RIO DE JANEIRO.
_September 16th._—There is no seaman’s chaplain or other American
clergyman, at present at Rio; and the religious services of the Sabbath
on board the Congress, since our arrival, have been attended by many of
our compatriots, both ladies and gentlemen, residents here, including
the Ambassador and Consul and their families. Occasions occur not
unfrequently both in the shipping and on shore, calling for the special
services of a Protestant minister of the Gospel. This has been the case
within the passing week. The commander of an American schooner spoken by
us the day we crossed the line, but which did not arrive till ten days
after the Congress, died suddenly of apoplexy the morning he entered
port. The schooner was put in quarantine, immediately, by the health
officer; and it was with great difficulty permission was obtained from
the authorities for the burial of the body on shore. Mr. Kent, the
consul, formerly Governor of the State of Maine, solicited my attendance
officially at the interment. This took place at the Protestant cemetery
at Gamboa, a northern suburb of the city, situated on a broad indenture
on the western side of the bay. Here the body had been carried by water.
Gov. Kent took me in a calesa by land. The drive is through a mean and
unattractive part of the city, by a winding course from street to
street, between the hill of San Bento and that surmounted by the
Bishop’s Palace.
This burial-ground was purchased by the foreign residents of Rio
twenty-five or thirty years ago. It was then, and still is,
comparatively, a secluded and rural spot, upon a hill-side overhung and
crowned with trees, and commanding a beautiful view northward of the
upper bay and its many islands; of the rich valleys to the west; and of
the Organ Mountains sweeping majestically round in the distance. It is
enclosed with high and substantial walls of stone, and is entered by an
ornamental gateway of iron. From this a winding avenue of trees marks
the ascent to a neat little chapel on a terrace near the centre of the
ground. Here such religious services as may be desired, or can be
secured, before committing the dead to the grave, are usually observed.
The morning was wet and gloomy, according well with the object of our
visit, and the peculiar circumstances in which the burial was to take
place. A funeral more sad in its desolateness could scarcely be: that of
a stranger, in a strange land, unwept and unattended by any one who had
ever seen, or ever heard of him when living. The consul, the undertaker,
the grave-digger and I, as chaplain, being the only persons brought to
the spot either by duty or humanity. The officers and crew of the
schooner were in quarantine, and, from some omission or mistake in the
arrangements, no representative from other American vessels in port was
present.
The kindness of Gov. Kent, in giving his personal attendance, was at a
sacrifice of feeling which could not fail to elicit my sympathy, though
a stranger to him till within a few days past. It is but a very brief
period, scarcely a month, since he committed to the newly-made grave
near which we were standing, an only son of great promise just verging
into manhood: one of the last of the victims of the late epidemic. The
associations of the passing scene could not but revive in painful
freshness a sorrow that has not yet lost its keenness.
The rain, and the wetness in every pathway, prevented all observation,
except a general glance around, or any lingering among the memorials of
those who rest here, far from the sepulchres of their fathers. It had
been my purpose, before being called thus by duty to the spot, early to
visit in it the tomb of my friend Tudor. This was the only one I now
sought, to stand a moment beside it in remembrance of the dead, and, in
thoughts of the living, who most loved him, but who may never be
permitted to look upon his grave. It is marked by a plain white obelisk
of Italian marble, bearing the following simple inscription:
Ossa
GULIELMI TUDOR
Rerump: Fœd: Americæ Sept:
Legati.
Natus Bostoniæ A. D. MDCCLXXIX.
Mortuus est
Rio Janiero A. D. MDCCCXXX.
Multis ille bonis
flebilis Occidit.
_September 18th._—The objects, at Rio, of historic interest to the
stranger, or suggestive to him of thoughts of the past, are few. There
is, however, at least one entitled in these respects to a passing notice
from a Protestant. It is a small island, situated a short distance
seaward from our anchorage, beneath the green heights of Castle Hill, a
half mile from the shore. Its entire area is occupied by a fortress,
whose white ramparts, demi-turreted angles, and floating banner, form
conspicuous objects in coming up the harbor. My eye never consciously
rests upon it without recurrence to a fact in the early history of Rio,
inseparably associated with the name which both island and fortress now
bear—that of Villegagnon. However imposing and aristocratic in sound, it
is synonymous in its application here, with treachery, and not less
surreptitious—to compare small things with great—as regards the name of
the noble old Huguenot Coligny, first given to them, than that of
Americus, borne by half the globe, instead of one in honor of the true
finder of the western world.
Brazil was first discovered by Vincente Pinzon, one of the companions of
Columbus in his first voyage, on the 26th of January, 1499. The land
descried by him was Cape St. Augustine in the vicinity of the present
city of Pernambuco. He took possession of the country in the name of the
crown of Castile, whose flag he bore, and, coasting northward to the
mouth of the Amazon, returned to Spain without forming a settlement.
About the same period Pedro Cabral was fitting out a large fleet in the
Tagus, to be conducted to India by the newly known route of the Cape of
Good Hope. Fearful of the calms in the Atlantic off the coast of Africa,
in pursuing the voyage, he ran so far to the west as to make, on the
25th of April, 1506, the same shores Pinzon had, some degrees further to
the south. Entering a fine bay, in imitation of Columbus, he erected a
wooden cross on the shore, before which he and his followers prostrated
themselves, and high mass being performed, possession of the country was
taken in the name of his sovereign Emanuel of Portugal. He gave to the
bay the name of Porto Seguro, since changed in honor of him to Cabralia,
and to the country that of the Terra de Vera Cruz—the Land of the Holy
Cross. This appellation, however, was soon lost in that of Brazil, from
the abundance of the wood of that name found in it and the high value
placed upon the article in Europe: a result pathetically deplored by a
pious Jesuit, in the lamentation that “the cupidity of man by unworthy
traffic, should change the wood of the cross, red with the real blood of
Christ, for that of another wood which resembled it only in color.”
The harbor of Rio de Janeiro was not discovered till 1516. De Solis, in
search of a western passage to the Pacific, looked into it, in that
year, as he coasted his way to the Rio de la Plata where he lost his
life. He gave to it no name, however, and it remained unvisited again
till De Sousa entered it in 1531. Under the impression that it was the
outlet of a great river, this navigator called it Rio de Janeiro, the
day on which he made the supposed discovery being the first of the new
year. It did not, however, particularly attract the notice of the
Portuguese, and still remained unoccupied by them.
In the mean time adventurers and traders from France made their way to
this part of the New World, and secured the good will and friendship of
the natives. Among them was Villegagnon, a knight of Malta, who had seen
service in the east, was an officer of distinction in the French navy,
and had commanded the vessel which carried Mary Queen of Scots and her
retinue from France on her return to her kingdom. His visit to Brazil
inspired him with the ambition of establishing a colony at Rio. Desirous
of the favor and aid of the crown in this project, and believing the
influence of Coligny with the king the surest means of accomplishing
this end, to win his confidence and co-operation he professed a deep
interest in the condition of the Protestants of France, and avowed the
purpose of making the proposed colony a refuge to them, from the
persecutions to which they were subject at home. The king was led by his
friendship for Coligny, to regard the proposition with such favor as to
grant to Villegagnon two vessels for the expedition, while the admiral
interested himself in securing a number of respectable Protestants to
accompany it as colonists.
On arriving at Rio in 1555, Villegagnon first took possession of the
small island Lage near the mouth of the harbor; but soon finding this
too much exposed to the sea, removed to one larger near the site of the
present city, to which, with the fort erected upon it, he gave the name
of Coligny. The vessels were sent back to France for reinforcements.
Great interest in the enterprise had in the mean time been excited among
the Protestants there. Two clergymen and fourteen students of theology
had been selected in Geneva to secure the spiritual good of the colony,
and were received, preparatory to their embarkation, at the chateau of
Coligny near Chatillon, with great attention. Large numbers of
respectable emigrants joined them, and sanguine hopes were entertained
that the principles of the reformation would be surely implanted in the
New World.
Early after the arrival of this reinforcement, Villegagnon, believing
himself sure of the support of the crown in the further prosecution of
his object, under the pretence of having returned to his old faith,
commenced so bitter a persecution of the Protestants, that, in place of
the peaceful enjoyment of freedom of conscience for which they had been
led so far from their native land, they found themselves in a worse
condition in this respect than they were at home. They were driven, at
length, to the determination of returning to France. The only vessel,
however, granted to them for the purpose was so old and so ill found for
the voyage, that five of the number, after going on board, refused to
venture their lives in her. Of these, three were afterwards put to death
by Villegagnon, and the others, flying for refuge to the Portuguese
settlements, were constrained to apostatize to save their lives. The
company who embarked reached France only after having suffered all but
death from starvation. At the time of their return, ten thousand of
their brethren were in readiness, under the auspices of Coligny, to
embark for the new colony. The report brought by them of the treachery
of him who was to have been their leader at once changed their purpose;
and the project of a Protestant colony in ‘France Antarctique,’ as the
region had already been styled, was abandoned. Thus it was that the
religious and civil destiny of one of the richest sections of the New
World was changed for centuries now past, and, it may be, for centuries
yet to come.
With the remembrance of this failure in establishing the Reformed
religion here, and of the direct cause which led to it, I often find
myself speculating, as to the possible and probable results which would
have followed the successful establishment of Protestantism during the
three hundred years which have intervened. With the wealth and power and
increasing prosperity of the United States before us as the fruits, at
the end of two hundred years, of the colonization of a few feeble bands
of Protestants on the comparatively bleak and barren shore of the
Northern Continent, there is no presumption in the belief that, had a
people of similar faith, similar morals, similar habits of industry and
enterprise, gained an abiding footing in so genial a climate and on so
exuberant a soil, long ago, the still unexplored and impenetrable
wildernesses of the interior would have bloomed and blossomed in
civilization as the rose, and Brazil from the sea-coast to the Andes
become one of the gardens of the world. But the germ which might have
led to this was crushed by the bad faith and malice of Villegagnon; and,
as I look on the spot which, by bearing his name, in the eyes of a
Protestant at least perpetuates his reproach, the two or three solitary
palms which lift their tufted heads above the embattled walls, and
furnish the only evidence of vegetation on the island, seem, instead of
plumed warriors in the midst of their defences, like sentinels of grief
mourning the blighted hopes of the long past.
The conduct of Villegagnon soon met its just recompense. The course he
pursued towards the Huguenots led to the early and utter failure of his
enterprise. Had he been true to his followers of the Reformed faith, the
colony, in place of being weakened by the return of any to France, would
have been so strengthened and established by the ten thousand prepared
to join them, that the Portuguese would never have been able to dislodge
and supplant them. Needing reinforcements, Villegagnon proceeded himself
to France to secure more settlers and the further aid of the government.
Every thing there was adverse to his object. He had forfeited the favor
of Coligny, and put an effectual end to the emigration of Protestants to
Brazil. The king was too much occupied with the civil war existing to
give heed to him. While thus delayed the Portuguese fitted out a strong
expedition under Mem de Sa from Bahia. This was successful. The French
were driven to their ships, and the Portuguese, possessing themselves of
the island on which they had been established, gained such foothold as
never afterwards to be displaced. This occurred on the 20th of Jan.
1560, St. Sebastian’s day, under the patronage of which saint the
expedition had been placed: and in whose honor the city afterwards built
on the mainland, received the name of St. Sebastian. This is now,
however, entirely supplanted by that of Rio de Janeiro.
In 1676 the city had become so populous as to be made the see of a
Bishop, and the palace now crowning the brow of the Bishop’s Hill was
built. At that time, and for more than a hundred years afterwards, Bahia
was the seat of chief authority in the captaincies of Brazil; but in
1763, so greatly had the wealth and influence of Rio increased, from the
discovery of the gold and diamond mines, whose products were poured into
her bosom as a market, that the residence of the Viceroy was transferred
from Bahia and became permanently fixed here.
It was not, however, till the arrival of the royal family of Portugal,
in their flight from Lisbon before the French army in 1808, that the
prosperity and true progress of Rio, and Brazil in general, may be said
to have commenced. Till then, the whole country had been subject to the
restrictive and depressing influences of the policy adopted by the
mother country, in the government of her colonies: all foreign trade
interdicted, heavy import and export duties imposed on the commerce with
Portugal herself, grasping monopolies claimed by the crown at home, and
extortionate perquisites exacted by its representatives on the ground.
There were no press, no newspapers, no books, no schools. The whole
country was in a state of darkness and ignorance beyond that of the
Middle Ages; and Rio an unenlightened, unrefined, and demoralized
provincial town. But with the Prince Regent of Portugal, the Queen
mother, the court, and more than twenty thousand followers, European
manners and customs, and the habits and usages of modern civilized life
were introduced. Commerce was opened to all nations; and the press,
literature and the arts established. The changes effected in Rio were
almost miraculous; and so constant and so rapid have been the
improvements to the present time, that she now presents to the visitor,
in many of her leading features, an aspect becoming the metropolis of a
great Empire.
The progress of enlightened government, enlarged liberty and extended
commerce, has been commensurate with the advances in civilization,
intellectual culture and the refinements of life. The measure of
throwing the ports open to all nations, so wise and so essential, at
once adopted and proclaimed by the Prince Regent—afterwards John VI.—in
1808, was followed by him in 1815 by the no less important step of
elevating the colony in its united provinces to a distinct kingdom, on
an equality in its rights and privileges with those of Portugal and
Algarves, under the one crown.
In 1822, Brazil became an independent empire under Don Pedro I. with a
constitution which guaranteed to her a representative legislature, and
the largest liberty compatible with the immunities of the limited
monarchy by which she is still governed.
This political progress was not made without obstacles and threatened
anarchy and disaster. The return to Portugal of John VI. in 1821, was
followed in 1831, by the abdication of Don Pedro I. in favor of his son,
a child four years of age; and partisan conflicts, during the regency
which followed, made necessary the sudden termination, in 1840, of the
minority of Don Pedro II., at the age of 14, in violation of an article
of the constitution fixing the majority of an heir to the throne at
eighteen. Since then, however, general tranquillity and progressive
prosperity have prevailed. After years of deficiency in the revenue
there is now a surplus; the receipts of the imperial treasury for the
last year being seventeen millions and a half of dollars, and the
expenditures little more than fifteen millions. The national debt is
sixty millions, but with increasing exports and an enlarging commerce
this may soon be liquidated; and the finances of the country be placed
in unfettered condition. The revenue is derived from duties on exports
as well as imports; those on exports being applicable alike to the
internal commerce of the empire between province and province, and to
that with foreign countries. The export duty on coffee, transferred from
one province to another, is ten per cent. On shipments of the same
article for foreign ports, there is an additional duty of two per cent.
Every product—rice, sugar, cotton, farina—is thus taxed. The export duty
on mandioca, the staff of life of the country, is regulated by the
market value of the article, and not by fixed per centage.
There is no direct tax on landed property, but, in lieu of it, a levy of
ten per cent. on every transfer of real estate. There is also an annual
tax on slaves throughout the empire at the rate of two milreis a head.
The greatest danger to which the empire seems exposed, arises from the
vastness of its extent, and the obstacles which have hitherto existed to
a ready intercourse, between its different sections and the central
power at Rio de Janeiro. But steam navigation already established along
its coast, and soon to be introduced on its northern rivers, with
projected railroads and telegraphic routes, promises to overcome this
difficulty; and, as in the United States, so to facilitate
communication, and so closely and firmly to bind the different provinces
in a whole, as to secure the perpetuity and integrity of the empire.
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