SLAVERY. 287 



These Abolitionists, according to all I hear, are the Socialists 

 and Nihilists of Brazil, and their influence among the slave 

 population is very great. Should a general rising of slaves occur, 

 the result might prove most disastrous, as the greater part of the 

 privates in the army are negroes or mulattoes, and the majority of the 

 freed blacks, at least in Rio, notoriously form the dregs and scum 

 of the population ; and, as probably they would all join, no house 

 or property would be safe. A man of the English-speaking race, 

 named Clapp, is. one of the chief leaders of the Abolitionist party 

 in Rio ; he abuses the law of 1831. Sometime since, for instance, 

 he carried off consecutively two slaves, who were sent into Rio 

 every day by their master to sell fruit. On the first occasion, he 

 sent a note to the owner, stating that the slave wished to be free, 

 that he was valued at two hundred milreis, and that that sum was 

 paid into the Treasury. Many difficulties were raised, there was 

 great delay, and finally the master was obliged to give way with- 

 out receiving the money, while the slave was retained. A short 

 time afterwards, the second slave was kidnapped under similar 

 circumstances, and a criminal process was begun against the 

 owner for keeping a free man in slavery. The owner was im- 

 prisoned, and appealed, stating that the slave had been left to him 

 by will, and proved his assertion. The judgment was reversed by 

 the courts, but the slave was liberated, and the two hundred 

 milreis redemption money was never paid in either instance. 



On the 25th of March, 1884, slavery was abolished in the pro- 

 vince of Ceara. The Rio News * says, " The movement began 

 only fifteen months ago, the first municipality liberating its slaves 

 on the ist of January, 1883. The new tax law of last November 

 greatly accelerated this progress, because it made slave-holding 

 impossible, the value of the slave being less than the tax." A 

 week's festival was held in Rio de Janeiro in honour of the 

 emancipation of Ceara. " Large sums of money were realized 

 from donations and the proceeds of bazaars, several slaves were 

 liberated, and a movement set on foot to secure total emancipation 

 in the municipality of the imperial capital." 



I was informed in September, 1883, tnat there were then eight 

 or ten municipalities in Ceara without any slaves ; Fortaleza, the 

 * April 5, 1884. 





