prepared to accept the terms offered by His Imperial Majesty, through
the Consul at Buenos Ayres, viz. the same position, pay, and emoluments
as had been accorded to me by the Chilian Government; and that although
I felt myself entitled to the customary remuneration in all
well-regulated states for extraordinary, as well as ordinary, services,
yet I was more anxious to learn the footing on which the naval service
was to be put, than the nature of any stipulations regarding myself.

On the following day His Imperial Majesty invited me at an early hour to
the palace, in order to accompany him on a visit to the ships of war,
with some of which I was much pleased, as demonstrative of the exertions
which must have been made within a short time to get them into such
creditable condition. Great care had evidently been bestowed upon the
_Pedro Primiero_, rated as a 74--though in the English service she would
have been termed a 64. She was evidently a good sailer, and was ready
for sea, with four months provisions on board, which scarcely half
filled her hold, such was her capacity for stowage; I had therefore
reason to be satisfied with my intended flagship.

Another showy vessel was the _Maria da Gloria_--a North American
clipper; a class of vessels in those days little calculated to do
substantial service, being built of unseasoned wood, and badly fastened.
Though mounting 32 guns, she was a ship of little force, having only
24-pounder carronades, mixed with short 18-pounder guns. As a redeeming
feature, she was commanded by a Frenchman, Captain Beaurepaire, who had
contrived to rally round him some of his own countrymen, mingled with
native Brazilians--in which he displayed considerable tact to free
himself from the unpromising groups elsewhere to be selected from.

The history of this vessel was not a little curious: she had been built