Medical topography of Brazil and Uruguay / by G.R.B. Horner.
- G. R. B. Horner
- Date:
- 1845
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Medical topography of Brazil and Uruguay / by G.R.B. Horner. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.
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![tures was about 7,000,000 of dollars, or a third of the revenue of the country ; and the public debt exceeded $30,000,000. In May of that year the General Assembly, incensed at the sad condition of finances, discussed them warmly, and so far from receiving any good explanations from the government of the manner in which the nation had been involved in debt to such an extent, got a note to this effect: — August and most worthy gentlemen, Representatives of the Brazilian nation—the Session is closed.—Conslitutiona] Emperor and Perpetual Defender of Brazil. This laconic and arbi- trary note, made up mostly of their titles and his own, could not fail to give great dissatisfaction to the deputies and their constituents. A deep-rooted resentment sprung up, and grew stronger the longer it existed ; but a suspension of hostilities in part took place between the enemies and friends of the emperor at the arrival of the Princess Amelia de Leuchtemberg;, daughter of Eugene Beauharnais, and betrothed bride of Pedro, on the 17th of Nov. 1829. The next day they were married with great pomp in spite of a heavy rain, and caused much gaiety and joy among the people of the capital; but the honeymoon was barely over before old con- tentions were renewed and others originated. One of the last was re- specting the conduct of the Marquis de Barbacena while in Europe ; his interference in the affairs of Portugal; and exorbitant expendi- tures *in behalf of the young Queen Donna Maria II. and the Empress Amelia. The marquis defended himself boldly, and proved his conduct was proper, if we take his statement of expenditures to be correct. Agreeably to it, he had been authorized by Pedro to go as high as £200,000 sterling in procuring him another Empress, and had expended for that purpose only £42,272, though she was one of the most amiable, beautiful, and accomplished prin- cesses in the world. The sum total of his expenses he stated were £244,302 Is. 4 pence ; and he had the candor to fix those for the Queen at rather less than £177,800, but did not enter into the items. The truth is, a great proportion of the last sum had been paid to refugees from Portugal, where Don Miguel had usurped the sovereign power, dismissed the cortez, at the same period he had rejected the hand of his niece and violated the engagement with his brother. Such want of good faith — the rejection of his daughter, the loss of her crown — could not fail of incensing Pedro exceedingly ; and from his conduct when the news was received as weil as what he did subsequently to restore what she had lost, we may infer that he at least connived at the sums paid the refu- gees : and by the purchase of 20,000 stand of arms, the enlistment of 2000 more men and 1000 more seamen, did not simply intend to keep in subjection the discontented in Brazil. An accident befell he Emperor shortly after his marriage which was near ridding them of him without the least trouble to themselves. He was indulging his taste by driving a carriage rapidly along one of the streets of Rio, when it upset, broke several of his ribs, hurt Donna Maria and the young Duke of Leuchtemberg, and threw](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21019538_0040.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
