South America

The easy victory over Guiana induced the Regent to make attacks on the Spanish colonies to the south and west of Brazil. Here, however willing the colonists were to shake off their subjection to Spain, they by no means desired to become subject to Brazil. It was just at this period that the War of Independence was raging, and the Spanish colonies were forming themselves into republics. João, fearing republicanism more than he hated Spain, aided Elio, the Spanish Governor of the Plate districts, with money and men in his attacks on the insurgents.

Elio was defeated, and the new Republicans made a hostile entry into Rio Grande and São Paolo. The Regent, fearing the result of this incursion, sent 5,000 Portuguese troops with a contingent of Brazilians to drive the enemy over the southern frontier. In this the Brazilian force was entirely successful, and the evacuation of Montevideo and occupation of Misiones were followed by the chasing of the Uruguayan patriot Artigas across the Uruguay River.

In spite of popular and successful war, the Brazilians refused to be entirely contented, and João had some reason to fear their discontent, since Brazilian money supported the Government and Court, and ruin would necessarily follow the withdrawal of this. In order to meet all objections João determined to make Brazil his kingdom.

On December 16, 1815, a decree was issued declaring that from the date of its publication the State of Brazil should be elevated to the dignity of a kingdom, and henceforth called the Kingdom of Brazil, and should form with those in Europe the United Kingdom of Portugal, Algarves, and Brazil. Immediately after this event the Queen, Dona Maria, died at Rio, and the Prince Regent delayed the ceremony of his succession until the expiration of a year of mourning. The arms of the new King consisted of an armillary sphere of gold, in field azure, and in a scutcheon containing the quinas of Portugal and the seven castles of Algarves. The sphere was surmounted by the royal crown.

On November 5, 1817, a vessel brought out the Archduchess Leopoldina, daughter of the Emperor Francis I. of Austria, who had been married by proxy to Dom Pedro, the son of João VI.

On February 6, 1818, João VI. was formally crowned at Rio, a ceremony which was emphasized—

The following year Princess Dona Maria da Gloria was born, a circumstance which rejoiced the loyal colonists not a little. Nevertheless, in the remoter regions of the enormous colony of Brazil, where the influence of these joyous events had been less felt, all was not so tranquil.

In Pernambuco and Bahia local jealousies had fermented; the revolutions had been put down with a firm hand, and the leaders of the movements executed. This severity was much resented, both at the time and subsequently, and these provinces, in consequence, remained in a state of suppressed irritation.

In 1820 some territory was annexed in the south, when, Uruguay being convulsed by civil war, the troops of Brazil occupied Tacuarembó and the Arroyo-Grande.

After a while it became evident that Prince Pedro had gained more popularity than the King. The conservative methods of João VI. were in the end responsible for protests on the part of the populace, and the King at length was obliged to give way, and to promise more liberal constitutions than he had endeavoured to uphold. Dom Pedro swore in his father's name to respect these constitutions, and his example was followed by his brother, Dom Miguel. The enthusiasm which followed the concession was tumultuous, and the King himself found it necessary to come from his country seat, Boa Vista.

When he arrived at the capital his horses were taken from his carriage, and it was dragged to the palace by the people. Fireworks and illuminations followed, and a gala performance at the opera for the succeeding night was ordered; but King João VI. was unable to attend. The proceedings had really been adopted against the grain in his case, and thus, when the curtains in the royal box were drawn apart, it was seen to be occupied by the pictures of the King and Queen instead of by royalty in the flesh; but these pictures were received with the same enthusiasm and as hearty plaudits as though they had been royal humanity itself.

While all this was happening in Brazil, the French had been finally driven out from Portugal, and King João VI. determined to return once more to his native country. On April 24 he sailed with the Royal Family, leaving his son, Dom Pedro, as Governor of Brazil. Only a day or two before a disturbance had broken out in the capital. When the electors assembled, they were wantonly attacked by the Portuguese soldiery, and about thirty of them were slain, the majority in cold blood. The atrocity would have doubtlessly been more serious had not the popular Dom Pedro interfered.

With the departure of the King from Brazil it was inevitable that complications should ensue. Having once enjoyed the status of a kingdom, and having been granted those privileges which had so benefited the country during the past few years, it was only natural that Brazil should resent any attempt to place her once again in the neglected situation from which she had been rescued. It seemed, nevertheless, as though the policy of Portugal would now be directed towards this end. It was at this juncture that the influence of Prince Pedro began to be felt.

Prince Pedro possessed a personality essentially capable of commanding; his talents, moreover, were varied. He was a good horseman, a keen sportsman, and was addicted to music and many of the politer arts. The part he had to play was undoubtedly a difficult one. His sentiments were intensely Brazilian; at the same time, in the letters he wrote to the Court of Portugal he stated distinctly that the Mother Country alone possessed his loyalty, as was only just, and that he would make no move whatever that would prejudice the interests of Portugal. He even went the length of lamenting his presence in the far-away land he governed, and swore that he longed for the day when he might return and sit upon the steps of his father's throne.

In the meanwhile the jealousies between the Portuguese and Brazilians increased rapidly, the bitterness being more especially evident in the soldiery of the respective lands. King João himself had behaved with little consideration ere his departure. One of his last acts in Brazil had been to promise the soldiery of that country double pay, yet, though he had left the promise behind him, he had left no means whatever to carry it out, and thus disturbances arose in many places.

On December 9, 1821, the brig Dom Sebastião arrived, bearing a decree to institute a provisional Government, which should again reduce the country to the condition of a province, and another which ordered the immediate return to Portugal of the young Prince Regent. A real crisis now arose. The Brazilians, devoted to Dom Pedro, implored him to remain; the Portuguese garrison spoke of removing him on a homeward-bound ship by force. The whole city was agog, and the excitement at fever-heat. In the midst of the turmoil the Brazilian troops surrounded the Portuguese, and, after obtaining a great strategic advantage, ordered them to march on board the vessels of the fleet bound for Lisbon.

The Portuguese were inclined to resist, when Dom Pedro himself appeared in their midst and ordered their commanders specifically to embark the next day and to sail for Portugal. He had now decided on his attitude, and was determined that his orders should be obeyed. To show that he was in earnest he even took a match in his hand and lit it, and swore that, did the Portuguese troops refuse, he would be the first man to fire a cannon at them. This ended the matter, and the next day the ship sailed and carried away the Portuguese garrison.

On May 13, 1822, a deputation from the Rio Chamber of Deputies approached Prince Pedro and persuaded him to assume the title of "Constitutional Prince Regent and Perpetual Defender of Brazil." Portugal, for its part, was now bitterly opposed to Brazil and to the Brazilians. Decrees were enacted towards the suppression of the independence of the great colony. One of these ran to the effect that Prince Pedro was to return to Europe within four months, and that any of the military who obeyed his orders, unless by compulsion, were to be deemed traitors to Portugal.

During all this time fresh troops were arriving to reinforce the garrison at Bahia, which had remained Royalist. The patriots, for their part, had collected strong forces and hemmed the Royalists in Bahia to such an extent that they could only retain communication by sea.

Matters grew more and more strained every day, for the Mother Country sought to put an end to the virtual supremacy of its great colony, while Brazil was utterly opposed to Portuguese rule. When Prince Pedro was ordered to return to Portugal, "in order to complete his education," the Brazilians, and especially the provincial Government of São Paulo, begged him to disobey and remain in Brazil. The soldiers threatened to mutiny if he went, and the people entreated him not to go, while every proof of his popularity was added cause for exasperation on the part of the Home Government, rendering his situation more dangerous.

If Dom Pedro went to Portugal, said the Brazilians, they must choose between an anarchical republic and the old state of dependence on Portugal. In the matter of São Paulo and the requests of its citizens, the brothers Andrada were most prominent, and they obtained a promise from the Prince that he would not go. Together with the Andradas he toured the States of Minas and São Paulo on a mission of pacification; but the people of the country felt that the present state of affairs could not continue, and in his absence it was determined to make him the ruler of the country, and he was declared Defender of the Empire. On September 7, 1822, he received a bundle of despatches from Portugal, and his staff watched while he read letter after letter. There was one which he read two or three times, and then destroyed. What its contents were was never known, but after pondering and a few minutes of thought, Pedro raised his hand and spoke his decision—"Independence or death!"

There was no doubt that he had carried out the wishes of his father, and probably the letter which he destroyed contained João's written directions. Some idea of this seems to have been general among the Brazilians, for both they and the Portuguese soldiers in Brazil always spoke of João with affection, and regarded him rather as a prisoner of the Cortes of Lisbon than as King of Portugal.

The Brazilians determined that the last doubt concerning the situation should be dissipated, and on October 12, 1822, Dom Pedro, who was at Piranga, was made constitutional Emperor of Brazil, and all relation and connection with Portugal was severed.

Dom Pedro had all this time kept up a correspondence with his father, King João, and in one of these letters he wrote:

These latter words were apparently actually written in his blood, and the epistle is certainly a proof of the complicated state of affairs and of the strange influences which were at work.

Open warfare now broke out between Brazil and Portugal. At Bahia the Portuguese, although their garrison was hemmed in, were masters of the sea. The Brazilians determined to make a bold bid for the control of the waves, and to this end sent an invitation to Lord Cochrane, who had just freed the Pacific Ocean from the Spanish fleet, and was at the time in Chile.

An invitation of that kind was never refused by Cochrane. In March, 1823, he arrived and took command of the new Brazilian fleet, which was considerably inferior to that of Portugal. He sailed immediately for Bahia, but found his crews in no very anxious mood to fight their compatriots. A few skirmishes ensued, and the Portuguese fleet took refuge under the guns of the land forces. On the same day the Brazilians entered the city and took possession of it.

The Portuguese fleet now sailed to the north, and was pursued by Lord Cochrane beyond the Equator. He saw to it that their voyage was an eventful one, for he captured more than one-half of their transports, and completely dispersed the remainder. Cochrane then returned to Brazil, and was instrumental in releasing the north of that country from the remaining foreign forces.

On December 1, 1823, Dom Pedro was formally crowned. The ceremony was dramatic, and crowns and wreaths of laurels were showered down upon the hero of the nation, while patriotic airs were thundered out with tremendous enthusiasm.

Three years later (August 29, 1825) Pedro was acknowledged as Emperor of Brazil by the Mother Country, after the last Portuguese troops in the country had been withdrawn.

CHAPTER XIX

THE EMPIRE OF BRAZIL

Portuguese acquiescence in Dom Pedro's sovereignty was brought about largely by the instrumentality of Lord Cochrane, who, after harrying the deported garrison of Bahia when on its voyage to Europe, brought about the capitulation of Maranhão and Pará, acting in concert with Grenfell, another ocean free-lance, second only to Cochrane in daring and versatility.

In Montevideo the General commanding the Portuguese garrison declared for independence, and left the soldiers to make their own choice; whereupon they followed the remainder of the Portuguese troops to Europe. Uruguay, left to its own choice, retained its allegiance to Brazil until Artigas, a famous leader and partisan of liberty, stirred up the people. The Brazilian troops entered Montevideo on January 20, 1817, and the Emperor sent his picture to the Cabildo Hall, an act which brought about the appearance of a most extraordinary document, drawn up by the officials of the town. When the portrait appeared they announced that—

In justice to the inhabitants of Montevideo in general, it must be said that this fulsome and despicable effusion was the work of only a few, and was hostile to the sentiments of, and strenuously condemned by, the general public.

The first Brazilian Assembly, as soon as convoked, set to work to frame its first Constitution, a matter which was found extremely difficult. The fact that Brazil had been an independent monarchy for some years helped to combat the views of those who shouted "Liberty!" too loudly, and would fain have abandoned practice for theory. It was understood that the first requisites were order and security, together with reasonable checks on authority. Further, it was realized that there must be sufficient elasticity to meet future needs and circumstances.

But for the Emperor, the forming of the Constitution would have been a failure. Almost immediately after his first opening of the Assembly he laid before it a sketch of the Constitution that they had to form. "The recent Constitutions," he said, "founded on the models of those of 1791 and 1792, had been acknowledged as too abstract and metaphysical for execution. This had been proved by the example of France, and more recently by that of Spain and Portugal. We have need of a Constitution where the powers may be so divided and defined that no one branch can arrogate to itself the prerogative of another; a Constitution which may be an unsurmountable barrier against all invasion of the royal authority, whether aristocratic or popular, which will overthrow anarchy and cherish the tree of liberty, beneath whose shade we shall see the union and the independence of the Empire flourish—in a word, a Constitution that will excite the admiration of other nations, and even of our enemies, who will consecrate the triumph of our principles by adopting them."

There was, however, too much of self-denial in the Emperor's views to meet with the approbation of the Assembly. At the head of the Ministry were the brothers Andrada—men who in earlier days had rendered great services to Dom Pedro, but who had grown somewhat arbitrary, overbearing, and impatient, and now presumed on their past services in establishing the Empire to tyrannize over both the Emperor and the Assembly. In the end the members of the Assembly forced the brothers to resign, at which the people rose and drew José Bonifacio in triumph through the streets of Rio to his official residence.

Fearing the people, the Assembly reinstated the Andradas for a period of eight months, after which they were again ejected. From this time on they became violent opponents of the Assembly and the Court, seemingly determined that if they could not rule, nobody else should. Their newspaper, the Tamayo, was a powerful organ in the capital, and proved itself as unsparing as it was libellous in its attacks.

It was owing to obstruction of this kind that for a long while no advance was made in the formation of a Constitution, for as the Emperor made suggestions, the Andradas caused them to be thrown out. Bills brought in by members were never read, and the brothers even went so far as to attack the Portuguese employés of the Emperor, and when one of these wrote a scathing article against them, they used personal violence toward him. He appealed to the Assembly, whereupon the Andradas insisted that he and all his fellows should be dismissed.

Week by week the Tamayo grew more virulent and threatening against the Emperor. Dom Pedro grew alarmed, for the Andradas were wealthy and powerful, and the Emperor felt that their disaffection might be a sign of general popular feeling—that the republican movement was gaining ground too much for his safety. His actions against the republican movement in various parts of the Empire, necessary though they were, had, nevertheless, forced him into connection with, and reliance on, the Portuguese residents and militia, a class almost as distasteful to the liberal Brazilians as the Portuguese whom they had driven out of the country. Thoroughly liberal in his own tendencies, Pedro yet felt that the Andradas might be expressing a general discontent with his rule.

The Andradas, at the head of the popular party, drove the Emperor to the use of extreme measures by their insolence and turbulent intrigues. He took the law into his own hands. The brothers had induced the Assembly to declare itself permanent, but, not unlike Cromwell in a different species of crisis, Pedro surrounded the Chamber with troops and guns, dispersed the Deputies, and captured the three Andradas, together with two of their principal friends. These five he deported to France without the formality of a trial.

At this the popular party took alarm, but the Emperor pointed out that he had no other course left; he had acted from no desire to impair the freedom of the people, but from necessity. The proclamation which he issued at this time stated that "though he had, from regard to the tranquillity of the Empire, thought fit to dissolve the third Assembly, he had in the same decree convoked another, in conformity with the acknowledged constitutional rights of his people."

With regard to the forming of the Constitution, he left it no longer to the Assembly, but appointed a committee of ten persons to settle the sketch he had drawn up.

The Republican and ultra-Liberal party, awed by the salutary treatment meted out to the Andradas, grew furious at the further energetic measures of the Emperor, for they saw in Dom Pedro's policy an attempt to gain absolute dominance. Open rebellion broke out all over the country, and a Republic was actually proclaimed in Pernambuco, Ceará, the northern provinces generally, and in the south. Uruguay for the last time revolted, and severed the tie which bound her to the Empire, having never since been subject to Brazil.

The moderate people wavered between the two sides. They saw in Republicanism only anarchy, while the Emperor's coup d'état inspired them with fear of his government. He himself, seeing that a striking move was necessary, sought the assistance of the Town Council of Rio, and with their aid adopted the Constitution he had drawn up, without submitting it to the Assembly. On March 24, 1824, he swore to the Constitution in public, trusting to the freedom and fairness which it embodied to gain him adherence.

This move was perfectly successful, for wherever the Constitution was proclaimed the Republican party fell to pieces. The principles of the document were so simple, liberal, and practical, that the Republican party could not ask more than the Emperor gave. By this Pedro saved his throne, beyond doubt, and gradually the provincial authorities and the people of the country accepted the situation, and swore to observe the new Constitution.

In the meanwhile a species of minor maritime warfare was carried on in the River Plate between the Brazilian fleet and the Argentine vessels commanded by Admiral Brown, in the course of which the Brazilians suffered not a little, and the prestige of the Imperial fleet in consequence diminished.

On December 11, 1826, the Empress died in childbirth at the early age of twenty-nine. She had come out from Austria determined to make the ways of Brazil her own. On her first arrival she was considered lovely, and there is no doubt that her fair, clear complexion, blue eyes, and golden hair were immensely admired by folk themselves almost invariably possessed of raven locks. Some while after she had arrived in the country of her adoption the Empress is said to have neglected her personal appearance to a rather regrettable extent, adopting the ways of the Brazilian country-side rather than those of the capital. Thus she accustomed herself to large heavy boots adorned with enormous spurs, and would ride astride on a horse, her hair being suffered to hang loose about her face and shoulders. In fact, she paid not the slightest attention to those attractions with which Nature had endowed her. She was a being of intense charity and love, polished to a degree, an accomplished letter-writer, and a lover of the fine arts in general.

Had the Empress bestowed less care on others and more upon her own person, there is little doubt but that she would have led a happier life, for the Emperor, surrounded by the temptations which are always in the path of crowned heads, allowed his affections to stray. Indeed, so wrapped up was Dom Pedro in his liaison, that the unfortunate Empress, under pressure, found her rival attached to her Court as lady-in-waiting. Her meek and affectionate temperament does not appear to have resented this—at all events openly. When, however, this rival insisted on making her way to the death-bed of the Empress, it was felt by the attendants that all bounds had been passed. On their own responsibility they prevented the proposed entrance, and after the death of the Empress suffered for their pains at the instigation of the slighted favourite.

Towards the end of 1826 Colonel Cotter, an Irish officer in the Brazilian Service, undertook to bring over a number of his countrymen from their native land in order that they should become soldier settlers—that is to say, they were promised fifty acres of land a head if they would undertake to perform military service when needed. The result was a fiasco. The unfortunate Irishmen came out, but found nothing prepared for them. They were insulted, moreover, by the negroes, who took to calling them "white slaves" as a mark of contempt for the ragged clothes to which they found themselves reduced in the end.

Goaded beyond endurance, not only by neglect, but by periodical assaults on their numbers, the Irish, together with a number of Germans and other soldiers who found themselves in a similar situation, broke out into open mutiny, and a pitched battle took place between them and the blacks, who had now been armed by the authorities. In the end the Brazilians intervened, assisted by the French and the English Marines, who were landed from the fleets of their respective nations, and the mutiny was suppressed, but not before many foreigners quite unconcerned with the affair had been slain. After this the Irish returned to their native land.

The proclamation of the Constitution marked the zenith of Dom Pedro's popularity. The dangers he had gone through and the arbitrary measures he had been compelled to adopt seem to have altered his views to an extent which in the end alienated from him the sympathies of his people. He never again trusted the Brazilians, while the success of his arbitrary policy in connection with the Andradas, and in the troubled times which followed, gave him a taste for absolute rule. In the formation of the Constitution he saved his country, but ruined himself.

After the last sparks of revolution had been put out, the people looked for the convocation of the Assembly again, but the Emperor omitted to bring this about for such a length of time that the nation began to understand that he no longer viewed its claims in the same light. Soon his preference for the Portuguese began to attract notice, and the treaty with Portugal, into which he entered before the Mother Country recognized the independence of Brazil, caused general indignation by its extravagant concessions. The treaty was justly resented, for Pedro was Emperor by successful revolt and conquest, and yet by this treaty he forewent his just rights, and then bought them again from Portugal—with Brazilian money.

This error of diplomacy was followed by war against Uruguay, for the Emperor attacked the revolted province, and declared war against Buenos Aires for rendering assistance to the Uruguayans. The campaign was carried on so feebly and expensively that the people regarded it as folly, and at the same time resented the enlistment, already referred to, of regiments of German and Irish troops, aliens, who were never popular.

The people of Brazil were aggravated, in addition to these causes, by the increasing extravagance of the Emperor, and by the expense which his establishment entailed, while his policy had reduced the nation to poverty. There were numerous payments to be made to Portugal in connection with the senseless treaty into which Pedro had entered; there was the cost of the war, including the pay of the hired German and Irish troops; and then there was the personal expenditure of the Emperor to add to these, while the militia system of the country had developed into a sort of conscription, an utter grievance in the sight of people who wanted liberty and peace.

In 1828 Uruguay was declared independent, much to the dissatisfaction of a great number of Brazilians, who advocated the retention of the Banda Oriental as a province of Brazil.

On March 10, 1826, Dom. João died. As soon as the tidings reached Brazil the Emperor assumed the title of King of Portugal, in addition to that of Emperor of Brazil. On May 2, six days later, he abdicated the throne of Portugal in favour of his daughter, Dona Maria. It was resolved that Dona Maria should marry her uncle, Dom Miguel, in order that she should ally herself with a Portuguese of high rank. Nevertheless, a dispute arose between the adherents of Dom Miguel and those of the Emperor of Brazil, and a state of civil war obtained in Portugal for a time. Dona Maria, on her arrival in England on her way to Portugal, was received with royal honours. But Dom Miguel seized upon the throne and managed to hold it for a while.

Supported by the Portuguese or Absolutist party, Pedro went his way, and, even in his latter days of rule, refused to sign Bills for the development of the Constitution. There was undoubtedly much now to unsettle the Brazilian populace. Disadvantageous reciprocity treaties were concluded with various countries, while defeats of the Brazilian soldiers were experienced at the hands of the troops of the Argentine Republic. An indemnity was demanded by France and the United States of America for ships captured during the blockade of Buenos Aires, and large sums of money had to be paid to avert further war. Finally, the English Government persuaded Brazil to make a somewhat humiliating peace with Buenos Aires, and renounce all claim to the colony, which was henceforth to be known as the Republic of Uruguay.

By 1830 the policy which the Emperor pursued had alienated the national affection to such an extent that every member of the Assembly but the Ministers was in opposition. Wherever the Emperor went, he was treated with coldness instead of enthusiasm. A scheme on the part of the Republicans for adopting the Constitution of the United States, but retaining Pedro as hereditary President, caused him to dismiss his Ministers, and surround himself with men of the Absolutist party. At this an immense crowd assembled in the Campo de Santa Ana, demanding the reinstatement of the popular Ministers.

The Emperor sent a magistrate to read a justification of his conduct to the crowd, but the paper was snatched from the magistrate's hands and torn to pieces almost before he had finished reading it. In their turn the people sent messengers to the palace, insisting on the reinstatement of the Republican Ministers. The Emperor listened to the demand, and answered: "I will do everything for the people, nothing by the people."

This answer exasperated the crowd still further, yet no excess was committed. At two o'clock in the morning the last messenger of the people was departing with the Emperor's refusal to yield to their demands, when Pedro bade him stay, and, sitting down at his desk, wrote his last message to the people of Brazil:

"Availing myself of the right which the Constitution concedes to me, I declare that I have voluntarily abdicated in favour of my dearly beloved and esteemed son, Dom Pedro de Alcantara."

Having handed this to the messenger, Pedro burst into tears and retired to his private apartments.

Six days later he sailed from the harbour of Rio in an English man-of-war, leaving Brazil and his child for good.

CHAPTER XX

FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC

Dom Pedro II. was but five years old when his father abdicated in his favour on April 7, 1831, and, during his minority, the government of the country was entrusted to Regents. In 1840, when he was fifteen years old, it was officially announced that he had attained his majority, and he was crowned in 1841. In 1843 he married Theresa Christine, sister of Ferdinand II. of the Two Sicilies. His sons died in their childhood, and his daughter Isabella became heiress to the crown.

Pedro II. came to the throne at a perilous time. The people were in a state of revolution, while the National Exchequer was practically empty, and the National Bank was bankrupt. With the abdication of Pedro I. the Ministry and official Service had disappeared.

Yet the crowd that had forced the abdication of Pedro I. drew the new boy Sovereign in triumph through the streets of the city, and, placed in a window of the palace, he watched the great multitude throng past, acclaiming him with immense enthusiasm. It was soon seen that, in spite of the national upheaval, the mass of the people were fully alive to the necessity for preserving order and preventing licence. There were riots and disturbances for a time, as was inevitable; but the patriotic, although turbulent, family of the Andradas again came to the front, and suppressed all signs of revolution. Thus the boy Emperor's position was secure.

Still, with a country nearly bankrupt, stringent measures were necessary to restore prosperity; official independence and peculation had to be suppressed, and the Regents, who succeeded each other with marked rapidity, had to be watched, while it was necessary at the same time to maintain the executive power. These exigences led to strenuous scenes in the Assembly, and the succession of Regents became still more rapid. In this capacity Andrada, Carvalho, Muniz, Feijo, and Lima, succeeded each other, while Ministers and Opposition squabbled and strove together, denouncing each other as the worst of tyrants.

Notwithstanding the confusion, a certain amount of progress was effected. Abuses were remedied, reforms effected, while the national tendency towards Republicanism strengthened the ultra-Liberal party, to whom the old-time Absolutists allied themselves. A reactionary party, desirous of seeing the Emperor recalled, came into being, and between these two was the moderate party, composed of the greater part of the population of the country, and represented politically by the Regency and the majority in the legislative chambers.

There was, however, sufficient strength in the Republican and ultra-Liberal party to accomplish revolt in the provinces of such extent as to call for military action in order to suppress it. Accordingly the provinces became, through the various reforms introduced, self-governing States, and, when the number of Regents had been reduced from three to one, there was little difference between the Constitution of Brazil and that of the United States of America.

The old Emperor, Pedro I., died in Portugal on September 24, 1834, and after that event a strong reaction set in among the Brazilians in favour of the Monarchy. The democratic party asserted that the Emperor's sister was, on attaining the age of eighteen, fully capable of exercising the duties of Regent. Having once granted this, the natural deduction followed that if a girl was fit to rule at eighteen, a boy was fit to rule sooner. In 1840 the Opposition brought forward a motion to the effect that the Emperor was of age, in spite of the article of the Constitution which declared that the majority of the Sovereign should be the age of eighteen.

By that time the nation was prosperous and at peace, while moderate men were tired of the faction struggles and the tumults caused thereby. Lima, Regent at the time, was extremely unpopular, and, when the debates began in the Assembly, there was a general wish that he should be defeated. The motion of the Opposition was made, and was met by the answer that the Constitution forbade this premature declaration of majority. The Opposition retorted that circumstances warranted the infringement, since in extreme evils the interests of the State required extreme measures.

Such a proposition as this implied that the Regent and Ministry were an extreme evil, and the scene in the Chamber grew animated as the speech grew more and more personal. Antonio Carlos de Andrada, one of the younger men of that great family, as fiery tempered as he was patriotic, led the attack, accusing the Regent and Ministry of usurpation and unconstitutional tyranny, since the Princess had attained the age of eighteen.

Then Galvão, one of the most prominent of the Ministerial party, turned against his own side, and urged the immediate proclamation of the Emperor. Another eminent member of the Assembly, Alvares Machado, declared "that the cause of the Emperor was the cause of the nation, and ought to receive the approbation of every lover of his country." The language of the Opposition grew violent and threatening. Navarro, a Deputy representing Matto Grosso, denounced Lima and all his acts, finishing his declamation by shouting, "Hurrah for his Imperial Majesty's majority!" The applause from spectators and the Opposition alarmed the Ministerialists, who tried to secure delay in bringing about the change. Limpo de Abreo moved that a committee be appointed to consider the matter at once, and, this being carried, the Opposition consented to an adjourning of the Assembly.

On the next day the Regent prorogued the Assembly until November, and appointed Vasconcellos, a man of great standing and political power, but factious, selfish, and immoral, as Minister of the Empire. These unpopular movements brought about actual revolt in the Assembly, for Antonio Andrada called on the members of the Assembly to follow him to the Senate. The two Houses conferred, and appointed a deputation to the Emperor himself, urging his consent to being immediately proclaimed. The deputation returned, bearing His Majesty's consent, and an order to the Regent to revoke his decrees, pronouncing the Chamber to be again in session. These powerful measures ended the controversy. In 1841 the coronation ceremony was performed, and Pedro II. assumed actual rule over Brazil.

He was in almost every sense an efficient ruler. His personality was viewed with confidence in Europe, and so long as he occupied the throne the very important question of foreign loans presented few difficulties. The influence of the Emperor was especially notable at the conclusion of the Paraguayan War, when the finances of Brazil were in an exhausted condition. Pedro II. was no autocrat; of a gentle and exceptionally unselfish character, he governed in a simple and most painstaking fashion, manifesting his patriotism in every possible direction.

Exterior events were of little importance during the first years of Pedro's reign. The chief happenings were a certain amount of civil war in the Rio Grande, and the partaking of the Brazilian forces in the battles between Uruguay and Rosas, the tyrant of Argentina, varied with occasional fights with Uruguay itself. In 1842 revolts broke out in the provinces of São Paulo and Minas Geraes, but these, together with similar insurrections in Rio Grande in 1845, and in Pernambuco in 1849, were suppressed. In 1851 Brazil espoused the cause of Urquiza, the Governor of Entre Rios, against that of Rosas, and the aid of the Brazilian troops was largely instrumental in bringing about the fall of the tyrant.

Dom Pedro's administration, moreover, was conducted with tact and good judgment. His presence acted as a check upon the experimental tendencies of the more effervescent of his subjects. He believed in slow and sure progress, and undoubtedly during his reign Brazil responded to the care and thought expended on her. Indeed, the policy of the Emperor was liberal to a degree, and as such very welcome to a populace whose ideas, if not instincts, had grown more or less democratic.

In 1865 the Five Years' War with Paraguay was commenced, a struggle in which, under the tyrant Lopez, the tiny Republic held at bay the armies of Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay, to the utter ruin of Paraguay itself, and the virtual destruction of its male population. The struggle terminated with the death of Lopez at the Battle of Cerro Cora in 1870, after exhausting the resources of Brazilian finance. Meanwhile, in 1867, Dom Pedro opened the Amazon to the commerce of all nations, and in 1871 passed a law for the gradual abolition of slavery.

Had Pedro been gifted with a child of a character resembling his own, it is reasonable to suppose that the Empire would have continued for far longer than was the case. Unfortunately, however, neither his daughter, the Princess Isabel, nor her husband, the Conde d'Eu, had succeeded in winning the sympathies of the Brazilians. Princess Isabel was markedly cold and restrained in manner, and these unfortunate traits appear to have been fully shared by her husband. The latter was somewhat deaf, which added to the apparent reserve of his manner; he was, moreover, credited with the possession of a miserly disposition.

These qualities, when viewed by an impetuous and mercurial people, whose lightning sympathies demanded as rapid a response, inevitably threw their supposed possessors into disfavour. The situation was doubly to be regretted, in that both the Princess and her husband were in reality devoted to Brazil and to the best interests of the Brazilians. It may truly be said that nothing beyond the lack of demonstrative power cost them their throne.

This factor in the general situation appeared at the time to be more than counterbalanced by the great popularity of the Emperor himself. The Republican spirit was growing, it is true, and the progressive State of São Paolo headed the movement. After a while this tendency was shorn of all disguise, and the formation of a Republic was openly advocated; but the universal desire appeared to be that the form of government should not be changed during the lifetime of the popular Emperor, Pedro II. In the meanwhile the commercial and industrial resources of Brazil were rapidly becoming extended, and the wealth of the planters increased steadily.

Dom Pedro on various occasions visited Europe for the purposes of the State, and, in 1886, he started on his third journey to the Old World since the conclusion of the Paraguayan War. At no time in the history of South America has it been found prudent for the head of a State to leave his country for too long in the hands of a Regent or deputy. In this case the powers of Regent were handed over to Princess Isabel, and this lady lost little time in putting some admirable intentions into effect. This, however, she managed to effect in a manner, as is frequently the case with well-intentioned persons, which wrought no little mischief to her own interests.

Humane and of advanced ideas, Princess Isabel had always regarded the slave trade with abhorrence. The Emperor Pedro himself had approved of the conditions very little more. It is certain, indeed, that he had intended ultimately to do away with this state of affairs by a gradual series of moves, so as to leave the general industrial situation unaffected. Princess Isabel, on the other hand, favoured the idea of an immediate uprooting of the evil.

As it happened, some steps had already been taken which must in the end, of themselves, have done away with slavery; thus, it had been decreed in 1871 that every child of a slave born after that time was free. This was not sufficient for the warm-hearted daughter of the Emperor. In her impatience to free the older generation from their shackles, Princess Isabel determined on a general abolition forthwith. In 1888, notwithstanding the entreaties and warnings of her Ministers, she issued a decree to this effect, by which it is said that 720,000 slaves became emancipated.

At the time remarkably little stir was caused by this upheaval of the industrial status; but there is no doubt that the measure alienated the sympathies of the most important class of all—that of the landowners, who were now quite determined that the Princess and her husband should never come to the throne of Brazil. While all this was occurring, matters had cropped up in Europe which had caused the Emperor's absence to be prolonged unduly so far as home matters of State were concerned. His health was bad, and his suite were anxious to save him as much as possible from the anxieties of politics. In order that this should be effected, he was persuaded to stay away from his country for a considerable while. At length it became evident that his return was imperative, and in August, 1888, he landed again in Rio, where he was received with genuine enthusiasm. His loved personality, however, could no longer stand between the throne and popular opinion, for, in addition to the discontent aroused by the acts of the Princess, the centralized system of government, and the general prevalence of corruption in the provincial administration, had excited a widespread feeling of discontent, especially in the Assembly and among the Republican party.

In May, 1889, occurred the resignation of the Cabinet which was in power when the Act of Emancipation had been passed. A new Cabinet was formed on June 7, under the Presidency of the Vizconde de Ouro Preto, a statesman much respected by the Emperor. The liberal policy of this new Cabinet was resented by the landowners, and a serious agitation, which now began, shortly after received the support of the army.

General Deodoro da Fonseca and General Floriano Peixoto placed themselves at the head of the military malcontents, and it became clear to the inhabitants of Brazil that a crisis was not far off. On November 14, 1889, some fifteen months after the Emperor had returned to his country, the Imperial residence at Petropolis was surrounded by soldiers, while the palace at Rio was taken possession of by other troops.

The revolution was conducted in the simplest fashion. Beyond the arrest of the Emperor and the wounding of the Baron de Ladario, the solitary Minister who resisted, nothing happened—nothing, that is to say, of a dramatic nature. Indeed, after the arrest, the chief work of the revolutionists appears to have lain in the obliteration of Imperial badges and the cutting out of similar tokens from their uniforms and flags. The main population of the country appears to have regarded the change with a most complete indifference.

Dom Pedro's personality appears to have retained somewhat of its popularity up to the very last. He was sent to Portugal a few days after the successful revolt, it is true, but it seems that this move was taken rather because it appeared to be the traditional and proper thing to do than from any dread of plotting on the part of the deposed monarch, who was allowed to retain the whole of his property. In fact, in order to show that no personal malice was intended, the new Republic pressed a pension on the deposed monarch, which, however, was refused. Pedro II. quitted the harbour of Rio on November 16, 1889, and with his person the last trace of Iberian Monarchy vanished from South America.

CHAPTER XXI

MODERN BRAZIL

After the deportation of their third Monarch, the Brazilians settled down to enjoy the advantages of an ideal and much-exalted Republican Government; but it was not long before they encountered some sharp disillusions. Their first President, General Don Manuel Deodoro de Fonseca, who had been mainly responsible for the expulsion of the Emperor, was installed immediately after Pedro's departure as head of the Brazilian Government. He began by proving that a Republic in the midst of unsettled political circumstances is, from its very nature, almost invariably more autocratic than the ordinary empire.

Fonseca, a character sufficiently striking to merit individual mention, was born at Algoas in Brazil, was educated at the military school in Rio de Janeiro, and received his commission as a Lieutenant of Artillery in 1849. The chief feature of his military career was the prominent part he took in the war with Paraguay in 1868-1870, where he distinguished himself sufficiently to be promoted to the rank of Divisional-General. It was not until 1881 that he became definitely known as an ardent Republican, but from that time onward he continued to be actively associated with the ultra-Liberal and Republican movement, and he was responsible for the organization of the Military Club at Rio de Janeiro, an institution which had other objects in addition to those implied by its name.

Although Fonseca was a warm personal friend of the Emperor, his activity and very obvious Republican sentiments led to his being appointed Governor of a frontier province in 1887. This measure, of course, was adopted in order to remove him from the capital, where his influence was considered the reverse of helpful to the Imperial cause. In 1889 he returned to Rio de Janeiro, and entered actively into the schemes of the Republican party, more especially in army circles. In the recently established Republican League, moreover, he was the leading spirit in the movement which culminated in the overthrow of the Empire.

On November 21, 1889, the provisional Government conceded to all Brazilians who could read and write universal suffrage, and this was followed by the appointment of a Commission for the providing of a Federal Constitution. Republican measures came quickly. On January 10, 1890, the separation of Church and State was decreed by the provisional Government; and on June 23 of the same year the new Constitution was promulgated.

In February of 1891 General Fonseca was elected first President of the new Republic, for a four years' term. He was set at the head of a Government depending largely on its troops, and these found themselves suddenly possessed of a power which they had not known previously. The new citizens of Brazil writhed uneasily under the restraints and affronts which were now for the first time put upon them; the Press was muzzled, and a tribunal established with the power of summarily trying persons suspected of being guilty of want of respect to the new order of things.

There is no doubt that the first establishment of the Brazilian Republic was followed by measures of severe repression, not directed against the Royalists—for this party, to all intents and purposes, disappeared from existence as soon as the Emperor had left the shores of Brazil—but against the dissatisfied citizens who were clamouring against the autocratic methods pursued by the Government. Some definite accusations were shortly brought against the President. He was accused of several acts which much exceeded the authority vested in him; he was charged in particular with numerous deeds of tyranny, violence, and corruption.

Following on so many precedents of the kind in South America, Fonseca retaliated by the inauguration of more stringent methods than any which he had hitherto employed. A state of siege was declared in the capital, and Fonseca caused himself to be invested with every right and privilege of a dictator. These methods of terrorism he justified by the pretext of monarchical plots. Very soon, however, General Peixoto became prominent as a rival to the Presidency, and shortly a definite revolt arose in the State of Rio Grande do Sul; while in the far north the State of Pará armed itself in preparation for the struggle against the central power.

The Navy declared itself against the Government. On November 23, 1891, the fleet, commanded by Custodio de Mello, took up its position in front of Rio de Janeiro, and actually fired a shot or two into the town. President Fonseca was now convinced that the powers against him were too strong to be successfully coped with; he resigned his office, and retired into private life, surviving his fall only by a few months, since he died in August of the following year.

Fonseca's fall was due not only to the measures employed in the government of the country, but also to the financial state of Brazil at the time of his election. Reckless extravagance and unscrupulous handling of the public funds by the various political parties, together with a too liberal use of the printing-press for the purpose of turning out paper money when funds were needed, had caused a condition of affairs which was very near bankruptcy. This condition, moreover, was largely artificial, since Brazil is almost the first among the States of South America in the matter of natural resources and general aptitude for prosperity. Nevertheless, the costly wars carried on under the Monarchy had left a large burden for the Republic to manage, and in spite of the strictest economy, the people of the country found that the inauguration of the Republic did not bring about the establishment of so prosperous a paradise as they had hoped. Naturally, the blame for this fell upon Fonseca, and added itself to the autocratic methods of his government to render him unpopular.

Fonseca was succeeded by the Vice-President, according to the regulations of the Constitution. This was Floriano Peixoto, who at first gave promise of a liberal and progressive government. Very soon, however, it became evident that the abuses of authority encouraged by him were becoming even more violent than those of the previous régime, and that the military despotism was even more accentuated. Any Governor who did not bend without question to the will of the President was instantly deposed, and in this way the Governors of Matto Grosso, Ceará, and Amazones were deprived of their posts. Every official, in fact, who did not show himself disposed to serve the new autocrat with a blind obedience was deprived of whatever office he had held. The discontent grew rapidly, while numerous Ministers resigned, and once again the flames of revolt broke out in Rio Grande do Sul.

On September 6, 1893, Admiral Custodio de Mello, after various abortive attempts, anchored again in front of the capital, and prepared his cruiser Aquidaban for action. Peixoto, however, determined to defend his position, and prepared himself to face the dozen or more warships which comprised the fleet of the insurgents. On September 12 the first serious fight took place, the town being bombarded heavily by the fleet, to which the guns of the forts responded on behalf of the Government.

The struggle continued in a desultory fashion, and a daily interchange of shots was wont to take place between the naval and military forces. This situation continued for the remainder of the year 1893, and, as time went on, the position of the Government became rather more strengthened, especially when it was reported that some war vessels ordered by Peixoto in Europe were on their way to Brazil.

In the meanwhile, however, the position in the south became far more favourable to the insurgents. The revolutionary forces under Saraiva began a march to the north, when his movement was aided by a portion of the fleet, under Admiral Donello, which had sailed to the south in order to co-operate. Curitiba was captured, and the march up from the south bade fair to be triumphant. This was to a certain extent neutralized by the interference of the United States warships in the harbour of Rio on behalf of some merchant vessels of their nationality threatened by the revolutionary squadron. By this means the rebels lost prestige, and the situation of Admiral da Gama, who had been left in command of the rebel fleet, became serious.

On March 7 the vessels ordered by Peixoto from Europe arrived off Rio, and da Gama, hearing no news from Mello, took refuge, with his officers and men, on some Portuguese men-of-war. The authorities of Rio demanded that these crews should be given up, but the Portuguese refused to surrender them, and sailed away from the harbour with the insurgents on board, a proceeding which caused a diplomatic rupture between Portugal and Brazil.

A few days after this a misunderstanding occurred between the Government and the Commander of the British vessels, and the Cirius threatened to open fire on the Brazilian vessels. The matter was, however, settled without a shot being expended.

In the meanwhile affairs had not been favouring the revolutionists in the south. Admiral de Mello's silence had been due to a breakdown in the machinery of his ships, and not to any lack of initiative of his own. After some time the Admiral arrived at Curitiba, from which point he journeyed inland to Punto Grosso, where he met General Saraiva. At a council held between the two, a Governor was named for the State of Paraná, and Southern Brazil was declared independent of Peixoto's Government. When the news of Admiral da Gama's surrender came to Curitiba, the unexpected blow tended greatly to the disorganization of the movements of the insurgents, and when a division of 5,000 Government troops marched from São Paulo to Curitiba, it met with no resistance.

While this was occurring, the revolutionist cruiser Republica and three armed transports, having 1,500 men on board, had sailed for the harbour of Rio Grande. The summons to surrender was ignored by the town, and Mello, after bombarding the place, landed a force which in the end was repulsed. After this, despairing of success, Mello sailed to the Argentine port of La Plata, where he surrendered to the Argentine Government, who at once handed his vessels over to Brazil. The Aquidaban, the remaining insurgent warship, was torpedoed a little later by a Government vessel, and the stricken ship was run ashore and abandoned.

General Saraiva in the south was shot in the course of a skirmish, and the revolution was now finally crushed. The numbers who paid the fullest penalty for their active discontent were very great, and the final embers of the insurrection were extinguished to the tune of wholesale executions.

It was now supposed that General Peixoto would reign unhampered as dictator, and in peaceful circles no small alarm was felt. In 1894, however, the President resigned, and was succeeded by Dr. Prudente de Moraes Barros. Moraes was a stanch upholder of civil and peaceful authority, and although a certain section, both of the army and navy, manifested some discontent, the country progressed rapidly under his administration.

The unrest in the Southern States, nevertheless, although it had been temporarily quelled by force, was not long in reasserting itself. The struggle which occurred here between the Government troops and the revolutionary forces was sanguinary in the extreme. After a desperate action, Admiral da Gama, wounded, committed suicide, and his death practically ended the revolution. Towards the end of 1895 the President, true to his pacific policy, granted a general amnesty in favour of the insurgents, which went far to establish his popularity. In the south, subsequent to a demonstration of local unrest, an attempt to assassinate President Moraes occurred on November 4, 1897, in the course of which the Minister of War was killed, and several other officials wounded. People in general execrated the act, thus demonstrating the President's popularity.

Towards the end of 1898 the Presidential election took place, and Dr. Manuel Campos Salles, whose candidature received the support of Moraes, was elected President. Dr. Campos Salles proved himself perfectly able to cope with the modern developments of the Republic. Before taking charge of his office he had journeyed to Europe and concluded financial arrangements in London and elsewhere, and subsequently a commercial treaty was ratified between Brazil and Argentina. In 1902 Campos Salles was succeeded in the Presidency by Dr. Rodriguez Alves.

Meanwhile, in 1900, the northern Brazilian frontier, in the direction of French Guiana, had been finally determined by a decision of the Swiss Federal Council. A dispute with Great Britain over the British Guiana frontier was referred to the King of Italy, who rendered his award in June, 1904, allotting about 19,000 square miles to Guiana, and 14,000 square miles to Brazil.

A more important matter was the dispute with Bolivia respecting the Acre territory, on the settlement of which Bolivia gave up all claims to Acre, a district embracing about 73,000 square miles, in return for a surrender of about 850 square miles on the Madeira and Abuna Rivers, 330 square miles on the left bank of the Paraguay River, and a cash sum of 10,000,000 dollars for the purpose of constructing a railway in the borderland of the two countries. Subsequently Peru disputed the claim of Brazil to the Acre territory, and this, no doubt, forms a matter for future arbitrators to settle. The Presidential election raised Dr. Affonso Penna to the head of the State in 1906, since when Brazil has been steadily engaged in strengthening its financial position and in the development of its internal resources.