the Piranga as a passenger, or rather quasi prisoner; and to this, in either capacity, it was impossible, without degradation, to submit.  I had no inclination to place myself at the mercy of men who had taken advantage of a spurious decree to dismiss me—­now that—­in spite of their opposition—­the destiny of the Empire had been irrevocably decided by my having counteracted their anti-national views whilst carrying out the intentions of His Imperial Majesty.

As will presently be seen, it was falsely represented by Gameiro, to the Imperial Government, that I had voluntarily abandoned the service! though, from the letter just quoted—­ordering the officers to “disengage themselves from all subordination to me,” this subterfuge of my having dismissed myself is obviously false.  I will not, therefore, trespass on the patience of the reader by dilating upon the subject; suffice it to say that, not choosing to return to Rio de Janeiro as a passenger, I had no dignified alternative but to give up the frigate to the command of the senior officer, Captain Shepherd; confiding to him all accounts of monies distributed for the Imperial service, with the vouchers for the same—­taking the precaution to send however the duplicate receipts given by the officers on account of the monies paid by the Junta of Maranham—­and retaining the originals in my possession, where they now remain, and will be adduced in the statement of account forming the concluding chapter of this volume.

For these accounts—­which the Brazilian ministers deny ever to have received—­Captain Shepherd gave me, under his own signature, the following acknowledgment—­now in my possession; a photograph of which, together with photographs of other important documents has long since been sent to the Brazilian Government:—­

   Received from Lord Cochrane, Marquess of Maranhao, the key of the
    iron chest, in which the prize lists and receipts for the
    disbursement of public monies have been kept during His Excellency’s
    command; which key and chest I engage faithfully to deliver to the
    accountant-general of His Imperial Majesty’s navy, or to the proper
    authority at Rio de Janeiro, taking his receipt for the same.

    On board H.I.M.’s ship Piranga, November 12th, 1825,

    JA’s SHEPHERD.

The denial by the Brazilian Administration—­of the accounts and receipts thus acknowledged by Captain Shepherd, and the absence of any ministerial communication on the subject, forms an unworthy imputation on the memory of a gallant officer, who a short time afterwards nobly died in action in the cause of Brazil.  It was utterly impossible that Captain Shepherd should have done otherwise than have delivered them, for he was a man upon whose honour no reproach could be cast.  There are only two ways to account for their not having been delivered, if such be the case.