Good chapter! However, I have a doubt about this:
Could it even be possible to be done? Lisbon had around 170,000 people in 1800.
Could it even be possible to be done? Lisbon had around 170,000 people in 1800.
One Nation Under the Southern Cross - an alternate Brazil TL (updated 13/08)
- Thread starter Rdffigueira
- Start date
To be really honest, this is a point that I didn't think about thoroughly. I supposed that a maritime-port capital of a country would have a "red alert" escape plan in the case of a concrete menace of a hostile fleet coming to attack it.
In the TL, I supposed that the citizens of Lisbon were prepared for the bombardment because they had already been informed by Porto's destruction in the previous days. The Spanish occupiers had reasons to fear that the capital would be the next target, and initiated a successful evacuation process.
By I see your point, the population of Lisbon was too huge to allow for a "quick escape" to the countryside. I'll revise this point as soon as I can. Thanks for the observation, friend!
6. Arrival of the Royal Navy in Brazil (1806)
When the fleet of the Royal Navy commanded by Admiral Sidney Smith sailed to Brazil, in 1806, his orders were to establish a British presence in South America, by whatever means necessary.
Britain since the early 18th Century had ambitions to create a colony or protectorate south of the Equator. Until 1805, the estuary of the Plata River was considered the most favorable location, due to its strategic and economic relevance in the region. Some plans had already been drafted among the top-most government officials, and all of them involved the capture of Buenos Aires, capital of the Viceroyalty of La Plata and at least the liberation of Chile and Peru from Spanish control, but all of them were cancelled, for being too unpractical [1].
When Great Britain broke its relations with Portugal, though, some members of the ministry of Sir William Pitt quickly proposed that the Colony of Brazil could be a very important strategic asset in the geopolitical context of South America, and could be used to weaken the Spanish presence in the continent.
Even if there was consensus that the complete occupation of the colony – due to its huge territory and population – would be impossible, and that Britain’s main interest was actually the opening of the ports to exploit the virgin colonial market, other details were controversial. The approved project, elaborated by Lord Henry Dundas, Viscount Melville (called “Melville Plan”), was very pragmatic, emphasizing cooperation with the Luso-Brazilian authorities in the colony, and the fulfilling of immediate economic interests. In early 1806, after Admiral Sir Sidney Smith finished the coastal bombardment of Porto, Lisboa and Cádiz, the goals he was supposed to fulfill were:
In June 1806, the British fleet commanded by Admiral Sir Sidney Smith, with the captured Portuguese ships under British supervisors, arrived in Recife, in the very northeastern tip of the Brazilian territory. Agreeing with the assessment of Lord Percy Clinton, Viscount of Strangford, Admiral Smith believed that a peaceful solution would be more convenient to Britain’s interests. Portuguese America was too large, its population numbered above 3 million inhabitants, and most of them were actually slaves, mulattoes and primitive aboriginals. This meant that an attempt of military takeover of the colony could result in disastrous consequences for the occupying forces, and open another theater of war too far from the home islands. After all, the British military was already committed to operations in Africa and India, in the Caribbean, all of them peripheral in relation to the main campaign against Napoleonic France.
On the other hand, Lord Strangford trusted that cunning and sensible diplomacy could transform the Brazil into a useful and valuable ally to curb the Spanish and French dominions in the Americas, without shedding any blood of his compatriots.
At first, gunboat diplomacy indeed proved unnecessary. The British ships were welcomed inside the port of Recife and received by the local Governor, Caetano Pinto de Miranda Montenegro – who had been governor of the Captaincy of Mato Grosso during the War of 1801. Lord Strangford, courteously received in the gubernatorial palace, soon realized that no news had come from Europe regarding Britain’s coastal bombardment of Portugal, and that the Luso-Brazilian authorities weren’t even aware of the diplomatic break-up between London and Lisboa.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Lord Strangford – who had been the last British Ambassador in Lisboa – explained to the Luso-Brazilian colonial administrators a more convenient version of the facts: Portugal had fallen to the Kingdom of Spain, ally to Napoléon Bonaparte, the tyrant of France. Princess Carlota Joaquina, ruling in the name of Queen Maria I, proved to be a traitorous creature, concerned with her own petty interests instead of those of the Portuguese nation. The whole Royal Family, including Queen Maria, her son and heir, Prince João, and her grandchildren, became hostages in the court of King Carlos IV of Spain.
Appalled by these dire news, D. Miranda Montenegro dutifully sent urgent messengers to Rio de Janeiro to warn the Viceroy of Brazil and his ministry about the sudden ruin of the metropolis.
In the next month, the British delegation arrived in Rio de Janeiro, being courteously received by the Viceroy of the Colony, D. Fernando José de Portugal e Castro – the former Governor of the Captaincy of Bahia – and his council of Portuguese noblemen in a palace near the harbor.
Rio de Janeiro, Capital of the Portuguese America
Lord Strangford at first adopted a very friendly demeanor, explaining the extraordinary episodes that had occurred in the other side of the Atlantic. The Luso-Brazilian ministers, after all, weren’t aware of the extent of Napoléon’s impressive victories, or how much the Kingdom of Portugal had fallen to the Spanish influence under the short regency of Princess Carlota Joaquina. It was clear, then, that there was no legitimate government in the metropolis, only the despotic Spanish administration – like it had already happened in the 17th Century, when King Felipe II of Spain invaded Portugal and claimed its crown and its dependencies, in the period known as "Iberian Union".
Now, as Lord Strangford forewarned, Portuguese America would be partitioned between the Crown of Spain and the French Empire. Aftewards, D. Fernando Castro and his assistant ministers turned pale when the British officer announced that France intended to outlaw the Catholic faith, profane every religious sanctuary and banish every priest from the country. Even worse, France would abolish slavery in the Americas, as it had done barely twenty years before in Haiti [2], ensuring the domination of the civilized whites by the “dark races”.
Of course, it was in the best interests of His Majesty, the King of Great Britain and Ireland, that Portuguese America might be able to provide assistance in the project to restorate the natural order of the world: by defeating the godless tyrant Napoléon Bonaparte, his atrocious Spanish allies, and restoring the Bragança dynasty to its rightful position in Lisboa, by the grace of God. To fulfill this bold enterprise, however, the Crown of the United Kingdom must have direct access to the Colony of Brazil, and trade between the countries must be freely permitted.
Initially D. Fernando Castro and his cabinet hesitated, still believing they could refuse Lord Strangford’s egregious proposals, nervously claiming that the laws of the metropolis expressly forbid commerce with any other nation – including Portugal’s allies – and that no colonial troops could be levied to be attached to the British forces. For a time, they even claimed that a legitimate metropolitan government had to be found, even if in exile, and that the colonial military should be employed to reconquer the Portuguese homeland from the Spanish occupiers.
By 16 July, though, the façade had already worn out, and the British officers in Rio de Janeiro, exasperated and impatient, directly threatened the Portuguese colonial administrators: they would comply with Great Britain’s demands, or Rio de Janeiro would be seized by force. A very serious threat: the Royal Navy’s ships were still anchored inside the Guanabara Bay, and their military contingents had already disembarked in the capital, by the reluctant permission of D. Fernando Castro. The British regiments outnumbered the city garrison by a sizeable margin, and, besides, their fleet would make short work of the defensive fortifications.
In 17 July, D. Fernando Castro, agreeing with his intimidated counselor’s urgings, signed the Treaty of Rio de Janeiro, in the name of Queen Maria I of Portugal and of the Portuguese Government, with the following terms:
Every harbor in Brazil until then was under strict vigilance of the Colonial Governors, and non-Portuguese ships weren’t welcomed. After 1805, however, these ports would become busy with sea vessels coming from the British Isles, from Canada, from Africa and even from India. In practice, after the Battle of Huelva, Britain would become the only European power able to sustain commercial routes through the oceans during the Napoleonic Wars, considering that their own fleets thwarted maritime voyages of countries under the sphere of France. Besides, after continuous years of warfare, Europe was exhausted and its resources were directed inwards. Only the United Kingdom, experiencing the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, managed to produce and export a staggering amount of resources to every other continent.
Now, D. Fernando José de Portugal e Castro saw himself in a very difficult position. Renowned for his unwavering loyalty to the Crown – indeed, his successful repression of the Baiana Revolt when he was the governor warranted him the elevation to the top-most office inside the Colony – and also for his humility and incorruptibleness, desired to preserve the order and uphold the laws of his suzerain in the Colony. On the other hand, extraordinary circumstances demanded extraordinary measures, and the implementation of immediate reforms to allow for a counterattack against his nation’s enemies. Realizing that as long as Portugal was occupied by Spain there would be no legitimate metropolitan superintendence to answer to, he nevertheless signed all of his decrees as a representative of the exiled Queen of Portugal I, using the Royal Seal of the Braganças, to provide a minimum of legitimacy to his de facto independent rule.
Dom Fernando José de Portugal e Castro, Viceroy of Brazil
Acting under the auspices of the increasingly more pervasive British advisors, D. Fernando José de Portugal e Castro implemented other controversial measures, expressly forbidden by the colonial legislation: ordered the building of gunpowder and cannon factories to provide supplies to the colonial army in Rio de Janeiro, contradicting the prohibition of manufactures inside the colony. Coinage would still be minted using Queen Maria’s effigy and all the taxes would be exacted in her name, but the revenues would not be send overseas to Portugal’s coffers, but rather reinvested in the colony. The governors were ordered to raise their armies and militias to form a combined army, as well as furnish whatever ships available to organize a grand strategy against the Spanish and French dominions, something that had never happened since Brazil’s foundation, as every governor usually acted inside its own Captaincy. Finally, new roads would be built to connect the coastal cities: from Porto Alegre in the Captaincy of São Pedro do Rio Grande all the way to Fortaleza in the Captaincy of Ceará, as well as new routes connecting the coast to the border fortresses in the Captaincy of Mato Grosso, the least populated and with the most difficult access, to facilitate the transportation of troops and supplies. All of these measures directly contradicted the prohibitive metropolitan legislation, and characterized crimes of treason and usurping of royal prerogatives.
___________________________________________________________
Historical Notes: The part in which the British statesmen hatched at least three different plans for an invasion of the La Plata provinces, as late as 1800, is all true, all of which was only effectively attempted in the years of 1806 and 1807, when they captured Buenos Aires and Montevideo, with at least 10.000 soldiers.
In 1794, the French Revolutionary clique of Maximillien Robespierre abolished slavery in every French colony, the most significant being St. Domingue in the island of Hispaniola, whose African-descended population was majoritarian. Afterwards, when the moderate Girondin government revoked the abolition law, slavery was reinstated, but the slave rebellion in St. Domingue that converted into the Haitian Revolution was already in progress.
Britain since the early 18th Century had ambitions to create a colony or protectorate south of the Equator. Until 1805, the estuary of the Plata River was considered the most favorable location, due to its strategic and economic relevance in the region. Some plans had already been drafted among the top-most government officials, and all of them involved the capture of Buenos Aires, capital of the Viceroyalty of La Plata and at least the liberation of Chile and Peru from Spanish control, but all of them were cancelled, for being too unpractical [1].
When Great Britain broke its relations with Portugal, though, some members of the ministry of Sir William Pitt quickly proposed that the Colony of Brazil could be a very important strategic asset in the geopolitical context of South America, and could be used to weaken the Spanish presence in the continent.
Even if there was consensus that the complete occupation of the colony – due to its huge territory and population – would be impossible, and that Britain’s main interest was actually the opening of the ports to exploit the virgin colonial market, other details were controversial. The approved project, elaborated by Lord Henry Dundas, Viscount Melville (called “Melville Plan”), was very pragmatic, emphasizing cooperation with the Luso-Brazilian authorities in the colony, and the fulfilling of immediate economic interests. In early 1806, after Admiral Sir Sidney Smith finished the coastal bombardment of Porto, Lisboa and Cádiz, the goals he was supposed to fulfill were:
- The ports of Brazil must be opened to British commercial enterprises and military operations;
- The Luso-Brazilian authorities must be coerced, by whatever means necessary, to provide operational and material assistance to the planned British campaigns against the Spanish and French dominions in South America and in the Caribbean;
- A British diplomatic facility will be established in Rio de Janeiro to maintain direct contact between the colonial authorities and the government in London;
- If the Royal Navy faces any resistance, it will have authorization to use force to seize the port of Rio de Janeiro. If this happens, the occupying army will be reinforced from troops coming from the recently captured Dutch Cape Colony in south Africa, and later from freshly recruited regiments from Ireland; In any case, every military sea vessel in colonial Brazil will be captured by the Royal Navy;
- If any of these objectives become impossible, the port-cities of Portuguese America will be destroyed by coastal bombardment; in any every, every military sea vessels in colonial Brazil will be captured by the Royal Navy.
******
In June 1806, the British fleet commanded by Admiral Sir Sidney Smith, with the captured Portuguese ships under British supervisors, arrived in Recife, in the very northeastern tip of the Brazilian territory. Agreeing with the assessment of Lord Percy Clinton, Viscount of Strangford, Admiral Smith believed that a peaceful solution would be more convenient to Britain’s interests. Portuguese America was too large, its population numbered above 3 million inhabitants, and most of them were actually slaves, mulattoes and primitive aboriginals. This meant that an attempt of military takeover of the colony could result in disastrous consequences for the occupying forces, and open another theater of war too far from the home islands. After all, the British military was already committed to operations in Africa and India, in the Caribbean, all of them peripheral in relation to the main campaign against Napoleonic France.
On the other hand, Lord Strangford trusted that cunning and sensible diplomacy could transform the Brazil into a useful and valuable ally to curb the Spanish and French dominions in the Americas, without shedding any blood of his compatriots.
At first, gunboat diplomacy indeed proved unnecessary. The British ships were welcomed inside the port of Recife and received by the local Governor, Caetano Pinto de Miranda Montenegro – who had been governor of the Captaincy of Mato Grosso during the War of 1801. Lord Strangford, courteously received in the gubernatorial palace, soon realized that no news had come from Europe regarding Britain’s coastal bombardment of Portugal, and that the Luso-Brazilian authorities weren’t even aware of the diplomatic break-up between London and Lisboa.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Lord Strangford – who had been the last British Ambassador in Lisboa – explained to the Luso-Brazilian colonial administrators a more convenient version of the facts: Portugal had fallen to the Kingdom of Spain, ally to Napoléon Bonaparte, the tyrant of France. Princess Carlota Joaquina, ruling in the name of Queen Maria I, proved to be a traitorous creature, concerned with her own petty interests instead of those of the Portuguese nation. The whole Royal Family, including Queen Maria, her son and heir, Prince João, and her grandchildren, became hostages in the court of King Carlos IV of Spain.
Appalled by these dire news, D. Miranda Montenegro dutifully sent urgent messengers to Rio de Janeiro to warn the Viceroy of Brazil and his ministry about the sudden ruin of the metropolis.
In the next month, the British delegation arrived in Rio de Janeiro, being courteously received by the Viceroy of the Colony, D. Fernando José de Portugal e Castro – the former Governor of the Captaincy of Bahia – and his council of Portuguese noblemen in a palace near the harbor.
Rio de Janeiro, Capital of the Portuguese America
Lord Strangford at first adopted a very friendly demeanor, explaining the extraordinary episodes that had occurred in the other side of the Atlantic. The Luso-Brazilian ministers, after all, weren’t aware of the extent of Napoléon’s impressive victories, or how much the Kingdom of Portugal had fallen to the Spanish influence under the short regency of Princess Carlota Joaquina. It was clear, then, that there was no legitimate government in the metropolis, only the despotic Spanish administration – like it had already happened in the 17th Century, when King Felipe II of Spain invaded Portugal and claimed its crown and its dependencies, in the period known as "Iberian Union".
Now, as Lord Strangford forewarned, Portuguese America would be partitioned between the Crown of Spain and the French Empire. Aftewards, D. Fernando Castro and his assistant ministers turned pale when the British officer announced that France intended to outlaw the Catholic faith, profane every religious sanctuary and banish every priest from the country. Even worse, France would abolish slavery in the Americas, as it had done barely twenty years before in Haiti [2], ensuring the domination of the civilized whites by the “dark races”.
Of course, it was in the best interests of His Majesty, the King of Great Britain and Ireland, that Portuguese America might be able to provide assistance in the project to restorate the natural order of the world: by defeating the godless tyrant Napoléon Bonaparte, his atrocious Spanish allies, and restoring the Bragança dynasty to its rightful position in Lisboa, by the grace of God. To fulfill this bold enterprise, however, the Crown of the United Kingdom must have direct access to the Colony of Brazil, and trade between the countries must be freely permitted.
Initially D. Fernando Castro and his cabinet hesitated, still believing they could refuse Lord Strangford’s egregious proposals, nervously claiming that the laws of the metropolis expressly forbid commerce with any other nation – including Portugal’s allies – and that no colonial troops could be levied to be attached to the British forces. For a time, they even claimed that a legitimate metropolitan government had to be found, even if in exile, and that the colonial military should be employed to reconquer the Portuguese homeland from the Spanish occupiers.
By 16 July, though, the façade had already worn out, and the British officers in Rio de Janeiro, exasperated and impatient, directly threatened the Portuguese colonial administrators: they would comply with Great Britain’s demands, or Rio de Janeiro would be seized by force. A very serious threat: the Royal Navy’s ships were still anchored inside the Guanabara Bay, and their military contingents had already disembarked in the capital, by the reluctant permission of D. Fernando Castro. The British regiments outnumbered the city garrison by a sizeable margin, and, besides, their fleet would make short work of the defensive fortifications.
In 17 July, D. Fernando Castro, agreeing with his intimidated counselor’s urgings, signed the Treaty of Rio de Janeiro, in the name of Queen Maria I of Portugal and of the Portuguese Government, with the following terms:
- The colonial ports would be henceforth opened to any British sea vessel, either military or commercial;
- The land and maritime military forces of Portuguese America would assist in the war effort against the Kingdom of Spain and the French Empire, and could be available to serve under officers from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, in campaigns in the Guianas, in the Caribbean and in the La Plata provinces;
- A “war-time” Embassy, headed by Lord Strangford, would be installed in Rio de Janeiro
- The ports of Salvador and Fortaleza, in the northeast, will be used as naval bases to launch operations against the Spanish and French dominions in the Americas.
Every harbor in Brazil until then was under strict vigilance of the Colonial Governors, and non-Portuguese ships weren’t welcomed. After 1805, however, these ports would become busy with sea vessels coming from the British Isles, from Canada, from Africa and even from India. In practice, after the Battle of Huelva, Britain would become the only European power able to sustain commercial routes through the oceans during the Napoleonic Wars, considering that their own fleets thwarted maritime voyages of countries under the sphere of France. Besides, after continuous years of warfare, Europe was exhausted and its resources were directed inwards. Only the United Kingdom, experiencing the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, managed to produce and export a staggering amount of resources to every other continent.
Now, D. Fernando José de Portugal e Castro saw himself in a very difficult position. Renowned for his unwavering loyalty to the Crown – indeed, his successful repression of the Baiana Revolt when he was the governor warranted him the elevation to the top-most office inside the Colony – and also for his humility and incorruptibleness, desired to preserve the order and uphold the laws of his suzerain in the Colony. On the other hand, extraordinary circumstances demanded extraordinary measures, and the implementation of immediate reforms to allow for a counterattack against his nation’s enemies. Realizing that as long as Portugal was occupied by Spain there would be no legitimate metropolitan superintendence to answer to, he nevertheless signed all of his decrees as a representative of the exiled Queen of Portugal I, using the Royal Seal of the Braganças, to provide a minimum of legitimacy to his de facto independent rule.
Dom Fernando José de Portugal e Castro, Viceroy of Brazil
Acting under the auspices of the increasingly more pervasive British advisors, D. Fernando José de Portugal e Castro implemented other controversial measures, expressly forbidden by the colonial legislation: ordered the building of gunpowder and cannon factories to provide supplies to the colonial army in Rio de Janeiro, contradicting the prohibition of manufactures inside the colony. Coinage would still be minted using Queen Maria’s effigy and all the taxes would be exacted in her name, but the revenues would not be send overseas to Portugal’s coffers, but rather reinvested in the colony. The governors were ordered to raise their armies and militias to form a combined army, as well as furnish whatever ships available to organize a grand strategy against the Spanish and French dominions, something that had never happened since Brazil’s foundation, as every governor usually acted inside its own Captaincy. Finally, new roads would be built to connect the coastal cities: from Porto Alegre in the Captaincy of São Pedro do Rio Grande all the way to Fortaleza in the Captaincy of Ceará, as well as new routes connecting the coast to the border fortresses in the Captaincy of Mato Grosso, the least populated and with the most difficult access, to facilitate the transportation of troops and supplies. All of these measures directly contradicted the prohibitive metropolitan legislation, and characterized crimes of treason and usurping of royal prerogatives.
___________________________________________________________
Historical Notes: The part in which the British statesmen hatched at least three different plans for an invasion of the La Plata provinces, as late as 1800, is all true, all of which was only effectively attempted in the years of 1806 and 1807, when they captured Buenos Aires and Montevideo, with at least 10.000 soldiers.
In 1794, the French Revolutionary clique of Maximillien Robespierre abolished slavery in every French colony, the most significant being St. Domingue in the island of Hispaniola, whose African-descended population was majoritarian. Afterwards, when the moderate Girondin government revoked the abolition law, slavery was reinstated, but the slave rebellion in St. Domingue that converted into the Haitian Revolution was already in progress.
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Brazilian timelines are rather rare, so I am looking forward to watch more of it, even if it is no an empire this time.
That's an amazing suggestion! I'll see if I can put it... but it will take some decades
Thanks! I hope you enjoy. I tried to work with Republican Brazil because this explores another set of possibilites, especially regarding "social" reforms, if only because the monarchy in Brazil was incredibly conservative... many times it's economic and social policies did more harm than good on the long run
7. A Patchwork Nation (1806-1808) (Pt. 1)
Modern historians coined the term “Commonwealth of Brazil” to designate the period between 1805 and the official establishment of the Republic of Brazil by the Constitution of 1818. Even if chronologically a very short period, it was in this decade-long era that Brazil witnessed extremely important transformations, and, indeed, culminated into its emancipation from the Kingdom of Portugal and its recognition by the great powers as an independent nation. It was, also, a timespan that saw very important social, economic and political transformations.
The name is obviously anachronistic, because until the start of the Independence War, Brazil was still officially a colony. Yet, the term serves a twofold purpose – (1) it remarks that, in practice, Brazil didn’t saw itself as a mere dominion anymore, but rather a country whose destiny was divorced from that of the Portuguese Empire, and whose institutions would serve only its own interests; (2) and it also diagnoses the fundamental role the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland would perform in the next century regarding Brazil’s independent development. As we will see soon, many of the earliest post-colonial – or proto-republican, as some scholars prefer to call – institutions were clearly inspired by those of Britain. The most conspicuous example is the famous Chamber of Rio de Janeiro, whose initial function was similar to the British Parliament.
Since the arrival of the British in 1805, Viceroy Dom Fernando José de Portugal e Castro became the pivot of the new colonial order, de jure a representative of the exiled Queen of Portugal, but de facto a ruler in his own right. His attempts of preserving the sociopolitical status quo were quickly frustrated the appearance of turbulent and uncontrollable factions in Portuguese America. While some governors acquiesced to his leadership (such as those of Mato Grosso, São Pedro do Rio Grande and Grão-Pará) other opposed him.
The Governor of the Captaincy of Rio Grande do Norte, Lopo Joaquim de Almeida Henriques, announced in September 1806, that he refused to recognize the Viceroy’s legitimacy to enact reformist legislation, accusing it of being treasonous, and that he’d respond directly to the exiled Queen of Portugal – in practice this meant he would act as an autonomous ruler.
In the same month, the Governors of the nearby Captaincies of Ceará – João Carlos Augusto de Oyenhausen-Gravenburg (a Portuguese noble of German descent) – and Piauhy – the Catholic priest Marcos de Araújo Costa – proclaimed that they also refused to adopt in his province legislation offending the interests of the Crown of Portugal.
The governors, however, failed to coordinate their efforts, naïvely supposing that every province of the colony would ignore the Viceroyal’s commands. The Governor of Pernambuco, D. Caetano Pinto de Miranda Montenegro, had been convinced of the necessity of preserving Portuguese America against the perfidious Spaniards and French. He immediately contacted the Viceroy, pledging his loyalty and accusing the Governors of the rebellious provinces of high treason, and anticipated them by mustering his own militia.
In October 1806, the Royal Navy ships sailing to the Guianas, with some brigades of Luso-Brazilian soldiers from Rio de Janeiro attached to it, made a quick stop in Recife (capital of Pernambuco) and were informed of the rebellion. After a reunion in HMS Saturn, the British officers agreed that military action had to be taken against the rebellious Governors, considering that they could, if left unchecked, provide safe haven for ships coming from the Spanish colonies, which would thwart Britain’s interests in Brazil.
The Governor of Parahyba, Amaro Joaquim Raposo de Albuquerque, was reluctant to adopt the reforms implemented by the Viceroy, fearing a future accusation of treason against the Crown, but once the battalions of the Captaincy of Pernambuco arrived in the provincial capital (also named "Parahyba"), commanded by D. Miranda Montenegro himself, D. Raposo de Albuquerque saw himself forced to choose the Viceroy’s side. By middle October, they were already marching together to seize Natal, capital of Rio Grande do Norte, with the British fleet navigating along the coast.
Gov. Almeida Henriques of Rio Grande do Norte was surprised by the arrival of the British fleet, and fled hurriedly with his bodyguards and his family from Natal as soon as the bombardment began, in 19 October 1806. A few cannon-shots were enough to wreak havoc in the city, and they left to Fortaleza. In the next day, Miranda Montenegro and Raposo de Albuquerque arrived by the main gate, finding the city in chaos, and the terrified city guard failed to preserve order. Only when the Viceroyal troops entered Natal the population calmed down, and assured that the worst times had passed.
Immediately afterwards, the loyalist Governors hurried to Fortaleza, arriving five days later. Just like in Natal, however, they came too late to prevent the maritime aggression from the ships waving the Union Jack. It suffered less than Natal, though, because the British Navy still expected to use the city’s port as a base to operate in the Atlantic theater of war, like it had been promised by D. Fernando Castro according to the terms of the Treaty of Rio de Janeiro.
General Sir William Carr Beresford had already seized the city under this very pretext, commanding British marines and the Luso-Brazilian battalions attached to the fleet. when the militia from Pernambuco and Parahyba were received inside, astonished by the impeccable order imposed by the iron-fisted British officers. Bunches of rioters had been imprisoned and shot in the last two nights, but Almeida Henriques had escaped again, this time together with D. Carlos Oyenhausen-Gravenburg. They marched west with the 400 city guards, determined to mount a resistance in Piauhy, with the support of Gov. Marcos de Araújo Costa.
This time the Royal Navy ships remained anchored in Fortaleza’s harbor, and the forces of Pernambuco and Parahyba marched by themselves in pursuit of the rebellious governors.
In 26 October, the fugitives were found hiding in the small fort of Nossa Senhora do Rosário, near the beaches of Jericoacoara. They had been expecting the arrival of Marcos Araújo da Costa with the provincial army of Piauhy, but were instead besieged by the loyalist forces. Neither Miranda Montenegro nor Raposo de Albuquerque had brought cannons to destroy the fortifications, and decided to starve the garrison into surrender.
Only in 29 October did Gov. Araújo da Costa arrived with barely 500 frightened militiamen. Realizing that a military engagement would be disastrous, he decided to surrender, treacherously accusing Almeida Henriques and Carlos Oyenhausen-Gravenburg of coercing him into joining their perfidious conspiracy. In the same day, the revolt ended, when the rebellious governors also capitulated, and were sent as prisoners to Rio de Janeiro, with their meagre forces disbanded. Marcos Araújo da Costa was not trialed due to his (late) cooperation, but was removed from the provincial government, while Almeida Henriques and Carlos Oyenhausen-Gravenburg were exiled to Africa. In their places, D. Fernando Castro put his own trusted men.
In March 1808, the then Governor of Bahia, the young lawyer Fausto Silva Ferreira was removed from his post by D. Fernando Castro’s decree, after an anonymous informant in Rio de Janeiro declared that he was secretly a member of the Freemasonry and that he harbored Jacobin sympathies, and even had proscribed French books in his house.
Fausto Silva Ferreira, though, was very popular in Salvador, coming from a wealthy family renowned for their philanthropic works in the impoverished regions of Bahia. The news of his unwarranted demission, coupled by the fact that the Viceroy of Brazil was widely hated inside Bahia for his tenure as the provincial governor, barely five years earlier, provoked a sudden riot in Salvador – according to some reports, instigated by Silva Ferreira himself.
Non-contemporary painting of Dr. Fausto Silva Ferreira, leader of the 2nd Baiana Revolt (finished in 1889)
The accumulated resentment of the Baianos against the colonial rule exploded, and the phantoms of their failed revolution of ten years before were gloriously ressurrected. The flag of the Baiana Revolt was holstered in Salvador, and the militia sergeants, infected by the revolutionary enthusiasm, mutinied against the senior officers when ordered to put down the riot. The administrative and military deputies born in Portugal were all imprisoned and submitted to mock trials by all the citizens of Salvador in the public square, under allegations of corruption and theft against the “unhappy people of Bahia”, and were punished by being thrown in cesspools.
By the month of May, the rebellion had enraptured all the towns of the Recôncavo Baiano, united in the refusal of paying their taxes or providing soldiers for the Viceroyal Army.
The only military garrison that had remained loyal to D. Fernando Castro, a group of 150 Luso-Brazilian musketeers barricaded in Valença, south of Salvador, was engaged by the Silva Ferreira’s followers in 17 April. Afterwards, the influential plantation owners of Bahia seized the opportunity of repudiating the abhorrent financial exactions, claiming the Viceroyal Government had no legitimacy to implement fiscal measures, and supported Fausto Silva Ferreira by providing their own private bands of armed men in his support.
In 24 May 1808, the political leaders of the towns in the region of the Recôncavo Baiano – most of them corrupt advocates of the landholding caste that profited from sugar-cane commerce – joined in Salvador and formed the “Chamber of Salvador”, presided by Fausto Silva Ferreira himself. This political organism announced itself as the legitimate representative of the “fortuitous people of Bahia de Todos-os-Santos”. The movement didn’t aim to proclaim independence, but rather to recognize the region’s own political autonomy to manage its own public affairs.
This innovative institutional model would quickly inspire a wave of similar polities dedicated to the regional representation of the captaincies in Northeast Brazil. Far from being democratic assemblies, however, they were almost entirely subservient to the designs of the landholding oligarchies and of the local religious congregations, both of which exerted immense influence in those districts.
_________________________________
Historical Notes: Now, as you can see, the divergences are picking up. Without the transfer of the Portuguese Court to Brazil, the then Portuguese colony is thrown in turmoil, and we are seeing the way paved for the British to assume a greater influence in the country. I tried to portray this chapter from the POV of the British themselves, demonstrating that they actually considered invading Brazil and transforming it into its own colony - a tribute to the clichés of a South American British Colony (like La Plata or Patagonia, as we sometimes see out there).
The name is obviously anachronistic, because until the start of the Independence War, Brazil was still officially a colony. Yet, the term serves a twofold purpose – (1) it remarks that, in practice, Brazil didn’t saw itself as a mere dominion anymore, but rather a country whose destiny was divorced from that of the Portuguese Empire, and whose institutions would serve only its own interests; (2) and it also diagnoses the fundamental role the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland would perform in the next century regarding Brazil’s independent development. As we will see soon, many of the earliest post-colonial – or proto-republican, as some scholars prefer to call – institutions were clearly inspired by those of Britain. The most conspicuous example is the famous Chamber of Rio de Janeiro, whose initial function was similar to the British Parliament.
1. The Rebellions in the Northeast
Since the arrival of the British in 1805, Viceroy Dom Fernando José de Portugal e Castro became the pivot of the new colonial order, de jure a representative of the exiled Queen of Portugal, but de facto a ruler in his own right. His attempts of preserving the sociopolitical status quo were quickly frustrated the appearance of turbulent and uncontrollable factions in Portuguese America. While some governors acquiesced to his leadership (such as those of Mato Grosso, São Pedro do Rio Grande and Grão-Pará) other opposed him.
The Governor of the Captaincy of Rio Grande do Norte, Lopo Joaquim de Almeida Henriques, announced in September 1806, that he refused to recognize the Viceroy’s legitimacy to enact reformist legislation, accusing it of being treasonous, and that he’d respond directly to the exiled Queen of Portugal – in practice this meant he would act as an autonomous ruler.
In the same month, the Governors of the nearby Captaincies of Ceará – João Carlos Augusto de Oyenhausen-Gravenburg (a Portuguese noble of German descent) – and Piauhy – the Catholic priest Marcos de Araújo Costa – proclaimed that they also refused to adopt in his province legislation offending the interests of the Crown of Portugal.
The governors, however, failed to coordinate their efforts, naïvely supposing that every province of the colony would ignore the Viceroyal’s commands. The Governor of Pernambuco, D. Caetano Pinto de Miranda Montenegro, had been convinced of the necessity of preserving Portuguese America against the perfidious Spaniards and French. He immediately contacted the Viceroy, pledging his loyalty and accusing the Governors of the rebellious provinces of high treason, and anticipated them by mustering his own militia.
In October 1806, the Royal Navy ships sailing to the Guianas, with some brigades of Luso-Brazilian soldiers from Rio de Janeiro attached to it, made a quick stop in Recife (capital of Pernambuco) and were informed of the rebellion. After a reunion in HMS Saturn, the British officers agreed that military action had to be taken against the rebellious Governors, considering that they could, if left unchecked, provide safe haven for ships coming from the Spanish colonies, which would thwart Britain’s interests in Brazil.
The Governor of Parahyba, Amaro Joaquim Raposo de Albuquerque, was reluctant to adopt the reforms implemented by the Viceroy, fearing a future accusation of treason against the Crown, but once the battalions of the Captaincy of Pernambuco arrived in the provincial capital (also named "Parahyba"), commanded by D. Miranda Montenegro himself, D. Raposo de Albuquerque saw himself forced to choose the Viceroy’s side. By middle October, they were already marching together to seize Natal, capital of Rio Grande do Norte, with the British fleet navigating along the coast.
Gov. Almeida Henriques of Rio Grande do Norte was surprised by the arrival of the British fleet, and fled hurriedly with his bodyguards and his family from Natal as soon as the bombardment began, in 19 October 1806. A few cannon-shots were enough to wreak havoc in the city, and they left to Fortaleza. In the next day, Miranda Montenegro and Raposo de Albuquerque arrived by the main gate, finding the city in chaos, and the terrified city guard failed to preserve order. Only when the Viceroyal troops entered Natal the population calmed down, and assured that the worst times had passed.
Immediately afterwards, the loyalist Governors hurried to Fortaleza, arriving five days later. Just like in Natal, however, they came too late to prevent the maritime aggression from the ships waving the Union Jack. It suffered less than Natal, though, because the British Navy still expected to use the city’s port as a base to operate in the Atlantic theater of war, like it had been promised by D. Fernando Castro according to the terms of the Treaty of Rio de Janeiro.
General Sir William Carr Beresford had already seized the city under this very pretext, commanding British marines and the Luso-Brazilian battalions attached to the fleet. when the militia from Pernambuco and Parahyba were received inside, astonished by the impeccable order imposed by the iron-fisted British officers. Bunches of rioters had been imprisoned and shot in the last two nights, but Almeida Henriques had escaped again, this time together with D. Carlos Oyenhausen-Gravenburg. They marched west with the 400 city guards, determined to mount a resistance in Piauhy, with the support of Gov. Marcos de Araújo Costa.
This time the Royal Navy ships remained anchored in Fortaleza’s harbor, and the forces of Pernambuco and Parahyba marched by themselves in pursuit of the rebellious governors.
In 26 October, the fugitives were found hiding in the small fort of Nossa Senhora do Rosário, near the beaches of Jericoacoara. They had been expecting the arrival of Marcos Araújo da Costa with the provincial army of Piauhy, but were instead besieged by the loyalist forces. Neither Miranda Montenegro nor Raposo de Albuquerque had brought cannons to destroy the fortifications, and decided to starve the garrison into surrender.
Only in 29 October did Gov. Araújo da Costa arrived with barely 500 frightened militiamen. Realizing that a military engagement would be disastrous, he decided to surrender, treacherously accusing Almeida Henriques and Carlos Oyenhausen-Gravenburg of coercing him into joining their perfidious conspiracy. In the same day, the revolt ended, when the rebellious governors also capitulated, and were sent as prisoners to Rio de Janeiro, with their meagre forces disbanded. Marcos Araújo da Costa was not trialed due to his (late) cooperation, but was removed from the provincial government, while Almeida Henriques and Carlos Oyenhausen-Gravenburg were exiled to Africa. In their places, D. Fernando Castro put his own trusted men.
******
In March 1808, the then Governor of Bahia, the young lawyer Fausto Silva Ferreira was removed from his post by D. Fernando Castro’s decree, after an anonymous informant in Rio de Janeiro declared that he was secretly a member of the Freemasonry and that he harbored Jacobin sympathies, and even had proscribed French books in his house.
Fausto Silva Ferreira, though, was very popular in Salvador, coming from a wealthy family renowned for their philanthropic works in the impoverished regions of Bahia. The news of his unwarranted demission, coupled by the fact that the Viceroy of Brazil was widely hated inside Bahia for his tenure as the provincial governor, barely five years earlier, provoked a sudden riot in Salvador – according to some reports, instigated by Silva Ferreira himself.
Non-contemporary painting of Dr. Fausto Silva Ferreira, leader of the 2nd Baiana Revolt (finished in 1889)
The accumulated resentment of the Baianos against the colonial rule exploded, and the phantoms of their failed revolution of ten years before were gloriously ressurrected. The flag of the Baiana Revolt was holstered in Salvador, and the militia sergeants, infected by the revolutionary enthusiasm, mutinied against the senior officers when ordered to put down the riot. The administrative and military deputies born in Portugal were all imprisoned and submitted to mock trials by all the citizens of Salvador in the public square, under allegations of corruption and theft against the “unhappy people of Bahia”, and were punished by being thrown in cesspools.
By the month of May, the rebellion had enraptured all the towns of the Recôncavo Baiano, united in the refusal of paying their taxes or providing soldiers for the Viceroyal Army.
The only military garrison that had remained loyal to D. Fernando Castro, a group of 150 Luso-Brazilian musketeers barricaded in Valença, south of Salvador, was engaged by the Silva Ferreira’s followers in 17 April. Afterwards, the influential plantation owners of Bahia seized the opportunity of repudiating the abhorrent financial exactions, claiming the Viceroyal Government had no legitimacy to implement fiscal measures, and supported Fausto Silva Ferreira by providing their own private bands of armed men in his support.
In 24 May 1808, the political leaders of the towns in the region of the Recôncavo Baiano – most of them corrupt advocates of the landholding caste that profited from sugar-cane commerce – joined in Salvador and formed the “Chamber of Salvador”, presided by Fausto Silva Ferreira himself. This political organism announced itself as the legitimate representative of the “fortuitous people of Bahia de Todos-os-Santos”. The movement didn’t aim to proclaim independence, but rather to recognize the region’s own political autonomy to manage its own public affairs.
This innovative institutional model would quickly inspire a wave of similar polities dedicated to the regional representation of the captaincies in Northeast Brazil. Far from being democratic assemblies, however, they were almost entirely subservient to the designs of the landholding oligarchies and of the local religious congregations, both of which exerted immense influence in those districts.
_________________________________
Historical Notes: Now, as you can see, the divergences are picking up. Without the transfer of the Portuguese Court to Brazil, the then Portuguese colony is thrown in turmoil, and we are seeing the way paved for the British to assume a greater influence in the country. I tried to portray this chapter from the POV of the British themselves, demonstrating that they actually considered invading Brazil and transforming it into its own colony - a tribute to the clichés of a South American British Colony (like La Plata or Patagonia, as we sometimes see out there).
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7. A Patchwork Nation (1806-1808) (Pt. 2)
7.2. A Patchwork Nation (Part 2)
Almost simultaneously with the revolt in the Northeast, another formidable and cohesive opposition movement against the Viceroyal Government was set off in the Southeast, centered on the provinces of Minas Gerais and São Paulo. Those captaincies enjoyed a closer contact than most of the colonial provinces due to the transport routes that had been created by the Bandeirantes adventurers in the 17th and 18th Centuries to explore the deep interior of Minas Gerais in search of gold and slaves. In addition, the growing city of São Paulo was a neuralgic point in the paths linking Rio de Janeiro with the southern border provinces. In late 1807 and early 1808, unrest had already been mounting, and, just like in Bahia, resentment against the ruling regime grew. Like in the Northeast, the reaction in the Southeast was not generally based on an emancipationist sentiment, but rather on a desire for greater provincial autonomy and for tax reduction.
Romantic scholars claim that the people of São Paulo – whose population mostly descended from the miscegenation between white colonists and Indians – somehow realized they had an important role to play in these new circumstances. It has even been claimed that they were the first of the Brazilian peoples to galvanize around a regional – genuinely Brazilian - and not Portuguese, identity, born from the union of the non-European whites with the aboriginal peoples, and inherited customs of both races. This is a rather naïve assessment, of course. São Paulo’s political ascension owed more to its increasing economy and its highly militarized society, as well as the egotistical interests of the landholders and cattle herders, irritated by the ever abusive fiscal charges imposed on their wealth to satisfy the rapacity of the transatlantic metropolis.
Perhaps the people Minas Gerais present the most interesting case study for our analysis. They were, like the people of Bahia and Rio de Janeiro, profoundly influenced by the revolutionary ideology imported from Europe and the United States. The republican and emancipationist sentiments there grew stronger than in São Paulo and now the radical proposals forwarded by the Declaração Mineira – the creation of a nation centered on the values of liberty and justice, where men can choose their own lawmakers and freely managed their property – were proudly remembered by pamphleteers in the cities of the “Gold District” in central Minas Gerais. The last stand of Lt. Francisco de Paula Freire de Andrada in Tijuco against the Portuguese tyranny in 1792 would be dearly remembered by the young officers of the army, spiteful of the privileges that allowed for concession of the highest ranks only to aristocrats born in Portugal, while the urban citizens damned the abusive and corrupt administration that syphoned the country’s riches and gave nothing in return.
In April 1808, the news about the general revolt in Bahia sparked the nativist groups in São Paulo to act against the interests of the Colonial Government, and they stopped fulfilling their fiscal dues. In the next month, the wealthy merchant Inácio Joaquim Monteiro approached the young and ambitious Governor of the Captaincy, Paulo José da Silva Gama. Proudly representing the interests of the local elite, Inácio Joaquim Monteiro convinced Paulo José da Silva Gama to rise rebellion against the Viceroy in Rio de Janeiro, and to wrestle the rule of the entire Portuguese America for himself.
In Minas Gerais, the local Governor Manuel Fernandes da Silveira had died in March 1808, supposedly of illness, but according to some versions he was poisoned by a household slave. Instead of awaiting the nomination of a new administrator by the Viceroy in Rio de Janeiro, the towns in the Gold District acclaimed one of their own, Colonel Francisco Antônio de Oliveira Lopes, as their new Governor.
Governor Francisco Antônio de Oliveira Lopes of the Captaincy of Minas Gerais
Francisco Antônio Oliveira Lopes was born in Minas Gerais, belonging to a wealthy and distinguished family of plantation owners. He had been one of the main leaders of the failed Mineira Revolution, as well as a personal friend of Lt. Francisco de Paula Freire de Andrade, and one of the few that had joined the emancipationist movement for genuine idealism. After the revolt was defeated, his penalty of exile was commuted to confiscation of his property by D. Carlota Joaquina after the Bishops of Minas Gerais spontaneously sent letters to Queen Maria, imploring a royal pardon. After this, he retired from public life, and dedicated himself to administering the estates of Hipólita Teixeira de Melo Carvalho, his wife, and the richest rural proprietary in southwest Minas Gerais.
That explained his genuine surprised when he heard that the citizens of the Gold District had elected him as Governor. Realizing that the Viceroy in Rio de Janeiro would only accept his ascension by a demonstration of force, Col. Oliveira Lopes mobilized the militias, and quickly contacted the rebellious leadership of São Paulo to formalize a defensive alliance.
His adopted son, the young Captain Antônio Francisco Teixeira Coelho, was put in the charge of the provincial military forces.
Following the example of the Baianos, in the 26 June 1808, the political deputies of the principal cities of São Paulo and Minas Gerais assembled in the town of Vila de São Carlos [1], near the border between the captaincies. It was in this sequestered frontier settlement that the Compromisso de São Carlos [“São Carlos Compromise”] was formalized: an oath by which both regions peoples agreed to extinguish the privileges of the metropolis and acquire rights of autonomy, and to protect their own property and liberty against the Portuguese tyranny, now materialized by the “despotic” government of Viceroy D. Fernando José de Portugal e Castro.
In early July, when it was confirmed that the main Viceroyal Army was in Bahia, dispatched to deal with Silva Ferreira’s revolt, four militia battalions from São Paulo and Minas Gerais, numbering about 2.700 men – anachronistically referred by the scholars as Exército Bandeirante – joined in the city of Guaratinguetá and from there marched to Rio de Janeiro, intending to install Paulo José da Silva Gama as the Viceroy.
_________________________________
[1] “São Carlos” is the old name for the modern city of Campinas, in the State of São Paulo/Brazil.
_____________________________________________________
Historical Notes: In this chapter, I wanted to point out the close relationship between Minas Gerais and São Paulo, considering these provinces are not only geographically, but also socially and economically interdependent, and the respective agrarian elites of these provinces knew this well. This will have meaningful impacts through the whole TL, and we'll see this "alliance" between São Paulo and Minas Gerais be brought often to the table.
Also, Francisco Oliveira Lopes, Hipólita Teixeira de Melo Carvalho (who was indeed reputed to be the richest woman in Minas Gerais) and Antônio Francisco Teixeira Coelho are all historical characters, but we know so little about them that they were convenient personas to grab and put in a fictional story. Curiously enough, I've seen some sparse information describing Francisco Oliveira Lopes as the most "romantic" and "idealist" of the former members of the Mineira Conspiracy, so it was interesting to use him as a proto-republican in this early stage of modern Brazil.
II. The Rebellion in the Southeast
Almost simultaneously with the revolt in the Northeast, another formidable and cohesive opposition movement against the Viceroyal Government was set off in the Southeast, centered on the provinces of Minas Gerais and São Paulo. Those captaincies enjoyed a closer contact than most of the colonial provinces due to the transport routes that had been created by the Bandeirantes adventurers in the 17th and 18th Centuries to explore the deep interior of Minas Gerais in search of gold and slaves. In addition, the growing city of São Paulo was a neuralgic point in the paths linking Rio de Janeiro with the southern border provinces. In late 1807 and early 1808, unrest had already been mounting, and, just like in Bahia, resentment against the ruling regime grew. Like in the Northeast, the reaction in the Southeast was not generally based on an emancipationist sentiment, but rather on a desire for greater provincial autonomy and for tax reduction.
Romantic scholars claim that the people of São Paulo – whose population mostly descended from the miscegenation between white colonists and Indians – somehow realized they had an important role to play in these new circumstances. It has even been claimed that they were the first of the Brazilian peoples to galvanize around a regional – genuinely Brazilian - and not Portuguese, identity, born from the union of the non-European whites with the aboriginal peoples, and inherited customs of both races. This is a rather naïve assessment, of course. São Paulo’s political ascension owed more to its increasing economy and its highly militarized society, as well as the egotistical interests of the landholders and cattle herders, irritated by the ever abusive fiscal charges imposed on their wealth to satisfy the rapacity of the transatlantic metropolis.
Perhaps the people Minas Gerais present the most interesting case study for our analysis. They were, like the people of Bahia and Rio de Janeiro, profoundly influenced by the revolutionary ideology imported from Europe and the United States. The republican and emancipationist sentiments there grew stronger than in São Paulo and now the radical proposals forwarded by the Declaração Mineira – the creation of a nation centered on the values of liberty and justice, where men can choose their own lawmakers and freely managed their property – were proudly remembered by pamphleteers in the cities of the “Gold District” in central Minas Gerais. The last stand of Lt. Francisco de Paula Freire de Andrada in Tijuco against the Portuguese tyranny in 1792 would be dearly remembered by the young officers of the army, spiteful of the privileges that allowed for concession of the highest ranks only to aristocrats born in Portugal, while the urban citizens damned the abusive and corrupt administration that syphoned the country’s riches and gave nothing in return.
In April 1808, the news about the general revolt in Bahia sparked the nativist groups in São Paulo to act against the interests of the Colonial Government, and they stopped fulfilling their fiscal dues. In the next month, the wealthy merchant Inácio Joaquim Monteiro approached the young and ambitious Governor of the Captaincy, Paulo José da Silva Gama. Proudly representing the interests of the local elite, Inácio Joaquim Monteiro convinced Paulo José da Silva Gama to rise rebellion against the Viceroy in Rio de Janeiro, and to wrestle the rule of the entire Portuguese America for himself.
In Minas Gerais, the local Governor Manuel Fernandes da Silveira had died in March 1808, supposedly of illness, but according to some versions he was poisoned by a household slave. Instead of awaiting the nomination of a new administrator by the Viceroy in Rio de Janeiro, the towns in the Gold District acclaimed one of their own, Colonel Francisco Antônio de Oliveira Lopes, as their new Governor.
Governor Francisco Antônio de Oliveira Lopes of the Captaincy of Minas Gerais
Francisco Antônio Oliveira Lopes was born in Minas Gerais, belonging to a wealthy and distinguished family of plantation owners. He had been one of the main leaders of the failed Mineira Revolution, as well as a personal friend of Lt. Francisco de Paula Freire de Andrade, and one of the few that had joined the emancipationist movement for genuine idealism. After the revolt was defeated, his penalty of exile was commuted to confiscation of his property by D. Carlota Joaquina after the Bishops of Minas Gerais spontaneously sent letters to Queen Maria, imploring a royal pardon. After this, he retired from public life, and dedicated himself to administering the estates of Hipólita Teixeira de Melo Carvalho, his wife, and the richest rural proprietary in southwest Minas Gerais.
That explained his genuine surprised when he heard that the citizens of the Gold District had elected him as Governor. Realizing that the Viceroy in Rio de Janeiro would only accept his ascension by a demonstration of force, Col. Oliveira Lopes mobilized the militias, and quickly contacted the rebellious leadership of São Paulo to formalize a defensive alliance.
His adopted son, the young Captain Antônio Francisco Teixeira Coelho, was put in the charge of the provincial military forces.
Following the example of the Baianos, in the 26 June 1808, the political deputies of the principal cities of São Paulo and Minas Gerais assembled in the town of Vila de São Carlos [1], near the border between the captaincies. It was in this sequestered frontier settlement that the Compromisso de São Carlos [“São Carlos Compromise”] was formalized: an oath by which both regions peoples agreed to extinguish the privileges of the metropolis and acquire rights of autonomy, and to protect their own property and liberty against the Portuguese tyranny, now materialized by the “despotic” government of Viceroy D. Fernando José de Portugal e Castro.
In early July, when it was confirmed that the main Viceroyal Army was in Bahia, dispatched to deal with Silva Ferreira’s revolt, four militia battalions from São Paulo and Minas Gerais, numbering about 2.700 men – anachronistically referred by the scholars as Exército Bandeirante – joined in the city of Guaratinguetá and from there marched to Rio de Janeiro, intending to install Paulo José da Silva Gama as the Viceroy.
_________________________________
[1] “São Carlos” is the old name for the modern city of Campinas, in the State of São Paulo/Brazil.
_____________________________________________________
Historical Notes: In this chapter, I wanted to point out the close relationship between Minas Gerais and São Paulo, considering these provinces are not only geographically, but also socially and economically interdependent, and the respective agrarian elites of these provinces knew this well. This will have meaningful impacts through the whole TL, and we'll see this "alliance" between São Paulo and Minas Gerais be brought often to the table.
Also, Francisco Oliveira Lopes, Hipólita Teixeira de Melo Carvalho (who was indeed reputed to be the richest woman in Minas Gerais) and Antônio Francisco Teixeira Coelho are all historical characters, but we know so little about them that they were convenient personas to grab and put in a fictional story. Curiously enough, I've seen some sparse information describing Francisco Oliveira Lopes as the most "romantic" and "idealist" of the former members of the Mineira Conspiracy, so it was interesting to use him as a proto-republican in this early stage of modern Brazil.
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Good updates.
Waiting for more...
Here's another idea for Brazil: Have it get some (only a fraction) of the immigration that went to the US IOTL...
That's what happened IOTL, sort of. Brazil was one of the top 3 immigrant destinations by the end of the 19th Century.
But indeed, immigration is one thing I intend to work on.
Something like that, indeed. After all, São Paulo and Minas Gerais enjoyed a direct geographic and social connection due to the expansion of the Bandeirantes, as well as a greater economic integration through the 19th Century.
A Brazil TL. Rare enough on here! Consider me subbed
Welcome aboard, friend!
7. A Patchwork Nation (1806-1808) (Pt. 3)
3. The Chamber of the Colonial Provinces
At the time of the British arrival, in 1806, there were five units of 500 soldiers each fixed as a standing garrison in Rio de Janeiro and the neighboring city of Niterói, to protect the administrative center of the Portuguese America.
In that same year, however, two of these units had been attached to the ships of Royal Navy, in compliance to the terms of the Treaty of Rio de Janeiro, so they could participate on the amphibious assault against the French and Spanish possessions in the Caribbean, whose immediate conquest, according to the British Admiralty, was a strategic imperative. In exchange for this military support the British agreed to provide their equipment and expertise to train a new Colonial Army from scratch, which became known as “Exército da Guanabara” [“Guanabara Army”]. On the other hand, two of the remaining Viceroyal battalions had been sent, in the same year of 1807, to the Captaincy of São Pedro do Rio Grande, to reinforce the local governor’s provincial army coordinating the campaign against the Hispanic Army in Banda Oriental [1].
When Fausto Silva Ferreira’s Revolt succeeded in overrunning the Recôncavo Baiano, in April 1808, Viceroy D. Fernando Castro panicked. Having been the Governor of that captaincy, he was fully aware about number of troops available to the provincial military, and decided to entrust the mission of quenching the insurgence to the Exército da Guanabara, organized in three battalions of 1.000 men each, under British supervision and training. One of the battalions stayed in Rio de Janeiro to continue training and to garrison the capital, while the other two marched to Salvador, commanded by Lt. Col. Francisco das Chagas Santos and Col. James Wallace Dunlop. They were supported by the flotilla salvaged from the remnants of the Portuguese Armada captured by the Royal Navy two years previously. The port of Salvador was blockaded before the main Luso-Brazilian force could arrive by land.
The towns of the Recôncavo Baiano had presented almost 3.000 volunteers to bar the advance of the Exército da Guanabara, in in 7th June 1808, in a bridge over River Santana, close to Ilhéus. The army of barely trained recruits from Rio de Janeiro succeeded in wrestling the bridge from the defenders after an intense engagement. Despite the numerical superiority, the defenders lacked artillery and only had light cavalry; their formation broke cohesion after successive cannon barrages ordered by Lt. Chagas Santos, and then the Guanabara dragoons flanked their forces and attacked them on the rearguard.
Battle of River Santana, in the place today called "Ponte da Vitória" ["Victory Bridge"]
This victory ensured that the Exército da Guanabara marched unopposed to the Recôncavo Baiano. Another skirmish occurred six days later, in Valença, where the swampy terrain almost caused a defeat for the Viceroyal side, again saved by the timely charge of the Guanabara dragoons.
The last stand of the Baianos, which would become celebrated in the future as a heroic resistance against the Colonial Government, was made in Candeias, a small town with a fountain supposed to operate miracles, in 19 June 1808. This last ditch effort failed as well, but fortunately with little bloodshed on both sides, as Lt. Chagas Santos performed a surprising pincer maneuver, forcing the defenders to capitulate. They were allowed to return to Salvador in safety if they abandoned the revolution and turned away the leaders to stand trial.
In 20 June, the two battalions of the Exército da Guanabara besieged Salvador. A committee from the city informed that Fausto Silva Ferreira had escaped in the previous day with some of his followers, and that some of other leaders of the movement agreed to surrender, but then they proclaimed that they would accept D. Fernando Castro’s rule if the Chamber of Salvador was recognized as a legitimate organism of political representation of the province.
Lt. Chagas Silva sent a messenger to Rio de Janeiro in the same day, by sea, and he returned six days later. The Viceroy had agreed to their demands, interested in a peaceful resolution for this conflict. This occurred by the tactful and conscious intervention of the British Ambassador in Rio de Janeiro, the Viscount of Strangford. Great Britain’s grand-scale strategy was to preserve, if possible, the territorial integrity of the colony, as a measure to further their own interests, as a disunited country embroiled in a civil war wouldn’t be able to provide military assistance against France and Spain. Besides, internal stability was necessary to maintain the health of the Brazilian market, now exploited by the British merchants.
The Viceroyal Army was still in Bahia when it was hurriedly called back to the Rio de Janeiro, to face the advancing Exército Bandeirante, now was marching quickly along the valley of the River Paraíba, in the northwestern part of the Viceroyal Captaincy of Rio de Janeiro, to besiege the capital.
In the middle of July, 1808, they routed a battalion of 600 hastily conscripted levies and freed slaves in a skirmish near the parish of Piraí, located about 100 kilometers from the capital. There they camped, safe in the knowledge that the Viceroyal Army was still marching back from Bahia, and soon received a delegation from the Viceroy of Brazil, led by Minister João Cabral Monjardim, to discuss their demands.
Fearing for the United Kingdom’s interests, the British Embassy intervened in the discussions, and forwarded a proposal, which was amended by the rebels’ leadership, eventually a convenient arrangement to satisfy both parties – known in History as “Compromisso de Julho” [‘July Compromise’]:
- A political organism dedicated to the representation of each colonial province, composed of deputies elected by their own citizens, would be created in Rio de Janeiro – a Câmara das Províncias Coloniais [‘Chamber of the Colonial Provinces’]. Similar to the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, there would be an upper house, consisting of Portuguese fidalgos and the top-most clergymen, and a more numerous lower house, with elected deputies from each captaincy to uphold the regional interests;
- D. Fernando José de Portugal e Castro would be maintained in power – while Paulo José da Silva Gama would remain as Governor of São Paulo – recognized by the appellation of “Lord Protector of Portuguese America”, the paramount officer in the country. The office of Lord Protector also derived its significant powers due to the representation of the Portuguese Crown, but it would have the legitimacy to promote emergency reforms aiming to strengthen the colony;
- The provincial militias would be immediately available to wage campaigns against Portugal’s (and Britain’s) enemies in South America, specifically in the Platine region and the Guyanas.
- Each of the seated Captaincy Governors, including those chosen by regional populations, would be confirmed in their office. Thereafter, the Prime Minister would remain with its power to exonerate and appoint the governors, but the provincial populations, represented by municipal chambers, would be reserved the privilege of vetoing the nomination, and suggesting another candidate.
- The most controversial measure ensured that the provincial militaries, after the subjugation of the Spanish and French dominions in South America, could be transported overseas to fight for Portugal in Europe. Also, in a grave offense for the most-republican oriented factions in Minas Gerais and Bahia, the aristocratic privileges of the secular and spiritual noblemen inside Brazil would be preserved intact, as was the Catholic Church status as official religion.
Discussion between the Viceroy D. Fernando Castro, the British officers, and representatives of the “Exército Bandeirante
By these terms, Brazil would still be officially regarded as a Colony of the Kingdom of Portugal. Despite the enhanced autonomy and newfound fiscal benefits, the emancipationist sentiment would remain strong, especially in Minas Gerais and Bahia. Even so, until the end of the Napoleonic Wars, Brazil would live a brief period of internal stability and economic growth.
The Captaincy of Maranhão had rebelled in 1808, when the local Governor Manuel Alves da Cunha accused the Viceroy of usurpation of the royal prerogatives, and proclaimed to be loyal to the provisory government in Spanish-occupied Lisboa. He was deposed barely a week later by the quick action of the commander of the guard in São Luís (capital of Maranhão), Antônio José de Carvalho Chaves, who accused Alves da Cunha of treason by collaborating to the Spanish takeover of Portuguese America, and the province was restored to the control of the Colonial Government in Rio de Janeiro. This was the last threat to the Lord Protector’s rule, as the few tax riots and slave rebellions that occurred in the Northeast were successfully repressed by the provincial authorities.
In other regions of the colony, notably in the southern, the central and the northern, the necessity of responding to the seemingly omnipresent Spanish menace preserved a vague spirit of unity against the foreign enemy, and prevented subversive factionalism. As the innovating arrangement for autonomy and representation of the provinces became more consolidated, after 1809, the regionalist dissatisfaction diminished, especially because the population could influence in the nomination of their own Governors.
The creation of the Chamber of Colonial Provinces – or “Parliament of Rio de Janeiro” – forever changed the History of Brazil, and for the first time marked a victory of the colonial interests instead of those of the metropolis. The political regime remained expressly monarchical and aristocratic, even if there was no monarch, as elder Queen Maria and her descendants were still exiled in the court of Spain, but it would paradoxically live with more republican institutions in the provinces.
The politics in Municipal Chambers were hardly democratic, though. Excepting a few noteworthy cases such as Vila Rica and Mariana in Minas Gerais, where the citizens freely elected their deputies, the parochial assemblies through the whole country were usually controlled by the private interests of great plantation owners and of the Catholic Church. It was generally common to see a member of the town-parliament as a “guest” in the enlarged household of the rich landholders, receiving lavish gifts in exchange for political favors. So far, the agrarian provincial elites had joyfully supported the movements aiming to obtain greater regional autonomy, as it increased their profits and local influence, and finally they could be free from the bothering interference of the Portuguese Crown.
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[1] “Banda Oriental [lit. Eastern Bank (of the La Plata River)] is the name by which Uruguay was called when still part of the Spanish Empire. To this day, Uruguay’s official name is “Oriental Republic of Uruguay”, owing to its geographic position in relation to the Plata River.
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Historical Notes: The adoption of a pseudo-parliamentary system demonstrates yet another example of the increasingly pervasive influence of the British civilization into Brazil. This will produce serious butterflies, as IOTL Brazil was much more influenced, beyond Portugal obviously, by the Francophilia that became prevalent in the later half of the 19th Century and until WW2 and by the USA than by Britain. ITTL, Brazil will see substantial "Anglification", especially in its vocabulary, technological trends and developments, and going as far as cuisine and fashion.
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Is there a way to change the thread title? I just wanted to put the dates of the updates right in the title, so people can see when a new chapter is posted...
Nice chapter. Will Brazil conquer the whole of spanish america or the territorial integrity will be more or less the same of OTL?