Dinners, Parties, Balls and the Process of Legitimation and Integration of Brazilian Diplomacy in London, 1826-1829

Jantares, festas, bailes e o processo de legitimação e integração da diplomacia brasileira em Londres, 1826-1829

ABSTRACT

The article explores the meanings of dinners, parties and balls which the first diplomats of the Empire of Brazil in London attended or which they hosted at the Brazilian legation house. The study extends from 1826, when these agents began to participate in the social events as formally recognized diplomats, to 1829, when the mission’s composition completely changed. The primary documentary sources are the London periodical press of that time and, to a lesser extent, private and official correspondence. It is argued that the participation in and the organization of such events, between February 1826 and June 1828, consisted of a process of seeking legitimization and integration by the new diplomacy of Rio, through the construction of sociability, hospitality and commensality. From mid-1828 onward, however, the dynamics of this diplomacy changed significantly due to the developments in the Portuguese succession crisis.

Keywords:
Brazilian diplomacy; 19th century; dinners; parties; sociability

RESUMO

O artigo explora os significados de jantares, festas e bailes que os primeiros diplomatas do Império do Brasil em Londres participaram ou que eles ofereceram na casa da legação. O estudo estende-se de 1826, quando os agentes passaram a participar dos primeiros eventos sociais como diplomatas formalmente reconhecidos, até 1829, quando a composição da missão altera-se completamente. As fontes documentais são principalmente a imprensa periódica londrina da época e, em menor grau, cartas privadas e ofícios. Argumenta-se que a participação e organização de tais eventos, entre fevereiro de 1826 e junho de 1828, consistiram em um processo de busca por legitimação e integração por parte da nova diplomacia do Rio, por meio de construção de sociabilidade, hospitalidade e comensalidade, ao passo que, de meados de 1828 em diante, a dinâmica alterou-se significativamente em razão dos desdobramentos da crise de sucessão portuguesa.

Palavras-chave:
Diplomacia brasileira; Século 19; jantares; festas; sociabilidade

Since Brazilian diplomacy became recognized abroad as the bureaucracy of a new American State, in the 1820s, its members have taken part in parties, dinners, lunches, receptions and social events in general, just as their foreign counterparts do. Hosting or attending informal gatherings, talking, eating, drinking and even sometimes dancing are included in the tasks of a diplomat, either inside or outside their own territories. Informal events and their dates, reasons, protocols, locations, menus, guests, decoration and musical repertoires are highly representative of practices, expectations and customs of diplomatic life, expressing a set of meanings for international relations. From the designation of the first agents to work in foreign territories in late 1822 and onwards, the social meetings which Brazilian diplomacy hosted or attended are practically incalculable. Yet, in more precise chronological marks, these activities may raise broader contexts of diplomatic and even political and cultural history. This article explores the meanings of parties, dinners and balls in which Brazilian diplomacy participated in London from 1826-1828. These were events attended by the head of the mission, secretary, attachés and other agents or organized by them at the Brazilian legation house in the city. The Brazilian mission in London at the time was the main diplomatic representation of the new country abroad due to the global importance of Great Britain in the 19th century. The chronology extends from January 1826, when the diplomats begun to be formally invited to social events in London, to August 1829, when the composition of the first mission had completely changed.

Research into the formation of Brazilian diplomacy, its first missions abroad and, more precisely, the legation in London (or studies related to it) has explored two other traditional themes throughout the years: political aspects of the negotiations that took place in London in 1824 for the formal recognition of the independence of Brazil;¹ and economic subjects, such as the country's relationship with British companies and banks and, above all, the first loans borrowed from London bankers in 1824, 1825 and 1829². Other works have even explored the role of that mission in the development of the Cisplatine War (1825-1828) and in the negotiations for the prohibition of the Atlantic slave trade.³ More recently and innovatively, Santos (2022) has also demonstrated how diplomacy contributed politically to the construction of the Empire of Brazil and its liberal monarchical institutions as a project, not as a direct outcome of the colonial state. However, most authors have understudied issues that did not present political or economic reasons at first sight.⁴ Exploring social events, parties, dinners, and balls may raise a broader understanding of the construction of Brazilian diplomacy during this period in which the agents needed to present themselves as autonomous, as properly Brazilians, and needed to create their own legitimation and integration practices, spaces and circuits. Participation in social events or their organization and promotion can also be interpreted as an expression of what Costa (1985) designated as ‘elite behaviour’ for the period of the Independence of Brazil.

Recently, when approaching diplomacies of other countries, some authors have highlighted the role of sociability, hospitality, commensality which take place around parties or diplomatic dinners as a means of legitimation, presentation, creating networks, obtaining and exchanging information. Naoko Shimazu seeks to define the meanings of sociability for diplomacy, pointing out that:

In the world of diplomacy, diplomats need to ‘practice’ sociability in order to create a space of association with other diplomats, the kind of association which needs to be conducive to communication. This association is usually aimed at forging a cordial, and congenial, atmosphere. Hence, sociability is important to diplomats precisely because it lays out a ‘constructed space’ which enables and, moreover, facilitates, exchanges of information. (2019, p. 57).

The author also proposes a distinction between a more exclusive and a more inclusive sociability, according to whom takes part in diplomatic events (Shimazu, 2019, p. 59-60). Moreover, when discussing the role of what classifies as ‘diplomatic gastronomy’, Linda Morgan points out that ‘The elaborateness of a state dinner compared to other ritualized dinners communicates many symbolic messages to guests, such as grandeur and acceptance into a special group’ (2012, p. 148). Morgan also highlights that ‘Commensality has the power to signify to the diners that they are insiders who are socially similar-certainly characteristics with direct and useful application in a diplomatic relationship’ (Morgan, 2012, p. 148). These are only two examples of how researchers have more recently transposed the traditional subjects of diplomatic history.

Thus, which parties, balls and dinners did the first Brazilian diplomats in London attend? Which did they host at the first Brazilian legation house in Park Crescent, Regent’s Park? In addition to the head of the mission, which other Brazilian diplomats attended these events? Who were the other guests? What were the differences between a dinner and a ball for diplomacy at the time? What is the meaning of the participation of a guest and the absence of another? What were the meanings of these events for Brazilian diplomacy during its formative period? To answer these questions, a survey was carried out fundamentally in the London periodical press of the time and, to a lesser extent, in official and private letters, involving events which occurred around politics, birthday celebrations, festivities, weddings and entertainment. It is argued that, for these new Brazilian diplomats in London, parties, balls, dinners and suppers that occurred between 1826 and 1828 expressed a concrete policy of seeking integration and legitimacy, constructing sociability and hospitality within the circles of European diplomats and politicians and with cosmopolitan London high society as a whole. Whereas treaties, notes and conventions represented the formal recognition of the independent state, these social gatherings can be seen as expressing a personal, cultural and social recognition of its diplomacy. On the other hand, from June 1828 to August 1829, the unfolding of the Portuguese succession crisis (1826-1832) changed the dynamics of Brazilian diplomacy in London, and most of the parties, dinners and balls in which the first Brazilian agents took part were directly linked to it. It is also noted that the sociability and hospitality at the Brazilian legation house in the period were focused almost exclusively on European diplomats, which contributed to the construction of an image of Brazil as a monarchical regime separate from the other American Republics.

The ‘new faces’ and the first social events

The British government formally recognized Brazil's first diplomatic mission in London on January 30, 1826, when George IV received the letters of credential of Manuel Rodrigues Gameiro Pessoa at a ceremony at Windsor Castle. Before this, the first two diplomatic agents appointed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Rio to represent Brazil in London, Felisberto Caldeira Brant de Oliveira e Horta and Gameiro Pessoa, sought unsuccessfully to obtain formal recognition for the existence of a new independent American State and its diplomatic mission that were properly Brazilian and not Portuguese. Diplomatic negotiations that took place in Rio de Janeiro during 1825 resulted in the Treaty of August 29, 1825, whereby Portugal recognized the definitive political emancipation of Brazil, almost three years after its declaration of independence. In the meantime, American and African powers such as United States, Buenos Aires and Benin had already recognized Brazil’s independence. However, once the Treaty was signed and ratified, the metropolitan-colonialist European powers felt able to make to follow the same recognition, thus respecting the protocols of diplomacy at the time, such as the precedence of Portugal. Therefore, on January 30, 1826, the Secretary of the Foreign Office, George Canning, introduced Gameiro Pessoa to the British monarch at the ceremony in Windsor Castle. This ceremony established him as the first Brazilian diplomat formally accredited in Great Britain and the first legation in London was formally recognized⁵.

A few days later, on February 5, 1826, George Canning and his wife, Joan, had a dinner for the diplomatic corps residing in London. It was the first social gathering held for foreign diplomats at the couple's new house. In December 1825, they had moved to Downing Street (Morning Post, February 6, 1826, p. 6; New Times, February 6, 1826, p. 2), where the British government had occupied a series of buildings since the late 18th century (Foreign, 1991, p. 11). As the press reported, the ambassadors of Russia and the Netherlands and their wives, the ambassadors of France, Portugal, Spain, Austria and Saxony and the secretary of the Austrian embassy were present, as well as the diplomatic agents of the United States, Colombia, Argentina, and the Brazilian Gameiro Pessoa. Leading British politicians and undersecretaries of the Foreign Office also took part, such as the Duke of Wellington, the Earl of Liverpool, Ponsonby, the Marquis and Marchioness of Clanricarde, Joseph Planta and Howard de Walden.

On the following day, Princess Lieven, the Russian ambassador’s wife, sent a private letter to Metternich, her friend in Austria, writing that:

Yesterday, Mr. Canning gave a great dinner for the Ambassador and their wives, and the Ministers of Columbia, Buenos Ayres and Brazil. I don’t know why, but Columbia wanted to sit by my husband. Mr. Canning got up and very politely begged him to leave a chair for the Duke of Wellington, who was expected. There was an amusing moment of awkwardness. The Columbian wears his gloves in his buttonhole, like a posy. Mr. Canning asked me if I knew who the new faces were; I said, ‘No’, and I did not want to, because I was afraid of meeting bad company in his house. That nettled him. He replied: ‘At any rate, don`t you think they look better than M. Biedermann?’ (the little Saxon Chargé d`Affaires, a frightful person). I replied that his protégés must be in a bad way if they could not shine at the expense of such an individual; and that brought our conversation to an end. (Quennell, 1937, p. 359).

The Russo-Latvian princess, Dorothea Lieven, was an important player in diplomacy and the European elite at the time. The conversation that took place between Canning and her during the dinner, reported in the letter to Metternich, suggests that the ‘new faces’, that is, the diplomats from Colombia, Argentina and Brazil, were being formally introduced to the diplomatic corps. Although many foreign diplomats already knew them, this dinner was the first event that they attended as officially recognized agents of their countries. According to the information collected throughout this study, Gameiro Pessoa had been present in dinners during the period in which he and Brant sought to obtain the recognition of independence. Nevertheless, this dinner was his first public appearance in social gathering as regularly accredited diplomat.

Before this event, the names of Gameiro Pessoa or Caldeira Brant did not appear on guest lists which the newspapers published. However, the official letters that they sent to Rio during 1824 had revealed some information. Gameiro and Brant reported to the authorities in Brazil on dinners in London no less than three times. In a letter to Rio by Gameiro and signed by both in July 1824, describing an encounter that they had with General Michelena, the Mexican diplomat, he stated: ‘I [Gameiro Pessoa] and my colleague Marshal Brant found him unexpectedly at a dinner we were invited to’ (Brasil, Vol. II, 1972, p. 76). In November 1824, Caldeira Brant wrote that the Duke of Sussex, the King's younger brother, had invited him ‘to dinner a few times’ and added: ‘I will attend these relationships with due circumspection’ (Brasil, Vol. II, 1972, p. 160). In December of the same year, the two reported a dinner that they attended at the Austrian embassy, where they met the count of Vila Real, then Portuguese ambassador: ‘we met at dinner at the house of the Prince of Esterhazy’ (Brasil, Vol. II, 1972, p. 174).

Well after these first reports and some days before the recognition of the mission and of Canning’s dinner, Gameiro Pessoa organized a meeting, on January 22, 1826, at his residence at the terrace of Park Crescent, Regent’s Park. The first Brazilian legation house was located in this building until 1829 (Biaggi, 2023). As he reported in a letter to his friend and Brazilian diplomat in Vienna, Antônio Teles da Silva (Marquis of Resende):

I was very delighted with the news that Your Excellency gave me in your Letter of January 23rd that you had solemnized the Faust Day of 22, bringing together in your house the Most Serene Sir Infant Don Miguel, the worthiest people of this Court, and most of the Members of the Diplomatic Corps. I could not do much else here because my presentation as Minister of the Emperor had not yet taken place; however, I brought together the two Embassies of Austria and Portugal, and some Employees of this Government who are more inclined to the New Empire and celebrated the aforementioned Anniversary with the greatest cordiality.⁶

Gameiro Pessoa makes it clear that he could not promote an ostensibly official party because he did not yet have his position officially recognized. But this cannot be considered a private celebration, for it was the birthday of the Empress of Brazil, Leopoldina. In fact, it was a state event, but done with discretion. This letter reinforces the understanding that he began to be officially invited and to invite only after the recognition of the legation. It also reinforces that the Canning’s house dinner was his first public introduction to the diplomats. From then on, Gameiro became a regular diner. In February, he and ‘all his Legation’ were present at a dinner at the Portuguese Embassy and house of the Marquis of Palmela, along with the ambassadors of Austria, Netherlands and Sweden (Vasconcelos, 1851, Tomo II, p. 253). On April 24, 1826, he appeared at another diplomatic dinner at Canning’s house, for the celebration of King George IV's birthday (Sun, April 25, 1826, p. 2). At this meeting, the guest list was even longer than at the first. On June 17, the Canning’s organized another dinner, at which Gameiro attended as well as Antônio Teles da Silva, who, though serving as diplomat in Vienna, was in London on the occasion (London Courier, June 19, 1826, p. 2).

Gameiro Pessoa not only began to be invited to diplomatic dinners but also to parties of other sectors of society. According to the London press, he attended Mrs. Hornby's party on May 2, 1826, a ball for a ‘select Circle of Fashionables’. The notice in the Morning Post is reproduced here in full:

Mrs. Hornby’s Ball In Portland-Place, on Tuesday evening, a splendid Ball and Supper were given to a select Circle of Fashionables. The three drawing-rooms were brilliantly illuminated at half-past ten o’clock. The dancing commenced with quadrilles and ended with waltzes. The refreshment tables were laid in the third room, the supper in the dining parlour. The music ceased soon after three o’clock. There were present: The Brazilian Minister, Duke of St. Albans and the Ladies Beauclerk, Lord and Lady Stafford, Lord and Lady Boston, and Miss Irby, Colonel and Mrs. Hughes, Mrs. and Miss Dawkins, Mr. and Mrs. William Camac, Mrs. and Miss Portman, Lady Harriet Paulet, Sir John Owen, Bart, and Lady Owen, of Orielton; Lady Burroughs, Lady Smith and Miss Benyon, Sir Charles and Lady Cockerell, Mrs. and Miss Dawson, Mr. Du Pre and Miss Du [Pro], Lady Clerke, Mrs. and Miss Tannow, Lady and Miss Dalas, Mrs. and Miss Portman, Lady and Miss Orde, Earl of Newburgh, Lady Lethbridge, Lady Clerke Jervois, Mr. Smith. (Morning Post, May 4, 1826, p. 3).

This was a high society party with music and dancing. It was different and much bigger than a dinner exclusively for diplomats. Indeed, press news of the ball did not mention the names of foreign diplomats, only Gameiro Pessoa, who appeared at the top of the list. This does not categorically mean that other ministers and ambassadors were not present or were not invited. Yet, the press would hardly overlook their presence, highlighting only that of Brazil, if they were present. The location was close to Gameiro's house on Park Crescent, but the residences of the French, Colombian and Spanish diplomats were even closer on Portland Place itself. ‘Mrs Hornby’ was Jane Wynne (1773-1846), born in Bath and the wife of John Hornby (1764-1832), an Indian-born Britain. They were members of the British imperial bourgeoisie.

Unlike diplomatic dinners, in which the presence of men predominated, with the occasional and important exception of their wives, in high society parties many women - married, widows and single, relatives, friends - attended. When the press’s notes of the time announced parties and balls, usually women appeared as hostesses. Furthermore, one of the main entertainments of the party nights, the dance, required the formation of dancing pairs. Although at diplomats' dinners more protocols should be followed, such as the order of the speeches and table seating (though sometimes they could be more informal), balls and parties allowed more informal interactions, connections, conversations. Gameiro's presence in this ‘ball and supper’ demonstrates that he began to engage socially with other sectors of that society, not only with diplomats and politicians. He began to attend the domestic environment of the high society in London and to be seen as a guest. The fact that his name was published in the periodical press as a guest is highly relevant. As Naoko Shimazu points out: ‘sociability can be visible, that is, the association is seen by others. The fact of being seen is what gives a performative character to sociability, because it helps to make explicit the sense of group identity to those outside of the association’ (2019, p. 57).

Gameiro and the Brazilian diplomats also began to have official events at the legation house in Park Crescent. On June 6, 1826, a late spring Sunday night, they had a ‘great diplomatic dinner’. It was Brazil's first official event in London. According to the press:

Baron de Itabayana [sic], the Brazilian Minister, gave a grand diplomatic dinner, on Sunday, at his house in Park Crescent. Amongst the Company present were the following distinguished characters, who did not separate till a late hour:

Mr. Secretary Canning, Prince Estherhazy, Prince Polignac, Marquis de Palmella [sic], Mr. Falck, Marquis Clanricarde, Lord Howard de Walden, Count Ludolf, Count D’Anglie, Viscount Rezende, Baron Maltzahan, Baron Stiernold, Baron Cetto, Sir Robert Chester, Mr. Planta, and Mr. Gordon.

Yesterday his Excellency entertained the Secretaries of all the European Embassies and Legations in London. (Public Ledger, June 8, 1826, p. 2).

It should be noted that the periodical press in London very often used the same text for the same events, which indicates that someone promoted them, possibly their own hosts. Furthermore, more people may have attended than the press notes revealed. In addition to Canning, the diplomat Robert Gordon, the master of ceremonies Robert Chester, the undersecretaries of the Foreign Office Joseph Planta, Howard de Walden and Clanricarde attended. Once more Teles da Silva was present. In 1826, he attended at least three dinners in London. Amongst foreign diplomats, there were only agents from states that had already recognized the independence of Brazil: Austria, represented by Esterhazy, had done it in December 1825; Sweden and France, represented respectively by Stiernold and Polignac, in January 1826; the Netherlands, by Falck, in February; Prussia, by Maltazhan, in March, as well as the Two Sicilies, by Ludolf; Sardinia, by Martin D'Anglie, and Bavaria, by Cetto. With the exception of Austria, Prussia and France, the other recognitions took place through diplomatic notes sent directly to Gameiro Pessoa in previous months.⁷

The absences are also important. The Russian and Spanish ambassadors were not present. Russia recognized Brazil’s independence in late 1827 and Spain in 1834. It would be hard for the periodical press to overlook their presence if they had actually been to the event. Furthermore, the diplomatic agents from American countries, the United States, Mexico, Colombia and Argentina, at least, were not mentioned in the newspaper report. Possibly they were not present, although their countries had already recognized Brazil's independence. Additionally, unlike the first Canning’s dinner, intended for ‘ambassadors and their wives’ (as the princess of Lieven reported to Metternich), or even more unlike Jane Wynne's ball, there were no women or, at least, the press did not mention them. All these absences express the fact that it was a dinner focused on a more exclusive sociability with diplomats, men, Europeans and monarchists and, in the case of the British cabinet, liberal Tories.

On the following day, Brazilian agents had another dinner at the legation’s house exclusively for secretaries ‘of all European embassies and legations in London’ (Public Ledger, June 8, 1826, p. 2). The specific reason for the separation of the two groups (heads of mission and secretaries) is unknown. Yet, it is possible to confirm with a high degree of certainty that it was not for lack of space. As reports for other parties in identical houses on Park Crescent point out, the spot was ‘well calculated for the accommodation of large parties’ (Morning Post, May 29, 1828, p. 3). Other festivities that took place later at the Brazilian legation confirm this. As in the other houses on Park Crescent, Gameiro's had twenty-two rooms distributed in four floors plus a basement. Neither was the separation due to protocol, because in other similar dinners secretaries were present. In fact, this was a dinner to present Gameiro and the Brazilian secretary, Pereira da Cunha, to the other secretaries.

What this specific dinner for secretaries demonstrates is that the Brazilian diplomats were careful to establish good (and future) relations with these lesser officials. Many of them were young diplomats who were beginning their careers in diplomacy in their countries. Some of them would or could become ambassadors and ministers. Gameiro Pessoa knew this, because he himself had worked as a secretary and attaché in Portugal's diplomacy, between 1814 and 1817, in Vienna and Paris. During this period, he had met secretaries and attachés who would become ambassadors and undersecretaries of State, such as Joseph Planta, whom he had known since Vienna. In addition, as secretaries, these agents played a fundamental role in the daily functioning of their diplomatic missions and could come to temporarily or permanently occupy higher positions in the absence of superiors, heading their own legations and embassies. In this initial process of integration and search for legitimation, these two dinners represent the first two official attempts to create hospitality in the Brazilian legation house.

Around late June 1826, Gameiro left London and went to live temporarily in Tunbridge Wells, where he stayed until August, at least. This was a fashionable summer English town for high society at the time and, as such, there were many festive events held there during the season. On July 4, 1826, the Marquises of Palmela, who were the ambassador of Portugal and his wife, had been to town to attend a private dinner with Gameiro Pessoa. As the newspaper Star reported:

TUNBRIDGE WELLS, 4 July 1826. This fashionable watering-place is likely to be very full; for many years we have not experienced such a demand for first-rate houses. Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent has taken Mount Pleasent from the end of July for nine weeks. His Excellency the Marquez de Palmella [sic], the Portuguese Ambassador, and his Lady, dined with his Excellency the Baron de Itabayana [sic], the Brazilian Minister, at his residence here, and returned to town. It is said the Marquez has an intention of residing here for the season. (Star, July 7, 1826, p. 2).

The diplomats had known each other at least since 1814, when they had worked together in the Portuguese embassy in Vienna where Gameiro Pessoa was secretary and Palmela ambassador.⁸ During these years following the independence of Brazil, they had at least shared common interests in addition to sharing a common culture through the Portuguese language. Probably they discussed the succession crisis of the Portuguese crown, which had already begun in July 1826.⁹ One of the other themes was the debt that Brazil owed to Portugal due to the Treaty of August 29, 1825, because Gameiro sent letters on the subject to Palmela from Tunbridge Wells a few days later.¹⁰ In diplomacy, notes and official letters often served to consolidate topics already discussed verbally.

These were the dinners and parties in which the London press mentioned the names of Gameiro or other Brazilian diplomats in 1826. The official letters that the legation sent to the Brazilian Foreign Office in Rio de Janeiro in that year did not include information about dinners and parties. In October, mentioning health concerns, Gameiro went to live in Italy for a few months, where he spent the autumn and winter, returning to London in the following year. During his absence, the diplomatic mission was headed by the secretary João Antônio Pereira da Cunha. He was the son of Antônio Luiz Pereira da Cunha, Marquis of Inhambupe, Minister of Foreign Affairs from January 20, 1826 to January 15, 1827. Pereira da Cunha was quite possibly present at both dinners in the legation house, because he resided there and, as secretary, was certainly one of the organizers of these meetings. On October 10, he was present at a dinner at the Portuguese Embassy and house of the Marquises of Palmela, along with Joseph Planta and other diplomatic agents (Vasconcelos, 1851, Tomo II, p. 488).

It should be noted that, similarly to residences in the same areas and those from the same sectors in Regent’s Park at the time, the Brazilian legation house had domestic employees, a housekeeper, butler, cook and servants. Although these workers were absent in newspapers columns about parties, dinners and balls and from the official diplomatic lists, they played a relevant role at formal and informal events and, therefore, in the daily activity of diplomacy itself, perhaps more relevant than researchers have admitted and studied. These employees and their work and skills (in cooking, cleaning, decorating, serving), as well as other elements such as uniforms, in addition to being essential for the diplomatic life could also express symbolic meanings for events, since they also represented the hosts.

More events, the ‘Juvenile Party’ and Weippert’s Band

The British press reported Gameiro's departure from London to Pisa in Italy (Sun, October 13, 1826, p. 3). However, in early 1827, it is from Livorno that he wrote two letters to Canning, in the months immediately preceding the ascension of the Secretary of the Foreign Office to the Prime Minister in April¹¹. In May, Gameiro was back in London, returning with other Brazilian diplomatic agents in appearances at parties and dinners. On 26 June, for instance, the Duke and Duchess of Clarence gave a dinner at their residence in the Admiralty. They were members of the British royal family and the future King William IV and Queen Consort Adelaide. The diplomatic corps took part, including Gameiro, as well as politicians and members of the local nobility and bourgeoisie (Saint James’s Chronicle, June 28, 1827, p. 4; New Times, June 28, 1827, p. 3). Thus, in addition to diplomatic dinners and high society balls, Gameiro became a guest in festivities of the British monarchy. This dinner involved a more inclusive sociability for him, as in Mrs. Hornby’s Ball, because many people outside diplomatic channels attended. The dinner had a broader social diversity within the scope of these higher strata, including more gender diversity, with a large number of women attending.

Events at the Brazilian legation also continued to occur. On Friday, October 12, 1827, Brazilian diplomats threw a ‘great diplomatic dinner’ to commemorate the birthday of Pedro I. As the newspapers reported on the following day:

BIRTH DAY OF THE EMPEROR OF BRAZIL Viscount de Itabayana [sic], the Brazilian Minister, gave a grand diplomatic dinner yesterday, at his house in Park-Crescent, to celebrate the anniversary of his Majesty the Emperor of Brazil’s birth-day, at which were present, amongst many others distinguished individuals: Earl Dudley, Prince Esterhazy, Marquis de Palmella [sic], Sir Charles Stuart, Mr. de Falck, Count St. Martin D’Anglie, Lord Howard de Walden, Mr. Backhouse etc. etc. (New Times, October 13, 1827, p. 3; London Evening Standard, October 13, 1827, p. 3).

It was not possible to identify who the ‘many others distinguished individuals’ were. However, this expression indicates once again that the periodical press did not always report on the participation of all the individuals present. The dinner was attended, for instance, by Charles Stuart, British diplomat who was responsible for the definitive negotiations of Brazil’s independence in Rio and who the Foreign Office had designated on a special mission in Rio between 1826 and 1827 to negotiate the Portuguese succession crisis. The presence of John Ward and Earl Dudley, the new Secretary of the Foreign Office, demonstrates that other secretaries of State took part in the Brazilian legation events, not just Canning. As with the previous parties at the mission house, this was a more exclusive sociable dinner, where only diplomats from European monarchical powers and the usual diners of the Foreign Office participated.¹²

A few days later, on October 26, Pedro de Sousa Holstein, Marquis of Palmela, then ambassador of Portugal, and the Portuguese diplomatic agents organized a ‘grand entertainment’ to celebrate the birthday of Prince Miguel of Portugal. The party took place at 74 South Audley Street, where the Portuguese embassy had been located since the mid-1810s. According to the press, ‘a great number of Portuguese Gentlemen, officially employed in London’ was present. The newspaper also highlighted the presence of Gameiro and Caldeira Brant, who had recently arrived in London, as well as ‘members of that [Brazilian] legation’, who might have been the secretary Pereira da Cunha or even the attaché Augusto de Paiva (Morning Chronicle, October 29, 1827, p. 3). This birthday was not an ordinary event. It marked the political age of majority for Miguel, which, according to the Portuguese constitution of 1826, allowed him to assume the regency of the throne while Queen Maria II, daughter of Pedro I of Brazil, was still a minor. It was an event of great political interest not just to Brazilian and Portuguese diplomats but also to the other main European courts, due to the outcomes which it entailed. In the following week, Palmela gave another dinner in which Gameiro and Brant were present (Morning Chronicle, November 3, 1827, p. 3). Furthermore, Caldeira Brant, possibly his son, and certainly the attaché Augusto de Paiva also contributed to the sociability, integration and legitimation in such social gatherings, in addition to Gameiro and Pereira da Cunha.

On December 6, 1827, a winter Thursday evening, a rather peculiar festivity took place at the Brazilian legation house on Park Crescent. The Morning Post, one of the few newspapers to notice the event, wrote:

The Brazilian Minister`s Juvenile Party On Thursday evening the Viscount De Iabarana [sic], gave a Select Party to the Juvenile Branch of the Nobility. Dancing begun [sic] and ended very early. John Weippert, of Dean-Street, had the Musical Department under his able direction. (Morning Post, December 8, 1827, p. 3)

This was a somewhat different event, because it was a ‘Juvenile Party’, focused on hosting the ‘Juvenile Branch of the Nobility’. That makes this party quite peculiar. Firstly, it is noteworthy that the music and dancing ended early. This information differentiates this party from those of the same sectors at the time. Balls and parties used to last until three or four in the morning, sometimes later. Supper was often served at one o'clock, and then the music continued. The reasons may be found, on the one hand, in the fact that the party was offered to the youth; on the other hand, the surroundings of Regent’s Park were on the edge of the urban built environment at the time and-especially in the December winter-that made it even more foggy. For this reason, carriages had difficulty arriving or returning to more traditional areas of London, such as Mayfair, as pointed out by German and Rees (2012, p. 99) for a meeting that took place at the same area and time, where, out of twenty-two guests, only two could arrive due to the fog.

One highly relevant piece of information is that the music was by John Weippert (1798-1843), a harpist, composer, conductor and music teacher. Weippert and his band were very much in demand at British high society festivities in the 1820s and 1830s, in London and in the countryside.¹³ The musical repertoire was usually quadrilles, French dancing music from the 18th century and which remained typical of elite ballroom parties in the first decades of 19th century, and waltzes, from German origin, which were coming into vogue as the typical dancing music of Romanticism. Months earlier, Weippert had become King George IV's harp teacher (London Evening Standard, June 28, 1827, p. 4). On June 13, July 11 and October 31, 1827 (the last a month before the party at the Brazilian legation), Weippert and his band had entertained three festivities of Esther Barent Cohen (Morning Post, June 15, 1827, p. 3; Star, July 14, 1827, p. 2; Morning Chronicle, November 3, 1827, p. 3). The first of them took place at her own residence at the terrace of Park Crescent, whereas the last two, her daughter's wedding parties, took place at the mansion of the groom’s aunt and uncle, Hannah Barent Cohen and Nathan Mayer Rothschild, in Stamford Hill.

Gameiro and the legation house were neighbours of Esther Barent Cohen in the terrace of Park Crescent, Regent’s Park. While the Brazilian legation was at number 21, Cohen’s residence was at 29 (Biaggi, 2023). Regent’s Park was a recent, rich and modern built area of London, a garden-city designed at the border of the urban environment at the time, to serve the housing expectations of a new post-Waterloo bourgeoisie. Saunders noted that the area of Regent’s Park in the 1820s was ‘the most fashionable part of the town’ (1981, p. 106). Esther was daughter of one of the main bankers in London, who had already died by this time. She was the wife of Samuel Moses Samuel and sister of Hannah Barent Cohen, who was Nathan Mayer Rothschild’s wife. Samuel was brother and cousin of Samuel Phillips & Co. owners, a company founded in Brazil in 1808 and very active during the 1820s (Barman, 2003; Guimarães, 2012). Samuel was a banker and major investor and sometimes represented Samuel Phillips & Co. in London. This family group and other relatives or individuals associated with them, such as Moses Montefiori, Judith Barent Cohen, Meyer Davidson, Jessy Barent Cohen, and Leslie Melville, made up a circuit of bankers, investors and large merchants who had business in Brazil and with the new Brazilian state. Nathan Mayer Rothschild, the main one, had borrowed the main loan for the new Brazilian government in January 1825, when he became the banker for the Brazilian legation in London (Barman, 2003; Shaw, 2005).¹⁴

Hiring the musician John Weippert for the party at the Brazilian legation house clearly demonstrates an attempt by Brazilian agents to seek legitimation in these networks of the dominant economic and political class in the late British Georgian period, with their own tastes and cultural expectations, such as their musical repertoires. This party also demonstrates to the intention ofdeveloping a more inclusive sociability, focused not only on male diplomats from European monarchical countries. It also demonstrates a policy of seeking future relationships shown, for example, by the party organized for the ‘juvenile branch’ and by the dinner for Secretaries of European embassies. Although the press reports did not reveal this information, the ‘juvenile party’ possibly indicated a celebration to honour Maria da Glória as Queen of Portugal, as can be observed in the events of 1828 with her presence and the same designation.

The new dynamics and the ‘Portuguese question’

During these two years, many American and European powers had already formally recognized the Empire of Brazil, and its diplomacy had been integrating and legitimating itself in different social circles. However, the succession crisis in Portugal had been deepened and the dynamics of Brazilian diplomacy gradually changed.¹⁵ In London, the year of 1828 soon began with many social gatherings, particularly to receive the Portuguese Prince Miguel. As mentioned, in September/October 1827 he had become regent of Portugal and, returning from the exile in Vienna, he and his entourage travelled through France and England before going to his reign to assume his new position¹⁶. Miguel and his suite arrived in London on December 30, 1827. Parties and dinners marked his stay in that capital, where he met authorities, politicians, merchants, members of the royal family and the nobility. He received the reception of a monarch from a foreign country, with all the usual aristocratic pomp, and Brazilian diplomats attended some of these events.

On December 31, 1827, in three levees, Miguel received members of the British ministerial cabinet, ‘thirty of the main Portuguese merchants’, according to the press, and foreign diplomats. At one levee, he met Gameiro Pessoa, Pereira da Cunha, the newcomer Miguel Maria Lisboa and the son of Caldeira Brant, who assisted his father as a diplomatic courier (Morning Post, January 1, 1828, p. 2). On the same day, George IV had an evening dinner for Miguel and thirty more guests at Windsor Castle. However, neither Gameiro Pessoa nor other Brazilian diplomats appeared on the guest list. (Morning Herald, January 4, 1828, p. 3). On January 2, 1828, the Dukes of Clarence gave a party at the Admiralty and once more the Brazilian diplomats did not appear on the list that the press published (London Evening Standard, January 3, 1828, p. 4). There is no evidence to state whether these absences had been just an eventuality or not, but the fact is that in the following evening, on January 3, Palmela hosted a dinner for Miguel at the Portuguese embassy and Gameiro Pessoa attended. As usual, most of the diplomatic corps and members of the Foreign Office, including Secretary Dudley himself, attended (London Evening Standard, January 4, 1828, p. 3). Later, on the same evening, a party for Miguel took place at the Austrian embassy at Chandos House on Chandos Street, but the newspapers did not publish the list of diners (London Evening Standard, January 4, 1828, p. 3). The next Saturday night, on January 5, Gameiro Pessoa himself and the Brazilian diplomats had a dinner at the legation to welcome Miguel. According to the press:

A grand dinner was given to his Royal Highness on Saturday evening, by the Viscount de Itabayena (sic), the Brazilian Minister, at his residence in Park Crescent, Portland Place. There were present to meet the Prince, Prince Lieven, the Russian Ambassador; Prince Esterhazy, the Austrian Ambassador; Baron Falck, the Ambassador from the Netherlands; the Marquis Palmella, the Portuguese Ambassador; Count Ludolf, the Neapolitan Minister; Count d’Anglie, the Sardinian Minister; Baron Cetto, the Bavarian Minister; the Hanoverian Minister; the Chevalier Roth, the French Chargé d’Affaires; Baron Neumann, Earl Dudley, Viscount Beresford, Count Villa Real, Earl Mountcharles, Sir William Fremantle etc. (Globe, January 7, 1828, p. 3; Saint James Chronicle, January 8, 1828, p. 2)

More people attended than usually happened at the Brazilian legation dinners, which demonstrates the importance of the event. Even so, once again there is only the presence of diplomats, men, Europeans and monarchists. Nevertheless, it is already possible to notice the presence of the Prince of Lieven, the Russian ambassador, once Russia recognized the independence of Brazil in December 1827.¹⁷ Spanish diplomats and those from American countries remained absent, as well as the women. It is very likely that Pereira da Cunha and Augusto de Paiva were present, as well as Miguel Maria Lisboa, if he was not in Edinburgh, where he studied at the university. It should be observed that the political and diplomatic tensions surrounding the crisis of succession to the Portugal crown had not yet completely changed the policy and attitude of Brazilian diplomacy regarding the protocols to be followed with Miguel in London. They received him with the custom and etiquettes due to a regent of Portugal and brother of the Emperor of Brazil.

Gameiro Pessoa and, at least, Pereira da Cunha were certainly present in other social gatherings to receive Miguel. On January 7, the Duke of Wellington, then head of the British armed forces and who closely followed and participated in international politics, hosted a grand dinner at his residence in Piccadilly. The entire diplomatic corps attended, including Gameiro, and British politicians and diplomats such as Dudley, Palmerston, Charles Stuart (Star, January 8, 1828, p. 3; Globe, January 8, 1828, p. 2). This dinner took place a few days before Wellington became Prime Minister. On January 9, the Duke and Duchess of Clarence had another party for Miguel at the Admiralty. It was certainly the biggest social meeting for the Portuguese prince. According to the press, at least two hundred and thirteen people were present, women and men, including all ambassadors and their wives, some secretaries and diplomats from the United States, Mexico, Colombia as well as Gameiro and Pereira da Cunha (Morning Post, January 10, 1828, p. 2). After that, Miguel left London to visit other British cities and, on February 22, he went to Portugal. In July 1828, Miguel took power definitely in Portugal, a fact that would change the dynamics of Brazilian diplomacy in London. However, before that, Gameiro and Pereira da Cunha still attended the great birthday celebration of King George IV on April 23, 1828, a party that involved all the kingdom, with an urban party held on the streets, in front and within the yard of St. James Palace (London Courier, April 24, 1828, p. 2). On June 9, 1828, Gameiro was also present at Prince Leopold's party at Marlborough House (Morning Herald, June 11, 1828, p. 7).

Due to the Portuguese crisis, Maria da Glória, then presumably Queen Maria II of Portugal, was sent by her father, Pedro I of Brazil, to Europe in late July 1828. Her first destination would be Vienna to meet her grandfather Francis I, Emperor of Austria, and to be educated at that court. However, with the Miguelist reaction in Portugal in those months, her destination and that of her entourage changed to England, where they were taken by Caldeira Brant, the main person responsible for the mission. They arrived in London on October 6, 1828, and, after twenty days in the Grillon’s Hotel in London, they moved to Laleham Villa in Laleham village. This villa was located on the rural outskirts of London at the time, a bucolic space outside of Metropolitan area. Thus, the dynamics of Brazilian diplomacy in London definitely changed. Gameiro and the other Brazilian diplomatic agents conducted their activities among their ordinary mission, the special mission of Laleham Villa and the Portuguese crisis, such as aid to Portuguese emigrants who had moved to London as a result of the Miguelist regime.¹⁸

Five events took place to welcome Maria da Glória in London and, as members of her entourage, the Brazilian diplomats were also present. On December 1, 1828, Palmela gave a dinner to receive her at the Portuguese Embassy (Vasconcelos, 1869, Tomo IV, p. 259). On December 22, King George IV and the British royal family had a sumptuous lunch to receive her in Windsor Castle (Morning Herald, December 23, 1828, p. 3; London Courier, December 23, 1828, p. 3). She was formally received as Queen of Portugal, with all due aristocratic ceremony. Brant, Gameiro and Teles da Silva were present in addition to Palmela, Wellington, Peel and the Secretary of Foreign Office, Aberdeen. However, this event lasted only two hours. On January 19, 1829, the Duke and Duchesses of Clarence gave a ‘Ball and Supper’ and a ‘Juvenile Party’ in their residence at Bushy Park to receive her. (Morning Post, January 21, 1829, p. 3; London Evening Standard, January 21, 1829, p. 3). As a ‘Juvenile Party’, the guests were the members of the British nobility and politicians, and, in addition, all their sons and daughters. Amongst Brazilians, Brant, Gameiro, Teles da Silva and Pereira da Cunha took part as well as European ambassadors, their wives and children. Palmela, for example, was accompanied by his wife, three sons and four daughters. According to a letter sent by Caldeira Brant to Rio de Janeiro, the ‘girls’ ball’, in his words, had ‘more than 500 persons, of which 153 girls’ (Aguiar, 1896, p. 528)

As usual, in April 1829, Gameiro and Brant attended the King’s birthday celebration (a type of levee), but without the presence of Maria da Glória (Morning Advertiser, May 1, 1829, p. 2). Brant and most possibly Gameiro also attended a dinner given by Lord Bathurst for the diplomatic corps around April or May, according to a letter that Brant sent to Pedro I (Aguiar, 1896, p. 655). However, on May 28, 1829, the same type of juvenile party took place to receive Maria da Glória. It was a ‘King’s Grand Juvenile Ball’ which took place in Windsor (Morning Chronicle, May 30, 1829, p. 3). According to the press reports, ‘the King gave a ball to the juvenile branches of Nobility and Gentry, which was rendered very interesting by the introduction of the young Queen of Portugal and the Princess Victoria, both about the same age’ (Morning Chronicle, May 30, 1829, p. 3). Similar to the party offered by Dukes of Clarence, hundreds of guests attended, members of the aristocracy (men and women), British politicians and European diplomats and their respective wives and a great number of their sons and daughters. Gameiro did not appear on the guest list, only Brant, although he also probably took part in the party. In a letter sent by Brant to Rio, he wrote that: ‘On the 28th, the Queen visited her British Majesty, who gave her a magnificent girls’ ball and received her with the honours due to her eminent rank.’ (Aguiar, 1896, p. 637). On July 30, 1829, the Dukes of Clarence hosted another dinner for Maria da Glória at their residence at Bushy Park, but the newspaper did not provide the guest list (Morning Advertiser, August 3, 1829, p. 2). It should be added that the American diplomats did not appear in the guest lists published by the newspaper, which indicates the strong monarchical character of these events. In late August 1829, Maria da Glória and her entourage returned to Brazil.¹⁹

Then, with exception of these British monarchical parties to receive Maria da Glória and perhaps other small dinners, Gameiro Pessoa and other diplomats were not present in parties, balls and dinners of high society since the party of Prince Leopold in June of 1828. No social events took place in the Brazilian legation house since the dinner to welcome Miguel in January 1828. Furthermore, no records reveal the presence of Maria da Glória and her suite at the terrace of Park Crescent, once she was presumably Queen of Portugal and thus it would seem contradictory and inadequate, demonstrating interference of the Brazilian imperial government in the Portuguese question.²⁰ No parties and balls took place in Laleham Villa, with exception of private dinners such as those for the Dukes of Gloucester and Dukes of Clarence, both in December 1828 (Aguiar, 1896, p. 525). From June 1828 onwards, therefore, these events demonstrate a different dynamic in the Brazilian diplomatic mission in London. Due to the changes that took place in the internal politics of Brazil, mainly related to the Portuguese crisis, the authorities in Rio changed the composition of the diplomatic missions. In April, Teles da Silva left London to assume the Brazilian legation in Paris. Around April and June, Pereira da Cunha left London to assume the Brazilian legation in Berlin²¹. In August, Brant returned to Brazil with Maria da Glória. In the same month, Gameiro Pessoa left his position in Brazilian diplomacy and soon left London itself. Thus, the composition of the first Brazilian diplomatic mission in that capital changed completely.²²

Conclusions

The formal recognition of Brazil's independence and the existence of the Empire of Brazil presupposed the construction of its own diplomacy. This process involved the inclusion of this new diplomacy in diplomatic and social circles abroad and involved the construction of personal, cultural and professional ties with foreign diplomats, politicians and members of high society, based on sociability, hospitality and even commensality. It allowed the new Brazilian diplomacy the full exercise of its own activities. For the Brazilian diplomatic mission specifically in London, the main centre, this initial process took more than two years, between January 1826 and June 1828. The sources attest to the participation in these networks of the head of the mission, Gameiro Pessoa, and other agents, such as João Antônio Pereira da Cunha, Augusto de Paiva, Miguel Maria Lisboa, Antônio Teles da Silva and Felisberto Caldeira Brant de Oliveira e Horta. Soon after the formal recognition of the legation and the official character of Brazilian agents, they began to attend and to be noticed as guests at parties, balls and dinners of diplomats, politicians, the British monarchy and other members of high society, besides beginning to organize their own festivities and dinners at the legation house in Park Crescent, Regent’s Park. These social gatherings and the sociability promoted by them were both more inclusive and more exclusive and can be seen as expressing a personal, cultural and social recognition of these Brazilian diplomats. Furthermore, they appeared together with American diplomats, such as those from Colombia, Mexico, Argentina and the United States, only at large British dinners and parties. The dinners held at the Brazilian legation also remained restricted to European and monarchist diplomats and politicians and members of the British Foreign Office. It demonstrates that they were less sociable with American diplomats, and that contributed to the promotion of an image of the new Empire of Brazil as a monarchical regime that was linked exclusively to monarchical European powers.

References

• ACCIOLY, Hildebrando. Grã-Bretanha: Notícia histórica. In: BRASIL. Ministério das Relações Exteriores. Arquivo Diplomático da Independência Edição fac-similada da edição de 1922. Volume I. Tomo I e II. Brasília: Ministério das Relações Exteriores, 1972. p. XXIII-CXXXIII
• ALMEIDA, Paulo Roberto de. Formação da diplomacia econômica no Brasil: as relações econômicas internacionais no Império. 3 ed. Brasília: FUNAG, 2017.
• AGUIAR, Antonio Augusto de. Vida do Marquez de Barbacena Rio de Janeiro: Imprensa Nacional, 1896.
• BARMAN, Roderick. Nathan Mayer Rothschild and Brazil: The Role of Samuel Phillips & Co. London: Rothschild Archive, 2003. Available from: Accessed 22 feb. 2024.
  »
• BARROSO, Gustavo. Brasil - colônia de banqueiros (História dos empréstimos de 1824 a 1934). 2 ed. Rio de Janeiro: Civilização Brasileira, 1934.
• BETHELL, Leslie. The Independence of Brazil and the Abolition of the Brazilian Slave Trade: Anglo-Brazilian Relations, 1822-1826. Journal of Latin American Studies, v. 1, n. 2, p. 115-147, 1969.
• BIAGGI, Marcus Vinicius Correia. Park Crescent, Regent’s Park, and the Spaces of Brazilian Diplomacy in London, 1822-1829. Almanack, n. 34, 2023.
• BRASIL. Ministério das Relações Exteriores. Arquivo Diplomático da Independência Edição fac-similada da edição de 1922. Volumes II. Brasília: Ministério das Relações Exteriores , 1972.
• BUENO, Clodoaldo; CERVO, Amado L. História da política exterior do Brasil Brasília: Editora da UnB, 2014.
• CALÓGERAS, João Pandiá. A política exterior do Império Volume II - O Primeiro Reinado. Rio de Janeiro: Imprensa Nacional , 1928.
• CAMPOS, Raul Adalberto. Relações diplomáticas do Brasil. Rio de Janeiro: Typ. do “Jornal do Commercio”, de Rodrigues & C., 1913.
• CARREIRA, Liberato de Castro. História financeira e orçamentária do Império do Brazil desde a sua fundação Rio de Janeiro: Imprensa Nacional , 1889.
• CARVALHO, Ronald de. Estudos Brasileiros 3ª série. Rio de Janeiro: F. Briguiet & Cia., 1931.
• COSTA, Emília Viotti da. Da Monarquia à República: momentos decisivos. São Paulo: Editora Brasiliense, 1985.
• FOREIGN and Commonwealth Office. The FCO: Policy, People and Places (1782-1995). History Notes. Issue 2, April 1991.
• FREITAS, Caio de. George Canning e o Brasil (influência da diplomacia inglesa na formação brasileira). Rio de Janeiro: Companhia Editora Nacional, 1958.
• FUNDAÇÃO ALEXANDRE DE GUSMÃO. Legações e embaixadas do Brasil Brasília, 2021.
• GERMAN, Lindsey; REES, John. A People’s History of London London; New York: Verso, 2012.
• GUIMARÃES, Carlos Gabriel. A presença inglesa nas finanças e no comércio no Brasil Imperial: os casos da Sociedade Bancária Mauá, McGregor & Cia. (1854-1866) e da firma inglesa Samuel Phillips & Cia. (1808-1840). São Paulo: Alameda, 2012.
• QUENNELL, Peter (ed.). The Private Letters of Princess Lieven to Prince Metternich, 1820-1826 London: John Murray, Albermale Street, W, 1937.
• LIMA, Manuel de Oliveira. História diplomática do Brasil: Reconhecimento do Império. Paris; Rio de Janeiro: H. Garnier, 1901.
• LIMA, Manuel de Oliveira. Os nossos diplomatas. Annaes da Bibliotheca Nacional do Rio de Janeiro, v. 35, 1913
• MIRANDA, José Augusto Ribas. Entre jantares e gabinetes: Barão de Penedo e o gentlemanly capitalism, 1855-1889. In: SILVA, Ana Paula Barcelos Ribeiro da; PASSETTI, Gabriel. (org.). Nas teias da diplomacia: percursos e agentes da política externa brasileira no século XIX. Rio de Janeiro: Mauad X; FAPERJ, 2022. p. 183-205
• MORAES, Alexandre José de Mello. A Independência e o Império do Brasil Rio de Janeiro: Typ. do Globo, 1877.
• MORGAN, Linda. Diplomatic Gastronomy: Style and Power at the Table. Food and Foodways, v. 20, n. 2, p. 146-166, 2012.
• OLIVEIRA, José Manuel Cardoso de. Actos internacionais do Brasil Brasília: Senado Federal, 1997. (Edição fac-similar da edição de Rio de Janeiro, Jornal do Commercio, 1912.)
• PANTALEÃO, Olga. Reconhecimento do Império - 1. Mediação Inglesa. In: HOLLANDA, Sérgio Buarque (coord.). O Brasil monárquico, tomo II: o processo de emancipação. 9 ed. Rio de Janeiro: Bertrand Brasil, 2003. p. 377-414. (História Geral da Civilização Brasileira, tomo II, vol. 3).
• RAMOS, Eduardo Silva. Centralização e privilégio: instituições econômicas e financeiras na formação do Estado brasileiro (1808-1836). 2018. Dissertação (Mestrado em História Econômica) - Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, 2018.
• RODRIGUES, José Honório. Independência: revolução e contrarrevolução. A política internacional. Rio de Janeiro: F. Alves, 1975.
• SANTOS, Guilherme de Paula Costa. No caleidoscópio da diplomacia: formação da monarquia constitucional e reconhecimento da Independência e do Império do Brasil, 1822-1827. São Paulo: BBM, 2022.
• SAUNDERS, Ann. Regent’s Park: A Study of the Development of the Area from 1086 to the Present Day. 2 ed. (revised). London: Bedford College, 1981. (1 ed. 1969)
• SHAW, Caroline. Rothschild e o Brazil: an introduction to sources in the Rothschild Archive. Latin America Research Review, v. 40, n. 1, p. 165-185, 2005
• SHIMAZU, Naoko. What is Sociability in Diplomacy. Diplomatica: A Journal of Diplomacy and Society, v. 1, n. 1, p. 56-72, 2019
• SILVA, Fábio Carlos da. Barões do ouro e aventureiros britânicos no Brasil São Paulo: Editira da UPS; Belém: Editora da UFPA, 2012.
• SUMMERHILL, William Roderick. Inglorious Revolution: Political Institutions, Sovereign Debt, Financial Underdevelopment in Imperial Brazil. New Haven and London, 2015.
• VASCONCELOS, José Joaquim dos Reis. Despachos e correspondência do duque de Palmela Lisboa: Imprensa Nacional, 1851-1869. Tomos II, III e IV.

Newspapers

• GLOBE, London, p. 3, January 7, 1828.
• GLOBE, London, p. 2, January 8, 1828.
• LONDON COURIER and Evening Gazette, London, p. 2, June 19, 1826.
• LONDON COURIER and Evening Gazette, London, p. 2, April 24, 1828.
• LONDON COURIER and Evening Gazette, London, p. 3, December 23, 1828.
• LONDON EVENING STANDARD, London, p. 4, January 3, 1828.
• LONDON EVENING STANDARD, London, p. 4, June 28, 1827.
• LONDON EVENING STANDARD, London, p. 3, October 13, 1827.
• LONDON EVENING STANDARD, London, p. 3, January 4, 1828.
• LONDON EVENING STANDARD, London, p. 3, January 21, 1829.
• LONDON EVENING STANDARD, London, p. 2, April 29, 1829.
• MORNING ADVERTISER, London, p. 2, May 1, 1829.
• MORNING ADVERTISER, London, p. 2, August 3, 1829.
• MORNING CHRONICLE, London, p. 3, October 29, 1827.
• MORNING CHRONICLE, London, p. 3, November 3, 1827.
• MORNING CHRONICLE, London, p. 3, May 30, 1829.
• MORNING HERALD, London, p. 3, January 4, 1828.
• MORNING HERALD, London, p. 7, June 11, 1828.
• MORNING HERALD, London, p. 3, December 23, 1828.
• MORNING HERALD, London, p. 3, July 8, 1829.
• MORNING POST, London, p. 6, February 6, 1826.
• MORNING POST, London, p. 3, May 4, 1826.
• MORNING POST, London, p. 3, June 15, 1827.
• MORNING POST, London, p. 3, December 8, 1827.
• MORNING POST, London, p. 2, January 1, 1828.
• MORNING POST, London, p. 2, January 10, 1828.
• MORNING POST, London, p. 3, May 29, 1828.
• MORNING POST, London, p. 3, January 21, 1829.
• NEW TIMES, London, p. 2, February 6, 1826.
• NEW TIMES, London, p. 3, June 28, 1827.
• NEW TIMES, London, p. 3, October 13, 1827.
• NEW TIMES, London, p. 2, January 15, 1829.
• PUBLIC LEDGER and Daily Advertiser, London, p. 2, June 8, 1826.
• SAINT JAMES’S CHRONICLE, London, p. 4, June 28, 1827.
• STAR, London, p. 2, July 7, 1826.
• STAR, London, p. 2, July 14, 1827.
• STAR, London, p. 3, January 8, 1828.
• SUN, London, p. 2, April 25, 1826.
• SUN, London, p. 2, April 6, 1829
• SUN, London, p. 3, October 13, 1826.
• SUN, London, p. 2, October 24, 1827.

Manuscripts

• The National Archives of the UK (TNA). Catalogue reference: FO 13/43; FO 13/67 (Official Letters).
• Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo, Portugal. Catalogue reference: PT/TT/MNE-LL/F/2/C154.18 (Official Letters)
• Arquivo Histórico do Itamaraty. Catalogue reference: 202.2.20 (Official letters)

Notes

• 1
  Some works are Lima (1901), Accioly (1922), Calógeras (1928), Freitas (1958), Rodrigues (1975), Pantaleão (2003).
• 2
  Some works are Moraes (1877), Carreira (1889), Barroso (1934), Barman (2003), Shaw (2005), Guimarães (2012), Silva ( 2012), Summerhill (2015), Almeida (2017) and more recently and innovatively Ramos (2018).
• 3
  Respectively Carvalho (1931); Bethell (1969).
• 4
  On the history of Brazilian legation in London in the second half of the 19th century, recently Miranda (2022) explored the sociability of Carvalho Moreira, Baron of Penedo, Brazilian minister in London, through the category of ‘gentlemanly capitalism’.
• 5
  Gameiro Pessoa became the Baron of Itabayana in October 1825 and Viscount in October 1826.
• 6
  ‘Muito folguei com a notícia que V. Exa. me deu por seu Ofício de 23 de Janeiro de haver solenizado o Fausto Dia 22, reunindo em sua casa o Sereníssimo Sr. Infante Dom Miguel, as pessoas mais gradas dessa Corte, e a maior parte dos Membros do Corpo Diplomático. Eu não pude aqui fazer outro tanto por não ter aqui então tido lugar a minha apresentação como Ministro do Imperador; porém reuni as duas Embaixadas de Áustria, e Portugal, e alguns Empregados deste Governo mais afetos ao Novo Império, e festejamos o referido Aniversário com a maior cordialidade’ (BRASIL, Vol. II, 1972, p. 347).
• 7
  According to Oliveira (1912 [1997]) and Campos (1913).
• 8
  The historian Oliveira Lima considered Gameiro as a disciple of Palmela (Lima, 1913, p. 80).
• 9
  In Portugal, when the King João VI died in March 1826, a succession crisis began with the peculiar situation that his heir and son, Pedro I of Brazil, was constitutional emperor of a former colony and his brother Miguel, the other male successor, was anti-constitutional. It was a crisis both in regard to the dynastic question and to the constitutional question in that country. Pedro, a presumable successor, would formally renounce in favour of his daughter, Maria da Glória (Maria II of Portugal), a child who had lived in Brazil, giving a constitution to Portugal in 1826 and, at the time, accepting the foreseen constitutional regency of his brother Miguel under a new constitutional and liberal bourgeois regime. Circumstances would change significantly after Miguel took power in 1828, unfolding in the early 1830s into a civil war in Portugal.
• 10
  Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo, Portugal, Location: PT/TT/MNE-LL/F/2/C154.18; Vasconcelos (1851, Tomo II, p.437-442).
• 11
  There are two letters, one dated January 1, 1827, and another March 8, 1827, both located in The National Archives of the UK; location FO 13/43.
• 12
  It should be added that the London periodical press reported that, at the Brazilian legation in Vienna, Austria, Antônio Teles da Silva also hosted a party to celebrate the birthday of Pedro I on October 12, on which occasion the entire local diplomatic corps and Prince Miguel attended (Sun, 24 Oct. 1827, p. 2).
• 13
  Information about John Weippert and his band as well as their musical repertoire were gathered through the periodical press of the time. No work has been found about him. Weippert died in 1843 in a carriage accident.
• 14
  The relationship between the spaces of Brazilian diplomacy in London and the neighbours of Park Crescent was explored by the author in BIAGGI, 2023.
• 15
  The idea of ‘system of treaties’ (1825-1828) by Bueno e Cervo (2014) also confirms another dynamic for Brazilian diplomacy from 1828 onwards, though for other reasons.
• 16
  Cf. note IX
• 17
  According to Campos (1913, p. 99).
• 18
  Additionally, Gameiro also worked on three other activities. The first was the marriage arrangement for Pedro I, which had been occupying Caldeira Brant, Teles da Silva and Domingos Borges de Barros, the Brazilian diplomat in Paris; the second was the repercussions of the Cisplatine War, which had ended in late 1828; and the third, a new loan which he and Brant obtained from the Rothschild bank in 1829.
• 19
  In January 3, 1829, Gameiro and Resende also had a private dinner with Palmela in the Portuguese Embassy.
• 20
  She had been at the Portuguese Embassy accompanied by Brazilian agents a few times such as on her own birthday on April 4 (Sun, April 6, 1829, p. 4).
• 21
  The recent publication by Fundação Alexandre de Gusmão (FUNAG) mistakenly declares that Pereira da Cunha was Chargé d’Affairs in Paris between February and June of 1828 (2021, p. 266). He was the secretary of legation in London until at least late April, 1829 (London Evening Standard, April 29, 1829, p. 2). The same publication also errs in stating that his mission in Berlin as Chargé d’Affairs started in July, 1829 (London Evening Standard, April 29, 1829, p. 430). Yet, he arrived in Berlin just in early October, 1829, according to his own official letter sent from Berlin to the Brazilian Foreign Office in Rio de Janeiro (Ofício de 12 de outubro de 1829; Arquivo Histórico do Itamaraty, ref. 202.2.20).
• 22
  According to a recent publication by FUNAG (2021, p. 436), his mission ended around December 1828 and January 1829. Some British newspapers also reported Gameiro's resignation in January 1829 and the official notice of his dismissal from Rio arriving in London in July 1829 (for example, New Times, January 15, 1829, p. 2; Morning Herald, July 8, 1829, p. 3). Yet, documents found in the National Archives of the UK (FO 13/67) also confirm his activities as Minister of Brazil until at least July 1829.
• Data availability statement:
  The entire dataset that supports the results of this study has been published in the article itself.

Edited by

• Editor-in-chief:
  Ana Carolina de Carvalho Viotti, Karina Anhezini de Araujo

• Associaded editor:
  André Figueiredo Rodrigues

Data availability

The entire dataset that supports the results of this study has been published in the article itself.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  29 Sept 2025
• Date of issue
  2025

History

• Received
  12 Apr 2024
• Accepted
  28 Aug 2024