Empire of Brazil

“ The only American liberator who in his folly crowned himself emperor—Iturbide in Mexico—died on the scaffold, a presage of the sad end of another emperor, whose corpse was sent back to Europe as a protest against the imposition of monarchy.
The Empire of Brazil is apparently a proof of the possibility of establishing monarchy in America, but the contrary is the fact. Brazil is a democratic empire, founded upon the principle of the sovereignty of the people, without any privileged class or hereditary nobility, and has nothing monarchical about it except the name. ”

“ However, contrary to some recent interpretations that have been trying to demonstrate, in parallel with a multiplicity of new languages — such as the old constitutionalism, a political economy and natural rights -, old values, such as this surprising one, remained active and, often, preponderant attempt to see, by means of Bandarra’s troves, or the Empire of Brazil as the accomplishment of the V Empire, and Pedro I, as the covert king. After all, until today a good part of the inhabitants of Brazil seems to continue to ignore the prognosis to deal with prophecies... ”

“ The national character, however, can scarcely be considered as fully formed; the Brazilians have been too recently emancipated from the thraldom of a modified despotism to have made, as yet, any very great progress in developing the elements of national prosperity and greatness which the vast empire of Brazil so abundantly possesses, and the foul blot of slavery, with its debasing influence, still remains untouched. ”

“ Art. 2nd: His Imperial Majesty, in recognition of respect and love for his august father, Dom João VI, agrees that His Most Faithful Majesty take the title of Emperor for himself.
Art. 3rd: His Imperial Majesty promises not to accept proposals from any Portuguese colonies to join the Empire of Brazil. ”

“ It is a subject for congratulation that the great Empire of Brazil has taken the initiatory step toward the abolition of slavery. Our relations with that Empire, always cordial, will naturally be made more so by this act. It is not too much to hope that the Government of Brazil may hereafter find it for its interest, as well as intrinsically right, to advance toward entire emancipation more rapidly than the present act contemplates. ”

“ Bolivar and his compatriots were seeking to drive Spain out of America. On the contrary, we have the curious spectacle of Brazil swallowing Portugal, or at least its king and its throne, so that, for a time, the colony became the state, and the state became the dependency. It was a marked instance of the tail wagging the dog. Brazil became the one empire in America, and was destined not to become a republic until many years later. Such are the themes with which we here propose to deal. ”

“ A representative of a peaceful people is always welcome to Brazil. You know already our traditional policy. From the beginning of our existence as a nation we have accustomed ourselves to see in your glorious country the nation which, first of all, substituted for military imperialism the beneficent and civilizing policy of free commercial expansion, joining producers and consumers without any link of dependence.
We followed with ardent sympathy your liberal and eminently humane action in the Chinese Empire, at the moment when that monarchy seemed doomed to dismemberment. ”

“ I have seen a great Empire founded in the midst of unlimited material resources, and advancing to higher civilization under the inspiration of a 496sovereign as enlightened as he is humane. I must have been blind to everything except my science, had I not a word to say of Brazil as a nation,—of her present condition and her future prospects. ”

“ In 1807 the French armies under Napoleon had occupied the mother country of Portugal, and the monarchy had fled to Brazil. From that time on until they separated, Portugal was rather a dependency of Brazil than Brazil of Portugal. In 1822 Brazil declared itself a separate Empire under Pedro I, a son of the Portuguese King. But the new world has never been very favourable to monarchy. In 1889 the Emperor of Brazil was shipped off quietly to Europe, and the United States of Brazil fell into line with the rest of republican America. ”

“ In May 1822 the prince was persuaded to declare himself Perpetual Defender of the Brazils. In the following September the Brazilians induced him to raise their country to the dignity of an empire, and to declare himself its constitutional emperor. The news that the Brazilians had declared themselves an independent empire reached Europe at a critical period. Monarchs and diplomatists were busily deliberating at Verona on the affairs of Spain and of the Spanish colonies. No one, however, could avoid comparing the position of Portugal and Brazil with that of Spain and her dependencies. ”

“ An entirely altered state of affairs has sprung up since the separation of Brazil from Portugal, and he who has not seen Rio within the last ten years would hardly recognize the capital of the Brazilian empire. Along with the most conspicuous deficiencies, in numerous particulars, one finds such institutions as are not to be met with, in a similarly flourishing condition, in any other State of South America, or among the republics of the Isthmus. ”

“ His ideas were liberal; he was the protector of the sciences; a smiling philosopher; and in fostering the intellectual transformation of Brazil he exposed his own autocracy to the criticism of the liberals. By abolishing slavery he weakened the power of the reigning oligarchy; by destroying privileges and uniting hostile classes he created a democracy.
The Empire, in America, represents tutelary authority. Between the feudal colony and the Republic—two extreme points of political development—arose the Brazilian monarchy, as a moderative power. ”

“ In the last decades of the twentieth century, other demands of historiography, which confirmed the long-term permanence of Brazilian social formation, enabled the emergence of a series of studies, both in Brazil and Portugal, and started to seek to insert Independence in the most dynamic of the Old Regime, highlighting the political and cultural factors that provoked dispute for hegemony within the Portuguese-Brazilian empire [19] . Within this more recent perspective of works, other concerns emerged - the participation of the popular strata ”

“ The aristocratic society of Brazil naturally centred around the monarch, for, as we have not forgotten, Brazil was the only self-contained empire in the New World, except for Mexico's short-lived monarchical regime. ”

“ Before describing other ports of call on our way to the River Plate, let us just take a glance at the Empire of Brazil, which, from its geographical position, immense fertility and internal resources, is second only in importance to the great Empire of the West—the United States of North America. ”

“ There liberty was not the immediate gift of unrealisable constitutions, but the logical end of a painful conquest. Brazil was successively a tributary colony, an independent monarchy, an absolutist empire, and a federal and democratic republic. One principle, that of authority, was dominant throughout this process of evolution. A rigid despotism gradually ceded secular prerogatives before the attacks of an ardent liberalism; progress was definite and order lasting, and revolution has been powerless to shake the principle of monarchical continuity. ”

“ Their internal institutions are their own affair; their financial and political arrangements are emphatically ours. Brazil is a slave-holding Empire, but by its good faith and good conduct it has contrived to establish for itself a place in the hierarchy of nations far superior to that of many Powers which are free from this domestic contamination. ”

“ My object in now producing them is, that I will not voluntarily go to my grave with obloquy, cast on me by men, who, at the outset of Brazilian independence, were a misfortune to the Empire no less than to myself; men who not only pursued this shameful line of conduct towards me who was unable to resist it,—but towards His Imperial Majesty,—who, by similar practices, was eventually disgusted into AN ABDICATION OF HIS THRONE AND AN ABANDONMENT OF THE COUNTRY—to which he had given one of the freest Constitutions in existence—achieved under the Imperial watchword, "Independencia ou morte." ”

“ A provisional government had been organized, the chiefs of the revolution had named themselves ministers, and they had taken possession of the public buildings. A decree was issued that Brazil had ceased to be an empire and had become a federal republic.
So great a change has rarely been accomplished so easily. A few friends visited the emperor, but there was no one to strike a blow for him. And the feeble old man cared too little for power to wish to be kept on the throne by the shedding of blood. ”

“ Any territorial grant to myself could only have been an imperceptible fraction of the vast regions, which, together with an annual revenue of many millions of dollars—my own exertions, without cost to the Empire, had added to its dominions "unexpectedly" as the Commission appointed to investigate my claim felt bound to admit. If Brazil value its national honour, that blot upon it should not be suffered to remain. ”

“ The plan was so ably conducted by the talented officer to whom it was entrusted, that although his force consisted of less than a hundred men, the inhabitants of Parà, without a dissentient voice—save that of the Portuguese commandant—pronounced their adhesion to the Government of His Imperial Majesty, and thus a province, greater in extent than France and England combined, was added to the empire, and the independence of Brazil effected to its Northern extremity. ”

“ The magnificent but somewhat incoherent land as is Brazil to-day, offered at the time of its discovery few attractions to the sovereigns of a Mother Country into whose coffers the wealth of Africa and of India flowed. Its poor and barbarous tribes had no stores of gold ready to the hand of the Conquistador; there was no civilized empire with a polity and architecture and organized social life, with armies to protect it, such as Mexico and Peru offered, and consequently neither glory nor riches urged the European discoverer or invader to tempt its hinterland and people its valleys and seaboard. ”

“ Brazil is allied by blood and crown to the enterprise of Portugal. North of the Gulf of Mexico, the empire has, in the course of events, become the heritage of men of Anglo-Saxon breed, whether the flag be the union-jack or the stars and stripes, the men who raised it aloft were mainly from the British Isles. ”

“ The manufacturing resources afforded by the water-power which is in almost every section of the country, afford the opportunity for working up much of the material grown upon the soil, and enterprise may speedily put to work spindles and looms even at points remote from the great lines of transportation. To our Southern people the empire of Brazil embodies the character and sentiment among the better class of citizens, very much in keeping with our standard of taste and politeness. ”

“ This evening the Emperor has circulated the following address to his people:—
"Inhabitants of Brazil,
"The government which does not guide itself by public opinion, or which is ignorant of it, must become the scourge of humanity. The monarch who knows not this truth will precipitate his empire into a gulf of misfortunes, each more terrible than the preceding. ”

“ Both of these nations have made great financial sacrifices in order to dispute the supremacy of their bulky neighbour on the water. Ever since the establishment of an independent empire in Brazil more attention had been devoted to building up a formidable sea force than an army, and the same conditions exist to-day. It is perhaps not a bad thing for Brazil to have a strong navy because of its extensive coast line. ”

“ I trust, that the constitution which you will frame will merit my Imperial assent; that it will be as wise and just as suited to the local situation and to the civilisation of the Brazilian people: also that it may be praised among the nations, so that even our enemies may imitate the sanctity and wisdom of its principles, and at length practise them.
"So illustrious and patriotic an assembly will have in view no object but to cause the empire to prosper, and to fill it with happiness: it will wish its Emperor to be respected, not only at home but among foreign nations ”

“ It is not large, but it is a fair specimen of the numerous solidly-constructed stone forts that have been scattered by the Portuguese (and Spaniards) throughout their colonial possessions, wherever deemed necessary for purposes of defence or aggression, and which bear witness, in their well-built walls, and often handsome details, to the ample means, military skill, and power, that backed the zeal of the first settlers in South America, and founded the Brazilian empire. ”

“ The Government is opening up new roads, clearing away impediments in rivers, and is arranging the internal improvement of the empire on a large and comprehensive system. A great and a happier future is opening on Brazil—one calculated to advance and extend moral improvement and political freedom, as well as to promote material comfort. ”

“ My observation thus far is, that the officials of Brazil are disposed to pursue a very enlightened policy respecting the proposed emigration of the people of the Southern States to this country, and I have far more apprehension that we may be ultimately thwarted in our wishes by the interests of private parties, than from any failure on the part of the 68authorities of the empire, or those of the provinces, to meet our just expectations. ”

“ About this time, the Marquis of Palmella had widely circulated a document, appealing to the loyalty of the Portuguese, and declaring the policy desired by the mother country; which policy was—to divide Brazil into a number of petty states, easy to be intimidated and controlled. As this scheme held out large promise of irresponsible power to influential persons in such anticipated states—it could scarcely fail to be agreeable to many expectants of office, whose interest it therefore was to prevent the consolidation of the empire, by promoting disunion. ”