National Republican., 1888-05-13

THE emperor of Brazil who Is AT Milan, Italy,
rallied somewhat from his illness, and II
cable report came day before yesterday
that he was ont of danger, but he has had u
relapse, and is again IN a critical condition.
Some details Of his visit to Europe and the
condition of his empire were given in these
columns a couple of days ago. on the same
day the New York SB contained an article
concerning him, in which were these interest.
ing details concerning the imperial family and
the succession:
Brazil follows Portugal in It's exclusion OF
the Salic law, so that females may occupy the
throne. The oldest child of Dom Pedro II,
and accordingly the hciress prcsumptive, Is
Princess Isabel wife of the Comte d Eu, who
Is now princess regent, having been appointed
to act In that capacity on the emperor de:
parture to Europe. They have three sons, of
whom the eldest, Prince Pedro, is Il lad II
years old, while Prince Luiz Is now 10 years
old and Prince Antonio not yet Z. For Il long
time the. Brazllans had accustomed them
selves to look for their future emperor to the
children of the sister of Princess Isabel,
Princess Leopoldina, who was married to
They had many children. while for twelve
years none were born to Princess lsabel, the
elder of Dom Pedro's daughters. The eldest
gf the children of Princess Leopoldina, Prince
Pedro Augusta, was born at Rio de Janeiro In
March, 1856 while his cousin, the heir pre-
sumptiye, was not born till more than nine
years the former was looked upon by Dom
Pedro himself as probably the future occupant
Of his throne: and his unusually fine presence
and winning manners, with his hearty symp1'
thy in the intellectual pursuits of his grand.
father, made him fayorite alike with the en-.
pcror and people. while since the death of his
mother he has seemed especially dear to Dom
Pedro. Perhaps were lie able TO hand the
sceptcr to this young prince, who, having just
passed his 22d year, Is quite capable OF WELD
ing It, he would be tempted to resign the cares
.ttl tlR thp.YN Nfl all I'm hog In NNn
son for nearly half 4 century, exclusive of his
previous reign under guardianship, and devote
himself to travel, study and the rcparation of
his health.
Reference has already been made to the
probable freeing of the slaves in Brazil this
year and to the fact that this great reform has
been warmly advocated by the emperor. The
total number of slaves in Brazil on the Both of
March, 1877, was 723,il9 and these were val
ued at S2iO,OO0OOO The government docs not
propose to pay for the loss of these slaves.
The owners must bear the loss wholly them.
selves It may be easily understood what a
tremendous effort II has required to bring
about this reform in the face of such a heavy
financial loss as this. But, remarkable as 1t
may appear, great preparations are being
made to develop the commercial resources of
Brazil Just as she is about TO rid herself
Of the curse of slavery. The New York
Ttibune of the 1lth instant printed a
dispatch from ottawa, Canada, stating that
j. j. c. Abbott, member of the Dominion min
istry had control of 500, 900 of British
capital which was to be used in the construc.
tion of an extensive railway system in Brazil,
Col George W. Hooker, of Vermont Robert
j. Kimball Of X. j. Kimball, bankers, New
York; Bayard DOminck, of DOminick & Dick
erman, New York and other New York capi-
talists have joined the syndicate. a party of
engineers has already gone TO Brazil to begin
surveys for the main line of the road, and
work is to be pushed forward with great vigor,
The death of the emperor, who has
reigned almost sixty years, would be greatly
regretted everywhere, but II will hardly
affect the development of his empire. The
importance of the South American coun,
tries is increasing every day. The prosperity
of the Argentine Republics wonderful and
her trade is becoming a matter of great
concern to American farmers, manu-
facturcrs and shippers Brazil Is a larger
country, and in natural resources is a far
richer one.