Honório Carneiro Leão, Marquis of Paraná
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Honório Hermeto Carneiro Leão, Marquis of Paraná (11 January 1801 – 3 September 1856) was a Brazilian politician, diplomat, judge, monarchist and co-founder of the Brazilian Conservative Party
during the period of the Empire of Brazil (1822–1889). Paraná was born to a family of humble means in São Carlos do Jacuí
, in what was then the captaincy
of Minas Gerais
. After attending the University of Coimbra in Portugal and having returned to Brazil, Paraná was appointed a judge in 1826 and later elevated to appellate court
justice. In 1830, he was elected to represent Minas Gerais in the Chamber of Deputies
; he was reelected in 1834 and 1838, and held the post until 1841.
In the aftermath of Dom
Pedro I's abdication in 1831, a regency created to govern Brazil during the minority of the former Emperor's son, Dom Pedro II
, soon dissolved into chaos. Paraná formed in 1837 a political party that became known as the Reactionary Party, which would eventually evolve into the Party of Order in the early 1840s and later in the middle 1850s into the Conservative Party. He and his party's stalwart and unconditional defense of constitutional order allowed the country to move beyond a regency plagued with factious disputes and rebellions which might easily have led to a dictatorship. Appointed president of Rio de Janeiro
province in 1841, Paraná helped put down a rebellion headed by the opposition Liberal Party
the following year. Also in 1842, he was elected senator for Minas Gerais and appointed by Pedro II to the Council of State
. In 1843, he became the de facto first President of the Council of Ministers of Brazil, but lost the office after a quarrel with the Emperor.
After years in opposition, in 1849, Paraná was appointed by the national government as president of Pernambuco
province to investigate a Liberal rebellion
that had taken place a year earlier and urge that the rebels receive a fair trial. Blamed by his party colleagues for the years in opposition and having lost much of his influence within his own party, Paraná accepted the post, believing he could regain his place among his peers. With the nation internally pacified, he was sent to Uruguay
in 1851 to forge an alliance with that country, as well as with the rebel Argentine provinces of Corrientes
and Entre Ríos
, against the Argentine Confederation
. The alliance triumphed and Paraná was raised by the Emperor to the ranks of the titled nobility.
In 1853, Paraná was again appointed president of the Council of Ministers and headed a highly successful cabinet, becoming the most powerful politician in the country. The electoral reform he ushered in was credited with undercutting national political processes and causing severe harm to the system of parliamentary government. For his role in pushing through restructuring, Paraná met with fierce opposition from the majority of his colleagues, leading to a virtual split in the Conservative Party over his policies. On 3 September 1856, while still in office and at the height of his political career, he died unexpectedly of an unknown febrile condition. To this day, he is widely regarded by historians as one of the most influential politicians of his time and one of the greatest statesmen in the history of Brazil.
(civil parish
) of São Carlos do Jacuí
, Minas Gerais
, then a captaincy
of the Portuguese colony of Brazil
. Named after Saint Honorata, Honório was the son of Antônio Neto Carneiro Leão and Joana Severina Augusta de Lemos. On his father's side, he was descended from Portugal's powerful Carneiro Leão clan, which had settled in Brazil in the 17th century. Antônio Neto, however, was much less prosperous than his relatives. An impoverished military officer in 1801, he held the rank of furriel (third sergeant). Advancement of his career was thwarted by his character flaws. Antônio Neto was a hotheaded with a strong personality which once even led to his arrest for insubordination.
Honório first lived in Paracatú
, then moved to Vila Rica (now Ouro Preto
), the capital of Minas Gerais at the time, where he spent his childhood and adolescence. His father was widowed on 10 February 1806, and on 11 January 1807 wed Rita de Cássia Soares do Couto, the daughter of his late wife's sister. Rita de Cássia was the person whom Honório regarded as his mother and it was her father, Colonel Nicolau Soares Couto, who actually raised him. Honório had an elder sister, Balbina, and three half-sisters and a half-brother, Nicolau Neto Carneiro Leão (later Baron of Santa Maria), from his father's second marriage.
of the 2nd Militia Cavalry Regiment, 1st Company, in Vila Rica. Antônio Neto made great efforts to provide Honório with an education of much higher quality than would normally be expected in a family of their limited financial means. The promotion to captain in 1819 increased Antônio Neto's income and made it possible for his eldest son go to Portugal and enroll in the University of Coimbra's law school in 1820, thus ending Honório's brief military career. He was an excellent student and struck up acquaintances among his fellow Brazilians in Coimbra
, including Paulino Soares de Sousa (who would become one of his greatest allies and later the 1st Viscount of Uruguai) and Aureliano de Sousa Oliveira Coutinho
(later Viscount of Sepetiba).
During the Portuguese Revolution of 1820
, he supported the constitutionalists, who advocated a national constitution to limit the powers of the Portuguese monarchy, against the absolutists, who preferred an absolute monarchy
. It is unknown whether he actively took part in the uprising, however, and, if so, to what degree. He was a member of a secret society called A Gruta (The Den), founded by Brazilian students at Coimbra with the primary goal of changing Brazil from a kingdom into a republic. The republicanism of Honório's youth would fade with time and eventually be replaced by staunch support for monarchism.
Honório received a bachelor's degree in Law in 1824, and his masters diploma on 18 June 1825. He was also employed in a law firm for a few months. He returned to Brazil on 8 August 1825 aboard a ship with other Coimbra graduates, among them Aureliano Coutinho and Joaquim Rodrigues Torres
(who would later found the Conservative Party
with Honório and become the Viscount of Itaboraí). During Honório's time in Europe, his native country had gained independence from Portugal and had become the Empire of Brazil.
On 20 May 1826, Honório married his 17-year-old first cousin Maria Henriqueta Neto, the daughter of his father's brother João Neto Carneiro Leme. Unlike his brother, João Neto was a rich and influential man. He owned a rice processing plant and was also involved in diamonds, the domestic slave trade, and money lending. Honório and Maria Henriqueta had five children: Honório, Henrique (later Baron of Paraná), Maria Emília, Maria Henriqueta and Pedro. The advantageous marriage allowed Honório to become a slave owner, assume his uncle's business (including domestic slave trading) and later, in the 1830s, purchase a coffee farm in the province of Rio de Janeiro (the colonial captaincies became provinces following Brazil's independence from Portugal). Coffee was quickly becoming Brazil's most important export commodity and was a highly lucrative crop.
Having settled his financial and social situation, Honório pursued a typical course open to 19th century Brazilians who became affluent through family connections and patronage: a judicial career, with expectations of entering politics. On 14 October 1826, he was named to a three-year term as Juiz de Fora (External Judge, a magistrate
) with jurisdiction over the three villages in the province of São Paulo
.
On 25 August 1828, Honório left São Paulo upon being promoted to the post of Auditor da Marinha (Admiralty Judge) in Rio de Janeiro
, the imperial capital located in the province of same name. His tenure in São Paulo and later in Rio de Janeiro helped him expand his connections. He was soon noticed by members of Emperor Dom
Pedro I's inner circle, and these influenced the monarch to appoint him Ouvidor (Superior Judge) in late 1828. In 1829, he met the Emperor in person, who after a brief meeting, named him Desembargador (regional appeal judge), an office he held until his retirement in 1848. He was prevented from joining the Superior Court of Justice
in 1848, as it was forbidden to both hold that position and his seat on the Council of State
.
Well established in the imperial capital, Honório campaigned in 1829 to become a deputado geral (general deputy or member of the Chamber of Deputies
, the national lower house
), as a representative for his native Minas Gerais. He was elected to a seat in the legislature for the term beginning April 1830. The law allowed him to work as both judge and legislator at the same time, receiving wages from both offices.
Weakened and due to his own concomitant motives, Pedro I abdicated on 7 April 1831 and departed for Europe following a series of demonstrations and riots against him. The Emperor's only son, a child of five, succeeded him as Dom Pedro II
. A regency
with little effective authority was created, resulting in nine years of chaos, during which the country was plagued by rebellions and coup attempts initiated by unruly political factions. These groups were called the Exaltados (Enraged) and the Restorationists. The Enraged were a radical wing that split off from the Liberal Party in the aftermath of the abdication. The Restorationists came from the party which had supported Pedro I during his reign, who now called for a return of the former Emperor as regent for his son.
Without the Enraged, the Liberal Party became known as the Partido Moderado (Moderate Party) to differentiate it from the estranged radicals. As the majority in the Chamber of Deputies, the moderates formed the cabinet and could pass constitutional reforms reflecting their views of the monarch's role and the structure of the state. Honório, who was a moderate deputy, had an unobtrusive role up until this point, having been overshadowed by Bernardo Pereira de Vasconcelos, the leader of the deputies representing Minas Gerais.
that made him appear an unimpressive figure at first glance. However, Pedro II, as an adult, would later remember that his "style of speaking was inelegant, and he had a stutter; but it vanished when he was aroused and at all times his arguments were tight knit, and somebody wittily remarked that [Honório,] the marquis of Paraná, when he stuttered, stuttered arguments." His character allowed him to overcome his shortcomings. Like his father, he was headstrong, opinionated, and often scathing. However, he had self-confidence and a powerful charisma, and was energetic, intelligent, perspicacious and a natural born leader. In sum, he was "a man who expected to lead and to command deference", according to historian Jeffrey D. Needell.
Honório averted the Enraged threat by giving four speeches during the same day, in which he urged the government to refuse the illegal demand. He stated that "neither a senator nor the most humble citizen belonging to the lowest class may be deported without having been prosecuted and convicted", and concluded that the "Constitution establishes rights and obligations, and, to keep the former, citizens must satisfy the latter; as these are fulfilled, no one can deprive them of the former. Even when a citizen is an evildoer, his rights must be respected, as these do not belong to him but to all." All deputies but one agreed with Honório, and the incident was settled with several battalions being disbanded.
The second crisis arose on 30 July 1832. A constitutional amendment effecting greater reforms was voted on and approved in the Chamber of Deputies, but still faced major opposition in the Senate. Diogo Antônio Feijó and Aureliano Coutinho (Honório's former colleague at Coimbra), both moderates, planned a coup d'état
. The conspiracy would have had Feijó assume dictatorial powers and immediately enact the constitutional amendment, bypassing the Senate entirely. Some moderate deputies (in concert with Feijó and with the support of the Enraged) brought a proposal before the Chamber that the Parliament be turned into a constituent assembly and a new constitution be adopted, arguing in part that the Senate was filled with Restorationists.
The deputies decided to debate the matter, and Honório delivered a speech "by candlelight in the gathering dusk" that proved to be a turning point of his political life. "With commanding presence and total conviction", he called on his fellow deputies to uphold the Constitution and only make changes through the proper legal channels: "We need not hurt the legal order and [constitutional] principles: we can make fair laws... and in the respected Constitution we have safe and legal ways of giving the nation what it wants." He then begged, "let us not violate it [the Constitution], as it is our only safeguard." He managed to rally the deputies to his view, and in defeating the unconstitutional proposal, the coup attempt was crushed.
Although Honório and his allies had prevented Feijó's attempted power grab in 1832, the subject of reforms was raised once again. Enraged and Moderate deputies who were aligned with Feijó still wished to remove most of the monarch's constitutional prerogatives, including his ability to intervene in local affairs, by granting greater autonomy to the provinces. Their agenda encompassed far broader reforms than Honório and many other Moderates had expected. These conservative Moderates supported a representative parliamentary government headed by a constitutional monarch, and this framework was threatened both by the proposed decentralization and the efforts to reduce the head of state to a mere figurehead. In the 1833 elections, Honório won another term. He, as well as many other deputies, returned to the Chamber again as a member of the Moderate Party, but only due to the lack of any other viable option, since the alternatives were to join either the Enraged or the Restorationists.
Reform efforts were realized on 12 August 1834 with the promulgation of the constitutional amendment known as the Ato Adicional (Additional Act). Honório voted against it. He, and other conservative Moderates opposing the reforms, played no real role in the debates over the Additional Act in order to avoid being accused of betraying liberal ideals or of siding with the Restorationists who opposed the measure. The Moderate Party was falling into disarray. Honório was prompted to lead the conservative Moderate dissidents to secede from the party when Feijó ran for the position of sole regent in early 1835. Honório was eager to forestall what he described as the "triumph of the same traitor who made the 30 July [1832 coup attempt] to ignominiously tear down the Regency which had appointed him..."
The 1834 Additional Act had unpredicted and catastrophic results. Local self-government opened new avenues of conflict between political parties. Ceding power to provincial governments merely whetted the ambitions of local politicians, and the result was rebellion in areas of the far south and far north of the empire. Whichever party could dominate the provinces would also gain control over the electoral and political system. Unwilling to be shut out, parties that lost by ballot rebelled and tried to take power by force.
The conservative Moderate opposition to Feijó's administration had close links to coffee and sugar cane planter families and merchants in the Brazilian southeast and northeast. These groups wielded great political, social and economic influence, and saw the weak state headed by Feijó, engulfed in turmoil, as being incapable of protecting their interests in the event of a crisis such as a slave rebellion. They began to see their interests more in alignment with men like Honório, who were planters like themselves, supported the slave trade with Africa and desired a centralized state able to impose order. The numbers of conservative Moderates grew after many Restorationists joined their ranks following the death of Pedro I in September 1834.
The acceptance of former Restorationists into the party was an easy decision for Honório, who was pragmatic and quick to grasp political opportunities. The often strongheaded Honório even swallowed his pride and set aside his past enmity toward Vasconcelos in pursuit of an alliance. Together, the two men led more than half of the general deputies representing Minas Gerais, one of the two largest provincial delegations in the Chamber (the other being that of Rio de Janeiro). Dubbed the Partido Regressista (Reactionary Party) by Feijó and his allies in 1837, the conservative Moderate opposition born in late 1834 was the genesis of what would later evolve into the Party of Order (c. 1843) and finally into the Conservative Party
(c. 1853).
(later the Marquis of Olinda), a Reactionary from Pernambuco
province, became interim regent and was elected to the office the next year. He appointed his colleagues to ministry portfolios. Honório, who had been reelected to another term as general deputy until 1841, chose to remain in the Chamber as the party's leader to bolster the new Reactionary cabinet. The Reactionary Party (the former dissident conservative elements within the Moderate Party) had thus come to power based entirely upon its majority in the Chamber of Deputies, rather than through military or imperial intervention.
The Reactionary cabinets following Feijó's fall made a promising start, but proved ineffective after new rebellions erupted throughout the country. Internal dissention and outside opposition began to undermine their unity. Feijo's Moderates allied with the Enraged, former Restorationists and even republicans, even though these groups shared no common principles or ideology. During the late 1830s and early 1840s, this group would evolve into the second Partido Liberal (Liberal Party). In a speech in the Chamber, Honório crudely pointed out the lack of consistency in the Liberal political platform.
The Reactionary Party began passing the Interpretação do Ato Adicional (Interpretation of the Additional Act) which would be followed by the reform of the Código de Processo Criminal (Code of Criminal Procedure). Both laws were built upon the 1834 Additional Act and would allow the national government to reassert its control over provincial police and courts. They would provide the means to deal effectively with provincial rebellions, and inevitably grant the national government greater sway over the provincial government, and in turn the party in power would gain greater ascendancy in national politics through patronage and office appointments. Fearful that their adversaries would perpetually keep themselves in power, the Liberals began to call for lowering the age at which Pedro II would attain his majority. They saw an opportunity to regain their influence by doing away with the regency and dealing instead directly with a pliable young emperor.
Towards that end, the Liberals allied themselves with a new and powerful political bloc formed by politicians and high-ranking servants in the imperial palace who were close to the young Emperor. This was known as the Facção Áulica (Courtier Faction), and was led by Aureliano Coutinho (Feijó's ally in the 1832 coup attempt). Honório saw this new majority movement as an "attempt... equal to that of 30 July [1832 coup]." As he had in 1832, Honório again took up a defense against this latest threat to the political system based on the Constitution. In May 1840, he proposed a constitutional amendment that incorporated the concept that the monarch could be declared of age earlier than he would normally assume full powers. The naturally slow process of passing a constitutional amendment meant that the Reactionary Party would control the government at least until 1842, when Araújo Lima's term as regent would end. Honório withdrew his proposal after it met with fierce resistance from Liberals and the Chamber sessions became embroiled in heated and often chaotic debates. Political and popular pressure, and even physical threats, led to the unconstitutional declaration of Pedro II's majority at age 14 on 23 July 1840.
Following the return of the Reactionary Party to the government, Honório was appointed by Pedro II to the prestigious Council of State
. Under advice from the Council of State, Pedro II in May 1842 dissolved the new Chamber of Deputies, elected in the fraudulent 1840 elections, before it could be convened. Instead of attempting to get reelected, Honório ran for a Senate seat, and being among the three candidates with the most votes, in late 1842 he was selected by the Emperor as the senator representing Minas Gerais. On 2 January 1843, he took his seat next to his rival, Aureliano, who had been elected senator for the province of Alagoas
. Having already secured two lifetime positions (councillor and senator), on 4 October 1841 Honório also received an appointment as president (governor) of the province of Rio de Janeiro, and assumed this office on 1 December.
The Liberals did not take their loss of power gracefully. In May and June 1842, three uprisings broke out, in the provinces of São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro. The rebels went so far as to arrest and hold hostage both Honório's elderly father and uncle (who was also his father-in-law). As president, he was in command of the provincial National Guard, and traveled through the province to organize a response. On 1 July, he advanced with troops towards Ouro Preto
, where, after defeating the rebels, he freed his father and uncle. He joined forces there with Luís Alves de Lima e Silva (then-Baron and later Duke of Caxias), who commanded the National Guard of São Paulo and Minas Gerais and was also married to one of Honório's distant cousins. The remaining rebels were easily defeated, and by late August, the uprisings had been quelled. Among the rebel leaders was the former regent, Feijó, who was arrested. He died shortly afterwards in 1843. As Honório returned from Minas Gerais to Rio de Janeiro, he was welcomed with celebrations and demonstrations of joy by the authorities and populace of the districts through which he passed.
, exceptionalism
, preserving the authority of the state, and a representative parliamentary monarchy. On 20 January 1843, Pedro II appointed Honório to head a new cabinet. By personally selecting the cabinet members, Honório became Brazil's de facto first prime minister. Prior to this time, the Emperor himself or the regents had always designated the cabinet ministers. Four years later, following Honório's precedent, the office of prime minister would be formally instituted under the title of "President of the Council of Ministers".
A year later, in January 1844, Honório requested that Pedro II dismiss the inspector of the Rio de Janeiro customs house, Saturnino de Sousa e Oliveira Coutinho, a younger brother of Aureliano Coutinho. Honório had been in the same university class as Aureliano and Saturnino back in Coimbra during the 1820s. However, his strained relationship with Aureliano was not entirely the result of political rivalry between two ambitious men. Honório nursed a sheer hatred toward him because of the role he had played both in the July 1832 coup and in the Majority movement.
Honório mistakenly believed he could curtail the political influence of his rival, but the Emperor refused to dismiss Saturnino, asserting he had not been presented with any proof of irregularities on the part of a man who was considered an honest and extremely competent employee. Honório again pressed to have Saturnino fired in late January, and when rebuffed yet again, said, "A boy does not have the right to mock men worn out in the service of the Nation, even if this boy is the Emperor." Pedro II was offended and steadfastly refused to dismiss Saturnino Coutinho.
Instead of accepting the Emperor's decision, Honório offered his resignation, along with those of his colleagues. Astonished by his behavior, the Emperor would say years later when recalling the incident: "Paraná não se curvava!" ("[Honório, the Marquis of] Paraná would not bow down!") Pedro II asked the Liberals to form a new cabinet. For most of the next five years, Honório and his Party of Order stood in opposition to the Liberals. During this time, they also witnessed the rise of Aureliano's Courtier Faction, which formed an alliance with the Liberal Party. For the saquaremas, it meant enduring "new elections, fixed results, partisan reprisals and policy shifts". Only a few saquaremas managed to get themselves elected to the Chamber during this period. All the blame for this disaster fell upon Honório. He lost much of his influence within the party, even though Vasconcelos alone in the Party of Order possessed the qualifications to challenge Honório as the party's elder statesman.
The rise of the saquaremas meant a purge of Liberals who had been appointed to executive and judicial posts at the national, provincial and local levels, as was normal when a new party was tapped to form a government. The most radical Liberal faction in the province of Pernambuco
, known as the Partido da Praia (Party of the Beach), made open preparations to revolt and retake power by force. The rebellion was limited in extent and was crushed by February 1849. Honório was then appointed president of the province, from 2 July 1849 until 8 May 1850, with the purpose of pacification by restraining acts of revenge and throwing his support behind fair trials for all rebels. He had observed the effect that ostracism, by both Pedro II and other saquarema party leaders, had had on the career of Vasconcelos. Honório accepted the office, eager "to regain the favor of his Emperor and to strengthen his position among his party colleagues."
He was disheartened with what he saw in Pernambuco, a province far away from the imperial capital, but one of the most important in the country. Local political bosses were either aligned with the Party of Order or the Liberal Party, but these were only nominal affiliations for the most part. Local oligarchs had vied among themselves for centuries over power locally. To them, political principles, such as those preached by the national leaders of the Party of Order, meant little or nothing. Their political ambitions focused on patronage and the utter destruction of their local rivals. Honório found himself embroiled in an on-going power struggle between the aristocratic planters, who sought to exercise control over provincial affairs.
, Paulino Soares de Sousa (Honório's colleague along with Rodrigues Torres in Coimbra) and Eusébio de Queirós. It was particularly grating being subordinated to Paulino and Eusébio, protégés whom Honório had advanced during the 1830s. While in Pernambuco, Honório's actions were frequently reviewed and overturned by the cabinet, often with Eusébio leading the criticism.
With Brazil internally pacified after the end of the last rebellion (the Praieira revolt), Brazil's government turned its attention to the growing tensions with its neighbor to the south, the Argentine Confederation
. Paulino, who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs, decided to forge alliances with Uruguay
and Paraguay
, nations which also saw a threat in the ambitions of Don
Juan Manuel de Rosas
, dictator of the Argentine Confederation. An army commanded by Caxias crossed into Uruguay in September 1851. More than a year had passed since Honório returned from Pernambuco, when he was named by Paulino as special minister plenipotentiary
in the Plata region. On 12 October 1851, Honório and an Uruguayan envoy signed a treaty in Rio de Janeiro setting the international border between Brazil and Uruguay, which included Uruguay abandoning some claims to disputed areas in exchange for Brazilian aid in the war against Argentina.
Honório departed for Montevideo
, the capital of Uruguay, on 23 October. Among his small, hand-picked staff, he chose José Maria da Silva Paranhos (later Viscount of Rio Branco) to assist him. Paranhos was a brilliant young man who had once been a Liberal Party member and protégé of the disgraced Aureliano Coutinho. This surprising choice was a clear signal from Honório to his colleagues in the cabinet of his independence. Honório arrived in Montevideo for negotiations on 2 November, and on 21 November, Honório signed a treaty of alliance with Uruguay and the rebel Argentine provinces of Entre Ríos
and Corrientes
. A Brazilian division, along with Uruguayan and Argentine rebel troops, invaded Argentina. On 3 February 1852, the allies defeated an army led by Rosas, who fled to the United Kingdom. As a reward for his role, the Emperor granted Honório the title of Visconde de Paraná (Viscount of Paraná) in July 1852. The title was derived from the Paraná River
, a tributary of the Río de la Plata
, upon which free passage rights for Brazilian shipping had been secured after Rosas' downfall.
Around 1853 (certainly by 1855), the old Party of Order had become more widely known as the Conservative Party. On 6 September 1853, Pedro II called Paraná to the Imperial Palace in São Cristóvão
and asked him to organize a new cabinet. After nearly ten years, the two men had made peace with one another. The Emperor wished to advance his own ambitious program: the conciliação (conciliation) and melhoramentos (material developments). Pedro II's reforms aimed to promote less political partisanhip, and forward infrastructure and economic development. Rather than ushering in a government led by the Conservative Party, the Emperor had appointed the leading Conservative "to lead a non-partisan reform administration to realize material developments".
Paraná appointed politicians who had few, or no, links to the saquaremas to fill the new cabinet's ministry portfolios. These men were more loyal to the Emperor than to the party, or were too new to the Conservative Party to have formed close ties with the older saquarema establishment, or were simply former Liberals who had defected to the Conservatives following the Praieira revolt in the late 1840s. Two former Liberals found seats in the cabinet, including Paranhos, for whom Paraná secured a seat in the Chamber of Deputies.
Other nominations went to those saquaremas whose personal fealty to Pedro II was paramount. Among these was Caxias, with whom Paraná had developed a working relationship and then a close friendship. The resulting "Conciliation cabinet" owed its chief loyalties to the Pedro II and Paraná, rather than to the Conservative Party. The cabinet thus represented a break with the Reactionary views of the old Party of Order, albeit under a party banner which still included members of the old guard.
Almost concurrently, he presented a project of electoral reform which also was vehemently opposed by saquaremas. Needell states that the saquaremas "had seen him, one of their own chieftains, pick a cabinet of relatively weak men, men he could dominate. They saw an explicit attack on party government and party deals, using patronage alone to secure support. They saw that the loyalty of the ministers was principally toward Paraná, the Emperor, and a non-partisan approach to patronage (which ipso facto, undercut their party and strengthened the cabinet)." Saquaremas found it harder to accept the cabinet's aid being diverted, in an attempt to secure more support for cabinet initiatives, from themselves to Liberal candidates in provincial and general elections.
During his time in Pernambuco (1849–1850), Paraná had experienced first-hand how the party's principles were seen as irrelevant and ignored at local and provincial levels. A cabinet could gain the backing of local bosses for its national candidates using patronage alone. Paraná did not need the support from the saquaremas; he could find it elsewhere. Throughout his life, Paraná managed to set aside past grievances when doing so could further opportune alliances. As Eusébio said of Paraná, "like all men of strong temperament, he tends more to exaggerate his generosity towards his conquered enemies than in accommodations to conquering friends."
In the end, both the Senate and the Chamber passed the electoral reform—which became known as Lei dos Círculos (Law of the Circles)—, although only barely, as the majority of the saquaremas voted against it. Paraná succeeded because, as founder and leader of the Conservative Party, he "had enormous charisma and a broad personal clientele in the Chamber" and "could (and did) dispense power, prestige, and patronage." Some saquaremas voted in favor of the reform out of fear, believing that, should the cabinet fall, the Emperor might turn to the Liberals to form a new cabinet, resulting in reprisals and loss of offices throughout the country. On the other hand, the Liberals supported the reform as a means to further weaken the divided Conservative Party.
The electoral reform had given Paraná unassailable dominance over the cabinet and in parliament. By September 1855, with the sole exception of the Emperor, Paraná had become the most prominent figure in the empire. He was nicknamed El Rei Honório (Honório the King) by his foes. However, he would not live long to enjoy his supremacy. At the end of August 1856, enraged by an offensive speech by Pedro de Araújo Lima, Marquis of Olinda
(former regent in the late 1830s) in the Senate, Paraná rose from his bench to respond. As he spoke, Paraná fell to the ground in pain. Days passed and his condition worsened. On 3 September 1856, at 07:15 in the morning, he died. In a fever-induced delirium, Paraná believed himself to be still delivering a speech to Olinda. His last words were, "Skepticism ... the noble senator ... fatherland ... freedom." The exact cause of Paraná's death was never established. Doctors could not agree whether the illness was a consequence of hepatitis
, pneumonia
, disease in the liver, lungs or intestines, or something else.
Pedro II lamented the death of Paraná, saying, "I can see no one else possessed of the energy with which the late Marquis was endowed, and joined to it uncommon talents, even if they were unpolished." His death had a profound impact on the government and the Brazilian people. He was honored with a grand funeral procession attended by a huge crowd, a rare event in Brazil at that time. His remains were interred in the Cemitério São João Batista
(Cemetery of Saint John the Baptist) in Rio de Janeiro city.
Since his death, Paraná has been widely praised by historians and others for his political achievements, although the detrimental consequences of the electoral reform in his Conciliation cabinet were generally ignored by historians until recent years. This oversight can be seen in the writings of many renowned writers and historians since the 19th century cabinet. Conservative politician and writer José de Alencar
called Paraná a "distinguished statesman". Writer Joaquim Manuel de Macedo
said that "the marquis of Paraná was a politician well suited to the great State crises, and to a time of most difficult and contentious political strife." Joaquim Nabuco
, who viewed him a statesman, summarized his character as that of a man "made not only to dominate, but also to lead." Euclides da Cunha
, who also called him a statesman, labeled him a "great man" who "demarcates a decisive stretch in our [Brazilian] Constitutional History".
Many historians praised Paraná. Maurílio de Gouveia regarded him as a statesman who revealed "himself to posterity as an example of tenacity, energy, patriotism and honor". To Heitor Lyra, Paraná "was one of the pillars responsible for the political stability of Pedro II's reign. His policy of conciliation ended a period of rebellions, and led to the appearance of a new generation of monarchist politicians raised "in the school of tolerance, mutual respect and public interest"; which produced "the constitutional environment where the two great [political] parties of the Monarchy would take turns [in power] without excluding each other." Fernando da Cruz Gouvêa called him an "authentic statesman". Aldo Janotti considered Paraná, alongside Vasconcelos, as responsible for the maintenance of Brazilian unity and preventing its territorial dismemberment. "Of all politicians of imperial Brazil, it is without a doubt," said historian Hélio Viana, "Honório Hermeto Carneiro Leão, Marquis of Paraná, the one who deserves to be called statesman". Ronaldo Vainfas considered him one of the greatest statesmen in Brazilian imperial history.
Conservative Party (Brazil)
The Conservative Party was a Brazilian political party of the imperial period, which was formed circa 1836 and ended with the proclamation of the Republic in 1889...
during the period of the Empire of Brazil (1822–1889). Paraná was born to a family of humble means in São Carlos do Jacuí
Jacuí
Jacuí is a town and municipality in the state of Minas Gerais in the Southeast region of Brazil.-References:...
, in what was then the captaincy
Captaincy
A captaincy is a historical administrative division of the former Spanish and Portuguese colonial empires. Each was governed by a captain general.-In the Portuguese Empire:...
of Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais is one of the 26 states of Brazil, of which it is the second most populous, the third richest, and the fourth largest in area. Minas Gerais is the Brazilian state with the largest number of Presidents of Brazil, the current one, Dilma Rousseff, being one of them. The capital is the...
. After attending the University of Coimbra in Portugal and having returned to Brazil, Paraná was appointed a judge in 1826 and later elevated to appellate court
Appellate court
An appellate court, commonly called an appeals court or court of appeals or appeal court , is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal...
justice. In 1830, he was elected to represent Minas Gerais in the Chamber of Deputies
Chamber of Deputies of Brazil
The Chamber of Deputies of Brazil is a federal legislative body and the lower house of the National Congress of Brazil. As of 2006, the chamber comprises 513 deputies, who are elected by proportional representation to serve four-year terms...
; he was reelected in 1834 and 1838, and held the post until 1841.
In the aftermath of Dom
Dom (title)
Dom is a title of respect prefixed to the given name. It derives from Latin Dominus.It is used in English for certain Benedictine and Carthusian monks, and for members of certain communities of Canons Regular. Examples include Benedictine monks of the English Benedictine Congregation...
Pedro I's abdication in 1831, a regency created to govern Brazil during the minority of the former Emperor's son, Dom Pedro II
Pedro II of Brazil
Dom Pedro II , nicknamed "the Magnanimous", was the second and last ruler of the Empire of Brazil, reigning for over 58 years. Born in Rio de Janeiro, he was the seventh child of Emperor Dom Pedro I of Brazil and Empress Dona Maria Leopoldina and thus a member of the Brazilian branch of...
, soon dissolved into chaos. Paraná formed in 1837 a political party that became known as the Reactionary Party, which would eventually evolve into the Party of Order in the early 1840s and later in the middle 1850s into the Conservative Party. He and his party's stalwart and unconditional defense of constitutional order allowed the country to move beyond a regency plagued with factious disputes and rebellions which might easily have led to a dictatorship. Appointed president of Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
province in 1841, Paraná helped put down a rebellion headed by the opposition Liberal Party
Liberal Party
Liberal Party is the name for dozens of political parties around the world. Liberal parties can be center-left, centrist, or center-right depending on their location...
the following year. Also in 1842, he was elected senator for Minas Gerais and appointed by Pedro II to the Council of State
Privy council
A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a nation, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the monarch's closest advisors to give confidential advice on...
. In 1843, he became the de facto first President of the Council of Ministers of Brazil, but lost the office after a quarrel with the Emperor.
After years in opposition, in 1849, Paraná was appointed by the national government as president of Pernambuco
Pernambuco
Pernambuco is a state of Brazil, located in the Northeast region of the country. To the north are the states of Paraíba and Ceará, to the west is Piauí, to the south are Alagoas and Bahia, and to the east is the Atlantic Ocean. There are about of beaches, some of the most beautiful in the...
province to investigate a Liberal rebellion
Praieira revolt
The Praieira revolt, also known as the Beach rebellion, was a movement in the Pernambuco region of Brazil that lasted from 1848 to 1849. The revolt, influenced by revolutions taking place in Europe, was due in part to unresolved conflicts left over from the period of the Regency and local...
that had taken place a year earlier and urge that the rebels receive a fair trial. Blamed by his party colleagues for the years in opposition and having lost much of his influence within his own party, Paraná accepted the post, believing he could regain his place among his peers. With the nation internally pacified, he was sent to Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
in 1851 to forge an alliance with that country, as well as with the rebel Argentine provinces of Corrientes
Corrientes Province
Corrientes is a province in northeast Argentina, in the Mesopotamia region. It is surrounded by : Paraguay, the province of Misiones, Brazil, Uruguay, and the provinces of Entre Rios, Santa Fe and Chaco.-History:...
and Entre Ríos
Entre Ríos Province
Entre Ríos is a northeastern province of Argentina, located in the Mesopotamia region. It borders the provinces of Buenos Aires , Corrientes and Santa Fe , and Uruguay in the east....
, against the Argentine Confederation
Argentine Confederation
The Argentine Confederation is one of the official names of Argentina, according to the Argentine Constitution, Article 35...
. The alliance triumphed and Paraná was raised by the Emperor to the ranks of the titled nobility.
In 1853, Paraná was again appointed president of the Council of Ministers and headed a highly successful cabinet, becoming the most powerful politician in the country. The electoral reform he ushered in was credited with undercutting national political processes and causing severe harm to the system of parliamentary government. For his role in pushing through restructuring, Paraná met with fierce opposition from the majority of his colleagues, leading to a virtual split in the Conservative Party over his policies. On 3 September 1856, while still in office and at the height of his political career, he died unexpectedly of an unknown febrile condition. To this day, he is widely regarded by historians as one of the most influential politicians of his time and one of the greatest statesmen in the history of Brazil.
Birth and childhood
Honório Hermeto Carneiro Leão was born on 11 January 1801, in the freguesiaFreguesia
Freguesia is the Portuguese term for a secondary local administrative unit in Portugal and some of its former colonies, and a former secondary local administrative unit in Macau, roughly equivalent to an administrative parish. A freguesia is a subdivision of a concelho, the Portuguese synonym term...
(civil parish
Civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...
) of São Carlos do Jacuí
Jacuí
Jacuí is a town and municipality in the state of Minas Gerais in the Southeast region of Brazil.-References:...
, Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais is one of the 26 states of Brazil, of which it is the second most populous, the third richest, and the fourth largest in area. Minas Gerais is the Brazilian state with the largest number of Presidents of Brazil, the current one, Dilma Rousseff, being one of them. The capital is the...
, then a captaincy
Captaincy
A captaincy is a historical administrative division of the former Spanish and Portuguese colonial empires. Each was governed by a captain general.-In the Portuguese Empire:...
of the Portuguese colony of Brazil
Colonial Brazil
In the history of Brazil, Colonial Brazil, officially the Viceroyalty of Brazil comprises the period from 1500, with the arrival of the Portuguese, until 1815, when Brazil was elevated to kingdom alongside Portugal as the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves.During the over 300 years...
. Named after Saint Honorata, Honório was the son of Antônio Neto Carneiro Leão and Joana Severina Augusta de Lemos. On his father's side, he was descended from Portugal's powerful Carneiro Leão clan, which had settled in Brazil in the 17th century. Antônio Neto, however, was much less prosperous than his relatives. An impoverished military officer in 1801, he held the rank of furriel (third sergeant). Advancement of his career was thwarted by his character flaws. Antônio Neto was a hotheaded with a strong personality which once even led to his arrest for insubordination.
Honório first lived in Paracatú
Paracatu, Minas Gerais
Paracatu is a town in the western part of the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil having 79,739 inhabitants . Its area is of 8.232 km²...
, then moved to Vila Rica (now Ouro Preto
Ouro Preto
-History:Founded at the end of the 17th century, Ouro Preto was originally called Vila Rica, or "rich village," the focal point of the gold rush and Brazil's golden age in the 18th century under Portuguese rule....
), the capital of Minas Gerais at the time, where he spent his childhood and adolescence. His father was widowed on 10 February 1806, and on 11 January 1807 wed Rita de Cássia Soares do Couto, the daughter of his late wife's sister. Rita de Cássia was the person whom Honório regarded as his mother and it was her father, Colonel Nicolau Soares Couto, who actually raised him. Honório had an elder sister, Balbina, and three half-sisters and a half-brother, Nicolau Neto Carneiro Leão (later Baron of Santa Maria), from his father's second marriage.
Education
At age 16, Honório was commissioned as a lieutenant and standard-bearerStandard-bearer
A standard-bearer is a person who bears an emblem called an ensign or standard, i.e. either a type of flag or an inflexible but mobile image, which is used as a formal, visual symbol of a state, prince, military unit, etc.This can either be an occasional duty, often seen as an honour , or a...
of the 2nd Militia Cavalry Regiment, 1st Company, in Vila Rica. Antônio Neto made great efforts to provide Honório with an education of much higher quality than would normally be expected in a family of their limited financial means. The promotion to captain in 1819 increased Antônio Neto's income and made it possible for his eldest son go to Portugal and enroll in the University of Coimbra's law school in 1820, thus ending Honório's brief military career. He was an excellent student and struck up acquaintances among his fellow Brazilians in Coimbra
Coimbra
Coimbra is a city in the municipality of Coimbra in Portugal. Although it served as the nation's capital during the High Middle Ages, it is better-known for its university, the University of Coimbra, which is one of the oldest in Europe and the oldest academic institution in the...
, including Paulino Soares de Sousa (who would become one of his greatest allies and later the 1st Viscount of Uruguai) and Aureliano de Sousa Oliveira Coutinho
Aureliano Coutinho, Viscount of Sepetiba
Aureliano de Sousa e Oliveira Coutinho, Viscount of Sepetiba was a Brazilian politician, judge and monarchist during the period of the Empire of Brazil...
(later Viscount of Sepetiba).
During the Portuguese Revolution of 1820
Liberal Revolution of 1820
The Liberal Revolution of 1820 was a political revolution that erupted in 1820 and lasted until 1826. It was unchained via a military insurrection in the city of Porto, in northern Portugal, that quickly and peacefully spread to the rest of the country. From 1807 to 1811 Napoleonic French forces...
, he supported the constitutionalists, who advocated a national constitution to limit the powers of the Portuguese monarchy, against the absolutists, who preferred an absolute monarchy
Absolute monarchy
Absolute monarchy is a monarchical form of government in which the monarch exercises ultimate governing authority as head of state and head of government, his or her power not being limited by a constitution or by the law. An absolute monarch thus wields unrestricted political power over the...
. It is unknown whether he actively took part in the uprising, however, and, if so, to what degree. He was a member of a secret society called A Gruta (The Den), founded by Brazilian students at Coimbra with the primary goal of changing Brazil from a kingdom into a republic. The republicanism of Honório's youth would fade with time and eventually be replaced by staunch support for monarchism.
Honório received a bachelor's degree in Law in 1824, and his masters diploma on 18 June 1825. He was also employed in a law firm for a few months. He returned to Brazil on 8 August 1825 aboard a ship with other Coimbra graduates, among them Aureliano Coutinho and Joaquim Rodrigues Torres
Joaquim Rodrigues Torres, Viscount of Itaboraí
Joaquim Rodrigues Torres, the Viscount of Itaboraí was a Brazilian politician and monarchist during the period of the Empire of Brazil ....
(who would later found the Conservative Party
Conservative Party (Brazil)
The Conservative Party was a Brazilian political party of the imperial period, which was formed circa 1836 and ended with the proclamation of the Republic in 1889...
with Honório and become the Viscount of Itaboraí). During Honório's time in Europe, his native country had gained independence from Portugal and had become the Empire of Brazil.
From judge to general deputy
Having settled his financial and social situation, Honório pursued a typical course open to 19th century Brazilians who became affluent through family connections and patronage: a judicial career, with expectations of entering politics. On 14 October 1826, he was named to a three-year term as Juiz de Fora (External Judge, a magistrate
Magistrate
A magistrate is an officer of the state; in modern usage the term usually refers to a judge or prosecutor. This was not always the case; in ancient Rome, a magistratus was one of the highest government officers and possessed both judicial and executive powers. Today, in common law systems, a...
) with jurisdiction over the three villages in the province of São Paulo
São Paulo (state)
São Paulo is a state in Brazil. It is the major industrial and economic powerhouse of the Brazilian economy. Named after Saint Paul, São Paulo has the largest population, industrial complex, and economic production in the country. It is the richest state in Brazil...
.
On 25 August 1828, Honório left São Paulo upon being promoted to the post of Auditor da Marinha (Admiralty Judge) in Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
, the imperial capital located in the province of same name. His tenure in São Paulo and later in Rio de Janeiro helped him expand his connections. He was soon noticed by members of Emperor Dom
Dom (title)
Dom is a title of respect prefixed to the given name. It derives from Latin Dominus.It is used in English for certain Benedictine and Carthusian monks, and for members of certain communities of Canons Regular. Examples include Benedictine monks of the English Benedictine Congregation...
Pedro I's inner circle, and these influenced the monarch to appoint him Ouvidor (Superior Judge) in late 1828. In 1829, he met the Emperor in person, who after a brief meeting, named him Desembargador (regional appeal judge), an office he held until his retirement in 1848. He was prevented from joining the Superior Court of Justice
Superior Court of Justice (Brazil)
The Superior Court of Justice is the highest appellate court in Brazil for non-constitutional questions of federal law. The STJ also has original jurisdiction over some cases...
in 1848, as it was forbidden to both hold that position and his seat on the Council of State
Privy council
A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a nation, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the monarch's closest advisors to give confidential advice on...
.
Well established in the imperial capital, Honório campaigned in 1829 to become a deputado geral (general deputy or member of the Chamber of Deputies
Chamber of Deputies of Brazil
The Chamber of Deputies of Brazil is a federal legislative body and the lower house of the National Congress of Brazil. As of 2006, the chamber comprises 513 deputies, who are elected by proportional representation to serve four-year terms...
, the national lower house
Lower house
A lower house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house.Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide the lower house has come to wield more power...
), as a representative for his native Minas Gerais. He was elected to a seat in the legislature for the term beginning April 1830. The law allowed him to work as both judge and legislator at the same time, receiving wages from both offices.
Era of troubles
The Brazilian Parliament, then known as the Assembléia Geral (General Assembly), encompassed two parties, both supporters of a constitutional monarchy, but one for and the other against Pedro I. The latter, of which Honório was a member, was known as the Liberal opposition, or simply the Partido Liberal (Liberal Party). The Liberals resented what they perceived as the Portuguese-born Pedro I's policy of favoritism toward Portuguese, whom he appointed ministers and councillors. They also saw many of the Emperor's decisions and acts as unconstitutional. Pedro I's unilateral decision to abolish transatlantic importation of African slaves into Brazil only weakened his position, and the Liberals, many of whom (including Honório) had ties to slavery, accused him of absolutism, since the resolution had been undertaken without parliamentary sanction.Weakened and due to his own concomitant motives, Pedro I abdicated on 7 April 1831 and departed for Europe following a series of demonstrations and riots against him. The Emperor's only son, a child of five, succeeded him as Dom Pedro II
Pedro II of Brazil
Dom Pedro II , nicknamed "the Magnanimous", was the second and last ruler of the Empire of Brazil, reigning for over 58 years. Born in Rio de Janeiro, he was the seventh child of Emperor Dom Pedro I of Brazil and Empress Dona Maria Leopoldina and thus a member of the Brazilian branch of...
. A regency
Regent
A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...
with little effective authority was created, resulting in nine years of chaos, during which the country was plagued by rebellions and coup attempts initiated by unruly political factions. These groups were called the Exaltados (Enraged) and the Restorationists. The Enraged were a radical wing that split off from the Liberal Party in the aftermath of the abdication. The Restorationists came from the party which had supported Pedro I during his reign, who now called for a return of the former Emperor as regent for his son.
Without the Enraged, the Liberal Party became known as the Partido Moderado (Moderate Party) to differentiate it from the estranged radicals. As the majority in the Chamber of Deputies, the moderates formed the cabinet and could pass constitutional reforms reflecting their views of the monarch's role and the structure of the state. Honório, who was a moderate deputy, had an unobtrusive role up until this point, having been overshadowed by Bernardo Pereira de Vasconcelos, the leader of the deputies representing Minas Gerais.
Defender of the Constitution
Progress on reforms and other matters was delayed while Honório was forced to deal with two major crises. The first occurred on 19 July 1831 when a group of Enraged and insubordinate military officers presented the Chamber of Deputies with a list of 89 Brazilians whom they demanded be deported, among them some senators. Had the government acceded to their demands, it would have become demoralized and weakened. At this crucial point, Honório rose from his chair and took the floor. Short, slim and dark-haired, Honório had a speech impedimentSpeech disorder
Speech disorders or speech impediments are a type of communication disorders where 'normal' speech is disrupted. This can mean stuttering, lisps, etc. Someone who is unable to speak due to a speech disorder is considered mute.-Classification:...
that made him appear an unimpressive figure at first glance. However, Pedro II, as an adult, would later remember that his "style of speaking was inelegant, and he had a stutter; but it vanished when he was aroused and at all times his arguments were tight knit, and somebody wittily remarked that [Honório,] the marquis of Paraná, when he stuttered, stuttered arguments." His character allowed him to overcome his shortcomings. Like his father, he was headstrong, opinionated, and often scathing. However, he had self-confidence and a powerful charisma, and was energetic, intelligent, perspicacious and a natural born leader. In sum, he was "a man who expected to lead and to command deference", according to historian Jeffrey D. Needell.
Honório averted the Enraged threat by giving four speeches during the same day, in which he urged the government to refuse the illegal demand. He stated that "neither a senator nor the most humble citizen belonging to the lowest class may be deported without having been prosecuted and convicted", and concluded that the "Constitution establishes rights and obligations, and, to keep the former, citizens must satisfy the latter; as these are fulfilled, no one can deprive them of the former. Even when a citizen is an evildoer, his rights must be respected, as these do not belong to him but to all." All deputies but one agreed with Honório, and the incident was settled with several battalions being disbanded.
The second crisis arose on 30 July 1832. A constitutional amendment effecting greater reforms was voted on and approved in the Chamber of Deputies, but still faced major opposition in the Senate. Diogo Antônio Feijó and Aureliano Coutinho (Honório's former colleague at Coimbra), both moderates, planned a coup d'état
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
. The conspiracy would have had Feijó assume dictatorial powers and immediately enact the constitutional amendment, bypassing the Senate entirely. Some moderate deputies (in concert with Feijó and with the support of the Enraged) brought a proposal before the Chamber that the Parliament be turned into a constituent assembly and a new constitution be adopted, arguing in part that the Senate was filled with Restorationists.
The deputies decided to debate the matter, and Honório delivered a speech "by candlelight in the gathering dusk" that proved to be a turning point of his political life. "With commanding presence and total conviction", he called on his fellow deputies to uphold the Constitution and only make changes through the proper legal channels: "We need not hurt the legal order and [constitutional] principles: we can make fair laws... and in the respected Constitution we have safe and legal ways of giving the nation what it wants." He then begged, "let us not violate it [the Constitution], as it is our only safeguard." He managed to rally the deputies to his view, and in defeating the unconstitutional proposal, the coup attempt was crushed.
Opposition to the Additional Act
Honório had become a leading politician, and was appointed Minister of Justice on 13 September 1832, effectively becoming the head of the cabinet. He resigned after eight months to avoid becoming entangled in the aftermath of a Restorationist uprising in Minas Gerais, in which one of his relatives had become involved. Vasconcelos mounted a challenge to Honório's position among his constituency, and by circulating rumors that the latter had links to the Restorationist uprising, managed to undercut his reputation both at home and in the Chamber of Deputies. Honório relinquished his post on 14 May 1833 to concentrate on shoring up his position in Minas Gerais.Although Honório and his allies had prevented Feijó's attempted power grab in 1832, the subject of reforms was raised once again. Enraged and Moderate deputies who were aligned with Feijó still wished to remove most of the monarch's constitutional prerogatives, including his ability to intervene in local affairs, by granting greater autonomy to the provinces. Their agenda encompassed far broader reforms than Honório and many other Moderates had expected. These conservative Moderates supported a representative parliamentary government headed by a constitutional monarch, and this framework was threatened both by the proposed decentralization and the efforts to reduce the head of state to a mere figurehead. In the 1833 elections, Honório won another term. He, as well as many other deputies, returned to the Chamber again as a member of the Moderate Party, but only due to the lack of any other viable option, since the alternatives were to join either the Enraged or the Restorationists.
Reform efforts were realized on 12 August 1834 with the promulgation of the constitutional amendment known as the Ato Adicional (Additional Act). Honório voted against it. He, and other conservative Moderates opposing the reforms, played no real role in the debates over the Additional Act in order to avoid being accused of betraying liberal ideals or of siding with the Restorationists who opposed the measure. The Moderate Party was falling into disarray. Honório was prompted to lead the conservative Moderate dissidents to secede from the party when Feijó ran for the position of sole regent in early 1835. Honório was eager to forestall what he described as the "triumph of the same traitor who made the 30 July [1832 coup attempt] to ignominiously tear down the Regency which had appointed him..."
Genesis of the Conservative Party
In April 1835, an election was held to select a new regent. Though no candidate won a majority, Feijó garnered the most votes. Once in office, he proved authoritarian, with little inclination to be held accountable to Parliament. By 1837, his government's credibility and support had vanished. Uprisings in both the north and south had not been suppressed, and other issues were ignored.The 1834 Additional Act had unpredicted and catastrophic results. Local self-government opened new avenues of conflict between political parties. Ceding power to provincial governments merely whetted the ambitions of local politicians, and the result was rebellion in areas of the far south and far north of the empire. Whichever party could dominate the provinces would also gain control over the electoral and political system. Unwilling to be shut out, parties that lost by ballot rebelled and tried to take power by force.
The conservative Moderate opposition to Feijó's administration had close links to coffee and sugar cane planter families and merchants in the Brazilian southeast and northeast. These groups wielded great political, social and economic influence, and saw the weak state headed by Feijó, engulfed in turmoil, as being incapable of protecting their interests in the event of a crisis such as a slave rebellion. They began to see their interests more in alignment with men like Honório, who were planters like themselves, supported the slave trade with Africa and desired a centralized state able to impose order. The numbers of conservative Moderates grew after many Restorationists joined their ranks following the death of Pedro I in September 1834.
The acceptance of former Restorationists into the party was an easy decision for Honório, who was pragmatic and quick to grasp political opportunities. The often strongheaded Honório even swallowed his pride and set aside his past enmity toward Vasconcelos in pursuit of an alliance. Together, the two men led more than half of the general deputies representing Minas Gerais, one of the two largest provincial delegations in the Chamber (the other being that of Rio de Janeiro). Dubbed the Partido Regressista (Reactionary Party) by Feijó and his allies in 1837, the conservative Moderate opposition born in late 1834 was the genesis of what would later evolve into the Party of Order (c. 1843) and finally into the Conservative Party
Conservative Party (Brazil)
The Conservative Party was a Brazilian political party of the imperial period, which was formed circa 1836 and ended with the proclamation of the Republic in 1889...
(c. 1853).
Party leader in the Chamber of Deputies
Without a majority in the Chamber, Feijó resigned in August 1837. This marked the collapse of the ever-weak Moderate Party. Pedro de Araújo LimaPedro de Araújo Lima, Marquis of Olinda
Pedro de Araújo Lima, the Marquis of Olinda Pedro de Araújo Lima, the Marquis of Olinda Pedro de Araújo Lima, the Marquis of Olinda (Sirinhaem, 22 December 1793 — Rio de Janeiro, 7 June 1870, was a statesman and monarchist during the period of the Empire of Brazil (1822–1889). His long political...
(later the Marquis of Olinda), a Reactionary from Pernambuco
Pernambuco
Pernambuco is a state of Brazil, located in the Northeast region of the country. To the north are the states of Paraíba and Ceará, to the west is Piauí, to the south are Alagoas and Bahia, and to the east is the Atlantic Ocean. There are about of beaches, some of the most beautiful in the...
province, became interim regent and was elected to the office the next year. He appointed his colleagues to ministry portfolios. Honório, who had been reelected to another term as general deputy until 1841, chose to remain in the Chamber as the party's leader to bolster the new Reactionary cabinet. The Reactionary Party (the former dissident conservative elements within the Moderate Party) had thus come to power based entirely upon its majority in the Chamber of Deputies, rather than through military or imperial intervention.
The Reactionary cabinets following Feijó's fall made a promising start, but proved ineffective after new rebellions erupted throughout the country. Internal dissention and outside opposition began to undermine their unity. Feijo's Moderates allied with the Enraged, former Restorationists and even republicans, even though these groups shared no common principles or ideology. During the late 1830s and early 1840s, this group would evolve into the second Partido Liberal (Liberal Party). In a speech in the Chamber, Honório crudely pointed out the lack of consistency in the Liberal political platform.
The Reactionary Party began passing the Interpretação do Ato Adicional (Interpretation of the Additional Act) which would be followed by the reform of the Código de Processo Criminal (Code of Criminal Procedure). Both laws were built upon the 1834 Additional Act and would allow the national government to reassert its control over provincial police and courts. They would provide the means to deal effectively with provincial rebellions, and inevitably grant the national government greater sway over the provincial government, and in turn the party in power would gain greater ascendancy in national politics through patronage and office appointments. Fearful that their adversaries would perpetually keep themselves in power, the Liberals began to call for lowering the age at which Pedro II would attain his majority. They saw an opportunity to regain their influence by doing away with the regency and dealing instead directly with a pliable young emperor.
Towards that end, the Liberals allied themselves with a new and powerful political bloc formed by politicians and high-ranking servants in the imperial palace who were close to the young Emperor. This was known as the Facção Áulica (Courtier Faction), and was led by Aureliano Coutinho (Feijó's ally in the 1832 coup attempt). Honório saw this new majority movement as an "attempt... equal to that of 30 July [1832 coup]." As he had in 1832, Honório again took up a defense against this latest threat to the political system based on the Constitution. In May 1840, he proposed a constitutional amendment that incorporated the concept that the monarch could be declared of age earlier than he would normally assume full powers. The naturally slow process of passing a constitutional amendment meant that the Reactionary Party would control the government at least until 1842, when Araújo Lima's term as regent would end. Honório withdrew his proposal after it met with fierce resistance from Liberals and the Chamber sessions became embroiled in heated and often chaotic debates. Political and popular pressure, and even physical threats, led to the unconstitutional declaration of Pedro II's majority at age 14 on 23 July 1840.
Against the Liberal rebellions of 1842
The Liberal-Courtier coalition's cabinet, formed upon Pedro II's assumption of full powers, convoked national elections for seats in the legislature set to convene in 1842. The voting was accompanied by so much violence and fraud that it became known as Eleições do cacete (Elections of the club or Elections of the truncheon). For Honório, this meant the loss of his seat as general deputy after his bid for reelection failed. The Liberal-Courtier cabinet did not survive long, however, and its ministers presented their resignations in turn. On 23 March 1841, a new cabinet was nominated that included Aureliano Coutinho from the Courtier Faction, as well as other ministers who were members of the Reactionary Party.Following the return of the Reactionary Party to the government, Honório was appointed by Pedro II to the prestigious Council of State
Privy council
A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a nation, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the monarch's closest advisors to give confidential advice on...
. Under advice from the Council of State, Pedro II in May 1842 dissolved the new Chamber of Deputies, elected in the fraudulent 1840 elections, before it could be convened. Instead of attempting to get reelected, Honório ran for a Senate seat, and being among the three candidates with the most votes, in late 1842 he was selected by the Emperor as the senator representing Minas Gerais. On 2 January 1843, he took his seat next to his rival, Aureliano, who had been elected senator for the province of Alagoas
Alagoas
Alagoas is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil and is situated in the eastern part of the Northeast Region. It borders: Pernambuco ; Sergipe ; Bahia ; and the Atlantic Ocean . It occupies an area of 27,767 km², being slightly larger than Haiti...
. Having already secured two lifetime positions (councillor and senator), on 4 October 1841 Honório also received an appointment as president (governor) of the province of Rio de Janeiro, and assumed this office on 1 December.
The Liberals did not take their loss of power gracefully. In May and June 1842, three uprisings broke out, in the provinces of São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro. The rebels went so far as to arrest and hold hostage both Honório's elderly father and uncle (who was also his father-in-law). As president, he was in command of the provincial National Guard, and traveled through the province to organize a response. On 1 July, he advanced with troops towards Ouro Preto
Ouro Preto
-History:Founded at the end of the 17th century, Ouro Preto was originally called Vila Rica, or "rich village," the focal point of the gold rush and Brazil's golden age in the 18th century under Portuguese rule....
, where, after defeating the rebels, he freed his father and uncle. He joined forces there with Luís Alves de Lima e Silva (then-Baron and later Duke of Caxias), who commanded the National Guard of São Paulo and Minas Gerais and was also married to one of Honório's distant cousins. The remaining rebels were easily defeated, and by late August, the uprisings had been quelled. Among the rebel leaders was the former regent, Feijó, who was arrested. He died shortly afterwards in 1843. As Honório returned from Minas Gerais to Rio de Janeiro, he was welcomed with celebrations and demonstrations of joy by the authorities and populace of the districts through which he passed.
First presidency of the Council of Ministers
Sometime around 1843 (and certainly by 1844), the Reactionary Party was renamed to Partido da Ordem (Party of Order) to distinguish itself from what the Reactionaries perceived as the "unruly" Liberals. Members of the Party of Order became known as saquaremas. The new name also reflected the maturation of principles the party had long advocated: liberalismLiberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
, exceptionalism
Exceptionalism
Exceptionalism is the perception that a country, society, institution, movement, or time period is "exceptional" in some way and thus does not need to conform to normal rules or general principles...
, preserving the authority of the state, and a representative parliamentary monarchy. On 20 January 1843, Pedro II appointed Honório to head a new cabinet. By personally selecting the cabinet members, Honório became Brazil's de facto first prime minister. Prior to this time, the Emperor himself or the regents had always designated the cabinet ministers. Four years later, following Honório's precedent, the office of prime minister would be formally instituted under the title of "President of the Council of Ministers".
A year later, in January 1844, Honório requested that Pedro II dismiss the inspector of the Rio de Janeiro customs house, Saturnino de Sousa e Oliveira Coutinho, a younger brother of Aureliano Coutinho. Honório had been in the same university class as Aureliano and Saturnino back in Coimbra during the 1820s. However, his strained relationship with Aureliano was not entirely the result of political rivalry between two ambitious men. Honório nursed a sheer hatred toward him because of the role he had played both in the July 1832 coup and in the Majority movement.
Honório mistakenly believed he could curtail the political influence of his rival, but the Emperor refused to dismiss Saturnino, asserting he had not been presented with any proof of irregularities on the part of a man who was considered an honest and extremely competent employee. Honório again pressed to have Saturnino fired in late January, and when rebuffed yet again, said, "A boy does not have the right to mock men worn out in the service of the Nation, even if this boy is the Emperor." Pedro II was offended and steadfastly refused to dismiss Saturnino Coutinho.
Instead of accepting the Emperor's decision, Honório offered his resignation, along with those of his colleagues. Astonished by his behavior, the Emperor would say years later when recalling the incident: "Paraná não se curvava!" ("[Honório, the Marquis of] Paraná would not bow down!") Pedro II asked the Liberals to form a new cabinet. For most of the next five years, Honório and his Party of Order stood in opposition to the Liberals. During this time, they also witnessed the rise of Aureliano's Courtier Faction, which formed an alliance with the Liberal Party. For the saquaremas, it meant enduring "new elections, fixed results, partisan reprisals and policy shifts". Only a few saquaremas managed to get themselves elected to the Chamber during this period. All the blame for this disaster fell upon Honório. He lost much of his influence within the party, even though Vasconcelos alone in the Party of Order possessed the qualifications to challenge Honório as the party's elder statesman.
Praieira
The Courtier-Liberal alliance held nearly absolute sway over Brazilian politics for several years. By 1847, however, Pedro II had carefully removed members of the Courtier Faction from key positions. Aureliano Coutinho's influence was destroyed after the Emperor implicitly banned him from participation in political decision making. The monarch then moved against the Liberals. From 1844 through 1848, the country saw several Liberal cabinets in succession, all plagued by internal divisions. Pedro II called upon the Party of Order to form a new cabinet in September 1848.The rise of the saquaremas meant a purge of Liberals who had been appointed to executive and judicial posts at the national, provincial and local levels, as was normal when a new party was tapped to form a government. The most radical Liberal faction in the province of Pernambuco
Pernambuco
Pernambuco is a state of Brazil, located in the Northeast region of the country. To the north are the states of Paraíba and Ceará, to the west is Piauí, to the south are Alagoas and Bahia, and to the east is the Atlantic Ocean. There are about of beaches, some of the most beautiful in the...
, known as the Partido da Praia (Party of the Beach), made open preparations to revolt and retake power by force. The rebellion was limited in extent and was crushed by February 1849. Honório was then appointed president of the province, from 2 July 1849 until 8 May 1850, with the purpose of pacification by restraining acts of revenge and throwing his support behind fair trials for all rebels. He had observed the effect that ostracism, by both Pedro II and other saquarema party leaders, had had on the career of Vasconcelos. Honório accepted the office, eager "to regain the favor of his Emperor and to strengthen his position among his party colleagues."
He was disheartened with what he saw in Pernambuco, a province far away from the imperial capital, but one of the most important in the country. Local political bosses were either aligned with the Party of Order or the Liberal Party, but these were only nominal affiliations for the most part. Local oligarchs had vied among themselves for centuries over power locally. To them, political principles, such as those preached by the national leaders of the Party of Order, meant little or nothing. Their political ambitions focused on patronage and the utter destruction of their local rivals. Honório found himself embroiled in an on-going power struggle between the aristocratic planters, who sought to exercise control over provincial affairs.
Platine War
By the middle of 1850, Honório was back in Rio de Janeiro. He had found the months in Pernambuco excruciating. Being named provincial president would have been considered a great achievement for a young politician, but it added no luster to the reputation of a seasoned politician and a founding member of his party. Instead of being at the center of power, he was put in the humiliating position of having to take orders from a cabinet composed of men with less political experience, such as Joaquim Rodrigues TorresJoaquim Rodrigues Torres, Viscount of Itaboraí
Joaquim Rodrigues Torres, the Viscount of Itaboraí was a Brazilian politician and monarchist during the period of the Empire of Brazil ....
, Paulino Soares de Sousa (Honório's colleague along with Rodrigues Torres in Coimbra) and Eusébio de Queirós. It was particularly grating being subordinated to Paulino and Eusébio, protégés whom Honório had advanced during the 1830s. While in Pernambuco, Honório's actions were frequently reviewed and overturned by the cabinet, often with Eusébio leading the criticism.
With Brazil internally pacified after the end of the last rebellion (the Praieira revolt), Brazil's government turned its attention to the growing tensions with its neighbor to the south, the Argentine Confederation
Argentine Confederation
The Argentine Confederation is one of the official names of Argentina, according to the Argentine Constitution, Article 35...
. Paulino, who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs, decided to forge alliances with Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
and Paraguay
Paraguay
Paraguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the...
, nations which also saw a threat in the ambitions of Don
Don (honorific)
Don, from Latin dominus, is an honorific in Spanish , Portuguese , and Italian . The female equivalent is Doña , Dona , and Donna , abbreviated "Dª" or simply "D."-Usage:...
Juan Manuel de Rosas
Juan Manuel de Rosas
Juan Manuel de Rosas , was an argentine militar and politician, who was elected governor of the province of Buenos Aires in 1829 to 1835, and then of the Argentine Confederation from 1835 until 1852...
, dictator of the Argentine Confederation. An army commanded by Caxias crossed into Uruguay in September 1851. More than a year had passed since Honório returned from Pernambuco, when he was named by Paulino as special minister plenipotentiary
Plenipotentiary
The word plenipotentiary has two meanings. As a noun, it refers to a person who has "full powers." In particular, the term commonly refers to a diplomat fully authorized to represent his government as a prerogative...
in the Plata region. On 12 October 1851, Honório and an Uruguayan envoy signed a treaty in Rio de Janeiro setting the international border between Brazil and Uruguay, which included Uruguay abandoning some claims to disputed areas in exchange for Brazilian aid in the war against Argentina.
Honório departed for Montevideo
Montevideo
Montevideo is the largest city, the capital, and the chief port of Uruguay. The settlement was established in 1726 by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, as a strategic move amidst a Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region, and as a counter to the Portuguese colony at Colonia del Sacramento...
, the capital of Uruguay, on 23 October. Among his small, hand-picked staff, he chose José Maria da Silva Paranhos (later Viscount of Rio Branco) to assist him. Paranhos was a brilliant young man who had once been a Liberal Party member and protégé of the disgraced Aureliano Coutinho. This surprising choice was a clear signal from Honório to his colleagues in the cabinet of his independence. Honório arrived in Montevideo for negotiations on 2 November, and on 21 November, Honório signed a treaty of alliance with Uruguay and the rebel Argentine provinces of Entre Ríos
Entre Ríos Province
Entre Ríos is a northeastern province of Argentina, located in the Mesopotamia region. It borders the provinces of Buenos Aires , Corrientes and Santa Fe , and Uruguay in the east....
and Corrientes
Corrientes Province
Corrientes is a province in northeast Argentina, in the Mesopotamia region. It is surrounded by : Paraguay, the province of Misiones, Brazil, Uruguay, and the provinces of Entre Rios, Santa Fe and Chaco.-History:...
. A Brazilian division, along with Uruguayan and Argentine rebel troops, invaded Argentina. On 3 February 1852, the allies defeated an army led by Rosas, who fled to the United Kingdom. As a reward for his role, the Emperor granted Honório the title of Visconde de Paraná (Viscount of Paraná) in July 1852. The title was derived from the Paraná River
Paraná River
The Paraná River is a river in south Central South America, running through Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina for some . It is second in length only to the Amazon River among South American rivers. The name Paraná is an abbreviation of the phrase "para rehe onáva", which comes from the Tupi language...
, a tributary of the Río de la Plata
Río de la Plata
The Río de la Plata —sometimes rendered River Plate in British English and the Commonwealth, and occasionally rendered [La] Plata River in other English-speaking countries—is the river and estuary formed by the confluence of the Uruguay River and the Paraná River on the border between Argentina and...
, upon which free passage rights for Brazilian shipping had been secured after Rosas' downfall.
Second presidency of the Council of Ministers
After years of frustration, Honório (or Paraná as he became known) had largely recouped the prestige he had formerly possessed among his peers. He had liquidated his uncle's domestic slave trading business and used the proceeds to become a coffee plantation owner in 1836. The land he acquired was located in the hills between Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais. Although Paraná staunchly opposed the abolition of the transatlantic African slave trade, the importation of slaves was nevertheless abolished in 1850 (Pedro I's earlier measure having been ineffective). The ban on slave imports seems to have had no impact over Paraná's private affairs; by 1852, he had become a very wealthy man.Around 1853 (certainly by 1855), the old Party of Order had become more widely known as the Conservative Party. On 6 September 1853, Pedro II called Paraná to the Imperial Palace in São Cristóvão
Paço de São Cristóvão
Paço de São Cristóvão is a palace located in the Quinta da Boa Vista park in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is the former residence of the Emperors of Brazil...
and asked him to organize a new cabinet. After nearly ten years, the two men had made peace with one another. The Emperor wished to advance his own ambitious program: the conciliação (conciliation) and melhoramentos (material developments). Pedro II's reforms aimed to promote less political partisanhip, and forward infrastructure and economic development. Rather than ushering in a government led by the Conservative Party, the Emperor had appointed the leading Conservative "to lead a non-partisan reform administration to realize material developments".
Paraná appointed politicians who had few, or no, links to the saquaremas to fill the new cabinet's ministry portfolios. These men were more loyal to the Emperor than to the party, or were too new to the Conservative Party to have formed close ties with the older saquarema establishment, or were simply former Liberals who had defected to the Conservatives following the Praieira revolt in the late 1840s. Two former Liberals found seats in the cabinet, including Paranhos, for whom Paraná secured a seat in the Chamber of Deputies.
Other nominations went to those saquaremas whose personal fealty to Pedro II was paramount. Among these was Caxias, with whom Paraná had developed a working relationship and then a close friendship. The resulting "Conciliation cabinet" owed its chief loyalties to the Pedro II and Paraná, rather than to the Conservative Party. The cabinet thus represented a break with the Reactionary views of the old Party of Order, albeit under a party banner which still included members of the old guard.
Struggle over electoral reform
Formed in late 1853, the Conciliation cabinet faced the Parliament only when it gathered in May 1854. Paraná presented a bill to reform the Code of Criminal Procedure, which had been previously reformed in 1841. In search of support, Paraná went as far as to aid Liberal candidates in the 1854 provincial elections. The opposition by most saquaremas to this judicial reform was so fierce that a year later, in 1855, Paraná (who had been raised from Viscount to Marquis in late 1854) backed down and implicitly withdrew the bill.Almost concurrently, he presented a project of electoral reform which also was vehemently opposed by saquaremas. Needell states that the saquaremas "had seen him, one of their own chieftains, pick a cabinet of relatively weak men, men he could dominate. They saw an explicit attack on party government and party deals, using patronage alone to secure support. They saw that the loyalty of the ministers was principally toward Paraná, the Emperor, and a non-partisan approach to patronage (which ipso facto, undercut their party and strengthened the cabinet)." Saquaremas found it harder to accept the cabinet's aid being diverted, in an attempt to secure more support for cabinet initiatives, from themselves to Liberal candidates in provincial and general elections.
During his time in Pernambuco (1849–1850), Paraná had experienced first-hand how the party's principles were seen as irrelevant and ignored at local and provincial levels. A cabinet could gain the backing of local bosses for its national candidates using patronage alone. Paraná did not need the support from the saquaremas; he could find it elsewhere. Throughout his life, Paraná managed to set aside past grievances when doing so could further opportune alliances. As Eusébio said of Paraná, "like all men of strong temperament, he tends more to exaggerate his generosity towards his conquered enemies than in accommodations to conquering friends."
Apogee and unexpected death
The electoral reform had given Paraná unassailable dominance over the cabinet and in parliament. By September 1855, with the sole exception of the Emperor, Paraná had become the most prominent figure in the empire. He was nicknamed El Rei Honório (Honório the King) by his foes. However, he would not live long to enjoy his supremacy. At the end of August 1856, enraged by an offensive speech by Pedro de Araújo Lima, Marquis of Olinda
Pedro de Araújo Lima, Marquis of Olinda
Pedro de Araújo Lima, the Marquis of Olinda Pedro de Araújo Lima, the Marquis of Olinda Pedro de Araújo Lima, the Marquis of Olinda (Sirinhaem, 22 December 1793 — Rio de Janeiro, 7 June 1870, was a statesman and monarchist during the period of the Empire of Brazil (1822–1889). His long political...
(former regent in the late 1830s) in the Senate, Paraná rose from his bench to respond. As he spoke, Paraná fell to the ground in pain. Days passed and his condition worsened. On 3 September 1856, at 07:15 in the morning, he died. In a fever-induced delirium, Paraná believed himself to be still delivering a speech to Olinda. His last words were, "Skepticism ... the noble senator ... fatherland ... freedom." The exact cause of Paraná's death was never established. Doctors could not agree whether the illness was a consequence of hepatitis
Hepatitis
Hepatitis is a medical condition defined by the inflammation of the liver and characterized by the presence of inflammatory cells in the tissue of the organ. The name is from the Greek hepar , the root being hepat- , meaning liver, and suffix -itis, meaning "inflammation"...
, pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
, disease in the liver, lungs or intestines, or something else.
Pedro II lamented the death of Paraná, saying, "I can see no one else possessed of the energy with which the late Marquis was endowed, and joined to it uncommon talents, even if they were unpolished." His death had a profound impact on the government and the Brazilian people. He was honored with a grand funeral procession attended by a huge crowd, a rare event in Brazil at that time. His remains were interred in the Cemitério São João Batista
Cemitério São João Batista
Cemitério São João Batista is a private cemetery in the neighborhood of Botafogo, Rio de Janeiro owned and operated by the Santa Casa da Misericórdia do Rio de Janeiro a charitable organization with a Catholic identity founded by the Portuguese]] in Rio during the colonial era...
(Cemetery of Saint John the Baptist) in Rio de Janeiro city.
Legacy
By the early 1850s, Paraná had seen both his main foes – Aureliano Coutinho and Feijó – and their political factions fall into oblivion, while he rose to power. Eusébio, his main rival within the Conservative Party, had attempted to rally the saquaremas against his project, and failed. Eusébio and Paraná carried on their power struggle during debates in the Senate, and in the end, Paraná emerged victorious. His success came at the expense of his weakened and deeply divided party. Just as serious were the consequences of the Law of the Circles. In theory, Paraná's initiatives for judicial and electoral reform would have ensured fairer elections, since they aimed at curtailing the corrupting influence political parties had on elections. In practice, however, the opposite happened; tampering by parties was merely replaced by greater interference by the cabinet. Paraná probably knew that the reform, as enacted, had the potential to do more harm than good, as it gave him unprecendented control over national politics. According to Needell, "Paraná might well have seen the cabinet and its victory as his personal vindication before the party rivals and his monarch, his political triumph after the dismissal of 1844 and the second-rank status and saquarema disrespect of 1850."Since his death, Paraná has been widely praised by historians and others for his political achievements, although the detrimental consequences of the electoral reform in his Conciliation cabinet were generally ignored by historians until recent years. This oversight can be seen in the writings of many renowned writers and historians since the 19th century cabinet. Conservative politician and writer José de Alencar
José de Alencar
José Martiniano de Alencar was a Brazilian lawyer, politician, orator, novelist and dramatist. He is one of the most famous writers of the first generation of Brazilian Romanticism, writing historical, regionalist and Indianist romances — being the most famous The Guarani...
called Paraná a "distinguished statesman". Writer Joaquim Manuel de Macedo
Joaquim Manuel de Macedo
Joaquim Manuel de Macedo was a Brazilian novelist, doctor, teacher, poet, playwright and journalist, famous for the romance A Moreninha.He is the patron of the 20th chair of the Brazilian Academy of Letters.-Life:...
said that "the marquis of Paraná was a politician well suited to the great State crises, and to a time of most difficult and contentious political strife." Joaquim Nabuco
Joaquim Nabuco
Joaquim Aurélio Barreto Nabuco de Araújo was a Brazilian writer, statesman, and a leading voice in the abolitionist movement of his country.-Biography:...
, who viewed him a statesman, summarized his character as that of a man "made not only to dominate, but also to lead." Euclides da Cunha
Euclides da Cunha
Euclides da Cunha was a Brazilian writer, sociologist and engineer. His most important work is Os Sertões , a non-fictional account of the military expeditions promoted by the Brazilian government against the rebellious village of Canudos, known as the War of Canudos...
, who also called him a statesman, labeled him a "great man" who "demarcates a decisive stretch in our [Brazilian] Constitutional History".
Many historians praised Paraná. Maurílio de Gouveia regarded him as a statesman who revealed "himself to posterity as an example of tenacity, energy, patriotism and honor". To Heitor Lyra, Paraná "was one of the pillars responsible for the political stability of Pedro II's reign. His policy of conciliation ended a period of rebellions, and led to the appearance of a new generation of monarchist politicians raised "in the school of tolerance, mutual respect and public interest"; which produced "the constitutional environment where the two great [political] parties of the Monarchy would take turns [in power] without excluding each other." Fernando da Cruz Gouvêa called him an "authentic statesman". Aldo Janotti considered Paraná, alongside Vasconcelos, as responsible for the maintenance of Brazilian unity and preventing its territorial dismemberment. "Of all politicians of imperial Brazil, it is without a doubt," said historian Hélio Viana, "Honório Hermeto Carneiro Leão, Marquis of Paraná, the one who deserves to be called statesman". Ronaldo Vainfas considered him one of the greatest statesmen in Brazilian imperial history.
Titles and honours
Nobility
- Viscount of Paraná on 26 June 1852.
- Marquis of Paraná on 2 December 1854.
Other
- Member of the Brazilian Council of StatePrivy councilA privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a nation, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the monarch's closest advisors to give confidential advice on...
. - Member of the Brazilian Historic and Geographic InstituteBrazilian Historic and Geographic InstituteThe Brazilian Historic and Geographic Institute , founded October 21, 1838, is the oldest and traditional authority to promote research and preservation of historical and geographical, cultural and social sciences in Brazil....
. - Provedor (steward) of the Santa Casa de Misericórdia (Holy House of Mercy) in Rio de Janeiro city (1854–1856).
Honours
- Grand Cross of the Brazilian Order of ChristOrder of Christ (Brazil)The Imperial Order of Our Lord Jesus Christ , simply named Order of Christ, is an order of chivalry instituted by emperor Pedro I of Brazil on 7 December 1822, on the basis of the Portuguese Order of Christ founded by King Dom Dinis and Pope John XXII in 1316-1319. Knights of the Order of Christ...
awarded on 18 March 1851. - Grand Cross of the Portuguese Order of the Immaculate Conception of Vila ViçosaOrder of the Immaculate Conception of Vila ViçosaThe Order of the Immaculate Conception of Vila Viçosa is an dynastic order of knighthood of the House of Braganza, the former Portuguese Royal Family...
awarded on 26 January 1856. - Grand Cross of the Russian Order of the White Eagle.
- Officer of the Brazilian Order of the Southern CrossOrder of the Southern CrossThe National Order of the Southern Cross is a Brazilian order of chivalry founded by Emperor Pedro I on 1 December 1822. This order was intended to commemorate the independence of Brazil and the coronation of Pedro I...
awarded on 10 August 1841. - Officer of the Brazilian Order of the RoseOrder of the RoseThe Imperial Order of the Rose is an Brazilian order of chivalry, instituted by Emperor Pedro I of Brazil on 17 October 1829 to commemorate his marriage to Amélie of Leuchtenberg....
.
Endnotes
- Caxias' wife, Ana Luísa de Loreto Carneiro Viana, was the granddaughter of Brás Carneiro Leão, a powerful and extremely rich merchant in late 18th and early 19th century Brazil. Brás was a distant relation to Honório's father, although genealogists are not entirely sure how they are related.
- The name saquarema used to denote members of the Party of Order (and later of the Conservative Party) was derived from the town of SaquaremaSaquaremaSaquarema is a town and a municipality located in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro. Its population was 61,591 and its area is 355 km². It is located almost 100 km east of Rio de Janeiro...
in Rio de Janeiro province. Joaquim Rodrigues Torres, Viscount of ItaboraíJoaquim Rodrigues Torres, Viscount of ItaboraíJoaquim Rodrigues Torres, the Viscount of Itaboraí was a Brazilian politician and monarchist during the period of the Empire of Brazil ....
, one of the party's founders and leaders, owned lands nearby and the region was a well-known base of support for the Conservative Party. - Honório and his colleagues defended liberalismLiberalismLiberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
, state authority and a representative parliamentary monarchy. However, they argued that the liberalism as preached in the United States and Europe could not simply be copied. Liberalism had to be adapted to the Brazilian situation to be successful—hence the notion of exceptionalismExceptionalismExceptionalism is the perception that a country, society, institution, movement, or time period is "exceptional" in some way and thus does not need to conform to normal rules or general principles...
. - The earliest minister in Brazilian political history since the country's independence regarded as the head of a cabinet was José Bonifácio de Andrada, in 1822. Others followed intermittently, such as Honório himself in 1832, Diogo Antônio Feijó in 1831 and Bernardo Pereira de Vasconcelos in 1837. In 1843, Honório not only led the cabinet, but also named the other ministers (with the emperor's oversight), which was unprecedented.
- Honório wrote to Eusébio de Queirós: "The majority of the property-holders seem to me not to support the [Praieiro] party, but I note with disappointment that a good part of them are guided by a sentiment of vengeance, of pride, of personal interest, and they do not sincerely adhere to the principles of order, and even that they are capable of disturbing order, if not rebelling, by carrying out acts of oppression and violence that make them resemble a sort of feudal aristocracy... Not to speak of the hinterland, where authority and justice have no impact at all, small is the impact that they have in the districts near the coast as well, populated by sugar planters... Almost all the country and local magistrates of this province are men without education, without energy, without impact, subordinated and intimidated by the powerful and without means to do justice impartially. With such auxiliaries it seems impossible to improve the state of the province and even with good magistrates this is not going to be quick work..."
- Rodrigues Torres was, along with Honório and Vasconcelos, one of the main founders of what would later become the Conservative Party. However, Vasconcelos was elected general deputy in the legislature that began in 1826, Honório in 1830 and Rodrigues Torres in 1834 (although he had been Minister of the Navy from 1832 until 1834), which made the latter younger, in politics, than the other two.
- Around the time Honório became the head of the cabinet in 1853, the members of the Party of Order started to call themselves conservatives because they intended to "conserve" the order (which they equated to representative, parliamentary monarchy) that they had created after years of anarchy.