Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
In a world in flux, the crafty conspirator Peixoto had been waiting on the sidelines for
his moment of opportunity. Elected as Manuel Deodoro da Fonseca's vice president, he
found intrigue and absolutism much to his taste. In 1893, after the Rio stock market col-
lapsed and President Deodoro's general fiscal and political mismanagement threatened
the disintegration of the new Republic, Peixoto was catapulted into the presidency with
his coterie of military Jacobins. Peixoto's notice fell on Euclides da Cunha due to the
events prior to the revolution, his politically astute marriage, and his ardent Republican-
ism. Da Cunha would write this about Peixoto, the “Maréchal de Ferro” (Iron Marshal),
and the plottings for the coup of November 3 that thrust him into power:
The hero, who was an enigma to his contemporaries due to the obvious fact of being an eccentric,
would later become an inscrutable problem for posterity because of the complete dearth of acts that
couldjustify suchgreat renown.Heisoneofthosecases ofagreat manwhodidn'trisebyabsorbing,
concentrating, and incarnating the yearnings and dispersed energies of a people, and then propelling
these into national life. Rather, in our rapid shift to the new regime, he did not personify social forces
but emerged as a completely new, distorting element of our destinies. . . .
His house on Rio Comprido Street was the epicenter of resistance. One went there in broad day-
light, there were no lookouts, and it completely lacked the precautions and anxieties with which a
conspiracy romantically embellishes its dangers. The conspirators came prosaically, by street car. . . .
You could see a salon, furnished only with a sofa, a few chairs, and two empty cabinets. There, with
windowswideopen,asthoughonewereatthemostlicit ofgatherings, theyravedonaboutrebellion.
Thensuddenlylikeacoldshower,MarshalFlorianoappearedwithhischaracteristicmienofanetern-
al convalescent, his preoccupied gaze falling on one and all, but fixing on none. He sat down in his
vaguemannerand,inthesuddensilence,launchedintoaextendedanddetailedrecitaloftheailments
that perpetually beset him. . . . This was the master of the Republic's pitiless Jacobins just prior to
catapulting into dictatorship.
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In the time of Florianismo there were many opportunities for someone of da Cunha's
training and capacities. Peixoto was cleaning house of loyalists of the previous regime
andofthosewhosepoliticswerenotquitecorrectinthecurrentmilieu.Manyoldrevolu-
tionaries suddenly found themselves on the outs, and Solon Ribeiro was one of these,
while da Cunha's War College companions as often as not found themselves in illus-
trious sinecures. Da Cunha himself received a message from the distinguished marshal,
and so, attired in his uniform with saber at his side, he went to his interview with the
ever more imposing Peixoto. Here is how he described this visit to his friend Lucio de
Mendonça:
Ifoundhiminhisdiningroom,relaxedandinoneofhismoreexpansivemoods.Theoldestdaugh-
ter, even at that early hour, was toiling away at her sewing machine. . . . The great Dominator wel-
comed me—“There is an air of war about you. . . . You know, you needn't come in uniform. You are
here as friends and not as soldiers.” These were more or less his words. Now, my dear Lucio, get
readytoprepareyourmostfulminatingversestovauntmyhonestandtotalineptness.Thegreatguar-
antorofposts,referringtomyrecentgraduationandenthusiasmfortheRepublic,announcedthatthat
I could choose a position for myself, since he himself felt he could not decide for me. . . . It is enough
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