The coming of Benham changed all this. The Yankee barks led the way to the piers--led at the head of a great procession. The ships of other nations locked yardarms and crushed fenders that they might get into the line. Time has been when the American flag and the American naval fleet have been jeered and scoffed at in foreign ports, and American citizens insulted because they were Americans. I have seen that done myself, but the next day after the “Detroit” ranged up along the insurgent fleet to demonstrate that the American ships could not be fired on with impunity, I saw the flag of Great Britain dragged in the dirt of the Praça “Harmonia” and denounced as “the red rag of Brazilian rebels.” I saw British ship captains look on, and I heard one say, while others applauded: “That’s right. By God, if you want protection after this you must apply to the Yankees.” JOHN R. SPEARS, Special Correspondent of the _N. Y. Sun_. The official report of the U. S. Navy Department states that the cruiser “New York,” under command of Captain J. W. Phillip, cleared for action to sustain the “Detroit” if necessary. THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH IN BRAZIL AS A STATE CHURCH AND AS RELATED TO PROTESTANTISM. (From the _New York Tribune’s Special Correspondent_ at the establishment of the Republic in 1889.) Rio, December 29. The church bells of Rio make a great clangor on Sundays. If religion were a thing of sounding brass, this great city would have cause to be known as one of the centers of Christianity. There is a jangling chime in the Lapa dos Mercadores, and there are bells great and small, harsh and shrill, resounding from hill to hill and echoing back from the outermost mountains. The Church is the oldest of Brazilian institutions. On the Castello there is a church, once the cathedral, with a portion of its walls as old as 1567. The cornerstone of the Capella Imperial, now the cathedral, was laid as far back as 1761. The Candelaria, the largest and most costly church in Rio, has been under construction since 1775. The crumbling church of the Franciscan friars on San Antonio was begun in 1700, the Gloria, overlooking the harbor, was built in 1714, and the Rosario about the same time. Many of the monasteries and convents, which are now practically abandoned under the operation of Imperial laws, date back to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The churches are not only of great antiquity, but they have been built in the main by lay brotherhoods employed in works of mercy. No other South American city has so many hospitals and asylums in active operation. The Misericordia alone cost $1,750,000 and accommodates 1,200 patients. The lay confraternities have done and are still doing a magnificent work of mercy in Rio, and are imparting to religion elements of practical philanthropy which command respect and admiration. But old and useful as the Church is, and loud as is the summons to the faithful