William Hadfield

“ The cause of this poverty of trade must be obvious to all, even to enlightened Portuguese. The Government, blind to all experience elsewhere, deaf to the supplications of common sense and even self-interest, draw a kind of cordon round the little trade they still possess, and encumber it with such a net-work of preposterous restrictions, as actually to squeeze the life-blood out of it, or, rather, altogether arrest its circulation, which is the same thing in the end, as regards the vitality of commerce. The evil extends to every ramification of industrial pursuit ”

“ When all the neighbouring countries were engaged in a bloody war for the attainment of their independence no throb for liberty disturbed the popular heart of 211Paraguay. The Metropolitan supremacy was exposed to no tumultuous assault, and was subverted only when its official guardians betrayed their trust. The nation allowed itself to pass from one master to another, just like a herd of cattle, without protest and without the manifestation of any special interest, but to the new authority as to the old they rendered the same homage of unreasoning and unreflecting obedience. ”

“ A stay of two days is a short time to enable a stranger to appreciate fully the merits of a large place like Lisbon; but the defects in her national fiscal system as here manifested, at the very fountain head of the intelligence and influence of the empire, and its mischievous tendency in retarding prosperity, are unmistakeable. The handwriting on the wall requires no interpreter; it points out approaching decay, unless Portugal alters her system before it is too late, and determines to go with the stream of events and the destinies of the world. ”

“ There is a large kitchen garden attached, and quite a plantation of pear trees, loaded with splendid pears, for which Monte Video is famous. The stables and farm buildings are extensive, and, like the house, they are in the Swiss cottage style; they are tenanted by fine horses, valuable cows, and other descriptions of cattle. Everything is in perfect order. The view from the upper ground, at the back of the house, is very fine—the city, the harbour filled with shipping, and the mounts at its entrance, the waters of the La Plata glistening beyond in the sunlight. ”

“ In vain you look in the Tagus for that forest of shipping which should fringe the watery highway to, and ought to constitute the leading feature in, so fine a port—the capital of a country the once nautical genius of whose people is expressed in the only poem in any language that makes adventures on the deep its theme. ”

“ Rio itself is a bad copy of Lisbon—streets at right angles, a large square facing the sea, and the suburbs extending up the hills which everywhere meet your eye. In Lisbon the streets are tolerably wide, but here they have built them so miserably narrow, that scarcely even one carriage can pass through, much less pass each other; and it is evident that such vehicles were never contemplated in the original formation of these streets. ”

“ Alone, in the midst of a boundless desert, and in which the eye strains itself in vain to discover a boundary, he advances without the slightest feeling of uneasiness—he does so watching the course of the stars, listening to the winds, watching, interrogating, discovering the cause of the slightest noise that reaches his ears, and he at length arrives at the place he sought, without ever straying for it, even for a moment. ”

“ Altogether, this sad event has created a feeling in Monte Video which it will take long to recover from, nor is any confidence felt in the ability of the present rulers to overcome the difficulties of their position. It is a great pity so fine a country and so fair a city should be sacrificed to objects of mere personal ambition, and be the sport of every discontented chief or partisan who chooses to set himself in array against the Government; but unfortunately this is too much the case, nor do the people themselves rise to put down such a state of anarchy. ”

“ This sudden and premature concession of political privileges to a people yet in the infancy of civilization has been naturally attended by great and numerous evils, mingled, it must be admitted, with many and great advantages. In the intoxication of a new-born freedom, the empire has committed numerous excesses; province has been arrayed against province, in a succession of intestine broils; the laws have been inefficiently or corruptly administered; and a lax morality has but too generally pervaded the whole community. ”

“ Portuguese politeness is delightful, because it is by no means purely artificial, but flows, in a great measure, from a national kindness of feeling. The restless feeling, so often perceptible in English society, hardly exists in Portugal; there is little prepared wit in Portuguese society, and no one talks for the mere purpose of producing an effect, but simply because his natural taste leads him to take an active part in conversation. Dandyism is unknown among their men, and coquetry, so common among Spanish women, is little in vogue among the fair Portuguese. ”

“ Happy indeed is it for the interests of this country that so immense a capital has found its way into steam hammers, saws, lathes, and all the mighty elements which mechanical genius has called into the service of man. We are on the right track at last, and people who want to judge of the real progress of this place should visit the workshops of the Western Railway. Within the last few 257years this grand mart of mechanical industry has sprung into existence. We recollect Buenos Ayres without a railway—still more without a workshop—unless the humble smith's forge may be dubbed by this title ”

“ In this favoured land the solar heat proves scarcely less influential and salutary to animal than to vegetable life; and years of subsequent exhaustion can never entirely efface from the recollection of the European sojourner the buoyancy of spirit, unclouded mind, and exquisite appreciation of mere animal existence which marked the first years of his residence in Brazil. These vivid sensations may be in part determined by the novelty and splendour of a New World, its brilliant skies, perpetual verdure, and the variety, luxuriance, and beauty of its vegetable life ”

“ That the policy of the Brazilian Government with regard to her territories on the Amazon is in the right direction no one can deny, and it is in striking contrast with the proceedings of the ruler of Paraguay, who could, in the erection of his formidable strongholds, have had no other object in view than that of impeding, if he did not absolutely obstruct, the passage of the River Paraguay. Paraguayan advocates have, indeed, endeavoured to show that the opening of the Amazon by Brazil was solely dictated by self-interested motives, but let the world look at the facts and judge accordingly. ”

“ He commanded a corps or battalion of the troops which occupied the capital, when his companions in arms appointed him Commandant-General in the interval between the death of the Dictator and the assembly of Congress. During this short period he maintained public order, and protected the tranquillity of the citizens with zeal and moderation. Like a man of good sense and honour, and of docile character, he at once acknowledged the superiority of his colleague, which of itself is a merit, and always deferred to it, in which he rendered a great service to his country. ”