this, Señor Peixoto was still farther removed from the suspicion of
being actuated by a personal motive, inasmuch as his ineligibility
was already established by the constitution, and in no way de-
pended on the bill, whether approved or not.
It is a pity that the personal ambition of Señor Custodio de
Mello will not permit so satisfactory an explanation of his conduct;
but it furnishes a very complete one of his political changes and
of the blindness which led him to expect that a repetition of
the twenty-third of November, 1891, would render it easy for
him to breakfast on the “Aquidaban” and dine in the executive
mansion. Fortunately for republican institutions in Brazil the
circumstances were changed and the men were different, and the
coup-de-main was a failure. The Congress at once authorized
the government to declare a state of siege, furnished the execu-
tive with all necessary means for the defence of the national in-
stitutions, and, as the immediate representative of the nation,
exhorted the States to continue united in defence of the constitu-
tion. The session was closed twenty days after the outbreak of
the revolt.
Everything went wrong with the plans of the rebels ; con-
spirators like Señors de Mello and Ruy Barbosa must have relied
upon promises of support which they did not receive, owing to
the energy of the lawful powers. There are two facts which
support this assertion. A few days after the outbreak of the re-
bellion, Señor Ruy Barbosa, who from the very first night had
kept himself in hiding, deemed it prudent to flee to Montevideo,
and a banker who is said to have loaned a large sum to the
rebels under promise of payment within eight days, seeing the
time of settlement indefinitely postponed, concluded that he
would do a better business by killing himself.
The chief of the rebellion said nothing about a political alli-
ance with the monarchico-federalist rebels of the south ; and if
credit be given to the revelations published in the press of Rio
de Janeiro by Lieut. Brazilio Silvado, Señor de Mello would listen
to no suggestion of alliance with Señor Saldanha da Gama, on
account of the well-known monarchist opinions of the latter.
As long as possible he avoided competitors for the lead in the
movement; sent Captain Lorena to set up a Robinson Crusoe
government in the Island of Desterro, on the coast of the State
of Santa Catharina, and for such a government he had the hardi-
