great a mass of interests and opinions be indifferent to them? No other motive has influenced this determination of the Cortes. Brazilians! The resolutions of the Cortes and of the Government, whose authority you have recognized and sworn to, have not exceeded either the principles of universal justice, or the maxims of good government, in the Laws and Orders which they have addressed to you. Do not, therefore, lend yourselves to the intrigues of a Party, which endeavours to persuade you to the contrary, because it desires only to distract and to ruin you. Reflect within yourselves; reflect upon your former condition, and upon the political consideration to which the Constitution elevates you; examine attentively what these violators of the most solemn oaths attempt to insinuate, and you will find that some want the excess of liberty, by proclaiming a democratick Independence, and that others want the excess of servitude, by opening a road to absolute power and to the privileges of an aristocracy. The Cortes on the contrary, offer you the Constitutional Monarchy, as a middle term between these two dangerous extremes, and as the plank of your political salvation: they extend a helping hand to you, and render it unnecessary for you to undertake the arduous and hazardous task of establishing a Government entirely new. Your Representatives co-operate with activity and wisdom, in making to the Constitution such additions, as may be consistent with the unity of Power, and of the Empire, and as may contribute towards the general and immediate benefit of the Nation. You will possess the most absolute Independence in the exercise of the Judicial Power; - Courts of Justice, inconveniently situated, cannot properly administer justice. And you will not be without an Authority, delegated by the King, which may in the distribution of Offices and Rewards, place you more within the reach of the intervention of the Royal Power. Brazilians! The act of adopting or of rejecting a system of Government, is a compromise; let us then weigh the inconveniences; we must give and take; we must renounce some rights, the better to enjoy others, and, as we sacrifice our natural liberty, in order to enjoy with more security the advantages of civil society, so we must sacrifice a part of the civil advantages to the superior utility of the union of a great Empire. Although the seas be agitated and months may pass away, although an ocean of 1,500 leagues may interpose both space and time between the Law and the execution of it, yet the sphere of human ingenuity is not so circumscribed, but that the wisdom of our Institutions may unite what nature has separated; and, even if some inconveniences should remain, they will be amply compensated by avoiding the horrors of anarchy and the vexations of absolute Power. All this was well weighed by you, at the time of your adhering and swearing to the basis of the Constitution. Brazilians, do not then violate such solemn and just engagements. Exercise your political power, by sending wise Representatives to the Cortes of the Nation; their personal inconvenience will not be of great weight, if you compare it with the importance of the Union: enjoy the blessings of liberty; the protection of the Government secures to you all the advantages of society. The Cortes do not pretend to maintain the Union of Portugal with Brazil by means of Arms; force is a weak instrument for retaining in a subordinate and unprofitable condition, a People, who are enterprizing, numerous, increasing, and jealous of their liberty. Our Union, Brazilians, depends solely upon the affections and interests produced by reciprocal advantages; — by the ties of friendship and blood, by equal Laws, and by equal protection. The title deed of your Rights is the Constitution : —it will shortly be transmitted to you with the necessary additions. After you shall have perused it, no one will attempt to persuade you into the extravagant and delirious belief, that those who wish to constitute you a Free People, desire to reduce you to Colonists and Slaves: and if this frank and sincere declaration be not capable of removing all causes of discord, and of re-establishing your former unsuspecting confidence, the Cortes, lamenting your blindness and delusion, will, at least, remain satisfied with having followed the dictates of their conscience, by making known their principles and manifesting their intentions. Palace of the Cortes, Lisbon, August 17, 1822. AGOSTINHO JOSE FREIRE, President Deputy Secretary JOAO BAPTISTE FELGUEIRAS, Deputy Secretary 111. PROCLAMATION OF DOM PEDRO I TO THE INHABITANTS OF MINAS GERAES [Ouro Preto, February 22, 1831. John Armitage, The History of Brazil (1836), II, 109–110. Published by Smith, Elder and Company, London.] The many arbitrary acts of Dom Pedro I, beginning with the forceful dissolution of the Constituent Assembly of 1823 and the arrest and exile of the Andradas and other liberal leaders, had made imperative the formation of a parliamentary party. The demand for changes in the constitution grew increasingly stronger until it became the main issue of the hour. The work of the press in the crisis was of great importance. "It is not criminal," declared Evaristo Ferreira de Veiga in an editorial in the Aurora Fluminense, "to propose alterations in the Constitution." "Human institutions are not eternal. In proportion as the ideas, habits, and interests of a people change, their laws, and their social and political organization ought also to be modified, and our Constitution has pointed out the means for obtaining this result in fit time. . . ." Several events occurred in Europe and in Brazil in 1830 that greatly aggravated the whole struggle between the Conservative and Liberal parties. The murder of Badaro, a newspaper man, in November, 1830, and the news of the July revolution in France, were the most important of these. The return from exile of the Andradas had brought upon the stage the necessary leadership. In order to determine the state of affairs in the provinces and, if possible, to get the upper hand in the struggle in Rio de Janeiro, the emperor, accompanied by the empress, Minister Maia, and a numerous suite, left Rio de Janeiro on December 30, 1830, for a state visit to Ouro Preto, capital of Minas Geraes. It was while in that city that he issued the following proclamation. The emperor was unsuccessful. He was coldly received; and the proclamation, instead of strengthening his position in support of the conservative forces, had the effect of aggravating the ill 1 Armitage, The History of Brazil, II, 97-98. feeling toward him and of consolidating the liberal forces. The final result is briefly explained in the introductory note of the next document. Inhabitants of Minas. This is the second time I have had the pleasure to find myself amongst you; this is the second time that the love which I consecrate to Brazil has conducted me hither. Inhabitants of Minas, — I will not address you alone, for the interest is general; I speak, therefore, to all Brazilians. There exists a disorganizing party, who, availing themselves of the peculiar circumstances of France, strive to illude you with invective against my inviolable and sacred person, and against the Government, for the purpose of enacting in Brazil scenes of horror and misery that may enable them to arrive at power, and to satiate their vengeance and their egotistical passions at the expense of their country. They write without restraint, and excite the people to federation, thinking to screen themselves with Article 1741 of the Fundamental Code, an article which permits of no change in the essential part of the said law. Can there be a more direct attack on the constitution which we have sworn to defend and to sustain, than thus to propose altering it in its essence? Will not this be a manifest attack on the solemn oath which we have made to it before the altar? Dear Brazilians! I speak to you now not as your Emperor, but as your cordial friend. Do not be illuded by pernicious and seductive doctrines. They can only concur to your ruin, and to that of Brazil, and never to the general felicity. Aid me then to sustain the Constitution such as it exists, and such as we have sworn to it. I shall rely on you, and I hope that you will also rely on me. Imperial City of Ouro Preto, 22d February 1831. 1 Article 174 of the constitution of the Empire of Brazil, approved by Dom Pedro I on March 25, 1824, reads: "If four years or more after the constitution of Brazil has been duly sworn to, it is apparent that any of its articles need amendment, the proposal shall be made in writing, originating in the chamber of deputies, and supported by a third of their number." — H. G. JAMES, The Constitutional System of Brazil (1923), 250. 112. PROCLAMATION OF THE BRAZILIAN ASSEMBLY (AFTER THE ABDICATION OF DOM PEDRO I) [April 8, 1831. John Armitage, The History of Brazil, . . . (1836), II, 292– 297. Published by Smith, Elder and Company, London.] The emperor, Dom Pedro I, who had held out stubbornly against the demands for his abdication, finally yielded, and at two o'clock in the morning he wrote his abdication as follows: "Availing myself of the right which the Constitution concedes to me, I declare, that I have voluntarily abdicated in favour of my dearly beloved and esteemed son, Don Pedro de Alcantara. "Boa vista, 7th April, 1831, 10th year of the Independence of the Empire. The emperor dismissed all his ministers except the Marquis de Inhambupe and appointed José Bonifacio de Andrada guardian of his four children. Accompanied by the empress, the queen of Portugal, the Marchioness de Loulé, his sister, and her husband, the Marquis, he took refuge on board the English ship Warspite. The personal affairs of the royal family were arranged and after a period of four days the exile began. Dom Pedro I and the empress with their suites sailed in the Warspite to a port selected by the unfortunate monarch north of Brest. The queen of Portugal and her suite boarded the French frigate La Seine and sailed to a port south of Brest. The following proclamation, drawn up by Evaristo Ferreira de Veiga, and signed by the president and secretary, was issued by the Assembly. Brazilians! An extraordinary event has set at naught all the calculations of human prudence; a glorious revolution has been effected through the efforts and patriotic union of the people and the troops of Rio de Janeiro, without one single drop of blood being shed; an event altogether unprecedented, and one which does honour at once to your moderation, energy, and the state of civilization at which you are arrived. Brazilians! An ill-advised Prince, hurried to the precipice by violent |