The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1892-07-21

and mandioca meal, and sometimes cor1
bread was added. 1t was eaten in the
| field, in an intermisson of fifteen minutes.
At noon they had a small drink of sugar
cane rum; and at four p. M, dinner, which
| was counterpart of the breakfast, also
eaten in the field, in fifteen minutes. Al
seven in the evening they left the field
work to go to the mill, or to household
tasks and to cultivate the vegetable
patches; until nine clock, when they
We're locked in their quarters, to sleep
till aroused at four the next morning.
Sunday was their only holiday, and was
merely cessation of labor for three OF
four hours, in busy season reduced to one
or two hours, and with some masters to
nothing at all. They had no allowance for
Christmas holidays, It's was the custom in
the United States in ante bellum days, and
in many respects the life of the Brazilian
slave was as much harder than that of his
brother in the North. as the Portuguese
and Spanish character is naturally more
cruel than that of the Anglo Saxon. That
the former races are infinitely more cruel
is eNinced by their treatment of animals
laying sheep alive, because by that pro-
cess the skins are believed to be more
flexible; piling heavy loads for long jour
neys on the backs OF mules already raw to
the bone; deliberately making a wound
with a rusty nail in the flank or shoulder
If donkey and prodding him in it to
accelerate hiS'speed, and a hundred SIM
lar examples continually to be seen here.
oversecrs and gang drivers kept the
slaves at work with greatest rigor. The
whip was often stepped in brine, or in
vinegar and pepper; and twenty-five was
the number OF lashes laid on the bare
back of slave when dry leaf, or piece
of boil was found in the cotton or a branch
was broken in the coffee grove. Fifty
lashes was the penalty for the next grade
of offences. One hundred for standing
idle in the field; two hundred for quarrel
ling with fellow slaves: and five hundred
for any attempt to run away from the es-
tate. Up to the very last day before
emancipation slaves were every where
met wearing tin masks as mode of
punishment, OF iron collars with upright
prongs under the ears, OF heavy log
chains fastened from wrist to ankle: and
dark stories are told of fortunes perpetrat-
ed in cellars and out-houses 50 recently
that the screams of the victims vet ring in
the ears of those who heard Them An
once had occasion to visit the proprietor
IF a distant fazenda. where lac found a
number of ncighholing planters assem-
bled. they having been invited according
to custom. to witness the punishment of a
negro, who was about 70 be boiled to
death. as Il terrible example to his fellows.
Emancipation in Brazil was entirely due
to the persistent efforts of the late Enpel-
OF. and was one of the causes that led to
his dethronement Many years age he
began to urge suppression of the African
trade and as soon as that was accomplish
ed. presented plans for freeing the negroes
in bondage But his progress was eX-
tremely slow, because his Cabinet and
Parliament and everybody of influence
We're slave owners themselves and natul-
ally chung to their chief source Of wealth
In 1871, after setting Il good example by
freeing his own slaves and inducing all
the members of the royal family and
several wealthy citizens to do the same,
he laid the axe at the root of the tree by
persuading Congress to pass What was
known as the Free Birth Law. 1t
provided for gradual emancipation by de
clarng that every child born of slave
parents, after Sept. goth of that year,
should be free and the owner OF its moth
er required to support it and educate it
Till the age of twenty one, being entitled
to the results of its labor in the meantime
1t also allowed slaves to purchase their
services performed beyond Il certain max
imun, and established an emancipation
fund. But the law proved impracticable
Forgeries We're committed upon the re
cords OF births, both by the slaves and
their masters. The latter fixed so high IA
valuation that no Slave could possibly earn
his freedom, and they entirely neglected
to educate the children us required by law.
so that when a young man gained his free
dom he was not fitted to enjoy the rights
of citizenship.
Nearly twenty years later Il law was
passed making Internationally free all
slaves who were sixty-tive years Of age,
and manumitting all free on their attain
ing the year of sixty, on condition of
their remaining five years longer in the
service of their master But the law was
SO weighted with conditions and provi-
soeS that it was practically null, although
that good, but visionary old GRANDMOTHER
Dom Pedro Segundo, fondly believed that
he had accomplished great things for
his kinky- haired subjects and that slav-
cry would soon be extinct without danger
to the public safety OF detriment to the
rights Of private property. In point of
fact however Inv the slow wprl; mos Df