190 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF DOM PEDRO II. 



in a formidable contest. Commercial transactions received such an 

 impulse that large fortunes were made as if by enchantment. 



One fact is worthy of being recited : In the last year of the war, when 

 the army and the squadron were reduced because the strength of the 

 enemy was not as great, the custom-house revenue of Eio Janeiro (about 

 300,000 francs a day) was sufficient to cover thfs expense of the war; so 

 that the campaign against Paraguay not only exhibited the patriotism, 

 the strength, and the perseverance of the Brazilians, but also the im- 

 mense resources of their country. 



Peace concluded, the government, far from resting upon its laurels, 

 employed every means to draw from the experience gained during the 

 war knowledge that would be useful in the future, and render the 

 country better able to meet with promptitude attacks from its turbu- 

 lent neighbors or other nations. The leaders who had most distin- 

 guished themselves upon land and sea during the war were consulted 

 as to the best measures for this end ; and, in accordance with the in- 

 formation received from them, new iron-clad vessels were ordered, among 

 which should be mentioned the frigate Independencia, still in course 

 of construction at London, and one of the largest in the world;* 

 the army was reorganized ; the mode of recruiting by force, hitherto 

 employed, was replaced by the system of conscription ; corporal punish- 

 ment, so derogatory to human dignity, was abolished, and the pay of 

 the officers was increased a third. 



Perhaps the most urgent need felt by the country after the war was 

 the resupply of the farming population of this vast empire, relatively 

 depopulated by the loss of a hundred thousand men, for the most part 

 cultivators of the soil. The solution of this great problem depended 

 for the most part, if not absolutely, upon the settlement of another im- 

 portant question, the abolition of slavery, which had for several years 

 been a subject of especial solicitude with Dom Pedro, not only on ac- 

 count of his well-known ideas of philanthropy, but also because he 

 was assured of what he constantly endeavored to convince his ministers, 

 that all efforts to establish a current of emigration toward Brazil, such 

 as that toward the United States, would be useless as long as slavery 

 existed. Both the liberal and conservative party at last understood the 

 necessity of immediate attention to this difficult and delicate question. 



Abolitional ideas had for a long time in fact been entertained by phi- 

 lanthropic minds in Brazil. Several societies called " liberators " had 

 been formed for the purpose of freeing a certain number of slaves each 

 year. Many provincial and municipal associations of the empire fol- 

 lowed this good example, and every day negroes were liberated by in- 

 dividual owners ; in a word, the current of public opinion had become 

 too strong to be arrested, and the Emperor, who rejoiced in the course 

 events had taken, determined to seize the first opportunity of satisfy- 



*This frigate costs 12,000,0110 francs. Brazil now possesses tweuty-live iroa-clad 

 vessels. 



