It was not at Para only that irregularities prevailed:  even at Maranham serious disturbances had broken out, with the avowed intention, on the part of the insurgents, of deposing the Governor acting under the authority of His Imperial Majesty—­to whom this new attempt at revolution was as yet unknown.  In short, the order to depose the General-at-Arms at Para had unexpectedly resolved itself into the necessity of tranquillizing the whole of the Northern provinces, which were only waiting the result of Carvalho’s measures at Pernambuco, openly to declare against the Imperial authority.

The dissatisfaction in the Northern provinces originated solely in the anti-Brazilian system of Government pursued at Rio de Janeiro, which in the estimation of all at a distance was Portuguese rather than Brazilian.  As they were either ignorant, or did not believe, that the patriotic intentions of the Emperor were overruled or thwarted by the Portuguese faction in the administration, which, holding in reality the reins of power, left to His Majesty little more than nominal authority.

It was not, then, to be wondered at, that the inhabitants of these distant provinces, who, only a year before, had welcomed me as their liberator from Portuguese oppression, and as the representative of constitutional authority, should now be dissatisfied with what they rightly considered an unnational system of government—­preferring to submit to a bad government of their own choosing rather than to one thus arbitrarily imposed upon them.

To avert revolution required able presidents, well skilled in the management of public affairs; but, in place of these, men of an opposite character had, for the most part, been chosen by the administration.

It was no less essential that the Generals-at-Arms, or military commandants, should be temperate and unprejudiced; but those placed in this responsible position used their authority in the most obnoxious and arbitrary manner.  It was, no doubt, difficult to find proper men; or, if they existed amongst the Brazilians, the jealousy of the Portuguese party in the administration prevented their elevation to power; the aim of that faction being disorder, as auxiliary to their anti-imperial views.  This had been strikingly evinced by the instructions given to disembark General Lima’s force at Alagoas, instead of near the seat of disturbance; thus entailing loss of time and a difficult and tedious march, which might have ended in failure, had it not been for the distraction caused by the threatened bombardment of Pernambuco by water, and the demonstration made to shew how easily it would be effected, when means for a destructive attack were complete; the result was, that—­knowing my return from Bahia, with everything in readiness for an attack in earnest, could not be delayed beyond a few days, no serious opposition was offered to the occupation of the city by the force under General Lima.