, will
be unable to obtain justice for his crews, and will ere long find his
position altogether insufferable. The emperor is well-intentioned and
honest, but is altogether devoid of any real power, and he is as
completely in the hands of the clique of schemers round him, as was the
President of Chili. There is not an English officer now in the service of
Don Pedro who would not be delighted to leave it if they could obtain an
appointment at one-fourth of the pay elsewhere."

On the 3rd of April the little squadron set sail. They arrived off Bahia
on the 1st of May, and the Portuguese fleet at once sailed out of the
harbour to meet them. The force was altogether too formidable to be
engaged by four ill-manned and ill-equipped ships, but Lord Cochrane
manoeuvred so that he was able with his flag-ship to cut off the four
rearmost ships of their fleet. He signalled at once to his consorts to
join him in attacking these vessels, but to his astonishment and anger the
signal was disregarded, and not one of them made the slightest movement to
join him. Hoping that when they saw him actively engaged they would bear
down and take part in the fight, he opened fire upon the Portuguese; but
the guns and powder were alike so defective, and the crews so incapable of
handling them, that he did but little damage to the enemy and was forced
to draw off. He found that the Portuguese on his other three ships had
absolutely refused to obey their captains' orders, and even on the
flag-ship the Portuguese employed in sending up ammunition from below, had
so wilfully delayed in their work that the guns were often idle for want
of ammunition.

He wrote at once a very strong letter to the Brazilian authorities as to
the manning and equipment of the ships, and declared that he could do
nothing until these matters were remedied, for that it was necessary for
one-half of the squadron to be incessantly watching the other. However, it
was not in his nature to wait until his complaints were attended to, for
his experience had already taught him that this would be to condemn
himself to protracted inactivity. He consequently sailed to the nearest
Brazilian port, and there transferred all the best men and the most
serviceable fittings to his flag-ship and the _Maria da Gloria_. Leaving
the other vessels to remain in port until properly refitted and until
their captains could obtain disciplined and sufficient crews, he sailed
with the _Maria __da Gloria