The Shadow of Great Britain

Chapter 1850: Chapter 122: Mother and Daughter Sever Ties

The morning sunlight slanted through the gaps in the velvet curtains, casting speckled light onto the silverware and plates.

Arthur held a coffee cup in one hand, slowly stirring the still-undissolved sugar cube with the other.

He wasn’t in a hurry to drink the coffee, instead his gaze slowly fell on Eld across the table.

Wrapped in a robe with unbuttoned front, this newly appointed bureaucrat from the Navy Department, was biting into a jam-covered bread while holding a Manchester Guardian, its edges stained yellow by grease.

”As a Londoner, you read the Manchester Guardian, rather than The Times.” Arthur teased, ”Is The Guardian better than The Times in some aspects?”

Eld swallowed the bread and pointed with his finger to the newspaper columns: ”To be fair, The Times is actually better than The Guardian, but I want to read something about South America, and The Times isn’t as timely with South American news as The Guardian is.”

”South America?” Arthur took a sip of coffee: ”Didn’t you swear that after returning from your circumnavigation, you’d never want to see the South American rainforest again?”

”I certainly don’t want to see the South American rainforest.” Eld poured himself a cup of tea: ”But that doesn’t prevent me from being interested in certain people from South America. I still care about my Gaucho friends from there, and I’m still waiting to see when The Guardian will publish the obituary of the Argentine butcher Rosas.”

”Is there any related news in today’s paper?”

”No, God seems to be turning a blind eye, that Argentine executioner has quite a long life.” Eld folded the newspaper and pushed it toward Arthur: ”But today’s South American news isn’t entirely joyless, look at this, Ragged War, Rio Grande declares independence from Brazil to form Pilatini Republic. Haha, Portugal’s civil war just ended, and Brazil’s civil war started, the Bragança family’s luck isn’t very good.”

”Rio Grande? Republic?” Arthur felt uneasy upon hearing the place name and the political system, and upon lowering his gaze to the newspaper’s page, he indeed found a familiar name—Giuseppe Garibaldi.

”’Rio Grande seceded from the Brazilian Empire, established as the Pilatini Republic’”

According to reports from Rio de Janeiro, dissatisfied with Brazil’s long-term low tariff policy on meat imports, the southern agricultural province of Rio Grande rose up under General Bento Gonçalves’ leadership, demanding to establish a republican government.

In the evening of September 18, under General Bento Gonçalves’ secret organization, the rebels quickly gathered in White Stone Town, and cavalry units of about 200 men were led to join from the Viamão area by Colonel Gomes Jardim and Colonel Onofre Pires. The rebel forces converged and on the 19th occupied Azania.

On September 19, Rio Grande’s provincial chairman Antonio Braga realized that rebellion was imminent and immediately issued the mobilization order to the National Guard’s cavalry company. Due to the weak military power in the capital of Porto Alegre, he also called upon all citizens to arm themselves, ultimately gathering a force of about 270 men.

That night, a cavalry reconnaissance squad led by Major Barbosa from the government forces encountered a rebel ambush near Azania Bridge. Although Major Barbosa attempted to organize a defense, the rebel forces swiftly gained the upper hand under the cover of darkness and thick fog. The battle lasted less than half an hour, and the government’s cavalry force was routed, Major Barbosa himself shot and thrown off his horse, forced to flee without his weapons. Azania Bridge thus fell to the rebels, becoming a key passage into the provincial capital.

At dawn on September 20, General Gonçalves ordered the troops to advance on Porto Alegre in three directions. Colonel Gomes Jardim led the vanguard cavalry to a flanking entry into the Fishing District from the west gate, Major Onofre Pires led infantry to steadily advance from the main gate, and General Gonçalves personally led a cavalry unit along the Lakeside Avenue into the city.

Meanwhile, naval Lieutenant Giuseppe Garibaldi commanded the gunboat ”Mazzini” to break through the fog from the northern fork of Guaíba Lake straight to Porto Alegre’s southern shore.

Due to the insufficient manpower and chaotic organization of the provincial city’s defense combined with the psychological impact of the previous night’s defeat, the rebels encountered virtually no substantial resistance and occupied the city. Provincial chairman Braga deserted the government building around nine in the morning, leaving on the ”Rio Grande” speedboat from the mouth of Guaíba Lake. Once the rebels entered City Hall, they immediately raised the Rio Grande revolutionary flag and announced the abolition of the empire-appointed civil service institutions.

In the afternoon, a closed-door meeting of the provisional parliament was held at City Hall, declaring Rio Grande’s secession from the Brazilian Empire to establish the Pilatini Republic, with General Bento Gonçalves appointed as the interim governor.

...

Arthur looked at the black and white on the newspaper and couldn’t help but slap his forehead: ”Giuseppe... actually managed to pull it off... Thank goodness Rio Grande isn’t Genoa...”

Eld reached into the basket to take an egg, tapping it twice on the corner of the table: ”What? You have friends in South America?”

”Friends? Giuseppe Garibaldi and I could be considered as such...barely...” Arthur said with a peculiar expression, holding the coffee cup, ”Two years ago, when I first met him, he was nothing more than a usual Italian sailor, somewhat naive in appearance, candid by nature. At that time...um...he had just participated in the revolution orchestrated by Young Italy, brimming with passion to tear down Kingdom of Sardinia’s banner from Northern Italy’s skies... In the end, the uprising failed, and he was sentenced to death...”