Page:The Forgotten in the Independence Process.pdf/17

Lucia Maria Bastos Pereira das Neves The forgotten in the independence process: a history to be made

Almanack, Guarulhos, n. 25, ef00220, 2020 http://doi.org/10.1590/2236-463325ef00220

to justify the need for Brazil to remain united to the old metropolis, transform the Portuguese liberals into radical Jacobins, with the evident effect of intensifying animosity already present against the Courts.

Thus, several Portuguese writers opposed to the split between Brazil and Portugal brought to light the fear of a slave revolt, such as José Liberato de Carvalho, editor of O Campeão Português em Lisboa.^[1] In his point view, the possibility of independence at that time was a premature idea, since not all provinces were in agreement with this separation, which could lead to fatal dangers. Brazil’s new government would be weak and fragile, because there were “natural barriers” that separated the provinces and the possibility of a civil war, which could easily break up the country. This civil war, in the opinion of O Campeão, would depopulate and ruin all the riches of Brazil’s precious agriculture. In addition, it would expose Brazil to the most fatal of all dangers, which is to pass from master to slave; or to have these same African and black slaves for masters, which for the moment can only contain supported by the ancient and venerated aegis of the power of Portugal. Indeed, those who, as Brazil currently have such powerful political gangrene within them, cannot, in their perfect judgment or even with the smallest love of the country, expose themselves to the dire danger of having their beautiful country reduced to a barbaric colony of black Africans^[2].

And, to better elucidate his opinions, he cited Haiti’s “terrible example”, trying to spread a social fear among the ruling elites, who lived in a country in which “there are at least six slaves for one master”^[3].

17

Forum

1. O CAMPEÃO PORTUGUÊS OU O AMIGO DO POVO E DO REI CONSTITUCIONAL. Lisboa,v. 1, 1822.
2. Ibidem.
3. Ibidem. Cf. MENEZES, Francisco d’Alpuim. Portugal e o Brazil: observações politicas aos últimos acontecimentos do Brazil. Rio de Janeiro: Imp. Nacional, 1822, p. 14, my emphasis: “Quem lhe afiançaria que o pavoroso flagelo da anarquia, esta assoladora peste das sociedades, não arvorava o seu negro pavilhão?”.