The morning call., 1893-11-19
THE SITUATION IN BRAZIL.

Tie announcement that Admiral Mello
has proclaimed the restoration of the en-
pire of Brazil, with Prince Pierre de
Alcantara, son of the Count d'Eu, as En-
peror, probably means the collapse OF the
rebellion. Count Eu. who is a genuine
Orleans, is the man who tried to sell out
his birtbright to the republic of Brazil. A
proposal to raise his son TO the throne
would be greeted with universal derision.
Mello is evidently al the end of his tether.
The decision of the combined foreign
fleets that they will not allow him 10
modest foreign commerce or to receive
munitions of war except at Santos. which
is in the hands of his enemies. Is fatal to
his hopes. The best thing now for him to
do is TO see what terms he can make with
PeixotO.
The Mello instruction. like the rebel
movement in Southern Brazil. is an after
math of the revolution which substituted
a republic for an empire. When changes
of this kind take place somebody is dis
satisfied, and the fashion of revolution
being set malcontents invite the success
full revolutionists 10 the dish they served
to the overthrOwn regime. So far as appears
in this part of the world Mello and his
friends did not promise to be an improve
ment on PeiXoto and his friends. They
were all bred in the same school, and
their political methods were the same. II
was mere personal rivalry. and in that
Americans could take no interest. The
United States were not brought into the
controversy until the conf CT men aced the
interests of American trade and American
shipping. Our Government had no obirc-
ton to the BraZIiians bombarding each
other to the crack Of doom, but when they
endangered American slips and destroyed
American cargoes, interference on our
part did not involve relapse into filibus-
terism.
In two points of view the civil war in
the harbor of Rio has redeeming aspects.
Eight nations are represented on the scene
by naval squadrons. including one from
the United States. These squadrons have
acted in concert for the common cause of
humanity and the rights of neutrals.
Again, the BON bardment of Rio will add
to our knowledge of gunnery. Since
modern heavy artillery was invented.
there has been but one case 10 which i,
was tested in actIon-that was at the
bonn bardment of Alexandria twelve years
d6Cs 1b0 III a. OPOl was
excused on the ground that naval science
actually required practical experiment.
Since 1881 naval gunnery has made prog
ress, and gunners are again in the dark as
to the effect of heavy pieces and mon
strous projectiles on a target which can
strike back. On the foreign fleets now in
the harbOr of Rio are some of the ablest
artillersts Of Europe and America For
them the controversy between Mello and
PeixotO must be regarded as a post
graduate course in the science of gunnery.
As to the ultimate result of the pending
conflict. it is rash to make predictions.
Mello will probably be suppressed, and
his followers will fall into line. But that
will not insure the submission of the in
surgents In Rio del Sud and Minas Geraes;
nor will it necessarily convince the people
OF Matte Crosse that they had better aban-
don their scheme OF a separate national
ity. The trouble with Brazil is that it is
too large to be easily grasped in a single
hand. 1t embraces an area as vast as that
of the United States. and it is peopled,
though thinly peopled. throughout. If. at
the close of he war Of independence. the
whole area of the new nation had been
inhabited, it wo uld have proved far more
difficult than it was to unite the whole
country under one national flag