REVOLUTION IN BRAZIL.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 167, 16 July 1924, Page 4

REVOLUTION IN BRAZIL.

It is unfortunate that so little is known with regard to Brazil, the largest and most populous country in the Southern Hemisphere. We know that a revolution is in progress, but owing I to a rigorous censorship the accounts received are meagre and contradictory. The messages from Montevideo are the most reliable, Uruguay being full of Brazilian refugees. The main seat of the insurrection is the State of Sao Paulo, the richest and most progressive portion of Brazil. Tho Paulistas (as the inhabitants of Sao Paulo style themselves) have a tendency to look down on the rest of their countrymen, the more indolent inhabitants of the coastal regions especially. It is evident that ; the insurrection is not 6o small or unimportant as ' certain reports, from Government sources, would have us believe. The attitude of the fleet seems uncertain, and a great deal depends on this. If the Brazilian navy sides with the insurgents the situation of the Government will be extremely critical. The revolution in Chili, which ended in the overthrow of the Balmaeeda Government, was- practically decided by the action of the fleet; from the moment that the naval forces threw in their lot with the insurgents the Government had no prospect of success. When r London was asked for a loan, the movement was effectually countered by a i notice given by the insurgents that they would not recognise any loan raised by the Government of Balmaeeda. As a result, the loan negotiations completely collapsed. The rebels are now reported to be advancing on the port of Santos. This seems to imply that the whole of the interior of the important State of Sao Paulo is in their hands. By the capture of Santos, which has an export trade in coffee of more than £20.000,000 per annum, not only will they secure a considerable source of revenue, but they will be able to got into touch with the fleet, on. the action of which so much depends. Brazil has always taken a great pride in her fleet, on which large sums have been spent, though so far it has only been a source of embarrassment to the Government. At least two of the great revolts which have taken place were started by the navy. The first was crushed by the intervention of foreign Powers. The second would probably have been successful if the land forces had co-operated, but it was purely a naval mutiny. Republican government does not seem to have been a success in Brazil. During the fifty-eight years' reign of Dom Pedro H, which ended in- ISB9, that country was tile most

peaceful in South America. On November 15, 1889, the Emperor was deposed by a bloodless revolution, and a republic declared. Like Mexico, \he change to a republican form, of government was followed by a long series of revolutions. The revolution now reported from Sao Paulo is not the only one which has been raging in Brazil during the last twelve months. Besides that in Rio Grande, there was another in the State of Bahia, which apparently did not last long. The various States of Brazil are autonomous, even to a greater extent than those of the American Union, and local revolutions, directed against the State Governments, in which the Federal Government does not intervene, are a feature of Brazilian politics. The revolt in Sao Paulo, however, is apparently not of this nature, but is directed against the Federal Government. !