Republican measures came quickly. On January 10,
1890, the separation of Church and State was decreed by the provisional
Government; and on June 23 of the same year the new Constitution was
promulgated.
In February of 1891 General Fonseca was elected first President of the
new Republic, for a four years' term. He was set at the head of a
Government depending largely on its troops, and these found themselves
suddenly possessed of a power which they had not known previously. The
new citizens of Brazil writhed uneasily under the restraints and
affronts which were now for the first time put upon them; the Press was
muzzled, and a tribunal established with the power of summarily trying
persons suspected of being guilty of want of respect to the new order of
things.
There is no doubt that the first establishment of the Brazilian
Republic was followed by measures of severe repression, not directed
against the Royalists--for this party, to all intents and purposes,
disappeared from existence as soon as the Emperor had left the shores of
Brazil--but against the dissatisfied citizens who were clamouring
against the autocratic methods pursued by the Government. Some definite
accusations were shortly brought against the President.
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