The Sun.
London, England, 1831-06-13 00:00:00

S" RIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The Tory Press exults over the fall of the late
Emperor of llrazil as an event full of awful 'warning
to !lve Monarchs who condescend, from the proud
ele atinn of a throne, to pay any attention to the
.voice of enlightened opinion, and are so infatuated
as to attempt to combine the exercise of Royal
po aer with the cultivation of the liberal virtues. A
dethroned Liberal who, by his honest endeavours to
establish his authority in the affections of a free
p °pie, had subverted it altogether, would indeed
*Tart' a fine theme for the declamation of the ad-
m'rers and sycophants of despotic power. If Don
Pedro have, by an excess of liberality, and by too
many and sincere concessions to the popular feeling,
coajured up that spirit which has driven him an out-
cast and an exile from the empire, where his splendid
crime was too generous a sacrifice of the preroga-
tives of power to the freedom of his people, he af-
fords a rare example of kingly virtue provoking a
tyrant's fate. But if his liberality were but a mask
asenined to serve the purpose of a crafty ambi-
tion, and to be thrown aside when he thought
himself strong enough to play the despot in safety,
his case is only confirmatory of the great truth,
of which we have had so many recent examples,
t' rat without moral power military force is but a
precarious protection to thrones. The Tory Press
informs its readers that Don Pedro, " the de-
throned and fugitive Emperor of Brazil, was a con-
summate Liberal, and a most zealous and indus-
trious manufacturer of Constitutione." His expul-
sion, according to the same authority, establishes
the inference that a Sovereign may be a Liberal and
a Consftution-monger, and may yet fail to afford sa-
tisfaction to his people, or to ensure the stability of
his throne. Our opinion is that Don Pedro began
by being a " consummate" hypocrite, and ended by
showing himself an enemy to freedom. In the
former character he certainly framed Constitutions,
but in the latter be broke them ; in the former cha-
racter lie courted popular approbation, in the latter
be relied upon military force. While he assumed
the virtues which he had not his throne was firm,
for it was supported by the people; but when he
threw off a patriot's disguise he met a tyrant's doom.
That he was capable of acting the hypocrite there
ate sufficient proofs upon record. • One docu-
ment will be conclusive on this point ; it is the copy
of a letter which he addressed to his fatlisr, the late
King John, on the 4th of October, 1821, just before
he (Don Pedro) proposed to the Braz;lians the es-
tablishment of a separate Legislation, with himself
at its head, as Emperor; the letter has the following
words :—" They wish, and they say they wish, to
proclaim me Emperor. I protest to your Majesty that
I will never be peijured—that I will never be false
to you—and that if ever they commit that folly, .it
shall not be till after they have cut me to pieces—me
and all the Portuguese. By a solemn oath, which 1
lave written wills my blood, in the following words:
I swear to be always faithful to your Ma-
jesty—to the Portuguese nation and Constitri-
lion. " This is one of his letters, which was
printed, by order of Don John, for the use of the
Members of the Cortes at Lisbon, and to a'sure
them of his son's fidelity to the Throne of Portugal.
In the October following the connection with Por-
tugal was severed, and Don Pedro was, on his own
suggestion, elected Emperor of Brazil. It has long
been but too evident to the Thazil'ans that Don
Pedro considered the intere'ta of Portugal, whose
Crown he had resigned, as of more importance than
those of Brazil, over which he reigned. It was in
pursuance of this Portuguese policy that the agents
of the Emyeror seized upon the funds which the
Brazilians had appropriated to the payment of the
dividends en his debt, and applied them to the pur-
pose; of the claims of Donna Melia to the throne
of Portugal, about which the Brazilians care no-
thing. They have a bitter recollection of the op-
pression which they suffered when Brazil was a de-
pendency of that kingdom ; neither do they forget
the dreadful massacre of their electors by Portu-
guese troops in the year 1821, when convened in
their Hall of Assembly at Rio, while both Don
John and Don Pedro were in that city;—still less
can they forget the inhuman satisfaclon with which
the ace'unt of that massacre of their unarmed citi-
zens by the bayonets of a cowardly and ferocioto.
soldiery was received in Lisbon. How then
could they observe without disgust the policy
by which Don Pedro sacrificed the interests
of Brazil to his paramount consideration for
the affairs of Portegal? Our readers arc aware that
in the year 1828, ti e British Government sent
Lord Strangford on a special embassy to Brazil, for
the purpose of bringing about an unnatural alliance
between Donna Nlaria and her perjured uncle, the
is monster" of Portugal. This unnatural marriage
wart originally a project of Don Pedro himself; and
in filet the civil part of the contract had been exe-
cuted when Don Miguel was at Vienna, learning
those lessons of policy under Metternich which he
has since csrried into effect with such discusting
tid,litv to the principles of his political Mentor;
but when Lord Strangford arrived at Rio on his
" honourable" mission, the Emperor was in such
ill-
humour with Don Miguel that he would not hear
any proposal for the completion of his own matri.
monial arrangement, although a British Ministry had
not thought the Msjesty of England degraded
by its representative being deputed to provide
the " monster" with a wife! Dr. Walsh, who
attended that embassy as Chaplain, publishei
as account of it in his wcrk on Brazil. In that
work he has thrown some light on the character t f
Don Pedro—that lie was a patriot by compulsion,
and despot by choice. He says that this Prince
" left, at a very early and inexperienced age,
entirely to himself, and in a region where every
State around him was revolutionized into republics,
and the same spirit rapidly advancing through his
own, lie with great sigacity saw the line of conduct
left him to adopt, and with equal dexterity pursued
it. He could not hope to resist the public sentiment
—but by appearing to lead, he has hitherto con-
trived effectually to guide it." He adds, that it was
even at that time said in Brazil that lie was essen-
tially despotic in his principles ; that he wished en,,
timely to lay the spirit of democracy that had been
conjured up; and that his apparent design to esta-
blish constitutional freedom was merely a bait to
crick popularity. He bad even before the time Dr.
Walsh visited Rio suppressed, like Ferdinand of
Spain, all freemasons' lodges, although he had
originally put himself at their head as Grand Mas-
ter, A lover of freedom cannot be an enemy of
knowledge : but Don Pedro dreaded 'the diffusion
of knowledge, and set himself against the formation
of literary and scientific institutions, which he once
pretended to patronise, This historian was, there-i
fore, justified in saying, three years ago, that " Don
Pedro, supposing he had guided the enthusiasm of
the people until it bad harmlessly exploded and
established himself firmly on the throne, is now de-
termined to reign by himself, and dispense alto-
gether with troublesome popular assemblies, which
he has twice forcibly suppressed. Thus had Don
Pedro made a commencement of that tvranny before
118823. ~.s
1828 of which. we see the merited catastrophe in
last act was a reliance on military
power, which snapt like a reed. May such be ever
standing the fidelity of the arta ice of despots I So
shall moral power triumphii over butte force, and
mankind cease to be slaughtered as a pastime for
tyrants.—Morning Herald.o
It is understood, that besides the& men's
tnralsure of
Reform, in the success of which a
feelings are bound up, no business excepte thativoefltest the
most urgent and important nature will be transacted
in the approaching early Session of the new Partia-
merit. The new Bankrupt Bill is, however, to be
introduced. It will be, we believe, supported by all
the able practical lawyers in the Lower House; but
nothing can be more preposterous or ignorant than
the statement made by a contemporary (the Morn-
ing Post) as to the probable disposition among the
profession of the judicial places to be created .by
the 'Bill. Enlightened men of all iarieties of po-
litical sentiment must unite in advocating those
inta:ioti a of legal Reform do long demanded 1.)