trictly limited the claims of the
naval service to such rewards as would have been admitted to
be due, under similar circumstances, in the navy of England.

I have used the freedom to say thus much to your Excellency as
my friend--because I am well aware that the old cry of the Portuguese
faction in Rio will be set up against me the moment they
hear that I have caused the Junta of Fazenda of this province to pay
a part of the amount of the money and bills taken on the surrender
of the Portuguese authorities at Maranham. This, of course, though
only one-fourth of the amount due, _will be represented as an outrageous
robbery_; but I again say, that it is not from the Portuguese
faction at Rio, that I expect either credit or justice. Their object is
sufficiently evident, namely--_the expulsion of every foreign officer
from the service, by means of privation and insult, in order that they
may fill the ships with their Portuguese countrymen and dependents_;
a result which I should lament to witness, because fraught with mischief
to His Imperial Majesty and Brazil.

I feel myself much shaken in health by the great heat of the climate,
and the anxiety occasioned by the peculiar circumstances in which I
have been placed; all of which I might have saved myself under the
plea of want of instructions, but for my desire to promote the real
interests of His Imperial Majesty, by once more accomplishing that
which His Majesty, in his instructions to me of the 31st of July
last, was graciously pleased to describe as "_of no less importance
than the integrity and independence of the Empire_."

I am, with great respect,

Your Excellency's devoted friend,

and obedient servant,

COCHRANE AND MARANHAO.

On the 16th of March, the Junta--finding that I would not listen to any
farther evasion--paid 30 contos (L.6000) in bills, and 3 contos (L.600)
in silver, as the first instalment of the 106,000 dollars (L.21,200) for
which the restoration of 425,000 dollars (L.85,000) had been commuted.
The disbursement of this sum amongst the officers and men entitled to
it, is fully narrated in the concluding chapter, containing a full
statement of the disbursement of this and other monies charged against
me, which statement is accompanied by vouchers fortunately retained in
my possession, these placing the proper disbursement of the money
amongst its rightful owne