Francisco de Borja Garção Stockler, Baron of Vila da Praia (25 September 1759 – 6 March 1829) was a Portuguese politician, soldier, and mathematician. He had the rank of lieutenant general and was the 8th Captain General of the Azores.
During his life he held several posts, many coinciding with the European Peninsular War: lieutenant general in the military, secretary and councilor of the Conselho Ultramarino (Overseas Council), governor of Algarve and Governor/Captain-General of the Azores. He was also a member of the committee that formed the draft of the constitutional charter in 1823, before returning to academia (becoming a professor of mathematics at the Academia Real de Marinha, a deputy director of the Academia Militar do Rio de Janeiro, secretary of the Academia Real das Ciências de Lisboa and fellow of the Royal Society of London, among other honours. He was one of the pioneers in differential calculus and one of the most notable historians of mathematics in Portugal.
Biography Stockler was born in Lisbon; son of Cristiano Stockler, a Lisbon merchant, and Margarida Joséfa Rita de Orgiens Garção de Carvalho, his grandfather, who was born in Hamburg, traced his roots to the historic cities of the Hanseatic League.
Academia Stocker destined his career to the military. By 1784, at the age of 25, he was a captain, enrolled at the University of Coimbra in mathematics. He obtained a bachelor's degree at the Academia Real de Marinha (Royal Marine Academy), where he began his investigation into the limits of differential calculation. While at the Academia Real Stockler was elected member of the Academia Real das Ciências de Lisboa (Lisbon Royal Academy of Sciences) in 1791, beginning a period of academic work resulting in many of publications, including his Memórias da Academia (Memories From The Academy). He published work essentially on the limits of differential calculus, becoming available in Portugal and published in Europe, gaining sufficient notoriety.
On 3 January 1795, Garção Stockler married Inês Gertrudes de Mendonça e Moura, daughter of João Francisco de Moura, who was the customs notary of Lisbon.
In 1806, Stockler was elected as a member to the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia.
He published other works that honoured academics and politics, among them were biographies of Pascoal José de Melo Freire dos Reis, José Joaquim Soares de Barros e Vasconcelos, Roberto Nunes da Costa, Martinho de Melo e Castro, Bento Sanches de Orta and Guilherme Luís António de Valleré, publishing his Obras Completas (Complete Works) in two volumes (1805 and 1826, respectively). Further, he eulogize d'Alembert, inspired by writing with the Marquis of Condorcet. His honours rarely coincided with Portuguese scientists at the time; on 1 April 1819, he was elected correspondent member or foreign member of the Royal Society of London and written about by others including John Rowley and S. R. Chapman.
Peninsular wars He was adjunct to Field Marshal João Carlos de Bragança Sousa e Ligne, 2nd Duke of Lafões, during the 1801 campaigns of the War of the Oranges. Military secretary of the duke, between 1797 and 1801, he published an important paper on conducting operations.
In 1807, following the French invasion, under the command of General Jean-Andoche Junot, the Portuguese Cortes escaped to Brasil, at a time of when Stocker was secretary of the Real Academia das Ciências (Royal Academy of Sciences). He was one of the dignitaries, in the name of Regency, who travelled to Sacavém to receive the invader. This attitude, as well as the election of Junot as a member of the Royal Academy and Stockler's personal presentation of his credentials while secretary of the Academy, resulted in his being labelled as collaborator (while putting him in the confidence of the French). Accepting from Junot the command of the battery of Areia, near Belém, his force impeded the departure of the Portuguese naval shipping for Brazil, thereby proving his alignment with the French.
For his actions, and following the retreat of the French, the Portuguese Regency stripped him of his positions and privileges. As part of a requirement for then-Brigader Stocker, to be reintegrated into the Portuguese military, a letter from the Count of Linhares, then-Minister for the Prince Regent in Brazil wrote: Having brought to the august presence of His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, our lord, the enclosed letter and more papers from Brigadier Francisco de Borja Garção Stockler, whose military talents were verified in the campaign of 1801, are still constant to the same gentleman, in whose Royal presence he is, moreover, unaccredited for the mission to Junot for which he was sent, and later for his command of a battery at Areia alongside the Tower of Belém, whence barbarously he had to shoot on Portuguese ships, which were sailing out the Tagus; however, His Royal Highness, hearing of your sentiments for incomparable justice and piety, it would be useful for the governors of the kingdom to inform (interposing their opinion, and after hearing from your Marshall General or the Marshall General of the Army), whether there would exist an active place in the face of the enemy, where this supplicant can be employed, and in this case they could propose him for that post, so that it may be verified whether he really has great military talents, or whether in this matter, as in others, he is overvalued beyond what he is worth; which is well known when, as a mathematician, he wanted to associate himself with the so justly famous Lagrange. — Palace of Santa Cruz, on November 25, 1809. — Count of Linhares.
His collaborationism with the French Army and the military incompetency in the Orange War campaigns, were published in História Geral da Invasão dos Franceses (General History of the French Invasion) by José Acúrsio das Neves, resulting in a public polemic. Stocker responded to this by personally publishing Cartas ao autor da História Geral da Invasão dos Franceses em Portugal, which the Royal Academy refused to publish. The controversy did not subside, and he continued to post various opinions, including his Investigador Portuguez to refute public opinion. However, despite being despised by nobility and public classes, he succeeded in reintegrating into the Portuguese military, being promoted to major general and restarting his career, against all odds.
Regency In 1812, he departed for Brazil, to join the Cortes, where he conquered, through his intellectual abilities, the confidence of the government-in-exile and the Prince Regent. Stockler was residing in Rio when, following the death of Queen Maria, the Prince Regent was acclaimed as King VI. He was commission by the Lisbon Royal Academy of Sciences to present a speech on behalf of the institution during the course of the king's investiture, which was published in the first tome of Memórias da Academia.
In addition to his academic work in mathematics, Garção Stockler became interested in poetry, writing Poesias Lyricas (Lyrical Poems), that featured Horatian does, traditional stories and the philosophical poem Aves, which was later published by Brazilian poet António Pereira de Sousa Caldas. Submitted to the Academy, the poem was considered for publication in 1819, but owing to violating the Catholic orthodoxy of the time, he was required to edit his ideas considered paradoxical. Stockler refused to alter his work, and published it in London, resulting in its condemnation by the Vatican, being registered on 23 June 1836 in the Index Librorum Prohibitorum. At the same time, though, Stockler elaborated his Ensaio histórico on the origin and progress of mathematics in Portugal, later published in Paris, that was critically acclaimed by José Silvestre Ribeirão (in Resenha de Litteratura Portugueza) and as an insert in the Annaes das Ciencias. This work, which was reedited, is considered one of the best histories of mathematical thought until the 19th century, one of the first works of its time in Europe. He also became interested in education, authoring a study on the establishment of public instruction in Brazil, and history of education and pedagogical studies.
Stockler was a deputy in the Junta de Direcção da Academia Militar (Military Academy Junta) of Rio de Janeiro, where, along with Wilhelm Ludwig Freiherr von Eschwege, the Baron of Eschwege, was responsible for restoring the study of mathematics and physics.The military school was created on 4 December 1810 by royal decree, and began functioning on 23 April 1811. It was a predecessor of the Academia Militar das Agulhas Negras, one of the first engineering schools in Brazil.
Captaincy-General Liberalism During his stay in Rio de Janeiro, the Cortes began to receive complaints related to Brigadier Francisco António de Araújo e Azevedo as Governor and Captain-General of the Azores. The populations of the archipelago and insular authorities complained of the military rigor and preferential attitude of the official when conceding lands. In this case, Araújo e Azevedo conceded land to friends of the Captain-General, over the interests of the people and municipal authorities. This appropriation of the vacant lands gave rise to deep hatreds and disagreements, and led to the Justiça da Noite (Night Justice) where hedgerows were destroyed to force communal land policies.Carlos Melo Bento (2008), p. 82.
At Corte and having gained notoriety for his academic work and intelligence, Stockler managed to be appointed by John VI (12 November 1819) to replace the former-Captain-General, who had fallen in disgrace. Stockler left for Lisbon in August 1820, with the intention of receiving from the Regency the orders necessary to govern the Azores. It was during this time that a constitutional movement was taking form on the continent, resulting in the Liberal Revolution of 1820 when Stockler arrived in Lisbon. Obviously anti-Liberal, his Jacobist fame and French collaboration during the French invasion helped him to obtain an affirmation by the Liberal revolutionaries for his position, permitting his departure for the islands. He arrived on 18 October 1820 and was received by a fervor, owing to his replacing the unpopular Araújo e Azevedo. Both political groups in the Azores were hopeful for his tenure: the Liberals, expected a confirmation of the Pro-Constitutional ideas, and the Absolutists, convinced that his nomination by King D. John VI before the revolution, would guarantee his support for the dominance of the monarchy. The Absolutists were immediately vindicated when Stockler prohibited political contact with Portugal and requested new members of the administration and judiciary from Rio de Janeiro, ignoring the legitimacy and authority of Liberal institutions in Lisbon.