or attempts at raising enis generally as flat as possiur the cause can generally 1 chiefs, and the actors are no uncommon thing for a north, or in the interior, to e that would be employed ates in actively canvassing w can it be claimed that a á who has never left this ic opinion of his district, ed by proxy; and how can anything of his opinions indorsements of personal es?... Another proof of professions of the deputies. ons is to a large extent s, and manufacturers, our formed of lawyers, with an are planter, unless in comThere must be unprofesy interested in commerce candidates, and the introcomposition of the Chamwith advantage. Politics neans of support, and, the again and again, political ut, and personal questions fall of a ministry as polities. We think an extension correct the present unfor

ith what is found in the

chapter on slavery, will enable one to form a fair judgment of the political situation and of the practice of politics in Brazil. It will be seen that parliamentary government is there carried on with as much ability and fairness as it is in some European countries. Some things undoubtedly are to be deplored. An ex-Cabinet minister said to an acquaintance of mine, at Rio, "I would sooner bury my son than to bring him up in politics." His opinion was formed doubtless by the ups and downs-the uncertainty—as well as by the intrigue and corruption there are in politics. The Brazilians feel that they have a tremendously great country, and one which has a splendid destiny. They are proud of it, and will not permit it to fall into too much discredit. The honors which in a parliamentary system await a high order of statesmanship are healthy incentives, and I believe the tendency in Brazil is toward improvement under her present system.

The return of the adjutant-general of the army shows that the aggregate number of officers and enlisted men is 13,764, being the military strength of the country on a peace basis. It consists, in round numbers, of 3,000 artillery, 2,500 cavalry, and 8,000 infantry, and is widely detached in the different provinces. The principal detachment, comprising 4,000 men, under a general officer, is stationed in the province of Rio Grande do Sul, which borders the Republic of Uruguay; about 2,000 men are stationed in the frontier province of Matto-Grosso; 1,000 in the province of Pernambuco; 600 in the province of Pará; about the same number in each of the provinces of Bahia and Paraná, and about 3,000 at the capital-each detachment being under the command of a general officer. In the other provinces there are detachments which are under the command of the respective presidents. The

enlisted men of the army are all volunteers, who have engaged to serve for a term of six years. Their pay is only about two dollars a month, besides board and clothing. A law was passed ten years ago making military service for eight years obligatory on males between eighteen and thirty years of age-the requisite number to be drawn by lot. As yet, however, it has not been found necessary to enforce it. The annual military expenses amount to six million dollars.

Brazil is rather liberal in her system of military pensions. Those who received wounds or injuries to health in the Paraguayan war, as well as the widows, children, or sisters of those who were killed, receive an allowance of six dollars and upward a month. The widow of an officer killed in war would now receive a pension equal to his full pay. Where there are male children, but not a widow, they would receive the pension till they were of age; and a daughter, if an only child, and the mother not living, would receive the full pension during her life, whether married or single. So, also, officers who distinguished themselves in the war, though never wounded, receive a pension in some cases as high as twenty-five hundred dollars a year.

A commission, of which his Royal Highness Count d'Eu was president, and the adjutant - general, quartermaster-general, and three other general officers were members, was appointed two years ago to elaborate a plan of army organization in accord with improvements introduced into modern armies, and which would be suitable for Brazil. The plan they reported contemplates an aggregate force, in time of peace, of 1,129 commissioned officers and 15,000 enlisted men, and which in time of war could be increased to an army of 30,000 men.

CHAPTER XIV.

BRAZILIAN LITERATURE.

As the language of Brazil is the Portuguese, a few remarks in regard to it may serve as a suitable introduction to a sketch of Brazilian literature. The Portuguese language, like the Spanish, is founded on the Latin. This is evident from the many Latin words still in use in the language, even if there were no historical proofs of the fact. Prof. Ticknor, in his "History of Spanish Literature,” points out that Christianity, beginning as early at least as the second century, was introduced into the peninsula, comprising Spain and Portugal, in the Latin language. That fact, he says, is very important, as showing that no other language was left strong enough to contend with it, at least through the middle and southern portions of the country. The Christian clergy, however, he says, addressed themselves for a long period to the lower and more ignorant classes of society, because the refined and the powerful refused to listen to them, and therefore used the degraded Latin which the common people spoke. He is of the opinion that "the modern languages and their dialects in the south of Europe were, so far as the Latin was concerned, formed out of the popular and vulgar Latin found in the mouths of the common people;

and that Christianity, more than any single cause, was the medium and means by which this change from one to the other was brought about." The Portuguese language received additions and modifications by the invasion of the Goths in the fifth century and of the Arabs in the eighth century, but still retains distinctive Latin characteristics. There are so many words in common use, in the Portuguese, like the Latin, that it does not require a great stretch of the imagination to fancy that the people one sees and hears in Brazil are descendants of an ancient Latin race, and speak a language that could almost have been understood by the every-day people in the time and country of Horace. The similarity of the architecture of Rio, especially of the shops, with what is seen in the remains of the old Roman cities, makes the idea seem not unreasonable. Of course, from my limited acquaintance with the Portuguese language, I would not presume, unaided, to give a sketch of Brazilian literature; and most of the matter which follows in this chapter has been supplied by Mr. Shalders, a conscientious and talented graduate of one of Brazil's highest institutions of learning.

Among Brazilian authors probably José Martiniano de Alencár, Bernardo Guimarães, and J. M. de Macedo, by general consent, occupy the prominent places. The firstnamed belonged to the present era, and composed about thirty works of fiction, of which "Iracema" and "Guarany" are regarded as the best. He was born at Ceará, northern Brazil, May 1, 1829, and his early childhood was there spent. At the age of ten his family moved to Rio de Janeiro, making the very long journey thither by land. At Rio he received his first scholastic training, after which he studied law at the São Paulo and Olinda schools, graduating at the latter in 1851. Returning to