No. 20.
Mr. Trail to Mr. Frelinghuysen.

No. 110.]

Sir: On the 25th of March last there occurred in the province of Ceará the celebration of an event of such great importance in the history of Brazil that I deem it worthy the subject of a dispatch.

This event was the liberation of an entire province from the curse of slavery.

For a just appreciation of the importance of the festival a brief résumé of the history of slavery in Brazil is necessary.

In the beginning of the colonization of this country Portugal unloaded upon these shores her criminals and social outcasts.

In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the spirit of emigration was not sufficiently advanced in Portugal to induce the better class of people to seek a home and fortune in foreign lands, and thus the first colonists were men of a rather low condition in life.

For the cultivation of the soil of this country, of unsurpassed fertility, slave labor naturally suggested itself to the pioneers, and a great part of Africa being at that time in the power of Portugal, there commenced the forced populazation of Brazil with the negroes, and “the habitat of the African race was extended from the banks of the Congo and the Zambesi to those of the Saint Francisco and of the Parahyba of the south.”

The traffic in slaves thus begun was carried to an almost incredible extent. In the language of Joaquim Nabuco, the author of “O Abolitionismo,” “there was, so to speak, a bridge thrown between Africa and Brazil by which passed millions of slaves.” At one period prior to 1851 the author states the figures of 50,000 per annum of imported negroes are no exaggeration.

In the first quarter of the nineteenth century there arose in Brazil the feeling that something ought to be done to alleviate the condition of the slave, or, at any rate, that measures ought to be taken to check the infamous traffic, which at that time was conducted in a manner so revolting that the details do not bear description.

The first victory for the humanitarians—abolitionism was not then dreamed of—was the passage of the law of November 7, 1831, which declared free all negroes and their children who should be imported into the Empire after that date. This law was never executed, as thousands were imported to these shores subsequent to 1831. They and their children and grandchildren are now held in bondage, in utter contempt of the said law of 1831, which has never been repealed.

From 1831 to 1851 occurred the diplomatic fight between England and Brazil because of the failure of the latter power to execute her treaties and laws in reference to slavery; then came the Aberdeen bill in England; and finally the foreign traffic was broken up in 1851. From this date to September 28, 1871, we find the friends of the slave slowly advancing their cause.

During, the war between Brazil and Paraguay, in 1866, a decree was [Page 28] passed granting freedom to all the slaves of the nation who might be employed in serving in the army, and titles of nobility were granted to such fazendeiros as furnished slaves in numbers to the imperial army.

In 1867 the “Society of Emancipation” in France, composed of le Due de Broglie, Guizot, Laboulaye, A. Cochin, le Prince de Broglie, le Comte de Montalembert, Wallere, and many other distinguished men, addressed a petition to His Majesty the Emperor, urging him to insist upon active measures being taken in behalf of the slaves.

The credit for the suppression of the traffic with Africa, in 1851, is due principally to England. In 1867 we find the leading men of France protesting against the further existence of an institution so totally at variance with the spirit of Christianity and civilization.

The slave power was, however, too strong at that time for His Imperial Majesty, but his feelings on the subject are clearly expressed in a communication made by his son-in-law, le Prince Gaston d’Orleaus, Comte d’Eu, the chief of the imperial army, at the close of the war with Paraguay, to the President of the Provisional Government. In this paper le Comte d’Eu said, “Grant freedom to your slaves, and you will do away with an institution of despotism and deplorable ignorance.”

It was at this time, 1869, that the Liberal party inscribed on its banner “The emancipation of the slave,” and agitated the subject persistingly and fearlessly in Parliament, in the press, and at public meetings. Finally, in 1871, September 28, the “Rio Branco?” law passed. It is this law that is in effect to-day, and on the subject of which there is now going on in Parliament and elsewhere so much discussion. It was not solely the work of the Liberal party, but it was a compromise measure, as a perusal of its contents clearly indicates. The effort was made to satisfy the abolitionists by decreeing that after September 28, 1871, no one could be born into the condition of slavery in Brazil; and it was hoped that the slave-owners would acquiesce quietly in the measure, as it did not affect their interest in slave property existing at the time of the passage of the act.

The law is of peculiar interest, because it is the last legislative act on the subject of slavery passed by a civilized nation, and in all probability it will remain the last.

The legal status of the Brazilian slave is set forth in a work entitled “Promptuario das Leis de Manumissão,” containing 394 pages, and from this book I quote a few articles to elucidate in a measure the present state of the question:

Article 1.

The children of slave mothers that shall be born in the Empire after the date of this law shall be considered of free condition.

Section 7. The said children will remain in the power and under the authority of the masters of their mothers, who (the masters) will be obliged to bring them up until they have completed eight full years.

The child of a slave mother arriving at this age, the master of the mother shall have the choice either to receive from the state an indemnification, of 600 milreis, or to utilize the services of the child until it has completed twenty-one years of age.

The pecuniary indemnification fixed above shall be paid in 6 per cent, bonds, to run for thirty years.

If a slave mother obtains her freedom, she takes with her her children under eight years of age.

Masters who maltreat such children will be deprived of their services, and these children, as well as those given to the state in exchange for the indemnification, will be intrusted to the associations authorized by the Government, who will take care of them and instruct them in some useful trade or occupation.

[Page 29]

The emancipation fund.

Article 3.

There shall be annually freed in every province of the Empire as many slaves as shall correspond to the quota allotted to each province, out of the fund destined for that purpose.

The emancipation fund is derived from—

The tax on slaves; subscriptions, legacies, &c.; six annual lotteries; fines from the violation of this law, &c.

The judges of the orphans’ courts in each province have control of the fund.

The same law requires all the slaves to be registered. From these matriculated slaves the said judges draw the names of the fortunate ones who are freed at the expense of the fund. The law also provides for estimating the value of slaves to be freed, by creating a board of assessors.

By article 6 all the imperial slaves are declared free.

The friends of the slave are now demanding for him unconditional and immediate freedom. They say that, according to the records of the fazendas apparently no children, were born of slave mothers just after the 28th of September, 1871, while the lists show an unheard-of increase of births for 1870.

Thus the first cause for complaint is the alleged falsification of the records by the slave-owners. In the matter of matriculation and assessment great abuses are likewise said to exist.

Only a very few masters choose to deliver to the Government the children born of slave mothers since September 28, 1871, and to receive the bond entitling to 36 milreis a year for thirty years, while the legal requirement of instructing these children has in but a few eases been performed. In consequence of this his highness le Comte d’Eu has only recently organized a society to look after these children, full provision for whom it was thought had been made in the law of 1871.

The returns for June 30, 1882, which are the latest, give as the number of slaves in the Empire at that date 1,346,648. Add to this the number of ingenuos (children born of slave mothers since September 28, 1871, are so called) which is 360,000 and over, and we have a total of more than 1,700,000 beings in the condition of slavery out of an entire population of only 10,100,000. In other words, it is safe to say that one person out of every six in Brazil is a slave. When we take this fact into consideration, and reflect upon the magnitude of interests involved, it is easy to understand why the slave-owners, who constitute the ruling element, will not agree to any change in the present laws affecting the servile element.

During the past few years the abolitionists, who now constitute a very formidable party, composed of an almost infinite number of societies all over the Empire, had directed their efforts to the enfranchisement of a single parish in the province of Ceará. This was accomplished with seemingly no very great difficulty, and gradually parish after parish became free, until on March 25 of this year the entire province of Ceará was enabled to declare that not a slave remained upon its soil.

The consummation of this great work afforded the occasion for a grand celebration, and both in Ceará and in Rio festivals were held by the different abolition societies, at which there was great rejoicing, and the pledge taken that there should be no faltering in the work until the whole Empire could boast that it had at last put itself on the same footing with the civilized nations of the globe.

[Page 30]

When the slave-owners of Ceará became convinced that their province was to be the one against which the efforts of the abolitionists were to be directed, many of them sent their slaves to Eio and sold them.

In September, 1873, there were in the province 33,400 slaves; in January, 1881, this number was reduced to 20,000.

In the same year the javgadeiros (raftsmen or boatmen) decided that no more slaves should be transported from the province, and this stopped the active export to Rio de Janeiro.

The slave-owners then realized the situation, and the price of slaves declined rapidly. In this way the emancipation fund was made to do much more good than it had formerly done. “The average price in the application of the first quota was 437 milreis, and of the fourth 85 milreis, which shows the progressive depreciatory influence of the emancipation agitation.” Eighty-five milreis are about $37.

Additional funds for freeing the slaves were derived from private contributions, lotteries, and 26,198 milreis contributed by the slaves themselves.

The population of Ceará in 1882 was 689,773 free and 31,913 slaves, or 22 to 1; while the province of Rio had 490,087 free and 292,637 slaves, or 1½ to 1; and Sao Paulo 680,742 free and 156,612 slaves, or 4 to 1; from which it will be seen that Ceará was not one of the great slave-owning sections.

The task of enfranchising Ceará was rendered still more easy from the fact that it is not a coffee producing province, but a grazing country. The fazendeiros claim that it is an impossibility to find any being save an African slave who can stand being exposed the whole day to the rays of the tropical sun, a torture that the laborer must undergo in the cultivation and the picking of the berry.

His Majesty the Emperor said, on opening the present Parliament:

A Government bill asking you to pass measures in regard to the slave element is awaiting your decision.

This is a grave matter, but one whose final solution will be arrived at by the execution of the system of the law of September 28, 1871, and the Government is sure that for its development you will adopt the measures suggested by your wisdom.

That is to say, the Government advises the execution of the law of 1871 now, twelve years after its passage, as a means of extricating itself from this “grave matter.”

And it is indeed a grave matter for this country. Assassinations of masters and overseers by slaves, followed by the most terrible revenge, are becoming more and more frequent.

Brazil is bidding for immigrants to open up her wonderful resources; but immigrants are not to be found who are willing to offer their labor in competition with that of slaves. Her finances are a source of increasing uneasiness; but every one knows that the worst has not been reached yet, which will come on that day when the country finds her industries totally paralyzed through the want of labor, her slaves having acquired their freedom either by some legal enactment or as the result of a servile insurrection. After that, freed of this terrible incubus, starting anew with the principles that underlie all civilized nations, she ought soon to attain that rank among the powers of the globe for which nature has evidently destined her.

I have, &c.,

CHARLES B. TRAIL.

[Works referred to for facts and figures: “O Abolitionism,” “Promptuario das Leis, &c.,” “Almanach de Gotha,” “Anglo-Brazilian Times,” and “Journal do Commercio.”]