When we first entered the port of Manilla, our

Before we reached Manilla, a number of the ringleaders had been executed, and good order was ap-ship was a floating hospital, the lower decks crowded parently restored, but there was great distrust visi- with sick, the upper, encumbered with invalids. ble in the intercourse between the city and the Then, we fled from the barren sea, which yielded suburbs. neither food to invigorate, nor fruit to revive us. Now, flying from that shore, on whose luxuriant verdure we had gazed with rapture, we looked upon the sea as our great physician, and longed to behold its surface ruffled with a fresh and wholesome breeze. Our prayers were long denied, and day

The Governor, in his official communication to our commander, confessed his inability to arrest the tumult at its height, and expressed deep grief for the loss of so many valuable lives, and in especial for the American officer.

As many of the remains as could be found were by day, the contagion spread as we drifted parallel gathered into a common grave, over which, a hand-with the land. some monument, commemorative of the catastro

Debilitated by the heat of the climate, and renphe, was erected. By subscription among our-dered nervous by apprehension, the contagion spread selves, we had a neat and separate monument among the crew, and like the sickliest trees of the erected to the memory of Midshipman Wilson. forest, the most timid were the first to be prostrated. The cholera, although considerably abated, would The strong became pallid with fear, as their less have been considered devastating at its commence- robust companions fell around them. But, even ment. The unerring archer, insatiate as ever, still the most vigorous did not altogether escape. Of singled his prey, which bore as great a proportion those who assembled at the evening meal, someas heretofore to the remaining number. Fewer times he whose manly form and sanguine temperawere mowed down by the scythe of death, because | ment seemed to defy the pestilence, would be atthe harvest of life had been thinned by previous tacked during the night; and the next morning, his work of the destroyer. body, sewed up in the hammock in which he had been so often rocked to sleep by the ocean surge, awaited the rites of sepulture.

The pestilence, stealthily gliding on the water as it had crept along the shore, was borne by sickly airs from the land, and enveloping us in its deadly folds, one by one, garnered its victims.

A panic seized the crew; and those gallant men, who had unflinchingly stood to their guns when expecting an attack from an overwhelming force, who had manfully striven with the whirlwind, and fearlessly faced the tempest in its wrath, now, dispirited and alarmed, resigned themselves to the most gloomy forebodings.

The longest day will have an end-the most perfect calm cannot last forever. A heavy cloud gathered in the North. From the summit of the dense embankment, black, ragged and threatening columns arose, which, spreading along the vault, swept with inconceivable rapidity towards us. It was closely followed by the gigantic mass, across whose dark surface, the sharp lightning played incessantly.

Sailing unexpectedly from Canton, and bound The squall, although severe, did not find us unfor the United States, it was necessary to replenish prepared; and we had occasion to remember it our water in Manilla. By the third day, this had with gratitude, for it was the harbinger of a favobeen completed, and it was determined to sail early rable wind, which, while it propelled us on our the next morning. But, about 10 P. M., one of course, ventilated the ship, strengthened the debilitaour most valuable petty officers was attacked, when ted crew, and arrested the march of the pestilence. the order was immediately given to weigh anchor. By the time that we reached the straits of Sunda, The crew sprung to the capstan bars, with an we had lost but twenty-six men; those already atalacrity proportioned to the extent of their fears-tacked, were mostly convalescent, and no new and their exertions were stimulated by the moans cases were reported. But the wind failed us, and of a second victim. The first died before the anchors were secured,—the second, before we were clear of the land.

The night was still the glassy surface of the bay reflected the glimmering lights of the firmament; the islands and shore lay mantled in mist; and in the direction of the city, here and there, within and without the walls, was seen a deep, red blaze, crested with black and sulphureous smoke, indicating the vain efforts of man to stay the pestilence. The faint airs from the land, so gentle as to elude the senses, imperceptibly wafted us along, and many were the fervent aspirations breathed with renovated hope, as we gazed upon the broad, open and pellucid sea.

VOL. VII-90

owing to the oppressive heat, the frequent rain, and above all, the noxious exhalations from the swamps of Sumatra, the cholera, more virulent than ever, reappeared among us.

Like a pool, on which innumerable insects are playing, the smooth surface of the straits presented numerous whirls and eddies, denoting the strength of the current, with which our ship, with every sail spread to catch the slightest breath of wind, slowly drifted. The lower sails hung listless from the yards; the upper, occasionally flapped as they felt the soft whisper of a breeze.

At funereal pace we proceeded, performing at stated intervals the last sad rites to departed shipmates. Whether in the scorching glare of

Frequently a seaman, after taking his meal,

the noontide sun, or the clammy dews of night: whether in the sickly haze of twilight, or the sti- would relieve his messmate in a top, and within

fling mists of the morning, each watch buried its dead: The first question of each relief as he assumed his post, was "Who are gone."

half an hour, be lowered down in a state of collapse, and by the expiration of the watch, be sewed up in his hammock, ready for interment. On two occasions, beside that of the Boatswain's mate, men not answering to the muster of their watch, were found dead in their hammocks.

By slow degrees, the pestilence abated; but an idea of its virulence may be formed, from the fact, that from the time we first made Java head, we had lost upwards of seventy men.

At one time, it seemed as if we were but the crew of a doomed ship. It was a dead calm: A leaden mist had gathered around and above us, concealing the water and the sky, while the spars and sails, in shadowy outline, seemed extended far beyond their due proportions. It was the flood-tide of the pestilence. New cases became more frequent, and the cries of the sick for water, were loud and A gale of wind prevented us from stopping at incessant. This lasted for upwards of two days; the Cape of Good Hope to replenish our water; and among the victims of that period, fell one, and a strong, favorable breeze, induced our Capwhose death seemed a peculiar visitation of Provi-tain to forego touching for the same purpose at St. dence. He was a Boatswain's Mate, remarkable Helena. The last was a bitter disappointment to for his obscene profanity. He had been one of almost every one on board, for this isolated rock those attacked when the cholera first made its ap- had become the last perch of the great human pearance. Impelled by the fear of death, he called vulture. But our regret, although soon immeasuupon God to forgive and spare him, promising if rably enhanced, was light compared to the selfhis prayer were heard, to lead a different life in upbraidings of our commander. future-but

Midway between the island and our port of des"The Devil was sick;--the Devil a saint would be ;-- tination, it fell calm, and for six days we made not "The Devil was well;--the devil a saint was he." the slightest progress. The crew, confined for He recovered, and as if ashamed of what he eighty days to salted food, and necessarily restrictseemed to consider a weakness, he became more ed in the allowance of water, feeble and emaciated, wicked than ever, and by his oaths and impreca- were soon afflicted with another visitation; and a tions, appeared disposed to prove the insincerity of second time since we left the United States, the his former protestations. He had been frequently scurvy made its appearance among us. Pervading reprimanded by the officers, and on this occasion, the whole crew, it assumed an aspect so serious, the Midshipman in charge of the forecastle, was so that as our small quantity of water diminished, we shocked by his profanity, that he drove him below were compelled to increase the individual allowand would not permit him to mingle with his watch-ance, for it was now our only anti-scorbutic. mates. At midnight, when that watch was reliev- Immovable and helpless, we seemed to ride on a ed, he retired grumbling to his hammock. At molten sea, with a sky of brass above us, that gave four in the morning, when that watch was again no dew. In sleep, our parched lips drank of imagi called, he was found a stiffened corpse. He had nary fountains, and our waking thought and closing died alone and unattended. prayer, was for rain! rain! rain! He who temThe steady current below, the light currents of pers the wind to the shorn lamb, did not try us beair aloft, carried us slowly through the straits; and yond our strength; copious showers and a proat last, with the island of Java behind us, our sails pitious breeze, soon refreshed and cheered us. caught the wholesome breeze, which untainted by At the expiration of a week, we were lying the land, sweeps across the Indian Ocean. about fifteen miles distant from the mouth of the In a few days, we were driving furiously along, harbor of Rio de Janeiro-the ship rolling slowly and our reduced and enfeebled crew, were called on the unbroken surface of a light ground swell, upon to make unusual exertions to perform the while the sails flapped against the masts, as if imduties of the ship. My hammock was slung on patient for the sea-breeze, which daily sets in to the after-part of the gun deck-familiarly known temper the heat of a tropical sun. as the half-deck. On the morning of the second How strikingly does a ship and the unfathomaday out, when I awoke, it was blowing a gale of ble element on which she rides, convey the distine wind; the deck beneath me was overflowed, and tion between the works of Man and his Maker! on the opposite side, lashed to gratings and floating The first, a progressive series of changes, and about with the uneasy roll of the ship, were the every change an improvement; but constructed of bodies of six men, who had died during the night. perishable materials, is the plaything of the winds ; Dressing in haste, I proceeded to the upper deck, and perchance, nay most probably, the placid wa and had been there but a short time, when a seaman ters on which she now floats in such graceful fell from aloft, struck on the hammock rail, and pride, will one day lash furiously against her sides, fell dead upon the deck-adding a seventh to our rush along her decks and engulph her in their capacious bosom—or, as unworthy of an ocean bu

morning burial.

rial, tossing high in air, dash her into shreds and ter informed, but writhing under his political defragments on the jagged and inhospitable rock. basement; and 3d, The despotic court, which, like The second, like the Great God who made it, sub-the Car of Juggernaut, rolled along, crushing its lime in immensity, incomprehensible in its laws, victims with its weight. The imperious Queen in terrific in its frown, and in its favors benignant and especial, gave full vent to her arbitrary disposition, profuse, is the same now, as when in obedience to and the populace were required to bend the knee the Immortal Fiat, "the waters were gathered as she dashed furiously through the streets. On together, and the dry land made to appear." Even one occasion, the British Resident Minister was the everlasting hills, as in the language of finite severely beaten by her guards for not alighting beings they are termed, must yield to the wide-from his horse as her cortége swept by. spreading and magnificent Ocean—which, compar

But, a spirit of inquiry was abroad, which first

ing great things with small, sleeps quiet as an in- engendered, was sedulously fostered by the foreignfant,-awakes with the strength, and breathes withers. The revolution in Portugal was the signal the convulsive throes of a giant-and when roused, for an insurrectionary movement, and a few weeks overwhelms all it encounters, in one tumultuous since, the people and the troops assembled in the and indiscriminate ruin. Palace Square, and with their artillery trained upon the royal residence, demanded and received a liberal constitution.

Physically speaking-we find every thing in and about Rio the same as when near two years since, we left it. The hills, clothed with the same luxuriant growth, retain their original position,-the channel remains unchanged,—and the indentations of the shore unaltered; the fortress frowns, and the sullen men-of-war float as heretofore,—and the same chimes peal from the towers, domes and cupolas of the city and its environs.

When we were here before, the air was rent with shouts and sounds of rejoicing. The fortress shook, and the massive men-of-war reeled with the recoil of their ponderous artillery; but, above them, encircled with wreaths of smoke, floated the banner of royalty. The illiterate, the thoughtless, the poor and the abject, rejoiced at the birth of a Prin

But, in a moral, or rather in a political sense, a cess. great and pleasing change is perceptible.

Driven by the French from the throne of his ancestors, John 6th of Portugal, fled in 1808, to his colonial possessions in America. Landing at St. Salvador, whence, he soon after removed his court to Rio, he declared the ports of Brazil open for the vessels of every friendly power, and allowed the unrestricted exportation of the productions of Brazil, the peculiar wood of the country excepted. Transported across the Atlantic by a fleet of Great Britain, whose armies were fighting for his paternal domain, in grateful return, he granted very great commercial privileges to that power. The consequence is, that although the ports of Brazil are now open to all nations—yet the tonnage of English vessels entered at the Custom-House, is equal to that of all others combined.

Now, the bells chime only the hour of prayer, the Palace is no longer illuminated, and the boisterous shout is unheard-but, from the flag-staff of the silent fortress, and the mast-head of the quiet ship, flutters the flag of the Constitution. The sense of enjoyment is too deep for noisy exhibition, and men greet each other with a manly grasp, and a smile, which proclaims at once a congratulation and a pledge.

About six months ago, a conspiracy was formed, which, bold in its object and ingenious in contrivance, bid fair to overthrow the dynasty and ensure to the Brazilians an independent government.

His

Neither the old King, nor his overbearing wife, has the slightest hold on the affections of the people. It was well known that the Crown Prince and Princess-but more especially the Infanta In one and the same year, the Brazilians receiv- Donna Maria, (the latter as born among them,) ed the promise of independence, and heard the were the sole ties which restrained the populace decree which declared their government a monar- from driving the last vestige of royalty from the chy. The unsettled state of Europe, the uncer-land. tainty of the conflict of a world in arms, led to the Carlos del Panfilo, the Commander of a Portufirst: the defeat at Waterloo, the fall of Napoleon, guese frigate, conceived the daring plan of seizing the triumph of many despots over one, encouraged Don Pedro, his Princess and the Infanta. the latter. The marriage of the Crown Prince purpose was to seize them late at night, and withDon Pedro, with a Princess of Austria, about out noise, conduct them to the quay in front, where two years after, retarded the march of liberal his boats would be in waiting to convey them to principles, and on our first arrival here, we found the ship. Once on board, he had little to fear, for but three stages of humanity. there was not a man-of-war prepared to pursue First, the slave-physically, morally and politi- him. Moreover, of the larger vessels, the Gloria cally naked-without clothes, without education, was decidedly the fastest sailer. From the forts, (scarce with a sense of a Superior Being,) and he had little to apprehend; for even if the alarm grovelling in the most abject servitude; 2d, The were given, he need but expose his prisoners, to untitled subject, the wants of nature supplied, bet- 'deter them from firing. But his object was secre

cy; for on that, and on expedition, depended his | complished to night.' Drawing a packet from her sole hope of success. Once clear of the land, he bosom, without waiting for a reply, she thus pro

meant to steer his course for the Pacific, and to liberate his captives when he reached the coast of Peru. Step by step he sounded his officers, and found them, with few exceptions, readily disposed to second him. The impracticables were so few as not to discourage him; and by keeping them on board under close surveillance, he prevented their giving information. With the men he had so ingratiated himself, that they were prepared to stand by him at any hazard. Seven or eight suspicious characters were kept employed apart from the rest of the crew-to whom indeed the plan was not fully divulged, until an hour before the time of its execution. With the aid of some active friends on shore, he had succeeded in bribing a Sergeant of the Royal Guard, who betrayed to them the watchword of the night. The word was Leopoldina, the christian name of the Crown Princess.

The old King and Queen slept in the right, and the Crown Prince and Princess in the left, wing of the palace. Towards the centre, on either side, were apartments for the chamberlains, pages, and attendants in waiting. In the very centre was a hall, in which two sentinels were stationed, one at each end. Without, at the head of the stairs, were two long galleries, along which also patrolled two sentinels, and on the first landing of the great stairway, another was posted. The stairway terminated in an extensive hall, occupied at night as a guard room. Outside, along the front and sides, at each door and angle of the building, sentinels were stationed.

An entertainment was that evening given on board of the Gloria, as a pretext for landing with the boats at night. It were needless to say that the guests were all brother-conspirators. But the time supposed to be passed in festive merriment, was employed in anxious preparation.

About 9 P. M., a notary of distinction, accompanied by a gray-headed negro, who halted feebly after him, approached the front entrance, and giving the countersign, demanded to speak with the officer of the guard.

ceeded: 'It is most important that this package should be placed in the hands of Don Alexis Andrade ere he retires to-night, for I must have an answer before morning. I will not trouble you to deliver it in person,' she added, but pray you to take my butler Gonsalvo along, and obtain admission for him into the palace; he is old and feeble, but trustworthy, and you may then leave him to himself. Will you oblige me? I see that you will, and therefore beg that, foregoing the siesta, you will start at once,—for the palace gates close, you know, at 8 o'clock.'

"Thus conjured by a beautiful woman, you will admit Senhor, that I could not refuse. I immediately set off for the city, but the mule of Gonsalvo, nearly as old and quite as feeble as himself, compelled me to travel slower than I wished. I have just dismounted, and pray that you will admit my sable friend."

"Senhor Zorza," replied the officer, “it is hard to deny a gentleman so distinguished as yourself— and the name of the Senhora Grijalva should alone be a passport-but Don Pedro gives a concert tonight, and Don Alexis will not be in his room for an hour or more; but-and the package old man-I will deliver it myself as soon as the concert is over."

'My good master," said the black, “if it rested with Gonsalvo, you should have it at once; but my mistress told me over and over again, to give it only into the hands of Don Alexis himself, or bring it back to her."

"Ha!" said the officer, "the Senhora is discreet,-doubtless a love affair," he whispered to the notary. “Well, there cannot be much risk, pass in old man, you shall be conducted to the anteroom of the Chamberlain, where you can await his arrival."

When he had remained in this position upwards of an hour and a half, he was roused by the challenge of the sentinel; and immediately after, a middle aged gentleman, gaily and even sumptuously attired, entered the apartment.

The negro passed in, and with many thanks the notary courteously took his leave. Dragging himself after the orderly, who muttered execrations as he went, the black threw himself on the floor of the room into which he was ushered; and to the "Senhor Manuel," said he, when the officer ap-sentinel, stationed at the open door, seemed in a proached, "I owe you a thousand apologies for short time to be fast asleep. disturbing you at this hour, for I well know the strictness of your regulations-but I appeal to your gallantry to excuse my presumption. With a select party, I dined to-day with Senhora Grijalva at her villa. Shortly after rising from the table, when the guests were retiring to the siesta, she beckoned me aside and said, 'Senhor Zorza, you have ever proved yourself a true friend to my family—and therefore, I feel emboldened to appeal to you in a matter of deep importance to me. Hereafter I will explain all; but now, time pressesfor already the shadows of the mountains stretch far into the bay, and what I desire, must be ac

"What means this? Who is this?" he exclaimed as his eyes rested on the black, slowly rising from the floor. The sentinel briefly explained, and the face of the Count brightened with the thought of a successful amour-for he had long sued in vain.

"Give me the package old man, and look in yonder beaufet for some refreshment.”

Good, my lord, my mistress ordered me not to

give it in the presence of a third person"-and the their power he slackened his pace, until he stopped eyes of the black glanced to the sentinel standing short in anxious deliberation

With a gesture of impatience at the slowness of the black, the Count seized the packet, and, retiring to his bed-room by the light of an astral lamp, commenced breaking the seals. The envelope was secured by a lock of hair, and so intricately folded moreover, that it was some moments ere he opened the small note it contained. The hand-writing, unlike the direction, was bold and masculine; the

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in the open doorway. Fool that I was," he muttered to himself,-" if "Well! well! her whims are not to be disputed-detected, I shall certainly be put to death; and if I Sentinel close the door." tell my Colonel, to be sent to the mines for life, is the least I can expect. What is to be done?" A sudden thought occurred to him, and with renewed speed, he dashed up the street, and entered a church on the right. A solitary lamp, suspended before a magnificent altar, with its faint beams, gave an indistinct idea of the extent of the building. One side was nearly obscure; on the other, the chastened beams of the moon played with their soft light among the stained glass of the Gothic windows. An old woman, reciting her beads, knelt midway on the pavement-A novice, prostrated himself on the lowest step of the sanctuary. Attracting the attention of the latter, the Sergeant inquired for a Priest, and was informed that all of the clergy and most of the lay brotherhood were absent on a procession to a distant church—but that in the chapel of the Dominican convent, he would prove more successful.

words were

"Speak and you are a dead man-look up!" As the note dropped from his hand, his eye fell upon the black, who had stealthily crept within a few feet of the table; and with a pistol in one hand, and a dagger in the other, sternly confronted him. It was Panfilo himself, who, in disguise, had assumed the most perilous part in his drama. Before the Count had time to recover himself, he threw a noose over him and pinioned his arms to the chair. With the dagger to his throat, he then securely gagged him, and bound chair and all to the ponderous bedstead. Stepping softly into the ante-room, he secured the door, as well of that, as of the inner-room, and raising the window which looked into the inner court, he fastened to it one end of a rope ladder, which he had wound around his body. He then waited impatiently for the concerted signal of his comrades beneath.

Holding the office of Chamberlain, the innerapartment of the Count opened into a moderatesized hall, where four or five doors indicated the chambers of the Prince, the Princess, and their personal attendants.

Seated in a box at the theatre, Col. Salazar was deeply absorbed in the performance, when a voice whispered in his ear-" Son, follow me, it is a matter of life and death.”

"Holy Father," exclaimed the Colonel, starting up, "what do you mean?-your's is a strange address-and you have selected a strange place to make it."

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By the womb that bore thee! By the God that died for us all, I conjure you to follow me! A plot has been revealed to me in confession. I cannot betray, but may defeat it. There is more than murder-there is treason abroad." At the word treason, the soldier sprung to the door, and hurried The Sergeant, when he betrayed the watchword, out with the Priest. After Panfilo had waited an received a liberal reward, with a promise of a much hour or more, his quick ear caught the sound of a larger sum, should the attempt prove successful. movement without-and looking into the innerElate with present wealth, and rendered generous court, he beheld a small body of troops forming beby anticipation of yet greater riches, he invited his neath. The next moment, he heard the outer comrades to a carousal at his expense. The bottle door first tried, then forced, and a rush made against passed freely; and how the party dispersed the the second. Aware that all was over, he ran into Sergeant knew not-for some time after night-the hall and threw up a sash—at the same moment, fall, he was awakened by gallopping past of the a volley was fired by his pursuers, and pierced by patrol, and found himself lying in the open court of a dozen balls, he bounded from the window and was a large building. As sensible objects became dis-received on the bayonets of a platoon beneath. tinct, he saw in a niche beside the gateway, with a Thus perished this gallant man—as patriotic as lamp burning before it, an image of the Virgin brave-who thought only for his country; and in with the infant Saviour in her arms. At the same the execution of his plan, assigned to himself the moment that his eye rested on that placid counte-post of greatest danger. nance, which, to his disturbed imagination, seemed The present Queen is sister to the King of to look reproachfully, his thoughts reverted to the Spain. When the news of the revolution in that consequences of what he had done. Secret assas-country reached the Brazils, John VI remarked to sination, open strife, and bloodshed in profusion, by his Queen, that her brother was no longer a King, turns appalled him—and rushing into the street, but a mere puppet in the hands of the Cortes. with yet unsteady step, he sought the dwelling of When, in reply to the angry call of the soldiery his Commander. Sobered by fright, the cool night-and the people, the same old King was compelled air refreshed him; and as his faculties regained to appear with his family in the front of the palace,