Newspaper Page Text
The Cartersville Coufant-American.
VOL. VIII.
CONFEDERATE colonists.
Who Left TheiP Native Land fop
a Home in Brazil.
The Success and Failures of the Colonists—
j fleet of American Blood Upon Brasil
A Touching Tribute.
Written for the Courant, American, b.v George
S. Barnsley, M. D.
[(■oNCLumcn.]
In my opinion it was a mercy of Provi
dence (hat we went ashore, for with de
ficient hygiene and the impossibility to
enforce it. I doubt if one third of the
party would have reached Brazil, and so
declared to the Com in um, before starting.
('apt. Cross was warned b.v the Com
mune that death would be his late if he
jut us ashore. No one seemed to care to
■xecute the threat. He remained a few
lays in camp and then returned to the
dates.
Shortly after the wreck a Cuban Wished
o borrow, unconditionally, a valise of a
Texan, who detained him on the preiri
ses until the authorities came to see
vhere the bullet hit him, und he was
.aken away to be buried. This event
some unpleasantness amongst
Wie peonle of the country, but by some
Honnivance the Texau was not disturbed.
M Now follows a month in the narrative,
Hi w hich the Commune was a guest ot
■he Cubans, and especially of a planter,
Hi. Verne, to whom too much praise can-
Hot be given, for his courtesy and bound
less generosity; alas, too little apprecia
led by his visitors. And here it is re-
Hnarked that there are no set of people,
Btniong the writer’s experience, so vulgar
lnul exacting as a cert ain class of border
■Americans; this people all first learn
Hnough to make then* bigoted and pre
sumptuous, they deem themselves well
Hdueafed, and are conversant with vil
lage polit’es; too badly iuformed to per-
Heive their own faults; too independent
Ho acknowledge their ignorance, they de*
Hnand and exact of all with whom they
Hrc thrown in contact a distinct treat
went, such us no gentleman or lady
would dare to ask of a stranger. And
Mr. Verne’s month was one of un-
annoyance. He gave them house
Hnom, food at his table, distributed beef
Hud provisions to those who were en-
Hnmped, and yet few there were who ac
cepted these offerings and favors with
Bther than a feeling it was due their nat-
Jftral homage as being born free and in
jjjjpemlent sovereigns ot the United
Btates. As soon as possible after this,
Hoi. McMullen, with that noble dedica-
Ron which always characterized him, to
Rie wants of the people who sailed with
Him, at the risk of his life (he suffered
Rom chronic bronchitis) he repaired to
Havana, and from th nee went.to New
Rork, where he obtained a charter of a
Reamer in New Orleans to take the colo-
Hy to New York to embark on the regu
■tr line of packets from that city to Itio
He Janeiro. The expenses incideut were
Haid in New York by the Brazilian Con-
Hul. In due time the whole party was re-
Slioved to Havana and located in the de
lot of the railroad company. This move
Jus effected with little trouble, as the
wreck occurred only some thirty miles
Horn the capital, and a railroad was
Rose by. Along the route every atten
tion was shown and at Guanhanhai a
Riblic dinner was given. Once in Ha-
the Countess of Meriserrat, the
P rtuguese Consul arid others, raised
Reans to purchase clothes, for many lost
everything they had in the wreck; and,
Besides, several hundreds of dollars were
Hven. All this was accepted as a tribute
H> the individual sovereignty of the Com
■ une.
we all embarked for New York.
Tpift going us cabin passengers and the
■jfst deck. Some 130 men, women and
Rildren, were huddled into a little room,
w th as little regard to comfort as if we
Rui been so many slaves from the coast
oi Africa. Tire food was good enough,
Ht was brutally served. The passage
Has a stormy one, and the transition
Rom the land of flowers to ice was so
H.pid that the suffering was great. Two
R.vs out from Havana a large sea al-
Host foundered the vessel, and volumes
rvater poured into the hold. We re-
Huined with wet feet for ten days, almost
pm whole time of passage. Seven days
belay up in Hampton Roads, the wind
Bowing a gale, with ice and sleet thrown
■to complete our suffering. Only a few
prurs out from Hampton Roads, going
w-a tremendous speed, in a fog, without
Headlights, our steamship escaped, by
■most a miracle, from being struck
Hnidships by another large vessel.
■Once in New York, we found quarters
H a large building at the foot of Canal
Rreet, and although sectional feeling had
Wft subnided since the w ar, many atten
were paid to us by the benovolent.
the 22d ot April, 1867, the Com
f)rone, with much glee, embarked on the
jporth America, Capt. Tuiklepaugh, com-
Hander. On the same vessel we
fehcountered the emigrants of Dr. Gas-
Hn’s party. The passage to Rio was
Hade in the usual time. A few of th e
emigrants went iu the cabin, but the
greater part went steerage, among
whom, to better aid and assist, I was.
The food was execrable. There was some
trouble on board, but 1 do not think
that the Commune was to blame.
On arrival at Rio the immigrants’ bag
gage was all passed free of duty, and
they were housed in large and commo
dious buildings, where good food was
given gratis by the government. Here
they were visited by the EtnperiSr in jier
son, who conversed with many. Trans
portatidHswas afforded to the localities se
lected by the respective chiefs of the par
ties, free of cost. Owing to the misfor
tunes of Col. McMullen’s party the pas
sage out from the states and from Ha
vana was not collected. Great activity
in the explorations was shown b.v private
individuals among the emigrants, many
of whom had been large planters in the
Southern States before the civil war, and
others officers of high rank, during the
same, but the Commune, with few’ excep
tions, had no share in these statements.
These explorations, however, were, in
general, only prompted by imaginary
golcondas or curiosity.
Another colony of Americans went up
the river to a town called Santarem. In
June last 1 met a gentleman from there
at Para, Brazil, and heinformed me that
there who remained were all doing re
markably well, and that lie had himself
acquired a cocoa farm, one for cane, and
owned an immense tract of prairie land
suitable for cattle. Others had a machine
shop and were building steam launches,
with a steady demand from private par
ties. These small vessels were ah inven
tion of an American resident at Santa
rein.
Col. Gunther, having selected the terri
tories of the Rio I)oee, in the Province of
Espirilo Santo, a suitable survey was at
once ordered. The mouth of the Rio
Boce is broad and shallow, while the
breakers are very grand. With indomi
table energy, the difficulties of the ascent
of the river were overcome, and this in
teresting colony, poss'ssing among its
members men of superior education and
refinement, entered and settled themselves
on the margins of the Lake JuDarana,
whose beauties were sweetly sung in
verse by the niece of Mrs. Hentz, a well
known Southern authoms. An exqui
site view exisrs on all sides. The soil is
of remarkable fertility; everything offer
ed peace and prospects of plenty. But
the Brazilians hail warned them that
this Paradise could not be inhabited by
strangers, and hardly by themselves, on
account of the fever. Alas! too true was
the warning. A few years passed and
tie colonists found that fever and heat,
fever and heat, with scarcely transporta
tion of products, was too much for even
Anglo-Saxon energy. Of all the hundred
who went, at the lapse of several years
there remained only one American fami
ly—Col. Gunther, who stayed there many
years, till his decease, leaving a fine farm
and a handsome fortune to his son.
Many returned to the States, and others
found preferable homes in the Province
ofS. Paulo.
The localities by Dr. Gaston, Bev. Bal
lard Dunn and Col. McMullen embraced a
part of tlie Province of S. Paulo, latitude
24 degrees south, lying below the Serra
de Mai 1 , (the eoast line of mountains,)
having for its drainage a large river,
called the Bio Hebeira; at the mouth of
this is situated the town of Iguage.
This river is very tortuous, and has for
its principal tributaries the .loquia, Ipo
ranga and Jacuporanga. On the Juquia
tracts were chosen by Col. McMullen and
the Rev. Mr. Dunn, while those of I>r-
Gaston were on the Rebeiro, close to a
village called Xiririca. The low lands
are fiat and uninteresting—some hundred
miles up the scenery is enchanting, and
the balmy air. green grassy pastures,
and beautiful flowers, all charm and de- a
light U e traveler. The locations of
'Messrs. McMullen and Dunn hud been sur
vived by the Government at a cost of
over a hundred thousand dollars before
the arrival of the immigrants. The Gov
ernment even sent a steam vessel to
transport the colonists to their respect
ive future homes. Unfortunately, this
vessel could only go up the river some
50 miles; canoes were then hired for the
continuance of the voyage to the Gov
ernment colony house, a large shelter
which had been erected by the same.
Here they were left some two. or three
dnys below the ‘Eldorado,’ and dearly
did it cost them to reach it. The loca
tion chosen by the Rev. B. S. Dunn was
dictated either by political motives or
personal speculation. TheAmerican sur
veyors say that the site is extremely pic
turesque, but it has the slight defect of
being without any very good lands, and
in the rainy season half under water.
That of Col. McMullen fully bore out the
praises he so lavished upon it, and so
well described in his report to the minis
ter of agriculture. But the great mis
take is its inaccessibility; of this he as
sured me that he was fully aware, but
that the minister, Paulo Souza, had pro
j vised him the means to open a road to
the coast. These emigrants settled on
the lands of Col. McMullen, and none on
CARTERSVILLE, GA., THURSDAY, MAY 23. 1889.
those of the Rev. Mr. Dunn. The dittleul.
ties of ingress and egress were such, and
these wilds so relatively remote from
Brazilian civilization, that, a few weeks
only were needed to finish the provisions
on hand and to require public and pri
vate charity for them. A few years were
passed in the struggle for existence by
this colony, with willing hearts and
hands. The climate was favorable;
health abounded; the soil yielded in
abundance; but no transportation of a
profitable character could be found. Once
an abortive attempt was made to cut a
road to the ocean, but the result was
scarcely lucrative to the contractor,
much iess to the colonists.
Dr. Gaston's colony found no good
lands. Those that he had chosen were
claimed b.v the Brazilians, but the emi
grants settled on them. It is necessary
only to tell the same old story —they
worked, they reaped, but sold not, and
now only is there a memory of them in
that locality. *
Coeval with the location of these abor
tive colonies was the commencement ot a
saw mill operation on a tributary of the
Jacieporanga, a tributary of the Rio Re
beira. These mills passed from hand to
hands until they fell into the power of
Mr. Ernest Alfonzo Buhlaw. This re
markable Dutchman, beginning on noth
ing, by the use of that grandest of mod
ern virtues, humbugging, found means to
erect good buildings, buy land, saw tim
ber, project and start a railroad, and to
absorb much of Hie floating stock of im
migrants as laborers, after the triple dis
integration of McMullen's colonies.
The business was conducted on a grand
scale and machinery was bought of an
expensive quality. Brrhlaw found access
to the ministers of agriculture, with
whom he had personal acquaintance,
spoke olten to the Emperor, found great
credit among the merchants of Rio—
those lynx-eyed gentlemen—and final
ly, after three years or more of hard
work, ran off with his pocket full ot
money, in spite of the police, etc. I pre
sume his debts, which were many,
were passed over to his debit in the next
world, as I never heard that the Govern
ment, who took charge of the property,
ever paid any.
Linked with the histories of the Rebeira
colonies is that of the government at
Canania. Here were sent the Irish tram
New York and the English under the
Matthews contract. Like every other
colony in the Province of S. Paulo, at
that time, it was located iu the most in
accessible spot easily to be found. A
fine house for the superintendent was
built, lots of land were sold at a moder
ate price, most of them so situated with
regard to a vertical axis that anv one of
the owners, so disposed, lying on his
back and looking upward, could, in
truth, say, as Robinson Crusoe, “lam
monarch of all I survey.” Some ypnrs
were spent in what has been described to
me as a jolly pandemonium. Oh, if poor
Mark Taply conic) have been present, his
heart would have leaped for joy. Eden,
thou art abashed ! To-day the colony is
continued, but the only thing it yields is
milreis to the director.
Avery sensible and quiet old gentle
man, Maj. Robert Merriwetber, of South
Carolina, without questions or wasting
time on offering, as others, to the gov
ernment to reduce S. Paulo to a civilized
North American State inside of three
years by an unlimited immigration from
the United Statesof oneto fifty thousand
!
this practical man selected a homo in the
cotton growing part of S. Paulo, at
Santa Barbara, close to the rapidly
growing manufacturing city of Compo.
nos. He chose the old ground which was
passing from under the Brazilian cultiva
tion to “sape” and samambuia (coarse
grass and tall ferns), with the appliance
of the common farming implements of
the United States, he gained money and
did more to introduce an improved sys
tem of agriculture than perhaps any
other American. He served a nucleus,
around whose farm settled those families
of the colonies who decided to remain.
At the present time there are several
hundreds of Americans and descendants
around the town of St. Barbara, six
miles from a railroad station of the same
name. They have their own schools and
teachers who were sent for in the United
States. Many have comfortable homes,
and are thriving. The younger members
of the most intelligent number have scat
tered widely over the Province, teaching
the use of the plow, hitherto unused. The
pr incipal product is cotton, which finds a
market at the door. Living is cheap, the
climate magnificent, and those to the
manor born never think of returning to
the States. Most all are strictly temper
ate. Some have returned, and then again
gone back to Brazil. They preserve
their Christian denominations and have
regular preachers. Among them aregen
tlemen who were once wealthy planters
of Louisiana and of otter states. The
young ladies of anumber of families have
become school teachers in private Bra
zilian families and in the various Amer
ican missionary colleges. In fact, their
present condition is one of merited pro.
gress and contentment. This colony iu
PORTER & VAUGHAN'S
Special Sale ? Embroidery.
=====
For the Next Two Weeks We Will Offer
GRAND DRIVES IN SWISS EMBROIDEKY!
St- our line,comprising all styles and widths. NEW DESIGNS! BEAUTIFUL PAT
TERNS ! FRESH GOODS! Porter Vaughan’s low prices tn Embroidery for the next
two weeks will astonish you. We have determined to reduce our stock in this department.
Prices will be made to suit the most economical buyers.
GRAND BARGAINS IN
Edgings and Insertions, Torchon Laces, Oriental Laces,
SKIRTINGS AND FLOUNCINGS.
See them, price them, and you will be pleased.
Our White Goods Department
Is full of choice new goods, lovely styles in all the new effects. Grand Bargains in
Mulls, Persian Lawns, India Linens, Victoria Lawns.
Beautiful assortment ol Plaid and Striped Muslins.
Porter & Vaughan’s Stock of Pans
Is acknowledged to be The largest and prettiest in the city. We have reduced the price on
them and Mill offer you grand bargains in this line. See the assortment; new styles; novel
designs; at prices way below competition.
GRAND BARGAINS IN BLACK DRESS GOODS
At Porter & Vaughan’s.
OUR PARASOL DEPARTMENT
Has been a big success. We only have a few left. They will be closed out at once tit aston
ishingly low prices.
New Ginghams. New Hem-stitched Embroidery, New Laces, Black Silk
Drapery Nett, New Ruchings, New Ribbons,
In Endless Variety at Porter & Vaughan’s.
Porter & Vaughan’s Shoe Department
Always in the Lead ! We are constantly receiving new shoes. We handle the best goods
known to the trade. We guarantee our shoes. Our prices on shoes and the quality of the
goods has made this department a grand success. See and price our shoes. N* w styles! New
goods positively guaranteed. Porter Sz Vaughan will receive this week
A New Line of Gents’ and Boys’ Straw Plats
In the latest styles and shapes. A few more of those HENRIETTA CLOTHS left. Latest
j shades and colorings. Beautiful trimmings to match will be closed out extremely cheap.
Samples sent to any address.
POETEH & VAUGHAN,
LEADERS OF FIRST-CLASS GOODS AND LOWEST PRICES.
agriculture ban produced untold benefit j
to the Brazilian planters of coffee and
stimulated the | anting of cotton, which
is now grown in the Province of S.
Paulo in : ufficient quantities to sustain
at least a dozen great cotton cloth fac
tories in various localities, all of which
are lui’d at work the entire year, with
great pro fit !o the shareholders. Before
the arrival oj i lie Americans a plow was
unknown; now C ere are manufactories
kept busy making agricultural imple
ments ot the latest and most improved
American models, m l inventions of
Americans, English ami ]’•'>ziliar.s. The
latter show a surpi ising tah nt. for ma
chinery and its application. Ti e facto
ries now employ only Brazilian labor,
which is cheap, ns provisions are so
abundant of all kinds.
Maj. It. Merriwether, after the decline
of the price of cotton, owing to the re
newed production ot the Enited States,
moved to the west some fifty miles and
started a coffee plantation. He has at
the present close to 100,000 coffee trees,
and is making money very fast—a IP
done by his ow n an#t hildien’s exertions.
As regards the treatment of the Amer
ican people in the kindness, the general
sympathy and welcome, nothing more
could be desired, while in regard to civil
rights, religious liberties and security of
projierty, all are as good as in any count ry
in the world. Taxes are levied on im
ports and exports und the producer does
not feel it, or even know of it. He pays
no tax of any kiud, except he has a resi
dence in the city, and when he sells liis
farm.
In analyzing the reasons of the general
failure of these varied attempts at Amer
ican and English colonization, there are
other reasons than those of climate, soil
and transportation; it was the inhe
rent unfitness for such enterprises of 1 he
Southern American of the United States.
The life at the South had for its effects
a certain individualism, utterly opposed
to any concerted common action, of
which the individual was not apprised
and consented. This was but too appa
rent in the Southern army, and rigid
discipline was impossible to obtain. The
individual never lost himself in the mass;
born to command a race inferior in every
respect, the Southern proud spirit ill
brooked the discipline of war. To their
stubborn courage, individual consent!
and sense of honor, combined with the
nuturid genius of their leaders, did the
strife owe its prolonged continuance,
and the same principle of disintegration
was one of the causes of its ending In
vain did the various leaders of the colo
nists strive to combine; every one
thought and acted for himself, and each j
one seemed dictated to by an uncontroll
able desire to wander away from the oth
ers. Among them were, however, a few
who were capable of long, continued j>er
severance.
Besides, much as it is to be regretted,
tiie habits of the Americans and English
either brought from their countries, or
acquired in Brazil, were not conducive
to their moral or material good, how
ever much they added tothespiritual sue.
cess of their native neighbors in the
steady consumption of aguadento.
Another reason is that Americans and
English are tenacious of their ideas, man
ners, customs and religion. The French,
Italian and Portuguese, whom I have
met here, soon adopt Brazilian customs
and manner of thought. The two first.
American and English, know no such
thiirg ns amalgamation of thought or of
religion. Na urally egotistical, they ul-'
low no superiors nor accept any custom
which does not concord with previous
ideas, and finally, they must be masters.
In my own opinion, and it appears to me
to be substantiated by history, it has
been, and always will be, a futile attempt
to colonize Americans or English in any
country where they cannot become mas
ters. \V hen American immigration was
at its height, it was the ardent hope of
many, at times publicly expressed among
themselves, that enough would coine to
take the country, and so spoke the En
glish. An Anglo-Saxon, or his deni mi
ant, is a rapacious animal, and w e lie
unto those who open the door to him f
He tiers ui'oii the ehristiun principle of
protestiuizing tfie natives, and taking
the country to pay expenses, and for tear
that natives might, relapse into barbs,
risrn. He is the provost marshal of the
Christian army; he does not destroy the
native, but makes him wear a clean cot
ton snirt and unexpressibles, and get
into the ranks of the Salvation Army.
But, unquestionably. English coloniza
tion is the noblest of all. Compare the
United States, Australia, New Zealand,
with South America, with Java, and the
Anglo-Saxon race carries with it its
sciences, its penatee, its liter
ature and its history. Climate little
changes make. What English descend
ant over this world does not remember
and love the names of Shakespeare, of
Milton, of Newton? and how many of
them whose heart does not yearn to
tread the soil of the motherland? What
Contnued on fourth page
NO 50.