Part II. ~ Radicals and the 'Two India Company' Scandal 1837-38
Two Portuguese 'Dandies', their
fashion influenced by their English
counterparts during the extended
period of Anglophilia in the country
The Chartist government was relatively inactive during the period 1837-40, as Wilson’s policies allowed the country to sustain major growth. Socially, the government adopted the laissez-faire positions of another Englishman, that of Peel, head of the Liberal-Tories, a group Terceira had come to admire for their ‘progressive’ stance. This was just one sign of a strong Anglophile attitude that had accompanied Wilson’s appointment, with British fashion and literature becoming popular amongst the wealthy, while being somewhat reciprocated in England, where Portuguese cuisine and its large exports of wine, as well as the Portuguese language, became something of a small craze in London. This social exchange would warm relations between the two old allies and continue throughout Terceira’s ministry.
Although the Chartists maintained a sound economy and strong relations with Britain, it would be civil unrest that would highlight Terceira’s time as Prime Minister, eventually causing his fall. In August word reached Lisbon that the plantations owners of Mozambique had reclaimed their slaves by force and “spit upon the Crown”. Only the West African Trading Company had been granted compensation for their freed slaves leaving the independent slave owners of East Africa with nothing. This had led to outcry in Mozambique and shortly after the departure of officials overseeing abolition, reclamation of slaves by force had begun. Many slaves resisted, resulting in open conflict across plantations. It didn’t take long for the colony’s garrison to become aware of the situation with the colonial governor, ordering the plantation owners to stand down in July. The plantation owners, whose private armies numbered thousands of native tribesmen, were soon in conflict with the small garrison numbering only 500 and within weeks had seized Port Amelia, the colonial capital. The plantations owners, possibly in as part of a long conspiracy or simple desperation, declared their independence on July 20th as the “Republic of Amelia”, hoping that Lisbon would be unwilling to stage an invasion halfway across the globe against the small colony. They were to be proved wrong.
Port Amelia
On hearing the news Queen Maria immediately ordered an expedition to Mozambique, fearing the possibility of rebellion spreading to elsewhere in the Empire. Within a week, a brigade of troops under the command General Nunes Vidigal, a hero of the civil war, was ready to embark in Lisbon. However much to the embarrassment of the government, that had spent the previous days espousing Portuguese national unity and imperial cohesion, on August 9th, the day Vidigal’s troops prepared to leave port, the 1789 Movement, a radical breakaway group of the Septembrists appeared across the capital in force, with intent to overthrow the monarchy.
The group had intended to begin their coup on the 10th but following the capture of several ringleaders that day prior, the remaining radicals decided to strike immediately, hoping the embarking army would be too disorganised to intervene. Though Vidigal was caught unawares, government agents informed him the Movement had only several hundred men and women in the city and so a battalion of infantry and several cannon were quickly moved to strategic locations. Within hours open street fighting had begun and the radicals were soon pushed back to their headquarters, a printing press in the city centre. The building was bombarded for half an hour before the Movement finally surrendered. Over 300 radicals had died, alongside 32 soldiers and policemen.
Radicals battle Lisbon Town Watch
The attempted revolution, though crushed became a major headache for the government. The House of Peers accused the Chartists of ineffectiveness, in their feeble attempts to halt the uprising and their inability to inform important authorities, such as the Army and city militia. Liberals also attacked the government’s main weapon, that of spies and informers, something viewed as a repressive force used only by Russian and Austrian autocrats. Although the criticisms would trigger the implementation of the 1838 Police Act, creating the first metropolitan police force for Lisbon, liberal influence would be downplayed as late August saw popular acts of violence against liberal industrialists, for their apparent connections with the 1789 Movement. Initiated by conservative army officers, the backlash gained popular support from Portugal’s fledging luddites, factory workers who had lost their jobs to machines. The luddites used anti-liberal sentiment and the protection of army officers and aristocrats to attack their former employers’ businesses.
Vidigal, after a near fatal voyage around the Cape of Good Hope, finally landed in Mozambique in late September, just five miles up the coast from Port Amelia. The plantations owners gamble hadn’t paid off and they soon fortified their capital. However with only one antiquated cannon and 400 or so armed white militia, the ‘Republic’ soon realised, as three Portuguese gun batteries lined up to open fire, a siege would not end well. Hoping that native numbers might win the day, the militia alongside over 9,000 hired warriors from a dozen tribes quickly rushed towards the Portuguese, who where still lining up their battalions on September 25th.
Natives charge Portuguese lines
The charge was over open ground and even without full numbers, wave after wave of volley fire decimated the attackers. The settler militia, many just clerks and artisans pressed into service for fear of their leaders’ African mercenaries, quickly broke while the different tribes quickly proved disorganised, their numbers hindering them as cannon balls tore through their ranks. By the time the warriors reached the Portuguese lines, over half their number were either dead, wounded or already fleeing. Bayonets clashed with spears before Vidigal, an incredibly vain man, personally led the cavalry counter-charge back towards Port Amelia. The township surrendered immediately and Vidigal arrested twenty-seven men, prominent landowners, on a charges of treason.
Even as Vidigal secured the Mozambique colony, hunting down the ringleaders and crippling the local tribes, another revolt following Amelia’s example had begun in Goa. However the Indian enclave had held few slaves prior to abolition, the revolt by local leaders was based on mercantile gain. The British East India Company, increasingly independent of London had been after the rich Portuguese enclave for years and following the Mozambique revolt and the uprising in Lisbon, had decided to make its move. Heavy bribes had soon influenced the small, corrupt Portuguese India Company ruling over Goa and as a revolt fermented in November, thousands of Calcutta paid mercenaries crossed the border in order to ‘secure’ the colony.
Standard of the British East India Company
Vidigal did not discover of the event until December 1st, and only then by an East India emissary offering military intervention to quell the ‘native’ uprising. Vidigal refused any such help however; he knew the pacification of Mozambique was far from over, with thousands of natives rising up after the bloody reprisals following the Battle of Port Amelia. Colonial sovereignty projected little beyond Amelia’s walls and so only a single battalion was spared, sent directly to Goa.
Vidigal and much of his brigade would not arrive in Goa until April the next year following several lengthy treks into the jungle to halt the destruction of Portuguese missions and trading posts. In the five-month interlude, the single battalion, under the command of Lt. Colonel Guimaraes had arrived before New Year to find not the small loyal garrison desperately defending their compound but strung out across the colony, fighting a protracted guerrilla war. The mercenaries, though veterans of many wars across the sub-continent, lacked heavily artillery and other equipment necessary to storm Vasco da Gama, the colony's fortified capital. Instead they had focused on raids, killing patrols, creating unrest in the native population and even sinking supply ships with fire barges as they entered port.
Portuguese patrol ambushed
When Vidigal’s brigade finally landed in Goa, he discovered Guimaraes to be on the verge of defeating the Indians following an intricate campaign of small-scale raids and ambushes. Having gained much bad publicity back home for his slow progress in Mozambique, Vidigal took local command and ordered a frontal attack on the last Indian stronghold, Pernem, in order to restore his reputation as a daring General. Using Napoleonic tactics, the victors of Port Amelia now switched places with the 'inferior' opposition as they advanced in parade formation up hilly terrain against experienced marksmen. Eventually reaching the Indian fort, they were immediately countered-charged by hundreds of swordsmen. Vidigal once again personally charged the enemy, as he saw his men begin to fall back. The tactic worked, catching the Indians by suprise and he eventually carried the day, however his brigade of 7,000 had suffered over 2,800 casualties in only several hours. Despite pushing the Indian force out of Goa, Lisbon was furious.