About this time were issued orders from the governor for recruiting the regiments of the line. The men who are required are pressed into the service. The orders were forwarded to the _Capitaens-mores_, who again distributed them to the captains. The directions were on this occasion, and indeed always are, that men of bad character between the ages of sixteen and sixty shall be apprehended, and sent to Recife for enlistment; and that every family containing two or more unmarried sons shall give one for the service of the country. But it is on these occasions that tyranny has its full sway, that caprice and pique have their full vent; that the most shameful partiality prevails, that the most intolerable oppression is experienced; in fact now it is, that the whole country is seen in arms against itself, and that every means of entrapping each other are used by the nearest neighbours. It is one of those impolitic arrangements which are sometimes practised by governments without perceiving their pernicious effects, and by which, as in the present case, the bad qualities of mankind are drawn forth, instead of every thing being done for their correction. Revenge, violence, deceit, and breach of trust are excited, and instead of suppression, they meet with encouragement. The mildness of the provincial government of Pernambuco, under the present Captain-general, is in none of its proceedings more apparent than in this. Although this nobleman has for so many years held the situation of chief of the province, now for the first time were issued the orders for recruiting; but not until they had become absolutely necessary from the state of the regiments. And even now, the directions of the governor to the officers who were to execute his commands were dictated in the spirit of gentleness;—if this word may be used when despotism sends forth such mandates as these. The official letter recommended impartiality, and threatened punishment, in case wounds were inflicted without the most evident necessity. But many were the instances of injustice which were committed, and could not reach his knowledge. Petitions were sometimes made to the governor, in particular instances of injustice, but these were often of no avail, for the custom is, that the recruits should be returned as being fit for service as soon as possible after their arrival at Recife, and their names placed upon the rolls, from which none can be removed without an order from the sovereign, although the provincial governor should be aware of the true state of the case.