Journal of a Voyage to Brazil

Journal of a Voyage to Brazil, by
Maria Graham

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Title: Journal of a Voyage to Brazil And Residence There During Part
of the Years 1821, 1822, 1823
Author: Maria Graham
Release Date: April 22, 2007 [EBook #21201]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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OF A VOYAGE TO BRAZIL ***

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[Illustration]
[Transcriber's note: The spelling of the original has been retained. This

includes a few apparent mis-spellings and varied spellings of the same
words and names. Diacritical marks not available in this characters set
are handled thusly:
[=e]--for the letter e with a line over it. [)a]--for a letter a with a
u-shape over it. [)o]--for a letter o with a u-shape over it. [)u]--for a
letter u with a u-shape over it.]

JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO BRAZIL,
AND
RESIDENCE THERE, DURING PART OF THE YEARS 1821, 1822,
1823.
BY MARIA GRAHAM.
ONCE MORE UPON THE WATERS, YET ONCE MORE, AND
THE WAVES BOUND BENEATH ME AS A STEED THAT
KNOWS HIS RIDER.
[Illustration]
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, BROWN, AND
GREEN,
PATERNOSTER-ROW;
AND J. MURRAY, ALBEMARLE-STREET.
1824.
LONDON:
Printed by A. & R. Spottiswoode, New-Street-Square.

PREFACE.
Although the Journal of a voyage to Brazil, and of a residence of many
months in that country, was not written without a view to publication at
some time; yet many unforeseen circumstances forced the writer to
pause before she committed it to press, and to cancel many pages
recording both public and private occurrences.
Perhaps there is even yet too much of a personal nature, but what is
said is at least honest; and if the writer should suffer personally by
candour, the suffering will be cheerfully borne.
As to public events, all that can be new in the Journal is the bringing
together facts which have reached Europe one by one, and recording
the impression produced on the spot by those occurrences which might
be viewed in a very different light elsewhere. Some have, no doubt,
been distorted by the interested channels through which they have
reached the public; some by the ignorance of the reporters; and most by
the party spirit which has viewed either with enthusiasm or malignity
the acquisition of freedom in any quarter of the globe.
The writer does not pretend to perfect impartiality, for in some cases
impartiality is no virtue; but knowing that no human good can be
attained without a mixture of evil, she trusts that a fair picture of both
has been given, although it has cost some pain in the writing.
Of the natives of the country, or of those engaged in its service, what is
said, whether of those still employed or of those no longer in the
empire, was written under the impression of the moment; and the
writer's confidence in the good sense and justice of the Brazilian
government and people is such, that she leaves the passages as they
stood at the moment of writing.
The events of the last three years in Brazil have been so important, that
it was thought best not to interrupt the account of them, by continuing
what may be called the writer's personal narrative after she reached

Chile; therefore the two visits to Brazil are printed together, along with
an Introduction containing a sketch of the history of the country
previous to the first visit, and a notice of the public events of the year
of her absence, to connect it with the second.
The Journal of a visit to Chile will form the subject of a separate
volume.
It was thought essential that the narratives concerning Spanish and
Portuguese America should be kept quite separate; the countries
themselves being as different in climate and productions, as the
inhabitants are in manners, society, institutions, and government.
Nothing can be more interesting than the actual situation of the whole
of South America. While Europe was engaged in the great
revolutionary war, that country was silently advancing towards the
point at which longer subjection to a foreign dominion became
impossible. Circumstances, not laws, had opened the ports of the South
Atlantic and the Pacific. Individuals, not nations, had lent their aid to
the patriots of the New World: and more warlike instruments and
ammunition had gone silently from the warehouses of the merchant to
arm the natives against their