an event in which the generalship displayed and
the nature of the destructive engines used caused
the great powers of Europe to stand in amaze
ment, an equal of which has never been
known in the annals of modern times.
May we ask the cause of this great and rapid
progress ?
In answering a question of this kind many
things of course must be considered.
This country was endowed with natural resources
which could not be surpassed, and inhaustible
riches are imbedded beneath the soil. We have
one of the most healthful and invigorating cli
mates ever possessed by any people—a climate
that is peculiarly adapted for the abode of an
industrious and enlightened nation.
Although these advantages are of incalculable
value in the settlement and growth of a country,
yet these, in my opinion, are not sufficient to ex
plain the rapid growth of the United States. It
is something that is over and above all these and
that nature alone cannot bestow; it is that which
is the foundation on which this great republic has
been built; it is that which has made every man
a ruler, and hence has caused the development
of everything that pertains to the highest form of
human progress and enlightenment; it is that
which has established for every citizen a free ballot
and for every child a free school; it is that which
lias tended to weld together and unify the whole
people, which is the cause of the rapid growth of
the United States, and the instrument to which
I refer is the Constitution under which we are
governed.
The Constitution has not depreciated in value
as time has elapsed, but the longer it remains in
force the greater is the power which it possesses.
Already its power has manifested itself beyond the
border of the country for which it was first in
tended, and its principles have become the cor
ner-stone of nearly all the governments of the
western continent.
With such unparalleled success in the past, we
can look forward to the future of the United
THE FREE LANCE.
States with the brightest and most glorious anti-
L.
cipations.
THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED
STATES OF BRAZIL.
Mr. Editor : —Can you give space in your
columns for a brief outline of the proposed consti
tution of Brazil, an English copy of which has
recently come to hand through the kindness of
Rev. G. A. Landes (class of ’77), who lives at
Corytiba, Province of Parana?
This constitution, drafted by a Commission
under decree of Dec. 3, 1889, amended by the
Cabinet, and published by the Provisional Gov
ernment in decree of June 22,1890, is comprised
in five “Titles,” as follows: The Federal Or
ganization, The States, The Municipality, Bra
zilian Citizens and General Dispositions.
Under the first Title, Articles 1 to 15 consti
tute the Brazilian nation as the United States of
Brazil, determine how far the federal government
may intervene in affairs of the several states, what
it alone is permitted to do, what it must not do,
what the several states may do, what the states
must not do, and what neither the state nor the
Union must do, and they declare the mutual in
dependence of the legislative, executive and ju
dicial departments. Articles 16 to 38 vest the
legislative authority in a National Congress, with
the sanction of the President of the Republic.
The Congress has two houses, the Chamber of
Deputies and the Senate, with simultaneous elec
tions, three-year terms, annual meetings and sal
aried members. Deputies, one for every 70,000
inhabitants, are elected by the people for 3 years;
Senators, three for each state, are elected by the
legislatures for 9 years. The powers of the
chambers, whether acting jointly or separately
are clearly defined and the method of procedure
in enacting laws and resolutions, both under or
dinary conditions and incases of presidential veto
or disagreement between the two houses, is pre
scribed. Articles £9 to 53 confer pn the Presi-