José da Silva Carvalho

José da Silva Carvalho (born December 19, 1782 in Vila Dianteira ( Santa Comba Dão ), † September 5, 1856 in Santa Isabel (Lisbon) ) was a Portuguese statesman.

Life

José da Silva Carvalho, son of a father of the same name and Ana de Carvalho, attended the episcopal seminary in Coimbra and studied law at the university there since 1800. Because of his freedom of mind, he was set back and persecuted by the police and the inquisition soon after receiving his doctorate . Only in 1810 did he get a small job as juiz de fora (judge of the first instance) in the municipality of Recardães . In 1811 he married Maria Clara Esteves Correia de Brito, with whom he had three children. In recognition of his services to the state, he was elected Juiz dos Órfãos (judge caring for orphans) in Porto in 1814 . At the same time he was rapporteur at the provincial courts-martial, which began his political career.

José da Silva Carvalho (1822)

Liberal-minded and an ardent patriot, Carvalho had been planning, among other things, the liberation of the fatherland from the English and a constitutional constitution since December 1817 with his friend Manuel Fernandes Tomás and José Ferreira Borges . After three years of preparatory work, the liberal revolution finally broke out in Porto on August 24, 1820 . Carvalho became a member and secretary of the provisional junta proclaimed on that day and in 1821 a member of the regency set up by the Cortes . This administered the empire until the arrival of King John VI. who took over the government in July 1821 and conjured up the democratic constitution drawn up by the Cortes on October 1, 1822. Johann VI. Carvalho made President of the Lisbon municipalities and soon afterwards Minister of Justice, in which position he remained until the conservative-absolutist counter-revolution of 1823 he foresaw. This was led by the Infante Miguel . At that time Carvalho fled to England and lived here in meager circumstances.

When after the death of John VI. whose son Pedro (who was also Emperor of Brazil ) had given Portugal the second constitution ( constitutional charter ) in the country's history at the end of April 1826 , Carvalho swore the oath on this before the Duke of Palmela and then returned to Portugal, where he was without Employment remained. After the coup d'état and the seizure of power by regent Miguel in 1828, he had to flee to England again because he was threatened with arrest in his home country. He was appointed by the Duke of Palmela as a member of the Commission for the Assistance of Portuguese Emigrants in London .

After Pedro's abdication as Brazilian emperor and his return to Europe, Francisco Gomes da Silva , Pedro's former private secretary, sent Carvalho and Thomas de Mascarenhas to Cherbourg on June 3, 1831 , where the ex-emperor had gone. Here Carvalho developed a picture of the state of Portugal at that time and won Pedro for the liberation of the country from Miguel's rule. He became a member of the Guardianship Council appointed by Pedro for Queen Maria II. While Pedro was preparing the planned invasion of Portugal in Paris , Carvalho, the Chevalier Lima and Thomas de Mascarenhas in London took on the raising of the necessary funds. In the spring of 1832, Carvalho accompanied Pedro to the Azores island of Terceira to organize the expedition and shortly after Pedro's landing in Portugal he was appointed director of civil administration in the army and president of the tribunal of justice and war.

In December 1832, Carvalho took over the Ministry of Finance under difficult circumstances. He brought the proposal of an expedition of the Duke of Terceira to the Algarve through in Pedro's council of war, a significant step for the success of the ex-emperor's plans. On Carvalho's advice, Pedro turned command of the expedition fleet over to the Scottish naval officer Napier . The company succeeded, and when Pedro was able to move into Lisbon at the end of July 1833 , Carvalho accompanied him there. Miguel was completely defeated in May 1834.

Entrusting the finances of Portugal to Carvalho, Pedro also appointed him Councilor of State and President of the Supreme Court of Justice. As finance minister, Carvalho has now made a great contribution through a series of reforms. He had the paper money destroyed, the monopoly of the Porto wine company lifted and the regular payment of civil servants 'and soldiers' salaries secured. Furthermore, he brought about a comprehensive reform of the customs administration so that their income doubled, reorganized the administration of the public treasury and restored public credit by reducing the national debt. He was also the founder of the Lisbon free port. He also tackled the reorganization of the judicial administration, replaced the old tribunals, which contradicted Pedro's constitutional charter, with new ones, reformed the legislation and expelled the Jesuits who had regained influence under Miguel . The budget he presented to the Cortes in 1835 met with approval from many financiers.

When Carvalho was overthrown by intrigues with the other members of the Saldanha Ministry on November 18, 1835, during his somewhat successful work for the recovery of Portugal's prosperity , the state credit immediately diminished. On April 20, 1836, Carvalho was entrusted with the portfolio of finances again. When the revolution of September 10, 1836 overthrew him again in favor of the constitution of 1822, he withdrew from public affairs. At the beginning of November 1836 he took part in the failed counter-revolution ( Belenzada ) in favor of the Charter of Pedro, had to flee to England and only returned to Portugal in 1838 following the amnesty pronounced by Queen Maria II.

The supporters of Carvalho tried to spread the opinion among the people that only he could raise Portugal's finances again, whereas the opponents of the Cartists knew how to arouse the hatred of many people against Carvalho. When he was present at the procession on the feast of Corpus Christi on June 14, 1838 , he was attacked by an agitated crowd like the general administrator of Lisbon, Costa Cabral , but both managed to escape. Nevertheless, Carvalho held out fearlessly in Portugal, was involved in the reintroduction of Pedro's constitutional charter through the revolt in Porto in early 1842 and then rejoined the Council of State. In 1847 he became President of the Supreme Court. He died on September 5, 1856 at the age of 73.

literature

• Carvalho, Joze da Silva . In: Meyers Konversations-Lexikon . 4th edition. Volume 3, Verlag des Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig / Vienna 1885–1892, pp. 833–834.