at your summons, of which circumstance the party of the President availed themselves to sack and plunder the towns and villages everywhere in the country; the tears, desolation, and misery of so many villages and estates, accompanied by the blood of the murdered and wounded, remaining eternal monuments of these crimes.

“The President and his followers, convinced of the abhorrence with which such atrocities were viewed, availed themselves of the false pretext that such acts were necessary for the Imperial service, the people being in rebellion against him.

“At the present moment he has given out that he has three thousand men ready to support him in the Presidency against the measures of your Excellency, and it is a fact that, in various parts of the province, he has troops, militia, and arms; whilst the commandants, appointed by himself, are all ready to execute his measures.

“If your Excellency should unhappily quit the province, whilst matters are in this state, it will be totally desolated—­its commerce annihilated—­and its agriculture abandoned; confiscation and terror will be everywhere established, accompanied by rebellion towards the Emperor.  If you will remain, we, the undersigned, undertake to support the squadron, in the absence of funds from the Imperial treasury.

“To terminate these evils, we beg to represent to your Excellency that there is only one remedy.  President Bruce must be deposed and sent to Rio de Janeiro, with his coadjutors, who are well known, in order that his acts may be lawfully investigated, and punished as justice demands; and that, in the interim, there should be elected by your Excellency, from amongst the more respectable inhabitants of this province, a person to represent to His Imperial Majesty the horrible state of things here existing, and to implore His Imperial Majesty’s interposition for its salvation—­your Excellency, in the meantime, assuming the civil and military government of the province, until His Imperial Majesty’s pleasure can become known.  And we further beg of your Excellency that you will name able magistrates, of known probity, to the respective districts, and cause oaths to be taken, in order that the respective Camaras may proceed to the work of saving the province from tumult and anarchy, by observing faithful obedience to His Imperial Majesty and by the administration of laws for the government of the people.

   “Maranhao, Dec. 11, 1824.”

   Signed by one hundred and fifty-two
   of the principal inhabitants of the province.

A similar document, signed by upwards of a hundred and fifty of the respectable inhabitants of Alcantara—­upon whom excesses had been committed in no way less reprehensible than at Maranham—­had been forwarded to me on the 6th of December; but, as the complaints were of the same nature, it is unnecessary to do more than advert to the circumstance.  In addition to these, I received a statistic list of the murders and robberies perpetrated throughout the province, under the agency of those placed in authority by the President.  The whole of these documents were retained by me as a justification of any contingency that might arise, and are still in my possession.