While the Spanish colonies of South America were battling for their
liberties, the great Portuguese colony of Brazil was going through a very
different experience. 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.
To begin this tale we must go back to those stirring times in Europe when
Napoleon, the great conqueror, was in the height of his career, and was
disposing of countries at his will, much as a chess-player moves the king,
queen, and knights upon his board. In 1807 one of his armies, led by
Marshal Junot, was marching on Lisbon, with the purpose of punishing
Portugal for the crime of being a friend of the English realm.
John, then the prince regent of Portugal, was a weak-minded, feeble
specimen of royalty, who did not keep of one mind two days together. Now
he clung to England; now, scared by Napoleon, he claimed to be a friend of
France; and thus he shifted back and forward until the French despot sent
an army to his kingdom to help him make up his mind. The people were ready
to fight for their country, but the prince still wobbled between two
opinions, until Junot had crossed the borders and was fast making his way
to Lisbon.
Prince John was now in a pitiable state. He shed tears over the fate of
his country, but, as for himself, he wanted badly to save his precious
person. Across the seas lay the great Portuguese colony of Brazil, in
whose vast forest area he might find a safe refuge. The terrible French
were close at hand. He must be a captive or a fugitive. In all haste he
and his court had their treasures carried on a man-of-war in the Lisbon
harbor and prepared for flight. Most of the nobility of the country
followed him on shipboard, the total hegira embracing fifteen thousand
persons, who took with them valuables worth fifty millions of dollars. On
November 29, 1807, the fleet set sail, leaving the harbor just as the
advance guard of the French came near enough to gaze on its swelling
sails. It was a remarkable spectacle, one rarely seen in the history of
the world, that of a monarch fleeing from his country with his nobility
and treasures, to transfer his government to a distant colony of the
realm.
Seven weeks later the fugitives landed in Brazil, where they were received
with an enthusiastic show of loyalty and devotion. John well repaid the
loyal colonists by lifting their country into the condition of a separate
nation. Its ports, hitherto reserved for Portuguese ships, were opened to
the world's commerce; its system of seclusion and monopoly was brought to
a sudden end; manufactures were set free from their fetters; a national
bank was established; Brazil was thrown open freely to foreigners; schools
and a medical college were opened, and every colonial restriction was
swept away at a blow. Brazil was raised from a dependency to a kingdom at
a word. John, while bearing the title of prince, was practically king, for
his mother, the queen of Portugal, was hopelessly insane, and he ruled in
her stead.
He became actual king, as John VI., on the death of his mother in 1816,
and as such he soon found trouble growing up around him. The Brazilians
had been given so much that they wanted more. The opening of their country
to commerce and travel had let in new ideas, and the people began to
discover that they were the slaves of an absolute government. This feeling
of unrest passed out of sight for a time, and first broke out in rebellion
at Pernambuco in 1817. This was put down, but a wider revolt came on in
1820, and spread early in the next year to Rio de Janeiro, the capital,
whose people demanded of their ruler a liberal constitution.
A great crowd assembled in the streets, the frightened monarch taking
refuge in his palace in the suburbs, where he lay trembling with fear.
Fortunately, his son, Prince Pedro, was a man of more resolute character,
and he quieted the people by swearing that his father and himself would
accept the constitution they offered. Full of joy, the throng marched with
enthusiasm to the palace of the king, who on seeing them approach was not
sure whether he was to be garroted or guillotined. Forced to get into his
carriage, he quite mistook their meaning, and fell into a paroxysm of
terror when the people took out the horses that they might draw him to the
city with their own hands. He actually fainted from fright, and when his
senses came back, he sat sobbing and snivelling, protesting that he would
agree to anything,--anything his dear people wanted.
King John by this time had had quite enough of Brazil and the Brazilians.
As soon as he could decide on anything, he determined to take his throne
and his crown back to Portugal, whence he had brought them fourteen years
before, leaving his son Pedro--young, ardent, and popular--to take care of
Brazil in his stead.
But the people were not satisfied to let him go until he had given his
royal warrant to the new constitution, and just before he was ready to
depart a crowd gathered round the palace, demanding that he should give
his assent to the charter of the people's rights. He had never read it,
and likely knew very little what it was about, but he signed what they
asked for, all the same, and then made haste on shipboard, leaving Prince
Pedro as regent, and as glad to get away from his _loyal_ Brazilians as he
had once before been to get away from Junot and his Frenchmen.
Brazil again became a colony of Portugal, but it was not long to remain
so. The Cortes of Portugal grew anxious to milk the colonial cow, and
passed laws to bring Brazil again under despotic control. One of these
required the young prince to leave Brazil. They were laying plans to throw
the great colony back into its former state.
When news of these acts reached Rio the city broke into a tumult. Pedro
was begged not to abandon his loving people, and he agreed--thus defying
the Cortes and its orders. This was on January 9, 1822. The Cortes next,
to carry out its work for the subjugation of Brazil, sent a squadron to
bring back the prince. This forced him to take a decided stand. On May 13
he took the title of "Perpetual Defender and Protector of Brazil;" and on
the 7th of September, when word came that the Cortes had taken still more
violent action, he drew his sword in the presence of a party of
revolutionists, with the exclamation, "Independence or Death." On the 12th
of the following month he was solemnly crowned as Pedro I.,
"Constitutional Emperor of Brazil," and the revolution was consummated.
Within less than a year thereafter not a hostile Portuguese soldier
remained in Brazil, and it had taken its place definitely among the
nations of America.
This is but half the story of Brazil's struggle for freedom. It seems
advisable to tell the other half, which took place in 1889, sixty-seven
years after the first revolution. The first made Brazil an independent
empire. The second made it a republic, and brought it into line with the
republican nations of America. And in connection therewith a peculiar fate
attended the establishment of monarchy in Brazil. We have seen how John,
the first emperor, "left his country for the country's good." The same was
the case with his two successors, Pedro I. and Pedro II.
Pedro I. took the throne with loud-mouthed declarations of his aspirations
for liberty. He was going to be a second Washington. But it was all empty
talk, the outpourings of a weak brain, a mere dramatic posing, to which he
was given. His ardor for liberty soon cooled, and it was not long before
he was treating the people like a despot. The constitution promised was
not given until it was fairly forced from him, and then it proved to be a
worthless document, made only to be disregarded. A congress was called
into being, but the emperor wished to confine its functions to the
increase of the taxes, and matters went on from bad to worse until by 1831
the indignation of the people grew intense. The troops were in sympathy
with the multitude, and the emperor, finding that he stood alone against
the country, finally abdicated the throne in haste in favor of his infant
son. He took refuge on a British warship in the harbor, and left the
country never to return. The remainder of his short life was spent as king
of Portugal.
Dom Pedro II. was a very different man from his father. Studious, liberal,
high-minded, he did not, like his father, stand in the way of the congress
and its powers. But for all his liberality, Brazil was not satisfied. All
around it were republics, and the spirit of republicanism invaded the
empire and grew apace. From the people it made its way into the army, and
in time it began to look as if no other emperor would be permitted to
succeed Dom Pedro on the throne. By this time he was growing old and
feeble and there was a general feeling that he ought to be left to end his
reign undisturbed, and the republic be founded on his grave. Unfortunately
for him, many began to believe that a plot was in the air to make him give
up the throne to his daughter, Isabel. She was unpopular, and her husband,
the Count d'Eu, was hated, and when the ministry began to send the
military away from the capital, as if to carry out such a plot, an
outbreak came.
Its leaders were Benjamin Constant, formerly a professor in the military
school, and Marshal Deodoro de Fonsaca, one of the leading officers of the
army. There was one brigade they could count on,--the second,--and all the
forces in Rio were republican in sentiment.
On the 14th of November, 1889, a rumor spread about that Constant and
Deodoro were to be arrested and the disaffected soldiers to be sent away.
It was time to strike. Early the next morning Constant rode out to the
quarters of the Second Brigade, called it out, and led it to the great
square in front of the War Department building. Deodoro took command and
sent an officer into the building to demand the surrender of the ministry.
They yielded, and telegraphed their resignation to the emperor, who was at
Petropolis, twenty-five miles away in the mountains.
The revolution was phenomenally successful. When the other troops in the
city heard of the revolt, they marched, cheering, through the streets to
join the Second Brigade, while the people, who did not dream of what was
afoot, looked on in astonishment. No one thought of resisting, and when
Dom Pedro reached the city at three o'clock in the afternoon, it was to
find that he was no longer emperor. 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. That night word was sent him that he had
been deposed and would be compelled to leave the country with his family.
During the next night the royal victims of the revolution were sent on
shipboard and their voyage to Lisbon began. Thus was the third emperor
sent out of Brazil through a bloodless revolution.
Yet the reaction was to come. A federal republic was organized, with a
constitution closely like that of the United States. But the men at the
head of government had the army at their back and were rather military
dictators than presidents, and it was not long before rebellions broke out
in some of the states. For three years there was war between the two
factions of the people, with frightful destruction of life and property.
Then, in September, 1893, the navy rebelled.
The navy had always been officered by aristocrats, and looked with
contempt upon the army. At its head was Admiral Mello; his ships lay in
the harbor of Rio, and their guns commanded the city. It soon became
evident that it was the purpose of Mello and his fellows to re-establish
the empire and bring back Dom Pedro to the throne.
But the rebel admiral found himself in a difficult situation. He hesitated
about bombarding the city, which was full of his friends. Peixoto, the
president, filled the forts with soldiers, and the naval officers had much
trouble to obtain supplies. Mello, finding himself in a dilemma, left the
harbor with one of his ironclads and went to Santa Catharina. Saraiva, an
able chief of his party, invaded this and the neighboring districts, but
he was hotly pursued and his forces defeated, and Mello returned to Rio
without having gained any advantage. Here he found his position a very
awkward one. The rebels were all afloat. They had nothing to gain by
bombarding the city. The best they could do was to try and establish a
commercial blockade, so as to force the government to terms, and in doing
this Mello found himself running up against the power of the United
States.
[Illustration: RIO JANEIRO AND HARBOR.]