The cycle of Atlantic revolutions reached the intercontinental Portuguese monarchy according to a specific chronology. Between the first French invasion (1807) and the ultimate triumph of liberalism (1834), the fate of the Portuguese kingdom hung in the balance as it was tied in large part either to the interaction between Brazil and Portugal or to more global connections. The independence of the American territory, after sketches failed attempts of a constitutional integration between 1820 and 1822, precipitated a sharp internal political polarization between absolutists and liberals in the European kingdom. For the latter, the collapse of the empire forcibly had as an alternative a radical break with the civil order of the Ancien Régime. After successive political contexts and a civil war, this model, with a marked anti-aristocratic stamp, would ultimately triumph.

Although frequently overlooked as a piece of political thought, the Diretório is one of the most innovative texts about the government of colonial populations produced by the Portuguese monarchy. During the early stages of Portuguese colonization, although theoretically free, the Amerindians subdued by the Portuguese were often categorized as ‘miserabiles personae’, i.e. persons unable to govern themselves and therefore treated as minors. As a result, many were placed under the tutelage of Catholic missionaries and forced to live in mission villages.

Luís da Cunha (1662–1749) was a prominent figure in the eighteenth-century diplomatic milieu, and the author of various works that, although not published in his lifetime, circulated extensively. After studying canon law at the university of Coimbra, he served for some time as a judge, and was subsequently appointed to a diplomatic mission in England. In the years that followed, Cunha served in other diplomatic posts, including the negotiations held in Utrecht to put an end to the War of the Spanish Succession. In parallel, Cunha played a major role as a purchaser of works of art and books for the royal collection. Particularly noteworthy in this excerpt – addressed to Marco António de Azevedo Coutinho, Secretary of State for War and Foreign Affairs – is Cunha’s proposal to transfer the Portuguese court and whole apparatus of government to Brazil, a project that he justifies in detail. Luís da Cunha is also the author of text 3.2.

These excerpts were translated from José de Seabra da Silva, Deducção chronológica, e analytica. Parte segunda (Lisbon: Officina de Miguel Manescal da Costa, 1767). Seabra da Silva’s footnotes have not been translated; his bibliographical references have been placed in angle brackets < > because it is not certain to which editions these refer.

Dedicated to Prince Teodósio, heir to the throne, Suma política conveys a regalist understanding of kingship – that is, one advocating the sovereign’s total control over government matters. This included regarding politics as essentially a power struggle: Meneses praises executive action and pragmatism as qualities of good rulers; and accepts dissimulation, concealment and secrecy as tools to be used by the ruler. He also advises the prince to regard his vassals not as friendly collaborators, but as potential enemies and threats, one of the reasons why he insists that the ruler must have a thorough knowledge of his vassals. Apart from being cunning, the prince should be an extremely calculating person (instead of believing in the natural good inclination of all human beings, as Catholicism taught).

This volume gathers and reflects on the wealth of political thought produced in Portugal between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. It is a selection of texts on the social order, government and politics, written by Portuguese authors, the majority of them born in peninsular Portugal, as well as a few natives or long-term residents of colonial Brazil.

There is no naturally well formed man who prefers the passivity of idleness to honest work. And even the most enlightened have come to equate idleness with death. As such, one must be careful to govern in order to be rewarded for one’s work and effort with the glory of immortality.

This excerpt was translated from the manuscript ‘Extrait des Notes fournies à Mr. L’Abbé Raynal par S. Excellce. Mr. Le Vicomte de Balsemão sur les colonies portugaises, avec ses observations critiques sur l’histoire philosophique des deux Indes’, Biblioteca do Palácio da Ajuda (Lisbon), 54-XI-26 (7). Pinto’s marginalia have not been translated.

It is necessary that the republic, which is made up of a multitude of men and women, be governed, in order that it not be extinguished and perish. In fact, it is everyone’s natural right to wish to protect one’s own life and being. Natural law is the common law of all nations, since it is held by natural instinct, not by any constitution. Jurists say that natural law is that which nature has taught all animals.

I am the one who in Genesis figures by the water that flows through the four rivers that rule the terrestrial paradise. From that water, as the Psalm says, God nourished the people. And I am that Law that God through Jeremiah said He wanted to write on the hearts of men. And the Law that Isaiah and Micah prophesied would come forth from mount Zion. On which mount Christ Jesus fulfilled these prophecies proclaiming me as his Gospel. And he commanded his disciples to preach me through the entire world to all creation; and who believed in me, and were baptized, would be saved, as you may be by accepting this his doctrine, and through this preaching and professing I am known to all the earth, as I said to you.

Manuel Severim de Faria (1584–1655) studied theology and served as canon at the cathedral of Évora, in southern Portugal. Influenced by an uncle who was also a canon, he is the author of various essays with insightful reflections on Portugal and its overseas possessions, later developed in Notícias de Portugal, a collection of essays dedicated to João IV written roughly three decades before its publication in 1655.