St. Landry democrat., 1890-02-01
Brazilian Revolution.

TROUBLE PREDICTED FOR THE FUTURE
THE PEOPLE NOT CONSIDERED RIPE FOR
LF-GOVERNMENT.
A Rio de Janeiro letter to the New York
Times says The immediate future here is
assured, but what will happen in the
course of Year cannoJ be safely predicted
There is danger ahead which may prove
very serious A r ldeHt, rejecting MAJ,
who knows the people can clearly foresee
this. Possibly MAJ be avoided but thu
probabilities d . most decidedly the othe,
wav.
The men .vho precipitated the revo' 1tion
lack cont dence in the Brazilian people.
and Pre- Aably have overwhelming conf
dence themselves. They do not believe
IN t. present capacity of the Brazilian
people for self government. They are un
Hing to trust them with the grave re-
sponsibility of constructing the govern
mental machinery, nor are tley Satisfied
that its complicated movements can be LETT
to their direction.
SO far as the masses are concerned
these so-called Republican leaders arr
right. The body of the Brazilian peonle
are not only ignorant, but they are with
out the sober, stable qualities of tue
Anglo-Saxons and entirely lack that self
reliance and habit of calmly celebrating
together and of taking counsel with one
another, which is Unborn in the ENGLISH
speaking race and constitutes one of its
grandest qualities. The Brszlians are
not pure race, and while not without in
tellectual quickness, they do not possess
what may be termed the moral equipose of
tntptIApt hn-f Ii
moved quick to respond to appeals, but
without tenaclty of purpose. These
characteristics distinguish as well the
favored few who heretofore possessed
undtr the empire the privileges of
suffrage Brazilian politics might be
aptiy described as pyrotechnical
The sincerity of the men now in control
cannot be questioned; relther can their
general honesty nor the patriotism Of their
purpose, But they baiieve that the body
of the people neither know what free
institutions mean nor are prepared to
exercise intelligently their rights under
them.
So far as the army and naval officers are
concerned, they doubtless esteem them
selves superior to their conferrees, the
Republican statesmen. The possession of
arms has tendency to develop this de-
scrlptlon of self-assumed superiority, and
men accustomed to commsnd their infer
Tors are apt to believe that they alone com
prehend the science of ruling society in
general
The provisional government of Brazil is
purely and simply military rule. 1t was
created by army and navy officers, and is
dominated by them. 1t is all powerful
simply because it is backed by the army
and navy. At the same time it is true
that every body accepts the fact that re-
establishment Of the pire is impossible,
it is universally admitted that republic
is all there is to nope for The sll impor-
tant question which Intelligent, patriotic
Brazliians ask each other, is: "Will we
have, can we have, genuine republic?'
1t is naturally supposed that when the
republic was proclaimed, the next step
would be the calling of the constituent
assembly, to which the people would
choose their representatives and that
form of government would be created and
submitted to the nation for it's approval
para passu, the people of the different
provinces would go through the same pro
cess of creating State governments. But
this method, which seems so natural and
essential to the Auglo-Saxons, is not &C
cording to the habit of thought of the
Latin statesman and would-be ruler. The
civil law training-the civil law deal
does not contemplate any initiative on the
part of the people. They are subjects to
be regulated by the law. They are the
created, not the creators
Hence it is not strange that the men who
created and are running the provisional
government should have concluded that
they must not only pave the way for but
prepare the people themS elves for the
government which they will provide for
them. They say, doubtless with truth,
''the people would not know what to do
with power if We intrusted them with it.
They, in comnl'n with ourselves, were the
victims of corrupt, etfete government
from which we set them, as we'll au our
selves, free, ard having done this we
thereby assumed the grave responsibility
of providing for the future and the present
the best possible form of government.
We alone can do this because we not only
have realizing sense what it ought to be,
but know how to constitute it.
The sincerity and capacity, the honesty
and integrity of these men may be con
ceded without admitting their ability to
accomplish what they have undertakes.