• The Brazilian Revolution has not been so bloodless as
Mr. Gladstone imagined. No information is obtainable from Brazilian telegrams on the subject, but the testimony of American merchant captains proves that the rising in Rio on December 18th was of a serious kind. Two regiments of artil- lery, aided by some infantry and a few civilians, raised the Imperial flag, and endeavoured to seize the Palace, but were defeated by the remainder of the troops, with the loss of a hundred men. Twenty-one of the ringleaders, chiefly non- commissioned officers, were seized and shot, and all the popular leaders were placed in close confinement. The city has since been governed by martial law, and the Provisional Government has become more dictatorial than ever. They have actually issued a decree adopting the Comtist calendar, so that Brazilians, most of whom are ignorant Catholics, are compelled to use new names for the days of the week, and to call the months Moses, Homer, Aristotle, Archimedes, Ca3sar, St. Paul, Charlemagne, Dante, Gutenberg, Shakespeare, Descartes, and Frederick the Great ! The substitute for the Christian era is not mentioned, but as nothing else in the new nomenclature is Portuguese, it will probably be "the Flight of Pedro." All that looks as if the revolutionists were intoxicated with success, a condition of mind which usually develops a counter-revolution. The armed police, we may remarleincidentally, which is more numerous than the Army, has not been disbanded, and in Park is said to be fighting the soldiers.
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