The South American Republics, Part 1 of 2

by Thomas Cleland Dawson

The new government was, in fact, a centralised military dictatorship, but the names of most of its members were guarantees that the promises of the establishment of a republic would be carried out. In all the provinces the new situation was accepted peacefully. The Rio government named new governors by telegraph, and the imperial authorities turned things over to them without resistance. Persons known to have been advocates of republican principles were preferred, and a rapid displacement of the old governing classes ensued.

The provisional government continued in power for fourteen months, and in that time promulgated a series of laws touching almost every subject of social or political interest. The provinces were organised into states after the model of the members of the North American Union; universal suffrage was established; Church and State were entirely separated; civil marriage was introduced; a new and humane criminal code was adopted; the judicial system was reorganised after the American fashion; and, in general, monarchical characteristics were removed from the statutes, and the most modern reforms enacted. A project for a constitution was carefully framed, and this was submitted to a congress, which had been summoned to meet early in 1891. This congress was composed of 205 deputies, elected by states and not by districts, and of three senators from each state. Acting as a constituent assembly, it adopted with few modifications the constitution proposed. The members of the constituent congress had been almost universally selected from among those who had been prominent in connection with the new government, or had given it an enthusiastic adhesion. With few exceptions, the new constitution is a copy of that of the United States. The only important difference is that in Brazil the enactment of general civil and criminal law is a federal and not a state attribute. The revenues of the newly created states were made much larger than those of the imperial provinces, principally by transferring to them the duties on exports.

Though the constitution of February 24, 1891, nominally went into effect at once, as a matter of fact the government continued military. Deodoro was elected president, and Marshal Floriano Peixoto vice-president, and the dictatorship was effective, except so far as it was managed and controlled by a few leaders who had power in the army, navy, or financial world. The provisional government had conceded to banks in every important centre of the country the right to issue circulating notes. The markets were flooded with money; credit was easy; an extraordinary speculative boom set in; values rose tremendously. The last years of the empire had been prosperous and exchange had gone to par. Within three years after the empire was overthrown, the amount of paper money in circulation was more than tripled, but though exchange had fallen tremendously, no ill effects were yet apparent. The nation was drunk with suddenly acquired wealth. Companies of all sorts were granted government concessions—railroad companies, mining companies, harbour improvement companies, banks, factories, and even sugar and coffee plantation companies. The price of coffee and rubber was rising in gold, while the cost of production was falling with the depreciation of the currency. The flood of Italian immigration which had been going to the Argentine was largely diverted to Brazil. Rio, Pará, and São Paulo were the centres of the prosperity. Business men from the provinces swarmed into these cities, and the fortunate owners of plantations emigrated to Paris to spend their easily acquired wealth.

During 1891 and 1892 Deodoro became involved in disputes with republican leaders. To these political difficulties were added quarrels over the government concessions which were expected to make every one rich. Deodoro offended the moneyed powers by not granting such concessions as freely as was desired by many influential persons. Finally Deodoro found that he could no longer count on a majority in Congress, so he arbitrarily dissolved it. But revolutions broke out in the different states against the governors who stood by the dictator, and he also found that he could not rely upon the unquestioning support of the army. The navy was decidedly disaffected. After some hesitation he yielded to the signed demand of a powerful junta and resigned in favour of the vice-president, whom the speculators and promoters thought they could easily control. They were grievously disappointed in Floriano. The radical republicans found him more to their liking than did the wealthier classes and the bureaucrats. The navy has always been recruited among the aristocrats and looked down upon the army and soon developed a dislike for the plebeian and illiterate president. An effort was made to pass and put into effect a law expelling Floriano from office before the expiration of the four-years' term for which Deodoro and he had been elected, but he flatly announced that he would serve out the term to which he believed himself constitutionally entitled.

In the meantime a rebellion had broken out in Rio Grande do Sul against Julio de Castilhos, the radical republican governor. Gaspar Silveira Martims, the local leader of the old Liberal party, had been banished, but from Montevideo he organised the insurrection. The adherents of the two historical imperial parties and the gauchos of the southern part of the state joined the movement enthusiastically. Presently the pampas were swept from one end to the other by bands of federalists, under dreaded leaders like Gomercindo Saraiva, a ranchman from near the Uruguayan border. The republicans stood firm, and Pinheiro Machado and other gaucho chiefs showed that they, too, possessed the fighting qualities which have always distinguished the hard-riding, meat-eating Rio Grandenses. With the aid of federal troops the republicans had decidedly the upper hand, but the federalists kept the field for three years, while the country was harried and the most frightful destruction of life and property took place.

Meanwhile the intriguers against Floriano at Rio took advantage of this formidable complication. The mercantile classes, the Conservatives, the moderate republicans, and those who regretted the empire were opposed to him. The navy was ready to revolt at any time. A number of powerful men had bluffed Deodoro into resigning, and they thought that they could easily do the same with Floriano. A majority in Congress was against him and he seemed to be almost isolated. But he had no thought of yielding or withdrawing. His subsequent actions show that he certainly was not actuated by any vaulting personal ambition. His was rather the instinct of a soldier who stands where he is and fights to the last without reasoning why. The real crisis in the establishment of the Republic had, in fact, arrived. Floriano's overthrow would have meant anarchy and disintegration, government by pronunciamento, short-lived administrations established and overthrown by military force.

Early in September, 1893, the entire navy, under the lead of Admiral Mello, revolted. The guns of the fleet commanded the harbour and seemed to make the city untenable. Floriano acted with great energy. The army stood by him and he recruited vigorously. The fleet would not seriously bombard the city, full of sympathisers with the revolt, and Floriano held the fortifications around the bay so that it was difficult for Mello to obtain supplies. Though the European naval forces, which quickly assembled, sympathised with the insurgents, they could hardly give any efficient help so long as Floriano held the capital. Mello hesitated about attempting to establish a blockade. At first the insurgents disclaimed any intention of re-establishing the empire, but soon the revolt began to take on a frankly monarchical character. The friends of the old régime, however, nowhere showed the same energy and conviction as the republicans who stood by Floriano.

AMERICAN LEGATION NEAR RIO.