104 



BRAZIL. 



Villegagnon, within the harbor and in the city, 

 when invited to join the rebellion, declared for 

 the Government, but promised not to fire upon 

 the fleet. The insurgents on the night of Sept. 

 5 landed on the island of Cobras, which is 

 fortified to protect the city, and spiked all the 

 guns. By authority of Congress, Rio and Nic- 

 theroy were declared in a state of siege, and the 

 President was empowered to extend it to any 

 part of the country. The press was placed un- 

 der rigorous censorship, and telegraphic com- 

 munication between Rio and the rest of the 

 world was shut off entirely. The insurgents at- 

 tempted to land in small parties on Sept. 6 and 

 7, with the intention of cutting off telegraphic 

 communication with the forts, and everywhere 

 they were repelled. The soldiers fired by mis- 

 take on the boat of the Italian man-of-war, kill- 

 ing the coxswain, for which the Government 

 apologized at once, paying an indemnity of 

 $50.000 to the man's family. On Sept. 7 they 

 captured the Armasao, the ammunition labora- 

 tory of the Government at Nictheroy, and sup- 

 plied themselves with abundant munitions. They 

 were dislodged with considerable loss on the llth, 

 and on the 12th they bombarded the place. 



The entire personnel on board the fleet, in- 

 cluding officers, marines, sailors, stokers, and 

 machinists, did not exceed 1,200 men. There 

 were not enough to attempt to gain a foothold 

 on land after Gen. Peixoto had taken measures 

 for guarding all the shore of the bay. The ships 

 could not venture out to sea past the forts and 

 torpedoes at the mouth of the harbor. The leader 

 of the rebellion could do nothing but manosuvre 

 his ships in the bay, watching for chances and 

 awaiting developments. The gunboat " Alagoas " 

 fell into his hands, surrendering without firing a 

 shot. The forts fired on the ships. Mello had 

 threatened that if this was done he would bom- 

 bard the city. On Sept. 13 he opened fire, first 

 on the forts near Nictheroy, and afterward on 

 the arsenal and the Government buildings that 

 face the water front in Rio. The bombardment 

 lasted six hours, and was renewed the next 

 morning, but caused little damage, because the 

 guns were badly handled. The port was block- 

 aded to all Brazilian vessels, while foreign ves- 

 sels were allowed to enter and depart, the war 

 ships of their respective nationalities looking 

 after them during their stay. Except Santa 

 Cruz, the forts either were silenced by the bom- 

 bardment or their commanders decided to re- 

 main neutral, so that it was possible for the 

 revolted vessels to leave the harbor. The stone 

 works and antiquated cannon of Santa Cruz 

 were useless against the large guns of the fleet, 

 but earthen batteries had been constructed be- 

 hind the fort and mounted with rifled cannon 

 of large caliber. The marine infantry on the 

 island of Cobras joined the insurrection. The 

 military were in many places partly won for the 

 revolutionary cause, but the suspected characters 

 were closely watched, and no opportunity for an 

 outbreak was allowed. In the garrison at San- 

 tos, the capital of Sao Paulo, a large proportion 

 of the junior officers and men plotted to rise and 

 deliver the place to Mello. They were in com- 

 munication with the crew of the Government 

 gunboat in the harbor, and conveyed the knowl- 

 edge of their purpose to Mello, who sent the 



" Republica " from Rio to aid in the capture of 

 Santos. The military plot was revealed by a 

 female spy, and the chief conspirators were seized 

 and sent to be dealt with by Peixoto. The sail- 

 ors, finding that the expected meeting came to 

 naught, and having no coal for their vessel, con- 

 cluded that they had been betrayed, and seized 

 some propellers, in which they attempted to es- 

 cape after scuttling their ship, but they were 

 obliged for lack of coal to put in at the next 

 port, where they were made prisoners. When 

 the " Republica " and her companions arrived 

 the alertness of the military indicated that the 

 plot had miscarried, yet they remained and block- 

 aded the port for several days. An attempt was 

 made by an American in Peixoto's pay, named 

 Boynton, to destroy the " Aquidaban " with tor- 

 pedoes, but the tugboat in which he attempted 

 to reach the vesseFs side, flying the British flag, 

 was intercepted by a British gunboat, and the 

 head conspirator was arrested and handed over 

 to the United States naval authorities. On Sept. 

 22 the fleet again bombarded Rio. Less care 

 was taken to spare the business and residential 

 quarters, and consequently many persons were 

 killed and much damage done, causing a panic 

 in the city and an exodus of the inhabitants. 

 Admiral Mello issued a proclamation, in which 

 he charged that Vice-President Peixoto had, 

 with the aid of corrupt Senators and venal Depu- 

 ties, overridden the constitutional limitations 

 placed upon his powers, and introduced a regime 

 of arbitrary tyranny. He promised that if he 

 succeeded in his stand for liberty he would 

 hand over the Government to the same honor- 

 able men who had given liberty to the nation 

 before. Four members of Congress who were 

 on board the " Aquidaban " constituted them- 

 selves into a provisional government, and issued 

 a proclamation giving the command of the forces 

 to Admiral Mello for the purpose of restoring 

 peace and re-establishing law and republican 

 principles. The rebels captured Desterro and 

 the island of Santa Catharina, and cut off com- 

 munication between Rio and Santa Cruz. The 

 garrison at Desterro joined the rebels, and some 

 were put on board the ships, while the rest were 

 left to man the works. Peixoto held his ground 

 with as much determination as ever, though in 

 Pernambuco, Bahia, and other parts of Brazil the 

 movement against him gained headway. He 

 obtained $4,000,000 of advances to meet the 

 expenses of the war, and arranged to fit out a 

 naval squadron in the north, under the com- 

 mand of Admiral Gongalves Duarte, to fight the 

 rebels on the sea. The foreign naval authorities 

 induced Mello to promise to be careful not to 

 throw shells into the defenseless parts of the 

 capital. The diplomatic corps interceded with 

 Peixoto, hoping to persuade him to remove the 

 batteries that he had planted on the hills among 

 the residences on the water front, and to refrain 

 from firing upon the ships and thus provoking 

 a new bombardment. If he would transfer his 

 warlike operations to other localities, the di- 

 plomatists expected to impress Mello with the 

 doctrine that Rio, being no longer a fortified 

 garrison town, was exempt from bombardment 

 under the laws of war. The President declined 

 to follow this advice, and declared that he would 

 soon bring the rebels to terms. The brutal and 



