José Joaquim Lopes de Lima

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José Joaquim Lopes de Lima

José Joaquim Lopes de Lima (* between 1796 and 1798 in Porto / Portugal ; † November 8, 1852 in Batavia / Dutch East Indies ) was a Portuguese officer, politician and administrator of various areas in Portugal and its overseas territories. Most recently, he held the titles of capitão de mar e guerra and governador do Timor e Solor .

Life

Flag of the Liberals

Lopes de Lima emigrated to Brazil in 1820 when the Liberal Revolution broke out in Portugal . They transformed the country into a constitutional monarchy and received its first democratic constitution in 1822. In 1826 the new King Peter IV ( Pedro IV ) dictated a new constitution to Portugal from his seat of government in Rio de Janeiro , the so-called Carta Constitucional . This was much more conservative than the constitution of 1822, as Peter IV hoped that the Carta would also satisfy the wishes of the absolutists .

Peter IV was at the same time as Peter I, Emperor of Brazil. Since it was clear to him that he could not rule Portugal permanently from Brazil, he transferred the Portuguese throne to his underage daughter Maria II. When she came of age, she was to marry her uncle, who took over the reign in 1826. But then the uncle abolished the charter, returned to absolutism, dethroned Maria II and was crowned Michael I ( Miguel I ) in 1828 . Peter I did not want to let this breach of trust by his brother get away and therefore abdicated as Emperor of Brazil in order to take care of Portugal again as Duke of Braganza . It came to the Miguelistenkrieg ( Lutas Liberais ), during which Lopes de Lima returned to Portugal as a naval officer and in the course of which he rose to captain. In 1834 Michael I was forced into exile and abdicated. Mary II returned to the throne and the Carta Constitucional came back into force. The right-wing liberal supporters of the Carta were called Cartists , including Lopes de Lima. They now made up the government.

But in 1836 there was the September Revolution in which the left-liberal supporters of the constitution of 1822, the Setembrists ( Setembristas ), took power. Lopes de Lima wrote a large number of pamphlets and articles against her in the journals A Carta , O Estudante and A Matraca . He also wrote about poetry, theater and history, which also reflected his political views. In 1842, António Bernardo da Costa Cabral managed a new coup and the Cartists took over the government again.

Lopes de Lima held various offices in his life. He was councilor, member of the Cortes and governor of various districts in Portugal and its overseas territories.

In Goa , Lopes de Lima was the naval administrator. When the Governor General Manuel José Mendes , Baron von Candal, was murdered there in 1840 , a government councilor ( Conselho de Governo do Estado da Índia ) took over the administration and then handed it over to Lopes de Lima as interim governor. In this office he officially ruled the entire Portuguese colonial possessions in Asia. Lopes de Lima implemented reforms in all areas of administration: finance, armed forces and justice. In this context, he is accused of “lack of energy, perseverance, cleverness, courage” and “mistakes and carelessness”. Lopes de Lima caused political tensions in Goa that led to the fact that in April 1842 a battalion refused to go to Macau and revolted. The Macau Senate was concerned about the tension between China and the British in Hong Kong at the time . Instead of taking direct action against the revolt, Lopes de Lima resigned, returned his authority to a government council and fled to Bombay , where he turned to the British colonial government with a request for help. His request was denied. Lopes de Lima was deposed as governor general and had to answer for this incident in Lisbon before the council of war, but was acquitted. Prime Minister Costa Cabral is said to have personally campaigned for Lopes de Lima.

Portuguese possessions on the Lesser Sunda Islands in the 16th to 19th centuries

At Costa Cabral's instigation, Lopes de Lima was appointed royal commissioner for negotiations with the Netherlands over the territorial disputes between the two colonial powers in the Lesser Sunda Islands . The negotiations were initially unsuccessful. In 1851 Lopes de Lima was appointed governor of Portuguese Timor , whose territory also included the other Portuguese possessions in the Lesser Sunda Islands. On June 23, Lopes de Lima reached Dili aboard the gunboat Mondego . On October 30, 1850, Portuguese Timor was granted the status of an autonomous province that was directly subordinate to Lisbon. The reason was Lopes de Lima, as he had previously been the provisional governor general of Goa. An appointment as simple district governor (Governador Subalterno) would have been equivalent to demotion. From a military point of view, Lopes de Lima held the rank of captain of the navy.

Lopes de Lima sent a punitive expedition against the empire of Sarau , which was suspected of having worked with Buginese pirates. The retaliatory action over eight months, in which the Mondego was also used, ultimately brought in compensation of 2,000 rupees. The heads of the fallen opponents were brought back to Dili and displayed at the Likurai dance. The Timorese practice was repeatedly used by the Portuguese to deter rebellions in the following years.

Lopes de Lima also tried to reorganize the administration in Timor and continued to negotiate with the Dutch. Finally he came to an agreement with the Dutch on the colonial borders in Timor. In it he gave up the Portuguese claims to most of West Timor in favor of the Dutch. In addition, at the same time the eastern part of Flores , Solor , Pantar and Alor were sold to the Dutch for 200,000 Florins , but without the authorization of the Portuguese government. The reason for the hurry was the acute lack of money in the colonial administration in Dili. The officials had not received any wages for two years, the warship Mondego was in need of repair and Lopes de Lima wanted to buy some schooners to get the trade going again. Therefore, he demanded an immediate payment of a first installment of 80,000 florins.

As might be expected, the governor fell out of favor when Lisbon learned of the treaty, although the territories sold were a burden rather than a gain for the Portuguese empire. On September 8, 1852 Lopes de Lima's successor Manuel de Saldanha da Gama (1852 to 1856) arrived on board the Mondego in Dili, had him arrested and sent him back to Lisbon. Lopes de Lima died of a fever on the return journey with the Mondego in Batavia.

Afonso de Castro , Lima de Lopes' later successor as Governor of Timor, called his approach the "greatest crime in the field of diplomacy" , but admitted to Lima de Lopes that the amount of the sale would make up for the damage, which is why the tough measures from the point of view of de Castros were incomprehensible. This can be explained by the political changes in Portugal. In 1851 part of the military rose up against Costa Cabral, whereupon the latter resigned. Lima de Lopes lost its protégé and the Setembrists, who were now back in power, used the sale of the properties to stir up a mood against the previous government. It was even rumored that Lima de Lopes fled to America with the money . The events in Goa also played a role in the mood against Lima de Lopes.

But the agreements could not be reversed, even though the Treaty on Borders was renegotiated in 1854 and was only ratified as the Treaty of Lisbon in 1859 .

Awards

Lopes de Lima was a knight of Avis and holder of the Tower and Sword Order .

swell

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Geoffrey C. Gunn: Historical Dictionary of East Timor, 2010
predecessor Office successor
António Olavo Monteiro Tôrres Governor of Portuguese Timor
June 23, 1851 to September 8, 1852
Manuel de Saldanha da Gama