José Maria da Silva Paranhos, Viscount of Rio Branco (16 March 1819 – 1 November 1880), was a Brazilian politician, monarchist, diplomat, teacher and journalist. Rio Branco was born in Salvador, in what was then the Captaincy of Bahia, to a wealthy family, but most of the fortune was lost after his parents' deaths early in his childhood. In 1871, Rio Branco became the president of the Council of Ministers. He would be the Council's longest-serving president, and his cabinet the second longest, in Brazilian history. His government was marked by economic prosperity and several reforms. The most important of these initiatives was the Law of Free Birth, which granted freeborn status to children born to slave women. Rio Branco led the government that enacted this law, and its passage increased his popularity. His government was plagued by a long crisis with the Catholic Church that resulted from the expulsion of Freemasons from its lay brotherhoods. After more than four years heading the Cabinet, Rio Branco resigned in 1875. Following a long vacation in Europe, his health swiftly declined and he was diagnosed with oral cancer. Rio Branco died in 1880 and was widely mourned throughout the country. He is regarded by most historians as one of Brazil's greatest statesmen.
Rio Branco attended Brazil's Naval School and became a midshipman in 1841. Later that year he was enrolled in the Army's Military Academy, eventually becoming an instructor there. Rather than continue to serve in the military, he became a politician in the Liberal Party. In 1845, he was elected a member of the provincial house of representatives of Rio de Janeiro province, site of the national capital of the same name. Rio Branco rose to power within the province under the tutelage of Aureliano Coutinho, Viscount of Sepetiba—a veteran politician who held tremendous influence over the young and inexperienced Emperor Pedro II. He temporarily abandoned politics after Aureliano Coutinho's fall from grace and the subsequent dissolution of the Liberal Party.
Rio Branco's work in the press, highlighting threats posed by the armed conflicts in the Platine republics (Argentina and Uruguay), attracted the attention of Honório Hermeto Carneiro Leão, Marquis of Paraná, who invited him to act as secretary on a diplomatic mission to Montevideo. They were successful in forging alliances, which contributed to the eventual fall in 1852 of Juan Manuel de Rosas, an Argentine dictator who had declared war on Brazil. In 1853 Rio Branco joined the Marquis of Paraná's Conservative Party as well as the cabinet over which the latter presided. He rose rapidly through the Conservative ranks during the early 1860s when many colleagues joined members of the defunct Liberal Party to form a new party. Rio Branco was sent to Uruguay in late 1864, tasked with bringing a diplomatic end to the Uruguayan War. Although successful, he was abruptly dismissed from his post. In 1869, he was recalled and dispatched to Paraguay, this time to negotiate an end to its war with Brazil. His successful efforts in concluding a peace with Paraguay were recognized, and Pedro II ennobled him, making him Viscount of Rio Branco.
Early years
Paranhos was born on 16 March 1819 in Salvador, Bahia, at a time when Brazil was a kingdom united with Portugal. His parents were Agostinho da Silva Paranhos and Josefa Emerenciana de Barreiros. Agostinho Paranhos, along with his two brothers, migrated to Brazil during the first decade of the 19th century. He became a wealthy merchant and married Josefa, the Brazilian-born daughter of one of Bahia's long-established families. Her family had roots in Porto, where Agostinho's own family had originated. Agostinho remained loyal to Portugal at the time of Brazil's Independence in 1822, which resulted in his ostracism and the collapse of his business.
José Paranhos had a simple childhood without luxury. Though his parents were no longer rich, he did not experience poverty. In later life, José fondly remembered Bahia as the "native land" of his childhood. His father died when he was still a child and his mother followed a few years later. He and his younger brothers were left in a precarious position, since the remainder of Agostinho Paranhos's fortune had been appropriated by a relative. The brothers were rescued by an uncle on their mother's side, Eusébio Gomes Barreiros, who held the rank of a colonel in the Engineer Corps.See:
. Colonel Barreiros raised his sister's children as his own and financed their education. An educated man, Barreiros had a strong influence on Paranhos's upbringing, and in later years, his nephew always spoke respectfully about his uncle.
In 1835, aged 14, Paranhos was sent to the Imperial capital, Rio de Janeiro, to continue his studies. At the beginning of the following year he was admitted into the Naval Academy. To help support his education, Paranhos tutored his classmates. In 1841, when he was 22, he graduated with the rank of midshipman, enrolling in the Army's Military Academy. He pursued a course in engineering and developed a penchant for mathematics. Prior to graduation from the Army Academy, he was promoted to second lieutenant in the Navy and became a substitute teacher in the Naval Academy. In 1842, he married Teresa de Figueiredo Faria, whose family had also come from Porto in Portugal.
After Paranhos graduated from the Military Academy in 1843 as a second lieutenant in the engineer corps, he decided to return to civilian life and focus on his career as a teacher. He became a regular instructor at the Naval Academy during 1844, conducting artillery classes. In 1845, he was transferred from the Naval Academy to the faculty of the Military Academy teaching artillery, fortification, and later, mechanics. In addition to teaching, Paranhos also became a journalist, and by 1844 was working for newspapers which supported the Liberal Party. He remained a professor in the Military Academy and began teaching political economy, statistics and administrative law in 1863. In 1874, Paranhos became the dean of the newly created Engineering School (today the Polytechnic School of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro), a civilian branch of the Military Academy's engineering program.
Early political career
Courtier Faction
Paranhos' writings for liberal newspapers attracted the attention of other Liberal Party members. He became a friend and protégé of Aureliano de Sousa e Oliveira Coutinho, later the Viscount of Sepetiba. At the time, Aureliano Coutinho was the most powerful figure in Brazilian national politics. He was the leader of the "Courtier Faction", a group—sometimes considered a wing of the Liberal Party—which had established influence over the young and inexperienced Pedro II. Members of the faction included high-ranking palace servants and notable politicians.
In 1844, the Emperor appointed Aureliano Coutinho President (governor) of Rio de Janeiro province, the richest and most important province in Brazil. With Aureliano Coutinho's patronage and strong political power base, Paranhos was elected in 1845, at age 26, to the Provincial Legislative Assembly—the provincial house of representatives. The following year, Aureliano Coutinho appointed him to be the provincial secretary, then vice-president, and later acting president. In 1847, Paranhos was elected as a general deputy, representing Rio de Janeiro in the national Chamber of Deputies.See:
.
The Courtier Faction lost favor in 1847 after it had dominated Brazilian politics for many years. As the Emperor physically matured and became more politically astute, he purged everyone linked to the group. Aureliano Coutinho, as the leader, was completely excluded from political life: "the result of an implicit, if unspoken ban imposed by Pedro II". The monarch made it clear that he would no longer tolerate being influenced by political factions. From February 1844 through May 1848, each of the four cabinets were entirely composed of Liberal Party members. Internal divisions within the Liberal Party impeded the projects designed to modernize Brazil, including education reform, construction of railroads and telegraph lines.
After the resignation of the last Liberal Cabinet, Pedro II invited the rival Conservative Party to form a new cabinet. With his party no longer in control, Paranhos lost much of his influence. The Liberal Party was not willing to accept its loss of power. The most radical faction of the Liberals in the province of Pernambuco, known as the Partido da Praia ("Party of the Beach"), openly advocated a rebellion. Nominally Liberal, the praieiros were associated with the Courtier Faction. The proposed rebellion would be an attempt of this branch of the Courtier Faction to regain control of the government. The praieiros had little support, and public opinion was also against them. The group was unable to convince the vast majority of the population that a revolt would bring them any benefits. On 2 February 1849, the limited uprising of the praieiros was completely defeated after attacking Recife, the capital of Pernambuco. Even though Paranhos had condemned it, the Praiera rebellion, combined with the downfalls of his patron and the Liberal Party, made a continued political career impossible. He turned his focus once again to his work in journalism.
Platine War
After leaving politics, Paranhos quit writing for liberal newspapers and became the editor of the politically neutral Jornal do Comércio ("Commerce News"). He wrote a series of weekly articles from 1850 until the end of 1851 which were entitled "Letters to an absent friend". The column dealt with subjects that included politics, Brazilian society and day-to-day life in the Brazilian capital. Paranhos's articles soon began to focus on Brazil's foreign policy, especially Argentina and Uruguay's civil war.
Don Juan Manuel de Rosas, the dictator of Argentina, had assisted the separatist rebels in the Brazilian province of Rio Grande do Sul during the 1830s, and continued to attempt its annexation. In addition to the threat to Brazil's territorial integrity, Rosas had ambitions to conquer Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia. Brazil's Conservative Cabinet decided to form military alliances with the countries threatened by the dictator. On 4 September 1851, Brazil's army, commanded by Luís Alves de Lima e Silva (then Count of Caxias), crossed the border into Uruguay.
Paranhos began to write articles in support of Brazil's proactive foreign policy, which brought him close to the ruling Conservative party. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Paulino Soares de Sousa (later the Viscount of Uruguai), appointed the Conservative Party's main leader, Honório Hermeto Carneiro Leão (later the Marquis of Paraná), as a special plenipotentiary diplomat for the Platine region. Unexpectedly, Carneiro Leão decided to take Paranhos as his secretary, passing over the more experienced members of Brazil's diplomatic corps. On 23 October 1851, both departed for Montevideo, the Uruguayan capital.