The War Of The End Of The World (22 page)

A United Brazil, A Strong Nation

JORNAL DE NOTÍCIAS

(Owner: Epaminondas Gonçalves)

Bahia, January 3, 1897

The Defeat of Major Febrônio de Brito’s Expedition
in the Hinterland of Canudos
New Developments

THE PROGRESSIVIST REPUBLICAN PARTY ACCUSES THE GOVERNOR AND THE BAHIA AUTONOMIST PARTY OF CONSPIRING AGAINST THE REPUBLIC TO
RESTORE THE OUTMODED IMPERIAL ORDER

The corpse of the “English agent”

Commission of Republicans journeys to Rio to seek intervention of Federal Army to put down rebellion of subversive fanatics

TELEGRAM OF PATRIOTS OF BAHIA TO COLONEL MOREIRA CÉSAR: “SAVE THE REPUBLIC!”

The defeat of the military expedition under the command of Major Febrônio de Brito and composed of troops from the Ninth, Twenty-sixth, and Thirty-third Infantry Battalions, and the growing signs of complicity between the English Crown and the landowners of the State of Bahia known to have ties to the Autonomist cause and nostalgic leanings, on the one hand, and the fanatics of Canudos, on the other, resulted on Friday evening in yet another stormy session of the Legislative Assembly of the State of Bahia.

Through its President, the Honorable Deputy Dom Epaminondas Gonçalves, the Progressivist Republican Party formally accused the governor of the State of Bahia, the Honorable Dom Luiz Viana, and the groups traditionally affiliated with the Baron de Canabrava—the former Minister of the Empire and former Ambassador of the Emperor Dom Pedro II to the British Crown—of having fomented the uprising in Canudos and of having furnished the rebels arms, thanks to the aid of England, with the aim of bringing about the fall of the Republic and the restoration of the monarchy.

The Deputies of the Progressivist Republican Party demanded that the Federal Government intervene immediately in the State of Bahia in order to snuff out what the Honorable Deputy Dom Epaminondas Gonçalves called “a seditious plot on the part of native bluebloods and the greed of Albion aimed against the sovereignty of Brazil.” Moreover, it was announced that a Commission made up of prominent figures of Bahia had departed for Rio de Janeiro to make representations to President Prudente de Morais concerning the public hue and cry in Bahia for troops of the Federal Army to be sent to wipe out Antônio Conselheiro’s subversive movement.

The Progressivist Republicans reminded the Assembly that two weeks have now passed since the defeat of the Brito expedition by rebels vastly superior in number and better armed, and that despite this fact, and despite the discovery in the hamlet of Ipupiará of a shipment of English rifles being delivered to Canudos and the corpse of the English agent Galileo Gall, the State authorities, beginning with His Excellency Governor Dom Luiz Viana, have demonstrated a suspect apathy and passivity by not having immediately called for the intervention of the Federal Army, as the patriots of Bahia are demanding, in order to put down this conspiracy that is threatening the very existence of the Brazilian nation.

The Vice-President of the Progressivist Republican Party, the Honorable Deputy Dom Eliseu de Roque, read a telegram sent to the hero of the Republican Army, the officer responsible for crushing the monarchist uprising in Santa Catarina and the eminent collaborator of Marshal Floriano Peixoto, Colonel Moreira César, the text of which consisted of the following terse message: “Come and save the Republic.” Despite the protests of the deputies of the majority, the Honorable Deputy read the names of the 325 heads of households and Salvador voters who had signed the telegram.

The Vice-President of the Autonomist Party and President of the Legislative Assembly, His Excellency Sir Adalberto de Gumúcio, declared that it was base calumny even to intimate that a man such as the Baron de Canabrava, a leading figure in Bahia, thanks to whom this State has roads, railways, bridges, charity hospitals, schools, and a multitude of public works, might be open to the accusation—leveled against him, moreover,
in absentia—
of conspiring against Brazilian sovereignty.

The Honorable Deputy Dom Floriano Mártir declared that the President of the Assembly preferred to bathe his kinsman and the head of his Party, the Baron de Canabrava, in incense rather than speak of the blood of soldiers shed in Uauá and on Monte Cambaio by degenerate Sebastianists or of the English arms seized in the interior or of the English agent Gall, whose corpse was discovered by the Rural Guard in Ipupiará. And the question was asked: “Is this sleight of hand perhaps due to the fact that these subjects make the Honorable President of the Assembly uncomfortable?” The Autonomist Party Deputy, the Honorable Dom Eduardo Glicério, declared that in their eagerness for power the Republicans invent Grand Guignol conspiracies, complete with albino-haired spies burned to cinders, that make them the laughingstock of sensible Bahians. And he posed the question: “Isn’t the Baron de Canabrava the prime victim of the rebellion of those merciless fanatics? Are they not occupying land on his estate?” He was thereupon interrupted by the Honorable Deputy Dom Dantas Horcadas, who declared: “And what if that land has not been usurped but willingly handed over to them?” The Honorable Deputy Dom Eduardo Glicério answered by asking the Honorable Deputy Dom Dantas Horcadas whether they hadn’t taught him at the Salesian Fathers’ school not to interrupt a gentleman while he is speaking. The Honorable Deputy Dom Dantas Horcadas replied immediately that he had no idea that a gentleman was speaking. The Honorable Deputy Dom Eduardo Glicério exclaimed that this insult would receive its answer on the field of honor unless apologies were forthcoming
ipso facto
. The President of the Assembly, His Excellency Sir Adalberto de Gumúcio, exhorted the Honorable Deputy Dom Dantas Horcadas to present his apologies to his colleague, for the sake of the harmony and dignity of the institution. The Honorable Deputy Dom Dantas Horcadas declared that he had merely meant to say that to his knowledge, strictly speaking, there no longer existed in Brazil either gentlemen in the sense of chevalier, or barons, or viscounts, because, beginning with the glorious Republican government of Marshal Floriano Peixoto, Worthy Patriot of his country, whose memory will live forever in the hearts of Brazilians, all titles of nobility have become useless pieces of paper. But, he stated, it was not his intention to offend anyone, least of all the Honorable Deputy Dom Eduardo Glicério. The latter accepted this apology.

The Honorable Deputy Dom Rocha Seabra declared that he could not permit a man such as the Baron de Canabrava, who is the honor and glory of the State, to be defamed by resentful men whose records would show that they had not bestowed on Bahia so much as a hundredth part of the benefits conferred on it by the founder of the Autonomist Party. And he added that he failed to understand why telegrams should be sent summoning a Jacobin such as Colonel Moreira César to Bahia, since to judge from the cruelty with which he had put down the uprising of Santa Catarina, his dream was to erect guillotines in every public square in Brazil and become the country’s Robespierre. This statement brought an angry protest from the Honorable Deputies of the Progressivist Republican Party, who, having risen to their feet, rousingly acclaimed the Army, Marshal Floriano Peixoto, and Colonel Moreira César, and demanded satisfaction for this insult blackening the name of a hero of the Republic. The Honorable Deputy Dom Rocha Seabra took the floor again to declare that it had not been his intention to cast aspersions upon Colonel Moreira César, whose military virtues he admired, nor to offend the memory of the late Marshal Floriano Peixoto, whose services to the Republic he recognized, but rather to make it clear that he was opposed to the intervention of men of the military in politics, since he did not want to see Brazil suffer the same fate as those South American countries whose history has been nothing but a succession of barrack-room pronunciamentos. The Honorable Deputy Dom Eliseu de Roque interrupted him to remind him that it had been the Brazilian Army that had put an end to the monarchy and installed the Republic, and rising to their feet once more, the Honorable Deputies of the opposition rendered homage to the Army and Marshal Floriano Peixoto and Colonel Moreira César. Continuing his remarks after this interruption, the Honorable Deputy Dom Rocha Seabra declared that it was absurd that federal intervention should be requested when His Excellency Governor Dom Luiz Viana had repeatedly asserted that the State of Bahia had the necessary means to suppress the outbreak of banditry and Sebastianist madness that Canudos represented. The Honorable Deputy Dom Epaminondas Gonçalves reminded the Assembly that the rebels had already decimated two military expeditions in the interior and asked the Honorable Deputy Dom Rocha Seabra how many more expeditionary forces had to be massacred, in his opinion, before federal intervention was justified. The Honorable Deputy Dom Dantas Horcadas declared that patriotism was sufficient justification for him or for anyone else to drag in the mud anyone who devoted his efforts to stirring up mud, that is to say, fomenting restorationist rebellions against the Republic in connivance with Perfidious Albion. The Honorable Deputy Dom Lélis Piedades declared that the most telling proof that the Baron de Canabrava was involved in no way whatsoever in the events brought about by the bloodthirsty rebels of Canudos was the fact that he had been outside of Brazil for several months now. The Honorable Deputy Floriano Mártir declared that his absence, rather than being proof of his lack of involvement, might be regarded as proof of precisely the opposite, and that nobody was fooled by such an alibi since all of Bahia was aware that no one moved a finger in the State without the authorization or an express order from the Baron de Canabrava. The Honorable Deputy Dom Dantas Horcadas declared that it was suspect and illuminative that the Honorable Deputies of the majority stubbornly refused to debate the question of the shipment of English arms and of the English agent Gall, sent by the British Crown to aid the rebels in their evil designs. The Honorable President of the Assembly, His Excellency Sir Adalberto de Gumúcio, declared that speculations and fantasies dictated by hatred and ignorance could readily be dispelled by simply stating the truth. And he announced that within a few days the Baron de Canabrava would be disembarking on Bahian shores, where not only the Autonomists but the entire populace would accord him the triumphal reception that he deserved and that this would be the best possible way of making amends for the lies of those who were attempting to associate his name and that of his Party and that of the authorities of Bahia with the deplorable events to which the banditry and moral degeneration of Canudos had given rise. Whereupon the Honorable Deputies of the majority, having risen to their feet, acclaimed and applauded the name of their President, the Baron de Canabrava, while the Honorable Deputies of the Progressivist Republican Party remained seated and shook their chairs as a sign of their disapproval.

The session was temporarily adjourned to permit the Honorable Deputies to partake of refreshments and to allow tempers to cool down. But during this brief pause in their deliberations, heated discussions and vehement verbal exchanges were heard in the corridors of the Assembly, and the Honorable Deputies Dom Floriano Mártir and Dom Rocha Seabra had to be separated by their respective friends inasmuch as they were on the point of resorting to fisticuffs.

When the session resumed, the Honorable President of the Assembly, His Excellency Sir Adalberto de Gumúcio, proposed that, in view of the lengthy agenda before them that evening, the Assembly proceed to discuss the new budgetary funds requested by the Ministry of the Interior for the laying of new railway lines to open up the remote inland regions of the State. This proposal aroused the ire of the Honorable Deputies of the Progressivist Republican Party, who, rising to their feet with cries of “Treason!”

“Underhanded maneuver!” demanded a resumption of the debate concerning the most crucial problem confronting Bahia and hence the entire nation. The Honorable Deputy Dom Epaminondas Gonçalves warned that if the majority tried to sidestep debate concerning the Restorationist rebellion of Canudos and the intervention of the British Crown in Brazilian affairs, he and his fellow members of the opposition would walk out of the Assembly, for they would not tolerate this attempt by the majority to dupe the people by resorting to such farcical maneuvering. The Honorable Deputy Dom Eliseu de Roque declared that the efforts of the Honorable President of the Assembly to prevent debate amounted to a palpable demonstration of what an embarrassment it was to the Autonomist Party to be obliged to discuss the subject of the English agent Gall and the English arms, which was not surprising, since the nostalgic monarchical leanings and the Anglophilic sympathies of the Baron de Canabrava were common knowledge.

The Honorable President of the Assembly, His Excellency Sir Adalberto de Gumúcio, declared that the Honorable Deputies of the opposition would not succeed in intimidating anyone by resorting to such blackmail and that the Bahia Autonomist Party was precisely the one most interested, out of patriotism, in putting down the fanatical Sebastianists of Canudos and in restoring peace and order in the backlands. Moreover, he added, far from avoiding a discussion, they were eager to engage in one.

The Honorable Deputy Dom João Seixas de Pondé declared that only those who lacked a sense of the ridiculous could continue to speak of the supposed English agent Galileo Gall, whose charred corpse had purportedly been found in Ipupiará by the Bahia Rural Guard, a militia that according to
vox populi
, he would like to add, was recruited, financed, and controlled by the Party of the opposition, words that gave rise to furious protests from the Honorable Deputies of the Progressivist Republican Party. The Honorable Deputy Dom João Seixas de Pondé offered the additional information that the British Consulate in Bahia had attested to the fact that, having come by knowledge that the individual who calls himself Gall had a bad record, it had so notified the authorities of the State two months ago in order that they might act accordingly, and that the Police Commissioner of Bahia had confirmed this, and produced the order of expulsion from the country delivered to the aforementioned individual, who was to ready himself to leave on the French boat
La Marseillaise
. The Honorable Deputy further added that the fact that the individual known as Galileo Gall had failed to obey the order of expulsion and been found a month later in the interior of the State with rifles in his possession in no way constituted proof of a political conspiracy or of the intervention of a foreign power; on the contrary, it was proof, at most, that the aforementioned scoundrel was attempting to smuggle arms to buyers certain to pay, being well provided with money from their multiple robberies, namely the fanatical Sebastianists led by Antônio Conselheiro. As the remarks by the Honorable Deputy Dom João Seixas de Pondé provoked hilarious laughter on the part of the Honorable Deputies of the opposition, who made gestures suggesting that he had angel’s wings and a saint’s halo, the Honorable President of the Assembly, His Excellency Baron Adalberto de Gumúcio, called for order in the house. The Honorable Deputy Dom João Seixas de Pondé declared that it was hypocritical to cause such an uproar over the discovery of a few rifles in the backlands when everyone knew that smuggling and trafficking in arms was unfortunately more or less the general rule in the interior, and if this were not true, could the Honorable Deputies of the opposition explain how the Progressivist Republican Party had armed the
capangas
and
cangaceiros
they had recruited to form the private Army that went by the name of the Bahia Rural Guard, whose intended purpose was to function outside the official institutions of the State? The Honorable Deputy Dom João Seixas de Pondé having been indignantly jeered at for his insulting words by the Honorable Deputies of the Progressivist Republican Party, the Honorable President of the Assembly was obliged to call for order in the house once again.