 Section 34 of the South American Republics, Volume 1, by Thomas Clelland Dawson. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Part 4, Brazil, Chapter 11, Gold Discoveries, Revolts, French Attacks. The early attempts to find gold and silver had not been successful. A little gold was found in Sao Paulo in the 16th century, but no great discoveries were made until nearly the end of the 17th. The Paulistas, who scoured the interior in their slavehands, occasionally came across indications of gold, and rumours constantly reached the coast. But for a long time the Paulistas failed, either through ignorance or design, to give sufficiently exact information. After 1670 the rumours became so circumstantial that no doubt was felt that the mountain ranges around the headwaters of San Francisco River were gold-bearing. Stimulated by government promises of liberal treatment, the Paulistas undertook the hunt in earnest. About 1680 they found the rich gold-washings of Sabará, where today is one of the great minds of the world, the Morroveio. This is 300 miles directly north of Rio. In 1693 Antonio Arthau, a Paulista, penetrated west from this region to the sea coast of Victoria, bringing with him native gold in large nuggets. These were sent to Portugal and created intense excitement. The Paulistas followed up these first discoveries by soon finding half a dozen other fields, all of them yielding gold in abundance to the crudest processes. A rush started that threatened to depopulate the sea coast and even Portugal itself. The find was the greatest gold discovery which had been made in the history of the world up to that time. The one province of Minas Gerais produced 7,500,000 ounces within the first 50 years and its total product to the present time has been 25 million ounces. The Paulista discoverers of the mines soon became involved in quarrels with the swarms of adventurers who poured in from Portugal. The government at first did not establish any regular control over the mining region and disputes arose between the old and newcomers as to the proprietorship of the claims. Anarchy and civil war ensued, but the foreign element nicknamed the Embo Abbas came out on top with a strongman Nunes Vianna at the head of the affairs. He became the virtual ruler of the region and the Portuguese authorities at Rio seeing their prerequisites endangered tried to get rid of him by force. They were unsuccessful but finally managed to seduce his followers and secure a recognition of their own paramount authority by solemn promises to concede the reasonable demands of the miners. These promises were not kept, though he had been induced to surrender on assurances that his life would be spared was assassinated. The mining laws at first liberal were narrowed until exploration was discouraged and production oppressed. For years the authorities tried to collect a fixed amount for each slave employed a provision which discouraged searches for new deposits. Then the system of requiring all gold to be taken to government melting houses was enforced. Export in dust or nuggets was forbidden and no gold was allowed in circulation except that which bore the government stamp showing it had paid the king's fifth. This involved the searching of every traveller's pockets and the posting of detachments of soldiers at every crossroads. So oppressive and inconvenient was this that finally the chief miners and municipal authorities agreed to be responsible for a lump sum yearly. The War of the Embo Abbas ended in 1709 but troubles broke out in the mining regions from time to time down to the end of the colonial period. These struggles for local self-government, for the right to exist, were not confined to minas. In various forms and at various times they were repeated in most of the provinces and a strong belief in local autonomy never died out though for long periods it was apparently crushed out of existence. Simultaneously with the overthrow of the semi-independent government of minas which had been set up by the Embo Abbas a civil war broke out in the old province of Pernambuco. This was a struggle of the oligarchy of native Brazilian sugar planters against the rigorous and corrupt rule of the royal governors and against the encroachments of the newly arrived Portuguese. Then as now foreigners conducted the trade of Brazil the Brazilian aristocrats remained on their plantations disdaining the small economies and anxieties of commerce. The Portuguese were the peddlers, shopkeepers, moneylenders for the community as well as the officials of the government. In both capacities they pressed hard on the extravagant Brazilians. Olinda, the old capital, was the headquarters of the latter. Recife, three miles south, was the port and chiefly inhabited by native Portuguese. It had outrun Olinda during the Dutch occupation but was legally only an administrative dependency of the older and smaller town. In 1709 the Portuguese government made Recife a separate town a step which was bitterly resented by the Brazilians and especially by the close corporation of native families who controlled the Olinda municipal government. Hostilities broke out between them and the governor. 2000 Pernambucanos invaded Recife, the troops deserted and the governor fled for his life while the royal charter to Recife was torn to bits by the mob. The heads of the insurrection met to determine what form of government should be adopted. Bernardo Vieira, the best soldier in the colony proposed that a republic should be founded on the plan of Venice probably the first time a republic was ever advocated on American soil. The proposition met with much favor and conservatives shrank from so radical a departure. The bishop was made acting governor but his hand proved not firm enough to control the divergent interests and ambitions. The Portuguese, Mascates they were called, revolted in their turn and drove him from Recife. The Pernambucanos besieged the place but the loss of the seaport was a heavy blow. The Olinda oligarchy was not able to secure one of the smaller municipalities and civil war spread throughout the province. When a new governor appeared with a commission from the king he had little difficulty by promises of fair treatment in inducing all parties to lay down their arms. No sooner however was he safely in power than he imprisoned and banished the chiefs of the revolt especially selecting those who had favored an independent republic. All three great revolts, back months in Maranhão, that of the Emboapas in Minas and the Olinda Rebellion in 1710 followed substantially the same course. Local feeling was strong enough to sweep all before it for a time but lack of capacity for organization, intestine quarrels, want of persistency soon enabled the Portuguese officials to re-establish themselves more firmly than ever. Meanwhile Portugal had become involved in the war of the Spanish succession. Colonia was again captured by the Spanish of Buenos Aires and though it was restored at the end of the war its trade was never so prosperous afterwards. In the Upper Amazon Spanish Jesuits had come down from Quito but the Portuguese expelled them thereby confirming Portugal's title as far as the foothills of the Andes. The Spaniards of the 18th century no more than the Peruvians and Bolivians of the 19th were able to cope with the difficulties of transit from the Pacific side of the mountains. Portugal's effective possession reached to the 17th meridian from Greenwich 1600 miles west of the Tordesia line. Rio was the only important Brazilian port which had escaped attack by hostile fleet during the preceding century and the discovery of the gold mines gave a tremendous impetus to its prosperity and wealth. The only gateway to the mining territory its population of over 12,000 was soon one of the richest and busiest in all America. The opportunity was too tempting to be neglected by the French price hunters. A daring Frenchman named Duclair appeared before the city in 1710 but seeing that he had not ships strong enough to force the entrance landed with a thousand marines 40 miles down the coast. They met with no resistance in their march through the woods and arrived back of the city without loss. Then they proceeded coolly to charge into the narrow streets in the face of the artillery fire from the hilltop forts that surround the city. The audacious enterprise was very nearly successful. The Portuguese regulars offered no effective resistance and the main body of the French penetrated to the very center of the city. There they were checked by a little party of students who had climbed into the governor's palace and were firing out of the windows. The French finally took the palace by assault but meanwhile the city had risen before them. Their scattered detachments were massacred in detail and the main body in the palace had to surrender at discretion. The Portuguese solid their victory by acts of medieval cruelty killing most of the prisoners. The victims did not long remain unevented. As soon as the news reached France Admiral Dugay Tron, one of the ablest seamen his nation had produced, volunteered to lead an expedition to Rio. Wealthy merchants of San Malo supplied the money and in June 1711 he sailed with seven line of battleships six frigates and four smaller vessels manned by 5,000 picked men. Secretly as the expedition had been dispatched the Portuguese had received warning. The garrison had been reinforced and the narrow-mouthed harbor and hill-commanded city were defended by three forts and eleven batteries besides four ships of the line and four frigates. Favored by a foggy morning he ran boldly in suffering little loss. Of the Portuguese men of war, not one escaped Fort Villegagnon was blown up by the mismanagement of its garrison the Portuguese became demoralized Tron put a battery on an unoccupied island within cannon shot of the city and disembarked troops to the left of the town where a range of hills made it easy to dominate the low ground. The poor governor knew no better tactics than to let the French enter the streets and then overpower them in fighting from house to house. But Tron was to all the soldier to be caught like his fellow countrymen the year before he coolly advanced his batteries and soon had the town commanded on three sides. It was only a question of getting his cannon into position when he could batter the place at his leisure. Panic extended from the citizens to the soldiers and a week after the French had entered the harbor the governor fled ignominiously to the interior and the French took possession unopposed. Revenge and plunder had been the object of the expedition. It would have been very difficult for the French to have remained in permanent possession of the city and the conquest of the interior with its large population and mountainous character was not to be thought of. The city was admitted to ransom on giving up the surviving prisoners of the Duclère expedition. Ducat Tron sailed triumphantly back to France with a treasure which netted the Norman merchants who had fitted him out 92% on their investment in spite of the wrecking of the biggest ship on the homeward voyage. End of section 34 Section 35 of the South American Republics volume 1 by Thomas Clelland Dawson this LibriVox recording is in the public domain part 4 Brazil chapter 12 the 18th century Montevideo was founded in 1726 and became the nucleus of the Spanish settlements which have grown into the mother country of Uruguay except Colonia the only Portuguese settlements south of the 25th degree towns of Santa Catarina Island the unimportant village of Laguna on the coast plains and the scattered ranches of a few adventurous Paulistas on the plateau. The founding of Montevideo drew the serious attention of the Rio government to the valuable country between the plate and Santa Catarina. The Paulistas had thoroughly explored the plains and found them swarming with cattle. The chief obstacle to the foundation of a military post as a nucleus for the settlement of Rio Grande and eastern Uruguay was the lack of a harbor on that sandy coast. When the next European war broke out in 1735 the Spaniards again besieged Colonia and established forts and settlements along the Uruguayan coast from Montevideo to the present Brazilian border. In 1737 the Portuguese authorities sent an expedition to take Montevideo which failed. On the way back the Portuguese built a little fort at the only entrance which gives access to the great series of lagoons which run parallel to the coast for 250 miles north of the southern Brazilian frontier. This is the site of the present city of Rio Grande do Sul. A few years later a considerable number of settlers from the Azores Islands were introduced who engaged in agriculture along the fertile borders of the great Dac Lagoon. In 1750 Spain and Portugal made an attempt to reach an amicable and rational agreement about their South American boundaries. Up to that time Spain had stubbornly claimed the territory as far north and south as Santos and Portugal was even more unreasonable in asserting her exclusive right to the coast as far south and west as the mouth of the Uruguay. The Treaty of 1750 virtually recognized the Usipacidetes. Portugal agreed to give up Colonia and the boundary to her possessions and those of Spain was drawn between the Spanish settlements in Uruguay and the Portuguese settlements in Rio Grande. The seven Jesuit missions in the interior, 200 miles to the south, were abandoned by the Spanish government. Spain deliberately ceded these tens of thousands of peaceful and prosperous civilized Indians and even agreed that her troops should assist the Portuguese in the cruel dispossession. But this iniquitous provision of the treaty was the only part of it which was ever carried into effect. Spanish public opinion protested. The boundary commissions could not agree. Portugal put off the surrender of Colonia on one pretext or another and in 1761 the treaty fell to the ground and all the questions were left open. That year Spain and Portugal became embroiled in the war and the Spaniards from Buenos Aires invaded the disputed territory in overwhelming force. Colonia was taken and in 1763 the Spanish government led his army against the Portuguese settlements in Rio Grande. The fortified town of Rio Grande fell. The superior Argentine cavalry drove the Rio Grande denses back to the coast and the Portuguese territory was reduced to the northeast quarter of the state. Most of the Azorian settlers were late-waste and from this invasion dates the adoption by the Rio Grande denses of pastoral habits. The Treaty of Paris put an end to the war in Europe. The Spaniards seized their advance. They restored Colonia once more but retained their conquests in southern Rio Grande. The Rio Grande denses made good use of the breathing spell. They cared little whether there was peace or war in Europe and four years later they restored to recapture their old capital and regained their farms in the south. Disavowed by their government they still kept on fighting. Soon they made a regular business of raiding the territory occupied by the Spaniards. The beef they found on the plains was their food. They were always in the saddle and soon became the finest of irregular cavalry and partisan fighters. The Spaniards retaliated by invading northern Rio Grande but never succeeded in routing the Rio Grande denses from their last strongholds. In 1775 the Brazilians were reinforced from São Paulo and Rio and took the aggressive and the following year recaptured the city of Rio Grande. The Spanish government took prompt steps to avenge this loss. A great fleet was sent out. Santa Catarina was captured and army of 4,000 men was on the march up from Montevideo to sweep the Portuguese out of all southern Brazil once and for all. But in this crisis European politics again saved Brazil from dismemberment. France and Spain were forming a coalition against England in the War of American Independence. Spain wished to have their hands free and to isolate England. The Spanish fleet and army were at the gates of Rio Grande where the Treaty of San Ildefonso was signed in 1777. The Portuguese definitely relinquished Colonia, Uruguay and the 7 missions remained Spanish but most of the southern Rio Grande which the Portuguese had lost in 1763 as well as Santa Catarina was restored to them. The 34 years of peace which followed in Rio Grande were employed in steady growth. A craze for cattle raising set in and the planes were divided up into great estancias which were distributed among the governor's favourites or those who had distinguished themselves during the war. Substantially the entire population engaged in the cattle business. The Rio Grande denses and their cattle multiplied so rapidly that they spread out over the western part of the state which was still Spanish and to the south. In 1780 the curing of beef by drying and salting was introduced which permitted its shipment and afforded a stable market. After the great gold discoveries in Minas during the late years of the 17th and early years of the 18th centuries the prospectors ranged north from Sabara along the great backbone mountains finding washings at many places in North Minas and Bahia. By 1740 the fields in Bahia were producing 50 to 100,000 oz. a year. As early as 1718 an expedition had penetrated 1500 miles to the west and discovered good placers on the plateau where the headwaters of the Madeira and the Paraguay intertwine. This was the beginning of Cuyabá and the state of Matugrosso. In 10 years a million 500,000 oz. were taken out from these diggings. A little later still other fields were discovered further west on the Madeira watershed. The miners at the gold camp of Tihuca in North Minas had noticed some curious little shining stones in the bottom of their pans and thought them so pretty that they used them for counters in games. Soon a wandering fire who had been in India recognized them as diamonds. This occurred in 1729 and the field thus opened up supplied the world with diamonds until the discovery of Kimberley. In the years from 1730 to 1770 5 million karats were taken from the original Diamantina district and the deposits are still second in productivity only to those of South Africa. The Diamond region was at once declared crown property and a deadline drawn around it which non-except officials were allowed to cross. In 1716 an exploring expedition ascended the Madeira and in the years following the Tocantins, the Araguaya, the Rio Negro and the principal tributaries of the Upper Amazon were navigated. Tocantins in the Amazon valley continued to flourish. While the interior and the south were expanding rapidly the coast provinces were relatively declining. The growing competition of the West Indies reduced the price of sugar. During the 17th century Brazil had furnished the bulk of European sugar consumption selling her product at non-competitive prices. But the growth of the English and Dutch colonial empires brought into the field competitors who possessed as good a climate and soil and enjoyed the inestimable advantage of better government. Portugal's vicious and narrow-minded colonial system was not changed until Brazil's competitors had so far passed her that she has never since been able to make up lost ground. The wealth from mines and taxes that Brazil poured into the Portuguese treasury was squandered by the dissipated bigot John V. When he died in 1750 he left Portugal in a bad way and though Brazil had managed to grow in spite of mismanagement the outlook was discouraging. The Spaniards were threatening the new settlements in the south. Sao Paulo had been depopulated by the migration to the mines. Bayas and Pernambuco's sugar and tobacco industries were decadent. In Ceará and Piauí, the golden days of the cattle business had passed and the cattle and para had stopped short in their development and their spread into the interior had been cut off by the Jesuits. Contemporary documents proved a horrible corruption. From ministers of state down to the humblest subordinate every official had his share in the pickings. The farmers of the revenues openly paid bribes and might exact what they pleased from the taxpayers. All trade except that with Portugal and this was hampered in a hundred ways. Salt, wine, soap, rum, tobacco, olive oil and hides were monopolies. All legal transactions were burdened with heavy fees. Slaves paid so much ahead. Every river or a road was the occasion for a new toll. The exercise of professions and trades was forbidden except on the payment of heavy fees. Anything that could compete with Portugal was prohibited altogether. The taxation shut off industrial enterprise at its very sources and many of the worst features of the system then put in vogue have never been discontinued. The governors and military commanders interfered constantly with the administration of justice in favor of their friends and favorites. They accepted bribes for allowing contraband trade and permitting the immigration of foreigners. They misappropriated the funds of widows and orphans. They ignored the franchises of municipalities. They imposed unauthorized taxes. They forced loans from suitors having claims before them. They obliged free men to work without pay. They forcibly took wives away from their husbands. They impressed the young men for the wars on the Spanish border. Required every able-bodied men to serve in the militia and commonly practiced arbitrary imprisonment. How even one of the best interfered to regulate private affairs can best be shown by his own words. I promoted the good of the people by forcibly compelling them to plant maize and pulse and threatening to take away their lands altogether if they did not cultivate them diligently. I required the militia colonels to make exact reports about this matter and thus brought about a great increase in the production of food crops and sugar. The militia together for exercise on Sundays and holidays, days which otherwise the people would have spent in idleness and pleasure. Many have complained, but I have never given their complaints the slightest attention, having always followed the system of taking no notice whatever of the people's murmurs." He describes the Brazilians as vain, but indolent and easily subdued, robust and supporting labor well assigned to an inaction from which only extreme poverty or the command of their superiors could rouse them. They had no education for the only schools were a few Jesuit seminaries and no printing press existed. They were licentious, had no aristocracy, were unaccustomed to social subordination and would obey no authority except the military. Underneath the surface fermented a deep disgust. Even in the seaports the very name of government was hated and in the interior the people withdrew themselves as much as possible from contact or participation with it. A dull hatred of Portugal and Portuguese spread all classes of natives. In much of the country the only law was the patriarchal influence of the heads of the landed families who often exercised power of life and death. Instances are on record where fathers ordered their sons to kill their own sisters when the latter had dishonours the family name. With the death of John the Fifth in 1750 the great Marquis of Pombal became prime minister. The enormous energy and activity of this remarkable man revolutionized the administration of Portugal and Brazil. Official corruption was severely punished. Order replaced confusion. Agricultural, industry and commerce were protected and encouraged. In spite of the threatened exhaustion of the placers mining flourished. Maranhão and Pará took a new start. The worst monopolies were abolished. The price of sugar rose with the great colonial wars and the adoption of reasonable regulations. Wealth and revenues increased apace and peace and security were self-guarded. When Pombal fell, after 27 years in power, Brazil's population had risen to two millions. Pombal was a city of 50,000 and the capital had been transferred there. Bahia had 40,000 Minas contained 400,000 people. The yield of gold was 400,000 carats yearly and the diamond production 150,000 carats and finally Santa Catarina and Trio Grande had been saved from the Spaniards and settled. Pombal made short work of the Jesuits. In 1755 he took away their rights over Indians and four years later issued an order for their immediate and unconditional expulsion and the confiscation of their property. Pombal had no favourites. He spared no individuals and no classes in his work of ruthlessly concentrating all power in the crown. But he built a Frankenstein of which he himself was the helpless victim the moment his old master died. Unwittingly he prepared the way for the triumph of the ideas of the French Revolution both in Portugal and Brazil and his most beneficent measures were the most fatal to the permanence of his despotic system. Commercial prosperity gave the Brazilian people resources. The impartial administration of law gave them some conception of civic pride and independence. The encouragement of education small as it was helped start the intellectual movement which spread over the wilds of Brazil and liberal principle then fermenting in Europe. Immediately upon his fall in 1777 the Portuguese government reverted to most of the old abuses but the economic impulse did not at once die out. Pombal had not only expelled the Jesuits but had taken effective measures against enslaving the Indians. The latter separated themselves from the whites and miscegenation largely decreased. On the other hand the importation of Negro slaves had been continued on a large scale throughout the 18th century and the proportion of blacks in the mining and sugar districts had increased. Intermixture with Negroes was stimulated by the seclusion of the white women. The young men often took mistresses from among the slaves and these unions sometimes subsisted after legitimate marriage. The system of double menages however decreased as manners became more liberal and opportunities for social intercourse between the sexes increased. The more energetic Brazilians acquired the rudiments of learning in the Jesuit schools and a few fortunate youths were sent to the University at Coimbra in Portugal. In the early decades of the 18th century societies for the discussion of literacy and scientific questions were established in Rio and Bahia. In the centers of population little groups of scholars began to gather who surreptitiously obtained the writings of French and English political philosophers. Suddenly in the latter half of the century a dazzling literacy outburst occurred. Its seat was not in Rio the political, nor Bahia the ecclesiastical capital nor yet in Pernambuco the cradle of the nationality but in Ouropretu the chief place of the mining province of Minas 20 days journey on muleback from the coast and among a rude and unlettered population. Within a few years appeared 6 of the foremost poets of the Portuguese language. The lyrics Gonzaga, Claudio, Silva Alva Negro and Alvarengo Peixoto and the epics Basilio de Gama and Santa Rita Durão. He who writes the songs of a people rather records their history than influences it. The writings of the Minas lyric poets are the best documents on the character of the Brazilians of the colonial period. They clearly revealed that culture was only at its beginnings that patriotism and national pride were indefinite and shadowy that religion was neither dogmatic nor absorbing that polite society had not come into being and that the intellectual element entered little into the relations of the sexes. The independence of the United States suggested to a few Brazilians the possibility of freeing their country from Portugal. In 1785 a dozen Brazilians students at Coimbra formed a club for this purpose and one of them wrote to Thomas Jefferson, then minister to France, asking American aid. Jefferson was interested but answered that nothing could be done until the Brazilians themselves had risen in arms. A like impulse was working in the minds of the poets and their friends at Oru Preto. A childlike conspiracy was formed whose object was to found a republic with Saint John de Ray as capital and Oru Preto as the seat of a university. A few practical men listened to the plans of the conspirators probably with a view of turning a disturbance to account in preventing the government from putting into effect an obnoxious gold tax than being threatened. Among those led into the inner circle was a young surgeon named Tiradentes. He undertook the task of fomenting and uprising among the troops, but before anything practical had been done the whole thing had been given away to the authorities. The conspirators were arrested and taken to Rio where the frightened governor instituted a formal and elaborate trial and took a fearful vengeance upon the helpless boys and poets. Por Tiradentes being without powerful connections was hanged and quartered. His memory is now revered in Brazil as that of the first martyr to independence and the precursor of the republic. The gentle Claudio hanged himself in prison after having been tortured into a confession implicating his friends. Consaga and Alvarengo with several others were banished to Africa. Republican and separatist ideas had however made no headway among the Brazilian masses. Brazil's independence was to come by the force of circumstances and not by any deliberate national effort. And for a republic she was destined to wait a century more. End of section 35 Section 36 of the South American Republics, Volume 1 by Thomas Cleland Dawson This Librevox recording is in the public domain. Part 4 Brazil. Chapter 13 The Portuguese Court in Rio The political development of colonial Brazil may be divided into three epochs. First, there was the confusion of early colonization, the unsuccessful attempt to establish a system of feudal captaincies, the struggle against the Indians, French and Jesuits, and the search for a solid economic foundation for the new Commonwealth. On the whole, this era contained the promise of the ultimate development of a freer governmental system than that of Portugal. Next, followed the Spanish dynasty and the wars against the Dutch. Control of Brazil by the home government was weakened and the colonists learned their own military power. The years following the expulsion of the Dutch, 1655-1700 were the brightest politically in Brazil's colonial history. The municipalities governed by local oligarchies of landowners exercised functions not contemplated by the Portuguese Code. Though the military governors were continually encroaching and the system was imperfect, it was in essence thoroughly local. Its fundamental defect was the want of cooperation between the towns. The third period began with the consolidation of Portugal's international position in the closing years of the 17th century. Once secure from foreign attacks, she renewed the exploitation of Brazil with redoubled eagerness. The discovery of the mines made the plunder enormous. At first there were resistance and even formidable rebellions, like Beckmann's in Maranhão, Mascates in Pernambuco or of the Emboavas in Minas. But the civic vitality of the people was not great enough to sustain any continuous and effective opposition. Early in the 18th century the municipalities were already at the mercy of the military governors and Brazil was governed partly by petty despots and partly by numerous feeble local bodies who were without cohesion or power to resist interference. Brazil would have remained a dependency of Portugal during an indefinite period had it not been for a series of events which arose in Europe out of the French Revolution. By 1807 England was the only power which still defied Napoleon. Portugal had been Great Britain's ally for a century, but Napoleon found it necessary to have command of Lisbon and Porto in order to enforce his Berlin and Milan decrees. He peremptorily commanded Portugal with the alliance. The Pusilane was John who had been Prince Regent since the insanity of his mother in 1792, hesitated and shuffled, seeking to put off the emperor with negotiations and evasions and a show of hostility to England. A single dispatch indicating his double-dealing was enough for Napoleon who promptly made an agreement with Spain for the division of Portugal and ordered Gino to march on Lisbon. The people were ready to make a desperate resistance, but their king was in two mines each day and the army had been withdrawn from the frontier to bid the British fleet a hypocritical defiance. John shed tears over his unhappy country, but prepared to save his own person by a flight to Rio. Gino had passed the frontier and was advancing on Lisbon by forced marches. The Prince Regent and his court huddled their movable property on board the men of war lying in the Tagus. 15,000 persons, including most of the nobility and 50 million of property and treasure were embarked. Gino's advance guard arrived at the mouth of the river on the 27th of November 1807 in time to see the fleet just outside and bearing south under British convoy. Six weeks later the exiles caught sight of the coast of Brazil destined thereafter to be the principal seat of the Portuguese race. The Prince Regent disembarked at Bahia where the people received him with enthusiastic demonstrations of loyalty and tried desperately hard to induce him to make their city his capital. He adhered to the original plan and on the 7th of March 1808 arrived at Rio where he was received with equal cordiality. No conditions were imposed on the helpless fugitives. The first acts of the Prince Regent proved that the removal would be of inestimable advantage to Brazil. He promulgated a decree opening the five great ports to the commerce of all friendly nations. The system of seclusion and monopolies fell to the ground at a single blow. Other decrees removed the prohibitions on manufacturing and on trades. Foreigners were allowed to come to Brazil either for travel or residence and were guaranteed personal and property rights. A national bank was established. Commercial corporations were given franchises. A printing press was set up. Military and naval schools and a medical college were founded. Foreigners were encouraged to immigrate and that improvement in art, industries, civilization and manners began which can only result from the daily contact of different types of humanity. For the first time Brazil was opened to scientific investigation and scholars, engineers and artists were imported to aid in making its resources known. The commercial nations lost no time in trying to get a foothold in this virgin market. They sent their consuls and seamen and within a few months importations principally from Great Britain far exceeded any possible demand. The Prince Regent found his South American empire divided into 18 provinces. These constitute the present states of the Brazilian Union. The only changes having been the separation of Alagoas from Pernambuco and of Paraná from São Paulo besides the erection of the city of Rio into a neutral district. Of the three millions of people one-third were Negro slaves and the three Negroes and Mulatos numbered as many more. The proportion of whites in the whole country was not more than a fourth and in the larger coast cities in the sugar districts and in the mining regions it descended to a seventh and even a tenth. Civilized Indians were most numerous in Pará and Amazonas and whites predominated most in the extreme south and in the stock-raising interior. In the century since the whites have increased to 40% and the Negroes have fallen to less than 25 in spite of the large slave importation in the first half of the 19th century. Sugar was still the great staple. Exports of gold and precious stones have fallen with the exhaustion of the best placers laid in the preceding century. Tabaco was largely produced especially in Bahia and Maranhão and Pará were centers of a flourishing cotton trade. Rice, indigo and pepper were exported on a considerable scale and the production of coffee had been carried from Pará to Rio and was rapidly increasing. The people of the interior were mostly clothed in coarse cotton manufactured at home probably nine-tenths went per foot and lived in root houses without ornamentation and conveniences. The slave system and the large landed estates the want of diversification of industry the general apathy the ease of maintaining one's self in the mild climate all these causes cooperated to lessen consuming power and to diminish Brazil's value as a market for imported merchandise. Great estates, many of them owned by religious corporations were the rule. Only the best parts of these estates were cultivated enclosures were almost unknown and the farm buildings were dilapidated though next to sugar the chief wealth, cattle were neglected breeds were not kept up and the making of butter was so little understood that it was worth a dollar a pound. The proprietors of the sugar ranches left everything to their slaves plows were unknown lumber was sold by hand water power was rarely used for any purpose though so abundant. The only schools were a few in the towns, artificial light was practically unused the cities were dilapidated and their filthy streets were full of stagnant water horsemen rode on the sidewalks in the center of Rio itself freight was brought from the interior on muleback over narrow trails and hardly any roads for wheeled vehicles existed the mountains and heavily forested coast regions were extremely difficult to penetrate but in the sparsely forested interior the old Indian trails furnished facilities for constant communication which was astonishingly rapid considering the circumstances the people were very hospitable to receive a guest was an honor each ranch had special quarters for travelers and the only pay the stranger could offer was to tell the news outside the ports no foreigner had ever been seen and the first Englishman who visited Sao Paulo in 1809 was as much of a curiosity as an eskimo would be today during John's stay in Rio Brazil was little involved in foreign difficulties in 1808 an expedition was sent from Pará which took possession of Cayenne but the place was restored to the French in 1815 in the south the breaking out of the Argentine Revolution in 1810 was a temptation for the Prince Regent to increase Brazil's territory after the expulsion of the Spaniards by the populace of Buenos Aires the Spanish forces in Montevideo held that place against the patriots for four years John sent an army into Uruguay in 1811 nominally to help the Spaniards but he had to withdraw it because of Spanish pressure after the surrender of Montevideo by the Spaniards they broke out amongst the patriots of Uruguay and the adjacent Argentine provinces the warring factions trespassed on the territory of their Brazilian neighbors John determined to seize the coveted north bank of the plate for himself in 1815 the celebrated guerrilla chief Artigas invaded the seven missions which had been seized in 1801 and throughout that year and the next the Rio Grandenses fought desperately to expel him Artigas was decisively defeated and the Portuguese army marched down the coast and entered Montevideo without opposition they were welcomed by the factions opposed to Artigas but the Buenos Aires government protested and Artigas kept up a resistance in the interior until he was overthrown by rival Argentine chieftains from 1817 to 1821 Uruguay remained in the military occupation of Brazilian troops and in the latter year it was formally annexed under the title of the Cisplatín province Brazil had had to assume the burdens as well as reap the advantages of being an independent nation the whole extravagant government with its swarm of hangers on who had bankrupted both nations together was now settled on Brazil alone John advisors regarded liberal principles as dangerous to civil order and considered all French and North Americans as firebrands whose presence in Brazil might start the flame of revolution the United States minister was treated as if he were a Jacobin agent and American ships were searched for Napoleon's spies however the removal of the court to Rio had set forces in motion which ultimately transformed Brazil three ports were open doors for ideas and education as well as merchandise free manufacturing and immigration diversified industry and spread energetic habits the influx of so many educated Portuguese and the introduction of the printing press stimulated a desire for instruction among the Brazilians ambition for employment in the public service the road to which under the Portuguese system has always lain through the gates of a university cooperated a considerable educated class began to be formed though the intellectual movement never extended into the body of the people through the former class the nation found the means of expression a spirit of inquiry and unrest was roused but the movement was intellectual rather than instinctive theoretical rather than practical from the top down and directed more toward the revolutionizing the central government than developing local administration the first outbreak on Brazilian soil against absolutism was the Pernambuco revolution of 1817 with the largest influx of free masons existed in the city the priests themselves were most earnest preachers of political freedom merchants and sugar planters wanted lower taxes the prosperity of the sugar trade had made the people self-confident a conspiracy was formed which had the sympathy of many of the clergy and influential citizens an attempt to arrest the principal agitators resulted in a riot the troops were mostly Brazilian with the support of their compatriots and the populace joined them the governor fled leaving the public departments and the treasury containing a million dollars in the hands of the revolutionists the movement became at once frankly separatists and republican a committee of public safety was named the Portuguese flags were turned down a temporary constitution proclaimed a printing press set up to publish a liberal newspaper messengers were dispatched to the interior and to the neighboring provinces to announce the overthrow of despotism and to invite cooperation but they met with no enthusiastic reception fear of the aggressive Jacobinism of the city of Pernambuco cooled the slave owners and conservatives and the dignitaries on the revolutionary committee were shocked by the impetuosity of their radical colleagues the insurgents had not had time to provide themselves with arms the elite from Baya quickly blockaded the port when the royal troops came up they found the interior of the province in civil war and the radicals were soon backed into the city where a short siege compelled them to capitulate the more aggressive leaders were shot by court-martial and a military government was set up hundreds of prisoners were carried off to Baya where they remained until the great reaction of 1821 end of section 36 section 37 of the South American Republics volume 1 by Thomas Clelland Dawson this LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by Piotr Natter part 4 Brazil chapter 14 independence in 1820 the standard of revolt was raised in Cadiz against the Spanish Bourbons who with the aid of the Holy Alliance had re-established absolutism after the fall of Napoleon the feeble Ferdinand was compelled to accept a liberal constitution when the news reached Lisbon the regency acting there for King John was panic-stricken communication with Spain was forbidden and word sent off post-haste to John to urge his immediate return to Portugal or at least descending of his eldest son as the only means of pacifying the deep dissatisfaction failed because of the absence of the court and government in Porto always the center of liberal movements a formidable conspiracy was formed which included the leading citizens and the officers of the garrison and in August 1820 the royal authority was overthrown after scarcely a show of resistance and a provisional junta installed the movement spread over the northern provinces and thence to Lisbon where a junta assumed power in December after some confusion was agreed temporarily to adopt the Spanish constitution to summon the Cortes and to retain the Braganza dynasty as constitutional monarchs the news of the rising in Porto spread like wildfire through the Portuguese possessions beyond sea Madeira and the Azores immediately installed revolutionary junta and some of the Brazilian provinces could not wait until the assembling of the Cortes before establishing free governments among native Brazilians and immigrated Portuguese among soldiers and citizens alike the enthusiasm for a constitution was well nigh universal in Pará, Pernambuco and Rio Grande do Sul the royal governors were dispossessed by the united soldiers and people and the Spanish constitution proclaimed as the law of the land Rio however lay quiet and it was not until February 1821 that the Bahia garrison deposed the governor the provisional junta which protesting allegiance to the house of Braganza proclaimed the Spanish constitution nominated deputies to the Cortes and promised to adopt whatever definite constitution might be framed by that body the action of Bahia was decisive throughout the interior it met with approval that John could hope for no support from Brazil in case he decided to make a struggle against the Portuguese revolutionists was evident recently he issued a proclamation announcing his intention to send Dom Pedro, his eldest son to treat with the Cortes and he promised to adopt such parts of the new constitution as might be found expedient for Brazil to such delay native Brazilians and the Portuguese born were alike opposed in Rio the troops and people arose demanding an unconditional promise to ratify any constitution the Cortes might adopt 26th of February a great crowd assembled in the streets and while the cowardly king sculled in his suburban palace the prince Pedro addressed the people swearing in his father's name and his own to accept unreservedly the expected constitution the multitude insisted on marching out to the king's palace to show their enthusiastic gratitude trembling with fear John was forced to get into his carriage and the miserable man was frightened out of his wits when the crowd took the horses out to drag him with their own hands he fainted away and when he recovered his senses sat sniveling protesting between his sobs his willingness to agree to anything and sure that he was going to suffer the fate of Louis the 16th thereafter Dom Pedro though only 22 years old was the principal figure in Brazil he resembled his passionate unrestrained and unscrupulous mother rather than his vacillating, pusillanimous father he had grown up neglected and uncontrolled in the midst of his parents quarrelling and the confusion of the removal to Brazil receiving no education except that of a soldier and hardly able to write his native town correctly he was handsome, brave, willful, arrogant, loved riding and driving was eager and shameless in the pursuit of his father his manners were frank and attractive and he was active-minded, quick to absorb new impressions enterprising, strong-willed, loved popularity and intensely enjoyed being the principal dramatic figure in any crisis his personal courage was unquestionable and he was prompt of decision in the face of dangers and difficulties while capable of warm friendships and with strong impulses of devotion and gratitude between him and his father little love and no sympathy existed prior to the events of 1821 he had not been admitted to the councils in state affairs and his closest friends were among the young Portuguese officers who, like most of their class sympathized with the constitutional movement Pedro was a freemason and the liberal opinions advocated in the lodges greatly influenced him to Pedro therefore young, ardent, popular holding progressive notions both Brazilians and Portuguese liberals naturally turned seeing the role of leader and ruler of Brazil ready to his hand Pedro favored the departure of his father for Portugal a meeting of the electors held on the 25th of April to elect members to the Cortes suddenly changed into a tumult and demanded that the king ascend to the Spanish constitution to the departure he had no choice but to yield though probably neither he nor the popular leaders had ever read the document the demonstrations continuing Pedro became uneasy lest his father's journey should be delayed and marched his troops into the square and cleared the people out at the point of the bayonet this audacious move was followed by general stupefaction and the king quietly escaped with his vessel-weight anchor he said to his son I fear Brazil before long will separate herself from Portugal if so rather than allow the crown to fall to some adventurer place it on thy own head the grasping policy of the Portuguese members of the Cortes furnished the impulse that drove the Brazilians into union and independence the Cortes met in Lisbon and although most of the indeligates had not arrived immediately undertook to pass measures touching the most important interests of the younger kingdom in December 1821 news reached Brazil that decrees had been enacted requiring the prince to leave Brazil abolishing the appeal Corset Rio creating governors who were to supersede the juntas and be independent of local control and sending garisons to the principal cities tremendous popular excitement followed the coupling of the order for Pedro's retirement with the provisions for the enslavement and disintegration of Brazil made the provinces realize that he was the only center around which they could rally for effective resistance a cry rose up from the whole country praying Pedro not to abandon them the address sent by the provisional junta of São Paulo was penned by the hand of José Manifacio de Andrada and may well be called the Brazilian declaration of independence quote, how dare these Portuguese deputies without waiting for the Brazilian members to promulgate laws which affect the dearest interests of this realm how dare they dismember Brazil into isolated parts possessing no common center of strength and union how dare they deprive your royal highness of the regency with which your August father our monarch had invested you how dare they deprive Brazil of the tribunals instituted for the interpretation and modification of laws for the general administration of ecclesiastical affairs of finance commerce and so many institutions of public unity to whom are the unhappy people hereafter to address themselves for redress touching their business and judicial interests and quote José Bonifacio whose voice and example more than any other man's gave expression and direction to the aspiration for independence belonged to the English parliamentary school which was dominant then in liberal thought the elevation of the young and progressive prince to an independent throne seemed an easy method of establishing constitutional government as well of securing Brazil's autonomy Pedro did not hesitate long in exceeding to the wish of the Brazilians on the 9th of January 1822 he formally announced that he would remain in Brazil thus defying the Portuguese Cortez the word independence had not yet been employed and there was a very general hope that the Portuguese would listen to reason when the Brazilian deputies arrived in Lisbon the only active resistance to Pedro in Brazil came from the Portuguese soldiers some of whom revolted and went so far as to march under arms to a point commanding the city of Rio but their nerve failed them in face of the imminent concourse of citizens who were preparing to fight Pedro threw himself unreservedly into the hands of the patriots José Bonifacio was made prime minister and measures taken to reestablish the control of the central over the provincial governments but the ruling groups in various cities were not very ready to surrender their authority Pedro called the council but representatives from only 4 provinces responded Bahia and Pernambuco were held in check by Portuguese garrisons and other provinces hesitated before committing themselves meanwhile the Portuguese majority in the Cortez paid no attention to the warnings of the Brazilian members but ruthlessly pushed forward the measures for the commercial and political subjection of Brazil most of the Brazilian members withdrew while a squadron was sent to Rio to escort the prince back to Portugal on May 13th, 1822 he assumed the title of Perpetual Defender and Protector of Brazil and from this to a formal declaration of independence was only a step in June he notified the Cortez that Brazil must have her own legislative body and on his own responsibility issued rids for a constituent assembly the Cortez responded by reinforcing the Bahia garrison and the Bahianos retaliated by attacking the Portuguese troops the Pernambucanos expelled their garrison and sent promises of adhesion to the prince on the 7th of September Pedro was in Sao Paulo and there received dispatches telling of still more violent measures taken by the Cortez accompanied by letters from José Bonifacio urging that the opportunity they had so often planned for together had at last arrived Pedro reflected by the moment and then dramatically drawing his sword cried of independence or death and quote everything had been carefully timed and his entrance into Rio a few days later wearing a cocade with the new device was greeted with enthusiasm on the 12th of October he was solemnly crowned constitutional emperor of Brazil announcing that he would accept the constitution to be drawn up by the approaching constituent assembly prompt and efficient measures for the expulsion of the Portuguese garrison from Bahia, Maranhão Pará and Montevideo were taken the militia came forward enthusiastically the regular forces were rapidly increased Lord Cochrane the celebrated freelance English admiral was placed in command of a fair-sized fleet which sailed at once for Bahia and defeating the ships which remained faithful to the Portuguese cause established a blockade that soon enabled the land forces besieging the city to reduce the place at Maranhão Cochrane's success was still easier Pará also fell without resistance at the summons of one of his captains and the news of these successes was followed by that of the surrender of the garrison at Montevideo within less than a year from the declaration of independence not a hostile Portuguese soldier remained on Brazilian soil end of section 37 section 38 of the South American Republic's volume 1 by Thomas Clelland Dawson this Librivox recording is in the public domain recording by Piotr Natter part 4, Brazil chapter 15, reign of Pedro I independence was the result of the plan carefully arranged by José Bonifácio and his Brazilian associates Pedro had declared himself emperor in an access of dramatic enthusiasm he wanted the glory of founding a great empire and he loved to think of his name as that of the first legitimate monarch who was really self-abnegating enough to establish a constitutional government of his own free will the role of a Washington with the added glory of unselfishly resigning absolute power appealed to his boyish vanity but the cold fit came on when he undertook to perform his promises his loud protestations of constitutionalism turned out to be mere windy mouthings though his reign largely assisted in maintaining Brazil's territorial unity it cut off the promise of local self-government and helped bring on 20 years of bloody revolts he was not exactly a hypocrite he loved to hear sonorous periods about liberty rolling out of his mouth but he had no idea of what they really meant José Bonifacio and his brothers remained at the head of affairs when independence was declared but ardent and successful as the older Andrada had been in that moment he proved no statesman and had not the strength to oppose his willful young master almost immediately the Andradas engaged in bitter quarrels with the other leaders of the independence party and summarily banished the five ablest advocates of the liberal constitution they used their power to revenge themselves on their personal enemies their secret police was worse than anything John had maintained and they forcibly suppressed the newspapers which dared criticize their acts Pedro's authority was accepted slowly outside of Rio the ties binding the northern provinces to him were especially feeble a constituent assembly had been summoned but great difficulty was experienced in securing a full representation Pernambuco and the neighboring provinces hesitated long before consenting to have anything to do with it and Pará, Maranhão and Piauí were never represented it finally met in May 1823 with only 50 out of the 100 members in their seats the emperor opened the session with an arrogant and dictatorial speech and defended the constitution which you may frame if it should be worthy of Brazil and myself we need a constitution that will be an insurmountable barrier against any invasion of the imperial prerogatives end quote such language excited an unexpected protest even among the members of this humble and inexperienced assembly though a majority were magistrates they were not without a sense of the dignity of their functions as legislators and were eager for liberty a liberty interpreted according to their own undigested theories the Andradas bitterly attacked those who dared protest against the emperor's language and the majority was only obtained for the government program by the lavish distribution of decorations Pedro soon tired of the Andradas and their fiercely anti-portuguese policy and summarily dismissed them the disgraced ministers passed at once into the most virulent opposition and they inflamed popular prejudice against the resident Portuguese and aroused fears that the emperor was plotting a reunion of Brazil with Portugal as the session went on the assembly showed a more independent spirit and Pedro became more and more irritated the Brazilian newspapers insulted his Portuguese officers and the assembly took the part of the former in November matters reached a crisis Pedro drew up his troops in front of the assembly's meeting house and demanded immediate satisfaction to the insulted officers and the expulsion of the Andradas the answer was a brave refusal but against his canon nothing availed he sent up an order for an instant and unconditional dissolution and arresting the Andradas and other liberals as they came out of the building deported them on board ship without the formality of charge or trial Pedro ordered a paper constitution to be drawn up by his ministers in form it was liberal but he had no serious intention of putting it in force even in Rio the people ignored the invitation to give their formal adhesion to this delusive document a show of acceptance was sought to be obtained from the provinces by going through the form of appeal to the municipal councils these councils were then close corporations largely self elective and dominated by the bureaucratic cased but even so north of Bahia they paid no attention to the emperor's communication and in the south some members had to be imprisoned before their consent could be extorted the emperor swore to the constitution and it was gravely promulgated as the nation's fundamental law but no congress was summoned as a matter of fact the government continued a pure despotism wherever the emperor's power extended the press which had sprung into existence during the agitation for independence and which after having been throttled by the Andradas had partly revived during the session of the constituent assembly was now definitely suppressed taxes were levied on the sole authority of the monarch laws were put into force without other sanction than his will citizens were arbitrarily banished and military tribunals condemned civilians to death in time of peace we can never know the extent of the shock felt by the liberals on hearing of the forcible the solution of the constituent assembly in Pernambuco it was one of the stimulating causes of a rebellion in that city the press had not been suppressed and the spirit of 1817 was still alive a strong separatist feeling existed and when the junta resigned the popular choice made Carvalho Paes who had been engaged in the former rebellion governor the emperor set up his own man but authorities and people refused to recognize him an open bridge followed and Pedro with his usual vigor undertook to establish his dominion over the hither to aloof north in july 1824 the Pernambucanos threw down the gauntlet by proclaiming the quote confederation of the equator end quote this was intended to be a federal republic after the model of the union between the provinces of Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador the adhesion of Pernambuco, Parahiba Rio Grande de Norte and Seara could be counted upon and that of Maranhão, Pará and Bahia was hoped for however remained apathetic and that city furnished Pedro a convenient base for his operations he sent Admiral Cochrane to blockade and bombard Pernambuco while an army marched up the coast factional civil war had broken out in the interior of the revolted provinces and the imperial forces were joined by Carvalho's local enemies the patriots fought desperately but were overwhelmed before they could provide themselves arms or organize their resistance the city had to surrender on the 17th of September though fighting was kept up for a long time in the interior Cochrane sailed north reducing the ports one by one and by the end of the year the serious resistance was at an end the victorious emperor punished the patriots with ruthless severity sending many of the leaders to the scaffold and establishing military tribunals which inaugurated a reign of terror an Englishman named Ratcliffe was brought to Rio and hanged not so much for his part in the insurrection as because he had once offended Pedro's mother in Portugal she offered a reward for his head and said the emperor as he signed the death warrant but now she shall have it for nothing in the spring of 1825 it seemed as if Pedro was certain to establish himself at the head of a military despotism extending from the Amazon to the plate before the Pernambuco insurrection his revenue and recruits had been drawn solely from Rio and the adjacent provinces now his fleet and disciplined army recruited by impressment and concentrated under his eye enabled him to get revenue from all the ports and to hold the provinces in check his sea power and his possession of the purse strings gave him a tremendous advantage he imported Germans, Swiss and Irish with a view to forming a core of Janissaries all Brazil seemed submissive and the enthusiasm which had flamed out among the Brazilians in 1821 and 1822 had died out leaving as its only permanent effect a strong sentiment against reunion with Portugal externally his position seemed secure he was assured of Canning's active support in securing formal recognition as an independent monarch Portugal was helpless though his application for a defensive and offensive alliance had been refused by Henry Clay the United States was the first to recognize Brazil's independence even the Holy Alliance had little objection to an independent American state ruled by a legitimate monarch in the summer of 1825 a treaty of peace was framed between Portugal and Brazil through the intermediation of England independence was formally recognized but Pedro made the error of consenting that his father should take the honorary title of Emperor of Brazil and by a secret article he pledged Brazil to assume 10 millions of the Portuguese dead though it had been incurred in war by the Portuguese in 1825 a rebellion against Pedro broke out in Uruguay and the Argentine Gauchos swarmed over the border the Brazilians easily held the fortified city of Montevideo but the Spanish Americans were successful in the open field and after six months of harassing fighting caught the imperial army in a disadvantageous position and cut it to pieces the Buenos Aires government at once gave notice that it must recognize that Uruguay had reunited itself to the Argentine and Pedro responded with a declaration of war and a blockade the preparations for war involved him in unprecedented expenditures which piled up the dead already accumulated in his father's time and added to by the war of independence and the suppression of the confederation of the equator they decided to call together the representatives of the people and insist that they bear a share of their responsibility so little interest was taken that it was hard to hold the elections and the members had to be urged to present themselves on the 3rd of May 1826 the first Brazilian congress met intended as a mere instrument to furnish supplies for the war and meeting with the fear that it would end it hesitatedly began the work of parliamentary government except for the revolution of 1889 the sessions have never since been interrupted a week before the assembly of congress the news reached Brazil that King John was dead Pedro was the eldest son but his brother Miguel was a candidate for the vacant throne Pedro had to make an immediate choice between the two crowns he decided to keep that of Brazil and to transfer that of Portugal to his daughter, Maria Gloria then a child 7 years old he tried to head off Miguel by making the letter regent and promising that Maria should marry him as soon as she was old enough while he tied his brother's hands by promulgating a constitution for Portugal the scheme failed to preserve the peace and the Portuguese absolutists supporting Miguel and the constitutionalists Maria Gloria almost immediately became involved in a civil war during the latter part of Pedro's reign he was continually preoccupied with Portuguese affairs and trying to promote his daughter's fortunes in Europe the war on the plate turned out difficult and disastrous notwithstanding that great land forces were sent no progress was made toward reducing Uruguay to obedience the overwhelming naval force blockading Buenos Aires was harassed by a small fleet improvised by an able Irishman Admiral Brown in the Argentine service fast sailing Baltimore clippers fitted out as privateers infested the whole Brazilian coast often venturing inside of Rio and soon sweeping the coasting trade out of existence fruitless attempts to enforce the blockade involved Pedro having difficulties with neutral powers Brazilian merchants were disgusted with the war and communication between the provinces became nearly impossible the Brazilian land forces in Uruguay were increased to 20,000 but the Argentines, under General Carlos Alvear audaciously averted the danger of an invasion of their territory by planning and effecting an inroad into Rio Grande itself the Brazilian general allowed Alvear to slip between his main body and Montevideo and the latter penetrated to the east sucked the important town of Barre and was off to the north with the whole Brazilian army in hot pursuit on the 20th of February 1827 the Argentines turned and attacked the Brazilians at disadvantage defeating them with great loss in this battle of Ituzaingo 16,000 men took part and the armies were nearly equal in numbers the Brazilians escaped without serious pursuit while the Argentines retired at their leisure assured that no aggressive operations would soon be undertaken against them Pedro's hope of dominance on the south shore of the plate was ended naval disasters suffered at the hands of the indefatigable Brown made him still more anxious for peace negotiations were begun with the government which was only prevented by lack of money and internal factional quarrels from undertaking an aggressive war against Brazilian territory operations were kept up languidly on both sides for a year and finally Pedro in 1825 consented to a preliminary treaty by which he relinquished his sovereignty over Uruguay obtaining in return Argentine consent that it be erected into an independent country the first session of the Brazilian congress had been very timid and voted as the emperor desired the session of 1827 was not so respectful the news of Ituzaingo had made him seem less formidable for the first time the chamber became a forum for the discussion of governmental theories and the voice of Vasconceos the great champion of parliamentary government was heard in the fall of 1827 independent newspapers began to make their appearance and Pedro dared not interfere with them the tone of most of them was exaggerated but in December the Aurora Fluminense with Evaristo da Vega as editor issued its first number by universal consent he is recognized as the most influential journalist who ever wielded a pen in Brazil his profound and temperate discussion of public affairs gave him an ascendancy over opinion which can hardly be understood in countries where party conventions and said speeches give opportunities for authoritatively outlining policies when congress met in May 1828 the emperor and his government had completely lost prestige the publics and chambers consciousness of their rights and their power had made a distinct advance Vasconceos infused into the debates an independent and statesman like spirit not unworthy the great popular assemblies of the most advanced countries the youth of this remarkable man had been passed in pleasure seeking but his election to congress gave him an object in life commensurate with his great abilities and he applied himself with unquenchable ardor to the study of political science corrupt in morals inordinate in ambition his veniality notorious his constitution ruined by disease his skin withered his hair gray and his appearance that of man of 60 though he was but 30 the spirit within rose superior to all physical and moral defects his role was peculiarly that of champion of the prerogatives of congress by his side was pedrophagia afterwards regent incorruptible in morals and unyielding in will the champion of federation and democracy and the earliest brazilian positivist this chamber of 1828 made a real beginning toward making ministers responsible to congress and started legal and administrative reforms but the emperor insisted that its sole attention be given to increasing taxes when the chamber definitely refused in 1829 he dissolved it in the hope that the next might prove more tractable this act destroyed the last remnants of pedros popularity from that moment his abdication or expulsion was inevitable his friends tried to create a reaction by organizing societies in favor of absolutism and governors of retrograde principles were appointed but the popular irritation against him because he was a portuguese by birth and sympathy constantly grew brazil divided into two parts all the brazilians belonged to one and only the resident portugies to the other the new chamber was harder to manage than the old one the andradas had returned from exile and most of the new members were bitterly prejudiced against pedro in the midst of the discontent came the news of the july revolution in paris giving the liberal propaganda a tremendous impetus the assassination of a newspaper man named badaro in november 1830 aroused popular indignation to a fearful pitch pedro made a last effort to regain his popularity by making a journey through the province of minas his cold reception convinced him that the disaffection was not merely local and he returned to rio sick at heart in march 1831 disturbances broke out in the rio streets between the radicals and the portugies vasconceos and feijo were absent but avaristo drew up a manifesto demanding immediate reparation for the outrage committed by the rioting portugies the emperor tried to still the rising storm by dismissing his ministry but the rioting continued and he suddenly again changed front and appointed a ministry of known reactionary principles the announcement was followed on the 7th of april by the assembling of a mob among whose members were professional men public employees and even soldiers and deputies pedros proclamation was torn from the messengers hands and trampled underfoot beneath the windows of his palace the troops were all on the popular side a committee crowded its way into the emperor's presence but he would yield nothing to compulsion saying with dignity quote I will do everything for the people but nothing by the people end quote the news of the desertion of the very troops guarding his person he received with equanimity but the populace showed equal stubbornness throughout the night the crowds stuck to their posts and about two o'clock in the morning he suddenly drew up to a table and without consulting anyone wrote out an unconditional abdication in favor of his infant son the ministers of france and great britain had remained with him during this night of anxiety and when the morning came they were reluctant to accept his abdication as final all the foreign diplomats accept the representatives of the united states and columbia followed him on board the british warship where he took refuge they wished to give him their moral support in case a counter-revolution were attempted the most potent cause for pedros loss of popularity was that he was a portuguese he offended the self-love of a jealous people in a hundred ways by favoring his portuguese friends almost as fatal was his treatment of his blameless wife one mistress after another succeeded to his favors and he acknowledged and hardened his illegitimate children most of his concubines did not hold him long but the last who was said to be of english descent acquired a complete ascendancy over him he publicly installed her as his mistress created her a martianess forced the empress to accept her as a lady in waiting and submit to ride in the same carriage with her the court attended in a body the baptism of her child and all of his love letters to her are indescribable they could have been written only by a degenerate in the fall of 1826 the poor empress was on sound with her seventh son in nine years and while in this condition pedro brutally abused her she never recovered and died in the most fearful agony pedro was absent looking after the war in the plate but the martianess had the heartless admittance to the sick room and pedro on his return dismissed the ministers who had dared to approve the action of the official who refused to let his mistress gloat over the tortured deathbed of his wife pedro was too boyish talkative and familiar to maintain an ascendancy over such a people as the brazilians at all hours of the day and night he was to be seen driving furiously about the streets he constantly showed himself in the theatres he liked to drill his troops himself and frequently beat the soldiers with his own imperial hand once he nearly maimed himself striking at a stupid recruit with his sword and missing the blow catching his own foot on another occasion he almost killed himself and two members of his family by overturning his carriage he was always ready to explain to any mob at hand his reasons for his official policy and was too fond of excitement and applause to refrain from making a speech whenever he had a chance the inmost emotions of his heart were too cheaply exhibited on the Rio streets for the populace to have much respect for them he was a belated knight errant with a decided touch of the demagogue end of section 38 section 39 of the South American Republics volume one by Thomas Clelland Dawson this LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by Pietro Natter part 4, Brazil chapter 16, The Regency after Pedro's expulsion the country was left in a very insecure situation in Rio the Portuguese were as numerous as the native Brazilians a great part of the population was under arms and radicalism and revolution were in the air but for the moment fear of the Portuguese and of Pedro's restoration enabled cool-headed conservative leaders to maintain peace the members of congress in the city selected a provisional regency the ministry whose dismissal had been the occasion of the outbreak against Pedro returned to power and so far as Rio was concerned government proceeded without interruption within a few weeks congress met in regular session and a permanent regency was elected Bahia had revolted and expelled the proper Portuguese military commander even before Pedro's deposition by Rio when the news of the events of the 7th of April reached Pernambuco and Pará the troops promptly renounced their commanders in congress grave differences of opinion appeared the Brazilian party quickly divided into two factions the conservatives who were faithful to the dynasty and wanted the fewest possible changes and the radicals the former had stepped into control ahead of the latter but they had not the real force of the country behind them there was a growing demand for a larger measure of self-government by the provinces and for a sweeping democratic reforms the regency had no real prestige the military soon became jealous and dissatisfied and the party in favor of the emperor's restoration began to assume a formidable menacing attitude in July Rio seemed on the point of plunging into a bloody and desperate civil war the regency called upon Padre Feixão the great patriot priest and leader of democratic opinion and gave him absolute power as minister of justice his firm measures soon suppressed the disorders in Rio and the National Guard which he organized among the better classes held the revolting regiments in check in the provinces however the local authorities often ignored the commands of the governors appointed by the regency ambitious local leaders plotted to turn the situation to their personal advantage and the soldiers and disorderly elements were inflameable material ready to their hands in nearly every province civil war broke out the typical process was for a military officer General Guard Cornel or any other person who had acquired local prestige to issue a pronunciamento and announce the establishment of a liberal government whose scope was only limited by the imagination and knowledge of constitutional law possessed by the writer of the pronunciamento if the municipal authorities resisted they were expelled and creatures of the head of the insurrection put in their place this overturning of legally existing authority would usually be resented by some neighboring official or some rival of the petty dictator and the confused conflict would ensue in which the rank and file of neither side would have a very clear conception of what they were fighting about although the words of liberty and local rights constitutionalism and union were overworked in speeches and proclamations it is not worthwhile to give the detailed history of these monotonous and tedious uprisings, massacres encounters and usurpations though the operations often rose to the dignity of campaigns and pitched battles hardly a province escaped in Pernambuco in 1831 the soldiers sucked the city and the people avenged themselves by killing 300 and banishing the rest next year another military revolt broke out in the same city which soon became an insurrection whose nominal purpose was to restore the emperor and which lasted four years 200 persons were killed in Pará in 1831 during a single night of street fighting a bitter little civil war in Maranhão lasted all through the winter of 1831 1832 and was only put down by a general sent from Rio in Ceará the partisans of the emperor kept the province in a state of anarchy for several months in Minas Gerais the friends of Pedro obtained possession of the capital and the patriots had to fight hard to get the better of them though most of these insurrections were suppressed by the people of the state concerned this respect for the central government was increasing and a blind and jealous hatred of the Portuguese and everything foreign grew continuously during the four stormy years which succeeded Pedro's expulsion congress discussed violently the terms of the constitutional revision which all saw to be inevitable though the radical element predominated the conservatives and the senate succeeded in bringing about a compromise a single regent was substituted for the triple system he was to be elected by universal though indirect suffrage and most important of all each province was given its own assembly with power to levy taxes and conduct most of the affairs of local government the conservatives managed to preserve the life senate and denomination of the provincial governors by the central government the party in favor of Pedro's restoration had been gaining ground the Andradas always in the most extreme opposition went out of power went over to it and the conservatives were gravitating in the same direction when Pedro's own death in 1834 put an end to the movement he died at a happy moment for his fame covered with the laurels he had just won by driving out his usurping and absolutist brother Miguel and by using that opportunity to endow Brazil with a constitution by a curious irony of fate this reckless soldier and descendant of a hundred absolute kings was the instrument through which constitutional government was given to both branches of the Portuguese race the statesman who had proved himself most nearly master of the situation during these stormy years was Padre Feijo he represented the average Brazilian the disinterested and honest public he had energy and intrepidity his eloquence was peculiar and commanding his advocacy of his beliefs was uncompromising he had been a leader in sustaining liberal ideas and he had proven his practical courage and capacity in putting down the counter revolution in Rio he naturally became a candidate for sole regent after the passage of the acto adicional or amendment to the constitution it seemed appropriate that to him should be entrusted the putting into force of the law which was expected to change Brazil into a federation of democracies united under a constitutional monarchy elected after a close contest he took office in the latter part of 1835 sincerely anxious to rule well and sustained by a popular love and confidence such as few Brazilian statesmen have enjoyed however from the beginning he was unable to count on the support of a majority of chamber he was not the man to manage by adroit manipulation and skillful distribution of patronage but his own work and that of Vasconceos had borne fruit the popular branch of the legislature had become the dominating political force in the Brazilian system the tide was now setting towards conservatism the heroic impulse that had brought about the revolution of 1831 had lost their force the nation's temper was cooled the politicians had forgotten their fine enthusiasm and were busily engaged in personal intrigues Feixão inherited from the former regency the two most formidable revolutions which so far had broken out that of Vinagre and Malcher in Pará and the great rebellion in Rio Grande do Sul he was hardly fitted to deal with such a complicated situation as that of Brazil in 1836 he himself said I am a man to break never to bend though he gave the office holders of Brazil an object lesson in unblemished integrity his actions were often harsh and arbitrary when on the floor of the chamber he had been the chief exponent of democracy but as chief executive he wrote roughshod over his inferiors refused to be guided by others even in the matters where no principal was involved and proved that he had the true Latin tendency to centralize administration Vasconceos soon out general Feixão a dread of innovation was spreading among the land holding classes the merchants and Portuguese of the cities naturally gravitated away from the radical regent the opposition majority in the chamber compactly organized by Vasconceos' skillful management was encouraged feeling that it was backed by the mercantile and office holding classes and by the persons of highest intelligence and best social position it clung together with a cohesion unusual in South America and was the foundation upon which the historical parties were built whose names are constantly encountered in Brazilian political history for the next 50 years for 2 years Feixão struggled against the adverse conditions for the para-evolution he found a clever and faithful general in Andréa and managed to keep him well supplied with money and troops so that a vigorous pursuit of the guerrilla chiefs resulted in their capture and the pacification of the province but in Rio Grande the people were too strong and too independent to be reduced by troops sent from without and congress hampered him by refusing votes of credits the revolution which had broken out there 3 months before he assumed the regency had been occasioned by anti-Portuguese feeling and by the unpopularity of the governor the latter was obliged to flee with hardly a semblance of resistance at first Feixão wisely limited his interference to the nomination of a new governor it was not safe to irritate the half feudal chiefs backed by their bands of gauchos trained in constant raids over the Uruguayan border and who were too accustomed to seeing revolutions on the Spanish side to hesitate much about undertaking one on their own account but the new governor was ambitious tried to take advantage of the jealousies among the gaucho leaders to make himself supreme he got some of the ablest of them on his side but the others were stimulated into more determined fighting the rebels kept the field in formidable numbers and among their able partisan chiefs was Giuseppe Garibaldi who here took part in his first war for freedom at first evil fortune followed the patriots who were badly defeated in the battle of Fanfa where their greatest leader Bento Gonzalez was captured and carried to Rio his lieutenants rallied again and declared Rio Grande an independent republic Feixão dispatched a new governor whose oppressive measures soon brought about a wholesale desertion of the Rio Grande denses who had hitherto supported the union side by the middle of 1837 Rio Grande seemed hopelessly lost to Brazil and the government only held the coast towns his bad management of affairs in Rio Grande was the immediate occasion of Feixão's resignation in September 1837 the victorious conservative majority immediately stepped into power Bernardo de Vasconceos reaped at length a personal reward for his years of labor and intrigue and became the ruling force in the chamber and prime minister although a wealthy senator Araujo Lima by name had been elected regent but Vasconceos was merely the first among equals and held his power only so long as he could command the support of the conservative majority a sort of oligarchy grew up which directed the work of reaction without much more regard for outside opinion than Pedro himself had shown however Brazil had finally entered upon a stage of government which in form was parliamentary and in substance was partly so it was rather the parliamentarism of Walpole than of Gladstone the members owed their seats to the administration they were a sort of self-nominating and self-renewing body and departmental and judicial administration continued in much the same old way the great task before the conservative regency was to undo most of the work which had been wrought by the federalist and democratic movements of the early thirties the amendments to the constitution known as the acto adicional had apparently established the autonomy of the provinces in their local affairs if these amendments had been put into effect Brazil would have become a federated state like Switzerland or the United States the conservatives were alarmed at the length to which the provincial assemblies were already going in managing their own affairs and succeeded in turning the country back on the road towards centralization and unification a law was passed which interpreted the acto adicional so as nearly to destroy provincial autonomy the provincial assemblies were forbidden to interfere with the magistracy their resolutions could be vetoed by the governors or the national congress their power of controlling the administration of justice was taken away they became little more than advisory bodies completely under the dominance of governors appointed from Rio and who rarely were citizens of the state they ruled at first there was little opposition and the regency easily suppressed a separatist movement in Bahia which proposed to establish a republic until the boy emperor should come of age the reorganized regency was however weak the attitude of the nation was merely tolerant and expectant the war in Rio Grande continued and the attacks of the liberals in the chamber increased in force in effectiveness ministers began to change and shift the conviction grew that the conservative oligarchy would not long rule the country liberals and conservatives alike inclined to the idea that the best thing was to return to a ruler selected from the legitimate royal family after the constitution the boy emperor would not become of age until he reached 18 in 1843 if the constitution were strictly followed the country would have to be governed for years by a hybrid executive a regent who was neither a ruler by popular choice nor yet a monarch by blood and succession many advocated declaring the emperor's eldest sister Januaria regent though the young lady protested means being turned into such a thing as she imagined a regent to be more insisted that the emperor in spite of his tender years immediately assumed the functions of supreme ruler the politicians in opposition with the two surviving andraras at their head took advantage of this feeling bills were introduced in congress authorizing the emperor to take the reins at once the regents ministers did not there directly oppose these measures they only tried to compromise as long as possible but difficulties and dissatisfaction increased a formidable revolution broke out in Maranhao the Rio Grande denses invaded Santa Catarina it was evident that the regency could not continue to hold the clashing provinces together while the intellectual conviction had never been stronger that union between the provinces was an advantage circumstances were increasing dissatisfaction and insubordination in every part of the empire the contest in congress over the emperor's majority assumed an acute phase as soon as the session of 1840 began the ministry in desperation sought to prevent immediate action by calling Vasconseios back to power and proroguing the session the announcement of this step was followed by an outburst that left no records but a submission to the matter in dispute to the boy emperor itself the opposition deputies went out in a body to see him and begged him to consent to assume his imperial functions at once though entirely unauthorized by the constitution no one made serious objection to such a revolutionary way of proceeding the young Pedro accepted with dignity and confidence the city and country went wild with delight and on the 23rd of July 1840 congress assembled in a sort of extraordinary constituent assembly and without a dissenting voice proclaimed him of age although the ten years of the regency were the stormiest in brazilian history they were in many respects the most fruitful the nation was serving an apprenticeship in governing itself its public men were being trained the value of self-restraint and of peace were being learned the freedom of the press and of the parliament was definitely established the production of literature began professional schools were put on a footing not unworthy of any civilized country learned societies were organized the study of the resources of the country was continued social intercourse developed communication between the provinces increased the study of foreign languages became general among the polite classes industrially too the period was one of germination of those seeds from which subsequently grew the prosperity of the country though foreign commerce increased little during the civil wars the cultivation of coffee assumed large proportions and while sugar and cotton food crops and tobacco suffered much from foreign competition and civil disturbances nevertheless they held up pretty well the confusion of the times and the weakness of the central government prevented any great improvement in the public finances but neither taxes nor debt were piled up as they had been under Pedro I though the efficiency and honesty of the administration left much to be desired the small resources of which the central government disposed brought about an era of comparative economy in the departments and of section 39 section 40 of the South American Republic's Volume 1 by Thomas Cleland Dawson this LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by Piotr Natter part 4 Brazil Chapter 17 Pedro II the so-called liberals went into power on the declaration of the emperor's majority and proved to be more tyrannical and centralizing than the conservatives whom they had replaced provincial governments were dismissed wholesale solely for factional advantage the Chamber of Deputies was dissolved and a new one elected in the fall of 1840 and in the choice of deputies the Andradas interfered securing an overwhelming liberal majority in reality however the Andradas had not won the confidence of the ruling cotteries nor of the boy emperor when they quarreled with Aureliano one of their colleagues the matter was submitted to Pedro who was then only 15 and a half years old his decision was against the Andradas they resigned and from that moment until his mental powers began to fail Pedro II was the supreme authority in the state he governed parliamentarily as far as he deemed it possible left most matters to his cabinets and was careful to a certain public opinion nonetheless he was the final arbiter in matters of the first importance in the politics of the next 50 years he was incomparably the most potent brazilian happily for his country he resembled his mother rather than his father studios and laborious books were his great occupation he was an indefatigable and omnivorous reader and though especially fond of history and sociology few subjects and few literatures escaped him no fact ever failed to interest him but his mind was too discursive and his studies too widespread and too superficial to give him a store of sound and well digested knowledge morally he was a complete contrast to his dissipated father he was a monarch of the conscientious 19th century type he as a little boy had been obedient to the priests and ladies to whom his rearing had been entrusted but they retained no great influence over him though thoroughly respectful toward religion he was not especially devout and his political ideas were gathered rather from his own reading than from direct teaching as a father and husband he was good and kind and conscientiously devoted all his energies to the performance of his duties public and private his first act on assuming power was to forbid the people of his household to ask any favors of him in regard to public affairs his manners were democratic though tall and handsome he cared little for his personal appearance his clothing was ill fitting and ill cared for he drove about in rickety old carriage with absurd looking horses he kept no court properly so called he would gobble through his state dinners in a hurry to get back to his books he would call cabinet meetings at inconvenient hours of the night if an idea struck him though his subjects loved and trusted him the general tendency was rather to laugh at his peculiarities it could hardly be said that people personally stood much in awe of him at the same time when action was to be taken in a crisis he could be as arbitrary as any czar he took no pride in imposing his will over that of others and his manners and methods were always mild and gentle some believed that he deliberately assumed carless democratic ways thinking them best adapted to maintaining himself in power and it is certain that he showed little anxiety about his position and seemed to value it slightly intellectually restless though he was his judgment was sound enough to enable him soon to foresee that the inevitable tendency was toward a republic and in the latter part of his life he often said that he was the best republican in the empire and that his main function was to prepare the way for it at bottom he was not a man of strong passions or intense will but was rather a mild-mannered and philosophic opportunist whose greatest merit was that he loved peace and whose greatest achievement was that Brazil remained internally quiet during his long reign with the fall of the Andradas the conservative party returned to power and a reactionary parliamentary government with the emperor as a sort of regulating and controlling deus ex machina was definitely installed great things were hoped for from the new regime and loyalty to the young emperor was enthusiastic, sincere and universal however the internal disturbances were too serious to be count in a day the revolution in Maranhão which had been bequeathed by the regency was formidable in pacifying it a general named Luís Lima Esilva first came to the front and was named Baron of Cacias for his services this officer was less than 40 years of age and came of a family of soldiers one of whom had been the military member of the first regency he had served in all the wars and most of the insurrections since 1822 and had always shown solid though not especially brilliant qualities he was a good manager of men and a steady, pertinacious and shrewd negotiator his detractors accuse him of unscrupulous bribery and it is certain that he was extraordinarily successful in sowing discord among his opponents he obeyed the orders of his superiors and was faithful to the emperor the limitations of his character were as important as his affirmative abilities in enabling him to grow into the great military consolidator of the destructed empire his work in the first years of the 40s was hardly inferior in importance to that of the emperor himself the return to power of the conservatives in 1841 caused great dissatisfaction among the displaced liberals and the advocates of provincial autonomy the conservatives seemed to have captured the young emperor and the liberals began to insist on the application to Brazil of the English maxim the king reigns but does not govern in 1842 a revolution broke out in Sorocaba the home of Padre Feijo in the state of São Paulo the trouble was aggravated by the harsh measures taken by the conservative governor and soon spread to various points in the provinces and thence to Minas Gerais the revolutionists announced that their objects were to free the emperor from the coercion of the conservative oligarchy to maintain the autonomy of the provinces and to preserve the constitution whose guarantees were being rendered newgatory fighting only lasted 2 months but there were 15 important fights in Minas and 5 in São Paulo the government forces under Cacias were completely victorious and in the final and decisive battle of Santa Luísa he overwhelmed and dispersed 3000 men and captured all the principal leaders the emperor and Cacias adopted a magnanimous and conciliatory policy toward the defeated rebels though the conservative ministers persisted in advocating harsh measures only Rio Grande do Sul remained under arms and even there the rebels were not averse to accepting the emperor's authority as soon as Cacias had finished the pacification of Minas he was ordered south the campaign began by his winning 2 important victories and he followed them up by promises of amnesty which detached some of the most formidable rebel chiefs finally in the spring of 1845 Rio Grande returned to the canyon on the concession of a full and complete amnesty that province has ever since enjoyed a larger measure of autonomy than any other part of Brazil by the beginning of 1844 the disintegrating effects of a long continuance in power showed itself among the conservatives the cabinet came to an issue with an emperor over a question of an appointment and he called the liberals to power the central government was ready to carry out the emperor's policy of full and free amnesty and pacification by concession with the collapse of the revolution in Rio Grande the central government seemed at length to have passed all danger the demands for a juster interpretation of the act additional and for a larger measure of autonomy to the provinces and municipalities died out altogether or took a peaceful form the liberals in power turned out to be as conservative as the conservatives themselves and the work of consolidation and centralization proceeded uninterruptedly the liberal ministry was however in a false situation the very name they bore was an implied promise to effect reforms their majority soon split up into warring factions congress spent the session of 1848 in quarrel some debates the fall of Louis Philippe had diffused a spirit of revolution in the air the municipal elections were accompanied by riots and the ministry itself deliberately encouraged the renewal of the anti-portuguese agitation the emperor thought himself obliged to intervene and appointed a conservative cabinet in Pernambuco the new conservative governor displaced the liberal officials who had been holding office for the last three years the latter were anti-reo and anti-portuguese and they and their partisans started an insurrection known as that of the praeiros it quickly assumed a formidable character and as many as 2000 revolutionists took part in a single battle but after three months of fighting they were completely defeated little difficulty was experienced in restoring public order the movement had been rather a partisan than a general popular revolution this was the last attempt for more than 40 years to establish a federal system the necessities of the stormy period from 1827 to 1848 had led step by step to a form of government which was centralized and yet not absolute the imperial system had been the result of a natural growth when the fabric reached stability the professional ruling classes feared to disturb it and the people were too inert and indifferent to afford support to agitators and reformers agriculture commerce and industry advanced only slowly during the first eight years of pedros rule the country was getting ready for the activity which followed Great Britain's efforts to induce the brazilian government to carry out its treaty obligations for the suppression of the slave trade which had been futile in 1845 the British parliament passed the Aberdeen bill which authorized British men of war to capture slaves even in territorial waters this measure was especially directed at Brazil whose coast had become practically the sole market for the horrible traffic the bill did not immediately effect its purpose and the slavers made the most of the opportunity in 1848 over 1000 negroes were imported into Brazil immigration from Europe had practically seized with the expulsion of Pedro I and the anti-foreign demonstrations of the regency but it now slowly began again in 1843 Don Pedro being then not quite 18 years old was married by proxy to Teresina Cristina daughter of Francis king of Naples there is a tradition that the emperor turned his back when he saw his bride's face nevertheless he made her a good husband their two boys died in infancy but in 1846 Isabel was born who still survives and lives in Paris with her husband a grandson of Louis Philippe and with her three sons the eldest of whom is named for his grandfather and was 27 years old in 1902 End of section 40