To turn to a more northerly region:--after the protracted war which had for so many years desolated the province of _Pernambuco_, it will readily be conceived that it was by no means an easy task to restore the order which had existed previous to the arrival of the Dutch; and it is said that much latitude was allowed to the inhabitants on account of the devoted patriotism which they had shown during the struggle, and the sacrifices to which they had so cheerfully submitted. Two generations had now passed away since the expulsion of the Dutch, and _Recife_ had become an important entrepôt of trade, its influence being regarded with jealousy by the landed proprietors of _Pernambuco_. In _Olinda_ and the surrounding district the descendants of the heroes of the war now constituted an aristocracy, who prided themselves, with justice, on the fact that it was to the exertions of their ancestors that Portugal owed the province. The people of _Recife_, not unreasonably, demanded that that important place should be granted the privileges of a town; but this request was long resisted by the jealousy of _Olinda_. The name of _S. Antonio do Recife_, or St. Anthony of the Reef, was, however, at length conferred upon a place which had become the third, or perhaps the second, port of greatest importance in _Brazil_. The state of public security in the province left, certainly at this time, much to be desired. Murder was so common an occurrence that it was thought an act of oppression upon the part of the governor to arrest two persons for having murdered a gentleman in his house at night. The sympathies of the people were not with the victim, or with the law, but with the offenders; and a conspiracy was entered into to assassinate the unreasonable governor. That functionary, having ordered the people to deposit their arms in the arsenal, was shortly afterwards attacked by three armed men wearing masks, and was wounded in four places. This incident was merely the prelude to a general insurrection; and the governor consulted his own safety by taking refuge in a vessel which was ready to set out to sea. He took with him to _Bahia_ those persons who were reputed to be marked for popular vengeance, they being some of the principal inhabitants of _Recife_.