed was to receive within twentyfour hours after he had been sent to prison, a written note from the magistrate by whom he had been committed, setting forth the cause of his imprisonment, the names of his accusers, and the names of the witnesses against him, so far as they might then be known. In all cases in which the punishment could not be higher than six months imprisonment, or banishment from the arrondissement, the accused person was to be allowed to remain at large; in all other cases, bail was to be taken, except in military offences, or imprisonment for debt, or contempt of court. The liberty of the press, without a censorship, was established, writers and publishers being made responsible in a court of law.

One of the most striking features of this constitution was, the provision which it made for giving the great body of the population a direct influence in the local administration of the provinces. In every province there was to be a provincial council, consisting of twenty-one members in the more populous provinces, and of twelve in the less populous, chosen at the same time, and in the same manner, with the deputies to the national assembly, enduring for the same period, and holding aunually a session of two months continuance. It was the business of these councils to discuss, and deliberate upon, all matters touching the interest of their particular districts, and, if they should think proper, to transmit their resolutions to the emperor, that they might be enforced by his authority, if he saw reason to adopt them, for be proposed to the national as

The National Assembly met on the 6th of May. Its deliberations were almost entirely of a preparatory nature. Both chantbers unanimously passed an act, recognizing the eldest son of the emperor, born in October, 1895, as successor to his father, a ceremony which the constitution required to be performed by the assembly during its first session after the birth of an heir apparent. The emperor prorogued them on the 6th of September.

The emperor thought it his interest to accede to the congress of republics which was to be assembled at Panama, although probably with the design of watching and impeding its motions rather than of cordially seconding its resolutions; and, at the same time, he maintained most amicable relations with his singular neigh bour doctor Francia, Dictator of Paraguay, and the enemy of all the republics. Brazil and Paraguay were natural allies against Buenos Ayres. Paraguay had formed part of the vice-royalty of the river Plate; it had been peopled by the Spaniards almost before any other province of the vice-royalty; and the descend

ants of the Spanish settlers formed a considerable population, among whom the spirit of provincialism prevailed in a higher degree than even in any other part of South America. Partly from this circumstance partly from their secluded and inland situationand partly from the inconsiderable progress which they had made in any species of improvement or industry,the Paraguayans were little affected by the convulsions of the surrounding countries. Shortly after Buenos Ayres had asserted its independence, the junta of that state despatched a force under general Belgrave, to expel the Spanish authorities from Paraguay. The Paraguayans, however, supported the Spanish governor, and the invaders were defeated. In the following year, the inhabitants of Assumption deposed the governor, and established a junta, which refused to acknowledge the authority of Buenos Ayres, or to have any political connections with that neighbour. Under these circumstances it was that Francia, who was an advocate by profession, contrived to raise himself to supreme power, by means of his great family connections with many of the principal landed proprietors. His system of policy was, to prevent, as far as possible, any intercourse with foreign countries; thereby at once confirming his own power, and flattering the prejudices of the Paraguayans, who conceive themselves to be a chosen race, superior to the rest of mankind. So pertinaciously did he adhere to this non-intercourse system, that a foreigner who was found within the limits of Paraguay was seldom permitted

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