BRAZIL. 



105 



lawless acts of Peixoto's soldiery furnished the 

 i representatives with a ground of com- 

 plaint. The military, in searching houses and 

 :\g Mispi-ctril sympathizers with the rebel- 

 -pared neither life nor property. The 

 >*an diplomatists threatened to land men 

 from tin- war ships for the protection of their 

 country men. The representatives of South 

 American countries protested against European 

 armed intervention on American soil in any 

 form, and in this view they were backed up by 

 ! mister of the United States. In the last 

 engagement between the shore batteries and the 

 Admiral Mello fired 196 shells, and the 

 twice as many, but none of the latter 

 reached the vessels. Several shells from the 

 ships fell in the forts, killing many of the troops 

 ami doing great damage. Two or three crashed 

 into buildings in the center of the city, and sev- 

 eral |>ersons, including an English bank clerk, 

 were killed. When coal was short on the ships, 

 the insurgents obtained a fresh supply from 

 barges and sheds after a brief fight, in which 

 the land forces were easily worsted by the aid of 

 the guns of the ships. Stores of flour and pro- 

 visions were captured in the same way. The 

 garrison of Fort Villegagnon, about 700 men, 

 finally declared for the revolution, and the for- 

 tifications were strengthened with a view of cov- 

 ering a landing in the city. The guns of this 

 fort gave effective assistance to the fleet in an 

 engagement with Santa Cruz and the other forts 

 of the Government. The shelling of Rio was 

 resumed on Oct. 10, because Peixoto had not 

 dismounted his shore batteries and ceased firing 

 on the fleet. At the same time Mello issued a 

 new proclamation, in which he declared that in 

 the event of his success he would adhere to re- 

 publican institutions, and said that none of the. 

 leaders of the revolt aspired to power for their 

 own benefit, but had for their only object the 

 restoration of peace to the oppressed country, 

 and the liberation of a people who had been sac- 

 rificed by the inconceivable want of patriotism 

 and reckless ambition of the head of the Gov- 

 ernment. 



The insurgents met with a succession of mis- 

 haps. One of their ships, the " Sete de Setem- 

 bro." ran aground near Praia Grande. A powder 

 magazine exploded on the island of Macangue, 

 ana deprived them of a large part of their am- 

 munition stores, and subsequently another maga- 

 zine, on Gobernadores island, blew up while 

 powder was being transferred to the ships. The 

 movement gained ground in Rio Grande do Sul, 

 where one town after another fell into their 

 hands, and the Castilhistas were beaten repeated- 

 ly in battle. The State of Santa Cathanna re- 

 volted and cast its fortunes with Mello. On 

 Oct. 10 the bombardment of Rio was begun again 

 by the rebel ships and Port Villegagnon. When 

 the Provisional Government was established on 

 land at Desterro, Frederico Guilherme de Lorena, 

 a captain of the navy, was proclaimed Provi- 

 sional President. On ^ov. 3 they mounted guns 

 on the island of Macangue. and on Nov. 7 Ad- 

 miral Mello began another vigorous bombard- 

 ment of Rio with the "Aquidaban." supported 

 by his land batteries, especially Fort Villegagnon. 

 Meanwhile President Peixoto, who had the 

 resources of the customhouse of Rio de Janeiro, 



which ordinarily yields $5,000,000 revenue a 

 month, provided himself with a fleet, with which 

 he could give battle to his enemies on the sea. 

 He purchased a number of merchant vessels in 

 the United States and converted them into war 

 ships, and also secured the torpedo gunboat 

 " Destroyer." The total cost was about f 1,500,- 

 000. Besides these, he is said to have secim-d 

 9 torpedo boats in Europe. The " Nictheroy," 

 previously known as " El Cid," was armed with 

 a pneumatic gun for dynamite bombs, invented 

 by ('apt. Zalinski. of the United States army. 

 T"he " Britania " was rechristened the " Amer- 

 ica " when fitted out with a formidable arma- 

 ment of heavy guns. The torpedo boats " Yar- 

 row," "Feiseen," "Nada," ana "Javelin " were 

 also fitted out, and the fleet was abundantly 

 equipped with Hotchkiss guns. In Montevideo, 

 the " Tiradentes," from which the machinery 

 had been removed when the rebellion broke out 

 for fear that the crew would deliver her up to 

 the rebels, was now refitted and placed in com- 

 mission, and manned with a loyal crew brought by 

 Rear- Admiral Goncalvez. The "Bahia," which 

 had remained loyal to the Government, was to 

 join her there ; but she ran aground, and it was 

 some time before she was got afloat and repaired. 

 The " Desterro " and " Santos," merchant steam- 

 ers converted into gunboats, were added to this 

 division. In the north, Rear-Admiral Duarte 

 took command of a division consisting of the cor- 

 vette " Parahyba " and the gunboats u Bracon- 

 not," "Guarany," and "Capedello," which were 

 assembled at Bahia. The " Riachuelo " and the 

 " Benjamin Constant " were at Toulon, France. 

 The rebel cruiser " Republica " lay outside Mon- 

 tevideo for some time to intercept the " Tira- 

 dentes," but steamed away on finding that she 

 would not leave port and accept the combat. 



On Nov. 22 the " Javari " was either struck by 

 a shot from Fort Sao JoSo or sprung aleak, 

 owing to rivets being loosened by the concussion 

 of her heavy guns, and went down. A few days 

 after this loss Admiral Mello ran out of the 

 harbor of Rio de Janeiro with the " Aquidaban ? ' 

 and the armed transport " Esperanca," under 

 the fire of the forts and partly protected by 

 the darkness of night. The " Aquidaban " de- 

 livered shots from her heavy guns fore and aft 

 at the forts on either side, doing great damage, 

 and kept up the fire until she was out of range. 

 The Government troops suffered severely from 

 the effects of her rapid-firing guns. Commodore 

 Elisar Tavares, who was left in charge of the 

 naval forces in the harbor, was placed under the 

 command of Gen. Saldanha da Gama. 



The officers of the foreign warships had inter- 

 vened to prevent further operations that would 

 endanger foreign property in Rio or interfere 

 with commerce. Having induced Peixoto to 

 stop firing from the batteries on either side of the 

 commercial quarter, and also the landing of mili- 

 tary supplies or munitions, to which Peixoto 

 agreed Deeause he could receive them by rail, 

 they declared that the city was no longer open 

 to naval bombardment, and obtained a promise 

 from Mello that he would not shell the town so 

 long as Peixoto kept his part of the compact. 

 They also insisted that the lighters of the har- 

 bor "should be treated as neutral when landing 

 goods or loading merchant vessels, and declared 



