definitive judgments in those cases and within such periods as you must legally concede, you will bring them before my person, in conformity with the orders which have been promulgated for affairs of real hacienda.

XXX. You will take cognizance of the propios y arbitrios of the towns, and, in conformity with my merciful and just purposes, which are explained in the Instrucción given for the management of those taxes in Spain, you will see that an accounting is made of them, that expenses are regulated, superfluous ones being eliminated, and that the residues are applied to the reduction of the levies, so that there shall be no malversation of these public funds, which is injurious to my vassals.

XXXI. By reason of the satisfaction which I have in your judgment and prudence, it is my royal will that you ascertain, with the circumspection and maturity of thought demanded, whether it will be useful and conducive to the good of my service and of my vassals to establish one or more intendencies in New Spain on the same model as those of Spain, or with some limitations or amplifications. You will, according to your judgment, in view of the actual circumstances, government, and extent of that empire, represent to me what you deem most conducive to the good of my service and of my people.

XXXII. In order to assure good method, administration, management, and security in all the branches of revenue, and that these may yield all possible increase without injury to my vassals, for the purpose of meeting the growing expenses of New Spain on account of new troops, and other measures which I have taken for the better protection of those dominions, it will be very desirable for you, during such time as you may reside in Mexico, to confer with the viceroy in a junta which you should hold every week concerning the best method of securing the proposed ends and the measures which may be deemed conducive to them; for these measures not being reserved, and having no reference to the visitation, the zeal of my viceroy will be enlisted in their authorization, and he will concur efficaciously in the promotion. of my interests and the improvement of my service.

XXXIII. Finally, you must endeavor to proceed in the discharge of your commission in accord and harmony with my viceroy as far as possible, and you will follow similar procedure with those other ministers and subordinates who have performed their duties. And in

view of the great confidence which I have in your prudence, uprightness, and fitness in an affair which so intimately concerns my real hacienda and the good of my vassals, I desire, and very especially charge you, that all your measures shall be directed solely to the service of both Majesties, without injury or offence to any one. I do command you that, if in any matter included in your grave duties you think serious difficulty may follow any changes, you will report them to me in detail, that I may in view thereof act according to my pleasure.

Given at El Pardo, March 14, 1765.

I THE KING

55. SECRET INSTRUCTIONS OF VICEROY LAVRADIO TO VASCONCELLOS E SOUZA, HIS SUCCESSOR AS VICEROY OF BRAZIL

[Rio de Janeiro, June 19, 1779. John Armitage, The History of Brazil (1836), II, 161 ff. Published by Smith, Elder and Company, London.]

The viceregal system of Brazil was established by Philip III in 1640 while Portugal and her colonies were still under the rule of Spain. Bahia was the capital and remained so until 1763, when it was removed to Rio de Janeiro. The first viceroy, Dom Jorge Mascarenhas, Marquis de Montalvão, took office on June 15, 1640, but served less than a year. The viceregal office was allowed to remain vacant for several years. Dom Affonso VI revived the office in 1662, appointing Dom Vasco Mascarenhas, first Count de Obidos, to that position. He served from June 24, 1663, to June 13, 1667. The author of the following instructions, Dom Luiz de Almeida Portugal Soares Deça Alarcão Silva Mascarenhas, second Marquis de Lavradio and fourth Count of Avintes, took office on November 4, 1769. He served until April 5, 1779, when Luiz de Vasconcellos e Souza began his term of office, serving until July 9, 1790. The last of the viceroys of Brazil was Dom Marcos de Noronha, eighth Count dos Actos, who assumed control of the office on August 21, 1806, and served until the arrival of the Portuguese royal family at Brazil in January, 1808. The viceroys of Brazil were under the immediate

jurisdiction of the Ultra-Marina Council in Lisbon, a governing body similar to the Council of the Indies of Spain. The following excerpts give an account of affairs in Brazil during the ten-year term of the Marquis de Lavradio.

Although the brilliant acquirements and distinguished talents of your Excellency may easily recognize whatever is of most importance in this Captaincy, and though your penetration may discover whatever be immediately necessary, by your inquiries, without the aid of the following diffuse and incomplete narration; yet as there may be some particulars with which you might for a long time be unacquainted, and towards which your attention will be required, in order that your cares and judicious measures may remedy my errors; the love which I bear to the royal service, and the interest which I take in the good of this people and in the good of the State, induce me to lay before your Excellency a narration of the forces of this Captaincy, — of the state in which I found it, of its interests, of the system which I have followed, — of the character of its inhabitants, and lastly, of the state in which I deliver it over to your Excellency.1 And if this my narration do not satisfy all the curiosity of your Excellency, you will be pleased to excuse me on account of this document being original, i.e. that I am the first who give an account to my successor of the Government which I deliver to him; this ceremony never having been before attended with any other formality than that of reading the Patents, or "Cartas Regias," of their Majesties to the individuals appointed, and to those deposed. This was all the instruction which I myself received, and I was thus obliged to lose much time ere I could trace out a path in which I could travel with perspicuity.

This Captaincy extends in a direct line from east to west 55 leagues, but if the extension of its coast be reckoned, it extends 75 leagues, from the great circuit which it makes from Cape Frio to the North. Its width, north to south, from Cape Frio to the west, will be 20 leagues more or less, according to the irregularities of the soil; but from Cape Frio to the East it is much narrower, and goes on diminishing until it ends with the river Macapuam, where it may be about six leagues wide. These distances are taken from different maps, but the Geographers who have been entrusted with the formation of them, have, I am told, been

1 John Armitage, The History of Brazil..., II, 161-163.

guided rather by hearsay, than by personal examination, and hence arise many discrepancies, and a want of confidence, on my part, in their maps.

I found the troops in good order as far as regards evolutions, and that they were well provided for, but I found the jurisdiction materially altered, since the Lieutenant-General had overstretched his authority.1 The Viceroys were dissatisfied, but they permitted his usurpations and vented their spleen only in complaints, for which he cared but little. He acted with asperity towards the troops and his officers, and carried into execution the regulations even in points wherein they are prejudicial in this country, both to the life of men and to the State. Now the season for exercise selected in Europe on account of the coolness of the weather, is in America the hottest period of the year, and is also the rainy season, from which cause I found many sick, that many others had lost their lives, and that others again had thus contracted maladies which had disabled them for the service. He consented to no more marriages than were permitted by the terms of the regulations, and as the armed force comprehends a great number of people in this country, he thus checked the means which might concur to the augmentation of the State. This excess of jurisdiction on the part of the Lieutenant-General, the consequent discontent of the Viceroy, the severity with which the troops were treated, and their loss of life and health, had given rise to so much intrigue and partiality, that every thing was in the greatest confusion, and there were so many deserters, that from these various motives the regiments were much diminished.

That district is a highly important one, and worthy of the particular attention of your Excellency; its immense plains are extremely fertile, and the sugar-cane and all kinds of vegetables flourish there.3 It has also much excellent timber, admirable balsams, oils, and gums, and many other precious drugs, with all of which commerce might be increased. It also possesses excellent mines of gold, which may be of great utility to the State when His Majesty shall be informed of their situation, and permit them to be worked by the people. It has many navigable rivers in which even now a good commerce is carried on.

1 John Armitage, The History of Brazil . . ., II, 166–167.

2 The district of Campos dos Goitacazes.

3 John Armitage, The History of Brazil. . II, 179-183.

For many years it was the general asylum of all malefactors, thieves, and assassins, who sought refuge there, and were allowed so much liberty that they felt no actual subjection; but lived in idleness, cultivating no more than was necessary for their subsistence. It has been extremely difficult to reduce them to order. I found, however, that this had been facilitated by the Viceroys, my predecessors, and by following in their steps both commerce and agriculture have increased under my government, as your Excellency will see from the annexed relation of the Colonel of Militia; but as these people have had such a bad education, it is necessary for the present to avoid giving them any power or authority, which may fill them with vanity, and lead to disastrous consequences.

I have followed the system of conceding many grants of land to people of this Capital who go to settle there, I have sent for many of the inhabitants here, that I might speak to them, I have retained them here for some time, in order that they might be witnesses of a people living in a state of subjection, and that they might observe what respect and obedience is paid to the magistrates, and other individuals in authority; and during all the time that they have remained here I have made them feel their dependence as much as possible. Finally, when I have again sent them away, I have always rendered them some benefit, and they have thus been gradually civilized in such a manner that those horrible disorders, which were once a daily source of disquietude to the Governors of this Captaincy, have no longer existence.

The greatest care ought to be taken that no attorneys, public writers, or other people of unquiet spirits, go to establish themselves there, since as the people have had a bad education, no sooner do they hear any turbulent individuals flattering them, and inciting them to insolence, than they immediately forget their duty, and range themselves under his banners. In my time this occurred in the case of an Advocate, Jozé Pereira, who appearing to me a pacific character, and in good circumstances, I made Judge relative to the grants of land. He, however, became the cause of such disorders, that even a revolt took place; in which, if I had not had recourse to extraordinary measures, the farms and establishments in progress there might have been utterly destroyed. I immediately sent for both this man and the individuals with whom he was in dispute; I threw them into a close prison, and treated them with the utmost severity, and with this proceeding intimidated the rest. Afterwards, on tranquillity