By all their Country’s wishes blest!
When Spring, with dewy fingers cold,
Returns to deck their hallowed mould,
She there shall dress a sweeter sod,
Than Fancy’s feet have ever trod.
By forms unseen their dirge is sung,
There Honour comes, a Pilgrim grey,
To watch the turf that wraps their clay,
And Freedom shall awhile repair
To dwell a weeping Hermit there.[1]
Thus the boy-patriot did what he could. And when he grew up, he served his Country so well in many important matters, that he was called to her highest office, and became the sixth President of the United States.
HOW SHALL THE STARS BE PLACED?
On that great day, when the Congress of the United States adopted the Stars and Stripes as our National Flag, it resolved that the union should be Thirteen Stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation.
And a new Constellation it was, Thirteen Stars of the Thirteen States united as one, a Constellation destined to shine on all the World—Liberty enlightening the World!
But how should the Stars be grouped upon the Flag?—that was the question.
John Adams suggested that they should be arranged in the form of the Constellation Lyra, the beautiful cluster of stars shining in our northern night.
But the new Constellation of American Stars could not be arranged thus to look well. So it was decided to place them in a circle, for a circle has no end. And it was hoped that as the Country grew larger, adding more States and a new Star for each State, that the circle would widen.
And it has widened and widened, until there is no longer any room for a circle on our Flag; but spangled like the sky at night, it has become the Star-Spangled Banner.
THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER
A mysterious foreign stranger suddenly appeared in New York City, after John Adams had retired from the presidency. He was handsome, with beaming hazel eyes and flashing white teeth. He was graceful, with courtly manners. He called himself George Martin.
But what his real name was, or what his mysterious purpose was, only a few people knew.
He was dined and toasted by New York officials. He went to the City of Washington on his secret mission. He was granted private interviews by the President and Secretary of State. He talked much about his friends Catherine the Great of Russia and William Pitt of England. He seemed to know the secret plots and political intrigues of Europe.
Then he vanished as mysteriously as he had come.
A few weeks later, John Adams heard the astounding news. The stranger was no other than the celebrated South American Patriot, Don Francisco de Miranda. He had sailed away secretly from New York in a little ship laden with arms and ammunition. And, what was worse, he had taken with him a band of young American men, some of them mere boys; and he was sailing toward the Spanish main with the intention of freeing South America from Spanish rule.
He had taken with him young William Steuben Smith, John Adams’s grandson. Young Smith was a college boy, very bright and courageous, and thirsty for adventure.
“What do you think were my sensations and reflections?” wrote John Adams to a friend. “I shudder to this moment, at the recollection of them! I saw the ruin of my only daughter and her good-hearted, enthusiastic husband, and had no other hope or wish or prayer than that the ship, with my grandson in it, might be sunk in a storm in the Gulf Stream!”
For young William Steuben Smith’s father was surveyor of the port of New York, and had allowed Miranda’s ship to clear with arms and ammunition in its hold, to be used against Spain with whom we were at peace.
Then came to John Adams the terrible news, that Spanish armed vessels had captured some of the American boys. His grandson had been captured, and thrown into a dungeon in a dark, filthy fortress in Venezuela. He was to be tried as a pirate taken on the high seas, and without doubt he would be hanged.
The Spanish Ambassador, who had known John Adams in Europe, hastened to offer his services. He would intercede with Spain for the grandson, he said.
“No,” said John Adams to a friend; “he should share the fate of his colleagues, comrades, and fellow-prisoners.”
But happily it was all a great mistake. Young Smith was not hanged as a pirate. He had not been captured at all. Instead, he was sailing gayly on in Miranda’s Mystery Ship. He had been made aid-de-camp and lieutenant-colonel, and had donned Miranda’s brilliant uniform.
For the story of what happened further to the Mystery Ship, see page 335.
HIS LAST TOAST
It was the last day of June, 1826. In five days, it would be the Fourth of July—the Fiftieth Anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. John Adams had been one of the committee to frame the Declaration.
A neighbour was sitting with John Adams in his home in Quincy—that used to be Braintree. Ninety and one years old was John Adams!
The neighbour was to be orator at the annual banquet on the Fourth of July. He had called to ask John Adams to compose the toast.
“Independence for ever!” said John Adams.
But would he not wish to add something further to the toast, asked the neighbour.
“Not a word,” replied John Adams.
The Fourth of July dawned. The great Patriot lay dying. At the setting of the sun, those who stood beside him heard him whisper:—“Thomas Jefferson still lives!”
As the sun sank out of sight, a loud cheering came from the village. It was the shouts of the people at the words of his toast:—“Independence for ever!”
The cheering echoed through the room where John Adams was. But before its last sounds could die away, the great Patriot had passed into history and eternity—on the Fourth of July,—on the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Signing of the Declaration of Independence!
NOVEMBER 15
WILLIAM PITT, EARL OF CHATHAM DEFENDER OF AMERICA
The Colonists are ... equally entitled with yourselves to all the natural rights of mankind, and the peculiar privileges of Englishmen.
William Pitt
He at once breathed his own lofty spirit into the Country he served, as he communicated something of his own grandeur to the men who served him.
“No man,” said a soldier of the time, “ever entered Mr. Pitt’s closet, who did not feel himself braver when he came out, than when he went in.”
John Richard Green
He stands in the annals of Europe, “an illustrious and venerable name,” admired by countrymen and strangers, by all to whom loftiness of moral principle and greatness of talent are objects of regard.
Thomas Carlyle
William Pitt was born in England, November 15, 1708
Created Earl of Chatham, 1766
He died May 11, 1778
He was known “as the Great Commoner,” while in the House of Commons; as “Chatham,” after he entered the House of Lords; and as “the Elder Pitt,” to distinguish him from his son William Pitt, called “the Younger,” who likewise was a great statesman.
There are American towns and cities named in honour of William Pitt, our Defender; among them, Pittsburgh, Penn.; Chatham, N. Y.; and Pittsfield, Mass.
THIS TERRIBLE CORNET OF HORSE
In the hilt of Napoleon’s ceremonial sword, was set a huge diamond, one of the largest in the world. It had been brought from India by “Diamond Pitt” of England, who had sold it to the Regent of France.
“Diamond Pitt,” was Thomas Pitt. An adventurous young sailor, he had gone to India, and had started in business for himself as a trader.
The British East India Company claimed the monopoly of trade in India. When the bold young Englishman, without so much as “by your leave,” started an opposition business, the Company determined to crush him.
It set its powerful legal machinery to work. But it was one thing to try to crush Thomas Pitt, and quite another thing to do it. He fought desperately for his rights. Though he was arrested and fined he still kept on trading, in defiance of the Company. He battled so successfully and for so many years, that at last for its own protection, the Company was forced to take him into its service.
He rose to be Governor of Madras. He became known as “Diamond Pitt,” because he was always in search of large diamonds. Thus he procured the famous “Pitt Diamond,” which found its way into Napoleon’s sword.
With a part of the fortune which “Diamond Pitt” got from its sale, he bought an estate in England. Later he became a member of Parliament.
“Diamond Pitt’s” grandson, William Pitt, was not a strong boy. He spent much time with his books. He liked to read Shakespeare aloud to the family. He enjoyed reading the Faëry Queen, in which the Red Cross Knight, fearless of harm or evil thing, rides about rescuing the innocent and helpless.
Though he was not strong in body, William Pitt had an iron will. He had “Diamond Pitt’s” indomitable courage and the fighting qualities with which the sailor had matched his strength against that of the powerful East India Company.
William Pitt attended Oxford University. When he was twenty-three, he was commissioned Cornet of Horse in the King’s Blues.
The fearless Cornet of Horse was soon elected to the House of Commons. He started his political career in the House with a fiery, sarcastic speech supporting the Prince of Wales, who was at enmity with the King his father.
William Pitt was a born orator. He was tall, elegant, and graceful. His eyes were bright and piercing. He spoke with dignified gesture. And he delivered this speech with such strength, magnetism, and irony, that the Prime Minister exclaimed, “We must muzzle this terrible Cornet of Horse!”
To muzzle him, he tried, at first with promises of reward. But William Pitt was incorruptible. He would not sell his honour. Then influence was brought to bear, and the young Cornet of Horse was dismissed from the army.
But this very act, by which his enemies planned to muzzle William Pitt, brought him before the public eye. His fearlessness and remarkable oratory advanced him daily with both Parliament and People.
In time, William Pitt became a leading power, at first in the House of Commons, and afterward, when he was created Earl of Chatham, in the House of Lords. He served twice as Prime Minister of England; and he laid the solid foundations of the British Colonial Empire.
But more than all else, he was an Englishman defending the unalienable rights of all Englishmen. He steadfastly combated those political evils in the British Government, which, at that time, were threatening to undermine English Liberty as set down in the Magna Carta and safeguarded by the English Constitution.
THE CHARTER OF LIBERTY
The Signing of the Magna Carta, 1215
To rule by land and sea,
Strong mother of a Lion-line,
Be proud of those strong sons of thine,
Who wrenched their rights from thee!
Those men thine arms withstood,
Retaught the lesson thou hadst taught,
And in thy spirit with thee fought fought—
Who sprang from English blood!
Magna Carta! The Great Charter of the liberties of Englishmen!
At Runnimede, the freemen of England through the action of their Barons, forced King John to sign and seal the Magna Carta. His tyrannous power was torn from him. He was forced to pledge himself to violate no longer the rights and privileges of English freemen.
For, from times remote, human rights and liberties, protecting them from oppression by rulers, had been theirs by laws and by common consent.
About a hundred years after the signing of the Magna Carta, the great principle, that English freemen should not be taxed without representation, was established.
When King Charles the First broke his promises to respect the rights of his subjects, he was tried and executed. When King James the Second governed in despotic manner, exercising what he believed to be the “divine right of Kings,” he lost his throne.
What has this to do with America and William Pitt? Everything!
During the reigns of the Stuart Kings, large sections of America were explored and settled by English freemen, who came to America to escape persecution, and to enjoy English Liberty which at that time they could not possibly have had in England.
The Stuart Kings believed in “divine right,” which means that the King is the Lord’s annointed, and that neither Parliament nor People may question any of his acts; and that no matter how cruel or tyrannous a King may be, the People must submissively obey him.
The Magna Carta and the English Constitution protect the English People against this doctrine of “divine right.”
So, when during the reign of these Kings, men and women fled from England to find Liberty and refuge in America, they brought with them their ancient institutions, the rights and privileges guaranteed them under the Magna Carta.
There were other Englishmen equally courageous, equally liberty-loving, who came to seek their fortunes and build homes in the New World. They, too, brought with them their rights and privileges.
These English pioneers hewed their way through the savage wilderness. Many of them were massacred by Red Men, while their homes were burned; some of them were carried into captivity and tortured. Yet the great body of undaunted English settlers, resolutely kept on pushing their frontiers westward. They laid out farms and plantations, they built villages and towns, they founded churches and schools. They obtained charters from far away England, confirming their rights. And through God’s blessing they prospered, and became strong and rich.
Other liberty-loving folk, the Dutch, settled in great numbers in what is now New York and New Jersey; while many settlers from different parts of Europe, came to the New World to build homes for themselves and their children.
The very air of America breathed freedom. The magnitude of the country and the difficulties of pioneer-life helped to invigorate, expand, and make indomitable those ideals of English Liberty which the first settlers and frontiersmen had brought with them.
When King George the Third inherited the British Crown, he was unable to understand the free spirit of Englishmen. And he was far from realizing its tremendous growth in the New World.
He taxed the Americans without representation. He placed a standing army in the Colonies, without their consent. He blockaded the Port of Boston to force her to submit to his unjust laws. In some cases, trial by jury was abolished. These are some of his tyrannous violations of the rights and privileges of English freemen.
The People of America, in indignation, petitioned the King for redress.
There was no redress.
So the People of America rose in arms; and, in the true spirit of Magna Carta, they issued the Declaration of Independence.
Now, we shall see what William Pitt had to do with all this.
AMERICA’S DEFENDER
“For the defence of Liberty, upon a general principle, upon a constitutional principle, it is a ground on which I stand firm, on which I dare meet any man.”
“This Country had no right under Heaven to tax America! It is contrary to all the principles of justice and civil policy.”
“If I were an American,” he exclaimed, “as I am an Englishman, while a foreign troop was landed in my Country, I never would lay down my arms—never—never—never!”
William Pitt, Earl of Chatham
It was natural that an English statesman who sincerely and firmly believed in the rights of all Englishmen, should become the defender of America. And her loyal friend and champion was William Pitt. By the weight of his eloquent speeches, he fought her battles in Parliament.
When the Stamp Act was passed, he was absent from his place in Parliament, because of illness. But later, he was present. Leaning on his crutch, for he was still very sick, he indignantly arraigned the British Ministry which had brought about the passage of the Act.
“When the resolution was taken in this House to tax America,” he said, “I was ill in bed. If I could have endured to have been carried in my bed, so great was the agitation of my mind for the consequences, I would have solicited some kind hand to have laid me down on this floor, to have borne my testimony against it!
“The Colonists are the subjects of this Kingdom, equally entitled with yourselves to all the natural rights of mankind and the peculiar privileges of Englishmen; equally bound by its laws, and equally participating in the Constitution of this free Country. The Americans are the sons ... of England!”
And when one of the members made a speech abusing the Americans, defending the Stamp Act, and accusing Pitt of sowing sedition among the American Colonists, he rose and answered:—
“The gentleman tells us,” he said, “America is obstinate; America is almost in open rebellion. I rejoice that America has resisted. Three millions of people so dead to all the feelings of Liberty, as voluntarily to let themselves be made slaves, would have been fit instruments to make slaves of all the rest.
“In a good cause, on a sound bottom, the force of this Country can crush America to atoms. I know the valour of your troops, I know the skill of your officers.... But on this ground,—on the Stamp Act—when so many here will think it a crying injustice, I am one who will lift up my hands against it!
“In such a cause, even your success would be hazardous. America, if she fell, would fall like the strong man. She would embrace the pillars of the State, and pull down the Constitution along with her.
“Is this your boasted peace? To sheathe the sword, not in its scabbard, but in the bowels of your Countrymen?
“Upon the whole, I will beg leave to tell the House what is really my opinion. It is that the Stamp Act be repealed absolutely, totally, and immediately.”[2]
. . . . . . . . . .
And whether the Stamp Act was repealed “absolutely, totally, and immediately,” John Fiske tells in his thrilling history, “The American Revolution.”
THE SONS OF LIBERTY
William Pitt was not the only English statesman who championed America. There was Lord Rockingham, at one time Prime Minister of England, also the Earl of Camden, and the celebrated Charles James Fox.
And there was Edmund Burke, “one of the earliest friends of America,” with his scratch wig, round spectacles, and pockets stuffed with papers. He pleaded our cause so brilliantly that his hearers were dazzled by his oratory “with its passionate ardour, its poetic fancy, its amazing prodigality of resources, the dazzling succession in which irony, pathos, invective, tenderness, the most brilliant word-pictures, the coolest arguments, followed each other.”
And among America’s British friends, was Colonel Barré, a member of the House of Commons. In an indignant speech against the Stamp Act, he referred to the American Patriots as “Sons of Liberty.”
When his speech reached America, the name “Sons of Liberty” was adopted by secret societies pledged to resist the Stamp Act.
In Boston, the Sons of Liberty held meetings under the Liberty Tree, a huge elm; they met also in Faneuil Hall, since called “the Cradle of American Liberty.” In New York City, the Sons of Liberty erected a tall Liberty Pole, and defended it against the Red Coats.
All over the Country, the Sons of Liberty were active, sometimes too violently so, in the cause of American Independence.
A LAST SCENE
In 1778, a dramatic event took place in the House of Lords.
William Pitt, old now and wasted by disease, but the fire of whose genius still burned bright and clear, was about to speak.
France had acknowledged the Independence of the United States. Germany was planning to do so; while Spain stood ready to enter into an alliance with the Americans. England was at war with France. The situation of England seemed desperate.
And on that dramatic day in the House of Lords, the Duke of Richmond was about to move that the royal fleets and armies should be instantly withdrawn from America, and peace be made on whatever terms Congress might see fit to accept.
But William Pitt would not willingly consent to a step that seemed certain to wreck the Empire his genius had won for England.
He had got up from his sick bed, and had come into the House of Lords to argue against the motion.
Wrapped in flannel bandages, and leaning upon crutches, his dark eyes in their brilliancy enhancing the pallor of his careworn face, as he entered the House, supported on the one side by his son-in-law, and on the other by that younger son who was so soon to add fresh glory to the name of William Pitt, the peers all started to their feet, and remained standing until he had taken his place.
In broken sentences, with strange flashes of the eloquence which had once held captive ear and heart, he protested against the hasty adoption of a measure which simply prostrated the dignity of England before its ancient enemy, the House of Bourbon.
The Duke of Richmond’s answer, reverently and delicately worded, urged that while the magic of Chatham’s name could work anything short of miracles, yet only a miracle could now relieve them from the dire necessity of abandoning America.
Chatham rose to reply, but his overwrought frame gave way, and he sank in a swoon upon the floor.
All business was at once adjourned. The peers, with eager sympathy, came crowding up to offer assistance, and the unconscious statesman was carried in the arms of his friends to a house near by, whence in a few days he was removed to his home.
There, after lingering between life and death for several weeks, on the 11th of May, and in the seventieth year of his age, Lord Chatham breathed his last.
The man thus struck down like a soldier at his post, was one whom Americans, no less than Englishmen, have delighted to honour.
John Fiske (Retold)
DECEMBER 2
DOM PEDRO THE SECOND THE MAGNANIMOUS THE BEST REPUBLICAN IN BRAZIL
TO
H. M. DOM PEDRO II
EMPEROR OF BRAZIL
SCHOLAR AND SCIENTIST, PATRON OF
ARTS AND LETTERS
STERLING STATESMAN AND MODEL MONARCH,
WHOSE REIGN OF HALF A CENTURY HAS BEEN
ZEALOUSLY AND SUCCESSFULLY DEVOTED TO
PUBLIC INSTRUCTION, INDUSTRIAL
ENTERPRISE, AND THE ABOLITION
OF SLAVERY
THROUGHOUT THE VAST AND OPULENT
“EMPIRE OF THE SOUTHERN CROSS”
Dedication by Frank Vincent
FREEDOM IN BRAZIL
In blue Brazilian skies:
And thou, O River, cleaving half the earth,
From sunset to sunrise,
From the great mountains to the Atlantic waves,
Thy joy’s long anthem pour,
Yet a few years (God make them less!) and slaves
Shall shame thy pride no more.
No fettered feet thy shaded margins press,
But all men shall walk free.
Where, thou the high-priest of the wilderness,
Hast wedded sea to sea.
The word of God is said
Once more:—“Let there be light!”—Son of the South,
Lift up thy honoured head,
Wear unashamed a crown by thy desert
More than by birth thy own,
Careless of watch and ward; thou art begirt
By grateful hearts alone.
The moated wall and battleship may fail,
But safe shall Justice prove;
Stronger than greaves of brass or iron mail,
The panoply of Love.
Dom Pedro was born December 2, 1825
Was made Emperor at five years of age, April 7, 1831
Visited the United States, 1876
His daughter, Princess Isabel, emancipated the slaves, 1888
He abdicated, and Brazil was proclaimed a Republic, 1889
Dom Pedro died, December 5, 1891.
THE BRAZILS MAGNIFICENT
Robinson Crusoe, after escaping from Moorish slavery with the boy Xury, was rescued by a Portuguese ship bound for South America. He was carried by the ship’s captain to the Brazils.
There he settled, bought a plantation and made a fortune. Then, away from those same Brazils, he sailed and was wrecked and cast upon his Desert Island.
Magnificent and rich were Robinson Crusoe’s Brazils, or the Country of Brazil, stretching vast and unknown far westward into the interior of the continent. Near the sea-coast, in the parts inhabited by civilized men, were plantations of coffee, tobacco, and fruits. Primeval forests covered the shores of the rivers whose mighty waters rushed far out into the ocean. Fierce savages roved the forests. There were gold, spices, and diamonds in Robinson Crusoe’s Brazils, and rare woods, brilliant birds, butterflies, and flowers.
And so is the country of Brazil to-day—a magnificent land! Only there are cities there now, and towns and villages. And to-day, Brazil is a Republic with a Constitution like that of our own United States.
In Robinson Crusoe’s time, Brazil was owned and ruled by the Kingdom of Portugal, just as other parts of South America were owned and ruled by the Crown of Spain.
How Brazil won Independence and became a Republic, is a fascinating story.
THE EMPIRE OF THE SOUTHERN CROSS
Brazil, on which the Southern Cross of four bright stars, looks down, first became a Kingdom, then an Empire and after that a Republic.
When Napoleon’s Army threatened to invade Portugal, the Royal Family of Portugal fled in terror of their lives. They escaped from Lisbon, crossed the Atlantic, and found refuge in the royal Colony of Brazil.
In 1815, Brazil was declared a Kingdom, though still to remain a part of Portugal. The first and only European Kingdom in America!
When the time arrived, that the Royal Family might safely return to Portugal, the King left his son, Dom Pedro, to be Regent or Governor of Brazil.
But the Brazilians had grown used to having their King live among them. More just laws and greater privileges were theirs, when their ruler lived in the land. He could understand their needs better than if he ruled them from Europe. So the Brazilians became dissatisfied, when their country was reduced once more to the state of a Colony.
Dom Pedro was a patriotic Brazilian, and ruled the Country without much regard to Portugal’s wishes. Trouble soon arose between the Mother Country and Brazil. Dom Pedro proclaimed the Independence of Brazil, September 7, 1822. An Empire was established, and Dom Pedro was made Emperor under a Constitution.
But as time went on, the Emperor did not uphold the People’s rights; so he was forced to abdicate in favour of his little son, Dom Pedro, who was only five years old.
After which, Dom Pedro the First, sailed away to Europe, leaving little Dom Pedro the Second, to rule in his stead.
MAKING THE LITTLE EMPEROR
“The King is afloat! God save the King!” were the shouts which rang through the streets of Rio Janeiro, for now that their Emperor Pedro the First had abdicated and escaped on an English man-o-war, the people were giving themselves up to rejoicing.
“The King is afloat! God save the King!” was the cry of the townspeople and the streets, festooned with coffee branches, were made to glow with coloured silks, while the balconies were thronged with señoritas in all their finery of brilliant dresses, garlands, fluttering fans, and feather flowers.
They were witnessing the triumphal entry into his capital of the new Emperor, Dom Pedro the Second, the little lad of five and a half years old.
First in the procession of the Child-Emperor, were justices of the peace bearing green flags. Then came the little Emperor.
And what a figure was this! A tiny infant in a huge state-coach, dragged by four strings of excited mulattoes! He cried, and at the same time waved a white handkerchief.
The tender-hearted Brazilians, every man and woman of their number a child-adorer, were altogether overcome by the sight, and even the choir that accompanied the procession, was touched. Its triumphant chant died away in an emotional quiver.
With great pomp, little Pedro was installed as Emperor, the eyes of the enthusiastic spectators swimming with tears, as he was carried out of the chapel in the arms of an old chamberlain.
Later, while sitting in a little chair at the window of the palace, he reviewed the troops of his Empire.
But though little Pedro was now Emperor of all Brazil, he was too young to rule. A Regent ruled for him for ten years, while Pedro studied and prepared himself to govern his People.
W. H. Koebel and Other Sources
THE PATRIOT EMPEROR
I
Viva Dom Pedro the Second!
At last a large political party in the capital grew tired of installing Regents and electing new ministers, and insistently demanded that the Emperor himself begin to reign, although legally he was still too young. According to the Constitution, an Emperor reached his majority at the age of eighteen, and Dom Pedro was only fifteen. But in spite of his youth, Dom Pedro the Second was declared constitutional Emperor and perpetual defender of Brazil. Viva Dom Pedro the Second!
So mature was the young Emperor in mind and appearance, that he was well fitted to play the part of an eighteen-year-old. His tutors were the best that could be found in Europe or South America, and he was a brilliant student. He had a trick of relighting his lamp at night and studying for a while after every one had gone to bed. Natural history, mathematics, and astronomy were his favourite subjects at that time.
But in the course of his life he studied almost everything under the sun, and he could talk fluently on any subject in English, German, French, Italian or Spanish; he read Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. When he was sixty he learned Sanskrit. His library was packed with histories, biographies, encyclopædias, and law-books.
Besides his library the Emperor loved peace, happiness, and prosperity. These were his gifts to Brazil during his long reign, while surrounding Nations were struggling with anarchy and civil war.
Before Dom Pedro was eighteen, he signed a contract of marriage with a Princess whom he had never seen, Theresa Christina Maria, sister of the King of the two Sicilies. A Brazilian squadron conducted her to Rio, and the city received her with splendid ceremonies.
II
My People
Under Dom Pedro’s guiding influence, Brazil gained steadily in power, importance, and reputation. Home industries and foreign commerce doubled. Telegraphic communications were established with the United States and Europe. Good steamship lines, both coastwise and oceanic, made Brazil accessible to all the world. Public property was opened to settlement, and the Government became as hospitable to all foreign enterprise as it had before this been exclusive.
Above all things, Dom Pedro wanted to stimulate the love of knowledge among his People, to give the boys and girls of every class an equal chance. Free public schools were established all over the Empire.
One time, the Emperor learned that 3,000,000 francs had been pledged by citizens for a fine bronze statue of himself to be given the place of honour in a city square. Dom Pedro, expressing his deep gratitude, said that it would please him far more if the money could be used for public schools instead. The grade and high school buildings of Rio have always been noted for their beauty, size, and equipment.
While so many of the South American States were lagging far behind the times, Brazil, under Dom Pedro, caught up with other progressive Nations of the World. Liberty of speech and religious tolerance were not even questioned, but taken for granted.
III
Emancipating the Slaves
1888
The greatest national event during Dom Pedro’s reign was the Abolition of Slavery, and no one worked harder to bring it to pass than the Emperor himself.
The African slave-trade had been abolished in 1850 and from that time on public opinion grew more and more in favour of Emancipation, in spite of the strong opposition of planters and wealthy slave owners.
Following Dom Pedro’s example, many high-minded citizens freed their own slaves. The slave was enabled to free himself in many ways, such as raising his own purchase money. The incentive to do this was great, for an ambitious slave had plenty of chance to rise in the world.
Dom Pedro’s dearest wish was that he might live to see every slave in the country a free man, and this wish came true in the last year of his reign.
He had gone abroad in poor health, leaving his daughter Isabel as Regent. When Congress met, the Princess Isabel railroaded the Abolition Bill through both Houses in eight days, and signed the bill which put the law into immediate effect.
IV
The Empire of the Southern Cross—No More!
Soon after the humane Princess Isabel had freed the slaves, Dom Pedro came hastening home from Europe. He landed in Rio, and was received with genuine enthusiasm. But his loved personality could no longer stand between the throne and the widespread desire for a Republic together with the popular discontent aroused by the Princess’s acts.
In 1889, a Republican revolt took the whole Empire by surprise. It had long been brewing beneath the surface, but so great was the Emperor’s popularity that Republicans had tacitly agreed to postpone the new Government until his death.
A rumor that Dom Pedro might abdicate in favour of Princess Isabel, and thus initiate another generation of monarchy, precipitated the Revolution. The Republican leagues, with the backing of the army and navy, refused to wait any longer.
Dom Pedro, summoned from Petropolis by telegram, found a Provisional Government already organized when he reached the capital. In the Imperial Palace at Rio, surrounded by insurgents, the old Emperor was told briefly that his long reign was over.
“We are forced to notify you,” said the ultimatum, “that the Provisional Government expects from your Patriotism the sacrifice of leaving Brazilian territory with your family in the shortest possible time.”
Dom Pedro the Second replied simply:—
“I resolve to submit to the command of circumstances and will depart with my family for Europe to-morrow, leaving this beloved Country to which I have tried to give firm testimony of my love and my dedication during nearly half a century as chief of the State. I shall always have kind remembrances of Brazil and hopes for its prosperity.”
The next day the Imperial Family sailed for Lisbon.
In three days’ time a monarchy had been overthrown without bloodshed or opposition. The Emperor, who had sometimes been called the best Republican in Brazil, was replaced by a military dictator.
The homesick Emperor, living in European hotels or rented villas, “always remained as one on the point of departure, as if he ever expected to be recalled by his former subjects, a hope which till the last moment would not die out of his heart.”
Margarette Daniels (Arranged)
THE UNITED STATES OF BRAZIL
Brazil, whose name originally meant the Land of Red Dye Wood, is to-day, the United States of Brazil with a Constitution like our own. It has a President, Vice-President, and House of Congress, and an army and navy. It has railroads, beautiful cities, many towns, and a world commerce.
Brazil exports quantities of rubber, sugar, coffee, and other products. The milky juice of the caoutchouc or rubber, is gathered largely from the wild rubber-trees growing in the tropical forests far in the interior of Brazil, or along the banks of the Amazon. Our United States receives great shipments of this rubber. The coffee-trees flourish in the famous red earth of Brazil, producing large crops of the delicious berry, to make happy the breakfast tables of the world.
There is the friendliest of relations between our United States and Brazil. It is no uncommon sight to meet Brazilian sailors in their picturesque uniform, at home on the streets of New York City. And when the statue of Bolivar, the Liberator of Venezuela, was unveiled in Central Park in 1921, there was present a detachment of Brazilian Marines detailed from their battleship anchored in New York Harbour. They made an imposing appearance, filing down the park-slope of Bolivar Hill, in the military procession which accompanied President Harding.
The year 1922, the one hundredth anniversary of Brazilian Independence, has been celebrated by People of the United States. Out of friendship for Brazil, they have presented her with a statue of Liberty cast in bronze. Liberty holds aloft two entwined banners, the Brazilian Flag and the Stars and Stripes. The Brazilian Government has selected one of the most prominent spots in the city of Rio Janeiro, as a site for the statue.