BRAZIL. 



79 



from Rio, 3,508,007 bags from Santos, and 105,- 

 270 bags from Victoria ; in 1892-'93, 2,808,657 

 bags from Rio, 3,411,498 from Santos, and 185,- 

 606 from Victoria. The export of sugar from 

 Pernambuco in 1892 was 51,935 tons. The total 

 value of the imports in 1890 was 260,100,000 

 milreis, and of the exports 317,822,000 milreis. 



Navigation. In 1892 there were entered at 

 the port of Rio Janeiro 1,379 vessels, of 1,948,- 

 547 tons, and 1,187 vessels, of 1,856,347 tons, 

 were cleared : at the port of Rio Grande do Sul, 

 51 vessels, of 80,283 tons, were entered from 

 distant ports, and 196, of 79,764 tons, were 

 cleared ; at Bahia, 965 vessels, of 1,297,712 tons, 

 were entered and cleared. The merchant marine 

 in 1893 consisted of 553 vessels, of 196,981 tons, 

 of which 179, of 114,102 tons, were steamers. 

 Under a law that went into force in November, 

 1894, all coastwise trade must be carried in Bra- 

 zilian bottoms. 



Railroads. Posts, and Telegraphs. The 

 length of railroads already built in 1893 was 

 6,651 miles, while 3,815 miles were partially 

 built, 5,340 miles were being surveyed, and 

 9,071 miles more were projected. Of the rail- 

 roads open to traffic, 1,586 were state lines, 1,815 

 miles were subsidized, and 2,485 miles were con- 

 structed without subventions, though most of 

 the railroads have a guarantee of 6 or 7 per 

 cent, interest from the Government. 



The telegraphs, which belong to the Govern- 

 ment, had 8,620 miles of lines in 1891. The 

 number of dispatches in 1891 was 1,001,535. 



The postal traffic in 1890 was 18,822,148 let- 

 ters, and 19,280,135 newspapers and circulars. 

 The receipts were 3,243,421 milreis, expenses 

 9,323,108 milreis. 



The Civil War. Marshal Peixoto was placed 

 in power by the conservative element that took 

 a stand against the inflation of the currency 

 and loose financial methods adopted deliber- 

 ately by Barbosa and the other ministers of 

 President da Fonseca with the object of cre- 

 ating a specious prosperity that would divert 

 the people from politics. The strong admin- 

 istration of the new President gave offense to 

 the advocates of State rights, while the occu- 

 pation of the principal posts in the Govern- 

 ment by military officers awakened the jeal- 

 ousy of the navy, which had taken the initi- 

 ative in the overthrow of the empire and the 

 deposition of President da Fonseca, and there- 

 fore was not disposed to yield the first place to 

 the other branch of the service. Hence Admiral 

 de Mello and his associates were able to drag 

 into the rebellion nearly the whole navy. The 

 Clericals and Imperialists gave every encourage- 

 ment and assistance to the revolt, and the Euro- 

 pean population furnished financial aid. Ad- 

 miral de Mello made the fight as an avowed re- 

 publican against what he called a " military 

 dictatorship," and in favor of a government by 

 civilians. Admiral da Gama, although a mon- 

 archist, declared in the beginning that he would 

 support the de facto Government, but in the 

 end he deserted, and conveyed in his manifesto 

 his belief that the republic was a failure. 

 After he relieved Mello in the command of the 

 insurgent force in the Bay of Rio de Janeiro in 

 the beginning of December, 1893, the existence 

 of the republic was felt to be at stake, although 



Mello was not prepared to declare for the resto- 

 ration of the empire ; still less some of the civil- 

 ians connected with the Provisional Government. 

 Stormy conferences were held at Desterro be- 

 tween them and Gens. Saraiva and Salgado, 

 commanders of the rebels of the south, the up- 

 shot of which was that Cardozo, the Minister of 

 War, resigned, and a number of dissentient poli- 

 ticians were placed on a vessel and sent away to 

 Montevideo. 



When the year opened, Admiral de Mello, 

 with a large part of the fleet and nearly 800 

 men, had gone to the south to assist in organiz- 

 ing the land forces, with the object of establish- 

 ing the Provisional Government firmly in Santa 

 Catarina. International law requires that a 

 revolutionary government must administer some 

 considerable portion of the territory before it 

 can be recognizeji as a belligerent power ; but 

 the insurgents held only the little island of Santa 

 Catarina, and hence were anxious to form a junc- 

 tion with the Federalist leaders of Rio Grande 

 do Sul and establish their power over the State 

 of Santa Catarina, where the adherents of the 

 legitimate government were still undisputed 

 masters. The monarchical governments of Eu- 

 rope sympathized with the insurgents to such a 

 degree that their naval representatives warned 

 the merchantmen waiting in Rio Janeiro harbor 

 not to load or to discharge cargo, and refused, 

 'to the dismay of the foreign mercantile com- 

 munity, to protect their lighters. Admiral Sal- 

 danha da Gama concentrated his forces in the 

 stronghold of Villegaignon and the fortifica- 

 tions of Cobras Island, and posted his ships in 

 such a way as to keep up a desultory fire on the 

 town and* draw the fire of Peixoto's batteries, 

 and thus keep up the virtual blockade until he 

 could establish a legal blockade that would bring 

 Peixoto to terms by shutting off supplies and 

 stopping all commerce. In the mean time he 

 was almost deprived of supplies himself until 

 the "Aquidaban" returned on Jan. 12, 1894. 

 steaming past the forts at the entrance of the 

 bay without receiving material damage. Thus 

 re-enforced, Admiral da Gama was enabled to 

 maintain his position in the bay, which was 

 seriously menaced, for the Government troops 

 had compelled the insurgents to retire from the 

 island of Gobernador and had captured Mocan- 

 gue and other points. Peixoto was not able to 

 take the offensive, for he also had weakened his 

 force, detaching the flower of the army to hold 

 the province of Santa Catarina and cope with 

 the rebels in Rio Grande, retaining only 3,000 

 regulars to assist 4,000 untrained militia' in de- 

 fending the city and the shores of the bay. On 

 Jan. 16 the insurgents, who had previously re- 

 occupied the island of Engenho after a sharp 

 fight, landed on Mocangue under cover of the 

 quick-firing guns of the " Aquidaban," and drove 

 out the Government troops, capturing the works 

 and several pieces of artillery. They also took 

 and garrisoned Conceicao, Velha, and Vianna. 

 and from this time Admiral da Gama was able 

 to stop all commerce until the bold stand of the 

 American admiral put an end to the factitious 

 blockade. Having ascertained the views of Vice- 

 President Peixoto, Admiral Benham summoned 

 the insurgent commander, on Jan. 23, to an in- 

 formal conference on board the "New York,'' 



