1808: The Flight of the Emperor (15 page)

Even her death was controversial. In the official version, she died of a malady of the uterus, probably cancer. The rumors of the era, however, maintained that she brought on her own end by drinking tea laced with arsenic. In her final days, she was “a tattered individual” according to historian Alberto Pimentel. She lived in complete abandonment. “She went around badly dressed, filthy, with a jacket of common cotton and a muslin turban on her head.”
21
Two years before dying she wrote a will. She was poor—nearly bankrupt actually—but she still had enough money to order that 1,200 masses be said, 100 of them for the soul of her husband, King João VI, who had died four years earlier. It was, according to the historian Raimundo Magalhães Jr., “a last minute reconciliation.”

XV

Hands in the Coffers

T
he court arrived in Brazil impoverished, destitute, and in need of everything. It was already nearing bankruptcy when leaving Lisbon, but the situation deteriorated even further in Rio de Janeiro. Between 10,000 and 15,000 people crossed the Atlantic along with the prince regent. By way of comparison, when President John Adams moved the US capital from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C., in 1800, he transferred approximately 1,000 employees. The bureaucratic machine of the Portuguese court in Brazil, in other words, was 10 to 15 times more bloated than that of the United States. Every one of the people who sailed to Brazil depended on the royal exchequer or awaited some benefit from João in exchange for the “sacrifice” of the journey.
1
“A swarm of needy and unprincipled adventurers had come over with the royal family,” wrote historian John Armitage. “The newcomers were but little interested in the welfare of the country. They regarded their absence from Portugal as temporary and were far more anxious to enrich themselves at the expense of the state than to administer justice or benefit the public.”
2

Historian Luiz Felipe Alencastro recounts that, along with the royal family, 276 noblemen and royal dignitaries received royal funding for their presence, paid in gold coins or silver taken from the royal treasury in Rio. Based on the reports of John Luccock, Alencastro adds 2,000 more royal
employees and individuals exercising functions related to the crown: 700 priests, 500 lawyers, 200 medical practitioners, and between 4,000 and 5,000 soldiers.
3
One of these priests received a fixed annual salary of 250,000 reís—­equivalent today to $9,500—just for taking the queen's confession.
4
“Few European courts, comparatively speaking, have so many persons attached to them as the Brazilian, consisting of
fidalgos
[noblemen], ecclesiastics, and numerous attendants,” wrote British consul James Henderson.
5
On visiting the stables of the Quinta da Boa Vista where João lived, Henderson took surprised note of the number of animals and, more so, the number of people employed there. The stables contained three hundred mules and horses and enlisted “double the number of persons to look after them that would have been deemed necessary in England.”
6

It was an expensive, wasteful, and ravenous court. In 1820, just prior to the return to Portugal, they consumed 513 hens, chickens, pigeons, and turkeys and 1,080 eggs
per day
. This gluttony totaled 200,000 fowl and 396,000 eggs per year, costing approximately 900 million réis or $31.5 million today. The demand became so great that, by order of the administrator of the Royal Pantry, the department responsible for the court's food supply, the sale of all hens in Rio de Janeiro was prioritized for agents of the king. The decision provoked a market shortage of fowl and revolt among city residents. In an open letter to the king, they complained of the lack of hens as well as the behavior of the employees of the Royal Pantry, who sold the hens in a gray market at higher prices.
7

During the thirteen years that the court remained in Brazil, the expenses of the corrupt and badly administered Royal Pantry more than tripled. The deficit grew nonstop. In the final year, 1821, the budget gap had grown more than twenty times—from 10 million réis to 239 million.
8
Yet the court continued to finance everyone without worrying overmuch about the sustainability of doing so. “Everyone, without exception, received rations, according to their place and worth,” explains historian Jurandir Malerba. “Nobles and also hired artists, such as Italian singers and musicians, French painters and architects, Austrian naturalists, ambassadors and employees of each department received quotas financed by the Royal Pantry, a practice that finally ended in the austere government of D. Pedro I.”
9

Where did they find the money to sustain so many people? The first solution came in the form of a loan of £600,000 from Britain. This amount, lent in 1809 to cover the expenses of the journey and the initial costs of setting up the court in Rio de Janeiro, eventually comprised part of the £2 million debt that Brazil inherited from Portugal with its independence.
10
Another measure taken, also not sustainable in the long term, was the creation of a state bank to mint coins. The sad, brief history of the first Bank of Brazil, created by the prince regent seven months after arriving, stands as an example of the cronyism between the monarchy and a caste of privileged merchants, ranchers, and slave traffickers starting in 1808.

By royal fiat in October 1808, the Bank of Brazil started with a capital of 1,200 stocks with a total unit value of 1 million réis. To stimulate the purchase of these stocks, the court established a politics of give-and-take. Stockholders received titles, knighthoods, and appointments to the Royal Board of Governors of Commerce in addition to promises of dividends much higher than the results that the institution generated. In return, the prince regent had at his disposal a bank to print at will as many notes as the recently arrived court needed.
11
As a result, rich commoners became nobility.
12
The already rich and noble became even richer. The magic lasted for a little over ten years.

By 1820, the bank was falling into ruins. Its gold deposits, which served as a guarantee for issuing money, represented only 20 percent of the currency in circulation.
13
In other words, 80 percent of the money in circulation had no foundation or corresponded to rotten assets. The royal family made 90 percent of all withdrawals. To make a bad situation even worse, upon returning to Portugal in 1821, João took with him every gold bar and diamond that the crown maintained in the bank's coffers, thereby definitively overturning its credibility. Bankrupt and with zero chance of recovering, the institution went into liquidation in 1829. Another version of the bank came to life in 1853 during Pedro II's reign. The current Bank of Brazil derives from a continuation of this second incarnation and itself had many moments similar to its predecessor in providing unsecured loans to bankrupt plantation owners, politicians, and factory proprietors.

Another practice in effect at the time was a “kitty” on kickbacks and payments to public servants. De Oliveira Lima, citing Luccock's reports,
observes that a commission of 17 percent was charged on all payments or withdrawals from the public treasury. It was a veiled from of extortion: If the paying party didn't comply with the “commission,” the transaction simply halted.
14
“The era of D. João was destined to go down in history for its administration, full of corruption and embezzlement,” asserts Lima.
15
“Corruption thrived scandalously, and just as much as it contributed to increasing their spending, it also contributed to smuggling, which in turn diminished their income.”
16

In Rio, the Portuguese court consisted of the following six large administrative sectors, called partitions.
17
The Royal Scullery handled all matters related to the royal family's table, including the supply and washing of tableware and napkins. To the Royal Wardrobe fell the management of all of the family's clothing. The Livery took care of the animals of the cavalcade, the traction of the royal coaches and chaises, and the mules used to transport goods. The Royal Pantry and Buttery dispensed the food and drink. The Royal Warren administered the royal forests and thickets. Finally, the Head Steward organized everything with funds from the Royal Exchequer and its administrative arm, the Bank of Brazil.

Those responsible for these partitions passed into history as symbols of illegal enrichment and monkey business. Joaquim José de Azevedo—the same who in November 1807 was hastily invited to the Palace of Queluz to organize the departure of the court—administered the area in which purchases were stocked in the royal home. Bento Maria Targini headed the royal treasury. Close to João and Carlota Joaquina, these two enjoyed intimate companionship with the royal family, who gave them power and influence to go far beyond their normal tasks. Their departments oversaw meals, transportation, comfort, and all of the benefits that supported the thousands of court dependents. Their friends enjoyed everything, their enemies nothing.

In Brazil, de Azevedo prospered so quickly, his image so linked to spectacular robbery, that during the king's return in 1821 the Portuguese Courts prevented him from disembarking in Lisbon. Still, this prohibition didn't stop his successful career. On the contrary, his family continued getting wealthier after independence. In May 1823, English traveler Maria Graham was invited for a night of gala performances to celebrate the first constitution
of an independent Brazil. On arriving at the theater, she headed toward the box seats of de Azevedo's wife, a friend, and took surprised note of what she saw. The hostess was glistering with diamonds worth around £150,000 in Graham's estimate—the equivalent today of $2 million. According to Graham, Madame de Azevedo also gloated that she had left an equal amount of jewels in the strong box at home.
18

Targini hailed from a modest family of Italian origins in Santa Catarina. He entered public service as a bookkeeper, a relatively low function within the bureaucracy of the colonial government. Intelligent and disciplined, he became a clerk in the treasury and quickly rose to the highest position in this department. With the arrival of the royal family in Brazil, he gained power and distinction. Responsible for administering public finances, which included all of the contracts and payments of the court, he quickly prospered. At the end of João's time in Brazil, Targini's house, with its two stories and an attic, situated at the corner of Rua dos Invalidos and Riachuelo, was one of the largest in Rio de Janeiro.
19
Amid the constitutional revolution of March 1821, he was imprisoned and his possessions were confiscated. Two weeks later, he was released. He, too, couldn't return to Portugal with King João VI, but he continued to live a relaxed and comfortable life in Brazil nevertheless.
20

The power of Azevedo and Targini grew so great that, in recognition of their services, João raised them both from barons to viscounts. The first became viscount of Rio Seco, the second viscount of São Lourenço. The elevation of these two corrupt characters led the cariocas, true to their tendency of satirizing even their own misfortunes, to compose popular verse catapulting these scandalous robbers into infamy:

 

He who steals little is a thief.

He who steals a lot, a chief.

Go steal more, and hide out.

You'll pass from chief to viscount.
21

 

In one letter, Royal Archivist Luiz dos Santos Marrocos recorded the following popular ditty about them:

 

As Azevedo robs the Palace

And Targini robs the Treasury

The ailing people carry

A heavy cross to Calvary.
22

XVI

A New Court

T
he two worlds that collided in Rio de Janeiro had advantages and necessities that complemented each other. On one side stood a court that viewed itself with a divine right to rule, govern, and distribute privileges and favors—but had the disadvantage of not having any money. On the other side stood a colony richer in many ways than its old world ­masters—but with no education, refinement, or nobility. Three centuries after its discovery, Brazil remained a land of tremendous opportunities, typical of the new American frontiers where fortunes grew overnight from nothing.

Historian João Luis Ribeiro Fragoso tells of an immigrant who left Portugal poor, became a merchant in Rio, and by the time the court arrived in Brazil had amassed a fortune great enough to make the majority of nobility accompanying the prince regent envious. Braz Carneiro Leão was born on September 3, 1723, in Porto, to a family of peasants. At sixteen years old, he emigrated to Rio de Janeiro, where he began to work as a cashier in a Portuguese home in exchange for room and board. He soon opened his own business, a consignment house for imports and exports, and in 1799, he appeared on a list of the most important merchants drawn up by the viceroy, the count of Rezende. At his death in 1808, he owned six sugarcane mills near Campos and had a net worth of 1.5 billion réis, a figure 25 percent more than the initial capital used to found the Bank of Brazil.
1

João needed the financial and political support of this elite class of men rich in assets but destitute in prestige and cultivation. To cultivate them, he began distributing titles and distinctions of nobility, a system that lasted until his return to Portugal in 1821. In the first eight years alone, he bestowed more titles than his forebears had given during the previous three centuries. Since its liberation from the Muslims in the Reconquista in the twelfth century until the end of the eighteenth, Portugal had a total of sixteen marquises, twenty-six counts, eight viscounts, and four barons. Upon arriving in Brazil, João created twenty-eight new marquises, eight new counts, sixteen new viscounts, and four new barons. According to Sérgio Buarque de Holanda, João also distributed 4,048 insignias of knights, commanders, and grand crosses of the Order of Christ, 1,422 commanders of the Military Order of Aviz, and 590 commanders of the Order of Santiago.
2
“In Portugal, to become a count took 500 years; in Brazil, it took 500 million (réis),” wrote Pedro Calmon.
3
“Individuals who had never buckled on a spur were dubbed Knights; while others, in utter ignorance of even the primary doctrines of their missals, were created ‘commendadores' of the Order of Christ,” added John Armitage.
4

In 1809 a resident of Vila Rica, modern-day Ouro Preto, offered the prince regent 100 cruzados, and in exchange he became a commander of the Order of Christ and a fidalgo of His Majesty's House. His two sons, cadets in the cavalry regiment, immediately rose to the rank of ensign.
5
Paulista
merchant Manuel Rodrigues Jordão received a knighthood of the Order of Christ in 1808 “for having contributed a large sum to top up the funds of the Bank of Brazil, so that the State may reap the extensive and precious advantages of this useful and important establishment,” according to the decree, signed by the prince, granting him his title.
6

It fell to this new nobility to help João in his financial troubles. Some became stockholders in the Bank of Brazil. Others signed the countless “lists of voluntary subscriptions” that circulated in Rio de Janeiro after the court's arrival. These donation lists raised funds to cover the crown's expenses. Historian Jurandir Malerba calculated a total of approximately 1,500 subscribers. Of this number, 160 made contributions greater than 150,000 réis, an amount sufficient to purchase a slave between the ages of ten and fifteen.
“The rich that supported the King sought and received distinction, honor, social prestige, conferrals of nobility, titles, privileges, exemptions, liberties, and concessions, as well as favors of material return, such as posts in administration and tax auctions.”
7

On the first list of subscriptions, in 1808, half of the contributors were slave traffickers.
8
One of them, José Inacio Vaz Vieira, was singlehandedly responsible for 33 percent of the traffic catalogued between 1813 and 1822. He received the Order of Christ in 1811. Amaro Velho da Silva, the trafficker who in 1808 held up one of the poles of the canopy mounted during João's arrival on the docks of Rio de Janeiro, also appeared on the list of great donors to the court. He was royally compensated for his services. On August 28, 1812, the prince regent signed a decree naming Amaro and his brother Manuel as official advisors of the prince, with the following justification:

 

After having shown ample proof of their zeal and patriotism on different occasions of State importance and supplying my Royal Exchequer with great sums, they have recently made the unsolicited donation of fifty thousand cruzados, for me to make use of as I please, thereby showing their honorable sentiments and the greatest zeal for my Royal Service and the public good.
9

Aside from becoming a royal counselor, Amaro also received the titles of first viscount of Macaé, avowed knight of the Order of Christ, fidalgo of the Royal House, and nobleman-at-arms.
10

This new nobility created in Brazil now possessed money, titles, and power but few signs of taste or sophistication. All the chroniclers and travelers of the era refer to Rio as a prosperous city lacking refinement. “One perceives the demonstration of plenty, perhaps as a form of self-affirmation of the new elite,” posits historian Jurandir Malerba. On arriving in Brazil in 1817 as the minister of foreign affairs and war, the count of Palmela found everything quite strange. “There is a dearth of white people, luxury, and good roads; in sum they lack many things that will come with time,” he wrote to his wife, who stayed in Portugal.
11
“Despite all of this expense, there is no appearance of splendor or elegance,” wrote James Henderson,
the English consul, referring to the wasteful character of the court.
12
The American naval official Henry Brackenridge noted with intrigue the number of people in the streets of Rio de Janeiro wearing ribbons, bows, medals, and decorations to distinguish themselves from others. This group included nobles, merchants, and public servants as well as slaves, who also wore ribbons and other decorations:

 

It is not the custom in this country to lay aside any insignia of distinction, to be used only on days of ceremony or parade. Nothing surprised me more than the number of persons I saw in the street with decorations of one kind or other; I could not but think that in becoming so common and being so frequently exhibited, they must cease to impart dignity or importance to the wearers.
13

The meeting of the rich and newly noble with the poor and established nobility took place in the countless rituals surrounding the royal family, which included concerts, processions, masses, and other religious ceremonies. Nothing, however, compared to the hand-kissing ceremony. The prince and the entire royal family opened the portals of the royal palace so that subjects could kiss his hands, pay homage, and directly make any request or complaint they had. While this ancient ritual had fallen into disuse for quite some time in the rest of the courts of Europe, it remained an active practice in Portugal and by the viceroys of colonial Brazil.

One of the most detailed descriptions of the ceremony comes from an anonymous and mysterious author who signed his texts and illustrations with the abbreviation APDG. His identity was never revealed, although apparently he was an English official who lived closely alongside the nobility in Lisbon and Rio. His caricatures and reports satirize the antiquated and pious customs of the time—and thereby explaining his anonymity. APDG describes the ritual as follows:

 

The signal being given for the opening of the royal saloon, the court band of music, in their rich antique costume, begin to play; and the whole scene assumes an imposing appearance. The nobles file into the
throne room, one after the other at a slow pace, and when at a few steps from the throne make a profound inclination, then advance, kneel and kiss the hand of the sovereign, who extends it to all his subjects with a look truly paternal. This being done, they perform the same homage precisely towards Her Majesty and each of the royal family. They then file out in the same order through the other door at the same end of the room whence they entered.
14

Some ceremonies lasted up to seven hours, “to the great fatigue of the princes and princesses, who are standing all the time.” Another witness, English consul James Henderson, wrote that the hand-kissing took place every night in the Palace of São Cristovão, around eight o'clock, with the exception of Sundays and holidays. “The roads that came from Cidade Nova, Catumbi and Mata Porcas are covered, on those occasions, with officers, and numerous persons in cabriolets, on horseback, and on foot, pressing forwards towards the palace, consisting of those who have some object to carry with his Majesty,” he relates. “When the door is opened there is a promiscuous rushing forward, and a mulatto will be seen treading upon the heels of a general. They advance in single rank up one side of the room to the upper part, where his Majesty is seated, attended by his fidalgos in waiting.”
15

Everyone had the right to kiss the king's hand, even those who were neither noble nor fidalgos. “It was a ceremony that put the monarch in direct contact with the vassal, who presented his dutiful bows and pleaded for mercy,” explains Malerba. “It reinforced the paternal authority of the sovereign protector of the nation.”
16
In 1816, a dispatch by the superintendent of police, Paulo Fernandes Viana, makes reference to a group of natives who wanted to participate in the ceremony. Viana requested that the commander of the Royal Guard “send an inferior of the cavalry to the Superintendence, to go by land to the Rio Doce though the Vila de Campos and the Captaincy of Espirito Santo, and to accompany a certain group of Indians who wish to have the honor of kissing the hand of His Majesty.” Viana recommended that the official should “treat them with humanity and thoughtfulness.”
17

Viana's recommendation was surprising when one takes into account the manner in which the Portuguese were accustomed to treating Brazilian
Indians up until then. It is estimated that at the time of the Portuguese arrival in Brazil in 1500, the indigenous population totalled 5 million. In 1808, at the time of the court's arrival in Rio de Janeiro, this had been reduced to 800,000 indigenous people, almost all of them living in remote areas far from the coast, following the expulsion from their lands and massacres at the hands of the Portuguese colonizers.