Memoir, Correspondence, and Miscellanies, From the Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 2Jefferson, Thomas
History
Memoir, Correspondence, and Miscellanies, From the Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 2
Jefferson, Thomas
United States -- Politics and government -- 1775-1783; United States -- Politics and government -- 1783-1865
As by this time, I had been advised to try the waters of Aix, I wrote
to the gentleman my design, and that I would go off my road as far as
Nismes, under the pretext of seeing the antiquities of that place, if
he would meet me there. He met me, and the following is the sum of the
information I received from him. ‘Brazil contains as many inhabitants
as Portugal. They are, 1. Portuguese. 2. Native whites. 3. Black and
mulatto slaves. 4. Indians, civilized and savage. 1. The Portuguese are
few in number, mostly married there, have lost sight of their native
country, as well as the prospect of returning to it, and are disposed to
become independent. 2. The native whites form the body of their nation.
3. The slaves are as numerous as the free. 4. The civilized Indians have
no energy, and the savage would not meddle. There are twenty thousand
regular troops. Originally these were Portuguese. But as they died off,
they were replaced by natives, so that these compose at present the
mass of the troops, and may be counted on by their native country. The
officers are partly Portuguese, partly Brazilians: their bravery is not
doubted, and they understand the parade, but not the science of their
profession. They have no bias for Portugal, but no energy either for any
thing. The priests are partly Portuguese, partly Brazilians, and will
not interest themselves much. The Noblesse are scarcely known as such.
They will, in no manner, be distinguished from the people. The men of
letters are those most desirous of a revolution. The people are not
much under the influence of their priests, most of them read and write,
possess arms, and are in the habit of using them for hunting. The slaves
will take the side of their masters. In short, as to the question of
revolution, there is but one mind in that Country. But there appears no
person capable of conducting a revolution, or willing to venture himself
at its head, without the aid of some powerful nation, as the people of
their own might fail them. There is no printing press in Brazil. They
consider the North American revolution as a precedent for theirs. They
look to the United States as most likely to give them honest support,
and, from a variety of considerations, have the strongest prejudices in
our favor. This informant is a native and inhabitant of Rio Janeiro,
the present metropolis, which contains fifty thousand inhabitants, knows
well St. Salvador, the former one, and the _mines d’or_, which are
in the centre of the country. These are all for a revolution; and,
constituting the body of the nation, the other parts will follow them,
The King’s fifth of the mines, yields annually thirteen millions of
crusadoes or half dollars. He has the sole right of searching for
diamonds and other precious stones, which yield him about half as much.
His income from those two resources alone, then, is about ten millions
of dollars annually; but the remaining part of the produce of the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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