Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 December 1893 — IN SOUTH AMERICA. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

IN SOUTH AMERICA.

troubles in brazil and the ARGENTINE REPUBLIC. Ik* latest Revolutionary Disturbances of Our Southern Neighbors—Unsatisfactory Results of Republicanism In Brazil— Argentina’s Experience. Political Uprisings. The political disturbances and complications in Brazil and the Argentine Bepublic are thoroughly representative instances both of the aente and the merely normal manifestations of South American unrest The Brazilian Is a violent one, with every symptom of the most convulsive disorder and every indication of a critical culmination. The Argentine difficulties, viewed from this distance, seem to be only ordinary and comparatively mild ones for a South American country; yet if we had in the United States troubles of anything like their seriousness to deal with, we should be likely to wonder whither our republic was drifting. In Brazil the developments have been so grave that it has become a very practical question whether the only solution is not a restoration of the empire. There is a powerful party in favor of the monarchy. The latent feeling of friendship and attachment for the royal family which ruled prosperously for three-quarters, of a century, and whose sway was marked by virtuous purposes and liberal ideas, must be reckoned an exceedingly ■trong factor in these times of trouble.

The middle classes, remembering the peace and stability and steady progress that the country enjoyed from the close of the Paraguayan war in 1869 until the fall of Dom Pedro, are disposed more and more to consider the advantages of restoration. The negroes, constituting half of the population, identify the Braganzas with their emancipation. The entire influence of the church is on the side of royalty, and, although not much is said aoout the existence of an active clerical party in Brazil, everybody informed about the affairs of the eountry knows that any political cause favored by the Catholic Church in that country has a tremendous advantage. It is said by persons who are familiar with Brazilian affairs that there is scarcely a republican priest within the vast extent of the republic. It has been indeed an ill-starred venture, this experiment of republicanism in Brazil. The Emperor was deposed on Nov. 15, 1889. Marshal Dedoro da Fonseca was installed Provisional President. From that day to this there has been no tranquillity in Brazil. Fonseca handed the reins to a radical party that speedily made government impossible. Its chiefs were visionaries, “opposed to land-

lords, opposed to clericalism, opposed to authority, and full of au idea that •11 Brazil required to become a Utopia was modern ideas, by which they meant new banking facilities, industrial speculation, secular education, and a highly centralized and prodigal administration.” In November, 1891, matters had-come to such a pass that Congress undertook to provide measures for the President’s impeachment. Thereupon the President vetoed the hill, and the veto was overridden by the representatives of the people. The President dissolved Congress by armed force, decreed martial law and proclaimed himself Dictator. The -country has shown no improvement under Peixoto’s rule. The disaffection in the provinces has continued. The partisans of Fonseca were added to the other discontented elements. In April, 1891, the Government had to proclaim a state of siege la Rio Janeiro in order to suppress public manifestations arranged for the celebration of Fonseca’s restoration to health. Throughout 1892 and the early part of this year there was a constant fermentation. The culmination ip open civil war seems to mark another radical crisis. The finances and business interests •f the cauntry have been greatly and constantly embarrassed throughout thia time. Fonseca and his Cabinet, upon assuming power, found a foreign debt of *154,000,000 and an internal debt of still larger proportions. Besides, the Government stood as guarantor of 1114.000,000 of railroad

bonds, fjthongh only one Brazilian railway line, capitalized at $9,000,000, was earning the amount of the guaranty. The Fonseca Government proceeded to plußge affairs into greater confusion by launching into all kinds of 111-advised enterprises to please the politicians and their localities. Peixoto’s administration has not in any way extricated the country from its financial woes. In view of this melancholy history, it is not strange that thoughtful people recall the words of St. Hilaire on the conditions of government in Brazil as compared with those in the United States: “The American Union, and, above all, the spirit which animates the Americans, tried to render every day more compact the society formed by

them. The Brazilians, on the contrary, do not understand how to establish the federal system among themselves without beginning by breaking all the ties which still unite them. Impatient of all authority, several haughty leaders of the patriarchal aristocracies, with which Brazil is covered, doubtless would welcome federation heartily. But let the Brazilians beware of a deception which may lead to anarchy, and expose them to the vexations of a ‘horde of petty tyrants, ’ a thousand times more intolerable than a single despot. ” Trouble In Argentine. The Argentine difficulties which have attracted attention recently are merely the latest developments of the unfortunate conditions with which that republic his been disturbed in the last eight or ten years. Apparently they are not of so fundamental a nature as to suggest the likelihood of disruption. There is a pretty strong impression that the present President of the Argentine Republic, Dr. Luis Saenz Pena, is a statesman of enlightenment and excellent principles and motives, unfortunately embarrassed by circumstances and many conflicting interests in thfe conduct of anadministration whose task was set for It by the misgovernment %nd disastrous events of a protracted period of confusion. President Pena

is a man of learning, and was President of the Supreme Court of the republic previouslv to his election. It seems, indeed, both reasonable and right to judge the Argentine people with a good deal of moderation. There can be no doubt that they have been the victims of the most audacious and unscrupulous European peculators and bribers organized and operating for purposes of plunder exclusively. The very fact that the Argentine Republic was selected as an inviting field for these enterprises testifies to the resources and progressive spirit of the country. For the indescribable recklessness and corruption introduced into Argentina in the last decade the foreigners are originally responsible. The English have been particularly greedy and villainous in their transactions with the Argentines, and it is a common saying that every Englishman coming into Argentina carried bribe money in one hand as a means of grasping profits with the . other. It is a Question whether political institutions in any nation would not have been seriouslv de-

ranged under the indictments that the Argentine people have had. It stands to their credit that through all their troubles they have managed to escape the reproach of dictatorship and political anarchy. Organized government has prevailed through it aIL Tet the incidents of

the period have been none the less serious, involving methods of correction and adjustment that have somethin'# of the true South America characteristics.

FLORIANO PEIXOTO. President of Brazil.

LUIS SAENZ. President of the Argentine Republic.

ADMIRAL MELLO. Leader of the Revolutionists.

PRESIDENT’S PALACE, PERNAMBUCO.

RIO DE JANEIRO.