The New Orleans Bulletin

DOM PEDRO.

There is no possible doubt that we are to have a real Emperor among us next summer. Dom Pedro, the Emperor of Brazil, has explained to his Parliament that he wants to visit the Centennial exhibition, and that the health of the Empress is such that an opportunity of shopping in New York is imperatively necessary. The desired permission to be absent from the Empire has been granted, and the Emperor and Empress now lie awake at night discussing the number of trunks that they will require, whether overcoats and flannel skirts will be needed in New York, and what presents they can afford to bring back to the children.

But one reigning monarch has ever visited us. We have had one Bonaparte who afterward became an Emperor, and another Bonaparte who, having retired from business as a King of Spain, devoted his mind to cabbages in New Jersey. King Kalakaua was, however, the only professional King in active business who ever came to the United States with his crown in his actual possession. But Kalakaua, although a genuine King, was, after all, a very cheap variety of monarch, and no intelligent republican could find very much solid satisfaction in gazing upon his swarthy visage. Many persons indeed refused to regard him as a real King, inasmuch as he kept his crown locked up in his trunk, and they alleged that he was only a sort of electro-plate monarch manufactured by the missionaries, and not to be compared with the genuine European article. No such doubts can be entertained as to Dom Pedro, who reigns over a country little inferior in size to the United States, and whose genuineness as an Emperor has been certified to by the Pope himself.

The Brazilian Emperor ought to meet with a warm reception. He is not only an honest man, but an intelligent and liberal statesman, and an accomplished gentleman. Under his rule, Brazil has presented the world with the spectacle of a South American nation which has made, and is making, steady progress in enlightenment and material prosperity. But for Brazil we should probably have decided that the South Americans are incapable of maintaining a government which is at once strong and liberal. Dom Pedro, as a constitutional monarch, has certainly less power than is wielded by the military dictators who misgovern the Spanish-American republics; but he has been able to secure to his subjects the peace, prosperity, and freedom which tyrants like Rosas and Francia hated, and which patriotic and enlightened men like Mosquera and Sarmiento have failed to secure.

The visit of Dom Pedro to the United States ought to bring about a closer intercourse between the two leading nations of the North and South. Until very recently, the trade of Brazil was monopolized by English vessels, and even now the single line of steamers which connects New York with Brazil is composed of ships which fly the English flag. The commerce of Brazil is large and valuable and belongs naturally to the United States. If the visit of the Brazilian Emperor attracts the attention of our merchants to the trade which they have so long ignored, and induces them to transfer it from Liverpool and London to New York, Baltimore and New Orleans, we shall have abundant reason for thanking Brazil for sending to our Centennial one of the most harmless monarchs of the century.—N. Y. Times.