BRAZIL. 



BRAZIL. 



114 



ad valorem duty charged on all articles imported into Brazil 

 (amounting in 1851-2 to 2,814,443i.), a low duty charged on the articles 

 exported (amounting in 1851-2 to 503,070i), and rents, royalties on 

 mines, &c. The estimated expenditure fur 1853-4 is thus dis- 

 tributed : 



Ministry of the Interior . 

 Justice 



,, Foreign Affairs . 



Marine 



War . 



Finances 



412,355 



250,020 



60,000 



452,158 



813,935 



1,304,162 



3,292,630 



The total unredeemed public debt amounts to about 15,000,000?. 



The Brazilian army numbers about 65,000 men. Of these the 

 regular army consists of 22,540 officers and privates (including 3727 

 cavalry aud 3582 artillery) ; the remainder are militia. The navy 

 consists (1853) of 1 frigate of 50 guns, 5 corvettes, 5 brigs, and 9 

 schooners carrying together 188 guns, and 4 smaller vessels carrying 

 together 27 guns; 10 steamers mounting 86 guns; with various 

 unarmed ships and steamers, and a frigate and a corvette building. 



The provinces have the management of their own local affairs. Each 

 province has its president appointed by the crown, and its provincial 

 house of assembly, the members of which are elected by the people. 



Hiitory. Brazil was discovered in the first year of the sixteenth 

 century. The voyages of Columbus and Vaaco de Gama, who first 

 sailed across extensive seas, had taught navigators to adopt the prac- 

 tice of entering at once upon the open ocean. Accordingly Pedro 

 Alvares de Cabral, who, after the return of Vasco de Gama, was sent 

 by the king of Portugal with a large navy to the East Indies, directed 

 his course from the Cape Verde Islands to the south-west, and was 

 carried by the equatorial current so far to the west that he found 

 himself very unexpectedly in sight of land in 10 S. lat. This country 

 was Brazil, which he saw first on the 3rd of Hay, 1 500. He sailed 

 along the coast as far as Porto Seguro (16 S. lat), where he landed 

 and took possession. He sent an account of his discovery to Lisbon, 

 and continued his voyage to India. The king afterwards sent Amerigo 

 Vespucci, a Florentine, to examine the country, who took a rapid 

 survey of nearly the whole of its shores, and upon his return pub- 

 lished an account of it, with a map. To this publication this navigator 

 is indebted for the honour of having given his Christian name to the 

 new continent. 



Veapucci, and others who were sent somewhat later, reported that 

 the country was not cultivated, and did not offer any great commer- 

 cial advantages, but that they had found extensive forests of Brazil- 

 wood, of which they brought some cargoes to Portugal. This was 

 not sufficient to induce the Portuguese to form a settlement, especially 

 as they were then actively engaged in their conquests in the East 

 Indies ; but it was quite enough to induce mercantile speculators to 

 send their vessels for the dye-wood. This trade continued for some 

 years, and the merchants of other nations, especially the French, 

 began to follow the example of the Portuguese. The Portuguese 

 government considered this as a violation of their rights as dis- 

 coverers of the country, and they accordingly began to think of 

 forming a permanent establishment. King John III. however, on 

 calculating the expenses necessary for such an undertaking, thought 

 it more advantageous to invest some of the richest noble families of 

 Portugal with the property of extensive tracts of coast, for the 

 purpose of colonising them with Portuguese subjects. Accordingly, 

 about ten or twelve Portuguese noblemen obtained the property each 

 of about 100 leagues of coast, and 40 or 50 leagues inland. These 

 proprietors were called dmotariot. Most of them made great sacri- 

 fices, and underwent much fatigue and danger in forming settlements 

 in Brazil. The towns of S. Vincent, Espirito Santo, Porto Seguro, 

 and Pernambuco were founded by them between 1531 and 1545. But 

 it soon became evident that the private fortune of these noblemen 

 was not adequate to the establishment of such settlements in an 

 uncultivated country, and in the neighbourhood of warlike savage 

 nations. The king therefore sent, in 1549, as governor to Brazil, 

 Thome' de Sousa, who founded the town of Bahia in the bay of Todos 

 o Santos, and established a regular colonial administration. The 

 government gradually found means to acquire the property of the 

 colonies then existing from the donotarios, either by purchase or by 

 exchange. 



Before the religious divisions in England began to people the coasts 

 of North America, the Protestants of France made a similar attempt 

 in Brazil. A colony of French Protestants was established in 1555, on 

 an island in tin- bay of Rio. Janeiro, by Nicolas Durand de Villegagnon, 

 *xm fell into anarchy. The Portuguese attacked it in 1565, 

 and e.\ i French, though not without encountering consider- 



able i On this occasion the town of Rio Janeiro was 



foiiii<l<:'l by the Portuguese. 



On the death of King Sebastian, when Portugal was united to Spain 

 (1580), the numerous enemies of the latter country began to annoy 

 Brazil, among whom the English, under Thomas Cavendish, were the 

 most active. They did not however form any settlement. The French 

 made a second attempt in 1612 to settle on the island of Maranhio, 



oioo. DIV. VOL. II. 



where they founded the town of San Luiz de Maranhao, but in 1615 

 they were compelled to abandon it to the Portuguese. The Dutch 

 were more formidable enemies to the Portuguese. Their East India 

 Company had already taken from them many settlements in the Indian 

 seas, and their West India Company was thus invited to similar 

 attempts in America. In 1623 they sent a fleet to Brazil, which took 

 Bahia, then the capital of the country; but it was lost again in 1625. 

 In 1629 the Dutch made another attempt, and possessed themselves 

 of Peruambuco, from which the Portuguese were unable to dislodge 

 them. They afterwards extended their conquests till they held in 

 1643 the province of Seregipe and the whole of Brazil north of the 

 Rio. Francesco, with the exception of Pard. A few years later however 

 the settlers of Portuguese origin rose upon them and drove them out 

 of province after province, till at last the Dutch were confined to the 

 town of Pernambuco, from which also they were expelled in 1654. 

 By the peace of 1660 the Dutch renounced their claims on these 

 countries. 



At that time the mineral riches of Brazil were not known. The 

 town of S. Paulo had been founded by some Portuguese in 1620, who 

 had ascended to the table-land of the Paranii from the town of 

 St. Vincent, and been induced to settle there on account of its fine 

 climate. The adventurers established a kind of democratic govern- 

 ment, and made frequent incursions among the savage nations for the 

 purpose of capturing them and using them as slaves. In these 

 excursions, towards the end of the 17th century, they discovered the 

 mines of S. Paulo ; and near Sabarji, on the Rio das Velhas, in 1700, 

 the richer mines at Villa Rica; and in 1713 those of Marianna. The 

 mines atCuyabd and Goyaz were discovered between 1715 and 1720. 

 The existence of diamonds in the Rio Icquetinhonha was not known 

 before 1728. These discoveries, and the riches which government 

 derived from the mines, induced it to remove the administration of the 

 colony from Bahia to Rio S. Janeiro in 1773. 



The government of Brazil by the Portuguese was of the most 

 exclusive character, and led to a constantly growing dissatisfaction 

 on the part of the bulk of the inhabitants. Foreign vessels were not 

 permitted to enter the ports of Brazil, nor the Brazilians to send their 

 commodities to any other country than Portugal. This of course 

 caused discontent among the merchants. Further, the natives of 

 Portugal who had emigrated to the colony constituted a privileged 

 class, being exclusively entitled to all posts of honour and all lucrative 

 employments under government, which naturally excited dissatis- 

 faction among the rich descendants of the Portuguese. This dis- 

 satisfaction began to generate a wish for change as soon as the United 

 States of North America had obtained their independence ; and events 

 in Europe took such a turn that Brazil obtained its object almost 

 without bloodshed or war. When Bonaparte had formed his scheme 

 for taking possession of the Peninsula, he began by declaring war 

 against Portugal, upon which the royal family left Europe for Brazil, 

 where they arrived 22nd January, 1808. Considering Brazil as the 

 principal part of his remaining dominions. King John VI. began to 

 improve its condition by placing the administration on a more regular 

 footing and throwing open its ports to all nations. On the fall of 

 Bonaparte, the king raised Brazil to the rank of a kingdom, and 

 assumed the title of King of Portugal, Algarve, and Brazil. The 

 royal family remained in Brazil until the king was obliged to return 

 to Europe by the revolution which took place in Portugal in 1820, by 

 which the constitution of Spain had been adopted in that kingdom 

 also. The news of that event had hardly reached Brazil when the 

 same constitution was proclaimed by the inhabitants in the town of 

 Pernambuco, and soon afterwards in Bahia aud Pard. It was feared 

 that similar measures would be taken in Rio Janeiro, and accordingly 

 the king found it expedient to proclaim the constitution himself on the 

 26th of February, 1821, soon after which he sailed for Lisbon, leaving 

 at the head of the administration in Brazil, Pedro his eldest son and 

 successor, as lieutenant and regent. The Cortes of Portugal did not 

 conceal their design of restoring the old relations with Brazil, by 

 which its commerce was restricted to the mother country ; and they 

 did not treat the deputies from Brazil quite as well as they should 

 have done. This of course increased the discontent of the Brazilians, 

 and prepared the way for the independence of that country. 



The Cortes in Portugal continued their course of policy. They 

 formed a scheme for a new organisation of the administration in Brazil, 

 and recalled the Prince Regent. But the prince, induced by the repre- 

 sentations of the Brazilians, refused to obey their orders, and sent the 

 Portuguese troops stationed at Pernambuco and Rio Janeiro to Europe. 

 The Portuguese commandant of Bahia however did not yield; he 

 expelled the militia and remained master of the town. This step was 

 decisive, and immediately followed by others. On the 13th of May the 

 Prince Regent was proclaimed protector and perpetual defender of 

 Brazil. The General Procurators (Procuradores geraes) of the provinces 

 were assembled by the Prince Regent to consult on the new form of 

 government, but they declared that they were not competent to such 

 a task, and proposed the convocation of deputies chosen by the people, 

 to which the prince acceded after a short delay. As the Cortes in 

 Portugal still persisted in their design it was thought necessary to 

 declare the independence of Brazil, and the Prince Regent did not 

 venture to oppose the torrent of public opinion. Accordingly on the 

 12th of October, 1822, Brazil was declared an independent state, and 



