"Liberal in economics and conservative in customs." The maxim so often repeated nowadays to describe a portion of the Brazilian population would probably fit José da Silva Lisboa like a glove.
Born in Salvador, Bahia, in 1756, Lisboa was a cultured – and complex, to say the least – man. He graduated in philosophy and canon law from the University of Coimbra and taught in Portugal and Bahia. He translated, commented on, and spread ideas such as those of the Irish theorist Edmund Burke – a reference for conservative political thought – and the Scottish thinker Adam Smith – architect of the foundations of economic liberalism.
Figure 1 – José da Silva Lisboa, Viscount of Cayrú, first Brazilian economist, senator. Fundação Biblioteca Nacional. [icon1396387]
Image description: The image is a black-and-white engraving. At the center is a portrait of a man in profile, with gray hair and a short beard. He is wearing a formal suit with a bow tie and a medal on his lapel. The background is light, highlighting the portrait. Below the portrait, there is text in Portuguese mentioning "José da Silva Lisboa, Visconde de Cairu, Primeiro economista brasileiro, Senador" (José da Silva Lisboa, Viscount of Cairu, First Brazilian economist, Senator).He had great admiration for the Enlightenment philosopher Montesquieu, but he was a convinced monarchist. A moralist of the highest order, he put his faith in the strength of Catholic tradition against the democratic daydreams of the French Revolution. He dreamed of a Luso-Brazilian empire, but he never held back from criticizing any commercial monopoly. e He defended free trade tooth and nail in his Princípios de economia política, from 1804. He became better known by the title he received from D. Pedro I in 1826 – along with the task of writing the História dos principais sucessos políticos do Império do Brasil: Viscount of Cairu. But by then, a lot had already happened.
Figure 2 – Frontispiece of the book Princípios de direito mercantil, e leis de marinha para uso da mocidade portuguesa..., by José da Silva Lisboa: Mansutti Foundation, 1806
Image description: This is a black-and-white engraving. In the image, we see three main figures arranged in a scene that suggests a ceremony or celebration. The central figure is seated and dressed in a military uniform, likely representing D. Pedro I. To his left, there is a standing female figure, dressed in period clothing, holding a scroll. To the right, another female figure, also standing, wears similar attire and holds an object that appears to be a book or a scroll. Both women are looking toward D. Pedro I. In the background, we see an isolated column. On the ground, to the left, there is a terrestrial globe adorned with floral decorations and a wreath of flowers. Below the image, there is text in Portuguese, but its details cannot be fully read.Alongside José Bonifácio, Lisboa was one of the main political architects of the independence project that emerged victorious in 1822. A supporter of the Bragança dynasty, he cringed just hearing about radical ideas like republic and democracy. His proposal was a single one: to form the Empire of Brazil around a government centralized in Rio de Janeiro, capable of drawing the gravitational pull of the other provinces toward itself.
Figure 3 – José da Silva Lisboa, Viscount of Cairú, alongside José Bonifácio de Andrada e Silva, R. Nunes, undated. Câmara de Vereadores de Salvador, Bahia.
Image description: This is a painting depicting two men in formal eighteenth-century attire. The figure on the left is seated in a chair, holding a book and a piece of paper. He wears a green suit with white breeches and tall stockings. The figure on the right is standing, wearing a black suit with white breeches and stockings. Both are in an indoor setting, with columns and a wooden plaque in the background. There is text in Portuguese on the plaque, but the details cannot be fully read.It was precisely for this reason that Lisboa picked a fight with the editors of the newspaper Revérbero Constitucional Fluminense, Gonçalves Ledo and Januário Barbosa, as well as with his fellow countryman Cipriano Barata and the Pernambuco revolutionary Frei Caneca. “Any Brazilian of good faith,” he wrote in an indignant pamphlet against the “deranged or crazed rabble of 1817,” “may now (...) charge this handful of Factionists, who reveal themselves to be Heads of Revolution, aspiring to lead the North in their Democratic delusions (...). I shall say: Have you no remorse of conscience, oh Heartless ones, for tearing out the entrails of the Fatherland, and fomenting a diabolical Division in the Country, which the adored Author of Nature distinguished in the creation of the Earth, composing it as a single unbroken Piece, and having granted it the advantage of inhabitants of the same Religion, Language and Law, which are the joint guarantees of the unity, and duration of States?”
Experienced in political matters, José da Silva Lisboa was one of the most active parliamentarians in the Constituent Assembly in 1823. From the podium of the old Cadeia Velha building, he made a point of shouting out proposals that expressed all of his bigotry: "I challenged the § in question," he noted during one of these discussions, "as it seemed to me that the statement on religious freedom was not only unnecessary, but also inconsequential and dangerous to the Catholic religion and to the stability of the Empire." Lisboa was obsessive about the idea of an Empire of Brazil and, to that end, knew it was necessary to preserve as many symbols as possible in maintaining the country's cohesion -- if not culturally and in terms of identity, then at least territorially and administratively.
Figure 4 – Portrait of José Maria da Silva Lisboa (Viscount of Cairú), Domenico Failutti, 1825. Fundo Museu Paulista (FMP) Collection, Museu Paulista da USP.
Image description: This is a painting depicting a large crowd in front of a building with classical architecture. From left to right, we see a large gathering of people wearing varied clothing, some with hats. In the center, there is a building with a white facade and pink details, with decorative arches. On the upper part of the building, several people are standing, looking down. The sky above is clear, with a few clouds. In the background, there are other, smaller buildings. In the lower corner of the image, there is an inscription that reads: "ACCLAMACAO DE S.M.O. S.S. D.PEDRO I IMPERADOR C. DO BRASIL. No dia 12 de Outubro 1822."A man of letters and a purebred example of the elite educated in Coimbra, Lisbon became a baron in 1824 and Viscount of Cairu two years later. A skilled builder of the nation for some and a flatterer of power for others, he represented the model of the bureaucrat involved in the formation of the nascent empire in the 19th century: one who, without losing his devotion to the authority of the monarch, would not give up drawing on new developments in political and economic thought. All this, of course, to secure His Majesty's sovereignty and the unity of the kingdom in the face of the strong winds of revolution.
Bibliographic References
VAINFAS, Ronaldo; NEVES, Lúcia Bastos Pereira das (Org.). Dicionário do Brasil joanino: 1808-1821. Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, 2008
JÚNIOR, Luiz Ramiro. 200 Years of Independence | José da Silva Lisboa, Viscount of Cairu (1756-1835). Rio de Janeiro: Fundação Biblioteca Nacional, 2020. Available at: http://bndigital.bn.gov.br/artigos/fundadores-do-brasil-jose-da-silva-lisboa-visconde-de-cairu-1756-1835/. (accessed on: Apr. 8, 2022)
