Princess Isabel and the Emperor Pedro II: Imperial Power in the Hands of the Abolitionist Regent of Brazil, 1888

James McMurtry Longo, Ed.D. Washington and Jefferson College Washington, Pennsylvania 15301

Prepared for delivery at the 2001 meeting of the Latin American Studies Association, Washington, DC September 6-8, 2001

LASA Conference 2001

Princess Isabel and the Emperor Pedro II: Imperial Power in the Hands of the Abolitionist Regent of Brazil, 1888

January 1887, the forty-one year old abolitionist Princess Imperial of Brazil left Rio de Janeiro for an extended trip to Europe (Barman, 331). The mood was somber. Political enemies determined to maintain Brazilian slavery at all costs were firmly in control of the national and provincial governments (Toplin, 190). Newspapers declared that the abolitionist movement was dead (Ibid, 109-110). During the nearly fifty-year reign of Emperor Pedro II, Isabel's father had carefully avoided directly attacking the institution of slavery permeating Brazil's sixty-five year old constitutional monarchy. Dom Pedro had nudged, suggested, lead by personal example but consistently sidestepped direct unequivocal political intervention against the slavery he personally abhorred (Williams, 264-265). Even his cautious maneuverings toward abolition had ended in "lamentations and aggressive demonstrations" causing him to be derisively labeled as "the emperor of the Negroes and Indians" (Kaiser, 338). Many had come to believe that slavery would outlive the emperor even if the monarchy did not. In May, Princess Isabel was called back to Brazil due to the emperor's sudden failing health (Barman, 333). Doctors hoped a trip to Europe might save his life and Pedro II departed June 30, 1887 leaving Isabel as acting head of state (Ibid, 335). It was the third time in sixteen years that she had served as regent for her absent father (Rio News, June 15, 1887, p2). In her previous two regencies Isabel had carefully followed in her father’s footsteps implementing his desired policies and doing his political bidding. During her first regency in 1871 she had represented her father as the General Assembly debated the controversial proposal to free the children born of all slaves. This Law of the Free Womb signed by Princess Regent Isabel in her father’s name was the first major legislation curtailing Brazilian slavery since 1850 (Williams, 270-271). Six years later in 1876 Isabel once again served as regent. The Emperor’s confidence in his daughter was such that when he returned to Brazil he issued the following statement. “I want it to be known that throughout my entire journey of eighteen months I did not sent to H.H. (Her Highness), the Regent or to any of the ministers a single telegram on the country’s affairs (Barman, 287). Isabel had regularly kept her father informed about events in Brazil but her father did not feel compelled to direct, contradict or even discuss her political decisions in his absence. Unlike many monarchies where a separate court gathered around the heir apparent second-guessing or offering political alternatives to the existing monarch’s policies, neither the princess nor her father competed with each other for power. By 1887 however ill health, age and weariness had slowed the emperor's political agenda. The last major unfinished business of Emperor Dom Pedro’s reign was the total abolition of Brazilian slavery. Some considered Isabel's third regency the last best chance to legally end slavery in Brazil (Trochim, 125). The first nine months of Isabel’s regency, the Princess Regent was engaged in a political duel with her prime minister over the slavery question. Prime Minister Cotegipe was the leader of the Conservative majority in the General Assembly and the primary spokesman for Brazil's slavocratic planter class. The prime minister was deeply committed to maintaining the institution of slavery while Isabel had become convinced it needed to end (Toplin, 196/239-240).

Princess Regent Isabel was helped in her emancipationist quest by a broad shift in public opinion in favor of abolition. There were a number of factors that reinvigorated Brazil's abolitionist crusade. In part Cotegipe's own repressive and reactionary policies helped to energize his political opponents and ordinary citizens (Toplin, 191-193 / Barman, 326 / 336). Isabel's regency may not have been the catalyst for the abolitionist wave that swept her nation but it played a significant, some might say dominant role, in fulfilling her father's dream of a slaveless Brazil. Toward the end of his long political life, Pedro II reflected that he had learned to trust few men and only one woman- his daughter Isabel (Bernstein, 15). After the death of her two brothers, four-year-old Princess Isabel had been officially recognized as her father's successor by a unanimous vote of Brazil's General Assembly in 1850 (Vieira, Hermes, 26). Ten years later on her fourteenth birthday in 1860 she publicly pledged allegiance to her father and the nation's constitution before the elite of the Brazilian Empire and its entire elected General Assembly (Abril Cultural, 621). After that year, the Princess Imperial did the political bidding of her father in many large and small ways including her regencies in 1871-1872 and 1876-1877 while he traveled abroad (Bernstein, 130 / 191). Among his contemporary monarchs the faith and trust the emperor of Brazil placed in his daughter and heir was unique. Not once during their equally long reigns did Queen Victoria or Emperor Franz Joseph allow their heirs to act as regents or be privy to important government documents. In the Brazil of Pedro II, Princess Isabel was appointed a member of his advisory Council of State in 1870 when she was just twenty-four years old (Williams, 291). Part of the trust Pedro II placed in his daughter may have been because they both strongly believed in constitutional government (Calmon, 78) (Longo, 92). Their greatest political legacy to Brazil may have been their service as constitutional monarchs on a continent not rich in the constitutional tradition. A long time critic of the monarchy became a dedicated monarchist after serving in Princess Isabel's last regency. He reported his experience taught him it was the best system for "promoting the cult of the constitution" (Barman, 403). The other legacy father and daughter wished to leave their nation was the legal peaceful abolition of slavery within a constitutional framework. It was a difficult task because the government was firmly in the control of the conservative planters who were the country's wealthiest and most powerful people. To such planters, slavery was the very foundation of their social and economic position in Brazilian society (Toplin, 134 - 136). Shortly after Princess Isabel assumed the regency, serious cracks began appearing in the foundations of Brazilian slavery (Barman, 337) (Toplin, 223). By September and October growing numbers of slaves refused to work the land and began fleeing to the safety and anonymity of Brazil's cities (Toplin, 206 - 208). In Santos, women began blocking police officers from capturing runaway slaves (Graham, 134). Individual judges began agreeing with abolitionist lawyers and refused to return escaped slaves to former owners (Graham, 135). Even a few clergy in the conservative Catholic Church began to question slavery in pastoral letters or from the pulpit (Toplin, 234). Despite such spontaneous eruptions the conservative government retained a clear majority of votes in the General Assembly. In the two years since Baron Cotegipe had become Prime Minister, his ministry firmly defeated five separate proposals for the gradual abolition of slavery (Toplin, 238).

Although the party continued to retain its majority in the General Assembly provincial elections saw the defeat of several important Conservative Party stalwarts. Baron Cotegipe had earlier stated that "as long as the crown and the country represented by the chambers " supported him no single election or vote could dislodge him (Rio News, Oct 24, 1887. p2). Princess Isabel however used the opportunity of his election losses to summon Cotegipe for a conference. She warned him that with popular opposition growing she doubted his ministry could survive unless he changed his stubborn resistance to abolition (Toplin, 236). Cotegipe respectfully disagreed. Princess Isabel kept her father informed of the escalating turmoil. In December 1887 she wrote the emperor about the growing number of Sao Paulo planters who had begun to issue conditional abolition to their slaves. “It would be good if everyone copied the example of the Sao Paulo planters! Rio de Janeiro is currently very resistant, but sooner or later it will be forced to do the same as the rest” (Barman, 338). In January Princess Isabel again summoned Cotegipe to the palace. At that meeting she strongly criticized his reactionary campaign against the growing abolitionist movement in São Paulo. Isabel told Cotegipe she felt the government risked, "losing the respect of the people" which could be disastrous for constitutional government in Brazil (Trochim, 126). The Princess Regent also warned Cotegipe that if a peaceful resolution to the national crisis was not found soon, she could no longer remain neutral (Ibid, 126). Ouro Preto, Recife and other cities had become de facto sanctuaries for runaway slaves and breakdowns in law and order erupted across the provinces of Pernambuco, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo (Toplin, 224). Cotegipe's ministry redoubled their efforts to control the situation (Ibid, 224). Events in the coffee growing province of Sao Paulo were especially important to watch. That province had replaced the sugar growing plantations of the north and the mineral rich province of Minas Gerais as the economic engine driving the Brazilian economy. Two thirds of Brazil’s remaining slaves were found on the coffee booming plantations of Sao Paulo causing Jose de Patrocinio to call the province “the strong fortress of the heinous slavism” (Toplin, 202). In the capital city of Rio de Janeiro one of the most polarizing targets of the government's anti-slavery crackdown was chief of police Joao Coelho Bastos. On February 27th Bastos' police were involved in a police brutality incident involving the severe beating of a drunken navy officer. The event sparked massive protests and riots in Rio de Janeiro (Hahner, 24). One newspaper wrote, "The murderous affray… again raises the question of how much security for life and property (our) authorities… are really giving us" (Rio News, March 5, 1888, p2). At a cabinet meeting on March 7th, Princess Isabel asked Cotegipe to dismiss Bastos, but he refused (Trochim, 41). To his surprise the Princess Regent asked for the Prime Minister's own resignation (Barman, 341) (Silveira de Queiroz, 115). People expressed amazement that "a police scandal knocked the wind out of the Cotegipe ministry." (Rio News, May 5. 1888, p4) but privately Baron Cotegipe and the Princess Imperial confided their "opposing views on slavery" the actual cause for his dismissal (Trochim, 41-42) Isabel wrote her father that she did not regret what she had done. She explained. “Sooner or later I would have done it; I confess that a blind irritation took command of me, and in conscience I could not continue with a ministry that I personally felt and was convinced did not meet the country’s aspirations in the present circumstances” (Barman, 341). Following Cotegipes' dismissal Brazil seemed teetering on the very verge of a nervous breakdown. Whether by accident or design the fact that parliament was not in session at the time gave Princess Isabel unprecedented influence in shaping the new ministry and any abolition law

it would sponsor and support. The Princess Regent was now in the powerful position of having an "active and decisive" role in ending Brazilian slavery (Nabuca, 164). Her task would not be easy. She was faced with the challenge of reassuring Brazil's powerful and uneasy traditionalists at the very time she wanted the government to break with its slave dependent past. Her selection of a prime minister able to do both was essential if she had any chance for passing an effective abolition law. The Princess Regent especially desired a candidate who would be a member of the majority Conservative Party with strong ties to the allimportant pro-slavery province of Sao Paulo (Trochim, 126). With the Conservative Party still controlling the General Assembly Isabel wanted someone with strong roots in that party to rally support for her own position. She refused to consider a member of the opposition Liberal Party or any radical or longtime abolitionist because they were in the parliamentary minority. The Princess Regent knew that no opposition leader would be able to find the common ground with the conservative majority she needed to secure peaceful abolition (Ibid, 127). The man that she persuaded to accept the challenge of convincing his Conservative Party members to constitutionally end slavery in Brazil was Joao Alfredo Correia de Oliveira. Alfredo was a late convert to the abolitionist cause and a past president of the Province of São Paulo. The harsh reality of his nation's mounting political turmoil and the genuine threat to the breakdown of law and order helped him conclude the only way to bring peace to Brazil was to embrace emancipation (Ibid, 237). Princess Isabel's selection of Joao Alfredo as Prime Minister in March of 1888 without splintering the Conservative Party caused the Rio News to admirably note. "This was a task of no slight difficulty as the transfer of power from one section to another of the same party, where no rupture has yet occurred would be sure to arouse violent jealousies and perhaps open opposition. The task was accomplished successfully "(Rio News, March 15, 1888, p.2). Once Joao Alfredo became Prime Minister, Princess Regent Isabel used all the power and prestige of the monarchy to bring about abolition. Her leadership converted many former opponents to the monarchist cause including vitriolic Republican editor Jose Patrocinio. In 1890 he told Joaquim Nabuca. "My dear Nabuca! You well know the whole truth. It was she who accomplished abolition, she alone!"(Nabuco, 72). As the time approached for the Brazilian parliament to open Isabel concluded that abolition must be dealt with immediately and that it must be done without compensation to those slave owners who had resisted emancipation until its final end. Several factors influenced her decision. Princess Isabel, like her father, was a fiscal conservative. Isabel knew that there was no money in the national treasury to pay owners for freeing their slaves (Toplin, 251). The Princess Regent also viewed such a costly expenditure as having no practical or constructive impact on Brazil’s agricultural economy. Neither she nor her father was nostalgic or sentimental regarding a past that no longer served the future of Brazil. This was especially true when it came to paying the debts of planters many of whom remained the most resistant to modernizing their farming techniques. Baron Cotegipe proposed compensating all planters who freed their slaves after May 1, 1888 ignoring the fact that by that date many planters had already freed thousands of slaves Toplin, 252). Princess Isabel believed that free labor and a free market economy would reward the most efficient planters and that abolition would strengthen not weaken Brazil’s economy. Time

would prove her economic projections correct. Despite dire warnings by reactionary elements abolition did little to disrupt the annual coffee harvest in 1888 or disturb in any appreciable way the expanding coffee markets in the years ahead (Toplin, 248). Isabel used the annual speech from the throne in May of 1888 to ask for "the extinction of the servile element through the influence of national sentiment" (Williams, 283). She ended her speech by saying. "I have confidence that you will respond to that which Brazil expects of you" (Rio News, May 5, 1888, p2). It was a last appeal to the conservative legislators to recognize and respond positively to the dramatic shift in public opinion of the majority of Brazilians. The newspaper Novidades angrily wrote. "There is no one who does not see that the Princess Isabel is the one who is decreeing abolition; there is no one who does not perceive the large part she is playing… "(Trochim, 128). Many friends and foes agreed. Liberal abolitionist legislator Joaquim Nabuca left the legislative chambers during the debates over the proposed abolition law and "led a bravo to the Imperial Princess" to large waiting crowds (Nabuca, 168). Sunday May 13, 1888 the Princess Regent left Petropolis traveling by special train to Rio de Janeiro to be able to sign the abolition bill as soon as it passed the General Assembly. That day she placed her signature on the short seventeen-word document ending over three hundred years of Brazilian slavery. She did so, "in the name of His Majesty Emperor Dom Pedro II" (Burns, 248). Princess Isabel was heard to say; "today would be one of the most beautiful in my life if I did know my father to be ill" (Barman, 341). She immediately sent a telegram to the emperor. "… Adopted the golden law on the 13th of May 1888 and proclaimed it amid the greatest jubilation… with love and gratitude.” She signed the telegram, “your obedient daughter Isabel” (Kaiser, 340). In Europe with the emperor near death the empress informed her husband. He quickly asked that a telegram of congratulations be forwarded to the Princess Regent affectionately addressing her as "Redemptrous" (Brown, 239 / Abril Cultural, 104). A steady and dramatic recovery of the emperor's health began almost from the instant he heard of the abolition (Williams, 286). In August 1888 Pedro II returned to Rio de Janeiro to resume his duties as emperor serving until a military coup ended Brazil's constitutional monarchy in November 1889. Neither Pedro II or Princess Isabel were able to save Brazil's constitutional monarchy but by legally ending slavery within the legal guidelines of the existing government they validated and legitimized public support for the national governments that followed (Toplin, 246) (Toplin, 655). They also presented a remarkable and unique political partnership that even during their lifetime was little understood, studied or appreciated (Longo, 93-94). Today, perhaps more than at any other time in history, their political alliance is worth further exploration and research.

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