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tion had made but little progress . The ecclesiastics , tfe * m * # t learned class in the eounti » y generally knew little more than ft small portion of bad Latin , and c the happy individual who had acquired , in addition , something of French , was regarded ftfc f 9 transcendent a genius , that , according to Mr ArmitagQ % people came from miles distant to consult him / There was neither a
printing-press nor an university in all Brazil , and an attempt to establish a literary society at Rio de Janeiro about the yea ? 180 Q t brought down so much political persecution on its projectors , thfrt it was abandoned . The population at the close of the last £ fctitury amounted to about three millions six hundred thousand ^ of whom about two-fifths were negro slaves , and the majority 6 f tfte free inhabitants , a mixed race of African , Indian , ^ and Efurotieiti origin . Their inherent constitution , their luxurious climate , # iWl fertile soil , and the nature of their institutions , combined tdgether to make them an indolent and apathetic race .
Yet , in the very completeness of the despotism which tilted Brazil , an intelligent observer might always have pereet £ ed f { probability of its downfall . The absence of nobility , anrf 1 &rg $ p roprietors , and above all , the freedom from that Incubus < n a state—a rich and powerful hierarchy—left the people with tnjt one heavy weight upon them . That weight was the monarchi ^ j principle ; its power over their minds once assailed , its sup * ema <* y once shewn to be a delusion , and they were free to sprirfg ikp with elastic energy in a moment . It was a " pressure * m > j& without" which did at last work this change . When Naptole ^ forced the royal family of Portugal to fly like terrified tftfltstQ her shores , he gave the first shock to her loyalty , and the flf $ t impulse to the spirit which has achieved her independence . TJW $ has been one among the mighty results which have flowed f ¥ 6 tn
his destruction of the power of legitimate monarchy . Mr Armitage has worked out the chain of causes and effefct $ hi the political history of the Brazilians with the clearness iff ' $ philosophic mind . His views are always far-sighted and libeyftj The following passage , containing a beautiful expositign of tfo truth to which we have referred above , is characterised by all these qualities . After describing the » tute of the people at tltt beginning of the present century , he continues : —
" Could they have been exempted from all extraneous impulse ,, area might have rolled away , aad Brazil have been known to Europe oatyi 4 J 1 the colossal yet Hubnuasiw and unaspiring 1 dependency of FojrtugaU , . . t $ Mt qventa were occurring elsewhere , about the cloye of the feightp ^ i ^ k ftffrturv , the effects of which were fated to extend their influence to 0 WfY 4 Qr enxiH of the earth . The young republic of France * HWfV # d ( frtiftt iwA the sterms of the revolution , and the crowned headf of all & 4 ajtfemjt . ing states entered into one mighty coalition to crush the JTMff **| fn £ IVTp this attempt their efforts were partially successful ; yet their aggtw-
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1836, page 479, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2660/page/19/
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