New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1871-11-30
Social Topics Ia Brazil.
The Influence of Religion on Emaneipa-
tiOn-EccIesiasticaI Int assures
Adopted by the Press of PernambucO to
Prevent the Sale OF slaves

| The Influence of Religion on Emaneipa-
| Observation-Disclosures Int ures
| Adopted by the Press of PernambueO to
Prevent the Sale Of slaves.
| From an Occasional Correspondent OF the Tribunel
Rio DE JANEIRo October 26.-ln Mr..
| Ewbank's most excellent work upon Brazil,
written over twenty years ago. the author very
justly remarks that ain Brazil, religion, or
| that which is so called, meets you everywhere.
You can do nothing observe nothing, without
being confronted by it in one shape another. -
| True ut all times, this observation has never
seemed truer than during the past month for,
beside an unusual quota of holidays, with their
strange mixture of solemn professions, fire.
quent prayers, noisy auctions, and brilliant
| fireworks, We have had genuine ecclesiastical
sensation. In a country where there is such
| close and intimate connection between Church
| and State, it might have been expected that the
| hierarchy would signalize the passage of the
emancipation bill by some unusual display
But this was only true of the Benedictine
monks, whose practical recognition Of the
justice OF the measure by promptly freeing the
whole body of their slaves | have already
noticed.
| On the evening of the Sunday following the
| passage of the bill the Bishop of Rio was
announced to preach in the Church of the
Rozio (the one most largely attended by the
|
| little peculiar, many thought he would make
| some reference to the great event. The church
was thronged; the discourse was interminable,
| and not the slightest alluson was made to the
only subject that had any interest for the
public. But this silence OF the Bishop could
not last much longer; especially since the
stream of congratulatory notes had now begun
! TO pour In from the members of the Diplo-
matte Corps, headed by the Pope's Nuncio
| al Ill Ii
length came. 1t filled two columns in the large
Journal Of Commerce. 1t was beautiful 1t
breathed the very spirit of Divine Love. Who
before had ever spoken words so full of sympa-
| thy and compassion for the unfortunate The
| Bishop was little short of perfection, and in
him at last had Charity found her sure exem-
| plar. In short, no pastoral of the Bishop had
ever been so widely read or so loudly praised.
Just here, however, most unfortunately for His
| Excellencys reputation, occurred an incident
that too suddenly preciptatcd him from his
giddy height. How the Bishop from being uni
| versaly praised came TO be universally blamed
will now appear. One of the nuns of the Con-
vent of Ajuda, named Franco, after thirty
| years of incarceration in that dismal edifice,
was about TO die. Aware of her approaching
end she begged that intelligence of Der state
might be sent az once to her relatives, who
lived near by, and she especially requested that
\
before she died. The mother, hearing the
news, came hurrying to the Convent and clam
ored at the doors for admission. But, although
the daughter within and the mother without
| were only separated from each other by the
space of the Convent walls, still they could not
meet. 1t would be in direct violation of the
monastic laws. The Bishop, whose authority
in such matters is supreme, was then appealed
to. But he also proved inexorabe, declaring
with holy horror that "even if his own mother
should prefer such q request he would DENY
| her." And so, after a few more days of intense
agony and suspense, The poor creature finally
breathed her last. Incidents of this character,
| am told, not unfrequently happen here in
Brazil, and perhaps the only remarkable tea-
| ture about the present case is the unusual ex-
element it has created in the capital
| The family of Franco, it would seem, has
sons as well as daughters and one of these
sons evidently does not intend to allow the
Bishops inhumanity to pass unchallenged
With sister dead and his mother driven to the
verge OF madness, we can easily believe that
this would be a man most likely to speak to
the point when the time came. Still am sure
the public hardly expected to see him give the
Bishop such SOUND castigation as he has in.
| flicted by his published ARTICLES during the past
| fortnight. The Bishop at first despised the at
| tack, but soon condesceuded to explain. He
admitted that the nun had shown a feminine
weakness on her deathbed by requesting to see
her mother" that the devil had sug gested this
request only "to gain possession of her soul
just as she was about to realize the fruit of her
vows - but that, with apostolic zeal, the holy
bishop had vigorously driven out such tempta-
tions, and turned q deaf ear to these yearnings
| OF the flesh" However, considering the weak
ness OF human nature, the 'tendcr-hearted pre-
late finally promised the nun before she
died, as an act of special grace, to have her
body exposed behind the iron bars of the Con-
vent to serve as consolation and edifcation
to her carnal relatives" And now, instead
of being thanked for so great favor" "our
tender hearted prelate is abused and nsulted
without stint"
Your readers can easily imagine how this
explanation was received. Before its publ
cation many thought the Bishop had been need
lessly strict and severe. Now he is universally
regarded with feelings of contempt and dis
gust. One journal, commenting upon the
affair, significantly remarks that "the Gov
eminent has just passed 2 measure that secures
the certain abolition of slavery. Let its at
tentiOn be next directed to the oppressive
tyranny and perncious influence of the priest
hood, for Mess these be checked and restrained.
emlgrants will never come to occupy and work
our lands. And unless they do come. prav
what Is to be substituted in place of that slave
labor now fast disappearing from among us pr
avery significant question, truly, and one to
which, at this juncture especially, His Maiesty's
ministers might very properly address them
selves. The other religious Orders do not an
pear 30 eager to liberate their slaves as the
Benedictines, although they have received MANY
pressing invitations by anonymous writers.
through the press, to do so. The Order of
Carmeites have !, 400 slaves, and an ANIMAL
revenue of over 100000. The number of its
members has now become reduced to Ia and
when these have all died the property will re-
vert to the State. As the law does not toucb
the great body of existing slaves. the Orders
are OF course only under moral obligations to
release their saves--a sort Of OBLIGATION.
fear, hardly likely to be effectual with sucb a
class. In spite of this bad example of the
clergy, however, manumlssions are occurring all
the while, and just now one Of the most abused
officials In the community is the Judge of the
Orphan Court, who seems to be doing little more
IF any reliance can be placed on the published
statements of the parties Interested than pIac
ing obstacles in the way of those DESIRING to
| liberate their slaves. The Pernambuean press
it is reported have associated themselves to-
| gether to prevent the advertisements of sales
Of slaves in the journals of that city. | do not
suppose, however, that the actual sales will he
effected by it, except that only those who wish
to purchase will attend. Here, in the canital.
the sales are advertised as usual III were