O Investigador Portuguez em Inglaterra

O Investigador Portuguez em Inglaterra, ou Jornal Literário, Político, & C.
Cover page for the first volume
FrequencyMonthly
FounderDomingos António de Sousa Coutinho, Bernardo José Abrantes e Castro and Nolasco da Cunha
First issueJuly 1811
Final issue
Number		February 1819
92
CountryPortuguese Empire
Based inLondon, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
LanguagePortuguese

O Investigador Portuguez em Inglaterra, ou Jornal Literário, Político &, C. (The Portuguese Investigator in England, or Periodical of Politics, Literature & S.) was a monthly Portuguese periodical created in 1811, London, by the diplomat Domingos António de Sousa Coutinho together with Bernardo José Abrantes e Castro and Nolasco da Cunha, both in political exile on the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

It is considered one of the most important and popular Lusitan periodicals of its time. It had ties with the Portuguese court, but it was critical of their politics and advocated for the instauration of a constitutional monarchy. It was also an avid scientific divulgator, and introduced the field of history of science in the Portuguese Empire.

The last issue was published in February 1819, shortly after the exit of José Liberato Freire de Carvalho from the editorial board.

History

O Investigador Portuguez was created in 1811, London, by the diplomat Domingos António de Sousa Coutinho together with Bernardo José Abrantes e Castro and Nolasco da Cunha, both in political exile on the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Domingos guaranteed the survival of the periodical through his brother, Rodrigo de Sousa Coutinho, that made the commitment of buying a certain quantity of the monthly issues.[1] While Nolasco da Cunha was the editor-in-chief of the periodical, Abrantes de Castro was responsible for the scientifical texts.[2] Coutinho hated the critics made by Hipólito da Costa in his journal Correio Braziliense and created the periodical specifically to debunk their thesis. The journal would constantly criticize the diplomat, including the return of French Guiana to France with nothing in return, a failure attributed to him.[3] Despite the rivalry between the two periodicals, Hipólito da Costa had praised O Investigador Portuguez in several ocasions.[4]

The first issue was published in July 1811.[5] Together with Correio Braziliense, it is considered one of the most important and popular periodicals from its time, escaping the censorship imposed by the Portuguese Empire.[6] The Kingdom didn't officially support it, but also didn't openly fight it, as it was with Correio Braziliense.[1] It is not known how popular the periodical was in Brazil due lack of data, but it is known it was read by some important political figures and its subscription was incentivised.[5]

In 1812, Nolasco da Cunha received the royal pardon and returned to Portugal. José Liberato Freire de Carvalho, also in political exile in London, took his place.[7] The Brazilian doctor Miguel Caetano de Castro took Abrantes de Castro's position.[2]

In 1814, Freire de Carvalho became the editor-in-chief.[8] After the substitution of Domingos António for Pedro de Sousa Holstein as the Portuguese diplomat in London, Freire de Carvalho consulted him about a possible contract with the embassy and, discovering he wasn't tied by any contract whatsoever, he decided to create a new seccion entitled "Reflections" to boost sales. It was more critical than usual regarding politics.[9]

In 1815, Freire de Carvalho criticized the role of Pedro de Sousa during the Congress of Vienna. The embassator then proposed the periodical that articles about politics should be arranged with him under closed doors, which was denied by Carvalho.[6]

The periodical was cancelled shortly after the exit of Freire de Carvalho from the editorial board in December 1818.[2] The last edition, number 92, was published in February 1819.[10]

Content

O Investigador Portuguez was published monthly and in Portuguese. It was inicially divided in four seccions: Literature, Sciences, Correspondence and Politics.[11]

Literature

This was the first seccion of the periodical. It was subdivided into the following seccions: Political Literature, Literature, Portuguese Literature, Portuguese and Foreigner Literature, Classical Literature, German Literature and Poetry.[11]

It divulgated news about literature, with divulgation of parts of works and their critique.[12]

In 1811, the periodical harshly criticized the narrative poem Gama, from Father José Agostinho de Macedo. The critique generated a debate with the author that lasted up until 1812. Correio Braziliense defended the critique and extensively notified the debate.[4]

Sciences

This secction was subdivided into the following seccions: Agriculture, Political Economy, Sciences, Medicine, Agriculture and Commerce and Agriculture and Botanics.[11]

The Investigador gave special importance for the scientific divulgation. Despite this seccion only composing 10% of the periodical, several texts about sciences were published on the other seccions.[13] The periodical considered itself utilitarian and tried to highlight Lusitan scientists. The seccion first brought forward news about sciences in general and their applications, specially on the fields of medicine, botany, agriculture and mineralogy.[12] The periodical was known for publishing long articles, that commonly had to be split on several issues.[14]

On the first issue, the periodical published the histories of chemistry and medicine, thus introducing the field of history of science in the Portuguese Empire.[15] Amongst other topics covered by the periodical were mathematics, zoology, geography and phisiology.[16]

Correspondence

The correspondence seccion highlighted the best professors of medicine and surgery. Observations, speeches and memories from the readers were also published.[12] The periodical also incentived the debate of ideas and controversies, that not rarely involved other periodicals, including Jornal de Coimbra and Correio Braziliense.[17]

Politics

This seccion is further subdivided in the following seccions: Politics, Politics and Varieties, Commerce and Varieties.[11]

On this seccion, the news were mixed with the opinions of the editorial board.[18] The periodical was aligned with the values of the French Revolution. It considered the Portuguese Empire as behind other European countries in social matters and criticized the absolutism of Dom João VI, but it defended a reform of the State into a constitutional monarchy, that was situated "between despotism and jacobitism", to avoid a sudden rupture on the governance of the empire.[18] It openly supported religious tolerance, political freedom, civil rights and freedom of speech.[19]

With the advance of the Spanish American wars of independence, the periodical further distanced from revolutionary ideas and militated for the English model of gorernance.[18]

Others

There were three other spaces on the periodical, Appendix, Reflexions and Lists. On the last seccion, it was published books of several fields of knowledge and from several countries, but giving priority for English books.[11] Reflections was created in 1814 and it had its own motto and was overall more critical than usual.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b Machado 2011, pp. 6–7.
  2. ^ a b c Machado 2011, p. 12.
  3. ^ Brasil 2021.
  4. ^ a b Silva 2006, p. 105.
  5. ^ a b Oliveira 1998, pp. 49–50.
  6. ^ a b Domingues 2006.
  7. ^ Machado 2011, p. 10.
  8. ^ Machado 2011, p. 96.
  9. ^ a b Machado 2011, pp. 12–13.
  10. ^ Andrade 2012, p. 73.
  11. ^ a b c d e Reis 2005, p. 308.
  12. ^ a b c Oliveira 1998, p. 50.
  13. ^ Reis 2005, pp. 308–309.
  14. ^ Oliveira 1998, p. 60.
  15. ^ Oliveira 1998, pp. 50–51.
  16. ^ Oliveira 1998, pp. 51–61.
  17. ^ Reis 2005, p. 309.
  18. ^ a b c Machado 2011, pp. 8–9.
  19. ^ Machado 2011, p. 13.

Bibliography

  • Andrade, Breno Gontijo (2012). "A Guerra das Palavras: cultura oral e escrita na Revolução de 1817". Post-graduation thesis in History (in Brazilian Portuguese). Federal University of Minas Gerais.
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