May i, 1882.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
92 r 
To the Editor of the Ceylon Observer. 
COFFEE CULTIVATION AND SLAVERY IN 
BRAZIL :— No. V. 
Dollar, N. B., 26th Jan. 1882. 
Gentlemen, — The returns given, although relating 
to only eight ot the provinces of the Empire, give 
us a pretty fair idea of the working of tho emancipa- 
tion fund for the whole tu cnty provinces into which 
Brazil is divided. Your, readera, howover, as coffee 
planters, are more interested in knowing how the 
labour market of the tbree great coffee-producing pro- 
vinces can be alfected by it. A deereaso in tho labour 
supply of the-o would very sensibly diminish the 
exports of coffee from Rio de Janeiro and Santos. 
I mentioned that, for the last eight years, there had 
been a general migration of the slave population from 
the northern, to the three ooffoe-produeing provinces, 
Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Minas (ieraes, and 
that this movement corresponded with the gradual 
extonsion of new coffee fields, and the increase of the 
shipments of coffee. An agitation was started against 
this interprovincial slave trade, and, strange to say, 
was carried on principally by the class who had 
benefitted most by it— the Sao Paulo planters In 
1879, a law was passed by the Provincial Assembly 
at Sao Paulo, imposing a tax of 1,000^000 (£100) 
on each slave entering the province of Sao Paulo from 
another province. This law was vetoed by the Go- 
vernment as unconstitutional. In 1S80, the Provincial 
Assembly of Rio de Janeiro, when passing the supply 
bill, included in it a tax of Ll,500$000 (£150) on 
each slave being registered, coining from another 
province, and this part of the bill passed almost un- 
noticed, and became law on 1st January 18S1. The 
province of Sao Paulo immediately followed with a 
(aw, imposing a tax of R2,000$000 (£200) to come 
in force in February, and Minas Geraes with one for 
tho same amount to come in force also in F'ebruiry 
1881. These taxes were to be paid on registration of 
sluves coming from one province to another, except- 
ing only three to accompany each family and ex- 
empting those that tune by inheritance and through 
judicial execution. 
The law of 1871 regulated the machinery for 
collecting a tax on the transfer of slave property, 
and, as sales took phee, an entry was made in tho 
collector's book. These new provincial laws were pro- 
hibitory, inasmuch as tho tax was much more than 
the value of tho properly, the value of a field hand 
being about £200. The collector is liablo to a fine 
of 3,0001 (£.100) for each slave neglected to be so 
registeied, and the owner liable to a fine of 1,000$ 
(£100) if he exceed the time allowed for registration, 
namely, thirty days. 
It is difficult to conceive the motive which prompted j 
the introduction of theso laws, for tho planters of 
these provinces were loud in their outcry about tho | 
■carcity of labourers, and they were the people who I 
benefited most by tho entry of slavi s from tho Northern 
provinc. It goems uncharitable to supposo that tho ! 
real object tho lawmaker.-' had in view was the exten- ' 
•ion of the time when slavery should bo extinct, i here 
is Strong circumstantial evidenco to show thatitwas so. 
I nm unwilling to inflict on your readers a prosy 
review of tho events which agitated the public mind 
previous to the passing of t If ■»■> provincial acts, but they 
will have a better idea of this Brazilian slavery quost- 
ion if I do so. You will remember thv a congress of 
agrieul ariita, called together by the Government, was 
hold in Rio do Janeiro in Jnly 1818, Tins congress 
Wan to consider tho vurious questions thai wie .im- 
pressing agriculture, aud the principal OUtOOme of this 
PJ8 
great gathering was the decision of the Government to 
send an embassy to China to negociate a treaty of 
commerce, and get the sanction of tho Celestial Go- 
vernment to Chinese immigration. This latter measure 
was considered the best means of averting the inevit- 
able crash which must fall on the agriculture of the 
country, should anything happen to accelerate the 
emancipation of the slaves. The allowing of the vote 
necessary for paying the expenses of this mission was 
warmly opposed by Deputy Joaquim Nabuco, who was 
supported by other able men in the Chamber of Depu- 
ties in Rio de Janeiro. The vote was allowed ; the 
Government promising not to bring, in Chinese coolie* 
by any Government scheme, their object being to 
pave the way for their introduction by private enterpr zt. 
This discussion and the subsequent arrival of the 
envoy in London, on his way to China, attracted the 
attention of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Sociely, 
and this body not only sent a petition to the Chimse 
Minister in London against the Brazilian movement, 
but wrote a letter thanking Seur. Nabuco for the stand 
he made against the introduction of Chinese labourers 
into Brazil. Deputy Nabuco, in reply to the British 
and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society dated 8th April 18S0, 
declared his intention to ii.»roduce a bill into the 
Chamber of Deputies in Rio de Janeiro establishing 
the date ot 1st January 1890 for the entire abolition of 
slavery throughout the Empire. Here is what he said 
himseif : — " that bill will not be converted this year 
into law, but introduced every session in a Liberal 
house by myself or some of my friends, and in a Con- 
servative house by some prominent Conservative aboli- 
tionist like Mr Gusmao Lobo ; increasing every year in 
votes, it will triumph at last. The date remaining 
immoveable, every delay would render the transition 
period shorter, but it would not be our fault. The 
frontier of next decade, I hope, will not be pissed by 
any man calling himself a slave." This letter, as might 
be expected, caused a great commotion throughout the 
Empire. 
True to his word, Nabuco commenced his campaign in 
August 1880 by a forcible speech in the Chamber of Depu- 
ties when the voting ot supplies for the department of 
agriculture came on for consideration. He denounced 
the sale of slaves imported since 1831, the misappro- 
priation of the emancipation fund, the public whippiug 
of slaves at the request of their masters and other 
cruelties. A fortnight afterwards he brought for- 
ward his bill for emancipation in IS90. I he Chamber 
fixed the 27th of August for the discussion of it, two 
of the ministers voting in the majority granting leave. 
The minority, however, pressed the Prime Minister ; so 
that next day he announced that, if tho discussion 
of such a measure were forced on, the Ministry would 
resign. The Chamber thus bearded by the Minister, 
and having fixed the 27th for the discussion by its 
vote ou the 2-ith, did not hold sessions 00 26th, 27th, 
and 28th August. On the 30th Nabuco again asked 
leave, but the Chamber this time rejected the m >tion 
for tho introduction of tho bill by 77 to 16. The Prime 
Minister, on being pressed for his reasons for making a 
Cabinet question of the introduction of tho bill de- 
clared that the Emperor and the Government had 
made up their minds that slavery was to remain as 
it was fixed in 1S71. 
Congratulations came pouring iu from all parts of 
Empire. The minister had saved tho country. Agri- 
cultural Societies were formal for thu purpose of 
rcsis ing any attempts at upsetting tho arrangement 
made in 1871, and at all these meetings addresses 
weru framed thanking the Government for the stand 
they had made. 
It was thought that this alavo question was settled, 
but Nabuco, nothing daunted by his d feat in the 
Chamber, called his friend* together at hit owu re- 
sidence, and (brined a.i Anti-abvan > 
