68 



BRAZIL. 



which the greatest number of slaves has been 

 liberated are Rio de Janeiro and the neutral 

 district, 23,002; Rio Grande do Sul, 9,100; 

 Minas-Geraes, 7,108; Bahia, 7,037; Sao Paulo, 

 6,681; Pernambuco, 5,649; Para, 4,709; Ma- 

 ranhao, 4,644, and Ceara, 4,272. In other 

 provinces the number ranges between 99 and 

 1,871. 



Immigration. The immigrants in the first six 

 months of 1883 numbered 14,225, among whom 

 were about 700 Germans, 6,000 Portuguese, 

 and 5,000 Italians. Only 2,500 were agricul- 

 turists. 



Tbe " Rio News," of July 15, 1883, expresses 

 itself about immigration into and naturaliza- 

 tion in Brazil to the following effect : 



According to the " Diario Official " 5,309 foreigners 

 have become naturalized in Brazil ^not including colo- 

 nists) in the period between 1825 and 1882 a period of 

 fifty-seven years. There is a significance in this result 

 which will not be unnoticed when comparisons are 

 made with the enormous number of foreigners natu- 

 ralized in the United States during the same period. 

 When it is considered that these fifty-seven years com- 

 prise the entire reign of the present Emperor, whom 

 the civilized world has been pleased to call one of 

 the most enlightened and liberal monarch s of the age, 

 that they have been years of only briefly interrupted 

 peace, and that during all this time Brazil has had a 

 very large population of foreigners engaged in com- 

 mercial and industrial pursuits, the greater part of 

 whom could easily have been transformed into Bra- 

 zilian citizens, there is certainly very little cause for 

 satisfaction, what with her incubus of slavery, her 

 great landed estates, her religious intolerance, her 

 jealousy of foreigners, her vices of administration 

 and her oppressive exactions upon commerce and in- 

 dustry, she has shut out this great stream of wealth 

 and population which has been steadily flowing by 

 her doors all these years, until now, in her weakness, 

 she is able to secure only the scattering drops which 

 the rushing current casts upon her shores. It is not 

 altogether a pleasant theme for consideration, for it is 

 a living proof that the reign of Dom Pedro II has 

 been very far from liberal and enlightened, and that 

 the dominant policy which has thus far controlled 

 Brazil has resulted only in shutting her out from the 

 progress of the world and hi retarding her national 

 growth. 



Naturalization. The new bill relating to. nat- 

 uralization of foreigners in Brazil, stipulates 

 that all foreigners residing for three years in 

 the country shall thereby become and be consid- 

 ered Brazilian citizens, unless during the inter- 

 val they have made a declaration before their 

 consul that they do not wish to relinquish the 

 nationality of their native country. The time 

 of residence for acquiring Brazilian citizenship 

 will even be' reduced to two years, if the for- 

 eigner marries a Brazilian or holds office under 

 the Government. The naturalized citizen is 

 to be eligible to municipal office and other 

 public functions, and may even become regent 

 of the empire. This law would place Brazil 

 even above the Argentine Republic in point of 

 liberality toward foreigners, and the proba- 

 bility is that the latter will follow the example. 

 The Brazilian press unanimously approves of 

 the project. 



Finances. In financial matters the present 

 situation of Brazil is no less critical, and the 



danger is even more imminent. Her public in- 

 debtedness has been steadily increasing until it 

 is now much greater than her income warrants, 

 and her expenditures are largely and regularly 

 in excess of her revenue. There has been no 

 annual surplus since 1856-'57, only two since 

 1846-'47, and only four since 1886-'37. Ac- 

 cording to an abstract of the national budgets 

 during the period between 1827 and 1879-'80 

 inclusive, the aggregate of these deficits 

 amounts to about $350,000,000. The interest 

 charged upon her funded debt is now nearly 

 two fifths of the total revenue. 



These statements will, of course, excite sur- 

 prise abroad, simply because of the high credit 

 which Brazil enjoys in the London market. 

 The Brazilian Government is scrupulously care- 

 ful to meet the interest charges on its foreign 

 debt promptly and fully, for which reason its 

 funds are quoted high and excite no distrust. 

 To do this, however, new loans have been 

 floated, apolices (bonds) of internal indebted- 

 ness have been issued, taxation has been in- 

 creased, and local creditors have been com- 

 pelled to wait years for the payment of their 

 accounts. And then, too, these loans and in- 

 vestments in London are nearly all in the 

 hands of a small circle of capitalists known as 

 the " Brazilian ring," at whose head is the fa- 

 mous house of Rothschilds; and this ring is 

 very careful not only to place investments on 

 the market to the best advantage, but also to 

 suppress every item of information detrimental 

 to Brazilian credit. To this end journals and 

 journalists are subsidized (a deficiency credit 

 has been under discussion in the Brazilian 

 Legislature, in which two subsidized London 

 journalists are specially mentioned), flattering 

 articles are published in the newspapers and 

 reviews, and everything is made easy and com- 

 fortable for all the parties concerned. 



An epitome of all the imperial budget laws 

 since 1823 has been published in the "Diario 

 Official " by Senator Castro Carreira. A com- 

 parison with the annual reports of the Min- 

 ister of Finance shows that its figures are cor- 

 rect, or as nearly so as careless typographical 

 work will admit. This epitome includes quin- 

 quennial summaries and abstracts of public 

 indebtedness, which are of great value in com- 

 parisons. In order to make this abstract cover 

 the period of the present system of "public 

 improvements," beginning with the construc- 

 tion of the Dom Pedro II railway, and also 

 to comprise these quinquennial 'debt abstracts, 

 it is necessary to take the fiscal year 1855-'56 

 as a starting-point. During the preceding five 

 years the aggregate revenue of the Govern- 

 ment had been 176,376.699 milreis, and the 

 aggregate expenditure 182,607,684, leaving a 

 deficit of 6,230,985. The total indebtedness 

 of the empire at the end of this period 

 (1854-'55), including the 1852 foreign loan 

 of 1,040,600, was as follows, the Brazilian 

 milreis at par being equivalent to 54J cents 

 United States gold: 



