ministerial communication on the subject, forms an unworthy imputation
on the memory of a gallant officer, who a short time afterwards nobly
died in action in the cause of Brazil. It was utterly impossible that
Captain Shepherd should have done otherwise than have delivered them,
for he was a man upon whose honour no reproach could be cast. There are
only two ways to account for their not having been delivered, if such be
the case. 1st, that Gameiro on the delivery of the frigate to the
legation obtained possession of the chest in which they were deposited,
and withheld them to justify my dismissal by casting the reproach upon
me of having appropriated the amount--an act of which the Brazilian
Government may judge whether he was capable; or, 2ndly, that from the
same reason they were purposely withheld or destroyed by the ministers
who had been so inimical to me. The present Brazilian Administration is
happily composed of men of a different stamp, and it becomes them, for
the sake of the national reputation, to institute the strictest search
for the documentary evidence adduced, as no man will believe that I
withheld documents which could alone justify my acts.

And here I must be permitted to remark, that the documentary evidence
adduced in this volume proves the history, and not the history the
documents. If any question be made as to their validity or fidelity, _I
hereby call upon the Brazilian Government to appoint a Commission, or
authorise their Embassy to compare the extracts with the originals in my
possession, so that no manner of doubt or question shall attach to
them._ My object in now producing them is, that I will not voluntarily
go to my grave with obloquy, cast on me by men, who, at the outset of
Brazilian independence, were a misfortune to the Empire no less than to
myself; men who not only pursued this shameful line of conduct towards
me who was unable to resist it,--but towards His Imperial Majesty,--who,
by similar practices, was eventually disgusted into AN ABDICATION OF HIS
THRONE AND AN ABANDONMENT OF THE COUNTRY--to which he had given one of
the freest Constitutions in existence--achieved under the Imperial
watchword, "Independencia ou morte."

CHAPTER XIII.

I AM DISMISSED THE SERVICE BY THE BRAZILIAN GOVERNMENT--WITHOUT ANY
ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF MY SERVICES--INCONSISTENCY OF THIS WITH FORMER
THANKS--THOUGH DISMISSED I AM TRIED AS A DESERTER--AND AM REFUSED ALL
COMPENSATION--REPORT OF RECEN