SOUTH AMERICA.
The Portuguese introduced slavery into Brazil about the year 1558, and
the increase of that class of the population was as rapid as in any
part of the newly discovered country. The treatment of the slaves did
not differ from Jamaica, St. Domingo, and Cuba.
Brazil has given the death-blow to the wicked system which has been so
long both her grievous burden and her foul disgrace. Henceforth, every
child born in the empire is free, and in twenty years the chains will
fall from the limbs of her last surviving slave. By this decree, nearly
three million blacks are raised up from the dust; and though but few
of this generation can hope to see the day of general emancipation, it
is much for them to know that the curse which rested on the parents
will no longer be transmitted to the children; it is something that
the younger of them have a bright although distant future to look
toward and to wait for. Very likely, too, the dying institution will
not be suffered to linger out the whole of the existence which the new
law accords to it; as the benefits of free labor to the whole country
become appreciated fresh legislation may hasten the advent of national
liberty and justice.
The first colonists enslaved the Indians; and, despite the futile
measures of emancipation adopted by the Portuguese crown in 1570, in
1647, and in 1684, these unfortunate natives remained in servitude
until 1755, and would perhaps have been held to this day, had they
not proved very unprofitable. Negroes were accordingly imported from
other Portuguese dominions, and a slave-trade with the African coast
naturally sprang up, and is only just ended. Portugal bound herself
by treaty with England, in 1815, to abolish the trade. Brazil renewed
the obligation in her own name in 1826. Yet in 1839 it was estimated
that eighty thousand blacks were imported every year; and, ten years
later, the Minister of Foreign Affairs reported that the brutal traffic
had only been reduced one-fourth. The energetic action of England,
declaring in 1845 that Brazilian slave-ships should be amenable to
English authorities, led to a long diplomatic contest, and threats of
war; but it bore fruit in 1850 in a statute wherein Brazil assimilated
the trade to piracy, and in 1852 the emperor declared it virtually
extinct.
In the mean time, an opposition, not to the slave-trade alone, but
to slavery, too, gradually strengthened itself within the empire.
Manumission became frequent, and the laws made it very easy. A society
was organized under the protection of the emperor, which, every year,
in open church, solemnly liberated a number of slaves; and in 1856 the
English Embassador wrote home that the government had communicated
to him their resolution gradually to abolish slavery in every part
of the empire. The grand step which they have now taken has no doubt
been impelled by the example of our own country. It is one of the many
precious fruits which have sprung, and are destined yet to spring, from
the soil which we watered so freely with patriot blood.
Information generally, with regard to Brazil, is scanty, especially in
connection with the blacks; but in all the walks of life, men of color
are found in that country.
In the Brazilian army, many of the officers are mulattoes, and some of
a very dark hue. The prejudice of color is not so prominent here, as in
some other slaveholding countries.