BRAZIL. 



65 



ii incompatibility and on the crimes for 

 which tin- President is subject to impeachment, 



which the Constitution hail left to he defined by 

 Congiev-. as , 'i l>o the rides of procedure for the 

 trial of the Piv.-ident and the ministers of state, 

 were |m--ed over t he veto. The most important 

 work of the session was the enactment 01 a new 

 i-lect oral law. In the past every ministry has 

 lieen aole to carry the elections, no matter how 

 unpopular its acts had been. Only a few mem- 

 l>ers of the Congress that passed the measure 

 had obtained t heir scats independently of official 

 influence. One provision of the new law was 

 that, ill case the presidency or vice-presidency 

 should become vacant within two years from the 

 beginning of the term, a new election should be 

 held within three months after the vacancy oc- 

 curs. This required an election to be held be- 

 fore Feb. 23, 1892, for a President to take the 

 place of Gen. Fonseca, who was deposed on 

 Nov. 23, 1891; yet no preparations were made 

 to carry out the law. The reciprocity treaty 

 concluded with the United States by the Bal- 

 maceda Government affected injuriously the in- 

 terests of Europeans who have controlled the 

 trade of Brazil, and was therefore an object of 

 attack for the party that brought about Balma- 

 ceda's fall. The Minister of Finance made in- 

 quiries regarding the results of reciprocity for 

 the purpose of gathering data that should guide 

 the Government in negotiations for the revision 

 of the treaty, especially in reference to the Bra- 

 zilian products that suffer from competition 

 with those of the United States, and the exten- 

 sion of exemption of duty to grades of sugar 

 above No. 16, Dutch standard. The Director 

 General of Customs suggested that American 

 lard, butter, cheese, cotton goods, canned food, 

 and timber should pay the same duties as like 

 articles from other countries, and that American 

 beans, pork, cotton-seed oil, and tools should be 

 taken off the free list. Dr. Ruy Barbosa, the 

 Minister of Finance in the Provisional Govern- 

 ment, declared that Dr. Salvador de Mendonca, 

 the Brazilian minister in Washington, was in- 

 structed to negotiate a treaty of reciprocity only 

 on condition that the United States should not 

 make similar treaties with Spain and England. 



The Administration of Peixotto. The 

 rioee of the personal government and military 

 dictatorship which Marshal Dcodoro da Fonseca 

 had established with the co-operation of corrupt 

 military officers and politicians and dishonest 

 speculators could not be extirpated at once when 

 Marshal Kloriano Peixotto assumed the presi- 

 dency, whatever will the latter may have had to 

 reorganize the government of the country on 

 a democratic basis. Fonseca's creatures still 

 held the places of power and influence, and the 

 new President dared not attempt to dissolve 

 Congress for fear of following Gen. Deodoro in 

 his fall. The posts in the civil and military serv- 

 ices, in the judiciary, and even in the scientific 

 institutes, were still largely occupied by the 

 favorites of the deposed Dictator. The first 

 undertaking to which President Peixotto turned 

 his attention was the removal of the adherents 

 of Fonseca who had not been deposed from the 

 Kovernonhipa of States at the time of his over- 

 throw. He sent war vessels and marines to Dr. 

 Thaumaturgode Azvedo, Governor of Amazonas, 

 VOL. xxxii. 5 A 



with a demand that he should hand over the ad- 

 ministration, but the latter replied that he held 

 his office not from Rio Janeiro, but from the 

 provincial Congress. The commander was not 

 inclined to carry out the wishes of the President 

 by force, and therefore the force was withdrawn 

 and another was sent that could be depended 

 on, before which the Governor retired because 

 he possessed no artillery. In Goyaz Vice-Gov- 

 ernor Mara was forcibly removed by Lieut.- 

 Col. Abrantes, who arrived on Feb. 15, 1892, 

 with a battalion of infantry. In this way a 

 military dictatorship was introduced in these 

 two States. In Ceara the military academy was 

 employed in carrying out the designs of Peixotto. 

 The officers sided with the cadets in various 

 quarrels that they had with civilians and with 

 the civil guard, though some turbulent students 

 were placed under arrest and the battalion of in- 

 fantry in Fortale/a that protected the Governor 

 from the attacks of the students was relieved, 

 and the gunboat that lay in the harbor had 

 orders to protect the students from their ene- 

 mies. By the aid of the Government vessel the 

 police and the small armed force at the disposal 

 of the Governor were finally worsted. 



On Jan. 19, 1892, the prisoners confined in 

 Fort Santa Cruz, at Rio Janeiro, 160 in number, 

 overpowered their guards, and with the weapons 

 thus obtained overcame the soldiers on duty in 

 the forts of Pico and Lago, gained possession of 

 these forts with the munitions of war that they 

 contained, and proceeded to make them ready to 

 receive the forces that the Government would 

 send against them, demanding the restoration of 

 Gen. da Fonseca to the presidency. The Gov- 

 ernment troops invested the 'forts on the land 

 side, while the war ships took up their position 

 in the harbor. While they were making their 

 preparations for the attack the rebels kept up a 

 desultory fire without doing much damage. On 

 the following morning the guns of the war ves- 

 sels opened fire on the forts, while the troops 

 moved upon Fort Pico, which was carried by 

 assault. The defenders of the other fort were 

 forced to surrender by the bombardment. The 

 leader of the rebels to'ok his own life. 



On April 11 the Government proclaimed a 

 state of siege in Rio Janeiro in order to suppress 

 a public manifestation to celebrate Marshal 

 Deodoro da Fonseca's restoration to health, and 

 in order to deprive of their immunities the mem- 

 bers of Congress who were involved in the 

 demonstration. 



According to the Constitution, President Peix- 

 otto had not the right to remove or appoint 

 governors, and in several cases changes were 

 effected through political revolts fomented by 

 him without his direct interference. In other 

 parts of the country military rule superseded the 

 civil authorities. The murmurs occasioned by 

 the continuance of this irregular situation led 

 about a fifth of the members of Congress to re- 

 sign their seats. The general discontent em- 

 boldened the friends of the deposed President 

 da Fonseca on April 6 to issue a pronunciamiento 

 signed by 13 generals, which condemned in plain 

 terms the methods of the new Dictator and the 

 intervention of the military forces for the re- 

 moval of< governors, and called upon the Vice- 

 President to put an end to the gradual disrup- 



