$600,000; when the ex-president turned over the administration to his successor, the balance was $370,000; not quite a year had passed, and the province of Amazonas had not a penny to pay its public employés. Of the public works begun, not one had been completed; the money expended so far would be a total loss, for it was not probable that the province would continue to have presidents who considered a theatre costing $400,000 and a lyceum based on European universities necessary to the capital. He mentioned as irregularities the granting of subsidies to students of photography, short-hand writing, law, medicine, etc., amounting to $7,200; for a theatre, $20,000; a monument, $27,000; and said that subsidies and interest guarantees amounted to a million dollars. With reference to the public emancipation fund of the province (the most sacred of any money), he read an official table showing that $48,000 had been disbursed, of which $4,000 was expended in fêtes, and said that up to the middle of January none of the abolition committees had settled accounts. He had made a memorandum of a case, which he read, where the party told him that he had received a loan of $3,200 from a member of a committee on the emancipation fund; and, upon making the first partial payment, was told that there was no hurry for paying the balance, which would be called for when the lender had to settle accounts with the treasury.

Some of the provinces occupy a respectable position in regard to what has been done in the establishment of humane and benevolent institutions. There are several, however, which are still behindhand.

The chief of police of the province of Paraná, in his annual report to the president of the province, 1883, says, "I receive constant requests from various points in the

66

province to receive into the jail at the capital (Curitiba) insane people, which I can not satisfy, both for the reason that the practice would be irregular, and that there are not accommodations."

So, also, the manager of the public hospital of Maranham, in his report of 1881, laments that there is no suitable place for the treatment of the insane, who have to be kept in the same building with other sick patients. The insane in the province, he states, could be counted by hundreds, and there was no suitable building for them. Some even wandered the streets without food or shelter. The next year, however, a country-house was bought and appropriated for the shelter of the insane.

The Minister of the Department of the Empire, in his annual report for 1884, submitted the following reflections as to the need of reorganizing the provincial and municipal governments: "The law of October 1, 1828, which modeled the provincial and municipal administrations, has failed of successful execution, in consequence of inadequate political conditions. A centralizing system has always arisen against its development. This antagonism has created an abnormal situation, in which the uncertainty of rights and consequent weakness of authority, which should direct society, have produced disturbance, which must not continue, for the material and intellectual progress of our country will not allow it.

"The law of October 1, 1828, which defined the functions of the municipalities, has been violated frequently by the Municipal Chamber of Rio de Janeiro. Of fortynine days designed for ordinary sessions, and seven for extraordinary, the Chamber did not sit twenty-five. And even of the days it did sit, some were entirely thrown away, in consequence of the disorderly discussions and

violent and tumultuous scenes among the members. Government spared no means to set matters aright; but, not succeeding, the members were suspended, and those of the preceding legislature were re-elected pro tem. The latter have been able to re-establish order in the administration of the municipality, and have set themselves to meliorate the sanitary condition of the city."

The report sets forth, therefore, the urgent necessity of a reorganization of the municipalities, whereby may be given to each body, which intervenes in its administration, certain and defined positions, and unquestionable functions, so as not to continue the abnormal state of affairs of to-day, in which the administrative powers waste their strength in a mutual contest as to their respective spheres of action. At present the central Government is too much burdened with local affairs of too little importance compared with national affairs.

A Portuguese long ago said that the fortune of a courtier consisted in knowing how to flatter, to lie, to steal, and to divide. It would be singular if such talents had not descended to the present generation; only we must remember that in any country the scene of the courtier's tricks shifts according as power and the purse - strings change from one branch of government to another. In the meaning of this Portuguese philosopher, there is no material difference between the courtier and the lobbyist. We know that in the best countries there must be occasional cases of malversation, defalcation, and corruption in office; and it is when these cases are dragged to light, exposed, and punished that one may safely conclude that the administration as a whole is sound and honest. I would not leave the impression that there is overmuch corruption in Brazilian administration; it is a subject I

am too little acquainted with to give an opinion upon. I know, however, that intelligent and upright business men openly and firmly assert that administration is corrupt. Further, I have no knowledge of any recent case where any functionary has been punished for misbehavior in office. All that the public knows of corruption is what appears from a few feeble squeaks and murmurs of anonymous correspondents through the paid columns of a newspaper.

Able Brazilian publicists have repeatedly said with truth that the Brazilian has much better facilities for learning what has transpired and what is taking place in foreign countries than he has of what is taking place in his own country.

"This sad condition of the Brazilian, knowing more about foreigners than of his own people," says Dr. Vieira Souto, "will only cease when our legislators become satisfied that statistics are the only guide for making known the manner of existence and the development of society in all of its manifestations, the light which clearly guides the way for improving all branches of the public service."

The principle of permanency, however, appears to exist in all branches of the civil service of Brazil except in the office of provincial president.

CHAPTER XIII.

PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT.

THE two parliamentary bodies composing the national legislature consist of a Senate, whose members, elected for life, are chosen by and represent the separate provinces; and a Chamber of Deputies, whose members, elected for a term of four years, are chosen by and represent separate districts. In the election of senator three persons are voted for, one of whom, and usually the one having the highest number of votes, is appointed by the Emperor. The position of senator is the most independent, dignified, and desirable political office to which the Brazilian subject is eligible. The prime minister and several of the Cabinet are usually senators, still retaining their senatorial position. The senators generally have passed the middle of life before their election. They are liberally paid, and, like many of the deputies, are well-trained and able politicians and debaters. Of the two hundred and twelve senators who, up to 1884, had been elected since the creation of the Senate, two resigned, and one hundred and fifty-four died after an average service of fifteen years. The average service of the fifty-six senators then serving was eleven and a quarter years.

The proceedings in both bodies are usually of a dignified and courteous character. The debates and speeches