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On Expectations - Perspectives on the Crisis of 1889 in Brazil*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2009

Frank Colson
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Extract

The crisis of 1889 has long been seen as a turning point in Brazilian history. Because historians have often examined the Second Empire to defend or attack its successor, they have neglected certain aspects of the crisis. Their explanations have stressed that leaders of the minuscule and divided Republican Party took advantage of long standing grievances between senior officers and civilian politicians when they urged an ailing general to depose the monarchy on the 15th of November. They have, therefore, emphasized the role of the army in creating the conditions for a coup d'etat, and its preeminence in the Republic until 1889. In doing so, they have underestimated the powerful economic forces which underpinned the Imperial government. They have also overestimated those which supported the republican leaders of São Paulo, the self-confessed beneficiaries of the coup. Since they have also understated the fluidity of political allegiances in this period, its history has become too narrow and too deterministic, with the army depicted as the engine of ‘a change from Ancien Régime to a bourgeois society’.

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Articles
Information
Journal of Latin American Studies , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , November 1981 , pp. 265 - 292
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1981

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References

1 The Fall of Empire has a long historiography. See Stein, S. J., ‘The Historiography of Brazil, 1808–1889’, Hispanic American Historical Review, Vol. 40, No. 2 (05 1960), pp. 234–78;CrossRefGoogle ScholarEmilia, Viotti da Costa, Da Monarquia à República; Momentos Decisivos (São Paulo, 1977);Google ScholarGraham, R., ‘Landowners and the Overthrow of the Empire’, Luso-Brazilian Review, Vol. 7, No. 2 (12 1970), pp. 44–56.Google ScholarGeorge, C. A. Boehrer, ‘The Brazilian Republican Revolution; Old and New Views’, Luso-Brazilian Review, Vol. 3, No. 2 (12 1966), pp. 43–57.Google Scholar One of the most powerful studies of the changes set in the traditional mould is Maria Isaura Pereira de Queiroz, O Mandonismo local na vida politica brasileira e outros ensaios (São Paulo, 1976), pp. 89–123.Google Scholar The quotation is taken from Fausto, B. (ed.), História Geral da Civilização Brasileira III, Vol. I. Estrutura do Poder e Economia (1889–1930). Fernando Henrique Cardoso, p. 16.Google Scholar

2 Information regarding events on 1st May, 1889 are taken from the Jornal do Commercio, 1–7 May, 1889, from the South American Journal and Brazil and River Plate Mail, May–June, 1889. Details of life in and around the Rua do Ouvidor are taken from the following sources — Andrews, C. C., Brazil, its Conditions and Prospects (New York, 1891),Google ScholarCarpenter, F. W., Round about Rio (Chicago, 1887),Google Scholar and Max, Leclerc, Cartas do Brasil (trans. Sergio Milliet, São Paulo, 1942).Google Scholar

3 Andrews, C. C., Brazil, its Conditions and Prospects (New York, 1891), pp. 32–3.Google Scholar

4 João Alfredo Correia de Oliveira (1835–1919), Senator for Pernambuco, sugar mill owner with extensive interests in Goiannia, Northern Pernambuco, long resident in Rio de Janeiro by 1889. Prime Minister, March 1888 to June 1889.

5 Baron (later Viscount) de Guaí, Joaquim Eliseu Pereira Marinho (1841–1914), Director of the Banco da Bahia, heir to shipowners Marinho e Cia., with substantial banking interests in Rio.

6 Antonio da Silva Prado (1840–1929), long-standing mercantile activities in São Paulo, whose brother Martinho was busy laying out substantial fazendas in the ‘New West’. See Levi, Darrell E., A família Prado (São Paulo, 1976), pp. 166–8.Google Scholar

7 Rodrigo Augusto da Silva (1833–89), landed proprietor in São Paulo, with substantial financial interests in the city of São Paulo.

8 Afonso Celso de Assis Figueiredo, Viscount de Ouro Preto (1836–1912). Lawyer in Rio,fazendeiro in Ubá (Southern Minas Gerais), banking and railroad interests.

9 Details of the Conference had been agreed between Ouro Preto and the powerful Bahian Senator and planter José Antônio Saraiva the previous December. Archive of the Instituto Histórico e Geográfico Brasileiro, Rio de Janeiro (hereafter AIHGB), Coleção Saraiva, corres. Viscount de Ouro preto, Rio, de Janeiro, 29 12, 1888.Google Scholar The Tribuna Liberal was first published on new presses and with a new type of format on 1 December, 1888; articles and subscriptions for the paper had been sought months in advance, so the newspaper served to cement the links between various far-flung components of the party. See AIHGB Coleção Baron de Loreto, L.195, doc.2. 6. 167. ativa, Loreto, to Cruz e Santos (Teresina, Piauí),Google ScholarRio, de Janeiro, 11 11, 1888,Google Scholar and reply Teresina, , 29 12, 1888. L. 195, doc.2, p.185.Google Scholar

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11 John, Gordon to Manager Rio, , London, 25 04, 1889. Latin American Business Archives, University College, London. Archive of the New London and Brazilian Bank. G.2.27/15 (hereafter NLBB). The exchange rate was now dependent upon the price of sovereigns in Rio de Janeiro.Google Scholar

12 Francisco de Paula Mairink (1838–1906), a Rio de Janeiro financier with family and connections in Minas Gerais, in 1889 held stock in a substantial number of enterprises around the city. de Paula Mairink Lessa, F., Vida e Obra do Consciheiro Mairink corn plerada por um genealogista da Família (Rio de Janeiro, 1975).Google Scholar

13 Jornal do Commercio, 3 05, 1889, p. 2.Google Scholar

14 Manoel Ferraz de Campos Salles (1841–1913), sometime deputy for Campinas, São Paulo, lawyer and fazendeiro, living in São Paulo in 1889. Célio, Debes, Campos Salles (São Paulo, 1977), I, 220.Google Scholar

15 Discussion of various aspects of ecclesiastical reform had been pending since the introduction of a Civil Marriage Bill in 1884, South American Journal, 17 07, 1884.Google Scholar Land laws had been under discussion in the Senate in 1887 and 1888. Dean, W. K., ‘Latifundia and Land Policy in Nineteenth Century Brazil’, HAHR, Vol. 51 (1971) p. 606.Google Scholar

16 By stimulating immigration from Northern Europe and providing for an increase in rural credit. José, de Souza Martins, A imigração e a crise do Brasil agrário. (São Paulo, 1977), p. 76.Google Scholar

17 Tribuna Liberal. 1 and 2 05, 1889,Google Scholar quotation taken from Afonso Augusto Moreira Pena to his mentor José, Antonio Saraiva, Santa, Bárbara, 1 01, 1889. AIHGB, Coleção Saraiva, corresp. Afonso Pena.Google Scholar

18 Antonio Morreia de Barros (1849–?) sometime deputy for the Upper Paraíba Valley in São Paulo, where he owned a substantial fazenda which had accepted 400 parceiros. AIHGB, Coleção Saraiva, corresp. Leão Veloso Filho, São, Paulo, 17 05, 1888. Antonio Carlos de Arruda Boteiho, Count de Pinhal (1827–1902)Google Scholar deputy for Rio Claro (Western São Paulo), fazendeiro on a massive scale, banker in São Paulo, commissário (factor) in Santos. Anon, , Senador Carlos José Botelho. Sua ascendencia e descendencia (São Paulo, 1950), p. 28.Google Scholar

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20 A view reiterated in Ouro, Preto's speech to the Senate, 11 06, Jornal do Commercio, 12 06, 1889.Google Scholar

21 Quotation from Wyndham to Lord Salisbury, No. 17. Rio, de Janeiro, 18 02, 1889. London: Public Record Office.Google Scholar F.O. 128/159. and No. 45. Rio, de Janeiro, 3 06, 1889.Google Scholar The Republican leaders in Rio had been instructed by their confrères in São Paulo that ‘You must now direct any military movement in our direction, attempt decisive action as soon as you feel you have enough support. Once a coup d'etat happens there, São Paulo and Rio Grande will immediately support you.’ Francisco Glicério de Cerqueira Leite to Quintino de Souza Bocaiúva, São, Paulo, 5 05, 1888. Arquivo Quintino Bocaiúva, Fundação Getulio Vargas, Rio de Janeiro.Google Scholar

22 Wyndham to Salisbury, No. 57. Rio, de Janeiro, 15 06, 1889.Google Scholar PRO. F.O. 128/259. Quintino de Souza Bocaiúva (1836–1912), journalist with powerful commercial connections in Rio; Joaquim de Saldanha Marinho (1816–95) semi-retired lawyer in Rio. Their stance is summarized in Cyro de Azevedo's letter to José do Patrocínio (an abolitionist leader) Rio, , 25 07, 1888.Google ScholarColeção, Saldanha Marinho, Arquiuo Estadual da Guanabara, 41–1–59, fl. 130–5v.Google Scholar

23 A Rua, 27 04 and 1 06, 1889.Google Scholar

24 Antonio de Silva Jardim (1860–91), a sometime lawyer from Santos, Jardim declared his divergence from the leadership in an ‘open letter’, accusing Bocaiúva of paralyzing the Republican campaign against the ‘Third Reign’, and demanding a ‘Republican Vanguard’ which would instal a ‘President’ by ‘acclamation’. Antonio, da Silva Jardim, Propaganda Republicana (1888–1889) (Rio de Janeiro, 1978), pp. 355–8.Google Scholar Letter to the press, Rio, de Janeiro, 25 05, 1889. Francisco Glicério de Cerqueira Leite, fazendeiro and lawyer, Jaú, and Campinas, São Paulo.Google Scholar

25 Silva Jardim campaigned in the Paraíba Valley and Minas during July 1888, February–April, 1889. On 2 May Jardim was at the Congress, in which Campos Salles voiced his support for Bocaiúva, severing his connection with Jardim. Saldanha Marinho to Campos Salles, Rio, de Janeiro, 23 05, 1889,Google Scholar in Célio, Debes, Campos Salles, I, p. 242.Google Scholar Jardim abstained rather than vote for Bocaiúva, ibid., p. 45.

26 Wyndham to Salisbury, No. 57. Rio, de Janeiro, 15 06, 1889. PRO F.O. 125/159.Google Scholar

27 Discussion on the Speech from the Throne took place on the previous day, leaving ordinary parliamentary business to be discussed all afternoon until 4.30 p.m. on 1 May. Jornal do Commercio, 1 and 2 May. The Speech, given on the 3rd May, had certainly urged a degree of administrative devolution, banking reform, railroad construction, incentives to immigration and colonization, indications, perhaps, of the Cabinet's desire to bow to pressure from Rodrigo, Augusto da Silva. Falas do Trono. Desde o ano de 1823 até o ano de 1889. (São Paulo, 1977), pp. 509–11.Google Scholar

28 Leví, , A Família Prado, pp. 195–7. Baron de Cotegipe (1815–1889), Senator for Bahia, planter in Santo Amaro, subsequently President of the Banco do Brasil.Google Scholar

29 Francisco Belisário Soares de Souza (1839–89), Senator with financial interests in Rio and fazendeiro in Mar de Espanha. Cotegipe to Francisco Belisário, Rio, de Janeiro, 6 04, 1887, AlHGB. Coleção Francisco Belisário Soares de Souza.Google Scholar

30 Antonio Ferreirra Viana (1832–1903), Rio lawyer with long-standing connections in municipal politics. Viscount de Cruzeiro, Jerônimo José Teixeira Júnior (1830–92), Rio rentier with substantial financial connections. Paulino José Soares de Souza (1834–1901), Senator for Rio Province, fazendeiro in Cantagalo (Rio Province) and Ponte Araraquara (Western São Paulo), lawyer in Rio.

31 Returns published (with comments) in Jornal do Commercio, 3 05, 1889, are as follows for the five leading ports of the Empire: Port March1888 %Total March 1889 % Total Rio de Janeiro 3,896.271$ 50.19% 4,553.993$ 58.94% Santos 947.958$ 12.56% 1,055.890$ 13.66% Recife 888.278$ 11.44% 745.966$ 9.65% Salvador 1,169.293$ 15.06% 724.678$ 9.38% Belém 833.103$ 10.73% 245.239 8.35% Total 7,761.813$ 100.00% 7,725.677$ 100.00%Google Scholar

32 Reports from the Santos zone in South American Journal, 01–06, 1889.Google Scholar Consul Cowper in Santos estimated the crop losses at 25 per cent for the 1888–9 year. Cowper, to Salisbury, , Santos, , 19 02, 1889, Report on the Trade and Commerce of the Province of Sao Paulo, through the Port of Santos, for the year 1888. House of Commons, Parliamentary Papers, 1889. Vol. 78. F.O. Annual Series No. 498.Google Scholar

33 Jornal do Commercio, 4 05, 1889.Google Scholar

34 Van Delden Laerne, C. F., Brazil and Java. Report on Coffee-Culture in America, Asia, and Africa (The Hague and London, 1885), pp. 229–44.Google ScholarWyndham, to Salisbury, , Rio, de Janeiro, 3 11, 1890.Google ScholarReport on the Trade and Commerce of Brazil 1890, Parliamentary Papers, 1889, Vol. LXXVIII. F.O. Annual Series no. 807);Google ScholarPlatt, D. C. M. (ed.), Business Imperialism (Oxford, 1977), pp. 203–6 and Table VI. I p. 199.Google Scholar

35 John, Gordon to Manager (Rio), London, 3 05 1889,Google Scholar reminds the manager that there are £2,500,000 in sovereigns in the Treasury. NLBB G.2. 27/16. So credit could be available on the Rio money market, yet it was clear that the Government would not allow banks to be floated to lend to planters (and bale out their factors) until the high exchange could be secured on a more permanent basis. Gordon, to Rio, , 22 05, 1889. NLBB G.2. 27/19, p. 4,Google Scholar reports on negotiations in London to redeem paper money. Not until 24 July was Gordon able to inform Rio that plans were laid for Agricultural Banks. Gordon, to Manager (Rio), London, 24 07, 1889. NLBB G.2. 27/25; Jornal do Commercio, 1–5 05, 1889.Google Scholar

36 Liberto, de Castro Carreira, História Financeira do Brazil (Rio de Janeiro, 1889), pp. 606–7. In 1884–5 São Paulo contributed 64.9 per cent and received 53.7 percent Railway income and expenditure was dealt with in a seperate account; the Dom Pedro II and Santos-Jundiaí profits were offset agianst losses on Northeastern and Southern lines.Google Scholar

37 Jornal do Cornmercio, 2 05, 1889.Google Scholar

38 In 1872, 73 per cent of the commercial community of the city was of foreign extraction; in 1906, 57 per cent. The corresponding figures for the commercial district of Candelária were 75 per cent and 69 per cent. Brazil. Diretoria Geral de Estatística, , Recenseamento da população do Brazil a que se procedeu no dia l de agosto de 1872 (Rio de Janeiro, 1872–1876), Vol. XXI.Google ScholarMunicipio Neutro. Recenseamen to do Rio de Janeiro (D.F.) realizado no dia 20 de setembro de 1906 (Rio de Janeiro, 1907), pp. 156–73.Google Scholar

39 The origins and development of the ‘great family’ are a matter of some controversy. They have been charted in Colson, R. F., ‘The Destruction of a Revolution. Polity, Economy, and Society in Brazil, 1870–1891’ (Ph.D. Dissertation, Princeton, 1979), esp. pp. 7–55.Google Scholar See also Lewin, L., ‘Some Historical Implications of Kinship Organization for Family-based Politics in the Brazilian Northeast’, Comparative Studies in Society and History, Vol. 21, no. 2 (04 1979), pp. 262–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

40 NLBB, G.2. 25/34. Gordon, to Benn, (Manager, Rio), 8 09, 1887. The Bank's lawyer in 1889 was José da Silva Costa.Google Scholar

41 AIHGB. Coleção Ouro Preto L.167. Inácio Antonio de Assis Martins (1839–1903), Viscount de Assis Martins, Senator for Minas Gerais, lawyer and railway entrepreneur in Rio, fazendeiro in Santa Luzia and Muriaé; José Rodrigues de Lima Duarte (1826–96), Viscount de Lima Duarte, fazendeiro in Barbacena.

42 João Nogueira Penido (1862–1901), deputy for Juiz de Fora, with interests in coffee exporting and shipping.

43 Francisco de Figueiredo, Viscount (later Count) de Figueiredo (1843–1917), Rio financier and shipper, President of the Banco Internacional do Brasil; in May 1889, in Paris and London arranging finance for the operations designed to redeem paper currency and provide for specie payments. NLBB G.2. 27/4. John, Gordon to Rio, , London, 31 01, 1889.Google ScholarNLBB G.2. 27/19. Gordon, to Rio, , London, 22 05, 1889. According to Wyndham he returned in ‘flourishing circumstances’ to Rio. Wyndham to Salisbury, No. 42 (Secret), Rio de Janeiro, 4 June, 1889. PRO. F.O. 128/159.Google Scholar

44 By 1883 a considerable percentage of the bank's lending was going to its subsidiary in São Paulo, the Banco de Crédito Real de São Paulo; between 1882 and 1889 the percentage of the Banco Predial's lending to the Province rose from 38.8 per cent to 47.7 per cent. Van, Delden Laerne, pp. 222–3.Google ScholarRelatório qua tem qua ser apresentado a Assémbleia Geral dos Senhores Acionistas do Banco Predial do Rio de Janeiro, na reuniāo ordinária de 30.4.1889 pelo Presidente Consl. Francisco de Paula Mairink (Rio de Janeiro, 1889).Google Scholar Assis Martins was the lawyer for the Banco de Crédito Real; another stockholder was João da Mata Machado (1852–1901), part owner of the Santa Bárbara mill, director of the Estrada de Ferro Central de Minas. Mairink was President of the Banco Predial by 31 01, 1889,Google Scholar when he signed the quarterly balance. Jornal do Commercio, 3 02, 1889.Google Scholar

45 Jornal do Commercio, 7 05, 1889. José Joaquim de Oliveira Pena (1861–?), notary public in Uberaba, 1889. AIHGB, Coleção Afonso Celso, minuta ‘Diretório Liberal’, Rio de Janeiro, 26 September, 1886.Google Scholar

46 Carlos, Maximiniano Pimenta de Laet (1847–1927),Google Scholar civil engineer, school teacher in the Ceolégio Dom Pedro II. AIHGB. Coleção Afonso Celso, minuta ‘Diretório Liberal’, Rio, de Janeiro, 26 09, 1886.Google Scholar

47 The precise political functions of the Council of State, as principal adviser to the Emperor, were not well defined. The twelve-man Council could advise that he dis/ve the Chamber and hold a General Election. The Council also acted as administrative adviser to all Ministers (who presided over the appropriate seção or Standing Committee) and by 1889 its weight in the Central Government had increased. South American Journal, 9 03 and 15 06, 1889. ‘Report on the Commerce and Trade of Brazil, 1887–88’, pp. 26–7. (Parliamentary Papers, 1889. LXXVIII. F.O. Annual Series, 504. Brazil) outlines the position of the Council of State as arbiter in all claims against the Government.Google Scholar

48 Aristides César Spinola Zama (1838–1906), deputy for Caetité with substantial local connections and a master of the intricacies of local politics. Elpídio Pereira de Mesquita, lawyer from Monte Alto, resident in Barra. ‘Votes’ were placed at his disposal by the Rio engineer Paulo de Frontin, acting on behalf of the Cia. Assuruá. AIHGB, Arquivo Cotegipe, corresp. Luis Viana, Barra de São Francisco, 6 Jan., 1888.

49 Antonio Romualdo Monteiro Manso (1851–89), fazendeiro in Leopoldina 1889. José de Rezende Monteiro (1883–8), Baron de Leopoldina, President of the Estrada de Ferro Leopoldina. The deputy seems to have remained virtually silent from 12 09 to 21 11, 1888.Google Scholar