Part 35

Although Brazil had now become in fact the head of its own mother country, the government was not in the hands of Brazilians, but of the Portuguese, who had followed the court. The discontent arising among Brazilians from this cause was heightened by a decree assigning a heavy tax on the chief Brazilian custom houses, to be in operation for forty years, for the benefit of the Portuguese noblemen who had suffered during the war with France. The amiable character of the king preserved his own popularity, but the government was ignorant and profligate, justice was ill administered, negligence and disorder reigned in all its departments. Nor was the discontent less in Portugal on account of its anomalous position. These causes and the fermentation of liberal principles produced by the French Revolution originated a conspiracy in Lisbon in 1817, which was, however, discovered in time to prevent its success. A similar plot and rebellion took place in the province of Pernambuco, where the inhabitants of the important commercial city of Recife (Pernambuco) were jealous of Rio and the sacrifices they were compelled to make for the support of the luxurious court there. Another conspiracy to establish a republican government was promptly smothered in Bahia, and the outbreak in Pernambuco was put down after a republic had been formed there for ninety days. Still the progress of the republican spirit in Brazil caused Dom Joao to send to Portugal for bodies of picked troops, which were stationed throughout the provincial capitals. In Portugal the popular discontent produced the revolution of 1820, when representative government was proclaimed--the Spanish constitution of 1812 being provisionally adopted. In Rio, the Portuguese troops with which the king had surrounded himself as the defence against the liberal spirit of the Brazilians, took up arms on the 26th of February 1821, to force him to accept the system proclaimed in Portugal. The prince Dom Pedro, heir to the crown, who now for the first time took part in public affairs, actively exerted himself as a negotiator between the king and the troops, who were joined by bodies of the people. After attempting a compromise the king finally submitted, took the oath and named a new ministry. The idea of free government filled the people with enthusiasm, and the principles of a representative legislature were freely adopted, the first care being for the election of deputies to the Cortes of Lisbon to take part in framing the new constitution. As the king could not abandon Portugal to itself he determined at first to send the prince thither as regent, but Dom Pedro had acquired such popularity by his conduct in the revolution, and had exhibited such a thirst for glory, that the king feared to trust his adventurous spirit in Europe, and decided to go himself. The Brazilian deputies on arriving in Lisbon expressed dissatisfaction with the Cortes for having begun the framing of the constitution before their arrival, for Brazil could not be treated as a secondary part of the monarchy. Sharp discussions and angry words passed between the Brazilian and Portuguese deputies, the news of which excited great discontent in Brazil. An insulting decree was passed in the Cortes, ordering the prince Dom Pedro to come to Europe, which filled the Brazilians with alarm; they foresaw that without a central authority the country would fall back to its former colonial state subject to Portugal. The provisional government of Sao Paulo, influenced by the brothers Andrada, began a movement for independence by asking the prince to disobey the Cortes and remain in Brazil, and the council of Rio de Janeiro followed with a similar representation, to which the prince assented. The Portuguese troops of the capital at first assumed a coercive attitude, but were forced to give way before the ardour and military preparations of the Brazilians, and submitted to embark for Portugal. These scenes were repeated in Pernambuco, where the Portuguese, after various conflicts, were obliged to leave the country; in Bahia, however, as well as in Maranhao and Para, the Portuguese prevailed. In the agitation for independence continued. The two brothers Andrada were called to the ministry; and the municipal council conferred upon the prince regent the title of Perpetual Defender of Brazil. With great activity he set off to the central provinces of Minas and Sao Paulo to suppress disaffected movements and direct the revolution. In Sao Paulo, on the 7th of September 1822, he proclaimed the independence of Brazil. On his return to Rio de Janeiro on the l2th of October he was proclaimed constitutional emperor with great enthusiasm.

The Cortes at Lisbon chose Bahia as a centre for resisting the independence, and large forces were sent thither. But the city was vigorously besieged by the Brazilians by land, and finally the Portuguese were obliged to re-embark on the 2nd of July 1823. A Brazilian squadron, under command of Lord Cochrane, attacked the Portuguese vessels, embarrassed with troops, and took several of them. Taylor, another Englishman in Brazilian service, followed the vessels across the Atlantic, and even captured some of the ships in sight of the land of Portugal. The troops in Montevideo also embarked for Portugal, and the Banda Oriental remained a part of Brazil with the title of the _Provincia Cisplatina_. Before the end of 1823 the authority of the new emperor and the independence of Brazil were undisputed throughout the whole country.

Constitution of 1824.

Republican movements now began to spread, to suppress which the authorities made use of the Portuguese remaining in the country; and the disposition of the emperor to consider these as his firmest supporters much influenced the course of his government and his future destiny. The two Andradas, who imagined they could govern the young emperor as a sovereign of their own creation, encountered great opposition in the constitutional assembly, which had been opened in Rio in May 1823, to discuss the project of a new constitution. In July the emperor resolved to dismiss them and form a new ministry, but against this the brothers raised a violent opposition. In November the emperor put an end to the angry debates which ensued in the assembly by dissolving it, exiling the Andradas to France, and convoking a new assembly to deliberate on a proposed constitution more liberal than the former project. The proclamation of a republic in the provinces of Pernambuco and Ceara, with the rebellion of the Cisplatina province, favoured by Buenos Aires and its ultimate loss to Brazil, were the result of the _coup d'etat_ of November 1823. The Brazilians were universally discontented--on one side fearing absolutism if they supported the emperor, on the other anarchy if he fell. Knowing the danger of an undefined position, the emperor caused the councils to dispense with their deliberations, and adopt, as the constitution of the empire, the project framed by the council of state. Accordingly, on the 25th of March 1824, the emperor swore to the constitution with great solemnity and public rejoicings. By this stroke of policy he saved himself and Brazil. Negotiations were opened in London between the Brazilian and Portuguese plenipotentiaries, treating for the recognition of the independence of Brazil; and on the 25th of August 1825 a treaty was signed by which the Portuguese king, Dom John VI., assumed the title of emperor of Brazil, and immediately abdicated in favour of his son, acknowledging Brazil as an independent empire, but the treaty obliged Brazil to take upon herself the Portuguese debt, amounting to nearly two millions sterling.

The rebellion of the Banda Oriental was followed by a declaration of war with Buenos Aires which had supported it, and operations by sea and land were conducted against that republic in a feeble way. Meanwhile the well-deserved popularity of the emperor began to decline. He had given himself up to the influence of the Portuguese; the most popular men who had worked for the independence were banished; and a continual change of ministry showed a disposition on the part of the sovereign to prosecute obstinately measures of which his advisers disapproved. His popularity was regained, however, to some extent, when, on the death of his father, he was unanimously acknowledged king of Portugal, and especially when he abdicated that crown in favour of his daughter, Donna Maria; but his line of policy was not altered, and commercial treaties entered into with European states conceding them favours, which were popularly considered to be injurious to Brazilian trade, met with bitter censure.

During the year 1827 the public debt was consolidated, and a department was created for the application of a sinking fund.

Abdication of Pedro I., 1831.

The year 1828 was a calamitous one for Brazil. It began with the defeat of the Brazilian army by the Argentine forces, and this entirely through the incapacity of the commander-in-chief; and misunderstandings, afterwards compensated by humbling money-payments on the part of Brazil, arose with the United States, France and England on account of merchant vessels captured by the Brazilian squadron blockading Buenos Aires. Financial embarrassments increased to an alarming extent; the emperor was compelled by the British government to make peace with Buenos Aires and to renounce the Banda Oriental; and to fill the sum of disasters Dom Miguel had treacherously usurped the crown of Portugal. It was under these unlucky auspices that the elections of new deputies took place in 1829. As was expected the result was the election everywhere of ultra-liberals opposed to the emperor, and in the succeeding year people everywhere exhibited their disaffection. During the session of 1830 the chambers adopted a criminal code in which punishment by death for political offences was abolished. It was openly suggested in the journals to reform the constitution by turning Brazil into independent federal provinces, governed by authorities popularly elected, as in the United States. Alarmed at length at the ground gained by this idea in the provinces, the emperor set off to Minas to stir up the former enthusiasm in his favour from recollections of the independence, but was coldly received. On his return to Rio in March 1831 scenes of disorder occurred, and great agitation among the Liberal party. Imagining himself sure of a brilliant destiny in Europe if he lost his Brazilian crown, the emperor attempted to risk a decisive attack against the Liberals, and to form a new ministry composed of men favourable to absolutism. This step caused excited public meetings in the capital, which were joined in by the troops, and deputations went to ask the emperor to dismiss the unpopular ministry. He replied by dissolving the ministry without naming another, and by abdicating the crown in favour of the heir apparent, then only five years of age. Dom Pedro immediately embarked in an English ship, leaving the new emperor Dom Pedro II. and the princesses Januaria, Francisca and Paula. The subsequent career of this unfortunate prince belongs to the history of Portugal.

A provisional and afterwards a permanent regency, composed of three members, was now formed in Brazil, but scenes of disorder succeeded, and discussions and struggles between the republican party and the government, and a reactionary third party in favour of the restoration of Dom Pedro, occupied the succeeding years. In 1834 a reform which was well received consisted in the alteration of the regency, from that of three members elected by the legislative chambers, to one regent chosen by the whole of the electors in the same manner as the deputies; and the councils of the provinces were replaced by legislative provincial assemblies. Virtually, this was a republican government like that of the United States, for no difference existed in the mode of election of the regent from that of a president. The ex-minister Feijoo was chosen for this office. With the exception of Para and Rio Grande the provinces were at peace, but these were in open rebellion; the former was reduced to obedience, but in the latter, though the imperial troops occupied the town, the country was ravaged by its warlike inhabitants. The regent was now accused of conniving at this rebellion, and the opposition of the chamber of deputies became so violent as to necessitate his resignation. Araujo Lima, minister of the home department, who strove to give his government the character of a monarchical reaction against the principles of democracy, was chosen by a large majority in his stead. The experiment of republican government had proved so discreditable, and had so wearied the country of cabals, that men hitherto known for their sympathy with democratic principles became more monarchical than the regent himself; and under this influence a movement to give the regency into the hands of the princess Donna Januaria, now in her 18th year, was set on foot. It was soon perceived, however, that if the empire could be governed by a princess of eighteen it could be managed better by the emperor himself, who was then fourteen.

Majority of Pedro II., 1840.

A bill was accordingly presented to the legislature dispensing with the age of the emperor and declaring his majority, which after a noisy discussion was carried. The majority of the emperor Dom Pedro II. was proclaimed on the 23rd of July 1840. Several ministries, in which various parties predominated for a time, now governed the country till 1848, during which period the rebellious province of Rio Grande was pacified, more by negotiation than force of arms. In 1848 hostilities were roused with the British government through the neglect shown by the Brazilians in putting in force a treaty for the abolition of the slave trade, which had been concluded as far back as 1826; on the other hand the governor of Buenos Aires, General Rosas, was endeavouring to stir up revolution again in Rio Grande. The appearance of yellow fever in 1849, until then unknown in Brazil, was attributed to the importation of slaves. Public opinion declared against the traffic; severe laws were passed against it, and were so firmly enforced that in 1853 not a single disembarkation took place. The ministry of the Visconde de Olinda in 1849 entered into alliances with the governors of Montevideo, Paraguay and the states of Entre Rios and Corrientes, for the purpose of maintaining the integrity of the republics of Uruguay and Paraguay, which Rosas intended to reunite to Buenos Aires, and the troops of Rosa's which besieged Montevideo were forced to capitulate. Rosas then declared war formally against Brazil. An army of Correntine, Uruguayan and Brazilian troops, under General Urquiza, assisted by a Brazilian naval squadron, advanced on Buenos Aires, completely routed the forces of Rosas, and crushed for ever the power of that dictator. From 1844 Brazil was free from intestine commotions, and had resumed its activity. Public works and education were advanced, and the finances rose to a degree of prosperity previously unknown.

War with Paraguay.

In 1855 the emperor of Brazil sent a squadron of eleven men-of-war and as many transports up the Parana to adjust several questions pending between the empire and the republic of Paraguay, the most important of which was that of the right of way by the Paraguay river to the interior Brazilian province of Matto Grosso. This right had been in dispute for several years. The expedition was not permitted to ascend the river Paraguay, and returned completely foiled in its main purpose. Though the discord resulting between the states on account of this failure was subsequently allayed for a time by a treaty granting to Brazil the right to navigate the river, every obstacle was thrown in the way by the Paraguayan government, and indignities of all kinds were offered not only to Brazil but to the representatives of the Argentine and the United States. In 1864 the ambitious dictator of Paraguay, Francisco Solano Lopez, without previous declaration of war, captured a Brazilian vessel in the Paraguay, and rapidly followed up this outrage by an armed invasion of the provinces of Matto Grosso and Rio Grande in Brazil, and that of Corrientes in the Argentine Republic. A triple alliance of the invaded states with Uruguay ensued, and the tide of war was soon turned from being an offensive one on the part of Paraguay to a defensive struggle within that republic against the superior number of the allies. So strong was the natural position of Paraguay, however, and so complete the subjection of its inhabitants to the will of the dictator, that it was not until the year 1870, after the republic had been completely drained of its manhood and resources, that the long war was terminated by the capture and death of Lopez with his last handful of men by the pursuing Brazilians. From its duration and frequent battles and sieges this war involved an immense sacrifice of life to Brazil, the army in the field having been constantly maintained at between 20,000 and 30,000 men, and the expenditure in maintaining it was very great, having been calculated at upwards of fifty millions sterling. Large deficits in the financial budgets of the state resulted, involving increased taxation and the contracting of loans from foreign countries.

Notwithstanding this the sources of public wealth in Brazil were unaffected, and commerce continued steadily to increase. A grand social reform was effected in the law passed in September 1871, which enacted that from that date every child born of slave parents should be free, and also declared all the slaves belonging to the state or to the imperial household free from that time. The same law provided an emancipation fund, to be annually applied to the ransom of a certain number of slaves owned by private individuals.

Character of Pedro II.'s reign.

Under the long reign of Dom Pedro II. progress and material prosperity made steady advancement in Brazil. Occasional political outbreaks occurred, but none of very serious nature except in Rio Grande do Sul, where a long guerrilla warfare was carried on against the imperial authority. The emperor occupied himself to a far greater extent with the economic development of his people and country than with active political life. Unostentatious in his habits, Dom Pedro always had at heart the true interests of the Brazilians. Himself a highly-educated man, he sincerely desired to further the cause of education, and devoted a large portion of his time to the study of this question. His extreme liberalism prevented his opposing the spread of Socialist doctrines preached far and wide by Benjamin Constant. Begun about 1880, this propaganda took deep root in the educated classes, creating a desire for change and culminating in the military conspiracy of November 1889, by which monarchy was replaced by a republican form of government.

At first the revolutionary propaganda produced no personal animosity against the emperor, who continued to be treated by his people with every mark of respect and affection, but this state of things gradually changed. In 1864 the princess Isabella, the eldest daughter of the emperor and empress, had married the Comte d'Eu, a member of the Orleans family. The marriage was never popular in the country, owing partly to the fact that the Comte d'Eu was a reserved man who made few intimate friends and never attempted to become a favourite. Princess Isabella was charitable in many ways, always ready to take her full share of the duties falling upon her as the future empress, and thoroughly realizing the responsibilities of her position; but she was greatly influenced by the clerical party and the priesthood, and she thereby incurred the hostility of the Progressives. When Dom Pedro left Brazil for the purpose of making a tour through Europe and the United States he appointed Princess Isabella to act as regent, and she showed herself so swayed in political questions by Church influence that Liberal feeling became more and more anti-dynastic. Another incident which gave strength to the opposition was the sudden abolition of slavery without any compensation to slave-owners. The planters, the principal possessors of wealth, regarded the measure as unnecessary in view of the act which had been passed in 1885 providing for the gradual freeing of all slaves. The arguments used were, however, of no avail with the regent, and the decree was promulgated on the 13th of May 1888. No active opposition was offered to this measure, but the feelings of unrest and discontent spread rapidly.

Establishment of the Republic, 1889.

Towards the close of 1888 the emperor returned and was received by the populace with every demonstration of affection and esteem. Even among the advocates of republicanism there was no intention of dethroning Dom Pedro, excepting a few extreme members of the party, now gained the upper hand. They argued that it would be much more difficult to carry out a successful coup _d'etat_ when the good-natured, confiding emperor had been succeeded by his more suspicious and energetic daughter. Discontented officers in the army and navy rallied to this idea, and a conspiracy was organized to depose the emperor and declare a republic. On the 14th of November 1889 the palace was quietly surrounded, and on the following morning the emperor and his family were placed on board ship and sent off to Portugal. A provisional government was then formed and a proclamation issued to the effect that the country would henceforth be known as the United States of Brazil, and that in due time a republican constitution would be framed. The only voice raised in protest was that of the minister of war, and he was shot at and severely wounded as a consequence. Dom Pedro, completely broken down by the ingratitude of the people whom he had loved so much and laboured for so strenuously, made no attempt at resistance. The republican government offered to compensate him for the property he had held in Brazil as emperor, but this proposal was declined. His private possessions were respected, and were afterwards still held by Princess Isabella.

The citizen named as president of the provisional government, was General Deodoro da Fonseca, who owed his advancement to the personal friendship and assistance of Dom Pedro. Second in authority was placed General Floriano Peixoto, an officer also under heavy obligations to the deposed monarch, as indeed were nearly all of those who took active part in the conspiracy.

Brazil under the Republic.

Though the overthrow of the imperial dynasty was totally unexpected throughout, the new regime was accepted without any disturbances. Under the leadership of General Deodoro da Fonseca a praetorian system of government, in which the military element was all-powerful, came into existence, and continued till February 1891, when a national congress assembled and formulated the constitution for the United States of Brazil. The former provinces were converted into states, the only right of the federal government to interfere in their administration being for the purposes of national defence, the maintenance of public order or the enforcement of the federal laws. The constitution of the United States of America was taken as a model for drawing up that of Brazil, and the general terms were as far as possible adhered to (see above, section _Government_).

General da Fonseca and General Floriano Peixoto were elected to fill the offices of president and vice-president until the 15th of November 1894. This implied the continuance of praetorian methods of administration. The older class of more conservative Brazilians, who had formerly taken

## part in the administration under the emperor, withdrew altogether from