European observers in the nineteenth century, particularly the British, tended to idealize the Empire of Brazil’s civilized form of government, so different from the tumultuous republics it bordered. This 1866 travelogue from Englishman William Scully extols the virtues of Brazilian government and climate; however, it shows its bias in the final section, which praises the mildness of the temperature.
The River Plate is a nest of petty republics constantly at cross purposes, and without any combined plan of material progress; Monte Vidéo, [Montevideo, Uruguay] a state bankrupt in everything but oppression; and the other republics of South America, smouldering volcanoes, ready at any moment to vomit forth anarchy and bloodshed.
The laws of Brazil are far from perfection, but its constitution is upheld in its integrity, and gives a sufficient guarantee to every one of life and property. Foreigners are welcomed, and the people and Government endeavor by every means to encourage emigration; and, with the great facilities afforded, and the immense field for enterprise for industrious agriculturists, it is surprising that Scotch and Irish emigrants do not seek this country, where a life of more prosperity and of greater ease awaits them than can be realized in the United States, where the foreigner is despised, and where the frightful winter of an arctic clime exacts from the panting farmer excessive labour in a summer heat that is never experienced even in the hottest equatorial regions of Brazil
? (Scully xiv-xv).
Scully remains firm in his celebration of the Brazilian imperial regime:
It is not too much to say that it is to the wise and vigorous administration of the present Emperor that Brazil owes her present rank among civilized nations, and the prosperity and tranquility she has enjoyed for so many years in the midst of the continuous outbreaks against law and order which have desolated and ruined the unhappy republics that surround her (1).
Yet even he acknowledges some difficulties in the establishment of the empire, referring to “the now reigning Emperor, Dom Pedro II., under whom, after some outbreaks in various provinces, Brazil has settled down into its present state of peace and prosperity.”
- What motivations did British observers have in presenting Brazil as more civilized than its neighbors?
- What differences in its history and political situation affected this characterization?
Pernambucan regionalist forces take over Recife in one of the largest uprisings of the early nineteenth century. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
These outbreaks, on which Scully does not further elaborate, came from a number of arenas: Portuguese loyalists, naturally, but also opponents of the regency that governed Brazil between when Pedro I left for Portugal in 1831, when his son was five years old, and Pedro II’s ascendance in 1840. More dissent came from regional factions, who owed their loyalty to the patria of Pernambuco, or Bahia, or Sao Paulo, rather than to the emperor in Rio.
The Flag of the Pernambucan Revolt (1817) contained three stars, representing the states of Pernambuco, Paraíba, and Rio Grande do Norte, which banded together against the national government. The modern flag of the state of Pernambuco resembles this flag almost exactly, except that it has only one star. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
While Pedro I was preoccupied by war against Brazil’s neighbors in the 1820s (see The Cisplantine War below), uprisings in many far-flung provinces were gaining traction. Finally, the public reaction to his decision to replace a moderate, all Brazilian cabinet with a conservative, pro-Portuguese one was so angry that, with little deliberation and no warning, Pedro I abdicated the throne and returned to Portugal.
The members of the national assembly, and the nation, were flummoxed. They had wanted reforms, but not the total overhaul of the monarchy. The national assembly needed a way to use the abdication as a revitalization of the empire. In a proclamation to the nation the day after Pedro’s abdication, the president of the assembly put the public dissent around the emperor’s decisions firmly in the past and looked to the event as the affirmation of Brazilian independence. In doing so, he also proclaimed an end to all regional uprisings, looking forward to the success of a unified empire.
Brazilians! Your conduct has been above all praise; that detestable faction, which dared to insult us in our homes, has witnessed another proof of our greatness, in the moderation which we have observed after our victory. Adopted Brazilians, who have been urged to strife by perfidious suggestions, be assured that it was not a thirst for vengeance, but the love of liberty, which armed us; and that the security of your persons and property will all be respected, whilst you obey the Laws of the magnanimous Nation to which you belong. The Brazilians hate tyranny, they abhor the idea of a Foreign yoke, but it is not their intention to hold a rod of iron over the conquered, or to avail themselves of their triumph in order to gratify rancorous passions ?
Fellow citizens, we have a Country, we have a Monarch, the symbol of your union, and of the integrity of the Empire; who, being educated in the midst of us, will receive almost in the cradle the first lessons of American liberty, and will learn to love that Brazil which witnessed his birth: the woeful prospect of anarchy, and of the dissolution of the Provinces, which was presented to our view, disappeared as it were in an instant, and was substituted by a more cheerful scene. All, all is due to your resolution and patriotism, and to the courage of the Brazilian Army, which put an end to the wild dreams of tyranny (Burns, 226-27).
Despite the optimistic promises of the national assembly, dissatisfaction with the structure of the empire and the ideal of national unity continued. The Federal Republican Party, influenced by the Positivist ideals of French philosopher Auguste Comte and composed of members of the educated urban elite, denounced the monarchy and called for the formation of a federal republic in 1870. In their manifesto, they argue that the current of dissent to the centralized empire was present throughout the nineteenth century:
In this country, which considers itself constitutional and where only delegated, responsible powers should be able to act, it happens, because of a defect in the system, that there is only one active, omnipotent, perpetual power, superior to the law and to public opinion, and it is, of course, the sacred power, inviolable and irresponsible ? In Brazil the desire to establish federalism takes precedence even over the democratic idea. The topography of our territory, the diverse zones into which it is divided, the various climates and the different products, the mountains and the rivers indicate the necessity of modeling administration and local government to accompany and to respect the very divisions created by nature and imposed by the immensity of our territory.
From 1824 to 1848, from the Federation of the Equator to the Revolution of Pernambuco, one can say that the electric current which passed through the Provinces shaking the social organism came from a single source ? the desire for local independence, the idea of federation, the sentiment for provincial autonomy (248-49).
This “electric current” of regional republicanism grew ever stronger in the late nineteenth century, making the empire an anachronism against which diverse factions could agitate.
- What were the motivations of those dissatisfied with the empire? What did they want to achieve?
- How did the image of Brazil’s government and social structures, as presented by public officials, change throughout the 19th century?
Early Regional Conflict: The Cisplatine War
The Rio de la Plata drainage basin including major tributaries and cities. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
The River Plate (alternately the Rio da Prata, Rio de la Plata, or La Plata River) was a key strategic holding for all the countries surrounding it ? Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil, and, since its independence from Brazil in 1825, Uruguay. For Brazil, the Paraná River, a tributary of the larger river system, provided water access from the coast to the isolated interior. For the other countries, the River Plate was the most important outlet to the Atlantic Ocean. Any disruption to a country’s access to the river would be devastating.
In the 1820s, the southern region of Brazil, under urging from the United Provinces of the River Plate, rebelled against the Empire. After a series of small battles ? which so depleted the army’s resources that it could not continue to fight ? and the threat of uprisings in other parts of the vast country, Brazil allowed its most southern territory to secede. Its resources drained, it had no hope of suppressing the rebellion or invading Argentina, which had urged the Province’s dissent. The 1828 Treaty of Montevideo allowed the formation of the Republic of Uruguay, on the condition that the Brazilian Empire would retain access to the Paraná River.
The Cisplantine War exacerbated Brazilians’ discontent with Pedro I. Adding to the shame of the military failure was a series of treaties with Great Britain in which Brazil continued to suffer unfavorable trade agreements and was forced, on paper if not in reality, to abolish the slave trade, a key part of the national economy.
This treaty, which caused so much dissatisfaction within Brazil, did not resolve its conflict with the other powers of the region. Uruguay was frequently the center of these conflicts throughout the middle of the nineteenth century; Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil all fought for control of the small nation, their disputes culminating in another war.
Further Reading
- Ron Seckinger’s The Brazilian Monarchy and the South American Republics: Diplomacy and State Building looks at Brazil’s relationship with its neighbors from independence to the end of the empire.
Sources
- Burns, Bradford, ed. A Documentary History of Brazil. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1966.
- Scully, William. Brazil; its provinces and chief cities: the manners & customs of the people; agricultural, commercial, and others statistics, taken from the latest official documents. London: Murray & co., 1866. Brown University Library Latin American Travelogues Collection.