On the 27th ultimo Dr. Innocencio Serzedello Oorrea tendered his resignation
as minister of finance, and on the 28th Admiral Custodio José de Mello
surrendered the portfolio of marine.
On the 30th Dr. Felisbello Firmo de Olivier a Freire, the recently appointed
minister of foreign affairs, was transferred to the ministry of finance,
still having charge of the foreign ministry ad interim, and Admiral Felippe
Firmino Rodrigues Chaves was appointed minister of marine.
The reasons given for the resignation of Serzedello Correa were a general
disagreement with the vice-president on matters of financial administration.
Admiral Custodio de Mello sets forth as his grievances the refusal of the
vice-president to adopt his views for a settlement of the civil war now in
progress in Rio Grande do Sul, and a general disposition on the part of the
vice-president to manage matters without consultation with him. This is a
very serious rupture in the vice-president’s official family; from the fact
that these two resigned ministers were the strongest and most influential
characters in the cabinet, Admiral de Mello having been the chief organizer
and leader of the movement of November 23, 1891, which deposed Marshal
Deodora from his assumed dictatorship, and restored the legal government
with Vice-President Peixoto at its head.
It is also currently reported and believed that both Dr. Serzedello and Mello
are candidates for the Presidency at the election which must take place in
March next.
What the result of this crisis will be can only be conjectured; but as the
immediate future will shortly disclose it, I shall not offer any prophecy.
As setting forth more particularly the situation, I inclose a copy of an
editorial clipped from the Rio News, together with the letter of Admiral
Custodio de Mello.
[Inclosure in No. 436.—Clipping from the
Rio News of May 2, 1893.]
cabinet changes.
The long impending rupture in the cabinet took place on the 27th, the
minister of finance offering his resignation on that day and the
minister of marine withdrawing from the council of ministers to send in
his resignation on the following day. That
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dissensions existed has long been known, and it was
also known that they were sufficiently serious to make it impossible for
the cabinet to act harmoniously much longer. The resignation of Dr.
Limpo d’Abreu a fortnight since was of too personal a character to
indicate the course which other members of the cabinet would pursue, but
as it was well known that the ministers were not entirely agreed upon
the coercive policy begun in Rio Grande it was certain that the recent
policy adopted by the minister of war could not fail to bring these
differences to an issue. This was practically what occurred at the
cabinet meeting of the 27th. Instead of appearing the minister of
finance sent in his resignation, which was based on the financial policy
of the executive, and the minister of marine withdrew to prepare a
letter tendering his resignation for the following day.
The immediate cause of the resignation of the minister of finance was a
communication received by him from the President on Thursday evening
containing a memorandum for a decree reforming the tribunal de contas,
or annulling its acts in trying to restrict public expenditures to the
legislative appropriations. The requirements of the army in Rio Grande
have caused many extraordinary and unauthorized expenditures, and the
opposition properly shown by the tribunal to these unwarranted uses of
the public money led the President to resolve upon its practical
dissolution. Although Minister Serzedello has not been particularly
sensitive over these dictatorial acts of authority, he resolved not to
be an accomplice in the destruction of so necessary a branch of the
treasury as this auditing commission.
In his letter of resignation he first alludes to the critical situation
of the treasury and to the “urgent measures” which he presented at the
last cabinet meeting to secure economy in expenditures. Among these were
the suppression of advances and commissions abroad, a reduction of
expenses abroad, the postponement of all public works not urgently
required, a reduction in the China and Chicago commissions, and the
recall of all naval vessels in foreign waters, the expenditures for all
of which are now increasing the deficit.
As to the tribunal de contas, he considers it the best protection the
Treasury can have, and for this reason he considers the proposed reform
a serious error. Instead of auditing accounts and refusing those not
regular, or not legal, it will become simply an instrument for
conferring and registering them, without power to protect the treasury
against abuses in expenditures.
The reasons for the resignation of the minister of marine are both
political and administrative, and as they relate to the civil war in Rio
Grande we give them in full:
letter of resignation of the minister
of marine.
Rio de Janeiro, April 28, 1893.
Marshal: Much more than a month ago I had the
honor of apprising your excellency, in a cabinet council, of the
possibility of a pacific solution of the conflict in which Rio Grande do
Sul is engaged. My purpose was patriotic, and would, by means of a
conciliation, have relieved that state of the Republic from a situation
which has converted it into a perennial source of hatreds and internal
discords.
In order to not disturb the country at a time when the action of the
government in a time of such political gravity should be homogeneous, I
did not at once hand in my resignation of the portfolio which I held,
and, insisting on the solution proposed and which your excellency
afterwards undertook to realize, I hoped to see peace soon reestablished
in that unhappy state.
In view, however, of the mission with which the minister of war has been
charged by your excellency of continuing the conflict which is imbruing
Rio Grande do Sul with blood, I consider my permanence in the government
unprofitable, since it was not permitted me to secure that desideratum
of mine for internal policy and public peace.
In a ministerial conference realized on the 20th instant, after hearing
me, your excellency was good enough, in accord with the whole ministry,
to accept my reasons, and then again undertook to transmit your orders
in a sense of a pacification.
After a promise so categorically and twice confirmed, it was not
permitted me to doubt that it would be at once realized, and therefore,
to my amazement, I was yesterday surprised with a declaration in a sense
wholly opposed to the preceding undertakings and solemnly agreed to by
your excellency.
I was and am of opinion that the federal government ought to sustain the
governors elected by the states. The principle, however, can not be
absolute. It admits exceptions like all those which regulate the
guidance of public opinion. It is publicly known and felt that the
actual administration in Rio Grande do Sul does not represent the
majority of our compatriots in that state. It is not a chosen government
imposed by popular opinion, and under such conditions it is a weak
government, which can only be sustained by the support of the federal
military forces.
Now, marshal, the republican situation needs stability; its institutions
need to be consolidated, and the first condition of steadiness which the
Republic stands in need
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of is,
precisely, peace and public tranquility, avoiding henceforth and forever
these internal commotions which disturb our credit and hold the country
constantly under the threat of armed agitations and the surprises of
sanguinary conflicts.
I have within me the unalterable conviction that the revolutionary
movement of the south has no purpose of restoration. At the front of it
are to be found historic republicans, whose political traditions exclude
every suspicion of an attempt against the political institutions of the
country. Most of them fought after the coup d’
état of 3d November for the revindication of national honor and
dignity, cooperating in the great movement of reaction in favor of
legality.
Under such conditions it would be a libel to assert that the
revolutionists are lighting to-day for another cause that shall not be a
guarantee of the rights and liberties which have been trampled under
foot. We ought at least to judge these our compatriots with the
impartiality which old servitors of the country are entitled to and by
their political antecedents.
You now say that you can not adopt by suggestion because the constitution
is opposed to the means that would have to be used to carry it out.
But, marshal, your excellency must understand that no law can be opposed
to order, nor be made an obstacle to the progress and development of a
nation. If our constitution is, in your opinion, an obstacle to the
pacification of Rio Grande do Sul, the executive, whose duty it is to
maintain domestic peace and watch over public tranquility, and which can
not, therefore, leave to an armed struggle the fate of the whole state,
should, in my opinion, in a question of public safety, like that which
is now agitated, adopt extraordinary and even extra-legal measures to
save the country at all hazards.
Your excellency thinks that a reconciliation with the revolutionists may
be effected after the federal troops have won a victory over the enemy;
but if you admit the possibility of a conciliation after a battle, why
not admit it before a battle?
What, then, justifies this bloodshed? Does the Federal army require
it?
It is assuredly not the blood of immolated brethren that will give it
glory and luster.
And who can assure us that this victory is certain? Who knows what means
of action are at the disposal of the revolutionists, who certainly have
the advantage of being inured to the effects of the climate which can
not fail to decimate our brave, intrepid, and valiant northern
soldiers.
And what if the revolutionists, whose policy seems to be to wear out our
soldiers, refuse to give battle?
You perceive, then, marshal, that you propose a solution that does not
correspond to the present political emergency, nor find any
justification whatever in history. Your policy, then, endangers the
public weal, aggravating a situation that can not be maintained and
against which protest the simplest precepts of humanity and all feelings
of republican fraternity. It is a perennial source of evils for the
Republic, since you indefinitely postpone a just and reasonable solution
for a crisis to which you should have long since put an end.
There is another circumstance of great political weight which strengthens
my purpose of resigning my portfolio, and that is the want of skill with
which, in my opinion, the military operations have been conducted and
from which resulted the disaster at Alegrete, a disaster which will
inevitably be followed by others.
No one more than myself, marshal, renders homage to the spirit of
rectitude which governs your conduct in public and private life, and
which places it above the suspicion of any motive not dictated
exclusively by your concern for the public weal, and it is,
consequently, to be regretted that you should retain in the Republic of
Uruguay as a purchasing agent for the army a man who, according to
information received from trustworthy sources, including a letter from
our minister in Montevideo, is wanting in respectability, and is
otherwise unqualified for so responsible a position.
I regret, I repeat, that the information which has been furnished to you
in regard to this commissioner does not coincide with that to which I
have just referred.
In addition to what has herein been set forth, your excellency has not
only failed to consult me in regard to matters connected with the
revolutionary movement in Rio Grande do Sul, but has actually withheld
them from my knowledge in a manner highly offensive to the honorable
office that I hold. Some of the most important acts have been performed
without my intervention.
There has been nothing to justify this treatment, and your excellency can
not deny that I have displayed the utmost solicitude in affairs of
state, offering free and loyal support to the head of the Government and
giving the republican administration all the political and moral force
which it has needed in the arduous task, imposed upon us by
circumstances, of upholding the sway of the law. Neither my political
self-respect nor the elevated office which I hold will permit my
remaining in the position in which your excellency has thus placed
me.
I hold, marshal, that I do not merely share the political responsibility
of the Government
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and of its
administrative acts; it is my duty as minister to manage public affairs
and to be responsible for the events that may result from the manner in
which they are managed, especially at this period, bristling with
difficulties. Thus, equally upon the head of the Government and his
ministers public opinion is entitled to exercise the right of criticism
and censure. I can not, then, submit to the role of an automaton, nor
will a republican administration find worthy men who will sacrifice the
nobility of their political mandate to an office which does not elevate,
but degrades; which does not ennoble, but humiliates.
For these reasons I present my resignation; but outside of the Government
I will continue to serve the Republic, upholding its institutions and
legally constituted authorities, with the same devotion, fortitude, and
loyalty with which I have served it as minister.
With the utmost respect and esteem I have the honor to sign myself,
Your friend, admirer, and obedient servant,
