They have no bias for Portugal, but no energy either for any
thing. The priests are partly Portuguese, partly Brazilians, and will
not interest themselves much. The Noblesse are scarcely known as such.
They will, in no manner, be distinguished from the people. The men of
letters are those most desirous of a revolution. The people are not
much under the influence of their priests, most of them read and write,
possess arms, and are in the habit of using them for hunting. The slaves
will take the side of their masters. In short, as to the question of
revolution, there is but one mind in that Country. But there appears no
person capable of conducting a revolution, or willing to venture himself
at its head, without the aid of some powerful nation, as the people of
their own might fail them. There is no printing press in Brazil. They
consider the North American revolution as a precedent for theirs. They
look to the United States as most likely to give them honest support,
and, from a variety of considerations, have the strongest prejudices in
our favor. This informant is a native and inhabitant of Rio Janeiro,
the present metropolis, which contains fifty thousand inhabitants, knows
well St.
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