188 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF DOM PEDRO II. 



The gratitude of the Brazilian people to their sovereign, and of the 

 imperial government to the troops and victorious generals, was mani- 

 fested in an admirable manner. A sum of three millions of francs was 

 collected by a national subscription to raise a statue to Dora Pedro, but 

 the modest Emperor devoted this amount to the good of public instruc- 

 tion ; the Marshal Caxias, already a marquis, was made a duke, (the 

 only one in Brazil ;) Count d'Eu, being already marshal of the army, 

 was, upon his return to the capital of the empire, the object of brilliant 

 ovations: the fetes celebrated by the city in his honor and in that of 

 the army lasted three days, and cost about two millions of francs. On 

 this occasion the Emperor expressed to the army his happiness and 

 gratitude by embracing the commander and one of the soldiers of each 

 battalion. Several of the generals received, with promotion in rank, 

 titles of nobility; among others. General Osorio was successively made 

 baron, viscount, count, and marquis (do Herval) : he was also accorded 

 an annual pension of about 20,000 francs, iu addition to his pay as 

 general of the army. General Camara, the conqueror of Lopez, was 

 made viscount (de Pelotas), and also received a pension of 20,000 francs. 

 To the officers of the volunteer corps the government accorded honorary 

 promotion, and preference in the nomination to public employ; finally, 

 every volunteer soldier (there were about 30,000) received the sum of 

 SOO francs, besides a certain portion of land iu the interior of Brazil. 



IX. 



The enormous sacrifices Brazil was forced to make to sustain the war, 

 which lasted much longer than was at the beginning anticipated, deter- 

 mined the political party which came into power during the hostilities 

 to propose to the Emperor to conclude peace before the fall of Lopez; 

 but Dom Pedro under these circumstances manifested the most ardent 

 patriotism and at the same time great political discernment. He never 

 lost faith in the ultimate success of his arms, although the enemy em- 

 ployed every means of resistance the most unscrupulous despotism 

 could invent under the vail of patriotism; he, moreover, understood 

 better than any one else the importance of giving a severe lesson to 

 Paraguay, this natural ally of the constant enemies of Brazil — the re- 

 publics of South America. So strong was his conviction in this respect, 

 that he would not hear of peace, and even went so far as to declare form- 

 ally he would abdicate rather than parley with such a foe ; affording 

 thus an example of self-abnegation and patriotic energy worthy to be 

 placed by the side of that given by Appius Claudius, (the blind,) who 

 was not a king, it is true, but a member of the famous Eoman senate, 

 which, by its dignified bearing in the presence of misfortune, appeared 

 to the messenger of Pyrrhus an assembly of kings. " I have for a long 

 time," indignantly exclaimed the illustrious blind old man, "complained 

 of the gods because they deprived me of sight, but now I thank them, 

 and even regret that they did not make me deaf also, that I might not 



