No. 73.
Mr. Hilliard to Mr. Evarts.
Rio de Janeiro, November 3, 1879. (Received November 28.)
Sir: Two eminent Brazilian statesmen have recently died. General Osorio, Marquez do Herval, marshal of the army, senator, and minister of war, died on the 4th of October last, in the seventy-second year of his age. Of humble origin, he rose to a position of great dignity, power, and influence. He entered the imperial army in Rio Grande do Sul, the province of his birth, before he had completed his fifteenth year, as a private soldier, soon after the declaration of Brazilian independence. He was repeatedly promoted for his gallantry on the field of battle. In the war against Rosas he greatly distinguished himself, and won a national reputation while in command of Rio Grande lancers by a brilliant charge upon a battery of thirty-six pieces, achieving a signal victory.
After the termination of that war he took part in the political contests of Rio Grande do Sul, and became a recognized leader of the liberal party. In the war against Paraguay, General Osorio displayed the highest courage and rendered signal service to his country. At the great battle of Avahy, December 11, 1869, he was shot through the mouth while leading a charge in person on the enemy’s lines. He soon recovered, returned to the field, and commanded the First Army Corps during the closing scenes of the war. He was made a field marshal in 1865; lieutenant-general in 1867, and field-marshal of the army in 1877. He was also successively honored with the titles of barāo, visconde, and marquez do Herval, the name of a parish in his native province. In January, 1877, he was chosen senator from his province. On the 5th of January, 1878, he became a member of the new liberal cabinet, taking the portfolio of war.
His personal character was high, brave, frank, manly, sincere; he was honored and loved by the people throughout the empire. He always reminded me of General Taylor, our great soldier.
Consilheiro Domingos de Souza Leão, Barão de Villa Bella, late minister and secretary of state for foreign affairs, died in this city on the 18th of October last. He was born in the province of Pernambuco in 1818, educated for the bar, and graduated at the law school of Olinda, Portugal, in 1839. He belonged to one of the wealthiest and most in [Page 88] fluential families in Ms province, and soon took an active part in politics. He was a liberal leader, and was elected deputy to the General Assembly in 1851. He continued to serve for several years. He subsequently became President of his province. On the formation of the present cabinet, January 5, 1878, he became minister and secretary of state for foreign affairs.
He retired from the cabinet some months since, at the same time with Mr. Silveira Martins, late minister of finance, because the ministry refused to carry out certain liberal measures; the most important, the granting full political rights to non-Catholics.
It will be remembered that I negotiated with Baron de Villa Bella, the treaty for the protection of trade-marks. He was a man of exalted character, of cultivated tastes, and of large views. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies from Pernambuco at the time of his death.
I have, &c.,