The question is not whether the people of the United States sympathize with the new Republic of Brazil. It is a question of whether this govern-
ment may recognize with entire propriety a gov-
ernment which the people of Brazil have not yet had the opportunity of approving or disapprov-
ing.[1]
We can and do rejoice as a people at the signs of the daybreak of republicanism in Brazil, but our Government can not officially act until the people of Brazil have by their ballots freely and fully ac-
cepted the new order. No other course is consis-
tent with that prudence and dignity which make recognition of some value when it is given.[2]
Time, which tries all things, may be trusted to reveal the true inwardness of the Brazilian revo-
lution. Nowhere on this earth is the establishment of a genuine republic so sure to be acclaimed with fervor as it is in the United States. But in our eyes the title of Republic is too sacred to be made the mask, decoy, and catchword of military usurpers.[3]
As a matter of fact, the Republican administration did
not require much persuasion or compulsion. The Pan-
American interests and sympathies of James G. Blaine who
was then Secretary of State are well known. He was not
the man to continue a policy of conservatism and caution
when reports were current to the effect that other American
states and even European countries were recognizing the
new republic of Brazil. According, on January 29, 1890,
while evidence of the disposition of the Brazilian people
toward the revolutionary government must still have re-
mained far from explicit and conclusive, formal recognition
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