In Spite of Tyrants: A Brazilian AAR

On September 30th 1846, almost a year to the day the Blancos had seized power in Uruguay, President Rivera marched triumphantly through the streets of Montevideo. The Platine War had rekindled the old general’s national standing and would allow him to reign without interruption until his death in 1854, paving the way for decades of Colorado rule. Simultaneously in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil’s Dom Sepetiba was not having so great a time. For over a decade he had maintained a central position within the Imperial state as leader of the Courtier Faction, the proverbial power behind the throne. As this power had grown Sepetiba had moved from out the shadows, first into Cabinet and then to the office of Prime Minister. His rise had left many losers both in and outside the government and by late 1846 he was increasingly isolated. The Platine War was very much Sepetiba’s war. He had guided a naïve Emperor and a doubtful Assembly to side with Paraguay, he had overseen grand strategy, and he had dictated the terms of Villa Nueva. It also meant he was the focus of anti-war criticism, an opportunity his enemies seized with relish.

First amongst them was Dom Caravelas. Having resigned as prime minister in protest of Sepetiba’s warmongering, most assumed the plump, inoffensive aristocrat would withdraw to his country estate, only to be seen in Rio de Janeiro for formal events. At first this proved true but as the war dragged on and the Empire’s economy suffered, Caravelas made his return to daily politics, if only to plunge the knife into his usurper. As unofficial leader of the Liberal faction, the bedrock of the coalition government, he quickly rallied many against Sepetiba. The primary critique revolved around the Imperial Armada’s failure to secure the Plate delta. Fearful of Argentine warships, freighters languished in port, causing Brazilian exports to fall by a third. Added to the cost of maintaining some 60,000 troops in the field, the Prime Minister had forced through tax hikes to maintain Brazil’s delicate finances. In a legislature dominated by landowners and merchants this had been a tall order, only achieved thanks to the tacit support of the Emperor. This reliance on the throne alienated Sepetiba even further from the General Assembly and when news arrived of the Treaty of Villa Nueva his grip on power began to weaken.

To the Prime Minister the treaty was satisfactory, a confirmation of the damage done to Argentina and the ascendency of Brazil as the sole power on the continent. To many others it merely highlighted the war as a waste of lives and treasure waged wholly in the name of Sepetiba’s personal aggrandisement. Though the public cheered the return of Wandenkolk to the capital, little of the glory fell on the Prime Minister. When the celebrated general received his ennoblement as Baron of Recife in October, his refusal to sit on the government benches denied Sepetiba a possible life line. Finally in January 1847 the death blow came. As Brazilian exports began to rebound following the war, another outbreak of Bovine Fever hit the cattle industry hard. Sepetiba called for government relief efforts to combat the epidemic. His laissez-faire Finance Minister Dom Maude baulked and on being pushed on the issue resigned rather than betray his politics a second time. Travelling to the Imperial Palace the Prime Minister requested Paulo Barbosa, a fellow Courtier with no economic background, be appointed in Maude’s place. To Sepetiba’s horror and surprise, Pedro II refused.


The Emperor was no longer the retiring youth of seven years prior. His marriage to Princess Teresa Cristina of Two Sicilies in 1843, though contentious [1], and the birth of their first son, Afonso, in 1845 had given Pedro adult responsibilities and the family that as a lonely child he had craved. With his wife had also come European influences like Bento da Silva and Teresa Cristina’s brother Prince Louis, who married Pedro’s youngest sister Januaria. Though the Emperor often butted heads with these men, particularly the extroverted Louis, they provided a power base within the Palace independent of the Courtier Faction. Aged 21 and standing 6 foot 3, Pedro was a commanding presence by 1847. Though still a quiet man, he had grown in confidence and the increasing liberties of Sepetiba’s ministry had kindled his desire to break from the older man’s influence. Ironically Sepetiba himself had encouraged this side of the Emperor, educating the intellectual monarch in the arts of realpolitik. The rejection of Barbosa was a clear rebuke of the Prime Minister’s tenure as a whole and signalled that the great grey eminence had lost Imperial favour.

Sepetiba’s theoretical majorities in the Chamber of Deputies and Senate collapsed overnight. Caravelas allied himself with Carneiro Leao, the new leader of the conservative Orderos, and following a crushing vote of no confidence against Sepetiba, formed an emergency government under the old Liberal. The Courtier Faction was forcibly disbanded by the Emperor over the coming months. Barbosa was made ambassador to St. Petersburg, with many lesser figures given similar diplomatic postings. Sepetiba himself was ordered to return permanently to his country estate, Pedro making it clear that he would never hold any influence over the Palace or the Assembly ever again. The former Prime Minister, always the professional politician, accepted his exile with grace, seeing it as best for the Emperor’s standing and perhaps that of the country. There were no hard feelings. Pedro would regularly visit his old teacher for advice until Sepetiba's death in 1855. The new government meanwhile was only temporary. Few expected the Liberals and Orderos to coexist for very long. Beyond ideology the fractious nature of the Liberals and their support for Sepetiba stained them, with Caravelas’ leadership the only thing maintaining even the illusion of unity.

The most important long-term shift in Brazilian politics during this period was perhaps not the fall of Dom Sepetiba but the fall of Dom Lima. Autocrat of the Orderos since 1840, the elderly and increasingly reactionary Lima had taken ill in November 1846, forcing him to briefly retreat from the halls of power. His protégé Leao had taken advantage and by the time of the Barbosa Affair was in full control of the Ordero Deputies in the lower house. The party’s Senators were still firm Lima loyalists but with the older man’s continued absence, Leao became the undisputed conservative voice in the new coalition government. Leao’s leadership also offered up new possibilities towards the Anti-Lima bloc under Zacarias Vasconcelos. The removal of Lima and Leao’s more centrist views made reunification of the two groups a tempting prospect. Vasconcelos certainly had no love for Caravelas and felt betrayed by Sepetiba’s handling of the Platine War. Liberal policy to the economic downturn sealed the deal. With Bovine Fever still gripping the nation, Dom Maude returned to the Finance Ministry as opposed as ever to economic intervention. Proposals of subsidies to the larger cattle ranchers and broad tariffs were shot down, angering Vasconcelos further.


Unwilling to raise taxes of any kind, Maude looked to slash both the military and church budgets. With Catholicism as the state religion, the Imperial government had a direct say in the finances of the Church in Brazil, particularly amongst the Jesuit schools, which had lost much of their independence in the last century. Both proposed cuts angered great swathes of the population and resurrected the old image of the Liberals as patrons of atheism and Masonic influence [2]. Vasconcelos and Leao led their parties out of the government in March, forcing Caravelas to inform the Emperor of the need for a general election. The two dissenters quickly followed up with the announcement of their factions' unification as the new Conservative Party. The news worried many on the hard-right but their own political opportunism saw the majority of Ordero Senators bow to the merger. The silence of their old leader on the issue convinced some to reject Leao and turn to the reactionary Caramura. For the centrists in the Chamber of Deputies this small exodus only strengthened their control over the new party. Meanwhile the strain of seven years in government and the loss of their Anti-Lima allies saw the Liberals begin to crumble.

In Brazil, as within many young democracies during this period, dozens, sometimes even hundreds of seats were uncontested at election time. As such it was often not the political will of the public but the incumbent’s choice of faction that decided the composition of the General Assembly. Liberal Deputies were as often simple opportunists as they were genuine liberals. Many were the sons of landowners who sat in the Senate, and their focus was on providing their family with a say in government. The rise of the Conservative Party and continued passive leadership of Caravelas convinced many that it was time to jump ship. This is not to say there were no pressing issues during the 1847 election. Protectionism, slavery and Brazil’s place in the region all proved hot topics. External tariffs and internal subsidies to combat the bovine epidemic’s effect on the economy were pushed heavily by the Conservatives into traditionally Liberal cattle country angered by Maude’s free trade stance. Though Brazil lacked a mainstream abolitionist movement at this time, the topic of the illegal slave trade from Angola was mentioned on several occasions. It was primarily a foreign affairs issue with the Royal Navy making renewed efforts to clamp down on Brazil’s forced importation of Africans.

Vasconcelos was personally (and quietly) an abolitionist on moral grounds and opposed the slave trade as potentially dangerous to Anglo-Brazilian relations, making it perhaps the only issue that seriously divided the Conservatives. Brazil’s renewed dominance in South America was something all parties triumphed and the only place the Liberals were stronger, having been in government during the War of the Forts and the Platine conflict. Nonetheless, the hurried end to the latter and Maude’s efforts to cut military funds undermined this message. The Liberals were further hurt by their lack of organisation. While the Orderos and their Conservative successors were true political parties with Leao their clearly defined leader, the centre-left was at its most disorganised since the fall of the Nativists a decade earlier. Caravelas was on his way out regardless of the result, leaving the Liberals without a clear figurehead, save perhaps the uninspiring Dom Maude. For all the hectic realignment of factions in the months leading up to it, the election of 1847 shared more in common with the low-key contest of 1844 than the violence of 1840, much to the relief of the Emperor and many others. When the results came in the Conservative victory proved a landslide, with the co-opting of the Anti-Lima bloc, opportunistic Liberals and the rump Courtier Independents granting Leao a majority never before seen in Brazilian politics.

May 1847 General Election

Chamber of Deputies 152 – 77 needed for a majority
Conservative Party 101 (*)
Liberals 27 (-37)
Caramura 24 (+8)

Senate 80 – 41 needed for a majority
Conservative Party 48 (*)
Liberals 17 (-8)
Caramura 15 (+6)



[1] Pedro II having never met his bride until she arrived in Brazil, after a ‘proxy’ wedding in Naples, was aghast, having expected the young beauty in the official portraits and getting an average, slightly dumpy woman. He supposedly rushed to her ship, left without a word on seeing her, and spent a night sulking before accepting his duties. As you can imagine this didn’t endear him to his bride and it took the birth of Afonso for them to grow close.
[2] Freemasonry -evil conspiracy or force for the rational good, depending who you asked- was a huge issue in Brazil well into the 20th century.

volksmarschall said:

Hey, look at that! An update!

For being the only places one can get an education, I'm not exactly sure I'd feel safe inside one of the Jesuit schools judging by the picture. I don't want rocks or the ceiling crashing down on me...

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DensleyBlair said:

Pedro's influence apparently swings both ways: on the one hand, he's developing into a decent, constitutional monarch who seems to have Brazil's interests in mind; on the other, there's apparently a sort of "reverse Victoria" complex going on as his growth in confidence is accompanied by a desire to become more, not less involved in ministerial appointments and so forth. Seeing as he decidedly doesn't have an Albert-esque consort to guide him back to true constitutionalism, I do wonder how the Emperor will continue to develop in this regard.

I should also say that I'm incredibly glad to see this back (for the moment – and, I hope, immediate future.) As you know, I greatly enjoy reading your stuff in all of its forms.

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Nikolai said:

When I first saw this thread back on top, my immidiate thought was "Jape. He has some great AARs, but this one is dead and some schmuck has necroed it to remind me. ". Then to my joy it was you who revived the AAR, Jape.

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Thanks guys, its great to return. I finally found my copy of House Divided so I could play 'full' Vicky 2 on my new computer. Both my US and original Brazil saves are lost sadly but I wanted to get back into writing something and since my Brazil AAR only reached the 1840s I loaded a new game and we can all pretend its a seemless stream of success.

Volk: Brazil's literacy rate is about 8% at current game time - I think you've discovered why.

DB: Pedro's development is crucial. He wants to emulate the British system but he is also full of ideas and the constitution allows him to intervene. The real question is, if the Empire survives him what a will a less benevolent monarch do with such power?

The rise of the new government in 1847 was ostensibly welcomed in the Imperial Palace. Though Pedro II was of a liberal persuasion, he saw the Conservative Party as a sign of modernisation in Brazilian politics. Leao's government was dominated by young, educated men who were driven by the national interest rather than familial advancement. Zacarias Vasconcelos, co-founder of the Party became Interior & Justice Minister. Pedro Bellegarde, bearing a limp from the Platine War, oversaw both the War and Naval departments. Joao Vanderlei, a distant relative of General Wandenkolk, became the first Finance Minister with an actual background in economics. Finally the Foreign Ministry went to the not so youthful Dom de Sousa, a respected diplomat and representative of the Senate lords [1]. The Emperor boasted, “our cabinet is now one of high minds, not base interests”. The inclusion of himself in the group was not an empty formality. Finally rid of regents, Pedro intended to play his part in the affairs of state. This was not something initially welcome by Leao. Relations between the two men were cool, with the Emperor and many others at Court viewing the Prime Minister's outmanoeuvring of Dom Lima for control of the Conservatives distasteful. Given that Imperial politics had been host to endless skulduggery since independence, it was clear much of the criticism was based on Leao's social standing as a merchant and elected member of the lower house.

Tensions were present early on as the nation's delicate finances fluctuated wildly in the late 1840s. The spread of revolution across Europe hit the export-driven economy hard. The fall of the July Monarchy in France – Brazil's second biggest market – led to demands for luxuries like sugar and coffee to collapse, while the reactionary backlash saw protectionism rise across the continent. To the delight of landowners, Vanderlei responded in kind but more was needed. Building on the policies of their Liberal predecessors, the Government relaxed restrictions on logging companies to operate in the Amazon. As timber exports increased however, stories of atrocities against the native population began to surface in the capital. Forced labour, the burning of villages, artificial drought and more were reported, much to the horror of Pedro. The Emperor considered all Brazilians his subjects and protested Leao's disinterest in their plight. The Prime Minister and Cabinet defended the opening up of the province to free enterprise as necessary for Brazil and criticised the reports as alarmist. Pedro eventually relented at the advice of his ministers but demanded the profits be invested in native education and the Empire's infant industries. Fearful for his position if the disagreement continued, Leao agreed. The former was easily made part of the already planned increase in funding for the Jesuits. The latter however would lead to costly subsidies for the factories of Rio and Sao Paulo, with little benefit to the greater economy [2].


One positive to come from Europe's hardships was immigration. Thousands arrived in Brazil every month from across the continent. Though many were from the Romance regions, the diversity was such that by the 1850s the Empire was home to its first synagogues, Orthodox churches and even mosques [3]. The single largest influx, almost 150,000 in two years, was the Irish. Facing famine brought on by the Potato Blight, the Irish as Catholics and skilled farmers were encouraged to settle in Brazil with the majority finding work on the coffee plantations of Sao Paulo province. The northern sugar cane fields also benefited from Ireland's troubles, as Britain – going against the continental trend – abolished the Corn Laws and numerous other tariffs. Brazilian sugar, made cheap by slave labour, flooded the market. Increasing demand saw the price of slaves sky rocket and the 'grey market' of the Angolan slave trade reach new heights. Brazil's continued importation of people from Africa was such a major and controversial issue that Westminster had passed a specific law in 1845, the Aberdeen Act, to suppress it. The Royal Navy had begun intercepting Brazilian slavers on the high seas, and slave traders caught on these ships were prosecuted in British admiralty courts. The Act provoked outrage in Brazil, where it was seen as a violation of the free market, freedom of navigation, as an affront to Brazilian sovereignty and territorial integrity, and as an attempt to check the agrarian Empire's economic growth.

By 1850, the sugar boom meant well over half of cases heard at St. Helena's admiralty court were against Brazilian slave traders. In response the Royal Navy became more aggressive, chasing ships into Brazilian territorial waters and on several occasions going ashore to arrest suspects and seize 'contraband'. In May the frigate HMS Archon traded fire with a coastal fort near Belem. Nationalists in the press and General Assembly were appalled, calling the Archon incident an act of war. The British government was undaunted, demanding Rio adhere to international law. Leao's cabinet was divided on how respond. War would be a disaster. The Royal Navy's forces in the South Atlantic alone would be enough to annihilate the Imperial Armada, leaving Brazil's coastal cities open to attack. At the same time patriotic outrage and the influence of the slaveowners meant to simply bow to London's demands would be political suicide. Interior Minister Vasconcelos, a committed abolitionist, also highlighted the moral dimensions. The Prime Minister's own family had made its fortune as slave traders. Into this crisis stepped the Emperor. Pedro had freed the slaves of the Imperial household in 1840, within weeks of his majority, yet he feared the economic and societal effects of outright abolition and had remained publicly neutral on the issue. Leao informed his liege that to avoid catastrophe, Brazil would have to give in to British demands and only the authority of the Emperor could make such a decision acceptable to the nation.


London also hesitated at the prospect of war, as Anglo-American tensions over the Oregon Territories threatened to spill over into violence. In July, Dom de Sousa held private talks with James Hudson, the British ambassador. It was decided that London would apologise for the Archon incident and respect Brazilian territorial waters. In return Brazil would (quietly) accept the trial of slaver crews caught in international waters by admiralty courts and introduce legislation banning the slave trade outright under penalty of death. The agreement was far from an equal one and it also rested on said legislation being passed. To the Cabinet's disappointment, Pedro had refused to ban the slave trade by Imperial decree. In early August, Leao went before the General Assembly with the purposely bland sounding Illicit Trades Bill. Despite framing the argument around the economic realities and Britain's apology, the Prime Minister faced intense opposition from all sides. The Caramura and Liberals alike scoffed at the Cabinet's apparent cowardice. Afonso Valente, a young Conservative deputy from Belem led the attack from the government benches, demanding “death before dishonour” to wild applause. Whips, a concept alien to Brazilian politics until then, were deployed with gusto by Leao. The final vote in the lower house passed 81-71. Twenty Conservatives had voted against the government, and afterwards five led by Valente crossed the floor, joining the Caramura in protest. As the Bill moved into the Senate in September, Leao was not confident of the result. However debate in the upper house proved mild and perfunctory. The legislation passed 58-4 with eighteen abstentions. Though he had been unwilling to use a decree, the Emperor had made his sympathies known during his Independence Day speech several days before the vote, briefly referring to the slave trade as “a great evil of this age”. The hint taken, the lords had fallen into line.

The resolution of the crisis warmed relations between Leao and the Emperor but also signalled the need for an election. The lengths taken to pass the Bill had lost the Prime Minister a great deal of good will in the Assembly. A general election was scheduled for March 1851, effectively as a vote of confidence on the Cabinet's actions. The delay was necessary due to Brazil's rainy season but it also gave the government breathing room. The Conservative Party's biggest fear was of Valentista rebels denying them a majority by running unopposed in northern seats. Utilising the party machinery, Leao stood loyal candidates in all 152 seats. Many were completely inexperienced; farmers, soldiers, sons of local Senators. The joke ran that Leao demanded only a warm body, and even that was open to negotiation. Nonetheless the campaign message was clear; only a strong Conservative government with the Emperor's ear could provide a stable economy, the British agreement protecting foreign markets. In the north, pork barrel was added with promises of new roads, bridges and even railways to help connect the sugar plantations to the harbours at Belem and Recife. The opposition though energetic lacked focus. The Liberals had rebounded somewhat under the combative Dom Alegre, who had proven a fierce opponent for Conservative Senators in debate. However Dom Maude remained the ideological heart of the faction, calling for laissez-faire and free trade, both unfashionable stances, while seemingly agreeing with the government on everything else. The Caramura, given fresh blood by Valente, raised the spectre of the Archon and Conservative subservience to Britain. Six months on from the Illicit Trades Act the issue rang hollow with many.

March 1851 General Election

Chamber of Deputies 152 – 77 needed for a majority
Conservative Party 95 (-6)
Liberals 29 (+2)
Caramura 28 (+4)

Senate 80 – 41 needed for a majority
Conservative Party 39 (-9)
Caramura 23 (+8)
Liberals 18 (+1)

The results in the Chamber of Deputies vindicated the Conservative campaign strategy [4]. Despite a noticeable swing in the popular vote and the loss of over a dozen deputies, the decision to contest all seats and fight on the economy had compensated them with new gains, limiting the effects. The realignment of the Senate better illustrated the fall in Conservative support, their comfortable majority completely destroyed by defections to the Caramura. The Liberal stagnation in both houses, even being relegated to third place in the Senate, was also notable. At this stage little more than an alliance of southern coffee growers and ranchers, arguably only the distinctive leadership of Alegre had saved them from being squeezed between the reactionary Caramura and modernising Conservatives. Reduced to their core territories, Alegre was determined to rekindle Liberal fortunes in the 1850s. At the same time as the Liberals had reached their lowest ebb, the Caramura – in the Chamber at least – had reached the peak of their popularity. Leao had learned a valuable lesson of the dangers of ignoring nationalist fervour and had no intention of repeating it in the new assembly. Loss of control in the Senate was a disappointment for the government but with party discipline little more than a guideline in the upper house, it could be worked with. In the Chamber meanwhile, the Prime Minister's 'warm bodies' and the self-exile of the Valentistas meant that his control was stronger than ever.

[1] Much like in Britain at this time, the Foreign Ministry is both very prestigious and quite aristocratic. If the post doesn't go to an old boy I dare say the Senate's collective monocles will drop into their glasses of port in horror.
[2] Circa 1850 Brazil has six in-game factories, none with more than a few hundred employees and rarely making a profit. This powerhouse means I have a whopping industrial score of 1.
[3] For whatever reason 10,000 Turks popped up in Belem one day.
[4] This is not a purely invented narrative. I purposely went against Conservative positions on election events, their percentages fell, only to rebound before the final result.

Well the Americans were doing anti-slavery patrols of there own out of Monrovia at the time. Plus we're talking about the Royal Navy in the 1840s, no one wants to mess with that.

Right guys, the last update wasn't exactly action packed but I needed to set up the political situation and get back into gear (Chapter 5 was written before my saves went down) also the Aberdeen Act was a big deal, one that Vicky 2 sadly doesn't cover.

Next couple of updates will be focused around political skulduggery then we get on to more... aggressive subject matters. Update should be up by the weekend.

EDIT: I've added a 'rogue's gallery' of Emperors and Prime Ministers on the front page - seem a good idea?

The early 1850s were marked by violence across the globe. In North America, the Texan Republic had finally been accepted as a territory into the United States, triggering war between Washington and Mexico City. Central Europe was still feeling the aftershocks of the '48 revolutions. In Germany, the popular republics of Hamburg and Frankfurt were crushed and the cities incorporated into the Prussian state. In Italy, the bloody First Unification War dragged on. Congress Poland, seemingly quiet during the last decade, erupted into revolution in 1852, with nationalists in Warsaw proclaiming the Republic of Saint Casimir. Combined with growing tensions in the Caucasus, Britain under the hawkish Lord Palmerston declared war on Russia alongside the Ottomans in the hope of cutting the bear down to size. The Polish War would prove a costly and inconclusive affair, heralding the carnage of modern warfare. Closer to home the liberal regime in Argentina, led by President Bartolome Mitre, faced attack from Bolivia. Manuel Belzu, a peasant turned general, had seized power in 1848, crushing all opposition as the latest in La Paz's long line of military dictators. Internally secure, Belzu had struck against Buenos Aires, claiming the arid border province of Jujuy. The choice of target seemed a strange one given Bolivia's interests in Paraguayan Chaco and her formal coastal provinces now controlled by Chile. However Argentina, still reeling from the Platine War [1], was weak and isolated, her new democracy fragile.

Brazil's foreign minister Dom de Sousa feared that Belzu's true intention was to destabilise the Mitre government in the hopes of replacing it with a junta sympathetic to his goals. Bolivia was certainly in need of friends. The collapse of the Confederation with Peru in the 1830s (covertly encouraged by Rio de Janeiro) and the loss of her Pacific ports in the 1840s had left La Paz cut off, both politically and geographically. A resurgent Argentina, with its own claims against Chile and Paraguay, could prove a powerful ally. A military regime in Buenos Aires would also have a bone to pick with Brazil and her Uruguayan clients. As Bolivian soldiers crossed the border in February 1852, de Sousa proposed a radical course of action. He called for direct support to Argentina to ensure Mitre's continued rule. The idea was coolly received by his fellow ministers. For thirty years the cornerstone of Brazilian foreign policy had been the repression of Argentine strength. Regardless of all the talk of brother democracies and economic cooperation, the Empire's alliance with Chile was singularly focused towards this end. Some like War Minister Bellegarde even welcomed the fall of Mitre, seeing the inherent disorder of the caudillo system as preferable to a stable republic. While such an approach might weaken Argentina in the short-term, it made no guarantee of peace for Brazil.

The Emperor was supportive of de Sousa, more on principle than politics, feeling that to help a fellow democracy was in fact a worthy goal in and of itself. Prime Minister Leao and much of the cabinet agreed theoretically but were mindful of what such help would consist of. Direct intervention was out of the question. Montevideo, Santiago and the General Assembly would be appalled. Vasconcelos, the interior minister, suggested a volunteer force made up of ideologically sympathetic soldiers. Again this was deemed too overt and also raised the problematic issue of republican tendencies amongst certain junior officers [2]. Finally it was decided that Jose Paranhos, the architect of the Villa Nueva treaty and junior foreign minister, be sent south to discuss terms with President Mitre for the provisions of munitions and other war supplies. The talks proved fruitful. The two were already acquainted, Mitre having been an exile in Uruguay while Paranhos was an envoy in the country. In return for aid, the President agreed to relax tariffs on Brazilian imports and proposed trilateral talks including Uruguay for protection of trade on the River Plate. He also offered up a non-aggression pact between the two countries, something that was quickly shot down by Leao. Fearful of alienating the Chileans and still wary of Mitre, Rio de Janeiro was simply not ready for such close ties. Nonetheless the agreement was a milestone for the two countries. Brazilian rifles and tinned beef [3] would see the Argentine army -and government- through the Jujuy War, ending in a white peace in December 1853.

Excluding the Paranhos mission, the first half of the decade was one dominated by domestic matters. Soon after the election the entire Empire had celebrated the news of a royal birth. Empress Teresa Cristina had given birth to a boy, named Pedro in honour of the Emperor's father. Now with two male heirs, the Emperor's lingering doubts for the future of the Americas' only monarchy began to subside [4]. However the image of domestic bliss within the Imperial family was soon threatened by scandal. In January 1852, the republican newspaper O Telegrafo printed rumours of infidelity within the Imperial court, “even at the very highest level”. The paper had seemingly gotten wind of Emperor Pedro's ongoing affair with Countess Luisa of Barral. There was little romance between Teresa Cristina and her husband but he had seemed content with the 'professional' relationship they had established. The arrival of the Countess at court changed all that. Vivacious, educated and sophisticated, she was to Pedro II everything his wife was not. His infatuation bordered on obsession and he made little effort to hide it, even gushing about Luisa at cabinet meetings. To the general population such things were naturally unknown and the ramifications of it becoming public could have proven disastrous for the monarchy. The Interior Ministry quickly rounded on O Telegrafo and in a rare fit of pique, Pedro agreed to have the publication shut down. Ironically the article had attracted little attention while the silencing of a republican newspaper was decried as tyrannical in liberal circles across the country. The Telegrafo Affair [5] triggered a campaign for press reform and increased sympathy for republicanism amongst the middle classes [6].


The Emperor came away from the Telegrafo Affair personally embarrassed and ashamed of his heavy handed actions. To the overwhelming majority of Brazilians the incident had hardly registered if at all. However Pedro, viewing himself as an enlightened ruler, the titular “first citizen” of the Empire, was eager to be seen in a good light by the intelligentsia of the nation. While the prime minister convinced him no good would come of rescinding the ban on O Telegrafo, Pedro looked elsewhere to prove himself a progressive monarch. Education became a key issue for the Emperor in the 1850s. In a nation where less than 10% of population was literate, it was unsurprising that the urban, industrial society he hoped to foster was hamstrung. The Jesuit colegio, while increasingly well funded, were unevenly spread across Brazil. Due to the prominence of the religious order in frontier missions, intended to convert the Indians to Catholicism, often Amazonian tribesmen were better educated than the average factory worker. The dream of a universal public school system would not be achievable until the distant future, Pedro was able to oversee the establishment of several dozen free schools. Funded by civil and religious charities, as well provincial state grants, the schools -focused around the key cities of Sao Paulo, Belem, Recife and Rio de Janeiro- were at least the start of Brazil's advance towards a modern society.

Leao too was hoping to get past the Telegrafo Affair and move on with the business of state. The economy had quickly picked up with gusto after the resolution of the slave trade issue, putting the nation's finance once more firmly in the black. Utilising his reduced but firmly loyal majority in the Chamber, the prime minister pushed through a series of major infrastructure projects. Construction began in earnest on Brazil's first major railway line. The line connected the capital to Sao Paulo and would be followed up by lines in the northern sugar provinces and Rio Grande do Sul in the south. Leao took the opportunity of the Sao Paulo Line's grand opening in the summer of 1854 for a 'whistle stop tour' by himself and the Emperor. It proved a great success with thousands lining the tracks to greet the Imperial train. Harbour facilities across the Brazilian seaboard were also modernised. Alongside commercial docks, naval bases in Rio de Janeiro and Porto Alegre in the south and Recife in the north were expanded. Bellegarde had been adamant since taking over the War Ministry that a powerful fleet was vital for the Empire. The largest nation on the continent by far and bordering seven other countries [7], it was obvious that the Army would always have pride of place in the Brazilian military but naval strength was as much about international prestige as anything. By 1860, the Imperial Armada expanded sixfold through domestic and foreign orders. The new fleet was easily the match of any South American foe save the Chileans and Peruvians who were engaged in a naval arms race for dominance of the Pacific coastline. The new fleet, led by the powerful man o' war Constituição, was however bereft of ironclads or steam-powered ships of any kind. For the second half of the 19th century, the Imperial Armada would be playing catch up with the navies of the Great Powers.
[1] See Chapter IV.
[2] The seeds for OTL's 1889 Revolution were sown early and far from secret.
[3] Canned Food is the only 'industrial' item in my top five exports at this time, plus there's a lot of cattle provinces in Brazil. So corned beef it is.
[4] Both boys died very young IOTL. Devastated by the loss, Pedro became depressed and disinterested about the future of the Empire. Many blame this fatalism for the success of the 1889 'Revolution' which was little more than a half-baked putsch and completely unopposed by Pedro, who was still very popular with the public.
[5] Well into the 20th century the true cause of the Telegrafo Affair would remain unknown and seen as motivated purely by anti-republicanism.
[6] Increasing doesn't mean its particularly prevalent mind.
[7] Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina and Uruguay, not counting the British, Dutch and French colonies to the north.

Nikolai said:

Jape, Ive nominated you for the weekly showcase, enjoy your time in the spotlight.

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That's very kind Nikolai, thank you