Smyrna times., 1888-05-23
Slavery in Brazil.
HOW THE FINAL ABOLITION OF THE
EVIL WAS BROUGHT ABOUT.

IAh IL " 40 DhOlGhl ABOOT,
A despatch by way of Europe an
nounced some days ago the total alb
OlitiOn of slavery in the Empire of
Brazil by an act of Parliament. There
was no information given in relation
to the conditions under which this i'm
portant change was accomplished.
No communication concerning it was
received by the representative of Bra
zil in Washington, or at the Brazilian
Consulate in this city. A IVOrld re-
porter has learned, however, from
Baron Thomson, of Rio Janeiro, now
residing in New York city, all the cir
cumstances connected with the recent
decree. SenOr Dom Heitor BastOs Cor
deirO, Chief of the Police Department
of Rio De Janeiro, is at present a guest
OF Baron Thomson, having arrived in
New York last week t. study the DO
lice systOm of the United States. and to
spend some time in travel. From him
the Baron had received authentic in
formation concerning the recent histo-
ry of the emancipation movement in
Brazil. "The passage Of the law re-
ferred to, he said, twas anticipated for
a long time. For years past the EN-
pe:Or Dom Pedro had set his mind on
eiiecting the abolition of slavery in the
empire. As far back as 1871 law was
passed for the gradual emancipation of
the vast slave population, but it was
badly administered and in many
places not enforced at all. A more
stringent law was passed in 1885,
whereby all persons born in slavery
should be free at the age of twenty-one
and all slaves over sixty years of age
should be entitled to liberty. To facil-
itate the operation of this law, de-
duction of per cent. for each year
was made in the value of each slave
and a tax of per cent. on all imports
and internal taxes was imposed for the
Government emancipation fund. Vol
untary societies for buying up slaves
sprang up in almost every city, and
one province freed all its slaves by
paying the masters the Government
valuation. Still, the Emperor was not
satisfied with the slowness of this pro-
cess, and, through his influence, a bill
for the immediate emancipation of the
slaves was introduced into Parliament
at each session. On leaving Rio for
his European tour last July he passed
the helm of affairs to his daughter Isa-
bella, the Princess Regent. with the
injunction that she would leave no
means uneXercised to bring about the
passage of the Emancipation bill. The
bill was presented, and the Ministry.
refusing to pass it, resigned. A new
ministry was formed and the bill was
passed by both houses.
1t had been the intention of the
Parliament on the advent of the new
Ministry to pass the bill on the day of
the Emperor's return to Rio de janet
ro as a compliment to His Majesty, but
after more serious consideration thew
concluded to act at once and not leave
so important matter to chance. A
condition of the new law requires that
all the emancipated negroes now on
the coffee plantations must remain there
until the next coffee crop is gathered
in, but in the mean time they are to
receive a small rate of wages from their
former owners. The freedmen, dur
ing this period, shall not be locked up
IN their quarters as formerly, and may,
outside of working hours, go where
they please within certain limits. The
former owners receive no compensa-
ton, the Government holding that they
have been sufficiently compensated al
really by the fruits of the unpaid labor
of the slaves in the past.
By the recent Emancipation law
nearly 100000 slaves are freed from
servitude. Outside of the plantations
slavery in Brazil was not an abused in
stitutiOn, the slaves in private houses
being almost invariably regarded and
treated as members of the family"
In recognition of this enlightened
measure, removing the last stain of sla-
very from the new world, Pope Leo
XIII. has sent the Golden Rose to the
Princess Regent of Brazil"