Meantime the Portuguese troops, to the number of seven hundred, had marched up to the Castle-hill, commanding the principal streets in the town, and had taken with them four pieces of artillery, and threatened to sack the town. The field-pieces belonging to the Brazilians, which had remained in the town after the 26th of February, had been sent to the usual station of the artillery, at the botanical gardens, no longer ago than last week, so they entertained no fear of artillery. But they were disappointed in their expectation of being joined by that part of the Portuguese force which was stationed at San Cristovaŏ. This amounted to about 500 men[87], who said the King had left them to attend on the person of the Prince, and they had nothing to do with anything else; a declaration that was looked on with suspicion by the Brazilians.
While the Portuguese were taking up their new and threatening position, the Brazilians were not idle. Every horse and mule in the town was pressed, and expresses despatched to all the militia regiments, and other Brazilian troops, as well as to the head-quarters of the artillery. The Prince was most active; so that by four o'clock this morning (12th), he found himself at the head of a body of four thousand men, in the Campo de Santa Anna, not only ready, but eager for action; and though deficient in discipline, formidable from their numbers and determination.
The Portuguese had by no means expected such promptness and decision; they had besides not taken provision to the hill, and they were convinced that it would be an easy matter to starve them, by means of the immense superiority of numbers in the Campo. They therefore prepared to obey an order which the Prince communicated to them early in the day, to remove from the city to Praya Grande, on the other side of the harbour, only conditioning to carry their arms with them. His Royal Highness wished to have put them instantly on board of transports, to be conveyed to Lisbon, but the port admiral reported that there was neither shipping nor provision ready for the purpose; and therefore they are to be quartered at Praya Grande, until such shall be provided.
I went ashore with an officer as early as I could, chiefly for the purpose of seeing the troops in the Campo de Santa Anna. In consequence, however, of the press of horses and mules, it was sometime before I could get a chaise to convey me there, and it was much too hot to walk. At length, however, I procured one, and determined to call on the Viscondeça of Rio Seco in my way, to offer her refuge in the frigate. We found her in a Brazilian dishabille, and looking harassed and anxious. She had remained in the theatre as long as the Prince last night, and had then hurried home to provide for the safety of her family and her jewels: her family she had despatched to her estate in the country; for the jewels, she had them all packed in small parcels, intending to escape with them herself in disguise to us, in case of a serious attack on the city; and she had left a quantity of valuable plate exposed in different parts of the house to occupy the soldiers on their first entrance. Everything, however, looks better now; and we assured her we had seen the first part of one of the Lisbon regiments ready to embark as we landed. We promised her, that on her making a signal from her house, or sending a message, she should have protection. She appears very apprehensive of evil from the liberation of the prisoners by the Brazilians during the night, and says, that there are some fears that the Portuguese will seize the forts on the other side, and hold them till the arrival of the reinforcements daily expected from Lisbon. This would, indeed, be disastrous; but I believe the apprehension to be ill founded.
Having comforted my good friend as well as I could, we went on to the Campo, and found the Brazilians housed for the most part in some unfinished buildings. The men, though slight, looked healthy, active, and full of spirit; their horses were the best I have seen in the country; and, it might be fancy, but they gave me the idea of men resolute in their purpose, and determined to guard their rights and their homes.
The scene in the Campo presented all manner of varieties. Within the enclosure where the artillery was placed, all was gravity and business-like attention: the soldiers on the alert, and the officers in groups, canvassing the events of the preceding night, and the circumstances of the day; and here and there, both within and without the circle, an orator was stationed with his group of auditors around him, listening to his political discussions, or patriotic harangues. In the open part of the Campo were straggling soldiers, or whole companies, escaped from the heated crowd of the enclosure: horses, mules, and asses, many of all lying down from sheer fatigue. In all directions, negroes were coming, laden with capim or maize for the horses, or bearing on their heads cool drink and sweetmeats for the men. In one corner, a group of soldiers, exhausted with travel and watching, lay asleep; in another, a circle of black boys were gambling: in short, all ways of beguiling the time while waiting for a great event might be seen; from those who silently and patiently expected the hour, in solemn dread of what the event might be, to those who, merely longing for action, filled up the interval with what might make it pass most lightly. I was well pleased with the view I had of the people in the Campo, and still better as the day wore away, for I staid sometime, to feel assured that all was to pass without bloodshed, beyond the two or three persons killed accidentally during the night.
On our return to the ship, we were stopped for some time in the palace square, by a great concourse of people assembled to witness the entrance of the first Brazilian guard into the palace, while the last Portuguese guard marched out, amid the loud huzzas of the people; and on reaching the stairs, where we were to embark, we found the last of one regiment, and the first of another, about to sail for the Praya Grande, so that the city may sleep in security to-night.
The inhabitants generally, but especially the foreign merchants, are well pleased to see the Lisbon troops dismissed; for they have long been most tyrannically brutal to strangers, to negroes, and not unfrequently to Brazilians; and, for many weeks past, their arrogance has been disgusting to both prince and people.[88]
The appearance of the city is melancholy enough: the shops are shut up, guards are parading the streets, and every body looks anxious. The shopkeepers are all employed as militia: they are walking about with bands and belts of raw hides over their ordinary clothes, but their arms and ammunition were all in good order, and excepting these and the English, I saw nobody at all out of doors.
13th.—Every thing seems quiet to-day. From the ship we see the rest of the troops going over to the Praya Grande. Yet there is necessarily a great deal of anxiety among all classes of persons. Some persons have sent some of their valuables on board the frigate, for safety; and a message, I do not know on what authority, arrived to know if the Prince and Princess, and family, could be received and protected on board.—The answer, of course, is, that though the ship must observe the strictest neutrality between the parties, yet that we are ready at once to receive and protect the Princess and children, and also, whenever he has reason to apprehend personal danger, the Prince himself. My cabin is therefore ready. I hope they will not be forced to come afloat. The more they can trust to the Brazilians the better for them, and for the cause of that independence which is now so inevitable, that the only question is whether it shall be obtained with or without bloodshed.