by Edmund Burke
All this happened in a country, which abounded with men of capacity as much as any state in Europe, and often with men of great capacity at it’s head. But their talents took a wrong turn; their politics were always more abroad than at home; more employed in weakening their neighbours, than in strengthening themselves. They were wise in the concerns of foreign courts; they were satisfied with being formal in their own domestic business. They relied too much upon their riches; and the whble state, being moulded into a system of corruption from the top to the bottom, things grew at last so bad, that the evils themselves became a sort of remedies; and they felt so severely the consequences of their former conduct, that they have for some years past turned their thoughts into a very good channel; and they may in time, and with perseverance, rise again, whilst others shall fall, by adopting the abuses which brought them to ruin.
At present the politics of Spain, with regard to America, seem to be; to preserve South America, and particularly the navigation of the South-Seas, as much as possible to themselves; to destroy effectually the counterband trade, and to encourage the export of their own manufactures. Of us they have long shewn a remarkable jealousy; a much greater than of the French, whom they see quietly settling in the neighbourhood of New Mexico; and who are growing certainly in the West-Indies in a far greater degree than we are. I shall not pretend to account for this distinction.
PART IV. The Portuguese Settlements.
CHAP. I.
IT is very rare that any material discovery, whether in the arts, in philosophy, or in navigation, has been owing to efforts made dirctly for that partreicular purpose, and determined by the force of reasonings a priori. The first hints are owing to accident; and discoveries in one kind present themselves voluntarily to us, whilst we are in search of what flies from us in some other. The discovery of America by Columbus was owing originally to a just reasoning on the figure of the earth; though the particular land he discovered was far enough from that which he sought. Here was a mixture of wise design and fortunate accident; but the Portuguese discovery of Brazil may be considered as merely accidental. For sailing with a considerable armament to India, by the way of the Cape of Good Hope, but standing out to sea to avoid the calms upon the coast of Africa, the Portuguese fleet fell in upon the continent of South America. Upon their return they made so favourable a report of the land they had discovered, that the court resolved to send a colony thither. And accordingly made their first establishment; but in a very bad method, in which it were to be wished they had never been imitated. This was by banishing thither a number of criminals of all kinds. This blended an evil disposition with the first principles of the colony, and made the settlement infinitely difficult by the disorders inseperable from such people, and the offence which they gave the original inhabitants. This settlement met some interruption too from the court of Spain, who considered the country as within their dominions. However, matters were accommodated by a treaty, in which it was agreed, that the Portuguese should possess all that tract of land that lies between the river Maranon, or of the Amazons, and the river Plate.
When their right was thus confirmed, the Portuguese pursued the settlement with great vigour. Large grants were made to those who were inclined to become adventurers; and almost all the nobility of Portugal proured interests in a country which promised such great advantages. The natives were in most parts subdued, and the improvement of the colony advanced apace. The crown in a little time became attentive to so valuable an acquisition; the government was new modelled, many of the exorbitant grants recalled, and all things settled upon so advantageous a footing, that the whole sea coast, upwards of two thousand miles, was in some measure settled, to the honour of the industry and courage of the first planters, and infinitely to the benefit of the mother country. The Portuguese conquests on the coast of Africa forwarded this establishment, by the number of negroes it afforded them for their works; and this was the first introduction of negroes into America, of which at present they form a large part of the inhabitants.
In the very meridian of their prosperity, when the Portuguese were in possession of so extensive an empire, and so flourishing a trade in Africa, in Arabia, in India, in the isles of Asia, and in one of the most valuable parts of America, they were struck down by one of those incidents, that at one blow, in a critical time, decides the fate of kingdoms. Don Sebastian, one of their greatest princes, in an expedition he had undertaken against the Moors, lost his life; and by that accident the Portuguese lost their liberty, being absorbed into the Spanish dominions.
Soon after this misfortune, the same yoke that galled the Portuguese, grew so intolerable to the inhabitants of the Netherlands, that they threw it off with great fury and indignation. Not satisfied with erecting themselves into an independent state, and supporting their independency by a successful defensive war, flushed with the juvenile ardor of a growing commonwealth, they pursued the Spaniards into the remotest recesses of their extensive territories, and grew rich, powerful, and terrible, by the spoils of their former masters. Principally, they fell upon the possessions of the Portuguese; they took almost all their fortresses in the East-Indies, not sufficiently defended by the inert policy of the court of Spain; and then turned their arms upon Brazil, unprotected from Europe, and betrayed by the cowardice of the governor of the then principal city. And they would have overrun the whole, if Don Michael de Texeira, the archbishop, descended from one of the noblest families in Portugal, and of a spirit superior to his birth, had not believed, that in such an emergency, the danger of his country superseded the common obligations of his profession. He took arms, and at the head of his monks, and a few scattered forces, put a stop to the torrent of the Dutch conquest. He made a gallant stand until succours arrived; and then resigned the commission with which the public necessity and his own virtue had armed him, into the hands of a person appointed by authority. By this stand he saved seven of the captainships, or provinces, out of fourteen, into which Brazil is divided; the rest fell into the hands of the Dutch, who conquered and kept them with a bravery and conduct, which would de+serve more applause; if it had been governed by humanity.
The famous captain, prince Maurice of Nassau, was the person to whom the Dutch owed this conquest, the establishment of their colony there, and that advantageous peace which secured them in it. But as it is the genius of all mercantile people to desire a sudden profit in all their designs; and as this colony was not under the immediate inspection of the States, but subject to the company called the West-India company, from principles narrowed up by avarice and mean notions, they grudged that the present profits of the colony should be sacrificed to it’s future security. They found, that the prince kept up more troops, and erected more fortresses, than they thought necessary to their safety; and that he lived in a grander manner than they thought became one in their service. They imagined that a little official oeconomy was the principal quality necessary to form a great conqueror and politician; and therefore they were highly displeased with their governor prince Maurice, whom they treated in such a manner as obliged him to resign.
Now their own schemes took place. A reduction of the troops; the expence of fortications saved; the charge of a court retrenched; the debts of the company strictly exacted; their gains increased cent per cent, and every thing flourishing according to their best ideas of a flourishing state. But then, all this fine system in a short time ended in the total loss of all their capital, and the entire ruin of the West-India company. The hearts of subjects were lost by their penurious way of dealing, and the severity of their proceedings. The enemy in their neighbourhood was encouraged by the defenceless state of their frontiers, and both operated in such a manner, that Brazil was reconquered by the Portuguese; though after a struggle, in which the States exerted themselves vigorously; but with that aggravated expence, and that ill success, which always attends a late wisdom, and the patching up a blundering system of conduct. A standing lesson to those people who have the folly to imagine the
y consult the happiness of a nation, when by a pretended tenderness for some of it’s advantages, they neglect the only things that can support it, the cultivating the good opinion of the people, and the keeping up a proper force.
CHAP. II.
THE name of Brazil was given to this country, because it was observed to abound with a wood of that name. It extends all along a tract of fine sea coast upon the Atlantic ocean upwards of two thousand miles, between the river of Amazons on the North, and that of Plate on the South. To the Northward the climate is uncertain, hot, boisterous, and unwholsome. The country, both there, and even in more temperate parts, is annually overflowed. But to the Southward, beyond the tropic of Capricorn, and indeed a good way within it, there is no part of the world that enjoys a more serene and wholsome air; refreshed with the soft breezes of the ocean on one hand, and the cool breath of the mountains on the other. Hither several aged people from Portugal retire for their health, and protract their lives to a long and easy age.
In general, the soil is extremely fruitful, and was found very sufficient for the comfortable subsistence of the inhabitants, until the mines of gold and diamonds were discovered. These, with the sugar plantations, occupy so many hands, that agriculture lies neglected; and in consequence Brazil depends upon Europe for it’s daily bread.
The chief commodities which this country yields for a foreign market are, sugar, tobacco, hides, indigo, ipecacuanha, balsam of Copaibo, and brazil wood. The last article, as it in a more particular manner belongs to this country, to which it gives it’s name, and which produces it in the greatest perfection, it is not amiss to allow a very little room to the description of it. This tree generally flourishes in rocky and barren grounds, in which it grows to a great height, and considerable thickness. But a man who judges of the quantity of the timber, by the thickness of the tree, will be much deceived; for upon stripping off the bark, which makes a very large part of the plant, he will find from a tree as thick as his body, a log no more in compass than his leg. This tree is generally crooked, and knotty like the hawthorn, with long branches, and a smooth green leaf, hard, dry, and brittle. Thrice a year bunches of small flowers shoot out at the extremities of the branches, and between the leaves. These flowers are of a bright red, and of a strong aromatic and refreshing smell. The wood of this tree is of a red colour, hard and dry. It is used chiefly in dying red, but not a red of the best kind; and it has some place in medicine as a stomachic and restringent.
CHAP III,
THE trade of Brazil is very great, and it increases every year. Nor is this a wonder; since they have opportunities of supplying themselves with slaves for their several works, at a much easier and cheaper rate than any other European power, which has settlements in America. For they are the only European nation which has taken the pains to establish colonies in Africa. Those of the Portuguese are very considerable, both for their extent and the numbers of their inhabitants; and of course they have advantages in that trade which no other nation can have. For besides their large establishment on the Western shore of Africa, they claim the whole coast of Zanguebar on the Eastern side, which in part they possess; besides several other large territories, both on the coast and in the country; where several numerous nations acknowledge themselves their dependants or subjects. This is not only of great advantage to them, as it increases their shipping and seamen, and strengthens their commercial reputation, but as it leaves them a large field for their slave trade; without which, they could hardly ever supply, upon any tolerable terms, their settlements in Brazil, which carry off such numbers by the severity of the works, and the unwholsomeness of some part of the climate; nor could they otherwise extend their plantations, and open so many new mines as they do, to a degree which is astonishing.
I own I have often been surprized, that our African traders should chuse so contracted an object for their slave trade, which extends to little more than some part of the Gold coast, to Sierra Leone, and Gambia, and some other inconsiderable ports; by which they have depreciated their own commodities, and raised the price of slaves within these few years above thirty per cent. Nor is it to be wondered; as in the tract, in which they trade, they have many rivals; the people are grown too expert by the constant habit of European commerce; and the slaves in that part are in a good measure exhausted; whereas, if some of our vessels passed the Cape of Good Hope, and tried what might be done in Madagascar,or on those coasts which indeed the Portuguese claim, but do not, nor cannot hold, there is no doubt but that they would find the greater expence and length of time in passing the Cape, or the charge of licences which might be procured from the East-India company, amply compensated. Our African trade might then be considerably enlarged, our own manufactures extended, and our colonies supplied at an easier rate than they are at present, or are likely to be for the future, whilst we confine ourselves to two or three places, which we exhaust, and where we shall find the market dearer every day. The Portuguese from these settlements, and this extensive range, draw every year into Brazil between forty and fifty thousand slaves. On this trade all their other depends, and therefore they take great care to have it well supplied, for which purpose the situation of Brazil, nearer the coast of Africa than any other part of America, is very convenient; and it co-operates with the great advantages they derive from having colonies in both places.
Hence it is principally, that Brazil is the richest, most flourishing, and most growing establishment in all America. Their export of sugar within forty years is grown much greater than it was, though anciently it made almost the whole of their exportable produce, and they were without rivals in the trade. It is finer in kind than what any of ours, the French, or Spanish sugar plantations send us. Their tobacco too is remarkably good, though not raised in so large a quantity as in our colonies. The Northern and Southern part of Brazil abounds in horned cattle; these are hunted for their hides, of which no less than twenty thousand are sent annually into Europe.
The Portuguese were a considerable time possessed of their American empire, before they discovered the treasures of gold and diamonds, which have since made it so considerable. After the expulsion of the Dutch, the colony remained without much attention from the court of Portugal; until in 1685, a minister of great sagacity advised the then monarch to turn his thoughts to so valuable and considerable a part of his territories. He represented to him, that the climate in the bay of All Saints, where the capital stood, was of such a nature as to deaden the activity and industry of the people; but that the Northern and Southern extremities of Brazil in a more temperate climate, invited them to the cultivation of the country. The advice was taken. But because it was found that the insolence and tyranny of the native Portuguese always excited the hatred of the native Brazilians, and consequently obstructed the settlements, they were resolved to people the countries, which were now the object of their care, with those who are called Mestizes; that is, a race sprung from a mixture of Europeans and Indians, who they judged would behave better; and who, on account of their connection in blood, would be more acceptable to the Brazilians on the borders, who were not yet reduced. To compleat this design, they vested the government in the hands of priests, who acted each as governor in his own parish or district. And they had the prudence to chuse with great care such men as were proper for the work. The consequence of these wise regulations was soon apparent; for without noise or force, in fifteen years they not only settled the sea coast, but drawing in vast numbers of the natives, they spread themselves above an hundred miles more to the Westward than the Portuguese settlements had ever before extended. They opened several mines, which improved the revenues; the planters were easy, and several of the priests made no inconsiderable fortunes.
The fame of these new mines drew together a number of desperadoes and adventurers of all nations and colours, who not agreeing with the moderate and simple manners of the inhabitants of the new settlements, nor readily submitting to any order or restraint elsewhere, retired into a mountainous part of th
e country, but fertile enough, and rich in gold; where, by the accession of others in their own circumstances, they soon became a formidable and independent body, and for a long time defended the privileges they had assumed with great courage and policy. They were called Paulists, from the town and district called St. Paul, which was their head quarters. But as this odd commonwealth grew up in so unccountable a manner, so it perished in a manner altogether unknown in this part of the world. It is now heard of no longer. The king of Portugal is in full possession of the whole country; and the mines are worked by his subjects and their slaves, paying him a fifth. These mines have poured almost as much gold into Europe as the Spanish America had of silver.
