The Party of Order: The Conservatives, the State, and Slavery in the Brazilian Monarchy, 1831-1871 9780804768061

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The Party of Order

JEFFREY D. NEEDELL

The Party of Order The Conservatives, the State, and Slavery in the Brazilian Monarchy, 1831-1871

STANFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

Stanford, California

2006

Stanford University Press Stanford, California © 2006 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University Library of Congress Cataloging-in- Publication Data Needell, )effrey D. The party of order: the conservatives, the state, and slavery in the Brazilian monarchy, 1831-1871 I )effrey D. Needell. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-o-8047-5369-2 (cloth: alk. paper) 1. Brazil-Politics and government-1822-1889. 2. Pedro II, Emperor of Brazil, 1825-1891. 3. Conservatives-Brazil-History-19th century. I. Title. F2536.N44 2006 981' .04-dc222 2oo6oo88oo

Typeset at Stanford University Press in 10/12.5 Minion

ParaFatima

Que a miio do tempo e o hdlito dos homens Murchem a fiar das ilusi5es da vida, Musa consoladora, E no teu seio amigo e sossegado Que o poeta respira o suave sono. -Machado de Assis, "Musa Consolatrix," Crisalidas (1864)

Contents

Acknowledgments Notes on Names, Titles, Spelling, and Translation Maps: City of Rio de Janeiro, Province of Rio de Janeiro, Empire of Brazil

1 2

ix xm

xv

Introduction: An Obscured Genesis

1

The Port and Province of Rio de Janeiro

9

The Threat of Revolution and the Reactionary Mobilization: 1831-1837

30

3 Political Theory, Partisan Practice, and the Emperor's Emergence: 1837-1848

73

4 Provincial Politics, Foreign Affairs, and Patronage: 1848-1853

117

5 The Transformation of Politics and the State: 1853-1867

167

6 Abolition, War, and the Vindication of Constitutional Government: 1867-1871 7 The Defeat of the Party: The Political Crisis of 1871

223 272

Conclusion: Legacy and Metamorphosis

315

Genealogical Tables

327

Abbreviations

333

Notes

335

Bibliography

427

~a

ffi

Acknowledgments

This book has been dedicated to my wife, Fatima, for her support over these many years. It was she to whom I first spoke of this idea; she knows best how much this work has meant to me. Our children, Gabriel, Renata, and Ethan, have grown up with this book. I am grateful to them for their love, faith, and patience. My family's love has sustained me. Many of those who have guided and supported me have passed away, some quite recently. I mourn the loss of Richard M. Morse, Francisco de Assis Barbosa, Jose Gabriel Calmon da Costa Pinto, Robert Levine, and Simon Collier. Each of these, sometimes over more than twenty years, took a special interest in my work and my career; now, it is no longer possible to thank them. I can only try to pass on what I have learned from them and bear witness to the fact that each of their deaths is irreparable. The community of historians among whom I work, however diminished by these absences, remains strong. It is an honor and a pleasure to list those among them who have lent me the benefit of their knowledge, their critical sense, their insight, and their encouragement. The preliminary study and research I did was encouraged by the example, support, and the generosity of the Latin Americanists I was privileged to join at the University of Florida: Murdo MacLeod, David Bushnell, Neill Macaulay, and David Geggus, all of whom exemplify the best strengths and the traditions of my field. Joseph Love and Reid Andrews have consistently supported me over the years, recommending my work in an increasingly competitive funding environment; I hope that they will see here some vindication of their confidence. By 2003, with research and writing completed, I found myself no longer able to judge a manuscript drawing upon many years of interrupted research and writing; I entrusted Judy Bieber and James Green with the difficult and delicate

x I Acknowledgments

task of reading the first draft and criticizing it. Their work was done without reward and on short notice, and I am very grateful to acknowledge that theirs was work of signal importance to me in many, many ways, as it helped limit the work's shortcomings, both large and small. No one who works on Brazil's nineteenth century is unfamiliar with Roderick Barman's generosity, I suspect, but I doubt anyone has profited more than I from his scholarship, criticism, suggestions, and archival sources. I am especially grateful for his meticulous and constructive labors with my manuscript, which were invaluable in my revision. Zephyr Frank, in reading that revision, was generous with his appraisal and acute in his critique, for both of which I am grateful. Earlier, Marshal! Eakin, at Vanderbilt, Zephyr Frank, at Stanford, and Dain Borges, at Chicago, invited me to share my work at presentations where they and their students honored me with their attention and their queries, often helping me with my arguments by questioning them closely. At a conference panel, B.J. Barickman made a number of incisive points about a resume of the seventh chapter, and he did so with his characteristic learning and skill. The panel was organized by Jeffrey C. Mosher, whose own pioneering work on Pernambuco has informed mine throughout these pages. As a result of all of this collegial criticism and commentary, the book before you has become leaner, its arguments more acute, and its prose more effective. However, for better and for worse, the book is mine, and I must take full responsibility for what remains obscure or foolish in it. There are many abroad whose support for my research has been fundamental to me. Foremost among them are my wife's extended family in Rio; their enthusiasm and encouragement for my research has been unfaltering, and their embrace of our family has been crucial to my work in Brazil. Since the 1980s, Jose Murilo de Carvalho's own work, as well as his friendly interest in mine, has been an inspiration of fundamental importance. In 1994, the honor of teaching at the Royal University of Leiden was made possible by Marianne Wiesebron; it was during that time that I completed the secondary-source research on the Monarchy and conceived the idea for this book. In 1997, Celia D'Araujo encouraged me join her at the Universidade Federal Fluminense, affording me the opportunity to work though important ideas with engaging students and to complete crucial archival research begun in 1990 and continued in 1996. In my research in Rio, I was once again guided and aided by a number of people whose preoccupation with the Brazilian past is characterized by generosity and personal warmth. Mario Affonso de Carvalho Carneiro shared precious conversation about, and letters from, his Teixeira Leite kin. I made his acquaintance in the Instituto Historico e Geognifico Brasileiro, the great archive of the Monarchy's statesmen, where something of the era's milieu remains, and

Acknowledgments I xi where I was always welcomed and treated with extraordinary courtesy and professionalism by everyone, particularly Regina Wanderley and Maura Correia e Costa. Satiro Ferreira Nunes' expertise and professionalism at the Arquivo Nacional, while exemplary of his extraordinary institution, was particularly important. The courtesy and support of Maria de Fatima Moraes Argon, Maria de Lourdes Parreiras Horta, and Begonha Bediaga of the Arquivo Hist6rico do Museu Imperial (Petr6polis), made it possible to do a great deal of work in a very short time. Denise Portugal introduced me to rarely used and crucial correspondence housed in the Museu Hist6rico Nacional; Lucia Monte Alto Silva facilitated my work at the Arquivo Hist6rico do Itamarati enormously. Peter Stern, then head of the University of Florida's celebrated Latin American Collection, worked with Sam Gowan (then associate director of the George Smathers Library of the University) to acquire a unique, extensive microfilm collection of Brazilian government reports and periodicals; I am indebted to them both. Subsequently, Richard Phillips, present head of the Collection, has facilitated my research with that microfilm; his colleagues, Mary Gallant and, more recently, Peter Losche, have seen to it that my way was made easier repeatedly as I used the Collection's vast and often rare Brasiliana. Marvin Crabbe, also of the University Library, made sure that my microfilm reader worked; Betty Corwine, then of the Department of History staff, made sure I had a reader in the first place; indeed, she also saw to it that I had a good computer and that it worked. A neighbor, Steven Wallace, later did the same. Linda Opper and Kimberly Browne looked out for me as crucial staff people in the Department and thus supported my research over the years in countless ways. Finally, I am grateful to Sarah Eshleman and Gina Scinto, who, with grace and skill, made my maps and genealogical tables technically accessible, despite great time pressure. The University does not provide regular, traditional sabbaticals, and I have had to teach summers to make ends meet; this has slowed my on-campus research and writing consistently since the publication of my first book, in 1987. In 1994, Frederick Gregory and, in 2002, Fitzhugh Brundage, when chairs of the Department, each saw to it that I had a semester off at two crucial junctures in my research. I am particularly grateful to Fitz, who supported my obtaining a semester off when I needed it most for writing, thus expediting the manuscript by at least a year and a half. I would also like to thank Brian and Jenny Ward; during the last phase of my writing and revision, each encouraged and advised me in many ways, large and small, heartening me in difficult days. I first introduced myself and the idea for this book to Norris Pope, my editor, many years ago. He was encouraging then and has remained steadfast in his support for the work since. Readers may appreciate how much this can mean to

xii I Acknowledgments an author struggling to bring a complicated and lengthy study to a satisfactory end in challenging circumstances. The knowledge that my editor had faith in the project provided crucial moral support, and I acknowledge it with gratitude. The Brazilian research for this book would have been impossible without the generosity of various organizations which paid for the privilege of working in the archives for months at a time. The Division of Sponsored Research of the University of Florida backed me for three months in 1988, and provided crucial supplements in 1996 and 1997; the American Philosophical Society provided significant "seed" money in 1996. The National Endowment for the Humanities, by a fellowship for an earlier project for ten months in 1990-1991, actually supported the beginnings of this project. The NEH joined with the Social Science Research Council to support a return to the archives for a month in 1996 and 1997; a CIES-Fulbright award was crucial to extending the research in 1997 to about four months. Such funding is expensive and increasingly difficult to win; I am very grateful for the opportunity it made possible and I hope that the present work suggests that this was money well spent.

Notes on Names, Titles, Spelling, and Translation

Brazilian usage with respect to names requires some explanation, as does the author's practice. Brazilians often have from three to five or more names. Frequently, they are known by one or two of these, usually the most uncommon, and this practice extends to formal and written references to the individual. The author has adopted Brazilian usage in the text and notes' text; however, when a person is first introduced, the author will attempt to provide all of the names, bracketing those cast aside in usage. During the Monarchy (1822-1889 ), the Brazilian emperors often granted individuals noble titles; the rank might change over the person's life, and the title itself was extended to the person's spouse. The title was not, however, inherited, although it might be granted again to another person (though not always in the same lineage). Here, in the text, the author will only use the noble title at and after the point in the narrative when it was granted, to avoid anachronism. For an example of both issues, note that Hon6rio [Hermeto Carneiro Leao] was most often referred to as Hon6rio. After he was ennobled (1852) as the visconde de Parana (he was later raised to marques de Parana), the author refers to him as Parana. The index will cross-reference the person's last family name and the name in the title. Spelling practice in Brazil (and Portugal) has changed many times in both the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The author will cite all references as they appear on their title pages; he will employ current usage in his text and notes' text, and in his translations. All translations are the author's, unless otherwise indicated by the citation. The author has attempted translations which, while close to literal, are as graceful as possible. Punctuation has been altered occasionally to clarify meaning; bracketed words have been introduced for the same reason. Emphases, in italics, are from the original.

Maps: City of Rio de Janeiro, Province of Rio de Janeiro, Empire of Brazil

The three maps that follow are from the author's collection. The city map was taken from a German-language map made in 1858; the original map, of the southern part of South America, also featured two inset maps; one of the city and one of the Bay of Guanabara. The author has translated names back into Portuguese. Item 14 on the map, "Mercado de Escravos;' is probably an anachronism from an earlier map; all sources consulted state that the market had been moved to the Rua do Valongo, at the western edge of the Morro da Conceis:ao, earlier in the nineteenth century. The map of the province was made by the author. The map of the Empire dates from the 1870s and was made by French cartographers for Brazilian readers. Aside from the features to which this book refers, it also includes the names of native peoples and their locations. The reader will note the nineteenth-century Portuguese spelling.

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