BRAZIL. 



83 





counting vessels under 100 tons. The Federal Gov- 

 ernment pays i*.*.").-).! il in milivis in subsidies to com- 

 panies engaged in the coast ing trade ami river 

 navigation, from which all vessels not Brazilian are 

 excluded by law. 



Communications. The length of railroads in 

 operation in IN'.I."> wa> 7.41*2 miles, besides which 

 4.:!21 miles were being built. 0.0(54 miles were 

 traced, and s.091 miles were yet to be surveyed. 

 Of the completed mileage, 1.750 miles belonged to 

 the Federal Government, 880 miles to State govern- 

 ments. l.!)!*;3 miles to subsidized companies, and 1*21 

 miles received no subventions. The interest guar- 

 anteed by the Government on the capital of the 

 subventioned companies is 6 or 7 per cent, in most 

 cases. The cost of the Federal railroads was 257.- 

 674.937 milreis. The amount of guaranteed inter- 

 est paid up to 1895 had been 11.118.481 milreis. 



The Government owns the telegraphs. The lines 

 had a total length in 1893 of 9,884 miles, with 21,- 

 130 miles of wire. The number of dispatches in 

 that year was 1.132.432. The receipts were 3.257.- 

 000 milreis and the expenditures, including the 

 cost of constructing additional lines, were 6,088,000 

 milreis. 



The post office in 1893 carried 33.441,000 letters 

 and postal cards and 37,674,000 newspapers and 

 circulars. 



Anti-Italian Demonstrations. The presenta- 

 tion of claims by the Italian Government in behalf 

 of Italians injured in person or property during the 

 revolution and civil war and the consideration of 

 these claims by the Brazilian Government led to 

 outbreaks of the populace in several towns and acts 

 of mob violence against Italians. The rioters, in- 

 cited by Jacobin agitators, were partly inflamed by 

 national vanity and incensed at the suspected weak 

 submission of their Government to the demands of 

 a European power, and partly moved by race feel- 

 ing and economic jealousy toward their competitors 

 in the labor market during a period of industrial 

 depression and distress. A protocol was signed by 

 Dr. Carvalho, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the 

 Italian minister in January, 1896, in accordance 

 with which the majority of the claims of Italy for 

 wrongs alleged to have been committed upon Ital- 

 ian subjects would be submitted to the arbitration 

 of the President of the United States, while others 

 would be settled at once by the payment of the in- 

 demnity demanded. This agreement was similar 

 to one concluded by the former Italian minister, 

 Signor de Martino. but contained additional clauses 

 believed to be more favorable to Italy. While the 

 arbitration bill was under discussion in the House 

 of Representatives popular sentiment was roused 

 against it and the Government, and when it came to 

 a final vote on Aug. 24 it was unanimously rejected. 

 Popular tumults apparently influenced the Cham- 

 ber, which had passed the bill on its second reading. 

 On Aug. 22 a serious outbreak occurred in S 

 Paulo, and conflicts between the large Italian popu- 

 lation and the natives continued for three days, 

 during which 6 persons were killed and more than 

 50 wounded. As the Italian consul upheld and led 

 the Italians in fights against the police as well as 

 the mob, Brazilians called for his removal, but the 

 Italian legation upheld his actions. In Rio also 

 Italians were attacked and insulted, and the troops 

 were called out when the police found themselves 

 powerless, and charged the rioters, wounding six 

 persons. The trouble spread to Pernambuco, where 

 the Italian consulate was threatened, and to 

 gipe and other places. The escutcheon was torn 

 down from the consulate in Bahia. The Italian 

 Government demanded full satisfaction for out- 

 rages committed upon Italians, the prompt punish- 

 ment of their authors, and reparation for the in- 



sults that had been offered to the Italian flag, 

 threatening- to recall the Italian legation at once 

 unless the Brazilian Government displayed the 

 proper energy. Emigration to Brazil, which had 

 grown to a volume never before known during the 

 Abyssinian difficulty, was prohibited entirely. The 

 suspension of emigration to Brazilian ports, as 

 long as it lasted, had the effect of diverting the 

 stream to other parts of South America, especially 

 Uruguay and the Argentine Republic. 



The Minister of the Interior was dismissed for 

 his failure to preserve order, and a day or two after- 

 ward Senhor Carvalho, the author of the obnoxious 

 protocol, was in turn forced to resign. The disturb- 

 ances spread into country districts where Italians 

 lived, and conflicts took place in which many were 

 killed and wounded. The Brazilian minister to 

 the Quirinal offered assurances that his Government 

 would take active steps to punish those responsible 

 for insults to the Italian flag, and would not' permit 

 any attack upon Italians to go unpunished. Presi- 

 dent Moraes, on Aug. 31, appointed Dionysio Cer- 

 queira to be Minister of Foreign Affairs" and Al- 

 berto Torres to succeed Dr. Ferreira as Minister* of 

 the Interior and Justice. The Italian Government 

 dispatched Signor de Martino in the cruiser " Pie- 

 monte " on a special mission with formal instruc- 

 tions to obtain from Brazil such satisfaction as the 

 dignity of the country and the safety- of Italian 

 subjects demanded. It was decided to re-establish 

 an Italian squadron in South American waters for 

 the protection of the interests of Italian subjects. 

 By the beginning of September the rioting had 

 ceased. The authorities took energetic measures to 

 prevent the renewal of the anti-Italian agitation. 

 Signor de Martino investigated the disturbances in 

 Sao Paulo and other places, and obtained various 

 reports from the Italian residents according to 

 their monarchist or republican, socialistic, or an- 

 archistic leanings. In his conferences with the 

 Brazilian minister he showed a conciliatory dispo- 

 sition, confining his demands to an apology for the 

 nets of Brazilians offensive to Italy, and proposing 

 to submit claims for damages to the arbitration of 

 the ministers of the United States and Germany, 

 which seemed acceptable to Brazil. 



Restoration of Trinidad. Brazil at once 

 raised a protest when the British flag was raised in 

 the spring of 1895 over the rocky island of Trini- 

 dad, in the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Brazil. 

 Sir John Pender, president of the telegraph com- 

 pany that has a cable connecting Argentina. Uru- 

 guay, and Brazil with Europe, desired the island 

 for a telegraph station. The Rosebery Government 

 denied the Brazilian title to the island, although 

 after it had been occupied by Great Britain in 1781 

 it was evacuated in the following year, and when 

 subsequently reoccupied it was finally relinquished 

 in deference to Portuguese claims and definitely 

 ceded to Portugal. An offer was made to acknowl- 

 edge the political right of Brazil to the island 

 provided the latter would lease it to the telegraph 

 company. Later the British minister endeav- 

 ored to obtain a declaration that, when once the 

 island had been given up, there would be no doubt, 

 provided fiscal rights and obligations resulting 

 from contracts were protected, about the Brazil- 

 ian Government's consent being given to its use for 

 the telegraph service. When Lord Salisbury be- 

 came British Minister for Foreign Affairs he was 

 inclined to maintain England's title to the island, 

 not on the ground of its former occupation and 

 settlement by Englishmen, but because it had lain 

 derelict for a hundred years, and therefore was held 

 to belong to nobody. When the Brazilian Govern- 

 ment renewed its protests he proposed to submit 

 the question to arbitration. Seeing that the British 



