In 1813, some disputes arose between the court of Rio and England on
account of the slave trade. Three ships had been captured by the British
squadron off the coast of Africa, while certainly engaged in illegal
_slaving_; remonstrances were made, and the matter continued suspended
until after the congress of Vienna, when that illustrious meeting,
though most of its highest and most powerful members had exclaimed
loudly against the villanous practice, suffered it to be carried on.
Then indeed England consented to pay 13,000_l._ to indemnify the
Portuguese slave traders for their loss (July, 1815)!

In the same year there appears to have been some discontent manifested,
or suspected in the provinces. Many of the salaries of officers, both
civil and military, remained unpaid; yet there were exactions, the more
grievous, because they were irregular, in every department; the
administration of justice was notoriously corrupt; the clergy had fallen
into disorder and disrepute; and though much that was useful had been
done, yet that was forgotten, especially in the distant provinces, and
such a portion of discontent existed, that various officers who had come
to Rio either on private business or to remonstrate on public wrongs,
were peremptorily ordered to return to their own provinces.

It was wisely done at this juncture, to take off the public attention
from such vexations by a measure at once just and gratifying to the
pride of the Brazilians: by an edict of the 16th of December, 1815,
Brazil was raised to the dignity of a kingdom, and the style and title
altered so as to place it on an equal footing with Portugal. For some
months addresses of thanks and congratulation poured in to the king from
various provinces, and the feasts and rejoicings on that happy occasion
occupied the people to the exclusion of all other considerations.

Meantime the victories of the allies in Europe, having caused the exile
of Napoleon to Elba, the necessity for an English guardian squadron at
Rio had ceased; and accordingly the British establishment was broken up,
and the stores sold, and the family of Braganza, again independent of
foreign aid, began to renew its connections with the other courts of
Europe.

These negotiations suffered some little interruption from an event which
had long been expected, namely, the death of the queen, on the 20th of
March, 1816, whose state, both of body and mind, had long precluded her
from all share in p