This morning Sir T. Hardy, who is always anxious to do kind offices, carried me to call on Mrs. Chamberlain: I can truly say, if I had known her ideas on the subject of etiquette, I should have called on her before; and therefore I am glad to do what is expected.[116] She seems to be a well-informed woman, with pleasant manners.
After I returned, I joined a party in a pleasant ride to the Copa Cabana, a little fort that defends one of the small bays behind that of Vermelha, and whence there are to be seen some of the most beautiful views here. The woods in the neighbourhood are very fine, and produce a great deal of the excellent fruit called the Cambucá; and among the hills the small oppossum and the armadillo are frequently found.
8th.—The discussions and vote concerning the Emperor's veto have excited a great commotion, of words at least; and the English fetchers and carriers of news have agreed that there will be some serious insurrection on the part of the soldiers, to defend the Emperor from some indefinite oppression of the Assembly. I believe it is true that the Assembly itself, being convinced that their vote concerning the veto is impolitic and unjust, have determined to cancel it; and it is equally true, that there have been some military clubs, whose language has been rather violent on the subject. But that there are the slightest grounds for expecting any serious disturbance, I cannot think. The Emperor appears too sincere in his desire to see the greatest possible prosperity in Brazil, to encourage any violent proceedings to overawe the Constituent Assembly; and at the same time he has too much spirit to submit to terms, from any quarter, derogatory to his dignity and rights. I have just received his proclamation on the occasion, which I doubt not will produce a good effect. These proclamations are agreeable to the taste of the people; and in fact are the only channels through which they can learn any thing of the disposition of the Emperor in the present state of the country. To-day's is as follows:—
"Brazilians!
"On not a few occasions have I laid open to you my mind and my heart: on the first you will always find engraven constitutional monarchy, on the last your happiness. I am now desirous of giving you a fresh assurance of my sentiments, and of my detestation of despotism, whether exercised by one or by many.
"Some of the municipalities of the northern provinces have given instructions to their deputies, in which the spirit of democracy predominates. Democracy in Brazil, in this vast empire, is an absurdity; and not less absurd is the pretending to give laws to those who are to make them, threatening them with the loss or diminution of powers which the constituents neither have given nor have power to give.
"In the city of Porto Alegre, the troops and the people, the junta of government and the civil and ecclesiastical authorities, have also just committed an error, which they have confirmed, or rather aggravated, by solemn oath. Troops which ought to obey the monarch holding a council; incompetent authorities defining an article of the constitution, which is the business of the General Constituent and Legislative Assembly (and such is the veto, whether absolute or suspensive);—are most scandalous absurdities, and crimes which would merit the severest punishment, but for the consideration that they were suggested by ignorance, or produced by base deceptions.
"Listen not therefore to those who flatter the people, or to those who flatter the monarch: they are equally base, and moved by personal and low interests; and under the mask of liberality or that of servility, seek alike, only to rear their proud and precarious fortunes on the ruins of their country. The times in which we live are full of melancholy warnings. Let us use the catastrophes of foreign nations as beacons.
"Brazilians! confide in your Emperor and Perpetual Defender, who seeks no legal powers; nor will he ever suffer those to be usurped which belong to him of right, and which are indispensable in order that you may be happy, and that this empire may fulfil the high destinies suited to its boundaries of the wide Atlantic, and the proud floods of the Plata and the Amazons. Let us await reverently the constitution of the empire, and let us hope that it may be worthy of us.
"May the Supreme Disposer of the Universe grant us union and tranquillity, strength and constancy; and the great work of our liberty and independence will be accomplished.